Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - SHAKEUP: Miami Hurricanes DOMINATE ACC Power Rankings | Will Louisville UPSET Their Reign?

Starting point is 00:00:00 We had some shakeups last weekend, but our ACC football power rankings are indisputable. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive linemen and co-host of Lockdown Wolfpack.

Starting point is 00:00:41 I am Alex Dono, host of Lockdown Caines. And on this loaded episode, we're going to talk about who has been the ACC's coach of the year so far and who's on the hottest seat right now. You've got a couple candidates for that. We'll talk top games of the weekend because there is about three of them that I think stand out above the rest in terms of ACC championship game implications. But let's start Kenton with our power ranking. coming out of week seven heading into week eight.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Are we in agreement that Miami remains number one in the ACC football power rankings heading into their Friday night matchup with Louisville? No, I think it's Georgia Tech. No, I'm just, I'm joking. I'm joking Miami fans, calm down. I think that Miami is definitely. Miami is number one, and they were expected to be great coming into the season. They've been as good as advertised.

Starting point is 00:01:31 Yeah, so Miami at number one, and as mentioned, They're going to play Friday night against Louisville. We'll tell you where Louisville ranks. Hurricanes are 13.5 point favorites in that game. All right. So number two, Kenton, Georgia Tech, followed by UVA. They just keep winning. But I'm going to give Georgia Tech the benefit over UVA because GT is undefeated overall.

Starting point is 00:01:53 Virginia does have a loss, technically a non-conference loss, even though it was against NC State. We've gone over that 100 times. We'll leave it at that. But, you know, I give Georgia Tech the edge because they're undefeated overall. So Georgia Tech at 2, Virginia 3, and I've got the Duke Blue Devils at number 4. And we got a big matchup between number 2 and number 4 coming up this weekend. How do you feel about the top 4? I think that that's an absolutely good for.

Starting point is 00:02:18 I was wondering what my affinity with Georgia Tech was until I looked at their helmets and I looked at my high school helmets close to each other. My high school, Kastek, is a C-T that's interlock. And Georgia Tech has a GT that's interlocked. I said, ah, it makes sense. We do the knowledge here. I'm learning why. I've passively wanted Georgia Tech to do this and be this team for so long.

Starting point is 00:02:42 And now it all makes sense. But no, seriously, they're putting out a great product. You know, UVA, like you said, they keep winning. It's been some close calls. It's been a little dicey at times, but they keep winning and to Duke Blue Devils. They seem to have figured it out. Yeah. They seen Darien Minza, Koso Brown, the defense, obviously, with Vee'sie.

Starting point is 00:03:01 and company in that front four, and the back end is starting to come together now, and they're starting to put together some dominant defensive performances, even if you would argue, oh, it's not against the best offensive talent. You can only play who's in front of you, and it looked damn good against the guys that are in front of them. So this top four, I'm probably, yeah, like, I was even a little bit tempted to try to rank Duke a little higher, but they've got two losses overall because they were not good non-conference. But since the ACC play has started for them, they've been dynamite. So rounding out the top five.

Starting point is 00:03:32 I've got Pittsburgh, a surging pit panthers coming off a big win at Florida State. We got Pitt at number five. Louisville at number six, big matchup with Miami. Louisville did suffer a loss to UVA, though, a couple weeks ago. And SMU at number seven, they're surging a little bit. They've gotten a little bit better Kenton as the year has gone on. And obviously, there's going to be some movement again this coming weekend with some important matches within that top seven.

Starting point is 00:04:02 Absolutely. There's going to be movement. And also, SMU is a team that has had a very similar problem to Miami just in a different way, right? You talk about finishing games. Can you finish? Can you finish? They just have done so in a way that it's shown up to be extremely problematic for

Starting point is 00:04:20 them. They've done so in a way that collapsed against Baylor. It needs to be studied. It needs to be studied. TCU, same kind of deal. You were right there. You had control of the game. And then all of a sudden, one or two plays go against you,

Starting point is 00:04:35 and you kind of fold and pack it in going down the stress there. So I see where you're coming from with, you know, that SMU team. They started off very rough in terms of the out-of-conference play. But SMU is undefeated in conference play so far. They have not played great teams. I'm not going to lie to you and say they played the world beaters and the gangbusters, but they are undefeated so far. So you're absolutely right.

Starting point is 00:05:01 That is a surge team. Yeah, all right. So let's get to the meaty part of the curve here after the top seven. Now, obviously with, so Florida State Kenton, they've lost three straight games all in conference. So I'll ask you if I think I dropped them far enough. I had them at number five last week. I've got Florida State now at number eight. But like I keep them as high as they are because even though like the conference,

Starting point is 00:05:28 records smells funky right now. I still think that they are better than the teams that come after them. So like I still have Florida State at number eight, followed by Syracuse at number nine. Maybe I should drop them a little bit farther because, you know, I guess maybe I wait their previous resume too much because since Steve Angelly went down, that team has been awful the last couple of weeks. But I've got Clemson ranked number 10. Like I feel like I had to rank Clemson after Syracuse because of the head-to-head. Like Syracuse beat them straight up. And Clemson has not won a home.

Starting point is 00:06:04 They got a four-game losing streak at home against power for opposition. With Syracuse being part of that. So Florida State 8, Syracuse 9, Clemson 10. Did I screw that up? Here's the only thing that I would push back on there. Yeah. What has Florida State shown us to say that they belong here? People can argue all of the other people.

Starting point is 00:06:26 The Alabama win was great. The Alabama win was great all day and all night. These lists are dynamic and not static for a reason. Yeah. Florida State did their big one. They did their big one early in the sea. Oh, yeah, they went out there and beat a wonderful Alabama team. Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:06:44 They still have not won a conference game in over a year. That is just a factual statement. That has not happened. I'm sorry to do this to your Calvarythum, But Cal last year, and we all know, Cal and the politics over there, you know, from each, according to ability to each by need. They were equally and communally distributing the means of wins throughout the ACC.

Starting point is 00:07:13 That's what they were doing right there, okay? Real hammer and sickle talk over there. I'm joking, Cal, don't come after me, but I'm joking. I don't feel like the Calgaryism is chuckling. Like other fan bases would be angry. with that sort of a statement, but the Calgaryism, they enjoy. I didn't even need to put the nail on the head and say the hammer and sickle thing. They knew where I was going.

Starting point is 00:07:35 They already knew where you're going. But the fact of the matter is they have not won a conference game since then. And I have long said, and I said this even after they beat Alabama, are we sure that their chain is real? And it's looking to me like it's a whole lot of plastic and cubic zoconium going on over there. A whole lot of just melted down a little. aluminum foil going on over there because that is a fake chain if I've ever seen one. And it is, it's getting worse by the day.

Starting point is 00:08:02 I can see your logic for having them here. I would personally, I'd drop them down about 11, 12, but I'm not mad at your path. It's just like most of their losses have been close, like really close. You could argue the Miami game wasn't, but they made it look close. Right. They got within six at the end. Right. The Virginia game actually was a close loss. And the pick game, again, those were, those were actual.

Starting point is 00:08:25 close loss. The Miami loss, I'll stop it. That was window dressing. Right. All right. So outside of the top 10, I have your NC State Wolfpack at number 11, Wake Forest Demon Deacons at number 12, the Calgarism at number 13, followed by their pals, their great friends in Palo Alto at Stanford at number 14. How are you feeling about those? You know, I want Cal to jump up. I really do. I really want Cal to jump up, not just because of their. their outstanding fan base, not just because they're super fan, Lawrence, right?

Starting point is 00:08:59 He's one of the best guests that we've had on. We got to have them on again soon. Cal football, please do something. That makes it a good time to have our boy, but I look at this and I say, that's a fan base that wants it. That's a coach that's making the changes necessary to make wins happen.

Starting point is 00:09:17 They're starting a young guy. They're saying, hey, we're going to do this and we're going to take our lumps with them. The only problem is the fact of taking the lumps with them means you got to take the lumps. They've been taking lumps in recent weeks. They got hammered by Duke. And this is why I said on tape,

Starting point is 00:09:32 JKS is talented. He's really good. But on tape, there were about two to three concepts that he kept hitting where I'm like, all right, when you go up against defensive coordinators who are making high six figures

Starting point is 00:09:43 to do this thing, when you go up against some other ball players that are making NIL money, they'll know, oh, you like the star route. Okay, you like that little spy. You like the little over the ball route? Don't worry.

Starting point is 00:09:54 We'll take the ball. We'll go back to up. Oh, you like the drive concept. We're going to drive on it, actually. We're going to have a good time driving us. So, you know, I want them to be better. But the reality is where you have them is correct. All right.

Starting point is 00:10:07 So here's the bottom three. I got Virginia Tech at 15. Now, obviously, they were, you know, bad enough to get their coach fired. And outside of a win against NC State, they've been pretty awful all year, no matter who the head coach is. But I still think there are two teams worse than Virginia Tech. And that's Boston College at 16 and the North Carolina Tar Heels dead last in the basement at number 17. You agree?

Starting point is 00:10:35 You know, before we came on air, this is an actual fact locked on ACC listeners. Donno said, do you think UNC is worse than Boston College or who do you think is worth? I said, brother, it don't matter what order you got in. As long as the two bills are at the bottom. As long as these two bills are at the bottom. Because both of their teams stink to the high heaven. And to see that Penn State is there, I believe the odds are the third best to bring Bill O'Brien back.

Starting point is 00:11:05 I said, oh, y'all scared of winning. Oh, y'all scared of the wins. Oh, I didn't know. I didn't know. I was confused because that guy was there before. And he did that. So why you would bring him back? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:11:20 But, yeah, these two teams, they're god awful. I mean, I, it's, this is some of the worst football I have ever seen in a power 14. And I'm not joking. I've been a football junkie for quite some time.

Starting point is 00:11:33 I mean, my mother will tell you back to when I was like, my earliest memory is two, three years old, the stolen cable. I believe the statute of limitations is up. So leave my mom. I was about to say,

Starting point is 00:11:43 be careful with the question here. She's got real cable now. She's got real cable now. She's got real cable. She's got, she got Comcast now. She's got the real cable. Back in the day,

Starting point is 00:11:50 watching, you know, waking up in the morning and watching college game day and whatnot and even ESPN and whatnot. I've seen a lot of control ball in my day. I very seriously, I struggle to find a team like Boston College. They're unserious, but there are a few redeeming qualities. UNC, I struggle to find a team that like overall, when I look for a bright spot, like I've legitimately watched their game and sorry I can try to find something that you can walk away

Starting point is 00:12:18 from this saying it's good. And even when everybody's like, oh, Max Johnson, he makes the offense move a lot better. I took a deep dive into that. And I'm like, all right, well, how good does he look against starting defenses? Not very. Not very. I would say the only good moment that North Carolina had all year was their opening drive against T.C. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:12:39 I mean, that had Skip Bayliss tweeting about North Carolina, which, you know, and Skip is the biggest knee-jerk reaction guy. He knows what he's doing. But after one drive, Skip was calling North Carolina a national championship contender. That was their last good moment was the opening drive of the season. And that's why he's on a podcast with Akiv to leave now talking about these types of things. Oh, yeah. I'm joking. I'm joking.

Starting point is 00:13:05 Keepe to leave is really good at the media thing. Don't disrespect the Kib to leave. That's what I said. The Kip to leave is great into the media thing. He really is really good at it. And plus him and his brother don't play. Hey, I'm good. I don't want no smoke.

Starting point is 00:13:15 I want no job. But in all seriousness, yeah, that was a great need. jerk reaction because as we've seen since that drive, how's things been working out? You know, other than Charlotte and Richmond, things haven't, they haven't been too good. In the words of Denzel, Washington, and meet the Titans or remember the Titans, it's not fun anymore, is it? No, it's not. Wipe that smile off your fate, you know, that's what's going on right now.

Starting point is 00:13:39 Well, we're going to get Kenton smiling again, because coming up next, we're going to talk about the three biggest games in the ACC this weekend where, you know, the ACC championship picture is going to become a little bit more clear. in week eight coming up. We'll also talk Coach of the Year candidates and the hottest seats seven plus weeks into the college football season. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC.

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Starting point is 00:15:48 I host Locked on Cains talking all things. things Miami. All right. So Kenton is Miami versus Louisville. I guess it depends on how competitive you expect the game to be. Is that the game of the weekend in the conference or is it potentially for you number 12 Georgia Tech at Duke or could it be Clemson hosting SMU? Which of those stands out most to you? This is obvious. Georgia Tech Duke. You have got two teams. Georgia Tech. Georgia is one of two undefeated teams in the ACC. And the main thing that people keep trying to say about Georgia Tech, the biggest knock that everybody says is,

Starting point is 00:16:29 well, you haven't beaten anybody. That Colorado win wasn't that good. And Coach Prime is nothing without Shador. Look at them over there with a rank winning in the Big 12. Huh? Yeah. And then you look at the rest of their schedule. Well, Clemson ain't Clemson.

Starting point is 00:16:45 They ain't been Clemson all year. Oh, other than them who have you beaten. okay, fine. Now they get a shot. Now they get a shot against somebody real. And the same thing can be said about Duke to a certain extent. The same thing is said in terms of, yeah, you're undefeated in conference, but you're a terrible out of conference.

Starting point is 00:17:01 And are you actually, has your offense figured it out and gotten better? Or have you just played horror defenses that cannot make Darian Mensa think and pressure him and do what it takes to turn the ball over? So this is a game that will answer questions for both of these teams. and we're going to see somebody go from whatever they've played and oh in conference two and one. And that's going to be very important for like you said, add some clarity to the ACC picture. Because right now the picture is very opaque, very blurry, if you will. If you don't know what the word opaque means, Google it.

Starting point is 00:17:38 We will not drop our vocabulary level down here. We will raise yours. I would be Googling it right after the show. But that's what it's looking like. this is a game that will objectively give us a lot of answers about both of these teams and give us answers about, you know, the ACC picture as well. When you look at these other games, how much can you actually answer, Donna? How much can you actually answer in both?

Starting point is 00:17:59 We've seen Miami play teams that are some of the best in the nation. We've seen that. We've seen Louisville when they're at their best. We know they can pull off an upset when they're rolling at their best with the Brown brothers running things over there. What can we really get from SMU Clemson? Even though SMU is undefeated in conference, we know Clemson. is not who we thought they were. So even if SMU wins, it's like, yeah, Clemson is bad like we thought.

Starting point is 00:18:23 And if Clemson wins, it's like, yeah, SMU beat Syracuse and who was it, Boston College or they beat Syracuse and somebody else that was a bottom feeder. They beat, was it, was it Stanford? Either way, yeah, I believe it was Stanford. It was the two-ass schools. Yeah, Syracuse is either way, it's like these are schools that are not, we don't look at at SMU and say we're going to get our answer from this game. So I don't think either one of those games will present us with significant answers regardless of outcome.

Starting point is 00:18:52 I'm thinking a little outside the box with this question I have for you. And I know that fans of these ACC schools are not going to like my line of thinking here. But would it be better for the conference if teams like Miami's obvious had a really tough non-conference schedule and they won all their non-con games? you know, Georgia Tech. They still have one non-con against Georgia. You hope they're competitive. You know, if they win that game, fantastic. But you look at schools like SMU and Duke,

Starting point is 00:19:26 who had really bad out-of-conference performances, right? I mean, you know, they were close games, but, you know, SMU lost to two big 12 teams. Right. Duke, Duke lost to Tulane. Their former quarterback, who they stole from Tulane lost to Tulane, And, you know, the game was not as non-competitive as it looked, but they're lost to Illinois. The score looked really bad. Duke committed five turnovers.

Starting point is 00:19:51 So, like, is it better for the conference if, like, teams that didn't play badly, non-conference get to the ACC championship game? Because, like, if you were to hypothetically have, you know, Duke versus SMU in Charlotte in December, it's like, man, how bad is the ACC is what people would say. Well, Don, don't know, I hate to say this, but it goes beyond that. as much as we like to pretend the humans are logical and rational and we'll use their brains and watch these games you and I have both seen how these AP voters

Starting point is 00:20:19 do things. They're not watching the games. They're watching the brands. They're watching the brands. And with all due respect, if we talk about in terms of football brand, SMU, you might have make something shake with them getting in, you know, whatever. Duke going in terms of football brands.

Starting point is 00:20:38 Oh, now everybody's up in arms asking questions. What the hell is going on in that Atlantic coast of what's happening. So it's not even about so much of what happened before as just who these teams are as Brent. Now, when you add in that second layer of the non-conference schedule, oh, it's absolutely, if I were Jim Phillips, I would say, I would be praying, hoping, wishing, and grabbing all my horseshoes saying, Brent Key, if you can hear the sound of my voice, please win that

Starting point is 00:21:10 football game. Brent, if you can hear if the sound of this transmission is reaching you, Brent, do everything you can to win that game. Because it's essential that that team gets to the ACC championship. Because even if you say with Georgia Tech in the football powerhouse either, but you know what you would have potentially

Starting point is 00:21:26 an undefeated or one lost Georgia Tech against an undefeated Miami. When your combined record of your conference championship game is 23 and 1, And the power for elite, that's a good. People expect a great game.

Starting point is 00:21:45 That's the matchup you want. And like, obviously, like, I mean, for Jim Phillips, the matchup that he would have wanted before the season started would have been any combination of Clemson, Florida State, or Miami. Like any two of those three teams playing each other. But, you know, Florida State, it's not happening. They're only three in conference. There's no way they're getting there.

Starting point is 00:22:06 Clemson like 80% not getting there with two conference losses already. So it's like, yeah, I think Miami versus Georgia Tech, if you're just talking about ratings and numbers, that's the best I think you could do at this point, right? I mean, Virginia is a great Cinderella story, but they're not moving the needle in the ACC championship game. We'll talk about, and Virginia has a coach who's red hot right now, is Tony Elliott, is he the coach of the year right now in the ACC? or is that disrespectful to someone like Mario Cristobal with what Miami's doing right now to even say that? You want to keep it locked right here.

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Starting point is 00:25:08 Mario Cristobal should be considered the frontrunner for ACC coach of the year. Miami's got three ranked wins. They're undefeated. They're number two in the country. I realize that they still have a little over half their season left to play. But at this point, I feel it's Mario Cristobal. But Tony Elliott in Virginia, he's the best story, I think. And if Virginia keeps winning, and if they get to the ACC championship game,

Starting point is 00:25:35 I mean, just based on their expectations preseason, which were, hey, this team's probably not going to make a bowl and their coach is going to get fired. If UVA has a really good season, you feel like they would give it to Elliott over Cristobal, even if Miami got undefeated or close to it, or how do you think that would go? Well, Miami isn't a team to watch for Coach of the Year.

Starting point is 00:25:57 With all due respect to Christobal, we all know that this award becomes a reward for, we thought you were going to be terrible and you're good. Yeah. We all know that's what the thing. is we treat and I don't like that for college coaches in particular because in the NFL I get it. You sign players, those players are stuck with you for five, eight, however many years are on that contract.

Starting point is 00:26:19 They're stuck with you. I get in college is different. You have to year to year. Go out. Restock the shelves, right? You lose the number one overall picking quarterback. You got to bring in a new guy, make it happen, make it work. And Mario Cristobar has done that.

Starting point is 00:26:32 But we all know the, for whatever reason, recruiting is not considered part of coached year for these things. Whose team did you think was going to suck and what they turn out to be? Tony Elliott's biggest challenger for this award is not Cristobal. It's a man who's a fellow offensive lineman, fellow alum of his university. My boy, Brent Key, the wreck is rambling. They got defense is scrambling. I'm going to tell you something right now.

Starting point is 00:27:01 That's one of the best stories in all of college football that people don't want to acknowledge. A guy who took all. over their job as an interim coach. By the way, looking at you Virginia Tech, you probably should have gone with a guy who was an alum and on the staff to be your interim coach. Why you didn't? I don't know.

Starting point is 00:27:24 Hashtag get J.C. Price a job. But anyway, the reality is this. It is one of the best stories in football because when you look at where he took that program from, if you look back at that Jeff Collins era, oh, my God. That was awful. Yeah. Oh, what they said.

Starting point is 00:27:38 saying the Grinch. Stink. Stank. That's what that team was before he took over. He took that team to more wins than half a season than they had in an entire season for the life the last three years leading up to him becoming the interim coach. They removed the interim tag. And year by year, he just builds. He just builds. Doesn't have all the resources, doesn't have all the NFL alums. Don't get me wrong. Trust me, Lions fan, I know how good Megatron was. Don't have as many NFL alum's as a Miami and all that don't have the same type of brand cash in support. And yet what does he do? He just builds and builds and builds.

Starting point is 00:28:16 And this was a team that now people can pretend, oh, yeah, I always believed in Georgia Tech. I always believed in Georgia Tech. That Georgia Tech line was small. And I remember because I was in it. I was in it. And I was saying this team could do something. This team could. I'm not going to lie and say I definitively had this team showing up and showing on being

Starting point is 00:28:34 undefeated. So if this is the combination of what team you thought was going to be bad or be all right and they're good, I'd have to say it's probably going to be, it's really keys award to lose. That's what it is more than anything. Because if he goes to the ACC championship with one loss, Miami goes undefeated. He's winning that award. If Virginia and Elliott go with, you know, they miss out on the ACC championship by one game with two losses in conference, he'd get a lot of votes.

Starting point is 00:29:06 He'd get a ton of votes. He'd save his job. That seat would be immensely cooler than it was coming into season. Because coming into the season, if you would have told me, hey, one of the Virginia coaches is going to be fired by week five, which one you think it's going to be? I'd say, oh, man, Tony Elliott started here. I mean, they were both.

Starting point is 00:29:23 They were both on the hot. Yeah, they were both hot. They were both hot, but I would have guessed it would have been Elliot, you know what I mean, to see what kind of what he's done this season. So, again, if it was me and I had to, to take my best educated guess at it. I'd say key is the guy right now. You made a lot of coherent points,

Starting point is 00:29:41 but if Miami goes undefeated, Georgia Tech doesn't, and Mario Cristobal doesn't win ACC coach of the year, I can already tell you I'm going to have an episode thumbnail on Locked on Cains that says Mario robbed. Like, what does he have to do to win that? If they go undefeated, he doesn't win coach of the year, like what does he have to do?

Starting point is 00:30:01 You're going to get AI to edit, edit, uh, Brent Key holding up a pistol to him, like, put the trophy in the bag. Put it in a bag. I mean, listen, if Brent Key also goes undefeated, which is still in the cards for them, and that includes beating Georgia, then, you know, I wouldn't argue as much. But if Georgia Tech is not undefeated, if Miami is and Key wins it over Cristobal, I'm going to do an episode about that. And I'm going to bring that here, too.

Starting point is 00:30:28 I mean, I've said this plenty of times. I said it publicly and I'll say it right here right now instead of just on Twitter and whatnot. Coach of the year should not be for we thought your team was going to be bad and you were good. Coach of the year should be for who did the best job of preparing their team from the end of last year or whatever, however long you want to take the coaching window to say like the recruiting classes that built up to this team. And then what you did with this team on the field, that to me is who should win the coach of year. And some people say, well, kidding, that's boring because then all those years that Oklahoma was in the Big 12 before Brent Vittables got there.

Starting point is 00:31:06 By the way, shout out the Big 12 admin. They'd be like, oh, so it was Oklahoma's coach every year? Yes, yes. If Lincoln Riley was putting together a squad that was whipping the wins off the conference every year, he's the coach of year. If DaBoh did that every year when he was doing it, he's the coach of the year. I don't give a damn about, oh, we thought you were going to be a three-win team and you won nine.

Starting point is 00:31:25 If this guy has put together a team that we expect to win 12 and they win 12, that's the guy. He's put together a product that we expect perfection. and he's met it. So, you know, that's my personal opinion. I wouldn't be mad at Crystal Ball winning it. Also wouldn't be mad at a one-loss key winning it because that is a, he has done objectively a phenomenal job at Georgia Tech. All right. So let's look at the flip side, the hottest seats right now. I think the two hottest seats in the ACC, Mike Norvell at Florida State, I think the seat is getting hot

Starting point is 00:31:57 because the boosters expect something and what they're showing on the field is not what's there. There's not a whole lot of patience there at Florida State. But then, of course, the elephant in the room is Bill Belichick in North Carolina. And like, I would say, I would say the Belichick seat has to be hotter than the Mike Norvel seat because Mike Norvel has a $58.7 million buyout. And like, okay, Bill Belichick's buyout is like somewhere between one and 10 million. And like, you could, you could see a world where Belichick is just like, you know what? I don't even want to do this anymore, whereas Mike Norvel is, you know, prime years of his life when it comes to being a college coach.

Starting point is 00:32:40 So the Belichick seat is even hotter, right? But if, but saying that, if Mike Norvel, if, and I don't expect this to happen, even if Brian Smith thinks it might, if Florida State loses at Stanford this weekend, I don't think they let Norvel back on the plane. But then you also have Bill Belichick facing Cal, but like if Cal beats North Carolina, doesn't really change how bad North Carolina is, right? No. But I still think the Belichick seat overall is hotter.

Starting point is 00:33:08 Yeah, I would have to agree with you here. And I'm going to tell you something. In the world where finances doesn't matter, right? If you're talking about college football 26, oh, Norval seat is exponentially hotter, right? Based on expectation, based on the amount of time, he's been there, all those things. However, finances make situations get real funky and real wonky. You know, there's an old song called It's Cheaper to Keeper. That song exists for a reason, right?

Starting point is 00:33:35 It's about the woman that ain't the best to you, but you already got her. So if you leave it, it's going to cost you a pretty penny to do so. That Norville is going to cost you. That's an expensive divorce. It's a pretty, pretty penny, the finest penny, a Holly Berry-style penny if you want to get rid of him. So, you know, it is one of those things where I would say the price tag makes the seat a little hotter for Belich. And besides, like I've already said, when you all have to put out statements from the head coach and the university saying, everything is fine here, there is no war in Bossing, say, there's a problem. There's a problem.

Starting point is 00:34:15 When you hear that, they're kicking a little bit of propaganda, guys. There's a problem. Somebody's not happy. Somebody does not like what's going on, if not both parties. So I'd say that that is the most likely situation to deteriorate. but Norville, you better find a way to stop that run against Stanford, buddy. You better find a way because they're coming downhill, no frills. That's what they do.

Starting point is 00:34:38 That's what Stanford does well. And, yeah, if you let another quarterback be player at a week on you this week, you might have to Uber all the way back to Tallahassee, or we might have to see you on a commercial flight from San Francisco, from SFO to Tallahasse. We might see, hey, what's Norval doing on that? this play. Guys, I wasn't allowed on the team. Stop being weird. I'll be weird.

Starting point is 00:35:02 Why is he flying Southwest all the sudden? I'm just saying he might be off. He might be. And don't give him South West. Give him a nice area. Like, give him Delta. He got a little money. He got a little money. He got a little money. He'll have a lot of money. If they buy him out, he's going to be $58.7 million richer. That's true. We appreciate everybody for making Locked on ACC your first list.

Starting point is 00:35:23 And make sure to smash that like button. Subscribe. Subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, on YouTube wherever you get your pods. Make sure to check out Kenton at Lockdown Wolfpack and follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. Check me out at Lockdown Canes and follow me at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

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