Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - SURGE: Miami Hurricanes Emerge as Top Seed, CBS Projection, ACC Playoff Spots CONTROVERSY Revealed

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

Miami Hurricanes and SMU Mustangs positioned as College Football Playoff contenders—can the ACC secure more than two postseason berths? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down CBS Sports’ bold predictions, including Miami’s shot at the No. 1 overall seed and SMU’s playoff prospects. They examine potential matchups against powerhouses like Notre Dame and Ohio State, debate Virginia Tech and NC State’s offseason rankings, and spotlight Louisville’s outlook. The hosts question whether expanded playoff formats favor coaches more than fans, highlighting the AFCA’s push for a 24-team field and the ramifications for coaching jobs across top programs. Get expert takes on roster strengths, quarterback showdowns, and evolving college football dynamics as the ACC looks to shake up the national landscape. Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 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 RugietGet 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhlRugiet. Performance medicine for men. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   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.

I'll take it. The ACC is going to get two teams into the college football playoff in 2026. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs. I am Alex Dono, and on this episode of Locked on ACC, when we're talking playoffs today, we're still talking 12 teams, still, for now, 12 teams. you've got another big group.

The AFCA is endorsing a big playoff expansion. It seems like the forces of nature are working against us. The powers it be wanted to expand a 24 teams. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about ESPN. They have ranked the off seasons for every team in the ACC. I'm a little surprise as to where they put Virginia Tech. A little surprises to where they put North Carolina State.

I want to pick Kenton's brain on that. But Kenton, I will take this as hopefully a good omen. CBS Sports.com, as they do every year around this time, they put out their full postseason predictions. They predict every bowl game and matchup, which is a big undertaking in May to do that. They predicted the college football playoff field as well. And despite the fact that people view the ACC is like very top-heavy Miami on paper,

not a whole lot else this year, I've seen other projections that only have the ACC getting one team in. CBS has graced us with a prediction where Miami not only gets in, but as the number one overall seed. They're maybe even more bullish than I am as the Lockdown-Kane's guy, but they also have SMU getting in as a 10 seed. Kenton, after last year, would you be satisfied with two teams getting in or do you think we can even push for three?

I'd be very satisfied with two getting in, but three wouldn't hurt. Three wouldn't hurt. Louisville, come on, come on Louisville. Hey, now, listen, I don't give a damn who it is, okay? I don't care if it's Louisville. I don't care if it's wait for us. I don't care if it's NC State. I don't care who it is.

If Syracuse and Fran Brown want to go out there, maybe they'll try their receiver out on a little, on his little leg harness and have them catch a couple balls pregame. Who knows? I don't care who is the third team. I'd love to see it. But the most likely reality is absolutely one with Miami and SMU. And here's the interesting thing about it.

If I was you, Dono, I'd hate it. I'd hate it. Because for Miami, when the expectations are the lowest, that's normally when they show up in shock. Bingo. Yeah. When they get in as a 10 seat again this year for all that year. Yeah.

When they got back, what was everybody saying? Because I'm not going to let folks do revision this history on the ACC last year or on Miami last year. When they took back, everybody said, you're paying back how much? You're going to pay him all that money just to go eight and four? I remember that. I vividly remember that. Nobody was

saying, Mesidor and Bain are going to set the world on fire in the playoffs. They will be unblockable and this is going to be over. Everybody said, well, you know, they're going down to college station and, you know, the SEC, it just means more. It just

means more. Well, you got past the guys in college station, but now you're on to a real team. You know, they only beat the bottom half of the SEC, even though that was supposed to be a conference that was so deep and so good that their 13th best team could be in anybody else's third or fourth, but they weren't no good. You're playing the real guys now in Ohio State. How'd that work out? How'd that work out?

Not well for Ohio State. Worked out okay from Miami. Worked out well for Keontay Scott. six against Julian Sane. All right. So it seems to me, it seems to me, Dono, that they were,

how many games in the playoffs was Miami favorite for? Just only the Ole Miss game. They were favored by like a point in a half. I got you. So that's what I mean. And y'all notice I didn't mention Old Miss because, again, I'm not a liar.

I'm not going to sit up here and say, nobody thought Miami was going to win a game last year. But what I will say is Miami historically, especially as recent history performs the best, when nobody thinks anything of it. So having them, thought of as the number one overall seat to playoff, I'm a little nervous.

I'm a little nervous. It's just like when you put NC State too high. As a state guy, I get a little nervous. I get a little nervous. And I bought into it last time. I said, oh, you know, we went to a Final Four in basketball. The ding-dong, the Witch is Dead. No more NC State stuff.

We got Grayson McCall. We got all these weapons. We're going to be great. Grayson McCall played like a total of five quarters of football. six quarter of the football, something like that. And it's not his fault. You know, concussions are nothing to play with. And they had to medically retire.

That's what I'm saying. His helmet was knocked off the hit that he took would send most of us maybe into the arms of the Lord. So this is not me saying, oh, he did a bad job. It's just saying historically. Whenever people are buying, whenever people are buying in high, it don't work out well for us. Miami is in that same vein where it just doesn't really work out well. So I'm a little bit worried from that regard. However, Miami is still Miami.

Derry Mince is a. quarterback that I think is fantastic. I think he's one of the best in the nation. And I really and truly don't just look at Derry Menza. I look at the infrastructure around him as the part where I'm like. Yeah, exactly. Okay. You got something. You got something. You talk about losing receivers. You bring back, you know, Southeast Florida, or known as the state of Miami superstar Malachi Tony. Everybody loves the guy. He can't walk around in Miami. In the words of Kodak Black, he can't even roll in peace. because everybody knows, right? So it's a really great situation there.

Of course, that backfield, you got some big hausses back there. You got some guys that you could ride, even if you had a quarterback that couldn't do much. You got some guys back there that you could ride this success on the season. You combine that with bringing in Mensa and Barcate. And Barcate. You're going to look damn good offensively, defensively. One of the best secondaries in the nation last year returns a lot of guys

who played a lot of snaps last year. Liveback and court, you know, I mean, I think you still got some ball players there. I think they got a little bit of a way to go to figure it out. Motore is like 35 and he's back, eighth year. That's what I'm saying. But they got some time to figure it out outside the eighth year guy. You know what I mean?

You got some guys. Your opening of the season is not murderous road where it's like, oh, if Miami don't get the defense figured out by game two, they're done. So, you know, this is a situation where, again, And I can see Miami getting in, getting in as the one seed. I think that's pretty lofty. But based on how their schedule is set up, it's possible.

Well, I mean, it's a very bullish prediction only because for Miami to get in at the one seed, they've got to go to South Bend and beat Notre Dame. And funny enough, and listen, I'm not even enough of a degenerate to look at like a week nine betting line and say, I need to lock that in today. Like, I'm going to wait until after they play the first eight games. but they actually just put out the future. The bet Miami will be a five and a half point underdog. As of today, a five and a half point underdog at Notre Dame.

That could wildly change in either direction after both of those teams play their first eight games of the season. But for what it's worth, Miami will go in to Notre Dame as of today, almost a touchdown underdog. I'm a degenerate enough to where if I was a degenerate, I would take those odds. I would take those odds. I don't believe in.

Lock it in today? I don't believe in. Notre Dame at all. I don't believe in Notre Dame at a high point of it. Everybody keeps telling me, Ken, C.J. Carr had the highest yards per completion, you know, on average, even. He was letting it fly. Well, yes.

Yes, when you have, do you know where their backup running back was drafted, Donald? You know when they're back to the back. Was it still in the first round? It was in the first round. Yeah, it was in the first round. Yeah, it was in the first round. I was going to say, Price and Love were both drafted in the first round.

Oh, yeah. He threw the ball and it was all deep balls. Well, when you got the number three overall pick and number 30, yes, 30 in the same backfield, I think methinks, people will not worry about a true freshman. I don't know. I don't know, Donald. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.

But you got two guys that are about to be draft eligible. One of whom is going to be a top five pick going to New York, all the good thing, and the other of the backup. is the average more yards per carry and was more explosive at times still a first round pick? Oh man, why weren't they worried about the passing game when playing Notre Dame?

Shucky darns, our best mathematicians could not figure this one out. So, you know, I don't believe in car and company. I just, I don't, to a level where they're going to be a touchdown better than Miami.

I think maybe, maybe they win that game by a field goal. maybe. I do not see a world. I do not see a world where they win by a touchdown or more. I just don't see that happening. So, you know, I wouldn't be surprised at Miami wins that thing out right. Again, if I had to bet straight up money line, Mars has got the death beam point of earth right now, I take Miami. The questions about my- You'd get good odds on that money line, I'm sure. But let me tell you why. The questions about Miami that I have are defensive and there are questions of, you know, the past rest and all that and how well the offensive. line jails and whatnot, but at the spots where Miami is youngest, that's not really Notre Dame's

calling card. Notre Dame's calling card ain't edge rushers. And even now that they're, they beefed up their defensive line. Everybody's talking about we're six plus deep at defensive tackle. Sure. Sure, pal. We'll see how that works out come the actual season, but I just don't think that they're built in a way that they can exploit the problems that, you know, Miami could potentially have. And I think that Miami is built in a way that unless it's like a monsoon or just horrible weather, that day to where every deep ball is flying. It might even snow there, November 7th and South Carolina. And that's a very real possibility. I don't want to take that away. But if that does not go in their favor in a very meaningful way,

I mean, if it's just a cold, non-windy day, I think that it turns into a track meat on grass that Miami wins comfortably. Well, I want to get into, so they have. Miami is number one seed to CBS. I want to get into where they have SMU and who they have SMU opening up the playoffs against, plus bowl matchups involving other ACC teams, including Mike Norvell possibly saving his job. Anyone? Anyone?

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you want to make your status official by joining the Everydayer club. Go to Lockdownpodcast.com slash Everydayer, and you can join the club for any and all of your favorite shows, like Locked on ACC, like Locked on Wolfpack with Kenton and Grayson, like Locked on Canes with me. And you've got exclusive ad-free versions of our episodes, exclusive content, Discord chat access with hosts and other listeners like yourselves. Lockdown Podcast.com slash Everydayer is where you join the Everydayer Club today. Thank you for making Lockdown ACC your first listen. All right. So here is the playoff field, the first couple of rounds, according to CBS Sports.

And you can count the SEC teams if you want to here, Kenton. So number nine seed versus the number eight seed will be nine seed LSU at number eight Ohio State. So the winner of that game will face Miami in the second round. They'll face the number one seat. December 19th, they'll have 10 seed SMU at seven Texas Tech. And Kenton, if SMU gets that draw, a Texas Tech team without their, you know, starting quarterback that they paid many millions of dollars to, who's probably never going to play football again with a very easy schedule.

So I would love that matchup for SMU. I think they could win that game if they match up against Texas Tech. In the words of the DeBarre's family, ooh, and I like it. I love that matchup for SMU. And let me tell you why, by that time, it won't matter in terms of quarterback, not quarterback who's, you know, starter, second string guy coming off ACF, you're talking about the playoffs here.

So by this time, at least at minimum, 12 games have been played, right? But here's the part where I do think that quarterback play or who has a better quarterback matters. When you talk about 12 games of film, now it becomes about two things. Either somebody's got to have Lairies and Joles that are just head and shoulders above the other,

which I don't think Texas Tech will have in this game. they'll have a slight edge of tournament, not a massive, like, oh, this is, they're playing different sports type of talent. But number two, it becomes somebody superstars need to have that star moment. Yeah. And I don't want to, you know, I know Miami fans are going to want to go away and maybe even numb subscribe after this, but look at last year's national championship game. Donna, what was the score of that game?

I know we lost by six. I try to block that one. try to block the final score out of my memory. All right. Now let's talk about two plays and let's imagine these quarterback switch places. The quintessential Beck ball, which we all know, Carson Beck is good for one or two a game where you have to warn him, Carson, our guys are wearing this color today.

What the hell were you doing there, right? Imagine if that play Fernando Mendoza is Miami's quarterback. And imagine what down was it where that quarterback draw that the Heisen winner and number one overall pick Fernando Mendoza took for a touchdown. What down was that? It was fourth down.

It was fourth down. Imagine if Carson Beck is Indiana's quarterback in that moment. So, and again, this ain't for me to rag on Carson Beck, and it demands a multimillionaire. He'd give a damn what I got to say.

But the reality is this. When you talk about if you don't have a head and shoulders advantage, the next thing it comes down to is the guys who are put in position to make plays, what do they do? When we talked about this,

I believe it was two years ago with Notre Dame and Penn State. I told everybody, Notre Dame is going to win that game if it comes down to quarterback play. And everybody said, I was insane. I said, hey, one of these quarterbacks will kill you. One of them, he won't. He's not great. He just won't kill you.

But the other one, oh, he's going to have that moment where you said, what is that? And lo and behold it did. So when I look at that game, whoever Texas Tech quarterback is, one of the two things is going to have to happen. Either they're going to have to overwhelm them via sheer force to a way in a way that it's like,

hey, Jennings, you can do your best, you can do everything, you can do it all. You'll be the big man. Still won't matter, right? Like LeBron playing against OKC. Hey, best player on the court, She struggled, all that good stuff. Didn't matter.

18 point loss. You see what I'm saying? It's not going to go like that for Texas Tech in SMU. It's going to be about who's better at quarterback if that matchup comes up. And SMU, I believe, has the better quarterback by far. I believe that who's going to do the freak show thing in that game? Kevin Jennings is a great candidate to say he's going to do that thing where you sit back. And years from now, the same way that people talk about that fourth down draw,

people are going to talk about what Kevin Jennings does if this matchup is to come to fruition. I like that. So the other two first round matchups, 11 seed Ole Miss. at six-seat Indiana. The defending champs get a home game. 12-seat UNLV at number five, Georgia. And then you get into the quarterfinals. They've got top-seed Miami against the eight, nine winner, LSU or Ohio State. So you could get Miami versus Ohio State for the second straight year. Four-seed Notre Dame against the five to 12 winner, which would be Georgia or UNLV, probably Georgia. two-seed Texas against the 7-10 winner, which would be SMU or Texas Tech, we hope SMU. And then three-seed Oregon against the 6 versus 11 winner, which would be Indiana or Ole Miss there.

So some of the other notable bowl games, Kenton, that I'm seeing, they're placing ACC teams in. So Louisville, I guess, would be the first ACC team that doesn't quite make the playoffs. So they get the Pop-Tarts Bowl against Houston. And it's like you and I have both attended a Pop-Tarts bowl. People need to stop the slander. Like that's, they think the Pop-Tarts bowl is like the lowest bowl on the pecking order. It's actually one of the top non-playoff bowls. So unlike Notre Dame who refused their invitation, I think Louisville would be honored to go to that Pop-Tarts bowl if they just miss out on the playoffs.

Don, I'm going to say something. The only thing that the Pop-Tarts Bowl can do better, change that stadium you in, man. Change that stadium. Yeah, it's a lame stadium. That stadium is awful. It's a relic. It was raining when we were there and the ceilings leaking and all out. I'm like, what is this?

What is this? You know, gets yourself a different stadium. But everything else about the Pop-Tarts Bowl, the bowl events, the cash. All of it is a great time. It is a really and truly great time. So I enjoyed it. I enjoyed my experience. I'm sure you enjoyed your experience.

I'm sure the teams that actually played enjoyed their experience as opposed to others who, you know, they had a nice little documentary where they said, we took our ball and we went home. Because our seniors said that, you know, we don't want to play. We've got a number three overall pick here. We've got another first rounder here. We're too good for this. We're over this. We've got the grandson of a Michigan legend here.

We don't need this. We're better than this. I'll digress. The teams that did. play at a great time. At a great time. Everybody has a great time at the Pop-Tarts Bowl. All right. So other ACCC teams, they got Clemson against Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl. They've got Virginia Tech against Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.

They've got Florida State versus Illinois in the Duke's Mayo Bowl. They don't specify exactly how many games Florida State will win to get there. But Kenton, hear me out. bowl eligibility despite these low expectations. I think Mike Norvell should get a little more time there. He's building it back up. It's building it back up. For those of you all who cannot see,

I just took off my headphones because I don't like hearing lies by people I like. You know, I only like to be lied to by people I don't like. And Dono is sitting up here. You know, the worst part, actually, I take that back because Donno wasn't a lie. You see the you on his helmet or on his hat. you see Sebastian Ibus on that polo. You know what that means? He would love for Norville to get more time.

But everybody who loves that spirit, everybody who cares about the ACC, you know what they're saying? Get his tail gone now. Okay? He will have less supporters than he had players that were truly trying in that race at the end of the year last year

by the time bowl season comes around. Again, their bye week is right before Halloween, and the best that he can do is pretend to be a head coach of a power for a team by the time Halloween comes around because that man is going to be out of a job. But don't worry, Mike, we've got a spot. They always say you need a media guy, a former player, and a former coach, and that's what makes your show truly boom. Mike, come on, come on.

It'll be Dono, it'll be me, it'll be you. You know what I mean? We'll be the ACC guys. Come on, man. How about? When we come back, are we doomed to a 2014 college football playoff? Because another big group has come out in support of expansion. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Workplace chaos. Deadlines are stacking up. Inbox overflowing.

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and listeners of Lockdown ACC will get a $75-sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this pod. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Thank you for making Lockdown, ACC, your first listen for your next listen. Make sure to check out Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone on Locked on Wolfpack talking all things NC State. Check me out on Locked on Cains talking all things Miami. All right. So Kenton, we know that the support apparently not from fans, but from, you know, people who stand to make money or benefit in other ways, keeps going up to expand the college football playoff. And the latest group that is recommending

this change, among others, among other changes, is the AFCA. That's the American Football Coaches Association. They're recommending increased access to the college football playoff. We believe that's the 2014 proposal. They've also proposed calendar changes, including ending conference championship games. I know you and I don't like that. Reducing open weeks in seasons from two to one, preserving an inclusive window for the Army Navy game in December, but allowing postseason games to be played on the same day and reducing the minimum number of days between games to no fewer than six. I can get on board with that, like player recovery and health.

But now, Kenton, tell me if you're on the same page on this one, to hear that the coaches association is supporting expansion of 24 teams, I look at that and I say, of course, the more teams get into the playoff, the more coaches who get into the playoffs and the fewer coaches who get fired because it's a lot harder to fire your head coach if you're a college football playoff team. That's the clear benefit that coaches would get from that. First, before I get to anything else, let me do a little bit of shameless bragging here.

When we were talking about what the ACC needed to do, do to like, you know, save their relevance and all that. My first proposal was, stop giving Army Navy this exclusive week to where it's like, oh, we're the only ones that can play and make it so that your last couple games of the season after rivalry week, you put in more by weeks during the season. And then at the end of the season after rivalry week, you have a tournament style thing for the ACC championship where you move in on Army and Navy's territory. Lo and behold.

Now everybody else is on board for moving in the Army and Navy's territory. Don't worry. I'll give y'all just a place to sign my checks to. I got a P.O. box and my personal address, whichever one y'all want. We can work the details out later. But now, Donald, the statement, we want people who make decisions for college football to be people who actually like college football. We forgot one part of that sentence.

He forgot one part. And who don't have an incentive to destroy college football. because with all that people may like college football, I'm sure lots of these coaches like college football a lot. College football has made some of these men unfathomably rich. Unfathomably. I mean, the type of stuff. The best job in the world is fired Auburn coach.

That's the best job. Well, that's just probably the most frequent job right up there with fire Florida coach. Those are probably the two to three most likely jobs. Every time you look up, They got a new one already. But let me tell you something, Donno. The reality is those guys may like college football. You know what they like more?

Joining that third country club. You know what they like more? Not having to worry about gas going up to $5.50 a gallon and whatnot. You know what they like more? Putting their kids in the finest private schools money can buy and not having to worry about it. You know what they like more than they like college football, being able to tell their mom and dad, hey, you can retire.

You're done working. And so why am I saying that, right? Why does it seem like everything keeps coming back to money with locked on ACC? Because it's the reality. It's the reality. If they expand the playoffs to 24 teams, that means that you're going to see most likely the top 20 to 22 get in guarantee. You're in, period, right? If you're in the top 20 to 22, Mike Norville, as it stands right now, would need a miracle to save his job.

But if he were to win 9 to 10 games, it's hard to see him being outside of that. Even, even eight games with a win over Bama, if Bama does well, you probably finds your way in. You probably, by the hairs of your chinny, chin, sneak on into the playoff. So why am I saying that? I'm saying that because Mike Norville now gets to keep his job a little bit longer. And granted, the buyout is still the buyout.

It's still great. Every coach doesn't have that type of buyout. No. Every coach has not had that type of buyout to where when you get fired, you're going to get paid in the shade, sipping lemonade, ain't got to work again type deal. It's not going to be that. So, Don, you're absolutely right in terms of, of course,

the coaches want to do this because they're incentivized to expand it because you cannot get rid of a playoff coach. Imagine telling somebody from back in the day, yeah, you're getting rid of a coach that was quite literally in the playoffs and had the chance to win this team a national championship. First thing they're going to say is playoffs, national championship. Those two things don't add up. But then once you send them down and explain it,

they'll say, well, yeah, I guess you can't fire a guy that had them in the playoffs. Despite the fact that like we talked about, there are multiple teams that every time they play the real team, they got the wheels whipped off them. I ain't playing on fire at Kirk Farrants no time soon, but I'll tell you what, he truly has secured a lifetime contract. If it's like, hey, just be in the time. top 20 and you're going to make the playoffs.

They'll be in the playoffs every other year. Every other year. That's right. We're going to be looking at the kids' hospital and everybody's going to be waving every other year. That pink away locker room, we're going to see it every other year, basically. So it's a situation where, of course, coaches are going to want those things and conferences are going to want those things. And everybody who wants the money is going to want those things.

But as fans, the people who I believe have the only pure. love of this thing, it's, it's, it doesn't sit well. It doesn't sit well with us. They, they, they already know they have us. Like, you know, they, they know that the people who love college football, we can complain about this stuff, but we're not going to stop watching. That's, that's the thing. They've, they've got us by the you know what. Absolutely. Yeah. It's no, it's no longer going to be the same game that we love, but they, they, they know they can, they can hit us with whatever they want to, and we're still going to come back for more. Yeah, it's unfortunate, it, but, and I hate to say this, I hate to die in the sport that I was never really into

like that to begin with, but baseball is a prime example. Baseball constantly capitulated to the hardcore, diehard fans and it turned into a dying sport because the diehards are going to be there regardless. They've turned football into track on grass for a lot of games. And guess what? We're still sickos who sat up there, watched Baker Mayfield and Pat Mahomes go back to back for a thousand yards. Yeah.

We're still sickos who sat there and watched the L.A. Rams and the L.A. at that time, the L.A. Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs when they were all in those highlighter yellow uniforms go off for 1,000 points or 1,000 yards and whatnot. And we sat there and said, huh, okay, this is football now. This doesn't harken back to what we know, but sure, it's still football because the diehards are going to be diehards regardless. You need to aim for the casual. what better way is there to capture the casual? Yes, number 22, North Texas definitely has the opportunity to win a national championship. Why would you think otherwise?

Yes, number 19 UVA who's having a miracle season, they definitely can upset Georgia. And don't you tell us they can't, you know? And that's no disrespect to UVA, but you get the point. You know, it's just the reality of college football to me more than any other sports. except maybe women's best women's college basketball has the greatest delineation of talent and of ability to win in the top 25 of any sport i don't think any other sport has you know you look at the top of the nfl the top teams to the bottom teams do not look as bad as like one versus 25 matchups and you get those occasionally the team that's in last place in the NFL upsets the top

team. Like it happens quite frequently, not in college football, obviously. Exactly. And even when when you think about men's college basketball, how many times has a one ever be to 16, Dono? Or 16 be the one. What, twice now? And guess what? That means that of 400 some odd teams, that team was ranked some probably somewhere in the 70s, which means that they were still relative to all the other teams in that top 20 percentile as opposed to with college football. you're looking at 140, 130-some-odd teams, and you're going to get 25 in or 24 in. Yeah, that's a little fishy.

That's a little fishy to me. So, again, coaches are incentivized. They get paid more. They get to enjoy the fruits of their labor more. They get to, you know, hang a banner. Because people underestimate how much hanging the banner means. You'll get to hang a banner. You'll get to say, why would you fire me?

I just hung a banner for you. Well, before you got here, we had a thing called the BCS. Before you got here, we had a thing where, What two losses of season was that that was your season's over at this university. And now you can lose four and you'll still get this better. Yeah, no, no doubt. Well, we appreciate everyone for tuning in. We will get into on our next episode, the off seasons ranked,

because there are a couple of curious choices for the ACC. So we'll talk about that. Virginia Tech ranked too low. What do we feel about Florida States ranking? We'll talk about that and so much more next time on another episode of Lockdown, ACC. We are part of the number one sports podcast network, the lockdown podcast network, your team every day.