Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Texas Longhorns vs Ohio State Buckeyes Leads WILD Week 1 Slate | College Football Kickoff

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

College football is BACK! Week 1 kicks off with a massive showdown between the Texas Longhorns and Ohio State Buckeyes. But that's just the beginning of a wild slate. We're also breaking down the biggest games for the Big Ten, SEC, and ACC, including LSU vs. Clemson, Alabama vs. Florida State, and Notre Dame vs. Miami. Get ready for a preview of the biggest storylines, rivalries, and Heisman Trophy contenders in what promises to be an unforgettable start to the season. Listener SurveyWe’ve put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcasts even better. Go tohttps://lockedonpodcasts.com/survey/ to get started. Everyone who completes a survey will be entered for a chance to win one of ten $100 Amazon gift cards. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!UpsideSimply download the free Upside app in the App Store or Google Play and use the promo code FOOTBALL to get an extra 25 cents back per gallon on your first fill up. Start earning cash at the pump, today!  Click Here: https://getupside.onelink.me/zlLr?af_xp=custom&pid=barrington&c=barrington_lockedon25&deep_link_value=promo&deep_link_sub1=lockedon25&af_dp=upsideapp%3A%2F%2FRugiet150,000 men have made the switch →https://Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONCOLLEGEUse code LOCKEDONNFL to get 15% off your order!SupplyHouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://www.supplyhouse.com/apply-for-trademasterto sign up for free and use promocode SHCOLLEGE5 for 5% off your first order. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's over. It's done. No more offseason college football is now. This is the first episode of Fire TV's college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola. I'm Drake Toll with the Savannah Banana's organization and locked on Big 12, sitting next to me, North Carolina and Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, Jesse Holly, and the 22-time coach of the year, Gary Patterson. Guys, a wide-open week one and a wide-open trip to the national championship for a slew of teams who believe they have what it takes this year. And those top 25 rankings are exactly where we'll start with our rankings report.

The biggest question, and maybe the biggest takeaway that I've had for the AP poll coach, we'll start with you, is why we rank teams before we've seen a single game this college football season? Why not wait until week six, week eight? Why jump into it right now and try to tell the country where these schools should be? Well, after 40 years of doing this, I would tell you really all the teams want to be ranked the top 25 because of recruiting. But really what it does, once you get it set, it's all about proving them wrong or proving them right.

It's not going to be anything different than that. It's vanity, right? Vanity, vanity, it's all vanity. You put it out there because you want this to look good for your AP. And then we're living in a time where everyone wants to rank something. They want to argue about something. So when you put the poll out, you give barbershop talk, water cooler talk.

Everybody is talking about college football when the rankings hit the papers. You know, as much as that may be true, I want to go back to last season, as you see the top 25 here, and that team that is number 11 this year, Arizona State, had they been number 15 to start their campaign last season, do they find themselves in a better spot during the college football playoff with a higher seed? Do we see at the end of the year these preseason rankings having an effect, coach, on where the schools end up? Well, yeah, you know, if I was looking at this, I would tell you,

that there's the top nine and then it's, you know, it's a shuffleboard of everybody else trying to prove that they belong to get into that 12-team playoff and do the things they need to do. But, yeah, I do believe it. I do believe that it makes a difference where you start because what people think about you. Because if they voted you low, they probably still think that way. And they may say, well, they don't have, they didn't play anybody or whatever happened, right? And Jesse, you say vanity. And you're exactly right, to a degree.

But I think the one area where I would push back would be when the casual college football fans, he's number six playing number nine. It doesn't always matter what the names of those teams are. It's number six versus number nine. It's a top ten matchup. When you have that next to your name in an arrow where brand valuation means so much for these schools and coach mentioned recruiting, those numbers are still important. Yeah, they're absolutely important. And for those schools that are dealing in these games with these numbers, you want to maintain them. You want to hold on to them because like coach was saying, it helps with recruiting. You get national TV games. You become the bell of the ball, so to speak, when you're playing these.

games. But again, you're judging these teams of things that we don't know. All these transfer portal guys moving in and out of these teams, you don't know what these teams are going to be before you get a chance, before you're ranking them before the season starts. You know, remember this, Drake. I was the team that won 55 to 3 or 55 to 7 the first year we did the playoffs, and we dropped from 3 to 6. And so you get to where you talk to the wrong person when it comes to all that because you go, well, how was I, right? ranked third and we win 55 to 3 and then you drop us all the way to 6th and we don't go to the 14 playoff. And so at the end of the day, I probably have a little bit more of a mixed view of how

this all works. Well, I think if there are two teams that like the view they're getting right now, it's got to be Texas at number one, Ohio State at number three, and those two teams will square off in week one. It's time to talk to our locked on hosts for our game of the week. The game of the week here on college football kickoff is presented by Coca-Cola. We're joined by Locked-on Buckeyes host Jay Stevens, as well as Brad Kellner of Lockhorns. Jay will start with you, defending national champions, but underdogs? Underdogs? It feels a little weird to be underdogs defending national champion, but Ohio State lost a lot of players from a national championship-winning team, a lot of them going to the NFL.

You have a new starting quarterback. You have new coordinators. The Buckeyes are home. There's a lot that's new for this Buckeye team in 2025. Brad Kellner, you have a quarterback who many say could win the Heisman Trophy this year. year, but he's only started a couple games of college football. Is the last name Manning going to hold serve? That's the hope here in Austin, Texas, right? I don't know if there's ever been a quarterback going into his first year as the starter with more hype around him than Arch Manning.

He's got all the tools. We saw it in a very small sample size last year, but he's got a great arm. He's a dual threat. He's got the high IQ. And going into year three with the Texas program, I think, is going to help the transition for him be a little bit easier. But what a test in his first game, his first road game of his first road game of career and obviously his first game here in 2025. Jay, let's put a bow on this at the Ohio State

Buckeyes win. How do they do it? They got to win in the trenches, just like they did a year ago in the Cotton Bowl. You have to make sure that on the O line and D lines, you are making sure you're setting the tone from the jump. You can't let Texas get their footing. You can't let Texas gain any confidence. The Buckeyes O line and D line must dominate for the Buckeyes to win. Brad, does Texas win this game? I think so. I really do. I mean, it's evenly matched. These are two incredibly talented teams and both teams have a lot of questions with how much they lost to the NFL from last season. But I think the Longhorns have the advantage of quarterback. Yes, Archmanning is pretty young, but he's got the experience edge over Julian San. And I think

from top to bottom, Texas is the more talented team right now. And they have more coming back from 2024 than Ohio State does. So I think it's close. I think it's a 60 minute game, but I like the Longhorns to win this one by a field goal. Top five matchup in week one. It's the Buckeyes. It's the Longhorns. I can tell you, thank you to both of you guys, that Longhorn fans fans are in for a great one. Being a passionate fan is hard work. All the pomp and circumstance makes you work up with thirst. Fan work is thirsty work. Enjoy a refreshing Coca-Cola. Coach, defending national champions versus the Texas Longhorns, who a lot of people have preseason in the championship, where do you go? Well, bottom line to it is. I think it's just

like it happened last year. If you don't let Texas run the football, then I think Ohio State gains an advantage. They were able to run the ball in the Clemson game. They weren't able to run the ball. state game and I think then Ohio State, then it doesn't matter who's a quarterback. Jesse? Well, you look at this game, you got to talk about the trenches, right? Because you're talking about Arch, who is a little bit of a rookie type quarterback, hasn't had many starts. And then now, Ohio State has a new quarterback.

Which most of the country would not disagree necessarily, but we've skipped over the fact Arch Manning hasn't been a starting quarterback in college football. Absolutely. It's the name, right? The name recognition is where a lot of people. If he's Arch Davis, is it like this? Absolutely not. He's Arch Davis.

We're not even talking about. at this degree. But it's winning in the trenches. When you have two inexperienced quarterbacks, you want to be able to say if we can control the line of scrimmage, we can calm our quarterback, run the football, and then allow our defense to make plays for us. You know, the other thing is,

having been there when Arch Keman as a freshman, it's not an ordinary freshman that's been there for three years. You have two uncles that are going to be in the Hall of Fame, NFL Hall of Fame. You have a dad, you have a grandfather that's been a part of it. So at the end of the day, he gets a lot more knowledge than what a normal guy does. Coming up, I think that we go somewhere that most of the country might not be talking about yet.

And that's the TCU Horn Frogs because they're playing Bill Belichick and the North Carolina Tar Heels. It's a weird thing. It doesn't really roll off the tongue quite yet. Belichick in college football. Isaac Shade of Locked On Tar Heels has our can't miss matchup preview. The Bill Belichick era in Chapel Hill is here and the excitement and anticipation is unlike anything I've ever seen preseason for the Tar Heels. The question, though, is that excitement strictly because Bill Belichick is the head coach at North Carolina, or is it because this team will actually be successful on the football field? Nobody seems to know the answer to that question, including yours truly.

They could win four games or 10 games and none of it would shock me. Let me give you three reasons why. Number one, Bill Belichick himself. This man famously plays everything close to the vest. He's not going to give you an iota more than he absolutely has to. Number two, this team has 70, 70, new players combined between freshmen and transfers. Will they be able to operate at a Bill Belichick level of detail necessary to succeed at a high level? I don't know.

And then number three, the schedule is very interesting. Carolina plays five of the bottom six teams in the preseason ACC media poll while avoiding the likes of Miami and Louisville and SMU, Georgia Tech, Florida State, even Notre Dame. that could allow for some wins. So will there be football success in year one of this regime at a basketball blue blood, or are they going to have to wait a cycle or two? We're going to find out the answer to that soon enough, but I can tell you one thing for certain. Monday night at Canaan Stadium is going to be absolutely insane.

Coach, I think Isaac directed that question right at you. I saw it in the eyes. If Bill Davis is the head coach at North Carolina, are we talking about this game? Probably not. I don't think so. You know, you have a full staff with Coach Dykes coming back. You have a starting quarterback coming back. I broke the passing records at TCU. I think the favor goes in the favor of TCU because they have more, your first games are hard on new staffs. Yeah, you're not biased in that pick at all, huh? No, coach. You're not biased at all of that pick right there. I think,

now he didn't play at North Carolina, right? Yeah. Right. And this is a North Carolina staff that, you know, a lot of, they're adjusting, a lot of the players are adjusting, transfer portal being as big as it is, there isn't the identity there yet. No, it's not. And when you look at what Bill Belichick is known for, it's an attention to detail. And it's a lot different going from the NFL when all you do all day long is football. When you're dealing with college kids now, you're talking about class and study halls. You're dealing with the 16, 17, 18-year-old emotions of a college kids coach.

You know that better than anybody. For Bill Belichick and guys like Josh McDaniels and trying to get all this together, there'll be details, they'll be detailed ready. I don't know if they'll have everything ready to go and win this football. I think Josh Hoover, the skill position guys of TCU, have a pretty strong advantage in game number one for Belichick and college football. I think TCU by double digits possibly in Chapel Hill on Monday night, too. Stand-alone game, the country gets to see it. Why, you know, we already hit Texas and Ohio State, but it's number one versus number three.

You can't stay away from it. It's time for our lock of the week. Let's go back to the game of the week as well. Open it, open it, open it. Lee has the key. to the lock of the day. Kevin Rogers and Lee Sterling with you here, the host of Locked on Betts,

and we have a lock for you coming up. Week one, college football Saturday, the big one in Columbus between Texas and Ohio State. The Buckeyes, a short favorite. Lee, who do you like on Saturday? Well, everyone remembers that Ohio State won that semifinal game here, 28 to 14, but a lot of people forget,

Texas had the ball first and goal, less than four minutes, driving for the tying touchdown. What's the difference this year compared to last year? Well, Ohio State has lost seven of the top nine tacklers on defense, and they've also lost both coordinators. Texas, they return Arch Manning. The difference here for Ohio State, they are breaking in an almost brand new quarterback and Justin Sane, and we're hearing he has not looked good in fall camp. So you've got a team here in Texas with two coordinators that have been there for five years,

looking for revenge here. My lock here, the Texas Longhorns, they win the game outright over Ohio State. And we'll see if the Longhorns can get revenge for last year's loss to the Buckeyes for daily college and all sports betting insight. Subscribe to Locked on bets on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. We'll see you here next week for another lock in college football. Hoping for a classic on Saturday when Texas and Ohio State kick off.

We'll see if the defending national champions can take down those longhorns. There is unrest in college football. We talk transfer portal, revenue sharing, NIL, and all of these conversations boil down to money. And where it's both good and bad for college football, one of the places that's gotten spotlight the last few months specifically is Texas Tech. Casey Cowen of Locked on Texas Tech tells us why. Casey Cowen from Lockdown, Texas Tech. And yes, it's been as interesting of an offseason in West Tech. Texas, as most Red Raiders can remember, as tech has gone chips to the middle of the table mode,

Joey McGuire and company in an all-out effort to seriously upgrade the talent of their roster, particularly where it matters most in the trenches, trying to renovate and revitalize a defensive front and an offensive front. We'll see which one is actually going to play out to a more elite level, because those are what will determine if Texas Tech can wind up where they are setting out to be, and that is contention for conference hardware with what seems like a fairly friendly schedule overall, based on preseason projections, at least expectations running, maybe at an all-time high in the 806. Jesse, if you asked Jim from Aida, Oklahoma 10 years ago, why players shouldn't be paid? He would have told you that it's going to create greed in college football.

But for a lot of these guys, Texas Tech included, this is a meal ticket. generational wealth on the table. No, absolutely. As someone who comes from a family who didn't have much, but I had a whole lot of talent. Going to these universities, I always look back on it and said, man, I would have loved to have something

to be able to send back to my family, to help out my grandmother. And a lot of these athletes, Coach, you've been in a lot of living rooms, and you see it. A lot of these athletes don't have much. All they're coming with is the talent that they have, but they're leaving a bunch of stuff back home

that needs a lot of attention. And that attention is financially. So I think having the NIL now gives you a player, a player, a comfortability in knowing that I can go and do what I have to do, but I also can take care of my family. Yeah, and I would agree, you know, you get a chance to change your family's life. You know, as we talked earlier, you know, it comes down for me looking at all of it. How do we get to where, you know, it's not so far to one side of the other?

You know, abuse leads to restriction. One of the things I think, you know, both universities, commissioners and conferences, D.C., all of them have to do is they got to take off their hats and they got to say, what do we do for best for college football? And on the other side, make sure that we take care of the student athletes because sitting on committees for a long time, even going out recruiting and doing home visits, I started seeing dirt through the floors a lot more in the last 10 to 15 years that I didn't see, you know, when I first started. 40 years ago. So I think we've got to find something that's best for all of us, and it helps the kids, plus it helps, you know, all the sports so we can keep them all. Yeah, Mike Gundy says make them employees. Dionne Sanders says bringing a salary cap. Every coach has some different idea. I think if you can merge it all together, find the happy medium. That's when college football can, that's where college football can continue to thrive. People will say it's a dying game.

I don't think so. I'm going to get the same buzz on Saturday when we kick off number one versus number three, just because NIL is the thing with the transfer portal, it doesn't take away all that we love about the game. And coach, you mentioned sitting on committees trying to help with NIL and being a stalwart in the game, even post your years at TCU. Let's give you this, we'll give you the spotlight. Time for your coach's corner. Well, yeah, you know, after talking about, we talk about portal, we talk about NIL.

One of the things I want to go back to is about coaches. And for me, it's about the fixers, the guys that have the wisdom that, you know, they can go into programs and they can change things. The guy that I'd like to spotlight, and there's a bunch of great coaches out there is a guy by the name of Jerry Keel. Here's a guy that's beaten cancer three times. He's also been at Southern Illinois where he changed the AA program and went to the playoffs.

He went to Northern Illinois the next year after he left and went to Minnesota. They went to the Orange Bowl. He went to Minnesota, changed their program around. Then he ends up being because of health has to get out of it. He ends up coming back and becoming the head coach in New Mexico State. He takes them to two bowl games. I don't think they'd been in like 60 years.

And then he gets out of it. Now he's a senior guy helping Vanderbilt. And you saw what they did last year. They upset Kentucky. They upset Alabama. You look at the, in their position to be, people think, even better this year. Yeah. Coach Kail is a legend of the game.

And somebody that you know college football, You're familiar with Jerry Kill and what he's done across the game. And genuinely, it'll be the story of if not for health, he could have been and may still be one of the greats that's ever done it from the coaching booth. Let's go into our playoff playbook now and talk the biggest games of the week that we haven't quite gotten to yet. Notre Dame and Miami will kick it off this weekend. You talk about an opportunity. Miami Hurricanes have that week one as they welcome in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. College football playoff runners up from last year into Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.

night. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Caines. And for Miami, I think the first key in this matchup, if they're going to pull off the mild upset, Notre Dame favor by about a field goal, Miami has to find a way to slow down Notre Dame's running game. I don't think there's any stopping them, but slowing them down, maybe. But Jeremiah Love and Judarian Price, arguably the best running back duo in the entire country. And if Miami up front can slow those guys down, it would give them a better opportunity to create pressure for Notre Dame's first time starting quarterback and making him uncomfortable. CJ Carr has all the talent in the world, but making his first collegiate start in what should be a hostile environment, Miami's going to try to make that

moment too big for him. Offensively for the hurricanes, certainly a new face, well, not new to college football, but new to Miami with Carson Beck behind center. Comes in with a lot of experienced 24 and 3 record at Georgia. There's nothing Beck hasn't seen before. But, of course, new offensive scheme for him. I think it fits him well. New weapons at receiver to throw to. Can they build immediate chemistry? And for the hurricanes, also a really nice running game with the trio of Mark Fletcher, Jordan Lyle, and Marty Brown leading the charge. I think a big key for this game is going to be special teams. Notre Dame number one in blocking kicks last season, their defense, Irish defense also great at creating turnovers. Miami's defense has a new coordinator in

Corey Heatherman, a ton of new bodies on the defensive side of the football, including cornerback Xavier, Lucas, safeties, Jacoby Thomas, and Zechariah Poyser. And you have to hope that unit communicates and plays a lot better than Miami's defense did a year ago. I think this one is going to be close as the odds indicate, but Miami's going to have to probably score early and build a lead, get the crowd into it if they're going to pull off the upset. Miami be a college football playoff team for the first time, Jesse? Yeah, absolutely. They can. All the guys that they have are turning back.

And then you talk about NIL. They go out and they get Beck. They pay the money to get him. And if you have a quarterback, you have a chance in college football. And they have a pretty good one in back. Yeah, coach, this is an LSU team against Clemson this weekend. As we go there to the SEC versus the ACC, two schools that believe, even if they lose this game, they'll still be in the playoff.

Well, yeah, you have your two, I think, as we were talking earlier again, Drake, I think you're going to have two teams. Ohio State and Texas, they got younger, a little bit apprehensive. I think you're going to see as they run down and touch the rock, both of them are throwing vertical because you got Klobnik at one, you got Nussmire with the other. I think it's going to be a vertical game. I think it's going to be a really fun game to watch. If I say Clemson is my favorite to win the national championship because of the seniority

they have, Jesse. Is that a crazy pick? No, I don't think it is at all. You're talking about where Davo Sweeney is as a head coach and the guys that he was able to bring back. And you talk about coach, like you said, having that veteran leadership at the quarterback position. That's not a bad take at all. I know that we're not looking at that right now, but Clemson has always been a good program and has represented the ACC very well. LSU and Clemson feature a couple of unicorns. Two fifth year senior quarterbacks that have

played their entire careers at the same spot. Cabe Klupnik and Garrett Nussmeier. Nussmeier, of course, the leading returning passer in college football from a year ago, the only 4,000-yard passer back in college football. These are two of the most experienced rosters in college football as well, but they've gone about it in different ways. Clemson returns 16 starters. LSU went ham in the transfer portal. Brian Kelly noted that LSU spent about $18 million on this roster. The big issue for LSU or the question is on the offensive line. They've got depth, experience, and tons of talent, but they don't have or five starters that have played together. That's a big challenge going on the road at Clemson. Clemson, meanwhile, gets a lot of hype because of Parker and Woods on the

defensive line. But that's a Clemson defensive line that a year ago was 84th in America in rush defense. As a matter of fact, in Clemson's four losses, they allowed an average of more than 200 rushing yards in those four losses. The outcome in this one is going to be simple. Whichever team can control the line of the scrimmage and run the football is going to have a better chance of opening up big plays in the passing game. Ellis, of course, trying to silence Clemson Memorial Stadium, which we won't call Death Valley, of course, because we know. Just like Mardi Gras, Mobile likes to say they were first. Everyone knows New Orleans does it best.

So Clemson can try to be Death Valley if they want, but everybody knows the real Death Valley is in Baton Rouge. Sticking around the SEC, Auburn and Baylor will square off this weekend, but that game is in Waco. Coach, you've coached there quite a bit as the opposing team than on staff a couple years ago with the Bears as well. Is there an advantage for a Big 12 team against the mighty SEC? Well, yeah, I think Dave going back and calling the defense, I think there's some continuity now with his offensive coordinators in the same place. He's calling the defense. They're playing in their hometown.

A lot of people have had them picked as number one, maybe preseason in the Big 12. You have an Auburn team that did a great job in the portal. Coach has got a new quarterback, so on. I think it's a toss-it, but it should be a great ball game. Jesse, any chance for Florida State against Alabama? Yeah, there's absolutely a chance. Watch it now. Hold on. Hold on. I'm an ACC guy. I'm an ACC guy. There is a chance.

I didn't say it was a great chance, but there is a chance. But they have to come out and, again, when the line of scrimmage, be physical with that Alabama team. Because they're coming back this year, Alabama, looking to reclaim their place at the top of college football. Rudy was a great story. The movie was spectacular. We'll see if Florida State can do it this week against Alabama. And that is all for our college football. college football, playoff, playbook, and a wrap on this week's college football kickoff presented by Coca-Cola.

But we are just getting started. Next week, we're diving into rivalry matchups, playoff shakeups, and the players turning heads across the country. You won't want to miss it. Same time, same set, same unapologetic football energy. And a big thanks to the Hall of Fame for Gary Patterson, to Jesse Holly, for bringing the heat, and to you for riding shotgun with us. Enjoy all the action this week.

Stay locked in. Stay fired up. And we'll see you next Thursday. here on Fire TV.