Andy & Ari On3 - Can Florida State AND Miami make the playoff? | ACC ceilings and floors

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's show! Gametime is the best place to buy last-minute tickets to sporting events, concerts and comedy shows. Making plans to follow your team on the road this college football season? Gametime has tickets to every game. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.Happy Memorial Day!It's time to do the Floors and Ceilings of each ACC Team, and we brought ACC Network's Roddy Jones on to discuss(0:00-2:04) Intro(2:04-10:54) Florida State(10:55-16:42) SMU(16:43-20:31) Louisville(20:32-23:20) Stanford(23:21-27:34) Cal(27:35-33:19) Clemson(33:20-37:56) NC State(37:57-42:22) North Carolina(42:23-46:19) Duke(46:20-48:47) Syracuse(48:48-53:51) Georgia Tech(53:52-58:49) Miami(58:50-1:02:27) Virginia Tech(1:02:28-1:06:07) Virginia(1:06:08-1:10:54) Boston College(1:10:55-1:14:58) Pitt(1:14:59-1:18:24) Wake Forest(1:28:25-1:19:35) We notice you, UConn(1:19:36-1:21:10) ConclusionWant to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube, and join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn2g2Wy8uiE9BhDPV4knT7AHost: Andy StaplesGuest: Roddy JonesProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Memorial Day. We got some football to talk about today. Look, you're finishing up your holiday weekend. You're getting ready for all that is to come in the following week. We're going to talk some football, take some deep dives. You've already heard the sec and the big 10 ceilings and floors we've done those now it's time for the acc the 17 team acc that's right cal

stanford and smu join the club and we are honored to have as our guest today to break it all down. You see him on ESPN and the ACC Network. You hear him on Sirius XM, College Sports Nation and ACC Radio. Roddy Jones, how are we doing, Roddy? It is always a good day when I get to catch up with you, Andy. We're talking football in May. So I'm phenomenal, man. How are you?

I am wonderful. And you are the perfect person to discuss this with because you and I were together in Amelia Island for the ACC meetings a couple weeks ago. And during that time, one of your assignments for SiriusXM was you had to talk to every single football coach in the ACC. You sat down with them. You had an interview with Dabo Sweeney that went viral. You've got probably more information in your head on this league than any other human being in the world. So I am thrilled to talk about these 17 teams with seven. It's so weird

when it comes out of my mouth. I know. It's weird to me too too. The fact that ACC Media Days this year is going to be four days, I'm just preparing myself for the marathon that it is. 17 teams doesn't even feel real. It just doesn't, but that's where we're at. So from coast to coast, the Atlantic Coast Conference. That's right. From the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast. It's going to feel real by the end of this show because we're doing all 17. So let's let us get right into it, Roddy. And we will start with the defending ACC champions, the team that if you ask any of their fans, they were completely screwed out of a college football playoff berth last year. The Florida State Seminoles, we look at their schedule, opening week zero against Georgia Tech in Dublin. This is a very different team than the one that went 13-0 and won the ACC last year. But, Roddy, I got to say, this is the only team in the ACC

that I have with a ceiling of national title. I agree. I think this is the only one that you can imagine them playing in that last game even. You know, I think there's some ACC, there are other acc teams that could make a college football playoff this florida state team ceiling is 12 and 0 in the regular season winning the acc championship getting to the college football playoff with a buy as they'll be a conference champion and likely be one of the highest seated uh highest four-seeded conference champions that get a buy

and play a couple games and be in a national championship game a lot of it's going to depend on the play of that guy dj uyangalele but but but really i think it's going to depend on mike norvell and his ability to shape that offense in a way that accentuates dj uyangalele strengths because he has him the arm strength throws a really nice deep fall his ability to run in short yardage and get away from some of those not weaknesses, but the things that aren't quite as strong, like the accuracy in the short to intermediate game. Oregon State did a pretty good job of it by running the ball. We'll see if Florida State's able to do the same thing. But I think this is absolutely a team that could contend for

a national championship. Yeah. And Roydale Williams coming from Alabama as a potential RB1, I think he could have a very big year, especially in the read option with DJ. Another guy coming from Alabama, Malik Benson, the receiver. I think they have some pretty big expectations for him. That's the thing. This roster is so different, Roddy, because you'll get Jared Burst's first-round pick. Keon Coleman and Braden Fisk were second round pick so they're like your biggest stars have moved on but I actually kind of think the

Marvin Jones Jr. Patrick Payton tandem might be one of the best edge rushing tandems in the country it should be I mean when you talk about measurables and length and ability to affect the quarterback Patrick Payton was was really good, obviously, Jared Vers last year. And so who do you pay more attention to? Last year, all the attention went to Vers. If you switch all that attention to Payton, now Marvin Jones Jr. has a field day. If you look at Marvin Jones Jr., I mean, look at Florida State's track record

taking transfers from the University of Georgia on the defensive line. Jermaine Johnson turns into a first-round pick. Marvin Jones Jr., Florida State legacy, it's going to mean a lot to him. So I really like that defensive front. I really like their secondary, Azariah Thomas. It has the ability to be the next big defensive back for Mike Novell and Florida State. I'm hesitating because I don't want to go so far as to say he reminds me

of Jalen Ramsey. Oh, wow. He's built so far as to say he reminds me of jalen ramsey but oh wow he's built like jalen ramsey he's not jalen ramsey yet but he's built like jalen ramsey so i really like it the malik benson piece too um you you count it you hit on it that is a dynamic that they didn't have consistently last year big speed plays from the receiving core. That could add a really interesting dynamic, especially with the strength of DJ Uliangole's arm. Yeah, and Lawrence Toefeli in the backfield too. I didn't mention him earlier, but he's returning and, you know, ACC MVP of the ACC championship game.

Though probably should have been Braden Fisk if they'd waited to vote a couple more minutes. But Toefeli is a very good back. And one of the players that, that came through Florida state, you know, recruiting out of high school and Mike Norvell will joke with you. He's like,

you know, I know nobody thinks we can recruit out of high school, but you know, Patrick Payton, Josh Farmer, those are guys that they got out of high school that they're, they're much better than, than people realize at that development piece.

It's just a lot of these guys, some of these transfers have come and had four years of eligibility, so it just feels like they got out of high school. And that's the thing. Florida State has been tremendous at development, both in developing high school guys, the guys that you just mentioned, and Azaria Thomas is another one who was a development. I count Jordan Travis in that as well. I know he's a fan of Louisville in the pre-Mike Norvell era,

but development there. But Jared Burst is a multi-year guy. There was development there. You look at guys like Fabian Lovett. There was development there after transferring him from Mississippi State a few years ago. And that offensive line, I think most importantly in talking about Florida State, that offensive line returns the bulk of the guys that played last year.

A lot of those guys had been transfers, but they were transfers with two, three, and four years left. And so they've been developed by Alex Adkins and Mike Norvell. He gets a bad rap with the high school stuff, and I think it's unwarranted because he's done a really nice job. Sure, they've missed on a couple, but everybody does. But the development piece on it, they have been phenomenal. The schedule breaks up nicely as well. They do have some tough games.

Obviously, Clemson coming to Florida State, but the week after they go to SMU, that's probably the toughest back-to-back they have where they go at SMU, then Clemson and Tallahassee. But then they get a little break before they go to Miami. And then there's a couple of weeks that they play North Carolina in between playing Miami and then going to Notre Dame. So those are the trickiest spots in the schedule. Florida at the end. We'll see where Florida is. But by the end of their own gauntlet that they have to go through before they get to Florida State. But this is a very manageable schedule to go 12-0 or 11-1 and then be in the ACC championship game.

It really is. And because of some of the names on there, like a Clemson, a Miami, a Notre Dame, there's certainly the opposite side of it where you could be in a situation where you're sitting there at 9-3. I think that's as bad as they could be. I think that's as bad as it could get for Florida State. And I certainly don't think they lose all three of those games realistically. But all three of those teams could be very good.

I think Clemson, I mean, look at the way that Clemson game played out last year. And Clemson should be better than they were a year ago. Miami should be better as well and that was a close game down the stretch Miami actually controlled the line of scrimmage for the vast majority of that first half despite the inability to throw the football at all and they should be significantly improved so I do I agree with you like I think the schedule breaks up well um but those those two teams will really sort of determine whether we're talking about a 12 and 0 team or maybe a 10 and 2

team down the stretch yeah and that's the three you mentioned those are the ones that it's it's it's clemson it's miami and it's notre dame where florida state is going to be playing a team that may have some something close to equal talent yeah maybe florida well but i think florida state's probably more talented than Florida. So most of these other games, yeah, they should be able to out-talent people, which, again, when you think back to what Mike Norvell took over, that's quite a step forward. So they're in a good spot.

Roddy, before we get to our next team, I've got to tell everybody about game time because if you would like to see the Seminoles this year, like maybe you want to go see them in Dallas playing at SMU at the end of September, you can do it. You can go to Gerald Ford stadium and see them play against the Mustangs. You could also, you know,

see SMU play against it's ACC schedule. I'm sure the SMU fans are, are, you know, they got a whole bunch of new road trips. They're like, okay, how do I find tickets? Well, you go to game time. And when you go to game time, you can look exactly where you'd be sitting in the stadium. You can turn your phone and it'll be like turning your head in your seat. So you know exactly what seat you're getting with the all in price. you know exactly how much you're paying a couple more taps those tickets are yours use the code staples to get 20 off your first purchase that's code staples 20 off your first purchase terms do apply but go to game time they have tickets for every single game even if it's sold out even like you want to go see

florida state play at Notre Dame in South Bend. You can do that. Florida State, Miami. Those tickets are actually a pretty good deal right now. You can get really good seats for less than $200 right now for that Florida State, Miami game. So head to Game Time. Check it out. Any college football, concert, comedy show tickets you want, they got them all.

The best tickets. Last minute, doesn't matter. They're all there, guaranteed. Go to game time. Use the code STAPLES. 20 bucks off your first purchase. All right. Let's talk about one of the newbies.

The Southern Methodist University Mustangs. The Pony Express rides into the ACC. And they get Florida State right out of the gate at home. And then they go to Louisville. So they get baptized pretty quick here, Roddy. They certainly do, man. And, you know, SMU, we've called them the walk-on of the conference. Maybe a little unfairly, but they aren't taking any of the rights.

Not really. They're not taking the salary money. Who among us hasn't played with that rich kid walk-on? I was with the rich kid walk-on, by the way. Look, we've all played with them, and sometimes they end up performing really well. So, you know, I am bullish on SMU this year. I am excited to see what they do in the ACC.

They've got the biggest positions, not figured out, but they seem better equipped than a lot of the other teams that we've seen make that transition from the group of five to the power five. They've got the quarterback figured out, and they've got an offensive line that's full of a lot of power five transfers that is going to be pretty cohesive going into next year. and it was one of the best offensive lines in the group of five maybe the best offensive line in the group of five a year ago so so look the opening slate in the ACC Florida State Louisville that's tough but then it gets much more manageable in the back end

at Stanford it's not going to scare anybody at Duke's not going to scare anybody right now Pittsburgh coming off a really down year. I don't really know what to make of Boston College. We'll talk about that a little bit later. At Virginia, it's a plucky team, but I think SMU's better. And then Cal, they should be able to run the back half of that schedule pretty well. So I don't think this is a team that's going to make an ACC championship game. Those first two games probably prevent that.

But I do think it's a team that could end up 9-3 at the end of the year very realistically, especially if they get off to a good start in the non-conference. Yeah, I have them at 10-2 for the ceiling if all goes right, if everything goes right. And then maybe you are in the ACC championship game,

depending on the two. Preston Stone is the presumed starter quarterback, but Kevin Jennings came in and played for them in the, in the American championship game last year. And they kept them both. Like it apparently was touch and go a little bit with Jennings for a while, but they kept them both. And I talked to Rhett Lashley about this.

So, you know, he's a Gus Malazan disciple. He and Gus had a lot of discussions because Gus's UCF team went from the American Conference to the Big 12 last year. And it was Gus's toughest year as a head coach. And the depth caught up with them. They had a collapse against Baylor. They probably should have beaten Oklahoma and didn't. And so Gus gave Rhett quite a bit of advice about how to handle depth as you move up in conference. And Rhett clearly took it because they loaded up in the transfer portal on the line of scrimmage.

Jared Harrison Hunt, defensive lineman from Miami. Omari Amor, defensive lineman from Ohio State. Jonathan Jefferson, defensive lineman from Georgia. Andrew Shambly, who started eight games as an offensive tackle at Arkansas last year. Jafari Harvey was an edge at Miami. Billy Walton was an edge at Texas. Tank Booker was a offensive tackle at Arkansas last year. Jafari Harvey was an edge at Miami. Billy Walton was an edge at Texas. Tank Booker was a D tackle at Arkansas. These guys probably, most of these guys were not stars on their old teams.

But in terms of the right size bodies who are used to dealing with the size bodies you're going to see they have that so that this gives me some confidence what doesn't is like this team was the american athletic conference champion last year they lost 34 17 to a bad tcu team like that's and tcus the you know tcus an established big 12 program that's deeper so like I look at the BYU and the TCU game, which are not ACC games. Those feel like must wins if you want to have a really good season. Nobody's expecting you to beat Florida State,

but beat BYU and TCU, and I think you're going to have a really good year. I could not agree more. Those two games to me are the difference between nine and three, 10 and two and six and six. And, you know, obviously if you're at nine and three, you lose two more games. You're already at seven and five, but then what does that do to your confidence as well? If you're limping,

I mean, if you lose one or those, or both of those two games in the front half of the schedule, you're looking at two and four, three and three, and then going into the back half, how do you rebound for that? So I think those games are big, yes, from a win-loss standpoint, but also from just a morale standpoint going into ACC play against two of the best in the league. So I could not agree more.

I think the BYU game, the Tcu game are sort of not not the ultimate determining factors because a lot of football after it you want to have a special season you better take care of business in the non-com and the acc needs when wins like that it's it's a conversation we had last week with the perception of the league like wins like that individually don't necessarily move the meter but add them up. If the teams around the league are winning games like that, it becomes a much bigger deal. I have their floor at 5-7 just in case the depth is not where it needs to be

and it catches up to them toward the end of the season. But I think it's going to be a much better season than that. Like I said, 10-2 for the ceiling for me. You had 9-3. I think this could be a very good team. I have the floor in the exact same spot. Again, because of the depth in case it falls out. There is a scenario. There's a lot of toss-ups in there, to be honest with you. I think SMU is a little bit better, but not

so much better that they can survive an injury or two. Another team with a pretty wide spread between ceiling and floor. This is a team that SMU has to play after Florida State. They go to Louisville. Louisville, we saw in the ACC championship game last year. This team, much like last year's team, very different than the one that came before it. Last year, it was Jeff Brom coming in,

bringing in a lot of guys from the portal. This year, they lost a lot of the older guys that Jeff Brom had brought in. Now they had to replace a lot of those guys through the portal. You're seeing more movement, like the whole Tyler Barron thing. He's not going to wind up at Louisville,

it doesn't sound like. But they have Tyler Shook at quarterback, who I think is fascinating because he's been at Oregon. He's been at Texas Tech. He's never really been healthy, but all the tools are there. Their O-line is revamped. So they got Monroe Mills from Texas Tech and Jonathan Mendoza from Yale at the tackles.

Pete Nygaard from Northern Illinois at the center. Don Chaney Jr. averaged 5.1 yards to carry in Miami. He's now Louisville's runner. Colin Lacey from South Alabama was their best receiver. This is a team that could look entirely different, but could be probably just as good as last year. Yeah, and Jeff Braum has sort of acknowledged that they're going gonna have to be either just as good or better than last year to even get close to that win total because the

schedule is much tougher yeah here Louisville is super interesting to me man because when you get Notre Dame you get you go to Clemson you get Miami and they can't beat Kentucky right now so so you yes that in the loss column until proven otherwise. I think from a ceiling standpoint, you hope to get one of those four and then you run the table the rest of the way and you end up at nine and three. But this is a team that is going to look vastly different. I do think defensively with Ashton Jaladi back,

with MJ Griffin back and healthy, and the surrounding cast around them, I think this is a defense that has a chance to be just as good as they were a year ago. They did lose a couple of pieces that were pretty big for them. But I think those are pieces that can be replaced when you have an elite edge rusher and a guy on the back end that's as talented and versatile as MJ Griffin. So I think defensively, you should get at least close to what you saw a year ago.

And offensivelyly that system they should be better at tight end they did not get a lot of production at the tight end position i really like colin lacey coming over from south alabama and and you said it like injuries have prevented tyler shuck from reaching his ceiling he's in his seventh year of football like he has been around forever if he can stay healthy and if don Chaney Jr. is also struggling with injuries if they can stay healthy both then you've got a really good battery um in that backfield so I like the potential of Louisville I really do but I kind of feel like I did last year Andy like I don't know exactly what to do with them I know a little right that I did last year but there's so many changes that uh that you can't be sure yeah they like they caught Notre Dame at the right time last

year and and beat them down and then they go to lose to Pitt. Like it doesn't – it didn't make a lot of sense. Like Florida State exposed their offense. The Florida State defense exposed their offense in the ACC championship game. But the defense, you know, Gelati especially is fantastic. Mason Rager, the other edge rusher, very good. And they get Thor Griffiffith our guy from harvard who can bench 225 about 700 times so you get the god of thunder and like you have to be

you have to be great on defense exactly exactly the the intelligent god of thunder the god of thunder with a lot of a degree that's an elevator god a thunder that we've never met before exactly exactly well we've met him because he's been on our show we had we had him for the season last year thor thor's a fun dude all right let us go to a team that is on louisville schedule that they're new and apparently have uh have angered the people in the conference office because they gave them everybody that could be difficult. Stanford, which is coming off a pretty tough year, is at Syracuse and at Clemson to open ACC play.

They get Virginia Tech. They're at Notre Dame, which, of course, Notre Dame is on their schedule every year. They're at NC State, and then Louisville comes to them. The only thing they didn't get was a trip to Tallahassee, pretty much, out of course, Notre Dame is on their schedule every year. They're at NC State and then Louisville comes to them. The only thing they didn't get was a trip to Tallahassee pretty much out of this thing. But yeah, what did Troy Taylor do to make the ACC mad? I feel like Stanford was kind of used to solve a lot of problems. Like who we've got an issue with this team playing this team. Let's just stick Stanford in there.

You know, let's just make Stanford go there. I don't know. I feel bad a little bit for Troy Taylor. This should be an improved team. Like, they've got some talent, particularly on the offensive side of the football. They were so young last year. I thought they made some strides. They played a bunch of close games.

Could have beat USC last year. Yep. And did beat Colorado with a crazy comeback. Yeah. And their reward is with a crazy comeback. Yeah. And their reward is to join a new league and get sent to every hard team other than Florida State. I think Stanford is going to be judged less on what they do from a win-loss perspective, more the strides that they make.

Like the film will tell the story of Stanford's season. I have their ceiling. I think it's probably four and eight. Like I think that's fair. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Is that high? Do I think it's probably four and eight like I think that's oh wow okay yeah is that high do you think that's high no I I thought you know five and seven maybe would be charitable in case things bounce right but but the other thing is you know they play TCU in the non-conference obviously Notre Dame is in the non-conference. San Jose State's breaking in a new coach. We'll see about them.

But the TCU, I think they're probably due for a bounce back. That's not who you want to see right out of the gate. But I love Alec Aominor. If you saw him in the Colorado game last year blowing up, he and Tiger Bachmeier are established receivers. Ashton Daniels seems to have that job locked down at quarterback. Emmitt Mosley was an early enrollee freshman who I think impressed them in spring practice because A.O. Menor and Bachmeier were out for a lot of the spring. They got a couple of good edge rushers.

So I think they might be able to surprise somebody, but it's interesting. They were the least experienced team in the FBS last year, and they're not much more experienced this year. So it will be probably tough sledding, and the schedule just, you know, brutal. Five and seven for me on the ceiling. I got three and nine on the floor because I do think they've got enough talent to win some games, but it's not going to be easy.

Roddy, let's go to the other side of the rivalry. Let's just cross the bay and go to Berkeley. Talking about Cal, I was standing with Justin Wilcox at the ACC meetings. We were talking like, how weird is it to be here? I would imagine it's incredibly weird for them. It was weird for us to have them there. It's like, Hey, welcome to ACC spring meetings. How long was your flight? And he's like, Oh, you know, a couple movies on the flight and I'm talking long ones.

So it's something he's going to have to get used to. It's a super interesting Cal team though, man. They obviously have to replace our offensive coordinator after Jake Spavitol leaves, They promote Mike Flesch. Offensive line coach, who, by the way, I would lobby for more offensive line coaches to be offensive coordinators.

I mean, I don't know why we would see it. Preach! Preach! We always feel like the offensive coordinators have to coach the quarterbacks. What about the most important position, man? It's the largest position group. You've got to deal coach the quarterbacks. What about the most important position, man? It's the largest position group. You've got to deal with the most personalities. You deal with the most people in general.

And Mike Blesch did a really good job last year putting this line together. He's got a lot of experience coming back on it too. And like Jaden Ott led the nation in all-purpose yards per game. It wasn't all Jaden Ott. There were people blocking for him too. I enjoy this team and i think promoting mike blesch after you lose jake spavadol to to baylor is very helpful because you want some continuity in that offense i like fernando mendoza like we're going to talk about

a couple of really fun quarterbacks here when we talk about boston college and virginia kind of wild card guys where you don't know what's going to happen. Let's put Fernando Mendoza in that club, too. Yeah, we should. But they've got a little bit of a quarterback. Not a little bit. They've got a quarterback competition. Chandler Robinson comes in from North Texas to compete with Fernando Mendoza. I think it's probably Mendoza's job, although Justin Wilcox is pretty tight-lipped about

it at ACC Media. He was honest, but it's a real competition that they're going to take into the fall. We'll see who wins the quarterback job. I love the offensive line. I love Jaden Ott. I think that defense should be better. That was a Cal defense that was not vintage Justin Wilcox. I like this Cal team.

Now, we go to the schedule. Exactly. At Florida State, Miami, NC State, you go to smu who i think is going to be good you go to auburn early in the year like i think that auburn game is really important so i gave cal a ceiling of eight and four um because i don't know that you're getting at florida state nc state i like a lot in miami and then one the other ones, like I don't know what to do with Oregon State now with the turnover that they've had.

So I think that's probably a win. I guess if you're generous, you could go 9-3 as the ceiling. I think 8-4 is probably a more realistic ceiling. I had 7-5 as the ceiling just because the schedule is so hard. If you're not going to Auburn, and San Diego State with Sean Lewis coming in, we don't know what they're going to be. But traditionally, San Diego State has been a tough out. So the at Auburn thing, if you watched our SEC ceilings and floor shows,

you know I think Auburn is going to be quite a bit better this year than last year. And then you're at Florida State. You've got Miami, Miami NC State Oregon State you know I don't it's it's interesting with some of these games like I don't think Oregon State views Cal the way they view some of these other former Pac-12 schools like Cal it's not Cal's fault that Oregon State's in the situation it's in so it's probably not we're gonna try to destroy their their hopes and dreams situation like like when they play oregon but i'm sure they want to win that game pretty badly because you know they're in a they're in a different situation cal did get a lifeline from the acc so yeah i had seven and fives the ceiling three and nine is the floor just because again the schedule's so hard it's

a widespread i had eight and i had uh four and eight as the floor but i agree with you man like if it goes wrong for cal it could go really wrong because there's not there's not a lot of places you can hide there's no there's no weeks you're gonna roll it out there and and likely get a win if you don't play well all right let us go to a team that i know everybody wants to talk about everybody has takes And you had an interview with their head coach that went viral. We ended up doing an almost an entire show on what he said. Davo Sweeney. Clemson is one of four teams that did not take a single transfer in the spring window or the winter window.

And that would be a Clemson army air force and Navy. What do army air force and Navy have in common? You have to get someone in Congress to recommend the person go to school there. So Clemson does not have a congressional recommendation requirement that I know of. So this is the thing. And what Dabo said to you was, you know, the transfers fall into several buckets. It's guys who couldn't play for Clemson anyway because they're not good enough which I buy completely because they recruit so

well out of high school uh it's guys that are have been tampered with and already know where they're going so that's obviously you're not you're not in the mix for those and then the one that I found most interesting basically dabbo said the guys he thinks could help clemson clemson can't afford that was fascinating to me man because i can understand kind of you know saying hey look those guys the first two bucket we're never gonna get if it's just a numbers game like why aren't you in that game you you should be in that game everybody else is in that game and and i i hate be in that game. Everybody else is in that game. And, and I hate it when coaches sort of make it seem like that's a bad thing.

Like in order to hire my services to do anything, if there's multiple people coming to me, like it's going to end up to be a numbers game, you know, all of a sudden it's the open market. Yes. Culture is going to be part of it and opportunity is going to be part of all that, but money is going to be part of it. And opportunity is going to be part of all that, but money is going to be part of it as well. And so that's what I, that's sort of the disconnect that I have with what Dabo said is like that

third bucket, you should be competing for people in those buckets. You should be, you know, wanting guys who don't just want the paycheck, but want the paycheck and to win. And so that's, that's sort of the place where I think the opportunity is had, and that's where I don't think things have landed. This is still a really talented Clemson team, though. Last year's team was a really talented Clemson team,

and if they don't turn the ball over, if they make a couple of decisions different late in games, then they're a much better team. I think the ceiling for this team this year is 10-2. I think you could talk yourself into 11-1. They ain't beating Georgia, but you could convince yourself that they could go down and beat Florida State in Tallahassee. They almost beat them at home last year if it wasn't for that Cade Colvin, you know, getting sacked and then Kalen Deloach returning it for a touchdown,

changed the tide of the entire game as they were up seven and driving when that happened. Now, I think on the other side nc state's on that schedule nc state beat last year and this is a better nc state team i think this year um and then and then obviously south carolina's a cornfield at the end so so ultimately like i think this is a clemson team that's probably somewhere between 10 and 2 and 8 and 4 8 and 4 would feel like the sky is falling but i think it's a legitimate college football playoff contender and and should be to be honest with you the way they recruited out of high school,

the way that defensive line looks with Peter Woods and those guys up there, Barrett Carter at linebacker, Wade Wood as looks to be a guy. They've got A.B. on Terrell, A.J. Terrell's little brother on the back end. Phil Moff is back on offense. They're excited about Bryant Westco, although, you know, if I had a nickel for every time they've been excited about a receiver in the last five years I'd probably have a dollar but but it's it's all going to come down to how good can Kate Clubmeek be really in the moments that matter the biggest moments yeah Bryant Wesco and Sammy Brown in that freshman class like they look like the

kind of guys Clemson usually takes, gets, make an impact, and then develop and get even better and wind up becoming good NFL players. They're still good at that. That's the thing that gets me. I'm with you. This is a college football playoff team at the ceiling. This is an 8-4 team at the floor. There's not a ton of drop- off but where where the disconnect is for me

is they could be a team that could be competitive with Georgia they could be a team that if they get in the playoff could beat teams in the playoff except they don't do the things that the other teams do to build their rosters which means there are holes on the offensive line, at receiver, that they could have been filling all this time, and they're not. I could not agree more. The portal for Clemson is less about filling up a roster. You just pick and choose. When a Caleb Downs is on the market, you go and you get Caleb Downs,

or at least you're in the running for Caleb Downs. I know Georgia didn't get them, but Georgia was trying. Why? Because he's the best defender in the country, damn near. And certainly as a freshman, he was the best freshman defender in the country at Ohio State. I'll bid you.

Okay. That's okay. Like that. But those are the guys that you should be competing for. Reportedly, they went after five offensive linemen, didn't get any of them. One of them was from shorter college, Roddy. He wound up in Maryland.

That's the thing. You should not be getting beat out by Maryland. I'm sorry. You're Clemson. You should not be getting beat out by Maryland. The schools that they're getting beat out by for the guys that they do want is a little alarming to me. Yeah.

Well, and so the thing is, like Clemson is still one of those teams in the ACC that we look at as a potential playoff contender with the 12 team we still look at them as an ACC championship contender but we don't look at them as invincible anymore Florida State has sort of assumed that spot and I don't know the Florida State's invincible either but there's another team that as Clemson has kind of ticked down this program has ticked up consistently good every year and I know you're high on these guys because the piece they always seem to be missing was the QB and it feels like they got it the NC State Wolfpack I am fired up about NC State I think that week

two game against Tennessee like it's a massive game for the league from a perception standpoint it's a massive game for NC State and to be honest it's a type of game that NC State's kind of struggled in in the past the non-conference against an SEC school remember those couple games against Mississippi State earlier State a few years ago. Games they should have won. They ended up losing one of them. So it's big. And no, this Tennessee team is better

than those Mississippi State teams. So I think it'll have NC State's attention. I think this NC State team, you lose Peyton Wilson on the defensive side, yes. But this was a team that's played without Peyton Wilson over the last few seasons, and that defense has maintained and been good. They've now turned over the entire linebacking core

from the defense a couple years ago, and they've maintained being good. You look at the defensive line, and I think they've got some of the most underrated players in that defensive line in the conference, Davin Vann in particular. They've got to replace him on the back end, but they feel really good about it.

I think this – oh, and the schedule. Let's talk about – Manageable. Yes. After you get past Clemson, I mean, Wake Forest is – we'll talk about Wake Forest, but they struggled last year. Syracuse is a bit of one that you're going to have to figure out, but a new coaching staff.

At Cal, they're better than Cal on paper, better than Stanford on paper, better than Duke on paper, better than Georgia tech on paper. And they've got North Carolina's number. So this is a team that I think the ceiling, I think the ceiling is 11 and one. I really do. And then you're in the college football playoff and Dave Doran finally gets his 10 win season. NC state finally gets their 10 win season. I think it's an ACC championship contender.

I think they are a college football playoff participant at their top end. I'm really excited. And to be honest, like, the floor is not too far away from that. I think the floor is probably 9-3 unless somebody gets hurt. But Grayson McCall, a quarterback I'm really excited about. Jordan Waters at running back. They haven't been able to run the ball great since, like, Matt Gaze back in 2017, which is weird. But I think they'll been able to run the ball great since Matt Gaze back in 2017, which is weird.

But I think they'll be able to run the ball. I think they'll get great quarterback play, and I think that defense will do what that defense does. Tony Gibson's probably the most underrated defensive coordinator in the country. Tony Gibson and the way he calls a defense. I may be sending three or I may be sending eight. I'm not going to tell you.

You're going to figure it out when you snap the ball. Against the Tennessee offense, the variability of outcomes every snap in that game is going to be wild. It's going to be one of those that could be a 75-yard touchdown pass or a 15-yard loss on a sack. It is going to be crazy. I'm really excited about that. Excited to see Grayson McCall in this offense because he was obviously so good in Jamie Chadwell's offense at Coastal Carolina. Tim Beck So I'm really excited about that. Excited to see Grayson McCall in this offense because he was obviously so good in Jamie Chadwell's offense at Coastal Carolina. Tim Beck comes in, takes over.

Didn't really, I think, know exactly what to do with him. So we'll see what Robert and I does with Grayson McCall here this year. And look, Casey Concepcion was really good last year. You know, you look at the defense last year, Roddy, like they can't, they rounded into form even as the offense was struggling, like after the whole, cause let's be real. They messed up the quarterback situation last year. They recruited Brennan Armstrong over MJ Morris realized that was a mistake

started in J Morris. He realizes, oh, I'm pretty good. They recruited over me. I'm shutting it down. So I'm going to go in the portal. So he's at Maryland now, but they ended up with a better quarterback situation now because they have a guy who's won a ton of games. So I'm with you.

I am very high on this team. College football playoff is absolutely the ceiling for them. And yeah, I had eight and four as the floor, but I think I was probably being generous to the teams on their schedule. Nine and three is probably more realistic as a floor. This is a good team and a program that I think has really found its identity. And that's so important. Like just kind of knowing what you are. And Dave Doran, I think has been establishing that over the years. And now you really kind of know what you're going to get from NC state. So that's a, that's going to be a good team, but you mentioned a team whose number they have, and that is their rival in Chapel Hill North Carolina is in a very interesting place Drake May is gone all the Tez Walker stuff he got to play for a little bit he's gone

Omari and Hampton though is back and he is a star Cayman Rucker back on the edge on defense Jeff Collins takes over as a defense coordinator Roddy I feel like people are very down on North Carolina this year the more I think about it the on the edge on defense, Jeff Collins takes over as a defense coordinator. Roddy. I feel like people are very down on North Carolina this year. The more I think about it, the more I'm like, you know what? They might be just as good as last year.

There's there's reason to think. And look, like I know Drake may in his departure leaves a massive hole. They're going to get either Max Johnson or Connor Harold to be the, the quarterback on offense and then tez walker's gone and he was a big name but they got a lot of production from guys like jj jones last year that tight end room is as good a tight end room as you'll find in this league with uh john copenhaver uh with bryson nesbitt and with jake johnson max's brother coming over they feel good about the offensive line they. They re-upped on the offensive line with a bunch of transfers.

And then Jeff Collins on defense is going to be interesting because Jeff Collins does a lot defensively, but he teaches it in a way that's really simple. Those Georgia Tech teams, and I know he wasn't calling the plays primarily, but those Georgia Tech teams probably played better than their talent defensively in a lot of ways. And the last time he was a full-time defensive coordinator was at Florida,

and those Florida defenses were awesome. They were phenomenal. Yeah, they were fantastic. And he had a lot of talent on those. He's got some pretty good talent on this defense too. Yeah, exactly. And so I look at this North Carolina team. I think ceiling-wise they're probably a 9-3 team.

There's just something about some of the teams they play. Like they can't beat Georgia Tech. They can't beat Virginia. They can't beat NC State. I think they get one of those this year. Like it just has to break their way. I think they may get two of them this year. History would say no.

Like I'm just like there's a boogeyman in some of those. They're better than I think. I think they're just as good as Georgia Tech, if not better. I think they're better than Virginia, and they're not quite NC State, but I think that they'll play NC State close. But the trip, the Florida State, that's a tough one. I think the ceiling's probably 9-3. You can convince yourself of 10-2.

I think the floor is like 7-5. I think this team is right sort of in that 7-9 win range because the talent's there, man. The talent's there. And they got the best running back in the league. Exactly. Yeah, 9-3, 7-5 is exactly where I had them too. Got to beat Minnesota in that first game.

We don't know what Minnesota's going to be necessarily. They brought in a new quarterback from New Hampshire. They lost their defensive coordinator to Michigan State, so they're revamping that side of the ball. So it's a little bit of a mystery there, but yeah, I think all the predictions, oh, Mac's going to hang it up after this year because it's going to be so tough for him. I don't think it's going to be that tough for him this year. I think the pressure of having a top five pick a quarterback probably was worse last year than what you're going to be dealing with this year.

I think you're going in with lower expectations, but you're probably going in with across the board as much talent as you had. I had their all-access spring practice. We didn't broadcast the spring game. And we sort of asked them about that. Like after years of having the spotlight firmly on you, you know, the replacing of Sam Howell coming off of that great season and having Drake Bay and then Drake Bay for two seasons,

the attention that they had coming in last year because of Drake Bay, like how, how does it feel to, to not, like people are not going to be talking about you guys in the preseason, Mack Brown, Chip Lindsay, Jeff Collins, they love it. And the other thing, Chip Lindsay is a guy that has worked his way up. Like he was a high school coach at one point in time and and has worked his way up and has earned his way to being the offensive coordinator uh at north carolina jeff collins embarrassing situation at georgia

tech where he gets let go but those dudes are hungry and i think i think that is uh you know people may may doubt max fire although I don't think you should. But his coordinators, man, they're hungry. Yeah, I think that Jeff Collins' defensive coordinator hire is going to prove to be one of the more impactful coordinator hires of the offseason. He's a good defensive coordinator. You can say whatever you want about his head coaching tenure at Georgia Tech. I don't care.

When the man's calling a defense, the defense plays pretty well. Yes, sir. Let's stay in the triangle, though, Roddy. Manny Diaz, speaking of guys who call a great defense, he was last seen as the defense coordinator at Penn State. He takes over for Mike Elko at Duke. And this is a back end of the schedule is brutal. And they lost a lot through the transfer portal.

They lost Riley Leonard, their quarterback to Notre Dame. Their offensive line was very thin. They basically, if you are smart, have a degree, and can block, you're coming to Duke because they're getting transfer offensive linemen from Stanford, Holy Cross, Cornell, and Lafayette. Malik Murphy, last seen filling in for Quinn Ewers at Texas against Kansas State. He is your new starting quarterback. So what do we make of the Blue Devils under Manny Diaz in year one? I'm sorry, Manny. I'm sorry that you walk into this situation. So much of our initial thoughts about a head coach come after, you know,

year one, year two. Mike Elko walked into a really good situation where he had a Riley Leonard. He had a defense that the bones were pretty good. He just – an offense or a program that just needed a boost. Manny Diaz is kind of walking into the opposite. Like, the cupboard is bare. And it's not mike elko's fault like that offensive line they all just graduated or got drafted a defensive line largely they all just graduated or got drafted you had a guy transfer out but but it's just how it worked out for manny diaz i think the ceiling and i'm

i'm probably stretching a little bit here. I think the ceiling is probably five and seven. The floor is somewhere in that two range. Because I think Northwestern and UConn, like you look at what David Brown did at Northwestern last year, you go up there. I don't think that's a sure thing. And I don't think UConn is a sure thing. And then when you get an ACC play, they're on paper probably as good as wake but that's about it um i i'm not real high on this duke team not because i don't think manny diaz

is good i think he's phenomenal i really like the hires that he made at coordinators i just think like this is a team that couldn't field an entire offensive line for their spring game yeah um so i just i just there's a lot of questions. It's it is a tough situation. And you have to consider what the coach walks into. It's not like Elko had an incredible first year at Duke, but it was a very different situation. And like I said, you know, when you're waiting on your offensive line to finish school at Lafayette and Cornell, you know, that. That's not the situation you want. I'm with you on the 5-7, 2-10. And look, if they make a bowl game, Manny Diaz. Because here's the thing.

Manny Diaz's tenure at Miami, I feel like he's been somewhat vindicated by Mario Cristobal's first couple years at Miami. And then he goes to Penn State, and that defense was lights out with him running the defense. I think Manny Diaz is a good head coach. I think he will, he will get this program, right.

But he walked into a tough situation. Yeah, he did. And I don't think Manny Diaz has given the credit for the changes that he made as a first time head coach at Miami. Like, let's not forget that was his first job. There's a lot of learning that needs to happen and at a place like Miami you don't get to learn on the job like they expect you to be great which is why they've been

churning through head coaches for the last 20 years but you look at what he's walking into it doing he's the right person to build that program Nina King is going to be incredibly patient with him he's going to be allowed to build it they're going to support him they have done that Nina King has made it made it absolutely crystal clear that football is very important to do they will continue to support him i just don't think it's going to be this year but hopefully they develop malik murphy to keep him around for a while because i do think there's the bones there or there's the there's the there's the raw materials there for him to be really really good all right another first year head coach but this guy walks into a much better

situation and then helped make his situation better because he's got some very good relationships on the recruiting trail and he used the transfer portal about as well as any coach in america did that is fran brown year one at syracuse brings in k McCord the last year's Ohio State starting quarterback how does he bring in Kyle McCord to Syracuse well you know Fran Brown's wife used to work with Kyle McCord's dad Kyle McCord is is from the northeast he's from Pennsylvania Fran Brown's connections in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are very deep very very deep and he improved the talent on this roster they bring back guys like a ronde gadston this was not a bad team last year in dino baber's final year i'm pretty high on syracuse this year roddy yeah i like syracuse i i think the last thing that you said is probably

important to remember this was a bowl team last year yeah with without a quarterback like garrett trader's shoulder didn't work for the vast majority of the season to the point where they had to put dan valari a tight end who played quarterback in high school at quarterback and they struggled but they were still a bowl team despite the uh despite the limitations that they had i i am high on syracuse. I think if you look at that schedule, like I don't think they're better than NC State. I don't think they're better than Virginia Tech. I don't think they're better than Miami.

But everyone else I think is a winnable game for them, including Georgia Tech, which is a bit of a toss-up, but including Georgia Tech. So I look at Syracuse, I think their ceiling's 9-3. I think this is a team that defensively, we'll see how the shift, you know, going from Rocky Long's 3-3-5, literally Rocky Long, he was a defensive coordinator last year, to what Elijah Robinson wants to do with more of an even front.

I'm curious if they have the bodies. They had an influx of talent. You mentioned the guys offensively. Fadil Diggs. Fadil Diggs, yep. Did a great job for Texas A&M last year. Was probably their second best defender for the vast majority of the season last year. His versatility, I think, is going to help them a ton I really like the coaching staff I think

Elijah Robinson's a star in the making as a defensive coordinator um Fran Brown's got this infectious personality so I feel like they're going to play hard um will there be some bumps as a first year head coach probably but I think their ceilings nine and three and from a floor standpoint I guess think it's still a ball team I think they're probably 6-6 at the floor. That's if all the toss-ups don't go your way. Yeah, I feel the same way. I had the same thing. At UNLV, slightly tricky.

We'll see UNLV coming off a Mountain West championship game appearance. We're big fans of Brendan Marion on this show, the office coordinator of that go-go offense. But Syracuse has a very manageable schedule here. As you pointed out, this team was playing a tight end to quarterback for a lot of last year. This is going to be a very different situation. But Fadil Diggs is a great example.

Elijah Robinson obviously comes from Texas A&M, but Fadil Diggs is a Jersey guy. So Fran Brown's got those connections too. Remember, Fran Brown was working for Kirby Smart at Georgia. So working on establishing a culture at Syracuse that he's going to try to mimic a lot of what Kirby Smart does at Georgia. This is going to be really interesting because Syracuse is not the easiest place in the world to recruit, but he's already gotten some people to Syracuse that you weren't sure they would go to Syracuse so that's a good start and the schedule is helpful let us move to a school where the

schedule is not helpful and it is your alma mater Roddy holy crap the Yellow Jackets this is a good team like probably a an even better team than last year. Like Haynes King at quarterback after he left Texas A&M, we finally got to see him kind of playing free. And what a great athlete he is. And Buster Faulkner's offense like he was he just blossomed. But congratulations, Yellow Jackets, you're getting better. And now you get to go to Dublin in week zero and play Florida State. And then, you know, the back half of the schedule is just absolutely brutal.

This will be a better Georgia Tech team. They bring in Tyler Santucci, a defensive coordinator. I think there's some natural strides to be made defensively there. Offensively, the growth that I think you've seen from that offensive line, really over the last four years, Brent Key was in charge of it solely under Jeff Collins and he takes over and as head coach the offensive line continued to improve you mentioned Haynes King 37 touchdowns for Haynes King last year through the ground and in the air I really like this Georgia Tech team and I like the direction they're going that said the schedule's so tough man that that in

order for them to have a better record than they did a year ago a lot has to break right for them or or you have to have multiple games break right I think so I think the ceiling I think the ceiling's eight and four but that's really I'm I. It's very hard to get like – It's hard to get to eight. Eight and four against this schedule would get you 10 and two or 11 and one against a lot of the other ACC schedules. Agreed. Agreed. Especially, you know, Louisville's in the ACC championship game last year. We just talked about Syracuse and what they expect.

Florida State's going to be a heavy favorite in that game. Notre Dame's going to be a heavy favorite. Miami, I think, could be really good. Georgia's lost two games in 30 years. At Virginia Tech. At Virginia Tech, a Virginia Tech team that's going to be a lot better, and Lane's going to be rocking. NC State, you're going to have to win some really tough games where you're underdogs. Can they do it? Sure, but I think more realistic is 6-6. I think the floor is 4-8. You don't get Stanford, Cal, or SMU teams that, at least two of them, I think you'd want. The West Coast team think more realistic is six and six i think the floor is four and eight um you don't get stanford cal or smu teams at least two of them i think you'd want uh the west coast teams coming east

um but i think georgia tech's one of those that is probably if they make a bowl like it is a it is a win for the season but the floor is probably somewhere in that four win range i i had five and seven as the floor just because i i do believe a lot in Brent Key. Like I think he's a very good coach. I think he's done a great job with this situation and they're very fundamentally sound. I wrote a story when Brent Key took over for Jeff Collins and one of the first things he did that first week was they were getting a bunch of punts blocked. They redid their punt protection in a week, which is impossible like nobody does that you install your punt protection over spring practice and and pre-season practice they did it in a week

and never had another one blocked like that's the sort of the the attention to detail you get with Brent Key and I think they're I think this this program is going in the right direction but like you said the schedule just doesn't do him any favors this year you got to play georgia every year they're not going to be getting any worse and you know miami nc state florida state they they got the toughest draw of anybody in the league and they get notre dame to uh that game a quote-unquote neutral site game two miles from campus at georgia tech but it's going to be half Notre Dame fans half you're being generous the only thing the benefit there is that hopefully the Notre Dame fans wear gold

so you don't know who's right or which team colors that was a great story that you did a couple years ago on the punts that was fascinating and oh it's unbelievable Brinkey comes from the the George O'Leary Nick Saban tree of coachingals, toughness is what they're going to try and instill. And I do think Justice Haynes and EJ Singleton really have potentials to be stars in this league. So we'll find out. But we're not kneeling on this podcast. We keep going. We keep the clock running because we got a few more teams to go.

But, yes, we were talking about Georgia Tech Tech and I said we're not kneeling. So you know who's next? The Miami Hurricanes. The expectations are through the roof and they should be with this roster. I have their ceiling as a college football playoff team. Probably even could go deeper than just making the college football playoff. This is a roster that should be able to win games in the college football playoff.

The question is, can they put it together on game day, on the field? Can they manage the clock? Can they make the decisions necessary to let all that talent do what it's supposed to do? Roddy, what say you? Andy, I think they can. Obviously, it's early.

And so I reserve all right to change my opinion with this. But I think I'm buying Miami as like an ACC championship game participant and maybe an ACC championship game winner. I just really, really like this roster. And it's really not because of the flash. It's because it's been built in the right way. The Mario Cristobal way is building the offensive and defensive line. Inside out, front to back.

Like that is how Mario Cristobal builds his teams. And so when you look at guys like Kiki Maui Noah who comes in last year or is it CeCe I can't remember which one's rich Francisco Maui Noah the offensive right the offensive lineman not the linebacker right when you look at guys like him and Reuben Bain freshman last year who were freshman all-americans those guys should continue to develop they've had other impact freshmen throughout that team. And then they sprinkle in guys like Francisco Marinoa, the linebacker.

When you look at this team, I think that the toughness that Mario Cristobal is trying to instill, I think that that's going to shine this year. And then, by the way, they got Cam Ward. They got Damian Martinez. damian martinez damian martinez pairs with mark fletcher at running back like it's a really good running back unit uh xavier estrepo at the receiver position should be really good for them he was incredibly consistent last year for an offense that wasn't consistent so i really like this miami team the

one weakness they have is in the secondary and i think they'll be able to piece it together enough. I think the ceiling for this team is certainly college football playoff appearance. I think they could get to the semifinals. I really could. If everything, if they, if they're able to come together and get out of their own way, regular season records, like this is a team that could be flirting with 12 and 0. I think 11 and 1 is certainly a reasonable ceiling for them with that schedule. I think anything worse than 10-2 is a disappointment. I agree. And I think their floor is 9-3,

but I think that's a disappointment with this schedule. I agree. Yeah. I had 8-4 as the floor, and that's everything going wrong. Total mismanagement. Because I'm with you. At a certain point, if you have better offensive and defensive linemen than the teams on your schedule, you're going to win a ton of games.

And they have better offensive and defensive linemen than everybody on their schedule, except Florida state. And it's probably equal when they play Florida state. That's it. Like that is it right there. Now that, that first game against Florida is an anxiety bowl kind of game both fan bases are nervous both fan bases not particularly happy

with the first two years from their coaches like there will be a massive overreaction to whoever loses that game Miami should win that game but I'm not I'm not prepared to pick miami yet in that game roddy for all the reasons we just said yeah that it's probably like if i were miami this year i would love like just easing into the schedule and then get florida like week two or week three um jumping into that pressure cooker as what will likely be a massive favorite on the road, in the swamp. It just doesn't feel warm and fuzzy for me. It just doesn't. But with the way Florida, with the way their roster is, the distractions they've got off the field going on,

their head coach getting sued, the fact that the top-end talent, you should have advantages at just about every position. I feel not awful about Miami, but it doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies. It certainly doesn't. No, but if they win that game, massive confidence boost gets you going to the rest of that schedule,

which is very manageable until you play Florida State. Like that, just keep on rolling until the Seminoles come to play you and then you kind of figure out what you are. But that's the challenge for Miami is deal with that stress of that first week and it can set you up or it can set you back. Another team, Roddy, that I know you're very high on, and this is one that when I was at ACC meetings talking to the people who know the league the best, talking to coaches in the league. This team kept popping up in conversation.

Virginia Tech, has Brent Prye got this thing completely turned around? I think he's really close, man. I think he's really close. Now, the critics would say in the back half of that schedule, they really got hot. The schedule wasn't the toughest, but look at the way they played and the way they coalesced around Kyron Drones. Offensively, this team made such big strides.

And Andy, I think part of the underrated parts of Brent Pry, he has worked with two first-time coordinators, Tyler Bowman on the offensive side, Chris Marv on the defensive side, and those guys have made significant improvements. And you can see it. Like at the beginning of the year last year, defensively, Virginia Tech gave up a ton of big plays, just big play after big play. And they corrected that over the course of the year. Offensively, they got so much better with Kyron Jones at quarterback that I really think that they should be able to take strides this season as well. So I like Virginia Tech.

I think ceiling-wise, you're looking at a 10-2 football team that has the chance to make an ACC championship game, flirting with a college ball playoff appearance, because the schedule is not overwhelming when you look at it. Miami and Clemson scare you. Nobody else really does. Rutgers is the one I would watch because Rutgers could be pretty good this year. They bring back most of a very good defense.

And, you know, they get a Ethan Kaliak-Montes, a quarterback from Minnesota. Yeah, it'll be, you know, the, that's the, what do they call them? The Greek rifle? I think that's what. That's right. You didn't expect an Ethan Kaliak-Montes reference in this show. I did not. I certainly did not.

But, look, the other thing is they get Ollie Jennings back. Ollie Jennings was a transfer from Old Dominion who absolutely torched Virginia Tech two years ago. He comes in, gets hurt last year early in the season. They don't play the vast majority of the season with him. Basial Tootin. I thought Basial Tootin was one of those guys that may tempt or may be tempted to go to the NFL. I also thought he'd be one of those guys that may tempt or may be tempted to go

to the nfl i also thought he'd be one of those guys to be tampered with to go somewhere else he was phenomenal with them at running back he comes back daquan felton comes back he really improved at receiver like i like this virginia tech team i really really do oh and the defense of life we even talked about antoine powell rylan who may be the best edge rusher in the conference as we sort of get down to it. So there's a lot to like about Virginia Tech. I think floor-wise, it's probably, you know, man, 8-4? Wow, okay. That's a higher floor than I was thinking, but I'll take it.

I had 6-6 just in case. I think when I do the floors, it's like it all goes wrong kind of situations. But, I mean, when you look at the schedule, I think the toss-ups, 7-5, 8-4, probably is a fairly realistic floor. Yeah, you could see a scenario. Like, I don't think they lose to Vanderbilt. Marshall, you know, is not Marshall's team from last year or two years ago. So, I think they win that game. Old Dominion,

that's an interesting one. Ricky Ronnie had some momentum at times last year. So we'll see. Rutgers, that one is the one that I think, you know, if it's going poorly, they lose that game. And then you get into Boston College, Georgia Tech, that one

I think, you know, those could go the other way but but ultimately I really like this Virginia Tech team I think they're closer to double digit wins than they are to you know fighting for a bowl let's let's go to Virginia Tech's in-state rival where this is a this is one of those cases where Tony Elliott at Virginia the job he's had to do completely not what anybody else has had to deal with you know his first year at Virginia he has a shooting involving his players essentially a former player murdering current players and it almost makes me say you can't even judge him on the field because of what he's done to keep that program together but i will say if you watch them last year as the season went on like that

that team got better like it does feel like virginia has you know some some, some seeds of this could get turned around. And of course at quarterback, Mr. Calandra is a lot of fun to watch, but maybe, maybe not as much fun if you're one of his coaches, because there's a lot of no, no, no, no, no. Yes, yes, yes. With him. And some, no, no, no, no, no, no. Oh no. There was a little bit of that too. Not the belt. Don't do the belt. Right. I agree with you, no. There was a little bit of that, too. Not the belt. Don't do the belt.

Right. I agree with you, Andy. The judgment of Tony Elliott comes outside of football, I think. And you can judge the football based on the improvement. But not only did he deal with the tragic circumstances you just detailed, and honestly, having been around that program, the offseason after, being around them in their first home game after last year,

last year was a season of healing that needed to happen. But even if you back up further than that, he inherited a group where basically the entire offensive line left, including Olu Oluwetemi, who was a Remington Award winner at Michigan. The offensive line, had they stayed and not transferred out after Bronco Mendenhall left, would have been really good, and we'd be telling a much different story about them on the field. But on the field this year, I do think you will see improvements.

I think they'll be able to run the ball better because they've been able to rebuild that offensive line now for multiple years. You mentioned the quarterback position. I think the Anthony Caland calandria tony musk tony musk is still in the mix yeah and he's got there's a quarterback battle there and i think it's going to be whether you want the ceiling or whether you want the average because the average of tony muskett uh on a play-in play-out basis is probably higher than anthony calandria the

variance that you give anthony calandria is certainly wider but calandria gives you the higher ceiling so it'll be interesting to see. Chris Tyree is one of the most interesting transfers in the entire country to me because he moves into that Malik Washington spot. Malik Washington was one of the best receivers in the country last year in the slot for Virginia. That being said, I think the ceiling for Virginia,

I think you can work yourself, and I have worked myself into saying the ceiling is a bowl game. I think they go six and six. I think the floor is probably four and eight. worked myself into saying the ceiling is a bowl game. I think they go 6-6. I think the floor is probably 4-8. That's exactly what I had. Yeah, and that variance has shifted. It was 2-10 to 4-8.

Now it's 4-8 to 6-6. There's certainly some improvement there. I'm excited about Virginia. I really am. Yeah, I think the back half of the schedule is very hard. I think they need to make their hay in the early part of the season. But if they can win some of those games on the back half, like as you mentioned, North Carolina seems to have issues with Virginia. North Carolina comes to Charlottesville.

They go to Pittsburgh, then they go to Notre Dame, and they get SMU. So it's not easy as that season goes on. But if they can make their hay early, then I think we'll get to see a confident team going into that tougher part of the second half of the schedule and it'll be really interesting to see how it goes our other crazy fun to watch like especially when you see him on a friday night and he's got the stage to himself quarterback in the acc thomas Castellanos at Boston College. And this is a fascinating situation, Roddy, because Jeff Halfley was kind of on the hot seat, leaves to go be the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers.

And so who comes in but Bill O'Brien. And, you know, it's interesting because we think of Bill O'Brien as former Penn state head coach bill o'brien former houston texans oc bill o'brien and then he obviously went back to the patriots and was the patriots oc last year but he's not been away from college football that long he was bryce young's oc at alabama so it's not like he's coming in cold to the nIL slash transfer portal era. What do you see Bill O'Brien doing in his second stint as a college head coach? I think the first thing we need to recognize and give Bill O'Brien his flowers for is he's been a hell of a head coach.

He could still be in the NFL if he wasn't a terrible GM with the Houston Texans. They were good until he had both responsibilities, and then they sort of went downhill, and a lot of that was locker room related and just not handling that well. But he's been a hell of a football coach everywhere he's been. So I expect big things from Bill O'Brien and Boston College in the long term. Now, what does it look like in the short term?

I think a lot of it's going to depend on the consistency of the play of Thomas Castellanos. He has been incredibly exciting but there were also some of those moments where uh there were negative plays that were taken there were some turnovers not a ton there were some turnovers last year and so i think the development of thomas castellanos in the offense that bill o'brien wants to construct is going to be really really interesting to see how they see how those two things mesh. So I am – and here's the other thing.

Like I don't think Jeff Haffley left the cupboard completely bare at Boston College, particularly with Thomas Castellanos, with some of those offensive linemen, with some of the performance of the defense. Like I think there's talent there. So I look at Boston College's ceiling. I think at the ceiling they're 8-4. And then floor, five and seven but I still think they're they're around bowl a bowl team no matter what yeah at Missouri is not a an ideal out of conference game but that's

one of those that like if you go if you could win that game it's huge for the league because Missouri is an SEC team that has designs on a college football playoff berth they were they should you know if there's a 12 team they would have made it last year and they bring back Brady Cook and Luther Burden and they got to revamp their defense but if you can go in there and score a bunch on that revamp defense you you steal a win there you've done a huge service for the entire conference if you you're, if you're Boston college, they also have Michigan state. And that's a fascinating one because we don't know what Jonathan Smith's

going to be at Michigan state. I think long-term they're going to be really good, but it really feels like Jonathan Smith flushed every aspect of the Mel Tucker era. And that roster purge may, may cause them to not be so great, which would be great for Boston college, getting them this year in Chestnut Hill because I don't know that you want Michigan State

after Jonathan Smith's had a few years. Yeah, you certainly do not. Their non-conference schedule is like – there's a lot of variance that could happen. Obviously, Duquesne is Duquesne and they should beat them. But at Missouri, Missouri is better than Boston College. Michigan State, I agree, like the purge probably buys you a year where you can catch Michigan State.

Western Kentucky is in an interesting place, though, because that's been a team that has been phenomenal on offense, really, since Tyson Helton's been there. They lose Austin Reed. They lose Malachi Corley. But, like, I don't bet against them putting up a fight. Well, T.J. Finley's their new quarterback so tj finley was it lsu this is why we need to have who he played for because i forgot tj finley was going

there who did like a nice job at texas state at times last year like he was awesome at texas state last year took him to bowl game yeah for a big part of that season was like leading the conference in terms of the the race uh for conference player of the year. Like he was, he was very good. So yeah, look, you don't count it. You don't count Western Kentucky. I like that was a sneaky one. Yeah, exactly. So don't worry, Roddy. We have a game show that we're going to play here in the next few weeks. We were actually going to do it last week and then all this news broke,

but we have a game show coming up called whose team is it anyway, where we will, we will be quizzed on who the new who the new team is who the old team was how many old teams there were in in the case of a tj finley so yeah that'll be a fun one so fascinating to see what happens with boston college another school that roddy pitts Pittsburgh won the ACC in 2021. The wheels fell off in 2023. New OC, Cade Bell, son of former Florida great quarterback Kerwin Bell, who has worked his way up to, he won a Division II national title at Valdosta State.

They were at Western Carolina last year and had a really record-setting offense, and that's what got Cade Bell on Pat Narbuzzi's radar. So he comes in. But they lose guys like Dayon Haynes in the spring portal. Charlie Partridge, their longtime assistant coach, who was a great recruiter for them, left to go work for the Indianapolis Colts. Where is this program right now? It's a great question.

And, I mean, this is a program that, as you said, is a couple years removed from an ACC championship game win, an ACC championship game win, and honestly being one of the most consistent teams in the ACC the prior six or seven years before that. So I do think there's a lot of questions about how this Pitt team can survive in a transfer portal era. They've had back-to-back whips at the quarterback position,

bringing in a couple years ago Keaton Slovis, not great for what they wanted to run with Frank Cignetti Jr., and then bringing in Phil Dracovic last year, which was just an absolute disaster at times so so they got to nail the quarterback the other thing is defensively like this is a team that prided itself on development and it's a unique defense it's one of the few defenses that plays a true four three personnel they've got three linebackers on the field at all times one of whom is an apex player that sort of plays in that space between the

slot receiver and the, and the tackle box. That is rare in college football. Now they play a lot of man to man quarters coverage again, rare in college football. And you need guys that have that mentality and it didn't translate last year with, with some transfers being inserted in there after years and years of just replacing defensive lineman, defensive lineman, linebacker after linebacker.

So to be honest, I don't really know where Pitt is. I don't have a great feel for what this Pitt team should be or will be. But I think based on what Pat Narduzzi has done, I think their ceiling's probably in that seven and five range. Like I don't think they'll be good enough from a personnel standpoint to be much better than that um especially when you look at you know the schedule with a team like west virginia who makes a bowl game last year they go to north carolina i think smu is going to be very good

syracuse clemson louisville all very good teams so i think i think you're probably looking at seven and five is the ceiling and the floor is probably like 4-8, 5-7. 4-8 last year is probably about the same. I've got 5-7 for them because I think Narduzzi is too good of a coach to let the wheels fall off again. Nate Yarnell seems pretty established there at QB. So they go into the season kind of knowing what they have at quarterback. It's not going to be a mystery. How does this transfer fit in? And you know, we'll see that they just

got chief borders from Nebraska who chief borders was probably not going to play as a starter at Nebraska. He was going to play an important role. He had a really good spring. He's a guy who originally went to Florida and, but he's one of those that, that was Nebraska's defense is gonna be really good this year. So he was looking for a place where he could be kind of an every down guy. This could work out very well for them. They're going to get a player who was ready to, to start at a high level or ready to play at a high level, just happened to be on a, at a place where they had some really good players.

So I think that'll help them. But yeah, it's, it's going to be tough. They're one of those that the Transfer Portal era has not been kind to. And we'll see how it goes. One more, speaking of teams that the Transfer Portal era has not been particularly kind to, that is Wake Forest.

That is a team that was out punching its weight pretty much every year under Dave Klaassen. Last year, they did not get the quarterback play they wanted. Sam Hartman goes to Notre Dame. They try to start Mitch Griffiths. It just wasn't what they wanted. So they're bringing in Hank Bachmeier from Boise State, but then also Louisiana Tech.

And let's not discount the freshman, Jeremy Hekalinski, because he had a really good spring game. But this is also a team that in the portal they've had a harder time keeping people they've better this year than last but they're still losing guys well it's a testament that they have guys that people want um so so i do commend them for that but but the ability to keep the guys this year has been – was really good for Wake. And look, it all fell apart because of the quarterback position last year. Like they just turned the ball over way too much a year ago because the receiver talent was still there.

And it is again this year. Like Horatio Fields should be a really good receiver for them. They've got talent at the running back position. So I do think there there is the ability for this wake team to surprise particularly if you can get hank bachmeyer to buy into that offense i do have a question like hank fire hank bachmeyer did not grow up in this offense how quickly can you adapt through the nuances of that long mesh how much do they decide to do that is there were times last year where they started to get away from it then they went back to it so so those are questions around wake forest it's one of the

best coaching staffs in the country i firmly believe that um so i do think this wake team has the ability to surprise i've got their ceiling at six and six um their floor is probably at four and eight it's probably a little unfair to their ceiling, although what did you have them at? I got seven and five as their ceiling, right? Because here's the problem. So Ole Miss is coming to you in the non-conference. Ole Miss is going to be awesome. Like they're loaded.

That's not a team you want to have to play in your non-conference. And then after that, you got to play Louisiana, Lafayette, which they're one of the better teams in the Sun Belt. I don't like having to play them between Ole Miss and NC State. And then you've got four of your last six on the road. So it makes it pretty tough. Seven and five is my ceiling because I believe in Dave Klaassen and Warren

Ruggiero and this coaching staff. They've been so good. But this era of college football has not been kind to them. It has not. And a lot of it has been the attrition, like Sam Hartman deciding to go to Notre Dame. And that's sort of a unique circumstance because Sam Hartman was kind of done. He had done everything. Right.

He was going to go to the NFL. And then Notre Dame presented a better opportunity than where he was going to go in the NFL. Exactly. So that's a little unique. But the ability to get transfers in, you have to have a really unique transfer. And they've nailed some guys, like Kobe Turner a couple years ago. They nailed that. But they're not going to have the big influx that others are because Wake's a tough school to get into.

And a lot of those credits don't transfer. So ultimately, I also believe in Dave Klaassen. I think he's one of the most underrated coaches in the country. and a lot of those credits don't transfer. So ultimately, I also believe in Dave Klaassen. I think he's one of the most underrated coaches in the country. And so I like 7-5 better. I'm amending my ceiling to 7-5 to match yours. Hey, all right. So, yeah, 7-5, 4-8 sounds about right.

It's a tough schedule. It ends tough. Lots of games on the road. I feel like we've done all 17 teams. We're about to wrap up, Roddy, but I do feel like we need to point out one team that we've seen over and over again that we haven't mentioned yet. UConn's on a lot of schedules. I know.

They are. And they have been for years. Like, it's sort of UConn, we see what you're doing. You're trying to work your way into the league. We see it. We see it from a mile away. Although UConn has been, I don't mind UConn being on the schedule.

I don't like the trips to UConn. It's something that the coaches have talked about. Don't need to be going to these group of five schools. There are certain conferences that will not be named who don't need to be named because we know who they are. Where generally their better teams don't go on the road and play non-conference games. And they certainly don't go to group of five schools. So I always say,

if you want to be treated like a big board conference, you got to act like a big board conference. So let's, let's stop doing that. Also Jim Moore, a junior, pretty good coach. Like,

yes, that's not, that's not a team I want to deal with. It's not a gimmick. And this is third year. He is a very good coach. They've shown areas where they've made strides each of the last two years. So, yeah, that's not exactly a layup.

So 17 teams plus some bonus UConn talk. You got your money's worth out of this podcast, people. Yes, you did. Is that it? I mean, we flew through 17. I'm ready to do 17 more like that. It flew by. What are we doing?

The Big 12 has 16 teams, Roddy, if you want to just roll into it. Oh, you don't want my Colorado takes on here. I'll get to it. Actually, we do. That would get us just massive views. It would. It probably would. it. Actually, we do. That would get us just massive views. It would. It probably would. We get yelled at a lot.

There's an army of Colorado fans on YouTube that they just, the second you see Colorado, Buffaloes, or Coach, or Prime in the headline, they come running. And it's all caps. And they're mad unless you're predicting they win the national title just glad i'm just glad they have something to be mad about now like for years we never heard from them so it's good yeah you're back yeah it's better than like patting them on the head and like at least you tried like they're they're in the mix now

roddy thank you so much you can watch roddy on ESPN on the ACC network you can listen to Roddy Sirius XM college channel 84 and also Sirius XM ACC radio Roddy I cannot thank you enough you've been so generous with your time 17 freaking teams let's go there's a warm-up for the season I'm ready I'm fired up. Appreciate you having me, Andy.