Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - Are Miami Hurricanes and Clemson Tigers Top ACC Contender?

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

Welcome back to ACC Squad, your ultimate roundtable podcast for all things Atlantic Coast Conference! In this Week 8 preview episode, hosted by Alex Donno from Locked On ACC, we’re diving into a thrilling lineup of games and providing you with comprehensive analysis, predictions, and insights. Join us as we break down the key matchups that will impact the standings and determine the trajectory of each team’s season. Whether you’re cheering for the Boston College Eagles, Clemson Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Florida State Seminoles, Louisville Cardinals, Miami Hurricanes, NC State Wolfpack, North Carolina Tar Heels, Syracuse Orange, California Golden Bears, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Pittsburgh Panthers, SMU Mustangs, Stanford Cardinal, Virginia Cavaliers, Virginia Tech Hokies, or Wake Forest Demon Deacons, this episode has all the information you need to get ready for game day! In This Episode: Detailed previews of Week 8’s most exciting matchups Analysis of each team’s strengths and weaknesses Predictions from Locked On podcast hosts on the outcomes of key games Insights on standout players to watch Make sure to subscribe to ACC Squad and hit the notification bell to stay updated with the latest news and in-depth coverage of ACC football. We want to hear from you—share your thoughts in the comments below and let us know which games you’re looking forward to the most! #ACCSquad #ACCFootball #LockedOnACC #Week8Preview #ACC2024 #FootballPredictions #BostonCollegeEagles #ClemsonTigers #DukeBlueDevils #FloridaStateSeminoles #LouisvilleCardinals #MiamiHurricanes #NCStateWolfpack #NorthCarolinaTarHeels #SyracuseOrange #CaliforniaGoldenBears #GeorgiaTechYellowJackets #PittsburghPanthers #SMUMustangs #StanfordCardinal #VirginiaCavaliers #VirginiaTechHokies #WakeForestDemonDeacons Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Huge ACC dub for the fighting Jackson Hulzers. Yeah, let's bring in the squad. You're talking ball with the ACC squad. From Florida State to North Carolina, from Syracuse to Miami, and from NC State to California, it's the local experts of the locked on podcast network, bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming ACC weekend.

Hang on, it could get loud, it could get heated, and it will definitely be followed. squad up you're part of the ac c squad this episode of the ac c squad is brought to you by fan duel place your first five dollar bet and you'll get started with two hundred dollars and bonus bets guaranteed visit fanduel dot com to get started a lot of teams were on by last weekend but it didn't stop some important games from happening we are the ac c squad i'm alex dono from locked on canes we got jackson holzer from locked on syracuse who got the dub over kenton gibbs and dalton pence from Lockdown Louisville.

We got J.J. Jackson from Lockdown Blue Devils. They've got an important job this weekend against the Florida State Seminels at home. Of course, Grayson, Dalton Pence with us as well from Lockdown Louisville. Grayson Boone from Lockdown Wolfpack. I feel like the answer to this question has got to be Jackson Holeser today. But I'll ask. Who's buying the first round? I'll take it.

I'll take it. Big win over NC State. We handled our business. We were the favorite. 2417 wasn't a perfect game, but you know what? Kyle McCord didn't put the ball in harm's way. They ran the ball effectively. They got the W.

I think it would have been a whole lot worse if we had a kicker, but that's besides the point. Now we're sitting at 5 and 1 at the halfway point. It's a good start. Next week is PIN. That is going to be a big one for Syracuse and whether or not this team is really a contender or not. Yeah, I mean, to the victor goes to spoils.

There was a team that beat themselves, and there's a team that beat the other team. I'll let you figure out which one NC State was on Saturday night. I mean, the story for the Wolfpack, you had not just one turnover, but three turnovers in Syracuse territory. That is ultimately the story of the ball game. When you only lose by seven points, but Syracuse puts up 21 points off of three turnovers, there's the story of the game. Now, yes, credit to Kyle McCord, as many times as he did throw it, did not throw a single interception, because I was sitting there waiting for it to happen. He has his Kyle McCord moments never came.

Syracuse played a good game. I also agree with Jackson. If they had a little bit more faith in their kicker, I think the score would have looked differently. But Syracuse wins by seven. They earn the win. I think that Syracuse's kicker being like, oh, if you would have been different,

everything would have gone even worse. Are you all out of your minds? According to win percentage by like who won each play, NC State was in one of the, of the highest percentiles of every team in the nation and lost this football game. That's also. I'm trying to tell you, the story shouldn't be, oh, well, if Syracuse trusted their kicker or more, if NC State's kicker could have hit one, the game would have been much closer.

If they didn't, I think Grayson Undersold and talked about they turned it over three times in Syracuse territory in the 30 or deeper, all three of them, in the 30 or deeper. This game, to me, showed that NC State got a bad, case. One of the worst cases that can't get rightitis I have ever seen. This was, it was abysmal from NC State in a bunch of ways. And the refereeing was abysmal to which I have talked about at nauseam saying, hey, it's not for one team or the other. There's no conspiracy for Miami. There's no conspiracy for Syracuse. It's just the officiating in the ACC is so God awful. We need to institute something because somehow players are getting their helmets knocked off when

nobody's touching them. Somehow, players are getting held by mouth. We're not saying anything about it. Somehow, players are stepping out of bounds. We can't see it even through review. So, you know, I'm looking at this game. I'm going to cut you off there. They did see that he stepped out of bounds, but they ruled that he was forced out of bounds.

That's what they, they said he was forced out of bounds by like a little love tap by the Syracuse defender. was on the 80-yard touchdown play. I'm sorry, if that is a force out of bounds, then every tackle on the planet is unnecessary roughness. But you get what I'm saying. It's terrible, no matter what. And that's what I'm saying. And that's what I'm saying.

This officiating is problematic, period. I'm not saying it's probably out of cross-ish. It's terrible. This is my favorite song. We should have a barbershot, what is this, six-tet and just have a full-on disgrace to the ACC song because officiating. Well, that would be a quintet because I'll have to keep my,

my mouth shut with the way that some of the calls have gone this year. Actually, yeah. Go, Oregon. It's coming. Miami's going to get a call against them. You're going to be like, what the bleep. It's not coming to this week against Louisville. I promise you, I can, you take to the bank.

It's minus 650 of the odds of Miami getting every call going their way this week. Trust me. That's nothing against Miami. It's under contract to officiate Louisville. a certain way, it seems. But even with Dono, the no kneel down game, people forget that was a fumble that shouldn't have been ruled a fumble. And Donald and I talked about the illegal man down field in the Cal and in Miami game, where

there was also a face mask in that same play against Cam Ward that was missed. This is, this is infuriating because all of these massive plays, these are not small cause being missed. So again, NC State did not show up. They did have, or I'm sorry, let me not. say it didn't show up. In the biggest moments where the game mattered most, all of a sudden they forgot how to play football,

forgot how to hold on to the ball and whatnot, but the narrative that, oh, if Syracuse just trusted their kicker, well, if you take away three plays from NC State, this is not even an argument of who wins this game, even if you trust your kicker. We won the

game. And that was one of, there were several close games. There were several close games in the ACC over the weekend. And another one of those was Dalton Pence's Louisville Cardinals against Virginia. Now, there was, and we were talking a little off there. You seem, you seem pretty down on the Cardinals right now. I mean, I will say I was very impressed by the performance of Isaac Brown, who wins ACC rookie of the week, finally dethroning Eli Holstein, who had taken it every single other week of the season, at least in the five weeks or six

weeks that he had played this year. So big week for Isaac Brown. There's definitely concerns, though, on the Louisville defense. Talk a little bit about what was maybe a closer than expected dub against Virginia. Yeah, I mean, it's to the point to where, you know, after the first couple of weeks, when they lost to Notre Dame, you know, I talked to myself with how disastrous of a first quarter they had. They were going to bounce back. I feel like this is still a good team. Now, after six games, it's one of those cases of when somebody shows you who they are, at some point you got to believe them. and you're as good as your record states than you are. And you shouldn't have lost that SMU game.

And I'm higher on the Mustings than a lot of people. Virginia was another team that you shouldn't. It shouldn't have taken the last drive of the game to go down and be able to move the football and win the game. I mean, Virginia's punter. I don't know if y'all watched the game, sent a punt right into the middle of his offensive guards back. And thankfully, Louis was able to get the ball on the other 15.

And Isaac Brown was fantastic. but it's just a situation where Wolfo just can't put it together. Bad offensive line play, a defensive coordinator that simply is just struggling to find the answers with a really talented defensive unit. So truthfully, Dono, I'm having all these questions and the fan base has got all these questions that every week we're seeing the same issues over and over. And at some point, I'm starting to lose my confidence that they're going to be able to turn things around. now you have perhaps the best offense that you'll play all year.

So forgive me, Woolwell fans, I'm not really all that confident in this matchup for the Cardinals. Well, and I look at it on the flip side, despite the fact that Miami is 6 and 0, I've got some concerns. Heck, the team has some concerns.

They're 6 and 0, and they held a players-only meeting during their by week. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I think it's a good thing that leadership on the team. The leadership on the team is proactive, but they've given up crazy amounts of chunk plays. You know, the last time Miami played was, you know, two weeks ago against Cal,

they gave up four plays of 50 or more passing yards. So those are busted coverages, bad communication by the defensive backfield. And so I don't know. I mean, I know Miami has talent on defense, especially on the D-line, but Dalton, if they don't fix some of their issues, Miami, we could get into a shootout at noon on Saturday. I, Cam Ward and controlled chaos go together like peanut butter and jelly.

I mean, he is fantastic when he needs to improvise, but he's even better in the pocket. And Louisville is getting hurries, but it's not equating to sacks. A lot of that is the lack of pressure on the interior. And Louisville's pass rushers love to go way down field too far than they're supposed to. And Cam Ward, if you give him the time to throw, which Louis has been doing, he's going to feast. I mean, the passing numbers speak for themselves, man. We got a lot more games coming up this weekend that we want to get into. It's a pretty loaded slate coming up, including the fighting JJ Jackson's taken on Florida State.

Can they get it done? Because Duke has never beaten Florida State before. Louisville, Miami, a ton of games coming up this weekend. My friends, we're only getting started. You want to keep it locked right here on the ACC squad. Guys, and I already know you're keeping it locked to Fan Duel because, yeah, you look at the games coming up. this weekend. We have some big spreads. We've got some surprisingly close spreads. You do have Duke favored against Florida State at home. Blue Devils are trying to beat FSU for the first time ever.

You've got Miami favored by four and a half points on the road at Louisville. You do have Clemson, who's been rolling, by the way, big favorites, 25 and a half points at home against Virginia, who came pretty close to knocking off Louisville this past week. So guys, you can find all these numbers, all these spreads and all these good times at Fandual, America's number. one sports book. And NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. When you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet.

That's fanduel.com, America's number one sports book. Thank you so much for making this ACC squad 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, every day. day. For your next listen, make sure you check out Lockdown College football. Spencer McLaughlin does an incredible job going around all the big games and all the big storylines. And friends, we get some big ones on the ACC this week. You have on Thursday night, tonight, Virginia Tech taken on Boston

College at home. Friday, you've got Duke hosting Florida State, Miami at Louisville Saturday at noon, 10th rank Clemson against Virginia at noon, Yukon hosting Wake Forest at noon, 12th rank Notre Dame at Georgia Tech at 3.30, NC State at Cal at 330. Will this be Cal's first ACC victory that came close against Pittsburgh and Miami and Florida State? 21st ranked SMU is at Stanford. So which of these games, guys, do you think is going to have the biggest impact on the ACC standings this week? See, it's the big Dave Doran lobby that's trying to silence me after I got after him a little bit on Locked on Wolfpack. I said, I know which one won't.

the game between two teams where neither one has a singular win in the ACC so far. I would love to say good things about this Cal NC State game. But boy, right now, this is the toilet bowl. It is two teams that are in the absolute pits of hell in terms of ACC wins, with zero apiece walking into week seven. So I know that that game won't be the one that matters. So I'm going to shut up now and let somebody with a team that is, is doing something meaningful and purposeful in the ACC, say something.

I think it's set to be a big weekend in Durham, guys. I really do. Excited to see this one play out on Friday night. Teased it a little bit ago. Duke has never beat Florida State. 22 times these teams have gotten on their grind together. Of those 22 meetings, how many have been decided by one single possession? By that's two?

Only one of them. Only one of them. outside of that 2017 game when Duke lost 17 to 10, the closest loss beyond that was 19 points. I mean, Duke has never been able to be competitive in a game like this. And our friends over at Fandall think the Stoop team is a three-point favorite at home. It's Manny Diaz in his first year, coaching against his alma mater in Florida State,

Duke coming off a by week, Florida State and an absolute down year. If it doesn't happen this year, I don't know when it's ever going to happen for Duke. football. But again, that's the story. 22 meetings all time. Only one game has ever been decided by one possession. It's time. It's time to flip the switch and to see Duke knock off Florida State this weekend. I mean, I pretty much think that Louisville, Miami is probably the one with the most implications because you look at the slate. And yes, I think that there's going to be some close games. Like Kenton said, NC State Cal doesn't really have much of a implication on the

standings. I think if Louisville loses a second ACC game, they're out of the conversation unless pandemonium strikes and Clemson, Miami or SMU just kind of fall off a cliff or Syracuse for that matter. I'll tell you one that I'm pretty interested in watching, although it probably doesn't have as much implication, is Clemson, Virginia. The spread is big, but I, guys, I'm really impressed with this Clemson team. I think everyone wrote them off way too quickly. I know, look, I know things against Georgia weren't the greatest, who they've been playing. It's not the greatest schedule either. But these guys are a buzz saw right now.

If you watch them play, the defense is as good as it is. You've got a good defensive line. The linebacker core is solid. The secondaries getting older and better as the week goes on. Cade Clubnick turning things around is the storyline in the ACC that just isn't getting him the attention that it should. I mean, he's been deadly running the football. He looks confident as can be under Garrett Riley's system.

And I hate to say it, Dono, if you make me pick between Clemson or Miami, whether it's in Dead Valley Jr. or Coral Gables, I think Clemson's got to be the best team in the conference coming into this week, in my opinion. Yeah, they've been to me the most complete team, you know, since they struggled their first game, they've been the most complete team because our big concerns have been, and rightfully so preseason, we're about Cade Klubnick in the offense. He's been putting up some gems really throughout ACC play so far. the defense has been as good as you've expected. And to your point, Dalton, you know, from a Miami point of view, I think Miami has more talent than they've shown the past couple of weeks, but they've had defensive breakdowns that you've not seen from Clemson. So Clemson so far in conference play has been the most complete team in the ACC.

I agree with you. I don't know who's better between Clemson and Miami, but I will say this because I set it after the Georgia game. I don't know when Clemson's going to lose again. I don't know when they're going to lose. And Dalton, to your point, I thought for a second when you were teasing the line, you were going to say how you're high on the Virginia Cavalier. So it was like, what are you talking about here? They're playing Cunks and they're going to get annihilated.

But I don't know when Clemson is going to lose. Please on their schedule, tell me where their losses. And I'm sorry, I'm jinksing all of Clemson right now. But it depends on how you view Pittsburgh, truthfully. I think Pitt is a good team, but I think Clemson can go in there and beat them. And I think they'll be favored to beat them. And I think they will beat them. So if they beat Pitt on the road, they're going to be 11 and 1.

I have another team I want to call attention to that's in the same conversation of when might they lose, SMU. Yes. SMU is ranked 21st in the country. They're 2 and 0 in the ACC, and their remaining schedule is at Stanford this Saturday, at Duke. They play Pitt at home in Dallas, Boston College in Dallas, at UVA, and then Cal in Dallas. That's a pretty, I wouldn't say easy, but that's a pretty favorable schedule for an SMU team that's playing good football right now. I think after Jennings took over the quarterback position, completely revitalized that offense. Is SMU going to make a run at this if Clemson or Miami stumbles somewhere?

They could, but someone's not a lose here. They're not all running the table here, all right? I have faith in Clipson. They are. They're all going to run the table. But they don't play each other. Then this is the problem. Exactly.

Someone has to lose. Someone has to lose. They're not all going 11 and 1. Hypothetically, hypothetically, it sounds like it. Yes, we are. That's not the attitude. All I want to know is who and where is the question, right? And I want to give a lot of credit to SMU because we talked about them in the preseason as they could upset the Applecart here and there.

They could upset some teams that are supposed to be, you know, is living's good and, you know, life is easy and living is good right now. They were supposed to upset those teams. They are that team. They have turned out to be that team. We asked about are they good enough in the trenches to compete weekend and week out? And I'll tell you what? Ever since that BYU game looks like it. And I'll tell you, there's something going on up in Utah because those guys look a phenomenal,

look like a phenomenal team. So that loss gets better and better each week. I'm going to tell you something now. I'm going to tell you something. We very well could see all three of these teams run the table. And in that situation, I'm very intrigued to see how it all plays out what the tiebreaker is, who goes forward. And by the way, I think the tiebreaker might, the tiebreaker might be rankings because they, common opponents, common opponents.

Oh, okay. But if they beat, but if they all, if they beat all their common opponents, then what do you do there? I don't know what the threat. There's no way they would leave it up. At what point do you do? At what point is they might just draw straws. Yeah. On live TV, ACC Network, Packer and Durham, they're going to draw straws live.

Again, I stand by my point. There's no way that all these teams are going to run the table. Someone's got to lose. I know they're not playing each other, but someone's got to lose. We're not going to have 12 and O Miami, 11 and 1 Clemson, 11 and 1 SMU. Someone is going to lose. The question is who and the question is when. Now, I am betting that Clemson is going to run the table.

I think that Miami is not. going to lose more than once. That leaves SMU and as good as they're playing. Yeah, but if Miami loses once, that'll, but Miami only has conference games left. So if Miami loses one, then those other,

then the other two teams would both get in because they, oh, because, uh, because Miami would have one conference loss and they wouldn't. I'm all in on the Pony Express, damn it.

Give me, give me SMU, free Sherwood Blunt. I need to see him on the sidelines. for an ACC championship game. I need to see it. I need Brian to now buy all his Stanford dear so that he can share for Stanford.

The pony bros are, hey, it's, I hated that little of lost to him, but the vibes around the fan base, it's kind of like, it's just a fun fan base. It's a breath of fresh air, man.

Yeah. Well, I spent some time last week in the, the Dallas airport, DFW, and they've got SMU signs and billboards all over it. So they're all in on the pony access. that's for sure. Like that city has gone all in. They have ACC and all the billboards. So they are they're in on all of that stuff. And well, more games to talk about when we come back plus new batch

of top 25 rankings this week. Anybody from the ACC feel left out. Is anybody ranked too high, too low? We got the squad together, guys. You want to keep it locked right here to the ACC squad. Guys, sometimes intimate moments can happen spontaneously. And we always want to be ready so we can perform in the bedroom. Hymns provides access to treatments that can help you stay hard and last longer, giving you that boost of confidence. You can be ready whenever the mood strikes. Guys, Hymns is changing men's health care by providing you with access to affordable sexual health treatments from the comfort of your couch. Hymns provides access to a range of doctor-trusted ED treatments like chewable hard mints and Viagra and Cialis and their generics for up to 95% cheaper.

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See website for details and important safety information. Subscription required. Price varies based on products and subscription plan. Thank you so much for making this episode of the squad. Your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast free on YouTube, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. All right. So, guys, Miami had the buy week last week, still 6 and 0, but they do not.

move up. They're still ranked number six in the country. You know, Oregon and Ohio State. They played one another. Ohio State lost a close game. So they stayed within the top five. They fell to number four. You've got Texas, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, Georgia, then Miami at number six, Alabama at seven, LSU eight, Iowa State at nine. Then you've got Clemson, the next ACC representative in the top 10 at number 10. Tennessee, Notre Dame, BYU, Texas A&M, Boise State, Indiana. Indiana. Kansas State, Ole Miss, Missouri, Pittsburgh, ranked 20th, SMU at 21, Illinois, 22, Army 23, Michigan 24, Navy 25. I'd like to open this up when we talk about those AP rankings. Are we full believers in Pitt? Because again, like for the third straight ACC game, you felt like Cal probably should have gotten their first conference win, was not exactly a coaching clinic put on by Justin Wilcox in that.

one. Look, I mean, Eli Holstein is he's proving me wrong, at least. I didn't really, I mean, I know that he was a talented player coming out of high school, but I just didn't necessarily think that he was going to be able to be this successful this quickly. It's just one of those things to where until you, I guess they are showing me despite them being six and oh, it's just that you look at their schedule, Cincinnati, West Virginia, North Carolina, Cal, I mean,

nothing really setting the world on fire here. I've got Pittsburgh in the TBD category. And it's not fair to Panthers fans, but it's sort of how I treated Duke, you know, when they were undefeated early on. And until Pittsburgh shows me coming up, they've got two really key games. They've got Syracuse and then they've got at SMU. So I think there's still TBD for me, but I'll give them credit for going six and oh. I just, I'm sorry. I'm not a huge believer at this point. Especially after this past Saturday. Like nothing's too impressive. of about a 17-15 football game against Cal. I mean, how they've been playing throughout the season.

Oldstein was able to put up more offensive totals than we saw this past week, and I just wasn't too impressed by that. Well, just out of curiosity, who did Duke lose to earlier this year? Georgia Tech, right? Right. At the end of the day, beating teams that are not seen as world beaters is still beating teams.

No doubt. We talk about Miami and how they're undefeated. And again, who have they played? that would just jump off the fence at you say, hey, that's a damn good team. And a lot of those games were very close. Every game that they played against a Power 14 that's still going to have their head coach at the end of the season. I will say Billy Napier is still gainfully employed. So don't sleep on Florida.

Florida should have beaten Tennessee last week. They looked better. I thought Tennessee is going to save his job. Alex, Alex McWriaminius, Donno, please stop it. Stop it. Don't play around like that. you and I both know, Doc, that that man, Billy Napier is going to be on ACC squad next year. Don't worry. We don't know who, what squad are going to be reping, but we know he's going to be here.

And it might not make sense because logically what you're saying, I mean, it's correct. Miami and Pittsburgh, you put the levels of difficulty next to each other. And nothing really differentiates the two. I think it just all comes down to. And I hate to say it this way because it seems like a cop out, just intuition and how you perceive both squads. I came into the season believing that Miami was arguably the best team in the ACC. Pittsburgh was one of those that I wasn't really all that high on. So I think it really just depends on who you ask.

Now, have they exceeded expectations up to this point? Yeah. And I know that nothing of what I'm saying is going to be like, oh, okay, your intuition tells you Pittsburgh's not all that good. I think they're a good team. I still think they're a team that's going to end this season with three regular season losses. So. Dalton's 100% right.

A lot of it is is preseason expectations, preseason thoughts that are, that still creep in at the midseason point. That's just how it is. We perceived Miami as a really good team going into the year. They haven't lost a game yet. And when they estate with wins, we say like credit to Miami because, hey, you know, they found a way to win. You know, they came back from 25 against Cal. That's, that's good by Miami. They're six and no.

Now they're six in the country. And then for Pitt, we're like, yeah, Pitt might be mediocre this year. Oh, look at that. They started 6 and 0, but they have a two-point win against Cal, the same team that Miami just almost lost to. But that's not here or there. But all of a sudden, you know, Pitt, you know, you still need, I need to see more because we didn't think you'd be good going into the year.

Now, cooler heads are going to prevail here. I think Miami's better than Pitt, but it's just supposed to show you. knowledge, and it's going to make complete sense. And I would be like, yeah, uh-huh. Just go ahead and in the next couple weeks. All I know is this. If Miami runs the table, they dominate,

P has three losses. Hey, it is what it is. We judge by that. But I'm sorry. I work in HR, and I've seen that meme a million times where it's like the handsome, attractive guy. And he's like, oh, that skirt looks great on you. And it's like flirting.

And then it's the heavier set, more awkward-looking guy. That skirt looks great on you. It's harassment. Guess what? As a person who works in HR, both. Both of them should be treated the exact same way. I'm sorry. I don't care that Miami is the sexy guy.

I don't care that Cam Ward is the Heisman favorite or a Heisman frontrunner. I don't care about none of that. What have I seen with my eyeballs? What have I seen out of these two teams? And from neither one of them have I seen them go up against a world leader and put the world on notice. Even when they're playing against inferior opponents, I have not seen either one of these teams dominate in a way that's like,

hey, you cannot compete with what they're putting out right now in terms of against ACC. But let me say one thing, though, because I watch a lot of college football, and honestly, there's only been one team in the country that's looked convincing in every game they played so far, and that's Texas. Yeah, that's clear.

That's it. And that's what I'm saying. So to me, it's not fair to say, oh, well, this team, they're escaping with wins and credit to them. they just find a way. And this team, oh, they're all playing. They're all playing expectations.

They'll come back down the earth eventually. But that's how it works, though. That's what the whole rankings are about. That's the AP top 25. That's the style points matter. Preseason expectations matter. It's all factored in. Style points can matter.

Preseason expectation points? To hell with that. I'm sorry. You can justify that Pittsburgh is in the top 20. they 100% should be justified. That doesn't mean that you as your intuition speaks, like if you were not sold on Pittsburgh coming into the season and they've beaten teams that really, in all honesty,

aren't that great, you're still nothing that's, I mean, yes, being 6 and 0 is 6 and 0, and you deserve credit for that. But if you're asking me, if Miami and Pittsburgh play right now on a neutral field, who's winning that? I'm putting my mortgage on Miami. I'm sorry. I don't know if I would go that far, but I don't know if I would put the mortgage on it.

I do it on Fahman every weekend. Might as well put it on Miami as we three. So shut up. Brother in Christ, you are the host of Locked-on Louisville. If you put your mortgage up every week, you would be homeless. What are we talking about here?

He didn't say on his team, though. Against the unders on the Louisville game. That's how you triple that money. I don't know. Yeah, I'm not with him on the mortgage part, but I think to Dalton's point, again, does Pitt deserve to be top 25? They absolutely deserve to be top 25.

But if you put Miami and Pitt on a neutral field, I think we'd all agree Miami would be favored. They'd probably be favored by double digits too. Now that, look, anything can happen when the two play, but from the odds maker standpoint, Miami would be a double digit favorite on a neutral site. It's going to happen. It's going to happen.

And anybody can answer this, but if you were going to do like, like your own power ranking, not based on record, just based on like top five teams in the ACC. I'd probably, based on the last couple weeks, I'd probably go Clemson number one, Miami number two, probably go SMU number three, then I don't know, I'd probably go, Dalton may not agree. I'd probably go, I'd probably go Louisville or maybe Syracuse 4 or Louisville 5, something like that, no particular order, but that's probably how I'd go.

Duke, listen, Jackson, Jay, J. you've got an important job this weekend. If Duke goes out there and blows out Florida State, you're going to rise in my top five. Here, well, it's preseason expectations. We're going to fall. I thought we're talking basketball already, guys. I don't know about Louisville being that high, Dono. And I'm a huge little proponent of Louisville.

I'm going to be honest with you, nothing that they've shown me events against Power 5 competition. This season has instilled all that much confidence in me. I guess things can happen if you were to shock the nation and beat Miami. But at this point, point with what you've seen. I don't, you can't make a case that they're better than Pittsburgh and Syracuse on paper. So, so hold on here because I'm the Syracuse host. So I want comment on this.

So I think the top to Don O'Neill, I think we can all agree. It's, it's Miami and it's Clemson. I don't care of the order. You can put them interchangeable. I don't care. All right. Then you have your two, you got SMU. who's undefeated in the conference, right?

There are one losses to BYU, so you got to put them up there. And you got Pitt, who's undefeated, period. So those two are kind of in the same. And then there's this big group of teams in the ACC. And I think Louisville is in this. I think Syracuse is in this. Georgia Tech is in this, where it's either teams that they could emerge or, you know what, they're not going to emerge.

They got too many losses. but, but they can beat you. And I would put Louisville and Georgia Tech almost in the same category of like, I don't think they're going to contend in the ACC. I don't, but they can beat you. They're good enough to beat you. And I think that's fair.

I think that Jackson, me and Jackson, are on the same page for once in our lives because there is no way that, Donald, how do you look at teams that have lost games to not good teams? and say, oh, I still believe they're better than Pitt. Even if your argument is Pitt only beats bad teams, guess what Syracuse didn't do when Stanford came to town.

I'm not talking about resumes. I'm just pure, I'm talking about abilities, talent, ceilings. That's what I'm talking about. Like, I don't know if I'm convinced that Pitt is in my top five. We'll see. We'll see the rest of the season. I'm going to tell you like this. What did Matthew McConaughey say on, on, what was that movie?

What was it, Wolf of Wall Street? It's a Weasel. It's Awazis, Spugazi. It doesn't exist. It doesn't exist. I'm sorry to tell you. All this would have could have should have. Ifs were fifths, we would all be passed out somewhere.

But here we are, very sober with Jackson sipping his water, happy that his boys got to win because of a kicker being good. They could have won by more. That's where we are. We're interviewing. Can we talk about the real discussion? Alex, are you going to allow me to drop my GoFundMe in the YouTube comments when Pitt Miami play in the conference?

conference championship and I end up putting my mortgage on Miami and losing it all. I will allow you to re-put your mortgage. Yes. I'm not a lot of GoFund me. I'm not, I'm not at NFSU fans. I'm not going to make this weird, weird thing that I'm going to say and it's going to not happen.

And then I'm going to have to eat my words or eat. No, I'm not going to go. You'd much rather eat your words. Can I ask Kenton on, Kenton, do you think that pits are going to run the table? I don't believe so. No, no. Okay. So what's the, like, I have him in that tier of like, hey, like right now they're

six and no. Like right now they're in good shape. They could do something. They're above the teams that have lost. But what I believe and what is tangibly before us are two different things. What I believe does not matter to the tangible realities of what we're seeing. If we're seeing Pitt, go out there and beat teams, even if your argument, is they do it unimpressively.

Okay, so do these other teams. And then it becomes, well, it's about preseason expectations. The goalposts move for teams like Pitt. They move against them. And the goalpost move for a team like Miami. And I'm not having that. Not here. Not for my wife.

The history of college football. I mean, that's the history of like every college sport. The goalposts, yes, the goalposts move. That's just the world that we're right. The original question that Donald asked was, do we believe in Pitt? And if, like, to Jackson's point, if you don't believe, that they're going to be this team at the end of the year

when they have a better back end of the schedule. I mean, yes, you can give them credit for what they've done the first six weeks, but at the end of the day, if you don't think that they're going to be who they are right now, what does it matter if what you believe is not what's in front of you right now, if you still believe that they're not going to be where they are at the end of the day, is my question.

But if the question is who of these teams are running the table, the only team that I know, I'm like, hey, If that team loses, something had to have gone drastically wrong. The only team I think is in that category right now for me is Clemson. That's it. That's the only team that I will put there. So does that mean that I should also degrade Miami or put them to, hey, you need to go down a little bit because I believe you're going to lose again at some point in time.

That's not that, again, I don't deal. It's all factored in. It's all baked in, though. That's just how it works. Not for me. I'd be right where they are. I just don't think that they're going to stay there. That's the only thing that I'm saying.

fine to be where you are now, I'll allow it. It's justifiable. You're six and oh. You've handled business. It also, it comes down to the talent comparison. And this is just one example, but I mean, who would you have more faith in to run the table? Cam Ward or Eli Holstein? I mean, it's, you can go position by position on that. If we're talking talent comparison, when has Miami ever lost the game to anybody in terms of talent comparison? When we talk about getting on the damn field, putting the ball down, kick the ball off, somebody's got to tackle somebody, somebody's got to block somebody somebody's got to have more points than the other team at the end of the game have we talked about Miami consistently as being that team because every season preseason

Miami's back oh this is the year they're back they're ready and it just doesn't it doesn't shake out that way I don't know what my name is my donno you would know this when's the last time Miami was ranked this high 2017 when was the last time they had a Heisman frontrunner um 2002 with a had two Heisman finalists, but they came in fourth and fifth, 2001. Ken Dorsey came in third. There you go. That's why Miami is where they are. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. Well, we'll see who emerges victorious week eight inside the ACC. Cheers to week eight. Yeah. Cheers to week eight. And JJ, you know, I'm rooting for you guys pretty hard this week. So let's get it done. Huge shout out. Thank you. to Jackson Holzer, Kenton Gibbs, Dalton Pence, J.J. Jackson, Grayson Boone. I am Alex Dono. We'll talk to you guys again next week right here on the ACC squad.