Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ALARM: Clemson's Shocking Struggles | Can Tigers WAKE UP Before Georgia Tech UPSET?

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

ACC football shakeup: Clemson Tigers stumble while underdogs rise. Is the conference landscape shifting?Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs dissect Week 2's surprising outcomes, including Clemson's lackluster performance against Troy and Virginia Tech's collapse versus Vanderbilt. The duo analyzes offensive line woes, quarterback struggles, and defensive breakdowns across the ACC. Key discussions cover Duke's reality check against Illinois, Syracuse's narrow escape, and the controversial post-game sprints ordered by coach Fran Brown. Gibbs, a former NC State defensive lineman, offers insider perspectives on team strategies and player development.Tune in for expert analysis on the new AP rankings and discover which ACC teams are poised for success or failure in the coming weeks.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit https://5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025.The Game CapGrab your team’s classic bar or retro circle designed hat and use code LOCKEDON for an exclusive discount. Head to Because legends wear The Game. Head to https://thegamecaps.com DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.MazdaIt’s the small details that make the big plays. And just like there’s more to every player, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda. Move and Be Moved. SupplyHouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://www.supplyhouse.com/apply-for-trademasterto sign up for free and use promo code SHCOLLEGE5 for 5% off your first order. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at https://www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Clemson Tigers have been sleepwalking so far. If they don't wake up, they're going to lose at Georgia Tech this weekend. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. There were some disappointing results for the ACC week two of college football. We're not going to sugarcoat it. Thank you so much to the everydayers for making Locked on ACC your first listen. We're available free wherever you get your podcast.

We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive linemen and co-host of Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono, host of Lockdown Cains, and today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create your account and use code Lockdown College for $20 off your first purchase. We're going to have a week two review. There were obviously some teams like Miami and Florida State who played against cupcakes. I mean, Clemson, I thought was playing. against a cupcake.

But there were other difficult non-conference games. Some of them didn't go so well for the ACC. Fran Brown, even after victory, had his guys running sprints right after the game. Was it a little bit too much of a show, a little dog and pony show. But Kenton, there were some disappointments on Saturday. Now, I know the Clemson Tigers came away with the dub. This is in a game where they started out against Troy, down 16 to nothing, in what was a comedy of errors.

Fumbles, some poor throws by Cade Clubnick, not the sort of push from the line of scrimmage that you would expect, given who Clemson has, especially on the defensive line. They haven't really shown it so far this year. And it was a wacky game because the weather was bad. They had a long weather delay there at Death Valley. And it seemed like a lot of fans didn't necessarily come back

after the weather delay was over. But they were up against the ropes down 16 to nothing against Troy, they end up scoring, what was it, 27 unanswered points in route to victory. But, I mean, Clemson, who lost their very tough opener at home against LSU, and they sort of just out talented and outmuscled their way in the second half to a win against Troy. Any alarm bells for you? Or, you know, are you just kind of sitting back still expecting them to win the conference? A ton of alarm bells are going off.

And if alarm bells aren't going off for you, what are you watching? What is informing that decision that no alarm bells are going off? Let me tell you why. The first game, I can give you the excuse of the offense looks rough and rugged without Antonio Williams because, you know, hey, everybody's got to step up a level. But even in that, you're supposed to be one of the best wide receiver courts in America. If one guy can make or break you, Jeremiah Smith is fantastic. If he goes down, Ohio State can still throw the ball.

That's right. That's just, that's what makes a great receiving court. It's not just about one guy being outlandishly better than everybody else. It's about the totality of all these guys doing it. But even beyond that, I can excuse it for one game because it happens first game. And, you know, that's your best guy. Okay, fine. Middle of the game or early in the game, sure, it's tough to adjust.

This game against Troy, you still are not on the same. page, we still are looking at a situation where Kay Klobnik is starting off this game, not playing well, we're still looking at a situation where early you cannot run the ball. And my biggest area of concern for this defense, you still cannot stop the run, which played them last year. That was something that it was said to be, oh, the defensive coordinator is just, you know, he just doesn't know what he's doing. and he's the reason they can't stop the run.

Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but Tay Meadows was not supposed to be the starting running back for Troy. It was only due to injury that he steps up into that role, and then this young man, I mean, he goes off and averages nearly five a carry. I'm sorry, the mighty Troy Trojans should not have a single player that is carrying the ball nearly 20 times and is putting up five a carry on Clemson. I'm concerned because a lot of the problems that we saw from last year

did not get addressed. And here's my biggest concern. I'm going to toss back to you after this, Donald. Sure. There are guys who are supposed to take a step forward and be dominant consistently that have not. Peter Woods, he's taking that step. You can see Peter Woods is taking that step.

That's it. I'm Sammy Brown. Where are you? Where's your next step? Wade Woodass. Where are you? Where's your next step? Parker, where are you?

Where's your next step? Kay Klubnik, where are you? Where's your next step? Last year, you were a quarterback that they could win with and at times because of. This year, we knew with the lack of a running game, you were going to have to be a quarterback that they could win because of consistently. And I'll ask you, Dono, has he been that so far? Has he been the type of quarterback that you look at it?

You say, you win this ball game because you have Kaye Clubick in the other. the team doesn't. I haven't seen it. He's looking like 2023, Kate Klubnick, not 24 Klubnik. And you remember what the narratives were and you and I were talking about this after that 2023 season. Like we were wondering, this Clemson needed upgrade there. 2024, he was incredible. Gets himself right near the top of the Heisman Trophy Favorites list heading into this year. And, you know, so far he's not looked like the same guy. And I'll emphasize there's plenty of time for him to snap out of it. But it's completing 59% of his passes so far this year. He was at 63 plus percent the previous two seasons. He's got as many

interceptions as touchdowns with two apiece so far. This has not looked like the Cade Clubnik of last year. And then you look at Kenton who Clemson plays this weekend. And they go on the road to do it, by the way, to Georgia Tech, who, you know, did a good job in their opening game against Colorado, had a lot of success on the ground, which we'd hope for and would expect. You know, they, they, they, they beat up a cupcake in week two. But Georgia Tech, to me, I think at home, especially the games in Atlanta, can pose a significant threat to Clemson if Clemson doesn't wake up. There's no doubt Clemson's got more talent and more depth than Georgia Tech.

And I guess that's why. And by the way, tell me if you're as surprised by this number as I am. Clemson on the road is favored by nine and a half points at Georgia Tech. based on what we've seen from both teams so far, that number doesn't look right to me. And I'm not surprised Clemson's favorite, but I was thinking maybe based on the way both teams have played, keeping in mind the talent gap,

which Clemson has compared to most anyone else. You know, they had 11 out of 22 all ACC preseason team. I was thinking maybe four and a half, nine and a half. The game's in Atlanta, not in South Carolina. But Donnell, remember when you asked me, was the one position if you had to say somebody was not considered for it, they should have been. I said the offensive line, there are guys up there for Clemson that other guys in the conference

needed to get a look for. And what's been there at Achilles Hill so far? The offensive line, absolutely. The offensive line's been a liability. And I would also say that outside of Peter Woods, the defensive line has not been nearly as good as advertised so far. What do they have zero sacks against LSU? Zero. And watch this.

And watch this. You talk about going down to. Atlanta and what that is going to be. You know, they say the devil went down to Georgia, where they need to get a little bit of devil in them if they're going to win that football game. Fighters don't make fights, styles make fights. And I'm telling you right now,

the style of football that Georgia Tech plays, if Clemson thinks that they can come in and have a problem with run fits, have a problem with tackling, have a problem with effort running to the ball, if they think that they're going to beat Georgia Tech with those things, I have oceanfront property to sell you in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Don't ask me what ocean is near. Just give me the money and worry about what ocean we're going to be up against on the back end. Yes, Raleigh is fully landlocked. Again, don't worry. You'll believe anything because this is a team that has not shown the ability to tackle consistently. They have not shown great effort to the ball. They have not shown the ability to fill gaps effectively and efficiently. So I'm looking at this situation, and I'm saying to my,

myself, this team has to be better. This team has to be better defensively and with stopping the run or else. And you don't want to know or else what that's going to look like this coming Saturday. But, oh, man, coming out of week two, we have so much more to talk about. I was really disappointed, especially with Virginia Tech and Duke. And, hey, even though Syracuse won't – oh, SMU, don't forget about them. They lost in overtime at home to Baylor. We're not forgetting SMU either.

And even though Syracuse, yeah, go ahead. SMU fans, I was crazy for saying there were parts where they struggle. And they said, oh, you're talking about them finishing a game where they were up by a ton. Hmm. Hmm. Looks like it came to be pertinent. Way quicker than you imagined. Sure did.

We have a lot to unpack, including Fran Brown getting some criticism, even though his team did come back and win. You want to keep it locked right here? We're only getting started on this brand new episode. of Lockdown ACC. Oh, my friends, we are only getting started with Supply House. When the opening whistle blows on a new repair, get your crew moving forward with Supply House. Order today and see parts on your doorstep tomorrow. Over 280,000 plumbing, HVAC, and electrical items from the most trusted brands in the business. Their real-time inventory and honest lead times keep you from punting projects while their industry-leading customer service always has your blindside covered.

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check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs and Grace and Boone cover all things NC State, who got the dub and a high scoring affair against UVA. I cover the Miami Hurricanes on Lockedon Cains, you know, very routine, you know, week two against Bethune Cookman. Miami came away with the 45 to three victory. So not a whole lot to unpack on that one, but USF, who's ranked now top 18, is coming from Miami this weekend. So we'll talk about that throughout the week for sure. All right. So, Kenton, there are a couple of really, really disappointing week two results for the ACC. Why don't we start with the coach who's on the hottest of seats in the entire conference? And at one point, they had, what, a 10 to nothing and 17 to 7 lead, Virginia Tech

did at home, mind you, against Vanderbilt. They give up, get this, 34 unanswered points to the Commodores. And 300 yards, they were outgained by 300 yards in the second freaking half of this football game. Brent Pry, unfortunately, Kenton has completely lost the plot here because this team is so sloppy. And I had really thought, because one of my few positive takeaways, you know, they lost to South Carolina week one in Atlanta. but the Hokies were somewhat competitive in that game. And one of my positive takeaways week one was this defense under Sam Sefke's, their new defensive coordinator, they got him from the Arizona Cardinals,

really seemed like they were developing an identity again, kind of old school Virginia Tech football defensive line was playing great. They somewhat kept South Carolina and Lenora Sellers in check in that opening game. I don't know what happened here against Diego Pavia. and Eli Stowers. But, man, that was, I don't think Brent Price is going to make it through the season, Kenton. This was as disappointing and as bad as I have ever seen

a Virginia Tech defense play. This was an embarrassment to Hokie Nation. This was an embarrassment to Virginia Tech fans everywhere. This was an embarrassment to the legacy of the lunch pail. this is the type of more Do you know how bad you have to be to have Lane Stadium emptied out for a night game?

Brent Park cannot survive this. Unless he does something crazy like goes out there and wins out or goes out there and has a spectacular finish to the season. I don't see a way that you can redeem this and even more important than that. at what point at what and you know I've said before

oh yeah Kyron Jerome's belief is starting to feel like uh starting to feel like it's it's Groundhog's Day you keep saying he's going to get it together he's going to get it together he's going to get it together at what point do we look at this team and say

what are you good at what is the thing that we can point to Virginia Tech this year or under pry in general and say they've been good at this. Because you said they look good last game. Okay, defensively, they look good last game. Well, 34 points in a half this time. How's that? How's that? Oh, well, you know, there are times where the offense is clicking. Well, in this game, how many points they scored

in the second half now? Zero. Zero. Goose it. Congratulations. If you're listening to this show, you scored as many points as Virginia Tech did in an entire 30 minutes of football. And that's 30 regulation minutes, which means like an hour and some change of real time. This is, I, I can't believe how bad they have botched the two hires after, after Beamer. I can't believe it. First Fuentes and all that he bought and now Pride, I mean, this is just nasty business. Nasty is right.

It was also pretty nasty in Durham, North Carolina. The Duke Blue Devils, they got steamrolled. by Illinois, Kenton. And all of my fears, like, I picked Illinois to win like a somewhat close game on Friday. All my fears were realized and then some 45 to 19, the fighting align I rolled over the Duke Blue Devils. They actually didn't rush for as many yards as I thought, 123 Illinois as a team. But Luke Altmeier had himself a day, 296 passing yards, three touchdown, zero interceptions. So, like, this wasn't just a loss. a beat down. And like I know, hey, listen, Illinois, I guess better team on paper, more talented. They did what they were supposed to do, but went the extra mile doing it. I did notice Kenton

going back, you know, the start of this season in the last, it is worth noting that even though Duke has played some really good football at times, they were a nine-win team last year. It seemed like they took a nice step under Manny Diaz for their program. I guess the next step you have to take after to this one is show you can win a big game because the Blue Devils thus far in the Manning Diaz era are 0 and 4 against ranked opponents. And most of these, there was actually an overtime loss to SMU who was ranked at the time was close. The other three, including Saturday, were not close. There was blowout city in most of those games. So I think this was a bit of a, it's a non-conference game, whatever. So, you know, Duke can still theoretically win an ACC championship. But I think

Saturday was a wake-up call, but Duke is probably not as far along as we might have thought. The most disappointing part about this game for me is the constant self-inflicted wounds. I'm okay if Illinois came out there and just bludgeoned you to death. They just squeezed the life out the game. I could live with that. Dono, why are there two number eights on the field on the play that you finally get off the field? You're finally doing it right. you've got two guys wearing the same number on the field that cost you big time if you're looking at the things that happened in this game if i tell you hey donald

daria minza is going to have a wonderful game he's going to throw for 335 yards he's going to do good things in terms of of you know pass nevald down the field as a matter of fact he's going to out pass altmyer he's going to outperform him and in terms of the rushing game the difference is only going to be about 4.000. yards. Do you imagine a world where that spells out a nearly four touchdown win for Illinois? No, I'm thinking that's the type of game I expected. It's like 23 to 20 in somebody's direction, right? That it's a close game. Exactly. But when you turn the ball over deep in their territory multiple times, when you have those turnovers, when you have those turnovers, when you give them the ball, There was one route where I believe it was either a wheel route or it was a slot fade. I can't remember which one. But the gentleman was streaking open.

He's opened down the sideline. The DB is underneath him by at least a good three to four yard. Daria Minta under throws this ball so bad. The DB's just sitting there waiting on it, catching like it's a punt. You cannot have, brother, you're a $4 million, man. You've got to put that ball in a. a spot where either my receiver catches it or it goes out of bounds. But instead, you play it like you played it and boom, Illinois is taking it the other way.

Plays like that were all the difference. Now, the redeeming hope in this game for Duke, you played a very good team and you played them well outside of eight, nine plays. You take away eight or nine plays. This game is entirely different. And the sad part about it is most people would say, well, Ken, that's true for most games. No, no, no, no. In this game in particular, Duke hung with them.

They were physical at the line of scrimmage. They did everything that they had to do to stop that running game at a pretty high clip. They didn't make Altmire look like a superstar, but eventually, after your defense is on the field for so long, because you keep turning the damn ball over, they're going to start to seep and show some holes. I think that this Duke team, you walk away feeling like that team might have beaten us, but we'll never know because we beat ourselves. And that's the most disappointing part. Duke goes minus five in the turnover margin.

You're not going to win going minus five in the turnover. You're not going to keep it close when that's the case. So a team that did win, but their coach was certainly not satisfied with it were the Syracuse Orange. And listen, like credit, credit to them for the comeback because midway through the fourth quarter, Kenton, they're down 17 to 6. Just so much. And again, a lot of miscues, self-inflicted wounds weren't working for the orange. Yukon didn't look like world beaters, but they took advantage. They outplayed Syracuse for the better part of three quarters.

And then you hit some big passing plays. Steve Angelly leads a comeback late. They actually, Syracuse tried to blow it, though, because after they took a 20 to 17 lead on a field goal, They allowed Yukon to hit a couple of big passing plays to set up a game tying field goal. Syracuse then wins in overtime. That was just very important, Kenton, to win that game because with how tough Syracuse's schedule is, if they didn't beat Yukon at home, they're probably not bowl eligible this year. Like, you really, you had to win that game.

But Fran Brown obviously saw sloppiness, a lack of effort at certain points of the game. So he has his players, like, very publicly. they caught this on TV. I was watching the overtime in the end of the game with my son. And you see Syracuse starts running sprints right after the game, like in front of everybody in the stadium. I, you know, my initial reaction was, yeah, you know what? They probably should be running sprints after that. But then I thought about it felt a little bit like a dog and pony show, right? And I know there's some quotes going public now.

You know, John Gruden and Greg Olson were on a bar stool show. and they were both kind of talking, obviously, you know, football guys, Gruden being the Super Bowl winning coach, and my dude, Greg Olson being a long time NFL and Miami Hurricanes Vet, we're like, yeah, you know, that sort of stuff happens, but it's usually behind closed doors, right? The coach will usually call like a 4 a.m. Wake up, scrimmage, you run extra laps in practice.

I mean, did you, I think people may be overreacting to this a bit, but did you feel like the whole thing about running sprints on TV at the end of the game, was it just too much show? it was a show, but the thing that made it a show to me was the effort that players were putting in during those sprints. To me, if you're going to do that, you have to be aware they just played a game, but I don't give a damn, we're going to run. Y'all are going to sprint. Don't, what I saw, those were sprints. Those were brisk jogs.

Those were upbeat power walks because those guys weren't sprinting. And if that's, here's the thing. If that's what sprinting looks like for the Syracuse Orange, this season is going to get worse than what we can imagine. Because that, I know I'm 30 years old now. The game has passed me by. Okay. I've got a couple good series in me.

If somebody was to say, Kenon, I'll pay you a million dollars to go give me a sack. All right, good. Don't ask me to finish the whole game. I can get you won. Don't ask me to finish the whole game. If that was sprinting, oh, I'm wrong. The game passed nothing. I'm right.

there with the guy. I might be ahead of the game. Those guys were not giving great effort during those prints, which makes me say it was a dog and pony show more than anything else. Because again, if you make them run, if you're the type that's like, you know, he said it was because I want to hold them to the standard and everything they do. I don't mind that. I love that actually. And the things that he talked about to holding them to the standard was saying, I want them to be the type of men and husbands that do great things in the world. I love them. I love everything about that. But if you're going to hold them to it, hold them to it. When my mom said, Ken, you better get a 20 or higher on the ACT or there is no football for you.

The first attempt, I got a 24. And you know what she told me? I should have raised the bar to 25. That's what she told. I love that. That's real. There's a bar. You're going to hit it or else.

And I knew she wasn't playing. She would have gladly pulled me out of practice for it. But that's what the real standard looks like. That's what really holding, if you're going to really hold players that standard, say, Sprint. I want to see you sprinting all out effort. I want to see y'all rolling downhill. Now, let me lean on you for this one because I was so into in that, I guess was at the noon window, whatever it was.

I was so into the Syracuse game and the Duke game at that point. I didn't see a lot of SMU Baylor, and I need to go back and watch that one because it seems like a crazy finish. But Baylor beats SMU on the road. SMU was number 17 at the time. They're out of the rankings now. Baylor wins 48 to 45. I have an idea what Baylor's about.

I watched their entire game against Auburn the previous week. But what did you make of this win that they had over SMU? This was one of the worst finishes I've seen in quite some time. How do you have a 14-point lead with about four minutes left? And everybody's blaming the referee for tackling Williams there. I get me. I'm Jennings, Kevin Jennings there. I get it.

I get it. I get it. I'm not going to lie to you. That ref was horrible for not getting out of the way there. I understand. That was a big play. I believe that was a third down. I believe it was a big play.

It was a big play. I'm not going to deny that. With that being said, you still cannot let up a 14 point lead with that much time left. You need to be able to put a football game away. And like I said last week, when I talked about, a team that took their foot majorly off the gas down the stretch. I said, that isn't a bad indicator. That is a struggle that they're going to have to get together.

And I was told, oh, you must not have watched the game and you're just biased against SMU. I love me some SMU. You do. Yeah. I can confirm. Kenton is not anti-SMU. Super excited to have them in the conference.

But I knew from watching game one, I said, this might, the way that they're finishing, might bite them in the behind. later because they look too relaxed. And that's one thing that Red Lashley teams had never looked to me in the past was relaxed. From the time that ball kicked off to the final whistle, they looked like they were on it. This year, for whatever reason, two games straight, opponents have basically trounced them late in games. You cannot have that happen. Well, we got a new batch of Associated Press rankings.

The new top 25 is out. Three ACC team remains. And the good news is they're all top 12. One of them may not deserve to be in the top 12. But actually one of them, I think, deserves to be a little bit higher than they're ranked. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. So you look at folks, just look at the beauty of that NC State hat that Kenton Gibbs is wearing.

Quick question for all you college football fans out there. If you could go back in time and sit front row at your school's, biggest rivalry game. What hat would you be wearing? Yeah, I said that. For me, it would be the game. That's the hat that Kent and Gibbs is wearing right now, folks. It is a beautiful hat, and these aren't just hats. They're the same vintage styles fans wore back in the 80s and 90s. And guess what? They still go for the same price that they did back then. When you use code locked on, you'll get your vintage hat for 1699. Head to the gamecaps.com.com. grab your team's classic bar or retro circle design and use code locked on for an exclusive

discount because legends wear the game. Thank you so much for making this wonderful episode of Lockdown, ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. All right. So take a look at these new Associated Press rankings. Ohio State at number one, no argument there. Penn State, LSU at nitpicky. They didn't look that great against Louisiana Tech, but you know, whatever. It wasn't like the Clemson performance against Troy or anything like that.

Oregon, who steamrolled Oklahoma State, got themselves into the top four. They jumped in front of Miami at number five. I got No, I think Miami's probably where they should be. Georgia didn't look very good against Austin P. So they dropped to six. Texas 7th, Notre Dame. They even play last weekend, but they're chilling at number eight. I think they moved up.

Illinois at number nine. Florida State at number 10. And Kenton, honestly, based on, you know, the way, and I don't, they played against, you know, East Texas A&M, but they did exactly what you're supposed to do. They won 77 to three against East Texas A&M. We all know what Florida State did week one against, you know, then top 10 Alabama. I almost feel like Florida State should be a few spots higher than number 10. What do you think? You know, I can get behind that, and I'll tell you this much.

Florida State, at the end of the day, they have been dominant and they have a big enough brand to warrant them, you know, warrant voters to say like, hey, we want to have them here. I'm fine with them at 10. I'm fine with them higher. I think lower than 10 would be a problem for me,

but I'm fine with them at 10. I'd be fine with them going as far as up to number 7 or 6. I'd be fine with that. But anywhere beyond that, I feel like, all right, we're putting a car in front of the horse here. Because like when you think about, you know, Florida State at 2 and O with the top 10 win being number 10 and Notre Dame at number 8, 0 and 1 so far, you know, with just and against like, listen, I think Miami is very, very good. But, you know, Notre Dame is 0 and 1. They didn't even play week two.

And they're two spots ahead of Florida State. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. South Carolina at 11, Clemson at number 12, which I don't know, you know, two games a season. does not make, but Clemson's one-in-one with a loss, but it was at home against a really good LSU team who's ranked third, and then a really, really uninspiring win against a really bad team, at least should be a bad team at the level they were playing at home. I feel like number 12 for Clemson's probably a little too high. I'm looking more like 18, 19 they should be right now. I'm telling you right now, this Clemson team better wake it up. They better get in gear.

They better find a way to find that fire and hunger. Because right now, they look like a team that's been reading their press clippings. They look like a team that's fat and happy. And my question would be, okay, if you want to be fat and happy, that's fine. If you've got a championship or two under your belt. You are a Clemson Tiger. You are not a lot of these other schools where, oh, yeah, getting to the playoffs, that's one of our best seasons ever.

If you're talking Wake Forest got to play. That's one of your best seasons ever. Hey, I'm mad at you for being fat and happy as way forward. If you're talking UVA, hell, the hat that I'm wearing right now, if you're talking to NC State, I'm being honest with you. NC State gets to the playoff, I get them being fat and happy. You've never been to that atmosphere before. But you are a Clemson Tiger, and we're talking about last season being a season

where you were dominated by Georgia, everybody was out on you, and you needed Miami to fold down the stretch to get it. into the ACC championship. And there was collusion for that game because Davosweeney called Fran Brown the night before that game or the week of to give him tips on how to beat Miami.

Collusion. So you had to collude to get into the ACC championship and that is what got you all fat happy. Say what you want to about Mario Cristobal as a game day coach. He had to beat Fran Brown and Davo Sweeney that day.

Yeah, well, he ain't better than two up. I'll tell you that much. But in all seriousness, you have to pick it up if you're cleansing. Right now, what I'm seeing from this team, it's abysmal. It's unacceptable. Yeah, no doubt. All right, so those are the only three ACT teams that are in there. I'm not going to argue with SMU dropping out.

They've got to earn their way back into the top 25. You know, Louisville is still, they're just knocking on that door, Kenton. You know, they had a really sluggish start against James Madison on Thursday night, but they did end up pulling it out 28 to 14. I guess maybe they didn't earn enough style points in that win, whatever. But I've got to think a couple more wins that at some point Louisville is going to be in this top 25. No, a thousand percent. I mean, Louisville, like you said, they started sluggish.

They finished the right way. But we can't slam Clemson for doing that and then not say anything about Louisville. Because James Madison, James Madison, is a really good team. They are a back-to-back nine plus win season team. They are one of the perennial powerhouses of the Sunbelt. I will give them. However, we cannot say, oh, y'all have one of the best backfields in the nation, and they have, what, 20 carries for 30-some yards before Isaac Brown pops that big one? Right before that, yeah. What are we, what are we, we can't just deny that and say none of that matters because you finish strong. So Louisville,

just keep coming. Just keep coming. Because guess what? Even in an ugly win, as the season goes along, you play better and better teams. I'd rather have a team with 12 ugly wins than six perfectly played. Everything you did was right, but you were just slightly outclass losses. I'd much rather have to 12 wins.

So Louisville, just keep coming. You'll be here. Well said. He is Kenton Gibbs. Make sure you check out of his work. He and Grayson Boone do a fantastic job at Lockdown, Wolfpack. follow Kenton on X at TGIF underscore. Kenton, you can follow me at Alex Dono and I'm locked on Cains.

And something I want to get into this week, Kenton is, you know, when we people have these conference realignment discussions, one of the teams that often gets linked to like ACC expansion is USF. That's who Miami faces this weekend. And USF, they just put Billy Napier back on LinkedIn.com in the swamp this past weekend. They just upset Florida. So USF, I've got to give them. Alex Golesh has rebuilt that program.

They beat then 25th ranked Boise State week one. They beat a top 15 Florida week two. So, you know, maybe, you know, God forbid the ACC loses, you know, Florida State Clemson and whoever else. But USF may not be a bad team to expand with. So we'll talk about that more throughout the week on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team

every day.