Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - College Football Kickoff: Bob Stoops on Red River Rivalry and Oregon’s Big Test

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

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The Miami Hurricanes are the champions of the state of Florida. Texas and Penn State are MIA in this week's rankings, but replacing them to American Conference Schools, South Florida and Memphis vying for that group of five bid. And look, it's Red River Rivalry Week, but that's not our game of the week. Who is? We'll tell you. All that and more on this week's college football kickoff. Back to Fire TV's college football kickoff.

I'm Isaac Shade, host of Locked on Tar Heels. Yeah, I'm in today for Drake Toll, and we're coming. Coming in hot from the heart of college football country in Dallas, Texas. On set with me two legends, a man that in 1988 was the linebackers coach at D2 Pitt State, 30 minutes from my house, but you know him better as the 22-time coach of the year, coach Gary Patterson, and a former Tar Heel and Dallas Cowboy, 16 Days My Senior, I figured out in your Bioblast. And also, a man who challenged me one time that I introduced him not as well as I could have, so I'm not missing my shot today, 2005 national champion, Jesse Holly.

Every week throughout the season, we'll be right here breaking down all the matchups, the moments, and 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. All right, fellas, we got our rankings report this week, and boy, there is movement. I don't know what's going on.

But Texas, out of here, Penn State went to UCLA in good grief. I don't know if they smelled too many roses at the Rose Bowl, something. They're all gone. We got a couple American conference schools taking their place. And here we sit now with a new top 10 Ohio State sits atop things after blitzing Minnesota gave up their first quarter points of the season. And that was it, followed by Miami and Oregon as the top three coach. What do you see in here?

Well, my top five, this week, I have actually two number ones. You know, I have Ohio State and Miami at the same. You know, since it's my list, I get to do what I want. Honestly. And I tell you, to be honest, we're right there on the line. I could have probably had three, Oregon at number three, and then Ole Miss and A&M. You know, they've all deserved it. They've played big games, and they've come out ahead.

Yeah, it's crazy. We've got three teams, none of whom are SEC right at the top. But, Jesse, it really feels like it is a top tier right now of Ohio State, Miami, and Oregon. If you were calling a national championship today, which of those three schools you think are in it? Yeah, for me, I think, you know, you look at what Ohio State is, the talent across the board, right? Offensively, defensively, they're returning national champions, and they just restockpile that lineup for what they have. And just Miami's playing such great football right now. They're physical. It feels like the old Miami, right? Now, I just need like, I need helmets coming off.

I need some dancing in the end zone. I need a little bit of that. But it feels, but it feels like, you know, feels like, oh, Miami, and I said this a couple weeks ago, when Miami is good, college football is good. So those would be my two teams right now that I would have in the national championship. Coach, you gave us your top five, Ohio State and Miami, tied for first. I guess we'll give it to you. That's fine. Whatever. Or you're kind of like my wife. Look, I want to stay in her good graces as I do my own wife, so I will not touch that. Ole Miss and A&M rounding out that top five. But my man, I need to know about, I believe it's

your lookers? No, your lurkers, coach. Who is? You know, those are guys, you know, that you see him climb. And so, oh, you and for me, last week, you know, the reports of where they are, you've got a big ball game, they've got to play if they want to be that guy, Mateer comes back. Oh, you know, then I have A&M, and then I have, you know, right on the outside of all that, I have an Indiana team that really needs to prove to me that they can play in one of those big games. And if they can do that because of their numbers, I really think that they're one of those

that can climb up very high. Nice. We'll get to the Hoosers here in just a minute. Coach, I want to stick on Texas Tech. Jesse, I want to come to you with this. They're up to number nine. Their highest ranking since 2008 when the late great Swashbuckland Pirate was the headman in Lubbock.

Their new logo rebrand, I don't know if you've seen it, it's awful. It's so bad. But the product on the field, Jesse Hawley, looks fantastic. Why is that? Well, it's the best product NIL money can buy. If we're being honest here. Cody Campbell! Texas Tech went out this year and made it a definite that we're going to

get talented people to come to West Texas. It's a lot, it's tough when you're dealing with the state of Texas, when you have all of these programs and programs in Oklahoma, how do I get the people to come way out here to West Texas where they're throwing tortillas on the field each and every week? Well, cash rules everything around me. Cream get the money, dollar, dollar bill, y'all. And Texas Tech definitely put their money where their mouth was. And that's why you see the weather they're playing now because they went defensively.

They went and got defensive linemen. They went and got D.Bs. They went and got the impact positions. and now you're seeing they pay dividends. Well, yeah, and Rodriguez, you have a lineback that really can play anywhere in the country. I mean, I think he's a really good player. And so, you know, Cody, the biggest thing is that you can prove that even the playing field, that you can, they'll go anywhere to play if you treat, if everything's equal.

And so that's what Cody Campbell's being able to do. And you've got to give Joey McGuire a lot of credit because in this day and age, to be able to hold those kind of players together to create a chemistry in Lubbock. that kids want to come and they want to play that hard and do it because if it was just about the money all the time, then that, you're watching the NFL. That doesn't necessarily mean you have whether I'm watching baseball, you know, this year as far as who had the biggest payrolls and they're not the teams that are playing in the playoffs. And so the same thing happens here. But I think Texas Tech has an opportunity. They haven't really now played anybody with Utah not in the top 25. But their games are coming and it's going to come soon. And you play.

yourself in. I think that's the whole key to this, why we're having this conversation. You get an opportunity to play yourself in. And that's why I like how we do it. It's kind of like, we don't care what your pedigree was. It's all about, show me, as you said, show me the money. Show me money. Okay, Chairman McGuire. I appreciate that. So, look, here's the thing, Texas Tech back-to-back road wins, as coach said, over Utah and at Houston last week. That number one passing attack, it's crazy stuff. But that defense pretty good itself. Number four in nation at Points Aloud 11.2. Fellas, we got a great rest of the top 25, but we got to get to our game of the week.

With Texas stumbling again, it sets up not the Red River rivalry, but rather number seven, Indiana, going on the road to number three Oregon in Eugene. Let's go to the board as Jesse Chats with the great host of Locked on Hoosiers and Locked on Ducks, Jacob Goans and Spencer McLaughlin. The game of the week here on college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola, and we're going to go to the experts of the game of the week. The Oregon Ducks versus the Indiana Huges. We're going to the golf course and we're going to the studio.

We have Spencer McLaughlin from Locked on Ducks and the going from Locked on Hughes. A big, big matchup this weekend, two top 10 teams going at it. Fellas, this is one of these games right now where you know, you're going against the Red River rivalry, but this is the game of the week. Spencer, I'll start with you. The Ducks coming off a fantastic victory a week ago. against Penn State. Another big matchup for the Oregon Ducks. How will Dan Lennie get this team mentally prepared to take on an Indiana football team? Well, I think the good news is that they

have the by week before this game. So you don't deal with the emotional letdown that can come from winning a game like they did against Penn State, you know, a double overtime game that was highly emotional, incredibly thrilling. And, you know, for me, a real perception changer of how I view this Oregon football team for 2025. And, you know, Dan Lannning is shown time and again, he knows how to get his team into the right mindset, you know, aside from the Rose Bowl, it's only time it's felt like his team has been unprepared to play a big football game. He go to the Big Ten championship game. They started out. Ohio State last year they started Penn State this year. The defense carried him through the first half. An offense executed when it

needed to. So I think for Dan Lannning, you know, if Oregon wins, we'll get to see on Ducks versus them. What kind of, you know, emotional tip. he used to get his team in the right mindset is, you know, we see every time the ducks get a victory. But, you know, I don't have any doubts that he's going to be able to get Penn State out of their minds. And, you know, looking ahead of what is a really good Indiana team. Jacob, this Indiana team kind of really came on the scene last year. Coach Signetti has really put this team on the map. Coming into this game against Oregon, it's one of these matches where if you want to solidify yourself, this is the type of game you have to

to go on the road and win. How does he prepare his team to go to Eugene and upset the Oregon Ducks? Well, in the most coach speak way possible, he would say it's just another game, right? You prepare for it the same way you do every single week, whether it was Old Dominion in week one or it is against the top five team in the Oregon Ducks. That's just kind of how Coach Signetti is bred, right? You have to remember, he's from that Nick Saban coaching tree. So he's one that goes into every game and treats it the exact same way. And that's what they're going to do on Saturday when they take on a really talented Oregon Ducks team. But you're right. This is a matchup where you go in and win this game or even if Indiana

keeps it close and competes and has a chance to win at the end, the entire country will have Indiana's respect and they should, right? There's still a lot of people who I think doubt Indiana. They doubt the brand and they recognize it as a basketball school. But Kurt Signetti's changing that. And if you go in and pull off this upset on Saturday against Oregon against Dan Laning and environment on national TV. Everybody will have to respect the Indiana Hoosiers, and I think that's what Cignette is using for his squad this week. Two hot football teams, two great quarterbacks, but I need your prediction. Spencer, I'll start with you. Give me your prediction of this game. Yeah, I like Oregon at home. It's hard to pick against the Ducks. The only team that's

beaten Dan Lannning at Hudson Stadium was 22, Washington. His first year as a head coach. He is much better on the sidelines now than he was back then. I'm sure even he would tell you, that and it was against Michael Pennex and three NFL wide receivers. And, you know, Indiana proves to be a real challenge for Oregon this weekend. And I'm not underestimating them by any stretch of the imagination. But the number of weapons, Dante Moore has at his disposal, the way the defense has played, I think Fernando Mendoza and Elijah Serrat are really good. And it's going to be a great test for this young but really talented Oregon secondary that played great against Penn State. I've got Oregon pulling it out 2717.

Jacob, what say you? Look, it's going to be extremely tough. And this is one of the biggest games that Indiana football has ever played in. And you got to go across the country on the road to do it. And like Spencer said, not many people win in that stadium when Dan Landings on the sidelines. But look, I think Indiana's talented enough. I think they're good enough. And I think they'll have some things that they haven't shown yet this season to pull off the upset.

I like Indiana in this football game. I like it lower scoring than some people have it, though. I like 2420. I like Indiana's top five defense in the country to make it stressful on Dante Moore. Fernando Mendoza's won road games in the P4 before. I think he does it again on Saturday, and Indiana will be a top five team come this time next week. It should be a great game.

Thank you, fellas. I appreciate you. Being a passionate fan is hard work. All the pompous circumstances makes you work up the thirst. Fans work and the thirsty work enjoy a refreshing Coca-Cola. ad break. Today show is brought to you by Supply House. Look, I got my first house in September, and it was a fixer upper. So kind of is a fixer upper, but the only reason that there have been such great improvements so fast is due to supply house. Supply house is exactly where I go to feel

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Fandul.com. Download that app today as easy as boop-boop on the old cellular device. And bam, you're there with Fandul if it's a fan, do it today. All right, fellas, we got our game of the week here. I think a lot of people are maybe thinking, oh, that's cute. The Hoosiers are going to go out west to Ottson and get embarrassed. Like they wear candy striper pants for their basketball warmups. What are we doing here? But we've got four units, O and D for both teams that are all currently ranked top 10 in points and yards.

Coach, when you're looking at a matchup like that, where it's sure, strength on strength. What makes the difference? Well, I think just playing in Oregon Stadium, I think the energy and all, they've proved that they've played really well. It's hard to beat them there. Nobody's beating Dan Lannning

there since we just heard earlier, since Washington, his first year. And so probably, I would tell you, I think it's a toss-up because when you look at the stats, they're playing, both teams are playing really, really good football. Sam. Jesse, as we look at these quarterbacks,

more Fernando Mendoza, we might have two guys that are top five in the Heisman odds right now. Are you seeing anything from this game that could help in determining who ultimately is awarded that come December? Yeah, this is one of those games when you go back and you say, what was your signature win when you were a Heisman trophy winner? What were the signature win that you had? And for a guy like Mendoza, you go on the road against a team like Oregon who you're not favorite to really beat.

And in Indiana, let's be honest, they're not a powerhouse football program. Oregon is. So for Mendoza, he goes on the road and he wins a big game against Oregon, that catapults him up that Heisman race. And for Dante Moore, he goes out there and he dismantles an Indiana team, right? That just shows you that it doesn't matter who, doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter when. We can take care of business. And so both of these guys, man, they have an opportunity to get those signature wins for their Heisman candidates. You talk about signature wins. I got a trivia question for you, fellas. How many ranked games has Indiana won in the Kurt Signetti era in a year and a year and a half?

halfish here? Three. Coach? I would say I would say less than two. The answer is less than two. It's one. That Illinois game a couple weeks ago. Last year, just two ranked games at Ohio State and then Notre Dame in the CFP. That also tells you the Hoosiers have not yet won a ranked game in the Signetti era outside of that Illinois thing. Illinois is that signature win right now. But I tell you what, you knock off the third ranked ducks in Ottson. What does that do, coach? Well, we just we just talked about it when you, you know, you want to, if you, when I was at TCU, you were going to have to play one of those games every year when I was in the Mountain West Conference to get yourself where people respected you. Okay. So we had to go in 05. You went and beat Oklahoma. I mean, you can go down the stip. You have to go play one of those. And then you have to beat the top people in the conference. For them, if they want to really prove, and this is why I have Indiana, even right outside of my lurkers, right, is for the simple reason is, Nobody gives you any respect.

I watched them on film. I like what they do. Both sides of the ball. They're really good. Now they've got to be able to prove it. Because the only game they really have was the Penn State game last year that kind of knocked them out of all of it. And so you've got to be able to get on the airplane.

You've got to go in. You've got to keep your shoulder eyes down on your shoulder pads. Don't care about the fans. And you've got to go win the ball game. And if they do that, then everybody in the country is going to jump on the bandwagon because they should. And I'll say this quickly. In the words of the great Rick Flair, in order to beat the man, you got to beat the man.

So, Indiana, you want to be respected in college football, you go up to Eugene and you win. Woo! Yes, I was ready for it. Jesse, you're the man to bring that look. That's the thing. We're looking at who can be the second best team behind Ohio State and the Big Ten? Massive opportunity for Indiana. Consequently, all four ranked teams they've played in the Signetti era, top ten.

That is some crazy, crazy stuff. All right, guys, that is our game of the week. We got to keep on moving. Let's do it. We're going to move now to what we thought was going to be our game of the week. It's actually our can't miss matchup. Texas, Oklahoma, the Red River rivalry. Say that five times fast to make sure you don't mess it up.

Joining me to talk about it is the host of Lockdown Longhorns, Mr. Brad Kellner, Brad. It is great to be together. I wish that Texas was ranked. I wish we were coming together under better terms, but here we are. So my simple question to you, that might not have as simple an answer, what do the horns got to do to get up off the map? Isaac, that's an impossible question to answer concisely, right? There's so much that went wrong for Texas in last weekend's loss at Florida.

I think simply put, though, Texas has to be better in the trenches. They got whipped on both lines of scrimmage last weekend in the swamp. Texas's offensive line gave up 35 pressures against Florida. That is by far and away the most in the Steve Sarkesian era here in Austin. The offensive line also couldn't wrong. run block as well. Texas's three running backs combined for a total of 15 yards against Florida. If you trot that out against Oklahoma in a game of this magnitude, you've got no shot. And then the Texas defensive line has to be better to zero sacks on DJ Lagway.

Florida running back Jaden Ball had a great game against the Texas defense. So games, you know, everybody focuses on quarterbacks and skill position players, but games at this level are won and lost in the trenches. Last weekend, Texas got bullied up front. They've got to turn that around if they want to knock off. off Oklahoma on Saturday. Okay, well, I'm going to continue to focus on the quarterback situation because one of the things that I always hate if I'm a fan coming into a game is not knowing who the quarterback is going

to be. Texas finds themselves in that situation right now. We don't know if John Mater is going to play or not. If you are Sark, how are you preparing for both eventualities? Yeah, Steve Sarkesian said during his Monday press conference that the Longhorns are preparing for both quarterbacks. And I think you have to, right? Brent Vinnables and Oklahoma are being very coy and who can be.

blame them. You don't want to tip your hand in a rivalry game like this. So the good news for Texas is, you know, John Mateer and Michael Hawkins, Jr., have pretty similar skill sets. Now, John Mateer is significantly better than Michael Hawkins, Jr., but you're not talking about, you know, one pocket passer versus a dual threat quarterback. Both of these guys are dual threat guys, and Oklahoma doesn't completely change its offense, whether it's John Mateer back there or Michael Hawkins Jr. back there. So, yes, Texas does have to prepare and plan for both, but the good news is I don't think the Longhorns game plan would be vastly different, whether it's Mateer or Hawkins under center for OU.

Brad, here's the great news for you, my man. As I sat in my hotel lobby this morning, up in the drapes above the windows was the form of a longhorn head. I said, oh, my word, there's Bivo. Benny the Jet Rodriguez on the sandlot would have said it's a good omen for the horns. Brad, I need a prediction on this thing. Yeah, I'm going to pick Texas to win. I'm irrationally confident in the Longhorn's chances.

This is one of those. Throw the records out the window. throw the stats out the window, throw the eye test out the window. Anything can happen within the walls at the Cotton Bowl. And when I was a student at the University of Texas, there were two times, 2013 and 2015, where the Longhorns were unranked. And Oklahoma was a top 15 team. They were double-digit favorites in both of those games.

And Texas somehow, some way, pulled off the upset both times. So I know the spread is pretty close. It's kind of been back and forth throughout the course of this week. But we've seen times where the team that looks better hasn't been the team that's donning the golden hat when the clock hits triple zero. So I think it's low scoring. I think it's a defensive struggle, but I'll be a little biased here. I'll go with Texas 20 to 17 on Saturday.

Brad Kellner, host of Locked on Longhorns. Thanks so much and good luck. Thank you, Isaac. Appreciate you, man. I'm the dorky kid that sat in the back of my parents' car looking at an Atlas growing up. And so I'm here to tell you, we sit 3.1 miles from the Cotton Bowl where the Red River rivalry will take place this weekend. And Texas leads the all-time series, 64 to 51 to 5. I can't do that in college anymore.

NFL shouts to you guys. The big question on everybody's mind, John Mateer, as we record this, quote, pushing to play from ESPN's Pete Thammel, Jesse, here's my question. The injury, the surgery was to his throwing hand. That was on September 24th, man. I got food in my fridge that's been there longer. When you have a situation like that in a game,

are players going after, like, dude, I ate it. But you're hurt. I'm coming after you. Is that a thing? It is absolutely a thing, especially when we know how important you are to the football team and what you are to your football team. For him, it's just throwing hands. So every time I get around now, I just want to, as a coach would say, make them feel you, touch them up a little bit. And so if I'm a defensive lineman, if I'm a lineback, if I'm a blitzing DB, every time I get near John Mateer, I'm making sure that I'm taking a swipe at that hand and see if I can't, if not hurt him a little bit, just get into his mind. a little bit about protecting it each and every play. So it's definitely a conversation that guys will have, you know, coming into the game. Well, even as a coordinator, you're thinking, well, he may have to scramble, but we're not going to call it. So you'd be

thinking, well, they're probably not going to have as much quarterback running game, maybe in the game plan to protect him if he does come out and play. And you probably have to think they're probably going to play two quarterbacks where they have some situations where they want to do that where they also bring in the other quarterback author of them. Well, and ultimately it might not matter because, as Jesse said, a couple weeks ago on the show, the quote was terrifying defense that the Sooners have. We'll see how Arch does against that. And that's no shock when a guy named Brent Venables is your head man. So there you go. All right, you guys, we have a special treat in store. A man that knows this

rivalry better than most, a Hall of Fame. Let's throw it to Coach P. for Coach's Corner. We have Bob Stoops, College Hall of Fame, coach, national champion, just go down the list of all the things that you accomplished while you were at Oklahoma. I just wanted to tell you. you thank you for coming on. I mean, it's just been, it's an honor. It's been an honor to have you as a friend and then also as a coach. We had some great ball games. I'm afraid I didn't come out on the top of many of those, but there was a lot of them that were close. You know, we just wanted to ask you, I know probably nobody more than you would know about the Red River robbery, what you think makes it special. And then also a couple of ball games or instances, things that

happened that you think is really cool that makes it different. And so thank you so much so much for being a part of us. Gary, always great to see you to be with you. You've been a great friend for a long time. So always enjoy visiting with you. So anyway, yeah, good to be with you guys today. And you know, what makes the rivalry special obviously for so many years through the Big 12 Big eight or Big Eight before then Big 12 with Texas joining the Big 12 was the, you know, was one of us winning the Big 12 championship, you know, every year. One of the two of us almost every year, not every year. But fortunately, we did more than naked.

But we had, I know in my years, we had 10 Big 12 championships. So the neat part is you always knew the game, someone's going to. to have a leg up on the other in the South Division to compete for the Big 12 championship. So that was the first part. It made it even a bigger rivalry when we're in the same division in the Big 12th. And then obviously playing in the Cotton Bowl, neutral site, driving into the Texas State Fair, you know, with 200, 300,000 people at the fair, you're coming into play. I mean, it just, it's a special venue. It's a special event.

And it was such an important game. And whoever ever was going to control the South Division of the Big 12th. So we looked at it that way. And it was incredible fun and exciting to be a part of it and to live it. And to be out there fighting for it all those years. So you're game-wise, I know. Everybody can go back to the Roy Williams jumping over the top, knocking the ball out, doing it. You have other memories besides that.

I know that you were like five and one there for a while, and a couple of them were blowouts. I mean, you controlled the rivalry there for a six or seven game stint. Any of those games that stick out that, you know, that really, you think? Yeah, really, you know, after I arrived in 99 was the first game, and we were up. and ended up losing in 99. I don't think we really knew how to win yet. And then we won five in a row from 2000 through, you know, 2004. And all those were different.

Like 2000, I remember we win 63, 14. And I mean, Gary, we're up, I don't know, 42 to 7 in the second quarter, like mid-second quarter. And I said on the headphones, you know how we all. talk to the coaches, we're all talking. I said, you know what, boys? I go, we're pretty good. And as you know, when you can win some of those games,

you know they're not coming back from this. Yeah. So to have one of those that you can go through the second half and be relaxed and enjoying it, that was pretty neat. And then, you know, yeah, 2001, Roy Williams, tight game, seven three, we got them backed up. He jumps over, rips the ball out from Chris Sims, goes it. So I got a Thorpe Award winner, Nogerski Award winner, Roy Williams jumping over

the pile to get to the quarterback, rips it out. And it ball ends up in Teddy Lehman's hand, who's a Buccas Award winner and a Nogerski Award winner a year or two later. Wow. Luckily, we had some good players, you know, that really made special players. plays when we had to. That was fun to win that way. And then like 2004, we sacked Vince Young, I don't know, like eight times.

We win 12-0, 12-0 to nothing with the shutout, which was a different way to win, you know, which was also really cool. So anyhow, it's just they all happen differently. and it's fun to win different ways, actually. You know, because I know a lot of those games you had against Matt Brown. I mean, I know the friendship and all of that. That, to me, looking from the outside end, it seems to be, you know, because being over in Fort Worth,

not being very far away, just seemed to be special. Both of you guys are great coaches, you're great people, you cared about your players, you did all of it. And so to see that kind of rivalry, what that game, meant to both if you haven't talked to Matt also. To me, it seems cool. And then also have two Hall of Fame coaches now that you look back on it. And, you know, not only just the players, it just, to me, it's just phenomenal.

So that's... Yeah. Thank you, Gary. But Mac's a great guy. A perfect gentleman always was. You know, when I was young the first few years, I thought you had to dislike all the coaches. And that was, that was fully. The show us dumb.

And I really got to appreciate Mack the guy he was. But, yeah, Mac had a great career. And like you just said, a Hall of Fame coach. And so it was fun in those years fighting against them. It's so cool. You walk in the stadium, go through the fair. Their locker room is dead right across the hallway from our locker room. you're going up and down the tunnel warming up and going out for game and getting loosened up.

And then game time, you both come down the tunnel together. One's in front of the other. They have it laid out. I guess the home team comes in second, I think, or first. I don't remember. But it was neat. I mean, the intensity, I mean, you could cut it with a knife. I mean, it's really what you want.

It's really special to be in it. Well, we've really appreciated you doing on. I'll tell you what, to have you here again, I just wanted to tell you thank you for all that you've done for college football. Thank you for being on this show. And I wanted to have you on because I kind of favor Oklahoma this week. So thank you there, Coach Stoops, my friend. I appreciate it, Gary. Enjoy your weekend.

With you and I could tell you're getting that golf handicap down. you're going to have to give me some strokes when we get back out there. Hey, I would, and let me tell you, if you'll come down to play, I'd be more unhappy to buy lunch and pay for it and let you win, it wouldn't matter. So we'll see you. Oh, don't give me that. I mean, when now, come on. I'm kidding, you know that.

We'll see you. All right, buddy, good to be with you. Today's rant is brought to you by Mazda. And I love Mazda because it's this Japanese craftsmanship that is mixed with such passion and pride And it's the same thing that we see out of our collegiate athletes every single week, delivering confidence with every ride, more I-IHS top safety picks than anyone else in America. You can make everyday drives feel like anything but. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you've made every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved.

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QUO.com forward slash locked on college for your first six months 20% off. QUO.com slash locked on college, first six months 20% off. Quo, no miss calls, no missed customers with quo. Super fun conversation with Coach Bob Stoops. Big thanks to him for joining us. Coach P, thanks, man, for leading the way on that. You kind of went verbal horns down in that conversation, picking OU. Hey, don't be putting me where the whole Texas name.

is mad at me. You know, it's just one of those things. I've coached in it for one year. Yeah. And I've also, we played Coach Strong the week before at TCU, and it was kind of a blow up, and then they come out, they come out and they win the rivalry that year. So anything happens in this ballgame.

And that's what Coach Stope said. Anything happens. And we talked about it before. Rivalry games, anything happens. And this is even more one that's special. Coach, I took it upon myself to do some research. search last night. Coach Stoops and Coach Patterson head to head in the TCU O-Year U's. Coach, you were two and five, I think, against the Sooners. But I tell you what, six of those

seven games, one score games, man, lots of fun, close ones. Yeah, it's one of those situations where it was, we always knew when we were going to have to head north that we were in, because how talented they were and how we had to play. But our kids loved to play in the games. Jesse, you're a man that went to North Carolina, played in the best rivalry in college athletics. We talk about throwing the record books out. When you get a moment like this, what do you do to prep for a rivalry game of this magnitude? Everything. You leave no stone unturned. You make sure that you know that you know that you know that you know. You spend time, and let me tell your girlfriend, hey, not this week. This week, I got to lock in fully.

I need to know my opponent front to back. You got to put everything into this because not only there's this, it's bragging rights. This is, you know, college football, uh, you know, rankings. This is also recruiting. You want to make sure when it comes down to you, whether you want to go to Texas or Oklahoma, what happened in the rivalry? There's going to be a lot of recruits at this game. I happened to go to this game last year as a neutral fan. And it was amazing to watch. But you do everything you possibly can in your power to make sure that you're ready for this game. With some deep fried Oreos in your pocket from the Texas State Fair. I go fried cheesecake, but that's just me. Oh, you know, the thing though, I'm sorry, I'll be right back.

I have to get some of that. What are we doing here? Man, great stuff. Okay, Texas fell out of the rankings this week. We talked about it earlier. That's going to help us get into this week's topic of the week. When should we start ranking teams? And fellas, here's how I want to set it up.

Preseason 1, 2, and 4, Texas, Penn State, and Clemson are all now unranked, and a combined 8 and 7. Not great, right, but it gets worse. They are a combined 1-6 versus Power 4 competition, and that one win, sorry Jesse, is against a North Carolina team that's been outscored 120 to 33 by power for competition. Fellas, y'all talked about it several weeks ago. I think it was maybe the first week of college football kickoff. Have you had any more thoughts now that we've seen all of the top four outside of Ohio State now unranked?

Coach your thoughts. Well, after we had the conversation, I think the first three weeks were all about the fans and TV. And then once you start getting, really it gets when people get done, their non-conference schedule early. Then about week five, I think that's when everything should kick in. Everybody should understand. Everybody's watching up TV, watch the ball games. I know who's good, who's not good, who's climbing.

And so I would tell you, then you're about two weeks away from when they do the CFP and they come out with their first rankings. So I would tell you the first two or three weeks, it's for the fans, it's for everybody else, but it's not for the ones that are lighted heart. No, and I think when you get kind of wayward with the rankings is we live in a day and time now where the NIL and the transfer portal is all happening. The teams aren't the same. It's not like you have the same team coming back each and every year. I'll use North Carolina, for example, 70 new players are added to that list.

And that's across the board. A lot of teams are churning their roster. So what was last year is not the same this year. It takes a little bit of time for those teams to bend and to jail to. for systems to be really downloaded and be able to run efficiently. So that's why I'm like, I get it to start the year because everyone wants to hoopla and the fanfare of who's where. But it's such a tough thing to really lock in on because of where these rosters are changing night and day. That's the state of affairs. Go ahead, coach.

Well, no, what I was going to say is, and if you're talking to a magazine, let's say like Phil Steele, you're not saying if, well, the guy I brought in from the portal is, not any good. Right. You're not saying how your depth is or who you lost or what you do. You're going to give him the information because you're not going to, you're not going to tell your opponents anything. And so really, we kind of know what everybody has, but you don't really know how they gel. You don't know, you don't know anything above.

And really, really should be asking those questions about the second, the end of the second week of two days or fall camp. Then you could actually have somebody go by and you could actually see and say, yeah, this team is going to be actually pretty good. And those first couple weeks, so many bad non-con games. I apologize to Zach Seiko of Locked-on Nittany Lions. They're going to catch some strays here. Here's Penn State's first three games of the non-con, Nevada, FIU, Villanova.

There's no way I can know how good Penn State is or isn't by that point. As we alluded to, the first CFP rankings are going to come out on November 4th, so we're about a month away, just shy of that. Can't wait to see how that's all going to play out. We'll keep our eyes on it. Boys, it's time for our favorite segment. The lock of the week where last week, dudes, the fellows correctly predicted Texas Tech to cover at Houston. Let's see what Lee Sterling's got cooked up for us today.

Thanks, Isaac. After another wild week of college football, it's time now to turn our attention to the SEC for our lock of the week. Open it, open it, open it. Lee has the key to the lock of the day. Alabama up a couple big wins the last two weeks, traveling to Columbia, Missouri to take on the undefeated, Tigers, Lee, what do you like here at this SEC showdown? All right. Well, a couple weeks ago, Alabama went between the hedges and took care of Georgia as an underdog.

Last week, looking for revenge at home in front of a game day crowd, took care of Vanderbilt. Now can they do it three weeks in a row as they travel to Missouri? Missouri, some people will say, they're not that great. They're 5'0. They haven't played anyone yet. But they have a quarterback in Bo Probilla, transfer from Penn State. State, who Penn State would love to have back now, he's thrown for over 1,200 yards and nine touchdowns. He's even completing over 75 percent of his passes, and he's run for three

touchdowns. He might actually be better than Diego Pavia, the quarterback for Vanderbilt. But what makes her offense so tough to defend is able running back Hamad Hardy, another transfer from Louisiana Monroe, leading the nation and rushing with 730 yards. That's over twice with the leading rushers the last two weeks had for Georgia and Vanderbilt. So I also love their defense. It returns nine starters. Only Kansas has scored above 20 points. And most of that was in garbage time here.

The tide, I don't think they're going to roll here. They're not going to get the hat trick. My luck of the week here is the Missouri Tigers. They win the game outright, 31 to 24. And for more daily picks, subscribe to Locked-on Betts. Stand by. Back home's football kickoff studio. We'll see you next week, Isaac.

Okay, playoff playbook time, fellas. We're going to go rapid fire this week. Jesse, I'm going to start with you. We're sticking with that Bama at Mizzou game, 31 to 24 from Lee Sterling. Who are you going with and do you care about your family? I do care about my family. I may agree a little bit with Lee, but Alabama's outright the better team. But Mizzou gives a lot of.

factors where they can be trouble. The number one in the country in rush defense, they only give up 62 yards a game. The number seven in giving up big plays, the second and total yardage, third on third down, and 10th in past defense. So, Mazoo can give a lot of problems to Alabama. I'm going to go with Lee Sterling, the upset for Mazoo this weekend over Alabama. Big time CFP implications where the SEC might get half a dozen teams into this thing would be massive for the Tigers if they can pull that off.

Coach, let's go back to the Big Ten. number one Ohio State on the road in Champaign at 17, Illinois, 3.30 p.m. We're going to start with a talk from Ohio State Locked on Buckeyes, Jay Stevens. Ohio State has everything they need to beat Illinois by more than 20 points on the road. It's a rival game. It's a Big Ten game going up against one of the better quarterbacks in the Big Ten in Luke Altmeyer. But Ohio State's been different this year. They're the number one team in the country for a reason. Their defense is playing fast. They're playing free.

They're well prepared every single week. They have Caleb Downs, Arvore Reese, and they have a bunch of dogs on the defensive line. On offense, Julian Sand continues to play better than advertised. And as Ryan Day and Brian Hartland put more on San's plate, he is answering and stepping up every single week. Luke Altmeyer is good, but that offense is limited. They don't have much many weapons on the office side of the ball. Their offensive line is a little bit weaker. The defense isn't the strongest either.

And I believe with Jeremiah Smith and Carnot, Tate and other guys on the Buckeyes' offense, This could be a big day for the Buckeyes offense and another big win for the Buckeyes. All right, Coach, you heard it there. Look, after giving up only three points to Minnesota, Ohio State now allowing an average of just five points a game. More of the same this week? I agree with Jay. Go Buckeyes. Go Buckeyes.

You love to hear it. Jesse, Florida, massive win last week in the swamp over Texas. Now, they got to go to College Station in the unbeaten Giggums. Number five, what's happening there? You know, for Florida, is it a real thing that they beat Texas? that's just a one-off, right? And nobody plays. I'm about to get fired games like Billy Napier and Florida.

So I think Florida continues this thing. They go down and they get a big time win over A&M. I love it. Coach, Saturday night. The Bulldogs heading west on I-22 Auburn. What's happening? Well, two really good defenses. I'd have to lean towards the Bulldogs in this one.

Oh, oh, oh. Makes sense. I love it. I'm here for it. It's going to make my mom very happy, by the way, as a good Georgia boy that I am. 21 Arizona State on the road at Utah, Jesse. Late one on Saturday night.

The fighting Cam Scataboos, that dude is bonkers, by the way, are headed to Salt Lake. How's it going to play out? You know, this is one of those games where Utah has kind of dominated this series a little bit. And they're coming off a bye week. I think Utah and Coach will get this thing done and taking care of Arizona State. All right, Coach, we're going to wrap with the game that our producer, Brady, is very, very excited about. Shouts to you, Brady, you are the man. Number 21, South Florida, one of those American teams we talked about earlier.

that's now ranked, they're heading to Denton just a little bit north of us, where North Texas is looking to spoil their bid for a CFP shot. You know, some things just happen for a reason. And the mean green, I think, have it in place. You get a chance to play at home, you get a chance to play on Friday night. I would say, even though I'm a big South Florida fan, I think the mean green, this is their time. I'm going to say, call, call, call! Wait, one more time with that.

They do up there. We need to make sure we got every bit of that. You guys, that's a wrap on this week's college football kickoff, but the season is just starting to heat up. Next week, three huge SEC showdowns, LSU Vandy, Bama, Tennessee, and Old Miss, Georgia. Oh, my word. And we're not going to sleep on Texas Tech in Arizona State either. Come join us again next week for coach, for Jesse, same time, same set, same unapologetic football energy. Big thanks to these guys for bringing the heat, as always, and to all of you for riding shotgun with us.

Enjoy all the action this weekend. Stay locked in. Stay fired up and we'll see you next Thursday right here on Fire TV.