Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - EXPOSED: ACC Coaches Face BRUTAL Hot Seat Rankings | Which Programs Are on the BRINK?

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

ACC Coaching Hot Seats: Virginia Tech, Florida State, and NC State Under ScrutinyAlex Donno and Kenton Gibbs dissect the precarious positions of ACC football coaches, focusing on Brent Pry at VIRGINIA... TECH, Mike Norvell at FLORIDA STATE, and Dave Doeren at NC STATE. The duo analyzes each program's expectations, recent performances, and the potential for change. Gibbs, a former WOLFPACK defensive lineman, offers insider perspective on NC State's situation and the growing fan apathy. The hosts also critique David Pollock's controversial comments about the WOLFPACK's upcoming season.Tune in for expert analysis on the ACC's coaching landscape and predictions for the conference's future.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The expectations are not high for Virginia Tech this year. And maybe that's part of the problem because Hokies head coach Brent Pry has been listed in the hottest of hot seats in the ACC. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. There's chatter around the industry that, you know, this season into the end of the season and could be higher than usual amounts of head coach turnover in college football. So the ACC will not be immune to that.
Starting point is 00:00:41 And thank you so much to the everydayers for making Locked-on ACC your first listen. We're available free, wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create your account, and use code, Locked-on College for $20 off your first purchase. on this episode. For some reason, NC State has been criticized. I think in kind of a ridiculous way by a certain national analyst. Is he right? We will discuss. But we have to talk about ACC coaches on the hot seat. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive linemen and co-host of Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono, host of Locked on Caines. All right. So KG, CBS Sports has done their hot seat rankings for all.
Starting point is 00:01:31 all 17 ACC football coaches. And they have at the top of their list, Brent Pry from Virginia Tech, who is heading into his fourth year as the head coach in Blacksburg. They have been bowl eligible in back-to-back seasons for what that's worth. But he's got a 16 and 21 overall record. And like my thing is, you know, you're a little younger than maybe.
Starting point is 00:01:52 You may still remember. But like I'm old enough to remember, you know, like late 90s, early 2000s, right in the sweet spot of the Frank Beamer era. when Virginia Tech was nationally relevant. Like you talked about Virginia Tech the way you would talk about your Ohio states and your Miami's at the time in Florida States. Like Virginia Tech was right there.
Starting point is 00:02:14 But that program has not been, I'll say a serious program for the better part of the last couple of decades. You know, I look at this and I say to myself, his seat should be hot, not just because of the expectations of Virginia Tech, But also, if you expect to be competitive, how long can you try out the same coach to not get the results that you're looking for? I can understand if you're a program that has a floor that is in the basement where you are perpetually, hey, this is who you are. This is your lot in the world. With all due respect, their rivals in Charlottesville, Virginia, that's kind of who they've been. That is kind of their lot in the world.
Starting point is 00:02:54 They have had pockets of being more than that. but the reality is when's the last time Virginia in terms of UVA was nationally relevant in football? Oh, like, or like 0, oh, 3, 04, like those times, maybe a little bit into the Mike London era, a few. It's been a long time. It's been probably as long, if not longer than Virginia Tech. But that's my point, exactly, right? And if you go back before that and say, okay, well, when was the last time they're relevant before that? Now you're really digging in your archives and say, well, when is it?
Starting point is 00:03:26 And I say all that not to, you know, dig at UVA, but I say that to say the expectations of what makes your seat hot or not is partially based on your program's history. And your program's history just kind of dictates where you are now. You cannot ignore that. And so for pride, we are looking at a situation where you fit the description of a Virginia Tech coach. You're a little odd, a defensive guy, you know, not the flash and all that. We don't need the sizzle.
Starting point is 00:03:56 Just give us the state. But the problem is the steak ain't staking. They're expecting a steak to size of their back. That's a high quality. You're giving them a $2. Walmart steak. That's the problem that we're seeing right now with Pry. That is a blue-collar program.
Starting point is 00:04:13 I remember growing up thinking to myself, man, if Michigan don't want me, I'll go play for Virginia Tech and I'll get the lunch fell a couple weeks in a row. Like that was the type of stuff that defensive players thought about. when it came to Virginia Tech. So obviously not producing at a high level there, the seat should be hot. And that's a good thing if I'm Virginia Tech, if I'm the Hokie favorite. Well, I mean, my thing about Brent Pry is, like, he seems like an okay football coach. And I'm not saying Virginia Tech needs to keep him employed forever. Like, I get it. If you're not
Starting point is 00:04:45 getting results, you need to try to find somebody who can produce results. But you're talking about a program that really had only ever been relevant under one coach. And that was Frank Beamer, who was there for a quarter of a century. Like that one coach made them relevant, had them relevant for a while. But even Frank Beamer became irrelevant with that program as college football evolved around Virginia Tech. And they didn't evolve with it. So my thing is, I mean, if you're, if you're going to potentially move on from Brent Pry after this past season, I mean, how great were things under the last couple of coaches, J.C. Price, Justin Fuente.
Starting point is 00:05:20 say, look, it's not like anybody else has brought that program closer to relevancy since Frank Beamer had them there. So if you're going to move on from Brent Pry, is Virginia Tech going to become more serious when it comes to really investing in NIL and now revenue sharing? Because I've never heard of Virginia Tech being very active in that stuff over the past five years since NIL has been a thing. Like, I don't feel like they're, you know, a big, ambitious athletic program at this point. You can correct me if I'm wrong. on that, but I haven't really felt as though, you know, the idea would be, hey, if we're going to get rid of Brent Pry, we're going to find like an actually really relevant superior coach and we're
Starting point is 00:06:01 going to invest more money and more resources into our program. I hope they do that. I don't disagree with you at all there. The only thing I will correct you on it, J.C. Price was never their full-time head coach. He's one of my favorite assistants. He was the interim? Yeah, he was the interim after Fentz. And I love me some Jesse Price. People thought he was going to be the head coach going forward after pretext got fired. But like you said, there are problems there. Like, let's just be real, right? You talk about what made Virginia Tech relevant during that time.
Starting point is 00:06:29 We all know the DMV and Virginia as a whole is a recruiting hotbed, right? You talk about the Newport News area and all that, the Virginia Beach area and all that. You are going to have bona fide stars coming out of there every year. If we look at recruiting, you and I have talked about this. before we're discussing Virginia Tech and UBA's problem. Look at the top players in that state. Are they staying home? No.
Starting point is 00:06:56 But it's prized job to give them something to stay home too. And his cohort who is on the list as well, Tony Elliott. Same deal. If you are to be a successful coach in the state of Virginia, the talent is there. The talent is there. If you don't believe me, go look at what their top players are doing
Starting point is 00:07:16 at all these other schools around the country. Go look at what happens when these top guys go to Clemson, go to Georgia, go to Florida State, go to wherever. They dominate. They show up and do fantastic things. But the problem is they cannot secure those players. And it doesn't matter how good you are schematically. It doesn't matter how good you are getting folks prepared. We talked about that with Georgia Tech in terms of them being a phenomenal team when it comes to getting their guys prepared.
Starting point is 00:07:43 At some point in time, it comes down to I've got one big angry man. You've got one big angry man. Whose big angry man is bigger and angry. You've got one fast guy. I've got one fast guy. Whose fast guy is faster. If you're not winning on the couch, you're going to lose that bottle of who's fast guys faster.
Starting point is 00:07:59 Who's big guys bigger and all that type of stuff. So, you know, the expectations are there. And I do get what you're saying in that they were only super relevant under Beamer. But at the end of the day, it is what it is. I'm happy that the floor is raised for my program if I'm for Geotech. I'm happy that people are saying, hey, this is what we need to get back to. Because you could be languishing in mediocrity, like some teams in ACCC, that we'll not name. But they're just fine with five, maybe six wins, a seven win years like a, oh, yeah, we really did it, guys, we saved the city.
Starting point is 00:08:35 And Virginia Tech should have been better last year. And, you know, Kyron drones should not have taken a big step back after all that he showed as like a most of the year starter, the Pride the previous year. Why did he, why did he regress in his first full year as a starter last year? I'm sure there are tons of reasons. I think there were some injuries that he was playing through and all that. But like that, that team should have performed better than they did last year. So I get it. We'll talk about other coaches that are on the hot seat when we come back or at least, you know, could be on the hot seat. And what it would take like for Mike Norvel to be on the hot seat, what it would take for Mario Cristobal to get on the hot seat. Now, that's a place where
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Starting point is 00:11:06 make sure you check out Kenton and Grayson Boone on Locked on Wolfpack covering all things NC State. Check me out on Locked on Cains covering all things, Miami. All right. So after Brent Pry at the number one spot, you got Justin Wilcox at Cal, Tony Elliott, you mentioned at Virginia. I think you already kind of gave the reasons why Tony Elliott would be on the hot seat. But in terms of Justin Wilcox, like, Kenton, this may be the year he doesn't get through because we're hearing about potentially a power struggle with their GM, Ron Rivera, you know, Wilcox to kind of save his butt makes a big change at offensive
Starting point is 00:11:40 coordinator, you know, brings in Brian Harrison, who. who has failed in recent stops and is kind of revolutionizing their offense and a bunch of players left in the transfer portal. This is absolutely a do-or-die year for Wilcoxie Cal, and the expectations are not very high, which is not good for him. Dono, we are not political commentators, and yet we are sitting here facing a coup d'etat in the ACC. What is this?
Starting point is 00:12:07 What is this? We are sitting here talking about a potential coaching despot because we are sitting in a position where there's an internal power struggle for what's going on at cap. And Lord's Ross, don't you run from us? We know it's the summertime. You ain't lexuring nobody. So we got to get it back on there.
Starting point is 00:12:26 But there's a lot of- Good point. Yeah, lecture season is, I got to track. I'll track them down. Lexure season's over. There's confusion everywhere about what Cal is doing. And Cal is in such a unique position because historically, they haven't been great. Cal historically hasn't been a team that we're like, oh, yeah, we should.
Starting point is 00:12:42 expect them to be eight, nine wins a year. They move to a new conference, more traveling than any other team in the country. You're looking at a major, major deficit in terms of their athletic department budget. You're running at a deficit every single year to the point where it's like, hey, we got to do something about this. So they're expected to kind of have these problems. And yet and still, we're looking at that here and coach with that fine, that fine two comb, saying, oh, what's going on here?
Starting point is 00:13:12 Are you, you're going to make it another year? This is unlike anything I've ever seen in terms of a coach that with all the respect to Cal's history, I think Wilcox is doing a fine job. I don't think he's doing great. I don't think he's doing blowing out the water and he's going to get calls from every school in the nation. But for what he is ushering Cal through, there are a million worst ways to do it. If you don't believe me, look at your rivals over there in Palo Alto. We'll get to them.
Starting point is 00:13:41 We'll get to them. So we're looking at that, and he has this team at least somewhat stable enough. You know what I mean? Like the Risper said, they began to rock steady. And that's all they got to do. And yet they're still commotion there. I really feel bad for Wilcox. And far be it for me to feel bad for somebody getting paid me as to coach a children's game.
Starting point is 00:14:00 But I really do feel bad for Wilcox. Now, someone they have at number four on the list. And I think he would be higher on this list, if not for the actual financial, challenges that make it almost impossible to fire him this year. And that's Mike Norvell at Florida State. Now, there's a scenario where he could turn things around, so to speak. Like, I don't like Florida State. Maybe the Florida State fans would feel differently.
Starting point is 00:14:26 I don't expect them to win like 10 games this year. But if they win seven or eight games this year, that's a big improvement from two and 10 last year. So you can spin that. Like, you can spin that into, look, Norville is picking the program back up. But at a program like Florida State, the idea that you go two in ten, which hadn't been done there, I think, since the 1970s, you go two and ten and you keep your job.
Starting point is 00:14:49 There's obviously external factors at work there being a very large buyout, right? It just makes it impossible to fire him at this point. But so, you know, I don't think Norville's going to get fired. And you know what? The fact that, like, I think number four might even be too high. Like, I think he has more job security than that. That might be a good thing because when you're trying to finish what's a pretty good recruiting class for Florida State so far.
Starting point is 00:15:12 They're just outside the top 10 at this point. Like, Norvelle may be putting together the best recruiting class he's put together at Florida State, and that's coming off of 2 and 10. So maybe the fact that there is some stability there might actually help him right the ship this year. Well, you know, Don, you and are completely opposing camps on this one because I look at, I look at Norvelle and say him not being at one is surprising to me because he has the tallest task ahead of him.
Starting point is 00:15:36 If Virginia Tech wins seven, maybe eight games this year, that's he that he that's cool. eight games, that seat is cold as ice. All right, we're good. We'll figure it out, right? If you look at, you said that Wilcox and Wilcox and Elliot if either one of those guys went eight games, their seat cold as ice, okay? Y'all mean, you're going to need hot water to get them up off that thing, right? But if you talk about Norville, eight wins this year, that doesn't put him safe in perpetuity.
Starting point is 00:16:05 It doesn't give him four years. I wouldn't even argue to get them, too. If he wins eight this year. I just think eight wins, a six win improvement. Like you can spin that into something. And but this is what I'm saying. Eight win improvement is good or six win improvement. And for most schools, you'd be fine.
Starting point is 00:16:24 You and I saw Florida State win a national championship. And it wasn't that long ago. Okay. I was in college then. I'm only 30, y'all, please. I know that the bald head foots you. I'm only 30. All right.
Starting point is 00:16:35 So I was, you know, that's, that's, that's, recent as opposed to what these other schools are looking at where you don't have the story tradition. You don't have the big boosters. You don't have one of the biggest fan bases in the nation. Forget the ACC. In the nation in terms of fan base size, you don't have those
Starting point is 00:16:52 things. I'm looking at Novell saying, dude, you think Virginia's a recruiting hotbed? You are in the state of Florida. Other than California or Texas, where else could you possibly want to be?
Starting point is 00:17:10 to have the best recruits right down the street. So where, oh, granny want to come to the game? Boy, do I have an answer for you? Oh, Mama don't like getting on plays, but she wants to come to the game. Boy, do I have just the answer for you? But, you know, it's, to me, I look at this and I say, four is about where he should be because there are some,
Starting point is 00:17:32 they're like, oh, he's too high, the money, you know, he's going to be there. And then there are people in my character, they're like, listen, I don't care how much that money is. I highly doubt that Florida State wouldn't find some money if you're looking at another five or less win season. Okay. That's fair enough. All right. The next two names on the list, we can both speak to one of them.
Starting point is 00:17:51 I'll let you speak to number six, though. At number five, Frank Reich at Stanford, but like, how can you be on a hot seat when it's been very clearly stated he's a one-year interim stopgap? Like, he's doing a favor for his buddy, Andrew Luck. Like it's like, hey, because they had to fire their previous coach in March due to a scandal. We couldn't conduct a real search because it's a terrible time of year to hire football coach. So Frank Reich steps in one year and done. I don't know how you could call that a hot seat. Yeah, I fully agree.
Starting point is 00:18:27 I mean, he shouldn't even count. He should be exempted from the list because there is no hot seat. If you de facto know, hey, after this year, we don't care if you win zero games or going to win 10, you're going. Oh, okay, cool. Bye. Yeah, I'll tell you what the situation reminds me of. We'll see if Wright Candle is it the same way. But, you know, I used to, you know, be on the full-time Miami Dolphins beat, right? And I was there during the Ryan Tannahill era and when Adam Gase was the head coach of the dolphins.
Starting point is 00:18:56 You know, Gase had connections to Jay Cutler because he'd been in Chicago. Ryan Tannahill blows out his knee, like at the end of training camp near the end. And so Adam Gase calls up his buddy, Jay Cutler, who. who had just retired, calls up Jay Cutler. He's like, hey, we'll pay you $10 million just to show up and be our temporary starting quarterback. What do you say? Jay Cutler was like, yes, I will take your $10 million, and I will give you exactly zero effort because I know I'm not really the quarterback of the Miami Dolphins.
Starting point is 00:19:27 I'm just a guy you called because you're in a pinch. Like, again, maybe Frank Reich will, you know, this guy's a professional head coach. He's done it at the NFL level. So maybe he'll take it way more seriously. but the situation kind of reminds me of that. It's exactly that, basically. I mean, you're looking at a situation where obviously the personalities of the person coming in, the field are different.
Starting point is 00:19:46 But, I mean, he knows, like, I'm not the long-term solution. I'm not going to be sitting on mom and dad's cows telling him, hey, Stanford is a great place. There's a second-to-non education. You send your son here. You're sending him. It doesn't matter. He's not going to be doing that because he can't say, I know the next guy they get is going to be this person.
Starting point is 00:20:04 He's going to be great. Or I know that this is going to happen. I know that the program is going to look like this. He doesn't know. So what does he even do outside of just coaching the football, which in 2025 college football, as much as I hate giving head coaches credit for when they're right, all of the coaches are right in saying,
Starting point is 00:20:22 I just want to coach football. I don't want to do all the other things that are all around college football, which that's the majority of it at this point. So, you know. Yeah, you're a GM and also like a babysitter, like all and a coach all built into one. So the next on the list, and I'd like to defer to you on this one, they've got Dave Doran at NC State at number six. Like, what are folks saying in Raleigh, Kenton?
Starting point is 00:20:46 Like, what's the temperature there among NC State fans? He's near and close to the scarlet letter. The scarlet letter is A. You know what that A stands for? What? Not adulterer. It stands for apathy. It stands for apathy.
Starting point is 00:21:02 When apathy sets in, yeah, when apathy sets into your fan base, you are cooked, you are done. Because you know what apathy means? It means those donors start to tighten up their wallet a little bit. You know, apathy means less people come to the games. Less people come to the games. That means you make less in concessions. Less in all these different styles of revenue.
Starting point is 00:21:24 Now you're in trouble. Now you're going from we were struggling to keep our head above water to now we're drowning in terms of keeping up with the other teams in the ACC. So Dave Doran has raised the floor in Rob, exponentially. Like that's just a provable fact. He has almost every record there is for a head coach at NC State.
Starting point is 00:21:44 The problem is you got to do a dance from the 90s. This is something that's going to bring Donald back to his youth. You got to raise the roof, baby. You got to raise the roof. You raise the floor, but now you've got to get at some point in time that 10-win season, that ACC
Starting point is 00:22:00 championship type of season. And the most interesting thing about it, Dorn has persisted through lot of coach of changes to a lot of, you know, some of his, some of his protegees and, and play callers going on and kind of surpassing him. I'm looking at you, Eli Drinkwood's at Mizzou and things like that. You know, potentially Tony Gibson up at Marshall now. But one thing that I know with no degree of uncertainty is this year, he has to do something
Starting point is 00:22:30 at least decent. He has to be at least six, seven wins. because last year they go six and seven and you know people are starting to say okay this is who doran is you know it just is what it is he was he was the head coach that recruited me so he's been there for a little bit now uh with that being said it's it's starting to get to that time where people are saying okay raising the floor is great but we need to see the ceiling raise and it begs the same question that you asked about what you can get rid of him who do you bring in because you haven't done much since Chuck the chest of Mata.
Starting point is 00:23:04 He was the guy. Him and Philip Rivers, we're the guys that had y'all, you know, in the thing. And Philip Rivers is so old. He's got sons now being recruited by NC State. Shut up. And he's got enough sons where they could do an entire team just
Starting point is 00:23:19 of Rivers kids. Let me tell you something. Somebody asked me, how would you feel if NC State Mr. Gunner? I said, it's all right. We're going to get another chance with a Rivers kid about two years. Oh, for sure. They're coming out of the woodwork.
Starting point is 00:23:31 piece. It's a little of the core. You got plenty of, but yeah. By the way, I was a big Chuck Amato and Philip Rivers fan. I don't remember the exact year, but they pulled off,
Starting point is 00:23:40 the two of them together pulled off an upset, an upset against a really good Florida state team back in the early 2000s. And like, I fell in love with Philip Rivers, the gunslinger. And I supported him throughout his NFL career because of what he did to Florida State.
Starting point is 00:23:55 Man, that was fun. He never has to buy a beer around. Yeah, that's, that's just the fact that. matter how much he made NFL. If he's in the 919-9-84 area coat, you're good with us. Yeah. Yeah, that must have been like circa 03, 02, something like that. By the way, you brought me back to my glory days with the raise in the roof. I mean, I'd go to, you know, like an eighth grade dance or like 10th grade homecoming. And you could go right from,
Starting point is 00:24:22 in like, consecutive songs, you're doing the macarena, and then you're doing the electric slide, and then you're raising the roof. And then just, I was, I was the Lord of the Dance back. in those days. I have rhythm. You better tell you. You're a spicy white, baby. You ain't done that castle on no rhythm. You got it. No. All right. So speaking of Dave Doran and NC State, they got called out by David Pollock, you know, former college game day host. Miami's been in his crosshairs a little bit because he's a Georgia guy. I guess he got the company memo that you have to
Starting point is 00:24:54 trash Carson Beck if you support the Georgia program. But now he's trashing NC State. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet. on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. When I read this David Pollock quote about NC State, I had the same reaction that we had to seeing Frank Reich on the hot seat. It's like, wait, how is he on the hot seat when he's a one-year interim coach? So here's what David Pollock said about NC State. There's a very good chance they fall off a cliff, he said.
Starting point is 00:25:24 They went six and seven last year. Like is that, is there a cliff? And no disrespect, Kenton, but is there a cliff to fall off of? of when you were below 500 last season. Donald, you're a thousand percent right. And here's the thing. In terms of his potential prediction for the season, I agree. Anybody who has heard me talk about NC State and give a season prediction has heard me say this exact phrase.
Starting point is 00:25:47 This team will be under five wins or over seven. I have said that all off season. But here's the problem, the description of it as falling off a clip. How does a team that had a losing season last year? lost to East Carolina University in the bowl game. By the way, Dono, I give you $20, I will cash up you $20. If you can tell me right now, I give you three seconds. Where is East Carolina located?
Starting point is 00:26:16 In the eastern portion of North or South Carolina. I need a city. I'll give you three seconds. Come on. Help me out. Durham. I don't know where that is. It's in Greenville, North Carolina.
Starting point is 00:26:30 But that's exactly the point. That's exactly my point. You know what I mean? So to say that this team is going to fall off a clip is a bit disingenuous. I can understand if this was a eight, nine win team last year. I could even understand somebody saying NC State fell off a clip last year relative to their expectations and bringing in all the pieces they did and everything like that based on what it was before and getting Grayson McClellan.
Starting point is 00:26:57 I get that. But to say, hey, a team that we. y'all know, that defense is, you know, I mean, hey, we're tease and peace, thoughts and prayers for that defense. You know, we're hoping they can hold on enough. An offense that we're saying, hey, they're going to be good, but they're going to have to put up 30 points a game to win at a high cliff. And you're telling me that this team is primed to fall off a cliff?
Starting point is 00:27:22 What's the cliff? Normally when you think of a cliff, you think of a steep drop. They might fall off of a mild bump, but not a cliff. They fell off a grassy knoll is what could have. There you go. Fell off a glass of grassy. But if I'm, if I don't think about, like,
Starting point is 00:27:36 teams in the ACC that, like, could actually, like, have a cliff to fall off of. Okay, so SMU won 11 games last year. Yes. A lot of wins. They lost some good players from last year. The schedule's a little tougher. I think they're still going to be good.
Starting point is 00:27:52 The team of the church team to come out. Syracuse. Syracuse. That clip is right there. Double-digit win. They won nine games. Nine wins last year. Was it 10 wins with the bowl game?
Starting point is 00:28:02 With the ball game, I believe it was 10. Either way, even if we say nine, even if we say nine, right? How many times of Syracuse ever won nine games in the season? And now you're looking at you have half of Blackshare's playoff on your schedule. The cliff is right there, brother. It's right there. And yet we're looking at a sixth win, seven lost team saying, hmm, I predict they'll be worse.
Starting point is 00:28:26 Well, they may be worse, but is that really a clip? If anybody said Florida State's going to fall off a cliff this year, we don't look at them like they were doing the finest of dope. Why? Because they won the games. Last year they fell off a cliff. That's a cliff. That's a cliff. That's a real cliff. Un defeated, basically, by everybody except Georgia Southern. Or what was it? Who did they beat Charleston Southern? Oh, they beat Charleston Southern and Cal. That's that, my friends, is a clip. That's a clip. That's a clip. That's falling off a cliff. But going from six wins to potentially four, ooh, oh boy, boogoooooo go boogie mad season. Like, come on. Oh, man.
Starting point is 00:29:08 By the way, throughout the rest of the week, we're going to talk more about the upcoming ACC kickoff media days, which we're a week away from that. And, you know what's crazy to think about Kenton? We've never actually met up in person before, which is wild. Oh, man. Oh, man. That happened for the first time. Because you couldn't make it out last year to kick off, but you're going to be there this
Starting point is 00:29:28 year. I'm coming up for the first couple of days. So we'll actually be able to do the shows in person, which is going to be fun. And I'm going to ask you on probably Wednesday's episode, you know, which players you're going to drop some hand grenades into it's funny. I had a situation like that yesterday, Kent, and I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. And I'm walking through the hallway. And this guy who's wearing all Miami gear walks by me and I say, it's all about the you. it. He got all excited. And then there's his other guy walking through the hallway. He was like, what about the gators? And then the two of them start arguing, and I just walk away. And so like, so this, this nurse practitioner who was walking me back to my, to my office was like,
Starting point is 00:30:13 what just happened there? I'm like, I just dropped the live hand grenade in the hallway is what happened. He just chucked and said, hey, that's between y'all too. That's it. Y'all sorted out. Yeah, so that's what's going on. And by the way, on our Tuesday episode, we're going to do a crossover with Zach Seiko from locked on Nittney Lions. Remember, Penn State, they kind of embarrassed SMU in the playoff last year, 38 to 10, I think, was the final score. It wasn't really that close, but 38 to 10 was the final.
Starting point is 00:30:42 And so we're going to talk with Zach. We're going to get his outlook on Penn State. I'm going to drop another hand grenade because I'm going to tell him all the nice things that Kenton's been saying about Drew Allen. That's going to be a little longer. And we're going to get justice for Jackson-Hoser for them taking Trevor Payne. We're going to get our justice. That's right.
Starting point is 00:31:00 That's right. And so, you know, so, you know, Zach reached out to be a while back and kind of wondered, like, you know, Penn State, they're expected to get back to the college football playoff this year. They beat an ACC team last year, like teams that they might face out of the ACC this year. So we're going to talk kind of ACCC college football playoff outlook. We'll get the skinny on Penn State. So that'll be a fun crossover episode. We'll have coming out tomorrow.
Starting point is 00:31:24 So we'll talk to you guys then. He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolf. follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. I'm Alex Dono from Lockdown Cains. Follow me at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to you tomorrow on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome lockdown podcast network. Your team every day.

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