Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - NO FIRING: Florida State Stuns Fans by BACKING Mike Norvell—Massive Financial MISTAKE?

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

Florida State Seminoles double down on head coach Mike Norvell despite calls for change—can they weather the storm amid controversy and mounting pressure? Booster reluctance and a staggering $60 million buyout have trapped FSU in a high-stakes coaching saga, leaving fans and alumni divided over the program’s future.Alex Donno, Brian Smith, and Kenton Gibbs break down why Norvell survives, what’s next for Florida State football, and how this decision could shake up recruiting, NIL deals, and ACC championship hopes. Key topics include Cal’s firing of Justin Wilcox, transfer portal drama, and the chaotic ACC playoff scenarios involving Miami Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Panthers, SMU, Duke, and Virginia. Can FSU reverse course, or will Florida State’s football reputation slip further? Don’t miss expert insights, inside info, and passionate debate on a turning point for Seminoles athletics.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Omaha SteaksSave big on unforgettable gifts with Omaha Steaks. Visit https://OmahaSteaks.com for 50% off site-wide and an extra 20% off select favorites during their Cyber Sale.And for an additional $35 off, use promo code COLLEGE at checkout. WayfairDon’t miss out on early Black Friday deals.Head to https://Wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair’s Black Friday sale for up to 70% off.Sale ends December 7th. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Florida State Seminoles are not firing head football coach Mike Norvel. And here's why. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. After FSU's loss to NC State, thank you, Kenton, I didn't think we would be having this particular conversation. I thought, and I'd heard some rumblings that Norville, was going to need to go at least seven and five to keep the job. That became mathematically impossible with the loss to NC State.

Thank you so much to the everydayers for making locked on ACC your first listen. We're available wherever you get your podcast. We're on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. And tonight's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app. Create your account and use code Locked on College for $20 off your first purchase.

We will go through the very confusing ACC championship game scenarios, pure coastal chaos. Cal has fired Justin Wilcox. So an ACC head coach did get fired this weekend, just not the one you thought. So I'm Alex Dono from Lockdown Cains. Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack is here, and we had to bring on Brian Smith from Lockdown Seminoles. All right, so Brian, Florida State releases the statement today that Mike Norvell, is going to be their head coach next season, all this talk about the additional resources

they're going to throw at football. Let's start here on, were you expecting this? And tell me why they're sticking with Mike Norvell. Well, first off, they said they were going to conclude their entire review at the end of the season. Last I checked, they still have a game. Yeah.

So just keep that in mind for a second. Like, okay, why would they do that? It's all the teams, including the whole kiffin drama and all that they don't like where they sit is my guess because they don't want to spend any money i let i know kitten's already i'm just sitting kitten up here for just in a second trust me just trust me i'm set i got more for you i'm following you i'm following i feel you knocking that for you i'm gonna let you i'm gonna let you what's going on i got something for you here in a second that it really as a former player will upset you but the biggest thing here

is not that they did it when they made the statement the board of trustees chair and all that They did it the proper way. They said they had basically a responsibility as the stewards of the financial aspect of force. Basically, we can't fire him because we don't want to spend any money. I mean, it's your job as an institution to get the boosters to back it. You failed at your job. You failed at your job. And that's the mild part.

Here's the juicy part. And for the love of mankind, I hope the following is wrong. Because if it's right, Dono, that text I sent you, earlier, I'm not kidding about it. I will need financial support from psychiatry and everything else that the following is correct. I have been told that it's a two-year deal moving forward, not a one, by somebody that I trust. Now, that's just one person, and I don't know who, but somebody that's in the NIL and in the representative, all that stuff, two years. It's not just like it's one. They need him for two more. I really hope that is inaccurate.

And of course, things can change because one booster can decide to pony up. But as of now, that's what I was. And I'm like, you can't be serious because no, I'm serious. And I'm like, they cannot withstand two more years of this, whatever this is. Donno, I mean, you hate Florida State. You're a Miami guy, but I know you understand the business. This isn't even in Miami because you need Florida State to be good to improve your ranking and all. Absolutely.

And the ACC, it's so much better for the ACC with Florida State's good. Yeah. Here's the thing that blows me the most about hearing these things. First of all, the statement in general is ludicrous based on the fact that there was, hey, we are going to do a thorough audit of every part of the program at the end of the season. You don't know how this Florida game is going to go. As much as we all want to say, oh, yeah, they're going to play Florida tough. Are we sure of that?

As much as we want to say, Florida is a rudderless ship with no head coach. I can tell you as a alum of a team that lost to a head coachless team, it is the Iqabod Crane team seem to find their way to play hard every now and then. Yeah. And if you get blown out in that one, what do you then do? What do you then say to your boosters? What do you say to the fans? What do you say to say, hey, please come back next year.

We will have a better product on the field. It's not even like you have to leave the same. state of Florida to see what happens when you say this coach is ineffective but we'll give him more resources and he'll be effective with more resources. You don't have to leave the state of Florida. Just go north. Go a little bit north and you will see that they said, oh, we're going to buy them out. We're going to get rid of them. No, we'll use the buy out money to support them. And what happened with that guy up in Gainesville? What happened with him? He's calling up David Locke. Come on. Y'all still got an opening for coaches? Y'all still got it.

Billy, if you need a job, we got you. We got your own locked on. You know, you're going to have to show some love to the ACC, but we got you, Billy. This is ridiculous. I, people say the best job in America is to be a fired head coach. I disagree. The best job in America is be Florida State's head coach right now.

Because what is the product on the field. And for those of you who don't know this, obviously Donald introduces me as former NC State defensive tackle every episode. But I'm a wolfpack guy. And the current structure of the ACC, six of the last seven between NC State and Florida State, NC State is one. This is not peak NC State with all due respect to Coach Doran.

Mario Williams ain't walking through that door. That's not happening. We're not seeing Philip Rivers walk through that door. That's not happening. Tori Holt ain't walking through that door. And yet we are seeing a. situation where Florida state is saying you know what because of the financials we're okay we're subjecting ourselves to being below an NC state team that if you ask the fan base

this is back to back disappointments this is back to back what the hell are we doing with Dave and and you're below that and y'all are like oh well money we just can't do it who boy this is if I was a alum, a fan, a booster for the nose, I would be calling, saying, listen, I got 20 on it. I got 100 on it. I got something on it. If you get rid of that coach. The minute of that coach will pay. Yeah, but then the problem is it's like, and I know that people just kind of assume that booster money is just endless and that it's not real money. It's like monopoly money, but it's like, didn't they pay? I don't know how much exactly the stadium renovations were, but aren't we talking? $200 million. Yeah, I was going to say.

say it was in the hundreds of millions. You know, to buy out Norville and his staff is north of 60 million. To bring in a new staff is, you know, you don't have to pay it all at once, but that's you're talking tens of millions. So like, Brian, isn't the real problem here? And I said this on my ex account earlier today that everyone can point to the mistake of not firing him right now. But the real mistake happened two years ago.

The real mistake was when Super Agent Jimmy says, Dexton was able to link all of his clients to that vacant Alabama job, including Mike Norvel, and he was able to finesse Florida State into that extension. Like that extension two years ago is the reason why they're trapped. Not only that, they were going to get Kiffin. Oh. I don't know if you too about that. It was going to be Kiff.

I didn't know that. I just, I mean, I assumed he's always been a gator's what I hear from the gator people. Wait, Kiffin was going to go where now? FSU. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. As much as terrible as Norville has been these past couple of years, I do have to give him his respect.

At the time, in hindsight, it looked like a good idea. It was a great idea at the time. Because two years ago, if I do remember correctly, coming off an undefeated season before you trotted out your JV squad against Georgia. And then you got to take out to the woodshed. Coming off undefeited season, I get giving him the extension. My only question is, at what point do you calculate the long-term loss against the short-term loss?

Because what are you losing in the long-term? Don, these coaches aren't going to get cheaper. They're getting more and more expensive by the year. That's a good point. Quick question, everybody. How many playoff football games has Lane Kiff and ever won? Zero. And how many millions have all three teams offered them?

15 plus per season we're hearing 15 plus per season these coaches aren't getting cheaper no he's going to look great now let's use uniforms it's going to be more expensive a couple years from now because all of a sudden elliott's going to say well i think i'm i'm due to be read up for a little bit i think i deserve a little respect around here i think red lashley just got read up all these guys are going to start getting read up that are worth anything if you're worth a drop they're going to you're something crazy. And then you're going to say, well, we're two years behind a ball. Instead of 60 million, we got to pay him 40 million. But now instead of having to pay a coach 8 to 10, we got to pay him 12 to come on in here. And we got to guarantee a certain amount

of support for the roster. I just think ultimately, Florida State is in a lose-lose situation. I get it. There is no right answer out of this. There is no easy answer out of this. This is just one of the most unfortunate situations that I've ever seen in college football. because again, the extension was signed to an ACC champion. So I get it. I get it. It's not like you signed to me one five games and you were like, all right, we got to rock with you. Cool.

But the way that this team has crater overnight, you cannot sustain this. You can't sustain this. Well, I got a couple follow-up questions for Brian when we come back. He also, of course, hosts the portal pod. So he's very familiar with what could happen in the transfer portal, what could happen in recruiting for Florida State. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of LockdowneACC.

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Wayfair makes that easy. Do not miss out on early Black Friday deals. Head to Wayfair.com now to shop Wayfair's Black Friday sale for up to 70% off. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com and the sale ends December 7th. Thank you for making LockdowneACC, your first listen here on this. Sunday night. It's like an emergency episode. There's so much happening, including Justin Wilcox getting fired by Cal. But I think the big news is who wasn't fired because Florida State sends out the endorsement of Mike Norvell today. So Brian, you mentioned, you heard from an NIL circle that

it might be two more years guaranteed of Norvel. So all right, he's not exactly a guy that inspires, you know, big time boosters and NIL donations right now. So what do you think happens? So what do you think happens in the transfer portal, Brian. I mean, is this situation going to inspire, you know, big time players to come to Florida State? Is it going to inspire the big time players they already have from not leaving? I mean, how is this going to play out? I've been thinking about that same question myself for a while. And today, of course, the news comes out that he's returning. And I'm a little bit flummox because if you're a good player that could come in and ball like, Deuce is going to leave. I think everybody knows that's an NFL.

player. You're going to need somebody to replace him. And on the other side, do you think Mackay Danzy's going to get any phone calls? I bet you there's a guy that you're fond of, Dono, that somebody from his staff might call. I'm just going to throw that out there. And along with the rest of the free world. So not only are you going to have to spend to keep your own roster, which everybody does, they're not going to like the scenario necessarily. That's going to get expensive. And to get guys to come in. Do you think they're going to have to pay a premium? Oh, yeah. You got to pay a lame duck coach tax now.

You have to pay extra. To be honest, that's a really good way of putting it. What's the place Kent in this? D-Tackles were always a premium. They're losing Big Darrell. There is no other Big Darrow in college football. There ain't nobody else like it. I'd be surprised if every team in America wasn't called about Mr.

DeSere. I'd be surprised if every team in America wasn't saying, hey y'all got two of them over there and listen you know nellie said give me two per well i need two per i need me them to see her brother because both of bad dudes but manrel in particular i can't imagine there's a single program in america that won't at least kick the tire you want to talk about tempering i'm tampered for nc state right now man

we got amadeos and we got cookout in raleigh i'm just saying i'm just saying i'm my bid in. If you want to be at a place that ain't losing in the Carter no more, I'm just saying, we five and one, baby, soon to be six and one after Chapel Bill come through. I'm just saying, I know you're tired of losing now. But in all seriousness, you're right. You're right, Brian. So let me ask you this, from a Florida state perspective, we talk about the portal and what this does for that. The only potential silver lining I could see, maybe high school recruiting, does the keeping of Norville, do you think that helps? Florida State's high school recruiting in the short term in terms of maybe keeping a class steady,

or is this like a, I mean, you tell us, what does their high school class currently look like? And is it worth it to you to say, yeah, you, it makes a little sense to keep them with this coming in. It's a top 15 class by any metric. They got speed too. I mean, this is a traditional Florida state class in that sense. It's not quite as high end as I'd like it to be in the trenches, but a lot of big bodies with potential. but like you can't be mad at the class, especially considering what they're coming off.

Like coming off two ends, I am shocked. Yeah. So that's good, but how many of these guys are going to stick with? And again, everything comes out of the same kitty, okay?

Before you go into portal, you got to secure the class, which is signed on the 3rd of December. That's the Wednesday after you play the Gators. So we're about 10 days out. They're getting a short window. Okay, Mike's here. part of the reason they announced it now is to give more time for recruiting.

They can talk to kids this week, which, okay, you can sell me on that. But they ain't going to be add nobody. You know what I mean? Like, it's dominant, in my opinion. If you want to surprise me, I'll be the first one to do a pod and talk that I missed. I'll be right here. But they need to add some more pieces. Do I think they're getting them?

But as much heat is they're getting? I mean, can you imagine the negative recruiting that Miami is doing against Florida State right now? Donnell is loving it right now. The script writes itself. I mean, you know, it's 100%. And then if Florida doesn't get Lane, oh, my God. And they're not from what I'm hearing.

That's another story. Oh, well, I wanted to ask you about that. What are you hearing about Lane Kiffin? L-S-U. That's what I've heard. Now that, we're talking about Kiffin. Yeah. Let's keep that in mind.

We're talking about Kiffin. Yeah. Whenever Jimmy's section of his guys get involved, normally it's the school getting all of smoking, all attraction that you think it is, but then there's like a Stephen King book, boom, the hook comes and gets you. Right, right when it's time. I mean, it's going to be, it's like just watching that from afar, because I don't have,

you know, vested interest in any of those schools. Like, it's the love triangle between Ole Miss, can they keep him, LSU or Florida. But it's like some, there's going to be two hearts that get very, very badly broken in this situation because I, you know, I know enough Florida people to know that for like two years, thought it's eventually Lane Kiffin's going to be their coach, right? I mean, if I'm an Ole Miss fan, my God, I sympathize. Like, you're about to go to the college football playoff and then he's potentially going to walk out on you before a playoff run even begins. And, you know, I almost feel bad that if he does go to LSU, I don't feel like they really

deserve him with the way they've managed their staff in recent years. But, man, it's crazy. Remember, LSU and Ole Miss play every year. Yeah, right. They play in Baton Rouge next year, but two years or now, if this comes to fruition, the security detail that will be necessary. And I'm not trying to be funny. We'll be reading. No, no, for sure. Well, listen, you know the crazy part? Remember last time you were here, you were talking about the security detail for Alfred

and company. Oh, yeah. That's real. Like, I'm not saying this is positive, but everybody, the DOT, the athletic director, the president. Not talking about you. This is in any school. Your wife goes to the grocery store. your kids go to school.

Like it's not right, but it's going to happen. There are going to be awful stories come out from this. There will be a security company in Tallahassee that is happy to collect because I am shocked by this. I am shocked and feeling disappointed in this. And again, I have no rooting interest in Florida State. I have no vested interest in. I'm one of the guys that I vehemently opposed that it's better for such and so.

When this brand is good or when that brand is good, I don't give it. a damn about no brand. If you don't want to sit on and watch ball, you don't want to sit on to watch ball. But objectively, objectively, if you are looking at what Florida State has been historically, conference aside, everything else aside, just your program, how do you do this with Norville again? Again, I give him all of his honor and respect for winning a championship. And if he was out of place, if he was out of place with all due respect, like a Georgia Tech, and he takes you to an ACC championship and then he has a couple of years like this, you give him the Mulligan. You give him the Mulligan. Because that's Georgia Tech.

If he's at Virginia, you give him the Mulligan. Hey, it is what it is. If he's at Wake Forest, you give him the mulligan. Florida State is not the type of school. Florida State used to be, I got to take him out my list now. Used to be in that 15 schools that eight wins a year ain't enough. Apparently five is enough. This is crazy. It feels like a bizarre world moment, man, us. And to see the Cal is saying, no, we need better. We demand better. And this is the interesting part about the finances, Dono. Cal is in a deficit. Everybody knows they're in a deficit financially. Everybody knows that they're. That's true. But at the same time, Wilcox's buyout was under 10 millions. But they are already in a deficit. But his buyout is like

50 million less than Norville's buyout. I agree. I'm just saying when you talk about the financials, What do the optics look like when you are a school that brings in probably anywhere from eight to nine figures every year? And then you've got another school that's not touching that same type of, that's literally taking a reduced cut from the conference that you said, my cut is too small. And they're like, oh, forget this. This coach ain't doing it. He got to go.

Yeah. Well, so on Justin Wilcox for a second, the angle that I want to ask Brian about is with Justin Wilcox getting five. You know, Cal just got blown out by Stanford, which is never good. Now, that was actually the first time Wilcox lost to Stanford, so it's like it only had to happen once for him to get fired. But they started the season five and two. They're six and five now. Cal has been so inconsistent. They've never had consistency under Justin Wilcox.

But with him getting fired on Sunday, everyone, there's going to be a feeding frenzy for Mr. JKS, Jaron, Keaabe Sangapula, Telle, the star. freshman quarterback of the Golden Bears. I mean, Brian, you would imagine there's going to be some big time programs out there that are probably already calling JKS. I imagine they were calling him throughout the season because by game three, you're like, that kid's a freshman? He was making back shoulder fade throws that NFL guys are like, you know what,

that's a good throw? No fear, bro. No fear. Like he has just got a natural throw emotion. And I ain't tried to say it just because he's lefty or he's front. from Hawaii, there's a certain guy that played at Bama that now plays in South Florida. He reminds me of. That's the throw.

I mean, the throwing motion is the same. You can tell he took after two of. That's the way reminds me of. Yeah, I'm sure that that's going to be interesting. Whoever the next head coach is, they need hired already because that's a small window. You better be there now. And I don't know how his contract settled with Cal. And I'm sure he was compensated, but you don't think Oregon's going to make another run at him.

you don't think that USC, you don't think that Texas or Texas Tech. Well, there's one in particular, like, oh, please, jump all over that. So, yeah, I can only imagine how many different opportunities that kid will have. And one of the reasons that I like college football is we have stories like this. We've always had guys like him, you're like, when Cal would come on, but when he's playing, playing. He prompt top TV. That's what I'm saying.

I'll watch, I'll watch Cow. Now when they're on defense, I turn the channel. Yeah, same. But I'll tell you, that squad got some dudes outside of J.K.S. too. Hey, that's true. Dasman James, you know, since I am already lobbied once, since I already tempered once for these days. Come on home.

You're from Clayton, brother. Come on home. Come on back to North Carolina. You're from the triangle. Kendraud Raphael. Get on. Get on back here. Hollywood going to the NFL.

Come on. Come on. No, but in all seriousness, Brian, when you do look at that Cal team and you talk about, you know, that small window that they got to kind of get a coach and try to secure things, what do you think the impact is going to be on that team? Because I do see some bright spots that are particularly offensive, including JKS. Do you think that that's a team, is there a way with Ron Rivera holding through and steady as the GM that they can potentially retain some of those guys? Are you like, hey, the coverage for whoever's coming next? going to be bared you just got to accept it i think they got to make a financial decision internally a again same coffer coach player retention recruiting portal what are we trying to get i don't

have any idea like who's on their board you know maybe they try to go get the offense coordinator from oregon will stey i heard that that was the one name that i did see that makes like yeah that would be perfect but he's still probably not going to to be cheap because I can see a lot of, I mean, Penn State might call him. But Penn State's coaching search hasn't went exactly as planned. So there's a lot of different things there. And then on top of it, just like with Florida State, you know, if they would have fired Norville, got to get to assistant staff too.

So there's a lot of things with it. But JKS leaves, is anybody staying? That's the thing. You may be zero leverage. So Rivera may have to figure that one out real quick or else that's going sideways. And Will Stein's like, thanks, but no thanks. You know what I mean? Like just stay at all.

There's no reason to go four and eight, two years around get fired. You've got to have a quarterback and an offense. You know what I mean? So they got to pay that dude up front or they're not going to get the coaches to take interest. Nobody wants that Cal job with their talent level unless they got JKS in the fold. That's my opinion. All right. Well, coming up next, I have, and I'm just going to warn you, you might be more confused after you hear this.

But I have in front of me the ACC championship game scenarios for, you know, the five teams that are still in the mix. So this is what has to happen this coming weekend for two of these teams to get to Charlotte. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Guys, the only ticket app that we use is game time. College football is the absolute best. We have rivalry week coming up, the tailgates, the rivalries, the energy. There's just nothing like it, but let's be real.

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Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen. All right. So Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech, all they had to do, and let's not, not saying it was easy, but all they had to do was beat Pitt and they could have punched their ticket to the ACC championship game. Instead, the Pat Narduzzi, Ropa Dope worked, right? He took a buy week against Notre Dame. He said, it's okay if we lose by 100. They almost did. And they come out and they send a gut punch to Georgia Tech and get a huge victory. So Georgia Tech went from controlling their own destiny to now needing help this coming weekend.

All right. So in fact, I think I could share this on the screen. And also, I'm assuming that this person is correct on their ACC championship game scenarios, cold. Oh, boy. Kubelik. So you need a brain freeze. Here you go, folks. Look at this.

Look at this. All right. So let me start with the teams that are most likely that control their own destiny are Virginia and SMU. So Virginia. they play Virginia Tech this weekend, by the way. Virginia Tech, I think, is beating them eight of the last nine meetings. Virginia is clearly a better team, but that rivalry can, wonky things can happen there, okay?

So Virginia is in if they win this weekend, or if SMU loses plus Pitt loses, plus they clinch a tiebreaker over Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, and Pitt. But bottom line for Virginia win and they're in, but they could still get even if they don't win. SMU. They're in if they win this weekend against Cal, who no longer has a coach. So SMU can win or Pitt loses and they have to clinch a multi-team tiebreaker. Then you have Pittsburgh who, you know, obviously they're in a much better spot after beating Georgia Tech. If they win and UVA loses

they're in, or if they win and SMU loses, Pitt is in. Then you have Duke. It's crazy how Duke is still in this thing despite how bad they've been at times this year. Duke is in if they win plus two of the following three lose. Duke needs to win plus two of Pittsburgh, SMU, and Virginia need to lose. Miami is still in this thing somehow. They have multiple scenarios. If Miami wins, they play Pitt, which won't be easy. If Miami wins plus UVA loses, plus Duke loses, plus SMU wins, or Miami wins plus SMU loses plus Duke loses and then you have a multi-team tiebreaker. Or if Miami wins plus SMU loses plus UVA loses. And then you have Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech gets in and they have a non-conference game this weekend against Georgia, no effect on the championship games. So they have to rely on others. If Pittsburgh wins, UVA loses, Duke loses, and SMU loses. Or Miami wins, SMU loses, Duke loses, or Miami wins, SMU loses, Duke loses, or Miami wins, SMU loses, and UVA loses. So I'm done speaking, fellas. Anyone who wants to jump in on this, feel free.

You know, everybody in their mama needs some help now. All because teams couldn't just do their job when it was win and your damn end. Georgia Tech. Brickie, I believed in you all year long. I was the one riding the Georgia Tech train. saying, oh, yeah, this is their year. They're going to do it.

They're going back for the first time since Paul Johnson was there. They're going to do it. And what do they do? They get out there and piss down their leg against Pitt and NC State, allowing 200-yard rushers in both games. Coach Key, what's going on, baby? They didn't look like they belonged on the field. And the 200-yard rushers, they allowed were both backup.

Back-ups. They're back. That's the both. It wasn't Hollywood Smothers or Des Rees. No. No. And the pick guy is a freshman. Yeah.

He's a kid from the villages, Florida, if I remember. Yeah. Yeah. I'm Georgia Tech. What do you do? Now we got to do all this topsy, turvey, upside down, vecta nonsense where we don't know what's going on.

And we got to hope that the rabbit ain't pulling out the clock and that we don't got to hear beware of the band or snatching all that. What's going on? What's going on? on Dono. Now, let me ask you this, Dono. Do you think, do you believe that the, that your Miami hurricanes have a chance to actually make this thing at this point with all the help that I mean, I do like, I don't rule anything out in the ACC like how? Right. I mean, honestly, if, if Miami ends up going to Charlotte, I would be like, okay, that's, that's just how,

now I don't think it's a guarantee that Miami beats Pitt, by the way. That's going to be a difficult game this weekend and it's on the road. It's a noon game, which may be good because it's not going to be as cold at noon. But like, that's not an automatic win. But if Miami beats Pitt, getting the help that they need would not surprise me in the least because the ACC is going to ACC. Yeah. Again, this is what happens when you let the coastal be in charge. We need some Atlantic order around this thing. Florida State and Clemson, this is all y'all fault. We need Atlantic order. Well, the way Florida States administering everything, you better depend on Clemson. This is tough. This is tough.

And by the way, as a side note, it's ironic that the only teams that control their own destiny are Virginia and SMU. If either of those teams gets into the college football playoff, I mean, especially Virginia, I think, you know, at least SMU's been there. They didn't do so well last year, but at least they've been there. But either of those teams, especially UVA, gets waxed. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I actually think UVA has a better chance of giving somebody a good game than we give them credit for. Hear me out.

It's about the style of play that they have. They have won the line of scrimmage a lot more than people would think. When Chandler Morris joined that team, everybody imagine they go to this air raid. They'd just be airing it out everywhere. I don't think Chandler Morris has 4,000 yards on a year. I don't think he's going to scratch it. even if they win multiple playoff game. They have done it through running the ball

and defensively just holding on to the road. Obviously, they've got a lot of breaks that have going their way. They haven't had the toughest schedule. Even when they lost to NC State, it didn't count as a conference game, which, by the way, first game of the football season next year

in Brazil against NC State will count, will count at an ACC game. But this is. Can I petition the ACC season? to remind them that when Miami lost to Louisville, that was a non-conference game. Can we do that? Can we retroactively make that a non-con game?

Unfortunately, Donald, it don't work like that. It don't work like that, man. But it is a situation where I think Virginia has a better shot because they're extremely physical. And we all know, if you got Kevin Jennings on your squad, magic can happen at any moment. Sure. You could say, oh, well, defensively, you know,

Wachobi and Company haven't done their part. and they've been very suspect. You got Kevin Jenkins. And he has shown at times. I challenged him in that offense in the beginning of the season. Can Kevin Jennings be the type of guy that you win because of, not just you win with? And he's shown up. He's shown up.

Yeah, he has. Virginia, they run the ball better than expected. They're a lot better at clock control than expected. I think they got a shot if they get the right matchup. Now, they get the wrong matchup. Y'all are right. It's going to be belt to behind. But if they get one of these teams that show,

shouldn't be there. If Texas found a way to beat Texas A&M and sneak on in, and that's the first rounder, they might get upset because I don't think, I don't believe in Texas at all. I think that's a horrible team, if I'm being honest. But, but, you know, all it takes is just that little bit of ferry, a little bit of something just to get them over. But again, on paper, they don't stand a chance. But on paper, they didn't stand a chance to ACC this year, Brian. And now they're going to Charlotte, potentially. Yeah, that's because the ACC. C C stinks right now. It's more than anything else.

We'll leave it at that. Huge. Thank you. We can't thank Brian Smith enough for providing us some shocking clarity on the Mike Norvell era. Mike Norvell, at least through 2027, maybe. We appreciate that. Make sure you check Brian out at Lockdown Seminels and on the Portal pod.

He does a great job on both of those shows. Make sure you check Kenton out alongside Grace and Boone on Lockdown Wolfpack. Check me out at Locked on. Locked-on Cains, you know, between talking about playoffs scenarios and ACC championship game scenarios, I don't feel like I have enough, like, math training to qualify me to talk about some of this stuff. But here we are. We'll talk to everyone again next time on another episode of Locked-on ACC. We are part of the number one Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.