Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - UNSTOPPABLE: Mikel Brown Jr. and Louisville DEMOLISH NC State—Wolfpack Concerns After 118-77 Loss

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Louisville Cardinals crush NC State Wolfpack in a stunning 118-77 blowout as Mikel Brown Jr. ties the program record with 45 points and 10 three-pointers. Is Louisville poised for a deep NCAA tournament run after this statement win?Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down the Wolfpack’s defensive struggles, highlight Ryan Conwell’s impact, and debate the tournament implications for both teams. The conversation shifts to Miami Hurricanes’ must-win clash against North Carolina, college basketball’s unpredictable upsets, and Duke’s bounce-back challenge at Pittsburgh.Also featured: a fiery discussion on upcoming changes to the College Football Playoff format, including the controversial Notre Dame auto-bid, and a rapid review of the ACC’s 17 projected starting quarterbacks. Don’t miss this insightful look at ACC basketball momentum, football playoff politics, and bold predictions for the road ahead.Everydayer Club  If 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!5-Hour ENERGYHave your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at https://5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. MazdaLike our players, we’re driven by the details. Because highlights make the reel. What it takes to get there makes it count.There’s more to a Mazda. Because there’s more to you.Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today.  IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuelToday’s episode is sponsored by FanDuel. The Winter Games are on. And there’s no better way to follow them than with a bet on FanDuel. FanDuel - 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.

NC State, sorry, Kenton, could not do anything right in that 1187 beat down against Louisville. But for the Cardinals, Mike Kell Brown Jr. could do nothing wrong. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team, every day. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the number one Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Today's episode is brought to you by Mazda. We put the same drive into every detail. Wins define the moment. Putting in the work, that defines you. Stay tuned for highlights in this week's moving the game forward. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State Defense of Limit and co-host of Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown-Caines.

And on this loaded episode, Since Kenton and I both struggled yesterday to remember who the next Louisville starting quarterback was going to be, we decided to go through all 17 projected starters in the ACC for next year. There's going to be at least 12 new starting quarterbacks in the conference next season. We'll talk about changes to the college football playoff and how even though some of it is weird, I think there is overall a benefit for the Atlantic Coast Conference. We'll tell you why. Let's talk some hoops first.

I didn't have a dog in the fight last night. I sat down, kicked my feet up, hoping to watch maybe a game that comes down to a final possession, just a super entertaining night of ACC basketball. One thing that was entertaining was Mikel Brown Jr., who tied the Louisville program scoring record, which was set back in the 1960s, tied the three-point record. He ended up with 45 points and 10 made threes, unfortunately. was not a good defensive night on the NC state side, giving up 118 points.

I mean, Kenton, were there any positives to take out of that from the Wolfpack point of view? First of all, I hope you're proud of yourself, Dono. We barely mentioned Wolfpack basketball whenever we're on the sixth game winning street, but now they're A block material. Not getting blown out the state. So for a locked on, for a locked on ACC fans who are like,

oh, Ken wanted to talk about this first, just know who controls the rundown from not one. Just know that. But now, with that in mind, hold on. Can you pause on that thought real quick? Because I want to be fair. My Miami Hurricanes have a big game coming up tonight against North Carolina. If we get our doors just broken off tonight, I will have that as the lead in the rundown tomorrow.

And do you see what an evil man he is? First, we got to talk about NC State getting their doors blown off. And now if UNC blows Miami's doors, all I got to come on. here tomorrow. What a great team. What a wonderful team. What a guy. This is not helping you at all. What a guy. Hold on. Hold on. If Miami blows UNC's doors off, I'll let you take the lead, even though Miami's my team, you'll probably be even happier about that than I will be tonight. I'll find out all the players' blood types of social security numbers to personally congratulate and thank them and sprinkle a little something on your NIL collection. No, but in all seriousness, this just was a game that,

I mean, ultimately, I had felt for some time that NC State had put behind some of the ills that we'd seen earlier in the season and they were, you know, had turned a corner. But the reality is some of those ills are things that are kind of not preventable, right? Or some of those things that you just cannot get away from. For example, there are specific players that I talked about all year. in terms of perimeter defense we were lacking in our starting back court. Lack perimeter defense against Mikel Brown if you want to, he'll give you a 40-piece nugget, extra sauce.

You know, it's not like McDonald's where they stingy with the sauces as if they're coming out of you, they check. They're real frugal with him over there. So ultimately, that happened in Conwell as well, a guy that NC State was very high on under Coach Keats, that he was this close to coming to NC State before he decided to go to Xavier, you know, put out a great performance as well. And here's a stat that most people would not realize about how lopsided that game truly was.

You've talked about Brown. I've talked about Conwell, but here's the thing. If that game, in that game, Louisville did not have scoring from anybody besides those two, and just one more guy needs to be included here, a walk-on for Louisville by the last name of Hunter, I believe it was. let me make sure that I got that correct here. But either way, if they did not get scoring from any other players, not a single other player, then Mikel Brown, Ryan Conwell, and I'm sorry,

Cole Sherman was the third. Cole Sherman, Walk on Cole Sherman. If they didn't get a single point from anybody but those three, they win the game 7877. So ultimately, I warned NC State fans, I warn my listeners for Lock on Wolfpack, hey, Louisville doesn't just beat you. They blow your doors off.

They have the second high point differential in the conference behind only Duke. And yet they're like sixth or something like that in the conference. I believe they're tied for fifth. That is a team that they're, they have one of those nights where they're hidden from deep. They can beat anybody in the country. And then they came in very lackluster, very slow footing and close outs. Yeah, you're down seven nothing from the judge. jump. Exactly. And even beyond that, it's, you know, SOS band came out with a song called

Take Your Time, Do It Right. And ultimately, NC State did not follow that edict in this game at all. But again, credit to Louisville. Louisville's defense sped them up. Michael Brown, in his scoring, sped them up. Michael Brown, being who he has been and beyond all season, spectacular. They shot 60% from three. Louisville shot 60% for three. So this ain't all about NC State and what they did or didn't do. You have to tip your hat to Louisville. They were much more reliable than Dalton Pence's internet from tip off to the end of the game. They just could not miss, again, unlike Dalton's internet. So the reality is you're going to play games where one team is extremely hot and the other is not.

You look at the Duke and UNC game and you look down the stretch. A very similar thing happened. Obviously, part of that is scheming. Kelsey drew up a hell of a scheme to keep his guys open and to keep giving NC State guys shots that they thought they wanted. Did a hell of it. I've been doing that. Will Wade had his team thoroughly unprepared.

And you cannot mosey into the Yom Center thinking, oh, this team is down on their luck and they're going to be bad. Yeah, yeah, you can keep them close. If you got Louisville in a close game, you got a shot. They may make some tough decisions down the stretch. They may throw up a shot. It's a little ill-advised down the stretch. But if they are hitting those shots, things can balloon on you in a heartbeat, as I

warned about and as did happen. Yeah, you know, both of those teams, you know, projected in the NCAA tournament, of course, Louisville and the latest bracketology before last night projected a five seed by CBS, NC State, projected eight seed. So obviously a great win on Louisville's resume. I mean, Ken, any concerns? Obviously, losing to Louisville on the road is not a bad loss, but maybe losing like that doesn't look so good. Well, I mean, I think from a NC State standpoint, you look at this and you say, yes, it knocks you down a little bit.

But I liken it to NC State playing in the college baseball World Series a few years ago. They had a super regional in Arkansas, and Arkansas were called the Omaha and everybody knew that they were going to Omaha and all that. And they beat NC State in the first game, 21 or two or something like that. And guess who ended up advancing out of that region? NC State. Ultimately, and I'm not saying NC State basketball basketball. was a better team than Louisville or Louisville just got a one-off. No, no, no.

I'm saying from a standpoint of is NC State season over? Absolutely not. No. And then from the Louisville perspective, you're damn right. That's a hell of a win. A 40-point quad-one win? Yeah. Yeah, that'll play.

That'll play. So again, congratulations to Louisville. Hell of a game. You cannot take anything away from them. You cannot say, oh, NC State was just lazy and that a lot. No, no, no, no, no. I will take nothing away from Conwell. I will take nothing away from Brown.

those two dominated. Every time the ball touched their hands, you felt like it was going up and it was going in. And so ultimately, you've got to tip your cap and you've got to say, that's a great job of Louisville by winning. And from an ACC perspective, this ain't bad.

Nobody is hurt by this in a way that's like, oh, we just lost a team that could have potentially been in the tournament. No, you've got two bona fide tournament teams here. One of them just blew the other's doors off. So again, credit to Louisville. Yeah, well, look at the slate. for tonight, Tuesday night in the ACC four games. You have big tournament implications.

Number 11, North Carolina at Miami. North Carolina is in really good shape, of course, to make the tournament that's coming off a massive win against Duke. For Miami, this is like getting into must-win territory. Miami needs a quality win. They're at home. Miami is a point and a half underdog at home, but true Washington might be back tonight

after an extended absence for personal reasons. He is listed as probable for tonight. Miami is on the bubble, Kent, and so this is really getting to must-win territory for Miami. Number 15, Virginia at Florida State. Of course, Virginia should win that game. They're favored by seven and a half points. FSU is not going to get into the tournament. Virginia should.

Notre Dame, who's not good, plays at SMU, but SMU currently projected in nine seeds. So they've got to win this game at home. and then number four Duke at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's not going to make the tournament. Duke certainly will. But for Duke, you've got to try to bounce back from that, you know, tough loss against North Carolina at the weekend. So I'm sure the Blue Devils will have a chip on the shoulder tonight,

Kenton, in a game where they're favored by 17 and a half points on the road. It is a great slate tonight if you plan on going to bed early. Okay. These games should be over by halftime. These are games that you're looking at and saying, hey, these should not be competitive games. Here's the only problem with that. This is not last year's ACC.

We have seen up and down the ACC. We have seen teams that are like, their season is basically over already, pull off some massive upsets. And I'm going to tell you, all three of the teams that you mentioned, I'd say Duke is virtually upset proof against teams that don't have multiple NBA players or at least NBA player and a couple G-league guys on top of that.

But everybody else, listen, I've seen SMU when they're rolling at their highest clip. They look unstoppable. I've seen them defending at their worst clip. It is unbearable. It makes you want to throw up if you are a defensive coach. I mean, Tom Tibado would literally lose his voice watching about three minutes of that squad. And granted, Tom Tibado never has his voice, but you get the point. The reality is all of the teams that are playing tonight, with the exception of Duke, I would say,

hey, watch out. And listen, Duke can't put me on freezing cold takes exposed by saying, ah, we can lose too. We can lose with the best of them. But I think they have a big bounce back game tonight. The other two, I expect them to be blowouts. But the reality is in today's ACC, you can't play around. You cannot give teams hope.

You cannot kind of relax here. And I mean that for Miami as well in terms of the talent disparity is there. It's just there between them and UNC. And so if UNC, plays around with their food, Miami is going to have the home crowd behind them. They're going to be at home. Things are going to be familiar to them. And UNC just played a game where they finish down the stretch and give it everything

they got to get across the finish line. Do you have that back-to-back nights? You know what I mean? Do you have that in back-to-back games rather, not back-to-back nights? But in back-to-back games, I'm not sure you do. So the onus is upon the UNCs and the SMUs of tonight to show up, show out, and kind of put it away early. because if you let these teams hang around,

it'll be bad, especially for a Miami team that that road ahead, ain't exactly easy. Well, coming up next, changes to the college football playoff format, and I think one absolutely benefits the Atlantic Coast Conference. You want to keep it locked right here.

We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. This is Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who show there's more to the score than what's on screen, you know who move the game forward? last night. I'm sorry for Kenton that I keep piling it on, but Michael Brown Jr. for Louisville lit up the scoreboard with a career high 45 points, ties a Louisville men's basketball scoring high

going back to the 1960s, hit 10 three-pointers, and the smile on his face after he hit that final three for his 45th point spoke louder than words. It reminds us really what it takes to raise the bar. It's the extra work off the court. It's dialing in every detail, given it the extra fire, the grit, and I never quit. We put that same passion into every model. Highlights make the real. What it took to get there makes it count because there's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. Folks, we're also proudly brought to you by Wayfair. The new year is here and it's the perfect time to reset your routine and refresh your space. If you're spending more time at home, you might as well love how it looks and feels. That's why you should turn to Wayfair. It's a one-stop

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track this new year for way less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R-com, Wayfair, every style, every home. Thank you so much for making Lockdowne ACC your first listen. And if you consider yourself an Everydayer, make your status official by joining the Every-Dayer Club. Click the link in the show notes below or go to Lockedonpodcast.com slash Everydayer to find your favorite Lockedon.

on shows to become an official everydayer, whether it's locked on ACC, locked on Walthpack, Locked on Cains, or so many more. You get exclusive ad-free versions of our episodes, Discord server access to chat with your fellow fans and hosts and so many more exclusive perks on the Everydayer Club. Go to Lockdowne Podcast.com slash Everydayer. Alex Dono alongside Kenton Gibbs. All right, so Kenton, the big changes to the college football playoff format starting next year. Didn't change the number of teams. We're still at 12, but the seating is going to be a lot

different. Okay. So we're going to have next year, or this year, I should say, automatic bids for the champions of the Big 12, Big 10, SEC, and ACC. Now, that means if what happened to Duke this past year were to happen again, whether it's Duke or somebody else that has so many losses, they're not in the top 12, they would get an automatic bid. So this rule comes a year too late for the Duke Blue Devils. They would have been in if this was in place last year. They surely would have. And that's the reason I hate auto bids.

You do not know how these conferences will fluctuate. You do not know what will happen with different teams and different conferences and all that good stuff. You have no clue. And that's why I hate the idea of auto bids for certain conferences and not for others. At least when you did the, the, the, top six conference winners or whatever the case meant. But what was it?

The top six? It was the top six, right? Or was it the top five conference winners? Top five. Okay. When you did the top five, at least you could say, well, if you're in the top five, you're in the top five. And if you're not, you're not, right?

Yeah. Which got Tulane and it was Tulane and James Madison. J.M.U. Yeah. So it was Tulane and James Watson. And that's, at least you could feign, hey, we tried our best to get in, you know, whoever was, whoever met these criteria. But now you're basically saying, hey, we are guaranteeing this is the way.

This is how we will do it. I hate that. I hate that. I resent that with everything in me because to me nobody deserves a divine right just because, and don't get me wrong. I know some people are going to say, Ken, you won a conference. That doesn't mean that you get a divine right. It kind of does because what if your conference is dog water?

What if you are dog water? What if you are bad? What if you as a team are bad? And again, this is not me taking a shot at Duke. Because Duke ain't the only once. There will be other teams. There will be other conferences that have teams. We have seen multiple times.

Recently, as recently a goal as, you know, this was when I was already bald, we saw the Big 12 have a year where their champion, one of their participants in the Big 12 championship, one of their middle of the road teams, and one of their bottom feeder teams all lost the Sunbelt team. The Big 12 that year was winless against the Sunbelt. So how do you then determine, well, they just belong in because they belong in because they're the Big 12.

So this ain't about the Big 12, this ain't about the ACC, this ain't about the SEC, this ain't about the Big 10. It's about the fact that I believe, lot it up, let these teams play, and sort it out from there. I'm against this idea that, well, you know, and I wholly resent what our half member Notre Dame has going on. There is nothing in the world that I dislike more than that in terms of sports. I want to get to that in a second.

But one more thing on the auto bid thing, which is it's ironic because so this past year, Duke would have been in. And that also means the team that I cover, Miami would not have been in. And they ended up, you know, not winning it, but they made a run to the national championship game. So, you know, like, who do you think would have done better in the playoff this past year, Kent, Miami or Duke? And that's the thing about it. That's why I resent this idea of, oh, you belong in just for the sake of belonging in because you, you know, won a major conference championship. Because, again, if you're going to do that, I'm fine with you doing it equitably across all conferences or not doing it at all. I'm fine with you doing it that way or not doing it all.

Because to me, we would all agree last year that even if Miami had gotten their doors blown off in game one, nobody would say Duke and Miami are neck in that last year. Like that just, it just is what it is. With all due respect to Duke football, defending conference champs, this is not slandered towards Duke, but nobody would say even without the national championship run, those two teams are on the exact same level. So that to me then says,

well, you're denying these players that had earned it. You're denying these players that had done all these great things throughout the season, all of these top wins against the Notre Dame, domination of Florida, all those types of things. you're denying that team because another team won a conference championship, which, you know, I just, I don't think that that's sensible and I don't think that that's right unless you're doing it for everybody. So ultimately, you know, that it would have made the ACC look worse last year, which is why again, I'm a proponent of let the teams that earn their way in play, not just,

oh, you're a conference champion, so it's okay. So the other major change, as you mentioned, involves Notre Dame. So they're still not in a conference in football, but they get the closest thing you can get to an auto bid. And that is, as long as you're in the top 12, you get a bid. Now, you might say, well, it's a 12th team playoff. Of course, no, but here's the thing.

They would be, if they finish number 12 or number 11, they would be taking away an at-large bid from whoever is number 10. and that's what we don't like about this. If you are in the misfortune spot of finishing number 10 and Notre Dame finishes 11 or 12, they are taking your bid from you after the auto bids happen for conference champions who are not necessarily in the top 12.

So Notre Dame at number 12 could take away a spot from whoever lands at number 10 at large. We absolutely hate this, and everybody outside of South Bend hates this. Let me talk to you about a real-life scenario. Real-life scenario. Last year, they would have got in, right? Yeah, right.

Okay, let's go a little deeper. Let's go a little deeper. Let's look at this year's schedule for Notre Dame, okay? Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, UNC, Stanford, Navy, Boston College, Syracuse, even SMU. I feel comfortable calling all of those wins. Oh, yeah. I feel comfortable calling all those wins for Notre Dame, right? Yeah.

That's 10 wins, correct? Yeah, right? So at worst, we're looking at 10 and 2 just about, right? Sure. Yeah. Okay. There were 10 and 2 last year, and the only two losses were to the only good teams that they had that they played in terms of, oh, USC was a really good team last year. Were they?

Were they? They had a number by their name, but the only two playoff caliber teams that they played last year, they lost. And they would have got in. And based upon what we're seeing this year, even if. if you say, well, Ken, it's not fair to call SMU an automatic loss and you talk about bringing quarterback back and all that and they are in Miami. Is it? Sure, let's swap Miami and SMU.

The result is still the same. 10 and 2. 10 and 2. And Lord forbid, if one of those teams is not playoff worthy. At that point in time, you're looking at an 11 games, a 12 game schedule where at least 11 of those teams nowhere near sniffing the playoff is. nowhere near.

Lord forbid that BYU is to take a slide as well. Now you're looking at a schedule with potentially 1 to 0 playoff teams and you're going to get into the playoff off that. That is embarrassing stuff. That is the type of stuff

that I always say Notre Dame fans think that they're the specialist boys and girls in the world. And because they're special little boys and girls, they deserve all the awards. They deserve, you know, because they won one for the Gipper, because of Rudy, because of, listen, Lou Holtz ain't walking through that door,

Jerome Bettis ain't walking through that door, Rocky Ishmael ain't walking through that door, Ricky Running Waters ain't walking through that door. None of those guys, Joe Alt, gone, J.O.K., gone, okay? All of these guys are gone. You cannot live off history and say, we deserve a place because we're so special. We're such a big draw.

But this is what the NCAA has agreed to, which I think is an embarrassment of, or the college football playoff committee has agreed to, which I think is an embarrassment for them. Yeah, same here. When we come back, we looked at the 17 projected starting quarterbacks in the ACC, maybe a lot of new faces,

but which is the most surprising projected starter? You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of locked on ACC. Guys, tax season does not have to take over your life. This year, TurboTax is making it easier than ever to just hand things off and move on with your debt. With TurboTax full service, you can have your taxes done for you by a trusted local expert start to finish without the stress or the guest work. Instead of spending hours trying to figure out forms, you can meet with a local turbotax expert in person or connect online.

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your first listen for your next listen. Make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone do an awesome job talking all things NC State on Lockedon Wolfpack. I talk all things Miami on Locked on Caines. All right, so Kenton, I'm going to go, and this is not an exact science because we're pre-spring football, right? So there could be some competitions that go differently than what we expect, right? But ESPN has projected all 17 ACC starting quarterbacks for this coming season. Let me rattle these off for you, Kenton, and you can tell me any surprises in here.

Now, if you had asked me yesterday, who's going to be the Boston College starting quarterback next year? I would have had no idea. I know Dylan Lonergan, who put up big numbers last year transferred to Rutgers. So I had no idea what B.C. was going to do. Their projected starter is Saginaw Valley State Transfer Mason McKenzie. That's going to be starting for Bill O'Brien next year. Cal has one of the returning starters and a damn good one. JKS.

Jaron Kiave Sangapultele is going to start for the second straight year. It's huge for Cal to keep him. Clemson is definitely going to have a new starter no matter who it is, because Cade Clubnick is he's got to find a real job now. He's out of eligibility. Chris Visina is the projected starter, but Kenton has mentioned that Dabo has not fully committed. There's going to be, you know, competition.

Vizina's got to win that. For Duke, most of us expect Walker Egett transfer from San Jose State. Apparently somebody by the name of Dan Mahan is going to compete with him for that job. For Florida State, Ashton Daniels, who transferred in from Auburn, former Stanford Cardinal from a couple of years ago. For Georgia Tech, they got the younger brother of the Heisman winner. Alberto Mendoza is now at Georgia Tech. Louisville, we mentioned Lincoln-Kinholz, an Ohio state transfer, is likely to start there for Miami, ACC quarterback, but a different one, Darry and Mensa, who maybe you've heard of him, transferred over from Duke.

for North Carolina. Billy Edwards Jr., the projected starter. He's a transfer from Wisconsin. NC State. C.J. Bailey is back, which is huge. Pittsburgh. Mason Heinchel is back. That's massive. SMU has Kevin Jennings back, which is big for them. Stanford will have a Michigan transfer. Davis Warren. Syracuse expected to have Steve Angelly starting again coming off injury. Virginia brings in Bo Probula from Missouri, which like for Virginia, low kids. a pretty good transfer for them. And Virginia Tech, Ethan Grunkumeyer from Penn State follows his former head coach James Franklin. So which which of those names and schools surprises you most?

You are starting, and with all due respect, go Lakers, right, to my Saginaw Valley State folks up in Michigan. I had no clue they were the lake. You're from Michigan, so you know things I don't know. Oh, well, wait, no, I'm thinking of Grand Valley State. Saginaw Valley, I believe it's the Cardinals. There's some type of bird. They're either the Cardinals or something like that. I'll take your word for it.

I was just about to say, Donald has no clue. I could tell them that they're the brouhaz. He would say, yeah, let's get Wichy in here. So here's the deal, right? With all due respect to the, you know, Saginaw Valley State football program and all that, trotting out a starting quarterback from there in the big 26, yikes.

Yikes on a bike. We are all worried. Well, actually, let me not say we are all worried because most people aren't looking at Boston College, but this is a little unsurious. This is a little unsyurious. Can I give you a sidebar on how unsurious that is? So like when I'm reading about Mason McKenzie, former Saginaw Valley State quarterback, when I saw his numbers, my reaction was, wow, he put up crazy FCS numbers, right? right uh 4,301 passing yards 31 touchdowns 17 interceptions but then I zoomed out and I realized those are his numbers over the course of three seasons not one yeah yeah I mean I yeah I got

right that they're the Cardinals so there's that but also uh yeah yeah I mean donno you just said it you didn't put up crazy numbers at Saginaw Valley yeah like at least with Trinidad Samlish, you can look at old miss and say, hey, I can't lighten the world up. He was doing freak show stuff to where it was like, and mind you. Ferris State, he was putting up video game numbers. And mind you, mind you, he was supposed to be the backup. They had a guy in the same type of league there putting up freak show numbers and they said, we're not sure if you're the guy.

Hold on. You'll be a guy on the roster. We're not sure if you'll be V guy. chances are Boston College is going to make him the guy. I hate that for them, man. I hate that for the ACC more than anything else because we have to trot them out and pretend like, oh, this is a serious deal here. It's not.

It's just not, man. This is not how a serious football team is laying in 2026. This is not with what we have in a transfer portal, you couldn't go out and get anybody. There was no one of them. I mean, Jaila Rashada has a will play for peanuts sign up at this point. Go get him. Do something. It's just, it's very unfortunate.

Well, it should be a fun year of ACC football coming up. We have a lot of basketball to get through before then. We'll have a new episode of the squad coming up later this week as well. I'm expecting to make my triumphant return to the squad. It's been a few weeks for me, but I'm going to be back in the hot seat this week. We'll talk to everybody next time. is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. Follow him at TGIF underscore Kenton. Follow me at Alex Dono and listen on Lockdown Canes. We'll talk to you next time on another

episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.