The Big 6 in 60
We've Made It To Week 1 of College Football | The Big 6 in 60
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The six biggest national sports stories from the local experts of the Lockdawn Podcast Network. Get the real story. Why it matters, what's next, who wins the big game and more? All in 60 minutes. The Big Six in 60 starts now with the biggest story in sports. - A true road win to open the season for North Carolina for the first time since 1992. - You are locked on Tar Heels, your daily podcast on the UNC Tar Heels. - That just happened. Carolina hangs on, Carolina survives, Carolina escapes, whatever you wanna use, 1917 victory at Minnesota to kick off the 2024 season seriously, 32 years since Carolina last had a true road game to open the season and won it. The last time they did so was at Wake Forest on September 5th, 1992. That is crazy. Also, for those who care about such things, the Tar Heels were one and a half point favorites in this game, that they won by two, that they could have lost by one, had a certain kick sailed through the Uprights at the end of the game. There are some people, not just Minnesota Golden Gophers fans who are very upset right now with that kicker and others who had the Tar Heels to cover, very, very happy about it. All right, so here's what we're gonna do on our live postcast is what we always do. Got just a bunch of like random stuff to talk through. I'm gonna pull up the final box score for those of you who are watching on YouTube, for those listening back tomorrow or some other time or later today, 'cause it's already Friday, you can just pull it up and look as we're talking. So we'll look through all that. There even though it's late, man, you guys are crazy. There's so many of you up and hanging out. This is great. There's a bunch of comments flying in. So we'll see if we got questions and we'll get to those as well. So that said, I'm gonna go ahead and pull up the box score right now so that people can see it. If you're watching and just keep tabs on all those stats as we're talking about them. So first thing out of the gate, I think that we all have to realize is that this year is just gonna be different. We have been used to five years of Sam Hall and of Drake May in Mac Brown 2.0. And whether it's Max Johnson and unfortunately we'll talk about that in a little bit or Connor Harold, it's just not gonna be that. So it's just Drake May is not walking through the door. Carolina in this game amassed just 252 yards of total offense, as you can see there. If you're looking 105 through the air and 147 on the ground. Another clear indication that it's going to be different. 41 rushing attempts, 23 passing attempts. I mean, it almost doubled the number of rushing attempts as passes. So just go ahead and flip your paradigm for what you're used to watching with North Carolina football. I mean, maybe it's different 'cause I'm expecting that we're gonna see a lot of Connor Harold for a while here, but it's just, it's not going to be the same thing. You're not gonna see these massive chunks and just scoring at will in 45 seconds or whatever it is. So let's just go ahead and embrace that right now. Everybody with me on that? Great. Secondly, there are so many people to talk about different things in this game, but I wanna start with the kickers. How often do we start with kickers? Noah Burnett, the home he has ice in his veins, hits from 29, 42, 45 and 52. I loved Mac Brown giving him that opportunity from 52. Obviously, he hit what ended up being the game winner and just, I mean, love it. And Carolina, though each of the last two tried to kind of crap it away, right? Think about it, right after the turnover, the forced fumble on third and was it five? That he fumbled, Connor Harold fumbled and thankfully Carolina was able to recover it and still enough leg from Burnett. And then what ended up being the game winning field goal, that was when it was third and five, excuse me. And you're kind of running out of time just under two minutes. And instead of just like plunging Hampton ahead or getting Harold around the edge there, Harold loses a couple yards. I mean, at worst, just dive forward to maintain position. But Burnett says, I don't care boys, I got you, I'm good. And we're doing this. So unbelievable stuff from him, accounted for 12 of Carolina's 19 points. Obviously the other one was the Max Johnson touchdown who had a couple of really nice runs on that drive. Oh, by the way. And then meanwhile, on the other side, I mean, Coach Brown said it after the game. While you love to win this, you hate that, you just hate it for that young man, Minnesota's kicker who had that doink on Minnesota's first field goal of 10. But I mean, that was like a little 27, I think. And then obviously, unfortunately for him, great for us missed from 47 as the clock expired at the end of the game. And you know, they had their own little snafu on the play right before that where didn't line it up really where they wanted it a little further right. And where did that kick sale off to the right? So there's just stuff like that where like, oof, that hurts. But look, special teams, that's what it's gonna come down to a lot of times. And in college, it's so hit or miss. And for Noah Burnett, man, this was a night where it was hit, right? And you think about it, that wasn't the only special teams win. Think about that punt that Elijah Hussey downed at like the two yard line. Elijah Hussey, man, what a guy getting down there. And so really, really good stuff in the kicking game from Burnett tonight, more of that, please. All right, third, as we're talking tonight, we got a, you know, I said this year's gonna be different and we got a big old fat glimpse of what is going to be. And that was, it's the Omarion Hampton Show. I think we all expected and hoped it would be the Omarion Hampton Show. And thank goodness it was. And Chip Lindsey just leaned on his bell cow to the tune of 30 rushes for 129 yards on the ground for Omarion Hampton. That's, just go ahead right now and expect that that's what you're going to see this season. You know, especially over the course of the next two weeks and maybe against James Madison, we might not have to see quite that much. Hopefully we get some of the other running backs in, but in ACC play, it's gonna be like this. The other thing, we've heard Omarion Hampton talk a lot this off season about how like, look, I've been working on my passing game a lot. I wanna be helpful out of the backfield. And he was in this game. Five receptions on five targets, caught every ball thrown his way. And that's also a credit to the quarterbacks getting him the ball and just 17 yards. But it's just another thing to keep defenses on instead of Omarion Hampton can do. And look, I know, you know, it's like 30 rushes. He's gonna, he's gonna wear down. In fact, the Norse and I talked about that on a Thursday show, right? Like, how do you keep him fresh season long? Well, I think some of that is don't have to, hopefully have to rely on him as heavily over the next couple of weeks. But what I love is that as things got into the second half and look, we all know the offense quite frankly was atrocious in the first half. And then come out in the second half and Chip Lindsey not only didn't abandon his running back in favor of like, oh, we gotta get the pass game going, just leaned into it more heavily and just kept going to him over and over and over. And then on that, what ended up being the game-winning drive, I think Carolina started it with about three something to go, all three time outs. And I think a lot of offensive coordinators right there just say, all right, we gotta throw the ball. We can't take to the ground. He did not do that and Omarion Hampton paid it off. Big chunk on first down. I can't remember how much it was. And then just a couple of plays later was that nice, I can't remember if it was a fake or just Harold pulled it and cleared off to the left sideline, drew the defender and JJ Jones is wide open all alone there. And all of that is because you gotta respect Omarion Hampton's legs and you gotta respect Connor Harold's legs. So that is a big win. So I love that they didn't, in none of those moments did Chip Lindsey give up on the run. And I'm encouraged to see that because a lot of times we don't see that. People just say, all right, we gotta take to the air because we gotta get stuff done. And what that's gonna do riding your bell cow is going to allow North Carolina to continue to hold the ball like they did and to wear out defenses. Look, I know Minnesota's like that offensive line. And I know that's not who Hampton's going against, but that offensive line is massive for Minnesota. But like Willie Lampkin, small little dude, doing everything he needs to do to give Hampton space. And he is just a punishing running back, just doling out hit after hit after hit. And he's remember that play, I think it was in the first half. I can't remember specifically when, but just went helicopter spinning through the air, man. Omarion is an absolute dude. All right, the next thing I wanna say and then we'll get to our first ad read and then we'll, I'll come back with a couple more observations and then see what questions we can answer from the chat. We can't get past this first segment without just talking about Max Johnson. We have to be able to say both of these things I'm about to say. Max Johnson did not have a good first half, unfortunately. And what I'm curious to hear, obviously I'm recording this like immediately after the game. So I haven't listened to the press conference yet to coach Brown and some of what he has to say. I'm curious if the struggles in the first half for Max Johnson were his ability to get through his progression, his inability excuse me to get through his progressions and reads, find some easier checkdowns or dump-offs or whatever he needed to do, or if it was out of what Chip Lindsey was or frankly wasn't calling. I'm curious to see that. Because once we got to the second half, things exploded as you rely on Omarion and then just a bunch of quick hitters getting the ball out of Max Johnson's hand, not giving him the time to think. He had that completion to his brother, all of those things, and that looked so much better. But, you know, so again, we got to be able to say both things. The first half was not good. It was very unfortunate what happened to Max Johnson, man. And obviously we don't want to speculate 'cause we don't know yet. But I'm just going to tell you, the mechanism of your knee is not intended to bend the way that his right knee bended. And so we'll wait to hear the official diagnosis, but you're thinking the exact same three letters that I'm thinking, right? And man, that's just like watching the pain. Man, I'm getting choked up thinking about it just as a father, watching the pain, particularly on his mom's face, was just gut wrenchingly painful. And so man, just all the thoughts and prayers going out to the Johnson family tonight. And who knows? Maybe it won't be as bad in the end as it looked. But, gosh, man, how could it not? So unfortunately, gotta say next man up, right? Connor Harrell is going to have to be ready. He did just enough on this night. And that's all it needed. I mean, you just need to have one more point than your opponent. Caroline had two more points in their opponent. And so Connor did enough. But now he knows, assuming Max isn't gonna be able to go. And there's no reason if it's not a season ending thing over the course of the next three weeks, those games are not the games where you even wanna try to get Max Johnson out there. Just go, Connor Harrell. Have Jacobi Criswell as your backup. And let's just call it good, you know. But Connor's gonna be the guy. And he knows it. Now we finally know, you know, there's the speculation for so long. I truly think I don't wear it not for the injury. I don't know that Mack would have switched away from Max Johnson, right? Like, especially with how the second half had started this momentum shift in a big way and often started moving a little better. I think that's where it was going to be. Game time makes getting to the ballpark even faster and easier. Prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch. With killer last minute deals, all in prices and their best price guarantee, game time takes the guesswork out of buying tickets. 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Make the switch to locked on sports today, a free 24/7 sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. Locked on sports today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. Part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. This is David Harrison of the locked on commanders podcast and you know we love talking stats here at the locked on podcast network. Well, here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cash back you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cash back match. That means with discover you could turn $150 cash back into $300. That's right. But towards some sports memorabilia you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a premium sports network you earn and discover doubles. See terms at discover.com/creditcard. Dion Sanders and the Colorado buffaloes. They survived and they won. You are locked on buffs. Your daily podcast on the Colorado Buffalo. Obviously the big storylines, new coaches, new players. There's almost 50 new players on this team. Both new coordinators, right? And so who was up to snuff? Who wasn't up to snuff? Well, let me give you the quick breakdown of the game and how I thought it went. Realistically, we had Zach McKennell on the show yesterday. He's our FCS insider. He told us exactly what North Dakota State was going to do. He told us. He said, they're going to score and then they're going to try to kill you with time and possession. And oh boy did they. They had the ball for 36 minutes total. Colorado only had it for 23. And they were efficient. It was looking a little rough at first. The Colorado defense couldn't stop the run game. The Colorado offense was matching what North Dakota State was doing. But North Dakota State, you could tell, was not overwhelmed by Colorado. They were not overwhelmed by the moment. Sort of this, there's this narrative that, oh, they're an FCS program. So they're not ready for the moment. Yeah, they were ready for it. They showed up and looked like a team who had won nine titles since 2011. Like that's what they did. You know, their quarterback didn't make many mistakes. I'm looking at his stat line right now over on a stat broadcast yet 18 of 22 for 277 yards, one touchdown, 82% completion percentage. The other quarterback threw two passes for 15 yards. They were combined 20 of 26. Rushing the wise, they had the team. 43 carries for 157 yards, 3.7 yards per carry. So Colorado, they weren't running all over them. I think they were just persistent enough to where, I mean, they ran the ball 43 times. So when you run the ball that much, things are going to happen. That's just how it goes. And then you look at Colorado and Shador Sanders, 26 of 34, 445 yards, amazing game for him. Four touchdowns, one very flooky interception. If you guys didn't see it, he literally was the defender falls. Shador probably forces a pass. I don't know where the ball would have gone if it didn't hit the defender. Defender falls, though, and it hits his foot. He kicks it up right to his teammate and North Dakota State gets the ball back. So they go into the half leading. It was 22 to 17. And this is something that I talked about and I have most of my guests that have come on the show and talked about North Dakota State, I've talked, have also said as well, he related this message that Colorado needed to stay strong. That was my big concern. And I'm going to tell you right now, the Colorado team last year does not win this game. The Colorado team last year gets a little bit rattled. They're like, oh, we're kind of losing to an FCS team right now. We're going to have a meltdown. Like we're going to have a meltdown. I think the Colorado team of 2023 loses this game. I don't want to say that this is a new era of Colorado football. I'm not going to say that, oh, because they held on and beat an FCS team, granted a really good one, that this is going to be the year, right? Like, but I do think that shows dramatic, dramatic improvement, excuse me. I think those Navy SEAL workouts this offseason, I think the team bonding that Coach Primus put an emphasis on after saying that he didn't care if the team liked each other last year. I think all of the offseason to work, all of the lessons they accumulated from the 2023 season, I think we saw that today, right? I think we could all agree that they showed resiliency. And that was one of my biggest concerns, my biggest questions, my biggest, what ifs about this team was, if they get punched in the mouth, would they be able to bounce back, win a game, and hold on? And so realistically, they did all those things. They were able to hold on. A couple of people that deserve a shout out, obviously, I already shouted out Shador Sanders, he had over 445 yards, played 76% of his passes. You got to look at Jimmy Horan Jr. I don't think he'll get enough talk because he didn't have all the touchdowns, but he did almost have 200 yards receiving, but it was Travis Hunter with the three touchdowns. The last one was like a 100 grab kind of with the defender draped all over him. It was a great catch. He had the little shimmy after. It was a great, great play. I look at this defense, right? Pass rush, not what I thought it was. Run defense and just overall attitude, much better than last year's unit. I'll say it that way. Penalties wise, penalties Colorado had three defensively, not bad. Last year they were among the most penalized teams in college football, so I'm not mad at what they showed this in this game against North Dakota State. So you have to love it realistically. It's week one, so you don't want to read too much into it. Like for every positive and negative, it's like, okay, let's pump the brakes, right? I think we learned last year to not get a little overzealous after Colorado wins early games, because they were an exciting team the first three weeks last year. I think now they understand that this is a business job or this is a business, right? This is a job. We can't just walk in, work the first three hours of the day and all of a sudden it's like lunchtime hits and we're done for the day, right? That's not how it works. We're talking about all the things you need to be excited about. - You are locked on Bulldogs. Your daily podcast on the Georgia Bulldogs. What are you most excited about for Saturday 11 central time when Georgia takes the field against Clemson? - I think Daniel, I think for the past two years, we had some excitement championship run of some stalwarts, right? Even AD Mitchell who went on to Texas was a familiar face within the program for years, right? Jalen Carter, familiar face, linebackers, Stetson Bennett, there was continuity throughout the program. Brock Bowers and just every single down, we, you know, I think I'm excited for this new crop. We have a lot of snaps coming back, Daniel. We have a lot of production coming back on both sides of the ball. All these Andy, Carson Beck is one of those stalwarts from last year in which he shined. However, we got a lot of new shiny toys. - There's a lot of things, a lot of things. - Colby Young, I'm on the record of saying he may, he might mess around and lead this team in touchdowns. - He may do it. - From all accounts, he's shining rather bright in practice. ETN, what are we going to see of him? Wild speculation about suspension or not? I don't really care, I'm excited to see him and what he's going to bring this whole entire year, but I'm also excited to see Frazier this game, which we're going to see a lot. I'm excited to see Branson back in uniform. I'm excited to see Xavier Truss move on the right tackle. Daniel, I'm coming over to your side. I think he's kind of unencompetent over on the right tackle. I'm excited to see Oscar Delp and Urosic. These are the new look. London Humphreys on the offside. David's aside, I'm excited to see our boys just ball out. Daniel, I'm excited to see Mike Hill-Williams in a new position for him. I'm excited to see a new rotation at linebacker where we're not stagnant at the top. I'm excited to see new DBs with, again, Malakite Starks, who's there, but K.J. Bullen, I anticipate seeing a lot in this game. I think he's going to shine out. I'm excited to see our corners who have battle tested themselves. There's a new vibrancy to this Georgia team, Daniel. And I think I'm thrilled to see how those pieces mix well, game one. Yeah, and they're talented. So I'm excited to see them get on the field and get reps. I am excited. Let me take you on a bit of a journey. Come back with me. Let's get the time machine and go back. The year is 1990. No, I'm just joking. That's the last time Tennessee won the national championship. Oh, no. The year is 2022 because that's the last time Georgia won the national championship. There it is. I'm with me back way back to the, to the far reaches of 2022. It's a long time for it last time. Georgia opened with a real opponent. You may remember last year, Georgia famous cupcake schedule did not have a, did not have a formidable opening opponent. The last time Georgia opened with a real opponent, it was the Oregon Ducks. And it was in the Mercedes Benz stadium, Dan Lanning's first game, Bonix's first game as an Oregon duck. Yep. Who's now the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Just so we're clear. I can't, just so we're clear. Can't, that's a real thing. Auburn Jesus took a wild turn. I'm, I'm a, I'm going to lead with what I'm excited about. I'm excited to learn something about this Georgia defense. Let me, let me paint the picture. Two years ago, Georgia opens with a real opponent, Oregon. And Georgia has a, and we learned that day that Georgia has a world-class defense. Jalen Carter, Keeley Ringo, like these guys are, this is a world-class defense that Georgia has. And we learned that because Georgia held the Oregon Ducks high-powered offense to three, count them three points, one field goal in the game. Oregon scored 70 the following week. They scored three against the Georgia Bullock. We learned something about Georgia defense. And listen, it proved to be true as we went through the season. Yeah, it did. The year before that, 2021, you and I took a little trip to Charlotte together. Yeah, we did. Georgia opened with a real opponent. Clemson fans, do you remember? I do. Georgia opened with a real opponent, a top 10 Clemson team. And Georgia's greatest defense in college football history, allowed three points and scored seven in that game. We learned something about the Georgia defense that day. We learned that when you send the Kobe Dean on an egg at Blitz, what happens? It's chaos in the backfield. It's abject chaos in the backfield. We learned something and it proved to be true, the remainder of the season. Do you see what I'm saying? Georgia opens with a real opponent on Saturday. What we see from this Georgia defense, now it might be an epic three-point allowed showing, like I just discussed on those last two, those last two defenses were world-class defenses. And if this one's a world-class defense, Georgia will allow single-digit points or something like that to this Clemson Tigers. My bigger point is this, I'm excited to learn what the defense is about, because what we see on Saturday is going to be a real indication of who this defense is for the remainder of the season. And this won't be Georgia's toughest test, not by far this year. And so we need to learn who our defense is. I have high hopes for who I think that defense is gonna be. I told you yesterday, I like the under, I told you yesterday, I think, you know, Georgia defense is gonna come out hot, but I'm excited to just learn who this defense is. I need to know, have they taken those steps forward? Have they improved in those ways? Because if they have, boy, it's gonna be a really fun season. Boy, it's gonna be really special. - You've heard us talk a lot about Fandall, America's number one sports book. Well, we have something a little different for you. Now through September 22nd, all Fandall customers can bet $5 and get a three week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV based plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season, Sunday afternoon, out of market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment, and you can cancel anytime. For that $5 bet, you could look at an NFL future. 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Lockdown Sports today brings you can't miss analysis opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels at part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Miami hurricanes have the talent. They've got the talent to win this Saturday. You are locked on canes, your daily podcast on the Miami hurricane. On paper, it's hard to argue against Miami having more overall talent than the Florida Gators. So like even Gator fans have a hard time arguing against that. But the counter argument would be when you have a lot of new players who transferred in who are going to play important roles, camward, quarterback, new defensive tackles, some new defensive ends to throw in the mix, a new wide receiver in Sam Brown, new running back in Damian Martinez. Do you think that this group without having a warm up game is going to be able to gel together quickly enough this Saturday? Yes, and I say that because I've been down there and I see how together this team is. They are really unified. They are all in. I mean, I've seen it. They're all in. They hustle in the practices. They bust their butts. These guys are just something about what Mario has done, bringing in these guys that they're all winners. They all seem like they just have a mentality. Kind of like we used it in the past and Larry knows this, us against the world. You know, I had Steven McGuire on the other day. I had Maurice Crum on a show the other day. These guys know what it's like. Now, am I positive that they're not going to make mistakes? No, I'm not positive. But I do think they're buying into what Mario wants to do. I think they're ready and prepared to go up there and take care of business. I do. Blue, I'll go to you next. And any concerns, specifically game one against Florida. Is it not game one against FamU? It's game one against Florida to be on that same page this Saturday. Yeah, well, obviously it's always, you could have all the talent in the world and we've seen it before. It comes down to chemistry. How are these guys going to react to the crowd? It's going to be like 80 to 20%. You know, as far as Florida fans, Florida has talent. You know, it's not like they're just coming in without anybody. They return a few key kids. But my only problem, especially in this, is if Miami should get down or they make a mistake and they get down 7, 14 early, do they have that leader who a lot of these guys believe in in game time management? And that to me is important because of the fact that, yeah, I've seen Cam Ward. I've been down there a billion times and I've seen, you know, I've seen Brown and I've seen Martinez and I've watched the entire team and this offensive line's massive and everything. But to me, the game is always not just this game, but any game is predicated on being on the same page and have that chemistry and knowing about you, the guy next to you. And I think that's going to be something that we're going to learn about early in the contest. I mean, you know, I mean, it's it's... And I under, and I agree with Bruce says, on paper, obviously Miami has more talent, you know, with what they brought in on both sides of the ball. But there's always that intangible, you know? I mean, Miami had a whole lot more talent than a lot of people that they played last year. You know, I mean, you can't tell me that they didn't have more talent than Georgia Tech and some of those other programs, but things happen. And obviously I would have, this is the one year I would have liked to see Bethune Cookman or Florida A&M first, you know, to get those kinks worked out. But yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be a challenge. Anybody on the Miami side that thinks this is going to be a blowout, you're mistaken, because this is just not, you've got to remember that Florida prepares for an SEC schedule. That's what they recruit for. And we all know, obviously, you know, with the Georges and Alabama's and now with Texas, Oklahoma, you know, it's a premier conference in the world, you know, you have to gear up and that's what they've got. They've obviously they're not a deep team. And that's the one thing. If one of those guys go down, you know, even if the quarterback goes down, you have DJ Lagway coming in, he's never taken a snap, you know, at the college level either. So it's a good thing for Florida that they're at home, but on the other hand, this is one of those games. You just don't know. You just don't know until everything starts, but undoubtedly Miami has more talent. But let's see what happens. You got almost 16 new faces that are in the two deep that haven't played together yet in the game. And Brian Smith and you and Blue both have covered a lot of these players since they were in high school. Blue's probably covered a lot of these players since they were playing pop Warner. But, you know, this is a group where, again, Brian, Miami has added a lot of new faces at key positions. What do you make of the idea of developing instant chemistry? I think it's pretty hard to do. Miami, like every other school, uses the portal minus a certain team in Clemson, South Carolina. And they've gotten as good a group, especially like the D line that they brought in. You and I have had that conversation off the record and on the record. Like, it's incredible. But my bigger concern with chemistry, it revolves around the game day situation based on the new helmet sets. I wish Bruce would have been with me. I had one of the Auburn guys that does the communication stuff, like showed me the helmet and showed me how it works and talked me through all of it. There are concerns. Like the Florida State Georgia Tech game, there were seven possessions for each team. Those coaches are running it down like they're talking these kids ears off on the floor. I know they are. And if you've got fewer possessions, one error of any kind can be catastrophic. Normally you get about 10 to 12 possessions. They had seven for each team. That is really low. So that's my concern. And if, as both Larry and Bruce thought, you get down, you have a situation that goes wrong. How do you react? You don't know when it first came. - Right, we don't know. - Bruce thinks-- - Or either team we don't know. - Yeah, I mean, exactly the thing that happened, Graham Hertz is a six-year grad student. But how does that work for him? He may not be. I don't know, nobody does. So it's a really new situation. And I'm curious, that first quarter, how does Miami handle the crowd? That place is nuts. There's no doubt about it. I mean, Bruce has been there. Everybody's been there in some capacity. That place is crazy. - It's crazy. If you survive that, then you should be okay. - I think I was a lot less nervous until I watched Florida State in Georgia. Now I'm more nervous because everybody and their mother picked Florida State in that game. And I think one of the reasons why it was seven possessions, 'cause they ran the ball. Both teams ran the ball constantly. So that chewed up the clock, and that's probably why. - Game time makes getting to the ballpark even faster and easier. Prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch. With killer last minute deals, all in prices and their best price guarantee, game time takes the guesswork out of buying tickets. They're obsessed with finding ways to help you save money on tickets. Game time has deals right up to the start of the event. And even after, it starts up to an hour. It's the place to find last minute seats. 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Locked on sports today brings you camis analysis, opinions and news streaming 24/7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app. Part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. What are the Irish in for against the Aggies on Saturday night? You are locked on Irish. Your daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. How would you describe the level of excitement and anticipation from the A&M side about this game? Because it's the first game under new head coach to rank matchup in prime time. So obviously it's going to be a big deal. But the Aggies also have home games against LSU, Texas and Missouri on the schedule. Whereas on the Notre Dame side, this is the biggest game of the year and it feels like so much is on the line. Yeah, I think this game, similarly for A&M, you win this game and it's like, oh my gosh, that means that they're really good, right? If Notre Dame wins this game, they're probably going undefeated 'cause this might be the hardest game on their schedule. A&M is Notre Dame the hardest team I don't know, but you only have to go 10 and two in the SEC to probably make the 12 team playoff. So you win this game and hey, are there three other games on the schedule that you're going to lose? I'm not sure. So I think for A&M, the excitement is as high as it's been all off season just because I think at the beginning of the off season, there was kind of some battered, miserable feelings among the fan base coming off of last year and firing the head coach and just wondering where the direction of the program was headed and they hired my go-go and it made sense, but it wasn't like this super flashy hire. And so took some A&M fans a while to kind of rally behind him, but with what he did in the off season, I think it's kind of rallied the fan base behind him 'cause retaining a lot of the top talent from last year, making some great hires and also adding a lot of nice players in the transfer portal, it's created a situation where it's not quite going to be a rebuild like previously thought. So the excitement's high and again, you win this game and you have your whole season in front of you. - What are you expecting in regards to the atmosphere at Kyle Field on Saturday night? Because Notre Dame has not played a big SEC road game since 2019 at Georgia. I was there, it was incredible. So anything close to that is going to be electric, but also it makes things very difficult if you're on the visitor sideline. - I was actually at that game too. It'd probably be very similar to that environment. I think the athletic rental list of their top 10 venues. I think Georgia was ninth, A&M was 10th. A&M is unique because not only do you have 105,000 fans, but you got 100 degree weather when it's August 31st and it's going to be humid as all get out this weekend. Now, fortunately for Notre Dame, it looks like it's super hot up there this week. So they're kind of going to be more trained through those conditions. But it's going to be, especially in a game that I anticipate to be low scoring and a defensive battle and third downs, every third downs is going to be huge. Defensive kind of games, even though some might say they're more boring, they seem to bring more out of the crowd because every play matters, every possession, every third down matters because this game could be the difference between a long field goal or a nice punt return. This is really that kind of game where one big player two could really matter. So I think the crowd's going to be very into it and it'll be loudest that Notre Dame hears all season. - One of the biggest storylines going into this game is Riley Leonard facing his old coach, Mike Elko. They both have great respect for one another. And I thought Mike Elko's quote about going up against his former player was really interesting. He said that it's going to be kind of an uncomfortable situation. He's not necessarily looking forward to it. And he also said that Riley has an advantage because he understands the defense. Now, I think there's a little bit of gamesmanship involved here, but on the flip side, Elko obviously knows all of Leonard's strengths and weaknesses better than most. So who do you think has the bigger advantage in that respect? - I tend to lean with Elko because, you know, while Riley Leonard went against Elko's defense for a couple of years, you know, in practice, you're really going against the scout team of the, that's emulating the defense of the upcoming opponent. You know, you're going against Louisville's defense in practice, you're going against Florida State's defense in practice when you're at Duke and you're preparing for your upcoming opponent. And so whereas I think Elko, you know, he was around Riley Leonard, he knows his strengths and weaknesses and also got to play Notre Dame last year, I think could be an additional benefit for him because, you know, he understands how good Mitchell Evans is. He understands how good Howard Cross is and, you know, where their strengths and weaknesses might be, not just Riley Leonard, whereas, you know, yes, Riley Leonard is facing a scheme that he's familiar with, but he's never gone up against Nick Sport and then Shamar Stewart and those kind of guys. So certainly some familiar, you know, certainly some things he's going to have to get familiar with. Also, A&M's got a ton of transfers on defense. They've got seven in the secondary alone and then up front, you got Nick Sporten and Cassius Howell, that linebacker, Scooby Williams, Solomon de Shields. So, you know, you're not only facing, you know, a defense you've ever played before, you're facing a defense with players from, you know, 12 different rosters. So I think the same things at play with A&M in a sense where when they're having to prepare for Notre Dame, they're having to watch Duke film of Riley Leonard. They're having to watch LSU and Cincinnati film of Mike Dienbrock, the offensive coordinator, trying to get a custom of them. They've got a receiver from Florida International, Marshall, I mean, that's just the nature of the business. So as much as they know each other, there's still a lot that they had to learn in preparing for this matchup. - You brought up the transfers. I want to ask about that specifically because the whole college football world watched Florida State lose to Georgia Tech this weekend. A lot of people attributed that to the fact that Florida State had to basically reload in the transfer portal. They did not look like a cohesive unit on either side of the ball. I think that's playing the results a little bit, but I do think that when you get a bunch of guys in the portal, it does have an effect, especially early on in the season. Now, Texan, I'm basically able to rebuild their linebackers and their secondary via the transfer portal. So what steps have Mike Elko and Jay Bateman taken to improve that transition and make sure that those guys gel as quickly as possible because this is their first game together and it's a pretty big one. - I think for the secondary, you look at this group last year and there was really no way to go but up for them. I mean, I know the numbers might ever doubt a certain way, but when they played the best passing offices, they got torch timing again. They had players out of position all over the place. Jost Berry was a nickel, he was playing corner. Bryce Anderson's a safety, he was playing nickel. It was just a bad fit in every way. And so, I think they only have to go up. They have better depth with the guys they added. Last year, they lost a couple guys mid-season and they're having to throw guys out there that just had no business of being out there. As far as preparing the unit, I think if you ask them today who's gonna start a sort of game, they may not know the answer to it. I think that they come into this game, they feel obviously very good about Bryce Anderson and safety and what he can do there moving there. But beyond him, they've got competition at all the other spots. The other safety, you got Dalton Brooks and Trey Jones, the Central Michigan transfer competing and the cornerback spots. He got Will Lee, the starter from Kansas State, Dez Ricks, former five-star recruit from Alabama. A bunch of names there. But I think what they've tried to do is just kinda mix and match as much as they can in preseason camp to really get a solid evaluation of these guys. I think they added a good blend of guys that they may not be great, but they're good depth and have experience and they're not true freshmen that you're throwing out there. Guys who have potential like Dez Ricks certainly looks the part as a former five-star recruit. And then guys that you know could be a starter like Will Lee coming from Kansas State. Tyree Chappelle also came back and is making the move to Nickel. So a lot of guys that have experienced are juniors and seniors, not freshmen and sophomores, and then a good blend of other guys coming up the Ricks like Dez Ricks. - You've heard us talk a lot about Fandall, America's number one sports book. Well, we have something a little different for you. Now through September 22nd, all Fandall customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV based plan, you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel any time. For that $5 bet, you could look at an NFL future. Everyone wants to be a number one receiver who will lead all wide receivers in yards. Fandall has three players without nine to one or shorter. 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Your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. - Okay, let's get it. It is locked on LSU. Your team every day. I'm your host, Matt Moscona. We are so glad to have you aboard with us here. And I am coming to you from, well, a nightfallen, Las Vegas as we record here on Thursday night. Got into Vegas today ready for LSU and USC and excited to bring you content here from Sin City over the next several days. We're getting you set for LSU and USC. As a matter of fact, professional handicapper Lee Sterling gave his pick on LSU and USC. T, spoiler alert. You're going to like it if you're an LSU fan. Stay tuned for that. Brian Kelly met with reporters on Thursday with Elvin and what he said, including a decision on a backup quarterback and why they're going to use two punters. So all that is coming right ahead. But look, on tomorrow's episode, I'm going to give you a full preview and prediction on the game. And we've talked plenty about LSU and USC all throughout this offseason. And I don't know how much more of a game we can break down. I still got plenty to come. And we're going to make sure we do that for you. But literally on the flight from Baton Rouge to Las Vegas today, I kind of got to thinking, and maybe I might wax poetic a little here, but I'll delve into that. Forgive me, I should have told you as well. Thank you for making us your first listen every day. We're free available where we get great podcasts. Of course, today's episode also brought to you by 5-hour energy. A 5-hour energy fixes tired fast with zero sugar and a convenient portable size. It's the perfect pick me up for getting stuff done. Go to 5hourenergy.com, use promo code locked on CFB to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. Go to 5hourenergy.com today. So I mentioned flying over here. And I just got to thinking about where LSU's program was four short years ago, claiming college football's national championship, I guess five years now. And where they are now and how they got there. And I don't want to wax poetic, but I also believe it's not a coincidence that Brian Kelly's teams hit an inflection point in his third year. Of course, his third year at Central Michigan. They won a conference championship. And his third year at Cincinnati. They had an undefeated regular season. Third year at Notre Dame. They played for the National Championship against Alabama. It got annihilated, but that was still year three. And I've referenced it several times that Brian Kelly did mention at SEC Media Days this year when he talked about year three and why his teams have had success in year three. The point he made was he comes in and he tries to establish culture and habits. And by the time you get to year three, he's ingrained that culture by and large in the program. The players that have come up through his program for three years are the upperclassman now. The players who maybe weren't all the way bought in have been purged out of the program. So you have full buy-in. And then when you have laid that foundation, that cultural foundation, then you can start to demand more from your entire team, your entire organization. That's kind of what we're seeing. And I think it's difficult sometimes for LSU fans to allow themselves to remember what Brian Kelly inherited. Y'all in the two seasons after what was the greatest season in history of college football. LSU combined to go 11 and 12. I mean, you had a Mississippi State quarterback said an SEC single game passing record in Tiger Stadium. And then that same quarterback was benched within the month. We saw the most lopsided loss in the history of the Alabama series in 2020. I mean, you get blown out at Kentucky in 2021. Same year, you lay down and quit in Oxford against Ole Miss. A lot of people try to forget that. I can't. I mean, you had a receiver playing quarterback in a bowl game. It was an atrocious fall. So atrocious that LSU was willing to pay at Ozoron $17 million to go away. Less than two years after the greatest season in the history of college football. It was bad. It was really bad with Brian Kelly inherited. He inherited a program that was in the worst shape it had been since Nick Saban was hired late in 1999. Brian Kelly's first order of business, obviously aside from rebuilding the roster's numbers, a roster that at Ozoron decimated, he had to rebuild the culture. And it was interesting because Brian Kelly was asked on Thursday when he met with reporters before the USC game about the culture within the program. And he was asked about the recruiting in the roster building how the number of transfers has come down. The number of high school signings has gone up. And he was asked if that was intentional. Of course, the answer was yes. But listen to why. No, it's intentional. Everything that we do is with a purpose. So you'll continue to see us get to the point where the culture and the standards of the program will be one where we want to be able to recruit the state of Louisiana as our base. We want to be able to develop our players, retain our players, obviously build great relationships so they stay, and then watch them have success while they're here. And we want to do that through the developmental process in terms of developing players. And it's a lot harder to do that when they have one or two years remaining. And they have other habits that they built somewhere else. So we want that to be something that is part of what the fabric of our program is. That does not mean we won't take somebody from the transfer portal. That doesn't mean we won't take a transfer. But the culture, the standards, who we are as a program will be based upon developing freshmen. I don't know if you could say it anymore plainly. You know, Brian Kelly was hired more than 30 people within the program, not just coaches, but staffers, longtime support personnel. They were all shown the door. The complacency was gone. Expectation, again, became the standard. They did accountability checks daily with the players. What are you eating? What are you going to sleep? Are you going to class? All of those sorts of things. And it wasn't perfect at first. We all remember the first game of the Brian Kelly era. It was not fantastic. You had Aaron Snaff's, Muff Puns. You had a crushing blocked PAT, which caused you a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime. But the results came in that first year. Within two months, you were beating Bama. You won the West. You were going to Atlanta to play for the SEC Championship. Of course, you also had a head scratching loss to a sub 500 Texas A&M team and got blown up by Georgia. So consistency is the challenge, has been the challenge. But LSU clearly Brian Kelly had him on the right track at that point. And last season was equal part exhilarating, with Jay Daniels winning a Heisman, and infuriating on account of the worst defense statistically in program history. But perspective matters. It has to matter. I mean, you had a Heisman winner and back-to-back 10 win seasons, which is light years from the two seasons that preceded Brian Kelly's arrival. It takes time to build a championship program, especially from where they were. Yes, you have to have talent, but you also have to have culture. And sometimes culture can be harder to build than talent. Look at Texas A&M. They went and bought the best recruiting class ever. More than half that class was gone after one year, and the culture eroded under Jimbo Fisher. So now, obviously, you're 300 of Brian Kelly's here. And all those star players that Brian Kelly talked about, the Will Campbells, Emery Jones, Harold Perkins, all those guys that were freshmen in 2022, now they're the upperclassmen. They're the ones who for three years have only known this culture. I told you the story before. But in fall camp, when they were running pass rush drills, freshman Ori Williams got beaten badly. And Will Campbell went over to him and said something to him. I have no idea what it was. It was in plain sight of everybody. You could see that Will went and talked to him, but he didn't say anything loud enough that anybody within your shot could hear. The next rep, Ori Williams, won that rep. That's the culture Brian Kelly has started to instill, started to instill two seasons ago. And that has now taken root with the upperclassmen, the best players on this team right now. And I think Sunday night right here in Las Vegas, you got the opportunity to see just how far LSU has come against another marquee opponent who's going through its own existential crisis. And I think history under Brian Kelly's proven to be a pretty good predictor of what is to come up. - A prime members, you can listen to this lockdown podcast ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. (upbeat music)