College Football Live - Week 1 Wonders

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

Victoria Arlen, Sam Acho, Pete Thamel and Trevor Matich preview some of the marquee Week 1 matchups of the College Football season. We discuss the pressure faced by coaches Mario Cristobal and Billy Napier as well as the upcoming duel in Vegas between LSU and USC. All that and more on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're flying Emirates business class, sampling our range of vintage wines from the largest selection in the skies, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. Happy Wednesday, I'm Victoria Arlen. Welcome to College Football Live. Let's go out the tunnel. We are just one day away from week one, and it will be a reunion in College Station Saturday between Notre Dame Qie Riley Leonard and Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko. But find out why Elko thinks his former. QB has the advantage in this matchup.

Plus, North Carolina and defending champs, Michigan have yet to pick their starting quarterbacks. But Pete Thamel is here with insight on who to expect under center from these teams for their week one matchups. And we already saw one top 25 team go down last Saturday in Dublin. Can we see another? Hear what Trevor has to say about which ranked team is on upset alert this weekend. The countdown is on.

We are just one day away from week one of the college football season kicking off. We've got Trevor Madditch here with me in studio. And we've got Sam Acho and Pete Thammel joining us from afar. Fellas, it all begins tomorrow. We've got a historic 2024 college football schedule this week with premier non-conference matchups between ranked teams, which begins to set the stage, of course, for an eye-catching year leading into the new 12-team playoffs. So let's talk about some of the more notable matchups. This week, Slate features three ranked matchups all on ABC, starting with number 14 Clemson, facing top-ranked Georgia. at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Now, the dogs won their last matchup in 2021 and went on to win the national title that season. Soon after, number 19, Miami Hurricanes take on the unranked Florida Gators in Gainesville. Now, this is the first meeting in the swamp since 2008. The Gators won that one 26 to 3, and Miami leads the all-time series 29 to 27. College Game Day heads down to College Station

as number seven Notre Dame takes on number 20, Texas, A&M, a reunion for fighting Irish-Cuby, Riley Leonard and Aggies coach Mike Elko, who both came over from Duke. And Sunday night features number 23 USC squaring off against 13th ranked LSU in Las Vegas. Both schools are tasked with replacing the previous two Heisman Trophy winners and top two draft picks, Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels. Now here's a look now at the three games where both teams will see at least a 15% swing in their playoff chances. Georgia and Clemson is won, but at least Georgia's chances would see. stay above 50%. Notre Dame's chances would take a serious hit if they lost. The same goes for the

loser of the USC and LSU game. Now it will be a reunion of sorts for Riley Leonard Saturday as the QB makes his Notre Dame debut facing his former head coach Mike Elko, who is now the head coach for the Aggies. Now despite coming off of an ankle injury, Elko believes the advantage lies with his former QB and not his current squad. I would argue that he has more of an upper hand than than we do because he's probably a little bit more familiar with this defense than most quarterbacks we play. And we don't have a ton of comfort as a program going against this offense. You know, we haven't defended it for a single snap. I think two years going against some version of this defense that's similar to what he'll see Saturday night

probably gives him a little bit more of an advantage than it does us. Now, as we mentioned, Riley Leonard is, of course, coming off of an injury. but he will also be starting behind an offensive line that has a combined six starts. So Trevor, as a former offensive lineman, what is your biggest concern for this Notre Dame offense facing the Aggies defense? Noise. Victoria, Texas A&M's Kyle Field is one of the loudest places on the planet on game day. And for an offensive lineman, especially as you move away from the ball and the tackles, if you can't hear the snap count, you're late off the ball on your pass sets. That's a huge problem. And for Notre Dame, both of their starting tackles from last year are in the NFL now.

And there's a new right tackle. And the new left tackle got hurt, lost for the season. So there's a new, new left tackle. And so they are at a huge disadvantage, both from experience and from a standpoint, Sam, of being able to get off the ball on the snap count because they won't be able to hear. And that's a recipe for success for a defensive lineman, recipe for disaster for an offensive lineman. Why do I say that? there's nothing better for a defensive end or pass rusher than to face young, inexperienced offensive tackles.

That's part one. And then part two, the next best thing, in addition to that, is to play in a place that has a lot of noise. Kyle Field is one of the loudest places I have ever played. And I remember I went to Texas. I remember playing there multiple times in my time in Texas. Literally, I'm getting flashbacks right now. They're saying saw Varsity's horns off.

That's the long horn. That's what they call Bivo. They go to midnight yell practice. So soon after Notre Dame is done with their nighttime meetings and they're at their post-game meal, 25,000 students are going Friday night at midnight to practice their yelling, they're screaming, their fight song. And so for me, if I'm a Notre Dame defensive player,

I really better yet, Notre Dame offensive linemen, I'm kind of a little bit not ready for this. Now, last thing I'll say is that apparently they've actually been pumping in more noise Notre Dame has than they ever had the noise. You know, they got the big speakers going to get ready for this. But even that noise won't be able to prepare them for what Kyle Field has in store. No one can be prepared for that kind of noise.

But Pete, Mike Elko's squad is ranked 20th in the country. Yet they've been pretty silent. We haven't heard much about them. What do we need to know about this year's Aggie squad? I think Victoria, what Texas A&M fans want to see on this year's team compared to recent additions is toughness and discipline. If Mike Elko has a hallmark from his two years as the head coach, at Duke and then his time as a coordinator at Notre Dame, Wake Force. You can go back to Hofstra and even his time as an assistant at Merchant Marine Academy,

the sum was always greater than the parts. And look, the parts are pretty good right now at Texas A&M. They have one of the best defensive lines in the country. There has not been a lack of talent at Texas A&M. There's been a lack of execution, discipline. And I really think that if Mike Elko brings the fundamentals back and combines that with the talent, Texas A&M is going to be stout on Saturday night. And Pete, some of that talent is a quarterback for A&M.

Connor Wegman last year before he got hurt in late September was ranked fourth in the nation in QBR. He was actually one of the best quarterbacks in the country. That he was hurt, lost for the season. So Riley Lender for Notre Dame gets all the love and all the conversation. But Wegman could be a guy who could be an X factor in this game. And the thing is, he's going to have an outstanding offensive line, and they will be able to hear the snap count because they'll be at home. And that loud crowd that Sam talked about won't be yelling when Texas A&M is on the field.

And so I expect Connor Wegman to pick up where he left off at the end of September last year and have a big game against an outstanding Notre Dame defense. Well, and I also want to note that college game day will be heading down to College Station for the first time since 2018. So you can catch Reese and the gang this Saturday 9 a.m. on ESPN leading up to the reunion for fighting Irish QB Riley Leonard and Aggies coach Mike Elko, who both came over from Duke. You can catch the game at 7.30 Eastern on ABC. Now, a little look in the mirror, but don't be alarmed, but USC and LSU have been on similar

trajectories this offseason. Both are replacing Heisman winning QBs, Kayla Williams and Jaden Daniels. Both were in the bottom 30 and FBS in total defense last season. And as a result, both teams hired new defensive coordinators. So here's USC head coach Lincoln Riley, who's excited. excited about this ranked matchup. These games are fun. I've been in a couple of these big ones in early seasons, you know, and they're great

because you look forward to it all off season. It's a great way to start the season. First games, there's always a sense of new and excitement and you kind of waiting to see what you really are and what the opponent really is. I think you always feel that. I like playing a marquee game early. I like playing a really good opponent early. I think there's a ton of positives.

And like I said, I think there's been a momentum and an excitement about this that's been building for a long time. We're there to play football. I'm not into all the other stuff. I'm only going to Vegas to play football. That's the only time I'm going to go to Vegas is to play football. And everybody knows that we're going there for one reason only we aren't going to Caesar's Palace. We're going to whatever the name of the stadium is to play USC. Now despite these teams being practical mirror images of each other, Will Campbell is just focusing on playing football. But I will add that the name of the stadium is Allegiance Stadium and not Caesar's. palace. But Sam, what are you focusing on in this game?

I'm focusing on if USC's defense will be able to be able to make drastic improvements. I get it both were in the bottom 30, but USC was even worse. They were bad and really when it comes to trying to not only just get stops on defense, but mistackles being in position. They've been that way for a few years. Now, the difference is this. They just hired defensive coordinator DeAant and Lynn from UCLA. And he made a huge turnaround to the UCLA defense that struggled in 2022, made a big improvement in 2023. They went from 80th or so to top 10 in defense, not just that in sacks as well. So getting after the quarterback is going to be a big opportunity for this USC team.

That's what UCLA was in 2022. De Antlin came and all of a sudden, boom. You see drastic improvements yards per game, drastic improvements and points per game. We talked about it. Tackles for loss, sacks allowed. That's what Deaunt and Lynn brings. That's what I'm excited to see. So why were they so bad?

Was it because they just got blocked and couldn't play? No. It was because, Sam, they didn't do what defenders need to do first. Stand in the right place. Look at the right guy. Let's look at Washington. UCLA, or excuse me, USC on this play has everything all set up. They've got six guys in six gaps and there's nowhere for Washington to run without blocking them out of the way.

But there's a problem. Take a look at this guy. He's supposed to be in this gap. But instead he throws a nifty move on the center, and he comes over here. So watch what he does. This is going to be an amazing move. But there's a problem. The problem is that he's in this gap where this guy already is.

Now, that is super bad. And he knows it's super bad, but you know who's happy about it, is this guy. Because now there is nobody to defend where he wants to run. It's not that that defender got blocked. It's that he just left his asses. assignment, but then it gets even sillier if it can possibly get worse. It's the same kind of problem here. Now, you've got this defender's in man coverage, so he is not involved with the rushing

defense. This guy has contained, so if anybody comes outside, he's got to take him. But watch what he does. He sees the bat go inside, so he goes in there too. Hey, that's pretty cool. He's in there with all his buddies. I'm just going to join you. Well, that is awfully bad because this guy is now going to run where he used to be.

He didn't get blocked out of the way. He just left his assignment. So USC's defensive fix is simple. If they just stand in the right place, look at the right guy, and force the offensive guys to block them, they'll be dramatically more effective. And have better emojis too. Yeah, one of the things that we talk about on defense is, assignment, alignment, and technique.

That has nothing to do with effort. Get in the right assignment. Do your right assignment. Get in the right alignment and play the right technique. That's what that last play was. The right alignment, staying outside. The play before. Okay, if your assignment is to replace the nose tackle, replace them.

So assignment alignment technique, those are easy fixes for a defense. I also want to add to that Lincoln Riley has lost five straight ranked matchups since beating number 13 Notre Dame back in 2022. and Brian Kelly is just two and five in ranked matchups with LSU. All right, coming up, 19th ranked Miami heads down to the swamp to take on rivals Florida this Saturday. With Mario Cristobal and Bailey Napier entering year three, find out which head coach we think is under the most pressure.

The answer might surprise you. Plus, defending champ Michigan has yet to name a starting quarterback ahead of their week one matchup. Here from head coach Sharon Moore on the competition for the starting job. Welcome back to college football live. Florida head coach Billy Napier is heading into his third year for the Gators and he has changed everything since he started from the roster with only 12 players remaining from his first team to changes with staffing, organization and approach. And yet he has an 11 and 14 record. Now the pressure is high as his squad faces off against their rival Miami this weekend. Now over his first two seasons at Florida, Gators offense has averaged 20 points per game ranking eighth in the SEC. And Florida hasn't had a seven wins. season so far in Napier's tenure. Now, the last time a Florida head coach failed to reach seven wins in any of his first three full seasons with the team was Raymond Wolfe, who failed to do so from 1946 to 1948. Now, a lot of talk about this rival game between Miami and Florida, and both

Billy Napierre and Mario Cristobal are under a ton of pressure, but Sam, which coach is under the most pressure? I think Mario Cristobal is under the most pressure based off of the test. that exist in Miami. There are so much talent. Even going to the offensive line, guys like Francis Maui Noah, five-star offensive line, one of the best recruits in the nation.

Then you talk about transfers. Cam Ward, who's an electric playmaker at quarterback. There are no excuses for this Miami Hurricanes football team, a team that expects and fan base that has experienced success in the past. Mario Cristobal as well, went at Oregon,

had a ton of success there. So I think that there's more pressure for him to turn that program around, even though they were both hired right around the same time. Sam, I think it's Billy Napier of Florida. I mean, two consecutive losing seasons. If he has a third, that's going to really fire up that hot seat in a major way. And he's got an extraordinarily difficult schedule.

If he loses this game to start the season, it starts everything off on a bad foot. And when that schedule kicks in in the back half of the season, it'll be hard to win more than one game in the last month and a half. And so I think he is under tremendous pressure to get to a winning season against a schedule this year. just nightmares. And as Trevor said, that hot seat would come with it a big price tag. Florida would owe Billy Napier more than $26 million if they fired him on December 1st, which is around the end of the regular season. That would be the second biggest buyout in the history of college football. Obviously, the biggest was almost three times as big. That was Jimbo's at Texas A&M last year. But to put

into context, that would still be significantly larger than the second one on record right now, which what Auburn paid Gus Malls on. The university has an interim president. Athletic Director Scott Strickland has hired the previous two coaches. It's not often you get to hire three coaches in a place like the SEC. So there would be big decisions with big stakes if they do succumb to that schedule that Trevor mentioned. Big decisions and big money being lost for sure. All right, let's shift gears to on the field and the quarterback situation with Cam Ward and Graham Mertz facing off.

Now, Sam, which QB are you most excited to see in this matchup? Yeah, I'm most excited to see Cam Ward in this matchup, transfer from Washington State. This dude is an electric playmaker. I got a chance to run into him a few years ago, and he has this calm demeanor about him. But when he gets on the field, he gives his team the potential to win, and they believe him. I remember two years ago when he played Oregon, took him down to the wire. They're actually leading that game. Oregon ended up coming back.

But Cam Ward is a huge part of this team because he accumulates so much offense, not just with his arm, but he can do it with his legs as well. Victoria, I'm glad you mentioned that Florida is actually going to have a quarterback on the field. I mean, all we're hearing about is Cam Ward, Cam Ward, Cam Ward. And he is going to be a Heisman candidate most likely. But Graham Mertz, last year for the Florida Gators, led the SEC in completion percentage, about 73%. He knows this offense backwards and forwards, and he's got the ability to make up for a running game that should be a little bit struggling against that Great Miami Front by having the short passes. He knows where to throw.

This guy is incredibly brutally efficient, and he's going to have something to say for who's the best quarterback on the field. All right. Well, let's keep that quarterback decision and quarterback momentum going. And we're going to head over to the defending champs. And the question we all want to know, who is their starting QB? Michigan has not yet named a starting QB despite the fact that their season kicks off this Saturday against Fresno State. Now, the race has come down to Redshirt sophomore Alex Orgy and Redshirt, Jr. Davis Warren. But here's head coach more on the pending QB decision.

We're close. We'll figure that out soon now. We're in a good place. I mean, there's always a sense of urgency and everything we do. So regardless of who's in the game, we're going to be have a plan for them to be successful. So for us, it's not. The players are just, they just go out there and perform. You know, whatever the play is called, they're excited and they're ready to go.

So there's not really a, you know, push to make sure we get it done by this time or a dead, you know, date we know we play Saturday, and we'll have somebody ready to take the first snap. I got nothing, Pete. Let's try to read between the lines here. What more can you tell us about the Michigan QB competition? I can tell you that Sharon Moore doesn't want you know who the quarterback's going to be, Victoria.

The prohibitive favorite for the last couple months has been Alex Orgy. He's obviously a multi-dimensional third-year player, dual threat. He's got diamondism. He's got explosion. And he would bring an element of. of quarterback run game to Michigan that they may need breaking in five new starting offensive linemen. The problem, of course, is he has attempted a grand duel of one forward pass in his Michigan career. Davis Warren, more of a pure dropback, not a ton of experience

for him either. I would expect we end up seeing both throughout the course of the Fresno state game. Certainly if it's lopsided, they'll give both a shot. Again, the thought is to start with Orgy, go from there. And they've been playing equally in practice as well, so we shall see. team with an unsettled QB situation is North Carolina. And Pete, what can you tell us who's going to be under center when they play Minnesota tomorrow? Well, there's been a little cat and mouse game between Minnesota coach PJ Flack and North Carolina's Mack Brown. PJ didn't release a depth chart. So Mac decided to be a little bit coy about who his starter is going to be. Max Johnson has the most experience. He obviously played at LSU. He played at Texas A&M. He brings 1600 snaps into

this. So he's probably expected to start over Connor Harrell. But I do expect both to play. Mac Brown told me as much last week. And what Connor Harrell brings is an element of diamondism. He could come in situationalally. He could come in the Wildcat. He started North Carolina's bowl game last year. He's not the polished passer that Johnson is, nor does he have the experience, but he can really stress a defense, look for both to see some action in Minneapolis. And they both utilize a transfer portal. And of course, that's become such a big part of college football in the landscape these days. and now we might have a change on the horizon.

So what more can you tell us about that, Pete? Well, in October, the NCAA Division I Council is going to vote on elimination of the spring transfer portal. I was told today by multiple sources that there's a pretty good expectation that this is going to pass. And what this would do is essentially create one transfer window. Craig Bull, the head of the AFCA,

the Coaches Association, told me today that they're trying to find a way to make rosters more stable and sustainable. with a cap of 105 roster spots coming. If there's a spring exodus, it could really handcuff coaches and really leave their roster bereft of spots. So the thought is in October we'll have more clarity, but we're adjusting to these new rules that are coming fast and furious starting in 2025. A lot of changes and hopefully that can kind of calm down the chaos. Thank you so much, Pete.

We always appreciate you. All right, coming up with one day to go before week one begins here, what Sam and Trevor have to say about which matchups this weekend are going under the race. in which teams may be on upset alert. Hack the holidays with the PC holiday insiders report. Try this PC Porchetta, crackling, craveworthy. You gonna eat that? Who are you? I'm the voice for the next ad, car commercial,

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Please feast responsibly. What a Labor Day weekend of college football on ESPN and ABC. Dion Sanders and Colorado host North Dakota State to start us off tomorrow, then Temple, Oklahoma on Friday night, and an amazing triple header on Saturday. And Sunday night, USC squares off against LSU. The week one countdown is on and we're going to finish things off with an upset alert and under the radar game. You should be keeping an eye on.

Trevor, which team do you have an upset alert on? Penn State at West Virginia, their quarterback Drew Aller, learning a new offense against an outstanding pass rush and a scrappy secondary of West Virginia. All right, Sam. And what is a game you think is flying under the radar this week? South Dakota State at Oklahoma State. South Dakota State has won 29 straight games. They're the two-time reigning FCS champs quarterback Mark Rannowski, over 3,000 yards, 37 touchdowns, and they got NFL talent. Two guys drafted last year, Mason McCormick.

It was one of them. So I'm looking forward to that game. I'm just looking forward to this entire menu of games that we have. All right, for Sam, Pete, Trevor, I'm Victoria. Thank you so much for hanging with us. We will see you tomorrow.