Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
2024 Sun Belt Football: Rivalry Week Recap
63 Plays5 months ago
Brian and Zeke gather to talk all of the rivalry week action and drama, including Marshall's 17-0 comeback against James Madison to secure a spot in the Sun Belt title game against Louisiana!
Email questions/comments for the show to warmweatherfans@gmail.com
All episodes are now available in video form on YouTube!
Email the show at warmweatherfans@gmail.com
Follow us on X:
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome everybody into another edition of Warm Weather Fans, The Sunbelt Podcast. My name is Brian Stone, joined this week by Zeke Palermo.
Sunbelt Football Chaos
00:00:25
Speaker
Zeke, we had a crazy week in the Sunbelt as we kind of tried to determine, you know, who was going to be representing, you know, potentially the West on Friday and who eventually was going to represent the East. And all of that stuff got itself worked out, but it was a wild week.
00:00:43
Speaker
a football weekend, a football extended weekend. But before we get into all of that and start on that stuff, how are you doing? I'm doing well. we Like you said, it was it was quite a crazy week. It started on Thursday ah from not just a Sunbelt perspective, but there were some crazy NFL games as well, ah extended into the weekend. Friday night's Georgia, Georgia tech game was ecstatic. And then that spilled over into the weekend with all of the rivalry.
00:01:15
Speaker
college football games. And as we've got going on right now, I've got my eye on the Bills game playing San Francisco tonight. It was a good time. ah Thanksgiving is a fun time. Love to spend time with the family. um Nothing crazy going on. I do have a question because as we record this, it's December 1st. When does your Christmas tree go up? ah It's up.
00:01:43
Speaker
it's been up it's been up uh since saturday uh i went and bought my wife and my daughter and i went out and got we get a live one every year uh we went out to a christmas tree farm park whatever you call it uh picked out a tree decorated it we it's different when you have like a kid and you don't travel for holidays because then it's like hey let's go ahead and do all of this because we have nothing else to do and no one well like none none of our family came into town for for thanksgiving because usually that's that's christmas but yeah no it's up we actually just finished kind of putting our first set of lights on the house tonight so it's it's we're we're pretty much ahead of the game but um
00:02:29
Speaker
Before we get started, as you can see at the bottom of the screen, if anybody wants to chime in, kind of drop us your thoughts. Visit our YouTube page, the URL is in the description, youtube dot.com slash at warm weather fans. We'd happy we'd be happy to you know take comments, questions, anything like that.
00:02:48
Speaker
Um, but before all of that kicks off, let's go ahead and start here.
Texas State vs South Alabama
00:02:52
Speaker
So Friday on Black Friday, we had a Texas state defeating South Alabama 45 to 38, which it didn't end up mattering because of the Louisiana game result, but would have kind of put a little bit more pressure on Louisiana, uh, to make, you know, to win the ULM game, uh, just because South Alabama had did have that head to head advantage, but it didn't end up mattering.
00:03:17
Speaker
ah Jordan McLeod ah kind of chopped, you know, South Alabama up through the air, 21 of 28, 248 and a score. Ismail Mahdi 20 carries 147 and a tutty. Yeah, I mean, this was a shootout. This was back and forth. And ultimately, you know, GJ Kinney, this hasn't been the best season or they haven't really reached expectations, at least the expectations that You know, frankly, like I know I know we give you a lot of crap for the for the call before, but like, frankly, they've underperformed kind of even where I thought they would be. I didn't think they would be sitting at seven and five, you know, um several games out of the conference race by the last weekend of the season. And that's just kind of how it all panned out. So yeah, but good win for them.
00:04:03
Speaker
Yeah, ah it's incredible what this team can do, ah at least offensively, when Jordan McLeod is playing like the conference player of the year he was last season and not like a Southern Miss quarterback, perhaps. um i think That might be a little bit of an overreaction. yeah ah Texas State it Is really frustrating because seven and five. Their their conference losses were to Louisiana in the conference championship game, but then also to Georgia State and Old Dominion, which as we reflect upon the season and ah even as you reflect like.
Texas State's Strategy and Future
00:04:44
Speaker
Immediately after and now that we have hindsight of the entire season, those are games that should have been won ah and ultimately fall to coaching for being unable to do so. loss Losses to Louisiana are excusable losses to those teams are not.
00:05:02
Speaker
um no I think we saw a Southern or South out team whose offense is pretty hit or miss ah feast against Texas State. That was not necessarily unexpected, although when they played a team that is kind of Texas State light in Arkansas State earlier in the year, South out only put up 16 points.
00:05:28
Speaker
um Yeah, that was a weird. That was a weird game. That was a weird game for both sides. um I think my takeaway is just that, like, well, now that I is Jordan McLeod a senior, I don't think he has.
00:05:42
Speaker
ah eligibility left um I think he's done. He's done. I think he's, I think he's done. Yeah. Obviously the next step for Texas state is shore up this defense. um And it's disappointing that we don't get to see a full season of Jordan McLeod as Jordan McLeod.
00:06:01
Speaker
um
00:06:04
Speaker
But I'm curious like where this team goes, ah whether they continue to stock up this offense. Obviously, they need to go find a quarterback. that That's without question. But where do they restock? Do they do they find a replacement for Ismail Mahdi, who I believe is also a senior? Do they? easy they He is listed as a junior. OK, OK. You don't need to replace Mahdi then.
00:06:27
Speaker
um But it's it's a question of where do you stock up here um and I think GJ Kenny has an opportunity to either. ah Set this team up for success or set himself up for failure in which way he goes, um which is disappointing because the Texas State issue since the Spavital era has been recruiting.
00:06:48
Speaker
The Spavital screwed this team's recruiting, and if GJ Kinney can't put together some sort of ah defensive class here, um he may be on the road and or you know on his butt in a couple of seasons as well.
00:07:01
Speaker
Well, ironically, he just signed, like, I think a four year extension or something like that. So ah it feels like they're willing to give him the runway to figure it out, which I i do appreciate because this isn't like a normal coaching. This isn't Tim Beck at Coastal. This isn't, you know, one of those schools. This isn't um Parker at Troy where you're like,
00:07:26
Speaker
hey, you know you kind of took over a program that was you know up here and have underperformed. I mean, Texas State was on the level of like ULM and stuff before right he took over. So I think they're a little more leanent they're they're definitely more lenient with him there. And I think that's a good call just because, again,
00:07:48
Speaker
You take a team that basically has nothing like it it was even so bad that one of the things that I heard and this could be total here say was that Spav at all had burnt a bunch of bridges with high school coaches in Texas because he was.
00:08:03
Speaker
going from Hey, I'm recruiting high schools, you know, here are
Louisiana vs UL Monroe
00:08:07
Speaker
these relationships to just saying no, no, no, no, no, I'm just taking straight transfers like his last year. And I think some of what Kenny has been doing is trying to rebuild those kind of relationships with coaches around the state. So I think that there's definitely a lot of improvement that needs to be made specifically in the defensive side of the ball. Like you said, I think they need to You know, I didn't need to go at it twofold. I think they need to hit the the portal hard if you want immediate contributors. um Obviously, high high school recruiting needs to be rebuilt. You need to go hard there on defense as well because there's frankly nobody really of note on the defensive side of the ball. Quarterback wise, you know,
00:08:50
Speaker
the times that McLeod has been taken out yanked I wouldn't even call it yanked but like taken out of games apparently I feel really good about that Brad Jackson kid that they have who who ah was third string and then he played He played one of the games earlier in the season, like the majority of it. And it's like McClouds was technically the starter, but Jackson played basically the last like three quarters of that game. um It was the week after Louisiana. I can't remember who they played off the top of my head. But ah I mean, they feel good about him. He seems like he's really got that quarterback. Jackson feels like he's got a lot of ah
00:09:30
Speaker
Colton Joseph ishness to him, where he he's he's a scrambler, he uses his legs, you know, all of that sort of stuff. So they they they must feel good about him. I think, I don't know if Hobart's back for another season. I can't imagine he is. He feels like he's probably out of eligibility as well.
00:09:46
Speaker
So I think the number one the number one thing is you got to find a number one receiver for Jackson to throw to or develop somebody something like that. Mahdi I think you need to if if he is coming back and he doesn't hit the portal or or do something you know like enter the draft or something crazy. I think a lot of the offense needs to be built around read option because of the lack of passing reps that a guy like Jackson may have. um You know who knows they could take an incoming quarterback transfer as well and and kind of paper over ah Jackson either in the short term next year or or all next season and then just kind of like let him figure it out. um But yeah I mean they they definitely got a lot of improvement that needs to be made because defensively they are they have been
00:10:31
Speaker
a sieve all year and and it's not really improved like it kind of peaked when they played Arizona State to me defensively it was was honestly their best game on defense and then Ben Bell transfers out and you got to find an answer there so you don't have a pass rusher a number one pass rusher which he was um yeah they've got a lot to figure out um on the South Alabama side I think You you gotta continue to kind of develop what Gio Lopez was or is um You know ah It they're just a weird team because it feels like They have constantly been trying to claw back from what the expectations were a couple seasons ago when they underperformed during I guess it was last year Kane Womack's final season there and you know, we were like
00:11:24
Speaker
the schedule's cake, you're returning all these starters, and then they were just kind of like, eh. And so like, this has been kind of more of the same. So they kind of need help all over the board because there are some games they come out and you're like, Oh, wow. Like they've, you know, they really put together a nice game plan. Lopez looks good. And then some weeks they come out and they and they totally look unprepared and they need help on the defensive side of the ball as this game showed as well.
00:11:50
Speaker
So yeah there's ah there's definitely a lot of improvement that could be made for both of these teams. I think for South Al, ah the biggest priority has to be going to get some weapons for Gio Lopez um because he is and has shown for several weeks that he is capable of.
00:12:08
Speaker
ah Shouldering the load of the offense, ah but he
Coastal Carolina vs Georgia State
00:12:12
Speaker
like Jamal purchase a senior. I think voice in is a senior um They don't really have a ton in the run game. So they they need to get him some weapons ah or else he like possibly excuse Excuse me, sir. One fluff Bothwell would like to disagree. No, I'm Fluff Bothwell, who who shows up for 120 yards and then the next game ends up with seven total carries. yeah I think this team needs to find something for Gio Lopez and solidify ah the team around him before he hits the portal, ah much like I anticipate Colton Joseph doing at Old Dominion. We're a year into Major Applewhite.
00:12:56
Speaker
Uh, so you have to consider it a win that he didn't sleep with any of his teammates or his players, girlfriends. Uh, but from a football perspective, it, are we high on him, low on him? Is this what was anticipated? This, ah this was about what I expected. Um, if he had, if he had turned in a worse than six and six season, uh, I think there would have been like a,
00:13:24
Speaker
a feeling of, oh no, maybe we anointed this guy following Womack leaving. um But as far as I'm concerned, like I said, this is kind of right on schedule, I think, for me. um I think last next season is going to be a better barometer for where we are with him.
00:13:42
Speaker
because you know Matt kept alluding to these like negative camp reports and things that were coming out before the season and we couldn't even really put kind of a handle on you know what does that mean like do they do the players not believe in the scheme like do they feel that they're not being coached properly do they not you know is he a hardo versus being a player's coach and yeah or vice versa and they They kind of got used to one way of coaching under Womack and are and going through something different now. This has been basically kind of right on target for me. So I think next season, it's not a make or break because it's only year two, but I feel like we'll get a better feel for what kind of coach he is next season with.
00:14:23
Speaker
You know, he's got a whole recruiting cycle to himself. They can figure out what they want to do in the portal, kind of make a plan to attack it in that way. And then like you said, hopefully, you know, I'm going to say this pretty much for any quarterback that's ah slated to return next year because of how NIL and Trades for Portal and stuff works. If Lopez returns, and the only reason I say that is because we've seen guys with less talent and and worse stats leave for other situations.
00:14:52
Speaker
If Lopez returns, yeah, you you really need to bring in help around him because if you're not going to be able to run the ball effectively, then you got to find him some some targets who can kind of fill those voids with Pritchett and Voicen and those guys. So that's going to be one really big thing that they need to do. And so that's going to be a task for them to attack next year. But um If we're all good on
Troy's Dominant Victory
00:15:15
Speaker
this game, ah Texas State ends their regular season at seven and five and five and three in the conference. South Alabama finishes their season six and six and five and three in the Sunbelt. OK, so getting to Saturday's slate of games, the first one that comes up here for me is Louisiana ah with a 17.4th quarter putting away the ULM Warhawks, their rival
00:15:40
Speaker
ah What was it? Wooldridge broke his collarbone, I think Matt said. So that that's sort of the situation there. ah Chandler Field stepped in and he was he was good. 17 of 26, 188 in two scores. Again, Ahmad Hardy is just the one-man team for ULM. I mean, ah again, how many times can he almost approach or or get 200 yards rushing and they're just not even they're not even within two scores of of beating their opponent?
00:16:12
Speaker
I feel bad for the guy, honestly, like I really do because I know that this season was not anticipated to even probably be close to five wins. But to start the season five and one, I've been through this to start a season five and one and then just oh and six the rest of the way and just you go from, hey, we're in the driver's seat in the West. We're not even going to be in a bowl game. That's that's really tough to stomach. it So yeah.
00:16:40
Speaker
ah my My heart goes out to him because I know that has to be tough to so put up these stats and and show all of this and then just have absolutely nothing to kind of show for it at the end of the day. Yeah, I just count that he averaged over 125 yards in a lot in losses. ah Yeah. And, you know, granted, that was just the back half of ah ULM season.
Old Dominion vs Arkansas State
00:17:02
Speaker
They are in a situation that Southern Miss has been in for the past several years of you've got a guy with no support cast ah now granted ULM for
00:17:17
Speaker
much of the first half of the season and it fell off kind of once they once they hit their ah their backslide. But for most of the first half of the season was a very strong defensive team. This is a team that was looking a lot like Troy in some ways and that they would be want to beat teams 17 to 14, 17 to 10.
00:17:39
Speaker
And they had a lot of guys, uh, defensively that really impressed. I think Billy Pullen was really good for them. He had six sacks. Uh, they had an a hundred tackle guy and more diet Williams. This isn't a defense that has talent. Uh, but if they don't figure out much like Southern miss, which feels like a,
00:18:05
Speaker
You know, that's that's the bottom of the barrel comparison and you know, no one is really at that depth or depth of pornis. But if if you don't figure out this ah lack of offensive identity, let me take that back. They have an offensive identity, ah lack of all offensive talent. ah You're going to end up like Southern Miss in a couple of years where everything has just fallen apart and you look like the worst team college football has ever seen, maybe ever.
00:18:34
Speaker
I'm serious. And so no I know you are. And so like is if it's Aiden Armenta, I maybe he has an incredible offseason. He's only a sophomore. ah We know it's certainly not General Booty. He's proven that he's certainly not the guy. I'd be shocked if he doesn't enter the the portal for. Would that be his second time?
00:19:00
Speaker
ah i think Was he somewhere after – he came straight from Oklahoma to ULM, right? he didn't he didn't He didn't have a stop in between. I'm unsure. I know he was at the very least at Oklahoma. Oh, yeah. Okay, he played a year at JUCO, um so so really only one year in the portal. um But like right now it would be Aiden
Georgia Southern vs App State
00:19:24
Speaker
Armenta, I guess.
00:19:26
Speaker
And unless you get the quarterback whisperer in that staff, um you guys are looking kind of screwed. I think I've said this before, and the more that I've seen out of arm into during this backslide, the more I feel justified in saying this, I wouldn't be shocked or or fault Bryant Vincent if they just cleared out the quarterback room and like was like, hey,
00:19:52
Speaker
we're just starting fresh because frankly this is not like to me I don't think Armenta has a ceiling of of really anything of note like he's turnover prone he's he's not accurate with his passes so you're just kind of like where do how do we build off of that like you can't work around ah weaknesses of throws too many interceptions and completes like half of or less than half of his passes like on an average day like there's just nothing to build around there so and especially because he he doesn't do a lot of damage with his legs so that doesn't even really mitigate what he's
Marshall's Thrilling Victory
00:20:35
Speaker
not doing with his arm and so I just feel like
00:20:39
Speaker
it again if they want to hit the portal hard at the quarterback spot or like if they I don't know what they're recruiting situation looks like if they have a guy that they feel good about coming in as a quarterback I feel like you got to you got to give that guy first dibs because you've seen what you have in our mental now and frankly it's not Not anything really so I that yeah, so again fields played pretty well to two touchdowns one pick Zylan Perry 19 carries 150 yards two touchdowns for Louisiana um You know, this one was tight at the half 13 13 and then you know, Louisiana outscored them. What was it? 24 to 10 the rest of the way
00:21:22
Speaker
ah So, yeah, I mean, this has kind of been Louisiana's thing is early in games, they kind of just hang around, don't really do very much. And they have, as of late, you know, done that thing where they pull away later in games. But early in the season, I guess this is an improvement because early in the season, they weren't even doing that. Like they were playing very inferior teams to, you know, 10 points spreads. So credit to them for that. They seem to have kind of learned their lesson and and are more focused on like putting teams away. um But with Woldridge being out and them having, you know, fields come in for him, that's gonna be a really interesting kind of factor in the Sunbelt Championship coming up this next Saturday, because I frankly don't feel like he has kind of the ceiling
00:22:14
Speaker
that Wolridge does throwing the football like I feel like Wolridge could really really push the ball down the field and
James Madison Season Recap
00:22:20
Speaker
I'm not sure I haven't really seen that out of fields. He doesn't have the ceiling that Wolridge does but I would say that I would feel comfortable saying that the floor is roughly the same.
00:22:32
Speaker
yeah in games with Chandler fields and not just this season this has gone back several seasons as fields is kind of served as you know this in between good enough to start but not really the starter guy ah for Louisiana The game plan, ah you know they they pass the ball much less with him. you know He gets closer to 24 to 27 passes, whereas we saw Woldridge at times this season pass the ball upwards of 34, 35 times. And they lean on that right running back room in which they have ah several guys that can run the ball.
00:23:10
Speaker
Well, um I think I hear what you're saying about the the ceiling not being high enough, and ah you know we can put a pin this been in this until we talk about the actual
Sunbelt Championship Preview
00:23:20
Speaker
conference championship game. But I don't think you're going to need Ben Woldridge to have hit that ceiling in a game, and therefore you it's OK if you downgrade.
00:23:29
Speaker
ah In a way to Chandler Fields because I feel like the floor is roughly in the same spot He's played this role as the lieutenant quarterback for for several years now um That's been his entire career at Louisiana ah and you know, I can't imagine that guy's not a fan favorite just for the role he plays and just every franchise, every program loves their backup quarterback if he comes in and plays well. And that's what he's done for the past three years. Yeah. So Louisiana locks up a spot in the ah Sunbelt title game with the win. ah You know, frankly, they didn't even really need to win, but a win does secure a home appearance for the Sunbelt title game. So they will be playing in Lafayette ah next Saturday.
00:24:18
Speaker
But Louisiana closes their regular season 10 and 2 and is now 7 and 1 in the conference. UL Monroe finishes their season 5 and 7, 3 and 5 in the Sunbelt and on an unfortunate for them 6 game losing streak to close out the year. ah So hopefully, you know, ah Bryant Vincent can can kind of identify where their weaknesses are and kind of build off of that.
00:24:39
Speaker
ah Getting into this next one here, this was your game. So Georgia State gets blown out by Coastal Carolina 48-27. Christian Valer turned back into Mr. Hyde in this game from his Dr. Jekyll routine. He threw four interceptions, 15 of 26, 205 yards. Yeah, what what did you see? Because I mean, i I didn't know what I was getting from either one of these quarterbacks. And I guess the the coin just landed on tails and it was Valer's turn to be terrible.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, ah well granted, although he was highly efficient, Ethan Vasco was not like dazzling. He went 13 for 17. This was a ah very run heavy game for Coastal, ah primarily because they had a ah lead fairly early um from a Georgia state perspective.
00:25:28
Speaker
ah i'm glad I'm just glad the season's over. Christian Valer turned in a performance that I had not yet seen out of him in how pitiful it was. um And it did give me concerns because I had previously Uh, thought that Christian Valer was going to be good enough for next season. You know, I, I did not anticipate that he was going to be a first team all conference guy next year, but I anticipated him to be good enough, uh, next season. and sit
00:26:00
Speaker
You can't be good enough and turn in these types of games. And ah some these were all pretty ugly. Christian Valer, interceptions tend to be pretty ugly. um So I'm kind of on. Didn't you say two weeks ago he threw the worst interception you've seen like in your life where he just. Here's the thing he might have thrown. He might have beaten that this week.
00:26:25
Speaker
i ah god it' some Some of these balls are just absolute ducks in the air. um ah Dell McGee said something interesting and, ah you know, take what you want from CoachSpeak, but he said that they're going to, you know, evaluate the whole program and every single guy and determine if they're up to scuff. um Because remember, he took the job in the middle of spring practice. This is not his roster, less so than any other first year coach ah in the country.
00:26:56
Speaker
So I I'm curious like much like where ULM is at where like there's a possibility they clean house quarterback wise like shoot, you you get the feeling that. That might happen at Georgia State that might happen ah in the receiving room. Ted Hurst was really good this year, but other than that, no one really did it for you running back wise. Freddie Brock Brock had good games, but he was not exceptional defensively. The best players are all seniors and.
00:27:24
Speaker
You know, we're we're going to be pretty barren in that regard. um And when asked, you know, when asked, well, do you mean players or coaches? He said both. So I think this could be. Like, can you call this season a mulligan? You can't just ignore it, but I think from Del McGee's perspective, like this isn't even his first year there because this is not his team.
00:27:49
Speaker
um I agree that that that said they played very poorly this year and in this game and You know, this is not up to standard and if you do this again next year when you get your guys and you know you Del McGee has been very loud about how he wants to change the culture at Georgia State and now that you've had an opportunity to do so and it's still like this that we have to start asking real questions and Uh, that's the Georgia state side of this coastal. Uh, they ran the ball. Well, I, I, there's not much to say when you are gifted for interceptions, you know, uh, Vasco through one back Kyrie de Plessy, uh, through one on like a little trick play. He's a wide receiver. He can, he threw an interception on a trick play little gadget. Um,
00:28:39
Speaker
But there's nothing to take away from coastal because they were gifted. I don't think they they didn't score on all four interceptions. One of them actually ah they gave the ball right back. um But there's little takeaway from coastal from this game.
00:28:55
Speaker
in particular so Georgia State's weaknesses seem to be the worst parts of UL Monroe and Texas State combined like it's like we don't have a quarterback like UL Monroe we don't really have a defense like Texas State and like you said the the offensive contributors are kind of few and far between so it's like we're again we're we're we're just gonna have to improve everywhere like yeah you know it's like where what are your biggest team needs yes it's a it's a complete restock this offseason i'd imagine um and you know especially for g5 take 247 uh with a green assault because it it really comes down to who is
00:29:40
Speaker
Keeping up with those ah recruiting cycles but you know jorda state has the best sunbelt recruiting class per two four seven um i imagine this team is gonna see an influx in ah in talent next season if this from a
00:30:01
Speaker
personnel perspective could be the the largest amount of turnover from year to year that we see among the Sunbelt teams next year, just because frankly, none of these guys are.
00:30:12
Speaker
are going to be Georgia State lifers none of these guys you can look at and be like you're going to remember that no one's going to remember the Christian Valer game because there's never going to be one people will remember the free Brock game ah but that was a bowl game against Utah State but like no one's going to remember the Kevin Swint game you know ah the it the roster lacks that type those type of guys um Which at this point again I think is fine as a fan person like ah subjectively as a fan I'm okay with that. um
00:30:44
Speaker
but ah If we have the same situation next year. We really need to look and be like alright cool you can kind of recruit well. But what what are we doing here? Right. So with that, again, Coastal just ran the ball down Georgia State's throat and took advantage of the four interceptions that Valer through. Coastal ends their season six and six and three and five in the Sunbelt. They will go bowling. But from what I've heard, people are not exactly thrilled with the Tim Beck era so far in Conway, ah really kind of performing below kind of I think what those fans have come to expect from the
00:31:24
Speaker
mccall and um you know chadwell years and we'll see if they can kind of get that back but sometimes those things are like we said last week just like lightning at a bottle and and you know it's one of those you remember the good days when you're in them well Yeah, you know you remember him when you're out of them too for sure because that's that's what you're looking back on finally Georgia State ends the season three and nine and one and seven in the Sunbelt. All right. So we can we can move quickly through this ah this one, but I don't know if you want to hit the um Charles Huff stuff here when we talk about
00:32:00
Speaker
froy beating the the crap out of southern miss 52 to 20 tate rod maker finally got detached from the bench long enough to throw some passes he finished 18 of 32 34 and two touchdowns uh but frankly it didn't really matter i mean southern miss held tight ish uh for the first half it was 17 to 8 at a halftime um And then they just got absolutely shellacked the rest of the way. So again, i do you want to do the stuff, the huff ah news slash rumors yeah here? Or would you rather do it later? Yeah. So ah what we're talking about, obviously, ah Charles Huff has not been extended by Marshall. At this point, it seems incredibly unlikely that he will be. ah And the word is that he's been actively shopping his services, ah namely to Southern Miss.
00:32:52
Speaker
um Would that be a lateral or or upward move? I'm not quite sure. I frankly feel like that's a downgrade, but you know he's not getting extended, so it's not like he has the choice to stay at Marshall. Bro, they're not paying you.
00:33:07
Speaker
um And and just for just for context, we're not 100% on whether that's coming from his side of things about not wanting an extension or that's coming from kind of the athletic department side about not wanting to give it to him. We're not kind of and unfamiliar with that. there's There's still a lot of moving parts to this. um you know we're they're still ah I suppose there's still a chance even at like the 11th hour that Marshall comes back and says,
00:33:34
Speaker
Hey sorry we waited this long and gives him something you know so where there's the story is still to unravel and that probably won't happen until ah after the conference championship game. um i I think that would be.
00:33:49
Speaker
Here's the thing, anything is better than what they had at Will Hall. Oftentimes, you're you're stuck wondering like, well, what who is available to us that is a better option? Like as you look at another team that may need a head coach in Georgia Southern, like you've got Clay Helton and you kind of look around and you're just like, well, who's going to be available to us that is going to be much better? And it's tough to discern that.
00:34:16
Speaker
ah there There aren't a ton of ah proven options at this level that that are immediately available because if you're a proven option at the G5 level, um you're just going to go P4. Yeah, that's just kind of how it works. um So I suppose good for Southern Miss for being able to...
00:34:39
Speaker
hide the disgrace that has been this football team for two or three years and convince Charles Huff. And again, this is all conjecture. We don't know. with For all we know, he may not have even interviewed for the job, but it seems to be accepted as fact that ah he interviewed for the job and liked it and is seems to be the leading candidate for this job.
00:35:05
Speaker
Yeah, from what I've read, it sounds like this is all but done. ah Like all it takes is the formality of putting pen to paper um because it's not surprising that Southern Miss would have interest because frankly, they just, we've talked about this over the last couple of weeks since Will Hall got fired. And even frankly, before that, they just need a stabilizing force at the coaching spot. Like they need someone who has an identity who knows what they want to do with their football team.
00:35:34
Speaker
And they haven't had that, ah you know, as far as I as far as I'm aware, because I didn't follow them when they were a co in Cusa. um And I think it's a win win if this ends up happening, because for Charles Huff, you get.
00:35:49
Speaker
built in job security, because look at what marsh you can sell. yeah Even if even if they weren't kind of in these talks already and kind of further farther down this road, you could sell Southern Miss on Hey, look what I did at Marshall, you know, we, frankly,
00:36:07
Speaker
southern miss at this point is one of those teams you know we talked about them going six and six last year and having to put like a statement out and doing all that kind of stuff about we expect better frankly at this point southern miss would kill to go six and six are you kidding me they would love to be just bowling so his down years would be southern miss's peak as of late and then you know the the nine win season's notwithstanding so i think it's a win-win from both sides i think the the ultimate loser I guess out of this is Marshall. but We can talk about that when we talk about the the Marshall JMU game and how that ended up. But ah as far as this game goes, Damien Taylor ran all over Southern Miss. 23 carries, 169 yards, three touchdowns. ah Simmons, the the Southern Miss receiver, actually played fairly well. you know Go figure, he finally had kind of a competent quarterback throwing in the ball for once. ah Four catches, 90 yards and a score.
00:37:01
Speaker
they they're another one of these teams it's like what are what are your team needs like Georgia State yes we need absolutely everything we don't have a quarterback but we can't protect we have no pass catchers our running backs you know post Frank Gore are not really anything to write home about and our defense is not good so we we just need absolutely everything so You know, if Charles Huff's willing to undergo this challenge and they're willing to have him and and be patient with him as they definitely should, considering the state of the program right now. I mean if he turned, if he took this job and everything goes through the way that we anticipate, and they turned around in one
00:37:40
Speaker
four or five games next year. If they took if they had ULM season next year, ULM season this year, but next year, I think that would be an absolute win, even despite a six game losing streak in the season, just because, yeah, look at where they are now. And I would have said the same thing about ULM a year ago, like the fact that you were ever five and one is a win for you guys, like because you had nothing. So I I would be I if.
00:38:07
Speaker
Whoever gets the u ah Southern Miss job, whether it's Charles Huff or not. um I there there are two ways in my eyes that that higher can get. There's obviously more options than this, but you either turn it around into. ah You know, it takes a couple years, but you become the six and six team and you almost become like a Ricky Ronnie type ah coach for that team where it's just like.
00:38:35
Speaker
Well, it's better than what it could be, I suppose, ah and you accept six and six. Or i what I really anticipate this job being is the the trajectory Terry Bowden had at ULM, where he came in, he made it a football team. That's really what you can say about what Terry Bowden did, is he turned ULM from a a zero-win team to, I think, three or four wins in his first season.
00:39:02
Speaker
And I remember that year I thought he should have won Sunbelt coach of the year ah for for what he did there and ultimately ended up getting fired because he couldn't really push it much further past that but now ULM is in a position that it was not in previously with if you look maybe six seven years ago where.
00:39:23
Speaker
ULM is in a position to win football games. They're in a position to contend with Louisiana in the West, where they're in a position to to be contending, although they missed this season, ah for bowl games. I anticipate that kind of being the trajectory of Southern Miss's next coach. um So Charles Huff, if you take it or whoever takes it, just be prepared i so is my message to you because you are probably going to be the sacrificial lamb.
00:39:51
Speaker
uh for the good of this program well maybe or he could be there bryant vincent where you're you know the the jury's still out on him but he he's coached one year and it seems like they're at least kind of going in the right direction in monroe uh whereas you know yes he could be very much be there terry bowden where there he's the coach before the coach but I think with his track record, I think Southern Miss is, you know, hitting a home run in taking him away from Marshall, a nine-win school. I think the question is, are they going to have the support from like the n NIL side of things? Are they going to be able to, are they going to get the support from the athletic department? Like all those types of things that I'm sure that they've had these discussions, but I think that's that's one really big one.
00:40:40
Speaker
Um, on the other side of things, I do want to talk about Troy a little bit before we move on, not, not this game specifically, but kind of moving forward. So I was pretty critical of Parker throughout this season, Troy's coach and.
00:40:54
Speaker
It seems like, you know, they won three of their last four to end the season, which which is obviously huge for them because you at least get some momentum to kind of run into next season. Hopefully, again, transfer portal pending and all that sort of stuff. Matthew Caldwell, you get him to stick around. You might have an answer at quarterback at least for next year.
00:41:14
Speaker
um I, I don't know. Like I said, he, he, he really kind of upped his game coaching wise the last, the last month of the season. And, you know, maybe we could see them build off of this. And I mean, they're, they're not going to be where they were under summer all ah next year, but hopefully, you know, you get them going in the right direction. Maybe they get to be a six or seven wind team next year.
00:41:37
Speaker
Yeah, ah this because this is a team that. ah For one started out in three and then got their first win against an FCS team, so that was just a difficult struggle. But then as you look through their schedule, if we start at the back half, I suppose, as you talked about, there's three out of the last four. The only loss came to UL and it wasn't like the other two wins came against Southern Miss. It was against ah Georgia Southern and Coastal, which are yeah.
00:42:05
Speaker
At worst, middle of the pack, I suppose, ah is the worst thing you could say about those teams in reference to the Sun Belt. You know, only lost to three against Arkansas State, stayed in a really tough game against ULM very early on back in their I think it was their first ah conference game of the year. So sir Troy was ultimately um disappointing I think because I mean consider where they were last year and where they are now. right um I penciled them to at the very least make a bowl game just based on the The continuation of what they had last year, but there was far more turnover or the turnover was far more impactful than I had anticipated. ah I think I think Troy's in the right direction. I agree with you. I think they're. they're
00:42:55
Speaker
at the very worst, like primed to be, ah you know, you can sell this in the off season to coaches or players or transfers or whoever um that like, hey, we're stringing wins together. It was our, you know, first eight games were a wash, new coach, a quarterback, new system, quarterbacks, quarterbacks, rolling, rolling multiple guys out there. So I think Troy's turning in the right direction. um Troy to me, and as ah just a sidebar, and this is true for Marshall as well, ah is one of those brands that feels like G5 feels healthy when those teams are good.
00:43:36
Speaker
ah So I hope Troy gets back because my attitude on G5 football is higher when teams like Troy teams like Marshall, ah you know, like Tulane is another one of those teams. Although Tulane is obviously very good ah when those teams are good.
00:43:53
Speaker
I think the public, you know, those are the brand name G5 teams. Uh, so Boise boy. Yeah. When those teams are good, the the outlook of G5 is good. Um, at least from a non G5 perspective, which the CFP committee is yeah ESPN is everyone is unless you're in these communities, like that's what you are. So right.
00:44:19
Speaker
um Yeah, I agree with a lot of what you said. you can I think the biggest thing, and we' and we'll get off of this because we we we need to move on past these, but I think the other thing too is the way that this season ended for them winning three of your last four, I think it also takes a little bit maybe of the pressure off of Parker heading into next year because I know this was just year one.
00:44:44
Speaker
But if you end this season with one or two wins, there are a lot of people kind of looking at you side eye being like, I don't know, man, like if it if the next season, if twenty five ends up like this year, like we could be looking for a new coach starting in twenty six. And that's just kind of the state of how things work now. But.
00:45:04
Speaker
To start cold the way that they did and I know they were shuffling through a lot of offensive line combinations. They started three different quarterbacks at least ah this year with like Crowder Caldwell and I can't remember the name of the third guy. ah But all three of them got got playing time. It's just like this seems like to have forward momentum now it's like once we got the offensive line settled once Caldwell started full-time and got his feet under him and his sea legs now we can kind of start pushing forward and you you saw that improvement toward the end of the season so again not only can you sell this to incoming transfers or recruits so you can also sell it to the fan base as hey you know we were really bad early in the season but look where we ended up and so you know obviously you want to make a bowl game and that wasn't a reality but I think there's a lot of good that you can kind of take away from the how the last month of this season went. um So to finish up that game Troy finished four and eight and three and five in the Sunbelt Southern Miss dropped to one and 11 and finished windless in the Sunbelt 0 and 8. Okay so I wish we had closet Arkansas State fan Matt Migas here to join us because this would have been an interesting. So
00:46:17
Speaker
Okay, so I tried to look into why Colton Joseph didn't play in this game. And it was like, From what I read, he took pregame warmups. They didn't know if he, apparently he had some sort of injury. He was nursing, which is fine. And he took pregame warmups and then he just didn't play. And they put Quinn Henickel in his place. And Quinn Henickel was kind of doing a Colt Joseph impression in this game. He actually yeah led led both teams in rushing for a single player with 206 yards and two touchdowns.
00:46:51
Speaker
I asked, not asked, but I said at the end of last week, I said, I'm going to take Old Dominion minus four. There's got to be something I'm not privy to in this game, because it seemed obvious that Arkansas State would pull this off and Old Dominion was just on them like ah immediately and didn't really let up. ah You know, they played both teams played a quiet fourth quarter. There was only three points combined.
00:47:16
Speaker
um But yeah, it's like Rayner played well, Cory Rucker contributed, but it was the Quinn Henickel show and and that's that's ultimately why they they pulled this one off. Does this performance make you at all question whether it's Colton Joseph or if it's, you know, what what they're running in Old Dominion, if it's the offensive line? zero Zero percent. Because I saw what Grant Wilson did when he was there. yeah and ah
00:47:47
Speaker
not for me let's just say that not for me yeah i hear what you're saying um shoot i think i think what it does is it says and and from what i read i tried to look into this but ah nobody had any actual information i thought that maybe joseph sat this game out because he had intended on entering the transfer portal and just kind of wanted to save his legs considering like old Dominion winner losing this game couldn't make a bowl. They were four and seven coming in. People said that wasn't the case. But I think if if for any reason that does end up being the case, I think you can also look and be like, hey, guys, we kind of have a Colton Joseph diet ah diet Colton Joseph on the bench over there. So if he does decide and we we kind of went into this in detail last week,
00:48:39
Speaker
where it was like, if he does decide to make a move and, you know, Virginia Tech's been known to pilfer from ah Old Dominion, if Virginia Tech makes him an offer, and NIL funds are are secured and all that sort of stuff, and he decides to go to Blacksburg, then you could be like, well, we're not totally screwed at the quarterback spot. But what I will say is, if you're Quinn Henickel and you have this game,
00:49:04
Speaker
and Colt and Joseph does come back next next year, it's gonna be really tough to be like, hey, I'm just gonna glue myself to the bench and hope that he gets hurt or like doesn't play for some reason. So I think one one of these, both of these quarterbacks in theory shouldn't be on the roster next year, just because of the the competition and you know the need for different teams. Hell, even around the Sunbelt Conference, we've talked about a number of them. it These teams need quarterbacks, so I think you know If Ronnie it sells both of these guys on, hey, be a part of the team, like all that is great. But there are starting spots out there to be had if if either or both either of these guys or even potentially both look elsewhere and go, hey, I'd rather have a starting job lockdown versus competing you know in spring.
00:49:53
Speaker
Yeah, ah it's hard to imagine both these guys on the roster. um I know as again ah at Georgia State, I'd be happy to take ah either of them where you guys keep keep whichever you please will take the other. um ah it Truly. um Where that kind of concludes the old Dominion talk. Let's talk Arkansas State seven and five. You I, you know, where I stand on Arkansas State and where I stand on Butch Jones. They're going well. killing if If people if people are listening for the first time, let's just give them a quick like two minute refresher on how you feel about it, because that's just saying that, you know, not everybody. Right. I I'm.
00:50:40
Speaker
very low on Arkansas State, ah much like how Old Dominion, ah kind of in the early parts of the season, was stringing together wins. ah And, i you know, the consensus, my perspective of the Sunbelt consensus was, all right, it's Old Dominion. We're not going to give them a ton of credit for this. They're able to string together wins, but is it legitimate? Is it sustainable? Not really. Right. um That's how I feel about Arkansas State and have felt about Arkansas State.
00:51:10
Speaker
ah and i do not believe that ah this team is really legitimate. I feel fairly strongly that Jalen Rayner has incredible flashes, but is far too inconsistent to really be the lead of this team. Granted, he's only a sophomore, so he has time to grow into that role. Should he stay at Arkansas And I do not believe that State?
00:51:42
Speaker
So my my perspective on this team has not changed. ah ah You know, this is this is the game where you look at Jaylen Rayner and you say, oh, my God, you know, that this guy's legit. But mind you, two weeks ago, back when they played like Georgia State, he passed 400 hundred yards. Right. so So you get both of them with him.
00:52:04
Speaker
So my opinion of Arkansas State has not shifted much from where it began at the beginning of the year. um Where do you stand on this team? I was dead in the middle of you and Matt like I I don't think. But Jones is a good coach and I nothing going seven and five and five and three in the conference did not do anything to shake that belief that I had, I thought.
00:52:32
Speaker
offensively, the talent was good. I think I expected a little bit more from Jalen Rainer this year. Like you said that there was some real inconsistency that kind of was gave me some pause. um But I wasn't quite as low on them as you are. And I'm not even I'm not anywhere as near as high on them as Matt is. So I'm like dead in the middle where I'm like,
00:52:54
Speaker
This game had all of the pros and cons of this team that I highlighted preseason, which is good quarterback can can do things with his legs and improvise and and buy time for these guys like Cory Rucker.
00:53:09
Speaker
ah and And all of that's great. The offense, you know when it clicks, it looks good. you know Sometimes you play an 18-16 game with South Alabama, and no one knows what went wrong. But that's kind of the brakes. But defensively, this is exactly what I'm talking about. like They allow 40 points to a guy that hasn't played meaningful snaps this season in Henickel. The first drive, he rips off a one-play 92-yard touchdown run that took him 14 seconds to get to the end zone.
00:53:38
Speaker
And then the next scoring drive that old Dominion had, they went 13 plays, 90 yards and five and a half minutes. It's, this is everything that I had questions about. Like even when Matt was like peacocking last week on here and was like, what about the the Arkansas state haters? I was like, dude, that that defense can fall apart at any moment. I don't know what you're talking about. And I was trying to get into that with him where I'm like,
00:54:03
Speaker
just because a team has has more wins than losses doesn't inherently make them a well coached or very, very good team. That's just not how it works. Like you have to look at the state of the rest of the conference when you when you play App State, I'm not saying they played all these teams, but I'm just going through the the bottom kind of rungs. It's like Coastal had to win to make a bowl against Georgia State this last Saturday. App did not make a bowl, having been in the conference title game a year ago. Georgia State is at the bottom of the conference, no question about that.
00:54:37
Speaker
UL Monroe finished with on a six game losing streak. South Alabama finished six and six, but they were insanely inconsistent. Troy had a really rough start to the season, but you know, one, three or four at the end of the season, ah you might've figured some things out, but that was the team that represented the West in the Sunbelt title game last year, finished four and eight. And then Southern Miss of course is ah is a train wreck. So I'm just like, when when those are the types of teams you play, that was kind of the point I was making to Matt last week, which was not all 17, seven win teams are created equal. Like a seven win team from last season and a more competitive conference is probably better on average than like your Texas States, Arkansas States from this season, which are seven win teams. So that was kind of the point I was making. And so I fall dead in the middle of you two where I'm like, defensively,
00:55:31
Speaker
throw it out, start over. Like I know I've said that like in years past, but it truly is like, whatever you've done in years past, I don't know if the defensive coordinator, how long he's been there, get him out of there, get start hitting the portal and in high school harder on the defensive side of the ball. Cause offense, you've done a good job of kind of stocking it with talent.
00:55:51
Speaker
But if you're playing a 40 to 32 game against the teams, what started as their third string quarterback at the beginning of the season, like that, you just can't win with that. And so that's another thing where I'm like, butch Jones, I'm just not a fan of as a coach because he can't figure those things out.
00:56:06
Speaker
Right, so we do have to consider, though, um because this makes it two years in a row ah that they're going to finish ah with at least six wins. They went six and six regular season six and seven overall Arkansas State did last season.
00:56:23
Speaker
um I and I say this more to remind myself of this ah but like we have we do have to be open to the idea that um I need to come closer to you in where you stand on this team and maybe possible you need to come closer to where Matt stands on this team because ah Butch Jones after go winning five games in his first two years is now bull eligible for two seasons in a row.
00:56:48
Speaker
um and And say what you want about the state of this conference, which I will speak poorly of. ah you know we're We're in a pretty dark time. This season has been pretty dark for the conference. like that that That's not for nothing. um And again, I say this really to remind myself that come next season, I need to be open to the idea um that this isn't two fluky years. That maybe Butch Jones, despite his inefficacies,
00:57:16
Speaker
Uh, and, you know, head up his own assery, uh, might be able to, you know, turn this Arkansas state team into what it was. You know, when it was Blake Anderson, uh, when it was, he frees Gus Malzahn.
00:57:31
Speaker
Well going back to the discussion we had about Texas State last week ah when we were talking about what did we kind of learn. I will forever and I know he won seven games good for Butch Jones. I will forever plant my flag on the island of if you have a terrible defense and I can't name a single player on your defensive side of the ball.
00:57:53
Speaker
This is your cap. Seven wins. you will not you you You may win eight, but you won't be in contention for the the conference title. like When's the last time a team, you look at a team and go, that team's defense is absolutely awful, but they're in the Sunbelt Championship game. It just doesn't happen.
00:58:10
Speaker
Like think about the JMU's recently, the Troy's, the app states, you know, who whoever, even, you know, like you said, going back to a Arkansas State used to have a good defense, like, and they just have it under Butch Jones. So that's sort of my thing is, if he comes back with roughly the same group as, as this year and doesn't really bring in any new contributors and things like that, I will continue planting my flag on the island of show it to me because I haven't seen it yet. Defensively, I haven't seen it yet. Like you guys, you'll have a couple of good weeks here and there, but you'll also, you know, be in a 40-32 shootout in the last game of the season. And so I, again, I think this, this shows kind of, there is a hard ceiling on the team as it's currently constructed. Things could get better.
00:58:56
Speaker
if you cycle in more players but in its current state you're you're not going to accomplish anything really of note but beyond hey we won seven games with mid bowl which is great a lot of a lot of schools would be like love to do that but you're not going to compete for the west you know you were You were, look at the teams that they were behind this season. Okay, just from a win-loss perspective. Marshall, who had a really good season, but it it took a lot for them to pull Stone Earl. ah Georgia Southern, who I speak poorly of,
00:59:28
Speaker
pretty often because I don't like the way that they go about things. James Madison, who was way, way up and way, way down, played an absolutely cake schedule and finished four and four in the conference and eight and four overall. And then Louisiana, who obviously was the class of the conference, and then Texas State, who also finished seven and five. So both of Texas State and Arkansas State were remarkably similar to me in that defensively, I will forever just continue planting my flag on the island of if you don't have any defense of difference makers, then why should I believe in you? And until You know, one of those teams that wi plays every game 48 to 30 and wins a shootout every week, like until one of those teams wins the conference, I'll i'll continue to doubt that that's going to happen.
01:00:09
Speaker
um Alright, so Arkansas State with the loss falls to seven and five and five and three in the conference. Old Dominion improved to five and seven and four and four in the Sunbelt, but to have Colton Joseph be your quarterback and not make a bowl game feels borderline like almost disrespectful to him because he was damn good this year and for them to just be like we just we can't make a bowl game is is tough.
01:00:35
Speaker
Yeah, well, consider consider that for the first four weeks of the year, ah it was Grant Wilson. We even saw Heineckle in appearances ahead of Colton Joseph. ah But I concur, ah they they went three and four with ah with Colton Joseph starting, um which is an underperformance. um This team has lacked.
01:00:59
Speaker
ah you know, in excess of weapons for for a while now. um and And like I said, he'd be silly not to at least consider other options outside of Norfolk next year. Well, we'll we'll see if he sticks around or if he ends up, you know, kind of having his eye elsewhere. but Getting into the second last game of the night, Georgia Southern defeats app stayed at home 29 to 20. Frankly. Georgia Southern was almost like when Charles Huff refused to play Braille and Braxton in that running the football was working almost every single time and they kept trying to go away from it for some reason and so.
01:01:50
Speaker
and And kind of app was the same way. I tweeted ah during the game, I said, Frank Ponce, the offensive coordinator for app is doing the team a disservice every time that Joey Aguilar throws the football, because both teams were just running the ball kind of at will. And so, you know, you had Jaylen White go for 18 carries 125 yards and three touchdowns. You had Amani Marshall go for 24 carries for 127 yards and a touchdown. Aguilar threw two interceptions. One of them was just a great play and the other one I can't even really blame him because basically
01:02:28
Speaker
the the receiver fell with a defender underneath him and the the receiver kind of like let the ball go at the last minute and the defender was just laying there and caught it like that that was like how one of the interceptions happened so like I kind of blame the receiver a little bit more on that because I feel like you could have fought a little harder to kind of secure possession on that but This has kind of been the thing for Aguilar, man, like it's high, you know, is it's good passing numbers, turnovers, not overly efficient. And, you know, it's 917, just just for everybody that's listening to this later, when we release it's 917 on a Sunday night, I haven't seen anything about Sean Clark not being with the team any longer. So I assume they're going to run this back, unless
01:03:14
Speaker
because I think it was today his his buyout dropped significantly. It's December 1st because it's annual. I think his buyout dropped to 600k today, I want to say. I could be totally off on that. it's it's it's an It's a number around there.
01:03:30
Speaker
but it's just like this was the the Jaylen White show it was great that he was able to um you know show out in his last home game for them on senior night uh and frankly uh JC French you got to do a better job of hanging on to the ball brother you were really bad um you had real bad fumbulitis in this one so you need to figure it out because I think he also leads the conference in fumbles this year. I think he has like eight or nine fumbles this season. So you need to figure it out, like get some stick them on your hands or something. Yeah. Do you because we talked Sean Clark, where do you stand on Clay Helton?
01:04:12
Speaker
Um. Okay, so I thought about this analogy actually when we got off the air last week and I wrote it down because I wanted to keep it for you and presumably if Matt joined us. This Georgia Southern season for the fans was almost like a Rorschach test where it's like you can see whatever you want to see out of this because if you fall more kind of on the skeptical slash pess even going towards pessimism side of things, you could say,
01:04:42
Speaker
Yeah, they won eight games, but look at the state of the conference. And then when the kind of what I said last week, when they had the the chance to make the Sunbelt title game, they lost to Old Dominion and Troy in like the span of three weeks. And basically their season was what we know now. It was over basically, you know, after the the season finale.
01:05:01
Speaker
Or if you fall on the optimistic side, you could say, hey, previous two years we were six and seven, we were struggling to, you know, even but kind of become bowl eligible there. ah Or we would start hot and fall off the face of the earth and we didn't do that this year we won.
01:05:18
Speaker
I think as many games in November as Clay Hilton had games wins in November, the the first two years of his coaching tenure here. So you could definitely point to a lot of ah improvement if you're willing to just forgive the old Dominion and Troy losses, which frankly, I just I can't get over the Troy one. Like I that that's going to stick in my crawl as far as my opinion on him. I'm still of the opinion if a school comes and gets him.
01:05:46
Speaker
I'm fine with it. Like i I just, this was a great win. I appreciate the, you know, him not totally folding up shop after the Troy game, which definitely could have happened and just kind of sailing off into the, the sunset, like at the end of the season, but he, he really buckled down, you know, they beat coastal, they beat app. I'm going to give him credit for that. However, if, ah if another school comes and buys them out, I'm fine with it.
01:06:11
Speaker
So yeah i'm i'm I'm appreciative of what he could do, what he did this year, while also having looked at some more advanced numbers, very, very skeptical of this team moving forward into next season. i that Their schedule gets tougher in conference. I think they add Louisiana to the ah conference schedule next year, just by virtue of rotation. You play like,
01:06:35
Speaker
Fresno wasn't good this year but you play at Fresno at USC so those are you know they don't play well on the road historically so that those could be two straight losses right there. um I think with a tougher schedule you know there's a real chance this team kind of goes back to being in the six and six team that we saw. I think the This team had a couple of miracles hit with the South Alabama and Troy, uh, South Alabama and Marshall games and kind of how those ended up, uh, as wins, those could have very easily been losses. So I feel like, you know, kind of the pendulum could swing back the other direction. So again,
01:07:12
Speaker
I don't know what openings are available ah just because they're they're coming open as quickly as they're filling up. Like Kennesaw State, for one, just filled their their head coaching slot. ECU hired ah who ah Clay Helton was rumored to be in touch with ah early in the seasons earlier in the season, hired their interim full time. So we don't we don't know who's going to be open or what's going to be available. But again, if a school wants to come buy them out, I'm um' not going to be mad about it. um I'm fine with it.
01:07:41
Speaker
So I think there's a lot of luck that really played into this eight win season for him. And I don't know that you can replicate that. So. OK. So where where are you at on Sean Clark? You you think I should let him go or you yeah should try to give him another season? I'm out on Sean Clark. I've said for pretty much all season and maybe even spinning into last year that just like he He's been fine, ah but App State is a is one of those programs where fine is not good enough. ah This team, even in its current iteration, has enough talent um to.
01:08:23
Speaker
to outperform what it's doing. I'm disappointed by what we've seen from Joey Aguilar. And based on what we've seen from him in the past, I looked to the coach and not to Aguilar. I was disappointed by the run game this year. This is a team that has had some very good running backs in the past several years. And no one really stood out to me.
01:08:41
Speaker
ah In that regard and defensively they were fairly mild as well ah Really not getting after pass rusher or quarterbacks too much not not forcing incompletions or interceptions at a high rate um i feel I feel pretty dumb with Sean Clark and that's not to say that he should be fired in disgrace or bought out in disgrace or you know, whatever the the contract situation may be but I think his time here is You know, it's it's concluded and that's okay. He he can be thanked for for what he did. um And yeah exactly just send him off for your service. Thank you for your service. Sean Clark, like you you were a very good coach for a couple of years. um But you've run your course. ah Not not every guy can be at a program for eight, nine, 10 years.
01:09:35
Speaker
They also... ah I think my biggest thing that I took away from this and you know even going back to previous games is they just feel like they're not... They're not that tough trenches mind mindset team that they have been the last couple years like it feels like defensively I mean in this game especially you can run on them like it's really not all that difficult and it just feels like they kind of lack that mental toughness and and grit that like previous app teams have shown and I know that that's That's something that people have had a real problem with, with Clark, which is, you know, you were an offensive line guy, our offensive line is eh. And it it kind of was this year. And so it's like, if you're one specialty, you're not going to excel at, like maybe we need to find something elsewhere. But the Southern side of my brain says, give this guy a lifetime contract. And then the the the realistic like side of my brain says, yeah, it's probably time to to look elsewhere because
01:10:34
Speaker
frankly, like you said, you know, not making bowl games in two of your last three seasons is not really acceptable in Boone. Like, you know, I know they went to the conference championship last year.
01:10:46
Speaker
But we that seeing what we saw this year, that feels like more of an aberration. I don't know what the the main difference is, but it just feels like everything it was. This year was like worst case scenario for them almost like off the field as well. We we recognize that. But yeah I mean, it was just like.
01:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think you got to make a move. You got to go somewhere else because this this finally hasn't worked. I think ah this is not a winning strategy. um But I think it may be a situation where Again, this isn't a way to build a strong program or win football games. But if he he only has one year left, um they played one less game. So it's very feasible, especially how we saw Liberty kind of fall apart. Like it's very feasible that this team would have ended six and six. um Yeah. So I think you let it you let let him play out next year. If he proves you wrong, you can bring him back. But if it's another six and six year, that would have been his third and four seasons.
01:11:47
Speaker
ah then I think you just don't reapply. I think the most likely outcome here is that they don't ah they just let it expire instead of cut him. Can I drop a stat for you that I saw earlier today? And I have it. I didn't I didn't go back to fact check this. Someone said, OK, so at played 11 games this season, correct? yeah Yes. They scored 22 first quarter points all season.
01:12:17
Speaker
Well, that's the, well, that's the Sean Clark experience. That's always been the Sean Clark experience. No, I know. I just couldn't, I couldn't believe that stat. I mean, like I was going and looking through the conference. Like this week, Old Dominion scored 14 points in the first quarter with like their third string quarterback.
01:12:34
Speaker
Like it, and I'm just like, dude, if you can't figure it out at app and it feels like you have the right players in there, maybe not the right coaches, wink, wink defensively. And I know I'm speaking from experience why that would be. Uh, again, you can't be bad in the trenches and you're like, uh, our playmakers really aren't what they were last year. And that you just can't do that. That's true. 22 points in the first quarter, 132 in the second.
01:13:03
Speaker
that's That's nuts to me to start a game that slow. And I mean, they did it this week too. I mean, it was like Southern kind of walked down the field on the opening series, scored a touchdown, surprised them with a two-point conversion. App really couldn't do very much. I mean, it was it was just...
01:13:19
Speaker
It felt like the times that they would do something well would be the times that a team better than Southern would absolutely bury them. Because at one point, like one of the really impressive interceptions that they got, I'm pretty sure f French fumbled on like three plays later. So they didn't even have the ability to capitalize off of it. And with a better team, like if you play They did play Louisiana, but like a team like that usually will just step on your throat when you make it a bad decision or a turnover. And Southern, frankly, isn't talented enough to do that, but they still ended up coming away with the win. So good for them. ah Georgia Southern finishes the regular season eight and four and is six and two in the Sunbelt app drops to five and six and three and five in the conference. Like I said, got to beat Troy.
01:14:10
Speaker
that's that's where That's the one one drawback I have about Helton. He's gonna lose a game he has no business losing. All right, and the last one of Saturday night, this was insane. This game was crazy. A two-overtime thriller. Marshall comes back from 17 to nothing at halftime.
01:14:30
Speaker
I saw a stat and I told this told this to you before we started recording games where they had previously been down by at least 17 points historically they were one in 68 so obviously the odds were very very much against them and you know frankly Braylon Braxton just showed up in the second half and just bawled out because like he really put the team on his shoulders on a number of different occasions. I think Houston their running back went out at one point injured. I don't know if he ended up coming back uh and he was the leading rusher for the team but Braxton you know the stats don't really show it
01:15:09
Speaker
But between the defense stepping up in the second half and Braxton coming back to life from where he was, um you got to keep in mind that they basically mailed in an entire first half of football. So take that kind of with a grain of salt from that perspective. But the other thing, too, having two touchdowns in the third quarter scored within seven seconds of one another and you're down by 17, that's going to help, obviously. Yeah.
01:15:35
Speaker
Uh, this was, um, well, first of all, I think this speaks a lot to, I'm not sure who this speaks a lot to. This speaks a lot to someone, whether it's Charles Huff or the Marshall players or the, the, the Marshall assistants. Um, because as I'm, you know, uh, I, I'm learning now that, uh, folks inside of Marshall are saying Charles Huff is a done deal to Southern Miss. So, uh, so, right This is a game where like your coach has a foot out the door, presumably whether or not he's told the team, uh, but these guys are not stupid. Um, and they how to check social media.
01:16:22
Speaker
it took have to get in ah But they showed I mean 17 points in the third quarter that is absurd and then to get the You know what you need done in overtime ah Luckily, you only went to two instead of eight ah Like Georgia Georgia detected that was a miserable exciting but miserable watch um I think that speaks a lot to what Marshall has I'm curious if Again, I don't know like who that comes down to, but now we have to think like if when Huff leaves, who follows him? ah Because this is a nine in three Marshall team and. I it's hard you'd be hard pressed to imagine any of the guys in the locker room, except for maybe Braylon Braxton, who's pissed off that it took him this long to win the job, is like looking at Charles Huff and says I'm unhappy here if they're going to a conference championship game and.
01:17:18
Speaker
While spoiler alert, I feel like they're a far inferior team to Louisiana. um that That's not for nothing and so I think we could see.
01:17:30
Speaker
one of those exoduses, sometimes coaches bring their staff and their and their players with them. Signeti did that in Indiana. um Sometimes we don't see that. And I think that could be what Marshall has ah when Charles Huff leaves or wherever he ends up. That does not bode well for Marshall. I was going to call that out exactly what you just said, which is we were talking about mass exoduses before. Could you imagine like it has to be so kind of deflating if you are a new coach coming in and there is a mass exodus because you come in being like hey man the cupboard stopped like you know whatever and then it's like if some of those guys say hey i'm no i'm going to play for charles huff then you're like oh shoot like i might be in like a
01:18:21
Speaker
troy type situation or jmu or whatever and like i know jmu had a good season but still so ah that that that was something i wanted to bring up as well because you never know how the player is going to react when that that move gets officially made i fear i fear for marshall in that sense um because shoot woody you're going to be left with stone earl again we're going to be looking at We'll be looking at, you know, whatever backup NFL career journeyman since his son to Marshall this time. You know, is Ryan it's called Patrick's son old enough to play yet? I mean, hey, Cole Pennington could still start for them next year if they needed it. ah Goodness. um Hope, you know, they they need to be in a real bad spot to need Cole Pennington to start.
01:19:11
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. this This Marshall team I think is the hardest to project for next season as of today. This could change ah after the conference championship. This will change in January once the carousel has really gone through. This will change ah once the portal closes. But Marshall is the most ah nebulous to me because you know ah Depending on who goes and who stays, they could either go to nine and three next year or they could be in, a ah let's say, a Georgia State situation where they were a bowl team last year. They were in you know bowls for several straight years and now they're the pity of the conference.
01:19:55
Speaker
ah sure yeah I worry for Marshall in that sense James Madison on the other hand. um It's hard to it's very difficult to be upset with eight and four very very difficult. um You're going to look back at the southern game obviously where they did not show up. ah You're gonna look back at- This game? I mean, this game, obviously- It's blowing a 17 to zero halftime lead. But as you consider it as a whole, I mean, yeah you can't be upset at eight and four with James Madison. I think Bob Chesney's, I don't know, I think he's overperformed to what I anticipated out of him.
01:20:40
Speaker
I think their fans would disagree with you, ironically, ah because the things that I've seen is they are very much not happy with the way that the season played out. ah This is their first poor year since joining the FBS. I think ah having never been in that situation, you've been in this situation, so you know perhaps providing your input, but I think that's just kind of how it goes. You strike gold early and you're like, oh, this is going to be as easy as it's been. And then you have to come to face reality at some point.
01:21:14
Speaker
Well, I think the difference between Southern and James Madison is Southern has dealt with this at the FCS level before too. So like, while it's not ideal when it happens, you know, and I'm thinking of Tyson Summers last season. I'm thinking of Chad Lunsford last season. Like it's not ideal. We at least had some sort of frame of reference to be like, Hey man.
01:21:35
Speaker
the Brian Van Gorder season we had like a million years ago like that sucked like this sucks and like I think JMU just totally seems like they were taken totally aback so You know, you live and you learn. And I kind of agree with you. Like you cannot be happy. You can be not happy about the results of this game because frankly, they they had a million chances and should have won it. ah But I think when you consider the like the larger picture of who we lost, Signeti leaving like McLeod leaving and like having to kind of start back at square one, I think on some level, maybe in a couple of years, you might look back on the season and go,
01:22:15
Speaker
maybe not as bad as I thought. And I'm not saying that from a a perspective of, oh, they're going to be a six and six team and be like, God, we wish we were eight and four again. But I'm just saying that from, you know, the further you get away from stuff, like there's nothing that really feels like it would cause and animosity about this season. Like it didn't feel like, Hey, we should have had a way higher ceiling. Like all of those sorts of things to me kind of seem outlandish to think like, you could have wanted better for this team. But I think to have internal expectations of we need to be in the conference championship next year with the amount of roster turnover and coaching turnover you had, I think is a little silly, I think. So consider
01:22:58
Speaker
This is ah dumbing it down tenfold. But from here, James and Madison can either go up, stay the same, or go down from using record as a frame of reference record wise. Say they win, you know, ten games in the next two years. You come back to this season, you don't look at it as, oh, why was this season so poor? It's, well, it was the first year of a new regime. If they stay the same,
01:23:23
Speaker
you know, now you're a little upset. But if you go down, you reflect on the season as an overperformance and with gratefulness in a way. So I i and i hear what you're saying about the frustration. yeah James Madison, folks, if you hear this, please, you can understand that when you have the hindsight, this was an exceptional season.
01:23:50
Speaker
eight eight and four oftentimes is good enough to earn you a birth in the ah conference championship game. You know, your losses just kind of came. Remember this team beat UNC early on in that like seventy seventy on um put them, put 70 on, you know, oftentimes like when you go eight and four, those losses are going to be front loaded instead of back loaded like James Madison's was. so you win eight games next year, you you could be playing in the conference championship. um be Be grateful. As a team with three wins, I say this, be grateful. i I hear what you're saying from that side of things. And I don't think it's, I think it's a little crazy to be like, we just inherently expected it to be better than this. But I will say when you do now look back on how cake that schedule was, and we talked about this in preseason,
01:24:44
Speaker
being eight and four is a little disappointing. like I'm sure you would say, hey, we would love to give up that UNC victory for a conference victory in return. like oh yeah but We flip the script of, like hey, we lose to let's say you lose to UNC 70 to 50, and then you turn around and flip the result of like this game or like the Georgia Southern game. I think you're like,
01:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, man, that was a great season. So I think it's just, it's more like their, their losses were just at unfortunate times for like kind of what they hope to accomplish. And, but, but again, when you lose like a McLeod and like all of those passbrushes, they had Kamara, um Tyson Lawton, and then like the coach on top of everything, it just feels like, Hey, it feels like a little,
01:25:33
Speaker
beggars being choosy from, from where I'm sitting. Cause you know, eight and four has been our ceiling as of late. Yeah. and It's their first time being poor in a while. Yeah. Welcome.
01:25:47
Speaker
yeah welcome to the club this is what it's like i mean i i said something after george southern beat them i was like if they were talking like the world was ending and i was like is this you guys's first time because we've definitely been in your shoes before so i i i just yeah i just think it's It's a little silly to like be so up in arms about this because it wasn't like, you know, I think about a time when a coach took over a very talented team and underperformed that would be the most frustrating thing, you know, and and they just didn't have that level of talent. So it's it is what it is.
01:26:23
Speaker
Alright, so let's transition.
Conference Championship Build-up
01:26:25
Speaker
Let's talk a little bit about the conference championship. Obviously we'll have more when we recap it next week. Hopefully Matt can join us because we would love to have his insight ah on what ends up happening in the game.
01:26:38
Speaker
But give me OK, so. Games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, 730 on ESPN on Saturday, ah UL is a four and a half point home favor over unders 57 and a half. Give me your pick and tell me why. I think it's pretty simply UL here minus four. um I.
01:27:02
Speaker
believe Marshall feasted on a a fairly easy East division this year. um And I I believe that despite the loss of Waldridge, Louisiana is going to be at full strength. As I said earlier, um for those that are joining us since we talked about Louisiana game.
01:27:27
Speaker
The ceiling of Ben Woldridge versus Chandler Fields is, ah there there is a disparity. Ben Woldridge has a higher ceiling than Chandler Fields. That is no secret, but the floor is not two different and. ah You know, I wouldn't say this with confidence, but it's very possible that Chandler Fields floor may be higher than Ben Woldridge is just on any given night. um Louisiana is going to rely a lot on the the run game as they have in every game over the past three or four years that Chandler Fields is played ah as this like.
01:28:06
Speaker
good enough to start but not the starter quarterback role that he's had. um I think Louisiana has been the best team all year. ah Marshall.
01:28:18
Speaker
got up for JMU in a game that they needed to win to make the conference championship. ah I definitely fear about the fact that it took Marshall a half to get there. ah You really can't do that against Louisiana. I think Louisiana will make you pay for a 17 to nothing first half deficit unlike James Madison was able to.
01:28:41
Speaker
ah With that said, we've seen I do want to say that Marshall has shown explosiveness, especially in recent weeks. They've scored over 30 points in each of their last four games in five of their last six. um This Marshall offense can put up points in a hurry.
01:28:59
Speaker
ah And if in the world where they do win this, the route to doing so would be through the offense and outgunning a Louisiana offense that is going to be and has tended to be more methodical, very balanced. um I don't want to say pro style, but pro style in the way that it ah ah splits its pass and run.
01:29:22
Speaker
um Louisiana has put up points in a hurry, but it's done so against poor teams ah when it plays teams of a higher caliber, Texas State earlier in the year, Coastal. um even Even the Tulane game, yeah I was not as impressed. And for those reasons, I take Louisiana here. So I'm i'm not going to make a straight up pick. I'm actually going to take the over in this game.
01:29:49
Speaker
um Well, I think Louisiana wins, but I think it's closer than the spread. But I would rather just take the over for that reason. Like I don't want to have to thread the needle of, oh, God, are they kicking a second field goal before the end of the game or are they just sticking with the three point lead? So I'm going to take the I'm going to take the over. ah Louisiana has shown.
01:30:11
Speaker
They're a good team on defense, but they will let other teams score on them, like, take a look back at like the Troy game. You know, you on Monroe put up 23 and they're a struggling offense South Alabama put up 22 but that was kind of it, and it feels like They were very good at holding teams to 24 points or fewer early in the season. And then kind of things started to kind of click ah for the other team around the South Alabama game when, you know, they gave up 24, they've given up 24 30 and 23 the last three weeks. And one of those was to a.
01:30:47
Speaker
very underperforming ULM offense. So for that reason, I think Marshall puts up enough points and Louisiana both put up enough points to to hit the over of 57 and a half. I don't think either the defenses are locked down per se. So I think there will be opportunity for both teams to score points. But I do think Louisiana comes away as the winner. If I had to take a side, I would say i think I would still say,
01:31:12
Speaker
Marshall plus four and a half. And I think they win by, are they, I think Louisiana wins by a field goal. So like, I think it's going to be a ah closer than they indicate, but I would rather take the over. Cause I feel like that's more of a sure thing for me. All right. We'll find out. Hopefully we'll have boots on the ground. Uh, I anticipate Matt will probably end up being there. Um, so I look forward to hearing what he has to say, uh, come next Sunday.
01:31:39
Speaker
Yeah.
Social Media and Conclusion
01:31:40
Speaker
All right. So as we wrap up here, Zeke, let everybody know where they can find you on socials and then I'll do the same and we'll get out of here. ah Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at Zeke Palermo z e ke p a l er mo post about the pod post about ah Really any other sports things that are catching my eye? um I'm gonna be having to catch up on the bills game ah after this they're up 21 3 at half um over the Niners go bills um but ah Even against a struggling Niners team no lead ever feels safe with Buffalo
01:32:17
Speaker
That's fair enough. Yeah. No, I get that. Uh, as always, you can find us on X at warm weather fans. Uh, you can email us warm weather fans at gmail dot.com. Uh, again, our YouTube link was, was here in the chat for awhile. It's youtube dot.com slash at warm weather fans. We post all of our live streams and even bonus content on that feed. We actually will have a piece of bonus content coming. Um,
01:32:43
Speaker
After the like the week we do the recap of the conference championship, we did a a Sunbelt family feud with all three of us that we filmed a while ago. So I'll be getting that up as well. So if you like any of that additional Sunbelt content, please go over to that channel. Follow us on socials. You can follow me on Twitter or I guess X now ah at Watch the Stone.
01:33:04
Speaker
um Yeah, that will pretty much do it for our thoughts on rivalry week and our initial observations picks on the conference championship game. Join us next Sunday here on YouTube on X. ah We will go live around the same time, 8 or 8.15 or 8.30, depending on the timing. We'll announce that on the X feed. But yeah, hopefully Matt's here to discuss the game with us.
01:33:32
Speaker
Thanks everybody, this has been another edition of Warm Weather Fans.