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2024 Sun Belt Football: South Alabama's backups step up, Bowl previews part 1
57 Plays4 months ago
Brian, Matt and Zeke return to talk South Alabama's performance in the 2024 Cramton Bowl, give their thoughts on the coaching moves and rumors around the conference, and preview the early slate of Sun Belt bowls on this edition of Warm Weather Fans.
All episodes are now available in video form on YouTube!
Email the show at warmweatherfans@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to the Sun Belt Podcast
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome everybody into another edition of Warm Weather Fans, the Sun Belt podcast. My name is Brian Stone joined once again this week by Zeke Palermo and Matt Migas.
Bowl Season Scheduling Concerns
00:00:26
Speaker
We're here to talk about bowl season. It's fully here. It's in full effect. ah I didn't think it was legal to schedule a game ah on the same day as Army Navy. I thought that was disrespecting the troops personally.
Personal Updates from Matt and Zeke
00:00:41
Speaker
um but they did they went ahead and they did it anyway so we'll get into that here in a minute but first before uh before we kick off here matt how's it going and then we'll throw it to zeke and get started here oh man i'm doing good um you know getting ready for christmas uh my house was a disaster so my lovely wife and i have spent the entire day uh cleaning it um i did take a nap halfway in between um which you know whatever Um and my thanks let me down today. So that's awesome. Zeke, how's it going for you? Uh a little better than that. Uh just kind of that watching football. Um I I felt the same way. I I believe the celebration bowl has always been the same weekend as army navy but I didn't know FBS teams were playing and maybe it's because it's the salute to veterans bowl where where we're trying to find some thematic theme for this weekend or
00:01:40
Speaker
ah I didn't like it because I cause ah you know drew attention away from what should be the most exciting game every year.
Harvey Broussard's Transfer to Houston
00:01:49
Speaker
Matt, can I get just just really quick before we jump into the rest of this, can I get like a gut reaction from you? So we found out today that Harvey Broussard is also going to Houston to now catch passes with former Cajun, Zion, Chris.
00:02:07
Speaker
what I posted the meme just because I thought it was it was too good to pass up, but I was just like, um winner what are what are sort of your like are you like, I hate Willie Fritz? like Where are you at with this right now? and Look, it's hard to look at a kid going for a better opportunity.
00:02:33
Speaker
Which in their opinion, you know they feel like it's a better opportunity, whether it turns out to be or not, you know we'll see. um It's hard to deny a kid that, right? um But no, i mean it as as somebody who is a fan of the Cajuns, it is brutal to to see um such talented young guys as go to Houston together um you know a year apart.
Terrence Carter's Transfer Portal Impact
00:02:57
Speaker
But look, you know, if Harvey feels like this is a better opportunity for him and he gets to reunite with ah with a quarterback that he had a lot of good chemistry with, then I mean, look, you know, more power to him. I hope it works out. I think the Cajuns have enough depth.
00:03:13
Speaker
at both of those positions um to to make some some things interesting because the Walker Howard news is official. i was That was literally the thing I was going to bring up next is like, how how are we feeling? Walker Howard, hater, Harvey Broussard question mark.
00:03:32
Speaker
No, i think har i think just be other than bla with i i know i know um I think Harvey was leaving regardless. um because man look if you If you looked at at film this year, as talented as he is and as dynamic of a playmaker as he was, it never felt like he fit.
00:03:48
Speaker
um You know, it always kind of felt like he was the number three, number four option in the offense. And it just, you know, he he probably feels that he's a number one or a number two on most teams in the country. um So, you know, let him go find that out, right? um And I think the much bigger loss for the Cajuns from this week is is Terrence Carter entering the the transfer portal. I mean, that is just a brutal blow.
00:04:16
Speaker
um And so, you know, again, though, it's hard to deny a kid but when he feels like it's a better opportunity. um So look, no hard feelings. I wish him nothing but the best, but it sucks to see those two guys go for sure.
Western Michigan vs. South Alabama Recap
00:04:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:32
Speaker
Well, speaking of former Sunbelt quarterbacks, ah we had a bowl game again, take place ah on Saturday and it was Western Michigan who is led by former or was led by former Old Dominion quarterback Hayden Wolf, ah went in and took a big fat L to basically South Alabama's backup offense um because where Blair Davenport Bishop davenport but you that and even better name do you know who my father is bishop davenport the third no is what it is what it sounds like um Yeah, I mean, they didn't have fluff Bothwell is in the the portal. So he's presumably not coming back to to mobile. ah Gio Lopez was injured for this one. So you got the Bishop Davenport experience. He looked good, man. Like I I don't know whether we need to have like an open camp or something next year, but I don't know. Like it it feels like now the the South Alabama like skill position players, I'm like,
00:05:42
Speaker
were Were they just starting the wrong guys?
South Alabama's Future Prospects Debate
00:05:44
Speaker
Like no offense. I mean, to fluff and Gio, but I mean, and and you can make the level of competition argument all you want, but it's like Bullock had 130 yards and a score. Davenport threw for 271, two touchdowns. He did throw a pick, but he had a 50 yard rushing touchdown ah in the third quarter.
00:06:06
Speaker
Do we need to have more open competition in mobile, boys? Yeah, I think there absolutely should be. ah Not at the best. Oh. I think, I mean, the skill positions, they've been they've been low. The skill positions have been like fairly mediocre. um South Al for several years has always had like one or one very high volume receiver, where they just force feed him the ball 80, 90 catches every year.
00:06:33
Speaker
um I don't think it's a matter of you know starting the wrong ones. Consider this was mess Western Michigan. This isn't like they were beaten up on an ACC school in a bowl game. This is a 6-6 MAC team. bishop dave Bishop Davenport played well in this game, but Gio Lopez confirmed he's coming back. His position as is as secure as anyone else in the Sun Belts. Kendrell Bullock ran for a ton in this game. He's been a junior. He's been involved in this offense all year. ah I think this was just a normal above average set or a south out performance. No, you see, I'm going to disagree completely. oh See, that's why I'm um in between you two. I can keep you apart. You say it's a six and six Mac school. South Alabama's a six and six Sunbelt school.
00:07:30
Speaker
yeah like Yeah, and yes, we can all agree that the Sunbelt is a better overall conference in the Mac. I think we can all agree on that. um But and at this point, I'm saying a six and six Mac team and a six and six Sunbelt team are any different, is really splitting hairs. But like if you go back to the Arkansas State game, right, with South Owl loss, they had control Bullock playing in that game. Gio Lopez threw for nearly 300 yards.
00:07:59
Speaker
Uh, Pritchett, uh, was playing in that game. So it's not like in these losses, it was, Oh, if only we had this one guy, it's that there is a definite ceiling on this team. And that did not change because they want to hold. I just think in terms of the quarterback perspective, I think Bishop Davenport played well enough last night to at least earn a competition in the spring.
Marshall's Bowl Game Opt-Out Debate
00:08:24
Speaker
Joe Lopez was so good for them all year.
00:08:29
Speaker
I think it was fine. But i I also do acknowledge that the weapons for them at the pass catcher spots like really haven't been there. You know, historically, you're like looking at a Jalen Tolbert or a Jalen Wayne, like when they had those guys and those guys were like big time impact receivers. And you don't really it's it's kind of what Louisiana was doing to an extent where it's like receiver by committee a little bit where it's like We don't know who's going to who's going to be our number one pass catcher this week. And we're like, we're not really manufacturing touches for anybody because no one really jumps off the page at you. I'll say I'm going to give i an ask you outside of Jamal Pritchett. Who led the conference in receiving yards aimed in catches? Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. So.
00:09:22
Speaker
But I mean, again, you got to have you can just double. I know that a lot of teams didn't because he he obviously put up stats, but you could just double one guy, you know, they they don't have a plethora of weapons where you're like, oh, my gosh, like I have to account for so much like. Both wells in the in the portal, I just checked his stats like before we logged on. He didn't even run for like 900 yards this year.
00:09:47
Speaker
Like, that's crazy to me to go into the portal as a freshman and be like, I i cracked 800 yards on, you know, however many carries. Great. You know, it's one thing when it's a mod hardy and it's like, I am the offense. You know, I'm the only reason ULM has wins. Like, again, a six and six school that is desperate for anybody to step up and help out Gio Lopez. And it's just kind of like, other than Pritchett,
00:10:16
Speaker
You know, it Bothwell showed up sometimes and sometimes he was invisible. So I i don't know. But we're here. Oh, go ahead. Well, we're a year into Major Applewhite now. I feel like this is the same team in terms of ceiling floor as it was under Kane one.
00:10:36
Speaker
It's way too early for that. I i don't think it, I don't think it was because we saw what the ceiling under Kane Womack was. It was like a 10 win, a 10 and two season where if they, I think they lost the Troy two years ago, like 12 to nine or something, 10 to nine. And if they had won that game, they would have been undefeated in the Sunbelt and in the conference championship game and probably would have walked over. Who was in it two years ago app? Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, they would have walked over that app school. Like both of the teams in the West were just so much better than everyone else in the East. so Zeke, I love you, but not only do I disagree with you, it's way too early to even have that conversation. Sure. um I'm not talking about floors and ceilings until at least two years. No, I think what we found is The floor for both seemed similar. Like the end of the Kane-Womack era, you know, it's great he went and got a defensive coordinator job, but like they were not good last year and they had very, very high expectations. Consistently, I think, especially now, um early on in their Sunbelt tenure, their their floor was really low.
00:11:45
Speaker
Um, but you know, post pandemic, uh, which is, it's so funny that that's what we refer to now in, in since the time it's been four years. It's a full college cycle. Right. Post post pandemic. I think their floor is consistently a 500 team six and six. Um, yeah, the their ceiling, like, like Brian said, under Kane Womack was a 10 and a 10 win conference championship contender.
00:12:11
Speaker
um we'll see what it is under major major apple white um i don't think it's that high but could it be close maybe i think yeah i i think when you move from walnut to apple white i think your ceiling gets lowered like almost by default because i think walnut was a hell of a head coach and i think if he had I don't know if he just felt like, you know, I'm sure he felt on some level, hey, if I go be the defensive coordinator at Alabama, you know, I'll get better looks for ah like a P5.
00:12:45
Speaker
get a p four dollar but and i But I also don't know if he kind of looked around at where South Alabama was at the end of last year and went, this isn't heading in the right direction for me. yeah he's also So i you know I think you can take both things kind of into account.
00:13:02
Speaker
but ah Again, a great win for South Alabama. They roll up 537 yards of offense. Again, I know it was Western Michigan. It's a Mac school, whatever. But again, considering they were basically starting a backup. Offense.
00:13:19
Speaker
And still, you know, again, Davenport stepped up, you had Bullock step up, you had Web go for six catches, 182 yards and two scores. I think you're just happy with that because you at least know, hey, if something happens to one of our guys, we're not totally screwed. So.
Potential Coaching Changes and Implications
00:13:39
Speaker
Yeah, it was a good win for them. And, you know, again, I've not really ever been high on Hayden Wolf. So him kind of playing like crap a little bit in this game doesn't really surprise me all that much. I i felt like, um you know, when they had those skill position guys like Jennings and the running back, I can't remember his name off the top of my head right now, Blake Watson, that Wolf was a weak link for them. And think things haven't changed at Western Michigan, let's just put it that way.
00:14:09
Speaker
so You know, it is what it is. ah South Alabama gets to end their season over 500. There's seven and six and defeat Western Michigan 30 to 23.
00:14:20
Speaker
um All right. So did we want to talk about anything before we jump into was there anything else besides both? the moreph We would. It's probably. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. That totally s slipped my mind. So Marshall.
00:14:40
Speaker
Marshall opts out of their bowl game as a program that that was setting up you know if everybody had been there Huff included Braxton the whole nine That would have been a really fun game against army because it would have been a really fun style clash matchup But, you know, they had, what, 25 guys in the portal. ah Someone said that there were additional, like another 20 that were injured or something like that for the guys that weren't even in the portal. And they were basically like, we can't even feel like a team right now, is what is what a lot of people said. I don't know that that's 100% accurate. I think it would have been a really ugly version of that team. But if the if the entire coaching staff's gone,
00:15:25
Speaker
which you would imagine they are, then who would even be there to coach it? Like, beside's maybe the janitor. um yeah i mean just I've never seen anything like this.
00:15:38
Speaker
whole team I don't think so. I don't know. It's a little unprecedented. um Look, I know a ton of people bring up, I've seen a ton of people bring up the LSU argument um went went a when Ed Ojron got fired.
00:15:59
Speaker
or or right before Edo's run got fired. And a bunch of players opted out of the bowl game and entered the transfer portal. And LSU had like 35 scholarship players. And John Trait Kirkland, who was a wide receiver, played quarterback because he was a quarterback in high school. Oh, well, LSU could play it. Why can't Marshall? Well, because it was stupid for LSU to play in that bowl game. That was dumb.
00:16:21
Speaker
Like, like, let's, let's be totally honest. A kid that was a 50 year senior hadn't played quarterback in five years. Like you didn't have a quarterback. yeah but Let's be very, like that was dumb for LSU to play it. LSU should have opted out of that bowl game. Um, so it's not this, Oh, you know, you could have still played it. You're quitting, blah, blah, blah. Don't give me that. Don't, don't do that. Um, look.
00:16:48
Speaker
your job as an athletic director and as a university is is to not more than more than winning games is to protect these kids, right? um Because yeah, they might be 18, 19, 20 years old and legally that's an adult. But I think we can all attest that when we were 18, 19, we were still kids, right? um And so if you don't have enough players to hopefully go through a football game, then it's in the best interest of you and your program to back out. Now, I agree with some people that said, well, Marshall could have seen this coming. Could they have just not accepted the ball game from the jump? Maybe. But at the time, they thought they'd have enough.
00:17:41
Speaker
Just look, i I kind of see both people's arguments. um What I do wish though, and I know I know i saw the the statement from from ULM about how their APR score just wasn't high enough. I get that. But man, put a Sunbelt team in if a Sunbelt team opts out. i I would not have wanted to watch ULM play. I'm sorry, you want to watch Louisiana Tech?
00:18:08
Speaker
No, but I'm not going to watch that game either. i I'm just saying like that ULM team, the way that they were backsliding at the end of the year and not having the mod hardy because he's in the portal.
00:18:22
Speaker
that team would have looked like an expansion first year, like FCS call-up level talent. Like you want Aiden Arment to sling in it 50 times? Yeah, exactly. Speaking of ULM though and and coaching changes and whatnot, I'd love to pose this question to you unless Zeke, you have something on the Marshall situation. i mean Not really, all right. Brian Vinson.
00:18:52
Speaker
his name has been floated around to replace rich rod at jacksonville state
00:18:59
Speaker
i i can't i would want to see like is the money situation that much better cause i think it's Here's the problem. A normal Sunbelt school, like take South Alabama, who's six and six just want a bowl game. I think if you are looking at it from that angle, it's it's a step down if you want to move from a school like that to Jacksonville State. But we we've talked on you know ad nauseam about how bad ULM's situation is, both from like a money perspective, athletic department, like all of that stuff.
00:19:34
Speaker
I think if you look around and you're Bryant Vincent and Jacksonville State runs a very run heavy offense or did last year under Rich Rod and that was the backbone of their team and you're Bryant Vincent and you're like I want to run the football like that's my identity. I wouldn't be shocked if he was just like. Is the money there though? I don't know the Jacksonville State financial situation, but I can't imagine the team that just jumped up from FCS is.
00:20:06
Speaker
Eaten all the, you know, ULMs in a pretty cray spot as well. I can't imagine it's significantly better, right? And Jackson- I don't know. No, you're good. They're also getting the buyout money from Rich Rod's contract from you West Virginia, too.
00:20:25
Speaker
so i think that could help float it if you're like they had to buy rich rod out of the rest of his contract i don't know how long that was or what the buyout number was but you know west virginia clearly didn't have a problem paying it and so Yeah, I mean, if you if you take that money and immediately go reinvest it in a coach where you're like, this guy runs a style of offense, we we want to run because this is kind of what Rich Rod was doing. It might be a little more ah under center.
00:20:56
Speaker
but you you know you teach a guy to put his hands under the center's butt. That's that's the difference. so i'm just like I'm just like, yeah, stylistically it makes sense. I think you have to ask about from a money perspective and just coaching at Jacksonville State who just won their conference title, will give you a better chance to win over the long-term than it does at ULM where it's, let's be frank, it's ah it's a rebuilding project and it has been for as long as I can remember.
00:21:24
Speaker
So no no matter who the coach has been.
00:21:29
Speaker
I don't know. I have no real form. I hadn't heard any of this before, so I don't have
Sun Belt Teams and Player Performances Discussion
00:21:34
Speaker
form thoughts. It just, that feels like who for Jacksonville State, after winning a conference championship, you would imagine that you have a little bit more agency to pick a ah maybe a better coach, not that Brian Vincent has done a poor job in his first year you're at ULM. He did something there. But then for Brian Vincent, like again, I'm not certain that that's a lateral or upward move. So the idea of that perplexing me, because I don't know which way it would go or who it makes sense for.
00:22:16
Speaker
you Yeah, you say that Zeke about having more agency, but like, who who would who would be a fit for that spot at that point, right? like you're You can go get yourself like a ah coaching cast off you know the way that Rich Rod was. You could go get yourself a P5 offensive coordinator. ah And we've seen how how that has come back to potentially bite a lot of teams. ah Or you grab a FCS head coach. And I think of those options, I probably would go with Vincent in that spot.
00:22:52
Speaker
Like if those are the options on the table, like would you rather have a guy who, you know, could be a coach for an FBS program right now? Because we've seen that Vincent can, he just hasn't identified someone at the quarterback spot that makes a difference yet. But would you rather do that or or take a chance on a guy and and kind of flip a coin and go, Oh, this could either go really poorly or really great. And we have no idea. like This, and I asked because I'm still like really on the fence about the concept.
00:23:22
Speaker
Your stance has typically been to go to the FCS. That's kind of been a theme of a lot of our discussions this year is, Brian, that you advocate and convinced me ah that the best option is often to dip into the FCS. So why is it different here? Because we, Sunbelt teams don't typically have the agency to hire a sitting FBS head coach from somewhere else.
00:23:49
Speaker
that's the difference. Like we're, we're not talking about the SEC where it's like, we could go out and grab any group of five coach we want. If we wanted to go get Chad will tomorrow in house at Ole Miss or Auburn or whatever. If we wanted to go grab Chadwell from Liberty right now, Auburn in this exercise, we could just go pay his buyout like no matter what. and We don't have to even think twice about it. and You don't have that leeway.
00:24:19
Speaker
So the reason why, like, the Huff move is so big for Southern Miss and the reason why this would be ah kind of ah an answer for them is because typically at the Group of Five level, you can't just pick up and go, we're just going to go grab some guy whoever whoever we got our eye on. That's not how it we works. So yeah that's the difference for me. I don't know. I'm still really lukewarm about the whole idea for both sides. um But if this happens, I don't know. We'll all have to form an opinion at some point.
00:24:49
Speaker
Can I can I ask one last thing before we move on to the bowl previews? um How do we feel about Blake Anderson being back in the Sunbelt? He was before my time. This is up to y'all.
00:25:04
Speaker
He was good at Arkansas State. I mean, until you know there was a lot of like personal stuff at the end that happened, like his wife passing away, ah which was like a big thing. um And it just kind of seemed like things had kind of run its course ah in Jonesboro, especially toward the end. like He had a great run, but they were like squeaking out like five and seven, six and six years at the end there. um But now he gets to go be the OC for Charles Huff at Southern Miss.
00:25:32
Speaker
and Ironically, it was off the field stuff that got him out of Utah State as well. um So that seems to be the the kind of theme for him at a lot of his stops is like. It's not the on the field stuff. A lot of times it's right. the stuff That happens off of it. I'm glad to see that's what you're hitching your wagon on to Charles. I. He's a great coach. He's a great recruiter. He is an incredible offensive mind.
00:26:03
Speaker
So, um, him running the offense and Southern Miss with Charles Huff, who's also a pretty good offensive mind is, uh, is, is concerning, um, for, for the rest of the Sunbelt now. What is he? Oh, sorry, Matt. but and Good. Good.
00:26:20
Speaker
Well, it was a question of what does he do? does is it Is the offense going to align with what Huff was doing at Marshall? like What were those Arkansas State offense? Yeah, it it's pretty close. It's pretty spready, right? um They always like to air it out. um I mean, for for example, Ryan Applin, the offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern, was one of Blake's best quarterbacks at Arkansas State.
00:26:46
Speaker
ah yeah There was another guy, Hanson. Justice Hanson. Justice Hanson, yeah. um He was a beast. but there There was a stretch for four or five years where Blake Anderson always had a stud quarterback.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah, I mean, his offense were always dynamic. They always put up points. Man, I remember when UL would play Arkansas State because obviously they're both in the West. They played each other every year. It was constantly, you know, a 43-37 just shootout game. um So yeah, I think that's a great hire by Southern Miss. And again, great coach, great recruiter.
00:27:31
Speaker
can i Can I ask one additional question? Because I haven't been following this. Daegi, that was the OC at Marshall under Huff. What happened to him? eat it I'm like, did he get a job somewhere? Did he not want to follow Huff? like I never had anything. I think he just got a job at um oh one of the old pack books. I think he got a job at Arizona. he He moved on. and he He did get a job.
00:28:00
Speaker
Um, was he at all ever related to Jared? Yeah. They are. They're, they're like brothers or something. Okay. That guy. That guy is now the office coordinator at Arizona at Arizona. Okay. I appreciate Zeke s slipping in at the end. That guy sucked. And then he's just like moving on. All right. Garrett.
00:28:25
Speaker
Yeah. if You want to talk about it. You want to talk about a guy that had high expectations that didn't work out. Oof. Him and ah he and DJ you can both share a but share a locker for that one. take and And take your automaker.
00:28:42
Speaker
okay hey that was that was y'all that wasn't me at all i didn't say i didn't say look as long as as long as walker howard doesn't join that list i don't care i just want to be clear i didn't say a word when tate rodemaker got brought in i was like this guy does not have it and y'all and i like y'all were like yeah no this guy's gonna be good and i was like so brian stone the quarterback whisper not even the quarterback whisper, but like I, I, I literally made this point in the preseason. I go, if he couldn't be good at Florida state with the weapons they had around him, what, what is he going to do at Southern miss? And the answer is not play. My, my thought was there would be a drop in competition and then maybe he'd be better with the drop in competition, but
00:29:28
Speaker
See, i've come to real I've come to realize that that's overrated. You can't just take a guy who would be on the end of a bench at a P4 and stick him ah at a G5 and automatically go, yep, no problems here.
Upcoming Bowl Games Previews
00:29:42
Speaker
Okay. All right, let's get into bold previews. So let we'll start with this first one here. So this coming Wednesday, we at 5.30 on ESPN,
00:29:54
Speaker
We've got the Boca Raton bowl ah between Western Kentucky and James Madison. JMU is a six and a half point favorite over under 52 and a half. I'm taking JMU minus six and a half and I'll go ahead and give you my reason behind it. ah Western Kentucky's quarterback is transferring out.
00:30:12
Speaker
So ah the guy that threw for 2800 yards and 23 touchdowns, he will not be there, I assume. um And as up and down as Alonzo Barnett has been this year, at least he will be attending the football game. And that's more than I can say for Western Kentucky's quarterback. So. Who's TJ Finley, right?
00:30:35
Speaker
no caden v No, it's belt camp. What happened to TJ Finley? Finley's in the portal again. He didn't Finley didn't Finley barely played for them this year. He threw 70 passes all year. He got I spent the show. He was there. He was there. What he was. He got benched for belt camp. You had an incredible year.
00:30:59
Speaker
I don't know how I missed this. So, Kaden Belkamp got thrown into their bowl game last year as a freshman. Okay. And led this like 35 point comeback for them to win it. yeah he was He was insane. um And then they brought in TJ Finley and he lost his job early on, but after like two games, Finley sucked.
00:31:24
Speaker
Um, and so they put in belt camp and I mean, he finished with 2,800 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, only 10 interceptions. He also added like 400 yards on the ground. Yeah. hey are we not familiar with your game And he's a big dude too. Yeah. He's like, he's I think he's like six, five to 20 or something like that. He's listed on ESPN as six, six, two 36.
00:31:49
Speaker
yeah day Yeah, he's a pause.
00:31:55
Speaker
Uh, yeah, I I watched ah Western Kentucky. um Or had bits of it on when they played Jacksonville State in the conference championship. um They were outclassed by Jacksonville State. Give me James Madison by six and a half. Yeah, I'll take James Madison as well. And one more thought on Caden Belt Camp ah Kentucky Wildcats. Come on down.
00:32:21
Speaker
We have your, we have your new quarterback right here in state. Well, his brother just committed to Georgia Southern. So, don't you start. Don't you start. Hey, Kaden. Don't you start. Wouldn't you love to play with your brother? You like AC fringe, remember? He's fine.
00:32:44
Speaker
He's not, he's not, so he's not six, six to 37. You hear that year that Zeke, the Camaro drives nice, but you know, now there's a Maserati out for sale. that like Would you, would you not trade ah a Camaro for a Maserati?
00:33:01
Speaker
in probably i get of shot open the got to shut itself in the foot with that i get your point but my what i'm saying is you've been so high on jc french and now you're I've been pretty like up and down with him like he's had some good games for sure but he's also had some games where I mean, we don't win the Marshall game if he stays healthy. Like, sorry. You know, it is what it is. Like, I didn't want to tell I didn't want to tell Bryson that last week, but I was like, listen, man, if Dexter Williams doesn't come in, they lose that Marshall game. Like, it is what it is. So again, if you're handing me a six six two hundred and thirty seven pound quarterback who just threw for twenty eight hundred yards and twenty three touchdowns. Yes, please. I'll take her. but That's right.
00:33:52
Speaker
All right, ah speaking of Georgia Southern, ah on Thursday... Matt, did we get a pick from you on this? Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, I missed it. On Thursday at 7 p.m. ESPN2, the R.L. Carriers New Orleans Bowl with Georgia Southern and Sam Houston, Georgia Southern is a six-point favorite. Overunder is 48 and a half.
00:34:15
Speaker
Um, I'm going to take Georgia Southern minus six. Uh, it's mostly because of the coaching situation at Sam Houston. The fact that Keeler is already in Philadelphia coaching, uh, getting ready for temple, uh, to coach temple. And, um, also. I think I saw, I saw this stat that, um, Sam Houston had like a top 50 defense in the country, but like a bottom.
00:34:42
Speaker
thirty offense or something like that. So the fact that they can't presumably take advantage of Georgia Southern's Achilles heel, which is their defense, leads me to believe that I think it's kind of a matchup that like it'll be low scoring, I think, but I think Southern all ultimately ends up winning because everybody is still there. Like we're not having a mass exodus of players. One thing to keep an eye on. Sam Houston did have the 29th best rushing offense. In the country.
00:35:12
Speaker
um what i put there What put their total offense down is that their passing offense is atrocious. right I mean, really bad. um But they do have a really good running back, Jay Ducker. um So keep an eye on him. I do think Georgia Southern wins this game, but I can't say minus six.
00:35:34
Speaker
Uh, I like the under here under 48 and a half. Uh, as you said, their offense, damn Houston, uh, very poor, but the defense has been exceptional. They won games 10 to seven, nine to three. Uh, even their losses 21 to 11 were pretty, pretty stout defensively. Uh, and we've seen Southern struggle.
00:35:55
Speaker
in games against good defenses. So I don't think either team scores above 20, 24 here. I think the winning team will have 21 or 24. So give me the hundred. Matt, what's your, what's your pick like officially? Um, Sam Houston plus six. Okay. Um, Zeke, ironically, the only time Sam Houston's offense looked good, I thought was when they played Texas state.
00:36:23
Speaker
yeah Yeah, wasn't that like 40 to 38 or something like that? Yeah, it was like 41 to 34 or something was the final of that one. And I couldn't believe it because I picked Texas State thinking, oh, Sam Houston's got this awful offense and there they go putting up 41 points. So who knows?
00:36:39
Speaker
um All right. So last game that we're going to discuss here on this episode, ah what we'll do is next Sunday, we'll come back. We'll talk about these three bowl games, break them down and then do the final ones that are all all taking place after Christmas. So we'll we'll be here to talk about that next Sunday. um The last one, December 23rd at 11 a.m. Who what a time to kick off 11 a.m. on a Monday.
00:37:05
Speaker
cheese. ah The Myrtle Beach Bowl Coastal Carolina doesn't even have to leave their locker room. ah They play UTSA. ah UTSA is an eight and a half point favorite, over under 55 and a half. um I'm going to take UTSA because both Vasco and Noah Kim are in the portal. yeah ah Maybe this Tad Hudson guy that ah Coastal fans have been gassing up, maybe he shows up and pulls a veldt camp in the bowl game.
00:37:36
Speaker
but I'm going to have to see it to believe it. So give me UTSA because ah Coastal Carolina. Here's the thing with me in Coastal Carolina. Their quarterback position was so bad all year long that if they couldn't find the time to pull the trigger on Hudson during the season and they had to wait for two guys to transfer out or whoever starts for them, that's not a good that's
Critique of College Football Playoff Format
00:37:59
Speaker
not a great sign for that guy's prospects. So I'm taking UTSA. I agree.
00:38:05
Speaker
Yeah, ah this team they're also missing some of the rest offensive pieces. Matthew McDoom also in the portal. I think he already already transferred, you know, agreed to go to Cincinnati. So this is a really depleted team, even though it will practically be a home game for him.
00:38:22
Speaker
It things are things I think are going to be pretty dire for Tim Beck and in year three, unless, oh yeah unless like some of the young guys that he's been recruiting the last couple of years, like really, really step up. It doesn't, it already doesn't look great. And then you add on like, we have to find a ah quarterback on top of it. And that's just.
00:38:44
Speaker
I wouldn't be shocked if they went three and nine next year and he was at his job. He's got to hit a home run ah with with a quarterback, ah whether whether it be in the portal or guy that they have in the building already that we don't know about yet. he he's He's got to hit a home run a quarterback or else, like you said, three and nine, four and eight looks to be realistic for them next year. And that's that's not going to be good for his future. We're we're at a point where Gosh, almost all of the coaches in the conference have been replaced within the past two years, so there's not really a whole long list of guys that could be the next coach. league But I'd imagine Tim Beck is probably the next coach. To get replaced, probably not going to upgrade. It'll probably be a firing or a buyout. I think does Ramo and Hilton are the only two coaches that have been in their position longer than two years. Des isn't going anywhere, right?
00:39:43
Speaker
And no help Helton's probably in the same spot as Tim Beckies, where like you got to figure it out this year. Helton probably has one extra year over Beck, just because they've actually won a little bit more than even with Gracie McCall. Tim Beck wasn't doing it. So it's got to be back, right? Kenny's going into year three. Oh, Butch Jones. Butch Jones has been there, what, four years? Yeah.
00:40:08
Speaker
Yeah, favorite i I conceded he's going to stay there forever and I'm never going to like that team.
00:40:16
Speaker
Did butch Jones like here you you're such a get off my lawn grandpa when it comes to Arkansas State. Just never go on leave me alone. I'm an I'm an Arkansas State truth and what can I say truth and your Texas State fraud. Wake up. Also Arkansas State truth.
00:40:38
Speaker
wake up sheeple wake up sheeple butch jones not legit well we'll see i think next season i mean i know we just signed a fat extension but that i think next season is going to be a real like litmus test for him because frankly i know we're getting off topic but you know arkansas state on my screen is like the next bowl game to come up but jail and rainer didn't progress or I thought played all that well this year and they were lucky that the conference kind of took a step back because I I think any other year we talked about this on a previous episode but I think any other year they're fighting for bowl eligibility they're not seven and five I think they're like a five and seven six and sixteen otherwise
00:41:26
Speaker
And, you know, you talked about a while ago, the South Alabama Arkansas State game. I don't know that there's going to be a game that goes down from the Sunbelt this year that baffles me more than the result of that one. I think it was 18 to 16 was the final. And I was just like, neither of these defenses are good. What are we doing here?
00:41:46
Speaker
um But that pretty much does it for all of the content we have. We wanted to split it up but ah because we didn't want to be you know at the end of bowl season you know recapping games on the last bowl games on January 3rd for the Sunbelt. We didn't want to be here on January 4th talking about a game that happened on you know December 14th. So we're trying to kind of chop it up here. ah Matt, do you want to let people know where they could find you on socials? And then we can throw it to Zeke and get out of here.
00:42:16
Speaker
You can find me on social at ah as always at me as Matt. Just awaiting the Cajuns in the New Mexico Bowl against TCU um and looking forward to the future of Walker Howard.
00:42:33
Speaker
I'm on Twitter as well. You can see it right below me here at Zeke Plammer, Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O. Sunbelt's just bowl games left for me. George State's been snoozing for like three weeks now, so it's just a matter of seeing if Del McGee can really recruit like he's cut up to be. um We're also starting to just look at a college football playoffs. We're excited for 12 teams. I don't think this is the right format, but it's better than what we had, so I'm excited to be where we're at. Zeke, have you seen the composite the composite scores from 24-7 about Georgia State? You better shut your mouth about Del McGee. You're such a P4 elitist. Me? You're such a P4 elitist. It's not the right for that. It's not the right for that.
00:43:24
Speaker
priy river no whoa you think um I think it's not the right format, but for a different reason than what you're in insinuating. Okay, let's dive in. What we need, 18s. They're not going to decrease. Yeah, you keep anything, they're going up to 16. Let's be perfectly frank. They're not going to go, oh, 12 is too many. i think the I think the fact that you can win your conference and not make the college level playoffs as a joke. that that's That's my discontent with it. I don't care what level because there's not free movement between the conferences, right? This is a little off off topic. I know we're trying to sign off here, right?
00:44:06
Speaker
But if there was free movement between the conferences, I would say that you can discredit like, oh, well, they're playing conference. You say they've been assembled. in the map. You cannot do that because I guarantee if given the opportunity, every G5 school would play in the SEC or the big 10. The money is better. Doesn't matter if you go on 12.
00:44:26
Speaker
every year. Like, we'll get what Vanderbilt, you know, up until this year, Vanderbilt was the joke of the SEC. But granted, they had a baseball team, you know, they better have this work football perspective, they were just taking a check every week. If any team could just freely flow from conference to conference, and a good team could say, I just want to join Conference USA and go 12 and 0, that's not the case. That's not how this works. You can only play the teams in front of you. And so to win a conference championship and not make the playoffs is a joke because what what else is there winning has winning your conference has to matter and winning games has to matter.
Podcast Closing and Listener Engagement
00:45:07
Speaker
And and the the format right now, as it exists with the committee, I agree that we need more transparency and we need more clearly defined guidelines. But whereas the SEC folks, the Lane Kiffins of the world, are saying, well, I you know i need the the guidelines so that I can tell you why it doesn't favor me, I need the guidelines just to follow.
00:45:28
Speaker
i This wishy-washy bullcrap is obscene and is ruining football and pretty soon we're going to have a big schism and the folks that just want the Big Ten and the SEC to be their college football playoffs will have their wish and they're going to enjoy it for two years and then it's going to be miserable. Every other conference, every other team, there's going to be seven teams in college football that are relegated to not just the FTS, but like the the FCS is now going to be the third tier of college football. Then there's going to be G5, which is already kind of tier two, but it's going to be official and it's going to be miserable. And ah we need to fix it ASAP. Yeah, I tell people all the time, you know, you're talking about the wishy washy, which I agree with you. They absolutely have been. But as long as there is a human element to it, they're going to be.
00:46:19
Speaker
No, don't get me wrong. The BCS computer had its flaws, right? um So you would have to find a way to fix that. But as long as there is a human bias, they're going to pick the big dogs. And the big dogs will always have their seeds at the table. um Because, I mean, let's be let's be perfectly honest. We were all three floored that SMU got in over Bama.
00:46:49
Speaker
No, no, i won no. OK, that was the right decision. It was the right decision, but I didn't think they were going to do it. Well, like Zeke said, you know winning your conference and stuff matters until your Florida State last year and Kirk Herb Street just doesn't want you in the playoff. And then it's like, oh, well, now it doesn't matter because our quarterback got hurt. So I guess we're not allowed to go because a bunch of guys who were 1,000 years old sat in a room and watched the conference championship and went, this was ah impressive, but not impressive enough. Goodbye, get them out of here. And I'm just like,
00:47:25
Speaker
I agree with a lot of what Zeke says. I think the only way to go about it, to make it to where we're not just put the best teams with the, or the teams with the best recruiting classes in every single year is you have to move it away from people who are like ADs and are like too involved in the sport. And like, um if you have, let's say you've got I don't know, like, West Virginia's AD is Andrew Luck's dad. Like, if he has like an inherent bias of like, I want one of schools from our conference in because it makes the big 12 look better if they want Arizona State or whatever and you don't know if Arizona State deserves to be there.
00:48:07
Speaker
I don't think you can have that kind of conflict of interest and come away with a ah ah pool of teams that everybody universally agrees on. I i feel like, sure I'm not saying we need to like hand it off to sports writers like we do for voting for like MVP and the NFL and stuff, but there's there's too much inherent bias that already exists and they're not willing or or able to do anything about it. So again, we get a bunch of guys who saw the moon landing live on television in a room, you know, getting their colostomy bags changed out. And they're like, I remember when Roger Staubach played at Navy. And you're just like, grandpa, we're talking about whether Indiana deserves to be in or not. What are we talking about? Like, again, ah fair I'm gonna throw my dad under the bus a little bit here. My dad is roughly around those guys age. And he called me the other day and was like, Can you believe they let Indiana in over Alabama? I was like, Yeah,
00:49:03
Speaker
It's called winning football games. What are you talking about? Like ah I was like when when did we start looking at wins and losses and be like Yeah, you went 11 and 1 but you didn't play a schedule that I liked enough You know, these things are scheduled five years out. Correct? Like you don't have an option of who you play in your conference so thought I keep coming back to is that Well, for one, like the it's often brought up the UGA TCU game, right? ah And presumably what we're going to get when Indiana plays its game, right? like These teams more than likely will get below that. However, in order for the SEC and the Big Ten and these big brand names to get any sort of benefit into the doubt, you need to keep proving it.
00:49:52
Speaker
and The way to do that is allow in smaller teams, less brand name teams into the college football playoffs. Because ultimately, ultimately, ah if you're just going to beat them, it is a non-issue, right? So let these teams in, let an SMU in, let an army in even. like Army should be in the college football playoffs. They will probably get curve stones in the first round.
00:50:17
Speaker
because ultimately you can't win playing the style of football they play against a Tennessee or against, uh, you know, a Penn State like you can't do that. Notre Dame. You can't do that. But what you can do is prove that we have to at a certain point, like I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. I'm willing to give you the higher rated prospects and more media coverage and more money. But you need to prove it on a year to year basis. Otherwise we are,
00:50:47
Speaker
relying on outdated assumptions. And with how quickly college football is turning over, it's a new roster every year. It's a new conference every year. It's a new team every year. So if the gap is so big that you shouldn't ever even be considering an army into the college football playoffs, why not just let them in and lose? Yeah, just prove it. Just prove it. Yeah. And so, all right.
00:51:14
Speaker
See yeah here's the here's the thing too and I think Boise is a really good kind of gateway drug to this for the committee because they can talk themselves into well Boise has been good for a long time at the G5 level like whether those were all consecutive years or not we're we're not talking about that point because they they definitely had some down seasons but I think the committee can look at a team like Boise and go You know, we feel okay letting them in because, you know, they they're 12 and one, they're only losses to the number one team in the country by, I think it was like a field goal. Like, you know, but again, they still are a G5. I think it would be a tougher, for a tougher pill for them to swallow if it was like,
00:51:58
Speaker
Liberty last year or something. And you're like, I don't know. This team has zero cache with me. Like they they have no really history of overachievement. Like, but Boise, they can kind of talk themselves into feeling good about it, which, which is fine with me because I want to see Ashton J and T play, uh, you know, more football. It's always a good time for me.
00:52:20
Speaker
All right. We're actually process closing this podcast out shockingly. You could find us on all of our socials. It's down here at the bottom of the page. They're all highlighted. Zeke made this really sweet ah graphic for us to to podcast and really appreciate him working on that. ah youtube dot.com slash at warm weather fans at warm weather fans on X. Tick tock. Same deal. Send us emails, questions, comments.
00:52:50
Speaker
concerns. I might not read those. warmweatherfans at gmail dot.com. This has been another edition of warm weather fans. We will be back next Sunday to talk over the bowl games that are happening this week and preview the ones for after Christmas Day. Thanks, everybody.