Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Oregon and Penn State Face Off in a HUGE battle, Mack Brown Shares Thoughts on Arch Manning

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Oregon and Penn State lead a LOADED week five slate in college football. Also, former Texas Longhorns head coach Mack Brown joins the show to share his thoughts on Arch Manning.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit https://5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025.The Game CapGrab your team’s classic bar or retro circle designed hat and use code LOCKEDON for an exclusive discount. Head to Because legends wear The Game. Head to https://thegamecaps.com DripDropRight now, DripDropis offering Locked On listeners 20% off your first order. Just head to https://dripdrop.com and use promocode LOCKEDONCOLLEGE. Stock up now before the heat hits hard.DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.MazdaIt’s the small details that make the big plays. And just like there’s more to every player, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda. Move and Be Moved. SupplyHouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://www.supplyhouse.com/apply-for-trademasterto sign up for free and use promocode SHCOLLEGE5 for 5% off your first order. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at https://www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.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.

How long will Oklahoma be without John Mateer and how does it affect our top 25 then? Alabama, Georgia, the crimson tide of won 9 of 10 as that script flip and the game of the week. Penn State, Oregon, all of that and more right here on college football kickoff. Welcome back to Fire TV's college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola. I'm your host Drake Toll from Locked on Big 12 and the Savannah Bananas organization. And we're coming in hot from the heart of college football country in Dallas, Texas. On set with me, two legends, 20. 22-time coach of the year, Gary Patterson, and former Tar Heel and Dallas Cowboy, Jesse Holly,

at even a special guest appearance on today's show, the Hall of Famer, Mac Brown. We'll catch up with him in a couple of minutes. Every week throughout the season, we'll be right here breaking down the matchups, the moments, the madness with expert analysis from across the nation. Look for new episodes every Thursday on your Fire TV and Echo Show devices. This is your all-excess pass to the weekend ahead in college football, so let's kick it off. First and foremost, Jesse, we are with the newest. Hall of Fame for the TCU Hall of Fame inductee, Coach Gary Patterson.

Thank you. Congratulations, Coach. That's big, man. It's pretty awesome, man. We're sitting around royalty right now. Look, it is one of the many accolades that are to come, and one of many that have already come for Coach Patterson. It's an honor for both of us at the desk next to you and talk college football with one of

the legends of the game, one of the legends of the horn frogs. We both wanted to say thank you for the knowledge that you bring this show every single week. And congratulations. I appreciate it. Once again, let's start it off with our. Rankings report this week on college football get back. Jesse last week it was coach's number one team, the LSU Tigers.

They fall to four in the AP poll. Miami jumps up to two. Do the hurricanes deserve it after beating Florida? Yeah, they do. They look really well, man. A physical brand of football that Miami Hurricanes are playing right now. They look to be the team to beat in the country. And when Miami football is good, college football is good.

Yeah, coach, let's look at your top five to this point in the season. Like I said, LSU at number one last week. How does it look this week? Well, I agree with Jesse. I put Miami. I moved them up to the top. I told you it would be fluid. LSU still played somebody got after it. Georgia, Ohio State and Penn State, all were kind of down. But you've got Penn State playing Oregon. You've got Ohio State going to Washington. And then you got Georgia and Alabama. So I think there's going to be some movement here. Yeah, we'll learn a lot about LSU as well against Ole Miss. Last week you called them your lookers. I personally like it better than Lerkers. Lerkers, that's a 10-cent word. Can you give me this week's Lurter? workers, coach. Okay. Well, the lurkers are Oregon, Florida State, A&M, and Ole Miss, and, you know, because of the injury report, I had to kind of move OU out of it, but I think time will tell they have

a good football team. Yeah, John Mateer out for Oklahoma. Before we get into that, Texas A&M, currently the best strength of schedule of any undefeated team in the country. So, coach, I completely agree they should be in the conversation for the college football playoff up there. John Mateer, oh you. Jesse, they were a quarterback away last year. That's how they felt. This year they their quarterback and now for the next few weeks they're without their quarterback. Yeah, and that's a devastating blow to this Oklahoma football team. And, you know, coach, as you know, not having your starting quarterback, no one plans for the backup. But the one thing that the Oklahoma students do have going for themselves right now, they have a terrifying

defense. And so Brent Venables and that Oklahoma student football team has to rely on that defense to carry them for the next couple of weeks and hopefully that they can get back John Matera sooner rather than later. Yeah, that defense was incredible against Auburn last weekend. Let's check in on who is in and who is out. Coach, we'll say goodbye to Utah. They dropped completely out of the rankings this week as well as Auburn. But one of the notes I have about the Uts, Illinois got blown out by Indiana, got to stay in the top 25, Utah got blown out by Texas Tech, and we had to say goodbye to them. No, if you were going to throw one out, I would have thrown both of them out because both of them had a pretty big loss, the way it looked.

And so that's just the way I had done it. analytically, maybe the best rushing defense in the country from an efficiency standpoint is BYU. They'll be in the rankings this week at 25. I think Josh Hoover is a sleeper for the Heisman Trophy at number 24 with the TCU Hornfrogs. In the rest of that 25, top 25, we see Notre Dame still hanging around there, Jesse, getting their first win this week. Yeah, they did. And Notre Dame, for their purposes, they have a kind of pretty easy schedule going forward. They only play one big team later on down the line.

But, you know, the schedule makers and the rankers, they look at Notre Dame, and that's a team playing that independent schedule that allows them to stay around in that top 25 so that they can able, so that when we get to that college football playoffs, they're somewhere in there lurking. Less we forget, Coach Vanderbilt's still in the rankings. Jerry Kill, this guy called it week one. Yeah, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt are kind of my fan favorites. But, yeah, they have Utah State this week, an opportunity for Vanderbilt to go to 5-0,

and then they've got Alabama, LSU, and then Missouri. So, I mean, even if you went one and three, if they get by Utah State this week, you got a chance to be six and two at Vandy. I would have to probably say there are a whole lot of people are going to start waking up on this football team. Can he win the big one? He's won a few big ones,

but we're still asking that question about James Franklin at Penn State. It's time to move it to Oregon at Penn State for our game of the week. The game of the week on college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola. It's Zach Seiko of Locked on Nitty Lions, Spencer McLaughlin of Locked on Ducks. Spencer, we will start with you.

It was terrible what you did to those toys in those four movies now, I think. Question number two for the Oregon Ducks this week going on the road to Ben State from the west coast to the east coast. We talk a lot about how that travel can get into the psyche of a college football team. Can the ducks shake the travel woes? Let's start there. I think they can. You know, Oregon in this spot is going to be asked to prove. a lot because we don't really know.

This is the first test of the year for Penn State, but I've seen most of this Penn State roster get to a national semifinal and be within a drive of the national championship game last year. I haven't seen this version of the Oregon players do that. So I think for this Ducks team, it's a great test because they've looked really impressive through their first four games.

I actually think it's better they play on the whiteout rather than Big Noon, I think going that far across the country and playing at 9 a.m. Pacific time, which is the body clock for these Oregon guys would be a lot tougher. You saw him be slow out of the gates against Northwestern when they kicked off at 9 o'clock. But certainly the whiteout is the greatest environment in college football and will be a real challenge because it will be the first time that Oregon will have potentially serious communication problems this year. So it's a big test for Dante Moore, big test for this young Oregon team. But if they play the way they're capable, they will come out on top on Saturday.

Zach Saco locked on, Nipney Lions, people are still asking if James Franklin can win the big one. In my opinion, he's won a lot of big ones to this point. Is there a worry he can't get over some sort of fictitious hump in a big game like this? Well, and that's just it. He's won the games that Penn State is supposed to. They're better than Boise State. They're better than SMU. But when it gets into that territory, hey, it's a toss-up.

You're a slight underdog. So I guess Penn State has a going for them when they're, a three and a half point favorite in this game. It's at home. All of the factors line up because it, it, you couldn't have a better situation if you're Penn State. You get two weeks to prepare for the Oregon Ducks.

You get the non-conference schedule. There's that debate, you know, battle tested, rest versus rust. In this situation early in the season, I'm going to side with the rest. You get two full weeks to prepare for the Oregon Ducks. All the focus has been there. It's the whiteout. You actually catch Oregon, I think,

in a spot where this isn't the best version of the Oregon Ducks. I think Dante Moore, Decorian, Moore, that core of young talent on offense and defense is only going to get better. So if I'm Penn State, I would rather play them now at home with a by week, with a non-conference schedule

that really didn't push any limits. You couldn't ask for a better setup if you're the knitting lines. Spencer, Zach just spit in your face virtually. It seems as though it's saying the Oregon Ducks, maybe we'll be better in a few weeks. Give me a quick synopsis final score of this game. I think that SACO is actually fair to point out that Oregon might be better later in the season.

What I'd encourage him to do is go back and watch the first few games of the year in which the biggest struggle Oregon has had so far is a 34 to nothing lead against Northwestern and then the starters got pulled. That's been the closest game Oregon has played so far. Maybe that's to their detriment. Maybe Penn State was playing three-dimensional chess by keeping it close with FIU into the fourth quarter. at home because they're going to be battle tested in a close game in that spot. There are a lot of factors working in the Nittany Lions favor in this game and a lot that are

working against Oregon as well. You talk about experience. You talk about the coordinator matchups. You know, you've got Jim Knowles on the other side who really took it to Will Stein and the Oregon offense when he was with Ohio State in the Rose Bowl game on the road, long trip, Penn State off a by. I think Oregon can absolutely go out and win this game. They need to do a lot of things really well.

And I've been a believer in Penn State all offseason. So I've got the Nany Lions winning, actually, 34 to 29 over the ducks. Zach, he's going to go with the team that you cover. I told them to keep it brief. He failed to do so. Can you try your hand at keeping it brief and giving me a final score? I'm glad that he brought up the Jim Noles factor, the whiteout environment. It is as vaunted as it is for a reason.

I will go 31 to 27. it's going to, I think these teams will be able to move the football. I mean, it's an electric offense versus a team that's still trying to find a little more identity on offense. But Penn State's ground game will be the difference alongside having Jim Knowles versus Tom Allen because that's why Oregon won this first time around in that Big Ten championship. Thank you, Spencer. Thank you, Zach. Best of luck this week to the players on the field. Statue of Limitations has run out on my crimes against those toys. Spencer McLaughlin have locked on Ducks.

Zach Sakego of Locked on Nitty Lions. They're the experts bringing you everything you could love about in both college football, the ducks, the Nany Lions each and every day. Being a passionate fan is hard work. All the pomp and circumstance makes you work up a thirst. Fan work is thirsty work. Enjoy a refreshing Coca-Cola. Coach, this is a rematch of last year's Big Ten championship game.

Oregon and the Big Ten, still a little odd. But it was a game of offense last season, nearly looking around 1,000 yards total with these two teams combined. Will we see another offensive lead game? Well, they talked earlier about the Jim Knowles effect. It'll be interesting because he really had Oregon's number a year ago. They're going to be physical. But I do believe this. They're both very dynamic when it comes to offense.

You've got the two running backs for Penn State. You've got the new quarterback and all the weapons, really, they have it, wide receiver and running back. So I think it's going to be an early match for the playoffs. You know, Jesse, I believe Drew, Alar is the best quarterback playing in this game, the QB for Penn State. Outside of that, the speed of Oregon has looked so deadly. Granted against nobody, but still, Oregon looks good. No, they do. And that speed is definitely what they have the factor in is being able to go out there

and have multiple players on each level, you know, quarterback, running back, receivers. That's one of the things that Oregon always gives you that level of speed and that versatility and multiplicity in their offense. And Penn State has to be ready to defend that for two-haves. Who delivered this week in the Big 12? We're giving it to Texas Tech quarterback, Will Hammond. There's no doubt about that. He obviously had the big game coming off the bench to lead the Texas Tech Red Raiders to the big win over the Utah Utes. Absolutely, player and freshman up the weekend.

If you've been watching week after week, Texas Tech looks like they're the class of the Big 12. They are absolutely on a streak. And just like Wilhelm delivered for Texas Tech, DoorDash delivers on your Saturday. The DoorDash Streaks every Saturday you order, you can stack it up all season longings. they have up to $250, including $100 in DoorDash credits. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your game day only with DoorDash terms applied.

The promo period runs through 1118. Today's show is also brought to you by our friends over at Fandual. The NFL season is here. It's time to get in on the action. I can't miss offer for you as a new customer. You bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus pets to use across the app. That's right off.

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That's Fandual.com. Place your first $5 bet and cash it in with our friends over at Fandulul. Now there's one game that we have overlooked to this point and not given the true analysis for quite yet. And that is I can't miss match up. Why bury the lead any longer? Let's go to the SEC. It's LSU at Ole Miss. Stephen Willis of locked on Ole Miss.

Stephen, this is a massive matchup, obviously, for both of these teams. But let's first talk Lane Kiffin. He's always got a headline or two out there. This feels a big week with him from rumors about his daughter dating a player for LSU to the documentary dropping. I mean, is the off-the-field stuff so normalized for Ole Miss now that it's a non-issue on Saturdays? You know what?

Nobody's even noticing. This is just running the mill the way it goes with Lane Kiffin being your head coach. And so the fan base for Old Miss is going to be absolutely fine. The thing that I'm concerned about is I'm getting a little bit of Peach Bowl PTSD seeing Coach Patterson over there. Yeah. Look, it's shocking for a lot of our locked on host to see the guy who's toppled their favorite program on multiple occasions. And the goal is for Brian Kelly and LSU to be toppled by Ole Miss if it's in the hands of Lane Kiffin and he calls the shot. is there a way?

It reminds me vaguely of Ole Miss and Georgia last season. Does it have that same vibe for you? A little bit, but I think this game is a little bit different and it's going to come down to the movable object versus the resistable force in LSU's run game versus Ole Miss's run defense, whichever imposes their will, is probably going to have a chance to get the victory on Saturday.

The environment's going to be absolutely electric. I know that the Ole Miss fan base and the Ole Miss staff and everybody feels good about it. And they just want to take LSU to Trinidad at this point. So let's just let's go. Stephen, how will this game play out? Are we looking at a four-quarter battle or can Ole Miss pull away? Oh, it's definitely going to be a four-quarter battle, in my opinion.

If this game popped up, it would be 17 to 17 in the fourth quarter, and nobody should be surprised by that. They remember the game two years ago in 2023 where Jaden Daniels and Ole Miss, and they were going up and down the field. I don't think that's going to be this game. LSU's defense is too good. Ole Miss's defense matches up very well with LSU's offense, in my opinion. I think it's going to be a tight game and you don't want to give LSU short fields.

You don't want to turn the ball over. You want to play as clean as possible. And if you can do that, you are going to be all right because this is probably the best defense that if Trinidad makes the whole season and does all that, This is the best defense he's going to see. So there is a little bit of a litmus test happening in this game as well. No doubt. Stephen, before we get you out of here quickly, give me a quarterback prediction.

Do we see a couple of guys this week and give me a final score prediction? Trinidad Chambliss is going to start. It was announced by Chris Lowe a little bit earlier on in the day. But I do think there's a chance you'll see both quarterbacks in this game. Austin Simmons practices a little bit earlier in the week as well. So we'll see what happens. I think Ole Miss wins this game. 24 to 17, and it's a party in Oxford.

I love it. Stephen Willis have locked on Ole Miss. He is the expert five days a week, bringing you everything you need to know. Thanks so much, Stephen. Thanks, guys. Jesse, I love it. Trinidad Chamliss didn't know if he'd start a single game this season coming from Faris State to Old Miss. Now, he's their guy. Incredible story. Yeah, he steps up when the starting quarterback goes down, and what he gives you is a dynamic quarterback.

He can run the ball really well, pass the ball really well. And you know, in all of the Lane Kiffin officers, it's going to be explain. And he gives you that dual threat. So Lane Kiffin has a special one in Trinidad. Yeah, in all defenses, they hate it when the quarterback can run. And this guy is pretty special when it comes to that. Coach, here's a question for you. The Lane Kiffin-pomping circumstance of the week, he seems like that one coach

that can get away with it. That when the storyline and the headlines about him, his guys still show up and play. He still shows up in coaches to a level. There's no distraction. How is he pulled off something that I'm not sure we've seen to this level anywhere in college football? You know, there's just some people. There's some ADs or you and I, we can say things and people will get mad about it.

And then you have a friend that he can say it and they just kind of go, oh, that's him, him saying it. That's Lane Kiffin. He's just been, he's had that personality where he's a very smart football coach. He's won everywhere he's went. And now he's in a situation where all this stuff comes up. And you heard him talk about, hey, it just, old miss people have just got used to it. It's just kind of like it's a side show. It's just Lane.

That's a great way to say it. I also heard him bring up Gary Patterson. Thing of nightmares. There you go, guys. Good little nod to coach here. This has been Jesse's favorite segment every single week. I'm sure it will not disappoint this week. Let's take you to our lock of the day.

Thanks, Drake. Looking forward to another big week of college football. And now it's time for our lock of the week. Open it, open it, open it. Lee has the key to the lock of the day. AX's A&M sits at 3-0 on the season after beating Notre Dame two weeks ago. Auburn tried to bounce back after their loss to Oklahoma last week. Lee, the Aggies favorite at home against the Tigers.

What do you like? Well, Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold, I mean, he gave it his best effort last week as he went in to face his old team, the Oklahoma Sooners and Norman, but just wasn't quite good enough. He was sacked 10 times and harassed all game long. Now he has to get up back off the deck after that disappointment, go home and then go on the road again to face Texas A&M before over 100,000 fans. And this Texas A&M team and their pass rush is going to get after them also. They already have nine sacks on the season. On offense, I love Texas A&M's blitz pickup.

They're running back to do a great job there. And they added two receivers, Mario Craver from Mississippi State and Casey Concepcion. These two guys have combined for 33 catches and almost 700 yards and seven touchdowns. I think Marcel Reed, he's going to lead an aerial assault here for the Aggies. He might be in the top three and Heisman early voting if he gets the job done. Lay the points here in Texas A&M, that's going to be a big time lock for me on Saturday afternoon. And for more daily picks, subscribe to a lot on bets. to the college football kickoff studio.

We'll see you next week, Drake. And thank you, Kevin. Thank you, Lee, for the sake of my kneecaps. I will not mention that last week the guys picked Nebraska over Michigan, but they did. Now, we talked, I'm going to bring up every week because you were spot on. Your first coach is going to. You like that, huh?

They also picked Texas over Ohio State. If we're keeping score. My God, Lee. Coach, you called at week one with your first coach's corner, Jerry Kale and Vanderbilt, a team to watch. They are now in the top 20 in college football. This week, let's welcome in another Hall of Famer. He's a national champion, and everyone knows him and loves him.

It's going to be Mack Brown with our own Gary Patterson, right here on Coach's Corner. Well, my friend, Coach Brown, thanks so much for being on the show. You know, this is a privilege for us, so we really appreciate you taking the time to be a part of us. I know you and I had some conversations, and one of the things we wanted to talk in Coach's Corner was about handling players. And you and I had, I heard you talk earlier in the week last week about some comments on Arch. And you did tell me a story also. And I'd like you to start out with it a little bit about having the same situation with Vince Young back when you coached him there at Texas. So could you tell us a little bit about that?

Yes, Gary. Number one, thanks for having me on. I love and appreciate you. And congratulations on going into the TCU Hall of Fame. Very, very deserving. Thank you. you'll be in all the other Hall of Fames before you get through. And all those athletic directors that have opening should be calling you instead of me talking to you right now.

So I've got to get you back on the sideline where you need to. We always, and Gary and I coached a lot of like, but we always wanted our coaches to treat the players like they would want their sons or daughters to be treated. That makes sense. We always sell family. We sell togetherness. So treat them like you want your sons and daughters to be treated. You're going to be hard on them.

You're going to be disciplined with them. but you're going to love them and care about it. And when they're down, you've got to pick them up. So Vince was a young quarterback for us. He was playing Oklahoma. We fumbled inside the 10 twice. They had a great team with a great defense. Had Adrian Peterson.

We get beat 12 to nothing. It's one of the few times Texies hadn't scored in a game. I think 800 years or something is a long time that I remember. So the next week we're playing Missouri. They're great on defense. Gary Pinkle is a head coach. They're really good. We're playing in Austin, and it's not good to play in Austin after you've lost on the road to Oklahoma or in Dallas.

So it's not an exciting proud. They're kind of restless anyway. And Vince throws a bunch of interceptions in the first step. So he's really struggling. So I take him out. He throws his helmet. He's on the sideline. Things are bad.

I walk over, and Chance Mock was a really good quarterback that we had benched earlier in the year for Vince. And Chance had thrown 17. touchdowns and one interception, but he couldn't run. And we were young in the offensive line, and you do whatever you need to do to win. So if it's not working, you change it. So I walk over, I grab Vince at 6-6. I covered my mouth and I said, okay, everybody's watching you. We benched, Mark, he handled things great. He's been supportive of you. You need to get back on that sideline and be supportive of chance and help us win the game. Cedric Benson went off the second half.

We end up winning 28, 24. So you're through the game. You benched your future star at quarterback. You're not sure where it's going to go. So the next morning, I sit down with he and Greg Davis, the offensive coordinator, and we showed him video of him in high school. And we said, what happened to this guy? This was one of the best players in the country that we recruited.

And then we showed him great video plays of him from Texas. We said, this guy's unbelievable now. family, friends, media, everybody are gotten in your head, man. They're saying you're not throwing enough. And they're saying that you've got bad throwing motion and they're all over you. And it's affecting you. It's got to your mind. We need the guy back that we recruited.

And the only staff that a quarterback is remembered for is wins and losses. That's the only thing anybody's ever going to remember. Then I'm going to know how you threw it, how many times you threw it, and they're not going to care. Did you beat Oklahoma? Did you beat Arkansas? Did you beat TCU? Did you beat Texas Tech?

What's your record, man? That's the only thing they're going to think about. So we're playing Texies Tech the next week. Mike Leach is the coach. They've just beat Nebraska 70 to 10. They're number 10 in the country. We're going to Lubbock after they've had a week off. And they don't like Texas very much out there.

And I told Vince, we're going to let you practice this week. We're going to like you play. but if you don't play better, I've got to bench you. I've got to put chance in. I can't let you continue to play. You've got to play better. So he didn't have a great week's practice, Gary, and we're on the field,

and Greg Davis and I are watching him in pregame, and he bounced a couple of balls, and we're just saying, man, I don't know. I don't know. And I always wonder why your stomach hurts before a game. You never know how they're going to play. They're not video games. So you don't have any clue.

How are they going to play? I don't know. And 11, play at a time, Howard, 10 them play good and one screws up they score. So we go into the game. Vince is 11 for 15 passing, 250 yards, he rushed for 250 yards, we win 52 to 17, and he never lost another game. So you got to pick them up. You got to make them feel good. College quarterbacks right now have so much pressure on. And we talk about college football 365 days a year, and they only play 12 to 16 games.

So they hear it every day. He's a first round draft choice. He's going to win the Housman. They haven't played yet. Let them earn it on the field. And that's what Arch is doing. He had a great game against Sam Houston last weekend. It's Sam Houston, but that was the team that was out there.

And he completed 11 passes in a row. He's second in the country, a number of touchdowns with 15, nine passing, and five rushing. He made some really hard throws that are impressive that will help him. Yeah. But the Texas fans, I'm so proud of them, 100 plus showed up. They were all positive. They were all into it.

They didn't come to see Sam Houston. They came to see Texas. They came to pick up Arch. And now Texas has won 17 out of the last 18 games at home. And we got to pick these guys up. We're putting with NIL's added pressure, these are not pro football players. We say they are because we're paying them, but they're still 20 year olds. They're still 18.

Would you say, coach, because you know his granddad, Archie, and then also know his uncles and his dad and everyone, that also adds a little bit of pressure to the whole situation too because, you know, he wants to be able to make them proud and do all of it. And I thought what you said when I listened to it and what you just said right now was, You know, just, hey, let him slowly move in. I know it's Texas and they want to win a national title, but, you know, their only way they're going to do that is if they have a great quarterback play, so how do you find a way to do that?

Yeah, it's just, it is what it is. I always said that it's not pressure at Texas, it's pride. They have so much pride in their team. And the buildup is so high. And you did it at TCU, Gary. I did it at Texas. You win so much. you get these expectations so high, Coach Smith,

we used to call it creating a monster. And he said, you can't keep that monster fed, man. Well, it's going to get the back end faster and you can feed it in the front end. And I think that really happens at a lot of these jobs. Well, we agree. And coach, as always, it's time. We could talk to you for an hour,

but we sure appreciate you coming on the show and talking about both Vince and Arch. And we wish you the best. And thank you, my friend, for your friendship and all the things you did for me. We'll see you. you, Gary. And thank you guys for having me on. And I love you talking about college football. What a game. Thank you. Today shows brought to you by our friends over at Mazda, moving the game forward.

For those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it, these are the moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture and keep moving the game forward. This week, the moment is, well, Will Hammond coming off the bench for the Texas Tech Red Raiders as he came off the bench to score 21 on answer as Texas Tech beat the Utah Uts, 34 to 10. It's an absolutely electric moment. And as such, he won a number of awards, Big 12 player of the week, Big 12 freshman of the week. And he very well may have Wally pipped his way to the starting job in Lubbock. When you move what follows you, the unexpected is only the beginning. And just like there's more to every highlight, there's more to every Mazda vehicle. Check it out with our friends over at Mazda.

We'd like to say move and be moved. Coach, first and foremost, big thank you to you for bringing Mack Brown on. That was special. Yeah, yeah, you know, as you as you listened, I mean, the guy is, he's golden. so much knowledge. He cared so much for kids, won so many football games, won a national championship. And, you know, he always helped me. I can tell you this as a young head coach, I would call him and ask him about things. And he was always, he was always great to me. Let's segue that into our topic of the week. Mack Brown's segue out of North Carolina last year

into Bill Belichick was a massive offseason storyline. And coaching struggles this year have been huge even this week in the papers, if they still print those. Mike Gundy being fired at Oklahoma State will not finish the season. Coach, we'll peel back the curtain a little bit. You and I had an hour-long drive last week, and I asked you about Mike Gundy, you know, what it's like to go through a spell where the university has maybe lost faith in a coach or the administration is not giving the proper tools and infrastructure for the coach to succeed. Now this week, Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State after two decade run, no longer the head coach.

Well, yeah, you know, him and in two different situations, both him and Davos Sweeney. Number one, they both have won a lot of football games. Two, they've set a very high standard for their fan base. And so what happens is, and Mike, because I think the same amount of years that I was the head coach of TCU, 21 years, and, you know, they decide to part ways. And what people need to understand is it's not so much about the coach, you know, there's 30 or 40 families that are part of your whole office. And so the head coach is going to be fine.

But, you know, I just say this. I do believe, you know, it just comes with the territory as far as what we have to get accomplished as head coaches. And at some point in time, sometimes they just want to hear somebody else talk. But I do believe this. I think, and I look at it now three years later after with everything that went down with TCU, is that I think both the coach has to look back and say, what could I did different? And the other thing that you do is I think the university has to take a deep dive into what do we have to do. to make sure that we can get this going.

Because usually when something, you win as many games as Mike Gundy did, and all of a sudden it's not going well, okay, then it's not usually just not usually the head coach. So my advice would be to Oklahoma State that they're going to have to be able to look. And my advice to Davoswine is you're a good football coach, you're a great leader of men, and you've got to make sure that, you know, that you do that even when things aren't going well.

And there's a couple of things when you look at that and you break that down. One, it's you either evolve or you die. And one of the things that those two coaches, in particular, Dabo Sweeney and Mike Gundy, when it comes to the NIL and it comes to the transfer portal, these are two guys who kind of really pushed against that, right? And then from a fan base, you know, coach talked about having, you know, 30 and 40 coaches and all that. And not to be insensitive. Yeah. Fans don't care. They don't care about any of that.

All they care about, what do we open the show with, the rankings. Are you winning football games? Are you competing in the national championship? Are you putting your team on the map? What you did yesterday doesn't pay the bills today a lot of times, right? And so a lot of football fans are, what have you done for me lately? And so these particular coaches, yes, they've had a high expectation instead of a high standard. But as of today, your football team's not winning, and that voice sometimes gets a little bit stale to not only your university and your players, but really stale to your fan base.

Now, when it becomes stale to, in Mike Gundy's situation, to the administration, obviously, as they parted ways with him this week, to me, at some level, I feel like Mike Gundy could be walking into a better situation outside of Oklahoma State. When the administration, the fan base, maybe the team around you has lost trust in the head coach. I'd much rather be somewhere on a beach with a bush light in my hand than I, or another university coach that wants to support me as the leader of football program. Well, I think also what happened to Coach Gundy was saying with me, if you look on the social media, there are still a lot of players, a lot of fans that are still sad that it happened the way it did. But at the end of the day, he knows he can coach. He's done it for a long time.

He did it at a place. A lot of people say, you can't do it. I think the same thing happened with Davo of understanding what he's been able to do at Clemson. And, you know, I just look back and just think about it. about the people that are inside the building. I think that's what, and the players and everything, and same with me with going into the Hall of Fame this last week. It's, you get a chance to look them all in the face

and say, hey, look, sometimes again, and I said this just a second ago, you know, sometimes it just gets to where they need to have somebody else talk. I mean, just somebody else has got to be able to pick up the slack and get going. You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

We all here at the desk, in full support of Coach Mike Gundy and hope the best for him this offseason into wherever he lands next. I'm a man. I'm 40. Right? They were the top 25 last year. They fired the guy? All time, one of all time greatest lunches ever to ever go down. It was Justin Bieber's ringtone. That's how big. I'm a man, I'm 40 was. Got to wonder with that commercial, what are they going to do with that commercial? It's been playing here recently. That's a question that somebody else will figure out. For us, we need to go to our playoff playbook. Oh, wait a second.

Did you guys know what Alabama and Georgia are playing this week? It's an incredible slate of college football for the fact that we're just now getting to Alabama at Georgia. Coach, nine of the last 10 have gone home with the Crimson Tide. Does that script flip this year? They're both good. I mean, I don't know how you ever, when those two get together, I don't know how you pick a winner. It doesn't really matter who was going in as a favorite. It's been a great battle.

And two, a lot of athletes on the field. Yeah, let's go to Luke Robinson of Locked-on Bama because they looked bad that first week for the last couple of weeks against the cupcakes. They've at least taken care of business. Alabama is going to beat Georgia this Saturday, and I'm here to tell you why, hey, everybody, this is Luke Robinson who will be locked on Bama.

I want to let you know that Alabama will win this game Saturday night. There's several reasons. First of all, Ty Simpson is playing just about as well as any quarterback in the country right now. We saw what Tennessee was able to do against Georgia's secondary. which isn't as good as it has been in the last few years. Also, Alabama's defense is certainly coming on.

I think that's going to help a lot. Factor in that Georgia's due for a loss at home. I know that's a little bit superstitious, but they've won 33, I think, in a row at home, and it's time somebody beat them. And that somebody will be Alabama this Saturday night behind. A great game from Tice Simpson, another good game from Ryan Williams against Georgia.

and a surprisingly good game. I'm going to go out on limb and say, Isaiah Horton has a big game in this one too. Thank you, Luke Rob, crazy lighting right there. Rapture's already on the way in the Robinson household. They're taking care of their own business this week. Clint Shamblet of Locked-on Bulldogs has Georgia winning 24 to 17. It'll be a fantastic battle.

Then there's the classic Big Ten matchup this week. It's a rivalry, Jesse. USC at Illinois. You know, and Felica Riley, he just quietly. at 4-0 and just not, you don't hear much talking about what's going on on the West Coast and Illinois coming off a molly-wapping last week. But Lincoln Riley's got this team playing a little, you're going to play really well, 4-0, and you're always going to get explosive offense with Lincoln Riley.

Well, you know, it's all going to be played after 10 o'clock. But, no, he is. And, you know, he's made some changes, and they've straightened up, and they have been very quiet. I think everybody's just kind of forgotten about him a little bit. And that might be to their advantage. I think nobody's been talking about him. And I think that helps Lincoln Rowley. He's a good football coach.

He's got a good staff. Notre Dame at Arkansas. Another win, it's the Lou Holtz Bowl happening in Fayetteville this week. Two teams that have completely missed expectations so far in 2025. We'll go to Tyler Wojjjeeak of Lockdown Irish to see if those guys can get it done. Tyler Rojek here, the host of Lockdown Irish. And this Saturday against Arkansas is absolutely a must-win game for Notre Dame. After starting the year one and two, the Irish have zero margin for air if they want to keep any hope alive for the college football playoff.

And every game left on the schedule is essentially an elimination game. But looking beyond the playoff picture, this is about proving culture and toughness going on the road into a hostile SEC environment against a Razorback team that's desperate to save its season is exactly the kind of moment that can either spark a turnaround or bury you for good. I trust Marcus Freeman and the talent on this roster. And that's why I like the Irish to come out strong. make a statement and get a big win in Fayetteville. Coach, I think Sam Pittman at Arkansas, and he's mentioned it, is coaching for his job at this point. What kind of pressure do you think Arkansas has going into a game at home like this? You know, they've been saying this about Sam for the last two or three years.

So, I mean, it's not somebody. You know what, I'll promise you it's not crossing his mind. It's not crossing any of them. They're finding, they're looking how can we upset them? It's a hard place to play. If you haven't been to an SEC environment very often, it's a hard place to go play. And Fayetteville is definitely, and it would be a game changer and a game saver, I think, for him if he pulls it off. And, you know, if you looked last week, the speed factor, I think with A&M with Notre Dame was a big difference.

So was it Craver, the wide receiver, I think, and that's, I think you have a big quarterback that's very athletic. And he has some guys to throw two at Arkansas. So I think it's going to be a big ball game. Jesse, Auburn at Texas A&M, is this the week? Do not pick against Lee Sterling. Do not pick against Lee Sterling. Is this the week that Auburn upsets Lee Sterling against the win? You know, I don't know.

And I don't want to go against my guy Lee. But, you know, with Jackson Arnold, the quarterback, like, he's one of these guys where you want to put the game on his shoulders. He just hadn't shown you enough from that quarterback position to really win a football game for you. Not a bad quarterback. Just not the superstar quarterback. They got to get the run game going in Auburn for him. him to be successful so they can play off the run game and not put so much pressure on Jackson Arnold.

Yeah, A&M finally won the big one. They got Mike Elko in there who gave them the big one against Notre Dame. Maybe they can keep that mojo together at home against an Auburn team that I still think is wily, despite losing at Oklahoma. Jesse, Ohio State at Washington, another one on my radar. Washington's undefeated, just a couple years removed from the college football playoff, the national championship game. this could turn out to be a sneaky matchup on Saturday.

Yeah, it could be, but, you know, Washington, this is their real first test of the season, really going up against an opponent like Ohio State and what they can do defensively. I think that always poses a challenge to the opposing teams' offense. And, you know, and then on top of that, what they have in their office, you know, Jalen Sayers and then you have Jeremiah Smith, those two guys going at it towards that Washington football team. It'll be a good mass up. But this is where you get a chance to test your team. against an opponent like Ohio State.

Well, I think the advantage, and it said it earlier that Washington has is they've played very well at home. I think that's the way their kids are going to feel, and their coaching staff is going to feel is that, you know, this is our one chance to get this done because we're going to have the fans behind us. You're supposed to lose. Washington's supposed to lose. Yeah. So why don't go win? You know, the pressure's off.

This is the game that it's all gravy if you do lose by seven. Hey, look, there's still plenty in your headlights for the rest of the college football season for the Huskies. That's a lot. Saturday is loaded. Even Friday night, TCU at Arizona State. Didn't even get to that. There are so many spectacular matchups this week. But that's a wrap for us right here on college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola. But this season is starting to heat up. Next week, all eyes on Miami versus Florida State and a chance for Vandy. That's right, Vandy to make another statement against Alabama. Same time, same set, same unapologetic football energy. And a big thanks to Coach Gary Patterson

and Jesse Holly for bringing the heat. And to you for riding shotgun with us. Enjoy all the action this weekend. Stay locked in. Stay fired up. And we'll see you next Thursday right here on Fire TV.