Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Clemson Tigers' Dominance Over NC State: Are They Back on Top? | Florida State WINS | UNC Collapse

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

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We're here to celebrate the Florida State Seminoles offensive explosion against Cal. 14 points. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. But the Seminoles did get their first win. It was not such a great weekend overall, though, for the ACC. We're here to review. Thank you so much to the everydayers for making Lockdown, 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 every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code. Locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. On this episode, we have to revisit whether or not Kenton and I underrated the Clemson

Tigers heading into this season. Again, Florida State, they won a game. and let's talk about the good, the bad, and the standouts from week four inside the Atlantic Coast Conference. He is Kenton Gives from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown-Kane. So first and foremost, Kenton, what was the most surprising final score to you involving ACC football teams over the weekend? The most surprising was definitely UNC, JMU. And I know a lot of people are going to say, oh, well, your team got blown out too.

and you're just looking for a reason. But not by James Madison. Donnell, you and I talked about that game before the game, and I said, hey, James Madison is really good at stopping a run. This could be a low-scoring, ugly game. Boy, was I wrong? Boy, was I wrong. And also, here's another really fun fact about that game, okay?

You're talking about a power 14. And this applied to both games, by the way. So I don't want anybody saying, I'm not being fair here. If you, if James Madison did not score another point beyond halftime, they still win that football. My goodness. Wow. Tar heels, tar heels are down bad. That was their first loss of the year. I even saw some Minnesota fans commenting that this felt like another loss for them because remember UNC beat Minnesota on the road opening weekend. The good news is they scored 50 points against JMU. Bad news is they let up 70 in the, that one. So, okay, this one, I had brought this up to you off air as a surprising result,

because this was an upset, but you were not as surprised by Stanford on Friday night. Stanford went into Syracuse and pulled out the 2624 upset. Now, Stanford flat out played them. But Kenton, when I'm watching that game down the stretch, and Stanford, Stanford was marching down the field for their eventual game winning drive. They're at a fourth and nine. Fourth and nine, Fran Brown and Syracuse call a timeout. At fourth and smart, you want to get your defense ready for what's to come. And you would figure we've got to make sure we're accounting for Ellick I.O. Manor, who is one of the best wide receivers in the entire country.

We need to make sure because Ashton Daniels to Ellic I. Like that was the combo. You knew number 13 was the guy that Daniels was going to throw to on that fourth and nine when he needed to pick up the first down. and then Syracuse ends up rushing three and somehow leaving IOManner single covered. He makes, as he often does, a tremendous back shoulder catch to move the chains to lead Stanford down for the game winning field goal. And so that was super, and Syracuse didn't play great through the entire game. I mean, Kyle McCord was starting to look like Ohio State Kyle McCord again.

But man, that was, Syracuse still should have won that game at home. Dono, who could have thunk it? Who could have thunk that Kyle McCord? Maybe it was Kyle McCord. I may have been wrong about my transfer court. Back, bad. My guy's getting compliments on how well he's wiping down the former backup's face and distributing water before the game.

More power to him. Great guy. Great guy. And I mean that. I mean that very genuinely. Like, good old Gracie McCaw. I knew I wasn't crazy about. about, about, um, McCord.

I knew I was crazy. I said to myself, wait, am I, like, because I, I, I watched Ohio State's games. I watched them. Everybody watched the game last year. That's just how it goes. And I watched other games as well. I said, am I, am I out of pocket?

Am I seeing something? Has he hit another level? Has something clicked? Has something blip in him? And lo and behold, the only thing that changed about that, man is the jersey and the home stadium. Boy, I, you know, I'm so disappointed to see him throwing interceptions against Stanford

where, you know, it looked like the defender was the intended target. Who could have guessed that would have happened? Donno, I'm so sad that you and I have to do this show instead of making every show a squad show because I want to talk to Jackson Hozier, but don't worry. Don't worry. me and Jackson are going to have our day. We're going to have our day because I was told that I was wrong. He's a top guy.

And I was, anyhow, what a, what a shock to some. What a pleasant, what a pleasant, I write to others. That's all I'll say about that. And by the way, shout out to everyone who watches and listens to the squad episodes every week. Because I got probably at least a half dozen comments of people saying, I can't wait to hear what Jackson has to say on the next squad. Or I can't wait to hear what Kenton has to say to Jackson on the next squad. Oh, man.

So that was a tough loss for Syracuse. Here's another. This one was a pleasant surprise result in a non-conference game. The Battle of Dallas versus Fort Worth, which is a great rivalry. It's sad that after next year, apparently it's not going to be a regular thing. And I think it's a TCU, TCU, who's pulling out of the yearly rival. with SMU. SMU were underdogs at home, Kenton,

and they've had their ups and downs. They had a tough loss to BYU a couple of weeks ago. But SMU, 66 to 42 winners against TCU. That was almost as high scoring as that UNC loss. SMU ran for 238 yards. Was a great showing. It turns out, Rhett Lashley, I think, was right to make the quarterback change that he did a couple of weeks ago,

benching Preston Stone for Kevin Jennings. Jennings took care of the football, two touchdowns, no interceptions. He also added 41 rushing yards. Breschard Smith, the Miami transfer was their top guy on the ground, 18 carries for 127 yards, and three rushing touchdowns. And that's a big win for SMU. They really needed that because their stock is going back up now, Kenton. Yeah, absolutely. And objectively, when I look at these teams and I say to myself, you know, what's going on

SMU, what's been going on with SMU. A lot of it was offensive line problems, but some of it, I mean, Preston Stone was much too loose with the ball. So you now look up and you see Jennings doing his thing and being really good. And it turns out Preston Stone was right. They did have

one of the better receiving corps returning in the ACC. He just might not have been the guy to get him the ball. Who would have thunk it? Who would have known? But very seriously, Jennings looks like he's right at home in the big time moments and all that. And I'll tell you this. I understand

the whole TCU sucks thing now. I truly get the hey, you're pulling out of this because that seemed like a we really don't like y'all game. It got chippy at multiple moments. It just seemed like, hey, I really

really want to beat the dog mess out of these guys. And so, you know, that was a really good game. Shout out to SMU for getting it done. Somebody made the ACC look good. This week. Someone had to do it. Well, they weren't the only ones.

They weren't the only ones that made the ACC look good. Cam Ward, Cam Ward, 404 yards, three touchdowns. He stays atop the Heisman race. Yeah, hey, listen. I mean, it gets fellow power for opponents. But no, seriously, though, I mean, we'll get there. But Cam Ward and Miami have looked phenomenal. I mean, you know, everybody's saying the common opponent of

Oh, USF, look at how Bama performed and look at how USF performed. I have said this before, and I will say it again. Nick Saving is not walking through that door. Yeah. That's a different Bama team than what we are accustomed to. That is an objective truth about where Bama is at the moment. Miami looks phenomenal. USF's weakness is the secondary.

Bama could not exploit that. Cam Ward, however, oh, that's no problem. Oh, yeah. You mean, you got problems checking people? Exactly, go ahead and hit that little slot page for me. Well, we'll see. We'll see how they do it. We'll get them together, and sure enough, they did.

And you know, it was actually, it was upsetting to me was Cam Ward credited with an interception in the game, despite the fact it was a perfectly thrown football to Jacoby George, which he bobbled right into the hands of a defender. And it's like, that should not count against Ward. stat line. The man was almost perfect in that game. Yeah, I mean, objectively speaking, a play like that is one of those moments where you're like, every pick ain't on a quarterback. But hell, he could take one. He can take one. He's been playing so well. It's stats are so good. He can eat one. You'll be okay. Listen, I'm not saying this as a sports analyst. I'm saying

this strictly as a hater first. Okay. And as a hater, I must tell you, I am envious of seeing teams with good transfer quarterbacks. And by the way, I know I talked about Kyle McCourt making terrible position. He wasn't the only reason they lost that game. Like you said, there was the very obvious fourth and long. Hmm, who is Stanford going to go to on fourth and long? Hmm. It boggles the mind that leaves one to wonder,

especially if only Stanford or I'm sorry, If only Syracuse had a head coach who specialized in things like neutralizing receivers, maybe a coach of the defensive back variety. Who knows? But with that being said, you know, there's always more to the story with Miami. They're playing phenomenal ball. They're not even rolling that full strength with Syracuse. Kyle McCourt did comicourt things.

But there were plenty of other problems that you can look at. And, you know, around the conference at large, there have been lots of great and not so great performances that are not the sole reasons their teams won and lost. Yeah, so for Miami, it was a 50 to 15 win at USF. By the way, speaking of self-inflicted wounds, and I don't want to take anything away from Louisville because they keep rolling and they moved up four spots in the rankings, but still, if I'm a Georgia Tech fan, I definitely, I am very regretful of the self-inflicted wounds that made it a little bit easier on Louisville than it should have been.

We'll get into that. Plus, we'll get into Florida State. They got their first victory. And if they can turn this into some momentum, if they can turn that team morale around, and if their offense can keep rolling after that huge 14 point output, you guys want to keep it locked right here. We're nowhere near done yet on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. We're only getting started with Fan Duel. I mean, guys, you think about all of this amazing college football action,

some scores you didn't expect. but if you listen to Kenton, you would have known to take Stanford against the spread there. You would have known that. And you can get all of this action at Fanduel. And hey, NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fanduel, America's number one sportsbook. 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 on the same page where you place your bets.

And the live betting is awesome, by the way. you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet at Fanduel. That's Fanduel.com, 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. 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. Make sure for your next listen, you check out our other shows. Kent and Gibbs hosts Lockdown Wolfpack. We will talk about what Clemson did to the old pack this weekend.

Although, listen, I'm starting a freshman quarterback in that spot. I'm a huge C.J. Bailey fan. That was a really tough first start for him to get on the road. We will talk about that. Make sure you check out Kenton on Locked on Wolfpack. Check me out on Locked on Cains. All right. So Kenton, for Florida State to get their first win of the year,

they snapped a four game losing street going back to the Orange Bowl last year against Georgia. Can they build off of that? Because the vibes in that building in Tallahassee had been so negative. Their defensive line has really woken up the last couple of weeks. Like they still have issues on offense clearly, but that vaunted defensive line of theirs has stepped up their level of play. They beat visiting Cal 14 to 9 the final score. So unfortunately, our guy Lawrence Ross, did not see his team pull off.

Another upset this past weekend. But I mean, I'm not saying they're ACC contenders now or anything, but finally getting that first win, what does that mean for Florida State? I mean, you know, I'm very disappointed that we don't get Calahassee nor Woke Campbell Stadium. It's a tough moment, tough moment for me personally. But once I move past that, Florida State's defense is coming a lot. They are coming back. They are making plays.

But I will say this, I'm still a little leery. I'm still a little worried even about that defense because there's, There were plenty of big plays that they allowed Cal to have that were self-inflicted. There were plenty of big plays where you're just like, wait, what are you doing there? What's going on there, kiddo? Like, what are we looking at? And so, you know, like you said, the defensive line has seemingly turned it on. They have seemingly come a lot from what they used to be.

With that being said, they need that offense to come along because you're not going to win many games with 14. I get it. That defensive line is monstrous. That defensive backfield, they got some studs right there. They got some guys that are going to be playing on Sundays. Absolutely. You cannot win in Power 5 football or Power 4 football putting up 14 points. It will not happen.

That will not stand. I am sorry to tell you. So whatever is going on offensively, if they got to go to Brock Glenn, if they got to change around some things on the offensive line, if they got to change around some receivers, if they got to change around that backfield, something has to go. to change because even when they did find ways where oh to feel he's rolling now all of a sudden

a sack and a hold and now they're back out of field goal yeah yeah oh DJ's hit a couple passes all of a sudden he makes that terrible decision where you're like ah there's DJ you there he goes it's you know something's got to change because 14 points ain't good enough it was good enough this time but it will not be good enough consistent yeah DJ had one touch down another interception, though, in the game. Now, another game I was watching this during the early window on Saturday, good ACC matchup, then number 19 Louisville, they've moved up to number 15. They beat Georgia Tech, 31 to 19 at home.

Louisville played well. Tyler Shuck continues to prove our doubts wrong. But if I'm a Georgia Tech fan, I'm looking at a blocked field goal that was returned by Louisville for a touchdown. I'm looking at a fumble that was returned for Louisville for a touchdown. And I'm also looking at a failed fourth and goal from the two turnover on downs that we couldn't punch it in. I mean, he had four opportunities to punch it in and they couldn't. So, you know, kudos to Louisville because they had to make those plays.

But man, if I'm a Georgia Tech fan, I'm looking at that and saying, man, we lost this game 3119. We make two less mistakes. We might have won the game by a couple points. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, here's the biggest thing for me. And you know what I thought you were going to mention in that group of, you know, comic of airs that didn't get mentioned. The Jacori Brooks touchdown where, you know,

is blatant passing the offense, the DB gets lost. And instead of just holding on like, hey, I already got a passing affairs. He lets him go. Jacori Brooks turns around, catches the ball. And so, well, thank you. I appreciate it. there were just so many moments for Georgia Tech where it's just like,

this is the stuff I'm talking about with you guys, man, I want to believe in you. I want to believe in Key makes you want to believe in that team. He really and truly does. And then you see stuff like this where it's like, those little details are the difference. They're the difference. Because think about the point swings that you just mentioned there, right?

Let's say Louisville still scores a touchdown on the same drive as the Giacori-Brickson. Okay, cool. The two instances that you talked about are at minimum 13 to 17 points. How many points was this game decided by? 12. Hmm. Hmm.

So even on the most modest of swings here, you're looking at a situation where it's like, dude, you've got to be better with your execution than these things. Or else you will get this result again and again and again, you know, It's very disappointing. But, hey, credit to Louisville. Because at the end of the day, they showed up and did what they were supposed to do. Gregory Brooks showed up and did what he was supposed to do. He showed up.

Even if the defender ain't going to keep playing to the whistle, I will. Don't worry about it, buddy. You know what I mean? You don't get a block field goal by accident. That was effort. Right. You had to show up and make that block happen. So credit to them.

And Tyler Shuck, I will say this. He did look a little hobble toward the end of that game. He did look horrible, but he has looked phenomenal. Again, as I said, my last take on him before the season, they'll be fine if he's healthy. He's healthy. They're fine. How about Boston College?

You should have known, like, they're always going to play well for the red bandana game. Now, they didn't win that last year. It was against Florida State. They came close, though, but they win the red bandana game this year. They come from behind to beat Michigan State Spartans 23 to 19, and they had a game-winning drive, Kenton, late in the first. the fourth quarter, six play, 75-yard drive, Castellanos, who we're a big fan of for BC through a 40-yard touchdown pass to Lewis Bond to win at 23 to 19. And, you know, BC was down

for most of that game. I think they may have just barely covered the spread. I think it was like two and a half or three and a half in their favor. They win the game by four, but that's an important win to improve to three and one now on the year. And they're knocking on the door of being ranked again. We thought they never should have been unranked to begin with after losing to Missouri. But they're in that others receiving votes category again. You know, I know it was some betters out there that heart just sank into their stomach when they saw that touchdown pass from Castiano's because they knew that that was exactly four points. And Michigan State had no choice, but to go for a touchdown, which they didn't have it. With all due respect to Aiden Childs,

that offense has looked like a it's it's looked like Florida State North I'll say that so with that in mind you know shout out to Cassiano huge fan and I'll tell you what Bill O'Brien now I was right about Shuck being healthy and being good Bill O'Brien has proved me wrong he's proved me wrong I'll give him that I'll give him that

if this team continues on this path hey absolutely and I will say this to me even I'm admitting I'm wrong now. Even if they just made a bowl game, they have far exceeded by expectation. Far exceeded. Lord forbid they push to eight, nine, hey, more power to them, more power to the guys up on Chestnut Hill. They deserve all the credit. They're winning. They're playing great ball. Hell, even when they're losing, it's against top teams in the nation and just barely.

So, you know, they deserve all the love that they're getting right. All right. When we come back, what happened in Death Valley? We have to talk about what But Clemson did to NC State. And I've got a couple questions. Like were we, because we were a little down on Clemson, were we wrong? Do we have to give a mea culpa? And then on the flip side,

I already asked Kenton this off the year, but I'll ask him on the air. A couple of bad losses already. Does the seat get warm or hot for Dave Doran with the Wolfpack? You guys want to keep it locked right here. We are only getting started on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. folks the game time app is a game changer guys you're getting the best prices especially on last minute ticket deals that's the incredible thing you wait till the last minute sometimes life will

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Download game time today. What time is it? Oh, it's game time. Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. Also, make sure you're checking out Lockedon College. football. Spencer McLaughlin, he does an awesome job taking you around. You, we take you around the ACC. He takes you around everything. Big 10, SEC. By the way, you notice most of the teams in that AP top 25, at least the top 10 are in the SEC right now. Spencer does an awesome job taking

you through all of that. Now, Kenton, I know we didn't have a very good feeling for the Wolfpack heading into that road game against Clemson, especially knowing that true freshman, C.J. Bailey, who I think has a very bright future. But to have to make your first career start as a true freshman in Death Valley, he had some good throws. I think there's potential there clearly. But that's a tough place to make your first start. And the Tigers looked very good offensively, by the way.

Clemson beats up NC State 59 to 35. I guess I'll ask you this first, because I see people talking about this on social media. Does the seat get warm for? head coach Dave Doran. Warmer than it was, absolutely. But that's not really saying much. It's like when your mom asked you to take the chicken out the fridge before she gets home from work.

Like if you take it out three minutes before she gets home, it's not going to be thought. And that's kind of where we are with Dave Doran. Coming into this season, it seemed that he had a virtual lifetime contract. It seemed like everybody was happy. Hey, excitement is at a level that's never been at before in Riley. Everybody's super geeked up. everybody believes in you, everybody's behind the program. And then in your two marquee games of the season,

the two that you know will be nationally televised, you see a combined score of 110 to 45. In what world is that good enough? You let a team put up 59 points when A&S is caught off the dogs to start the second half. I want to say Kay K.K. Klebnik played a couple of series in the second half. and I watched that game in my office from start to finish. And it was just so non-competitive early.

It's tough to say, hey, this, you know, so what, it was 28-0 in the first quarter. So what? I'm not really concerned about that. You'd be lying. So, you know, his seat does get warmer than it was. However, and I know that this sounds insane, but outside of Lou Holtz,

he is the most accomplished coach in NC State history. And I've told people this before, and a lot of folks like to get angry at me when I say this. I'm not being a homer for NC State. Dono knows I was upset at him last week for ranking NC State too high, and we see my suspicions were in fact confirmed. But by the way, they're definitely dropping in my power rankings now. As they should, as they should.

But going forward, I need everybody to understand this about Dave Doe. about really a majority of our schools. I just so happy to be on with one of the hosts that this is not the case of his school. At 90% of college football programs around America, eight wins a year is enough. Eight wins a year, if you can guarantee that over a decade and a half, the stadium will be renamed after you. With the occasional spike year of 10-11, and that's the problem, Dorn has not had a spike year. He's had multiple years of nine. He had the COVID year where they got.

to nine and they were supposed to play a UCLA team that had not beaten a single team that was above 500 all year where they were going to win that game, but it didn't happen. So ifs and buts are berries and nuts in that case, it doesn't really matter. The reality is he needs a spike year. And Clemson came out and made it clear, if it is going to be a spike year, we ain't going to be a part of it. We are not going to be a part of that at all. We are not participating. You know, so the teams in the ACC that have just, that have looked the best so far and they're the highest ranked teams in the ACC, Miami and Clemson. Now, you could, and Clemson does have a loss, but it's a loss to Georgia. So it's like, that's a little forgivable.

You know, Miami is 4 and O. And I think in both cases outside of that Georgia game for Clemson, you can say, well, you know, are they really beating, you know, world beaters out there? So people will still wonder. So, you know, when I look at Clemson, Kenton, and, you know, everyone was, you know, very impressed when they put up 66 points against Appalachian State last week because people just expect App State to, you know, to pull off upsets because they've done it a couple times in their history. But Clemson beat them soundly. And then Appalachian State somehow loses 4814 to South Alabama. And it's like, wait. Go, Jacks.

And then. And then, and then of course, you, Clemson beats up NC. State, but we know NC State's having a really tough year, and they're using a true freshman quarterback, and the defense is not what we expected. So it's like, how much do you pick apart that resume? Or do we owe Clemson an apology? Because you and I were both pretty down on them before the season started. But for the past three weeks, they and Miami both have looked fantastic. Clemson would get kudos if they were Boston College. Clemson would get kudos if they were cow. Clemson would get kudos. There's a plethora of teams that if they were this team,

they would get kudos. But in comparison of what we were saying, you and I were saying, is Clemson a six-win team? Are they going to make a bowl game this year? The question was, are you back to national relevance? Are you back ready to compete for a natty? If that is your bar, what the hell what I apologize to you for for beating a team that just got blew out by another group of five team or beating a team that had to have comeback victories against an FCS team and a group of five team that has won three games in what two or three consecutive years where in there is an apology warranted if you are a bad team you should have oh well hey go ahead and tell me I was right tell me I was right yeah it's the same way that I'll talk about the difference between how

talk about Tyler Shuck and how I talk about Kyle McCourt because Tyler Shuck, I say, hey, he's good if he's healthy. He has to show me something special for me to say, hey, I was wrong about him. He has to go do some Heisman type stuff for me to go like, I'm sorry, Tyler, I wasn't familiar with your game. Kyle McCourt on the other hand, just be decent. Just don't make terrible plays that are going kill you. And I'm like, hey, I'm wrong. So that's where I'm at with Clemson. I'm not going to say I was wrong about him because I knew, hey, they're one of the premier brands in the ACC. They're one of the premier teams in the ACC. It's not. about the ACC when you get to Clemson level. It's about can you do it nationally, which still

remains to be seen. Well, you know, and it's fair because it's like if, if we're going to consider Clemson as a national title contender, like they should have at least been able to hang with Georgia. I mean, you know, Kentucky dealt, they lost, but Kentucky dealt with Georgia actually better than Clemson did. So I think that's fair. I think that is fair. All right. So guys, a lot of fun today. And by the way, tomorrow, we're going to talk a little bit more. about this potential settlement between the ACC, Florida State, and Clemson, potentially keeping them, you know, locked into the conference until 2030. We're going to be joined by a lawyer. He's joined us before, did an incredible job. We're going to be bringing back Doug Rohan of Rohan Law, who's been following these lawsuits very closely.

He's going to join us on tomorrow's episode. He is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Keynes. We'll talk to you again on Monday or on Tuesday on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of of the awesome lockdown podcast network. Your team every day.