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2025 Sun Belt Football: Week 9 Recap
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Brian and Zeke gather to talk about Georgia State's loss on Thursday night, how much time Dell McGee has left, whether Troy has what it takes to push Southern Miss in the West division, and whether Old Dominion's skating by Appalachian State is cause for concern for the Monarchs moving forward.
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Transcript
Hosts Lament Their Teams' Struggles
00:00:17
Speaker
Welcome everybody back for another edition of Warm Weather Fans, the Sunbelt Podcast. My name is Brian Stone, your host here as always, joined again by Zeke Palermo. ah Zeke, both of our teams ah pooped the bed ah this past weekend.
00:00:33
Speaker
We've got a lot of interesting things to talk about. ah But yeah, it was not a it was not a good watching ah weekend for us, you know starting with you on Thursday and ending with me on Saturday night, but...
00:00:45
Speaker
Other than whatever you want to call what Georgia State is at this point, ah how's it going? ah It's good, man. It's good. Enjoy the weekend. and just you know it Things are really starting to crank up here in the conference, not for our teams, but we're really starting to hit the home stretch.
Exciting Conference Results Amidst Personal Disappointments
00:01:03
Speaker
and We got some results that keep things interesting throughout the conference, so I'm excited to get to talk to them.
00:01:13
Speaker
Well, on that note, let's go ahead and start with Thursday.
Georgia State's Defensive Woes Exposed
00:01:17
Speaker
ah Georgia State gets out-dueled by South Alabama 38-31. um i knew Georgia State's defense was bad coming into this one.
00:01:29
Speaker
I did not think that they would make the South Alabama offense look like the 99 Rams. um Bishop Davenport is throwing darts all over the yard. You've got Kentrell Bullock ah with 113 yards and two scores.
00:01:47
Speaker
what What can you say at this point about Georgia State? I mean, I'm i'm still shocked. we It's Sunday. i haven't heard anything close to till McGee has been fired.
Coaching Decisions Under Fire at Georgia State
00:01:59
Speaker
so If it hasn't happened by now, you know you have to imagine that it's kind of like with the quarterback thing. Maybe they'll surprise us, but we we were saying all year – um what are you waiting for before deciding on a quarterback? What what were you waiting to see?
00:02:16
Speaker
right So it feels like we're in a ah holding a similar holding pattern with the coaching position. It's like you've seen all you're going to see through this, at least through this season.
00:02:27
Speaker
So are you giving him the respect of not doing it midseason? um i I really don't know what's going on. maybe Maybe they want him another year. Maybe this is just not – maybe we're just blowing some smoke, right?
00:02:41
Speaker
um But it doesn't look good. I didn't think points were going to get scored in this game. in two In battles of bad offenses versus bad defenses, I always tend towards the bad defenses because defense can happen by accident.
00:02:56
Speaker
Offense really can't to the same degree.
Unexpected Offensive Shootout Surprises
00:03:00
Speaker
So I was very surprised that we got some level of duel. um and And in the fourth quarter became very exciting. 24 points total in the quarter.
00:03:11
Speaker
ah Georgia State put up 14. South Alabama put up 10. It was an interesting game late, um although South Alabama kind of ran away with it. Georgia State was up by three with about nine and a half minutes left.
00:03:24
Speaker
tie game with five and a half minutes left, and then Kendrell Bullock runs ah for a four-yard score late in the game with like maybe three minutes left to kind of put it on ice.
00:03:35
Speaker
You say put it on ice. Usually it's not that situation, but when you've got Cameron Brown throwing an interception within four plays of his next drive, mind you, Georgia State had just fumbled ah on a Rashad Amos handoff, so that was the situation. i
00:03:54
Speaker
Again, I was very shocked that either offense came to play. From a Georgia State perspective, it's like, hey, man, where's where's Cameron Brown been all year? Why did we have to play this Christian Valera game in the early season?
Cameron Brown's Standout Performance Raises Questions
00:04:05
Speaker
Why did we then have to do this half and half with TJ Finley? Because the guy's playing really good, 19 for 33 in this one, 241 yards. He had the late interception, which really hurts, but four touchdowns otherwise.
00:04:17
Speaker
Also ran 10 times for 67 yards, a long of 15, so he's he's been balling. And if he sticks with Georgia state, um, I don't know how likely that is.
00:04:28
Speaker
um but if he sticks, we're quarterbacks at, right. And that's a position that this team is, i guess it hasn't been that long, but it hasn't been in since Darren Granger. Um, and so that, that's a good point.
00:04:42
Speaker
South Alabama, you finally see something good out of Bishop Davenport. We've been waiting for that Kentrell Bullock big game. We finally get that out of him. Um, but I don't want to read too far into that because this is, I mean, these are the two worst teams
Hosts' Apathy Towards Their Teams' Ongoing Struggles
00:04:57
Speaker
in the conference. No, no, no, they are.
00:05:00
Speaker
um i so yeah Yeah. So, I mean, someone, someone's got to win the football game. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Again, I, feel I feel, feel very similar way to how you have felt,
00:05:14
Speaker
I'm catching up to you because you felt general apathy towards Georgia Southern for most of the season and kind of starting last season. the Kind of throughout the Helton era, as long as I've known you, really, you've had a general apathy towards like it just... it It kind of hit a peak for me.
00:05:30
Speaker
um Other than this season, 2023 was like having an animal locked in the zoo and its eyes just glaze over. Like i was just like, I hit like a blue screen of death in the, in 2023, watching Davis Brin throw 9,000 interceptions, at least at the very least.
00:05:50
Speaker
I know this is a low bar at the very least. Georgia state has fun, interesting quarterback to watch every week. The defense is awful, but They have talent where you can watch Cameron Brown throw to Ted Hurst and you're like, well, that was fun.
00:06:06
Speaker
You know, you would have liked to have but we we kind of have the skeleton of a good offense. Whereas, like I said, the 2023 Southern team, I was just like, can we get this team off the TV? Like, this was...
00:06:21
Speaker
It was embarrassing. So I do want to give credit.
Reflecting on Georgia State's Season: A Missed Opportunity?
00:06:25
Speaker
ah Bishop Davenport, 16-22, 280, two touchdowns, no picks, the highest PFF passing grade in the conference this week at 89.5.
00:06:35
Speaker
Cameron Brown, the fourth highest passing grade in the Sun Belt this week. You read off his stats. um I think when we talk about Georgia State, I was thinking about this as this game was wrapping up.
00:06:49
Speaker
and kind of what you said with Cameron Brown early in the season and the Valera thing and the TJ Finley stuff. I think this season for Georgia state, an important thing would have been perception.
00:07:02
Speaker
If they had come into the season and said, we've got this young guy, Cameron Brown starting game one or, or whenever he was available to start, I don't know if he was like injured or whatever to start the season.
00:07:14
Speaker
Um, If they had come out and said, hey, this is a building year for us. We want to identify a quarterback. We want to put Cameron out there, give him ample runway to kind of find his way as a quarterback at the FBS level.
00:07:28
Speaker
I think if you had come out kind of with that PR a little bit, I think there would be more leeway ah for Dale McGee. But when you roll Valera out there, who was a starter last season, and he doesn't look good, and then you bring TJ Finley over from, what was he at? Western Kentucky last, after Texas State.
00:07:51
Speaker
You get that. And then you're you're shuffling between these two quarterbacks. It looks, perception-wise, like, and I could be right on this, could be wrong on this, you don't know how to identify quarterback.
00:08:02
Speaker
You don't know who the best guy in the room is. it it it's the It's the inverse, like I said, of Charles Huff, where Huff last season turned around at some point and went...
00:08:13
Speaker
Stone Earl's just not it. Like, we're just going to have to roll with Braylon Braxton, like, and let the chips kind of fall where they may. if If he, if McGee had done this to start, I think it would have bought him probably a lot more goodwill, both from a perception perspective, but probably with the fan base as well.
00:08:30
Speaker
Because I know for, I know for me, if, if, I don't want Helton to be my coach, but if we came out next year and said, we've got a brand new quarterback starting day one, he's young, we're going to let him play the whole season and kind of find his feet.
00:08:46
Speaker
I think that would have bought him more goodwill than being like, I don't know, let's just kind of throw these guys up in the air and and hopefully one emerges. But even when Brown plays well, I'm going to deny it for a while and force Finley out there.
00:09:03
Speaker
I think you bring an interesting point about talent identification, and I don't know if this is a Dell McGee problem. I don't know if this is a Hugh Jackson problem because Lord knows he had issues with that during his tenure with the Cleveland Browns.
00:09:17
Speaker
um But in another kind of angle to this or ah to further that thought is ah guy that I had really only heard in passing. ahead of this game, Jordan Simmons.
00:09:29
Speaker
He transferred in this year from Akron and came there by way of Michigan State, I believe. Leads the team in rushing in this game, 11 carries for 78, long of 15. You know I love that number. So he's you know running very well, 10 for 63.
00:09:45
Speaker
ah Excellent, excellent. This is a guy that last year at Akron ran for over 600 yards on six yards a carry. He's got like 40 carries all year, 24. I'm sorry, not even 24 carries all year.
00:09:58
Speaker
Yeah. I, again, this is a South Alabama defense. This isn't like James Madison that we saw several weeks ago after this team has even played Ole Miss and Vanderbilt who are now very highly ranked teams.
00:10:09
Speaker
Um, But, like, where was this guy? Why wasn't he getting snaps? Why wasn't he getting touches? It would appear that this guy, I mean, at Akron, roughly comparable situation, roughly comparable conference, right, the and as compared to maybe FCS or Juco or even P4.
00:10:28
Speaker
Where was Why wasn't he taking snaps? And why is it when he finally gets the opportunity to take carries that he's doing something? He also gets three catches in this game for 11 yards, but three catches.
00:10:40
Speaker
and I feel... I brought this up, but it's the Nick Chubb thing. and i Again, I don't know. I'm right there with you. I don't know if it's Hugh Jackson or whatever.
00:10:51
Speaker
But this has played out with the Cleveland Browns before with Nick Chubb as a rookie, where it was he was behind an inefficient running back. And the GM, which you don't have at the college level, so they can't turn around and trade...
00:11:04
Speaker
whoever the starter was before him and force the hand of the offensive coordinator, head coach. You can't do that, but yeah, they've had issues. I mean, i know at least Hugh Jackson has had serious, serious issues with identifying like who the best player is among a group.
00:11:20
Speaker
So I wouldn't be shocked if this kind of fell at his feet.
00:11:26
Speaker
We'll see. I mean, think, i think because of the nature in which he was brought in, um the kind of on, again, we don't know if the guy stepped down or asked to step down, from the coordinate, uh, offensive coordinator situation.
Offensive Prowess vs. Defensive Lapses in Georgia State vs. South Alabama
00:11:42
Speaker
i don't know if the long-term plan was to get Hugh Jackson in here. Uh, You know, I'm not certain if this is a clean house situation at the end of the season. I, again, because we've seen and heard also more importantly, heard nothing from administration.
00:11:56
Speaker
i have no idea if if this is a huge action problem. It doesn't matter because as of right now, he and Dell McGee are a twin package.
00:12:06
Speaker
Kentrell Bullock in this one, 20 carries, 113, two touchdowns, second highest PFF Russian grade of the week. ah Ted Hurst, ah five catches on 11 targets, 110, two touchdowns, second highest receiving PFF grade of the week.
00:12:20
Speaker
ah this This was just an offensive explosion, but on the flip side, it also shows why both of these teams are kind of in the basement because they don't play a lick of defense.
00:12:31
Speaker
And, you know, Georgia State's got a ah good, not great offense, I would say. I mean, you could even you could correct me and say it was slightly above average. I don't i don't really know where you fall on that scale, but.
00:12:45
Speaker
to To give up 31 on South Alabama's end and on Georgia State's end, give up 38, this is why the teams are in the hole that they're in. It's not, in theory, for lack of like offense. they just Neither one of them play a link defense, really.
00:13:02
Speaker
Yeah, i would i've i I would say that defense has been the greater issue at Georgia State, but let let's not pretend like if you rolled James Madison's defense, this is a 10-win Georgia State team.
00:13:14
Speaker
You know, the not and not even close. So ah that is the key. Whereas on South Alabama's side, they equally play def defense fairly poorly. But Bishop Davenport's been really disappointing. Kentrell Bullock never took that step.
00:13:28
Speaker
Boyson, I mean, you know, part of that's quarterback play. But Boyson hasn't been the guy that we kind of anticipated he would be. So two bad teams in both phases. um yeah Someone someone had to win.
00:13:42
Speaker
Yep. ah All right. So let's move on to the Saturday games.
Old Dominion's Narrow Victory Over App State
00:13:47
Speaker
Old Dominion beats App State 24-21. This is a weird game because i didn't think, despite the stats, like Old Dominion played all that well, really.
00:13:58
Speaker
um You know, I kind of expected them to whoop App. And when you when you put on top of it how poorly J.J. Cole played until they eventually pulled him for A.J. Swan...
00:14:11
Speaker
who actually looked like fairly good as a quarterback against ah Old Dominion. And it wasn't like a game where you know Old Dominion was just up by so many points and App just kind of scored in garbage time. I mean, again, App scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. It finishes a three-point margin of victory. It wasn't exactly like...
00:14:33
Speaker
oh, it's 45 to 10, and they scored two touchdowns in garbage time, and that was nice, and, you know, whatever. This was still fairly competitive. I know App was are are ah app was down, ah you know, what was it, 24 to 7 entering the fourth quarter, and Old Dominion, I guess, just kind of took their foot off the gas, but it's like, I don't know, this might, this game, I don't want to say this is a sign of things to come for ODU, but This is not a great rebound performance coming off of two basically
00:15:09
Speaker
um ass whippings ah yeah of of the previous two games. like I think this is a real ah reason for concern because this this opens up the possibility of kind of what we said last week, which is like there's probably another loss on the schedule coming for Old Dominion at some point.
00:15:28
Speaker
I mean, this is the example of who's around Colton Joseph to support him when, even when, again, he had a great game 21 for 33 through the air.
00:15:40
Speaker
305 yards, three touchdowns and a pick. His only interception came on like the six-yard line. It was in the end zone. um So that wasn't like a ah super costly turnover. Obviously made the game closer than it needed to be.
00:15:53
Speaker
But that interception late came at the end of like a five-minute drive. so But then he leads the team in rushing. Who around him is creating plays so that you can milk this clock out, right? Yeah.
00:16:04
Speaker
no no one the eyes go straight to him and that is so so frustrating aj swan as you mentioned best we've seen him play since like lindenwood because that southern miss game was before that i i would i would say charlotte like charlotte yeah so i mean i don't know if he's i guess we'll find out this week if this is like a a second half turnaround from him or if jj cole sticks with it um i But yeah, Old Dominion, this is what we saw, and we forgave them because they they whooped up on Coastal.
00:16:40
Speaker
But this was the same problem that we had with them in the early weeks, is you have this offense that is supposed to be your bread
Old Dominion's Fourth Quarter Fumbles
00:16:48
Speaker
and butter. This is a good defense, too. It's not exceptional, but it's going to win you games. It's good enough to win games.
00:16:54
Speaker
But if your offense is a calling card, looking at Ricky Ronnie, How are you doing this? How are you putting up 24? How are you going scoreless in the fourth quarter? um Even when you're up that much, because when you let the gas off, because of your two third quarter touchdowns, look at that, two touchdowns and a half is a field goal away from winning the game, or from tying the game. Yeah.
00:17:19
Speaker
It's exacerbating these ideas that we've had all year of like, well, the minion can't step on the neck. And that's what separates them from that is the biggest gulf between them and James Madison is the ability to step on necks.
00:17:35
Speaker
And you you talked about letting off the gas late. ah To use another car analogy, it was almost like driving a stick and it's like stalling out. I mean, look at the score at halftime was 10-7.
00:17:49
Speaker
ah You know, Old Dominion scored the majority of their points in the third quarter. And then, like you said, just kind of meh. Like I went through and looked, you know, you were asking about Who else other than Colton Joseph? So let's, I want to use like PFF kind of as a, as a sounding board for that out.
00:18:09
Speaker
So I, I sorted it by receivers that had a minimum of five targets. Keep in mind, Colton Joseph through 33 passes. He had two receivers with more than five targets on on Saturday.
00:18:26
Speaker
You had Naeem Abdulrahim Gladding, who was basically the only main beneficiary. Eight carries. He had 17 targets on on Saturday.
00:18:36
Speaker
um Gladding had eight catches for 105 and a score. ah And then you had Ja'Cory Thomas, who had six catches, 69 yards and a score.
00:18:48
Speaker
Again, it it's just not... like I know ODU fans are probably like, oh, problem solved. We have no issues anymore. like We got through our our two rough game patch and and we beat App and now everything's back to normal. And it's like, no, the problems are kind of still under the hood. like You got away with this one. Again, jj Cole easily, I think, played the worst game that he's played since he's been but App starter last couple games.
00:19:17
Speaker
Yeah. But I'm just like, this is an issue. Now, the end of their their schedule for the the season is very cake. So this may not... They can probably play at 60% of their potential and still win a lot of these games. Like, you play...
00:19:36
Speaker
you um mon at UL Monroe ah November 1st. You play Troy at home. That one might be a little iffy on the 13th.
00:19:47
Speaker
You play Georgia Southern and Georgia State in the season. You do play in Statesboro. However, When we get to the Georgia Southern game, I'll explain. ah You already know, but I will further explain why that will not be an issue for Old Dominion. yeah And then you play Georgia State, who we just talked about, is is, I guess, the stone worst team in the conference at this at this stage in the season.
00:20:09
Speaker
Yeah. I want to give you, ah to your point again, just kind of hammering this in because apparently we needed more evidence for for this argument. um Old Dominion...
00:20:21
Speaker
Early in the fourth quarter, they are up 21. Let me give you this series of plays. Granted, this drive started at the app 34 after any unsuccessful fourth and one.
00:20:33
Speaker
You go Colton Joseph run. Devin Roche run, zero yards. Incomplete. Colton Joseph run. Pass, complete for 11 yards to Raheem Gladding or Abdul Raheem Gladding.
00:20:45
Speaker
ah Colton Joseph run. Colton Joseph incomplete. Colton Joseph interception. How many dang times do i have to say Colton Joseph before you hand it? The only time you hand it off to literally anybody else.
00:20:56
Speaker
you get a zero yard game. And again, this is one small sample size. They're on the fringes of the red zone. So you have to consider that like, this is not your typical drive, but in a situation where they could have gone further to put the game on ice. got I mean, they got into field goal range, but could have gotten into the end zone, taken up more than again, shoot, they moved 28 yards in three minutes. That is incredibly inefficient, which you need at that point in game. That's good.
00:21:22
Speaker
um It wasn't all bad from that perspective, but this idea of being so reliant on one guy, teams are picking up. App picked it up, and we're going to see other teams. Troy's going to pick it up. I think I see it very differently.
00:21:39
Speaker
ah You were so-so on that game. I think Troy right now wins that game. I really do because I think they have the defensive personnel that – is required and the defensive coaching from that standpoint ah to shut down Fulton Joseph. And when you do that, Naeem Abdul-Gladding, what's he going to do?
00:22:00
Speaker
I mean, he yeah he's not a running back. Your running backs can't do crap. Yeah. I mean, this, this also gets into the thing of like the fact that the leading receiver each week is basically playing hot potato between like one of what, four different receivers. And you don't know as the leader of the team, like who's going to step up that week.
00:22:23
Speaker
I think that's a little concerning. Like, I don't want to use, I guess I'll use your pro team as an example. Like, yeah, Buffalo Bills, like we don't know a lot of times week to week like who it's going to be. Some weeks it's Shakir, some weeks it's Kincaid, some weeks but also sometimes in a big spot, it's like, who am I going to?
00:22:45
Speaker
like I truly don't know. Curtis Samuel, yeah. It's like, awesome. this We're drawing up plays for Curtis Samuel. That's incredible, man. um I also want to illustrate their, I guess, lack of rushing prowess based on, again, PFF.
00:23:03
Speaker
So the top, and this includes Colton Joseph, this is everybody that had, what what did I set it at? At least five carries in the Sun Belt this week. Old Dominion's top rush grade for a player was Devin Roche. He was 16th.
00:23:23
Speaker
We did not have 16 teams in the conference. We also had a lot of teams on by. I mean, I'm looking at it. It's like Georgia state had two that were higher than him.
00:23:35
Speaker
um Louisiana Monroe had two that were higher than him. I mean, it's like, and these aren't the premier programs. It's not like James Madison played this, this weekend. Right. You know, Marshall's been a prolific offense as of late. They didn't play.
00:23:49
Speaker
It's, it's just like, Listen, guys, this not being able to run the ball outside of Colton Joseph's scrambles or, like, designed runs, it's... it's I mean, we see why they they did what they did the last couple weeks because they just don't... They don't have anybody to defer to in a big spot. And, again, when you're playing whack-a-mole with the receivers, it's impossible to kind of get into a rhythm because you don't know who's going to step up on a weekly basis.
00:24:18
Speaker
When we look back at when Ricky Ronnie... inevitably leaves, whether it's on his own quarter, they get fed up with the six and six.
Old Dominion's Potential Under Ricky Ronnie
00:24:29
Speaker
um This is probably going to be the season we look back to and say, this was probably the best oldmin old Dominion team um of his tenure. Easily.
00:24:40
Speaker
no's No question. And you're going to think back, well, you know, what could have been, what where did we go wrong? it's the fact that I really do think that inability to run the ball is going to be like, this could have been, this is it. you run the ball, maybe you beat James Madison.
00:24:59
Speaker
Maybe certainly not when you're allowing 63 points, but that creates a whole different ball Right. i don't, I don't know because James, James Madison's a little bit of an isolated incident because it's, um, that their rushing defense is like, I think second best in the country yardage per game wise.
00:25:17
Speaker
Uh, Now, obviously turnovers killed you against Marshall because those turned into points for Marshall. um But kind of the same thing there. It's like, you know, we we talked about last week when ULM goes down, they fly into a panic. Like they don't know what to do with themselves.
00:25:36
Speaker
it I don't say that's the same thing for Old Dominion, but I think it's the same thing in that when those long deep shots aren't hitting, they're All of a sudden, it's kind of like, uh-oh. like What's the offense look like now?
00:25:50
Speaker
And i I mean, we've seen the last two weeks like what it looked like. So i don't I don't want to be a dead horse. um App State, this is going to be, I guess, a growing season.
00:26:04
Speaker
um You might want to hire a real offensive coordinator ah because One week, AJ Swan has it, but he's coming off the bench cold, and he throws two touchdowns.
00:26:15
Speaker
One week, JJ Cole looks like ah a fringe top five quarterback in the conference. um And the only thing I can think of is is just that they have that offensive inconsistency that Dow Loggins needed to be the head coach and the offensive coordinator in one package. Maybe he needs some support staff because this – Like, this has been... You want to talk about Jekyll? You talked about Jekyll and Hyde or our Two-Face or whatever last week.
00:26:43
Speaker
this is This is that in a nutshell. Like, we don't even know who's going to be the best quarterback to come out of the room on a weekly basis. Billy Wiles has had a week where he was he looked like the best quarterback on the roster.
00:26:55
Speaker
And we know he's not good from his time at Southern Miss. So... i don't I think app this is going to be a longer build than app fans were initially anticipating. I thought they i think they thought coming into the season it was going to be a quick like patch-up fix, and it's looking more like, hey, we need to put the car in the shop for a couple weeks and and figure it out.
00:27:18
Speaker
um So this might take like another off-season or two before we we kind of even see what the finished product is supposed to look like. Yeah, I don't know. I think...
00:27:29
Speaker
I wonder what they will do if if they'll force log-ins or if he'll make that decision to step away because from an offensive perspective, there is a lot of talent. You have two quarterbacks who, again,
00:27:41
Speaker
inconsistent in how they appear. um But you have two guys that are bona fide starting quarterbacks at their best. Rashad Dominion's been very, very good this year.
00:27:52
Speaker
You've got guys in the receiving route. I mean, Dalton Stroman was really, really good last year. um i don't know if he's been missing time or or what what's the going on there. But um this is a talented offense. I think that hinges a lot or their future hinges a lot on how much control Loggins is willing to give up because, as you said, no offensive coordinator. They've got a DC.
00:28:16
Speaker
They've got special teams coordinator. um But it's just position coaches. They don't have, like, a pass game guy. They don't have a run game guy. It is Dowell Loggins. End of conversation. And that is proven for a long time at really every level.
00:28:34
Speaker
Maybe high school, it's not the case, but really every level that that just doesn't work. No, it doesn't. There are guys that have been, you know, some of the best offensive minds in like college football.
00:28:49
Speaker
And even that like Lane Kiffin has an offensive coordinator. Josh Heifel has an offensive coordinator. Like you go through and look at all these guys like and you're like, okay, like I understand like you can be an offensive head coach and even call plays and still have an offensive coordinator to kind of bounce ideas off of or, you know, get insights from and he just doesn't yeah every week that passes and they put up, you know, basically a stinker through three quarters and they score two like garbage time touchdowns basically when they're down 24 to 7 in the fourth quarter.
00:29:23
Speaker
it It looks bad, like, optically. And I know I talked about perception with Georgia State, but it's kind of the same thing with App State, where it's like, maybe you don't think as Dowell Loggins that it's going to make a huge difference, but it it's one of those things people can immediately point to and go, okay, well, this this is something that needs to change, like, ASAP.
00:29:43
Speaker
So, also, I'm sorry to do this, but I just got a notification that Brian Kelly got fired at LSU. Oh! Brian Kelly killed the kid. He did.
00:29:54
Speaker
People forget that. Don't forget that. No. and now And now he's going to take his $50 million dollars buyout or whatever and be sit at ah sit on an island ah for the rest of his life, I assume.
00:30:06
Speaker
um All right. Next game here. Southern Miss blows out UL Monroe. ah Braylon Braxton absolutely dotted them up. He was 18 of 23, 248, four touchdowns.
00:30:19
Speaker
four touchdowns UL Monroe finally put in a new quarterback in Landon Graves. It did not go well, but I still maintain that like, even if it doesn't go well, you still, you know what you have in Aiden Armenta.
00:30:35
Speaker
So unless like ah literally I would give anybody who's listed as a quarterback, another, ah shot this season and just try to find something to build off of because our, our mentors shouldn't be back next year as even in the running for a starting quarterback job. Like he said to one and a half years, one in three quarters years to figure that out. And it just hasn't happened.
00:30:58
Speaker
Um, Yeah, Graves didn't play well. They only threw the ball 24 times. ah Completed half of his attempts, 103, one touchdown, two picks.
00:31:09
Speaker
Landon Graves did. um Braylon Braxton's second highest passing grade via PFF in the conference this week behind Bishop Davenport. Yeah, I mean, this was just an old-fashioned, you know, they just handed ULM their
Southern Miss Showcases Offensive Strength Against UL Monroe
00:31:24
Speaker
butts. But, you know, it kind of is what it is at this point.
00:31:27
Speaker
I mean, the Warhawks stuck around. This was 21-14 at halftime. they They were there. But as you've said continually, and it's very true, once it hits the fan, it hits the fan.
00:31:40
Speaker
um Because as soon as Southern Miss goes up, interceptions on back-to-back drives, you spend four minutes, eight plays, and you punt.
00:31:51
Speaker
Uh, you go three and out to punt. Um, man, I, it's like, it's really fun. I like, i like watching the, the, I love watching two and a half minute drives that are three and outs.
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah. I love that. That's so fun, man. Keep it up. but Um, something I, thought about over the weekend was, do you remember on the old podcast, the first this was the first time it was, all right, kid, welcome to being a semi-public figure in sports media.
00:32:23
Speaker
um We got dunked on for Southern Miss stuff. And For what? um It was really the quarterback stuff. I mean, this was Will Hall, Frank Gore's running the the Superman offense.
00:32:39
Speaker
Those were the first people to really jump on me, kind of like Old Dominion did. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I remember that. And then yeah then they they were ah they were telling you that they were going to beat Georgia State, and then they played Georgia State, and Georgia State beat them like – by almost like this score, like or something. So I remember that very vividly, of course. that's so I think every person in media is going remember the first time they were like actually got real feedback, negative feedback.
00:33:04
Speaker
Pretty fine. That's part of the gig. Yeah. I was shocked in the preseason when I was so bearish on Southern Miss that we didn't get any of that kind of feedback as well. Maybe it's just people didn't follow when we switched over to warm weather from the underdog show or what, but we didn't get that negative feedback or to the same strength because they have the right to be rubbing this in my face.
00:33:29
Speaker
Charles Hoff has done a great job at Southern Miss, and it helps that he has brought a lot of that Marshall team. namely the best player on that team in Braxton Braxton. That helps a lot.
00:33:41
Speaker
yeah But there's still 21 other starters that you had to account for. There's still the special teams guys. There's still the depth guys, the backups. um And I think – I really do think Charles Hoff needs to be in the running for conference coach of the year, if not some type of – some on the watch list for the national – Yeah, so some technical stuff there, but the thesis is Southern Miss fans that were watching us three years ago, if you're still around, come back because you were right and you can find you can finally rub it in and I'll take it because Charlestoff has done an excellent job and you have to, have to think that he wins to Conference Coach of the Year, yes?
00:34:25
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think he has to, yeah. Yeah, good good job, Southern. We cut off a little bit for a second, so I don't know where we were, but hats off. Good job, guys.
00:34:36
Speaker
figure it out. I think the reason that we didn't get pushback was number one. i don't know if Matt was on the Southern Miss preview, but I certainly was very kind of bullish on them just because I was like, look at the West. You know, i know we got kind of the wool, I guess, pulled over our eyes about Louisiana. And I, but it seems like everybody did in like the country. I don't think anybody was like, Oh, Louisiana is bad. They're going to win like four games this year. I think everybody was like pretty pretty bullish on them.
00:35:09
Speaker
I think the reason we didn't get any pushback was i i was just like, I think this is the second best team in the West behind Louisiana, like in theory. um And then I was like, I think they can push for the West division just because...
00:35:22
Speaker
You take the best quarterback in the conference, you know, resume or whatever wise, like if you think Colton Joseph has surpassed Braylon Braxton, that's fine. But I still think that Braylon shows up in big games and and big spots and is always at ah at a very high quality level, like with his game.
00:35:45
Speaker
And so I was just like, great coach, great quarterback. My questions were with the other pieces. It seems like that has not really been a problem. um But I think that's part of the reason was it was just kind of a push and pull. And i don't even think necessarily you were that down on them.
00:36:02
Speaker
Like in preseason, you were just kind of like middle of the pack. Like, sure. There was six games or something. I think you said. I mean, I remember drawing the comparison um that made a lot of sense was Detroit, which was in a kind of similar situation um where it's like, even if you bring, because we were kind of treating Southern Miss in the preseason as martial light.
00:36:28
Speaker
um yeah Even when you bring all of that infrastructure over, it's it's still a new program. it's still There's still so much change. And we saw when Troy transitioned from John Simrel to Gerard Parker, um there was a huge drop off.
00:36:43
Speaker
And Troy's starting to put the pieces together now. We'll talk about them later. um But that week, or you know year zero to year one, transition was really, really big for them. And I anticipated that kind of, i guess it wouldn't have been a fall off for Southern Miss considering where they started, but I anticipated a much slower upward trajectory for them.
00:37:04
Speaker
um And we were, I was wrong. i would I don't want to say we I was wrong. I think I made this this argument in the preseason. I cannot remember. like This is a million episodes ago at this point. But I was like, the thing that separates them for me from a Troy of last year is Gunnar Watson's not playing quarterback at Troy in 2024.
00:37:29
Speaker
That was the thing for me where I was like, all right, this is the hard cutoff line because it's like, Goose Crowder, Kill Crease, what we knew was Caldwell later. ah Who's going to emerge of that? And then we kind of saw how last season he started very poorly and then got better at the end with that quarterback change.
00:37:49
Speaker
I was just like, Southern Miss just... airdropped the best quarterback in the conference on their team and got, and like, it didn't take them anything other than giving Charles Huff a ah contract.
00:38:01
Speaker
um I think some of those guys that have moved on elsewhere, I can't remember if it was Fitzpatrick, I think it was Fitzpatrick transferred to Oklahoma state after he lost mar after he left Marshall, ah the receiver who was their big guy.
00:38:19
Speaker
I think he regrets that move and would be killed to be in, in Hattiesburg today because of what a mess that program is with already firing Mike Gundy and everything. I think he would love to be competing for a Sunbelt title with Southern Miss at this point, considering how that season has gone. But this is what I'm saying is just like,
00:38:40
Speaker
i I was high on them. I even kind of pushed. um I asked Phil Steele that in the preseason. I was like, where are you out on Southern Miss? He's like, oh, I think they could be like the third best team in the West. And I'm like, I'm way higher on them than that. Like, I think they could like be in the title game at the end of the season.
00:38:57
Speaker
Like, they probably won't beat James Madison because Jamie's got a much more kind of complete roster. But they can be right there. I mean, again, it's like to me, Louisiana was their only competition.
00:39:09
Speaker
i wasn't that high on and Troy has now emerged, but it's like I wasn't high on Arkansas State. I wasn't high on ULM. I wasn't high on, and you know, a lot of these other teams. So to me, even Troy and and, you know, I was wrong on Troy, but it's like who has Who in the West stands out other than, I guess, Troy on this upswing and now Southern Miss? It's like everybody else just feels like they are lucky. They're going to be lucky to make a bowl game, a lot of these teams that are in the West.
00:39:42
Speaker
Yeah. yeah So, yeah, I think that's the that's the reason. And I think also they're just extremely happy to be where they are. from where they started last year to where they are right now through this year. Like yeah they're probably like, I don't even care if people like doubted us or whatever. Like, we're just happy to already be bowl eligible. And it's not even, it's not even the first of November yet.
00:40:03
Speaker
So, you know, they're, they're like, we probably haven't been here in a long time. yeah And so, and also I was like, I don't think you can underestimate the coaching upgrade from Will Hall to, Charles Huff either.
00:40:15
Speaker
Like that is immense. um All right. So let's get through that game. ah You know, Southern Miss blows ULM out of the water. No shock there. ah So this was my game.
Arkansas State Triumphs Over Georgia Southern's Weaknesses
00:40:27
Speaker
Arkansas State beats Georgia Southern by 10, I had a bunch of takeaways from this game.
00:40:34
Speaker
ah All of them negative on Georgia Southern. Other than I thought JC French played okay. um Everybody else is just Everybody not named Camden Brown on the offense are just like whatever to me.
00:40:50
Speaker
Like even... I'm starting to think too, that OJ Arnold was better suited for the role that he had last year behind Jalen white. Like they need an early down like bruiser so that he can have kind of that space to operate out in, which he, he doesn't seem to have. He's not as good of a runner between the tackles, uh, as Jalen white. And I, that really shows like when you watch games like this, uh,
00:41:16
Speaker
This about a real backbreaker. Georgia Southern goes up 21 to 10, right? Right it kind of the end dish of the second quarter.
00:41:26
Speaker
And Arkansas State walks down the field without really much resistance at all and makes it 2117. And that just felt like that was the real turning point in the game because it felt like Southern had all this momentum. They were getting some stops.
00:41:41
Speaker
and then And then Jalen Rayner just takes them down the field. They score before halftime, cut a 11-point lead to set four. And then Arkansas State kind of owned the second half.
00:41:52
Speaker
Let me read to you this sequence. um So this is this was written out tweet-wise by a guy from the Statesboro newspaper named Josh Aubrey. He does great work covering Georgia Southern. yeah But he put he put it out into words so that I could read it off to you.
00:42:08
Speaker
With 5.51 left in the game, this is Clay Hilton clock management, Zeke. 5.51 left in the game, they were on the 13-yard line of Arkansas State, down 10 points.
00:42:21
Speaker
They burned 3 minutes and 51 seconds of game time in like six plays or something.
00:42:32
Speaker
They kicked a field goal at the two-minute warning. they got They started this that that whole sequence at the 13-yard line with 5.51 to go, and they kicked a field goal at the two-minute warning.
00:42:46
Speaker
They did not score touchdown. He said, I'm pretty sure I got all that right to see, but that is 3.51 spent going 10 yards. You talking about ULM burning all that. it was It was them running the ball nonstop with a running game that was not really all that explosive or or working all that well.
00:43:07
Speaker
It was... i kind of lost my cool on Saturday and tweeted something along the lines of, is is Brandon Bailey mentally deficient? like Because on one of these series, I think it was the one right before halftime that I'm talking about,
00:43:24
Speaker
they had multiple Arkansas State have multiple plays where it was Jalen Rayner drops back to pass. Nobody's open. One, two, three, four. He scrambles up the middle for a seven yard gain. Nobody touch nobody even looks at him until he like gets tackled.
00:43:40
Speaker
um and And I think he i think he ran he ran that touchdown in two. So this was multiple plays where he just did the exact same thing and Georgia Southern's defense was just like, nah, I don't think I want to stop him today.
00:43:56
Speaker
So This is Clay Helton in a nutshell. I'm not going to relitigate the whole thing because I've i've said my piece on on previous episodes, but you know there are people now on on Twitter who are like, I think I'm good going to games for the rest of the year.
00:44:12
Speaker
like i'm I'm going to withhold donations, like not contributing to NIL, all that stuff. They're like, I'm not throwing money into a pit that so it can be set on fire ah by Clay Helton and company.
00:44:25
Speaker
And, you know, nobody's still nobody has heard from the the AD to this point. He he tweets out something every Saturday that is the most generic post you've ever seen. That's like.
00:44:37
Speaker
Ready to gather and then they lose by 10 on the road and he's just like, all right, see you next Saturday or here's the air rifle shooting team results from Sunday morning or whatever. It's like. Okay.
00:44:49
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, Butch Jones beat Butch Jones Jr. basically at Southern is what it is.
00:44:59
Speaker
yeah I mean, yeah, we i mean we've been here, right? It's unfortunately to the folks not attending games or you know if donors start dropping out, that unfortunately hurts Southern more because you if you stop donating to like the school or the athletic department,
00:45:16
Speaker
Because where else is that money to buy out Hilton going to come from? Obviously, the NIR stuff is... Are they ever going to buy him out? that's I think that's... that Here's the what you just said is ah is a valid point, but it's a chicken or egg where it's like, if I give money, I'm basically endorsing this failure that I'm seeing this season. I'm basically saying, no, no, no, keep it up, and here's some more money on top of it.
00:45:41
Speaker
I think a lot of people are like, Our voices aren't being heard. There was a piece in the AJC last two weeks ago about the Southern Miss loss at home where they asked the university president, they were like, what do you think of kind of like criticism of this football team this year? He goes, ah it's just some people online. We don't pay any mind to it.
00:46:05
Speaker
So I think a lot of people are like, okay, here's proof that we are just not people that exists online and are just complaining into the void. I think it's the, I think for a lot of people, it's the only way to get the message through because you've got a bunch of people who are um sticking their head in the sand and being like, there are no problems. Everything's going great.
00:46:27
Speaker
And then, you know, ah whatever media availability, but it's like, Southern doesn't play next Saturday. I think they play the subsequent Thursday.
00:46:38
Speaker
um So Helton's not even there to give his normal, like, empty platitudes of, like, oh, well, you know, blah, blah, blah, and, you know, John 360 says you walk through the valley or whatever, and it's like, all right, dude, like, has nothing to, no bearing on winning football games. Like, all of this stuff is is totally meaningless. And so,
00:47:02
Speaker
i I don't know. Like I said, I feel like a lot of people are have just been fed up with it. I mean, they... i don't know if George Southern wins another game this year. And and then also, ah the guy from the Statesboro Herald, who I quoted, said that he believes that Josh Dallas, Latrell Bullard, and Chance Gamble are all going to transfer out after the year for NIL reasons.
00:47:28
Speaker
so there goes, I guess two of your best skill position players. i don't really care about Bullard that much. He had, he, he was all, he was one of those that was always more sizzle than steak to me.
00:47:41
Speaker
Like he's, the he's a part of that worst rush defense in the country. Um, which, you know, we talked about Arkansas state's issues running the football Kenyan clay at 17 carries for 124 yards score. yeah.
00:47:55
Speaker
ah oh yeah So, i mean, yeah i would miss Josh Dallas and I'd miss Chance Gamble. but nothing's going to change until we get to the root cause. It's like trying to treat the side effects of like a serious disease and not actually addressing the disease itself.
00:48:16
Speaker
So, yeah. I mean, there's there's only one chemotherapy for this program right now. And it is, i think, i don't know if it was you or someone else, sweetie. I mean, it really is the triumvirate of OCDC head coach, all three.
00:48:33
Speaker
there's There's no – maybe there's a position coach in there, but like that could but none of those three, this isn't a fire, help, and promote Bailey. No. yeah God forbid that's even a worse place.
00:48:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean Ryan Applin as the OC has been – markedly better than Bailey. And even I, I'm like fed up with him based on a lot of the decisions that get made. I mean, I just read it off.
00:48:58
Speaker
They spent three minutes running the football in the red zone down two scores and then settled for a field goal and then tried it on side kick and didn't get it. And basically the game was over. I mean, they, they Arkansas state,
00:49:11
Speaker
I had already flipped the game off by that point because I was like, ah I'll just watch something else. But Arkansas State, the field goal they kicked was like, the game was over, over, over. Like, I don't know if Vegas put a call in, but like they kicked a field goal up seven when they had control and and everything.
00:49:28
Speaker
So I don't um really, like this game was... a 10 point game, but in reality, it was just like Arkansas state was doing the the thing that you see in like cartoons where the big brother puts the, uh, puts his hand on the little brother's head and he can't swing to get him. And he's just swinging at air. Like that was basically what it was in the second half. So yeah, I mean, I, I don't know what else to say. Like, you know, you can't solve a problem without getting
Fan Dissatisfaction with Clay Helton at Georgia Southern
00:49:56
Speaker
to the root cause. So if you refuse to address what the actual problem is, then we,
00:50:01
Speaker
This is why I'm just kind of like, yeah, I'm over it. Like, whatever. Yeah, we're stuck here. Yep. ah All right, last game of the night. ah Troy beats Louisiana thirty five twenty three This was an interesting one because...
00:50:17
Speaker
By a lot of measures, Tucker Kilcrease probably had his worst game that he's had like in weeks. ah you know PFF has him graded as the second worst passing quarterback in the conference this week, just ahead of J.J. Cole, who we talked about.
00:50:34
Speaker
um Also, I didn't realize this. I should have called this out at the time. J.J. Cole, this week, his yards per attempt was 3.7 yards.
00:50:45
Speaker
His A-dot was 6. It was like That makes Del Rio Wilson blush. Let's check down Charlie. ah Well, here's the thing. Okay, so Kilcrease was pushing the ball down the field, but he wasn't having a ton of success doing it.
00:51:05
Speaker
He finished 16 of 24, 180 yards and a pick. however louisiana just doesn't have they don't have the pieces. Their offensive line is not good enough to compete.
00:51:18
Speaker
ah you know, lunch is a better runner than he is a thrower, uh, which puts a ceiling on what they're able to do. The receiving core, it's a little bit like old dominion this year, but I pointed this out last year to Matt and he, he agreed.
00:51:34
Speaker
um But they're having the same problem now, which is the let's bring everybody together and have everybody contribute. Sounds great. When the quarterback is really good, like a Ben Wooldridge, when it's a lunch Winfield and the guy's completing 12 passes in a 60 minute football game, which is one pass every five minutes.
00:51:55
Speaker
of game time ah seems a little messed up and and you can't really run the ball outside of the carries that lunch gets. So, so what are you left to do at that point? You know, you're going to be on defense a lot.
00:52:10
Speaker
Yeah, the the offensive line has really put a hard ceiling on what this offense as a whole can do. And, you know, that's obviously the case. But I think that's really evident when you look at Zylan Perry and Bill Davis, two guys that were really, really good um in previous years, were we're great.
00:52:28
Speaker
I would go as far to say Zylan Perry last year ah was averaging six yards a carry, 695 yards. um He is averaging six yards a carry this year. But certainly has been a little empty. And then Davis ah ran for almost 800 yards this year. He's at 500 for the season. So you've got those guys who who were really, really good last year. um And then obviously from a passing perspective, that just makes everything so much harder.
00:52:54
Speaker
Now, is the offensive line the reason I think Lynch-Winfield is completing just over 50% of his passes? Probably not. I think you know he may be in that mold where You accept the 50%, 55% for, you know, 220 yards, but you know that he's going to make it up, uh, with his 110, 120 on the ground.
00:53:18
Speaker
And so, you know, that that's just the quarterback that he is with that real ceiling.
00:53:26
Speaker
Where do you move from here? Because I think UL is in an interesting position that you know maybe Marshall might be in. There are a couple teams in conference that are in this. like You need to be in a holding pattern so you can keep these guys around.
00:53:40
Speaker
Lunch Winfield being one of them. right you Pretty confident Walker Howard. he He hasn't gotten the job back yet, so they're going ride him. Bill Davis and Zylan Perry both have eligibility left. There are guys on the defense with a lot of eligibility left.
00:53:55
Speaker
um you're in a holding pattern, but at two and six, it's like you have to turn this corner or else you get purged. You get purged like, mean, almost in the way that Marshall did, James Madison, when Nettie left for the inning. You get that type of purge if you don't turn a corner soon because if I'm Lunch, because he's not Jalen Rayner for whatever reason, who has decided to stick with Arkansas State, Lunch is going to look around and say,
00:54:25
Speaker
I can go do this at a low-tier P4. Shoot, Georgia Tech's going to need a guy that can run the ball like heck. Exactly, yeah. ah who Who's to say they don't call? Same thing with like Colton Joseph. Like, hey, Colton, we're going to need a guy. We need to replace the guy that you play exactly like.
00:54:43
Speaker
There are very few quarterbacks in this country that play like you. Hey, Colton Joseph. You really want to with Ricky, right? or Or, I mean, you know, think about the P4 openings ah that are already come open. You know, maybe not LSU. that's That's a pretty high bar which just opened up. But you look at the Virginia Techs and the Oklahoma States of the world and all these teams, um and you're like,
00:55:08
Speaker
you know Even look at Deion Sanders at Colorado, it seems like that's not going to last too much longer, either due to health reasons or performance. So it's like a lot of these teams are going to need quarterbacks next year. And like you said, you start looking around and going, all right, well, Virginia Tech makes a solid hire and their head coach comes and offers me a starting spot as a quarterback or even to compete the QB 1A for that job.
00:55:36
Speaker
ah for that job Am I sticking around at Louisiana to figure out, to see like what this becomes, you know? Okay. So i want to illustrate the problem here um with the, the offensive line, as far as PFF has it graded, Louisiana is the third worst pass blocking grade in the conference this season, only ahead of app and Georgia state ah as a running run blocking team. They are eighth.
00:56:06
Speaker
uh, grade wise, um, receiving grade wise, they are dead last, which illustrates the problem that I, that I put up with the receivers earlier is like the guys that were really good for you last year, the Terrence Carters and and those types of guys, Broussard, you know, whoever, all those guys have kind of either transferred out or just filtered out over time.
00:56:31
Speaker
And now it's like, when that quarterback that they have isn't it a Zeon Chris, it's not a Ben Wooldridge, it's not, you know, whoever they've had over the years, it it's almost like, you know, the rising tide lifts all ships.
00:56:48
Speaker
This is the opposite of that. When you drain the water, the boat has nowhere to go because there's no water. So it's just like, Yeah, you have an awful offensive line.
00:56:59
Speaker
You have bad receiving weapons. You can't run blocks. so Zylan Perry and Bill Davis are totally you know out on their own on an island trying to get yardage. um I don't know if anywhere tracks like yards before contact and all that sort of stuff.
00:57:16
Speaker
I would be shocked if they weren't. really bad at that as well like I wouldn't be shocked if they were in the negatives for both of those guys because those guys are probably getting hit before they even make it back to the line of scrimmage um yeah I mean good win for Troy they they yeah we didn't talk a lot about a good Troy team yeah they did good win Well, it's weird because it's like when you look at when you look at the box score later, you're like, actually, you know, Troy handled them in this game, but actually nobody really played all that spectacularly. Like everybody was fine.
00:57:55
Speaker
And Louisiana got their stats, but it just was like they just kind of overwhelmed Louisiana. I mean, Jordan Lovett played well. 21 carries, 113 and two scores.
00:58:07
Speaker
Kill crease had two two rushing touchdowns, but he only had 25 yards rushing. And he had a long rush of 15 yards. So and I know they count sack yardage, but still, he wasn't that great with his arm.
00:58:20
Speaker
Nobody really stood out. Their leading receiver had 68 yards. they just kind of overwhelmed Louisiana over time. And, um you know, lunch through two picks, Walker Howard came in and threw a pick on his only attempt of the game. So he's, he's firmly saying, i do not want this job. Do not give it back to me.
00:58:40
Speaker
I did the same thing last week. I'm fine. He, I mean, it feels like the coach is like, Hey man, we paid you all this NIO money, like get out there and throw. And he's like, I'm good.
00:58:52
Speaker
I don't want it. Leave me on the bench, please. Yeah. Draw attention real quick to Jordan Lovett. We talked about him, a guy from Statesboro, actually. yeah He ran 61 for 274, almost doubled his season career or season total ah with 113, two touchdowns, ah brings him to three on his career.
Troy's Victory Over Louisiana: Exploiting Weaknesses
00:59:14
Speaker
More yards last week than he did in the first two yards of his career. So hope maybe maybe a breakout game for him ah for a Troy offense that With top Tucker Kilcrease kind of surged in recent weeks and was carrying carrying the boats, but like it's been Tay Meadows, really, um and he's been good, not great. um so maybe maybe this surges and gives them another offensive identity as we barrel towards what may ultimately be the the conference semifinal against Southern Miss.
00:59:47
Speaker
Yeah. um Troy also had four sacks ah led by Donnie Smith, who had one and a half. So yeah, I mean, Louisiana, I think it's really tough for Louisiana to have an offensive head coach and presumably, i don't know who their offensive coordinator is, presumably have an offensive coordinator and be this bad on offense, especially in the trenches.
01:00:11
Speaker
So it's just, it's going to be one of those things. It's like borderline impossible to overcome and like, You're just going to have to, you know, if Deserboe comes back next year, which I assume he will, even with Billy Napier out there, yeah they're just going to have to rebuild through the trenches and start over again because this this current configuration of the offensive line is just not it.
01:00:33
Speaker
And it's not conducive to winning football games either. Yeah. So, all right. Well, that will do it for all of the week nine games. Zeke, let everybody know where they can find you on social media.
01:00:45
Speaker
Yeah, man. Real easy. I'm on Twitter at Zeke Palermo. Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O.
01:00:51
Speaker
You can email the show warm weather fans at gmail.com. You can find us on all of the major social media platforms, Twitter, YouTube, stuff like that. Warm weather fans at warm weather fans, or however you want to go about like searching that ah you can find me on socials at watch the stone.
01:01:09
Speaker
We will be back on Thursday to run down all of the week, 10 games upcoming. This has been another edition of one weather fans.