The Best Seat in the House (9/8/26)

0:00Welcome to week two of the college football season. We push on towards Friday night. Virginia comes off the by the host Norfolk state Friday night. It's God's stadium seven 30. Welcome to the best seat in house. This is your premier college football college basketball and you've you sports talk show based right in the heart of the fed basin. Sure, let's over. Virginia have your host is always Luke near. It's 506. It's a Tuesday. So we've got a whole lot of business to get to. I did not do a labor day show. I considered it, but that I realized I'm getting older and I just like every other bureaucrat and every other person out there need a little bit of a break here there and everywhere. It's called pacing yourself. I'm going to fire off plenty of takes today recapping week one. I'm on Hawkins is going to come in at approximately six. I'm part of a five 45. So stay tuned for that. We'll go a lot of Virginia talk.

1:00Lock of the week obviously is going to occur at about seven minutes or so. Give or take. We're going to save that first segment number two because we have to recap week one of the college football season. That is the order of business and don't forget the coaches quarter show coming up at seven oh six live from the dairy market. Tony Elliott and John Freeman talking about what Virginia was up to during the by week and expectations for Friday night at a pauses here though because it is indeed Tuesday. Yeah. At about late to give us both a round of applause. We got back to 500 no sweat. I had a little bit of a sweat with J.M.U. and Liberty. It seemed like it was going fine and then things got a little bit hazy, but they did get to the window and covered six and a half. Yeah. And by a touchdown, you know, the result of at least the spread for the Duke game. That was still in question in the fourth quarter, but they pulled away late. One score could have potentially killed you there, but you survived. We're good. I'm glad I'm proud of you. We should have just taken Boston college and faded them and taken Cincinnati.

2:04That's what I mean. Yeah. We should just go with the Cincinnati BC game because that was the low hanging fruit, but neither of us did that. We wanted to hurt it the hard way. But we push into week two and we're going to try to get above 500 with some picks. We have it up in the lock of the week, but let's run that week one. I have a lot to say. I know you have to. We've all got seven minutes to do it. So let's do it. Give it a take. I'm just going to stretch this out. Lane Kiffin is running away with character of the year. Oh my. From the second consecutive year, it's hard to repeat. Did you see the leaked leaked? Yes. I put in quote. There's no way. That person did that without authorization. I would venture to guess maybe even Lane Kiffin told him to do it as he was walking by him going into the locker room. I had a guess. Now, I, I, I, I, doesn't really bother me, even if he did that. I mean, they, they are operating singularly this year, but he is definitely the front runner. So if you didn't see it, folks, and it's not safe for kids, potentially, because there's

3:07a lot of bad language in this half time speech where he's talking to his LSU Tigers and pretty much saying, this is no, we need to stomp a hole in Clemson. Um, we need to demolish them and all of the haters out there. That's pretty much the gist. I don't think I best too much. Did I? It doesn't matter what quarterback they throw in there or what terrible quarterback clips of throes and just fair. It was a little weird to hear Lane Kiffin, like, raise his voice like that. Just, I didn't recognize it. He's usually deadpan. I don't know. Yeah. And it's a 510 and troll. It's all the gamblers out there. I mean, that's, that's who he is. This is the best seat in the house, you know? Yeah. No, it was interesting to hear that. But then on top of that, the leak taft time speech, and then he pulls up for week two and gets out of his truck or vehicle. And he looks like, you know, AT double hockey sticks. He looks terrible.

4:07I feel like that might even be stages, do I? But I'm not sure. That could be natural. It was a late night to be fair to him. And it probably got even later with that delays. Well, quite, quite the performance, I would say though. And that was the story of week one. Yeah. I mean, I think LSU, all of the shenanigans, bells and whistles and I guess the intertabit that comes along with it. And we are in the intertabit industry at them. So I am perfectly fine with it. I don't hate LSU right now, but I am enjoying them. I don't like them, but I'm enjoying them. Does that make sense? There's a difference. In a way, I think I understand what you're saying. Yes, we can appreciate the storylines while not rooting for them necessarily. I think is how I lay on it. Okay, what else from this? I don't know how to characterize week one. Very man, very man, I would say. I know, but there still was excitement. The Michigan game came out of nowhere.

5:09Obviously, yeah. And should we be sports talking, hey guys right now, can we just scrape into the mic and say, listen, what's the Michigan shoot of what that game? Let's just say that what everybody's been thinking. I don't really have any other angles on this one. No, and besides from, I think the Big Ten might be full of it with all of this. The clock is different in a real time. I mean, I do think they stole the information. I'll say that. Fabricate a lot of this stuff. I think there is probably one second on a feed. But my question is, what did the field say? Did the field, meaning the clock that's like on the scoreboard or wherever it may be on the grid? Exactly. What did that one say? Because that's the one I feel like you have to go by because that is what the games are looking at. The players are looking at it. Exactly. If you've heard it out, I will be have a satisfied answer. I don't have a sat, I'm not satisfied right now. What does the officials are five minutes off on their watch?

6:09But if they're five minutes off, I mean, it's one second, but I mean, you could think of a scenario where your five minutes off, I mean, I know this would never happen. Right. What if it did? And the official could just say, well, actually, guys, there's five more minutes left in this game because I've got the official time. Exactly. Sorry, I didn't tell you. It's minimal because it's one second, but it is, it calls into question the whole system then if there can be one second. And in this case, it made a difference. Okay. So sound bites, I'm going to get into all of these impressed. I that's going to come after a mod on the best seat in the house, but we've got so much to show you afterward. Like, what would it look like if they would have those players too? You know, so it's just my personality. So it is what it is. Yeah, at least he knows himself. It's only week one. We've only gone through one week and we've got so much worth is to get to. How about Michigan? Are we sure the brights underwood is going to play the entire season? Guess what? Kyle Wittigab was asked about it. He's our QB right now.

7:11And, you know, there it's not it's not something that's infinite. I mean, at some point, you know, we've got to turn a corner and we've got to see improvement as we do with a bunch of stuff. We've got to see improvement out of the coaches. Yeah, that's Kyle. And then let's also forget what of our heroes of the program? Have a good Frida the program. Curt Singdaddy did not notice the Chevy to better go it up. Well, I wouldn't expect it to do that. And the rock. I didn't know that Memorial Stadium, there's somebody who boreal stadiums. The Indiana is called the rock. I didn't know that. Did you? I'm just going to start using that now. I'm not familiar with Indiana's football traditions. Yeah. Pre-curt segdad here we go. I didn't see it. I've heard you were putting it up. I think we were in a locker room. I knew we were going to be in a locker room and I honestly never saw it. I know we won it last year for a fact. And it was fun. It was fun. It was fun. So yeah, a little bit out of the week. I like the way Indiana played. North Texas might be better than a lot of people think though.

8:14They were able to get some stuff done against that of the other defense. But I thought who ever looked great, the bloody mouth and everything. That was a great, great image. Over the backer. Over the backer. March with the one handed TD crab too. Yeah. I don't think they're going to slow down. What else do you remember about week one besides from Lane Kifford, LSU, Clemson's demise and the the the buckle in Death Valley, Louisiana. And then obviously the Michigan game. What's third on your list? Well, I got a cop to not quite staying awake for the end of the UCLA Cal game, but I was thoroughly entertained for the first half of that one. I feel great about my UCLA tickets. I was going to say that's a huge win for the toe. A bit of a confirmation that I think UCLA could be better in their projection. And I'm actually a little lower on Cal. How about the fact that the ACC is just bad. It I mean, you asked me last week if they were worse than last year. I think we got our answer this year. Yes. I mean, the Louisville performance was not, it does not make me think less of Louisville

9:16only that they need to get their ship right and button some things up and not have, you know, 15 penalties or whatever. SMU looks like they're going to be pretty good, but if Ken of engennings is throwing five picks a game, they're not going to win very many. Yeah. Can I tell you what I had action on yesterday and also on Sunday as well? And my teams, I had so many different numbers, but my teams were dictating and leading the entire way and then they just lost it for they pushed. SMU didn't end the way. And they were feeling. Yeah. It's like they were dictating the entire game. I'm like, come on, just put it away, put it away. I thought, oh, miss was going to put it away when they went up two scores when they went up 14 with six minutes. Yeah. When they scored that to go up by two scores, I said this over. So our guy, my guy, Lincoln Keenholz, maybe, maybe pretty good. You might be pretty good. It's possible. I'm still going to give him a little more time. Okay. Still need to see it in another game against the secondary. That's not a sleep like old Mrs. Yeah, maybe. All right, 516 in Charlotte.

10:16So that's a pretty good recap. Virginia obviously did not play. Virginia Tech had its debut. Yeah. In the James Franklin era, what was the final score even? Was it 73 to 3? No, something like that. Yeah, congrats. You beat the MI. And can we just settle down about this whole inner Sam and thing? Can we just settle down? It's it's gotten it's gotten weird. The conversation about it now and the emphasis on it. Yeah, just do it for yourself. Don't do it for the everybody to say this is the best entrance in college. People call every single time you do it. Just do it for going to do it. That's how I feel. I mean, I just think there's somebody other entrances that are so similar like sandstorm at South Carolina. Yeah, I say, wow, there's a bunch of people who jump up and down to a song. Congratulations. Right. Unbelievable. What a novel concept. We're jumping up and down to a song. I know. This is not right.

11:17I got it. Get just get tired of it. I know. I don't have a gauge on Virginia Tech. I do think don't be somewhere in the vicinity of Virginia. Maybe a little bit behind, a little bit behind, but now their schedule looks more manageable. I think I mean, they could be Clemson on the road. Oh, my goodness. They can be to SMU if they're going to play like that. Yeah. I mean, Miami does look the part. But the number two is going to get to Charlotte. It's a shame to tell you guys. All right, 518. We got to get to the top out. Yeah, we got to do a lot. Even I are going to do this in number two. You're going to come back on because we've just scratched the surface. Yeah. I mean, literally just scratched the surface of things that I want to talk about concerning week one and some of the data that we now have, the sample size that is going to slowly grow throughout the course of the season. But on the other side, lock the week. You don't want to miss it. The award winning segment returns. Adam and I try to go over 500. We're one and one on the season. Lock is next. Lock the week returns on the best season house.

12:19Welcome to the week two edition 520 at Charlotte's. If you want to play along, give me a call 977107. You can give your picks. It has to be against the spread though. So that might be a struggle for my mom. She's still trying to learn what that means. But it's not a struggle for us because we're die hard sports fans. I'm your host Luke beer alongside Adam Hawes. All right, Adam. I got JMU through as they won and covered in celebrity in the debut of Bill and APER. And you got the Duke Blue Devils getting revenge on the green wave of two lane. Okay. The Duke X for DS is back. Yes, it is. Week two though, it's arrived. And I'll tell you what Adam, I get to go first as a reason. Yeah, I was going to say you lead. I'm not messing around. You can call me. Oh, wow. Your prisoner of the moment, Luke. Oh, that's such a new play. Oh, oh, you're taking a road favorite. That's dumb. You know what? I'll tell you what I value in prognostication.

13:19And that's led me to some unbelievable records in the lock of the week. If you've been following along for the last five years, last year I was something like what, 14 and seven. I don't know. Something really good. You won more than you lost. I like backing teams who are clearly better than the other team. Substantially better. So I'm going to Ann Arbor and I'm laying it with Oklahoma. I am taking the Sooners at five and a half. You could say, oh, man, that's such a sucker play. I know it's not. Michigan's a disaster. They couldn't get pushed against Wester Michigan. And I'll tell you what, they also had turnover worthy plays galore from Bryce Underwood. He was under the rest and they're going up against probably the team who has the best combination offensive line defensive line in the country. Arguably. I mean, if you look at Oklahoma and their own line, plus or D line, it's as good as anybody's right now. And I'll tell you what, Oregon is no longer. I mean, banner carrier of that title. No.

14:20You actually have to prove it on the field. Oklahoma's going to prove it. They have the better quarterback. Yep. They have the more experienced team. They have a better offensive line. They have a better defensive line. They're just better everywhere than this Michigan team. And guess what? I think it's going to be a rude awakening. It's going to be okay for the folks in Michigan because they can say, hey, it's your one of winning him. He was actually a late hire if we really think about it. Yeah. Consider when he got in. Yeah. Oh, he's somebody帶 out a new bike. They are not. So as we're on the great end from hydrogen bike. find a new one and I did I think there are a lot of runners up because you had some backups I'm sure yeah, because this is a good week a college football, but I'm going to take a chance here. Let me keep the music hold all right.

15:20All right. Go ahead. I'm going to take a little bit of a chance here. The number just doesn't feel big enough to me for this match up and I know there's probably some excitement around this home team. It's their the head coach's first big opportunity. I will lay 10 and a half as I see now in Lexington, Kentucky and I will take the Alabama crimson tide over the wild cats today. So like I said, I bet there's a lot of reason to be excited about Will Stein as the new head coach of Kentucky, but Alabama, you talk about margin and you talk about quality of opponent, just dominated East Carolina by the tune of 48 to 10 over the weekend. Healing Russell, but really all of Alabama's rushing attack look looked great all day. I just think that Alabama's a little bit ahead of what Kentucky's got going on right now. I think they win by two touchdowns and it might be fun at the start, but I think healing

16:22Russell gets going. He'll have his legs are going to cause all sorts of trouble and Will Stein's an offensive coach. So I will take the crimson tide and maybe Alabama has a little bit of yeah sick of hearing about exactly our demise, you know, the quote exactly. The famous one, Mark Twing. Yeah. Newspaper clipping the reports of my early demise are greatly exaggerated. Yes, exactly. Okay. So I did see that. So I just I like Alabama from week one. I mean, much better than last year, obviously, when they lost to Florida state. So makes me think that DeBore, I think recognizes the task at hand. And I think they take care of business. Handily at Kentucky. Okay. I got to figure out when's that kickoff? Is that that's a 3 30 game? Okay. It's a 3 30 game. It's in Lexington at Kroger field. Yes. How about that? Kentucky coming off a 45 13 win over Youngstown state.

17:22So still haven't really seen much from them. In she had four TVs, no picks, so he looked pretty good, but they weren't playing Alabama. They will be this Saturday. Other games that I consider does my runners up. I'll tell you what, Penn State showed me something in that blowout shut out win over Marshall. Okay. They really showed me something. And if they're taking on temple and I'm getting 23 and a half, I think they get there. So that would be a blowout city. Oh, that's a road decision at the link. It's a road game. But guess what? It'll be full of Penn State. Remember when Oklahoma went to temple, I think last year, yeah, everybody was worried. Oh, well, it's a road game and they won by about 50. Yeah, only to say I noticed it's a road game. That means Lincoln financial field will be full of Penn State fans. I think it'll be a home game for Penn State. Yeah, right. So I didn't catch any Penn State. So I still need to learn a little about them. Can I say this Marshall team who everybody thought was just going to be it off in some

18:23juggerdaugge, completely with sour. So that was just what that stood out. 45 to me. And then North Texas, if I could have gotten to that opener, I would have considered that gets you at LV because they're really late with this show to get to the end. I watched that number two. A decent amount of that game today. That was on my list. The end of Texas. I rewatched a ton. I watched you and LV be pretty subpar against the Memphis Tigers. I don't like Jackson Arnold at all. So Jackson Arnold on the road in Denton against a North Texas team who was an underdog. Yeah, I'll take that. So there you go. I think that's pretty good. Also, give another one. How about I feel like this is a prove it week for a lot of my teams. Yeah. BYU hosts Arizona. Are you a BYU guy? This year I am. I'm very high on the roof. I know that. This is news. Look at you. I mean, I like bare-bought my air. Look at you. My name is Martin.

19:23There's seven and a half point favorites. Can I go back to the number again? I'm starting to think they have a good chance to beat Notre Dame. I think it's possible, especially if it's a night game and provo. Like I think that could really add something to it. I have the dual screens going with Ole Miss Louisville and then Notre Dame was constant. And I get the text from Carson, which is great because I know exactly what he's doing. Any text we hate. I'm just saying. I'm just the anti-N Notre Dame guy. I'm just saying. No, I didn't last, but for a bit it there. Yeah, that Wisconsin was in the game. In the game. Wisconsin was kind of a hanging around. So I don't know. We'll see about the Irish, but they generally start slow. Memphis has put together two good weeks and they're at Boise State getting eight and a half points. Just a big number. I don't know that they're going to win and Boise was pretty impressive, but I think that could be a close game. Just another game I like. And just some sort of throw out there. Can I say I actually think I maybe like the Virginia Tech Hokies only laying 18 and a

20:26half at home to Old Dominion. I'm not worried about. It's not ODU from last year. I'm not worried about prior results. They're completely gutted. It's a different team. You have to realize that. And new offensive coordinator, I think, and new quarterback as well. I think James Franklin knows he needs to put up a number in this game. And I think they're going to blow out ODU. One against Norfolk State, interestingly, by 21 points, just not the not the most convincing statements. Although I think ODU has a coach who was on Franklin staff, right? He's a coach. Are you Ricky Ron? Yeah. I mean, or does he go easy on them? Or is it the hey, we're going to avenge Brent pry. It's one of the two. I just don't know what it is. It's a good point. I did not consider that. Well, it's not my official pick. So it's okay. These are all backup options. These are runners up for a reason. How about in a bounce back spot, Oregon at a team that lost a Tulsa on Saturday, Oklahoma state, that's the maker.

21:27I'll tell you what, you know, I was kind of hit or miss. I was kind of pretty much 500 as far as my plays, but it seems like the okay state over when total was already dead. That's a. But I'll tell you what, the UMass one is already to the window for every loss. There is a game. Count it in the books. And I think UCLA is trying to get a really good direction as well. So I'll take that to or look at great. What is a good woof? And then we'll talk about our Vandy Cavalry doors at sub putt. But we need the quarterback change. No, just make it. Please. All right, bottom of the hour. Thanks Adam. See you later. Sure. Come back to your premier college sports talk program. Focusing on University for GD athletics college football college basketball. This is the best seat in the house and I'm your host Luke near it is 535 in Charlottesville. I'm on it's coming up in just moments of stay tuned. But I got to get this up my chest. I'll tell you what I do. I gather a lot of clips from various coaches every single Tuesday because it's not only

22:31Virginia's press day, but I can read through everybody else who had their press conferences on Monday. And one of the ways I do it is I scroll through social media. And I see short reels of coach after coach. And then my algorithm just turns into a bunch of coaches and then eventually it turns into more sports stuff. The problem is I like anybody else using social media or doom scrolling as they call it. Sometimes get distracted like for example, I watched a lot of Larry bird highlights randomly today just because you know, I just got sucked in. I got sucked into a real of Kobe Bryant talking about who was the most difficult player to go against in his time. So that is the downside. When you're trying to gather up all these clips, you know, the ones that I give to you on the reg such as Lane Kiffin, um, left it right just spit and fight.

23:32I play better in the second half. We can't give away something like the first turnover man. This ball. Yeah. So when I'm trying to get all of these from various press conferences or other country, you know, I get sidetracked just like anybody else, but they say social media, you know, it's just bad for you mentally and I understand that. But what am I supposed to do? I can't quit that. I'm in media. It's my job. So here's what I do. I like to think about myself is taking some arrows for you. I'm out there weeding through scrolling like crazy, trying to find all these clips so I can gather them together so you will not have to. You will not have to do scroll. That's part of my job here. But I'll tell you the other thing that really bothers me about social media because when you're going through all this stuff, you get random parts of your algorithm that pop up. I don't know why everybody and every influencers, brother, sister and mother and distant relatives

24:40want to use this. I mean, I have to say stupid at this point because it's so overplayed. The interstellar music and the background of all of their little tweets or their posts which they think are so wise and informative. And I got to say, the health influencing stuff has gone too far. I mean, just get a light people. Take me back to the 90s. Take me back to another era. Yeah. So that's a little revelation of mine. But you know what? I'm going to keep doing it every single Tuesday. So if I put a little bit slow on Tuesdays, it's mainly because I've been gathering all these clips and I've had to see so much nonsense while I'm going through trying to find Kyle Wittingham talking about, oh, maybe Bryce, Thunderwood might not be a lock to start all year or Lane Kiffin saying 17 things or dabbo, who I'm going to get to it hour to virtue. Dabbo firing off at my main man, chapel, Fowler, who's coming on the show tomorrow.

25:40Oddly enough, this was not related. I was I breached out the chapel before dabbo's press conference and obviously he made all the headlines with that last question. Did dabbo talking about his roster construction? So I'll share that with you a little bit later on in the program, but I got to make a way because mods do up next. Stay with me on the best seat in the house. This is Virginia football talk on the flag station for the Virginia sports radio network WYNAM your host Luke Near and you're inside the best seat in the house. Glad to be back on the line with my colleague on the Virginia sports radio network broadcasts and that would be a mod Hawkins. You can hear him in the booth every single Saturday or in our case here at week two Friday night as Virginia plays host to Dorfick state. We're going to dive into a lot of takeaways after we've had even more time to digest that while a big event he stated the opener 34 to eight will talk personnel. What's happened in the last week of practice since Virginia has extra prep heading into the next seven games.

26:40So let's welcome him back to the show. A mod Hawkins. Good evening. What's up, Luke? How you doing? I wanted to exchange in your opinion. If anything, after watching the rest of the ACC this past weekend, get at least a game on our sample size chart. I mean, not to really change from me because it's just one game and it's early in the years, a lot of moving parts. So I'm not old. Addish man, never too high. No, too low because it's just one. It's a small sample size. So for me, I think of upgraded Virginia's chances in the title race after watching this past weekend. That's where I've landed. And I'll tell you why. It seems as if their schedule sets up very nicely and you're competing against teams such as Louisville, who I think is going to be the biggest hurdle, even though you don't play the Cardinals because they have a very fortuitous schedule and they look pretty confident against Ole Miss. Your compete against them, as abuse another team, you do have a head to head against the Mustangs and Dallas. It's the biggest game of the year in my opinion, besides from Virginia Tech.

27:42I'm not even including my, I mean, in this bunch, I'm talking about Virginia's competitors mainly because I really do expect the hurricanes to be in Charlotte's just a question of who's the other team. I know there's plenty of football to play and stuff can happen. So I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but just look at it at the roster. Man, other competitors, Clemson, it's hard to put them up there right now because of how bad they are at quarterback. Makes after watching their quarterback situation. That's where I've landed as far as team sewer actual contenders, Georgia Tech does not look like it even though they were picked ahead of Virginia in the preseason pole. I do not see that team sniffing Charlotte or getting anywhere near that ACC title game, but that's just where I've landed with this team, but I want your thoughts. I come to realization like being in the media lane and just trying to get like prediction, both prediction and things of that nature. I got to kind of like cut off my competitive side and player side. So here's my conclusion.

28:44The head coach dictates how we feel about a team moving forward and confident we have in teams. If you were to be a team that are picked to be favored to win their confidence or make it to the Coswell Ball playoffs, usually that coach is successful and is on right in some sense, right? Or they have a roster that you it's hard to deny them. When you look at Virginia and the ACC, the teams that got picked in front of them, people were leaving their coaching and what they done in the past. Like Tony Elliott finally had a really good season and it was 11 wins, but any other coach after winning 11 wins would have been picked in the top three in their and their confidence in my opinion. I feel like except for Fred around that kind of happened with Syracuse a couple years ago. Yeah, not yet. So again, it still won't speak to the coach because even Duke when they had the one that you know when the coach left and went to Texas and everybody brought in to Duke. You know, he got respected everybody brought in to him. So it just depends on the belief in the head coach.

29:46All right. Let's take a look at what's to a one Friday against this Norfolk state team. I'm trying to figure it out myself. What can be gained when you're planning to pull it who is not only a bad team, but a bad FCS team. So I know a lot of other guys are going to get work. You're going to stay loose. I don't think we're just going to show much of anything. Would you expect them to go through any more of the playbook or just run base? I mean, in any game, the simpler, the more simplicity you can have, the better because you just go to your money plays and the plays you feel comfortable executing. So yeah, you could just run power all day or some counter trade or some quarterback draws. You could 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 want to gain the time. And as you talked about, it's going to be valuable reps.

30:46You want that guys working their way back in, Cam. That's supposed to be returning. So people are going to be keeping their eyes on just how he moves around. But you know, Norfolk state, they had a good showing their first game. What do you even, was a good showing for them based on what they were last year. Really, the previous year or so. We could take some good things away for a game like this. You know, that brings 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

31:46level, but you also got a factor in that you're scripting the plays. Like, depending on what, like, so we getting ready for an empty state. I mean, no if it's state is like, all right, that's run this play versus a three man front. Now it's running versus a four man front. Yeah. That's running versus a five man front. So you could 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 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'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.

32:49Not the coordinators, the players do. So I never believed in really hiding things. Just not showing my place. I'm going to show the plays that I'm comfortable running. And by the time we get close to the end of the season, there's going to be plenty on tape from every school team in the country. And everyone's going to know what everybody else likes to do. So there is something to do that. I'm not Hawkins is my guest on the best seat in the House of Talking Virginia football. One further review of the film from that NC State win, who popped off the page for you. I mean, we can mention the obvious players. Everybody rated pervula very high, whether that was the BFF grades or anybody else's numbers. But besides from him, let's talk about some other guys who really shined for you specifically. Corners, a guard and Henderson jumped off the page just because they were aggressive. If I'm not as comfortable. Yeah. I don't know if people saw the Florida State SMU game, but yesterday, Florida State defense defenders,

33:51they had like a third and nine or third and seven. And they didn't like they were playing hero coverage and the corners wasn't playing inside technique and just by a slam play to go like 70 yards. I don't think all corners would allow that. I think they would understand it down the distance, understand the leverage and we'll play aggressive. That because versus NC State, it was times where we and years passed with a play soft and Henderson and A-Gar were playing tight, even though it was like third and twelfth. It was still playing tight, not giving up little short routes, being competitive, having that contagious swagger. Not a demean in swagger. Look at me. But a swagger as in, I'm the energy field of my energy and I just love the way they compete it because it's a trickle down effect. And we already know the guys, the front seven, always had that, but seeing guys on the corner being very confident, being aggressive and showing up in the ring game as far as tackling as well, that to me was refreshing because that does a lot of, you know, because Coach

34:55Roy wants to be aggressive, he wants to blitz, he wants to use these various games and run twists up front, but you have to be sound on the outside, understanding that you have to cover a second more just because we're doing a lot. But those guys jumped out, jumped out, the film to me. Can I tell you who it was for me? And this is probably not a common opinion. The Virginia linebackers, man, I thought they were really getting coverage. I thought they confused to CJ Bayley upon a theater review. I felt like they were everywhere I know were at the same time and they were getting into the ring lanes, which is generally a terrible use in other sports, but they were literally in the passive lanes. Talk about that. Oh, and so I'm glad you brought that up because, you know, Dan Lee and Matt is Marcel. Matt is Marcel's man, every time his number is called, he's been really phenomenal. But in the passing downs, we showed our depth as safety because we were at plug and safety

35:56that linebacker. What a Latino win coming in. Caleb Hardy had the big hit early. He's a linebacker now, but he still moves like a safety just the depth that we have and what coach Adams and coach Cox, you know, coach in the safety coach Adams, coach and linebackers, the collaborative effort of allowing safety to come down and be linebackers in obvious passing situations and moving guys around and being found. I just remember and preseason just talked to the coaches. They were like, they teach technique, not a position. So we say, hey, in this defense, you're playing this technique, leaning your at this position. You don't look at it as I'm playing linebacker. You just trying to execute the technique within the defense that allows you to be fluid and to plug guys in and out in very spot. So it just goes so schematically. These guys are being coached up and when they're operating on one accord, man, it's fun to watch. Yeah. Madhawk is the stock of Virginia football with me and the best season in the house.

36:57We're still reviewing that week zero win over NC state and takeaways because this is the first time he and I have talked ever since the post game show a couple of weeks back. But about let's stick with the defense and what other question that I kind of want to get to concerning Virginia stylistically. And if we expect it to continue, I just think this is a coverage defense. And we hear the old cliche, keep everything in front and they do that well. But it seems as if the quarters are comfortable playing tight man instead of quarters, you know, to throw out a term, but not everybody will know, but just think about sagging off a little bit for those at home who might not know that lingo. I don't know. It's working because it's almost as if you're like ice man in top gun. It's waiting for the offense to get frustrated and make a little mistake instead of throwing

37:58a lot of blitzes out there. I just don't expect Virginia to be a blitzing team this year to you. It just depends on the offensive scheme that you're facing. So versus NC state, barely came in with a high completion rate, known to check down, take with the defense is giving them. So we just got a lot. As you stated, we came up in challenge air receivers because we're going to dare you to challenge this deep because you have a high completion rate. That's because you're running a mess concept guys running across the ball, running into the box, which we saw a lot. So we're going to do a lot of things schematically where you give you a look, we may show pressure but we may drop. But as you stated, we may not just come out to you with extra guys because last year we had the luxury of rushing for as well and for us for an analytics are showing that we're being successful. Rushing for guys, we're going to do that. So we're going to go off the numbers. If the numbers show we need five, he's going to send five. If it says, hey, we might need six on this down, he's going to, she's going to do six.

39:00But the luxury this year that we have guys who aren't afraid to come up in challenge you in coverage. So that can allow us to dial up some blitzes if we have to. All right. We're talking Virginia football on the best seat in the house, more with the mild Hawkins. But first I owe you this tie about stay with me. This is the flag substation for the Virginia sports radio network. The best seat in the house returns on the flag substation for the Virginia sports radio network WI today. That's where you will hear my current guest on the line of mod Hawkins who is the color edelest for Virginia football. We've got one game under our belts of eye that we're looking ahead to Friday night against Norfolk state is they come to town for non conference action. The first non con game of the schedule Virginia has three of them and they all come in a row. So Friday against Norfolk state, then West Virginia and Charlotte and then finally Delaware and then it's ACC play the rest of the way. Let's go to the offense. What happens in the future and I don't really suspect this to be a problem on Friday.

40:01It might not even be a problem the rest of September. But when Virginia does face substantial resistance on the other side of the ball on offense, what happens and what is the maneuver? If you're trying to guess with your football brain, if opposing coaches, unlike Dave Doran are going to be ready for the quarterback to run the ball. And if they start stacking the box against Virginia, what are the editors? The first editor is the final man on the code of Twitter. If you want to stack the box and or use files because we come in 12 personnel one back to tight ends, the code is a big extractor because the ball takes the time to travel depending on the ball he's running because he's going to be running in that box and has that big frame. But here's the thing. If he wants to stack the box, you have to go to one back and spread guys out but still the code can still be lined up as a flex tight end.

41:04So now the one great thing about having a dude through that quarterback, you kind of dictate what you're going to see. So if you're going to use a spy, you're most likely going to bring a safety down. So now it's an easier reprise map as far as man and the type of zone that you're going to get. And then you start to run some mess concepts and you start to hollow the middle where that spies that because he has to press the box. He has to come up to close the airspace between both and the line of scrimmage. So that then that falls on both to be able to find open windows and make safe throws because our receivers to gain y'all up to the catch. Do you expect opponents to spy for you? Pretty much for the rest of the season. I think they're going to pick their spots. They definitely pick their spots because when you utilize the spot, that's a resource that's been taken away from you and it just depends on your secondary. And guys cover and the type of matchups that get the speed that you have on the outside.

42:11Pass rust can help alleviate some of the spy concepts that you want to do. You can slant and then have a deepers of N kind of not press the box and just keep them in the pocket. So a lot of teams may just press the line of scrimmage, press the pocket and just say keep them there and let's see if he can make the throws from the pocket. Similar to what teams used to do, similar to a Bronco minute heart that years ago when the Marjaxian came here when he was playing for a little bit when they beat us when I last threw over one throw here, they pressed the box and say stay there and show us you can throw. And you know, he ended up doing that but that way you won't really have to use the spot because you're really not rushing him. You're just containing them. Here's something else that I think we could learn on Friday night. Norfolk state tries to deploy against Virginia's office, even if they're unsuccessful. I think we can maybe look at a few concepts and say, hey, Mike Vic saw this on film and he's signaled out to his team.

43:13Let's try to attack these guys in this facet. I think that's one of the things we could learn from Friday night, but I watch your thoughts. Yes, so Norfolk state, I feel like they had a good preview of playing UVA as far as containing a quarterback because they just played ODEU and ODEU's quarterback was very mobile. So from that sense, they can address how they lost containment versus their quarterback. But then UVA coast kitchens have an advantage because he's like, hey, well, just look at what this mobile quarterback did versus Norfolk state just this past Saturday, we can employ that ourselves. And also, Norfolk state blew some coverages on the back end because they were forced to play in the man. So, you know, Norfolk state made it feel like they got one week, you know, barometer on how to prepare for UVA, but UVA is looking like, yeah, but you blew some coverages and we showed you versus NC state. If you come down with one safety high, we will attack you up top and the two are supposed

44:16to play as we had versus a one safety look. So it's going to be a nice chest match and Norfolk state wants to run the ball a lot. This might be like one of the fastest games we ever call it too because they just like us. They just want to run the ball. Yeah. So the clock never stopped. Take a look at the stats and rushing yards. They were solid against WDU. They had 126. Now in the air, not so much just 94 yards for Bayley, who is Norfolk state's quarterback, but finally, I got to wrap up with the Michael Vic angle, you know, because it's fun. You go way back with old number seven down in Blacksburg and then eventually in the NFL. But what's your pulse on where he's at as a head coach and further ambition to stay in coaching? Do you have a feel for that because I mean, I know all you seven, five, seven guys talk. Yeah. I think Mike wants to stay in coaching. He's grown. He's improved the staff.

45:16They improved their offense of scheme this year. And I mean, Bayley, their quarterback this year. I mean, for some reason, I get like an irish feeling. He reminds me like a, like he, you could tell he put it out of life. Cam Newton because he does his celebration when he scores a little dab that Cam Newton used to do. He seemed like he wouldn't got a quarterback that's similar to what he was and that offense approaches, refreshing as far as they want to run the football. When Trotel Islander Scrim is given safe throws in the middle of the field. So I could see him improving in that area. And I think he, you know, wants to continue coaching, but, you know, he has to win. I just, you know, we just can't allow it to be here. Scott Stadium. Yeah. Anyway, it's going to bring back some memories of some of those games in the early 2000s, or at least for those two years, um, seeing him on the sidelines. Hawke, thanks so much for chatting with us. Plug anything that you've got going on on your podcast and then we'll just push on to

46:17Friday night coverage. We'll hit the airwaves at 630, but I want to give you the floor real quick. Oh, man, just, you know, I appreciate all the support, believe it for junior podcast, or all podcast platforms, Spotify, Apple podcast. And I'm, you know, posting more to my YouTube. So this serves the ballhawk show podcast on YouTube. And that's it, man. Be tuned in on Friday as I color in the lines that, yeah, man, John Freeman draws up. Now, do you have a rhythm right now as far as when you're posting recaps shows and preview shows, just so folks can know? Oh, yes. I post. So my recap is always Sunday night. I said those on Sunday night and then my preview is two days before the game. So since we play on Friday, the preview will be done up tomorrow on Wednesday, Wednesday night. That's great to know. Amad Hawkins will be listening and I will catch you Friday evening on the headset. You're in the best seat in the house on W I A. Welcome back to the best seat in the house. Only on W I A. I'm talking college football at 617.

47:20And I'm looking near your host behind microphone number one. I've got to get into press time. We do it every single week or I pull clips from various coaches, sometimes players definitely going to mix in some totally Elliot, but I've got to get to our entertainers first off. And you're going to hear from Debo, sweetie, first and foremost, because I was really anticipating not only his post game after getting walloped in death Valley, Louisiana. I guess we could just call it the real death Valley at this point. I think LSU wins that title after sweeping this home and home series and winning so convincing Lane and Lane Kiffin's debut. I mean, they annihilated Clemson and the Tigers have massive issues yet to get a quarter back. They probably have more issues at QB than they did, even during the club, Nick and DJU era, which is say a lot. Can they get it straight? Not we'll see, but here's my backstory because Debo would off a little bit in his press conference

48:24today. And here's what's so funny about this. I woke up this morning and I was starting to plan the show for the entire week. I like to get ahead of schedule possible. So I reached out to my guy, Chapel Fowler, who covers Clemson at the state. I'm like, this is the perfect week to have them on when lose or draw. I mean, well, when are lose? I was going to have a one either to talk about, you know, Clemson pulling a big upset or this catastrophic defeat that they just suffered. So that was in my plans. So I reached out to about I said, Hey, you want a couple of the show or are you available Wednesday or Thursday? I said, yeah, I can do Wednesday. So I'll be on tomorrow. And this is before he asked this question had Debo's press conference that I'm going to give you that set Debo off. It's just funny how the world works. Isn't it? But it's the perfect time, it really. Do you regret anything about your off season roster construction?

49:24Chapel, you come with all these questions. I tell you that you're the gotcha guy. No, I don't, I don't man. I regret being open one right now. I regret that. But now we're, we're, uh, what can you ask me at the end of the season? You know, the season in over. I mean, we got one game got 11 more. Well, if we go let me one. We promised me you asked me that then. Okay, good. I'll answer it. All right. But I'm not answering questions like that. You know, chapel. I know, I know that's your role. And that's in this environment, you know, to, to be the, to be the guy that, that wants to create all the controversy and ask the controversial questions. If that's who you are, it's fine. I get it. But I'll answer that in this. We played one game. One game. All right. If you, did you play football? Okay. Well, they give you 12 games. And at the end of the countable, oh, come on, settle down and, and, you know, that's when, that's when those type of questions are fair to me.

50:27You know, not after one game to maybe the best team in the country. Maybe the best team in the country. All right. Now, other people have good teams and coaches and things like that too. So I give them credit. We got 11 more names to go, to go battle. And we'll count them up. Then you can ask me whatever question you want. I really hope he does ask the question at the end of the season. And I really can't wait to talk to Chapel tomorrow on this show about dabbo and Clemson and the expectations inside the locker room. Are they still unrealistic? It seems as if dabbo thinks his team's going to rally and just push on. But you know what? He said the exact same thing a year ago when they lost early in the season. And he said, guess what? We don't have margin for error now to make the college football playoff. But hey, we got a shot.

51:27You know, we're not done yet. And they go out and they lose the next game. And then it was over. And that's when you know, he was standing with all the players, you know, doing the Clemson sway after the Syracuse loss. And you could tell on his face, he's like, okay, yeah, it's over. But you know, he gave the big speech, hey, we're not done yet. Don't bury us yet. We still got a shot. We still control our own destiny and boom, they were buried the next game. That was after Syracuse because they had lost a Georgia Tech on September the 13th, the week afterwards, they lose at home to Syracuse. And it was over for Clemson in 2025. It was three losses in the month of September alone. So he's barking the same bark. Is he actually going to be able to back it up? And if he doesn't and say Clemson, let's take a look at their schedule this year.

52:28I'm just going to go through it. Now I was high on this team or higher than the market in the preseason. And I could have been terribly wrong. It seems like I was terribly wrong because they don't have a quarterback. Sure they beat Georgia Southern. And then North Carolina, I mean, is that spread going to be huge? I don't think so anymore at Cal. Miami's the loss Charleston Southern Virginia Tech. I don't know if he feels like they might be, they could be home dogs in that one at Florida States at Syracuse, Georgia Tech. At Duke and South Carolina. So if they lose the South Carolina Miami and Virginia Tech say, that's four losses. And I think if four losses happens or if five does and you repeat last year's record, I think that question needs to be asked at the end of the season. And he needs to give a real answer instead of trying to do the whole. Did you blew up? Bo, and also can I say something as a member of the media? How come coaches are so touchy?

53:29You know, and then if you're listening at home, you're probably thinking to yourself, maybe you're screaming it out in your car while you're driving saying, Luke, it's because they're under so much pressure. Yeah, I get it. They signed up for that pressure, okay? And they also make millions and millions of dollars. Tens of millions of dollars. And they still get touchy. Folks in the media like myself, and we can even say throw a chapel into the back side of a bunch of other hard working ACC media people and folks who cover these teams and folks who can other word college football. If people scream at us and make fun of us and, and, you know, rant all the time on social media, you're an idiot, you're a moron. I mean, this happens all the time. And for some reason, we have thick skin, but these coaches don't have thick skin.

54:31It's very perplexing to be. It really is. It's perplexing. I just wish coaches had a little bit of that thicker skin. Anyway, that was my favorite sound bite of today, but I got to get to more from what I gathered. Lane Kiffin on the comment, imagine if we had pros, which he slipped in during that halftime interview. Well, I just said that to Shelley afterwards. What would it look like if they wanted to have those players too? You know, so that's just my personality. So is what it is. Just you actually like put that on our city. So what's the difference? Everybody hates you. They can't hate you that much more. So there you go. You got another line. But I'm just really glad they played the way they did. So that wouldn't have been the story because I get it out of the whole story. Even if we won close and kind of ugly, the whole story would have been, man, I screwed the team up by, you know, doing this. And I said this morning, you cannot agree with it.

55:35I've been criticized heavily for the last two weeks and I get that. I understand. But my job is not to please you and worry about what you're going to write. My job is what I believe is right. And I believe we were fighting for what was right for those kids. I'm not going to get into all the reasons, but that's what I believe. And so, um, Lane will tell people don't like that. They don't understand that. And anything they can't just sleep at night. Maybe if they knew my relationship with Declan, you'd think a little different. Oh, good gracious. How about Mike Dorvel? And this is a clip from him in his press conference, responding to the booze that occurred at the Campbell Stadium. When Florida State had the ball, it had a chance to win the game or had the chance to take the lead at least. I thought it was a decent showing from Florida State. Everybody was, you know, bowing down at the SMU altar and then Florida states in the game. It's tied late, but we don't give them any credit for it. I guess I don't know. It was just all SMU's blunders, but you know, Florida State helped call some of those

56:38blunders. I mean, there's guys who are making those interceptions. And it's not just Kevin Jennings throwing it right to the opposing player. They actually had to, you know, die for a few of them, but Mike Norval responded to this question. Mike, you got fans booing when you're in the fourth quarter of a game that you're down through with the ball. Do you guys notice that? Does that affect the team at all? You know, I mean, you know, it's, you notice it, but you know, at the end of the day, there's always going to be, there's always going to be outside perspective. And, you know, whether you're on the, at home, whether you're on the road, you've got to be able to control what you can control. That's a part of this game. We're blessed and honored to be able to get to do it where we get to do out there on that field. And, you know, we have, we represent, you know, a special program. We represent a special place. And, you know, I can tell you that our players, our coaches, you know, everybody within the program has the highest of expectations. The passion of this place, I mean, this is, it's what makes it, makes it incredible. And, you know, that's, it is what it is.

57:39We have boot a week ago on a, on a third down and converted to fourth down and then cheering. You know, it's all part of it. You know, it's just the, that's, that's a part of, you know, what we get the opportunity to do. And, you know, just, you know, maintain our focus on our job and don't get distracted by that either. All right. That's more from press time on the best seat in the house. I do never see a week gathering the clips that I think are important or entertaining or both. Now, let's go to Tony Elliott and his press conference for earlier today, talking about takeaways from the NC State game because we didn't get a press conference a week ago because the Virginia was on by. So this was the first time for the media to ask him questions about that win after he had time to digest the film. Yeah, I think, I think we knew about the potential. It was good to just see the performance that all those guys could, could quickly find a rhythm and be able to find the runs. I think what you learned about the team as a whole, learned a little bit about their composure, their poise, kind of their reaction in game to the, to the, to the moment, potential momentum shifts.

58:43Got to learn a little bit more about the team's speed, see it on live versus versus other competition. I know I made those comments about Bo after the game about man. He is, he is, you know, faster than, then, because again, I'm seeing him against my guys. All right, so you get to gauge that speed of play versus versus other teams. So just, you know, a lot of things that you thought and you were able to validate, but then also it identified some areas where we got to continue to improve. And a little more on the way. Tony Elliott, it is. Yeah, weekly press conference. Yeah, guy, because I probably not talked as much about, but earned reps. How far have you seen from that freshman last year to what do you see him now? He made a tremendous amount of growth throughout the course of the season. I think he came in as a, as a guy, it's okay. He's got a ton of upside, got some developing to do to now he's playing against Missouri, you know, carrying the ball in critical situations. And it's like, all right, here we go. The moment wasn't too big. And then you just saw him continue to make progress. And so where he's made, he may have guys that can do things, maybe a little bit different

59:44than what he does. What I tell you is great about him. He's comfortable on his own skin. Right. He knows his skill set, but then he's also, you know, she shows up every day trying to improve. Tony Elliott, talking about Zadavis, one of his running backs. All right. It's the best seat in the house. Bottom of the hour on the way. I'm your host, Luke near when we return. We'll take a look at the AP top 25 pole Virginia Bakes and appearance. I'll get into that and also give you my personal top 10. Stay tuned on the flagship station W I N A. This is college football talk of the best seat in the house. Welcome back to the show folks. And I'm going to the AP top 25 pole, which was released today. Yes. A day later than usual because we had to watch S.W. and Florida state all of us. And when I say all of us, I'm really talking about our entire sports staff here at the surveillance, media group. And if you think that the power outage delay was going to stop me from watching every second of that game, you're mistaken. I got it out the entire game. I had a late dose of caffeine that pushed me to the finish line and beyond.

1:00:46And I was able to digest and get a lot of information. So let's talk. If you touch 25 Virginia clubs and at number 25 Michigan, get goes out of the pole. So that was a notable shift. And then everything else pretty much stayed the same. Louisville does get in at number 24. So that was another notable shift if you catch my drift. Now LSU bolted all the way up to number eight. That was a leap of note. And then Oregon plummeted down to number six after being preseason number two in the country. I think that was fair. And other than that, not too much movement, Iowa jumps up to 21. Missouri jumps up to 23. I don't know why don't ask me. I'm not a Missouri guy this year. So little shifts here and everywhere. But I'm going to give you my balance for the teams who I think are the top 10 in the

1:01:51country. And these are not power ratings. I'm putting myself in the shoes of the AP voter. So imagine Greg Media calls me up and says because he's an AP voter and says, Luke, what do you think? Give me your top 10. This is what I would say to him truthfully. Now the AP poll is a mix of, hey, is this team deserving? Is it what they've done? Do they deserve to be ranked this high? And I also think it's a combination of are they better than the team next to them? Or the other team? It's a combination of overall this team is good. They're resume their body of work because everything is apples to oranges considering unbalanced scheduling that occurs, not only inside of conferences, but between different conferences

1:02:51as well. My number one team in the country. The team that I have number one right now. And I'm sticking to this. And I can't believe I'm saying it. Then I'm going to keep Ohio State number one. The more and more I think about Jeremiah Smith and the more and more I think about the rest of the roster, I'm keeping them at number one at number two for me. Guess what? I'm bumping up the SEC. They deserve to have representation after the week they had. And this could be the SEC's year, dethroning the big 10. If you gave me, let's say on a neutral field tomorrow, Texas and Georgia going head to

1:03:57head. I'm taking Georgia and you know why coaching advantage and you're at the coaches part of your team. So I'm fine with Georgia number two. I'm not fine with Notre Dame number three. I have Indiana and you can say that I'm still living in the past, but I think Hoover's great. They're the Chaps. It should actually probably be number one. So I'll swap that with Ohio State because body of work plus power wreckings is how it works. And they played an actual opponent in Ohio State played UTIPS. So I'm going to give Indiana the top spot. I'm making a little bit of an edit right there. So in Indiana number one, Georgia number two for me, Ohio State is number three. And then I go Texas number four. And I'll tell you what, then I go LSU number five, Miami number six.

1:04:57After that, I finally get down to Notre Dame number seven, Oregon number eight for me. After their performance at home at Alton against Boise State where they trailed it half and were in a dogfight, they plummet to eight. At number nine, I'm giving Ole Miss credit. I'm keeping them there. They got the job done against a good Louisville team who's now ranked and they have one of the best quarterbacks in the country if not the best. Planet Zipple. They stay at number nine. And then I'm going to Oklahoma number 10. So sorry, Texas Adam, I think Oklahoma is better than you and the resumes are pretty much equal right now after both teams play the cupcake in week one. So Oklahoma is going to round out my top 10. And then from there, it gets, you know, the teams are a little bit different. It's not as much of a debate. It doesn't really matter if you're ranked 12 or if you're ranked 14 in my personal opinion.

1:06:04But if I'm going to rehash their champs, stay the chip, body of work, Indiana and their win and Hoover. Their number one for me, George number two Ohio State number three. From there, I go Texas at number four so I agree with the voters. Then I slide LSU at number five, Miami at number six. Then I give Notre Dame seven, Oregon eight, Ole Miss nine, Oklahoma 10. That's my ballot. Which obviously I'm not submitting because I'm not an AP better, but that's just how I feel the packing order is with the combination of body of work and power rankings. So it's not all who would be favored on a neutral field. It's not all that. I got to give credit to some teams who have a little bit better of a win like Ole Miss. Ole Miss has a good win to start the season. Now they've had the opportunity.

1:07:05Some other teams have not had the opportunity, but I have to credit them. I have to put that feather in the cap because they actually won the game against Louisville on a neutral. That's important to me. Virginia won a real game in week zero against a conference opponent. That matters. That's why they're ranked. They should be ranked. If I take a look at power ratings, I think Virginia is hovering right around 22, which I think is actually fair from some of the numbers guys. So if you're taking a look at power rankings or ratings alone, most are going to have this hierarchy. Ohio State one, Georgia two, Notre Dame three, Texas four, Miami five, IU six, Oregon seven, plummeting down, LSU all the way up to eight. Then we get into the range of Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas tech, Texas A&M. Even though I don't think Texas tech should be that high. Then we get into Alabama, USC territory. And then we trickle down.

1:08:06But I think Virginia is solidly right around 25 in that facility. This is a bump up from where I had them in the preseason, which was in the mid thirties. It's a significant shift. That is what I believe. And I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible, whatever I'm behind this microphone. And I've got half my listeners saying, I'll look you're too critical. You're a hater. And I've got the other half saying, look you're too much of a homer. You're a UVA grad. So I like to have that balance. Makes me feel like I'm at least doing my best to be fair about properly rating Virginia. I guess you're not going to get that from the Twitter accounts. All of those hype accounts out there, it's all propaganda. None of it is substance. It's all cherry picking stats. And you know who these accounts are.

1:09:07Everybody from embrace the pace in Mikey's surf. All those, they're just cheerleaders. They don't give you any substance. So I'd never say a word to critical about any UVA team in any sport across the board. So why even listen to them? It's like white noise to me. These terrible accounts, which are just pretty much blind propaganda and everything is great and wonderful and rosy. And if the team loses, I'm not going to say anything about it. If they win, I'm going to give you every single stat. So it got to be fair in this industry. Unlike the UVA fanboy Twitter, as I call them, all of these accounts that just only pay attention to the roses and the rainbows. Anyway, that's a look at my top 10 and where I have Virginia power rated right now in the packy goreter.

1:10:08I do have them in the top 25. I think that's fair. If they played against, let's say, a team such as Missouri on a neutral, I would have Virginia favored tomorrow. If they played tomorrow or if they played this weekend, I would have them favored over Missouri. I would have them favored over teams like Arizona. And to be honest, even Michigan at this point, but I am a low on Michigan. I think it is going to take Kyle Woodingham a little bit of time to get his guys in. He was a late arrival as far as coaching higher. And that does matter. So that's why my lack of a week is Oklahoma. I think they win by double digits against Michigan or at least it touched up. And that's all they need. Okay, you're in the best seat in the house on W I night on the other side.

1:11:14I'll give you a primer for the rest of the week and keep talking college football. There's a lot of college basketball angles that I want to get to. I'm going to save some of that for next week when Gus Kerns is going to return for his monthly hit and we get closer and closer to Virginia's exhibition against Vandy outside in Charleston. So stay tuned for a lot of basketball talk next week. And I'll sprinkle some in a little bit later on this week. But there's so much football we need to get to it a short week, not only because we didn't have a show yesterday, but labor day, but also because of Virginia plays on Friday. And I'm going to have like 15 minutes with you before cap countdown begins with Jay and the guys and the network coverage begins obviously at 6.30 p.m. So stay tuned for more about first these words on W I night. Final segment on the Tuesday edition of the best seat in the house. I'm your host Luke Neier taking you to the top of the hour. And stay tuned keep it locked right here on W I day because the coaches quarter show with Tony Elliott's live from the dairy market is coming up with John Freeman. Adam Haws rejoins the show.

1:12:14I gave my top 10 Adam. Any changes looking at the AP poll for you, any rearranging and just to tell you, I do a balance of power ratings plus body of work. And for now, I used to are the champs body of work. They played a better team than say Ohio State. So I've still got them. Number one, I've got Georgia, surprisingly. Number two, everybody calls me a hater. And I got to be fair. If Georgia was playing Texas on a neutral field, I would favor Georgia tomorrow. Okay, because they have a better coach. That also factors into my rankings. Signati is an outstanding coach. Kirby's a great coach. Sarc gets owned by Kirby. Therefore, that's my logic. Okay. Okay. I have no other name a little bit lower than most people. I don't have them at three. I have them all the way down at six. Ooh, that's yeah. I mean, it's a knock to Notre Dame down a little bit. It's week one. I've got, unless you at number five, I've got, I wish you over Notre Dame, actually. After that beat, I mean, 51 to 10.

1:13:15Come on. Yeah, margin margin. Margin and opponent. Yeah, you got to consider that. Maybe most impressive, but I give me your 10. Yeah, I'd probably keep Indiana one just by default. I'd move Oregon down as well. I don't know. Texas looks pretty good to me. They were playing a decent Texas state team. It wasn't just a cupcake and they still won 50 something to seven, I think. Yeah, Texas state did kind of pull their guys though. Let's see one thing. Maybe. I'm just saying that. That was a notable margin for me for talking margin. Yeah, I agree. I think I would go Indiana, Texas Miami as well. I mean, Tony looks like he's just going to run wild. Maybe LSU past that. Wow. No Georgia yet. I mean, Tennessee was a Tennessee state. They played it was a Tennessee tech. A table team. Yeah. You've dropped the tech of the state. Then I'll pay attention what Georgia did as impressive as the margin was. I can serve the opponent. Georgia there. Probably go Ole Miss next just because I am pretty high on Louisville.

1:14:15Noter day after that. I mean, Ohio states in my top 10. We're going to learn a lot more. Will they stay there? Man, I like your top 10. You're good. You were certainly not going with the establishment. Yeah, probably go Notre Dame, Oklahoma, then Oregon. I guess it's mostly just rearranging teams, but hey, you got to. I have Virginia in my top 25. I would definitely have them. And like I said, it means more coming from this microphone than coming from fanboy Twitter because I just would not have read about how, you know, if somebody who's trying at least to be as objective as possible. I was listening to Mary to somebody who is just a cheerleader and, you know, in consequential. Yes, they say. Yeah, I know. I think Virginia's got a case right now that the second, I mean, it's one game. Through one game, they would be the second best team in the ACC, I think. Considering the opponent, they played a conference peer and dominated them. So you definitely got to put them in the top 25. You know, teams that I've heard you talking a little, Missouri will find out more, obviously.

1:15:18Notably, Missouri. Austin Simmons looks pretty good. And who's the wide receiver I can't remember is last name, but DJ something. Oh, yeah, I'll stop there. Houston could be a problem. I have problems pun intended in. Yeah, Mike was actually on to that. He was not on Houston. So I'm hit. Hit pray for him. But still monitoring Texas tech. They did not blow me away week one looking at the final score. I didn't, I can't say I watch much of them, but USC they have to be downgraded a little bit. The Gary Patterson defense could be fun at USC, but will it actually stop, you know, Oregon or Indiana, I think remains to be seen. They've also got a lot of young players, but I'm still high on them. BYU, you talk tech, they play Arizona. So you're going to learn more. Yeah, I think I'm kind of rearranging the top 10 and inserting Oklahoma instead of A&M as my number 10 team. We didn't do whitters and losers of week one. Right. Too much to get to. Let's do it really quickly.

1:16:18Okay. The obvious losers, I think have to be the Clemson quarterbacks plural. Yeah. Clemson in general. I mean, dabbo, I mean, you could just pile on. Yeah, it's a shame. It's a, I'd say Michigan huge loser. Yeah, I know it was a field goal game, but Jeff Brahms took a bit of a hit in my eyes. I think he was a loser with the number of penalties they had and just the wide open touchdown that they missed in the first half to. I don't know. Didn't reflect well on Brahms too much, even though I still have a secondaries in general. Yeah, maybe. A lot of explosive passes from Ole Miss. We've all had explosive passes. SMU did as well. So state had some explosive plays. Didn't they? Those were mostly runs though, I guess. Yeah. I think Texas Tech is a little bit of a loser by not laying us back down. Yeah, for sure. I think they have to be involved. Winners. LSU, Lane Kiven, number one. Yeah, with a bullet for sure.

1:17:20Malakitoni. I mean, Malakitoni is a huge way. Everybody was hit in the Heisman pose. His was justified, in my opinion. He went for 234 and three touchdowns. He set the single game record for Miami receiver. And that was at least against an ACC team. It wasn't against the team Ohio State was playing for the present. And Mensa, I gotta say, looks pretty impressive. Just the way he slings it, I don't know that there's a better QB at putting the ball on target with velocity than him that I saw over the weekend. It's gonna be a heck of a year. It's gonna be a heck of a Heisman race as well. The numbers are gonna be outlandish. Let me just tell you that much. I still am a firm believer a quarterback will win the Heisman even though Tony and Jeremiah Smith are fine. I was gonna say, I mean, running back is third this year, I think. Running back is not even close. Yeah. There's nobody who's getting even content. Nobody runs like Adara Kenry did. Nobody's getting to New York who's running back this year. I'm not gonna have a running back in New York. That's one of my predictions.

1:18:20There we go. And I'm sticking to that. I'm sticking to it. Okay. Last but not least at our final 30 seconds. How many teams can win the national title? For me right now, I've got nine. Yeah, I was gonna say I was gonna say 10. I mean, I spent up 10 at the beginning of the year. I was at eight and I'm at nine. LSU can definitely win it, I think. After Saturday, yeah, I'm with you. All right, thanks so much. I'll just come up next. I'll be back tomorrow with Jeppel Feller. It's ironic, but perfect timing and also Mike Barber. So I will see you then on the best seed in the house.