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2025 Sun Belt Football: Week 4 Recap
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Brian and Zeke are back to talk over week 4 in the Sun Belt, including Marshall's win over MTSU, Troy rallying to defeat Buffalo and Coastal Carolina smoking South Alabama.
The pair also dive into James Madison's 18-point victory over Liberty, and more, in this edition of Warm Weather Fans.
Email questions to the show at warmweatherfans@gmail.com!
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Transcript
Introduction and Sunbelt Overview
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome in everybody to a new edition of Warm Weather Fans, the Sunbelt Podcast. My name is Brian Stone, joined once again this week by Zeke Palermo. ah We have taken in week four in the Sunbelt. We're ready to go over the good, the bad, our individual teams, all of that jazz as we do on a weekly basis. But Zeke, how's it going?
00:00:40
Speaker
Uh, good. Morales a little down, uh, as you talk about our individual teams, uh, with Georgia state allowing the most points in school history, 70 to 21 loss to Vanderbilt.
00:00:51
Speaker
Excuse me. I wasn't even holding my microphone. Um, I was just talking at the, uh, air. Uh, so that was obviously a downer, uh, pretty bad looking week across the conference as well. Um, I guess it's our turn to be conference USA. Um,
00:01:07
Speaker
ah i get I guess that's just part of the experience. um So, you know, obviously excited to talk about it, but at the same time, fairly grim things to be discussing today.
Sunbelt Conference Struggles
00:01:22
Speaker
I mean, from a from like a 30,000-foot view, you and I have mentioned this before, and honestly, we've had people kind of get at us about this, but it's like... This is not a banner year for the Sun Belt.
00:01:36
Speaker
This is not going to be one of those years outside of maybe like one or two teams, two max, one problem more probable than not. ah we're not We're not sending our best.
00:01:48
Speaker
right Let's just say that. So there's a lot of teams that leave a lot to be desired once the ah the final ah whistle goes on Saturdays. And we'll we'll talk about a lot of those, but I mean...
00:02:00
Speaker
Just some of these performances are brutal. Like, what are what are we doing here type performances? Yeah, i I take a little bit of solace in the fact that a lot of these teams are... in some way or another in a state of turmoil.
00:02:15
Speaker
um a lot of teams are still very fresh first or second year coaches. um You know, that's maybe half the conference. The other half is guys that are about to be bought out or, you know, in some cases teams wishing they hadn't given extensions so they can buy their guys out.
00:02:34
Speaker
um So I take solace from, again, a very high level view you know, This is not a typical year. This is a year of turnover and turmoil and transition for a lot of these programs.
00:02:48
Speaker
um And outside of, you know, no beating around the bush, outside of James Madison, nobody looks like a ah real, everybody looks like pretenders. Everyone that we thought was good or was going to be good, pretenders, everyone that that we thought was going to be bad might actually be worse than we saw thought.
00:03:04
Speaker
Be careful. they're going to get They're going to yell at you for saying that. Well, they have they will they have before, they will again.
Troy's Victory and Performance
00:03:12
Speaker
all right, so let's go ahead and start off with ah the positives we did have.
00:03:18
Speaker
Would you like me to go first or do you want to go first as far as... Yeah, please. Why don't you lead it off? Okay, so I have been on this team a lot lately, ah and frankly, for good reason.
00:03:31
Speaker
um Troy ah beats Buffalo twenty one seventeen um You know, last week I had said i thought... Tucker Kilcrease wasn't like was was on the borderline of even being an FBS level quarterback.
00:03:48
Speaker
He did play better in this one. Still not exactly like lighting up the scoreboard. He was able to use his legs a little bit more, ah which which helped a lot. um They did obviously take a giant step down in competition from.
00:04:03
Speaker
Memphis last week, who now we know is is capable of beating an SEC school in Arkansas, ah to playing Buffalo in New York. But for me, ah you know the final drive was a big boost to them. They're down ah seventeen fourteen They get the ball back with 2.33 to go.
00:04:23
Speaker
And unlike a lot of other football teams, they just ran the ball down Buffalo's throat with like two 33 to go, which is insane to me because it's like, you would think like most coaches go, okay, now our quarterback's going to drop back like every snap of this drive, maybe at least until the two minute warning, if not the entire drive.
00:04:46
Speaker
And it's just going to march us down. yeah, To Jared Parker's credit, I think he knows deep down that Hillcrease isn't maybe capable of of accomplishing that.
00:04:57
Speaker
So they really ride Tay Meadows, the running back, and then he eventually, with 45 seconds to go, rips off the game-winning 20-yard touchdown run on a third and four ah and and sends Troy to two and two.
00:05:10
Speaker
um You know, it was... it was debatable whether they were going to win another game this year, the way that they had been playing and yeah they come out and beat a Mac school. So, you know, it is, we're going to give credit where credit's due.
00:05:26
Speaker
Uh, kill crease goes 14 of 24 for one 48 and a touchdown.
James Madison's Success
00:05:31
Speaker
Um, and then Meadows had 68 yards on 14 carries. And then ultimately the game winning touchdown.
00:05:38
Speaker
Um, I thought, You know, it didn't start great. Obviously, they were down 17-0 entering with basically 15 minutes to go it left in the game.
00:05:51
Speaker
They rallied. They scored three straight touchdowns. You get a kill crease run for a touchdown, a passing touchdown for Rah-Rah Thomas, and then ultimately that Meadows 20-yard score. um Yeah, I mean...
00:06:03
Speaker
A lot of teams, including probably my own, would have just rolled over and kind of let the other other team do whatever they wanted to do, down 17 points in the fourth quarter. But again, credit Detroit, they didn't.
00:06:15
Speaker
um Maybe Jared Parker has has bought himself a little bit of leeway, um but I'm still interested to see what this Troy team looks like come conference play time because... They're not a great team, but also, like we said at the top, the conference itself isn't exactly sterling at this point.
00:06:33
Speaker
so I mean, in points of that fourth quarter, it felt like this was the team that we saw under under John Sumrall. um Because this is how the fourth quarter went. It was first play, Buffalo scores a field goal to go up 17 points. Troy then goes down, scores a touchdown.
00:06:50
Speaker
ah Buffalo, three and out. Uh, Troy gets another touchdown. Now it's 14, 17 forces another three and out. They then have to punt right back three, three and outs. They forced three Buffalo three and outs on consecutive drives in this fourth quarter. I mean, that is just incredibly gutsy.
00:07:06
Speaker
Uh, and really, really hats off to that. Uh, Tucker Kilcrease, as you said, this is probably granted. This is not a high bar, but maybe the best game we saw out of him this year. Uh, and,
00:07:19
Speaker
yeah On that last drive, they looked to Tay Meadows, and that was excellent clock management. But before that, it was Tucker Kilcrease. In the fourth quarter, he went 9 for 15, 46 rushing yards. um They were leading on him, and he was, again, not exceptional. 9 for 15 will absolutely get the job done, but that is not Heisman Conference Player of the Year level by any means.
00:07:39
Speaker
um But, I mean, he was getting it done. And so they're... We now know that he has a ceiling. He has a startable winning game ceiling. um But where was this for the first three quarters? Where was it through the first three weeks of the season?
00:07:55
Speaker
um And that remains to be seen. ah Who does Roy have next week? Because, I mean, that's going to kind of depend or determine what the trajectory is. um They take the week off. Yeah.
00:08:08
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, they take the week off and then they come back and play South Alabama, who just lost to Coastal Carolina. Yeah, so I mean, this this could be the inflection point for a Troy team that, again, does not have a world-beater ceiling, but may have ah a bowl game, a bowl win ceiling.
00:08:27
Speaker
And this this could be the inflection point. Maybe. ah Who knows? Something good. ah This was an easy one. James Madison, 31-13 over Liberty.
00:08:39
Speaker
Good to beat Liberty, as always. We'd like to see that. um There are a lot of really good things in this win. Iowa Day and Wayne Knight each played really, really good games.
00:08:49
Speaker
ah
Southern Miss Red Zone Woes
00:08:50
Speaker
They've got two really good backs in that backfield. Neither up until this game, we're really seeing like a full workload. um It's not that they were splitting it with each other. They just were not really getting the snaps or getting the touches. Both got ah you know, starting running back level touches. Let me make sure I got the number right. But I think it's, yeah, 17 and 13 for night and a day.
00:09:11
Speaker
um They go 89 and 87 yards ah between the pair. um But the real, real big. Hold on one sec. i know yeah I know what you said about the running backs. According to Bob Chesney after the game, George Petaway, who's their starting running back, was dealing with, quote, a muscle thing.
00:09:28
Speaker
whatever that means. ah Very, very telling from Bob. jesney But yeah, like you said, a day and, ah and Wayne Knight, AKA Newman were, were great at kind of carrying the load in this one.
00:09:42
Speaker
Yeah. ah They, they picked up that slack excellently, but the real, real win, because again, this was, i mean, this is a one in going into the game. One in two, now one in three Liberty Liberty team. This is not the Liberty team that everyone became familiar with several years ago.
00:09:57
Speaker
um what really James Madison, uh, deserves and Chesney deserve a real round of applause for it is playing only one quarterback. Matthew Sluka did not take a single snap in this game.
00:10:10
Speaker
And wouldn't you know, James Madison looks better offensively for it. Alonzo Barnett, we were really worried that maybe he rushed himself back or the team rushed him back early. um He goes 17 for 25, 213. A touchdown a pick. He's QBR 83.2. Also ran ball five times for 45 yards. The also ran the ball five times for forty five yards This is the decisiveness that we were looking for out of the quarterback position all season long.
00:10:36
Speaker
um Because we knew that Alonzo Barnett was... should be the quarterback one. And it was cute that you were trying this Lucas stuff. um But i James Madison is so much for the better now that that experiment and playing around with that is over.
00:10:54
Speaker
um That is my, frankly, biggest positive of the week because the best team finally figured out their quarterback situation that they put themselves in. the The thing about the quarterback situation, and I guess I i should have elaborated on this point last week, but I'm going to get to it now.
00:11:11
Speaker
The thing about the quarterback situation is I don't even mind if they decide, because Georgia Southern did this back in the day when they still ran like the the spread option, Every third drive went to the second string quarterback, like just to kind of mix things up.
00:11:28
Speaker
And I wouldn't mind if Sluka got an entire drive to himself, but what was killing their momentum was it would be like Alonzo Barnett throws an eight yard completion.
00:11:39
Speaker
Sluka comes in and runs a one yard. you know, up the middle, doesn't get the first down. Barnett has to come out for a play and then go back in on third and one and basically pick up the first down or like anything along those lines. That's what they did against Louisville. It was like, there's just no, it's impossible for any quarterback to like get any level of consistency or like in a rhythm when it's constantly like, okay,
00:12:05
Speaker
Barnett, you've run two plays. Now let Sluka go in. Now Sluka's run two plays. Now Barnett, you run two plays. It doesn't work. like If you want to give a guy an entire drive or
Louisiana's Game Management Issues
00:12:16
Speaker
have Sluka work as a Wildcat quarterback, that's totally fine. But this this thing where you don't even give a guy like a full series to himself just doesn't.
00:12:24
Speaker
there's there's It's impossible. they They were running that offense or at least the quarterback situation, how I ran my teams when I was a soccer coach at the YMCA.
00:12:36
Speaker
Yeah, it was. All right. I know you just scored a hat trick, but you just hit your minutes allotment for the week, buddy. Come on. Have a seat. Yeah. Yeah. And again, I'm just i so glad for James Madison that that is in the rear view um because it it ups to their ceiling. And we we saw this against Liberty. This is probably ah the most comprehensive game against, again, not great competition, but better competition than they've had.
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeah. ah So my next positive here, I guess today the theme is me giving credit to teams that I slammed um last week. ah mine My other one is Coastal Carolina.
00:13:16
Speaker
They come out and basically their defense dominated Bishop Davenport, who did not play well for South Alabama. He was 22 of 36, 197 through two picks.
00:13:27
Speaker
one ninety seven through two picks Um, you know, Tad Hudson didn't exactly light it up stats wise. He, he completed under or just about half of his passes, but he did throw two touchdowns.
00:13:41
Speaker
Uh, Javin Simpkins, uh, ran for 84 yards and a score. Their defense kind of won them the day because, you know, to come out, uh, and and be down
Arkansas State's Challenges
00:13:52
Speaker
14-7 at half, you're like, all right, here we go again. Here's the the typical like coastal thing.
00:13:58
Speaker
And then they rally. They score 31 points in the second half. It's kind of the same thing as Troy a little bit, but to a greater extent where it's like this team just woke up in the second half and just decided like,
00:14:10
Speaker
no, we're going to go out and get this win. Like Davenport, South Alabama is not playing very well. um You know, outside of Devin Voison and Keenan Phillips and Kentrell Bullock, like they don't really have a lot of contributors. And Davenport is going to have one of these games every once a while where he's just – i I know we talked about it in the preseason. Maybe it's time to give Zach Pyron a look like for next week or something. I mean, they're one in three.
00:14:37
Speaker
they They start out conference play with a loss to Coastal, who we've said is is probably along with Marshall kind of in the basement of the East division. Um, Yeah, I mean, I guess you could do a positive and a negative here. Like, negative, you could go Bishop Davenport or, you know, anybody on that that South Alabama team because, frankly, Coastal's not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination. Right.
00:15:02
Speaker
Yeah, and it gets tough. I think next week will be, obviously, this team played Tulane. Obviously, this team played Auburn. um But get something a little closer to um its level in North Texas.
00:15:17
Speaker
ah A good 4-0 North Texas team ah
App State's Potential with New QB
00:15:20
Speaker
with FBS wins over Washington State and Army. um Like, that needs to be that last game before your real conference. I know we just played the conference, but, you know, the rest of the conference slate begins. um That needs to be where you figure it out. We need to see, all right, Bishop Davenport, are you capable of being the consistent guy?
00:15:39
Speaker
I liked what he did a good against Auburn. I thought he looked pretty good. Um, you know, he, he wasn't a world leader against Tulane, but he made sure, I mean, they, they only lost by two points there, uh, against Morgan state.
00:15:52
Speaker
I don't care. Um, but you know, realistically, I, I like what you say. Didn't you say in that game, they only won because they forced like three turnovers that they got 17 points off of.
00:16:03
Speaker
Oh, I mean, that was not a, yeah, that was not a deserved. I'm not going to say not a deserved win. They won the damn game, but you know, right. This is an FCS team. ah like My main point, this North Texas game has to be like you figure it out now or much like with Troy, this is the inflection point where you realize we couldn't get over the hump here and we just were never able to the rest of the year.
00:16:30
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. Yeah, that's all there is to it. um I'll go with my other real positive takeaway. um All of a sudden, Marshall and Tony Gibson ah have two wins.
00:16:44
Speaker
Again, we we want to contextualize. These are not world-beating wins against Middle Tennessee or against Eastern Kentucky. um But all of a sudden, this team has won two straight games.
00:16:56
Speaker
um ah by heart high margins. ah They face Louisiana next week, a really bad Louisiana team. So this could be three straight wins for a Marshall team that, I don't know, I thought I was
Marshall's Recent Wins and Future
00:17:09
Speaker
pretty down on. ah The team had just so much turnover.
00:17:12
Speaker
ah Luckily, they got it early in the cycle with how Charles Huff left. But, I mean, they replaced... the pieces of that offense that made it go. um they obviously lose Mike green. Who's now playing in the NFL.
00:17:27
Speaker
Uh, you lose some other pieces on that defense that are now, you know, elsewhere, including Southern miss. Um, Marshall looks really good. i I'm having trouble identifying still what about them could make this Marshall team good.
00:17:43
Speaker
what like What about this Marshall team is going to win them games if they were to you know go on a tear or become bowl eligible? What is going to win them those games? um Because they're doing a lot of things pretty well, but nothing exceptionally.
00:17:57
Speaker
The run defense, I think, is jumping out to me from a numbers perspective, from a totals perspective, but that's kind of hard to tell. This week against Middle Tennessee, a team that's historically very pass-heavy, and then you also include the game against Georgia where you get blown that you know your doors blow get blown off.
00:18:14
Speaker
So those skew the numbers in both directions. um But i right now, this Tony Gibson looks like he's put together like ah just a really well-rounded football team that – In a conference that is very weak that might just be James Madison and a long pile of crap before the rest of the group, they're positioning themselves in these early weeks to be, you know, maybe not above the pile of crap, but certainly not below it.
00:18:43
Speaker
Well, okay. i All right, hold on. li me I want to give Marshall credit, and then I'm going to ask you a question. So yeah I think the thing, if they can replicate this, and it doesn't even necessarily have to be jumping off the page stat-wise, if Carlos Del Rio Wilson can be that kind of steadying force for them at the quarterback spot, I think that would go an extremely long way.
00:19:07
Speaker
to to making them at least a competitive team, if not one that, you know, ah we got tweets in the preseason from the you know the people who didn't tell us you know that we needed to do terrible things to ourselves, told us that that Marshall, the the expectation was at minimum six wins.
00:19:28
Speaker
And I'm like... but From what I saw in the first two weeks, I'm like, you lose to Georgia, I'll i'll cut you some slack. like ah Every team in this conference would lose to Georgia. like That's not really an argument.
00:19:41
Speaker
Losing to an f FCS call-up in year one in week two, pretty rough. i There's not really any way to kind of sugarcoat that. Now, if Carlos Del Rio Wilson can continue to, again, keep them steady at the quarterback spot and not just be all over the place, yeah, that would be that would be huge. He's not going to throw four touchdowns every single week. Sorry to so rain on Thundering Herd fans' parades.
00:20:07
Speaker
However, this is the this is what I want to ask you. So we said, you said they play Louisiana next week, which is, you know, okay. Yeah. Let me read off the games they play after because they have a pretty brutal
Troy's QB Play and Conference Prospects
00:20:19
Speaker
schedule this year. They kind of catch the worst of of all worlds.
00:20:22
Speaker
And if Louisiana was good, this would be an absolute like gauntlet. So after Louisiana, I want you to tell me what game you feel like Marshall can definitely win this game.
00:20:33
Speaker
They play Old Dominion. no They play Texas State. Winnable. You think so? I think so. I wasn't wowed by Texas State this week. It took them a lot longer than it should have to get off the ground against Nichols.
00:20:49
Speaker
um And as we'll talk about, as we saw this week with another team that's built in the same archetype, and if you've listened to the show, you know exactly who we're talking about because we talk about it every week, about how Texas State and one other team in the West are built identically from like a roster I don't know, yeah you know, philosophy. Yeah, roster construction, roster philosophy standpoint.
00:21:12
Speaker
um i Texas didn't wow me this week. I think, again, ah if Carlos jo Wilson, I'm a sample size guy, won 18 for 22 game when he had nine completions the rest of the season, isn't going to, you know, have me swinging his flag.
Georgia Southern's Inconsistencies
00:21:27
Speaker
But if he puts up performances similar to that, that's a consistency that can beat Texas State. Sure. um Okay, so after Texas State, I feel they can definitely beat Coastal on yeah on on October thirtieth the night before Halloween. like Coastal is still like, yeah, they won this week, but you still have no idea what you're getting from them on a weekly basis. like sure Tad Hudson's all over the place.
00:21:51
Speaker
Then you get James Madison. That's not happening. ah At Georgia State, they could probably win that game. ah But then you close at app and then Georgia Southern at home in the finale.
UMass's Surprising Win
00:22:05
Speaker
And I have had my criticisms of Georgia Southern, but I'm like, are they going to be able to score enough points to keep up with Georgia Southern? And I i just mean that from like, yes, on a weekly basis, Georgia Southern could give up 56 points to anybody. And I wouldn't blink an eye cause their defense sucks, but it, are they like, if you just look at it from like a general perspective, like the last couple games, Georgia Southern has scored like 40 plus against, I know an FCS team in Maine, but then also Jacksonville state.
00:22:38
Speaker
Um, um, I don't know. It's just, it's tough for me to be like, I think there's like five wins on
UL Monroe's Early Success
00:22:46
Speaker
this schedule. Like I think the main or total. In total. like i think No, definitely not remaining. like that That would require them to beat Old Dominion and James Madison. I don't know. but ah I think they could beat Coastal in theory. I think they could beat Georgia State in theory.
00:23:03
Speaker
i think they could beat App. Maybe App is, again, another one of these teams where it's like... We got an interesting email from a ah listener this week who is an App State fan, and he said that from his perspective and people he knows that root for App, that they actually think that J.J. Cole, who hasn't played a whole lot and has been injured, is actually better than A.J. Swan, but he just hasn't been healthy enough to take the snaps.
00:23:31
Speaker
Um, so if by the end of the season, JJ Cole's the starter and they look way better, like that's even further away from reality. And then, like I said, they play Georgia Southern in the finale. Georgia Southern's terrible on the road, but the one thing they can do is kind of score. So it's like, are we, can we bank on, you know, them to put up 38, 42 points?
00:23:55
Speaker
against you know on a weekly basis. like that's that I'm not saying they can't. That's just a question that I have about them. that That's why i don't... Again, I've tempered my... I've readjusted, but only temp done so...
00:24:10
Speaker
with hesitancy because, ah the winds are against middle Tennessee and, uh, Eastern Kentucky. Right. and And that's where the points are. That's is it central Missouri. i don't even, I still haven't fully Missouri is theouri state. I'm like, I i s still haven't caught onto their name yet because they're so fresh to the FBS. Um,
00:24:30
Speaker
that like the that loss really stings for me. that That really gives me a lot of hesitancy. um But as I said, I think this team, when we talk this time next week, this team will have had three consecutive wins.
00:24:44
Speaker
I think we'll then have an even better perspective on if Carlos Del Rio Wilson can be that guy or if this was a really good week. um So they they have the upward momentum from me. But...
00:24:57
Speaker
I think we're both on the same page about doing so cautiously. Yeah. Do you want to do your first negative? Yes. And I am – I'm going to get into the one I really want to talk about because i teased this to you before we started recording.
00:25:13
Speaker
I learned something about Southern Miss and about Charles Huff that – I need to examine moving forward as I watch Southern Miss, but may radicalize me as Charles Huff possibly having one of the biggest flaws in all of college football.
00:25:30
Speaker
And I say that with no exaggeration.
00:25:35
Speaker
As an example, looking at this game, which ah Southern Miss lost thirty to twenty to Louisiana Tech. ah The Golden Eagles took four trips to the red zone. They had a 38-yard field goal from the 20 on fourth and three.
00:25:51
Speaker
Missed a 37-yarder on fourth and three from the 19. Turnover on downs. Had four plays from the one-yard line. Turnover on downs. ah four player Fourth down and nine from the 12, 30-yard field goal.
00:26:07
Speaker
Out of their fourth red zone trips, they get six points. Charles Huff teams. in the red zone are historically among the worst in the country.
00:26:21
Speaker
This year, Charles Huff's Southern Miss Golden Eagles excuse me um has a red zone scoring percentage of 72%, which is in the bottom 20% of college football.
00:26:36
Speaker
wow In his four years at Marshall, in the red zone, by ah scoring percentage, Marshall was in the bottom 30th percentile, bottom 11th percentile, bottom 4th percentile, and 61st percentile.
00:26:52
Speaker
He had above-average year in his first season, but every year after that was in the bottom 3rd, if not the bottom 15%. Even last year when they had Braylon Braxton?
00:27:03
Speaker
30th percentile. That's tough. That's tough. with the um on quarterback With the best quarterback in the Sun Belt? ah Over the those four years at Marshall, ah this is excluding teams that joined FBS in those four years. So ah ah FBS teams with a full four-season sample size, it is the seventh worst red zone percentage over those four years while Charles Hoff was there.
00:27:35
Speaker
The teams that he beat out were Boston College, Temple, Rice, Colorado State, Northwestern, Southern Miss, and Florida International. So excuse me, I believe that's seven teams he was better than, eighth from the bottom.
00:27:47
Speaker
Those seven teams had a combined winning percentage of those four seasons of 34%. His teams in the red zone are historically as good as teams that win 34% their games And again, this is just this I learned and baffled me because my person I mean, last year they won the conference.
00:28:08
Speaker
They won the conference. And you know, it granted there's the context of the position Louisiana was in, but it was not even close, not even close. They had the best quarterback, some of the best weapons, one of the best offensive lines.
00:28:23
Speaker
the best pass rusher who almost had as many s sacks as some teams in the Sun Belt did. Right. And again, i just, that baffles me right now. Southern Miss bottom 20% in red zone efficiency in the country.
00:28:41
Speaker
ah And ah that that's my negative is how poorly they perform this week. And moving forward, this is what I have to watch. when I watch Southern Miss games, is what is it? Is it the play call?
00:28:52
Speaker
I mean, shoot, three twice they ah kicked a field goal on fourth and threes. Is it aggressiveness? Is he too conservative in those situations? But even when he's not conservative in those situations, four plays from the one, you get stuffed.
00:29:07
Speaker
Can I ask you a question about this team specifically? I can't, I can't speak to previous Charles teams except for, you know, like last year. um Do you think this year that has anything to do with either their inability or unwillingness to run the football? Because I know they were down big, you know, it was 30 to 10 at halftime, but I don't know that.
00:29:32
Speaker
I don't think they've had a hundred yard rusher yet this season through four games and And this game, their leading rusher was Robert Briggs, who had nine carries for 47 yards.
00:29:43
Speaker
And I'm going to do your favorite game, take as long as rush away. If you do that, it's eight carries for what, 28, 26, something like that. twenty six so like that so The other guys on the team, okay, Matt Jones averaged three yards a carry. Braylon Braxton himself, I guess you've got to throw that one out because sack yardage, which still sucks.
00:30:05
Speaker
ah Jalen Carter was the only one that was actually efficient with his carries, three carries, 16 yards. i I don't know if it's the Blake Anderson effect of like – we're just going to chuck it.
00:30:17
Speaker
And because, I mean, because they do have the best quarterback in the Sunbelt, more times often than not, it's going to work itself out. Sure. But when it comes time for games like this, this is what kind of gives me pause a little bit.
00:30:31
Speaker
And, and this was like, maybe they're not going to win the West, like in the preseason, because I'm like, you know, last year, a j Turner was like low key. if Ahmad Hardy didn't exist, we'd be talking about AJ Turner is like the best running back probably in the conference, but Ahmad Hardy was just far and away better than everyone else.
00:30:51
Speaker
And it's like, the idea that they're just going to walk into a new running back, that's going to give them that same level of production because Huff has historically been a running backs coach and like Penn state and coach Saquon Barkley and stuff.
00:31:06
Speaker
I guess that was too much of the benefit of the doubt, but I, I even kind of raised that concern a little bit in the, in their preview. It's like, who have these guys is going to do it? And the answer so far has been nobody. And I don't know if, ah again, if it's like,
00:31:22
Speaker
a philosophy thing with Blake Anderson of like, let's know we need to throw the ball way more than we've been running it, but they need to get more balanced and figure out who's going to produce out of this running game. I think...
00:31:34
Speaker
I'll come back with an answer next week. This will require me to find a resource that I don't know where to find it, but I'm i'm going to watch the cut up and I'm going to come back to you and I'm going to tell you, here are their play calls from inside the 20.
00:31:48
Speaker
Here are, you know, here's their down and distance. I'll do this year. ah You know, they only played four, what, three, four games this year. um So that'll be really easy. If I've got the time, I'll go back last year and look as well because,
00:32:03
Speaker
Again, this is something I only dawned on me when I crunched the numbers myself two hours ago. So this has been a very, i like, i yeah I feel in shock still because this is like, this really challenges what I thought about Charles Huff and thought about Charles Huff teams is that they were at the very least competent offensively.
00:32:25
Speaker
But it seems like his team cannot do the most basic of all offensive tasks, which is scored in the red zone. Can I give you just really quick and then we can move off of this an anecdotal example.
00:32:37
Speaker
Okay. So the first quarter, one of the times they settled for a field goal in the red zone here, are their red zone possessions ah starting with first and 10 from the 27. They eventually make their way into the red zone during this possession.
00:32:53
Speaker
One yard run by Robert Briggs, six yard pass by Braylon Braxton to Robert Briggs in completion on third and three. Uh, fourth and three kick a 38 yard field goal.
00:33:05
Speaker
All right. I I'll just jump in right there. Again, this is the one possession from this one game and cannot speak to the five-year history of poor red zone off four-year history, excluding his first season of Charles Huff.
00:33:18
Speaker
If you know that you're going to kick the field goal on fourth and three, why are you passing it when you're giving, I mean, it's like it's classic football of that pass. Only one of the three options is positive.
00:33:34
Speaker
Well, okay. um'm I'm sorry to keep doing this. no a second one Let's do a second one. All right. Second quarter. They, ah once again, they start from outside the red zone. They work their way in here. Here's their series from the 26. So roughly the same kind of down in distance.
00:33:53
Speaker
First and 10, one yard run, Braylon Braxton. Second, nine, six yard pass by Braylon Braxton and Micah Davis. Third and three, incomplete Braylon Braxton, Micah Davis, they miss a 37 yard field goal.
00:34:06
Speaker
I think we solved it right there. If you know that you're going to kick the field goal on fourth and three, why are you taking the pass? Again, I didn't do my research. I don't know what this pass looks like. Is it a screen? Is it you know is it a slant? are Are we going for the long ball and trying to take take the ah the short yardage on third down? But i as you say that, that bewilders me.
00:34:26
Speaker
Is that not the solution? I could do one more that's going to drive you nuts. Oh, my God. This one's going to kill you. Do you want to hear this one? Yeah. third Third quarter, ah they get first and 10 from the 13.
00:34:39
Speaker
One yard run by Matt Jones. Incomplete pass from Braylon Braxton to Caden Morris on second and nine. Third and nine, incomplete from Braylon Braxton to Matt Jones. 30-yard field goal kicked from the 12 on fourth and nine.
00:34:55
Speaker
Again, like, so... Is this, so I guess now, so now the question is we have to chart where all of his field goals are coming from and on what down and distance, because it seems like the guy based on that play calling, it would appear as though Charles Huff is shocked that it's all of a sudden fourth down.
00:35:12
Speaker
And just be like, Oh, it's fourth down. I guess i have to kick a field goal. Now you could have done something to put yourself into a fourth and one. You could have done something to put yourself into a fourth and two. am I overreacting? Yeah.
00:35:25
Speaker
No, and Blake Anderson historically has been a really good offensive play caller. Now, I don't know. I know that when he moved out west and went and coached Utah State, he kind of lost his, like, mojo there.
00:35:39
Speaker
um i don't know if the game has kind of passed him by from, like, what he was running in, like, 2016 at Arkansas State or not. um But, yeah, you – one of one of two things is true.
00:35:53
Speaker
Either you didn't do a good enough job, Charles Huff, of getting a running back in here that we can actually make work, or we are way too pass heavy in the red zone.
00:36:03
Speaker
Like, we're so pass heavy, Pete Carroll... uh is is is blushing he's like whoa i wouldn't even do that like let's get let's not get crazy here guys but i i don't know like i they need to figure it out and soon because this could end up being the difference between representing the west what what has been now kind of a weaker west division and and or just watching at home as texas state plays jmu or whoever you know Yeah.
00:36:31
Speaker
So I don't know. they need to figure it out. We got to move on. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. but No, that's great. The more I kept clicking through, I was like field goal, field goal, full goal. This is insane. um All right.
00:36:43
Speaker
I'm going to do my first negative here. It's ah it's Arkansas State. um The things that we had said about their defense, ah the chickens have come home to roost at least for one week. I guess you could say the owls have come home to hoot because – Kennesaw State puts up 21 points in the first quarter and basically buries the Red Wolves from the jump, um which is even crazier considering the fact that, you know, say what you want.
00:37:10
Speaker
Dexter Williams started the season as Kennesaw's starting quarterback, and they were ah carved up by a guy named Amari Odom, who threw for 308 yards in a score and ran for an additional 100 yards by himself and a touchdown.
00:37:25
Speaker
So basically what happened was Kennesaw jumped on them from like early and Arkansas state was kind of scrambling to to catch up. And then, you know, it's 21, seven at halftime.
00:37:39
Speaker
Kennesaw adds another touchdown. It's 28, 14 at the end of the third quarter. And then that's basically the the football game right there. So yeah, Yeah, I mean, this is this is all of the defensive issues that we've highlighted. I mean, I guess combined with the fact that their offense hasn't been able to ah you know replicate the kind of success that they've had in recent years. um i I'm pulling up the box score. Am I crazy or did – has Corey Rucker and – Corey Rucker had two catches for four yards in this game.
00:38:14
Speaker
ah I think Jaquez Cross is injured and hasn't played in a couple of weeks. So the the big three-man offense that they had in theory is...
00:38:28
Speaker
either Rutgers injured and isn't producing or their teams are just smothering him and daring other people to win. And then if cross isn't playing either, then you're down to your backup running back who looks to be either Devin Spencer or Kenyan clay, um who no offense to them are not as good as to quest cross.
00:38:46
Speaker
And, and Jalen Rayner's play is kind of suffering for it as well. Yeah, ah Corey Rucker thus far through four games, eight catches, 109 yards. um I don't know what's changed for him because this was the guy.
00:39:00
Speaker
Something that also surprised me in watching this game, I was shocked to see how little ah this team uses Jalen Rayner on design runs. This guy is incredibly mobile. um you know He is, to some degree, Colton Joseph light in terms of his ability to pass the ball very well, um but it is also just incredibly incredibly ah gifted with his legs.
00:39:21
Speaker
Granted, again, Old Dominion's offense is very geared, is almost Georgia Tech-ish in how it's geared for quarterback rushing yards and wants to use him as an additional running option.
00:39:33
Speaker
um So, you know, it's a little apples to oranges, especially then as you compare ah Arkansas State, which is a team that wants to throw the ball 40 times a game. um So it is apples to oranges. But I think when you have a cross out of the game,
00:39:46
Speaker
when Corey Rucker is not producing, be it because he's doubled or because he just can't get open, you have to lean on your other playmakers. And your other playmakers are not Hunter Summers, who had eight catches for 114 yards.
00:39:59
Speaker
It's not Devin Spencer, who had 14 carries for 61. It's Jalen Rayner. And you need to be utilizing him more than and ah he ran the ball nine times. he He only had four design quarterback runs.
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah. i think you I think you have to lean on him more. yeah And that that feels like a failure in play calling. um yeah If you're new to the show and we're wondering, well, who is this team that just like Texas State is geared for high power offense but can't play a lick of defense?
00:40:29
Speaker
It's this Arkansas State team. When Kennesaw State played, I think it was Merrimack last week, they scored as many points as they did against Arkansas State. This is an FCS level defense.
00:40:40
Speaker
Merrimack actually held Kennesaw State to less yards. Yeah. this fits my anti-Butch Jones agenda, man. I think we all, ah even, i think even, um you know, Phil Steele, like when I had that talk with him, I think we were all like, a lot of the stuff that we looked at numbers-wise at the end of the season last year for Arkansas State is not, you can't replicate those some of those wins. Like they're just, when they won, it was like kind of close. And when they lost, sometimes they just got their absolute doors blown off. And it's like,
00:41:15
Speaker
Yeah, that having a negative point differential at the end of the season, like you can say, oh, that doesn't matter for 2024. It matters in the long run. you know that That type of stuff, like you keep doing it, it's gonna it's going to come back to bite you.
00:41:29
Speaker
And I think that's what we're seeing also from defensively. I mean, they're they're still just not there from a defensive. I mean, one guy, Odom, 409 yards of offense by himself.
00:41:42
Speaker
between passing and rushing. And he didn't even really need anybody else other than the pass catchers to join in. So, yeah, four. ah Let me make sure I'm counting right. One, two, three, four of Arkansas State's five conference wins last year came by one possession.
00:41:57
Speaker
um Is this evil Sean Clark? Because Sean Clark won a lot of those like coin flippy games and came out on the good side of it. Sean Clark took a team to the Sunbelt championship game. So that this might be the the dark side of the moon.
00:42:16
Speaker
he He's non-bald Clay Hilton. Clay Hilton with slightly more hair. um My second bad, I won't spend a ton of time on this because when you look at the scoreline, I mean, and this was a good team that they played Vanderbilt loop ah beats Georgia state 70 to 21. I not terribly shocking, a little disappointing. This is the team ah most points ever allowed by a Georgia state team.
00:42:39
Speaker
um I, but the real negative here, this team through four weeks leads the country and penalties per game. Someone's got to do it, but it's not like everyone in the country is sitting at seven and you've got 7.2, 10.7 penalties per game. And a lot of these are personal and a lot of these are procedural.
00:42:59
Speaker
These are not holdings that are going to get called. These are not, you know, pass interference things that are going to get called. These are false starts. These are, we had the illegal snap last week.
00:43:09
Speaker
These are ruffings stuff that is, Granted, as someone who has literally never played a snap from tackle football, maybe I shouldn't say that on air. Hurts my credibility. But feels very avoidable.
00:43:21
Speaker
Feels very, very avoidable. And Del McGee needs to atone to this or address this incredibly quickly um because he, to this point, granted, he was dealt a poor hand that was made even poorer by how late in the cycle he was hired, um has been so much talk.
00:43:41
Speaker
about the potential of this program and about being in Atlanta and the unique advantage of that. um And he has just kind of crapped the bed. ah No one expected you to beat Vanderbilt again, let let alone the first time, but no one expected it again.
00:43:56
Speaker
um it Something needs to change. the This was an embarrassment. And to touch on with James Madison did this same thing and they figured it out. um We got to stop with the wishy-washy hinky honky bowl crap at quarterback.
00:44:11
Speaker
Is it Cameron? brown Do not name Cameron Brown, the starter and then go TJ Finley. Right. or name him the captain. do Do not name him. the case the ala yeah it's I don't know what the advantage is here.
00:44:25
Speaker
um Pick a guy, stick with him, lose with him or win with him. Um, I've said it previously. i give Georgia state a little bit more merit because it's a real quarterback competition.
00:44:37
Speaker
Um, because they're still trying to figure out who the heck can even play on that campus. One of the biggest, uh, student bodies in FBS and not a guy can throw the football.
00:44:49
Speaker
Um, I'm running, I, we are what 14 games, not 16, 18 games into Dell McGee. And I'm already really losing patience with them.
00:45:00
Speaker
Yeah. um All right. So my last negative here, ah Louisiana um allows Eastern Michigan to walk down the field with 41 seconds to go and kick a or 47 seconds, I guess, rather, and kick a game winning field goal.
00:45:21
Speaker
Zeke, I'd like to ask you a question. here And I think this maybe speaks to ah Michael Desermose. You could say it's the defense. I wouldn't argue with you at all.
00:45:33
Speaker
um Because letting Noah Kim, who was a backup at a bad Coastal team last year, piece you up down the field en route to a a game-winning field goal is bad enough.
00:45:45
Speaker
I think this speaks to Deser Moe, his ability to kind of teach his team like in-game situations. So let me let me take you through this. So at one point, they had the ball, Louisiana, 51 seconds to go, tied 31 all.
00:46:05
Speaker
Or sorry, it was, yeah, it was tied 31, or it was 24, 31-24. Okay. With 10 seconds to or 47 seconds they run touchdown for 10 yards out. Mm-hmm. with ten seconds to or ah forty seven seconds to go they run a touchdown in for ten yards out
00:46:21
Speaker
would you not tell your guy maybe to slow down and not just run? i guess in theory you would go, okay, our defense should be able to keep a team at a field goal range in 41 seconds.
00:46:37
Speaker
But it just feels like, you know, they score, Zylan Perry scores that 10 yard score, ah second and 10 with 47 seconds to go. And I'm kind of like, Yeah, they probably let you do it.
00:46:49
Speaker
Like, that's probably what they wanted because you tie it up and then they just are like, okay, if if we don't and we put up like a full defense, we might not touch the ball again until overtime. And like, that's not what we want when Noah Kim's throwing the ball over the yard.
00:47:05
Speaker
I don't know. i i feel like this comes up every year with every, no matter what level of football you're at. It's like, what do you do in that situation? i don't know if I'm going to put the blame on that blame on Michael Desimero because I'm not certain there's a ton of blame to go to him for.
00:47:23
Speaker
With that said, Louisiana fans, looks like Billy Napier is going to have ah some availability pretty soon. And you don't have to pay him that much. i so He's going to be making a lot of money from Florida. ah Yeah, UL, nosedive. I mean, there's going to be the what if of Walker Howard.
00:47:42
Speaker
um But, I mean, it's not like he did anything in those. Like, he played, look what, like a quarter? Not even. um But it didn't look great. Nope. So...
00:47:56
Speaker
Daniel Beal. What's up, man? It's just so funny. You look at the the the wind chart or whatever, yeah and I'm trying to get to the top of it. It's so finicky.
00:48:07
Speaker
But it literally, there's just like a straight-up spike, and then it just goes straight down when it's like... They tied it up 31-31, and then it's like, oh, guess what?
00:48:18
Speaker
ah Noah Kim throws a pass to Nick Devereaux or whatever, and there goes the chart right the hill. oh Yeah. ah They got to figure that out. UL, one in three through four games is not a right. Daniel Beal, 20 of 33, 222 in two picks.
00:48:40
Speaker
Had a third pick that was called back for roughing the passer.
00:48:44
Speaker
So it might, it might be, it might be lunchtime. If you know what I'm saying, here's the thing. I can, I skip straight to dinner. um Let's run through the rest of the slate from the week.
00:48:55
Speaker
ah We touched on what more than half of them. I think there's only like two. I think there's only three that we didn't talk about. All right. Yeah. ah Outstanding games, Georgia Southern beats Maine 45 to 17.
00:49:08
Speaker
I'll let you go on that, but it felt like it took way too long for, for liftoff on this game. Took way too long. um JC French threw a pick that wasn't really his fault, although it was kind of a bad decision.
00:49:22
Speaker
um They got this third receiver. all right Josh Dallas has been injured, so he's been out. ah They had this third receiver, and I can't can't remember his name off top my head, and that's probably for good reason.
00:49:34
Speaker
But he was running this like in route in the red zone, and even the announcer was like, in a normal situation, You just sit down in the coverage between two guys and let, you know, the quarterback hit you in the chest and then you kind of turn and run.
00:49:51
Speaker
He ran himself into a defender and pops the ball straight up in the air. And a a main defender gets a running start and catches the ball. And it's just he's on the other 20 before like J.C. French knows what planet he's on.
00:50:06
Speaker
Um, yeah, it took way too long. At one point, Maine early in this game was averaging 12 yards per carry. Uh, that obviously came down once the, the score kind of shifted in Georgia Southern's favor.
00:50:18
Speaker
Um, I don't know, man, I said this on Twitter and I, I'm sure there's some Georgia Southern fans who are like sunshine pumpers out there that are just, they're going to disagree with me no matter what I say, but I think I'm at the point where I'm like, this season's not going anywhere with this defense.
00:50:35
Speaker
So you've got this freshman Weston Brian, who's six, three, 250 pounds. And they're using him like, um, you know, Tim Tebow in his first year at Florida. Like he just exclusively kind of runs wildcat.
00:50:50
Speaker
But he threw a pass in this game that was a ah perfect lob that hit Daylon Cobb in the face mask. It was so good of a throw. And Cobb like tripped, and it hit him in the face and bounced off.
00:51:02
Speaker
And I'm like, if this team's not going anywhere, just put the young guy in and build for next year after you fire your defensive coordinator because you know where the issue is. But you're not going to do better than seven and five, six and six with a defense that's allowing probably more yards than any defense in college football.
00:51:21
Speaker
Like, there's just no way. I mean, they look better in the second half. Obviously, they held Maine to three points. They outscored them 28 to three. um But yeah, like you said, it took way too long. And a good team that they if they play like they play JMU next week, a good team is just going to blow them out in the first half while they're like fiddling around trying to figure out what they're doing with themselves.
00:51:42
Speaker
Yeah. ah Other games this week, Texas State 35, Nichols 3. Not a ton to add. I thought, again, it took a Texas State a little too long to get moving. It was 7-3 at the end of the first, but then they scored 21 points in the second quarter um and ultimately romp ah FCS Nichols.
00:52:01
Speaker
Not a ton to add there. Yeah. But a game we didn't talk about that probably should have been included in our good. I don't know how long we want to spend on it um just because of time. But ULM beats UTEP 31-25.
00:52:16
Speaker
ULM is, again, all of a sudden looking like a as a team that's been in the basement as of late, is starting to look like a, you know, flirting, like they could flirt with a bowl, um depending on how the rest, you know, depending on how the rest of the schedule shakes out.
00:52:31
Speaker
They're two and one through three games. um Yeah, Aiden or Mention Hunter-Harrings still ain't the thing.
00:52:40
Speaker
but My only thing that I would put i would push back on is yeah the way that last year started and the way that it ended. didn't they start They started 5-1 last year.
00:52:51
Speaker
you remember that? I'm looking right now. i mean They had beaten JMU. like they They beat like some good teams. i mean i mean Their only loss was to like Texas in like week three. 5-1 with the loss to number one Texas.
00:53:06
Speaker
Right. So that's what I mean is like, and my concern that I will hold until they get deep into conference play is that they do that again, where they start hot and then just completely lose all momentum and and backslide the way that they did last year. Because think about the build, the makeup of this team.
00:53:28
Speaker
it's the same It's almost the same team without the best player from last year's team and the same quarterback, the same kind of level of receiving weapons.
00:53:40
Speaker
That just gives me a lot of pause. I think this could go... i'm I'm just kind of waiting for the the eventual slide because I feel like the way that this team is constructed, it could go bad pretty quickly. Like not a lot of teams are going to let you get it let you get away with beating them with 14 passing attempts.
00:53:58
Speaker
Yeah, and UTEP played a pretty sloppy game late. They went to they scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, but then on their two ensuing drives, ah which would have been their chances to tie and then win the game, ah through interceptions on both. So this was not a ah you know clown question here, but did ULM win or did UTEP lose?
00:54:21
Speaker
um so I mean, I think ULM won, but it's like... Do we know that UTEP's a good team? No, we don't. I mean, this is a one in three UTEP team.
00:54:32
Speaker
Right. And now I mean, I'm looking at the win probability chart and it's like UTEP never got over 50% from 26 seconds left in the first quarter on. Sure. Like ULM just kind of owned the game and it's like,
00:54:47
Speaker
Those that Malachi Nelson, you know, four touchdowns, those look great on paper. However, when you throw two picks and your team is not really in the game from the I mean, not in the game from the perspective of you're not controlling it from like the first quarter, the end of the first quarter on. It's like, OK, a lot of teams can kind of just salt the clock away. And, you know, they scored, but it was like,
00:55:11
Speaker
it wasn't like they were just throwing the ball at will. I mean, it was a lot of still, we're running the ball a lot, you know, are limiting our mentors opportunities. We don't want them to throw us out of a game, stuff like that. So it's like, I don't know, man. Like I, I kind of saw this last year and I felt a lot better about a mod Hardy ULM team than I do about a Braylon McReynolds ULM team. No offense to him.
00:55:32
Speaker
Yeah. ah We'll get a chance. They play Arkansas state next week ah on the probably beat Arkansas state. Yeah, and then you get Northwestern, and then you get Coastal. So, though I mean, shoot, this could be a – actually, it would mimic last year five-in-one ULM team through six games.
00:55:51
Speaker
Right. ah Yeah, sweet. Well, that's the that was the ah the slate for the week. um Some good, a lot of bad, even more ugly.
00:56:05
Speaker
It was something, man. It certainly was. ah Zeke, do you want to let everybody know where they can find you on socials? Yeah, you can follow me on Twitter at Zeke Palermo, Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O. I'll follow up on this Charles Huff stuff. um The indictment of accusations, of fraud watch of Charles Huff.
00:56:27
Speaker
If you know where I can watch these cut-ups or all 22 or something, so I can really chart ah these red zone trips, let me know because, ah again, i I came into this very confused and very surprised.
00:56:39
Speaker
And then you gave me just that base level. Oh, they're throwing it on third and three in the red zone. And they're throwing it on all three downs in the red. Like as soon as they get to the red zone, they're running back. might as well not be on the field.
00:56:53
Speaker
So, yeah. So it went from bad to worse. And i I will follow up on that on both our Twitter at warm weather fans, but my personal at Zeke Palermo. As always, you can email the show warm weather fans at gmail.com.
00:57:07
Speaker
ah You can tweet at us at warm weather fans. You can find me on X at watch the stone. um Zeke, we good? ah Nothing, nothing else? Like ah we have a programming note.
00:57:20
Speaker
Um, I do want to add ah Matt Miguez, who is our third co-host, founded the show with us, told us today that he'll be stepping away. um Obviously just pointing like Matt, ah want him to be a part of this, but just didn't work out ah schedule-wise and with what's going on.
00:57:37
Speaker
ah He is doing the, frankly, most important job in the world, and that is educating our youth. Salutes up to Matt for that. We appreciate you. um And he will you know hopefully be back in the future, at least to talk Louisiana.
00:57:51
Speaker
All right. That does it for another edition of One Mother.