Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - What Happened In Week Two for the ACC

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

It was a brutal week two for the ACC. The Duke Blue Devils lost their big matchup against the Illinois Fighting Illini and SMU Mustangs were upset by the Baylor Bears. Perhaps week three will look better wil the Clemson Tigers taking on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Miami Hurricanes taking on the USF Bulls. Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOACC?sid=YouTube Locked On College Conferences, HBCU, Basketball & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnCollege #ACC #CollegeFootball #CollegeBasketball Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Not a great week, too, for the ACC and football. Virginia Tech, Duke, SMU led us down big time, and Clemson, what's going on there? Let's assemble the squad. You're talking ball with the ACC squad. From Florida State to North Carolina, from Syracuse to Miami, and from NC State to California, it's the local experts of the Locked-on Podcast Network, bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming ACC. weekend. Hang on. It could get loud. It could get heated and it will definitely be fun. Squad up. You're part of

the ACCC squad. Shout out to the everydayers and welcome into the ACC squad here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by Fandual. Football season is here. Visit the Fandual app today and start planning your futures bets right now. On this loaded episode, we have Isaac Shade from Lockdown, Parheels. And we're going to go easy. on Isaac because North Carolina did get their first win of the season. We've moved on at least for now. True road game. True road game, boys. Congratulations on the huge win. I feel like Jackson Holzer just escaped because, man, if Syracuse hadn't pulled off that comeback in overtime against Yukon, he'd be getting hammered today. And Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone from Lockdown Wolfpack,

they won a conference game that wasn't a conference game. I'm Alex Dono from Lockdown Caines. Miami beat a cupcake, but a good matchup coming up this weekend. All right. So gentlemen, you know, I would probably let J.J. Jackson if he was here, but he's ducking the smoke. I would have let J.J. Jackson from Lockdown Blue Devils by the first round here. So Duke gets an opportunity at home against number 11, Illinois. You knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, but can he be a little competitive fellas?

they commit five turnovers and they fall 45 to 19 at home. Were they the biggest letdown of the weekend? And the crazy thing is, guys, they may not have been. Absolutely not. That game, the final score was much worse than the game actually was if you watched it. That Duke team was driving the ball virtually at wheel. It's just every time they saw the red zone, you needed to break out the rubber sheets and it depends because they were going to wet the bed.

They were going to piss down their leg. As soon as they got close to end zone, they just, we don't want to score. Matter of fact, you take the ball, you nice fighting a line. Now, we don't want anything to do with this. I saw a team that was executing thoroughly between the 20s. The only problem is that's not what we call the red zone. That's not what we call the green zone for some teams because that's where you're supposed to. to make your money. That's where you're supposed to make your hay. Instead, we saw Darian

Minsa leaving passes five yards short. I remember there was either an out and up or a wheel route, something along those lines. Wide receiver, wide open, wide open. You put that ball where it should be. It either hits the receiver in the chest or even if the receiver drops it. It goes out of end zone because nobody is within five yards in front of the guy. But instead, you leave a lame duck sitting short and Illinois takes it the other way. I think the Duke was very competitive. It's just those key moments. It's those four or five plays that you cannot have go against you

or those moments where you say, even if we have a bad play here, it's all right. Just don't do anything catastrophic. And they said, actually, we're going to do the catastrophic thing. We're going to press the red button to make it very catastrophic right now. So I don't think that they played a good game at all. I think the score is an embarrassment. However, there was a team slightly to the north of them that was very, very embarrassing.

Hokie. Yeah, I mean, fellas, so Virginia Tech, you know, I remember when night games at Blacksburg. Ooh. Used to mean something. Maybe let's go. It used to mean something. And I remember when Virginia Tech, you know, Frank Beamer back in the day, they would never beat themselves. In fact, they often made other teams look sloppy with the big plays they made on special teams.

But, you know, playing in Blacksburg, especially at night, used to be significant. Not only does Virginia Tech lose this game, fellas, they get outscored 34 to nothing in the second half and outgained by 300 yards in the second half. And, you know, we talked about this a few weeks ago. You know, Brent Pry, their head coach, entered the season on the biggest of high. seats in the ACC, that sure hasn't changed. Virginia Tech was one of those teams I looked at this year and I said, y'all going to do something? Y'all going to like wake up ever?

Because I remember when Virginia Tech is good. We all remember when Virginia Tech was good. And a lot of us thought Virginia Tech was going to be good last year, but they disappointed. Now the expectations are kind of off Virginia Tech this year, even though they're head coaches on the hot seat. all right, but I've seen teams kind of bounced back when the expectations sort of reset and then they all of a sudden overachieve. Maybe they win eight, nine games.

No, this Virginia Tech teams is bad. They stink. They're not particularly good at anything. I don't really care about them. They're kind of irrelevant to me. Brent Pry should be fired immediately because I'm saying that stuff about a team that should be one of the best teams in the ACC in a year in, year out basis. They are in a year in. embarrassment, this team is just not enjoyable to watch. And I really feel for any Virginia Tech fan out there right now, because this season already, you're two games in, it's over. You're done. There is like nothing for this team to play for except maybe you win the six games so you get to make a bowl. And then what? You're going to extend Brent Frye. You're going to have him go for another year?

No. No. No. So there's no saving the head coach. They're probably going to give them to the rest of the season. So if you're a Virginia Tech fan, there's just nothing to look forward to from this year. It is an embarrassing team. And I hope that they can bounce back in 2026 with a new head coach. No, you know what they're playing for, Jackson? They're playing individually to put something on tape so they can get a good transfer. Okay, fair enough. You know what? You got me right there. And guess what? The people, you know, who the NFL, you know, maybe there's something there too. But the, this team's done. Like, they're stick a fork in them. Y'all have said it well. Virginia Tech football used to mean something.

And I do think being outscored 34 to nothing in the second half. To Vanderbilt. That's going to be the straw that broke the Campbell's back. So, you know, they say exit light and enter Sandman. That's the light in Brett Prize's eyes. I think they are cooked for the rest of the year. I don't think it was just. I don't think it was just the fact that they lost.

It was the fact that the fans filed out. Do you know how bad you have to be? to make fans in Blacksburg. For those of you who don't know, have any of you ever been to Blacksburg? Have any of you ever been? I've never have, but I want to go so bad. I have.

So everybody except Jackson knows this. There's nothing to do there. If you leave a game in Miami, there's a million things to do. If you leave a game in Syracuse, you'll find something after a little bit. If you leave a game in Chapel Hill or Raleigh, you are in the Triangle.

There's stuff to do. In Blacksburg, those. People said, I'd rather, I'd rather just be in woods. I'd rather just chill amongst the trees like the Lorax. If you talk about- I remember we flew into the nearest airport and then it was like a three-hour drive. And I'm like, we're going to the middle of nowhere. Oh, there's Lane Stadium.

All right. I guess I'm here. If you talk about a hot seat, okay, I really want to put this in perspective. His seat coming in was like, no shade to Isaac. It was a Missouri team. That's how hot it was. It was a Missouri tent. It was pretty nice.

You know, pretty nice. You're sitting there and saying, this is a good thing. Good things going on here. I can work with this. Now it's a Miami tent. It's not getting hotter than this. That man, I'm surprised that he didn't get papers on the way out the stadium.

Say, hey, hey, hey, it's been real. It's been fun, but it ain't been real fun. Brick, go ahead and pry all your stuff out to office and leave. Thank you so very much. Because that embarrassment and making people file out of Lane Stadium, I have never seen Lane Stadium not empty ever in my life. And I'm 30 and bald, ladies and gentlemen. I've lived a little bit of life here.

And I've never seen Lane Stadium at it. But to Grayson's point about straw that broke the camel's back, he might have gotten some papers, but we just don't know about it. Like I think back in my own experience, when Mac Brown was fired last year, one of the big stories that was written was after that James Madison debacle,

cue laughter from everyone here. He tried to fire himself. Right. He tried to fire himself, but then behind the scenes and underneath the surface, that was it. And it was done and it was over. But we never learned about that until after the fact and everything was said and done. So while we might not be hearing about what's going on in Blacksburg, I guarantee you, fellas. There's conversations happening at the highest levels.

They fired up the big board already. I guarantee you. But hang on. We can't get out of this segment without going to Dallas, Texas, boys. 4845 overtime loss for SMU against Baylor, which I, you know, Kent Kenton knows it drives us crazy when our guy Drake Toll from Lockdown Big 12 gets one of those head-to-head Big 12 ACC victory so we can't let this happen again.

But yeah, for crying out loud. You want to know the worst part about that game to me. It starts to feel like this year is a little bit serendipitous for SM. you. It felt like last year, every ball that could roll their way did. Every break that could have went their way went. And it was like, man, this is something magical. We're seeing something special. And this year so far, it's been the exact opposite. I mean, even against the inferior opponents, it's just like, and to have your quarterback tackled by a referee, ladies and gentlemen, that is a legitimate thing that happened in that football game. I'm so distraught for

SMU because this just seems and I hope that they reverse course I hope that the rest of the season goes well for they're one in one right now but there's a lot of good ball ahead of you got a TCU squad that put the beats on UNC and I mean beats by Dre

I mean the beats that tastes like dirt I mean every type of beat you can imagine they put it on UNC you've got that team coming around and you've got a very healthy ACC schedule they can turn it around but man this year it's just been tough for them to off. They need some of that good luck, that, that luck of, I don't know what you would call it,

but they need some of that luck of the Horsesu or something in Dallas. The luck of the Methodist? There we go. Luck of the Methodist. They need it back. They need to, again, free shirt, well, blood in the boys, and you might get some restorative justice going on there. I could be totally wrong, but didn't SMU lose early last year to BYU? Yeah.

Early in the season game, right? And they did not lose from then on. I think this is one of those games that if you're SMU and you, finished the season eight and four, nine and three, and you're just outside of the college football playoff. You look back on and you say, how did we let that one slip away? But it's also a game that you can look at and say, yes, we let it slip away, but we don't need to go on a Virginia Tech rant here and say that everything needs to change within the program and y'all stink. Their season's still very much alive. They're still a good team. They had a terrible fourth quarter. They lost in overtime.

Well, they lost early last year against BYU. And then they did not lose until the college football playoffs. So I'm Clemson as ACC championship game. Until the post season. Until the post season. But that BYU team was phenomenal last year. I don't think this Baylor team is quite on pace to be what that BYU team

was last year. But I do agree. Nobody is talking about blowing it up and pressing the button on last year. You're a fool if you're talking about doing that. It's just this year, it seems like, again, even against, did they start the season off against East Texas A&M or something like that? They did. And then I should have known

something was funny. They didn't look very good in that one. And then Florida State, like, couldn't stop scoring against those guys. So you kind of see the, I mean, but I know transitive property doesn't always work. For whatever reason, struggle against those type of teams sometimes. And it's just because they, if you play poorly against that type of team, well, you only win by 29 points. Yeah. It doesn't mean that you're going to stink against better teams. And they should have beaten Baylor. It's just they blew it. I'm not saying there. a bad team. I'm saying they need some of those bouncer to break their way unless they plan on having a six-win season, which is basically the opposite of last year where everything that could

have happened. It was the opposite of Murphy's Law. Everything that could go right, did go right for BW. All right. So when we come back, I want to take a look at a disappointing performance that was in a victory. And I know Kenton and I both saw this. I'm assuming all of us did. Whatever that was between Clemson and Troy. And does that mean anything moving forward? And Clemson has Georgia Tech on the road this week. So you want to keep it locked right here, my friends. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of the squad.

Almost the weekend. It's time to look back and crowned this week's MVP on Who Delivered, powered by DoorDash. Just like you can win every Saturday with DoorDash streaks, saving more every time you order. These players delivered when it mattered most. Let's break it down. For us this week on Locked on ACC, a team that avoided an upset loss were the Syracuse Orange.

And you talk about delivering receiver Justice Ross Simmons catches two touchdowns in the game, including the overtime winner against Yukon. So he's a guy who came through. When the pressure was on, Ross Simmons came through, no hesitation, no delay. And if you've been watching week after week, you know this performance was not a fluke. Ross Simmons is on a hot streak. And just like Justice Ross Simmons delivered for the orange, DoorDash delivers your Saturdays. With DoorDash streaks, you save every Saturday you order. Stack it up all season, and you could save up to $250, including $100 in DoorDash credits.

Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your game day only with DoorDash. Terms apply, promo period, through November 18th. Thank you for making the ACC Squad your first listen. We're available free. We're ready for you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube.

We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. your team every day. So it was it was a bizarre game in Clemson, South Carolina. I was expecting coming off, you know, the tough loss against a very good, you know, top three LSU team week one. I was expecting Clemson to bounce back and just butcher Troy, like take out all of their frustrations. Far from it. Now, it was a weird game with a weather delay, very long weather delay. A lot of fans didn't return to their seats after the delay. Clemson was already down seven nothing at that point. They fall down 16 to nothing, some crucial mistakes, interception return for a touchdown. Cade Klubnick has not been great so far. But as you would expect,

the far more talented team did then go on to score 26 unanswered points in the second half and beat Troy. But guys, like, is this cause for any alarm or are we just going to assume that the team that was the runaway preseason ACC favorite, who's one in one now, without a great went on the resume. Are they going to figure it out and roll? Clemson's O and two now. They don't have a win. Oh, two. I'm sorry. Yeah. What am I think? Well, no, no. They're one and one. Oh, I'm sorry. They're one and one. You're right. You're right. I apologize. It feels like going. That's that's my fault, guys. But absolutely, we need to have concern about this because Troy is not even good amongst teams that are not very good. They're

not a team that's dominant. And that was a Clemson team that most of these teams that lost tough week one games. Most of these teams that lost week one games to, you know, what seemed to be a clash that could be a playoff preview, most of them bounce back in spectacular fashion against the middle of of Nowheresville University. Meanwhile, Clemson took a second half to remember, basically, in order to beat Troy, which is very disappointing for me.

This offense has not looked crisp at any degree, but I think the biggest disappointment for me. Everybody on the defense not named Peter Woods. What's happening? What are we doing here? I mean, right now we're looking at a situation where T.J. Parker has as many late hits as he does sacks, if not more.

What's happening right now? Right now we're looking at a situation where every time I see their linebackers coming on a blitz, it seems like they're out of control, they're not setting their feet to make tackles, They're just turning their shoulders, taking the path of least resistance. And anybody who knows football knows, if you take the path of least resistance as a defender, the offense is pushing you there for a reason, buddy.

There's a reason that they're pushing you the way that you're going. So I look at this team and I say, if you can't stop the run from the mighty Troy Trojans, if that team can run the ball on you, you've got some serious problems for the rest of the season. Two things are true. They have time, but they also got to figure it out. much sooner than later. They do have Georgia Tech this weekend. Georgia Tech's going to be probably the second best defense they face behind LSU,

of course. Georgia Tech's a really good team and that game is on the road. But with all due respect to Syracuse, Carolina, and Boston College, Clemson does have time into their real AC season starts basically like mid-October. They have time to figure it out. However, the offense has not looked good at all. Cade Globick has not looked good at all. We have yet to see this Clemson offense that was supposed to be potentially,

the strength of this team. We've yet to see them pop. And so I have some major concerns because Clemson looked human. And we didn't know if that would happen yet this year, not even against LSU before the season started. So Clemson, I don't know what is going on down there in Clemson, South Carolina, but they got to figure it out pretty quick. I'm pretty much with you all, except I'm not concerned yet with Clemson. It's one of those things where I look at them and I say in week one, hard fought at home, you lose to LSU by one touchdown. Okay, forgivable, totally forgivable. Week two, you look like trash for a half against Troy. You turn it on late. You find a way to win the game. Doesn't look pretty, but you did get the win, which is really

all that matters at the end of the day, and it's a non-conference opponent. So you'll just take the win and you'll move on. I will be concerned if they lose to Georgia Tech. Oh, yeah. Because at that point, you're one and two. And at that point, you're also 0 and one in the ACC. So essentially, if Clemson loses to Georgia Tech, they would have to run the table in the ACC, which they can do. It is the Clemson Tigers after all. But if they do not run the table on the rest of the ACC, if they lose to Georgia Tech, they're not going to make the college football playout this year, which would be a massive disappointment for that program. Yeah, I mean, one of the one of the things that gives me a little pause. Isaac, sorry to cut you off. I'll let you roll after this. I mean,

they, um, they, they, they look, last year, they looked dreadful in their opening game against Georgia, like didn't belong on the same field. And then, you know, they still managed to do what they do, turn it around, win the conference, get into the college football playoff. They, they looked okay against Texas and the playoff game that they lost outside of the run defense. So I, um, I bet, I thought Jackson summed it up that to me, the real test for Clemson is this weekend, because I have a lot of respect for Georgia Tech. And if Clemson doesn't win this game, then I will look at them completely differently after that. And to add on to that, and this is what I was going to say, Dono, is as we record this, we don't fully yet know if Haynes King is going to play in that game. He is, as we record,

literally, ESPN reported three hours ago that Haynes King is trending in the right direction, but obviously he didn't play last week, which is fine. You don't why you don't need to do that against an FCS opponent. But we will see what happens. And that's obviously a massive blow for Georgia Tech if he's not out there. Yeah, we'll discuss coming up next if it could be Haynes King or Aaron Philo and the difference that makes. But before that, guys, I want to take a look at the updated AP top 25.

I'm even starting to wonder, though, if these AP voters even care. and we know at least one of them doesn't seem to. But you have, Miami is where they were last week. You know, in week two, they beat Bethune Cookman, 45 to 3. Don't take too much out of that. But, you know, coming off the win against Notre Dame, week one, Hurricane State in the top five. Florida State rightfully moves into the top 10 at number 10.

Clemson is now number 12. SMU dropped out of the rankings. and Louisville is still like right there. They didn't look that impressive on Thursday night against James Madison, but they are two and oh, they're in the others receiving votes. So does this AP, does this look okay to you guys? Or do we even now that we had that AP voter that was exposed on Tuesday, despite what happened between Florida and USF,

they somehow managed to move Florida up two spots and keep USF unranked on their ballot. it despite that result. And the explanation was like, well, not going to explain my process to you guys. And it doesn't really matter who I vote for because there's enough other votes to cancel me out. I'm getting a little concerned about this process and who gets votes now. But with that said, what do you guys think of this top 25? I look at this top 25. I don't think there is anything too egregious in there, although there are multiple cases outside of the ACC that things that make you go, hmm, for example, For example, Notre Dame has not won a single game this year.

They lost one, have not played again. How are they still inside the top team? Well, how do they move up? How do they move up? Sometimes being idle is your best friend. Yeah. Okay, I get you there. But then you look at some of these other teams that are on here.

I mean, I don't understand what world we are looking at when you're saying, oh, so what that Alabama lost to an unranked team and got throttled. in game one. We're okay with keeping them inside the top 25. Meanwhile, other teams who met that same criteria not even close,

not even close to still being ranked. That's kind of interesting to me. But I will say, if you're talking about teams that look good who didn't look good, whatever the case may be, I understand leaving Louisville out, but at the end of the day,

they came through, who we expected them to be in the end. They won that game by double digits. Isaac Brown showed us what four three speed looks like when called upon to do so. So I'm surprised that they're not ranked, but I kind of get that one. All in all, I think that this top 25 is not too crazy in my opinion. Well, yeah, the voter was right.

They did all cancel out in the end of the day. Yeah. Maybe she's on to something there. I guess if I may, I mean, where is Syracuse here? I mean, they lost to Tennessee. Shouldn't they be ranked 13 by her logic? They should be ranked ahead of Tennessee by a couple of spots, right? isn't that how it works if you lose.

But no, I think the AP poll, it honestly looks fine. It's very early. And the Kenton's thing about Notre Dame and not playing, I would still have them as a top 10 team. I don't need Notre Dame to go out and beat a stool in the middle of nowhere for me to say, oh, that's a top 10 team after what I saw them do in a loss against Miami, who everyone thinks is good at number five. So Notre Dame, I think is fine at eight.

I think Bama. Everybody didn't think Miami was good. Everybody didn't think that was good coming into the season. Dono Kim Boxwood. They were like borderline top 10 of the A people. No, I mean, but the thing is, but everyone thinks they're good now after the Notre Dame game. Exactly. Everybody.

But it's the same thing with Florida State and Alabama. People thought Alabama was good. Then Florida State beat them. So they rose them to 14. Then they roll an FCS opponent. Now they're 10. Yeah. But Bama, they still think is good.

So they're going to keep it 19. It's so early in the season, though, that we still don't really know who's good and who's not. And that's why I said. This is not like the end of the world because you're right. It is early in the season. Y'all know my opinion. Until week four to me, we shouldn't be doing rankings, but what would guys like us talk about otherwise?

Exactly. But if we're going to do it, then do it and lean in and say every week matters. What you do matters. We can't just come in and say, oh, you have Jeremiah Love. You ain't ran the ball well against no damn body. Oh, well, you know, Miami's defensive line is what? What were

they last year, right? But we say, they're a different team this year. They look great this year. They look great against Bethune Cookman and Notre Dame. And so we're depending on the fact that Notre Dame is good to say like, hey, you're good because you're good. I don't like that logic. I never like that lot.

But it's all we have right now. We only have two games to go on and we only have a preseason poll. So there's nothing we can really do here except. Except our team's back for losing. Dono, how concerned are you that Miami will drop if they beat USF? Yeah, they might, right? They'll drop like to 15 and it's a quality loss for USF. So they'll move into the top 10.

I think that's how that would go. And speaking of Miami, USF, we also mentioned Clemson at Georgia Tech. There's some good games involving ACC teams this weekend. So we will get to all of that. You want to keep it locked right here. I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Caines. We got Jackson Holeser locked on Syracuse, Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone from Locked on Wolfpack and Isaac Shade from Locked on Tar Heels.

were not done yet on this brand new episode of the squad. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride, with more I-IHS top safety pick awards than anyone else, from footwork to breathwork. Athletes sweat all the details. Mazda brings the same intention to how they craft every model. You can make everyday drives feel like anything but,

from smooth handling to intuitive controls. Like our players, we sweat, every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. We are also proudly brought to you by Fanduel. College football season is absolutely rolling. The NFL is here and Fanduel is making sure you're ready for kickoff with a can't miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. I love using Fandual and I spent a lot of time on Fanduel on Saturdays and Sundays because it fits however I like to bet.

Player props. I love building same game parlays, even jumping in for live bets after the action starts. It makes every game more exciting, whether you're watching your team or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. So are you ready to play? Download the Fandual app now by visiting Fandual.com to get started. That's Fandual.com to place your first $5 bet back on the Lockdown ACC squad. So something I've noticed during the week is the line moving a lot for Clemson at Georgia Tech.

You know, Kenton and I were talking about this on our Monday episode of Locked on ACC. And at one point, Clemson was favored on the road by nine and a half points. I thought that number was way too big. I think America thought that number was way too big. So there must be a lot of money coming in on Georgia Tech because at the time we're recording this, I'm looking at it now, Clemson favored by three and a half on the road, which is a six-point swing, which is pretty significant over the course of a couple of days. But again, Isaac Shade brings up an interesting point without knowing for sure if Georgia Tech starting quarterback Haynes King is going to play. I mean, if we find out late in the week that it's Aaron Philo starting, you're going to see a ton of money coming in on Clemson.

So I don't know what to expect, but I know this feels like a game Clemson must win. It absolutely is a must win for Clemson, but even beyond that, I think that this is a game that is a can win for Georgia Tech, which it hasn't always been. You know, I referenced the game that when you point out a game that talks about how dominant was Clemson, if somebody was to, you know, 10, 15 years from now, my son was to sit on my knee and say, Dad, how dominant was Clemson? I bring up Georgia Tech and Clemson when ETN went off for like 200-some yards between the tackle. Like that was a game that I will point to and say, hey, that. That's how good they were. But with that being said, this ain't that. Trevor Lawrence ain't walking through that door.

ETN ain't walking through that door. A lot of those D-Lyman and a lot of those lineback, the Scolski and company, he's not walking through the door as a player anymore. He's a coach there, but he's not walking through the door as a player anymore. So this is a team that struggles to stop the run against a team that we know. If Georgia Tech ain't going to do nothing else, they're coming, and you're going to be bruised up at the end of that game. It's going to be physical.

It's going to be violent. There's going to be a lot of phone booth fighting in that game. And there's definitely a path for Georgia Tech to win this one in a more meaningful way than they've had against Clemson in recent history. It's hard to say this definitively after what we just witnessed them play against Troy on Saturday. But I do think Clemson wins this game regardless. I have this take every year. If Clemson is in a situation in which their back is against the wall, give me Clemson every single time. Dabo's going to have them ready.

They know what's a stake now. they cannot afford a loss like this one because their season could be over if you lose this early in the ACC schedule. So I'm going to take Clemson in this, but I think Isaac and Dono both already said it well. What does Haynes King look like in this game? Because that will be the deciding factor, I believe. Although you know what? I saw Haynes King with no arms beat Miami last year with his legs. So if you can get Haynes King at like 30%, that might be enough.

I have Clemson, too, in this one. And it's similar to what Grayson said about their back is against the wall. And if they lose, I think their season actually is over. They would have to win nine consecutive games in order to really have a chance at actually doing anything this season, which, based on the first three weeks, so you lose to Georgia Tech, probably not going to win nine consecutive games. I want to see if they're going to run the ball. That's what I want to see if Clemson is going to do because Kate Klubnick, it's been a little bit off to start this season.

You got a running back that's emerging there. Run the ball against this Georgia Tech team. They're giving up 130 rushing yards a game so far through two games. Colorado was able to run the ball okay against them. Clemson, run the ball. Kent, even in locker rooms like this, what's Dabo's message ahead of a game like this? I mean, Davos messages show these boys who you are. At this point in time, the nation is doubting you again.

The nation is saying you can't do it again. did we not go through this exact same thing last year where everybody in their mama said, oh, Clemson's over, they're done, stick a fork in them after we were decimated by Georgia. Now, what team are we going to be? Are we going to be a team that gets up off the mat and fights tooth and nails to be better?

Or are we going to be a team that lays down and says, you know what, we got fat and happy. This just ain't our year, I guess. And for a lot of these guys, this is going to be the last time that you are the big man on campus. K. K. K. Klubnik, if you don't play well, no team's going to drive through first round. You're not going to be a guy that teams are pouring draft capital into.

T.J. Parker, you were supposed to be D.N. number one. Where is it? What's going on? So I would say the message to them would be who do you want to be and how do you want your season to go? Because I think that the first quarter of this game will tell us a lot about that. I really and truly do. You can come back against Troy because Troy doesn't have the big fellas to run the ball

and melt that clock when you finally decide to lock in. you know who does have them those yellow jackets down in Georgia. Well, it's a good thing they're not playing Vandy because we know they can put up a second half anywhere, man. Oh, God. Guys, right now in college football, the biggest Cinderella are the Bulls of South Florida who find themselves ranked number 18, top 25 upsets in both of their first two games. They dominated Boise State in their opener. They go down to the swamp in Gainesville. they upset the Florida Gators 18 to 16.

Now they travel to Miami this weekend to take on the fifth ranked Miami Hurricanes. And the way that I look at this matchup, and I'm actually from a Miami point of view, not that they necessarily would have overlooked anybody regardless, but it's probably a good thing that USF just beat Florida because everybody in that Miami locker room has every reason to pay attention to what the Bulls are doing. They've got a dual threat quarterback in Byron Brown, who's enjoying really good success. He's leading his team in rushing so far this year.

He looks like a better passer than he was a year ago. Miami is going to have guys clear advantages at the line of scrimmage and with some of their playmakers like freshman receiver Malachi Tony, who's just been electric so far this year. So the way that I look at this game from a Miami point of view, is it a game that Miami or apparently anybody because it just happened to Florida could lose? Sure.

USF is very well coached under Alex Golish, talented. That team plays really hard. Miami needs to avoid beating themselves. They've got the bodies, they've got the talent. Carson Beck is off to a great start. So this could be the week when the Cinderella run comes to an end for South Florida. But I will say, guys, I've been looking at this spread. Miami minus 17 and a half.

Big. Steep. Steep. I'm staying away from that one. Donno, you did your best right there to not give USF any bulletin board material. It was pretty funny. Bravo. Well done on that.

Well, done. paying a lot of respect to U.S. I talked by trash after wins, not before. Smart man. Smart man. I learned my lesson after the Stanford game for Syracuse a year ago. Now I always show my opponent respect, even if I think Syracuse is going to crush them, which I don't know, under Fram Brown, they really haven't crushed anyone.

But, I mean, come on, Miami. Can you stop this insanity run over already? Like, that's what it is. It's this insanity run over here right now. USF, they're amazing. They're doing all these great things. You knock off Boise State. You knock off Florida.

All right, Miami. So is what you got. You're the number five team in the country. You're favored by more than two touchdowns. You're favored by 17.5 points. You're at home. Like, enough. I'm putting the pressure on Miami to go out and spank this USF team.

Not like if they win, great, sure. But go out. I'll take any win. Yeah. Of course you will. But Miami, the you being back, you know, you beat Notre Dame, Bethune Cookman's a nobody, whatever. Can you beat USF and just end this madness already? Because if freaking USF wins, how high are we going to rank them in the poll?

It would just throw off everything right now. You're going to let USF be the best team in the state of Florida. USF? Really? Tommy Castellanos would like a word. Let me tell you something. Byron Brown is a Raleigh kid. He's a guy

played his high school football in Raleigh. He was Noah Rogers, who's a star wide receiver for NC State's quarterback in high school. Hell of a ball player. However, that chain fake. What do I mean by that? You beat an Aston Gentiless Boise State. We all knew that team was not,

you know, Kellynne Moore walking through that door, okay? We all knew that about that. at Boise State team. You beat a Florida team who, this is a fact, this has been confirmed by multiple sources around the Florida program. You beat a Florida program that was raising money

to buy their coach out. Buddy, you're going on fake watchbuster this week. They are pulling out the diamond tester and we are going to find out that the Byron Brown Heisman Hype train is a fraud. sorry. You guys are putting too much pressure on me here. Listen, and I hope we're putting the pressure on it because they should kill him.

And there's the thing. I hope to be right for the second conference. I hope to be right for the sake of the conference. And I feel like I am. But if Byron Brown proves me wrong in this one, boy, I'll tell you, we got to have some real tough conversation. If Miami loses to USF this weekend, who in the ACC can we rely on this year to be any good? Okay.

Are we going to sit here and all our heads in bat? And Florida State? I mean, I think Florida State is going to be pretty good. But, I mean, that's the only team. Yeah. You know what? You know what? Hey, listen.

Hey, listen. Like you said earlier in the show, SMU lost one game. They can be fine. They can be fine. Miami could be fine after losing this game. Where are the elite teams in the ACC right now? If Miami loses to USF, who is elite in the ACC? Florida State maybe and then who else?

I mean, let's not act like Clemson's chop liver. I mean, elite? It was on Saturday. They will be chopped liver. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois in week two last year. I'll just like to remind us something. Bingo. That happened.

There we go. Pressures on the canes. By the way, guys, we got the backyard brawl this weekend, which is one of the oldest rivalries in college football, goes back to 1895 between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Pittsburgh won a thriller 38 to 34 last year, and the Pitt Panthers are. favored by seven and a half points against the mountaineers. Anyone worried about about WVU pulling this off? Or is Pitt this weekend going to get the job done and improve the 3 and O?

West Virginia lost their star running back. Yeah. Yeah. The sharks go hunting. They're going to win this one. I got Pitt, even though I do love with West Virginia and seeing Sweet Carolina and what they substitute in there. We can't say it on TV.

I love what they do it. I'm sorry, Pitt fans. I love what they do that. But pit wins this game, though. Now, the other thing this week, I'm going to let my guy Isaac wax poetic, if anything, stood out to you. The ACC basketball schedules dropped earlier this week. Now, I've looked at it from the Miami point of view. We already knew who the opponents were going to be.

There's a lot of disappointment that Duke is not on Miami schedule at all this year, which is obviously always an opportunity for a big time, you know, TV rated game and all that. But anything, when you look at that ACC schedule, anything stand out to you, Isaac. Yeah, I'll just give three quick takeaways. One of them, you just said, Dono, like, it's obviously they were going to do what they're going to do, but it's a massive miss not having Jay Lucas playing Duke. Boo, what are we doing there?

It's a reminder we already knew who was playing who, but it's a reminder and it comes up in everyone's brain once again that now that we've moved to this 18 game schedule, each team has one, you know, other team that they're matched up with every year for home and home. and then that second team rotates. Last year we had three. You had two permanent partners and one rotation. And so, you know, germane to the five of us that are here, North Carolina and NC State only play once this year.

That is a massive miss for college basketball. It's a sign of the times. The third thing I'll mention is that every season, every season since the advent of the ACC network, we've had at least one early December game of the ACC schedule. Now that we're reducing back to 18, we won't have that this year. So I know there's some teams like, for example, Duke is playing a February non-con game.

So we're starting to see a little more of that, like how things used to be. But outside of that, we're not having ACC games this year in early December. So when things start there on, I think it's the December 30th and 31st is kind of when that first round of games is going to be, that'll be it. We won't have anything prior to that. All right, that'll do it for this episode of the squad. We've got a lot to add to that. Great stuff is always. I think it's interesting who's ducking the smoke from who, but we ain't going to go there right now.

Yeah, I mean, we ain't going to talk about that. You know, some folks ain't trying to learn no reckoning this year, but it's cool. It's cool. That's right. I don't really want to get into it right now. I apologize, Donno. I mean to interrupt your closing them. You're good, my friend.

Make sure you check out Kenton Gibbs and Grace and Boone on Lockdown Wolfpack. Kenton and I also host Locked on ACC. I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Caines, Jackson Holeser from Lockdown, Syracuse, Isaac Shade from Lockdown Tar Heels and Locked on College Basketball. And we will talk to you all again next time on another episode of the ACC squad right here on the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.