Georgia, Clemson, Notre Dame, Miami & LSU with BIG Week 1 PROVE IT games | Always College Football

Intro you spent an awful lot of time to get ready for game week and now game week is finally upon us and so uh we're excited hello and welcome in today is Thursday August 29th and it's always college football I'm your host Greg mroy thanks for being here it's going to be an awesome show for you today I know you guys that have been with the program for a long time the last two years we've been doing this show and Thursdays are our bread and butter this is what we specialize in nobody in the college football media world will dive as deep into these matchups as we will for you today we have five big game breakdowns that we're going to do here on the show and then we're going to dive a little deeper we're going to give you five under the radar games six under the radar games five or six things that you need to be watching in heavy spread games meaning when Ohio State plays akan I'm not going to tell you how akan beats Ohio State but there are some things I will be watching from the bucke guys that might help us understand what they might look like when the competition increases later in the year so let's not waste any additional time let's dive in with some big game breakdowns just so you know when we do these breakdowns it's in chronological order so if you're think sitting there thinking well why is that game third that game's between number one versus number three I understand why that might be a bit confusing but we like to go from noon eastern time all the way through the night cap so in this Georgia vs. Clemson preview particular case Georgia Clemson will start things off USC and LSU will finish things up let's start with Georgia Clems will be noon Eastern Time on ABC I'll be on the call alongside sha mcdna and Molly McGrath should be awesome this is a game that is featuring two teams that have combined to win four of the last eight national championships the only other national title for each program actually came in the 1980s Georgia won it in 80 Clemson won it in 81 and these two teams used to play each other just about every year so it's really cool to see them on the field we saw it a couple years ago and it should be really exciting other big picture items in this game it's only three active FBS head coaches who have won a national championship that's the fewest by the way the fewest active coaches with an AP or coaches Championship entering the season since 1942 of course Davis swy has two Kirby Smart has two but are these two programs that are heading in different directions there's some perception that they might be just based on how things have looked the last couple years for Clemson and Georgia people think one's on the way up or is at very least at the top of the sport other people seem to think it's going in the wrong direction I don't know if I agree with that but over the last three years I mean Georgia has as many losses as they do national championships they have two championships they have two losses they're only losses over that span came against Bamba so they've obviously done quite well Clemson by comparison has lost three games in each of the last three seasons they went nine and four last year and it's the first time that they won less than 10 games since 2010 the reason why people think it's not going so well for Clemson is because they have been slow to adopt the modern era of the sport Clemson in 2023 and 2024 brought in zero transfers uh they are one of four FBS programs with that distinction the other three are service acms Air Force Navy and army they also have 0% total starts from Clemson players that have come from transfer portal so that's obviously the lowest can't get lower than zero but people think George is like going under the Portal Georgia doesn't have that much of a differentiation in Philosophy from Clemson just 12% of their starts come from the portal which is 119th in the FBS so both really lean into High School recruiting but Clemson has not added the few pieces that Georgia has the last couple years to kind of fortify their roster and maybe cover up some weak points doesn't mean that Clemson hasn't tried they just haven't landed some of those players let's get down to the questions that will determine the outcome number one can Clemson's heavy pressure affect Carson Beck Clemson Blitz on nearly half of their opponent's dropbacks last year that was the second highest rate in sport for those of you that had Western Kentucky as the most Blitz heavy team congratulations I didn't but you did congratulations terrific stuff that's the highest rate by Clemson since ESPN began tracking this 15 years ago they also heated up quarterbacks on a pretty regular basis I mean they recorded pressures on nearly 40% of the dropback which is among the top 10 to top 15 in the sport so they can get after the quarterback here's the thing nobody gets the ball out faster than Carson back in the sport he released it in under 2.4 seconds he's one of three quarterbacks that did that last year all three of which we're at 2.38 that's number one in the sport so Carson Beck sees it he identifies it and he takes advantage of it because when you Blitz him he wears you out his numbers actually improve against the Blitz so blitzing him is not going to necessarily get you the W what could get you the W though would be making a move in the pocket force him to shuffle his feet make him feel uncomfortable it's a little bit like Tom Brady when his feet are set he's going to tear you apart but when he moves his qbr drops by 65 points that's significant his completion percentage drops from 77 to 49.2 when you make him move can you pressure Carson Beck Clemson Canen they have a chance of slowing down this offense let's go to number two can Georgia beat man coverage when you look at Georgia they didn't see a lot of man last year last year most of what you saw against Georgia was Zone coverage partly because they have such talented white outs and who the heck were you gonna cover Brock Bowers with in man coverage you didn't have a chance so you had to Zone it up and they didn't see a lot of guys that would go up and challenge you Beck was extremely efficient against Zone but against man there really isn't enough a sample size to really knowled it but they have great weapons we know that Dominic love it uh the addition of osic from Stanford the tight end transfer loss and lucky at tight end is also healthy so they have some guys that can beat you up and man but can they do it consistently enough because that's what they're going to get from Clemson nobody plays more man than Clemson except for Purdue and Notre Dame so pretty much everybody plays a lot of man but no one plays quite as much as those three number three can Clemson run the football I mean Phil mof down the stretch became the featured back last year he had never had more than 16 carries in the game before the Notre Dame game that last year he had 36 that day and then averaged over 23 carries a game the final four games of the regular season now he lives between the tackles he doesn't do a whole lot on the perimeter his productivity drops considerably when you get him to the outside he's a big bodyb that wants to keep his shoulders square and wants to get downhill a gap to a gap now georg's run defense took quite a bit B step back last year and people look at the numbers say well they were still in the top 20 in the sport yeah well for a while there from 19 to 22 they allowed 76 rushing yards a game last year they allowed 1136 rushing yards per game so from a four-year span 2019 to 22 to last year was about a 40 yard Gap per game another key area too is they allowed one full yard more per Rush before contact and they gave up an awful lot of yardage outside the tackles they gave up over five yards of carry outside the tackles that was 77th and they gave up over five yards a carry on Zone reads that was 90th so can Clemson run the football and then finally question number four can Clemson create big plays last year they just didn't manufacture a whole lot just 46 plays that gained 20 plus yards that was 998th in the sport just 99.9% of their completions went for 20 plus yards that was 131st in the sport now kumnick didn't push the ball down field but they also didn't really have a deep arsenal of weapons at wide receiver because guys were beat up all throughout last year whether it was Antonio Williams or Cole Turner they had a bunch of guys that were beat up so that's something to be mindful of as well we know George is going to rush the quarterbacks and be hard to create plays on a on a regular basis but when their chances to be made downfield you got to make them if you're G to beat the Georgia Bulldogs couple Trends in the game the under is 8-0 in Georgia season openers under Kirby Smart that's since 2016 the under has hit in each of Clemson's last four season openers so common sense would lead you to believe this going to be a low-scoring game this will be the third time that Clemson is a double digigit Underdog under dbos Sweeney and the fifth time he is an underdog of more than seven points they lost outright in each of the previous four instances but they covered in three of the four instances so a couple of Trends to think about I will not be taking a side in this game because I'm on the call but I hope you enjoy it there noon Eastern Time on ABC Penn State at West Virginia noon Eastern Time Penn State vs West Virginia preview on Fox these teams played every year from 1947 to 1992 that's when Penn State joined the Big 10 and they no longer played they won the game last year Penn State did 38-5 that was the opener that was their first matchup since that 199 two season and Penn State holds the all-time series lead 499 and two six of those nine losses though have come in Morgantown the three questions number one can Andy codal Nikki the OC of Penn State get The Passing attack going look the biggest question mark around the nitty Lions is the play of Drew Aller and while he was 10- two in the regular season and they made it peach bow there was a lot of people that were kind of underwhelmed with what they saw from a guy who came to State College with five stars next to his name and expecting to take this offense at the next level he completed sub 60% of his passes that was 88th he threw 6.8 yards an attempt that was 92nd he averaged 7.1 air yards per attempt so his average ball traveled just 7.1 yards downfield that was 109th part of that though is I think that there were some question marks at wide receiver last year and there shouldn't be that way this year Harrison Wallace set to be a a wide receiver that is an alpha dog go-to guy thought he might be that guy last year but he got a little banged up and just never really got going you also have lean Clifford who's been mentioned as a guy much like Wallace that has had a great fall Camp so hopefully you can't play quarterback by yourself and I'm pretty confident that Penn State will continue to be able to run the football but the passing attack has to take the next step and that's I think part of the reason why Andy codal Nikki was hired from Kansas in the off Seas question number two can West Virginia run the football for the first time since 2007 West Virginia returns their top quarterback their top running back and their top wide receivers uh well the quarterback plus the two running backs that are both back all went for more than 750 yards rushing last year that's Garrick green a quarterback CJ Donaldson Jem white who are very much thunder in Donaldson lightning and white power with Donaldson speed with white this is a group that has a lot of ability in their Specialist Group because they can situationally use Donaldson they can situationally use white and in rare instances you can have them both on the field at the same time but let's be real those guys can't run if you can't get them blocked and West Virginia has an offensive line with over 4,000 snaps played at the FBS level in 2023 mym 754 snaps last year Nick Malone 418 snaps last year they're going to started the Tackle Spot milm by the way one of the best left tackles in the sport remac who had nearly 700 snaps jaquay hubard 432 snaps they're going to start a guard and then Brandon Yates who had 795 snaps at Center last year so you look at just kind of where they're at this is one of the top offensive lines in the sport as far as experience is concerned and guess what they're going against one of the top Rush defenses in the country from a year ago they give up just 76 yards a game two 2.3 yards a carry 14% of their opponent's rushing plays were tackled behind the line of scrimmage that's how good Penn State was upfront defensively and a lot of those guys are back this year especially at defensive tackle and then question number three if it's close can West Virginia get it to the finish line now the Mountaineers are a pretty remarkable 8-2 8-2 in their last 10 games that were decided by one score or less so by eight points or less they're 8-2 now some people will say Well they're seven and three because they factor in an overtime game in which they actually lost by double digits but it was overtime because their offensive possession resulted in points for the other team so take that with the grain they got it to overtime I count an overtime loss as a single digit loss so they're eight- two in games that were decided by eight points or fewer they were three in one in those games last year beat Texas Tech TCU and Baylor their lone loss was the miraculous game against Houston where Houston hit a Hail Mary at the end of the game and the year before that they beat Oklahoma State Oklahoma and Baylor with the lone loss coming on kind of a miraculous win for pit so I look at it and if it's close West Virginia has been really good in these Clos games can they do the little things there in the fourth quarter to potentially give them a w some Trends in the game Penn State is nine And1 against the spread and straight up last 10 games is a road favorite having covered or won each of the last eight the only non- cover during that span was an outright loss to Michigan State in 2021 I'm taking Penn State but I expect it to be a slow low-scoring grinded out type of game I think both teams are good along the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively and I think West Virginia is better on defense than people give them credit so I think they'll keep Penn State somewhat bottled up but ultimately Penn State just has more weapons and more depth they'll make a big play or two that will give them the victory but I expect it to be insanely close and I expect it to be pretty low scoring let's go next to Miami at Florida Miami leads Miami vs. Florida preview the alltime series 29-27 now that's pretty close right that's pretty close this is only the fourth time in the last 20 years though where they have faced off after meeting every year from 1944 to 1987 so it's been a while this is actually the first time A ranked Miami team will face an unranked Florida team since 1959 there have been 35 meetings and the first time this is the first time since 1959 that the Gators are unranked and Miami is ranked ironically back in 59 the unranked Gators that year actually won that game and it was Gainesville just thinking number one question in this game how much of an effect does the home field make now Florida gets the season rolling at home they've been really solid they've won 34 straight home openers dating all the way back to 1989 that was the longest that is the longest onfield streak in SEC history the next closest streak is also active that's Alabama who's won 22 two straight dating back to 2002 and this is the fourth time Florida opens the season at home against an AP ranked opponent in each of the previous three instances the Gators won including twice as an unranked team now the Gators defended the home turf well they went 4-2 last year they were 1 and4 away so maybe things will be beneficial for the Gators there in the swamp I think it's going to be huge it's going to be hosti St and we know that helmet Communications are now part of the college game is it difficult for cam Ward to hear is it difficult for the Miami players to potentially here and will it be challenging to communicate on the field in such a crazy difficult venue let's go to question number two can Miami's pressure affect Graham MZ Miami pressured the opposing quarterback over 40% of the dropbacks last year that was the best in the ACC and the fifth best in the FBS they also led the ACC in pressures per game at over 13 and a half pressures per game they finished third and sacks with 35 they have Ruben Bane they added really talented pieces in the portal one from Michigan State one from NC State they went out and attracted top tier freshman talent that were highly regarded High School prospects that maybe they blossom just like Ruben D Bane did last year in route to a freshman All-American season and the other thing with Grant merch merch is super efficient super super efficient 73% of his passes were completed that was a single season record very very solid last year and if you look too at how they did it it was pretty methodical but it wasn't very aggressive against Miami if you can get Florida off schedule with maybe a first down Sack or a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and next thing you know Florida's playing second and 14 as opposed to Second seven second and six where they're on schedule that changes who Florida's passing game becomes gr Merz after all averages 6.16 air yards per attempt last year that was among the lowest in the entire college football world I think he was like in the 120s so not great there as far as pushing it down the field but maybe that's a point of emphasis for Florida I would imagine that it probably is number three can Florida manufacture some turnovers defensively I mean last year if you wanted to beat my Miami you had to turn them over they had 22 turnovers last year and in their six losses they had 15 turnovers so two and a half per loss that includes five against Georgia Tech four against NC State four against North Carolina if you look at last year Miami beat themselves a lot with turnovers that's been well documented I'm not telling you anything you don't know but it's a new quarterback now and cam Ward is now out there but here's the problem Florida was one of the worst teams in the country last year when it came to Turning teams over they had just seven turnovers forced all of last year that was 132nd they also intercepted just three passes in 12 games that's almost hard to consider When taking into account what Florida has traditionally been so they got to force some turnovers because that's been the recipe to beat Miami for the last year year and a half maybe even longer if you want to dive back Beyond when Mario Chris the ball arrived and let's go next to question number four can Florida contain Miami's weapons we've already talked briefly about cam Ward cam Ward I think is fantastic maybe the best portal Edition that Miami made this year but man's tough competition for that spot Damen Martinez the running back from Oregon state ran for nearly 1,200 last year he steps in to a really good situation behind an elite offensive line Miami also returns their top two receivers uh two of the best receivers in the ACC and Xavier Restrepo and jacobe George the duo combined for over 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns last year Restrepo super effective Choice route Runner slot receiver type that's pretty difficult to handle and jacobe George is excellent after the catch got a lot of juice got a lot of speed don't sleep on a guy named Sam Brown transfer from Houston remember that name he's got big time ability as well in creating big plays and the corners at Florida you got Jason Marshall who's a senior has been around for a while he needs to have a big game against his hometown program he's from Miami you know this one's been circled for him but Devon Moore Jordan Castile these are guys there in the back end defensively for Florida that are going to be put in difficult situations with some of the Personnel matchups that they will see I do think they've done a pretty good job Florida has at the safety spot they added ASA Turner from Washington they added DJ Douglas they added triques Bridges they've done a good job I think they have depth in the back and defensively but this will be one of the most talented groups of wide receivers and frankly weapons that they'll see all season couple Trends in this game against the Hurricanes Florida is 0 and8 straight up and two- six against the spread as an underdog since 1978 Florida was a home Underdog in two games last year they're most in the season since 2017 they went one andone against the spread in those games they did beat Tennessee as a five-point dog though so that's something to be mindful of and Florida is 5- one against the spread as a home dog since 2018 I'm taking Miami I think their Weaponry is too much for Florida I still have to see it to believe it with Florida's progress defensively I do think Billy Napier and Company can shrink the game because I think they'll be able to run the football with some Effectiveness but I'm not sure they're going to be able to manufacture enough big plays against a questionable secondary for Miami that's the one question mark on Miami's roster is their secondary going to be good enough to cover down against quality weapons I think Florida has good receivers I think they have good pieces in the passing game but I don't know if they're going to put as much fear into Miami's secondary as Miami will put fear into Florida secondary I'm taking Miami but I expect that game to be really really close as well Notre Dame at Texas Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M preview A&M Notre Dame holds a three to2 series lead with being the third regular season match up between the two they last played each other back in 2000 and 2001 and prior to those regular season games they met a Cotton Bowl a couple times 87 92 and 93 these two teed up there in the cotton B so should be pretty interesting Mike Elco is the new Man In Charge there in College Station went 16 to9 as the head coach at Duke he had back-to-back eight- win Seasons pretty impressive in the ACC especially when you think about just how challenging the Duke job was prior to his arrival he won 65% of his games roughly which is the best by a Duke head coach since 1945 so pretty impressive what Mike ELO was able to do and now he steps in at Texas A&M to replace Jimbo fiser but here's where Jimbo Fisher excelled Jimbo was pretty dang good pretty dang good these last couple years against AP top 10 teams now you're going to sit there and say well Jimbo has a had a whole multitude of challenges when he was the head coach ofm don't disagree with any of that but when there was an AP top 10 team standing on the other sideline he was pretty solid they won four of their last five games against AP top 10 teams now none of those games were last year but still he has been a bit of a giant killer in his last few years A&M has been at least but Mike ELO now steps in he's been a giant killer as well we all remember his season opening Victory against Clemson last year let's get the question marks about this game and what might ultimately determine it number one can Colin Klein that's the new offensive coordinator for Texas A&M can his game plan neutralize a hyper aggressive defense here's the thing I don't think Texas A&M can just line up and block them just gonna be honest with you I don't think they can just line up and block all right hey we'll take this guy we'll take this guy I don't think A&M with the question marks that they have along the offensive line I don't think can just say hey yeah we got it we can hold it down we're going to win that battle in the trenches no doubt about it I don't believe that to be true the good news is Colin Klein comes from Kansas State and he he played quarterback he understands the position but he's also Super Creative offensively especially in the Run game all right they ranked in the top 10 in the FBS in jet sweeps uh they ranked in the top 10 with multiple pulling offensive linemen in some cases three pulling offensive lineman they crushed it in quarterback design Run game like they did a lot of amazing things and when they got in the Red Zone they scored I mean they were second in the FBS in Red Zone efficiency under Colin Klein now on the other side defensive coordinator Al golden been super aggressive in college football in his two years this is year number three they are seventh in pressure rate 38% and they've blitzed they've blitzed at a ridiculous rate of 39% that's ninth in the sport now Notre Dame's strength their defensive tackles off the charts good Riley Mills Howard cross game Wreckers so I would expect Colin Klein to be real creative with how he tries to attack this defense knowing the strength of the team is right up the middle let's go next to question number two Ken Notre Dame's Belle leaguered offensive line block Texas A&M's defensive front now Joe alt and Blake fiser the two tackles from last year they're off to the NFL they've had a bunch of offensive lineman drafted since the 2018 draft Notre Dame been o lineu for the most part but they lost their two tackles they lost their Center who transferred to NC State they lost their left tackle who was likely to start this upcoming season and Charles jagas saww he tore his PEC couple weeks ago so if you look at just the offensive line man that's a huge question mark for Notre Dame the other problem is Mike Elco has a history of creating a lot of pressure with a bunch of disguised blitzes a bunch of stunts and movement and twists and things like that and he's got some really talented pieces to attack rley Leonard with that's the quarterback there for the Irish headline in the group is Nick scorton he a transfer from Purdue led the Big 10 in sacks last year uh really an just an elite weapon off the edge I me he almost is all the time standing up on the outside but I think they might be able to move him around and and create some opportunities for him depending on where they identify the weak link I think you'll see scorton on the move some you also have two other great players Shamar Stewart and Shamar Turner not related these guys are excellent excellent Shamar Stewart going to play a little bit more on the edges Shamar Turner G to be playing a little bit more on the inside but my goodness these guys all move around they're extremely versatile and they're extremely disruptive so Mike Elco is going to put a lot of pressure on that Notre Dame offensive line because that might be the weak link for Notre Dame's offense question number three will Texas cm's wide receivers be able to win against a super Elite Notre Dame Secondary now if you look at how A&M operated last year they didn't take a ton of chances down field just 10% of Conor wigman's passes were thrown 20 or more yards down field but when they did they were pretty good he was eight of 12 on throws like that last year now he was banged up but there are some question marks at wide receiver for Anna I think they have great length but I'm still in see it to believe it mode with their speed I think they have guys like Jade Walker who's 6'4 can make the contested 5050 catch they have a guy like Noah Thomas who's 6'6 they have moose Muhammad who's Rock Solid on the underneath and intermediate routes and then you have the guy Cyrus Allen who comes from Louisiana Tech he's a big factor in the Deep passing attack the last couple years and has 12 receptions in his career on passes that were thrown 30 plus yards downfield that's the seventh most in the FBS over the last two seasons so keep an eye on Cyrus Allen but there's a few others too that they're pretty excited about in the wide receiver court but now's their chance to show it against a group that is so good across the board Benjamin Morrison everyone talks about will Johnson at M Michigan as a top pick I don't think Benjamin Morrison's that different from will Johnson I mean he's that good he is amazing allowed just one completion of 20 plus yards last year and remember he was draped on Marvin Harrison all throughout their game against Ohio State in 2023 they lost cam Hart and DJ brown but Christian Gray had a great first year last year at corner as well when you targeted him you didn't have a lot of success and then Xavier watts is back at safety he was a preseason AP All-American coming into the season and he was amazing last year did not allow a touchdown and coverage and manufactured a lot of interceptions got his hands on the football just has a real nose for the football there in the back end so tough to tango with that Irish secondary question number four is this the year that Notre Dame's passing attack finally takes flight AS we've already kind of hit I don't think Notre Dame's gonna be able to just pound it against A&M right against that front I don't see it happening like that we know that they added Riley Leonard but he's never been super accurate on the intermediates he's never been crazy accurate on the downfield the downfield accur just out bad for a guy's as talented as he is it's got to be better this year now he didn't push the ball down field very much but when he did he struggled he completed just 23% of his passes they were thrown 20 plus yards down field now I think he's got decent weapons I think that group has really improved the last couple years Mitchell Evans is back at tight end he tore his ACL last year but he's back at 100% he's a game changer there at tight end Jaden great house is back kind of moved all over the field slot inside outside Jordan face on solid receiver in the bowl game last year 115 yards he's a lacrosse player but he's in the slot he's got some juice and they made three notable transfers wide receiver from FIU Chris Mitchell who's a big- Time deep threat Bo Collins who's solid and steady pretty productive there in 23 at Clemson and then Jaden Harrison is a transfer over from Marshall that also has great top end speed a couple Trends in this game Texas A&M 3 and0 against the spread against top 10 teams at home since 2020 that's tied for third best over that span Georgia and Kentucky are both 4 and0 I'm taking the Irish in this game if you look at A&M if I felt better about Texas A&M's receivers and if I felt better about Texas anam's offensive line I think it'd be a much more challenging choice but I believe that with what they're going to see against a mobile quarterback and Riley Leonard I think Notre Dame wins the game and what should be a low-scoring braw this going to be a crazy physical game a game that might be decided by one drive or another but I think it's a low-scoring really tough physical football game I like Notre Dame's defense just a bit more at all three levels but I do think that A&M's defensive line is capable of taking over the game however still rolling with the Irish as of this moment and then finally the Sunday night USC vs. LSU preview cab the LSU Tigers and the USC Trojans these two don't meet a whole lot but they did share a championship back in 2003 LSU beat Oklahoma in the BCS title game but USC was a one loss team as well so these two teams shared a championship back in 03 uh LSU has also lost four straight season openers which is tied with Nebraska for the longest active streak among power five Conference teams it's gonna be interesting G to be really really interesting question number one how will Blake Baker that's the new defensive coordinator for LSU attack Miller Moss now he comes from Missouri where last year his unit blitzed about a third of the time it was the highest rate in the Southeastern Conference and you can expect the exact same thing trying to take advantage of an inexperienced quarterback like Miller moss and then USC they allowed a lot of pressure last year they allowed about I don't know pressure about a third of the time as well they were 72nd last year in the FBS and making sure that Caleb Williams was upright however some of that can be attributed to Caleb Williams I mean he held the ball as long as just about anybody in sport so when looking at everything in this I think Blake Baker is going to be hyper aggressive LSU has great athletes I think they're going to allow those great athletes to pin their ears back and get aggressive and kind of force the issue for Miller moss and maybe accelerate his decision-making process which might lead to a m mistake or two number two can LSU secondary contain USC's wide receivers we all know about zachari Branch the guy burst onto the scene last year but other guys that you need to know in this wide receiver Court Duce Robinson he's 66 215 pounds and a really good deep threat downfield kyen Hudson was on the field a lot last year didn't get the ball a whole lot but I do think he's poised for a breakout season Kyle Ford is back at SC spent last couple years at UCLA so we'll be interested in seeing just how things kind of iron out for that wide receiver core for the Trojans but also defensive backs major Burns Ashton stamps guys played last year but not a lot and didn't play well can the secondary play better and contain these wide outs question number three can USC's defense Bend but not break against an explosive offense USC got burned deep a lot last year they allowed nearly 50% completion on passes thrown downfield that was 128th in the FBS and dead last in the Pack 12 the good news is they went out they added five defensive backs from the portal and a whole new defensive staff now here's what's going to be interesting you look at Jaden Daniels he's gone now the starting quarterback of the Washington commanders but in steps Garrett nus who was really good throwing the ball down field last year on throws that traveled way downfield he was six of 13 and the crazy thing is his offt Target percentage on throw 20 plus yards downfield was just 15.4% that's one of the best in the country granted small sample size but he gave his guys a chance and that could be huge When taking into account how talented this receiver core is Kiren Lacy's back as the team leader in rece in receiving yards Chris Hilton is back as a deep threat he's gonna go downfield almost all the time and then you have a transfer from Liberty and CJ Daniels who is super productive was second team All Conference USA selection and one of the best deep threats in the country as well and then question number four can USC Force some turnovers an area where USC really fell off in 2023 was their turnovers okay in 2022 they were plus 21 turnover margin that was the best in the country well they were minus one last year and they were 74th in the country now Garrett nme super talented super super talented but has played a lot he played in 18 games over the course of his four years thr for 1700 yards 11 touchdowns a lot of highlight re moments but he does have seven interceptions seven interceptions in limited time it's not a great number he's going to try some things he's going to be aggressive and I think USC needs to try to take advantage of his aggressiveness couple Trends in the game USC is one and 10 against the spread in neutral sight gam since 2014 that's the worst in the FBS over that span and there were these were two of the top three teams at hitting the over last season the two highest among power Conference teams the other team that also hit the over on a pretty regular clip that was Memphis I'm taking LSU but I think it's going to be close and a lot of it's going to have to do with the fact that I think this is a track meet one of the few games this year where I'm anticipating a lot of points being scored one of the few games this week where I'm anticipating a lot of points being scored I think LSU is more equipped to be able to win those shootouts with a slightly more experience Eren quarterback and Garrett nus so I'm taking LSU I think they'll get it done but I expect this game to kind of come down to the wire and it could be a scenario where Whoever has the ball last ultimately wins a few things to watch for some top teams that shouldn't be in a situation in which they're stressed out this weekend this is a hey let's do what we got to do vanilla game plan let's just What to look for from top teams like Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, Alabama and Michigan go out and execute Ohio State I want to see that new Run game you know how many different variations will Chip Kelly throw out there I think it's going to be kind of interesting to see this group utilizing some of the Run schemes that UCLA utilized the last couple years and hey that Dynamic one two three four punch at wide receiver running back Weaponry off the charts good looking forward to seeing how it does against akan Oregon host Idaho I want to see Dylan Gabriel's efficiency not thinking I'm gonna learn a whole lot from this game but I want to see how he operates does he look comfortable how quickly is he getting the ball out will Stein last year almost everything they did was at or near or around the line of scrimmage do they push the ball down field a little bit more this year maybe just slightly more aggressive Texas against Colorado State watching this game I'm just really want to watch the new wide receivers uh golden Balin Bond NYL I'm really interested in watching these Texas wide outs and just to see what kind of Rapport they have with Quinn yers that'll be real telling for me as I watch this group closely Alabama is taking on Western Kentucky Western Kentucky told you a little earlier in the show nobody blitzed more than them last year nearly 47% of the time the highest rate in the country well Jaylen milro is super electric but he does hold the ball longer than any power five quarterback last year he held it for over 3.2 seconds before he released it national average about 2.7 so he's a half second longer than everybody else well against a team that's bringing a lot of blitzes I want to see that ball getting out I don't want to see him win with athleticism he can do that against Western Kentucky but can he do that against Tennessee can he do that against LSU and can he do that against Georgia maybe but I'd like to see that next step in evolution in recognizing pressure and getting rid of the ball and beating it with your arm not with your legs ol Miss against Ferman I'm really curious to see Miss's offensive defensive lines L kein all off season talked about hey we're bigger up front we're more physical up front well prove it I want to see guys mowing the opposing player off the ball I want to see the defensive line denting the pocket and making the Ferman quarterback and passing game struggle Michigan against Fresno State I want to see Alex orgy throw the football we've seen him throw one pass in his career I want to see more of that and I want to see a few ways in which maybe they're putting him like what does the offense look like with him are they moving the pocket is their misdirection are they utilizing quarterback run as much as I think they're going to utilize quarterback run so I'm curious to watch Alex orgy there when Michigan takes on Fresno State a couple other things I can't wait to see Nico IAM malava second career start Avery Johnson couple of the young quarterbacks super stoked about also excited to see Jackson Arnold who Tee It Up on Friday night against Temple for Oklahoma couple under the radar games to watch it keep an eye on I'm not saying you need to like be all the way Should Colorado and Oklahoma St be worried about upsets in on these games but things that are certainly worth keeping an eye on North Dakota State and South Dakota State what are the odds that both those schools cover against FBS teams North Dakota State's a 10-point dog against Colorado South Dakota State's about 10-point dog against Oklahoma state two very different teams Colorado a team that wants to win with athleticism play the game on the perimeter against a team in North Dakota state that really wants to emphasize the line of scrimmage this would be a great indicator to see just how much better Colorado is along the offensive and defensive line because we know what North Dakota state is if they can move the ball against Colorado what will that mean for how they're going to in the Big 12 a league that I think is really all about the line of scrimmage then Oklahoma state they're much more prepared to weather the storm against the South Dakota state that's kind of comparable to Oklahoma state if their defense doesn't get better and they still struggle on that side of the ball look out that game could go the distance as well because South Dakota state is a better program than North Dakota state right now so maybe they can give the pokes a team with legit playoff expectations maybe they can give the pokes all they want North Carolina at Minnesota really interesting game Lines been bouncing all over the place is Minnesota fully healthy uh also curious Rebuilt ACC teams Syracuse, Virginia and North Carolina how is North Carolina gonna handle their quarterback situation I mean they're they gonna roll guys there going to be multiple guys playing are they situational players uh Max Johnson's expected to get the start but there's other guys that are also factoring in there as well Ohio's at Syracuse Ohio won 10 games last year Syracuse has a completely rebuilt roster under Fran Brown who's kind of really turned everything over there at Syracuse and quietly has sign significantly upgraded their personnel Richmond's at Virginia Richmond won nine games each of the last two years Virginia just named Anthony kry of the starter they've won six total games in the last two years so can Virginia take care of business against the instate FCS super super solid FCS team in Richmond and then Miami Ohio is at Northwestern Miami Ohio look at what they are they're pretty good they won 11 games last year they got Northwestern Cincinnati and Notre Dame in the first three weeks now I don't think they can get Notre Dame but can they get Northwestern in Cincinnati certainly worth keeping an eye on a couple giant Killers we give you this every Thursday just some teams that need to be super careful with all Giant Killers right you don't want to play these teams especially this weekend I don't think there's any benefit to playing these teams and I wouldn't be that surprised that these teams either cover or make it very difficult for the team they're playing against we'll start with West Virginia they host pen State already kind of talked about that be careful if West Virginia can run the football with that experienced offensive line and their three-headed monster rushing attack this could be a very difficult game for the nitty Lions Wyoming against Arizona State be careful Wyoming is not a team you want to mess around with we saw Wyoming go toe-to-toe last year with Texas Arizona State eight in Texas so can Wyoming maybe pull off the outright upset against Kenny Dillingham who's going into year number two and then finally Vanderbilt against Virginia Tech I think Virginia Tech will win the game but there's a lot of hype around Virginia Tech this year a lot a hype and nobody's talking about some of the upgrades that Vanderbilt has made on both sides of the ball Clark Lee's done a pretty good job in Talent acquisition this off season maybe they can make life difficult against a team that has super high expectations and a ton of pressure riding on this season that will do it for us here at always college football for all of you that have been following us for years we've very very much appreciate it we're glad that you're here with us on Thursday before week one of the Season we have so many more weeks to look forward to so pace yourself continue to like rate and subscribe to the show wherever you get your show and remember to follow us on our social media at always CFB on both Instagram and on Twitter so for all of us here at always college football for Mark Jake Jack the other Jack I'm Greg we hope you have an amazing day and remember it's always college football hey guys it's Greg maroy thanks for watching Always college football make sure you like rate and subscribe to ESPN's YouTube channel and wherever you listen to your podcast