Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - SMU Mustangs' ACC Championship Hopes: What to Watch | Miami or Clemson?

Starting point is 00:00:00 So much to talk about SMU and Miami, but what's Clemson's path to maybe sneaking back into the ACC championship game? 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 and your first watch today, we're available free wherever you get your podcasts. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. work, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:37 You can start the season with a big return on Fandul. New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win that first $5 bet. Visit fenduel.com to get started. On this episode, we'll talk about Fran Brown, the Syracuse head coach. He's got a weird thing that he does or doesn't do after losses. SMU, are they on top of the ACC power rankings now, given recent events? But let's talk about that ACC championship path because Kenton Gibbs, he's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown, Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown-Kaines.

Starting point is 00:01:15 SMU now on top of the ACC standings are the only team without a conference loss at 5 and O. Clemson and Miami. Clemson technically second place now in the conference, but Miami holds a tiebreaker over to Clemson. if it comes to that. So Miami and SMU are the teams that control their own destiny for an ACC championship birth. And if you're Clemson, you really need to be rooting against Miami because one loss by SMU does not help you because of the tiebreaker.

Starting point is 00:01:45 Whereas Miami, if they suffer their second conference loss, that might open up that door for Davo. Well, question, Donald. Who does Miami have left from their schedule? Wake Forest, after they got bye week, then Wake Forest, then Syracuse, who's not looking so hot lately. Are you concerned about either one of those teams?

Starting point is 00:02:06 I mean, I'll be honest. Given the way Miami's been playing defense, not defense, I'm a little bit concerned about anybody, but they shouldn't lose either of those games. And I get it, but we all know the old adage. Stiles don't make fight, or, you know, fighters don't make fights, styles make fights. Do either one of those teams have the facilities on the ground

Starting point is 00:02:26 to execute the Georgia Tech game plan of we're going all this is it pounded punching on you're going to get punched on you. You're going to get punched on. That's what this game is going to be. I don't think so. I just don't think so. But we shall see. So I think Miami can be a little bit comfortable in terms of the fans. Now, ma'am the team, get your ass on them donuts and tackle.

Starting point is 00:02:50 Tackle. Learn to get somebody on the ground. I mean, for feet, this ain't too hand touch. I get it. The game is not what it once was, right? We've got all the types of abilities for all types of things. I understand that. But you've got to make a tackle.

Starting point is 00:03:03 You've got to be able to do that. Now, I think something that we've learned, especially in the ACC's, this league is crazy. If you start looking at, well, hey, if this team wins out, winning out is not easy. We were saying that about Miami. Miami lost the game. I mean, SMU couldn't lose last weekend because they didn't play last weekend. and they still have three ACC games left. Miami's got two. Clemson, though, only has one ACC game left,

Starting point is 00:03:30 and that's against the Pitt Panthers team that, hey, a couple weeks ago, you probably would have said, hey, Pitt, maybe has a decent shot to upset Clemson at home. Pitt has lost two straight. Most recently to Virginia, they lost to SMU and wasn't close prior to that. So 23rd ranked Clemson at 18th ranked Pitt this weekend. Clemson Tigers are 10-point favorites on the road. can Pitt bounce back and start at least playing defense the way that they were playing a few weeks ago and maybe Eli Holstein can find a bit of a resurrection.

Starting point is 00:04:01 The thing that's always so confusing about Pitt to me, teams don't have to figure out Pitt. If you know football, you know Narduzzi is good. There are three things guaranteed in this world. Death, taxes, Narduzzi going cover four. That's it. He is who he is. is. I have never seen some crazy schematic change from Narduzza. I'm like, hey, don't get me wrong. I've seen the wrinkles where I'm like, oh, okay, Pat, I see you getting a little frisky.

Starting point is 00:04:37 I'll see you being a little different. But for the most part, that team is who they are. The lineback's going to be coming downhill at the snap in the ball. They're going to be ready and knock somebody stuff loose. That is who Pitt is. So to see them kind of fall apart late is like, It's a little confusing. Now, offensively, they did get off the gates hot with their new offensive coordinator, who I believe is from Western Carolina. You know how good a job got to be for you to choose to leave your dad? Do you know how good that job has to be?

Starting point is 00:05:06 But they looked amazing to start the season off. We were talking about Eli Holstein, renaming the rookie of the year award after them. But it seems like teams are starting to catch on through what they're doing offensively. But the defense ain't helping much even. They aren't generating takeaways. and, you know, they aren't doing their hard-thumping downhill-style defense like they always have. So I think Pitt, they don't have the maturity to have lost one game and bounced back and say, you know what, that one game is behind us.

Starting point is 00:05:34 We're going to be professionals about this and move on. But I don't think that they can get this done against Clemsman. I just don't think they can circuit a whack. All right. So they're really mathematically, there's really only three contenders left for two spots in the ACC championship game. SMU. They're really in the driver's seat right now because like I mentioned, even if they do lose one of their remaining three games, they hold a tiebreaker over Clemson. So Clemson would need Clemson would need Miami to lose one game, assuming Clemson. Now, Clemson doesn't literally

Starting point is 00:06:08 have to win out because they only have one ACC game left out of their three remaining games. They've got Pittsburgh this weekend, like we mentioned. And then, you know, they've got games against the Citadel and South Carolina, which do not count against the ACC standing. So Clemson needs to win this weekend and hope that either Miami loses once or that SMU loses twice. Now let's take a look at the remaining. SMU's got three games left, all ACCC games, Kenton. They are at number eight, or sorry, they already beat Pitt. They're home against Boston College.

Starting point is 00:06:41 They're at Virginia. Virginia spice things up by beating Pitt last week. Maybe now we don't count them out. And then they're home against Cal. And like Cal, they finally won an ACC game against Wake Forest. So the degree of difficulty was not that high. But Cal has played everybody close this year. So, I mean, is there any chance?

Starting point is 00:07:03 I don't think so, but is there any chance SMU loses two out of their next three? No, no. Because even if you were, think about those three teams, either way you, you cut it or slice it, you're going to have to lose to both one of these teams, at least one. Cal Boston College. Who's the third team they have?

Starting point is 00:07:28 Hold on, hold on. Let me pull the schedule about it. Virginia. Yeah, Cal Boston College. Virginia, they're showing that they're on the ascent. They're going in the right way. Boston College just benched their only hope. And not to mention, not only did they bench their only hope.

Starting point is 00:07:45 upon watching that offense all year and going back and saying what's going on here yeah did bill o'brien is exactly who i thought he was he's exactly who i thought he was everybody wants to tell me i was wrong they meet fort state but is he not exactly i said bill o'brien is a famous mismanager of talent thomas casiano's had a thousand yards rushing last year down over a thousand yeah you know you know No, how many of you have so far this year? I don't. They only got about two, three games left.

Starting point is 00:08:21 A hundred and ninety four. Yeah, because they don't, Bill O'Brien doesn't let him run. Well, let me ask you about this. Yeah, because you brought up this topic, and it was, it was earlier on Tuesday, Bill O'Brien, like he not only definitively announced that Castellanos is not their starting quarterback anymore. Now, they benched him last week. and they won the game with Grace and James after he replaced them. So O'Brien announces that Grace and James is the new starting quarterback.

Starting point is 00:08:52 We obviously know Castellanos is more talented, more experienced. We don't think he's being used the right way. Now, let's talk about the flip side of it because another part of Bill O'Brien's announcement was that, you know, Castellanos is not taking the benching well, and he's going to be away from the team for a couple of days. Now, I'm sure there's more to this story. We don't know how that conversation went, and, you know, people are assuming Castellanos is going to end up in the transfer portal. He probably will. He probably should because this is not an offense he's going to thrive in.

Starting point is 00:09:23 But the idea of taking time away from the team, I've seen responses to that, you know, fans calling Castellano soft. He's not a team player. And I get it. It looks that way on the surface. So, I mean, and, you know, you played, you played at NC State. You've been in high-level collegiate locker rooms before. What was your reaction when you heard not only Costalanos being benched, but that he's going to take some time away from the team? Being benched, I knew it was going to be inevitable because, again, Bill O'Brien is who he is, man.

Starting point is 00:09:59 I very seriously, and I'm so, I meanness from the deepest part of my soul, if I could find someone who could pitch me to company, as good as his agent is pitching him to these teams. I would be the CEO of Microsoft already. It would be me up in those boardrooms making super decisions. Like, oh, yeah, let's totally do that. I know nothing about this, but let's do it anyway. At the end of the day, you have taken away,

Starting point is 00:10:32 when we watch Florida State get beat by Boston College, how did Boston College do it, do it through the air? Did they do it, airing it out and letting college, Castiano's hit guys that were wild. They did it on the ground. They did it on the ground. Not only did they do it on the ground, they did it with him on the ground.

Starting point is 00:10:50 He closed that game out with his leg. I'm telling everybody right now, O'Brien is exactly who I always thought he was. I would be surprised. And when I say surprised, I mean genuinely shot. Shock if that team ends up winning nine and ten games within the next, during his tenure, honestly. During his tenure at all, I'd be shocked.

Starting point is 00:11:10 Now, in terms of Castiano's in a stepping away thing, I mean, it's just nasty business. I mean, the worst part is Bill O'Brien has a tendency to do this. He has a tendency to run off top talent in the NFL. Do you know how hard it is to run off top talent? They're literally in a contract that says, your tail got to stay right here. But he has a tendency to do that. So I'm more lenient with Castiano's in this situation than I would be in most because one of these two parties has a clear history of we're going to trade one of the best wide receivers

Starting point is 00:11:45 in the game for David Johnson. That's what one of these parties has a history of. So, you know, I would be a little bit more lean with that, but always be a professional. You never know who's in the room. You never know what you're doing. When you're dealing with the good, when you're dealing with the bad, I'm not going to say I was perfect about that because I myself found myself in situations where I was upset about things that weren't happening and did not handle it 100% correct. But never, ever, ever do things in a way that requires you to step away from the team. At the end of the day, it's about the team. It's about the wins.

Starting point is 00:12:19 It's not the fighting O'Brien's. It's not the fighting Castiano's. It is the B, C, Eagles. That's who you are. That's what needs to be at the forefront at all times. We've got so much more to come here on LockdowneCC, including, I had the opportunity today on Lockdown-Cains to speak to a great former all-time Miami Hurricane Clinton Portis, two-time Pro Bowl or All-Pro.

Starting point is 00:12:46 Now, I spoke with CP about a number of things, including his view as a running back about Miami's D not being able to stop any running back or quarterback for running the football. So I'd like you guys to be able to hear what Clinton Portis had to say about it. And we're going to talk about the weird ritual of Fran Brown, the Syracuse head coach, who just lost to Boston College.

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Starting point is 00:14:35 Void were prohibited. Go to join roy. dot com for full terms. Roy, support the players, change the game. Now, Kent and Gibbs, by the way, we're here on Locked on ACC, Alex Dono from Lockedon Keynes alongside Kenton Gibbs from Lockedon. Wolfpack, I thought you brought up a good point about now, you know, Miami's defense was inexcusable against Georgia Tech. The offense was not clicking well enough to bail the defense out as they usually do. But you brought up a point about, the stylistic matchup.

Starting point is 00:15:10 And we knew this was the game plan going in for Georgia Tech. I was watching Haynes King, their quarterback on ACC Network, who admitted this was the game plan, was to keep Miami's offense off the field, keep Cam Ward off the field as much as possible, bludgeon Miami with the run, which moves the clock. They beat Miami 35 to 25 minutes in the time of possession game. You know, and after watching that,

Starting point is 00:15:36 I had a chance this morning, Kenton to speak with Clinton Portis, you know, part of the greatest team, in my opinion, the greatest college team of all time. Some would argue that. But the 2001 Miami Hurricanes and Clinton, who, you know, watches every Miami game intently. In fact, his son, the 2026 recruit, is committed to the Miami Hurricanes. He broke down to me, you know, why Miami couldn't stop Georgia Tech despite the fact that they knew exactly going in what the yellow jackets were going to do. When you give up your edges, you know, you got to go with the wide edges at times. It's constant getting into the back field and you're running to no man's land.

Starting point is 00:16:16 Like you're just going with your eyes closed instead of making that adjustment. And then when you're playing too high safeties, that allow the edges, you know, the rock and roll or getting down in the box is really no reason to play too high when you're playing a running team. You know, you need that extra man in the box. so you could protect the edges and make teams beat you. You can't give up everything. Like, except being, hey, if they're going to beat us, they have to beat us doing this. And if I know they have to do this, my players on the back end get an opportunity to say, oh, this is the only way they can beat me right here.

Starting point is 00:16:59 So maybe I can jump this route because this is what they have to do at some point. And you don't really get that. really taking things away. You had third and 15 conversions, third and eight conversions. You're not getting off the field on third down. Yeah, so I mean, I thought he summed it up pretty well, Kenton. It's why, you know, a lot of Miami fans are not only looking to the personnel, but also looking to the defensive coaching, which just hasn't had enough answers this year.

Starting point is 00:17:30 You know what I find interesting. There is a saying going around right now. It's a saying that's fairly new in the football lexicon Because before this was the default This was not the exception as it is today You know what that saying is, Dono? What? Run the damn ball!

Starting point is 00:17:51 When you see too high, guess what that means? Let's do the math, shall we, Dono. You got too high, you got two corners at minimum. That means that you got how many in the box? You just took away four from 11. What does that map be? You got seven left. Seven left.

Starting point is 00:18:08 You have to cover both A gaps, both B gaps, both C gaps, and potentially any other extra gaps that are added in a gap scheme. If the quarterback runs the ball, what just happened to the mat? It's not in your favor anymore because you have multiple guys adding in to the map. running too high against the team whose quarterback cannot throw the ball is absolutely coaching our practice. Yeah, agreed. That is absolutely.

Starting point is 00:18:42 If I was coached crystal ball, I would have gone up to my defensive coordinator and I would have said, hey, I don't know if you know this, but there's a guy over there named Aaron Philo. Aaron Philo was not the backup, Donnell, because that was pyrrower. Correct. Pyra was the backup, right? Yeah. From us, yeah. Bilo was the third string guy.

Starting point is 00:19:06 And a true freshman. If the 18-year-old, if the kid that was slow dancing at prom a few months ago is going to beat us. If this receiver group is going to beat us in the words of Rio the young OG, and I'm fine with that. But you know what I'm not going to let beat us? Jamar Haynes. Haynes King. Yeah. Walk on running backs because they're just physical downhill every time.

Starting point is 00:19:37 And we have no answer because for some reason it makes sense to us to say, we need that second safety D just in case. Just in case what? It's foolishness. It's foolishness. Miami earned this loss, obviously. And Virginia and I'm sorry, Georgia Tech earned this win. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:57 Yeah, no, 100%. And, you know, I think Miami is. is heading into a by week at a good time because they have a lot to reflect on. And at least there's going to be nothing lackadaisical about this by week coming up because they need to take a look in the mirror. And they still have everything in front of them. And we talked about it on yesterday's episode. Like Miami lost control of their own destiny for like five hours because Pittsburgh went out there and lost and handed it right back to Miami. So the odds are still that will likely see an SMU versus Miami ACCCC championship game.

Starting point is 00:20:29 but Miami's got to take care of their business first. Syracuse did not take care of their business over the weekend. And I feel kind of sorry for Fran Brown's family. We will explain why after this. You want to keep it locked right here to this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Guys, we've been having a great time. We've been winning money on Fandual America's number one sportsbook. Get ready to tackle the NFL action.

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Starting point is 00:21:31 That's Fandual.com. never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fanduil, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Thank you so much for making Lockdown ACCC, your first listen and your first watch today. For your next listen, make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton hosts Lockdown Wolfpack. Unfortunately, both of our teams, I cover the canes on Lockdown Cains. Both of our teams suffered an L over the weekend. So we've had plenty to talk about these first couple of days of the week.

Starting point is 00:22:01 And we will continue as we roll on during this college football season. And now Syracuse suffered a loss. And I'm watching this, this really bizarre post-game press conference from Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. Do I really like him? I think he's a good recruiter, good football coach. He's trying to turn Syracuse back into the right direction. They've had some tough years football-wise. But he talks about after a loss, like he was so distraught, he says he doesn't shower after a loss.

Starting point is 00:22:34 quote, I don't deserve soap. He said. Winners get washed in the words of Fran Brown. Now, I feel like the real losers here are anyone who shares a household with Fran Brown after that loss to Boston College and the other losses they've suffered. You probably didn't shower for weeks after the Stanford loss. That was a really tough one. And I feel bad for, you know, anyone who shares an office or a hallway with Fran Brown.

Starting point is 00:23:03 I mean, Kenton, can we get the man some soap, please? Can Syracuse bounce back and win a football game now? I'm so, so disappointed in Fran Brown. Because let me just say something. This ain't us. This ain't up, okay? Francis Alawishis Brown. I don't know if you watch this or not, but I need you to lock in with me.

Starting point is 00:23:27 I need you to get locked in with me. You understand? Take your stanking ass to the shower. after a loss. The stench of defeat is tangible literally with you. Yeah, I'm sure. Ew. Gross.

Starting point is 00:23:46 What do you mean winners get washed? So if there's a losing streak of some sort, what does that look like? If you lose the last game of the season, what does that look like, Francis? Kenton, I hope previous Syracuse coach, Dino Babers, I hope he didn't, I hope he didn't go by that rule because in the Babers era, they would like win six and then drop six was how that usually went. Let me tell you something. Fran, I'm rooting for you big time.

Starting point is 00:24:17 I'm rooting for you. I hope you succeed. I hope you do all the great things and, you know, bring Syracuse back to the days when they had Ernie Davis and Jim Brown Root for that thing. I hope you bring it back to the glory days of McNabbard. have and and what was it, Franey. Was Franey from there,

Starting point is 00:24:34 I believe? Oh, he was from there. I remember. Yeah, Dwight Preeny. What a player. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:38 I hope you bring them back to that type of relative. But my brother in Christ, this ain't the way. This ain't the way. The stench of losing is supposed to be that the jokes are this funny, the ice isn't as cold,

Starting point is 00:24:51 the food ain't as good, the girls ain't as pretty, you know, all that type of stuff. That's what the stench of losing. It's not supposed to be a physical stench. Brian, come on, man. Come on, come on.

Starting point is 00:25:03 Like washing is a right that you have, that you need to exercise every day, get in the shower, and don't just hit the hot spots. Don't just let the water run down to your feet. Thoroughly get every part of your body, Fred. Come on. With a watch rag. Don't you dare put a hand in the body. Use a wash rag with it. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:25:24 Well, it seems like I'm actually, I'm actually surprised by this line, Kenton, give him. even that, but I guess maybe I should follow my own words and saying, hey, Cal, who finally won an ACC game, even their losses were all really close. But I was actually really surprised. Cal are eight and a half point favorites against Syracuse this weekend. The game is at Cal, but it's not in the middle of the night. It's at 3 p.m. Eastern time. So Syracuse, are they're getting eight and a half points against Cal? Is Fran Brown going to be able to shower after that one? You better be. Imagine that flight back. Imagine that stench, that bone.

Starting point is 00:26:02 You don't even take a very bad. He said, I brush my teeth because I don't want you all saying my breast teeth. Brother, I'm sorry to death. The breath is the least of your concerns. I'm sorry. Don't get me wrong. Yes, brush your teeth every day, twice a day at minimum two. Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:26:21 Yeah, floss. But there's something worse than your breath staking. That you're one. walking right up to that you know if you tell me i got to choose between the two give me the bad breath every time every day to week because uh when those other parks get to part and as a grown man yeah come on friend don't do that don't don't do that and i'm an extremely competitive god down i'm so competitive my ex-girlfriend made me go on dates with her to do things i was bad at so i can learn to lose with grace that was something yeah it was a terrible experience it was

Starting point is 00:26:59 terribly. That's why she's my ex now. I'm joking. Were you dating a sports psychologist? Like that, that seems like a very deep way to get through to you. Well, no, she was also a former division one athlete. So it kind of, yeah, she understood the psyche of the maniac that was up there. But, but, Fran, come on, man. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on home, Frank. You don't got to live like this. You don't got to live like this. You are at a team that historically is under a 600 winning percentage, okay?

Starting point is 00:27:27 There's no need. There's no need. There's no need to guarantee yourself that many showerless nights. Let's reel it back in. Well, I feel like I need a shower after all this talk. We got a great week of shows still to come here on Locked on ACC. We'll start to look at the games coming up this weekend because you've got a handful of teams that need a win to be bowl eligible before the season is done. We've got the evolving ACC championship picture. Make sure you follow us.

Starting point is 00:27:56 Make sure you subscribe. if you're liking what you're seeing on YouTube, you're liking what you're hearing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, wherever you get your pods. And we will talk to you again next time on another episode of Lockdown, ACCC. We're part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - SMU Mustangs' ACC Championship Hopes: What to Watch | Miami or Clemson?

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