Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - College Football Kickoff: Bama Falling, Oregon and Georgia Tech Trying to Avoid Letdowns

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Alabama is falling after losing to Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Oregon and Georgia Tech are looking to avoid major letdowns this weekend.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After a home loss to Oklahoma, has Alabama worked itself out of the college football playoff, or is their resume still good enough? Then Oregon, USC, our game of the week. One of those two should be in the field of 12 to end the season. And finally, Coach Gary Patterson is tired of so many teams being in these conferences. 18 in the Big 10? Too many. All that more right here on Fire TV's college football kickoff. You're watching Fire TV's College Football Kickoff, presented by California Alman's.

The unofficial snack of football. It's shaped like a football, fuels like a champion. Join us every week as we predict who will deliver when crunch time hits. Snack good, eat almonds. I'm your host Drake Toll from Locked on Big 12 and the Savannah Bananas organization. And we're coming in hot from the heart of college football country in Dallas, Texas. On set with me, two legends, 22-time coach of the year, Gary Patterson, and the former Tarheel and Dallas Cowboy, Jesse Holly.

Every week throughout the season, we'll be right here breaking down the matchups, the moments, the madness, With expert analysis from across the nation, look for new episodes every Thursday on your fire TV and Echo Show devices. This is your all-access pass to the weekend ahead in college football. Let's kick it off. Jesse, it's what I like to call Citadel Week

in the SEC. Feels like everybody in the conference is playing the Citadel. Samford, Mercer, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Western Kentucky, I'm forgetting a few in there. This is the proverbial bi-week, non-by-week. Yeah, absolutely. And if you're in the SEC, this is kind of one of those weeks where you might.

you might need a little bit of a break because of the gauntlet that you play within your own conference. You're playing top 25 teams. It feels like every single week. So as you get to the end of November, you start preparing for the college football playoffs. You kind of need that get right game. Maybe, you know, play guys, maybe a quarter or two get the lead up. And now those guys can get a little bit of a rest as you prepare for the stretch end of the season. Or if you're Auburn, you lose to Jerry Kill in New Mexico State, as they have done in the past during the same week.

Let's talk the SEC where they sit in the college football playoff because they've got the most teams in the field right now. It's time for our rankings report. Coach, let's start with you. Georgia is up to four. Oklahoma at eight. Alabama stays in the top 10 this week. Any big surprises for you when it comes to the field of 12 that is actually the top 10 teams knowing that there will be automatic bids for the ACC champion and group of six champions. No, I think there's going to be a lot of conversation between Notre Dame and Alabama. I think when you fall down, I think also, you know, for me, a 9-1, Georgia Tech team. I understand the Miami is ranked ahead of them. But again, you know, it's what your record is, how you played, you know, you can't control anything more than that. That's sometimes

why I don't quite understand how they do some of this stuff. So, Jesse, here's what I don't understand. I'm going to talk about BYU for a second, Utah. I'm a big 12 guy, but BYU loses in blowout fashion on the road to Texas Tech. They drop five spots. Texas loses in blowout fashion on the road to a top five team in Georgia. They drop seven spots. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. They're devaluing a logo in Texas Tech. It's bigger than that Y logo of BYU. At the same time, though, listen to this. BYU, 9 and 1, Notre Dame 8 and 2.

One of those is better than the other. BYU has Notre Dame beat in strength of record and strength of schedule. So why are the Cougars behind the fighting Irish? They're not the cute girl. Oh. They are not the cute girl. Now look, I've been to Provo,

and I want to push back a little bit. I'm just saying they're not the cute girl when it comes to what the name recognition looked like. BYU is not a name that you can put on national TV and it stretches miles and miles and miles. Most people, if you're a casual football fan and you just so happy to be going to college football parties or what have you, you're not looking for BYU.

You can't name many players from BYU. I'm not, you know, Steve Young, and that goes back in so many years, but Notre Dame is the sexy name. It's the cute girl. It's the one that everybody always wants to have at the party. And that's where we sit at a lot of. sit at a lot of times when it comes to these rankings as much as we don't want to say that

there's politics in this thing there is named politics all the time in these college football rankings and that is another example though it coach gary patterson you weren't the cute girl well and i prefer to say we didn't have the t-shirts okay so i don't get trouble but you know i think the um yeah again i go back to i mean back to let's do go back to go back to two thousand 14 when we were left out. Okay. The whole thing came down to letting it t-shirts, we went 55 to 3 and dropped from 3 to 6.

The thing I would say is why everybody wanted to go at the time wanted to go to a committee is so that you had this group of people in there that looked at it and they say, who's the top 12 teams, 10 teams plus automatic bids that are playing best in college football and they'll put them in. Yeah. You know, we thought we were all going to get away

from the cute girl or the t-shirts. We thought we were going to get away from it. And, you know, it's hard for me, it's hard for me to value. I don't sit in that room and hear why they say what they do and why they do it. I understand, for example, Tulane, Northwestern, you know, they played Duke comparably to what North Texas and James Madison have done as far. And both those teams have done it have had great seasons. Okay.

But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, coaches just want consistency. see, they want a process and whatever you put me into this will live by. But don't change the rules on me and don't at the end decide, well, we're going to do this because this looks better. I don't, that's not what coach college football, at least from a coach's perspective, is all about because we look inside the locker room and we see 100 guys, 105, 110 guys that played their tails off and worked their tails off for the whole season. And then you decide, you decide you want to cheat them because we're not, we're not the cute girl.

You follow me? So if you're not in that room, you are in the room of your own mind, your locks. Who would you put in my own room? My own mind. Who would you put in right now as your locks in the college football playoff? Well, for me, for me, my locks, you know, you go Ohio State, Indiana, A&M, Ole Texas Tech, and Georgia. For me, they're, even if they have a loss.

But the caveat I would tell you though is four of four of those teams are going to play rivalry games in the next two weeks. Yeah. You can throw out the records. makes no difference. Then you have Lurkers. Lurkers for me is like an Oregon, but Oregon's got USC and Washington. They're sitting right on the edge, Notre Dame, because of being the cute girl, BYU, they've got to go there, then they have Central Florida, Oklahoma. I think for me, there's somebody that's probably even over on an edge a little bit more because of their record

and what they've done. They've gone on the road to Tennessee, they've gone on the road to Alabama. They've done all the things people want people to do that can be in a playoff team. Then you have, I had James Madison because of 9-1. I know they're not in the top 25, but they play themselves, and I'm that guy. I'm that guy that had the girlfriend that wasn't in the cute room, right? And then you have clingers. What are clings holding on? Utah's holding on.

Georgia Tech. Really, to be honest, we could be somewhere in between because they're 9-1, Miami, Alabama, North Texas, and Vandy. I think you sit in a situation where all those teams are having. Bandy falls in the category. They haven't been there in a long time. They don't have enough of a due. it year after year, they've now done it close to in two years in a row. It was kind of like us.

I think TCU got in to the playoff, into the four-team playoff for the simple reason that they got left out in 14. We got there, but we didn't get let in the door. And when they did, because they lost the Big 12 championship game, right? And then they got put out. So you sit in a situation. For me, that's why I look at it. And I think somewhere in the Lurkers and Clingers, I think you're going to have an opportunity to add, you know, four more teams. We only have so much time in the show. But I don't have so much time in the show. There are going to be people who question why you have BYU in the Lurkers and Alabama behind them in the clingers. Quickly, can you give me a reason?

Well, for me, it's, you know, you sit in a situation. For me right now, they have two losses and they've got to play, they've got to play a rivalry game. They've got Auburn left. So it's not that I think everybody that sits that I talked about has a, if you went to a 16 or a 24 team playoff, I think they all get in. But the problem is we've got to get it down. We've got to get it down to where I have six over here. You got six in the lock group. And so you're going to add four teams out of all the rest of those.

And then you're going to have two automatic qualifiers. And so I'm, be honest with you, I'm glad I'm not sitting in the college football committee room, deciding who out of all the rest of you got, what do I have here close to 10, 11 teams? And I got to get it down to four. We'll talk in the coming weeks about the automatic qualifier. And if that should still be a thing next year, what the format should be. In the meantime, this week, massive implications for even the big 12 teams or SEC teams. outside looking in. It is our game of the week between Oregon and USC.

It is our game of the week here on college football kickoff. Mark Culkin joins us from Locked on USC, Spencer McLaughlin of Locked on Ducks. They are the experts on all things, Oregon and the Trojans. Mark, let's start with you. Does it feel like USC is not getting enough love nationally when it comes to the fact that they aren't that far out of the college football player? Yeah, I was just listening to your conversations with the coach and with Jesse and hear USC's name mention. I'd love to be in the Klingon conversation. Look, you look at USC's record,

they've won all their home games, they lost on the road to Illinois and in Notre Dame, both happened to be ranked. They've got a huge matchup ahead of them with Oregon this weekend in Eugene. They just took care of Iowa in an Iowa type of environment. If USC beats Oregon,

and they, as they should be anticipated to beat UCLA in the rivalry, game, why aren't they part of the conversation? Yeah, Spencer, not only the host of Locked on Ducks, but also the host of locked on college football, sorry. Yeah, by the way, Mark started bringing up Star Trek terms, so I just want to say live long and prosper. California almonds on the desk right here.

And as I'm chewing and sifting through this stuff, look, Mark says that USC should get some more love, especially if they beat Oregon. Do they beat Oregon this week? I don't think that they do. No, you know, their struggles on the road this year have been. real. Otson Stadium should be absolutely on fire on Saturday. I wish it was a night game because I think those environments are just visually and audibly a little bit different, but still, I think Austin is going to be absolutely rocking for a one-time Pac-12 showdown, RIP. And I think

that if Oregon comes out and plays the way that it is capable, I think they can put up a lot of yards on this USC defense, particularly the way that Oregon runs the ball between the tackles. and USC has struggled to defend that part of opposing offenses. Yeah, Mark, you are in the heart of California, Allman's country. University of Southern California, chance to bring Lincoln Riley, the future head coach of somewhere in the SEC,

to the college football playoff this year. What is it going to take? Give me your synopsis on how this game will end up in a final prediction. Well, for one, they have to play all four quarters. They can't wait for their defense to come alive in the second half, which they've been very effective, where they've been shutting teams down. If you look at some of the statistics, they're holding teams well below their average, both through the air as well as on the ground.

Again, you have to play all four quarters, though. The other thing, Spencer alluded to it, USC has struggled on the road. If Jaden Mayava plays on the road like he's capable of playing when he does at home, and you have those two guys kind of on the outside named Mackay Lamon and Jacoby Lane, yeah, USC has better than a puncher's champion. of winning this game. Do they struggle against stopping the run up the middle? Again, at times. But again, when they show up, they handled Michigan at home. They, for the most part, took care of Iowa's running game. And on the road at Nebraska, they looked well. They took care of Northwestern on that short week on Friday. Again, USC has to play better. There's no denying that. But there's no reason they can't go up to Oxton. And they've done it before when Oregon was considered

the favorite. So why not now? Spencer, Mark says why not now? And look, for you, Spencer, a guy who dressed up as Sid from Toy Story for Halloween and also carries that burden the other 364 days out of the year, give me a prediction in this game. Yeah, I do want to echo something that Mark said that is correct, which is USC absolutely has a formula to go up and win this football game. It looks something like what Indiana did at Outson earlier this year, a place that's been very difficult to win. But what you have in common there is above average quarterback play and two NFL wide receivers. In Indiana's offense didn't go

as crazy as a lot of people have made it out to be in retrospect. I mean, most of the commentary I hear in the Oregon-Indiana game is that Oregon got clobbered in a game that was tied with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. And I don't know where exactly that came from, but Oregon's offense certainly didn't play as well as they could have that day. Indiana's is a lot better than USC's. But getting Jacoby Lane and Mackay Lemon going always an emphasis and feels like something that the Trojans have just been able to do no matter who they've been playing against this year. I'm looking to see how they get King Miller going in the rushing attack against this Oregon defense

that has been good, not as good as they have been defending the past, but they've been good defending the run. The linebackers have been, I think, the weakest of the three levels of Oregon's defense this year, if Oregon can overcome those two things that would lead to USC keeping this close, maybe finding a way to win and winning with situational football, things like third and fourth down, maybe special teams as well, I think Oregon will win the game. I've got Oregon winning 3424.24 they beat the Trojans. They are the experts. Spencer McLaugh and I'm locked on ducks. Mark Colkin have locked on USC. Thank you guys both. You're very welcome. That is our game of the week.

Jesse Holly, we will begin with. Good to see you, by the way. Hey, how you doing, brother? How are you? That's great to have you here. Coach and I just got a tangent there for a second. No, it's good, man. It's good. It's good. It's good. It's good. You're eating your California almonds. Good stuff, man. You got. Listen, coach starts talking about ball. It's best for us to probably shut out. Hang up and listen. I have no problem with that. So here's where I go when it comes to the Oregon Ducks. Their best win right now, you could argue, is Northwestern. Maybe it's Iowa, but that Iowa win is fizzled out. It doesn't look near as good as it did. If they lose this game, they're out. If they're out and I don't see a way for them to crawl back in. No, you're absolutely right. And that's why this game is so pitiful, pitiful, not pitiful, pivotal. It could be pitiful.

It could be pitiful. I hope that it's not pitiful for the Oregon Ducks, but it could be pivotal. And, you know, when you start talking about this portion of the year, you start losing games in November, your playoff chances, one to delay pretty quickly. And they have an opportunity to win this game, but to me, it's going to be in the running game. They're going to have to just out physical and run the ball. at USC to really pull out a victory here. Coach, I think conversely, the Oregon defense could be the big key right here.

They could run the ball, but I think the defense, if they hold that Lincoln Riley offense at bay, that's my key to win. Well, yeah, you know, and that's the other thing that nobody talked about with, you know, because again, I watched a lot of film Indiana when they went into odds and really, they played really, really well on defense. You know, can I tell you told me on the phone last week when we talked, you said it wasn't necessarily Indiana schemed them up. It wasn't like they were doing anything crazy.

They were just, they got some. dogs out there. Well, you know what's really funny? You know, because everybody clear back to 2004, we had a bad year and everybody said they caught up with the match quarters defense and then we four out of the next eight years, we were number one total. That's what Indiana is doing. Indiana's playing.

They're sitting everybody down. It's really basically 10 or 11 guys within 10 to 12 yards from the line of scrimmage. And they went out and recruited. They got some big people up front. They got three linebackers. They don't even play a nickel. The three linebackers actually act like the nickels. The positive is they're athletic enough that they can come in space.

They blitz a little bit. But to be honest with you, they suffocate you, they tackle really well, they go about their business. So it's going to be, you know, that's the one thing I can say. If USC wants to go win, what they have to do, I understand what they do on offense, but they have to be able to go up into that stadium and they've got to be able to control, at least minimize the big plays and get done what they need to get done if they want to beat Oregon. Today's show is brought to you by Fanduel and hopefully some sort of headache pills. Thanks, JT.

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It's like a blind date. It's like a blind date. You never know what you're going to get. Hopefully it's a cute girl. You let him into the college football player. And with a t-shirt. I think that Georgia Tech is another one of those teams like USC. We haven't talked about a ton.

And they need to win and win fast to get into the college while playoff conversation more squarely. They are featured against Pitt and I can't miss matchup. He is the local expert on all things Georgia Tech from locked on Georgia Tech, Jarvis Davis. Jarvis last week, Pitt got crunched like some California almonds against Notre Dame with their head coach Pat Nardousie made it clear. He didn't even want to win the game. Do you think that Georgia Tech sees a different panes? team this week compared to what Notre Dame got last week. Absolutely, because this was the actual game that he was actually looking forward to

because he only cared about ACC games. He talked about not mattering to him whether or not he's going to be 110 to zero is all about the conference game. So I think you're definitely going to see a better effort from this Pittsburgh team because I feel like the score wasn't indicative of what I saw in that game against Notre Dame and Pitt because. I feel like this is a tough team. This is an aggressive team defensively.

And I feel like they're going to come to play once they come face a Brent Key Coach team. Let's talk Georgia Tech now. Conversely, the Yellow Jackers can lose by 100 next week and still go to the college football playoff if they win this game and win the ACC championship. How much pressure is there on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to win on Saturday? It's huge because this defense has given up over 1100 yards in the last two games. And Brent Key talked about it this week, how he's been getting with his defensive coordinator, Blake Gideon, and going through the things that's been working and going through the things that have worked for them

and trying to make sure those things align when you're coming up into this big matchup against the Pittsburgh Panthers. Might as well forfeit next week. If you win this one, keep your team healthy, go into the ACC championship and go win that one, especially because Georgia Tech hasn't gotten enough love, in my opinion, from the college football playoff committee. But all that aside, how does this game play out? out in our four quarters. Give me a prediction for Saturday. I think Georgia Tech pulls it out. I feel like Brent Key and Blake Gideon are going to get this thing figured out defensively, and they're going to figure out a way to heat up that young quarterback that Pittsburgh has. And when you think about those guys putting all those things together, and Brent Key has got

his team focused this week, I feel like they respond well, and they get the job done and clinch a spot. And they'll be headed to Charlotte on the United States. December 6. I think so. Jarvis Davis locked on Georgia Tech. You are the expert. Thanks so much for joining college football kickoff. Thanks for having me.

All right, Jesse, Coach, let's jump right in on this one. Jesse Haines King is where the game starts for me for Georgia Tech. He was a wrecking ball against Georgia last year. Kind of had his coming out party for the yellow jackets, or at least in that jersey. He's been to a couple of universities now. Only has 10 touchdown passes and we're 10 games into 2025. I mean, this is a Georgia Tech team that's still a little one-dimensional. undimensional and with the defense not playing well, the offense relying on Haynes King's legs more than his arm. I just don't know.

No, I'm right there with you. And while Haynes King is a phenomenal player, you understand the totality of this. As you begin to play better competition, coach, and you know this is that now I can start making you play with one hand behind your back. And if Haynes King can't beat you throughout the air, we'll still, you know, load up the line of scrimmage and now make you have to pass the ball. And when you get to this point into the season, if you haven't really worked on those type of things and perfected those types of things, and perfected those. type of things, it can be detrimental to your success because now you're trying to go outside of your wheelhouse to win football games. Well, you know, Kirby Smart said it, you got to be physical, you got to be able to play in November. And so really that's what Georgia Tech has to do. They haven't been here in this space in a long, long time. So I mean, I firmly believe that Georgia Tech's defense is going to come get ready to play.

And they're playing at home at night. I mean, everything is going on in Atlanta. I think it's going to be a special time for them, and I think they pull it off. Yeah, 2014 was the last time they were in the ACC Championship game. They can go back this year with a win against Pitt. They will clinch their spot. They allowed 34 points to Boston College last week, 48 points the week prior to NC State. Coach, why do you think the defense steps up when recently that's been the issue?

Well, number one, I think you kind of have to step back and take a deep breath. They're already talking about what they need to do and how they need to do it. you know, a head coach is always going to come up with a plan. At least we did, I would always ask my staff at the beginning of the week, okay, how many points you think you can score and kind of look at the plan and know how good their defense was. And you kind of put yourself in a position, okay, here's what we have to do to win this ball game and here's how you have to play.

And it may be one of those things where, like he said earlier, you may have to heat up the quarterback. You may have to do what you need to do. He may have told Blake that, you know, do whatever you've got to do for all cars. Just get me the ball back so we can do what we need to do. And you don't know what's going through Coach Key's mind. So it'll be interesting to see. I'll be watching.

Conversely, Jesse, quickly, Pitt could still go to the ACC championship in the college football playoff. I mean, this is a one-loss ACC team. They lost to West Virginia. That's not a good loss. They lost to Notre Dame and they got blown out. But those weren't conference matchups. They win this week.

Destiny's still out there. Yeah, but the one thing I don't like what Coach Larduzzi was doing is the whole talking, especially with young talented, not young talent, but young talent in general. The whole turn it off and on. We don't have to play that hard because they're not a conference game. And I just don't think you can turn it off and on with college kids. It's just a different league to be in. Those kids turn it off and it might take a while for the light to turn it back off with them. So while Penn is still in it, I didn't like the approach that he took last week of versus on the game. And I don't know if that may carry over against

Georgia Tech. Yeah, Pitt's schedule, not easy. Florida State was a top 25 team when they They played them. They were still kind of clicking, and then they have Miami, Georgia Tech to finish the season, a couple of top 25 teams as well. That's just a nature of how rough their conference schedule is by virtue of chance. Right, nowadays, you might go four or five years without playing a certain team in conference. These leagues are just way too big. That's coming up next on Coach's Corner.

Well, it's not what they say in September. It's crunch time in November. And we're at that point right now in the season. Coach Signetti, he did just like basketball coaches did in their non-conference schedule. He saw what he was going to have to play when he got into conference, big conference, and he changed one of his non-league games. You've got Coach Snyder, when he was back at Kansas State, that said, change the games in your non-league schedule so you can win, just win, baby.

That's what he said. And so for me, when I was in the Mountain West Conference, we always had an agreement because I had to be able to prove that we could play against somebody of a higher level. So we always had what we called a stretch game where we played in Ohio. state or we played in Oregon State out of the pack 10 you can go down the list of teams you played then a 50-50 then one you should win you know my biggest probably concern with all the big with all the big conferences nowadays is is just and I have it in a three in a three type

plan deal is plan process and then consistent competition for me the problem I have right now you have some schools and like A and M and it's not their it's not their problem they didn't they didn't make the schedule, but I mean, they're sitting in a situation when they're not going to play Ole Miss, they're not going to play Bama, they didn't play Georgia, they didn't play OU, or they didn't play Bandy. Georgia Tech had a similar situation, and so did Ohio State. And so for me, if I went back and if I could come with a plan, I would tell you this, I need more consistency. We used to have, like, the east and the west and the southeast conference. You used to have the big 12, used to have the north and the south, and we've gone to these four team quadrants where you're going to play each other,

whether that's in the same organization, play them home and away. So everybody plays the same people, have a couple crossover games, and then put yourself in a situation. I understand why everybody went to bigger conferences. Financially, money is the name of the game. But I think one of the things you have to be able to do is you can't cheat. You can't cheat the kids. You can't cheat to the coaches, the fan base, and everybody else.

Because somebody else is making a decision and there's no consistency in who they play every year And so I would pass this off to you guys and understanding that I understand the financial side of it. I also am looking for that consistent competition so that we know when somebody is at the top of the heap and you say, well, they're our conference champions that they played everybody. Because Coach Snyder used to really fight for when they divided the Big 12 at that time in a north of south division, he loved it because he didn't play Texas, Oklahoma on a consistent basis. He was with Iowa State. He was with Nebraska.

He was all these schools. And he was at the top of the heap. Always knew he had a chance to be the top of the heap. When they went back together, then they really had to fight. And I always talked to him about all these things. So what's your guys take on as far as the financial, how do you take the financial part of, okay, we have to have all these teams so we have a bigger TV contract. But we also get to a situation where somebody doesn't get cheated because I played five top 10 teams and they played none.

Give me out, Jesse, if I may. I say we go to, I don't know, six conferences, 10 teams in each conference. Crazy thought here. We regionalize it. 10 to 12 teams, you know, you play the teams that are closer. Maybe Colorado is in the same conference with the USC, about as far as you get, right? Then from there, you could say, heck, why not have a conference where Ohio State plays a team like maybe Iowa? That's pretty close to each other, right?

And then maybe there's an opportunity for Oklahoma to have Oklahoma State in their same conference. What say you? Well, here's my thing. And I know that what Coach Snyder was talking about, but a lot of these other schools like the Ohio states, sometimes they don't want all of that competition that they have to deal with weekend and week out. They like it that way where they know that, hey,

we can dominate this. And I don't have to go. They like it diluted. Is that what you're saying? They like it diluted. They like it that way. They like it to the fact where I can now go and pick and choose the games that I want.

It's better for the top end talent than it is the lower end talent. What you're trying to do is coach is bring a little bit of parity across the board. And the thing about that is the top school don't want parity. The top schools want to stay the top dogs. They want to be the money-getters. They want to be the ones that everyone is looking at. They don't want this thing to be spread out to where there's a level of parity. And now everyone can get a chance to be the top dogs.

That's why they want to stay, you know, at that level and say, more teams can come in here. That means I don't have to go out, you know, out the way they play it. And I can kind of dilute my schedule. play it the way that I want to play it. Well, so I was part of a conversation 10 years ago with some big CEOs in the world and they said, why don't you do like the NFL does? Because they don't say, well, we're the East Division or the West position. They have an NFL contract, right, with TV. So why doesn't college football quit saying we're the Southeast Conference, Big Ten, where all these, you can say that you are, but it's not part of your contract. Your contract is college football.

Okay, here's how we get our money because we're all going to be have one, voice, not three or four voices, and then divide it up like the NFL is because they did it with how they do all the different things they do financially to make sure that there's parity in college football, not just the big cities that have the most money have the best players. Now you're talking about finances, right? Because the NFL under the team construct is everyone under the TV deals, everyone gets the same amount of money out of the TV deals no matter what, no matter whether you're the Jackson, or the Cleveland,

Browns, or you're the Dallas Cowboys, your cut from the TV contract is the absolute same, right? And so that part of it, again, that's the financial part of it. Ohio State doesn't want to go from being, you know, having $500 million a year, and then now we all kind of get the same cut,

and now I go down to $250 million a year. Alabama doesn't want to do that. Georgia doesn't want to do that. And that's with a greed in college football, and that has been the thing that has been killing college football, college football. It's the greed. It's the people who want to dominate the pockets of college football. They want to have the most money so that they can continue to have their universities propped up on that stage. And no one wants to share the pie. That's the biggest problem is no one

wants to share the pie unlike the NFL. Well, so that's when I get back to we're talking about 12 teams going in a playoff. So how do we get back to where that it's not here in 10 years. We're not talking about the same 12 teams all the times. How do we get it to where an Indiana like Indiana here in the last two years with, I would have to think with the NIL and then Coach Signetti, right, changing the attitude of what they do, that something's changed there. So they could, they all of a sudden they went, because it just doesn't happen where, okay, well, gosh dang it.

It just, we just got better. We got a couple guys. No, that doesn't happen. There's been complete reform inside of the university, plus the way he thinks. the way they've recruited and the money they've been able to get the kind of players they want. So at the end of the day, how do we do that? But that a normal person when they looked at everybody's schedule and said, well, they're the conference champion because they beat these people and these people didn't beat these people.

And the normal person, they don't have to go through here in a committee tell them, well, we like it because Tulane played these two people and not. See, I can understand that. I can understand they beat a big 10 team. and they beat an ACC team, and James Madison and North Texas haven't done that, even though they've got really good football teams. So how do we get it to where all the rest of it makes sense? That's what I'm looking for is make sense.

I like how you've talked about in the past at TCU. You wanted to schedule a 50-50 game, a proof it game. Is my team good? I'm going to learn about my team in this game between. I don't know if we're going to win. Let's go play out of conference against Michigan. Let's go play somebody like that out of conference. To me, the solution, the quick solution would be 16 to 20.

2014 college wall playoff. No, no, no. We're not going to reform these conferences. We're not going to get the 10 regional conferences like we should. The reform to me is 16, 24 teams. And here's the reason why, quickly, more money and revenue in postseason. You're going to have even more games. And I think, Jesse, I'm not a Texas apologist, but genuinely, I believe Texas and Indiana on a neutral field be a pretty good game. I think it can be a pretty good contest. I don't think that's the number 17 team and number two team. I don't think we're going to dilute it by as much as people like, oh my goodness, 16 teams. I think teams. I think teams, 16 in this era with the Transfer Portal NIL could still compete. Yeah, but then you start moving the goalpost again because the more teams you let in, the more the committee guys are going to go, okay, now I can really get that team in. I can get that other brand, more brands. You get the cuter girls getting invited to the party, right? There's more room in the club for the cuter team. That's the problem.

Here's the biggest problem. We're trying to talk rational and reasonable sense to people who don't want that. Because the answers are there. Coach, you easily laid it out. The answers are there. They've been there. This is not a new conversation. It's always been an opportunity for the NCAA to do the right thing

and to have this thing done the right way across the board. They never wanted to, and they're never going to want to. It's always going to be a money grab. It's always going to be the greed of college football. That's part of the reason how we got to the whole NIL thing. It's because NCAA didn't want to start paying players years ago. and then they swung so far the other way that now quarterbacks and in college football

are getting five and six and eight million dollars. And now you have, you know, the alumni putting so much more money into this thing and everybody can't compete with that. Everybody doesn't have a fill night where they can just keep dumping money into their program until you get it right. Everyone doesn't have $22 million like Ohio State does

to buy the best team that money can buy. Everybody doesn't have the oil and gas people like in Arkansas or Texas Tech. So that part about it, it's always and always has been about the greed. I agree with you. It's, it's, still, you know, the sad part about all this, and I'll say this just because when my coach, it's, we've forgotten, well, only one percent are going to get the NFL, okay? And so they're going to do this in a four, four-year period as far as being paid and being part of it. Yes, it was part of that one percent.

Yes, yes. Yep. And then, but 98, so, so how do we talk about, okay, getting them something that helps them between 22 and 62. See, that's where I get into it. And we were talking about playoffs. We're talking about Coach's Corner. At the end of the day, we still talk about, you see him all the time. What does everybody like to like?

They like a personal story behind every team. They get to it because there's somebody back there that was a walk-on or he came from a different school or he did this. And then he became, he's become a superstar. I mean, just look at Mendoza. He comes to come, he traps the schools. Nobody really know because he played at 10 o'clock at night on the West Coast, and all of a sudden now he's a boy wonder.

Front and center, no doubt. That we took you to church. You have been to church. Amen. We talked a lot about cute girls here. We're my cute guys at Lee Sterling. Time for your lock of the day. Thanks, Drake, as we're coming down the stretch in college football,

time now for another lock of the week. Open it, open it, open it. Lee has the key to the lock of the day. A game inside the SEC Saturday afternoon, Vanderbilt. They are on the outside looking in for the college football playoff. They need a couple wins to help themselves. They're a heavy favorite at home against Kentucky. Lee, what do you like with the Commodores and the Wildcats?

All right. So if you want a game that's going to impress all your friends and family, this is the game. Vanderbilt at home laying nine and a half points taking on Kentucky. Bandy having another dream season, 8 and 2 here in a. If they win this game and win next week against Tennessee, I believe they'll be in the college football playoff. Though they're going to take on a Kentucky team that's getting better as the season progresses. They're seven and two the last two years getting a touchdown or more. Also, Kentucky finding the running game.

Dante Dattle and Seth McGowan have run for a combined over 350 yards the last two games. And the offense has scored 38 and 42 points. the defense has been rock solid, held Auburn to three points, Florida to seven, and all the sudden Vanderbilt can't run the ball at all unless it's quarterback Diego Pavia. So a lot of pressure on him as the top running back, the last two games, has gained just 39 and 11 rushing yards. Mark Stoops, coach for Kentucky, three and two also last five games against Vanderbilt. And the two losses were just by three and seven points here. is going to be my luck of the week. Take Kentucky and all those gorgeous points. I think it goes down

to the wire. They might even win the game outright. Put half your bet on Kentucky plus the points. And on the money line, you might be going to the Bahamas next weekend with all your winnings. And for more daily picks, subscribe to Locked-on bets. Back to the college football studio. We'll see you next week, Drake. Always classic Kevin and Lee. Great stuff as usual. Let's move into some of our biggest games we haven't gotten to yet. Time for our crunch time selections. You, yes, you are watching college football kickoff presented by California almonds, the unofficial snack of football. It's shaped like a football. Fuel's like a champion. Join us every week as we predict who will deliver when crunch time hits. Snack good, eat almonds. Number 22,

Missouri at number eight Oklahoma. Jesse Oklahoma wins. I think they're in the college football playoff no matter what. Yeah, I absolutely agree. And they can take off, they can use the momentum that they had coming off that big win against Bama last week. Oklahoma has quietly been just chopping away, chopping away, and if they win this game, they can find itself in the playoffs. Yeah, coach, any chance Missouri pulls off the upside of the road? Well, they do. They've got to really run the ball well, just like they did last week.

The guy had over 300 yards rushing. So, yeah, that's how you went on the road and play defense. Amon Harvey, he could be a crunch time player right there. That's weird. Yeah. Jesse, Louisville at SMU. This game exists. Yeah, no, it does exist.

And when you look at what Louisville's are doing, I'm not Louisville, you're all in Louisville as well, but when you look at what SMU is doing right now, their quarterback Jennings, he's playing some good football. Where he's best is when the ball gets out of his hands quickly. So for me, he's going to be the Crutchtime player of the game for me for SMU. That's why I have SMU winning this football game. Well, they've shown him when they play at home and they play at night. If you know, when they play it, SMU is good.

They beat Miami in overtime. So you got Louisville coming to town too. I think you'll have a big crowd. I think you have to think that SMU can be favored in this one. Yeah. Let's go Arkansas at number 17, Texas. We will talk on the desk about some crunch time players or crunch time team in this one. But John Neighbors of Locked on Razorbacks is still alive and holding on to hope.

So, everybody. It's John Neighbors from the Locked on Razorbacks podcast. And I'm going to make my case as to why the Arkansas Razorbacks, backs can upset the Texas longhorns. We know that this is a bitter heated rivalry that goes back hundreds of years back to the old Southwest conference. And there's no doubt that Texas is a far superior team this year than Arkansas. It's also on the road down there in Texas. However, Arkansas continues to almost win. They lose games by one possession other than the Notre Dame game this year. And Arkansas and Texas is always a weird time. It always means a lot more to Arkansas.

And wouldn't that be the feather in the cap of the Bobby Petrino interim era to get the victory? I think Arkansas is going to play really well against them. They're going to go all out, but it's about limiting turnovers if they can do that, play their game. I think Arkansas can make a run at them just like they have every other team. But at some point in time, Arkansas has got to make those game winning plays. Can they make it in this one? It's possible. But either way, it should be a fun one down there in Austin, Texas.

Should be a fun one. Oh, hope gets the crunch time player of the game for me after hearing John. neighbors, Jesse. No, absolutely. Texas has been this up and down team all year, but the one thing that's pretty good at six, I know, I know, I know, kept, sorry, six, seven. They've been this up and down team all year, but the one thing that's been consistent for this Texas football team is the defense. And so if they can come out at home and play like they're supposed to play, Texas should be able to win this. Well, I think you saw it. You need energy, not just your own, but help. And I think when they played Vandy, which is where they played last at home, they play great on

I think you see them play great on defense because they're going to get more energy from the fan base and go on. I think Texas has got this one. My crunch time player of that game would be, so I've got some almond in my teeth. These California almonds, I'm getting, look, I like having a snack on the desk right here. I'm going to go with Sam Pittman who's sitting somewhere. What did Lee say the Bahamas? Yes. Sam Pittman sitting in the Bahamas. He's my crunch time player of that game. BYU at Cincinnati. Look, if the dominoes fall correctly, let's say Oregon loses or Oklahoma gets upset and BYU wins on the road convincingly at Cincinnati. Coach, they're the college football playoff. Well, you know, for the Big 12, you know, obviously coaching in it for a while, you know, that's the way you would hope that happened. I really like the quarterback.

I really like the way Cincinnati plays. But for the Big 12 conference, I think everybody should be rooting for BYU. Yeah, Jesse, do you have a lean in this game? I mean, Cincinnati has lost their last two, but they were top 20 a couple weeks ago. Yeah, and Sorby's still playing good football. The problem is is that when you go up against his BYU defense, Where Cincinnati has struggled at in the passing game is as when teams that they play against play man-the-man, right?

So they have to go up against that in the way that Kalani Sataki and his BYU defense plays. So if Sorsby in that offense can defeat BYU and that man-to-man cover that they'll play here and there, then you might have Cincinnati winning this football game. Yeah, my crunch time would be Bear Bachmeier, the freshman who has been a star. He was the offensive player of the week in the Big 12 last week.

Incredible. As for this show, also incredible. Man, again, coach was on one today. You're a crunch time player in the show today, me. And by the way, my locked on, my crunch time is John Mateer in the Oklahoma game, just so you understand that. We're going back to it. I like it. These little dispensers they got for a suit.

Some way your mom's watching this show, she's like, I told him don't chew. That's eight-year-old Drake. No, that's eight-year-old Drake right there playing with a dispenser. Zero calories in almonds, too. Zero calories. It's California ones, right? That's a wrap. This week's college football kickoff.

And we are already looking ahead. next week. Oh, rivalry week in the sport. We're talking Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Auburn, Texas and Texas A&M. Too many to count and so much on the line. Same time, same set, same unapologetic football energy. Big thanks to Coach Gary Patterson and to Jesse Holly for bringing the heat and to you for riding shotgun with us. Enjoy all the action this weekend. Stay locked in. Stay fired up and we'll see you next week on Fire TV.