Defining Moments: CFB Must-Wins

[00:00:02] Sports Reports, no gimmicks, no clowns. 2-5, Mr. Logical, we run this town. Real talk only, no chasing, no doubt. From the east to the west, it's the order we shout. Mic check, lights, flash, game time, stay ready. Two vets in the zone, keep the pressure real heavy. Big hits, big plays, yeah we breaking it down. Truth rings in your speakers, every word is the crown. From the north side hustle to that southern flame. Midwest grind, west coast of the game. Sports Talk Kings, yeah we wear that crown. Turn it up, let them know. It's about the crown.

[00:00:32] Sports Reports, no gimmicks, no clowns. 2-5, Mr. Lodical, we run this town. Real talk only, no chasing, no doubt. From the east to the west, it's the order we shout. It's about to go down.

[00:00:58] Yes! 2-5 is here, Sports Reports is ordered. Just got done with Say Less, Say More. You know what I'm saying? Check us both out wherever you get your podcasts. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things, do all the good things. So, um, I wanted to get into a little something. You know, we got another week of football coming at us. You know, Buffalo and Detroit are playing right now. Buffalo's been dominating the majority of the game.

[00:01:27] But, we also have college football. You know, saying, and last check I saw Pitt was pretty much in front of Syracuse. So, but, um, getting into this weekend. There's a couple of games, a couple of coaches that I think have to win. Because, you know, you get to a point where you have to prove the concept. You have to prove that what I'm doing is working. I'm building something.

[00:01:52] Or, I haven't lost something in this first case, right? So, we're barely into the college football season. But are we actually at a must-win point? Or am I overreacting? You know, is it possible to be in a must-win situation in week three? Or am I just jumping the gun? So, let's talk about it.

[00:02:17] So, we got Clemson in North Carolina. You know, two legends. You know, albeit different ways that they got there. Bill Belichick through the professional ranks. Dabo Sweeney over at Clemson. So, you know, it's been a while since Clemson has won a national title. You know, they played for the title in 2019 against Joe Burrow and the gang. And, you know, they've been on a little slide. You know, to include going 7-6 last year.

[00:02:44] To include losing to Duke last year. Even though they had Darian Menta, Clemson fans ain't trying to lose to Duke, okay? So, you know, this game is important in the conference. You know what I mean? Because Clemson and North Carolina, they're not necessarily the best of teams. But the winner of this game can set themselves up. Because, you know, Clemson's got Miami coming up.

[00:03:15] That's going to be a whale of a game. It's at Death Valley. But before you even get there, before you even get to the Miami game, they got a trip coming up to Berkeley. You know what I'm saying? Which is two Fridays from now. You know, then they... Oh, I'm sorry. That's next Friday. Then they play Miami the Saturday after. Then they get Charleston Southern, okay?

[00:03:41] Then they get Virginia Tech at FSU, at Syracuse, Georgia Tech, at Duke. They could build some momentum with a win this weekend. But the reason that they have to win this weekend is independent of themselves. The reason they have to get the win this weekend is because they're playing against North Carolina and Bill Belichick.

[00:04:02] Coming off of a bye week, you know, fresh off of beating TCU in Eastern Tennessee. North Carolina, right? They get Notre Dame next. Not a conference game. You know, at Pitt, at Duke, Syracuse versus Miami, at UConn, Louisville, at Virginia, NC State. So, North Carolina is not an ACC contender.

[00:04:29] But if North Carolina can get the 7-5 coming off of what they dealt with last year, depending on who they beat, that could be a successful season. They took care of TCU already. You know, they could clip Virginia in a rivalry game to close out the year to end it with a cherry on top before they play NC State. But beating Clemson shows that Bill Belichick is on the right path.

[00:04:55] It shows that I know what I'm doing because a lot of us were questioning that. Is Jordan Hudson doing too much? Is his style too complicated as far as his playbook and, you know, what he wants to do? Is it too accomplished and complex for college players? Being that he spent his life in the NFL, you know, is he able to dumb it down in a way that makes the game easier for those players?

[00:05:22] Can he scheme and put them in places that he needs them to be that they don't even know that they need to be? Right? So, Clemson, you know, like I mentioned, coming off the 76th year, but it was a tumultuous year. Because Dabo Sweeney was arguing with anybody that would listen about how there were no problems, how they were still going to come back, they were going to fight, they don't need to transfer a portal because, you know, they raised Clemson players.

[00:05:50] Now, they did go out and get 16 players in the transfer portal, which was up from the three that they got the year before. So, I think there is some realization without a full committal that I got to do this. If I want to compete, I have to do this. Look at what Miami's doing in our backyard, right? So, the reason I'm concerned for Clemson, it's easy to point to the 51-10 loss to LSU.

[00:06:20] And you know, that just goes without saying. But last week, Georgia Southern had players talking in the media about how they saw stuff on film that made them feel comfortable against Clemson. Georgia Southern! Not the Bulldogs. Not even the damn Yellow Jackets who beat Clemson last year, by the way. Georgia Southern!

[00:06:48] So, when I heard that, my initial reaction was, oh, Clemson about to put up 50. They about to do the Georgia Southern what LSU did to them. You know what Clemson did? They won that game 22-7. Now, it was never in doubt. It was never in doubt. So, this wasn't a case where they almost lost or anything along those lines. But I think it was more so the inability to just choke Georgia Southern out.

[00:07:18] You know, Georgia Southern was in that game at the start of the fourth quarter. They just didn't have the players to keep up. They didn't have speed. You know, they had Max Johnson. You know, Brad's son, who is just an old guy that's not intimidated by these things, right? So, that's why I just, I don't know. I don't know. Like, this game is going to be tough for the loser.

[00:07:46] Now, if you're North Carolina, maybe it's not so bad because, you know, you could at least tell yourself that it's Clemson. You know, saying the name alone. This is a team that expects to be in the conference title race. If we could play them competitively even because they played last year and it wasn't competitive. So, if we could just stay on the field with this team and look like we belong, that's progress, right?

[00:08:14] I think they can, you know, because I think they can keep Clemson out of the end zone from what we've seen this season so far. You know, I think Clemson can keep North Carolina out of the end zone. So, I think this is going to be an under. Like, I would not be surprised if this game finished 13-10 or something along those lines. I'm going to go with Clemson to get the win at home. But, if they lose that game, what's going to be the talk Monday morning down in Clemson, South Carolina?

[00:08:46] You know, is Dabo going to start hearing the chatter again? Is Dabo going to feel the need to come out and go to war with fans again? Remember Tyler? Florida State. My beloved Seminoles. Mike Norvell. Needless to say, you know, on the hot seat. I broke down his record the other night on Sports Reports Disorder. Tuesdays and Fridays at 845 Eastern.

[00:09:16] He's going into Tuscaloosa this weekend. 20.5 point underdog. 19.5 depending on where you're looking. The AD just got fired this past week or during this week. You're next, buddy. So, what you should do is go to Tuscaloosa and have an outing that the university can say, okay, we're on the right path. Going back to last year. They played Alabama to start the year, of course.

[00:09:46] 45-31 victory. Ty Simpson's first game. Keelan Russell's got some games under his belt. So, they're not coming in with a new guy that hasn't seen the field yet. And they've been dominant in their wins. You know, they bullied East Carolina. They played, you know, as Ari Wasserman would say, they played grab ass with Kentucky for a little bit. And then they said enough.

[00:10:13] And you don't think that they got revenge on their mind for what happened in Tallahassee last year. Now, Florida State is coming off of a bye. But the last time we saw them, we're not so encouraged. Right? They took four turnovers from SMU. They lost. They lost. They had the ball with 10 seconds left with a chance to try to go score a touchdown.

[00:10:39] But that game was lost way before that when they gave up 500 yards to SMU. Now, you're talking about Alabama's physicality. You're talking about another good coach. Because I think Rhett Lashley's a good coach. So, what I'm about to say, I'm not trying to take a shot at him. That's why I wanted to clarify. But, Kalen DeBoer is a coach's coach. He's going to have that team ready.

[00:11:09] Now, as you've got so many players in the transfer portal. You've got two games under your belt. You've struggled with New Mexico State. Right? If Alabama covers this spread, I'm afraid we're going to get the news Sunday morning that Mr. Norvell has been wished luck in his future endeavors. And I'm not opposed to it. But what I do hate is why.

[00:11:38] Because you had the chance to fire him last year when he lost that game in Palo Alto against Stanford. You know, you had a chance to fire him when he gave up 40-plus to Virginia last year. You had the chance when he couldn't score on Miami. Florida State hasn't won a road game since November 2023.

[00:12:06] Thank goodness for my little heart that it was in the swamp. But that was the last time. Did you hear what I said? 2023? 2023? Now, I can't look at you with a straight face, right? And think that Florida State's going to walk into Tuscaloosa and win. I can't look at you and say that with good faith. That would just be a fan talking. But what I'm saying is you better cover that damn spread.

[00:12:35] And I ain't talking about it's 19 and a half, you lose by 17. I'm talking about you put the fear of God in Alabama that it's going to happen again. So I'm going to pick Alabama. I'm going to pick Florida State to cover. And I'm going to call that thing something along the lines of 34 to 23.

[00:13:02] So still double digits, but maybe not enough to fire Norvell just yet. But Virginia's on the horizon. You know, right after that, you go to Louisville on a weeknight, Friday night. And if you've been watching Sports Reports is ordered and reading my articles on Chopchat.com, you done heard me say that plenty of times about that stadium, right? Ask Jameis Winston about it. You know what I'm saying?

[00:13:27] But then also, when you look at it, they play Miami the week after that. Granted, it's at home. But again, if you've been watching Sports Reports is ordered, you heard me say, you know, Florida State has a better record against Miami in Miami than they do at Dope Campbell Stadium. So Mike Norvell, you're on the clock, buddy.

[00:13:56] Virginia Tech at Maryland. Interesting game. Interesting game. Elite Washington. You know, Ethan Grunkemeyer. You know, we got James Franklin in his first road game at Virginia Tech. Now, he is not on a hot seat. I'm not. This isn't hyperbole hour. I'm actually having a real conversation here, right? But what I'm saying is Virginia Tech has a lot of hope for this year.

[00:14:24] The media, people like me, have been talking about how Virginia Tech's going to win eight games, maybe nine games this year, if all things go right. They've looked great, you know, these first couple of weeks, you know, albeit against lesser competition. But now you go on the road for the first time. And it's a place that James Franklin is very familiar with. It's the place that he should have been a head coach 15 years ago.

[00:14:53] Maryland, where he was the coach and waiting under Ralph region in the fridge. And Ralph wouldn't leave. So, you know, James left when he had the opportunity to. Okay. Now, Maryland is known for their fast starts, right? It's not atypical to see Maryland at 4-0, 3-1, 5-0 even at times.

[00:15:23] It's not atypical to see Maryland at 5-7 at the end of those same seasons. 6-6 if they get a weather, like, you know, some kind of precipitation that goes in their favor or something along those lines. Luck. So, Mike Loxley, for me, has been on the hot seat the last three years. Now, I know he's a great recruiter. And from what I hear, he's a great guy.

[00:15:52] But you got to win. You know what I'm saying? If Oregon's going to be Nike University, you got to be Under Armour University, right? So, now is the time to pick up a win over a coach like James Franklin, who dominated you when you were in the Big Ten, Penn State versus Maryland. This is a home game. You got Virginia Tech coming in you. You should try to win that game, Mike Loxley.

[00:16:21] Because we've seen it, right? Once Maryland loses a game, it tends to snowball. Okay. Greg Sciano, he's in, you know, he's 0-2. Not only 0-2, 0-2 against the state of Massachusetts. Not only 0-2 against the state of Massachusetts. Ended UMass' 16-game losing streak by beating Rutgers.

[00:16:51] They got USC coming in. 24 and a half underdogs at SHI Stadium. Now, we've heard the talk about the West Coast teams traveling east and how, you know, that affects them. More so you hear that in the NFL. But we know that these time zone things are a thing in the Big Ten. We saw USC go to Illinois, for example, for a big new game and lose last season.

[00:17:20] We saw USC, I believe it was two years ago, come across the College Park and lost to Maryland. Mike Loxley got them one that day. So, USC can't take this game for granted. Now, there's two sides of this coin. You know, Greg Sciano, if they lose this game by, say, a 31-7 type score, we might get notified on Sunday morning that he's out.

[00:17:49] Now, I doubt it because he is the most successful coach in Rutgers history. He is the coach that made Rutgers relevant. But that was 20 years ago. Remember that game against Louisville, Thursday night football, Big East, Empire State building was red for Rutgers, even though they're in New Jersey. And they're deep in New Jersey, too. It's not like they're in Jersey City.

[00:18:14] But you can't lose that game in that way this weekend and expect that it's going to end well for you. Now, on the USC side, you know, they've been letting these backdoor covers come in. And all these games that they're playing are dress rehearsals for Oregon that they play in a couple of weeks. Now, I know Oregon's down on bad times right now, relatively speaking. But you got to get all the momentum you can.

[00:18:45] Can you cover the 24 and a half? Can you stop leaving the backdoor open? South Carolina and Mississippi State. You got Kamario Taylor coming in. Boy, is he a stud. Boy, is Ole Miss, I'm sorry, Mississippi State going to have to back up the Brinks trucks if they want to keep him next year. With that being said, Shane Beamer is on the hot seat.

[00:19:13] South Carolina has talent. You know, sounds like Stewart is going to be back. They've been playing cupcakes, you know, the first two weeks of the season, as most teams have. Now, this isn't a must win in the sense of Mississippi State's coach Jeff Levy losing his job. This is a must win for proof of concept. Last year, they took Tennessee to overtime. Couldn't finish it.

[00:19:42] You know, they took Texas to overtime. Remember, that was the game Brandon Walker was on the sideline and everybody made fun of him because he was the bad luck. You know, this is the game that you have a chance to make a statement. This is the game that you could come through and say, Mississippi State is a factor. We ain't winning the SEC. But we're going to make it hard for you too.

[00:20:12] South Carolina, Beamer can't lose this game just because of the state of Mississippi State coming into this season. Now, they still got Clemson. They still got Bama. They still got Georgia. You got to win this game. Or else, you got to pack your bags. You know, some people thought that he was going to be out last year. Some people thought he was going to take another job last year.

[00:20:43] We'll see. Now, let me hit the G6 for a second. Tim Allman, you know, came over from Ohio. Not Ohio State, but Ohio. And Athens, the other Athens. He came in fresh off of a MAAC championship. 2024, Ohio won the MAAC. He took over Charlotte.

[00:21:09] Charlotte, since then, 1-13 is the record. Right? Not only 1-13. They lost to the Citadel a couple of weeks ago. They were 20-and-a-half point favorites over the Citadel where you could argue Charlotte shouldn't be 20-and-a-half over anybody. They go to Boone this weekend, to Appalachian State, who just knocked off ECU. Okay?

[00:21:40] Charlotte has been FBS for 12 years now. I wouldn't quite call them UMass just yet, but they've only had one winning season. That was 2019, and they went 7-and-6. So, winning season by the slimmest of margins, right? Lost the bowl game. In that 12 years that they've been FBS, they've had four head coaches and two interim coaches.

[00:22:11] This is not the school that's going to hesitate to let you go. Now, I think Tim Alban's a good coach. I think Charlotte is a cesspool of a program. You know what I mean? Like, you can't see the offenses that ECU puts out most of the time. You know, you can't have the fear that Appalachia State puts into people. If they just have you existing.

[00:22:43] So, beating Appalachia State would go a long way in righting a lot of wrongs. Okay. Final one. Jamie Chadwell. Jamie Chadwell. Great head coach. You know, I thought that he was going to be on his way to a Power 4 coaching job at some point.

[00:23:12] You know, and of course, you know, I think that he ended up taking a job and he took a job at a place that's known for their money. You know what I mean? Like, Liberty has the money.

[00:23:40] Because I always asked, like, why can't Liberty be Baylor? Why can't Liberty be BYU? Now, granted, they don't have the history of those teams, right? That's answer number one. You know, answer number two is maybe a culture thing. You know, we know about the Falwell family. I'm not going to turn this into politics. Just bringing it up. But why can't Jamie Chadwell get it right at Liberty? So he came in year one.

[00:24:11] And they went 13-1. They didn't play any Power 4 schools that year. They went to the Fiesta Bowl and got appropriately spanked by Duckzilla, a.k.a. Oregon. Okay. Since that 13-1 season, this sounds very Mike Norvell-ish, but at least he has a winning record. You know, because Mike Norvell, without the 13-1 year, is something like 24-20 or 34-36.

[00:24:41] But Jamie Chadwell is 27-25 since that 13-1 season. You know, he's won 100 games in his career. They went 4-8 last year. While they watched Kennesaw State, who was only in their second, well, they were in their second year of FBS, saw them win CUSA. Finished behind Delaware and Missouri State as well.

[00:25:15] Can't do it. You can't do it. Liberty, with the money that they have, is outspending every school in that conference. This should be a walk in the park for them until Tarlington State shows up at some point. That's a prediction, not a spoiler. You know, I think that Jamie Chadwell had a chance in week one to beat JMU. It was a close game. They lost by seven.

[00:25:41] You know, had a chance to get that type of victory. Now, what I'll say about Liberty is Conference USA is a shell of itself. You know, Sam Houston still can't win games. You know, my Hilltoppers, you know, just gave up 70 to Georgia the other day.

[00:26:08] And, oh, by the way, they're 44-and-a-half point underdogs to Indiana, the national champion, this weekend. So, it's not a good time to be a Hilltopper. You know what I mean? So, I just don't know what to expect from this team. They get Ball State this weekend. They should win. They go to Coastal next weekend. Go to Delaware. I think you got to win all three of those games. And, you got Sam Houston on a Thursday.

[00:26:37] You should go 4-0 in that stretch if you want to feel safe because you go to Kennesaw the week after that. So, Jamie Chadwell, I think, is a good enough coach that he can turn Liberty around. I just wonder if he's going to get the opportunity to. We'll see. But, of course, I will be back tomorrow. Sports reports is ordered. NFL Week 2 picks. College Football Week 3 thoughts and picks.

[00:27:07] You know, LSU, Ole Miss this weekend. You know, I'm 2-5. Thank you for watching. Thank you for your support. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. Salute to you. Sports reports is ordered. On behalf of Mr. Logical, out.

[00:27:53] To that southern flame. Midwest grind. West coast in the game. Sports talk kings. Yeah, we wear that crown. Turn it up. Let them know it's about to go down.