College Football Live - CFB LIVE - TONY ELLIOTT JOINS THE SHOW

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

On Today's episode of CFB LIVE, join Zubin Mehenti, Tom Luginbill, and Roddy Jones as they discuss new Big 12 eligibility rules, Mike Elko and Lincoln Riley both spoke to the media on Thursday, and Virginia Head Coach Tony Elliott joins the show. All of this and more on CFB 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. Out of the tunnel straight ahead here in college football life. after spending the entire off season, trying and failing to land a transfer quarterback,

tech pulls it off at the last second. Wait till you see how they did it. UVA head coach Tony Elliott, coming off an 11-win season. Virginia's best ever. How do you follow it up? We'll talk to them about that. They play in week zero.

As does USC. It's year five for Lincoln Riley, but is it the zero hour in Hollywood for coach with the pressure on? That and more next. There, welcome to college football live. The Big Ten started it. The SEC followed suit.

The Big 12 is now. on board. If you sign a pro contract, you have no avenue to return to play in college. This has been the story that's been roiling college football, and really beyond any collegiate athletic endeavor over the last week.

It's playing out in court, playing out on campus. This is all about the fifth year eligibility for the high school class of 2022. It was not granted to them when the NCAA instituted a five and five policy that gives athletes five years to have five seasons of competition.

So after the Big Ten started, the SEC followed suit. As I mentioned, the Big 12 essentially has a statement that sort of mirrors the other two leagues, essentially saying, if you're on a roster, you sign or you declare for the draft and don't withdraw properly, you are finished. We'll wait to see what the ACC does about this. We'll monitor that situation. Big World also making some news on the field. Busy day for them.

Texas Tech yesterday we found out Tommy Costellanos is in the house. He will play quarterback for the Red Raiders. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute. I'm a hardcore football fan. I know he was in mini camp with the Miami Dolphins, but he did not sign a contract. He also had a court injunction that helped him along the way. The expected Texas Tech quarterback room looks like this.

Hammond off the ACL looks ready to start. Costellanos is slated to be the backup. Kirk Francis, the Tulsa transfer, will give them a lot of experience as well. but when you're just one play away from an injury and Hammond is injury prone and you've got championship expectations like tech. Somebody like Costalanos is great to have. It's great to have Roddy and Tom with us today. Tom, just give me your initial first reaction after swinging and missing on Sorsby.

They call an audible at the last second that nobody saw coming to land an FSU and BC transfer. Well, I think the first thing that is glaring is the experience, right? You got valuable reps, valuable starts, up and down performance, up and down production. At his very best, he can look spectacular. I remember over two years ago when he had that breakout year at Boston College, I called him Diet Kyler Murray. But he's never been able to sustain it. He's never been able to maintain a consistent rate of production.

So while I think it's great for Texas Tech to get value and experience and have somebody that defenses have to contend with his legs all the time, that's not going to be the case. With Will Hammond, it gives them options, and it's a long season, and you're never going to know when you need those options. And with Will Hammond coming off of that injury, you're just not 100% sure what the mobility is going to look like when he comes back. And Tommy Castellanos is a guy that's got, as we displayed, he's got a ton of experience over 6,400 pass yards in his career,

nearly 2,000 rush yards in his career. And the year that he was considered Diet Kyle Murray by Luges, I mean, he was over a thousand-yard rushers. So he does give you a pretty high floor as a backup. And if you get into a little bit of a pinch, I think that experience can certainly pay dividends, especially if you can cut out some of the off-scheduled plays that turn into negative plays and the turnovers that he's had over the course of his career.

It's a great point by both as we take a look at tech schedule there. It seems somewhat manageable on time. I want to go to you here last year. They were the Big 12's loan representative in the playoff. They did not score a point. Baron Morden was a good player, grew up a tech fan, but they knew they needed to upgrade a little bit. Now they've got some fortifications, a starter that they hope to be healthy, and to back up.

How do you kind of see them now with tech making clear what their aspirations are? Well, listen, you know, what an unbelievable offseason. And I think what's going to take place here with Texas Tech is what type of maturity do they have to handle blocking out all the distractions, good and bad, the pads on the back and the out of boys, the dealing with Brendan Sorsby and how that all went down over the summer? and I think they have a level of expectation now that, listen, they're the hunter, the hunted, not the hunter anymore. And so if they're going to be a real threat, and I believe they are, I think BYU is also in that conversation, potentially TCU, Houston, a couple others, you're going to have to play well at the quarterback position. So by fortifying this spot, even with as a guy with up and down production, the guy has played meaningful football. So I just think they help themselves try to achieve those goals.

which are very attainable. The roster is loaded everywhere. And, Louge, you mentioned the mentality. They've sort of had this us against the world mentality. We're the villains of college football chip on their shoulder through the offseason. LSU is trying to take that mantle as the villains of college football. But I think the people at Lubbock will gladly wear that as they go into the season. There's no doubt about it.

But the Big 12 is on our mind for a couple of different reasons. Because when week zero begins Saturday at noon Eastern on ESPN, it'll be another big 12 team from the state of Texas. That'll be in the spotlight. It'll be TCU and North Carolina. Getting ready to go in Dublin. That's the horn frogs leaving. I'm going to guess that's a Love Field.

Maybe DFW will see on their way to Ireland, where strangely this great American sport has been kicked off each of the last few seasons. Bill Belichick awaits. Coach Dykes and Company ready to go. Also ready to go. Coach Tony Elliott. He's got one stat that. the rest of the country can't meet.

We'll ask him about it. Chad Power, season two, presented by PlayStation, premier September 3rd on Hulu. I might be an open my head. So where's that going to happen? He finds out the arrest holiday and murders you? I think Chad Powers just died. Chad Power's Season 2, presented by PlayStation 5,

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North Carolina, TCU, NC State, Virginia. back to back on ESPN and two of the nation's most celebrated HBCU programs, Alabama, A&M and Howard at 730 Eastern Saturday from the ATL on your ABC station. So you just saw on your screen how big week zero is going to be for the ACC. We got five schools in competition, including, of course, that conference class I just mentioned between NC State and Virginia. This game is supposed to be played in Brazil, though due to a couple of operational snags. It's back here stateside.

Scott Stadium in Charlottesville will go there in just one. second to talk to the man who is engineered, which is a tongue in cheek because Tony was an engineering major in college, charting the Cavalier Climb. At first, it was a slow build, but then the best season in school history. How do you top something like that? It's probably a good problem to have. We'll let him figure it out. It is a pleasure to welcome Tony Elliott inside college football live. All right, coach, just want to mention the bar graph there. And just get your view on this. A year ago, people were wondering what the Elliott era was going to be. And then, that best season ever. So in hindsight, what flip for the program?

I think the foundation was solidified and we were able to to incorporate some new talent to go in conjunction with the guys that have been in the program laying the foundation and it all worked out perfect. Now I would ask what the feeling is right now around the program considering the high you just came off of. How would you describe what's coursing through the halls of the facility? Yeah, the facility, it's a business as usual. We're focusing on making today the best together Thursday could possibly be.

The guys are excited to play, man, they're tired of practicing against each other. But we're really more just focused on what we can control. Now, when you go out in the community and around grounds and in town, you can start to feel the buzz of folks getting excited to be in Scott Stadium on Saturday. Yeah, speaking of the buzz, one of the biggest off-season's buzz for Virginia was what you guys did in the portal.

If you look at the numbers, there is no more experience roster in America right now when it comes to starts and snaps. So tell me how something like that manifests itself on Saturdays. Yeah, we're hoping that, and I told the guys this after practice, what we do between the end of Wednesday's practice and the start of the game should show how mature we are in winning the mental matchup and being prepared to play.

Now, again, some of those starts happened at disenfranchis. You know, people like to focus on the offensive line. You know, however, two of those guys have been taking a snap for us in Scott Stadium. So we're hoping that it shows up on Saturday. But at the same time, too, we all got to come together and create the right synergy in order to take advantage of that experience. Sometimes when you have injuries halfway through the season happens. But I know you guys have been dealing with some injuries heading into week zero. Can you kind of give us an update on what we're seeing here roster-wise and who might be out

there on Saturday? Yeah, so we're getting healthy at the right time. We had a lot of guys that played a lot of snaps for us last year and put their body on the line that had to have postseason surgeries that are timelining right about this time. And maybe if it wasn't week zero, we might have some of those guys for sure. Cam Robinson is on track. It'll be more of a game time decision, see how he responds to practice today. So, you know, there is a possibility he could be out there.

Corey Costner is another guy that had another surgery off off season and he's trending kind of like to a game time decision. We're down a couple whiteouts for sure that have hamstrings that won't be ready. But for the most part, the guys are that we were expecting to get back about this time are all trending in the right direction. Last thing for you, you know, at his first stop, Beau was really good, Boe Perbula, in spot duty.

And then in his second start, he was really good as a starter, but he got injured. So tell me what happens. if Boat Prubula stays healthy and is out there and what he might be able to provide in his third college stop. Yeah, a ton of potential like you saw and it happened in

at different spots which gives you a ton of confidence that he can do the same exact thing here. Now our job is to make sure that we provide him all the resources to take care of his body properly and then his teammates do their job to help minimize any kind of exposure to injury but very, very dynamic

athlete. He's really, really progress. rest from the pocket. And I'm excited to see both of those two aspects of his game come together at the same time. And I think he can do something special. Yeah, when you've been playing football as long as the University of Virginia has, and you're just coming off your best season in school history. You can only imagine the enthusiasm that will be there. Saturday, 3.30 Eastern, a conference opener in week zero for the ACC.

Tony Elliott's got the who's riding an all-time high. Tony, thanks so much. Thank you. You know, Tony mentioned it with Bo Pribula at his third stop. He's been able to do it in multiple stops to kind of give you the confidence that he's there. But this is how far we've come in college football, gentlemen, three schools, three years. Nobody's even batting an eye at it anymore. We would have spent minutes talking about that a couple of years ago, but this is just the way college football goes.

All right, Roddy, I'm going to start with you here. You got Pribula in. Remember, Chandler Morris gave them an absolutely tremendous run a year ago. New player, new year, new expectations. do you see it in Charlottesville? I think this is a talented team, Zubin. And they have some questions, particularly offensively, on what they're going to be. The running element that Bo Probula brings, I mean, we showed it in the B-roll that we just

ran. That running element is something that Virginia is likely going to feature if they're going to take full advantage of Boat Prubula's skill set and he's going to do it behind an offensive line that is unbelievably old. They're starting two seventh years, two sixth years, two sixth years, and a fifth year on the offensive line. And I know Tony Elliott said two of those guys haven't played it down in Scott Stadium. But the two guys that he's talking about, McClellan Thomas and Monroe Mills, were two of the more highly regarded offensive linemen that they brought in last transfer

portal. And they got injured and weren't able to play. Those guys coming back are like getting two five-star recruits that you didn't have on the team last year. So I am very optimistic that this optimist align, this offensive line can be one of the best in the ACC. And Boe Pribula behind them will have a really good season if he can control the turnovers and just take what's there. A couple of first team, all social security members there it sounds like Roddy. I think

that's one of the things that's really important about this Virginia roster is it kind of took a page out of Indiana's book a year ago. They don't care what people's names are. They don't care what they were ranked coming out of high school. How old are you? How much have you played? Do you bring maturity and experience

and do you fit into the culture? And Virginia a year ago did such a great job of evaluating the transfer portal and basically didn't miss on any of them. So a year ago at this time, who's Jamari Taylor? All right, let's say he just rushes for a thousand yards. Well, now it's who's Jekal Middlebrooks? All right. So you've got another guy like that. And if those guys pan out and the quarterback stays healthy, look at their schedule, right? No Louisville, no Miami, no Clemson. That's why this opener against NC State is huge. There's no doubt about it. It's be a great NIL opportunity here with AARP if they can get on this for week zero.

I got a couple of days to get that patch right on that jersey. Let's take a look at the odds to win the ACC. Tom kind of mentioned that murderers' role of teams at Virginia doesn't have to play. Some of these teams are on your screen as we speak. But on the other end of it, instead of the favorites, let's look a little closer towards the sleepers, the teams that could rise that we least expect. Roddy, who is your ACC sleeper? Well, it's that team right in the middle of that graphic.

Clemson Tigers and I know it's kind of an easy thing to take Clemson as a sleeper. But listen, hear me out Zube. I know they went 7 and 6 last year. But they've got the best draft eligible receiver in the ACC, the best draft eligible defensive end in the ACC, the best draft eligible lineback on the ACC and the

best draft eligible corner in the ACC. They're talented at running back. That offensive line is going to be better than it was last year. You are so cheap. How is that a sleeper? I'm going with the team that was to the right of them. I'm going with the pit panthers. I think this is a year where you've got the quarterback right,

Mason Heintel. Jacarion Turner at running back. They're going to be really good in the offensive line. And death taxes and pit creating chaos on defense. This has got a chance to be a really good football team. And I think they're going to be really good on defense and the quarterback's going to be even better.

Roddy, get in there. Tom, you went with a team that, you went with a team that won nine games last year. And I'm cheap. What are you talking about? What we're going to talk about is USC. And whether this is my age. Ava's moment in a crucial year for Lincoln Riley.

This is not just another Saturday. It's our football tonight. Or each other and with each other cannot be to beat. It is time. It's also time for Kansas to name their starting quarterback Isaiah Marshall is going to take over underclassmen, taking over for the electric Jalen Daniels, who is there for six years.

We'll see what happens with the Jayhawks moving forward. A couple seconds ago, you just saw Mike Elko getting his team fired up. he is on Texas A&M needing to finish in the biggest of moments. We got to continue to be the team that steps up and makes those winning plays in those moments. And I think that's what we did last year. And I think the more parity sets in, which it clearly is, and the more, you know, the top, I think, continues to come down a little bit and the bottom continues to rise a little bit.

And you're starting to see a lot more similar, like teams with a ninth conference. game, it's going to be that. It's going to come down for those winning plays. Roddy, how does Marcel Reed make those winning plays? Well, first off, he's going to have to cut down on the turnover. 12 interceptions last year. He's got to bring that down. And the second thing is the consistency on throwing the ball down the field.

Texas A&A wasn't a big jump ball team down the field. It was Mario Craver and Casey Concepcion getting open down the field. Only completed 37% of those passes through five of those interceptions. downfield. He can improve that with Isaiah Horton, then they'll be really good offensively. All right. Let's stay in the state of Texas. SMU, Big One, opening against Florida State. Ret Lashley knows how important it is to start fast. Yeah, nine conference games and Notre Dame and two of our first three are conference games on the road against teams that are talented enough to win our league. Yeah, it's right out

the gate. But hey, it's awesome. It's exciting. Let's get to it. It is going to be different, though. We haven't opened with a conference game since we've been here. We haven't opened with a game of this magnitude on the road since we've been here. So we got our hands full. I mean, we got our hands full, but it's a great opportunity. We've got to play well early. And I've said it before. We don't have to play well early to have a good year, but it'll sure make it a lot easier.

I don't know. Tom, Florida State might have their hands full. What do we think about the ponies this year? I think they're going to be really good. And it starts up front, particularly in the offensive line, three starters with significant snaps under their belt. And if Kevin Jennings can stay healthy, he's so dynamic. It's such a nightmare to deal with, particularly on the offensive.

off-platform plays and the back shoulder ball that you just, you got to come up with a way to contain him. I don't know if you're ever truly going to stop him. I think SMU's got a chance to be explosive. How good does USC have a chance to be? They open in week zero. Here's Lincoln Riley. We'll certainly learn some things about them, you know, Saturday and then as we go on, there is a lot that excite you. They're, you know, and I think it's a lot of the same things. I mean, I, that outside of, you know, us talking about the roster, the guys we added or guys that returned and all the maybe more obvious things, I have, I have been impressed with kind of the unity, the chemistry that this group seems to have. It's talking big, year five. This is going to be the Spartans of San Jose State, which will be the opposition. That will be taking place this weekend as well.

Roddy, expectations, I don't think have been fulfilled. I think Lincoln Riley would be the first person to at least say that. What do we think about him in this critical fifth year? I think this is a roster that's really set up for a run. The thing is the schedule is so difficult that USC could be a top seven team in the country and still end up with three losses

because they have to go to Indiana and they get Oregon and Ohio State at home. They also have to go to Penn State, which if the Nittney Lions are as good as people think they could be in the second half of the season, could be a tricky proposition in October. The thing is, though, they are going to be fantastic offensively behind Jaden Mayava, who was second in the country in QBR last year behind only Fernando Mendoza.

His experience in this offense, the explosiveness they have on the outside, they've added guys like Mark Bowman, the excellent five-star tied in that has drawn rave reviews from everyone out there in Los Angeles. So the weapons are going to be there. And Mayava is a dark horse Heisman candidate if USC can have the type of season that they expect to have. The thing is, when you play Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana, would 9 and 3 without an upset be good enough to get you in the playoff? It hasn't yet. We'll see if it is for USC if they indeed are not able to pull up an upset in one of those games.

Well, Roddy, you look at that schedule. They barely get out of the month of September before they play three straight ranked conference teams. And then it just gets colder and windier the rest of the season. And so I think the quarterback special, I love them. because he's had to earn it. He arrived at UNLV. He was not the starter. Became the starter, took him to the Mountain West Championship game.

Goes into the portal, kind of understated SC, doesn't beat out Miller Moss. So he ends up earning the job through performance. And I think he's got a chance to be an outstanding player, maybe a breakout player nationally, because I don't think he's getting enough national attention. And then we can't forget about Gary Patterson. If Gary Patterson can get just a little bit more out of that defense,

Get them in the top 30 in multiple categories. SC is going to be really good, but that schedule's brutal. There's no doubt. Great point there on Gary Patterson. And this is a Maya, and unlike a normal Lincoln Riley five star right out of high school, everything's been given to him. This guy earned it. This is a critical year for Riley, for Maya and for everyone across the country.

We're back tomorrow on ESPN for one hour season preview. Hope to see you then.