Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Big 12 RUMORS For Adding FSU & Clemson: Proceed With Caution | More Physical ACC In 2024

Episode Date: July 12, 2024

Rumors about Florida State and Clemson leaving the ACC for the Big 12 continue to gain steam. While there is little doubt that the Big 12 has made overtures to the pair, it’s important to remember that they would likely be a third choice landing spot for FSU and Clemson after the Big Ten or SEC. Ross Dellenger, who started the buzz with comments made at Big 12 media days, added the context that he was just hypothesizing. That hasn’t stopped aggregators from taking his comments and running with them. So, are we buying the rumors?Hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs explain that they expect FSU and Clemson both to leave, but with the Big Ten as the likely destination. They’d only go to the Big 12 if it becomes clear that the Big Ten and SEC aren’t engaging in further expansion. The guys discuss a minor victory in court for the ACC against Clemson. Donno and Gibbs explain why the ACC is setting up to be a more physical and less finesse football conference this coming season. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COMand add a big win to your summer bucket list!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.

These reports about the Big 12 stealing prominent programs from the ACC like Clemson and Florida State continue to gain more and more buzz. Are we buying it? You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Friday and shout out to the everydayers for making Locked on ACC your first listen or your first watch today. we're here free wherever you get your podcast. We're available free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

your team every day. And today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more. As playoffs wind down, the sports have stopped sporting like we want them to. But this summer, Van Duel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily.

That's right. There's something for everyone every day all summer long. Visit Fandual.com to get started. On this episode, we will talk about whether the football identity of the ACC may change drastically this season if you look at the makeups of the top teams around the conference. The ACC did score a victory. We'll call it a dub over Clemson in court. People are always wondering. So we talk so much about Florida state's legal cases. What's going on out with Clemson? We have a little bit more on that.

But we'll start with this continue. This is Kenton. The internet has for the last 48 hours, has been absolutely flooded with all this big 12 buzz Florida state and Clemson. going to the Big 12. He's Kenton Gibbs, by the way, from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Keynes. So Kenton, I don't know how many people would actually be happy if this were to happen. Obviously, you know, the rest of the teams within the ACC, the ACC themselves would hate to lose Florida State and Clemson. But I also don't know how happy Florida State and Clemson fans would be because they all, they all want to go to the Big Ten or the SEC, but are you even buying these rumors? I am not buying these rumors.

Alexa, Siri, every device that I have, play the song by Labyrinth. I'm tired because Lord knows that I am damn tired of hearing these rumors. These don't even make sense. Dono, I want you to seriously think about this, right? I was talking about this may be the most expensive break-even moment in all of human history. But I really want you to think about this for a second, okay? If the big 12 had the money, had the resources to do this type of big one all along, why didn't they give it to Texas and Oklahoma?

If they had a viable route to say, hey, we're going to pay to keep a top dog in the conference. We're going to pay to get a top dog in the conference. As the old saying goes, it's cheaper to keep her. It would have been cheaper to keep Oklahoma and Texas than to be named the Big 12 by Red Herring Equity in order to get Florida State and Clemson. This is idiotic. It's foolish. I am excited for Clemson and FSU fans to go to the conference they want to go to. I really am.

I want them to go wherever they want to go. And I know that all serious FSU and Clemson fans are not believing or buying or even. and looking at this Big 12 stuff. But I'll be damn if there is nothing else going on in the sports. So we got to talk about, well, are they going to the Big 12? Again, this would be the most idiotic move. And I didn't even think about the Big 12 angle of how it was idiotic until last night. It hit me in my sleep.

Like, wait, why would I kid you not. I woke up at like three in the morning. Like, if they had the money, wouldn't they just pay Texas in Oklahoma? What? That's a great point. I mean, I mean, I guess I guess, I guess, I guess, the counterpoint would be private equity was not even a discussion of being reality in college football then. So like the idea of borrowing money back then was not even an option. And apparently

it is now not that we support the idea of becoming putting yourself in debt to bring Florida State and Clemson. But I don't think maybe if they had the private equity option three, four years ago, they might have kept Oklahoma and Texas. Well, here's the thing, right? And again, Correcting the homeroic here, Dono. What has happened in the world? Private equity existed in 2020. I know for a fact it did because I worked at a private equity back startup shortly after that, very shortly after. I know for a fact that it existed in the past.

What happened all of a sudden that everybody says, hmm, let's go to private equity for this. Again, you and I both know this would be one of the worst decisions in college football history to go ahead and say, hey, we're going to go to private equity for this money to add these teams in our conference. You and I both know that, but let's just say for kicks and giggles, they go ahead and do it and there are no ill effects. Okay, great. Now you have two teams in the Big 12 that are objectively outsiders. Texas and Oklahoma were, they were the Big 12 in essence. They were everything about them extremely Big 12, extremely big 12.

You have two teams coming in, not it at all. Not at all. But I think, and I'm going to say something here, and I hope nobody gets offended by it, but I know somebody is because that's the nature of the beast. There would be no more 2024 America of a moment than to have these two teams go over to the Big 12. You want to know why? Right. Why? Up to move backwards, committing idiocry, doing dumbness just for dumbness, but we've got the money to do it.

So why not? Why not? everybody involved in this thing will have been hustling backwards because private equity is a loan and it is not a loan that you can just keep reupping and reupping and reupping and reupping at some point in time if you I've discussed all the scenarios you know privately here but let's talk about them on the on there right the possibility probably okay so the possibility is being talked about they pay for florida state They pay for Clemson, potentially Notre Dame, Miami, which I really think is super far out there. But let's just stick with Florida State.

They pay for those two, right? Everybody else allegedly gets $15 million more per year. Donald, how long is that sustainable? How many years can they afford to get? How many billions do they think that these private equity firms are willing to just say, here you go, we believe it. You go for it. Well, the TV deal, which I think they're with both Fox and ESPN. I'm not a big 12 expert, but I think that's that they would need to renegotiate their TV, which don't run as long as the ACC's TV deal.

But they would need to count on banking a lot more TV money a few years down the road to pay back the private equity. Okay. So we're in the mode of I'm already in the deficit, but we still haven't even explained, hey, how do you get the additional $15 million to 16 different teams? 16. That is $240 million per year. I don't give a damn how long your TV deal runs unless you know I am coming down to pipeline with billions from outside of this very shortly. It's not sustainable because mind you, on top of paying everybody else in additional 15, Florida State Clubs are supposed to be the most handsomely paid teams in all of college football at the end of this deal.

So how do you, mind you, we just talked about that part of it in terms of 240 million per year for just the 16 that are already there. Now, add in the two that you said you want to make the richest in college football. How do you make that out? You talk about the 240 plus, let's say, 40 apiece for both of those teams, right? That puts you at 80 plus 240. That's 320 a year, a year. I don't believe, I want to continue this conversation on the other side, because I don't, I don't believe that actually making them the richest in college football is, is realistic and feasible.

No, but well, and also, you know, I, I don't want to be, I don't want us to be, and we're not some of these clickbait merchants out there who are just going to, you know, they're going to milk this. And obviously, we're talking about it. But I do want to remind people how this buzz started in the first place, because I think the origin of this is incredibly. important. And it's why I'm not buying these rumors more than 10, 15 percent. I think this is a contingency. I think Florida State and Clemson, it's not impossible they wind up in the Big 12, but this isn't something that's happening and it's not something that's happening anytime soon. We'll continue here. Locked on ACC, we have a lot more to talk about. We're only getting started on this Friday on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Passion, drive, and patience. Guys, these are the qualities that bring home championships. And they're also what keeping

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customers. Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. For your second, listen and watch, make sure you check out the other shows that Kenton and I do. He does an awesome job co-hosting Locked on Wolfpack. I do my best hosting Locked on Cains. You can check those shows out each and every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. YouTube wherever you get your pods. Because guess what, guys, the Lockdown Network. We've got, I think, over 200 shows. We are taking over the world one show at a time.

Make sure you check out our shows on the Lockdown Podcast Network. So, you know, Kenton, I want to remind folks out there that, again, all this Big 12 hysteria this week, this started based on comments made by, yes, a very reputable college football reporter, who I respect, Ross Dellinger. But he even said after he made these comments that this was in no way, meant to be him breaking news. Like he was hypothesizing. And he also laid out the situation in context where people are ignoring the context.

Because Delinger, Ross Dellinger clearly said the number one option for Florida State and Clemson will be to wind up in the Big Ten or the SEC. And if I had to make a prediction, I would predict they're going to end up probably both in the Big Ten. I just, we just don't think it's going to happen within the next year or two. We think it's going to take it's going to be a while before this process plays out. So he mentioned their number one option would be to wind up in the Big Tenor SEC. The number two option would actually be like a reformed ACC where you choose some of the fat and you're splitting revenue with fewer teams.

And then the third option would be making a move to the Big 12. I think that context is important and the fact that Delinger was hypothesizing, not breaking news. Now, he did say he believes that preliminary discussions, early discussions may have taken place with the Big 12 with Florida State and F.S. or Florida State and Clemson. Now, that would not surprise me, Kenton, because we know the Big 12, the Big 12 is super aggressive. Like Brett Your Mark, their commissioner, he

wants the Big 12. He wants to make them Big 3 along with the SEC and Big 10. So believe me, they are open to that. And obviously, if there's back channel discussions happening, you wouldn't blame Florida State and Clemson for saying, let's have all our ducks in the row.

This is not our first choice or our second choice, but we better have our fail-safe option ready in case our top two choices don't play out for us, right? So I believe that's what's happening. And if that's what's happening, that has now turned the internet into, they're going to the big 12. It's happening. It's happening tomorrow. Like, we're several steps away from that, including several steps in the legal process of those schools even being able to exit the ACC. Absolutely. And like you said, I want to touch on what you said earlier with making them the richest is not realistic. I'm sorry. I was incorrect on my original estimate of having to pay them 40 million each. In order to make them the richest, the biggest payout

at the moment is the SEC at about 51, a little over 51 million per year. We'll round it off to say 50. To make you substantially more paid than them, we'll boost you up to, let's say, 55. I feel like 55 is enough to where you're like, oh, we're the richest. Look at us. So that's 110 for them, 240 for the conference, that puts you at a total of $350 per year. That is a billion dollars over three years. That is over a billion dollars over three years. I am sorry to tell you all, again, I do not know where people are getting these ideas from. I do not know where people are getting these ideas. And again, I don't want anybody to interpret this as me and Donno saying Florida State and Clemson are going to be in the ACC forever. Donno and I both believe that by the start of the

the 2027, 2028 football seasons, these schools will be in another conference. We both wholeheartedly believe that. That's not something that we shy away from or like, oh, you're a liar if you believe otherwise.

With that being said, this Big 12, it's a weasel, it's a wazza, it's a gazes, it's a Vosze, it doesn't exist. Sure, your mark has made the call. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Dono's house shopping right now. I'm sure that he's made the call to some, a million dollar real estate guy like hey what's it got for me and they said oh yeah sure we got tons of things that are in your budget by the way quick side bar there there's been a lot of drama with that because we thought we'd found like our our dream house at a at a reasonable price yeah then we had the inspection and there was a lot of lipstick on the pig there and we had to we had to back out of that offer so the house shopping is wide open again well lord forbid if uh the big 12 does

some inspections on certain universities that are allegedly joining, but I digress. We're not going to talk about who may be headed for a downward slope very soon here. What we will talk about is again, the objective truth of what is going on with realignment. Like you said, the numbers don't make sense. You're paying out a billion over three years. I don't know how long their TV deal is. I know it lasts longer than three years. So they're not going to get this new push of money like, hey, we're going to go ahead and just

fludging with money there. and even when they do get the new TV deal, do you think it'll be enough for them to comfortably pay out that a year? And do you think that those other schools will be happy with Clemson and the Florida State both making over $10 million more than them a year? Come on. Let's get real here. Let's get real.

And like you said, the biggest thing that most people are ignoring, we're still in court. Only one of these cases is even at Discovery. There are five. One of five. 20% of the ACC law. suits are at discovery. Think about that for a second. Yeah, I do. So I want to play devil's advocate on the Big 12 side on how like how this could happen for them. I don't think it's going to

happen any time soon. But so, so the scenario where Florida State and Clemson would wind up in the Big 12 would be literally that would only happen if the Big 10 and the SEC decide, no thanks. We are not interested in expanding. We thought about it. I mean, obviously they've just both expanded, but we're not interested in expanding. further anytime soon. Because there have been some rumblings for both sides, like college football reporters that, you know, that are very reputable. You know, we've heard Paul Feinbaum say, for example, that the SEC is not interested in

Florida State and Clemson because they already have the footprint in Florida and South Carolina and that they only want to expand, I guess, to areas where they don't already have a footprint. And then on the Big Ten side of it, I know a lot of people have argued that this isn't going to be a deciding factor. But there has been some buzz that Florida State could have an issue getting in because of academics, because they're not an AAU accredited school, which is typically a prerequisite for the Big Ten, would not surprise me if the Big Ten waived that because money, money outweighs academic prestige, right? But still, there have been thoughts on both sides that

may be, hey, not so fast, my friends, in terms of these conferences being ready to bring new teams in. So if that were the case, if we're a little unsure, if the SEC and Big 10 want to expand further, we know the Big 12 does. Like there's no question. So if it just simply came down to a dollars and cents, can we make a little more money over there than we can make over here? And also, bridge is burned, Kenton, because it'd be kind of hard to stay in the ACC when you've already paid a lot of legal fees and put in a lot of time and effort and venom and

vitriol into trying to leave the ACC. So if the Big 12 is literally their only viable option outside of the ACC, that's the only way this happens. Oh, you're muted. For sure. But at that point, you're putting yourself in such a position of weakness. You are having to take whatever the Big 12 comes with, whatever they come with. And if we're talking about the scenario which is being prompted where the Big 12 gets them and they become the richest schools in terms of TV debt, it is quite little. Literally impossible. Impossible.

Impossible. Listen, don't make me break out my brandy and Whitney Houston Impressers, because I can't sing like they can sing. But the reality is very simple here. The Big 12 TV deal runs through 2030, 20, 31. That deal in total. And this is not me laughing because the amount is small. It's me laughing because the reality of this just doesn't make sense here. The long-term contract renewal is understood.

to be worth just over $2 billion and will include a sizable payout to these schools. Now, Donald, if the payout as it is right now is $2 billion, okay? And they're going to have to come up with the additional figures that I just said, because again, you're stuck till 2030, 2031. How? Because you can't, you know, again, the math doesn't math. And if there is a situation where Clemson and Florida State go to the Big 12, this is going to be a black eye on both of those universities for quite some time because they will have paid millions of dollars to, in essence, break even. You will have paid millions of dollars to not be in a conference that's just booming and taking off and all that good stuff.

And again, I very strongly believe that one of those teams, they are very close to a close to a. cliff, a free fall off a cliff that we are all kind of quiet about because their Bible thumping coaches won a couple of national championships, but we're refusing to acknowledge, hey, their trajectory is not that anymore. That's just not where they are anymore. Again, if they prove me wrong, I'll shut my fat self up. But if they don't, if they don't, if we see another 10, 9, nowhere near the conference championship year, you know, that may be a lot of little bit of a problem for them. It maintains relevancy, but it does not maintain the type of relevancy that makes you worthy of, you know, this, this acclaim of richest, rich of school in

America in terms of TV payout or worthy of saying, hey, the ACC is beneath us. It just doesn't. So in terms of the legal process, by the way, because people are always wondering, what's going on with the Clemson cases? Because the Florida state cases get a lot more publicity. this week a I'll call it a victory for the ACC but an expected victory and because the cases between Clemson and the ACC are very much following the trajectory of the cases between Florida State and the ACC. So, you know, remember the ACC, they are suing Clemson in North Carolina as Clemson is suing the ACC in South Carolina. Clemson filed for a motion to dismiss the case in North Carolina, which is the friendlier. venue for the ACC, because much like Florida State in Florida, Clemson would like the case only to go forward in their home state of South Carolina.

There's much like in Florida with Florida State, there are going to be two cases going simultaneously Kented because Judge Bloodsoe in North Carolina ruled this week against Clemson's motion to dismiss the ACC's lawsuit against the university, which again is expected, the same way we expected the judge in Florida to rule against the ACC's motion to dismiss and vice versa. We expected the North Carolina judge to rule against Clemson's motion dismissed. So that case will move forward. In fact, I think there's a hearing today in South Carolina. So that will continue to move forward on both of those fronts.

So, you know, I guess Kenton, again, if we're, if we're tracking the jabs, no one's landed a haymaker yet still. But if we're tracking the jabs, that was a jab successfully landed by the ACC that the case with Clemson will continue to move forward in the friendlier venue for the conference. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. That is a thousand percent certain what we're looking at here. Like you said, it's a jab. It's just peppering. You're feeling you out, controlling distance, all that type of thing because this isn't a moment where we're expecting anybody to go down or anybody to bow out and say, you know what? We'll be in the conference for a lot longer. We'll just have to

stick around for all of what you said. It's, you know, these are, yes, it's a court win. but it's a court win in the sense that the case can keep going. It's not a court win in the sense that like, ha ha, we have a smoking gun against Clemson to say, ah, you all are wrong and did it. It's not that.

It's a very light, hey, the case can still go forward type of deal. And, and, you know, that is obviously important because, obviously, if your motion to dismiss is accepted or is granted,

then yes, that's the ultimate hate maker. That's the ultimate, ha, ha, we're right, you're wrong, no case for you, but our case is going, forward type of deal, but we're just not there.

And we would have been shocked if that motion was granted, by the way. Just so people know this is a small win, but a very expected win for the ACC in court. And I want to go back real quick to something about Florida State and the Big 12, because I want to calm down Florida State fans a little bit because I know most of them, obviously they want to get out of the ACC, but they don't want to go to the Big 12. So the same day that these rumors start coming around about Florida State to the Big 12, you know, we get word of the Florida State Board of Trustees. Because remember, the Board of Trust, that's the specific body that is suing the

ACC. It's the Board of Trustees. It's not the Athletic Director. It's not the President's, the Board of Trustees. So the Board of Trustees scheduled a meeting on July 22nd, where people are saying, oh, my gosh, is this going to be when they confirm they want to go to the Big 12? I'm not even sure if athletics will be discussed in that meeting. because this was this ex post was sent out by Ryan Kelly,

who is the director of WCTV Sports, who actually bothered to, you know, post some context here. He says, regarding the FSU Board of Trustees meeting that has been making the rounds tonight, he says a university spokesperson has told us the meeting was previously scheduled to approve the university's 2025, 2025, legislative budget request.

So that doesn't sound to me like, they called an emergency meeting to talk about conference realignment. It sounds like they already had a meeting scheduled to talk about the budget that doesn't specifically pertain to athletics. This meeting will be one of the boring ones that we don't want to watch. Yeah. Because Dono and I are sickos in this way that we watched the entirety of the one where, you know, there was a lot of table pounding and we need to leave and all that.

Donald and I watched that. This won't be that. We did. This will not be that. And then we watched that that North Carolina Zoom meeting a couple months ago that was very awkward. Oh boy, I'll tell you what, it was already hard enough to sit through dirty foot clubbers talking. But Jesus, we just, you know, the only joy that I gained from that was understanding that they

have no clue what's going on with their own budget. Good for them. Anyway, the reality is, this is boring. This is procedural. This is very like, ho-h-hom, we're approving the thing that we said we're going to approve. All the polls or all four say aye. You're going to get a bunch of eyes. All the polls say nays.

People are going to be silent. Bang, man, bang. That's it. Well, when we come back, I want to talk a little ball because I'm getting an idea, based on the personnel, what the identity of ACC football is going to be like this season. And I like it. Maybe some of you don't, but I like it. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Oh, and we're certainly not done yet with Fanduil. Guys, we've been winning money this summer, baseball games, international soccer. been placing bets on Wimbledon. I know that since the NBA finals and Stanley Cup finals have wrapped up,

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I've been watching Euro 2024 because I'm a soccer nerd. And Spain has been consistently the best team there. I've got them minus 135 to beat England in the finals. So if you want to bet along with me, visit fanduel.com to look at odds. Fan duel, the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. Thank you so much for making locked on ACC your first list and your first watch day. All right. So Kenton, I'm looking at some of the quarterbacks that have left the conference,

either on their way to the pros or on their way elsewhere, you know, Riley Leonard left Duke to go to Notre Dame, Drake May, Jordan Travis, who both had spectacular seasons last year, are off to the pros. And then I also look at line of scrimmage play for a lot of ACC teams. I think the outlook is very bright this year. And, you know, we used to talk about the, there was a number of years up until recently where you'd say the ACC is just loaded with quarterbacks. right? I think this year you say the ACC's especially loaded with running backs, right? Damian Martinez and Jaden Ott come into the conference from the PAC 12. Amari and Hampton is still going to be a stud. Like there's a ton of backs in this conference. Do you think the identity of ACC football this year is going to be more physical line of scrimmage play? Oh, my bad. I had you muted. I'm sorry. I was about to say, wait a minute, I didn't have my son muted that time. Oh, what's going on? You had yourself muted, I had you muted.

It was the Big 12 conspiring against us. That's what we'll say, okay? It was the fake news, Big 12 media conspiring against us. But anyway, the reality is very simple here, like you talked about. Not only are the quarterbacks leaving, but there's an influx of running back talent that either stayed or is coming in. You talked about Jay Nod, you talked about Damien Martinez. You talked about Amariang Hampton.

You know, you could also talk about Jordan Waters and all-conference guys staying home. You can talk about Byshaal Tootin, a guy that is going to be a special running back up there for Virginia Tech and all that he brings in terms of that, you know, dynamic read option with him and drones and how scary that is for defenses. You have a situation where we- Phil Mafa, a Clemson, Toledo, Florida. Just a low. And that's the thing. Sometimes your best gets are the ones you already got. And in terms of the ACC, there are some absolutely phenomenal backs that were already.

here. Don't get me wrong. Jay not, if he's even, he's leaving. The man is shot out of a cannon. Every time he makes that one cut, if he sees that hole, he's gone. There's nothing you can do about it. You know, you'll just be looking at one dancing in the end zone. But with that being said, there are

so, so many good backs in this conference. And I believe Preston is a good quarterback. I believe he is. I think he's the only quarterback that we gained in terms of the expansion that's really quality. Yes, we gained some. I said expansion.

I was just about to say via transfer portal, we got Cam War. Gracie McCall is a transfer guy. I would never disrespect the transfer. However, a passing game takes much more time to develop properly than a running game does. A running game is much easier to develop in terms of if you have personnel, ball will follow, than a passing game. I've talked about this ad nauseum, but look at Joe Burrow, year one. That's the type of stuff I'm talking about in terms of pass. passing game, the talent did not get exponentially better.

Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson didn't become light years better in the next year than they were in year one. It's just that they had the timing, the rhythm. They understood each other better. So that's what passing games require. A running game, you need big, nasty, physical men that are willing to move other men against their will. That is a much easier proposition than, hey, we need to be on the same page in terms of

When we're looking at this coverage, we need to be seeing the same thing. I need to know where you're going to stop. I need to know how you're going to deliver me the ball. Great. We'll figure it out together with the power of friendship. That is much harder to figure out than, hey, we want to move this guy. We want to move him and climb to the Mike Linebacker. How about it?

You know, that's a much different thing that you got going on there. So I honestly and truly think that we are kind of leaving that, I wouldn't say air raid, but quarterback driven. of the league, and we are returning to old school meat and potatoes. Hey, sometimes you're going to have some games where you three yard and cloud and dusted out in the ACC. Well, we're going to start in the coming weeks as we inch closer to season. We're, you know, less than 50 days away from college football.

We're going to start previewing teams within the ACC. Always a great time talking with Kenton Gibbs. Make sure you check him out on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. Make sure you check me out at Alex Dono. and we'll talk to you guys again next week on another episode of Lockdown, ACC, part of the awesome lockdown podcast network. Your team every day.