Boston College, Florida, USC and Vanderbilt 🏈 Were there enough Week 1 upsets to go around?

Welcome To The College Gameday Podcast [Applause] [Music] heavy clouds in the Sunshine State at least for 2third of the power part of that state a temperature check in the SEC and maybe the best play you've ever seen hyperbolic perhaps but maybe not this is the college game day podcast for Tuesday September third reys Davis back here along with Ryan McGee Pete thill is on assignment breaking stories writing 2500w pieces on coaches who then follow that piece by emerging Victorious at the dop Bill O'Brien piece that Pete did after or prior to the victory for Boston College over Florida State last night uh Ryan as we sit here on Tuesday morning and by the way great to be with you as as always thanks for jumping in here yeah as as you watched that game last night Florida State and Boston College on the heel of what we saw in Dublin from Florida State against Georgia Tech there are a couple of things that come to mind one and this is not to pick on thill at all because it's not like THL was giving his talent evaluation he was relaying what had been told to him by numerous Scouts this Florida State defensive line might be the best defensive line in the country probably has more draftable High draftable players than any other defensive line in the country I went to Florida State practice in Dublin and looked out at at the Seal's roster particularly on the lines of scrimmage and thought man that's good-look [Music] team now full confessional time I also went to Florida State practice and then when they came out I was like oh yeah that's what it's supposed to look like and there was great energy and it was a great practice Nick Sabin walked out of Florida State practice in Dublin and said that's what it's supposed to look like in terms of personnel and the way personnels are supposed to look and then they go against the yellow jackets and they get cut up in the middle of the field center of the line of scrimmage you know Jamal Haynes Hayes King you know all those guys right up the middle then last night same thing both teams averaged five yards per carry I haven't looked at the metrics about inside the tackles yet but you don't need the metrics to know that quarterback draw counter plays things right up the gut and then sucked them in hit them on the wheel route with as Bill O'Brien did brilliantly last night but all set up all set up by the fact that they're getting dominated in the middle of the field where they're supposed to be strong and this 0 and2 start for Florida State 2813 lost to Boston College last night suggest to me it's not personnel it's not physical it's a malaise that's still hanging over the program after uh after the disappointing end last year is that a fair assessment in your judgment no they look super flat and they look Florida State Takes A Loss To Boston College, Now 0-2 disinterested that that that's the part of it that like at least in the Georgia Tech game and you were there you you were you you you know this it's it's easier to get a feel for it when you're on the Seline and the building all those things it felt like didn't feel like they were disinterested but but on Monday night it's like they don't want to be there like that's the part I felt like the offense was grinding like desperately dju is desperately trying to get them into the football game and it just on the defensive side of the ball it just kind of didn't there was no sense of urgency and so where's the disconnect because with with the greatest respect to you um if you tell me that Florida State defensive line is what it's supposed to be and that's the dream that's one thing when Nick SA says it m sure right I mean I just so for so where's the disconnect between the ultimate talent evaluators to stand there and say I want that group right there give me that group right there and then that group I watched on Monday night I mean they're not gonna be able to stop anyone and so and now now now the word is out and you know you know this like I know this Bill O'Brien Bill O'Brien can coach football and and he knew what he was walking into just like Georgia Tech saw something and now the words out you know Drago bleeds and so it's going to be like this for them until you prove they can stop it and I but I'm stunned like I don't I am too yeah I really am we'll get into it a little bit you I was at Florida and I could kind of feel that coming like I but but with Florida State I just didn't and I thought all right you know what long trip we talked about on the podcast you know all the all the FSU staffers told me before you all went to Ireland this is a pain in the butt you know we we we're really working to make sure everybody's going to be okay because this is weird and the travel's tough and all those things but that's not the excuse on Monday night I I just don't I'm totally flabbergasted you know I'm and I'm not trying to make excuses for Florida State and I Pro before I say this I probably should have double checked and make sure that they didn't change their plans but the plan in Dublin um and it it's not as if they were taking Georgia Tech for granted I don't want that misunderstood this is not the case um Florida state had planned to stay and I think in fact did stay a day after just to let the guys experience Ireland Dublin a little bit for a day had a couple of choices of of what they could do with their time the day after and it wasn't again because I know people take little clips of podcast and tweets and things like that and run with it this was not them taking things for granted this was based in one thing they didn't play until Monday night they had an extra day and perhaps for some of the guys it was a once in a-lifetime opportunity and because had they played Saturday as George DET Tech did they would have gone straight back but they played Monday so they took a day you know and stayed over and tried to experience what might be for some of them once in a lifetime trip to Ireland so they stay today to my knowledge I don't think they changed anything due to the loss and they now they've come back maybe some of that flatness is a result of when you do that and you've never done it before no matter how much they tried to stay on the same body CAU time and make sure they had the same foods that they were accustom to uh when they're in Tallahassee all those things sometimes you know you just don't recover the right way not trying to make excuses for them trying to look for potential explanations for that because I know norvan coach I know Adam Fuller's good coach I mean they they've proven it you know they've they've performed well their team have performed well but every every year you know sort of like the Sabin thing I guess being around Sabin I'm even picking up more on the thing he always talks about how each play has a life and history of its own yeah and each season sort of does too and momentum is is a thing that is hard to Define but it's real and now the momentum is going against Ford estate and the challenge is there can they stand up because they've got Memphis coming in do have a little time to recover now which might be good for them and might not be good for Memphis if Florida State can play to its potential but I'm putting lot of this on the lines of scrimmage and I'm a big fan of DJ uang L because I I like the way he carries himself and goes about his business I think he's a a class guy he's a great guy and it's tough it's tough to watch right yeah it's hard to watch because you want him because of the way he carries himself you want him to have success what has happened is he has hasn't been able to erase erase deficiencies on both sides of the ball great quarterbacks do that if you're having trouble on defense great quarterback get you another touchdown if you're having trouble on the offensive line a great quarterback makes a big time throw or if he's a dual threat you know creates a play DJ has been unable to do that and he missed opportunities to do that last night with some misfires a couple of balls should have been touchdowns he missed them uh he did the same thing at Georgia Tech there was one I think I told this story on the podcast perhaps my daughter you know was probably getting a little something for Instagram field level in Dublin and there there's a play coming right to her uh might have been Douglas don't recall which receiver it was he's open and at worst they're going to be inside the five or the 10 and it might be a touchdown if he puts it right on the money he missed the throw he just he just missed it and that has to get fixed because until they sort out what's plaguing them in the middle of their defensive line or their defense period because backers have to have a responsibility in that as well what's plaguing them right in the sole the gut of their defense until they get that fixed the quarterback and the offense but particularly the quarterback has to make plays to compensate and they haven't had that happen at all yet and it's the primary reason they're primary reasons they're 0 and2 yeah and for Mike norell now it's gonna be really interesting to watch how he reacts because this is a guy that for the most part his entire career has been about four momentum like you know you have a bad week it's okay chances are we're gonna be okay and you think about where this team was in December of last year like I'm talking about going into the last weekend and now you're celebrating the convers championship and you've had this unbelievable season and Florida State's back and everything's rolling everything has been awful ever since M awful like you know from the bowl games and the opt outs and a month of we got left out of the playoff and then that rolled right into the winter time and we're suing to get out of the conference and every story like like I followed Mike norell around at ACC media days here in Charlotte where I live you know what six seven weeks ago and wasn't a single football question I mean there was a little bit of dju questions the Clemson writers that were there the rest of it was how do you deal with all this other stuff but we asked some we all ask that with the assumption that they'd be two and 0 right now right and now they're not and it's an ugly ow and to and so how do you handle that as Norvell because it's like your golf swing right when it's going great my problem is I don't know what I'm doing like I know I know it's going great and I'm just hanging on for dear life when it goes away I don't have the ability to bring it back and so does Mike I believe he can but we're going to learn a lot about him um I think we learned a lot about him on Monday night and and it wasn't good and so I'm curious to see going forward what he does because now all the outside noise that you have prided yourself on that doesn't really affect what we're doing now it's everything that you're doing now because now it's not just about legal battles and just Florida State Has Been Struggling Since Dec 2023 about what happened in December and January and all these things now it's about all of that plus what's happening now so it's I couldn't like I say I saw I could see the gator issues coming I could see that on Saturday morning I did not see any of this in Florida State I you know what one other thing from a exo football standpoint the one thing about Florida State last year that they wanted to improve on offense is they averaged 150 yards per game rushing that was 76 in the country it was the lowest for a Mike norell offense since his first year at Memphis in 2016 they wanted to renew the emphasis on the run and while they you know they didn't have the 200 plus starts returning on the offensive line that they did last year they were like in I think 190 you know in that area um in two games Ry they've rushed for 119 yards total so they're even worse so they're not running the ball and I know they got behind last night that probably changed some things but they've got problems on on both lines of scrimmage but I sort of think that it is more mental than anything else and the things you alluded to that all of the questions about are you getting out of the ACC are you really mad about being left out of the playoff and here's something else I don't people are going to do it because that's what people do it is a foolish thing to say that see look how they played against Georgia look how they've played the first two games the playoff committee was right yeah because of this now I happen to think the playoff committee was right solely because of the injury to Jordan Travis they I think they were right but the Georgia game with the opt outs and these two games have zero to do with it performance in the playoff or out of it does not validate or invalidate selection selection is due to the set of circumstances and the data you have in front of you at that moment what you do from that point forward is performance now if you know if it were always that then the one se's would always win the NCAA tournament the one seed in the college football playoff would always win if the committee quote unquote got it right this should not be used to try to validate that previous selection but it absolutely is having an impact on their demeanor and is on norell and his staff and every and the leaders on that team to figure this out and get it right because maybe maybe they aren't a championship Contender after all um but they're better than this you know I don't mean any disrespect to Georgia Tech and Boston College both of whom played excellent football and Brent key and Bo did uh great job getting their teams ready and and playing you know playing great Pete and I went to a high school Camp up in Springfield over the summer Prospect Camp O'Brien was there and he actually you know felt really good about uh about their potential for this year you know had had some Lyman he likes which you know O'Brien always likes and then the mobile quarterback and castalanos who was he was Sensational last night man he couldn't find he looked like um you know I don't like to do this because it feels like like you're taking a dig at somebody um but he looked like U like a much much better Reggie ball it was probably because of the stature you know because he's not the biggest guy in the world but uh boy he he is a he's a Shifty and dynamic and tough Runner and Ro Cho was was terrific as well and you know that great wins for both of them but for Florida State uh you know it's it's on the leaders of that team it's on the coaching staff to figure out a way to reach their potential you know full dis you know full disclosure here I didn't have the guts to do it but you know we kept getting asked that question the preseason top 10 team that might finish unranked the first well I think was m i don't I think Michigan was top 10 they came to mind because they didn't have anybody back but Florida state was right there with them to me but not because of personnel because of this and I sort of dismissed it and thought nah you know they'll they'll they'll be a lot of different guys use it as motivation you know it'll be okay but it's starting it's starting to look like that now that that The Hangover the um residual effect of being left out of the playoff last year and all the opt outs and and sort of shaking the foundation Norvell uh you know at least being looked at and talked to on some level by Alabama you know can you know with that he was in the running with dor um all those things you know you wonder what and and the legal battles with the ACC the feeling in the stadium is the feeling in the stadium and in a town like Tallahassee it's the feeling in the town you know and it's the feeling in the city and so you you you can't escape it and you're exactly right so I mean going back to when you and I were in school right back when the Earth was Cooling and you know there was no internet then right and but even then before the metaverse existed if a team was struggling or if you think there might be some legal issues or if there was an arrest or if the court you the running back that your entire program was leaning on you know suffers a blown out knee in the second week I mean there's a feeling in the stadium that takes over and you can feel it I me like even like when I was a student at Tennessee you know the running through the tea we can all agree no matter how you feel about Tennessee that's an amazing moment but sometimes it feels flat and it's when things aren't going well and I'm talking about this is in the 80s y'all this is again before the internet had taken over the world and so there's a definite feeling and you could feel it in the I was not there I was in Charlotte North Carolina watching the Monday night game on television you could feel it in that Stadium you could you it was not at the start everything was great in the beginning but by the time you got halfway through the second quarter and it's very obvious that there's no high gear tonight you could just feel it I could feel it through the television and so no you're 100% right so no those players are not sitting and going over legal documents and all due respect to all of us they're not reading Pete stories about what's happening with the lawsuit but everyone else is and everyone else is sitting in the stands and everyone else is at McDonald's when you're going to get lunch and everyone else is sitting in class because they're all reading it and so you absolutely you know feel it and and and so again if you are Mike norell how do you handle this because it is not a single tiered problem this is a multi-layer deal and so and and oh by the way and I wonder to I'm a I'm a huge fan of these games I love the Monday night lebor Day game uh I sat in the rain for the Virginia Tech game several years ago um you know I I love the fact you guys go go to Ireland you know I love the go I love going to Vegas and Dallas and you know all these places for these neutral sight games Atlanta all that but if you're Florida State you started the year going overseas and and your your promise was all right this is a pain in the butt that's a quote from someone in the administration but now you give everyone a day to experience this or a trip to experience this and now your next game is on a Monday night and now you've got a by week and it's just there's no normaly going on so I wonder if you know if you do one of these things that's fine if you do two of these things I don't know and then if you do pair of those things up with a week off I can't decide if a week off at this point is good or not and so they could use a little routine and by but by the time they hit that routine it's the middle of of September and it might be too late we'll see Ben pelp put up a graphic on his show last night um the result of Florida State coaches who've started their Seasons 0 and2 back through the years and historically it hasn't been good but Bobby Bowen once won the rest of them you know he he won he went 10- two after starting 0 and2 I I want to say it was 89 I'm not positive that was the year but at any rate uh fora state has had it happen for them where they turned things around talented team disappointing start um probably not out of the ACCC race because remember you just have to finish in the top two they still you know they still play Miami and Clemson which will you know certainly Aid their cause but they're in a big hole and it seems unlikely and it seems impos it doesn't seem impossible it is impossible if they don't address the on the- field issues and the level of play that they have so uh big problems in Florida State but if there's anything that can that can give Florida State some hope or and look at it they say well it could be worse we could be in Gainesville uh because I do think you know I was a big fan of the higher and still believe that Billy Napier is a is Florida In A Crisis After Week 1 Loss To Miami a good football coach he's proven so in in the past um but I do revert back to what Lou Holtz always used to tell me in the 10 years that I worked with him on Saturday nights and Lou would say if you don't get it going by the third year you're probably not or you're not going to get it going now the caveat is that doesn't mean you're not a good coach it doesn't mean you won't win somewhere else and it doesn't mean in absolute terms because nothing is 100% of the time and it is just one game but the way Florida looked suggests that there aren't many signs that they are going to get it going and you know this is they're at in one weekend they're at crisis stage because you can't turn in a performance like that even even if Miami proves to be National Champion which Miami by the way looked awesome they looked really good cam Ward was Sensational and that looked like a playoff team one weekend you know it's one week prone to overreaction that let me put a fine point on it that performance that individual performance in the swamp was playoff worthy especially for a first game so maybe it turns out that Florida's fine and Miami is just super Elite but with the last two years and then sort of getting housed in in your own stadium not many good signs right now in Florida for the Gators or for Billy Napier and and what the future might hold for the Gators yeah right after the game ended on Monday night Tim Reynolds is great Associated Press writer down in South Florida he he tweeted he said the last time Florida and Florida State both lost at home by 15 or more points a piece on the same weekend was 1973 they were both terrible then Florida State uh what three years later I went had a wind season and that was still that was still during the time when when Bear Bryant was saying about Florida if they ever get the right coach if they ever figure it out they're a sleeping giant and they never did figure it out for any you know long stretch they had little pockets but for a long stretch until Spurrier got there in in 1990 I know they had you know think they were number one in 84 or something like that and Georgia beat him but you know so they had little pockets but they never really figured it out until Spurrier got there so that's a long time unless Steve Spurrier was the quarterback or they were uh recruit had a a drawer full of recruiting violations Florida didn't win until Steve Springer took it that 84 that 84 team had everything taken away from it they they still for years at the swamp they had this big 1984 SEC Champions poster I think they finally took it down because you can't find kids you can't find that in any record books anywhere because it went away but but it's it was so we had and and I am on the record of saying I love Billy Napier than will gives me a hard time because you know I have ties to Ferman and and Billy always says the third greatest quarterback in the history of Ferman football shout out to Frankie duus and Bobby lamb but we had Billy on the set of Marty and McGee first segment of the show so 9:00 am on uh on Saturday morning and Billy's never going to be a shouter right Billy's never I mean he he is a he is a you know maintain an even strain like bubble never leaves level guy but it struck me during the interview we had we had tremendous crowd um I mean big crowd there for for a Saturday for for a Saturday morning there on the quad and you know the cheerleading squads there and the bands there and you know Albert and Alberta there and and all the fans and like Billy never even looked at him like it just struck me during the interview like USU when the coach comes up it's all right let's go and all that stuff but Billy was being Billy but it just felt flat and and that we're talking about the the feeling in a stadium or the feeling in a city that totally transferred to the stadium the swamp's the swamp and the entrance is always going to be amazing and Tom Petty and the whole thing but it just it just felt uneasy and and and it felt like the Tipping Point it wasn't going to take a whole lot for the crowd to go a here we go again and that's exactly what happened and when you lost crowd in the swamp you know that's all Miami didn't need any help tell us what we're going to see from Mario crystal balls team this afternoon well the opponent today is formidable you know they're ranked in both polls uh obviously highly regarded it's it's going to be a classic matchup you know it's a line of scrimmage edges in the slot outside all throughout the kicking game the height length and speed it's going to be about individual matchups and it's the O I talk to Mar crystal ball during the week and he was already talking about we're so worried about the noise because I he said I have no confidence in this inh hel communication and you know the place is the loudest crowd most hostile crowd we'll see all year offensive lineman worried about yeah being able to hear yeah and that lasted about that lasted almost 10 minutes you know so that's where I I think that the disconnect is and listen the Florida job is the Florida job I always said it's like when you're president the United States do matter who you are you see these pictures first day of office last day in office whether it's four years or eight years and theyve aged 50 years that's what the Florida job is Dam near killed Urban Meer and you know chewed will mus champ up it chewed Ron Zook up I mean the list is long and distinguished and you know it's year three and M Wayne yeah all of them I mean it breaks their brains and so I'm with you I love Billy I think you can coach I think that if he were given time and everything you know stay at a certain level I I wrote this column a year ago if you gave him enough years I think he could build something but I don't think I don't believe that's going to happen and well yeah I mean they've got a they've got a brutal schedule and even if the the issue isn't the record the issue is getting housed like that if they you know look Miami's really good you lose that game 3128 Florida fans are mad they're disappointed they want to win they want to win 31-28 let's say they lose they continue to play throughout the schedule and everybody that you know they they play them all a lot of teams in the in the SEC missed a lot of the contenders you know for the most part or got him at home Florida basically you know for the most part they miss no one I guess they Miss Alabama but you know they're at Tennessee they've got Georgia Texas LSU old miss you know those those are all in a row so you know a a seven and five before the season people were saying you know Billy Billy Napier can go seven and five against that they should give him Coach of the Year and they're not wrong if it's a competitive seven and five right but we're not off to a good start there and what you said I think Dov Tales perfectly with what Holtz meant he didn't mean that you know Billy Napier or someone else and he wasn't speaking specifically on Napier obviously not that the coach the football coach couldn't scheme his way or recruit his way out of the mess what he's talking about if you're not going in the right direction by year three the vibe in the state Stadium the fans the boosters who are now donating to collectives so now it's even more power now they're mad uh the administration's feeling a little heat the one thing that might work in his favor is and I don't want to go too far down this rabbit hole but Florida's in a little flux from an administrative standpoint because their previous president had you know some family issues he needed to take care of so they have an interim president right now you know maybe that you know maybe that gives Billy another Grace or maybe they turn it around it's only one week maybe they play well but they're going to have to turn it around and they're going to need to do so quickly and against a daunting schedule from this point forward so um tough tough times in the State of Florida unless you're a hurricanes fan where things are going well a reminder to those joining us this season that every start of the week we'll incorporate a new segment called Best In Game: USC WR Kyron Hudson’s One-Handed Catch best in game and this segment will highlight something or someone that stood out to us over the weekend and also in year three of his regime and feeling a little Heap and I made a joke in the uscl LSU broadcast on Sunday night or maybe not a joke but a little quip Holly roow did this report about the 1,400 pounds collectively that USC had gained in the weight room to be you know a bulkier more physical presence on the lines of scrimmage and I joked that you know that was not to be confused with the giant weight that Lincoln Riley was feeling on his back because of some discontent in uh in USC quarters over the way last year went over the way the defense had played instead they get a win over LSU and they get the moment that I have deemed best in game that catch by Kiren Hudson in traffic gargantuan human being listed it 67 320 look bigger than that he made a big block there Moss by a little time put it into traffic did he pull that down Kiron Hudson oh my goodness What A Catch when Miller Moss threw that ball Ryan I was like oh that's not a good decision because there were three there were three tigers in the secondary converging and instead he dropped the thing right in the bucket but only a bucket that Kiren Hudson had to go up and do his best obj or even better it's one of the I'm not saying he's the best receiver who ever played college football but I don't know that I've seen a better catch uh you know you think of a few here and there the catch Devonte Smith in a Heisman winning season made in the back of the end zone against LSU is one that comes to mind there number of Larry Fitzgerald catches um that individual play I felt like really showed SC you know SC was already fighting like hey you know what not only fight we still make plays like that out of nowhere then he made another one when he made the catch along the sideline and then was the guy who got hit on the late targeting call before the decisive touchdown so I I give best in game this week to the first Kiren Hudson catch and as a great baseball philosopher said the two balls he had knocked out of his hands including one that would have been a touchdown uh let's just forget about that one but no the uh the other two were spectacular Street and I said on the broadcast said oh that's what that's what he needs he just needs to increase the degree of difficulty you make it a difficult catch and he's he's right there for it so that's best in game and USC made a pretty significant a pretty significant statement with uh Miller Moss's play and with the play of their defense well it's just and again it's year three it's time to get on with it the there's there's outside noise and at USC you know it's like I said earlier it lands a little different you know in in La than it does in in you know in a in a a Tallahassee in a Knoxville and you know give me a college town but it I there were things that Lincoln Riley did over the last 18 months that looked like a guy that was over his skis I mean you know get getting the student reporter thrown out of practice whatever like just stuff that stuff that that the question I always ask is your new travel friend Nick sain I always say do you really think that Nick Sabin is doing this like are these the things that you think Nick Sabin is spending his time on and so when I see coaches do little things like that it just makes me think all right now you're not focused on what you're supposed to be focused on he looked pretty focused uh in that LSU game and and honestly and maybe I'm just guilty of this because I'm a sports writer and I study these people like I'm you know a psychiatrist but just watching his demeanor I mean watching what you're talking about about that Swagger walk on the field and how you carry yourself he looked like Lincoln Riley from Norman right he looked like the Lincoln Riley I first interviewed as the wide receivers coach at e Carolina like he looked like someone who all right I he believes he has something and and honestly I and I wonder too I mean we'll see as this thing goes on they'll they I mean they hit it pretty hard they go to Michigan what week four yeah 20 the 21st yeah and so they're they're going to jump in it pretty quick but I just um I'm curious to see how they look when they get to the end of September because part to me part of Lincoln rally is that Swagger right and and it was gone last year and maybe the pressure of having Caleb Williams was a lot you know maybe there was more going on there than we than we knew about but um but it's certainly my week one rever reaction is that USC is back yeah well I keep hearing about this this daunting schedule that they have and I'm never suggesting that that it's easy to go to Michigan it's not but if you're going to get Michigan why not get them while the quarterback is still being broken in and I would still say by September 21st even with the the Wolverine's experience against Texas coming this weekend this September is going to be a better time to get Michigan there's not really a great time to get their defense but getting their offense September is going to be better than later in the season and the Trojans Miss Ohio State and Oregon Penn State which looked great over the weekend comes to Los Angeles um you know Nebraska if if Nebraska has improved and rayol is you know is as good as advertised and he was week one they come to Los Angeles Notre Dame has to come uh has to come to La so you know I think there's a I I tend to agree with you because I don't think the schedule is terribly daunting U not that there aren't pockets of challenge uh certainly going to Michigan will be difficult Penn State's going to be a massive handful that's you know Penn State's Elite or certainly looked so um but you know Washington is rebuilding they go to Maryland you know those those are games they can handle now they're not so good that they can just roll their hat out there or you know let you know let traveler just Trot out there and think they're going to stroll out with a victory they're not that good but they're improved they play with more urgency and effort Danton Lynn their new defensive coordinator over from uh over from UCLA turned 34 years old he and his wife just had second baby and this guy's a star man this guy is he's going to be a head coach either in college or the NFL in the not too distant future and you know were they the 86 bears were they 2011 Alabama or 2011 LSU no no but they were they they were good enough and they were tough and they were aggressive and they played with you know he he Danton has tenants of his defense one of them is obnoxious communication uh the other one is attack and the one that stood out Sunday night was shocking effort hey and you didn't you you know what that's not different you saw shocking effort from USC's defense the last couple of years but it was shockingly bad now the shocking effort is people are they're coming after you man and you know they're not going to overwhelm you you know they're not going to you know shut you down I don't think and you know hold you to 20 yards rushing and all of that but they're but they're coming after you and they're going to fight and they're going to tackle you and that's been different and with Lincoln Riley Swagger that you mentioned that's probably enough you know to keep them in contention they'll also have the benefit of you know as you look big picture and overreact to week one they'll have the benefit at least of Ohio State Oregon guaranteed to get a loss by playing each other and they don't have to play either one of them so that gives him at least a little wiggle room in there too to perhaps you know get in the uh Big 10 championship game if if things continue to go the way they did right right well and honestly in their travel's not bad like we we made such a big deal out of you know and rightfully so about you know I I told told the story before about I was on the USC campus right after the news broke and this this big guy had all his USC stuff on and he looked at me he goes he goes what are we doing where is ruter and you know when they join the Big 10 but you look at the schedule they go to Michigan they go to Minnesota those are not cross country trips um but they go to Maryland which is a cross country trip and then everyone else comes to them I mean they could have driven to Vegas and you know and they you know they got UCLA at UCLA sen Rose Ball and everyone else comes to them you know they go to Washington which they're certainly used to and so it's they're travel they don't have consecutive home games did you notice that I did notice that but the last three games are all in Los Angeles because as we as we've learned UCLA is indeed in Los Angeles and and their last you go even let's see one two three their last five games are all on the west coast you know they got ruers at home they go to Washington which they're used to they got Nebraska at home they go rosebowl and they got Notre Dame at home so yeah this this sets up nicely and if you just said it if if there's a lot of ifs but but it looked good and then the flip side of that is um how I've been dying to ask you about this how did you feel about Brian Kelly's performance in the postgame press conference I find Brian Kelly to be a fascinating person like I like him I did not like him the first time I I interviewed him which was years ago when he first got another name but then the Brian Kelly that I watched change over the years and evolve with the job and he's very honest about he was squeezing Theatre Or Genuine? LSU HC Brian Kelly Slams Fist On Table too hard in the beginning his players who played for him in those first is another name don't particularly care for him the players that have played for him in the last few years do like him and so I like Brian Kelly a lot but i' been I've been dying to ask you about the fist on the table I am angry because I don't know how many times I've been angry that I actually declared I am angry and and we're sitting here again we're sitting here again talking about the same things about not finishing when you have an opponent in a position to put them away but what we're doing on the sideline is feeling like the game's over and I'm so angry about it that I got to do something about it I'm not doing a good enough job as a coach was it theater was it genuine where were you with it a a little a little bit of both but I think authentic if that makes sense now I like you I'm I'm a BK fan it's rare to have a friend in coaching circles I always refer to it as I am friendly and I I count myself as being very friendly with Brian and that has changed over the years and some of that is because of some uh candle because we we have a mutual friend to whom both of us are very close and that has you know that has facilitated I think some of the friendliness between uh Brian me someone out outside or not totally outside of football but tangentially uh connected football that both Brian and I are close to and um so that's helped some of so I think it's authentic but I think there was some theatrics in the message if that makes any sense now Brian Kelly is not afraid of his players you know in this day and age where there are people who are going to try to appease their players it not him pal not him and so the the kind of mistakes that LSU made that really helped USC you know and in crucial moments um some lack of execution at different you know different times that you know cost LSU opportunities to score that might have changed the complexion of that game um yeah I think he is angry and I think he's also probably very irritated by the fact that for the uh third straight time and every year in his LSU tenure they're 0 and one you know out of the gat so um I I was I was not surprised by it I wouldn't say totally beused but I sort of like okay that's some vintage BK and it's like the old thing when you go to the news conference afterwards you're either you know you're either talking to the media you're talking to the fans you're talking to your players he was talking to his players Y and in that he was sending a message to the players that you know ripping your helmet off off in celebration before you get to the sideline by a veteran guy who's been there forever not tolerated um you know the ridiculous thing which you know we found on replay that the officials flagged Kiren Lacy for after the touchdown y not tolerated really you know changed field position gave USC a chance Zachariah Branch had the had the big return afterwards not happening anymore you know and I think that's what he was sending sending the message to you know he's used to you know before he was wearing purple on his shirt you know we used to talk about before he had that transformation that you're talking about with the players about at what point in the game will something happen to make BK turn purple in the face you know because the the blood rush to the face and he gets angry and you know he's dialed that back and now uses it wisely most of the time and I thought the the fist pound on the table was mostly directed right at his players you know and saying I'm figuratively I'm dropping the hammer this is stopping and I my my gut says that it will I I think uh that I I want to hit you one more quick thing here about that game um about Florida Miami sort of uh collectively I know Florida wasn't picked to be a contender in the SEC but you know sort of a mixed bag uh with uh with A&M's lost to Notre Dame Notre Dame what I know new regime for Texas A&M all that SEC dumped some of these games or got dumped on you know by by Miami and by USC Georgia certainly carried the banner quite well but you know this whole dominant conference thing got got answered a little bit you not a great weekend and you know Vanderbilt carried the torch by the way like we all predicted right Virginia Tech Vanderbilt best game of the weekend like like we all like we all knew going but but it's but it is on no no and and it's been interesting talking to people about that and and you know Kel sapri uh you know a lot of my friends in the midwest are very quick to point it out a lot of my friends in the Southeast very quick to defend it but I always go back to we've talked about on the podcast before you know years ago at ACC kickoff like ACC media days a Pinehurst and the great John Swafford and and and the the word on the street like everyone 's reporting the Big East is about to raid the ACC and the ACC is done and John Swafford Being John Swafford is always the coolest guy in the room and he said listen he said uh maybe I'm a little biased ree because I sound like him but Reese but but but but he's what what sword said that day was if we take care of our business week one in these cross-conference games and in the final week of the regular season in rivalry weekend and we win a few bowl games all of this goes away the perception everything and the reality is is that the SEC um did not make the the national championship game for the first time forever last year and they got off to a rough start in week one and so if that were to continue a little bit in week two and week three then yeah man the screaming is going to start it was not a good weekend but the good news is we are in the new playoff erir and so you know and the teams that looked good looked really really good uh so you still can recover from a good LSU can make the playoff oh of course no doubt there's no way that loss comes back to haunt you in any way at the end of the year unless you have three losses and and so so so they're still in the conversation and they're fine and Brian Kelly knows that but but it is going to be very interesting to see how that is the perception going forward because um because the reality is Michigan it took a minute right in the defending national champions and you just listed all these big 10 teams that are going to be kind of watted up in that could be 10 and two could be five- seven group and so yeah the week one overreaction is my favorite thing it's my single most favorite thing uh about September and so with that if you're looking at it from an SEC standpoint two programs carried the banner over the weekend Georgia and Vanderbilt with the win against Virginia Tech which brings us to our first edition of The Legend Axiom presented to me by the late great bob Knight during the years that I worked with him on basketball Bob would say to me my boy SEC Headliner Teams Disappoint In Week 1 dumb loses more than smart wins dumb loses more than smart wins now when we do this segment I want to offer the disclaimer in no way shape form or fashion because of the great respect I have for the players in the game we are not saying that the player is dumb the coach is dumb we are saying that the action that happened is dumb and basically by dumb it's a shorthand way and a fun way and unless you're on the business end of this a shorthand fun way of saying an unfortunate turn of events that are largely self-inflicted yes and in this case Vanderbilt got to carry the banner for the SEC along with Georgia in these non-conference games largely because of a self-inflicted wound by Virginia Tech the defense gets a stop you force a punt and you send two guys wearing jersey number zero onto the field and you get penalized and you give up a field goal and because of the field goal though it wasn't at the same time of game it meant at the end of the game the score was tied after you'd given up a lead and you end up losing the game because Diego Pavia just kept leaking that's for you Pete theml reference out and picking up yardage and making plays and you know he was he took great umbrage at being called a poor man's Trace Murley but I mean Trace Murley was a really good player so it was just manufacturing something but the two zeros on the field yep cost you a penalty cost you possession of the ball cost you three points and what ends up being an overtime lost and so it is the hokes who get the inaugural 2024 edition of dumb loses more than smart wins and double zeros will always be particularly painful for Virginia teag fans because of the famous meme of the great Frank Beamer who I adore every fber my being celebrating when it was Zero zeros across the board zeros across the clock we headed Wake Forest is it Wake Forest oh yeah it might still be Andrew Adon a profile picture on on Twitter X whatever we're calling it where she put her superimposed her face on there it's # goac but yeah it was and here's how I knew that went down that way because the great Marty Smith our dear friend uh we were on our way to the airport and all of a sudden I hear what sounded like some sort of animal giving birth in the back of the van and it was Marty watching the game on his phone and on the app you know Marty grew up a Virginia Tech fan going in to Lane stadium with his dad and as soon I didn't even know what had happened I just knew whatever it was was really really bad and um and it was even worse than I thought there's a secondary lesson to that as we wrap up to jersey number zero and having two of them on there if you follow the advice of Dion Sanders which I totally concur with by the way nobody should be wearing Jersey zero why do you want zero on your jersey I I don't like having zero on your jersey why would you do that Dion doesn't allow it at Colorado unless he's changed this year the only exception I would make Ryan as we wrap this up you can wear jersey number zero if your name is Otto or Owen like Owen Papo from Auburn wore jersey number zero that looks kind of cool you know if your name's Owen or something like that or like Jim Otto the old Raiders Center double or double O you could if it's if there's a quirky side to it but if your name is Ryan mgee or Reese Davis don't wear zero don't wear zero on your jersey so let's your mascot I noticed this past week Sebastian the Ibis where is a zero only reason I noticed that was because that represent the number of ACC championships they have did we did this thing with all these Florida students we held up a picture do you know who this is and they all said it was the Oregon Duck and we're like why and I realized that Sebastian Ibis who's much Fuller in the face than an actual Ibis has a big old green o on his jersey look like the Oregon o so yes there's a even if you're a mascot Deion Sanders you don't wear Zer in your jersey and Dion Dion's absolutely right about that he's got his hands full uh Lincoln Nebraska coming up we'll talk more about that on the college game day podcast later this week thank you for listening to this Ryan great to have you with us as always Pete thill we'll be back later in the week he's on assignment uh remember to download this podcast wherever you prefer to get your podcast or better yet subscribe so you don't miss a single episode of the college game day podcast and all of you out there remember do your best not to have self-inflicted wounds because dumb loses the smartly [Applause]