7-23-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 2: Week 1 possible upsets; David Hale talks ACC Media Days; Connor Stallions documentary coming
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This Chalks94.5 podcast is brought to you by Millennium Satellite and Video. Log on to MSBnow.com. TV excellence everywhere. That's Millennium. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. David Hale coming up at 8.30 today.

David has an article out now at ESPN.com on the ACC grant of rights and what's going to happen next with that. We'll talk to him about ACC media days, get his thoughts on some of these teams, but a little bit more audio that we had from David.

ACC media days. Get to that in just a moment. Some of the coaches go into the podium yesterday. Some interesting things to say, but you guys know all about train, that Alabama heat and humidity can be brutal. Don't let it affect your home and family. Keep them comfortable with an affordable train cooling system. Train is our official partner here at JOX. They've been recognized as America's most trusted brand 10 consecutive years.

Find a comfort specialist near you at train.com. Newbie to the ACC, SMU, Rhett Lashley, discussing how his coaching background is going to help him this year at SMU. I've known Mike since 2007, and we were talking earlier today, man. I got just so much respect for him and how he runs his program. We played him in Miami, and to see where in those two years he's now brought the program to now, it's not a shock.

You know, yeah, I think there's a lot of... Look, they happen to be our first conference game. They won the league last year, so in a lot of ways they're the measuring stick for everybody this year, right? That's the defending champ's responsibility almost. And yeah, I think being at Miami...

and having probably seven or eight guys on our roster that have transferred from Miami, there's some guys that will be excited about that game. So that SMU football team, Greg, comes in with some frontline talent, a chance to make some noise. It's just we've talked about this before. As some of the teams last year went into the Big 12, and we saw them really not be able to hold up throughout the course of the season. Right.

That's the biggest challenge for SMU this year. It's not being able to go toe-to-toe just with guys when they get out there and who has faster, bigger, stronger players. It's holding up over the course of a season, which is going to be a different grind for this SMU team. And it's a pretty considerable step up, too, I might add. You look at where SMU has built their team in the past. It's wide receivers. They've had good wide receivers.

They've been able to score. They've had good personnel on the perimeter and at the skill positions. They haven't had great offensive lines. They lost their center, by the way, who's a good player going to Oklahoma. So they haven't been able to hold down the fort on some of the positions that you would need to be successful in a Power 5 league. The thing is, the Big 12...

and or the ACC prior to it, those were leagues where you didn't have to have great defensive and offensive line personnel. But I do think those leagues have changed. Like Florida State and Clemson and Miami, frankly, along both lines of scrimmage are pretty dang rock solid. Used to be able to win a 7-on-7 game in the Big 12 and be competitive in the league. I don't think Rhett Lashley could do that. So they're going to have to fortify their trenches. If you look at the guys they've added, 20 guys added in the portal, 13 of them.

Came on the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively. So he knows already what they need to attack and what they need to prioritize to make sure that they don't fall off a cliff in the second half of the season. So that was Rhett Lashley discussing his relationships with Mike Norvell, some other coaches in the ACC, how that might help him. What about Mike Norvell, that opener that they're going to be facing this upcoming season?

Coach O'Brien's a great coach. He's got a wonderful resume and career that he's been able to lead. Boston College is a very talented team. We saw going up there in a very emotional game, the one that was full of...

momentum swings and good and bad on both sides. But we know that that'll be a team that is very talented and hungry under the new staff that they have. And so when we get to that game, it'll be everything we have to go kick off our home opener. But to be excited about it when it shows up. So a couple of oddities around that one. Number one, don't forget Bill O'Brien is the head football coach at Boston College now. Yes. That's one that has...

I think so many other things have happened since that happened. We've kind of forgotten about it. Right. And there have been a lot of things that have taken place. Also, not the opener for Florida State, but the opener for Boston College. Florida State Georgia Tech will go August 24th from Ireland. So Florida State will have a game under their belt. Boston College will have extra time to prepare, specifically since that game will be on Monday night. That's your Monday night game, Labor Day weekend, BC at FSU.

So just kind of interesting to think about some of the things that are going to go along with that game. But we know Bill can put an offense together, G-Mac. Don't know from a speed and athleticism perspective if that's a great matchup for Boston College there, getting Florida State on that Monday night, and always helps you to at least –

have one run at it to get out there, play a game, have your guys on the field, see how everybody's working together. Well, I do think it's going to be very interesting to watch Boston College this year because Billy O is a little different than what they did in the past. I think Billy O, obviously, if you look back at his time as a college head coach, he's pretty dang good. Granted, he inherited what was an impossible situation at Penn State and ended up being

Pretty tough to play against. I mean, they won a bunch of games that you wouldn't anticipate. So I'll be curious to see how does he kind of structure the offense? He's got a really athletic quarterback. Are they going to kind of structure the offense around it? But yeah, I think Boston College going up there, sleepy, early starts,

It's a dangerous place to play from time to time. And then you've got the Red Bandana game once a year as well. So I don't think they're going to necessarily win those Red Bandana games very often, but they'll be emotionally prepared to play in those games for sure. Finally, that team that Florida State will get in their opener, Georgia Tech. Kind of another one flying under the radar like Bill O'Brien to B.C. Haynes King back as the Georgia Tech starting quarterback.

what he has worked on to improve this offseason. It just goes each and every day, make a routine, make a standard, what's going to happen, and not letting up on that. And the more routine you have each and every day, the more consistent your life gets, even outside of football. So now each and every day that...

Even in football, outside of football, stuff keeps getting better and better because you have a routine. Everything's not just scatterbrained all over the place. If everybody has the same routine each and every week throughout practice, everything else is going to handle itself and be more consistent.

So it's interesting, GMAC, with Haynes King coming back this year at Georgia Tech. You've said that you're pretty positive on this Georgia Tech football team and what they could be, specifically playing spoiler possibly to a couple of other teams. And I just don't think that...

Because of where maybe his reputation was leaving Texas A&M, that a lot of people are paying much attention to Haynes King and Georgia Tech. And just maybe what they have or what they could be. Haynes King last year, 2,842 yards passing, 27 touchdowns, but he did have the 16 picks. Yes. Something that obviously needs to turn around, but...

He ran for another 737 and 10 touchdowns. It's 37 combined touchdowns from Haynes King. The productivity was there. I love this offense. You love this offense. Buster does a great job with it. But how much better can he be? How much more improvement is inside of Haynes King? I think he'd be pretty good. I mean, he's a dynamic player, and he can create a lot of issues defensively.

You know, he can create a lot of issues with his legs. He's got a long release. He's always going to throw picks. And that's part of the problem. He's going to have some negative moments that will be irritating to coaches because when he pulls the ball back, it allows defenders to break and

It takes them a long time to get it up and out. So that's, I think, the biggest issue with Haynes King. But I think they have a ton of team speed. I mean, I'm talking a ton of team speed, which is huge. Absolutely huge.

Because when you're looking at where they can attack people, it's going to be on the edge. It's going to be on the perimeter. And it's going to be with guys that can flat out fly. And they've got a couple receivers that can fly. Their quarterback can fly. And their running back can fly. So I think Georgia Tech is a very dangerous football team. I don't anticipate them...

winning the ACC, but they will beat a couple teams that will be in contention, and that will be infuriating for a lot of folks. If he can just get the consistency part down a little bit, I think you could be looking at some real improvement offensively because, like you said, they have some guys with real juice. The offensive line will have a lot of experience and have experience playing together as well. But Haynes King last year, Greg, he had four games that he threw multiple interceptions.

He had one that he threw three. He had one that he threw four. He also had four games. He'll throw picks now. He also had four games that he didn't throw an interception. So it's that ebb and flow, that up and down for Haynes King. If they can neutralize that just a little bit and just take away the threes and the fours,

Okay, you have a couple games with a pick, maybe one, two games with two. Now it becomes a little bit more survivable if you're Georgia Tech and Haynes King can neutralize a little bit of that portion of giving the ball away. Yeah, I think that's going to be the biggest challenge, though, for him is he kind of is who he is at this point. If you're a turnover guy, you're always going to be a turnover guy. Turnover genome is not rewired. Yeah, it's not something that's easily rewired. I can promise you that. Yeah.

I think it's going to be a tough year for them to ever contend at the top of the league, but I think they can play the spoiler. Like, you catch them on the wrong day, partly will be the way that Haynes King's seeing the field that day, and the other team's team's speed. You catch them on the wrong day, and you've got major problems. You catch them on the right day, you can beat them convincingly. But they've shown the ability and the willingness to play up against Georgia and to be ready to roll against Georgia. They've shown that on multiple occasions. So...

I think they're going to be okay, but I don't know about them really being a contender at the top of the league. If you're looking to roll into a new house, Gusty Goulds and the Gusty Goulds Group would like to help you with that. Go to your phone right now. Go to gustygouldsgroup.com. You'll see a button at the top of your page. You can smash that button with very little information. Find out what your home is worth. Then if you're looking to sell, get out. They'll have an idea what the Gusty Goulds Group can do for you. 205-542-1996. They're brokered by EXP Realty.

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So the ACC, when you talk about some teams that could potentially sneak up, you brought up some of those teams early in the season. There are some interesting not only late-season ACC games with SEC teams, but some early-season games as well. We'll discuss a few of those on the other side next right here on McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning. Catch up with all things McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Talking some early season college football matchups with ACC Media Days today, Big Ten Media Days today.

Take a look at a couple of those coming up that we're interested in that could be maybe intriguing, maybe a little bit more dangerous than certain teams think. Sunbelt Media Days get going today. Also, American, we'll have Trent Dilfer's press conference coming up for you in the last hour of the show today as he is set to take to the podium. David Hale coming up after our next break. We'll talk ACC Media Days with him, that ACC grant of rights, what's next for Florida State and Clemson.

maybe a couple of other teams looking to exit the ACC. He'll give us his latest information there. And Jeff Book is going to join us at 9 o'clock, former Iowa football player, host of the Eyes on Big Ten podcast to give us his thoughts on Iowa's new offense and Big Ten media days as well, as it's all shifted from the SEC last week to a couple of others this week. But when we begin to look at a couple of those early season matchups,

G Mac specifically in the ACC who touted themselves. If you missed it earlier, we were discussing it as having the most difficult non-conference schedule in America, which is nice, but maybe a little too nice to some of the other teams that you're discussing because they're not teams in your league. Georgia Clemson, one that a lot of people are just going to check the box for a Clemson W here. Why can this game be dangerous for Georgia?

In your opinion, why could Clemson maybe go find a win in this game? Because week one, first and foremost, week one's always difficult. And people just love, I mean, you see all these lines. And I was looking at some of the lines for week one. It's like double-digit line, double-digit line, double-digit. It's like, dude, I mean, these are big numbers to lay in week one. When evaluating, you ask these coaches, they won't even know what they have. So it's week one.

That's part of the problem, too. I think Clemson defensively is going to be excellent. I don't know so much about their offense. I really don't. But I do think defensively they'll be able to go, especially along the line of scrimmage on the interior and on the perimeter. The biggest question mark for sure with Georgia is

is probably shoring up the defensive line. I mean, can they, can they adequately make sure that the defensive line is no longer an issue because last year it was by their standard. We're not talking about by just your run of the mill team standard. This is Georgia we're talking about. So they're held to a different standard upfront defensively. Um,

Not that I think Clemson is going to move them off the ball. I do think Clemson try to create some balance could cause problems for sure. I could definitely see that happening. Yeah, but if Georgia is not quite as disruptive up front as they have been, it does give maybe Kate Klubnick a little bit of extra time and some different options to be able to find some things in different areas. So I thought that's it's maybe something that I would agree with there. That Clemson front seven is going to be filthy, man.

I mean, that is going to be a handful. And for a Georgia offensive line that a lot of us believe could be really good this year, that'll be a good test. And don't be surprised if we come out of that game and you hear a lot of people saying that Georgia's offensive line is not going to be good enough to win a national championship. But that Clemson front seven is going to be able to rip. I don't think there's any doubt about it.

Now, there are a lot of question marks around this one, Greg, because there are new pieces and new faces. But Miami at Florida week one, another really intriguing game and one that I think I personally think could go either way. I don't have a strong feel for it either direction. I think it's pretty big that Florida is getting it home. That crowd sometimes maybe a little sleepy for a week. One should be into it, should be raring to go.

But this is a fun matchup for a lot of different reasons. Really fun. I love this matchup, personally. I think that...

Florida is going to be able to run the football. Miami's got great defensive line personnel. Reuben Baines is a monster on the edges of the defense. I think the second level of Miami is solid. Their safeties are a problem, but I don't think their safeties were that great last year. On paper, people would tell you they were the greatest safety tandem in the history of the sport. I would respectfully push back on that. So when taking that into account, I would probably tell you that

I think there's going to be some shots to be had if Florida can get the run game going. If Florida can get the run game going, get those safeties getting a little nosy, get up there a little bit more towards the line of scrimmage, they're going to be able to take some shots. I also really like...

I don't know how much Miami defense you've watched, but Guidry, their defense coordinator, he doesn't care. He'll just throw caution to the guy who bullets him. It's a lot. It's nonstop. It's all the time. So him and his aggressiveness with Billy and his patience as a play caller will be something I'm really interested in, kind of the cat and mouse dynamic there. But yeah, I think it's going to be a heck of a game. And the outcome, there is no game that will have a more significant outcome on the narrative side.

Then that game in week one, like for instance, Miami loses. Oh, here we go again. Mario can't get the job done. Florida loses. Billy's got one foot out the door. He's already in the coffin. So that's going to be really interesting too, is just the fallout. Absolutely. Defeat.

For either program there as well. Especially early in the season. How do some of the new faces... You mentioned Reuben Bain, but you've got Simeon Barrow from Michigan State that comes in. C.J. Clark from NC State up front for Miami on that defensive line. Now your linebackers experience all back for that Miami defense. The good news for Florida is...

Week one, as you stated before, you're not always in sync. You're not always in rhythm here. But what they run for the most part offensively, and they'll throw some gap scheme stuff at you, some counter power, but defensively,

The inside-outside zone scheme that Florida runs, that should aid you in managing all the movement, all the different looks, all the different pressures that Miami's going to give you. If they're in sync, if that chemistry's kind of there early on, that's a big advantage for Florida in that game. I think it comes down to the other side of the football. And can Austin Armstrong's defense really take a step? Can they be that much better defensively?

Because we've talked about up front, Florida's got some disruptors up front now. They've got some guys that can be a problem. And they might not be the top-end guys in the Southeastern Conference, or they might not be a bunch of number one draft picks like we're used to seeing a lot of teams from the SEC have.

But we've seen Kim Jackson take over a game. It's in him. He can do it. And apparently, they're all a little bit leaner. They're all lean muscle mass put on, not quite as heavy as last year. Apparently, even...

Big boy Des Watson has leaned up a little bit and can give him some real snaps this year. But if Joey Slackman comes in from Penn and can help you out, I like Caleb Banks a lot. Tyreek Saps played a lot of football for them. I think that's the difference right there is can that front be problematic for Cam Ward, who you have described as someone who loves to ad lib. He does. A little bit of an and one point guard quarterback, going to kind of just do his own thing at times.

if they can force him to be uncomfortable, I think that's probably the difference in this game because you're at home and you all of a sudden can get Miami in some third and eights, third and tens, second and twelves. That's a different game that you're playing defensively for Austin and that group. And year two should be a little more comfortable for that Florida defense.

I think they'll be all right. The defense last year, they had a lot of young players, too. I mean, a ton of guys that were freshmen, redshirt freshmen, first-year guys that were out there that logged a bunch of snaps, and they took their lumps. I mean, that's what happens when you play defense with a lot of young guys. You're going to get beat up some, and you're going to have busts, and you're going to have mistakes, and you're going to have errors in communication. You're going to have stuff like that. It's just not that uncommon. So...

I'm not one that's coming into this season sitting there thinking, oh, gosh, Florida's awful defensively. I think they'll make great progress from where they were last year to this year because of what they learned about themselves last year throughout the process. Another part of what I like that Florida did defensively is you ain't got three solid veterans at all three levels. You mentioned Joey Slackman, who my understanding is –

locker room facility has been sort of a piece of maturity that that room needed. Kind of a no-nonsense, like show up, do your job, stay quiet, get things done type of a guy. Then you go get Pup Howard from South Carolina, veteran, played some football. Played a lot of football. Solid player. And then a guy that we saw in the Sugar Bowl last year, Nasa Turner, for Washington at safety, another vet that you bring in. Who, by the way, missed some time last year and got hurt.

But when he was out there, he was a difference maker for them. Asa Turner's a good player, really good. But I just like the fact that you get three vets, played a ton of football at all three levels. I think you, like you said, played a lot of young players last year. You upped the maturity of that defense, front end, off the ball, and on the back end. That, to me, that could make a big difference for Florida defensively this upcoming season.

I don't see how it doesn't make a significant difference. Those that are saying, oh, it's the same guys, I get that, but you've got to also take into account, first of all, Austin's defense is not like it's show and go, we're going to play the same coverage quarters over and over and over again. There's some layers to it, and there's some things that you need to understand that are a little bit more challenging than what most of the true freshmen that were thrown out there last year had seen, probably in their whole careers. So I think they're going to be all right.

I did not have them last year, but from a distance. So I didn't get to meet with Austin and get to visit with him on what his assessment was of his guys and how they're coming along. But I did watch from afar, and it looked like there was a lack of communication. When you have young guys...

The lack of communication could be infuriating because guys are not comfortable enough telling other guys what to do because they're just focused on themselves. So as a result, you didn't have – you had several different occasions where guys weren't on the same page with each other. So hopefully that will be a thing of the past this year given how many reps these guys have played together. All right, so that's Florida-Miami. Just kind of staying on Florida for a second before we go back and talk some more ACC media days. Like what's best-case scenario for you? So many people focusing in on worst-case scenario. Yeah.

Just thinking about that game right there. Let's say they get that one. They'll get Chris Hatcher, Sanford team, week two. And they've got Texas A&M at home. They can get that one. Mississippi State on the road. Take a week off. I think they can get Mississippi State. UCF. We're talking best case scenario here, right? Best case scenario. Why do you think they can't win all those games? I haven't given an opinion either way. If they get Miami, I think they absolutely could be 5-0 going to Neyland Stadium.

No reason they couldn't be. Zero reason why they couldn't be. I do think that Tennessee game is going to be a big challenge. Welcome to the SEC. But it's not like we haven't seen that game go the other way, where the team that we absolutely knew was going to win, not get that game. They can win that game. I mean, I'm not saying that they will. I'm just saying they can. Look what happened two years ago. That's the game Cam Jackson took over and dominated. I mean, basically won by himself.

So they have the personnel up front defensively to be able to give the problems that you need to give. And athletically, it's not like Tennessee is just going to run by them. Then you've got the Kentucky game, a series that you've dominated forever, a week off, and then Georgia, which is we know what that one's going to be. Texas is going to be tough. But if Florida becomes sort of a little bit more of a sort of punch-you-in-the-mouth type football team at the line of scrimmage – Surely they will, though, right? Absolutely.

I don't know if Texas is really ready to play that game. And what's Texas going to look like on November the 9th? Texas will have played Michigan. They're going to be all right. But that's my point, is that we've talked about that grind is still going to be a little bit different for Texas and Oklahoma. You get them going into November. Look at Texas' performances in November last year and the year before. They play to the level of the competition way too often. If there's a knock that you can make against Texas, that's it.

that they are not a group that elevates and dominates. A little frontrunner in them? No, I don't know about frontrunner. I just think that they ebb and flow.

In November, like we saw against TCU last year, a game that should not have been competitive was. We saw it against Kansas State last year, a game that should not have been competitive was. We've seen it a bunch. We've seen it a bunch of times where Texas has risen and lowered to the level of the competition. Texas Tech two years ago, and people will point to, well, those are games that Quinn didn't play. Houston wasn't dominant.

Houston was a terrible performance. That's another one that I was blanking on. Houston was awful. They played terrible in that game. Iowa State, they didn't necessarily handle them. They were great on defense in the Iowa State game, but offensively, not a whole lot going there. So, yeah, I mean, they were not. People think back to last year and remember Texas as being just flat-out gangbusters because they remember the Bama game.

But if you really dive a little deeper, there were several moments throughout the season in which Texas did not play great football. If you watch the Texas Tech game, Oklahoma State game, Bama game, sure, yeah, you're thinking, oh, that's the best team of all time. But you watch them against other teams, like, ah, they have some holes, some things that need to be patched up.

So then you'll get LSU, a team that, I mean, listen, defensively, we don't really know what that thing's going to look like. Is it going to work with Nussmeier and a new offense? We'll see. They'll have talent. They'll be tough. But you get it at home. And then you get Ole Miss on November the 23rd at home. And I'll say this, Greg. If you're asking me right now, September 9th or September 23rd or November 23rd, if I could choose to play Ole Miss either one, it would probably be November 23rd.

That's just me because that's a team that probably is going to have some guys that are dinged up, that are limping around a little bit. I had a long conversation with a buddy of mine about Ole Miss yesterday, and he's kind of going all in on them and thinks that it's going to be this. I'm aware. I listen to his podcast. It was not that guy. It's not a fellow bald white male. But a different guy who we both know because of some things that he's heard the head coach say.

is going all in on Ole Miss because he thinks he has changed, and I know that he has. But I will still say this. There are a lot of people that say Lane is the biggest hurdle for Ole Miss to maybe go to the playoff and go deep in the playoff, maybe win a national championship this year. I will still say the biggest obstacle for Ole Miss, if you're talking about deep playoff run, winning the SEC, or winning a national championship, is going to be toughness and physicality. That's it.

They have all the talent. They have all the scheme. They have all the coaching. They have all the guys. But you are going to run into different teams. They're going to welcome a fist fight. No. Are you going to be able to play that game? That's what I don't know yet. There's a lot of hope that they will, but I'm with you. See it to believe it. And then you'll be at Florida State to close it out if you're the Florida Gators. So just maybe a little bit more manageable than some people think. That's all I'm saying.

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Talks ACC media days, ACC grant of rights next right here on Mac and Cube in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and Jocks FM.com. Hurry hand. All right. Welcome back in McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Going to get to our guy, David Hale, who covers the ACC for ESPN here in just a moment.

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Iconic Carts has the solution for you. They also have master technicians who are qualified to work on all makes and models of cars and off-road vehicles. Check them out at one of their two locations, downtown and in Chelsea, or you can go online at iconiccarts.com. All right, let's go to the Buyer's Right Hotline. David Hale in Charlotte now for ACC Media Days. David, let's start first before we get into some of these teams and maybe your expectations. This grant of rights for the ACC, sort of where we are as to...

Is this going to be presented? Are we going to learn more about it? And then obviously the exit potentially of Florida State and Clemson. Can you just give us sort of an update on where we are with all of that here today?

Well, I showed up at the Hilton in Uptown Charlotte, and the ACC still exists. So that's a good start for today. The rest is such a mystery still. What we heard from Commissioner Jim Phillips yesterday was, I think, by far the most forceful, impassioned, emotional version of him we have heard in years.

really since he's been the commissioner of the ACC. He was pretty adamant in criticizing the lawsuits from Florida State and Clemson, saying that they were damaging the league, saying that they're not owning up to agreements that they not only voluntarily signed but eagerly signed multiple times in the previous decade.

All of these things are true, but what is also true is that Florida State and Clemson are looking to win championships at a national level, and revenue is at the forefront of everyone's discussion if you're not the SEC or the Big Ten right now. And frankly, they're probably looking for more revenue too. But there is an obviously clear gap right there that...

Florida State and Clemson view as a potential existential threat. I think the ACC views their departure as a potential existential threat. So when you have two sides basically fighting for their lives, what you have is not a lot to give. And one of the things that I think Jim Phillips was...

as forceful as he has ever been in saying uh... yesterday was that uh... we are not giving up this fight we will we will fight this as long as we tend to preserve the future of the a_t_c_ uh... as far as the legal battles themselves go we've had a number of hearings largely based around uh...

where these trials are going to take place. We have a lawsuit in Leon County, Florida, and Pickens County, South Carolina, and then multiple suits filed by the ACC in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

Everybody's won their home court version of this, and I think it's probably a little like the NBA playoffs. It doesn't really start until somebody wins on the road. So that's kind of where we're at with things with the ACC right now. What do you think is the first order of business for Jim Phillips that he can do in the near term? Obviously, there's nothing he can do about what's going on on the perimeter with Florida State and Clemson and the current...

I guess lawsuit that's going on to get out of the grant of rights. But what can he really do in the near term? They added Cal, SMU, Stanford. But is there anything else they can do to stabilize here in the next 12 to 24 months to kind of solve this problem?

I don't think there's a solution to the problem, but there are a couple of things that I think are at the top of his to-do list. The first is ESPN holds a look-in, basically, on their current TV contract, which has been reported myriad times, runs through 2036. That's part of the problem for Florida State and Clemson. But

Basically, ESPN can decide to opt out of this contract in 2027, and they would have to decide that by February of next year. So getting that picked up is actually a huge priority for the ACC. And everything that I've heard from reporting from both inside and outside of ESPN and the ACC is that it's likely to happen.

But of course, there's so many moving pieces right now with these lawsuits that it makes it more complicated. So, you know, job one is to secure TV rights, a TV rights package through 2036 to make sure that no matter what happens with Florida State and Clemson, everybody else is still going to get their current share of TV revenue for the next decade plus.

Step two, I think, is changing the narrative a little bit. And that is one of the things that I think he was really trying to do with his speech yesterday, is that you look at how the Big 12 is portrayed. And Brent Urmark, to his credit, I think has been a very good face for that league in being very adamant. I don't think he necessarily has the facts on his side all the time, but he will get out there and say, we are the clear-cut number three.

number three team in the country and, you know, has, I think the, as the kids say, the vibes around the big 12 certainly seem a lot better than the ACC right now. But if you look at on paper, the ACC has a network, the big 12 does not. The ACC is bringing in more revenue than the big 12. The ACC has more national championship contenders than the big 12. The ACC has put more teams into the playoffs than the big 12. Like all of these things are incredibly accurate. Yeah.

but the, the, the talk around the two leagues is markedly different. So I think Jim Phillips really wants to try to, um, remind people that like, yeah, there's trouble in the ACC right now, but it's, it's not doom and gloom any more than everybody else is facing. That is not named the SEC or the big 10. Um, and, and all of that sort of trickles down to what I think is the most important thing in all of this is like, could the ACC survive in some sense, the loss of Florida state and Clemson, um,

you know, it certainly would be a different product, but they could survive. But what they don't want happening is a chain reaction. So if they're the big 12 that loses your two marquee brands, but kind of re-evaluates and grows and, and,

sets down a new flag, that's not the worst possible outcome. But if you're the Pac-12 and you lose your two marquee brands, the whole thing falls apart from there. Miami and North Carolina or Virginia all look to get out and go somewhere else, too. The whole league goes away. That's the...

the ultimate problem that they need to avoid. So I think a lot of what Jim Phillips needs to do is shore up his base a little bit over the next year, year and a half as the legal proceedings with FSU and Clemson play out. Next year as we enter ACC media days, are Florida State and Clemson going to be a member of this conference?

Yes. I think that's pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point. Just, again, not enough has happened in the legal, the courtrooms to say that one side really has any

any clear advantage right now. And so there's not a lot of incentive for either side to negotiate any sort of conclusion to this bitterness. So what you're going to have is the two sides still probably battling in court well into the early part of 2025. And by that point, it will have been way too late to sort of shift gears and move. So I think if you're talking, and I've had conversations with

folks at Florida State and Clemson who knew going into this, the runway for an exit was a long one. This wasn't going to be a, hey, we want to leave and we're going to leave. There was going to be a lot that went into making that happen. So I think they were entirely prepared for a three- to four-year period

process. And I think that's why they filed their lawsuits when they did, is to sort of get the ball rolling before time came that they didn't have any other options. So my guess is the goal would be at this time next year to have a lot more clarity, but I would be shocked if there was any scenario in which Mike Nordele and Dabo Sweeney weren't at ACC kickoff this time next year. Finally, onto the field, looking at Florida State, in particular, defending champs,

I think most people envision them coming back to earth a bit, but they have reinforced in some places along the line of scrimmage defensively, and they have added, obviously, DJ Uyunglele in the portal. So how competitive do you anticipate them being this year? I think they're still going to be pretty good, but it's going to have to be a little bit of a different version of pretty good. The defense is going to be, I think,

every bit as good as they were last year, which I know sounds sort of weird to say when you're losing Fred and Fisk and Jared Burst and some of those guys that were such impactful players, particularly down the stretch last year. But Mike Norvell could not be more enthusiastic about where they are at the line of scrimmage. I think offensive and defensive line, he's thinking this could be as good as he's had it. The secondary is as deep and as good as he's probably had it. So I feel like they're in a good place defensively. Offensively, though, the question is you're replacing –

a guy like Jordan Travis, who is incredibly dynamic as a quarterback, with a guy in D.J. Leungole, who has been a mixed bag, I guess, to say the least. I think that D.J.'s skill set can actually translate pretty well to what Mike Norvell, in an ideal world, wants to do with his offense. But it's going to look different than Jordan Travis. I mean, it's going to be much more of, let's hand the ball off.

probably 55% to 60% of the time. We're going to chuck it deep more often. We're not going to have as many sort of inventive quarterback runs, but we're going to play some power QB run with DJ. All of those things are going to probably look a little more similar to the Mike Norvell offensive line.

as we saw during his time at Memphis and what we saw him running with Jordan Travis. They need a receiver to step up, probably a tight end too. But they're good at the line of scrimmage, and I always think that's probably a good sign for the team moving into the season. But 13-0 is a big task to live up to a second straight year. And I'll be honest with you, the other thing that was –

hard to ignore as I've talked to FSU all offseason and again yesterday is that that playoff snub last year is still a very fresh wound for them. And I think that can go one of two ways. Either it is a motivating factor to try and stick it to everybody who didn't believe in them, or it is a black cloud that sort of hangs over you and proves to be a distraction. And I think it'll be interesting to see how Florida State –

I just get the sense they're not looking to turn the page, but maybe rewrite the script on that. David Hill joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline, live from ACC Media Days, covers the ACC for ESPN. Find his work at ESPN.com. I'm sure you've seen some of the buzz, some of the conversation around this, but I'm just interested to hear your thoughts on it. Do you believe the ACC is currently suffering from an identity crisis? Yes, but that is a bit of their own making to some extent. I mean, I think...

I will tell you just from my own perspective, I don't think that the ACC's narrative around the playoff decision last year was heard enough in some of the more, I don't want to put

put this all on ESPN because it's certainly not all of that on them, but I think Florida State had a good case to be made that just was not the easier case to be made, and I don't think it was made very articulately by a lot of folks in the media, but I am not a blame the media person for obvious reasons, and the fact of the matter is Jim Phillips was not forefront around the playoff time last year, and Greg Sankey was. The ACC has shot itself in the foot again and again and again on the field over the years, and while that was not

largely the case last year, those narratives take a long time to change. So that's on the ACC. So, you know, I think if you want the media conversation around where the ACC is to change, you can bang your head against the wall and say, start saying nicer things about us, or Clemson can go out and beat Georgia in week one. Tennessee can go out and beat Tennessee in week two. These are important games that will shift a conversation and force the media to talk about your league differently. I just

Like, I don't think they're necessarily wrong in some of the complaints that they have, but I definitely think that they could do themselves a lot of favors in easing everyone else's burden on how they talk about them. David, we appreciate the time. I do want to ask you one more before we let you run. When you look through the ACC top to bottom, how many teams do you think their fans should expect them to be in the college football playoff this year?

Expect? I might say zero on that one. I'm not sure that there is. Okay, let's say have realistic expectations of maybe making the playoff. And that's a much different conversation because I think this is as deep as the top of the league has been. Again, I'm not sure that there's like a team that you would say in a four-team playoff era has a great

but certainly FSU and Clemson. But I think Miami has gone all in. They are the proverbial poker player who pushed their chips into the middle of the table, and they have not done it before, and they've had a lot of talent. But this is a very talented Miami team, and Mario Cristobal, I think, needs to prove something. Their fans reasonably expect

big things. The way Virginia Tech ended the season last year, I think their fans are very excited. Louisville, I think, has put together a very good team again this year after coming off playing in the ACC Championship last year. NC State, I think, has probably got their most talented team that they have had certainly since

you know, the Ryan Finley era and maybe going back to the Phillip Rivers era there. So they're in that conversation. And look, even North Carolina, I think they're going to have to look a little bit different depending on who the QB is. It's not going to be the Drake Mayer, Sam Howell show, but I think they've shored up that defense a lot. They've gotten a lot better at the line of scrimmage.

They're in the conversation. So they're a little like the Big 12, and I think it's going to be a super fun league where not a lot is going to be easily predicted. On the other hand, it's a little like the Pac-12 used to be where maybe they chew themselves up and spit themselves out throughout the season as well, and the end result is you've got a bunch of 9-3, 8-4 teams.

You had to bring up that NC State team, didn't you? I just kept that in my back pocket waiting for the right time, Cole. Thanks, David. We appreciate the time. Have fun in media days. We'll catch up soon. See you guys. There you go. David Hale covers the ACC for ESPN. Find his work at ESPN.com, at aDavidHaleJoint on Twitter. Always does great stuff. Great conversation there around that conference.

You won't be able to watch football for a little while, but there are a couple of things that are coming out before actual games begin that you will be able to watch. Will you watch them? We'll discuss what they are and have that conversation next on Mac and Cube in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning, 8.54 a.m. Tuesday, July 23rd, right here on JOX 94.5. Jeff Book going to join us on the other side, talk Big Ten media days. And then we'll hear from Trent Dilfer after that as he takes the podium for the American Conference media days. Netflix, a couple of new shows coming out, T-Mac. Interested if these are a watch, must watch for you. Also, Saber, if you're sort of in on these.

Now, they're hyping these as sort of documentaries, but Untold is the series.

And there are going to be three stories included in the new untold series. So the murder of Aaron McNair comes out August 20th. Now, I'm interested because there have been some sort of conspiracy theories around this that have come out. I will definitely be years after. But this is not a series just on that. No. Sign Stealer comes out August 27th. This is not a series on Connor Stallions. He gets the one episode.

Which I wish it was a series, by the way. I would watch four or five episodes on that. Same thing with the McNair situation. And then Hope Solo versus U.S. Soccer, September 3rd. Eh, don't really need it. I don't feel like. But McNair and SignStealer, are we in on those? McNair and SignStealer for sure. In. The McNair thing's...

Really, I mean, obviously it's a tragic situation, but it's crazy. It's crazy. The story that surrounded it, his girlfriend, it's just like money and like all it's just crazy. The Tennessean did a podcast, I think, last year, the year before. Did you guys listen to that? I did not listen to the podcast. I've read a lot of stuff on it. It's fascinating. It's really sad. Just a tragic, tragic situation. Awful. Saber, you're in on those? I am. My only hesitancy is...

How biased maybe is it going to be? Right. What was the title of that? Swamp Kings? Swamp Kings. I said things. Sorry. That was close. I mean, that might have been more enjoyable. Are we getting this from Connor's point of view and only knowing what he did as opposed to getting the truth? That's what I want to know. It's got to be better than Swamp Kings, right? They basically told us that they came in from the bar and worked out. Everyone does that. That's all I got from that. Yeah.

We had something special. It could have been great. We talk Big Ten media days with former Iowa player Jeff Book next. This is McElroy and Gubelik in the morning. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub pulley?

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