Transcript
Speaker: All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to episode five of the 700 Pelham Road podcast.
Speaker: My name is Caleb Williams.
Speaker: I'm alongside my co-host, Jalen Cooper.
Speaker: Jalen, how are you doing today?
Speaker: I'm doing good.
Speaker: I'm doing good.
Speaker: The weather is finally starting to chill out a little bit.
Speaker: You know, we're starting to hit that fall weather.
Speaker: You already know second summer is coming, but I'm enjoying the fall weather while we have it.
Speaker: It's like a hangnail that just won't go away.
Speaker: That second summer in late September is just waiting.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Sure is.
Speaker: I walked out to go to my car tonight, and it was like, it felt cold for the first time all year.
Speaker: And in my head, I'm like, it won't last.
Speaker: It won't last.
Speaker: But I'm trying to enjoy it.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Whenever I notice that the AC in my house, in my apartment is not actively running, that makes me realize that, you know, it's actually a comfortable temperature outside, but yeah, we can't enjoy it too much.
Speaker: No, no, we cannot.
Speaker: So, all right, well, I guess we might as well get into it because it was a pretty light week for us.
Speaker: You know, with it being a JSU off week, we kind of got to sit back and enjoy.
Speaker: Pretty light week for us.
Speaker: We got to enjoy everyone else, finally.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: I mean, yeah.
Speaker: I think I need to go give me a pair of shades real quick because that Colorado State game.
Speaker: The boys are 3-0.
Speaker: Man, I mean, there are still people out here that don't believe.
Speaker: I mean, no, they're not going to go to the playoffs, but these boys are doing some things, bruh.
Speaker: You know, I was a doubter when he started stripping the roster down to like, I think he had at one point, 17, 18 scholarship players at one point.
Speaker: because everyone was in the transfer portal.
Speaker: And I was like, he was going to have to play walk-ons on half of the defense just to fill the starting lineup.
Speaker: But no, they have come together very quickly.
Speaker: Now, we're going to find out a lot the next two games because they got Oregon and USC back-to-back.
Speaker: So they get the two best quarterbacks in the Pac-12 back-to-back weeks in Bo Nix and Caleb Williams.
Speaker: So that'll be fun.
Speaker: But, man, 3-0 wins over TCU and Nebraska.
Speaker: And then I think we all saw what happened against Colorado State.
Speaker: Prayers up to Travis Hunter, man, by the way.
Speaker: Yeah, I hope he's okay.
Speaker: I mean, like you said, 3-0, people were not expecting 3-0 whatsoever.
Speaker: And, you know, people can say whatever they want to say about it being Colorado State, but at the end of the day, it's a rivalry game.
Speaker: And as we have seen in the great state of Alabama, Auburn could be having a very crappy season, but when it comes to the Iron Bowl, they play totally different.
Speaker: Colorado State may not be well-respected, but they knew going into that game they had to show up.
Speaker: So, like, no matter how Colorado performed, you know, a win is a win, and they won that very heated rivalry game, especially, you know, after things were said and then especially after that hit.
Speaker: I mean, for Shadur Sanders to do that two-minute drive from the two-yard line, give that man the Heisman right now.
Speaker: Yeah, that was insane to quote.
Speaker: Ugh.
Speaker: one of my favorite players on Auburn's roster.
Speaker: Shadour let his nuts hang on that drive.
Speaker: No, he really did.
Speaker: And then I think it was Karma that number 11 laid the hit on Travis Hunter and then got shook out of his cleats.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, he got – that man was put in the spin cycle.
Speaker: Yeah, he got shook out of his cleats for the game-tying touchdown.
Speaker: And the thing is, once they went into overtime, I knew it was over.
Speaker: Colorado wasn't losing after they pulled off that comeback drive.
Speaker: It wouldn't happen there.
Speaker: No, it's almost universal when you've been struggling all game and you find a way to tie the game at the end and it goes to overtime.
Speaker: There's no way that you're not going to win.
Speaker: I feel like it's just – it's like clockwork.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Always happens.
Speaker: Always.
Speaker: But, I mean, hey, that game in general just goes to show, you know, what Deion means to the game of college football.
Speaker: He had dudes on the East Coast up until 2.30 in the morning.
Speaker: 2.30 in the morning for a Colorado football game.
Speaker: That would have been unheard of last season.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, these dudes were 1-11 last year.
Speaker: We're truly positive.
Speaker: probably the worst football team at the FPS level.
Speaker: I don't think it was that close because Pac-12 was a pretty bad conference last year, and they went 1-11.
Speaker: So to see them 3-0 now.
Speaker: I feel like one of my phones is going off.
Speaker: To see them going 3-0, and, yeah, they play a close game against Colorado State, but you know what?
Speaker: Rivalry game's close.
Speaker: That's just how it is.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And not just to go 3-0, but, you know, you win a game where potentially your best player goes out with an injury that will probably keep them out close to a month.
Speaker: That's – hey, man, I mean, we're all Colorado fans now.
Speaker: I think we're wanting to see – I mean, we all want to see them go 12-0 at this point.
Speaker: It would be good for college football if they did.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: I feel like that's the feel-good story of the season.
Speaker: Even if they make it to a bowl game and win, which I think at this point is almost a foregone conclusion.
Speaker: Picking up three more wins for that squad...
Speaker: shouldn't be a problem, which at that point, I think it's a win for Dion.
Speaker: You know, some people are going to be unrealistic and expect them to be in the playoff talk.
Speaker: I don't think it's going to happen, especially because they do have Oregon and USC back to back.
Speaker: But I mean, just for them to get to a bowl game as a win, I think they can win a bowl game going up against pretty much anybody there, you know, they end up facing.
Speaker: But yeah, I think already, you know, based on the initial Vegas odds, this is a win because they had him at like, or they had Colorado at like 2.7 wins for the over-under season total.
Speaker: And, you know, they're already sitting at three.
Speaker: So anybody who bet the under, I'm glad you're losing your money.
Speaker: You deserve it.
Speaker: You didn't believe.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, the Pac-12, insane.
Speaker: I feel like, you know, I was telling our group chat the other day,
Speaker: college football is in purgatory because the Pac-12 is going out, but they're the best conference seemingly from top to bottom.
Speaker: And then, you know, the most storied conference or one of the most storied conferences is the SEC struggling.
Speaker: I mean, you look at Bama,
Speaker: struggled limped past usf 17 to 3. uga it took them a hot second to get going against south carolina i mean tennessee we saw what happened there texas a&m is their look texas a&m is looking like one of the bright spots of the sec right now lsu is back and forth but they're looking strong i mean
Speaker: The SEC is not at all what they usually are.
Speaker: And like I said, we got the Pac-12 over there looking almost unbeatable.
Speaker: It's a crazy year for college football.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: And, I mean, I'm looking at the rest of Colorado's schedule.
Speaker: They've got number 10, Oregon, number 5, USC.
Speaker: They then get Arizona State and Stanford, who are both unranked.
Speaker: But then they get number 22, UCLA, number 14, Oregon State, unranked Arizona, number 21, Washington State, number 11, Utah.
Speaker: Six of their last nine teams ranked for them are in the top 15.
Speaker: The Pac-12 is on something this year, I'm telling you.
Speaker: And the funny thing is, that conference is about to cease to exist.
Speaker: But they're dominating right now.
Speaker: That's the funny thing.
Speaker: If they had competent management for that conference, this year would have been the perfect year to strong arm a TV deal.
Speaker: But they fell apart.
Speaker: They didn't know what they're doing.
Speaker: and now they're going to seemingly go out on top, which, I mean, it's a double-edged sword.
Speaker: Wouldn't it be something if the Pac-12 won the Natty and then just wasn't even a conference next year?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I've thought about that a few times.
Speaker: Like, if they legitimately do go out on top and then –
Speaker: they probably won't exist next year.
Speaker: I know the two teams left are trying to hold on, but if they go out on top and then cease to exist next year, that would be something.
Speaker: It sure would, man.
Speaker: You know, here's what's crazy.
Speaker: You look at Colorado's schedule, they don't even play Washington, who has looked unstoppable the first three weeks of the year.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm not saying that Colorado is going to win the Pac-12 South, but if they do, and let's say Washington wins Pac-12 North, and we get Colorado with Shador Sanders versus Washington with Michael Penix Jr. That would be a showdown.
Speaker: That's over under 1,000 passing yards combined.
Speaker: Oh, 100%.
Speaker: That's over under of like 100 points scored.
Speaker: That's a shootout.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, the Power 5, which is probably going to end up being the Power 4, it's very unpredictable this year.
Speaker: The G5 is kind of shaking out like it does.
Speaker: The Sun Belt is looking like, you know,
Speaker: the conference that's probably going to get that G five, the highest G five spot, um, which honestly at this point might go to James Madison.
Speaker: That those boys last year, they proved everybody wrong.
Speaker: Um, and it looks like they're continuing to hype.
Speaker: I think right now they're, they're undefeated.
Speaker: Um, one of like 13 or 15 teams in the nation still left undefeated.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Those boys are on something.
Speaker: That win over Troy was a little feisty.
Speaker: I'm sure a lot of people have seen the videos of the reaction and the taunting of the crowd after the game, but those boys are doing it.
Speaker: Let's see, who do they play next week?
Speaker: They have Utah State next week, so they're going to be 4-0.
Speaker: I mean...
Speaker: that they could very well go on to win the Sun Belt and get that highest G5 spot because they have Utah State.
Speaker: They have South Alabama, which, as we just saw this weekend, they're not anybody to mess around with.
Speaker: They got Georgia Southern, which on any given day could beat you.
Speaker: You know, that's a pretty good game.
Speaker: They got Marshall.
Speaker: I mean, they got some games to get through.
Speaker: They got Marshall, Old Dominions.
Speaker: Georgia State's one of those you can't ever look past them.
Speaker: They got UConn, which at this point, that's an automatic dub.
Speaker: And then they got Appy State and Coastal to finish it out.
Speaker: So they got a tough schedule ahead.
Speaker: But I mean, the way these boys are playing, especially after the way they played last year, I could easily see them walking away with a top G5 spot.
Speaker: I mean, we can also look within our own conference.
Speaker: I could see either Liberty or Western Kentucky walking away with one of them.
Speaker: Liberty still undefeated.
Speaker: Western Kentucky, I think, just took their first loss against Ohio State last week.
Speaker: Prayers to our Western Kentucky friends.
Speaker: They were all ready for that game, and it was close at the beginning.
Speaker: And then, as they always say, talent and depth went out.
Speaker: It's a hard knock line for us G5 schools.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: Yeah, I feel bad for Western Kentucky because Ohio State the first two weeks scored less points combined than they did in that one game against Western.
Speaker: Them boys woke up against Western Kentucky.
Speaker: I'll tell you who's an underrated pick for that highest ranked G5 spot right now, Fresno State.
Speaker: They are the highest in terms of votes received for the AP Top 25.
Speaker: They're number one amongst G5 teams.
Speaker: That's not who I would have expected because they have an overtime win against Eastern Washington, which probably doesn't look too good.
Speaker: They're number one in the AP poll for G5 teams getting votes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All right, let's see if we look at – just looking at the results from last week with our Conference USA mates, Liberty came away with a win against Buffalo.
Speaker: It wasn't really close there.
Speaker: FIU slid past UConn.
Speaker: You know, that's not necessarily a quality win, but it's a win nonetheless.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They got past Yukon.
Speaker: We already mentioned Western Kentucky.
Speaker: La Tech lost a very close one to North Texas.
Speaker: They lost on a 31-yard field goal to end the game at the buzzer, 40 to 37.
Speaker: Those are always the worst where you're just hanging around and then you just lose at the last second, literally.
Speaker: MTSU got past Murray State 35-14.
Speaker: That's a good little in-state game.
Speaker: Then New Mexico State got past New Mexico, another in-state game, 27-17.
Speaker: Then UTEP fell to Arizona 31-10.
Speaker: All in all, CUSA was above 500.
Speaker: Definitely
Speaker: Wish we could have come away with a couple more wins.
Speaker: That Ohio State win would have been amazing, you know, for Western Kentucky, but the conference as a whole.
Speaker: But, hey, we can make up for it.
Speaker: We can get the big win for our conference later on this season.
Speaker: Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker: And looking at the conference standings, JSU is tied for the lead.
Speaker: Us, Louisiana Tech, and Liberty are all 1-0 in conference play.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: So we, you know, we keep things going.
Speaker: Look, that Liberty game is looming large as the first, as, you know, as game number two in the conference slate.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Well, actually, no, that's a lie.
Speaker: Sam Houston is our second game in conference play, I think.
Speaker: Yeah, technically.
Speaker: We go on the road to go to Sam Houston, but then come back for Liberty.
Speaker: Look, Sam Houston's 0-2 to start the season.
Speaker: I don't know who they've played, but.
Speaker: I think they've played a couple of big hitters.
Speaker: Let me see.
Speaker: Yeah, they played BYU and Air Force.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: No, never mind.
Speaker: Not surprised.
Speaker: Let's see, they play Houston this week.
Speaker: So, yeah, they got three really big games to start off the season.
Speaker: So I think they will probably be a little pissed off by the time we get around to them.
Speaker: So we better be ready.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, hey, we beat Sam Houston and we get to that Liberty game.
Speaker: That Liberty game is to take control of the conference.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: As long as we can – if we can manage to get past Eastern Michigan and then get past Sam Houston, there will be a lot riding on that Liberty game.
Speaker: And guess what?
Speaker: It's in Jacksonville.
Speaker: So that very much helps us out.
Speaker: We will take whatever advantages we can get.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker: And Liberty, I mean, they've looked –
Speaker: I mean, it's not as their record.
Speaker: They have looked for real these first two weeks.
Speaker: They've run the ball.
Speaker: They have thrown the ball.
Speaker: They've played defense.
Speaker: They've done everything you need to do to win football games.
Speaker: So, like you said, it's a good thing that it's a home game.
Speaker: And, honestly, it's a good thing that it's a weeknight game because the students will have an excuse to not show up.
Speaker: So, we should have a good crowd.
Speaker: Man, you know, you've got to give credit.
Speaker: The conference has actually not been bad to start.
Speaker: We have only three teams h ave a losing record, and that's NTSU, Sam Houston, and UTEP.
Speaker: And they've combined played a lot of really good football teams.
Speaker: So, you can't fault them too much.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I think –
Speaker: Considering who our conferences out of conference opponents have been, obviously you always hope for, you know, above 500.
Speaker: But as far as out of conference, we've as a whole been playing a lot of really, really big hitters.
Speaker: So, you know, you can't always win every game.
Speaker: So, you know, you take what you can get.
Speaker: We still got some more out-of-conference games.
Speaker: Most of us are playing out-of-conference this week, so we can rack up a couple more wins.
Speaker: I think all of us are playing out-of-conference except for Liberty and FIU.
Speaker: We have a chance to rack up some more wins this week before we head into the thick of the conference schedule.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I guess we better get into it.
Speaker: I guess start talking about this game we got on Saturday.
Speaker: Yep, yep, yep.
Speaker: We got a lovely Eastern Michigan.
Speaker: A team that I thought would – I thought they'd be a little bit better this year, but looking at their schedule, they started off against Howard.
Speaker: They only won 33-23.
Speaker: And then they went to Minnesota and ran off the field.
Speaker: And then they played UMass.
Speaker: And they won't – I don't know how they got scored 19 points, but they won 19 to 17.
Speaker: Yeah, and not only did they win 33-23 over Howard, Howard was down 30-9 at the half and then came out and scored 14 unanswered points.
Speaker: So it very well could have gotten away and ended up being a tie game late, but Howard wasn't able to score anything in the fourth quarter.
Speaker: So props to Eastern Michigan there for kind of –
Speaker: cutting off the damage a little bit.
Speaker: But like you said, they went to Minnesota, which is a pretty solid team.
Speaker: You know, not somebody you want to write home to, but, you know, Minnesota is a solid team.
Speaker: They only managed to get six points there.
Speaker: And then, like you said, you play UMass, you're expecting to put up some points, and they only came away with 19 points.
Speaker: I think, let's see.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I don't know how they only managed to score 19, but I don't know.
Speaker: It's one of those where this game will probably, it should be a little bit easier for us.
Speaker: According to the ESPN matchup predictor, we have a 73% chance to win.
Speaker: um the line for us is we're sick we have a six point favorite and they got the over under at 51 points so not a super high scoring game it looks like they're predicting but they're they're predicting that we should take it with ease yeah and you know looking at the box score for this game they played against umass
Speaker: UMass had eight more first downs.
Speaker: They had 80 more yards of offense.
Speaker: They punted three less times.
Speaker: And they won the time of possession.
Speaker: They converted more third downs and fourth downs.
Speaker: Gave up less sacks.
Speaker: So the math really doesn't add up as to how Eastern Michigan even won this game.
Speaker: But sure enough, they won.
Speaker: Yeah, this could be a – I'm just looking at the numbers.
Speaker: Eastern Michigan gave up 340 passing yards to UMass, who, by the way, went to Auburn in week one and looked like a Division III team.
Speaker: I'm no mathematician, but if Logan Smothers gets to start on Saturday, he could have a pretty big game.
Speaker: That's the biggest thing for us going into this game is our offense hasn't necessarily looked explosive so far this season, but we also haven't nailed down who the quarterback is, or at least not until recently.
Speaker: I'm hoping we go into this game with Logan at quarterback, just starting it, just giving the ball, let him go.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We just, we haven't looked super explosive kind of looking at the team stats for both teams.
Speaker: It's pretty comparable.
Speaker: We're a little bit better in most, in some of the stats, I'm not going to say most, but
Speaker: We're averaging, looks like 28 points a game.
Speaker: They're averaging around 19 to 20 points a game.
Speaker: So that's where the line comes in at six.
Speaker: And I don't know.
Speaker: It's one of those where I need us to go in with a game plan from the beginning.
Speaker: No, this might be our quarterback.
Speaker: This might not be...
Speaker: I'm hoping Anwar is back this week.
Speaker: I don't know what's wrong with him and if that's even a possibility.
Speaker: But, you know, I'm hoping he's back so he can, you know, get his legs up under him before we hit conference play.
Speaker: And I just think that's another weapon we can add.
Speaker: Because I would love to see some three-back sets, you know, with Logan and
Speaker: any two of the three running backs behind the line because, you know, that will confuse some defenses and set us up with some great opportunities.
Speaker: Yeah, and I'm looking at the – looking on Twitter, it says that Rich Robb said that he was going to figure out the QB situation before the bye week.
Speaker: So, honey, I don't need this, but thank you.
Speaker: Hopefully he got it figured out then, and we'll find out here soon.
Speaker: Yeah, and I still don't see anything on Anwar, which is a little annoying.
Speaker: Because it's like there's no news on him even existing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I know, at least I think he's still on the roster.
Speaker: Let me check to make sure, which means he would still be part of the team.
Speaker: But yeah, I definitely would love to find out some more information about, which, you know, it's not always our business, but I would love to just be able to know some more about what's going on.
Speaker: Yeah, and I'll tell you what, it's going to sound like a broken record until it gets figured out when it comes to the quarterback battle, but on Twitter, Nebraska fans are begging for Logan Smothers to come back.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, Nebraska's looking rough, and here's the thing.
Speaker: If they are begging for him to come back and he pretty much knows he can walk right back into it,
Speaker: I will say with him already having transferred, it would be a little bit different.
Speaker: He would have to sit a year unless he was able to claim some sort of medical or, you know, serious personal reason for going back.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But yeah, if Nebraska fans are begging him to come back, we have to realize what we have.
Speaker: And we have to make sure we don't, you know, spoil this chance to be really great and to do something really great with a quarterback like him.
Speaker: We have wasted chances with talent before, namely Trey Berry and a few others, because they just weren't feeling like they were being used to what they knew their abilities were.
Speaker: And we don't wanna lose that, especially not in a quarterback.
Speaker: So I'm hoping we get to that point to where, not necessarily hoping we get to that point, but I just, he deserves the spot.
Speaker: I'm hoping the coaches see that and they just turn the reins over.
Speaker: And like I said, if he doesn't fully know the playbook, I'm fine with a couple of growing pains.
Speaker: We're playing with House of Money this year.
Speaker: We can't really do anything.
Speaker: You know, there are X, Y, Z situations where we could possibly play in a bowl game, but I'm not even worried about that.
Speaker: I just want us to focus on development and growth and progress.
Speaker: So, you know, if he has a few growing pains throughout the season while he's trying to figure stuff out.
Speaker: let them do it i would much rather than you know the broken record of what we've been seeing the past three seasons um because eventually like i said fans will get tired of it support will drop and that's the last thing you want you know in your fbs transition period to lose the support of fans yeah no no doubt um
Speaker: You know, we'll find out this week.
Speaker: And look, if Zion comes out and looks like the Zion that he looked like pre-injury, great.
Speaker: But I just don't have – I don't have much faith in it.
Speaker: We've seen three – what, three games?
Speaker: Yeah, three games now.
Speaker: And the one game that Logan played, he moved the ball down the field.
Speaker: He moved the chains.
Speaker: He made – like he only missed three passes out of 17.
Speaker: It's not bad.
Speaker: That's all you need to do in this offense.
Speaker: And against a team that let UMass, where the quarterback who's transferred from both Clemson and Georgia Tech already throw for 350, I think 350 yards, we've got to be able to take advantage of a secondary that's that bad.
Speaker: Oh, especially when we have Sterling Galvan, you know, Sean Brown, Michael Pettway.
Speaker: We got to be able to use these receivers.
Speaker: go out there and you know get those yards and love zion to death but all we've seen so far when he plays is overthrow overthrow overthrow um and it just gets to a point to where it's like you know we saw some others come in for that game and like you said he did everything it may not have been anything flashy um he may not have had you know 250 350 yards of that game
Speaker: But he made the plays that needed to be made.
Speaker: He hit the receivers.
Speaker: He had a couple of missed throws, but nobody's perfect.
Speaker: But to go from that and then to get the whiplash, we're going right back to Zion next game and kind of seeing the same things we have seen.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Had a lot of fans questioning why, you know, like you said, after you see Logan go in and handle business and then we go back to what we have seen.
Speaker: It had a lot of fans just like, why, why do we keep going back to this?
Speaker: Like, again, as we have said, it's almost like beating a dead horse.
Speaker: respect the hell out of Zion for sticking around, giving this university, you know, his all, you know, he has never been one to back down from the call.
Speaker: Dude will go out there and play hurt if he has to.
Speaker: But sometimes it's sometimes, you know, you're just not the best option.
Speaker: And I think a lot of people right now are feeling like he just isn't the best option right now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean,
Speaker: Here's the tricky part is, you know, Logan started against Eastern Tennessee State and Zion has started against, you know, UTEP and Coastal.
Speaker: So, you know, he's faced more difficult teams this year, but at the same time,
Speaker: Neither team is so good that you don't see what Zion's made of.
Speaker: You know, it's not like he's facing Georgia or Ohio State or Florida State, right, or even Oregon, right, who I think may have the best defense in the country this year.
Speaker: It was UTEP and Coastal Carolina.
Speaker: If Zion had what it took to be a starter at the FPS level, we'd see it already.
Speaker: So hopefully, you know, I don't want to get too into it because we have gotten into it over and over again just because it keeps coming up.
Speaker: Hopefully we'll see one, either Zion play out of his mind on Saturday or we'll see Logan get the start and really get things going.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I would love to see Zion go out there and prove me wrong.
Speaker: Don't, like, 100%, I would love to see him go out there and just tear it up.
Speaker: Absolutely obliterate the other team.
Speaker: But also, if Logan gets to the start, I'm going to be 100% behind him, too.
Speaker: At the end of the day, I'm going to be 100% behind whoever has the starting quarterback spot.
Speaker: I just need to see whoever it is, take advantage of it, and just go.
Speaker: It's one of those where, in Zion's case, this is his last year, you just kind of have to put the pedal to the metal and, you know, absolutely destroy the competition every chance you get.
Speaker: And in Logan's case, you're playing for next year.
Speaker: You know, it's not guaranteed, especially with, you know, Tayshaun sitting in the quarterback room and, you know, some of our other, you know,
Speaker: Guys sitting in are people that might transfer in.
Speaker: You're playing for next year.
Speaker: If you get the start, you want to go out there and prove to Rich Rod and the quarterback coach in the offensive room, you know, why you are the guy until somebody else says so, you know, next summer, because he'll still be around, you know, pending a transfer.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So in his case, you go in there or you go out there and show them, hey, look, I'm number one when we get to spring ball.
Speaker: I don't want to hear any more competition talk next year.
Speaker: I am number one and you have to take it from me.
Speaker: So either one of those guys, whoever gets it, they need to go out there and just absolutely tear up the other team and don't let off the gas.
Speaker: Just balls to the wall.
Speaker: Absolutely destroy them.
Speaker: Take their soul.
Speaker: Take their heart.
Speaker: Take their dignity.
Speaker: I don't care.
Speaker: I don't care about sportsmanship.
Speaker: I don't care if it's the fourth quarter and we're up by 35.
Speaker: Go out there and play like it's 0-0 and, you know, 15 minutes on the clock in the first quarter every drive.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like I said earlier, sometimes you just got to drop your nuts and go out there and play.
Speaker: And right now, we ain't had that from the QB room in what, six years?
Speaker: It's been a hot second.
Speaker: And I think that's something that has always plagued JSU just in general.
Speaker: We like to play up to or down to the level of our opponent.
Speaker: I need a quarterback that will walk out there on that field and just say, I don't care who's on the other side of the ball.
Speaker: It can be Alabama, Auburn, UGA, or it can be Liberty, Western Kentucky, Sam Houston, or it could be some FCS school.
Speaker: It could be Eastern Tennessee or UNA, whatever.
Speaker: I want the quarterback to walk out there and have the same mindset, no matter what tier or level of competition it is, and just absolutely debt.
Speaker: Like the only goal is to absolutely decimate the opponent, you know, not leave any doubt that, you know,
Speaker: You went out there, gave it your all and absolutely killed it.
Speaker: Because at the end of the day, that's all.
Speaker: If you go out there and give it your all, your absolute best, and we still lose, then sometimes you just have to take it.
Speaker: You have to take it on the chin and keep it moving.
Speaker: But if we go out there...
Speaker: lose by 10, 13, 14, and then you look back and you say, well, we could have, you know, done a little bit better here.
Speaker: We could have put in more effort here.
Speaker: You know, we were only playing 70%.
Speaker: We could have played 110%.
Speaker: Then, you know, those are regrets that were easily fixable in the beginning and not something you want to be looking at afterwards.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's just one of those you got to get into that mindset.
Speaker: Like I said, no matter who's on the other side of that ball, we shouldn't play down to the competition.
Speaker: We shouldn't play up to the competition.
Speaker: We should just be Jack State.
Speaker: Go out there, be Jack State.
Speaker: That way when, you know, teams walk into the stadium or we walk into their stadium, they should just know, hey, we can't we can't mess around with these guys.
Speaker: I mean, like going back to.
Speaker: When we played Auburn in 2015, every team after that knew like we can't play around with these guys.
Speaker: They are going to play their game and do what they're going to do.
Speaker: You know, we beat Florida State.
Speaker: The next season after that, people were like, yo, these dudes were hanging around.
Speaker: Even though we went on the Hail Mary, it was like these dudes were hanging around and gave themselves that opportunity in the first place.
Speaker: We need to bring that back.
Speaker: We need to get that 2015-2016 edge back to where teams are afraid to play us.
Speaker: Yeah, no question.
Speaker: You mentioned it.
Speaker: You don't want to have that regret of effort being why you lost a game.
Speaker: You always want it to be skill because you can fix skill with recruiting and you can coach certain things when it comes to execution.
Speaker: You can't coach effort.
Speaker: You're either a dog or you're not a dog.
Speaker: And one thing with JSU on a rich ride, it ain't been effort.
Speaker: These guys are going to – I mean, we saw against Coastal, it was all simply talent.
Speaker: Because, I mean, we grinded 60 minutes, and it just came down to Coastal's a better team.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They were a better football team from start to finish.
Speaker: Are you having fun playing your game?
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Oh, geez.
Speaker: Laptop fell over.
Speaker: I think we're going to edit that part out.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean... But yeah, I mean, it really just... As long as we come out there with the effort, I think we can easily beat Eastern Michigan.
Speaker: The line says six.
Speaker: I'm thinking we could win 35 to 14, if not more, if we come out and do what we got to do.
Speaker: Like I could easily see us putting up five touchdowns.
Speaker: I honestly think with the way the Rich Rod offense runs, we should be putting up a touchdown every quarter at minimum.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, no question.
Speaker: I mean, we saw the tempo last week, and we weren't even really throwing the ball well, but we ran the ball so well that we could go fast.
Speaker: So against a team like this, well, now, you know, those quick passes, you know, where you get the ball to the perimeter –
Speaker: We could – this is ambitious.
Speaker: We could run 85 plays, not even any plays.
Speaker: I mean, because Eastern Michigan – I watched some of their highlights, I think, yesterday.
Speaker: And UMass used a lot of tempo against them.
Speaker: You know, they weren't going, you know, 2009 Oregon fast forward.
Speaker: where you blink and you miss a play.
Speaker: But they were using a lot of tempo, and Eastern Michigan couldn't handle it.
Speaker: And, you know, against Rich Robert, he wants to go really fast and run a lot of plays.
Speaker: That's right in our hands where we could push tempo, run through tackles, and, you know, quarterback play is good, air it out over the top.
Speaker: Like you said, I think we could put up 28, 35, maybe even crack 40 and really give ourselves a statement when going into that first big road.
Speaker: Well, I mean, that first conference road test against Sam Houston.
Speaker: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is we had to come away with seven and not three.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We're really good about starting off a drive and getting hot, but it's the end of the drives.
Speaker: If we can come up with seven and not three, I think that would be huge.
Speaker: Because right now, we're sitting... Most of the group of five pages and channels and stuff, they have us right in the middle of the CUSA rankings.
Speaker: I honestly think we could be a little bit higher, but as of right now, we're not going to be because we have so many drives that we start off really well.
Speaker: We're
Speaker: chugging it down the field and then we only come away with three points.
Speaker: We have to come over seven.
Speaker: We have to, like you said, make this a statement when leave no doubt on the field that, you know, we were the better team because if we struggle against Eastern Michigan, we're going to lose a lot of respect and a lot of rep.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And, you know, that's one of those things that's arbitrary.
Speaker: Some people value it more than others.
Speaker: But, you know, in our first season in the conference, you kind of want to, you know, make sure these guys respect you, especially going forward when we are able to, you know, win the conference and go to bowl games.
Speaker: You want that respect.
Speaker: You want everybody to, like I said, just know that Jack State is not anybody to mess around with.
Speaker: So that's the key.
Speaker: We got to put up seven and not three.
Speaker: I'm tired of it.
Speaker: I love AK-47, but I'm tired of seeing him on the field to score three and not to add a point on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And you notice...
Speaker: You know, the one game where we scored well in the red zone was when we had a competent passing attack.
Speaker: And that's because when you get in the red zone, it becomes hard to run the football team.
Speaker: You're going to stack the box and force you to make throws into a condensed field where instead of having 40, 50 yards, you've got 10 or 15 yards and you've got to make a good throw.
Speaker: And so they're willing to stack the box and play man across the board because you don't have a lot of room to run routes.
Speaker: And so they don't have to help over the top.
Speaker: They can put a safety down to stop the run.
Speaker: But, you know, and I don't want to just say it was Zion's fault, but you notice that Logan, when he threw in the red zone, he was putting it on the numbers.
Speaker: and so it forces teams to drop that safety back out to coverage um yeah coastal didn't have to do that and so when we we go from 20 from our 25 where they're 30 and then all of a sudden it's like we we go brain dead through three downs and all of a sudden we're kicking a field goal and it's just because teams stack the box um when you get into plus territory because there they want to force you to make a throw to score
Speaker: If we do that, if we score well in the red zone, if we're forcing teams to not put seven or eight guys in the box, look out.
Speaker: We could score 40 points, 40, 50 points even this week.
Speaker: Maybe instead of Sam Houston being mad after facing Colorado State, maybe they'll be scared because they're thinking about the fact they have to face us.
Speaker: I want to hang some points on their heads so bad.
Speaker: Oh, I know that's looking ahead two weeks, but I want to absolutely obliterate Sam Houston State.
Speaker: It's not even funny.
Speaker: Obviously, the last time we played them, we came away with a pretty big win.
Speaker: I want to keep it that way.
Speaker: It was an okay win.
Speaker: 62-7?
Speaker: something like that but yeah it's one of those where yeah this needs to be a statement when going into conference play especially because we'll be playing on a short week Sam Houston will also be playing on a short week because I think it's a Saturday to Thursday turnaround because we start the midweek games but yeah we definitely need to go in like I said leave no doubt
Speaker: And as good as Karajic is, he's pretty much automatic whenever they send him out.
Speaker: You don't want to rely on him.
Speaker: And I think that's probably been a little bit...
Speaker: you know, of a cause of some of our woes is, you know, just knowing, Hey, even if we don't pick up this first down and keep the drive going, I know for sure we'll get three.
Speaker: It's one of those where you got to shut that out of your brain.
Speaker: That's an absolute last resort.
Speaker: We'll take three if we absolutely have to, but we want that touchdown.
Speaker: We want to run them off the field, make them cry, make them question our sportsmanship.
Speaker: Hey,
Speaker: I want to pull a Portland State.
Speaker: Let's put 90 on their heads.
Speaker: I want Twitter blowing up about how we are the ones that aren't nice people.
Speaker: Hey, we have the support of Pat McAfee.
Speaker: We got to make that man proud.
Speaker: I was like, we've got the rowdiest analyst in football on our side.
Speaker: We got to take advantage of it.
Speaker: We got to because, man, I don't know how we keep getting these shutouts on college game day and just on the Pat McAfee show in general, but I'm loving it.
Speaker: So I didn't realize it until I think week two.
Speaker: Pat McAfee's last year, first year of West Virginia was Rich Rod's last year of West Virginia.
Speaker: That was his college coach.
Speaker: That man loves him from Rich Rod then.
Speaker: Yeah, Rich Rod recruited him out of high school.
Speaker: Yeah, we definitely got to make that man proud then.
Speaker: Because if he's going to keep giving us a shout-out and sticking his neck out for us, Cannon Bear is that man.
Speaker: He's too great.
Speaker: No, he's a legend already.
Speaker: Yeah, well, I mean, I don't really have anything else to talk about.
Speaker: No, neither do I. I mean, it's pretty simple.
Speaker: Let's beat the hell out of Eastern Michigan and then go to Texas.
Speaker: Long drive out to Texas.
Speaker: Well, for them, flight.
Speaker: That'll be a fairly quick flight.
Speaker: But for any JSU fans coming from Jacksonville or anywhere in Alabama, that's a pretty good drive.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I won't be going out there.
Speaker: I will eventually.
Speaker: I will eventually.
Speaker: That'll be a trip.
Speaker: I want to go to all the Conference USA stadiums at some point.
Speaker: While we're still in the conference, obviously if we switch conferences, that'll change things.
Speaker: But, you know, we're kind of a conference hopper right now.
Speaker: Well, not right now, at least because I don't think we got the bankroll to pay ourselves out of this grant of rights deal.
Speaker: No, no, we don't.
Speaker: Which probably is a good thing because we're going to have a few years to make that money back after leaving the ASUN.
Speaker: But, no, I hope to get out to Sam Houston.
Speaker: But it'll be a fun one to watch.
Speaker: It'll be the first weekday game of the season.
Speaker: It'll be the first of the week five.
Speaker: Yep, it's a Thursday night game.
Speaker: I know this weekend it is a home game for all of you Gamecock fans that are able to make it out.
Speaker: Four o'clock Central Time kickoff.
Speaker: So it'll be somewhat of a night game.
Speaker: It's an afternoon game that will inevitably turn into a night game with all the commercial breaks.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: But, yeah, and then the same Houston is truly a night game, Thursday the 28th at 7 p.m.
Speaker: So, yeah, we get a couple of actual true night games.
Speaker: And let's see, one, two, three.
Speaker: Yeah, we have five weeks of midweek games.
Speaker: The last week in September and all four weeks in October.
Speaker: I love it.
Speaker: We're going to have football on for seven days for a month.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Football every single day.
Speaker: You will be happy.
Speaker: Just happy as can be.
Speaker: Best month of the year.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I won't be there this Saturday.
Speaker: I will be in Nashville for birthday festivities.
Speaker: My birthday is on Thursday.
Speaker: So, yeah, I'll be in Nashville for the weekend having fun.
Speaker: Oh, hey, don't even don't even don't do me like that.
Speaker: I'm older than you.
Speaker: I can't say anything.
Speaker: Yeah, that's true.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: But yeah, I won't be there this weekend.
Speaker: But to anybody who is going,
Speaker: As always, whether you are an alumni, a local, or a fan of the opposing team, go check out all the local lunch and dinner spots.
Speaker: There are plenty to choose from.
Speaker: Go to Apothecary.
Speaker: Yep, hit up Apothecary.
Speaker: Uh, my man, Josh is one of the chillest guys around, um, has a great selection of local craft beers.
Speaker: Uh, also has some wine.
Speaker: Um, and even if you don't like beer, there's something you will like.
Speaker: He has ciders, sours all the way on down the stouts.
Speaker: There's a lot to choose from.
Speaker: I think there's 30 taps.
Speaker: Go check that man out.
Speaker: Give him your money.
Speaker: He is an amazing dude.
Speaker: It's a great environment.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And they got food trucks.
Speaker: Yeah, food trucks will be out back.
Speaker: And also, there are a couple of local spots that are right around the area that will deliver.
Speaker: Or you can go pick something up, go get you some ribs from Cooter Browns, and then go sit in there.
Speaker: Hey, you can watch the JSU game in there.
Speaker: If you don't want to go to the stadium,
Speaker: the tap wall is 50% off for five minutes after JSU scores a touchdown.
Speaker: And then if they win, the tap wall is 10% off after a win.
Speaker: Until they close.
Speaker: Yeah, until they close, which is like midnight.
Speaker: So definitely hit it up.
Speaker: If you're going to go after the game, get there early because that place fills up.
Speaker: It's an amazing atmosphere.
Speaker: So definitely check that out.
Speaker: Like I said, if you don't want to go to the game,
Speaker: make sure you're hydrated and make sure you eat because after every JSU touchdown, tap all with 50% off for five minutes.
Speaker: And as we saw in the Eastern Tennessee game, there may be two touchdowns within five minutes.
Speaker: So one of our friends was there for that game, and he can tell you, prepare yourself.
Speaker: Yeah, that's one of those where you're going to get two glasses for every touchdown and you're stocking them up.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: So, yeah, no, definitely check out Apothecary.
Speaker: If you ever need any game day swag,
Speaker: get personalized is one of the places to go.
Speaker: Um, I know all of us in the marching southerners know that store, like the back of our hand, they have done pretty much everything marching southerners for decades now.
Speaker: They're really great people.
Speaker: Um, they got a lot of cool stuff in there from polos to, you know, regular t-shirts, jackets, decal stickers, you name it, they got it in there.
Speaker: Um, they're always open on game day until like,
Speaker: I think an hour before kickoff or something like that.
Speaker: Go check them out if you need some game day swag.
Speaker: And like I said, eat local.
Speaker: You got Cuda Browns, you got the Rocket, you got Heirloom.
Speaker: There's a lot to choose from.
Speaker: Can't go wrong.
Speaker: Go to Mongo's.
Speaker: Yeah, there's Mongos, Jeffys, Jeffersons.
Speaker: If you've got time to wait, there's Coop DeVille, but that is the most popular spot in Jacksonville, so you're going to be waiting for a little bit.
Speaker: Yeah, post-game Coop, you might be waiting an hour to get 12 wings, but they'll be worth it.
Speaker: If you want Coop post-game, put in the call halfway through the fourth quarter.
Speaker: Put in the call halfway through the fourth quarter and you're thinking, hey, that's too early.
Speaker: I don't want my food getting cold.
Speaker: It's not going to be.
Speaker: It's going to be ready as soon as you walk out of that stadium.
Speaker: I'm telling you, it's not going to be ready a minute earlier.
Speaker: And they're going to be the best wings you've ever had, too.
Speaker: Oh, some of the best swings, bro.
Speaker: I mean, there's a reason why that line wraps out down the road.
Speaker: I used to live in the house right next door.
Speaker: We would have people parking on the side of our house waiting to go get their coop.
Speaker: It's crazy.
Speaker: People will do some things for some coop, bro.
Speaker: Hey, man, I'll do something for some coop.
Speaker: No, I feel you.
Speaker: I haven't had in a while.
Speaker: I may have to get me some next time I head into Jacksonville.
Speaker: But I mean, yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, so yeah, if you come and enjoy, enjoy the town, it's homecoming.
Speaker: So enjoy the homecoming festivities.
Speaker: We'll have a parade that morning around like 10 o'clock.
Speaker: Have plenty of, plenty of stuff to do, lots of tailgating because all the old alumni people will be there.
Speaker: Yeah, probably also can be a lot of food that they're handing out to.
Speaker: So it's going to be a great, great atmosphere.
Speaker: And that also means that we're getting one of our first full crowds for the Southerners.
Speaker: And my fiance sitting right here, she's telling me that this week is the debut of the full show, potentially.
Speaker: Oh, nice, nice.
Speaker: Yeah, for all of you that don't know, the Marching Southerners are one of the best, I say the best college marching band, but for all intents and purposes, one of the best college marching bands around.
Speaker: Definitely stick around with it being homecoming.
Speaker: They will perform the full show post-game, so don't leave if you're going to the game.
Speaker: Don't leave early.
Speaker: If you're a Jacksonville State alumni or fan, you already know you don't leave early if the Southerners are performing postgame, especially if it's the first full show.
Speaker: You're going to be amazed.
Speaker: You're going to get goosebumps.
Speaker: They're going to blow your face off.
Speaker: So definitely stick around, especially if you're an opposing fan.
Speaker: Go walk over to the home side.
Speaker: You're not going to want to miss it.
Speaker: The Southerners performing is one of those things.
Speaker: Whenever we have gone to away games, no matter what the result is, the fans always come up to us afterwards.
Speaker: Oh, my gosh, y'all were so good.
Speaker: Never heard anything like that.
Speaker: I mean, we've gotten standing ovations at all of the SEC stadiums we've gone to.
Speaker: I know in 2015 when we played North Dakota State, those fans couldn't stop talking about us afterwards.
Speaker: So, yeah, definitely stick around for Southerners.
Speaker: Hopefully it'll be icing on the cake of a great win.
Speaker: Hopefully.
Speaker: And if you're in town early, Southerners actually have their Southerners showcase Thursday night at 7 Stadium.
Speaker: So come early, hear the show, get up close with the Southerners, get ready to enjoy a really good weekend.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Should be a great weekend all around.
Speaker: And then we'll be back here next week recapping it for you and getting ready for the same Houston week, getting ready for, you know, heading back into conference.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Just a warning.
Speaker: If you see me with a drink next week, that means that we lost.
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: I may have to blur my face out if we lost.
Speaker: Get a voice changer.
Speaker: Yeah, you're going to have to put me in witness protection because it won't be pretty.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker: Let's just let's not even put that in.
Speaker: Let's not put that out there because I don't want to win.
Speaker: We're going to win by five touchdowns.
Speaker: I'm speaking into existence.
Speaker: I'm manifesting it now.
Speaker: We're winning big.
Speaker: So that's all for me, though.
Speaker: That's all for me.
Speaker: I think I'm good.
Speaker: Well, that was it.
Speaker: This is the end of episode five of the 700 Pelham Road podcast.
Speaker: As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to DM us either on the SSN or the Sidelines Jack State page or we have our 700 Pelham Road podcast Twitter page now.
Speaker: Make sure to give us a follow there.
Speaker: And like I said, any feedback or suggestions or
Speaker: If you're somebody who would like to make a guest appearance on a future episode, let us know.
Speaker: We'll make sure we get that going.
Speaker: Like I said, I know heading into conference play, we got a couple of fellow conference-made podcasts that want to trade episodes.
Speaker: So hopefully you'll be seeing some new faces there.
Speaker: But yeah, other than that,
Speaker: Y'all have a good night, good day, whatever time of day you're watching this, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker: Yes, sir.
Speaker: Signing off.
