College Football Week 1 Preview, Connor Stalions Doc Review, Gen CFB is BACK! | Dan Le Batard Show

welcome back to our first episode of genen CFB of this college football season Lucy week zero has already come and gone and now week one is here we have so much stuff to talk about where do you want to start I think I want to start outside of the week zero games I think us as college football Geniuses we knew what was going to happen we knew Georgia Tech was going to win that game we at least knew they were going to cover we have to talk about the con Connor stallions documentary cuz I wasted my evening I wasted my night an hour and 27 I'll never get back was there anything that you learned from The Untold okay yep I I'm kind of with you on that one I don't think much more was added to the story that we didn't already know um any any like any key takeaways are there then you feel like you wasted your time it made me like really mad it just made me angry you one we should not be doing documentaries on things that happened within the last year I think even 5 years is too close like this should have been something that we saw 10 years from now after Michigan's National Title eventually gets stripped or whatever but like the whole thing was just Conor sanss being like I didn't do it but if I did this is how and this is how I was trained but I didn't do it I felt like a lot of it felt like it was meant for people that either don't watch college football at all or was for Michigan fans but even Michigan fans I think are just sick of hearing from Conor stallions like they want to pretend like it didn't happen and they're like hey we won the National Championship we don't really care about this guy like we've we've all moved on but there was like some sort of like key things in the in the Saga that were just completely unaddressed they like barely spent any time on Jim Harbaugh or on any of the various like Michigan coaches who were let go last season during all of this it was very strange uh and I'm with you I'm not exactly sure what it was for the thing I was mad that they left out is like it was over and I was like where was the vacuum talk why didn't why didn't they address the vacuums I mean if you're I'm here for the vacuums if you're going to give me Conor stall let me read the manifesto there was also Taylor just said in my ear broo that was that was awesome that was great was really great I felt like like an hour through they did like a montage of Connor stallion's memes and I'm like did we have to have reach like a runtime quota like why why is all of this in here it was so unnecessarily long like it could have been 20 minutes and got the same point across but it was all just like hey here's what people said about it and Connor stallions here's his entire backstory that no one asked that no one cares about yeah all right well I think we're on the same page with this one then um like you said week zero come and gone the new playoff system is upon us I think I counted like 17 times that it was explained during Saturday's week zero broadcast so get used to that there's going to be more of this in week one from ESPN as they try to like catch fans uh get fans up to speed on how the 12 team playoff is going to work this year but we have now arrived finally at this moment of conference realignment where we have Cal for some reason in the ACC we have SMU playing their first game as an ACC member we have come and gone from Big 10 media days where DeShaun Foster gave one of the most awkward introductory press conferences in the history of the Big 10 and he belongs there and it was magical and now Lucy we're finally we're finally here we're finally starting the season it's weird like I'm curious how you have felt like watching like there weren't without outside of SMU like this week and there weren't any of like the new teams in action it's still something that like as people were asking me about this season and my conference Championship predictions and whatever like my brain still hasn't been able to fully process like oh this team is here now and this is how many teams are in the play blah BL blah like I my brain hasn't accepted it and I don't think it ever will yeah it's going to take some time to get used to like it's it's very weird to be like yeah Oregon's going to get that big 10 Auto bid in the in the playoff that just feels wrong it just feels so wrong um yeah so I'm with you on that and especially because we we were getting the new playoff the same year we're getting Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC and the complete like uh disillusion of the Pack 12 completely uh now we have the Pack 2 and and they're joining the Mountain West and so like there's just so much change for this college football season that I feel like it's going to be some some new stuff is exciting and fun but it it can also be a little confusing I think like it will definitely take some getting used to for fans no I agree too and then you add in the aspect of like we have lost three out of the four playoff teams from last year their head coach isn't returning like that's crazy so there's all this like outside stuff or ins like no Nick Sabin is on college game day now what what do you mean right what do you mean he should be busy doing something else go recruit stop talking and go recruit um Taylor before we move on I heard that we have a sponsor for this segment yep recapping what happened the previous week is presented by cheit this college football season we're feeling the chees cheesiest with cheit cheese Chee cheese those are my like some of my favorite commercials the giant wheel of cheese chanting cheese at their coach I love it thank you cheit we're we're happy to be here we're big fans of the cheese at Bowl before we move on to like what's going to go on this upcoming weekend in college football Lucy do you have any lingering week zero thoughts Florida state Georgia Tech obviously was like the Marquee game of the weekend in Dublin like where where are we at now I think my big takeaway is I didn't really expect I think anyone who looked at what Florida State lost last year and what they brought in at the quarterback position kind of was understanding that this was going to be a major drop off cuz last year was sort of like their like all eggs in that basket they lost so many players like everyone was a senior you lost that much you bring in DJ like there was going to be an adjustment phase what that showed me is wow the ACC is wide open this year like it doesn't really feel like there is a clear favorite because Clemson you can put in the mix but Clemson hasn't been the same Clemson over the last few years Florida State looked terrible Georgia Tech looked great like there's so much going on with the ACC and I kind of want nothing to do with any of it yeah the ACC definitely is going to be interesting I know Miami is the popular pick right now to win the ACC and I'm not going to lie I know Lucy you're making a face where all everyone in the studio right now everyone in the studio is like oh God oh God I'm scared Mike Ryan's listening I'm not making a face Billy gills the U down over Taylor's head right now um but it is it is an interesting conference because you're right it this Georgia Tech beating Florida state was something that you know a little surprising but like you said given some of the huge changes to Florida State's roster not that big of a surprise but it does kind of crack the door open now where you know it's week one already a top 10 team has has lost um and we'll see where the ACC goes from here uh DJ young finished the first yard with negative .1 air yards per attempt passing doesn't give you a lot of Hope for a vertical passing game to come out of Florida state in the future and he's been a player that I mean I honestly felt a little bad for how much like blame he was getting for Florida State's performance in that game when I thought like where is this defensive line that everyone's been talking about being the best in the country they didn't record a single sack Georgia Tech offensive line played great and were just outstanding in in Dublin so yeah Brent ke now the Georgia Tech head coach has gone 5-0 versus ranked ACC teams beating Carolina twice Taylor I know I know you didn't have to look that stat up this was the first time meme where it's like everybody was surprised Georgia Tech going uh beating a top 10 team I'm like no this is this is something I experience every year Carolina's going to be a top 10 team and Georgia Tech is going to come out of nowhere yeah pretty much so for for shout out to Georgia Tech huge win for them in week zero there was also like you mentioned uh SMU played they beat Nevada after having a a big comeback in the fourth quarter we' all found out together as a as a country that Bronco mendenhal is the new head coach at New Mexico I honestly did not know that no clue yeah no idea and they were they were 12 and a half Point dogs to an FCS team and they lost to Montana State but they did Cover so you know good teams win great teams cover etc etc so yeah that was week zero and now we move on to week one in college football Lucy I know you're going to a college football game this weekend and I know you're so excited about it but before we get to Saturday we've got Thursday games we've got Friday games and we've got some big ners on Saturday so let's start with Thursday what are you looking forward to on Thursday night um Taylor put on a little rundown North Carolina at Minnesota I want to just make it super clear I'm not looking forward to that not even a little bit not even slightly interested kind of mad it's on this list I'm looking forward to North Dakota State at Colorado because everyone learns the hard way you don't schedule North Dakota State I think that Matt rule even said it like when he got the job at Nebraska he went up to the ad and was like don't you ever schedule a Dakota don't ever do it we all learn the hard way and Colorado has all this hype coming into the season like they did last year you have the weird stuff with Dion and his pressors that like has gotten kind of old to me I don't really care anymore but you have all of this culminated to a matchup with a FCS team that is better than at least 50% of all the FBS teams so this is like not an easy game by any means and it wouldn't Shock Me even a little bit if North Dakota State won I think Colorado will win but I do think it's the perfect game for hot takes on Friday and for the rest of the weekend because if Colorado wins Big in this game it's like wow like Colorado look at them starting their season with a really tough opponent and beating them and proving like they are Head and Shoulders above this like you know dominant FCS team even though North Dakota State's head coach left last year for a job at USC and now they have a new head coach who was formerly I think the offensive coordinator there so new coach um but returning quarterback who was pretty good last year so then the flip side is like if Colorado somehow loses or if it's like a close game it's going to be like oh my God like all the all the Dion haters and every every Colorado person that like just has so much uh animosity towards them is just going to be just oh my God feasting so it's a it's a fun Thursday night game I think I'm with you on North Carolina at Minnesota um I I Taylor if you want to give us like a 30-second Scouting Report I'll let you do it just cuz it's like a power four versus a power four game but but don't get used to that Carolina has one of the best running backs in the country Omar in Hampton Omar in rushed for over 1500 yards last season Carolina replaces their defensive coordinator Jean chisik they bring in why what happened a disaster to put it plainly it was a disaster last year uh they replace their defensive coordinator they bring in Jeff Collins from Georgia Tech who who was Georgia Tech's head coach so maybe there's something there Carolina starting quarterback is is Max Johnson who formerly of LSU formerly of Texas A&M third stop hasn't really worked out at any of his stops so far so there but Carolina third times a charm third times a charm and we're not asking him to go out and beat Alabama you're not asking him to beat Drake May yes exactly and last year I said there's there's a certain excitement to not knowing what you have at the quarterback position but as we're getting closer to this game I'm like I would much rather have a samow or Drake M oh man okay well there you go Lucy uh take us to Friday night is there I think there's there's 21 games on Thursday uh six only six games on Friday and not really as many super noteworthy matchups is there what what are you going to be watching on Friday night this is always the best college football like schedule of the year because you're not sharing anything with the NFL so it's like you have like Friday Saturday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday which which is awesome Friday night TCU stand uh Stanford is kind of the big one I think TCU has like everyone sort of forgot about them after you lose a national championship game by 60 points and then go out and lose your season opener the next year TCU won what five games last year there's like a weird sort of like kind of like comeback energy with them I don't know how great they're going to be this is a weirdo Big 12 ACC matchup now I don't think Stanford is really going to see any Improvement they've lost a lot of their best players so like I guess that's the game I'm looking at but truly the the Crown Jewel of the weekend is Saturday yeah okay so let's let's start with the noon ABC game on Saturday number 14 Clemson at uh number one Georgia this game's at Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta and Georgia has not lost a regular season game since 2020 that is like crazy they were for like I know we talked about Georgia being left out of the playoff last year but like the national conversation about the playoff was all about Florida State getting left out when Georgia was a incredibly dominant team in 2023 so who are you picking in this game it's a 14-point spread in favor of Georgia and like what what are you looking for in this one I can tell you right now I'm picking the dogs in every single game this season I don't care who they're playing I'm picking the dogs they are Far and Away the most talented team in college football Carson Beck is a Heisman candidate I know that Clemson is kind of like a sneaky pick for everyone right now especially like kind of how we talked earlier the ACC feels wide open so people are sort of buying into Clemson again and I do think this is an improv proved Clemson team however Georgia is so much better than everybody else they are so much more talented than everybody else Georgia is the best team in college football they are number one for a reason I will never bet against the dogs the last game that you were at was the Georgia Florida State game I believe that was 63 to3 was the final score of the Orange Bowl yeah I was there the whole time yeah right you definitely didn't leave early all 66 points I saw him uh yeah I'm with you Clemson has I think they're going to have a really good defense this year I think they're they're ranked top 10 in f plus um but their offense has been sort of the issue there Kade kumnick is back um if you're just looking on paper I think Georg is definitely the most the more talented team Davos sweene still not not doing the portal still being a little stubborn about that we'll see if it comes back to bite them I I think Clemson will do well this year and I think they'll do well in the ACC but I I agree with you I think George is probably the the Easy Choice there uh at the same time over on Fox you've got Penn State the eighth ranked team in the a P poll at West Virginia this is a this is a tough road game to open with for Penn State is this really sneaky I think what people Penn State opened the season with West Virginia last year as well I believe and that game Penn State eventually covered but it was really close until the fourth quarter like it took kind of like a final stretch sort of pull away for Penn State to look as dominant in the scoreboard as they thought they were going to actually look on the game uh this game is sneaky West Virginia is much better than they have been the last two years Neil Brown was on the the hot seat last season ended up going eight and5 and Morgantown is not a joke those fans are absolutely bad crazy that is a super difficult environment I wish it were a night game I think Penn State wins but I would not be surprised if West Virginia covers that would be a fun night game you're right yeah West Virginia is going to have I think a pretty good run game they've got some really solid running backs coming back as well as their quarterback Garrett green who had 13 rushing touchdowns in 2023 which I think was the most among FBS quarterbacks I will double check that no I won't someone else will do it and they'll tell me if I'm wrong um I'm with you I I think Penn State's going to be really good they're also like a a trendy uh college football playoff pick I think if you had to look outside of like the Oregons and the Ohio States of the Big 10 Penn State's like right up there with them in terms of talent but you know obviously the James Franklin memes exist for a reason they struggled against big in big games um so we'll see about that but after after that game ends Lucy Miami at Florida Miami ranked number 19 right now uh small favorite against Florida Florida's got a just insane back half of their schedule they have they're playing like every difficult team for their final six games um and Miami again in the ACC has a really really good roster super talented team they've got one of the best quarterbacks coming to Miami that was in the portal last year cam W from Washington State uh who do you who are you picking in this game I actually don't know who I'm picking in this game yet so the thing with Florida is for some reason I watched a lot of Florida football last year yeah the most accurate quarterback in the SEC we all know this uh he so like Florida is an incredibly talented team they're they're not dissimilar for Miami in that situation but watching every Florida game last year was like physically painful because you would see most of their games they were just as talented as their opponent but just the basic of just like being a welld disciplined team they just could not get down like I believe it was the Florida State game where they were in it and then literally just got so many in a row that they took themselves out of that game so Florida I think one Billy nebor is on the one of the hottest seats in college football they need this win because like you said their schedule doesn't get any easier gr mer is going to need to have a good team they or good game they lost their running back I just I don't know because if Florida has worked out those little details I think they can absolutely beat Miami but I truly don't know if they're going to do it I think gr Merz will be fine this whole this game is weird energy everything that happens in Gainesville is a little odd so I don't actually know who I'm picking Jess do you have a pick I think Miami is going to win I actually I think Miami's biggest uh opponent is themselves like I I think they're actually going to be really good this year um so yeah I guess I have Miami in this one and let's move on to the Prime Time game because Notre Dame is playing at Texas A&M Lucy you're going to be in college station is this your first time going to Texas A&M for a football game my first trip to College Station I'm very very excited wow I'm so excited for you this is going to be super cool uh so Mike Elco is the new head coach at Texas A&M took over after Jimbo fer got fired and got one of the largest buyouts in the history of any sport for like 80 million they were like please leave and Mike Elco you know was the head coach at Duke last year Riley Leonard was the quarterback at Duke now Riley Leonard the quarterback at Notre Dame m al go the head coach at Texas A&M so they're facing off against each other which is pretty weird a story for our times the the the times of the portal crazy things are happening um so so I I mean look I could I could talk about no the Notre Dame side of this for like the next four hours and I'm not going to do that so I'm just going to throw it to you tell me what you think about this game I I think Notre Dame's going to win this game I think that there's just too much change happening with Texas A&M right now I said it last year I'll say it again Mike Elko was the right hire for Texas A&M to make if you look at what he did at Duke with literally a quarter of the talent of what he has at A&M like I have no doubt that he will succeed in this role but they're bringing in a new offensive coordinator there's so much change they had a lot of players leave the portal a lot of players come in through the portal Texas A&M will be an incredibly talented team and I wouldn't be surprised if they win seven eight games this year like definitely improvement from the Jimbo area but I think that Notre Dame as a as a school is just that as a team they're too well disciplined they're too tough and I think HomeField Advantage works for tchn but I just don't see them winning this game I actually think it'll be pretty close um but I'm excited to see the Mike Elco Colin Klein era at A&M I think they're going in the right direction yeah I mean look I I think this game I think Notre Dame will struggle in this game because it's an away away game and because their offensive line is very young um and Notre Dame's offense needs they need to like sort of prove themselves right like it's a pretty much a brand new wide receiver room you've got a lot of players coming in the portal you've got a quarterback that hasn't taken a snap at Notre Dame before that was injured last year to end the season um has had you know surgery in the in the off season but Notre Dame's defense is really really good and so the flip side of that is you know texam offense has to play against a really really good Notre Dame defense um and you know some of the one of the best defenders in college football uh so I don't know I I kind of my heart my heart's telling me Texas A&M so it just doesn't break so just I this is me like softening expectations from myself I I I also like to pick against Notre Dame so that like I can you know you just be like oh man I didn't expect anything anyways and then if they actually win I'm like wow I totally knew that was going to happen uh okay so moving on to no one wants to listen to me talk about Notre Dame so moving on to Sunday I do don't let them tell you that oh let's do a separate like we'll do a separate side episode just about Notre Dame and Iowa just like for us I actually that would be fun we should TL put that on the schedule um okay so there's another game on Sunday that is uh very funny because uh Lincoln Riley has tried to cancel this game according to reports he tried to call his his agent that him and Brian Kelly Share Trace Armstrong to try to get this game taken off the calendar this is the USC LSU game on Sunday night on ABC in Las Vegas uh so USC coming into the season sort of in a similar place as LSU both of them had pretty crappy defenses last year they're trying to get over that both of them lost their Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks to the NFL so these are two teams that have very similar strengths and weaknesses going into this game I kind of like LSU in this one I think LSU should be pretty good this year but who do you have I have LSU in this one too I think they are like slightly more talented than USC USC did bring in a new defensive coordinator they brought in UCLA's defensive coordinator which is kind of like a weird fit yeah the the whole vibe of USC and Lincoln Riley just feels like it's going to end really soon I think that there's a lot of things factoring into USC this season specifically their move to the Big 10 I just don't think they're adjusted or prepared for anything that's about to head their way I know that Caleb Williams has gone and Jaden Daniels is gone so like the whole thing is just odd I don't pret I don't expect this to be game I'm going to enjoy as an Iowa fan but I think that every other college football fan in the planet will enjoy this I just think that LSU is slightly better slightly more talented and I think that we're going to see USC fall out of the rankings pretty soon and kind of stay there they also have a super difficult schedule too like I don't know the whole vibe from this game doesn't seem like anything that I would personally enjoy but I'm taking LSU and I believe the line is LSU is minus 4 and a half LSU is favorite in this one and and like yeah they they should be they they lost a ton of players in the draft like they're uh obviously like replacing a lot of Talent on the offensive side of the ball but also I think are like having to overcome slightly less bad struggles on the defensive side like USC was in in the bad place last year with Alex Grinch um and so yeah like you said they they hired a pretty decent defensive coordinator uh to come back and like try to fix things there so we'll see how they look I love picking week one games cuz it is really truly like like we saw USC's quarterback play in a bow game and we were like wow that guy was really good but like who the hell knows like we we will see him in an actual game now and not that the bull games are you know they're my favorite things ever but you know what I mean yeah you're playing against a third of whatever team you're actually facing so we'll we'll learn a lot this weekend and finally I think we have time for this one Monday night there is also another game you will see Florida State again if you are a college football fan watching this game uh with Boston College coming to Tallahassee on Monday Boston College quack is really fun to watch he's actually like pretty cool pretty Dynamic he can run fast he's he's pretty awesome but is this the rare must-win week one game for Florida State Lucy uh it's absolutely a must-win I saw a Florida State fan being like tweeted like I'll eat my own if we lose this game so yeah it's a must-win for that specific guy alone like you have to win this game yeah yeah you don't want to do that I love a week one must win like it's just so silly uh but yeah so Lucy you're going to a bunch of games this year you're going to Texas STM this weekend do you have any sort of like what what should we expect from from off-roading this year what are you excited about I I'm excited for this whole thing ideally the plan is to try to go to as many games that of places we didn't actually go to last year so Tech saying him is new we are going to Iowa week to so that kind of went out the window but you should but it's El asico oh I'm sorry you don't want us to go to the grossest football game of the year do you not even know me of course we're going to alaso so it's going to be fun we don't have it like we're still sort of figuring out the schedule but I'm excited for text A&M we're going to try to go to midnight yell which has always been a dream fun that's so far past my bedtime oh it's so late I was like it's a night game so sleep in late uh but yeah this is fun Lucy we'll be doing this every week of college football season thank you to cheit we're feeling the cheesiest coach cheese cheese cheese let us know what you want to hear from J CFB this year we'll take advice and pointers and questions from fans and follow like subscribe let us know how you like the show