Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - SHAKEUP: Christopher Vizzina Leads Clemson into LSU Showdown—Will He DELIVER?

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

Clemson Tigers shake up their quarterback room as Christopher Vizzina secures the starting spot over freshman Tait Reynolds, but questions remain about the team’s offensive firepower. Can Dabo Swinney’s gamble on experience over star power keep Clemson in ACC championship contention, or will uncertainty under center derail another title run? Julian Council and Kenton Gibbs break down the quarterback battles across the ACC, spotlighting Ethan Grunkemeyer’s rise to QB1 at Virginia Tech and examining what it means for the Hokies bowl ambitions. The show provides context on team depth charts, highlights critical Week 1 matchups—such as Georgia Tech’s run-heavy attack against Colorado—and raises concerns about Mike Norvell’s Florida State Seminoles after a rocky debut in Week 0. With predictions, rankings, and candid takes, Locked On ACC gets fans ready for opening-week fireworks and big questions across the conference. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! KALSHI For a limited time, Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. . Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/COLLEGE ! #squarepod ULTRA POUCHES Don’t sleep on Ultra Pouches. New customers get 15% Off with code LOCKEDONCOLLEGEFOOTBALL at https://takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad 5-Hour ENERGY Bring on the sweetness with Cotton Candy 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots—available online now at https:/5hourENERGY.com or on Amazon. Gametime Today'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. FanDuel College football Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited, and this season, FanDuel is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM 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.

We finally have a starting quarterback in Clemson, one in Blacksburg as well. We'll tell you who that is 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 Locked on ACC podcast. I am Julian Counsel, and he is former NC State Football Letterman, Kenton Gibbs, and we're part of the Lockedon. on podcast network coming up on today's episode of Lockdown

ACC. It's a Wednesday heading into week one. There are plenty of news and notes to go over. We'll do that to close out today's show. But we have big news coming out of Blacksburg. I guess it's big news. But Ethan Gruckemeyer, as expected, finally announced as starting quarterback James Franklin doing that. What does that mean for the Hokies in year one under James Franklin? But bigger news down in Clemson, South Carolina. I asked to end yesterday's show. Dabo were waiting.

He finally told us on Tuesday afternoon as you met with the media naming Christopher Bazina the fourth year quarterback as his starting quarterback on Saturday, at least on Saturday, not saying for this season, but on Saturday down in Baton,

Root saying, quote, CV is just a little ahead. He's not a mile ahead, but he's ahead. Practice matters. There was a time where I thought that Tate had a chance to take the job, and then he had a couple of disaster

Astros days where he looked like a freshman. Ken Gibbs, your thoughts on Christopher Zina, a name I have a tough time saying, going to be the starter on Saturday for Clemson down in Baton Rouge. You know why? Because he called him a starter, Julian. That's the problem. Him as a bad up, it just rose off the tip of the teeth,

the lips, the tongue. It just rose off. But when you think of him as a starter, Julian, your brain is telling you something is a riot here. Something is amiss. Something in the water is not as it should be. All is not well in fairy tale land

because I have heard nothing good. And Julian, you tell me, you're in Charlotte. That's the closest major metropolitan to that area and all that good stuff. I'm sure you've got great intel out of Clemson Camp. Have you heard anything that says, oh, Be ready for this passing guy. Oh, he looks on. Oh, he's, be ready for this passing.

I haven't heard. I've certainly read a lot. I have a problem. I'm on Tiger Illustrated every day, and I'm not even a Clemson fan, but hosting the show, I'm trying to stay as informed as I can. And Larry Williams does a great job,

but yeah, has Larry Williams said, has anybody said he looks great? This passing game is going to be on fire. Expect something big. Yeah, no, not necessarily. What the Intel has been is that in recent weeks, Vizina and Reynolds, Tate Reynolds, the true freshman, have not looked

great. But Vizina's done enough to this point in time to earn the job experience, obviously, is a big factor you would think going into that game in Baton Rouge. Now, Dabo has made it seem like he would have been willing to start Tate Reynolds on Saturday if that was the best decision for Clemson. But also, it's been reported, at least from Larry Williams and the folks that Tiger illustrated part of the On 3 network that they believe that being Davosweeney clearly, but Chad Morris, more importantly, they

believe that they don't have a superstar quarterback, that they can have Vizina who can give them what they need offensively to score enough points, which I think is going to leave you and a lot of people skeptical, and I'm certainly whining to see it before truly believing that will be the case.

Now, let's look through the history of Clemson with Davo Sweeney. Have they ever won big when they had a quarterback that you win with and not a guy that you win because of? Have they ever won big? Well, what do you define as winning big? Well, 10 more, 10 or more or, you know, ACC championship, that type of territory. Well, they have because they, well, hell, they did with Cade Clubnick.

And they also, twice with Cade Clubbeck. Stop it. Stop it. If we want to go back to you. It's not the same. Fine. Let's not put Cade in there. Kelly Bryant, 2017. They won the ACC. Okay.

And Kelly was not the guy and they got almost shut out. So that was the time they did it. That's fair. And you know what? You're right there. However, the overwhelming history shows that you're bringing up the exception, not the rule. For the most part, when Clemson is at their best,

when they're winning big, when their national championship contenders, when they are looked at as the crown jewel of not just the ACC, but of all of college sports, they have a dynamic playmaker back there. They do not have, I mean, he's a height. I mean, this is four years in the program. And I want everybody to note how particular dabble was with that language, saying, if I thought it was the best idea to start tape,

I would have. He had the opportunity. Oh, I have more for you, actually, if you want to hear more about what he had to say, because it's not fair. He said, quote, CV has just been incredibly steady and has put his head down and gone to work. He came out ahead to this point. Right now, we can't go any further. I can't give him a lifetime contract, but we're going to see as far as you can go right now, he's got to play well. I'll say this about Tate.

He's a true freshman walking in here and is super talented. You can't just be talented, though, but he's not going away. I would say it's probably likely that he will play versus LSU. We have a competition there and we'll just go from there. I think both of our quarterbacks can win for Clemson. So his initial statement is saying that TV's ahead right now, but not miles ahead. And then the secondary statement is we'll see. This is still an open competition.

He must play well not just on Saturday in Baton Rouge, but next Saturday against Georgia Southern. And a Saturday after that, he even makes at that point against North Carolina to maintain this job and that Tate Reynolds is right there on his heels. So this is not over. We're going to be monitoring this situation you would think at least until Cal maybe the Miami game on October 3rd,

by the way that Dav was talking. Julian, you and I, we're about the same age. Football has been a major part of my life since I was, ever since I could remember, honestly. Yeah, you know, shout out the 3-6 Mafia. Ever since I can remember, I've loved this old pig skin, right? I'm sure it's been the same for you.

now as much football knowledge as we have between us about four or five decades darn near at this point right if you got two quarterbacks what's the old adage if you got two of them how many do you have you have none what do you mean what do you mean this young man has been the program for four years for four years now this is going on year four and you're telling me well he's done enough we'll play both guys. This guy got on campus in like January and he's shown flashes and that he's there, he's talented. I need to play him. This should be a critical note for all Clemson's advance. This should be if you betting that under over on that win total and you're thinking about this team. If you think about betting on what's going to happen in Death Valley, I'm going to tell you

what, I'm worried, I'm concerned that my head coach is, oh, you're going to. Oh, you're going to be, Yeah, you got to earn the spot every day. You could say that about almost every other position. I'm like, yeah, safety, you got to earn your spot every day, brother. Yeah, you do your thing. Yeah, defensive tackle, you got to earn your spot every day. Yeah, left tackle, you got to earn you. The spot should be earned.

It should be, hey, this is our guy. We're rocking with him. We're rolling with him. We rock and he rolling. We're going to make this thing happen. That's what we got going on. But again, the intel has been that neither guy has been barring away great. That's what the intel has been.

we know four years in the program what we're looking at here. And we know with all due respect, as much as people say the rankings don't matter, stars don't matter and all that. Look at the national championship teams. What's their blue chip ratio? So apparently the guys like Lugan Bill and Whitfong and all those guys in NACOS and company, they get paid good money to follow around these high schoolers for a reason. And you've got a three star on your heels as a fourth year quarterback.

Well, to add a little context, I suppose, Reynolds was committed to play baseball, was focused on that, took a little bit for him to focus, high school football-wise, and then he was injured a majority of a senior year. They will upgrade the rankings at the end of the day. But you do bring up a solid point that this isn't Trevor Lawrence,

who's all-world, this isn't Deshaun Watson, who's all-world, who's coming out, and you knew he's going to take the job eventually from Cole Stout. You knew that after watching Kelly Bryant, that Trevor's going to take the job away. And we saw off Kate,

and Cade was the top quarterbacks. It was DJ. It took a while and DJ couldn't play. And Cade's now the backup with the Jets, which it's the Jets, but he's a backup in the NFL. And that is still something. But, Julian, there were two quarterbacks.

There were two quarterbacks in front of DJ Ouyang-Lule. Do you remember who those two quarterbacks were? Do you remember? Well, one of them was a judge- Lawrence and C.J. In high school. No, no, I'm saying in high school. So even if we say DJ can't play.

If you look at the top three, two of those guys. Because they do like the whole pocket passer, dual threat. Yeah, it depends on what side you look at. That's what I say it depends on what side you look at. And he was on one of some sites, three others. Either way you cut or slice it, what I'm saying here is the rule is the rule for a reason. Have there been teams that have been mildly successful playing two quarterback? Sure.

But for the most part, when you've got two guys, you've got a Kordack rotation, you got a passer and a runner, something like that going on, you are in bad shape, period. And what I'm looking at with this Clemson offense, as much as I expect that running back room with Chris Johnson, with Giddy and getting a year older, as much as I expect that to be better, as much as I, you know, those Clemson wide receivers last year, they were like the guy from SpongeBob that was like, my skin is made of glass and my organs are brought. made of paper. Every day I break my arms and every night I break my legs. That's how injured they were last year. I don't expect them to be that injured again. I expect them to be much of them. As good as I expect them to be, I am so deeply concerned about this quarterback position that I don't know if I can continue, you know, not laughing at everybody who has them in that next tier behind Miami. I'm not sure if I can hold it in and not say the fourth year guy was in pole position coming in the camp, he still ain't won the race.

Julian, you a NASCAR guy. If somebody has a four-year damn head starting to race, I would hope they win it. I would hope. It would be a hope. And yet still, we're hearing, well, this new guy, he's right there on you. It's disappointing to say, Lee.

Yeah, I just worked there. I'm not a NASCAR guy. But, yeah, LSU this weekend, we'll see how that plays out on Saturday. And then look, man, like Georgia Southern, North Carolina, we don't know how good the heels truly are after the one against TCU. They're certainly better.

And we'll find out a lot about them when they play Clemson. We'll also find out a lot about Clemson on Saturday and potentially against North Carolina in a couple weeks. You would think by the time they go to Cal on that Friday night, they need to figure out who their guy is going to be, whether it's going to be CV. That's going to call him that. I'm going to say his full name. I'm going to either be CV or sweet Tate Reynolds. So we'll have to wait and see. But yeah, Saturday night will certainly be enlightening.

And you are right to have concerns. And I'm sure plenty of Clemson fans who are not happy about Davo, not going to portal, even though he had the money to do it. And his AD has already let them out to dry saying he had the money to do it. He didn't do it. Big referendum coming up on Saturday and hell all year long on Davos-Sweeney as far as his quarterback situation goes down there in Clemson. Not a referendum, though, in Blacksburg as the guy we thought would be the guy. It turns out to be the guy.

And that guy is Ethan Grunk-Meyer. We'll talk about him and the Hokie's here in just a moment on Locked-on ACC. Support for today's episode comes from Indeed, sponsored jobs when workplace chaos hits in you to write higher. Indeed, sponsor jobs helps connect employers with candidates who match specific needs like skills, certifications and locations. So less time gets spent searching and more time gets spent finding the right fit. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide.

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Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now. And support our showby saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast, terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed, sponsored jobs. All right, back here on Locked on ACC, Clemson has a starting quarterback. for now, Virginia Tech, I think, knows formally who their guy is going to be. And I don't know why this was ever a four-man battle as James Franklin introduced it when Camp opened up back in August.

But Ethan Grunkemeier, who followed him from Penn State, will indeed be the starting quarterback as Virginia Tech goes in the year one under James Franklin. Franklin saying, quote, I would say that he's been a leader in the clubhouse for a number of practices and weeks. But I don't think it was a foregone conclusion that this was going to happen or we would have told. the guys and made an announcement. Sure, James, sure. It wasn't a foregone conclusion. We knew this was going to be the case. Getting what do you think about Grunk of Meyer

officially now being QB1 up there in Blacksburg? This is diplomacy. This is just keeping the locker room in order and not, you know, ruining those relations by saying, hey, all my guys are starters, period. And it also creates the vibe of everybody's got to compete and earn their spot

more than anything else. That's all that is, right? When you look at this situation coming in, it's easy to say, I'm the hot shot. coach. I'm the guy. I'm the show around here. Y'all are just Virginia Tech. Y'all were nothing before I got here. You're getting bullied by ODU and all that good stuff. You know, somehow my entities, they walked back, lost them last year, but I need to end all that. You know, you can walk in and say that, right? But the reality is when you say, hey, no, no, no, you've got to earn this spot. We're going to have a true competition. You now say, it does not matter if you were with me at Penn State.

it does not matter if I recruited you at Penn State. It does not matter if I got you out to transfer portal. What matters is you need to show up every day and earn your spot, which I think, you know, kudos to him. I think it's the very diplomatic thing to do. But at the end of the day, we all knew what the end result of this was going to be, regardless of how diplomatic or lack thereof, regardless of how much diplomacy or a lack thereof exercise,

it was going to end this way. It was always going to end this way. Now, one could argue that's also what Dabo's doing with CV and Tate Reynolds by saying you have to keep earning this job. Like, you can argue that. Because he said a bunch of nobodies. Nobody spots guaranteed.

I'm sorry, I won't drag you back into that potential mess. So I'm worried. Listen, listen. All I'm going to say is, All I'm going to say is, all I'm going to say is, how many years has that both been at Clemson? It's a year, what is it, 18? I think. There's something crazy like that.

I haven't written down somewhere. If you still got to win over. Year 19. If you still got to be diplomatic, if you still got to be diplomatic and win your locker room over, when your tenure is old enough to have gone to war, when your tenure is old enough to have smoked its first cigarette or black and mile. By the way, don't ever do that. Don't ever do that. Life is never so bad you need a black and mouth. Stop it. If your tenure is that old, maybe just maybe you shouldn't have to still do the,

oh, let's be diplomatic. I don't know. If James Franklin's tenure was a human being, it literally still have Simulac on his breath. That's just me, though. That's just me. Well, he is coming off of a seven-win season and having more draft picks than win. So something needed to change. So maybe his approach will work out. We'll find out soon and all. far as we'll see. Parker Meyer and Virginia Tech go. How are you feeling about him? Because you haven't seemed to be that impressed.

If you go back to last season, when he had takeover once Drew Aller broke his leg, and was out for the season. And I think he's one of the, like, aren't the Steelers keeping four quarterbacks and anything crazy like that? But he's up there in Pittsburgh now and had a fine preseason that that's up that matters to you.

I go listen to Christopher Carter of Lockdown Steelers for all that action. But he faced against Iowa, Ohio State in Indiana in his first three. starts last season. Those are all top 10 defenses. And in that IU game, they had, Penn State had him on the ropes. And he played pretty well in that game through for 2019 yards, touchdown, 71% completion percentage. And after that, they played Michigan State, who fired their coach, Nebraska, who Matt Rule, that's not going great. Rutgers, who's Rutgers. And then in the Pennstripe Bowl against Clemson, he was pretty solid in those

games, didn't throw a pick throughout it, Clemson game, ball game, understand that, but 260 yards, two touchdown. So he certainly acquitted himself well, considering the schedule that he faced to start off and then getting some weaker opponents down to stretch. So I look at it as kind of a positive at Kronkmaier coming over to VT and he firmly has his spot and that could potentially have them in a bowl game, which I think they'll make. I still think they're going to probably below that win total, but maybe they exceed that total and surprise. I mean, how are you feeling about this after the conversation that we've had about him over the last couple weeks? Upon hearing more intel and upon hearing more talking to my guy, Billy Ray from Sons of Saturday, our Virginia, guy, okay. There we go. I feel more confident. I feel more confident. I had him in the lower end of a

quarterback you can win with. He has been upgraded to mid-tier quarterback that you can win with. I don't think he's in that high tier of quarterbacks you win with because high-tier quarterback you win with. That's like I'm on the border line of you win because I'm here. I don't think he's that. I don't think he's close to being that. But I think that he's a quarterback. He's going to make the plays you need him to make. I don't think he's a dynamic athlete. I don't think he's a dynamic athlete. I don't think he's a has a super live arm, but I think he has good anticipation. I think that he's good enough, and the weapons around him can be good enough to get this team to a bowl game. Now, if you're expecting ACC championship appearance in year one, you will be sorely disappointed. But if you

believe him to be a quarterback that can get you to a bowl, I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that. Again, shout out to Billy Ray, shout out to Sun Saturday. I have upgraded him slightly. He has not moved up a tier. He has moved up within his team. Let me ask you this here in a sec, because you look at Grunkumeyer, even if he is that good, I don't think tech's roster is there just yet. And that's why I'm kind of buying low on them right now. I think they're a bowl team. Obviously considering what this program's been of late, that is improvement. It may not be what gets fans as excited going to 2027, but you have James Franklin. He's already asking for more. So I'm sure Penn State fans

already laughing at Virginia Tech over that, but they were in a good situation overall. Who, let's just go through the quarterbacks in ACCCC. Like, who are you taking over Grunkumire? I want to know that. Are you taking, I just got it based off how my notes are written out here right now. Are you taking Alberto Mendoza or Gruncomeyer? I mean, Gruncombeyer. I haven't seen anything for Alberto, so I got to take.

Okay. Are you taking Mason Henschel for sure, yes? Oh, I'm taking Hinchel, absolutely. Okay, C.J. Bailey. Plus, Hinecho has K. Bell. S. C.J. Bailey, yes, also. Okay.

Billy Edwards? Give me Gruncombe. Really? Give me Gruncombe. Because I think Billy, I think Billy is high end in spite of. I think, like, you have to win in spite of him. But he's like not the worst in spite of up to where you're like, him starting means that you're going to lose a ton of football games. Okay.

So we got, that's two right now. Obviously, Kevin Jennings from SMU. Obviously, JKS from Cal, obviously Dary Mintz. I'm not going to waste my time asking about that one. You take him over Gio Lopez, right? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Oh, you're taking a big believer in Gio Lopez over, okay.

I'm a big Gio Lopez. I was terrified. When North Carolina got him last year, I was shaking in my boots. I'm not joking. I was sitting here like, oh, man, this could be some problems. If they let him play, yes, I knew if North Carolina let him play his style of ball, it was going to be problems for the ACC. When I saw him forced to stay in the pocket, I said, thank God.

Oh, thank my good heavens. I appreciate it. that's six so far. Are you, Ashton Daniels? Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one.

Ashton has a higher ceiling, but a lower floor. So no. We're going to say no then. I'll go, I'll go, I'll go Grecombeyer because I like steady. I like steady.

I like steady. I like steady. So I'll go Grecombeyer. All right. What about, well, we haven't seen him yet, but Keenholz.

Hey, I got to take the guy that I've seen something from. With all due respect to Keenhol's and Brah, and I love Bram. I know Brom is a great quarterback whisper. I got to take Grunkelmire until I see something from Keyhole. Okay, got a few more here.

Bo Perbula. Hey, listen, Vanilla Vint, you don't shut me up, brother. You don't shut me up. Hey, I apologize for my outburst. I give me Bo Perbula, please. Okay, Syracuse, and it's going to be Steve and Jelly. Oh, and Jelly for sure. And Jelly for sure.

All right. What about Mason McKinsey at Boston? Boston College. All right. Give me grunk. Give me grunk over him. Okay. We just talked about him.

Vizina right now at Clemson. Give me Grunk of Meyer, man. I ain't with no fourth year quarterback competition with a three-star friend. I ain't with none of that. Give me. And then the final two, the final two are going to be Davis Warren at Stanford

than Walker Egan at Duke. I got to take him over both of those guys. I got to take, although I did see enough. What? Hey, hey, let me tell you something. Davis Warren, you are, you have now cleared by quarterbacks you win in spite of list. You are now solidly at the bottom of quarterbacks you can win with

hell of a showing against O'Wa Cineba, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, well, you have them right now, Ethan Gruncomeyer, smack dab in the middle of the ACC as you took eight guys ahead of them. The only guys you didn't take that haven't, like, there's a couple you didn't take because he haven't seen him play, or Mendoza at Georgia Tech. We have not seen chain holes at Louisville. And then I guess, well, we haven't really seen McKinsey, but you'll take him. you got him smack dab in the middle.

We'll see how this goes. And I told you, he's, and I told you he's in the middle of quarterbacks you can win with for me right now. I think that's perfect. Literally in the middle. That's a perfect delineator of like, hey, the scale is appropriate,

ladies and gentlemen. I didn't even think about that. Julia just put me on the spot. So you love a man who's consistent. So I do appreciate that. So we'll revisit this. I think he's going to be solid. I would probably put him right there in the middle.

There may be a few guys I'd take them over, but that's going to be one to watch throughout the season. I do think that Virginia Tech will be in fine hands of Ethan Grunkumeyer as your starting quarterback this season. Let's a quick pause and come back and look at a few news and notes across the ACC on this Wednesday. We'll do that here in just a moment on locked on ACC. College football Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited.

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Got some HBC UBall. If you want to bet on that Sunday afternoon before watch. Some big games on FBS in the evening. That game's on Monday as well. Cannot wait. Visit vandal.com to get started. All right, back here on Lockdown, ACC, wrapping things up with a few ACC news and notes heading in the week one. We're talking about quarterbacks. Mason McKenzie, the transfer from a D2, now over at BC, I assume as the starter. There's not been an official announcement, I believe, from Bill O'Brien, but he has been named a captain, which makes it pretty clear he's going to be the starting

quarterback for Boston College. Any overwhelming thoughts on Mason McKenzie being a team captain for BC this season getting? God bless it over there at BC. I don't know what they got going on. I don't know how they're going to win football games. But, you know, I, again, more power to them. I hope that they're better for the sake of the conference this year. Genuinely, right?

Same way that I was about UNC and then beating TCU, right? As much as I am an NC state guy, I'm also like, hey, for the conference, for the conference, you know, it's like seeing, as Bob Green would say, it's like seeing your mother-in-law go off the side of a cliff in a Cadillac. You're hurting because it's a Cadillac going, but also another thing is going on there. So, you know, it's good for the conference to be good. hopefully McKenzie can shock the world. And they have a big one this weekend.

They're playing, is it Rutgers, right, that Boston College is playing week one? Yeah, I believe so. Cincinnati. At Cincinnati this week and in, yeah, so Cincinnati on Saturday on the road, then Rutgers next Friday night. So two big games,

Big 12 contests on the road, and then one at home against a Big Ten team, two important ones there for Bill O'Brien and for Boston College start off the season, and ones that will certainly break down here. over the next two weeks. Georgia Tech, they play on Thursday against Colorado. Their debt chart came out, which, you know, it is what it is.

I have rarely seen a team have three different slots for running backs at its starters. So Justice Haynes, Malachi Holesley, Trulane Maddox, all three of those guys listed as starters. No, there's not an or. Like, all three of them are considered starting running backs for Georgia Tech. I can't wait to see these guys pound the damn rock this season, and I cannot wait to see what they do on Thursday against Colorado. that's probably, you're looking at teams this weekend. Maybe Louisville I'm most excited to see, Connie Clemson in a way to see

whether they're going to actually, like, maybe shock the world, if they're going to get blown out, what's it going to be? But I am so excited to watch Georgia Tech on Thursday night, Kenton. Oh, yeah, man. I mean, ultimately we know Georgia Tech is going to be more physical than Colorado. They are.

We just know that, you know, every time you see Colorado on social media, people are joking about how small that team looks. But, I mean, those jokes, there's a kernel of truth in there. There's a kernel of truth to the fact that those guys do look just very thin. They look very frail. And you bring thin and frail up against what Coach Key is bringing.

Brother, you said they had not one, not two, but three starting running back. And you don't think that team going to run the ball. You don't think that's going to be a lot of downhill, no frills. Come on with it. So I'm excited to see that team. I'm excited to see a lot of these quarterbacks. A lot of these quarterbacks that we have not seen any game film on. We don't know what they look like.

They can throw a wet napkin. We don't know. We don't know. We'll find out real soon this week. Yeah, and maybe we'll do that tomorrow. It's about where most excited to see in week one. Final thing from the news and notes I got written down here, Mike Norvell seems already be very concerned about what's going to happen to potentially

his team on Monday night as SS. you comes to town. A lot of angst from Seminole Nation, which look, rightfully so. 3 and 13 at ACC, the last two years have not won a road game in two seasons. It's been well below the program standards and quite frankly,

ridiculous that they've been as bad as they've been. But maybe there's some magic for them on Monday night. Mike's saying at his press conference earlier this week, we know it's in front of us this week and that's what I told the team. This is a team that was a couple plays away from being in the ACC championship game last year. This is one of the top teams in the ACC.

This is a team that has big expectations. They were in playoffs a couple years ago. So all the focus is on this week. It's going to take a great effort on our part. And that's what I fully expect out of this team. Okay, Mike. I hope because I want to watch a good game on Monday night. But I'm concerned. I am concerned. I know you're also very concerned about the Knowles. You know, you know, this is like old yeller. when Travis walked him to the back, you know, before he did the thing, this is what this is. Okay.

SMU is starting that walk to the back to put Norville and this staff out of its misery in terms of what we're looking at here. If you believe in Florida State, if you believe in the nose, more priority. And if I'm wrong, I'll come on here in E. Crow, just like I did about Vanilla Vig, okay? I can't even call them both of Eulet no more. He wears number seven. He wears number seven.

He plays his college football in the state of Virginia. I cannot help it. The parallels are there, ladies and gentlemen. But I'm going to tell you if Florida State proves me wrong, because Julia is sticking strong to this day. That's how you know, that's a good husband right there, because he's sticking with it. Right or wrong, new evidence, whatever.

It's just like when your old lady argue or something, and you know she's terribly wrong, but it's just like, you're right. It's only been one game. It's been one game. It's been one game. I'm going to hold on to the Noles on Monday. I don't feel great about it, but I'm going to do it. America, you see what he's doing? He's gaslighting all of you.

And I'm thinking, oh, it wasn't that bad. They'll be just fine. Just like it would have his old lady was wrong in front of you. He'd say, oh, she wasn't. No, when she said four plus four equals fish, she meant because if you put two fours together on a sheet of paper, it looks a little like a bit. That's what she meant.

You've got to be artistic to get her. Don't hurry. Julian is a reliable man. Everybody needs a friend, needs a partner, needs a husband, like Julian. Okay, that ain't nothing wrong with that. Now, I just know that ain't going to go well. That ain't going to go well for FSU. No, it's probably not going to go well, but I'm going to keep the fact.

Hashtag get you a Julian counsel, 2026. Get you a Julian counsel, 2026. All we got to see is the Ashton Daniels from the Iron Bowl and Vandy from last year. Just need to see Deuce Robinson do his thing. Look at Uzman Kromachroma. Just do the same thing you did, Sam Singleton, Lachai Danzy. And then the guys who got paid to come back who threatened to go to the portal, just the money is there for you all to play well as well.

Just don't cast the checks too early. Please go out there and earn your money. That's all I think the Nulls. Maybe seminal fans probably aren't even asking that. They probably is asking for you to actually go land egg so they can fire Norville. But that's neither here or there. But that's going to wrap up this edition of the lockdown ACC podcast,

a part of the lockdown podcast network. Where your host, as always, Julian Council 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 to be a whole. And we'll talk to you all tomorrow as we're going to preview the Thursday night games.

We've got two wake Akron, but the one I can't wait to see is Georgia Tech, Colorado. And we also tell you what we're most excited to watch week one in the ACC. All that more coming up here on Thursday on Locked on ACC.