Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - This Model Says It's A Two-Team Race For The ACC Championship | More Buzz About FSU Formal ACC Exit

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

Are Clemson and Florida State the only clear favorites to win the ACC? According to the ESPN SP+ model, and a conference preview by Bill Connelly, the Seminoles and Tigers combine for over a 51% chance to win the ACC. That leaves the rest of the field under 49%. FSU and Clemson have been the primary powers in recent years, but is this model too dismissive of what feels like a very open ACC? Clemson has big questions on offense while Florida State has a ton of new pieces. It’s worth noting that there are obvious questions elsewhere, too. Miami might have the most talent on paper but there are questions about coaching and newcomers. Hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs discuss these conference predictions and Gibbs makes a case as to why Clemson cannot be trusted. Meanwhile, there is growing buzz that FSU could make a formal announcement in the near future that they are leaving the ACC. Donno explains why announcing before August 15th would be significant, although a formal announcement does not change the fact that multiple lawsuits are still moving at a snail’s pace. The guys discuss a “bold prediction” that states Miami and Georgia Tech will eventually join the Big Ten after FSU and Clemson do.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COMand add a big win to your summer bucket list!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.

Well, this statistical model says it's a two-horse race for an ACC championship this year. Are they right? You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team, every day. Hope everyone had an awesome long holiday weekend and shout out to the everydayers for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. We're free wherever you get your podcast. We're available free on YouTube.

We're part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code, Locked-on College for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked-on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Locked-on-Cains, and on this loaded episode of Locked on ACCC,

we will talk about a new bold prediction on conference realignment, which involves a handful of teams currently in the Atlantic Coast Conference. There is some buzz now that, well, more buzz, because we did talk about a similar story a week ago, but more buzz that Florida State could make some kind of a formal announcement in the coming weeks about exiting the ACC. But let's talk about some ball first, Kenton, as the new ESPN SP Plus preview has come out for the ACC. Bill Connolly from ESPN does a really good job putting these previews together. Now, first, Kenton, according to these statistical, model. That comes from the ESPN SP Plus rankings, which are defined as a predictive system for

college football efficiently, I should say, that adjusts for tempo and opponent. The two teams that essentially are them versus the field to win an ACC championship this year, Florida State is given a 27.5% chance to win the conference this season. Clemson given a 23.8% chance, which means Florida State and Clemson combined for 51% versus the field. Do you feel that high on both, essentially, being the ACC championship game this year with the winner of that reigning supreme in the conference? No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. This is not.

Let me explain something to you about why I don't feel this confident in these teams, okay? the reality for both of these teams is simple. You're coming into a situation where both teams have very big question marks at some very important positions. And that's just the reality of what we're looking at with both of these teams. Clemson, what is your quarterback going to do? And everybody's going to say, oh, you just didn't watch the second half of the season last year. Look at the defenses Clemson played in the second half of the season. All of the decent defenses that Clemson played in the early part of the season,

they whooped the wheels off. I'm sorry, they got whooped the wheels off by them. And then when they play all of the defenses, they're like, eh, I mean, they're technically fielding a defense. Not necessarily a good one, but there's a defense out there. Sure, you look good against them. Sure you look good against Georgia Tech. They couldn't stop me and Dono from getting into the end zone.

That's just the reality of what you got going on there. So I look at Clemson and I say, how good is Kay Clemson? of Nick actually in terms of what we're looking at there. And then you go forward and say Florida State, they're the other half of this deal. What's going on there? Who are your playmakers? Who are your guys that you know I can get the ball to him and I can, you know,

we could easily be looking at a situation where he's even, he's leaving? Or a guy that last year, they had two guys who if they couldn't separate from you on the field, they could separate from you vertically. You could throw the ball up from anything. we're on the field. If Keon Coleman or Johnny Wilson were going to get your average ACC defensive back, I'm betting my money on them every time. Who's your guy like that now? Who? And being big ain't enough. You have to be big and coordinated and a guy who has done this when the lights have gotten the brightest. So I have questions about both teams. I have big

questions about both teams that make it hard to say they're going to be, you know, dominant forces in the conference. And to the other part of that, I understand why. this is a prediction because the rest of the conference also has major problems to answer. But it's hard for me to say a team with major problems, everything goes right and there's, everything goes right for you and everything doesn't for everybody else per se. That's a tough sell for me. Yeah, I see the conference as being very open, Kenton. I mean, you talked a little bit about Clemson. I mean, Kate Klubnick and that team had a big problem against the tougher defenses that they faced with red zone turnovers. I mean, their red zone efficiency was the opposite of efficient. Florida State,

like you mentioned, has a lot of new pieces. Now, Mike Norvell and company, they get the benefit of the doubt because he seems to have built a really strong culture there and has proven his coaching chops. And they did a lot of the players that they acquired in the transfer portal are super talented. So new faces, super talented. I do think there's going to be a drop off, though, from quarterback last year to DJ Weungaunga Lai this year. I know I know that we can, you know, say, oh, DJ is this and that, but I don't expect him to necessarily be the most consistent on the field force this year, wide receiver questions. But I understand why Florida State is the favorite, because I feel the same way that's proven otherwise. But then you look at

other contenders, you know, I cover Miami, and I think Miami on paper probably has the best and most balanced roster in the ACC, but there are, of course, approaching questions and cultural questions, just the whole thing where Miami has basically fallen short of expectations every year for the past 20 years. There is that. So do they break through this year? We obviously have questions about Louisville who punched above their weight last year to get to the ACC championship game, winning a ton of ones for games last year, Kenton, but it is a talented roster. That's a team to watch out for. I definitely think NC State is a sleeper. I know that's become kind of a popular sleeper pick out there. So there are other teams that can contend, but I think, Since the conference is so wide open this year, it's easy to go with the teams who have proven it in recent years. And the ones something in recent years are Florida State the last two years and then of course, Clemson prior to that.

Absolutely. And I'm not, I would never go against, hey, have these other teams done it on the brightest stage? Which does count for something. It does count for something. That culture of winning because it permeates, the little details that need to be done to win that spreads. It goes from class to class to class, particularly with the Clemson, where they don't use the portal at all. So the quarterback going out knows the quarterback going in, knows the defensive line going out. You know, I get that.

My only thing here is, if you're talking these teams or the field, if you say, hey, are these teams that you would say have a good chance to win it? Absolutely, absolutely. If you would say, are these two against the field, you've got to bet your house on it, how's that going to work out for you? Well, I really, you know, I'm like Scully and Molder and X-Files. I want to believe. I want to believe, but, you know, it's tough. And ultimately, as much as we talk about how the game has evolved, I think this is a Florida State team.

If we're talking about the early thousands or 90s, I think they're hands-down best team in the conference bottom. I really and truly do because they have a running back who is prime time, a big time back that's been doing it in the ACC for years. They have a quarterback that can move the ball on the ground as well. You didn't really need much passing back then because if you had the bigger, more physical team up front in terms of running the ball, that was it. That was, you did not need anything else.

With the way that the game is today, with the way that it is, it is almost like Blitz Creek, just teams flying down the field at breakneck speeds, you need to have not just a decent, but at least a solid passing game to where I know I can rely on my passing game for 200, 225 yards a game, even against the best defenses. I'm not sure they have that. I'm not sure they have that, which is the question there. And, you know, when you look at these other teams, it doesn't take these other teams being

better than Florida State in a simulation 99 times out of 100. It takes these other teams being better than them one time. One time. One time. And that's it. You two games that you, that go the other way, you're out. That's it. I don't think a team is going to get into the conference championship this year with three losses.

So, you know, you look at a game where you say, hey, and not just for Florida State, same thing for Clemson. Clemson, all you need is three bad reads, three really terrible reads from Kay Klebnick at bad times. It's over. It's over. You're not going back. Congratulations. Two years straight. No ACC championship trip to Charlotte for y'all.

So you're looking out a situation where, again, do I think that these teams are rightfully the favorites? Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, these teams are Sam's, they're Farses, they're nothing. No, these are very good teams? But are they good enough to say they're headed shoulders above the field? It's a two horse race. Everybody else, you're just kind of here along for a ride? No. Is this the most wide open conference out of the power for? because obviously just based on the rosters, Ohio State looks to be a clear favorite in the Big Ten, just on the 90% blue chip ratio, which is insane.

There's a lot of pressure on Ryan Day this year because of that. Obviously, the SEC is always competitive, but Georgia looks like the best team there by a country mile. We'll see if it plays out that way. And then I don't know, I don't have the big 12 odds in front of me, but I would assume Utah probably at the top there. You know, of course, Oklahoma and Texas. And, you know, Texas could be a team that could get some, get some votes potentially in the SEC.

But I don't think they're as good as Georgia is. But in the ACC, it's like, you know, you could say Florida State, they should be the favorites. And I would agree with that. But it's pretty wide open. I wouldn't say there is clear a favorite as some of these other conferences. I would say that we, our picks, our top dogs are the least safe of safe money next year. In terms of if you're like, you know, this betting, going to make me a millionaire, but he's going to pay for lunch type of deal.

You know what I mean? If you're talking safe money next year, it's, we have the least. And so I would say out of the power four, we're the most wild over because in the, in the big 12, who do you see stopping Utah? Who do you see that you could feasibly say, hey, this team, it makes sense. On paper right now with everything we know, it makes sense that they're the Utah stoppers next year. Not many.

Same thing for Georgia, you know, people, I don't. don't think that people truly understand how great Nick Saban was and really still is. I really don't. Over the past 10 years, Alabama averaged nearly 13 wins a season. Average. That was like their average season. You're over 11 wins handily. Think about that for a second.

Now that he's gone, you know, that's Georgia was, he was the one who put, who's spank Georgia when they needed to be beat in the last couple of years. Without them going, it's like Steppenwolf when he said, there's no lantern here, there's no krypton, this planet will fall. The SEC is that planet. They will fall. Big Ten, Michigan, Ohio State, everybody else. I don't care what you say about Oregon. I don't care what you say about USC. I don't care what you say about UCLA, all these new contenders. Penn State is proven. They're the Chrysler 300 of the Big Ten. They look like a phantom until a phantom pulls up. then all of a sudden they look like a regular Chevy.

You know, this thing to me is very simple. In terms of the power for everybody else's safe money is safe. Again, you're not going to feed generations off that money, but you'll feed your family to my house. You know, your family a nice little mill here and there. But the ACC, this is the safe money that would have me concerned. If I were to say, is there value in the bet on the favorites here? I don't really see it.

Now, when we come back, I do have betting on. in front of me for the SEC and Big Ten, because I know there's going to be a couple fan bases in those conferences. They're like, why are you dismissing our team? So I do have some clarity on that. Plus, more buzz about Florida State making a formal announcement within the coming weeks that they're leaving the ACC. You want to keep it locked right here.

Kenton Gibbs and Alex Dono, we are only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. I'm only getting started with game time. Guys, this is the only ticket app that I use because I'm getting the best deals, especially last minute deals, day of event, day before event. Sometimes even after the event has already started, I'm getting the best deals on game time. Guys, we all love going to Major League Baseball games during the summer. Game time is an authorized ticket marketplace of Major League Baseball,

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Thank you so much for making this episode of Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Alex Dono alongside Kenton Gibbs. All right, so Kenton, because I know when we were talking about, oh, clear favorites in the Big Ten and the SEC, Oregon fans are getting angry at me. I guess Texas fans, the Auburn fans are probably getting nailed, though I don't like Auburn's anywhere near the top there. Oh, boy. So Georgia, they're, of course, favorites to win the SEC at plus 175. And then after that, it's Texas at plus 275.

Remember, they're making the jump from the Big 12 to the SEC. Ole Miss at plus 650, Alabama at plus 800. So Texas is actually the team closest to Georgia with the odds. And then with the Big 10, you've got Ohio State. favorites, of course, at plus 150. Oregon. Oregon, though, is very close. So I don't want to dismiss it like it's a one-team race. Oregon making the jump from the now basically defunct pack. I think the Pac-12 technically still exists, but there's two teams in it. They're making the jump from the Pack 12 into the Big Ten, and Oregon is at plus 200. So the odds would say that race is closer than I gave

it credit for. Fully. I don't believe in Oregon in terms of physicality against a big team. Yeah, fully, fooey, malarkey, whatever you want to call it. It's a Fugazi. It's a Wiesel. It's a Wazel.

It doesn't exist. I don't believe in Oregon. To, you know, a shout-out to Spencer McLaughlin. He's my guy. He knows I love him. You know,

I don't not have me on college football anymore for this. But I really don't. I really don't believe that Oregon has the physicality that it takes to match up with the physicality of the Big Ten weekend and week out. I really don't. And I get it. The narrative has shifted somewhat in terms of the Pac-12. because last year the Pact 12 was a more physical conference.

Cal and running the ball, that was what they did. Oregon State, they were a very control the ball, control the ground, kind of grinded out team. Utah, obviously, always going to be some very, very physical guys up there. But I do not believe that by and large, they are ready for the physicality of the Big Ten because even the bad teams, they may not be good, but I'll be damned if you walk out of there, not a little lumped up, not a little bruised up from playing Minnesota,

from playing what Rutgers was pretty good last year. But yeah, for playing teams like that, that even though they're not good, they're not great necessarily, you're still going to have a physical game on your hands. I don't think Oregon's ready for that at this point. All right. So let me shift gears here because there's a new ex post from, I think the guy who probably tweets more about conference realignment than all the other accounts combined. I don't think this dude, whoever he is, has any hobbies outside of covering conference realignment.

And I appreciate the volume of you. his ex post, this account at Genetics 56, who goes by Big Ten information. And he's very much been on top of, you know, Florida States impending ACCC exit. And he strongly feels that Florida State has, has a bid to the Big Ten and also approval by Fox, you know, the TV provider for the Big Ten. But he wrote this. He says, last week, I learned that Florida State is working to put together everything for a formal announcement, that they are leading.

the ACC from a new source, he says. It is expected to occur prior to the start of the football season and will happen any random day. That's a little vague. He says, this is from the Big Ten side for the first time, not HQ level. He says, I just have to have clarity on that and not to put anyone in a bad spot or get questions. He says prior to last week, going back to late May, it was from the FSU side for the

noise chatter of leaving the ACC this summer. So now he says it's coming from the Big Ten side. The first important date has already passed. That was the start of June for the ACC payment. The next important date is August 2nd when two new members join the ACC. That's Cal and Stanford, who I guess are not like officially officially in, but they will be then. He says that can trigger the composition clause, he says. All right.

So Kenton, because we have to keep in mind when FSU, if and when they make a formal announcement that we're leaving the ACC, that doesn't automatically settle these multidis. court cases, right? The battle is going to continue. So first thing that I would say is if Florida State makes a formal announcement or a formal declaration, that's obviously a big move for posturing, which I guess can be important in a fight like this. But then I guess the other important thing would be Kenton that, so the drop dead date for being able to play in a different conference next year, the 2025 football season, if you declare by August 15th that you're, leaving the ACC, you could technically be eligible to play for another conference the following

year. So I would imagine Florida State would want to make an announcement before August 15th if this report is true. Now, again, that doesn't automatically settle the cases, right? The cases may go way beyond August 15th, but at least if Florida State makes the declaration, they've got that duck in a row where, hey, if somehow we do settle before August 15th, we can play in another conference next year. Hey, more power to them. If they know, well clearly they know things that we don't and they feel more confident about this court case than anybody else does in this situation which hey good for them rightfully so you shouldn't be entering lawsuits that you think you have no chance of winning with that being said i hope they're right

i really hope they're right because if you make this declaration hey we're leaving the conference and then you don't get the outcome that you're looking for in the courts and it's like well um i know that we said we were leaving but surprise coming back. You know, it's one of those situations where, objectively speaking, the conference basically would be in a situation where they're like, oh, well, no more appeasements to you all, no more anything to you all for the next however long you're here, because there had already been certain things that had been done by the conference, i.e., the revenue sharing model

that was tilted towards performance in terms of college football and things like that. That was tilted towards these schools. It was tilted towards, hey, we want to make things. better for you all. We want to help you all close the gap. If you believe you all are high performance, great. Keep being high performance. You'll be rewarded as such. And they felt like even that was not enough understandable. That's fine and good. Because what they want is, I mean, tilting to performance is nice, but what they really want is they want it to be tilted to how much money do we bring in in terms of TV ratings and ticket sales, which I guess Florida

State would argue that even if we're not performing that well, we're still bringing in more than that than a lot of these other teams. Yeah, and I get it. I understand it. But what I'm saying is, if they're going to go this route, you have to win in court. You have to, because if you lose in court, if you get the wheels off of you in court,

with that announcement, you are going to look like the biggest fools in quite sometime. You will be the laughing stock of college football for a bit. And not in terms of your football product has dropped or your team is worse or anything like that. I mean, strictly from a standpoint of

People looking at you and saying, no, wait a minute, you all said you were leaving. Why are you still there? You know, and then you force yourself into a corner of, well, I guess we could become independent, but do you feel like you have the cachet to demand a Notre Dame style deal from one of these channels? Do you? Do you? And then the final part of all this, whoever is saying this, you have quotes that you know they have a big 10 bid. And what does that big 10 bid look like?

well better yet how does the big 10 already tell them that they have a bid at this point in time something about that feels a little less than legal if you will you know i i'm not sure if illegal is the word here you know but it feels not quite past enough there may be ways to do it through back channels where it's like it's like i watch a lot of mob movies it's like hey well hey well if you you get somebody's cousin to call somebody else's cousin and hey if we were to give you a bid, this is what it would look like. Yeah, I don't know. There may be ways around that. Well, more power to them with the back channels, but this seems like they're making a very front channel. And I'll tell you what, if that becomes the case, we've got another case on our hands. The ACC is going to be, you know, it's just going to be lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit. I mean, more courts than March Madness will be seen by the ACC if this turns out to be true. All right. Well, when we come back, there's a bold prediction on conference

realignment and teams who may end up joining FSU and Clemson and the Big Ten down the road. I want to keep it locked right here, my friends. We are only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Guys, we love this Locked on podcast network, and Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. Now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. It's called Locked On Sports Today, and it's here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Lockdown, plus our national shows covering every league.

Find Lockdown Sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. Alex Dono alongside Kenton, this was actually brought to my intention, brought to my attention by the Fly War Eagle Auburn blog, which posts a lot of general college football stuff. So they found this on Athlon Sports. 13 bold predictions for college football realignment. And I think the boldest of those. involves several teams, and there's no timetable on when this is going to happen, by the way. So this is a down-the-road thing. The most bold prediction are several teams, I guess, joining Florida State and Clemson in the Big Ten down the road.

They write, after Florida State and Clemson receive clarity on their lawsuits against the ACC, the Big Ten moves fast and adds these two programs into the conference, the prediction read. But that's not all. The conference also invites Georgia Tech and Miami to move to become. a 2022 team league. They say Miami and Georgia Tech have AAU accreditation, which is an academic designation as a research institution is what that is, which is a prerequisite to joining the Big Ten.

They write, unfortunately, they say the value of those athletic programs don't stack up to FSU and Clemsons. Now, again, part of that prediction is Kenton, FSU does not have AAU accreditation, but it's widely expected that, you know, for revenues sake, the Big Ten would say for Florida State, don't worry about it. We'll take you anyway. Because right now, the only institution in the Big Ten that doesn't have AAU accreditation is Nebraska,

but they lost it after they got into the Big Ten. So when they got into the Big Ten, they had AAU, and then they lost it years later. You have to, it's one of those things you have to resubmit for it every so often, and they didn't re-earn the accreditation. So the Big Ten would have to, would have to soften their stance on that to let Florida State in. But then he also writes, that could be attractive for bringing in Miami. in Georgia 10. You remember that lady from Full House that went to jail

for paying her kids way in the school? I don't, how do I not remember that? That was a case where. Reliously. Yeah, there was a case where. Oh, yes, I do. I do remember that. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. The rules tend to soften when you have money. The rules always tend. The expectations, the level of what people want from you and demand from you. They generally soften, you know. You ever heard somebody say, I'm USC.

She was like paying the agency. Yes. It was USC. It's always, oh, I need my woman to cook and clean and do this and do that. I need my man to be able to fix things, the building, the dynamics would change if they come to you with, hey, let's go on a hundred thousand dollar vacation for our first date. All of a sudden, those requirements will start changed a little bit. And I expect the same thing here. We all know that AAU stuff.

AAU ain't beating USDA, okay? That's just not happening. So the line of the day. So we move on from there and we talk about these other schools. I think Miami is absolutely a candidate. I think Miami, that's a big time program right there. Big time viewers, big time market. Absolutely.

Nobody can argue whether or not Miami would be a fit there. My only problem with Georgia Tech is this. If they were going to get Georgia Tech, why would they not just get Stanford and or Cal at pennies on a dollar when nobody has to do anything to break. there was an opportunity to get one of, if not both of these schools, academic bastions of excellence. You talk about, you know, I'm a recruiter that works in the tech world. You talk about where we get all of our talent. You talk about where we get a ton of our interns all that from.

Cald Berkeley and Stanford are two of the biggest, if you're anywhere near the Bay Area. There are a feeder program to almost all of these Y-16 or A16 Z and Y-combinator companies. So with that in mind, you're looking at a situation where Georgia Tech, even if they fit academically, it clearly does not fit the goals of what these conferences were going for, because there's a reason that USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon were who the Big Ten went for and not Cal, who would have been, you know, who would have taken a much more sweetheart deal than what anybody else would at that time. I think the primary motivation, I'm just, I'm just, devil's advocate against you based on what I read here.

I think the primary motive, if they were going to go to get a Georgia Tech, I think the motivation would be we're going to take something that's in SEC territory that we want because obviously Georgia, Georgia is really SEC. I know Georgia Tech is in the ACC, but say to Georgia is really SEC country. So I guess the argument would be, I know it's a different part of California, but they already have representation in California and up the West Coast with Oregon and Washington. So let's take something from SEC territory, I think would be hypothetically the argument as to why they would take Georgia Tech over Calford, as we collectively refer to them. Well, yeah, but here's my only thing about that.

When you think about, hey, we're planting the flag in SEC territory, you're planting a very tiny flag that is surrounded by much bigger flags that are still SEC. With all the respect, getting Florida and Clemson, those are big flags. Those are big flags to say, hey, boom, Big Ten is here, baby. We're here in the South. We're here in the SEC. Everywhere is Big Ten country. Because, you know, I'm a Detroiter, and I thought we were Big Ten country. I thought it was like, hey, Midwest, that's the Big Ten.

Apparently it's expanded. Not mad at that. The whole country now. Exactly. But if that's their goal, I mean, once you get, you know, Clemson and FSU, how much does Georgia Tech really add? even if we are saying, when you add the Atlanta market, but do you? And Atlanta is known as a transient market anywhere where that's one of those,

hey, people are coming in and coming out. That's like a young person's getting their career started type of place, not like a we're staying here for life type of deal. So people won't grow deep allegiances to Georgia Tech, especially when their competition right down the street has just had the path clear for them to dominate the SEC for the foreseeable future. Yeah, no, it's well said. I'm sure we'll have more discussions about this throughout the week because, you know,

conference reallignment talk has been a big deal this summer. I'm glad we're getting closer towards football as well. Make sure you check out Kenton's other show at Lockdown Wolfpack. Follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. Check out my other show at Lockdown Canes. Follow me on X at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to you guys again tomorrow on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of the awesome Lockdown podcast network.

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