Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Can Pittsburgh Panthers challenge Miami, Clemson & SMU for ACC title?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Pitt and Miami stay undefeated. SMU wins again. The top of the ACC, it's staying crowded. You are Locked on ACCC, 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.

Starting point is 00:00:31 Wherever you get your podcast, we're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduil. You can start the season with a big return on Fandual. New customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Visit Fandual.com to get started. So I watched Miami win their rivalry game against the Florida State Seminoles, but I want to start before we get into Saturday, Kenton Gibbs, I want to start on Thursday night. We're also going to talk on this episode. about the ACC players of the week.

Starting point is 00:01:09 But Kenton, Pitt is legit. And I wish I had listened to you when you had been telling me for the last couple of weeks, when I've been, you know, kind of saying, oh, Pitt's a fluke. They're going to lose. They're probably going to lose to Syracuse, I thought. Now, as much credit as I give to Pitt, I don't know exactly what Kyle McCord thought he was doing out there, but we knew Pitt's defense was good. They had five interceptions on Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord on Thursday night, including three pick sixes all by linebackers.

Starting point is 00:01:42 They call that linebacker unit the sharks, and now I see why, KG. Oh, absolutely. The sharks were beasting and feasting all over Kyle McCord because Kyle McCord is known to have a Kamakorne or two. And Dono, it's a lot like a volcano, you know. They say if this volcano is supposed to erupt every 50 years or so. right? But what happens if that volcano goes 200 years without erupting? All of a sudden, the next

Starting point is 00:02:09 time it erupts, it's like Mount Vesuvius, even though normally it's just supposed to be once or twice. Kyle McCourt showed us who he is. He showed up who he in. He held it in for so long. But those pick-sixes, they were calling them like the Green

Starting point is 00:02:25 Goblet, man. Kyle, the live backers right there. Kyle throw it in between the three. and a five, Kyle. And he did it. Over and over and over again.

Starting point is 00:02:38 I'll tell you what. Credit to the pit panthers. Credit to them. And I will say this. While I did have the pit panthers winning this game and I was in a minority with that, I will also say I didn't see them putting belt to beehime like this. No. I mean, Syracuse did you pin some.

Starting point is 00:02:55 Dang it. Every time I looked up, somebody else was running with the ball towards Kyle McCourt. I said, wait a minute. When did Kyle McCourt start playing safety? But that's what it was, because again, they couldn't stop turning the ball over. They couldn't get out of their own way. Now, luckily enough for Syracuse, he might have gotten all of it out in one day. But Pitt is too legit to quit, baby.

Starting point is 00:03:17 Pitt is here. The Panthers arrived. And now what can everybody say? Oh, they haven't beaten anybody. Oh, they haven't beaten anybody. Hell, most of the undefeited teams right now haven't beaten anybody particularly special. So why Pitt is the only one viewed from this lens of, oh, they haven't beaten anybody.

Starting point is 00:03:35 It's absolutely amazing. But now look, they beat one of the leading pastors in the nation. They beat a team that was one of the upstart teams in the conference. They beat a team that's already bowl eligible by week eight. What more do you want from these pensions? They are falling. They are doing their deal. And I'll tell you what, people may get on our doozy for leaving locker rooms dirty.

Starting point is 00:03:56 But you know what else he leaves dirty? The other team. He leaves a monkey and nasty. He, that team, teams when they played Pitt this year look like they've been rolled hard and put away away. Pittsburgh, they ended up beating Syracuse, 41 to 13 was the final score. They're 7 and 0 on the season. And most importantly, Kenton, I view the Pitt Panthers. I have come around.

Starting point is 00:04:19 You were right. I was wrong about them. But most importantly, Pitt, Pitt is the wild card now in the ACC. because we've had conversations the last couple of weeks about how there are. You know, Pitt, of course, is still undefeated overall, undefeated in the ACC. The other three teams that are undefeated in the conference were the ones people had been taking more seriously and they're still unbeaten. Miami is unbeaten overall. Clemson is unbeaten in ACCC play.

Starting point is 00:04:46 They were idle this past week. They're back at it this coming weekend. And SMU, they went again against Duke. We'll talk about it. They remain undefeated. Now, Miami and Pitt don't play each other in the regular. season. But Pitt plays the other two, Kenton. They play SMU this weekend. So right there, they have a chance to cement their legit status and play spoiler for one of the three favorites

Starting point is 00:05:08 for two spots in the ACC championship. And they guess who they play on November 16th? They play the Clemson Tigers. They get another opportunity to play spoiler. And who knows, it could end up being Miami versus Pitt or Pitt versus somebody else entirely for the ACC championship game when it's all said and done. Absolutely. But I think this begs a bigger question. Why is the ACC seen as a two-bid league? Why? We're talking about a crowded top of the ACC. Let's take this in a consideration for a second. BYU looks like they're prime to be the big 12 champions. I don't think that too many people would disagree. Maybe you can say Iowa State because they're also undefeated, I believe. And so you can make the argument. Fine. You have one team that has lost to

Starting point is 00:05:55 a team that has two of the last national champions in Clemson, or I'm sorry, one of the team that won two of the last three national championships in Clemson, Louisiana, you have a Miami team that's undefeated, has a Heism frontrunner, most prolific offense in the nation. And you have Pitt, who is also undefeated, who when they need to show up and show out, they do. Because this game wasn't particularly close. Why is the ACC seen as a two-bid-only league? Because let's say, let's say Pitt finishes out the season, undefeated, but with only a loss to Clemson.

Starting point is 00:06:33 And that loss keeps them out of the ACC championship. Why wouldn't they belong? They should belong. But people just expect the committee to load it up, especially with SEC teams, because when they lose to each other, it doesn't count. It's like a bi-lead when they lose to each other. Yeah. And if an SMU team were to go undefeated virtually and their own. only loss in conference B to a pit, and then they run the 10.

Starting point is 00:07:00 But that one loss is enough to keep them out of the conference championship game. Why wouldn't they belong? Again, their only loss being a three-point loss against BYU, and that loss is aging like Angela Bassett. If you don't know, Google pictures of Angela Basson recently, it's aging phenomenally. That's aging phenomenal. And also, and let me throw another scenario, Kenson, of how wacky it could get with the ACC

Starting point is 00:07:24 championship game. as we talked about now, Pitt is the wild card here, but people often talk about Miami, Clemson, and SMU, because none of those three play each other, right? If they all go unbeaten in conference, it's just left up to fate, that the tiebreaker would be the conference winning percentage of their ACC opponents, which takes it out of your control, right?

Starting point is 00:07:47 There could be a scenario, and by the way, for those wondering right now, it would be Clemson versus Miami if the season ended today as Clemson's opponents have the highest winning percentage, Miami's second highest, SMU's third highest. This can still change and evolve for the next four games, of course. But right now it would be Clemson versus Miami. But Kenton, there could be a scenario where, let's say Miami goes undefeated and they get

Starting point is 00:08:13 left out of the ACC championship game because of this tiebreaker. And then whoever loses in the championship game between Clemson and SMU would then be a two-loss conference runner up. Miami as a 12-0 team who missed out on their conference championship, I believe would be in a better position to make the college football playoff than a team that gets to the ACC championship game and loses. That's how wacky this is. Yeah, and that's, that is kind of why I'm looking up and saying, why is the ACC only a two-big conference? Because to me, you shouldn't punish a team for playing in their conference championship. That should never be a punishment. That should never be a demotion.

Starting point is 00:08:54 Unless it's a situation where they look so outclassed and outman against the team that they're playing, where it's like, all right, like, okay, they called the dogs off and still beat you by 60. Okay, I get that. Anything short of that, I really don't see a world where you should be punished for getting there and losing the close game to a team that's a serious national championship contender. So I look at this situation and I say, to hell what the ACC is a two-bid league talk. because I'm not seeing two men. I'm seeing three to four teams

Starting point is 00:09:28 that are playing phenomenal football. Phenomenal has gotten better and better since Georgia. Miami, if that defense figures out, and here's the thing about Miami's defense. They don't even really need to be great. Just be opportunistic. How many times have we seen a great offense with an opportunistic defense

Starting point is 00:09:46 make some noise in terms of any type of football, NFL or college? That's all you need sometimes. You're looking at, SMU, one loss and their only losses to an undefeated team. You look at Pitt. Pitt ain't got no losses, no ails in sight. You look for them, you search for them, you want to fish for them.

Starting point is 00:10:03 Guess what? There are none. So I see three to four teams that if you put that SEC emblem on their chest, oh, A, B right away. Even if they played all the bottom feeders, even if they played Mississippi State, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Florida, even if they played all those things, don't tell me Ole Miss and all of them are bottom feeders. because we know. We've seen what Ole Miss looks like when they play a real thing. Let's be out.

Starting point is 00:10:28 So, you know, I look at this and I say to myself, the narrative needs to change around the ACC because there's no way you can tell me with a straight face, hey, there are two and three lost teams from other conferences that deserve a look over Pitt. No way in it. Well, when we come back, I want to talk about a team that most everyone expected would be in that college football playoff conversation preseason. Instead, They're one in seven. They just got beaten by their rivals over the weekend. You guys want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Oh, guys, I'm only getting started with Fandual. And we got some big spreads this weekend.

Starting point is 00:11:11 I was looking at Miami hosting Duke, which I think could be a tricky game for Miami. They're 20 and a half point favorites. That's a really big number. You can find all of the action at America's number one sports book. That's Fanduel. And NFL fans, get ready to tackle all that NFL action because right now new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The Fandual Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play by play and so much more right on the same page where you place your bets.

Starting point is 00:11:48 Just visit Fandual.com to join today. You'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's Fanduil.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fanduel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Thank you so much for making this episode of Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. For your next listen, make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton hosts Locked on Wolfpack. Does an awesome job talking to NC State. I host Locked on Cains.

Starting point is 00:12:20 We're still celebrating a rivalry win over the weekend. And, you know, Kent, just to go to show how far Florida State has fallen. so quickly. Miami just beat Florida State at home by 22 points. They even covered the spread. 36 to 14 was the final score. And yet, you talk to most Miami fans about that game. Most of them are underwhelmed. And like, I'm not saying you should feel that way because I've watched enough Miami FSU games over the years. I go back to really the late 80s and I'm old. I go back a long way watching Miami versus Florida State. And it's one of those rivalries.

Starting point is 00:13:00 Throw the records out, expect the unexpected. So I do not take a 22 point win for granted. But a lot of Miami fans coming out of that game are like, well, gosh, Cam Ward didn't do a whole lot, only 208 passing yards. You know, Miami shouldn't have even given up two touchdowns. They should have scored 50 on these guys. I think that goes to show how far Florida State has fallen where Miami, if I told you before the season, you win that game by 22 point.

Starting point is 00:13:25 every Miami fan would sign up for that. Oh, absolutely. But if you would have told people, hey, Florida State's going to be one and six going into that game, and there's going to be a curse surrounding dog duo, you know, like most people would have looked at you and said, Dono, we give you one of those. If you do that again, we're going to send you to a hole, okay? We're going to put you in a place with some soft padding on all the walls. But in all seriousness, you're right in how far Florida State has fallen.

Starting point is 00:13:55 I mean, it's not tough. It's just embarrassing to see how far they've dropped in a matter of literal months. Like this is, it hasn't even been a full calendar year since the playoffs. And since then, how many games has this team won? You know what I'm saying? It's been one win since you were denied the playoffs, right? And of all of those losses that they have taken in the meantime, in between time, ever since then, how many of them came by one score? It's been very few.

Starting point is 00:14:32 So I understand why people are screaming and jumping and shouting about, hey, we should have blown this team out worse. There are only one score losses since that playoffs know were to a Duke team that has never, literally never beaten you to a group of five Memphis team and to Georgia. Georgia Tech, which is that that loss is aging like an open avocado with all due respect to Georgia Tech. I understand. I understand that Haynes King is hurting out, but that team at times looks brotherless without him. So, you know, this is a situation where, of course, Miami fans are happy because they wanted to truly run it up. They wanted to truly smack him upside the head for that, what was it, 45 to 3 a couple years ago. They wanted to go belt to behind, like you said.

Starting point is 00:15:22 Yeah, yeah, listen, when you are playing your rival and they down, I know what you need. I know every time you see that situation and your rival is thinking the only thought, Mario Cristobar said the shoe was going to be on the other foot. Now, what was the score to that game when he said the shoe was going to be on the other foot? 45 to 3. 45 to 3. Belt was put to behind. Belt was put to behind, and that's what Miami fans want to see.

Starting point is 00:15:50 Miami fans did beat up on them, but they want to belt the behind them. It just didn't. Yeah, and I, a part of it to me is, you know, Cam Ward, he set the bar so high for himself because in every previous game in a Miami uniform had thrown for at least 300 yards. Right. This one, he throws 208, didn't throw a touchdown pass. He actually caught a touchdown pass, which will be, you know, good, good little highlight for the sizzle reel if he gets to New York in about a month and a half.

Starting point is 00:16:17 That was a cool play from Elijah Royo. To me, like, what I don't take for granted about that win from a Miami point of view is, they showed it to you on Saturday, and they've shown it to you the last couple of weeks. They no longer have a one-dimensional offense because for most of the earlier part of the season, Miami's running game, sputtering, hadn't been putting up numbers, uneven run blocking. The last two weeks, I mean, against Louisville, which was a showcase game for the passing game and the running game, they rushed for 219 team yards against Florida State when FSU was doing whatever they could to limit the big plays and they were doing a good job. It was the first time all year, Xavier Restrepo was not open all game long.

Starting point is 00:17:01 So I give credit to Florida State for that. But you made Miami, you know, you took that dimension a little bit away from Miami and they run for 230 yards. And Damien Martinez, Kenton, there's a lot of Miami fans eating crow on him because he, you know, he was part of the the reason why the early season games, the running game didn't look that dynamic because he wasn't running decisively. He was dancing around a little bit, wasn't hitting the hole. The past two weeks, this is like Popeye after he eats the spinach. I mean, he's dragging tacklers halfway across the field. It's just all these angry runs and all these broken tackles. I mean, yeah, he looks, you know, they were wearing uniforms last weekend that looked like Oregon State uniforms and Damien Martinez

Starting point is 00:17:44 looked like the, the Damien Martinez of the Cowboys. of the, what are they, the beavers. The beavers, yeah. And I'll tell you this much. Damien Martinez showed us who he is, but more importantly, the offensive line for Miami showed us who they are. Because as much as people want to talk about Martinez and what he was or was not doing early in the season,

Starting point is 00:18:04 were there gaping holes like there have been the last few weeks? You don't tiptoe when you see something that's like, oh, there's, what else can you do? The play is designed to go here and look at your offensive line. They're giving you a first class. They're giving you the Secret Service treatment. We're everywhere, even when you think we're in plain clothes. We're still right there.

Starting point is 00:18:24 Hey, go ahead, Daggett. Take your time, player. Take your time. And like you said, he's finishing angry, but you know what helps you finish angry when you don't have defensive linemen ripping at you at the line of scurge. We don't have liebackers running free with full heads of steam coming at you. He is absolutely running angry.

Starting point is 00:18:41 He's running angry. That's what breaks you a 53-yard run. That's what breaks you all of these. of things that you look at with Damien Martinez. It's about, you know, a running game is about nine guys. The quarterback is out because the quarterbacks don't block. And the running back has the ball. Those nine guys need to be good enough or damn good.

Starting point is 00:19:02 And then the running back be special. And Damien Martinez has absolutely been at these last couple of weeks. Against Louisville, they couldn't get that young man on the ground. They couldn't do it to save their lives. You could have told them, hey, we'll rebuild the stadium and name it after each one of you, players and they still couldn't have got him on the ground. And then this week, you see a very similar thing where Florida State just got pounded and grounded into submission because time after time every time, he and Fletcher are coming

Starting point is 00:19:28 with the hitching in the mouth mentality. And boy, did they do so. So Miami has Duke this coming weekend, Kenton. And this is, it's going to be an interesting one for me to cover because, of course, I covered Manny Diaz while he was at Miami, which was three years as D. defensive coordinator, three years as head coach. So he was at Miami for a long time. This will be Mani Diaz, who's now the head coach of the Blue Devils, his first trip back to Hard Rock Stadium since you'll get let go by Miami after the 2021 season. So there's a lot of storylines that are going to come from

Starting point is 00:20:02 that. Duke is an interesting one to me, Kenton, because if I, and I like to, you know, I gamble a little too much. Now, just disclaimer, I do not gamble on games that involve Miami, and it's because my superstition outweighs how much I love to place wages, because I don't want to mush anything involving Miami. But when you've got a matchup coming up, I like to guess the lines. And I'm usually pretty good at it, like within a point or two usually. I was thinking Miami would open up as maybe an 11.5 point favorite against Duke is what I was

Starting point is 00:20:35 thinking, right? Double digit, but nothing too crazy. Hurricanes are 20 and a half point favorites against Duke. Now, you know, they, they beat Florida State at home a couple weeks ago, which despite the fact Duke could never beat an FSU before, obviously it's not the accomplishment that would have been in any previous year. You know, they came really close to beating SMU, but they won the turnover margin six nothing, couldn't win that game.

Starting point is 00:21:02 They missed three field goals. One of them was blocked. So I don't know what to do with this Duke matchup, But 20 and a half seems like a big number to me. Oh, 20 and a half absolutely is a massive number. Except I think they get it. I think they get it. I think they cover it.

Starting point is 00:21:20 I really do. There is something about a head coach going back to their old stumping grounds. While in the midst of a little bit, and I don't want to, you know, exaggerate this or blow it out the water or anything, but this is Manny Diaz going back to his home in the middle of a tough. stretch. You lose to Georgia Tech. You squeak away with a win against a God awful Florida State team. You lose to SMU in heartbreaking fashion, truly heartbreaking factor. If any one of those kids, and mind you, I don't think any of those kids were for 50 plus, I don't believe.

Starting point is 00:21:55 So with that in mind, you lose a game in that fashion, go back to your old stumping grounds where you were originally ousted as a head coach and told, hey, you're not the guy we thought you were. you're not good at this thing. And people are surprised that there's a big line here. I'm not shocked at all. I think that while in most situations, if we strip away the external and human factors of it, it would be a lesser line.

Starting point is 00:22:22 The reality is we are talking about humans. We are talking about people that, you know, being back in that stadium hearing nose pants, seeing all the sounds again, especially seeing the sounds at a level that you never got to experience. Because many never experienced eight nose. nine and no Miami and how those fans get. So you're going to see a different side of these fans,

Starting point is 00:22:42 and you have to sit there and realize I couldn't get this. I was never deemed worthy of this. I think Duke's in trouble. What did you make, by the way, the way that Diaz handled that overtime? So when I initially, I didn't watch, I watched the game on Sunday. I wasn't watching it live on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:23:02 I was doing Miami Post game, but I was following like the score. I saw they were in overtime. Then I saw, oh, he went for the win. So they lose in overtime. At a certain point in overtime, they force you to go for two. They were not at that point yet.

Starting point is 00:23:15 This was the first overtime. They score a touchdown. They had the second possession of overtime. So they could have conceivably tied the game and gone to the next overtime. Mani Diaz decided to go for the win. They missed on the two-point conversion. Initially, I thought, wow, that was too ballsy. You take the points.

Starting point is 00:23:33 But then I watched the game on. Sunday, I thought, okay, you're, you're, you had so many problems kicking. He probably just thought, let's just win the game right here. If we can, we either win or lose it. But still, like, you're talking an extra point. Like, it wasn't like they were lining up for a 40-yarder in the OT. Should they have taken the extra point or did Diaz make the right roll of the dice? My only problem is this.

Starting point is 00:23:54 This wasn't so much about it, to me, it wasn't about the kicking game so much as why don't you trust your defense? Your defense have been phenomenal. All day. All day. Your defense have been lights out, paring at the ball, picking, turning over Jennings all day long.

Starting point is 00:24:16 Trust them. Yes, you just gave up a touchdown in two plays. Sure, Richard Smith looks phenomenal on his 24-yard. He looks good. He looks good. I'm still going to say, you know what? I think that was the aberration. We went four quarters of football

Starting point is 00:24:33 where we allowed 21 points to, one of the more prolific offenses in the nation. I trust my defense. I trust them because that's what this team is built upon, more than anything else. You don't have an offensive identity that comes even close to matching what Duke's defense has been in the past couple of years, and particularly this year.

Starting point is 00:24:53 So why go forward in that moment? And of course, you know, we're all Monday morning head coaches, and if it works, we're obviously saying, Oh, Duke's great. He did all the things. But to me, I just look at it and I say, trust, don't forget who bought you to the dance, okay? Because you got the prettiest girl there.

Starting point is 00:25:14 You got, you know, brown skin, thick, five, ten, and all the good things. And you say, oh, no, no, no, no. I'm bored of you. I want to try something new in the moment where you needed it the most. I just think that's a disappointment. And by the way, kudos to SMU for winning the game, by the way. I don't want to make it sound like I'm just ripping. Duke for losing. I mean, good teams find ways to win close games.

Starting point is 00:25:36 And you mentioned Breschard Smith, who was phenomenal, scored the game-winning touchdown. He had, I think, 127 and two touchdowns in the game. So SMU stays unbeaten in conference play. We roll on here on Lockdown ACC. We got the players of the week for week nine. Did they get it right? You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. Game time is the only ticket app that Kenton and I use. You're getting The best deals, including right before the event starts. Sometimes you can even buy tickets right after the event has started. And the prices on the GameTime app, whether you're going to a big game, a concert, comedy show, musical theater, whatever event you're going to,

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Starting point is 00:27:24 day. He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Keynes. All right, KG, players of the week, Fernando Mendoza, quarterback of the week, Cal, they won. It was not an ACC game. It was old PAC 12 game. Cal got a big win against Oregon State 44 to 7. Fernando Mendoza completed 27 of 366 passes for a career high, 364 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions in the game. We talked a little bit about Damien Martinez of Miami. He wins running back of the week this week for 148 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 15 attempts, by the way. That's 9.9 yards per carry. So, so, so. So, far were those two deserving in your highs? Well, I absolutely see both of these guys is deserving.

Starting point is 00:28:14 Like we talked about, running angry, running folks over, you do what you do. And then on Mendoza, this was a little bit of a down week for quarterbacks in the ACC as a whole. Yeah. Not just because he won the award, but because look at all of the quarterbacks around ACC. Who would you say had a game that would even push Mendoza for like, oh, he could have been the player at a week this week. Certainly not Kyle McCord with five interceptions. Not, not, you know, Cam Ward had his quietest game of the season by far. You know, Eli Holstein, it was all about his defense, not the offense.

Starting point is 00:28:46 So yeah, this was the Mendoza week. Exactly. Yeah. So other other player of the week winners, JJ Jones, receiver from North Carolina. He had a career high, 129 yards in this one, scored multiple touchdowns in the game. Offensive linemen. Luke Pettibon from Wake Forest, the center. Defensive lineman, Kamen Rucker from UNC,

Starting point is 00:29:13 linebacker, Rishim Biles from Pitt, one of the pick six guys from that defense. Defensive back, Isaac, Wachobia from SMU, specialist, Derek Morris, the kicker from Cal, and the rookie. He's the new Holstein, Isaac Brown from Louisville. He keeps winning that award now. Eli Holstein's got to watch out.

Starting point is 00:29:36 I'll tell you what, Isaac Brown is coming on strong as a blade. He is coming on extremely strong as a blade. And he's been a major part of what has made this Louisville offense go down the stretch. Because objectively speaking, we know that Tyler Shuck has been better than most people anticipated. But with that being said, you're not going to see this Louisville team do much offensively without Brown setting the table as a runner. You're not going to have that happen. He will have some freshman moments. I remember a few weeks ago there was a bad fumble against Miami.

Starting point is 00:30:08 He'll have those moments. Those moments will come. But at the end of the day, you've got to trust him and lean on him because I think Shuck is good. I don't think he's dropped back 45 times, and that's where you get your wins good. I don't think he's that good. I love the connection to him and Brooks, but I don't think that they have enough to say, hey, him dropping back 45 times, that's where we're going to get our win.

Starting point is 00:30:30 When you can come with that balance attack, you know, that's where Brown can truly cook and be at his best. You know, we've seen so many comeback wins in the ACC this year. You know, teams like Pitt and Miami have produced a lot of those. But Louisville just produced a great one, Kenton, because it was Friday night that they played against Boston College. Louisville's down 20-0. People are turning the TVs off. I'm getting, I'm getting texts from Miami fans.

Starting point is 00:30:58 They're like, wow, we stink. We barely beat that Louisville team. And then what does Louisville do? They come down from 20 points down to win the game. What was the final? 31 to 27 was the final. So you talk about a masterful second half comeback. We've had a lot of those in the ACC this year.

Starting point is 00:31:15 Oh, absolutely. And I want to say that it became clear to me halfway through the third quarter. Louisville is going to win this game. Louisville is going to win this game because when they got down 27, I believe it was the second quarter when they got down 27. and then they put up a touchdown to end the half. And I'm like, no, they were down 20-0-0-0-0. They were down 20-0-2.

Starting point is 00:31:40 No, no, they were down 20 to, sorry, half. They were down 20 to 7. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying. They were down 20 to nothing. And then they scored that touchdown to get it to 20 to 7. And I said, oh, okay now. Boston College, I don't think y'all run a game as good as y'all think it is to just melt away this clock and, you know, be done.

Starting point is 00:32:01 with it, y'all are still going to need to do something here. And the reality is that team just kept fighting, that Louisville team just kept fighting, kept plugging away the understanding that there is no 27-point play. There is no play that's going to give you that big of a comeback. You just got to chop wood and carry water. And that's what they did. And that's why Brown was the running back of the week because even through that major deficit, Brown and company still say, you know what, we need to go there.

Starting point is 00:32:29 We need to give him the opportunity to do some way. because if not, we're going to be in the worst off situation. Well, huge thank you. And shout out to everybody who made this episode of Lockdown ACCC. Your first listen and your first watch today, if you're watching us on YouTube, make sure you smash that like button, subscribe to Lockdown ACC. If you listen to the audio version, make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your pods.

Starting point is 00:32:51 We will talk to again tomorrow on another episode of Lockdown ACCC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

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