Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Will Miami beat Syracuse on the road for ACC Championship spot? | Lane Kiffin bashes conference

Episode Date: November 30, 2024

Will the Miami Hurricanes beat Syracuse on the road and claim a spot in the ACC Championship Game?Syracuse has the top passing offense in the ACC and have a 5-1 record at home. If Miami loses this game, Clemson would claim a spot in the championship game against SMU. Join hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs for a discussion about Miami’s chances and a look at the big picture of ACC Football. North Carolina fired football coach Mack Brown earlier this week. Who will replace him? Why did Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin take a shot at the ACC. Has the SEC bias gotten completely out of control?For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.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. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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.

We're finally going to find out tomorrow. Is it going to be the Miami Hurricanes or the Clemson Tigers to face SMU in the ACC championship game? You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team, every day. Shout out to the everydayers. Happy belated Thanksgiving. And thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast.

We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day is we head into, well, we're already in it because we got Georgia Tech taking on Georgia right now. Ken, why don't we just call it now, Kenton? Because Georgia Tech does have a 3-0-0 lead against Georgia. Stop the count. Stop the count.

Stop the count. Let's let the Yellow Jackets with it. This episode of Lockdown ACC 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. And on this loaded episode, we're going to talk about Lane Kiffin taking a shot at the ACC in the Big 12. Basically, he believes, at least like he has reason to be biased because he coaches a three

loss SEC team. That doesn't necessarily explain the bias of the national media. But he's one of those who believes basically every three loss SEC team should be in over any one lost team from any other conference because the SEC. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about who might. and might not replace Mac Brown at North Carolina, because if you didn't get the memo,

even though Kenton and I tried to campaign for 20 more years of Mac Brown at the Dirty Foot Club, they did fire him this week, although he's still going to coach the final game, regular season game coming up against NC State this weekend. And yeah, Kenton, let's talk about the stakes in this Miami game tomorrow, 3.30 p.m. in the JMA dome against the Syracuse Orange. because, yeah, Clemson does have a game of their own,

and we hope Clemson wins because it's ACC versus SEC, Clemson against South Carolina, but the result of that game will not be significant towards the ACC championship. Now, Clemson will try to win that game to enhance their resume for a possible at-large bid in the college football playoff, but they do not have to win tomorrow.

Miami does. If Miami beats Syracuse, they're in the ACC championship to take on SMU. Your outlook, Kenton, on this. matchup and you have the two top offenses in the ACC going head to head tomorrow. What's the over under on this thing? I've got to know, what is it? Like 75 points or so?

I think it's 60s, but I will check out fan duel and I will let you know. I'm pretty sure it's in the 60s. If it's in the 60s, I'm giving you a level 18 lock right now. Hammer that over, baby. Hammer that. Neither one of these teams is a team that I would be shocked. or surprised that getting over 30 here. But this is an extremely important game for a lot of reasons.

Over under 67 and a half. So we pound the over? Pound the over. Pound it. Take that call that over and tell, hey, call up. No, anywho, get off and do it and get in that over. But in all seriousness, I look at this game and I say to myself, there's a lot of things at stake in the line here.

Fran Brown, how impressive would it be? He's already looking good in year one. but this game would take it over the time. That would leave Syracuse at what, nine and three or eight and four on the season? Nine and three? Nine and three right now. Nine and three with a win over a top ten team in year one.

I think that's damn good. I think that you are building something great at that point. You will be looked at and revered extremely highly at that point. And the crazy part is people don't think of Fran Brown as an exes and knows guy. Nobody looks at Fran Brown as an exes and those guy. Nobody looks at Fran Brown. It's like, hey, schematically, what he's doing, nobody can compete with. They look at him as he's a super recruiter.

He can bring in talent at an extremely high level. And the crazy part is, year one, you would think is going to be his worst roster. And then on the flip side of this, you say, Miami, what's the stake for them? Mario Cristobal can shut up a lot of dollars. He can, I wouldn't say permanently hush him, but at least for a season or two, by himself a lot of space, grace and wiggle room, just by making an ACC championship appearance, which Miami has done in how many years now?

What is it? Going on 12 or something? Seven years was the last time they were in the championship game. Seven years. But you get the point. Either way, that's still big time. It'd be the first time under Mario Cristobal's tenure. And then on the flip side of things,

this team is talent-wise, as good as most people will leave Miami. and he can get despite the fact that we've actually seen better, right? Despite the fact that we know, you know, the state of Miami, as they call it, is a recruiting outfit that you're always going to have a ton of top of the players coming out of. So this game has implications beyond just like, hey, what's at stake in the very near future? But even if we're talking about just the near future, this ACC championship game looms

large in the background of the carrier dog. Yeah, I think for Syracuse and like you mentioned, like not only, are they playing for a nine win regular season, which would be tremendous in Fran Brown's first year. They also have this great opportunity to play spoiler to Miami because they know they're facing a top 10 opponent that it's win or go home from Miami. If they win, they're in the ACC championship game. If they lose, not only are they not in the ACC championship game, but their playoff hopes get very slim if not none if they don't win this game tomorrow. And honestly, like Kent, I was talking with our guy Jackson Holeser,

earlier this week about it. And he definitely expects Syracuse to play like a team with nothing to lose. Fourth down and court in their own territory, they're going for it. If they get an opportunity where they feel like it's the right time to run a fake punt, that might be every time they line up to punt. We're going to try and do that. But at the same time, you know, a couple things I think are going to decide the winner of this football game, whether Miami gets to that ECC championship game or not. Who makes fewer mistakes is one. I think the greatest path to victory for Syracuse would be to force a couple of turnovers, win that turnover margin to nothing, something like that.

Now, Miami, as long as they execute, you know, Miami has had this habit. I know they're 10 and 1 on the year, which is really good record-wise, but they often have played down to the level of competition or they found a way to allow teams to hang around in games. You know, hopefully you get great Cam Ward, not good or shaking Cam Ward in this one, because he's probably the most talented or one of the two most talented quarterbacks in the country. He and Shador Sanders, but, you know, sometimes he'll try to do a little bit too much. But Kenton, I think this is a game where Miami should be able to on both sides of the football really lean on their guys in the trenches,

offensive line and defensive line. You know, Syracuse, they've been vulnerable against the run this year. Miami's running game has really caught fire, especially in recent weeks. They have a three-headed monster with Damien Martinez, Mark Fletcher, and Jordan Lod. has emerged as a true freshman. He was actually the best of the three last week against Wake Forest. They protected Cam Ward really well. Syracuse does not blitz very often. So unless they kind of change up that script a little bit, Ward might theoretically have a lot of time to throw. And Syracuse has had trouble covering slot receivers. And Miami has the best one in the country in Xavier Restrepo.

So there's a lot to this that really works in Miami's favor. But then on the flip side, Kenton, despite a solid performance last week for about three quarters of the game, we haven't seen Miami's defense play consistently well, really since the first game of the year against Florida. And we know Syracuse can score. Kyle McCord, he attempts more passes than any other quarterback in the country, but he's first in the ACC now in passing yards, second in the country.

Wake Forest does throw about 62% of the time. Are they a little bit predictable in that regard? Maybe, but LeQuint Allen is also really, talented at running back. He can still run the football, even if they don't really go two, three deep in their rotation. So that's an offense that can score. Like you mentioned, pound that over 67 and a half, because I could definitely see this game going shootout route, kind of like Miami's victory against Louisville several weeks ago, which was, I think, like a 52 to 45 final score. And maybe not that high, but I could see something like that. I'll tell you this much. I'll

give you one thing that this team wins if Miami wins this game if they can control the ball, keep Syracuse on the sidelines. If they can do that, you talk about that three-headed running attack. That is what has done the heavy lifting for Miami all year. Even when the running game was not said to be all that good and you were asking Cam Ward to work magic on third downs. All of those third downs were completely through the air. A good percentage of them were, but his ability to extend drives with his legs was vitally important as well. I'm looking at this team saying Miami, if they can keep Syracuse on the sideline, they'll have a great time in this game.

They're one of the leaders in the conference in terms of time of possession, because again, they just hold the ball for forever. You just look up like, damn, then they take five minutes to score? Apparently so. And then on the other end, Syracuse wins this game if they're opportunistic. Cam Ward has moments where in his mind he is super. man. Trust me, I've watched the film. At times, you will watch him and think he is Superman. Unfortunately, he's a regular human. And even if he is a Kryptonian, the ability to hold the ball

too long is his kryptonite. The ability to make that decision where you're just like, Cam, every play doesn't need to be a touchdown, is his kryptonite. So if Syracuse does a good job of just in those couple moments, because he's gotten better with not having as many as he had at Washington State. but if he can find, if Syracuse can find a way to take advantage those few moments, it'll be all right. By the way, you couldn't wear a suit today just for my benefit. I figured you probably had today off from work because of a holiday weekend, but James Pruitt points out in the live chat here, hey, Dono, Kent,

and he wore a suit for Jackson Holzer, who, by the way, did an incredible job filling in for me. I appreciate Jackson, but yeah, I kind of feel a little bit disrespecting here, Ken. Okay, all right. First thing first. I'll be back in a suit Monday just for you, Donald. I don't care what's going on. I'll be back. But second of all, it was because Macbara was getting fired.

You know, any misfortune for the dirty foot club is the occasion that I got to dress for. I may not dress as well for my wedding as I do with North Carolina loss. All right? I may not dress as well. I appreciate the note, James. I'm going to try to dress better for my main man, Doc. Well, coming up next, I want to talk about the playoff picture and how SEC fans, and even SEC coaches are really getting salty about the fact that they're not just going to let every SEC team in.

Like the playoff committee, they're going to let a lot of teams from the SEC in, but they're not going to let everybody in. The coaches, the fans, even media members are not happy about this. Plus, I want to show you guys something on the other side. You know, we love this conference, but I just wish the ACC front office, can you at least proofread your emails before you send them out? because this was a ridiculous gaffe that they made today to the point where some people think they did it on purpose. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACCC.

I'm only getting started with the GameTime app. This is the only ticket app that Kenton Gibbs and I use because we're getting the best deals, the best features on the app, the game time app. This is your spot to buy tickets for all your favorite sporting events, concerts, musical theater, comedy show. you name it. They've got it on Game Time, and the prices actually go down the closer you get to the event, which is great for all the procrastinators out there. Game Time has a new feature called Game Time Picks that makes getting tickets to see your favorite teams play live even easier. Game Time Picks filters out all the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. Folks, I love the all-in pricing feature on Game Time shows you the total up front with no surprise fees at checkout. I love getting a panoramic view from my seat right there in the app before I buy.

And they have the lowest price guarantee or game time will credit you 110% of the difference. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time. Download the GameTime app. Create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code locked on college for $20 off. Download game time today. What time is it?

It's game time. Thank you for making this episode of Lockdown ACC. your first listen and your first watch today. For your next listen, make sure you check out Locked on College football. Spencer McLaughlin does a fantastic job taking you around. All the big games, all the big storylines.

We're in the final weekend of the regular season, guys. You have some more ACC versus SEC matchups. I know Lane Kiffin is rooting for all the SEC teams to get it done. So check out Locked on college football available free, wherever you get your podcast and available free on YouTube. Now, we just spent an entire segment talking about how, if Miami beat Syracuse tomorrow. Miami is in the ACC championship game against SMU.

So how come whoever sends out these email blasts from the ACC isn't like proofreading their email. So they sent out this email today. A bunch of Miami fans sent this to me. It's great that they're offering a discount for this. You can get 20% off your ACC championship tickets. And they have the two team graphics on there. SMU versus Clemson.

I don't see any you in that graphic. So they, I think it's the fix in? Have they already, has it already been decided that Clemson's going to the ACC championship game? How does this happen? Well, Aaron Foster told us years ago that the NFL had a script that everybody had to follow. Apparently, college football is on the same type of timing now.

The script is written, Donno. I'm sorry, it's been a great season. But as we can clearly see, not only is Cam Ward, no longer a Heisman candidate, but the cues are going, you know, they're going to show the real orange and, you know, you all might leave the carrier dome without having anything but green on you. But in all seriousness, what a laughable error. What a laughable, unsurious error. I get it, you know, everybody makes mistakes and all that.

But in this moment for that particular email, right? Like you couldn't do like a versus, you know, Clemsden them one half of the graphic, Miami and the other. or versus TBD, whatever the case may be. Like, you know, what are we doing? Come on, man. We got to be back. I'll tell you, you know, Kenton knows as well as anybody that I'm very superstitious. And I probably should have already applied for credential for the game just because, like,

I'm the co-host of Locked on ACC, no matter what. But I'm also a Miami guy. And I've been getting these emails from the ACC for like the last month. about, hey, credential applications are open, apply to the ACC Championship game. Bekenton, I'm afraid that if I, like, start planning a trip to Charlotte, I'm not 100% sure I'm going to be able to go either way, but I've thought about it. But I can't book my airline or my hotel, and I can't apply for my credential unless I know Miami's getting in because if I book my trip and Miami loses against Syracuse,

I'm going to blame myself, KG. Like, that's going to be my fault. Well, don't worry, Donald. I've applied for a credential Anywho, so we'll be all right. There you go. Locked on podcast network will have some coverage of this thing.

You know, I know Locked on SMU in the thing, and I know we don't have a, or actually, I'm sorry, we just got a Lockedown Clemson back. So don't worry down. Locked on will have coverage of this thing. But I'll tell you what. Again, it's just a laughable moment.

You know what I mean? Like, obviously, you know, we all make mistakes. It's not exactly brain surgery. Nobody loses their life because they got it wrong. But damn it, get it right. This is something easy. This is something that's not the hardest thing in the world to do in terms of getting a graphic right

or producing the graphic multiple times, say, SMU versus Clemson or SMU versus Miami. Well, as of right now, you know, the college football playoff rankings, they get redone every Tuesday night. They're revealed. But for right now, Kent, and we actually have three ACC teams in the top 12th.

So three ACC schools are in position to make it into the college football playoff. Miami at number six, SMU at number nine, and Clemson at number 12. And if Clemson beat South Carolina tomorrow, they're going to be in pretty good position to sneak in, even if they don't get into the ACC championship game. So there is a chance the ACC gets three in. Lane Kiffin, who now has a three loss, Ole Miss squad. They just lost at the swamp at Florida last week. he's not happy about this process.

He says, we need to play really well, first off. That's what's in our control, Kiffin said. This is on his coach's show on the radio on Wednesday nights. He said, and other things need to happen. I'm not going to get into the whole thing, but then he does get into it. Famous last words, I'm not going to get into the whole thing, but here we go. Yeah, I'm not saying because of us, it's ridiculous. He said, the difference of playing in the SEC and the ACC in Big 12.

To see these rankings, I'm not even. doing the old miss homer thing he said to think that you're looking at schools and you're talking about like clemson schedule and who they played over alabama it's stupid he says i'm not going to name them take some of those teams that are up there that haven't played anybody and put them down in the cc they're 500 teams he says and we've heard national media members saying hey the cc should be getting more respect in these college football playoff rankings at be kenton the argument is always so one-sided. The argument is always, look who these teams have played and look at the quality of their wins, but then they completely ignore the loss column that, okay, does a,

does a three-loss SEC team really deserve it more than a one-loss ACC team or a one-loss big 12 team if there were any? It's like, I mean, what's even the point of having four power conferences if you only basically want one or two power conferences represented in the playoff? The loss, the, the, the, the, the, the, the losses have to matter as well. I'll take it a step further, Dono. Old Miss has three losses, correct? Yeah. Quick question, Dono.

I believe that they lost to Louisiana State University. Did they lose to those old tigers? They did. Now, the Tigers got to be undefeated out of conference, right? They could have lost to a team like USC. They did. Oh, they did. Well, well, you know what?

That's not fair. That's not fair. I believe that Ole Miss has another lost in there. Who are their other losses to, Donald? Help me out. Florida. Florida just said last week. Well, Florida, if you dropped them off in the ACC, you know they dominate.

It's not like they lost. Wait a minute. Did they lose to your Miami earth? 41 to 17 in the swamp. The same swamp where Lane Kiffin lost just this past weekend, Miami beat Florida in that stadium, 41 to 17. Now, the SEC fans would tell you, well, the Florida Gators of right now, DJ Lagway, who did play a little bit in the Miami game through an interception. If they played Miami right now, they would blow out them hurricanes,

but they had the opportunity and they got blown out. So, so wait a minute. So that team is different, and yet this Clemson team isn't a different team? Apparently not. So only Florida gets to be different later in the season. Right. Because it just means, again, the circular logic, work out, make it make sense is all I ever ask for. That's all I ever ask.

Give me some consistency in how we are doing these things. And before we go any further here, I'm sure that outside of those two losses we just talked about, the SEC hasn't lost any games out of conference this year, correct? Like, nobody in the SEC could have done that, right? No, I'm sure Vanderbilt, who beat Alabama, didn't lose. losing the group of five teams out there. Of course not. No, no, no, no. I'm sure that everybody else. I'm sure that Auburn team to beat Texas A&M didn't lose to Fernando Mendoza company. I'm sure he didn't. Again, the circular logic of our strength of record is really good.

Strength of schedule is really good. Strength of schedule is based on what? Preseason rankings. You cannot detach those two. And that's, is why I continue to yell and scream and shout. There should be no preseason rankings because nobody is given the divine right to be a good team because you are a good team. Well, it should be based on recruiting rankings and do-da-da-da-da. Okay, if we base on recruit classes, how the hell is Boise State beating teams? Right.

If we base it on recruiting classes, a lot of squads would never, I would never win a game. They'd never be ranked. They'd never be ranked. everybody loves to talk about the SEC and this is the last time I'm going to do this because I've given this tirade too many times. Oh, well, don't worry.

I mean, depending on what happens with the playoff rankings, we may have to do it again. I'm not. I'm sorry, I'm not doing this again. You know what? You'll put it out. I'll do it. You know why, Donno?

You know why? Because they are undefeated in hypotheticals. That's right. Florida could never lose to a lowly ACC team like Miami, except when they actually got on the field. Right. It was week one.

It didn't count. All right. It was like preseason. Well, well, so week one don't count. So Georgia didn't be, Georgia didn't be Clemson. That's fair. He got me there. Or where does it stop? Because when USC beat LSU, I heard that that was another one early in the season, didn't count.

So did Tennessee not beat NC State? We got to, where's the map? Again, at the end of the day, I look at this very simply, and I say, I don't give a damn a bunch of hypothetical. Hypothetically, I'd be a much happier man if I were dating Meg to Stalian. I'd have to live life and create happiness with what I got. Because last time I checked, Miss Pete ain't hopped in my DMs, but responded to me my DM.

By the way, it's not a big deal. It'll come. I'm just, I believe in you. But again, if I live my life like these SEC fans, hypothetically, I'm already her, man. I'm already her husbandically. You know, ain't no man better for her to. me hypothetically of course but in reality it may not work out that way which i'll probably about a little bit but i'll pick myself up and move on well on that note we get this uh question from one of our

listeners uh cat five who says hey if texas loses to a and m and clemson wins against south carolina shouldn't there be an argument for clemson to get in over texas since the losses would be about the same and Clemson having the better win at that point. I just never hear that argument and that's where I start to see the SEC bias come into play. But yeah, listen, Kenton, he would have a point. You know, if Clemson, if Clemson can beat South Carolina, which should be a quality win, I don't know if the SEC apologist would come up with some sort of hypothetical math that, hey, we'd play this week 11 instead of week 14.

You know, South Carolina would, I don't know what sort of gymnastics they'll do. And, you know, Texas has not had the toughest schedule within the SEC. So if they suffer a second loss, I can definitely see Cat V's logic. But I don't think, I don't think Texas would fall that far, though. I think they would still be in front of Clemson. Everything's bigger in Texas, including the inflation of their record. Yeah. Everything is bigger in Texas, including the inflation of their record.

We hear about Indiana time and time and time again. They didn't play anybody. they ain't play the soul they ain't played nobody and when they didn't play somebody what happened dono oh they just lose by two touchdowns therefore they're eliminated well okay them losing by two touchdowns is an eliminator

but what Texas losing the Georgia about 15 isn't and also and like so so you know Oklahoma Oklahoma has not been a good team this year Kent no what they've got six wins and they they blow out Alabama and people are just kind

and then Kithin is like still arguing on Alabama's behalf to be in the in the top 12 but okay Oklahoma wasn't even in the SEC till this year and they're not good and here's the other thing about that Oklahoma and Texas the new SEC buddies everybody tells me look at what Texas has done this season look at their best win they beat Michigan didn't Indiana also beat Michigan yes one of those teams me thinks deserves a little bit more credit I don't know I don't know again it's hard to win in college football, regardless of the conference that you're in. And I need for us to stop this.

Hey, these teams are just better because they're better. Again, strength of schedule does not work when you are working against, hey, these are the preseason polls that came out and this is what we are judging strength of schedule by. Is strength of schedule based on this is what the teams that you played have done against other teams? Because then I'm here for it. But if it's solely based on what teams were ranked coming in at, I don't. want to hear it. I don't care about none of that because what does that mean in a meaningful way?

What does that actually mean to say, hey, this team was ranked in such a way that that win against them is a good win. That loss is now a good loss. It means nothing. Just the same way that we got fooled by some fools goal because teams beat Florida State early in the year. Yeah. We thought, oh man, we may see a Boston college with Georgia Tech in the ACC championship. I can't believe it. Did either one of those. team sniffed the ACC Chevrochev? No, because the ACC is actually determined

by what happens on the field. Not what you think would happen in a hypothetical game, not what Fandall thinks will happen. I love Fandul. Shout out to the boys, may, you know, get in your parlays, you know, get in your post-Turkey Day parlays at Fandul, but

guess what? What they say does not create or compute to this is what teams are. All right. Well, when we come back, who seemed to be the early candidates to replace one Mac Brown at North Carolina, who he will be coaching this weekend against NC State. But who's going to be the next one at UNC? You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Speaking of those post-Turkey Day parlayes, you can get those at Fanduil.com, America's number one sportsbook.

And get ready to tackle all the NFL action with Fandul because right now, new. customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The Fandual Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, if you live play by play and so much more right on the same page where you place your bets. Just visit Fandual.com to join today. Again, you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win that first $5 bet.

That's Fandual.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandul, an official sports. book partner of the NFL. Thank you so much for making Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. We're free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. One of the hotly rumored candidates to be the next UNC head coach has been Arthur Smith,

who's currently the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, Smith actually addressed. He did his weekly news conference, the coordinator's conference with the Steelers this week and he was asked about it. It doesn't sound to me, Kenton, like Arthur Smith is going to be taking that job. I don't think he's actually officially been offered the job, but they did reach out to him. He said, yeah, reality is UNC reached out on a preliminary call. He said, I appreciate it. I love that place, but that's not my focus. I mean, I've got one of the best jobs in football right now. There's a lot to be said, too, about how you can't put a price on personal and professional happiness,

which I have here. I've got an awesome job here, he said. Love it here. in Pittsburgh. I probably have a different mindset than I had five, four years ago where any head job, I probably would have walked there to take it, he said. Now my perspective's different. And when you've got something good, like I got here in Pittsburgh right now, family loves it here. I like the working environment. I love being a Steeler. So, I mean, is he just saying what, you know, the Steelers organization wants them to say? Or did it sound like that's a no to UNC? It sounded like a no, and people don't, a lot of people forget who Arthur Smith is. Y'all do know who Sonny is, right?

Yeah. Anytime you see a FedEx package coming to your door, yeah, Arthur Smith's getting a cut of that. I'm joking. It's his dad's company. Yeah. He might get a cut, though. In all seriousness, I mean, of course you can't put a price on professional happiness when you know on the air to like one of those things that sold you.

It's literally everywhere. Of course. But yeah, he's not lying. I don't believe because he has no reason to. You know what I mean? Like now I'm talking about 10. When coaches lied, there's a very clear reason of like, oh, I can't do this because when Nick Segment was saying, I'm going to be a dolphin.

I'm with the dolphins. He had the incentive of not losing the locker room at that point in time. Like it made no, excuse me, no sense for him to come out in that moment and say, hey, I'm going. So with that reality, Arthur Smith has nothing to hide, nothing to lie about. Again, Georgia Tech, Georgia, stop the count. Stop the count. Georgia Tech is up.

They're doing great things. Stop to count everybody. But with that being said, in all seriousness, Arthur Smith has no reason to lie. So I would like to take him at his word here and say, hey, he's going to be a steal. Yeah. So other candidates that have been mentioned, John Summer. who's the Tulane head coach has been doing really, really well in his recent coaching stops. And also Tulane's got some really good players that may follow him to his next job in the

transfer portal if you were to take the UNC job. So I think that's definitely a name that they should keep on pursuing. And I'm also starting to see. And of course, if you're in a Kirby smart coaching tree, you're going to be a hot candidate, Glenn Schumann, who's the Georgia Tech at D.C. So far, Georgia is doing. pretty well on defense, but not so well on offense tonight. Georgia Tech is up three nothing in the second quarter against Georgia. But so the Georgia Tech, or sorry, the Georgia, D.C. Schumann is another

alleged candidate for that job. And he was actually the first, apparently the first hire that Kirby Smart made when he got to Georgia and he's worked his way up the ranks to defensive coordinates for that. That would be another interesting name to watch for North Carolina. I think both of those are interesting names because as much as I hate to do, 30 foot club. I got to admit, that's not as bad of a job as some people make it out to be. It's actually a very good job when you think about it. They have the money to give you a big time check. However, you're not met with big time expectations when you get there because it's USC football. It's a basketball school. People do not think of UNC and think,

oh man, Julius Pepper's and Lawrence Taylor played there. Drey Blas in Carolina. Nobody thinks about that. That's not what happens. You think of Jordan. You think of Worthy. You think of all those championship teams on terms of the hardwood and whatnot. That's what you think of. So with that in mind, you're walking into an environment where you got a good check, a very healthy recruiting budget. You have all of these external factors working for your good, more or less. I really don't see why that would be a bad job to take.

Some wrong would be taking a step up, and so would the defensive coordinator from Georgia. So I don't think either one of those guys have a reason to say no. If anything, I think both of those guys are like, hey, these are, you know, this is, this is a good, good spot. I couldn't see a problem with either one of those guys taking that job. And honestly, I think either one of those guys who have so much experience at the college level. And, you know, Schumann, I don't think he's ever been a head coach anywhere, but he's regarded as an excellent recruiter at Georgia. Summerall has, you know, probably punched above his weight in recruiting it at smaller schools,

whereas Arthur Smith does not have experience doing that part of the college games. So honestly, with how important recruiting is now in this age of NIL and it's really an arms race out there, transfer portal, I'd probably rather have someone who's worked his way up the college ranks than otherwise. So, yeah, guys, that'll do it for us. I appreciate everyone taking time, especially on a holiday weekend to make Lockdown ACCC, your first listen and your first watch. Huge thank you to Kenton Gibbs. Of course, we're doing great work, as always. Thanks again to Jackson Holzer for filling in for me earlier in the week.

Also, you could check out Jackson and I did a crossover. episode of Locked-on Cainz slash Locked-on Syracuse today talking Miami versus Cuse. So if you want to check that out, it's available on Locked-on Cains or Locked on Syracuse. Make sure you check out Kenton and Grayson on Locked-on Wolfpack. And we'll talk to you guys next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.