College Football Live - CFB LIVE - DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Dusty Dvoracek, and Tom Luginbill on today's episode of College Football Live. It's officially the last Saturday without college football...the guys give their expectations for Week 0 matchups between North Carolina/TCU and Virginia/NC State. Dusty Dvoracek gives his Top 5 defenses in college football, while Tom Luginbill dives into what makes CJ Carr such a weapon. Hear from Dan Murphy on the latest updates with NCAA's 5th year rulings. All this and more on College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Out of the tunnel, straight ahead on college football live. Who's the guy Arch calls for advice besides Eli, Peyton, and Archie? You'll never guess. He'll tell us on the way. Speaking of quarterbacks, what makes CJ Carr so special? We'll go inside, deep inside the development of the Notre Dame superstar. And from offense to defense, we rank the top five units in the country. All that more straight ahead on college football live.

And welcome inside. We're creeping closer to week zero. It's not quite the zero hour yet, but we can see it just over the horizon in Dublin. Let's take a quick look at the game that's going to kick off our season, this distinctly American game in Dublin, Ireland, between TCU and North Carolina.

They opened the season last year against each other on Labor Day night. There's Gio Lopez, had a great first drive, then really struggled. TCU won the game 4814, of course, ruining the debut of Bill Belichick as UNC's head coach. Quarterbacks different. Everywhere you look across the country, no different here.

Billy Edwards winning the quarterback duel in Chapel Hill earlier this week. And Jaden Craig, who was one of the best quarterbacks we've seen at the Ivy League, and dare I say, the best quarterback at Harvard since our guy Fitzpatrick, who you of course remember from his nine different NFL teams. New faces, new places, indeed. A couple of great faces joining me to. Today, of course, Tom Luganbel, Dusty DeVorechak. Dusty, I want to start with you.

Let's talk about each of these teams as they get set for a really big game Saturday, August 29th. That's next Saturday at noon on ESPN. Dusty, I want to start with you. New guys calling the plays for North Carolina. And as I mentioned, a new quarterback executing those plays. I just love that we're talking about games, Zubin. Football is pretty much officially back. How sweet that sentence is.

And Bobby Petrino, you know, this marriage with him and Bill Belichick, I can't wait to see how it works out. And one thing we know, Bobby Petrino, he can dial up some offense. We saw that last year at Arkansas, wasn't reflected in the win-loss column, but the offense was extremely potent,

pretty much everywhere he's been. Now he gets Billy Edwards, Jr., who last year, look, he gets injured early at Wisconsin. He had a decent run at Maryland. I can't wait to see what it looks like here this week. Against a TCU defense, and I think is strong up front, Will they be able to protect Billy Edwards, Jr.?

That's a real key and a factor in this game for me. And kind of big picture, who is North Carolina this season, guys? Because last year, we knew minus the opening drive, which they went right down the field, it was abysmal. And as you illustrated Zubin, they got blown out 4814. Is this going to be a better team? There's been all kinds of controversy around this program here this offseason. The GM is on administrative leave.

currently right now, the defensive coordinator, he's on sick leave. Bill Belichick currently calling the play. So just big question marks. How improved is this team for North Carolina and year two of Bill Belichick, Tom? Yeah, Dusty, no question. And I think, you know, who would have imagined going into this game and saying, well, TCU and an FCS transfer quarterback has the quarterback advantage here? And they do.

If you haven't watched Jaden Craig, you need to take a look at him. And he's coming from an offensive scheme that tracks really well. with what Sonny Dykes and TCU want to be on offense. He is uber efficient with the football, and he does such a good job preserving the football. You saw that graphic there that Zuban introduced 52 touchdowns to just 12 turnovers, and that was an issue for TCU under the Josh Hoover leadership

is you love the river goat gambler style, but also risky throws that resulted in turnovers. I think they're going to go way down, and TCU could be a dark horse in the Big 12. And the last word here is when you insert Bobby Petrino into your college program and it's only like the third most controversial thing on the team. It kind of shows you where North Carolina is at this moment. So on the 29th at noon eastern, it's TCU at North Carolina.

Right after the game at 3.30 Eastern on ESPN, it'll be NC State and Virginia. So we got two big ones on week zero. This is a big game here because Virginia, as many of you know, is coming off in 11-win season, probably should have. one, the ACC, but it's going to go down in the land of the who's is the best college football season they've had. North Carolina skate has been talked about on this show as perpetually turning the corner. The only thing is they actually have to turn the corner.

So Luges, let's start with you. This time, although they've had plenty of quarterbacks littered throughout the NFL, this time they really believe they have a really good young, up-and-coming quarterback that could get Dave Dorn and Company over the hump. Well, there's no question about that. That CJ Bailey special. If you haven't seen him, you've got to take a peek. He's going into his third year as a starter in Raleigh.

And in today's climate, being able to maintain and retain your quarterback is a difficult task, as we all know. He's been loyal. They've invested in him. They've still got Duke Scott in the backfield, even though they lose Hollywood smothers to the University of Texas. They're going to have a revamped offensive line. And if they can do two things on defense, they can get off the field on third down and limit explosive plays through the air. take a look at this schedule and most notably who they do not play.

I'm telling you, Dusty, I think this is a team that if they stay healthy and C.J. Bailey's as advertised with that schedule, they could not only be a dark horse ACC championship contender, but playoff contender. I'm nodding along with you, Tom, because I agree.

I'm a big fan of C.J. Bailey. I'm a big fan of Dave Doran. His teams are always so tough. And last year, they beat Virginia. The game did not count. but you know Tony Elliott wants to get this one back and that's kind of the big question for me who is Virginia this year Tony Elliott with one of the great coaching jobs in all of college football from 11 wins in his first three seasons combined to 11 wins last season in Virginia and it's a new

quarterback vote for beulah we saw him last year at Missouri did a nice job when he was healthy banged up at the end of the season now he gets a new opportunity in this ACC it's a deep running back room that they're going to lean on. A lot of transfer portal guys that they're going to have to hit on here this season. And as we take a look at this schedule, not quite as easy a path

as we see for NC State. But I'm just intrigued in general with Virginia this season. Are they closer to the team we saw the first three years under Tony Elliott or closer to the team we saw last year just to drive away

from an ACC championship? Yeah, you and Tom and I are all old enough to remember that when two teams played each other in the ACC, it counted in the ACC standings. That is a wrinkle that Dusty brought up. This is just the size

of college football now. So we just broke down North Carolina TCU. We broke down NC State and Virginia and two of the great HBCU programs of all time. Alabama and A&M and Howard. That's all next Saturday. First two on ESPN the last one on your ABC

station. A day after a day after members of the class of 2022 were granted an extra year of college eligibility to compensate for them not being a part of the NCAA's new 5 and 5 mandate. Hang on a second. We have flipped the script, and apparently it's now off,

throwing conventional wisdom to the notion that the U.S. court system works at a snail's pace. For more on that, we bring in ESP and investigative reporter, Dan Murphy. Dan, I'm talking to you at this time yesterday. We're talking about a watershed change, and now it feels like it's a 180. Get us up to date on what's happened here in the last 24 hours.

Yeah, welcome back to the next order, the next issue of law and order CFB here today. I think, you know, it's not a complete 180, we should say, right? So let's reset quickly what's happened here. The NCAA changed its eligibility rules earlier this year so that you can now play five seasons within a five-year window. It used to be you could only play four seasons within that same five-year window. So that created this specific group of athletes who came onto campus four years ago as freshmen,

played four seasons. Under the old rules, they would be done. Under the new rules, they suddenly have a year left. The NCAA said, we don't want you guys to come back, for a year, wouldn't be fear to the incoming freshmen who have already decided where they're going to be, they're already on campus. And so that spurred a whole bunch of lawsuits. We've got at least a dozen lawsuits, more than 100 total athletes who are part of this group

who are suing to say, I want my one year of eligibility that I'm deserved. So three weeks ago, we had a judge in a federal lawsuit case who said, yes, you guys can come back, you can play. Today, an appeals court ruled in favor of the NCAA, saying, in fact, you cannot come back can play. That was a blanket order that gave that ability to every college athlete who fits the description of having played four years in their last four seasons. However, this gets even more confusing here, Zubin, and there are also, you know, at least a dozen other lawsuits in state courts. And so if you are a player who has specifically sued the NCAA under your own name and won a restraining

order, you are still allowed to play. If you were just counting on this one federal class action lawsuit that the NCAA successfully appealed today, you are no longer allowed to play. So the upshot from all of this is it's still confusing and more likely than not we're going to see an influx of more lawsuits coming in the very near future. It's unbelievable. We are eight days away from the start of week zero and there is still so much in flux and Dan Murphy is going to be on top of it all the way through. Dan, thanks very much. Still to come here on college football live. Who's got the best defense in America? All right, I'll give you a hint. It's not in the SEC. It's not in the Big Ten.

Who in the world could it be? We'll tell you when College Football Live continues. College Football Live is brought to you by Seeley Posturpedic, expertly engineered for superior support. Hear that? It's your money calling. It wants a promotion.

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Being set, kickoff, defense wins championships. I think we all know actually offense wins championships. But for the purpose of this exercise, Dusty, this is your side of the ball. Top five defenses in the country, all the usual suspects on the bottom of the screen. Let's go five to one. I'll help you out and give me your rationale. Well, Zubin, first of all, defense does win championships, and I think it's going to win a championship again this season.

Let's kick it off with the dogs, who we know can always play defense for Kirby Smart and Glenn Schumann. I love what they have coming back on the back end of this defense. Ellis and Ellis Robinson, the 4th, and KJ. Bolden, outstanding in the secondary. One thing they've got to do better, they've got Raylon Wilson coming back at linebacker. Elijah Griffin is a name to know. was a standout as a freshman last year. He's got to take a step. Chris Cole has to take a step.

Need to be better rushing the passer and create a negative plays, but the dog will be dominant on the defensive side in 2026. All right, four. At number four, let's go with the Indiana. Hoosiers.

They got some things to replace, but Brian Haynes is phenomenal. I just structurally and fundamentally sound as any team, you will see. No one makes a mistake. Everybody is always in the gap playing with great effort, hands right where they need to be in passing lanes,

getting after the quarterback. I love Mario Landino coming back. I love Tyree Tunker. They may get as we saw Stephen Daley come back. And then on the back end, they've got some nice players coming back as well. So Indiana, once again, will be very good defensively. At number three,

give me the Oregon Ducks. I think the defensive line might be the best front four coming back. All four guys come back. They're all pros. It starts with them. Washington, the monster in the middle. Bear Alexander, Hui Odi, Eni Unglu-Lay.

And on the back in the addition of Coy Perkins to go with Brandon Finney makes him to me outstanding. New D.C. and Chris Hampton. But overall, Dan Lannie is still there. The Oregon Ducks as talented as anybody in college football. And number two, and I could have made him number one, but I'm going to the Oklahoma Sooner. Okay. Look, head coach Brent Venables has some hours. absolute dudes on the defense once again this season.

And it's the defensive line. David Stone might be the best defensive tackle in all of college football, paired with Jaden Jackson, and then Taylor Wine with a breakout year last year at defensive end. But how about the linebacking duel of Owen Heineke, Kip Lewis, they add Cole Sullivan from Michigan. There is talent all over the place. And we know Brent Venable is as aggressive a play caller as there is in all

a college football. But number one for me, it's the Irish. of Notre Dame. I love what Marcus Freeman has on the defensive side. Chris Ash going into year two. Last year as the season went on, they got better and better and better. The defensive line,

the addition of Francis Bruy from Pitt is massive. They got Traori back. They got Bryce Young. I love Kingston, Viliamu, Asa, and linebacker. The versatility can bring them from all over. And this might be the best secondary headline by Leonard Moore and all the college football.

There's a reason, Zubin, I like Notre Dame to win a national championship, and it's because of that defense that they're going to have this season. That would be their first national title since 1988. And the last thing on Dusty's list, now that we've reestablished defense wins championships, most of these teams are all led by head coaches that cut their teeth on defense, including number one. More on team number one tier with the Irish.

The favorite choice, right? I mean, Dusty said he thinks they can win the national championship. And because of the easy schedule that you see here on. your screen, the chances to win the title and win the Heisman look pretty good in South Bend. And with regard to winning the Heisman, the guy that might do it for the Irish, let's bring Tom back inside college football live. Tom, I mentioned the top, we were going to take a deep dive, kind of into the development of what makes cars so special. Take us inside the tape. Well, a couple of things, but let's start off with pre-snap recognition and footwork.

His base and his platform is so consistent. Now take a look at this first play. He's going to see a late ad coming off the edge here, which gives him an indication to the bottom of the screen. He's going to have a 6'4 Malachi Fields going down the sideline with no over-the-top safety help. So he's very, very poised, wasn't in a hurry, and then look at the placement of the ball, the accuracy.

Six foot four, he puts the ball in the only place that it can go and away from the defender. Now, focus on the feet right here. He's going to work his progression to the wide side of the field. He's going to come back, and he very suddenly takes one step back just to get away from rush, throws a dart to the sideline. This he's going to go from left to right. The receiver to the left ended up getting jammed for the line of scrimmage.

He's got to get off of him right now. He does that in rhythm, steps into the throw, throws a deep dig. Now here's where he does a great job, recognizing some pressure in flushing the pocket. Now, he could have tucked this ball, and he could have ran. But instead, he keeps his eyes up field, dumps it off late, gets the ball into the playmaker's hands and lets them do the heavy lifting. One of the things that I think is so important about this player is that accuracy starts from the ground up. And when you watch him, he's one of the purest quarterbacks that we have in college football right now.

He just everything is very, very effortless. So you pair that defense dusty's talking about with a guy that I think could be a top five overall pick in next year's draft. Notre Dame's got a chance to be special. And Tom, there's this intangible. It doesn't feel like it's too big for him. the quarterback of Notre Dame and he's just letting it ride. Nothing phases him. No doubt, Tom. That's perfectly said.

On that note, when college football live continues, it felt a little too big for Arch Manning last year, but why that feeling has completely dissipated. Hear from Arch on that next. Hear that? It's your

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You're richer than you think. You know, when Archmanning needs a pep talk, he could, of course, always go to Eli, Payton, or Archie. But the most inspirational person he spoke to this off-season happened to be the last quarterback to take Texas to the national title game. That would be Colt McCoy. Flashback, January 2010. Alabama, Texas, title game. Colt gets hurt in the game. Alabama wins, leading to one of the greatest what-ifs in Texas football lore.

And as Art sat down with Marty and McGee, he told him the best call he's going to get this year won't be piped into his helmet. It actually came from Col McCoy. All the negative parts of it where like I got to take a picture with so on. So I'm really trying to focus on the positive aspects of it. I love it when you're on the sideline and you see all the legends walking around. Right? I mean, and Texas has got more than most. What's it been like being a part of that history? You ever hearing from any of these guys that they're stalking the sideline before the game?

Yeah. Last year, good or bad games, Cole McCoy would reach out to me, and that was cool. Obviously, I have paid an Eli, but a guy that played at UT who's been in your footsteps, that was really cool. And I could ask him any question I wanted. We went to dinner. He's just a great guy and a great resource for me, especially when I wasn't playing very well. What was that wisdom? Yeah, he gave me a lot of wisdom. I don't know.

We talked for about three hours, but he just told me to be myself. And I think there's a lot of expectations at Texas, a lot of tradition, but you have to be yourself in order to get what you want. Last thing for me, when you sit down with Sark and he is that influential in not only what you're doing on the field, but the man you're becoming off the field. How do you describe his influence in your life? He's been great. Obviously, he's a football genius, but he's really a down-to-earth guy. You can go talk to about anything.

And he owns the room. He's really good in front of the team. We've got a good culture. Everyone respects him. So I'm blessed to be at the University of Texas, and I'm blessed he's my head coach. Great stuff, man. You're the man.

I appreciate y'all. No, no. Thank you, buddy. Yes, sir. You can see why he's so easy to like. I should mention that Arch had a three-hour phone call with Colt McCoy, and he just said, be yourself. Sound so easy.

really isn't, but that's the key from Colt. Dusty, to you. You know this program. The rival it had with your program. What do you see here for Texas with the amount of talent that they've added in the off-season to help an already flourishing arch if the back half of last season meant something?

Look, Steve Sarkeesian's been to the college football playoff semifinal twice. This is his most talented team. What do they do with it? I can't wait to find out. And the schedule is very tough, as is the case for a lot of teams at the top of college football this season. But you know what good teams do? They win big time games. And we'll find out a lot with Ohio State coming to town week number two. I think Arch is going to be great. I love the

addition to Camp Coleman. My big thing for Texas offensively, they got to get back to running the football. And to me, that's why they invested in Hollywood Smothers and Relique Brown in the backfield. When they've been at their best under Steve Sarkeesian, they've run the football. And then defensively, I love the addition of Rishin Biles. And what does this defense look like under will must champ. We're all expecting a more aggressive defense than what we saw under Pete Quikowski. And how does that manifest itself? You got Colin Simmons, maybe the best premier rusher in all of college football, and now a chess piece and vials to play around with if you're will, must champ. This team has the talent, Tom, to win a national championship,

but a tough road to hoe with that schedule. No question. One of the things that I like is that we're not naming 40, 45 roster additions or departures. You're looking at a team that's got a foundation, they've got pillars that are grounded at the high school recruiting ranks, and then what they do is they go out and they handpick some guys at some positions where they know they're either devoid of talent or depth or both,

like they had at wide receiver, and like they had it running back. So I think that this is one of those rosters that's been developed very, very nicely and they haven't had that turnstile of guys going in and out the door. The thing that I think is going to be so important is all of the accolades, all of the expectations,

everything that was placed upon Archmanning, a year ago that was not warranted, it is warranted now. And he earned it. And if you go back to that last five to six weeks going into the playoff last year, into the bowl game, he was outstanding. So I think that it picks up where he left off, it's going to be a really, really good football team. Last word, I'll just tell you, it shows you how fast college football moves.

Nobody wanted Quinn Ewers more than Ohio State in Texas. He ended up going to the playoff twice, and they couldn't wait to start the Manning era. Now he just needs to finish the job. Have a great weekend. We'll see it next Monday as we count down to week zero. Mysteries unravel and stunning truths are revealed when 2020 investigates. Follow the clues, the evidence, the breaking new details. ABC's 2020 means true murder mystery.

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