College Football Live - CFB LIVE - ACC KICKOFF DAY 3

Episode Date: July 17, 2026

On today's show, Zubin Mehenti, Tom Luginbill, Roddy Jones, and Pete Thamel breakdown the news around ACC media days hearing from Bill Belichick, Rhett Lashlee and more. All this and more on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My name is Peter Parker, but I'm also Spider-Man. This July, we're faced with a threat. That can be anyone. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker. I'm just a neighbor, friendly neighbor. But he hasn't forgotten them. Sometimes Spider-Man has to do the hard thing. That's my responsibility.

Talk to Banner? I didn't know you could get that big. Spider-Man, brand-new day in theaters July 31st. You play this game for moments like this. You live for moments like these. I said, are you strong? They said, I'm strong with you strong. I said, we're strong. Come boy, then work how we work.

Hey, feel how we feel they and how we cry 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.

The third and final day of ACCC media days. We'll hear from these six men. Bill Belichick on the way. Rhett Lashley, SMU's head coach, has this guy at his disposal. When I came out of high school, I had no office, nobody was looking at me. Because I actually believed in me. And I'm putting my heart back into that and finish your offense and that. The best thing about Keb is he's just consistent.

Jennings, pivots, pulls, touchdowns. He is an explosive guy who's got tremendous armed talent, and he's becoming the real heartbeat of this team. How about down? Did they go behind the back? I mean, are you kidding me? Jennings, confident in the pocket. Seabrow.

There it is. And look, I think he's a top five hundred. Heisman guy. More on that in just a second. His last couple seasons, which includes one trip to the playoff indicates these numbers are great. He has had some turnover problems in really big games. But speaking

of that Heisman buzz, when SMU rolls in, they come very gifts. Look what we got, folks. Big time. And a shirt that fits. You know, everybody usually makes the XL or the medium, but three X. For the big guys. We take care of the big guys. Okay, Superman over there. Oh, look.

Let's go. So let's go. Let's have a conversation. When Kevin sets his feet in the pocket, he's elite. The ball, I mean, he can make every throw. He's accurate, he's elite. Well, what can Kevin do? Kevin can do what Patrick Holmes can do and some of those great players.

He can throw off balance, his body this way, throw it that way, you throw it behind his back. Right, and so, but sometimes when you can do that, it's a two-edged sword. Because if you can do that when you need to, you just do it all the time. And no offense, all these QB trainers, they don't train you to go one, two, three hits throw. They train you to like jump over brooms, do backflips and throw the ball. That's Coach's favorite. Because if you just train them to take drops and sprint out, it's boring.

So my point is, trust your guys around you. And look, when things break down, go be you because you're a lead at it. But when the pocket's clean, set your feet, rip the ball. Guys, there's so much to talk about. Welcome Inside with Tom Roddy Pete there at ACC Media Days Day 3. Tom, let's start with you. Last three years for SMU, they win the American. They go to the first year of the 12th team playoff. They win nine games a year ago, largely on the back of this guy, Jennings,

who really deserves, I think, a lot more pub than the general public has given him. Well, listen, he's a special talent. We just heard Lashley talk about all of the different things that he can do. And I think I would add one other thing there. I can't tell you how many countless clips I've pulled of him. I think he's the best back shoulder downfield thrower to the outside that we have in college football. His ball placement when guys are covered is absolutely fantastic. Here's an example of it right here.

And he can do it from 10 yards away. He can do it from 40 yards away. But it's the off platform throws. I think that, you know, Red Lashley was referencing that make him special because the play's never over. The play's never dead. And it's one thing to be off platform

and maybe not have your feet underneath you. It's another thing to be able to do that and be accurate with the football. And Kevin Jennings absolutely is that. And he did it last year, despite having an injury early in the season to his ankle against Baylor that really plagued him throughout the season.

You can go back to that, Miami game where they pull the upset, there's a point of the game where he is hopping off on one leg because he got twisted up. And so I really look at Kevin Jennings as a guy that should be in the conversation when we talk nationally about best quarterbacks. But if SMU is going to get back to the college football playoff, they got to play better defense. And this is a team that in the two years, they made it to the championship game, wanted in the American and made it in the ACC. They had a top 30 defense. It was top 15 in the American. It was 89th in the country last year and the second worst past defense in America.

That has to improve. Rhett Lashley has talked about it, and he talked about in the builder of this program playing championship level defense. SMU has to get back to championship level defense if they're going to reach their goals this season. Pete, to you, they had everything. They had the money.

They're near some of the most talented players in the country, and they finally have the ability to tell those kids you can play in a Power 4 league as they now firmly are entrenched in the ACC. from a big picture perspective, what is the ceiling of a program like SMU if everything aligns, Pete? Zubin, the ceiling is limitless. We're in Carolina. I don't want to use that Michael Jordan line here. But what I would say is this, SMU went through about a 40-year stretch where it played a lot of bad football. They were outside of Power League. They didn't make a bowl for a significant stretch.

They were the poster boy for NCAA infractions. Over that same 40-year period of time, they produced a lot of billionaires, right? The university itself, some oil came up from the ground. They have some very, very well-heeled alumni. They essentially bought their way into the ACC. Nobody pushes back on that. And they have shown early on Zubin that they're not afraid to buy big-time rosters. I look at their offensive line this year. They have PJ Williams, a Texas A&M transfer. He projects as a first-round pick. That's the caliber player that could go for four or five million to one of these well-heeled SEC or big 10 teams. They've shown the ability to attract top talent and maybe most importantly keep it. Well, yeah, retaining it. And again, in the transfer

portal. When guys leave that Dallas Metroplex area, guess where they're going to come back to, right? So you get that second cycle. But to your point, the money side of it. I tongue in cheek would call SMU when they came into the league, the league's walk on, because they were not going to get any revenue, right? No scholarship. And then in a calendar year, they raise $160 million. So if that tells you where they are in the health of this program, it's a gold mine. No doubt. The guy that's raising most of the money is a guy named David Miller who actually played basketball at SMU. So not only does he have the money, he's got the SMU ties and he put on an in New Jersey, and that's an intangible sometimes you really, really cannot replicate.

So here are some of the guys that are returning in the ACC here. Kevin Jennings is somebody whom we talked about. There's three other guys we want to mention that are also returning to this league, starting with this guy in Raleigh. Everything is slow for me right now, so everything is moving fluent. I got a graft with the whole offense, the whole team, and everybody believes in me, I'm just ready to make some plays for the NC State. I think getting that experience from this past year of, you know,

just kind of getting some games under my belt, getting some time under my belt. I think that's helped to show everybody that, you know, I can play at this level and, you know, have proven that. It just felt right, you know, knew where this is where I wanted to be. And, you know, he's a head coach about winning. And that's obviously what I want to do as well. And, you know, the culture that he's brought has been tremendous. He is Tosh Lopoy, who is the new head coach at Cal.

That guy right there. We're going to start with Pete because I know Pete is not going to take the easy way out and call him JKS. He is going to probably address this man the way he needs to be addressed. Pete, I want to start with you. Just tell me about just the recommitment. It feels like in my estimation that Cal football has made from the general manager keeping their quarterback and saying in this new era of being in the ACC, this is not the same all cow. Zubin, you couldn't have said it better. by going and hiring Tosh Lupoi.

They brought in one of their own who has a connection to better days. But Cal is committed. You get the caliber of players they brought in the portal, but nothing epitomizes it more than Jaron Kiave Sagapultele. He could have gone virtually anywhere in the country after his freshman year at Cal. Tosh Lepoy is an old recruiter now. He recruited for a lot of people, Nick Sabin and others.

He gets hired and he flew straight to Hawaii. And he made sure that Sagapultele came back to Cal after that freshman year. Look, he was already a reach recruit for Cal by the time he arrived. He spent a fortnight or so at Oregon and did their bowl practices, and he was a four star in our rankings, a five star in others. And the quote maybe that hit my ear the most at media days was Jeff Brown very casually being like, that guy could be the top pick in the draft. Jeff Brown knows a little bit about quarterbacks.

Yes, he does. There's not a single quarterback in this league that is more talented throw in the ball than Jerry and Kialve Sangapolitelli. And I think you saw both the flashes of success and opportunities for growth for him from year one to year two. but really importantly, Tosh Lupoi kept Nick Rolovich, who was the quarterback's coach for JKS in his freshman year.

So a great offensive mind, has been a head coach at the University of Hawaii, knows the island culture, and can really relate to guys like Jaron Kalvi-Sungapolitelli, who are from the islands and the culture that they grow up in. So I think he has pressed all the right buttons, and that transfer portal class that they've gotten in Lug's is unheralded, I think, nationally.

If you look at the rankings, people are talking about it. But I don't know that a lot of people around college football know how much talent they brought in. Well, and it's not just in the Transfer Portal rankings. It was the high school recruiting rankings as well, a top 20 class for Cal. So how many of those young guys do they get integrated? Now, I think the thing with JKS is this. People talk about arm strength and they talk about armed talent. With this guy, you have both because there is a difference.

Armed strength is pure power and velocity and can you make all the throws. But arm talent is your ability to change arm angles. The ability to get the ball out of your hand when things aren't perfect or you're rushed and you got people in your face. That guy does that so effortlessly. And I agree with Jeff Brown. I don't think there's any question he's a one-day top overall pick in the NFL draft. He's that talented.

Yeah. And last thing I would say, Justin Wilcox did an amazing job with one hand tied behind his back. You've got to be thinking, what is he thinking, knowing that my successor has all of this at his disposal. It's just the way we are here in college football. On the way here on college football live, it's year two for that guy. Belichick at the podium. And he's expecting some big. Year to year improvement.

We'll hear from him when college football live continues. 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. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter.

most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old. You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair. Wayfair, every style, every home. We're back on college football live. Plenty of ways to discuss Bill Velichick's first year at North Carolina, which look like this. He's hoping 2026 looks anything. But here he is new. on college football live. At the media days, he's going back to basis. I expect everybody to come in and perform at their best. I want to do the same thing I can

to help the team in any way I possibly can, whether it's training or, you know, X as a no, strategy, fundamental, whatever it is, and, you know, just continue to keep improving. We have a lot of good competition on the team, as I said, a number of young players. We'll see how quickly they come along or don't. You know, we'll see how that goes. Expectations that have good days and stack them together. Very interesting year two on tap. Pete, I want to start with you. I know you got some quality one-on-one time with Coach Belichick today.

I was just checking out your story. It's on ESPN.com right now. For those of you, you want to check it out, we've got a guest here. We're going forward. Tell coach we talked about it. We spent the whole first segment talking about that. One large? That'll only fit Pete.

Oh, take it. Here we go. Hey, my wife thinks I'm Superman, everybody. And I'm stuck here in a phone booth talking to these three guys. All right. So here we go. Pete, bottom line. They might have a Heisman trophy winner.

You never know, right? Bill Belichick's known for finding talent, particularly in year two. If you watch the NFL, they won the Super Bowl in year two after a tough year one in New England. But I know you had a chance to sit down, talk with him. What's the vibe you're getting as everybody is just really looking forward to seeing if he can really make that leap? Sure. Bill Belichick was really blunt with me today when talking about how much better off he thinks UNC is this season compared to last year. There's myriad variables there.

but basically UNC last year brought in 40 players from the transfer portal. They had to bring a bunch of those in the post-spring portal because a bunch of players left after playing spring ball with North Carolina. This year, there's been a reboot philosophically for Bill Belichick. They brought in 40 true freshmen. 31 of those are early enrollees. So there's been a lot more continuity. And Bill Belichick, who always chooses his words carefully, Zubin, said UNC is, quote,

way ahead of where they were last year and called the difference night and day. U.N.C. had one of the worst offenses in the country last year. They were among the most penalized teams in the country last year. And Bill Belichick just thinks the continuity of having a team for a full spring, having a roster with a bunch of guys returning, and guys who he's brought in and trained puts them in much better position. There's Bobby Petrino as the O.C. There's a quarterback battle that's coming.

But just holistically, Bill Belichick indicated this is the way he wants to build his team. He wants to build it through freshmen. They can't go out in the portal and build it like they tried you two years ago out of necessity. You mentioned Bobby Petrino being hired, and Bobby Petrino has a long history in college football. Some of it obviously controversial, but on the field, the guy can coach football. And he has had one of the best offenses numerous times in college ball. UK Arkansas last year, that Arkansas offense was 18th in the country in total offense.

They put up over 496 yards seven times a year ago. They're going to have a challenging run game. They're going to have play action off of it that's going to put the quarterback in a position to succeed. And with improved talent on the roster, which it sounds. like they feel that they have, I think this offense is going to have drastic improvement to match up with the defense that was much improved towards the end of year last year. Well, you mentioned that defense, and I know it took a lot of heat, but they actually played pretty decently considered they were on the field all the time, had no offensive help. And so to get just a sum of that back,

it's going to give them a chance to be healthier and not as worn out on defense. But at the end of the day, I think it comes down to two things offensively for North Carolina. Can you run the football consistently? You know, on three occasions last year, North Carolina ran the football for 145 yards or more. They were 3 and 0. All right. A year ago at Arkansas, Bobby Petrino only had two games where they didn't rush for 145 yards or more. And then secondly, these quarterbacks have got to get the ball vertically. They've got to create explosive plays.

And whoever's going to make good decisions with the ball, protect the ball, will be the quarterback and push the ball vertically with an enhanced run game. All right. We'll see what happens in a highly anticipated. year two. Tom, I want you to stick around. Fellows, I want you to hear what Tom has to say about our next story here, because this is kind of a unprecedented look at what Kurt Signetti is building. New on CFB Live earlier today on the Pat McAfee Show,

motion sales commits to Indiana. Don't know this guy? He's one of the highest ranked players to ever come out of the state of Indiana in the modern recruiting era, and the highest rated recruit to ever play for the Hoosiers. Our database goes back about 20 years or so. Tom, you've been covering recruiting and evaluating for more than 20 years. Tell us what we need to know about this guy

and what this means for an Indiana program right now that is just soaring. Well, isn't it amazing how the perception changes when you win a national championship and the access now that you have to players like Monsoon's sales? And the thing that's really interesting about him is he's 6'4, 190 pounds, but he's run 10-8 in the 100 meter

and 21.9 in the 200 meter. Now, when you're 5'11, that's rolling. Six-foot-four guys that can do that aren't growing on trees. And they've had great success with Elijah Surrott, who is a big guy, Charlie Becker now, who is a big guy. And they bring another one in who can flat out run. This is a huge pickup. Yeah, they often say success comes, and then a couple years after comes to recruiting success. And this is obviously case A for that.

Just a reminder, flag championships for the guys and gals, it's one of the highest and fastest growing sports in the country all over ABC and ESPN and NFL flag. com for more. On the way, Tom and Roddy will flag win totals for Clemson, for FSU. for NC State. Should you go over or under the guys with the answer on the final day of ACC Media Days when college football live continue. This episode is brought to you by Activia. You might already be eating yogurt, but not all yogurts are created equal. Activia contains over one billion probiotics per serving to survive and reach the gut alive. When it comes to gut health, Activia is the number one family doctor-recommended probiotic

Yogurt brand. Choose Activia. Feel good from the inside out. Visit Activia.ca for more details. We're back in Davo Sweeney at ACCC Media Days yesterday, getting, well, defensive Davo. Listen to this. This year, ain't none of y'all going to pick us. Ain't none of y'all going to say anything good about us. You know, I've been dead. I'm gone. I think I'm still here. All right. But it's not about that either. never has been. If it was about what people predicted, I'd have been gone a long time ago. And speaking of predictions, okay, Tom, Europe, we're going to give you

some over-under-wind totals for three teams. You're going to start with Clemson on your screen. It says, clearly, seven and a half. Over-under-win total for Davo and the Tigers. Over. I think it's over. And for a little bit of what he stated right there, the fact that

while everybody's talking about Miami or SMU or Louisville, here's Clemson just kind of lying in the weeds. And I think that's really healthy for them. Regardless of what happens in the opener at LSU, I think they're going to be a much improved football team I'm taking the over. I like that, Loux.

And good for you for not saying anything bad about it. Fair enough. So Tom taking the over, proving it won't be over for Davo, even though people have been predicting that, as he said for a while. Roddy, you're up. Duke, five and a half over under. Just a reminder, they did lose a big quarterback here in the offseason to a fellow foe OCC school. Just a reminder that the defending ACC champions to everyone out there.

Bani Diaz won nine games in his first year, won the league in year two. Hammer the over with the two Blue Devils. What are we doing? Five and a half. Look, the defense on this team is what really let them down a year ago. Offensively, they had some peaks in valleys, but it was a lot more peaks than valleys. And then so they're going to improve defensively. They've heavily invested in that secondary.

There's change of faces on the defensive line. They get some good pieces back at linebacker. And Manny Diaz is a defensive guy. And we look offensively. Jonathan Brewer has had success with Malik Murphy a couple years ago where they set records at Duke. Dary and Mincea last year where they broke the records they set in year one. Walker, Eagitt's thrown for over 5,000 yards in his career.

I am hammering over five and a half with Duke. Eaget was a good save, right? I mean, it's zero hour. They pulled a guy who played a lot of football. That three-game stretch right there in November, NC State on the road at Miami and Clemson. That might dictate what that over is. Yeah, no kidding.

Yeah, no doubt that November 14th game, Duke and Miami, that'll be the Mesa game. We'll keep our eye on. Next up here for you, Tom, this is the team. You guys have taken the over on the first two because if this guy doesn't hit the over, we're going to have problems, but this is your call. Florida State, win total, six and a half, over under.

I think it's the over, but even if it is the over, will it be enough of an over? when it comes to the absolute win total. They're going to be improved. Listen, they've got tremendous offensive skill. They're going to need a lot out of Ashton Daniels. They're going to have a revamped offensive line. How they play in that SMU, Alabama stretch coming off of the New Mexico State opener,

and then look at their road contest, you know, at Louisville, tough place to play, at Miami, great football team. But they do play a host of Florida, Clemson, and NC State. I still think it's going to be the over, but will the over be enough? I would go push. Oh. Walk out there, Mock and Bird. Yeah, exactly.

I will take the over. I think they hit seven because you look at at Alabama, at Miami, at Louisville, Clemson, NC State, Florida. Like, I think you're probably losing at least four of those. At Pitt in November, nice and chilly. Yeah, I'm not feeling great about it, but I will take the over just barely. All right, NC State. And this one, we got to start with Roddy, because twice this week already,

He has basically channeled every NC State fan known to man waiting for NC State to turn the corner as they've been sitting there with the blinker on for like the last three years waiting to turn it, haven't been able to turn it. Win total, seven and a half over, under for the pack, Roddy. I'm not supposed to talk about NC State, Zubin, so I'm not going to talk about NC State while I tell you to hammer the over. This NC State team is going to be better than people think, better on defense.

C.J. Bailey is like six foot seven, and he's going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC. Luke's, talk about him. They're going over. Line two, scheduling gods is on line two. Scheduling God's on line two. Look at that schedule, baby. Beautiful. Doesn't get any better than that for NC State.

But here's the thing, like, who's making this odds? I mean, that should have been like 8.5. I agree. Of course it's evil. I mean, this is a 10-win roster, in my opinion. But what they can't do is go out and lose to people are not supposed to. That's what's got to happen. All right, guys.

So it's been a great three-day run for you at ACCC Media Days. Appreciate you're joining us. Coming up next week, it's SEC Football Media Days. Guys, you see the teams on the screen in our last half minute here. What's the biggest thing, Roddy, let's start with you that you're interested to see at SEC Media Days? Well, honestly, it's John Mateer's biceps after the pictures out of him at the Manning Passing Academy. quarterback questions at a number of these schools, Tennessee being first on them. Who's going to play quarterback for the polls?

That's a great one. And listen, what is Alabama from a quarterback perspective? Do they bring one of them? Do they bring both of them? Or will there not be a quarterback from Alabama in Tampa? Great call. And very savvy scheduling move, Kippen on the final day. Got to stay for it all.

Have a great week.