The Triple Option - Monster College Football Week 1, Dabo Swinney Joins, and the Quarterback-Coach Relationship

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

What do cold plunge cannon balls and national championships have in common? We have that answer and more. Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone talk Iowa State-Kansas State and more importantly, the construction of trust between QB1 and the head coach. (1:57) Penn State is a favorite for the Natty and the reason why Mark thinks so might surprise you. (13:00) The SEC finally will go to a 9-game conference schedule, Coach and Mark react to what that means to and if it does really mean more. (17:19) Week 1 is here and it's MASSIVE! Coach gives his new quarterback rule book to help out Arch Manning and Julian Sayin, Mark is all about the Texas...defense? (24:16) Don't forget the Death Valley matchup between the Tigers of LSU and Clemson, (36:57) as well as the rebirth of Convicts vs Catholics between Miami and Notre Dame. (40:54) Finally the two, no THREE-TIME national champion head coach of the Clemson Tigers, Dabo Swinney stops by to set the record straight on conference schedules, the transfer portal, as well as the championship potential of this roster led by Heisman hopeful Cade Klubnik. (49:40) The guys then go Three and Out with their 2025 season predictions. (01:11:04) New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tripleoptionshow.com⁠⁠⁠⁠) The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Find your new favorite Frosty Fusions™ flavor today with choices like OREO®Brownie, Caramel Crunch, and Pop-Tarts® Strawberry. ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://m-wendys.app.link/frostyfusion25⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you to our additional sponsors NHTSA - Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/drive-sober-or-get-pulled-overutm_source=sinclair&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=labordayimpaired2025&utm_content=custom_alcohol Zip Recruiter - Try FOR FREE at ⁠https://Ziprecruiter.com/Option⁠ FanDuel - Visit Fanduel.com/TripleOption to download the app and take advantage of a 50% Profit Boost today! #CollegeFootball #OhioState #Alabama #Clemson #DaboSwinney #UrbanMeyer #MarkIngram #NotreDame #LSU #Miami #PennState Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, Rob, hold on real quick. Every time I look up, I see Rob Stone, I see that, what is that, wallpaper? Wallpaper? And then Rob actually got up this morning and said, I'm going to put on this shirt. I'm spinning when I look up and I see this. What is that? How can you even see me in my camouflage shirt? I think all I can see are my hands, right?

What's amazing to me? You got up and said, I'm going to pick, because you got shirts. You have a choice. You got to wear a solid color with that wallpaper. No, I would not wear that shirt. No. What is it, though? Mark would.

First of all, it's a small, second of all. It's a medium. Light it. Welcome to the triple option presented by Wendy's, try Wendy's new frosty fusions with flavors like caramel crunch, Oreo brownie, and pop-tart strawberry. Light it. Light it. Got that smile.

Light it. Love that that music still hit you. after a year and change. All right, welcome back. Another edition of the Triple Option presented by Wendy's, Mark Ingrams, Dancing, Urban Myers coaching. I'm Rob Stone, glad you're here with us. This week, Coach James Franklin lost a battle with his Penn State team.

Clemson head coach Davos-Sweeney joins us. Coach Sweeney, Mark, he had some thoughts. He had some words. He had some thoughts on the ACC scheduling his quarterback. The SEC made a major move, and we hit the huge week one. offerings, including the massive one in Columbus, number one, Texas, at the defending champs, number three, Ohio State, all that coming up on the triple option. As always, thanks for

join us. We encourage you to rate, subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast as well as across social media. Tell everybody, you can find us a 3X option show, new episodes coming your way every Wednesday on YouTube and wherever it is that you get your podcast. Let's begin with any given Saturday, the week zero edition. Yeah, college football is already fired up. Coach, I know you were celebrating that UNLV win. It was a close one, but UNLV got a big win in week zero. But the one we're going to talk about, two big 12 title contenders meeting in Dublin, Ireland, then number 22, Iowa State, narrow win over then number 17, Kansas State. The big play in the moment we're going to talk about just about two and a half left in the fourth quarter.

Iowa State with the ball up three, fourth and three from the Kansas State 16. Could have kicked a field goal, go up six, but still a lot of time on the clock. Instead, they went for it and it paid off the QB Rocco Beck connecting with Carson Hanson. They get the first down. They kneel out the clock. The big news, though, coach, after this, was that Rocco Beck said that his head coach, Matt Campbell, gave him two calls at the line to go with, and it was up to him, up to the quarterback to make the call on what turned out to be a game deciding moment. And that's what you get

when you have trust between quarterbacks and head coaches. This really fires me up, Mark, because this is all ball. This is, this is, I'm jacked up to talk about this. But I'm also going to say Kansas State and Iowa State, two of the best coach teams in America, a year and you out. With these two coaches climbing and obviously Campbell and Iowa State, which I text with them back and forth, they're so excited to have us in a few weeks. Week three, Iowa, Iowa State. Big new kickoff. Let's go. So as a coach and a player, I know, Mark, you're the same way.

I appreciate good players and good coaches. I really do. And play the game damn hard, man. And that was, so Rocko's, the quarterback at Iowa State made a comment that he had choice to make. And I think this is really important for a listener or viewer to hear this. So the more trust you have in that quarterback, because defense is, changes on you. And really good defense of coordinators, you hear the term

multiple. If you can read that book and know where those people are, I don't care how good you are at some point we're going to get you. Multiplicity on defense is a problem. And it's the real problem for the guy that has to make decisions. It's the coordinator's problem, but most importantly, it's

the quarterback's problem. And there's certain plays that are good against certain defenses. There's others that are awful against it. For example, the easiest one to think about is man versus zone. If you're You have certain plays at a great against zone that aren't worth a damn against man. Who can get you in that play? If you have a young quarterback you don't trust, you see it all the time in college,

not so much in the pros, because those are usually those quarterbacks been around for a minute. But you get that young player, and he really doesn't understand defenses and all that. You see them always look over to the sideline. You know, they'll kind of give that false cat, and then they look over, and they change the play. the problem with that mark is, the defense then changes. And you get stuck. I've been caught in that situation. When you have a J.T. Barrett or the second half of Dwayne Haskins or these veteran

quarterbacks at Tebow, by the time his junior year, he basically called the game. We'd send a play in, but that play had a two-way, which means this, usually it's a run or a pass. If it's an eight-man front, pass. Go to the pass, Tim, or J-T, whoever it is. If it's seven-man front, go to the run, and he runs it. However, now you have field blitz, middle blitz, boundary blitz. You have no deep blitz, which means it's a six or seven-man pressure. Those are when you have a real veteran quarterback, you say, okay, there's a single call, a two-way, a three-eight, or a times, like Mark has told us in the past, you get a Drew Breeze, you can go to anything.

So when I hear that quarterback, first of all, great, I love quarterbacks like that. I usually had quarterbacks like that. But it's also the confidence that a defensive-minded coach like Matt Campbell has and his offense coordinator on four, they lose, there's a good chance, Mark, they lose that game, but they don't execute that. So kudos to Iowa State. And also to have a quarterback, Mark, you've played behind a couple of monsters, a Hall of Fame or two, that when you know that quarterback is going to get you in the right play,

that's a hell of a feeling. Yeah, it's not like a coach. It's nothing but an asset and advantage to your team because if you give them one call and the defense has the right defense for, it's a bad play. It's a bad play. So the point of doing that is so the quarterback can get you out of a bad play into a good play. You can either have a run. Okay.

We're now, now we have a three-count week. It was supposed to go to the strong side. Let's flip it, alert, alert. Now we're going to run it the other way. Or, like, when I had Drew, we would sometimes go to the line of scrimmage and we'd have a package, Bombers package. It has five or six different plays within that package where he can either get to a man, a man concept. He can get to a zone concept. He can get to an individual to the backside ex-receiver if he likes the matchup. He can get to an individual matchup for

the running back if he likes to match up on the linebacker. So you'd have to come out the huddle and know five different signals to five different plays and be able to execute it. So when you have a quarterback that can master that and have that type of intelligence, it's, it's a It's a huge advantage for the offense. So I want to say this, that for the game of offensive football is about numbers and leverage. If you have a defense playing outside leverage on you, no, you want to run inside breaking plays. If you have a numbers advantage where you have a numbers advantage in that box, you want to run

the football. I know it sounds simple, but the great defensive coaches, they're so good at not letting you know what's happening. And so having a guy out there that has done that. 20 to 30 hours of prep during a week essentially a coach on the field yeah he's a coach yeah and I remember I remember Alex I remember I would go like this I'd go to Alex

and Dan Mullen is my offense coordinator and I would look at him the Fiesta Bowl I went like this half the time go Alex go you got it yeah call to play out you know better than we do so having a quarterback like that man that's then as a result they won they had the perfect play I believe was man coverage perfect play against manned coverage. And guess who got him in that play? The trust factor to me is pretty cool, coach, because this is a head coach who's a proud individual handing things off to a young teenager. Do you remember that first moment where you're like, all right, you're in charge.

You're doing it right now. That takes a lot of guts. I look at the opposite. There's no better feel. I would think it would be a great feeling, but you had to give it up at some point. We're old gray-haired dudes on the sideline. You want to trust guys like Ingram. And, you know, That's, when I know, when I know I had a Zeke Elliott and I was, we were handed up, we got in the right play, J.T. got us in the right play. And that's a soft box. I knew something was coming out the other end of that thing. And it was going to be usually Zeke Elliott. Do you remember the first time letting your quarterback make the call? Oh, yeah. Bowling Green. We had a kid named Josh Harris that became a monster. Oh, Josh Harris, yes. Yeah. Absolutely. And there's no better

feeling. All right. Time this week's edition of Sound Off. clip this week. We're going to take you behind the scenes at Penn State among the favorites to win it all. And I got to tell you, there is some feel-good vibes going on around the Penn State team right now. Take a look. Take a listen. No, no, no, no. Okay. I love it, Mark, Mark, the first clip, Mark, I saw it, and I sent it to our producer, Chris, and I'm like, do you think coach has ever been thrown into a pool?

Like, can you imagine the guts, the onions, the onions, of Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, Ohio State to go after Coach Meyer and throw him in a pool. I'm guaranteeing you, the only people who've ever thrown Coach Meyer into a pool or body water is probably... The grandkids. Your son. No, your son. Maybe the grandkids. Even them, even they, I think they're afraid of grandpa.

All right, all right, all right. It's one quick story. I know it's the story time again, but in 2008, Mark, we have a great football team, and we lose Ole Miss on 4th Downown, if you remember that. And, oh, wait, we lost that on fourth and one, Tebow gets stuffed. Tebow to speech. Yeah, the speech, the promise. And we're playing LSU in two weeks. And I mean, you could cut the tension with a knife.

Because if we lose again, we're out, and we have a loaded team. And I come in after Thursday practice, and they're all jumped in that cold tub. You know, we had a big giant cold tub. And I walked by and I see, usually guys are laughing, having fun. And, you know, it's Thursday. Work week's done. And they're all. It's not, I got a problem.

loosen this team up. I grab my cell phone and throw it on the side and I hate cold water because I just can't like all of us. And I said, screw it. And I tell our trainer, I said, move away. I'm going to jump in this thing. He looked at me and was what? I jumped in the middle of that. I just did like a cannonball. And I mean, I had eight guys start beating a shit. I mean, just diving on me. Because I, you know, obviously they're freezing now because I move that cold water. So law of story short, I jump right in the middle of that thing. It's like knives hit you. Mark, when you jump into that thing. The cold time's good for you, man.

I know. And then so we won the game big. We beat the heck out of LSU that week. So guess what, Tebow and that made me do that every week all the way through the national championship. I mean, I was like, damn, I mean. That was the recipe. You cannonballing, huh?

But again, coach, that's you willfully going in. That is not you being picked up and tossed in by your team. But you didn't cannonball in 09. That's when we got it. Let it go, Mark. Thanks for holding the cannonball, at least. Did you guys ever have the school band come into your meeting rooms? Every, absolutely, every team up north week.

They come over. That's a tradition that's gone on for 100 years at Ohio State. They come in and they do the script Ohio, the band, the players grab tubas and drums, and they do the. I'll tell you what, Penn State's got a real band. And they got a real game day atmosphere. And they got a real team this year. I'm going to tell you one thing. We talk about on the field stuff.

We talk about the returning starters they got coming back. We talk about James Franklin, their seniors, the upperclassmen they had coming back. That team right there is a dangerous football team. That's all I needed to see. You have camaraderie like that. When you're having fun like that with guys who want to be great, guys who have tasted what success is, but they haven't gotten there yet, and they're still having fun. They love each other.

They love being around each other. They're having fun with the coaches and the employees. players, that is a dangerous football team. And those two clips you show me, I'm high on Penn State, just off of those two clips. There's nothing to do with on the field. The best teams I've been around have been great off the field, have loved each other off the field, have had fun with each other off the field. But when they get on the field, they know what's important and what they have to do. But I know that's what Penn State's doing and seeing those two clips. That's a dangerous football team, just from those two clips there. I agree. That was my initial, you know, the input

put in my brain when I saw those two things, too, that there is definitely something special getting built right now and Happy Valley. We're going to talk about Penn State a little bit later, but coming up next, we discussed the SEC scheduling decision that everyone has been asking for and they finally got. Plus, we take a look at Week 1's top matchups, including the Ohio State hosting number one Texas. That's coming up on the Triple Option, presented by Wendy's. pre-sale tickets can score you a spot track side, so being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and varied by race. Turns and conditions apply. Learn more at amex.ca.com.

This episode is brought to you by Defender. With its 626 horsepower twin-turbo V8 engine, the Defender Octa is taking on the Dakar rally, the ultimate off-road challenge. Learn more at landrover.ca. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's. Rob Mark Urban back here with you. Time now for Crossroads, presented by NHTSA. Whether you get pulled over or get into a crash. Drinking and driving will change your whole world.

Drive sober or get pulled over paid for by NHTSA. The SEC has been under... Hey, Rob, hold on real quick. Mark, I'm looking at that. Every time I look up, I see Rob Stone. and I see the, what is that, wallpaper? Wallpaper? And then Rob actually got up this morning and said,

I'm going to put on this shirt. It's a lot going on to the eye, coach. Yeah. Fashion expert, Urban Meyer, everybody. No, no, I'm not. I'm just, I'm spinning when I look up and I see this. What is that? How can you even see me in my camouflage shirt?

I think all you can see my hands, right? It's amazing to me, you got up and said, I'm going to pick, because you've got shirts. You have a choice. You got to wear a solid color with that wall of paper. Or you're going to have a fill in. The viewer's going to look at and say, what the hell is wrong with Rob Stone? Mark Ingram, tell me you would not wear this shirt.

No. I would wear the shirt, but now against that wallpaper. I understand. I understand. Everybody's a critic. Sorry, sorry about that. Yeah, it's good. Can we get back to our NHTSA conversation about the SEC?

I don't know where I would wear the shirt exactly? No, I would not wear that shirt. No. What is it, though? Mark would. Mark would small, second of all. It's a medium. All right.

Oh, my God. I love you guys so much. I can't wait to see in Columbus. this week. All right. The SEC has been pressured for years to add that ninth conference game to their schedule, like the Big 10, like the Big 12, not like the ACC, by the way. And it is finally happening starting next season. Each school will have three annual opponents focused on maintaining, of course, those traditional rivalries. That makes sense. Each of the six remaining games rotate among the other schools. Each team will face every other SEC program

at least once every two years to make things equitable. SEC schools, this is the big one. We'll get to this in a second. We'll be required to play one game per season against a school from the Big 10, Big 12, ACC, or Notre Dame. Coach has some thoughts on that, but first, Mark, you know, your collegiate career was in the SEC. What are your thoughts on, on the conference, finally going to that nine game number? I mean, I felt like the schedule was fine as is. The SEC was tough as a mother when I was playing. You know what I mean? It's a little different now, but let's look at this thing. You can look at a few different ways. The new CFP, 12 teams, they're supposed to award strength the schedule.

So adding a ninth SEC game plus a quality non-conference opponent that essentially makes SEC resumes bulletproof. The trade-off is they're going to be beating each other up. You know, it's going to be some more cannibalize. That's real, Mark. Yeah, the truth is they're going to be more cannibalization within the conference. You're going to see more 9 and 3 teams. You're going to see more 10 and 2 teams because you're adding that extra game. But as a player, what does that?

I, like, as far as national respect goes, everyone wants to hate on the SEC, like, it's going to shut the haters up. Like, folks always say the SEC schedules were light in certain spots, but now you can't say that. It was light because the out-of-conference scheduling, right? There would be some real soft teams slid in there. But again, here's LSU opening with Clemson, week one, right? Right, right, right. So, I mean, you can't say that now. Every Saturday is going to be a dog fight.

You got a nine-game SEC schedule. Then you got a quality opponent at the Big Ten. the Big 12 or the ACC, but at the end of the day, what do we do this for? We do this for the fans, and the fans win here. More rivalries, more top 25 matchups, more Saturday classics. I mean, who doesn't win all that? You know what I mean? So I think this is a win, and, you know, I'm looking forward to it, man.

I actually can't believe they went there, Mark. I can't believe that Commissioner Sanky and the coaches and the ADs agreed on this. I might have pushed back on that because, you know, You, you know, generally you have to worry about the good of college football, the playoff and all that. But the SEC is a different animal, man. And there's very few people who can speak on both. I can speak on the Big Ten and the SEC. I can't speak on the Big 12, although I play teams from Big 12 in the ACC.

However, when I was the coached the Gators, we always had one, I think 2006 was the most difficult schedule in the country. We always had our rival, our crossover was LSU. think about that our rival was Tennessee and Georgia think about that and then throw in Florida State at the end of the year every year we played Florida State and I was back when they were top five top 10 all the time so people would say something why are you playing Western Carolina and someone asked me I said I could give two shits what you think I mean I have a team to coach and our job is to get to the FCC championship period done I'm not here to appease fans in California and and I our AD was

Jeremy Foley was great. He agreed. I mean, every four years, I believe we played Miami. So you're going to play Miami, Florida State, and the SEC schedule. And your LSU is your crossover in the Western Division. Or Alabama or the most of his schedule. So I am shocked that they did it. Is it right for, once again, I think the SEC is, I'll do respect to the Big 12 and the ACC,

even the Big Ten, your bottom half of your conference is not even close in my mind. at all. Your stadiums, your talent level, you're talking about bottom half of the SEC, you know, it fluctuates obviously, but there's NFL players all over that roster, whoever you're playing. So I'll do, and now Vanderbilt's got a hell of a coach, and they're starting to win games. So that used to be. The Big Ten won the last two Natty's, but like, listen, I want a Natty in the SEC, you want

a natty in the SEC. I know what it takes. You know what it takes. Add this ninth game, it makes the toughest conference, in my opinion, in the national. It makes the toughest conference in the nation even tougher. You know what I mean? But I'm worried you're going to beat each other up, man. They are.

They're going to cannibalize each other. You're going to see a 9-8-3 champion out the SEC. I don't think they need to add you to at a 9-conference. I'm glad they're making everybody play because I think college football should have that rule that every team should play someone from one of their big conference. Because that's great for that that should happen. You're going to see a 93 conference champion out of the SEC like ACC last year with Clemson, winning the conference.

at 9 and 3. And Clemson head coach Davos-Winney is going to join us momentarily on the triple option. He has some thoughts. He has some real thoughts on scheduling and what the ACC should or maybe shouldn't do going forward. We've got a massive slate of week one games. We want to get you caught up. Of course, the biggest is number one Texas.

First time the Longhorns have been number one in the preseason rankings ever. They are at the defending champs, number three, Ohio State in Columbus. That is your treat of the week. Presented by Wendy's, try Wendy's new frosty fusions with flavors like, Caramel Crunch, Oreo Brownie, and Pop Tarts, Strawberry. That game, noon Eastern, live on Fox. So many storylines to this one. But, Coach, the biggest one that jumps out at you,

these two proud programs, these two absolute blue bloods are both starting essentially new quarterbacks, new QB-1s. I know Arch Manning had a lot of snaps last year, but Arch Manning is now in control of Texas and Julian Sayan getting the call to be Ohio State's number one quarterback. it is a rematch from last year's college football playoff semifinals. One by the Buckeyes.

Is it fair to say that the two new QBs is story number one for this one? It is. And I have obvious experience coaching, you know, the most famous one was when Cardo Jones took over in the Big Ten championship game. But whenever you're starting a young quarterback, J.T. Barrett, during Haskins, when he was a first time start all the way back to Tim Tebow, et cetera. I have very strong feelings.

Strong enough feelings that at times I would get in arguments with our staff. I mean, respectful arguments about I had two rules, two things that we, especially when you have a good team, which the Buckeyes and the Longhorns obviously got good defenses, good special teams, well-coached teams. I think the first score of the game or the first, the score at the end of the half is going to be whichever quarterback screwed up. and whichever coaching staff put that guy in them. Now, think these are, you can say what you want about Archman.

He's going to be a great player. He's only 61 and 90 for his career. And his only meaningful game was Mississippi State. I wouldn't watch that game. Mississippi State was not good. He's seen nothing about what he's getting ready to see. Julian Sane is a first-time starter. Last year, he was five of 12.

So he's thrown 12 competitive passes in his career. So I had two rules when I started young. quarterback. Number one, the mindset of the quarterback is to get two first downs. That's all I want the coordinators to talk to them about. That's the way our team, I wanted everybody that's not your job, Julian or Arch, to take us down the field right now. I think that's overwhelming. When you go stand on the field, and I used to do that with the quarterback and the offense, I'd say, look, there's 10 yards, right? We can get 10 yards. If you get two first downs, Mark, the field is officially flipped. Yeah. So think about the way the game starts. I don't care if you get the ball

a 20-yard line. Normally you get the ball after a fair catch or kick out of the end zone, the 25-yard line or 35-yard line. If you do that, you get two first downs. Where's the ball? 50. Yeah, you go drop. You have a great punters, great punt teams. You're going to drop that thing inside the 10-yard line. Now the opposing quarterback is starting inside his 10. It's backed up. So you get two first downs. That's number one. And that's a big number one. I want to hear nothing else said to that quarterback. Number two is never throw a ball between the hash marks to start that game. Because like a point guard, a quarterback, the energy, you remember your first start,

you probably couldn't breathe, especially in a game like this. Those quarterback, I've seen them. I've had my arm around the quarterback. All right, here we go, and you can't even hear it so loud. Especially being in the cue. I'm looking at this kid, and he's, no, I mean, what's going through his mind right now. so you always start the adrenaline's pumped when you're a point guard and it's you feel what you had to tell him coach when he's looking like that what you had to tell him when he was

looking at the question usually i said hand a ball to zeke you know or whoever you're percy harman but in that situation uh in that situation uh you want to make sure well i'm going back to a point guard a point guard with all the adrenaline watch him sometime where's the ball always go off the back of the rim and bounces off for a big rebound why because the energy same thing with the quarterback with the energy enthusiasm the nervousness he's going to overstride he's going to throw that ball high you mark my words that ball's going to come out high a bunch of times if you're playing a ball outside the hash marks that's called an incomplete pass and you pump you know what happens rob if it's thrown down the middle right tipped and picked yeah it's a pick

And that's how you're going to lose a game. So two rules. Get two first downs. That's rule number one. Just that's your focus. Get two first downs. At the appropriate time, we'll take the shot. And then the second one is keep that ball out of the middle of field.

Coach, did you like to have them throw, like right away, like first down, first snap. Just give me a nice and easy. Yeah, like if you look at Cardo Jones, his first play against Wisconsin, who had a great defense, we ran a sprint out and threw an outcut. I wanted him to, you know, I could do that. You know, just, just get the monkey off his back. Do that, you know, let him go. The other times, like, I remember Alex Smith told me, and same with Tebow, I remember

it was distinctly, you know what they wanted the first play? A Q run. Oh. Yep. They wanted to get hit right. They wanted to get hit? Set them pads early. Set the pads.

I mean, Eric, people don't realize how tough Alex Smith was. Alex Smith would tell me, I said, run me today on the first snap. Let me get this out of my system. Yeah. And I said, I'm good with that. Bam. He'd get up and I say, okay, let's go play. Coach, I love that.

I would hate when I went three or four possessions to open the game and would not touch the ball. I'm like, yo, I need to touch this rock. I need to get this hit. I need to, do you feel it? Mark my words. I think the first score of the game is going to be made on a mistake made by the quarterback.

And I hate to put that pressure on. And I would put it on the coach. Opening game, mistakes for sure. A lot of mistakes. A lot of penalties. We saw a lot of sloppy football in week zero. Who can play the cleanest games? Who could play the cleanest game?

That's week one. who can play the cleanest game and be the most disciplined in game in game managing situations, two minute, red zone, turning a football over. Those are all critical areas of victory for both teams early in week one. Now I will add this that when I say be conservative, which I am, I'd throw swing routes and all that, but I'd also take shots. But what shots would I take, Mark? Simply one-on-ones on the outside. Yep. Because if you over, once again, you overthrow it, incomplete pass, move on. Tips and overthrow. I would never throw that ball. between the hash marks.

How often you think Jeremiah Smith is going to be left in a one-on-one situation? I don't think once. You know how many times last year? Texas held him to one catch for three yards. And I went back and I'm going to do a segment on Big Noon about that. It's called the SJD defense. You know what that is? Stop Jeremiah defense.

And I'm going to, not to give too much way, but I'm going to talk. I got a whole segment on that. And it's either if man coverage, you want to stop him, you know what you do, you're bracketing them. Yep. And zone coverage, Mark, you roll to them. Yep. And they did that as a result, a Mecca and Junkins had 100 yards receiving in the game.

So other. Somebody else got to step up. The other guys. Coach, I'm looking at the tape. Who do I'm not going to let beat me? That guy. Somebody else got to try to beat me, but he can't do it. I'm a force.

Cornell Tate and the Purdue transfer receiver. And they liked his people's kid, the running back. I don't know. And the key there, coach, you said they held him to one catch for three yards? That's it. seven returning starters, continuity on the coaching staff. They're going to go up there with that same type of game plan, switch them stuff up, a young rookie quarterback.

They're going to try to put pressure on him, fluster him, and, hey, this is going to be a great matchup. I can't wait. We're going to be there. I got one day, Dad. I got one day, Dad, Rob. So an elite-wide receiver's best friend, in order. Okay, if you're a great receiver, in order,

number one is an athletic quarterback. Why? It limits the defense you're going to see. And if you're running, Will Howard was a threat every time he touched the ball. So he had very vanilla coverages last year against Jeremiah. Is saying a threat to run it? No. Number two.

Pocket? You want two monster, you want a strong run game. Yep. They have two first rounders. You got a run-in-ball. So that's the best friend of an elite receiver can have. And then finally, an elite number two receiver, if they double you and they had a mecca. he can eat.

Guess what, Mark? Gone is a running quarterback. Gone are the two running backs. And gone is America. So the elite receiver... It was a perfect scenario for Joe. I'm still saying he's elite, of course. I think you're going to see more double on him

and use what... Ohio State... They're just full of stormtroopers, though. One goes down, another one pops back up. Those guys that have to pop back up have to prove themselves on this level. Texas, as you mentioned, Mark, has got a bunch of dudes who have done it. I know they only return three starters on offense, but it's defense, right?

Seven starters return. Last season, they allowed just over 15 points a game, third in FBS. I feel, and I don't know where you are, but I think the Texas defense is what's going to win it or potentially lose it for the Longhorns in Columbus. Yeah, I think that's the key to this game, is their defense. You know, the return of seven starters, a team. who played really tough. They were top three defense in the nation last year.

You got those guys coming back. You got the same coaching staff continuity coming back. Then you add, I feel like that's going to be the difference, especially in a game when it's week one where you need to rely on your defense to play tough, not give up points, turn the football over, get pressure on this rookie quarterback. That's what they're front depth up, up on the defensive front. They get pressure on the quarterback. That's what they did.

And so I think that's going to be a big point of emphasis for them Saturday. But then also the running game, I think how Texas is built right now, I feel like they can go up to Ohio State on the road because what happens, a defense travels, a run game travels. They got their two top running backs coming back, Trayvion Wisner, and C.J. Baxter, off that bad knee injury he had. They're both back this year. Arch Manning, he can, he's a dual-threat quarterback. He can run.

He can make plays with, he can make plays with his own. arm extending plays. So I feel like those aspects of running the football and playing a tough defense, I feel like those things play into Texas hand for this matchup. So I went and watched Texas offense and I'm just curious, you know, their top two receivers and tight end are gone. Yep. The NFL. And I thought they were good last year. Both of them were NFL guys, obviously. I watched the receivers. I don't know, Mark. Yeah. I think they got to really improve from what they He got Emmett Mosley, a transfer from Stanford, but I actually went and watched him.

He's okay. I mean, you know, yeah, he's a good player. Is he first-round draft pick? No, I'm not sure. We'll see this year. He never had his opportunity. You know, they had Matthew Golden and, you know, Isaiah Bond kind of last year.

And then they got injuries, the Cal, tight-end transfer that, you know, he's an athletic dude, so I'm anxious to see. I think the running backs are legit. I think that CJ, you know, he got hurt. but they're and I actually made a couple calls to find out they say the kid's a monster before you got hurt I think game management taking care of the football and playing tough defense especially in an early season game against a tough opponent are critical defense

game management two minute into half into game red zone taking care of the football running the football those are real simple things that you have to be able to do in an early matchup against a big team I'm going to add one thing that I would put above all that? Quarterback management. Of course. Game management, quarterback management. Because it's unique. You have two young bloods. We want to get those guys comfortable. And one thing we always see early on in the season

two, special teams, right? How much time did you really spend on special teams, whether it's returning punts or kickoffs or field goals? You know this one's going to be tight. Stoner. And I know coaches a special team. You know that? Because a special team's touchdown gives you 99% chance to win the game. There we go. You score on special teams, kick return touchdown, part return touchdown,

block field bowl touchdown, block punt touchdown. That makes your percentages go of 99%. Man, and the energy is going to be so great. By the way, weather, I was looking at it, only going to be like mid-70s, like a very... Great football day. ...great football weather from late August and Columbus. So Mark won't be sweating through his sport coat.

No, we're going to save that for later in the season. By the way, we might be going back to UCF in week four. There's chatter about that one. I'm already right of September. I'm having some sweat flashbacks for that one. All right.

We're going to pick this game coming up in a little bit, but there's so much else to get to in week one. Again, we talked about Dabo Sweeney's going to join us in just a moment. His fourth-ranked Clemson Tigers

host number nine LSU Saturday night. This is a matchup of two legit Heisman quarterback. Candidates, Kade Klubnick for Clemson, almost 3,700 yards passing last season.

He can run it to seven rushing touchdown. touchdowns, 36 touchdowns against. What are we getting on? We're getting on the Nuss bus. Garrett Nussmeyer, over 4,000 yards last season. Again, we're going to talk to Davo coming up in a moment. But Mark, what are your early thoughts on the battle of the two Death Valleys?

The Battle of the Two Death Valley. See, the Death Valley I know is traveling to the Death Valley in South Carolina. So they're going to have to burn. Yeah, yeah. Wait, wait. Is there three? Because there's a Death Valley, LSU. There's Death Valley, South Carolina.

Where's that? Clemson. Oh, yeah, yeah, no. So there's only two. LSU and Clemson. Yeah, okay. So, yeah, so LSU, Death Valley traveling to Clemson, Death Valley. But, man, Clemson is a tough team, man.

They're a tough football team. They won the ACC last year, 9 and 3. They made it to the college football playoff. They got K.K.K.K. They got six returning starters. 16 returning starters, eight on offense, eight on defense. So you talk about Kay Klobnik and just who he is, what he's meant, and how he grew last year.

here against the Nuss, against the Nuss, LSU. There's a lot of question marks, you know, in this game of, you know, what's going to happen. But I think the advantage, I think, is leaning towards Clemson in this one, man. I think the 16 returning starters, I think the home field advantage, I think, the consistency in coaching with Dabo, I think it's going to be a close game, maybe a field goal here or there. You know what I mean? but Brian Brian Kelly with those

those week one issues has a one one right his opening game as head coach at LSU and you know a lot of that has to do with scheduling and whatnot but you know coach

you know that is that is in the back of his brain maybe it's in the frontal cortex at this point with that type of staten is it just at LSU or does it go past LSU

or just the opening just LSU yeah I'm going to say this about Brian Kelly and I use this very sparingly unless it's true. He's a winner. He's won in Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Notre Dame. And so he's going to win. The pressure is all over LSU now. They didn't hire them to all due

respect to 9 and 10 wins. That's not why you go to LSU. So there's a reason, Mark, is I think the template was set in Ann Arbor two years ago. It was followed by the Buckeyes. Penn State and LSU kind of have it. And so does Clemson do it. So does Clemson. They have the returning, the guy that could have left, and he said, I'm going to come back. Nussmeyer said, I'm going to come back. He threw for 4,000 some yards, but the whole point is he came back because there's unfinished business. Same thing with Penn State. How about those two running backs came back? But that's a cool thing about NIL now. They're getting paid so they can. So I have LSU as a dark horse with me, because I think I have a lot of respect for the coach, that program, because I know

the dudes they get. I've coached against those cats. It seems year and year out, Mark, you remember, they just look different down there. Yeah. And the defense has been, you know, the defense has been kind of, you know, the question mark of that team, you know, because they were scoring a lot of points last year. The defense was kind of the question mark. They have a lot of transfers in coming. So we do like, right? Yeah.

We got, we liken us. We know what he could do, but will the supporting cats be able to rise to the occasion in Death Valley? And what's the line here, Stoner? Am I picking my game? We'll get to the line. Yeah. We'll get to that in a second. game right now? Yeah, yeah, you can start thinking about that. By the way, don't be surprised if this is the first of two meetings this season between Clemson and LSU. I'll go ahead and throw that one out there. Another big matchup, top 10 matchup Saturday night. New quarterback theme, it continues with Notre Dame on the road at Miami. Carson Beck left Georgia. He's now

QB number one at Miami. CJ Carr, the grandson of former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr, is QB number one this season for Notre Dame. Member, Andy, lost in the title game to Ohio State. Marcus Freeman. What a great job. The former Buckeye has done. What do you expect from the Irish this season and in this game, coach? You know, they lost Al Golden, a guy that we all had great respect for the coordinator. Big loss. They hired my former coordinator, Chris Ash, is now running the defense. And I've been texting with him. He loves his team. You know, obviously he's a big fan of Marcus Freeman, as I am. I was surprised

they're only a slight favorite over Miami. So there must be, I don't know a lot about Miami. Obviously, Carson Beck, we saw him. He has all the tools, but he gives the ball

of the other team too much. If that continues, that that's a bad recipe. That's a recipe for failure if he doesn't take care of the ball. I think Notre Dame is going to reload. I'm surprised that their first two games

are rugged. I want to say they have A&M, second game. Um, Miami, usually they don't do that. Usually, you know, Notre Dame schedule is a little bit more friendly than this. They have to find a way to come out of this early part of the season, either undefeated or just one loss. I got one, I got two words for you. Jeremiah love.

Yep. He is the whole ball. Best running back in the game right now? Our beast, RB1 in the game right now. You heard it here first. Over Penn State, Singleton. Ooh, Monday.

The controversy this morning, huh, coach? Oh, Lord. I just said two words. He's a big monster. Man, no, Singleton is a beast, dog. I don't know, man. I like both of them. You can't, what do you want?

You want power and speed? You want the need for speed. I don't know. I don't know. Jeremiah love, man. I just want to tell you in this game, watch out for my boy, man. he's going to ball, he's going to put Notre Dame on his back,

come down here to the heat. The heat in Florida, the South Florida, ain't going to be ready for that heat coach. Hey, man, it's hot everywhere. It's August, right? No, it's not. No, no, no, no. But I know there's more to heat.

You said it's going to be 75 in Ohio. It has not been 75 here since February. Since 2005. You know, I go out now, Mark, and I wonder how you guys did it. I go out. I wonder how I did it. I'm like, how do you practice? I go.

I could not imagine putting on shoulder pads in the helmet and going to tackle or hit or run the football right now. Like, I couldn't imagine it. I don't know how I did it for so long. All right. Time now for two-minute drill. We're going up-tempo, guys. We're going to pick some of the big games. Two-minute drills brought to you by Fanduel.

Welcome, Fandul. Visit Fandul.com slash triple option to download the app and take advantage of a 50% profit boost today. Coach, we're going to start with the big one. Number one, Texas at number three, Ohio State. guys favored by two and a half, the over under, 47 and a half total points. How do you see it, coach? I see Vegas is the winner, man. Again, I look right at that number, and that's right where it's going to be a field goal. I think the halftime score will be determined by the coaching staff or quarterback that makes a mistake. I'm going to take the Buckeyes in a tight win in

Columbus, Ohio. They'll cover the spread. Not much, though. Not much. Number nine, L.S. you at fourth-ranked Clemson. First meeting of these two programs since the 2020 National Championship game, one in which LSU's Joe Burrow took care of Trevor Lawrence and Clemson. Uh-huh. The Clemson Tigers

favored by four and a half mark the over under 57. And a half. Lord, 57 and a half. In week one? You're rethinking things, aren't you? It seems like a big number. I'm tempted to take the under on a week one matchup. You know what I mean?

But experience quarterbacks, experience rosters. Yes, yes, yes. That's why I'm tempted to take the under. I'm tempted. But listen, can we just take Clemson Money Line? Like, do I have to take the points here? Like, Clemson minus four and a half? Like, can I, can we just go Money Line here and just go Clemson Money Line?

You do whatever you want, man. The good folks at Fandle are open to you. The good folks at Fandle, you gave me to minus four and a half. You gave me to over under. I'm just comfortable going Clemson Money Line. about that. All right. People listening for my listeners and for my viewers, I'm putting my money clemson

money line. Okay. So there we go. On Sunday, we reboot one of the classic rivalries in college football. Catholics versus convicts is back. Notre Dame at Miami, the Irish favored by two and a half, the over under 50 and a half total points. Irish having to replace 12 starters.

Remember, they had 14 wins last season, had an FBS best. seven ranked wins as well for Notre Dame. No Riley Leonard's legs being replaced by car. We talked about that. Jeremiah Love over 1,100 yards rushing 17 touchdowns. Love most rushing touchdowns of any returning back in FBS. He's a first team preseason, All-American. The Irish defense top 10 scoring each of the last two seasons,

but a new coordinator in Chris Ash, as you mentioned. For Miami coming off their first 10 wins season since 2017, but gone is number one. Cam Ward, in comes Carson back, part of that number three transfer class this offseason. Back at Georgia, 24 and 3 led the Bulldogs to back-to-back SEC title games, but did have that UCL surgery in his throwing elbow and member. And coach, you touched on it, the turnovers, led the SEC with 12 interceptions last season.

They replaced their top six receivers from last season. I think it's too much too soon for this revamp Miami side. I like the Irish on the road by at least three, who knows, maybe even seven. Coming up next, he's a two-time national champion head coach. Clemson's Dabo Sweeney joins us, and he's got the word cyclical. Look it up, Mark, cyclical. Dabble's going to be talking about cyclical nature of college football coming up next on the triple option, presented by Wendy's. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's.

What a guest we have for you here on week number two, four national title appearances, two national titles, nine ACC championships, the head coach at Clemson University. Dabo Sweeney joins us right now. And coach, thanks. You enter this season, number four in the AP rankings, huge home game against LSU Saturday. And what's really unique about the conversation this week for both my coaches between Mark, Dabo, and Urban, we are talking six national titles on the triple option. right now. I'm bringing nothing to the table, coach. Sorry about that. Hey, I got one as a player.

I don't know if you were counting out. There we go. Seven. Seven quick math update. Seven natties. Let them go, coach. Let them go. And listen, when we won it, Mark, it wasn't like it is now where Alabama wins it every other year. We won it in 92. Yeah. Alabama had, well, my senior year. We had, they had not won it since the 70s. Is that Stollings? My senior year 92. Hey, thanks for joining us. Yeah, man. Good to see you. Good to see you.

And all in question. So six national championships, it's actually seven because you had one as a player. I was talking to our crew about this. There's times you're one week before the season starts. And when you come home and talk to Kathleen, I'd come home and you'd have your decompression.

Usually there's probably a Cabernet involved or a little whiskey or something. I'd sit and I'd talk to her and I'd say, if I don't screw this out, we have a chance to win it all. There's other times I'd come home and I say, we're awful. Our defense sucks. Our corners can't play. We're soft. We're out of shape and all this. You've won two titles. I faced the one in 16, which is all first rounders on that D-line. Can you tell when you're about to make a run and is this year that year? Well, I mean,

I definitely think you can tell when you know that you've got a team that's got a chance, You know, and I mean, we've had, we've had several teams that I think didn't necessarily win the championship, but they, they were good enough. And, you know, I always say, you got to have a little luck along the way, too. I think this team has the, the tangibles and the intangibles. And I think that's really as a coach, what we probably, sometimes you've got a good team, but they don't have the intangibles. You know, and that really frustrates you. But I think they've got the ingredients. But, you know, you got to go do it.

I mean, I mean, we've got, usually great teams have a great quarterback. We've got a great quarterback. Usually great teams are in the trenches. I think we're good in the trenches. You need a kicker that can win a game. We've got a kicker they can win a game. We've got some elite skill. So we have those things.

We've got good leadership, good chemistry. These guys really love each other and they've worked their butts off. And then I think also you've got to have a vision for it. You know, and these guys, this group in particular had not been to the playoffs. because the last time we went six years in a row in 21 we came up a point short 22 same thing 23 we weren't good enough to get there so that group last year had none of those kids had experienced that so now this is a group that's won the league been to the playoff yeah kind of have they got a little vision for it and I think I think it's hard to quantify that too

so they got a shot but I agree 1,000 percent I've had many of those days but I I've come home to Kath, and I'm like, my God, we may not win a game. And then, you know, schedule is a part of it, too. That's always a part of it, you know. We got a challenge the schedule. I think we play, you know, if probably five of the top six teams in the ACC, we play. And plus, we're going to play LSU, play South Carolina. Yeah, Coach, you talked about you guys have a chance to win it.

And the big reason you guys have a chance to win it is because of your quarterback, K. Clubnick, you had, like you said, you mentioned, you had this. Sean Watson, you had Trevor Lawrence, and now you have K. Clubnick, who had a huge year last year. What growth have you seen him this offseason? And what steps do you think he needs to take to get you guys bring a championship back to Clemson this year? Yeah, well, first of all, physically growth. Like, he was 212 pounds that weigh in. So, I mean, this kid has showed up here 179 pounds. He got the guns out, huh? Yeah, he's just, he's just his lower body. He's just a thicker, you know, more stout guy.

And so that just accentuates all the other stuff already. He's a good runner, makes him a better runner. Right. So all those things physically is the biggest thing. And then just from where he was this time last year, it was a lot of criticism, a lot of noise. You know, we're not going to win with this guy. And his first year as a starter, I mean, he took too many sacks.

He turned the ball over too many times, ball handling, four decisions. He just absolutely wouldn't use his legs. This kid is a really gifted runner, but he had just never done it. He never really been asked to do it, and he just, his closest game in high school was 14 points. He won three state championships in a row, never lost the game in high school. The closest game was a 14 point margin. And now all of a sudden, his first year is a starter. He's got some football adversity, but he battled through that.

And then last year, he improved in all. those areas. He became not just a good runner. He became a great runner. He became so much better in the pocket. His turnovers, his TFLs, his sacks way down. His situational awareness improved. And so the biggest area that he's grown, having been through that year, is just his confidence. I mean, the game, you know, I would always say he's a kid that sometimes would get to the game and the game would speed him up. And as I saw him last year, the game slows down now. And it's just, coach, you've been around the great ones, like, you know,

and when you're around those great ones, because you can all fill those moments, and it's just like, it don't matter what's going on, that guy slows it down. It doesn't speed the great ones up. The great ones slow it down. And that's kind of what I've seen him. He has complete ownership and understanding of what everybody's doing, but his confidence. And then I'd say the next thing is he is the unquestioned leader of our football team.

This time last year, you know, he had to go earn that. He was the leader of our offense, but he's the unquestioned leader of our football team. So what he needs to do moving forward to take that next step is more of the same. Just continue to pick up where he left off last year and, you know, just stay on that track. If he takes that next step, that's really all it is for him. I want to hit you with the ACC here for a second. I think it's intriguing when people start talking about the expanding the playoff. And I saw the Big Ten model that it was proposed.

And it kind of shortchanged the ACC, you know, where you had a, I think it's 4-4-221. And then I started thinking back, there was a time, coach, that the ACC could have made claim to the most difficult conference in college football. You had Clemson, obviously, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, and Virginia Tech, all top 15 teams. There was a time where, you know, several years ago where, I mean, ACC was as good as any other conference. There's only one other than you in the top 25. That's Miami. Do you see a, you know, I know they have a new coach at Louisville, a hell of a coach. And do you see Miami, you know, the Florida states, Miami's, Louisville, Virginia Tech.

they've got to be good for your conference to get that respect. How far off are they? Not far off. I think all that stuff is cyclical, honestly. And I know there's been a lot of talk about the, that's why I've always said everybody wants to play more conference games. I think it just becomes more insulated. Like, I'm like, why don't we play less conference games and let's go,

let's go, you know, just put it on the field, you know, and let's play five conference games or six and six. and let's go mix it up and let's see who's got the best deal. But I think it's cyclical. I mean, I think everybody's good, especially in today's, you know, you can get great in a day, you know. I mean, you really can. I mean, Miami's, they were good last year.

They were really good football team last year, had the number one draft pick. I think if you look at our league and you look at the quarterbacks in this league, I think if you look in the NFL and you look at the amount of players drafted out of the ACC, I mean, I mean, this is a quarterback-driven league. There's some of the best quarterbacks in the country are right here. Again, last year as well, Louisville is a, I mean, listen, they beat us last year. I mean, Louisville is a really good football team.

And I loved their quarterback last year, what's his name, Shuck, Shuck. Yeah, Tyler Schell. He might be the starter for the Saints this year as rookie. I mean, Cam Ward, a number one draft pick. I mean, so obviously we got a good quarterback. I think the league, who knows what's going to happen in North Carolina. They got 75 new players. I have no idea.

Y'all help me out with that one. A new coach, too, I think. I can't remember his name. Bill Belichick, I think he's pretty good. But Miami's been awesome. Florida State didn't have a good year last year. But, you know, Mike's done a great job down there. And, you know, I mean, they had some, obviously some challenges last year.

We've been a very steady, consistent program for a long time. Georgia Tech. Let me tell you, Georgia Tech. No slosh. They had Georgia beat last year. Yes, they did. I mean, they had them beat in Athens. Listen, Coach Key's done an amazing job at Georgia Tech.

That's at SMU and the job that Rett's done. Dave Dorn has been a very consistent winner at NC State. Obviously, Virginia Tech, we all know what their potential is. Billy O's going to get them going at BC. I think, I mean, Fran at Syracuse won 10 games. last year. Right. So I think, you know, people put them on the schedule. That's all I just. Line them up. It's a very cyclical thing. And just as soon as you think you got it all figured out, you don't.

Cycical. A little vocabulary for y'all today. Yeah, I'm from Alabama. That's a four A's and a B. Just to say you know, Mark. Got two degrees from Alabama. Yes, sir. Alabama. Coach, so speaking of Bama, the SEC, they just went to nine conference games. The ACC's that one holdout conference. So listening to you, you're advocating to your AD, your president, your fellow coaches that we don't need to get it to nine. If anything, you want to reduce the amount of conference games in the ACC? Now, I ain't advocating for nothing. That's a big word.

What are you advocating for then? The only thing I'm advocating for is Monday practice tonight. Let's go out of play practice. I could care less about all the rest of that stuff. So you don't care if the ACC goes to nine. five and that's clemson i like i like your theory though you were saying you know what i was saying is there's always this talk there's always this chit chat you know you know i i mean for a long time growing up i mean you just you had all kind of cross games and people played each other and i'm like

why it's going to get there anyway i mean i'm just i mean i you know i know what's coming it's maybe it's five years maybe it's three years whatever because it's just there's too much money And there's too much at stake. But sooner or later, there's going to be, nobody wants to hear it, but there's probably going to be a 30 to 50 team type of lead. And there's going to be pods. I'm just saying like everybody likes to talk big and talk about how great their conference is. I ain't ever been, I'm more about my program.

You know, there's some teams that stink that go, yeah, but we're in this league. And they wave the league. You know, I'm more about like, what type of program do you? you have. And I mean, listen, we've, we've played the best of the best around for a long time. We've scheduled well. We've been playing 10 power five conferences for 16 years that I've been a head coach. Do you know how few people have done that?

Like, I mean, I've always had this thing. Everybody wants to play more. I'm like, well, how about we first start, get everybody to play 10 all ends instead of, you know, like, and I don't care how you do it? And then we get the, well, this conference is better than that conference. and this conference, I mean, and I've just never bought into that stuff. I mean, we've played Alabama and three national championships and one, two, and we're an on-side kick away from a third one. Relax, relax, relax, coach.

It's okay. My point is, like, if we want to settle all that stuff, then let's mix it up. Yeah. Like, mix it up. Instead of, and, you know, just like, you know, instead of playing more conference games and becoming more insulated, well, let's play more Big Ten. Let's play more ACC, play more Big 12. Let's play about, okay, you're going to play your four conference games,

and then you're going to go play eight non-conference. Now, how fun would that be? How fun would that be? And then I think you've got a better, and surely there's an algorithm out there. We're living in a world where there's a bunch of smart people. We got AI, we got algorithm. Surely somebody can figure out the scheduling model, and then it'd be a lot of fun to talk about.

But I'm not, make this clear, I ain't advocating for me. You ask me a question. I'm just saying all I care about is Clemson. Make sure that Clemson is, you know, ready to play on game day. Now, Coach, you said that you guys have, you know, your program has played the best of the best. Last year, you guys opened against Georgia. So you always have played the best of the best. This year, you're starting with LSU, two quarterbacks were for Heisman contention.

Is that like your preference to start the year with a big game? Why? Why not? why you feel like you want to test your team like that every single with the opener? My preference since the day I got this job has always been like when I literally met with the AD when I got the job and I said, look, I want to play, you know, we got our eight conference games for sure and I want to go play to like get me the best you can get. I just think it's great to test your team early and, you know, we don't have preseason

games. That makes it a little bit more difficult in college fall and especially with the transfer world, you know, you don't know a lot about some of these guys from a tape standpoint. But I think it's fun. I mean, let's go see where we're at and go there. Coach, I want to hit the transfer portal concept in the Clemson's world real quick. Four players coming in to Clemson via the transfer portal this year, the previous seven you had taken in just two. So what is your philosophy on how Clemson wants to approach the transfer portal as far as at least bringing in talent?

Yeah, we just use it when we need it. I mean, we've signed five guys in five years, and we've used it as we've needed. So I don't, I don't, you know, everybody's got to do what they think's best for their program. I mean, I don't judge other people. I mean, I know people like to judge us a lot on our philosophy, but I don't judge other people. If I left today and took a job, half the team would leave because they can. And I couldn't go sign 40 freshmen, you know, but we're, I've been, it's my 23rd year at Clemson. I've been here 23 years.

Wow. I think as the head coach. you know, we're just very rooted in who we are. And you don't just snap your fingers and have that. And, you know, I think that I think loyalty is a two-way street, first of all. And I think my preference, our preference, is to recruit high school kids, you know, develop them, retain them, and go win. You know, that's always been our philosophy. And so as the world has changed around us from time to time, we have to use the portal.

And that's our philosophies. We'll use it when we have to. And, you know, in the last three years and the craziest three years of college football, in my opinion, we've led the nation in graduation rate and retention. Fewest players leaving our program. Great. And most of them, the great majority of the kids that have left our program, they have their degree. Yes. So, you know, we just.

we believe in that and I believe in the guys that we've evaluated and we have to develop them and I know it's a different world where people want to plug and play but and if we have to you guys one of the best traditions in college football running down that hill coach is that hill getting a little steeper is it getting a little faster as as maybe the age starts climbing up a desk ride now I've been doing that soup my nobody my very first game when I ran down the hill in 08 I didn't even mean to I just was I'm like I'm gone I'm the first one to out, and then I'm the last one to the sideline. I make sure everybody's down, and I've done that forever. And somewhere along my way, somewhere like 10 years into my tenure,

people started, I guess, noticing actually me running down the hill. But I've always done that. But no, man, I mean, I listen, I always tell everybody, I never got to experience what it felt like to run 4-6. You know, well, it took a hill. It took a hill like that for me to do it. So I enjoy it every single time. Do you catch some air while you do it too? Every now and then. Every now and I try not to get air because I know everybody wants me to fall so I could be like a meme for the, you know. I know you're doing some whispers because you be coming down that thing wide open now. I know the hamstring's got to be, you know, ready to go.

I'm good. I just rock and roll. I just work out and run, play basketball. Stay ready. Stay ready. You got to get ready. Hey, Davo, I got the Clemson story that. So I'm at Florida, Mark and Rob.

And Clemson's just kind of, you know, they've always been good, but not what coach has brought him to. And so we're recruiting his kid named C.J. Spiller. He's 30 minutes from the swamp. And he is a gator, man. And I mean, I'm recruit. I love this guy. I still love him.

And so I remember Charlie Strong. It's coming down to signing date. And I said, what do you think? And he said, my defense coordinator, Charlie Strong. He said, I don't know. And I said, we can't lose a kid to Clemson. Coach, I'm telling you now, Clemson, those players like going. I go Clemson?

You know, I mean, this is how ignorant I was. I knew nothing, you know, I'm from the north. I'm down in SEC country. We, on signing date, he puts on the Clemson hat. I lose my mind. I mean, lost it. And so I just don't know much about Clemson. So the one year I took off, I'm at ESPN, Rob, and I go do a game.

In Clemson, South Carolina, I never, I don't know where it's magical. It's magical. It's magical. I walk in that stadium. And I'm like, you can say SEC all you want. This is as good environment as I ever seen. So I get hired at Ohio State, and I'm recruiting a player. And the player comes in my office, and he shows me a picture or something.

He said, hey, Coach Sweeney wanted me to show you this. And it's a quote that I have, there's a quote from me. He's on the wall. In his facility that says, how great. And I'm like, that's son of him. So I'm actually recruiting for Clemson now. Yeah, yeah. We have a quote wall.

Oh, yeah, I got Kirby. I got save. We got them all. You know, so anytime we get some great quote, we just put it on the wall. We got a great quote wall. But yeah, we got Coach Meyer on there. We've had some phone with that. What we do is we've been asking you questions.

We give you a chance to ask anyone of us a question. So we give you a chance to be the host of fire one at us, man. Just go swinging coming from, what did y'all say, triple option? from the triple option, Mark, so, you know, now that you are no longer playing and you're doing broadcasting and media and stuff, you've got this big game. I know you're an SEC guy, but do you think Clemson has a chance to beat LSU? Who are you picking in this game? Clemson always has a chance to beat anybody because they have the man at the helm,

dabble Sweeney. How do you like that? Quote wall. They always have a chance to beat anybody. You see them two trophies? You see them two trophies in the background. Quote wall, right? Yeah, you know, that's the door prize when you beat Alabama.

You get to go home with that. That's usually what happens when you beat Alabama. You end up with something good like that. You get to go home with that. And then I would say, Coach Meyer, first of all, how's the family? How's everybody? How's Michelle? She's great.

Six grand babies. Everybody healthy and doing great, man. And that's awesome. Everybody's good. I've got two grand dogs, so I'm waiting on a grandchild. They're all on the clock, so hopefully that'll have them. Grand dogs. Is it as good as they say, being a grandparent?

It is. The problem is that my son-in-law moved to UNLV, so they're across the country. You know, you liked them when they're closer, but is what it is. It's that good. Is he coaching? Is he coaching? He's offensive. He's a offense coordinator for Dan Mullen, yeah.

Oh, I didn't know that. That's awesome. I love it. Good to see you, brother. You too, man. Good to be with y'all. Sci-Fi for life. Go Tigers.

Time now for three and out. This week, three predictions for the season. I'll go first. Prediction number one, Illinois will be this year's Indiana in the Big Ten, and the Illinois will make their first college football playoff appearance. Wow. All right. Number two, my conference.

Somehow the Big 12 has become my conference. The Big 12, their growth continues, and they send two schools to the college football playoffs. Prediction number three, the Big Ten will win a third consecutive national title. Mark, you saw what I saw with Coach Franklin. Congratulations, Penn State. The Natty is coming to Happy Valley. What? Wow.

Coach, you're up. Pretty strong. What's in the cup over there? All right. The same thing that's on the walls. It's my shirt. It's my shirt. All right, here we go.

My predictions are LSU with returning quarterback. veteran team, veteran coach, they're going to make their trip to the playoffs. Number two, Florida, after watching his documentary on Netflix there, DJ, the quarterback, Legway, he's going to have a hell of a year. I think he'll be in a Heisman contention, and I think the University of Florida is going to be in the SEC championship game. And then number three, K. Klubnick will be a Heisman trophy winner for the Clemson Tigers. What's in your cup, too?

He's not wrong. He's not wrong, man. You want to know my three predictions? I do, Mark. Yes, I do. I would love to know what your three are. Belma, to the CFP and making big noise to going to the CFP Championship. What did you think about that?

Shocker. Shocker, it was Bama. My second prediction, Arbor's still going to suck. My third prediction, you wouldn't know what that is? Talk to me. The poor Barners, man. Big Noon. gas all year.

Yes. And the triple option, too. There we go. There we go. Big new kickoff in Columbus. Our triple option brethren, if you will, will be in Columbus this coming week as well. Buckeye fans, Longhorn fans that are coming into Columbus this week. Friday the 29th, stop by the tailgate tour at the River Watch Tower.

It's near the ozone on Lane Avenue. It is free. There's going to be music. There's going to be tailgate food. a live episode of The Script with Ohio State Legends, Cardell Jones, Beanie Wells. They will be joined by Texas Royalty. Mack Brown and Vince Young will be there. RSVP for more information on this event at tailgate tour, Ohio State.

Dot R-SvP-I-F-Y.com. Make sure to follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast, as well as across social media at 3X option show. As always, we want to thank our amazing sponsors, Wendy's, ZipRecruiter, Fandul, and NHTSA. Enjoy week one and say goodbye to this shirt. Sorry, guys, it's done. It's a one and done. I like the shirt.

Thank you. No, now you like it. Fairly.