Matt Stewart, who covering Sun Belt Media Days for ESPN, tells McElroy & Cubelic what he expects from Troy & South Alabama as well as how this league is ready to compete
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McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning, 822 a.m. Thursday, July 25th, right here on JOX 94.5. We're going to go to Matt Stewart, talk Sunbelt Media Days here in just a moment. But first, tell you about Airport Marine. Your boating headquarters here in the state of Alabama, if you're looking to get into a pontoon boat, Airport Marine is where you need to go. Alabama's pontoon headquarters. Also,

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At Alabama's boating headquarters there, it's Airport Marine. Exit 234, I-65 in Alabaster. All right, Matt Stewart was covering Sunbelt Media Days yesterday for ESPN. And we get two new head coaches here in the state of Alabama in the Sunbelt, Matt. I want to start with Jared Parker from Troy. Just your thoughts on him taking over. Obviously a veteran-laced football team. But he's following up a coach that did a hell of a job the last couple of seasons.

Yeah, no doubt. I mean, they're back-to-back Sunbelt champions. They were 7-1 in the conference the last year, and they're pick-to-finish second in the Sunbelt West, which I think is a little bit lofty given they only have three starters back. They would have had four, but they're dynamic wide receiver teams.

Chris Lewis is still battling cancer, and he announced last week that he was going to sit out this season while he continues his treatments. But I like him personally. I think, Jared, he looks like a coach. He sounds like a coach. I told him that after we finished up our interview, and we kind of laughed about that.

But, wow, they got so much to replace. They don't know who their quarterback is right now. The most experienced quarterback they got on their roster right now is Goose Crowder, who was 9 for 13 last year. They got to replace Gunnar Watson. They got to replace Kamani Badal, six-round draft pick of the Chargers. I think they'll be okay in the running game. It'll be more of a committee. It won't be that one horse anymore. But, wow, and their defense.

Gave up a phenomenal 17 points per game, which is unheard of. That's like a high school number or something in college football last year. They'll be hard-pressed to try to do that again.

Where is a lot of the positivity coming from? Because I look at Troy kind of through the same lens you do. It's like, my goodness, this is going to be a tough... I don't want to call it a rebuild, but it's an uphill climb to be competitive again this year. And yet to finish second as the preseason favorite in the West. Where is the optimism coming from? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't want to call it negativity. I think the optimism is from...

the fact they've won back-to-back conference championships, but none of the teams that won the back-to-back conference championships are there anymore. So I agree with you. That's why I've got them picked fifth in the Sun Belt West, not second. You know, maybe the coaches and the coaches are the ones that,

supposedly vote in this preseason poll. Maybe they were just showing the ultimate respect to the Troy program for what they've been able to do the last couple of years, but I don't see them finishing that high. I

I like Jared Parker. He's been an assistant coach for 17 years. He's been all around the country, primarily in the Midwest the last couple of years at Notre Dame. Last year as the OC of the fight in Irish, he had a stint as an interim coach at Purdue back in 2016. He's been at Duke. He's been at West Virginia. That's really his connection to the Troy program. Troy usually tries to hire you.

you know, like they did with John Sumrall, somebody who had been in the program before and an assistant coach as Sumrall had been, and now, of course, is at Tulane. Parker never had been in the Troy program, but his connection was Neil Brown. They were teammates briefly at Kentucky under Hal Mummey. They worked together prior to Notre Dame. He was the OC for Neil Brown for two years at West Virginia. So that's kind of his connection and his in on the Troy job.

Matt Stewart was at Sunbelt Media Days yesterday talking to little Troy, a little bit of South Alabama, who Jaguars also going to have a first year head football coach. As we know, Kane Womack has moved on to become the defensive coordinator at Alabama just versus the rest of the league. Where do you view South Alabama's roster heading into this season?

I got them a notch above Troy in the West. I got them fourth. They do return six starters on offense, but not all starters are created equal. None of those returning starters are named Carter Bradley, who's now a free agent with the Raiders, with Damian Webb, who was their 1,000-plus rusher a year ago, or Colin Lacy, their top wide receiver who transferred to Louisville. So they lost their three top producers there. But I think they're in a little bit better shape.

Major Applewhite. They promote from within out of the five new coaches in the Sun Belt this year. He was the only one who was promoted from within. He had been the OC for Kane Womack.

the last three years, which incidentally were the best three years in South Alabama football history. They won their first ever bowl game last year, beating Eastern Michigan. And they do return a quarterback. Although Carter Bradley has moved on to the national football league, wish him well. Gio Lopez got some time last year and led their 59 to 10 route or whatever it was of Eastern Michigan in the 68 ventures bowl and mobile. He's a,

Different quarterback from Carter Bradley in that he's mobile. And in my interview with Major Applewhite, kind of hinted that we're going to see some of that mobility. And he's kind of excited to see that flexibility in the offense with a quarterback that's a lot more athletic, maybe not as great or prolific a passer as Carter Bradley was, but a more mobile athletic quarterback running that offense this year.

How would you size up kind of the rest of the league with so much, I guess, up in the air? We know what South is to an extent. We know a little bit of what Troy has been, even though there's a lot of change there. But some of the other teams, the Southern Misses of the world,

Louisiana's had their time in the sun, at least in recent years. App State continues to be a problem all the time. It's probably one of the best teams in the G5 this year. And Coastal has a lot of turnover under Tim Beck. So who should be kind of the teams that we're talking about in the Sun Belt as far as teams that could compete at the top of the sport and maybe punch their ticket to the college football playoff?

Well, I do agree with the coaches in their division picks. They picked to have to win the East. They were an overwhelming favorite. They got 12 of the 14 votes. And to me, they're clearly the best team in the conference, returning everybody. And, you know, their season kind of turned last year.

If you'll remember, they started three and four. Their four losses coming by a total of 17 points. And dare I say, Sean Clark might have been a little bit on the hot seat after the year they'd had prior to that. But they turned it around, won five straight before losing to Troy in the Sunbelt Championship game. And I think they're clearly the best team, the most all-rounded, solid team, top to bottom, offense, defense, special teams.

of anybody in the conference and maybe they're there, you know, maybe they can compete. Maybe there'll be the Sunbelt champion and there'll be in the mix. There'll be in the running for that G5, you know, the fifth conference champion to get into the college football playoff. The other really intriguing one, of course, is Texas state. We've been picked to pick, pick to win the West and,

GJ Kenny comes in after a fabulous one season at incarnate word where they went 12 and two and got to the FCS semifinals. And he comes in and he lights it up just like he did at incarnate word. They go for over 6,000 yards of offense last year, average about 37 points per game, uh,

Don't be surprised. In fact, I thought he might have gotten plucked after last year by a bigger school. Don't be surprised if they do live up to expectations this year and win the West.

that he does not get sought out by another bigger school. In fact, I even heard his name, and not to spread rumors, but heck, it's talk radio, so why not, right? You know, I've heard his name connected possibly if the opening comes up at Arkansas with Sam Pittman being on the hot seat. He was an offensive analyst there several years ago. But he's one of the hot, bright new minds in the game. He's 34 years old.

And he's done a tremendous turnaround with that program. You know, they won eight games last year, won their first ever bowl game, was their first winning season in eight years. It was just the second winning season for Texas State in FBS history. And when I say they had losing seasons, man, I'm not saying they were losing. They were bad losing seasons. They averaged three wins a year. So what he's done is dramatically turned that program around. And the other two teams that I think –

or teams to watch. The coaches didn't necessarily think they were teams to watch, but I think the teams to watch is Georgia Southern. If Georgia Southern figures out their quarterback situation

And I think they will. I think they're going to be better than the back-to-back 6-7s they've had in the first two seasons under Clay Helton. And Butch Jones' third season at Arkansas State was a big turnaround for them. They went 6-7 after he'd been 5-19 his first two years and was obviously on the hot seat. He's not on the hot seat anymore. He brings back a lot of talent.

might challenge Texas state for that West division title. All right. Matt Stewart. So was that some about media days yesterday for ESPN covering that there and just want to have a conversation about it. Um, Brian Vincent is another first year head coach taken over at ULM. I thought the Terry Bowden thing would work because I thought it was egregious when Akron let him go. He kind of kept that pipeline to South Florida, got some talented kids up there. Uh, first ever bowl game, first ever bowl win. It doesn't go that way. Uh,

But a lot of folks here in Birmingham appreciate Brian Vincent and what he's done. I feel like he could possibly have some success there. Outside of Todd Berry, it's been tough. That place hadn't been able to get going before.

Now, they do win the helmets battle in the Sun Belt this year with the new lids that they do. You like the Warhawk helmet? I'm a big fan of those. But what are your expectations for what he can do year one there in Monroe? I wish him well. I like him. I like him a lot. Probably got a raw deal there at UAB, right? You know, led him to a bowl game seven and six. Under tough circumstances, took over the job right before the season started going

in 2022 when Coach Clark had to step aside for health reasons. I like him a lot, but I think it's a black hole, man. They got no money. They're a poor... They're a small attendance enrollment. Just don't have a whole lot of funding. And that was before

NIL in all this where, you know, where no one's hiding what they're doing anymore. And the, you know, in an age and era where, where, where it's all about who's got the most money, who's got the biggest war chest. They got no war chest. I, I just, I wish you well, I just don't think you can win there unless things dramatically change. And I don't see that happening. Um,

So, yeah, but he's a, you know, he was a prolific coach. He went out to New Mexico last year after the UAB thing, and he was the OC out there, and they dramatically improved their offense there. They bring in General Booty as their quarterback. He transferred from Oklahoma. Of course, we all know he's the son of Abram Booty and the nephew of John David Booty.

Booty and Josh Booty, and we'll see how that works out. But, man, they got a lot of holes to fill, and it's just not a whole lot of fun to go out and get yourself good players like you have to do these days. It's going to be tough. Matt, you brought up finances quickly. We know at Big Ten Media Days, SEC Media Days, what the big picture topics are as it pertains to college football and what the concerns are.

At Sunbelt Media Days, what are the big picture concerns? What are the thousand foot concerns for what they're dealing with, what's coming, and what they're having to manage? Well, I think, you know, kind of what I just hit on right there. It's like they're competing against – here's the biggest blessing and the curse for the Sunbelt. I think the Sunbelt has become the best –

or non-autonomy, as they like to call it. But G5, because that's what everybody calls it. I think they've become the best G5 conference, the most entertaining one. They've done it different from everybody else. They've done divisions. They've done geographic rivalries. They're not just a mishmash of teams that have been thrown together across the United States, but they've done it with a purpose, and I think it makes for entertaining, fun football. That's the blessing.

blessing. The curse is that it's also competitive. They, you know, they had 12 of their 14 teams go to bowl games last year. So they cannibalized each other in order to get into the college football playoff as the best G5 team. I think you got to have a perfect record. I think it's going to be hard for anybody in that conference to be a B12 and O or 11 and one at the end of it all and standing and get in. Maybe it'll happen. Uh,

I think it's going to be tough. James Madison made a run at it last year, although they wouldn't have been eligible. They were 10-0 at one point. But the funding, yeah, that's the thing. It's just hard for them to compete. Anybody who's good, especially skilled position players, they get snatched up right away.

I mean, they really do. The SEC, the ACC, you know, they get snatched up by those schools. So anybody who had any kind of major production from a year ago, like a Colin Lacey from South Alabama, he goes off to the Louisville. Same thing happened the year before. Georgia State's best wide receiver, Jamari Thrash, got snatched up by Louisville, and now he's been drafted into the NFL. He can probably project a similar kind of

kind of track for a guy like Colin Lacey this coming year. So that's the big issue. And, you know, coaches publicly aren't going to speak out against NIL because that's like a defenance to be on the record and say, you know, NIL is bad because, you know, they all want to put up the public front that it's great the players are getting paid. And, you know, it is to an extent. I wish it was NIL.

I'm not big on collectives. That's not what NIL was supposed to be. It was supposed to be guys making money off their name, image, and likeness, and now it's just pay to play, which is not what it was supposed to be, but that is what it is, and it causes a big issue for teams in the Sun Belt. It certainly is what it is. Lastly, before we get you out of here, do you think the committee will learn from their mistake last year by putting in the, quote, undefeated team?

And getting absolutely boat raced and embarrassed. Liberty, the 133rd strongest schedule in the country. Or they could have put an SMU who played against three power fives, lost all three, but were competitive in all three and went 11 and 0 against G5 programs. So you think they'll learn their lesson and reward strength of schedule moving forward?

You know, what do you think, Greg? They should. How much attention do you think they're going to be paying to those G5 teams when they rank up? No, honestly, though, do you think in three years we still have a G5 team in the playoff? You know, I don't know. I mean, I don't even know what college football is going to look like in three years. It's going to be the SEC and the Big Ten, right? I mean, I just...

I just don't even know. I mean, it's nice that they're giving them a seat at the table, and I hear everything that you're saying right there. You know, are they going to truly evaluate these teams, or are they just going to look at record? And the team that's 12-0, you know, G5 team that's 12-0, regardless of strength of schedule and really evaluating what they've done, gets in and, as you mentioned, gets both raced by Oregon 45-6 in the Fiesta Bowl. I don't know.

I wish I had an answer to that one. I think it's great, though. It's great for him, though, to have that carrot at the end of the string, something to shoot for and play for other than

nothing against, you know, the Birmingham bowls and bowls like that. I know that's probably big in y'all's neighborhood, but hey, you know, it is what it is. It's a mid-level game, an exhibition game in the month of December. It's great for television viewing. Everybody's off for the Christmas and New Year's holidays to sit there and watch football all day, but what does it really mean? So to have that carrot out there for

for a team to have a chance to play in the championship, you know, get a seat at the table, as they like to say, and maybe pull off a Boise kind of upset against Oklahoma in a bowl game like we did several years ago. That's the dream, is for them to be able to get in there. And, of course, it wouldn't be in a bowl. It's going to be at a home site. So you're going to have, like, you know,

Say it's App State. App State's got to go on the road and beat an Alabama or a Georgia or a Tennessee or whoever that number five scene is in their building. Beat Texas A&M in their building a year ago. Looked big at the time. Maybe it wasn't so big. But, hey, it was a big win, and they still talk about it. That's a tough projection. Matt, great stuff. Appreciate the time. Great insight. We'll catch up soon.

Sure, absolutely. Thanks, guys. Thanks. Matt Stewart was on the call for Sunbelt Media Days yesterday. I say on the call. He was covering Sunbelt Media Days for ESPN yesterday with Rocky Boyman. Such a game guy you are. Well, I've shared many booths with Matt Stewart, calling games. So back in the CSS days, which many of you listening have no idea what that is, but it was a real network at one point.

Just like pay-per-view was a real thing. And Pac-12 Network. That lasted a little bit longer, but yeah, it was a thing. CSS, better distribution, for sure. And there's literally no doubt, probably better ratings. Watched by more. Those Tuesday night replays. I did have Pac-12 Network when I lived in Charlotte. Congratulations. Can't confirm it exists. One of the few. It's been eight years since I've had it.

When we come back, more audio from Lincoln Riley at Big Ten Media Day yesterday. That's next on McElroy and Kubrick 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

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. Passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance.

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