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2025 Sun Belt Football: Championship recap & coaching roundup
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We've got a jam-packed episode for you as Brian and Zeke break down James Madison winning its first-ever Sun Belt title 31-17 over Troy as Wayne Knight and the Dukes' defense dragged an inconsistent offense along on Friday.
The pair also discusses JMU making the playoff, Bob Chesney leaving for UCLA, and James Madison's hire of Billy Napier, as well as Charles Huff leaving Hattiesburg after 1 season, and Colton Joseph entering the transfer portal after a 9-3 season at Old Dominion.
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:16
Speaker
welcome everybody into warm weather fans it is brian stone and zeke palermo your hosts of this here podcast and we are here to talk about a number of different things in the sunbelt namely headlined by the sunbelt championship game and james madison's you know first ever sunbelt title victory uh we also have some coaching news little transfer portal stuff uh we will hit on all of that during this episode but Zeke, man, I thought the Sunbelt Championship game was a lot more competitive than anybody
Sunbelt Championship Analysis
00:00:48
Speaker
thought.
00:00:48
Speaker
We talked about ah the spread being 22 and a half going into this one, and it was, I mean, it kind of came down to the wire. I mean, once Goose Crowder got injured, you could tell the game was pretty much over at that point because Killcrease looked like a deer in the headlights, but overall, was a pretty good game.
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, this game was both as close as the final score indicated, but also not as close as it indicated. It was kind of like a really weird mixed bag. James Madison wins this one 31-14.
00:01:22
Speaker
First of all, just congratulations to them because... you know Since they joined the conference, they've probably been the best team in the league two or three times. ah So the fact that we're only just now, and that's because of different law, NCAA, and conference rules. But ah that's big for James Madison. They also, with the win, um we found out today as we record this on Sunday, that James Madison will go play at Oregon for the first round of the college football playoffs.
00:01:50
Speaker
um Not really holding my breath, especially when we get into kind of the things that James Madison, that went wrong for James Madison in this game. um But the i think what's really interesting is that,
00:02:03
Speaker
This was a very, very tight ball game for three quarters. ah And then kind of just got
James Madison's Playoff Journey
00:02:10
Speaker
out of hand. You said after the Goose Crowder injury, obviously James Madison gets a scoop and score ah after a sack of Crowder, one of eight sacks throughout the game, ah and then hit a touchdown late to kind of further exacerbate it. Yeah.
00:02:26
Speaker
From a game script perspective, I don't know if this is necessarily unexpected, though. James Madison was absolutely dominant defensively. Troy only 177 total yards of offense. We talked about the eight sacks.
00:02:40
Speaker
um But this was the trademark Alonzo Barnett game. Where it's like, all right, guy who just won conference player of the year ah shows up and really kind of craps the bed ah and is, for lack of better reason, the reason that this game was close.
00:02:57
Speaker
um And so... as you look ahead for James Madison, as you look at Oregon and you're like, shoot, man, that's, that's going to be a tough game as is. If you get this type of performance that we saw like against Georgia state and now against Troy, Alonzo Barnett, 10 for 25, 93 yards, a touchdown and interception.
Alonzo Barnett's Performance
00:03:18
Speaker
He did run well 12 times for 85. But under at um yeah is really really poor
00:03:30
Speaker
Yeah, no, ah i i I came away from this game, I mean, both disappointed in the way that Barnett played overall. And I think if they were going to have any chance in the world against Oregon, you can go ahead and probably wipe that off. Because if Barnett even gives you a quarter that looks like maybe the first quarter of this game, that game is going to be 21 point advantage blink.
00:03:57
Speaker
the ducks before you can even you know blink ah I think i was I was disappointed in the way that he played, but I was also like, the receivers are dropping a lot of balls as well. like It was just a really ugly passing game altogether. like yeah Like you said, we got the full Jekyll and Hyde experience because it's like he plays like crap for basically the first quarter and a half maybe of that game.
00:04:25
Speaker
Barnett does. And then he rips this ball to Braden was lost key down the seam with seven minutes to go before half. And you're just like, where's this been the whole time? um and And it goes for both. It goes both ways. It's on on Barnett and the receivers as well. Like, you know, he would throw a ball behind somebody and I didn't really blame the receiver, but there were times where guys are running in routes and he puts the ball in their hands and they just, it goes right through. And I'm just kind of like, what are we, what are we doing?
00:04:54
Speaker
and you know Not to keep piling on, but I i think the offensive line play was a really subpar in this one as
Wayne Knight and Team Dynamics
00:05:00
Speaker
well. There were a lot of times where Barnett, and he is mobile. he's He's very mobile. He's good at improvisation out of structure, but he was forced to rely on that ability a lot more often than you'd like, and I think that ah You know, just some really bad misses, just bad misses on his end. He talked about the drops. um James Madison, ah again, we'll get to the defensive side and kind of what Troy did offensively. um But for the past several weeks, it's been Wayne Knight.
00:05:29
Speaker
He is a bad man. That dude is a bad, bad man. And again, 21 carries for our 212 in this one, only one touchdown. He rips one off for 73. He's been exceptional in the past several weeks. And it's like, again, as we get further down,
00:05:48
Speaker
ah removed from like a really good Alonzo Barnett performance, it feels more and more like ah Tom Brady and
Troy's Challenges
00:05:55
Speaker
Malcolm Butler. It's like, give him the keys to the truck, man.
00:05:59
Speaker
um It's crazier to me to think that ah Wayne Knight is only like 5'7". Something in my brain like... I always am like, wow, this guy's great. And then I watch him run to the huddle and he's like a foot and a half shorter than every offensive lineman that's standing there. And I'm like, wow, that's even more impressive because this guy is small, but he's explosive.
00:06:22
Speaker
You mentioned it I mean, he was he's game MVP. Uh, you know, he's the reason they beat Washington state to even keep this playoff dream alive because they were down.
00:06:34
Speaker
What was it? 20 to 17. And he rips off that touchdown run late and, and wins the game essentially for him with another iffy, very shaky Barnett performance. He's basically been carrying Barnett on his back, like multiple games this season because of how, of how bad Barnett is. yeah,
00:06:53
Speaker
So I want to I want transition, not transition, but just talk a little bit more about the Troy side of things. So this is a this is a true like if you didn't watch this game, you'll go back and look at the stats and go, ah they didn't really play that well.
00:07:07
Speaker
I got to give all the credit in the world to Goose Crowder, man. He hung in there. He was getting the crap kicked out of him and he was just standing there delivering. ah you know, through a number of kind of dimes, Rara Thomas, there was a 30 yard pass that took them down to the one at one point um hit DJ Epps for, I think another 30 yard pass. I mean, he was, he was definitely getting, getting his money's worth as far as like getting hit.
00:07:35
Speaker
um That being said, I think he's got to do a little bit better job of protecting himself. It makes a lot more sense now watching this game to go. Why is he broken his collarbone each of the last two years? And then you watch this game and go, oh, he's like a human crash test dummy. Like that's that's that's why. So he's he's basically like Sunbelt Jackson Dart, where he's like, I don't know when to go out of bounds. I don't know when to call, you know, let a play just die.
00:08:02
Speaker
I'd rather go out there and just get split in half. and and i mean JMU was like, all right, we'll we'll tee off and and see see where you where you are at the end of the game. and you know You saw it. He didn't make it to the end. and um you know we We talked about the lack of running game that we thought Troy was going to have. i mean Their leading rusher was Tay Meadows with seven carries for 10 yards. Um, you mentioned the one 77 they ended up with, they got out gained as a team for 11 to one 77. Um, yeah. I, I thought the big turning point for me in this game, and there was a lot of kind of back and forth, but I tweeted it out, uh, from our account at warm weather fans on X, uh, when Troy got the ball,
00:08:52
Speaker
heading into halftime, like it was very, it was coming to the end. JMU gets a pass interference call that puts Troy kind of in position to, to maybe get a field goal, tie the game up at 17, do something.
00:09:05
Speaker
And they totally recover and they stopped Troy from getting anything out of that possession. And, And I was just like sitting there going, well, JMU's a second half team. Like if you don't jump on them early and take advantage and get out ahead and make them play from behind, this is this is going to be a bad game script for Troy.
00:09:25
Speaker
But... Up until that point, this is everything that Troy wanted as far as a game script. went It was a bad Alonzo Barnett performance. It was guys dropping passes. It was the defense. you know The stats, the overall total yardage doesn't show it, but like in the first half, i mean it was at half, so clearly they were doing something right defensively. And I don't know, man. Like I said, they just couldn't take advantage. they can't they can't They couldn't run the ball on a good day against another team. They really couldn't do it here, and that really showed. Every time they gave the ball to to Meadows,
Preseason Expectations vs. Reality
00:10:01
Speaker
it just seemed like a wasted down. i mean, they would have they would have probably had as much luck like if they had just spiked it every time they decided to hand the ball off. Like, it it basically did the same thing.
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, and that's... In order to beat James Madison, and you know this kind of goes out the window when you're going to jump up all the way to talking about Oregon, um but kind of within the conference or within this G6 conversation, the the game script to beat James Madison you talked about is obviously waiting for that just Alonzo Barnett duck to happen.
00:10:34
Speaker
ah But then offensively, you need to be able to... run it out. You need to just be able to, because even in his poor games, we've seen Alonzo Barnett.
00:10:45
Speaker
He regresses to the mean relatively quickly. He kind of starts to figure it out at a certain point. So you have to limit the the amount of time so that he gets the ball in his hands. He's just one of those guys where it's like, even where he's putting up a sinker, it's like,
00:10:57
Speaker
near the end of the game, he's going to start playing. He's going to do something. He's got he's right. Goes from a bad quarterback to a passable quarterback. um You know, and he's still not reaching the echelons that he usually does. But um and that that's been the real story. I think our conversation with Barry McKnight enlightened me a lot about on the injury side, about how um we knew going into the season, um their their top choice running back was was going to miss time, wasn't going to play this year.
00:11:23
Speaker
ah But it was news to me, and you know this is just kind of how it goes with the injury stuff. They've been missing their top two tackles. I know that offensive – we knew that offensive line had been plagued with some stuff.
00:11:35
Speaker
um But that – I mean, that that just puts you so far behind when those – the two most important parts of your line um are out. From Troy, I think – I don't know. I think this is about as realistic of an outcome from a score perspective um that you could have expected. ah Offensively, you needed a lot more.
00:11:57
Speaker
um You would have wanted a lot more, especially for a team that got so hot over the last weeks um and looked really good with Goose. ah he He had been really exceptional and is probably the main, like if you were to put it on one person, the main reason that they even got to this game over Southern Miss. Yeah.
00:12:16
Speaker
But that that offensive line was just decimated. Inability to run the ball cost them. A couple of bad plays at the end. You get miss a field goal, but you know the strip sack return for touchdown. um You talked about a couple of really long passes. and um Even though it was close, James Madison kind of had a
Alonzo Barnett's Player of the Year Controversy
00:12:36
Speaker
hold of this game the entire time.
00:12:38
Speaker
And, ah you know, this was something else I tweeted out from the account, but I i really do believe if you flipped the quarterbacks on Saturday or on Friday night and you took Barnett and put him on Troy and you took Crowder and put him on JMU, I think JMU wins this game by like 28, 35 points.
00:12:58
Speaker
ah He was, again, this is one of those is like the box score doesn't tell you the whole story. He was so much better than Barnett for like a lot of long stretches of that game where it was like,
00:13:09
Speaker
yeah the completion percentage isn't great but when you don't have a running game and you are like the the running game is a swing pass out to the flat because truly like anything between the tackles was was dead on arrival um so if you had like i said if you had taken those two quarterbacks and flipped the teams i i think barnett sinks troy in the first like 12 minutes. I mean, that, that game, it's probably a wrap at that point. Cause like, like you said, Troy's offensive lines beat up. And, and if he's, if Crowder had protection and could just stand back there and, and make reads and th throws and stuff. I mean, we saw, like I said, couple of the dimes that he threw to his receivers, uh,
00:13:52
Speaker
i I think if you gave him like league average protection in this one, like Troy has a much, much better chance, which is... um I'm not breaking new ground by saying that, but also I i think it really
James Madison vs. Oregon Concerns
00:14:04
Speaker
underscores... like I don't know if the Sunbelt has ever given a player of the year award to a more up-and-down player than Alonzo Barnett, frankly. like i don't I can't remember a guy where when they gave him the award, I'm like,
00:14:24
Speaker
It makes sense if you're doing it like NFL MVP style where you just give it to the best guy on the best team. But I'm like, I would have given it to Wayne Knight. Like he just, he has these games and I'm like, how do you justify being like, this is the best player in our conference. Also, there's like four games a year. He just won't show up.
00:14:44
Speaker
and be ready for. And and we talked to ah Jack Fitzpatrick from JMU Sports News and in a previous episode. And he basically was like, if he doesn't get into a rhythm, it's going to be an ugly day. And I'm like, to me, if you are the conference player of the year, you should not have to hit your first four completions in a row to have like a good day. You should be able to like...
00:15:05
Speaker
bounce back from a bad series and not just crater for a while and just hope your defense is like, all right, guys, you're just going to have to keep me afloat. I've got nothing for you for about three quarters. And then I'll rip off a, a touchdown run that will basically
Sunbelt Awards and Standouts
00:15:21
Speaker
seal it.
00:15:21
Speaker
um But yeah, that, that to say what I said earlier, this isn't going fly against Oregon. Like this is, this is going to get ugly pretty fast. If he, if he does this again, Yeah, and um you know from a macro perspective, that's going to hurt um the G5, G6 perspective um as they look forward to like future playoff berths. That's going to really harm um that reputation. is You know, the SEC is practically begging for it to be a 12-team tournament of their own teams and the big plus like the best Big Ten team plus Notre Dame for whatever reason.
00:16:00
Speaker
um Well, the the committee you shut that down, didn't they? God bless. It was, yeah. Yeah. it was yeah um I think for real quick, I do want to detour. We talked about Barnett winning player of the year.
00:16:16
Speaker
um Colton Joseph wins offensive player of the year. Just kind of run through these real quick. See if you have any thoughts. ah Trent Hendrick, James Madison linebacker wins defensive player.
00:16:27
Speaker
ah He's been excellent. That whole defense, it's kind of like there were two or three guys you get have picked out of that defense. Yeah, Spinnagotti was another one. yeah Oh, yeah yeah. He had like three sacks in this game. He was excellent.
00:16:38
Speaker
He was the one that got the scoop and score too at the end. So, yeah, I mean, they could have given it to, they could have basically thrown like a dart at the roster and just been like, any of these starters you could probably make case for.
00:16:50
Speaker
ah You get Evan Crenshaw, special teams player of the year, Troy Punter. Sure. um No disrespect, but sure. ah Newcomer of the year is Camden Brown, Georgia Southern. um We've talked to you all year. Him, Bo Sparks, Ted Hurst, all been exceptional in the receiving game this year. um He led the led the conference in touchdown catches. Yeah.
00:17:15
Speaker
statistically was probably, I mean, was like the best receiver, um a you know, and like I said, the only guy on that roster that i I had, I had zero concerns or questions about all year long. And that's, that's saying a lot considering they like limped into a bowl game and then now apparently can't find anybody to play them as of this recording. So that should tell you what I think of, of him considering like how bad this team was overall.
00:17:43
Speaker
Yeah, ah we get to hear West. I'm sorry. I misspoke. Spina God. He didn't. had the the strip sack or recover that fumble. It was to hear West who had three sacks in this one. Redshirt freshman from James Madison wins freshman of the year. And then Chesney is coach of the year. We now obviously know that he's going for ah greener pastures.
00:18:04
Speaker
um Nothing terribly surprising here out of these awards. it' Pretty cut and dry. No, like I said, the the only thing is, and it looks worse now with this conference game conference championship game behind us, but I'm just like...
00:18:21
Speaker
Has there been another player of the year where you're like, hey man, a third of the season, he's just not really going to be there. And you're like, whoa, wait a minute, what? like you know Think about some previous winners, it's like,
00:18:36
Speaker
you know Ben Woldridge or whoever last year, Braylon Braxton was like the offensive player of the year. i mean I'm going back years in my head. like I'm going like Jordan McLeod. Were there games where Jordan McLeod was just like, hey guys, I'm just taking Saturday off. Just you go without me and and we'll figure it out. Jason McLeod won it three times. Right.
00:18:59
Speaker
were Were there ever times where Grayson McCall was just like, hey, guys, I'm going mail it in today and I just don't have it. Sorry. Not until he left Coastal. ah Right. right Pretty straightforward there. Do you have anything else on those or I guess ah any other bows to put on the the championship game?
00:19:21
Speaker
Uh, this was just an ugly game for a lot of it. I mean, you know, you got, you got the points in those like quick strikes, you know, like I said, Crowder takes Troy down the field in the second quarter, uh, with that big, big throat. I think it was, that was the one to rah-rah Thomas that took him down to the one. And then he, ah gets in and then Wayne Knight, like the first play from scrimmage next series runs 73 yard,
00:19:47
Speaker
touchdown run and is bouncing off guys outside of kind of that sequence. This was ugly for a lot of it. You know, both of these teams were not good on third down. Troy was four of 18.
00:19:59
Speaker
JMU was two of 14 on third down and one by 17 points, ah which is ah an insane percentage to, to, to point differential. So Yeah, for me, I was just glad.
00:20:14
Speaker
i can't remember the last time we had a conference championship game that wasn't you know decided already by like the end of the third quarter. like This one was very much still up in the air until that Alonzo Barnett touchdown run with like four minutes to go. you know Think back to the Marshall-Louisiana game last last year with the Fields getting hurt and them having to Louisiana having to play their third stringer. I'm thinking of the two Troy championship games. They they rocked. ah Who was it? App and Coastal, I think, were the two teams they beat those two years. It's just like been a long string up to this point, kind of of just non-competitive championship games. And like.
00:20:56
Speaker
Again, people will look at the final score and go, oh, this thing was lopsided. I mean, it was 17 to 14 with four minutes left. It was a three-point margin. So it wasn't it wasn't like JMU had totally this one in hand. It was very much still in doubt.
00:21:10
Speaker
so Yeah, one of those good games that wasn't really fun to watch. No, regret it wasn't. It wasn't like very good execution. It was more just this is kind of sloppy for everybody. So everybody get down in the mud and we kind of just try to figure out like who who emerges. You know, it it wasn't one of those where it was like, we have these crisp completions. Every receiver knows what to do. They're hauling the ball. And it was like, no, everybody kind of looked bad for stretches. And then there were times where, Jamie, you just kind of rose above that.
00:21:46
Speaker
Not get down in the mud. They got down in the snow. Yeah, you're hitting the punter with snowballs as he's trying to kick it out of his own end zone. You got the AD for for James Madison coming out and begging the the ah students not to throw snowballs because they were going to throw a penalty flag. um Yeah, it was a wild one. think...
00:22:05
Speaker
i think I don't know if they can do this, but I feel like because all the other big championship games are at like neutral sites, I feel like if they played this one at a neutral site, that would help alleviate some of this of like guys getting pelted with snowballs back in their own end zone.
00:22:23
Speaker
It's kind of weird. And i I was under the impression that that was supposed to be like a neutral site game hosted by James Madison. one of the like, but yeah no, they it's just a straight home game. And,
00:22:37
Speaker
i don't know Here's the thing. I'm glad that we had the snowball pelting. It was, again, one of the more interesting parts of what was otherwise kind of a disappointing, from a football perspective, disappointing game.
Bob Chesney's Move to UCLA
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah. So should we get into the the coaching update stuff? Yeah. Yeah. um All right. So the again, the coach that is now the, ah you know, defending coach of the Sunbelt title winning team is now on his way out to LA to Bob Chesney accepted the job at UCLA um remains to be seen whether he's going to try to revive Nico's career as a quarterback, or if ah Alonza follows him out there. I mean,
00:23:23
Speaker
I'm going to be honest. like this This goes beyond the Chesney thing. I've never really been super sold on Nico. um He was another like Alonzo Barnett type where and I felt like every time I would tune in at Tennessee, it was like, alrighty, 16 of 34 for 189 yards and a touchdown. It's like in this offense where we just run like crazy routes that can't get guys in the NFL. Like this is what we're, we're struggling here. Like I'm, I'm like these, this is like a training wheels offense compared to like a lot of other ones. So that's could be interesting to see if he keeps him around or if he's like Nico, you should look for work elsewhere, bud.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he'll definitely bring, i imagine a lot of these defensive guys come with him. Wayne night probably keeps going. um we're going to see an exodus, but what's so perplexing from like the James Madison side, uh, from a future roster perspective or who will leave is like, we did this whole thing two years ago.
00:24:25
Speaker
Right, with Indiana. yeah With Indiana and Signetti, who are now ranked number one in the country, which is crazy. um with With Elijah Surratt and Mikhail Kamara still over there making plays in the Big Ten title game against the number one team in the country. But hey, remember Zeke.
00:24:44
Speaker
group of five teams can't compete at that level. they even though that Even though they've basically take took the spine out of 2023 JMU and put it into Indiana's roster. They they just can't they can't play at that level, of course. We all know that. Simply not. um And again... what What do you feel like... do Do you feel like Chesney's going to be able to revive UCLA football? Because...
00:25:06
Speaker
I can't really name the last time in my lifetime that they were like good. Like they, they were never like the team that was in the Rose bowl. Like they've had players come through that were good. Like, I guess like Zach Charbonnet comes to mind.
00:25:21
Speaker
Um, they have some guys from like the early thousands who were pretty good, but nobody that has ever, it has always to me felt like a total waste of like, when they were in the PAC 12, like conference location, you know, all of that stuff, Rose bowl, like you would think, Hey, we can get a decent coach in that can coach these guys, but they've, they've hired like chip Kelly who mailed it in. You got Deshaun Foster recently, who was like the interim after Kelly decided to quit. And then he gets elevated, but they're, they're terrible. And they're playing these big 10 schools and just getting absolutely smacked by like Penn state and stuff. So I'm just like,
00:26:02
Speaker
I think that's going to be harder than Indiana, honestly, because I feel like Indiana wanted to be good and just didn't have the roadmap to make it happen.
Reviving UCLA Football
00:26:11
Speaker
Whereas UCLA feels like they are one of those schools where it's like, how much do people, how much do the students actually care whether they're a good football team? Like, like who, who actually cares whether they're good or not? It's my question.
00:26:27
Speaker
so Sorry. no you're good. You're good. um I think... for From a UCLA perspective, this is definitely their best hire. um I think they had a couple good years with Jim Mora in like the early 2010s.
00:26:42
Speaker
um But as you look back between Chip Kelly and Deshaun Forrester, I did not like the Chip Kelly hire when that happened. And then Deshaun Forrester, I wasn't in love with that move either. So I think between the three, ah Kelly, de Forrester, and...
00:26:59
Speaker
Chesney, this is the most closest to a slam dunk. um yeah This is like we talk about on this show for teams in the Sunbelt and G5 teams, your best route to success when entering a ah coaching hire is usually the best FCS guy available, whether it's a really innovative offensive coordinator or a head coach, the defensive coordinators. i don't know. they They don't really transition ah from FCS coordinator to NCAA head or FBS head coach as well. But
00:27:33
Speaker
You get one of those two guys, and those are the kind of things that we look for in a slam dunk hire. ah It's the same thing in the FBS. It's just like, who is the best available G5 guy? Obviously, there have been some real failures in recent years, and we're going talk about one in Billy Napier, who's taking the James Madison job. Yep.
00:27:52
Speaker
But, um like, Signetti is the exact same scenario. It's from the same team, same guy, same pro. Like, it it's so... close uh a total a total slam dunk at indiana you know like like you meet number one team in number one team in the country just beat ohio state who's the who was undefeated until saturday and was the reigning you know national champion i know that last year team was a lot different but i mean it is what it is yeah i i agree it's like
00:28:26
Speaker
i I think the more the bigger question, and I can't answer this because I don't follow UCLA football, is are they going to get the buy-in from everybody around Chesney make it happen? Or are they going to keep doing the... We kind of just play as USC's little brother and we get smacked around a lot. and like They are essentially the Michigan State to...
00:28:51
Speaker
Michigan, Ohio State, like they're just kind of Michigan State West where it's like they're tucked over here. They're in a bit. I mean, UCLA is in a big market, but they're tucked over here. They're behind USC all the time.
00:29:04
Speaker
Does anybody care whether they're good? Do they want to be good like that? Those are the questions that would come. I mean, they must have buy in if Chesney signed on. ah Yeah, I would imagine so, especially coming from a program of James Madison's like caliber and prestige, a team that's been winning just for so long. um And Chesney himself, right, came from, ah was a winning coach in the FCS as well. And so at Holy Cross, so it's.
00:29:34
Speaker
i would I would be shocked if he like miscalculated this move. It doesn't shock me that Chip Kelly made a miscalculation in choosing UCLA. it Does that shock you? Not particularly.
00:29:45
Speaker
i don't know that he made a miscalculation. It just felt like when he got there, he just didn't care. That was the weird part. He got there, and and from the things that I had read back in the day when he was there...
00:29:58
Speaker
he like didn't want to recruit and like, he basically didn't want to do half of his job. And that's why he ended up going to Ohio state and being the offensive coordinator last year was because he was like, Oh sweet. So all I have to do is just call plays. That's all I've ever wanted to do. And I'm like, that's fine.
00:30:16
Speaker
But why would you take a head coaching job if you're like, I only want to call plays? No, you're an offensive coordinator. That is not. That's not what a head coach does. You don't just like, all right, man, I'm i'm going to golf.
00:30:28
Speaker
um You guys got this right. You guys got you're going to call the the recruits and get them to come here. All right, cool. that That's just like malpractice. Like, what are we doing? um ah Yeah. No, I really like this hire. There's a program ceiling, and um if we kind of think about what Bob Chesney's career arc is going to look like, I doubt this is where his final stop is by choice or otherwise.
Impact of Billy Napier at James Madison
00:30:55
Speaker
um But from ah from the UCLA perspective, I really, really So on that note, how do you feel about Billy Napier coming in and replacing Chesney at JMU?
00:31:12
Speaker
I think it puts a really, really high floor for the program. um like I think James Madison... But the problem is with James Madison is that they already had a very high floor.
00:31:24
Speaker
ah right And I'm unsure about the ceiling. I think it is... Again, we talk about lazy hires. It feels a little lazy. um We've joked about Louisiana going back to him and bringing him in as an analyst. Or you know if they wanted to part ways with Desermo, that would have been lazy as well. So um maybe pot calling the kettle here. but I don't know. It's like, I didn't love what he did at Florida. I know Florida is a much different beast than James Madison. And maybe he just, he can work better with that. Like, you know, premier B level program, um shorter budgets, um conference dominance in recent years.
00:32:10
Speaker
I don't know. i i think there's a 50 50 that he flops out like he did at Florida. I really do. i I don't necessarily think he's going to. i think the problem with what happened at Florida is a little bit, if you go back and look at like the Brian Harsin years at ah Auburn and how it just felt like nobody really accepted him from the start. They were kind of, from what from what I read, they were kind of like,
00:32:38
Speaker
let's see you do it with a smaller budget first and then we'll increase the money from there. And that seems like you're asking a guy to fight with one hand tied behind his back. Like I'm just, that that's the vibe that I got from Napier at Florida, which was like, nobody really wanted him.
00:32:54
Speaker
Like they wanted a big name to come in and like every time there's a Florida opening, they're like, is urban coming back? And it's like, no, he's not. He's 70 years old. He's a pervert. He, uh,
00:33:07
Speaker
You know, it's like he he he flamed out with the Jaguar so spectacularly that a famously um patient owner couldn't last a whole season with him. That says a lot.
00:33:19
Speaker
um So I'm just like, I think I even, you know, we talked about it with Barry. It was like, they weren't even a hundred percent sure on john's John, John Summerall who coached in the sec came to Troy, won two conference championships, went to Tulane, won a conference championship has this team in the playoff. And they're still like, I don't know about this guy. I'd i'd rather have Kane Womack or whatever. And you're just like,
00:33:47
Speaker
what this guy's one everywhere that you want to, that you want him to be like other than coaching Vanderbilt. And then you hire him from Vanderbilt or whatever Mississippi state, like they did Dan Mullen. I don't, I don't know what else you could have asked of him. think,
00:34:04
Speaker
i think You know, I think Napier at JMU is ultimately going to be a success. I don't think that they are going to have. i agree with you about the ceiling argument a little bit. Like there's going to be some years where it's going to look closer to like Chesney's first year last year when they were. What was their record? Nine and three or eight and four.
00:34:25
Speaker
Something like that, where it was like we lose a couple games and you're just kind of left scratching your head by like. you know, some of the performances, but I mean, Napier one, two Sunbelt titles at Louisiana. Like he's going to have the resources he needs. He's going to have the NIL money he needs lined up.
00:34:45
Speaker
He's already got now. I don't know what the transfer portal is going to look like. That could be a bloodbath, but we, we, again, we saw Chesney come in after,
00:34:56
Speaker
you know Indiana basically rooted that program out, and other than Barnett, who lost his job before game one or whatever to ah McLeod that season. It's just like, I think he'll figure it out. I think he will have success, but I think the key, and I don't know how much this holds weight with him,
00:35:17
Speaker
He's much less likely to get poached because now he's had that failure at Florida. So these bigger schools, he's going to have to be successful at JMU for a while or hope that he catches on with like a much bigger G5 school.
00:35:32
Speaker
after this or something like I don't I don't know what the next step in an ACC team maybe be like he goes to coach Wake Forest or whatever but right he's gonna have more stepping stones and I think they're gonna be a lot more patient with like lining him up for his next a job because of what happened in Gainesville I think what And, you know, next time we talk to Jack, this is something we got to pick his brain on is this also breaks the mold of James Madison hired because Cignetti himself came from Elon.
00:36:05
Speaker
um Obviously, James Madison was still in the FCS with Elon at that point. So it wasn't as big of a jump ah for him. But they and then they did what we've, you know, applauded them so well for is digging into and picking the the best candidate out of the FCS and Bob Chesney.
00:36:22
Speaker
this This is a weird breaking of the mold for them when their last two hires have been such slam dunks. They had four great years with Signetti, and now we know him as one of the best coaches in college football right now.
00:36:36
Speaker
um And then you have ah Chesney, who just won a conference championship, just won conference coach of the year. ah I'm curious why they chose to go outside of that mold um when it when it's worked so well for them in recent years.
00:36:53
Speaker
that That would be a question for the athletic director. I truly don't know. Um, the only thing I can think is, and you saw app go the opposite direction of this last year where it was like, Neil Brown was there and we got conflicting reports as to whether, you know, he wanted the job or they wanted him and, and all this was like hearsay. but,
00:37:18
Speaker
I think if they had hired Neil Brown, they would be at would be on a better trajectory today than they have been this season with Dowell Loggins. But they wanted to do take the big swing. They wanted to go get a p five offensive coordinator who had coached Lenora Sellers to come in, and they were like you know recruiting footprint and all this other stuff. like Carolina's, like he stays in the area.
00:37:41
Speaker
I think, um again, i think JMU just kind of looked around and was like, This is a way that we can kind of have our cake and eat it too, because we've got a a coach who's won the conference twice ah coming back.
00:37:56
Speaker
We're giving him the same resources that we gave Chesney and Signetti. And that's got to be more than what Louisiana offers up to their, you know,
00:38:07
Speaker
coaches i would assume just for nil funds and stuff like that collectives um i think they i think ultimately they probably the tiebreaker was like we might have this guy for four or five years instead of two years from now looking around and going all right you know we had a good two years we're gonna have to reboot again and find you know a new quarterback we're gonna have to blah blah it's like Maybe Barnett transfers out after this. I don't I don't know, because, again, he had a really bad he's going to probably finish the season with like three of his worst performances all back to back to back. So I don't know who's going to be lining up unless it's Bob Chesney um to have him come play quarterback for them.
00:38:52
Speaker
But they already, we we talked about it with Jack. It was like, they already have kind of a succession plan in place. I don't know that Camden Coleman transfer from Richmond ah didn't play this season at quarterback for them. So in theory, he could just step in and be you know, Napier's quarterback next year. We we don't, we don't know who's going stay and who's going to go, but I think that the tiebreaker was, we would like a guy to stick around for at least a full four year recruiting cycle rather than every two years have to go back
Coaching Changes at Southern Miss
00:39:23
Speaker
to the well. Now, did something get lost in translation from like,
00:39:28
Speaker
When he left, when he went to Florida and it didn't work, we've seen guys lose jobs like that, and then it just feels like their mojo is totally gone. Is that going to be a case? I don't think so, but it yeah it has happened before and and kind of inexplicably, I would say.
00:39:43
Speaker
Yeah, i don't I don't know how one-to-one the parallels are, but we look at the other guy in the conference with a SEC pedigree ah would be Butch Jones, the guy that I've hammered more than anyone else um yeah as long as we've been doing this. so And look, Butch Jones has been somewhat successful at Arkansas State.
00:40:07
Speaker
um i yeah reassert that I don't think it's been good enough for Arkansas state, given the talent, given the, uh, the history there. um And i I think, again, the most likely outcome from my perspective is i think James Madison gets trapped in this like seven and five to 8-4 purgatory where it's good enough.
00:40:33
Speaker
We were in the FCS four years ago, so this is good enough. um So it's kind of on the administration, the athletic director to – to hold him to a high standard, the high standard that James Madison should have considering the recent successes.
00:40:50
Speaker
Right. um So let's go ahead and talk about the other coaching change. So you mentioned it, Charles Huff is leaving and going to Memphis. um One year, you know, in Hattiesburg, they go, what, seven and five ah with Braylon Braxton as their quarterback. It felt like they were kind of beginning to turn a corner as a program and say, Hey, you know, we've got this guy in here and we might have years with him because it ended so weirdly at Marshall. We still don't know what happened kind of there with the true story is one way or the other. um
00:41:28
Speaker
But now he's leaving for Memphis. I feel bad for Southern Miss and their fans that they only had kind of one year you know, presumably competent ah coaching. We don't know who's going to end up replacing a Huff, but we'll get to it you know whenever they announce their new coach. But yeah, I feel bad. it This is almost like you know offering a child candy and then just like taking it away from them at the last minute. It's like, hey, Braylon Braxton, Charles Huff. And then they're like, oh, i'd I'd like that. And it's like, oh, sorry, one year only. Goodbye.
00:41:59
Speaker
and And now you've got to start back and hope you don't hire another Will Hall type. Two really weird departures now. um I also, I don't know how many guys have, without getting fired, have coached three g different G5 programs in three years. It's a really weird... I i don't know. that That's such a weird just like pattern.
00:42:22
Speaker
ah I get... I subscribe to the idea that the Memphis job is probably an upgrade over Southern Miss. um yeah But I would also argue that Huff had the opportunity and definitely could have brought Southern Miss to, like, that Memphis level where yeah this isn't an upgrade job, where this is just a sidestep. And so um right to his advantage, he gets to skip a couple steps ah in that kind of program rebuild.
00:42:51
Speaker
um And I guess... the The only conclusion I can come to is that he was – he has little interest in doing that and being the guy, like kind of what Signetti did at Indiana where he like – and obviously he did it meteorically quick and unprecedentedly so.
00:43:08
Speaker
um But where he's kind of the guy and he's going to be the legend that brought them out of the doldrums that were Will Hall and – Everything that was going on there that included like the Brett Favre stuff, even, kind of you know that's not Will Hall's fault, but certainly so marred the program during that time.
00:43:27
Speaker
um I don't know. It's just like you get to cut the line. um i I don't know. I'm pretty ambivalent, I think. ah They've already named – we'll see what happens, but for the bowl game, it's going to be Blake Anderson as the interim team.
00:43:44
Speaker
Interesting to see, you know, that maybe that feels like... Maybe you just elevate him to full-time head coach. He's been a coach in the in the Sunbelt before. um It didn't go well at Utah State, but that's another another area of the world as far as I'm concerned, like with with regards to football. They don't...
00:44:03
Speaker
frankly love it as much as people in the south do and i don't think i'm really talking out of turn to say that unless you're like the guy that owns crumble uh who's the the byu backer other than that they they really don't care that much out west like they've got they're like we've got hiking and stuff to do like we don't have time to like sit around and watch a football game for four hours um i I wouldn't be shocked if Anderson just gets elevated to head coach. I don't know if he wants to do it because he is kind of following that Chip Kelly mold of like, I was a head coach and I know what that entails. And I'd rather just kind of call plays and, and, you know, shut my lights off at the end of the day. I don't want to be calling recruits all times of the night.
00:44:46
Speaker
um, I think you could go that direction with it. I think they could get Blake Anderson just to be the full-time head coach, and he could rebuild his cred in the in the Sun.
00:44:56
Speaker
i mean It ended... not poorly, but just weird at, at Arkansas state. I mean, there was, there was stuff that happened in his personal life, which made that a reality, unfortunately. But I mean, again, another guy that like Napier won the Sunbelt had, had some good like Arkansas state teams.
00:45:17
Speaker
um He just couldn't ever seem like move on to another bigger destination. The way that Napier jumped. Yeah. um i don't think i don't think conferences looked at or sec teams acc teams whatever looked at the sun belt the same way that they do now where it's like oh you won the sun belt that's pretty good whereas back in the day it was like 2016 they were like cool you beat idaho in the finale like there was no championship game you finished doing your conference and they just handed you the end of the game sweet um
00:45:50
Speaker
I think you could go that route or do the FCS thing that we talked about where you just, you go down and and look at the, these FCS teams, like, you know Mike Jacobs at Mercer could come and run like an interesting style of offense that they don't really nobody in the Sun Belt really sees where it's like these option concepts. It's kind of like what Chadwell did at at Coastal almost a little bit. so That'd be interesting route. um i'm i'm I'd like to see where it goes. I think you could go either one of those those directions and not not really necessarily be wrong to do so.
00:46:26
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with you. I think um with Anderson, again, he obviously has to want that gig. that That's the most important part. But then i think by keeping ah going – what do you call it? Internal. Keeping it internal. Braylon Braxton, probably he's probably shipping off with Huff. But there's some guys on that roster. think out of eligibility. I think he's just done with college. I think that also made it easier for Huff to make it a clean break and be like – Oh, so I'm having to start over at quarterback next year? Bye, guys.
00:46:58
Speaker
I'll go to Memphis where they give me more money to to find a quarterback. Sure. um but Uh, Anderson is the offensive coordinator quarters back coach. You know, he's probably got a hand with those, uh, offensive guys could make the argument to keep a stay here instead of, um, instead of heading to Memphis. But then the flip side of that is the exact opposite could happen with your FCS guy. We thought saw this at Holy cross. Uh, when, when Chesney took the job, it's like all of a sudden, you know,
00:47:30
Speaker
You'd think James Madison is whole is wearing purple and white, but it's still James Madison. um I don't know. i Just interestingly, I think I share the same opinion. As like as long as you go get your good FCS guy or you get Anderson, you're
Colton Joseph's Transfer Decision
00:47:46
Speaker
you're set. But i don't want to I'd be shocked if they went another way, and I'd be pretty disappointed if they did.
00:47:52
Speaker
Yeah, like they're like, you know who we'd like? Vanderbilt's offensive coordinator. And you're just like, awesome yeah like one of those types of hires where you're like i don't know about this don't know how don't know how replicable this offense is without diego pavia playing again call back to did logins last year where i was like do you get sellers to come with you no all right we'll we'll see how it goes um And then the last bit of news here we can hit. So Colton Joseph goes into the transfer portal. He was, you know, as you mentioned, the offensive player the year.
00:48:31
Speaker
um I'm not shocked. I mean, we had alluded to it on previous episodes. It's like he probably could stay. Everything that has broken, i think, all happened after he announced he was going to the transfer portal.
00:48:47
Speaker
I think if he wanted to, he may there may be a payday or something like that lined up. I don't i don't really know. if he wanted to he If he came back to Old Dominion, I think they're easily the favorite to to win the Sunbelt title next year as it stands today.
00:49:02
Speaker
i mean, there's very little quarterback-coach continuity now in the conference with... like Chesney's gone. Who knows what Barnett's doing? Huff and Braxton are out of there at the same time.
00:49:15
Speaker
It's like, who's even in contention for the next best quarterback after Joseph in theory in the conference. But again, it's like if Georgia Tech comes calling and says, hey, we lost our offensive coordinator.
00:49:29
Speaker
We know this Haynes King thing has been nice, but maybe there's a ceiling on it, judging by like the way they played like Georgia, and and they lost to, ah who was it, Pittsburgh or something by like yeah three scores in the ACC finale. So like maybe they are like, hey, Colton, you come here.
00:49:49
Speaker
We install an offense that plays your strengths with running the ball. But also, we're going to want to throw it, too, because there's going to be times where we're going to down 14 and can't just afford to run QB power left and right ah the way that they were doing under Faulkner. So there's a lot of opportunities, I feel like, for him to go in and just start day one at ah at a P5. But again, if he was to come back to the Sunbelt for whatever reason, I mean, they would be easily the favorites to win the Sunbelt title next year with the amount of turnover.
00:50:21
Speaker
ah Yeah, i this – Colton joseph Joseph has the opportunity to be the best quarterback in the portal this offseason legitimately. And that does a lot because there are going to be a lot of teams – um Again, that who knows? This is like we're not even a half a week into this, and he's I don't think he's actually officially in the portal yet.
00:50:45
Speaker
um I think he knows. Is he? um ah He announced that he was going to enter the transfer portal. I don't know how when it opens, like all those dates, but it's been it's been reported by like multiple sources that he's entering the transfer portal. He's in, but... um I don't know. like i've I've heard that LSU is interested. I've heard that UCLA might be interested. um If I was Joseph, I wouldn't go to UCLA.
00:51:13
Speaker
I'm sorry. you you've got i I think he's going to have his pick of the litter nationwide, really, of just like, who needs a quarterback that can start day one um maybe a team that's got like a five-star that redshirted, la or four or five-star last year that redshirted, that needs competition.
00:51:32
Speaker
um he He can come in and fill a lot of different holes at a lot of different places. um the The floor for him, and I hope this doesn't happen, we could see ah him fall into the Matthew Sluka career trajectory where he's reduced down to like a gadget-type guy.
00:51:52
Speaker
um I think he's a lot better than Sluka ever was. i think he is He's better. yeah He's better, but then comparatively, right? Is he better comparatively at a P5 than Sluka was at James Madison?
00:52:06
Speaker
That I'm unsure of. Probably. Probably. I think so. But to be seen. um I don't know. i'd I think my fear is that he falls into more of the Grayson McCall um ah outlook where he transfers to like a P5 that doesn't have like a super high ceiling. Like think think if if Pavia doesn't get his 19th year of eligibility picked up by the NCAA.
00:52:33
Speaker
Think about he ends up at Vanderbilt and then it's like you're eternally like eight and four, seven and five, and you just kind of waste your last two years like on a... ah Again, McCall kind of did with like NC State where it was like, even when he played at NC State, like they didn't have a good team around him. So it was kind of like, what's the ceiling on this team? Like we're going to finish third in the ACC Atlantic division? Like sweet.
00:52:59
Speaker
Because we're not beating out Clemson. We're not beating out... I don't even remember who the other teams were when they had divisions, but it was like, yeah, you weren't going anything against Clemson or FSU or Miami or whatever. So you can go ahead and just kiss that goodbye. I think that would be my fear is that he ends up at like a Duke where it's like the ceiling on this is an eight and four team. Like, let's be totally honest with ourselves. I, again, I think he, I think you were right about him ending up at a big P five, like an LSU or something though. Like,
00:53:32
Speaker
I don't want to put too much out there, but like, imagine if he transfers like Alabama and they're like, Hey, guess what? Ty Simpson, you're done. Colton's the new quarterback. I'm like,
00:53:44
Speaker
Dude, he could give you a lot more than what I saw out of Ty Simpson this year with like me whi with like Ryan Williams and like all Jeremy. i don't know I guess Jeremy Bernard's going into the draft, but they've got receivers going back like entire classes that could play and would be the best person he's ever thrown the ball to. so I don't know. Like I said, I just don't want to see him end up at like a big 12 school, like Baylor or something. And it's like, okay, he went six and six this year. And then his senior year, they finished eight and four and they won the music city bowl.
00:54:18
Speaker
Right. Okay. I, another angle to kind of watch is also, and again, i I'm really bad at reading quarterbacks ah for NFL potential. Let's, I'll surrender that now.
00:54:35
Speaker
who's got the best quarterbacks coach who' who's got the best resume there. Who's going to give me the best chance of making that jump. Um, because he's now got an opportunity that, you know, you simply just don't really have it old dominion, uh, to make that jump from the, uh, NCAA to the NFL. And so, uh, I think that's another angle to watch. So it's like money.
00:54:53
Speaker
Um, You know, winning and then coach. Shockingly, those are the three things to watch. Those are the only three things actually ah to ever watch. So maybe not breaking any ground here, but. No, and I mean, it's like.
00:55:08
Speaker
Lincoln Riley, I would say, if you're if you're trying to go pro, like if you're not necessarily worried about the college results, Lincoln Riley. i mean, look at Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, you know, all these guys like he's put into the pros.
00:55:23
Speaker
Caleb Williams, you know, all all of these guys. um like if you're If you're just wanting to be like featured, that would be a way to go. But I think that my Veya guy at at USC still has more time ah there, so i don't I don't see you knocking him out of his spot.
00:55:41
Speaker
And then ah elsewhere, just kind of like the SEC programs, I mean, like I mentioned, it's like lanes done Lane did a good job of Jackson Dart. Yeah. you know Alabama's had guys come through. you know What's his name? DeBoer coached Pennix, who was a first-round pick. like There's a lot of places that you could like make your hay. I think the question is, do you want to prioritize like your long-term development to maybe an NFL starter level, or do you are you shooting for, i just want to win games at the college level, and I'll figure the rest of it out after?
00:56:16
Speaker
Like I said, but my, my worst fear is that he just ends up at like a big 12 school, like Cincinnati or something.
Bowl Game Announcements
00:56:22
Speaker
And it's like, they win seven games next year.
00:56:27
Speaker
Find out all speculative. If anyone has a Colton Joseph, uh, connection, let us know. We'd love to have him on. Yeah, absolutely. Um, Well, Zeke, I don't know. that that's you want to read You want to go through some of the bowls that got announced? or you want to get Yeah. out of here Let's just rattle through these. um We obviously have, this isn't technically a bowl game, but start off obviously, James Madison at Oregon for the college football playoff.
00:56:53
Speaker
um And we will preview all of these probably next week. um We we've got, let's see, we've got a pretty interesting slate. You get Troy plays Jacksonville state ah in the salute to veterans bowl.
00:57:07
Speaker
ah That's kind of interesting. You get the Alabama, Alabama ah play there. Old Dominion plays South Florida in the Cure Bowl um to be announced whether they let Colton Joseph play. may We get to see Quinn Heineckel for a full ah for full four quarters there.
00:57:24
Speaker
ah Louisiana plays Delaware... And then I wrote Jacksonville State again, so I don't know what bowl game that is. I wrote Jacksonville State again instead of the actual bowl.
00:57:36
Speaker
um We've got Arkansas State and Missouri State, another kind of interesting geographic game ah playing in the Xbox Bowl, the brand new Xbox Bowl. Missouri State and FCS call up in year one. Mm-hmm.
00:57:51
Speaker
ah We get Coastal Carolina plays lu future Sun Belt team Louisiana Tech. That's exciting. I think Louisiana Tech's going to roll them. In in the Independence Bowl, yeah. Coastal Carolina without a head coach or without a quarterback.
00:58:06
Speaker
ah Then we get Southern Miss versus Western Kentucky in the New Orleans Bowl. ah And then, as you talked about kind of briefly, Georgia Southern without an opponent for the Birmingham Bowl.
00:58:18
Speaker
um They're still looking for someone to fill that spot, probably a 5-7 team. Would they pull an FCS team up? I think they should do that. That could be fun. No, the the I mean, I've seen like Temple's name thrown out as like a five and seven team that can play them. i I do think it's very funny now.
00:58:37
Speaker
I guess this is like the rivalry stuff leaking over, but I do think it's very funny. I've seen multiple people, including Aikman Chambers, texted me this. He was like, you know, apps five and seven. They could play Georgia Southern. I'm like, we already played.
00:58:50
Speaker
Like, what would it matter? Like, it who would it benefit other than just AppState? You know what I mean? It's like, it truly, like, think think for two seconds. Like, how how does anybody else...
00:59:03
Speaker
how does anybody else like profit off of this? Or like, again, you don't get to see ah a fun matchup. You get to see a game where these two teams played a month ago.
00:59:14
Speaker
I'll be it probably with different core, a different quarterback for the Mountaineers, but the Mountaineers weren't really that competitive until like kind of the end. They did like a fake comeback, but i'm just like I just thought that was so funny because I've seen like a former app player said it and then Aikman texted me and I was just like, this doesn't benefit us in any way, shape, or form, so why would we agree to like... Why would the bowl even want to do a rematch from a month ago?
00:59:40
Speaker
I'll counter you. um And this is a point also with James Madison making the playoffs. I read a report. The conference is going to split 4 million across the 14 teams.
00:59:51
Speaker
I don't know if that includes Texas state. I also don't know. i would imagine not. Probably not. Then if not, does that include Louisiana tech, but let's they're splitting it across 14 teams. Let's say that's $285,000. Uh, plus, you know, whatever you make from playing in the Birmingham bowl, uh, for Georgia Southern, uh, you guys are getting that much closer to paying the buyout.
01:00:16
Speaker
Yeah. With the fake money we don't have, uh, that, that is just sitting in a bank account somewhere. Yeah, I agree.
Season Wrap-up and Predictions
01:00:22
Speaker
Um, Yeah, I don't know. I think it's pretty humiliating that they're in such a low bowl that like we're having to like quibble about which team we should let in just to play the game.
01:00:34
Speaker
I think that's pretty embarrassing. it's embarrassing that we've got like Notre Dame's pulling out, and we've got like actual real teams pulling out of their bowl games, too. I think that's humiliating. i think that's a threat to...
01:00:47
Speaker
it's all a threat. The playoffs have been a threat to college football and how it's set up. um But these guys pulling out of these games is kind of a threat to like the idea of postseason football. um As somebody who's watched their team mail in three bowls in a row, I'm just kind of whatever at this point. Like if we stopped it, like I was just like, I don't know that I've had a positive bowl game memory since like COVID.
01:01:13
Speaker
So, um, So frankly, like I understand that they want to do it for money as a fan. I do not care if I watch Georgia Southern play in the Birmingham bowl or not.
01:01:25
Speaker
I would be totally honest. Like if they just canceled the game and gave us the money anyway, and we're like, actually, you know what? We'll give you both shares. Cause nobody could get in. And we just wanted it. We'll give you both shares. You guys just don't have to play. I'd be like, sweet. Sounds good to me.
01:01:42
Speaker
That's splendid. Well, at least your team is bowling. Um, That wraps it up. I don't know what else we have. um We'll probably get some news over the next couple weeks.
01:01:54
Speaker
um We'll find out Georgia Southern. Stay tuned. We're going to revisit our preseason takes. It's going to require a little bit of homework, but we're gonna come back here and tell you where we were right, where we were wrong.
01:02:07
Speaker
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I think we were right on a lot. Yeah, I think the the ultimate result of ODU we were wrong on, but the other ones were like, Troy won two more games than I expected.
01:02:21
Speaker
That was one. And Louisiana was bad, and I didn't expect them to quite be as bad as they were. was wrong with Southern Miss. I thought, i just kind of off the cuff, I haven't gone back and listened to it, but I remember not thinking Southern Miss was going to translate.
01:02:39
Speaker
I felt bad saying every single episode ah when we talked about the West division during the preseason. I just said, I think it's going to Louisiana and Southern Miss at the end of the year. But I felt bad because I said it like a lot. And I was like, I don't, but I don't have another spin on this take. It's like, these are the two, what I think are the two best teams that ended up being Troy and Southern Miss in the West. But I was just like,
01:03:01
Speaker
Yeah, i thought I thought Southern Miss would be right there at the end. I didn't think they'd take an L to Troy ah to end their season, ah regular season. But Troy, Louisiana, and I guess the the win total of Old Dominion were where i I was the most wrong off the top of my head. And then the ones I was right, it was like...
01:03:23
Speaker
Marshall comes to mind because we got a lot of heat for the Marshall one. And yeah we said four or five wins. They won five Texas state. We didn't get as much heat on social media, but in the comment section on our YouTube page, if you go back and look through that, it's a lot of people being like, you guys are just hating because we're moving to the pack 12. And it's like, no, we actually think you're a six win team. I'm sorry.
01:03:44
Speaker
um And then, and then they were, um, Yeah, I mean, Georgia Southern, I said I think they would be back to like six, seven wins. um that That's exactly where where they were. So, yeah, I'll have to go back and do a little bit of recon. on so And then the the bad teams, the ULM, Georgia State, like we all knew they were going to be bad. We're not goingnna going to like give ourselves credit for knowing that those two teams were going to be bad.
01:04:11
Speaker
If anything, I don't know, we might deserve negative credit for understating how bad Georgia State was going to be this year. Yeah, that's true. That's true. That was bad.
01:04:22
Speaker
All right, Zeke, let them know where they can find you on socials, and we can go ahead and get out of here. Yeah, I'm on Twitter, at Zeke Palermo, Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O. As always, you can email the show warm weather fans at gmail.com. You can follow us on X or tick tock or any other social account at warm weather fans. You can follow me on X at watch the stone. As Zeke said on Thursday, we will be back because that's usually our preview. We have nothing to preview right now. We're, we're still out from bowl games and things like that.
01:04:54
Speaker
yeah, Thursday, we will go back and revisit our preseason takes and kind of give ourselves an overall, I guess, report card on how we felt we did. And I'm, I'm my, heart I'm a harsh critic of myself as well. So I'm, I'm really like, I was already in my head coming up with the ones that I did wrong because again, I'm not going to give myself credit for like ULM and Georgia state and the teams that we knew were going to be bad.
01:05:19
Speaker
um But yeah, that'll be interesting. We'll see what happens there and we'll get all into that. Tune in on Thursday for another episode of Ford Weather Fans.