Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - College Football Kickoff: Vanderbilt is for real, LSU clashes with Texas A&M in SEC battle

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

The Vanderbilt Commodores are for real - but Missouri will prove to be a tough test. Also, Texas A&M needs to avoid a letdown in Death Valley vs the LSU Tigers.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!QuoSee why over 90,000 businesses trust Quo, formerly OpenPhone. Get started free and get 20% off your first 6 months at https://www.Quo.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.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.MazdaIt’s the small details that make the big plays. And just like there’s more to every player, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda. Move and Be Moved. 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.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at https://www.monarch.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.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.

It's official. We are all buying Vanderbilt is a college football playoff caliber team with the way Diego Pavia is playing. But can they beat Missouri this week? Also, who's the Heisen winner? We haven't talked a lot about Heisman this season. And of course, with a million different job openings in college football, which is the best right now? All that and more right here, a college football kickoff. Welcome back to Fire TV's college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola. I'm your host Drake Toll with Locked on Big 12 and the Savannah Bananas organization. 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 Tarheel and Dallas Cowboy, Jesse Holly. Every week throughout the season, we'll be right here breaking down the matchups, the moments, the madness, with expert analysis from across the nation. And you can 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, so let's kick it off. Coach Gary Patterson, I know this is going to be a point that we hit a lot later in the show with Coach's Corner, but people keep getting fired. Yeah, I have a little bit of a history of understanding that. It took me 42 years to get to it, but I got to it.

But yeah, it's, I think you're going to find out with everything that's going on, everybody's patience is getting lower and lower. So we're going to have to find a middle ground somewhere. Yeah, do you think like Gundy or James Franklin are like in Cancun and run into each other and have just the moment like, hey, good to see you. You know, maybe the paychecks at least are not too bad for those guys. No, absolutely. The paychecks are absolutely phenomenal for those guys. And whether it's Cancun or Tigua or Jamaica or Colorado, whatever these guys are having to have their vacation. Trust me, it's all paid for.

Well, all of that correlates the top 25, where these teams expected to be and how they are no longer in the position they were supposed to. to be, many of them as national championship contenders like Penn State, and that gets us right into our rankings report. Every single spot changed the top 25 except for number one. Jesse, this is as tumultuous. The top of college football has been in a long time. We saw some parity last year and even the year prior, but I think this year it's a lot more mixed bag of a top 10 than anyone expected Indiana, Georgia Tech Vanderbilt being in there. It's crazy. Yeah, and I like to believe that the people who run this show, the college football playoff committee, they love this. And it's college football in general because now you don't have the same normal name that

we see every single year. You see a variety of playmakers in there, now Vandie's in there, Indiana's in there. So what does that mean? I'm getting a host of new people to be locked into college football that may by now, college basketball starts this week. So a lot of teams, like think about it. Like Indiana was shifting their fans were shifting their focus to basketball. Now they're like, hold on. We need to stay here a little bit longer before we get the basketball season. And there are other schools like that as well.

Yeah, so with nine ranked teams losing, including four top 10 teams, Coach, what are your rankings look like this week? Well, this will be the first time, but they go absolutely the same as the AP this week. So you have Ohio State, Indiana, A&M, Georgia Tech. Yeah, that's right, AP. You better get it together. Finally, you guys get on the same damn page with Coach. Go ahead, Coach.

Yeah, it's, you know, A&M, Alabama and Georgia. I mean, you've got a group. Yeah. So your lurkers, do you think that anybody has separation of climb into the top 25 moving forward? And again, you mentioned Georgia Tech just then. Are they championship caliber or do we still have question marks? Well, I think Oregon and Ole Miss both are right there on the outside of the top five. They're both capable of being, can be beaten anybody.

So, I mean, they were there at one point in time. They lose. they get bounced back, but both those have really good programs, really good staffs. Yeah, so obviously plenty of storylines here. I know we have to keep it kind of short, but the teams at 11 through 25 this week. I point at one of those unbeatens at BYU number 11. Jesse, they just got a top 25 win at home. Their freshman quarterback looks really good. Yeah, the problem is with BYU, it's always going to be strength of schedule. Who do they play? And the first time, if they take a loss, it knocks them so far out because they look at the schedule and they go,

they haven't really played anybody. And then you look at the guys in the SEC, you're saying they're playing raked opponents every single week. That's the biggest knock on BYU. So they have to win to get in because if they lose, they'll drop way out of the top 25. You know, a little of the experience, I think it helped TCU that we got, we didn't,

we weren't allowed in in 2014. We dropped from three to six after winning 55 to three or whatever it was against Iowa State. But what it did later on, I think in 22, they lost the big 12 championship game, but they still let them be part of the final four. And I think the biggest thing about that is, from experience, T.C., we knew we had no lead time in this whole situation.

You were going to have to be able to show people every week that you belong because you're starting in a conference and not a lot of people respected comparably to the Big Ten or SEC. And so in BYU's case, they just need to understand this is a journey. And it's not about just this year. It's the same way with Utah when they went to the Pact 12. It's the same way. Oh, you've got to understand it's a journey.

And every week, you're building your resume. So that later on down the road, people are going to respect you because you can go out and say, I did this, I did this, I did this, I did this. And I don't think it's any different. And, you know, Sataki's doing a great job. Yeah, very good. 18 and 2 in their last 20 games, but it seems like the country doesn't care. They're not getting the respect to ranking that their last 20 have given them.

Then Utah, another one you bring up with BYU. They've lost two games, number 11 and number 14. They're out of the top 25. altogether. You're not seeing a lot of respect for the Big 12 or the ACC in the way this poll is shaking out. You are getting a lot of respect for two SEC juggernauts, Missouri and Vanderbilt. That is our game of the week. Game of the week here on college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola features Mazoo and Vandy. Some weird fever dream that I had when I was seven years old. They're both in the top 15. This college game day will be on site in Nashville. We go to our experts, John Miller of

Locked on, Missouri, Corey Burton of Locked on. Van. Andy, who's the fourth host of the show at this point. John, we will start with you. I'm going to go EPA on you here real quick. Efficiency metrics. The Mizzou offense 33rd in EPA throwing the football. The Vandy Defense 113th at EPA defending the pass. Is that the key for Missouri to win?

I think it probably is because I think we know that Missouri will probably be able to run the ball effectively in Nashville. But yeah, the Missouri passing game needs to bring that vertical element back. I think they have the weapons to do it. Do they give Bo Prabula enough time to do it? That's the real question. If they can be good on both elements of offense there, yeah, I think it's going to be a really interesting game.

I think with some really good offense that it may not be a true shootout, though, just because both teams tend to like to take their time offensively. Corey, interesting that John says may not be a true shootout. What I look at Vanderbilt number four in the nation, efficiency-wise, running the football, defensively, Missouri, 62. That's an area where Vandy can control the clock, control the game. Do you see this one being lower scoring? Relatively.

I mean, both offenses like to score, but they do it in their own way, and they control the clock more than anything. Like against LSU, Vandy was able to put up 31 points. So, yeah, they scored a good bit. That was a season high against that defense. And they do their thing. They make plays, but they also extremely, efficient, move the chains, and just grind you down the field. And that's kind of where they take

control of the game. And it forces the other team to kind of panic a little bit. That's what I think kind of happened to LSU a little bit. John, quickly, give me a synopsis of this game. How does Missouri win? Do they win? And give me a final score. I've been predicting 31 to 28 of Missouri victory. Again, not a true shootout, but still a lot of points, still a lot of efficient offense. I think Missouri, again, they've got to get some explosiveness back in the passing game. And they have to be able to somewhat beat Vanderbilt at their own game. They got to avoid turnovers. They got to avoid backbreaking sacks and just poor special teams, that kind of thing.

If Missouri can be sound in all of those elements, I think Missouri has a really good shot to get a victory in Nashville. By the way, I was really hoping to be there at this game. But unfortunately, I'm going to be vacationing with Mike Gundy and M.T. one. That's great. That's great. Corey, same question for you here. And maybe you will be at the game and not in Belize.

Yeah, that's right. I'll probably be there. Not in Belize, although I probably wish I was in Belize sitting by the water. But for Vanderbilt, I mean, Coach Patterson, you'll appreciate this. You got to do simple better than Missouri. You just stay on schedule. Don't make any backbreaking mistakes like penalties, turnovers, things like that. don't try to force things that don't need to be forced,

like trying to push the ball down the field when you don't have those shots or trying to just gain control of the game like they have been and just stay true to your identity. I think you can win. Defensively, you have to make it muddy for Missouri. They like to run that stretch zone where, you know, cutback lanes are important if you can keep those plugged. And defenders can make Amad Hardy slow down, run sideways, things like that.

they can, I think they can gain control the line of scrimmage defensively as well. I like John's score, but in the reverse, I think it's 3128 Vanderbilt. I like it. I know a lot of human beings in this world, but none who know more about Missouri than John Miller or more about Vanderbilt than Cory Burton. They are the experts. They have a lot of free time, too. That is our game of the week.

I'm not the first host for nothing. I love these guys. I wish I had more free time. I love it. Thank you guys so much. Now being a passionate fan is hard work. All the pomp and circumstance makes you work up with thirst. Fan work is thirsty work.

Enjoy refreshing Coca-Cola. Today's show's brought to you by our friends over at Quo, formerly known as open phone. Now, if you are a business owner and you need to get your phone services, it is the best place to do it. It's the best phone system you've heard us talk about before just with a new name. Here's why it matters. Every miss call is money left on the table with every customer conversation counting. You need a phone system that keeps you connected 24-7. It is the number one business phone system to streamlines customer communications.

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So what are you waiting for? Visit Fandwell.com to download the Fandwell app today and get started. That's Fandwell.com with our friends over at Banduel. Coach, you got to spend a couple days around this Vanderbilt program a few weeks ago. And you mentioned there are still some holes in the defense. That was the Utah State game. They played Alabama closely and beaten LSU. Have you seen that cinched up?

Well, yeah. Well, you're looking past defense, they have some great athletes and skill positions. So obviously, they did enough to be able to win that ballgame. I think everybody, if you go back and look at last year, I think it was overtime, maybe a double overtime ballgame. So I see this game being really close. They both try to win the same way. Running the football, one does it with the option, one does it with the outside zone,

you know, out of pistols, so on, and defensively. It'll be really interesting. Vandy's never been here before. Yeah. And really emotional game last week against LSU, so it'll be interesting and vacant carry. Because that's what you have to do in the SEC. You look up and say,

well, it's not like somewhere else where you have one big ball game you've got to win it. And then you get a couple games where you're going to be more athletic. Okay, now we just went from Alabama to LSU. Now we're going to Missouri, and all three of them can be it. Vandy in the top 10 for the first time since 1947.

seven coach, you were a senior in high school. So it's been a little bit. So let's go there with this one. I want to take the numbers out for a second. And the offense is good, the defense is good. That applies for both of these teams, it feels like. But this is Vanderbilt versus Missouri. This is like new age college football.

This feels different. One of those matchups you don't get very often to see these two. I guess these two overlooked programs begin the top 15 get to host game dad. Yeah, we're talking about the SEC. You're talking about, you know, a league with very, very top heavy, but all the way through. And now you have two, I don't want to call them bottom feeders, but two of the teams who are normally at the bottom of the SEC, they're being talked about now beating the likes of the LSU, taking the likes of the Alabama's to the limit in these games. But this game is going to be a real critical game.

It's going to be a physical game. I think the team that comes out of this game, victorious, will be the team who can be more physical to impose their will to the other football team. So when you head down there to Nashville, make sure you bring your big boy pads because I think that's the way the victory for this game. Yeah, law of averages. I think that both Columbia and Nashville are not two of the better atmospheres in the SEC. These are two teams that will be on even playing field, even footing, I think. When toe meets leather on Saturday, you have a top 15 game between Vanderbilt and Missouri. It's actually a piece of our lock of the day.

Lee Sterling, where are you? Thanks, Drake. Another wild week in college football. as we look forward to another lock this week. Open it, open it, open it. Lee has the key to the lock of the day. Big game inside the SEC Vanderbilt favored once again. After beating LSU last week,

now the Commodore's hosting Missouri. Both teams coming in at 6 and 1 on the season. Lee, what do you like here with the Commodores and the Tigers? All right. So, it's the I came this close to beating Alabama game. And anything Missouri quarterback, Bo Perbilla can do, 11 touchdowns and 210 rushing yards, I think Diego Pavia can do just so much better. 15 touchdown passes, and he's run for 438 yards.

On top of that, maybe the biggest difference here is Vanderbilt quarterback, Diego Pavia, knows how to read defenses and has only thrown four interceptions. Bo Pabilla has already thrown seven interceptions. Remember, this is only his eighth game starting, whereas Diego Pavia has started now for almost four years. On top of that, Missouri running back, Ahmad Hardy, great start to the year. 730 rushing yards in the first five games. But in the last two games against real opponents in the SEC, against Alabama, just 52 rushing yards. And 58 against Auburn.

And that game was in two overtimes here. last week, Missouri won on the road at Auburn, mainly because the Auburn kicker missed three field goals in Missouri last year. O and three straight up as a road underdog here. Vanderbilt is finally a football school. My lock of the week here, Vanderbilt 30 to 24 over Missouri. And for more daily picks, subscribe to Lockdown Betts. Back to the college football kickoff studio. We'll see you next.

week, Drake. Thank you very much, Kevin. Lee, I love you like a father. Great pick for BYU. You last week. We'll see if it happens again this week. In the meantime, number three versus number 20. The Aggies, the Tigers. Here comes our can't miss matchup. It is number three Texas A&M at number 20 LSU and he is the expert. Matt Galatzin of locked on Aggies. Matt, what is the key to give the knockout punch to LSU's football season? Well, I think it kind of has to start with making sure you hit your explosive plays downfield. That's kind of Texas A&M strength in this offense right now. They're not great at anything.

They're somewhere in the 30s in rushing, somewhere in the 30s and passing. But where they're really dangerous is their ability to hit explosive plays downfield with, you know, guys like Mario Craver and guys like Casey Concepcion. They have a great connection with Marcel Reed. And if they can do that against those corners for LSU and get over the top of those safeties, I think they're going to have a real good shot. And it depends of Witt Weeks plays as well because he's obviously going to have a massive impact on what they're able to do offensively. Aggies are 7 and 0 for the first time since 1994. That was actually the last time A&M won in Death Valley.

Let's talk about Death Valley. How will the crowd play into whether or not Texas A&M can get its footing? Well, I think it plays a huge role because they haven't really played in an environment like that all season long. They went to Notre Dame, but that's not exactly Death Valley. There's few places that are like Death Valley. So I think the Notre Dame matchups going to help them quite a bit, considering they've been to a tough environment. And Arkansas could be kind of, you know, a little bit iffy as well.

But this is going to be something totally different. Marcel Reed is still a relatively inexperienced quarterback. He's only in his second season starting. And, you know, can he face that big environment, I think is going to be a big test. Because I've been to Death Valley multiple times before. And man, that place made my bone shakes. So it's super intimidating. Matt, how will this one go?

Give me a quick synopsis and a score prediction. Well, I think that, you know, depending on whether or not weeks plays is going to play a major role on how LSU is able to slow down Texas A&M. But I, you know, they've played extremely well all season on both sides of the ball. They had some hiccups against Arkansas. I think that's more of an aberration than anything else. I think that this offensive line is going to be able to control the line of scrimmage. I think Ruben Owens is going to be able to run pretty well against them. I think Marcel Reed's legs are going to play a big role like Trinidad Chamblis did against when they played Old Miss.

And I think A&M is going to be able to hit those explosive plays. So I see A&M covering the spread here of two and a half, and I see them winning the football game and getting that first win since 1994 in Death Valley. Galatson has A&M. He is the expert from Locked on Aggies. Matt, thanks so much. Coach, I want to bring it up with you, the Death Valley experience. How much does that sway a game like this for an A&M team that hasn't seen a crowd like what they're going to get this weekend?

You know, one thing he didn't talk about, I think, is that, you know, when you play good defense, you can go into anybody's stadium. I think that's the one thing that A&M and all their record, why they haven't won at LSU in so long, is the defense. I think this defense is going along with the people they have on offense now and where they can, they can, you've got to be able to have explosive plays also. I mean, it's a great combination. Yeah, Jesse, the A&M defense is one that is so Jekyll and Hyde.

So they allowed 10 points against Auburn, nine against Mississippi State. They played really well against Florida, 42 against Arkansas, 40 against Notre Dame. Those were wins because the offense is so good. Yeah, absolutely. The offense is fantastic. It's one of the things that they can absolutely hang their hats on, right? Their quarterback is good. They have the explosive plays.

They have the players like KC. Concepcion and making those explosive plays down the football field. And, you know, you go into Death Valley, and I know the defense will travel, but if you score points, they got nothing to cheer about, baby. So they got to go on there. And any of them has to be an explosive offense. Score points as much as they can. can because when you start having to punt the ball, that's when the crowd gets into it. And that's when it can get a little bit of shaky. So, coach, for Brian Kelly, if they lose this game, LSU is out of the top 25.

They're out of the SEC race. They're out of the playoff race. This is one of those prove it games for a coach that's won a lot of games. How do you keep off of the hot seat in such a high profile job? Well, you know, he said something in his presser last week where he talked about, you know, you can't even have here. You can't even have fun winning. Yeah.

You know, that's, you know. Which is what the entire fan base wants to hear, by the way. That gives them a lot of confidence. At the end of the day, you need to understand, when you went to the Southeast Conference, you went that part of the United States, it is not a game. It's a way of life. Yeah, yeah. And you needed to understand when you got into it.

People, they don't go on vacation. They don't, they don't buy a house. They don't do anything. They make sure they get their season tickets. They make sure they get their parking spot for tailgating. It's a way of life. This is not something where, hey, we just. kind of, we don't think about it until Saturday.

Southeast Conference is not that, is not that place. Well, you've seen a myriad of coaches already fired this season. Brian Kelly could be squarely on that hot seat with the loss at home this weekend. That's a great segue into the most attractive head coaching jobs in the country right now. All of that on Coach's Corner.

When we talk about, when we talk about coaches' openings and ranking them, I think of R&R. Now, you may think of a beach. I talk about resources and recruiting. And that's the I would rank them. And the two teams that come right off the top, the two universities, is Florida and Penn State. Let's talk about this. Urban Meyer, Steve Spurrier, Joe Paterno, and James Franklin, because the first two were the guys that have won national championships at Florida.

Coach Paternal doing the same and James, all four of them won a lot of football games, all have the resources to be as good as it. You've got schools that have over 500,000 alumni to do their bidding. The second group I would rent is, Arkansas, Virginia Tech and Oregon, excuse me, but Oklahoma State. In their cases, you talk about in Arkansas, which has SEC resources. But I think in all three cases, I think when you have college town schools, you have to understand that you need to have a personality because you have to have a draw besides all of it to get a kid to come to your place, along with the resources to be able to keep them there. You have to have a proven winner. UCLA then rounds it up. I think they have everything they want. to because you have California recruiting. They've got to be able to go out and recruit money. Stanford, Oregon State. You know, in Stanford's case, what I would do if I was them, I'd go right over to Vandy and find out in a high academic school how Vandy's turned it around and how they've done things. And when you take a UAB or a Kent State, you put them in a situation of finding a guy that's a guy that's going to be, he's not going to be staying there for very long,

really a riser, or a guy that cares so much about the university. He's going to make sure it happens. In my case, for example, when I was given, you know, given the opportunity to be the head coach of TCU, probably 50% of the horn frogs didn't want me because I was not a podium guy. I wasn't a splash. Everybody's always looking for that guy. And that's the one thing I would add to everything I just said with R&R is that I think you, one of the things I think we miss out on in this day and age is you have to find a coach that's the right fit. The right fit for that program because if you do, then when it's going, it's not just,

when it's going well so much when it's not a when it's not a good fit you have a situation where and i always use uh let's just say a beer and a wine guy and so if i was the beer guy and you went to a wine institution and you didn't win where you're not like them and so they don't have very much patience so for me you've got to be careful about i'll be higher in an oklahoma state's case you got to worry about a guy that was there forever that won a lot of football games and so i think One of the things two institutions got to be able to do is they've got to be able to go back and they've got to be able to look at themselves and say, okay, what do we have to be able to do here? How do we look back and see what we can do not just as a head coach but as an organization

to make sure that we get, we climb back up to where we were in the first place? So throwing that that large group of information right at you guys. What do you think? Do you think I'm close on the rankings? Jesse? Can I just side show? Oh, wow. I want to sidetrack this thing for a second.

It's like a gesticulation. Yeah, I want to sidetrack this thing for it. I want all these school, Florida, Penn State, Oregon State, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Colorado State, UABK. I want you all to know this. We talk about recruiting, you talk about coaching at X's and O's. Damn it, we got a coach up here right now that will fit in any more of those spots. That's it. And this is not anything from Co-Bin.

This is Jesse Holly hijacking this thing. And I'm telling you, if you're looking for a coach. I got one sitting up here with me that would be pretty darn good at any one of these universities. What they don't know is we're in our production meeting. Jesse and I are tapped in locked and the coaches are shivering on slot corner, RPO.

Coach can't wait to get here to talk ball with us. He gets in here and he's like, man, let me tell you. You saw that and they shaded the corner and I brought the safety down. Like, Coach can't wait to get. So I'm telling you, all universities out there, we got a coach right here that will fit this, any one of these spots and do a,

damn good job. So I'm just saying. But Coach also likes his pool, by the way. They're going to have to give an offer he can't refuse. You're going to bring Lee Sterling into negotiations. Bring the resources. As on game the other day when Coach Sabin, his wife came on and said, you know, yeah, he could win another championship, but, you know, he wanted to make sure he didn't cut anybody out of all of his babies, all of his young guys to go get jobs, right? Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, as far as the call, I think coach, I think you're absolutely spot on recruiting and resources, right? Because I want to be able to, one, have the funds. We live in this NIL world nowadays, the transfer portal. Guys want money. And so now I need to

go to a place where I can go to my alumni, to my, to my, you know, AD that say, hey, how much money are you giving me? Some schools will give you a whole lot. I like to believe Arkansas is a school that's probably have a ton of resources. We think about the alum, that they have, they have the Joneses and the Walmarts and the old people over that Arkansas. So having the money to be able to going to these homes, to these other schools, get on the phone with these traffic portal kids and say, hey, we have X amount of dollars to give you. And it starts with the quarterback. You got to be able to find one of those, right? Get you a quarterback and then start building the pieces from there. But the thing for me is, it's got to be the resources. Yeah, if you don't win at Florida or Penn State,

pretty immediately they will fire you. Yeah. That's another degree of this. The bigger the job, the more pressure you're going to have on you, whereas at Stanford, Kent State, even, I don't want to pull them together. But genuinely, at those schools, you can have two or three years to rebuild, whereas in the SEC or at a high level like Penn State, you won't. Arkansas is the most interesting to me because you mentioned the Tyson's or the Walton's and the Jones. They also have Bobby Petrino as their interim coach, the former head coach who a lot of the fan base likes.

They've got a sift through, and their offense is clicking right now, too. They have to sift through. Can their best head coach in the last 20 years, who's the interim right now be the guy? That's a massive question. I think theirs is very intriguing. Today show is brought to you by our friends over at Mazda. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride with more I-I-H-S-A-H-S-A-TOPs Top Safety Pick Awards than anybody else.

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Also intriguing, our topic of the week. Did you guys know they're going to give out the Heisman this year? Yeah. I don't think anybody, I haven't heard the word Heisman once when I turn the TV on. I feel like this conversation has been pushed down so much because, Jesse, I'll read you to these names, that we didn't have a lot of talk talking points about, you know, seven weeks ago. Fernando Mendoza, Ty Simpson, Julian Say and Marcel Reed, Diego Pavia. These just aren't sexy names. No.

At the top of the Heism race, no one seems to want to talk about. A lot of these guys aren't, you know, you have Julius St. But a lot of these guys aren't, they didn't come in, highly recruited. They weren't the bell of the ball. And now they got into these programs, and they've been able to build themselves up. And their programs have been built up and put on national things. So now you're seeing guys like Fernando Mendoza, who was at, what was the cow a year ago? And so now he's at Indiana and he's playing lights out football.

And you even have some of the people who deal in the NFL draft talking about, this may be quarterback one off the board. He has that level of potential that he's showing throughout this year. Well, yeah, and I think we talked about it earlier too. I think one of the things, I guess, and maybe it's because 42 years of being in the business and all the people, all the players that I've seen become Heisman, you know, I want to make sure, and I agree with you on Mendoza, I want to make sure that we don't get into this classification and we're starting to go down this road a little bit

with some of the names you have here that, well, he's a Heisman candidate because their team's playing very well. Or he's not a Heisman candidate because his team's not playing very well. And in Mendoza's case, I think it really comes to the forefront. And, you know, that's a case of when Coach Signetti goes in,

a guy that's a great fit for an Indiana and doing all of it, that you bring a bunch of players with you. And then the next guy wants to come because it's right off the bat you were able to prove you can win with that. guy you had so the next guy comes in, he knows he can plug him in the system. And I think, I think at Oregon they've been doing that for the last couple years, there's people that been doing it. You know, Julian, the same case at Ohio State, you've got a young, you got a young,

they've got a freshman quarterback that they're not going to be as good. Well, guess what? See, those things like Pavia also, I take, what does that guy do for their team? For me, when I look at a Heisman guy, what does that guy do for their team? And, and most of these guys are doing that for their team, which I mean, it is what it is. You mentioned it off the air, coach. Don't make it a team award. It has to still be an individual award. Who is the best player in college football, which the point brings up,

RG3, the Alamo Bowl. I mean, Caleb Williams wasn't going to the college football playoff. He won the Heisman. Last year, Shador Senors, another Alamo Bowl guy. Who is the best player in college football? I do think you're missing a couple, like a Josh Hoover, who's putting up great stats at TCU or Sawyer Robertson at Baylor, who were being overlooked because of team performance.

It stands to be. Last year, there was that receiver, right? that of course no one remembers his name, how it happens every year, that broke every record in the book and didn't get invited to New York out on the West Coast. I'm sure somebody will Google it and the comment section will light up. But it's those cases where I wonder at the end of this in three or four weeks if we get to the best player or a really good player or the best player on a very good team. It stands to be seen as the year goes on.

In the meantime, this week, a ton of major matchups we haven't gotten to yet. Let's hit those now on our playoff playbook. This week's playoff playbook. Let's start in the SEC where we've already covered a couple of big games, but how in the world is the number 8 team versus the number 13 team in the country being overlooked? It's because the SEC has a myriad of top-notch contest this week. Ole Miss at Oklahoma. Jesse, this is another one of those where Oklahoma loses.

They're really deep outside looking at the playoff. If Ole Miss wins, they're starting to clinch their spot. Yeah, for OU, the question remains is what is the health percentage of John Mateer? I know that he came back for the tech. Texas game and he didn't look great good there. He played a little bit better last week, but he's talking about a guy who does so much for his football team. And while the defense at Oklahoma is always going to be stout, you're going to have to score points

and go into going to miss. And so what is the health of John Matere? How is the hand? Are they going to be able to use him in the run game? How are they going to be able to complete pass down the field? He looks a little bit ginger on that hand, unwilling to kind of break the pocket and going run and not being able to be as accurate down the field. That's the biggest question for me.

Yeah. And I just, I felt like, you know, they probably pushed him into being off for a couple weeks, two or three weeks, because they had an off week. Then they didn't play in a ballgame. It's really hard to come for somebody to come back and play on that high out level and not, we always said it all the time. Even L.T. with Daniel Thomason, you know, it's like even he, not good enough. You don't practice. You can't. It's hard to play. But I would tell you, Oklahoma's always do one ball game in Norman when they play a big ball game where they get after people. So I think it's going to be an interesting matchup.

And, you know, Ole Miss came off a really big ballgame for them. Yeah, I mentioned earlier, BYU. I think Bear Bokmire, their freshman quarterback is elite. Jack Kelly, their defense strong as well. They are the cream of the crop in the Big 12 right now after Texas Tech lost last week. A loss at Iowa State would even things out at the top of that conference. But I think BYU has the tools to win that game. Over at USF and Memphis, that game is in Memphis.

The Tigers coming off a very surprising loss last week. USF seems to be that top-not to playoff contender out of the group of five in the college football sphere. Then Texas at Mississippi State, the Longhorns lose, and it's over in 2025. The Longhorns win, and I still don't know if you get many brownie points for beating Mississippi State. What say you, Brad Kellner, have locked on loghorns. Texas at Mississippi State this Saturday, the Longhorns win this game because of their defense. They are playing at an elite level right now. three preseason All-Americans going into the year.

All three are playing like All-Americans. Colin Simmons has five and a half sacks in his last two games. Anthony Hill was flying all over the field and the Horns victory at Kentucky. Michael Taff looking like a stud on the back end. This Texas defense is really good at every level, and they can create a lot of takeaways as well against the Mississippi State team that has been prone to giving it away. Offensively, some issues for the Longhorns.

Sarkeesian hinted earlier in the week to pairing down the playbook, making life a little bit easier for Archmanning and the Texas offense. Of course, they need a bounce back showing after a very sluggish performance in the overtime victory in Lexington. But I think the Texas offense will do enough. And I think the Longhorn defense and special teams will help carry them to a road victory in Starkville on Saturday. Yeah, thank you very much, Brad.

Coach. This is one where if Texas wins, no one's talking about this come playoff time as what gets you in. And if they lose, they're done. Well, yeah, you just saw a coach get fired and he beat Mississippi State. So I'm not saying that's going to happen. But the whole thing is Mississippi State playing at home has been playing really well, right? Arizona State lost to them early in the season. You have a team when they play at home and their offensive is legit.

And as usual, they've always, they always have good defensive players down at Ole Miss and at Mississippi State. So the bottom line is, too, anything can happen. Jesse? Yeah, you think about this Texas team. And I look at it like Coach Sarkeesian, coach, you're talking about resources and recruiting. Offensively, who is Texas? I don't know who this football team is.

You get all the big time recruits in, but offensive line can't block. You can get it running game. The quarterback that everyone has crowned as the messiah of college football has not shown up for you. And you have to go into overtime against Kentucky.

Kentucky. I said basketball was starting this week. I didn't think Kentucky would take Texas to overtime. I'm just so concerned. infuse right now of what this Texas offense is supposed to be. And can it carry this football team to the college football players? I think we should have that conversation in the next few weeks for sure of if he was Arch Davis. Let's go back to that. Maybe he's benched. I don't know if he's still the starting quarterback for Texas, the way that he's played pretty much the entire state. We're over halfway done with this thing. You're going to have to have your quarterback that can win a playoff game. Arch doesn't look like that yet.

Then we'll go this last one here, Baylor at number 21 Cincinnati. I don't think we need to highlight the Bears and Sawyer Robertson. But we do need to highlight that sneaky Cincinnati team. Where did they come from? A couple years removed from the college football playoff. Jeff Carve locked on Bearcats. Do the Bearcats win? The Cincinnati Bearcats are going to beat the Baylor Bears this Saturday at homecoming for one simple reason. Everything that Baylor is good at, Cincinnati is elite at.

Brendan Sorsby is running this offense like a well-oiled machine. Do they need long yards through the air? Got it. Do they need a quick third down passing on a screenplay? Got it. Can they run straight out? you got it and they have a pretty good option game as well so literally everything that they need to do they are very capable of executing at a high level and it all starts with this offensive line

i don't see baler putting enough pressure on the bear cat's offensive line to force them into long third down plays that have been a little bit of a bugaboo for this bearcats offense but you've got to squint really hard to find a weakness in this unit and i believe that for all that the Bearcats defense will raise in question marks. The Bearcats offense will more than make up for in their scoring ability. I think that this game hits the over. I know it's at 67 and a half right now. I see the Bearcats taking this one 42.38. I think it's going to be a high scoring fun game, but I just don't think that Baylor can score enough to outscore Brendan Sorsby and Scott Satterfield. And take the over. Thank you, Jeff Cincinnati, quietly climbing the Big 12 rings,

could possibly win that conference. I think they'll need to win the Big 12 coach. They want to go to the college football playoff. That brand power is not there to get them in the top 12. And just like last year, I think there was like seven teams that were going into the final week of the Big 12 to find out who was going to play in the Big 12 championship game. And so I think what you do is control your own destiny. And they've been doing it up to this point after early loss, where they've won five or six games in a row.

And I really like the way they go about it too. It's, you know, watching them. I didn't know a lot about them. watching them on tape and they're kind of a team that comes at you. You know, they're feisty on defense and the quarterback. He kind of like the guy at Arizona State. He tries to will his team to win, period. So, Jesse, when coach is at Stanford next season,

Palo Alto is great. You and I, we get to move out there. You're a receiver's coach that we decided? Yeah, yeah, I'll do recuse coach. Okay. I don't mind. I wonder what the voice, the Stanford Cardinal pays. Maybe not enough to live in Palo Alto.

Maybe not. Recruiting coordinator, Dray. There we go. There we go. I'm the sales guy. I'll take my coat off when I walk into house. That's good. That's a wrap on this week's college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola.

This season is just getting started. We're all settling in. We're 19 weeks of the show in total unbeated tilts. We'll be with you for a long time throughout the winter. Next week, another top five team could lose on the road. Plus some big matchups in the Big 12. Same time, same place. Same unapologetic football energy.

Big thanks to Coach Gary Patterson, the Hall of Famer. Jesse Holly for bringing the heat and to you for riding shotgun with us. Enjoy all the action this weekend. Stay locked in. Stay fired up. And we'll see you next Thursday right here on Fire TV.