What question should we be asking to each school going into the college football season?

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Some exclusions apply. See store for details. What is one big question? We're going to the FBS schools here in the state of North Carolina. One big question for each college football team that you're not asking but need to. We're going to start off. We're going to go in order of worst record from 2022 to best.

I'm also going to factor head-to-heads into this a little bit as well. So randomness like so it's not necessarily random, but there's an order. There's a reason for why I'm listing the schools in this order. Reason for the madness. Yes. I don't want people to be like, oh, he said hit them last, hit them first. Right.

Whatever. Let's go to UNC Charlotte. Let's go to the 49ers.

Charlotte. I mean, it's really the only question for this team this season. What's your roster going to look like moving forward?

Yeah head coach probably turning things over a little bit. How are things with recruiting? I guess the real big question is what's your identity going to be moving forward? But what's your roster going to look like moving forward?

So Biff Pogge. That's his big question going forward. What's your roster going to look like? Because I'm sure you can dive into the transfer portal. You can find some guys there. You can tell a lot of guys. Hey, look, you might be at a Power Five school, but you can come here and play right away, which is enticing for a lot of guys. So what's your roster going to look like moving forward with recruiting and all that?

Because I'm sure there's going to be a heavy turnover in the next two years on your roster. All right, let's go to App State. Let's go to Boone.

You're Mountaineers, Victoria. Yeah, let's do it. Can they be better on third down offensively than they were last year?

That'd be great. They only converted 38% of their third downs last year. It's not good. That's bad. Yeah, that's not good at all. That's why they were six and six. That's why they were six and six. Now, they have a lot of close losses last year. They did.

But if you convert better than 38% of third down, you might feel even better. Yeah. Chase Bryce, their quarterback from the last couple years. He's gone. Cameron Peeples, one of their top running backs. He's in the NFL now. So he's also gone.

All right. Can you be better on third down this upcoming season? Let's go to Wake Forest. Team that won eight games last year. Big questions obviously going to the season about, all right, Sam Hartman's not there, Mitch Griffiths, new quarterback, all that blah blah blah. Now, what's your depth at wide receiver looking like?

Yeah. A.T. Perry, your top receiver. He's in the NFL right now. I think he's actually with the Chiefs.

I could actually, I might be wrong. I know he's Saints. My apologies. He's with the Saints. A.T. Perry's in the NFL. Now, we found out this weekend, Richard Jr., Donovan Green, their top returning wide receiver. He's out for three to five months with a knee injury.

This is a, I saw reports. I know Mike Barber from the Richmond Times Dispatch was reporting this. So that's not good for Mitch Griffiths. So you're two of your top receivers from last year are gone. Now, Wake Forest has put out some pretty good wide receivers. They had some good receivers over the last few years, but now they're questions of depth at receiver again. A.T. Perry in the NFL. Now, Donovan Green, your top returner, one of your top guys, out three to five months with a knee injury.

So big question for you. What's your depth like at wide receiver? Let's go to the Pirates.

Let's go to ECU. Also an eight win team last year. East Carolina Pirates. Can you replicate the ball security that you had last season? Yeah, they only had five interceptions offensively and they only lost two fumbles in all of 2022.

Seven turnovers in 13 games. Not bad. That's phenomenal.

That's incredible. But Holt Nailers, your quarterback's not there anymore. So you got a new quarterback. Looks like I believe Mason Garcia. We talked to Mike Houston last week on this show. So I think Mason Garcia is the guy. He's been kind of waiting in the wings. Keaton Mitchell, their top running back from last season. He's in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens now, if I'm correct. But you also get a healthy Rajai Davis, hopefully this year. Okay, so he's coming back. He played five games last season. Can you take care of the football like you did last season? Also, I'll throw a second question in there for ECU. Can your kicking game get better?

I was just about to say. Can your kicking game get better? Can we get those extra points? They lost a lot of close games last season. There were only 13 to 20 on field goals. Yeah. And the big one was the season over against NC State.

Exactly. Well, you missed the PAT and you missed the field goal late in that game. The PAT would have tied it.

The field goal would have won it. Yeah, and that season opener could have been a lot different of a season in terms of the record for East Carolina last season. But again, can you replicate the ball security that you had last season? Let's say that is a good thing because they were great. Again, only seven turnovers all last season.

They're awesome at it. All right, let's go to NC State. Depth at linebacker. Drake Thomas, Isaiah Moore, both in the NFL. Now, Peyton Wilson is back. That guy should have been a preseason all-ACC selection. He was on my ballot.

Should have been. I wonder if people are holding injuries because he's dealt with injuries a lot throughout his career. Even dating back to high school, dealing with injuries. That dude's a stud when he's on the field. All right, so he's back. I know Jalen Scott, who's when Peyton Wilson's been hurt in the past, has gotten a lot of reps at linebacker.

So he's a senior. He's coming in as well. But who else fills these spots, right? Because again, talk about Wilson and his injury history that he's had. He's missed quite a few games. And Drake Thomas and Isaiah Moore are in the NFL. So yeah, you have Peyton Wilson, you have Jalen Scott. Who steps up and fills that void for them on defense at linebacker? Because last season, I thought honestly the strength of that defense last season was phenomenal. They're one of the best in the ACC. Top 15, top 20 defense in the entire country. I thought my opinion, the strength of that defense were those three guys at linebacker. They were that 3-3-5 defense.

I'm not trying to disparage or downplay any of the other guys that they have. I think their secondary returning is also, especially at corner, is really good. But the big question for them, can you replace that production at linebacker? Because those three guys were super versatile. They could play up on the line of scrimmage or off ball. They're really good in coverage as well. That's the big question for them moving forward.

All right. So the next one, let's go to Duke, who had nine wins last season. Big question for them, can you win on the road? That's the big question for Duke this upcoming season. You finished 9-4 last season, first year under Mike Elko.

Great season. You only went 3-3 on the road though. You lost 35-27 at Kansas. This is when Kansas was running hot early in the season last year. I know their quarterback got hurt for the Jayhawks. This is when Kansas started off the season like 6-0.

So, okay, you went on the road to Kansas, you hit a hot team. You only lost by 8, so the one possession game. They lost 23-20 at Georgia Tech.

Not quite a quality loss, I guess you can say. Then you lost 28-26 at Pitt. Now Pitt's no pushover, but it's not the Pitt team that we saw win the ACC a couple of years ago. When they beat Wake Forest, we had Kenny Pickett.

And you had Jordan Addison. Not the same Pitt team. So you went 3-3 on the road, only one home loss last year. That was 38-35 to North Carolina game, which Duke could have won that one as well. So all four of their losses, one possession game, eight points or less.

Yeah. The three of them came on the road. Can you win on the road this upcoming season? It'll be interesting. They're playing Connecticut on the road, Florida State, Louisville, UNC, Virginia. So, I don't know. Can you win on the road, Duke?

The final one here, North Carolina. Not a lot of talk about Drake May and the offense and things along those lines. A lot of big questions about the defense.

But my biggest thing is, can the defensive front actually generate pressure on a consistent basis? Now defense, yeah, we want to talk about yards for play and like completion, like some things like completion percentage. Some of those things, those numbers can be a little bit skewed, especially completion percentage, right?

So that number can be inflated, I guess you can say. But the Tar Heels last season only had 17 sacks. And 14 games.

They play in the ACC Championship plus a bowl game. 14 games, only 17 sacks. If you also factor in, you only had nine interceptions.

I would say only nine. They had nine interceptions last season. Only five fumble recoveries. So I like to use the term that some coaches like to use is called splash plays, right? Because yeah, you can stop a run for three yards. But what are you actually generating in terms of what they call splash plays?

Sacks, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, interceptions, maybe in a safety or touchdown. Splash plays, right? Big plays. Yeah, you got to be consistent and make stops when you need to.

Get off the field on third down. But can you make splash plays? Okay, if you combine 17 sacks and 14 games along with nine picks and five fumble recoveries, that's 31 splash plays over 14 games. That's barely over two a game. You need more. Drake May can't do it all himself. Okay?

Can you, as a front, generate enough pressure consistently? North Carolina. That's going to be your big key. So yeah, those are questions for all the FBS teams. One big question for each college football team that you're not asking but need to. Things to look forward to this upcoming season.