Transcript
Cody Atkinson: Hello and welcome to the Coastal Launch Sports Talk. I'm Cody coming to you from the bayous of Houston, Texas.
Justin Daulton: And I'm Justin coming to you from the magic of Orlando, Florida.
Cody Atkinson: And today we will be your destination for the college football previews. That's right. We are finally getting back to our college football previews after a few week break to soak in the MLB trade deadline. As we talk today, we are only 19 days away from week zero kickoff. So probably closer to 26 days till your favorite team kicks off unless you're lucky enough to root for a team playing in week zero. So to catch up with our schedule, we will be previewing both the Big 12 and the ACC. Join us today and find out who we think will reign supreme as the third best conference. in college football in 2026. So with our trajectory set, it's time to sit back, lock in and get started with the rundown. This is the Coastal Launch and we are ready for liftoff here on episode 27.
Justin Daulton: All right, man. ah Who's playing week zero? andt even I have not even looked to see what week zero lineup looks like this year. Do you know?
Cody Atkinson: the the big The big Ireland game this year is TCU, North Carolina. And then I think there's a couple of fun small ones in there.
Justin Daulton: Okay.
Cody Atkinson: I think North Dakota State makes their FBS debut week zero. And i think Sacramento State might also make its debut. So you got to go digging um after – if I recall, you got to go digging after UNC-TCU.
Cody Atkinson: But there's definitely some stuff you can – get interested in, I'm definitely excited to see what North Dakota State does in their very first ah FBS appearance. So you got to be a little bit of a degenerate to to care after UNCTCU, but that's why I'm here.
Justin Daulton: it we should ah We should talk about ah when we get to football season, our degenerate bet of the week on one game a week that we'd be willing to put money on just for the fun of it.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. I mean, I have to to preface mine by saying I don't actually bet.
Justin Daulton: But... ah
Cody Atkinson: So you're taking the bet of someone who has nothing on the line, but I'll i'll give you one.
Justin Daulton: Hey, I dabbled last year. i made I made a little bit of money here and there.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: so But we do gamble at least once a year we're fantasy football.
Cody Atkinson: There you go.
Justin Daulton: So like that is a gamble every single year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, that's true.
Justin Daulton: so But we can talk about on on the pod after we do the draft here in a couple weeks. We can talk to tell everyone who we drafted this year and kind of what we're hoping to pull off this year as we maybe expand to a different format with the league this year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, hopefully.
Justin Daulton: though.
Cody Atkinson: We'll see.
Justin Daulton: Hopefully. But alright, let's hop into the rundown. Very short and sweet rundown this week for for all y'all listening out there. But it since we only had a couple days in between episodes, the only really big thing that's happened since we last recorded was the Hall of Fame game happened between the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers.
Justin Daulton: And Cody, admittedly on the pod, we did talk about this game last week, but we trashed it because it's the Hall of Fame game and it's always terrible. And Haynes King, former Texas A&M Aggie, decided to make it a ball game for all intents and purposes.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: I know you got to watch it. I got to watch a little bit of it on my way home from work. But what what were your what were your thoughts from the Hall of fame game?
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I watched bits and pieces of it. i expected to watch absolutely none of it. I realized, was like, oh, you know what, the game's on, the Astros aren't playing tonight. Like, I'll put it on for a few minutes. I put it on just in time to see Carson Beck playing like an absolute animal.
Cody Atkinson: He was throwing absolute dots the moment I turned the game on.
Justin Daulton: Yeah. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: i' was like, oh, this is cool. Like, I got to first look at Carson Beck, so I'll leave this on for a bit as long as he stays in the game. I think he played the rest of the game. And then, unbeknownst to me, former A&M future of the position, Haynes King comes in playing for Carolina, did not know he was on Carolina, didn't even think ever about
Justin Daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: Whether or not he had made it as an undrafted free agent into the NFL. And then he starts having some fun. They they play the the position very, very differently. Carson Beck, much more mechanical, much more traditional in just the way he was laying the ball all over and then Haynes King just being an absolute weirdo out there running around all over the field throwing the guys that are yeah yeah dude he's he's yeah exactly I think people people always say like Brent Key uh his his college coach is a former offensive lineman so he got himself an offensive lineman at quarterback because that's how Haynes King plays the position just running people over um and doing nothing according to the way it should be done and and getting results and that's what he did for Carolina was it was fun man I've
Justin Daulton: An absolute dog.
Cody Atkinson: i I think it's that simple, right? Like I'm not, I think Haynes King ended up getting hurt. It's a shame on his, I think on that winning play, he got hurt. So now they've got a, went and got a different backup for future preseason games.
Cody Atkinson: I think there's a place for Haynes King in the NFL, um you know, as a locker room guy, as a, as an end of the bench guy, um I'm not going to take too much away from the game or overanalyze it, but,
Cody Atkinson: Watching Carson Beck play three quarters and Haynes King played two and a half was fun. So thank you to Carolina and Arizona for for letting those guys play and not not giving us garbage for 45 minutes.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I think someone clipped out a Carson Beck throw um that he threaded between double coverage down the down the sideline on the left-hand side. But the clip out was that if Carson Beck completes his pass in the national championship game, Miami Hurricanes win the national championship.
Justin Daulton: And then they paired it directly up with the pass that got intercepted, which was the final play of the game. And it was identical, like double, like the defenders were in the same place.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: He just underthrew them in the national championship game. So he's one throw away from probably being what he was a third round pick for Arizona, like third or second round pick. Right.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, he early third, I'm pretty sure.
Justin Daulton: But, i mean, if he completes that pass, he's probably a a late first round. Like, the first round, you know, our talent this year wasn't very deep at quarterback. So you're probably talking about someone buys in on it if he completes that pass in the national championship game and wins national championship.
Justin Daulton: So it's it's funny the you know what we can kind of see, especially Carson Beck, who was the journeyman through you know through his college career and all that stuff. But not as much as Haynes King, obviously. But, yeah, shout-out to char outta Arizona and Carolina for actually putting on an absolutely good performance in the Hall of Fame game. And, you know, good to see Haynes King out there balling.
Justin Daulton: I did see a report today from Adam Schefter that he's basically already played himself onto the roster for Carolina and that there's talks of him filling in like almost like a Taysom Hill type of roster spot going forward, which I think is very fitting for Haynes King that kind of a jumbo package can catch a pass.
Cody Atkinson: No, that's good.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: You can run, you can put on a wildcat type of situation. And, you know, maybe even save Bryce Young some yards on ah on his body and maybe keep him healthy through the season because he's been injury prone through his first three years.
Justin Daulton: So maybe that maybe that helps him out. And Gaines King is definitely a more physical player going forward. But, but yeah, I'm with you, man.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: It was fun to to see, eight football, real football play being played again, but also the fact that it it was a good game because usually that's a game that I turn off after, like, halfway through the second quarter and I go do something else.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah. I think you said it said it right by saying real football, right? now The Hall of Fame game isn't normally doesn't normally feel like real football, but this one absolutely did. And it was fun to watch.
Justin Daulton: yeah absolutely but i'm with you man with no reason to overanalyze it just the fact that uh we got we got real football um to talk about finally and we're what preseason is uh week one is this week so it's uh we're here you know we got when i think we played three preseason games alan then we'll be in
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: but take the week off in between and we get into regular seasons of football so we're on the precipice i will get my one texans bid in there before we move on to the next topic. there It was seen the last two days of practices after practice was done.
Justin Daulton: Will Anderson Jr. not happy with the defense making the team run gas with them day one they weren't happy because they allowed cj shard on the offense to drive down and get a field goal so he was unhappy with that uh day two he was just not happy in general because it's will anderson jr um so uh defense already in psychotic mode so i think that speaks for volumes where this team is going to be week one and uh if i was josh allen i would to have nightmares starting today uh based off of how will anderson jr is leading this defense going forward
Cody Atkinson: no
Cody Atkinson: you
Cody Atkinson: he He should be having nightmares based on what they've already done to him multiple times over. If if it gets any better, he's he's in a world of hurt.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I think the what I saw today out of camp was that Williamson Jr. got a sack, Daniel Hunter got a sack, and Jadavion Connie all got a sack today on CJ Stroup, and he still wasn't happy with their performance.
Justin Daulton: So i watch out either.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. That's the good news, bad news, right? Like we need CJ Stroud upright to have the confidence, but at the same time, you can't really, there's no way you should expect this offensive line to compete with that defensive line.
Cody Atkinson: It's just not fair.
Justin Daulton: No. I mean, it's the mantra that D'Amico's had, right? Iron, sharpens iron. Like, if you're playing against the best, like, Ariantair, so you saw it throughout last season, got better every single week because what is he doing on the other side?
Justin Daulton: He's going against Will Anderson Jr. He's going against Daniel Hunter. And then you talk about what is Rutledge going to do? He's going to go against Jadavion Clowney. He's going to go against McDonald. Like, you're going against the best guys on the other side. Like it's your, own the offensive line is not going to be an issue as long as these guys perform to their potential because they're going against the best defensive line and in the national football league.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: So, but I just want to get a little bit
Cody Atkinson: just Just want to see a little improvement there. i I just want enough improvement so that when we get to week one, Stroud's not freaking out about who's about to sack him because he kept getting hit by Will Henderson.
Cody Atkinson: That's all.
Justin Daulton: as long as well As long as Will Anderson Jr. is not on the other side of the ball, I think CJ Stroud should be just fine. But who knows if there's another Will Anderson Jr.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: like that in the league, which I i don't think there's another player like Anderson Jr. in this league. so And I might catch some flack from that on the internet, but I i think Will Anderson Jr. is the best defensive player in the in the and National Football League.
Justin Daulton: And that's an early bet for me that he was defensive player of the year this year. So...
Cody Atkinson: All right, think you got your first degenerate bet of the season right there.
Justin Daulton: ah
Justin Daulton: I mean, the only thing that stops him Miles Garrett breaks a record again, which, I mean, if Aaron Donald goes back in very well, you know, you never know what that's going to happen.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, then he might.
Justin Daulton: If Aaron Donald goes back in at any point during this regular season, we might be a Rams and Texans Super Bowl just based off the defenses alone.
Cody Atkinson: I will say, um and in our like first ever episode, early predictions, I said Rams, and that's looking a real good stuff.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, no, I i like the Rams team a lot. So i definitely I'm definitely with you. That's going to be a fun division to watch with the with the Seahawks this year.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: And depending on what Carson Beck and the Cardinals can do, because they have the best tight end in football as well out there. But all right, man, let's pivot off of football for a little bit because we we have a lot of football to talk later. um I'm going to kick it to you, man. we get let's talk Let's talk the Houston Astros, man. What's what's going on in H-Town?
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, i'll keep I'll keep this pretty short. Like I said, there's only been like five five games since we last or five days since we last talked. I think the Astros have played four in that period. So if if we look at last week, going back to Monday, a trade deadline ends on Monday. We talked about it Wednesday. Very, very disappointing. The Astros only made one trade.
Cody Atkinson: I wasn't a huge fan of giving up control for a rental, but you can understand where Erragetti didn't have a place on his team for the rest of the year. So if you're trying to win now, sure.
Cody Atkinson: ah But but that in no way, shape or form could that have been your only move. And it it feels like those vibes have carried over from the deadline. You know how there's like some teams, they go they go crazy. And then they go on a run after the deadline because they have the vibes of the front office believes in us.
Cody Atkinson: We got these new dudes, what could go wrong? And they go on a run. The Astros fans reaction was very um dejected by how little they did at the deadline. um Obviously we can never know for sure what the clubhouse reacted to, but the place since then has been consistent with the Astros fans reaction, right? They, they,
Cody Atkinson: They lost two of three to the Blue Jays Thursday off. They lost two of three to the Padres this weekend. As we speak right now, they have just started a series with San Francisco Giants.
Cody Atkinson: So one that you really feel like you should win because it's one of the worst teams in baseball. But if they don't find a way to win this series, it feels like it could snowball and get ugly real fast. and We talked about it before the deadline. I felt like this was a team that wasn't a trade deadline away from being a World Series competitor, but they went on a run. And when they went on that run, you can't sell. like you They were two and a half games up in the division, nine and one in their last 10. was a team you had to invest in.
Cody Atkinson: But in the back of your head, there was always the wonder of, was is this the team or was this a two-week stretch? and And the way they're playing right now has you feeling like it's – that was a two-week stretch, and this is still a team with a lot of holes that you didn't do enough to repair, and you will you know reap the real reward of of not either either not making the playoffs or not making it far once you get there. We'll see. It's only it's only six games, but for the –
Cody Atkinson: The deadline itself to have been a disappointment and then you come out and lose your first two series after it really felt like the team was carrying the energy of the deadline forward. And so we've got to hope they can turn that around.
Cody Atkinson: But yeah, that that two and a half game game lead dropped to half a game to to the Rangers. And, you know, we'll we'll see if they can turn it around and hold on or or if this becomes a if the stretch run becomes more about the the triple crown than the playoffs.
Justin Daulton: Do you think it becomes a three-team race ultimately down the line, or is it still going to be – do you think Astros fall out of it as more wild card approach and it's a Mariners and Rangers down the stretch?
Cody Atkinson: No, I think if anybody falls out of it right now, it's the Mariners. They've had an even worse reaction to the deadline. I think the Mariners quietly, let me let me double check this. let me pull this up on my phone because last I checked, they they were like seven games under 500 now.
Cody Atkinson: And they were behind the likes of the Orioles and the Tigers.
Justin Daulton: OK.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: Well, they also just got swept by Tampa, a little teaser into what what we're about to talk about with the Rays.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. So they're like 56 and 63.
Justin Daulton: OK.
Cody Atkinson: Um, they sit behind. so if you look at the wild, not only are they behind the Astros and the Rangers or three and a half games back of the Rangers, they're behind the blue Jays, the Orioles, the guardians, the tigers and twins.
Cody Atkinson: Um, they are only in front of Kansas city, Oakland, formerly Oakland and, and Los Angeles. So I think if anyone's out, it's Seattle and you're looking at a two team race between Texas and Houston that, um, you know, I'm not necessarily confident that Houston will win it, but you know, that's been my stance on this team the whole season. And they've definitely done plenty of proving me right and plenty of proving me wrong. So we'll see, um, you know, how they end it.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, absolutely.
Cody Atkinson: But yeah, I think if anyone falls out, it's it's Seattle may have already started that.
Justin Daulton: Okay, good to know. Yeah, I mean, they looked really bad against Tampa over the last couple of days, so it's...
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, i think i i think they have the Yankees is well who they're playing right after y'all. So ah it was it was against Tampa. down and Then they think they have New York. And then I think they play the Astros. And so they if they don't If they don't turn it back on, you could you could see them being well under 500 and well out of the race before we even hit the peak of August.
Justin Daulton: Yeah. Crazy. Crazy to think from where they were a year ago to potentially not even making the playoffs is a crazy spot for them to be in.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I mean, yeah, then i mean them and the Blue Jays, right? Those were the top two in the AL last year, and neither one of them has rebounded from there from their loss very well.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, absolutely. All man, let's shift over to Tampa real quick so we can get to to the heart of what this episode is going to be. um Since we spoke last, the Rays are now on a six-game win streak, two straight sweeps, one against Colorado, which was expected.
Justin Daulton: And then, as we just talked to talked about, the Seattle Mariners also, a sweep of Tampa. i think you talked about it just in your segment there where the when the when the clubhouse buys into what the management is doing,
Justin Daulton: is exactly what happened with Tampa. You know, we talked about Hicks coming into into the building, right? And it immediately, first game in there, hitting a home run, you know, being a big bat for for the for the lineup. He's hitting right behind, he's setting up Camonero. So Camonero is now the the pure cleanup guy, the prototypical cleanup hitter, right?
Justin Daulton: But he's you can't walk Hicks because you're going to get to Camonero. So what are you going to And if you ever flip him around, you can't walk Camonero you're going to Hicks, just for that where the lineup will you know kind of falls.
Justin Daulton: But then you're you're looking at a ah a situation where not just Hicks, but you're looking at the the whole roster and the lineup kind of coming into into focus.
Justin Daulton: We're seeing Chandler Simpson being the the everyday left fielder. You're seeing... i the name going escape me, but, uh, the center field that we've been running out there last couple of games.
Justin Daulton: Uh, but we also have a good platoon of right filters that are actually making an an impact on this roster now and turning it over. Tonight we're starting DeLuca in center field. And that's like not an everyday guy. Like what we're obviously on a back to back. We were at Seattle yesterday. We're in, uh,
Justin Daulton: where they played Sacramento now for for the athletics.
Cody Atkinson: Sacramento, yeah.
Justin Daulton: So we're on a back-to-back, which might explain why we're losing tonight because you're on a back-to-back, which out when you're already on the West Coast as an East Coast team is already so difficult to play out West. And then you're a back-to-back. But, I mean, top of the seventh, it's 3-1 right now against the athletics, so there's still a very good chance. that And there's two two two runners on right now for the for the race. So definitely still a chance to come back.
Justin Daulton: You and I, before we hit go, we kind of looked into Freddie Peralta Today's his second start with the Rays. The first one he got banged up a little bit out there in Colorado. And you and I were like, well, is that just more of a, you know, a reflection of just in your first pitching appearance in Tampa is in mile high, which is not good for any pitcher.
Justin Daulton: And then today he gives up two home runs, so three earn runs so far and in the game. So definitely settling into the the system that Tampa has. Three runs is better than the seven that or the five that he putt up in the first game. So definitely an improvement, but it's good to see that. And then if you, yeah a standings update, we are five and a half up on New York.
Justin Daulton: The Boston Red Sox finally decided to lose baseball games and will have lost three in a row now. And so we are up seven and a half on them. so and then your wild card, as you just referred to, is now the Yankees, Red Sox, and then the Rangers in that first wild card spot at 500.
Justin Daulton: or the last wildfire spot is the Rangers at 500 with the White Sox and then the Houston Astros being the other two division winners. So definitely something to watch, but I mean, this is a real opportunity and you and I talked about it for what it feels like the last two months, right?
Justin Daulton: There will come a point where there will be separation and it looks like we're finally in that point where the Yankees still haven't really pieced it together. The Red Sox, were hot and now it could be tips potentially cooling down. a lot of raised radio around town as' been talking about like the losing streak is coming. You just got to weather the storm.
Justin Daulton: And this truly is the beginning of that losing streak. Like you can see the Red Sox falling out of the conversation and really becoming raised Yankees down the stretch, but it might just be the Yankees need to be comfortable with the wild card and,
Justin Daulton: you know The Rays are you're the road of the the American League goes through St. Petersburg and in the trough, which I know the MLB hates that, that it's going to run through the trough, but it's going to run through the trough with the way that it looks. And what the second best record in baseball right now is the Tampa Rays.
Justin Daulton: you know, just got kind of weather the storm through, you know, the couple of injuries that we have getting McClanahan back here in the next week, cause he was on the 10 day DL. And then Griffin Jackson also got placed on the 10 day DL with elbow discomfort.
Justin Daulton: Hopefully his second opinion in Texas comes up positive and he he can pitch again this season and, you know, get back and ready to go for the playoffs. So this rotation actually ends up being, you know, Nick me Martinez, Drew Rasmussen, Freddie Peralta, Shane McClanahan, Griffin Jackson, like,
Justin Daulton: That's a really good five-man rotation to go into, you know, September and October and hopefully a nice deep run into into October. And we're talking about a Tampa team that has a good chance at, you know, potentially holding up the commissioner's trophy here in a couple months.
Cody Atkinson: That would be crazy, dude. In a season that's going to lead to a lockout because the Dodgers spent all the money in the world and then spent more money to get Tarek Skubal, how funny would it be to watch the Rays be the ones that hold up the trophy?
Justin Daulton: It would be so poetic to what we're, what's going to happen over the next year. Like it's, it's, it's pure insanity, but I think so many major league baseball fans would celebrate it because anything but the Dodgers or the Yankees winning right now will lead to so much happiness.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, no it it would be it would be one of the wildest experiences. We would still get a lockout and there's a chance that you could be World Series champions for for two years running.
Cody Atkinson: um But the celebration of of watching the team not only the celebration of watching the team with without a payroll when the win the World Series, but also just the the the back and forth debate as some people try to use that as justification for keeping the system the way it is. and others are like yeah Others argue that the lockout should still occur. It would be utter chaos. I would be here for It it would be a ton of fun. um It's no surprise the Rays are off to a hot start after the trade deadline when you when you make the moves that they made.
Cody Atkinson: um you're you're gonna get buy-in from the players the players worked their worked their tails off to get to the deadline and be in a position where you could could buy and you know obviously they missed out on the scoobal um opportunity like we've discussed before but but rebounded incredible with uh peralta liam hicks and and i think there was uh i think there was one or two more um sprinkled in there as well. you No surprise at all.
Cody Atkinson: A lot of these teams tell you what they think about the deadline in the in the in the days and weeks that follow. And um the Rays are very happy with it. So are the fans. And I wouldn't, I wouldn't,
Cody Atkinson: I wouldn't dwell on Peralta too much yet because now that we we think about it, met mile high is is a tough place to start your career at a new team, but going from mile high to a minor league ballpark in Sacramento doesn't help you either.
Justin Daulton: Yeah. Jeff?
Justin Daulton: yeah
Cody Atkinson: I'd have to see, i'd have to see the the stat cast on some of those home runs, but those minor league ballparks will have a lot of unicorns. So, you know, those may not have been crushed.
Cody Atkinson: They may have, been wind assisted and just just found their way out.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I don't put a lot of stock in it When you look at players that go to Tampa, regy it takes them a little bit to adjust to the system. right Liam Hicks being the anomaly right that he was able to like slide right into the system and know exactly what needs to be done. So, yeah, I fully expect Freddie Paul to as we get back to Tampa here in, I think, about a half a week or so.
Justin Daulton: I think once he gets back, he's already a clubhouse guy. highly I think we talked about last week that he was already seen talking with Yandy on the bench. He's involved in the home run tunnels. like he's like He's very much already buying into the culture in Tampa, which only leads to good things when he starts when you start talking about the pitching staff and when you know we start talking about Rasmussen being the leader on that all that all that rotation.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: You see what we've been able to do with Martinez this season and McClanahan coming back and maybe not looking like an all-star McClanahan that we saw, what, three, four years ago. When you're looking at a McClanahan that looks like he can be that good four or five guy that we talked about earlier this year.
Justin Daulton: you get Griffin Jacks, the young guy to come in there and be the number five guy. Like you, you're starting to talk about a fully fleshed out rotation that Freddie Peralta doesn't need to be the ace because you have Martinez and Rasmussen in front of you.
Justin Daulton: You can just be that number three guy that, Hey, if I get five solid innings out of, out of Peralta and you hand it to the league's best bullpen, like you feel pretty good about what you're going to get out of, out of a playoff of appearance on on, this race team.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, it's it's a much lower bar to clear Tampa, given what's around him than it was when he was in New York or even Milwaukee before that.
Justin Daulton: The other name,
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: Yeah. Also, the two names in the outfield, because I wanted to make sure I i didn't miss them. Cedric Mullins was the center fielder. He's the everyday center fielder. Victor Mesa Jr. was the guy last week that I was referring to that's really come onto the scene. And a lot of Tampa radio and Tampa personalities this week has really been talking about a potential Randy Orozarena-esque type playoff run from Victor Mesa Jr. coming up because he just has that same type of energy.
Justin Daulton: uh around them so um also as of as we were talking there the race put on the road on the board so this might be a ball game as we as we kind of continue on with this podcast
Cody Atkinson: As you were telling me the Rays put a run on the board, the Astros put a run on the board. So it's a solid, solid moment for the pod there.
Justin Daulton: nice
Justin Daulton: There we go. But yeah, man, excited for the next couple of months for Tampa, man. It's going to be good, but especially if the Yankees continue to kind of play 500 ball for the next month or so, kind of what they've been playing recently. And if the Red Sox do fall out of this race and you kind of start looking at the Rangers being the the third spot, you start seeing the Guardians start creeping back up there. They've been really good since the deadline as well. So...
Justin Daulton: you know and Maybe you start talking about more of that AL Central because it's not coming from the AL West. so you know Maybe you start looking at the AL Central to really be a two or three team race. and Maybe it is Detroit that got a lot of young pieces back for Scoobble and Mays. you know so Maybe there is a good chance that you see a Detroit team kind of squeak in there, which would be wild for a team that's sold can sneak back in there.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, no, quietly Detroit has not lost ground since they since they sold. So um I still feel like that's definitely a team. that I'm not saying they're going to. I think there's still a lot they have to do, but they're they're definitely a team that could still find their them sneaking into the the final wildcard spot while getting better for the future at the trade deadline.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, absolutely.
Cody Atkinson: All right, we ready for some breakdowns here?
Justin Daulton: Well, man, I feel pretty good about baseball. Let's talk about some Big 12 football.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, let's talk about it. We're gonna start with the 12 today. We got Big 12 and ACC previews. for the So I tried to keep the same kind of format we did for the Pac-12 here. The Pac-12, we started with this idea of what's new.
Cody Atkinson: And for the Pac-12, that was you know six was six or eight new schools, a new format with their flex week.
Justin Daulton: be.
Cody Atkinson: You don't really get that with these major conferences right now. there' There's not anything new about the way, at least not that I'm aware of, about the way that the Big 12 is doing their schedule, about the teams in the Big 12. But we live in the transfer portal era, so there is a lot new.
Cody Atkinson: about what will impact the performance of these teams so what i've done here is we're going to start with what's new i'm going to tell you notable new quarterbacks this is exclusive to transfers i tried to ignore like the starter went off to the nfl and his backup is taking over that's I tried to kind of avoid that. I'm going, these are new quarterbacks. They didn't they did not play for their team last year. um And I've also got new coaches, head coaches exclusively. I'm not looking at OCs or DCs. These are new head coaches. So notable new quarterbacks to the Big 12. We have Michael Hawkins Jr. ah Probably know the name. He was...
Cody Atkinson: the backup to john mature at ou last year has transferred from ou to west virginia so west virginia's got themselves a new quarterback jc french starter at georgia southern last year is taking over for the much maligned brendan soarsby at cincinnati uh so cincinnati goes to the lower tier to bring a guy up Cutter Bolley from Kentucky to Arizona State. That's a big one. Just given Kenny Dillingham's track record with developing quarterbacks, that's a big one.
Cody Atkinson: Jalen Rayner. This was probably the one that I was least familiar with. Jalen Rayner from Arkansas State comes up to play ah for iowa for Iowa State. Alonzo Barnett III. You probably recognize his name. He was a quarterback for the playoff bound James Madison last year. He is...
Cody Atkinson: Moving his talents to UCF. So he's coming to your backyard, Justin, if you want to get a ah close look at this guy this year. Very good season for James Madison last year. We have Jayden Craig coming from Harvard to TCU, a step up in football competition, a step down in academic prestige. We got DJ Lagway from Florida to Baylor. And then maybe the most recognizable QB transfer here, we have Drew Mestemaker coming from North Texas to Oklahoma State.
Cody Atkinson: Is there anything you want to say on these quarterbacks before I dive into the coaches here?
Justin Daulton: No, because what I want to say is going to lead it to the the next category that we start talking about.
Cody Atkinson: All right, right. New coaches, ah very familiar to us. We've Colin Klein taking over at Kansas State. He was the A&M offensive coordinator last year. Previous Kansas State coach retired. Everyone knows Colin Klein. Heisman candidate a quarterback at Kansas State returns to his alma mater. We have Morgan Scali taking over at Utah. He's been the coach in waiting. At Utah, the defensive coordinator coach and coach I'm waiting for a long time. Previous coach Whittingham retired and then took the Michigan job. So that was a very weird, i guess he didn't technically retire. He stepped down and then he took the Michigan job weeks later. it was very, very weird, weird transition there.
Cody Atkinson: But Morgan Scali taking over at Utah. We've got Jimmy Rogers taking over Iowa State. He was the head coach at Washington State for one season. after spending 10 years at San Diego State, two of which he was the head coach. So he he made his way up from grad assistant to head coach at San Diego State, one year at Washington State. Now he's at Iowa State taking over for Matt Campbell, who took the Penn State job.
Cody Atkinson: And then the big one, this is tied to Drew Mestemaker. This is Eric Morris, the man who found Drew Mestemaker, was the head coach at North Texas. comes over to Oklahoma State upon the firing and subsequent retiring of Mike Gundy. So one of these situations, I believe only one is a coach quarterback combo moving together to the new school. And that's Eric Morris and Drew Mestemaker. So what what what what do you got that you that you wanted to wait for the coaches to say?
Justin Daulton: No, I think in general, just it's a segue into the i think to the favorite sleeper is bust category. But I think ultimately, yeah let's just rip the bandaid off.
Cody Atkinson: Okay. Yes, sir. yeah
Justin Daulton: Let's go. um I think the sleeper, and I don't think this is a sleeper in regards to someone that can potentially win it all. But I think it's there's not enough traction and not enough buzz around Barnett coming from JMU to UCF.
Justin Daulton: UCF had a really good defense last year. and Obviously, Big 12 football is Big 12 football, but UCF has been it has been a program for for the last decade plus to have a really good defense. They just haven't had the offense to really put enough points on the board or or when it matters the most to be able to do what needs to be done.
Justin Daulton: But Alonzo Barnett is a good quarterback coming into this system. So pair up pairff with a, I think was a top, I want to say top 30, top 40 defense in the nation last year.
Justin Daulton: So this team is primed to make a jump in the Big 12, but I'm not in a position enough to say that they're going to jump into the favorites category. I still think you're going to be talking, you know, Texas Tech, your BYUs, your Houston Cougars.
Justin Daulton: i think those are the three favorites i may be on the al when it comes to houston Maybe you might agree with me with Houston a little bit, but I think there's a good chance that UCF jumps up into a different category this year from that bottom tier that we've seen them, honestly, for the last five-ish years.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: I think there's a good chance that you see this UCF team jump up to that mid-tier and potentially maybe pulling some upsets on these on these upper echelon teams in the Big 12.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, a UCF not getting a lot of of discussion right now. um To your point, Alonzo Barnett, really good season. He's a winner coming from a winning culture. He's going to UCF where Coach Scott Frost is back.
Cody Atkinson: The best years UCF has had as a programmer with Scott Frost.
Justin Daulton: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: I'm not here to say that someone leaving and then coming back, they're going pick up where they left off, right? Year one was a definite disappointment. But you also saw enough flashes um to to to say that a guy like Alonzo Barnett could be the difference between um but between what they accomplished last year and and and being a legitimate contender in the Big 12.
Cody Atkinson: I agree with you. I think the top is, is, you know, it's tech. I think it's mostly tech and BYU, in my opinion. you could, you could convince me Arizona state just based off of Kenny Dillingham as a coach.
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: um I'll hear you out on Houston. I think I'm not as sold on Houston, but I have a, some of these teams in the big 12, I have difficulty placing because I,
Cody Atkinson: um generally I can see a team like Houston and I can think they aren't an amazing football team. um like Like I can see them and I can say that they're they're capped. They have a ceiling because Connor Wegmans are quarterback. I've watched him play for a very long time. I don't think he has that in him, but then I can still say they're competitive for the conference because i I look around the conference and I say, there's not anyone at the level that they need to be for me to throw Houston away. Right? Like,
Cody Atkinson: Texas Tech, sure, but we don't know what their quarterback position is going to be. BYU, I am actually a big fan of the coach and the quarterback combo, but it's like two teams, right? So Houston can be a team that I think is – above average, but lacks elite talent. And I think they could still go for a run in this conference because it's it's open. It's it, I think the conference lacks elite, you know?
Justin Daulton: Right.
Cody Atkinson: But that that's been my stance for a while. And I feel like I was proven right by the way tech performed against Oregon, but I don't think the rest of the country looks at it that way necessarily. So I'm with you on UCF could be, it could be a big sleeper. I don't know that they jump into the top four.
Cody Atkinson: to like you said, but, but definitely a team to, to keep an eye out on coach coming back and, and a really good quarterback who knows how to win. He came from a winning culture.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I think there's something to be said about having natural progressions in these lower tier conferences that we're going to talk about, at least amongst of the Power Four, right? When you start talking about Big 12 ACC kind of being on the outs between SEC and the Big Ten.
Justin Daulton: So I think there's there's something to be said about just having a natural progression, you know. competing with tech with oil money is not going to happen for a UCF, right? There's no big name boosters that's going to come in and drop, you know, hey, here's $5 million, dollars go get the best quarterback, go get a Brendan Sorsby, right?
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: You're not going to get that at a UCF. So I think there is something to be said about this natural progression that you're going to see from a UCF over the next couple of years that it's going to be fun to watch. I think there's a lot of potential there.
Justin Daulton: the people love coming and watching football games here in Orlando because it's the bounce house and it feels like the stadium's moving. So it's a lot of credit towards kind of like what you get at A&M when we start to sway at A&M and it's, you feel like the stadium's just moving underneath you because of the swaying.
Justin Daulton: Like people swear that the bounce house is jumping up and down with you when you're when you're in that stadium. I need to go and experience it for myself. So maybe I can squeeze that in sometime this year, go out there and watch a game. But, you know, there's something to be said about that natural progression that you're you're going to see it from a UCF, I think, this year, honestly.
Justin Daulton: But we can move over to Houston because I think there's some – I don't have names for you.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: I'm not a names guy for this conference, as we will as we get into next week in the following week when we start talking about Big Ten and SEC. But I think there's something outside of Wegman. that this team has shown that they can win big games.
Justin Daulton: They just haven't won big games. And if there's a year to do it, A, Tech may not have a quarterback worth than you anything because we don't who knows what's going to happen with him this year.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: because we really thought that was to be Swarovski all season all all season long. So, you know, can you look at a Wegman to pull an upset or two? And now you're talking about a Houston team being in a conversation with a BYU, with a Texas Tech.
Justin Daulton: I think they have Tech. I don't think they have BYU on their schedule. Someone can fact check me on that. So you have a kind of favorable schedule where you're not getting the top two, as Cody begins to fact check me on scheduling it here.
Justin Daulton: ah I know they play one of the two. I don't think they play both of them.
Cody Atkinson: they do play and I know they play Tech because that's like Tech's toughest game is a is Houston.
Justin Daulton: So...
Justin Daulton: yeah I know Tech has the best schedule in the conference. But I don't think Houston has both of them.
Cody Atkinson: ah Houston has Tech Week 3. They got UCF, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Utah, Cincinnati, Colorado, West Virginia. Yep, no BYU. And and to to that end, no Arizona State either as a team we also named towards the top.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, Selmy did.
Justin Daulton: Right. So, i mean, you're talking about a pretty favorable schedule if you can squeak past, if you can squeak past, you know, Tech, you know, you may lose the Tech, but if you run the gauntlet from there, you're talking about ah a Houston team that gets a rematch opportunity against Tech in the Big 12 championship, right?
Justin Daulton: Obviously, BYU is still a factor.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: I know. So you got to figure out what that looks like. And, you know, and the tiebreakers, I know the Big 12 has the most convoluted, tiebreaker of all the of all the power four conferences so you know what does that look like in in terms of you know going forward but i think houston you know if there's a time to do it this is it like weggman's gonna put a stamp on a program this is the year to do it but they return a lot of pieces um into houston this year they got a good defense so it's it's gonna very similar to the professional team in houston
Justin Daulton: It's going to fall on the shoulders of of of the quarterback, and if they if he can take the step forward, I think this is a team that you can look at in the Big 12 to make some noise, but it's going to come down to that tech game and what you can do going forward.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, and I think this is a good example of why I have difficulty discussing the Big 12 at times because like I can believe there's a cap on Houston this year because of what I've seen from Connor Wegman and where I believe his ceiling is.
Cody Atkinson: But then we can also look at the schedule like we just did and I can say, even though I think there's a cap on Wegman, Houston's still a team that can compete for the conference because they just have to get through Tech in week three.
Cody Atkinson: And then I, even with believing they have a ceiling, I think they're favored in every game from that point forward personally. You know what i mean?
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: So like, I can believe they have a ceiling and I can still believe that that that ceiling is enough to compete for the conference if a couple things break right. Like if Tech struggles at quarterback more than than people think and if they catch BYU on the right day or or if BYU's struggling because their coach almost left in the offseason to go to Penn State. like you know there's there's There's things you could see where like, yeah, I think Houston could compete for the conference, but I also don't believe that Houston has the elite, has that next level to like if they did compete for the conference, I do i would not expect a great showing in the playoffs. You know what i mean?
Justin Daulton: Sure, sure, yeah, absolutely.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, but absolutely. i think they could compete. on To your point, so we're talking sleepers right now. um It sounds like you're one of your sleepers for a mid-tier sleeper is UCF, but also you think Houston could be a compete for the conference sleeper.
Cody Atkinson: I...
Justin Daulton: and Yeah, I do, yeah.
Cody Atkinson: I'm going to throw out a team. I don't know. I'm going to say their peak is also compete for the conference sleeper, but but maybe a step below Houston. rightly I think a little more has to break their way than has to break their way for Houston.
Cody Atkinson: Also, the thing i want to say about Houston, I feel like next year is better for Houston because they signed a five-star team. It's not like a five-star QB who's the backup this year. I feel I love Willie Fritz. I feel like they're – once they get past Wegman, I feel like that's when I'm to start believing in in the sky's the limit for them.
Cody Atkinson: But the team I'm going to talk about is TCU, which I think can be a little controversial because they lost quarterback Josh huover Hoover to defending national champion Indiana.
Justin Daulton: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: um but but let let me let me give you three reasons why i think they could do it one sunny dykes was the coach that led them to the playoffs s not but a few years ago so he is capable of of doing that two they did lose hoover to indiana but and sunny dykes has said this in public uh josh hoover hoover was too turnover prone he had 13 think it was i think i saw On ESPN, I saw 13 interceptions. Somewhere else, I saw them saying he had 15 interceptions and five fumbles last year.
Cody Atkinson: He had over 30 interceptions in his three-year career at TCU. And they're bringing in Jaden Craig, a guy from Harvard that, you know, for whatever limitations he may end up having physically, he's going to be able to process the field.
Cody Atkinson: And he only threw seven interceptions last year. So if he's a guy who who understands taking chances when to take them and how to take them at a level better than Josh Hoover, than then you could see an improvement in what TCU wants their quarterback to be, even if Josh who Hoover is the clearly more talented player. And then the other thing is that TCU's strength, their returning strength is not in skill positions, it's in the trenches.
Cody Atkinson: And I'm still just a person who believes that the trenches is where you win the games. That's where I want to see the team built inside out from the trenches out to the skill positions. And and so what where TCU is replacing players is at the skill positions where they're returning talent is at the in the trenches. And I think you can see them take a big step this year.
Justin Daulton: I like it. um don't like Purple Baylor, but sure, I like it.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, there you go. let's ah So so we we we kind of skipped over favorite to get to sleeper here. um I think favorite we're probably going to blow past, right? I think, do you have a different favorite than the obvious everyone thinks Texas Tech is going to win because they're outspending everyone in the conference by a country mile?
Justin Daulton: i think I don't think it's as clear favorite as a lot of people make it out to be. I do think tech is the favorite, but I don't it's as clear of a runaway because there is an unknown quarterback right
Cody Atkinson: I agree.
Justin Daulton: I understand you bret you you're spending, so it's the constant you know constant culture of college football, right?
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: So, yes, there's going to be games won because you're bringing in all this talent, but you do have unknown at quarterback. like you're I don't know. Is there a ceiling on how the quarterback's going to play because of you put all of your money on Brendan Sorsby?
Justin Daulton: So I don't think it's as clear cut as a lot of ah lot of people make it out to be. i i do think that you can probably clearly say that Texas Tech will win the conference, but I don't think it's as as far away as I think what the the professionals will make it out to be. I do think BIOU is a lot closer, and I do think, that like ah like i referenced earlier you could see a houston step up and if they can pull and upset them on the Tech at week three early in the season. And we've seen that happen in this type of conference.
Justin Daulton: I think you can see a you know ah Houston you know win that game and that catapults them for the rest of the season. And now you're talking about a Houston you know winning the Big 12 or you're looking at a BYU that they don't face Houston they don't face houston and at all owner season and Maybe you get a BYU in Houston, and now you're looking at a completely different scenario where where Tech is on the outside looking in.
Justin Daulton: So I don't think it's as clear cut as people are making it be, but I gunned in my head, are you going to me which team was going win? It's probably still going to be Texas Tech.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I agree with you. I don't i don't think it's that ah far. i don't i don't I don't think they're that far and ahead. So here's what I've what i've got. for So I think Texas Tech is a favorite because they're outspending everybody. They're the defending favorite. They're the defending champions.
Cody Atkinson: I don't think it's that wide of a gap between them and BYU or Houston or or even Arizona State for that matter. um And part of that is they lost Brennan Soresby. um And which means they also lost the money that was allocated to Brendan Sorsby because by the time he left, they could not reallocate that, um, to, to get new players.
Cody Atkinson: So they also had nine players drafted in the NFL last year, five players in the top three rounds. So that's five impact players up very heavy on defense.
Cody Atkinson: Um, They, let's see, they lost. So they so I think what gets what gets lost in translation sometimes is is Texas Tech lost a game in the Big 12 last year.
Cody Atkinson: I think we forget that because because they lost to Arizona State with their backup quarterback.
Justin Daulton: Yes.
Cody Atkinson: like ah Was it Brennan Morton or whatever his name was?
Justin Daulton: Sounds right. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Barron Morton. Barron Morton. It was out that game. Will Hammond played quarterback that game. They lost to Arizona State and everyone threw it off. It's like, oh, whatever. They lost with their backup quarterback. They would have beat him with the starter. That backup quarterback is the starter this year.
Cody Atkinson: with Without nine players who were drafted in the nfl three five of which in the top three rounds, there's a path to them not being the team that everyone thinks they are.
Cody Atkinson: But I still agree with you. I think they're the favorite. I just think there's a significant path. and There's a bigger path to them not being the winner than than what people would have you believe.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I think ultimately i think there's a ceiling on the Big 12 just as there was a ceiling last year on the Big 12. I don't think anyone had Tech coming out of the first round of the playoffs last year. Yeah, Tech probably wins the Big 12 again this year, and i don't think anyone's going to pick Tech coming out of the first round again. So I do think there is still a ceiling on the Big 12 as a conference going forward until they find a way to – A, out-recruit the SEC and Big Ten, but also B, like, your competition on your playing just isn't preparing you for the college football playoff.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you get to the college football playoff and you play a ah caliber of team that you haven't played all season. And and that's just, um that's not the experience of SEC and Big Ten teams. They're playing a team that is at best consistent with what they've gotten used to at worse, a little bit easier than what they've gotten used to.
Cody Atkinson: And while, while you're playing the best team, like, like, like Oregon playing Texas tech, that was not the best team they played all season, but Texas tech playing Oregon, that was the best team they played all season. So um let let's,
Justin Daulton: Right. And that's going to the narrative going forward too.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, no, it's going to be the narrative going forward until they get some premier wins. BYU has a chance to beat Notre Dame this year. That would be a ah win that would that would change the perception of the conference. If Arizona State could pull off the upset on A&M, that's a win that could change the the perception of the conference, or if you win.
Cody Atkinson: a bowl game or are sorry, a playoff game that would, that would change perception of the conference. But, but I won't go on a soapbox cause we'll be here for two hours, but that's, that's part of the reason I don't respect the big 12 is because there's good, there are very, very few chances for them to prove themselves in the non-con because their best teams don't test themselves. Texas tech non-conference is a joke.
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: I believe Houston's non-conference is a joke. Like Arizona State and BYU were the teams testing themselves. i think Utah you could look at as kind of, and that's because they play Arkansas, I think, right? Like it's not the same, you know? like Texas Tech, i think if they play I think they might play Arizona State. If they do, it's probably the second toughest team, first toughest team they play all year.
Cody Atkinson: A&M plays Arizona State.
Justin Daulton: Right.
Cody Atkinson: It's maybe seventh toughest game of the season.
Justin Daulton: Yeah. oh Yeah. Correct.
Cody Atkinson: It's different.
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: It's just different.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I think ultimately, and like you referenced it, right, the BYU having Notre Dame. Important to note that Notre Dame game is in the second half of the season. And it's also important to note that that game comes before they have to go across the country to face UCF.
Justin Daulton: So like that's a trap game coming off of Notre Dame where, yeah, you're probably going to lose to Notre Dame, but you're going put so much emotional stock into the Notre Dame game.
Cody Atkinson: There you go.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: Now that UCF game becomes a trap game for BYU there, where like that's a hostile crowd that you're going to have front of, odds are you're probably going get that to be a night game too because ucp plays a lot of games at night.
Justin Daulton: So that's going to be a drunk college town in full force. like That's full-on trap game later on this season.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. And to your point, that's a, that's a chance for, for UCF to do what you said they could do, which is, you know, make some noise um that you catch a team at the right time.
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: You can really make some noise, but um yeah, that's just always been one of my pet peeves with the big 12 conversation is they don't, they don't test themselves. And so there's no data. there's There's very little data points to point to and say how they actually stack up against the rest of the league.
Cody Atkinson: um And the ones that you have, it's just small sample size. So. but Let's talk about bust though. So we've got our sleeper. We've got our favorite. Who are we looking at that we think people believe in, but is going to have a letdown this year?
Justin Daulton: I don't know because of, think you will, but I will preface that I continue to think the bottom half of this conference is dookie.
Cody Atkinson: If you need some time to think, I can go first.
Justin Daulton: hate the It's just not good.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, it's dog water.
Justin Daulton: So it's so hard for me to be like, is there a true bust? Because it is, there is a talk four ish teams at the then you have a good clear middle with you know with the UCS of the world that I think will take that step up a TCU that could be in the middle maybe a potential contender so like after those middle grounds like man like I don't know it's so hard for me to say who's boss here but I'll let you go and kind of talk your point
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I'm just going pick Utah. um And I don't think this is surprising. I don't know that they're predicted to be great this year, but it's it's more of an a reaction to what they did last year, right? Utah was in the top three.
Cody Atkinson: of the conference conversation last year is Texas Tech is BYU and it was Utah. um And this year, I just don't think you're going to see that they lose, you know, Kyle Whittingham to retirement. And then Michigan, he takes the, he ends up taking the offensive coordinator with him to Michigan. um Someone that I don't think they expected to lose when he was just stepping down.
Cody Atkinson: um And that's a lot for a new coach to overcome in year one. You think about when you have these coaches in waiting and you hand things over, know, you you expect to hand over continuity. You hand over good roster that's kept together because every player knew he was going to be taking over when he did. and You hand over continuity in the play calling and the systems because the other coaches also knew that he was going promoted and that they would you know be able to backfill. and and You're just not going to get to see that here. so You have a new coach, a coach in waiting, but
Cody Atkinson: The O.C.' 's gone. i think four or five of the biggest playmakers on Utah went with winning him to Michigan. So in my opinion, it's like you get the worst of both worlds. You get an unproven first time coach without a nationwide search. And you also don't get continuity.
Cody Atkinson: and And I think that's a lot to overcome in year one.
Justin Daulton: It's fair. I'm also going to take a year one approach here. And has's been sucked this is going to, this is going to sting, but I do think K-State is in a potential situation where, yeah, I love Colin Klein. Colin Klein's an amazing coach. I think Colin Klein has an amazing opportunity in Kansas state because that middle of the country is,
Justin Daulton: from a recruiting standpoint, it's always been so untapped. You know, that's what Bill Snyder was so good at it at Kansas State for so many years, right? Getting the JUCOs to come in there and winning that, bigger the first rendition of a transfer portal, right? The ju go the JUCO world, right?
Justin Daulton: But I think because he's lost so much talent, you turn over your coaching staff. He does bring the, what was it, the A&O line coach with him. to be the OC.
Cody Atkinson: e
Justin Daulton: Was it the O-line coach or was it the wide receiver coach? I forget which one it was. But he brings one of them to be...
Cody Atkinson: it wasn't the wide receiver coach because why I think the wide receiver coach is the one who's the new A&M offensive coordinator probably he took someone I don't remember who
Justin Daulton: Okay, so I think it was the O-line coach that came with him then to be the OC. Yeah, to be the OC. So you have that. like You're bringing in some continuity with him from his system at A&M.
Justin Daulton: But you I think I saw a note that he lost four out of five starters on the offensive line. He loses his starting quarterback. He loses his wide receiver piece, defenses and shambles. So there's a lot of hype in Manhattan, Kansas a around Colin Klein coming home.
Justin Daulton: But I think people need to temper their expectations on what he's going to be able to do in year one, because you're not going to see this Kansas state team be a 10 plus win team this year because of a Colin Klein coming in and making an instant an impact.
Justin Daulton: I think he's a 500 coach this year, but I don't think you're going see him win over 500 i think you'll see a bowl game but it's going be ah a nothing bowl game um in the long run and it's i think using a temporary expectations of k-state in year one
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, no, I think that makes sense. I also, if if you think about Colin Klein's tenure, like year one at A&M, he was kind of a disappointment as far as his coaching goes. And then it really took off in year two.
Cody Atkinson: But he it's not like he came here and was was electric the whole time, right?
Justin Daulton: you
Cody Atkinson: like he He was a little bit of a surprising hire because his... offensive Kansas State was limited, but you were hoping that it was limited just by talent. And then, you know, year one disappointment, year two massive success.
Justin Daulton: Right.
Cody Atkinson: And so there is still, I think, a part of you that has to wonder if he was ready for the step up too.
Justin Daulton: Well, in the end,
Cody Atkinson: Hopefully he was, I definitely got it worth rooting for, but you know, definitely something to wonder.
Justin Daulton: you also remember year one wasn't a success because it took him so long to go to Marcel Reed. So that like, and like, yeah,
Cody Atkinson: yeah Yeah, partly. Yeah, for sure. Not all his fault in that sense.
Justin Daulton: Correct. So like does that fall completely on Helco or does that go on Klein for not going to Helco and be like, no, Reed needs to be our guy. So you know now he's obviously in that position to make that call and who's going to be his quarterback going forward.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yep.
Justin Daulton: And you know that's we'll see what he has. He has the keys to the car. you know He's back home. you know I do think the future in Manhattan, Kansas is bright because Colin Klein is there.
Justin Daulton: But I do think it's going to him a couple of years to build that program the right way.
Cody Atkinson: Definitely. um I'll move us on to the next one. I'll make this one real quick because we talked about this being a shorter episode and we're not living up to our promise to each other.
Justin Daulton: and Never do.
Cody Atkinson: i'm Most excited to watch. This is a category I specifically added so that I could mention Oklahoma State. I don't think Oklahoma State is going to have a complete team this year just because they were so bad last year.
Cody Atkinson: I don't see Eric Morris walking in and fixing the defense overnight and the offense and everything. But him walking in with Drew Mestemaker, so you have his...
Cody Atkinson: ability to develop quarterbacks, his offensive style plus mess to maker of this quarterback that lit the world on fire last year. They brought their top running back with them as well. And maybe ah could be wrong, but I think one of their top receivers as well. I have this team list is most excited to watch because I don't know that they're going to be able to do anything as far as winning games, but they're going to lose some games in style.
Justin Daulton: thank you That's fair. Can double dip here? is that allowed?
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: going to say UCF. I think that there's so much potential with this UCF team um that it's going to be fun to watch.
Cody Atkinson: OK, there you go
Justin Daulton: Like for a conference that's pretty mundane and in the way that they play against each other, i think there's, there's some fun there to be had. um Also, maybe I can try to, like I said, try to sneak into a game this year and and see what, what that environment is.
Justin Daulton: Maybe I go to the space you game and, and see what that, what that environment's like when they go with the alternate unis this year, whatever they look like.
Cody Atkinson: go.
Justin Daulton: But yeah,
Cody Atkinson: Those are nice.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, correct. um But I think it's going be a lot of fun to watch, especially for a team that brings in a really big talent in Barnett. like I think that's really big for this program going forward. You really haven't seen a big name quarterback since McKenzie from like when he was a Heisman hopeful just so um so many years ago before he broke his leg into a million pieces.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, Blake Bortles before that.
Justin Daulton: So... and Blake Bortles before that with the with the the fake champion national championship that that they claim on the in their stadium. But I think there's gonna be a lot of fun to watch, man. like I think there're when you when you're a team that's on the precipice of making a jump in terms of your identity, I think you're playing with house money at that point. you're you're You have everything to to win and nothing to lose because you're already in the bottom tier of the conference, so you can't get worse.
Justin Daulton: So I think when you play that loose and fun, I think that opens up so many potential – opportunities to become better and you can recruit better and then you start talking about potentially knocking on the door of a Houston or a TCU or an Arizona State and now you're talking about potentially going up there with a Tech or a BYU that's what you're looking at for your five-year plan if you're if you're Scott Frost coming back into it's a year or two here
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, so as a podcast, I believe that indicates that we are deeming October 10th UCF at Oklahoma State as the most watchable game of the season in the Big 12.
Justin Daulton: I'm here for it. I think we do need to put one one thing on here.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: I think as we go through these previews, obviously everyone knows that we're in A&M. Obviously fans believe live, breathe, die, text A&M. I think it's important. You and i discussed this before last college football season.
Justin Daulton: We need to claim our team of the conferences, that we if we if we pick a team that we're going to follow every single year, what's the team to follow? I think we both pretty much unanimously you agree that it's, for I think for you, San Diego stayed in the Pac-12.
Justin Daulton: For me, Boise stayed in Pac-12, right?
Cody Atkinson: is this Is this team we're rooting for or a team we're following?
Justin Daulton: following i'll see okay For me, it's always me and Boise.
Cody Atkinson: Following this year in the Pac-12, I'm going to take Fresno State. I think Fresno State's got more excitement.
Justin Daulton: That's true. So Boise State will be my team. It's my favorite in the Pac-12. It's the team that I'm going to follow every year. I think Big 12, I'm going to solidly say UCF. And it's not the Homer you know hometown of the pod. But I think it's going really fun team to watch. so I'm claiming UCF this year for the Big 12.
Cody Atkinson: Team to follow in the Big 12? I'm torn. um I'm going to say Arizona State just because I really want to see. um i just really want more data on Kenny Dillingham. I'm so interested in seeing what he does because obviously flash flash year with Sam Webett, it falls off last year because he couldn't Sam Webett couldn't stay healthy and he was forced to start Jeff Sims most of the season, but had a surprisingly impressive season given that.
Cody Atkinson: So you give him a guy out of Kentucky that, um you know, was ah was a prized recruit when he went to Kentucky. There's a lot of intrigue for me in what they can accomplish. So I'll be following them closely. Them and them in Houston, I'll be following for sure.
Justin Daulton: Nice. I like it.
Cody Atkinson: All right.
Justin Daulton: All right, man.
Cody Atkinson: Let's... ah i
Justin Daulton: You ready move to ACC?
Cody Atkinson: yeah Yeah, I think we're going to hit the ACC faster. we i mean, obviously, bor like you you live in UCF City. I live in Houston City in the center of the Big 12. We have more opinions on the Big 12 than the ACC because we're where we live around it more.
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: But the ACC, going have same structure here. I got the what's new notable transfer quarterbacks. and new coaches. So transfer quarterbacks, we have Mason McKenzie transfers from Saginaw Valley State to Boston College to play for your favorite Bill O'Brien.
Cody Atkinson: We got Walker Eget transfers from San Jose State to Duke.
Justin Daulton: God. Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: That was a last minute transfer after the Duke quarterback transferred, which we'll talk about here a second. Ashton Daniels transfers from Auburn to Florida State. Alberto Mendoza, younger brother,
Cody Atkinson: of Fernando Mendoza transferred from Indiana to Georgia Tech. Lincoln Kineholz was apparently a backup quarterback at ah Ohio State that I was not familiar with. He is at Louisville now. Darian Mensah, aforementioned, transferred transferred from Duke to Miami under...
Cody Atkinson: Very odd circumstances. You have Billy Edwards Jr. who will transfer from Wisconsin to North Carolina. you have Davis Warren, backup at Michigan, is now headed to Stanford.
Cody Atkinson: Bo Probula from Missouri to Virginia. And Ethan Grunkmeier follows his former coach from Penn State. to virginia tech new coaches we have tavita pritchard is the new coach at stanford he was the uh commander's uh quarterback coach he's quarterback coach for jane daniels he did not technically replace anyone at stanford they had ah an interim coach the entirety of last season After not hiring a new coach last season, Tosh Lupoi is now at Cal.
Justin Daulton: Oh.
Cody Atkinson: He was the Oregon defensive coordinator. Their previous coach at Cal was fired. And then James Franklin goes to Virginia Tech, formerly the head coach of Penn State. The Virginia Tech previous coach is now the defensive coordinator.
Cody Atkinson: for James Franklin at Virginia Tech because he was James Franklin's coordinator at Penn State when he took the Virginia Tech head coach job. So that's an odd one there. He got demoted. He did not get fired in a way.
Cody Atkinson: um I don't think I've seen that before.
Justin Daulton: Okay.
Cody Atkinson: So that's one of the more unique situations here. But that's what we've got that's a new to the ACC. Do you have any thoughts before we dive into to our categories here?
Justin Daulton: Yeah, what's the opposite of name dropping? Because that's what you just did with all those quarterbacks.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, I guess it's a good point.
Justin Daulton: Like, I'm not a excited.
Cody Atkinson: I mean, Darian Mence is the only name in there that like does something for me.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, there's not a whole lot. Obviously, the Mendoza brother coming in, but there's a reason why he was the backup to his brother. It doesn't move the needle.
Cody Atkinson: Well, he's just unproven too. you don't know You don't know what you're going to get from him.
Justin Daulton: Right, so...
Cody Atkinson: Like maybe he's maybe he's his brother, maybe he's not.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, so like I said, not a lot there. I'm excited to see what Van Clem can do outside of the pressure of the Big Ten where you're playing little brother to to Ohio State and Michigan all the time ah at Penn State.
Justin Daulton: So Virginia Tech, obviously, you're in that commonwealth area where you've got to still compete with Duke and North Carolina, Wake Forest and Maryland, like all that kind of that conglomerate all right there in the middle of each other.
Justin Daulton: up the up the coast, that that's going to really interesting to see how he can recruit against all of them. Obviously, big names, so that's going to help. And Virginia Tech, obviously, amazing crowd, amazing stadium. Inter-San-Man is electric.
Justin Daulton: So you have everything you need to recruit there. You just got you got some names to recruit against out there that makes it really difficult. And you start creeping back towards the Big Ten country that you're still going to recruit against because you're going to creep up into the Indianas, the Ohio's, and and all of them and as you start kind of creeping up the Atlantic coast a little bit there.
Justin Daulton: So that's all I have for the first little bit there.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, I know. I think many would agree that the the the best... or The sturdiest coach landing spot here is James Franklin, Virginia Tech, just ah what feels like a match made in heaven.
Cody Atkinson: um Obviously, the most proven coach that was hired into this conference and lands at at a program that hasn't done much lately, but has a history that he can definitely tap back into. So it'll be interesting to see what he can do um outside of the pressure and the of the Big Ten, but still firmly within the footprint.
Cody Atkinson: of the Big Ten. So we'll kick it off with favorites here, man. i feel like we're probably on the same page here. So let me know if you think it should be anyone other than then Miami, the national runner-up last year.
Justin Daulton: not Yeah, I mean, they returned so much talent back, right? mali Malachi Tony is odds on. Heisman favorite right now, right? I've seen a lot of people talking about he can be the first wide receiver since all of them.
Cody Atkinson: Was it Devonta Smith probably?
Justin Daulton: Devonta Smith at Alabama, right? So that's a big thing for someone who just turned 18 or 19 years old, right? i He was up there. So, yeah there's a lot of a lot of hype around Miami deservingly. So they bring in a new quarterback to fill in Carson Beck. Carson Beck had a ceiling. We've talked about Carson Beck at length already.
Justin Daulton: So Carson Beck, you knew what you were getting from him. Obviously, a national championship winner in Georgia. What could he do? So you you had a ceiling there. He was one throw away from winning a national championship game. So, yeah.
Justin Daulton: You know, there's no reason to think that Miami's not backing this conversation this year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think to your point, they bring back Malachi Tony, but they also bring back running back Mark Fletcher Jr., who, you know, as A&M fans, we watched run up and down the field and end our season.
Justin Daulton: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: So I think that's as big of a return as Malachi Tony, if you ask me.
Justin Daulton: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: Also, ah in my opinion, Darian Mensah, coming over from Duke to Miami gives you a better quarterback room than Carson Beck.
Cody Atkinson: I know Carson Beck, I think you're a bigger Carson Beck fan than me, bigger believer. But i if if there's like two to three quarterbacks I really believe in this year, it's Darian Mensah, Jaron, Chiave, Sunga, Politele at Cal, who I'll talk about later, and it's CJ Carr at Notre Dame.
Justin Daulton: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: I think these dudes are studs. And I... ah Carson Beck did more at Miami than I thought he would do. He's already, i watched the Hall of Fame game alone and he's better prepared for the NFL than I thought he was. So I think I'm just wrong about Carson Beck, but I also think Darian Mensah gives you a higher ceiling than Carson Beck gave you last year. So I think you could you could be the national runner up last year and have improved your quarterback room.
Justin Daulton: yeah for sure yeah i agree i mean i'm not i' not i'm not saying you're sipping the kool-aid of carson back right uh and for arizona do i think he wins the job out from jacoby brissette yes 100 because jacoby brissette is uh not an nfl starting quarterback he's ever been an nfl starting quarterback um but i think carson that gives you the best har opportunity with football games if you're there as well cardinals but i agree with you duke was in the running to win the acc last year um did they win they did win yes yeah so
Cody Atkinson: They did win it, technically. by by how would you how would you say that? by accident.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, correct. When we didn't think that anyone in the ACC was going to make the college football playoff because they were potentially not going have anyone in the top 25. you know, you're talking about that and you're improving because you're bringing in someone that's already been able to prove to win the football games in this conference.
Justin Daulton: Like, yes, you improve the the quarterback room. And I do think, like I said, there you knew what you had with Carson Beck. There was a ceiling there. And somehow, someway, you found a way to improve your ceiling by bringing in another transfer portal quarterback in Mensa. So, yeah, you get better as the as a runner-up, and that should scare a lot of people, both in the SEC and the Big Ten.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, absolutely. We don't need to spend a a lot of time there. I think we agree. And I think the world agrees with us. We're not making a ah bold claim here, but we we said we we can talk sleepers and that's where we'll definitely ruffle some feathers. i I'll start us off. I ah kind of struggled on this, speed but I think this is probably closer to your UCF pick where like this is the team I'm buying into.
Cody Atkinson: But I don't know for sure how high the ceiling is because this is a first-year head coach, and there was a lot to improve off of last year. But what I mentioned when I said that there's three quarterbacks, if I believe in any three quarterbacks, it's these three.
Cody Atkinson: And at the top of that list is Jared Kiyabe-Sunga-Politele at Cal, also known as JKS, for those of us who... who can't consistently pronounce that right.
Justin Daulton: Thank you.
Cody Atkinson: he If you watched this guy play last year, he he might be the most prototypical, just pure passer that I've ever, that I've seen in a long time. He plays the quarterback position with uh okay i thought the astros just gave up a walk-off um he he plays quarterback position with a level of of uh accuracy and poise and decision making that you just don't see in today's game where mobile quarterbacks thrive um it's a treat to see uh josh or tosh lupoi takes over as the coach at cal his first his first recruiting pitch is he he brings jks back as a quarterback
Cody Atkinson: that's massive tosh the boys background is in defense so if i trust the coach to put together a d a strong defense that being his specialty maybe if he can put together good enough defense he can have that defense lifted by a generational talent at quarterback and and we could get a lot of fun out of cal there's every chance this crashes and burns because it's a first-year head coach who may not be ready to do this and it may be too much of a leap to say but i just I don't believe that they're not going to be able to capitalize. I don't believe that he's not going to elevate this team above what they should accomplish because he's that good of a quarterback. And so I like them to do more than than what people think they're going accomplish this year.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I have similar pick with you. i don't think it's a team that's going to sleep you know be a sleeper pick for the top of this conference because, once again, just like the Big 12, I think there's a very clear divide in this conference in who's good and who's not.
Justin Daulton: But I got two words for you, man, here, and it's not suck it to go back to the DX days for WWE fans.
Cody Atkinson: Oh.
Justin Daulton: It's Andrew Luck. um I think the Stanford team is going to potentially have a really good season.
Cody Atkinson: oh
Justin Daulton: Florida UCF and even, you know, we talked about Kansas City. there This is a team that very well could play 500 football all year long and maybe squeak out a fun win against a low-tier opponent and squeak into, you know, being, you know, a 7-5.
Justin Daulton: um and have a better bowl game than what they would have if they play 500 football. But I trust Andrew Luck to do what he is set out to do because he has such a football brain, and they're doing this whole new role of having a general manager in charge of the football team through Andrew Luck rather than running through the AD.
Cody Atkinson: Mm-hmm.
Justin Daulton: So like he reports to the AD, but he's in charge of the head coach. and it's his it's very professional and it fits in Andrew Luck for what he, for who he is and what he wants to do with that program. And he loves, loves, loves, loves Stanford.
Justin Daulton: And there's no way that Andrew Luck allowed Stanford to be bad for a considerable amount of time under his, under his regime. So the only difficulty he has is just to really like, how do you build a team that's going to travel to the East coast quite a bit?
Justin Daulton: So think look for Stanford to take a step forward. And the same way that i talked about UCF, look for Stanford to take a step forward and, and really have a potential to be a better football team and a fun football team to watch.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, ah I certainly would love it. I enjoy when Stanford is good and watchable. And the last few years have been very disappointing. You know, I liked the Jim Harbaugh era at Stanford.
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: I liked the Davis Shaw era at Stanford. It was a lot of fun. and and And honestly, it's just such an elegant logo. You're just like, it's one that I like to watch play football. I'm a logos guy and it's one that I like to watch play football. So I would definitely be be happy to see Stanford back on the come up.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, for sure.
Cody Atkinson: On the other side of that coin, if there's teams coming up, there's teams falling down. um i don't know. you You can see, obviously, on the sheet who I'm picking as as as my boss. I'm curious if you are in the same vein or if there's somebody else that you think is going to disappoint this year.
Justin Daulton: I don't know. Once again, the bottom tier this conference is dog water, it's just like it is in the Big 12. So it's so hard for me to sit back and say, yeah, you know, not to swallow everything, but i is Clemson the worst in this conference? no i don't know if they're going fall out of the top six of this conference.
Justin Daulton: I don't know. I don't know where to go with this conference. i
Justin Daulton: Expectations are sky high for Virginia Tech. Maybe temporary expectations iss for Vautech to not perform. And I think so many people are expecting them to be competing for the conference championship in year one. And like,
Justin Daulton: i don't think that I don't think that's warranted. I don't think you're in a position to do that. But James Franklin gives you that opportunity. So maybe I go Votek here, but I don't even think that's really outside of the realm of possibility that Votek could still be the worst team in the conference because you're building your foundation getting things set up for what the future looks like under James Franklin, who has proven to be able recruit and recruit very well.
Justin Daulton: So i can understand your argument for Clemson that you're about to make.
Cody Atkinson: yeah
Justin Daulton: I can see it. So I'm not sold on one team when it comes to this bus category just because There are a lot of middle wing teams here and a lot of low caliber teams here that to be became completely honest, nothing really excites me for the bottom tier this conference.
Cody Atkinson: yeah that's we'll we'll get into that a little bit too i have this final question that we'll ask after the acc i think there's The fall off in the ACC is is pretty incredible from Miami down to you know the Boston colleges and um yeah the Wake Forests and and you know Syracuse of the world.
Justin Daulton: Wake Forest and all them.
Justin Daulton: Mm-hmm.
Cody Atkinson: and To me, I am picking Clemson here, as you alluded to. um I wasn't going to pick Clemson because I just thought we were all in agreement that like the ride was over. And I started reading, I started reading some kind of some previews and in preparation of this episode. And people were picking Clemson as a conference championship contender along with with Miami.
Cody Atkinson: And somebody else, I forget who at this moment, but like, They had Clemson back in the upper echelon and I just, I don't see it, right? Like last year was supposed to be the year it all came together because everyone that mattered was a senior who had been there for four years and it didn't come together.
Justin Daulton: Right.
Cody Atkinson: And now you're telling me it's going to come together the next year when they're all gone? Like you don't have Hubnick anymore and he never developed into what he was supposed to be, but now you have the guy that couldn't beat him out last year is the quarterback.
Cody Atkinson: um And I think I saw it here. So they replaced their offensive coordinator. um They replaced it with their offensive coordinator from 2011 to 2014, who has had no success since he left Clemson in 2014 because he runs a ah style of offense that's no longer hip and new and and and running the league.
Cody Atkinson: So I don't feel great about what feels like a backwards step there. They replaced seven offensive starters out of 11. So that's a lot. And and their their defense had three top 50 draft picks last year. Like there's so much to replace. And if last year was supposed to be the perfect storm of it all coming together, I don't see why it would come together the next year, which is the perfect storm in the opposite direction.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I think for me, I i think that's what I was about to get to, right?
Cody Atkinson: and And he's still not using the portal enough.
Justin Daulton: Davos' inability to adjust and grow with the future of Kyle Chabal is going to prove his downfall. And just because he has found ways to upset teams when he was on the downward spiral and get back into relevancy.
Justin Daulton: You had Klubnik and whatever the ceiling was with him, you know. I think because you have dabble, you're always going to be in competition. But, like, I think you start talking about it in the same way that we talk about James Franklin, right, and Penn State.
Justin Daulton: Yes, you're always in competition. It's the always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Like, you're you're always going playing second throw. Miami's back now. Like, Miami, we so so quickly forgot.
Justin Daulton: Miami ran this conference for the better part of two decades. Right? like Miami being back should scare the entire ACC because and they start recruiting the way that they used to recruit back in the day and they have Portal on top of that, like miami can you can look at the next two decades of Miami running the ACC before they inevitably jump over to the ACC for another super conference in the near future.
Justin Daulton: i die People need to start understanding that Miami is that good and they will be that good. The only reason they weren't that good for like 05 on is because they couldn't win the recruiting battles against the prime time of the SEC.
Justin Daulton: Now that they're winning recruiting battles, your Clemson's on the outline. Clemson is not the cool hip school to go to anymore because Miami's relevant again. That's the triple down effect that you have when you start talking about Miami, Florida, Florida State. All those Florida teams being good pushes Clemson on the out. so The inability to to adjust and go and get horrible guys and and adjust to the current slate of college football, all no one's going want to play for Davos Manny because I'd much rather go to South Beach and go play down there.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah. Yeah, that's just the way it is he He has to update. He has to update to the to the times. he's He's not doing it, and so I don't see why he's going to have any any better success than than he did last year as he's had another year of of being passed by, right?
Cody Atkinson: Like, I think I think i saw that he used a portal this year Last year, he didn't use a portal at all.
Justin Daulton: Ooh. Right.
Cody Atkinson: It was him and him in the three military schools were the four schools that did not take in a transfer. This year, he used it, but he only got 10, which is light compared to what everyone around him is doing. and And is not a big enough haul for the amount of players they sent off to the NFL last year, whether those players were elite or disappointments in their college career they still left a hole in in the starting work in the starting lineup and he didn't do enough to replace it and I just I don't see it going any different than than what it did last year I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him go like six and six again seven and five something like that and and then you really start talking about the the Dabo era coming to an end at Clemson despite bringing them what was it two national championships while being the coach there
Justin Daulton: Yeah, absolutely.
Cody Atkinson: All right, let's let's wrap this up with most excited the the team you're most excited to watch. This is the the Oklahoma State category here. um Who are you most excited to watch in the ACC this year?
Cody Atkinson: Or do you need time?
Justin Daulton: ah yeah Yeah, you go, you lead. Because I didn't know we were gonna have these categories, so I'll be more prepared for Big Ten next week for this category. But yeah, you go.
Cody Atkinson: All right, so i've got I've got most excited to watch it Duke. I almost put Cal in this category because I couldn't decide if I actually thought they would win or if I thought they would just be fun to watch. um I chose to believe in Cal, so I put them in the sleeper.
Cody Atkinson: I'm putting Duke here. Duke, into two years under Manny Diaz, has had and ah one side of the ball has been elite and one side has been a dumpster fire, and that makes for fun football. um So they they do lose Darian Monsetta, Miami. They do lose Cooper Barcate, their number one wide receiver also to Miami.
Cody Atkinson: um But they have a freshman running back who ran for 1,100 yards last year that's coming back. And they added to the running back room and they brought in Walker Eget out of San Jose State, as I mentioned earlier, who threw for over 3,000 yards last year. And and Walker Eget's number one receiver was the leading receiver in all of college football.
Cody Atkinson: um And they brought in some smaller school wide receivers too. I think they brought in a guy out of Penn who had over a thousand yards. They brought in a guy from Charlotte that had 700. I feel like they've just got dudes that that are going to put an offense together because they're going to be behind a lot. And so you're just going to get shootout after shootout after shootout. And it's just going to be fun numbers in the same way that I think Oklahoma State might put that up. And for that reason, I'm excited to watch Duke. And and to that point, they were they weren't a good football team last year, but they were fun to watch and they won the ACC somehow.
Justin Daulton: um Same vein. I'm going vibes, man. Just pure, pure, utter vibes. I'm going Georgia Tech. This is a team that has somehow, someway been a thorn in the side of premier football programs, a la looking at Haines King the last couple of seasons against Georgia, taking Georgia down to the wire both the last two seasons.
Justin Daulton: this The head coach there is ah is a ah player's coach. He's ah he's a guy that... you know, gets the best out of his guys. I think bringing in, what was the quarterback's name to transfer?
Justin Daulton: The Mendoza.
Cody Atkinson: they They have the younger Mendoza brother.
Justin Daulton: yeah the younger mando it as you referenced earlier is e fernando is he not That's a wide spectrum, right? That you you open up this possibility of Georgia Tech being a really fun team to to see what they got. And it's a team that very routinely does not have a very difficult schedule.
Justin Daulton: They end with Georgia and that's really it. I think this year they have Miami, I think is what I saw. But if that's your toughest game until you face Georgia, i think this season, it you go 10-2 in a pretty easy conference, like that's your that's your ceiling?
Justin Daulton: Your basement?
Cody Atkinson: Dude, they could find themselves back at the Pop-Tart Bowl, man.
Justin Daulton: Oh, man, I'll be stoked. um As everyone on the pod knows that Cody and I are reuniting for the Potter Bowl, so I can't can't wait. But man, I think Georgia Tech's going to be a lot of fun to watch this year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, and so I'm i'm officially declaring October 10th as the most watchable weekend in football because Duke plays Georgia Tech October 10th the same day that Oklahoma State plays UCF.
Cody Atkinson: So our our de facto most watchable game of the conference is on the same weekend for both conferences. So we got to get locked in October 10th for October.
Justin Daulton: Who does A&M play that weekend? Do we know that? Do we do you have that schedule pulled up?
Cody Atkinson: I don't hold up, but if you if you can stall for me for like two seconds, I'll...
Justin Daulton: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll make my claim for my ACC team to follow. I think both of us might have the same answer, but like it's Miami.
Cody Atkinson: Missouri.
Justin Daulton: Miami, a miami if who is it?
Cody Atkinson: Missouri. We play Missouri that weekend.
Justin Daulton: All right, but could be good game. We always been Missouri close for some reason.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah.
Justin Daulton: um But it's Miami. Miami is going to be fun. Malachi Tony is going to a lot of fun to watch play football this year. Potential, you know, the youngest Heisman winner, if you can pull it off, like type of scenario.
Justin Daulton: Like it's going to really fun to watch this Miami team that potentially has a higher ceiling than what they did last year.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, no, that's a really good choice. I'm going with Cal just because that's Miami would be number two. Cause like I said, two of the three quarterbacks that I believe in more than anything in college football is them being dudes or are at Cal and in Miami. So I'm going go with Cal cause I just am excited to see what, what they can accomplish in in year one, but yeah, If you're looking for for firepower, it's definitely Miami because they're they've got a chance to win it all again. like they've They've got another chance this year to try to go and win it all.
Cody Atkinson: And I don't think anybody would be that surprised if they accomplished it. So definitely a team to be locked in on.
Justin Daulton: Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: i'm gonna I'm going to end this off with one last question. Take it wherever you want. but the These are the the two conferences that that and undoubtedly are are three and four, as if you were to powering conferences. So who three you who is three for you and who is four?
Justin Daulton: Oh, God. You're talking about picking bad or I think top to bottom, better competition. So my three would be the Big 12, and then my four be the ACC, just because I think you referenced the Syracuse, the Virginias, the um North Carolinas, Boston College, Wake Forest.
Cody Atkinson: Boston College.
Justin Daulton: These teams that are more often your basketball schools in this football conference, it's much worse than the bottom half of the big 12 where Cincinnati can have a good year. arizonas state can take that step. Arizona, like there's so many of these teams that can play good football top to bottom and the, and the big 12, the UCF, you know, Baylor TCU, like there's more in the big 12 that I would believe in to win more football games than the bottom half of the, of the ACC.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, that makes sense. There's two ways to look at it, right? It's top to bottom strength or it's or it's um you know top end strength. And that's why I would flip it. I would say ACC 3, Big 12 4, just because I think the ACC is a legitimate national championship contender and the Big 12 doesn't.
Cody Atkinson: And I think it, for me, it comes down to that, right?
Justin Daulton: Sure. Yeah.
Cody Atkinson: Like I can't, the the conference that's headlined by Miami, I don't feel like I can put behind the conference headlined by Tech. But I agree with you. If you look top to bottom, the Big 12 is a more consistent conference um and with more parity where you're going to get a lot more fun. And the ACC is top heavy with ah with a really garbage bottom.
Cody Atkinson: um But if Miami wasn't national championship caliber, I would go with you on big 12, but I feel like that's the the difference maker there is that like in the big 12, I don't believe any of these teams can show up in the playoff and make a run, but I think Miami could.
Justin Daulton: No, I can see that argument. and i and And I felt the same way. of like Miami is that that trump card of it all, right? That when you have a team that just came off of one or two plays away from winning the national championship,
Justin Daulton: You have to pick them to be the odds on favor to go back there as well. Obviously, we're going to talk about some really good teams in the next two weeks that also have the potential of making this run. But yeah, it's tough to not think of Miami as someone that can run the table in the ACC, be it one one or two in the country and have that first round by and it really sit pretty waiting for you know the national championship game.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, absolutely, man. I think, I think with that, it's probably time we let ourselves get some sleep. that's That's two previews in one day. i think that's a, that's quite the heavy lift we just did. 19 days away from kickoff.
Cody Atkinson: I can't wait for it. The more we talk about these teams, the more I want to see it play out on the field to see how right we were or how wrong we were.
Justin Daulton: and how wrong we are.
Cody Atkinson: And you talk about, yeah, you talk about Miami getting the buy in the playoffs. I'm just dreaming about the, about a second chance, a chance for, for Marcel Reed to take Miami down this time, you know?
Justin Daulton: I'm here for it, man.
Cody Atkinson: So.
Justin Daulton: Yeah, I mean, obviously next week we're going talk Big Ten and, you know, you know is it finally Oregon's year? Ohio State going to be Ohio State again? Does Michigan get better?
Justin Daulton: What does Penn State look like this year? You know, there' there's a lot of unknown with the Big Ten this year where I think there's still a power gap in the Big Ten where the power gap is getting smaller in the SEC. I think there's a lot more a lot more to be expected in the SEC than the Big Ten this year. it's going be fun to talk Big Ten next week.
Cody Atkinson: Yeah, we'll dive into it. Big Ten next week, SEC the week after that. And honestly, was this by then, by the time we preview the SEC, there will be college football that Saturday. So get excited for it, and we'll we'll catch you next time.
Cody Atkinson: Peace.
Justin Daulton: Peace.
