Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BONUS: COLLEGE FOOTBALL KICKOFF LIVE: LSU/Ole Miss Battle, Colorado Falls Flat, Oregon Ducks playoff team?

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

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Welcome into a bonus episode from the Locked On Podcast Network. This is Locked On College Football Kickoff Live. I'm Drake Tolt, a host of the show and a host of Locked On Big 12, welcoming you into a complete wraparound of college football. We talk all the biggest news, storylines, and predict games this week and every week, live from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern Time, wherever you watch Locked On on YouTube. Let's get into it.

Happy Friday, everybody, and welcome to College Football Kickoff Live. That is Alex Dono from Locked On Canes. That is Kenton Gibbs of Locked On ACC and Locked On Wolfpack. And thank you for making College Football Kickoff your lunchtime listen every single Friday. kickoff your lunchtime listen every single friday guys i don't know if you saw this but ryan day got rightfully emotional when an 86 year old man said i think ohio state is going to lose kenton gibbs what a touching moment with ryan day and america you know let me tell you something the only time you should be getting mad at what an 86 year old is saying in today's day and age is when they're in Congress.

That's it. That is all. What are we doing here, Ryan Day? Stop being – that's why he called you soft. That right there is why he called your team soft. You sat there and got emotional. We showed you, didn't we, Lou Holtz? We beat you.

We did it. Ryan, stop it. Knock it off. Great win. Great win. Great win. Push the program squarely and play off contention. But stop being a whiny little baby about the thing, brother.

Yeah, Dono, I couldn't believe the first thing he said postgame was, I want to know where Lou Holtz is. By the way, it's like 10.30 p.m. Lou Holtz has been asleep for hours. What are we doing here, Dono? I don't think it was possible to take something Lou Holtz says this seriously in 2023, especially knowing Holtz's ties to Notre Dame. So the biases are clear.

So I guess for Ryan Day, you've got to dig pretty deep to find motivational material. And you know, with, with day going on and on about how physical his team was, well, you know, what also helped you win that game? Notre Dame having 10 men on the field for the most important downs at the end of that game defensively, that might've also had something to do with it. Now, kudos to Ohio state for getting the win because as i and you know i know i'm on both sides of the fence here guys because i did pick notre dame to win last week but you will recall i mentioned i'm a little bit concerned about notre dame's loser dna because they tend to not show up in the biggest games when the lights are brightest and in this case they didn't even have the minimum number of players on the field to really complete these plays.

And so, okay, I guess for Mr. Day, whatever you have to use for motivation, I guess it worked. Your team's unbeaten. You be you. Speaking of motivation, Dan Lanning, pregame. Look, this is not Hollywood. This is the football field. That's some old school stuff.

That's what my coaches would have said. That's what gets me fired up about football is when a coach says to the cameras, to his team, we're just going to go out there and win. And then the greatest diss track of all time when Oregon posts all of the chatter from Colorado pregame.

Kenton, you were on the gridiron in college football. You saw some of the best jawing that our country has to offer. What do you make of Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks, especially in this beatdown? They officially announced it. They officially told us. It wasn't said before.

It was informal before this, but they've officially told us Deion Sanders is the Baba Yaga of college football. He is the big, bad boogeyman. They are terrified. They are shaking in their boots. I don't think y'all understand how Oregon of all teams, of all universities, Oregon, 50 combination, Oregon, more expensive facilities than anybody could imagine.

Oregon, Phil Knight testing out everything that he can to give them the advantage. Oregon, that team is talking about we're here for substance, not flash. Brother, that's what everybody's been saying about y'all for the last 20 years. That is literally the exact talking point that people have used when recruiting against Oregon, and now you're trying to flip it on its head to use it against somebody else. I'm telling you right now, these teams are shaking in their boots,

and it's going to be okay. It's going to be all right. Y'all not even going to be in the conference with them no more. You don't got to worry about it. Colorado just became the Big 12's heavy hitter. You know, you're good, Dan Lanning. So, you know, good for you. I know you're going to lose a lot of recruiting battles coming up here,

but more power to you. You won this game, and you won it going away. job i was wrong you were right dan you did it for substance not for the clicks even though you invited the cameras into the pre-game uh locker room for the first time in quite some time but i think look see donald i am a whatever it takes guy if this is what it takes to beat the brakes off colorado then you go out you say whatever you want to the 18 to 22 year old kids. Obviously it worked. Are you pro Dan Lanning here? No, I'm pro. I thought that that speech was one of the coolest things ever.

And I get, I get what Kenton is saying about the facilities and the, the million Jersey combinations, but I disagree with part of that about Oregon being Hollywood because that, that football team is built to play physical smash mouth football and and that was the big difference in that football game because Colorado is built more like a Hollywood attraction so that speech listen it's not surprising that people took it the wrong way and some feathers were ruffled because it's just society like if you if you sound like you're throwing shade at anybody, people are going to take it the wrong way. But I love that to me. It's listen, um, you know, coach prime is obviously making Colorado better.

Despite what we saw on the field last week, he's making that program better. He's revolutionizing college football, but that team is more of a reality show than a football team. Like coach prime. I see this more in commercials than I see him actually on the sidelines coaching, not to take anything away from his work ethic. I'm just showing you how many commercials this guy's in. So I think that's a powerful motivational tool to say, hey, we're going up against a program that's doing all this for clicks. And, you know, we're going up against Hollywood, but this game is played on the grass,

not in Hollywood. I think that's just a really good motivational speech. Now, the other thing about our society now, Drake, is not only do people take things the wrong way, but everything a coach says these days is on camera and it's going to get out in some form, right? So, you know, people have been making speeches like that for 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 years. Now it gets out and people are going to take it the wrong way. But that was an awesome speech and Oregon backed it up on the field. Had they lost the game, that would have been pretty darn embarrassing for Mr. Lanning, but they went out there and they smashed.

So I love the way that that went down. They smashed, man. They smashed. That word means exactly what you think it means. It means exactly what you think it means. Oh, dude, talk about guys who aren't smashing, especially before marriage. Davo Sweeney had another rough week this week.

I mean, at this point, you can't be fire Dabo, right? We aren't threat level midnight yet, but we continue to have this conversation grows and grows. Ken, you're locked on ACC. This thing doesn't look good. Mr. Gary Riley, come on in the room. Brother, you're on fraud watch. You're on fraud watch.

We are, you may be, you're a few seconds away from being called one of the biggest and worst nepo babies in all of college football to the level of Ferentz's son. I'm telling you that right now. You have that giant behemoth of a bat listed at 235. Looks like a healthy 245

to 250 in Phil Maffa. You have a human pinball, a guy that you can use in multiple ways, and Will Shipley back there. He just finds, he's the new version of CMC basically. He can do it on the air, he can do it in the ground, however you want it basically. He can do it on the air. He can do it in the ground.

However you want it done, he can give it to you. And yet, on third and one, you put your quarterback in position to throw a screen. You're on fraud watch. Fake watch buster is about to pull out the diamond tester, brother, because you're looking bad. You're looking real funny in the light. But not only that, Clemson's defensive front is a very interesting group. They're not looking like the Clemson front of old. You're used to – I've always said this about Clemson.

They always have at least two guys that are dominant, that are – they have their way up front. And this year, it just hasn't happened. Xavier Thomas has come on and been a revelation. He's looked amazing so far this year and then you're thinking well if he looks amazing tyler davis is gonna look great now tyler davis we're about to put out an apb we're about to put out a bolo be on the lookout because we need to go see you tyler come on we need you brother if you're if clemson is to dig themselves

out of this hole because fun fact about clemson right now although they are two and two their two losses are both conference losses. They're at the bottom of the conference with Boston College. If they're to pull themselves out of this hole, Tyler has to show up at a high level because when he shows up, it takes the pressure off of Jeremiah Trotter Jr., off of Barrett Carter, off of that secondary that we just saw one of their top corners go down and

all that and the defensive coordinator over there has to answer some questions as well because they stopped the run effectively all game and you don't want to go too high in one of the biggest situations in the game after your starting corner goes down when you've got two receivers that are averaging six five and a half yeah and and and when your corner gets dunked on what do y'all say well you just made a great play. No, you idiot. You left a corner that was a backup on an island with Keion Coleman, and you get what you get.

Sorry to go on that monologue, but it just had to be said. There are multiple coaches for Clemson. That's all our own fraudulent. Right. We're hearing the – and you gave the examples of the athletes. Dono, when you sit here, do you put it on the coordinators, on Dabo Sweeney, on the NIL, on the portal? I mean, where do we go? Where's the root of this issue?

Because something obviously is not going right at Clemson. Well, all of the above and also pretty dreadful in-game coaching decisions. Because like Kenton was talking about, the play calling and the clock management down the stretch of that game was awful. Calling and the clock management down the stretch of that game was awful. I mean, I have to give a certain amount of credit to Florida State because good teams find ways to win, and I'm a firm believer of you make your own luck, and part of winning a football game is your coaches making less mistakes than the others, so I have to give credit to Florida State.

But at the same time, Clemson, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in that game. That should not have been an L. They were just purely physically, for most of that game, the better team out there on that day at home, and they couldn't get it done. And I want to pick up on something that Kenton was talking about with coaches on Fraud Alert,

and I want to talk a little bit about Garrett Riley, okay? Guys, we used to always talk about the Madden curse. I'm not sure if Drake is even old enough to remember when the Madden curse was. What's Madden? I don't. But there, well, we all know Madden, but the Madden curse hasn't been a thing for a while. The new curse, I think, is the Broyles curse.

So this Broyles award, it's given out this award annually to the top assistant in college football. And as you can imagine, you a lot of broils award winners they get jobs elsewhere whether it's a move to be a coordinator somewhere else or a head coach so these last couple years i'm tracking this broils award and i know this all well and good because uh you know a couple years ago the team i cover miami went and hired the broils award winning at the time offensive coordinator in josh gaddis from michigan it was an unmitigating disaster it was i don't know how this guy uh you know i i guess jim harbaugh was the one calling

the shots up there when he was at michigan uh and that didn't work out garrett riley last year wins the broils award and it's certainly not paying dividends at clemson so i'm going to start even tracking deeper years on this broils because that might be the new curse. It's not about Matt Madden anymore. It's the Broyles curse. Mike Broyles, 1964 national championship head coach at the university of Arkansas, who played on that team. Who's the starting center on that team? Unbelievable college. But look, this is proof that guys can just sit around and say names for hours on end. And it's the most fun game.

Speaking of fun games, the biggest game of the week, the funnest game of the week. Ole Miss LSU this week on the gridiron in our biggest game of the week. Let's bring in Stephen Willis with Lockdown Ole Miss. Stephen, welcome to Lockdown College Football Kickoff Live. Coming off the Alabama loss, give me the state of this program going into a 4 p.m. gross nap time kickoff in the biggest game of the week against LSU. Listen, we went into Alabama and everybody talked about how Ole Miss had a real chance to win this game. And the first half of that game, it played out to where Ole Miss did have a chance in that game. And the defense played fantastic.

But this is what we found out Saturday. Nick Saban's in Lane Kiffin's head. And the second quarter of that game was almost coaching malpractice. And as it got on and Alabama was still in the game and Ole Miss was up seven to six at halftime. And you're like, well, we kind of know where this could go. And then sure thing, they kick a field goal. They make a big play where Jalen Milrow gets absolutely drilled and can win a touchdown

pass. And it turns into like He-Man, you know, by the power of Grayskull, that type of thing. And Alabama is Alabama. And they're the team that we all expected they could be at least for a quarter and a half. This is an Alabama team that could probably lose two games this year. But in that quarter and a half, there was a jolt of energy, and you saw those four- and five-star players play like four- and five-star players.

Now, I say all that to say this. Lane Kiffin wrote a lot of checks last week. He got the fan base all juiced up, and after that game, he took a rightful amount of criticism from within the fan base. And it took a couple of days for Ole Miss fans to get over it, to move on. Ole Miss has LSU Saturday afternoon, the Magnolia Bowl, which, by the way, this game being played in September is absolutely ridiculous. This game belongs at Halloween.

It needs to be at Halloween. But the fan base, they're going to try and force themselves to get juiced back up, but they were let down pretty considerably after last weekend. So let me ask you this, Stephen. In terms of, you know, we know that the fans are the fans and when you lose you're going to be the worst thing in the world and when you win you're going to be the best thing in the world and all that but in terms of the temperature of the locker

room and their chances in this game talk to me about what you're looking at as far as like have you heard great things coming out of the locker room in terms like hey they got their heads up they know everything's still in front of them or is it like, eh, there's a leery feeling around this team in general? I don't know if there's a leery feeling around this team. The coach has the cornerback mentality. I'm going back and talking about that. Lane Kiffin turns the page. You can't be the internet troll that he is without, you know,

leaning on receipts. So I think the team is going to bounce back. Usually when the offense is clunky, like last year against LSU, the offense didn't look particularly good against the next Texas A&M the next week. Quenshawn Judkins ran for over 200 yards. So that I think they will be fine this early in the season. The Alabama game obviously is the most important game on the schedule for Lane Kiffin.

He acts like it. He just acts differently. He calls the game differently. I don't know if the team is going to read too much into that, but we'll see. This LSU game is probably the difference between Ole Miss planning to go to as high as an NY6-type bowl and Ole Miss going to the Music City Bowl. That is probably what this LSU game means. Well, and on this matchup, Stephen, obviously it's a really important game and LSU are slight favorites on the road here. What do you see as being the biggest challenges

going up against the Tigers? What concerns you most? I think it's their front seven because whenever you get told over and over again that you're an offensive genius, which people have done with Lane Kiffin for the last couple of years, you start to believe it. And Ole Miss has been sticking with running the second and third level RPOs. They're kind of slow developing plays. And that works fine against Mercer and Tulane and Georgia Tech. But whenever you play against Alabama, when you play against LSU, when you play against Georgia, that three seconds to make that play develop

is all of a sudden going to be two seconds, and that's going to cause mistakes to happen. And I think that's one of the reasons why the major ranked win for Lane Kiffin hasn't come in a couple of years for Ole Miss. So if he is willing to tweak, I mean, there's not much that he has to do, but if he does that, you have a chance for this Ole Miss team to look a little bit different and put this team in a better position to be successful because LSU's front seven,

they're just as athletic as the guys that just played against Ole Miss. You have to earn the right to throw against that secondary because that secondary is not particularly good. That's transfers from like Nichols State and Southeast Louisiana. But you have to earn the right to be able to throw the ball downfield. And if LSU knows that the quarterback is going to have the ball for three seconds, he's going to be in the same spot, Harold Perkins is going to get home. I mean, that's just the way that works.

But if you have variance in the tempo of when you release the ball, moving the pocket, running different stuff, zone schemes, gap schemes, run draws, run screens, if the defense doesn't know what you're going to do, this Ole Miss offense has a chance to be really, really explosive. But if they get predictable, LSU's going to eat them up. Hey, Steven. I know looks can be deceiving, but honoring the 2003 team is a weird look.

Why is this the thing that's happening this weekend? Okay. Ole Miss was silly. Whenever they refer to this team as a Western Division champion, they got a trophy. I get that and all of that. That's a horrible look, especially against the team that won the game. Yes.

But that 2003 team was probably the best football team that has played at Ole Miss in the last 50 years. They deserve to be honored. It's 20 years later. Just don't talk about the SEC West Coast Championship. Talk about the fact that they went 7-1 in the league. You went 7 SEC games at Ole Miss. That's worth

having a parade over. Maybe concentrate on that instead of this silliness about the Division Championship. I was there. I've seen the trophy. I know that it happens. I've looked at the record book. Ole Miss is on the record book. Everybody knows that LSU played in that championship game. Everybody

knows that LSU won that national championship. Whenever you do that, it reeks of Central Florida putting up a national championship. Hang the banner. Hang the banner. Ole Miss co-West Division champions in 2003. Let's throw them a parade this weekend. That's Stephen Willis of Lockdown Ole Miss. He's got to tell us you Tigers this week. Stephen, thanks for joining Lockdown College Football Kickoff Live.

No problem, guys. Thanks. We got plenty coming up here on Locked On College Football Kickoff Live from interviews to conference confidential, the best bits in college football this week. Coming up soon, we also take you to Locked On Ducks, Spencer McLaughlin, talk playoffs with him. But first, Dono.

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of Locked On Ducks as we talk playoff hopefuls. Spencer McLaughlin joins Lockdown College Football Kickoff Live, affectionately known as Smiley, around the office. Spencer, look, this Oregon Ducks team, some people will say they proved it against Colorado and Deion Sanders. Other people will say, hey, Colorado's still fraudulent. I first want to start, less so than the playoff hopes and more so this week's game. How do you wrap up everything that happened?

Well, I think for Colorado, they were a great story. They are not a great team right now. That's going to change in the future with the way that Don's able to be in talent. But I mean, after the Colorado game, look, was it intensely satisfying after all the smack talk from Colorado that caught up in the buzz as an Oregon fan? Yeah, of course it was. It absolutely was.

Did I leave the game thinking, oh, Oregon's about to roll through a loaded Pac-12 because they beat Colorado 42-6? No, not at all. They're still going to be an underdog at Washington. If Cam Rising is healthy,'re still going to be an underdog at Washington. If Cam Rising is healthy, they're going to be an underdog against Utah. This Oregon is really good because the Pac-12 is really good, and Utah with Cam Rising will be really good.

If they don't have Cam Rising tonight against Oregon State, they probably lose that football game in Corvallis. They'll be playing a lot of urgency after their loss against Washington State. But I think that when you look at what Oregon's capable of, yeah, at their peak, they could make the college football playoff, but they have to get through Utah, Washington, USC, Oregon State, and the Pac-12 championship game. And I've held the belief from before the season that the Pac-12 is going to miss the playoff again because I think there are a bunch of really good teams in the conference.

I don't know that there's weeks so far, but if I told you guys right now, hey, Washington is going to lose to Oregon or Utah at home and USC on the road. Is that a hot take? Is that a surprising thing to anyone? Is that out of the realm of possibility? No. I mean, you look at USC. What surprised anyone if they lost to Utah again?

No, I've seen that story before. What if they lost to Oregon? Yeah, they could do that. And these teams are going to match up in some form or fashion again in the Pac-12 championship game. I like where Oregon is at. I think their defense is vastly improved from a season ago. And the offense looks to be just kind of in repeat from what they were last year.

One of the best offenses statistically in the country right now. And they have everything firing. Yeah, they can be the best team in the Pac-12, but guess what? I don't know what Washington State's ceiling is, but I think their floor is a lot higher than a lot of people thought. And the Cougs are not a team better to be messed around with right now. So I want to ask you this, Spencer, and trust me, it's not going to be about

beautiful smiles that really was the first time we saw we got another one we got two for today that's beautiful but uh in terms of this organ team and you say like hey they're good but they're not quite world leaders what is the one thing that concerns you to say, like, if a team is to bust, they'll have to exploit this team? It's still the defense. You know, the defense has faced a couple of, I think, solid tests. Texas Tech on the road and Colorado at home. They could not have played better against the Buffs. That's a unit who they are superior than in the trenches.

The defensive line just mauled Colorado. It was not a fair fight. trenches the defensive line just mauled Colorado it was not a fair fight what does the defense do against USC and Washington where it is going to be a fair fight I still expect defensive line to have some moniker of success in those two matchups but it's going different this secondary was dominant but Washington and USC have better passing attacks and I think that with Washington State as well it's kind of comparable to the Colorado against without Travis Hunter on the other side of things and I think there's just an element of unknown in that sense now if Oregon is a good enough defense to you know take a 12-1

and win the Pac-12 this is what the for the most part, would have looked like so far. But they're still trying to clean up the penalty problem. They're averaging 75 penalty yards a game right now. And if you do that at Washington, if you do that at Utah, if you do that against USC or, heck, against Washington State or Oregon State, that might want too many extra opportunities and could cost you a football game. If Oregon has 70 more penalty yards at Washington, I don't know how they're going to do the football game. They're pretty darn tough.

They escaped against Texas Tech. They had 100 yards. And that has improved over the last couple of weeks. The penalties have continued to come down, but they are not where they need to be. So I think that that element of it still is kind of back in my mind, making me wonder, is this team at that level? They have looked that way against their opponents so far,

but bigger tests still lie ahead. You've done a great job of very humbly breaking down reasons why Oregon may not end up winning the Pac-12 and may not get into the playoffs. But if they are able to do that, Spencer, if they're able to, let's say, run the table, what would be the primary drivers behind that? How would that happen for you?

Well, it starts with 18th-year quarterback Bo Nix, of course. And he is the most experienced starter. I grew up watching Bo Nix. We all did. We all did. I mean, it's crazy. You know, it was just the second year of the mario cristobal era when he made his first start and gosh that was that was a lifetime ago in that neutral site matchup against auburn 2019 i mean it's just thrilled that uh that we've gotten us to take it for what it is

i mean having him at the helm gives o Oregon fans the utmost confidence as long as he is a pocket passer. He has to have his legs to be at his best. He has to have that full mobility component to be a Heisman-capable quarterback. But I mean, it starts with him. The offensive line's replacing a lot of pieces. So far, I think they've mostly passed the test. I want to see how they're able to run the football

against a good front four in Washington up in Seattle. But, you know, after not running the ball well against Texas Tech on the road, they've run it exceptionally well each of the last couple of weeks, albeit against some weaker opponents there. But the offensive line is holding up in pass protection. Bo Nix looks really good. His weapons are deep. I mean, every position, I think you've got at least one NFL player. You know, I think Terrence Ferguson, the tight end, is an NFL guy. Troy Franklin, of course, probably one of the top five receivers taken in the 2024 class. And then you have a couple of dynamic

running backs, one of whom is out with an injury right now in Noah Whittington. But Bucky Irving is the name that everybody knows, preseason first team, all Pac-12 kind of guy. So the offense has got all the tools. And I think the defense on paper is more talented than they were a season ago. And they still have something left to prove in that sense. But the early returns have been really, really good. So I think that Bo Nix with his weapons and a more physical front four to pressure quarterbacks than what they had a season ago. Those would be the reasons why if Oregon gets to the playoff this year,

God willing, I'd be able to look back and say, yeah, this is how they got there. This is why Oregon was able to improve on their results from a season ago is because Bo Nix is really good. They've got him a bunch of weapons, and the front four is much stronger than a season ago. Spencer, maybe most importantly before we get you out of here, who does Southern Utah have this week?

Southern Utah has got No. 25 Central Arkansas, 6 p.m. Mountain Time at the Eccles Coliseum on ESPN+. They'll be on the call for that. And they're going for their first ranked win since 2018. So the Bears are coming to town to take on the Thunderbirds. This should be an electric one Saturday night at Eccles. My mom and dad's alma mater, the University of Central Arkansas, might I add. The Bears are coming to town to take on the Thunderbirds. This should be an electric one Saturday night at Eccles. My mom and dad's alma mater, the University of Central Arkansas, might I add.

Is it really? Locked on Pac-12, locked on Ducks. Spencer, thanks for joining Locked On College Football Kickoff Live. Appreciate it, guys. Have a good one. So the whole buy or thing on oregon what i struggle with here is you've got a utah team they got to face here in a couple of weeks who just held ucla and jim kelly to seven points and they were late fourth quarter seven points this is a defense in utah that will dominate the pac-12 they won the league two years in a row. They get Oregon at home. This conference runs through Salt Lake City. Dono, I don't see Oregon being a college football playoff team

because I don't see Oregon winning the Pac-12. Well, right. And the other, the second half of that Utah conversation is they've already been dominating with their defense. And at some point, whether it's tonight or in the near future, their star quarterback, Cam Rising, is going to be back, which should elevate their offense. Because obviously, you know, the offense was underwhelming against UCLA, but they didn't have to be any better than that because they had a pick six in the game and the defense was completely dominant.

So I would figure when it comes to trending higher and higher, Utah would be the team to do that. Not only is Spencer kind of touched on, Utah has had Oregon's number in recent years so none of that bodes well for the Oregon Ducks in comparison but I do still see Oregon as a really really really really good team and I don't think that what they did against Colorado last week was strictly about Colorado being frauds or whatever else I think we're going to see Colorado have a lot better offensive games in the near future but to to your point, I think Utah is the team to beat.

Yeah, Kenton, do you change your mind about Oregon at all after the Colorado game? No. Let me quote NBA young boy's song, Fresh Prince of Utah. It's going to be a parade in Salt Lake City, yeah, because that team is – that Utah team is something special. And I don't know why. I don't know what it is about Utah that makes everybody look away in horror like, oh, it's ugly football. They can't be winners. They can't be good in the back door.

They're back-to-back conference champs returning a ton of talent. And we're all just like, yeah, somebody's going to unseat them. We thought that they weren't going to win it the first year. And then we said, oh, well, you know, Utah can't go back to back. Oh, well, they're bringing back their quarterback after going back to back. They're bringing back most of their talent after going back to back. But we still believe. We're still looking and searching. We're like Scully and Motor and X-Files.

I want to believe in somebody else, but we just can't do it. You can't do it. I'm sorry. With all due respect, Bo Nix has been playing quarterback in college football since the beginning of time. More power to him. I'm sure he was playing back there when the helmets were soft and all that. Good for him.

But the reality is simple. No amount of Bo Nix. No amount of saying we don't do it for the clicks no amount of Alton Stadium getting loud rowdy screaming yelling busting their drum is going to make that team better than Utah I'm sorry well and let me add something else in because I'm sure there's probably people watching this and listening to this like well how come they're not bringing up USC I mean they've got the reigning Heisman trophy winner and Lincoln Riley. Like to me, I don't quite put USC in that conversation either because I don't think they have the defense that

they're going to need to have to win the Pac-12. So I'm not, I'm not ignoring them. I'm not sleeping on them, but I don't think they're above Utah in the pecking order either. As you know, we saw in last year's proceedings. No, I would say, I would say if proceedings. I would say if this was a scenario in sports that we compare it to, I think that without realizing it, Utah is Larry Bird walking into the three-point shooting contest saying, all right, boys, who's competing for second? Because I think that's what's honestly happening. They're the most complete team in the conference.

They're the team with the least holes that you look at and say, man, they got to get that cleaned up by a mile in terms of that conference so to me it's hey again the schools who talk about we do this for substance may not have the substance to beat the actual substance team in the packs well which is utah yeah and if you're a fan of any of a washington state or oregon state a dark horse, sure, right? There are teams that could sneak up and win this league. Oregon could, but it's Utah's Pac-12 until somebody else proves otherwise. This is eBay Motors locked on college football kickoff live until somebody else proves otherwise, Dono.

And I don't think anyone will because, folks, passion, drive, and patience, what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. From superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and so much more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has got you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you will always find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay Guaranteed Fit,

your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride or die alive at ebay.com slash motors. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers.

Eligible items only and exclusions apply. One second, guys. I'm getting a hotel phone call. Oh, sounds like it's time to go around the country as we do our first conference confidential. We start with the Big Ten.

Take it away, Craig Scheman. Everybody's still talking about Ohio State's impressive road win last weekend in South Bend, Indiana against No. 9 Notre Dame and good scheduling by the Buckeyes. They get the week off. Congratulations. The Michigan Wolverines hit the scheduling by the Buckeyes. They get the week off. Congratulations. The Michigan Wolverines hit the road for the first time this season. They play at Nebraska.

Keep an eye on the Huskers quarterback situation when Jeff Sims comes back from that high ankle sprain because Heinrich Harburg is 2-0 in his place. He's done a pretty nice job. If Penn State annihilated Iowa last week, what are they going to do at Northwestern this week? Although, kudos to the Wildcats. They've doubled their win total already from last season.

They had that 21-point deficit they erased and won in overtime against Minnesota last weekend. And don't look now, but the Maryland Terps could be 5-0 if they beat Indiana this weekend. Of course, the Hoosiers needed four overtimes to beat Akron at home last week. Illinois is at Purdue. First-year Boilermaker head coach Ryan Walters was the defensive coordinator at Illinois last year. He wants to win this one. By the way, the Boilermakers have yet to win a game at home this season. Michigan State travels to Kinnick

Stadium to take on Iowa. The Spartans and the Hawkeyes are both struggling right now with their identities, although the Hawkeyes somehow are 3-1 at this point. Two non-conference games, Wagner at Rutgers and Louisiana at Minnesota, round out the schedule around the conference this week. Enjoy the games. I'm Craig Scheman for Locked On Big Ten. Five games on the slate in week five for the Pac-12, and the best one comes on Friday night

in Corvallis. Spencer McLaughlin here for Locked On Pac-12. Oregon State goes back home, which is where they need to be right now after the loss they took in Pullman on Saturday, in which their defense allowed Cam Ward to go for over 400 yards. He threw six incompletions, accounted for five total touchdowns. It was not an inspiring effort from Oregon State's defense, which has been a staple of that team the last couple of years. They might be taking on Utah backup quarterback Nate Johnson again on Friday night for the Utes. Offensively, we might see him on the field, and that's an opportunity for the Oregon State defense to rebound. And it's not overstating things to say,

Oregon State's goals are within reach, but on the line this Friday against Utah. If they want to reach the Pac-12 championship game for the first time in program history, they have to win this football game. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Asking a team to go 7-0 just to have a chance to get into the conference title game is not

reasonable with the way the Pac-12 has looked as the best conference and the deepest conference in America right now. Colorado goes to USC this week. USC is going to win that game pretty comfortably, I imagine. The question is, what does Colorado look like coming back home off of the blowout loss last week against Oregon? But Utah and Oregon State, that's the headline game on Friday night. No cam rising once again.

DJ Uyunglele completed just 50% of his passes against Washington State on the road. Can he be better against the Utes defense, which has looked like the best in the conference through four weeks so far? The Utes are 4-0, and they played their closest game of the year last week at home against UCLA, but they have to do it on the road against an Oregon State team that is 13-1 at Reacher Stadium over the last couple of seasons. Those are the headline games.

Don't sleep on Arizona and Washington. The Huskies have been blowing everybody out all the time. Are they going to do it again? They're 18-point favorites on the road in Tucson against a sneaky and quiet 3-1 Arizona football team right now. That's it for Week 5. Tune in to Locked On Pac-12 on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Dave Schultz with your Week 5 Sunbelt Preview. Bunch of good ballgames, including the Raging Cajuns going to Minnesota. And this will be all about the rushing attack. Minnesota's going to rush for 191 yards a ball game can the Cajuns slow down that big offensive line Cajuns are rushing for a bunch of yards can they run it against Minnesota's big defensive line Zion Chris getting his first start as quarterback on the road for the Cajuns you also have Georgia State undefeated Panthers hosting Troy Georgia State looking to go 5-0 for the first time in program history.

Troy coming off a big win against Western Kentucky as they even up their record at 2-2. Georgia Southern hosting Coastal Carolina. Is this the last stand for the Chanticleers as they would fall to 2-3 with a loss to Georgia Southern, who's also coming off a nice bounce-back win. Davis Brin, four touchdown passes at Ball State. But the big ball game in the conference is South Alabama off to JMU. South Alabama predicted to finish second in the West, JMU first in the East, and JMU with three very close victories, their 4-0. They've kind of looked the

part where South Alabama just hasn't. Outside of their victory against Oklahoma State, they have just not played very well. And it's going to be South Alabama's running game, 180 yards per ballgame against JMU's rush defense, giving up 42 yards per ballgame. They are susceptible to the pass, but that's only because nobody's been able to run against them. JMU was a five and a half point favorite. It's down to three. I think JMU wins this ball game because South Alabama just hasn't shown they can play consistent football this season. Please tune in to Lockdown Sunbelt for your week five Sunbelt recap.

Enjoy the football, everybody. That was Conference Confidential back here on College Football Kickoff Live. Guys, let's talk some booms and some busts, what we learned based on last weekend's games. And I got to tell you, if I'm looking at a team that has boomed right now, it has to be the Utah Utes. Because now look, the experiment is over. Can Utah win without an offense? And the answer is yes. Hypothesis confirmed. Without Cam Rising,

without a couple of other stars, their big tight end, big pass catcher has also been out for the last few weeks. They have still, haven't needed the offense. They have still won games defensively, holding teams to their worst offensive outputs on the year. Utah at 4-0, having just won again this time against a top 25 UCLA team, holding them to just seven points. Give me the Utes as a boom. Kenton, let's go to you next. I mean, y'all already know who my boom is going to be.

I've told y'all about him all along. I've said that Dabo needs to call this man and be standing outside his house in Norman saying, baby, come back. You can blame it all on me. Very simply, the Oklahoma Suits. Dude, how, Kenton? his house in norman saying baby come back you can blame it all on me very simply the oklahoma how can they won by 14 against cincinnati they only scored 20 points how i hear you i hear you i hear you i hear all those things but also that cincinnati team is better than we're giving them

credit for number one i agree with that i guess but why but why but what do you mean but why why is they beat a bad hit team they lost to Miami of Ohio so here's here's why I say that Cincinnati team is better than they they're getting their credit for number one we're looking at year one under Satterfield number two we all know if there's anything to know about Satterfield's teams, there will be inconsistency. They will not play at their highest level every week. That is a guarantee if Scott Satterfield is your head coach. They will reach the highest of highs. And then next week, have you out there like, is this a JV team?

Are these guys not on scholarship? What happened? That's something that we know about that team but the fact of the matter is handling business in games where you should handle business is something that i value a lot i don't care what anybody says i don't care how anybody cuts in this license that is why i don't do rankings up until week four because for me personally it is it is it's it's meaningful to me if a team is handling business and not playing around with their food because somebody else is going to eat it in these early weeks.

And to me, Oklahoma has done that again and again and again, including a game where many people, not going to say any names or point to any beautiful heads of hair on this show, me and Donald are bald, so I don't know whose head of hair we're talking about, predicted them to be upset. Oklahoma, boomer sooner. That's my boom, baby.

Kenton, booming with OU and Brent Venables, the skeleton man. Alex Dono, who's your boom this week? I was tempted to go with Oregon, but at a certain point, I would just be piling on Colorado so I'm gonna give my boom to a team that maybe not so quietly anymore has just been dominating the season so far 4-0 number seven in the country and that's the Penn State Nittany Lions now this wasn't a game that they were supposed to lose but still they shut out a quote-unquote ranked opponent last week. They shut out 24th-ranked Iowa 31-0.

You start to hear now talks about their defensive coordinator, Manny Diaz. Is he becoming a head coach candidate in the upcoming cycle? And yes, I know Iowa's got that nepotism offense under Brian Ferenc. They can't score on anybody. But 31 to nothing win for Penn State they have handled their business and beyond to this point that team is absolutely booming and I'm curious to see if they can you know keep themselves in that conversation come college football playoff time because obviously they've got tough opponents in a tough conference they need need to win first. You know, we've talked about how Oregon, that was a smash. Colorado, bust.

Let's go to the bust conversation. Kenton Gibbs. You know, first of all, first of all, let's start here. Drake Toe's wordplay, right? Drake Toe's innuendos. Always a boom. Always a boom. I don't care what anybody says.

They are a boom from now until the end of time. But in terms of teams that I'm looking at and I'm saying, hey, this is bad. This is really, really bad. I hate to have to say this. And I really don't want to do this because I'm, you know what? Let me stop lying to myself. Let me stop lying. I let me stop lying i'm enjoying this a lot the downfall of clemson got me wearing suits it got me where it's listen i'm

not gonna wear suits about wedding you understand i'm gonna wear i'm gonna go bill belichick about wedding but for dabbo sweeney's downfall i can't even hold in the glee no more i can't do it i can't watching this team piss down their leg due to coaching decisions and clock management, what was that drive at the end of regulation? You have a big run

by one of the best backs in the nation to put you in plus territory. And what do they do? Do they take a timeout, Donald? Drake, do they clock the ball? Why would you? You let the clock run out you you left the clock right out

you got the plus territory what a unserious group oh my god you know I'm just gonna say this okay and I'm gonna leave it here Dabo I really and truly hope that you embrace the portal and you embrace all the new

things and all that but I'm telling you it's gonna be an enjoyable ride truly hope that you embrace the portal and you embrace all the new things and all that. But I'm telling you, it's, it's going to be an enjoyable ride watching y'all be this bad this year. Oh, it makes my heart smile. It makes me smile with my heart. It makes me drop the Spencer McLaughlin smile on him because I got to get

one out today. Oh, Dono, who's a boss? I'm going co-boss. Clemson is one of mine. There's nothing I can possibly add to what Kenton just said. But I got to go with Notre Dame at the other.

I mean, you talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. You're at home against a good Ohio State team, but finally an Ohio State team that looks, by their own standards, kind of average. And for the first time in a long time, they don't have some version of Superman playing quarterback for them. So you're at home in South Bend and you hold Ohio State to just two touchdowns in the game. McCord doesn't even throw a touchdown pass in that one. They're like eight, nine deep and former five star recruits at wide receiver.

They can barely get these guys the football. They've got the top receiver in last year's class uh Brandon Ennis can't even get on the field these days is what's going on there at Ohio State and then you've got 10 men on the field on defense for the most important final two plays in the game so listen again I said this about Florida State earlier you got to give credit where credit is due. You make your own luck. Good teams find ways to win, but at the same time, how do you give that game away? I've got to go with Notre Dame as a bust. Wow.

You know, mine comes out of the Big 12 this week because this team, they were not supposed to be great this year, but they have a, I'll say, legendary head coach because you're going to look back and say, oh, yeah, he was at the same place for a million years. That's Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Every three or four years, you have the same conversation of,

is it time to fire Mike Gundy? His team is two and two with a 33 to seven loss to South Alabama. And then a loss to an Iowa State team that has losses to Ohio where they put up 7.10 to 7 to Ohio. Oklahoma State just allowed 34 points to Iowa State this week in a 34-27 loss.

They don't run the ball well with Ollie Gordon. They finally decided to run it with Ollie Gordon this week, their star running back. Earlier this year, he wasn't getting carries. They couldn't figure out who the quarterback was. They finally said, you know what? We're going with Alan Bowman. That's right. Texas Tech Alan Bowman, who was so bad at football that Michigan said, hey, come be on our staff. We'll call you a player, but you're just going to sit on the bench and coach up our young guys for two

seasons. Now he's a starting quarterback at Oklahoma State. What did he do against Iowa State? 23 for 48, 278 yards, a couple of touchdowns, a couple of interceptions. Bad is what he did. He was outshone by a kid named Rocco Becht, the Iowa State quarterback who had 350 yards and three touchdowns. Mike Gundy, the seat is hot. Oklahoma State is a bust. They should have been a nine-win team this season with the easiest schedule in the Big 12. Guys, we for uno moss boom one more boom donna will take it to you well then i've got to go with oregon i apologize buffs fans you know even the ones who have been fans of colorado for more than six months the seven or eight of you out there i I apologize. I apologize for piling on, but listen, man, Oregon goes up against the

most hyped team, maybe in a generation, right? When it comes to any, I know, I know coach prime is, uh, he's probably rightfully trying to deflect away from his players and say, make me the target, like try not to make, which is an admirable thing that coach prime is doing, but his team is going to be a target all season long. For the remaining eight, nine teams on his schedule, they're going to treat that game like it's a national championship game. Teams will get up for that, but you know what? Oregon not only got up for it, that Dan Lanning speech before the game,

and then they lived up to it with a 42-6 victory. So Oregon comes off looking great because guess what? There were a lot of eyes on that game that maybe aren't regular Pac-12 viewers. Maybe they don't usually stay up until 1 a.m. to watch the end of an Oregon game. But they were watching that game because of how Hollywood and how hype that was. And Oregon completely dominated. So they're a boom for me. Boom.

Kenton, one more boom. Well, I know that some Longhorn fans probably got mad at my last boom, and so I'm going to include the entire Red River rivalry in this thing. Let's get the Longhorns as my second boom. The two Big 12 teams headed off to the SEC, definitely my booms here. Texas has not played a single-digit game all year, and that includes playing Alabama. That's very, very interesting because when you look at this Texas team,

you say they have all the pieces, but are they mature enough to show up every week? That's the big question about this Texas team. Are they mature enough to show up? Are they experienced enough? Are the guys that they have on this roster, can they do it every week? And trusting 18 to 22 year olds to do that, it's a tall order. That's why I'm not a betting man in general, but even if I was, I wouldn't touch college football with the next man's money. But Texas has consistently

shown up and not only done what they're supposed to do, they've dominated every single week. And so, you know, I've got to give Texas their love. They have shown up. They've shown up to be a national contender. And so I'll give them their guts when they got it. And they got a great team this year. We're missing two teams here that have flown under the radar that I'll bring up in a couple of booms.

Washington State being one of them. Now with this win against Oregon State, I think it's time to start talking a little bit more about how they could be a dark horse in the Pac-12. And at this point, the dark horse word is used loosely. I mean, they're a top 20 team. Cameron Ward has become one of the best quarterbacks, not just in that conference, but now in the country as America turns its eyes and says, hey, who is this cam ward guy who is this washington state team they've got a legitimate chance to make some waves later on this year they're 4-0 right now and then north carolina 4-0 for the first time in a couple of

decades now after a 41 to 24 win against pitt they they have proven hey look we are not to be overlooked drake mays a good quarterback mac brown can still coach north carolina can make some noise in the acc both those teams deserve some love as booms this week now before we get into the rest of the show we got a ton packed together sell me why is coming up with some wild spreads this week but first folks passion drive and patience what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. From superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and so much more.

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You know, you're just scrolling along on the YouTube. You see your favorite team. You see Locked On Gators is live. You click on it and there are three random guys talking about college football. Well, we're not so random. That right there is Kenton Gibbs of Locked On ACC, Locked On Wolfpack. That's Alex Dono of Locked On Canes.

Drake Toll here from Locked On Big 12. And this is College Football Kickoff Live. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every single Friday, we are your live lunchtime listen, breaking down all the biggest stories in college football and giving you the best bets for this week in the sport. Speaking of, it is time for Sell Me Why. The Colorado Buffaloes are three touchdown underdogs for the second week in a row.

This time it's Lincoln Riley and the bad, bad USC Trojan defense. Kevin Borba, locked on buffs, will sell us why Colorado will cover 21 and a half this week. Sell Me why. My name's Kevin Borba. I'm going to tell you exactly why the Colorado Buffaloes are going to bounce back and cover against the USC Trojans this weekend at 21 and a half. The thing is, the Oregon defense was absolutely nails. And we learned that Oregon's defense is a legitimate top 15 defense in the country.

When it comes to USC, their defense ranks number 70 in total defense, and they do not have what it takes to slow down offense like Colorado's. And you may say, oh, USC's blown out everybody they face. Well, kind of true. They've beaten up on Mountain West teams and Pac-12 bottom feeders in their most recent matchup against Arizona State. Arizona State gave the blueprint on what it takes to not only come close to beating USC, but to move the ball whenever you darn well please. And Colorado's a much better offense than Arizona State, so they should have no issues passing it all over the yard, establishing the run, and just scoring points on this USC defense that continues to plague a

program that many people think should be continuing for a playoff, but is going to come up short because their defense cannot hold up against offenses like Colorado. So for that reason, Colorado is going to cover. All right. What do you, what do you think, Don? Oh, does Colorado, can they at least cover 21 against USC? Hashtag I'm with Borba. This may surprise you.

Okay. Because I know I actually did predict Oregon to cover that gigantic spread against Colorado last week. And they did. This is a different ball game, guys. Last week, they were in the Lions Den at Oregon. This time, you're at home in Colorado, the friendly confines and friendly sidelines. And I couldn't have said it better than Borba when talking about USC's defense.

They can't stop a nosebleed. How are they going to stop Shador? A 70th-ranked defense in the country. This they going to stop Shador? A 70th ranked defense in the country. This is going to be a high scoring football game. Now, I'm not, you know, completely on the Buffs bandwagon to the point where I'm picking them to win the game outright. I'm not. I think USC is overall the better team and they should be able to win this one, but they're not going to win it by three touchdowns. This is going to be a high scoring game. And I think it's going to be one of those situations, Drake, where, you know, I don't know

if moral victories exist for a team that got this much preseason hype, but I think this is going to be the type of game where Colorado is going to be competitive enough where people are going to come out of this one saying, you know what? Okay. The buffs not as bad as they, I thought they were against Oregon. This is a team to respect again. Yeah to me you lose your best player in colorado for at least a couple of weeks but his real he was the x factor on defense more so than offense and against this usc defense i don't see why colorado can't put up enough points to at least keep this game within three touchdowns so here's the thing i said that Colorado's ceiling was about six wins. I'm still holding firm to that.

However, covering three touchdowns and winning outright are two entirely different things. I for sure have Colorado covering. And this is the reason why, if nothing else. The reality of this is all of the talk, all of the casuals, all of the people who, yeah, Deion's going to win it all. They're going to win it all this year. Those folks don't matter, but they felt like they mattered up until last game.

Now Deion and his staff could truly go in. The players talked about the self-scout that they did, where they truly went in and said, hey, this is what we're good at. This is what we're bad at. This is what we're bad at. This is what other teams have seen and all that. And it's hard to tell a player, hey, you need to get your fundamentals down in terms of your first step in your hand placement when you just came off one of the biggest upsets in modern sports history and a one-win team from last year beating a playoff team from

last year. It's tough to tell a kid to get that together. You know when it's easy to tell a kid your first step has to get better? When you just got your dome split in front of national TV. When another coach has talked all this high cash stuff about your team. I got to make sure we keep our clean rate here. I almost lost it. But when another coach has talked cash money about you and they backed it up, that's when you can tell a guy you have to do the little things

right. I think that Colorado will do the little things right enough to keep this game within 21. I don't think they have the horses in the stable to win, but they got enough to keep within three touchdowns. For more of College Football Kickoff Live, check out your favorite Locked On College YouTube channel and get the second hour where we go over our best bets for the week. This has been College Football Kickoff Live.