Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - MALZAHN BOMBSHELL: Florida State Seminoles Scramble After Early Retirement, What Happens NEXT?

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Florida State Seminoles face major coaching upheaval as offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn announces a surprise retirement, leaving fans and analysts questioning the team’s offensive future. Can new ...OC Tim Harris Jr. and head coach Mike Norvell restore stability and innovation, or will lingering internal conflicts and roster concerns derail their ACC campaign? Alex Donno, Kenton Gibbs, and Brian Smith debate the timing of Malzahn’s exit, its impact on recruiting, and the emerging leadership challenges within Florida State’s defensive lineup.Exclusive insights highlight the offensive shakeup at FSU, predictions for how Tim Harris Jr. might revamp Florida State’s passing attack, and candid assessments of the 2026 ACC race. Who boasts the better offense: Miami Hurricanes or NC State Wolfpack? Hear detailed breakdowns covering Darien Mensa’s Heisman potential, Miami’s receiving corps depth, and NC State’s returning firepower. Tune in for strategic analysis and bold questions as ACC power rankings shift heading into the new season.Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   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 LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.MazdaLike our players, we’re driven by the details. Because highlights make the reel. What it takes to get there makes it count.There’s more to a Mazda. Because there’s more to you.Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today.  IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuelIf you’re a new customer, bet just $5 and get $200 in Bonus Bets if you win. Make it count — because after the Super Bowl, the season is over. Last call for football on FanDuel, an Official Sportsbook Partner of Super Bowl Sixty. 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 It's February, and Florida State Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn woke up on a Monday morning. It said, that's it. I'm retiring. Here's what happens next. You are Locked-on ACCC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the Everydayers, and thank you so much for making Locked-on-ACC your first listen. We're available free wherever you get your podcast.
Starting point is 00:00:34 We're free on YouTube. We're part of the number one Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive linemen and co-host of Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono, host of Lockdown-Kane's. And this episode is brought to you by Mazda. We put that same drive into every detail. Wins define the moment, putting in the work, that defines you. Stay tuned for highlights in this week's moving the game forward.
Starting point is 00:00:58 There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. On this loaded episode, we'll talk ACC Transfer Portal. We'll talk what's next for Florida State after. He could have decided to retire like two months ago. Like Gus Malzond on February 2nd retires as offensive coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles. Kenton, you had a theory as to why Gus Malzon decided today was the day to hang it up. You know, I must say he must have saw Ashton Davis throw the ball or at Daniels throw the ball. And you know how offensive coordinators do that lean where they try to like get the ball as if they can wield the ball to be.
Starting point is 00:01:33 back. He found itself in a position where his hip was thrown out of place, and he just, oh, screw it. I'm too old for this. I'm too old for this. I can't do it anymore and decided to cut out because this is probably the worst timing of all to retire for him. Like you said, it could have been two months ago. It could have been after last season, immediately after last season. The moment the last play went off, he could have said, you know what, I think that I've given the game all I can. It's time for me to go be with my family. and all that, but to wait until after recruiting, after the portal closes, after, you know, all of these things to retire, I mean, ugh, what nasty timing. Yuck. Yeah, and now Florida State does
Starting point is 00:02:18 have a new OC and they have a plan for play calling. But before we get to all of that with our next guest is, by the way, Brian Smith from Lockdown Seminoles and from Lockdowns, the Portal podcast, joins us. First and foremost, Brian, like this, this certainly. caught me off guard when I saw the news this morning, but I'm not as close to it as you are. Were there rumblings about Gus Malzon possibly stepping away before this happened? Yes. Yes, there were. I've heard that there weren't exactly congruent thoughts between him and Norval about the offense. That's down the pipeline. It's beyond my take. I'm not that close to it, but that wouldn't surprise me because Malzahn's coach for over 30 years. And Norval has been a
Starting point is 00:03:03 successful play cuts. The one thing, for the most part, you can't really say anything bad about him at Florida State. They've got some pretty good offenses. So them bumping heads probably wouldn't be shocking. And at the end of your career, you're probably not going to take orders real well. That's why when he took the OC job, I was like, one, maybe two years. I was leaning towards two, so I was off, but I knew he wouldn't be there long. But Kent said it is precarious timing in certain ways, but I'll get into my theory on that as well here a minute. You know, when we look at everything that's happened with this situation, do you think that this is a harbinger of just those disagreements between two big, you know, big personalities, play callers, guys who I got my play sheet, you got yours. Was it just a function of that?
Starting point is 00:03:54 Or was it also a function of the dysfunction that's running rampant through the Florida State program right now in terms of like from top to bottom, everything that you look at almost everything that you look at, almost everything. every point, there seems to be some type of disagreement or some type of conflicting reports from inside sources and all those things. What do you think this was? It was a culmination of a multitude of things in your opinion here. I think it's a multitude. I think, look, dysfunction for a guy like Malzan, and I covered UCF when he was there and Tim Harris. He's very much everything's got a box. He does the same way every day, every week to press, everything is got a box, how he answers questions, his body, everything. So for it to be dysfunctional,
Starting point is 00:04:36 probably for Gus Mileson was hard, like really hard. Not that it's great for anybody, but this is a guy that he was out of his, out of his shell. And to that end, he wasn't going to be able to make all the calls to fix it again. Remember, he'd been to play caller
Starting point is 00:04:51 and head coach for a very long time. So I would imagine that was pretty rough. Now, the final piece of that's what I alluded to a minute ago. Tim Harris was with Goh, Gus at UCF. He was all, he's also, he's a Miami grad. Ironically, he's a track guy.
Starting point is 00:05:08 His dad's Ice Harris, famous high school coach in the city of Miami. They won state championships at Booker T. Washington. Tim Jr. took over one. He's come up the ladder. Coached at Miami, coached at UCF. Now he's in Florida State. He's been very successful, but this is his first chance. And I think Gus wanted him to get a chance.
Starting point is 00:05:25 That's his guy. So I think that's part of the time. That's just my opinion. I'm going to go with it. I'm not even going to look into it. Tim's a great guy. Hope he has a great opportunity. He's coached running backs.
Starting point is 00:05:40 He's coached receivers. I already said this on Locked on Seminoles. I expect there to be a definitive change in Florida State's passing attack, a little more traditional in that regard. Yeah. And on that, you know, I always felt like sort of the gimmicky nature of a Gus offense caught up with him a little bit. And to me, it's like it's always most effective.
Starting point is 00:06:01 at the very beginning of seasons and the very beginning of games, and then it gets figured out a little bit. I think we all saw what happened against Alabama to start the season. That was the peak, right? And everything after that was the valley, right? So was that the feeling that maybe Gus's, I'm going to say, you know, variety or innovation, it just doesn't hold up in this era of football the same way it used to. I couldn't agree more.
Starting point is 00:06:28 And on top of that, like Tommy Castellanis was pretty good. especially in the Alabama game. He was electric. But in game two or three, he got banged up, and this is the common denominator in Gus's offense. If you run counter, draw, power, sweep, buck sweep, et cetera, with the quarterback, guess what? Eventually, he's going to take some shots in his throwing motion and his confidence and everything else is going to be just okay. He wasn't the same player, especially games like seven through 12, and their passing game suffered for it. if you have a quarterback not taking as many hits, he's probably going to be more consistent.
Starting point is 00:07:03 And Deuce Robinson still had over a thousand yards in that offense. So you got to give him some credit. Mackay Danzy's a special talent. Like that guy's one of the fastest humans on planet earth. They'll be better if they just throw the ball down the field, whether it's Ashton and Daniels, Malachi, Marshall, whoever ends up being the quarterback. But that offense was weird.
Starting point is 00:07:22 And back into the season, they didn't have any answers on third downs. They looked awkward a lot of the time. I could not agree with Mr. Dono anymore. So let me ask for this. We're going to have an entire segment about what's next for FSU and Harris and how does that work out. But what's next for Mileson? Do you think this is truly the end of the line with him for coaching? Or do you think this is just the end of the line at Florida State?
Starting point is 00:07:46 And it's a, I wasn't retired. I was just real tired to get my ass kick in Tallahassee. Which do you think it is? I think it's retirement. He might play around with some. things and go do clinics and some high school stuff, this and that. But he's got a lot of family stuff going on. He's got grandkids, et cetera. He's got houses in multiple places. He's a very religious man. I know he's very devoted to his faith. So he's got plenty to keep him busy.
Starting point is 00:08:12 Grandkids in particular. I mean, he's got more money and knows what to do with now. So he might as well spend it. I would imagine that he'll have fun. But he'll like, is he going to be on SEC network or something like that 100%. ACC network, whatever. Absolutely. The guy likes to talk football. He doesn't know anything else and he doesn't sit still very well. You'll be around it. I just don't know exactly
Starting point is 00:08:36 in what capacity. And yeah, when we come back, we'll talk about what happens next with Florida State because even though the timing is not ideal, FSU has their plan. They've got their new OC but also Mike Norvell becomes instrumental in that offense as well. You want to keep it locked right here.
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Starting point is 00:10:25 As Kenton and I are joined here by Brian Smith from Lockdown Seminels. All right, so Brian, you mentioned it. Tim Harris, Jr., who you and I both know very well, because you covered him both at UCF and Miami. I covered him at Miami. I think I even went to school with him when he was a track star back in the day at the U, or I went near near when he was at Miami. And, of course, his father is a South Florida legend.
Starting point is 00:10:49 And, yeah, Tim Harris, he gets to be the OC at Florida State, but I hear it's going to be Mike Norvell calling the plays again. So how do you expect that dynamic to work out? Tim has coached running backs and he has coached wide receivers. I would anticipate that he'll be like he's been past game coordinator. I really don't think that will change much. I just think that some of the language in the offense and all that will probably stay same. But what they're pulling out of it, what they're calling,
Starting point is 00:11:18 I just don't think there'll be as much quarterback running. There'll be some because that's still part of Norvell's bag as well. But I think they'll pull back on that. And again, I noted earlier, Duce Robinson's on one side, Mackay Danzy's on the other. How many teams have two receivers with that much physical talent starting? Is there five teams at college football? Maybe.
Starting point is 00:11:41 But, you know, they're not a deep wide receiver unit, but that one two is as good as it's going to get. Throw the ball. So at least this year, I think they'll throw it. And after both will probably be gone after this thing. I expect Danzy to turn pro. Then you've got Cromo who's a sophomore running back. who's a lead recruit everybody wanted.
Starting point is 00:11:58 They'll probably run the ball more. I think there'll be more balanced to their talent. But the Norvell Harris thing is interesting. At some point, you want to call plays, not just be the coordinator. As a rule, and this is where coaches get frustrated, you almost have to go back down, meaning G6 or I'm not going to name schools, but you know who they are. And P4 that most coaches don't want to be at because it's harder to get players. you'll be the play caller there.
Starting point is 00:12:28 Does Tim really want to be a head coach? Is he just happy to be in a court? I don't know. I've never asked him that, but I would assume that he would like to be a head coach one day. Call him plays matters. So I'm not sure how that dynamic's going to work. I can only guess he's going to have a lot of say in the game plan.
Starting point is 00:12:44 But Norval is probably going to be the play caller until he's done at FSU. That would be my guess. So less than another year then. Very possible. If something doesn't change defensively, It's not going to, it's like their offense should be good this year, but their defense lost the while and they didn't spend enough in the portal. So you couldn't be right.
Starting point is 00:13:02 See, and Dono is getting ahead of me here because this, that was going to be my next question. Do does this change? Does Malzahn leaving and kind of clearing away for Norville to return to his original role and all those things? Do you think that that at all changes or helps the outlook for Florida state season next year? You know, it sounded like you. express some doubts about how quarterback's bodies could hold up in a Mauson system, because there's only one Cam Noot.
Starting point is 00:13:31 There's one guy that can take those types of hits and still be throwing in game 12 like he did game one. So with that being said, does this improve their outlook to you? Or are you like, ah, this is a bucket in the drop. They got too many problems. Say goodbye to Norville and company. What do you think about the season outlook after this announcement? if they just run the Malzon offense with who they have at quarterback, I think they're in trouble.
Starting point is 00:13:59 If they adjust, and I think they will, they at least have a chance. But again, here's the big question. What's the number one predictor of who wins games? Hint, it has a lot to do with what Las Vegas does. It's this thing called the injury report. Florida State's front seven is not where it needs to be depth-wise. You're not in control of that. game seven through 12 are why recruiting matter.
Starting point is 00:14:23 They're why the portal matters. Florida State came up a little short on both. They weren't terrible in either regard. They got 23 portal players. Pretty good class. But they're D-line, their linebacker group, like, there's concern. They have any injuries there. It's not going to matter if they add Jerry Rice to the wide receiver court.
Starting point is 00:14:43 So it's, you know, circa 1988. Like they just, they don't have enough defensive players. So they, I said it on my show yesterday, today. Like, they may have to win some shootouts, 35, 31. And it's still a dub. But what is Florida State known for? Pass rushers, annihilating you on defense. Oh, by the way, they've had a couple of corners in their day.
Starting point is 00:15:07 Yeah, just a couple. Some good ones. They don't really, I mean, they've got Javrio Rawls coming back. He's a really good player, but they're good. Other teams, oh, Jibril's over here. Well, and everybody else. You know what I mean? Like you just avoid because they don't have a pure pass rush.
Starting point is 00:15:23 Like I don't even know who their edge rush was going to be. You need like three of them. Who's number one? So the Norbel thing, he better be on absolute point because he's pointing it himself. He's the head coach anyway, but as the play caller too, and you allow this to happen on defense with the offseason, he better be an A plus play caller this fall or he'll be done. So, yeah, it could easily be four and eight, five, and seven. before this higher. I kind of thought that would be the case, but I'm hoping at least that they get the ball to do some McI and it opens up the middle of the field and they can do some different things. And they can win some close games. But I think like high watermark is probably eight games.
Starting point is 00:16:04 And that's with winning like three games that are real close, et cetera. And they got Bama on the road. They've got Miami. It doesn't even matter. They can play Bama or Miami in Norville's backyard. It won't matter. So it's, you know, they're in trouble unless everything's just right. have the injuries and the play call. It could be a tough year. What's the pulse of the fan base been like? Because I get a sense there's a lot of gloom and doom and just people kind of maybe feeling like you got to wait this year out and then hopefully you can move on from Mike. But I mean, at this, so is that the, am I characterizing that correctly, Brian, or people looking at this as kind of a lame duck year or is the fan base taking a different approach? Until today, it was kind of like a power. keg on the daily because it was just a different thing to complain about people recruiting this.
Starting point is 00:16:57 We didn't get in a portal. Like everything that they said I'd been saying on my show. And it's a long off season. As you know, Alex, I've run out of things already. We're early February. Okay. We've got a little ways until the first game. So I was kind of nervous, but this news is good for me.
Starting point is 00:17:12 Just to have something to talk about that's positive. And the result of this has been pretty happy. Most people didn't like Milesons offense. Okay. So let's ask me that question in a week or two when I come back on. I'm curious because you've got to have the press conference. We're going to ask Norval some direct questions about how much is Tim going to do this, that, and the other, blah, blah, who's going to be the replacement?
Starting point is 00:17:33 Because while Tim takes his job, talking about Malzon, somebody's got to come on to this. Who do they hire? Yeah. And I, this is so sudden, I honestly haven't even looked into that yet. But there's been some questions about what they can get, what they're willing to spend. And there's a lot of questions about Florida State. So it could go south really quick. Trust me.
Starting point is 00:17:54 I've seen it happen. Well, speaking of questions, go ahead, Kenton. Sorry to cut you off. You got something. Oh, you're fine. You're fine. I was just going to say, you said that Florida State came up just a tad short in both the portal and in high school recruiting.
Starting point is 00:18:09 Do you think that they've gotten enough impact players to kind of steady the ship? Or do they have enough returning leadership to steady the ship through this change? which, you know, it may not be as big of a change because your new OC was already in the meeting rooms and all that good stuff. But what does that look like for you in terms of, you know, the job that they've done in recruiting, the job they've done in title retention, the job they've done in the portal, is it enough to where you would say the players, they built up resilient enough players to kind of work through this and keep it pushing? Or are you a little bit concerned on the player end of it? I would split that offense and defense. Ashton Daniels, I've been a real. around him. Great dude. Absolutely great guy. Deuce Robinson, been around him. Couldn't ask for, like, he's the kind of guy you want your son to hang around. So those kinds of things will help your
Starting point is 00:18:58 program, but here's the issue. Linebacker was a massive problem last year. They lost some guys. They took a couple of decent guys. They're kind of journeymen. They've got no depth. Teams are going to just pick on them remote, like, by the way, Malachi Tony against Florida State's receiver, or DBEs, and especially linebackers next year, take Malachi Tony. I'm going for 150 right now. That's my over under on his yardage next year at the Forest Day. It's going to be awful. They don't have a pass rusher, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:19:28 When something goes wrong, fall camp or early season, like the game three, they play Bama after they play SMU. If they start one and two and the fingers start, and if they do, it'll probably be a defensive issue. Again, I think they'll score. Who's going to be the defensive leader? remember, Jabriel Rawls was the guy that went on social media
Starting point is 00:19:49 complaining and stuff like that. Like there are some issues here. There are some issues here. Or one of the debate, one of them, but they didn't get enough guys. I could see some finger pointing. It's ridiculous,
Starting point is 00:20:06 but welcome to college football in 2006. And again, offense, I think they'll be okay. But defensively, like there's still so many questions because they didn't spend enough. They just didn't. So I have a lot of concern there.
Starting point is 00:20:21 Well, coming up next, I want to bring this discussion on the air because off the year before the show, Brian rolled a live hand grenade right between me and Kenton on a debate, which I think is a three second long debate on who has the better offense, Miami or NC State. I mean, you're going to have the shortest debate in history coming your way next right here on this brand new episode of Lockdowne ACC. You want to keep it locked. My friends, this is Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who show there's more to the score than what's on the screen.
Starting point is 00:20:56 And yeah, you know who's moving the game forward? I know you've had some of these over the years, but a super talented true freshman for the Duke Blue Devils on the court, Cameron Boozer, who drops another 24-point game and a win against Virginia Tech over the weekend. He averages 23 and a half points on the season, 24 and 8 in that Blue Devils win. Boozer is cleaning up ACC Rookie of the Year awards and ACC Player of the Week awards, and he has been absolutely moving the game forward.
Starting point is 00:21:25 And it reminds us of what it really takes to raise the bar. It's the extra work off the court, dialing in in every detail, giving it the extra fire, that grit and the I never quit. We put the same passion into every model. Highlights make the real. What it took to get there makes it count. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. Thank you so much for making locked on ACC your first listen.
Starting point is 00:21:50 I might as well just hand the floor to Brian and Kenton because when Brian asked us, like I was trying to keep a straight face when he's like, who's going to have the better offense in 2026 Miami or NC State? And it's like, I mean, well, what else does Miami have to do to get Brian's respect? You add Dary and Mensa,
Starting point is 00:22:11 who threw for almost 4,000 yards, 34 touchdowns, and six interceptions at Duke. And now you give him the receiving core at Miami. We let him bring his, his top receiver with him in Cooper Barcate, who will not even be the best receiver at Miami. You got Malachi Tony in that receiving court. You add Van Dreyfus Jacobs and Cam Vaughn to that receiving court. You got the deepest running back room in the nation with Mark Fletcher back to go with Marty Brown,
Starting point is 00:22:37 Gerard Pringle. Like, I don't even know if Jordan Lyle's going to get five carries this year, but he decided to come back. Yeah, the offensive line, that's the one area where you have to wait and see with four new starters. But you're telling me a Mario Cristobal Alex Mirabal offensive line won't be really, really good. I mean, listen, NC State has a nice little offense, Kenton. And you're going to score some points this year. But Miami is going to have to take their foot off the gas to avoid scoring 50 on some of these teams,
Starting point is 00:23:08 because then you're going to get allegations of running up to score and poor sportsmanship. Like Miami's going to take pity on some of the teams on the schedule this year. It sounds good in theory. sounds great in theory. And I wish we could have got Smitty to go in first because Donald had laid out the whole repertoire of his offense down to their birth certificates and blood types. So, no, we have all this and all that. But you know what's so interesting to me, Smitty? On a Mario Cristobar coach team, he's did a one-liner on the offensive line. Meanwhile, we've got freshman All-American Spike Soles coming back. We've got Teague Anderson who finished playing
Starting point is 00:23:46 the season at tackle at an extremely high level. It was a little rocky to start. But by the end of the season, the boy was a bona fide stud. We got Duke. Let me tell you something, okay? While people may say, oh, you lost Hollywood smothers,
Starting point is 00:24:00 and what are you going to do with just Duke in the back field? How are you going to make anything safe with him? He rushed for 200 yards the game that Hollywood was out. 200 of them things in a top 10 upset. And here's the most interesting thing. Here's the most interesting thing, okay? in statistically speaking, getting a quarterback out of the portal in year one, statistically speaking, it does not work well for teams.
Starting point is 00:24:26 Miami believes they found the key because they did it well with Cam Ward. They did it well with Carson Beck. But I'm telling you, three times is the charm. That luck is going to run out. And Darien Minza, we've seen them when he transfers to a new school. Those first three or four games, hello everyone. I'm a wonderful baker. I've got a turnover for you.
Starting point is 00:24:48 I've got a turnover for you. Would you like some of my mince of turnovers? They're the best type of turnover. C.J. Bailey, in year three as the starter at NC State, combined with all the weapons that he has, including a tight-end room that while they lost a ton of production last year, was graded out as the top producing tight-in room in the nation by score amongst three different guys now,
Starting point is 00:25:13 and you're bringing in the likes of 6-6-250, Vanderblu. You're bringing in a Hunter province from a FCS champion in North Dakota State, I believe. You're bringing in multiple guys that can do it well on top of what you're bringing back in terms of Keenan Jackson, the guy that I believe should have been wide receiver won for a lot of last year. And you're telling me that it's no doubt that Miami's going to be better. Miami was 13 yards better this year. And get this, point one points better.
Starting point is 00:25:44 But you're telling me, oh, NC State's got a nice little offense. A nice little offense. Miami did that last year with an excellent game manager at quarterback. This time around, you've got a guy who's going to open. Hold on. You know what?
Starting point is 00:26:02 I'll let Brian Smith settle it. I rest my case. You're muted. You're muted. You're muted. The big Miami lobby is mute here. See, that's the problem. Mesa is my preseason pick to win the Heisman, but I think that he will come out of a lot of games. And I also think that the probable Cristobal philosophy of sit on the ball will play into this.
Starting point is 00:26:29 If they were just open the whole time, they could probably score 40. That's just not who Mario is. They proved it this year. You know, it's just that's not who he is. And by the way, your intro, Dono, on the don't run up the score. thing. The throw to Malachi at the end of the Pittsburgh game is hilarious if you want to talk about Well, yeah, but they were trying to secure a playoff spot. Like early in the season, they were showing mercy. But then like when all of a sudden it's like, oh, man, we got to score more points than Notre Dame does every week.
Starting point is 00:26:58 That changed the philosophy a little bit. Yeah, but anyway, they'll score pretty well, but that's never going to be their thing. I don't know how you guys should do the bad, but if it's just points per game, I think NC State might be ahead of them. Doesn't mean they're better. out of pity they'll be ahead yeah yeah there we go out of pity now is pity how about this how about we look at three categories all right okay points per game yards per game and i'll let you pick the third that you want to measure out don't know and we'll go from there by those three based two out of three wins yeah that'd be okay there we go what would be the third then because points per game yards per game obvious right um i don't know what what what would be a good third stat brian like what will be
Starting point is 00:27:41 another good one. I think that passing yards per game would be awesome because you got two NFL four back. Okay. Okay. I'll take it. I'll take it. And loser, loser wears the other's gear for a week straight on this show. How about that? I'm down with that. How about it? Hey,
Starting point is 00:27:57 don't worry about it. I'll send you to care package myself. I'm still plugged in with the equipment room over at NC State, even though my boy smoke retired. I'm still plugged in over there. You're probably not going to have to worry about it, but I will look into the best way to get you some Miami gear.
Starting point is 00:28:13 Don't worry about it, Donald. Don't worry about it. We're going to settle this thing on the field like gentlemen and go on from there. All right. You got a nice little offense up there in Raleigh. It's, uh, may the best offense win. Listen, Miami, Miami West got your wants. Now it's time for Miami North to get a piece.
Starting point is 00:28:32 You know what I mean? You guys are like Miami North now with all you have up there. South Floridians and Miami Tran. You know, you know who's going to end up. costing me, like, Jojo Trader's going to go off for 1,200 yards this year, just to spite me. Listen, I'd love it. I'd love that. I'd love nothing more.
Starting point is 00:28:49 I'd love nothing more to 1,200 of Jojo. Did they play each other next season? No, no. No. No, no. No, I would have loved that. That would make it extra interesting. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:58 Well, maybe it's ACC title game. I could see that because, honestly, who's, I mean, Miami's the favorite to win the league by, landslide. Who's number two? I don't think there is a number two. I mean, yeah, we've been trying to have that conversation so far. And it's tough to come up. It might just be Clemson by default, even though they've, you know, they've fallen off a little bit.
Starting point is 00:29:19 But I don't know. I had a conversation with a Clemson coach recently and like, they don't have any other. The quarterback's going to be. Like, that's never good. Yeah. So, you know, maybe it works out for them because this happens. It's college football. But Louisville's got a new quarterback.
Starting point is 00:29:36 Clemson's got a new quarterback, Florida State. I mean, they got all kinds of newness. Georgia Tech lost their coordinator. Yeah. Lost their quarterback. Syracuse, who knows if Angelie's going to be like, the league is in complete flux. Virginia Tech, Virginia lost their quarterback.
Starting point is 00:29:54 Boston College is terrible. Oh, yeah. Pittsburgh does have their, Pittsburgh might be my number two just because the quarterback's pretty good, but that's not saying much for the ACC right now. No, it's not. So maybe it will be Miami versus NC State. And we appreciate Brian Smith for bringing it with us, host of the portal and host of Lockdown Seminels.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Of course, Kenton Gibbs, you can find him at TGIF underscore Kenton on X and at Lockdown Wolfpack. Follow me at Alex Dono and on Lockdown Canes. We'll talk to everybody next time. We got a spicy bet going into the next season right here on this brand new episode of LockdowneACC. We are part of the number one Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

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