College Football Live - CFB LIVE - RHETT LASHLEE JOINS THE SHOW

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, and EJ Manuel on today's episode of College Football Live. Alex Scarborough joins to show to give updates on Sam Leavitt. SMU Head Coach Rhett Lashlee joins the show to preview their game against Louisville. David Hale also gives some insight on the recent Steve Belichick news. All this and more on today's episode of College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early morning on a Manhattan sidewalk, a shooting caught on surveillance video. It was an assassination style killing, and everybody saw it. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside this captivating case. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to burden of proof Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. We have LSU. We have old miss. They know what they're getting in.

you, we are who we are. I think they are what everybody thought they were going to be on paper. Use your job. They can't get up with this one. I don't know why they play the game. I think this would be one for the ages for sure. And we begin with a developing story about you know what. And as Pete Dammel said yesterday in the grand lexicon of Ole Miss LSU controversies,

this doesn't seem like a big deal. Or is it? Sam Levitt listed as doubtful for Saturday's game. You know the deal. He's been injury prone before. Didn't show up on any Kiffin, media availability this week with regards to talking about any injuries. Are Pete Thamel talking to people on the Ole Miss staff saying essentially this is plain and

simple a ruse and they believe he will be out there on Saturday? Let's go boots on the ground. Alex Scarborough covers the SEC for ESPN. You heard what Thamel just said there, but what does your reporting here tell you, Alex? Yeah, Lane certainly has a history of being liberal with the SEC availability. reports. Thinking of Jordan Watkins a few years ago against Georgia was listed as doubtful, played in that game and had an impact. The SEC does have a fine structure in place if they believe you've misused the report and can even look at practice footage to determine whether

or not a player has been sidelined during the week or not. That said, LSU has a couple of options at the quarterback position, neither of which is particularly experienced. There's Long Street, the freshman and Clark the sophomore. Longstreet. Longstreet. technically your quarterback too, according to the depth chart, but Clark has actually played more as that third string quarterback and could be the guy if Leavitt is unable to go. That's right, because Clark does have some smaller conference experience, but at least its experience nonetheless, Alex Scarborough. Thank you so much for that. So fellas, we thought maybe, just maybe we would have something to talk about. And of course, Lane delivers. Welcome inside college football live. Joe, Sam, EJ. You'll see these two guys tonight on ESPN is the ACT stake center stage. but let's talk a little SEC.

Let's begin with you. You're the resident QB on the set. What do you make of this latest piece of subterfuge? If it is that by Elaine Kiff. This has to be gamesmanship. And Coach Kiffin obviously is going to be very smart and how he handles this to make sure there's no fines and all those types of things.

But I can remember even as a quarterback, if you had an injury, maybe you don't do, or maybe you do walkthroughs, and then maybe you actually rest during the real time of practice. So that could be the situation. But ultimately, if Sam Levin does play, he has to protect the football better. And then keep this in mind,

this has been a game that's been built up for months. Yes. And then everybody in Baton Rouge, everybody there in Oxford wants this game to be a big one. And so for Sam Levitt potentially not playing this game, I'd be shocked. I think he plays. And Ole Miss is right for preparing like he is going to. But if he doesn't, I actually expect Landon Clark to be the quarterback number two. Why?

Because in the Clemson game week one, Clark was one who went in when Clemson was really down big and LSU was blowing out Clemson. He got a chance to move the ball pretty well. Very athletic, started 12 games last year at Elon. And so he has experience in playing. And so I don't think it's. It's gamesmanship. And the reason I say that is that if you're listed as doubtful, by definition, you have to have a 25% chance or less of playing.

Number one. Number two, there are those fines, up to $100,000 fines. Number three, Greg Sanky, the commissioner of the SEC can actually go back and impose even more penalties. And so I understand Lane Kiffin's desire to win. And I understand the potential for gamesmanship. I just don't think it is. If you look at the last three weeks, they don't care about any kind of fines at this point. You take it to court.

We'll figure this thing out. But ultimately, you talk about the experience playing at Elon. This is a completely different animal for whoever the quarterback is in this game. This is going to be a hostile environment. And you're also going up against a very good quarterback in Trinidad Chamliss who's going to apply a ton of pressure by putting points on the board, pushing a ball at field. I would expect their best off with Sam Levitt being the QB in this way, if he can go. Sports betting market could provide a bit of an indicator here. Going into yesterday, you had LSU three point favorite on the road, right?

All right. So we're laying the field goal, important number. News comes out that we see that there could be some issues with the quarterback drops to one. a half. So a one and a half point move, then right back up to two and a half. So ask yourself this, it's a half point. Either the drop from Levitt to the backup is only worth half a point or the market isn't buying what Lane Kiffin's trying to sell, which I would lean into this. If Levitt's banged up, wouldn't you want to leave them off the injury report entirely? Absolutely. Not tip off Ole Miss in any way, shape, or form that your quarterback might have

an injury that you try to exploit during the game. A lot to discuss here, as there has been with Ole Miss and LSU for out the last few weeks, but the market's telling us. telling us they expect to see Levin. Yeah, and that's a Bill Belichick classic move, right? To keep somebody off the injury report. We'll talk about Bill here in just a second. They've made some news as well. Take me inside as a guy that everybody wanted at the quarterback position when you were a prep.

Everybody wanted Hussein longstreet. I heard Sam's point there. But if you bring this guy over from USC, you're expecting at some point if we need you, kid, we need you. What kind of spot is that? Let's just say this is on the up and up, even if the Sharps disagree. Yeah, well, it's a tough spot, especially for his first start, potentially, you know, being there at LSU.

Now, this is a highly tired of player, as you mentioned, Zubin. The guy has a strong arm. He can do all the things, but he just hasn't done it yet. He hasn't been proven. So if he does play, I would imagine LSU going to try to run the football. They have not done that well. Even against Clemson, it wasn't a great run game because they didn't have to. And then Latech really didn't give them much on the ground either.

So I would say he's going to try to find his tight end trade as green Eugene, Eugene Wilson out wide. But this is an extremely hard situation to go to for a guy that does not have a lot of experience. Yeah, and I even go to the piece of. And I understand the lack of experience. So I just go to week one versus Clemson, big game. You're up a lot. They didn't go to Longstreet as a second quarterback. They went to a different guy, a guy who was more experience.

So for me, it doesn't make sense. Why would you not, if Longstreet was your quarterback too, get him the experience in week one and week two rather than going with Landon Clark. So that's why I believe Clark is going to be the guy that gets more reps, though Longstreet does have all the talent in the world. All right. We'll see what happens or maybe just Levitt goes out there. Right.

It's moot. According to Joe, we probably just. He's going to play. But that's okay. We're talking to all the football. It's not the worst thing in the world. We're ready to go on Saturday. You know the deal.

LSU and Ole Miss will end our Saturday triple header. Georgia and Arkansas will start it. Florida State and Alabama in an all-time revenge game for the tide in the sandwich at 3.30 p.m. Eastern. All these games on ABC. It's the SEC all day on ABC. Well, from the SEC to the ACC, new on college football. Live. Steve Belichick has resigned as the defensive coordinator at North Carolina.

This is effective next month, but he's already been on medical leave. So this is just going to wash on over. He will not return to the program. Carolina put out a statement saying that he simply didn't adhere to the Carolina way and the values they have. They'll take on Clemson on Saturday. For more on that, we welcome in David Hale. He covers the ACC as tight as anyone.

All right, so just give me the on-the-field implications here because we've talked plenty off the field about North Carolina. facing Clemson without Belichick moving forward with Bill essentially calling the defense, according to many. What do you know heading into Saturday here? Yeah, and it's interesting that Bill sort of gets off Scott Free here when he's the guy who obviously brought in his son

and Michael Lombardi, the GM, who was also out, was his right-hand man consigliary, that kind of thing. But you look at who hired Bill, and Steve Newmark was on the hiring committee. He's AD now. Obviously, the chancellor had a role in that too. And I think there's a lot and this is something I've been hearing even before Steve's resignation,

there's a lot of desire to see what this looks like when Bill has more a hands-on control over all aspects of the program, which he had largely ceded to his son and to Michael Lombardi. In some ways, this is best-case scenario for UNC, because Lombardi, I think, was viewed by a lot of people as not at all prepared to handle the GM team-building job of this. And who's better at building a defense than Bill Belichick? So if you've got him calling the defense now,

That's probably a win too. And now you're heading into Death Valley and Clemson against a team that is absolutely reeling down there. If you told everybody a month ago, Carolina would be the team coming in with less questions. That might have a head scratcher for a few folks. That's a great point, David. It's a get right game. But the question is, for whom? That's our David Hale.

Exactly. Let's discuss this here in detail. The day that Belichick was hired, there was two schools of thought, Sam. There was no middle ground. Either this is some stroke of genius or this is not going to work at all. I understand it's very early returns. It seems to be trending one way. But in light of everything you've heard, David, just say, how do you see the situation there writ large?

It seems like it's the latter. This wasn't the right decision by hiring Bill Belichick. That's what it seems early on in his tenure. People talk about this. They say that players are a reflection of their coach. Another way to say it, and outside of the sports lexicon is that it starts at the top, the leadership. Look at the leadership so far in North Carolina. and Michael Lombardi, their general manager, two weeks ago, he's gone.

Now, of a sudden, your defensive coordinator, Steve Belichick, there was health issues that were reported, but now there's a resignation that seems like it has less to do with the health issues and more to do with an investigation that was reported and different types of complaints. And so your general manager gone, your defensive coordinator gone. I understand that they're two and oh so far in the season's looking up, but now you also have players who have been suspended.

And so it's a whole different atmosphere, and I look at the players in their situation, trying to figure out how to follow and who to follow, it seems like it's a mess in North Carolina. Oh, it's 100% a mess. And you think about the adults in the room, so to speak, that are having these off-the-field issues, you know, you already mentioned Lombardi,

but then the fact you said, you know, defensive coordinator, Steve Belichick, that's his son too, right? So then there's a natural tie, literally, of, you know, Coach Belichick being tied to this. So I don't know if he survives it. I would imagine the fact that they're 2 and O right now helps him in the sense of, you know,

keeping his job. But again, when you have these types of investigations that have nothing to do with the on-the-field product, that can be a real issue for the people who are donating money to Carolina football. And not even just the donors, but also the players. Because there was also report that some of the players who got into trouble, they were speeding, there was some arrests.

And I understand it's like, hey, you've got to be better as a player, but who are you looking up to? That's what I mean. So I played at Texas. Mac Brown was our coach, right? Mac Brown, he tried to set a good example. He's the guy you wanted to follow. And I'm not saying Belichick isn't,

but I'm looking at Lombardi resigning, looking at Steve Villalichick, resigning. Who knows what else is going on in that, It makes it hard for a player to follow some team or a structure organization where the leaders are the same ones who are making the mistakes that you're trying to avoid. That's fair enough. Once again, Carolina Clemson, new Saturday on ESPN. We'll see what develops there. Still to come here on College Football Live.

He still got one more year left. But what has Kevin Jennings meant and mean to SMU when all is said and done? Some eye-popping comments from his question. Coach, wait till you hear this. Reg Lashley joins us after the break. College Football Live is presented by ice cold Dr. Pepper. College Football, it's a Pepper thing. Welcome back to College Football Live, presented by Dr. Pepper.

And welcome to this great matchup Saturday on ESPN2 with two of the nation's best offenses taking the field. Top 10 in yards. This wasn't always such a great matchup, SMU and Louisville, but that has changed thanks to the arrival of our guest. That is SMU head coach. Rett Lashley joins us here on college football live. We'll get to the matchup in a second.

But first thing, you win the American, you go to the ACC, you play in the championship game, you go to the playoff. Great last year. Heisman contender this year. If you were to pinpoint, coach, the through line that you've had, A couple different leagues, different types of players. What's the through line to success? Oh, wow.

That's a big question. You know, I think for us, it's just, you know, we're all about people here, both our staff and players. And we've been fortunate to have some really good players. And they know we care about them. And we do our best to develop real relationships with them so we can try to help them be the best they can be. And then they trust us and go out and play great. And so that's kind of lessons learned over the years that, you know, X's and O's are great and all the stuff that does matter is important. But it's all about people.

And when you have the right people, you can do some special things. So you well know Mansell changed Texas A&M, KM, changed Auburn. I know Kevin's not done yet. But just extrapolate ahead. What do you think when all this said and done he will have meant to SMU? Yeah, he's already meant a lot. You know, his legacy's still being written. You know, he broke our total yard record last week.

He's 605 yards away from the all-time leading pastor. He's 10 touchdowns away from that record. If he stays healthy, he's going to easily break all of those this year. I just think at a time for our program going into the ACC, the time with the college football playoff expanding, this kind of new era of college football with the transfer portal and RevShare and NIA, all the things that are going on to have someone like Kevin, who's from Dallas, choose SMU and stay for five years,

and then to be as good as he's been, I think it's just it's such a transformational time for our program, and he is kind of the linchpin to all of that, right? And he's been the face of our program. And to have someone stay loyal, stay here, and do what he's done, I think it's hard to really determine how big a deal that's going to be for us for decades to come. But I know it's been huge for us in the moment to allow us to continue to recruit and do the things we need to do to try to get our program.

We're going back to the top of college football. Last one. Speaking of a big deal, Saturday is a big deal. You are known for your offense. Brom has been known for his offense. What's at stake when you, him, ponies cards get together Saturday on ESPN 2? Well, it's a big conference game on the road. I think it's one of two ranked games this week.

So it's a huge game, you know, both in the national landscape and in the ACC. You know, for us, we're going on the road for the second time to start the season against the team that is really talented. I mean, these are the last two years we played them. felt like they were as talented as anybody in the ACC. They're definitely capable of winning the league and making a college football playoff run. And so to have to go into their place and wins a challenge, I think, you know, this game

won't define the season for either team, but it could be a launching pad for either one of us. And, you know, a lot gets going to get made of the quarterbacks, the offense, all that stuff. You know, I think at the end of the day, we've got two pretty good defenses that maybe aren't quite getting the credit they deserved. I know their defense is really good. I like our guys.

I think it's going to come down to who can run the football, who can stop the run the best, and who can take care of the football. Saturday afternoon on ESPN2, you could watch those two ranked teams, and then, as you mentioned, flip on over to watch those other two ranked teams, which I'm sure you know about. Coach Lashley, best of luck this weekend in the ACC. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you. And now let's take a look at today's fast plays,

brought to you by Goodyear. Fast closing was Oregon State last week against Texas Tech. Jamarca Shepperman and Company might have something going there, But for the purposes of our conversation, the fact that Tech couldn't really go up there and seal the deal until late, maybe does say something about them not being a total runaway in the Big 12. They take on Houston. This game will be Friday night. And as you can see, a Texas Tech win would catapult them likely to back-to-back college football playoff appearances.

As you know, the Big 12 has been struggling to get multiple teams in the playoff. All right. So let's start with the resident Texan on the set. This only seems fair. This is for you. What are you looking at in this match? Which I think early in the season is getting a lot more buzz than people had thought in. I'm looking at Houston offensively and two people specifically.

Amari Thomas, a wide receiver eight catches 133 last year and Mackay Hughes running back as a transfer at Oregon last year. But at Tulane a couple years before, he was a freshman All-American, all-ACC player, a really, really good running back. Ran from almost 100 yards last week. Connor Wegman is the quarterback of this team, and it is his team. There's some talented backlets behind him, but it's going to be about the running game and also Thomas in the passing game trying to exploit what Texas Tech has kind of struggle with, but just giving up some points and some yards early in the season. Yeah, one thing I noticed for really this Texas Tech offense is the use of the two quarterback

systems. Pretty interesting because Will Hammond, you know, coming in off the ACL injury, I wasn't sure how healthy he would be. Again, they were trying to get Brendan Sorseby to be their starter. That's right. So there's a big reason why they went to get him. But they also brought in Tommy Casillanos. He was one of those guys that got, you know, the extra year here with the five for five. And in watching their game against Oregon State, the way they used Tommy Castellanos was more of a wildcat quarterback system, but they let them throw it. I mean, he stilled the game here with the touchdown pass right here.

So I am wondering is Will Hammond's ability, really lack of ability to be mobile in this game going to cause issues for him, and then you have an opportunity to use the more mobile quarterback in Tommy Casalanos. So usually I don't like two QB systems, but this is an instance where I think it would actually really help Texas Tech turn out some points against a really good Houston offense. Great game for a Friday night. No doubt.

Great game for a Friday night. I think this could be your upset special of the week. You've got a Houston team catching seven and a half. I think that's going to be the bet. Tech has not looked like the team we thought they were going to be to start the season. Now, maybe they're starting slow. Maybe it's a little bit of gamesmanship as they get ready for this being their first big matchup of the year. But Will Hammond doesn't look 100%.

That's the first thing that jumps off the tape to me. He just doesn't look 100%. Based on what the point spreads were for week one, Abilene Christian, week two, Oregon State. They've missed the spread in both games by a combined 37 points. Wow. So they're not even close to the market value right now. They have a shared data point. Oregon State played both teams and Houston looked better against Oregon State.

Now, granted, the location for each was different. Houston got the host that game. Tech had to go up there. But ultimately, I think Houston very live in this game. Yeah, I like that too because also the Houston defense has been really stout. They got five sacks already so far in the first two games. And then the leading sacker is Davian White, who's a defensive back. So they're bringing secondary pressures, which, again, if you have a quarterback in Will Hammond who can't move around, he's accurate.

But he can't get away from pressure right now. That's going to be a huge issue for Texas Tech. One last thing I wanted to mention, there was some talk in the offseason about this game being played on a Friday because of Friday night high school football in Texas. But this game is going on as scheduled, no matter what your mark and Cody Campbell have to say about it. Just a reminder for students, you can scan the QR code or visit Dr.pepper.com slash tuition by September 30th to enter for a chance to compete for $100,000 in the Dr. Pepper tuition giveaway during conference championship weekend. On the way. Will either Pittsburgh or Syracuse make ACC. Conference Championship weekend.

Well, they first got to play each other tonight. Sam and E.J. will be there at the half. They'll give you their prediction next. College Football Live is presented by ice cold Dr. Pepper. College football. It's a pepper thing. College game day from where else?

The Grove. Look at all the tents already out. Chandeliers up. Oxford, Mississippi with the celebrity guest picker, one of the great all-time Mississippians, the legendary actor Morgan Freeman, who owns a jazz club and the Delta, maybe Reese and the guys can get down there after the show. Let's take a look at our Dr. Pepper Trophy Run game of the week. Preview, this will be on ESPN, where my main AJ will be on Saturday, UK A&M. How do you see it? Well, the thing about this game,

Kenny mentioned the quarterback for Kentucky, has done a solid job. Now, he ran up against one of the best defenses in the SEC last week against Alabama, had a pick six ultimately costing in the game. But Texas A&M's defense has been stout as well. Two pick sixes in their win against Arizona State. And also talking to coach Elko, the racer that he has at Marcel Reed has been playing extremely well. He's got to be clean as far as turnovers. That's going to help him and have a good chance to win. I love that comment. He can take care of all of your problems. So that'll be on Saturday with E.J. and the gang tonight with E.J. Sam and the gang, Pittsburgh, Syracuse. He's coming in a little bit banged up. Who do we like tonight in the ACC with the country watch?

I love Pitt in this game. I understand, first of all, Mason High School at quarterback. He's outstanding. Now, last week, Pitt won versus UCF 12 to 7. Sloppy game. Well, because there's a weather delay. A lot of drop passes. So the offense didn't look as explosive, but the defense for Pitt was great. So far through two games, they've only given up 47 total yards on the ground.

And so defense for Pitt for me wins. Yeah, I hate to take Sam's out on this one, but I agree. I think Pitt as well. Look, Mason Heinzel has been playing excellent. Even in that rainy game against UCF, he didn't have a touchdown pass. He had seven the week before. So he's seen the field extremely well. But also, Pitt's defense, that front seven is extremely extremely talented.

That's always a keynote for Coach Narduzzi's teams. And Steve Van Jelley, the quarterback for Syracuse, too many interceptions last week. So they got to clean it up, but I do like to put it home. And real quick for you, how about the great quarterback play we've seen in the ACC, MENSA, J-KS, Heinzsche. It's amazing, right? Kevin Jennings. Yeah, yeah. It's a bunch.

I think the ACCC has a lot of great quarterbacks. Heinchel is one of the young ones that, you know, America will get to see tonight. But again, Steve Van Jelly is very good, too. Before he got injured last year, Syracuse is on a trend where they were going to win a lot of games in the ACC, completely with the opposite way. the opposite way once he got hurt. So now that he's back, we'll see if he gets himself back in form. And these guys will be back with you tonight on ESPN. You'll see him at the half for pits.

And Syracuse, college football live, live in Oxford tomorrow.