How will year two go for Deion?
Georgia national champion pick
Why it is a must win game for both Miami and Florida
Texas A@M vs Notre Dame
LSU vs USC excitement
Mac on sports
Week 1 College Football preview
On today's episode of Macon Sports CD lamb is finally back in training camp as he gets his long-term extension to stay in Dallas. Dalvin Cook also a surprising signing heading to the big D to bolster up that awful running-back room down there in Dallas as they are looking to try to find a solution and it is time we have finally hit college football season week one is upon us tonight. Thursday night football of college is back have some games this weekend that we got to get excited about. We have a loaded week one slate on Saturday of some unbelievably top end games. It's going to be a great great week of college football and like I continue to say we've made it. Pat yourself on the back because we've made it. It's a good episode. Sit back and enjoy. Let's ride. What is going on guys? Happy August the 29th. And of course I do have a good feeling as flow rider was just saying because we have made it. College football is here. We talked about last week how awesome week zero was. We talked about how great of a game we got in Ireland between Georgia Tech and Florida State and we talked about how week zero is a tease because you get football back on your screen. Everything feels great but then it is just not enough. Those two to three games just make you want more and more and more well now you are getting more and more this week as we continue to grind and continue to ramp up our football schedule. As you know you start with week zero. It's an appetizer week one. You get to have you know a little bit of a side kind of another appetizer right week one for college is great and then once you get to week two and you have the NFL back and your Saturdays and your Sundays are just filled with college football and NFL football there's no better feeling in the world than getting through a hard week and coming home for your weekend and just getting to sit on the couch and just enjoy yourself. Basically the only stress you got to worry about is your team winning. You don't worry about adult life. You don't have to worry about bills. You just get to worry about your football team and it's the greatest feeling in the world and we're there now. We are there. We are at the end of August. We're about to turn the page to September and boy do we have a fun couple of months here coming up for us. Week zero is already off to an electrifying start as we talked about. I think week one's got potential to be even better. We're going to break down some of those matchups. We're going to talk about the biggest matchups and I'm going to give you some predictions but we can just start off with Thursday nights tonight. We have made it and all of the offseason talk is about Dion and Colorado. Whether it's good, whether it is bad. There are certain reporters that are not allowed to speak out about Colorado anymore because they defame Dion Sanders' name and say some bad things that Dion does not like. So there's always going to be headlines with Dion Sanders. It's always going to be headlines with the Colorado buffaloes as long as he is there. Well they get the Thursday night football slate for us to have to watch. Now whether you like them or not they're going to get eyeballs. They're going to get ratings and on Thursday night they're the team that's going to open up college football on ESPN at eight o'clock as they take on North Dakota State. Now look North Dakota State is no slouch. As you know they've produced NFL talent. They've produced Trey Lance. They've produced Carson wins. They're one of the best FCS teams in the country on a yearly basis. They come in as a preseason top three FCS team this year. So coming off the bat Colorado is going to get battle tested. Now look they got Jadore Sanders. That's guy he's going to be a household name. Could end up winning a Heisman Trophy this year. They brought in Warren Sapp for the defensive line coach to bring that type of swagger intensity and toughness to the Colorado defensive line. Now look South Dakota State on the other hand or North Dakota State. When you play a team with a Dakota State in it whether it is South Dakota whether it is North Dakota you're getting a handful. They're the best two programs in the FCS for good reason. They can be the majority of Division One football teams. This is not going to be a rollover game for Colorado. That's an out of conference game where you should be expected to win by 30 plus. No this is going to be a good game a game that I think you're going to look at North Dakota State and I think they're going to play Colorado down to the wire. The spread is Colorado by 10. I think it's a lot closer than what people think in this game and it's a big one for Colorado. No doubt about it because if you lose to North Dakota State you are going to get trolled. You are going to get made fun of and you're in for a very very long season. This is a Colorado team in the big 12 that's got to play top 25 Kansas State. Got to play top 25 Arizona. Got to play Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma State. They have a very very tough schedule especially down the stretch. We know what Colorado did last year. They started off 3-0. They were on top of the world. They were getting all the ratings in the world. They were the most talked about program in the entire country even more than Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, the big guns. It was all about where is Colorado and what time are they playing and are we going to watch them. And they had people staying up at 10.30 on a Friday night against Colorado State just to watch and that was a hell of a game. They are going to attract ratings and now we're going to see what they're made of this year. They had a very disappointing year last year going 4-8. I do believe it was a disappointing year especially after a 3-0 start especially after a top 25 win on the road against TCU to open up the year. How will they respond this year? I think it's a big year for Dion. I think it's a year in Dion and Colorado has to live up to the expectations. Has to get their name into a bowl game. I think this is going to be another rough year for Colorado. I think they have some high end talent. I think Travis Hunter is arguably the best player in the entire country. Certainly the best two-way player in the country. Shudor Sanders is a top five quarterback in the country. How far can they take you? There's a big let down after both of them. So how will they respond this season? You have North Carolina and Minnesota tonight on Thursday at Minnesota. Look the PJ Fleck tenure has not been a great tenure at Minnesota. It started off red hot. Minnesota was always a top 25 team. They were a respected team and it just hasn't panned out the way maybe PJ Fleck has wanted it to at Minnesota. He has struggled. He has not lived up to the high expectation especially after he came from UCF. If I'm oh wait no I'm Scott Frost. But PJ Fleck came from western Michigan. Excuse me. Yeah and he was good at western Michigan but at Minnesota he hasn't really lived up to that expectation. He has not lived up to being a top end head coach in the entire country. They used to have the row the boat mentality and that mentality is still there but not hitting at a success rate that it may be used to. So big year for Minnesota football, big year for PJ Fleck and his job security and on the other hand he got North Carolina. He got Mac Brown. Mac Brown has done a great job ever since taking over North Carolina and putting guys into the NFL making this a top 25 team. You saw what he did with Sam Howell. You saw what he did with Drake May. Now who's up it's Mac Johnson Texas A&M transfer the lefty. North Carolina's got another good quarterback. Mac Johnson has still been trying to look for you know consistency over the course of his college football career trying to do that under Mac Brown and North Carolina this year. They have high expectations. That should be a really good Thursday night game. Spread sits at North Carolina too. I think this goes either way. I think it's going to be a rock and atmosphere in Minneapolis. It's going to be a fun Thursday night. But let's turn the page for Saturday. Saturday August 31st the day that we have all been waiting for. No more teases. No more appetizers. We're touching the main slate. We're touching our main course meal and boy do we have a couple beautiful main course options on our menu. We have a nice steak couple just absolute five star games that you could absolutely ask for on Saturday and you start off with Clemson and you start off with Georgia. These teams could not be any different. As we know in the transfer portal era teams are going to be built by the portal. Teams are going to you know try to recruit and develop but let's be completely real and completely just honest. You're not going to see that in college football nor college athletics really anymore. The recruit and develop mentality. Sure you're going to have guys that do get developed and sure you are going to have guys that you recruited that are going to play high roles in your programs. But today's age in sports and college athletics it all is about the portal. Everybody hits the portal every year. Teams are getting completely flipped around each and every single year and you're building from scratch on a year to your basis. And when you look at that that is not what Davos Sweeney believes in. Davos Sweeney does believe in the recruit and develop mentality. And whether you agree with that or not it definitely hurts Clemson to a certain level. It hurts them and you are going to lose players every year to the portal. That's just the nature of the beast of college athletics. You're going to lose guys. You usually have to bring guys in from the portal to replace them. Davos doesn't believe that. He believes he's going to get these high school guys. He's going to recruit them and he's going to develop them. And I do think Davos has done a great job at Clemson to bring in a culture. He's always been a big culture guy. A guy that really is strong in his religious beliefs and creates great men. You know good football players but even better men and I do respect that out of him. But it's not easy to do and it does put you behind the eight ball in some aspects. You're going up against the Georgia team that look. I mean this is the best team in the country number one recruiting class in the country. They did bring in some big time transfers as well. Yeah look. Do they have trouble off the field? Sure they do. Kirby smarts culture is certainly not ideal but it is a winning football team nonetheless each and every year. This is a Georgia team that let's let's be honest it was a disappointing year last year. So what they lost one game. They lost one game and it's a bad year. Yeah. I mean they didn't make the college football playoff and that's the only thing that mattered. Now look they won 63 to 3 in that bowl game against Florida State. That's great but that's not the standard at Georgia. Their standard is get to the playoff, win the playoff and win an national championship. They didn't get their last year. They're coming in with a huge huge huge chip on their shoulder against the Clemson Tigers to open up the year and I think Georgia to be completely honest with you is coming out and they're going to put in an absolute statement. I think when you look at this dog's team they're going to put out a statement. I mean I think they have the potential number one pick in the draft on their roster and Carson Beck who might be the best quarterback in the country for college athletics. I think he has the chance to be the face of college football this year. He will be a household name. He is going to be the best quarterback in the country and there is absolutely no doubt about that in my mind. I think we don't know what we're going to get out of Travis ETN or Trevor ETN or the running back. He is questionable for this game but what we do know over the course of the year with Georgia is them taking him from Florida with such a big get because he's going to be one of the best running backs in the entire country this year for Georgia and what do we know about Georgia on a yearly basis? Their defense is always ridiculous. They've reloaded. They have absolutely bulked up and they got some guys that are going to play in the NFL on the defensive side of the football and this dog's team is probably my pick. I think they're probably in my opinion I think they're going to go to the national championship. I think this is a team that's going to win the national championship. Good luck in the college football playoff format. Go in a Samford stadium on the road in a college football playoff atmosphere and winning against Georgia. Good luck. It's not going to be easy. They got weapons. They got depth. Now look, I mean, like I said, the only team that can beat themselves is Georgia and that is the arrest and that is the off-the-field issues and it is a huge problem and it is a problem that needs to be addressed. This is out of hand. This is ridiculous and there is no culture right now in Athens and there is no accountability in Athens. So much is going on where these arrests are hard to keep up with and it is not a good look for the university. They are the most talented team in the country. This is the team that probably should win the national championship. But at the end of the day, this is a team that is struggling to maintain guys to be able to play on the field because they're getting arrested. They got to get that figured out. Nonetheless though, they're the most talented. They're the best coached. They're the best football team in the country and that's why they're pretty season number one. And I see a lot of people thinking, yes, Clemson returns a lot of great talent. They return a lot of great talent. They have a majority of their production coming back. Only lost a couple people like Will Shipley and a couple others to the NFL last year. But they have a really high expectation this year, expectation to win the ACC. Cade Clubneck comes back. I mean, that guy's experienced. That guy is one of the better quarterbacks in the country when he's playing at the best level that he can. So I definitely think they can hang around with Georgia. But I think this is what we're going to see. Georgia played. I think it was Oregon, to be honest, a couple of years back, if I'm not mistaken. I think Georgia kicked a crap out of them. Like it wasn't close from start to finish. I think we, in some sense, are going to get that this week. I think Georgia is going to absolutely steam row Clemson, in my honest opinion. And I think this is the year the dogs are running through teams left and right, chip on their shoulder, getting back to where they belong, really high on them. I think Clemson struggles with Georgia's athleticism this week. I think the dogs take care of business. I love West Virginia Penn State this weekend. I think Penn State having to go on the road to Morgantown, West Virginia is a tough game. Now, look, I mean, we can talk about it all we want. Penn State has a really, really high expectation this year with Drew Allard, a quarterback, and they're expecting to contend in the Big Ten. Now, look, Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan. The Big Ten's loaded this year. Penn State's right there though. I think this is one of James Franklin's best teams he has ever had. And they have a lot of high expectations. And I love this early season test for Penn State. To go on the road to playing a West Virginia team that's very scrappy, a West Virginia team with Neil Brown, that honestly is on the hot seat. This is a guy Neil Brown coaching for his job this season in Morgantown. And I think West Virginia has some high expectations to be very, very, very good out of the Big 12 this year. So I think this is a must-watch game. I think you have to to screen it between Georgia and Clemson and Merritt Penn State, West Virginia. I think you're going to get two great games at the 12 o'clock slate. And that should be really exciting. And I'm excited for that one to say the least. I think we have to continue to go on and talk about Miami, Florida. I think this is the game I would talk about the most. I think this game is the one I have circled as probably the best game of the week. Yes, Clemson, Georgia is right up there. I honestly just honestly believe Georgia will steamroll Clemson and I could be completely wrong. But I think the best game we're going to get is Miami, Florida. One, there's a rivalry between the two. Two, I think this is huge story lines. And I actually honestly to God, I know it's week one and I understand that. But I think it's a must-win for both programs. I think it's kind of, you don't really need to explain it for Florida, but we will on why it's a must-win. I mean, Florida's got the hardest, hardest schedule I've ever seen out of any college football team in the history of my 22 years of watching college football. When I look at Florida, they play ranked team after ranked team after ranked team after ranked team. And in my preview show, we went over it. And I honestly said, I think Billy Napier is going to get fired in mid-season. And I stick by that. I think this is way too hard of a schedule for Florida to be able to, you know, stay above water because they're going to drown. And they're going to fight for their life, but they're not going to have any energy to give later in the end of the season because it's such a gauntlet, gauntlet of a schedule. It is ridiculous to say the least. This is a Florida gator team that has to play the likes of Miami and M, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss at Florida State. And I left a couple of games out on that tough schedule, you know, like at Mississippi State. There's others too. It's just way too hard of a schedule for Florida to be able to kind of navigate. And I think it's a must win against Miami because if you lose to Miami, you're already behind the eight ball. And like I said, that schedule is so fricking brutal. I don't know how you stay treading water and, you know, keeping yourself in contention at all. I think it's a tough year in Gainesville. Yes, they have a lot of excitement in Grand Mercs. They expect Grand Mercs to be very good. But I mean, one guy, I don't know how much he can do. I think Billy Napier is in trouble. And I think the Florida Gators are in trouble. But what they do is they do have the opportunity to go out and make a statement and prove some people wrong. And Saturday on National Television at 330 in the blazing hot heat of the Florida Gator Swamp. God, that's going to be brutal. Brutal weather. They got a chance to go prove us all wrong. They got to go. They have a chance to go prove it to us and say, Hey, we have arrived and we are going to be a team to be reckoned with this year. Billy Napier knows, man, this is a big year for his tenure. He knows that he's on a hot seat. He knows he has to get results. And they're going to try to do it against the Miami team with Cam Ward, one of the most electrifying quarterbacks in the country at Washington State a couple years ago. He now finds himself landing at Miami instead of going to the NFL and Miami. This is the year where Mario Crystal Ball and the Hurricanes are trying to bring the Miami Hurricanes back to national relevance with the college football playoff. Now they smell, they smell an opportunity. You see Florida State lay an egg against Georgia Tech. This is now become Miami's conference. This has became a chance for Miami to put their foot in the dirt and, you know, not budge. This is their chance to show that they are back, that they you, a national historical program, worldwide program, is here to stay and they have returned. And what a time to do it against Florida against a rival who they are trending in the wrong direction or very well could be. That's what everybody thinks. This is your chance not only for recruiting purposes against Florida, but your chance to say, Hey, we are here. And by the way, we're also here to be a favorite of the ACC and we're here to be the team that's going to go to the college football playoff out of the ACC this year. They got the talent to do it. I think by far Mario Crystal Ball's got his most talented Miami roster under his belt. Cam Ward is a game changer, a difference maker. I think Miami takes care of Florida on Saturday. I know that swamp and that Florida crowd is going to be loud. They are going to be rowdy. That is a home opener. What better than having a top 25 home opener on your home field? Nothing better than that. But it is going to be hot and it is going to be a long day in Gainesville for whoever loses this because it's going to also be a long season for Florida or Miami. Whoever comes out a loser, the other teams got a state or chance to make a statement and surely will feel like they're in the up, you know, trending in the right direction. But the loser of this game, it's going to be a long season for the loser. And I think Florida doesn't have enough athletes in athleticism and the tools and the talent to beat Miami even on their home field. Give me the hurricanes over the Gators. But in an unbelievable fun game, we will see on Saturday. A couple other good ones. Of course, I mean, I think the one you have to talk about without a doubt is Notre Dame, Texas A&M Notre Dame, Texas A&M. It's one where college game day is going. And I have two things here. Here's my thing. I think Texas A&M deserves to be the favorite. I have no problem with them being a three point favorite over the Irish. Another thing I think playing a Kyle field in front of the Aggie faithful, especially a night game in college station, that's tough for anybody. But it's going to be tough for the Irish. I think for me, Notre Dame is one of the most overhyped teams in the country going into this season. I like Riley Leonard. I thought Riley Leonard was really good at Duke. I thought he was the guy that put Duke over the hump. And I truly believe Duke is not a top 25 team without Riley Leonard. I truly believe that last year. So when he did get injured, ironically against Notre Dame, his new team, I don't know how he is after his recovery. I think that's a big question I have. How will Riley Leonard be after the injury that he suffered? That was a season ender last year against Notre Dame. How will he bounce back? How will he be able to return? I also think Notre Dame lost a decent amount of production to the NFL and they're trying to plug holes. Yes, they're number seven in the country. I'm not buying the Notre Dame hype. And that's what's great about week one is I think literally every team is kind of an unknown. We don't know about any of these teams. We are just taking a valid educated guess and hoping we're right. You know, we want to look right in the media. I want to look smart in the media. I want to kind of come off as a smart sports analyst. But I don't know anything just as much as you guys going into week one. We don't know much. But what I do think and what I am going to say is I just don't think Notre Dame should be as hyped up as they are. I'm going to need to see Riley Leonard perform at a high level. I'm going to need to see Riley Leonard show me something after his injury. And I just think Texas A&M's got too much. I think I think we're kind of underestimating what Texas A&M's got in their new coach. I think Notre Dame's walking into an impossible situation against Texas A&M. I think A&M starts this year off of the bank. And I think Notre Dame is going to go right behind the eight ball to start the year. So give me the Aggies over the Irish on Saturday night. Now our Sunday night game, because as you know, college football always does a Saturday one standalone Sunday game and then a standalone Labor Day game. Well, that's Sunday game we are getting on. Look at my chops. I love it. Miller boss in the USC Trojans against a revamped Brian Kelly LSU Tiger team with high expectations. This is one hell of a football game. In Vegas, neutral site, USC just lost Caleb Williams. But what did they do? They are plugging in Miller Moss to take that spot. Look, filling Caleb Williams's shoes is no easy task. Not at all. I think it's an impossible task. But for a guy who is slept upon and will be a household name by the end of the season. If you're asking me who do you think a guy that isn't getting talked about enough that probably should be on a college football relevance level, it's Miller Moss at USC. This guy's a gamer. Miller Moss is a gamer. Miller Moss is fun. He is good. And he is a guy that can take over a game when he wants to. And I think you're going to see a lot of games this year where it's the Miller Moss show. Now, having to go up against Harold Perkins arguing with the best linebacker in the country for LSU and this LSU team is going to be a tough, tough, tough, tough task. This is an LSU team. Yes, they just lost Jaden Daniels. Yes, they lost Malik neighbors and a couple other guys to the pros. But Brian Kelly brought in some great transfers, recruited really good. LSU's a team that can contend in the SEC and I think they're going to make the college football playoff. We have a hell of a Sunday night game on our hands and the LSU faithful in Vegas, that is an absolute party waiting to happen. An absolute party waiting to happen in Vegas. And I'm very excited for that Sunday night game because Miller Moss versus the LSU power is going to be electrifying. This game comes down to the wire on Sunday night and hey, Monday's Labor Day. No one, not many people got to work Monday. It's going to be a fun Sunday night and I'm going to come instant reaction, Sunday night pod, it's going to be a good one and I'm excited for it because we have a lot to talk about on Sunday night to recap this beautiful week college football organ and we're going to come off fresh off that LSU versus USC game. We're going to have a lot to talk about and that's what we're going to save the Monday night game because we can talk Florida State Boston College on the Monday show so we're not going to do that at the moment. But I think we have one hell of a week ahead of us when it comes to college football and there's so many other games I could talk about but I'm just hitting the main the main ones but man we could continue to go on it is week one but there are so many great games and don't be surprised. I mean you saw it with Georgia Tech over Florida State. There probably will be an upset right and what I mean by that it's not a top 25 versus top 25 upset and no no it's an upset that you do not see coming like a Georgia Tech over kind of Florida State but it could be a lower level team. It's not going to happen but it could be like a Colorado State on the road against Texas okay it could it won't but it could that's what is that's what makes the sport so great just buckle up we've made it give yourself a pound on the very pad on the back four years of this podcast and some things that will never get old is the start of college football season and the March Madness selection so that we do together I get the same type of excitement every year because man oh man we are craving football and we are now going to get football so be excited about that but that's our week one preview let's jump into the main storyline so CD lamb and Dallas finally get a deal done especially after the last episode I had some words about Jerry Jones that I do still believe in um this was big I mean we all knew it was going to happen it should have been done a while back CD lamb has two weeks to kind of ramp up for the season the Dallas Cowboys are about 10 days away from their opener against the Cleveland Browns so not much for CD lamb to kind of you know get back into the swing of things but CD lamb's top three wide receiver in the NFL he's only he's going to try to have a top two try to have be the best receiver in the NFL this year and show that that contract is unbelievably worth it but I do expect big things out of CD lamb I do expect big things out of the Dallas Cowboys and look I mean they brought in Dalvin Cook I don't understand it I think the Dallas Cowboys running back room is the worst in the NFL it's not 2019 anymore where Zeke and Dalvin are top backs in the league they have definitely have their wear and tear they definitely have their struggles but I think the Cowboys are just trying to piece things together trying to have that depth maybe pass some knowledge to Rico Dowdley or whoever their plan is in the running back room but I do believe Jerry Jones what I can give him credit for is at least trying I think in years past these are similar moves that you just look at and you're like are you serious like why the hell would you try to act like you want to win right you say you're all in we'll go make some moves yes it is a 28 29 year old running back that's out of his prime that's basically had his better days behind him whatever but at least it's something we'll see if it pans out I don't think it will but we'll see who the genius is but those are the marquee NFL moves to talk about brain then I uke still in San Francisco after that contract saga they've not really had a much of an update dare or much luck there so that's something to keep an eye out on and the Jamar chase situation I think it's very concerning more so for the Bengals than it is for anybody else right now between the CD lamp situation or the brain and I uke situation I think the one with Jamar chase is the one to worry about because on Wednesday he was in street clothes this is coming after Zach Taylor said that hey Jamar's gonna play or practice we got him back we're excited to have him back and then the next day he shows up and he's just not practicing that contract situation is a concerning one for me especially the Bengals season 10 days away they got to figure something out and they got to figure it out fast because you need Jamar chase on that field come a week from Sunday so they'll figure it out but that's gonna do it to this episode of the Mac on sports podcast I love you guys so incredibly much and I will see you guys for a fun recap show Sunday night love you guys peace out yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah [BLANK_AUDIO]