College Football Live - CFB Live - ACC Kickoff Day 1

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

ACC Football Kickoff is officially underway...hear from ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips Ph. D, Miami QB Darian Mensah, Florida State HC Mike Norvell, and other big names from around the conference as they look ahead to the season. Roddy Jones, Tom Luginbill, Pete Thamel, and our host Zubin Mehenti break it all down...Will Miami make another CFP run? Can Florida State turn it around? Can Virginia keep up the momentum from 2025? All this and more on College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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say what about you? You play this game for moments like these. You live for moments like these. I said, are you strong? They said, I'm strong with you strong. And I said, we strong. Then work how we work. They do how we do they and try how we cry.

The circumstance doesn't define you. Your response does. So go respond to every situation. That's your mental toughest. You deserve these moments here. This is as good as it gets. This is college football. And that's the ball kicking off.

And ACC kick off has kicked off. In Uptown, Charlotte, it'll be the first of three days. The coaches, the players, and the media all get together to inform the fans about what to look forward to in 2026. At the mic today, Mario Cristobal, Mike Norvell, Tony Elliott, Dave Dorn, and Tevita Pritchard. And with that, we welcome you inside college football live. I'm Zubin Mahenti. It's the first of three days, as I mentioned, and the three words, the ACC was waiting to tell everybody. Told you so.

After the final few weeks of drama and chaos and indecision, they almost won the national title. Miami was right there in the fourth quarter. Here to discuss everything. Boots on the ground at ACCMedia kickoff. Tom Luganbill, Roddy Jones, Pete Dammell. We'll get to the fellas in just a second. But first, let's start by talking about the storyline

that everybody was talking about all offseason, whether Miami could kind of keep this all going. So obviously everybody knows this story, right? They earned the final at-large bid in the playoff. They did everything they could possibly do to quell the doubts after that two-game losing streak in the middle of the season. Darian Mensa is their third straight transfer quarterback. Cam Ward has picked first overall. Carson Beck also in the NFL.

Of course, Mensa was with Duke last year. We'll get into that throughout the course of the program. Malachi Tony is going to be one of his favorite targets. He was absolutely incredible. No drops. Single season record over 1,200 receiving yards. Here's head coach Mario Cristobald on the qualities that Mentsa brings to the table. We were in the market for a quarterback.

We felt that the team was really set in so many areas. And when Darren hit the portal, we felt, you know what, this is a guy we would love to pursue. Watching crossover tape with so many opponents that we had faced. We saw his level of talent, level of play. And what really, you know, took us by surprise in a great way was what an incredible young man. He is. his levels of leadership, care factor, time invested in his craft, football IQ, just natural human IQ, just an elite person along with the guys beside him.

I kind of lead the guys in a sense that we've got to put our head down and go to work each and every day or our goals won't, they won't be there, you know what I'm saying? So just trying to, you know, take it day by day and go to work is really just the main goal right now. So Mensa, there is the main attraction. We're back with Tom Roddy and Pete. Pete, let's start with you from the intel that you have gathered from in and around the college football community. What are they saying about Mensa's fit with the team that nearly got over the top last year without it? Well, Zubin, there's a lot of optimism around Darry and Mensa.

And look at this guy's football journey. He was recruited to Tulane by Willie Fritz. He was essentially a zero-star recruit with no offers. He redshirted and he was named the starter somewhat stunningly by John Sumerall. He had been thought to be the third quarterback in that competition just three. years ago. Goes, wins the job at Tulane, leads them to a league title, goes to Duke, leads them to an ACC championship.

And now here he is at Miami, gone from zero star guys, to really a guy who's probably making as much money as someone who ended up in the back end of the first round of last year's draft. His assent has been one of the most unreal ones I've seen, Lug's. Well, and he's earned every single penny. He's earned every single rep, and you've got to really respect that about him. I know, the thing that

stands out for me is he joins this Miami program is that dynamic playability, that he's going to bring with his legs when things aren't perfect. Now, listen, he's a passer first runner second, but he can create when things aren't ideal. He can make something positive out of what looks like it's going to be a potential negative with plays just like this.

And I think it's a better running version of Cam Ward, obviously significantly more athletic than Carson Beck. And if Miami has shown anything, it's that Shannon Dawson can adapt to who's under center. And it's not about the scheme. It's not this is our offense. You got to fit into it. it's okay, we're going to make the offense around what your strengths are, do our best to

mask the weaknesses, and then utilize the personnel, which we all know is very good to make the offense play at a high level. And he's the lead in so many ways throwing the ball, especially down the field, but the accuracy at all three levels is tremendous. And think about the last three-court or the other two quarterbacks that they brought in. He's a more accomplished passer coming in than Cam Ward was coming from Washington State and incarnate word. And he's much healthier than Carson Beck was coming off of an elbow injury.

And so when you look at what he has done, I mean, Pete, you laid it out. He's won conference championships at his last two stops. Miami's still yet to win one. Could Darian Minson be the guy after 20-something years to bring Miami its first ACCC championship? Well, just imagine, too, just imagine had they not pulled this off? Yeah. Who Miami might be playing with the quarterback right now? Remember, Emery Williams is already in the transfer.

It might have been you. East Carolina. I'm out of eligibility. No, that's a great point, Tom, because this whole Mentson thing went right down to the wire. It was like the final day of the portal getting in your right. was some real trepidation that they might be left holding the bag, but indeed they pulled out an amazing coup. Time to you on this, because this is such a year-to-year sport, it just seems so obvious that Miami was so close. They bring Tony back. They've got this guy, Mensa. It's just a wrap.

But we know this sport year-to-year is so different. So what are the expectations now knowing that the ACC, for the second year in a row for some credibility purposes, could really use another deep run by Miami or somebody else? Yeah, it is important. And listen, I think when you're in the position that Miami's in now, and Mario Cristobal, coaching under Nick Saban, I'm sure took a lot of these learning opportunities. When you get to this point, it's not so much about, okay, do we have talent,

do we have a quarterback? They've got all that. Do we have depth? Have we developed players? Yes, yes, and yes. The question is, do you get caught reading your press clippings? Do you spend the entire off season watching everybody do this, tell you you've arrived?

because if you get caught up in that, now all of a sudden you don't go in with the same preparation. You may not go in with the same work ethic. And the complacency can set in. I think that's the psychological component right now for Mario Cristobal. How do you keep the team hungry when everybody's telling you how good you are? Well, there's enough guys on this team that were a part of the Louisville loss of the SMU loss a year ago that were a part of the narrative,

the understretch, on whether or not they should have gotten in the playoff, that you would hope that some of that is kept at bay. they are bringing in transfers from elsewhere that want to increase their visibility. You look at Adairian Mentos, one of them, Cooper Barcate on the defensive side. Damon Wilson at the defensive end position replacing Ruben Bain and Akeem Mesidor. But it's a good mix of that, mixed with a couple of guys on the interior of the defensive line, some young guys that are hungry. So Pete, I do think there's the, and then Mario Cristobo, who's going to keep them on their toes.

I do think this team should have the mentality to continue the success. I agree. I am worried about their bigs. The quality of the bigs. they lost. Look, they beat Ohio State because nobody could block Rubin Maine. It was very simple. And Key Messador obviously proved to the NFL that he could be a high-end player. They

lost three bigs in the first round of the NFL draft who are as good as this conference has seen. They're bringing in very good players, but are they at that elite level? Can they protect Darien Mensa? And I am skeptical they can pressure the quarterback the way they did last year with those two ends. Yeah, I think that's very fair.

You hope that on defense Armando Blonde and Marquis Lightfoot can sort of take that with Damon Wilson and rush the pass to the same way. You know, because I like all three of you guys, I won't ask this last question, which is describe the level on a scale of 1 to 10, the iciness when Darien Mensa walked past the Duke table.

And the reason I say that is because of what happened last year in the ACC title game between Duke and Virginia. Remember this? A season ago, Duke enters. Everyone's essentially saying to themselves, look, you've got to get yourself into a situation where we have to come out with a victory. and they weren't able to get it done.

So Virginia's best season ever is marred. Duke gets in. Jim Phillips had to make a change. Following a thoughtful, data-driven review by our athletic directors, including the evaluation of more than 10,000 simulated season outcomes. We have adopted an approach that is built on three guiding principles. First, head-to-head results will always matter most. Second, no team will be unfairly rewarded.

or penalized based on the number of conference games it played. And third, when head-to-head competition cannot separate tied teams, the team with the strongest overall body of work will earn the opportunity to compete for the ACC Championship and the CFP AQ. It will come down to body of work. So who you play, when you play, the games that you win, non-conference as well as conference will matter.

And that's a change. That's a major change in college sports and certainly for the ACC. So just to reiterate there what Phillips said, head-to-head were maddered most, and the bottom is what everybody wants. It's the bottom line. The overall strongest body of work should get the benefit of the doubt. And again, all of this precipitated because a six-lost Duke team nearly got themselves into the playoff would have gotten in over Miami if this year's rule played in last year.

And we, of course, know what Miami did last year. So they obviously had to get this done. Pete, obviously, this is a better late-than-never situation. what some of the intel you can spread now that Phillips has put this out and made it official. Well, Zubin, it's been interesting to hear the reaction around the ACC today about this. It's hard to be convicted about a tiebreaker, right? Because until you're in it, you're not really going to have strong opinions about it. The old coach saying, a tie is like kissing your sister.

It's a generally unsatisfying result. So no one who is tied is really going to care until they are now on the wrong end of the sports source analytics, just like Miami was on the wrong end of the previous tiebreaker. So this will not be controversial until it becomes controversial, and whoever ends up on the wrong side of these analytics guys is not going to be happy. There's really no good way when you have 17 teams in a league, and you have an unequal amount of conference games to slice this up. The ACC, the coaches feel like, did the best possible.

They were engaged in the group. Jim Phillips is a collaborator. That's kind of how he operates and how he does. But we'd be naive to sit here and think, oh, this will solve it all, and everyone will be satisfied once there's a tie. It's just what everyone was asking for, more analytics and more numbers. have decided. Look, the ACC had very similar tiebreakers to all the power four conferences. The ACC's got stress tested last year and it failed. You had to do something. The CFP rankings

are incomplete because they come out on Tuesday. You can't wait until Tuesday. This seems like the best way to do it, but we'll see. And my question, Loux, is will there be transparency and what those analytic rankings are? Not that that's going to matter, but it does help us help inform who we should expect to be in down the stretch, but ultimately the ACC had to do something. Well, we can weed through all the analytics. The bottom line is what the ACC is hoping to do here is ensure that the two best teams at the end of the day, regardless of how we get there, are in the ACC championship game. He talked about the automatic qualifier, but also the loser of that game is the other best team in the league for possible inclusion.

But really, if you wanted to get to the bottom of this and fix the whole entire thing, just tell your conference, we're going to play 10 conference games. We're all going to schedule one power four opponent. We're all going to schedule one FCS opponent, so some funding, trickles down to that level of football, and now you eliminate all this. Well, it's too simple. Too simple? Honestly, a little too logical.

What we'll never eliminate is what team three or team four or however the typebreaker goes feels. And this is just that this is the nature of tiebreakers and this is the nature of the complicated modern college athletics that we're in with a 17 team league that spans from the Bay Area to Miami. And this is just, this is part of modern college athletics. It will be unpopular for those who finish third. Tom, I love your suggestion. But of course, we all know how long it just took together.

get everybody to nine. I mean, we had to inch that thing forward just to get the 10 would be something else. So here's the deal. We kind of referenced it earlier in the show. You know, part of the reason this whole tie break came about is because Mensa last year with Duke carried a six-lost team into the ACCT's title game and knocked off Virginia who had their best season ever. So in a way, it was actually Mensa playing for his old team that allowed his new team to get into the playoff. And he had a chance to chuckle about all of that earlier today. I mean, yeah, I mean, I don't really know what to say about that. I guess I was happy I got in it last year, stuck in there and won the thing thing.

But yeah, I don't know. All right, well, that's not a good answer, Roddy. He doesn't know, but you're paid to know. So what do you have for me here? I think that's why that contract for Miami had all those zeros. Hey, man, we're paying you back. We're getting us into the college football playoff. We're helping out.

Look, ultimately, we have a lot of questions about the same. He's paid now and paid very handsomely to the quarterback of Miami and he will hope to get in without the controversy. Mike Norvell is also paid very handsomely. There's also many questions about him, Roddy. On the way, what is it going to take for Florida State to look like Florida State again?

Can it happen in a critical 2026? We'll talk about that when the fellas and I return on college football. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business.

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Start your build at Chevrolet.ca. That's the best catch I've ever seen in person. For guys, for gals, flag football is exploding in popularity among the nation's fastest growing sports all over the ESPN networks, ABC, ESPN NFL flag.com for more information. There might be no team in the country under more pressure in the ACC or nationwide than Florida. state, you know the deal how much they've struggled the last couple of years. They're going to have a new

offensive flavor calling plays and at quarterback. And this guy absolutely positively understands what's at state. There's a lot of lessons to be learned. But it's about taking the lessons and it's about the application of that moving forward to go be the best that we can be. We understand the expectation that's here. And there's no person, there's no no place that has higher expectations than what we have, being a part of this program and making sure that we're doing things, you know, the right way, the Florida State way and competing for championships with the talent that we have. I'm not going to put any limits to what this football team can accomplish and what we can do. And, you know, the time is now.

The time is today, the willingness to show up and go be the best that we can be. And, you know, if that is, if that's what we'll continue to do, I've got a lot of confidence in the results that are going to show up. He's got a lot of confidence. I'm not sure Sebenol Nation may agree with that. That's just from what I'm hearing, Pete. Let's start with you. You know, ever since Reese Davis, about three years ago on a Sunday, said the fourth and final team in the college football playoff is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

And since those words were uttered, Pete, literally. And I mean, it is almost nothing has gone right for Florida State since that moment. What are they on the precipice of this year with regards to the future of the program and their head coach? Well, they're on the precipice of a difficult decision if Mike Norvell can. can't figure out a way to win close games and turn this ship around. He has the Asbestos Pants Award for the hottest seat in all of college football this year. It will also be one of the most expensive buyouts that we've seen. He would have been owed about $54 million had they fired him last December.

And look, they had to come out and make a statement saying they were keeping him. That's usually not an endorsement. That usually places you directly on the hot seat list picture for next year. It would still cost an exorbitant amount of money to fire Mike Norvell around $45 million. Florida State is not in a place that's in good financial straits. They never leverage those boudan years properly. They've been behind in facilities. They're behind an athletic department infrastructure.

So for Florida State to go ahead and fire Mike Norvell and pay $45 million, it will be a significant blow to that school. They want it to work for Mike Norville. They like Mike Norville. They need it to work for him. Mike Norvelle is going to call plays again, which was one of the great skills that got him the Florida State job. There are cases for optimism, but right now,

Mike Norvell needs to win. They play at Alabama. They play at Miami. They play at Louisville, which is never an easy game. It will be a tough road for Mike Norville in this revamp roster to call the plays to get the Knowles back on track. Pete, no question about it, because obviously Miami's back on track. You talked about the infrastructure upgrades of what's going on at Florida. They've got a massive investment going there, and Florida State just got to do something to keep up with the Joneses.

Roddy, to you, Ashton Daniels, he's not getting a huge reception from Florida State fans and analysts alike. Although some may say this is the best guy they've had in the last couple of years. I'm not sure what that says. What do you make of them? Look, I think there's things to work with with Ashton Daniels, but when you only have his Stanford film to go off on, when he was a young player without a lot of support around him, and then a couple of instances at Auburn,

an Auburn team that quite honestly down the stretch was a bit of a mess. It's hard to know exactly what you're getting out of Ashton Daniels. I will say from a leadership standpoint and from a demeanor standpoint, I think he is an upgrade. Like, I think he will provide a measure of maturity that maybe they haven't had. and leadership that maybe they haven't had at that quarterback position since Jordan Travis. But, like, high-end talent, I don't know if he's going to be one of the top quarterbacks in the ACC.

I do think he provides a bit of a floor of being pretty good. And they've got some talent around him where if that offensive line can come together, they should have an offense with Mike Norville calling plays. It's pretty good. Well, listen, to both of your points, when you're good at something, when Mike Norvelle is calling plays, he's good at that. You've got to do it, right? Because now he's more comfortable. You know what you're going to get.

the team is more comfortable because the head coach is in his comfort zone. Listen, this isn't about Florida State's skill. They've got Q. Wisner in the backfield, Chroma running back. They got two, maybe a three-headed monster. You've got Deuce Robinson, who's one of the best in the country, right? You've got Mike Adansy who can flat out fly. But every single one of their projected starters in the offensive line is going to be a transfer portal player. Again, which they've done before.

Again, right? And they've got to hit on the quarterback position. You miss twice in a row. It just sets you back. You know, defensively, they were pretty good a year ago, actually made some incremental improvements. And under Tony White, I think there's going to be more continuity there. They had some youth in the back end that played really well, also in the defensive front. So for their top six guys return in their defensive front, that's a positive.

But if they don't get the quarterback position in the offensive line short up, it won't matter how good their skill is. Yeah, one thing I would just mention on Pete's asbestos comment. Remember, last year, they had to put out a statement during the season saying he would finish the season. as head coach. That tells you everything you need to know heading into 2026. On the way, NC State, what did it Roddy say the other day? They're always waiting to turn the corner. They got the blinker on. Is it finally the year to beware of the pack? We'll talk about them.

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Spider-Man, brand new day in theaters July 31st. We're back. It's the opening of three days, and those guys representing the U, one of five schools talking on day one of the ACC kickoff. One of those other schools is Virginia. This is Cam Robinson saying last year, this year, going to be the same. I think this team might be better than last year. Really? Yeah. Okay.

We're trying to prove something to the country that we can do it twice in a row. Like the Virginia triangle keep rolling. Like it's just all we needed was the opportunity. Tom, as you take a look at Virginia schedule here, possibility that he's right and they have another wire-to-wire great year. Absolutely. I mean, that's two years in a row. The scheduling gods have sprinkled some dust over the heads of the Virginia Cavaliers. There's no doubt about that.

And I love the confidence and the hunger from camera. Robinson and no two years ago or coming into the 2025 season they did a great job in the transfer portal. We'll see if they did as good a job this time around, but clearly the perception of the program has changed. One of the other five schools speaking to the NC State, another great quarterback in the lineage that they've had there is C.J. Bailey. It's been a great spring, especially on the officer side. We have we have weapons that came in. Like we're bigger, we're bigger in our receiver room. It's going to be a lot, a lot of explosive plays, a lot of points on the board, a lot of touchdowns, everything like that.

So I'm looking forward to see it. Like that first game, we're going to set the tone. Roddy, you mentioned it. Is this the year he and the pack finally break out? Their fans have been waiting forever. It's dangerous to say that it is. But look, C.J. Bailey was number two in the conference in QBR last year. He's got the number one QBR of a returning quarterback in the ACC.

He takes another step. He can be one of the couple best quarterbacks in the ACC. And Luke's talked about the sprinkling of dust from the schedule fairies. got that as well. They absolutely did. But I'll tell you what, you went and just screwed it up for him. You just jinxed him. You can't talk about your excitement for NC State because there always seems to be a letdown.

But I got to be honest with you. Secretly, he and I are on board. Not secret anymore. Yeah, not anymore. Cats out of the bag. We'll see you borrow for more college football live on day two of the ACC media kickoff. Look forward to seeing you that.