Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - BYPASS: ACC Football's Biggest Obstacle EXPOSED: Miami, Florida State, and the SEC "Bias" DEBATE

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

ACC football faces a perception problem that runs deeper than just revenue gaps and shaky leadership. Does public bias hold the conference back more than on-field performance? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs spotlight the failures of legacy brands like Clemson, Florida State, and Miami, questioning whether even bowl wins against the SEC can shift national opinion. The hosts call out Jim Phillips for his soft approach, urging ACC commissioners and boosters to step up their game, and discuss creative tactics to change the narrative. NC State basketball returns to the spotlight with a hard-fought ACC Tournament win over Pitt, while rising talent CJ Sadler—Cas Tech’s dynamic receiver—could be UNC’s most impactful newcomer this season. The episode breaks down pivotal matchups across ACC hoops, transfer portal buzz, and roster investments shaping conference futures. Will ACC teams and leadership finally convert respect into results? Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub     Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at https://5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon.   Coast Right now, Coast Pay is offering our listeners up to $2,000 credit when you get started at https://coastpay.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Term Apply. The Coast Visa®️ Commercial Credit Card is issued by Celtic Bank. All card accounts are subject to credit approval. Mazda Like our players, we’re driven by the details. Because highlights make the reel. What it takes to get there makes it count. There’s more to a Mazda. Because there’s more to you.  TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm.   Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast   Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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.

You've got to look a little deeper beneath the surface to find the real biggest problem that's been plaguing ACC football. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much 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 number one Locked on Facebook. podcast network, your team every day.

Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create your account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. On this loaded episode, for the first time in a while, I have nothing negative to say today about NC State basketball. Kenton, Will Wade and company, nice ACC tournament victory against Pitt today, physical domination. I appreciated it.

We'll talk about impact newcomers to ACC football. But first, Kenton, the biggest problem for ACC football. Now, I know if I throw that out there, 99 out of 100 people would say, and you're not necessarily wrong. Well, the biggest problem, it's the revenue gap, right? The ACC, on average, their schools are making nowhere near what SEC and Big Ten schools are. The revenue gap is the biggest problem, or you might say the tiebreaker. which supposedly they're fixing for the ACC Football Championship is the biggest problem. But when you look at that revenue gap, Kenton, I am a firm believer that the reason why,

or one of the main reasons why the revenue gap is what it is, outside of the incompetence of Mr. Swofford, who used to be the commissioner, in making these TV deals. But the fact that for so many years, and Josh Pate covered this on a recent episode, and he's a thousand percent right, like the big football brands, in the ACC, by and large, with a few exceptions, have really let the conference down. And even when they haven't, it seems like the ACC can only ever have one football team that's good at the same time.

Right? Clemson carried the conference in football for more than half a decade. And like before they were good, Florida State was pretty good, but then FSU wasn't good when Clemson was good. And then when Clemson started to tail off, Florida State had two really, really good years, and then they completely fell off the face of the earth. And then Miami is now getting good, but neither Florida State nor Clemson are good.

I'm an old Big East fan boy, KG. I remember when the ACC added, you know, not only Miami but Virginia Tech about 20 years ago, that was supposed to be a banner brand. And they haven't been that for most years as a member of the conference. Maybe they can get there again with James Franklin. but to me, the reason why the revenue gap is what it is, is because the ACC just hasn't had a competitive, consistent enough stable of football teams

to produce the sort of respect that the SEC and the Big Ten get. Donnell, I mean this with all due respect because you're my boy, and I love it, and you know that, you're my guy. The reality is this. You were 100% right in saying Swofford is the real. reason and he's the sole reason. And I know, people are going to look at me and say, oh, Kitten, what do you mean? Donno, you're absolutely right.

You should have stopped there. Let me tell you why, Donald. Let me tell you why, Donald. Let me tell you why, okay? We all know how money works, right? Compound, you know, compounding factors often work in a very simple way. Those who understand compound interests make it. Those who do not are subject to it and they end up paying in perpetuity. The compounding, you know, the compounding effects of what Swafford did. Because again, we don't want to look up whose son worked at Raycom at the time that we got

a terrible deal that ended up being a sweetheart deal to Raycom. We don't want to look up whose son worked there and who got promoted from like being a regular accounting executive to all of a sudden being a director of something. We don't want to look that up. That's not important. That's not important. We are not saying that a UNC alum and his son, who I believe also went to UNC, are the reason that the ACC is behind and where we are in terms of the money.

But here's the other part. Public perception is the biggest problem. What if I told you, Dono, there was a conference last year that went undefeated up until the national championship game in the playoffs. Do you think people will feel good about that conference? They should? But what if they didn't? Hold on.

Wait. Hold on. Because I know it's only one team. Well, what if I told you that there was another. other conference, I got a ton of teams in, a ton of them, ton of them. And that conference did not win a single game against a single group of four or a power four team that's outside of their conference. They did not win a single game.

And it took them until the third round to score a touchdown against a team that was not from that same conference. How would you feel then, Donald? It just means more is how I would feel. But no, I shouldn't feel too good about that. But wait, but wait. We're hearing. That pro Sweeney fell off.

He does not know how to adjust. He does not know how to handle the transfer portal and the NIL error because he has fallen off. He has not won the deeper these things have gotten ushered. Kirby Smart also hasn't won in the last two years. Kirby Smart has to drop in the playoffs in the last two years. That's just a fact. This ain't me saying, oh. I'm pulling and cherry picket.

This is what's happening. This is what's happening. The banner brands from over there, Alabama wants to get rid of their coach every damn day. They're looking for a reason. One of our teams that just put up a tour date, we talk about Florida State and they are rightfully maligned on this show often, not just because of Miami guys, one of the co-holt,

but because they have earned their malignings. And you know what they did last year? Beating SEC team that went to the playoffs. Yeah, they did. But nobody. Everybody said, well, that's the first game of the season. They're on the road. They had all these differences.

Dono, you know, Alabama had a different quarterback, different coordinator, different, all these things. Lake Kiffin has been a career washout at every single place he's been except where the SEC. The SEC. That's it. Now, we don't look at that and say, wait a minute, how. Is this saying something to us that this guy has been a malcontent that hasn't been able to get it right anywhere except for in one place and being getting it right in

that one place now got him another job in that one place so if he wins it'll be an indictment of the rest of the country even though the rest of the country whoop the wheels off this man it's it's infuriating for me that whatever the acc does it's the old meme of two guys saying that dress looks lovely on you to the young lady it's the handsome guy with the head full hair saying, that's a great example. Oh, thank you. What a compliment. And then it's the heavier set guy with thinning hair saying, that dress looks lovely. Ill harassment. It's the exact same thing. The reality is the ACC is not miles behind when you take these products and put them on the field, when you put them on the court, when you line it up and say, let's do it. How about it? Oh, you know,

Virginia got a lucky year last year, Donald. They just weren't a good team. And they were able to have that luck because the ACC was so bad. Who did they play in their bowl game again? Who did they beat in the bowl game? Remind me. They beat Mazoo in their bowl game. What conference does Mazoo belong to? The grand old SEC.

But remember when the SEC has a bad bowl season, I believe they went what, like three and three and nine or something like that than bowl season. Terrible. When they have a bad bowl season, it's because nobody cares in their opt-outs. Yeah, because they're not trying. When the ACC had a similar situation a couple years ago, it was an indictment on the ACC

and we had to have a referendum about why the ACC is playing so bad. Again, I'm all for calling out the ACC for our problems. I'm all for calling out the ACC when we are doing something wrong. But it's not fair to me that we see the committee has their favorites. The favorites are picked. It does not matter what you do if you're in certain conferences. The fact that there was even an argument for Texas to get in last year.

The fact that that was even something that people talked about. I felt like I was in bizarre world. I'm like, are you seeing the same thing I'm seeing? This team is not good. But again, because they are in the conference they're in, there was an argument for them to get in as opposed to Miami last year.

And I'm not talking about the Miami team with Carson Beck and quarterback. I'm talking about Ken Ward team. Oh, their defense is too bad. Oh, they, you know, they can't stop a son. and you're telling me that what Arch Manning did last year was good enough for you to argue they belong in the playoffs? You have to score the football just as well as you have to stop teams from score. So ultimately, I view this as a perception problem more than a, this is actual, we are putting out a bad product on the field.

That's just what we've seen in the regular season and bowl season and in the playoffs. Since the bowls don't count anymore, only regular season and playoffs, the ACC showed. that we are a powerful conference and rightfully so. Well, I want to brainstorm with you when we come back on what needs to happen. And I don't think you can change it in one year. It might take 10. But what needs to happen to what steps can be taken? And I also want to talk about impact newcomers in the ACC.

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You know, we've addressed some of our protocol issues when it comes to the football conference championship tiebreakers because that was something to put the conference under a ton of scrutiny. And it's ironic because most of the power conferences had the same tiebreakers. It was just the ACC who got exposed for those tiebreakers before anybody else. So fix it, publicize it. I personally think more needs to be done to find consistency among your officials. I think it was a great step that the ACC became more transparent in, you know, televising their replay process.

But there were a few times where I cringe, I'm like, maybe this shouldn't be televised because the way that they're coming up with these calls makes no sense. So I think really trying to sharpen your officiating, publicizing, you know, your rule changes. And also, I think publicizing or doing it, and they do this a little bit, but publicizing, you know, the extra revenue that Florida State is getting through the brand initiative and the extra revenue Miami got last year through the success initiative just to show the world it's like hey we actually give you incentives for going out there and performing for competing for championships in football and basketball and for putting big TV ratings up I think the ACC needs to amplify the positive things that they're working on right now it's not going to do everything immediately Kenton but I think that's a start

I think that those are wonderful starts, and I think you need to continue and go to a next step after those in terms of Jim Phillips. You got to take off your kids, take gloves. You got to stop being so nice to everybody. All the other, all of the other commissioners have said, oh, yeah, we're doing what's best for our conference. We're doing what's best for our conference. Jim Phillips. I'm doing what's best for college football as a whole. Brother, I don't know if you know this or not.

You are not a college football commissioner. You are the ACC commissioner. Do what's best for your boys. If that means undercutting somebody else, if that means your mark would not hesitate to rip the heart out of every one of our teams if that meant that the Big 12 teams would come out on top. Petiti would not hesitate. Sanky?

Come on. Come on. Don't tell me what you think Sanky would do. We've seen it. We've seen it. So that has to be an extension of it. And there is an on-field portion. ACC teams continue to curb stop all of these other conferences when you come up in,

when you come up against them. When there's a head to him, when there's a locking of horns, continue to do what you do. Because there's only so long you can ignore results. There's only so long you can lie about what we're seeing on the field. There's only so long. You can only tell that lie of, well, we didn't care about bowl. games for a bowl season or two. Once you get the three, four bowl seasons in a row, you're like,

golly, these boys are whooping the wheels off you. You've got to do that. And here's another thing. I don't know how many other schools have this, but NC State has the richest, literally the richest man in the state of North Carolina, NC State guy. And yet, he's like treated a very clear thing. His name is Jim Goodnoy and I'm not saying that he hasn't been philanthropic enough, not saying that he needs to give more. He's very intentional about keeping his hands off

of athletics. You think LSU's richest are doing that? You think Firm's riches, you think Michigan's riches, you think Ohio State's riches, you think Oregon's richest, are sitting there saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I just want research. I want

research. All of our schools have to, you know, show up in that way. and the donors have to show up in that way because that's the world that we live in now, right? People are saying LSU has a $40 million roster, even if that's a overestimate of about 25%, let's say they have a $30 million roster. You think that's 100% paid for it by TV revenue? Nope. Because the TV revenue has to cover a lot more.

Sure, let's say that the roster is covered by that. Well, there was covering the facilities and all the other things. Yeah, and all the other athletic programs for that matter. Exactly. So there has to be a kind of changing in the attitudes of some of these boosters about like, oh, I'm not sure. Oh, this coach isn't good. So I'm not going to fail. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. Don't matter how good you think your coach is, you are never, I don't care how good your exes and O's are. Your Lairies and your Joe's are what make the X's and O's come to life. If you've got bad Lairies and Joles, you can scheme up the greatest scheme you've ever schemed in

dreamed and imploded and bland. And guess what? That really big guy whose belt loops are a little further apart than your defensive ends, he's going to grab that defensive end and say, young man, no hats in the club. That wide receiver, that's a little bit faster, he's going to tell your defensive back, where are you going? There's no right over there.

Boom, double move. He's out. That's what's going to happen if we don't invest more thoroughly. But again, I think that the biggest thing here is the perception. And one of the biggest things, which the ACC is doing, play every day, but not only play in conference every day, get some of those non-conference games on a Thursday, on a Friday, on a Tuesday, so that people can see, oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. When these two teams played each other, this team was supposed to be in a better superior conference, and all of a sudden, they're getting dominated. They're not just getting beat.

They're getting the wheels whipped off of them. Miami is out here getting coaches fired at other schools in the state of Florida. you catch my trip. You know what I mean? So that's that's what I want to see. I want to see that on the days of the week where you're not thinking about football elsewhere because that's where you're going to get people to finally look up and say, wow. So this Florida team that beat all these other SEC team lost to my mom. Oh, okay. So shift shifting gears heading into this upcoming football season. I think we can spend some time on this in upcoming episodes as well. But ESPN put out an article identifying the most important newcomer for every ACC football team, Billy Tucker

from ESPN.com, pen this piece. And one that jumps out to me, because most of these most important newcomers are players who came in through the transfer portal, even at Clemson, mind you, who barely uses the portal. Their most important guy, Chris Johnson, Jr., former SMU and also former Miami running back they consider to be their most important addition so almost all these guys are transfers but one that identified a high school player kenton as the most important newcomer and you may not be a fan of this particular college program but i think you are a fan of the high school that he played for and that's wide receiver c j sadler out of kaz tech in detroit where you played your high school football and i'm sure you're familiar with what c j saddler who was mr michigan footballs

football last year, what he accomplished there. And, you know, if he actually has a quarterback who could throw him some touchdowns, because UNC last year, they got different quarterbacks now. G.O. Lopez, it's not coming through that door anymore. They only threw 13 touchdown passes the entire season, right? I mean, for J.K.S. at Cal, that was like a month, right? Worth of three weeks worth of touchdowns. So, you know, is C.J. Sadler, whether it's Teron Dickens or Ed.

Edwards, the Wisconsin transfer throwing him the football. Do you think C.J. Sadler can make a big impact year one at UNC. Absolutely. I think of him as much more of a, think of a hybrid between Jabrilla Peppers and Travis Hunter. And I know that those are two massive names to throw up. But that, and I know, that's a, that's a high bar to give. But that's how those green guys do each other. If you're a cast, mission the bar is the bar. Our model at our school is cast take number one second and not for a reason. But in all seriousness, he can do a little bit of everything on both sides of ball. He is a fantastic cornerback as well as the fact that he's a fantastic receiver. And one of the best things about him as a receiver and a corner is what he can do when he gets

the ball in his hands, which also leads you to believe he'll be good at what? If he's good in the broken field, kick returning and punt return. So this is a young man that is adding an instantaneous weapon of great magnitude to this UNC team. I don't think that they have a single athlete on that team that compares to him. And I mean that very genuine. I mean, I don't think that they had a single guy last year that I don't believe they have a single guy this year that can do or that has an amalgamation of different skills

that he has. Now, the question is, can he? home those things and can he be utilized in a way that takes advantage of his skill set early on because it took a very intentional effort even at Jackson State where you could tell Travis Hunter did not belong on the field with some of those guys from Alcorn State or from an Alabama A&M and things like that you could tell he did not belong in the field with those guys it still took a force feeding of him the ball to kind of get him into situations where he'd be successful because defensively teams could just say hey where 12 is.

the other way, right? Same thing with CJ here. You want to put him in positions where he can succeed. Get him in those jet sweeps. Get him in those fly sweeps. Get him in a position to where, you know, you're putting him in punt and kick return where he can really get loose and wiggle a little bit. And ultimately, like you said, quarterback play is going to have an effect on it.

But again, can you be creative enough offensively to scheme him into some of those situations where it's like, you know what? We may want to throw a bubble screen here. and if we have success with that, let's fake the bubble screen to keep them honest a little bit and make their defenders honor the fact that we have other receivers and whatnot. So C.J. Sadler, dynamic athlete, fantastic, yard after catch guy, fantastic interception return, pump return guy.

He's a dynamic player. Again, he's more quick than fast, but he's plenty fast as well. He's a guy that, again, when you get him, slippery. I'm telling you, he's, as the Migo says, slippery, excuse me, That young man is that. He has that ability to just get that little bit of wiggle going and make you miss. I think that he could be a very, very good weapon for UNC. And I'm going to tell you this.

If UNC is to hit the goals that they have for the year, he has to be. I don't think that they have a bunch of other weapons where you'll say, that guy's going to be all ACC, that guy's going to be all agency, that guy's going to be it and they'll get there. But CJ is one of those players that he could pop out and be this year as Malachi Tony or Casey Concepcion. Could be one of the top impactful freshmen in the conference this year. When we come back, let's talk some hoops. Good win for the Wolfpack today against Pittsburgh.

They advanced to take on UVA. Got other games in progress around the ACC tournament. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market.

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SMU and Louisville in progress midway through the first half. SMU is on top of 24th rent Louisville 16 to 15. We expect Louisville to pull that one out, but SMU needs it more, Kenton, because they're on the bubble and a win would go a long way for them. Louisville is not on the bubble. NC State, who's also, you know, not on the bubble comfortably in, but, you know, a little bit more comfortably today,

maybe than they were in recent days as far as seating goes. NC State played their best basketball on how long, Kenton, in that 98-88 win against Pitt? Because it's been a minute. You know, it's obviously the best game they played since the UNC game. And the reality is this was a team that finally did not say, hey, we don't want to have this game. You know, I figured out what the problem was. It was too much charitable giving, you know, it was too much charity. And that's what Will Way was talking about, what he said, we got a lot of nice guys on this team.

People thought that he was integrating them for having good grades and being good at school. He said, no, they give away too many games because they're so kind. They said, you know what? Miami and Jay Lucas, Will Wade's an established problem. Everybody believes in them. Will Wade will have rumors swirling about, oh, he's leaving Raleigh every three minutes. It happened literally before he got to Raleigh. People were saying, oh, he's not going to make it.

Texas is involved. Even now, in the midst of a losing street, oh, LSU is coming back. Don't rule LSU out, LSU is coming. and they said, you know what, we want Jay Lucas to be mentioned in these conversations. So we'll give you a win. And that's what this team has been doing. But finally, they decided, all right, we've given enough. We've given enough everybody.

We need to play fundamental basketball. And that pit team is a big physical team, right? For whatever they lack on the football, whatever they lack in terms of shoes. They got rugby players on that team. Exactly. And yet, NC State only lost a rebound in battle by one rebound, something that is fairly rare for them in ACC games. because teams with length normally have

whooped the wheels off of NC State because, I mean, objectively speaking, you've got one true big in Van Allen Lubin. Other than that, you look kind of thin there. But I will say this, Donald. And looking at what we're seeing with the ACC tournament, I think that by far the NC State game is the least meaningful and the least impactful.

And let me tell you why. Obviously, we're talking SMU Louisville and the different things that could come out of that. But Cal is also a team that was said to be, if you win a couple games, you could be in. Clemson is a team that sputtered that stressed themselves. So that's another game where they could be, you know, they got some problems there.

And Clemson is playing who? Wake Forest. Why is Wake Forest important? Do you know who else was on the bubble when this tournament started? Virginia Tech. And who did they play first round? Wake. And where's weight at in the second round?

So if so fact, though, I'm looking here and I'm saying there's a lot of interesting storylines happening in the ACC tournament. And again, like I said, we're going to see some great basketball, but man, these are some great stories as well. This is a time where sports journalists, sports writers, everybody wants to talk about sports, this is the easiest your job will ever be in terms of ACC basketball because all of these games are meaningful. Yeah.

So for the quarter finals tomorrow, Thursday, you know, the matchup that's set at the time that we record this is NC State against Virginia. Then that'll be at noon tomorrow. 2.30. Miami's going to play the winner of the game that's in progress now between Louisville and SMU. Duke will play the winner of Florida State versus Cal. Coming out of tonight, that game's going to be 7 p.m. tomorrow. Maryland will play the winner of Clemson versus Wake Forest. So that's what we're looking at for the quarterfinal round, which means the buys and the double buys will all be done.

By the end of tomorrow, every team in the ACC tournament will have played. So a lot to look forward to. We'll certainly be covering it throughout the rest of the week. Huge thank you to Kenton Gibbs. Make sure you follow him and Grayson Boone on Lockdown Wolfpack, wherever you get your pods. Follow Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton on X. Follow me at Locked on Cains and find my other show.

Follow me at Alex Dono, I should say, and find my other show Locked on Cains on all your favorite podcast platforms. And be sure to join the Everydayer Club. We got the Brackett Challenge starting up. So sign up before the tournament begins. And if you haven't become an Everydayer yet, use our code March and get a free month membership, which is fantasy. You can't beat that. So we'll talk to you all next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one locked on podcast network, your team every day.