Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Can Cal Golden Bears bounce back after Miami Hurricanes loss?

Starting point is 00:00:01 ACC officiating has always been a roller coaster. And Cal football fans, they just found out. 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 and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team.

Starting point is 00:00:36 every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. Place your first $5 bet, and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Visit Fandual.com to get started on this truly loaded episode of Lockdown ACC. We're going to talk about the ACC players of the week because certain quarterback in Pittsburgh has taken home honors every week that he's played so far this year. I want to talk about whether Clemson's stock rose or stayed the same after, you know, a win against Florida State, but Alex Dono alongside Kenton Gibbs, as always, and we are joined by our resident Cal expert and talking head, Lawrence Ross. Now, Lawrence, listen, I know there's a lot to complain about, hopefully including the fact that your team didn't have the stamina to go for

Starting point is 00:01:24 full quarters. All right, let me tell you this. Let's start off with this with an African proverb. All right. They always say that the lion will not be able to write. the history as long as the hunter has the gun. All right. And I say that because I have been listening for the last 24 hours of people saying, oh, but they shouldn't have gotten a lost to 25 point label. Let me tell you, friends, that if we had had that targeting call actually done correctly, the actual headline would have been Cal shocks Miami, holds off a furious rally by Miami, but shocks them. That's the point. Now, my biggest thing, I swear to God, we are sitting appear and obviously Miami fans are happy but I remember my last appearance here I remembered all the

Starting point is 00:02:12 commenters I said what was my score 31 to 21 I didn't hear anything from Miami fans except for you donno we were going back and forth and I'll talk about that um I said 31 21 21 and we were up 35 10 didn't hear a single thing from a single Miami fan sink didn't hear anything and me and donnell were going back and forth DM it and I said Cal has to finish the game I said I'm I'm paranoid. Cal has to finish the game. Okay. I thought it was over. I'll admit. I thought it was over. You thought it was over rightfully, right? Okay. I did not think it was over. We played Cam Ward last year. We won on a last minute hell Mary interception. We know how good that young man is. Okay. But here's my problem. When we go into, I get a lot of Miami fans who have been coming at me about talking about, well, your team shouldn't have done this on the field. You shouldn't leave it up to the reps. The reps are there for a reason. The rest are there for a reason. The rest. are there for a reason. We have 110 chaotic plays over and over happening. And what we just basically ask for is for an even playing for each one of those plays. Now, we have lines of demarcation when we talk about things that are serious and things that we know that sometimes

Starting point is 00:03:22 will get missed. We know that within football, there's holding calls that you can find, right? So what do we do? We recognize as fans and as the sport, you know, the most egregious ones, we're going to make sure to call. The ones that we miss, we know those are in the, the level of, hey, we miss those. But there are special calls that we know that we have reviews for because they are so important and we have defined them. With targeting, we've literally since 2008 have taught college football fans, football players, every part of what we're talking about, even to the point of airing to the part of making sure, because it's so important that if it's even a hint of what is happening, and that's in the rule, we air toward it being

Starting point is 00:04:05 targeting and now when we look at it as a fan and when we talk about the determining factor Miami wasn't going to get the ball back this was a determining factor they had three timeouts that Miami did have three timeouts left if they had three timeouts where did our we did our kicker and I'm going to say we give up a 77 yard run a pass play after that but where did our where did our kicker kick it to to the five yard line right if y'all would have three timeouts we would have drain some of the clock we would have got it down and you've had less time. What I'm trying to say is regardless of the fact, you've got to make that call. He has launching. He has all the attributes of just the generic target. It's just not even

Starting point is 00:04:47 one of those things where we go, yeah, he hit him low right here with the shoulder and then boom, that's how his head came into his thing. We've seen all those things. Those things have been called targeting. And for that to happen, the biggest thing for the ACC is that if you start to believe that the refereeing is not is is is geared towards someone else right you know and you know this conspiracy theory a base of beyond like Miami people don't like Miami or thing I'm not even saying all that right Miami got their share of penalties and things like that but once you start having that happen on a regular basis then what happens that it rose trust I mean cow was in a pack 12 we had some of the worst referees in the world look up glasses ref okay look up glasses ref they all have their none

Starting point is 00:05:31 Sonny Dykes ref. Look at those lefts. We know bad refereeing. But this is egregious. When you had the time to actually look at it, study it, outside the, you know, Miami sphere, 99% of college football fans would point and say that's targeting. And for that not to be called is absolutely a shame.

Starting point is 00:05:52 Because what we did really attain to the game, it ain't it for Miami, because all Miami is going to do in terms of the fans are just going to try to gaslight it, right? They're just going to try to gaslight it. We didn't do what we saw. And we're just going to just go, just to move on, right? And I mean, I watched the replay a thousand times and I saw a violent shoulder to shoulder hit that I do not believe meets all the criteria of targeting.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Now, the problem is that we have seen hits like that get called targeting. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. So that's my point. My point is those ones that we even were marginal were called targeting. We're not talking about where we say we've really had a line. we've really delineated between, you know, this one or that one. That's when we're starting to get pedantic,

Starting point is 00:06:33 where we're really just trying to kind of like find our reason. That is targeting. And violent hits, I'm not worried about. And also, there's also a little curious thing. Hard hits are hard hits. But there's really kind of a characteristic that happens when you have a particular hit. For example, if you note in basketball, for example, a charge versus a block, you will note how in terms of a charge, how it all happens.

Starting point is 00:06:59 offense, right? The offensive player kind of like really loses the ball, if they can't continue and things like that versus a block in which they kind of maintain their integrity. In this, it was a, it was definitely a violent hit. That's not a problem, but it was up in the area exactly where they actually said. And I've seen it where people talked about, even if it was a shoulder, they were still called targeting. I mean, really, look, I mean, you know, disconnect the emotion of being, you know, a win or lose. I'm not really caring about that. You know, Cal can still win several more games go tend to great that's fine and this will be nobody will remember this if you know Miami goes and win this championship nobody will remember this but it really kind of strikes me as

Starting point is 00:07:38 someone new to the ACC and listening to people talk about the ACC refereeing about how fatalistic people have been about the badness of ACC refereeing and all you and remember you know our emotions go up and down with 18 to 23 oh right you know it's kind of irrational in the first place to do that but if you're going to play the games if you're going to have those kids and invest themselves in the games. Mistakes, and so a lot of Miami fans were like, well, you shouldn't have done this, or if it happened late, or we can't decide to get, yes, you decide games based upon mistakes.

Starting point is 00:08:11 Cal blew one coverage, one coverage on defense, and allowed Respito, if I remember, Chris. Restrepo. Xavier Restrepo. Restrepo to run for 77. One, one mistake, okay? One mistake. And that had an impact, right?

Starting point is 00:08:26 well, refs have to get those calls right in order because that had impact on Cal. Okay, so I'm, I think that got out. I'm going to tell you. That was brilliant. Go ahead. It absolutely was.

Starting point is 00:08:39 And this is a point. It was brilliant, but he was wrong, but it was still brilliant. But this is, but this is, and ultimately, this is Lawrence touches on the exact same things that I said yesterday. In terms of,

Starting point is 00:08:51 it's not about who the call is for, who the call is against, because I acknowledge with Don, Cheney was down or is that the gentleman last year? It was one from last year. Yeah. Jayne was down.

Starting point is 00:09:02 And also, I will say, I saw, and Jaden Ott played a hell of a football game, but I saw him score a 66 yard alleged touchdown that was not reviewed, even though I saw photographic evidence of him being out of bounds. Right. I don't, I don't disagree with that. I mean, you know what?

Starting point is 00:09:18 Here's the point. You know, if, if he was out of bounds, Cal starts in wherever he was out of bounds, and we keep pulling it. I don't, I mean, people, people have used that as a counter that there are bad calls all around my point is if that was unfair to miami and was a thing in for miami i don't want that either i don't i'm not just sitting up here trying to get an advantage based upon non-calls yeah i just want the calls to be consistent i'm sorry can go ahead but that but no i i appreciate you saying that because again i am in the

Starting point is 00:09:49 exact same place which makes people believe that i at hand time i am and i'm not i am in that exact same place of... And I know, I know by the way that you are, even if I... Of course. Of course. But Donno, you're part of rational fandom. You're part of rational fan. That's the problem. That's a, you know, fan is short for fanatic. Expecting fanatic to be rational is crazy. But in all seriousness, that is the point that I'm getting at and that I think we will

Starting point is 00:10:17 continue to see for so long. And who knows how or maybe in perpetuity forever. Because this is a situation where we continue to say it's not about Miami. It's not about Cal. It's not about SMU. It's not about Wake Forest. It's not about NC State, not about UNC, not about Virginia. It's about the fact that, like you have said, it erodes trust in the product that we constantly have to say, not just, well, let's just ignore the reps and play the best you can. It's the fact that we know at some point in time, the refs are going to screw the pooch. You have to make this game so far out of question that referee can't matter, which to me, that's too much of an

Starting point is 00:11:00 asked on 18 to 23 year old. And you look, real quick, this isn't Cal's first go around with ACC reps. Remember a couple of years ago, we played Notre Dame. And Notre Dame, basically, I think we're up 10 and nothing. This is, you know, in the part of the game that, you know, if you go either way. But it was 10 and nothing. We were controlling the game. It was a field goal.

Starting point is 00:11:19 Notre Dame went up for a field goal, and they missed it, right? Then we get a mysterious flag. of off-sides. And there was literally no video evidence or any type of evidence of being off-sides. There's none. They couldn't even point to where they were off-sides. And, you know, Cal ended up losing on a Hail Mary, right? That's, okay, that's fine. But when I look at it, you know, you start building evidence. This is our first year. This is our first year in ACC. Our two last games, you know, two games that we've actually played, which were important, we had these types of game determinative types of things.

Starting point is 00:11:53 I can't imagine what you all have been going through because that was a level of incompetent. And like I said, don't get me wrong. Even our Cal fan base doesn't have anything against Miami. You know, we just, you know, having fun with Miami and things like that. But the fact that we said that, if you look at 99% of the college football fan base and you said, you just sent them this and you asked them, And what do you think is targeting that would be in the NCAA rule book for targeting?

Starting point is 00:12:24 And now, again, we can look through the rule books. We can talk about defensive and non-defensive and all that things and what else you slide. It's the same. And I think when we go with our gut, we know what we truly are dealing with. Now, does it really matter? Hey, look, Miami, it would have been a nice scalp, you know, to get Miami, right? You know, Cal will, you know, do their thing. And, you know, our goal was eight to nine wins anyway.

Starting point is 00:12:45 But I want to come back to your own Miami fans, though, the ones who comment it, you know, after my last one. And they were all talking about there's going to be 63 to this and 70 to that and they're going to beat by 20 and everything. And we, you know, y'all one by one. But did you believe what I said when I said about what my team actually is? And you're right. You know, I said 31 and got 35.

Starting point is 00:13:07 If they could adjust, you know, our second basically what happened. 38? Yeah. Well, I want to continue. I want to talk big picture a little bit on Cal since we have Lawrence on when we come back because I think this is a good football team. And, you know, I still have my concerns about Miami. I thought Cal played superb football.

Starting point is 00:13:26 So you guys want to keep it locked. We got Lawrence Ross with us, Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cainz. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Lockdown, ACC. Y'all want to keep it locked. My friends, it's time for our Roy player of the week. The Roy app lets you directly support your favorite athletes. Unlike collectives, where you make a donation to a general fund,

Starting point is 00:13:52 Roy lets you choose the specific athlete you want to support. You back the players you care about and in return, get exclusive content after the season like personal videos and updates. And the best part is it's risk-free. If the athlete transfers or doesn't create the content, you get your money back. And this week, we have chosen for our ACC player of the week here on Roy. We're going with Eli Holstein, quarterback redshirt freshman from the Pitt Panthers, who remains undefeated at 5-0, 381 passing. cards, three touchdowns and an interception in a 34 to 24 victory against UNC. Eli Holstein's having a great season. So we just contributed $100 to his campaign on Roy.

Starting point is 00:14:33 We want you to join us by making a payment of as little as $10. When enough of us contribute, it's not just about the dollars, it's about the message we send to Eli Holstein together. Our collective support helps him connect to our fans. Plus, Roy is doing their part to bring fans closer to their schools and athletes with an exciting giveaway. Roy is giving one lucky fan, two tickets to any game of their choice in November. Here's how to enter. Just download Roy in the app store or Google Play. Use code locked on when signing up and you're entered.

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Starting point is 00:15:18 And for as little as $10 you can get in the NIL game, Roy. support the players, change the game. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC. Your first listen and your first watch, 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. So, you know, Lawrence, obviously that was a very tough game for Cal. And I'm sure that there's going to be a lot of bulletin board material on Justin Wilcox's

Starting point is 00:15:49 whiteboard heading into your next game. So what do you think the team can take from this? because again, watching this with orange and green glasses on, I admit Cal played a heck of a football game. Well, I think this is going to be a crucial game against Pitt. Because, you know, we're going to have a game, you know, a really, you know, a really good team that's really feeling themselves. I think they're up to like 22 in the rankings and things like that.

Starting point is 00:16:10 And we're going that other trip out east. So this is going to be one of those weird kind of combination, kind of like what we're trying to do is break the trends what we had in the Pac-12, in which we would have a game against USC, Oregon, and in Washington and find ourselves. those with a three-game losing streak. So I'm going to be very interested to see how we respond. I mean, our boys have a lot of character.

Starting point is 00:16:30 I mean, we have a lot of character, but every team has character. But I think our boys have really a lot of character. And I think that they kind of understand the macro of not to just make one loss into two losses. And I think they also look from a standpoint that, you know, they know what they can do. They know what they can do. And I think they just have to get it over the line. And here's my thing. I think if my boys are able, if Cal is able to get at Pitt, a nice scalp at pit,

Starting point is 00:16:59 and, you know, the steady of the ship, except for SMU, the rest of the, the season really sets up pretty damn well. Because it's, I mean, not getting, I'm not trying to talk about your North Carolina State, but North Carolina State is there. Oregon State, Stanford, Wake Forest. Those are all winnable games. although, you know, my trap game has always been Wake Forest because I said those are the games that we typically lose. But I think Florida State kind of took that, you know, the ones where's the oh and something type of team. But I mean, our goal, first year in ACC had always been to win eight games. Eight games go to an interesting ball.

Starting point is 00:17:38 Cool. I think when we, you know, we beat Auburn, that was our, you know, our kind of like, oh, this can be much bigger. But remember, I only said that we would beat one out of three between Auburn, Florida State, and my first. Miami. And so we did. Okay. So now let's see whether or not we can get on a really good street. The boys did that last year when they wanted to roll the, when they wanted to roll to a bowl. They won like three straight. Let's see if they can continue to do it. Burn in the boats, basically. When you got two out of your three against Miami and Auburn and Florida State, you got two of the three. I mean, objectively speaking, you, I'll play the expectations here. So let me ask you this.

Starting point is 00:18:17 Yeah, as otherwise, but sure. What would you? What would you say is your level of confidence? Because we've seen this time and time again, not just from Cal, but from many, many teams in college football where you start off well, and then you go up against that world beating team and you're right there on the precipice.

Starting point is 00:18:34 One thing doesn't go your way, doesn't break your way, and then that one loss turns into two turns into three. What is your confidence level that Cal can write to ship and say, you know what, to hell with it, that game, we lost it, it was taken from it, however you look at it, the game happened, an L resulted, we move on.

Starting point is 00:18:51 What is your confidence level that Cal doesn't go on a losing streak here? Very high, very high. You know, the reason, there's a couple of reasons. There's some fundamental football reasons. Our DB, you know, DBs are basically a no-fly zone, you know, when, you know, they're not just on the field, you know, forever. But, you know, they basically are, you know, they're going to still, you know, get a lot of, basically, you know,

Starting point is 00:19:13 shut down a lot of quarterbacks, you know, any marginal quarterbacks out there, not like a Cam Ward, you know, they're going to be very strong. there and plus the leadership on the team, whether not you talk about Cade or whether or not you talk about Fernando, Mendoza, you know, these are two leaders on the team who really are young leaders, but who understand what has happened in the past and they are determined not to make that happen. And for all of that, you know, every team tries to do that. We have enough talent to make sure that it doesn't happen.

Starting point is 00:19:39 So I'm thinking that if I was going to look, you know, I'd say an A minus about whether or not for the last seven games, I'd say, at last seven games, I would expect us to win five of them. the last seven, which would make us eight and, you know, something, you know. So, okay, if we really go on a flyer, you know, maybe we win them all, you know, and I think that carrot of the ACC championship is still out there. That's the thing. If Wilcoct can really, you know, emphasize, and that has always been the goal to get to the ACC championship, I would love nothing better than for Cal and Miami to meet again, because I swear to goodness, I think things would turn out a lot different, a lot different.

Starting point is 00:20:19 because the one thing that Wilcox typically does and it bites him every single time is that they try to protect leads and, you know, they don't protect those leads. They have a, he has a very bad for a quarter. Play like you were playing before. You know, I think, you know, there's a lot of decisions. You're going to make me throw my podcast equipment across the room talk about protecting leads. Now, as an NC state guy, you're going to make me throw my podcast equipment across the room. You know what? I'm not, I need me to interrupt you.

Starting point is 00:20:47 I'm sorry, Lord. But you gave me a little bit of PTSD right there. No, no, no, no. It's one of those things where these guys are good, all right? And, I mean, they're good. The only really weakness is our offensive line. All right, okay, we get that. But even with our, yeah, we couldn't run against, you know, Miami, right?

Starting point is 00:21:05 Hey, Bain, I really thought, you know, I thought he was the evil villain character. But he is no joke. Okay, that man is a frightening man to run after you. Okay, so with all that, how many times we're going to see that? You know, we're not going to see that in the rest of our schedule. So if we can do that against pretty much the last two really good defensive lines, Florida State and for Miami, I think we're set of okay. And if we can give Jayden any room, you know, you saw with the swing pass,

Starting point is 00:21:38 you know, how once he gets the ball, he's gone. We just haven't seen a hole for him. He just hasn't had a hole. And the jet, you saw Jadian. Thomas do the exact same thing. They just don't have holes. And so, you know, we can criticize, you know, our rushing game, but it's just we're not getting holes. But hopefully we're not playing, you know, Miami or Florida State style defensive lines from now. You guys know better than me. You know, you can tell me whether or not there are some more lines that I should look out

Starting point is 00:22:05 for. But yeah, I still, I'm still believing in my boys. The only good defensive line that you have left has linebackers that are absolute dogwater. Boys couldn't read a hole if you gave them a treasure map saying be here on this point in time during the play and make the tackle. I'm not talking about anybody in particular right now who resides in Riley, not talking about that lineback of court at all. But I do love me some Davin Van and Brandon Cleaver. So there are a good defensive line. It's just when you don't have the linebacker's just, never mind.

Starting point is 00:22:39 We ain't go. I don't make this episode about me. And that's what Jay Not eats. So if you can't feel a hole, that's what he's going to go through and you're never going to catch him. But we just can't be able to bring big plates and forks to Raleigh. That's all I'm going to say to you. But with that with that in mind, before we get you out of here, I just have one last thing for you. Because you've talked about if you take a flyer, you've talked about what you think is going to have.

Starting point is 00:23:05 Tell me if you have to predict right now, right, the Martians got the death beam. Point editor, what does Cal finish the season in terms of the final record before Bogan? 93. 93. Okay. All right. So that means they'll lose more the rest of the way? SMU is our only really kind of, you know, big game because they've had three quarterbacks, if I remember, you know, until they get it right. But they have some scary receivers. They have some, even for our guys, they have some scary, big, tall, fast receivers. SMU is really the only one I'm really kind of like nervous about.

Starting point is 00:23:41 I think our reaction to Pitt is going to be, I think, very, very good. I think these are guys who are like, uh-uh, this ain't going to happen anymore. This is not going to happen anymore. And I think this is a statement game for my guys. Now, of course, they may go out and they may lose, but then, you know, they may roll SMU. But I think 93 is going to be our final for the year, which, and if they're 8 and 4, that's still a damn good first year in the ACC. I agree. Oh, by the way.

Starting point is 00:24:06 I agree. By the way, I was just one before we, before we break. One last thing. That whole experience, we had over like 300 recruits. at the game. And it has absolutely blown away. Because remember, the ACC provides us with coverage that we never got in the Pact 12 network.

Starting point is 00:24:26 I couldn't watch it myself, you know, because I didn't have the cable. You know, I had Hulu. This has been the greatest boon to Cal football, ACC in a generation. And that was an amazing turnout at Cal Memorial. Like I was blown away watching that game. And Lawrence, it's been awesome getting to know you this season. I'm sure it's not going to be the last time we talked to, especially if Cal goes nine and three,

Starting point is 00:24:49 we're going to have some big wins to talk about. Exactly, exactly. And y'all have always been mad cool. And like I said, no disrespect to Miami fans or any other fans. But I did make note of all of y'all who thought you were going to blow us out. And I just want to see pictures of all y'all when it was 35 to 10. I bet you is not the most happy moment in your lives. Good.

Starting point is 00:25:11 That's what we did. That was how I was feeling at that moment because I was chatting with him. It was, it was tense times in the Dono household. I was, I was very nervous. I'm going to tell you. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your week. I'm going to tell you this much.

Starting point is 00:25:25 I appreciate you. We appreciate you, Lawrence, and you know we're going to have you back regardless. Regardless of a big win, big loss, we're going to have your back because I'll tell you, there has not been a better ambassador of any team. I haven't been as good ambassador for A&C State. Donno ain't been as good ambassador for Miami as you have been for Cal this season. We look forward to having you again. You all are too kind and you guys are a pleasure to come on.

Starting point is 00:25:48 So anytime you want, you just holler at me. I appreciate y'all. I love it. Great stuff there. Well, we're not done yet on this new episode of Locked on ACCC because we've got to talk about the players of the week this week, including, again, they're going to have to rename that ACC rookie of the week trophy. You guys want to keep it locked right here.

Starting point is 00:26:07 We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Oh, and we are certainly not done, my friend. friends with FanDuel. This is America's number one sports book. And okay, so my Miami minus 10 bet did not cash over the weekend, but we still had a lot of fun betting on our favorite teams. And if you're an NFL fan, I'm sure you are. You can start the season with a big return on FanDuel, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, do live play by play and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first

Starting point is 00:26:51 $5 bet. That's fanduel.com. Folks, you want to check it out. It's America's number one sports book. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Kenton, before we get into to ACC players of the week, you know, Clemson, Clemson covered the spread against Florida State. I've noticed some folks, including Eric McLean at ACC network. I'm not going to argue with it. It is what it is. He moved Clemson up a spot ahead of Miami on his ACC power rankings. And honestly, I can understand Miami dropping a spot because you talked about a certain linebacking core at a different team, not being able to read a treasure map to tell him where to go. That's how I felt about Miami's defensive backs this past Saturday. So I can understand

Starting point is 00:27:41 it. But do you think Clemson rising into number one on some people's power rankings, is that more about Clemson or is it more about Miami? There's more about Miami and more so, I'm going to say this and please do not take this the wrong actually I don't give a damn. I know you're going to take it the wrong way. It's more about ACC officiator. That's really what this is about. People know, hey, Miami should have lost that game.

Starting point is 00:28:04 That should have very well been a loss for Miami. I don't know. I know two of those people. I know you and Lauren Ross. I know a lot of other people who don't feel that way. Here's the deal. Here's the deal. Anybody who put Clemson in front of Miami, I guarantee you. you there in the same, I guarantee you they're in the same boat because there's no other

Starting point is 00:28:20 rational reason to put Clemson beating a Florida State team. Did they, what, they beat them by more than Memphis? I mean, is that, is that why you will want them in the first? Is that that's not the bar? The bar is, hey, we believe that they're the only team in the ACC that rightfully their one loss game against a top, top, top team to where you're thinking, hey, this is a top five, top ten team in America. That, to me, is, that's what I mean by that's the indictment of the officials, because people don't believe that Miami rightfully won that game, in my opinion. That's the sentiment that I've seen from most of the shows where people said,

Starting point is 00:28:57 hey, Miami doesn't belong at number one. That's been the sentiment that's correct. Right or wrong, whether or not you agree that it was targeting or not, I think we can both agree. If you watch the shows where they're saying, hey, Miami is now number two. Here, I've still got Miami at number one. Regardless of what to rather, who bailed out who, undefeated. it. Don't give a damn. I'm defeat. Okay. That's the reality. I live in reality ifs and

Starting point is 00:29:21 butts, we're berries and nuts, squirrels would never starve. But we live in the real world. We live in the real world where it does not matter what you think, what should have happened, what was the right, what happened happened. And to me, Miami is still number one. But again, with people making Miami number two, it is purely an indictment of the referee and the fact that Miami has played two extremely close games against teams that are not viewed as, hey, you should struggle against this team, although I will say this, that Virginia Tech loss to Vandy looks a lot different than it used to these days. Sure does.

Starting point is 00:29:56 Yeah, and I will say, like, Miami needs to play better than they did their last two games if they expect to win the ACC. Like, you know, you can't be erasing 25-point leads every week and you can't be given. I mean, Miami gave up four passing. plays of more than 50 yards against against Cal. Now, Cal didn't suddenly become the 1999 St. Louis Rams.

Starting point is 00:30:21 Like, it's a good, good team, but I mean, there's really no excuse for what Miami did. But on to, so for ACC players of the week, you know, the most decorated guys on the list, the most repeat winners. Cam Ward wins quarterback of the week for the fourth time this season.

Starting point is 00:30:37 But how about Eli Holstein? Eli Holstein of Pittsburgh has played in five games. because Pitt has already had their by week. So he's played in five games. And in every game he's played, he's won ACC Rookie of the Week honors. The only time he missed it was during the buy week.

Starting point is 00:30:54 So Kenton, at this rate, they're going to have to rename that the Eli Holstein rookie of the week starting next year. Absolutely. That young man is lighting the world on fire. He is showing something that none of us knew, and let's be very honest about this, Narduzi didn't even know that he had.

Starting point is 00:31:12 had this in the spring because Donald, you were at Media Days. Was there a quarterback from Pitt there? Yes. Was his name Eli Holstein? No. Okay. So he has completely changed what our expectations are of him, but not only as he changed expectations, as expectations has risen, he's met him.

Starting point is 00:31:33 He's mad at him. He's shown up and shown up. People said, all right, you're going to start playing real defenses eventually. He's like, oh, really? These are the real defenses? still feasting. He's having a great time. That team is looking really good. They're rolling right now. Of course, they've got problems

Starting point is 00:31:48 just like anybody else. Of course, they've shown some moments where you're like, why do y'all struggle so much against the run in critical junctures? Like, when you need to get off the field, get your tail off the field, get you a third down stop. They've struggled with that. But that ain't got nothing to do with Eli.

Starting point is 00:32:04 He has shown up and shown out every single time that he needs to do. By the way, Kenton, before we run, let people know about the new show that you're a part of on the Lockdown Network, because you already do a fantastic job on this show. You do a fantastic job on Lockdown Wolfpack, and you're now a part of the three-point stance.

Starting point is 00:32:24 Yeah, three-point stance is the new show in college football, and it's going to be showing on the Lockdown College Football channel. Every day at 2 p.m. Central Standard time, you can see this beautiful face of mind. I know most of you think I'm a clown and a bozo and all the things. But don't worry, I'm going to have all my big red nose in my shoes tomorrow, letting everybody know exactly what's going on nationally in terms of college football.

Starting point is 00:32:53 So stay tuned because, again, you know, it's a great show. I've got Zach Black will be on that thing. I got Jay Smith on that thing. And I'm telling you, we are coming at you with the facts every single day. And every topic that is big news in college football will be bringing it to. And I loved it. I watched the first episode on Monday. I thought you guys were all fantastic.

Starting point is 00:33:13 And I love how you and I are both East Coast guys and you're throwing out Central Time. You're letting Blackerby influence you with him being in the Central Time. Like you're letting the Black. Because he always, whenever he's like, and Zach Blackerby, you host Lockdown Auburn. He's also the college, one of the college channel managers. And, you know, since he's in a loser time zone, because the Eastern, the Eastern is the real time zone, Kent. And we all know that. Well, every time we've got a meeting, he throws it out in Central Time.

Starting point is 00:33:41 and I'm all confused. It's like throughout the Eastern time. Listen, listen, we got 3 p.m. Easter standard time, 2 p.m. Central Standard time. And we got noon in Pacific standard time. Let me tell you, it's Zach Blackerby, it's Jay Smith who's out there on the West Coast, and it's our boy, Lawrence, who's also on the West Coast.

Starting point is 00:34:00 You know, they got me all discombulated and confused. All these different times old rolling in front of my family. Why can't we just have one top zone? Why can it to be dark over there at 1 p.m.? Okay? You know, just flip your counter. It is what it is, both. We all know there's only one time zone that matters, and it's Eastern time.

Starting point is 00:34:16 So we'll focus on that. Awesome job is always by Kent and Gibbs. Thank you so much Lawrence Ross, who's out in the Pacific time zone, which is like the second coolest time zone behind East. I like the Pacific, honestly. I like it a lot. It's a really good time. Actually, I wouldn't mind being on that time zone because like the late,

Starting point is 00:34:31 like I wouldn't have had to stay up until 4 a.m. doing Hurricanes post game. I would have only been up to one in the morning. Hello. I'm at it. I'm at it. We'll talk to you guys. guys again next time on another episode of locked on acc we're part of the awesome lockdown podcast network your team every day

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Can Cal Golden Bears bounce back after Miami Hurricanes loss?

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