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2024 Sun Belt Football: Week 1 Recap, Week 2 Preview
95 Plays8 months ago
Brian and Matt join together to discuss everything that happened in the Sun Belt during week 1, from Coastal Carolina walloping Jacksonville State to Southern Miss getting blown out by Kentucky in just three quarters.
The two then talk over week 2 in the conference and make picks against the spread when looking ahead to Saturday's slate of games.
Email the show questions/comments at warmweatherfans@gmail.com
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Team
00:00:13
Speaker
What's up everybody, back on the Warm Weather Fan Sunbelt Podcast. My name is Brian Stone, I am your host. As always, this week only joined by Matt Migas, Zeke Palermo having some technical issues ah with his equipment. um But we are here to talk about week one in the Sunbelt, everything that went wrong, everything that went right.
00:00:34
Speaker
um I will say ah Zeke did send us his thoughts. Apparently he did it in a form that was 11 words or fewer. um So I have those and I can read them off if they're funny. I'm not going to read them if they're just like, hey, so and so looked good. But Matt, thank you for joining me this week. Thank you for not having computer issues. How's it going? I'm doing fantastic. The only reason Zeke isn't here is because He sent us his thoughts and he is scared of the roasting that he would get by the both of us. Because some of the things he said, I love getting that, but some of the things he said were just absolutely off the rails. So we'll talk about that and a ah ah pretty exciting week around the Sunbelt in week one and should be an even better week too.
00:01:26
Speaker
So
FCS vs FBS: Closing the Gap?
00:01:27
Speaker
I had a question and I wanted to ask you this and we can relate this to the Sunbelt or we can just take it as a larger um conversation wherever you kind of want to take it. But this is kind of a ah thing that I noticed in week one. Do you feel like a little bit that the FCS has closed the gap between the FBS? Oh, yeah. I mean, look.
00:01:51
Speaker
I'm speaking for the Cajuns. I know it was a 40 to 10 game and that sounds like a blowout, right? But man, Grambling gramblin was doing some nice things.
00:02:03
Speaker
against the Cajuns. I was impressed with their offense. I thought their defense stepped up and made a couple of nice plays. um I think the Cajuns just kind of overpowered them. Yeah, no, I certainly agree that I think the the FCS has closed the talent gap. I mean, look at Jackson State ah with ULM. I talked about Grambling. um You know, you look elsewhere, Central Arkansas. we've We've now discovered that if it wasn't for a blown review,
00:02:33
Speaker
Central Arkansas would have won the game. So like that's that's insane to think about. ah Yeah, I mean Lamar giving Texas State everything that they wanted, which is super concerning if you're GJ Kinney and company will talk about that. Or your name is Zeke Palermo or your name is Zeke Palermo and you have them going 12 and 0 in the playoff. So yeah, we got a ah we got a lot to get to. um Again, after an interesting week one. All right. So after we got that out of the way, let's go ahead and transition into talking about the previous week's games. um We're going to touch on each one a little bit. Some of them, there's not really that much to say. you know If App State killed East Tennessee State, like we saw that coming. you know it's It is what it is.
00:03:26
Speaker
um But we're going to touch on, I think, the most interesting ones that may have storylines that kind of reverberate throughout the rest of the season. So to start off with, Coastal Carolina last Thursday absolutely took Jacksonville State to the woodshed, 55-27. I tweeted this from the warm weather fans account, and I fully believe this. Jacksonville State's got the worst quarterback situation in all of G5 football.
00:03:55
Speaker
they
Coastal Carolina vs Jacksonville State Recap
00:03:56
Speaker
I was checking the stats like throughout the game because I was watching I was at I was at a an establishment and they had multiple TVs and one of the TVs was Colorado and North Dakota State on this TV in front of me which is what I was watching but the the the coastal Jacksonville State games behind me and I kept turning around and I was like Coastal's on offense again. They had the ball for 40 minutes of this game. And so, I don't wanna say you throw this one out, but you're gonna you're going to be hard pressed to find teams that have quarterback situations worse than what Jacksonville State's dealing with right now. Oh yeah, I mean, it's certainly a problem. I mean, they had a guy last year, believe his name was Zion Turner, who was just fantastic, right? Led the offense, was a dual threat guy.
00:04:47
Speaker
was well respected by the locker room and it showed on the field. And now, you know, Richard Rodriguez kind of had a lot of turnover, new new players across the board. um After that New Orleans Bowl win last year in their first season as an FBS member, and it showed, right? I mean, Coastal Carolina did whatever they wanted, dominated the time of possession. Ethabasco looked Almost a little too good. What does that mean? not um It means that I'm cautiously buying it. OK. It's one like he looked really good, right? But let's see if he does it again. It might have been a one game wonder, but really impressed by Coastal's quarterback. um the The way that they were able to just score early and often
00:05:39
Speaker
um on this Jacksonville State team. I mean, we're talking, it was 41 to 10 going into the fourth. Like, that is brutal. um And obviously, Coastal puts the backups in. Jacksonville State's able to score a little bit. That makes things interesting. But in the end, it's still a 28-point win for Coastal, a really big week-one statement on the road for for Tim Beckstein.
00:06:10
Speaker
ah If he keeps this up, I know you said you were cautiously buying in. If he keeps up what he kind of started last year and has run through this year, Vasco's talking about top five quarterback territory in the Sunbelt. one I mean, again, 12 of 19, 249 yards, two touchdowns, one pick, had 39 rushing yards and ah and ran for a touchdown.
00:06:37
Speaker
I mean, it was impressive if if he keeps this up when Sunbelt play starts. I mean, we're we're maybe talking about a borderline, you know, top five quarterback in the in the conference. And based on the way some of the the guys played that we like.
00:06:54
Speaker
that he might be even higher because, you know, I know Zeke's not here, but we're going to talk about some of the, some of the teams that he's been down on and been up on. But I, I just, I really like what I saw kind of last season and limited duty from Vasco. I thought he looked good Thursday against Jacksonville state. I again, I know, you know, anytime you have a game where the other team rolls out two quarterbacks and they combined for 14 of 27 234 yards one touchdown two picks I Mean, that's a good week for you ah But yeah, I mean Jacksonville State offensively could do absolutely nothing outside of a a long touchdown pass from Tyler Huff to Michael Petway um It was ugly. I mean it it it was over very quickly and and it was just mostly you know, Coastal Carolina
00:07:47
Speaker
running the rock with their trio of running backs, taking time off the clock, you know, owning the time of possession battle. They, again, you you can say whatever you want about Jacksonville State's quarterback situation. Coastal played good defense. I don't, I don't, I don't care. You know, anytime, anytime you, you're up 41 to 10, you know, you're just firing on all cylinders. So good win for tim but good one for the chantticles I want to see how they stack up against Sunbelt competition because I feel like what kind of what you said you know Jacksonville State lost their quarterback who was talented from last year maybe this is a rebuilding year for rich rod and company but
00:08:26
Speaker
I, I, I couldn't have, for sure if you were, if you were a fan of the team that plays on the teal turf, you couldn't have asked for a better start to the season than a 55 27 win on Thursday night. So no doubt. Um, but like I said, really strong performance all the way around, uh, that, that time of possession statistic is just insane. I mean, you held the ball for two thirds of the game. That is nuts. Um,
00:08:51
Speaker
So yeah, I agree with you 100% there. This is you couldn't have asked for much better if you're in Myrtle Beach. Yeah, and the and the trio of Simpkins, Lloyd and Bennett. The running backs for Coastal could be a real problem for opposing defenses coming up here in the future. We'll have to see how that all pans out, but yeah, great win for Coastal Carolina in the opener. 5527 they moved to one and O Jacksonville State drops to Owen 1.
UL Monroe's Strategy Against Jackson State
00:09:20
Speaker
um The other Thursday night game that we ran across, this was sort of expected. ULM defeats Jackson State 30 to 14. Once again, ah kind of the story of a team in ULM just owning the time of possession. They had the ball for 35 minutes in this one. um I think we saw exactly what we were sort of all expecting uh with this new offense and Bryant Vincent running it uh they they ran the ball effectively general booty uh in a game where you know they they pretty much dominated the time of possession only 14 pass the tips just threw for 104 yards in this one
00:10:01
Speaker
I guess you can look at it and say they did what they needed to do, but I think this is going to be the bread and butter of this team for a couple of years to come. As long as Vincent's there is they're going to run the ball. They're going to want to own the time of position and keep the um opposing ah offense off the field. So what did you yeah take away from this one? I mean, I mean, kind of the same. I was really impressed by Ahmad Hardy, a really strong performance in his collegiate debut, took good care of the football.
00:10:28
Speaker
like you said, with the time of possession really kind of controlled the pace. But one thing that kind of sticks out is this game was probably closer than many people thought going into the fourth quarter. It was a 2114 game after three quarters. ah Now I know ULM, some people would argue that they're the worst FBS team in America, but you still don't want to lose to an FCS program. yeah So I mean, only being up seven points at home against an FCS school that lost everything when Dion left. um it's not It's not a great look, but they were able to rebound, score the final nine points of the game, and pick up a a pretty crucial 30 to 14 win to open the season.
00:11:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think and there's not a lot to say about this game, but i'm I'm going to kind of put a button on it with this. It's fine if you're ULM and Bryant Vincent and you decide, hey, you know, we're going to run this offense where everything runs through Hardy or whoever, you know, is the leading rusher that week.
00:11:35
Speaker
It's a lot different when you're playing from behind or you're in a competitive game and you're not just able to kind of overpower your opponent. So when they break it, yeah, when they break into to play against um you know a team that's of equal or greater skill than they are, especially at this stage in the rebuilding cycle for ULM, it's going to be very interesting to see what the offense really looks like when they're able to kind of when they have to open it up.
00:12:03
Speaker
You know what I mean? When it's not, sure it's not a it's not optional for them to just run the ball and and you know take time off the clock. Like if a Booty has to make th throws when it matters in tight windows, what does that look like? So that's going to be something that remains to be seen at this point, um just because they they simply overpowered a ah Jackson State team that didn't, you know, they hung around, but clearly they didn't have the gas to so go all the way. but UL Monroe moves to 1 and 0 with the win. Jackson State drops to 0 and 1. So I'm just taking these games in the order that they're presented on ESPN. ah So Saturday, let's talk about, and I mean, I could do the majority of the talking. You can chip in or ask if you want. Let's talk about Georgia Southern and Boise State. So
Georgia Southern's Challenges Against Boise State
00:12:54
Speaker
I think the most important thing that Georgia Southern covered the 13 point spread at home. I think we can all agree on that.
00:13:01
Speaker
ah don't shout out do not pay attention to the Do not pay attention to the fact that a Austin Jante almost ran for 300 yards solo ah and the the Eagles defense looked like ah it was playing against a Make-A-Wish kid and they were just escorting him to the end zone. Don't don't think about that. That's not important here. What's important is they covered this each scored he scored six studies.
00:13:26
Speaker
the cue cue the LeBron James video not one not two not three oh my god look shout out to the Eagles because they did their part in my 14 leg parlay I went wild I had this bonus bet made a 14 leg parlay I was like all right you know let's just see what happens 13 of the 14 legs hit Oh man. Which one? Sunbelt Billy over there in the swamp. Let me down. That game was over eight minutes in. I took Florida on the money line. I was like, look, it's a three point spread. They're at home. The swamp's going to make up for those three points. They're going to find a way to win.
00:14:24
Speaker
No. billy napier if you're listening to this, you owe me $300. Just kidding. But we'll move on. um can i Can I just say something really quick? And you may think I'm crazy for saying this. I think this is Clay Hilton's last year at Georgia Southern.
00:14:43
Speaker
Oh, i I think he's I think he's going to be done after this year. Like it's it's not just this game, it's the two years that preceded it. It's one of the linebackers coming out in a press conference after the game and saying that guys were missing or late for meetings defensively leading up to this game.
00:15:06
Speaker
Like, it's just it just seems like a general lack of institutional control. And I think that things are going to get worse before they get better. um And and run I mean, run defense aside, you know, we'll talk about them playing Nevada this week.
00:15:24
Speaker
But it just seems like a top down institutional issue that isn't going to be solved until they get somebody in the head coaching spot that the players can actually respect and maybe even fear a little bit. Because if you are a player at the FBS level, and you feel emboldened enough to miss meetings. And you just feel like, what, what are they gonna do? You know, they need me on Saturday. And the coach is basically like, yeah, that it's not gonna work. The second, the second, the second that happens, it everything's out the window. So
00:16:06
Speaker
They might win a couple games this year, but between the run defense and the way that that looked and everything else that seems to be kind of conspiring around Clay Helton. I, I think he's, I think he's done after this season. I think they're, but they're going to win. like I think they're going to win like five or six games, but let me ask you this is Ashton Gente running for 267 yards because Georgia Southern's run defense is that bad.
00:16:36
Speaker
or maybe he's that good. Yes. Like, let me play devil's advocate there for a second. Or are you saying it's both? It's both. Yeah. OK. You you I don't care. You don't get to almost 300 yards rushing solo just by being a great player. Like, there has to be a real issue on the defensive side of the ball for that to happen.
00:17:05
Speaker
Like that and and apparently there was. I I heard I heard this second hand so you can take anybody who's listening can take this with a grain of salt. Apparently there there was somebody who was doing um film study from our game on Saturday and said that out of. Out of the 66 plays that Boise ran or some number along those lines, Georgia Southern had run defenders that were out of position for 17 of them.
00:17:37
Speaker
So, and and he and here's the thing too. here's Here's also the thing. For people who don't follow the program, he's already on his second defensive coordinator. The first one's already the first one was fired after year one. And Brandon Bailey was brought in after before last year, but the thing that was taking all the heat off of Brandon Bailey was how bad Davis Brennan was.
00:18:02
Speaker
So you could sit there and say, yeah, the defense isn't great, but, you know, you've got a guy on the opposite side of the ball leading the country in interceptions. What do you what do you expect the defense to do there in bad spots all the time? And now, you know, J.C. French went out there and didn't turn the ball over once or sorry. He looked good. I think he actually I think he fumbled. So I take that back. I think he had one. Yeah, but that's going to happen.
00:18:30
Speaker
Right. But what I'm saying, what I'm saying is you are in this game. 648 left in the third quarter. Jalen White punches in a one yard touchdown run. You take a 30 to 28 lead over Boise at home. You would think, hey, home opener sold out stadium. We've got the lead finally for the first time all game.
00:18:57
Speaker
let's you know Let's make them pay. The next play from scrimmage for Boise, or sorry, not the next play, but five minutes later, Boise marches down the field, 14 plays 75 yards. JNT scores his fifth touchdown of the day.
00:19:19
Speaker
And it's it's it's over from there. And I'm sorry. To Clay Helton or Brandon Bailey or whoever you cannot score 45 points in a game on offense and lose by double digits and keep your job. That's just not how that's not how football works like. If you've scored even. Brian, I'm going to take it a further for you. You talked about James he scored his fifth touchdown.
00:19:48
Speaker
um about Georgia Southern responding to open the fourth quarter with a five-place 75-yard touchdown drive to take the lead again. And then the very next play from scrimmage, Ashton Gente runs 75 yards for his sixth touchdown. um Untouched. Totally untouched. That's where you lost.
00:20:17
Speaker
If you, if you watch the replay too, he started to go up the middle, he bounced it out to the left side and no one was within 10 yards of him after that point. Like it looked like a defense that was malfunctioning on college football 25. Like, Oh, and and here here's, here's the other question that I have. I understand that Georgia Southern was down 14 to zero. We get that.
00:20:45
Speaker
When you score a touchdown with 1328 left in the second quarter, why are you going for two? Walk me through the rationale there.
00:20:57
Speaker
Well, ah you and I talked about this a while ago. And typically, this is reserved for late game situations. But if you're down two scores, you're down 14, you go for two, you get it. You're down you down six at that point. If you're not, you're you're only down eight, which is still a one score game. Now, usually, common sense would dictate we do that in late game situations when we need multiple scores.
00:21:24
Speaker
But this team isn't run in any conventional way that a football coach would look at and go, yeah, that's a well-run team. so I don't really know what to say. like it is It's an average football team with a school in a city that wants them to be above average and Clay Helton just cannot bring himself to be above average. He's an average football coach, nice guy, that's fine, except your problem is your players don't respect you and you guys can't stop the run.
00:21:59
Speaker
So what what are we to do? Are we just, are we keeping him employed just to keep him employed at that point? I mean, that yeah that's my question. So, well, and but that's fine. But if the AD Jared Binko wants to kill all fan enthusiasm and have empty stadiums every Saturday, go for it. Keep him employed in perpetuity. Let him retire there.
00:22:24
Speaker
Now, you're going to close out his career with no one in the stands, and you're going to totally kill any momentum the football program has ever had. But yeah, if you just want to keep the guy employed, go for it. Who cares?
00:22:35
Speaker
so i mean all right so That's out of the way. I will say JC French, again, did ah ah a much better job of taking care of the football than Davis Brin ever did. um He wasn't super efficient throwing the football. 28 of 50, 322 yards, two touchdowns. Also ran for 39 yards and a score. I think they've got a nice little quarterback on their hands. Like, I don't think he's ever going to be a Grayson McCall, Jordan McLeod type, but he can be the type of player that you can win games with and can make some plays. Yeah, was I was very impressed with the with the little that I saw of this game.
00:23:18
Speaker
And I just think if you're going to if you're going to consistently feel one of the worst run defenses in the history of college football, then. Everybody, everybody in the offensive side who contributes might as well transfer out because it doesn't matter like you can score as many points as you want to. If the defense is just going to escort a guy to the end zone every time they get the ball. Like what are we? Why are we even here so?
00:23:45
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, not much more to say than that. I mean, I've pretty much said everything that i I feel. I think this was, this is the beginning of the doomsday clock of Clay Helton at Georgia Southern. How many, how many coaches have you ever seen start their time with a school?
00:24:08
Speaker
500 or worse for two years, and then all of a sudden figure it out in year three or year four. Like, never. Like, it usually you start to see some sort of fruit, like, come off the tree of, hey, we've been putting time into this. I've been recruiting. I have all of my guys now. The the the classes and the transfer report and all that stuff is mine. Lunsford's guys are totally pretty much out of there except the guys that have been hanging around for a while.
00:24:36
Speaker
But this this is totally on Hilton at this point. He hired everybody. He got all these players, and it's just it's not working. so ah But yeah, with that, Georgia Southern drops to 0 and 1. Boise State moves to 1 and 0. This will be a quick one. App State beats East Tennessee State 38 to 10. No surprise. Joey Aguilar was sharp, 326, two touchdowns.
00:25:02
Speaker
um I don't I don't know. Again, we we saw this coming. If there was more to talk about in this game, I would have I would try to bring something else up. But there were an an outmatched FCS school. So like what what did we expect? No, I mean, I agree with you. um App State did exactly what they were supposed to do. ah They took care of business early. They took care of business often. ah Joey Aguilar looked really, really solid in this game.
00:25:32
Speaker
And now they get to kind of flip their script a little bit. um You know, looking ahead, they've got Clemson on Saturday and, you know, say what you want about Clemson, but they didn't look great on Saturday against Georgia.
00:25:54
Speaker
Just saying. Yeah, I'm just saying. Yep. ah All right. So app moves to one and O with the win there. East Tennessee State drops to O and one. Sorry, sorry app fans. We're just not going to go deep into this. like It's one thing when an FCS school keeps it ah closer than it should have been, then we have something to talk about. But you guys routing an FCS school was, I mean, it was almost like a scheduled win.
00:26:24
Speaker
so Alright, so let's get into the let's get into the next game here. Old Dominion takes South Carolina to the Wire and loses by 4 as a 3 touchdown dog.
Old Dominion's Strong Show Against South Carolina
00:26:40
Speaker
um I told you guys, and I know you guys believe me, but i haveve my my dad is a South Carolina fan. I grew up cheering for South Carolina just because I was from there. My dad went to school there. They do this. like They do not beat anybody easy. It doesn't matter how bad the team they play is. They do not blow anybody out. They make everything look as hard as humanly possible. And I do want to give credit. Old Dominion did go out and do it.
00:27:08
Speaker
Uh, you know, Grant Wilson played okay. Uh, two picks, but you know, you play an SEC school that's kind of to be expected, but yeah, I mean, Old Dominion, you know, good performance against a, a P four P five P four opponent. So yeah. What did, what did you take away from this one? You went on the road to a Atlantic coast region opponent, right? An SEC program. In front of 80,000 people, you were a three touchdown dog. You turned the ball over four times and only lost by four.
00:28:00
Speaker
Look, yeah Brian, I am I am not a fan of moral victories. I'm not. But if you're Ricky Ronnie, you've got to be looking at this tape going like. Man, if we can clean those little things up. We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. You went to Williams Bryce, which. ah talk Talk to anybody in the FCC. That's not an easy place to go win. That's not an easy place to play. You turn the ball over four times and you only lost by four. You took him to the limit.
00:28:39
Speaker
I mean, that's got to give you some kind of confidence when you go play in your conference, which not saying that it's a weak competition, but compared to South Carolina. They're not on the same level, right? So, yeah, I mean, if you can clean up those turnovers and and those little mental mistakes, I think Old Dominion put together a really nice showing on Saturday against the Gamecocks.
00:29:06
Speaker
I think more importantly too, for the Monarchs specifically, I think they may have found a true receiver that can contribute. yeah And that had been the knock on them the last couple years is No matter who was back there, Grant Wilson or anybody else, there was never a guy that scared an opposing defense. It was just sort of like, hey, they've got a bunch of guys a couple of years ago when Blake Watson you know ran all over Coastal. That was nice. But there was never any consistency in who was going to perform week to week. If Isaiah Page
00:29:46
Speaker
goes out and and performs each week then maybe we've got a nice little offense cooking here and yeah you do need to cut down on the turnovers. One other thing too though for Old Dominion's defense, I don't think you're gonna find or play quarterbacks very often that are completing fewer than 50% of their passes and still get to to play a full 60 minutes. You know what I mean? Like at at the very worst, you know, um I'm trying to think like JC French.
00:30:23
Speaker
Aguilar McLeod, like all of the Vasco, all of these guys, they're not, they're not going to complete sub 50% of their passes. They're just not. So I don't think that's something you can bank on, but I do think that you if you identify a number one receiver you can build off of that rapport with him and grant wilson with page and Yeah, I think this is definitely something to build off of I think there's a couple of caveats Like I said, you're not going to play ah a team that refuses to pull a quarterback that can't complete 50 of his passes very often but again great great performance by them even though they lost by four points I I mean I think
00:31:06
Speaker
Shane Beamer is a little bit like the Clay Hilton of the SEC, where it's like, yeah listen listen, man, it's been underperformance after underperformance every year and we're we're supposedly doing all this great recruiting.
00:31:20
Speaker
We haven't seen it yet. It doesn't show up on Saturdays, so so we need to figure it out. But yeah, good performance by Old Dominion. um South Carolina moves to 1-0 with the win. Old Dominion drops to 0-1 with the loss. um Another one that was strange to me, and I'll i'll explain why. So Marshall beat Stony Brook 45-3. That wasn't the strange part.
00:31:48
Speaker
The strange part to me was apparently they are just running anybody and everybody out at quarterback. So Cole Pennington, who we assumed would start, did not. ah It was somebody named Stone Earl.
00:32:05
Speaker
that got the start. Um, I'm, I'm not familiar with his work previously. Uh, he played fairly well. Braylon Braxton got in the game late. Cole Pennington got a few snaps through a touchdown, but you're just, I'm sorry, Marshall. You're not going to be able to do this every single week. Like you can't no can't play court. We can't play quarterback carousel every single week. It's just not, it's not going to work.
00:32:34
Speaker
So Stone Earl started his career at Abilene Christian for two years and then he spent the last two years at North Texas. So he is a fifth year senior that that transferred into Marshall. He's six foot, 211 pounds. He had 99 passing yards and two touchdowns. Braylon Braxton had a nice game as well with two touchdowns. But look, I think that this was a really good opportunity against a team that, let's be honest, you knew you were going to be.
00:33:04
Speaker
Um,
Marshall's Quarterback Strategy
00:33:05
Speaker
to, to kind of give three quarterbacks the opportunity to, to show what they could do. Right. Um, and if I am Charles Huff, I'm looking at Braylon Braxton and going, you got the job next week. is it I mean, if you, if you go based in me, he was, he was fantastic. Seven of 11, 141 yards, two touchdowns added 20 yards on the ground.
00:33:31
Speaker
I mean, he he he was the best quarterback out of the three. um Now, if you want to look at rushing stats as well, Stonerl also added 55 yards on the ground, um but he only threw for 97. So i you know I think maybe you could look at a two quarterback system kind of like UL did a few years back, where you have a starter play three series.
00:33:58
Speaker
And then you give the second guy one series. And kind of getting that rhythm where, you know, OK, every fourth series, this kid's going in. And maybe try that. ah But I was more impressed with ah from from watching the highlights, at least I was more impressed from Braille and Braxton than I was from Stone Earl.
00:34:20
Speaker
I totally agree. Um, if Braxton doesn't start from here on out, there's Charles Huff needs his head checked personally. Um, yeah just because, I mean, we saw it last year. Pennington is not good. I mean, I'm sorry. Like, unless he's taken giant steps in spring and and fall practice, and based on the fact that he was the third quarterback that that got rolled out there, that doesn't seem to be the case.
00:34:45
Speaker
Um, unless he's taken giant strides and we're just not aware of it, I, he, you know, he's cooked stone Earl was fine, but I think Braylon Braxton gives you the best chance to win of these three guys. So i agree again, you said it, but it's like, yeah, it, in my mind, it's his job until he just loses it. Um, I will say they also identified a pretty good running back in AJ Turner. I know.
00:35:13
Speaker
that he had one long 80 yard run. ah But eight carries 119 yards. maybe Maybe just something to build off of. I mean, they they desperately need a running game following Rasheena Ali's departure. So we'll we'll kind of see how that goes. And you know Christian Fitzpatrick also, four catches, 97 yards, a touchdown. Elijah Metcalf caught two but two touchdowns.
00:35:38
Speaker
Maybe you've got a couple of little weapons now. I will say you you're not going to play Stony Brook every week, but no. But there might be something to build off of here. So we'll we'll we'll see how that all pans out. Marshall moves to want to know this season Stony Brook is now 0 and 1.
00:35:57
Speaker
um Talking about another Sunbelt team that just did not show up really, uh, South Alabama loses to North Texas 52 to 38.
South Alabama's Defensive Struggles
00:36:10
Speaker
Any signs of Kane Womack's defense still being there. That's out the window. That's not happening. That's canceled. That's done. Uh, Chandler Morris, I think you said last week he was a TCU transfer. Is that right? Okay.
00:36:26
Speaker
Chandler Morris shredded them 415 yards passing three touchdowns, 32 of 41. And then who is this right? Who is this receiver ward for them? Just absolutely. Damon Ward Jr. 12 catches, two 30 and two scores. So.
00:36:50
Speaker
i I didn't really doubt that that it might be a real step back season in mobile, but it looks like Gio Lopez can play, but if the defense, it's a little bit like Southern, if the defense isn't gonna come to play, then what what are we even doing out here? You know? one hundred percent So what did you see in this one?
00:37:13
Speaker
I mean, look, ah like you said about GL Lopez, I think the offense did some good things. He threw for 432 yards with three touchdowns, added 62 carries, 62 yards on a score on the ground as well. um But look, you know you yeah had a lead at halftime. If I'm not mistaken, South Alabama got the ball to start the second half. And you got you got outscored 28 to 7 in the third quarter alone.
00:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's not great. Yeah, you got the ball to start the second half because there the first score came at the 1323 mark of. The third quarter and their drive was only 47 seconds long, so if you do the math. South Alabama held the ball for the first 50 seconds of the quarter. and So you started the second half with the ball and the lead. And proceeded to get outscored 28 to 7.
00:38:11
Speaker
Like that's just and against the team. You're not playing an SEC school. This is North Texas. This is a level playing field opponent. Trying to get into where you're playing. kind of You're playing. comp You're playing comparable competition. Yeah, exactly. And you let them come into your house and for lack of better words, spank you. They beat you up.
00:38:41
Speaker
um This is not a great look for for South Alabama. Really bad loss at home. um I know their next two games are are pretty easy at Ohio and the Northwestern State comes to town. That's great. You're going to be two to two in one and you're going to be feeling really high on yourself. But then you go to Kid Brewer. And to Death Valley. The real Death Valley, by the way. Shout out to our South Carolina brother and um LSU is the real Death Valley. There's no if ands or buts about it. i will Anybody wants to argue with me, bring it on. South Alabama is going to get murdered by both App State and LSU. Murdered. I agree. Because if you can not great if you can't stop anybody, then what like what are why are why would we be afraid to play you?
00:39:37
Speaker
like yes they will get killed by LSU and that would have happened in South Alabama's you know what was it 2022 season when they won 10 games like right it was going to happen regardless but The team takes a step back under Achieves last year. You lose a ton of production, a ton of production. Including your head coach. Including your head coach who was a defensive minded guy and maybe been the only one who was keeping this thing together. And so you promote your OC to head coach and who doesn't have a great track record as a head coach.
00:40:15
Speaker
Right. And you allow 550 yards. I know, I know South Alabama actually had more yardage, but it was, I mean, it was 42 26 going into the fourth quarter. It didn't really matter. Like South Alabama had to have yardage zero turnovers forced. They just don't have, they don't have the difference makers on the defensive side of the ball to make an impact. So until that happens, I mean, this, this is probably going to be a long year for the Jaguars. Um,
00:40:46
Speaker
On the plus side, Jamal Pritchett played pretty well. 197 yards and a touchdown. On the on the not plus side, on the minus point, you struggled to run the football. you You essentially don't have a running back on this roster. Like, there's no Lidamian Web anymore. Your leading rusher other than Gio Lopez, who had 62 yards, was all-name team running back Fluff Botwell. I don't know if you saw that.
00:41:16
Speaker
Well, I did not see that. OK. But well, there he He takes care of 30 yards. Fluff Botwell was the second leading rusher on the team and had six carries for 30 yards. He's a 510, 219 pound freshman. From. Well, yeah, he he could not. Alabama. If he was Derek Henry size, no one would have ever called him fluff. I guess that's fair.
00:41:46
Speaker
I guess that's a good point. And how about this guy, Bishop Davenport? That's a solid name. He's that that name sounds like he says, Do you know ah who my dad is when he gets pulled up? another Don't you know who I am? Don't you know who I am? My father will hear about this. um Anyway,
00:42:07
Speaker
Yeah so bad bad showing by South Alabama. ah They are now 0 and 1. North Texas is now 1 and 0. Okay so I haven't read any of Zeke's little musings up to this point but i I want to point this out so that when we get to the Texas state thing I can point it out again.
00:42:27
Speaker
Okay, so Arkansas State gets taken down to the wire by Central Arkansas. You talked about the the blown review. It was the reason they won. Zeke's contribution for this game was told you so. However, he didn't say the same thing about Texas State playing Lamar. So we'll we'll talk about that when we get to it. But yeah, not ah not a good start to the season for Butch Jones, who we talked about it. If
Arkansas State's Narrow Victory Concerns
00:42:53
Speaker
if they underachieved this season with Jalen Rayner,
00:42:58
Speaker
it It might be time to look for a house elsewhere, Mr. Jones. because Brother, if you can't get it done, what is this, year four for him? if If you can't get it done in year four with the reigning freshman of the year at quarterback, it might be time for the Red Wolves to move on. Hey, you know who else you know who is out there and available to coach? Blake Anderson.
00:43:22
Speaker
I knew you were going to say that. Um, I'm just saying, look, here's the thing. We're talking about Jalen Rainer and I agree. Jalen Rainer is a great player. However, he. Have a great game. I know everybody's gonna. Oh well, he threw for 317 yards. He barely completed 50% of his passes. He only threw one touchdown and had one pick. He didn't play well. The defense for Arkansas State did not play well as.
00:43:53
Speaker
Shadrach Powell ran for 12 yards a carry and two scores on you. Oh. He's an FCS running back. Well, you're saying you're saying it's fine if they play for Boise State, but not Central Arkansas. Certainly, certainly it is.
00:44:15
Speaker
Because here's the thing and look I'm not going to knock anybody that plays in an FCS program because I never played college football. I never played anything in college to be fair, ah so they're better athletes than me. I'm not knocking them. However, on the totem pole. A central Arkansas running back is here. And an Arkansas State defense is here. You are better. You should not be getting pushed around.
00:44:46
Speaker
by an FCS running back. Plain and simple. So the run defense didn't play well for Arkansas State. Jalen Rayner could have been better. And honestly, if you don't give up 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
00:45:08
Speaker
Yeah. There's there's the game right there. Right, say say that 21 points is only seven. You in 34 to 17. Nobody's worried about it. Yeah, I agree. No one's worried about it. The defense for Arkansas State has to be better. If they can be, and and we we talked about that going into the season, their defense was a question mark last year. That's why they weren't better last year than they were. If their defense can get better, they are going to be fine.
00:45:43
Speaker
Their offense is just it's too talented. Jalen Rainer, Jacquez, Cross, Cory Rucker. Their offense is way too talented. If their defense is better, they'll be fine. But if their defense struggles throughout the rest of the season like they did in week one, which I'm chalking it up to week one jitters, week one rust, whatever you want to call it. But if they're not better, then Zeke's right Arkansas State's going to be in a lot of trouble.
00:46:11
Speaker
Well, I'll say this, so obviously it wasn't a good start for the defense, right? I mean. You give up, you know 432 yards of offense to a FCS school.
00:46:24
Speaker
We had all of these concerns coming into the season that this was a possibility that the defense hadn't actually taken a step forward, wasn't going to take a step forward. um and And yeah, this this kind of proved all of those concerns to be correct. So I just don't, I don't really know what to make of this Arkansas state team. I think if this keeps up and they just decide not to play defense or physically are unable to play defense, I think, yeah, I think Butch Jones is out of there after the season. Cause they're going to end up losing a lot of games that they have no business losing with the talent that they have on offense. So yeah, I mean, if you run this effort out against Louisiana, Texas state,
00:47:11
Speaker
you know, app state, a lot of the, you know, ah just teams in general that are, that are good to middling, you know, even down to the You know, Georgia Southerns of the world, I don't think they play Georgia Southern, but even still, I'm just making i'm just kind of making a point. it the These other teams are not going to are not going to find a way to fail the way that Central Arkansas did. So that's something that they're going to need to shape up right away. But I i kind of agree with what
00:47:44
Speaker
Zeke said last week now, having seen the defense, I think they're closer to getting Butch Jones fired than they are saving his job at this stage. So yeah, um unless unless things change in the next couple of weeks, like it's going to be a rough season because every game is going to be a shootout. They're going to have to put everything on Rucker and Cross and um you know, rain her shoulders and be like, Hey guys, you're going to have to win us every single game because we just can't play defense. And yeah, so it, I mean, it's going to be tough. Like they they've really got their work cut out for him this year. So ah Arkansas state wins 34 31. They moved to one and oh, this season central Arkansas drops toe. Oh, and one, um,
00:48:35
Speaker
Another team that was had been very good over the last couple years, Troy.
Troy's Performance Issues Against Nevada
00:48:41
Speaker
Finds a way to lose 2826 to Nevada. Now making me a Georgia Southern fan, very nervous about next Saturday's game against Nevada. ah Because the one thing Nevada does is run the football. Well, guess what? Guess what Georgia Southern can defend against the run. So there you go.
00:49:03
Speaker
ah goose crowder played okay uh 20 of 30 200 yards in a touchdown i mean those are like that's like alex smith's career stat line per game there i mean that is that is as average as it gets you know no offense yeah that's not a gunner watson stat line let's just say that uh damien taylor 11 carries 103 and a touchdown he played pretty well but Defensively, ah Troy gave up 393 yards of offense to Nevada. They didn't force a single turnover. um Nevada won this game and had 16 first downs the entire game.
00:49:46
Speaker
they almost doubled Their score was almost double the amount of first downs that they got in this game. So yeah, I mean, we we talked about it and we all universally kind of agreed that Troy was going to take a step back from where they had been.
00:50:01
Speaker
but now I feel a little bit even more justified in taking their season total under because I just don't, and I don't feel like they have the horses to so play with a lot of these teams. So it's going to be, Gerard Parker's got a building and a building project in front of him. the The thing that's concerning to me is when you look at the way that this game unfolded, Troy jumps out to a 14 to nothing lead with three minutes left in the first half.
00:50:31
Speaker
ah They give up a late touchdown right before the half, but you know you're still at 14 to six. Things seem like they're gonna be okay. Nevada opens the second half going 75 yards in a minute to tie the game. um And again, that's concerning, but that's not the end all be all, right? There's still plenty of football left to play. There's 14 minutes left in the third quarter. And then this next drive,
00:50:59
Speaker
it is where things kind of unravel for me. 13 plays 69 yards. So you move the ball down the field, settle for a field goal. Later in the fourth, 13 plays 74 yards, settled for a field goal. Those drives where you're moving the ball down the field against your opponent, those are the drives that you have to get six or seven and not three.
00:51:30
Speaker
Again, you know, obviously if this and butts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas, right? But you can you take one of those field goals and turn them into touchdowns. You win the game. you Well, and not only not only that, but. This has been. This game was very un-troy like as to what we had kind of come to expect under John Summerall. Like I know the personnel is not the same.
00:51:57
Speaker
But I kind of said this in the season preview. The days of them holding teams to two touchdowns every week is done ah yeah for the foreseeable future. Like that that was a very nice period of Troy football. However, those days are out the window as is Gunnar Watson and Kamani Vidal and, ah you know, Carlton Marshall and and everybody else that was a part of that two year stretch. So now you have to go back and reckon and say, hey, our expectations, we need to temper them. This is year one of a new coach.
00:52:34
Speaker
But I also think, given his offensive background and given the last time they hired an a P5 offensive coordinator as a head coach, I think a little bit, and I know it's just game one, but I think a little bit in the back of Troy Fan's minds, they're a little bit like, oh no, is this Chip Lindsey part two? So. and and that And that's a valid concern to have, right? i Yeah, I think so. Is it early? Sure.
00:53:04
Speaker
But I mean, Chip Lindsey gave this fan base nightmares. So I can understand their thought process of, oh, God, here we go again. I mean, it's worth it.
00:53:18
Speaker
Yeah. um You know, ah the guys that we didn't call out, Savion Red, the running back for Nevada, 11 carries 135 yards. um Troy's top receiver, Devontae Ross, seven catches, 102 and a score caught Goose Crowder's only touchdown. They. I think I've come to realize.
00:53:46
Speaker
I said this the other day, Saturday, when I was watching, I was sitting next to my wife on the couch and we were watching Notre Dame, Texas A and&M, and I turned to her and I said, I cannot remember the last time I was impressed with a Notre Dame offense. And Gerard, and Gerard Parker coming from that background now makes me think, wait, why'd they hire this guy? Because he coached at Notre Dame? Like, yeah was that the, because, think about it,
00:54:15
Speaker
they've they've long had a very good defense they've had a number of guys cycle through that team they they put out one offensive contributor to the nfl like every two or three seasons correct and that's it like one guy it'll be like hey we got michael mayer or hey we've got tyler ifert like a million years ago but by and large you're just kind of like OK, like none none of this scares me. None of the offense surprises me. There's nothing in here that you wouldn't find in a million other playbooks. And I think that's that's where the concern needs to come from. eight And the fact that the defense has taken a step back, obviously, with the amount of talent they lost. So, you know, Jevon Solomon's not walking through that door. So unfortunately, unfortunately um for them, at least.
00:55:08
Speaker
Yeah, with the with the lost Troy drops to 0 and 1, Nevada is now 1 and 1 this season. um Another one that we don't have to talk about too long, but i thought this circle I thought the circumstances around this game were funny. I don't know if you were aware of this. So a couple of things about the Southern Miss Kentucky game. Number one, Kentucky almost didn't cover the spread because they ended the game in an abrupt fashion due to the weather. That was number one. Number two, the game was supposed to kick off at like 730 Eastern time. It didn't kick off till 945. Yeah, it didn't kick off till 945. Number three, the lightning and weather was so bad that for a lot of the camera operators, they did not have people that were working the cameras because they were afraid for their safety. So the shot of the stadium is like
00:56:02
Speaker
all 22 footage for the entire entirety of the game ah so like so it was someone who who i ah does a podcast i listen to as a kentucky fan and he was like i was watching the game from the goodyear blimp was the uh the visual that they had for this game uh they were like the hubble telescope was broadcasting it um But yeah, I mean, this went exactly how we thought it would. Kentucky just ran all over Southern Miss. Southern Miss has no offense. I mean, just none. Like there's nothing nothing here that scares you. ah We talked about it last week when we power ranked our coaches that we thought were in the most trouble. Will Hall, I think, is on the way out faster than than, you know, any anybody else in the Sunbelt. I think he's already got his ah plane ticket booked for like mid October.
00:56:52
Speaker
um Yeah, no, I was incorrect. They didn't even play a fourth quarter. They played three quarters of football and just called it. but So do you have anything to say about this game? Because that was all I had to say. I thought it was funny. The circumstances around it will all better start packing the bags. Yep. I mean, I hate to be so you know harsh and abrupt about it, but And and you know, obviously they played a SEC program, but you know we're sitting here and there is no even remote inkling. Of this team getting better. No, I mean, Tate Rotomaker 13 of 1926 yards, no touchdowns, two picks. OK, it was raining. You're playing an SEC team. Quarterback and have a bad game, right? Whatever. good Let's go to the running game.
00:57:47
Speaker
Because the running game always does better in the rain, doesn't it? How about Ethan Crawford, your backup quarterback? Three carries for 10 yards. Keon Clay, one carry for seven yards. Rodriguez Clark, you ready for this one? You ready for this stat line? Six carries, three yards.
00:58:16
Speaker
a massive performance. They're not they averaged point four yards per carry as a team. Yeah, if he if he doesn't beat southeastern Louisiana by three scores.
00:58:39
Speaker
Three scores a lot to ask for this team. I know. But like, Oh, what a rough time to be in Hattiesburg is all.
00:58:53
Speaker
Yep, totally agree ah with with the loss. Southern Miss is now in one. Kentucky is now one and oh, um another game that we didn't have to talk a lot about just because we we knew the the way that it was headed and it went that exact same way. ah Georgia Tech beats Georgia State 35 to 12. We got to see the debut of Christian Valou. He was fine. But there Georgia State so overmatched against a team of Georgia Tech's caliber that, you know, they couldn't get anything going on the ground. I think
00:59:28
Speaker
this is a this is a no duh statement by me but i feel like it needs to be said anyway i think darren granger's ability to scramble is going to be sorely missed by this team because it opened up so much so many other running lanes it it kept defenses on its toes and christian volude just doesn't doesn't project as that type of player. um We talked about it. I mean, the two worst, three worst teams in the Sunbelt this year are going to be ULM, Georgia State, south Southern Miss. So none of this really surprised me. They struggled to to move the football, which wasn't a shock. um I think the only, the only surprise that I had was that Georgia Tech didn't beat them by a larger margin. Correct. Yeah, Georgia Tech's really impressive.
01:00:16
Speaker
um I mean, Haynes came 275 yards, two touchdowns. He did have the one pick. Haynes ran the ball really well, 84 yards of his core. Like you said, you hit the nail of the head that this game went exactly the way that we thought it would. And we'll see if Georgia State can bounce back next week So with that, Georgia State moves to 0-1 this season. Georgia Tech is now 2-0 after beating Georgia State and Florida State in back-to-back weeks. ah The next game here, you you watched Louisiana play Grambling. Do you want to give me some brief thoughts? Because I'm going to be totally honest, I didn't watch the second of this game, but you go ahead. Oh, you missed a doozy. Look, you know, I think the Cajuns played really well.
01:01:06
Speaker
um You know, the first play of the game, I thought that they were very aggressive. We'll play action. ah Ben Waldridge finds Harvey Broussard over the middle for a 50 yard pass play. Was able to cap that drive off with a touchdown. You responded um with with some good defense to end the first quarter early in the second. You find Harvey Broussard in the back of the end zone again, 14 to nothing.
01:01:31
Speaker
Immediately follow that up with a pick six and then immediately follows that up with a 56 yard touchdown Which i'm not really sure what happened on that tavion smith touchdown. Um Kind of looked like moses parted the red sea Grambling the defenders went this way and tavion smith went this way Yep, not quite sure what happened. Uh, but tavion smith was just kind of standing there in the flat like hey then right here bud um I'm going to catch it, I promise you. I'm not going to miss it. um And so it was just one of those things. It was 37 to nothing, six minutes into the fourth quarter. I mean, into the third quarter. And that's when the backups kind of came in. You train a field goals in the fourth. Look, Cajun's got 480 yards of total offense, only gave up to 40, 24 first downs, dominated the time of possession.
01:02:27
Speaker
It was an all-around really strong performance. Ben Wardridge was, I mean, read the stat line. He was phenomenal. 25 of 33, 308 yards, three touchdowns. He had a pick, but, you know, if you go back and watch the tape, it wasn't really his fault. He threw it slightly behind his receiver, but his both hands on it. So that, I mean,
01:02:54
Speaker
got You got to find a way to make that catch. ah The ball gets deflected. It ends up in the hands of a of a Grambling defender. So look, I mean, it is what it is. I thought Zylan Perry had some nice flashes in the run game. That's the biggest concern for me from this game. The cages didn't run the ball very well. And against a swag school, I was kind of hoping you would run the ball a little bit better than that.
01:03:18
Speaker
118 yards as a team and 28 attempts. You were well disciplined, only one penalty, and it was a false start penalty pretty early in the game, if I remember correctly. But again, took care of the football, was efficient on third down, all around good performance in week one.
01:03:36
Speaker
So with that, Louisiana moves to 1-0 this season, Grambling moves to 0-1. Let's go ahead and get to this next game here. James Madison beats Charlotte 30-7. Alonza Barnett gets the start over Dylan Morris, the Washington transfer. Barnett looked pretty good. 10 of 18, 219 yards, two touchdowns, one pick. Also ran for 89 yards was the team's leading rusher.
01:04:03
Speaker
I think the area of concern for James Madison Has to be a little bit kind of what you said about Louisiana the inability to run the ball with anybody else outside of Barnett if I owe a day or George pet away or you know, one of these guys can't handle the rushing load ah I Think asking Barnett to do everything is a bad
01:04:33
Speaker
I think that's gonna come back to bite you more times often than not now again Charlotte's not very good So I thought I thought they played fairly well and all things considered and Barnett really rebounded from you know getting pulled in game one of last season, but I I don't think that this is a a
01:04:53
Speaker
This is not something that you can count on every single week. This is not a game plan of Barnett needs to lead the team in rushing and passing and all of all of the above. that That's just not going to fly. And I understand how much talent they lost, but we've we've seen him play before. And I know he's probably gotten better, but he's just not going to be able to do this every week against Sunbelt teams. No, I agree 100%. They're going to have to figure out how to run the ball better.
01:05:22
Speaker
Um, as, as their season goes on, kind of like I mentioned with the Cajuns, uh, but Barnett had a good performance when you needed it. And, uh, good, good strong win in, uh, in year one for Bob Chesney. So with that James Madison moves to one and Oh, this season, Charlotte drops to Owen one. Uh, so yeah, this is a game, uh, that I would like Zeke to be here for. ah I would like Zeke to have been here for this because I would have liked to have seen more than just one sentence of, I couldn't even make heads or tails of what he sent me on this game specifically. He said something along the lines of, it's either a one game
01:06:09
Speaker
one off or they're as soft as Southern. And I'm like, well, it's got to be one or the other. Like, you got to you got to make a stand one way or the other. You can't just be like, I don't know. And then be like, told you so. Arkansas State. That's not how this works. Look, what's what's what's concerning for me. And as someone who admittedly didn't watch this game because they played at the same time as the cages, it's 18 nothing at halftime.
01:06:39
Speaker
And so you're like, okay, well, this is what we expected, right? Texas State playing a lower level opponent, showing their muscle, blah, blah, blah. No, nope, not quite. 21 to 10 going into the fourth, Lamar outscores you in the fourth quarter, 17 to 13, outscored you for the second half, 27 to 16.
01:07:06
Speaker
um ah to make things really, really interesting down the stretch. um Look, one game, one-offs, they're a thing. um I'm not gonna say that this is, oh my god, the sky is falling in San Martin, but this is certainly not great um for a team that not only are very clear about,
01:07:35
Speaker
but national pundits have picked Texas State to be the G5 rep in the playoffs. Brett McMurphy. This, this is not a great start to to that. um
Texas State's Narrow Win Over Lamar
01:07:49
Speaker
Because again, you're gonna have to win out to be the G5 team in the playoff. And the only way that you can get in without winning out is if nobody else wins out. Right.
01:08:04
Speaker
If you go 11 and one, but Liberty takes their cupcake schedule and goes 13 and 0, Liberty's in.
01:08:13
Speaker
So, you know, the with a schedule of, you know, UTSA, you go to Arizona State, Troy, Arkansas State, Louisiana, on and on and on, you struggled to beat Lamar.
01:08:33
Speaker
i I mean, that's concerning. So also I grabbed my mic to for emphasis on this. So much for all the disrespect.
01:08:45
Speaker
that they were getting from us ah before this. You know what I mean? Zeke in Bobcat's Den, love you. Thank you for listening to the show so much. You guys crowing about the disrespect that Texas State was getting by us, not me and Matt, not picking them to make the college football playoff and then coming out and barely beating an FCS school. I mean, yes, it was a 10 point game with four minutes to go.
01:09:15
Speaker
But on the other hand, it was a 10 point game with four minutes to go in a game that you were you were up 18 to nothing at halftime. The reason I didn't watch this game was because I looked at the score at halftime and went, oh, cool, I don't have to watch that. And I just cut it off like I cut another game on. And I don't want to. Here's the other statistic that I told you.
01:09:41
Speaker
Did you see the penalties?
01:09:46
Speaker
Texas State had 16 penalties for 160 yards.
01:09:58
Speaker
Discipline may or may not be an issue. issue No, I agree. like that That's awful.
01:10:07
Speaker
war What I can't what I couldn't figure out at the end of last year, and and this season is going to tell me what what what was actually the deal or not, was how Texas State fell apart on the stretch run last year. um And I couldn't figure out if that was a TJ Finley problem. If it was a GJ Kenny problem, if it was, you know, they other teams had figured out what they were running on offense and finally came and like started taking advantage of that. They had watched enough film that they had caught up.
01:10:38
Speaker
Now it makes me wonder, is this a systemic GJ Kenny problem and not just like, hey, we needed a better quarterback than TJ Finley? Correct. So you have the reigning Sunbelt Player of the Year. And you know I know they kicked the field goal with 30 seconds to go to pull within seven, but the game finished within seven points. like it it should have never It should have never gotten to this point.
01:11:05
Speaker
So again, Texas state's defense was a concern coming into this. I said, I thought they had the most weapons of any offense in the Sunbelt. Guess what? You allowed 27 points in the second half to an FCS school. That might be a little reason for concern and that's not hating. That's just me being like, that's reason for concern. That's just the fact.
01:11:29
Speaker
Alright, so Texas State moves to 1-0 despite all of that drama. ah Lamar drops to 0-1. Let's transition to week 2 in the Sunbelt. We'll go ahead and and make picks on these games if yeah ESPN ever loads on my screen. That's not what I'm looking for. I've got it on mine if you need it.
01:11:53
Speaker
Yeah, go ahead and kick us off with the first game while I'm still I'm getting I'm navigating ESPN site from 2006 a noon kickoff in Memphis on ESPN you between 0 1 1 Troy and 1 and oh Memphis Memphis is an 18 and a half point favorite with an over under of 57 into half um Look I'll start Give me Give me Troy plus 18 and a half. I think that spread is just absurd. I know Troy looked a little a little off against um against Nevada and I know people are really high on Memphis and that's fine. But 18 and a half in a G5 versus G5 game is just kind of wild to me. um So I'll take the Trojans plus 18 and a half.
01:12:53
Speaker
No, I agree. The over under is 57 and a half. I'm taking the over. OK. I think Memphis can score ah with Seth Hennigan. I think Troy will put up enough points to make it to get us to to that point. um And the spread is just stupid wide. So I'm going to take the over of 57 and a half. I think both teams are gonna be able to put off up up enough points. And I'm sort of hedging against Troy potentially getting blown out because as we saw last week, you take the under in like Coastal Carolina Jacksonville State and Coastal basically puts up the over by themselves. For sure. So I'm taking the over there. ah Let's see, I finally got yeah ESPN's site to comply with me. So I'll go ahead and run through the rest of these.
01:13:48
Speaker
UTSA at four o'clock on ESPNU is is ah taking on Texas State. The game is in San Marcos. Texas State is a one point favorite. Over under 63 and a half. Again, I'm taking the over. I think both of these teams can score. ye i I think this is going to be a real benchmark for Texas State.
01:14:14
Speaker
Uh, because I don't, I honestly, I mean, I'm going to go ahead and say it again. Sorry if people take it as disrespectful. I don't believe in their defense. I don't think they can get enough stops on a regular enough basis for me to feel good about it, about picking them in a, in a game where the spread is one point at home. If, if, if what you just said, if your pick was disrespectful, they're really not going to like mine. Oh no. Give me, give me the roadrunner straight up.
01:14:42
Speaker
um I really like what I saw out of them um in ah against Kennesaw State, but I really like what Owen McCown was able to do. I think he's a really nice quarterback. ah Jeff Traylor, we know what he's done over at UTSA over the years. They're a really strong football program. A one-point game at home, that really means that UTSA is a two-point favorite. So so so give me the road runners.
01:15:12
Speaker
All right. Okay. 430 on the CW network. Who knew they aired sports on the CW network? Between reruns of the Vampire Diaries and Smallville, we've got Marshall taking on Virginia Tech. It's in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech
01:15:34
Speaker
rallied a bit last week. ah I mean, i'm trying I'm trying to give them a little bit of praise. And this game is so ugly because I don't believe in either one of these teams as far as I can throw them. ah But Virginia Tech is a 20 and a half point favorite at home. 20 and a half. I think I'm going to take Virginia Tech.
01:16:02
Speaker
I have seen that they can score. I don't know. This isn't Stony Brook. I i don't think Virginia Tech is a good football program, but there's a real difference in taking a step up from Stony Brook to a P four program. So and I'm sorry, but I'm taking Virginia Tech. As much as I agree that there's a step up 20 and a half is absurd.
01:16:32
Speaker
And this to me watching Virginia Tech play ODU over the last couple of years, this just feels like a game that Marshall's going to hang around. So give me Marshall plus 20 and a half. OK.
01:16:49
Speaker
ah one One game we don't have to talk about too much here. James Madison's taking on Gardiner Web at home. James Madison's gonna roll them worse than James Madison did to Charlotte. ah You know, we talked about it during the James Madison preview, so their schedule's just so cake this year. like it really is It's kind of obnoxious how easy it is, but yeah, we expect them to roll there.
01:17:13
Speaker
uh the next game here east carolina is traveling to norfolk to take on old dominion on the road east carolina is a two and a half point road favorite over unders 55 and a half i'm taking east carolina uh i think i i think what we're gonna find out throughout the season is that old dominion was not a great football team. And I think that we're going to find that South Carolina is the SEC equivalent of Old Dominion. Um, so I think East Carolina is a better team than Old Dominion is. I think they'll be able to score more points. Um, and it's a, it's a pretty tight spread. It's not like I'm saying they're going to blow them out, but I just think East Carolina wins by, uh, you know, four points. And I think they beat Old Dominion.
01:18:05
Speaker
It depends to me on which version of Grant Wilson shows up. um you know as Isaiah Page had a really nice game against South Carolina. They're at home, probably have some confidence after that performance in Columbia. I'm not doing this on the sole premise of disagreeing with you, Brian, but I'm go take i'm gonna take you to you.
01:18:32
Speaker
All right. Uh, another six o'clock kick ESPN plus South Alabama is traveling to Athens to take on the University of Ohio, not the Ohio State University, the University of Ohio, the Bobcats. Uh, South Alabama is a one and a half point road. Favorite over under is 57 and a half. I'm going back to the well. I'm taking the over. I don't think either of These fences are going to be able to stop the opposing offenses. I think Gio Lopez is going to be able to score enough points to keep it um competitive, if not straight up win the game. um And Ohio's running back, Tyus ran for 203 yards on just 16 carries last week. And what, what do we know about South Alabama's defense? Not great. They can't stop the run. Right. So I will take over 57 and a half in this one. I'll agree with you there.
01:19:35
Speaker
All right, seven o'clock kick. ah Georgia Southern is traveling to Reno ah to take on the Nevada Wolfpack. Georgia Southern is a one point road favorite over under 58 and a half.
01:19:54
Speaker
this is This might be the last time I ever take Georgia Southern, but I'm taking them. Like if they disappoint me here, um they're dead to me. So if they can't win this game on the road, um there's a real chance they start the season one and four because the games after this are South Carolina State and Ole Miss. So they have to have this game. I mean, um yeah
01:20:21
Speaker
yeah um ah and bla Yeah. I don't feel good about it at all. God, because I'm not touching that over under. No. Fifty eight and a half. That's oh man. God, give me the eagles.
01:20:40
Speaker
You're gonna close your eyes and hold your nose like you're taking cold medicine, but yeah. Yup, yup, give me the angles. All right. ah We've got a couple of seven o'clock kicks. We can kind of merge these because we're running long as it is, but there's not a lot to talk about. So Coastal is facing off against William and Mary at seven o'clock on ESPN Plus. And then Georgia State is taking on Chattanooga at seven PM on ESPN Plus. We anticipate the Sunbelt teams to win both of those games. so how how how much is there really to talk about? correct ah Matt, your team here, Louisiana is traveling to Kennesaw, Georgia to take on the owls of Kennesaw State. ah The spread is 15.5 over under 47.5. I'm taking Louisiana minus 15.5. I understand what you what you were saying about
01:21:32
Speaker
You know, you there were things in the Grambling game that maybe you didn't feel the best about. ah But man, at the end of the day, Kennesaw is still a call up and they're still trying to get their feet underneath them. So give me, give me Louisiana and the points. This is a quintessential trap game for the Cajuns. And the reason that I say that is you're getting ready to go into a bye. You're coming off of a big win.
01:22:01
Speaker
And if you're Kennesaw State, you have to be on cloud nine because your first game as an FBS member, you battled with UTSA the whole way through a 28 to 16 final school. You come back home for your first home game as an FBS. That place is going to be rocking on Saturday night, granted.
01:22:32
Speaker
their stadium only holds 10,000 people. But that environment is going to be crazy. um I think the Cajuns win, which 15 and a half just really kind of makes me nervous. um So I'm actually going to take Kennesaw on the ah plus 15 and a half. Wow. I'm surprised.
01:22:55
Speaker
ah All right. Another 7 p.m. ESPN Plus game. Tulsa is traveling to Jonesboro to take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves.
UAB vs UL Monroe Game Preview
01:23:04
Speaker
Arkansas State is a seven and a half point home favorite over under 65 and a half. Give me Arkansas State minus seven and a half. um I'm going to be totally honest. I don't know anything about Tulsa, ah but I think Arkansas State is a better team probably than Tulsa. I agree. I would agree.
01:23:23
Speaker
It all it all just depends on whether they're going to get enough stops to be able to keep you outside the number is I think all it comes down to. ah Another game here, seven o'clock ESPN plus once again, UAB is traveling to Monroe to take on the Warhawks. UAB is a 13 point road favorite. Over under 53 and a half.
01:23:44
Speaker
um
01:23:49
Speaker
Give me the Warhawks plus 13. Oh,
01:23:54
Speaker
What I I Georgia Southern played UAB last year and they with Trent Dilfer They absolutely in a season that Georgia Southern looks so bad in the back half. They absolutely smoked the Blazers like smoked them and I Just I don't really but I don't really believe in Trent Dilfer.
01:24:20
Speaker
I think as a coach, like, I think it was a little bit of a hasty hire, bringing up a guy who has an NFL pedigree, but was only a high school coach before this. I think it's too much of a jump too soon. And I think you all Monroe will try to just take time off the clock and I think they're going to keep it within two touchdowns. I don't think they necessarily win.
01:24:40
Speaker
But I think they're going to play conservative enough and not get outside of what they want to do. So I'm calling for the upset. But really, I'm just saying to keep it within two touchdowns, I think. I'm going to take the under because I halfway agree with you. I think you always going to try to note the clock and keep things as close as possible. So I don't think either of these teams are going to score more than 24 points. So I'm going to take the under.
01:25:11
Speaker
And I really wasn't impressed last year by a their the Blazer starter Jacob Zeno.
01:25:18
Speaker
I didn't really think he was all that great when I watched him play. ah Another game here, we don't really have to talk about this except Will Hall. Will Hall's life might be on the line. ah if If Southern Miss loses to Southeast Louisiana at home, you mentioned this, it's going to be it's gonna be tough for him to get out of the stadium in one piece. Let's just say that. we don't We don't even really need to talk about it, but we both kind of feel the same way on that. All right, last game, eight o'clock ACC Network Saturday night.
01:25:47
Speaker
App State traveling to the other Death Valley to take on Clemson. Clemson is a 16 and a half point home favorite over under 53 and a half. um
01:26:00
Speaker
Give me Clemson, minus 16 and a half. i just I'm probably wrong. I'm sure App is probably going to play them within a field goal for no reason whatsoever. But you want to talk about a coach that's fighting for his life and trying to stay above water, Dabo. ah People were have been throwing, I don't like Dabo. I don't like him as a person. like I just think it's it's a lot of like fake mega-pastor church energy ah as a football coach. And he has just willingly gone against the tide for no reason of how college football is headed today.
01:26:38
Speaker
With that being said like if they don't get up for this game after getting absolutely stomped by the number one team in the country last week They're not gonna get up the rest of the season. So this is the time for them to take their anger out. I think Yeah, you talked about Davo being against the tide if you don't adapt all you're gonna do is die um and I think Davos Career is on its deathbed.
App State's Big Game Reputation
01:27:03
Speaker
Um ah Ab state is the team that they always play up for these games. They're always right in the thick of it. They beat A and&M a couple years ago. They beat North Carolina. They beat South Carolina. Look at the times they've lost to North Carolina, how close it's been every single time they played.
Weekend Coverage Expansion and Strategy
01:27:21
Speaker
I think Saturday nights no different. Give me app on the points.
01:27:27
Speaker
All right. Well, that does it. We're wrapping up here. ah We went a little longer than we usually do, but we usually don't throughout the season have every single team playing each week. So we've we've got way more games to talk about than we normally do. Plus, when two Sunbelt teams play, we only you know we cover one game, but knock out two teams in the process. But we haven't gotten into conference play yet. Matt, do you want to let everybody know where they can find you on socials? And we'll go ahead and get out of here.
01:27:55
Speaker
Yeah, you can find me on social media at me guys Matt. Another big weekend of Sunbelt football. I will be on a on a different assignment than typical. I will actually be in Death Valley this weekend covering LSU versus Nickel State, ah so that'll be fun.
LSU's Injury Update and Contact Information
01:28:13
Speaker
But as always, you can find great Sunbelt content and more at me guys Matt.
01:28:18
Speaker
Yeah, I just saw they're running back towards ACL LSU. Yeah. Brutal stuff. That's tough. As you can, as always, you can email the show at warm weather fans ah at gmail dot.com. You can follow us on X at warm weather fans.
Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes
01:28:34
Speaker
You can follow me personally at watch the stone ah Zeke who is here in spirit, but not in body. You can follow him at Zeke Palermo on X.
01:28:43
Speaker
Thanks everybody for joining us for another episode. We'll we'll see you back here ah recapping week two, talking about week three on Warm Weather Fans, the Sunbelt Podcast.