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2024 Sun Belt Football: James Madison defeats WKU, Georgia Southern & Coastal Carolina flop
49 Plays4 months ago
Brian Stone and Matt Miguez talk over the latest slate of bowl games, including James Madison's comeback win over Western Kentucky and Georgia Southern turning the ball over 5 times en route to a loss to Sam Houston.
Finally, the pair gave their takes on Coastal Carolina getting smoked in their home bowl game and make picks on the 3 remaining #funbelt bowls to close out the season.
All episodes are now available in video form on YouTube!
Email the show at warmweatherfans@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Myrtle Beach Bowl Discussion
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome in, everybody, to a new edition of Warm Weather Fans, The Sunbelt Podcast. My name is Brian Stone, joined this week by Louisiana superfan Matt Miguez. Zeke Palermo is off doing work stuff, which sucks for him because it's two days to Christmas. And Matt, you and I are just chilling, trying to watch some of this Myrtle Beach Bowl that ah currently Coastal Carolina is is falling on their face. ah But other than that, how's it going?
00:00:45
Speaker
Man, it's good. um I am off of work until January the third. And you know looking forward to spending some time with family, obviously with with the Christmas holidays and the New Year holiday and watching a ton of good football. But yeah, no, watching Coastal Carolina as we speak right now, they just started the third quarter and it is not pretty if you're a Chanticleers fan.
James Madison vs. Western Kentucky Analysis
00:01:12
Speaker
Yeah, so let's get let's start with the ah the James Madison game from Wednesday. And then we can work up to what has been a ah very underwhelming Coastal Carolina outing so far. So James Madison, i I actually messed this up because I thought Alonzo Barnett was going to play in this game. And I have, for for a few weeks now, advocated for having pregame injury reports the way that you would ah practice reports, things like that, the way that you would like an NFL team franchise leak. So Alonzo Barnett does not end up playing.
00:01:53
Speaker
ah And then on the other side, Caden Viltkamp, the quarterback at Western Kentucky, was is in the transfer portal, but ends up playing anyway. But the result was roughly the same, which is James Madison outclassed a Western Kentucky team that, I mean, frankly, in the Conference USA title game against Jacksonville State,
00:02:16
Speaker
They have a pretty soft front seven. Let's put that nicely. ah You can run on them as Jacksonville State Illustrated as George Petway um but away and you know all of the other guys, JC Evans, the the the runners for JMU showed.
00:02:34
Speaker
um Western Kentucky right now to me seems like, and this is, I know this is ironic, but they seem like a mirror image to the Sunbelt of what Georgia Southern is, which is throw the ball a ton.
00:02:49
Speaker
underwhelming defense teams can run on you. And frankly, like, you know, if we finish with the same record. So I'm just I'm just like if Georgia Southern was in Conference USA, they would have been the ones getting blown out probably by Jacksonville State in the in the title game. Yeah, I mean, look, the the trajectories are certainly certainly similar, right?
00:03:15
Speaker
I think the defenses are are both, like you said, um very susceptible to the run game. And look, I think that Western Kentucky showed that on ah on on Wednesday night, last Wednesday night, um when George Pettaway had averaged seven yards a carry um and was able to go over the century mark. Now, look, Veltkamp played pretty well, did his part to try to keep Western in it. ah The problem was is that they got outscored 20 to three in the second half.
00:03:45
Speaker
Um, cause I mean, look at halftime, I was like, okay, you know, what Western Kentucky might be, might be on their way to something here. And then they fell flat in the second half. Uh, so I'm not sure what was said in the locker room at James Madison at halftime and what was not said in the locker room for Western Kentucky at halftime. Uh, but it was definitely a tale of two halves, but look, credit to James Madison for making halftime adjustments and responding and, uh, bringing a bowl win back to the symbol conference.
Western Kentucky's Struggles and JMU's Strategy
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, and i and I thought they called a pretty a pretty conservative game overall. But you know if you don't have Alonzo Barnett who's been your starter all year and you're starting you know some combo of Billy Atkins and J.C. Evans coming in and running kind of like wildcat sets, things like that.
00:04:35
Speaker
ah Yeah, I think it was a great win for JMU just based on who was available who they had things like that because this could have easily went the way that like the coastal game that's on right now went where it's like, and we don't have our two quarterbacks, let's just play To say that game is is being called safely is quite an understatement. ah They are almost playing to like not get injured, which is fine. But also you're not playing to win. I'm sorry. Like ah that's just the way it is. But JMU showed up.
00:05:15
Speaker
They wanted to win this game. They wanted to beat Western Kentucky. ah you know I made the comment about Western Kentucky and Georgia Southern being on the same trajectory. I mean, obviously, their head coaches are brothers, so there must be there might be something in the gene pool. I don't i don't know ah if not having a good defense ah is genetic, ah but they are trying their hardest to make it ah you know in the DNA strand.
00:05:40
Speaker
um But yeah, Western Kentucky couldn't run the ball, as as has been the case with a lot of air raid teams. And JMU, frankly, ran it right down their throat and they had absolutely no response. I mean, they played good in the first half and then the second half, like you said, JMU adjusted defensively.
00:06:00
Speaker
ah But your ceiling is always going to be limited when you are a one-dimensional football team like like Western Kentucky, like Georgia Southern, whoever you want to talk about. The teams that can only do one thing well offensively, there's always, unless you have a guy that should be in the running for the Heisman, which is never going to happen at the Group of Five level, there's a hard cap, a hard ceiling on your team because ah the second things don't go perfectly you can't default back to, oh, well, let's just go back to establish the run. Well, now you can't because you've you're in quicksand basically, and you're just trying to fight your way back out. So I thought Veltkamp played pretty well considering ah their leading rusher in this game was averaging 3.4 yards of carry the hilltoppers. Um,
00:06:51
Speaker
But yeah, JMU, you know, they went to the the drawing board. They saw what Western Kentucky was bad at, which is defending the run. And this was a I think it was a styles make fight, you know, if you want to use like m MMA lingo matchup where it's like JMU can run the football as much as they want. And Western Kentucky is just trying to throw themselves out of a hole. And frankly, you kind of see what where that gets you, which is, you know, you can get to the Kusa Conference Championship and you know You really haven't been all that competitive the last two games between the championship game and and this one, you played basically one half of football.
00:07:30
Speaker
so I don't know. Good luck to Tyson Hilton. um Moving forward, I think Chesney has them on a good track, JMU. I think they just need to work on consistency, you know, week to week specifically, because I think this team has ah has a pretty high ceiling. But ah frankly, you just never know what kind of floor you're getting from them on a weekly basis. you know um I'm looking back at Western Kentucky season and, you know, I think where things kind of flipped for them was when they lost to Louisiana Tech. I mean, you're sitting at seven and two, you host Louisiana Tech, who hasn't been good for several years um and you lose 12 to seven in a game that you never really showed up in. And, you know, from from there on,
00:08:23
Speaker
you lose After that loss, you lose to Liberty, who wasn't great this year. um They weren't awful, but they they certainly weren't great. They had a good quarterback. And then you have the split with with Jacksonville State where you beat them by two and then get crushed in the championship game.
00:08:44
Speaker
And so I think that it's the perfect story of that one bad loss can derail your entire season. Right. Because because that's exactly what happened with Western Kentucky. So we're JMU still got a fairly young team. Where do you kind of there's a lot that needs to play out but before, you know, we kick off next September, late ah August. I don't really know when everybody's going to kick off yet.
00:09:14
Speaker
what Where are you at with this first season of Bob Chesney? I was fairly impressed. I know that a lot of JMU fans, you know, they they have really high expectations for their football team. And it's hard to argue with those, given how the Signeti years and things like that went and and the track record before that. But I think this was as good as they could have probably hoped for, considering how much they lost after last season with the coach leaving and all the players and everything like that.
00:09:44
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, look, they finished nine and four. Um, that that's a huge, you know, first step for, for Bob Chesney, right? Obviously he had a ton of pieces to build off of that stayed behind, um, from the Curt Signetti led teams. But look at the end of the day, as a first year head coach at this level, you just need a building block. And I think that this was a perfect building block for Bob Chesney.
00:10:12
Speaker
that shows recruits that you know James Madison is capable of still winning at a high level in the Sunbelt Conference. And I think that you know they'll attack the portal well, they'll attack recruiting, and you know he's he's got plenty to build on in um in Harrisonburg, there's no doubt about it.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, I, I think the one area, I don't know how you, I guess just reps and things like that, but they just have to get, they have to be more consistent on a weekly basis. Like Alonzo Barnett was showed, you know, obviously in the North Carolina game, kind of where his ceiling is. But frankly, you know, I watched them play Georgia Southern really closely, obviously.
00:10:55
Speaker
there're just the there didn't seem to be a steady floor of like, we may not be playing at our best this week, but we're at least going to get this. And frankly, he looked totally lost in that game against what really turned out to be a Georgia Southern defense that improved once they got into conference play. But if you just look at kind of overall statistics, I mean, anytime Ashton Jante runs for almost 300 yards on you, it's going to look ugly at the end of the season.
00:11:21
Speaker
But it it seems a little a little concerning. Now hopefully he develops that floor as he gets older and has more in-game experience because you know he's basically got one season of it having sat behind McLeod all year last year. correct um But yeah, I think there's something really solid to build off of, ah the the offensive coordinator who people were, Kennedy, that people were really down on, especially after, ah you know, the Marshall and Georgia Southern games. um You know, maybe he gets, he spends some time in the lab this summer and and figures some things out, especially with their offensive line being kind of inconsistent as well. um Yeah, I think the name of the the name of the game is just trying to hit
00:12:04
Speaker
Same things every single week. I'm just try trying to try to go back to the
Georgia Southern's Challenges
00:12:08
Speaker
drawing board. But like you said, James Madison finishes this season's nine and four ah Western Kentucky drops to eight and six as we close out their seasons. Brian, look, I don't I don't mean to cut you off, but a little little bit of some Sunbelt breaking news here. Pete Thamel reported about 40 minutes ago that Louisiana head coach Michael Desermo signed a five year extension.
00:12:35
Speaker
Um, he just got out of a media availability, previewing the bowl game, uh, where he did confirm that, uh, he has in fact signed a five year extension. Uh, so he will be the head coach for the Louisiana raging cages through 2029. Presumably well we're now so as long as an sec, your big 10 school doesn't and or ACC school don't come calling. Look, I mean, yeah, there there's certain jobs that I think anybody would would leave for, right?
00:13:04
Speaker
But Michael Desermo grew up 20 minutes outside of Lafayette, went to UL. I think this was his dream job. um Now, I agree with you. There's theres there's some schools that that he would leave for. I think anybody would. But it's going to take quite a lot to get him out of Lafayette, Louisiana.
00:13:29
Speaker
i Man, honestly, the all of the things that you laid out, I feel like are the exact same things that went for Scott Satterfield at App. Like everybody was like, App's got their coach for the next 20 years. And it's like, wins a couple of Sunbelt championships, looks around, kind of sees like, hey, there's a real ceiling. You know, obviously he couldn't have seen the 12 team playoff coming, sees, hey, there's like a real ceiling on this, gets an offer from Louisville.
00:13:57
Speaker
You know, yeah App State alum is now coaching at Cincinnati and, frankly, not doing that good of a job. So he might he might be available here in the coming months. ah But if things keep up the way they are. All right. So ah I'll go ahead and speak on this. So.
00:14:17
Speaker
What was it, Thursday? Yeah, Thursday night, Georgia Southern ah took on Sam Houston in New Orleans. ah They lose 3126. Frankly, the story of the show is JC French was absolutely terrible. And last, no, but here's the thing. Last week you asked me on the on this podcast, you said, why would you want Cayden Veltkamp? You have JC French. And I was like,
00:14:41
Speaker
Hey, Matt, I did JC French through four interceptions in a bowl game, including a pick six on his first pass attempt that basically set the tone for the game because they didn't look good. Helton does this thing every year. ah Anytime he gets time off, he gets worse rather than better. Like you would think, hey, this guy's got more time to prepare for an opponent. Nope.
00:15:04
Speaker
That that does not go for him. That is the exact opposite. He spends his time playing video games or whatever he does with his spare time on the boat, ah as as Sean Elliott once said. I don't know, again, if this is something like in his DNA that he just like a he can't keep it together for a full season.
00:15:27
Speaker
We've seen now his teams kind of collapse at the end of the season. I know he beat app and he got some some wins in November, but like there's he always has this in his bag and you never know when your team is going to totally implode. And for that reason.
00:15:44
Speaker
given that their their conference schedule next year, they play at App, at JMU, at Marshall, like they play all of these schools on the road next year. And for that reason, I just I don't have high expectations for them heading into into next year, especially because I know that deep down, Helton is either too dumb or too loyal to bench a guy no matter how many interceptions he throws. So I just can't i can't put any, the second that the the Helton defenders start to kind of descend on the people that are down on him, he turns in a game like this and then they kind of recede back into the bushes like Homer Simpson and that gif. So I just don't, I don't even know what to make of him anymore. Like he's good when the team when the entire conference is down.
00:16:35
Speaker
But when it's competitive, he's like hanging on to six and six by a thread. So that's just sort of where I'm at with it. Look, I got to give credit to Sam Houston. Um, you know, sometimes when you're, when your coach leaves before a bowl game, it can be.
00:16:54
Speaker
you know kind of a detriment, but they they didn't let it um be that. They got 21 points in the first half, really jumped out to a nice lead. Georgia Southern made a little bit of a comeback in the second half, outscoring Sam Houston 16 to 10, but at that point it was it was too little too late.
00:17:13
Speaker
Um, like you said, JC French, those four interceptions gives the same Houston offense four extra opportunities you to, uh, to make something happen. And obviously they took advantage of it. I don't think that this is, you know, a bad season for Georgia Southern and know obviously eight and five, they finished second in the Sunbelt East. There's definitely something to build on here. Um, but JC French having a track record of.
00:17:39
Speaker
disappearing in big moments. It's something that the Clay Helton is going to have to try to fix this offseason. I was thinking about this when we were kind of setting up to record here. I hate to say this, but with like the real life stuff that I've got going on here soon, ah AKA, you know, I have a four year old, I have another kid on the way in March, I'm going to be honest, man, if, if, he if Helton is just like French's my quarterback next year, barring him physically not being able to play, I don't know how much time I can dedicate to watching this team. Honestly, like it, it's not like I don't want to, but it's also like, if he doesn't want to be great, like he doesn't want to have a really good team.
00:18:31
Speaker
Like how how can I, how how can I look and go, no, no, this team needs to have four hours of my undivided attention every Saturday. I just can't. So again, if he, if he wants to actually compete and try to put together like a winning team, that's great. I'll be there for it. But if this is like the Davis Brin experience where it's like, he could throw a million picks and I won't sit him.
00:18:55
Speaker
Cool, man. Y'all have fun with that. Like I'll, I'll check back in in 26 to see if y'all get serious again, because it it's not even, like I said, it's not a bandwagoning thing of like, I just jumped off the bandwagon. It's just like, I'm not going to have the time to watch every snap of, of 12 games like next year. If French, if, if these are the types of performances we're getting out of JC French and he's going to play all season.
00:19:23
Speaker
I don't know how much longer I can do it, honestly, man. That's interesting. um And look, I don't necessarily disagree with you. um I mean, his his numbers to finish the year weren't great, 17 to 11, and touchdown interception ratio department, not even a two to one. Finished 83rd in the country in QBR.
00:19:49
Speaker
can i I question. Who else? who's going i relate Can I relate this to what Marshall did this year and just kind of show the the contrast between um ah Hilton and and um Marshall's head coach and quarterback situation at Charles Huff and all that?
00:20:12
Speaker
The Marshall, Georgia Southern game was like two ships passing in the night where both were kind of doing the same quarterback situation of we have a really underwhelming pocket oriented quarterback and we have a really exciting kind of improviser scrambler type on the bench that we refuse to play for reasons that are unclear to anyone else. And here's the difference between the two coaches.
00:20:37
Speaker
Charles Huff looked at that game and took away from it. We lost but Braylon Braxton was more dynamic therefore he deserved to play and kind of carry us into the next games and you saw how that played out. I'm not saying it would have went the exact same way with Dexter Williams at Georgia Southern. I'm just saying
00:20:57
Speaker
it couldn't have been much worse than what we got from JC French at the end of the season. So ah we have a four star quarterback coming in according to 24 seven sports, which we know is everybody's Bible for recruiting. Uh, we have a four star quarterback athlete combo coming in, uh, named Weston Brian. Uh, we have another quarterback commit coming in, uh, who's a three star. And we had a guy, uh, who's, I think a sock going to be a sophomore redshirt sophomore named Tyler budge.
00:21:26
Speaker
If we don't have an open quarterback competition and French just gets handed the job, ah like, you know, Bryn or one of the transfer guys that we've had that have come in half. um Yeah, I don't know how much time I can, I can't make four hours every Saturday. I just can't. Because again, if we're just, if we're, if this, if this team is just a vehicle for JC French to get good tape,
00:21:53
Speaker
Cool, man. Like, go go do that somewhere else. Like, you could go to East Carolina or some somewhere and do that, like, or wherever. um But yeah, I mean, again, four interceptions, one one touchdown. He looked awful. ah The team defensively, they played pretty well, all things considered. They only allowed 267 yards of offense to Sam Houston. ah Sam Houston's vaunted rushing attack, which had 26 yards on 10 carries. Their leading rusher, Ducker,
00:22:24
Speaker
I don't know, man, they got torn up by a guy through the air that they had like a bottom 20 passing offense in the country and they still got torn up through the air. So yeah, we'll we'll see where we're at heading into next year, but Sam Houston ends their season 10 and three with a bowl win. Georgia Southern drops to eight and five as their season comes to a close.
Coastal Carolina's Player Transfer Impact
00:22:45
Speaker
All right, ah there is a game on right now. There's not a lot to talk about from the actual analysis perspective.
00:22:53
Speaker
ah Coastal Carolina is currently down 27-0, with 637 left in the third quarter. Matt, obviously we haven't gotten to the end of this game, so barring an insane comeback, um you know we could we're we're probably going to be dead on on this one.
00:23:09
Speaker
Everybody for Coastal was really hyping up this Tad Hudson guy. And frankly, Tim Beck is calling plays like he's afraid for his safety. I don't know if you thought that when you were watching it. Oh, yeah. They're calling it as if there's like a seven year old playing quarterback for them. And they're like, please just don't just don't hurt him. And I'm just like, what are we doing? Are you trying to win? Are you trying to cover the spread? It has been an uber conservative, which is why they haven't put a single point on the board of 40 minutes.
00:23:38
Speaker
um currently down 27th to nothing, i was 620 to go in the third quarter. Yeah, I mean, they've just looked super flat. What happens when you're playing the quarterback that has never played before, right? Vasco enters the portal, Noah Kim enters the portal, like you you're playing your third string quarterback in a bowl game, he's never played before. It goes right back to when Louisiana had to play Daniel Beal in some of those championship games. Like the first college snap the kid takes other than one drive in a blowout situation was, hey, it's fourth and two, figure out a way to convert it. That's not conducive. And so, yeah, look, it's just the fact that, you know, you had guys it's an indication on why the transfer portal needs to be changed.
00:24:31
Speaker
this window when guys have to jump in is ridiculous. Let guys play their bowl game before they have to make the decision on it if they're jumping into the portal or not. Like it's just the the fact that you have put teams in the college football playoff having guys enter the portal because if I don't do it now, I won't be able to is ridiculous. on And this is another perfect example of that.
00:24:59
Speaker
And so look, I mean, credit to UTSA, they're going to get a bowl win. ah But Coastal Carolina is just a ah shell of themselves today. Well, I asked this question when we were picking this game, and i I think we all unanimously picked UTSA to not only win, but cover the six and a half. I believe the spread was going into this one.
00:25:21
Speaker
we we asked this last week what is this roster management by Tim Beck like Vasco and Kim frankly neither one of them were very good so why were why was he riding them literally until the last game of the season and not giving Tad Hudson some run during the year like I don't understand like Vasco had a couple of games that were frankly embarrassing and like There were many ample opportunities to get Hudson some playing time so he didn't look like this in the bowl game or you aren't afraid to actually call plays for him to execute. um Like that goal line stand that they went forward on fourth right before halftime was embarrassing, frankly, of a play call. Like you don't believe in your quarterback enough to even put the ball in his hands and would rather snap it to the halfback and have him run like a halfback rollout pass thing
00:26:18
Speaker
And he didn't even like tried, dude, Braden Bennett, I'm sorry. I know you're not like a quarterback at heart. If you're, if it's fourth in goal, you just got to put the ball up, dude. If it gets picked at that point, like the worst thing that happens is they take over 12 yards further forward. Like what are, what are we doing? Like this is called, this is like the most like pop Warner. Offense. I think I've seen in a minute. So ah I really don't ah truly don't even understand what they're trying to accomplish. like I think our schemes when I was in middle school playing football were more complicated than what they're running today. It's very it's very simplified, which I somewhat get because again, it's a quarterback that hasn't played, but it's a little too simplified for a college football game.
00:27:08
Speaker
It's too simplified for a game where you're down four scores. like what i don't Again, I asked this on our Twitter account, you know, at warm weather fans on X. Are you trying to win? Yeah, go follow us. Are you trying to win or are you trying to cover the spread? Because right now you're accomplishing yeah neither of those goals. So if you're just trying to kind of collect your bonus for making a bowl game and skedaddling, fine. Yeah, I mean, good good for you, I guess.
00:27:39
Speaker
dude, chuck it deep. Who cares? You've got nothing to lose. So last Tim Beck is holding on to a ah coastal Carolina plus 35 ticket that he needs to cash like I don't understand what's going on. yeah That would be unfortunate. Um, because that would end up with him being fired. But yeah, no, I, I see your point. Again, just uber conservative.
00:28:07
Speaker
constantly just little two yard dump passes and handing it off to Braden Bennett for maybe two to three yards. they're just And then on defense, they're just constantly letting UTSA get four or five yards of play and just dink and doink down the field. um And UTSA is perfectly content with just getting field goals in the second half because there they're just they're running away with it.
00:28:33
Speaker
ah what And there, you know, McCown has not been great for UTSA this year. And frankly, in this one today, he looks like a all conference level quarterback. Well, he me threw a pick. ah Well, I take that back. But large by and large, I mean, up until that point, he was 21 of 27 for 232 and a score and was also running for first downs.
00:29:03
Speaker
I don't I think I think they're in for some dark times in Conway. I don't know if you agree with me on that, but like 100 percent. I agree with you. Now we're running trick plays. It still is. um They have negative. Let's say let's wait for the number um as a play. So they lined up tre Tanner Hudson as a receiver.
00:29:30
Speaker
Yeah, and tried to do an end around pass play. With him as the person throwing it coming in motion, correct? Correct, he came in motion running back, then it was the quarterback and he pitched it off to him. It got blown up, he got he lost like 10 yards, um so they now have negative 12 total yards in the third quarter, ah so that's. Christine go coastal.
00:29:57
Speaker
um Can we please talk about something else? I think best case scenario for Coastal moving forward is the Beck thing flames out next year spectacularly because that seems ah we we seem like we are on a Not quite a will haul trajectory, but we are on clearly the down slope here of the the Beck era. So I think best case scenario for Coastal is he flames out next year. You know he's not the coach moving forward. They fire him and then you get like a John Summerall taking over for Chip Lindsey at Troy level.
00:30:36
Speaker
handoff. Now, obviously that would require you to nail this next hire after Beck, but next season, I feel so bad for them. that that That next season just feels like so DOA and I could be, I could be totally wrong on that. They could get somebody in the portal that blows us away heading into next year, but like this, like Hudson, Vasco, Kim, whatever this was this year, um, there's nothing to build off of you. The offense is basically headed to Braden Bennett and have him work miracles.
00:31:06
Speaker
So all right. Yeah. So ah at this point, ah Coastal just threw for a one yard pass on third and 16, I believe. um So that kind of shows where they're at. ah But yeah yeah, UTSA currently leads 27 to zero in the third quarter. um All right. So let's break into.
Upcoming Bowl Game Previews
00:31:30
Speaker
games for this upcoming week. Uh, so the first one we have is taking place 9 PM ESPN, December 26th, Thursday. What happened? Fourth of 20, they went for a fake button.
00:31:49
Speaker
dont You can't write this stuff.
00:31:54
Speaker
what is happening anyway are This feels like a 10-year-old flipped on NCAA football and just went to like the special playbook and was just like, what can I run? Let me see what this button does. Yeah. One of the competitive Madden players used to call it, I'm labbing. I'm in the lab. like yeah that That feels like what they're doing.
00:32:16
Speaker
All right. So again, nine o'clock ESPN Eastern time in December 26th, this Thursday, Arkansas State is traveling to Mobile in the 68 ventures bowl to take on a bowling green. Bowling green is a seven and a half point favorite over under 52 and a half. um I'm going to go. I'm going to go.
00:32:39
Speaker
over here, 52 and a half. ah I think Jalen Rainer can put some points up. I picked Bowling Green in a game previously earlier this year, and they upset me. So I think that that um is always on the table. But on the on the flip side, they have one of the best tight ends in the country, if not the best in Harold Fanon Jr., who currently has 1,300 yards on 10 catches and nine touchdowns. So I think there will be some points scored.
00:33:08
Speaker
ah the weather is going to be nice. um And frankly, Arkansas State is not really known as a defensive minded team, so I will take over. I'll take the over as well. The key for Arkansas State is going to be can they slow down Fanon Junior?
00:33:23
Speaker
I mean, a tight end is averaging 14 yards of catch. It's just insane. on So so can they can they kind of keep him in check is going to be a big question for me. but know Both of these teams are very capable of putting up points. So I'll take the over in this one.
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's talk, you know, the draft stuff goes every which way, but there's talk of him in that. Colston Loveland, Tyler Warren tier of Titans, uh, because he is a very good vertical threat. I could, I could easily, I could easily see fan and being a third round pick.
00:34:03
Speaker
Oh, easily. Yeah. I mean, depending on what he runs at the combine and all that good stuff, like 40 times shuttle, like all of that. Yeah. He he should definitely be in in talks for that. All right. So what what was your pick? You got the over bowling green, the over. OK. All right.
00:34:21
Speaker
Saturday ah at 2.15 Eastern on ESPN. Matt, we've got your Louisiana Ragin Cajuns taking on TCU in the Isleta, Isleta New Mexico Bowl ah in Albuquerque. TCU is a 13 point favorite over under 57 and a half. I'm going to ask you one simple question and that's going to impact my entire pick. Is Ben Wolridge playing or is he not playing?
00:34:45
Speaker
So as far as we know, we have not received official word on this yet, but he is trending towards playing. OK. is and That is I know that that is not much of an answer, um unfortunately, ah but that is that is the best that I can give you at this given time is because look, it was a clean break of his hand of his collarbone, which is typically a four to six week recovery. This week is week six. So, on you know, I think it's all going to come down to how he feels.
00:35:24
Speaker
how much he's been able to practice, you know, those kinds of things. ah But look, Ben's Ben's determined he's a tough competitor, and this is going to be his last game of college football ever. So I would be very shocked if he doesn't play on on Saturday. So that's that's what I can tell you. OK, so where do where do you sit on this? Thirteen is a lot of points. My team's a lot. My big my big hold up is.
00:35:53
Speaker
If Woldridge gets hit or someone falls on him one time, it's the third string quarterback experience again. And from what I saw in the Sunbelt title game, I want absolutely nothing to do with that. So, ah where how like again, this will affect like how confident i I feel either way. Are you taking, what like where where are you at with the pick here? I'm taking Cajun's plus 13. I think that that's really high.
00:36:23
Speaker
Look, TCU has been impressive, but their best receiver who, by the way, funny enough, is a Lafayette product. And Jack Besh, he's banged up too. So you know what what kind of offense are they able to put together? I think this stays relatively low scoring. And I'll take the Cajuns plus 13.
00:36:46
Speaker
I was about to say I thought their best receiver was Savion Williams, but maybe I was, I mean statistically it's probably Besh, but I think as far as ah like what he could possibly do at the next level, I think Savion Williams is higher on that. But here's what I don't know is if he's like opted out or whatever.
00:37:06
Speaker
ah I'm just going to take the under. I'm going to I'm going to go under 57 and a half. ah One of these teams will fail to show up offensively, I think. ah Which one it is don't really know. But again, the the fact that. Woldridge could fall on his collarbone the wrong way one time and we don't see him again. And so I'm I'm going to hedge against that and take the under 57. DCU has announced that they are wearing their blood frogs uniform, the the black one with the red number, and it's got the horned frog collar. Yeah. So that means the Cajuns will be in white. Well, you know, it's always good when your primary colors are purple and black to wear the same colors as the team you're playing. That's what I always say. Oh, yeah.
00:38:03
Speaker
That's smart. That's very smart. I wish, you know, the next time Georgia Southern plays Sam Houston, I hope they wear an all orange alternate for some reason. ah that Some kind of throwback to to something. it's It's National Georgia Peach Weekend. So let's wear orange. Yeah. We're wearing our peach uniforms. Yeah. That's so stupid, dude. they They have like this would have been a cool color matchup. And they're like, what if we wore black and red against the team that's already black and red? Smart.
00:38:32
Speaker
I love that. ah All right. Friday, the last game on the docket, ah because again, Marshall will not be competing in bowl season this year ah for a variety of reasons. ah January 3rd,
00:38:45
Speaker
at four o'clock on ESPN, we've got the serve pro first responder bowl. Texas state is taking on North Texas in Dallas. Boy, is this a Texas bowl or what? Uh, Gerald Ford stadium, Texas state is a 13 and a half point favorite over under 63 and a half. Um, I think, I think I'm going to, I think I'm going to hedge and take North Texas and Ismail Mahdi has transferred, so he's no longer with the Bobcats. And he is at Missouri, I think I saw. And he was like one of their biggest weapons. um Frankly, that Texas State does that thing where they fade at the end of the year every year. ah So I'm just taking North Texas plus 13 and a half. That's a lot of points. And frankly, i I didn't pick Texas State to go to the college football football playoffs. So I don't really have any
00:39:40
Speaker
any feelings particularly towards them look i'll i'll raise you a reason why i'm going to pick texas state they may not have this my almighty but uh north texas won't have channel or morris either who is committed to virginia so north texas will be playing a backup quarterback in this one um so i think jordan mcleod does enough i'm gonna take texas state minus 13 and a half
00:40:11
Speaker
ah I'll change my pick. ah I'll do the under on this one, 63 and a half. i That's a fair pick. i can't I can't trust Texas State to cover anything. like you You truly do not know what you're getting on a weekly basis for them. Didn't they lose to Georgia State at the end of the season? They did, right? Yeah, I can't. I don't know that there's two touchdowns better than anybody in the country at this point, honestly. And I hate to say that, but that's just kind of where I'm at with it, given what we've seen out of it.
00:40:43
Speaker
ah fair All right, well, that wraps up bowl season. We'll obviously be back to talk over all of the rest of these three games as we close out here and kind of sign off ah for the year, basically.
Closing Remarks and Social Media
00:40:59
Speaker
um But yeah, thanks everybody that have joined us. We'll be back again ah next week with ah with sort of a wrap-up and post-mortem for the season, I guess. ah Obviously, always, you can follow us on x at warmweatherfans, youtube dot.com slash at warmweatherfans. Email us. All of the information is down here, warmweatherfans at gmail dot.com. ah Matt, let everybody know where they can find you before we sign off here today.
00:41:26
Speaker
ah You can find me on social media at me as Matt. Quick score update Tanner Hudson just launched a 50 yard touchdown pass to Bryson Graves. Coastal is finally on the board. 27 to 7 here as they open the fourth quarter. What were they doing? What were they doing the whole time? I don't understand. I think it's a fourth quarter. We're down four scores. Yeah, let's take a shot and now.
00:41:58
Speaker
it's like this It's like the line from the water boy. Last game of the season, Brent, nothing held back. Can't hold anything back now. Can't hold anything back now. We know. All right. such a ah Such a great movie, by the way. We could have an entire episode where I just sit here and quote water boiling. Well, maybe that'll be one of the things we do over the summer is we do like a football cinema series where we go back and look at like,
00:42:27
Speaker
football-themed films and talk about her. No Colonel Sanders, you're wrong. Mama's right. Alligator's a man because I got all them teeth, but no toothbrush. No toothbrush. All right. ah You could find me on X at Watch the Stone. Again, we will be back ah next week to to wrap the whole season up, put a bow on it, give it to you for a late Christmas present. This has been another edition of Warm Weather Fans.