Billy Napier is lost, Kirby owns Dabo, Conner Weigman crumbles & Vandy!

[Music] hey what's going on this is the Saturday down south podcast I am Conor Gara will is in Vegas for LSU USC uh so we'll have a solo pod to recap week one week one is in the book sort of kind of still obviously Sunday night Monday night games ahead this marathon five day week one um but it was great it was wonderful we had start to finish entertaining story lines Galore we had things that I definitely did not see coming in the SEC that we will recap today uh so here's how this is going to work for those of you who are maybe new to the start on South podcast once again thank you for joining us if you're seasonal need a little bit of a reminder always got you covered we recap the I guess well formerly known as power five now known as core 4 games in which SEC teams are involved and then at the end we're going to do because it's early in the season I thought we'd do a little overreaction or proper reaction whereing we'll hit on some of the other SC games won't hit on every single thing but some of the things that we won't hit on today will probably hit on with the midweek pod as well all right so let's start with gosh can start in a lot of different places very tempting to start with just a total blasting of Florida we'll save that for a minute here um Georgia dominated Clemson which I'm sorry uh if you didn't see that one coming from a mile away confession time for a minute like I'll say eight nine minutes I had this realization come over me that this was actually a competitive game and I thought is dbo about to make us eat just a little bit of crow just a little bit of crow because at no point that I think Clemson was winning that football game even as Georgia struggled to be able to put together scoring drives but it definitely felt for the first half of that game like 2021 all over again and I obviously was not the only person to point that out but I thought both defenses looked dominant really really dominant really impressed with that Clemson defensive line man for all the things that we can criticize Clemson for that in my opinion is not one of them it's not every day that we see a unit take advantage of a Georgia offensive line where it felt like they truly had the upper hand if I didn't know any better I would have told you that was a Brent Venable defensive line I know I've been critical of that saying the further remove they get from Bren Venable era the tougher it's going to be to be able to have that same identity but they really looked like they had a group that was ready to go they were speeding up Carson Beck who as much as I think he is kind of lived up to what Georgia fans hoped he could be throwing off platform is still the best way to be able to get to him as cliche as that is but I just thought he looked a tiny bit off off in that first half and I think he only ended up having what three incompletions or something like that but couple of throws that I I know that he wished he could probably have back where even if he was hitting a guy was he hitting a guy in stride and I I think that's just the standard that we hold Carson Beck to these days but the Georgia ground game was totally neutralized early on I mean 11 carries 34 yards 13 of which came from a Carson Beck scramble where he made a really nice play with his legs and it wasn't necessarily this game this this play in which he was you know just running for for dear life I thought he actually had a plan and was able to to be able to to move the chains I don't know that Trevor etn would have found much Running Room early on um he was obviously suspended for this one I think the news that came out before this game if you looked at some of that line movement you're like he maybe that's that's got something to do with it that line kind of moving down a couple of points Georgia goes from being like a 13 and a half Point favorite it's like a 10 and a half point favorite at one point whatever it ended up being but yeah it was a struggle for that Georgia offensive line early on and Branson Robinson just could not get anything going so during those moments those eight nine minutes in which I thought this was really going to be a 60-minute game I was picturing a scenario in which Dabo would get up to the postgame press conference and he would talk about why this game show that Clemson is still one of the Premier programs in the country and he would use it as the this referendum to say this is why I've done this in the portal this is why I've done this with my offense this is why I've hired this staff member and that staff member and all these things it was going to be davo is going to take it to all the haters who are saying that he's doing this wrong and that his ways are Antiquated and that he's not modernizing he's not adapting in the way that you need to to be able to stay on top in the sport but Georgia essentially did what it did after the 2021 season opener which was open a can that that's what this game was it it truly was put its foot on the gas and just Cruise past Clemson like left Clemson in the dust Clemson was still in the parking lot and George is like yeah we're just going to speed on the highway pun very much intended dogs roll 34 to3 in this one 40th consecutive regular season Victory no small feet unbelievable feat and it's still hard to process that Georgia has not lost a regular season game so it's excluding the SEC Championship not lost a regular season game since the 2020 cocktail party a little bit of a different time that was still haven't lost a non SEC game since Sam Ellinger declared that Texas was back after a four- loss season Georgia made halftime adjustments in ways that there are people smarter than me that could probably point out the schematic differences and they they could be able to to decipher what were they doing I thought there were some things on the outside where receivers started blocking a little bit better better for the things that Mike Bobo likes to be able to do with those quick hitters and just trust that your receivers are bought in and they're going to be able to clear up space you're going to get some kind of Chunk yardage that way especially when the ground game isn't really getting going but whatever they did I mean it worked it really worked and that offensive line for Georgia had a much different second half I thought and I I don't want to take away from what Clemson did early on up front but maybe they just got tired of getting such little help from an offense that had two first downs in the first half and was outgained in the game 447 to 188 um but that very very brief eight nine minutes of Dabo having this this I don't want to call it a Toby Keith loss I guess if there ever was one maybe this could have been it for Dabo and it wasn't it just there's no way that you can spin it I wonder what's going on in dav's mind as he watches Miami transfer kobby young catch a beautiful fade in the end zone usually hate that play but kind of felt like they did it to the The Far Side of the field so you got a little bit more room and it's not like you're working against that sideline and Kobe young makes a nice play he's going to be a red zone threat for them there's no doubt about it I wonder what dbo thought when he watched Vandy transfer London humph use the referee as sort of a a pick on that pick play which I don't think that was the intention but it kind of worked out that way and then just kind of plow his way into the End Zone after you running down the sideline I wonder what what dbo was thinking in those moments because the premier program in this sport used transfers in a big game and didn't watch the foundation fall apart the foundation of georg's program is very much intact and I'm not trying to make light of all their off the- field issues that they've had really since the end of that 22 season so I still think though that if you are of the mindset that dbo has a Hill to die on you're crazy you're you're just absolutely crazy it was not stunning that for the second time in the portal era Clemson couldn't muster a touchdown against Kirby and I heard a lot of people say you on the Clemson offense it's going to be significantly better in year two with Garrett Riley and Kate kumnick and if I'm batting look I think better days are ahead than what they showed on Saturday it was pretty bad what they showed on Saturday it really was so far no good nothing very very tough to be able to look competent against George's defense not breaking any news by saying that but K clubin decision-making it's still just is not there and if there were receivers that were getting separation we certainly didn't see them at one point at the end of the game he's like screw it I know I got Malachi Starks Over the Top This is single coverage I just got to take a shot and then Malachi Starks does a very Malachi Starks thing and you'll be seeing that all over his draft reel as you should he's one of the best players in this country I I just wonder what the psyche is right now of davo because he's actually made staff moves that I have given him credit for I liked the Garrett Riley move out you poach the boals award winner from National runner-up Team all right yeah gett Riley by the way um probably just hoping not to Face Georgia anytime soon safe to say after 65 to 7 in this 34 three um but like that higher like the Matt Luke higher okay you've you've really been kind of I don't want to say just a liability on the offensive line but even go back to 2020 Clemson couldn't run the football that year it was bizarre like wait a minute you've got TR you've got Travis etn arguably the best running back in ACC history at least in terms of the record books and you can't run the football at all it it's just bizarre to see how much that unit has really Fallen apart and Matt Luke was brought to be able to fix it I thought he made a big difference in fixing George's offensive line a bit when at times they they got a little bit stagnant I thought in the late 2010s and got more credit than they probably deserved but Matt Luke came in and and did great things and I I don't necessarily think that Matt Luke is the difference between Clemson being relevant irrelevant um oh shout out to Mar's Matt Luke imitation he definitely texted me that last week when he realized that Matt Luke was on Clemson staff um davo is no longer under the impression that the only guys that can coach on his staff are guys that have been there for like 10 years so that's good that's progress I guess I I mean sure but I just don't get how he can continue to speak about the portal like it's Tik Tock I don't get it when he's on game day and he's being asked about it he's walking on the field and he's got that Peak like Dabo confidence he's in his suit he's got the airpods in and he's you know he's serving in the field and he's thinking to himself you know I've won a lot of big- time football games which I don't blame him for thinking that but then they ask him about the portal and he's like yeah you know H I just I feel like I'm doing what's best for our program and our roster no you're not no you're not you're just doing what you want to do you're doing what you want to do and you know that you can't be fired for doing what you want to do let's just call what it is it's as simple as that there is just no way you can possibly defend it at this point because Clemson is the program that now since the portal has become thing in 2018 they have not started a single player from it that's almost impossible like I I mean how many times you think like coaches start guys were like oh yeah I guess that guy did just get here you know in spring or something like that or you wouldn't even think of that I mean even service like got to have th those moments at points right and I I just I do not get it because here's the thing you want to coach High schoolb football want to coach at the Joo level fine you want to coach at a service Academy do those things stand by your code you're getting paid eight figures you're not you're not exhausting all resources that's the thing that I hate so when Danny canel tweets well a lot of good coaches Get Smoked by Georgia Old Miss got smoked by Georgia last year let's not pile on dbo he doesn't deserve it I miss the part where Lane kein is refusing to exhaust all resources because last I checked that guy would do anything to land a player to make his team better like he did this off season Dao's not doing that he's not and the reason why we're discussing this all is because Dabo has to be be able to look across that sideline and realize oh I don't have to do the Old Miss thing I can still stand by all the high school development stuff all that crap all that jargon whatever you want to talk about within our program this is how we're going to do things blah blah blah blah blah blah all you got to do is look at Georgia and see a program that is using the portal effectively and still in a position to compete for national championships you can sign top five classes you can sign top two classes if you're Georgia you can be super selective in the portal you don't have to give out offers to everyone there's nothing that says Clemson needs to be signing 15 to 20 guys but what Clemson is doing is not giving its team a shot and it's so painfully obvious and I just don't don't like who left on this Earth that doesn't share Davos Sweeney's DNA is defending it I don't get it because even the simple math not a big math guy little bit did pretty well in stats in high school um Dabo is losing a dozen of these guys a year how how do you not recognize that that's hurting your depth I just don't understand that you say oh it's going to mess with that the Dynamics in the locker room you're an eight figure head coach it is your job to manage the Dynamics the locker room with 18 to 22 year old kids okay that's what you're paid to do or if not hire a bigger support staff and they can figure that stuff out but stop losing football games because you're too stubborn to change simple as that let me put some praise um on his Georgia defense talked probably enough about Clemson how mading they would be and that's somebody that look I don't even have a dog in that fight and I still just can't stand what they become this Georgia defense man we've run out of things to probably say about how they do this year after year but Jaylen Walker I already talked about Malachi Starks the scrutinized dalen Everett who I I thought played really well in this game even the one catch that was made against him was like a really nice play in traffic Clemson I I understand has those issues in the ground game they really have not been able to run the football in the 2020s but um Georgia holding Clemson to 60 sack adjusted rushing yards kind of told the story of that battle up front and Georgia was very much winning winning it um I won't hate on Debo there you're not really getting Elite offensive lineman in the portal that's not necessarily something that I can point to but a little bit teeny tiny bit worried to see George's Defenders get a little bit banged up some of those key Defenders stack house was down for a minute he returned in this one different story for the very decorated Michael Williams who is just kind of penel in as George's next Elite draft prospect he took a hit from Phil mafa and pass Pro that was flagged for an illegal block below the waist because he didn't really hit him straight on thought that was a really good explanation from Matt Austin on that play where I'm like okay that kind of just looked like a running back coming across in pass Pro and I'm sure Georgia fans are looking at that going like ah it's a dirty play anytime a guy gets hit below the waist it's just kind of the standard default answer and understandably so but didn't realize that there wasn't necess that rule had been tweaked and that you have to be straight on in order to be able to make that type of Hit the way that running backs have been taught for a really long time so um I wouldn't really call that a dirty play even though it does get flagged and when you lose a player of that caliber of course you're going to be frustrated but Williams left the game he was in a walking boot afterwards Kirby said initial accories were positive but they needed to be able to see more to make determination about what's going to be for him good news Georgia should be able to to kind of take it easy with him being able to to return a little bit of a slower start uh to September after this one but it's an entirely different crew that held Clemson without a touchdown than the one that we saw last time in 2021 remember that because that was a historic defense and we we talked at nauseum about how good that group was and how helpless they felt for so much of that game but it's pretty simple at this point okay and I try and find the Nuance in these situations you know we try and provide different perspective but Kirby just better at this than davo period don't don't don't overthink it it it's not worth it will and I talk about how much we hated the athletic putting Dabo and Kirby in the same top tier of coaches in this sport all because they both have two rings what else do we need to see to confirm that they're not in the same tier anymore because this is year four this all right it's one thing you know you have a bad year you have a bad two years okay I understand coaches go through lws and maybe this quarterback didn't work out maybe that quarterback didn't work out TI four this all right like what what do we still need to see does Kirby need to walk into dabo's house and steal his wife is that the only thing that'll get people to realize he you know what Kirby he's probably got to leg up on davo because he's been doing this now for a presidential term okay mooy I thought had a great point in the broadcast too and it actually shows Georgia's growth since 2021 which is an even scarier thought for Clemson and those who can't stay on the field with Georgia when Georgia dominated Oregon in that opener in 2022 they looked like the best team on Earth and I remember being at that game also at Mercedes-Benz and thinking to myself oh my God how is this team that just lost 15 players to the NFL draft this good already against an Oregon team that yeah it's a new regime obviously with Dan Lanning maybe Kirby knows a thing or two about the way that he's going to game plan it's still Bon knck we we had different thoughts about bonck at that time his first game in Oregon so like you can kind of dismiss it but at the same time we thought that Oregon was going to be really good in the trenches ended up being a really solid team that year but Georgia made us forget that and Georgia looked like this world beater which you know 22 I don't know that it was as memorable as 21 but they still ended up being obviously a 15-0 team that that won a national championship but the point that mooy brought up which I thought was fair was how could Kirby have gone to that film in that Oregon game and said guys this is where we need to get better everybody would have just rolled their eyes at Kirby and been like man we we whooped that and you know it and in this game I thought Georgia actually had a decent amount of mistakes and mooy kind of pointed that out too where you know there were Miss blocks it felt like Carson Beck was sped up a bit more were they doing enough offensively to be able to make make life easy for him maybe some of those running Lanes they weren't necessarily seeing them if they were there I I felt like Georgia only converting one third down in the first half was something that Kirby can go back to and say this is where we got to be able to get better if we're going to win these big time matchups Georgia ends up committing seven penalties for 70 yards that's coachable fixable things that you can go back and say we need to be a more disciplined team Kirby beat a top 15 team at least according to the preseason AP poll um if you've been listening to this you know that Clemson wasn't worthy of that but Clemson Clemson was considered a top 15 team and Kirby beat him by 31 points and still had plenty to be able to show his team after season opener it's kind of Ideal it's kind of Ideal for a program that's won as many games as Georgia has that's essentially what Georgia has become the dogs are still the standard and Clemson is still a decent team that no longer deserves to share the field with tier one programs all right Florida fans I don't think you want to ear Muffet you need to listen to this you need to hear this and I'm not trying to preach at you you already know a lot of the things that I'm about to say but I think sometimes you need to hear it from an outsider and not someone that's emotionally invested in the way that probably were before during and afterwards what happened on Saturday in the swamp it was a Beatdown where do we want to start because Miami deserves all the credit in the world how about the fact that the lasting image of this game is a slumped over Florida fan who had a high noon tall booy as a pillow and Jesse Palmer was telling him to celebrate the positive when the gator scored a garbage time touchdown lasting image of this game not great not great in a weird way I mean kind of thank goodness for that DJ lague Drive late it was the best Drive of the day because if not for that I think Florida fans would have been angry enough to throw Haymakers at every Miami fan in sight who Lord knows we saw plenty of them on those ESPN ABC cameras uh who look they had every reason to be loud and happy on Saturday um they made themselves comfortable very comfortable I got more that we'll get to on lague in a bit but let's start with the obvious I feel extremely dumb for thinking that Florida's defense would have a single answer for cam Ward much less several answers to fuel a win worst call of the week worst call of the week even worse than the Vandy call I at least feel a little bit Justified about that it's Vandy come on um cam W looked like Brett faf he did man that guy showed up with such little concern about that atmosphere it was borderline disrespectful it really was how comfortable he looked at times on the road new surroundings and you couldn't have convinced that guy that he was playing in a game of that magnitude at one point he made this this touchdown pass which was in my opinion the moment that Miami was about to run away with it and he makes his touchdown pass late in the first half and I don't think a single Miami quarterback would have had the awareness and the arm strength to make this throw since like Jim Kelly and I I no disrespect to Ken dorsy no disrespect to Heisman winter Gino tetta Vinnie testy any of those guys but I was thinking to myself like that throw was just different very very different and so Ward after he makes this throw to to Restrepo um and he gets into the end zone he instantly has his helmet off and he's straight-faced as just the bench is mobbing him it was like the Dame Lillard GIF from a few years back when he's just straight faceing he's just looking right at the camera as everybody else just going berserk cam Ward's the truth okay he is and I'm not saying that means he's going to win a highman trophy or anything like that but Miami is undoubtedly in better shape with him with a guy like Damen Martinez in that backfield who really didn't have the best day but I thought he had some big time runs and that that defensive line that Miami brought to the swamp was nasty and having a guy like uh former Tennessee defensive end Tyler Baron who has just had bizarre offseason Old Miss for a second Louisville for a second he ends up at Miami it's like is this guy dict to the portal whatever the case may be he was really good on Saturday um he was in gram mz's ear what felt like all day I said I wasn't buying the Miami hype I'm not saying the U part three is unfolding here or anything like that okay let's let's not go that far but am I saying that emphatic statement in that atmosphere was darn impressive you bet absolutely that is nothing to scoff at truly like when the swamp is rocking I'm telling you there are very few places on this Earth that are tougher to play even when they're bad even when they're bad that is still a difficult thing to have to navigate for an opposing team bad era of Florida or not this was Unthinkable I mean tied for the second worst Flor Florida season opening home loss ever that was not a scenario I envisioned playing out and yes it definitely makes me think the Miami can win the ACC especially knowing what we saw from Florida State against George Tech knowing what Clemson still looks like sleeper Virginia Tech uh couldn't get past Juggernaut Vandy which again we're going to get to in a little bit here but let's talk about Florida because good Lord Billy Napier good Lord eight months eight months to prepare and that's what you look like horrible effort all around horrible will and I were texting when it was still a one- score game I think it was early the second quarter and I'm like Miami is a better team Miami's a better team I the Miami should win this football game if Miami doesn't win this football game we're going to be blasting Mario Chris Ball for saying how did he lose that game when he has the better team because Miami dominated in the trenches and they were putting Florida in positions defensively that I don't think they envisioned at all Florida looked like a team that missed so many guys and they looked like if you didn't know any better you would think that Florida lost like their four best players on both sides of the ball they looked like they really missed Ricky Piera on offense and by the way I hope Ricky piera's all right after getting shot what a weird story to come out on Saturday in the midst of everything that was going on saw that and you're like wait what Ricky piol got shot like man hope everything is is going to be okay with that guy um but anyway just an awful awful look that Florida was so inferior to Miami and anyone with two eyeballs could tell you that there's no Spin Zone nothing absolutely nothing oh ref did this oh you know what tip pass here it goes our way no no none of that none of that one year three coach looks like he's figuring things out about having the right combination of talent and scheme those air raid Concepts worked really well with Cam Ward and they've really built that offense to be able to give him opportunities to succeed while another year three coach looks like he's still searching for answers what's troubling for any Florida fan of stomach is that they've been told or rather they've been sold that's that's that's the better way to phrase this they have been sold this notion that Billy had all the answers to clean up the damn Mullen era speaking of Mullen interesting afternoon for old Dam Mullen front of the program kind of sort of not really I disagree with what my guy Matt Barry tweeted about Mullen if you missed it he said quote the Florida Coach that got fired went to three consecutive New Year six games in his first three years and was let go in his fourth season Mullen retweeted that why wouldn't you you know um I think if you heard Mullen on this show when he came on a little over a year ago um there's no love loss between Dan Mullen and Florida not breaking any news there I also think that Mullen lost his way in that job and if you are just looking back on the Mullen era ending and chalking it up to Florida fans having unrealistic expectations you are forgetting the context of that final year plus okay that ignores mullen's disastrous ended 2020 the mess that was 2021 and yes it was a mess go ask Samford about that um the significance of that show cause which was not nothing and that was a big deal at Florida drink if you've heard Matt Hayes say that on this show before um it ignores how much Florida's recruiting fell off and go back to that Georgia game folks because the Optics of that one couldn't have been worse and Florida looked like it had fallen off the face of the Earth in that cocktail party 2021 and it was oh my God Dan Mullen has just given up on recruiting he's not recruiting a single player anymore and this belief that that oh he was just railroaded not the case he was indifferent with the recruiting stuff by the end of it and you know it and I think he would even admit that if he had some truth serum there was Zero alignment whatsoever by the time that he left between himself and that Administration that relationship with Scott Strickland had fallen apart and especially after the 2020 season when Mo himself admitted that he was kind of a different guy and if that extension gets done before that season instead of the pandemic happening maybe things turn out differently but we know how things turned out and to ignore that in my opinion is just that is so nearsighted and I don't like that at all and I like Matt Barry a lot Matt Barry's a good dude we'll get him on the show very very soon I'm sure I'll yell at him about that or something like that but I didn't like that take okay I did not like that and if that's what you feel like you need to blame or hold on to if that's your life raft as a Florida fan is ah you know what we messed this up four years ago I don't don't do that don't do that to yourself it's not worth it so let's acknowledge that Mullen was far better than Billy okay he had a lot more success but this notion that he was wrongfully fired is just untrue it just is that feels like a lifetime ago it really does Billy told us that overhauling the nutrition program would be the difference 500 lbs lean muscle they added got to say don't think he had the more physically prepared team in that heat Billy made tweaks to the defensive staff in the form of hiring Ron Roberts who was fired at the end of each of his last two seasons at different Power five programs well because Billy worked with him at Louisiana he trusted him said all right this is gonna be our guy they showed him way more than they were showing Austin Armstrong on Saturday make of that what you will so far no good there whether it was Roberts whether it's Armstrong there was no Alpha on the field for that defense whatsoever none at all Miami had 529 yards of offense and it could been more if this had actually been a 60-minute game I thought doring said it best on SEC final whenever Miami needed to respond it did that or it took advantage of Florida doing very Florida bilon AP year things which is have these crucial mental mistakes like the the two roughing the passer calls there was a moment where just like with Clemson against Georgia in the first half I tricked myself into thinking oh my God this is about to be like a true down to thewire fight and maybe Florida just did enough to be able to respond and steal the momentum and you know what I'm talking about 17 to3 zero offensive Rhythm for Florida with the first half winding down no chunk plays yet and DJ lagway is trending on Twitter just in case that isn't enough that's because Graham MZ to that point wasn't particularly good wasn't particularly good all day and when looks like Florida just has no hope whatsoever monell Johnson gets some incredible blocking Florida even had a center pulling to be able to help set the edge and then boom just like that he takes off 17- 10 game the swamp is Rock rocking again but then right on Q Miami just slices through the Florida defense goes up 24 to 10 never looks back that was actually the throw that uh that cam Ward had to Restrepo where he just straight face did not look phased whatsoever um needed to check his pulse in that one but that game was over and done in place looked like it was clearing out in the middle of the third quarter that was the single saddest rendition of won't back down that you will ever hear just dejected and ironic I mean come on the most ironic thing ever to play that song obviously I know Florida does every home game um love me some Tom Petty been listening to a lot more Tom Petty the course of the last couple months nothing to do with Florida but just a guy that you know was before my time and need to go back and be able to listen to them playing that in that game was just the single most Ironic song that could come on because Mercy did Florida back down from that challenge did not show up ready to go in any phase we talked about how much this was pressure cooker game and while I didn't necessarily think that Billy winning it would guarantee him a year four or anything like that um it's telling that he's getting to the postgame press conference after a game like this and not spinning it anymore he's very clearly aware of how bad this is okay he's not hiding from it and I'll give him at least a little bit of credit for it you just couldn't have drawn up a worst starts of the season that's obvious that's true because just in case all of that wasn't enough final score the fact that it's an instate rival you know again they're both year three coaches a lot of pressure to be able to win this year Merz going down in this one was a really really tough pill to swallow he got absolutely crunched on a ball that gets picked off which merch did not throw a whole lot of interceptions last year drink if you've heard a comment about his completion percentage only three picks off last season so if you were a Florida fan who stuck around um you probably had to hold your breath those moments um obviously don't root for anyone to get hurt the silver lining of course that everybody's talking about is all right you get to see d DJ lagway get to see what this kid is capable of doing this guy that's been built as a savior of the program up and down I thought TV the TD drive that he led was the best Drive of the day again cue the high noon pillow with that fan um see the positive see the positive that was also against Miami leaving its first team defense in so that was impressive and I'm not trying to take away away from that that wasn't part of Billy's plan I can guarantee you unfortunately concussion for Mertz that's what they said afterwards TBD on what that means for him moving forward everybody's going to be wondering is Billy's Only Hope DJ lagway is that it I highly doubt he sees it that way he loves Merz he wants to do right by Mertz and notion that he'll just abandon him in favor of lague I think is really premature and really go back and look at it guys this is a unique situation I know we talked about this earlier in the off season but go go through the SEC and think about the coaches who have relied on true freshman quarterbacks and think about the standing that they were in at their University you know like Alabama turning to Jaylen Herz 2016 okay Nick Sabin not exactly on the hotc you have the freedom to do what you want at the quarterback position and it ended up working out obviously EXT extremely well okay you want to get into like you know an Auburn situation with B Knicks he ends up being the starting quarterback 2019 is that you know Gus maybe relying on a freshman to be able to save his job yeah but he also did so because he had a defense that was out of this world and if you forget how good that Auburn defense was with Kevin steel go back and watch because they had dudes all over the place so it was a little bit different that they could lean on B Knicks and trust him to be able to kind of figure things out uh you want to go through like a Georgia situation uh Jacob e all right Jacob E's year one of the Kirby smarter what about Jake FR well Jake FR wasn't exactly supposed to be starting as a true freshman he started out as a necessity because Jacob e gets hurt and it's still year two with the Kirby Smart era that works out extremely well all right you want to go to like LSU okay LSU hasn't really had that drawn up by Design with a true freshman quarterback in recent memory um you could probably find an example of like okay what about an old Miss Old Miss 2019 Matt Luke fighting for his job a little bit rice plumbley he was electric didn't matter they still ended up firing him didn't didn't necessarily prove to be the Savior as much as I love true freshman John John rice plumbley um and by the way he wasn't the starter by Design at all either that was a little bit more out of necessity with injuries uh look you can go up and down and you can find these situations of teams that have maybe put in true freshman quarterbacks in this conference but leaning on them to be the savior is much and it's much even when you have things that you feel like you can trust when you have an unbelievable ground game you've got NFL receivers you've got a defense that you know is going to be top 20 in the country what the hell does Florida have Trey Wilson Montell Johnson every once in a while that's it I I love lagway too like I I have loved everything that I've seen and heard from him and I'm I'm very tempted to just say just let the guy play and figure it out and we'll talk about the positives and and how that could benefit Florida moving forward and oh that's going to be the big long-term benefit to doing something like that I don't know man I don't know because I think his surroundings are not good and I think this game confirmed that we were not stupid to talk about the schedule offseason we had to talk about it and this is now six consecutive losses for Florida dating back to last year Florida is now 10 and 24 and it's last 34 games against Power five competition we're calling it core four now three consecutive losing Seasons what are the odds they make it four because that was not a winning team that was a winning team with a manageable schedule much less with a historically daunting schedule at least that's the way that it's perceived maybe we'll be right about that maybe we'll be wrong but I think we're right to be skeptical about this Florida team at some point proof of concept has to set in okay it's not Florida fans fault it's not their expectations they've won two national championships in the 21st century and people want to act like three consecutive losing Seasons at a place with that type of tradition that type of inate talent those types of resources people want to act like that's just oh you know what fans just are gonna fan no it's not fans should be upset what are you talking about Florida deserves better Billy has not given them better despite what he has said at almost every turn perhaps with the exception of this postgame press conference all right Notre Dame beats A&M at Kyle Field speaking of quarterback performances I was wrong about hand up Conor wigman was bad in that loss to Notre Dame bad bad bad with a capital B I think ESPN gave us that close-up slow-mo of him puking just because it felt in line with his performance they usually don't show stuff like that they're like ah this guy's really struggling let's show him PUK I also think it was bizarre to listen to Fowler continue to mispronounce his last name as Wegman when it's wigman Herby and Holly row had it right and Fowler just like dug his heels in which I love Fowler I think he's great I love him as the voice of the sport but I'm like does he not here Herby and Holly R like calling it wigman and it's in the pronunciation guide all this stuff I I mean and F's defense I guess I'll say that it's not like wigman did anything to make people think he was worthy of being a household name um I wanted to lead that because obviously that loss is not all on Conor wigman it sort of played out um how I predicted with Riley Leonard being able to lead a late touchdown drive to take be able to take the lead Notre Dame kind of getting out of college station with this hardfought win I thought that was going to be on the table credit Notre Dame offensive line which entered with six career starts and made enough plays to be able to to lead some key key drives late by night's end I thought they were pushing the pile I thought they were creating running Lanes against an A&M defensive line that didn't indeed looked apart for the majority of the night I held my breath a little bit when Nick scorton went down but in my opinion he and Shamar Turner were as advertised those guys are going to be awesome and if you're not prepared to be able to handle them they will take over games but the difference in that game Notre Dame's defense having an answer for everything that Conor wigman and Colin Klein tried to do there were so many instances in which I said either out loud or to myself Conor wigman's lost and he has no chance none whatsoever whether that was Notre Dame pressuring him to be able to force an errant throw for the pick where a rare instance I thought in which his footwork was really bad and he sails a throw that he shouldn't have sailed obviously but it's still pressure that forced that or the fact that Notre Dame felt like all night they're stepping into passing lanes and they're making better plays on the ball than those A&M receivers uh wigman was frustrated really really frustrated you could see it all over his face Al golden Marcus Freeman they that was a defensive Master Class it really was and yeah it's an A&M offense that I don't think he's going to be a top 10 offense in the country I can say that with confidence but they were bringing pressure all over the place and if you saw some of the the the quarterback view replays of the way that they would set up their defensive line and their linebackers like good luck good luck man they it felt like they were getting one guy untouched Time After Time After Time and that's going to be a liability with this A&M team like I I continue to say as much as I like Conor wigman I I think their offensive line is really going to struggle because they haven't really given us a whole lot of confidence that they won't in recent memory and look the irony with the way that it played out is that one of the reasons I'm such a wigman guy present tense there I'm Still A wigman Guy haven't totally sold my stock yet is because up until last night he's been mostly awesome against pressure I think that's the biggest thing he can hang his hat on and if and when that time comes for the NFL I feel like that'll be when when you go to like the the NFL.com the combine profile page the top thing will be handles pressure extremely well I still believe that'll be the case but man uh it it wasn't there and it was very easy to forget this was a guy that before we got hurt last year he was leading FBS with touchdown passes against the blitz that according to PFF but his first game with Colin Klein in his year he looked overwhelmed totally overwhelmed he looked like he didn't have much faith in any of those receivers not say I totally blame him on that but I thought this was really telling in the middle of the fourth quarter Le'Veon Moss was split out wide Le'Veon Moss the running back he split out wide on Third and nine and it's a running back running a nine yard out and that's Conor wigman's first read and that play in that spot I got to have it tight type spot and of course Moss it kind of sums up the night Moss runs the route probably about a half yard short didn't have the presence to be able to extend the football to able to get across the you know the first down marker thought he had it and he didn't and A&M is forced to punt in their own territory Notre Dame gets it back 85 yard touchdown drive to be able to take the lead for good I do think that better days are ahead for the A&M offense they will not run into a group that experienced that prepared every single week that's not always going to be the case Notre Dame is one of the best secondaries in the sport and again a year three defense is such a game changer I guess we call it a year four defense this is the fourth year that Marcus Freeman's been there obviously one as a coordinator Three As a head coach but man they they won that battle they really did A&M does not have an offensive identity none I couldn't tell you what their strength is what does A&M do best right now because I would have told you before last night Conor wigman being able to handle some pressure being able to make some throws down field trust that his guy's going to be able to go off and make a play Maybe Colin Klein's going to be able to scheme in the ground game that's been a popular topic of conversation we talked about that beforehand wasn't there wasn't there they are still searching for that this feels like an A&M team that if they're going to have success on the offensive side of the ball a lot of it is going to depend on Colin Klein being able to scheme at an elite at an elite level which that's what he's been paid to do that's why he left his alma mater at Kansas State to go to Texas A&M to be able to draw off those looks and to make life easier on a quarterback that in theory should be rounding into form but he certainly did not look the part Notre Dame beat a ranked SEC team on the road for the first time in 20 years last time they had done that beat number nine Tennessee in Knoxville 2004 nothing is set in stone but let me ask this and this goes back to what we were talking about how I I thought A&M if if you didn't have a dog in the fight A&M should have been your dog in that fight because of Notre Dame's path to be able to to get an at llarge Birth in the 12 team playoff if you were picking teams to make the playoff based on what we have seen in week one and what we know awaits with the schedule how many teams would you put ahead of Notre Dame right now I'd put Georgio ahead of them I put Ohio State ahead of him even though Ohio State you know understandably got off to a slow start against Joe Morehead it happened Oregon 10-point win against Idaho that make you feel that confident is everybody and again is everybody that confident that Oregon's going to be able to step into the Big 10 and win the conference I don't know about that as much as I like that team Old Miss favorable path still not as favorable as Notre Dame Penn State nice win on the road in Morgantown shut me up for going um to a couple different places and saying I can see that upset happening did not happen nice win for Penn State Notre Dame's path is still easier A&M on the other hand not a team with 12 team playoff upside not there yet and that's fine it's year one we don't judge year one coaches on this Co on this show I still like Mike Elco I still think that they're going to be able to win a couple of those games they're not supposed to I'm not necessarily selling stock in that I think better days will be ahead but yeah I mean you got you got to credit Notre Dame for the way that they showed up in this one both defensively and you know at the end got moama just blasting 107,000 people just ready to go that atmosphere looked like it was second to nine you saw the pregame I had the pregame photo of uh the final image of game day of just Corso doing his Irish jig and McAfee shirtless like armar around Sabin and in the middle of them is just just Johnny Manzel standing there awkwardly looking the like the most sober normal one of the group um it was it was an awesome college game day it it truly was I probably could have done without the Pete thill fishing stuff but nonetheless it was still an entertaining college game day to be able to start off for the I guess the the hour that I was able to watch a bit but um yeah unfortunately for Texas A&M yeah little bit of like the 2018 Vibes early on with with Jimbo where you're just not there yet you're not ready to win that type of game and not saying that this is the Jimbo Fisher all over again do not twist my words into that but A&M came up short has some clear weaknesses to be able able to to try and go back to the drawing board and handle all right Virginia Tech Vandy the one you've been waiting for I know it is VY did the unthinkable how about it man how about it as I've said so many times ad nauseum you probably got sick of hearing me say it this offseason it was like a broken record I really was but in Clark Lee We Trust man um look I I just couldn't believe the way that game played out every single turn the the the start that Vandy had the fact that Vandy blows the lead and then misses the field goal late and then is still able to win in overtime I just could not believe that Vandy responded in the way that it did at every single turn I think New Mexico State maybe should get half a win for this one for all the different pieces that they played a part in winning this with Vandy poaching the program and you know bringing over all of these New Mexico state agies to be able to kind of write the ship we need to talk about Diego Pavia man um absolutely Electric in his debut at Vandy loved it absolutely loved it it was like he just picked up where he left off from that Auburn game the game that Clark Lee watched nine to 10 times before bringing him in to Vandy he just oozes confidence and Swagger and I get why Clark Lee fell in love with him after those nine to 10 viewings because buddy I did too it was it was very very fun to watch watch him and continue to respond in these moments when Vandy has just been so desperate for any quarterback to have that kind of confidence and to be able to back it up after the game Pia said someone said I'm a poor man's Trace murly when you can stop me then you can talk I love it and if we're being honest here if I had called Pavia a poor man's Trace murly before this game I would have been trying to pay him a compliment by saying that I love Trace murly he was incredible man he clearly does not like that so let's do this let's come up with something that he can get on board with and something that I think is a little bit more appropriate about Aldi Matt carral do people like Aldi I don't like that they make you they charge you for the carts but my mom loves Aldi swears by it if Aldi closed its doors tomorrow I would get like a phone call and I don't I don't want to say it'd be full on tears but but she'd be upset I actually know people that are pretty high up at Aldi who used to live like in our area actually the person who sold us our house used to be high up at Aldi fun fact that absolutely nobody cares about if Diego Pavia hates Aldi mat carral as a nickname I'll come up with whatever he wants we can Workshop that that's fine he's earned it he has earned a nickname after doing something that look I did not see coming I think even a a soldout vanny crowd which I take that for what it is you got the stadium on construction still great to see that they were turning students away they they haven't had to do that that was unbelievable they they got an absolute treat to be able to see that team respond time and time again but man you you could just tell how comfortable pavio was with with Tim Beck his OC from New Mexico state and then Jerry Hill on the sideline as well that to me looked like a guy that was so comfortable within the offense he knew where he was going with the football at all times or if he didn't he would find it way to be able to improv like he had that one play where it looks like he's going to cross the line of scrimmage and then he throws it to you know basically looks like to the sideline like a parallel type pass instead of scrambling it's just like that's a guy that's seeing the game slowly is having fun and does not care what you think of him at all the ball that he threw to Skinner was a dime really nice catch too that that guy is very important as well in the passing game after what they lost be able to have Shepard go to Colorado they lose Humphrey who I brought up before he went to Georgia what else is huge for Vandy Clark Lee running a defense again seems kind of important who would have thought who would have thought the guy that did really well at Notre Dame and was a rising upand cominging assistant on Brian Kelly staff is now showing that he still knows how to run a defense he's his own defensive coordinator I think it was Taylor Davis who said on the broadcast how different the vibe was for Vandy year to year after she I think she said she covered like four Vandy games last year and just the energy everybody flying around to the football such a massive massive year-to-year change you could not have convinced me that Vandy was the same program that we've seen for the first three years of the Clark Lee era even even 22 I thought they were still a defensive liability for the majority of that season even though they obviously got the wins against Kentucky and Florida but man they they did a lot to frustrate a very experienced Virginia Tech team a team that I think is what are they like they're fourth or something like that their top four in percentage of returning production could have been fooled by that stat because kirun drones that's actually how you pronounce his name I got it wrong last time too um he was not effective I do stand by my take that if his name were actually chirone drones he's a sneaky Heisman candidate but nonetheless he is not instead he's the guy who looked like he didn't have an answer for everything that Vandy was throwing at him until late and Vandy did try and blow it of course VY can't just have all the nice things all right still had to be some drama there still to miss a field goal that seemed pretty makeable but um man I give me more Diego Pavia I need more of that in my life I that that is uh quite the way to be able to start and send a message to your fan base that look might actually have a fun football team this year Vandy should be three and 0 going into missou because home against alorn State Steve McNair ain't walking through those doors rest in peace heard the Netflix doc with him wasn't particularly good which is disappointing because he's got a very interesting story um and then at Georgia State a team that has a ton of turnover not on the level of Virginia Tech one would think if Vandy starts off three and 0 they hit the over for the regular season win total by midep the over under two and a half wins how about that Diego said on uh on Zen game Zen game pod in the off season that he liked that the odds makers Vandy at two and a half wins because of course he did um thinking you know people would be able to bet the over and make a lot of money on Vandy I'm just going to bet the farm on Aldi ma caral love it all right let's close with some overreaction or proper reaction I think we'll usually do this with me throwing these at will and seeing kind of how he feels about these as opposed to just throwing them at myself um we'll try and have a little bit of variety with this okay so overreaction or proper reaction Nico yava was the best quarterback in America on Saturday against Chattanooga booger actually said this several times that's why I wanted to be able to bring this up I'll say it's a slight slight overreaction just because I think there's a ceiling when he's getting to face an FCS team and there are others like you know that that aren't necessarily given that kind of time but I encourage anyone anyone who maybe you got other things going on it was a 1245 start that that weird 1245 start this year is going to throw everybody off at least once but I would encourage everyone to go look at the throws that he's making how effortless it looks how On Target how inst stride it is how comfortable he is with the Josh Hy offense in year two it's so easy to understand why people are amazed by this guy it really is and I'm usually I try and refrain from being the oh my god look what he did against not impressive competition so I am trying to hold myself back as a Nico believer but he can put that football anywhere the uptempo is there the way that he sees the field is so evident even when he's running between the tackles and he's like navigating around at 66 he just looks like he has such a feel for the game that I don't think Josh hpel taught him that I think Josh Hy looked at and said that guy is worth going to war against the NCAA to be able to get in our program and you know what I think he's right I really do I love Nico I know I'm not alone I will say cam Ward probably deserves the the nod in the who was the most impressive quarterback in America because of the surroundings obviously um but man Nico Nico looked the part and anybody that was of the belief that the spring game showing the underwhelming spring game showing was a sign that he was going to be in trouble I I hoped you watch yesterday and felt better about that take because that take did not make sense to me it it really didn't and I'm not saying that he that means he's destined to be Payton Manning but dude looks good dude looks really freaking good and Dylan Samson by the way too shout out Dylan Samson guy's awesome all B the drum team member okay overreaction or proper reaction South Carolina's offense was the most concerning SEC unit in week one I'm gonna say proper reaction I am you could go with Florida's defense here but I in A&M's offense that's definitely a candidate how could it not be but I I would argue that both of those units struggled against groups that we expect to be really good so I I'll give them a little bit of the benefit of Doubt for that South Carolina's offense struggled against Old Dominion at home Lenor sers did not get a whole lot of help but really were not a lot of high percentage looks that were schemed open from him from D Loggins he has a ways to go as a schemer I talked about how much I liked what he did as a quarterback developer with Spencer Rattler and to me that's why he earned the right to be able to kind of withstand some of that criticism but they are just not getting these chunk plays that they need to get because I don't think they're going to be this team that you know is having these like four or five minute drives where they just go down field and and they just lean on you I don't think they have that identity to be able to do that I think they need the chunk plays badly and that's just not really been there I mean sers he didn't really have a go-to guy in in the passing game at all and South Carolina pretty much resorted to running the football to survive that's not the type of game that you want to run the football that much not much Running Room for for sellers for Rocket Old Dominion got strip sacked twice backed up in basically like backed up in their own End Zone like within their own 10 yard line which was the difference in the game South Carolina had to actually put together stops late to be able to come out with a with a win not great that Beamer is already Busting Out The Fakes with Kai Kroger who had a touchdown pass called off because of a penalty can't really say if you're a South Carolina fan ah you know what the game plan was really basic I don't know man I think they wanted to get Lenor cers some some actual reps and realize they didn't really have a lot of a lot of stuff in the offensive Playbook that they felt particularly good about that was pretty concerning it was maybe not quite as alarming is what we saw from them in the opener last year against UNCC maybe better days are ahead it's still obviously a very very young quarterback who had up until yesterday never completed a pass against FBS competition but still I watched that and went um man I was hoping for more I was hoping for more from this offensive line and they did not necessarily have that now you got to go to Lexington face face a mark stops uh defense which you know Shane beer has had some success against them obviously in the last couple years but still that's going to be a tough task for an offense that um I don't know that they figur it out a ton in week one overreaction or proper reaction Ryan Williams will only score touchdown every time he touches the ball slight overreaction slight two catches 139 yards two touchdowns 69 a half yards per catch that's pretty good not bad for a 17-year-old kid Ryan Williams definitely wins the Jake Bentley award for weekly reminders that he should still be in high school he should be at prom um not going to get sick of that probably not going to have many IC defenses that take the Western Kentucky approach of just forgetting to cover him that first play was definitely mix up in the secondary you know credit Jaylen milro [ __ ] credit Williams for being able to to take advantage of that it was an On Target throw wide open receiver the second TD though I really liked because I thought that the first throw was a lot of what we saw last year from milro where it's just like all right chug de you got a big r is to be able to hit this guy but that second throw where if you actually watch the watch the replay and see kind of milro go through his progression maybe he's looking off a safety but whatever the case he throws it on a line what was it 25 yards downfield and the area that he's been scrutinized the most is obviously 11 to 20 yards that like that's where I think his accuracy percentage was like 52% or something like that that's where he needs to be able to get better to become a more well-rounded player everybody kind of knows that and that throw to me the way that he ripped it and Williams was in stride kind of in traffic too showed he's got some confidence in this and he's not just looking off guys that are you know maybe got a little bit tighter coverage than he would care for but Williams gets past the two defenders in space and takes it to the house I will say if there was one thing that kind of bummed me out it was that Miler only got nine passes in the opener and I understand it's a blowout Alabama was dominating that game pretty much from start to finish but part of that was Alabama having these Splash plays it also helped that Bama's other possessions were either short Fields because of TJ Finley turnovers of course they were or they were after Western Kentucky had a 21pl drive that ended without points that's just the ultimate kicking the nuts it really is um but yeah we'll say that we say it's a slight slight overreaction okay let's end with one more here how about Arch Manning is the Messiah slight overreaction with that one as well great to see Arch get in there that's the thing that's going to be fun about te and I I'll admit like Texas Colorado State like that game I wasn't as dialed in on early on just because I knew I wasn't going to be talking about it at length here knew that we were I was going to be going back probably midweek to look at some things before I talk about them against Michigan the game of the week kind of in week two um but seeing Arch be able to get into these games is going to be a lot more fun it's going to be a lot more fun for Texas fans who uh look I I think there have been times with ERS where you face a team like Colorado State and wondered is this offense that good why why is the slow start there uh that was not the case at all ERS highlight re day went full Pat Mahomes with the no look pass I don't necessarily need that to become a trend it's cool take it for what it is let's just kind of leave it there fun fun thing to be able to see on replay let's not make anything more of that than we need to but seeing Arch come in and make the play that he did with his legs where he makes this flip to the sideline again I talked about that with with milroe last year when a guy has the confidence to be able to flip the ball like that and it's a different kind of flip I guess that that Arch had but when he has the confidence to be able to see the field like that and he's not panicked and he's has has this this I don't want to call it Moxy it's almost arrogance that's really what it is it's arrogance to be able to make that play in that spot to me that's a really good sign Texas fans I'm sure felt felt great to see Arch out there having fun being able to enjoy this and not talk about oh is he gonna get into a game in you know week 11 or something like that and just hand the football off you got to see him actually throw the football and and that's fun and who knows maybe Texas is going to need to turn to Arch at some point this year but so far looked theart I praise the development that he had in Spring I thought year to year you really saw a significant difference with him strip strip down the last name all those other things obviously he's got a lot left to determine with what his college career his college Legacy ends up looking like but for a guy that came in obviously with you know you hear the crowd when he steps onto the field man like I flipped on I remember like I I had like I had something else on at that moment but I was like I want to I want to make sure that I'm watching when when it's very apparent that Arch is going into this game and and Texas fans were like they're giddy I mean not quite the level of that that picture that surface from uh from the Sugar Bowl last year where you were is at the podium and it's empty and it's just the entire media contingency surrounding Arch maybe wasn't quite that level but uh nonetheless there was excitement to be able to see him play and he looked good so far don't think that he'll be getting those reps against Michigan if he is getting those reps against Michigan either a really good sign for Texas or a really bad sign for Texas we'll have a lot more thoughts on that game of course with our midweek pod we'll also have full thoughts on LSU USC when we record on Wednesday maybe you're listening to this after that game has already taken place I'm not going to cold take myself I refuse to do that we're not going to do that for the season opener I just know that I'm recording this at 7:55 on Sunday morning guys that's that's a pod that's a pod week one in the books hope you enjoyed it hope you got to watch a lot of football hopefully you weren't the fan sumped over sleeping kind of on a high noon tall booy uh hopefully your day was better than it was for that Florida fan if you haven't leave us leave us a five star viw subscribe to our YouTube channel Channel where you can watch every single episode of the Saturday down south podcast follow us on Twitter at the sdsp Pod setdown South CG goo hard thanks guys talk soon [Music]