Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - College Football Kickoff: Conference Championship Week Brings Elite Matchups in SEC, Big 10 Title Games

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

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Drama. That's the word of the weekend as the Alabama Crimson Tide may have to win to get into the college football playoff if a couple of teams sneak their way through winning conference championships. And Lane Kiffin is out at Ole Miss in an LSU. Good thing we have a Hall of Fame coach on the desk to break down how it happened and how it should have happened. 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. Shape 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 former Tar Heel 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. There's a chance, Jesse, that the Alabama Crimson tie out of the mighty SEC despite, they could win this game and they know what they're in.

But in spite of where they sit the SEC championship, they lose that game. And BYU beats Texas Tech. There's no Bama. in the postseason. And you know what? And for this season, that would be okay. But here's why. I think because one of the things about the college football playoffs is, yes, you want some

of your blue bloods in there. You want to make sure that you're Georgia and your Alabama's are in there. But you also get an opportunity to introduce some of these new teams to the country, right? A team like BYU, if they happen to get into the college football playoffs. Now, that's an introductory to the world of football. And I'm not saying it's an every year thing. And, you know, there is this committee thing that we can say one thing today, but the committee makes their own rules tomorrow.

But if Alabama just so happens to not be in this, okay, people of Tuscaloosa, your mighty big road tide may not be in it. But the nation gets to see other football teams on a national stage. That's not a bad thing. Well, and the SEC has already had, they have already had schools that universities are in. They're going to be in the playoffs already. So it's not like, well, they're shut out. There's a chance maybe of having five, then maybe six totals.

Half the field. Right. So let's go there next where the college ball playoff committee put their top 25 this week and where coach would have his on our rankings report. Let's start here, take a look at the college football playoff bracket as it sits. Coach, I think the most fascinating piece of this is the underrated storyline of we could get to this time next week. And James Madison and North Texas are both in the college football playoff if Duke wins the ACC championship. Well, yeah, it's going to be interesting because it's an automatic qualifier as far as somebody that's 11 and 1, like a Virginia.

But for somebody that has three or four or five losses, it's not going to be. Five losses. It's not going to be that situation because you're sitting here with a Texas would have a big argument with three losses. And right now they sit outside the top, those 10. So it's going to become very interesting before. it's done. There's no way that Texas gets in. I don't think there's any way Miami gets in at this point. The committee can't... Uh-oh. Exactly. Uh-oh. Exactly. Wait a second. Wait a second.

Exactly. As I'm about to exclaim, the committee can't change things at the final hour. Coach Patterson, has the committee ever changed things on you? We already've had this story. They don't want to hear it again. The three to six, I'm going to have a t-shirt made. You can make that t-shirt. I'll make a 61-58 t-shirt. And that's the thing right there when you talk about, you know, I highly doubt that they're going to put two G5 schools into the college football players. Over Duke? Well, I'm saying is this is where the conversation starts coming out where the committee starts to make its own rules up as we go along.

Because let's be honest, like if you look at some of what some of those odds would be, you're talking about an Ole Miss having go play James Madison or Tulane type of school. But what's the difference if it's Ole Miss James Madison or Old Miss Duke? I mean, if we're being honest with ourselves. Tulane did beat Duke in your season. So that's you have a head-to-head just like Notre Dame and Miami. And that's why I'm okay with one of them getting it. But when you're adding two of those in there, I think now you start talking about the discrepancy of talent,

of conference play, and that score can get out of head. Now, like I said earlier, I don't mind introducing the country to a new team, but this is where the committee starts talking about, you know, what's best for TV programming. programming doesn't want two G5 schools in there. They much rather have a team like Notre Dame or Miami, and that's where things can get a little bit wonky. And the committee can start to say things like, you know, well, we felt this and we felt that and moving the goalposts a little bit to get those

teams in there. Let's take a look at Miami's resume, Notre Dame's resume, BYU's resume. Let's compare those three teams because BYU's not getting as much love from many of these national networks and what they've done this year. And as we take a look at these resumes, coach, my question for you is let's go back to that Georgia TCU National Championship, 65. 25 to 7, if that game, some of people have talked about this a lot on social media, if that game is 31 to 24, is VYU number 8 in the country right now? Like, do we, is the playoff committee kind of your, to your point, saying we can't have another blood bath in the college football playoff if we allow a big 12 team in here. Well, and two things that happen. Number one, they left us out in 14 TCU, and so I think they felt

like they needed to, even though they lost the Big 12 championship game, they needed to be able to put them in. So they got their opportunity. And then when they, you know, they did beat Michigan. They got to the game, but when they got to the game, they needed to do a lot better. And I agree with you. I think that's one of the reasons why, even though he's not going to go to Penn State, that Coach Sataki, why he, if he was thinking about it, is because he's got an opportunity to be in 11-1 regular season, right, two times a row last year and this year, and he gets left out of the playoffs, and he's got a win against a really good Texas Tech team,

right, this week in the championship game to get an opportunity. I mean, he has to be perfect just about to be able to get that done. And that's hard when you know when you sit in those teams where you love the university you're at. But at the end of the day, if you really want to win a national championship, you really want to do this. And people, not that your goals are not in that place, but they don't believe because who you play on a day-to-day basis puts you in a situation that your resume, your Riz puts you in that situation where you can do that, right? Let's get to your locks, your lurkers, your teams don't have enough Riz, whatever that means. First, let's see again that Miami resident super quickly. Miami, Notre Dame, BYU, I alluded to it. For Miami 10 and 2 this year, their key win is that Notre Dame when you see their losses.

The committee would argue those losses aren't good enough. That strength of record or strength of schedules not good enough for Notre Dame. They also sit at 10 and 2. They've won 10 consecutive games. Their key wins aren't that sexy right now. when you've won 10 straight and you have the ND on your helmet that's going to help you, then there's BYU. And again, that's why I wanted to have that conversation. They've got a road win against number 18. They've got to win against Utah. Their only loss is on the road

against the number of four team in the country. But I think the committee still has that taste of, oh, if we let the Big 12 in, will it be another repeat of TCU and Georgia? Coach, your locks, your lurkers, not enough for is. Well, you know, locked, like they're the same as it was last week, except I added Oklahoma and why I think you can put Oklahoma. You have Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech, Oregon, A&M, and Oklahoma. And I added Oklahoma because they're not playing in the championship game. They don't have the opportunity just like Alabama where you could end up with three losses, which is if they were sitting in the situation where they were in the game,

then we could be saying, well, Alabama's the lock, they only have two losses. And Oklahoma's the team possibly could be out. Now the lurkers, it's the same, but we just talked about. the resume people. You, BYU, they've got to win the championship game. Notre Dame, Miami, okay, you're sitting with these three teams and Alabama. Four teams are sitting there right there between eight and ten, that all those things are going to happen, right? And then you have your not enough Riz people, which are good football teams, right?

Texas, James Madison, Vandy, Utah. I mean, go about your business. I mean, what else do you say? I mean, you can't, the problem is we only have to be. The problem is we only have 12 teams in the playoff. Good teams, not enough for us. And so at the end of the day, it's kind of boiling down to you've got what you've got. And it's going to be really interesting this weekend.

I have a couple of these things would fall different than what people think they are. Hey, the next show is brought to you by Aura Frames. Look, it is the number one gift. Last year for Christmas, I gave my grandma, Orafram. She loved it. It was her favorite thing. She could sit there and just bloop. Nope, new picture, new picture.

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Support this show at AuraFraims.com. College is your promo code, ORAFraim. Yeah, let's hop into our game of the week then and talk about the actual matchups happening on Saturday, Friday and Saturday. Alabama versus Georgia is where we'll start. It is time for our game of the week, number one Alabama versus Georgia. Jimmy Stein locked on Bama, Clint Shamblin, locked on Bulldogs. They are the experts on all things, Alabama, all things, Georgia.

Jimmy, we'll start with you. For Alabama in this game, do you just run it back? Do you got to change anything? You've already proven once you can beat Georgia. I think there's a tendency when you win games, you know, not to change much. I don't know that Alabama will change much. I think a factor for Alabama is injuries on offense. There's a lot of players a little banged up.

You, of course, change over the course of the season. You're not the same team at the end of September that you are, you know, at this point in the season. I don't think you'll see Alabama change a lot just simply because of the injuries on offense is sort of racked up to the point that you're just going to do what you're comfortable with. I think Alabama would be comfortable actually playing. quarters 5, 6, 7, and 8 from the first four quarters against Georgia earlier this year.

Yeah. Let's go in terms of revenge, Clint, now you've got a neutral site. There are going to be a ton of Bama fans, ton of Georgia fans in this game in Atlanta. But, man, it's tough to beat an elite team twice. I really like Georgia's odds here. I'm glad you do because the maroon color presents voodoo. for Georgia, and I have no clue why. If I'm looking at this game, I would like to say my head agrees with you. If you look at what Alabama's done the last four weeks, Ty Simpson's five of his six games,

worst games have come in this last stretch of the season. And Georgia's defense is not the same defense that Bama faced early on in the season. Ellis Robinson has more interception than he does PIs in the last four games. He's a completely rejuvenated player, as well as his linebacking course. C.J. Allen leading the charge has rejuvenated the pass rush, having a is at an all-time high, 19% havoc rate on every single down for Georgia in the last four games. Everything in my head says, yes, this is Georgia's to lose. And yet, here we are against, again, against Alabama. Jimmy Stein, if Bama loses this game, are they still squarely in the playoff?

Yes, yes. I don't think a team that can enter the SEC championship game is what amounts to the number one seed. I know that's with quotation marks. But there's a four team tied for first place. Alabama's the number one seed. They'll be wearing the crimson jerseys, the home jerseys, the number one seed. I don't think a loss is going to knock them out. I think the committee moving Alabama from 10 to 9 is sort of the exclamation point behind that.

But at the same time, don't get blown out. Don't get blown out by Georgia. But I think a competitive game against Georgia puts Alabama in the playoff as one of the better SEC teams. And we'll see what happens from there. But I don't believe anything outside of a blowout would change things. Yeah, Clint, Quicks andoffs, how do you think this game will go? Alabama does not score more than 20 points. Like I've said, Tyson and Jan Miller being banged up a little bit.

I think Georgia limits it. It's going to be another close game. It's going to come down to a fourth quarter drive. Can the defensive line shut down Georgia's running attack? I don't think they can. Again, my head is telling me 2120, Georgia. Stein, do you have a score prediction? I do have very similar. I'll say 23, 21 Alabama. The game initially, 2421 back in September.

I actually don't think the score will change much. What I think is going to change is strategy on both sides. I think you're going to see Alabama throwing the ball trying to get some plays outside. We haven't seen much of that last couple of weeks. But I think big plays outside. One play in the fourth quarter will decide the game. I like Alabama 23, 21. No one knows more about Alabama or Georgia. Jimmy Stein of Locked on Bama and Clint Shammelin of Locked on Bulldogs. Thank you both so much. Sure.

Appreciate it. Thanks. Jesse, rematch. I asked coach about rematches talking about, you know, if you lose the first time going into game number two, tough to beat an elite team twice, tough as an elite team to lose twice. But if you're on your heels, if you're Georgia, you already know you lost to this team. What's that mentality in the locker room? I think what Georgia looks at their season for where they lost at to where.

they're at now, I think you see a completely different team. You know, this team was a very, Kirby Smart's team was a very young football team. A lot of guys were playing that were freshmen and sophomores. And I think, hey, Coach, you know this, as the season goes along, those guys begin them mature. They go on and they play these big games. And some they win and some they lose.

And then when you get to that latter part of your season, those young guys, those kids who, you know, started out a little bit shaky, have now gained confidence. They understand your scheme. They understand what you want to do. And now they're able to play fast. They're not thinking about what to do. They're just going out there and having their supreme talent take over.

And I told you guys this a couple of weeks ago. When I saw Georgia live in person, I came out of that game against Mississippi State, and I said, this is the most dangerous football team in the country. They are physical, they are dominant, and they are playing both sides of the football really well right now. So I think if they just bring that to the table, that that'll be enough to knock off Alabama. Well, same problem with the BYU, you know, Texas Tech has, but then, than Alabama has. It's hard to beat somebody twice. I mean, it's just hard. Just the mental psyche of understanding that you've already done it once. And then the other side of it, meaning you were

the team that lost going in. And I agree with you. After watching a lot of film, I would tell you, Georgia is a completely different football team on both sides of the ball and his special teams than they were six weeks ago. Well, that's not our only game of the week. Good thing there's a whole slate of Saturday football that decides who gets in the college ball playoff. Ohio State We weren't treated to that in the regular season, so we get it now in the Big Ten championship. It's game of the week. Number two. The Buckeyes, the Hoosiers.

It's the Big Ten Championship. And would have loved to have seen this in the regular season. Now it's a game that has marbles, but how many of those marbles really matter? I do think Jay Stevens locked on Buckeyes, Jacob Goans have locked on Hoosiers. These two teams are easily in the college football playoff. There is no conversation about whether or not they are, and they're each either going to host or get a bye week come the postseason. So, Jay Stevens, what is there to play for? A trophy of the chance to be the champions of the Big Ten. I think there's a lot to play for for Ohio State. And as Ryan Day has said,

leading up to this game, there's nobody on this team right now that has a Big Ten championship in their resume. So there's a lot to play for. Just like last week, Ohio State's went over Michigan. Those guys were the first, that was the first time beating Michigan. This is the first time, these guys even have a shot to win a Big Ten title would still mean something at Ohio State. Yeah, Jacob Goans, to me, there's more for Indiana to play for here and further proving that this is not fools gold. They are a legitimate powerhouse in college. Football now under Kurt Signetti. Is this one of those cornerstone games you point to and say, hey, if we beat Ohio State by 10, 14 points, it just further solidifies that Indiana's here to stay? Yeah, I mean, I think a win in general, whether it's by 1, whether it's by 10 or by 50.

If you win this game, you get over the hump that you couldn't get over a year ago against Ohio. State, right? And now you have an opportunity to play a neutral site, not in Columbus, and get the biggest win in your program history and your first ever appearance in the Big Ten championship game. And thankfully, people respect Indiana football now as they should, but this would take it to a whole new level. Jay, I'm looking at the national championship poster behind you, right? In the list of the years that Ohio State has won. This is one of the most prolific programs in college football history. Going up against Indiana, this is the definition of new blood in our sport. How odd is this that all of a sudden not only is Indiana on the scene,

they're kind of dominating the scene? It's very odd. It's one thing in my lifetime, I never thought I would see Indiana have back-to-back 11-win seasons with one of them being undefeated. It's so rare and odd that it makes this game to some people not really mean anything in Ohio State land. But I don't think Ryan Day and these players looking across the field

than looking at the I.U. on the helmet maybe or the Hoosier on the chest and thinking, oh, this is the same old Indiana team. That's not the case at all. You watch a film. This team is good. They're opportunistic on defense. They have a quarterback that is in the highest in trophy conversation and he deserves to be there. This is not the same old Indiana even from three years ago. Kurtz Nettie is on a phenomenal job of changing the culture in Bloomington. And Ryan Day is taking notice of everything that's going on and making sure his team is ready for battle. give me a 15 second synopsis of how you think the game will go and a final score if you have one. Yeah, Indiana is going to have to talk. Jay was talking about forcing turnovers and opportunistic on defense. You have to do that. Fernando Mendoza has to take care of the football. I think Indiana keeps it close.

I picked against the Hoosiers last time I was here so I can't do it again. Give me Indiana. I'll take 3128 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Same for you, Jay. I think this game is going to be one where it's been similar to where Ohio State has played all year, very, very efficient football. Now, I do think at some point, Ryan is going to put his foot on the gas and attack a little bit harder and start throwing the ball down the field early on in the first quarter. And this could be the game where he finds a way to be efficient, but still gets

to all to his playmakers a little bit earlier. I got Ohio State winning 3117. I know it's a little bit larger than what I think the spread is currently for this game. But I think with the way Ohio State is playing offensively with how strong this defense has been all season long. I think Ohio State has everything they need and then some to be Indiana. win the big 10 title. Wow, they are the experts. Jay Stevens have locked on Buckeyes. Jacob Goans have locked on Hoosiers. Thanks to you both. Thank you. Jesse, oh, 14-point victory. I mean, I was set up. I was ready to have this conversation and then I hear 14-point victory from Jay Stevens. That shocks me a little bit.

I would be very surprised if that's the deficit. Yeah, I know. I would as well. And, you know, this is the type of game when you talk about it, coach and Drake. With Kosignetti, he likes these games. He likes being, as well as Indiana's played in this year. There's something about when he walks in as the underdog. He walks in with this chip on the shoulder, and he gets his guys to play. We saw what happened when he had to take Indiana up to Oregon and play against Oregon, and he just put the belt to tail. Does he say bored to you?

It's like it's this level of cocky I haven't seen in college football. He's just bored. It's too easy. Well, because he's 30 years older and everybody else just like that. He's seen a lot more. I see that a lot more. So I'm looking forward to this because Indiana, while Ohio State is the best team constructed offensively

and defensively in the country, there's something, there's a mystique about Indiana when they play against these type of games where they come to play. That's a great segue. Coach, you called me a few weeks ago and said, I'm watching tape on Indiana, and they're not, there are no crazy stunts here.

They're not reinventing the wheel of college football. They're just, their jimmies and Joes are dominating people. Well, you know, a lot of people play that look like a 4-25, which means 5 dBs, but they're doing it, they're doing it with three linebackers. That's the difference and why it's really, and they must, you know, I haven't studied the linebackers enough how speed that they can be a safety and cover like that. But when you could take a body, that kind of body, and play in the Big Ten and play that physical of defense because you're playing it with a linebacker body instead of a DB body,

and you're being able to play all the coverages. There's two things that they do that everybody said that we couldn't get down at TCU when why I let go. Number one, older, he's 64 years old, he's seen a lot. And he's not going to be fooled by it. Second, okay, they're playing match quarters. And what that means to me is they're sitting on routes, they're sitting on the front. Everything's going to have one more guy in the box as far as the run is concerned because of the way they're playing their safeties.

And when you can play like that, I was surprised. I had to run it back, watch three or four games. I thought it maybe was just one game plan, but it wasn't. It was everybody they played. They played Oregon that way. and they'll blitz a little bit and do things. But you have two great defenses that don't like to give up points. They get upset about it when they give anything up.

And you have two offenses. You know, there's a couple wide receivers that actually Indiana has that I think people are overlooking. It's just not the great wide receivers at Ohio State. One of them didn't even play, I don't think, in the Oregon game. And so I think you're going to get the full tilt from Indiana, both sides of the ball. And one thing else that you have to look at, we're talking about coaches leaving and coming and going,

like that. Ohio State's offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline, has taken the job at South Florida. So I don't know if he'll be in this game or where his mind will be in this, you know, as far as putting this game playing together for Ohio State to make this run. So there's a couple things behind the scenes that people may not be talking about, Brian Hartline being one of them. How cool is it that we get to sit at a desk with coach? I know. It's awesome, man. I'm super brief. I love it. I ran into a national championship head coach probably six or eight months ago. We sat down and had a conversation. It's like, hey, ask him the normal question.

You know, three, three, why do you play three? And he said, he said, you know, I always tell my players, you know, if things go wrong, you got water in your boat. You know what happens to a boat's got water in it? It sinks. This dude's full of BS. We've got coach over here coming on, Matt, we're done the match quarters, and he's got a slot quarter versus the RPO. That's different right there. That is different. Absolutely. Coming up, can't miss match up, BYU and Texas Tech in the Big 12th Championship game, it's going to be a good one. It is time for a can't miss matchup. BYU and Texas Tech.

He is the host of Locked on Cougars and the expert on all things, BYU, Jake Hatch, Jake put plainly, I think it's a disservice to college football that BYU at 11 and 1 in a power for conferences not in the playoff. Why is this not a playoff team currently? I honestly have no good answer for it. It feels like it's the playoff committee sending a message

across the bow of the Big 12th saying that, You're only going to get one team in unless BYU forces the way to knock down that door. Hatch, BYU almost lost its head coach this week. And now they have their first playoff game of the year. This is your play-in game to the playoff. In essence, it might as well be as important of the weight as a CFP game. Take me through the psyche of a BYU player right now with everything that's gone on the last seven days. I think they're absolutely ecstatic that their head coach in Kloni Sataki is secured.

He's going to be at BYU for the long term. And the best part is it looks like there is going to be added resources to only enhance what BYU's already accomplished in the big 12. So if I'm a player in that football program, I'm feeling really good right now. And I think in many respects, they want to go and win this game for their head coach. 29 to 7. It wasn't a close game the first time these two teams squared off. But was the score indicative of the game itself? Did BYU play it closer?

Can BYU win this game because that was a shalacking? Yeah, the defense showed up that day. The problem was the other two phases of football, speaking of offense and special teams, absolutely did not do their part in that game. Didn't YU no favors. I feel like with a more healthy LJ. Martin, potentially a guy like Cone Moore returning to the lineup, and obviously Bear Bokmire doing what he's done all season long, I feel like BYU has a better chance, as good a chances they have had in quite some time

of putting on a better performance against Texas Tech. But I'm under no illusions of how good this Red Raider squad is. so it's going to be an uphill climb for BYU. Hats give you a score prediction and a brief synopsis of how you think this game will go. I believe that Texas Tech is going to win it, but I do believe BYU will put on a performance that will have the playoff committee, considering what BYU is accomplished, even though they'll be at 11 and 2, in my opinion, after this one.

I've got Texas Tech winning at 27, BYUU 21. Love it. Jake Hatch, locked on Cougars. Jake, thanks as always. Thank you. He is the expert on all things. Cougars, thank you again to Jake Hatch for bringing you. taking down this game, but it would only be fair to give Chris Level of Locked on Texas Tech a chance for rebuttal. Level.

Chris Love a locked on Texas Tech here, Texas Tech, BYU, 2.0, 297, about a month ago, Texas Tech, two of seven in the red zone, kick five field goals. One of those red zone opportunities at the end of the half, you don't come away with anything. You had a couple of drops. I think BYU probably comes in this thing, thinking they left a lot left out there. I think Texas Tech is saying the same thing, that they left a lot out there. Going into AT&T Stadium in Arlington, it's all about stopping the run again. You have to. This is what BYU wants to do.

I also think that you better be ready for BYU to empty their bucket. Lots of potential taking chances, gadgets, you know, whatever. They will empty their bucket, and I think you need to be ready for it. the run and if you're better in the red zone should win another one. That's it. Thank you, Level and Hatch. Let's work backward a little bit here. Jesse, we heard from Jake Hatch and he said that if BYU plays this game close, maybe the committee reconsideres. Do you think that's that's the case? No. Okay. No. I just don't. And one of the reasons why there are. That's a quality loss. Yeah, but here and here's the quality losses. I go back to the

conversation that we had a couple of weeks ago. And when you start talking about getting down to the last 12 of this conversation. Now, if you win and you're definitely in, there's nothing that the committee can do. But again, I keep saying this and I will stand on this hill and die on this hill alone. BYU is not pretty enough to get into the college football dance, surely by some other things happening. And they're not definitely invited by winning it than any other thing especially when you're talking about teams like Notre Dame. The name brand teams, Miami, sitting on the outskirts,

waiting for these type of losses to happen to potentially move themselves up in the conversation. And that's the one thing about the committee that kind of gets me a little bit because they can pick and choose what and how they want to do things, and this is a perfect example of that. I think the Big 12 commissioners

rooting for BYU to win to get two teams in. Texas Tech would still be in. Coach, you told a story to me one time about Mike Leach. You squared off against Leach, lost 70, 35, that first go-around, I think it was. In the next time... 2004.

There it is. Probably tell you the day, too. Next time around, his team didn't score touchdown. TCU beats Texas Tech. You beat Mike Leach. In this situation, it almost feels David versus Goliath. Texas Tech was that much better than BYU. How do you flip...

I know those were different seasons, but how do you flip the script when that's the taste in your mouth? Well, three things. Number one, BYU made a name for itself with Lavelle Edwards. Then they became independent, and so then they lost, they brought their level back down again. They're trying to build themselves back down again. and they're trying to build themselves back up. Two, I liked what he said about the players playing for Sataki

because he chose BYU to be there for a long time. The other thing, you're a freshman quarterback, Bear Bachman. He goes into Lubbock, Texas. If you've never been in that environment, and he's not going to be in that environment anywhere in the Big 12, he went into that environment. You're playing against a really good defense. The game looked to me like when I watched the game

was so much faster than he needed it to be. I think he's going to play a lot better. Even though you're going to be in AT&T Stadium, it's going to be loud. You can't. If you've ever been in there, you can't hear in there. And so it's going to be different. But they have to prove to the committee that they belong. And that means they've got to win without there being any indecision about they're a really good football team.

And I don't know if they're good enough to beat a Texas Tech by 14 or 17 points. You know what I'm saying? That's the problem. I think BYU has to win this game. If there's a stat that I lean on here to give BYU fans a little bit of hope. And again, I think we all agree as a desk. Texas Tech, this is their game to lose. I mean, they punished BYU that first time. But the Cougars, the 149 rushing yards Tech had in that first game,

76 of them came on two carries. The rest, 41 carries for half of that number. That's a lot different. You limit the chunk plays. You limit Texas Tech overall, BYU if they can do that. We'll at least have a shot. Hey, today's show is brought to you by Fandl. Fandul is exactly where I go for this Big 12 championship game to say,

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and that documentary that was released a month and a half ago feels kind of moot. We've got a coach on the desk who knows little something, something about getting offers to go other places. We'll get coach's thoughts on Coach's Corner. Coach Kiffin, the new head coach at LSU. I'm very excited for Lane as a coach, you know, an opportunity. His goals were to get to a place where he feels like he has a better chance to win a national championship, money, resources, all the things they did. You know, being a coach, though, that's been inside the office around the players, around coaches, I went through that whole move myself back in 2000 when Coach Franchone went to Alabama.

I, the defensive coordinator, just like at Ole Miss, was hired to be the next head coach at TCU. And here's the thing that happened with you. You've got to understand when you move, I really believe that you have to do it the right way. Because here's the thing that I think head coaches sometimes we all forget. Sometimes it's not, it wasn't just you that got this done. It was the players that got it done. It was the coaches that got it done. It was the people in the community, the boosters, the fans, everybody had an opportunity to be a part of how everything turned out and all the resources at Ole Miss put in.

I take my hat off. I take my hat off to their AD, Keith Carter. I mean, here's a guy that had, I'm sure he's not, he wasn't the voice behind all of it. Here's a guy that had to stick by his guns and say, here, Coach Kiffin, you're not going to coach in the playoffs. Now, what happened at TCU was that Coach Fran won to take. take the offensive staff with him. And I told him, having been all together, I said, you know, it wasn't fair to the players nor to TCU or to everybody else to have an opportunity to go coaching the end. And so basically the rest of the staff, besides the offensive coordinators,

they stayed and they coached and went about their business. I thought it was the right thing to do. You have a couple different schools Tulane where John Summerall going to Florida is going going ahead and coach in the championship game, possibly the playoffs, and then also Bob Chesney, James Madison, might be in the same situation. But I think what you got to understand is, I think, at least my personal opinion, because all the craziness out there, and this started with Matt Campbell a couple of years ago, you saw seven or eight coaches, and you talk about Rhettlesh, Coach Signetti, Kalani Sataki, you've got coaches that have decided that, you know, they're going to stay with the places that have helped them become who they are, and all

the success they've had, and I think that's the biggest thing, fellas, that we all, that I think everybody understands. I don't think anybody has a problem with Lane Kiffin going to LSU because of the championship and all the things that happens. The biggest, I think the biggest thing, at least from my standpoint, from a coach's standpoint, because I've been inside, I've been inside that locker room, I've been inside that team room, is to understand. And I think what I said earlier, Coach Sataki, I think his player is going to play harder in this

championship game, knowing that he chose BYU, that they're important. to him. I think that's the thing that you kind of, everybody doesn't understand because they haven't been there. There's an emotional part of this thing when somebody leaves because they, they, that was their leader. And so for them to say, well, then we're also going to take the offensive staff with us and we really don't care. Now he had pushed back and so now you see the offensive coordinator is going to stay there. You know, my, my thoughts and your thoughts about what you guys from a different viewpoint. So what's tough about this is if I work at KPMG and then I get an offer from Deloitte

for $7 million more dollars a year, at some level it's business. We're talking about opportunity and new jobs. I don't fault somebody for leaving a university to go to another university. Where I do what the rub is for me is Kiffin has spent his years at Ole Miss saying, I have been rehabilitated. I am a new man. This is the new me. And so it's just contradictory to what we've been hearing out of the Kiffen camp of,

I'm changed, I do Pilates now. This is not that. But, Jesse, a big piece for me, I'm going to go to LSU. They fire Brian Kelly. Coach, you brought it up. Do the players prove he was the issue? Now we're going to win without him. No, they weren't good.

Ole Miss, if you're in that locker room, you just lost your head coach. Do you prove we can do this without him? You want to say that, right? You want to be able to go in there and say, like, this is. We play on the field, right? We are the ones who go out there and put the blood, sweat, and tears on the field. We're the ones who tackle, who run, who pass, who catch, who do all of those things. It's not coach.

But there's a reason why Ole Miss went from where they were at to where they're at now. And that has a lot to do with Lane Kiffin. So, yes, the players can go out and they can have that level of bravado about we're going to go out there and win this for us and not for him. But make no mistake about it. The reason you are sitting in this position is because you had a guy, you had a Geppetto that was able to put you guys in the proper place, to know how to play the right cars at the right time and get you to a place where you're being talked about now amongst the national ranks and you're in a position to win a national championship. You know, but I would say this. He's got a guy and Charlie Weiss that's going to go back and this was the coordinator that Lane and him have thought the same way for the last, I don't know, whether he's been there five or six. years with him. And so I think just watching a couple of the things on TV as far as the press

conference and then also the team meeting that Pete Golding had with, he had with the team. I think you're going to find there's a little bit of a chip on, if they didn't have a chip on their shoulder, I think you do have a chip on your shoulder now. And I do believe, you know, Elaine, he has a knack for how he calls plays and what he does things. But also they have some very good chess pieces at, at Ole Miss. The one thing I'll say, Coach, and this is, this is just me playing devil's advocate, right? Me calling it from the Lane Kiffing Camp. Well, let's talk about one.

And you know this because you were on the sideline. You were responsible for an entire team. And I always like to believe this. When you're going up against lesser competition, your jimmies and Joe's take care of things. You just got more four-star and five-star recruits, so it doesn't matter who else you go up against. But now when you have to go up against the likes of a Georgia, potentially, of an A&M, of a Texas Tech, of an Alabama, of a Notre Dame, all of these guys who also now had just as many jimmies and Joe's and you, this is where coaching comes in the play. And it's being able to manipulate the game a play or two or three that gets you over the hump. And that's what Lane Kiffin was really good at.

And I know that there are a ton of people that are at the University of Ole Miss who are upset about the way. that Lane Kiffin had left and went to LSU. But understand this. Your program has been left better because of Lane Kiffin. You're being talked about now amongst the likes of the nationally ranked teams because of Lane Kiffin. Be mad all you want. But understand, he did come in here and take your program to the level of which you all now

can walk around with your chest poked out and be a little bit more prouder about being an Ole Miss Rebel. Yeah, there's no doubt. about that. The thing that I was saying that I said from the beginning is you helped him do that. And that's the biggest thing because every stop that he had up to that point has not ended like this. You follow me? And so I'm excited for Lane where he gets a chance to go. I'm excited for LSU. I'm also a guy that knows what it's like.

Because to be honest with it, when Coach Fran left at TCU, everybody thought that it was hired a guy that probably 50-50, just like Pete Golding. 50-50 don't know if he's going to be a good head coach or he's not going to be a head coach. Now he's a Hall of Famer by the way. 22 years later, you know, 22-time, you know, coach the year. But the end of the day, okay, at the end of the day, now he's got to go prove it. And I think that's even more for him of understanding, okay, here's what we got to go do. I was, my whole point is, is I just wanted to make sure that I took my hat off to the AD and to understand that we gave Ole Miss fans, boosters, players, everything they're due.

it took all of them to be who they are. Yeah. Along with Lane Kiff. And I get not wanting him to be the head coach of the playoff when he's the head coach at LSU. I mean, this makes some sense to me what he's doing. But I also want to commend you coach, you served two decades at TCU. You had opportunities to leave. Every coaching carousel was, this is the big one for old GP. Here he goes.

He's shipped off to the SEC. And you had loyalty to TCU, loyalty to DFW. You could have come on here for Coach's Corner and just ripped him a new one for being disloyal. But the fact that you have the respect of, your peers in the industry to say, hey, it's a better opportunity. Best luck to link, Kiffin. I want to commend you for the way you've handled the whole thing. Well, thanks. I appreciate it. Absolutely. 22-time coach of the year. It worked out pretty well for him. My wife doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter to her. It doesn't get you to sway, doesn't? No, it does not get me any sweat?

Tell you what, we've got the ACC Championship, Virginia and Duke on tap, and that's part of our lock of the day. Thanks a lot, Drake. As we look ahead to a big weekend in college football, it's the championship games. And now it's time for our lock of the week. Open it, open it, open it. Lee has the key to the lock of the day. Virginia, Duke, meeting up for the ACC title game in Charlotte. The Cavaliers win. They're in the college football playoff.

UVA is a short favorite against Duke. Lee, what do you like here? All right. So welcome to the least important, most important college football Power 4 Conference Championship game. Why? Because very few people will be going to the game. game. Very few people will be watching this game compared to like Georgia and Alabama and obviously

number one ranked Ohio State, number two ranked Indiana. But it could affect the most teams as far as who's going to get in as the number 10 and number 11 seed in the college football playoffs. Now, it is a rematch of the November 15th game where Virginia won that game 3417, but they just absolutely dominated that game. They had a 540 to 255-yard total yard advantage. UVA quarterback, Chandler Morris, who I love, Leeds Virginia, their third in the ACC and total offense, 438 yards per game and scoring 33.7 points per game.

He extends plays here with his legs and his passes down the field. Duke's defense, they're the biggest weakness here in this. game, giving up 33.3 points per game. Duke can only win shootouts here. I like Virginia to win a game here. I think they win this game, something like 35 to 13 here. This is going to be my lock of the week here, Virginia over Duke in the ACC championship game. And for more daily picks, subscribe to Locked on bets. Back to the college football kickoff studio. We'll talk to you again. Thanks, Drake. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks, thanks, Lee. Super excited. for the massive game. A lot of pomp and circumstances. You guys love that ACC Championship.

Coming up, let's predict our crunch time teams, players, who's going to come in clutch on conference championship weekend? You are watching college football kickoff presented by California Almonds, the unofficial snack of football. It's shaved like a football. It fuels like a champion. Join us every week as we predict who will deliver when crunch time hits, snack good, eat almonds. Coach, open it up to the entire gamut of games. You can use the Mac Championship. If you want, You're seeing a couple of the games we haven't talked too much about on your screen now. Your crunch time selection in college football this weekend. Well, Duke and Virginia, I would just tell you this.

The bottom line to it is, you know, I think Jesse will have a better handle of all that. I would tell you that North Texas and Tulane, both of them have a lot to gain. Both coaches left. I'm going to go with Tulane just for the simple reason that it comes down to defense. I think both of them have offenses. I think the more physical team is going to end up winning that ball game. Coach is calling an upset in the American championship game. Jesse, who is your crunch time team player?

For me, it's going to be, of course, ACC guys. So you look at the Virginia Duke ACC championship game, and I can tell you right now, the committee does not want Duke to win this football game. I'm not saying that the committee does this, but the committee's probably on the phone with a couple guys that Lee Sterling. He knows that Lee Sterling knows that say, hey, talk to some of these referees so that we make sure because if Duke wins this, it takes this thing and turns it all. on its head. But in that particular game, you're looking at what you heard Lee talk about it,

Chandler Morrison, like the quarterback from UVA, he has to step up big for them and just do what he's done for them all year long. So he'll be my crunch time player for this game. And I do think that Virginia wins this football game. I think BYU shows a lot of fight. I'm going to go my crunch time, in crunch time, BYU is going to show a lot of fight against Texas Tech. I think they have an opportunity if the ball bounces. And there's always that big if the ball bounces is the right way. But genuinely, there three turnovers were uncharacteristic that first game. They forced five field goals for Texas Tech. Chris Level mentioned that. I believe that in crunch time, BYU can deliver now that Bear Bachmeier has seen it. I know we just talked a little bit about

that ACC championship with Lee and the lock of the day and then a bit on how Virginia can win big. Kenyon Gibbs of locked on ACC thinks that outside of that game, there are two clear playoff teams from his conference. So the question at hand is should UVA be in the playoffs? And the answer is, a very resounding yes. I don't think that there is any other power for school that is a 10-win school. Only losses coming to teams that have seven or more wins, also power for teams. And we would sit up here and say, are they a team that is worthy to be in the playoff? This is very, very, very simple. You cannot just say, well, who do teams beat? And that be the end-all, be-all of the conversation for this reason. When you look at how teams rankings are deciphered, it is oftentimes

based on preseason rankings and things along those lines, which are naturally skewed towards or away from certain conferences. But when you talk about lining it up, put the football down, who has done what? It is very clear that UVA has been one of the best teams in America all year. People make the argument of, well, they're squeaking by and they're not dominating. Last time I checked, the point of football is to be one point better than your opponent. Okay. And But that being said, UVA has gone out there 12 times this year and has done so 10. Obviously, if they win the ACC championship they're in, but even if they don't, if the committee wants to be consistent with, we will not penalize you for losing a conference championship game,

they shouldn't. They should not drop UVA in any type of way. And honestly, if I'm Jim Phillips, I'm beating on the table for Miami to get in as well, because both teams have earned the right to be in. And even beyond anything that you would say about, well, what is their record or who, have they beat or anything like that. The reality is they have head-to-head matchups against teams, or I'm sorry, they have common opponents against teams that are also going to be playoff teams and they have beaten teams that have beaten teams that are going to be in the playoff

that are a lock for sure. So again, oh, and by the way, those teams have a identical record to them coming into playoff. So again, I don't want to hear about, well, Vegas would have this game out of such and so. Well, you know, we all know that such and so would do such and such, we all knew that TCU would get destroyed by Michigan. How'd that work out? We all knew that Boise State stood no chance against Oklahoma. How'd that work out? We all know, and everybody knows, all of these things before that ball is put down and before it's kicked off. And yet and still, we play the games. And when it came to playing the games this year, Virginia was one of the best at it. I don't know if we're getting Virginia in the playoffs. Now look, it's a good sales

pitch, but I don't think we're getting Virginia in the playoff. We have talked a bit about that one. I think Chandler Morris could be the X Factor. Virginia wins that game. Tulane, North Texas, coach, you mentioned the defense. Troy and James Madison. Of the four teams, I just mentioned, three of them are losing their head coaches to the power four. But I want to go back to a little bit of where we started the show. Jesse, if Duke wins the AACC championship game, they're outside the top 25.

Correct. James Madison's ranked. Two lanes ranked, Texas is ranked. It's the top five highest ranked conference champions. there's still a way that we see. We could see JMU and UNT sneaking. And I just don't think it's that different than Duke. Yeah, I think I think that's a long shot.

I just think when you look at it, if Duke happens to win this thing, I think now you start having the conversation of one of these teams making it in, and then now the committee starts moving the goalposts a little bit, and now that's when the Notre Dame's coming to play. Your Miami's coming to play because here's a thing. Could you do that? Could you put Miami in over? 100% you can.

And here's why. Because if we're talking about the college football playoffs and people in the committee wanting people to still respect it, there's absolutely no way that you can have a powerful conference like the ACC, not have a team get inside of it. And so if you're going to the college football playoffs, they're going to find a way to at least get one ACC football team in there. So I understand the automatic bid. Okay, but everybody you just talked about, though, besides my answer,

Miami is ranked all the way down. Yeah. There's a lot of teams in between 13, a 12 and 13 of 12, Texas, Bandi, and everybody else. So if you go back to why did we go to a committee? We went to a committee so they could watch film and say, okay, we want to put the X amount. First, it was four. Now it's 12. But two of them, you've got X amount of automatic qualifiers from their leagues, right?

They're conferences. So at the end of the day, I understand that I understand the conference. really care about. If you're ranked outside of the first 12, 13, then for me, it really comes down to because people have watched film, here's where they ranked them. Hopefully they didn't rank them there because what their record was. They ranked them there because here's where they felt like they fit as a football team. That as a coach, that's what I'd do. If I watched, I'd go back and watch these guys. I'd watch five or six, last five or six games, see how they're doing just like I would, Georgia. Georgia's improved. They're a beast now. You're saying, do you really think

that those teams can match up because at the end of the day, college football fans want to see, they want to see the top 12, they want to see the 12 teams in the playoff, and we go about our business. Do I understand North Texas's argument? Do I understand James Madison's argument? Do I understand BYU's argument?

I understand all of it. But at the end of the day, it still comes down to, how do we put the best 12 teams as we possibly can and have criteria in the ball game? And the conference title thing, I agree with it. And you have to give a little bit notice whether you like it or not. It's hard to be 11-1.

Well, the day that Duke beats Ohio State here in three weeks will be foot in our mouth, I guess. And I agree. That's why I said again, I keep hearing records, right? I keep hearing records. But for me, I want to turn on the film and I'm going to watch it back-to-back, and I'm going to say, do they have a chance? Which would work, but the committee is made up of Congress people, athletic directors who barely

watch the sport anyway. We're asking people who don't know ball to try to know ball and they can't do that. Hey, being a coach that, you know, never know if I might get back into it. Take away that athletic director comedy. Just the views of Drake's hole.

Drake Toll, the view of Drake's said that Gary Patterson did not say that. Every time someone gets fired at the likes of Gary Patterson. Every time someone gets fired, I text to the coach. This is the one. He's coming back. That's a wrap this week on college football kickoff. Next time, we will see you in the playoffs.

The playoff picture will be complete. We'll have the actual matchups to break down. Same time, same set, same unapologetic football energy. Big thanks to Coach Gary Patterson and Jesse Holly for bringing the energy and the heat. And to you for riding shotgun with us. Enjoy all the action on conference championship weekend. Stay locked in, stay fired up.

We'll see you next time right here on Fire TV.