College Football Live - Drop the Mic!!!

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Welcome into College Football Live with Sam Acho, Tom Luginbill, and Pete Thamel, hosted by Zubin Mehenti. We go around the nation giving you the best sound and news from Ryan Day, Dabo Swinney, Deion Sanders, Brian Kelly and so much more! Get the inside scoop on wat to expect from new starting quarterbacks like Arch Manning and so much more here on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to college football live and welcome to week one. Some games that we're all looking forward to and to start to the season that we've really never seen before. More on that in just a second for the first time in about, oh, say, eight months. Texas is going to take on Ohio State. Of course, they met in the playoffs semifinal last year with the Buckeyes winning en route to the national championship. It's been about five and a half years since we've seen the Tigers and the Tigers, LSU and Clemson. We're going to hear from both coaches here in just a moment, especially. discussing the two great Heisman caliber quarterbacks on each side.

Notre Dame doesn't have a ton of experience, a quarterback Miami, has boatloads of experience. That's just one great angle, not to mention a couple of great running backs for each side as they get ready to go in front of a national television audience Sunday night on your local ABC station. And with that, we welcome you inside college football live with Tom Luganville, Sam Hatcho, and Pete Dammell.

Pete's always working. I got your people. We're ready to go. I'm Zoom in the Hentie. You're off the top here. Looks like you're working ready to go. You've got some quarterback news for us. What do you have?

Yeah, well, Thursday night, Zubin, Missouri opens with Central Arkansas, and there's some clarity today, according to a source about the quarterback derby at Missouri. Bo Perbula will start that game for Missouri and play the first half. Sam Horn, the Red Shirt Jr., will play the second half. Again, who starts and who doesn't here?

Maybe isn't as important, Zubin, is the fact that each are going to get their own half as auditions. Obviously, looming the following week, September 6th, they play a very good Kansas team that we all watched in week zero run Fresno State out of the building. So we'll see Perbuehl in the first half, Warren in the second, and whoever wins that derby will be named the starter for the Kansas game. Got to be ready for that big border war football edition coming up in week number two. So Pete, thank you for that. As I mentioned, the last time Clemson played L.S.

You might remember this one. This was the capper to one of the greatest offensive seasons we've seen in the history of the sport. Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, they decided instead of doing that on Saturdays, we'll just start doing that together on Sundays as they're doing now. As you know, both head coaches sizing up the other team's quarterback. Man, I got a ton of respect for this kid. He's, you know, a guy that has stayed and he's, you know, developed. And, you know, now he's on his way to be in a high draft pick. He's got a lot of poise.

He's got great instincts, really good pocket awareness. He's got big-time arm talent. He's tough. And, you know, they've put a good group together up front. I think everybody talks about their defensive players in particular. But, you know, offensively, Kade Klubnick is, I think, a quarterback that played his best ball at the end of the year. Three seasons as a starting quarterback, we've made a lot of that in terms of how important it is. is to come back for a second year.

He's coming back for his third year, which I think says a lot about him. I mean, it's game week. So it's never too early to get into the nitty-gritty and the nuance because you think this is really a game within a game at the game Saturday night. Tell us what you mean. Well, I do. And I look at how these two rosters have been constructed, right? Clemson, reinvest in your own team, high school football development, retention,

and then not have a revolving door. But if you look at LSU, who's trying to reinvigorate this defense, they went out and they created some wholesale changes, you know, most notably on the back end, you bring in A.J. Halsey from Houston to Marcus Cooley from NC State. And then you bring in the true freshman in DJ Pickett,

who may start at one of the corner spots. And five of your top seven starters in the front seven for Blake Baker, the second year DC, are back. So that inexper, not inexperienced, But secondary that hasn't played together, hasn't been around each other a bunch, needs that front for LSU to really come on and play well. Because Clemson's returning a roster that is intimately aware of who they are because they are the foundation of the program and they haven't had that revolving door in terms of a roster. And it's not just the intimate awareness of who they are, but it's the growth specifically of Kate Klemick and his receivers. I think about Brian Westcoe Jr. who was a freshman last.

year and T.J. Moore, who was another freshman last year, they were weapons as freshmen. Now of a sudden they've matured. They've grown with the same quarterback with consistency in quarterback, consistency in play calling. The offensive line coach Matt Luke is returning as well. That means that quarterback, Cape Clubnick, will have more time to pass the ball downfield. You saw some of the ranks that LSU was defensively last season. I think that this Clemson offense is going to try to expose and exploit LSU defensively, not necessarily in the run game, but I think attacking downfield.

with those young talented wide receivers. Well, Sam, one thing we've seen is that both of these tigers have struggled on opening day. Both Clemson and LSU enter this game with a run of bad ball on opening night. And I think one of the interesting reverberations from this game will be the losing tiger, as they'll still be a strong contender for the CFP. We obviously have new strength of schedule metrics, something called record strength that the CFP is going to be looking at. college football wants to incentivize teams to play opening games like this, interconference, not just save the best games for league play.

So it will be interesting to see the tenor of the loss and then how that team is perceived moving forward in the CFP race. What I'm most excited about, though, specifically is on the Clemson side. Clemson's continuing what they did last season. What do I mean by that? There aren't a bunch of transfers that are entering that team. This is the same Clemson team that week one last year lost. to Georgia in a pretty embarrassing fashion, at least in the second half. I got a chance to call Clemson last regular season game last year versus South Carolina

and talk with Davos Sweeney. And he talked about how that loss in Georgia, versus Georgia, really helped get that team battle tested. And that same team from last season that's battle tested has 16 returning starters who experienced that loss and the growth all the way to it, to really the college football playoff. So I think they learned from last year and that same fortitude that was built. will carry Clemson early this season as well. Okay, so once again, that game Saturday night, 7.30 Eastern on your local ABC station.

Sunday night at 7.30 in front of a standalone national audience. We'll have Carson Beck, new place, new face, taking on Notre Dame. And this is such an interesting story because, of course, the last time most of us saw Carson Beck, he was grabbing his arm. The last thing you want when you're a quarterback, that was the last searing image of the SEC title game. But Pete, he's got a brand new start here in Coral Gables. A lot of people are curious on how he's looking at what Miami's identity might be here in the season open. Or what's the intel you have?

Well, Zubin, talk to a few people, and there's a quiet confidence on the Miami staff about how Carl Carson Beck has performed so far in camp. I was told in the last scrimmage, he completed more than 80% of his passes. There's a mastery of the offense that has come in a short period of time. Remember, because of that arm injury, he wasn't able to take part in spring. ball actively. But because Miami has such a good offensive line, they're expected to be a pretty good easing in of Carson Beck. And look, they're expecting to play consistently. He's not going to have some of the same diamondism as Cam Ward, but Shannon Dawson's offense at Miami is very quarterback friendly. And Beck clearly has the arm talent to spray the ball around to Miami's weapons.

So far, heading into this Notre Dame game, they like what they have in Coral Gables. On the other side, Sam, you go from Shannon Dawson's offensive Miami to Notre Dame stellar defense, and that's really going to be the key to see if that can make this thing work. Correct. There's no easing in when it comes to week one against Marcus Freeman and that Notre Dame defense. Why do I say that? They were one of the most talented defenses in all of college football last season, specifically when it came to intercepting the ball and returning interceptions for touchdowns. Yes, you're going to see sacks. You're going to see forced fumbles, but really it was the takeaways that separated Notre Dame last year. Can they do it in the same fashion this year?

Guys like Jack Kaiser you saw on your screen, he's now in the NFL, but some of the other young stars are still on that roster. So yes, Carson Beck has a high likelihood and aptitude for success, but it's going to be a huge challenge, specifically the game within the game, that defense of Notre Dame. Well, when you look at this from a quarterback perspective, obviously Miami and Carson Beck have some advantages. You're going into this opener with a brand new quarterback right out of the box and CJ Carr, and you can't. can't allow CJ Carr to outperform Carson Beck. That veteran leadership, that sample size of production over the last two years at Georgia, has to be the determining factor for why Miami wins this game. CJ Carr won this job at Notre Dame because he's been more consistent throughout camp.

But I also believe that he won the job because he provides them the best opportunity to push the ball downfield vertically. This was a team a year ago that was 114th in FBS in plays of 20,000. 20 yards or more through the air. So no explosive plays coming from this Notre Dame offense a year ago. They could run the football. You knew what they were all about, a quarterback under Riley Leonard. But C.J. Carr's got to come out and make plays.

But there's no way if you're Miami, you can allow C.J. Carr to up Carson Beck. When Carson Beck comes into this matchup with a wealth of experience, that should be the edge for Miami. If that happens, I can tell you the first thing we'll be talking about on Monday on college football. That's for sure. Notre Dame goes from all the experience. experience of quarterback the last two years with Riley, Leonard, and Hartman, two cards. So that'll be interesting. Now let's take a look at this week's college football rankings brought to you by Verbo.

And I said at the top of the program that this is a college football opening weekend, unlike any other, because you see there at the bottom of your screen, it's the first opening season weekend with three top 10 matchups. Doesn't get any better than that. Unless you're a Hawaii fan, it does get better. It's time for our rewarding performance brought to you by Capital One. You probably saw this everywhere. Konse Matsuzawa, 25 years old, came to the country at the age of 21 from Japan, did not speak a lick of English, learned how to kick on YouTube,

and it all came in handy when he knocked through that 38-yard field goal to defeat Stanford. What a win for the Rainbow Warriors, and what a moment for Matsu Zawa. Incredible for Kimi Chang. On the way, you bet we are at the mic. with coaches talking about the quarterbacks that are going to have to step up big for them. This fall, that's next. College Football Live is brought to you by Popeyes. Love that chicken from Popeyes.

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Blue Bloods with big time new quarterbacks and big time expectations. We've talked about all of these guys, it seems, quite a bit so far this season on college football live. Let's hone in on one of those guys. Here's Kailin Du Boehler talking about feeling good about Ty Simpson. I got a lot of confidence in him and just his emotional maturity and where he's at there to be able to take this in stride and not be something that's overwhelming to him. You got to start fast. You dig yourself a hole on the road. It gets hard. The crowd gets behind the home team. And, you know, you got come down that comes on to execution, which comes down to preparation and the work that's happened on the football field, you know, tomorrow, Wednesday,

Thursday. Sam, what constitutes success in the opener against FSU? It's handling adversity specifically for quarterback Ty Simpson. I got a chance to talk to him on the field before they played Georgia last year. He was a backup, but he still had this level of confidence. Now, of a sudden, he's the starter and that confidence needs to continue even and especially when things don't go his way. Football's a game about overcoming challenges.

No doubt about it. As for Arch Manning, he's looking to flip the script. I mean, I think that's all of us at Texas. And I think we kind of try to shift the narrative. We're going for everyone else. Target's not on our back. We have the red dot on everyone else. Tom, what do you make of that little rationale? Deflect, deflect, deflect. Listen, for Archmanning, he knows he's ready for this moment. And they brought him along at a reasonable rate of development to prepare him to the best of his ability so that he is not overwhelmed. I've got five words for him. Throw it to your guys.

Take care of the football, make good decisions. You don't have to wear a cape. Utilize the personnel around you and you're going to be just fine. Here's Ryan Day on a new day for his starter, Julian Sane. The message is just win, find a way to win. I think when you start setting expectations, you can get yourself out of whack. We're going to take it one plate of time. he's got a good group of guys around him.

He's got a good defense. He's got good special teams, a good offensive line, good skill guys. He needs to lean into those players and find a way to win the game. We'll try to get him into a rhythm and then go from there. Sam, who specifically does he need to be leaning on? He needs to be leaning on his defense, in my opinion. I think that Ohio State defensively is going to give them the best opportunity to keep this a game. If they can slow down, Caleb Williams and Sunny Stiles can slow down Texas offensively,

you won't be having to force the ball downfield and relying on your young quarterback. So rely on that defense will try to do too much and keep it a game. Finally, Dion has named a starter at Colorado. Case all is going to start. You guys knew that. I don't know why you played a play.

He was going to start. The kid has a ton of experience, dual threat. You can throw the heck out of the ball as well. He's the guy. Some people get baffled because you think this guy's good, but he's playing against your guy that's bad. And then he ends up going against the lot than he's not David. So we understand what we have and we're excited about that.

We don't think we lost. We think we gained. Sure, there's a couple of athletes that were phenomenal. But I think we, and I've been saying this for quite some while, we have a better team. They'll take on Georgia Tech in the open. What do you make of it, Tom? I love this move. If you're not convinced that your true freshman,

Ju-Jew Lewis is ready. You go with the guy with a large sample size of playing an awful lot of football. Now, I'd love to see Caden Salter get back to the 2023 version of his game as opposed to 2024. But if you're Deon Sanders, you've got to pick the guy that gives you the best opportunity to win out of the gate, lead,

and that's because of experience. Yeah, one other big story coming out of Boulder today. Ralphie, the 6th is retiring. He's heading to the ranch. And other animal news, Pudge the Kudge the Kut, cat, the official cat of Bowling Green, short-haired, three-year-old, exotic. But here's the problem. Take a listen to what the deal is with head coach Eddie George.

Initially, I'm allergic to cats. So I was like, what the hell's the cat doing in the locker room, you know, initially? But Pudge is cute. You know, my wife loves Pudge. I believe it was George who boarded Pudge in. and he's become part of the family. And I love mine. I think it's cool.

In fact, I think they have a couple of his t-shirts to sell. So I'm going to buy a couple of them so I can wear them around campus. But I think it's cool. Pudge stays out of my way. I stay out of Pudge's way. And we are fine. Well, he mentioned the shirts. And George, by the way, is the team's long snapper.

If you're old enough, guys, this does resemble Garfield a little bit, although we might be aging ourselves. Young people are like, who in the world is Garfield? Tom, dog person, cat person. They always ask this at the NFL combine, right? Are you a dog person and a cat person? A person. Because at least a dog loves you when you care for.

A dog wants to be around you. A cat doesn't want to have anything to do with you, yet you're supporting its entire life. And by the way, what a great way to keep your head coach out of the locker room. Find out he's allergic to cats. Then you put the cat in the locker room. Now you don't got to deal with a steaming coach coming in looking for somebody. That's good point. I just love the Garfield reference because I was trying to place the cat.

I was like that cat looks like somebody I couldn't play Garfield. Just minus some stripes. I need some strikes. But I think it's very interesting. I'm not really a dog or a cat person. Sorry, people in the world. I'm not very, I'm not an animal guy. Me too.

Fun fact, Sam. They're going to hate us on the internet. I've never owned a pet. All right, take a look. Kickoff week presented by Baddello. Tom is going to be there for Boise State in South Florida. That'll start it off on Thursday. First of two as we get ready to go with Nebraska and Cincinnati.

Kelsey's alma mater. He made some big news today. You may have heard about that. On the way, rapid fire questions, rapid fire answers on some of the most pressing things in all of college football when the show returns. Connection. Connection with people and nobody has done that better than you have. There is only one Lee Corso. Not so fast.

That dog is ugly. Thanks to the fans for having some of fun with me. Some great cameos in there with coach, including Jerry De King Lawler. We're ready to go. College Game Day, Coach Corso's final show at the Shoe, Texas, Ohio State this Saturday. Let's go a little rapid fire. Some interesting topics. Sam, let's start with you.

We'll get all the fellows involved. The quarterback you're most excited to see is. John Mateer from Oklahoma, transfer from Washington State. Really came over with Ben Arbuckle as offensive coordinator. Last year, Washington State was 12th overall in scoring offense. and I think top 10 and passing offense, so I can't wait to watch what he does at quarterback at Oklahoma. Zuma, I'll take Joey Aguilar, the transfer from UCLA briefly and then App State prior.

He led the nation in interceptions last season. We'll see how quick he's up to speed in Josh Heipel's offense. For me, it's Michigan freshman Bryce Underwood. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to watch him. You know, he's going to have to do what Arch Manning didn't have to do, live up to massive expectations, number one player in the country. and do it right out of the game. His maturity, his poise will be on display. Let's see how he handles it. All right, Sam, let's go to you. Transfer, most exciting transfer you have your eyes on.

A man by the name of Isaiah World. He's 6-8-3-15, a tackle at Oregon. He was at Nevada last season, didn't give up a sack. I can't wait to watch what he does, this Goliath of a human at Oregon. I'll take Max Claire, the tight end for Ohio State, with all those great receivers clearing the flat. Look for Claire to put up big numbers against Texas. I'm going with Utah's Devon Dampier, the New Mexico transfer. If you guys watch Jalen Daniels at Kansas this past weekend versus Fresno State, get ready to see a similar style of play from Dampere.

He is going to be electrifying with his arm and in his legs. I think he makes Utah contender in the Big 12th. All right. This is going to be our last one. Sam, you start us out of a loaded week one, the game you're most excited to watch. LSU at Clemson, and I want to see who's going to be the real Death Valley Jr. Brian Kelly said that LSU was real death valley. I want to see who's the real one.

TCU goes to Chapel Bill. Nobody knows what to expect from the heels. Can't wait to watch Monday night. Guys, how do you not pick Texas, Ohio State? Everybody's complaining about the noon kickoff, but you maybe get the most highly anticipated player. and I don't know how long in college football and you get him first and then you get a new quarterback at Ohio State.

Second, I'm loving this kickoff at noon. It starts the day off right for week one. You said it, fellas. We'll see it right back here at 3 Eastern tomorrow. For more, college football.