Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC Power Rankings: Who's Really on Top? | SEC Bias Explained!

Starting point is 00:00:00 These ACC football week 13 power rankings are, of course, indisputable. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Friday. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team.

Starting point is 00:00:35 every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. You can start the season with a big return on Fandual because new customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $150 and bonus bets if you win that first $5 bet. Visit fandual.com to get started. On this episode, we'll talk about who's on upset alert for the football schedule week 13 in the ACC. I'd like for both of us to take a stab at what SEC bias really means. right when we're talking about the ACC fighting for playoff respect and the commissioner Jim Phillips

Starting point is 00:01:11 is speaking out but Kenton I'd like to dive head first into our week 13 ACC football power rankings and okay I'd like your take on because I'm leaning to SMU at number one

Starting point is 00:01:27 you know they do lead the ACCC standings I also feel like they have shown you know maybe less of a glaring weakness than Miami has shown, who I have Miami ranked number two. So Miami has shown more of a weakness on the defensive side. But I also think Miami probably has more of a strength when it comes to their offense. SMU's offense is very good.

Starting point is 00:01:49 Miami's is number one. But I did lean to SMU at number one, Miami number two. Do you agree? Absolutely. It is not just about your highest peak. Because if we're talking about highest peak, that is a criteria by which, you know, things would be very different in terms of our power rankings because of certain teams that when we saw them play their best football, they look phenomenal. But that was one game.

Starting point is 00:02:15 And the rest of the games, I tell everybody, you get one really great game out of every team. You get one really terrible game out of every team. And everything else in the middle is who you actually are. And that's for the most part of what we're talking about here. We're not talking about the one for Miami and the one from SMU. We're talking about the 10. If we go best game for best game, I would struggle to pick SMU in that game. But if we go average for average, I think SMU's got that one every time.

Starting point is 00:02:44 Yeah. So for SMU, I went over their resume, Miami's resume, everyone else's. I would say for SMU, their most quality wins are the ones over Pitt and Louisville. Their lone loss was to BYU. Now, that's a better loss than Miami's loss to Georgia Tech. So that's another reason why SMU gets the nod at number one. Miami's best wins. The one over Florida has aged very well.

Starting point is 00:03:11 That was also on the road at the swamp to start the season. The win over Louisville is another one. Miami's loan loss came to Georgia Tech. Then I go Clemson number three, Kenton. And you know, it's looking over and the Clemson fans already, they're not huge fans of ours sometimes. But when I was looking over their resume, it's like they've looked really good. in certain games. The resume is not like as good as I even realize. Like I would say their best

Starting point is 00:03:38 wins were the one over Pitt that they just got, went over Virginia Tech, but they've got losses to Louisville and UGA. And against Georgia, they weren't even competitive in that game. So it's like Clemson's actual resume of like who they've beaten when I actually went over. It didn't look as good as I thought it might look if we're being on. Donald, Donald, you and I don't want to disrespect these teams. These are ACCCT. You and I want to put on the bias and say, oh, yeah, glimson looks amazing. They look, but they haven't. They have it.

Starting point is 00:04:09 You said their best one is against who? Are either one of the teams that you just? I'm sorry. Hit is the only bowl eligible team that they have, that they have beaten in terms of the power of force so far this year. Am I incorrect there? Well, let me give you all, all their wins, just so I, you know, we're not leaving anything out.

Starting point is 00:04:30 You know, they beat up on Appalachian State. Okay. They beat up on NC State. They beat up on Stanford. They beat up on Florida State, which is the free space on everyone's bingo car this year. They beat up on Wake Forest. They did, you know what?

Starting point is 00:04:46 Maybe their win over Virginia, I would say, because Virginia has looked good at times this year. So maybe that might even be a better win than Virginia Tech, but they beat in Virginia, Virginia Tech, and most recently Pitt. So those are their wins with, again, the last. losses being 34 to 3 against Georgia in the opener and 33 to 21 when they lost to Louisville. So just making sure here, okay, because I know NC State isn't, I know Stanford isn't, I know Florida State isn't, I know Wake Forest isn't, I know Virginia isn't, I know Virginia Tech isn't,

Starting point is 00:05:19 Pitt is the only powerful team that they've beaten. That's Boa eligible this year, huh? Yeah. Oh, okay. The resume doesn't look. Now, in some of their wins, they look. looked really impressive. So I don't take that away from them. Absolutely not.

Starting point is 00:05:34 The actual resume of who they beat and doesn't look as good as I thought it would. Absolutely. I mean, the thing is this. We discussed this before in terms of, hey, this team dominates bad team. They will dominate you. If you are not a good team, if you are not ready, if you're not coming out ready to be firing on all cylinder, they look like the 2024 Detroit lines. You understand? They are ready to hang. ain't fit it on you. Fiddy. However, if you are a good team,

Starting point is 00:06:06 they'll struggle a little bit. They'll struggle a little bit. And I will say this. I think Pid is a good team. I do. They beat a good team in PIT. That is the only team that they have beaten. It's week what, 10, 11?

Starting point is 00:06:19 And we're talking about one team is bowl eligible at this point in time? It's week 13, actually. I mean, most teams have had two by weeks by now, but it's week 13. Man, this is week 13, and we only talk about one team is boils, but get out of here. Get out of it. I don't care of every Clemson fan hate. Get out of here. Get out of here.

Starting point is 00:06:39 So, okay, I got to admit, beyond the top three, it gets tricky because most teams in the ACC are at three conference losses. There's a very meaty part of the bell curve. And again, like, it sounds funny to say this, given who they just lost to and how they just loss to them. But I'm leaning Louisville at number four here. Because again, when they've, you know, and they beat Clemson, who again has looked impressive in some of the games, they beat number three on my list. So I'm going to go Louisville. Louisville at number four. Their best win was against Clemson. Their worst loss was this one that just happened against Stanford. So Louisville at four.

Starting point is 00:07:21 I go Pitt at five, Georgia Tech at six, Syracuse at seven. I'm going through all. the three lost teams. Duke at eight, Virginia Tech at nine, Virginia at 10, North Carolina at 11. Let me give you a visual aid to help because I know I just ran through a lot of stuff there. I hate how this cuts off half of my face and it cuts off all of yours. But let me give you the visual aid. What do you think of the middle part of that? I think four and five need to be switched. Yes, Pitt is on a very big losing streak. But here's the beauty of this. Here's the beauty of it. Louisville fans. who feel like I'm disrespecting you,

Starting point is 00:08:01 there's going to come a chance this Saturday to prove it. There's going to come a chance this Saturday shortly after this recording. And if I'm wrong, y'all know me? I don't have no problem coming on this show in Eaton Crow. I do have a problem coming on this show in Eden Arby's. I'm not going to do that. That's disgusting.

Starting point is 00:08:16 But if I am wrong, I will gladly come on here and say, hey, listen, Louisville showed me some. I didn't know that they had. They whooped the wheels off pit, or they escape with a win against pit, whatever the case may be. you know there. With that being said, I think the rest of what you got there, I think the rest is pretty spot on, pretty accurate. I might. If it weren't for Georgia Tech's upset, I might want to

Starting point is 00:08:43 move them down, but you've got to leave them there for beating Miami. Yeah. Duke and Syracuse, I feel like there's 7A and 7B. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, it really is. That's a tough one. Virginia Tech at 9 feels right. Virginia at 10 feels right. North Carolina is. sneakily surging at 11. Yes. They're sneakily surging, but we'll get in that later. But I think through 10, I think you've got it pretty much right. All right.

Starting point is 00:09:07 Well, let's look at the rest of these. So then you've got after all the three loss teams, and these are conference records, by the way, three losses in conference. Then we get to Boston College at 12, NC State 13, Stanford 14, Cal at 15, Wake Forest at 16, and one. and seven in conference, one and nine overall, you know, number one in your programs, number,

Starting point is 00:09:33 whatever in your arts, Florida State at number 17. Listen, I have got to give this team some love, and I know many NC State fans are going to hate to hear me say this. I think that that Wake Forest team gets a worse rap than they deserve. And I know that that's a team that's not going to make a bowl game this year because their schedule, they have one of the tougher schedules in the ACC. They played not one, not two, but three teams, or I'm sorry, yes, three teams that at some point in time this season were ranked in the top 10 in Ole Miss Clemson and Miami.

Starting point is 00:10:13 You know what I mean? Like, it's tough for me to say, oh, that's a terrible team, whatever the case may be. But with that in mind, you know, I mean, at some point in time, you kind of are what your record says. and again, they're not going to make a bowl game. At best, I think 5 and 7, I'll see them beat Miami. So, you know, I give them their respect there. I think we need to get a different space for number 17

Starting point is 00:10:34 because I think there's a world, there's a large chasm between Wake Forest and Miami. That Wake Forest team, their, Wake Forest and Miami are the two teams, I'm sorry, Wake Forest of Florida State are the two teams that I talk about in terms of there's a team that just doesn't have the horses in the stable, but they're battling.

Starting point is 00:10:53 They're giving you everything they're guys. They got, they're just not good. And a team with all the talent in the world, they quit. I will tell you right now that those two teams played, not only would Wake Forest be favored, you and I both know that Florida State would not stand the chance in that. No, it wouldn't be close. I mean, some people think,

Starting point is 00:11:11 it might be close between Charleston Southern and Florida State this weekend. A one-win, FCS team. And people are like, oh, that's a close game. That Florida State team has quit. They have been tapped out. They have said, hey, we're good. We don't want it anymore. Somebody else play some football, not us.

Starting point is 00:11:33 Well, okay, so I've won't a few more things I want to get to on this episode of Locked on ACC. I'd like Kenton to help me define why there is an SEC bias, because I answered a question about that on my mailbag for rivals.com, Keynes County today. And I'd like to see if Kenton approves of my executive. explanation for the SEC bias. You know, people will accuse us, of course, of having an ACC bias, but it is what it is. And also, you know, with Miami coming off a buy, it's an important game.

Starting point is 00:12:05 I know, you know, they're big favorites against Wake Forest, but it, Miami's playoff has already started, essentially Kenton, because the Keynes need to keep winning is their shot to get into the ACC championship game and ultimately the college football playoffs. So, you know, how much, how much can Miami actually correct during a. buy week. We want to get into that and so much more. My friends, we are only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACCC. You want to keep it locked. I already know you're keeping it locked to prize picks. Guys, prize picks is so much fun. You can win real money and it's so easy. This has honestly, this has replaced a lot of the old season long fantasy leagues that I used to do.

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Starting point is 00:14:30 We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. So, Kenton, I do a weekly mailbag column at canescounty.com on rivals. And I received this question from a locked on Keynes listener by the name of Dat Dude 239. I don't think that's his real name, but you get me. He says, in your opinion, why does the S&S? C.

Starting point is 00:14:55 get favored so much, he says, I understand on a week to week basis the teams overall are better, but to me, the SEC is top heavy, he says. They only have the same two schools to play for the SEC or national championship every year. What's your thought? He says, because I'm tired of Miami slander and hearing that the ACC is such a bad conference, he said. So here's how I answered it, Kenton. And by the way, you were part of my inspiration for this answer.

Starting point is 00:15:23 So you let me know if I left anything out here. So I wrote back to them, I said, listen, on one hand, to be fair, Kenton, because I'm not saying the SEC isn't the best conference, because the SEC, they have earned their reputation to an extent. Because I went back and looked at national championship winners for this century, Kenton. And since 2000, 16 of the past 24 national champions, national championships have been won by teams that are currently in the SEC. That includes Oklahoma and Texas who were added later, of course. Yeah, but I did go on to say the SEC bias is over the top, and this is where I drew your inspiration. I wrote, the media creates a cycle where SEC teams wind up with a better strength of schedule, because strength of schedule is determined by the media rankings of the teams that are on your schedule.

Starting point is 00:16:16 So the media ranks them all high preseason. Strength of schedule gets inflated, rinse and repeat. And I said because of that media cycle, parody in the ACC, like we just talked about how many three conference lost teams are in the ACC. There's been a lot of parity. But parity in the ACC causes people to say, well, none of those teams are good. But when parity happens in the SEC, it gets celebrated. And the example that I use Kenton was you notice how differently Vanderbilt's upset win over Alabama, how differently that was covered from. say Georgia Tech's upset win over Miami, right? The narrative was amazing for Vanderbilt,

Starting point is 00:16:58 but when Georgia Tech wins, wow, Miami completely fraudulent was the narrative out there. So that's my answer. And a lot, did I leave anything out, right? Because, listen, the SEC has earned it to an extent, but it gets blown out of proportion. You did leave something out, Donald. You left an important piece of this thing out. Donald, in America, what, or actually, me not even say in America. What did Routain Klan say rules everything around me? Money.

Starting point is 00:17:29 Money. And how do you get money out of college football? Donno, where's the money come from? Viewers. Viewers are where this bias comes from. The media at large, I'm going to say this, and this is a sweeping

Starting point is 00:17:46 indictment of the media at large, because I have seen it with my own two eyes. I have talked to many media members. And I have had these conversations of, hey, have you seen this team play? How many games have you seen this team? Have you seen their film? Have you seen their all 22? No, no, no, and no.

Starting point is 00:18:02 But you know what teams do get seen? The teams that are on ABC. The teams that are on ESPN1, the regular ESPN2, the teams that are on ESPN2. ACCC Network was not even available to every service provider of not too long ago. I don't even think that they're included in Nielsen ratings. I don't think they, that Nielsen even rates ACC programming, which is another big problem. Bingo bingo, bingo. But let's do this, right?

Starting point is 00:18:30 Because everybody says that, oh, it's conspiratorial and all this stuff. No, sometimes, you know, everybody says if you look at the details too close, you think a fish can fly. Let's just look at this, okay? I'm, the 2024 standings reflect, reflect this in terms of most watch games. But there are the 100. And one most watched football games of 2023. So that is a full season's worth of watching or viewership. 101 games.

Starting point is 00:19:03 Alabama appeared on that list 11 times. Georgia, 10 times. Michigan, Ohio State, nine apiece. Florida, I'm sorry, Florida State and Washington, both eight times. Colorado, Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas, all with seven times each. Now, let's do this even better. What are the most watched games? And this is including national championship.

Starting point is 00:19:27 This is including playoff, all that good stuff. The most watched game in college football last year was the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Alabama with 27.76 million viewers. Second most was the national championship with 25.05 million viewers. Third most was Ohio State and Michigan with 19.07 million viewers. fourth most was Washington, Texas, Sugar Bowl, which was also a playoff game, 18.77 million. The fifth most was the SEC Championship, Georgia, Alabama, 17.52 million. Now, quick question, Dono. How many ACC teams did I mention in there?

Starting point is 00:20:10 I don't think I heard any. Not a single one. You heard Michigan multiple times. Michigan was in that list three times. You heard Alabama multiple times. They were in that list two times. So I'm saying all this to say, we don't have to work around some crazy kids.

Starting point is 00:20:27 Why do all the talking heads keep doing it? It's a trickle-down effect. The guys and gals who are at the biggest four-letter brand, which is ESPN, set the tone. They set the narrative. When they set the tone in the narrative, that's what it becomes law, because everybody coming down the chain

Starting point is 00:20:44 doesn't want to deviate too far from what they say, because they get the most eyes. They shape the popular opinion. So you don't want to be the guy that looks crazy screaming. Penn State is not good. You don't want to be the guy screaming. Texas is not good. You don't want to be that guy.

Starting point is 00:21:01 But damn it, I'll be that guy. I'll be that guy every day and twice on Sunday. Because, again, I want the explanation of what the difference between their resumes and SMUs is. I want the explanation. I want to know. But again, this is a very, very simple thing. the money, follow the viewership, and you will find where the SEC bias comes from.

Starting point is 00:21:22 The SEC plays on the biggest platforms. Therefore, more people watch them, including more media members, because as much as I would love for media members to be film junkies like me, as much as I would love for them to say, oh, even if I didn't see the game and I can't get to all 22, I may at least watch the condensed game and see what happened. That's not the case. And that's how we get what we get. It makes a lot of sense because, like, and obviously, you know, when you're,

Starting point is 00:21:47 you're when, especially when you're one of like, you know, the ESPN talking heads, right? If you're a panelist on get up, if you're one of the hosts or guests on first take, it's like, you have to play the hits, right? And from when it comes to the college football portion of playing the hits, you know, playing the hits involves heavy dose of Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State. Like, and I understand that like these national hosts, like they can't watch every game because they're also covering multiple sports. because when I watch ESPN, one of the reasons why I don't watch ESPN nearly as much as I used to is they're just talking about a handful of the same teams every day.

Starting point is 00:22:24 Like they're talking about the New York Jets way too much for a team that's as bad as the Jets are. Dallas Cowboys so much. The Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Lakers, it's just rinse and repeat with the same handful of teams over and over again. And the same thing's true for the college football coverage. Exactly. And this builds a system that insists upon it. itself. You have the coverage to where everybody saw Vandy, Alabama, because where was it at? Everybody did not get to see Louisville Clemson because it was a different time frame and it was on a

Starting point is 00:23:00 different channel. If you talk about, hey, why don't they get the same coverage? The reason the SEC bias is so prevalent this year is because Michigan is bad. Michigan is one of the only other brands that can command that type of draw. I love and respect Miami a lot. I love and respect Florida State a lot. I love and respect all of these ACC schools a lot. Florida State is the only one. And as much as I've talked bad about Florida State and said their term,

Starting point is 00:23:30 I've got to give their fan-based love. They're the only one in the ACC that can make that kind of draw. That's up there with a Georgia, a Bama, a Michigan, and Ohio State. They're the only ones. They're the only ones. I say Wolfpack Nation is the most passionate, yes, in terms of concentration of people. There was a passionate, insane folks about their school, and I love it.

Starting point is 00:23:51 They're not as big as that group. Miami, passionate fan-based, ravenous, demands excellence. Miami's fans demands excellent, and I love that about you. I love that about Miami. Don't you ever lose that games, fan? They're not as big. That's just a fact. That's just the fact.

Starting point is 00:24:09 So when we look at this and say, why is there an SEC bias? Again, it's very simple. Like you said, Dono, they played the. the hits on national TV. Pate's got to play the hits because Pate's got to pay his bills. If he doesn't talk about, oh, this team should be in and this team should be out in terms of the biggest schools, what happens? He loses viewers. When he loses viewers, what happens? He loses advertising now. This ain't rocket science. These folks are keeping their advertising dollars by talking about the teams that people view. And the people view these teams because they always get the

Starting point is 00:24:41 biggest stage. Yeah. And that makes a lot of sense. And again, it comes back to a cycle that's created. Well, we got more to talk about on this episode of Lockdowne ACC. How much can Miami actually tweak during their biweek? Well, they're coming off their by week, taking on Wake Forest on Saturday. And also, who's on upset alert this weekend? You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Lockdowne ACC.

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Starting point is 00:28:02 So if for whatever reason they were ignoring any of their deficiencies earlier in the season, right, because Miami's defense has given up a lot of points against most of their ACC opponents, except for Florida State because they can't score on anybody. But against everybody else, Miami was given up a lot. of points. You know, but up until that Georgia Tech game, Cam Ward and Miami's offense was, was hiding a lot of those deficiencies. They're now completely out in the open, you know, had a chance to, to hear from and speak to,

Starting point is 00:28:34 you know, Miami's defensive coordinator, Lance Guidry, you know, a couple of Miami defensive backs, Daryl Porter Jr. and O.J. Frederica is having a spectacular season. Like for as rough as Miami's secondary has been, freshman cornerback, O.J. Frederick, Rieke is actually graded out as one of the best in the entire country. So he has not been the problem. But they talked about how, you know, they feel like they've really had, you know, productive practices and they've been working on, you know, identifying some of the shifts and pre-snap motions that have given them a lot of problems, working on

Starting point is 00:29:08 communication in the back end. The picture is being painted in Coral Gables that it was a very productive by week. How much, because Kenton, you played. you played defensive line at NC State. How much can you actually tweak schematically in a by-week? You know, I'm going to tell you, you can change a lot because if you think about what a scheme is, right? A scheme is just a collection of individual assignments and how they work and function together as for the greater good.

Starting point is 00:29:43 Like, that's what a scheme is. And if you think about install, right, Donald, you know this because you cover football so intimately. Installing camp. By the time you're on week two of camp, you're installing the deep stuff. You're not installing the basic stuff anymore. I'm not saying that you're changing the entire scheme by way of like,

Starting point is 00:30:01 you're going to be an entirely different team because the reality is, unless a team is seeing guys run wide open or unless there are lots of runs where guys are going untouched, which that's not been the case with it. Guys have been close. They've been making bad decisions at the moment of truth. guys have been in the gaps. They've been missing tackles horrendously, might I add.

Starting point is 00:30:23 So this is a situation where Miami had to clean up execution things. And part of that was absolutely responding to pre-snap motion in a better way in terms of safeties and corners yo-yoing properly in terms of who's up, who's high, who's low.

Starting point is 00:30:39 It helps. But I don't think Miami needed an entirely new scheme. I just think they need execution. And we've got to be more. physical defensively, you have to make your damn tackles. That's what it is. And football nine times out of ten, the team that can block and tackle better will win the game. Yes, Cam Ward's a freak of nature.

Starting point is 00:31:02 Does Cam Ward do any of those things? No. I think if they want him to win the Heisman, they should give him a few snaps at safety. You can't be much worse. Well, and I'll tell you this much. I'll tell you this much. When they played Georgia Tech, who is the better team at blocking and tackling? Georgia Tech.

Starting point is 00:31:22 You see what I'm saying? Nine times out of ten, even with this, you know, new world that we live in where we've got multiple quarterbacks throwing for 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns and all that good stuff. And that's a little bit of hyperbole. We don't see a ton of quarterbacks throw off that, but you get the point. It's a much different game than it was in the early 2000 and so on. we still know run the damn ball is king. Teams who can run it effectively have a much better shot at when he get all than teams that cannot.

Starting point is 00:31:54 That's just the reality because, again, that running and tackling, that physicality required to run the ball at a high level, it speaks volumes for your team. So, you know, I don't think Miami needs to clean up a ton in terms of scheme, but I do think that that communication that you spoke about in the very basic like how do we, you two guys, how do you head to this assignment? When we see this motion, how do we react to it? I think that that was pivotal, but I don't think that was much of a scheme change. But if we are talking scheme, these players aren't dumb. They have, in camp by week two, you're installing the intricacies and the counters to the plays

Starting point is 00:32:33 that you always run. So if you think about that in the sense of I'm game planning, I'm game prepping, you have more than enough time to schematically make any changes you need. I think you characterized it right, though. I probably characterized it wrong. Like, I'm not expecting schematic changes so much as more, more focus on perfecting assignments. So I think you probably characterized it correctly in that sense. And, you know, coming off their by week and coming off their first loss of the year,

Starting point is 00:33:05 hurricanes are, I'm looking at Miami as now 25 point favorites at home against Wake Forest. don't, yeah, I don't, I'm, I'm going to sit this one out, Kenton. Like, I, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't feel confident enough to bet this one either way in terms of the spread. Um, I, I, I don't expect Miami to lose this game outright, you know, I'd probably be a little bit more, and Wake Forest can put up some points. Their, their defense is awful. Uh, their offense can put up some points, which could be, you know, concerning for Miami's defense. Uh, so I don't, I don't know what to, I think the 25 point spread is probably too big. I think around 20, 20 and a half would have been perfectly fine with me here. I don't, I wouldn't really put Miami on upset alert. Maybe I would if they weren't coming off a

Starting point is 00:33:52 buy and if they weren't coming off their first loss, I'm expecting a positive reaction from Miami this week. So I don't think that Miami will lose. But I also covering a 25 point spread, that's dicey. They win and they cover this game. They win and they cover. This is a pissed off that knows they need style points. They know that. This is no longer a matter of, you know, all that winning ugly, you can do that if you're undefeated. TCU won the big, or I'm sorry, they didn't win the Big 12th.

Starting point is 00:34:23 They lost in the Big 12 championship, but they got to the Big 12 and got into the playoff despite not being the Big 12 champion because they were undefeated up until that point, and they were undefeated ugly. They weren't dominating, blowing teams out by a ton. They just, hey, they did what they need to do to have more points than the opponents. and that's all they need it. Miami is no longer there. They know that it's about styling, profiling, run it up.

Starting point is 00:34:49 And with that being said, I think that the talent that they have just overwhelms way for us. So I'm looking at other double-digit spreads this week. We've already, a couple times this week, we've talked about Florida State favored by, you know, more than, more than 30 points, 33 and a half against Charleston Southern. We both expect Florida State to win, but it's just a crazy, even against an FCS team. That's a big spread for Florida State. How about, do you think, does SMU cover a 10-point spread on the road? SMU are favored by 10 on the road against Virginia. You know, Virginia, they beat Pittsburgh.

Starting point is 00:35:31 They kept some games close this year. Do you think, does Virginia have a chance to win the game outright or at least cover that double-digit spread? Virginia definitely has a chance to cover, and they also have a chance to win outright. While SMU also knows that they're in the style point range, I don't think they have a style point team. Don't get me wrong. This is a very good team. Don't get me wrong. This is a team, and I know that that sounds crazy given, I believe SMU's average margin of victory is about 20 points.

Starting point is 00:36:02 I believe it's somewhere thereabouts this year. With that being said, as we have seen this team go on. later and later in the season, games have gotten closer and closer for them in terms of a one-point win against Duke, in terms of a 10-point win against Boston College. I'm not sure that they cover that big of a spread, but I think SMU comfortably wins.

Starting point is 00:36:28 I wouldn't be surprised if they covered at all, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pondexpress covers. Let me give you one more double-digit spread. I'm actually a little bit surprised by this one, because this is one of the oldest rivalries in college football. Cal are favored by 14 and a half against Stanford. And believe it, like, I do not doubt that Cal is the better team. They are.

Starting point is 00:36:52 Stanford somehow has a better conference record than Cal, which I'm still scratching my head about that one. But 14 and a half points for a rivalry like this, that's a big spread. And it's not like Cal, you know, they haven't exactly taken care of business this year. I'm going to tell you this. This is why this has happened, okay? I don't know what it is. If I could predict it, if I perfectly knew, I would tell you, Dono,

Starting point is 00:37:18 but there's something about that Stamford team that they literally seesaw every single week between up and down. You beat Syracuse and then you lose by 26 and then you lose by 24 and then you lose by 42 and then you lose by 30 and then you lose. by 30 and then you lose by 3 and then you lose by 31 allowing NC State to score not just their most points this season most points they have ever scored in an ACC football game and by the way NC State is one of the original ACC teams you understand they've been in this thing for forever and they have never scored to many points in an ACC football game as they did in this one so I look at that and I say they went out and beat Louisville last game. What does the pattern tell you, Dono?

Starting point is 00:38:12 Yeah. They're due for big letdowns. Yeah, they're due for bad loss. You're right. They're due for letdowns. Cal, go ahead and do your thing. Fernando Mendoza, make your case for why you belong in that top half of the conference quarterback conversation.

Starting point is 00:38:27 I love it. Well, that'll do it for us this week. Make sure you follow Kenton on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. follow me at Alex Dono and everyone enjoy the games this weekend. We'll talk to you next week on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome lockdown podcast network, your team every day.

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