Pac-12 realignment w/Mountain West expansion DOES NOT rule out Big 12/ACC l College Football Podcast

the pack 12's adding four Mountain West schools does that mean they're done with the big 12 in the ACC [Music] nope you are locked on college football your daily podcast on all things college football part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome everybody to another episode of Locked on college football I'm your host Spencer mcin thank you so much for making this your first listen or your first view every day part of the oon podcast Network your team every day in your daily source to stay up to date with the biggest stories in the greatest sport on planet Earth realignment which never goes away coaching Carousel transfer portal and every single game that you need to know about we've always got you covered this episode brought to you by friends at game time download the game time app create an account use code a lockon college for $20 off your first purchase so we'll talk about Florida Texas A&M and pick every game in the SEC with Brandon olssen of lock on Gators and the apple cup is going to be spicy it's going to be spicy who gets it done in battle this week we'll talk about that with Roman thasha of locked on Huskies but we start with uh what is once again the biggest news story in college football the Pack 12 is going to poach four teams from the Mountain West Boise State San Diego State Fresno State and Colorado State I'll get to the logic of it being those four for now in just a moment but one question that I think comes out of this is does this mean that Oregon State and Washington State or any of those schools particularly boisey Fresno and San Diego State and L so Colorado state does this mean none of them could ever find their way into the Big 12 of the ACC I don't think that's the case is the Big 12 more likely yes to an extent because if Clemson Florida State leave maybe there's a backfill component I don't know how likely that is I think the big 12's more likely but the key and Drake tol and I locked on Big 12 talked about this yesterday the key to this particular question is no Oregon State and Washington State are not getting into the Big 12 of the ACC right now that does not mean the answer is going to be no forever that does not mean the answer is going to be no in 2030 or 2031 in the early 2030s that's when Oregon State and Washington State could find their way into the Big 12 or the ACC but that's if those conferences still exist around that time because what you could have is an absorption into two Mega conferences and what you were trying to accomplish between now and then if you're Oregon State and Washington State and this logic applies to those G5 schools as well that are now going to be part of the Pack 12 and you know one of the Premier group of five conferences in the country what you are trying to accomplish is ensure that if which is an if if there is an AFC NFC type structure in college football you make yourself available and included into that shift because because that's what it feels like the next major one will be after the ACC figures out what it's doing with Florida State and Clemson and where they end up moving that's where the next shift is going to be and that's where you're trying to include yourself now let's say the four conferences Stay Together Le let's say or separate rather let's say they stay separate and Florida State and Clemson go to the Big 10 everybody else stays put you've got the SEC you got the big 10 you've got the ACC and the Big 12 kind of in that next tier can you find your way into the big 12 of the ACC yes yes you can because what about the history of realignment in the last 5 years 10 years 20 years 50 years indicates that this stuff ever stops schools are seeking validation schools are seeking money schools are seeking credibility they're always trying to make moves and moves have always been made so if an opportunity presents itself where the ACC or the Big 12 are in a bidding war or or are in a territorial dispute of sorts where they're trying to figure out how to gain an advantage over the other and they have to go and add teams in order to do that you need to put yourself at the top of the list so it it's why I think this move makes so much sense and I've talked about it for a long time it does make a lot of sense because all you can do is play the hand that you are dealt and this is what Oregon State and Washington State have been dealt so what you're now trying to accomplish is build the best league you can win as many football games as you can and games like the apple cup this weekend or the Civil War in Corvalis those are opportunities that you want to have on your schedule every single year Washington State beating Texas Tech those sorts of things matter individually it doesn't holistically make the selling point but over a 10-year running period you want to demonstrate that you can compete at the highest level of college football and to do that you make the best conference you can you get as many big- Time games as you can and give yourself the best possible access to the college football playoff that you can find in this landscape so for Oregon State and Washington State I think they're making the right move and why are these schools The Right Move two reasons and Colorado State's the outlier I'll get to them in a moment when you look at the track record of success on the football field and remember what I talked about making the most competitive and the strongest and the deepest League that you possibly can in a new look Pack 12 Boise State Fresno State San Diego State no questions about it those those are the top three options those have been the most successful those have been the winningest brands in the Mountain West for the last 10 to 15 years so those three were Nob brainer additions how did they land on Colorado State that's where the other factors come into play at Big 10 media days I asked commissioner Tony petiti what the criteria are when evaluating expansion and he talked about the multifaceted approach that the Big 10 takes and every conference I think at some level has used that sort of mindset where they say okay we want to prioritize football success if you know we we in this instance being the Pack 12 we want to prioritize football success well these schools give us that well then what's the next Factor well is it a geographical fit or maybe you're looking at television market Denver is a top 20 top 30 television market in the country and yeah Colorado is getting most to that viewership but is Colorado State a bad option no they are not and Colorado state has made more commitments to football and facilities and Athletics than you would probably think on the surface they had a team in the NCAA tournament recently in Mountain West League that was pretty loaded going in the NCA tournament and that doesn't matter quite as much but what does matter is the ability for their brands to be elevated by their Athletics programs and so if they're going into the Pack 12 that's going to elevate their brand at some level and and I think that over the last few years though Colorado State doesn't have a football season where you look at and go oh my gosh they were incredible they were so good they could be a decent team this year we'll see how they perform against Colorado this weekend they've done enough on that front to justify getting more favor from the Pack 12 because of the television market that they could be in the reason and I saw a couple people shoot me notes about this like hey why wasn't UNLV included what about UNLV well UNLV has a recent track record that's incredibly strong I think they're one of the top two or three teams in the Mountain West this year I picked him to go into Houston and beat the Cougars they beat him 24 to7 and Barry Odom and Company done a really really good job proving that you can in fact win in Las Vegas I wonder if there are ties between UNLV and Nevada that made the Pack 12 say at the very least we're going to put you on the back burner because the next move for the Pack 12 is we're going to wait to see what happens with the ACC what happen because we don't know we we don't know you can speculate from now until the end of time and I have many times on this very show about what's going to happen there where the teams are going to end up who they're going to want to associate themselves with where they're going to fall everything under the sun you don't know what's going to happen but when you have this position of relative strength compared to what you had 3 days ago you can now afford to wait because you have the foundation you don't have the entire house put up but you have the foundation and the windows are up and the paint colors's been selected now you've got to fill the interior of the house and as long as you have that Foundation you're going to have an easier time picking an interior designer who looks at the house and says well I want to go be a part of that and build something that's really good cuz I see the strong Foundation we're not going to have cracks in the ceiling we're not going to have leaky faucets like all of that's been put in place now we have to make the interior look really really good so that's why they don't have to hurry the next news on the realignment front which definitely was planned to come out during rivalry week for the Civil War and the apple cup and I think it's pretty good marketing from the Pack 12 quite frankly they can now wait and say okay even if there's a less than 1% chance it is worth waiting to see what happens in the ACC if anyone comes available if not maybe UNLV is a Mountain West team that they've got on standby maybe they've got contacts in the American Conference that nobody knows about we don't know I'd pick up the phone and make the call to American Conference schools at the very least and make say no and then go forward from there and evaluate who the next strongest Mountain West schools are maybe look at some Sun Belt teams see if they'd be interested in in making the jump if there's a fit and you can again speculate from now until the end of time who that might be Texas State I think would be one of those potential options but it never goes away it just never goes away but as I said to begin the segment is the ACC and the Big 12 are the ACC and the Big 12 completely out of the Run possibility for Oregon State and Washington State and secondarily the top three mountainwest schools that join Boise Fresno and San Diego State no it's just not going to happen in the short term so you have to make the best think now in 2030 that's what you got to do strengthen your football Brands as much as you possibly can between now and 2030 this is a great first step to doing that let me know your thoughts in the YouTube comments or hit me up on X formerly known as Twitter let's go back to football shall we we're going to pick every game in the FC how badly does Billy Napier need a win pretty badly 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terms and conditions apply if Texas A&M rolls into the swamp and blows out the Gators are they just going to show Billy Napier the door no probably probably not right Brandon olssen of lockon gators that's not going to happen right boy that's a long pause that's a long pause um I I I don't think it necessarily would but there is a section internally that is kind of next loss he's out um regardless of whether or not it's a blowout there there is a feel that that could be the out I I don't buy that I think that at the at the earliest they'd wait until a bye um you know like maybe maybe you lose this week and you make the decision that he's gone and then after Mississippi State next week when you have a buy you make the move um but yeah things don't feel awesome in Gainesville right now no not exactly and Texas A&M comes into town in semi wounded animal mode I don't know I don't think A&M fans have uh as much pressure put on this first season for Mike Elco as Florida fans do for the uh third year of Billy Napier but I I just wonder about that like you hear the sarcasm in my voice it's only 60% sarcasm for me because if you in your first three games Brandon have two blowout losses to programs that you don't have an excuse in year three to be that far behind at home I can see him making that sort of sh that that sort of shift and and going you know what we we need to make a change here and make it very clear that we're starting our coaching SE and then we go higher Lane kein of course but on this uh particular game Brandon how does Florida win I don't think they do um really I I think they I'm not saying that this is a game that I'm like oh Florida's definitely going to lose this but I just think matchup wise I I don't think it's it's great based on what we've seen like one thing with Texas A&M Colin Klein his run gamees really creative he uses counter quite a bit uses pin pull te and you know we we saw Kentucky last year run counter quite a good bit and Ray Davis had almost 300 yards and until I see it from this coaching staff that they can properly prepare these guys for it I just can't be confident in that and then of course Texas A&M's defense I know they haven't really produced pass rush wise the way that they've been expected to yet Florida's offensive line specifically the right side has been really horrendous this year if there's ever been a getright game for someone like Nick scorton who lines up typically against the right tackle this is that game yeah and scorton the defensive end for uh Texas A&M I don't think had the matchup or the the performance that people were expecting in the matchup against Notre Dame he's going up against an inexperienced offensive line in some spots and look Notre Dame did enough to win the football game and it's not as if you didn't notice it scorton was there but he certainly didn't go off for you know three and a half sacks and eight quarterback pressures the way that uh you might have thought on paper uh before we get to the score prediction for every single SEC game this week Brandon Gators agies in Gainesville you're picking Texas A&M I'm going with the home team here I don't know why because I don't really know what to make of either of these teams but I'm going to go Gators 24-20 I picked on The Crossover with Andrew stanc of lock on agies uh I picked A&M 3127 okay well even Brandon's not confident the gator in if he's not then who is me apparently why I need the coaching staff to show me literally anything just anything just times in gamesville tough times in Gainesville right now uh let's go rapid fire round the SEC Bama at Wisconsin any danger for the Crimson Tide uh no I don't think so I I think B's got that one pretty easily I do as well I don't know if they cover the 16 I do think they win by at least 10 points there in Madison LSU South Carolina Tigers need a win in a big way here I think LSU goes into colia and gets it done yeah I I think so as well uh I know South Carolina's look good early on but it's early on uh Team teams will make adjustments and LSU's a better team than you face so far LSU's line pretty decent I I think LSU wins it I think I think LSU covers as well yeah I have yeah I have that as well 3117 I've got the Tigers speaking of tigers how about Missouri against up start Boston College who had them in the top 25 by week three on their bingo card but top 25 matchup in Columbia Missouri I Missouri W there easily um yeah I me I don't I don't think I even need to explain that one yeah so I won't be shocked if that gamees a little bit closer but like the bamama Wisconsin game I think the Missouri Tigers win by double digits there Oklahoma hosting Tain boy Oklahoma did not look good last week against Houston and Tain as a really high level group of five team Sooners have to be careful here I still think the Sooners win this one but I I don't think they cover the two touchdown spread yeah I think that's a a bit High I think it's a bit High I think tane can push them even in Norman they have to get ready for uh Tennessee because oh that's going to be a wildly entertaining football game uh we already talked Texas S&M Florida UAB Arkansas Old Miss Wake Forest Texas UTSA Vanderbilt Georgia state is the SEC going to lose any of those football games cuz I don't see a loss in there I don't think so something I and I don't know why but something about the Vanderbilt game to me it's just like they're GNA Vanderbilt the hardest they've ever Vanderbilt it's like it's not even that I think they'll lose the game I'm just like it's Vanderbilt I feel like they'll do a Vanderbilt type thing but Clark L's got his guys ready to go yeah he he does and by the way Vanderbilt could have the earliest over under win total hit of the college football season if they win at Georgia State this week they had a win total of 2 and a half on FanDuel they are a 10 and a half Point favorite sitting at 2-0 at Georgia State this week Georgia Kentucky I've seen the wild cats push the Bulldogs before that is not going to happen here nope not at all uh Georgia is gonna handle that one easily I don't even know how close Kentucky is capable of keeping it look college football doesn't always make sense because if you think okay Georg is a better team than South Carolina South Carolina just went Lexington and dog walked the wild cats I I Georgia shouldn't have any problem here but if I told you right now Brandon they have issues at all in this game what do you think that looks like I H I honestly the only thing I could see happening is Georgia players taking the mentality of well South Carolina just dog walked Kentucky we should be able to go in and dog walk Kentucky like that that's the only thing that I would see happen like of just completely overlooking them kind of thing you saw with Georgia and Kent State uh two years ago I think it was where Kent State kept the close for a long time but even then like I just I think dog walking again or wild cat walking more appropriately an SEC team in need of a win the Auburn Tigers looking for a bounce back do they cover the 28 point spread against New Mexico at home I want to say yes uh New Mexico not great right now and Auburn I think after that stinker against Cal you kind of need to show out a little a little bit and so I think that Auburn will be motivated to do so I don't think Kent State has any chance in the world of keeping up with Tennessee in Knoxville V's favored by 49 it's one of the biggest point spreads in all of week three and look if they play the way they did against Chattanooga in week one then yeah that could be a 56 to to nothing ball game I doubt we have any disagreement there Toledo Mississippi State Bulldogs coming off a loss in which they were down big against ASU on the road they fought they scra they claw I think that's a good sign for Jeff lebby's team that they didn't quit when they were down big on the road the come back home against Toledo 11 and a half Point favorites I I think just a win feels good for Mississippi State right um you're out of your mind if you think I'm picking against Toledo that's I will die for that score so that's the helmet the tattoo I'll die for Toledo so I'm taking Toledo all the way the rocket have got a pick against an SEC school here on lockdown college football I I was there when they beat an SEC school okay I I was there when they went in and beat Arkansas on the road okay okay okay okay so we've seen it happen before we'll see if it happens once again that is every SEC game coming up this week and that's Brandon Olsson locked on Gators Brandon thank you for stopping by thank you so let's go to the Big 10 SL Pack 12 oh boy how about that pack 12 huh waston Washington State this apple cup is so spicy for so many reasons and the huskys better be on high alert that's coming up next before we get to the apple cup let's get to factor meals fuel up with factors no prep No Mess meals meet your 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at least the game is being played and boy it's going to be fun that's Roman tomasov locked on Huskies joining me here on the show at the very least there's a major hurdle in this game for Washington and that's that Washington state has way more to play for in this matchup not just because Washington left for the Big 10 and left Washington State behind but in light of the Pack 12 realignment news they are just further trying to solidify their case to be at the highest level of college football they've got the attention there's going to be a spotlight on this game National Television that's something that Washington's going to have to overcome I think the coups are going to be as riled up for this football game as they can possibly be and that's in a rivalry game Spencer I don't know about National Television exclusive on P peock uh is is is this week's game you know it's nationally accessible anyone can get peacock anyone cannot get the pack 12 Network yeah shout out to Comcast Nfinity by the way for not letting us get the Big 10 Network either but uh no so I I certainly hear your point but I and yeah wazu has looked good over past couple weeks but they they played against a severely depleted Texas Tech defense and again they they did look good I want to say that but Spencer do you know how many yards per game Wu's defense is allowing through two games this year wazoo's defense not off the top of my head I'm going to get can I'll I'll take a guess 334 334 470 okay great no it is not great that is 124th in the FBS so far this season and Washington's offense has you know Jed fish said that that first quarter that they played offensively looked like the Bad News Bears so anything that's a slight improvement from that when Washington has not scored a point yet in the first quarter of this season that's certainly going to be a point of emphasis for them this week but combined with a a defense that had seven sacks against Eastern Michigan this past week I feel really confident about the direction the Huskies are heading into where there are still certainly some things to work out along the offensive line but it has shown massive improvement from week one to week two and I think we're g to see that again this week so against you know a secondary with wazu like I just said that that defense as a whole is allowing 470 yards a game with Will Rogers who has been really efficient so far thrown for 51 yards at five touchdowns through two games Jonah Coleman who's looked fantastic I I really like what I see there and let's also not discount this Spencer do you not the score of when jedf fish took on this the same uh a very similar wazo team last year was oh let me think Arizona Washington State oh it was so long ago you're going to have to jog my memory it was 44 to6 Arizona they did a really good job find oh that's right they went into Pullman and boat raced them yep so jedf fish knows what to do against the Jake Dicker SCH I scheme I really love what Steve Bel can do to shut down the scrambling ability of Jer where I still think certainly think he's gonna get his yards but I I really am confident about what the Huskies have rebuilt with over the course of the offseason and I you know me I I don't make very hard predictions here but I I certainly feel good about the direction that this team is heading in so before we hop on to record Roman I told you that I'm coming into this game picking Washington State unless you can talk me out of it and I have to say you have made some compelling points we'll find out at the end of the segment if I ultimately get there I do stand by the motivation factor that there is way more to gain for Washington State in this game than than Washington but I've been impressed with John matier he threw the ball really well in week one against Portland State he ran the ball really well last week against Texas Tech throwing was not quite as proficient which I think is a concern but he's got a couple of good receivers two games under his belt I think the offense looks pretty darn good I don't think Washington State's defense is as bad as the numbers indicate I think a good number of those yards came in the second half against Portland State when the game was already decided and it was just kind of an up and down crazy Affair but point taken this is the best I think offensive collection of talent uh they will have faced so far and I I think Texas Tech has got some good weapons but you know Baron Morton Will Rogers that's kind of a a wash there are a couple good weapons down there in Leck but I was impressed with Washington State's defense last week against Texas Tech so when you look at this Washington offense how do you think they should or need to attack this wazu defense I think that they can throw the ball a lot I I think that they're going to drop back throw it 30 35 times maybe where you know I I I gave you the defensive numbers as a whole uh they're allowing 288 yards per game in just in the in the back end through the passing game so I I really like this collection of weapons as you said where you know Giles Jackson has been targeted 16 times this year he has 16 catches Denzel Boston has has looked a part of a number one receiver and after being shut out in week one Jeremiah Hunter had a really nice day against Eastern Michigan he had five catches for 72 yards in a touchdown so this is a really nice collection of pass catchers for Washington that's without you know talk about the tight ends where you know not having Quint Moore is is a a big loss for this team but more so in the Run game because he's just incredible run blocker where Decker de grath has looked the part as freshman tight end he's got three catches two of them are for 30 plus yard touchdowns so he's been really explosive at points in time and I think that this Washington passing game has a whole lot of weapons that it can utilize in whatever way that it wants to against a defense that's shown that it it can give up a lot of yards through the air each of the last two years this game has been played it has been tight it has been competitive and I think Washington State this year is a lot closer to what they were the last couple years than what Washington has been over the last couple of Seasons which I think is why the point spread has come down it's now Washington minus 42 last I checked according to our friends over at Fan and I think it's going to be a competitive game it's in Seattle but it's not at Husky Stadium which is a little bit strange but understandable I I suppose um like it's it's odd it's it'd be like if Oregon went up to Portland to play at uh you know what was once PGE Park you know it's like well I mean you know they got a they got a stum right right right over there but I understand the neutral field Factor now that this is a non-conference rivalry game so let's get to our game predictions and we'll start with you here Roman does Washington win this game again and how tight do you think it is I I think Washington does win this game again I'm gonna say they cover here is the the extent of the predictions that that I make as you know Spencer but I I I do think they cover I really like this defense I think that uh one of the things that I'm I'm really looking forward to is Steve belich does a really good job at taking away opposing strength so saying he he likes to say all right we dare you to beat us this way we're going to make you play exactly the way that we want you to and for John mattier that's finding a way to take away his scrambling ability I think that they find a way to put a safety down in the box and have him spy John Mater whether it be you know cam brard cam fulan and maybe Justin Harrington sees a little bit more playing time this week I I think that he's done a really good job of finding ways to eliminate opposing strengths over the first couple of weeks and if they can keep all the runs between the tackles I I like Washington in this one what is the biggest key for Washington to win this football game and could conversely if Washington were to lose why do you think that happens I think the biggest key for Washington to win this football game is to keep John matier in Pocket keep him from scrambling where if they want him if they want him to beat him with his arm that's fine I like the secondary I like that Dixon he's had a really good day he a really good couple of days in his first two games Elijah Jackson has been their highest graded Corner as a backup and efficience pryck Spencer I I know you're a big fan of that guy as well uh so I would say that keeping keeping him in the pocket forcing him to throw is the best way to do it I like this pass rush like I said had seven sacks last week conversely Washington has shown that it can have some trouble defending the run when it gets bounced outside the tackles they haven't done necessarily a great job in containing and setting the edge over the first couple of weeks so I think that if wazu is able to find a way to break some runs outside the tackle that they can all of a sudden pick up 10 12 15 yards on some of those and that could cause some problems in my opinion have you won me over have I have you pulled me over to the Washington side the Arizona game from last year which was in pman by the way and one of the more shocking results of the year I think it might come down to which coach wins the chess match from that particular game does Jake dickard make the adjustments or can Jed fish exploit the same sorts of things he found in in Jake dicker's defense a year ago if this were in Pullman I'd stick with the cougs I'm going huskys here I think this this is a wildly entertaining and fun football game wildly competitive I can see this going either way Washington 2826 I think they I think they beat Washington State yep I think it's one of those sorts of games where it gets weird and funky but you know what I've picked against Washington State once this year in the non-conference which is of course what Washington Washington state is a classic non-conference battle obviously just like Oregon Oregon State just like Oregon Oregon State that's the way that these things go now we'll see if uh we'll see if I have to apologize to coug fans once again that is Roman thasha locked on Huskies you won't get an apology out of him most likely but for me cougs fans you will you will if uh Washington ends up losing the football game Roman fun time as always my man Spencer as always thanks for having me appreciate everyone listening I will see you next time enjoy the weekend and until then hope you have a wonderful rest of your day