The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1398 - FIRST 15: CFB Week 1 Recap

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Pat, Darius Butler, & the boys recap everything from CFB Week 1 in the FIRST 15 including Bill Belichick's UNC debut tonight, For The Brand Special Teams Special plays of the weekend, a look at Who's Real, Arch Manning Madness, & Lee Corso's perfect send off. The entire show will be posted later today. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This will be the top five headlines in our eyes. Now, granted, will our top five headlines match other people's top five headlines? Maybe. But on this particular sports day, the five things that we think you need to hear about, we're going to cover early in the first 15. So let's put 15 minutes on the clock, please. Yeah, we got an actual clock. I mean, things are actually happening.

And let's start with roll that thing. Let's go with number five tonight, the Bill Belichick era debuts down there in Chapel, Bill, North Carolina. They'll take on TCU in a game that's going to be on. ESPN, a game that's going to be, I think, electrifying. Now, well, the underhit, we think so. We think, what you saw of Matt Patricia against Arch Manning, which we will certainly talk about here in a little bit. They were saying, Matt Patricia, basically Bill Belichick, Steve Sarkesian.

Well, Bill Belichick is actually now in college ball. What will he do to the high-paced TCU offense? We shall see. There was an article written on ESPN.com this morning. Actually, pretty balanced. Covered, you know, all the things that have basically happened since Bill has become the UNC head coach. obviously there's been some drama there's been a lot of drama but there's been a lot of good

in the building as well like for instance tonight I believe Michael Jordan will be on his side Julius Peppers Lawrence Taylor Eric Church Chase Rice who I was actually there for his last football game as a North Carolina Tar Hill they lost by one point to the West Virginia Mountaineers I remember that

it was in North Carolina and Chase Rice will be there obviously same with Blake Snow so whenever you're talking about the who's who of North Carolina Mia Hamm is going to be swinging by. It's like the attention that this North Carolina football team is getting

is obviously at a different level than it had been over the years, but will they be able to play football immediately? Will they be a team that will be able to jail quickly like some of these other teams that we've seen around college ball that got a lot of transfer portal people, got a lot of people that maybe didn't know each other

just a few months ago come together to play good football? Or are they going to be a team that got a bunch of people that don't know each other come back and be bad at football? TCU is a tough task, but tonight should be electrifying down in North Carolina. Yeah, at 333 wins in the NFL.

I think he's going to be able to figure out in college. Five and 11, I think, was his year one record for the Patriots. So might take a little bit here, but they're going to be in every single game. Yeah, I think it's going to be an under as well. I think it's going to get a little tight. That's the number five headline as they take off on runway 23. Remember the Michael Jordan sponsorship there?

There is a stat about the betting here for Bill Belichick as an underdog. Yeah, I do. This is from Hembo, by the way. I don't want to take this as my own. Agreed. Clock ticking. From 2001 to 2019, which is the Brady-Belich era of the Patriots were underdogs, 53 times. New England went 32 and 21 with a 604

1 percentage in those games. The best record in the NFL as an underdog over that span. UNC. is a dog tonight. So we assume that this is going to go under because we think Bill Belichick will make you play left-handed. They said Matt Patricia Belichick, Steve Sarkesian. What does that mean actually, D? But as a man who was drafted at the top of the second round to the New England Patriots defense. That really means the defense is very, very prepared and prepared to show one thing pre-snap and then another thing post-snap. We're all good lives and we're all in the same page.

A defense is tough to stop, especially for these young quarterback. So you talked about to taking time early on. He has free agency. He has the draft already brand new team. I think they'll be prepared. I got UNC winning straight up. Oh, I like that. Now, he does have connections to, we all have connections to Lombardi and Belichick,

with TCU, great football team. And at the end of last year, they got real hot. They figured out who they were. A lot of tempo. How will Bill Belichick manage that? We shall see. Let's go to the number four headline from the weekend. Hey, special teams are special special,

now. We're not just talking about a little special. We're talking special special. A lot of great things for the brand across the board. Let's go down to the Beamer Bowl, where we had some Beamer ball. South Carolina return man. Vicari Swain takes this thing 80 yards to the crib. 10-8 game. It was a cagey affair. Both teams looked good, actually. Lenore Sellers is a guy. Cannot wait to see what he does in the NFL

and also for the rest of the year for South Carolina. And Vicari Swain is an absolute menace. He's a DB who, great vision, great everything. And then let's go to immediately after the game. They're calling this the Beamer Bowl because obviously Frank Beamer, Shane Beamer, Shane's Padre, his father, coach of Virginia Tech for a long time. Shane Beamer went to Virginia Tech. Shane Beamer started his entire coaching career at Virginia Tech.

Now he's a head coach at South Carolina with the highest expectations that he's ever had there. Frank Beamer before the game said he's love seeing Shane live out his dream as a head coach. And taking on Virginia Tech, obviously going to be a little bit of tear of heart. But blood is thicker than legacy is what Frank Beamer said. And after the game, this is what Shane came up to say to his old man. Oh, man. Oh, man. I thought that album's over. Good problem. Thank you.

Thought you'd like a special team's touchdown. Yeah. Perfect. Great, Scott. Congratulations. Good, my God. Thank you. Love you. Beamer Bowl, and the Beamer Bowl is a magical thing. Virginia Tech started out much better than they did last year.

They had a lot more question marks around the entirety. But South Carolina gets a big win. Special teams are going to be good. because of being ball. Lenora Sellers seems to be a guy. Yes. They're talking about him being a guy guy now. He's big, he's strong, great leadership as well, which is great, and he can spin that

thing. I love what South Carolina did here early, and also, if you're going to get kick returns and punt returns every game, you're going to win those games. Got to win that third phase, and you know it's better than anyone. The Cardinal's saying with special teams is a re-kick on punts, and that was a re-kick, and that was a re-kick. Set him up for the DB to do his thing, special, special play, and the bigger ball. On that note, he elected for them to re-kick.

Not every coach does that. It was like an illegal formation or something. Sometimes they'll just take the 10-yard penalty from the end of the spot and move on. Beamer, born, embaptized in special teams. So we'll do the re-kick. All the coverage team's tired. Okay, everybody's very tired going down the field. Now, he hit a good ball.

I'm not saying he did not hit a good ball. Sometimes your second ball, too, Mulligan can hit a little bit better. But the people that are trying to cover that thing, they want that second ball not return. We've already run down the field. Yeah, we have already done this whole thing again. And that ball was murdered, obviously. I'm not going to blame the punter, but a re-kick, you're right. He's a great decision by, easy for me to say,

a great decision for Shane to make, but also for them to make him punish. That's a beautiful thing for the Beamer Bowl. There was also a re-kicking Rutgers and Ohio this weekend as well. The second one was blocked. So a couple times this weekend where the re-kick has gotten shoved up someone's ass. Let's talk about punter, Devon bail, okay, kickoff guy for Arkansas, tries to hit a squib kick instead, boom, right off a guy, over his head, excuse me, scoops.

that thing. Now, you can't advance it, but I do like that he got nasty with it. He put that ball immediately on his outside hand, too. He wasn't going to get stripped. He was actually looking to stiff arm, folks. I think he was going to stiff arm a couple people. Hits a guy right in his thigh or his chest, bounce up over his head, grabs it. A lot of people say, hey, do this every time. I agree. I mean, I agree off the shin, actually, up over his head. We should do this every single time. Now, if he avoids that, and that ball continues left and goes out of bounce. This is starting at the 40 as opposed to them getting the ball, so it's a little bit of a dangerous situation. But you rarely see anybody on a kickoff return team standing right

in front of a kick, and that is by design. That is so that you don't get blasted with the ball. I respect and appreciate how athletic Devin look there. And yeah, if somebody's going to stand in that, go on, Devin. Now, you have no idea where that's going to bounce. But if that goes right back to you, if you can master it, that's a good trait to be able to have there, boss. Yeah, I mean, maybe we changed the rule, too, of not being able to advance the ball. Because after seeing him catch that, it's like, you know what, if he was able to execute this, let's let this boy maybe try to run it back for a touchdown. Could you imagine?

Because it looked like he was ready to. And he had a team, too. He was going. And he was natural. That's a punter, by the way. We looked that up because I was like, damn, very athletic kicker. No offense to the kickers, but that's a very athletic kicker. Turns out he's a punter.

That makes a lot more sense. As a punter, I'd like to let everybody know within the special teams group, I think we are the far spirit. athletes. Now, the kickers are going to say, yeah, but we're like brain surgeons. So who's more athletic? It's like, yeah, we get it. But the punter, he's ready to move. Let's talk about some of these kickers. Miami last night, big one. Kid, it's a 47-yarder, minute left, fourth, and three. Now, I do not like the conservative play calls. Okay, I didn't I love what Miami did there late. I think Carson Beck can get you in and out of a play. I think Carson Beck can execute an

offense. I think they look great. Carter Davis came in as just a kickoff guy at FAU. Now he's become the full-time starter. They put his stats up. Like, hey, this guy was 4 of 11. I think they were all real long. Because he was the kickoff guy. So I think he was probably the long field goal guy. And I didn't hear a lot of context being given when he put that stat up there.

Can't do that. I'd assume he was the big, like 50 plus. Yeah, sent him out there for the big one because he had a really strong leg. But whenever you stepped out there for that 47-yarder and I only knew that 4-Eleven stat, I thought to myself, I don't know if this one goes through. Pured this then. I mean, absolutely pured it. Well, it wasn't down to center.

Still, that was a no doubter off of his foot. And that thing is clearing the upright. I mean, if they would have had the little stat cast thing on it, we're talking probably 60-some yards, what a beast. Another kicker, absolute stud. Iowa kicker, Drew Stevens, hits a 55-yarder over there in Iowa. Ty, you got Kranoski, who didn't look like a quarterback early, but figured it out. You got a kicker that can hit 55-yarders?

I didn't know that. Yeah, this is huge. And this is the longest. I hit the net. Yeah, I mean, that looked like it was good from 65. It was the longest field goal for Iowa in like 12, 13 years. Iowa football, he's a massive weapon for them, and he delivers time and time again. So, yeah, Drew Stevens is an absolute stud, and he'll be vital for the Hawks.

Big Ten, you've got to be able to beat the win. You've got to have a big leg. He's probably going to have some misses. I mean, nobody is going to go perfect in a Big Ten, especially with how hard is kick. Snaphold, everything, operation. We saw that on display last night, Miami, Notre Dame with the snap being outside. It's very difficult to get a snap hold kick off with anybody, let alone in college when it's on a full-time job for everybody. That's a huge kick.

Who do you got this weekend? Iowa State. South Hawk. Yeah, do you know his, their kicker? Cal Conrarty, 63 yards. Opening week. Bang! Come on.

So clean. Now, obviously, that put them up 27 to 7 over South Dakota. But what a ball there. 63, just to execute that. Once again, snap, hold, block, kick, everything live in a game. Unbelievable, especially for a college guy. That was a pure ball as well. I like what I'm seeing.

Yeah, and he's slowly becoming like a legend at Iowa State. Last year in the Sihawk game, he hit that walk-off game-winning field goal in Kinnick, 50 plus and then another 60 plus yarder this week. Like, he's unbelievable. Yeah, I think he has a 62 yard under his boat as well. I think they said this would be a record for himself. I don't know. But they also said the record was 58, so, I mean, whatever, he's a dog.

And I love watching him. Iowa, Iowa State might come down to the kickers. We'll see. And it'll be a showcase event. And then obviously there was an 80-yard punt. That's the greatest thing I've seen. Tulsa punter, Agnes Davies from Victoria, Australia, hits this thing 60 yards in the air,

lands at about the 34, and then it gets a 24-yard roll. Unbelievable 80-yard ball. 90 yards from foot to spot it stops. That's football. When I watch that, I get real excited. How could you not watching a torpedo fly that far? Everybody in that stadium, 150?

Yeah. Yeah, probably around there. Yeah, $150. $200?000. It's a dollar of beer night? It was big, yeah. Everybody in that stadium. That's one of those things.

You hit that ball in the stadium, everybody goes, oh, that's what you're looking for. When you punny, you hear, oh, that's not good. That means there's a check. You hear, oh, like you just hear air just being kind of sucked. It's like, yeah, you hit a good one. That kid had to feel that immediately coming off the foot

and gets a great bounce. Now, the return team is telling the returner, you catch the fucking ball. Can you catch the ball? But anytime a punter gets a good bounce, they always try to blame the returner. He put it over his head on purpose. He put it to a place that that guy wouldn't be able to get

so that you would be able to get a 24-yard return. Congrats to Angus. That's a big-time ball. And I love it special teams or special special. Now, let's go around college ball. Who's real? Who's real? Who's real? Who's fake?

His Ohio State all the way back because that defense is seemingly unbelievable. How about FSU and Thomas Castellanos? He flipped the entire culture of Boston College. Is he going down to FSU and doing the same damn thing? And there might be some sort of record on the line here for Costa. Funny enough, Thomas Castellanos becomes the first quarterback in the history of football to go into a team as an unranked opponent and beat a ranked opponent, then decide, hey, I'm going to transfer. Transfer to the team that he beat, and then that same team that he beat a year later will then play for them and then beat a ranked opponent.

He's the first player or other hashtag stat. Yeah, it might be a real stat. We don't know, but we do know. He is real. And anytime you talk mass amounts of shit about an entire institution and you turn around and back it up, I love it. Shout out to Thomas Castellonis and Mike Norville. Utah, unbelievable powerhouse.

We'll talk about them here in a little bit because their quarterback might be the guy. Miami, obviously huge win. Carson Beck, in and out. He can get it done. And CJ Daniels, one of the nicest catches we have ever seen just so happens to come in week one in a massive to take a lead right before half.

Unbelievable catch. Carson Beck looks like he's rated home down in Miami. He's got handsakes for everybody on that team. Oh, yeah. I think he's potentially in the second. floor getting shoulder rubs down there with the boys. I think Carson Beck's fitting in very well with the Miami

LSU. They could be a squad after their huge win with Nuss Meyer over Clemson. And then obviously, any time you think about college teams that could be real, you think about who's Rich Rogg coaching? Bobby VU. Could be a real deal

this year, bro. No doubt he's were buzzing. They were absolutely buzzing. Terrible first half. Hey, it's going to happen. Week one. 35 Zip second half. Listen, Bobby Moe's not going to just go out there and lay down. I agree. Robin Morris is a really good team. Oh, yes.

Rob Morris is a really good team. Yeah. This is Nico Monsorella here. Now, Morsiol, he stuck around, okay? We thought he would leave. He did not. Shout out to him sticking around. And then we got a couple guys that are all over the field.

Now, if we win this weekend against Ohio University, we're only three-point favorites in Ohio, okay, which is certainly something. I like us a lot in that. And then Pitt is able to get a big-time win. All eyes are on game day, potentially heading to Morgantown for Pitt, West Virginia. So who's real at this point?

We're not 100% sure, but we do know there were some highlights that were put across the board. Let's go to the number two headline from the weekend. How about some arch madness? Or maybe is it arch sadness? Oh, no.

I was part of the problem. I was very loud. I called him, Neil, I called him the one. I said, I known his boss just his young man. He's been going to the Manning Pass Academy. This is going to be the one. I went to bat for him very, very, very, very loud. I think a lot of people did that have seen him play

and obviously people that think of a manning and automatically think of some traits. He's certainly one of them. But what this Ohio State defense did to him and the Sarkesian offense as a whole, we have no idea what Archon, Texas are going to look like this year. That is a fact. I don't think necessarily Caleb Downs that Ohio State defense is the best way to start the entirety of your career. But nonetheless, he's going to have to learn quick. Who do they got this weekend?

San Jose State. Okay, so he might go crazy this weekend. We should see how the rest of the year goes. Big loss for Texas, huge win for Ohio State who might not give up more than 10 points all year. And then the number one story from the weekend, Coach Corsos' perfect farewell. Game Day was an honor to be a part of the people at Ohio State took care of us so well and cheered and celebrated a man who was given so much to sports as a whole. And he was perfect with his picks.

And he was perfect. Very close. It was perfect. Pretty damn good. He was perfect. All the teams that he coached or played for won throughout the weekend. So like everything about it seemed like the proper send-off. for the sports icon that is Coach Corso and getting a chance to go out on that 50 and be on that desk as he gave that re it was it was really cool obviously he was emotional a lot of parties have been around him a very long time that Friday production meeting obviously he's ever present he's always active and you can feel his sense of joy of life and energy and everything every single time he will certainly be missed behind the scenes I think everybody will understand that but certainly on television as well as the entire world celebrated one particular

particular person who's given back to a sport and to a show more than maybe anybody in the history. So shout to Coach Corso. Shout out to Ohio State. And maybe he could still send a text for his picks because it feels like he's seeing the board pretty good. Yeah, certainly. Sell them. Sell him, Lee. Yeah, he should. What if he makes a substack? That's not a bad idea. What if he makes a substack and puts that thing up there? That would be classic. Coach Corso's only fans. giving out his bits every single weekend. Coach, you're the man.

I appreciate you. Went to a luncheon on Friday. The tail end of it, obviously because our show is during lunchtime. So I caught the tail end of it. Just like Tariko, Tom Jackson, you're talking about the people that were just there giving thanks and appreciation.

And then the stories that were being told about him. Yeah, he's a dog, dude. Always has been, always will be. And it was an honor to watch him work and see him do his thing. So that was our first 15, 21 minutes. Boom. I think Fuba. Yeah, pretty good.

It's alive. Huh?