The Best Seat in the House (9/10/26)

0:00happy Thursday. It's the best seat in the house. If you want to chime into the conversation, 9771070s, the number were presented by Applebees, eating good in the neighborhood. I'm your host, Luke Near, a logside ad of Haas, who joins on Thursday for a few final thoughts on week two of this college football season. I don't really want to sink into Miami and to Florida International tonight. And I'm sorry, like that. It's not some bad Florida team. 59 and a half point spread, if you're interested tomorrow will be abbreviated. I think it's gonna be a short game to tell you the truth. It gets going to be run oriented. So with that said, Adam, what else has been going on since the last time you and I spoke? Oh, yeah, I have to I do have to mention this because you've a February 5th boy Twitter through some stuff at the after. I guess I went a little bit too harsh on them a few nights ago. So, yeah, I'm sorry to hear the feelings were heard, but I'd never want to hear anybody's feelings, but at least everybody admitted to being a home or account. So, we're just a biased account. So we'll leave it there, but we'll leave that alone.

1:06Adam, I love more than anything when you get in these situations. It's not my support. I'll take the position of Swiss neutrality here, I guess. Okay. With that said, yes, let's move into some analysis, which we actually do. I try to predict results. That's what I'm trying to do anyway. So, Virginia, Dorfick State, I'm going to try to predict a real score 52 to three. Okay, I was wondering what the second-line final score. That is my prediction. Take it or leave it. So they put up 10 points against ODEU last week. Virginia's defense should be better than ODEU, but you know, I'm sure. Are the weird turnovers here? The Cavaliers or the 13 Cavaliers as good as ODEU's defense? That is the real question. Well, I mean, a lot of second stringers were playing in the fourth quarter of NC State. And I'm sure some of the second stringers were playing too. He is depth, depth, depth. So I don't think Virginia is really going to fall off a cliff. I think what Dorfick State wants to do is pretty simple. I also mentioned this on the show the other day. I don't know where you stand

2:09of this. You know what? Perfectly fine with taking it out on Mike Vick. Not a fan. I'm not going to be somebody who's going to put him on a pedestal and say, oh, what a great play. He will. So great for the Cavaliers. He's been a little interesting. He was a bad guy. He was a villain. He was, no, he was a villain too. Virginia. I think that's fair to say while he was playing, he was definitely never liked either the big big brothers. And that's the West dance. So I wanted to remember his Marcus Vick outside of Blacksburg. He gave a choice finger to some fans down there. I don't know if they remember him very fine. That's the behavior that I associate with the Vicks. That's me. Here you go. That's a realist, you know? It has been a little odd just to see because I mean, Tony Elliott talked about Mike Vick and you know, mentioned he was going outside the rivalry. And I heard Mike Vick talking at his press conference as well. And he brought up Ronald Curry. So I'm sure he knew he had to do that. But he shouted out the ball hockey as well, modhawk. And so of course, all the great football players down there. I just don't think a coach really is going to draw too much attention unless he does something like crazy outlandish, like walks

3:13out to the 50 yard line. Like he, but he seems like much more mellow personality. I don't think there's really any animosity. And I think Virginia is going to handle it. When Mike Lund had made his return, yeah, it was a fun story to write about. But when we got to the game, it was just okay. I mean, sometimes you don't even know who that person is if you're far enough up on the stand. I'm not studying what Mike Lund was doing on a headset when he was with William and Mary. I'm glad that Virginia will probably hand Michael Vick a loss in Scott Stadium on Friday. Yeah. It's about to happen. When does Eli Holstein take his first snap? I guess it's a question I'd be curious to hear where you think. Oh, I think probably the second quarter quarter. Okay. Subwren the second quarter. That's what got you. Yeah. You know, I've been kind of thinking, everybody talks about when you play these smaller schools, you know, you want to run the ball just because you have the physical advantage. But I almost feel like let's try to throw it. Let's practice. You know, I'm mature was throwing the ball a ton against you, tap. I just felt like

4:16you can almost work on your past game against these these teams. So no, I used to think if you couldn't run the ball in these situations, you know, I thought you were playing poorly. But now I kind of feel like O C's are just kind of seeing what they have in the week one. So I am curious to watch the passing game a little bit. My challenge was is to follow you. Okay. Get Bo Pribula through for 150 yards and a half. Somewhere in that facility. And with if he doesn't play it entire half, yeah, I want to see him get over 100 yards in the air. That's the challenge. Yeah. I feel like a call play so you can do it. And I want to know, what does it look like when Bo Pribula gets in a passing rhythm? Can he get in the passing rhythm, I guess, is a question because he threw for over a 300 one time last year against the cupcake early autumn. Azusa. Yeah, maybe I'll have to go back and see what what game that was if I can't find any tape. But he to me in that first game showed a scramble ability that when he will take an avenue

5:16when presented, you know, a running opportunity. But how often is he going to go through two, three, four progressions before that takeoff? I don't know. It's still a question I have about his play, even though I'm very excited to see what he's going to do. We're going to get into more Virginia, Dorfick state later on at the program. I'll break down more total idiots week to press conference. Stay tuned for that. Also coming up on tonight's show, an in-depth breakdown of the game of the year to date, which is Ohio State in Texas from DKR Saturday night at 730. I'm going to be doing this routinely whenever there is a new game of the year to date. Guess what? I'm going to go in depth. So this is the first time I get to do this. Last week, it was LSU Clemson. Now it's been toppled by Texas and Ohio State, which is a top five clash, gave it a year to date. I think you're going to be going back to to an LSU game next week too. I miss LSU is on the horizon. That's I mean, we're one week away from our first. Stay tuned for

6:18that conversation. Neil Castredale, who is by Ohio State guys going to chime in. Tell me everything I don't know about the buck guys that I missed because I wasn't following fall camp in Columbus. Now I have things to do. I'm sure y'all get into this, but one thing I did not realize is that Ohio State had almost 700 yards of offense in their first game, 671. That raises my eyebrow going into this game because I don't think it's pretty good. I'm familiar with Ball State. I can't say I know a single player on the roster. The worst team in the Mac. I think. Well, pretty sure. They looked at it against Ohio State apparently. Yes. Best two receiver cores in the country, I think. We're going to see on Saturday. Okay, enough of that. That's a look at the show tonight. Adam. Other college football games that have come to the forefront for you. Our good friend of the show Simon brought up BYU Arizona.

7:20Oh, I'm really interested in my mind. Okay, so it was Hall is apparently. Let's talk about it. I think this is a very intriguing early season matchup because you've got a team I'm very high on in BYU. Didn't play anybody last week and they're going right into. I would say one of their three or four biggest games this year because Arizona, nine win team last year. I'm not sure if people are super familiar with the wild cats. They've still got no off of feed at quarterback. It feels like he's been there forever. Another guy we can finally say that about. I am curious at BYU. If Arizona is able to take away the run, Arizona's got pretty good secondary chops. If that really limits what Bach Meyer does in the air. Fair enough. I'm intrigued to see if that crowd is lively because there's a big N D team coming to town later on in Provo. I know that crowd is going to be an important bell weather for me. If they can get up for this one, they can get up for

8:23the other ones and we can multiply it to another power. Yeah, this is another Provo power. Yeah, this was also a very close game last year. So you got a close game potential I would say between these two schools. Okay, here's one up throughout out. You ready for this? Tend to see Georgia Tech. I just need some information about both of these teams. So I think I'm going to get it. That's a game. I got buried. I think probably because of Georgia Tech's loss last week, honestly, that, you know, you can't even hype up a one O ACC versus a one O SEC team. I can't say I watched any Tennessee, but it seems like, you know, they took care of business. I imagine Brandon was pretty solid in that win. They played Ferman, I think last week. I'm this is an opportunity. Georgia Tech needs to find out if Alberto Mendoza can lead an ACC offense because after getting kept out of the end zone last week, I think Branky without Buster Faulkner has some questions to answer. Okay, we do have Branky as an underdog, a double

9:25digit dog. He's been outstanding in that situation. To get him in. I'm also at home at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Tennessee, Hype Bowl against inferior competition generally thrives. I can't think if too many times where his teams have been upset. I've seen plenty of times where his teams get right off the field. I played Georgia, for example. Sure. Or they blow a terrible lead to Georgia like last season. Yeah, or they lost big to high, was it all how state in the playoff a couple of years ago? Yes. So something's got to give is Branky the underdog going to come through or is hype of the favorite get a cup through. I don't know. Tennessee, 12 and a half point favorites in this one. I think we learned a lot about both teams specifically. If you're Georgia see, if you're Georgia Tech, I know it's not conference. So it's not the end of the world, but you start out two and oh, Oh, and two, you mean or oh and two? Yes, sorry. You're going to get probably wins in your next year. Although you do travel to Stanford, but suddenly some of those games that we were penciling in as wins. I think look a little more gettable for some of these ACC

10:29teams. I would say the only gimmie and conference play outside of Stanford is maybe BC. Yeah, we have downgraded Georgia Tech and rightfully so and it's mainly because of the I test because you would I watched every second of that game. Oh, yeah, I mean, the run game, they were very high on it coming into the year. I think this is throwing ducks and just these putting liquid chalk on his hands or whatever. Hopefully it's a drier. They're sailing everywhere. Nothing's on a rope. I know. Not a great look. And he also can't really use his legs that well. I thought he was going to be able to run more like. Yeah, and sometimes that Indiana, I mean, not like his brother. I mean, yeah, I'm just saying we saw a few Alberto runs a season ago. And you would just think coming from that coaching system that he would hopefully give you a little bit more. I think then he did last week. Okay, any other games? I'll go off, you know, kind of on the more beaten path or less beaten path road less traveled or whatever. I'm very curious

11:29about Memphis at Boise State. They've they handled their first road test. I would say pretty well, even though it was against Jackson Arnold Boise State. Very I think trending now that they kept it close against Oregon. But I think this game could be close and I'm not just going to pencil in a Boise blowout. You know, Matt, I'm I've got Boise by double digits. Not Charles off believe, believe. Um, Matt's in had a pretty good game in Oregon. But before that game, and maybe it's all irrelevant because of the game. He had against Oregon was not great against good teams. I think I just think if they're going to be able to control the line of scribbages like that, maybe they will, but Memphis has got a very good defensive line with a is a Kinsler and tap two guys that can get after the quarterback. Kinsler, especially in that game against UNLV did really well. I I think Memphis keeps this game close. I think these Boise probably wins, but I would take the points with Memphis on the smurf turf. Adam Memphis is blue too though. They're used to it. It's not going to

12:33get up all the blue everywhere. I guess you're right. That's a six o'clock kick off by the way. Yeah, I know that's going to have to get the laptop TV. It's an appetizer. You can watch like the first quarter before Texas in Ohio State really gets going, I think. All right. We'll see if Boise is just a really good underdog. And maybe they're not great as the big bad favorites. Or maybe Oregon just maybe Dan Lennon didn't shoot in no more enough before before the game. The teams who had hype in the preseason, I need to have another look at Texas Tech because they were suspecting a week one. They play Oregon State and other team they're favored by 25 against. So I want to see if they win by like 20 again or if they're really good to lay the smack down. And I think they've got almost like a direct comparison point with Houston who played Oregon State last week. And then Houston and Texas Tech play pretty soon. Exactly. So that's that's setting up. I mean, Texas Tech doesn't have too many games against the top of the big 12, but that Houston game is one. I think they host Houston. It's a good measuring stick going into that matchup.

13:38That game is scheduled for next Saturday. Okay. It is. I knew it was soon. It is in love. That guy will say that much. Any interest at all in the noon slate with Arizona State at Texas A&M. Kind of another. I would say a game in similar to Tennessee and Georgia Tech where you got two power schools playing, but I don't feel like any eyeballs really. It's possible. I could just down great Texas A&M some more. Yeah. They don't look great. I think it's an opportunity for Kenny Dillingham to kind of remind people how good he was two years ago when they made the playoff and almost beat Texas. If they're able to, I don't know, at least keep it close. People might pay a little more attention to Arizona State. I think. Yeah. All right. 521 at Charlotte. You're in the best season. The House on W I need more college football talk on the other side. Stay tuned to full breakdown of Ohio State Texas coming up with Neil Castro Dale. I'll get into more of Tony Elliott's week two press conference. We'll talk more angles for Norfolk State and Virginia. It's all right here on the Thursday edition

14:42of the best seat in the House. The Virginia schedule has been released at its entirety. Finally, you and I can go over some of our notes. I was privy to a lot of this information for the last week or so. I mean, and you can kind of piece it together in a sense. You don't know the exact ACC schedule, but you know the opponents, you know, a lot of the non conference opponents, but it's good to see it all laid out, I think. I would agree. It's nice for visuals. And especially when you can take a look at, okay, that's a tough road trip. That's a short turn around. But I think Virginia is going to embrace turn around. So that's how they scheduled their non conference. Mm hmm. Portion of the schedule. Yeah. It's all preparation for weekends and March. You got to play one day after the next. Basically, if you're going to advance in the tournament, and yeah, it does seem early in the year, they tried to sort of jam things together. I mean, they go to DC to play that Arkansas game on a Sunday and then they're back home on Tuesday and then another game on Friday against at Maryland. That's honestly one of the tougher weeks. It looks

15:46like to me, but as far as the conference schedule goes, it didn't seem like there were any, you know, we didn't have the classic Duke on Saturday, Carolina on Monday turn around or anything like that. Yeah. Overall, fairly manageable. I'd say the toughest stretch is maybe the California trip before returning home. And then you get, and then you're quickly back on the road for Miami and North Carolina after that. Mm hmm. Other news from college basketball, it's Ray Kaufman, Rin. Somehow has extra eligibility. If you're unfamiliar, he was produced power forward extraordinaire for the last, I don't know how many seasons, but I don't know. He gets to enter the transfer portal. He didn't sign a contract with Minnesota. Yeah. So despite playing in 5G link games, he's still eligible. So is he a Kentucky target now? Are we going to see him? I just assume everybody who's eligible might go to Kentucky or LSU. Yeah, that's basically where I'm at as well. I just want to kind of surprise me. Did he? I mean, he must probably didn't, but I want

16:50to say he didn't play much as a freshman because I remember tracking his recruitment a bit. Because I think Tony Bennett was in on this on him a bit. Didn't play much really broke out the year after Zach. He left because yeah, a lot more room to operate. And then yeah, I don't know. His career was a bit up and down. I always thought that hook shot that he had was near automatic. Yeah. He developed into a two. For sure. He was great rebounder too. If I remember right. If it wasn't just for that second half against Arizona. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, but that's a guy in pen detention. I still don't know why Mark Mitchell had to go back to Missouri. Yeah, that I don't get either walk of shame back to his original school, but apparently other people don't have to do that. So I can't pretend to know all of these rules. Right. And or follow them. I know. And I, you know, we've been hearing so much about LSU with the football team. I do wonder if there's anything coming with the basketball team about some of these guys like Donovan Dent or RJ Lewis. Are they going to be allowed to play this year? I guess they are because we

17:52haven't heard much about them. But you know, to your point about sort of the this guy played in G Lee, but now it's coming back. I mean, they took a pretty hard line with the NFL players saying these are pros. I don't get why there's any sort of distinction with the NBA players too. Maybe the reckoning will come once we get closer and closer to the season. Maybe it, I mean, they were doing all that stuff in court the day before LSU kicked off. So maybe it's just it happens when it happens at this point. And who knows when it happens with, you know, the NCAA, I think. Okay. What is the most troubling spot of the schedule for you? If we're looking at Virginia for the upcoming season. And I'm asking you, Adam, I'm not asking, you know, the Twitter cheerleaders who will say there's no troubling places in the schedule. Virginia's going to win every game. So what do you think? Well, you're looking at it. I think the end of the year could prove tricky. Starting with February 15th home for Louisville. The only Louisville game this year. So I think

18:52that's notable. Louisville getting swept last year is notable. I think they're going to want to win that game and could be, you know, potential to or maybe even one seed ramifications. Then you go to Blacksburg, then you host Florida State, then you go to Duke. I'm not saying that's an own force stretch. I'm just saying that is could be a tough stretch right at the end of the year when you want to be rolling. Okay. Here's something I've already thought about. Duke's basketball schedule. Can I tell you why? We have to be scheduled watching if the guys want to win a title. Yeah, they've talked about wanting to win a title. Guess what, Adam? How many titles are up for grabs? And I'm not talking about the battle for it. Let us because I know that's not what they're referring to when they say we want to win something. Yeah, I mean, there's basically two. Well, I'd say there's more than that. I'd say there's four. You want to hear what the four are? Okay. Here are the four. ACC regular season championship. Okay, you're breaking it down.

19:54ACC tournament championship. Winning your region and then winning the national championship. Okay, those are the four. Fair enough. Yes, that's fair enough. If we're really thinking about legitimate titles and if you're talking about all time teams, they check every one of those boxes. Obviously, but the championship. So, what will win the ACC regular season title? Here's what you have to do. Pretty much considering where Duke has been the last years, you have to go with two losses in the regular season, most likely. I don't think Duke is going to have three to four losses. I just don't think that's going to be the scenario. I don't think so either. They've gone back to back years, but just one loss in the league. And I think there is strong as they've been the last two seasons in comparison. I reluctantly agree. Bottom of the hour, can we two, we're still looking for sample size? We're still looking for information. We're still trying to consider where the best teams in the country, who could win it all? Who's going to get to the college football playoff?

20:56Another characteristic that I'm really looking at in these early September games is the following. Are you upset proof? Now, being upset proof doesn't make you a contender. It doesn't make you a blue chip program. I mean, look at Tennessee. They've been pretty upset proof for the most part during the hyperlare. They just can't snag the big fish. I mean, they did it with handed hooker. I will admit that. But that's a team that comes to mind. Texas A&M under Elco has been pretty upset proof, but they haven't been able to snag a big fish. Right? So that's something that I'm paying attention to in the next few weeks. Can we keep figuring out which teams are not susceptible to those let down performances? How deep do we actually go? Is there a drop off after my top nine teams? Like how close to the French teams? Alabama Ole Miss, for example, who are outside of my top nine. And I think nine teams can win the national championship right now. And that's going

21:56to change as we get more information throughout the course of the season. But can anybody else creep into that cluster? How far is the gap between those two tiers? How far is the gap between Miami and Virginia? Miami and Louisville? How far is that gap? Because I know everybody is convinced it's a massive chasm. I'm not quite there yet. There were a few chinks in this Miami team if you watched that Stanford game closely. And I watched some of it on replay. And I'll tell you what, their offensive line is not blocking on all cylinders. I know Tony had a great game and Mensa was thrown it around the yard, but he was thrown under duress. Just want to mention that. Now, Mensa's generally been pretty good under pressure throughout the course of his career. But that's something that caught my eye was Stanford's ability to get home on the pass rush on a number of occasions in that game if you really watched closely. So we need to keep paying attention to how great is the gap between Miami and the rest of the ACC. Is it manageable? I know Vegas has it at a certain point and a lot of

23:02experts have Miami as double digit favorites over every single ACC team if they played on a neutral. And I'm trying to figure out is that fair? We don't have enough information yet. If you're asking me, we just have Miami demolishing Stanford at the farm. Great. Stanford is probably the second or third worst team in the conference. Time will tell, but we need to find more information. That's what every Saturday is about. And sometimes Fridays and Thursdays as well. Although this week kind of tough. If we look at that tonight and then tomorrow in college football, right? Let's make way for Neil Castro now. We're going to talk the big game of the weekend, which is Texas Ohio State after these words. It's a look at the game of the year to date in college football right here on the best seat in the house. Welcome back to the show. You're on the flagship station for the Virginia sports video that we're W I a I'm your host Luke Neere and we're presented by Applebee's eating good in the neighborhood. It's time for the examination of Ohio State Texas, which takes place

24:03Saturday at 730 from Austin. Thankfully, I'll be able to watch this what it is entirely with the sound on since Virginia's obviously playing the world. But for further breakdown, specifically from the buckeye's perspective, I'm glad to have Neil Castro to back on the show. He's helped us in the past with season previews of Ohio State. And I'm glad to have him back on the show. Neil, I love action in week number two. And we're going to get some good evening. Hey, thanks. Leave hey, first of all, let's get a shout out to this Cavalier for cracking the top 25. I know that I think they're there to stay because there's not too much danger in the rest of the month of September. Maybe in October, but I think they're here to stay for a while. I would have to get into Ohio State and what I want to start with is a question for you. How could a job did they do remodeling the defense because they lost a ton of talent to the NFL highlighted by three top 15 picks are Bel Reese, study styles and Caleb Downs, each of those guys anchored a specific unit,

25:06defensive line, linebacker and safety respectively. And then they also lost two other defensive players in the second round of the draft. So how did Ohio State remodel that defense in your mind? Well, you know, of course, it's early in the season, but based on what I heard from the from the fall camp and what I saw in the first game, I think they've done a pretty good job. They have, you know, as you may have said, they had to replace eight starters. So I mean, obviously that's that's a big big shoes to fill on you. Yeah, look at who they lost. You know, there's no way that you're going to fill the shoes of sunny styles and Caleb Downs and are of the Reese. But I think, you know, in the defensive line, they have Canyada Jackson, who's a good quality edge. He's a a guy that had a good year last year. I don't think he's really broken out yet. They have some other guys up front that they a couple transfers. I think they, you know, they're going to have a solid lot of a lot of a rotation at the defense of the line. And the

26:07live backers, the same way, Luke, they played four guys last week and you know, all four of our almost interchangeable. They're really good. You know, Peyton Pierce is kind of a leader of the group. TJ Alfred was actually probably the best player last week and then Raleigh Petagion, who's a young, young player. He played very well. And then on the back end, they have Devin Sanchez, who I think is probably one of the best quarterbacks in college football. And then they have some other guys that are filling some some transfers well that can help out. J Tenmans, here's a freshman, playing Nickle has really shown some promise. So I think, you know, again, I think they're going to have to develop. They're certainly not at the level where they started out last year where they pretty much stifled and played containment against Texas All-Gain. And, you know, arts could never really get on track. Yeah. Last year of the game. That's what I'm curious about is Ohio State going to be 75% of what they were last year defensively and can they make up

27:08that ground on offense with growth? I mean, I think that's the major question for me. Concerned the buck guys for the entire season. Matt Patricia, here's my question. Is he a schematic master or is he a top coordinator due to the talent he coaches or is the jury just still out after one season? Yeah, I think that's the question that everybody asks. I mean, it's easy to be the good coordinator when you have the best players in college football, right? So I think, you know, this year is really going to prove that out. I really do think he's a, you know, a defensive genius. He's gotten great schemes. But I think he's going to have to. I think the fans want to see it this year where you don't have quite the talent. And they're going to play one of the toughest schedules in the country. So I think this is really going to be a task for, you know, how good Patricia is and that defense. All right. Let's talk about the Ohio State secondary against Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo and the rest of the Texas receivers who are also pretty nasty. How do you project this

28:08matchup to play out? Are we going to see press coverage or we're going to see a feeling out stage? I mean, Ohio State has been so good at making other teams make mistakes. But when you're throw to those guys, I don't care if our shoes a little bit inaccurate. Cam Coleman's going to get up and snag stuff. Yeah, I think, you know, I think you could say, you know, both of these passing offense, I think they're going to complete their passes on Saturday. I think there's going to be you know, a lot of a lot of passing. There's going to be some big plays made on both sides. I think, you know, Ohio State, you know, with Devon Sanchez and, and, uh, Dermay Matthews, they're going to be, they're going to be on the corners. They're going to be the guys that are going to be expected to, to stop the Texas passing attack. I think they probably won't, you know, Sanchez is the best corner. They're probably not going to have him following, um, Cam Coleman. But I think you're, you know, obviously, you know, Ryan Wingo is probably more of a speed guy.

29:09And Cam Coleman's more like, uh, you know, the athletic freak. Ryan, I just got to do everything. You catch everything. He's kind of like, uh, you know, uh, Jeremiah Smith, uh, like, you know, but, uh, I think they're going to have their hands full. I think they may, they're going to play some zone. I think, too, to, you know, kind of take the pressure off, you know, the off the off the, uh, off the secondary. And, uh, I just think it's going to be a good matchup. But I think, uh, again, I think they're going to get their receptions and, you know, Ohio State's going to, uh, get their as well. Yeah, it's going to be a different flow compared to a season to go. I think it'll be much higher scoring and not going out on a limb when I say that because what was last year 14 to seven. Uh, um, but just the fact that the two quarterbacks are no longer green and they're throwing to what I believe are the two best wide receiver cores in the country right now. And we'll get to Ohio State of that side of the ball. But, um, I think we're going to see some points. But speaking of quarterback, it may be strange for me to say this, but is QB the position with the most

30:15question marks for both Texas and Ohio State bear with me here. I'm going to make my case because I know Julian saying I to New York last year and he put up some great numbers. But has he really come through in a big time game when they've needed him. Now, Ohio State didn't have very many big time games a season ago. Texas was one of them, but I'd say the defense kind of won that one for them in the opener at the horseshoe. And then the other big time games he had were against Indiana and the big tent title game. I mean, you can say Penn State, but Penn State was a little bit of a lame duck at that point. Maybe he had he did have a really good game against Michigan. He'd never, he'd never, he threw an interception and then after that, he really said that I thought he did have a good game against Michigan, which obviously arrived a little bit in Ohio State pulled away. But I was about to say that was so may Michigan does count. I you some question marks Miami, question marks as well. So with that blueprint, would you expect Texas to pin their ears back against him, which is a little bit of a different strategy than what they deployed a year ago in Columbus?

31:21Yeah, I think if you look at Ohio State this year, if you in terms of the weakness, it's probably the, you know, again, the offensive line in particular, the right side, they had issues last week with ball state, you know, they had their right tackle had some, there's some miscommunication and some poor execution, you know, they took them out for a couple series and then they put them back in again. And if you hear the talk in Columbus this week, they're still experimenting with the right side of the offensive line. So, you know, that's not really good news if you're in Ohio State fan. I think, you know, given what you said last year that, you know, what you saw in the Indiana Miami games, I think that's kind of a blueprint for Texas. You know, with their two stars calling, summing and then Raheem Biles, they're definitely going to pressure and it will must champs going to probably get, you know, from the first play of the game on, he's going to blitz, you know, probably over 50% of the time and try to get Julian saying out of rhythm. I think so too. So I think that's, that's going to be a, you know, key factor in the game.

32:22And the other question is, does he double a Jeremiah Smith? Because I don't know why ball state wasn't doing that ball state didn't really have a chance for the start, but I would expect him to get double coverage throughout the course of this game. We're talking to Ohio State Texas Neil Castro Dills, my guest of the best seat in the house on the other side. Arch Manning still a lot of question marks for me. He does have the Texas A&M win under his belt. I would be more concerned about arch on the road though. That's something he is not proven, but this game is at DKR and Texas is only lost what one game at DKR in the last three seasons. So I don't know what's your perspective on rattling arch Manning when he's in the comfort zone with a bunch of burnt orange around him. Yeah, I think, you know, given that it is, it's going to be a home game. It's at night. There's going to be a lot of energy for Texas. I, you know, I think he's definitely going to step up from last year's appearance. He'd only started, you know, what was it a game or two before last year's

33:23game. So, you know, I think he's, you know, you saw in the second half of the season, you know, how much he improved. And, you know, at the end of the season, he was definitely one of the better quarterbacks in college football. So I think, you know, he's, again, he's going to, he and Julian, I think are both going to have good games. From a Ohio State perspective, you have to ask who's going to step up and apply to pressure because they don't really have the established edge like Texas does. And I think that's one of the, another interesting part of this game is how there's a high estate put pressure on him. Now they may try to, you know, last year they played a lot of, you know, what I call pre-vent where they just tried to contain him. And they certainly want to try to keep him out of the pocket. And, you know, when he gets on the edge, he's going to, you know, probably take off and run it. Yeah, well, last year, what's amazing is the receivers didn't get in a breathing room. The Ohio State Secondary was all over him. And he was throwing a lot of balls in the dirt, maybe out of necessity because nobody could get separation. And Urban Myer was even

34:26talking about this the other day. I was listening to his breakdown of last year's game. So that's something to look out for. Can the revamped Texas wide receiver room find that separation? Now, obviously, Wingo was around last year, but Kim Coleman wasn't. So that's something I'll be paying attention to. And then finally, at running back, I don't know, I'm throwing my hands up in the air. That could be the X factor position. How do you feel about the Ohio State running back room right now? And are you of the opinion? Let's keep it fairly stable. I'd like to see Bo Jackson get the vast number of carries or use somebody who wants to kind of go for upside and maybe get legend bay touches. Yeah, well, it was interesting in the, I mean, the preseason to actually, Isaiah West was actually kind of the number one running back in front of Bo. And everybody was kind of, you know, that was a bit surprising. And you know, Isaiah West did have a great, a great camp.

35:26And then as I got closer to game one, and you know, Bo kind of was put put ahead and, you know, really in the first half last week, neither one of the none of the running backs really could establish much. I think they're only getting like three yards per carry. But then, you know, then made some adjustments during half time. And the second half, you know, Bo had like a 60-some yard run. And then a guy stepped up a Jacobi Jackson, the Florida transfer. He had a long 49 yard run. So I think they kind of turned the corner a little bit. Again, it was against ball states. So, you know, I don't know how much, you know, you can patch yourself on the back of that. But Isaiah West came in and he didn't get as many carries, but he, he carried the ball pretty well. And then, I don't know if you saw the game, but legend bay had a unbelievable, unbelievable, cutting to the right. Yeah, he, he kept to the right about, I don't know, four times on that one touches out run, which was something else. The past reception was even better when he kind

36:28of caught it in the left. And then he reversed field to the right. And, you know, he looked like, you know, Braxton Miller out there. So he, you know, so I think that'll be a question is, I think they're going to try to work him. You know, I can't see him then not getting the ball in his hands. I think you have to, you have to, especially if Jeremiah Smith is going to be in double coverage for the entire game, which I suspect I could be wrong about that. But all right, Neil Castro deals by guess we're breaking down Texas and Ohio state. Give me reasons Ohio state wins this game. And then we'll consider reasons that Texas wins if we're trying to play out how this is going to occur in our minds. Yeah, I think, you know, if you're looking at the high state, I think that, you know, they do have a little bit of momentum on their side. They won the last two games, you know, the college playoffs, I'm a fine, they won last year. So they've got, they've kind of got the bragging rights and a little bit of momentum. And the coaching matchup, I think is something that's in their favor. I give day the edge over Sark. I really would.

37:32All right. Yeah, I think, you know, coaching staff, I mean, I would give the, the edge, you know, between Ryan Day, Matt Patricia and Arthur Smith. And that's, and that's a pretty high level coaching staff. You know, that Texas isn't good. But, you know, I think you have that. And, you know, you have Julian Sain and Jeremiah Smith, right? So that alone, I think, is a highest state. They have a, their offensive line is, they're pretty much returning, you know, they're all their production. So I think they just need to figure out where they're they're best suited and, you know, maybe improve communication. You know, the, they got strong receiving core. So I think defensively, they've, again, there's a little bit of a question mark there, but, you know, with Matt Patricia, you know, I think I'm confident that I just think that they're probably going to hang with Texas, you know, even though they're going to be, be away. And I think, I'll give you my prediction shortly, but I think they're going to give Texas a very better game. I think, and if you look at the talent, I think Texas has the higher end talent in this game.

38:32If you look at, you know, the potential first round picks, they have four or five guys, yeah, they could go in the first round in a high state. They lost that many in the draft last year. So, you know, a high state may have the better depth, but if you look at the high end, the talent, the starters, I think Texas does have the edge in this game. Okay. So we gave the Ohio State advantages. I'd say coaching staff, overall experience at this level and proven wins. And then we could mention they probably have the best player in the game, which helps. What else do we lay it on? I'm trying to think. That's a nice set of bullet points. For Texas, if I'm listing bullet points, home crowd has to be out there. Second of all, the ability of archmaning to use his legs differentiates him a little bit from what Julian Saiyan's going to do. So that makes Texas a little bit more diabetic. And then finally, I think in the trench, that's the other advantage Texas has. So those would be the three out each side. I'll tell you, Neil, I'm at a

39:36complete coin flip for this game. So I'd love to hear your prediction, whatever you're ready to dish it out. And I can't wait to hear your point, total, too, because I feel like I've got mine somewhere in the vicinity of 27, 24. That's my range. But I might even go higher. I might get into the 30s if you can. Yeah. It's fun. We arrived on that. We arrived on the same toe. I don't know who you picked, but that's the 27, 24 is who I picked. I just think, you know, like you said, Luther, it's not going to be a 14 to seven game. Yeah. You know, I think both teams are going to have success in the passing game. You know, I think Texas is definitely going to be trying to apply a a lot of pressure. They're going to attack again. They're going to attack other issue like Indiana, Miami, too. You know, I think Ohio State is going to counter with, you know, some quick passes, some play action, you know, trying to get that ball out quickly. And I think whichever team protects protects their cube, it'd be better is going to be is going to have the edge in this game, right? I think that's going to be the big, the issue there. So I think it's going to be, you know,

40:41kind of a back and forth game. I think it's going to go into the fourth quarter. So I did say, I picked 27 to 24 and I picked Texas. That's what I have to say that I, that I, that I, I'm being fair. That's what I love. That's what this shows all about. It's it's keeping it real. So I actually landed on the same thing. So that's funny. We'll, we'll see if, uh, how close that's bad news. We both think about the same thing. Well, I mean, it might be good news for the buck guys though. Think about that. Um, if we're about big, it takes us to win this thing. All right, finally, let's go to the rest of the country. And even the Ohio State schedule, which is just fascinating to me because I know they're number one of the country, but gosh, I've never seen so much danger in my life on the schedule. I still think if they end with a nine and three record, I still think that's good enough for the playoff this year. Uh, given who they play, are you kind of in that same boat that's, uh, maybe worst case, I mean worst case scenario would be eight and four and then you're, but I don't think they're going to go ahead and for I think probably ten and two

41:42is what they land on this year, maybe nine and three, but where are you with their overall record? Because not everybody knows they have a trip to Bloomington. They have a trip to USC. They play Oregon at the horseshoe at Nebraska is going to be an insane environment. I mean, I don't care what you say about Matt rule or making fun of out the court Huskers over the last 15 years, not being able to be the right team, but that's still going to be a crazy atmosphere. Michigan looks much more manageable and that it did, but I mean, and Iowa, I mean, I know Neil, you've watched a ton of games there that'll make you tear your hair out. So what do you think overall about the record and this insane schedule? Yeah, well, I'm with you. I think, you know, you look at the schedule. This may be one of the more difficult schedules they've ever had. And I think, uh, you know, it's definitely in the top 10. I think Texas actually has the toughest schedule, right? Maybe I really got their work on that. Maybe Oklahoma. I'm trying to, it's probably Oklahoma, but they're really close. Yeah, Texas has this game, obviously, and they're at Tennessee.

42:48They play the Red River shoot out of the neutral, Florida at home, Ole Miss at home, Mississippi State at home, at Missouri, at LSU, Arkansas at 8M. So their big ones are, obviously, this one coming up at DK already gets to Ohio State. At LSU has to be the next one as far as degree of difficulty. I think playing at Kyle Field is still going to be tough, even though they think the Aggies are a little brother. And then Ole Miss at home and the Red River shootouts got to be a war. So yeah, both teams have tough schedules. So this is an important game. So, you know, back to your question. So when I looked at this schedule, I, I'm assuming I picked, you know, to lose the Texas. And I'm, I'm thinking that they're going to lose it to, uh, either USC or Oregon. I think, uh, that's, I can, I think that's probable. So, you know, I, again, I had to say I'm looking at a nine and three record, but I think given their schedule that they will make the playoffs good nine and three. And I think so too. Texas, the big Texas loses a negative nine and three. I

43:49think this year they would break through with their schedule and make the playoffs also. No, I think we're going to see nine and three representatives this year. I think last year was more of an anomaly about even ten and two teams being left out of the playoffs. I don't think that's going to be the case here in 2026. I mean, look at all the talent and look at all the, the depth and the top 10. I mean, I've got nine teams. So I think he'd win the national championship. That's much higher than what I had last year. I mean, yeah, and Texas losing the floor of that was kind of a nail in their coffin. Yeah, exactly. That was a bad loss. They didn't deserve to be in the playoffs, even though Sarcusen tried to make the case, but I don't know who scares you the most out there of any other teams, either in the top 10 or you can give me a sleeper. Potentially, you know, you know, when I looked at it, Luke, and it's like you said, I think there's legitimately, no, I think I came up with eight teams. And, you know, I'm kind of thinking, you know, Notre Dame, Texas, you know, Oregon and Ohio State, you know, those are maybe the ones that I rank.

44:55But then, you know, you look at Georgia, they're always in there. You know, Alex, you look fantastic, right? Alex, they've climbed in. They look pretty good. They're in my group. And I, and Miami, you know, you saw last year what Miami did. And they're, they're strong. So I mean, you could just toss all those names in the hat. And there's one team. There's one team you're missing, Neil, that my Indiana Hoosiers for last year. Yeah, the Indian, though it's sleepblood in the national chips, the rating chips. Joshua looked really good in week one. So we'll see where it goes. Anyway, thanks so much for the breakdown. Really enjoyed it. We'll have to have you back on later out of the season. And maybe when we get towards some of those other big time money games for Ohio State, whether that's the Oregon matchup at the Horseshoe or a rematch against Indiana in Bloomington or even the Michigan game. But I don't know. The way Michigan looks, might be a slam dunk in Columbus. But we have said that before. So, I know they should have been one, right? Yeah, that's true. Anyway, I'm sure that makes all you Ohio State folks grand year to year with, I mean,

45:59because I thought Kyle Wittigay was, was going to be a, a real asset to them. But it seems like Bryce Underwood has just lost. I mean, so, you know, I think the Oklahoma game on Saturday, and that'll tell us a lot to, you know, see where we're, I think that'll in terms of the rest of the season, you know, they just lay an egg. Then, you know, they could be looking at a, oh, yeah, really a seven and five record. I've got Oklahoma winning by double digits is my lock of the week. So we shall see even in the big house. But, Neil, thanks so much. Appreciate the analysis. Thanks for giving us the load out of the buck guys. And we will chat later on at the season. You're in the best seat in the house on W I na. This is the best seat in the house. And I'm your host Luke Near. I'm getting back to Virginia or on the eve of their second game of the season. It's week two. Norfolk State will be in town. And they will most likely, I'm saying this in full confidence, be throttled by the Cavaliers. The question is, with so much time to prepare for the poet, where you're favored by, I actually haven't even

47:02checked the spread. But I'm assuming Virginia is in the high forties as far as how much they're favored by. I'm going to get that to you in moments. But first, I want to get to the focus on the biweek is if you really think about it, Virginia had kind of has multiple weeks of preparation for not only West Virginia, but the rest of the season. Tony Elliott talking about it in his press conference earlier this week. First of all, we did our job like that's that that's what my message is to the team. And I know externally people are patting them on the back and saying this and that, but they believe that they were going to win the game. They talked about wanting to go out and to play well and to dominate in certain phases of the game. So in essence, they did their job. And hopefully that becomes the standard. And not the exception, but the standard. And in order to do that, you got to prepare well. And that's what we need to keep our focus on. It's not the result on Saturday is the process of getting to Saturday that determines whether or not you're successful or whether

48:06not you're dominant or whether you know it's a competitive game, close game. So that was the other focus. And then we watched a lot of football over the last couple of weeks. And hopefully we gain a healthy appreciation for just how hard it is to win in college football. Right? Like I think sometimes with where we are in this day and age with with with media exposure, like people think it's easy to win football games. It doesn't matter who you're playing. Just go go ask some of those teams out there that they had close competitive games. Teams that were on paper that were supposed to just dominate. So it's all about the process. And that's what we talked about a lot this week. I was a broad strokes look into the by week four Virginia from Tony Elliott. And by the way, they're 45 and a half point favorites against Norfolk State tomorrow. So that gives you a glimpse of the nature of this game and how it's probably going to pay out now if you're folks who love blowout wins, you're in business. If you're in the category of I hate sweating games out that are close and I hate

49:07those nervous feelings that crawl up my spine. Now deep down, I think the competitor in us appreciates those moments and the ability to rise from them. But I understand for a great deal of the boomer population, you guys have been through enough of that as Virginia fans. So this is the game for you tomorrow night. You're not going to have to sweat anything out. And I just know this from my folks and a bunch of their friends and all the old Charlottesville people who have been living here for 40 years or more. That's kind of what I consider old Charlottesville. But you know, we had the old establishments that I always refer to on this program. But you get by drift. This is the game for you. And I think this is the month for you as well. You didn't have any sweat in the NC State when that was a blowout. You didn't have anything to worry about last week because it was a buy Norfolk State is a bad FCS team. And then from there, we get a West Virginia team

50:08who I am going on record saying he's not going to be Virginia. And I've said that for over a month now, the more and more I dug in to the matchup. So I'll stand by that. If I'm wrong, come get me, you know, the phone number 9771070. I will make amends for that. But I really believe Virginia wins that game in Charlotte. And I think they do it convincingly. I think it's not a sweat. Then after that, you have Delaware where you're going to be about a three touchdown favorite over the blue hen. So that's pretty much a stress free September for all the folks out there who have bled and stressed out and have watched a bunch of Virginia collapses over the last. Let's say four decades. Maybe we'll say let's just start in the 90s, the 90s, the 2000s. So we're on decade number four. So three and a half decades. That's the way I'll put it because the late 80s before Welsh had the thing turned around. We weren't sweating to many games. And

51:13you know, I was not even on earth in the mid 80s. But back to Tota Elliott and his press conference. Look at the head tomorrow, angles for Friday night. And what sticks out about this Norfolk state team on film. Yeah. I guess that they play hard. They're very well coached. You can tell that they believe in the scheme offense and defense and special teams. They got depth on the D line. They can roll out of guys. They get after it. They can play multiple fronts, four man fronts, three man fronts. Their linebackers are athletic. They got some some long dudes in the secondary. They got some transfers from the P4 level that are going to be excited to play. And then offensively, schematically, they challenge you. They can jump from 21 personnel, eye formation, all the way to to empty with a quarterback that can run in and can throw. And so so it's going to be a good challenge and test for for our guys schematically. And then also

52:14from an effort standpoint, because these guys, many of them want to be in these seats right here and believe that they should have been in these seats. And so they're going to play with a little chip on their shoulder, right? But and we got to match that. So it's going to be it's going to be a good challenge. We're going to find out a lot about our football team this weekend. That's totally Elliott on Norfolk state who comes to town. Obviously tomorrow. Now somebody else who's going to be making a debut. Cam Robinson is going to play tomorrow. And this is the perfect opportunity for him to get his feel back to totally Elliott's. Yeah, I think I think we all know what Cam Robinson is capable of. Now he's got to get back into to play mode and play shape and and all of that. So I think he can be very effective getting home on the on the blitzes. I think, you know, the first thing is to is to make sure we know where he's at, right? And we're and we're not putting him in a position to ask him to do something that that maybe he's not ready to do yet with his process of returning to to play. But I think that that you gain more speed.

53:19I think that you need to be. But you look at way down these playing Marcellus and Miles, you Miles Brown stepped in, let us and let us and tackles. Then you got Caleb Hardy. Yeah, a big pause and a big shout out to the second level and the opener against NC State. They were my unsung hero of the game, but back to Tony Elliott. And then so I just think the biggest thing with that group is there's not a huge drop off when Cam's not in there, you know, and that's what we've wanted to do. Now we know Cam's special and he's going to go make those freakish plays that like only Cam can make. But when he comes out of the game, which, you know, in fairness to him, he had to play a bunch of snaps the last three years and play through some injuries. You know, hopefully now with the depth that we have the competitive depth, he doesn't have to be out there to make every single play. I know he wants to, right? And some may say, well, that's what's best for the team. But, you know, a fresh Cam, a fast Cam, right? I think it's more effective rushing the passer. I think he makes more plays. And then also it takes some of the exposure to injury away. Exactly. See that

54:24ding, ding, ding, that's the big highlighted printed and bold finish to that answer. It diminishes injury risk when you're still rotating guys the linebacker because we still need to see Cam Robbins and make it through the entire season. And that's my hope with this new look for J.D. Defans that it will actually occur because when you're being forced out of necessity to play through those nagging injuries, guess what? Other ones arise. And that's what happened last year. I believe in and also the last couple of seasons. So I thought that was a very astute answer on his use. And it's not going to be full reps tomorrow night, but he's going to get a dose of it. Certainly. What else can we get to a little bit more from Tony Elliott talking about his team. And how about college football and watching college football? Because he mentioned this on his

55:26coach's show the other day with one of his sons who wanted to watch a little bit of college football during the by week. Tony Elliott. I need a break. Now I'll do it. So this past weekend, I was out Friday night recruiting. You know, came back in and it was just myself and AJ was at a baseball tournament with mom. And so, AJ wanted to watch football. So we went downstairs and we cut on the game and we watched it for about 30 minutes and he's like, Dad, I need ping pong. I'm like, thank you. Because it's hard. It's hard. It's hard to keep track of it. And there's so many games. So I'll watch it a little bit, but I do, I do like a little bit of time to decompress a little bit and kind of kind of clear my mind. So that that when I show back up on Sunday, you know, I'm fresh and ready to go. Yeah, that makes sense. And also, I think there would be a little bit of an inclination if you're a coach to not necessarily navigate towards the games for pure enjoyment and entertainment factor. For example, he might be just programmed to go watch. I depoted who's going to be on the schedule.

56:34Like one of the eight teams to originally eventually will play. So it's hard to decompress when that's in the back of your mind as a coach. So I completely understand a leg team for ping pong after 30 minutes, but you're in the best seat in the house. That's a little bit from Tony Elliott to the other side. I'll give you some more college football thoughts. Final half hour for me for the week because tomorrow it's right into game day coverage with J James and the guys for cab count on then count out a kickoff. So bottom of the hour right now on the best seat in the house to Thursday. It's time for overrated underrated in college football. It's my week two crack at this. It's a recurring segment. You'll get it all your long on the best seat in the house. And it's a little difficult to really peg who's overrated who's underrated right now in college football, but I'm going to do my best. I'm going to start with teams who are overrated. And now this can drastically change, but the teams that stood out to me, I'm going to pick five of them and then I'm going to

57:34pick five underrated teams as well for you who are not necessarily showing up in the top 25 or who are showing up lower than they should be. You could even say Virginia could be a little bit underrated at this point and 25. Anyway, I'll start with overrated teams. You know who caught my eye over the weekend this past weekend. It was a sudden and it was in the apple cup. Washington and home against Wazoo wasn't terribly impressed. They seem to have a lot of the same issues that they've had the last few seasons. I respect the heck out of fish as a coach, but DeBon Williams wasn't lighting up the cougars as he should have. Let's just say that. So that's one team. That's my number one team that I've picked out who seems a little bit overrated. They've made my list more overrated teams. Michigan, obviously, they pop into the equation, but

58:37due to public perception that's low hanging fruits. So are they overrated compared to all the public perception right now? I still think so because I'm taking Oklahoma and I'm laying those points. I believe Oklahoma will win by a touchdown. So I still think Michigan is overrated in the market and people are going to try to put the angle. Well, don't overreact too much. It's just a week one. They're still sorting things out. Now I think they're overrated. That's another team. Here's who else? I'm going to include on the list of overrated teams Houston, Mike Barber snipped it out for now. And I'm following suit by saying Houston is a team that did not show well in a week one. I think they're a little bit overrated. Those are three teams. Auburn. Thank goodness. We finally got to the zaggers. I was never a goallish guy in the off season. Then I started to waver off of that stump that I was standing on because you know, group think is sometimes she can get swayed. And if everybody is saying, Oh, Auburn's going to be great. And now I'm by room brown and Alex

59:40goallish, man, they really built this team well. I started to sway a little bit and you know, self examine and say, Hey, maybe I missed something here. Maybe I am a little bit off on Auburn. No, they're exactly who I expected them to be. That's my fourth overrated team in week one. Coming out of week one into week two, I've got one more to give you. And I'm scrolling through right now, trying to figure it out. It's a little bit difficult. But if I had to pick a team, huh? This is stuff. Maybe I'll go for you know what I had Texas tech. What what the heck? We'll throw the red radars in there. So that's going to do it for overrated underrated. Why not the wahoo's Nebraska. I think is underrated at this point. Louisville, maybe a little bit underrated still at this stage. So we'll leave it there. All right, best seat in the house. Come back with more after these words. Virginia and Norfolk state, which is a seven o'clock kickoff, obviously from Scott Stadium. But here's what I did. What a hit a few more angles with the Cavaliers and the Spartans. Mike Barber

1:00:44joined me for what can be achieved? What can we learn about this team? How can they improve even as massive favorites? Yeah, I mean, they certainly should win this convincingly. If they play the way they play against NC State, that is more than enough to control this game from start to finish. Obviously a couple of things I'm looking for. Do they have any evolution in the passing game? I don't mind the idea that this is a run heavy team and that their passing game play action and set up off that. More guys involved. More guys catching passes. What kind of a step can the receivers take look? Rico Flores is out again. Dylan Newton short out again. They're coming back. Hopefully for the West Virginia game. But can we see some growth and some progress in the receivers? Camp Courtney. I asked Tony Elliott about Camp Courtney during the weekend and I said respectfully, like this is a guy who people have been waiting for more from. And Tony Elliott kind of agreed. He basically said he can't bang on Camp Courtney because he does what we ask him to do.

1:01:46But there's got to be more there. He's got to turn a routine play into big plays. That's what everyone's waiting for. So this is the kind of matchup that can get a player like that going. Right? Because if you throw him a little short pass coming out of the slot or you get him coming in motion and coming around and flip him the ball. Like this is the kind of game where he should be able to take a routine play and instead of getting six yards, get 60. Those are the kind of things I'm looking for. Same on the defense. The defense was really great against NC State. I want to see them be explosive and dynamic. I want to see them get home with the blitzes. They did a nice job with pressure against NC State. Let's get home on some blitzes. Let's generate more turnovers. So those are the things in a matchup like this. I want to see you yes, dominate, control, execute your base. But individual guys should be able to make big plays. And this is an opportunity. I don't necessarily think it's going to happen for coaches to play little side games with their players. For example, I'm not claiming this is going to happen. But Hey, low per bella, you're going to play a half. I want to see you throw for 170 yards out of

1:02:50your comfort zone because one of the three for 300 plus once last year. That would be a little dangling carrot challenge. For example, I'm not saying it's going to happen, but these are just ideas and it's the balance right? Look, if you don't want to put too much on tape, so you don't want to open up. If you've got some throws that you think Bo per bella can make that you haven't shown, stupidity game. You don't want to show them in Norfolk State. That being said, I also think you want to get some confidence and momentum in that passing game, right? So I would like to see again, I'm fine with it being play action being when Norfolk Norfolk State is kind of a eight man up to the line in the box, stop the run. That's where they're designed. Anyway, this should be a game schematically where play action and over the top is there. Now flip side is if you show a bunch of your passing game, other opponents are going to have to prepare for everything then. That's a fair point, right? If you show me that you can throw short, middle and deep, and I've got to worry about your run game more to come. I think

1:03:50we've reached a point in college football where everybody's preparing for everything anyway, right? I don't think anyone's preparing for Virginia saying we don't have to guard against a deep pass. It's just about emphasis and about when you call it and how confident it is. Virginia wants to come out of Norfolk State with opposing defensive coordinators saying they'll throw it on any down. And that's what I don't think we've seen from Virginia, right? Like they want to run the football and then they'll strike you with a big play, but can the passing game be how they move the football? That's Mike Barber. Now onto Chapel Fowler who joined me earlier this week. And the question I toss to him is on the Clemson beat obviously. What is the operational line of the ACC? What number of teams can compete to get to Charlottes? And I'm not including Miami for now because they seem as if they're a cut above, but what is the operational on not including Miami? For me, it's a smaller list than at the beginning of the season. My list is in some order, Louisville,

1:04:53Virginia SMU. And then that's kind of it. Maybe Clemson can get their act together. Maybe Virginia Tech can shock some folks, but other than those teams, I don't see anybody else really competing to make the title game, but here's Chabble. I think you've got to put Louisville right up there after how they looked against Ole Miss. I know they lost the game. And one week is just one week, but their new quarterback looked good. The transfers they brought in. It was just a very competitive dynamic program I thought. Louisville probably spends less money on its football roster than Clemson. They looked a heck of a lot better than Clemson did in week one. So I put them up at the top. I know that the big game issue with Jeff Brahm has been a thing there. And they've been kind of knocking out the door for a while, but they've appeared in a title game. They have a really good ACC record the last three or four years. It's just as good if not better than Clemson. So I put Louisville at the top of that list. This is probably a little recent C-Vias. S-M-U for Jennings alone. I know that a quarterback doesn't make a team,

1:05:55but I think we saw him Monday night just what type of guy he is, how dynamic he can be. You probably saw the ups and downs a little bit too because he had some killer interceptions in that game, but the end result was a win and he's played a lot of winning football. You know, that's another team that could have been in the ACC title game last year. Was in the ACC title game two years ago. Right in the CFP mix, I think, lashes and awesome coach. So I put those twos up top and I mean, I enjoyed Virginia's NC State win. I'm not sure what it means because we don't know how good NC State's going to be, but that was a good tough physical game from Tony LHZ group. So I like them. Pits quarterback at a field day against a group of six teams. So we'll see how that goes. And maybe Cal gets in there. I don't know. I'm going to see JKS in person in a few weeks when Clemson plays in Berkeley. So I'm excited to see him kind of wheel and deal. But I'd say just off one week alone, you got to put SMU in Louisville up there. And that's kind of what the free season predictions told us. So I would go SMU Louisville, Virginia. And then I'm tried to figure

1:06:57out one more team that it may be Clemson. Maybe they're not dead yet. That's right. I mean, O and O ACC records. Exactly. Nothing has changed. Yeah. In that one years ago, they lost the Georgia in their opener and they won the ACC. So can't write them off just yet. And then maybe Virginia tech. Maybe, but their schedule is difficult. But at the same time, I just don't think there's any insurmountable date on any schedule besides from the Miami Hurricanes either coming to town or a team traveling to Hard Rock. I really think there's not as much separation. I had SMU in tier number two by itself in the preseason. I thought, you know, Miami's tier one SMU's tier two and then tier three is the collection of Clemson Louisville and then maybe Virginia. But I've changed. I just don't see the separation with SMU. Now, when they play in Dallas, I know they haven't lost a game in what three years, but it's not as if they're blowing teams out of the water when they're on their home field at, you know, Gerald Ford Stadium. Yeah, it's funny. It's got to be such a tough job as

1:08:02a conference commissioner like you want a deep conference, but then whenever the conference as people like to say, you know, self-canibalizes or, you know, the teams beat the teams that aren't supposed to lose, then your conference perception goes down. So it's like, what's the perfect balance? I don't know. I know it's just like an objective observer of ACC football. I do like the fact that I can turn on any random game at any game of a moment and maybe see a big competitive game seeing upset, maybe not the case with my Andy this year because I do think they're loaded. Then again, Stanford's pretty, pretty poor of a program. So maybe that's not the best comparison for how good Miami's going to be all year. But yeah, you just, you never know. I love covering it. I love watching it because of that reason, but at the same time, I can see why that kind of hurts perception because as much as these teams want deep leagues with a lot of competitive bullbeds, probably at the end of the day, they want a few really good standout teams at the end of the day. So that way they're, you know, positioning those teams for a CFP appearance. And that's probably a bit of an issue for the

1:09:04ACC right now. Yeah, especially super top heavy or a little not top heavy. Yeah, and if you're trying to be a two-bid league, which is the goal of the ACC, Louisville needed to beat Ole Miss. And if that didn't happen, which obviously occurred, they've got to be a one-loss team the rest of the way. And I don't even know if that's going to be enough. If they get to the ACC title game as a 10-in-2 football team and they lose to Miami, is that enough? I don't even know. And then second of all, the problem with that, some you it would probably be right up there is they go to South Bend. So it's just a bad non-conference schedule luckier, I think for the teams who were expected to get tent. And the SEC does look like it's deeper and looks like it's much improved from the last few seasons. So if there's going to be another bid, I'd expect it to go there or maybe the big 10 gets four. And then Notre Dame comes in this year. I know we're not going to get two G five teams, now G six teams anymore. So if you're the big 12 and you're the ACC, it's going to take a lot.

1:10:08Or it's going to take a lot of love from the committee, which I don't think will happen for the ACC after they didn't win some of these bell-weather games. And Clemson looked terrible against Ellis you. Yeah, it's such a good point about, I mean, you have these big marquee games of them. If you pulled up Clemson schedule right now, as of this moment, they have one more ranked game out of 11 games remaining. I know. And that's home against Miami, probably the best team in the conference. And it was like this last year too, you know, they lose to LSU. And then you kind of look at the schedule and you say, okay, if you're not going to be the ACC title game, like you basically have to be perfect for this by now. It's such a unique situation. And I don't know, probably part of it is perception and there's a whole ESPN SEC stuff. But the last year was so much better because Florida State's MoTalabia last year. Right. So at least there was one feather in the cap for the league, but there's just nothing this year. And no more opportunities unless S.F.U.s get a pull, what are the all-time upsets in South Bend? I just don't see that happening. Yeah, I don't need it.

1:11:08But yeah, it's not a good spot to be. And if you're one of these ACC teams that's, you know, kind of chomping at the bit to be bid number two. And you lose that big opener. And you it I mean, it's September night right now. You look down and say, okay, well, we need to basically not slip up at any point again this season or when the ACC title. That's a hard thing to ask of a team. No matter how good you think Clemson or Louisville or S.F.U. might be like that. That's a tough that's a tough ask of a lot of people. So I'd imagine one bid will probably be the outcome. Certainly. Last of all, Ahmad Hawkins on how Virginia could function if it just wants to get out of there with the win and no injuries and simplicity and not show anything on tape for opponents down the line. You could just run power all day or some counter-trades or some quarterback draws. You do that instead of play action and take shots. So yeah, you would want to do that, but nothing substitutes game reps. So I know you're going to you're going to gain the time. And as you talked about, it's going to be valuable reps. You want that guys working their way back in, Cam.

1:12:13That's supposed to be returning. So people are going to keep in their eyes on just how he moves around. But you know, in no place they they had a good showing that first game. Oh, do you even? It was a good showing for them based on what they were last year. They were really bad the previous year. So we could take some good things away for a game like this. You know, that breaks up a great point. And I'm going to ask you this question, me and a former player, succeeding in executing a play in practice and doing it multiple times. Is that generally good enough for a confidence level? You know, not only for a player, but for a coordinator either on offense or on defense or a head coach, when that play works on multiple occasions, generally if you're talking to the coaching staff, do they feel good about deploying that in a real game scenario, even if they have it yet? Yeah, I think that's a great point because in practice, you can execute a play at a high level, but you also got a factor in that you're scripting the plays.

1:13:16Like depending on like so we're getting ready for an empty state. I mean, no if it state is like, all right, that's that's run this play versus a three man front. Now it's run in versus a four man front. Yeah, that's run in versus a five man front. So you can pretty much determine what front you're going to get and how you should block it. And then the level play, the guys may not react the same way as your opponent. That's true. So that's why the game is so viable because you don't see the cards as being dealt to you. You have to react on the fly. Guys have to demonstrate that they can be like water and just be fluid. And that's why you love to see it if you can run the same thing over and over. That's why I've been I'm on the old ad is I don't care what you see in my playbook. You still have to stop it. Right. People always say I don't want to show my hand too much, but hey man, if I got to play that that I can go to and you know that's coming, you still have to stop it. Not you as an adult, but the players on the field still got to stop it. Not the coordinators, the players do. So I never believed in really hiding things and not throwing my plays without I'm

1:14:21going to show the plays that I'm comfortable running. We're going to find out how Virginia treats this game stylistically tomorrow. It's a seven o'clock kickoff. That's it for me for the week on the best seat in the house. I'll be back Monday for a full break down not only of the hoos and the Spartans, but also everything else that mattered in week one. This is Luke. Nier signing off. Don't forget to check out the podcast on demand. You can get full episodes of the best seat in the house and also individual guests.