Transcript
Speaker: Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the 700 Pelham Road Podcast.
Speaker: My name is Caleb Williams.
Speaker: I'm alongside Jalen Cooper for episode 8 after a two-week hiatus from recording.
Speaker: Jalen, how are you doing tonight?
Speaker: I'm doing good, doing good.
Speaker: It's been a pretty easy day today.
Speaker: Can't ever complain about having a pretty simple day.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, no kidding.
Speaker: Monday is with no work.
Speaker: That's a...
Speaker: It's a big day for us.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: You know it.
Speaker: Especially, you know, getting a nice chance to kick back after our loaded weekend of college football.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Yeah, not a lot of great games this last weekend.
Speaker: Surprisingly, the game I thought was going to get ugly the most ended up being the best with Auburn Ole Miss.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Honestly –
Speaker: Outside of a few questionable OC play calls, that was probably one of the better games this weekend.
Speaker: A few is rather kind.
Speaker: Yeah, they had that game.
Speaker: And then all of a sudden they just stopped doing what was working.
Speaker: And it was like, oh, okay.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, it'd be like that, though.
Speaker: So two weeks off of recording, just because the weekday schedule has really messed us up.
Speaker: There's a lot to talk about for Jacksonville State, so I guess we might as well go ahead and start with the Liberty game.
Speaker: I don't know, Jalen, what do you have to say about that?
Speaker: I mean, honestly, if we look at performance top to bottom –
Speaker: You honestly couldn't have asked for much more.
Speaker: We were down 17-13 going into the fourth.
Speaker: And considering losing, I guess, QB 1A and QB 1B back-to-back and having to throw in a redshirt freshman who had never had any live game snaps against arguably the best team on our schedule,
Speaker: outside of possibly South Carolina, but I don't even think there was a best game in our schedule this year.
Speaker: But, yeah, throwing a redshirt freshman in to that, it's a tough task, especially because, you know, their defense is not one that you can just carve up and down the field easily.
Speaker: But, I mean, he did a good job for being thrown in there on, you know, such short notice.
Speaker: The next man up mentality.
Speaker: was surely in effect.
Speaker: And, you know, he did what he could do.
Speaker: But, like I said, being a redshirt freshman thrown into the middle of that game, not expecting at all to play, that's a hard situation.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Shout out to Ashton because, you know, all preseason, really the first few weeks we heard, we heard that Tayshaun Smoot was going to be that number three guy.
Speaker: And so I was shocked to see Ashton come in.
Speaker: But, I mean, like you said, he handled it out as well as he could.
Speaker: for a guy who literally has never played a snap at the collegiate level.
Speaker: And to get thrown in against the best team in the conference and a potential, you know, New York six participant, depending on what happens at air force in Tulane.
Speaker: I mean, you couldn't have asked for much more than for him to, you know, just lay it out on the field.
Speaker: And he did.
Speaker: I mean, it just, right now to that point, it just came down to, you know, your number three guy, but,
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, credit to him because he really could have shrunk and he didn't.
Speaker: And so that gives us some thoughts for the next couple years as we see the roster turnover.
Speaker: I look forward to seeing how he plays.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I guess the only other thing I really have to say about that game is, you know, going back and looking at some of the team's stats,
Speaker: I get we play a very up-tempo offense, but when time of possession is 40-20 to Liberty,
Speaker: you can't give that offense the ball for that long.
Speaker: Um, because they're just going to wear you down.
Speaker: And that's what happened.
Speaker: Our defense was good for the first three quarters of the game.
Speaker: And then, you know, only being able to sit on the sideline for two minutes max, it just, it wears on you.
Speaker: And eventually you're just going to break down, um,
Speaker: And, you know, that's what happened.
Speaker: Them having to be on the field 40 minutes of a 60-minute game just is never ideal.
Speaker: No, it's not.
Speaker: I mean, that game was just kind of the stereotypical game of this year is, you know, the offense –
Speaker: You know, it's no fault of the coaches, really, even the players.
Speaker: It's just adjusting to the new teams we're playing that offense didn't do much and the defense could only hold on for so long.
Speaker: And, you know, that works against an Eastern Michigan or a UTEP.
Speaker: It doesn't work very well against Liberty.
Speaker: No, not at all.
Speaker: And maybe a lot of it had to do with, you know,
Speaker: both of our QB ones going down.
Speaker: I don't know how much the game plan had to change because I don't know how much of the playbook, you know, Fry was comfortable with in game action.
Speaker: So, and especially, you know, with him playing, I think he played the entire second half with him having to play so much and, you know, not knowing what the playbook was for him.
Speaker: Maybe that had a lot to do with it, and we just had to arrive with what we got and had to see what happened.
Speaker: But, yeah, that disparity just isn't going to work for a team like Liberty.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Look, Liberty, they probably go undefeated this year.
Speaker: I think FPI gives them a 75-plus percent chance to win every game after this Western Kentucky game.
Speaker: And even then, I think they're in the 60s for this game.
Speaker: So, yeah.
Speaker: Odds are Liberty's sitting there 12-0, conference championship.
Speaker: Look, if our one conference loss this year ends up being to Liberty, I think we're in pretty good shape.
Speaker: Yeah, like you said, if our one conference loss is Liberty, especially in year one in this conference when –
Speaker: I think the conference preseason, Paul had a seventh, only ahead of Sam Houston and I believe it was FIU.
Speaker: Then, yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker: If we get out of here with one conference loss, because Liberty is just one of those teams where, you know, if they beat you,
Speaker: It's almost like there's nothing you can really do as far as like, yeah, you can be upset that you lost because you always want to win, but it's not an embarrassing loss by any means.
Speaker: No, look, I mean, preseason, that was the one game I kind of looked, besides South Carolina, that was the one game I looked at and said, yeah, we'd probably lose that game.
Speaker: And it has nothing to do with us.
Speaker: It's everything to do with Liberty's good football team.
Speaker: So, you know, nothing to be ashamed about it at all because,
Speaker: I mean, look, the guys fought.
Speaker: It just came down to not having the legs at the moment.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I believe, you know, in any other year going forward, you know, we'd be in the driver's seat to have a rematch.
Speaker: And I think we could beat him in said rematch.
Speaker: But, you know, being in year two of the transition and not being eligible for the conference championship, we don't get.
Speaker: We don't get that pleasure of looking forward to a rematch, but I'm definitely looking forward to that game next year up in Virginia.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's going to be a fun atmosphere.
Speaker: I'm definitely going to try and see if I can somehow, someway make it to that game.
Speaker: Yeah, depending on what our schedule is, that might have to be our road trip for the year.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm just hoping –
Speaker: That one lands on the weekend, although we don't have many weekend conference slots.
Speaker: I'm just hoping we get lucky and that one lands on the weekend.
Speaker: Yeah, it can be September or November.
Speaker: If it's October, we probably ain't making that trip.
Speaker: Nah.
Speaker: But, look, it is what it is.
Speaker: I mean, took an L, and, you know, I think you'd be jaded if you went in thinking that we were going to win that game by multiple scores anyways.
Speaker: But then, you know, like you said, lose Zion, lose Logan, and that's the ballgame.
Speaker: But it is what it is.
Speaker: Move on.
Speaker: And, of course, we had another game about a week later that ended up going a lot better.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: I will say one of the bright sides to the Liberty game is we finally, finally, finally got a whiteout.
Speaker: Fans have been begging for a whiteout or a blackout for the longest, and it seems like the athletic department rightfully so waited for the biggest game of the year to finally break out not only the white helmets, but bringing back the retro logo on the white helmets.
Speaker: Yeah, man, that
Speaker: I hate that we wore them and then got beat by two tutties, but at the same time, it's going to come back, and I bet you we win the next one.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And honestly, even though we lost, I still love it because a lot of our –
Speaker: older JSU fans can remember the, the digit camo alternate unis.
Speaker: And, uh, those, those are, those are something else.
Speaker: So to go from that digital camo to this whiteout, especially with the retro logo, it was, it was so clean.
Speaker: And what a fever dream of a uniform that was.
Speaker: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker: And I mean, honestly, this, this retro throwback logo is everybody's,
Speaker: not only loving it online, I mean, you know, both of us, we went to get personalized before the game, the shirts with the logo on it, the hats, the long sleeve shirts, the sweatshirts, they were all, you know, flying off the shelves before the game that day.
Speaker: And they had just gotten in, I think like six hours before kickoff.
Speaker: So, I mean, everybody's loving it.
Speaker: I know,
Speaker: The people of Very Get Personalized said all of that merch is here to stay.
Speaker: So if you didn't get a chance to grab it, it'll be here for a while.
Speaker: You definitely want to go grab it because it's nice.
Speaker: So I will say, you know, you're talking about get personalized and what they're putting out.
Speaker: We have seen rumors.
Speaker: They may be putting out some striped overalls.
Speaker: Oh, dude, if they if they go through and pull out the striped overalls, one, I hope somehow we get them in before November 4th.
Speaker: But two, I'm dropping the sixty five dollars to go grab a pair.
Speaker: I don't care.
Speaker: Yeah, I think I might be dropping that money too.
Speaker: It's turned down that opportunity.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm just really hoping – I'm sure they won't, but I'm just really hoping they drop before November 4th because being able to be obnoxious in Williams-Brice Stadium and those overalls would be fun.
Speaker: At the very least, I hope they drop before alumni reunion on November 18th.
Speaker: Man, if we show up to a reunion dress like that, it's going to be another level.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: But, I mean, as always, if you ever need game day gear, get personalized.
Speaker: And they're not paying us to say this.
Speaker: Yeah, they aren't.
Speaker: No free shout-outs, but this is a free shout-out.
Speaker: They just have always taken great care of not only us, but all JSU fans, and especially the Southerners.
Speaker: We know every fall they get absolutely –
Speaker: bombarded with southerners jackets orders and arena jerseys and drum major jerseys and arena jackets so like yeah huge shout out to them they make sure everybody's well taken care of and they make sure to keep game cognition looking good on game days yeah so so stop by get personalized this is not an ad uh but stop by get personalized anyway
Speaker: So, all right.
Speaker: Well, I guess let's talk about this Western Kentucky game.
Speaker: So, first of all, Western Kentucky fans, we love you.
Speaker: Promise we do.
Speaker: But this is what y'all get for complaining about the conference and acting like y'all are going to be above everyone else.
Speaker: You lost a game to a first-year FBS team, so deal with it.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Obviously, there were some Liberty fans that were like, I wish, you know, we had gotten an invite from Sunbelt.
Speaker: But I haven't seen –
Speaker: And I'm not saying all of them because, you know, we have some really chill Western Kentucky fans over on the Twitter page.
Speaker: But there were definitely some that don't necessarily interact with us that I saw that were just obnoxious about, you know, this conference is so beneath us.
Speaker: And, you know, this is such an easy conference and we're going to go undefeated and we're going to.
Speaker: you know, show the Sun Belt why they should be sorry they didn't invite us, this and that.
Speaker: And I didn't see that last week.
Speaker: No, I mean, that's the case of a team that – it's not on the team.
Speaker: I mean, you play the game they put in front of you.
Speaker: But we all saw on Twitter fans, and it's not all Western Kentucky fans, but a large portion of the West Kentucky fan base talking about how they were above the conference, you would say, how they're a Sunbelt team or even potentially an American conference team.
Speaker: And as we've seen, look, Western Kentucky fans,
Speaker: is in third place in the conference right now.
Speaker: And in danger of slipping more.
Speaker: Yeah, they'll play Liberty this week.
Speaker: And if I'm correct, they could drop to as low as fourth, depending on how things go.
Speaker: Yeah, I think they could drop to as low as fourth or fifth.
Speaker: But by the time the season is done and over with, I think they could finish as low as like fourth or fifth.
Speaker: Which –
Speaker: Look, I'll be honest.
Speaker: I thought Western Kentucky was either going to win this conference or finish second.
Speaker: And there's no guarantee that they even make the conference championship games.
Speaker: You know, credit to the conference as a whole being a lot more even than I thought it would.
Speaker: I really thought it was going to be a top-heavy conference.
Speaker: And, I mean, we're looking at JSU and year one of the FBS.
Speaker: You know, we're –
Speaker: we might run her up in year one.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: I mean, Liberty could possibly lose this week and then, you know, win out and in any other year, you're looking at a two-way tie, obviously, with them getting the tiebreaker.
Speaker: You're looking at a two-way tie atop Conference USA between a first-year team and
Speaker: Well, I guess Liberty is also first year in CUSA, but they've been around FBS a little bit longer.
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, the way the standings are shaking out, it's definitely a little bit surprising up to this point, especially considering how some of the CUSA teams started the season.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I'll say this.
Speaker: There are a lot of teams in the conference that I actually thought were going to be better.
Speaker: I thought Eastern Michigan was going to be better.
Speaker: I thought San Houston would be better.
Speaker: I thought Western Kentucky, like I said, would be better.
Speaker: And I thought teams like Louisiana Tech and even FIU would be better.
Speaker: And as a whole, it just feels like the conference, I don't want to say has gone down, but it feels like,
Speaker: It just feels like as a whole, there's been a lot more parity.
Speaker: So you've just seen a lot more teams lose games that you wouldn't think they would.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Sam Houston being winless so far this season is just – obviously from my perspective, I love that they didn't beat us, but it's just kind of – It's shocking.
Speaker: It's depressing if you're a Sam Houston fan because they've had several games now where they were in the driver's seat up
Speaker: through the, like up through the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Speaker: And then some way, somehow everything just breaks down and, you know, what can go wrong does go wrong for them.
Speaker: And either they lose in overtime or on a last second score from the opposing team, or, you know, right there with one or two minutes left, which really sucks, you know, going in your first year.
Speaker: having been a fairly dominant team in the FCS and coming into what is considered the weakest, uh, group of five conference, and then just not being able to come away with a win so far.
Speaker: Um, and where they're sitting at now, they don't even have a chance to be possibly considered for a bowl game.
Speaker: Cause they've already lost seven.
Speaker: not that it was automatic this year anyway, because they're in the same position we are, but to just already be looking at, you know, losing season, I know that that has to hurt.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: I'll tell you what though.
Speaker: You know, we, we did that podcast preseason.
Speaker: You know, I think we both, I don't know about you predict.
Speaker: I think I predicted what five and seven, you may be six and six.
Speaker: Yeah, somewhere around there.
Speaker: And, you know, I was doing the math.
Speaker: You know, we have a real chance, obviously, wanting to win nine games.
Speaker: You know, if we go into South Carolina, and I'm not saying we're going to beat South Carolina.
Speaker: I'm not saying that.
Speaker: But let's say we go beat South Carolina.
Speaker: We finish the season 5-0.
Speaker: We go 10-2.
Speaker: Which would be insane.
Speaker: And I don't care what anybody would say about us playing in CUSA and being in a weaker conference.
Speaker: The thing is, if we were to come in year one and go 10-2 over teams that have been FBS for a good little bit, no matter what, no matter if it's a weaker conference or not, 10-2 in year one against established FBS schools is insanely impressive.
Speaker: Yes, it's not the same as James Madison going 8-3 in the Sun Belt last year because the Sun Belt is its own different beast.
Speaker: But 10-2, first year FBS, like I said, against established schools, it would be insane and nobody could take anything away from that no matter how hard they tried.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: All right, well, I guess, you know, talking about the Western Kentucky game, I really only have one point to hit besides, obviously, it was a huge win for the program.
Speaker: Gets us to 5-2 on the year.
Speaker: No, 6-2.
Speaker: I did that math wrong.
Speaker: Gets us 6-2.
Speaker: We only have one loss in conference, and we're going to be favored in our last three conference games.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: My only real comment is, what is going on with Zion at quarterback?
Speaker: Dude, I don't know.
Speaker: Maybe it's like that syndrome or disease where, you know, if you experience trauma enough, you suddenly wake up and you're just the best person ever.
Speaker: Maybe the Liberty game, they hit him so hard that, you know, he woke up and he was like, nobody can stop me.
Speaker: Even if you slam my head into the turf, I don't feel anything.
Speaker: I'm going to just get back up and keep going.
Speaker: Because there were definitely some hits and some tackles in the Western Kentucky game where not only us, but I saw a couple of fans on Twitter just being like, that dude does not look like he should be taking any more hits to the head or slamming his head in the turf anymore.
Speaker: So maybe...
Speaker: whatever happened in that Liberty game just gave him super human strength.
Speaker: And, you know, he's just like, yeah, I don't feel anything.
Speaker: What was that?
Speaker: Yeah, I will say we had an unsubstantiated report that he may have thrown up at the game.
Speaker: That was my first – that was kind of the one that popped the red flag to me.
Speaker: I didn't think he'd play the entire second half after that, and yet he comes in and –
Speaker: Just, again, goes nuts.
Speaker: I mean, I was doing the math.
Speaker: He had 146 on the ground, I think, on his own.
Speaker: Another 220 through the air.
Speaker: And all that with probably eight kinds of concussions over the last two weeks.
Speaker: Hey, look, this is only mostly a joke, but if that's what it takes for him to play well, maybe we should hit him in the head with a hammer before he can.
Speaker: Doug, I don't know.
Speaker: I mean –
Speaker: For him, I hate that it's somewhat of a wasted season if we don't get a bowl game this year.
Speaker: But to be going out like this, you kind of can't be upset if you're him, especially with all the injuries and the stuff that he's had to deal with.
Speaker: And the last coaching staff, which while he was here, was not the best.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: to be able to go out there one more year after getting that waiver, you can tell he's not going to let anything stop him.
Speaker: He's going to play through whatever he's medically cleared to play through.
Speaker: But, I mean, yeah, he – I don't know what it was.
Speaker: Like I said, maybe he just got hit hard enough to where he just doesn't feel anything anymore because the average person with some of those hits he took in that game
Speaker: They would have threw in the towel after, you know, hit one or two and been done.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker: And, man, even late in the game when they're just trying to run the clock down, he took a snap and they were just trying to center it.
Speaker: And he got slammed against the ground even then.
Speaker: I'm like, he cannot find a way to avoid hits.
Speaker: It's a lot like Jaden Daniels a few weeks ago when every week he was getting hit.
Speaker: he's getting hit, hit hard every week.
Speaker: Like it was Vontaze perfect coming after him.
Speaker: Um, but, um, man, I don't know.
Speaker: Obviously we'll see this week.
Speaker: My only question is whether or not he actually plays.
Speaker: Um, I'm sure the biggest concern is that we're facing a really good Western Kentucky team.
Speaker: I really am wondering, does he actually play this week?
Speaker: Do we see Logan or do we see, you know, Ashton Fry or Tayshaun or does Zion actually play?
Speaker: Honestly, who knows?
Speaker: The way this season has gone with the quarterback room, we could walk out.
Speaker: We could walk out on the field come Wednesday and there was a fifth guy that nobody even knew about.
Speaker: The rich Rod's like, yeah, this dude's ready.
Speaker: I like what I saw at practice this week.
Speaker: We're going to throw him in there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: The man is crazy, but he knows what works.
Speaker: Yeah, the dude is an absolute psychopath of a coach, and I love it.
Speaker: I mean, if it wasn't for him, I don't know if the cardiac cocks would exist this season.
Speaker: No, not at all.
Speaker: Because we have had some massive turnarounds, which, including this game, maybe not as massive of a turnaround, but the –
Speaker: the first half of the Western Kentucky game and the second half of the Western Kentucky game, two, yet again, two totally different teams showed up.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, if you know, you look at Liberty, they actually came out of the half playing pretty well, but two straight drives, we lost our best QVs.
Speaker: So you really can't even blame that on Rich Rod.
Speaker: It's just the matter.
Speaker: It's just how the circumstance goes.
Speaker: But yeah, it seems like every game, the second half adjustments have,
Speaker: have been better and better every week.
Speaker: Still got to give credit to Zach Alley.
Speaker: Man, what a defensive coordinator.
Speaker: Dude, our defense is absolutely insane.
Speaker: Just some of the plays they're able to make, that defensive line, just making the quarterback's life complete hell from –
Speaker: the first snap all the way until the clocks hit triple zero.
Speaker: I'm going to say it right now.
Speaker: I don't think Zach Alley stays past this year.
Speaker: Obviously, who knows?
Speaker: Maybe he's feeling Jacksonville.
Speaker: Maybe he's feeling Jacksonville State, and he rides it out a little bit longer.
Speaker: But I would not blame that man because I know there are some P5 schools that are going to come calling, and they're going to bring –
Speaker: every bit of money they can and just drop it on the table.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: I hope they do too because, look, I haven't seen a defense this good at JSU since 2015.
Speaker: I mean, really, I haven't.
Speaker: You know, even teams like 2019, 2020 with Nicario Harper, we weren't making this many plays.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: It seems like every week,
Speaker: whenever our offense is kind of stolen out, our defense is right there, you know, keeping us alive, keeping us going.
Speaker: And like I said, a lot of that is because of Zach Alley and, you know, the plays and the schemes that he's drawn up.
Speaker: But I can't complain if he leaves.
Speaker: I just can't.
Speaker: It would suck, but –
Speaker: the man has proven that, you know, he is legit.
Speaker: Yeah, no kidding.
Speaker: All right, well, I guess next up, I guess we got to talk about the Brett McMurphy soft bomb that we got this morning on bowl projections.
Speaker: Well, before that, obviously, you know, we got the win over Western Kentucky, but –
Speaker: The reason we did.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Can't forget him.
Speaker: AK-47, Mr. Automatic.
Speaker: The man slipped.
Speaker: He lost his footing on his plant leg and still somehow made a 41-yarder.
Speaker: I don't think... I don't know if people understand just how hard it is to completely slip on your plant leg and still make a 41-yard field goal.
Speaker: When I used to kick in high school, the longest I ever hit was 46, and it took everything I had.
Speaker: So for him to have basically no kinetic energy in his body and still hit from 41, and it looked like it was good from five or six yards still.
Speaker: Yeah, he could have hit a 45-yarder on that.
Speaker: I mean, that's pretty impressive because, again, he had nothing –
Speaker: I mean, it's like when you let a spring loose and now there's nothing left in it.
Speaker: He lost all energy in his body and he still had enough to get it there.
Speaker: It's insane.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, as we saw, he would have had the chance to run it back because there was an off-sides penalty, which would have made it a 36 and would have made it even that much more automatic for him.
Speaker: But we didn't even need the flag.
Speaker: That man really just –
Speaker: Somehow, someway made the 41-yarder while slipping and just – that was a good one.
Speaker: I mean, pretty much every – pretty much everybody on Twitter was losing their minds.
Speaker: We got a minute-long shout-out from Pat McAfee because that man, I mean, he's a punter, but he knows the mechanics of kicking very well, and he was – he couldn't understand it either.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Look, Pat McAfee, that's a rich rod man.
Speaker: You know he's going to keep riding for us.
Speaker: But a minute-long video on Twitter, five minutes after the game ends.
Speaker: I mean, you know, I think we were talking after the game.
Speaker: We were watching our program become a national brand almost overnight.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And it's mostly because of Pat McAfee.
Speaker: Yeah, it's insane.
Speaker: It's a mix of –
Speaker: the, the, the football team being the cardiac Cox us having midweek football where nobody else is watching any other games.
Speaker: Um, and then the icing on the cake is Pat McAfee who has, you know, multinational reach constantly tweeting about us and giving us shout outs on college game day on the Pat McAfee show.
Speaker: Um, it makes people want to tune in.
Speaker: And as Rich Rod said after one of our comebacks, I can't remember which one, are you not entertained?
Speaker: Because pretty much every game you tune into for JSU, it's going to be a fun, exciting football game from start to finish.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: I mean –
Speaker: Now, more often than not, sometimes maybe you just want to turn it on around, you know, 9, 9 o'clock, let it get to the second half.
Speaker: But, man, second half Cox, that is a conference championship winning team.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Now we just got to find some way somehow to get Pat McAfee down to Jacksonville.
Speaker: I know his show follows college game day.
Speaker: You know, they do the show, whatever city college game day is in.
Speaker: I just need him some way somehow to get to Jacksonville for a game or just show up to one of our games in general.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'd love to see Pat McAfee in a bowl game.
Speaker: If, if we do get one.
Speaker: I'd love it.
Speaker: Um, I don't know what it's going to take.
Speaker: It may take Rich Rod picking up the phone, but it's gotta happen.
Speaker: Uh, yeah.
Speaker: Um, but before we get to, you know, talking about said bowl game, uh, uh, Alan Karajic, AK 47 and Zion both got conference player of the week, special team and offensive player of the week.
Speaker: And, uh,
Speaker: Yet another kind of just punching them out to all the doubters and CUSA and in general.
Speaker: We just keep racking up these conference player of the week awards, you know, week in and week out.
Speaker: It just goes to show no matter if you're a year one team or a year 25 team in the FBS, what matters is can your players show up?
Speaker: And we've proven time and time again that our players are showing up.
Speaker: Yeah, and I think one of the things is it feels like
Speaker: You know, I don't know if it's not a talent thing.
Speaker: I'm not saying that Zion Webb is the most talented quarterback in the conference, but he's probably one of the grimiest players in the conference.
Speaker: I mean, as we saw this last game when he probably took four hits to the head that he really didn't need to and he still kept playing, he just doesn't give up.
Speaker: And that's kind of what you need when you've got a talent gap is you need guys who've got a lot more fight than the guys across the line.
Speaker: Yeah, and I think a lot of that also is fueled by coaching because not to throw names out there or anything, but our last coaching staff just – it seemed like when the guys wanted to give up, they just let them give up.
Speaker: And when it comes to this coaching staff, I don't even know if the guys have that give up mentality because, you know, from day one, Rich Rod walked in there.
Speaker: And he kind of, I mean, not kind of, you can see he scared some guys off because as I have seen in a lot of player interviews from day one, you know, he came in and raised the bar and, you know, reset the standards super high.
Speaker: So there was no even coming in with the semblance of having a give up mentality.
Speaker: So I think a lot of credit, you know, goes to him and his coaching staff just because, you know,
Speaker: Like I said, we've seen from prior coaches that it's not always a given whether you have the talent or not.
Speaker: Yeah, and I'll tell you what.
Speaker: That's kind of the one thing about a Rich Rod coach team is you're really not allowed to be on a team if you don't have that 60-minute mentality.
Speaker: I hate to quote a certain former Auburn football coach who shall not be named, but –
Speaker: It takes a fourth and one mentality.
Speaker: It takes being willing to line up and know that you're going to physically dominate the guy across from you, even if they're better than you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But, I mean, you know, I just love it.
Speaker: We, as a fan base, we just had to deal with a lot of bull crap, for lack of a better term, just knowing we had the talent to be better.
Speaker: we should have been, you know, making deep playoff runs and even getting, you know, to the national championship in the FCS, you know, more than we were more than the one season.
Speaker: And to now finally have a coach where, you know, you,
Speaker: we're going to be completely realistic and transparent.
Speaker: We're not shooting for national championship game, not in the conference we're in, not scheduling the, you know, the non-conference opponents that we are, but just coming in and, you know, pretty much just, we're going to play a bowl game.
Speaker: That seems like that's the mentality.
Speaker: You know, we're going to win the conference.
Speaker: We're going to play, play a bowl game.
Speaker: And it's nice to see that, that they're not taking, um,
Speaker: you know, they're not taking crap.
Speaker: No, not one bit.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, you know, speaking of bowl games, we had a little bit of a, of a news bomb this morning from, I believe it was Brett McMurphy, right?
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: Brett McMurphy this morning and well, not this morning.
Speaker: We'll say earlier this afternoon.
Speaker: He basically predicted that he only sees right now 78 fully eligible college football teams being bowl eligible come season's end, which leaves four spots.
Speaker: And as of right now, there are two teams that are not automatically eligible, us and James Madison.
Speaker: that would fill in those first two spots.
Speaker: And he currently has us predicted to play against South Alabama.
Speaker: I can't remember the exact name of the bowl.
Speaker: Let me pull it up right here.
Speaker: I know it's in Mobile, but I don't remember the name.
Speaker: The 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile on December 23rd.
Speaker: So, yeah, I mean –
Speaker: Should that trend keep up?
Speaker: And I've even – I've seen some other predictions that have even less teams.
Speaker: I've seen some predictions that have said 72 to 74 teams making it.
Speaker: So, I mean, as of right now, it's looking real bright that us and James Madison will get our shot to play, you know, play past week 12.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: And I'll tell you what.
Speaker: if we were to get put into a bowl game within that distance of Jacksonville, JSU fans will travel.
Speaker: They'll travel for that first bowl game.
Speaker: I know I'll be there.
Speaker: I don't really care what day it is.
Speaker: I'll take two days off and I'll go.
Speaker: We say driving distance, and I've seen some people that have softly predicted the Camellia Bowl.
Speaker: And as great of an accomplishment as making a bowl game is, I am praying to the football gods, I will sacrifice whatever I have to sacrifice, that we do not end up back in Montgomery.
Speaker: Because JSU fans have had to sit in that stadium for way too many games in the FCS kickoff when it seemed like they loved to just plug us in there because we were right down the road.
Speaker: Obviously, our fans will still travel.
Speaker: And, you know, we'll still show up and show out.
Speaker: But I am hoping and praying.
Speaker: I would rather get the Birmingham Bowl and be in protective than have to drive to Montgomery again.
Speaker: And I'll tell you what, having gone to Auburn High School, I played two to three games a year in that stadium.
Speaker: So I've probably had close to 15 games in Crampton Bowl.
Speaker: And like you said, I think enough is enough.
Speaker: And it's rare I've been there where it's been a good experience in terms of how my team has played.
Speaker: So, yeah, I think I need a new – I would love to avoid Montgomery if at all possible.
Speaker: And I would especially love to avoid that stadium because –
Speaker: Even though we were the home team in every game there, they always put us on the away side, or we always elected to sit on the away side.
Speaker: And I know that if we were to get that bowl game, we would be the away team, and I doubt the other team would choose to sit on that side.
Speaker: So we'd be sitting right in the same seats we've been sitting in year in and year out.
Speaker: Yeah, that's going to be enough for me, Doug.
Speaker: But, I mean, I'll take a bowl game wherever we can get it.
Speaker: Like we both said, would definitely prefer for it to be driving distance, which luckily being in Alabama, there's a good bit of bowl games, you know, in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama itself, Louisiana, Florida.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: A lot of states where driving the night before or a day or two before is 100% feasible, not having to worry about getting a flight.
Speaker: So yeah, we just kind of have to handle, I say handle business.
Speaker: We already have handled our business the most we can as far as the bowl game goes.
Speaker: Now it's just a matter of
Speaker: going ahead and playing out the season so that, you know, if a little bit of a higher bowl game comes available, you know, we can get that call.
Speaker: Obviously, we're not looking at anything super, super high.
Speaker: But, you know, anything to get just a little bit more national coverage.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And, you know, I hate that we – I'm trying to remember which bowl game it was that they took away from us.
Speaker: Was it the Cincy Bowl?
Speaker: Yeah, the Cincinnati Bowl was proposed, and initially it was looking like it was going to be granted, but the NCAA, which according to the projections right now, the NCAA rightfully said we want to make sure bowl games are only six wins or more teams.
Speaker: So they decided to shelve it for now.
Speaker: It wasn't a complete and total no forever going forward, especially adding new teams coming up here soon.
Speaker: But it's not a new one this year.
Speaker: If it was, we would 100% be looking at a bowl game.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, no question, because I don't know that we have enough conference sites to fill them up.
Speaker: So, but, hey, it is, like you said, getting a bowl game in general will be huge.
Speaker: As long as it's not, you know, as long as it's not the Bahamas or anything like that.
Speaker: Well, it can be the Bahamas because it ain't even in the Bahamas this year.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, that's true.
Speaker: Which that game is going to, you know, a CUSA team.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Initially, it was probably going to be Liberty, but the fact that it's not in the Bahamas this year, I doubt they'll pick the number one team.
Speaker: Liberty will probably be playing in New Orleans, depending on how Tulane and Air Force shake out.
Speaker: But, you know, we'll take the bowl game wherever.
Speaker: For us, it won't be nearly as depressing as it will for our friends over at James Madison because they're looking at a season where they would
Speaker: 100% be fighting, you know, right there with air.
Speaker: I think they're only two or three spots back from air force in Tulane.
Speaker: They would be fighting for a spot on December 31st or January 1st.
Speaker: that New Orleans Bowl would be a good game to think, obviously, not being, you know, officially balled probably means we won't go there.
Speaker: But still, whoever gets there, we're going to have a grand old time.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: I'm looking forward to, you know, next year, hopefully having just as good of a season, you know, playing in the conference championship and looking at, you know, one of those bowls, looking at New Orleans or Bahamas,
Speaker: I would hope and pray that we get New Orleans just because that's much more feasible and a lot easier to do.
Speaker: But obviously getting to play in the Bahamas would be huge for the players.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like you said, I mean, it is what it is.
Speaker: You know, take what you get because beggars can't really be choosers.
Speaker: No, we –
Speaker: Unlike the state of Virginia legislature, we understand that we agreed to the rules and we're just going to take what we can get and slide on out of here.
Speaker: We're not trying to sue the NCAA for a contract that we signed.
Speaker: Don't you love the consequences of your own actions?
Speaker: Yeah, and I mean, we despise the NCAA as a body as much as the next person, but...
Speaker: Like we said on Twitter and like we said in the group chat, we understand rules are rules.
Speaker: We actually, this is karma, as we have joked about, we benefited from the NCAA's stupid rules because Bellarmine beat us in the ASUN basketball tournament because they had just moved up two years ago.
Speaker: That was only their second year moved up in basketball, I think is a three-year waiting period.
Speaker: They weren't allowed to go to the dance.
Speaker: So us winning the regular season, we got thrown in there.
Speaker: And as much as we benefited, I said it was a stupid rule then.
Speaker: And here we are again, same situation.
Speaker: NCAA has a stupid rule.
Speaker: And I get the old-timey reasons, but we agreed to it.
Speaker: It's stupid.
Speaker: I hate the NCAA, but...
Speaker: but we got to ride with it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But you know, like you said, it's just karma for us taking Bellarmine spot away.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: We caught a lot of crap back then from ASUN fans and college basketball fans in general.
Speaker: Um, the funny thing is I think most people have forgotten about it by now, but we definitely have not.
Speaker: Cause I've seen a lot of JSU fans joke about, you know, this being karma.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But, hey, all that means is we've got to repeat it next year.
Speaker: We saw how, you know, James Madison, they went 8-3 last year when, you know, with them taking a different route.
Speaker: They played a full FBS slate.
Speaker: They went 8-3 last year, and right now they're on track to go undefeated.
Speaker: Hey, we can turn around next year.
Speaker: I don't know what our other conference slate is looking like, but we can turn around next year and go undefeated ourselves.
Speaker: Yeah, we could.
Speaker: But other than that, I think it's time to look forward to this week's game.
Speaker: Yep, we got – Traveling down to Miami.
Speaker: Yeah, a little trip a little down to South Beach for a team that we're actually pretty familiar with.
Speaker: We played them in 2020 and 2021.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I believe, and won both times.
Speaker: Sure did.
Speaker: We were fully still FCS then and beat them back-to-back years.
Speaker: Now, albeit that was with – that was with Zarek Cooper at QB.
Speaker: I think both games actually.
Speaker: I can't remember for sure, but I think you're right.
Speaker: I know he was at least the QB1 both years.
Speaker: I know one of those seasons he had dealt with some injury problems, but I do believe he was the quarterback for both of those games.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm trying to remember which year he was hurt and Zion was the starter and if that was for that game or not.
Speaker: I feel like Zarek started for it.
Speaker: Probably.
Speaker: Either way, I mean –
Speaker: Zarek has seen, not this team specifically, because it's been some years, but he has seen that school twice now.
Speaker: And obviously we have a new coaching staff.
Speaker: I'm not sure if they have a new coaching staff, but...
Speaker: We know we have the capability of winning, you know, going down there and winning.
Speaker: And especially looking at how we've played so far this season, I have no doubt in my mind that we can go down there and hopefully put together, you know, a full 60 minutes and come out with a comfortable win, you know, from start to finish.
Speaker: It's about time for us to start and not take our foot off the pedal.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I think the closest we've gotten to that was Eastern Michigan.
Speaker: I just want a conference game where we go in and, you know, start to finish, no doubt in our minds.
Speaker: We just take care of business and, you know, not have to worry and call ourselves a cardiac cocks for a week.
Speaker: Yeah, look, cardiac cocks are great for national TV, but they're not great for our heart health.
Speaker: Not at all.
Speaker: The cardiac cocks are going to cause cardiac arrest one of these days.
Speaker: I mean, looking at FIU, they're 4-4 on the season.
Speaker: Lost to Louisiana Tech to open the season.
Speaker: They beat Maine, beat North Texas, beat UConn.
Speaker: lost pretty bad to Liberty and then lost to New Mexico state and Utah.
Speaker: Um, and then turned around and came away with a double overtime thriller against, of course, Sam Houston.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, I, look, I think this is the week I really do.
Speaker: I've said it over and over again.
Speaker: One of these times it's going to be right.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: I think this is the week that we finally put together a full game.
Speaker: Now, it comes down to one thing.
Speaker: It comes down to our QBs deciding they're not going to look like some brain-dead, you know, Siamese cats in the first half.
Speaker: But if we can get through that first half with some offense, I think we're in good shape.
Speaker: I really need this to be the week because I want us to have some sort of momentum, something to build off of, because we're going to have a week and a half of downtime after, you know, having that short week between, you know, or no, not the short week.
Speaker: Cause I think we came off a bike before we started our midweek games.
Speaker: Oh no, we didn't.
Speaker: We had Saturday to Thursday.
Speaker: So after coming off, you know, the short week heading into the October games,
Speaker: Now we have a week and a half before South Carolina.
Speaker: That's a lot of downtime between two games when you don't have a bye week.
Speaker: So we really need to just build a lot of momentum, and I hope we can, like he said, finally come out in the first half firing and continue it.
Speaker: Because Liberty game, we came out firing in the first half, and they were hot, and they were rolling.
Speaker: but then the quarterback injuries happen.
Speaker: I just want us to come out hot in the first half and sustain it and just have something to build off of and a lot to look forward to going into Columbia.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: And obviously, you know, I'm not going to go so far to say we beat South Carolina, but if we come out Wednesday night and we put together the game that we need,
Speaker: A lot of people are going to be asking the question, can we go into Columbia and do it?
Speaker: Which is, you know, honestly is a very valid question looking at how South Carolina has struggled this year and also looking at the history of, you know, Jack State, especially in the recent history of going into these SEC stadiums and either coming away with the win or, and not only SEC, but just, you know, power five stadiums in general.
Speaker: and either coming away with the upset win or, you know, putting up a fight right to the very end because we beat Ole Miss, should have beat Auburn.
Speaker: Um, that LSU game was pretty competitive for about two and a half, three quarters.
Speaker: Um, and then of course everybody remembers the Florida state game, um, which we played them twice.
Speaker: The first game we honestly should have won.
Speaker: And then the second game we went on the hail, the hail Mary, um,
Speaker: So, yeah, JSU has a very solid history of going into these Power 5 stadiums and not making it an easy, you know, cupcake win.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: But, you know, it's going to be what it's going to be.
Speaker: Just got to trust Rich Rod.
Speaker: At the end of the day,
Speaker: I mean, we've, what, played three conference road games, I think, no, two conference road games at this point, San Houston and Milton and C. Both games in the second half, we've come out on fire, and I'd argue that our worst football is behind us.
Speaker: I really hope our worst football is behind us.
Speaker: Obviously, you know, first year FBS is going to come with some growing pains and we have seen the highs and the lows of the first year, what some people would call beginner's luck.
Speaker: And then what some people would call your, you know, welcome to the FBS moments.
Speaker: Yeah, I, I would,
Speaker: Considering first half, second half, first half of the season compared to the second half of the season, I think we are going to be those cardiac cocks and just go away, go out firing and come away with hopefully four out of four wins, but at the very least three out of four.
Speaker: Yeah, they'll be three out of the four puts us at nine and three, which is around four games better than I think everyone predicted.
Speaker: And, look, I'm not saying – That's way worse than me.
Speaker: If you're going to hear the conference, that Sunbelt is.
Speaker: But last year, James Madison went eight and three.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I'm not saying, again, not saying that this conference is as good as the Sun Belt is.
Speaker: If we were to go 9-3, that puts us on the same kind of track that they are.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: Which goes back to what I was saying earlier.
Speaker: You know, first year in general against established teams, 9-3 is 9-3, no matter what you want to say.
Speaker: If it was so easy, then all the schools in the conference would be, you know –
Speaker: sitting looking at nine and three right now.
Speaker: Fact of the matter is they're not.
Speaker: I mean, we got UTEP MTSU FIU sitting at two and six, two and six.
Speaker: And then FIU is four and four.
Speaker: All are one in three in the conference.
Speaker: FIU is one in four in the conference.
Speaker: So like,
Speaker: no matter what people say, you know, CUSA is weak, this and that, yeah, y'all might be sitting right now at 6-2, but y'all play in CUSA.
Speaker: It's like, yeah, but you still have to go out there and win every single day no matter what.
Speaker: So, yeah, looking at the possibility of 9-3 is huge for us.
Speaker: And like I said earlier, I'm not letting anybody take away what a massive success this season has been up to this point.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm not either.
Speaker: I mean, we firmly deserve everything that we've earned, and I'm hoping, you know, we at least get a chance here in two weeks to really prove it to everyone.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: You know, if we come away – never want to look past an opponent, but if we come away with a win this week and then at the very least make it a tight game, you know, into the fourth quarter,
Speaker: In South Carolina, I think we will finally start to gain a little bit of respect.
Speaker: Of course, it sucks that they're having the season that they're having because people will be like, yeah, but that's not the usual South Carolina.
Speaker: We're going to hear that bull crap no matter how much we like it.
Speaker: But, you know, if we handle business this week and either come away with a win or make it a really close game, you know, in two weeks and then finish out the season with back-to-back wins –
Speaker: There's nothing you can do but, you know, show respect.
Speaker: Yeah, no question.
Speaker: And if you're a Gamecock fan, if that happens, especially if we finish 10-2, you brace for whoever on the coaching staff is leaving.
Speaker: Yeah, and, you know, we've talked about it in the chat.
Speaker: Zach Galley would not be surprised if he lands a Power 5 coaching gig as a defensive coordinator.
Speaker: And it's not just us saying that either.
Speaker: I've seen Power 5 fans that have said, you know, I would love to have him on our coaching staff.
Speaker: A lot of people think what he's doing would translate, you know, to Power 5 schools and that level of competition.
Speaker: Yeah, and then, you know, to go even further.
Speaker: Don't you dare.
Speaker: We've seen some West Virginia fans starting to turn around on Rich Rod.
Speaker: And I'll tell you what, it's a lot easier to say you like someone when they're winning games.
Speaker: We ain't forgot what y'all have said about them.
Speaker: We know that y'all don't like them.
Speaker: Stop acting like you actually like them.
Speaker: Yeah, seeing a couple of those guys, especially after the Western Kentucky win, looking in the comment section of –
Speaker: Pat McAfee's video.
Speaker: I just saw a bunch of West Virginia fans just, Pat, is there any way you can get him to come back to West Virginia?
Speaker: Or just, we need this guy back at West Virginia.
Speaker: He's legit and this and that.
Speaker: But I will never forget whenever we first announced him, just seeing all the comments under Jack State football post, Jacksonville State athletics post of, you know,
Speaker: Fans of the various schools he coached at just saying, y'all won't be so happy, you know, once y'all get to FBS because he's a fraud, this and that.
Speaker: And just to see that at least one of those fan bases is trying to walk it back and, you know, beg him to come back.
Speaker: It's funny.
Speaker: It truly is rich.
Speaker: And we're going to remind you about that, West Virginia fans.
Speaker: Just letting you know.
Speaker: We will remind you every game that we win and y'all say that you want them back.
Speaker: We've got the receipts of y'all saying that you hate them.
Speaker: Just remember that.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, 100%.
Speaker: But, I mean –
Speaker: I'm going to take Rich Rod at his word.
Speaker: I know both of us were at his introductory press conference.
Speaker: He said he's here for the long haul.
Speaker: He's not just here to make a statement during the transition in the first couple of years and leave.
Speaker: So, you know, I'm going to take him at his word.
Speaker: Obviously, coaches say things and then, you know, a little bit later they're gone.
Speaker: Looking at you, Nick Saban.
Speaker: Love you.
Speaker: But, you know, he said he's here for the long haul, and at the time he wasn't necessarily looking to go back power five.
Speaker: So if all of that is true, then, you know, we have a long period of success ahead of us, which hopefully means putting some more trophies and rings in the trophy case and taking a couple of postseason trips.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe these trophies will be real trophies.
Speaker: Hey, the last one was real too.
Speaker: It was.
Speaker: I don't care what the Atlantic Sun says.
Speaker: The last trophy was real.
Speaker: And it was bigger than theirs.
Speaker: And we had rings.
Speaker: So they can say what they want.
Speaker: But that last trophy was real.
Speaker: And no matter what happens this year, I know
Speaker: There will be no petty trophies made.
Speaker: If we get a bowl game, I know some teams do bowl rings.
Speaker: I'm not sure if Rich Rod would be one of those, but it'll be interesting to just see how the rest of the season shakes out.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: I mean, other than that,
Speaker: This past weekend in college football was pretty exciting.
Speaker: For those of you who don't know, outside of being a JSU fan first, I am roll tight all day.
Speaker: And talk about a second half and a team giving you a heart attack.
Speaker: Alabama in that first half just looked abysmal.
Speaker: Yeah, and it's...
Speaker: You give credit to Josh Heupel because he knows how to scheme up some points.
Speaker: But I'm sorry, Tennessee fans.
Speaker: Y'all said all preseason that Joe Milton was going to be a Heisman winner.
Speaker: This dude ain't it.
Speaker: Dog, I mean, so I think the main problem with the first half is Bama was playing a lot of three-down defensive linemen.
Speaker: And there was just no pressure at all on Milton.
Speaker: And when he has all day, yeah, he's going to carve you up and he's going to look like a Heisman winner.
Speaker: But then they finally switched to four down and threw some more blitzes in there and he just absolutely collapsed.
Speaker: Yeah, and, you know, it's not like Hindenhooker, who also runs in the four sixes and can make you pay when you send blitzes.
Speaker: Joe Benton's a decent athlete, but he's not Hindenhooker.
Speaker: And on top of that, they don't have Cedric Tillman.
Speaker: They don't have Jalen Hyatt.
Speaker: So, yeah, so Jalen Hyatt can't terrorize Alabama fans anymore.
Speaker: They do have Squirrel White, which, dang, I –
Speaker: I don't ever want to give Tennessee credit, but that touchdown catch.
Speaker: That's one of the best catches I've ever seen.
Speaker: Oh, yeah, 100%.
Speaker: But, I mean, I think that this is where I knew that Tennessee was going to lose, even when I lost Faith a little bit.
Speaker: The second that Milton brought out the crane kick, I said, yeah, no, that's it.
Speaker: That's game.
Speaker: That's done and over with.
Speaker: You don't do that one until you know the game is over with.
Speaker: Starting off the game with that, yeah, no.
Speaker: Oh, man.
Speaker: Let's see, what other games did we have?
Speaker: We had Washington barely hanging on by a thread with the help of the referees.
Speaker: God rest you, Arizona State.
Speaker: You gave it your best.
Speaker: Yes, it is.
Speaker: And honestly, they won.
Speaker: The refs had that bogus call right before the pick six.
Speaker: Washington, as much as the Pac-12 is on their farewell tour and tearing it up so far, I don't think Washington is going to be it for them.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: I still think Oregon's the best team in the conference.
Speaker: Maybe Utah.
Speaker: Definitely not USC.
Speaker: I think Oregon's the best team.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: 20th year starter Bo Nix has found some life on that team.
Speaker: And Auburn fans are kicking the ground.
Speaker: you know, hoping and praying somehow they had been able to keep him because we knew th is is what he was capable of from the start.
Speaker: But of course, when you have incompetent coaches and incompetent offensive coordinators, you're not going to get the best out of your players.
Speaker: But he has definitely had a resurgence and looks absolutely amazing in that offense.
Speaker: And the Ducks are not a team you can easily overlook right now.
Speaker: No, I mean, Wazoo came into Oregon yesterday.
Speaker: And honestly, I thought they were going to put up a fight, and Oregon played like the top team in the conference.
Speaker: They did what they were supposed to.
Speaker: Yeah, that's for sure.
Speaker: I'll tell you what, we had one of the ugliest games in college football history.
Speaker: We had Mississippi State and Arkansas.
Speaker: That wasn't nearly as ugly as the 6-0 game.
Speaker: It was at San Diego State, and I can't remember who else they were playing.
Speaker: Six to nothing.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: This, this was a week for the sickos of college football.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, obviously everybody had been saying, uh, San Diego state lost to Nevada six to zero.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But obviously everybody in college football this season has been saying how USC is a bunch of frauds.
Speaker: And this past week definitely proved that at least their defense is Swiss cheese.
Speaker: Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Because, I mean, Caleb Williams did what he had to do.
Speaker: And he put up a touchdown.
Speaker: Let me see.
Speaker: I can't remember exactly how much time was left on the clock.
Speaker: Let's see.
Speaker: He put up a touchdown with a minute 46 left to go.
Speaker: They were up 32 to 31.
Speaker: If they had gotten the two-point conversion, it would have been 34-31, which would have been ideal for them.
Speaker: Minute 46, and then Bryson Barnes just came out there.
Speaker: Dude had that dog in him and just absolutely lit that defense up.
Speaker: At one point, there was like a third and 24, and he had a 21-yard run to put them closer to field goal range.
Speaker: And, I mean, there was just nothing the defense could do to stop them, and obviously they got the field goal to win it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I'll tell you what.
Speaker: This is, oh, I don't know.
Speaker: eight straight years that Lincoln Riley's defenses have been the reason they haven't been able to go all the way.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Something like that.
Speaker: Somewhere around there.
Speaker: It almost is beautiful to watch a coach have such an easy way to fix his team and just refuse to do it.
Speaker: And so he gets what he's got coming to him.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And a lot of people will say Caleb Williams has what he got coming for him, too, because, you know, he jumped ship at Oklahoma to follow Lincoln Riley.
Speaker: And if he does what everybody predicts he'll do, he will finish his college career not winning a conference championship or making the playoffs, which is just insane for a Heisman winning quarterback and a quarterback of his ability.
Speaker: I just – I hate it for him because he's my namesake.
Speaker: But, man, I can't stand it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, if he had stayed at Oklahoma and played through the growing pains, he'd be sitting pretty right now.
Speaker: But sometimes –
Speaker: you think the grass is greener on the other side.
Speaker: And as we saw from his very pained expression after the end of that game, it's not looking too green in Southern California.
Speaker: No, it is not.
Speaker: But I mean, other than that, college football, it give, it giveth and it taketh.
Speaker: And this weekend was a very, a very good iteration of that.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Trying to think if there's anything else.
Speaker: I don't know that there is, to be honest.
Speaker: I don't think so either.
Speaker: But, yeah, I mean, Jim Cox are going to be in Miami this week – or not this weekend.
Speaker: I'm still getting used to the midweek.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: which surprisingly was pretty good as far as home attendance went.
Speaker: I know we had 21,000 for Liberty, 17,000 roughly for Western Kentucky.
Speaker: So big props to Gamecock fans.
Speaker: But we got one more midweek game.
Speaker: We're in Miami this week.
Speaker: And then a week and a half from now, the both of us as well as our squad, we're rolling 11 deep in the Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.
Speaker: Yeah, we're going to be leading the charge when it comes to belligerency, so y'all better be ready.
Speaker: Yeah, 100%.
Speaker: We did not get our tickets early enough to be in the JSU section, so we just get to annoy whoever is sitting around us, whether they be JSU fans who join in on it or pissing off South Carolina fans just for the heck of it.
Speaker: Look, I'm just trying to make sure that no one gets thrown out.
Speaker: That's all that matters.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: That's the biggest thing.
Speaker: Luckily, they only sell beer and wine, so there's only so much that we can do before the game.
Speaker: And then how we perform on the field will determine if it's happy drinking or sad drinking after the game.
Speaker: Man, look out.
Speaker: That's all I'm saying.
Speaker: Look out.
Speaker: Look out indeed.
Speaker: Because when Rich Rodden, the Gamecocks, roll in the town, it ain't guaranteed you're coming away with a dub.
Speaker: No, that's all bets off.
Speaker: That being said, in Gamecock Nation, I know the softball team has played a couple of exhibition games.
Speaker: We're getting closer to softball season.
Speaker: It's about that time to see legendary coach
Speaker: McGinnis take the field, which is newly named after her, take the field with those ladies and absolutely tear it up in this new conference.
Speaker: We're getting ever so closer to basketball season where we have two more legends on the hard court, Ray Harper and Coach Petrie.
Speaker: And baseball is also right around the corner.
Speaker: Can't remember the new coach's name, but ready to see what he can do.
Speaker: It's going to be a good year for Gamecock Sports, that's for sure.
Speaker: Oh, yeah.
Speaker: And CUSA is a pretty solid conference in all the sports, it seems.
Speaker: So we got our work cut out for us.
Speaker: But I'm excited to see what we can do, you know, walking up in there.
Speaker: I don't think we have any transition rules.
Speaker: I know we don't for baseball.
Speaker: I mean, for basketball.
Speaker: I don't think we do for baseball or softball.
Speaker: I think it's just football because we were already considered to be at the top level for every other sport except football.
Speaker: Yeah, I think football is the only one where you have subdivisions even amongst D1 schools.
Speaker: So we have, you know, no transition rules, nothing holding us back in all of our other sports.
Speaker: And as we have seen –
Speaker: We have the ability to walk into a new conference and turn everything upside down.
Speaker: And I think we can continue that in all of our other sports this year and just put CUSA on notice across the board.
Speaker: definitely looking forward, definitely going to try and show up to at least some basketball games.
Speaker: Maybe it'll work out, shake out to where, you know, there's a double header of basketball and baseball.
Speaker: I know we had a couple of those in years past, you know, can catch both.
Speaker: But yeah, definitely want to try and get out and support some of our other sports.
Speaker: I'm just excited in general.
Speaker: Yeah, man, it's going to be a great year.
Speaker: And I know you and I are going to hit up
Speaker: some basketball games and maybe even a couple of baseball games.
Speaker: So we're going to be around.
Speaker: Oh yeah.
Speaker: 100%.
Speaker: Um, but other than that, I think we're done for the week.
Speaker: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker: Um, just y'all be ready to tune back in next week.
Speaker: Um, uh, we're hopefully we may potentially have a guest, um, on the podcast working on that right now.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But if not, we'll be here ready to go to – we'll be here and be ready to give you all the report for the game.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: And as always, like we said earlier, Gamecock fans, if you're going to South Carolina, you've got a week and a half, get on over to get personalized.
Speaker: Well, actually you've got closer to two weeks right now.
Speaker: Get on over to get personalized.
Speaker: Get some of that ass-kicking chicken merch.
Speaker: It looks really nice.
Speaker: And we've got to show up and show out.
Speaker: When we're in Columbia, we've all got to run deep together.
Speaker: So get over there, get some of your merch, and we'll repeat this in a minute again next week.
Speaker: But we'll see you there.
Speaker: Indeed, indeed.
Speaker: Well, from the 700 Pelham Road Podcast, it's Caleb and it's Jalen, and we are signing off.
Speaker: See you.
