Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - What College Football changes could mean for the ACC

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

ACC football fans, are you ready for a shake-up? The SEC's Greg Sankey has stirred the pot with his comments on the ACC and Big 12, sparking a debate on conference power dynamics. Dive into the world of college football as we explore the impact of NIL on Clemson's recruiting strategy and the challenges facing the Cal Golden Bears in their ACC journey. With insights from Alex Donno, Jackson Holzer, Morgan Thomas, and Kenton Gibbs, this discussion covers everything from anonymous coaches' takes on Syracuse and NC State to the fairness of College Football Playoff selections.Will the Cal Golden Bears overcome their cross-country hurdles? Can Clemson maintain its competitive edge with NIL? Tune in for expert analysis and insider perspectives. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky is not happy about what he alleges were coordinated statements from the ACCC commissioner and the Big 12 commissioner. Sankey just unloaded on both of them. You're talking ball with the ACC squad, sponsored by game time. 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 ACCC squad. We assemble the squad. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cain's. We got Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse. We got Morgan Thomas from Locked on Clemson and we have Kenton Gibbs from Lockedon

Wolfpack. Thank you so much to the everydayers for making the squad. Your first listen and your first watch today. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. On this loaded squad episode, we will talk about playoff straight seating, how that affects the ACC. We've got anonymous quotes from ACC coaches who got a chance to critique, compliment, and sometimes bash their rivals a little bit. What happens when the gloves come off? Greg Sankey. Commissioner of the big of the SEC, I should say, took the gloves off at SEC spring meetings this week. So he was asked about comments that ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark made,

it seemed like coordinated comments they made to CBS sports about how, you know, they unanimously voted for the straight seating of the college football playoff, which Jim Phillips, ACC, ACC commission admitted this is probably detrimental. to our league, but in his words, we voted for this for the greater good of college sports. Your Mark said something similar, and Greg Sanky took that as kind of a subliminal shot, that hey, we're trying to vote for things that are for everybody's greater good. Well, you know, you guys over there in your ivory towers in the SEC and the Big Ten or maybe thinking about yourself, that's the way Greg Sanky took it, saying,

I don't want to be lectured from others about the good of the game. I don't lecture others about the good of the game. And he goes on to talk about how he has championed, you know, inclusivity in the college football playoff, basically saying, I've done so much for you guys. And now you stab me in the back. Jackson Holzer, I'll let you buy the first round on this one. So here's the thing.

He's not really supposed to care about the other conferences, is he? He's the SEC commissioner. And the SEC is, the most powerful football conference out there. Of course, that was his response. He wants to do what is best for the SEC. He does not care about the ACC. He does not care about the Big 12.

He doesn't even care about the Big Ten. You want to argue that he might care a little about Ohio State, Michigan, independent Notre Dame, schools that would be probably, quote, worthy of joining the SEC because, you know, geography, He doesn't matter in conference realignment anymore. Sure. But other than that, I take it as he's not going to, he doesn't care. He's the SEC commissioner.

Now it's on the other commissioners to butt in and try to overrule him. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of this guy. I'm tired of him. I'm tired of all the SEC head coaches. I'm sick of all of it. I have never seen a more whiny group of people who consistently get their way. And mind you, this is the ACC squad. We have to deal with Florida State banks.

And I still have never seen a more whiny group of people that are consistent. Oh, what was me? Oh, you're always being so mean to me. At the end of the day, regardless of what the voting was for or people lecturing you on, oh, you need to do what's best for the game, guess what? You got what you wanted. You got it. I don't understand this is the most frustrating, confusing thing in the world.

We have already been over this. Oh, it's different leagues, not just, you know, it's like we're in different leagues, not just different conferences. And then they went out there and laid an end during bowl season. We got head coaches. We got head coach, Kailin DeBoer. And I, you know, normally I apologize to my grandmother, but I'm not going to do it today.

I'm sorry, Granny. I don't have enough of them. Do you all want to guess, whereas? Alabama's strength of record ended them at the end of the last season. Y'all want to guess? Y'all want to take a guess? 20th? Okay.

Close. What we got? What we got, Donald? Help me up. 22nd? Morgan, help me out. Where are we at? Yeah, I'm going to say close to 20, 30.

Okay. So all you all were a little bit off by a little bit. 17. What the hell are you complaining about not being in the playoff for? You wouldn't have made it. Even if it was a 16 team. Where was SMU in that? Where was SMU?

In terms of strength of record, oh, boy, it just closed that window out that I had open. But I will pull that up for you and give you that information in the next segment. I'm going to tell you, this is flatly embarrassing to always see these guys wanting and playing. You got what you wanted. I'm sorry. I'm one of those kids. My mom did not make enough money to give me everything I wanted. So sometimes the stuff that she did give me came with some lecture about responsibility of taking care of the thing.

And guess what? I'll sit through whatever lecture because, hey, I don't care. I got a new toy. I got new shoes. I got the new console. I got it for SMU. I don't know if you're going to be too happy about it. They are 18th.

They're one spot behind Alabama. I mean, listen, either way you cover it. What a tragedy that they didn't get in. Oh, no, Alabama complained so much. You were one spot of ever. And either way you cover a slice it all. all this different leagues type of stuff and strength of schedule. You would think there would be top 10 and that.

No, Alabama is 20. So again, stop this, madness. Stop all this. We play just sold such a different schedule. And no, you don't. Yes, you play a harder schedule most ACC, too. I'll give you that. But let's stop this nonsense of, oh, it doesn't matter who you beat.

Don't lose to Vanderbilt. Don't lose to Oklahoma. There you go. That's the whole deal for you. If you win those two games with your favorite. by more than two touchdowns, you get in the damn player. Well, we go back into, you know, Greg Sanky's comments. And I just keep saying kind of what Jackson had mentioned earlier,

you want your conference commissioner, the head dog, the figurehead, to basically be selfish for your conference. Why does the ACC stick around with a guy who is, last time I was on this show, what did you tell me? Oh, he just fell over and bowed down to Clemson and Florida State. And I had the biggest smile from room to room, right? Because he bowed down. And what did he do again?

He's now voting with the same thing with everyone, everyone else. He didn't have a different vote. But he says, I know we didn't have a different vote, but guess what? My vote. My vote was about the college football as a whole, not just my league. which, you know, he's just saying that because he knows two years down the road. The SEC has, Greg Sanky's already mentioned in this conference that he said, we don't, we don't, you know, we're going to get at large bids because we're going to,

we'd rather have at large bids than the four guaranteed bids that we're out there. Because he feels like they're going to get six, seven, eight at large bids, which is honestly not that crazy because of how the rankings go. And that comment, I want to pick that up. Greg Sanky, he's politicking. When he says stuff like that, like, oh, you guys are complaining about getting two auto bids and us getting four auto bids. Well, I'm throwing you crumbs because if we did just, you know, straight up seating, we would get all that. There would be no ACC in the playoff.

It's like he's able to frame these arguments as if every concession as tiny as they are in reality, every little concession he's giving to the ACC in the Big 12th. He's making it seem like, hey, we don't have to do this, guys. Like, you know, he was talking about, like, pressure from, you know, SEC members, which are kind of his bosses. Like, he has to, you know, balance what the presidents and the chancellors tell him that, oh, like, basically implying that the SEC wants to just do their own playoff without anybody else involved, as if that would be the best thing for college football. I mean, listen, I know that there's a big SEC bias,

but does any true college football fan, at least one who doesn't root for an SEC team and even a lot of them who do do you really want to have an SEC only playoff do you really want to exclude every other team every other meaningful brand in the country he makes it seem like oh we would do just fine with an SEC only playoff how sweet of me to include the rest of you guys in our SEC invitational the only reason why they're including the other teams in this SEC invitation was because they want to get Ohio State and Michigan and some of the other big time power programs that they believe are on their level anyway. Yeah.

Like that's, that's really what it comes down to. He really only can. Why? Yeah, Morton. Why does Jim Phillips only like the greater good of the game? Why?

Can you stick up for the ACC for once, dude? Like for for once. We got this sanky guy out here. He's politicking. He's twisting his words and he's making you believe like, oh, I am doing what's straight or good for the game, you know? But in reality, he's not.

our commissioner's just like, yeah, we're going to fall right in line with him. We're going to fall right in line. What is this? Yeah. It's rough. And then, of course, going back to what you were saying, Jackson, about, you know, Alabama and the playoff. I mean, Greg Sanky has said it's clear in this format, it's clear that not losing is more important than playing quality opponents, right? Have you?

Hold on, hold on. Is it not losing a pretty important part about qualifying for playoffs? Like, I get it. Winning big games is important. Not losing games is also important. Not losing to Vanderbilt into Oklahoma. I'm going to make this about Syracuse for a moment. Forgive me.

But you know that Syracuse and Alabama finished with the same records last year? One team was considered for the college football playoff. One team did not come close. And Syracuse fans, I mean, most realistic Syracuse fans, we weren't complaining about not being considered because you know what? We accepted. We went nine in three. We did some really good things, but we also got slacked by Pitt. We lost to Stanford and also lost to Boston College.

That's not playoff worthy. There was another nine and three team in Alabama who was one team away. One. That's it. Why do you think they got consideration for the college football play of a nine and three? And again, I want to know more than anything else if we're talking about, oh, you went through such a murderous role. Well, surely the teams that beat you must have performed extremely well out of conference, right?

Surely, Oklahoma must have lit it up out of conference. They couldn't have lost to an American conference team like Navy by double digits. They couldn't have done that. Oh, surely that Vanderbilt team that, you know, they beat Virginia Tech. Surely Virginia Tech must have been the power in the ACC last year, right? Kyron Jones, offensive player in a year, something like that, didn't he? No? Oh, no, that was his cousin who won it, not him.

Oh, yeah. Well, at least somebody's going to have an offensive player at the cookout. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. And again, I want to argue more than anything else. I'm a proponent of line it up. Line it up. Let's see what happens when you put guys on the field and make those results matter.

If Florida comes out there and shallax Miami this year, hey, that's a big hit to the ACC. If LSU comes out there and says, we're the real Tigers and puts belt the Clemson behind, hey, that's a big knock to the ACC. The same way it was when Georgia dominated Clemson last year. But at the end of the day, you as an entire conference cannot ride them. Your team still have to win their games. That's just a fact. You're not going to tell me that Vanderbilt is some powerhouse.

This ain't baseball. They're not. They're not that. So let's knock it off, man. Let's make it so that, again, this, all this politician and all this, oh, I'm going to say what I want to say about. They're talking about the greater good again. You've gotten every concession, brother. What more do you want?

Do you want them to literally kiss your throne or something? This is like, come on. So. This is a candy store that wants literally every single piece of candy. And his parents are telling him, no, you can have every one of them except for this one. And the guy complains about not having this one piece of candy. because he wants everything. The Augustus Group of conferences.

Pretty much. Well, it's bad enough when the ACC is getting torn down by outsiders, but when they start tearing at each other from within, you've got to hear some of these comments. Athlon sports every single year, they get from every conference these anonymous quotes from ACC coaches talking about their conference rivals. Now, Kenton and I earlier this week on Locked on ACC,

talked about a few of these, you know, including Clemson and Miami, we haven't broken down the NC State comments. And we haven't broken down the Syracuse comments. There's a couple of those in there that are so contradictory. I mean, it's hard to see two different people seeing Syracuse two opposite ways like this. You want to keep it locked right here, my friends. We're only getting started on the ACC squad. And we're only getting started with Fandul. Folks, the NBA playoffs are in full swing. They have been awesome. So of the Stanley Cup playoffs. every night deserves and delivers highlight-worthy performances, major momentum shifts and can't miss moments. Whether it's a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there's never been a better time to get in on the action.

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Locked on Wolfpack, Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse. And so, yeah, I'm going to get the physical copy pretty soon. I have some long flights ahead of me for the Athlon Sports Preview magazine. But one of my favorite features that they do is when they get these anonymous coaches that, you know, Sometimes they say really nice things. Other times the gloves come off. So I'm looking at the comments that anonymous ACC coaches made about Syracuse. I want to start with that because a couple of these Jackson are so contradictory.

One ACC coach said about Syracuse, the biggest culture change at a program in our league for sure. Another coach said they're not a really good run team and it's going to hurt them more with an inexperienced quarterback. So hold on. Does Fran Brown have a good culture or is Syracuse not a well-run team? Can't be both, can it? I read it as, wait, I read it as they're not good at running the football. Oh, you might be right. They're not a good run. I would have thought running. Okay, maybe you're right. I was thinking that they're not a really good run team as far as running the football.

I mean, if one coach is saying they're not a really good, run program i mean like you need to go look at syracuse just a couple of years ago and i don't know what that is if if this is not good then a couple years ago well that's how i read it so i don't know if it's you're probably right about that you're probably right about that can mr i'm mute here i thought the same thing as jackson see that's that's the uh the big cc lobby trying to keep me down That's Granny still, you know, she's got, you know. But anyway, the realities, I agree. I thought that it was the same thing,

especially with the quarterback part at the end saying, oh, the quarterback is, you know, an experienced quarterback. But who can say that that's a poorly run team? You know what I want to know. I mean, who would say that's a poorly run team? I mean, you could say that they're not going to get the next year as this year, but like. They've got a murderous role of a schedule,

but outside of that tough schedule, I mean, you've got to love Fran Brown, especially their initiative to get all the, players jobs in their majors. I said, oh, my God, he's, he's changing the game. He's a big time coach. Yeah, a couple of other comments on Syracuse. Fran Brown is a rising star. He's attacking recruiting in the portal in a way that the program has never seen, but don't expect another 10-win season this year. Right now, their roster looks like it's going to be a little less talented as they transition into a more consistent approach to recruiting high school. So,

I guess, and also, Jackson, the schedule looks, yeah, it's the toughest in the AC. this year. Oh, yeah. I would say that never seen is a little bit of a stretch. I mean, 30 years ago, they were pretty good in recruiting and they would have some really, really good teams. But, I mean, if you're talking about recent history, yeah, I mean, we haven't seen this in over two decades. So I get what you're trying to say there. They have a tough schedule. They have a tough schedule and they're going to have an inexperienced quarterback. I don't know what's going to happen i'm just going to pop brother donovan mcab ain't walking through that door you know i know this is the best recruiting that they've done in syracuse in forever in the day all right

it's the same thing as ever to most people you weren't even allowed it you know what i mean we hey i'm 23 yes you wasn't even a glimmering it pops eye yet brother this was a long way i was born and I was born and then after I was born Syracuse basketball won the national championship a year later so you're welcome. Hey, you're good luck. Well, let me get to a couple of Syracuse basketball with me on this earth. They won the championship. So, so you're, so you're that and so you're that man that that makes me feel old. So it wasn't Carmelo and Jim Beheim. It was me. Yeah. And I was like 18, 17, I guess, was I'm 40? Yeah, man.

Man, I feel old. I feel old. Let me get to some of the NC State comments from anonymous coaches, Kenton. This is one of the most consistent programs in our league. Man, that was a softball. Another one, Dave Doran has done a great job adjusting and rebuilding the roster over the years. The issue has always been how NC State is perceived. They'll have really strong seasons with breakout guys, and then they always fail to take that next bigger step. Let me read one more, Kent, and then you can circle back to a couple of those.

Right now, it's easier to justify them being in that eight-win range because they're lagging in NIL. The expectations and reality are pretty far off in that regard. So what do you think about the failure to take the next step? And do you feel that they're lagging behind in NIL? So the NIL portion, I see the argument. My only problem with that, you lost the Wake Forest last year. You can't tell me you're behind Wake Forest Indiana yet. You can't tell me, you know, you're behind some of the teams that you lost to recently.

And so that's my problem there. But I will say about the Dorn has breakout years and teams with momentum and all that. They just can never take that next step. I have a thousand percent agree. Dorn has undoubtedly raised the floor of NC State. I don't think that anybody in their right mind could make an argument against that. But I think the other part of that is, has the ceiling been raised? I would argue no.

I would argue the ceiling for NC State before he got there, their best year was going to be a nine, you know, maybe. Actually, no, we only have two double-digit wins in school history, I want to say. So the ceiling before he got there was nine, the ceiling is still nine. He is a floor rate. And that, there's something to that because like I've always said about, I remember when Dan Walken of, I believe it's the Associated Press, said that, you know, NC State signed this extension says that eight,

wins a year is enough. And I've said about NC State, just like 90% of the rest of schools in America, eight wins a year will get your coach a statute at almost every school, right? Like, we've got a mix of half and half. Eight wins a year at Syracuse, you're getting a statue. Eight wins a year at NC State, you're getting a statue. Clemson and Miami, you're going to get fine, sure. But eight wins a year at a good chunk of schools, you'll be just fine. And honestly, before Davo, eight wins a year of Clemson, you would have been fine

for quite some time. So, I mean, it's one of those situations where Dorn is a known commodity, but NC State fans are clamor for that next step. And I think that there is some truth to the NIL in terms of

if you want to compete on a national level, if you want to take that next step, it costs what it cost to win a championship. And only Davo seems to be the coach who's figured it out without spending being. He's the only one that you're looking around

like, Are they spending any money? Everybody else is, you know, Katie. And Morgan, you can correct us if we're wrong on that because I have seen some rumblings that Clemson is getting into the NIL game a little bit more. And obviously they're getting into the portal game a little bit more because they brought in a few guys, which is never something they've done in the past. I think when you, well, first of all, kind of piggybacking off of what Kenton was saying about NC State just from an outside looking, you know, perspective looking in. And I'm not a fan of Dave Doran at all because I can't be.

allowed to be but and I don't want to be but you know I do agree that that it's sealing his nine wins he is he is a year in year out nine when you know at best coach and that's not a bad thing to say at all because that that is if anything consistently successful in in you know college football which is difficult to win games consistently like that and not have you know a huge up and down season like we see with other teams out there the notion that Clemson doesn't use NIL is kind of, you know, misinformed because Clemson, you know, has been using, since it's been available,

has been using NIL to its max potential. The big way that they were using it before was with retention 100%. And that's where we're seeing a little bit of a shift away from Davos philosophy to begin with. I believe originally he said, hey, I'm not going out and I'm not using money to recruit anybody. and I'm going to use it to retain guys who already have the jersey on, which did really well because most of the guys who were transferring out were not like Concepcion type level players or quarterbacks that were you're starting quarterbacks like other places you see around there. So I think his initial approach was heavy on retention, which he paid Will Shipley. He paid Ked Klobnik. He paid Phil Motha and a lot of guys, you know, big time.

And then when you get guys Peter Woods in the mix, we know that it wasn't, you know, he always says, I don't lead with that. But we know for a fact that Peter Woods was being paid immediately as he got on campus. So, you know, there seemed to be a little bit of a shift from 100% retention of guys who were already on the team to, okay, we can do freshmen. And then now this year it's, all right, you know, maybe he's not an adapter, a quick adapter or an early adapter, like you would be the first guy out there to buy the brand new iPhone, right? But maybe he takes a little bit longer than fans would like.

You know, maybe three or four years was a little bit of a delay because there was some frustration there, especially from me too. But now we're seeing, okay, now he's opened up to the fact that, hey, I'll go into the portal. And, you know, I'll be okay with giving some money to some guys who don't already have the uniform on because, you know, he's paid those guys. I mean, he was in competition directly with Will Help with Texas A&M. there was no way that he was winning that just straight up. And so there's opportunity out there for him to continue to grow.

I'm curious to see how it'll go. But, you know, the fact that he stuck in his ways is obviously not true. I mean, he had an initial philosophy, even with the coaching staff hires, you know, promote from within. Well, you know, it took a couple years, but he's changed from that. And he went back to a more traditional route of getting the best possible out there. Same thing with the roster, all about retention. Now he's kind of, you know, adjusted, you know, albeit slowly, but he's done that. But Morgan, I think that the biggest thing, and I'm sorry, I know we got to go to break here,

but I think the biggest thing that I was saying in terms of they're not a big spender in terms of their caliber. I'm not saying they don't spend at all. I'm saying for the caliber that they're at, right, that's a playoff team. Look at all the other playoff teams. Ohio State record type of deal. You look at Notre Dame. Everybody knows how much they pay Riley Leonard and even the quarterback before them, Sam Hartman.

You look at the situation that you have with almost every other team that is in the playoffs consistently. Clemson is the only one that you don't like hear, oh, they're throwing money back. They're doing it big as opposed to everybody else. That's all I was saying. I'm not saying they don't spend. If you look at it from that, if you look at it from that,

perspective as a total, then I completely agree with you. I don't know if Dabu Swinney will ever be that guy that goes out and drops double digits for one single player. I think that would be if he had to get to that level, then I think that's where he would consider retiring. Yeah, other coaches have. I mean, when we come back, I got to get you guys' reaction to the team that got hit the hardest. I mean, one program I thought would get hit harder was Stanford, because Stanford's over under is like three and a half wins this year. I thought they'd get hit harder, but a different program in that part of the country got absolutely slammed. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this episode of the Lockdowne ACC squad. And after you make us your first listen,

make sure to check out our other shows. Morgan Thomas hosting Lockdown Clemson does an awesome job. Jackson Holes are locked on Syracuse, Kenton Gibbs, Lockedon, on Wolfpack. I host Locked on Cains. I'm Alex Dono. So I thought, guys, they went a little soft on Stanford, you know, considering they had, you know, a coach fired over a scandal. And then you've got an interim head coach and Frank Wright coming in that said he's not going to stay longer than a year. It seems like a mess there, transfer exodus and all that. But they went a little soft on Stanford, but they did not go soft on the Cal Golden Bears. There are three quotes.

here, gentlemen. First quote, this program is in serious trouble. Last year, they were really good on defense and they had good offensive pieces, but they've lost their top linebackers and running backs in the portal. Next quote, they're a bad fit for the league in every way, and they're trying to break in a new offensive staff with no NIL because the boosters want to put GM Ron Rivera in charge of the program instead of the head coach. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like what's happening here, and this is all before they have to start grinding it out cross-country for a few more years. A third quote, it's a complete mess and Justin Wilcox should just go D.C. somewhere. I mean, let me, because I've already talked to Kent about this.

I know Jackson's got a hot take, but Morgan, let me get your reaction first because there's absolutely, like I look through all the comments about every team. Every other program someone found, at least one person found one nice thing to say with Cal you've got apparently a power struggle between the GM and the head coach. They're a bad fit for the league. Their head coach should go D.C. Somewhere. Created by the boosters.

Created by the boosters. That's who created the power struggle. Yeah. You know, it makes you appreciate what you have at Clemson with the consistency and the trust that you have at the universe. And, you know, I'd like to keep on whatever that craziness is on the West Coast. just kind of keep it over there. Obviously, a lot of controversy about bringing them in the ACC in the first place because they're not anywhere near the Atlantic coast at all.

So I don't know. I think that a lot of this stuff, that's kind of what you're probably going to see more. And maybe it's always been this way. But as Jackson said, there's a lot of behind the scenes planting of this. controversy and a lot of money behind the scenes pushing some things and narratives that they want. Like I said, I'm just thankful that Clemson seems to have it, you know, knock on wood together right now. But, you know, a lot of times when you have athletic directors who let these things go, go wild, that was one thing I was concerned about with Clemson, too. You know, Graham Neff's young.

I mean, I think he's maybe early 30s or not early 30s, but excuse me, early 40s. And so just how he would be influenced by outside sources there as well on the decisions that he would make. And I think overall from the coaching staff altogether, allowing Gabbo Swinney to be who he is and not kind of forcing certain hands because there was a lot of outside, you know, push and pressure on Davo to change his ways and change his values. I think it's been good for Clemson to kind of have some consistency and trust in their coaching staff. But, you know, like I said, I keep that stuff on the Pacific time zone over there. Go ahead, Jackson. I don't really know if I have a hot take, but I just want to poke holes in this for just like a little bit here. You know, they mentioned the cross-country stuff for a few more years.

Am I the only one that downplays it? especially in football. How much do you really travel in football? Six games a year? What are we doing here? I understand that they're not a geography. Like geography, they're not a good fit. Neither is Stanford.

I get it. But it's really overblown. This East Coast, West Coast, all the travel. I mean, we have airplanes, guys. We have airplanes. It's 2025, not 1925. I don't even Are they flying commercial?

I doubt it charter probably. Usually Yeah, usually it's the big pains charter, yeah. Oh, no. I'm going to cry out for Cal and for every team that has to go to the West Coast. You know, I'm sure a lot of those players and maybe even some of the coaches

have NFL aspirations, right? You know what you got to do in the NFL? Go coast to coast. It's not even an option for you. You're doing it every year no matter what because you're going to play another team in the league. One way, shape, or form you're going to travel West Coast or East Coast. So, like, the cross-country stuff, I really just, I don't really care about it. No, wait a minute now.

Jackson, as a former student athlete myself, I think you're greatly undervaluing what that means. Like, that is, don't get me wrong. Yes, from the physical aspect of travel, it's not that hard because, like you said, We have planes, trains, automobiles, all that good stuff that were not in existence in 1925 short, or not at the same rate in 1925, sure. But this is still a very arduous task in terms of you're taking some very long flights. You're going to places that your players are not familiar with in any way, shape, form, or fashion. That is a bigger deal than like, it's nothing at all. I mean, generally when you see teams that have thousands and thousands of travel miles in college,

it doesn't bode well for them all the time. The main teams that can get away with that is a team like Notre Dame that, I mean, their schedule, they're playing like eight teams that are the island and misfit toys community college next year before you see or after you see a couple real teams to start that thing off. So I do think that that travel part of it is a big deal, but I think more so than anything else, does any other ACC team have a power struggle between the G. and head coach. I don't know.

I mean, that is, that's the part to me where I'm like, oh, y'all really don't fit. This is, this is some foolishness. And I'll tell you. Where would you fit? What conference would you fit in with a power struggle? Like that, that's just not a good way to do business. I mean, that's fair. That's fair.

Like, oh, he's not a good fit for the ACC, but he'd be great in the Big 12 with that power struggle you got there because that's all the big 12. No, I don't know. I mean, if that's what another conference. does, then you're just not doing it right. That's true, but no other conference outside of maybe the SEC would they have worse travel problems than they do in the ACC. Like that, I don't think there's in the big 10, at least you have a few schools where

you can end up playing a bunch of schools that are either up the West Coast or in the Central Times zone. In the ACC, everybody, you're coming three hours every time, every single time you're traveling, except maybe Louisville, they might be on Central Time, but even them, I think they're on Easter. So SMU, I think, is on Central Time. Oh, SMU. Okay, SMU. So you got two games max where you get the Pacific Time that you're in or Central Time.

But everything else, every time you travel, you know, you know. But I will say when you compare travel miles to your boosters creating a power struggle between your GM and your coach, the travel seems like the least of your problem. I really wouldn't worry about it. I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to hear about the travel. I don't, I don't, with all due respect, I just don't, I don't have the time to really care all that much about the travel. We got to get Lawrence, we got to get Lawrence Roth back on the show because they got travel problems, they got transfer problems, they got offensive coordinator, probably, they got running back problem. They got a lotbacker problem.

They got every problem you can imagine. We need to get Lawrence Ross, Cal Superfan, back on the show to see what the priority of problems. I've tried, I've tried recently, but see, Lawrence Ross is also an award-winning author and left. sure. So I hit him up recently, and it was during like the busy part of his lecture season. I'll hit him. I don't know. I don't know when. That's probably ended now with the academic year. So I'll hit Lawrence up again. Maybe he's not a good. Listen, Lawrence is hiding from the show because we know his team got all these problems. Come on. I have to come over here when Grace McCall got hurt. And that was embarrassing NC State.

You come on here. Not a Charlie got no running backs. They ask you if you got eligibility. towards. Come on to show. Well, I mean, that'll be, he can set the record straight on Cal. I appreciate everyone who makes the locked on ACC squad your first listen and your first watch today. Again, make sure you check out locked on Syracuse, locked on Wolfpack, Locked on Clemson, Locked on Cainz. Make sure you check out the portal. Our friend Brian Smith, who not only hosts Lockdown Seminoles, but he hosts the portal podcast, one of the newest pods on the Lockdown family. Ryan Smith talks about everything, all the big issues in college football, recruiting, NIL, transfer portal. He breaks it down on a national level.

So make sure you make that your next listen. And we'll talk to you again next time on another episode of Lockdown ACCC right here on the awesome Lockedon Podcast Network. Your team every day.