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Louisville Football's MASSIVE Statement Has ACC RIVALS Concerned! · ACC Football Addiction (Atlantic Coast Conference)

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And that's a great segue to get into our SMU
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Louisville recap from this week, the Mustangs and the Cardinals.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: We saw exactly what I thought would happen.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: At home. I was taking the home team in this.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I was taking the quarterback that I thought has been
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: more consistent. I was taking the better running back and no,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I think Brahman Lashley are similar. So, Louisville SMU presented
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: by prize picks.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Really, really good game.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Again, I had a four out with traffic at a
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: four hour drive back to Nashville last night.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: So I watched all the condensed games after the FSU game.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: It was great. It's just like, I'm sitting there bumping
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: her bumper. Like, Oh, very good. So Louisville wins Cole.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: You can start us out on this one.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: We saw who is the second best team in the
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: ACC yesterday. And it is Louisville. And it's for one
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: major reason, because I think that when you look at this,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Kevin Jennings' experience, both rushing attacks, both wide receiver rooms,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: they had their moments, and there were some back-and-forth battles
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: that I think is going to, that made this a
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: really good game up in Louisville Stadium. One team had
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: the turnover battle, and one team won the turnover battle entirely,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and that's just kind of what this comes down to.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Kevin Jennings' biggest problem has been, since he has been
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: the starter at SMU, is the turnovers. And what happened
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: when you lost the turnover battle against a team like
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Florida State? We said any other quarterback plays in that system,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: they probably end up winning that football game. Okay, so
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: you saw another quarterback play in an offense where they
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: lost a turnover battle and they won the football game.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Link Keenalds has been phenomenal. Now, I'm not going to
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: lie and say there are some things that he needs
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: to clean on up, but his backyard BS style of
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: play is fantastic. And it just somehow works in a
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: way where Jeff Braum is letting him play comfortable while
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: also learning how to play in a system. And the
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: thrivingness of this offense has been so polished.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: You feel like.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: That Louisville is in the driver's seat to at least
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: be a contender for the college football playoff. Like, I
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: saw them coming at number 16 in the AP poll today.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: And I virtually threw one up. I think that they
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: should be top 12. I genuinely do because of outside
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: of Ohio State losing by one point to Texas, the
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: best loss, which we shouldn't be celebrating losses, is to
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Ole Miss losing by three in a neutral side game
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: where you had to fight your way back, where you
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: got a lead and went up against Trinidad-Chambers and had
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: your own Kirkland brand version of Trinidad-Chambers making the same
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: type of plays to where it felt unstoppable. They have been...
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: phenomenal up to this point offensively. The part that worries
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: me is that this is the ACC where anything can
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: happen and that you realize that it's going to be
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: a one-bit affair because if people just cannibalize each other
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: and their defense puts them in a position of where
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: it's bad because of, again, talk about this game. I mean,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: they allowed Kendrick Raphael to basically just go off for
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: a buck ninety-seven. Kevin Jennings was able to utilize his legs.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: They gave up 257 rushing yards. They gave up seven
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: explosive plays of 20 yards rushing. They were at points
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: in a world of hurt, but they stepped on up
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: in critical moments because they forced some turnovers and their
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: offense was able to capitalize. The Brown and Brown duo
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: is phenomenal. I think that they have taken on over
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: as the new alarm firm of Haynes and Hayes, now
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: down in the ACC. It's just the two of them.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Trey Richardson has been awesome to see fit in this offense.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: as that vertical threat. And Lincoln Keenholz, nobody's going to
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: sit here proudly and say, oh, well, you know, him
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: or Julian saying a quarterback. Did they make the right
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: call at Ohio State? They have the most accurate quarterback
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: in the country, and it's largely because of who they
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: also have, you know, wide receiver. But Keenholz is a
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: good player. I think that you have to kind of
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: come and take away that this is somebody who is fun,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: he is dynamic, and the level of competition that he
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: is playing up against on a regular basis, he is
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: going to be the reason why I think Louisville's favorite
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: in a lot of games. I was very high on
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Louisville going into the season. I thought they were the
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: most underrated team in the country, and I stand behind
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: it because I think they're playing like a top 13 roster.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: The way that they were able to respond at home,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: you got to do this consistently, and that defense has
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: got to get better. It just does. But you saw
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: a quarterback that had been playing in a rhythm and
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: playing clean football be able to win in front of
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: his hometown crowd and be able to win by 10.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: And honestly, I think that's the reason why you start
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: believing in Louisville a little bit more is the fact
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: that it may be a little bit unorthodox, but they're
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: winning football games. I mean, they're winning football games. They're
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: winning it in clean fashion.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: The.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Is Louisville shot on my guy, Louie McCoy as well.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Florida state transfer continues to go off up there, which
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not even, that's not even like a, Oh, look
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: at my Nobel. He was in a crowded room with
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: deuce Rob. Like he's in a good situation. And I
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: really am truly happy for him. But I told Louisville
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: folks like, you're going to love this kid. And I
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: think they do.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Are they good enough? Defensively?
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I think the answer would be no, but are they
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: good enough to compete with Miami? I mean, if that's
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: the matchup that we get.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: What version of Miami are we getting?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: And what version of Louisville's defense do we get?
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Hey, guys, just a real quick break from the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: video to tell you, go check out the Price Picks app.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: We tell you about them all the time, but all
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: new users.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Over there who play $ 5 get $ 150 in lineups instantly
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: if they win using code HMA on their first lineup.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: It's not just lineups, though. It's team picks as well.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: We've got the Heisman odds right here. Those continue to update.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Trinidad number one. You've got Darian Mensah up there at
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: number two. Camario Taylor, shout out Mississippi State, number three.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: You've got Jeremiah Smith, C.J. Carr, Jaden Baugh, all the
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: way up to number six. Arch Manning, Gunnar Stockton, Julian Sayen,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Malachi Toney.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: Will Hammond.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: A ton of names here. You can go play team
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: picks as well. You can take first team to score.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: You can take a bunch of different picks on the
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Prize Picks app. Go check them out. We appreciate them
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: for their support. Now back to the clip on the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Power 2.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Wake Forest just was able to do against Miami. I
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: think there's some valid questions about what Miami can do defensively. Reasonably,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: looking at the rest of Louisville's schedule, they'll host the
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: aforementioned Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Gio Lopez was banged up
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: against Miami, so I don't know what his status is
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: going to be. I assume he'll play, but how mobile
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: he's able to be.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: He took a.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: Lot of hits against Miami the other night in Winston-Salem.
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: I would favor Louisville against Wake Forest at home. I
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: would favor Louisville against the oopsie-daisy C.J. Bailey NC State
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Wolf Pack. I would favor Louisville against Florida State.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Sorry, T.J.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: I would favor Louisville at Syracuse in the Dome. I
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: would favor Louisville hosting Stanford. I would favor Louisville at
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: Georgia Tech. I think that would be a physical game,
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: and that might be something where it's a little bit
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: of a shootout, maybe a little bit dicey. I would
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: favor Louisville at UNC. I would favor Louisville against Pitt.
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: But Heintschel put some good stuff on tape this past week,
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: so I was encouraged by that. And then it's a
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: coin flip for me, Louisville versus Kentucky. That's going to
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: be a hell of a rivalry game to end the season.
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: I'll say this now. I think Louisville will be the
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: most fun team to watch in the Power Four in 2026.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: I don't think they're going to play much defense. I
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: think they can try and get a little bit better
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: when it comes to not giving up.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: A ton of points.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: They're going to score a bunch of points the remainder
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: of the season. So if you want to tune in
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: and watch a fun game where it's going to feel
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: like arena football. Louisville is your hookup. Lincoln Keenholz is
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: doing really, really solid things for having played next to
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: no college football in the grand scheme of things. I'm
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: very impressed by what this offense is. I think they
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: can go 10-2. I think they can go 11-1, best-case scenario,
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: if they were able to take out Kentucky at the
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: end of the year. That's the only game remaining on
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: this schedule, and barring catastrophic injuries, that really scares me
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: for Louisville the remainder of the season because, yes, they're
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: going to give up points, They'll probably be in some
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: close games, but they can light up the scoreboard. So
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: for me, right now, not to call it in week three,
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: but my expectation is Miami-Louisville in the ACC title game.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I'll call it week three.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: That's my expectation.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: What Louisville has to avoid is they do this every year,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: and the Louisville fans will tell you this.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I agree with you, Tom. I'd favor them in every
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: game the rest of the way.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: They've got to avoid that thing they do every year
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: where they fall into the trap of just losing a game.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: They shouldn't. Now they have the tiebreaker with SMU.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: So they're probably still going to go to the ACC
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: championship anyway, as long as they don't drop two games.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: But if you're talking about a team that wants to
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: go to the playoff and has now, again, not a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: great resume because it seems like if things shake out
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: the way they're supposed to, they're going to have how
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: many ranked wins will one against SMU and And then
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: two ranked losses to Miami if they don't win that
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: game in Charlotte.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: And then Ole Miss. Those are two really good losses.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Is that enough of a resume to get it as
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: an at-large? I don't know. I don't know in the ACC.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: It's going to be close.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: They're going to be somewhere between 11 and 10 and 15.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: But it helps that they're 14th right now. But I'm
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: just telling you, some of these SEC teams start beating
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: each other. You're going to see some SEC teams jump.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: You could see Florida jump. You could see Tennessee jump.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: You're going to see that jump start to happen. So
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Louisville doesn't have a lot of chances for massive statement
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: wins down the stretch. It's a good thing in the
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: fact that they're not going to lose a lot of games.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: And so the play for Louisville needs to be getting
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to the ACC championship and then be the better team
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: than Miami for 60 minutes.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: Easier said than done, but they did it last year
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: in South Florida.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Getting it as that large is tough because I just
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: don't know where the quality wins are coming from.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: It's very similar to the SMU thing a few years
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: ago when SMU and Clemson got in. They didn't penalize Clemson.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, they didn't penalize SMU because for three and
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: a half quarters, SMU was the better team, and we
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: all thought they were going to the playoff, and you're
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: one of the ACC. I think this is very poignant,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: and TJ just brought this up. The games against Pitt...
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: and the games against potentially Kentucky late in the year,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: or even Georgia Tech, I don't think that you worry about.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I genuinely don't. I think that those are the ones
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: you say, yeah, Jeff Brom's got this team covered. I
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: worry about a road trip to Sears. I worry about
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: facing off against North Carolina on the road.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Because if they.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: They do this every year.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: They do it every year. Didn't they lose to Stanford
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: last year?
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: They lost to Stanford in 2024. And last season they
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: lost in overtime to Cal.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: And Cal was not good last season. Again, they do
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: this every year. They lost to Clemson last season. They
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: lost to that Clemson offense last season. It's, It's the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Jeff Brown effect of, I will be a 9-3 coach.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Or, I mean, no, no.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I will be a 9-win team every single year. And
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: that is the barometer. And what's funny is, again, is
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: that this is the best offense he has had since
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: he got Louisville. I love the offensive line playing. I
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: love that they have a mobile quarterback. I love the
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: receiving room. They got two running backs that can go
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: off at any given moment. They can do whatever they
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: want in these situations. it's against the bottom dwellers. That
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: you just are like, it's too close to cover. Here's
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: the other thing that you have to hope for. Because
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: you brought this up. As much as I think it's unfair,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: you have to start winning big too. You have to
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: win big because of the thing that you've got right
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: now is eventually, what if Tennessee wins on Saturday? All right, well,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Texas is not dropping outside of so-and-so, but Tennessee's got
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: to move on up, which means you got to get
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: pushed on back. What's the barometer here? If you win
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: big over Wake Forest, if you win big over Syracuse,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: if you win big over Pitt, They can't drop you
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: because of guys as much as we can say, oh,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: it's one thing that Tennessee won a football game on
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: a game-winning field goal against Texas. If you're winning by
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: double digits, why are you penalized for that? You're doing
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: your job. So they have to win big. And the
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: final thing is that they have to hope that Ole
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Miss holds up its end of the bargain and that
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: loss continues to look better and better and better.
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: I think the margin for error is next to none.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: That's the unfortunate part. That's the challenge for Louisville is
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: that you have to go. You can only afford to
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: lose to Kentucky the rest of the season.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Everything else, you have to sweep your ACC schedule, which
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: is asking a lot of, I think, of any team
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: to just say, hey, by the way, you've got to
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: win all your conference games. That's asking a lot. But
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: they're capable of it. But they are absolutely capable of it.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: Their future is entirely in their hands, and that's what's
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: going to make Louisville exciting this year.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: And I will say this.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: If they lose an ACC game like they've done, drop
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: one that they shouldn't, I still think they go to
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Charlotte because they do have that tiebreaker with SMU now.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: They just can't drop two, obviously. And then they can
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: play their way in. You can beat Miami and play
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: your way in. The problem becomes if it works out
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the way that Vegas would tell you it would work out,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: where they win out and then lose to Miami.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Just kind of take chalk. If that happens, I'm just
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: not sure. Tom's right. Their only hope of getting that
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: at large is by winning and winning big down the stretch.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: That's the only way they're getting it done.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Honestly, I think what makes it a little different than
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Cole's point on the SMU thing is SMU was the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: team that was in. SMU's the Miami in this situation
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: where they're already in the playoff and didn't drop them out.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: SMU's more like BYU. I'm sorry, Louisville's more like.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: BYU where they had to play their way in. They
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: didn't get that benefit of already... You want to know
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: why Bama made the playoff losing last year?
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Because they were already in. That's why SMU made the
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: playoffs two years ago. That's why, obviously, Indiana and Ohio
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: State were 1-2, so nobody was going to drop there.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: But the committee has shown that they might not drop
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: you out for losing, but they certainly ain't going to
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: jump you up for losing.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: There ain't no way they're doing that.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, on one hand, you actually, if you are Jim Phillips, quietly,
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: and you'll never admit this out loud because, let's be real,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: you want to keep Miami as happy as possible because
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: that's your national champion contender. But you quietly are hoping
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: that Louisville beats Miami so that way you have to
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: get two teams in.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: Two teams in.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Because Miami's not getting left out. I mean, if Miami
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: looks the way they did before we saw the injuries
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: really start to stockpile in Winston-Salem, they're not losing a
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: game this year and they're going to be in the playoff.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: So the best scenario would be Louisville wins the ACC,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: you get two teams in.