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2024 Sun Belt Football: Week 4 Recap, Week 5 Preview
90 Plays6 months ago
#podcast #sunbeltfootball
The whole crew is back, as Brian, Matt, and Zeke discuss James Madison's huge 70-50 victory over North Carolina and South Alabama's drubbing of Appalachian State last Thursday, among other games.
The trio then makes picks against the spread for week 5 in the conference as #FunBelt play opens up this weekend.
Email the show at warmweatherfans@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome everybody into another edition of warm weather fans, the Sunbelt podcast. My name is Brian Stone. I am your host joined this week. The full crew is here. We got Zeke Palermo, Matt Migas.
Week 4 & 5 Game Highlights
00:00:27
Speaker
We're here to talk about all the action ah from week four in the Sunbelt and then looking ahead to week five.
00:00:34
Speaker
Boys, we had, I think two, and pardon my language, we're not an explicit podcast, I think we had two holy shit games this week. And we'll talk about both of them. But just two results, like we never saw coming in a million years. And and we'll get to all that. But other than that, before we kind of move on, Zeke, I want to kick it to you first and then over to Matt. How's it going? How are you doing?
00:01:00
Speaker
I'm doing well. Not a whole lot has changed in my world. It was a really good week of Sunbelt football I enjoyed that And it's good to have Matt back. He was feeding the hungry last week. I hear he's gonna heal a leper next week So I'm excited to have him back but There it is There it is. Oh, ah man, I'm doing well. I'm feeling a little a little under the weather, ah which is kind of odd for this time. I typically don't get sick in the fall, oh but you know hopefully it's just you know some scientists or whatever. But anyways, on a football front, I'm sad.
00:01:37
Speaker
Uh, the Cajuns gave a good game away. The Saints. Who knows? Um, but no, sub off a ball as a whole. It was a solid weekend. There's no question about it. Actually, before we move, I did have a question for you, Matt, about the Saints.
Jersey Nostalgia and Game Surprises
00:01:55
Speaker
Did you see the thread you were at the game? No, this is very superfluous. What's up with different colored numbers on the jerseys?
00:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, you see, I've heard many people talking about that, but yet I myself haven't been able to see it. I couldn't catch it. um So, I mean, I don't really have a take on that, but I have seen the the the trend from Saints fans where ah some of the numbers are are a slightly different goal than the others.
00:02:26
Speaker
It looks like some of them are like the traditional Saints gold and some of the colors are that ugly like mustard gold from the color rush era. Yeah, that that by the way, which by the way, don't you dare crap on the Saints color rush jerseys. That is the best Jersey in the entire NFL. Don't you do it. A Jersey was incredible. Thank God color rush hasn't existed in four years.
00:02:53
Speaker
Hey, I agree. I miss I miss the old Jaguars wearing a sand color on a Thursday night with like Blake Bortles wearing a wearing a two tone helmet helmet playing against Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans. That's that's Golden Age of football.
App State vs. South Alabama Analysis
00:03:12
Speaker
um Before we get to the game, Zeke, you mentioned Matt healing a leper. Forget healing the leper. He sounds like he needs to heal himself. All things considered.
00:03:21
Speaker
um All right, so let's go ahead and jump on the games here. The first holy shit game that I alluded to happened on Thursday. App gets his doors blown off at home, at night, conference opener against the South Alabama team that we frankly had pretty tempered expectations for.
00:03:46
Speaker
um app didn't play well. Joey Aguilar in particular didn't play well. He completed about half of his passes. 266 yards, one touchdown, one interception. They get beat 48 to 14 at home. um So I want to start with this before we even discuss the game itself.
00:04:05
Speaker
One of the things that I saw, and I was tweeting from the the account ah for the podcast on Thursday, was it seems like a lot of, despite the success that Sean Clark has had there, it feels like people, so certain a certain group of fans within the app, fanbase have kind of hit their breaking point with him, despite the fact that they were literally just in the Sunbelt title game,
00:04:31
Speaker
like less than a year ago and i just want to kind of get like a temperature check on his seat from youtube because i don't really know where where all this stands because they have very high expectations and frankly outside of one outlier season it feels like where they you know didn't make a bowl went basically 500 they've been on that level and now it's like people are done with him after basically one really bad conference loss so Matt or Zeke, whoever wants to go first, where where are we at kind of with his seat check? Well, look, here's the thing. You you brought up the the resume, right? And the resume is solid. here's Here's the thing. I get fans might be tired of him.
00:05:21
Speaker
You're always going to have those fans. You're going to have those people that are never satisfied. Dude, I heard people after the South Carolina win for LSU wanting Brian Kelly fired. Brian Kelly. A guy that in his previous two seasons had a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback.
00:05:43
Speaker
back to back 10 win seasons with one of college football's worst defenses in history. And oh yeah, he put him in the SEC championship game in his first year in Baton Rouge. You want to fire that guy? Like that's just, that's just crazy. Um, yeah and so look, you know, I think it's one of those things where if app has a bad year, say they go five and seven, four and eight, you know, then you can look at it like,
00:06:11
Speaker
Okay, well, maybe, you know, we're going in the wrong direction here. But if they continue to go, you know, 8 and 4, 9 and 3, look, I understand that expectations in Boone are high, and and they should be, but you you don't fire a guy after going 8 and 4.
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah, i I think he's just kind of there. There's a ah shelf life for coaches, right? No matter how successful you are, unless you are like that team's institutional coach, like you are that team. Your name, you know, comes before that team. And the only name I can think of right now is like Nick Saban.
00:06:49
Speaker
um gosh that joe joe pa joe but like there are There are coaches that kind of precede their program, right? And unless you are that guy, there is a shelf life. This is Sean Clark's sixth year. How many coaches are getting to year six, year seven, year eight? um So I understand the unrest in that this team has always been like the they're always good for the second best team in the conference. They're not, they haven't reached that point where they're always winning the Sunbelt, ah you know, in this expanded college football playoff, they they never would have really been in the contention for that if we were to retroactcive retroactively look back at it. So I understand the unrest just because like, they're therere coaches have a certain timeline. And I don't think Sean Clark's one of those guys who's gonna spend 18 years at App State and retire there.
00:07:44
Speaker
Um, so to, to Matt's point, he, he's performing well. Uh, and we've said a lot of things about Sean Clark and his inability to hold leads or his inability to win games he should, but then as ah his, his converse ability to blow the doors off teams that he shouldn't. Um, I, for a guy that's been like, perpe for a team that's perpetually been the third best team in the conference, I understand the wanting the want to, to move on from him.
Coaching Critiques and Expectations
00:08:14
Speaker
I mean, personally, I would say he he has a higher ceiling, but he gives me a little bit of like Chad Lunsford coaching Southern vibes where you had a really well, in Southern's case, they had a really unsuccessful coach leave. But with App, you had a really successful coach leave with Drinkowitz and you elevated a guy that because the players liked him and because, you know, he he coached a really strong position group.
00:08:44
Speaker
And it's kind of the same deal with Lunsford, where the AD there after Summers was just like, hey, you know what? You guys know better than me. I'm just going to hire Lunsford and screw it. And so this this feels like the opposite end of that, where it felt like, hey, we're going to reward this guy for you know sticking with the program and being around it for a long time. And I don't know. I just think the.
00:09:12
Speaker
if this if this type of performance had come after that season where they didn't make the bowl and they lost to Georgia Southern in the finale when Kyle Vantrese played against them and like all of that sort of stuff I would totally be like no I understand but last year they were just in the Sunbelt title game as the East representative so that's the part where it gets me is like if he had had two down seasons back to back I would be like I understand the unrest and pulling the trigger and want to do all that
00:09:46
Speaker
i don' I don't really get it. like I would wanna see the way that the rest of this season goes before you make a determination one way or the other. What happens if they win out? You know what I mean? like They could win the next, hypothetically, I don't actually think this, but they could win the next, what, eight in a row. And then you're like, okay, we lost to Clemson by a hundo, but Clemson's a good team. We lost to South Alabama.
00:10:14
Speaker
But you know if you if you go 8-0 after losing that game, that's an outlier at that point. Or like you know you you shape into form later in the season and you make a run at the east, ah you know representing the east in the title game again. like You could be in there against the winner of Louisiana and Texas State. So I feel like to do this in game four seems like a little bit of an overreaction because you know we've talked about how easy the east is pretty much outside of i guess james madison's the one lone contender left in the east at this point who's like a serious team
00:10:50
Speaker
So you're in a two horse race to make it to the Sunbelt title game, and then you only have to win one. You know, you only have to catch, you know, Texas State on a bad day or catch, you know, Louisiana on a bad day or something like that. Then it's a one game series. And yeah, you're probably not going to make the college football playoff because there's more accomplished teams.
00:11:11
Speaker
But I don't know it just seems too early to kind of make that determination given how last season went so let's Let's talk about this game individually, so Bluff Bothwell, leader of the Sundell all-name team, went berserk 116 yards on 14 carries, two touchdowns average eight yards a carry. Zeke, you you love to play the take the longest runaway game. His longest run was only 22 yards. So otherwise he had 13 carries for 94 yards or so, which is still insane. um Gio Lopez was sharp, 16 of 24, 154, two touchdowns.
00:11:53
Speaker
i don't know it it just seemed like one of those nights where app literally couldn't do anything correct like it was flu there was a big no at one point in the game and i i saw this i think this play not got negated by a penalty but at one point a snap was high and Aguilar went to go catch it but he just kind of volleyball said it like straight up in the air and a defensive lineman it landed right in his arms now I again I think that play was negated by like a ah a false start or something but that was the type of night they had where literally getting the ball from the center to the quarterback was a hassle so
00:12:36
Speaker
ah Well, here's here's my other question. We talked about Sean Clark. Do you guys see this as like an outlier performance that you think app is going to bounce back from? Or do you think this is sort of a sign of things to come for them?
00:12:51
Speaker
I think the score is certainly an outlier. um I think, I mean, app sits at two and two right now. I feel at this point in the season, six and six is thereabouts where they deserve to end up. Seven and five, five and eight, so you know, in that plus or minus 500 range. The score, though, is certainly an outlier.
00:13:12
Speaker
i do I do think, and we've seen it, Joey Aguilar is too good of a quarterback. ah They have too many receiving weapons ah in that receiving room. Caden Robinson is a guy, I mean, he had a big game, but like they they have too many weapons. App is still trying to find a running back. I've been saying for weeks, I need ah one guy to step out there. But App isn't going to be held to 14 every week. I think that was anomalous.
00:13:38
Speaker
um But like as like I said, i we've said I don't think the loss necessarily is an abnormality. ah that do you so I've heard so many people say, oh, you know, maybe apps not good as good as we thought. Oh, maybe South Alabama is better than we thought. Look, um I'm not going to say either of those things.
00:14:02
Speaker
I chalk this up to the craziness of the Sunbelt conference, right? We call it the fun belt for a reason. You never know on those weeknight games, what the hell is going to happen. I mean, just think back a couple of years ago, uh, 2019, maybe. And this is, this is when app was dominant. Going on those dominant Kate, the cadrons had never beaten app, played them six times in four years and I never beat them.
00:14:33
Speaker
They come to Cajun Field on a Wednesday night and the Cajuns put up 35 in the first half and beat them 41 to 13. And we all walked away from that game like, what the hell was that? like That's never gonna happen again. So it's just one of those games where, look, I guarantee you if those two teams played each other four more times,
00:15:00
Speaker
You would have four completely different outcomes. App State probably blows them out in one of those four, right? but Like it's just one of those games where it happened. It's a freak thing. I don't think it's a...
00:15:16
Speaker
I don't think that it's a telling point of either team. I think both of them are going to finish middle of the pack in the Sunbelt. um But we did learn that South Alabama's offense can put up some points against somebody that isn't Northwestern State. So Zeke, Matt kind of gave his opinion. Do you think that this is something South Alabama can slash will build on moving forward? Or do you think this is kind of just like a one off?
00:15:45
Speaker
I think offensively, yes. Obviously, the 87 he mentioned against Northwestern. ah But even in their first two losses, I mean, they dropped 38 in their loss to North Texas in the season opener. So I think offensively, ah it won't be consistently in the 48 range. It will obviously not reach the 87 mark again, won't come close. But I think South Owl could find itself in like that 32 to 36 point range per game.
00:16:15
Speaker
Defensively, I'm not sold. um I think this was just an underperformance from app offensively. um We can discard the 10 points you allowed to Northwestern State. You allowed 27 to Ohio and then 52 to North Texas. So I think app is going to find itself or I'm sorry. South al is going to find itself in a.
00:16:37
Speaker
ah above like a shade above average offense shade below defense situation ah where they just kind of cancel each other out and you know they end up as a 7-8 win team right now. Yeah they're they're gonna get into a lot of shootouts and they're not gonna win half of them.
00:16:55
Speaker
All right. So, you know, app needs to kind of try to rebound from whatever this was. And
Marshall and Georgia Southern Struggles
00:17:02
Speaker
South Alabama, you know, has scored 120 something points over their previous two games now. 135. 135. So.
00:17:15
Speaker
You know, again, i I don't believe that they're going to put up close to 50 every week, but I think they've proved at least they've they're going to be a fun team. So, you know, Gio Lopez can slant. Can they can they put 21 on an LSU on Saturday night?
00:17:34
Speaker
Have you watched you lately? Well, yes, I covered them. Well, I'm just saying like, yeah, South Carolina scored a lot with a guy that cannot throw the football. So yeah, yeah, they did. Yeah, they did. All right. So with that, South Alabama improves to two and two. They're now one and oh in conference play app is now two and two and oh and one in the Sunbelt. um Now, starting on Saturday, the I'm just reading these games in the order they're presented. We don't have to spend a lot of time, honestly, on these first
00:18:08
Speaker
but we're Because it was a lot of teams playing for a paycheck ah So to get to the first one Texas just absolutely runs you all Monroe out of the stadium 51 to 3 arch Manning gets his first official start as a Longhorn ah He threw for 258 and two scores um They're running back blue 25 carries 124 three touchdowns. This is kind of what I was Not to such an extreme, but this is what I was kind of talking about with how you all Monroe had been running their offense the last couple of weeks, which was. You guys can't just run the ball and play defense every single week, like it will work, but there is a cap talent wise on this team because of what Bowden left over and where Brian Vincent's having to take this team from square one and trying to build up, but.
00:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, this was, I mean, it went about exactly the plan. Do you guys have anything else to add? I mean, I don't really, I don't really have anything to add. No. ah Good job you scored three. you you didn't know didn't get a You didn't lay a goose egg.
00:19:20
Speaker
Kick the sad second quarter field goal ah to go down. What was it? 28 to 3 at that point. um Great job, everybody. ah With that, Texas is now 4-0, and Ewell Monroe drops to 2-1. Another one we don't we don't have to spend a a ton of time on. Pio State welcomed in Marshall, 49-14. Quinshaun Judkins for the Buckeyes, 14 carries, 173, two touchdowns.
00:19:48
Speaker
um again it's just Marshall being Marshall. Marshall was up seven nothing in the second quarter. Let's give them that. They they hung around for a bit.
00:20:01
Speaker
um that which, you know, say what you want about that. They finally got a decent game out of Stone Earl, although he left the game in the third quarter. I think he might have been holding his hand. I haven't seen any news on that. I just saw that he left the game and they kind of stopped didn't mention it. um But they finally got a good game out of a quarterback, which is a big deal for this team. Yeah.
00:20:27
Speaker
Well, you want to talk about things that might not be repeatable. um Marshall getting good games out of the quarterback position two weeks in a row might not be, especially isn't it crazy to that the one time that a Marshall quarterback decides to play well, it's in a game against Ohio State when they're vastly overmatched and it didn't end up mattering at all. Well, the pressure's off.
00:20:51
Speaker
I guess. it's like freak go away you You go in knowing like, bro, I just got to get through these 60 minutes, take my paycheck and go home. like well i pressure Yeah, but this is kind of what I mean, though, is like, all right, so you played pretty well against Ohio State, but you came away. Stone Earl is now hurt. So you have to go with Braylon Braxton or Cole Pinnington, God forbid. And you have to hope that one of those guys, I mean, you know, there's a reason he's like third on the depth chart. Ryan hates Cole Pinnington.
00:21:26
Speaker
I don't hate him. He's just not good. Like, that's it. Brian is the leader. He is the president of the I Hate Cole Pennington Club. No, you've got this twisted, Matt. Brian dislikes players because they're bad. I dislike players as people because they're bad. You've got it twisted.
00:21:48
Speaker
Yeah, i no, I just I think it says a lot that the guy who is Chad Pennington's son can't crack higher than third on the depth chart ah behind a guy that, number one, we didn't even know was on the roster week one in Stone Earl. And then number two, Braylon Braxton, who should probably be starting anyways, because he was the only one up to this point, literally up until the Ohio State game that turned in a good performance at all this season at the quarterback spot.
00:22:18
Speaker
So... i I don't know. Like, can you build off of this if you're Marshall? Maybe. Probably not, though. I mean, let's be honest. It's kind of it kind of is what it is. um All right. Well, if we if we are good on this one, Ohio State moves to three and oh, Marshall's now one and two. um Next one here, again, Ole Miss beats Georgia Southern 5213 in the Grove. This one went exactly the way that I thought it would. I mean, I had Ole Miss minus 35 and this was
00:22:52
Speaker
The only time that Georgia Southern ever came within like a millisecond of of even being in this game was they got a drive. They threw a halfback pass, which was a trick play, scored a touchdown. It was 17 to seven. Georgia Southern scored the first touchdown of the season against that Ole Miss has allowed and they got an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and they went three and out and punted and the game was over from there.
00:23:21
Speaker
that was That was basically how it went. I mean, it was like, I don't know who Georgia Southern like, I don't know if they deal with the devil like a long time ago, but every time they schedule one of these SEC schools, it's always like, hey, guess what? We fielded our best team ever. Like a couple of years ago, they got to play Joe Burrow and the 2019 LSU Tigers. The year before that, they played Clemson the year they beat Alabama in the national championship game. So like,
00:23:50
Speaker
We don't get to play, you know, no, ah ze but we don't get to play like Vanderbilt at home. Like that would be nice. I wish we could do that. Or like, you know, Mississippi State, when like they get beat, their doors blown off by like Toledo, like we don't get to play those teams. We have to play like a ranked SEC school every time we play a paycheck game.
00:24:12
Speaker
um did do Do you guys have anything again? This was this was over by like half ah Georgia Southern just simply doesn't have the guys to cover anybody for Ole Miss So Ole Miss is now 4-0 Georgia Southern drops to 2-2 with the loss again another whatever ah Iowa State blows the doors off of Arkansas State 52 to 7 um I don't know. this This game was never close. It was 31 0 at halftime and it only got worse from there. Oh, hold on on Arkansas State suck. I mean, oh, oh, Matt, I don't think this is going to be cool in that card. I thought stop the call i'm go to stop. All I'm going to say is there a lot of people were really impressed by playing Michigan to 10 points.
00:25:08
Speaker
That was impressive to some, but to real ball knowers, we knew, we knew. You're no ball. Real ball knowers knew. OK, we need to print T-shirts. Real ball knowers know. Yeah, you you see now what happens when Arkansas State plays against a power for opponent that quarterback doesn't throw three interceptions. This is what happens. Yeah, you know. ah I mean, again, we there was a reason the spread was like 22 points, you know, they were never in this game trash.
00:25:49
Speaker
and No, he's he's good. He's the only good part of that team. Zeke, I'm making fun of you. I know. and But here's the thing. You're saying exactly what I need to hear. Can I can I play devil's advocate for like two seconds? And I'm not even sure I totally believe this. Mm hmm. Last week against Michigan, the backup was better. The backup played better than Jalen Rainer. Put no stock into it. The backup played better than Jalen Rainer in this one to put no stock into it.
00:26:21
Speaker
i don't know dude like
00:26:25
Speaker
We'll see when they get into conference play, but I don't like even in even in blowouts and stuff against power for opponents. Like, I don't like the the backup outplaying the reigning freshman of the year. You know what I mean? Like, that's just a bad look. It's bad vibes. It's bad optics, whatever you want to call it. It's just it's not great for the outlook of this team, um as is losing 52 to seven. Also bad optics.
James Madison's Impressive Wins
00:26:54
Speaker
it is Yeah, I know because my my team did almost the exact same thing ah Iowa State is now 3 and 0 and Arkansas State is now 2 and 2 so getting to the other holy shit performance of the weekend James Madison goes into Chapel Hill and hangs 53 on the Tar Heels in the first half wins this game 70 to 50 Alonzo Barnett seven touchdowns i was I flipped it over to this game um from another from the Tulane, Louisiana game because I couldn't believe what was happening. and every time that Every time James Madison had the ball, they were just marching.
00:27:39
Speaker
and it was like Man, North Carolina, like you get the whole like Matt Brown and existential crisis like after this one. I don't know if y'all kept up with that, but he he's retired, he's in, he's out, he's asking the players, hey, am I the problem here? like That seems like it's only gonna end poorly at the end of the season. But wow, what ah hey, what a performance for James Madison. like All kudos, all all credit go to you guys, because nobody saw this coming. So here's what's wild.
00:28:10
Speaker
If you didn't watch this game and you just look at it and go, Oh, they got into a shootout and James Madison one, but then you look at the stats, North Carolina's quarterback through for 475 and three touchdowns. And then they're running back. Oh, Mary is Hampton ran for.
00:28:35
Speaker
or Amari in Hampton, I'm sorry, ran for $1.40 and three scores. So they were the leading passer of the game and the leading rusher of the game, but yet lost by 20.
00:28:50
Speaker
I mean, what are you what what a performance for James Madison to really come out early, go to Chapel Hill, come out early and dominate, put up 25 in the first quarter, up 11 in the first quarter break and say, yeah, you know, we're we're we're not done yet. We're going to score 28 more in the second quarter and make it 53 to 21 at the break. I mean, that's just insane. If I was Mac Brown at halftime, I'd have went to the referees and been like,
00:29:21
Speaker
can Can we go home? Can can we be done? So Zeke, before you kind of give your your two cents, i have I have just two things I wanted to add real quick. ah Number one, James Madison could have
00:29:37
Speaker
basically ended they could have put all their backups in and just ran the ball every play in the second half and they still would have won 53 to 50 because they had outscored UNC the first half for the entire game and number two you just got to love if you this goes for everybody who like roots for Georgia Tech or even like Bursary follows Georgia Tech their defensive coordinator is Jeff Collins who used to be the Georgia Tech head coach and was maybe one of the worst coaches in the FBS and hes He's got to be on the way out like if Mac Brown doesn't step down and then they can the whole staff He's got to be the sacrificial lamb because this was unacceptable for them. I Does UNC have sort some sort of a
00:30:26
Speaker
You know, something or other for playing crazy games against ah Sunbelt. Because a fe a fetish. i I didn't know if we were allowed to say that, b Brian. and um I mean, that's basically what it is. that I mean, I mean just think about the app games in recent years. were There was a double overtime two years ago and last year it was just like this, where both teams put up like 67, 61 points.
00:30:52
Speaker
Yeah. Is there like, is there just some weird Chapel Hill mojo coming from that or so something's got to be going? Because UNC doesn't play other teams like this. This isn't like UNC has just the most paper thin defense in the world and also can score a bazillion points. They're a fairly normal football team. No, just against competition.
00:31:15
Speaker
It's so bizarre. um I urge I urge people to not put too much put stock into this by the hype on James Madison here, because this was a performance, the best sambal performance, at least offensively, that we'll see all year i without question. Believe in that aspect of James Madison, but do not overreact and turn this into like i I don't overcorrect and start thinking that this JMU team is say comparable to last season's in terms of overall talent. I don't think that's what this performance is. It's a ridiculous win, the best win this team has had, like the most impressive win this team has had since they joined the FBS.
00:32:03
Speaker
um But this is not to say that they are ah ACC quality better than UNC. But this is to tell you, as Brian, you said earlier, they're clearly the the only real dog in the East right now. Well, the other thing too is.
00:32:21
Speaker
You know, I know there's probably a lot of James Madison fans who are like victory lapping right now being like, see, we told you. But the other thing, too, and, you know, you could have Batman in a room interrogating those people and you'd be like, do you really believe that Alonzo Barnett is going to do this every single week? And they would be like, no, not really.
00:32:44
Speaker
I mean, I'm i'm sorry. Like, yeah you know, he is he has to say he's not come close to this type of performance to this stage in the season is kind of an understatement. I don't know if he broke 200 yards passing before this game, because some of the other performances, you know, like they scored 13 points against Gardner Webb like two weeks ago. And I know that they had like two weeks to prepare, but that's not going to be the case every single week.
00:33:13
Speaker
and then the other thing too is like I think I think what it is with North Carolina I think they just overlook anybody who isn't like a power 14 I think that's the only real explanation it's it's like for whatever reason Mac Brown can't get through to specifically the defense because the offense has always been able to score points whether it was Drake May or Chris well or whoever But now it's just like they just don't play a lick of defense. So again, he's he's having currently an existential crisis and doesn't even know if he wants to coach again. And they're having to like goad him back into the the building, I guess, or whatever, whatever that was about. um But yeah, I mean, I think it's just the thing of he's not getting through to his players for whatever reason. And
00:34:04
Speaker
You know JMU obviously I think played way above their heads now I I do think they're the only real contender in the East besides app but still like Nobody can tell me hey I saw Barnett putting up seven touchdowns and he's gonna do that every week from here on out It's like no he's not so you can go ahead and stop stop the cap as the kids say um So anyway, do we have any last-minute thoughts before we move on to the next game here? It's concerning that you're trying to be hip I'm not trying to be hip, I'm just quoting the kids. The kids. What kids? Yeah, people who are much younger than me. Okay Boomer.
Louisiana's Game Challenges
00:34:45
Speaker
Okay. Anyway, ah James Madison is now 3-0 and North Carolina is now 3-1 this season.
00:34:54
Speaker
ah Matt, you can take us through this next one. So so you you survived what was Dante's Inferno ah in this game because it was, what what did you say on the field? It was 130 at one point? At one point on the yeah ESPN broadcast, they took one of those little thermometers and they pointed it at the black turf on the outside of the end zone. And it read 138.9.
00:35:20
Speaker
That doesn't seem safe for humans. No. like It feels like there comes a point where we kind of have to put football aside a little bit and go, is this bad for us as humans? Are we all going to be melanoma? could could Could you imagine wearing a full set of pads and and a helmet and just hitting each other for four hours in that? oh Could you imagine having to put sunscreen on before you go play football?
00:35:49
Speaker
Yeah, no kidding, right? So I know that as somebody who grew up in South Louisiana, this may sound a little dramatic. Standing down there on the field was probably the hottest I've ever been in my life. I believe it. Yeah.
00:36:09
Speaker
It was in incredibly brutal. um And I was only down there for the first quarter, and then I went back for the fourth quarter. I went up into the press box for the second and third quarter, because I just couldn't take it anymore. um But why look, you know. Hold on. one when One quick question. Why did you go back down? Do you like pain, or were you required to be down there? Like, what was the ah the deal? I liked to be down ah on on the field for the fourth quarter.
00:36:38
Speaker
um it's just kind of always been a thing i do and so i wasn't gonna let the heat stop me from my usual routine uh because i'm a dog like that but anyways move it on um look i guarantee you matt sweated all the way through his shirt like easily It had to have been I shoot man. You're you're stronger than I was. It looked like Matt was in a wet t-shirt contest when he was done. I guarantee it and and I want it. But anyways, moving on. oh Look, it's one of those things where you, you, you hear the coach cliche. You can't spot a good team points.
00:37:18
Speaker
And that's exactly what happened, right? um The Cajuns spotted a good team, 14 points, and Tulane made you pay for it. ah You know, you you take away that pick six almost immediately followed by a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half, and to the Cajuns probably get out of there with a win.
00:37:42
Speaker
to To be completely honest with you, because I mean, you look at the way the Cajuns played, I don't think that the Cajuns played poorly. um Now, do I think that they played well?
00:37:55
Speaker
No, um I think the offense could have been much better than than what it was. ah Ben Waldridge looked a little off when 19 of 35, I believe, ah was his passing statistics. um Couldn't really get a running game going outside of Elijah Davis. And 73 of those yards came on one play, like Zeke likes to take away.
00:38:21
Speaker
ah And so it's just one of those things where the offense didn't really do enough. And then defensively, you gave up 270 yards on the ground. Now, I said going into the season that I thought Mackay Hughes was one of the best running backs in the G5, if not the country.
00:38:45
Speaker
Um, and he showed that on Saturday running for 168 yards of a touchdown, but ah the Cajuns are just, I don't know. They, they, it just feels like this team finds ways to let these big momentum games get away.
00:39:09
Speaker
And I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the coaching staff or if it's just kind of the stigma around the pro. I don't know. But these these big games at home, they they seem to let them slip away. And Coach Des was very fired up after the game.
00:39:28
Speaker
ah really animated in the post game press conference. But look, you know they've got a good opportunity and obviously we'll turn it we'll we'll talk about it when we preview week five, but they've got a good opportunity to go on the road against a really down ACC program in a Wake Forest. I mean, God, they're only a three point underdog on the road at an ACC school.
00:39:53
Speaker
like you better take that and run with it. So if you go win this game, a lot of people will forget about too late. As Zeke likes to say, quarterback factory Wake Forest. Quarterback factory Wake Forest.
00:40:07
Speaker
You said that at one point. No, I know. And i so I realized so I realized where the confusion was coming from. I was confusing them with Purdue, which also not really also not really yeah not a not a quarterback factory, but they have Drew Brees, the goat and the goat and Kyle Orton. I'll so I'll but I'll spread. you that Yeah. Yeah. Oh, thanks. I think that's where that idea came from.
00:40:38
Speaker
at, like, growing. All right. yeah So anyway, back to this game. ah He's not ah back to this game. No, he's not. No. So no. Yeah. No. So I will say this. So I watched the very beginning of this one. He's not. He's not. Shut up. z so but He's not. ah So YouTube.
00:41:00
Speaker
i
00:41:04
Speaker
You're right. The GOAT is definitely not the guy with seven Super Bowls. It's definitely the guy with one for sure. ahh Anyway, um so so I watched the first part of this game and I really thought Louisiana was doing a hell of a job but hanging in there. and And I thought they were going to end up taking it. And then full disclosure, I couldn't watch the full game. I had a my child's birthday party was Saturday. So I had to break for that. So I was in and out of the house watching games or whatever. um And then I just turned around and it was 38 to 26. And I was like, oh, I see what two lane, you know, cut it on a little bit. So, you know, yeah, I mean, I mean, things really flipped with that pick six. um And I hated it because, you know, you go back and and you rewatch it.
00:41:53
Speaker
And it's it was literally the simplest miscommunication. the The tight end was running an option route and the tight end cut the route off and the quarterback thought he was going to continue it. And so literally just the the most simple miscommunication um and it really ended up costing you the game. But you know those types of things happen.
00:42:20
Speaker
That's that's the danger with those option routes is like if the quarterback and the receiver aren't totally mind melded like on the same level, it it can go so poorly. And, i you know, I've seen it firsthand, you know, having rooted for ah rooting for New England back when Belichick was the coach. They ran all option routes. Like that was the whole offense. And you could tell it was like if a quarterback was on the same level with Brady, like mentally, it was like, you know, two people playing music that had never met before. And it was like a symphony. Right. And when it when it goes poorly, it's like interception city. And where the hell did that ball go? and Where was he taking off to? So, yeah, no, I definitely.
00:43:04
Speaker
I will say I was really encouraged by the way Louisiana played in this game, because I told Zeke last week on the episode, I said, who better to plan against Louisiana than John Summerall, who just spent two weeks or two years at Troy, you know, coaching against Louisiana both times. So I just I was pretty encouraged by the way they played overall, because I'm pretty high on Tulane overall. um But i yeah, I think there's a lot of good that you can take away from this and and really build
Coastal Carolina and Coaching Transitions
00:43:30
Speaker
on it. So yeah with that lanes, the real deal, no question.
00:43:34
Speaker
Yeah, no, I'm i' very high on them. Tulane is now two and two with the victory. Louisiana drops to two and one. um Getting into another one here, ah Virginia takes Coastal Carolina to the woodshed 43-24. This one was 27 to 10 and a half.
00:43:55
Speaker
um That was basically it. ah Vasco, again, didn't play all that well, completed less than half of his passes, 222 yards and one touchdown. ah Brown, Virginia's running back, 9 carries 171 yards.
00:44:13
Speaker
um Their defense is a real concern. um I know that they weren't supposed to win this game. But defensively, I just I have real questions and and kind of with Vasco too. Like I he he looked good early and he's just kind of regressed every game almost. So we'll see. I mean, we'll see if he ends up, you know, building off of something. But he seems to have gotten worse every week since they beat Jacksonville State almost.
00:44:44
Speaker
Yeah, ah that that was my big takeaway from this game is that obviously there was gonna be a regression from Grayson McCall um even if Coastal weirdly kind of looked better without him last year. There was obviously gonna be a regression um But Ethan Vasco cannot decide whether he wants to be Grayson McCall or if he wants to be e Cole 2024 Grayson McCall Yeah, yeah, exactly. So this this flipping is obviously not helping. And he eventually got pulled in this game for Noah Kim, who played equally as poorly. um Coastal's not gonna do anything until...
00:45:28
Speaker
Much like Marshall, like the rest of it doesn't matter if you can't just have a guy. like He doesn't have to be stellar, but he has to be good enough. And Vasco flipping between a 70% passer um that's you know getting 250 yards and a guy who completes under 50% of passes ah with a one-to-one touchdown interception, that that that can't fly, ah especially in this offense.
00:45:56
Speaker
um
00:45:58
Speaker
Coastal has to figure this much like Marshall. I think everything else has to come to a halt all of their discussion until they figure this out. um ah I don't know I that's that's just a greater thesis on college football, but that that's what's plaguing them right now.
00:46:19
Speaker
That was sort of my concern last year about Tim Beck, which was I felt like last year was not really a great barometer to hold him up against because, again, you just gift somebody, you know, the de facto. I mean, at the time going into the season, we didn't know how good Jordan McLeod would end up being for JMU, but you gift a guy basically the de facto best quarterback in the conference.
00:46:43
Speaker
Yeah, he probably should win eight games or whatever, however they many they ended up winning. Now, I will say it was strange that it seemed like the team sort of picked it up after McCall's injury, but now we're just kind of back to where I was originally, which was I asked you Zeke I asked you that this last last week about ah Troy's new head coach had Tim Beck came from NC State. Have you ever been thrilled with NC State's offense? That that's what I mean is like if you're gonna bring a guy in who's an OC or a DC or whatever you have to at least on film look at stuff and go hey I
00:47:28
Speaker
There are wrinkles they throw in here and there that maybe not everybody has and I haven't seen that with Tim Beck like it seems very like vanilla, you know, and it's like just funny that coastal is because coastal is coming from Chadwell and you know one of the more unique offenses with his like spread option where you know, they're yeah, it's kind of um Rich Rod esque where they're running the ball a ton, but they have a very good quarterback game. So I i think that was an odd transition to make kind of like when Southern went from complete option to you we're going to throw the ball 40 times a game. Just like kind of against the whole ethos of what the school's football identity has become.
00:48:14
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know, I don't want to get into like the nuances or whatever. But the reason that Southern did it was because blocking rules have changed and have deterred teams from running the option. So between that and nobody else knowing how to run this scheme, apparently other than Willie Fritz, like it just became like a we have to do something different. We literally don't have the ability to run this ah offense anymore. And so I think that's kind of what it's been about Coastal is like the offense for Chadwell was so unique. Like, how do you find somebody to follow that up and be like, you know, but I just don't like, I don't feel this way about Troy said, coach, I don't feel this way about Tim Beck, like getting these power for OCs that run very vanilla offenses. Like what about that makes you feel like, Oh, well we're going to have definitely have an edge.
00:49:12
Speaker
You know what I mean? It was like, okay, Timbex got a ah recruiting you know footprint in the Carolinas having coached at NC State. That's great. But you know you're not going to be competing with the Power Four when you're going to get recruits for Coastal. like That's just not how it works. So you combine that again with a very vanilla offense and you're just kind of like,
00:49:38
Speaker
What what where are we supposed to go from here? so Would you rather? Like, what is your preferred option, right? Because you can hire, ah you know, a former P5 head coach. You can try to get a guy laterally. Like, what is your preferred move there, then? Like, in terms of previous job. An FCS head coach that has had success. You think that's number one? Well, I mean, look at what Bob Chesney is doing at JMU. Mm hmm. You know, sure. Versus, yeah, you know, choice coach going to Texas State. Right. And it's so weird to me, you know, you know, and this applies to Southern too. But like, it's so weird to me that you look at these guys that have not really had success at their previous stops and you bring them on board and you're like, it's going to be different here because reasons.
00:50:32
Speaker
Like that seems such like a strange idea to hire a guy to be like, Hey, this guy didn't really have success at Notre Dame or this guy, you know, drop Parker didn't really have success offensively at Notre Dame. Um, you know, Tim Beck didn't really have offensive success at NC state. It's going to change here. Why? Because And it's just like what I don't, I don't understand that. But when you, when you bring an FCS coach up, you not only get their entire coaching staff, because everybody, unless they are made now the FCS head coach of the previous team, they all want pay raises. They all want more notoriety coaching at the, at the FPS level. They have, you know, systems that they have seen. And heck, if you're GJ Kinney or you're You know whoever you can bring some of those guys with you over from the FCS team that have had success in your system So like it just seems like such a no-brainer that I don't understand why these 80s almost make it harder on themselves and they have to yeah I I agree with Brian. I want an FCS head coach that has had p5 or not not even p5 just FBS
00:51:40
Speaker
like maybe coordinator experience or was a position coach in the FBS. I want a guy that has cut his teeth in the FBS, but his most recent stop was an FCS head coach that has had success. Yes.
00:51:55
Speaker
Yeah. Cause cause again, you get a guy that can bring an entire staff over and you literally can't say that anywhere else because some of these guys, whether you want to admit it or not, the Rolodex is a little thin because they haven't coached anywhere other than maybe a few
Southern Miss's Coaching Dilemmas
00:52:10
Speaker
stops. And then now they've become an FCS head coach. So, you know, you bring over a coordinator like Tim Beck and you're like, okay, who's your DC? Well, we can't go get NC state's DC.
00:52:21
Speaker
Like we have to figure something else out. So that that's just kind of the thing for me. But um anyway, Virginia improves to three and one with the victory. Coastal Carolina drops to three and one. Southern Miss just and no baby ah just absolutely gets demolished by a Jacksonville state team that had gotten demolished in the season opener by Coastal 44 to seven.
00:52:49
Speaker
ah Yeah, I think Will Hall... I wouldn't be surprised if they... You know we talked about the bye weeks and how it would make like for a good time to to fire him? I'm surprised he wasn't out of a job after this game, to be quite honest.
00:53:13
Speaker
Matt, do you have anything else to add other than the Looney Tunes sound effect that you just dropped? I mean, does that not sum it up? No, it does. I just i you believe he still can you believe he still has a job? I think the reason that he still has a job is because they they don't. I feel like their athletic director, Jeremy McLean is his name, I think.
00:53:43
Speaker
oh I don't know his name. I feel like they're athletic directors kind of looking like, okay, if we fire him, who will we hire? And he doesn't like any of the options. And he and he's not a fan of any of the options. So it's like, ah we'll wait, maybe somebody pops up you know week eight. So we don't have to do this right now.
00:54:10
Speaker
i Again, I don't understand it. There are FCS head coaches that would kill to get an FBS paycheck And these teams are like and these teams are like no I'd rather get a retread or I'd rather grab a coordinator that runs an offense for a team That is very boring. That would that'll solve all our problems Like look look at look at southern mrs. Schedule Congratulations. You beat southeastern, Louisiana like Good for you
00:54:43
Speaker
you You got your doors blown off by Kentucky, which, I mean, SEC program, sure. ah South Florida took you to the woodshed. And then Jacksonville State literally just dropped your pants to your ankles, bitten you over and... I was about to say, where is this going? god Like, just destroyed you.
00:55:08
Speaker
absolutely destroyed you like the old wooden paddle days and in an elementary school beat you with a wooden paddle. I mean, this was horrible to watch. I don't know if you either of you watched any of it. No, I didn't. I watched a couple possessions because that was all I could stomach. It was horrible.
00:55:34
Speaker
so mr i should say So two things. Number one, so what you're telling me is Tate Rota Maker didn't solve all of their quarterback. Oh, God, no. God, no.
00:55:45
Speaker
So the second thing is, and this is going to blow you guys' minds, Will Hall's not going to go down as the worst coach in Southern Miss's program history. No, he won't. No, because I think it was was Ellis Johnson came in and went 0-12 and twelve and like almost killed their entire football program by not winning a single game. So by default of beating Southeast Louisiana, Will Hall's already better than he is.
00:56:13
Speaker
In light of the news today, does Brett Favre make a better Dion Sanders type coach than Will Hall?
00:56:24
Speaker
I mean, anything would be better than Will Hall at this point.
00:56:28
Speaker
But but here they would own 200,000 with a buyout. his His contract ends at the end of the year. That has to be the only reason. Just wait it It's not like another bad season is going to, you know, catastrophically alter the the trajectory of this program. Zeke, I raise a question to you, Zeke, based on that conversation.
00:56:58
Speaker
Can Brett Favre be hired as a public employee in the state of Mississippi after his welfare mess? i i Wait, will wait wait can i can I offer a solution to everybody's problems right now? Brett Favre gets hired as head coach of Southern Miss, but he pays the team. Yes. So like he pays for his time?
00:57:25
Speaker
Yeah, no, he he he basically reimburses the state for what was it? The volleyball court or whatever it was. Yeah, stole the funds for. OK, so he he uses his NFL money and he pays the team back or the state back or whatever while he's a member of the team or like the coach. I think that's an incredible idea. That's interesting. Problem solved. That's interesting.
00:57:52
Speaker
but We did it. We solved embezzlement. We fixed Southern Miss football. You're welcome, Hattiesburg. I just fixed embezzlement for like everybody. it's like You keep working at the company you embezzled from, but you pay them instead of them paying you.
Upcoming Sunbelt Matchups
00:58:08
Speaker
That's how it works.
00:58:09
Speaker
All right, anyway, Jacksonville State is now one and three with the victory, and now Southern Miss is one and three with the loss. ah Last game here, we can breeze through this one. Troy beats Florida A and&M, whoop-de-doo, throw yourselves a party. Your goose-crouder played in place of Caldwell. He played well, but again, Florida A and&M, like, what can you... How does this translate moving forward? It doesn't. It's basically the easiest way to put it.
00:58:39
Speaker
ah they' They've got a they play ULM this upcoming week and you know, we'll we'll talk about that in a second. But I don't know. This this could be the start of like a a stronger second half. I'm not going to say a great second half. But ah there's a platform for this to have been a get right game.
00:58:59
Speaker
i think i think you're re related I think you have recency bias because South Alabama beat Northwestern State by a billion and now you're like, well, all you got to do is beat an FCS school by a hundred points and then you turn the ship around and it's like, no, I don't think it's possible.
00:59:15
Speaker
thats I don't think it works like that. Very realistic. ah All right. ah So with the wind, Troy is now one and three and Florida A and&M drops to two and two. um Let's get to this week's games. No Thursday game this week. I'm sure App is praying to the heavens that they're glad that they don't have to play on a Thursday again ah for a while. um At 1 30 on ESPN plus, James Madison is welcoming in Ball State.
00:59:46
Speaker
James Madison is 20 and a half point favorite over under 57 and a half It's a lot of points, but I'm taking James Madison solely Because and Ball State could be much better. I don't know Georgia Southern last year played Ball State with the most turnover prone quarterback in all of the country and blew the doors off of Ball State and I think it was also in Indiana, so it wasn't even a home game that we did that. um With that said, I don't think Ball State has made a huge turnaround in the span of a year. ah The only thing that gives me pause, and I almost i almost went with Ball State plus 20 and a half, is that Alonzo Barnett, the clock strikes midnight and he turns back into a pumpkin. That's the only thing that gives me like serious pause. It's like, what if this goes exactly like the Gardiner web game and the final of this one is like,
01:00:42
Speaker
20 to 17 and you're just like, why did I why did I believe in this? I like. I like Ball State to cover here um ah initially when I was writing down some notes for this, I picked JMU minus 20 and a half because as sort of a like, here you go, guys, you know, this is this is your chance to prove that you're you're back, you're you are better than initially anticipated.
01:01:10
Speaker
um But as I think back to the Gardner web game, even to the Charlotte game in the opener, um with the exception, I mean, shoot, even UNC, JMU doesn't just romp teams. No matter competition, at least thus far this season,
01:01:29
Speaker
ah It's within 15, I guess 20 against UNC, but it's a tighter game. Based just on that, 20 is just too rich. Give me ball state, but JMU straight up. Matt? I'm going to agree with Zeke there. I'll take the Cardinals on the points, but JMU to win. Okay.
01:01:54
Speaker
um 3 o'clock ESPN plus Texas State is traveling to Houston. They will be playing at the Texan Stadium facing off against Sam Houston. Did they drop the state? They used to be Sam Houston State. Yeah, that's new to me.
01:02:11
Speaker
I didn't know. Oh, OK. All right. Well, anyway, now Sam Houston, ah Texas State is an eight point road favorite over unders fifty five and a half. um I don't know anything about the same Houston. So I'm going to decline to bet on the side either way. I'm just going to take the over a fifty five and a half. I think.
01:02:32
Speaker
at Their absolute best Texas state is not shutting teams out. like They scored a lot of points, but they also defensively have a lot of holes, especially in the secondary. um So i'm taking I'm taking the over, and I don't have to worry about it.
01:02:49
Speaker
ah I like the over as well. Despite Sam Houston having a bit of a stingy defense, they've put up some impressive defensive performances, but against some pretty putrid teams, Rice, Hawaii, New Mexico State. um when When they played UCF,
01:03:08
Speaker
ah which is you know far more comparable to Texas State than Rice's. They lost 45 to 14. Give me the over. I think Texas State scores 49 on their own.
01:03:23
Speaker
I'm going to take the over as well. Uh, both of these teams are capable of putting up points. Um, Humphries is a really good wide receiver for Sam Houston. Uh, I like the way that he plays. Uh, but in the end, I think Texas state's going to pull this one out. Uh, but eight, I don't, I don't like the line. I'm not going to touch that. Uh, so just give me the over. I here's the thing. I love the line too. I love both of them. Well, you're not exactly an impartial observer here, you know?
01:03:52
Speaker
Um, I will say the thing about Humphries, the thing that's crazy to me is he has 10 catches this year and three of them for touchdowns. So 30% of his catches are touchdowns. which is not a ton of volume, but that's a hell of a that's a, you know, Matt going to you. That's a Rashid Shahid stat line. If I've ever. There we go. Atta boy. um All right. So next one here, speaking of Matt, ACC Network, three thirty p.m., Louisiana is traveling to Winston Salem to take on Wake Forest. Wake is a three point home favorite over under a 60 and a half. Where's he going? ah Oh, God. Is he getting the helmet?
01:04:33
Speaker
Oh, OK. I thought with that prison metaphor he had earlier, I was kind of scared where we were where we were taking the show. um All right. I think I know Matt's pick.
01:04:46
Speaker
um
01:04:48
Speaker
I'm going to take wake. I don't feel good about it, but this man, this man pulls a pat back. I don't feel good about it at all. Like I've Bach Meyer play when he was at Boise and he is Like the poor man's Kellen Moore and this is going back like a long time, but he's left-handed He kind of throws ducks like he doesn't have the strongest arm But I'm just gonna take I'm gonna close my close my eyes to hold my nose and I'm gonna take wake and just You know hope it all works out. I guess yeah, I
01:05:26
Speaker
I agree z no i know let me hear me out hear me out hear me out let me explain i quarterback factory quarterback factory ah hey i don't no Here's the thing, if I knew more about Wake Forest, I could give you, yeah i it probably would swing the other way. But Wake, all they've done is trample an FCS team, lose to Virginia, and then get trampled by Ole Miss. We have no real litmus test for them. We also, I would argue, have no strong litmus test for Louisiana yet. Their only real game here against Tulane, they played pretty well as we talked about. But other than that, the Kennesaw and Grambling games, you can't learn a ton
01:06:11
Speaker
ah i I begrudgingly, hear me when I say this Matt, very reluctantly have to default to wake. I don't feel great about it this is one of those that like I don't frankly I don't and again disclaimer I don't put any money on any of these ah so please don't heed my advice because I'm certainly not following it but this is one I would particularly stay away from um because I I just don't let I I don't have it from UL what have they shown me I I would love for them to win but what have they given me man
01:06:47
Speaker
I think the real question is, in theory, how would Tulane stack up against Wake? And that's how kind of you could determine how you feel about UL in this game. Like, would Tulane beat Wake? Do you not think that Tulane would beat Wake? I think Tulane would beat Wake. Shoot, Matt brings a good argument here. I think Tulane would beat Wake. Yeah, I mean, would Tulane not beat Wake Forest?
Liberty vs. App State Predictions
01:07:14
Speaker
Again, I don't I don't know wake hasn't really played anybody So mean I could I could I could show you an argument that Tulane should have beaten Kansas State Yeah, but I mean ah we can't do this like to yeah, but Kansas State Kansas State just lost by a million against BYU like yeah that impressive everything all right, um another 330 kick ESPN plus I'm I'm gonna
01:07:45
Speaker
This one on my laptop ah because I want to see this game play out ah Liberty is traveling to Boone to take on an app team. That's kind of licking its wounds um Liberty is a three-point road favorite over under a 60 and a half. I'm taking the over Uh, nothing I saw about apps defense make, made me feel good. Uh, I think Liberty is a little better than you guys were giving them credit for kind of in the preseason by being like, they play in a crap conference and don't play anybody. I do agree with that, but I do also think.
01:08:21
Speaker
When you look at app and you look at Liberty and you go, okay, which one is probably closer to being a complete team at this stage? I would say Liberty, but I don't feel great. The points aren't enough to sway me, but I do think both teams will score at the very least. So I'll take over 60 and a half. Give me Liberty and I'm going to tell you why. Or give you death. Oh God. Okay.
01:08:50
Speaker
um No, the here's so here's here's the thing. I saw a tweet earlier today, and it said that if Liberty were to beat AppState, it would be the first time since 2014, so their first year in the FBS, that AppState has lost back-to-back home games. And the two teams they lost to in 2014,
01:09:19
Speaker
We're South Alabama and Liberty. You can't make that up. Football history, the gods are on the side of the flames. give me Give me liberty on the road.
01:09:35
Speaker
I agree, I'm not quite as poetic about it, ah but I do agree that Liberty wins here. I think three points is very generous to App. I think my frustration with this game is like, bro, this is the year Liberty has to play App.
01:09:54
Speaker
As we talked about the optics earlier, I think app is going to come out of this game, not looking good. And from a conference perspective, everyone's going to be looking at them and like, really? We're you're supposed to be one of our and even if on the ah off year, you're supposed to be one of our shining prizes, one ah one of our best and brightest. And you're you're just going to go and get walked by liberty. It just the timing on this is very poor. Give me liberty.
01:10:23
Speaker
Yeah, the I mean, considering the conference they play in, I mean, this this seems like the game of the season for Liberty. So which team they play? Right. And and for App, it's just like, yes, we would like to win. But the way that last week turned out, it's like outside of a miracle happening, like you guys aren't going to be the G5 representative in the playoff.
01:10:49
Speaker
So, like again, it matters to them, I'm sure. But a couple of things that are in Liberty's favor. Number one, Chadwell being the coach, he knows how to scheme against App. He's seen them, you know, numerous times when he was at Coastal. And I think this game means a lot more to a 4-0 Liberty team that needs to probably go undefeated in order to have a shot to make the playoff. Whereas App has kind of already removed itself from the race.
Georgia Southern vs. Georgia State Rivalry
01:11:20
Speaker
And if they lose ah another game,
01:11:23
Speaker
They're all but done with the race. But right now they're only 0 and 1 in the conference. So I think right now they've kind of lowered their sights a little bit and said, hey, we're we're going for a conference title now. we're ah A playoff just doesn't seem realistic or feasible at this point. All right. 330, ESPNU, Zeke, our teams are facing off Georgia, southern Georgia state in the Georgia.
01:11:51
Speaker
the Georgia Grown Bowl. did you Matt, you heard about this, right? Yeah, how y'all can't call it the the hate or whatever it was called. Oh my god. Well, did did you hear did you see how it all like, why it played out the way it did?
01:12:07
Speaker
so not really all all us saw okay oh was the letter from was was it the representative state representative no So, so what happened was morning Friday morning.
01:12:22
Speaker
ah Ben Moore, like the lead Georgia State beat guy, posts on the message boards and on Twitter an email that presumably was sent to media or you know internally. I didn't receive it. I'm on their mailing list, but didn't receive it. So I don't know who it was sent to.
01:12:40
Speaker
ah from ah their S.I.D., their media comms person, ah Georgia State's comms person. and was it Hold on in one second. Was it not from the A.D.? it it The email was from Ansley, the S.I.D., but she said she was passing the message along from the A.D., and the message was, hey, guys, don't don't call this game hate. We don't condone hate against any other institution.
01:13:09
Speaker
We guys, we don't like that. And that came out like 9 10 a.m. in the morning. I don't know when the email was sent, but that's when it hit like the public. That's when it hit the message boards and Twitter. And everyone universally clowned on by both sides of the rivalry, by the way. Just like, what are we doing? Ignore it. You as a school don't have to use that word. But like, what are we doing? and Afternoon, early evening is when both schools and then like the ah department commissioner of agriculture come out and say, oh, by the way, we've named this bowl game. And Georgia State comes out of this looking like morons because if you just said nothing and then announced, oh, by the way, we're going to call this the Georgia grown bowl. I don't this is a non story, but you had to come out and play it so sheepish.
01:13:59
Speaker
And they were like, okay, guys, we don't like the word hate. Okay, so i have I have two questions. Number one, why is it called the Georgia Grown Bowl? Because it's sponsored. It's sponsored by the Department of Ag. Georgia Grown is a Department of Ag thing that just promotes agribusiness in the state. Also, so just a side note. That makes total sense.
01:14:25
Speaker
Just a side note, I don't love the idea of rivalry trophies between two teams being sponsored. Like that seems and stupid. It seems like profit above all else, which I know I know college football is all about profit. I was about to say, on did do you not know what we're talking about? Yeah, but like.
01:14:46
Speaker
ah Think of any rivalry trophy you can. Are any of them a cash grab? Okay, so that's my point. It's like... we know right I agree with you. key I'll say we've talked about for years how weak this rivalry is, how relatively little people seem to care about it, especially on the southern side because y'all's biggest rival isn't state, it's app.
01:15:12
Speaker
ah in our And our second biggest rival is a team we don't play anymore, which was Furman. So like i we played Furman tomorrow, there would be way more hate from people who have followed the team for like 10 plus years than anybody has ever showed. to me I think the only rationale here and we've spent way too long that needs to be talked about this stupid bull name. um But the only rationale here is to legitimize the rivalry and like really put it in concrete and give you something to talk about.
01:15:44
Speaker
um With all that said, Georgia State ignore the win against Vandy. That was a trap game. They look bad against Chattanooga. They look bad in the opener. ah Give me Southern. I agree. um I'm taking Southern as well. Plus three and a half. um They don't they don't typically play well on the road. And if this was still a Darren Granger team, I would be probably on state. But until I see.
01:16:14
Speaker
like state really put up a good fight in one of these types of games, like conference wise, I'm gonna have to see it before I believe it. So, and I'll say this, if Georgia Southern leaves this game two and three, and they're lost, is their conference lost to open the the slate is against Georgia State, I think we're inching, and not even inching, we're on a speed run to get Clay Helton out of Statesboro.
01:16:41
Speaker
Um, because I don't, I don't think you can, you barely beat Nevada on the last play, which was a Hail Mary that landed at the five that someone caught.
01:16:52
Speaker
You looked bad against South Carolina State. Now that game, the the final score looks better than the actual game does. You get your doors blown off by Boise and Ole Miss, which is whatever. But you can't you can't lose this game if you're Southern. If you're Clay Helton and you want to keep your job, you have to find a way to win this game.
01:17:12
Speaker
And there's not as much pressure on Dell McGee because it's year one. So that's that's kind of where I'm at with it.
Marshall and Other Game Previews
01:17:18
Speaker
um Next game here, Marshall at 330 ESPN plus is welcoming in Western Michigan. Marshall is a three and a half point favorite at home over unders fifty four and a half. I'm going to take the under. ah i I just don't I don't see where Marshall's going to score the points.
01:17:42
Speaker
ye I don't see where either of them are gonna score the points also again sidebar I know we're running long here Western Michigan Central Michigan Eastern Michigan all three teams every time I see them I have to check whether they're in the FPS or not Well all three of them are so you don't have to check anymore yeah now you now You know, they're those teams like what are they doing man don't yeah two of them two of them are in the Mac and
01:18:13
Speaker
in eastern and in eastern and central both in the mac what would western western is too western from the back also all three of them are in the mac that's pretty cool i messed up that i didn't and i didn't know about western with art ah So we're all on the under correct. Yes All right, five o'clock ESPN Plus Old Dominion is traveling to Ohio to take on a pretty frisky Bowling Green team I don't know if you guys have been keeping up at least in cursory with how Bowling Greens played this year Bowling Green is a nine and a half point home favorite over unders 51 and a half. Um, Give me Bowling Green. Old Dominion will find a way to lose this game by three points and i'll I'll hate myself, but I can't. You know how Zeke you say you can't go broke taking taking a profit like you can't get rich betting on Old Dominion. So that's that's how that's how I see it. I agree with you Bowling Green. I'll take Bowling Green.
01:19:18
Speaker
Okay. Uh, seven PM ESPN plus UL Monroe is traveling to Troy to take on the Trojans. Troy is kind of surprising to me, a seven point home favorite, uh, over unders 45 and a half. I'm taking you all Monroe. I think they could win this game straight up. Yeah. that And that pains me. That pains me. Um, as I sit here drinking out of my warhawk,
01:19:47
Speaker
themed oh let's do um got four war team new orleans if you've never been you should actually go check it out ah but anyway so ah yeah give me you a and ah give me youl and I think if it weren't for Liberty app and then honestly UL Wake Forest despite how much we hemmed and hawed not a terribly interesting game to me I think this is the second most interesting game of the week Because ULM, like this is your chance to prove you're not the basement. And Troy, this is your chance to prove it's all been a fluke. Yeah. And Zeke, if you believe that Troy is truly going to springboard off of that Florida A and&M win, this is the time to to show it. This is your only chance to.
01:20:34
Speaker
Right ah Last game of the night 745 SEC Network ah South Alabama is traveling to take on LSU in Baton Rouge at night LSU is a 22 and a half point favorite for under 65 and a half I'm gonna go under 65 and a half. I think South Alabama comes back to earth ah LSU for as good as they are, ah makes sometimes scoring points look difficult. um And they're they're losing more players with injuries by the day. ah they just They just lost that pass rusher, right, Matt, for the season? arab I can't think of his name. Yeah, Perkins. So yeah, i think ah I think LSU does find a way to contain Gio Lopez. And I think this is kind of like a 31 to 10 type of game for me.
01:21:29
Speaker
I hope everyone goes out there has fun and no one gets hurt. So I will be in attendance in Baton Rouge on Saturday night. Look, you know, I think this is going to be a game where kind of similar to LSU Nichols a couple weeks ago. If anybody paid attention to that one where Nichols hung around for two and a half quarters, I think South Alabama is going to do the same.
01:21:55
Speaker
um you know I think they're going to make things interesting. I think they're going to make LSU fans sweat a little bit. ah But then in the end, Garrett Nussmeyer and the offensive, they're just going to be too much. And you know they'll make it a 14 point game. um I'll take LSU straight up. Zeke, what's your pick? ah That Gio Lopez gets pulled before the third quarter.
01:22:22
Speaker
ah Give me the answer. Okay.
Outro and Social Media Handles
01:22:25
Speaker
Uh, a chance for a fluff Bothwell ah legacy game in this one. So we'll see how it goes. Fluff Bothwell, baby. Let's go. Fluff Bothwell. All right. So that pretty much wraps up this episode. Um, do you guys want to go ahead and let people know where they can find you on socials and all of that jazz? And then we'll go ahead and get out of here.
01:22:47
Speaker
You can find me on social media at megasmat. We just ordered warm weather fans stickers. um We're going to come up with a plan on how you could win slash get yourself one. um So stay tuned for that on our social media, but they look really dope.
01:23:11
Speaker
Uh, I'm on Twitter at Zeke Palermo, Z E K E P A L E R M O. Will Hall. We hear you might be looking for work. We need an editor. And it sounds like you might be qualified for that more so than you are for coaching. Damn.
01:23:32
Speaker
So hit me up there, Will. I'm awaiting your DM. another Another person who might be free soon to ah to become an editor because I don't think the pro thing's gonna work out. Grayson McCall, if you wanna come on and edit, you know cut ah cut us up into little TikTok shorts, you'd save me a hell of a lot of time.
01:23:53
Speaker
Um, you can find the show on x at warm weather fans You can email questions comments, whatever you want into the show warm weather fans at gmail dot.com We are on youtube. Check out check us out there Uh, you can find me personally on x at watch the stone We will be back next week to go over all of the games. We just talked about and look ahead For week six, this has been warm weather fans the sunbelt podcast