Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Is DJ Uiagalelei Good Enough To Win With Elite FSU Defense? Louisville's NIL Is Not Broke

Starting point is 00:00:00 I don't know if DJ Uweungal-Lay is going to have the same sort of impact as some of the other transfer quarterbacks in the ACC, but I don't know how much of that Florida state actually needs. You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. We are Locked on ACC. I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Caines. He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. Thank you so much to the Everydayers for making. us your first listen and your first watch each and every day.

Starting point is 00:00:38 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. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash Lockdown College. Terms and conditions apply.

Starting point is 00:01:01 Now, Kenton, my point on DJ Weunga Lle, is in that I think Florida State is a team that can absolutely be carried by their defense. Yeah. Where I don't think DJU. DJU doesn't have to be as special as Cam Ward in Miami or Tyler Shuck at Louisville in order to put his team in position to win a title. But I'd love your take, Kenton, because I was watching Florida State Spring game the other day, obviously super impressed by Marvin Jones Jr.

Starting point is 00:01:32 That dude is an absolute dog on that. Florida State defense. I thought it was a very ho-hum day for DJU. Now, on the flip side, you could say, well, he's going up against a great defense. You know, on the other hand, there were some miscues. There were some good throws, some questionable throws, also some drops that should have counted for completions in his margin. But I don't expect this to be a guy who puts the team on his back this year. Yeah, no. There's, again, I talk about the three categories of quarterback a lot, the one you win because of with in spite of. Florida State's defense seems to be at the level where you can be at the lower end of we win with you, and they'll be just fine.

Starting point is 00:02:11 Now, if we're talking about getting to a playoff first, we're talking about winning a national championship, you're going to have to be a guy that they win because of let's make no bogs about that. I don't think that their defense is that headed shoulders above the rest of the country to where you can win a natty with a quarterback that's just digging and dunking and handing the ball off. So this team will have to get something out of him to get to that level. but if the expectation and thought is ACC champion is the absolute ceiling that we want to reach, I believe that they can get there with this defense and DJ being slightly better than he was in this spring.

Starting point is 00:02:44 Yeah, and also I think he's at least slightly better than he was the last time we saw him in the ACC. Like I think you now after his travels had a good year at Oregon State last year. He's experienced, what, a fifth if not a six-year guy this year. And you can see, like you can see that on the, field, Kenton, that one thing I can definitely say on his behalf is he's very decisive when it comes to his decision making. You can see this guy's a veteran. I also, the learning curves are different for quarterbacks who transfer into new places, just depending on teammates, installation,

Starting point is 00:03:20 how different the system was from what they previously ran. I would assume that between April and late August, that he's going to, especially being the veteran, he has become more comfortable in that offense. But I do think Florida State, in addition to being able to rely on a defense, they can also rely on their running game as well, because Lawrence Tolafili and Roydell Williams leading that rushing attack, that's going to be also something that takes some pressure off of DJ's shoulders. Oh, for sure. And I want to think about this for a second. I understand that this is the exact same defense, right? You lost the guy that's probably going to be a top 15 to 20 pick in Jarebursed. You lost the interior defensive lineman in Brayton Fisk, who's also very likely going to hear his name

Starting point is 00:04:01 called before the third day of the draft. But with that in mind, this team beat their rival out of the SEC in Florida and won an ACC championship with a second and third string quarterback. Whoever comes in here, you're not looking at the situation like you're looking at with Castiano's in Boston College with drones at Virginia Tech, where some of these guys, you're going to have to be the show with Cam Ward of Miami, for example, you're going to have to be the show. You're going to have to be the start.

Starting point is 00:04:30 You're going to have to carry this thing in order for you to get there. This isn't that. This isn't that. So I think that if this team, and you looked at Benson, who looked a little bagged up there, that everybody's saying, hey, it's not that serious now. You're looking at a situation where, again, DJ just being a poised leader who on time, on target. That's it. On time, on target.

Starting point is 00:04:54 They don't need the special break three tackles behind the line of scrimmage, scramble out and find the 60 yard. They don't need that guy. They need a guy that's all time on target. You don't kill us. You don't throw the pick. What were you thinking, man? What were you doing?

Starting point is 00:05:09 They'll be just fired. You know, by the way, we're not only talking Florida State on this episode of Locked on ACC. We are going to talk about non-conference football schedules and toughest opponent on the non-conference schedule for every team in the ACCC. Some of y'all have some cupcakes out there. I'm just going to look that out there right now. And we're also, Florida. State was not the only high profile ACC spring game that happened over the weekend because we also

Starting point is 00:05:34 had Louisville on Friday night. And we've been talking a lot about Louisville because all just all the rumors, all kind of the bad PR that they've been getting from college football fans on social media with outgoings in the transfer portal. We want to talk A about the spring game, B, about everything else going on

Starting point is 00:05:52 with Dalton Pence from Locked on Louisville, who's going to be joining us a little bit later on. So, you know, more more on this, and as far as floor, Florida State goes for this coming season. I do have them, I have them penciled in as my ACC favorites this year, keeping in mind the conference feels a little bit open in a way. I haven't felt about it as much. I mean, obviously there was a while when Clemson was way on top of the mountain. The latest team that's been on top recently. Pittsburgh won it and a huge surprise

Starting point is 00:06:20 a couple of years ago. I think it's somewhat open today, but I still, I guess until proven otherwise, I put Florida State at the top of my feet, but I do think there are others that can contend there. Oh, absolutely. There are others that can contend, but this is the first time in quite some time that we've truly felt like who's the team, right? Like we're truly not looking at a team saying the only way this team doesn't win it is there's a severe injury. There's absolutely a world where Florida State runs the table again. And there's also a where Florida State just doesn't have the juice offensively and in that passing game to give it done. There's absolutely a world where Louisville finds himself back and Tyler Schuff makes me eat my words. There's absolutely a world where that happens.

Starting point is 00:07:02 There's absolutely a world where Tyler Shuff proves that he is who he's been, and they end up winning seven, eight games. NC State, there's a world where McCall and companies show up and that passing game is prolific under a night. There's also a world where NC State isn't ready for the pressure of being a favorite and drops the ball against some teams that they just on paper are superior to. So there are so many. And then, of course, we're not even talking about teams like Georgia Tech,

Starting point is 00:07:27 who I think that they're going to be a sneaky team. this year. I believe that nobody's giving them credit. Nobody's giving them a love, but there's a great opportunity for them to kind of sneak up on a bunch of good teams. And before you look up, you're like, wait, is Georgia Tech at eight, nine wins right now? What has happened in this world? So, you know, I agree with you on the assertion that there is not a definitive top dog, because if you look at last year, the two top dogs lost a lot of their top weapons. Florida State and Louisville were the two teams in the Congress Championship last year. I don't believe either team returns their leaders in a majority of their stats.

Starting point is 00:08:03 So when you look at that, you know, you kind of come up with that conclusion of, man, this isn't going to be easy, huh? This isn't going to be just a squared away. Oh, this team's showing up so they got it. And the craziest part is I haven't even mentioned Clemson, who everybody believes, everybody believes they're the quarterback figuring out of the way. But the question is, can the quarterback figure it out? because I've never heard a coach so publicly say, my quarterback made a terrible read as I have with Davo after that Miami game where he was like there was no read there.

Starting point is 00:08:37 He was supposed to hand the ball up. I don't know what happened. So, you know, you're sitting here and a lot of teams of the ACC have more questions than answers. And what that produces, for the betters at least, is some real good value somewhere because there's questions everywhere with every team. Let me ask you this. If you were Davo, and I know that there's, there's less eligibility for one guy.

Starting point is 00:08:58 But do you think there's any regret that he chose Cade Klubnick over DJ Wiongolay? Because I almost, not to say either of these guys are world beaters, but I almost feel like Clemson would be better off next year with DJU at quarterback than with Cade. You know, I, so here's the thing. Me being me, absolutely. Me knowing Daibo, no way he'd admit that. No way. Good point.

Starting point is 00:09:22 Yeah. He wouldn't admit it. Let me tell you something. Even if Kay K. Clubnick went out there and stuck to join up so bad, he got replaced by the third game. Dabo would not admit it. He, oh, I don't know. Listen, we chose the guy that we chose, and that's who we're going with. We rocked with him, and that's, you know, these decisions worked themselves out,

Starting point is 00:09:43 and you do what the best you got, what the information got. The information told me that he was going to be our quarterback in the future. And I'll never regret that. I don't ever look back at that. That's probably the best that you're going to get out of Davo, because, again, he's not the type of guy to say, you know what, I was really wrong there. I was incredibly wrong. Maybe we should have kept TJ. There's also a new quarterback in town at Louisville, and that's Tyler Shuck, who actually

Starting point is 00:10:06 had a very good spring game. We'll talk to Dalton Pence about that and so much more. You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ECC. And if you're a small business owner, my friends, I know you're keeping it locked to LinkedIn jobs. This is the spot to find qualified candidates. When you're hiring for your small business, quality professionals that are right for the role is what you need. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs has the tools to help you find the right professionals for your team faster and for free.

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Starting point is 00:11:05 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash Lockdown College. That's LinkedIn.com slash Lockdown College to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC. Your first listen and your first watch today were available free. wherever you get your podcast. We're available free on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:11:33 We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The Locked on NFL mock draft is available now. Find the ultimate six-episode series on Locked on NFL draft to hear who the local locked on experts are picking for every NFL franchise with live reactions from local college football experts and even the fantasy football angle. The Lockdown NFL mock draft available now on Lockdown NFL draft on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, again, Florida State was not the only spring game over the weekend.

Starting point is 00:12:00 Louisville Cardinals took the field on Friday night. We have Dalton Pence from Lockdown Louisville with us. Dalton, thank you so much for taking the time, sir. How are you? Doing good, doing good. How are you? I appreciate you having me on. It's our pleasure.

Starting point is 00:12:13 Thank you so much for being here. And let's start with the new quarterback in town, Tyler Shuck, who definitely passed the eye test for me on Friday night. What were your big takeaways? I think everyone wanted to see what's basically what you said is if he passed the eye test. You know, if Brom is endorsing a quarterback, chances are that quarterback's got something that a lot of fans are going to want to see, especially after Jack Plummer last season. A lot of fans appreciative of what he did, but still, it seemed like the offense was fairly limited with

Starting point is 00:12:46 what it could do. Tyler Shuck, rumored to be able to stretch the field. He made some pretty solid touch passes down the sideline, had a touchdown on the first play of the spring game. The main thing is, is people are wanting to see if he can stay healthy. So as much as we were encouraged, I would say, by his performance, it's a matter of availability down the road. I don't think anybody was really concerned with whether or not he could make some of the throws. It's now wanting to see if he can stay healthy while making those throws.

Starting point is 00:13:19 So question, you talk about Tiger Shub looking good. You know, everybody talks about Ashton Jolati coming back and a lot of those key pieces defensively being retained and whatnot, especially when you talk about having one of the best portal classes in a nation. What's the ceiling for this team? What does Carls Nation feel like, hey, this is where this team should be at the end of the year? Well, I think ceiling for a team last year that went 10 and 2,

Starting point is 00:13:45 they were, you know, 10 and 1 into their final game of the year with a schedule that it's not like an easy schedule, but it's one that you probably don't run away from. There's a couple trip-up games here and there, some solid games like at Notre Dame, at Clemsden, and then at Kentucky. But I think that the ceiling, what a lot of local fans want to see,

Starting point is 00:14:08 is college football level playoff contention. Obviously, with how ACC is sort of being interpreted around the country, there's not a lot of room for error. So I think if you go 10 and 2 and miss out on the playoff, there's not going to be a lot of people that are upset with that. but the rumor is that this team on paper is better than last year's team. You have another year of Jeff Rob.

Starting point is 00:14:31 So I think that what people want to see is a level right there in contention for that college football playoff. You know, stick with the spring game here for a moment before we go a little bit bigger picture. Who else in addition to Tyler Shuck stood out to you in a positive way? And were there anything that you didn't like about the spring game, any areas where you maybe feel like reinforcements could still be in order? Well, I think it's important that, you know, I've told fans time and time again, it's important not to get too high, not to get too well, not to read too much into anything, especially defensively where there are going to be some struggles because there are so many new players.

Starting point is 00:15:07 I thought Chris Bell was fantastic. He was a wide receiver that a lot of people are looking to take that next step. He had two touchdowns, scored on the first play of the game. But to play the devil's advocate to flip the switch, you also have to talk about, I think wide receiver could be the one position that they look to bring in another difference maker. Jacori Brooks and Colin Lacey still banged up at the moment. Brooks didn't even play. But due to depth, I look for that to be a place that they try to address.

Starting point is 00:15:38 They're over the limit at the moment. But it's hard to take much away from this man. I thought that there were some solid individual plays. Quincy Riley made a fantastic interception. But nothing that really shocked me like last year's offensive line. play, which I guess in itself is pretty good to see. Well, let me ask you this, okay, because, you know, we like to keep it on the field, but there are some things going on off the field that Louisville has drawn a lot of concern

Starting point is 00:16:05 in terms of players hitting the portal on the first day of the portal being open and potential starters doing that and all that, which, of course, is going to raise an eyebrow or two, which has led to some speculation about whether or not the NIL coffers over there or something to be concerned about. tell the people what's really going on and what you know as being somebody that's closer to the situation than Donald or myself. I think it's important to point out that

Starting point is 00:16:30 you are being starting level players from a number of good programs leave due to, I mean, it's free agency. There's tampering going on left and right everywhere. It's just more out in the open than it has been normally. Bags are getting tossed around. I mean, like ice cream trucks going down the street. I mean, it's on a hot summer day.

Starting point is 00:16:51 It's wild. From what I know and the people that I've talked to from an honest perspective, you can call me by as what you want. I think the whole narrative that Louisville is broke and that the checks are bouncing. I think it's a fabrication. From what I've been led to believe is that the NIL infrastructure that they have in place, not only for football, but for other schools, it's one of the top of the line in the country, top ten in the country overall.

Starting point is 00:17:18 It's also pretty funny because that report came out about Penny Boone, right? That's where all this started to circulate. Pete Naco's last night tweeted out, well, there's a possibility that Boone might be returning to Louisville. If that's the case, now I don't mean to do my best Brian Winhorst impression, but why is that? And I don't want to speak to the character of anyone or anything like that. that's not the, I'm not, you know, trying to slight any player. I say all that to say that something gets said and then rival fan bases run with it like a wildfire.

Starting point is 00:17:59 And unfortunately, reality or perception becomes reality. But I can tell you that no one players, every player is not going to be happy. There are going to be players that believe they deserve more and they don't get more. There's some that want to get more playing time. they don't get it. So long story short, are there NIL problems at Louisville? Not that I'm aware of. Yeah, that's why it was so important Kenton wanted, Kent and I wanted to hear your take on it. Like Kenton mentioned, you're a lot closer to it than we are. And I've also seen how those narratives can take on a life of their own, right? Because I cover it in Miami. I've seen every sort of negative NIL rumor out there when that's just, it's not reality.

Starting point is 00:18:42 I think people can see that based on the type of players that they've been bringing in and recruiting in the transfer portal. So I was curious to hear that on Louisville as well. And so, okay, for the rest of this transfer portal, Dalton, how active do you expect Jeff Brom and company to be? I mean, right now, there, I think, two or three spots over the limit. So they have to have some more players enter. I actually, it's funny, I have an episode releasing tonight, identifying the top three needs in the portal. And I literally say at the very beginning, it's all about depth. I don't think barring a starting level guy entering the portal, which who knows nowadays, because it does happen all over the country at this point in time.

Starting point is 00:19:22 A lot of it is based upon depth. I don't think Louisville stands put. I think that they probably make an addition or two, like I said, wide receivers a spot. I also think that they might address defensive line with Jermain Lollay entering the portal sort of unexpectedly. So if they're doing much, man, I don't expect it to be. huge. However, I was told from someone that I trust that with Penny Boone entering the portal, there might be an effort from Jeff Brom to utilize the NIL money designated for Boone and make a splash at wide receiver. So that is probably the one development that I would keep my eye on.

Starting point is 00:20:02 So in terms of the scholarship situation, because that's what I was hearing a lot of from Louisville fans in terms of like, there's nothing to see here. This is standard. protocol. There was a lot of, hey, we're over the scholarship limit anyway. We couldn't keep all these guys even if we wanted to. So in terms of entrances into the portal, what are you expecting? Like, what would you expect that number to look like before the closing of this next window? That's a very interesting question for me, Ken, it's just a matter of, is it going to be just players that are shown the door or is there going to be some other schools getting into the mix trying to prize some of these players like there's been rumors for the past two weeks about

Starting point is 00:20:49 tyler baron maybe entering the portal again if that happens that sort of changes the outlook of how you try to do things now all that at this point is speculation and hearsay but nobody thought penny boom was going to enter the portal so who knows man um for me i think the main places you could see not necessarily an exodus, but multiple players at the positions are the trenches. Louisville has sort of an excess of younger offensive linemen and defensive linemen that are sort of buried down the depth chart at this point and probably not happy with where they're at, you know, post-spring game depth charts.

Starting point is 00:21:27 So in terms of the exits, I think Louisville probably has anywhere from, I mean, they're three or so. I'd probably say five to six. is where I'm comfortable saying, but then again, you're just throwing a dart at the board. It depends on how they want to see it. I mean,

Starting point is 00:21:44 players want to go and play immediately, and some of these conversations are going to be tough to have for some of these guys that are looking to make an impact this year and just won't be able to because they're sort of in a crowded room. Really good stuff and great insight here. He's Dalton Pence.

Starting point is 00:21:59 You can check him out daily at Locked on Louisville. Dalton, thank you so much for the time and enjoy this football offseason. I know recruiting is going to ramp up fall camp, but if you can take a few minutes and just breathe, enjoy that time. We'll do. We'll try to.

Starting point is 00:22:14 Basketball isn't making things very easy in terms of breathing, but hey, I'd rather have it this way than any other way. So I appreciate you all having me on. Our pleasure. And yeah, guys, when we come back, we're going to talk about non-conference football schedules

Starting point is 00:22:27 and the ACC. Who's got the cupcakes and who doesn't? You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. You know, I've been having fun. winning money, having the time of my life with Van Duel. They've been such a great partner with us.

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Starting point is 00:23:32 He is Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. So, all right, Kenton, first and foremost, who would you say for the Wolfpack? I think this is actually a really easy answer. at their schedule. But who's their toughest non-conference game coming up in 2024? It's a no-brainer, but I want to hear it from you. Oh, you're muted. I couldn't hear it from you. Well, obviously, it's the Louisiana Tech. No, seriously, it's Tennessee, right? It's Tennessee. There isn't a doubt about it. I mean, Tennessee is, you know, they've got multiple guys that are projected to go very, very early in the drive. They got one of the best edges in the country.

Starting point is 00:24:11 They have a quarterback in Nico who is, he looks. phenomenal in the spring. There's no other words to describe it. He has, and he, you know, when people talk about him, they talk about him in terms like he's Mahome-esque. He has this huge rocket arm. He can extend plays.

Starting point is 00:24:28 He can make throws from these awkward release angles and put it on the dot. And, you know, that is by far NC State's toughest task because, again, when you give Tennessee and that defensive line, the ability to pin their ears back and go and they get in those speed packages, it's Katie

Starting point is 00:24:44 did's at the doorstep. Your quarterback is going to be, you know, having a long ice bath after the game. But I think that that's, that's by far the best team on the schedule. I don't want to say by any means that they're worthy because there are many questions in terms of, of their playmaking a little bit. And in terms of their discipline and those, that clutch gene that just hasn't really been there in Knoxville over the past few years. But there is, I mean, there's no bones about it. That's the best team on NC State schedule that's not an ACC team by a lot. Yeah, I'll say, I'll say for Miami, and I share this opinion with most, it's at Florida to open up the season, which kind of, and again, I don't think Florida are world beaters.

Starting point is 00:25:29 I think there are plenty of ACC schools that have tougher, you know, SEC teams on their schedules than Miami do, but Miami, as I know very well, can be a little bit of a schizophrenic football team at the swamp is a tough place to play. But it's really not that tough of a non-conference scheduled for the hurricanes this year. I think a tricky game non-conference is at South Florida. The USF snuck on a lot of people last year. They almost snuck up on Alabama. In fact, it was weird the way that game played out with rain and Milro benched and all that.

Starting point is 00:26:00 But, you know, USF, I'm not counting that as an automatic dub, nor am I Florida. But let's take a look. I was looking at this article, Kenton at 247 Sports.com, which took a look at every ACC team this year and identified their toughest non-conference game. Now, note, a lot of these Notre Dame is listed, which is technically a non-conference game, even though they're part of the ACC officially in every sport but football. A lot of ACC teams play Notre Dame because of that agreement. So for Stanford, Notre Dame, October 12th. For Boston College, they play at Mazoo, September 14th. That's not going to be a

Starting point is 00:26:37 picnic. That's for sure. For Virginia, they play at Notre Dame, November 16th. For Cal, they play at Auburn September 2nd. Auburn just barely squeaked by last year on the road. Cal's going to try, I guess, for revenge there. For Wake Forest, they play Ole Miss at home September 14th. Georgia Tech plays, of course,

Starting point is 00:26:57 against Georgia every single year for Pittsburgh, West Virginia, which is coming off a pretty good season. I think they're expected to be maybe one of like two or three favorites in the Big 12 this year, the backyard brawl. But, you know,

Starting point is 00:27:13 pit. I guess they don't play anybody notable in the SEC or anything like that this year. SMU, they've got TCU on the schedule September 21st. I'm going to tell you for for SMU that's your toughest non-conference game. This may not be as bad of an entry to power for.

Starting point is 00:27:29 Not at all. Not at all. So a few other ones that have, let's see, oh, how about this one, Kenton, for Syracuse? If Fran Brown doesn't eat this year in his first year at Syracuse, their toughest non-conference game is against UNLV. I mean, that schedule is an opportunity.

Starting point is 00:27:48 In the words of DJ Colley, that looks like an opportunity. I'm telling you right now, Fran Brown and this team could do something special because this is, objectively speaking, this is a terrible. It's a bad schedule. It's a bad schedule in terms of non-conference. Even in conference, it's not the craziest schedule we've ever seen in terms of like, oh my God, week after week is gauntlet, gauntlet. I'm not saying that this team can come out and dominate and they should be expected to be in the ACC championship or anything like that. But I look at this team with a similar ceiling to what I saw for Colorado and Dion last year, six, seven games. I see that as a very impossibility for them.

Starting point is 00:28:28 And I say that because Fran Brown did a phenomenal job of loading up in the portal, but you still have questions about what type of coaches he. He did an excellent job of getting really good players at the top of the market. but Syracuse has the legacy issue of death. They got lucky in bringing the Arronday Gadsden back, but you're asking who's the playmakers outside of him? You know, so for every, it's kind of that monkey's paw look and that everything that's good, there's also something that leaves are going,

Starting point is 00:28:59 I'm not necessarily sure, but Syracuse, for sure. That schedule is one of them that you look at and say, yeah, you're going to be all right. You got to be all right if you can do it. How about this for a non-conference schedule? So they identify for the Duke Blue Devils. Their toughest non-conference game this year is at Northwestern. Opportunity for Manny Diaz Knox, because, you know,

Starting point is 00:29:24 we were talking a little bit before the show about Northwestern, who probably, you know, in terms of record, punched above their weight last season. Yeah. You know, I'm going to tell you, I think that their record was greatly inflated last year because they played in the worst. I think the Big Ten West was one of the worst divisions in all the college football last year.

Starting point is 00:29:43 And especially all of the powerboard. I do not say that lightly. I don't think that they had any team that belonged near the Big Ten championship. And with all due respect, I know that they're expanding out now and they've got a bunch of good teams. Thank God that they did because, you know, what would that West look like with still having the exact same teams they had before? Now, with that being said, this is still a hell of an opportunity for Duke. because Duke lost their starting quarterback. They lost all-conference defensive tackle,

Starting point is 00:30:12 Duane Carter. They lost fellow all-conference guy in the Peebles as well, who was another defensive tackle. He's still in the ACC, just going over to Virginia Tech. They lost plenty. They lost plenty of very talented guys. Of course, Graham Barton and company as well,

Starting point is 00:30:28 they suffered massive losses on the offensive line with Monk and Barton, both leaving as well. So you're not looking at a team that is coming in with a set nucleus of, hey, these are all guys that have been all world for us for some time. But that's the reality of Duke. You know, that's just with all the respect to all. That's the reality of Duke football. When you're good for a sustained period of time,

Starting point is 00:30:50 those coaches are going to jet off to greener pastures. And so you're looking at what you're looking at with Duke. But like you said, this is a heck of an opportunity because I think Northwestern is extremely needable. I think they were one of the most overrated stewards in all of college football last year because everybody's like, oh, they got. that, you know, with all the controversy and having to get rid of Pat Fitzgerald towards the end of the offseason last year, for them to still win six games, it's a miracle. It's amazing.

Starting point is 00:31:18 And it's like, no, it's a terrible schedule. It's a very bad division in a conference that outside of three teams is, I'm sorry. I think that the Big Ten, again, before the expansion, outside of Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State, I really didn't see it. So all in all, I think that that's a great opportunity for Duke. I really and truly do many DS. Don't drop the ball there, brother, because you got a shot. Absolutely. So the other ones we got for Virginia Tech, September 21st, they host Rutgers.

Starting point is 00:31:51 I can't say anything about Rutgers because they beat Miami in the bowl game. They got some talent there. They're very good in the trenches, which is legitimate. That's not a bad team. And Kyle Munungai is back. Their top running back, who's just an absolute beast. North Carolina, they play at Minnesota, August 29th. Thankfully, they play in Minnesota before the weather hits full Minnesota.

Starting point is 00:32:14 Absolutely. For Louisville. Yeah, go ahead. I'm going to tell you this about those two games. Styles make fights. And while I think that, while I think that Virginia Tech is going to be a lot better than the fighting Greg Shiano's up there, Greg Shiano knows how to coach up the trenches. If you don't know nothing else.

Starting point is 00:32:33 Yeah. If you don't know nothing else, he's going to coach them to the trenches. And what have I continuously harped on being Virginia Tech's weakness that I'm deeply concerned about? They're lightning behind in the trenches. They're lightened up. They got playmakers. They got guys that can penetrate, get up the field, run every stunt you can imagine, you know, do all those types of things. There comes a time where you got to sit out and you got to fight that platform block where two guys are not coming off you until you bend the knee.

Starting point is 00:32:58 And that's going to be hard to do for a group of defensive tackles that features one 300 pounds. So while Virginia Tech is the better team, that is a game to watch out for. And I'll tell you what, UNC up in Minnesota, you know, PJ Fleck in that boat, they need new oars because they ain't rowing right. So Mac Brown, you know, that's a way. There's a way for you to get yourself a good powerful win there. Yeah, and for Louisville, it was a game that Dalton mentioned at Notre Dame September 28th for NC State. Of course, Kenton was correct home against Tennessee on September. Or is it home?

Starting point is 00:33:32 Or is it, oh, I guess it's in, it's in Charlotte. So it's not home. It's not technically home, you know. It's a neutral site, right? Yeah, neutral side. Neutral side. Like how Georgia always plays teams in the, what is it? What's the stadium in Atlanta?

Starting point is 00:33:46 The Mercedes Ben Stadium, I believe. Yeah, the Mercedes-Benz dome. Yeah, they play teams in the Mercedes-Benz dome. It's a neutral site. You know, this is that type of neutral site. You know what can we say? You know, all right, you got it. Well, it's great to play there because you can never get Chick-fil-A at Falcons games on Sundays,

Starting point is 00:34:02 but it's great to be there for a Saturday night or a Monday night college football game because that in stadium Chick-fil-A is wide open. Oh, absolutely. That is a beautiful site. For Clemson, they, of course, open up the season against Georgia, which is a tough game.

Starting point is 00:34:17 And for Florida State at Notre Dame, November 9th, they consider that to be the toughest non-conference game. Well, it's always a pleasure to be with you guys. Huge thank you to Dalton Pence for joining us talking some Louisville, setting the record straight. Kenton Gibbs, my dude, follow him on. X at TGIF underscore Kenton.

Starting point is 00:34:35 You can follow me at Alex Dono. And we will talk to you guys next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

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