Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - MISERY: Is Mike Norvell's time at Florida State FINALLY nearing an end?

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

The Florida State Seminoles' struggles continued on Labor Day Night as they dropped a 27-24 contest to SMU, despite the Mustangs turning the ball over four times. The loss drops FSU to 3-14 in its last 17 ACC games and raises questions about when the university will move on from embattled head coach Mike Norvell. Julian Council and Kenton Gibbs discussed Tallahassee's miserable state of affairs. Coming off a 51-10 beatdown at the hands of LSU, Dabo Swinney was testy with a reporter at his Tuesday afternoon press conference. Is this just the latest sign that Dabo is out of touch with the reality of college football in 2026? Plus, Julian and Kenton provide their takeaways from Week 1 in the ACC.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!KALSHIFor a limited time, Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10.SupplyHouseVisit https://SupplyHouse.com/TM to learn more about becoming a Trade Master.  Use promo code S H Five College for five percent off your first order.  SupplyHouse. Real people. Real service.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.SquareGet up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/COLLEGE ! #squarepodLARINECOGive Larine a try. Right now, Larine Co is offering our listeners up to 50% off at https://BUYLARINE.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGE.OdooGreat organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.5-Hour ENERGYBring on the sweetness with Cotton Candy 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots—available online now at https:/5hourENERGY.com or on Amazon.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake this Your Most Rewarding Season Ever with FanDuel. Get $350 in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days.  Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMFANDUEL 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.

You know, I look at Mike Norvell on a sideline on Monday night, and I wonder how much longer can this man do this? Let's talk about it right here on Locked on 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. Welcome in to another edition of the Lockdown ACC podcast. I am Julian Counsel, and he is former NC State Football Letterman, Kenton Gibbs. And today's episode of Lockdown ACC is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase.

Kenton, I want to get your thoughts on week one in the ACC. And we will do that to close out today's show. But Davo is back to belittling reporters, which means that Clemson, clearly, things aren't going well down there for Little Clemson. If Davo is doing this already heading into week two. But let's go. back and discuss what happened on Monday night as SMU gets a 27 to 24 win on the road in Tallahassee after an hour and 40 minute delayed because of a power outage there at Doke Campbell Stadium. There's a lot of symbolism in that before state, considering how things have played out from Mike Norvell in an old in a recent time. But let's focus on the winner first before discussing the state of affairs for the Seminoles. Your overall thoughts on the

dominant yet sloppy gross win for SMU on Monday night. I think this was a game that SMU slept walk through. I really and truly do. I mean, all the turnovers they had and the inability to stop to run, those are two things that you cannot go through the season in this way. You just can't. You cannot tell yourself, hey, we're going to lose the turnover margin and we're going to allow teams to rush for 200 yards.

and will be okay. That is a losing recipe 99.999-9999-9-9-9 times. That's the, you know, and obviously I'm being very colloquial there, but the reality is I remember when I play for NC State, and they used to tell us, hey, if you do these things, it puts you in this percentile to win, right? Like, that's just what analytics does. Every team has analytics people to tell you,

if you can accomplish this, you will be at this percentile to win. And both being, what were they, plus three in the turnover margin or? Plus four, Florida State was. Plus four puts you in the above 95 percentile everybody. Like that is a statistical fact. If you are plus four, 95% of time, you will win that football game. How many yards they rush for, Julian?

204 yards, 4.5 yards per carry. 200 yards, five a carry in any other world. This is, I have to give credit to SMU. Kevin Jennings is who I thought he was. I told everybody all offseason, he to me, is perfectly in the middle of that win because of tier. And he made some throws that you're like, that's a pro throw. Stepping into pressure, delivering one right, you know, it was a big window. I'm not going to lie and say like there was airtight coverage.

But that passed to Yannick, that the long one that, that, you know, got him a lead there. That was a pass that I'm like. That's not, you know, you can't name 30 quarterbacks in college that, no, I'm about to get obliterated. And I got to make this pass and they make it happen. And also, I would want to say that, you know, people treated Kevin Jennings weapons as like the island of misfit toys. But those guys stepped up in a major way. Yeah. I mean, every time you saw them, you know, you can say what you want about Tony White's aggression and all that good stuff and how maybe he was overaggressive at times.

But the reality is, S&M. SMU's guys had to break tackles in order to make big plays out of what should have been a five, six yard game. And they did time and time and time again. So SMU has some things that they definitively have to clean up. But this game to me is a prime example of winners win and losers lose. Winners find a way, even when it's not pretty, even when you're the one percent out, they find a way. And losers, even when you're the 99.99.99, they find a way to lose it. Yeah.

And it also looked like a game where one team was playing. their first game and the other team was not playing their first game when you look at the mistakes that SMU had and I agree with you you look at the weapons that Kevin Jennings has this season. We already knew what they had in your mirror night who looked good last night. But Yonick Smith making some big plays. Jalen Cooper is a guy who broke out in the bowl game last December. A guy I really liked Jalen Hale was a five-star recruiter with Alabama. He finally had a big night for them. Did have that fumble on that opening drive. And you talk about the mistakes and losers losing. There were four turnovers for SMU. They had about five mistakes.

makes last night, and FSU barely capitalized. After Hale fumbled, FSU promptly went three and out, missed 38-yard field goal. SMU then got a turnover on downs on Florida State. Kevin Jennings interception in the red zone, the first one, FSU putz. You mirror night, fumbled, then there was the offside in the field goal. All right, FSU scored a touchdown on that one. And then the other interception that Jennings had, it was a three-and-out. And the first one in the red zone, apparently, according to Ratt, lastly, the receiver ran the wrong

route. So that was on even on Kevin Jennings. So the fact that they were able to make those mistakes last night and still win that game speaks highly of them, but also pretty poorly of Florida State, who overall was just a mess. I guess we can get into them. I don't really know what more can be said about the Seminoles at this point in time. They didn't look great week one. They looked not great last night in that game that they were in it only because SMU continued to make mistakes.

Moving forward, I'm kind of just waiting. I have them on Quit Watch and it's only week two and they have a buy this week before heading down to Tuscaloosa next weekend. And I don't think anybody feels great about their opportunity to win that game after what we saw on Monday night and what we also saw last Saturday against Mexico State. So I'm just sitting here waiting for Mike Norel to be put out his misery because the guy just looks stressed out, looks miserable on the sideline. He's constantly getting booed. And the second down calls were terrible all night long. they could not convert a third down until the fourth quarter, which is pathetic for that to be the case,

even if it's week two. Very clearly, Ashton Daniels is not the guy for them. And remember, FSU low-balled Anthony Calandry who's at Nebraska. They low-balled DJ Wagway, who's at Baylor. They never even got Colton Joseph, who's at Wisconsin on campus,

because they could not give them the kind of money that they needed to give a quarterback that could have allowed them to win that game of all the mistakes that SMU made on Monday night. the old line stinks, the defense stinks. They paid guys like the DeSere twins, and one of them. Did you see Mandrao DeSere last night? Oh, my God.

Doing the crossover. It was so bad. Getting pancake on that critical third and ten. It was so bad. Just the epitome of unsurious. So we see stuff like that. Jabriel Rawls goes to the portal, decides to come back. It was awful last night.

Like they paid guys to come back and didn't even utilize guys like Deuce Robinson or hell even Mackay Danzy. like what are we doing here just end it i don't want to watch any more of it just let mike leave right now give him his money and let's all move on i mean i couldn't agree with you more how do you make a player like deuce robinson seems so veckless and useless five targets five how a big body bends like that brother they're going to have to bracket you they're going to have to throw some double that and then if you double them you do what run the ball now or somebody else has got to get open now and my quarterback has got to hit him.

The reality is that passing game was just, I mean, out of sync, out of whack, nobody's getting open. Ashton Daniels, the first time he feels pressured, let me pull it down and run. It, I, the only criticism I will say, I think is a little bit unfair or that doesn't belong on the players. The fans booing them. And you're in a tight game with a team that objectively has been, you can say what you want about SMU. You can say what you want about, oh, they don't belong or whatever the case may be.

Here's the deal. In the past three years, who's had more successful than them in the conference? Or since they entered the conference, rather, who's had more success than them? Nobody. I mean, that's- 15 and 2 in the ACC while Florida State is 3 and 14 now. And like, they weren't booing the players. They're very clearly booing by. Oh, of course.

Of course. But here's the thing, right? You have to understand. You and I can understand that, Julian. How old are you? Sure. 33. I'm 31. We're 30 and plus.

We both got hair lines that either are peeking back or gone, okay? We're old enough to understand the difference. Ah, we're picking back. We're picking back, Julie. No, but seriously, seriously, you and I are old enough to understand what's going on. You're doing that to 18 and 22-year-olds. You're doing that to the guys who may not have the maturity, and rightfully so, because 18-year-old Ken probably wouldn't have been mature enough

to hear fans booing and think, oh, they're booing coach doing. They're not booing me. Like, that's, you know, that's the only thing that's, will say was not on the players. They were fighting their hearts. They were doing everything that they could do. But again, offensively, that's, that's rough. And defensively, how do you not tackle better? Tony White is trusting you. When he brings those zero blitzes, you know what he's saying? My DBs will give the cushion. They'll make their little five, six yard catch, and we'll make the tackle. And that's the end of it. And how many times do we see that five, six yard catch

turned into strike up the band, everybody, play the fight song, dancing in zone, do your little six, seven, and end zone, because guess what? They can't tackle you. It was a very rough night for Rawls again. At this point, it's starting to look like he's stealing from the program, honestly. He is. They have a team full of ski mask all-stars at this point in time, especially defensively. Like, I'm not going to blame Deuce for coming back to, I mean, I am going to blame

for a little bit coming back. Why did you come back to this situation? Kind of like I was thinking about with Georgia Tech on Thursday night. What are we doing here, Justice Haynes? If they're not going to block it? Like, why is Deuce in an important draft year? Why are you still here if this is the quarterback situation? Like, what were you sold?

So I don't know, man. I'm just, I don't want to see it anymore. Just move on. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. But guess what? But guess what? The buyout is the buyout is the buyout.

And the question is, when does the buyout become something they can stomach? Because the thing is, Brian Smith has talked about it. The buyout is not. It's still so high that there's still a conversation to be had, Julie. You and me know there's no conversation. But the decision makers are having a conversation. Is it not guaranteed money? Is this money not going to be owed to Mike Norvell at some point in time?

Like, this is just toxic. You look at just to compare it to a situation, maybe not apples apples, but like the relationship between Deshaun Watson and the Browns fan base is the most toxic relationship in the NFL going into the season. Right now, what's going on Florida State and with Mike Norvel, we knew since last November, after they lost Stanford, after they put out the statement saying he's coming back, It was going to be like this.

They put FSU fans in a terrible spot where they want to obviously see their team win, but they also want to see them lose so they can get rid of this guy because it's not going to work. They're 3 and 14 over the last two plus years. He should not have this job unless he turns around. They're 10 and 2 and in the ACC title hunt, he should be gone. But he should be gone right now. Go ahead, end it. Move on.

He doesn't want to be here. You don't want him here. The fans don't want him here. this is just so upsetting to sit here and talk about. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. And I'm with you when you're right, Julian. I'm with you when you're right.

Unfortunately, the money sometimes prevents moving on from happening. Well, the money can't get in a way. I can't do this anymore. And I know Brian Smith can't do it. Knowles fans can't do it. I have no dog in a fight here. I just want everybody to be happy. And clearly, not everybody's happy.

And clearly, Davos Sweeney is not happy after what happened on Saturday night. and he's not happy with a reporter asking, I think a valid question. Oh, being a little early to ask that question. We'll talk about it here in just a moment on locked on ACC. College football is full of games you plan for all year, but sometimes the best memories come from the games you almost miss. Game time makes it easy to find tickets to college football matchups you want to see. What prices that include fees so you know your total cost up front.

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Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed.com slash podcast, terms and conditions apply. Need a hire, this is a job for Indeed, sponsor jobs. back here on locked on ACC. Saturday night was a rough one down in Baton Rouge for Davosweeney and the Clemson Tigers getting vaporized, 51 to 10, something that I don't think a lot of us were that surprised by. Looked at the line, looked at Clemson, thought about Davo what he's done there before. It thought maybe, maybe they acquit themselves.

That did not happen as Lane Kiffin and 50 million, 60 million, 70. I don't know how much he spent, but he spent a lot more money than Davo Sweeney and them down in Clemson on that roster. They went to work, and now Dabo is back to doing Dabo things, Kenton, as my guy, Chapel Fowler, who writes for the state newspaper based out of Columbia, but he covers Clemson. He asked Dabo on Tuesday afternoon, hey, Davo, after getting your ass kicked on Saturday night, being embarrassed, being a show of yourself, are you regretting your roster construction? And Dabo took exception to that saying, oh, yeah, you're a gotcha guy, huh?

Talk down to him, did what he's. done in the past, talk about what he's done in the past. And I do think that Davo had a point that they've only played one game. There's 11 more games to go and maybe wait. But when you lose the way, you lost on Saturday night and we've seen how things have played out since 2021. Feels like a fair question to me. Your thoughts on the latest saga with Davo and also what you witnessed late night on

Saturday there in Baton Rouge. First of all, on the field, I told you so. I told you so. I warned all of you that that offense was going to be God awful. I told anybody within earshot, hey, that quarterback situation is not good. I am not hearing anything positive about that quarterback situation. Anything positive about that quarterback situation. Lo and behold, Christopher Visina looked like he was a freshman.

I'm going to tell you, Dabo, if he's going to play like that, I'm going to tell you, like my coach, Thomas Wiltshire told you, told me in high school. He told the entire team. If I'm a lose, I'm a lose with a new regime. I'm a lose with guys that are figuring it out. Don't have no fourth year out there. Look, oh, the moment's too big. The lights are too bright. The lights are just too bright. Cut them off. Cut off all these lights. Uh-uh. I don't want to see it. Get Christopher Visina off the field, period. Second of all, you know, Chapel Father, that's my guy. That's my guy through and through. He checked on me when I was going. through some tough personal things with the car accident and all that love chopper down with that being

said it would be early to ask this question if these were not problems in the roster that everybody specifically pointed to coming into the off season yeah i i could understand like if it was the secondary that looked terrible i would get dabble being like dude it's it's one game this was not anywhere that people told us like you need to be looking. This was not an area where I should have been looking. Everything is golden there. This was not that. So to turn around and see this and to see the offensive line,

which Julian was the offensive line not a position that everybody came into this game saying, we need better. They need to get better here. And yet, every time I was watching 77, Mr. O'Connell, it was with after with him on his back. him on his stomach, him just flipping and turning over. So we can't sit here and say the questions are unfair if these are things that people had come in discussing. That's your, the AD said,

we gave you money for a new quarterback. And he trusted the process of the quarterback. Was the quarterback play up to par, Julie? It was not. Was it near up to par? No. And well, the problem you just brought up is a big reason why. And Davo talked about how he said Vizina apparently graded out better than Tate Reynolds.

Okay. Like that's not really saying much considering Vizina's experience and Tate Reynolds playing his first ever game in that situation and coming in late in that game or not even late. Like it was pretty early when he came in at least in the second quarter, at least third quarter. Like it was already over by that point in time. And they're going to figure out what they're going to do. Both of those guys going to play this weekend against Georgia Southern. I think for them, Clemson, overall by time they have. head cow. They got to figure out who their quarterback is. They have this weekend against Georgia

Southern and the next weekend against North Carolina who should be 210 when they head down to Death Valley and they might be filling themselves. And now there's some off the field stuff going on, which is always the case in Chapel Hill under Bill Belichick right now. But on the field, at least defensive line-wise, what they did against TCU in the second half, I'd be concerned if I were Clemson. So, yeah, I mean, the roster construction, I came into the season having more concerns about a Clemson roster than I have ever had since Davo really got things rolling. I'd say about like 2012, 2013. Like quarterback was not the chief concern.

Certainly, like I had seen Visina have success last year against SMU, but he had to sit behind Kay K Klubnik, who I didn't think very highly of. And after some of the things that Kay did back in 2023, he would have never played for me again. But I'm not a two-time national championship winning head coach like Davos Sweeney. So what does it matter? What I think? What he would have played for me?

But still, I was never a Kovovic fan. But yet last year when he's struggling, Zina never could take over like that. That was kind of like with DJ, when DJ was struggling, we had seen with DeShan taking over Cole Stout, we had seen what Trevor taking over for Kelly Bryant. Davo made that decision.

He wouldn't do it with DJ and Cade. He wouldn't, at least hasn't done it right now with Bazina. Last year in Cade, he hasn't done it yet totally with Bazina and Tate Reynolds, but he's been quicker to act because he doesn't really have many options. So I don't know how you can evaluate the quarterbacks at this point in time. They've got to figure that out.

O line. like Braden Jacobs had that one play that's going viral, but Dabbo said other than that, he played pretty well. But you brought an inexperienced offensive line on the road. Guys like Harris-Soole, who's the centerer's experience, but he's been banged up his whole career. They had to start a player in Eastonware, who had never played a snap in college.

Because Colin Sadler, they're starting right tackle. What do you know is hurt again like he has been the entire time? Dabble only tried to get two guys out of the portal. One's playing at South Carolina, the other's playing at Auburn. If you watch Auburn on Saturday, that guy probably was not going to help Clemson anyways on Saturday night. So that's an issue they're going to have.

Defensive tackle, like roster construction-wise, you brought in a backup of OU and Marcus Strong, who may be done for the season now. And it's not a bad thing you'd be a backup at OU because they have Jaden Jackson and David Stone. Like they're good. And I'm sure he talked to Venables about whether this guy could help, but he's not going to help them look like the rest of the season because he's hurt.

They brought him the Juko guy and a guy from FCS West Georgia, Courtney Kelly, who apparently may be back soon out the trading his ACL back in the spring. Like, why is that the places you're going to look? Juko, FCS, look, you're Clemson. Go get guys who are starters. Go pluck somebody from a roster, much like Lane Kiffman did down at LSU. So I think, yes, it is early.

It's only one game. I understand where he's coming from. He could have stopped after 30 seconds. He didn't need to go to, did you play football? Well, we've done this. We've done that. It's like the whole song and dance. Like, I have a ton of respect for Davos Swinning,

what he's done at Clemson. It's been one of the best storage in college. in college football. But it feels like the game is passing him by. And it's not like he's 70 years old, like Roy Williams, or like Bobby Bowden was down in Tallahassee. It's like he's no, by all accounts, a young man. And this is happening.

It's just, it's a refusal to change. It's the my way or the highway thing. Here's the thing. I would tell Davos Sween, the same thing I tell every other coach. It's great to be known as a good guy. good guys get fired all the time. Do you know who don't get fired? Winners don't get fired.

By spit or by grit, however they do it, by, you know, by whatever means that they produce those wins, that that's what matters. That's what matters. And I get it. The Clemson Way, if you don't have the Clemson Way, what can you sell players on? Well, here's the deal.

It is 2026. Sell players on literally being sold. Ah? Sell players on, hey, brother, I got more money. he's going to pay you. Huh? I can combine, hey, these are the wide receivers we produced here,

and we got some money for you that's right there, neck and neck, maybe even ahead of what they got. But realistically, again, your AD coming out and saying, we gave money for a quarterback. He just chose not to do it. That's your AD saying early and with hindsight,

hey, this ain't on me. This ain't my thing. I gave what he needed. He decided not to use it. And you look at the roster, too, it's like quarterback, they got to figure it out. There's not really anyone coming in next year that has a five-star or even a four-star rating that you get excited about. I guess they did get that one kid. I think he's actually from Gainesville, Georgia, he's a four-star.

But, you know, we'll have to wait and see whether he's ready to go if that's what they're going to do. Or if Tate Reynolds takes a job and runs with it, I don't know. But you look at the roster, I mean, Gideon Davidson, I suppose he could be back next year. But this is all dependent upon their belief in Davo. and the finances and the role that they could have next season. But TJ Moore, he's gone for sure. Bryant Westco's gone for sure. Offensive line-wise, I mean, some of these guys can be back,

but how good are they going to be? Defensive tackle? I mean, there's not really anything to look forward to. Like, that's the thing. Sammy Brown's going to be gone. Ashton's going to be gone. Well, Helt's going to be gone. Jahim Lawson's going to be gone.

And it's not like Clemson has recruited to the level that they used to, which we saw all those guys leave last year. And whatever was left from that is on this year's roster. So where are they go moving forward? And that is the chief concern. and why Chapel is asking reasonably so, even if it may be a little early for certainly, maybe my taste, but certainly Davos taste,

the roster construction, because what are you going to do to change it and based off the way Dava reacted and what he's done in the past, probably not Jack. We'll get the rest of reactions from week one from Kenton here, and just moment here, unlocked on ACC. This episode is sponsored by Supply House. You wouldn't show up on game day without a plan. You wouldn't show up to a job without the right parts.

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Supplyhouse, real people, real service. All right, let's go over a few more things from the weekend. I want to get your thoughts on what you saw over week one here in the ACC. One thing I'll throw out here, Sunday night, Louisville, losing 41 to 38 against Ole Miss was sloppy at times, but all around fun college game on a Sunday night. Louisville did not go out there and embarrass themselves like Clemson, which is great for the ACC as right now,

the only team in the ACC with a non-conference power for win is North Carolina. And maybe that's to be good news for the Taurials and good news for the ACC moving forward because maybe Bill Belichick figures it out. But if I told you that two weeks ago, we'd all say that's bad news for the ACC, especially knowing the result of the Clemson games, towards a tech losing, getting pushed around. by Colorado, but I thought Louisville acquitted themselves well. Trey Richardson is a dude.

Luan McCoy is a dude. And Lincoln Keyholes may also be a dude after he calmed down and really played well there in a second half. Excited to see what Louisville looks like moving forward. What's it out to you from that game and other things that you saw over the weekend in the ACC? They're calling the young man Lamar Keenholz. That's what they're calling them.

I love it. Because he was getting loose out there. He was getting loose. And I knew as soon as they're. scored, I said, damn it, you don't have left too much time on the clock. Yeah. He's going to left too much time on the clock for Trinidad and Co. And this ain't going to go well because they were eating them up all night.

But I'm going to tell you, my biggest takeaway from week one is don't take away too much from week one. Don't take away too much. Because the Florida State team that we saw last week would have gotten laughed off the field against SMU in the way they play. Not saying that. It's a team we saw last night, though, if we're being honest. I disagree. I disagree. Because Florida State's ability to force turnovers against SMU was not there to that degree against New Mexico State. It was not there to that same degree where I'd say, this makes sense.

This team can do this against SMU. Did they force them, though? I'm sorry, I'm going to let you finish. But did they force them? Okay, you know what? Because we have a muff punt that he probably should have never touched. The first one, Jalen Hale, that was a peanut punch. I give Quindarius Jones credit for that.

The other one, Jennings, it was a wrong route. The other one is really just classic Kevin Jennings. Why are you throwing this football? Right. Okay, so here's what I'll say. Here's what I'll say at the end of the day. When I look at this game and I look at some of the week zero teams that played and all that, I'm going to just say, don't take away too much from week one.

Right now, the ACC looks bad. We look like we're down in the dumps. That's just the reality. We look like we're down in the dumps. However, things have a funny way of turning themselves around. just keep chopping wood and carrying water. Things have a very funny way of turning around. Everybody's talking about how terrible NC State looked against Virginia

in week zero this year. People forget. Virginia had one of their most successful seasons in program history last year, and what were they doing week one? Losing the NC State. So this isn't to say that, hey, everything's going to be fine. We don't have any reason for concern. If this trend continues, if the ACC cannot get this act together

in a multitude of ways. I'm worried, but most of the things that we saw are either things that we all saw coming. Let's be very honest. I love me some LaPoy. Did I not say, in my prediction of that game, at some point in time, the Chesney's experience as a head coach will show.

And in the second half, when the fourth quarter came and it was time for adjustments to be made, it was time for, oh, okay, I've seen that. Oh, okay, they run this, we run this. Okay, punch, counter punch. We saw the guy who had been punched more, because he just had counterpunch after counterpunch after counterpunch. So this is the things that we saw and week one, by and large, are things that we expected.

Florida State losing his game. Most people expected that. Most people expected it. For them to put up a fight was actually surprising to a lot of us. Clemson getting blown out. Many people said, unless you will win and cover. So it's not much of a surprise there. the things that we saw in week one

were by and large the things that we were expecting. Most of the surprises to me were actually surprises to the positive. So I don't sit here looking at the ACC's saying we're a downtrodden, we're terrible, we're, just keep chopping wood of carrying water, fellas, just keep chopping wood of carrying water. La Poy will get his lab legs

under him. He'll learn how to counterpunch the counterpunches. He'll learn. He'll get it together. That team will make it happen. Louisville, is that their one game where they play above their heads all year? Or is that who they are? Because if that's who they are, we should all be worried. But we all know Louisville has one game a year where they turn into the 85 bears. They got one game a year where they turn into the baddest dudes that we've ever seen,

and then they revert back to the mean at some point in time. So, again, the questions that I sit here with for the ACC by and large are just, can you be consistent, get better. It's okay. It's week zero. Who didn't look bad in week zero and week one? who didn't. Well, Virginia, basically.

That's the only team. And whoever played in FCS. Well, no, no. I'm saying, in terms of the power for who didn't look bad? Who didn't give you reason to go, hey, are y'all cool? Because the way ECU fans were talking while playing Bama, you would have thought that they were ready to kick some backs in, right? But that's the deal, right?

That's the deal. Everybody, week zero, week one, you see teams come out, struggle a little bit. that's not who you are. Like Dabo said, as wrong as he was to, again, take shots at a reporter who's making a fraction of what he does. It's just the reality that you've got 12 of these things. It's all right. However one went, however maybe two went for some of y'all.

It's all right. Keep chopping wood, keep carrying water. Yeah, and I think the best rule is after four games, you're a third of way through the season. So by the end of September, we know who these teams are going to be. Now some teams have, you know, weird byeweek. and setups like North Carolina, I feel like by time they get the pit, week five, will really have a good grasp on who they were or who they are going to be this season.

Clemson, probably going to have to wait to that cow game, maybe Miami and have a good firm grasp on them. But typically, by the end of September, we know who these teams are. And I feel like for Florida State, we got it pretty figured out at this point in time. Florida State is going to be, unfortunately, and that goes back to what we've seen over the last couple years. I think the only thing for me, as far as these P4 non-con games that ACC played in, And North Carolina was the only team that seemed to really win at the line of scrimmage.

I didn't think BC won at all. Certainly UCLA pushed around Cal in the second half in that game. And J.KF's kind of running around throughout that game. Clemson got their ass kicked. Georgia Tech did too, which is just probably the most stunning of all those results as far as the line of scrimmage. So this weekend, the AC has a chance to kind of redeem themselves. Not really too many marquee games going on the weekend. Like Georgia Tech, Tennessee was going to be that one.

That's going to be a tall task for Brayette. print key and his program to get back to the identity that he wants them to have. And hell, when they play ranked opponents, Georgia Tech shows up. So I would not be surprised at all, especially with it being phased on Brandon's first road game as a true freshman that if they lose that game and what should still be a pretty electric crowd for Georgia Tech on Saturday night. We're going to out see Pitt, UCF. Hintra was great last weekend. So that's going to be a big opportunity for the AC to get a win against a Big 12 team. BC Rutgers on Friday, please BC.

don't lose to Rutgers, Duke, Illinois. Walker Eaget doesn't feel like he's it, but it's only been one game, so give it some time. So there's opportunities this weekend for the ACC to go out there, get some P4 wins, but you're right. It's only been one week. And, you know, I think tomorrow we should probably discuss, like, what's real, what's fake from looking at week one,

and even week zero in the ACC, while we also do some stock up and stock down. So that's going to wrap up this edition of the LockdowneCC podcast, part of Lockdown Podcast Network, where your host, as always, Julian Counsel and Kenton Gibbs. Again, y'all, subscribe and follow the show for free over on YouTube and wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. And be sure to follow us over on Twitter at Julian Council and at TGIF underscore

Ken. In the meantime, be safe, be happy, be whole. And we will talk to y'all on Wednesday. We'll tell you what's real and what's fake from the first two weeks of ACC football, give you stock up, stock down, and look at some news and notes around the ACC. All that coming up here on Wednesday on Locked on ACC.