Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - How Miami's run to the National Championship IMPACTS the ACC

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

Miami Hurricanes surge toward a national title after a playoff rollercoaster—can they topple the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers and silence the ACC doubters? The ACC Squad break down Miami’s unlikely run, dissecting Carson Beck’s clutch performances, Mark Fletcher’s playoff heroics, and Mario Cristobal’s game strategy as Miami faces Indiana’s relentless, disciplined defense led by Fernando Mendoza. Debate heats up over whether Miami’s run validates the ACC, with spirited takes on conference pride, bowl records, and what it will take for ACC teams to sustain success. Panelists share bold predictions, raise questions about positional battles, and spotlight X-factors like Malachi Toney and Akheem Mesidor, along with special teams play. Will Miami’s dominant D-line disrupt the Hoosiers’ rhythm, or is Indiana’s efficiency simply too much? Dive into the ultimate national championship preview packed with expert insight, controversy, and ACC pride. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Miami Hurricanes go from barely sneaking into the playoff to one win from a national championship. But standing in the way, the mighty Indiana Hoosiers. 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 fun. Squad up, you're part of the ACC Squad.

Hey there, what's up? Welcome into this week's ACC Squad Show. It's great to be with you on the Locked On Network now, the number one sports podcast network out there, your team every day. Who are those teams? Well, joining us today on the show, Jarvis Davis from Locked on Georgia Tech, Jackson Hulzer from Locked on Syracuse, Brian Smith, from Locked on Seminoles. He will not be doing any live streams just to in solidarity with his Seminole team. J.J. Jackson from Locked on Blue Devils, Chris and Boone from Locked on Wolfpack. I'm Isaac Shade from Locked on Tar Heels. And we're coming at you here. We're getting ready for the national

championship game. So here's where we're headed on the show today. Is Miami's run validating to the ACC? Does it matter? What's going on there? And then in the other segments, we'll take a look at the national championship game primer when Miami has the ball, when Indiana has the ball. We'll make some predictions. And gloriously, Alex Dono's not here to defend his own cane. So we'll try to get it, get it in for him. Also, we're recording this before Tuesday and Wednesday night's ACC basketball games. We don't know those results yet, but JJ Jackson's Blue Devils are rolling the conference right now.

All right, boys. So let me just pose this big picture question to you. By the way, before we do that, this episode is brought to you by game time. Download the app, create an account, and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Speaking of JJ's Blue Devils, after they came in and won the ACC championship, we sat here on this very squad show and said, well, that does it. ACC is out of the playoff and that's that. But then Miami slid right in, ripped out Marcus Freeman's heart.

Now he's getting in fights at wrestling matches, and we move on. from there. So the question is, has this Miami run validated the ACC in terms of like, hey, we should have been in and we're better than people realize because the SEC is sitting there looking out from the outside looking in. Who wants to buy the first round? Well, as the football champion, I think it's best that I serve first here. That was a lot of confidence. We can't deny that he is the football champion. You walk into the football facilities in Durham and you see the trophy there and all its glory.

I think it absolutely has. Credit to Miami for what they've been able to do. A lot of people were debating whether or not they should get into the field, the head-to-head conversation we were having with their win over Notre Dame and how important that was. And shout out to those hurricanes for stringing together wins to put themselves in this position, knocking off some SEC teams on their way to the title game. I'm such a big fan of what they've been able to do. And the opportunity to win a national championship,

only two conferences can still say that today. It's the ACC and the Big Ten. So yeah, absolutely, I think the conference should feel validated. That one of their teams still has a chance to win at all. I'll go next. And I'll just say this. Well, Jackson's been a nice guy here. The only thing that I'm going to say is the ACC screwed up

how the championship game should have been. I'm sure that he likes to Blue Devils as the ACC champion. You've got to change some rules on how that goes because Miami was by far the best team. We all knew it. And they didn't even make the ACC type game. That aside, give Miami all the credit. I mean, they won at A&M. That's a really crazy place.

They beat Ohio State. And then they were up against it against Ole Miss. And 18 seconds to go, you punch a touchdown. That's pretty impressive. So hats off to the games. To echo, Brian, I don't know if the A.C. should thump their chest a ton. I mean, they should certainly be proud of what Miami has has accomplished. But I think this is more of an indictment of the committee getting things right,

putting Miami in over Notre Dame. I mean, look where they're at now. I think they are validated in every sense of the imagination. But yeah, the run that Miami has been on, it is something that the ACC should, you know, try and take some pride in because the SEC for years has dumped on us. And, you know, the Big Ten's kind of, you know, gotten in on the mix a little bit as well. but to see Miami now on the biggest of stages coming up on Monday night, I think the ACC should take some pride in that. The ACC should absolutely take pride in it. It doesn't mean that it's actually the reality of what this ACC football season was.

And for the most part, aside from Miami, who is at least the team that we can crown as the team of the ACC, thank goodness, we finally got that. The rest of the conference was terrible. It was a bad year of ACC football. So it honestly kind of reminds me of this past basketball season that we just had where the Duke Blue Devils represented the ACC. They're in the final four. We can go thump our chest about how the ACC again is represented in the final four.

That's cool and all. It didn't take away from the fact that the ACC basketball season last year was really, really bad. And they had to get a lot better, which they did. Yeah. So maybe because of Miami's. run or maybe this momentum now with the ACC, they can parlay that into having a much better football season next year in total as a conference. Right now, it's Miami basically putting the conference on its back saying, yeah, guys, you're not actually all that bad. It was a great year of

ACC football because we're out here in the national title game while you're all going to watch. But Jackson, look at the bowl records, baby. You know what I'm saying? Like, come on. Now they're right up that with the big 10 and the SEC damn they at the bottom like so yeah it's time the dog on pound the chest you know it's not just about the miami it's about guys what what guys do in postseason football games i know people don't think they matter but they they do because at the end of the day it's all about what your coach can get your guys to do if you're not in the college football playoff because you know that stuff matters man it matters from a record standpoint it matters from contracts and guys getting bonuses and all that all this stuff matters if it's money on the line it matters we know

that. So I think that the ACC should be proud of itself. Except with your tick. They don't have nothing to be proud of. They couldn't get fit. They should have got done. Do Syracuse? They're proud of themselves now? Better to make a bowl game and lose or just not make a bowl game? And I'm, yes, looking squarely at Keenan Stadium up there behind my shoulder.

Here's the question, though. And Jackson, I love your comparison to basketball where the ACC, yes, it's been down in basketball, but over the past 10 years, the AC still has still sent more teams to the final four than every other conference. Look at, with having Miami in this national championship game, do people, like what people remember is who goes to national championships and final fours and wins those. So maybe that alone has something to validate it. And it's something to be said for that. But Jackson, something else you said that I want to pose to the crew here is, thank you, Miami, for kind of rescuing this bummer of a season for the ACC.

The question now is, how do we build on that and how do we improve going forward into the 2026 season? Anybody got any bright ideas there? It's all about that, Moola, baby. Yeah, spend more money. Spend more money. Trying to get those donations, man. I mean, actually, Syracuse is not going to be included in that conversation.

Everyone else, I mean, open up your checkbooks, free will. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah, man. It's all about, it's like, because that's what it's all about because essentially Miami is probably going to, as long as Mario Cristobal is the head coach of that team, they're going to be going to Porte every year to get a long-on quarterback. I mean, that's just what it looks like, right? And they got the money to do it. So I think that, you know, there are going to be some teams looking around like, all right, you know, we got Miami about to get ready with an opportunity to win the Natty. And they're spending some money because, I mean, let's just, let's just keep it funky.

Mario Cristball is not the greatest coach in the world. Like, they just put that out there now. You're talking about lining him up with Kurt Signetti and Mario Crystal Ball. Hey, man. Hey, I love Mr. Miami football. I love that talent that they have on a team. I love the way they play, but I'm going with Kirk because this is a friend that they play with. I know we're going to talk about it, but it lets you know that as long as you got some

money and you got somebody that's competent at your head as your head coach you can you can do some banks you can do some things especially in the four seasons yeah we saw the canes trip all over themselves trying to like dump that game with all the yellow laundry on the field good grief in the semifinals okay well so money aside like how do you get the right things how do how do we like is it winning these preseason non-conference games like what's it going to take grace and boon to bring that all together. I think I might just go ahead and quote Jackson Holzer, win your games. The rest will be rectified if you win your games. You'll get better recruiting. You'll get more money. You'll get more respected on national scale. When your games, sometimes Jackson, you're right. It is that simple.

It's not an excuse because your starting quarterback got hurt in the beginning of the year. That's right. You know, and you just- Why are you looking at me? It's not very full. It's always your fault. It's all the players out there. Look, our coach, decided to go and play a lacrosse player at quarterback. That's not my idea. You're going to be out of accountable, though. We're going to turn out of it. Okay, we're going to six and six next year and you're all going to like it.

Kenton's not even here to dump on you. And it's we're still, we're still struggling. All right. Look, uh, I would have loved to see some campus games in the quarterfinals of the college football playoff, but never thought that we'd have a team playing a home game in the national championship. That's exactly what's going to happen Monday night. We're going to preview the national championship.

championship game starting with when Miami has the football coming up here in just a second. Right after I tell you about game time, y'all, there's nothing like college football season. We got the national championship coming up. Tailgates a packed hard rock stadium for once this year and being right there in the middle of it all, the energy, the bands, the moments you remember forever. But getting tickets, well, that used to be the frustrating part with long lines, logins, prices jumping up on you at checkout. And that's why game time gives the advantage back to you, the fans.

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Maybe your host isn't on here today. That's okay. There's two great tiers, including the All Access Tier. Check it out. That link is in the show notes. All right, boys, National Championship coming up Monday night, January 19th, 730 Eastern on ESPN. Fandul right now has an IU minus eight and a half.

Good grief. Here's how we're going to break this preview. Yeah, right? I couldn't believe that line. My goodness. We want to start. Jarvis, you just mentioned, Miami's going to go out and get the best quarterback money combined just about every year. Well, just over a year ago, that's exactly what they did when Carson Beck committed to the Keynes on January 10th. I think we all kind of laughed at it. Like, is he healthy? Is this going to work? Is it just because he's chasing his girlfriend? What's going on?

Turns out it worked out pretty well. He had a wide open left side of the formation to run in that that semifinal winning touchdown. crazy stuff, how the Red Sea opened there. Boys, when Miami has the football, how is this thing going to play out? Brian Smith, I'd love to hear from you first, my man. I'm very concerned about just one thing when they had the ball because they've got really good offensive talent, and that offensive line is a lot of fun to watch. If you're a purist, I don't care what team you do or do not root for. If you do not enjoy watching Miami's offensive line, you are not a football fan.

They're going to be very difficult to stop on first and 10 running what they just call inside duo. They run at about 90% of the running place. Everybody knows it's coming, and they still do it because they're just so good. I think they need to be in the four and a half to five yards per carry category, and nobody does that against Indiana, though. It's the rock and the hard place. If they are not able to average at least three and a half yards per tote on first down, it's going to be a long night for Miami.

Carson Beck works best off play action, and he also works best when you don't know what's going to happen because he, every now and then they'll, like, throw a deep ball. on first play of driving, that Malachi Tony guy, I don't know if any of you guys are going to. He saw it. He saw it. They've got explosive players,

Keel and Marion on the outside. He got Jojo Trader, et cetera. They have plenty of weapons, but it's that run game. If they get that going, Carson Beck doesn't have to be a hero. He had a couple plays on that drive. You just mentioned there, Isaac,

where it could have been a pick. First play of that drive in the final drive was way short. Should have been picked. And then some Terry and Perkins had one go right through his hands. Gosh, dude. And if that happens, it's Ole Miss in the national title.

So take the pressure off Carson, run the ball, be who you are. I think a lot of the pressure is going to be on Shannon Dawson as offensive because here's the thing. It's obvious that he tries to save Carson back from himself. Like with the play calling, the screens, the quick screens, getting the ball out of his hands. And seemingly the only way they can get it to Tony is to, you know, Malcolm Tony just throw it out there and let him go to work. and get those big boys out there running in front of them.

He just weave on through those bad boys and take it to the house. So I think that, but when you come up against a team like Indiana, these guys are so disciplined, like I mentioned earlier, you're going to have to figure out a way to take a shot. You're going to have to because at some point, they're going to force you to try to make a play. They're going to put A in the box. You know what I'm saying?

They're going to do that. They're going to come down and they're going to dare you to throw the football. football and at some point you got to say hey man my man outside is better than yours and we're going to have to take this shot and you got to complete it because that's the only way you're going to loosen things up for you um especially you have to do that early on especially when you're talking about going throughout the game because dorson is going this is going to be very interesting because dawson he has a task on his hand because i think he knows that yeah they have to run the football absolutely that's the foundation of their offense but bett is going to have to have to have to run the football.

but Beck is going to have to make a play with his arm. I know he made one with his legs and, hey, that was a hell of a dog on play. But he's going to have to make one with his arm this time. It's going to run. True. Brian Smith mentions that the ground game's got to be there as well. And, y'all, Mark Fletcher has his two most explosive ground games of the season so far in the playoffs. Grayson, can he do that again to get that balance that Brian was talking about?

He's certainly going to have his work cut out for him because Indiana, is a team that does not beat themselves. They almost look robotic in a sense where, like, some plays it looks like they know what's coming. And to Brian's point, maybe they will know what's coming. We'll have to see if they can actually stop it. But Mark Fletcher has been dynamite up to this point for Miami. And, you know, you mentioned Carson Beck having to, you know,

do some plays with his arm. You might need a little something from his legs as well. If you can get it wherever you can, I think Miami's going to have to execute at an extremely high level. I'm talking like a near virtual, like, flawless game. And one of our biggest, you know, constant complaints, and I've been one of the loudest people about this, can Carson Beck just do enough, not make mistakes, just get Miami to the finish line? I think that, again, not a surprise here, that will be the biggest story for the hurricanes. I was going to say, I think Miami's off or Miami's best offense might be their defense.

Like they're going to need their defense to create short fields for them so that they're starting at the 40 or near midfield. instead of having to start at their own 10 or 15-yard line because it's hard to go all the way down the field against this Indiana defense. And also, you know, it would also help if they got themselves, you know, like a stooping store or like a punt return touchdown. Wait, you're telling me if a big six, that's crazy. Yeah, you know, like one of those things,

like lessen the burden on your offense because I'm looking at this Indiana defense and I'm like, have they had a bad game all season? Maybe they're due. Maybe they're finally due for a bad game. But their worst game of the year looks like it's against, Penn State, which was all the way back in early November. In at Penn State, if I remember correctly.

Well, I mean, Indiana, I mean, not Indiana. Miami's at home. So they might have the advantage there as far as the crowd. But Indiana's defense is so good. Indiana's defense is so good. They're having Jets fans wondering if Dante Moore should go second overall. And they have Ty Simpson wondering if he should maybe return to school instead of being a first round pick.

That is how good Indiana's defense is playing. They held Ohio State down to 10 points. You're going to need to find offense beyond just your offense. Yeah, yeah. J.J., you were going to go early. What you got, brother? Yeah, I just think it's all about getting the ball to your playmakers, like we've been talking about.

Mark Fletcher has been really fun to watch Totten the Rock out of the backfield. Hopefully you're able to get big things out of him. And I really like how they use Malachi Tony as an extension of the run game, making things a little bit easier for Carson Beck with those quick passes. And like we're highlighting what the Hoosier. defense to helpful tip for Carson Beck. Don't throw a pick six on the very first play of the game like Oregon had go against them. I think that will help them out. So just give yourself a little bit of momentum and not have to climb upstream the entire night in a game like this.

And that's the thing about Carson Beck, though, you just feel like he's just, it's bound to happen. I feel like it just, I can feel it. Like, I feel like it's bound to happen. And any other But if it happens in this game against Indiana, how they play football, I would not be surprised at all. It's almost like, can you trick Carson Beck into having like, hey, it's game time. Carson, let's get out the bad throws, get it out the way and then start the real game after that. All right, fellas, we got to flip this thing to the other side. Fernando Mendels is going to come out there with his big grin. He looks like my kid brother while Coach Signetti's out there on the sideline, like your favorite banker middle management,

whatever. But this Indiana team, man, is not to be trifled with. How can Miami handle it? When they're on defense, we'll look at that and make predictions for the national championship coming up to wrap the show in just a second. All right, fellas, this, uh, as was said, the Miami's best offense might be their defense. I think Holzer said that. And obviously, we always talk about Ruben Bain, but the dude that leads the ACC in SACS is a keen messador. This dude is wild. Obviously, he's benefiting from all of the havoc Rubin Bain causes on the other side. But let's remember he got banged up a little bit late in that semi-final game. And that is definitely something to keep an eye on with the injury report stuff as this week goes on.

Jarvis, can this defensive line of Miami just be reckless and cause havoc for the Hoosiers? They're going to have to be, right? Because, you know, you think about the game plan to Oregon have. talk all that junk about what Dante Moore did. Now, he had a horrible game, true enough. But Ruben Bain, I mean, he was working, but he did not get home. So when you think about that carbine cop and that plan and Fernando Mendoza saying, hey, coach, here's how to keep these guys off my back off of me.

Yeah, let's get this ball out really quickly. And they have the weapons to do it. You know, you saw how Elijah Serrat was able to, you know, take advantage of one-on-one coverage, man. It was easy, man. Like, just put the ball in the vicinity, he's going to win. So I think that this could, this is probably one of the matchups that I feel like Miami

is going to have to have one of their best games. And like Grace mentioned earlier, you're talking about the offensive side of the football and we're going to play a perfect game. Shoot, this dog defense is going to have to play a damn, they're perfect because Fernando Mendoza is just on time gets rid of the football. It's just so in sync

on the offensive side of the football. Does he ever get rattled? No, it's wild. I never see the guy rattled. Yeah, yeah. He's just cool, man. It's cool as a fan. That's why I say, I don't know,

you're probably going to have to heat this man up a little bit, but, you know, then you can put your secondary in one-on-one situations, and I just talked about how to Rock. You can't get to that. This is going to be a chess match, so I'll be very interested to see how Miami plays early on. If Damari Brown does not play and he's one of the corners that didn't play, Jabari Antoine was a highly rated kid they brought in. He got annihilated at the end of that

game against Ole Miss. He's the one that gave up the last touchdown there in cover three and he took a guy man. That's no bueno. Was that after the targeting? That was the last time that Ole Miss scored. The touchdown, the Ole Miss scored to get the lead. He's the corner that you said, you know, I'm just going to take this guy. You're in zone. That's right. There's have a good idea. Yeah, that's not going to get well. How do you think Fernando's? Garvus analysis, hashtag analysis.

This is the kind of game where, like, you got to remember, Signetti and his staff, they operate like an NFL staff. Shanahan, like an NFL guy, if Antoine's out there, they throw the other side. No. They're going to go after the young guy over and over again. It might as well be Jackson Holds are out there. It's not going to matter. Yeah.

Look, young corner, you can't help a guy. It's an island. That's why corners get paid so much money in a lead. He's just not ready yet. Even Mario, who never gives injury information, said to Mari's day to day, not a good sign. So they're probably going to have to rotate. And Indiana's past games obviously nasty anyway. They got Surat, all those guys, Charlie Becker, all those guys.

This is going to be interesting to see what that Heatherman does. He's a really good coordinator. coordinator, but they're going to have to hide some stuff when they rotate in. And if DiMari doesn't play at all, I can love. How many times do you guys think that Fernando Mendoza in two games in this college football playoff has thrown the ball? Like how many pass attempts? Uh, just over there.

Yeah. Total? Total or average? Total. Not even, it's not even 40 attempts. Yeah, I'm going to say like 32. It's 36. Get out.

I've got five incompletions and eight touchdowns. I. It's crazy. He got more touchdown. And he's throwing like five touchdowns. He threw three touchdowns on 16 past attempts against Alabama. And then against Oregon, he threw, what was it? Five touchdowns.

He's got eight teams and five incompletions. I mean, this is like, this is like if Joe Burrell wasn't throwing the ball 40 times, he was throwing the ball 20 times in 2019 L.S. This is exactly what it is. I mean, is it stupid where it's like the only way I can maybe see this, maybe having Miami having a chance is if you say, all right, Fernando Mendoza, your high this season,

your high watermark for past attempts is 31. We're going to make you throw it 40 times. And we're just going to see what happens. Now, he might go 35 of 40 and put up 500 yards and five touchdowns, and that's the game. You're saying just load the box and force it? Yeah. That might be your only shot.

I'm with you. Because it's like Indiana. Indiana's like strength is running the football. That's what nobody talks about Indiana. They have this Heisman quarterback. They have all these weapons, but their biggest strength is running the ball. That's what they want to do.

So if you stop the run and you say, all right, Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman trophy, but our only chance in this game might be if he throws the ball 40 times, that might be the game plan. Because if you want to sit back and let them run, they've run on anyone.

Jackson, I think you're spot on here. And actually, I read this earlier. Did you know that Fernando Mendoza has only thrown for 300 yards one time this entire season? 15 games. He's only cleared 300 yards one time. And I know in large part, that's because they bludgeon everyone. So we don't have to throw it. But the run game, to your point, that's the key.

If Miami can load the box and stifle the run and force Mendoza to throw 40, you know, 45 times, I think that's Miami's best shot. Yeah. Looking at his game log, he's thrown over 30 or thrown for 30 or more just three times and it's 30, 30 and 31 this season. So 31 is his most pass attempts on the season. That's wild stuff. Now, of course, he's being wildly efficient with those past attempts, but still. I'd love to see, you know, the crowd is what's fascinating to me.

And I'm no expert. I'm not the, I don't have the South Florida roots that some guys have here on the show. but I'm thinking how can you get Indiana to play behind the sticks, right? Like can you get any form of a false start here? How cool this is that we saw the Bucks with Tom Brady winning home Super Bowls and then the next year the Rams won a home Super Bowl. What a cool opportunity this is for Miami to do that. But they got to step it up and make it a little bit difficult

when Indiana has the ball on offense. Just throwing things out there, guys. But it sounds like a lot of you think this might even be a pro Hoosiers crowd in Miami's home stadium, which is just, it could be. My brain can't compute. I can't compute that.

That's insane. Yeah. And here's what I feel like Miami has going for them, because, you know, it feels like, you know, this might be a pretty bad matchup for Miami. I feel like that defensive line, it's probably going to be Indiana's, this is probably going to be best defense line to Indiana has seen all season.

Like, because when you think about the talent, NFL level talent, have on the edges. Now, the injury in the middle, that's, they had a guy that came in for him at 260. I was like, I don't see how that's going to work. I've never seen a 260 pound defensive tackle. Like, I don't understand that. That'll make sense to me. I can't compute that. So hopefully he's not the guy that goes in, you know, from, from an injury standpoint, like Brian mentioned earlier. But yeah, I think if those guys are able to put themselves in past situations, right, by being started against the run.

Like, if you have to load the box up, do it. Because, like, if you, if Indiana is able to run the football, you can cancel Christmas. It's over. You can cancel Christmas. Because you're talking about shortening the game, you're limiting possessions for Carson Beck, meaning you're going to have to, he's going to have to throw the football, and you know what that means. He's going to make, yes.

If you're forcing Incarcette to throw because, hey, we're only going to get two possessions in this quarter, you know, that can change things around from a play caller standpoint from Shannon Dawson. That puts a lot of pressure on him. So, yeah, I feel like if they can get Indiana behind the sticks and get these, get Rubin Bain and Mr. Doors or the world, get those guys, you know, from a pass rush standpoint and put some pressure on Mendoza because I'm. feel to be honest with you, I think that's what NFL scouts want to see because any other just been running through everybody and like he's on he doesn't really have to pass the ball. So when are we going to see Mendoza under stress, under duress, you know, having to move out the pocket? Because I don't think I even saw him get out the pocket. Like I can't even remember in this last game. Which is like, when did he just had to roll out and just get rid of

the football? That man, just sitting up in the pocket, man. Just throwing his ball. He just throws BBs. Right, exactly. It's just like, you can't stop it. But here's the thing, though, like, I think the formula for Miami is you have to, and this is just spitballing hypotheticals here, but if you get Fernando Mendoza to throw it 40 times and you hold him to around a 60% completion percentage, that's it. Like, that's the magic, or that's the formula, because if you look at Fernando Mendoza's game log

and you look at some of Indiana's closest games this season. It's the games where Fernando Mendoza was at his least efficient. But the thing is that it doesn't matter because he's not throwing the ball all that much. But if you make him throw it 40 times and he's only able to complete, you know, 20 to 25 of those and you can stop the run, well, your defense may hold Indiana down, which we've seen teams hold Indiana down. It's not a Herculean task. They're obviously red hot right now, but over the course of the season,

it's not like they were always putting up 40 to 50 points. So that's the formula to me. If you stop the run, you force Mendoza to throw it. You can somehow win your matchups on the outside, hold them down about 60%. Little pressure would help. You might be able to hold down Indiana to 17 to 20 points, which would give your offense a shot. And we give them a chance against this defense.

And like you said, the scoring would help. Keonti Scott had a 60, 70 yard, pick six, whatever. was for Miami against Ohio State. If they could get a big play from Keonté Scott or one of those corners like we were talking about, that could be big. All right. So go ahead, go ahead, Brian. Sorry. I think JJ's right. They got to have some kind of negative play where they either score or at least give their offense a short field. That's pivotal. Yeah. Keep specialty or a big, big turning point plays always critical in these types of games. Who could be that dude that none of us expected to say his name that steps up and makes one of those types of plays. I'll be watching

that. All right, Jackson, you just talked about what could potentially be the blueprint for Miami. The problem is it's much harder to do that than it is to talk about it. So fellas, let's make some predictions. Is there a world when Miami could not even just cover this eight and a half point spread, but win this game outright. National championship predictions. Oh, let's start with Grayson Boone. Is there a world where Miami can win? Yeah, but it's going to take a lot. It's probably going to take a turnover or two, maybe to your point, maybe a pick six, maybe a scoop and score. It's going to take something crazy, something unorthodox, like a punt return, something that, you know, the national championship magic is what it's going to take.

All that being said, I think Indiana is going to win. I think I have the Hoosiers 27 to 20. I think it'll be a good game for the majority of the game. There won't be a blowout, you know, even despite it, you know, the fact that it's in Miami. But I'm expecting a tight game, but Indiana, they're just, they're Indiana, which is crazy. Like, that's a real thing now. You say, oh, yeah, Indiana is Indiana. This new thing that happened in just two years span,

Gertesignetti is a robot. He might also be Clark Kent, but what he has done is unbelievable. I think Indiana is going to win the national championship. JJ. Yeah, I hate to go against the canes here. Obviously, been promoting the ACC so much and really want the conference to claim the national title.

That would just be pure cinema that I would absolutely live for. But this Indiana team has just been so good. good all season long. As a football fan, I'd love to see an epic title game come down to the end. We haven't said a single word at all about these kickers on either team. And you never know how college kickers could step up to a moment like this. So I think this one's close, but I think Indiana ultimately has a chance to win it. I just wanted to give the kickers some love, guys. Yes. Is they got to be ready to go? As well, you should. Brian, If Damari Brown plays, I'll take Indiana 312.

If he does not play, you don't want to know my score prediction. Because they will absolutely unequivocally destroy whatever corner they put out there, Jackson Holes or whoever it may be. So I think Indiana is far better. And I just think they got the best coaching staff in college football. I'm glad to be playing for the Miami Hurricanes. That's a nice NIL check for me. I'll gladly take it.

Some ref share money as well. That'll go towards my rent. There we go. Awesome. Awesome. I got rent paid for like a year now. Thank you. Thank you, Mario, Christopher, for putting me on the roster. And I'm going to be, I'm going to lose, but it's okay. Miami does kind of have that team of destiny feel to them. And the thing is with teams of destiny is when they get to the championship game, it's kind of like that final boss. And again, everyone's going to count them out. And then they have to,

like, actually prove people wrong one more time and have us all say, wow, they actually did it. They actually won. and I really, really, really badly want to pick Miami to win this game, but I just can't. I can't do it. So I'm going to go Indiana, 2713. Oh, man, Ali, man. I want to pick Miami so bad because I love the way. We all do.

I love the way this defense plays. These guys play the old-street-style knock ball. Brian's like I cover Locked on Seminoles. Are you kidding me? Hell no. My dear friends back at home, they cannot deal with Miami winning the national championship.

They can't deal with it. So tell those friends, they don't have to worry about Miami winning the national championship. And here's why I say that. When you have two Uber-talented teams, a lot of times going to boil down the culture. The way Indiana's specialties, teams look to me, I'm not used to seeing that in college.

The way, though, just the discipline that they play with, being where they're supposed to be, like, it's just, it's a well-law machine that Signetti got going on down there. So I feel like they're evenly matched from a talent standpoint. And ultimately, when you've got these big games like that, it comes down to the coach. So I'm taking Signetti over crystal ball. So I think this game ends up being 21 to 17. Jackson, you said Miami feels like a team of destiny. I think the Hoosiers feel like an even teamier of destiny or,

unfortunately for our ACC squad show here. And I got to be honest, boys, kind of like Brian would say, I do not think this is a close game. I think Indiana is just going to steamroll again. Like, legit, like 3110. I'm thinking that kind of thing. Like, I just, I. It could be worse.

Like, legitimate. I just. That's some Carson Beck turnover stuff right there. Well, hello, Jarvis, guess what's about to happen, right? I hate that. I mean, Indiana beat Oregon 5622 and Alabama 383. I mean, like, they could easily dominate Miami in this game, and I would not be surprised. And those were choose your score kind of games, right?

Like, they could have done whatever they wanted to there. It was like Oregon, I mean, could agree. We don't have to get into it. But I just feel like Indiana is going to dominate yet again. But we'll unpack it all next week when we're back here on the ACCC Squad Show, either cheering on Dono or commiserating Port Dono and looking ahead to next year. We'll see what's going to happen there. But going to be an electric national championship game on Monday night.

I can't wait to see it. I'm so glad to be together on the squad show. Thanks to all of you for tuning in with us today for Jarvis Davis from locked on Georgia Tech, Jackson, Jackson, Brian Smith, locked on Seminole, J.J. Jackson, locked on Blue Devils, Grayson Boone from Locked on Wolfpack. I'm Isaac Shade from Lockton, Tar Heels. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll talk to you next week here on the Lockdown Podcast Network,

your team every day, but for now, peace.