College Football Live - CFB LIVE - JAKE DICKERT JOINS THE SHOW

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Roddy Jones, and Tom Luginbill on another episode of College Football Live! Three ranked on ranked matchups highlight this weekend's slate. US Senate vote to pass protect College Sports Act, Dan Murphy joins the show to give all the details. Wake Forest Head Coach Jake Dickert also joins the show after an emotional win at Louisville this past weekend. All this and more on College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Out of the tunnel straight ahead here on college football live, one-third of the way into the college football season. What do our experts know, but don't they know? And what do they want to know? We'll discuss all three of those on the way. The biggest gripe of the weekend went to a coach whose team had a stunning win. So why has Jake Dicter of Wake Forest been so fiery the last couple of days? He'll join us to tell us. And three top 25 matchups coming up this weekend, including the nation's number one defense,

taking on the nation's number one player with college games. game they there to get you set. That more on college football live right now. Welcome to college football live presented by Princess Cruz Lines. Can you believe we're on the verge of week number five one month down and by the time we hit the end of the next month our first college football playoff rankings will be unveiled and that's when you know the season is getting serious. And with that, we welcome you inside college football live. Tom Roddy. are here. Gentlemen, let's get right into it. So we kind of

digested a lot of the first four weeks of this season. Now looking ahead, Roddy, forward thinking, what's the big storyline you're watching as later this month, of course, will be into the month of October and really getting after it. I think my biggest question and storyline is

how good is the Big Ten this year? Because obviously, Ohio State looks like one of the best teams in the country despite having the loss to Texas. Oregon has rebounded, but they lost on the road at Oklahoma State. And then you look at some of the teams that we thought were kind of going to be

in that upper mid-tier. Michigan, lost to Iowa, probably should have lost to Western Michigan. You look at a Penn State who just talked a loss to Wisconsin, Washington, and Illinois, have both gotten off to starts that were a little bit less

than we anticipated. On the other side, UCLA and Nebraska, sitting there at 4-0. So how much do we trust the latter teams that I mentioned and how good are the teams that I talked about at the top?

The Big Ten finally getting a conference. way I think we'll get a little better sense of exactly how good the Big Ten is. Roddy, I tell you what, what I'm looking forward to seeing is what does USC do in the month of October? Because they could legitimately be out of the college football playoff conversation when you look at the games coming up, which include Washington, Penn State on the road, Wisconsin who's coming off of an upset win at Penn State, and then, of course, Ohio State on Halloween day.

That means they have to go a minimum of three and one right there. to still be in the conversation. And the way that they are playing defense right now, I don't think that it lends to them being in the spot that they needed to be, or many people anticipated them being with the hiring of Gary Patterson in the offseason, but this defensively is not going to cut it in this month,

I think is going to prove an awful lot about where SC is in the big college football picture. Yes, and we should remind everyone that Nick Saban's birthday is actually October 31st on Halloween. And if they are eliminated, Tom, That should make for a very interesting Saturday morning game day with USC, not even making it to November, according to Tom, if things don't break the right way. We got a bunch of ranked matchups coming up this weekend.

You'll get into all three of these before our half hour is up. But let's begin with our rewarding performance brought to you by Capital One. And that's that third game on your screen. The Gator snap in a 12-game losing streak to top five teams in style, taken down Ole Miss at the swamp. Over the weekend, next up, Missouri. But Coach Summerall knows what it's like to be a buzzkill, and he doesn't want to experience being on the other end of it.

I have zero concerns about anybody's homecoming, our homecoming. It's a football game. I do know this. The last four trips we've gone to Missouri, we've lost three up. So if we think it's going to be a freaking cakewalk, I don't care if it's homecoming or whatever, we're in for a rude awakening. Got to make sure they stay sharp. after the emotion of that win over Ole Miss,

just like Ole Miss had all that emotion after that went over LSU. You got to kind of keep it all in perspective. Tom, let's start with you. Florida looked like Florida. Those fans want to see fun and gun and points and spurious and urban. And for the first time in a long time, they looked like it. They really did. And what Coach Summerall is talking about there is complacency and taking a breath.

And now's not the time to do that. I think the thing that stands out so much to me about Florida is their level of execution has been so high. And if there's a knock on Florida, it's been, they've been heavily penalized, averaging almost 8.9 penalties per game. But their execution has been at such a high level.

They've been able to overcome that. They've been opportunistic on defense. Miles Graham, Aaron Childs, a linebacker-led defense, and then offensively, we want to focus on Jaden Baugh, but the reality is they're weapons on the perimeter with Brown, Wilson, Singleton. it is Bailey Stockton. They've got to get back to him back in the fold.

They've just competed at such a high level that it has overcome some of those little deficiencies like penalties that usually rear its ugly head and it costs you a football game. But from an execution standpoint, I just think Florida's been sensational. I agree with you, Lug's. Buster Faulkner has been a phenomenal

offensive coordinator for Florida this season. They're getting Eric Singleton back in the fold. And honestly, they put up 50-something against Ole Miss, 52, and they probably left 14 points on the table just with little mistakes. I'm going to flip over to the other side, though, because Missouri at some point is going to have to take a stand in the SEC and beat somebody that ends up with a winning record in the league. You look at what Missouri's done, nine consecutive losses against ranked teams,

and they have kind of this week, and maybe over the last year or so become a punchline at the back part of the top 25, saying that if you are going to finish with a winning record, you're going to beat Missouri. If you're not, Missouri's probably going to beat you. So at some point, Eli Drinkwitz is going to have to have one of these wins that is sort of a program-defining win and getting a top 25 team, a top 10 team at your place after they come off of a big win. This is a perfect letdown spot for Florida and a perfect spot for Missouri to finally get one of those ranked wins. Roddy, one more to you. And the reason I'm going to bypass Tom is because of what Tom said in his comments, I think I pretty much know the answer to this question. But for you,

You mentioned it. A team that's in the back half of the top 25 has vaulted themselves into the top 10. There's a lot of skittish things about last week's poll that came out. That among them, what do you think about Florida vaulting from the bottom of the top 25 into the top 10 after one win? I'm not against these big moves in the AP poll early in the season. A lot of what we're going off of is based on what we thought in the preseason and the few sample size, a little bit of sample that we have.

in terms of the first four games, the win at Auburn was dominant. The win against Ole Miss was dominant. So I have no problem with Florida vaulting as high as they did because they've proven something on the field. All right, unlike Missouri, who Roddy, of course, still wants to see it be proven on the field. And speaking of Missouri, it was proven on the field how good Camaro Taylor is

as you take a look at today's fast play brought to you by Goodyear. Down the stretch, great game last week on the SEC Network. Camaro, K-1, Super Camario, whatever you want to call them. Coming up big in that win. Next up, Alabama, the gauntlet begins for the tide. You've got to pour everything into that particular week. And that's what our guys have done, I think, a really good job of so far when anticipate anything different.

And then we focus on the next game and that next game becomes the most important one. And so, you know, I just, all efforts will be on Mississippi State this week. But it's one game at a time, you know, just a year ago, we would have looked at a slate of games and felt the same way. And you can't even, I couldn't even tell you the order of the games that we have to play here in October. I know which one is this weekend. Seems strange that a guy making more than Nick Sabin ever made wouldn't know who the next opponent is, but I will take him at his word on that.

Roddy, let's begin with you here. DeBowar is a defensive guy, and that's kind of the side of the ball you're looking at here for Alabama. Well, first off, Zubin, he's got more staff than Sabin ever had, too. So that's for other people to worry about. We have someone paid on the staff to let me know what day it is. But yeah, I'm looking at that defense. This has been an Alabama team that's been a slow starting team up until that South Carolina game. And they're up against the most prolific offense passing-wise that they've seen since that Florida State game,

where they started slow and ended up giving up 377 yards passing against Florida State in week three. Now, a lot of that was probably just the moment. And Florida State getting off to a hot start, having a great game plan. But Camario Taylor and those weapons are more talented than the collection of weapons that Florida State had. So I want to see Alabama start a little bit faster, particularly on the defensive side of the ball than they did against the last time that they played a passing offense. That's even close to as prolific as this one. And Florida State is not this Mississippi State offense. That's exactly right, Roddy.

And the one thing that Mississippi State has done a great job of is getting off to those fast starts. I mean, explosive plays galore. It's very clear that Jeff Levy and his staff have done them outstate. job upgrading, not just the entire roster, but the areas, particularly in the offensive line and the defensive front, where they were devoid of talent in depth a year ago. Camaro Taylor, for all of his gifts, has been sensational. I don't think there's anybody that could debate that. And if you haven't seen him, you're missing out.

But what's probably getting undervalued here is those targets you mentioned. Anthony Evans, San Frisco McGee. This is a group that can flat out fly. Marquise Johnson, the Missouri transfer. and then Fluff Bothwell adds the power element to the run game, having rushed for over 100 yards, two weeks in a row. This is the test, though, right? This is where it starts because the month of October is going to define

where this Mississippi State program actually is with Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, and Texas. That is a murderer's row of competition, so we've just broken down the first two games of our ABC triple header on Saturday. Here it is for you again, Alabama, Mississippi State, Florida, Missouri. Darien Mensa has more touchdown passes. than incompletions. Let that set in for a second. Miami and Clemson, ACC, primetime on ABC. On the way, after one of the most thrilling and stunning wins of the season, Wake Forest left out of the top 25. And that is not sitting well with their head coach,

who will join us to explain next. College Football Live is presented by Princess Cruises, the number one cruise line in a last You're watching college football live presented by Princess Cruise Lines. Now we're connected, presented by AT&T. Safe to say Gio Lopez and Carlos Hernandez were connected at the hip this weekend. 225 for Gio through the air. Nine catches, 194 for Carlos, including a monster first half and a big road win over Louisville. Just one game, right?

Is it just one game? Listen to this from Wake Forest head coach, Jake Decker. We just taught complete game, not perfect game, and it was definitely imperfect. But the heart and soul of our team, last night we talked about the last of the hard. Our team is the last of the hard. We're doing it the damn hard way. I mean that. And I'm just so damn proud of our team.

And we just beat a team, man. It's got triple our resources, dude. And to come in here in their house in this environment, the confidence our guys have and what we're doing right now is unbelievable. And I can't wait to celebrate with them. Where's your emotion come from, coach? We feel it. You want to be honest?

my wife's dad passed away a couple weeks ago and she's there today and I'm not there for someone I love like everyone thinks coaching is this like this perfect thing my heart was with her today she knows I love her honey I love you thank you

wow coach also did say that she's his biggest supporter just wanted to let her know he was thinking about her after one of the biggest wins of his coaching career it's great to have Jake Dickard here I don't know how you topped that but that's your problem I'm asking the question

So let's get ready for this, Jake. What an emotional moment. First things first, I woke up, saw the poll Sunday morning. You're not in it. I watched your press conference yesterday. You said your players are some of the most disrespected in the country. After everything that's happened, the win, the emotion, the not getting the love. How are you feeling right now?

Well, I appreciate you guys having me out. I think the biggest thing is Wake Forest and general, our football program, as you look throughout the last 10 years, we've been really successful. The narrative is wrong. You know, so 2021, we're in the ACC championship game. We won the championship in 2006. Bottom line is we got good players. I know I get too much of the credit. Our coaches are amazing.

You want to come to Wake Forest. You're going to get coached. You're going to get developed. And we're winning big ball games. And we've proven that through the first 16 games here, Wake Forest, the last two years. Yeah, your first year and a half on the job has been outstanding. I think a lot of people in the coaching community know the challenge that it is,

which we'll get into in a second. I want to pinpoint one player in particular. We just saw him there in the highlights. It was about a year ago. that your staff benched Carlos Hernandez. And I think that could go one of two ways. You know how it is today, Coach, with all the money and everything. How would you describe the evolution he's made from basically getting benched

to maybe, in your words, Sanz Jeremiah Smith, maybe being one of the best receivers in America? Well, I would say this. We're all about having hard conversations, and that's exactly what we needed to have. We were truthful with Carlos, but I ended that conversation with how much I believe in him. And all he's done in that moment is respond. It's a story across college football and a story of life and young people. Like, keep working the process.

Keep believing in yourself. When I get to see him do day in and day out, it's been really, really impressive. You know, this guy, you know, catches short, run long, is big over the top. As an all-American punt returner, he's just doing it in every facet in every way. So really proud of his resolve and the results that he's getting on the field. You know, one of the reasons I think a lot of people really like you is because you're frank. And you've essentially said, look, we're not spending at the top of the ACC. We're also a small private school that has wealthy alumni, passionate alumni, but not a huge group.

In this era coach of got to have some money and got to have all the donors pay up, how does a school like Wake Forest in your unique situation traverse college football today? You've got to have a process that you really, really believe in. And we do. Our process is built in the dark, but it's a developmental process. And I understand throughout the long term, it is doing it the hard way. But you're finding an Aidan Martin, who is 6, 5, 240 pounds coming out of high school, and you're putting 60 pounds on them.

But you have to show that you can retain players, right? When we go find them, when we develop them, we got to keep them here at Wake Forest. That is our focus. That is our goal. This is how we're going to build teams. But bottom line is we got a bunch of guys that love ball, right? Come to Wake Forest if you love football. Come to Wake Forest.

If you want to be coached, you want to be critiqued, like you crazy. Like, you crave that. We got phenomenal football coaches. We got phenomenal people here at Wake. And our players, you know, once again, I said, they're disrespected because at the end of the season, everybody wants them, right? They got this bond. They got this connection. They have something that's really, really special.

And you can't wish that. You can't talk that. You got to earn that. And they do it every day on that football field. They're doing every day in the locker room. And I think that's how great teams are built. Some passionate stuff. You said it in this interview.

You said it Saturday. It's all about winning in the dark. But what happens when you win in the dark is eventually you shine the light. Wake Forest is one of college football's biggest surprises. Best of luck this Saturday noon Eastern on the ACC network with Stanford. Jake, thank you very much. I appreciate it, guys. Go Deeks. Wake Forest and 137 other schools are closely following the Protect College Sports Act,

which passed the United States Senate with 77 votes. No small thing in our highly polarized country. Next up goes to the House of Representatives. So essentially this is halfway home. If you're unfamiliar, the Protect College Sports Act, trying to bring some level of regulation to an industry that has virtually had none and desperately needs some guidance. For more on this, we welcome in our Dan Murphy.

He has been covering this story from the beginning. All right. So now it goes to the house. What are the chances it can pass there and eventually become long? I assume. Yeah, it is a major milestone to get such an overwhelming support. vote in the Senate. As you mentioned, 77 votes. Two big obstacles still remain now as we move on to the House. The first is a time crunch, and the second is that this is still going to face

some opposition from folks on both sides of the political spectrum. So first, the time crunch. Right now, the House is out campaigning for the upcoming November elections. They have no plans to return to Washington, D.C., and take any action on any kind of legislation until after the election. So that gives them only a window of five or six weeks at the very end of this year to try to get this done and go through all the steps that are necessary to get a bill to the president's desk. Otherwise, we reset the whole thing and start from square one again in January with a new Congress. And if they do get enough time to really consider this thing, we're going to see, I think, opposition on, as I said, on both sides of the political spectrum.

There are plenty of Republicans who are a little bit disappointed that this bill doesn't expressly prohibit college athletes from being employees of their schools in the future. That was a big point of debate and sort of a compromise that the Republicans in the Senate that had to make to get to this point. On the other side of things, the Democrats have kind of loudly been saying, hey, if this is about trying to cut costs and makes things more affordable so we don't get rid of women's sports and we don't get rid of Olympic sports, then why are we only capping what players can pay?

Why aren't we capping what coaches can pay or coaches can make or athletic directors or how much you're spending on facilities? And I think one of the most interesting things that happened in this vote last night is Cory Booker, who's a Democrat from New Jersey, raised an amendment to the bill that said, hey, if we're going to cap players, let's cap coaches at a $5 million a year salary and cap their buyouts for how much they can make for that, too. That got 47 of the 51 votes it would have needed to pass. So it didn't pass, but a big indication that there is still a lot to debate to debate here as we move forward over the next five to six weeks. No doubt. Just a quick C-SPAN note, it is much harder to get things passed through the house.

It's a much bigger body. It's much more diverse than the guys and gals are always running. So we'll see what happens November, if not beyond. That's our Dan Murphy, and that's a civics lesson. On the way here on College Football Live, why Iowa will push Ohio State as far as they can to the brink, but can they win it? We'll discuss it next. College Football Live is presented by Princess Cruises,

the number one cruise line in Alaska. Get this thing started. I'm ready to go, Coach. Last time they were in Iowa City, there was three guys on the set. It's been a while, 20 years. Something's got to give. Ohio State has one of the best offenses in the country. Iowa, by one metric there on your screen, has the best defense.

Tom, I want to start with you as we get to this big Saturday afternoon clash at Kinnick Stadium. You think Ohio State is going to have to earn everything they get against the Hawkeyes. Take us inside. Every square inch, zooping. And everybody's going to point to Iowa's offense and can they score enough points? Well, the way Iowa wins this game is they rely on that defense.

And this defense is so good when it comes to keeping the ball in front of them and then tackling in space. They're only allowing 5.85 yards per pass. 5.85. So the win here for Iowa is to keep the ball in front of them and then ask yourself how many contested wins on vertical throws versus Jeremiah

of Smith can we get so that Ohio State loses their patience? First off, we have to acknowledge the nugget that Zubin gave, measuring the length of time that it's been since game day, has been there by the number of people on the desk. Phenomenal. We should also do that in number of hours of the show as well as that's grown in time, too. But I am concerned about this Iowa offense against the two power four teams that they've played.

They've averaged 284 and a half yards of offense. That typically doesn't get better against Ohio State. So how is Iowa and how is Hank Brown? How are they going to be able to move the ball consistently enough to be able to keep up with Ohio State? Because we know that Ohio State, even though this Iowa defense is excellent, we know Ohio State is going to put up some points. What kind of pressure does that put on Hank Brown

and what is the biggest start of his career coming up with Game Day in Iowa City? It's so interesting because Hank Brown had to hold off Heklinsky at the last moment. Ferrence did say he's confident in both guys, but this is a team that didn't even have a clear week one starter and now they're going to try to knock off Ohio State. We'll see it for more college football live tomorrow.