College Football Live - CFB Live- 9/17- KEYS to Success

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, Roddy Jones, and College Football Insider Pete Thamel as they discuss some notable games as we approach Week 4! Will Texas Tech take down Utah? How will Jackson Arnold fair against his old team, especially without one of OU's key defensive ends? Ole Miss takes on Tulane...will their backup QB be the key to their success? And speaking of KEYS, Georgia Tech Head Coach Brent Keys joins the show to give us some insight on their big win versus Clemson last week, and the winning culture he has strived to create! All this and more on College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you fly in Emirates business class and you're picked up by your private, luxury, chauffeur-driven car, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates. Fly better. Welcome to college football live. They say everything has a price. If that's the case, how much does the Big 12 title cost? A huge step for tech could be on the way this weekend. A harsh homecoming or a happy homecoming for Jackson Arnold. One of our experts tells you why the center of attention shouldn't be the guy under center. It should be one team's defense. And Brent Key, Georgia Tech's head coach here to talk about, of all things, his monster ride. After the ride of a lifetime and their win over Clemson last Saturday.

With that, we welcome you inside college football live. Pete, Roddy, Sam, Zubin. Let's get right to it. We have a huge slate of games on tap this weekend. Right to left, top 20 matchup in the Big Ten. We're going to talk about a huge group of five-slash-six opportunity for Tulane in a moment. I mentioned the Jackson-Ardle Revenge game, but we're going to begin in Salt Lake City yesterday. Kyle Whittingham was on the program, but this go-around, the opposition, Texas Tech, is really in the crosshairs.

This is a huge game for the Red Raiders after completely dominating the entire off-season storylines in the sport. Rare for a team that's not in the Big Ten, rare for a team that's not in the SEC, and rare for a team that has rarely even made waves on the national scene. So, Pete, let's start with you. What was the impetus behind an offseason for the ages and tech fans' expectations going through the roof? Zubin, I think it was simple. Cody Campbell, the benefactor billionaire of Texas Tech, wanted that program to compete at the highest level. And what were they aiming for?

This game on Saturday against Utah, which has traditionally had dominant, offensive, and defensive lines. Among Texas Tech spending sprees were offensive tackle Howard Samson, who came from North Carolina, in a slew of key defensive linemen. Romello Height came from Georgia Tech. They got Lee Hunter, who'd been at Auburn, and he'd also obviously been at UCF. And then late after Stanford fire coach Troy Taylor, they got Harrison Bailey from Stanford. So the combination of those guys fortified them on the lines for this very moment this weekend. But I'm excited about this very moment this weekend because Utah's offensive line is a dominant offensive line. So as much as you want to try to buy players in the transfer portal and maybe you'll be successful,

then to be ready for Spencer Fanon, who may be the number one tackle drafted in this year's draft, number 55 for Utah. He's a, I don't want to say dirty. He's a nasty, a physical and intense individual human being. But also that offense, Devin Dampier at quarterback, has added life to Utah offense that already had a dominant defense. So yes, there's excitement about around Rameleman. high who is a really good edge rusher, but he has a huge mashup as well before we get too excited about Texas Tech.

Yeah, and it's not it's not just one tackle. Caleb Lomo is on the other side and could be a first round pick as well. The interesting thing is going to be with this Texas Tech team, they have absolutely rolled the first three weeks against Arkansas Pine Bluff, Kent State, and Oregon State. The question is when adversity hits, how does a group of transfers that haven't gone through that together, how do they respond? They certainly have some leadership. Baron Morton's is back as the quarterback. He is one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 and is off to a fantastic start. But the level of competition is going up significantly. And you're going to

have to find out when things get tough, how do these guys respond? I am fascinated to see that, but Texas Tech is all in, no matter what happens in this game on Saturday. And I also think Roddy's to the point about winning culture. So some of the players you got are talented players, but one you mentioned, an offensive line from North Carolina, they were under 500 last year. You talk about Ramello Hype. Georgia Tech played well, a five-loss team as well. They have Bryce Polack, a great defensive player for Mississippi State, which is a two-win team last year. So my question is, who are the leaders in the locker room that are going to emerge when things do get tough, when you do face adversity, and you're not playing a team like Arkansas Pine Bluff?

If that's what's going to stand out for me or who's going to step up when the moments of adversity happen. It's a great question. And there are a question. I mean, Quinn and Joyner comes over from USC. That's a program that hasn't seen the levels of success that Texas Tech wants to achieve. But you look at the safety acquisition from North Dakota State. Cole Wisniewski, that's a guy who has winning DNA flowing through his veins. Been at North Dakota State for a number of years, been a starter for a number of years of that team won a national championship.

at the SCS level. And if you play for North Dakota State, you have that, you've gone through adversity, you have that winning culture. So I think that's a guy that if things get tough or if you need a culture center, that could be a guy that steps up, a guy that hasn't been there.

I feel like, guys, if you want to look at one person for this specific matchup against Dan Pierre, it'd be David Bailey, the Stanford transfer. He's a star edge, and they're going to need to contain him, keep him in the pocket, make him play quarterback, not have him scramble.

They obviously paid a huge price tag for David Bailey late. There are a lot of suitors. So it's a really key game for him to see if he can help slow down that Utah office. It's a great point, Pete. The timing of his availability made this so interesting. And I should mention Cody Campbell actually played football for the Red Raiders. So he's not just a benefactor. He put that helmet on.

It does mean something. We do know Jackson Arnold did put on the helmet, of course, four. We know last year, Oklahoma, the five star. But now after things didn't work. out after losing his top five receivers. He transfers to Auburn, and they're set to meet. You know, the funny thing is this could really be a win-win for everyone. He's looked more comfortable. Oklahoma got Mateer. Venables seems to be off the hot seat. And Hugh Freeze is finally getting some traction. It really seems like this could be a win-win for everybody. Sam, let's start

with you. Obviously, the headliner here is Jackson Arnold, but it's the guys that may be chasing Jackson-Arnold around who you want to focus on here. Yeah, you know, you talk about this being a win-win-win, But it's a win-win until you get hit in the face. I think the Oklahoma defense is excited about this opportunity to go against Jackson-Arnold. Yes, Jackson-Arnold is extremely talented at quarterback. But this defense is playing like a Brent Venable's defense used to play. Attacking, aggressive, physical, they're communicating. You think about guys like number 11 who you see on your screen, Kobe McIntyre.

You think about guys on the inside, Dominic Williams. They are a dominant defensive unit that is playing inspired football. So I'm excited about this matchup because Jackson Arnold is playing really well at Auburn. He's a really good runner. But I'm thinking that this offense, or excuse me, the defense for Oklahoma might try to force him to beat him, beat them with his arm as a passer and not give him those running lanes. And if he does run, expect him to get hit. Well, guys, I think it would be really interesting to see what Oklahoma does without R. Mason Thomas. In the second half of that temple game, long after the game had been decided, that thing was over about the minute that it started.

Star defensive and Armason Thomas was called for targeting. That means he has to miss the first half of this game, and he won't be able to chase his old teammate Jackson Arnold around. Look for at a posu out of Borei to get his first career start for Oklahoma to be in a very big spot with a lot of eyeballs on that soonerity line. Yeah, and to that point, Armason Thomas is a dominant edge player. And this offense, we talked about it. Yes, they do want to pass the ball, but there's a lot of run-pass options.

So there may be opportunities for Armason Thomas to make an impact. But whether it's out of Borei or whether it's some of the defensive backs, they have some young nickels and corners who they're really excited about. This is going to be a marquee matchup this week for Oklahoma. Speaking of marquee matchups for teams in the group of five or six, all the season hype was on Boise. Then Boise lost to USF, so we started talking about them. They lost to Miami.

Let's talk about Tulane. They have the very rare situation where they might be able to pull off three power for victories. They've already defeated Northwestern and Duke. of a big chance to take down Ole Miss and that could pay huge dividends towards the end of the season if they can keep it going. And one thing Tulane might be aided by Pete is that Ole Miss who's seemingly

found quarterback after quarterback in the lane, Kiff, and error right now, there's some uncertainty with what's going on with the health of quarterback Austin Simmons. Yeah, Zeebun, I think that's a good way to put it. I don't think we'll get clarity till later in the week on the starting quarterback at Ole Miss. Austin Simmons kind of re-agravated

that ankle when he had to come in in the in the latter portions of Ole Miss's last game. He's been limited so far this week. We'll see how much we see Trinidad Chamblis this week. He's a transfer from Ferris State, who he led to the national title, a dynamic athlete. The challenge for the Ole Miss coaching staff and probably for Tulane's defensive staff is they're two drastically different quarterbacks.

Chamblis is a runner. Austin Simmons is more of a pure backdrop guy. So what do you prepare for offensively as you game plan this week? And then what does Tulane prepare for defensively? Well, Pete, I can tell you that two. lane defensive staff is staying up very late at night trying to prepare two game plans. But if I'm Ole Miss, I think you just go ahead with Trinidad Chambleau in this game with how he played last week. I mean, Austin Simmons played four plays. And yes, you threw the touchdown pass,

re-agravated that ankle. Trinidad Chamblez took care of the football in that game against Arkansas, something that Austin Simmons had struggled with with multiple interceptions in each of the first two games. The offense does change. Chambliss is probably not as good at deep. thrower as Austin Simmons. The armed talent isn't necessarily the same, but his ability in the run game gives you a different, his ability and willingness in the run game gives you a little bit of a different look for defenses.

And I think that tradeoff is worth it, especially if Austin Simmons isn't healthy and doesn't take care of the football. One quick thing on Tulane. I just want to mention, though, folks, Chambliss is a D2 player. This is not like an FCS guy moving. This is a Division 2 player that was lighting up an SEC team last week.

It's an amazing ascension. Roddy, DDo, I know you're going to be calling the game. Tulane does not play USF in the American. So that could be very big down the line when it comes to the league and their possibility of making the group of five. What does this moment mean for the green wave? It's really big, Zubin. If you're going to stamp yourself as the highest ranked group of five team at the end of the year, a win over a team as highly ranked as Ole Miss certainly helps boost your resume,

especially when you have two powerful wins already on that resume. Look, Memphis has a big game against Arkansas this weekend as well. we could be talking about two American teams, potentially beating two SEC teams. Those two teams do square off later this season, and Memphis should be very good as well. But if you can get a win over a team in Ole Miss, it's going to win a lot of games, going to stay ranked in the top 25, then I think you're going a long way towards putting yourself in position to be the highest rated group of six champion. And Roddy, credit the Tulane coaching staffer how quickly they've got Jake Retzlaff up to date.

Remember, he didn't show up until basically the middle of the summer. last year after his transfer from BYU. Retslav has been dominant, especially with his legs, which has been a little bit of a surprise. So look for that element on Saturday in Oxford. Yes, indeed. Probably good to get used to having John Summerall in the SEC sooner or later, so might as well just see him on

Saturday and get ready for that, right? On the way here on college football live, Brent Key, off of a key win of his tenure. Wait till you see how emotionally he gets talking about that guy. He deserves these moments here at Georgia Tech.

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The 90th meeting between Clemson and Georgia Tech. Klubnick, Zone Reed, wants to slam. And it is intercepted. Haynes King, following his running back. Clubnik rolls out. Back in the end zone, finds a crosser, and that's Josh Sapp. 10 seconds to go. The snap is off.

It is on the way. Made history with that kick. It could be a historic season for the rambling wreck and their head coach. Brent Key joins us here on college football live coach. It is great to have you here. First things first, tell me what your life has been like internally, externally at the facility from the moment that 55-yarder went in to right now.

I mean, you get the typical hats on the back and all that for the first day or so. but really tried to squeeze most of it out of the process now because we got a big game this Saturday and another one the next week. And I mean, we got a lot of football to play. And I tell people all the time, I tell the team this, not one point was our goal to win game three of the season or game five of the season or game four, game eight, game 10.

I mean, our goals are bigger than that. And those are just obstacles in the way of us reaching our goals. So, you know, when you took the job, I thought one of the most interesting things that you said was As a former player, you know, Georgia Tech football just has to be more entertaining. That's not something I generally hear a coach say about the ascension of a program. Why was making the program more entertaining to the fans so important to you? Yeah, you know, the big thing is here at Georgia Tech, I mean, we don't have the largest, you know,

undergraduate population or the amount of graduates out there. But we are in the city of Atlanta, and we need to, you know, to draw other people in. to draw other fans in to watch this play. And to do that, you need to put an exciting product on the field and put a product that people can be proud of, even if they didn't go to school here, they can be proud and they can have a good time

with the experience of coming to watch the team play and how they play. What is Haynes King meant to your program? Gosh, I mean, you know, it really was one of the first, if not the first person that I went and visited as a recruit when I was the head coach. He just got in the portal and went and met with him.

And we flew out there, me and Buster and Winky, fly out there. And he shows up at the place we met at. And he's got three of his teammates with him, three or four of his teammates. He's like, hey, these guys when we go to him, they were going to come. I mean, you couldn't work it out with all of them. But, you know, Chase Lane, who was a receiver force the last two years, he ends up coming with him. So you just see right away the leadership and how, you know, people listen to them.

and they want to be around him. And that's important, especially with the quarterback position. But, you know, I don't think you could have ever calculated the toughness and the grit that Haynes has with him every single day. And now getting to know him over three years and really know his family and know him and know what he's about. I mean, you see why it is, you know, when you start to really get to know his family and whatnot. Yeah, the way that Dion and Dabo were talking about him after the game, I think they wish they could talk about the.

own quarterbacks like that, but I'm not going to ask you to respond to that. Last thing for you, my colleague Pete Dammel made sure I need to ask you about your truck. So what do we need to know about your truck? Oh, man, I got a cool truck. Now, to Pete tell you, I know why Pete said that now. I mean, I hit that big train horn on it, and I think it scared the crap out of him. No, it's a GMC-AT-4 and Black Widow edition. And then I've gotten it customized with some other things on it.

I've driven one for a lot of years. They're actually made customized back home in Trustful Alabama where I'm from. So really proud to be able to drive one of those. And, you know, I added a few things to it. You know, the train horn, superchargers, you know, sound system, cool light, a bunch of things. But no, it's a, I'll say this. It's not a head coach truck. It's an O-Lyman's truck.

Tusha for you. You are driving Georgia Tech to success, and you're an amazing 7-1, straight up as a coach as an underdog, which is really one of the most amazing stats. I think you can say for any coach in the country, but now you're going to have to start winning as a favorite, which is a whole new ball game.

Coach, thanks very much, and best of luck this week and the rest of the season. I appreciate it. Go, Jackets. And on that note, Pete is here. Pete, you wanted to quickly tell me, He doesn't have an Uber X or an Uber XXL. It's an Uber XXXL apparently. Yeah, Zubin, that train horn is still echoing in my soul right now.

I can still hear it. I jumped. I could have won the pole vault at the Olympics. I jumped so high when Branky let the horn on that thing. But yes, he is right. That is not a wide receiver's truck. That is an offensive lineman's truck very distinctly. Let's roll on to some of the other issues that you know so well besides the automotive industry.

Of course, and that is injury updates. the iron skill, it doesn't get a ton of attention, but the TCU SMU game has an interesting injury situation we should really be mindful of. So Cavori and Barnes, who really had a breakout game against North Carolina for TCU in that opener. He had 113 yards on 11 carries. He's going to be questionable on Saturday.

He didn't practice on Tuesday. And I've been told it's something to monitor as we head into that game. Barnes is a UTSA transfer, and he's the best back that TCU has. So his status is going to loom large. Zubin over that game. As for South Carolina at Missouri in the Columbia battle on Saturday, got an update this afternoon on Lenora Sellers. Sources have told me that Lenora Sellers has practiced and there's optimism towards

him playing on Saturday. He's trending in that direction. He obviously suffered a head injury and was pulled from the Vanderbilt game over the weekend. Right now there's optimism. We'll see Sellers on Saturday. And then finally, another black eye for Florida, Zubin. And running back coach Jabar Jaluk has been suspended for three games for his role in an altercation prior to the LSU game in Death Valley.

Video shows pretty clearly he was right in the thicket of that. And the suspension was announced late last night by both the SEC and the University of Florida. He misses the Miami, Texas, and Texas A&M games for the Gators. And it's another tough blow in the wake of the Brandon Betts spitting incident that led to a public apology, although he did play against LSU on Saturday. Man, the hits keep on coming for the Gators. Pete, thank you very much. Speaking of Florida, take a look, what's

on tap here. Obviously, we talked about Jackson Arnold, and then short-hated Florida, as Pete mentioned, takes on resurgent Miami all Saturday. SEC double-dip, ready to go for you on ABC. On the way, rivalries to end the season, being played

in September. The real question is, will they be played at all? After this Saturday, we'll dig into At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice, and we can talk your ear off about transferring your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do.

Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us, and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk. Business. Back on college football live, bunch of rivalries this weekend. Some that are generally played

throughout the course of the season, some at the end. Florida, Miami, remember last year was the opener. This time, they'll face off this Saturday, SMU and TCU. Sam will be on the call for this game between the Mustangs and the Horn Frogs for the Iron Skillet. Oregon, Oregon State.

This rivalry's future is severely in doubt. especially with what's going on with the beavers moving forward. Same deal with Washington and Washington State, though. These two schools have pledged more than Oregon and Oregon State to try to keep their rivalry going. Roddy, you called the backyard brawl last week. Let's start with you. Some of these rivalries going away and in your mind being replaced with ones that are half as good. Yeah, as conferences have gotten more national, we get games like Stanford at Virginia.

These games that, while important, have no soul, I was at backyard. brawl last week and you can just tell that those are the types of games that college athletics was built on. It's so important that we have these games every single year. I mean, Oregon, Oregon State not playing. It's the fifth most played game in the history of FBS football and we may not have it anymore. It's really sad. Yeah, Sam, you're going to get a firsthand look at TCU and SMU. Get a good long look. Not sure the next time we might see him again and we'll see tomorrow for more College Football Live.