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2024 Sun Belt Football: Arkansas State rolls, Louisiana gets crushed, Texas State outlasts UNT
53 Plays4 months ago
In the final episode recapping the 2024-25 bowl season, Brian and Zeke run down Arkansas State's win over Bowling Green, Louisiana getting smoked against TCU, and Texas State holding on to defeat North Texas.
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Transcript
Introduction to Season Finale
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome everybody into the another edition of the warm weather fans Sunbelt podcast, the final podcast ah eclipsing the 2024 2025 football season, we are talking about the final three bowl games.
00:00:30
Speaker
ah that we did not get that happened after Christmas because Matt and I ah were on this podcast before Christmas.
Bowl Schedule & Off-Season Plans
00:00:39
Speaker
ah Due to the weird spacing of the bowl schedule, we wanted to go ahead and and get these final three games in, and then we'll break into off-season content. But I'm here with Zeke Polermo. Zeke, how's it going? How was your holidays? ah Anything you want to you want to tell the folks? Anything like that?
Zeke's Holiday & Playoff Surprises
00:01:00
Speaker
Yeah, I'm doing well. Holidays were good. Always a good time, especially with, um I guess since the last time y'all recorded and since I was on, um we've seen the new college football playoffs play out in a way that I don't know. I don't want to call it necessarily unexpected, but um you know as we've talked about here on this podcast before, not doesn't still doesn't feel like the right way to go about things. You talked about off-season content.
Listener Feedback & Engagement
00:01:36
Speaker
Before we get started, I do want to implore everyone watching, whether that's live on X,
00:01:41
Speaker
ah Later on the YouTube or on Spotify Apple podcasts ah to let us know what you want in the offseason we have a few things cooking. ah We're absolutely going to be over the draft content Mike green probably being the biggest name there out of the sunbelt that will be going into the draft he's probably a day to.
00:02:01
Speaker
ah Edge rusher could make a big impact in the NFL. We've got some more trivia stuff ah That will probably be YouTube exclusive ah For some time, but we want to know what you guys want to hear and we want to engage with our audience as best we can um so so let us know whether it be in the ah Comments of our YouTube videos at us on Twitter at warm weather fans. You can email us I don't think we've had an email for a year and a half now and we've received what one email there warm weather fans at gmail dot.com so Please hit us up and let us know what you want what you don't want um So we can you know, it's a long offseason especially for these g5 schools where ah recruiting news is barren spring football news is barren unless you're there at the game, you're not gonna get a
00:02:51
Speaker
um you know a real good grasp of what's happening. And unfortunately, between the three of us, I imagine Matt is the only one that's going to be going to his team's ah spring day. And that's because he works as a job with that team. um so So let us know how we can fill the dead space between now and June ah when we start this 2025 season previews.
Spring Games Accessibility Issues
00:03:18
Speaker
Uh, I mean, I would watch our spring game if Georgia Southern as a school didn't keep it under wraps. Like the FBI trying to cover up like area 51, like last year they announced like, Hey, for the first time ever, we're putting the spring game on ESPN plus. And I was like, sweet. I can watch it. You know, I don't have to physically attend. And then they were like, well, actually there's a conflict with a softball game at the same time. So it just won't be available anywhere.
00:03:48
Speaker
And I was like, OK, that makes no sense, but whatever, you know, fine. So, ah yeah, if if they would just operate like these larger schools like the SEC, for instance, and just put their spring games broadcasted on like yeah ESPN plus, even if it was like in the on demand section, that's.
00:04:08
Speaker
better than nothing. So I don't know if they're ever going to pull their heads out of their rear ends on that one. But yeah, Matt, Matt will have something from the Louisiana spring game because again, like you said, I doubt you're driving over to, ah you know, Turner Field to to watch that one. I am not making the 12 hour pilgrimage ah to Statesboro. I'm just not going to do it. I just I got better things to do with my time. No, no offense. All right.
Arkansas State vs. Bowling Green Recap
00:04:38
Speaker
So as I said at the top, we're here to recap the last three ah bowl games that we did not get to in our last episode because we shot that one before Christmas Day. um So starting off with December 26th, the day after Christmas, Arkansas State played a a shootout game with Bowling Green.
00:04:59
Speaker
38-31, Harold Fanon Jr. for but ah Bowling Green. Usually I don't single out the the non-Sunbelt school first, but to have 17 catches, 213 yards and a score,
00:05:15
Speaker
um you wanted You were talking about Mike Green at the top being a day two pick. Harold Fannin Jr. is very quickly playing himself into a day two selection. um You've obviously got those two tight ends at the top from Penn State and Michigan.
00:05:32
Speaker
But at who's tied in three? I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be Fanon. And like I know we're not we're not going super heavy on the Sunbelt stuff right off the bat. But like he he's so impressive to me. like Before this game, he had 1,300 yards this season on 100 catches. So he's just going ballistic.
00:05:53
Speaker
and Jalen Rayner played fairly well, 221 yards, two scores, ah one interception. um And Wallace, the running back, as well as Cory Rucker. So basically, this is kind of what you can say it positively or negatively. This is kind of what I had come to expect from Arkansas State, which is a ton of points, not a lot of defense.
00:06:18
Speaker
Defense is optional some some days. Some days you're playing an 18 to 16 rock fight with with South Alabama, but some days you're you're in a you're in a shootout ah to the very end.
Butch Jones' Coaching Analysis
00:06:31
Speaker
And you know it was one of those things where it was almost like a They come back by Bowling Green like you know Arkansas State went up 14 at the end of the game. ah Bowling Green scores with a what was it? A minute 42 to go. ah It didn't get the onside, so it was really. It was really neck and neck because it was like Arkansas State would pull out to a lead. They went up 17 7 after the first quarter. Bowling Green fought back and it was just kind of a tug of war, but it it felt like.
00:07:04
Speaker
Although it took them basically four quarters to kind of cement that, that Arkansas State always kind of had control of the game, so to speak. Yeah, um I agree with you on Harold Fanon. That guy shot up um over the past several weeks or the last several weeks of the season, not necessarily of real time. I'll point out it's easy to rack up yards and receptions when you're throwing the ball 50 times.
00:07:33
Speaker
ah But he he is a very high-volume tight end ah and those guys have translated very well ah to the NFL ah we saw ah the Iowa tight ends it was Hawkeson and Who was the other? Kittle no, he came from Iowa State. It was faint. I came from Iowa It was perk was there's another tight end in Hawkeson's draft class and ah I don't have that encyclopedia knowledge of every trend.
00:08:09
Speaker
i iowa has churned out highvoy ah tight ends that have translated very well brock bowers was georgia's top receiver for several years and just Uh, several rookie receiving records. Uh, so tight ends with high volume translate. Uh, and so bowling green is certainly a step down from Georgia and even Iowa in terms of stature, uh, in terms of just like baseline. Well, he's from Georgia, so I know he has to be at least X good. Um, so that's the Harold fan and talk. Uh, we have to talk about Bush Jones.
00:08:45
Speaker
Because how are you how are you gonna slander him after a win? um It's not slander. It's just wonder because I Like you you're for he gets his first bowl win at Arkansas State What is his ceiling? i'm good i've i've beent I feel like I'm just picking up the conversation we've had every week for the past two years. I'm going to bang the drum of what is your ceiling with Butch Jones? Because four years in, your ceiling is eight wins. And i ah that is not to say that Butch Jones has been an utter failure. I do believe that he is a very poor head coach and is not should not be at this job for very long.
00:09:29
Speaker
But is eight wins? What Arkansas State is capable of? Is that what Jalen Rainer is capable of? Cory Rucker, Zach Wallace, like these are very talented skill players that Arkansas State has had. How how much longer does Butch Jones get?
Arkansas State's Defensive Challenges
00:09:49
Speaker
Cause I'm getting, again, I say this every week. i makes lost tension right I understand, but why, why, what, what shined in winning one more game, one more regular season game than you did last year. What, what makes you worthy of that extension? Well, I think it's what I feel.
00:10:10
Speaker
I think what it is is he have you ever you have you heard that like saying or phrase like if you keep expectations low like you know it's better for you in the long run than to come out hot and then you underperform right I think that's I know what happened with him which was his first couple years at Arkansas State were just so bad that When he won, what what did they win? you Like you said, seven games last year? one They won six games last year. Okay, so he probably doubled his win total from the year prior to that. so Two, three, six, seven. Right, so if you're Butch Jones' agent,
00:10:54
Speaker
you can sell that as, hey, we're on the we're on the uptick here. like And whether it's right or not, I don't know if it is because I'm not that tapped into Arkansas State as a program. If anybody is, feel free to tweet at us, at warm weather fans on X. It depends what kind of situation did Blake Anderson leave them in roster wise because it wasn't great in Blake Anderson's final season.
00:11:23
Speaker
But it also wasn't a two win team. So like I'm kind of caught in the middle here, both between you and Matt and kind of in making my decision on Butch Jones. I'll tell you, I'll go ahead and tell you, though, this is where I differ from Matt and Eileen Ward towards your side. If he never if they don't ever feel a competent defense, this is his ceiling is like eight wins, ah seven regular season wins and an eighth in the bowl game, because We've seen time and time again throughout the years, they have such a problem putting together a full complete game. You know, they like, I understand what Michigan's deficiencies are.
00:12:08
Speaker
But that Michigan game they played earlier this season is probably the closest thing to a complete game that I've seen Arkansas State play ah in a couple of years. So it's like one game, the offense is going crazy, the defense is nowhere to be found. Another game, South Alabama immediately keeps popping into my head because I'm like, that was just so far off the reservation from what we had kind of come to expect.
00:12:31
Speaker
you're you you can't muster 21 points. Now they won that game, but you can't muster 21 points against, ah frankly, a South Alabama team that had had hadn't done all that well defensively this season. So that's what I mean. I'm kind of caught in between on on him because I'm going to keep saying this, and I'll say this in June or July, whenever we started our previews for 25,
00:12:58
Speaker
If they can't field a competent defense, this is his ceiling. Because how many great Sunbelt teams have we seen that just fielded like a, meh, like bottom third of the country defense. And like, we're like, wow, they're amazing. So I think that's kind of where I sit on it is if if he starts cobbling together some pieces on defense, then we can talk. But until that happens, like I just don't, I don't know how you can look at him and go,
00:13:28
Speaker
We're just we're gonna be just as good as Louisiana or Texas State or you know pick any of these teams like I understand Marshall's rebooting but like you're probably not even really as good as them at this point. Like there's there's this weird middle ground territory where there they're always like third to fifth in the standings kind of and for the West. and And it doesn't seem like they kind of had the recipe to take the next step up. So that's that's a like ah lot of where my concern stems from. That and Jalen Rayner just kind of being stagnant in his progression as a quarterback this year.
00:14:10
Speaker
I think I'll say to Butch Jones is is gonna probably keep him in Jonesboro, right? At least makes him a far less sexy transfer target than he was as a freshman um I mean Zach Wallace still is only a sophomore as well ah Rucker is On the older end, but I believe he has eligibility remaining. I'm not certain on that. um But I mean, this was statistically speaking, the worst defense in the conference. Worst, ah most touchdowns allowed. Second worst, rush defense. Second worst, pass defense.
00:14:56
Speaker
um and And yet, you despite like this idea or this narrative that it's an all-offense, no-defense team, there were so many games where I still still felt like there was meat on the bone offensively to be gotten. They only scored 27 against Georgia State. That's a very poor defensive Georgia State team.
00:15:21
Speaker
Same thing with Troy, only 34 points and you allowed 31 like Troy was pretty bad all year. Granted, you go into Southern Miss. Everyone was putting up 40 points against Southern Miss. I I just I think the gap between the offense and defense isn't even close enough to where it needs to be to offset how poor the defense is. Like obviously the defense needs to improve, right? But there is a threshold that your offense needs to be.
00:15:51
Speaker
this good. you know You need to be this tall to ride in order for you to have a bottom tier defense. Arkansas State does not come in with that type of offense. It's not like we're looking at the coastal of several years ago. This is just a really good quarterback with some pretty good weapons who who's really good. And that's ultimately what it comes down to.
00:16:19
Speaker
I think if if you go back and look at their schedule, the teams they beat within the conference, great. you know South Alabama, Southern Miss, Troy, Georgia State, you on Monroe. By and large, those were middling to kind of bottom feeder teams at the conference.
00:16:38
Speaker
i think Kind of to support what I said a little earlier about the being in the upper echelon kind of of the West division. I think the two things, the thing that stands out to me the most was getting out score to combined. What was it? 96 to 28 in games against Louisiana and Texas State. That to me shows. I don't know if it's a game planning thing. I don't know if it's a roster issue.
00:17:05
Speaker
That, that to me shows like they're still not ready to kind of take that next step and be like a real contender. So probably more than any other team just because Butch Jones has been there for so long. I mean, he's what the longest tenured coach in the conference at this point at the same school, like ah until the they are the most I'll believe it when I see it team to me because he's had multiple years to kind of put this together and they have yet to kind of feel the great ah even passable to good defense at this point and I understand I understood what you said about the offense but to me
00:17:46
Speaker
Their issue has been less about offensive like consistency and just defensively like are they ever going to put it together because you can't take them seriously if they're if they're get beat 41 to 9 against Texas State or 55 to 19 against Louisiana. Do you want to be in the conference championship game? Because those types of performances like four weeks apart are not. Not going to get it done so.
Interest in MAC Bowl Games
00:18:16
Speaker
ah it I mean, it's up to Butch Jones. It seems like to me, and i'm I'm kind of joking about this kind of not, it seems to me when he goes to the portal or it goes to high school recruiting, he's only looking on the offensive side of the ball. And he's like, have you seen the meme of like the lady holding the baby above the water and there's like the skeleton down at the bottom? The skeleton in this case is the defense. Like he's holding the baby, which is the offense. And he's like, oh, sweet baby.
00:18:44
Speaker
And then the defense is just drowning out there. So ah again, until I can name a defensive player on their team off the top of my head, which I can't. And that's not that's not um like being casual. That's truly just like none of these guys really make an impact, honestly. um Until that happens, like I'm going to kind of keep the same. They're going to be middling. They're going to win six to eight games every year.
00:19:10
Speaker
but they're not going to get any higher than that. They're not really going to compete for the West because Louisiana is always there. we We kind of anticipate you on Monroe to keep building. ah You know, Southern Miss was on life support and Charles Huff and Braylon Braxton. Who knows what that looks like in Hattiesburg? Troy maybe is doing figured some things out at the end of the season, especially with their quarterback spot.
00:19:36
Speaker
South Alabama was one win behind them and, again, lost by two points. I think they're very comparable. So ah it's a very competitive West Division. And if you're just fielding a pop Warner level defense, like what what can you get out of that, honestly, at the end of the day? um Not much.
00:19:57
Speaker
Yeah, I'm honestly, when you said Cory Rucker, you thought he had another year of eligibility. I was shocked. I was like, he's got to be done, dude. He's been, he went to Arkansas state, transferred out and transferred then back in. And I'm like, there's no way he's got time. left the the The COVID year is really like that. We're in the last group of guys that have an extra COVID year where they get six years instead of five by default. Um, let me see if I can't find that.
00:20:27
Speaker
Well, even even the JUCO ruling that just came out, like I don't think he went to junior college, but like, you know, there's a reason like Joey Aguilar has like two years he who just transferred to UCLA, has like two years of eligibility remaining because he was like, yeah, I was in JUCO for two years and the NCA is like, those don't count. You can play till you're 27. And he's like, sweet. So Rucker is coming back. OK.
00:20:54
Speaker
I mean, i I'm not knocking it. I'm i'm right. You can take advantage of the rule, but we're going to have guys that are in college for eight years like that tight end at Miami. So do we have any you have anything else on this game before we move on?
00:21:09
Speaker
ah Not about the game. It was relatively disinteresting. As you expressed went before the ah the first set of bowl games, it's just like, I don't care about playing these Mac schools, dude. No conference yeah disinterests me more than the Mac. Because on ah on a yearly basis, like they are lucky to field four bowl eligible teams.
00:21:33
Speaker
Mm-hmm, but it's interesting because like the same could be said about conference USA, right but Maybe because it's proximity to like where I'm where I am at ah Like geographically I have more interest in it um But for whatever reason the Mac is just You play on Wednesdays that that's cool I think my my biggest issue is just like none of those none of those teams to me have like any history. Like you go through and look at the teams, it's like Bowling Green, Ohio, Buffalo.
00:22:17
Speaker
Akron, you know, all of these Miami of Ohio, you're just like, cool, man. Like yeah Northern Illinois guys one time played Florida State in a bowl game and got crushed after after basically being like, no, we definitely deserve to be here. So it's just like it's tough because it's like the only history you guys really have is like being a joke is the history. So, you know, it'll draw me to the Mac, bring an NDSU up.
00:22:50
Speaker
in dsu is like doesn't want to do it have you have you heard have you heard yeah i mean yeah that i mean i wouldn't when you're running the table like they are i've I've always.
00:23:05
Speaker
i know that like why I know there's like legitimate reasons. I always joke around and like am like they're just scared. like they they They're just afraid to compete like at the highest level at this point. andre like and right no Until they move up, I'm going to be like, yeah, you're just scared. like It's fine. you you know You can be afraid. like Everybody's afraid sometimes. You guys are just afraid every year. like Whatever.
00:23:30
Speaker
all right So Arkansas State is now eight and five with that win, Bowling Green drops to seven and six.
Louisiana's Struggles Against TCU
00:23:36
Speaker
um It stinks that Matt couldn't join us today because I i watched the TCU Louisiana game for about a quarter. And if you look at the win probability chart,
00:23:53
Speaker
For TCU, um I'm looking at it right now on ESPN. I don't think it goes any lower than 74% winning toward TCU. like I understand that Ben Woldridge was coming back from his um shoulder collarbone injury. ah This was a tough one to go out on as your last college start. 7 of 20, 61 yards and a pick and got pulled I think in the third quarter or maybe even earlier than that. ah You know it's bad when
00:24:30
Speaker
We watched the Sunbelt title game. You know, it's bad when they're like, maybe we should put Beal in. And it's like the guy that put up three points against Marshall. Sure. Let's get him in in the game some. So, yeah, they just got railroaded by TCU. And I mean, this game was never close. TCU walked down the field on the first possession and that really set the tone for the game. I'm I know Matt, like, you know, tries to like be very thoughtful when it comes to his Louisiana takes. I don't have any relationship to Louisiana their defense.
00:25:09
Speaker
It's it's rough. No, it especially here in these past two games that we saw against TCU and Marshall, um but even predating that ULM, Troy, South Owl, like these are games against Team State that they should be with the exception of TCU and Marshall on a grant, but like ULM, Troy, South Owl should have been a cakewalk where between the three games you allow Maybe 49 points across three games something like that and instead they allowed 23 to ULM 30 Detroit and 22 To South out this team Louisiana ah Really started to fold in the second half even though like the winds kept coming um which again
00:25:58
Speaker
ah You know Matt's going to have better insight on this and I'm sure we can. We can talk about it next time he's on, but it's just like this team kept winning games so you cannot take that away from them.
00:26:11
Speaker
But as the season progressed, once we hit ah the back half of the season kind of after there by following a win against Coastal, it just felt like a very different team. It didn't feel like the Louisiana that was far and away the best team in the West and probably for in the early half of the year was probably the best team ah in the conference.
00:26:38
Speaker
Well, you do have to think that Woolridge did break his collarbone. So there there are starts in there that are belong to Chandler Field. field ah So but the offense is not the concern I have there, right? It's really the defense at a concern in all year. I.
00:26:57
Speaker
But I don't know if it was a concern. I cannot remember what our thoughts were at the time of these games, but as I look at the scores of the games in the early year, they're allowing 13, 24, 10, 10, albeit against weaker opponents. But then you come up against a team like Troy who is.
00:27:18
Speaker
you know, about as bad as, or, you know, same par, if not worse than app was, and you allow 30 points there. You allow a very poor at this point, ul ULM team 23. The fields thing, we've said this before, Chandler fields for several years has have been the best backup in the conference.
00:27:41
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I remember saying as early as the, the Appalachian state game that. they frankly just don't seem very willing to tackle um because there were there were times I watched that game very closely because that was sort of the premiere game of that week and I was like Matt I mean I remember like the episode after being like hey Matt I don't know if this is like a thing with you guys like on a regular basis but um
00:28:14
Speaker
I you guys don't seem very willing to like meet the running back in the hole. Like there's a lot of like we meet and then I'm just sort of chopping my feet waiting for him to make a move instead of like accelerating and trying to make a tackle. And their tackling to me has been an issue all year. I think they were good enough offensively to get away with it. um you know the coastal carolina game comes to mind if if woldridge doesn't make that insane throw down the field uh to carter the tight end they probably they either don't win that game or it's like ah a three-point win um because that really broke that game open
00:28:57
Speaker
I don't know, I've had this sort of concern about their defense. I think the the only thing is you look at the other teams in the in the West or even around the entire conference, Sands, Marshall this past year, they all just sort of have these glaring flaws. And Louisiana was kind of like, our defense isn't the greatest. And that was like their biggest knock. So, you know, when it's like, you got Texas State, GJ Kenny does this disappearing act in the second half seasons that needs to be studied.
00:29:25
Speaker
You got Arkansas State. We just talked about butch Jones can't feel the defense South Alabama has been all over the map the last couple years. You will Monroe took a steep nosedive once teams kind of figured out. Oh, this quarterback can't throw the football. Troy didn't figure out the quarterback situation to like the last four games of the season and Southern Miss was a joke, so that was their competition in the West and I'm not.
00:29:49
Speaker
I'm not discounting like what they accomplished by making the title game. I'm just saying like it wasn't the strongest field of ah competitors for them. Right. I think that's what makes this year in the Sunbelt feel so weak is that like this is our 7-1 team. This is our one-loss conference team.
00:30:12
Speaker
and ah Even when they were at their peak and Waldridge was healthy, it was uneasy and it was uncertain.
00:30:24
Speaker
um Again, this is not to say that Louisiana save for Marshall wasn't the best team in the conference this year, but it's to say that. It was not like the dominance that even in bad conferences like the Mac like kusa like uh, you know mountain west you get a team that is Head and shoulders above the rest because like these teams are roughly balanced within the conference Uh, and so someone is going to come out on top um And yet this is our team and we're just like sitting here like
00:31:00
Speaker
I don't know if I love this team. They were very good offensively. ah they They run the ball as good as anyone else in the conference, as good as anyone else in G5 does. and they They had some of the the better offensive line play this season. And of course, again, the best quarterback this year and the best backup quarterback this year who probably could have started at half the conference's teams.
00:31:26
Speaker
But it still doesn't feel right because this team just can't play plays unsatisfactory defense. Like remember like when coastal and app like those teams when they were at top the conference at several years ago, did you feel this uneasy about them?
00:31:45
Speaker
No, no, like apps defenses were all when they were like in the conference championship game every year, their defenses were like smothering and coastal in 2020. I mean, it sucks that we never got to see that rematch between them and Louisiana because that that year they had played earlier and it was like a three point game that came down to like a last second field goal. I think the way that momentum was heading that Louisiana would have won that game.
00:32:14
Speaker
Um, but defensively, they were always good. Even Louisiana from a couple of years ago with Napier and Levi Lewis and that crew, even that defense, I felt like, yeah, this is like a championship caliber defense. I mean, frankly, the only defense I really felt great about this year was Marshalls. Um, everybody else was kind of like meh, you know,
00:32:38
Speaker
you were either middling or terrible. And like, those were the kind of defenses that we got out of. I mean, frankly, like if Old Dominion had an even competent defense with the quarterback play they got out of Colton Joseph, they should have been a seven, eight win team. Like he was carrying that offense on his back and like was getting zero help. So like James Madison,
00:33:05
Speaker
James Madison might be the the exception to this. Their issue was offensive consistency every week. Like you never knew what you were getting at a Barnett. But yeah, Louisiana was tough because it was just defensively. you It was all over the place. Like one week, you know, I kept picking against them because I was like, they can't cover this. They can't cover a spread. And then, of course, they beat the tar out of of Arkansas State 55 to 19.
00:33:31
Speaker
and i came back and i was like matt what happened and he was like revenge or whatever and i was like well can you invoke revenge every week because like this is ridiculous that you guys can play like this one week against a pretty good eight win Arkansas state team and then the next week it's like oh sorry we lost to south Alabama at home and you're just like okay i guess like whatever whatever you want to say um Yeah, so we don't have a lot to add about this game. I mean, it was a domination Hoover for TCU through for 252 yards and four touchdowns. ah Again, the game was over. You could say it was over at the end of the first quarter. It was definitely over by halftime is 2027 to zero. ah They kicked the world's saddest field goal in the fourth quarter to keep from getting shut out. I always appreciate that, like.
00:34:24
Speaker
Bro, does anybody care like that? You kicked the field goal like, Hey, we didn't get shut out. Sweet. You should have went forward on fourth. Who cares? Like at that point, you're down 34 points. All right. Anyway, uh, TCU improved to nine and four with the wind. Louisiana dropped to 10 and four. Okay.
Texas State's Victory & QB Analysis
00:34:42
Speaker
The last game of the bowl season for the sunbelt was Texas state defeating North Texas 30 to 28. Um,
00:34:52
Speaker
So Ismail Moddy had already transferred out. ah Lincoln Pear, who had taken a decent bit of snaps, um but had not not really ever made the job his, went crazy in this game. 21 carries, 143 yards, two touchdowns. Jordan McCloud played well. um Is McCloud out of eligibility? I would assume so, right? I believe C is.
00:35:22
Speaker
OK, so that's going to be tough to like have to reboot with the the quarterback position. They feel good about that Brad Jackson kid that they have. Who who knows? Well, he he hasn't played like meaningful game reps. So like, well, we'll see what that looks like over over the course of a season. You know, a year ago, we thought Ethan Vasco might be something and, you know, that didn't happen. ah But yeah, great win by Texas State. It's a I don't want to say it's concerning, but it's also like This was North Texas's backup quarterback that played in this one. their their Their starter had transferred out, I'm pretty sure, or had entered the portal. And you let that guy throw for 393 and two scores, did throw two picks. But then he had 55 yards rushing in a touchdown, including a 70-yard run with a minute 49 to go.
00:36:14
Speaker
uh when you were up nine so a good win for them but um yeah texas state again defensively kind of similar to arkansas state and louisiana you got to get it figured out like your only notable player was ben bill and he opted out after like game three uh so you got to get more contributors on the defense side of the ball if you want to be a serious contender something i didn't know about this game was the 15 and a half point sprint I stayed clear out of that I actually had taken
00:36:55
Speaker
When we were picking at the end of the last episode, I actually took North Texas originally and then Matt told me their quarterback transferred out. And then I was like, I'll just take the under, which hit by like two points because I was like, North Texas, you know, they might not be able to score points and who knows what you're going to get out of Texas state on a, on a weekly basis. But yeah, no, the spread was huge and I was like,
00:37:19
Speaker
I don't know that Texas State is 14 points better than anybody in the country on any given day. Like you truly don't know what you're getting from them ever. Not this late in the season. No. If it was week three, there are a couple teams I would put them over. But shoot, like you could put this team against Kennesaw or shoot even Southern Miss at this point in the year and you don't feel good about it. ah What do we stand now that it's said and done two years of Jordan McLeod?
00:37:50
Speaker
ah in the Sunbelt this year was Fine, but disappointing considering what he had done last year at James Madison ah Ended the year with 30 touchdowns and 13 picks 3,200 yards completed 70% of passes. So it was a very good year. ah He led the conference and passing touchdowns this year um But again, I just feel Let down. As compared to what we saw last year at James Madison, where he threw for more touchdowns, ah less interceptions, more yards, same efficiency. I believe he had more rushing yards as well. Well, like if you were to tear him, let's say you know A to F, what where does Jordan McLeod rank among Sunbelt quarterbacks now that it's over?
00:38:45
Speaker
Oh, he's definitely still in Tier A for me. All right, let's add the let's add the S tier up on top of that. Is he still here? OK, he's in Tier S. I mean, sure like Ben Woldridge won. Sunbelt offensive player of the year. Jordan McLeod blew him out of the water by like and and I understand he got hurt, but Jordan McLeod threw for.
00:39:11
Speaker
30 touchdowns to Woldridge is 17. He did throw more interceptions, but they are in a very high volume passing ah offense ah with Texas State. um He threw for more yards than Woldridge did. ah They had roughly about the same quarterback rating ish, but he's I mean, you could easily make an argument. I think tier S was three guys this year as far as quarterbacks go. I think it was Jordan McLeod. I think it was Ben Waldridge. And I think it was Colton Joseph. And everybody else just sort of slots in under that. I think
00:39:51
Speaker
if you don't have one of those three guys as your quarterback, you could easily say, um, our quarterback can get lost. I'll take, I'll take one of these three over. Like I know for a fact, I would take any of those three over the situation. I, we have it Southern. I'm sure you, you got to fill the exact statement state. So it's like,
00:40:13
Speaker
ah And I guess you could make an argument for Braylon Braxton being in that tier as well. um But it was tough. He didn't play the full season. So he was very good in like the last seven ish games that he played. You know, Huff was sticking to his guns on Stone Earl for some reason.
00:40:33
Speaker
um But, you know, it it all it all paid off when it came time to win the ah the conference. So, yeah, I mean, it it was a good year for Sunbelt quarterback performances. I feel like we've got ah we had a good crop this year. It was just team wise. Not every team was kind of built to compete. And Texas State was the exact same deal, which is I think He obviously didn't have as good as of of a set of weapons as he did last year, at James Madison. I mean, you go look at what like Elijah Surratt did at ah Indiana this year. He missed that guy. Tyson Lawton, another guy that left for Indiana with um
00:41:11
Speaker
ah you know, signeti. So I think he was at a really, really great spot last year. And we saw another guy in Todd Centello a couple of years ago do really well in that system as well. So I think it's just really quarterback friendly. But it I will say for a guy that was McLeod was hurt too and was in and out of games. Like he left the Louisiana game like in the second quarter ah when they played them with like a concussion. So he had games where he was dinged up or Kenny was like, let's get this Brad Jackson kid some action. Like that's fine. But he it wasn't like he got the full compliment of snaps all year long. But he I thought he was great. Yeah, I don't disagree. I just want to get a temp check because I I think what you said was really interesting. um And I'm curious how many other conferences or how often this occurs where this was a really good quarterback year, at least at the very top.
00:42:09
Speaker
um yeah Shoot I mean even old Dominion turns out Quinn Heineken ball, you know, they're they're even Some of those guys down the depth chart like Jalen Rayner disappointing but still played very well um So but as a whole again conference didn't feel as you said ready to compete I is I just don't know like what that what how often that occurs and that's something I'd be curious about I um I think is worth looking into. It was ah it's almost like you know how people talk about the the gap between like billionaires in America and like the middle class and like just how disparate those are that it was almost like that with quarterbacks where it was like listen if you've got one of these four guys your money like every week you've got points you can bank on and if you're in the like middle class like
00:43:07
Speaker
me, ah Alonza Barnett at ah at at James Madison. um I'm trying to think, ah you know, Rayner, there was no guarantees. There was no floor that you could bank on. Like you had no idea what you were getting. So I'm just like there there was a real gap between like these guys are the absolute best and then everybody down here,
00:43:32
Speaker
You can win a game with them. Are they going to win you anything? Probably not. But you know, it kind of is what it is. Like not everybody gets, you know, a top tier quarterback every year. So no, but I thought it was a really good year, especially like you said, like at the top, especially.
00:43:48
Speaker
I don't
Season Reflections & Future Plans
00:43:50
Speaker
know interesting stuff. This was an interesting year, um especially to again as I'm still fairly new to this conference. um This is as in as unique a year as I've seen ah because of how.
00:44:08
Speaker
Barely equal the teams felt how it felt like there were obviously clear bottom feeders, ah but no one save for Marshall in Louisiana really declared themselves as best ah in the in their conference or in their division.
00:44:23
Speaker
And as we said today neither of those teams ever felt like they were a hundred percent locked in i mean i remember coming on to this show after southern beat jmu and i had recency bias and i was at that game bias but like i came out here saying southern might be the best team in the conference.
00:44:43
Speaker
um Which in retrospect is like you know you tell someone someone once thought that Georgia Southern was the best team in the Sunbelt in 2024 like That's that stuff that I don't want attached to my name
00:44:58
Speaker
But that's just that's why that's how that year was. That's why after that game, I told you and your brother, I was like, don't get too far out over your skis on southern like they they're going to if you do, there's going to be like a tree right in front of you that you ski right into like there. Clay Helton, you know, Matt and I talked about it about the bowl game last episode. Clay Helton's always got that in him where he they just totally mail in a game for seemingly no reason. So.
00:45:28
Speaker
You know, it kind of is what it is. But, uh, so with that, Texas state closes out there season eight and five, North Texas finishes six and seven for the year. Zeke, I don't know if you have anything left to talk about. I think we're good on this, but, uh, do you want to tell people where they can find you on socials? And then we'll get out of here.
00:45:47
Speaker
Yeah, I'm on Twitter at Zeke Palermo. You can see it below me here. You can also find all the show's socials down below. I'm on Twitter at Zeke Palermo.
00:45:59
Speaker
e r m o I'm really excited for draft season. I always am because it allows people like me who ah as was coined bar by our new friend of the pod bracing Broadway bad ball. ah As proliferators of that idea, ah it allows me to you know pretend like I know what I'm talking about ah more than I already do. ah So I'm really looking forward to draft season. um I look forward to Shador Sanders getting exposed in the very near future for being as fraudulent as he is. um
00:46:35
Speaker
And you can read all about it on my Twitter, at seagpolemos, e-k-e-p-a-l-e-r-m-o.
00:46:42
Speaker
I'm interested for a draft season as well, just because like you like you said earlier, you know Mike Green is obviously the 1A of this, or number one with a bullet of this conference, like what ah the outlook looks like. I mean, I've even heard people say he should be creeping into the late first round. So he might even end up being a day one selection, depending on what the need is there as far as edge rusher. But I'm interested to dig into it and see kind of where other guys are slated, like where, you know, do we think that NFL wise, these guys can be contributors at any, at any point, you know, that that's going to be something that remains to be seen, but we will be back. ah You can find me on exit, watch the stone, you know, warm weather fans, all of that good stuff. We will be back ah in, let's say for a real, for a real, real episode, let's say like,
00:47:40
Speaker
a couple months. Once we get full on into draft season, we'll be back. We'll talk about our kind of favorite prospects, where we expect them to go ah within the context of the draft and discuss it from that end. But for now, this has been the last episode of the 2024-2025 season for us. Thanks everybody that joined us, watched our stuff, consumed our content. We really appreciate you guys taking the time to do so. Again,
00:48:06
Speaker
If you want to follow our stuff, it's all here in the in the description. But this has been another episode of Warm Mother France.