Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - College Football Kickoff: New SEC Faces Old SEC With Texas, Oklahoma Facing Georgia, Alabama

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

OU and Texas, the newcomers of the SEC, square off with Alabama and Georgia this weekend in two huge games.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.SupplyHouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHCOLLEGE5 for 5% off your first order. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A pair of SEC New Bloods, Texas and Oklahoma, are on the road at two SEC Blue Bloods, Georgia and Oklahoma. Omar Cooper Jr.'s ballet moves keep Indiana's undefeated hopes alive. And SMU head coach, Rhett Lashley, joins us in Coach's Corner. All that and more on this week's college football kickoff. Welcome back to Fire TV's College Football Kickoff. I'm Isaac Shade, host of Locked on Tar Heels. I'm in today for Drake Toll, and we're coming in hot from the heart of college football country in Texas. On set with me today, two legends, 20-time coach of the year,

coach Gary Patterson and former Tar Heel and Dallas Cowboy, Mr. Jesse Holly. And every week throughout the season, we are right here breaking down 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. Gentlemen, I just said it in the cold open. Jesse Holly, that Omar Cooper catch to save Indiana's undefeated season was something crazy.

You, Mr. NFL wide receiver, how difficult was that catch? It's a 10. It's a 10. I mean, that catch when you're talking about going, first of all, the brevity of the game, right? The moment of the game, how it would happen in the game. And then now you go up in the back of the end zone. And here's what you learned. That's practice because when you're talking about throwing the ball in the red zone, in the front of the goal line, I want to throw it stomach and below. I want my guys to catch it and get down. If I'm throwing it in the back of the end zone, I want to pull it eye level and above.

So to go up there and reach down and gives it, gives them an opportunity now to catch it, and then get his look down and get his foot in bounds. Perfectly done. It's a 10 on my book. Great catch. And here's the thing. I don't know if you guys know how football works, but he can't catch that ball if somebody doesn't throw it to him.

Correct. That drive. Is that a Heisman moment for Mendoza? Yeah, I think what are you starting? What, inside you're 25 and you're going the distance and against somebody at their, you know, somebody at their house doing it the way you did it. First year, never beaten, Indiana, never beaten Penn State.

They're in Happy Valley. So, yeah, I'd have to say that he gained a lot. kudos from a lot of people across the country. Great stuff. Penn State, desperate for some dubs. Well, all of that's going to take us into this week's rankings report. Where those same Indiana Hoosiers remain as one of the three undefeated teams right there at the top. Boom, boom, boom, crazy stuff into the new CFP poll, USF in Idle, Cincinnati,

just slid right on in on the back end. Missouri in Washington, they are now out. The top five remain unchanged. Ohio State, Indiana, A&M, those three undefeated teams. Followed by Bama and Georgia. We about to talk about them, boys. Any shot, Jesse, that A&M should have leapfrog to Indiana with kind of that, eh? I don't think so because, and here's why.

When you look at Indiana's resume, right, like they went and they put whoopens on some top 10 teams in the country this year, notably going on the road and putting, you know, belt to tail to Oregon. And that, to me, was very, very impressive. So this is one of those games where you're going to say at some point in time, the top tier teams, they'll have a little slip up. They were able to finish it out and get the victory. That's why I think Indiana didn't slip in that ranking. Well, you know, the thing that I don't think the common person thinks about is some point in time when you put all 12 teams in this bracket, there's certain teams that line up against certain teams that it's not a good match.

And I think you're going to find out that as we get closer to the end, there's going to be some teams jockeying to whether I'd rather be five or I'd rather be six or I'd rather be two or be three because who they're going to play on the other end of this. Yes. You know, because even back in 14 when, you know, we didn't get in the playoffs, but I had two out of the four head coaches of the teams that got in and said, I'm glad that you're not, I'm glad you're not playing because your speed factor, we were not, we're not happy about what the matchup was going to be. They were dodging you, Coach Pete. They didn't dodge me.

They must have just paid them off to make sure we got all that stuff done. Let's move to the Big 12 then, where six through 10 in the rankings is Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Oregon, Notre Dame, and Texas. Texas Tech beats BYU on game day. Consequently, they jumped the Cougars to number six. Is there a world in which now they could slide up eventually if they keep winning? They got a couple winnable games to round out the regular season

before the Big 12th championship. Could they jump into that top four and get a buy, Jesse, Holly? You would need one of those other top fours to lose. Because right now, when you look at it, those guys that are cemented in those tops fours, spots are pretty good, right? And they've shown you all year long about what their football program is. And so getting into that top four, I don't think it's likely unless someone loses. But like coach said, you know, trying to figure out where is the best position to fit in so that

you can go on into the pro, deeper into the college football playoffs might not behoove you to stay out of that top four. And coach is a reminder for people that watched the CFP last year. It's not the top four conference champions that get those buys. It's just the, the top four teams. This isn't like NFL division winner buys. Would you rather have a buy and have a week off or just keep rocking? Well, I would tell you this. I think if you went back and looked at the playoffs last year, I think all four teams that had a buy didn't end up doing very well because they played so early, everybody played so early in their games, and they had the whole month off, everybody else played a ball game, and then they came back two weeks later

and played their second game. I think the way it's set up right now, it's an advantage for the teams that don't have a buy if they can get through their first ball game to play the team that had a buy because it's been a whole month since they played a ball game but if you go back and look all the teams that had I don't think either of the teams that ended up in the national championship game were how to buy in the series. Jesse holly your ACC yes I apologize for what I'm about to say is an unmitigated dumpster fire both Louisville and Virginia lose at home last week So now Miami is number 15, and so they're showing up in the bracket as like the ACC champion, but they're not even going to play in the ACC championship game.

Explain this to me. It's unexplainable. And if we're not, no, seriously, if we're not careful, ACC, if we're not careful, we can mess around and not get anybody in. Because like even if you, let's say for an example, because Duke right now, who is five and four, If they get to and win the ACC championship, you might start looking at maybe we take two of the group of five teams instead of taking the team from the AC because of the record and stuff like that. So we're in some unprecedented times right now in the ACC. We're keeping our fingers crossed to make sure that one of the teams that gets to the AC championship and wins it gets into the college football playoffs.

Well, again, I think we talked about this before we're on the set. it's not a show. It's about you play it in. That's what the NFL is. This is what your record is. This is what you do. This is where you get put. And I think that's what the good football fan wants to see. They want to see people that earn the right by the end of the season. And I think that's what the committee needs to think about. They need to think about, hey, look, we don't care what their name is. We don't care how many t-shirts. We don't care anything about that is when I turn on the film, which is what I said, as a coach forever. When I turn on the film of the top 12 teams, are these the best top 12 teams that we can put in the playoff to give us the best product going forward? Because that's really all the college.

Now the ones that get left out, they're going to be upset. But be honest with you, probably somewhere along the line, they screwed up, they slipped up, whatever happened to them. But it really comes down to who's playing the best. And we always said it's not about in October, it's about November. Who's playing the best when we get to the end of November? And that's the 12 teams you want, just like the 64 team tournament and basketball. Who's playing the best when you get to that point?

And so here's the thing. Back to Jesse's point very quickly, and then we'll move on. For two group of five schools to jump an ACC school and the ACC to get nobody, we'd have to have two group of five teams above the conference champion, two group of five champions, by the way, above the ACC champ for that to happen. Right now that team is South Florida. They slide into the top 25. Lurking, though, we've got Tulane, we've got North Texas, James Madison, Memphis falls out after their loss.

What's crazy to think about? There's a world in which we could have four Texas teams in this bracket, A&M, Texas Tech, Texas, and North Texas. That is a viable possibility, and it's bonkers as we sit here in the heart of Dallas. Coaches top five is the exact same as the college football top five. I want to let you guys know that coming up in just a second, we're going to have SMU head coach, Speaking of Texas teams, Rhett Lashley joins us on this week's Coach's Corner. That's going to be great.

But before we get to all of that, let me take us to this week's game of the week. Today's show is brought to you by Fandall. Fandall's exactly where I go. When I think, and I do think that the Iowa State Cyclones could upstate the TCU Horn Frogs. It's exactly what happened last week. On the road in Fort Worth.

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on the road in Athens at number five, Georgia, SEC Newblood at SEC Blue Blood. And we are joined today by the host of Locked-on Longhorns, Mr. Brad Kellner, and the host of Locked-on Bulldogs, Mr. Clint Chamberlain. And fellas, I'm going to need your help today because my wife is a Longhorn and my mom is a bulldog. And I'm trying to keep the peace in the Shade family. So let me ask you first, Brad. Last year of the fight in McCona Hayes had two losses to the Bulldogs,

one in that epic SEC championship game, trying to make that not happen again. How does it come to be? Well, first of all, Isaac, great choice of a wife by you, my friend. Well done there. Yeah, I mean, Georgia's really good. Look, Texas obviously got to see that from afar for a number of years, but then last year, making the move to the SEC, the Longhorn's got to see it firsthand a couple of different times. Texas got physically manhandled in both games. Georgia had 13 sacks and I believe 25 tackles for a loss combined in those two matchups. Texas has to be a lot better on both lines of scrimmage to have a chance against a really good Georgia team. Even though some of Georgia's defensive numbers aren't as good as they have been, even though their sack numbers are a little bit down this year.

That's still a bunch of four and five stars on their defense. That's still a Kirby Smart coach group. They're really, really good. So Texas has to be a lot more buttoned up and they have to be a lot more physical if they want to pull off and upset in Athens on Saturday night. And Clint, that's where I want to go. It's a revenge-minded coming off a bi-week Texas team. And I want to talk about your offense against their defense in a second.

But this is a Georgia defense that I just heard you say on Locked on Bulldogs the other day. Cold hard facts is better than the Texas defense. Make your case. The last month in particular, if you look at Georgia, the number of freshmen, sophomore, redshirt freshmen on the snap count is insane right now. We've lost a lot of seniors and juniors. The guys that are young pups are coming up in reps. And as the season has gone on, Glenn Schumann has learned pressure people is best.

sit back and cushion in zone, and they're getting to the quarterback at a higher success last two games notably, as well as you look at the third down stoppage, red zone stoppage, and defense's success rate all higher than Texas this last month. Georgia, early on in the season, lost, not an identity on defense. Recently, the young guys were getting snaps, Kirby and Glenn are figuring it out, and now this defense is humming along. You had your shot at the king, you didn't take it from Kirby, and now he's got his guys back on defense. Brad, let's flip back to the other side of the ball where the Texas run D is second in the nation

allowing just 78.7 yards a game. But this Georgia offense man is averaging close to 200 rushing yards per game, 24th in the nation. How do the Longhorns go about slowing that down? Yeah, it's a huge matchup within this game, right? And there are a number of huge matchups that are going to determine what happens on Saturday. But the Longhorns have obviously been a really good run defense

for the last three years. You know, in the two matchups against Georgia, Not great performances by Texas. They have to be better. Obviously, the Bulldogs went for over 300 against Mississippi State. It feels like they've fouled something. Nate Frazier, Chauncey Bowens. Heck, Gunner Stockton is really good at running the football as well.

So they've got a number of different ways to beat you. But the good news for Texas on the defensive side, they're healthy. Michael Taff, the All-American Safety, missed the last couple of games. He's back this Saturday. Jolina McDonald, the other starting safety, he's back after a concussion. Texas has been banged up on defense. They're getting guys back. the Longhorns did not play a week ago.

So the hope is with the extra rest and with getting some guys back, that can help the Longhorn defense both against the run and against the pass play a little bit better than they have in recent weeks. Clint, along the similar lines, man, Nate Frazier, Chauncey Bowens, they're pacing this thing. Brad mentioned Gunner Stockton himself, third on this team in rushing. Last week, 181 rushing yards for Mr. Frazier. My question to you is, do we need to ship an allotment of Cal Bells to Sanford Stadium for Saturday or what do we need to do here?

Well, I think that had a little bit to do with Mississippi State not being stout on defense, and that's taking it very kindly to the other Bulldog brethren. But I think Texas fan, you should be excited for this front seven. I know everybody's talking about Arch and this offense. The focus should be on the defense of Front Seven, as it notably has been. However, Georgia is healthy. They run six deep on the offensive line, Micah Morris, Bobo, Ernest Green, Monroe Freeling, and two freshman cats who are 18 years old, Glover.

and Juan Gaston are absolutely mauling people. It's in my estimation the best offensive line now in the SEC again, we're jellin. And we had 8.4 yards per carry in the third quarter against Mississippi State. The number one opponent adjusted efficient offense in the nation. That's not just SEC. That's in the nation. It is balanced. It's gun or stocked in throwing, not turning over the ball and a rushing attack. Again, the identity, true identity of Georgia is this team the last four weeks, last three weeks, roughly, but this offense is humming along. And by the way, Bobo is my man for life. He is cooking and deep in his bag. One word, one sentence. Georgia, five and a half point favorites at home. Brad, what's the score? Yeah, I don't know if I'm supposed to do this. I don't know if I'm even allowed

to do this, but I'm going to pick Georgia. I think Texas covers. You said one word. That's way more than one word. I'm going to say 27, 23, Georgia wins a tight one this weekend. Clint, you return in the favor? Unfortunately, I, Look, the statistics tell me if there was anything else in the world other than his last name's Manning, I would say something different, but everything points to Georgia winning. I'm going to go 31, 24, but I do think first half is tight. I think it's going to be 10-7, 10-13, something like that in the first half. So tight and then late it's coming out, and Georgia's going to put a weapon. Clint Shamblin, Brad Kellner, great job by you, fellas.

Best of luck to both the other over the weekend. Can't wait to see how this plays out. Jesse, Coach P. I can't believe we just did an entire interview about these two teams. And what Clint said at the end there was the first time that we mentioned the name Manning. Jesse, what does Arch need to do on Saturday? He needs to be his uncles. He needs to be, pick one.

He needs to be Eli or he needs to be Peyton, preferably probably Platon because I don't think Eli is that good of a quarterback. But preferably Peyton, he needs to find a way to be like his uncle. because I had the pleasure of being in Starkville, Mississippi this past Saturday, calling the Mississippi State Georgia game. And not to steal anything from Pat McAfee, but when he says that chance song, what's that coming down the track?

It's the mean machine in the red and black. Georgia may have found its stride. You've been asking for Georgia to have a complete game this all season long? They had one in Starkville, Mississippi. They went down seven nothing early in that game to Mississippi State. and they went on a 41-0 run. That's the Georgia team, offensively, defensively. They were aggressive.

They were harassing. They were physical. They were on point. Kirby was playing mind games in there. This Georgia team, I'm telling you, Texas, watch out. Georgia may have found its stride. Well, when it comes to me, I think really you talk about Coach Sark. I think it's going to be big for Manning for him to get him early, be able to get him on the edge,

make a throws where he gained some confidence. because he's going to get a lot of pressure. I mean, Georgia, if you look at the two games last year in the playoffs and then the SEC championship game, he just said, I don't know how many, he said 25 sacks or whatever it was that they had. And so I think being able to get the ball out of his hands quick, being able to run the ball, that was the thing, reason not all happened. Georgia did not allow Texas, which Sark loves to do,

all the G pulls to be able to go sideways and do it. They're so fast. In both ball games, they couldn't do that. So you've got to be able, I really think it has to be for him early to give Arch some confidence, get him out on the edge, boot, do some things, quick throws, do all that stuff that's going to make a difference. If he gains confidence, then I think you've got a chance. By the way, if Jesse Holly winds up on next week's Manning cast with that Eli catching strays on this show, clipped out, I'm running for the hills and hiding, but I can't wait for that moment next Monday night.

You guys, if one SEC new blood at an SEC Blue Blood wasn't enough for us, we got another one coming up for you in this week's Can't Miss Matchup. It's time for our Can't Miss Matchup. Number 11, Oklahoma at number 4, Alabama, 3.30 Eastern on Saturday on ABC. We are joined now by Jay Smith, one of the great hosts of Locked On Sooners. Jay, great to be with you. This is a Brent Venable's defense, right? Like we know what a Brent Venable's defense is.

It's no shock that the Sooners are. are first in the SEC in both yards and points allowed per game. My man, though, the question is, what are the Sooners have to do to shut down this Bama passing attack led by Ty Simpson? Well, as you mentioned, this is a Brent Vennibles defense. So the most critical thing for them to do is to get pressure on Ty Simpson. If they can keep him under the rest the entire game, plus the fact that Bama has struggled running the ball, and Oklahoma is one of the best run defenses in the country right now, If they can force them to be one-dimensional and still get a bunch of pressure on Ty Simpson,

I think that can be the thing that will be the game changer out there. Now, that's not an easy task. Don't, don't, don't, don't conflate me saying that Oklahoma's going to walk in there at Dominate, but getting pressure on him and making him stay on his toes is really the big answer for Oklahoma to win this game. Crazy TV interception splits for Simpson this year, 21 to 1. That's crazy stuff. Now, let's look to the other side of the ball, Jay, because my thing is, I love John Mateer.

And man, was having a phenomenal year. Unfortunately, had that injury. The Sooners are two and two cents, and he's not thrown for more than 225 yards cents. So what I want to know is, what does John Mateer have to do? Do we mix it up a little bit on the ground? His legs can do some work, too. How does he make this happen? Well, John Materer has been dealing with a lot more ailments than just that thumb.

Brinvenebbled mentioned it on his coach's show about a week or so ago. He had kind of what he called a knee deal. So to me, it sounded like he sprained his knee possibly. I think it was the Michigan game because he started to look a little bit, not as efficient on the run against Auburn, and then the thumb situation happened and everything went downhill. But I'll say this, since the second half of that Tennessee game, I mean, he rushed for 80 yards on 16 carries in that game.

If you take out sacks, he had 99 yards rushing. So it looked like he's getting back to his old mobile self. And we know Bama has struggled with holding a quarterback or stopping a quarterback, that is mobile like that. And so, plus, he started looking really good on his passes. Like, you could tell that he was comfortable in the pocket and he was just letting it rip like he normally does. So I think that we're starting to get that health progression

from John Matarian. He's going to get back to potentially his old form. If he can play like the Michigan game in this one, Oklahoma has a great chance of winning. You hear that NCAA stop counting sack yardage against rushing yards. That's my big takeaway from what Jay just said. Jay, behind you, I see two Thanos snap gloves. Snap your fingers, half the world disappears, and Oklahoma wins this football game.

How did it happen? So if I have to snap my fingers, the one thing is that Xavier Robinson rushes for over 100 yards in the game. He did that last year as a true freshman, rushed for like 106 yards, and he was really cooking that Alabama defense. To me, I think him and Torrey Blaylock, one of those two will be the answer for Oklahoma to win this game. Control the clock, run it down their throat. Make sure you keep Ty Simpson off the field. The best defense for a really good quarterback who's accurate and doesn't make very many mistakes

is don't let them back on the field. And so if Oklahoma can sustain long drives with a lot of time and eating up clock, it's a great opportunity for them to get it. So to me, it's got to be 100-yard rusher. You're desperately going to need it. Jay Smith, locked on Sooners, my man, thank you so much. Good luck on Saturday.

Show them what's up with the SEC New Bloods. We'll catch you later. Thank you. I appreciate it. Fellas, Jesse, coach, I'm so excited for this game. in Tuscaloosa. Jesse, this Alabama team is ready to say, look, you whippersnappers, SEC-wise, we got to show you what SEC football is all about. How are they going to do it? And the best way to do that, because I love when the football gods show up and they have these

things happening. Remember, Oklahoma gave Alabama that lost last year that basically knocked them out of the college football playoffs. Well, guess what? Alabama has a chance to come back and give Oklahoma that third loss and will essentially knock them out of the college football playoffs. So the football guys have set up this thing pretty good and it's going to be their high has been hopeful right now, Ty Simpson, the way he's playing football right now, he's playing some of the best brand of football. And we tried to fire Caleb earlier in the year. Remember that, coach. We were ready to kick Caleb out of Alabama, get him out of Tuscaloosa. And all he's done after that big father state loss early in the year is kept his head down.

kept his troops together and went on the work, and he hasn't lost a game since, and he's starting to look like the old Alabama again. Yeah, I think I saw a couple of statements where they give their whole salary up from a couple of the fans just to get rid of Coach DeVore early. Yeah, well, I think everything that's been said is true. I think it comes down to,

I think you're going to know in the first couple drives how well Ty Simpson handles, because Brett Venable's defenses give you a lot of looks, and there's a reason why pressure happens is because he doesn't know where to throw two. If he figures that out earlier than later, I think then you have it. And then Alabama's defense has got to be able, they've got to be able to show up and handle material.

I think what he said about him not being able to run. I think when he's not allowed to run, then he doesn't get as much in a rhythm as he usually does. And so I think that'll be something that'll happen real early. We've been teasing it. Special guest on today's Coach's Corner, SMU Head Coach. Rett Lashley joins Coach Patterson right now. Coach Lashley, how are you, my friend?

Doing good, coach. How are you? I'll tell you what, new contract, five and one in league. You got a chance to control your own destiny, be the second time getting in the playoffs. If you guys pull that off, I mean, we just really appreciate you coming on. Nobody's more deserving. I was so excited to see that you signed back up with SMU, stayed there.

So how are you doing? You got an off week, getting ready. How's everything at SMU? Hey, coach. Always good to be with you. I'm doing good. As you know, there's really no off weeks. These bye weeks. We're trying to rest and recharge. We needed it physically. And you know, as a head coach, man, when someone thinks you have an off week, they try to load your schedule up. But, you know, things are good. You know, we have a brand new team this year. We lost nine starters off last year's defense. Half our roster is new. But, you know, we felt like we could keep getting better and better as the season went on. And we did. You know, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, We were two and two in the non-conference, but we've gone five and one since. We're playing much better. And then, yeah, you know, getting the contract extension, I think just we're in a good situation in terms of the program we're trying to build year two in the ACC. And we've got great alignment here at SMU.

We've got we're all in on winning and being the best we can be at football to help our university. And so, you know, to have an administration and a board that believes in what we're building and the vision we have and wants us to continue that means a lot. SMU chose us for the first opportunity for me to be head coach, that means something to me. And I just look at like if we're going to go out and we're going to try to retain our roster nowadays and sign a top 25 recruiting class this year like we have right now and go out into the transfer portal and ask guys to come by into the vision, then they needed to know that myself and our staff are bought into the vision as well. And so there's a lot of momentum here.

We've got a lot of work to do. But to be in our second year in the ACC and have played in a playoff and with two games, to go in the season, being contentioned to get back to the ACC championship game and and potentially getting the playoff again, we feel like we're on the right track. Well, speaking to that, so I know you guys were in it a year ago. You were in the playoffs. So you're feeling as far as the ACC's concerned, the MAC conference is concerned, the Big 12, the Mountain West.

You know, right now it kind of seems like a Big 10 SEC as far as the amount of numbers of schools that are you there in the top, you know, 12 to 15. Do you have any thought processes, you know, haven't been there already last year in 2024 and then, you know, where you guys sit right now? Because it looks like unless things change, you know, that it could be, you know, at that large birth and then only one birth for the ACC.

So how do you think, is there some, you think expansion is going to make a difference? Would that make a difference? Or do you think as far as more people having a chance Or do you think it would just add numbers for those other two conferences? Yeah, I think it would depend on how we expand it. I think, first of all, anything we can do to eliminate a group of people selecting the teams is good. Because right now it's just a pageant.

We're selecting. People aren't earning the rights to be in like they do in every other major professional sport and other big professional leagues. And so, you know, I think the Big 12 and the ACC have two really good leagues with a lot of parity. And right now, both of us are just like last year. We could be one bid leagues. We could be two. We don't know. But all the other leagues are obvious three and four bid leagues.

And I just don't know, you know, we didn't help ourselves in the ACC in the non-conference this year. We were much better last year in the non-conference. It didn't matter. This year we didn't do as well. But Miami did beat Notre Dame. And Florida State, one of the last place teams in our league did beat Alabama. So, you know, I think we don't have maybe a top heavy league, but we have a lot of depth. We have a lot of good football teams.

And, you know, I think if people wanted to see, you know, the SEC is a fantastic conference. It's arguably the best conference. There's really good teams in that league. But I think if people wanted to see all SEC teams, then they would just watch the SEC regular season, right? Because that's what they do all year. And so to me, if we can expand in a way that gets to 16 teams, I know there's a big deal from the Big Ten and others out there for 24. 24 may sound like a lot. There's 136 Division 1 teams.

24 is 11% of 136. I mean, I think the inclusion of 16 to 24 is good as long as there's four bids from each league that you earn. And now, you know, if I finish in the top four in my league, I'm in. I'm not having to politic. I'm not having to worry about metrics or human error and all the things that we deal with right now. You know, but as it is today, you know, there's a lot of things decided not on the field. And that's no one's fault. It's just because of the way we select it.

So I think more is better, more inclusion for other teams, other fan bases. It's good for the game. Like last year, we went to 12 teams. Had we not gone to 12 teams, SMU wouldn't have got in, Arizona State wouldn't have got in. Indiana wouldn't have got in. Look at Indiana. They got in because it was a 12-team playoff. Well, because of what they did, look at what they're doing now.

If they weren't in the playoff last year, they wouldn't be probably number two in the country this year because they wouldn't have had all that momentum. So I think it proves that. you know, more is good if it's done the right way. But if we're just going to open up more teams and still select it, then, yeah, it's going to probably go the way it does now. Plus, you know, one of the metrics out there wants to add two group of five teams. There's some really good group of five teams that deserve a shot, too.

So I hope we expand it, but I hope we do it the right way. Well, that's what we wanted for me. I knew that you'd have great insight of how to do it because you've been part of it. You've also been in other places. And I just appreciate it. I know, as you said, everybody thinks when it's an off week that you guys aren't busy, but we just wanted to make sure we got a chance to brag on you. Really, really appreciated you coming on, the contract extension, what you're doing there.

You do it the right way. So we appreciate you coming on, and thanks for doing it, Coach Lashley, and we'll see you later on, Red. One thing I should have said earlier, you know, one of the things I leaned on was your wisdom from the summer in a conversation we had when, you know, you to me, set a good example for a lot of us when you stayed at TCU all that time and built that program up to where you did. And, you know, having the opportunity to maybe do something like that here at SMU is what excites us. But looking at someone like yourself who, you know, stayed where you were wanted and stayed where you knew you could win and build. That was inspiring. So I appreciate the example you set for a lot of us. Well, thank you. I call you my friends. So thank you very much

and good luck this next week. Thanks, coach. We'll see you. squad is supply house. I got one of those little fixer uppers in February, one of those starter homes and it smelled terrible and looked terrible. And so I had to go to supply house. I was like, I'm an impatient person. Travel a lot. I need stuff today. Supply house. Can you compromise for tomorrow? Yes. Next day delivery. Over 280,000 parts plumbing, HVAC, electrical items, real-time inventory and honestly time time. Keep you from punting projects. Need parts fast. Supply house. Next day delivery. Part fighter tool, 3D schematics. Save you hours. Free? I mean free. Trade Master program is elite. You score serious perks, priority shipping, lower prices, dedicated support line. Supplyhouse.com. Sign up for free. Promote code SH College 5 for 5% off your first order. Supplyhouse.com. SH. College 5% off your first order. Real people. Real service. Supplyhouse.com.

One of the things that really struck out to me, fellas, about what Coach Lashley said there is, I hope we expand, but I hope we do it the right way. And I think that's critical. He discussed. like this is wild that we just have a group of people sitting around picking this thing and that's who our 12 teams are going to be. That said, Coach P, think back to your days at TCU. If you could have had it the right way, what is that right way? Well, if you would have went back to after the, and I handled it correctly as far as not getting into the four, but I said then, that's been now going on 11 years ago that we needed to go to 12 right away because you had Baylor and TCU, both were really good football teams that got left out of it. And again, I'd go back and I'm sure the playoff group would not like me to him.

But we were third. We went 55 to 3 and they move us to 6th. You know, and so, but the thing that he talked about was the opportunity. The word I got out of it was opportunity. That SMU wouldn't have an opportunity. That Indiana wouldn't have an opportunity. You talk about the teams. And then Indiana's number two because of the momentum you get.

Well, even SMU, the kind of recruitment. recruiting classes that you would get, whether it be a Mack school, whether it be a Mountain West School, whether it be an ACC school or Big 12 school, all of them are going to gain their... Or Yukon, the lone other independent that's not known to take. So I think that's all where, I think that's why people, again, I'd always go back to the 64 team basketball tournament. Who does everybody always cheer for when you get it when you get into it? They always, once they see a couple games and there's a Cinderella that won a couple games, they weren't supposed to win, and then that becomes the darling of the whole thing. And that's when people start paying a lot of attention.

And I think that's what we're right on the cusp. And I do believe that analytics and some of those things have to be part of what the committee does. And I think people would feel a lot better. I think what did he, what did he say? He said it wasn't a drama, wasn't a some kind of debitante type of deal where you just get, you kind of get a beauty pageant. Beauty pageant.

Yeah. You get picked to get put in. Yeah. And it's all about, it's about what you do. on the paper. So, but here's the thing with the NCAA tournament, and we'll take this to Jesse, who played in that, oh, by the way, and won a national championship, the last team stand in one shining moment and all that.

But the thing Jesse in the NCAA tournament is we want upsets early, but we want chalk late. So if we expand this thing to 16 or 24, as Coach Lashley was talking about, is it just going to be more of the same, more SEC, more Big Ten? Or would that actually allow some opportunities for these group of five programs? See, the difference between college, not college football and basketball, but basketball and football in general, it's, you know, a guy can kind of get hot and make shots that he normally might not make against his team.

Football is a different beast, right? When you start talking about size and skill and ability, not too many teams that are chalked with a bunch of one-star guys and smaller guys, they're not going to fare well against the Georgia's who have 300 pounds across the offensive line and 300 pounds across the defensive line. and, you know, perennial guys going into the NFL, that just doesn't balance out well in football

because the game is so physical. The skill set takes a little bit of a hit because of that. And so that's the difference. So you can add those smaller teams into it, but what ends up happening is they run into those big dogs and they get their head knocked off. Well, the thing I liked about the tournament, too, you saw an SMU team that had to go up to the cold to Penn State,

and their speed factor was negated because of the grass and because of the cold. It wasn't just because it was cold. I know, I know that. It wasn't, he was cold. I was adding to it. I agree. Pinstate was putting leather on them.

They went one direction. Pinch state was moving the boys around and it wasn't pretty. Well, so I think we're all saying it's just more of the same, more of the big guys, and a lot of it, hello, what's up, NIL? We see you in the Almighty Dollar. And that's why as we get to this week's lock of the week, I'm imagining that it's probably not a group of five game. We probably got a major conference game coming up.

Lee Sterling. Kevin, what you guys got for us? After a wild week of college football, it's time now for another lock of the week. Open it, open it, open it. Lee has the key to the lock of the day. Big game inside the Big Ten coming up Saturday afternoon at the L.A. Coliseum, USC, 5 and 1 in the Big Ten. There are six and a half point favor against Iowa. Lee, what do you like here with the Trojans and the Hawkeyes? Well, the Trojans ranked 17th in the AP poll.

have actually a clear path to the college football playoffs. Well, how is that? If they beat Iowa here on Saturday, they travel to Eugene and beat the ducks the following week and then come home and beat UCLA, I think they're probably 95% in and don't even have to play in the Big Ten championship game. Their quarterback, Jaden Mayava, pretty darn good, 17 touchdown passes and also another six more running the football. There's a reason why Miller Moss was shown the door here and he ended up at Louisville. Their top two running backs, King Miller and also Wayman Jordan, these two guys have combined for over 1,200 yards and average six and a half and seven point nine yards per carry. Their top three receivers averaging between 15 and 17 and a half yards per catch, they're explosive.

And their defense is averaging almost three sacks per games and one interception per. game. Iowa off a crushing loss last week. Last play versus Oregon. They're out of the college football playoff in USC get this 5 and 0 straight up, 4 and 1 against the spread at home, except for a rare

late touchdown against Michigan State backdoor touchdown. They'd be 5 and 0 against the spread. Sometimes you've got to lay if you want to play it here. We're going to go with USC by double digits over Iowa. It's my lock of the week. Lees-Lane

and playing it with the Trojans, I ain't trying to mess with that. But you know what? That's going to send us right in to our playoff playbook. And that is the first game, fellas, in our playoff playbook, number 21, Iowa at number 17, USC, 330 Eastern on Big Ten Network. Trojans by six and a half. Jesse, can Iowa come back from last week's heartbreaking loss to Oregon? They absolutely can. And Iowa has played a lot of the top components this year, very, very tough. And this is going to be another one that USC has to look out for because Iowa's going to make it

physical. USC wants to throw it over the top. Iowa's team does not, Navi's defense does not give up the big players in that quarter defense. No, they've been doing it forever. Iowa's been playing defense where they make you have to beat them the right way. You're not going to, you're going to have to beat them in a physical in between, but it's not going over their heads. All right. We said the ACC earlier is an absolute dumpster fire. Notre Dame is at Pitt this weekend. And apparently coach, Pat and Arduty doesn't even care about this game. Why should we? Yeah, I'm not sure I would have said any of the But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, I think all of them matter when it comes to.

But he probably is not thinking about playoffs. He's thinking more about how do you, can you win it and get into the big, into the ACC final, I think the championship game. And so in that case, he would be right because he's got to win his last two more than Notre Dame. But, you know, I think as far as your kids concerned, I don't think that's the way they feel. Jesse, Pitt is one of those one loss, five one loss ACC teams. Two of the others, Virginia is at Duke. Duke is coming off a loss to Yukon and what would have been a great basketball game.

Virginia coming off a loss at home. What's going to happen in Durham? I don't know. It's one of those games when you go, you don't know. But one of the things I will say this, and it's probably almost sacrilysm for me because I am at Tar Hill, but the nation will probably get a chance to see one of the best quarterbacks in the country that no one is talking about, and that's Mensa, the Duke's quarterback. Mani Diaz, he has himself a quarterback in there.

Now, I know that's a long shot for Duke to possibly make it to the college football playoffs, but this is a name that a lot of people will look out for in the future come, a mentor the Duke's quarterback. Coach, this one is for you and you alone. TCU is on the road in Provo at BYU. The Cougar's coming off that loss on game day last week against Texas Tech. How do they rebound? Well, it's going to be a late game, you know, an eight, nine o'clock game.

BYU knows what's at stake. If they want to get a chance to get in the playoffs and they're playing at home and they play a lot better, TSU did not play very well. I was at the ball game last week, but they're very dangerous because of the skill level they have on both sides of the ball. And so it should be a wild one. Man, gonna be another great weekend.

Cannot wait for it. You all, that's a wrap on this week's college football kickoff. But the season is coming down to the wire. Next week, former Pact 12 foes meet in their new conference, plus potential top 25 matchups in the ACC and Big 12. Same time, same set, same unapologetic football. Big thanks to Coach Gary Patterson and Jesse Hawley for bringing the heat and to you all 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.