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Tony Kihl: all right, guys, we are back. Welcome to the latest episode in the flat podcast. I'm your host, Tony Kihl. Joined again, Jess and Jordan, bringing you the second podcast this week because we had so much we had Get to, we could have do it in one podcast this week.
Since we last left you Florida state has lost again. They may have lost a second time this week. Who knows? I have to take a look at what they're going to have going on there in Florida. We have some news in the PAC 12 or whatever they're called now, the PAC two. The new AP poll was released.
And then we want to get into some pre more deeper previews for week two here. There's some good. Dive deeper into some of those matchups that we talked about earlier this week, but also some that we didn't talk about. So let's get started first with Florida State. So Florida State played Boston College Monday night and lost 28 13 and it probably wasn't even that close.
Boston College is really own the line of scrimmage, own this game from start to finish. I don't even think there was ever, I'd never doubted Boston College was going to win this game. It was like up to 14 0 at one point and they never really looked back. Their quarterback Castellanos looking at the game, he thought he had all kinds of numbers.
He threw, only threw for 106 yards, ran for 73 more. All their running backs seemed, 85 yards for Robichak. Number 77 yards for Williams. War 28 yards from Richard. So they had some good play there and then their defense played well against Florida State. dj, you did not play well. So what's going on in Florida State guys?
Jess, we'll start with you, man. What, in your opinion, what is the problem down there in Florida?
Jess Sabin: I think I was the lowest on Florida State coming into the year out of all of us. But, think it's like I was saying, they don't have any chemistry. This is a team that was essentially just built through the transfer portal.
They lost several of their top players to the draft. They just, this isn't, this is a team that might get better down the line, but I don't think anybody was expecting them to start the season 0 2, even their biggest detractor. There's clearly something going wrong there. I think it does start with the quarterback.
D. J. has been not bad, he's been terrible the first two weeks. I don't think they move off him just yet, cause right now the two guys behind him on the depth chart are Brock Glenn and Luke Cromenhoeck. God that's a name. Both of them are freshmen with the third stringer. Roman Hoek is appears to be a true freshman while Glenn is a red shirt freshman.
So it's not like they have experience behind DJ. I just you're
Tony Kihl: not winning. You're not winning it. You might as well throw Glenn in and see what he's got at quarterback. If I was, as I was me, maybe. Let's pull up He played in a bowl game last year, right? He looked great.
But you gotta hope that you can develop him and make him into something. But, I feel like if they really liked him, though, they would have went out and got DJU,
Jess Sabin: their next couple of games aren't gonna be cakewalks, either. Memphis I bet Memphis might win. Both of these games are at Florida State.
You got Memphis and Cal, then at SMU, before you host Clemson. If you're gonna start one of those guys, I think you gotta do it before Clemson, cause even though, Clemson did not look good in Week 1 against Georgia, that, their defense still played well. It just got, it was out on the field the whole time, cause they couldn't get a first down.
Yeah you're not gonna wanna Freshman, a true freshman, a redshirt freshman to come in and have to it's like all right regular season your first snaps Clemson like that's not gonna go So they either got to make the decision in the next two weeks Or you got to just ride out with DJ the whole season.
I neither option is sounds too appealing to me
Tony Kihl: Yeah, no I tend to agree. I feel like this, I, in my opinion this season's a wash. Go ahead and get your young guys in and what's to see what you got and play for next year at this point. What do you think, Jordan, would you give up hope at this point?
Or would you try to continue with what you're doing?
Jordan Schultz: I think I feel like give up hope. I just feel like they've lost and it wasn't like they lost to other ranked opponents, Georgia tech, Boston college. And I just don't see DJU growing, getting better throughout the season. Just so you know, the crazy part, ESPN Bets still has Florida State winning the Clemson game.
And has them for the Miami game. So That's,
Jess Sabin: it's way too far out to trust anything like that. Hey, I'm just saying. The fact that it's even still like that is boggling to me. But there's no way that, that stays, alright?
Speaker 5: There's no way. If so, I'll
Tony Kihl: go put some money on Miami right now.
Yeah, I'll
Speaker 5: I'll do the Clemson one. Take those odds right now. Do the
Jordan Schultz: Clemson one. Yeah. It's three and a half for Florida State, minus three and a half for Florida State. Clemson won.
Tony Kihl: I don't know if I trust Clemson. That, would that be the game they would just be terrible on offense and Florida State finds a way to win?
Hey, cause you bet on that. I much, Yeah, I
Jordan Schultz: don't
Tony Kihl: know.
Jordan Schultz: Hey, but I just feel like this game, I don't know what it is. They've lost three games since they started 13 and 0 last year. Don't know what's going on there. They ran the ball only 16 times this past, on Monday. I don't know if it's all players, the players are just not, Or if it's something or if you know their head coach is just I feel like all the momentum Florida State had at the end of the season going into that college football playoff is all gone.
Tony Kihl: Is it I've read a saw stat like is it like coach like what two and ten without Jordan Travis was that whole team this because of George and Jordan Travis or you know What do you think there?
Jordan Schultz: I definitely think it was Jordan Travis. He was that team. He was all over. He was everywhere.
Throw the ball, run the ball. He was that guy on offense and they don't have that anymore. They don't have that star that's gonna even if it's not the quarterback, if it's a running back, if it's a receiver that's going to put 100 plus yards a game they don't have that star.
Tony Kihl: They don't have that leader either.
He was the front and center and he got the motivated, got, I think his play got the defensive play harder. offensively harder without that right now. What motivation do the guys have? You know? All right, moving on to a little bit of news here. Pact two. And the Mountain West Conference of Mr 2025 deadline for scheduling arrangement.
What? So what does that mean? It means that right now we're going to see a have about four or five g next year. Green right now with the is over. So if you were t always forget about these see him. I never heard ab how they did week one. Th
I just I just, down at the conference, they're not even like independent, so you just don't really hear about them. What would you guys do if you were Oregon State, Washington State here? It's for you, Jordan what would be your next step? Would you be contacting the Big 12? Would you be trying to start a new Pac 12 with the Mountain West?
What are you thinking here?
Jordan Schultz: I feel like joining the Mountain West right now is the smartest option. I think the Big 12, I don't think they're too smart. I don't think these conferences are going to be taken. They don't want to take anywhere on. Big 10 got took a bunch of teams on big 12 pack. They had a big 12 has I feel like the Mountain West, especially how these teams have really not been the best teams, they're more fitted for that Mountain West conference.
I feel And for, if you're the AD and you want college football playoffs, you were in the Pac 12. You were in a Power Five conference. Drop down to that Google Five conference. Drop down and dominate that conference. You have the Power Five players, so go dominate the Ballon d'Oest for a couple
Tony Kihl: years.
Yep. I agree. Jess, do you agree?
Jess Sabin: Yeah, I don't really have much to add there. What else can they really do?
Jordan Schultz: Join Rutgers? Three people? Oh, yeah, Rutgers? Vanderbilt. Yeah, Vanderbilt. And then we can also add your other team. What's your other team? East Carolina. ECU. ECU. And they can just make a conference.
Tony Kihl: That's true. A nice global conference of teams.
Jess Sabin: It's as spread out as the Big Ten currently is. You see the new Big Ten ads, and it literally just goes coast to coast. You might as well.
Tony Kihl: Yeah, I might as well at this point.
Jess Sabin: Alright. Conferences don't even mean anything geographically anymore, it feels
Tony Kihl: hey Joe, I really hope that they eventually go back forever, like basketball, baseball and all that. Hope they, they stick to more regional in the future. All right, let's talk about the AP poll. It was released. Let me see the top 10 here. You have Georgia, Ohio state, Texas, Alabama, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn state and Missouri and Michigan.
And the top 10, the risers and fallers here. You had Texas moving from four to three. Alabama from 5 to 4, Notre Dame from 7 to 5, Oregon drops from 3 to 7, Missouri from 11 to 9, Michigan drops from 9 to 10. Any other, let me see if there's any other big risers. USC dropped 10 spots from 23 to 13. LSC dropped 5 spots 13 to 18.
Yeah, I think those are the biggest ones. That was a Cazus. Raised three from Clemson, dropped 11. Clemson dropped 11. Miami went from 19 to 12. I guess Florida State probably has the biggest drop. I didn't Oh, no. Clemson. Clemson dropped 11, but I think Florida State dropped on like 20. So yeah, Florida state's out.
Jess Sabin: Yeah, they're not in here. ,
Jordan Schultz: I don't think Florida State even got a vote. They did.
Tony Kihl: Not this week. They were number 10 last week. So they're out of the top 25. So they're the farst drop because they drop all the way out to the top 25 is, they're not even
Jess Sabin: in the, in consideration area. Yeah,
Tony Kihl: no they're dead.
So yeah. Any surprises or issues with this new top 25? Start with you, Jess.
Jess Sabin: Honestly, no. I actually do like that, Oregon, despite my thoughts on them, they were penalized and it wasn't just like they dropped one spot. No they dropped a full four spots despite winning. So I think that's a good sign for the rank, the AP rankings this year.
I haven't really had too much to say, uSC got their due diligence. Miami got respect. Michigan, another team that didn't look great really at all. They did what they had to do. They had that big Will Johnson ball don't lie moment, but they still were penalized despite winning.
Tony Kihl: Miami got it.
I missed it, but they did raise seven from 19 to 12
Jess Sabin: from 19 to 12. I don't really have an issue. I would maybe consider putting Notre Dame over Alabama. I think that Notre Dame's win was much more impressive. Obviously, didn't Alabama play like Western Kentucky? I think it was in week one and they won 63 0 or something.
It was crazy. As bad as Texas A& M. I don't think they've ever been Western Kentucky bad, despite their issues the past few years. Again, respect to Western Kentucky. You got, you went out there, you got paid. But, Notre Dame beating A& M, who I think we all, think is not going to be terrible this year.
Just not SEC good and maybe not up to where they should be with previous recruiting classes, but I think Notre Dame could be moved up to that four spot, but really I don't have anything to say much. Okay, Jordan any issues or surprises from you?
Jordan Schultz: No, I think They did a good job, like Jess said, Oregon dropping four.
I think the only reason they didn't put Notre Dame above Alabama is they didn't, I feel like there wasn't a big enough reason to push Notre Dame three spots up. Yeah. They'd be texting that, but I think that's, I think they didn't want to push them so far.
Tony Kihl: Honestly, if you just looked at who the teams played, if you were to just have a blank slate and there was no preseason AP poll, Georgia would be number one, you have Notre Dame, Miami, Penn State, those should be the teams at the top because, or USC, should be the teams because they played someone.
Is there ever teams, you don't know anything about them yet, yeah, Alabama beat West Kentucky or Ole Miss beat Thurman, which Georgia just loomed this week as in South Carolina. Yeah, but what do these but what do we know about these teams? We just know they beat a bad team by a lot, like they're supposed to
Jordan Schultz: I just want to point one thing out did you guys notice that Alabama has beaten T. J. Finley on three different teams?
Tony Kihl: They did. He just got to get away from them.
Jordan Schultz: LSU, Auburn, and now Western Kentucky.
Tony Kihl: Yep, he gets around. He was in North Texas last year, but he didn't play, I don't think he played Alabama last year,
Jordan Schultz: no.
Jess Sabin: It's, that's the big issue that I have with a lot of these Week 1 matchups. They're just tuning, tune up games for Alabama. It feels as Tony said, we don't know anything more about Alabama or Ole Miss or Tennessee, really.
Tony Kihl: And I wonder will these teams regret not playing, I guess you have two, two sides of the coin.
Will they regret not playing a top, tough team early, so when they do play a tough team later, it won't be, like, a shock to the system? Or would you Brian Kelly LSU plays every year. These tough teams, they always lose. But that's where you have to get your team up for it.
Cause you have to be able to at least challenge yourself. I'm not saying I have to go out like Alabama has to play Georgia week one. I'm thinking, can they go out and play like a top 25 team, like a Kansas state, Oklahoma state, Arizona week one. And just challenge themselves a bit that way when they get to these tough games, like when Alabama plays Georgia in a couple of weeks, it's not going to be like, Shocked the system because they haven't played anybody yet.
Jordan Schultz: I feel like I'm I want the NCAA to adapt and take on the NFL System a little bit scheduling, the SEC champions gonna play the ACC or the Big Ten champion That you know the first or second week of the season and we're gonna see the best teams play each other from each conference You know at some
Tony Kihl: point.
Yeah. Because what's the, here's the thing with the conference games, now what? They won't hurt you if you lose, so you shouldn't be scared to play 'em because if you lose, you can learn from 'em. And as long as you win your conference, you're in the playoff. It doesn't matter about your record. That's the main thing.
Jess Sabin: Again, as long as you don't get blown out, I feel like they're not, like if Texas beats. If Texas beats Michigan this week, and Texas wins 31 24, or 31 28, something like that, it's a close, tight, respectable game. Is that truly going to be, how much is that going to be held against Michigan later on? If they're, like, if it comes down to them, or a team that, you know Ole Miss, and Ole Miss got blown out in a tough non conference game.
You guys know what I'm saying. A good loss isn't going to hurt them as much as, I feel like a good loss, should honestly be better than a couple 63 0 wins over Western Kentucky and Austin PA later,
Tony Kihl: yep, I agree. All right, let's move ahead. Week two previews. So we have a bunch of games we can get into here.
Let's start first with Marshall at Virginia Tech. I know Jordan, you were very high on Virginia Tech in our ACC preview. I'm interested to hear your thoughts here in this game. But Virginia Tech gets favored by 20 in this game against Marshall. Then obviously last week they can't, they had a stunning loss over time against Vanderbilt, but I'm sure they're ready to get back.
This is it at Virginia Tech. You And I think, we really had high expectations for Virginia coming in. They have, they return all 11 starters in the offensive side, but I think last week, they're rushing attack really let them down. They just averaged 2. 5 yards of carry. It gets Vanderbilt. But Karen drones, which I know you're high on Jordan.
through the ball pretty well. He had over 300 yards and almost 10 yards per attempt. The offense, they scored a lot against in the, by throwing for the air against Vanderbilt. Just they weren't able to get the victory. If you talk about Marshall, they lost both of their starting cornerbacks from last season, which were both all sunbelt selections and drafted.
So you got to think that the defense may be a little susceptible for them. They only returned three stars in the front seven. So you've got to think that Virginia Tech can get their running game going against that. It'll be that's where they get their success for this game. But I'll leave it up to you guys.
What do you think is going to happen here? Marshall at Virginia Tech. We'll start with you Jordan and your beloved Virginia Tech team for this year.
Jordan Schultz: I definitely think Virginia Tech is going to win this game. They already were down, they had the diversity, they had to come back adversity in this Virginia or Vanderbilt game.
They were down 17 to 3 at halftime and they came back to take the lead and then go into overtime. Tied 27 27. I think Vanderbilt is a scrappy team that if you're down the stretch close with them that you should, be praying because they seem like a team that could win that game no matter what they play hard.
And I think Virginia Tech is It showed a lot that they came back being down, by two touchdowns. And I think, like you said, getting that run game going and that defense to pick it up a little bit. But I just think that Virginia Tech is just a better team than Marshall. And they're gonna easily cover that minus, that 20 point spread.
Tony Kihl: All right, Jess, where are you going with this game?
Jess Sabin: Yeah, I agree with Jordan. I think Virginia Tech's gonna bounce back this week. Could have, should have won the Vanderbilt game. They were sleepwalking. Were still able to overcome that in the second half. And sadly for them, they lost in overtime. I think this is going to be their bounce back game.
I think they'll win handedly.
Tony Kihl: All right. I tend to agree. It's that Virginia Tech. I feel like Yeah, maybe just a marshal. Maybe it'd be a little closer and I might take the points here. But no, I think Virginia to cover and win this game pretty easy. I think the bill to run the ball on our marshals defense here because they lost so much.
And I just see this one being a nice easy one for Virginia to get their season going here in week two. All right. We talked a little bit about this one earlier, but Texas and Michigan. Yeah. Game of the week. College game day will be there. Texas is favored by six and a half points. Obviously, I think we talked in the last podcast, Texas is pretty much perfect against Colorado State on Saturday.
Obviously, it's going to face a much more significant defense on Saturday. Obviously Quinn Ewers did his thing. And I think he was able to throw the ball around. I think what I saw a little bit concerned though is he still, to me he is good against What will you do against a really tough little defense?
Cause to me you saw, he seemed like last year just looking at it, he was a very average passer. like the non play action attempts last season, and I just feel like he's gonna do something against his defense here to score a lot like they did last week. And I'm a little concerned that, they obviously they lost a couple of running backs before the season.
Those running backs get wore down. Will they have enough? Firepower here to wear down Michigan. I obviously was high on Michigan before last week. Then this past week I picked Texas to win. I looked at the tape again against Frenzel State and I felt like they were really vanilla.
Almost Do you think they were a little vanilla on purpose to get ready for this Texas game? I'm not saying they did that because they could have been vanilla because they just weren't they weren't firing on cylinders But I have a feeling Michigan's gonna have some things in the up their sleeve that they did not show last week And this could be a better game to some people are saying so just start you do you think there's a?
You think this will be a close game or do you think Texas is going to blow him out?
Jess Sabin: I think this is going to be a close game. I think Texas is going to win. But, Michigan has the talent, especially on the defensive side of the ball with the likes of Mason Graham, Will Johnson, and Kenneth Grant. That's, you got Graham and Grant that are going to be really pushing things on the, in the trenches there.
And Will Johnson is One of, if not the best corners in college football. It's between, for my opinion, it's between him Morrison not Morrison, wait, is it Benjamin? Morrison
Tony Kihl: and
Jess Sabin: Travis Hunter. But I think for a lot of people. People just from physical standpoint Johnson is like 6'2 200 or something like that.
He's got the length, he's got the size, speed, he's got everything. We're not going to get into that. He's number two. Yep. Number two. Corvette. I agree. Defensive personnel to match up with Texas. Now, Texas is, they've got some, they got some dogs in the trenches too, starting with the guy who I think a lot of people view as one Possibly the best tackle in college football in Kelvin Banks.
So both teams have plenty of NFL level talent. Quinn Mewers is going to, it's going to come down to Quinn Mewers. Wow, big surprise it comes down to the quarterback. But I think running back despite the loss of CJ Baxter is going to be an easier thing for teams to replace in today's day and age with how football is played.
And Texas, it's not like the guys behind Baxter were scrubs or anything. There's still three, four, five star guys. Between all of that, I think that with the weapons Texas just has, and Ewers being, in my opinion, far and away the better quarterback in this matchup, the trenches are going to even themselves out, and Ewers is going to have one or two plays over the course of this game.
That just turned the tide, and I think that's gonna be what puts Texas over the top by about 10. Not much, but I think they'll win this game, they'll be up 28 21, looking to put this game away. They'll drive down, get in the field goal range, kick that field goal, and Michigan will have three minutes left, and they won't be able to get down the field.
Something like that, where it's gonna be, it's gonna be closer than I think they'll be. The score will indicate
Tony Kihl: Jordan.
Jordan Schultz: Got Texas on this one. I think the school like just said the score is gonna be closer. I just don't know if I see enough out of that Michigan offense. Warren. 15 for 25 last week.
118 yards through the air. He threw one touchdown and one interception, but 87 of those yards were to their tight end Loveland. So if they can stop him, I feel and I didn't see enough from Michigan's run game last week to really know that, their run game is back, their run bay is the same.
I think it's going to be a lot closer, but I definitely think. I feel like down the stretch, Texas's offense is going to figure it out and, put up more points than we would think. I think it's going to be later in the game. I just think Texas's offense with Quinn Ewers everyone, they got the star power.
I just think Michigan doesn't have that star power on offense. So I'm going to give Texas, I think Texas definitely covers that six and a half, seven and a half. and a half spread. Tony is probably going to say Michigan, but
Tony Kihl: I am. And I thought about it since I picked Texas to win earlier this week, watching the film, I feel like Michigan was really good against the run against friends of state.
They held the non Russian yards in total. I'm not saying for instance, they just like world beater or anything, but I feel like their defense is going to really show up against Texas, shut down the running team. And really play man, play man against the rest of the offense against Texas.
And I think that's gonna try to put Quinn yours in some difficult situations. Which I think he'll throw a couple picks, make this a closer game. And it should be, Michigan pulls it off at the big house, by the way. This is at Michigan. I just think it's gonna, Michigan's gonna find a way to beat, to win this game.
Jordan Schultz: It would be different if it wasn't at noon, but we're talking about noon on this big 10 fox kickoff, baby.
Tony Kihl: Also,
Jordan Schultz: that nine yards did come off of three, three sacks for negative 30 yards.
Tony Kihl: Hey, listen, no sacks are coming this week too, so don't let that fool you.
We talked about this in the pre season. The defensive line in Michigan is the same defensive line that was last year that won the title. Put some respect on their name. They did win the national title last year,
Jordan Schultz: alright, I'll put respect on myself.
Tony Kihl: You do that, and then I'm going to play this clip when I actually get one upset right.
At least I'm going on a line here. He's going to get it!
Jordan Schultz: Pick an upset every week, everybody, and it's gonna be I'm not!
Tony Kihl: I just know this is gonna happen. I know it's gonna happen. You
Jordan Schultz: said that, with West Virginia as well, so
Tony Kihl: That should happen. They let me down. They're off my list. Christmas card list.
Alright. Let's move on here. Arkansas and Oklahoma State. Obviously, Oklahoma State's coming off a 44 20 win over South Dakota State last week. They have Ollie Gordon, veteran quarterback, Alan Bowman, who obviously leading the way. Alan Bowman, good game last week, 267 yards, three touchdowns.
Ollie Gordon continued his game last week. Whenever good rushing attack there Arkansas, it was coming to the bill of their momentum for last week, 70 to nothing victory over Arkansas Pine Bluff, where I really liked what I saw on Boise State transfer quarterback tailing green, he had 229 passing yards, four touchdowns.
Had some running rushing yards in there as well. I really like his game. Elites that game against Arkansas pine bluffs. I don't know if he's able to translate that over to Oklahoma state, but be interesting to see if he is. One thing I did find interesting with this offense is they have obviously Bobby Petrino as the new offensive coordinator, obviously the famous coach from Arkansas before he had all his drama with dating employee there and all that.
But he is a good offensive mind. And I think he might, find some different ways to use tailing green. So this is an interesting matchup. Interesting to get you guys as pick on this one. So sorry, you Jess, who do you got winning this one? Oklahoma state and air Arkansas.
Jess Sabin: I think I'm going with Oklahoma state.
Again, Arkansas looked great in week one, but were they playing? They were playing no one, essentially. I didn't learn anything about Arkansas. I didn't, I wasn't blown away by anything Arkansas did. I think maybe Arkansas could be a better team this year than initially expected, but I don't see them as being some top contender type.
I, if I had to pick an upset this week, I think I would lean Arkansas, because Oklahoma State. still struggled with the quarterback position. They did not impress me much at all in their week one performance, but I think I'm still going to give that, I think I'm still going to give Oklahoma State the edge.
I think they are the more talented team. It's at Oklahoma State. I just think a couple of things are going to bounce their way, but I think, what's the spread out here? Eight and a half. I wouldn't be shocked if Arkansas covered.
Jordan Schultz: All right, Jordan, what you got, man? I'm picking this upset. Give me Arkansas. I can never get behind Oklahoma State because I can never under trust their quarterback.
And I'm at that point again, where I can't trust their quarterback. Honestly, their defense didn't look that great. Yeah, they played South Dakota State, who has a good team all together. But, Bowman didn't, he played alright this game, but they did play a smaller team. You play, it's like Arkansas.
Arkansas, played a smaller team. The biggest thing I feel like is going to be the test for Arkansas. And I think the biggest thing that's going to carry Oklahoma State is Gordon. 126 yards, three touchdowns, he put the team on his back. And I think he's going to, Continue to put the team on the back.
So it's going to be super close. I think it's gonna be a field goal or touchdown, but I'm going to pick Arkansas. I just think they might have the more fire power, explosive offense at Oklahoma state. I don't think Oklahoma state has ever had that explosive offense in the last couple of years. So I Arkansas,
Tony Kihl: give me Arkansas.
That SEC defense is going State. Rushing attack all he goes, not get his, I really like tailing gre Bobby Petrino was able to just seems like a really the coordinator and the quarterback. So I think they'll score enough here and they'll be able to play enough solid defense. I actually think, Sam Pittman this year is coaching for his life because he'll be fired if he does not have a good season.
I think of this as what West Virginia was in last year. Everybody thought they're going to have a terrible season. They end up nine and four. I can see something very similar happened here with Arkansas. So I think this is a way to do that is win this game. So give me Arkansas to. Alright, next up we have Kansas State at Tulane.
So Tulane's first year head coach John Summerall named redshirt freshman Darian Massa as the starter over veteran Kay Horton and Oregon transfer Ty Thomas. It's a little bit of a surprise move there. And Massa, I don't even know, I probably butchered your name, man. I'm really sorry. Mensa, maybe, I don't know.
Impressed in week one, went over Louisiana obviously has m here. It gets Kansas Stat opener. Every johnson, ev more. He reminded me Leonard with his ability. a lot worse team. So he w two touchdowns, intercept on three carries. I just Was it a press with a stat line? I know it's maybe they're holding the back for eventual bigger opponent, but I don't know.
I just, I expected more from him because he ran off Will Howard apparently. And now but I just expected more of a bigger stat line here. Obviously the, their star there is the running back DJ Gibbons, who rushed for 124 yards in week and week one. And so they hope that he will continue to do that as he did last year.
So we'll see. Who do you guys have winning this one Kansas state or Tulane? We'll start with you, Jordan. All right.
Jordan Schultz: I'm just, I'm gonna do
Tony Kihl: it.
Jordan Schultz: Give me that upset. Give me that upset. I think Tulane has the better quarterback.
Tony Kihl: Now you're jumping off a hill. I can't go up that hill with you.
Jordan Schultz: You've gone up many hills that you've, I don't know. They're very small hills.
No, they have been, I'm putting one out there. All right. I go. I think this is going to be a lot closer. than expected. I just think the quarterback is going to be where it is and I think Johnson is not that quarterback this year.
He's not ready to be that quarterback this year. I think they have more explosiveness passing for Tulane. They put up those numbers. I just think Tulane, not a lot to say on this man. Just give me Tulane. All right. Don't shake your head at me, Tony, because you're always wrong with these upsets.
I'm usually right. I'm like, I'm not bad. I'm about 50. Nah, you're like, one for 60. Cause I go on a limb. I try. I'm trying right here. Don't look at me. Let me see. Your favorite by 20. Oh, let's go take the easy road. Look at me. I'm picking Tulane
on this one, man.
Tony Kihl: Alright, I'm glad. I'm happy to see it.
That's a terrible pick, but I'm glad you're able to go on this. You're probably going to pick Baylor. Relax, alright? Jess, who you got? I'm taking Tulane. Oh my lord. I can't wait. At least I won't be on a limb in this one. So you guys will be out there having to apologize on Twitter about this. I
Jess Sabin: think the quarterback matchup, I think that it's at Tulane is going to play in their favor.
I think, it's, this isn't even really that big of an upset pick. It's plus 10. It's a little bit more than Arkansas and Oklahoma State. I know I just said if I had to pick one, I would have taken Arkansas over Oklahoma State, but I think the fact that I thought this game was reversed, I thought it was at Kansas State.
If it is at Tulane. And I think that's going to play in the Green the Green Wave's favor. The quarterback match, if I like. Again, this is one of those where if you were struggling against UT Martin through the air, I think Tulane just got a lot better of a defense. I think Tulane wins this game by three.
Tony Kihl: Kansas State by 15, 20, 30 points, whatever. They're just a much better team. And they were, they'll be much more focused on this game than they were week one, whenever this is getting started. I don't see how you guys could be that good. Kansas State is going to probably be one of the teams playing for the playoffs.
So I don't see how you guys go that far. But Hey, everybody has their own pick next up Baylor at Utah. Baylor's coming off a huge win over Tarleton state, whoever that is. I don't know what state that is, Jess. So don't ask me about that one. And there's season Oprah and the next couple of weeks they take on air force Colorado.
So they have some opportunities here to do some good things. The quant fin is, is the new quarter back there. He's looking pretty decent so far to touchdowns to interception 192 yards. So he has some hits or misses, but overall it looked pretty good in the first week Utah is coming off a shutout, went over Southern Utah.
And they're looking to start two and over a knife time in the last 12 years. Camera rising, my man. He's coming back, playing 66 percent of his passes for 254 yards, five touchdowns last week. And then, the rest of the team just follows suit. The ground game is averaging 220 yards a game.
It's one game, so they had 220 yards last week. And then, so I like the running backs. I like the team. I like the defense. Before you guys even pick, I'm not picking Baylor for sure. This is my lock of the week. Utah destroys Baylor. Go ahead, Gus. Who do you got? I got
Jordan Schultz: Utah. Ken Rising is going to put up the numbers.
He's back, baby.
Tony Kihl: He's my Heisman Dark Horse. So
Jordan Schultz: go ahead, Jess.
Jess Sabin: First of all, Tony. Everybody knows Tarleton is in Texas. Don't come at me like that.
Tony Kihl: You should have known Furman is a little closer to where you went to school. I'm just saying.
Jess Sabin: I don't want to hear it. It's in Texas. It is located at 1333 West Washington Street.
He looked it up. At this 76401. Of course, obviously. That's just common knowledge. Common knowledge. That's just common knowledge. Everyone
Jordan Schultz: watching the video, everyone, notice Jeff, or Jess, looks super hard into his computer. Yeah, he does not have a
Tony Kihl: photographic memory. He does not
Jess Sabin: remember. No, I did not.
I did in fact have to Google that one. I had never even heard of Tarleton State. I
Jordan Schultz: just don't try anymore. But
Jess Sabin: that doesn't change the fact that, yeah, Utah's gonna win this one. Cam Rising's one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He's, they're gonna do what they need to do, and Utah's gonna win this game handedly.
Tony Kihl: All right. Let's move ahead to Iowa State. Iowa always an interesting matchup to start the year with these two teams. Iowa has offense now. How good is Iowa State? A lot of open questions in this one. Iowa State if you remember last year their quarterback Beck was early in his career as a starter.
And he ended up struggling most of the game against Iowa last year. Only for one for 203 yards and interception. Obviously tough place to play early Iowa. He also was hurt by four drops, so he's hoping to improve that this year. But he's, obviously since that game, he's been picking things up and playing a lot better.
So they got, they have a lot of hope that he's going to take, take him to the next level there. They're coming in after victory last week. Kade McNamara is back for another season and eight. Actually, they scored 40 points, as we talked about, and they may, they might have an offense. It's interesting to see, like, do you trust the defense Iowa versus this potentially decent offense of Iowa State, or do you trust the new Iowa offense to take this game over?
Jordan, we'll start you. You got Iowa State.
Jordan Schultz: I got Iowa. I think their quarterback actually And it's at Iowa. Yeah, at Iowa. It's not an easy place to play in general. You don't just go to Iowa and win. So no. Yeah. And their defense looks good. Their Iowa's defense is always good, but they have something they haven't had in a while and it's an offense.
They can throw the ball. Yep.
The biggest thing though is, I think it's going to be a lot closer, but I think that defensive Iowa is going to be able to contain that Iowa offense, Iowa State offense, and the quarterbacks Cade and Rico, yeah, Rico. Rico. They were really similar. Besides Cade having one more touchdown, but also Iowa's head coach, Kurt Ferencz is back after one game, so I think that's just going to make Iowa want it more.
And I think that defense, I don't think Iowa State is going to be able to score like they did last week on that Big Ten Iowa defense. Iowa, right? Yeah,
Jess Sabin: Iowa State is 2 8 in their last 10 matchup against, matchups against Iowa. And that was when Iowa didn't have an offense, but even then, Iowa was able to put up 20, 27, 18.
They would win games, some games they'd win 13 3. There was one game that went like 44 41 or 42 3, 31. So Iowa, Is able to compliment. We know I was going to have a good defense and if they're able to compliment that with a good offense, which I think, another good test here, just on a I perceive to be a lesser team.
Let's see if this offense, can replicate things. Maybe not. It's not going to be as great as it looks like. last week, but if they have a pulse on offense to compliment how good I think their defense can be, then this is going to be a good season for Iowa. And I think that we'll start really getting a feel for them as we do with most teams in week two here.
And I think we're going to see that. I think Iowa can be quite good this year. And I think they're going to beat Iowa State probably by 10 to 17, somewhere in that range.
Tony Kihl: All right. I agree. I think I was played at home. I think the offense will help with it on top of the already good defense. So I give me Iowa 14, then 21 points in this one as well.
All right. Next up, we have a, I think a sneaky good contest. Kansas at Illinois could be the match of the week, I think a very similar match teams coming in this one. It looks like Kansas is favored by six and a half. Last week, Kansas Jayhawks beat Lindenwood tough matchup. Um, end up winning that one with Jalen Daniels, pleading 60 percent of his passes for 148 yards, touchdown interception.
Their ground game had 331 yards. They only allowed three points, so only a 222 yards. So decent performance again, I guess Linda would. So what does that tell you? But I know last year that Jim Danny has always looked really good when he had a chance to play and wasn't injured. So that's gotta give you hope as a Kansas Jayhawk, as far as Illinois.
They shut out Eastern Illinois. They had Luke out Meyer. The quarterback had completed almost 80 percent of his passes for 213 yards, four touchdowns. They had over 240, 40 yards rushing. So again, very similar match teams here. Both play pretty good defense, both run the ball very well, both quarterbacks.
Are probably not going to be as accurate as you would like or throwing three to 400 yards, but they'll get, they'll do the job. So with that being said, though, said you, Jess, what do you think is going to win this one, Kansas or Illinois?
Jess Sabin: I think it'll be Kansas. I like Jalen Daniels. I think he's got a lot of promise.
I think he's going to be an interesting prospect come draft time in the next year or two, whenever he's allowed to declare. I think his main issue's been health, and if he can stay healthy, I think Kansas can be a pretty good team. I know it's at Illinois, but, I just think Kansas is the better team overall.
I don't really have much to say. There's no super in depth reasoning here for it. Kansas, I just think, is the better team. They're gonna go. They're gonna do their bit. They're gonna do what they need to do. They're gonna walk away with a win. Just like they did against Lindenwood, which is located in where was it?
Yes, St. Charles, Missouri. Makes sense. St. Charles, Missouri is outside of St. Louis. Just so you guys know. Ah, there you go. Now, folks, this is turning into a geography
Tony Kihl: and knowing's half the battle folks
Jess Sabin: yep.
Tony Kihl: Thank you GI Joe, you're , you taught us well. Alright, next up we have okay.
One of the better matchups of the week, Tennessee at North Carolina State. We talked a little bit about the last podcast, so we won't spend as much time on this one, but Tennessee is favored by four and a half point. Which is surprising me 'cause it's at North Carolina State. But obviously both teams did well last week.
Relatively, Tennessee did really well. North Carolina State took a half to get going, but in winning, Tennessee blew out ut Chattanooga while it took almost three and a half quarters for North Carolina State to put away Western Carolina. So again, we talked a little bit about Grayson McCall last week.
He wasn't great in the opener, but he started coming around by the end. He's really just getting used to his receiving room, his offense. And so you got to think he would be better in this game. We haven't seen the quarterback of Tennessee have, play against a competitive foe yet. So this would be interesting to see, like, how he does here.
I'm just interested in this matchup. It's the first. big game they're playing. They probably both put a little vanilla last week. So I'm interested to see what they do. It's at North Carolina State, which is a tougher place to play. You never know what the weather is going to be like this time of year. So with that being said, Jordan, who do you got Tennessee or North Carolina State?
Jordan Schultz: This is probably the toughest one to pick out of like the whole week. And I, I just can't, I don't know if I can pick an upset on this one. All right, give me it. I'm gonna pick NC State at home. Grayson McColl is gonna pull it out, pick it up, and he's gonna have a better game. I think the teams are super close and everything, but I just think with Nico's first big game being at NC State, and like you said, Tony, the weather, you don't know what it's going to be like with, with Jordan Waters coming from Duke.
Duke. Yeah, he already knows what the weather is going to be like in that area. He's going to be able to, run and put up the numbers like he did last week with 123 yards. I just think NC State is going to pick it up from last week. Their offense is going to pick it up and that defense is going to be able to control a little bit more of the game.
And Nico is just gonna, he's too, he's young. If it was next year talking about this game, I think I would be on Tennessee side. But with him being fresh, starting. Not really getting in this atmosphere. I got NC State. Jess, what do you got?
Jess Sabin: I got Tennessee. I think that this is going to be a very interesting game to see from Niko.
Lama. That's why we just say Niko here. Think I succeeded. But Nico, I think is one of the most interesting quarterbacks in the country. In the country. Not just because his name, not just because of his name, but he was this really highly touted guy. And I think if he hits the way that I think a lot of people expect him to.
We're going to be looking more at 2022 Tennessee than 2023 Tennessee. And that's going to be very interesting with how the SEC shapes out. Because Tennessee still has, who I think might be the best player, regardless of position, in the country right now, or at the very least for this upcoming draft, in James Pierce Jr.
And he's, so they could have potentially two game changers one on each side of the ball. And I think that's going to be too much for NC State here. I think, I have confidence in Nico, I've heard a lot of good things, a lot of scouts have talked him up, he's viewed very highly. And again, it was just against Chattanooga, but being that's really all we've got other than the Orange Bowl, where a lot of players on both sides weren't playing.
That's all the tape we've got on him, and I like what I've seen so far. I'm going to trust that. I'm going to trust Tennessee. I think Tennessee goes into NC State and gets the win. All right, good call. I am picking NC State. I really like Ksepshion their receiver. I waters are running back, as you mentioned, Jordan, and then I liked your secondary receiver, Noah Rogers.
Tony Kihl: He was really, highly recruited out of high school. He went to Ohio State for a year, transferred in the offices into North Carolina State, and I think this is a, he has a lot of potential to break out in this game. Because they're gonna, obviously, I think Cepcion is the talented one.
And so I think Tennessee's gonna do everything they can to shut him down, which will open it up for Noah Rodgers to potentially have a a breakout game here with him and Grayson McCall, be able to open this offense up a little bit. With North Carolina State's defense always being pretty good, I feel like this game, will be a little bit of a slugfest.
I think they'll end up winning because it's at home. Give me a state. All right. Next up, we have Boise state, Oregon. I would say Boise state last week took on the Georgia sovereign Eagles in that matchup, they won 56 to 45. So great offensive showing not as great defensive showing. Obviously their quarterback did pretty well, 280 yards and touchdown.
We talked about ads and gentee last time, but he's had a career day at 267 yards at six scores. We talked about Oregon last, this past podcast as well, but they played Idaho. And 124 to 14. This was, sloppy, but yeah, Dylan gave her how good numbers again those popcorn muscles, empty calories showing up there as I mentioned earlier.
So again, interesting matchup, but this is at Oregon. I think Oregon is favored by 19 and a half. If you give me the points, I'll take them. But cause I think Boise State can score a lot. I just don't think they'll have the defense here to score, so I would pick Oregon ultimately. Jordan, who you got in this one?
Oregon or Boise State?
Jordan Schultz: I got Oregon. And, it's pretty easy to pick this one. Like you said, if it was at Boise State, I would pick Boise State. That game was a the Oregon game was a lot closer in score than stats. They only allowed 49 rushing yards for Idaho. Yeah, that's Idaho, but still, I think.
Oregon's going to be able to stop Boise State's run game at least a little bit. And I think Oregon's going to pull this, pull away and win by three touchdowns, just because Boise State doesn't have that defense. I think Oregon has a better defense and is going to be able to stop them more often than Boise State is going to be able to stop Oregon.
So give me Oregon. I think Dylan Gabriel is going to, Put them huge numbers and pull away more on Heisman.
Tony Kihl: Alright, Jess, you agree?
Jess Sabin: Yeah, I agree. I think Oregon's gonna run away with this one. I think They had some issues week one, gotta iron things out, figure things out, first row competition. It was not a good look, we blam, we lambasted teams for playing not good competition here and just blowing them out of the water, but Oregon didn't even do that.
But at the end of the day, they got the win. They're moving on. They are one of the most talented teams in the country. I like the quarterback situation. I think they're going to figure things out. I think they win this one comfortably.
Tony Kihl: All right. Good pick there. And our last one, Colorado and Nebraska should be interesting.
One Nebraska is favored this one step by 7. 5 points. So last week, obviously, Colorado, had a tough game against North Dakota State, which Hey, North Carolina State always plays well against whoever they play against, so I don't think there's no shame in that, but I don't know if we saw enough improvement from Colorado from last year to this year to say hey, they're gonna, they're gonna be able to go on a little bit of a run this year, but their offense still looks good with, Sheriff Sanders going for 445 yards and four touchdowns.
Defense, still to me, it looks pretty shaky. Nebraska obviously started true freshman Dylan Riola. We talked about him quite a bit on the podcast where he was a high school recruit as he bounced from Ohio State to Georgia into Nebraska. Finally, he was oppressed at his first college start collegiate start.
He did 1927 for 238 yards, two scores against a decent UTEP team. And they won 47 in week one. So this one will be a little different, a little more pressure, a little more eyes on the game for all. New quarterback for Nebraska, but a much better defense for Nebraska versus a much higher level offense for Colorado and not as good of a defense.
And again, this one is at Nebraska. The house will probably be packed because people are excited to see the true fresh play. Yep. Night game. It's gonna be tough place to play. So Jess, what do you got in this one? I'm going with Nebraska. I think that Colorado is still essentially a three man show with Shador, Travis Hunter, and Horn on offense.
Jess Sabin: And then obviously Hunter plays both ways. But I think Nebraska, as a team, They were a lot better than I think their record indicated last year. I mentioned this in the preview pod, but they had, I think it was like six games that they lost or something that were all by single score games, some of which were even, just three point games.
And in those losses, they committed 16 turnovers. 14 of which were all by the quarterback. I, Riola looked good. I think Colorado's defense isn't going to really put up much resistance. So I think Riola is going to be able to once again, not do as he pleases, he's gonna be more comfortable than Colorado would like him to be.
And I think that's going to allow Nebraska to operate and go do what they need to do. I don't know about seven and a half. I think the team's, I think, the three best players still might be on Colorado, but I think Nebraska is going to win by Let's say five.
Tony Kihl: Okay.
Jess Sabin: Number for football you get what I'm getting at.
Jordan Schultz: Yeah. Uh I have Nebraska. I think offensively, they're a little more diverse. Colorado is a one. Trick pony. Let's throw the ball 500 times. And I don't know what it is, but Shador Sanders just put some numbers because they can't run the ball. So they're going to pass the ball every play.
And I think Nebraska, as long as they, if Nebraska's defense, Can hold their two receivers and just get to the quarterback. I think this game is going to be a bad game for Nebraska or Colorado. And I just don't think Colorado's defense, as long as you don't go towards Travis Hunter you're fine.
And so I think they cover the spread, especially in Nebraska night game. rival game. It's gonna be, it's gonna be rough for Colorado offensively and defensively because they did not change anything there. Honestly, I think they should have lost last weekend, but that's just me. So give me Nebraska covering the spread.
I think they didn't win by 10 to 14 points.
Tony Kihl: All right. I tend to agree. I think the defense in Nebraska is gonna be a key while we'll think Colorado will be able to score some points. There's going to be some drives that Nebraska was able to stop where I don't know if that Colorado defense is going to be able to slow down some of Nebraska's play.
So I would do think it'll be a little bit of a closer game, but Nebraska at night with the hype around Dylan Riola, I'm interested to see him see if he can get the victory. Even one, Every team that wins this is going to be 2 0 looking at a decent start to their season. So it's going to be, both have a lot to play for in this one.
So interested to see who wins. All right, guys, that wraps up our second podcast of this week. As always, follow us on X in the flat pod for all of our latest podcasts, links to our website and everything else. Again, it's in the flat pod on X. And we'll talk to you again soon to talk about week two, hopefully some good content this week.
But until then, see you later. Bye.