there's a new favorite to win the ACC and really it's the only team that looked convincing in week one you are locked on acc your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day shout out to the every dayers and thank you so much for making locked on acc your first listen and your first watch today we're available free wherever you get your podcast we're free on YouTube We're part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today's episode is brought to you by 5our energy they fix tired fast with zero sugar and a convenient portable size it's the perfect pickme up for getting stuff done go to 5 Hour energy.com use promo code locked on CFB to receive 20% off your order this offer is only valid until September 30th on one order cannot be used with other promotions go to 5our energy.com today so we're going to talk about what was mostly mostly not a very good week one for ACC football right there were some games that shouldn't have been a as close as they were there was a game where you had a two touchdown favorite lose in overtime uh and we are going to identify The Good the Bad and the Ugly from week one in the ACC I am Alex donno alongside Kenton Gibbs I'm from lockon kanes he's from lockon Wolfpack and so you know Kenton obviously I've got got a little pep in my step after the demolition that the May hurricanes put on the Florida Gators because I I kept maybe I talked too much to Brandon olssen from locked on Gators because I kept hearing cam Ward is not any good Miami's defensive secondary is terrible and they're gonna gonna get exposed and that they can't handle the environment of the swamp instead Mario Chris Ball's team got away with a 41-17 butt kicking in Gainesville so I'm doing well today how are you look at Don with his little smug little smile look out of my team's the only ACC team that look good but you know what when you put a shellackin on somebody like that you deserve you deserve the F how you want to feel week one only winner against the SEC and its arrival that's the trifecta right there that's the if you play college football 25 that's your ideal pitch right there so don you got every right to come on TV I mean you got everybody to come on there looking how you look feeling how you feel because you deserve it cam War showed something Miami showed something the defensive backs showed something the defensive line showed what we all knew apparently all of the ACC defensive lines aren't Liars because I'll tell you what did Florida not have problems with hurricane Bane did they not have problems with eador did they not have problems moving the ball at all against this team until lague got in and the game was over so you deserve to take your Victory lab Don you deserve to have your moment in the sun to hit your little pony up Dan to hit whatever you want to hit I know Miami like to celebrate so much that they basically rewrote the rule book to stop Miami from celebrating but damn it today's your day Don go ahead live it up my my voice still hasn't like fully I've been very horar since uh Saturday evening with all the yelling and all the Talking I've been doing so I'm just recovering but you know the first thing um you know there were there were a lot of questions and listen even even I had some questions as to how a team with a lot of important transfers would handle a road environment like Gainesville and did say repeatedly leading up to that game I thought Miami would need to score first and score early to deflate that crowd just a little bit and lo and behold first offensive drive from Miami 11 plays 84 yards and a touchdown pass from cam Ward to the uh 28-year-old tight end cam McCormack to open up the scoring in the game and and so um there definitely needs to be a conversation about cam Ward who had a stellar debut so Ward actually from from what we can tell because you know the the recorded statistics only go back so far but we think cam Ward actually set a Miami record in most passing yards in A hurricane's debut a starting quarterback with 385 passing yards he completed 74% of his passes and this wasn't like the Graham Merz Dink and dunk sort of stuff uh 298 of his 385 passing yards were on throws that went for 15 or more yards some of those were air yards some of that was Yak but those were you know big plays he was putting on on the field and you know it wasn't it wasn't a perfect day for Ward Kenton because he did throw a first quarter interception that was one of those plays that you know we've seen cam do that at Washington state where he tries to play Hero ball a little bit he was rolling rolling to the left threw across his body tip ball was intercepted but uh what I really appreciated was the way he responded from that because after throwing that interception now I've got a little TVD PTSD with you know Miami's former starting quarterback Tyler van djk where we usually you know when when the previous hurricane starter would throw an interception you're thinking oh first quarter interception there's at least two more of those coming up right I Ward responded from that interception like a professional and he was he was even sharper uh as the game went on and then you know not just Ward but the entire team Kenton because again I kept hearing about oh how are they going to handle that crowd noise and 93,000 uh Ward actually said after the game that um that there was more noise in Miami's practices during the week like they had the speakers just blasting you know artificial crowd noise to simulate it so it seemed like Miami was very well prepared for that atmosphere so I I will say a job well done to Miami's coaching staff because apparently whatever noise they had to deal with in practice was they said louder than what they had to deal with at the swamp you know what kill crowd noise touchdowns you know what will kill crowd noise a big deficit early that'll kill it that'll do it and I'll tell you what you know what else will kill Crow noise letting the tight end from three presidents ago I'm sorry currently two presidents ago guys that young man McCormick Obama was in office okay Obama was in office when he started his college career and that is the young man that you let score the first touch though that Florida team ought to be embarrassed to themselves but back to Miami I'll tell you what cam Ward gave us the full cam Ward experience right you had the play where you're like oh he did too much but then you saw the Brilliance you saw him put on what looked like a master class through the air and and he decided to even give us a little bit of a leg a show with his legs on the ground and he's got that ability to where he's so cool and so calm it doesn't look like he's trying hard when he's running in open field sometimes there were multiple runs where it's like is he jogging or is he sprinting what's yeah there couple plays where it's like I could could he have maybe picked up a couple more yards like like his demeanor he was as calm like as I am when I'm waiting in the checkout line at CVS like it was was how calm he was crazy well playing against LinkedIn locked on Billy will do that to you but in all seriousness in all seriousness I'm glad that he protect himself because the only critique I walk away from this game with the only critique I the decision making by your boy Mario cristall I get it you wanted to get him to 400 passing yards or whatever the case may have been why was cam Ward throwing the ball up three to four touchdowns with under five minutes left what are you doing might have been just the might have just been the humiliation factor for Florida but I get it because you more more dropbacks more more risk for you know taking a sack and potentially getting it I I'm with you I I remember in that fourth quarter yeah I can remember thinking maybe it's time to bring Emory Williams on the backup quarterback and not only that not only that you've already embarrassed him the swamp is empty up the 93,000 people that were Donald you were at that game correct so I was in Gainesville by that time I had left the stadium so I could do postgame from a different location but yes and you saw you saw people fing out half time at half time folks were you've embarrassed them you've embarrassed your rival had people leaving because they were like oh no man this is this is embarrassing at half you did your job you won once the game is away I'm not even mad at him still being in the game I understand that why is he throwing the ball he took a hit late where I was just like now if that was the one where where something goes all of a sudden you're being called the biggest idiot on on plan where is the clock management coach where is he at is he hey Mario uh actually the clock the clock management was not a problem so I I think the clock management coach I'm saying I'm saying from a standpoint of you got to be situationally aware I'm joking of course because the clock management coach ain't responsible for this but you got to be situationally aware to know H okay so if we get the ball and if we have three three and outs straight where all we do is run the ball go drive out you know let's say 40 seconds per play which would equal what about two minutes per drive just about yeah okay it's five minutes left we have enough time for that we have enough time to kill it like that you know it but again that is a very nitpicky thing but it is another decision by Mario where you're looking up saying what's going on there but again phenomenal performance fantastic performance that's me being nitpicky all in all that team looked dominant and amazing yeah and it's like it obviously like any anything you bring up after a 41 to 17 win is going to feel nitpicky however I can understand it because I'm I'm a I'm a big fan of Cam Ward as both a quarterback and a human being so when when it comes to keeping him protected I I can respect that critique all right I can respect it but it was a very good performance from Miami uh there were there were some pretty good performances in the ACC including an individual performance of Brilliance from a receiver on the NC State wolf pack who it's like dude this one of my favorite players in the conference that was very good from Casey concepion we'll talk about it there was also some bad like a hokey team favored by 13 and a half points that did that in Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt I should say in Nashville and then there was whatever that was from the Clemson Tigers offense that was the ugly we're going to talk all about it on this episode of Locked on acc we're only getting started you want to keep it locked and I'm only getting started with Five Hour Energy guys with all this excitement of week one I haven't slept in like a week so how do I have this much energy Five Hour Energy you get tired after lunch you're not alone in fact research shows that More than 70% of us 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I do he co-hosts locked on Wolfpack talking everything NC State I host locked on kanes talking everything Miami and it's been a fun last couple of days hopefully that ride continues throughout the season because it it's a marathon right one game does not make an entire season um so you know Kenton again I'm I'm not I'm not putting this one in the bad or the ugly category uh when it comes to NC States fourth quarter surge against Western Carolina I I think we were both expecting though four quarters of dominance rather than one quarter of dominance and yes uh three touchdown performance from Casey concepion was brilliant and he is a problem for every team on NC State schedule but how did you feel about the entirety of those fourth quart of those four quarters so let me say this and I know some people are gonna say this is you use your Homer glasses but trust me go listen to lockon Wolfpack I read them their rights after the game and listen to the episode that'll release at the same time as this this one because I'm not done yet but with that being said a Western Carolina came away with a first quarter lead of 14-7 the rest of that game NC State won 31-7 so don't get me wrong don't get me WR I am not saying that NC State played a good four quarters they played a complete G I am not saying that but I am saying that their struggles feel a little bit overblown because of the expectations around that team which is fair which is fair I'm a firm believer and the worst thing you can be in this world is a man with no expectations things are expected of NC State now there was there was an expectation of a four quarter domination which did not happen outside of a Young Man by the name of Kevin concepion but I want to extend it if you watch that game the entire receiving Court was running open all night long I have the same concerns about NC State that I have about Florida State because what was supposed to be your strength is looking like a weakness the running game not getting going in a way that people thought it would whatever that's fine NC State's running game has always had some funky things going on outside of uh back when they had Ricky uh Ricky persons and um and Bam Knight and and go back further than that Gillespie and days in company that was the best at the running game was but my problem with that offense is the strength was supposed to be you have a quarterback that's gonna be on time on Target in that first half grayon mcau was neither one of those things he was neither one and out route being intercepted because you threw it about 5 feet wide of the receiver is you cool are you okay what's going on there like it was it was a little bit disappointing there but they ultimately did get it together and I'll tell you KC was on the receiving end of a ton of really really great uh moments and he was making things happen with the ball in his hands but listen to Tom lugan Bill talk about that game and how things went down and there was just you know in that game Grayson mcau was much maligned and rightfully so because if he hits all of those receivers in stride Keenan Jackson was going to go bang his head on the goal post on a bang eight you had a a moment you had a moment where no Rogers if you hit him on the end route in stride he goes for six you had a moment with Westley brmes where the same thing had happened and darari Collins was his releases have gotten exponentially better from last year because any quarter that thought about pressing him congratulations the Press didn't work it just it wasn't there so I'm looking at this squad and I'm saying oh and I didn't even talk about jool Lee who showed why he was the tackle breaking his tight end in America last year with a juke move that juke move hurt my ankles I'm sitting at home and I said boy that's intense so I'm I'm disappointed there but I I want to say I believe this team can get it turned around it's always better learn lesson in a win than a loss yeah no that that is that is 1,00% accurate it's so yeah I didn't uh I wanted to talk a little bit about that game I don't put that in the the bad or the ugly category here here's the one that I put into the bad category Virginia Tech okay so they they let Vanderbilt enjoy a 17-point lead now they did erase that 17-point deficit get the game to overtime uh you know unfortunately you Kiren drones was was cramping in the OT he had to be replaced and die uh Diego pavi the starting quarterback who you know we by the way we owe Cory Burton an apology so we we did a crossover late last week with the host of lockon Bandy and you and I were both like yeah Virginia Tech's definitely gonna win they're probably gonna cover the 13 and a half point spread they did neither of those things Vandy with the clutch overtime win at home and you know this looks like I I was talking with with Corey over the weekend he told me this is really like the the best that they feel about it again I know this is all just one game but that was a big win for Vandy this is like the best that they're feeling there about the character of their team since James Franklin was coaching there that they're they're really really getting bullish on on how this build is going uh but from the VG Virginia Tech point of view you know anytime you you miss an opportunity to beat an SEC opponent especially one you were absolutely supposed to beat uh you know the hokes and and we we were very high on the hokes heading into the season Kenton and obviously they still have all their ACC games in front of them but this is a huge step step backwards this told me that this Virginia Tech team is not ready they're not ready for the big moment they're not ready for prime time because you're not ready for the little moments Prime Time games are not built in that Prime Time moment Prime Time games are built because your team is 5-0 six and0 5- one eight- one whatever the case may be late in the season because they took care of business against lesser opponents this Virginia Tech team is not ready for that I saw a team in an unfinished stadium that still had construction going on no atmosphere whatsoever donno me and you have been louder in this episode than vanderbelt fans were during that damn game especially you I barely have a voice left today but you're carrying me and and somehow tyon drones struggles to get Beyond his first read in the first half what you're getting pushed around up front offensively and defensively and and all the Virginia Tech fans said that I was overselling how bad they were against the run it's I am so disappointed that Virginia Tech Team because you made you made a fool of me nationally in the words of shanon Shar I want my restitution I want my restitution I sat up there on on college football on lock on college football that said Virginia Tech is a team to watch they're a team to watch out for because Kiron drones is who he is because that defensive backfield is so special because this is a team returning all that production and you go and lay an egg in Nashville I could see if you all if you had Old Rocky Top Tennessee and you L you know I ain't mad at you that's a good team that they got a top 10 pick over there probably two in Nico and Pierce hey I get it yeah that vanderbel team is filled with accountants lawyers and Doctor those young men are going to have to get their LinkedIn ready after they're done in a year or so some of them will probably be Executives at LinkedIn Executives yes yes yeah they'll be doing business development and selling Us ads at linked and you lose to them disappointing nasty and and and on most weeks Virginia Tech you would get the ugly you better thank your lucky stars that there's a man down in South Carolina that's so bullish on his offense he bought in a star in the coaching ranks just to keep up the foolishness and the Tom Foolery you're lucky Virginia Tech tell Garrett uh he he might he might be on LinkedIn pretty soon and we're going to talk about because listen Virginia Tech was the bad Clemson was the ugly we're going to break it down right here you want to keep it locked on this brand new episode of Locked on AC we're not done yet folks uh we've been playing this game now since before college football season even started and I am addicted to Ultimate college football HC let's talk about this brand new mobile game that I think you're going to love as much as I do ultimate college football HC in this amazing game in simulation you get to step into the shoes of a head coach and lead your college football program to Glory can you imagine actually being the head coach of your favorite ACC team from recruiting players and hiring coaching staff to overseeing training camps and handling school scholarships you control every crucial detail of your program it's all in your hands and here's what I really love about the game you're responsible for calling offensive plays during the games your strategy will not only 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think than I was in that specific Vandy game Spencer was like man Virginia attack better they better come back or we're all going to sound like morons and so yeah I guess uh I guess the hes didn't do us any favors but even even worse now um you know I got to be careful with the way that I I set up this this Clemson loss Georgia 34-3 against Clemson um Kenton in no way shape or form did either of us think Clemson was going to win the football game right I mean they're they're going up against the arguably the best team in the entire country I mean Georgia is absolutely stacked we knew there would be a talent discrepancy we expected Georgia to win and potentially win big but yes what I take issue with and and you you hinted at this just the offensive ineptitude by the Clemson Tigers now I thought hey when they were down six nothing at halftime I thought you know what that's not a terrible spot to be in because you're you're right there with the most talented team in the country but the offense never got going for Clemson 188 yards of total offense three points which means zero touchdowns put on the scoreboard we were supposed to see some sort of an improvement and some sort of an evolution from that in theory very well- coached offense by Garrett Riley and you know aade Club Nick who struggled last year but hey heading into another year of continuity in that offense we should have gotten more than what we saw from the Tigers on Saturday I'm gonna say this and I'mma touch the the viewership shoulders particularly those in South Carolina Donald may not have seen this coming I did I knew exactly what was on the way I knew exactly what was on the way because klubnik is not good at playing football let's start there let's move forward actually let me not even let me let me reron um Dabo Sweeney is not good at putting together offensive game plans in college football his game plan relies on his guys being so much more talented than everybody else that it works out regardless which works when you're playing Boston College sure right well it also it wor it worked in 2019 when field talent wise yeah it it worked when it worked Travis etn ain't walking through that door Trevor Lawrence ain't walking through that door Deshawn Watson thank God ain't walking through that door I'm sorry to tell you I I I'm I don't understand how people are confused by this because uh there's everything in this game happened the exact way that I thought it would Donald who was the uh receiver for their longest play of the game oh don't worry I got the answer it was Williams the guy that I said is the only play is the only game on that Squad Don how did mafa look as the lead back did he look good did he do anything predicted no he did not longest carry of nine 3.7 yards per carry very pedestrian and I know the excuse is gonna be that's Georgia they're gonna do that to everybody this year I am willing to bet a dollar to your dime that over half the teams that they play score a touchdown against them a singular touchdown or at least two field goals at least two field goal this team struggled to cross the 50 yard line yeah what foolishness what an embarrassment please and and here's the thing that that blows me the worst about this but and I hate to take it back here to off the field because we now have on the field stuff going on but Clemson fans were saying well this game shows why they need to be in the SEC because um when they get more money they'll be better and more equipped to keep up right Florida State lost to Georgia Tech does Florida State need more money to beat Georgia Tech is Georgia Tech reigning over them in terms of finances Don no they are not if we were to quantify the money discrepancy from school to school is georg's 31 point if we were to break it down and say hey the average score based on how many millions you spend you think the differ between Clemson and Georgia right now would equal 30 some odd points I'll tell you what dbo knew what he was doing I told everybody he knows what he's doing in blocking those callers he knows what he's doing because he knows what he has coming he knows what's coming down the pipe and look what happened what a disappointment they put on the worst show embarrassed the ACC nationally with that performance terrible useless vess that's what offense is right now and if they don't get it together like I predicted to start this thing off we have a nine win or Worse season incoming out of South Carolina yeah by the way teams that are suing the ACC are are winless so far so far this season they they're 0 for two we'll see what happens Monday night with h with Florida State and Boston College and and also like to to add some context to what you're saying here's why that Clemson performance and again I wasn't expecting a win but that Clemson performance was a little disheartening to me because entering the weekend Clemson were the betting favorites to win the conference Miami now is right but Clemson Clemson were the favorites to win the ACC heading into the weekend and so what is disheartening is because there there seemed to be less of a separation last season based on the head-to-head records ACC versus SEC but you're telling me the team that is favored to win the SEC that's Georgia is really 31 points and that many yards better than the team that was favored to win the ACC that's why that was a Clemson gave the entire conference a bad look on Saturday no question about it yes a very black eye and again you know when you when you look at that game and how it transpired Clemson didn't look like they were um a terrible team the entire game so let's give them credit first half they fought the good fight hung around I believe that at halftime there was what a sixo deficit or some along six nothing yeah it was six nothing that's what I'm saying they they hung around they need to be as serious about their offense as they are about their defense Bingo period period the defense has evolved the defense has gone from what Bren from what Brent venables was running to something new and different and they continue to be competitive defensively but guess what your defense can only do but so much baby your defense can know and I'm going to tell you one of the worst signs that your defense is is they're set to start crumbling is when coaches are saying things like this in meetings well if the offense ain't gonna score we got to score for him what yeah that's never good that's a risky proposition defensively that means involving a level of risk that should not exist so with that in mind this Clemson team is unserious and will be unserious until dbo decides to do something about that offense Point Blank period Point Blank period let Garrett Riley cook I saw the same quarterback counter and that that little uh quarterback delay draw thing that we've seen from them draw SL power thing that we've seen a billion times and it never works it never works if you don't have a generational quarterback back there klubnik is not only not generational he's not even year old he's not even the best quarterback he's not even a quarterback you're like oh we won't see another him for three months yes you will go to almost any High School football game and you'll see a guy look just like that so you know man it is disappointing how bad the performance was from Clemson's offense in particular because defensively they did what they were supposed to do but you can only hold on for so long when you continue to give the ball back to a potential first round quarterback to an offensive line that's loaded with draft picks to a receiver room that's young but coming along there's only so long you can Ain those guys well we've said a lot and and the next time we chat we'll we'll be talking about a a pivotal conference battle I know I know Florida State are Hefty favorites against Boston College um you know you have to wonder is another let down in store and we're going to be seeing BC for the first time so we'll have a lot to say the next time we talk to you guys he is Kenton Gibbs from lockon Wolfpack I am Alex sto from lockon canes we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Locked on acc part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day