Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - How ACC Football Changes Affect The Conference
Episode Date: December 18, 2025ACC Football faces chaos as tiebreaker controversies and unbalanced conference schedules threaten to spark major drama in 2025. Can programs like Miami and Clemson restore dominance and salvage nation...al respect for the league? Alex Donno, Jackson Holzer, Kenton Gibbs, and Isaac Schade debate how new championship tiebreakers, uneven ACC schedules, and transfer portal shakeups could either doom the conference or open the door for a new powerhouse. Get expert analysis on Miami’s College Football Playoff chances versus Texas A&M, the fallout of coaching carousel moves at Georgia Tech and Florida State, and why Clemson’s future under Dabo Swinney is at a crossroads. Plus, bold predictions, hard-hitting takes on the league’s best teams, and the looming question—does the ACC have a true national title contender, or is a rebuilding year inevitable? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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The ACC had a bad year in football in 2025.
Here's how they need to fix it.
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.
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And it will definitely be fun.
Squad up, you're part of the ACC squad.
Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making the locked on
ACC squad your first listen.
On this loaded episode, we're going to preview Miami versus Texas A&M,
Miami in the CFP this weekend.
Will 2026 be a better year for ACC football than 2025?
Something we have to talk about.
The ACC, they are changing the tiebreakers.
for the ACC championship game.
They won't tell us yet what those tiebreakers are,
but we can predict something next season
is going to make a mess out of this.
I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Cains.
We got Isaac Shade from Locked on Tar Heels
and Locked on College Basketball,
Kenton Gibbs from Lockedon Wolfpack,
Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse,
and Isaac, I'm going to let you by the first round.
So we're coming off a season in football
where the ACC champion didn't get into the college football playoff.
he was able to get in as an at large, but there's only one team in the CFP from the ACC,
and it's not even the team that won the ACC. How do you fix this?
So here's what you do with these tiebreakers, Dono. It's clear and obvious. All that matters
is the money and the TV. So if we've got tiebreakers, you know what we do? We just say,
hey, Commissioner Phillips, who would you like to be in the ACC championship game?
and then, you know, what's going to be the best for our TV, right?
You just go ahead and pick, sir, so that we can put ourselves in the best position to do it,
rather than having some sort of silly tiebreakers with all due respect to Duke and Virginia
that put those teams in the ACC championship game.
Or, you know, if the team that's in the ACC championship game is the team we can't have winning like Duke,
then we're going to have to slide some money to the zebras so that they don't win.
But like I'm joking, obviously, about Commissioner Phillips picking.
But ultimately, isn't that what ESPN and everybody wants to see happen?
Is to have the teams that are going to make the best TV be the ones in that championship game with the chance to go on.
So let's just call a spade a spade and let's pick whatever's going to be best for TV ratings and money.
And frankly, our conference, and let's just put them in and get, you know, even if I lost you head to head, it apparently doesn't matter because, Donno,
your carricanes were behind Notre Dame all season long until the very end.
Thank goodness for you guys.
Yeah.
And I think they got it right.
I just don't know why it took them until the final reveal to get it right.
That's very weird.
Because they wanted to penalize BYU for playing in a conference championship game,
which rewarded Miami for sitting on their couch during conference championship weekend.
And then that put them next to Notre Dame.
So they had no choice but to move Miami ahead of Notre Dame.
Like the committee makes no sense, but in the same time, they also got it right.
Not a big ACC football.
I mean, not have a seven and five team win the conference.
Let's start there.
Like it's pretty obvious.
I mean, overall records should be at the top of the list of tiebreakers.
That way, if you have multiple teams that are grouped together that have similar conference records or the same conference record in this case, tie goes to the team that has the best overall record.
Therefore, a team like Duke this past season at 7 and 5, they would not be in the conference championship game because their overall record was 7 and 5.
So that would be one of the big tiebreakers I put there.
I think common opponents naturally is going to have to be there as well.
And then another tiebreaker, and it's kind of subjective, is honestly, it's similar to what Isaac said, but it's where the teams are ranked in the latest poll.
So if you have one team that's rated 17 and another team that's rated 19, well, the team that's rated 17 is perceived to be better.
And therefore, they should be the ones playing in the conference championship game, not the team rated 19.
I can't believe Jackson just win your games, Hozier is now saying, wait a minute now.
We need different teams in this conference championship.
No, no, no, no, that's priority number one is just win your game.
I mean, if you win your games, you don't have to worry about tiebreakers.
Win your game.
Ladies and gentlemen, he said the thing, everybody.
He said the thing.
I need to make sure Jackson says it every episode.
So everybody take a drink of their LaCroix.
There you go.
There you go.
I look at this and I say the very clear one, obviously.
Legrinos head to head.
And then after head to head, we should have the conference records of the teams that you beat.
Again, it should not just be, oh, well, we got beat.
by some teams that had a great conference record.
Therefore, we get pumped up and look good by that.
And this is not singling out due.
In general, I don't think it's a good practice to say, well, you did play a lot of teams that were very good.
No, no, no, no.
Did you beat those teams?
That is what matters to me.
It does not matter to me if you played a bunch of really good teams and got your head whipped by them.
Trust me, it's a reason I'm putting out fires every day on Locked on Wolfpack.
Shout out to Will Wade for playing really good teams.
and coming really close, but close only counts in horseshoes and with grenades.
And last time I checked, you don't have any of them in football or basketball.
So I think that those should be the biggest criteria.
And the fact of the matter is, I can almost guarantee you that won't be.
I can almost guarantee you that it's going to be the rankings that ultimately
determine who gets in and who doesn't.
And it's a shame because while head to head will always be king, because conferences
are so big now because somehow Cal and Stanford and SMU ended up in the ACC, everybody
won't play head to head.
Everybody will become close to playing head to head.
So in that, you'll always come up with these weird and wonky who belongs where and who gets
in type of deal.
And I think it should ultimately be who you beat.
And after that, once you get past who you beat, head to head, all that type of stuff,
the records of who you beat.
And then after you get past that, if you still got similar problems and no head to head after that, then sure, I'm fine with whoever's rated the highest because at that point in time, it's just a guessing game anyway.
But, you know, it's really a shame the way it shook out this year that we didn't have a contingency for this with an expanded conference where we were going to have multiple teams play each other.
Because next year, everybody's not been playing the same amount of damn conference games.
Oh, we got to get to that.
So here, so this is a mess that's waiting to happen.
again, like the ACC revealed a number of different things on Tuesday, right?
One of those being they're going to change the tiebreakers.
They just didn't tell us how.
But the other thing is they have their plan for this upcoming season.
So we know within the next couple of years, every ACC football team is going to be playing nine conference games.
Now, they couldn't fully institute that in 2026 because there are certain programs that were locked in
non-con games, apparently they can't just cancel, right? So this year or next season, I should say,
I think it's going to end up being a disaster with tiebreakers because you have 12 teams in the
ACC are going to play nine conference games, but five are only going to play eight. And those
five, it's easier for me to list the five and then you can figure out the other seven. So the teams
that will only play an eight-game ACC schedule this year or next year are Boston College,
Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina.
And Isaac, I just know there's going to end up being some controversial tiebreaker
where a team that goes seven and two in conference is going to get in over a team that went
six and two because the winning percentage was higher, even though the six and two team has
better wins. Like, this is a disaster waiting to happen.
Oh, it's going to have to be based on winning percentage because there's no flat rate way to do it.
And so you know that's going to be part of not even just the tiebreaker scenario.
like the straight up rankings in the ACDC standings.
One of my first thoughts was I wonder if the five schools that are playing eight
are the teams that are that have Notre Dame on their schedule next year.
And for some of it,
it is and some of it is.
So like Boston College and North Carolina both play Notre Dame,
but Clemson, FSU and Georgia Tech don't.
So it's not even as simple as that being the defining factor between who's eight
and who's nine.
So dude, it's kind of wacky here, Dono.
And like, you know, like from my seat on the bus, as I sit and look at North Carolina's schedule,
it's like, therefore non-con games are TCU, ETSU, Notre Dame, and Yukon.
And everybody wants to keep at least one like, eh, game.
So you don't want to get rid of ETSU.
They're playing TCU in Ireland.
So they're not going to quit that.
The Notre Dame game, that can't not happen because of ACC.
And so the only game that you would maybe stop is the Yukon game.
But I guess they won't do that either.
so North Carolina keeps all four of their non-con games.
Lucky you, because Syracuse now is going to play nine ACC games,
and they're going to play Notre Dame.
Woo-hoo.
But you know what?
Just win your games.
That's all that meant.
There we go.
He said it again, everybody.
Take another shot.
The reality of this thing is so unfortunate because the answer is simple.
The lowest common denominator is what we should have went with.
If we cannot guarantee everybody nine,
we should have just said, you know what?
Everybody gets one game before the season.
We'll predetermine which game it is for everybody,
but everybody gets one that's like UVA,
NC State this year,
where it's technically out of conference,
even though it's a conference.
It's a ramp up.
Yeah. Exactly.
Soft-line.
Here we go.
Soft-launch into your schedule.
Half of you get that.
Congratulations to the soft launchers.
That's what should have happened.
The least or the lowest common denominator should have been used.
But to know the problem,
nobody has any common damn sense.
So we can't figure out a common denominator that would prevent the crisis that
Donna was talking about where we'll inevitably have, oh, this team is 7 and 1 in conference.
Well, this team is 8 and 1.
Well, this team played better teams.
Well, this team played more team.
And it's going to end up a cluster, you know what, simply because the cooler heads
did not get in that room and say, well, wait a minute, guys.
We've done this before.
UNC and Wake Forest have done this.
NC State and Virginia just did it.
We see this all the time.
Hey, everybody who is part of that non-group, you get one, it doesn't count.
It doesn't count.
So that way, even if you do have one team left out, it's one.
It's not a whole heap of the conference that has one less conference game.
Well, when we come back, I want to embrace my inner Jackson Holzer.
because when you talk about just win your games,
I'm concerned about a few of the teams that should be near the top of the ACC and football,
but we're seeing some bad trends when it comes to the transfer portal and the coaching carousel.
You want to keep it locked right here, my friends.
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We have got the squad assembled here, Alex Dono from Locked on Cains, Isaac Shade from
locked on tar heels, Kenton Gibbs from Lockedon Wolfpack, Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse.
So in terms of like the football outlook for next year, guys, I have concerns about Georgia Tech right now.
Like we'll see what they can get incoming from the transfer portal and how they can replace some of their coaches.
But Georgia Tech is bleeding assistant coaches, including offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who's a great OCs.
He's at Florida now.
They're losing their what would have been probably their starting quarterback next year, Aaron Philo, the Haynes King era parent, is in the transfer portal.
probably end up at Florida with his OC. We'll see what happens there. So I'm concerned about Georgia
Tech taking a step back. I'm concerned about Florida State, like, not taking a step forward,
right? Because Norville feels like a lame duck. They're losing players in the portal left and right.
Like I think Miami's going to be pretty good, but we'll see what they do at quarterback next year,
because that's uncertain with Carson Beck leaving. And I don't know, like, Kenton, tell me what you think.
Like, is Clemson going to be good again next year? Like, they did finish their season with four straight
wins. Is Dabo going to bounce back? The big Clemson Lobby got your mute button.
Oh, no, no. See, the Clemson lobby is going to be excited with what I have to say.
Oh, okay. You always believe in Dabo's ability to bounce back. You always, until he shows otherwise,
every time he has one of these down years, the next year he follows it up with a really darn good
year as far as what we've seen out of him in recent years. So I believe that Dabo will get,
you know, kind of back on track next year. But I, I, I,
I do believe that as many players as we're losing, as many impact guys as we're losing at some key places,
and as much as we all know, Florida State ain't moving forward.
They're just having a lame duck coach, lame duck year, you know, so sad, too bad about it.
We do have a lot of other teams getting better.
North Carolina is not bringing in a 70 guys in the forward next year.
Duke will very likely be able to stop somebody next year.
I highly doubt Mandy Diaz is going two years straight with defenses that can't stop a running nose.
If you get C.J. Bailey back at NC State, you're looking at a situation where that team is another year older.
And for the most part, you're probably losing Jolie and Hollywood to the NFL.
But you've got a lot of other pieces that are coming back in defensively, a group that was very inexperienced.
Yes, there is going to be some attrition.
Yes, Miami is losing some stars.
Miami is Miami.
I mean, although some would disagree with me, including their head coach, they have now stockpile.
talent. He would agree with that now. He didn't agree with it when he took over, but he agrees now.
Yeah, sure. But yeah, no, no, no. He would agree that they've stocked foul talent. Syracuse.
I don't know what's going on. I know they signed a rapper too. See, very concerned for what's going on over there.
He went from a cross player to a rapper. I mean, progress? I guess. I guess. I guess.
I guess Boston College is still Boston College, but we've got multiple teams that I would expect.
I mean, Kevin Jennings coming along for another year.
And we all know how excited I am about Red Lashley.
You're looking at a lot of teams here who could be doing special things,
especially if Cal can find a way to hold on to JKS.
We can be looking at some very, very special thing.
Virginia Tech and James Franklin,
they were the story of the offseason for crying out loud.
Stole every recruit that Penn State had except two, two players.
That's all they held on to.
Probably the two they didn't want either.
They probably, they took all the ones they won.
Hey, listen, I ain't going to say all that.
I would just say they took.
They were the grits that stole Christmas.
So I do believe that the conference as a whole is going to be a lot better next year just because I haven't seen enough departures in the portal to say like, oh, we're just bleeding good players everywhere yet.
And it's so difficult because let's rewind to August when we all sat here and said, oh man, this ACC championship game.
All right, it's going to be Miami and it's going to be Florida State or maybe Louisville.
All three of those teams were the home.
Clemson or Clemson, yes, excuse me.
I knew that I was like, there's somebody I'm leaving out.
Any combination of that quartet was our thing.
Every one of those teams was sitting there watching Virginia and Duke just being like,
oh, wow, this is terrible football.
And so, like, we can sit here today and say all of this.
And it might not matter, whatever doesn't matter.
or I don't know what kind of phrase I want to use there.
But like, and this is the terribly difficult thing in this transfer portal era is you just don't know.
You just don't know how it's going to all come together.
I think the issue with the ACC right now is they don't have that team that they can crown.
Even the ACC has not been, you know, better than the SEC or the Big Ten.
But for a long time, the ACC could crown Clemson as that's,
the team in the conference that we can, you know, put up top every year, they're going to carry
the conference load, right? They don't have that right now. As good as Miami is, no disrespect to
them. They are not favored to win a national championship. They might win this weekend. Who knows,
but either way, they're probably not even going to get to that final four, right? Outside of Miami,
and you look at your outlook for next year, the big brands, Miami, yes,
They'll be good next year.
I know they're losing guys, but they're Miami.
They'll reload.
They lost Tam Ward, who's the number one pick, and they're in the college football
playoffs.
So they're fine.
Miami should be good.
Florida State is a big brand.
They're going nowhere.
Clemson, I don't know about Clemson.
I don't know either.
They're not the same Clemson Tigers, even if they do bounce back.
What is their bounce back?
Is their bounce back nine and three?
Like, yeah, that's a better year, but that's still not good enough for what the conference.
They don't have enough top-end teams.
And then you have to ask yourself, okay, well, who in the conference is going to be our
Indiana?
Who is going to just emerge out of nowhere and become one of the elite teams in all of
college football?
Who's it going to be?
I don't know.
Is it SMU?
It maybe is Virginia Tech with James Franklin.
But I don't know how soon that that is going to come together for 2026.
So is Virginia going to go 10 and 3 next year?
Probably not.
Duke.
I mean, it could go eight and five again next year because eight and five isn't even all that great.
I mean, Pitt, maybe.
I don't know how great the conference is going to be next year, to be honest with you.
I don't think it's going to be as bad as it was this year, but like that much better, no, I don't see it right now.
Unless the big brands really get their act together, I don't see it.
But you know what?
I do love what you said there about in Indiana because the conference is more than anything else.
you need a dominant force.
And a lot of people may not realize this,
but Indiana has been that dominant force for the Big Ten this year.
They beat Ohio State.
They're undefeated.
They're number one.
They're the dominant force right now in the Big Ten.
There was a team that is an odds-on favorite to win it all.
Georgia is Georgia.
We have seen what they have done when they get to the playoffs, right?
Last year, losing the Notre Dame is the exception, not the rule.
In general, they do.
well in the playoff. So them looking very good this year, good signal for they're going to do good
going forward. You're absolutely right, Jackson, and that this year, the ACC did not have that
force. It was supposed to be Clemson and then maybe another one of our teams who wears orange,
not with the stinky coach, but there was supposed to be a team in the ACC that we're like,
hey, all year they're going to show us their dominant force. And by and large, they did, but you can't
lose those games if you haven't already established yourself as this is who we are.
What's Miami's playoff record, Donnell?
Zero and zero.
Exactly.
They have not established themselves as a preeminent brand to where they can lose those two games
and the country still has faith.
They can go and win it all, right?
And that's not to say that the country's faith is reality or Vegas is reality.
I'm not saying that.
But I'm saying in terms of the perception of what our conference is or is not, it is based
upon that faith. It is based upon, well, Ohio State just won the championship as an A-C.
I'm all right with them being the two-seat this year. I think they can get it done.
Well, you know, that Mendoza kid sure is a hybrid guy and all that stuff.
We don't have that as a conference right now. And right now that will be all right.
And that falls squarely on the shoulders of Davo because Clemson has been that for the better
part of a decade. But it's not, it shouldn't just be Clemson.
I know, I know. There's Florida State. I mean, there are Florida State. They suck.
Jackson, I'm not saying you're wrong.
I'm just saying Clemson has been that.
And because of Davo's insistence on a certain way of doing things,
and they're in like,
if you were a top transfer in this nation,
throw my hand up.
Let's go to Clemson, South Carolina right now with where the tigers were
at the onset of the transfer portal era.
But they haven't,
they haven't been willing to come to the new times.
And so they haven't been able to stay at the top of that.
Now, yes, Jackson,
you're absolutely right. Florida State should be there.
Miami's working to get that right and some others.
But Clemson has really fallen off because they were the, you know,
shining tower for our conference for the better part of the last decade.
And so who's the next team?
Like who is that the team that's going to take them out?
It might be Virginia Tech.
Like it might be Virginia Tech.
But will it be as soon as 2026 to where you're going to be like, oh, wow,
they're going to 11 and 1 this year?
They're going to like be a national title favorite.
No.
So, I mean, Miami is Miami.
we can at least say that they're good.
Will they ever take the step and be a national title contender?
Maybe they could.
Like that is a realistic outcome from the Miami Hurricanes.
They have a ton of talent.
So maybe it is Miami.
It's as simple as that.
Okay, well, who's beyond Miami?
Yeah.
What's the other team?
And here's Dono's segue to our last segment.
They got a chance to start that right now this weekend.
This team is talented enough.
Bain by himself could wreck games and win the CFP,
but we got to see it happen.
Well, Isaac Shade took the words right out of my mouth.
So let's talk about Miami at Texas A&M.
Miami's going to try to get that first ever playoff win on Saturday.
You want to keep it locked right here on the ACC squad.
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All right, so guys, obviously, you know, I'm gearing up for Saturday at 12 noon. Miami at Texas A&M.
I don't know what sort of building codes they have in Texas that allows 110,000 people to fit into a stadium.
But that's what Miami is going to be dealing with on Saturday.
You know, the crowd noise is going to be electric.
Miami will try to keep the pre-snap penalties down, which they've struggled with at times,
and try to score early to take a little juice away from that crowd.
And, you know, Isaac, you obviously hit the nail on the head that for Miami to win this game,
it really starts on the edges for them with a pair of game wreckers with Rubin Bain and Akeem Mesedor.
I'm going to try to make Marcel Reed uncomfortable.
Like Reed obviously can be electric when he's on.
He can also be prone to make mistakes when he's off.
Miami's hoping to get the off version of Marcel Reed,
but they're going to have to force that to happen.
You know, for Miami, I think the key offensively is stick with the identity that you establish late in the year.
Early in the season, you know, Miami was able to play bully ball effectively.
It got stale in the middle of the year, but then late in the season, the running game opened up.
They got playmakers in space. Malachi Tony took on more and more responsibilities.
He's throwing passes. He's running the football. He's catching touchdowns.
Malachi is going to need to have a good game on Saturday.
But Miami can't go back into a conservative shell.
I think, guys, they need to keep their offensive identity what it was
from the Syracuse game on when they were able to win four straight games to get into the CFP.
Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm going to say this. I'm going to say this.
I can't remember who which of the famous singers from back in the day said this.
But Dono, you're absolutely right. Miami needs to not forget who they came with.
That's all they need to do, right?
Dance with the same lady that's bought you all the way here, which is that slow, physical, grinded out.
We're going to make this a rock fight.
is going to be nasty, it's going to be ugly type of game.
Let me tell you why.
Texas A&M was one of the worst rushing defenses in the nation.
Yeah.
They were one of the worst in the nation.
How did Texas beat them?
Was it the Arch Manning show?
No, Texas didn't beat anybody, but G5 teams and teams that were three win teams
with an Archmanning show.
Everybody else, they beat by running the football.
And they did the exact same thing to Texas A&M.
This is the plan.
That is the edict of Miami football in this one.
And you have a quarterback and receiving court that can make them pay when they decide to load that box up.
But they need to stay ahead of the schedule.
Stay, hey, we're just rolling.
We're just rolling on time.
We just do we're doing what we do.
You talk about the game records on the edge.
We'll also, you've got game stabilizers on the edge as well in C.C.
Maunao.
He is a hell of a tackle.
And if you can just get that.
run game going behind him. If you can make sure that Howell and company aren't getting in their
speed packages and going to 1,000 miles per hour downhill at your quarterback for a majority of the
game, you're going to be fine. If you make Marcel Reed beat you time and time again,
don't let Kevin Concepcion get behind you. We all know how good he is. I know firsthand.
We're listening with the left. We ain't going to talk about that right now. But that's the goal.
That's the edict. That's what they need to stick to. Be the same Miami team that you
been all year and you will be just fine. But if you get there and you say, we need to go air raid,
we need to spread it out. We need to throw the ball 50 times for what and for why. That's going to
give you some problems. We mentioned, go ahead. All right. I think with Miami, the thing with Texas A&M
that stares me is their comeback against South Carolina. So Donna, when you say like, ah, you know,
you want to get off to a good start, obviously like good starts are very, very important.
and you want to try to take the crowd out of the game.
At the same time, momentum can change on a dime in this sport.
Sure, but Miami's not South Carolina.
I think I can feel pretty comfortable.
I get that they're not South Carolina,
that they are obviously a better team.
But my point is that it's not like Texas A&M has the capacity to come back.
If Miami were to get off to, let's say, a 10-0 start,
like that's a great start, I would still say that Texas A&M can come back in the game.
And being at home, you know, they would still get that extra juice once they can
get that play or two going, that spark if they were to get off to a bad start. I think with Miami,
it's very simple. I don't think I can really say it any differently. It's just run the football effectively,
play good defense because that stuff translates no matter what environment that you're in. That's the
advantage that Miami has is that the way that they play, the style of football that they want to play,
it's, it doesn't matter if it's 110,000 streaming fans and it's hot. It doesn't matter if they
have to play another game and it's freezing cold. They can do the same thing, which is run the football
and play good defense.
Look, I know we said Miami is O and O in CFP games.
And I know that Stetson Bennett was the guy under center in both of Georgia's two recent national championships.
But Carson Beck has won two national championships.
He knows what it takes.
He knows what has to happen.
And yes, you know, Miami needed to, what did they need to do, Jackson, to have made things simpler heading into the choices?
They needed to win their games.
Yes, that was it.
they needed to win their games.
But you know what?
Everybody's zero zero right now and you just got to go out and beat the one team in front of you.
Carson Beck has seen firsthand multiple times how to do that all the way until you're the last
team standing.
That is an edge that most people don't have.
If Miami beats Texas A&M this week, do they get ranked ahead of them next week?
Oh, my gosh.
Who cares at this?
Or is it data points that we're talking about here?
If Miami loses Texas A&M head to head, yeah, but look at the resume of Texas A&M.
I mean, they were ranked higher going into the game.
They should still be ranked higher, right?
All I know is if Miami beats Texas A&M, they've got a date with Ohio State.
And on that note, before we wrap it up here, fellas, I would love your predictions.
Isaac, I'll start with you, then Jackson, then Kenton.
As we record here, it's a three and a half point spread in favor of the homestanding Aggies' home of the 12th.
man, they're going to need 15 men to stop Carson Beck. The cane going into college station,
they're going to win this thing, 31 to 24. That's my exact score. Wow. So like I'm going to put my
my cane's hat on here. I'm also going 31, 24 Miami. What about you, Jackson? Do I want to
pick Miami for conference pride? Pick whoever you want. You can pick, you can pick Syracuse if you want.
Well, but here's the thing, Jackson.
Here's what you do need to know about Miami.
If they don't win the game, then they didn't just win the game and their season will be done.
That's right.
Win or go home.
All right.
There's no committee to move them along.
We're going Miami.
2420.
They get a stop on fourth and goal to end it.
Oh, I like that.
You know what?
Donno, these guys are clearly very big feds of our work because they're repeating the scores that we said almost verbatim.
I'm sticking with my prediction of Miami 2421 again.
I think they're too physical.
I think that Texas A&M has been shown to be who they are this last month of the season.
And ultimately, I don't think they have the chops to stop Miami on a consistent basis.
So Ruben Hurricane Bain and his games are moving forward to Ohio State.
Let's do it later.
Donnell, you are now screwed.
We apologize on behalf of Locked on ACC.
all four of us picking Miami, which means congratulations to Texas A&M.
You are moving on.
Thanks a lot, guys.
Well, we appreciate the everydayers making us your first listen, as always.
Make sure you check out our other shows.
Isaac Shade on Locked on Tar Heels and Locked on College Basketball.
Jackson Holeser on Locked on Syracuse, Kenton Gibbs on Locked on Wolfpack and Locked on ACC and Locked on ACC as well.
And myself, I'm Alex Dono on Locked on Lackd on Cain.
and we'll talk to you next time on another episode of the ACC Squad right here on the number one
Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
Just win your games, everybody.
