Florida State is still in the ACC

Time to cool off with my friend, Chip Patterson, CBS Sports.com cover three podcast moderator. My man, we are 10 days from week zero. Are you excited? Absolutely. We're going to lock up New Mexico state minus eight in their opener against Jacksonville state.

We like Notre Dame and USC to cover big numbers. And yeah, it looks, it's, I was actually talking with my wife about this. She was asking about week zero and no, she wasn't.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Your wife asked you about weeks here. Absolutely.

As in how much time can you spend with the children? Oh, she was not concerned whether or not New Mexico state was going to cover against Jacksonville state. No, no, no. This is more along the lines of what's your day going to look like. And it is very nice where most of the action is going to be at night after bedtime for your boy. And then all the eyes are going to be on Notre Dame and Navy in Ireland during the day. So, you know, we'll get to see Caleb Williams. We'll get to see Notre Dame and on the cover three podcast on that Saturday night. That's what we'll be talking about the most along with our beloved Vanderbilt Commodores likely hand in Hawaii a loss in week zero.

Yeah, that'll be in Nashville. That game is not in Hawaii. And again, for anybody who might be listening in Hawaii, and I guess you can through the magic of the interwebs, man, just utter devastation on on the I guess the Big Island right is the Big Island. No, Maui. Maui. I don't know. I don't know who is the Big Island.

But like, I'm not gonna step too deep into my I'm not doing that. I don't know Hawaii. geography. So Florida State we woke up today in Florida State still in the league. They have not announced that they're that they're moving. Are you also flabbergasted that Florida State didn't back up their threat? No, I think that eventually they might get there just like I eventually turned in term papers that didn't get in on time. And I think that like Florida State, I had good ideas. And I had plans.

And the deadline came faster than I was able to really get organized. I think that eventually down the line, Florida State, based on the intentions of its Board of Trustees, university president and people tied closely to the university, that they do, you know, want to seek other pastures. Now, we seem to believe that there was not a spot available for them right away. And we know now that leaving is going to be very expensive, because it will be some combination of, you know, private equity money, or university endowment, or other financial means, whether it's a media rights partner or their future conference, you know, helping pay for this, it's gonna be very expensive when and if Florida State does decide to leave the ACC. But that's what I sort of got from all this is that they've got these intentions, they've made these intentions known, they did not have everything pulled together financially and legally, to be able to get it done by August 15.

They said they've been studying this for a year. I mean, what more did they need? The money.

I think that's what the answer is, like they just, they needed to know that they were going to be able to have the money and they didn't have the money together. I actually want to talk about Florida State in a positive way. But their bluster, I find comical, because right now their most likely landing spot would be in a league that is guaranteeing their schools less money than the ACC would give them. And I wouldn't leave, and you're talking about the Big 12.

Right. They're not going to the Big 10. The Big 10 doesn't, is not interested in them. And the SEC is maybe less interested in them.

So why? I cannot speak to the interest level of the Big 10 or the SEC with insider knowledge. I think that any expansion for either one would be strategic. For the Big 10, it would be getting a fire power football brand and getting into the state of Florida. For the SEC, it would just be keeping Florida State away from the Big 10.

Like it would just be a protection move. Yeah, but I don't think those, I know that theoretically they're competing against each other. I just don't think they are.

I just don't think they are. I do. Yes. Yes. No, this all changed.

And look, I'm speaking from like somewhat of a biased or compromised position, but when the Big 10 left ESPN, no football games and no basketball games. Right. Oh, the gremlins got, I hope that wasn't a storm. Like I was, I was looking down. I didn't even, Chip just stopped.

I'm not sure that was somebody in Bristol. Potentially. Potentially.

All right. But when Chip comes back, I do want to turn the focus to actual football, but I will let him finish his thought as Chip. Look, at some level, the Big 10 and the SEC are just going to co-exist and they're going to be the two biggest, the giants in the room only. And they are that.

Nobody else can compete. But as long as Florida State, as long as Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia have votes, I just don't think Florida is going to get a yes from them. Florida State is going to get a yes from them. Florida State is going to get a yes from them. And I'm not sure that the Big 10 really cares that much about Florida State. But hey, I have been wrong before.

I don't know that I'm going to be wrong about this one, but I have been wrong before. Look, I think it's most important for Florida State to just simply get back to playing elite level football, which they are. And again, I pointed this out that Florida State on the football field since 2000, so in the last 22 seasons, has finished in the top 10 just three times. They have 10 seasons of five or more losses, four of them losing seasons. Did they have a good run with Jimbo Fisher?

Oh yeah, they did. And they won a national championship. That was about five years with Jimbo where they were pushing, pushing, pushing, and finally kicked the door down. Jamis Winston's freshman year. And then when Jimbo left, the bottom fell out.

Now maybe it's back. And they had a 10-win season last year, and that's tremendous because that would be great for the ACC. And Florida State being a dominant program again would be awesome for the Atlantic Coast Conference. Chip, I don't want to be in a position of denigrating Florida State because I think that they are a football brand that the league has been missing. And I'm not even sure that, like it's been 20 years since they have been dominant on a regular basis. They did have a great run under Jimbo.

I'm not knocking that. But it's been 22 years and they've only had three seasons where they finished in the AP top 10 and anybody can do what they've done. But you can see where it's turning around.

I hope so, yes. Yes, like that's the other part of this is that Florida State is witnessing what's happening on a ground level. They're witnessing how bad it got in those late years under Jimbo Fisher and they're seeing how difficult it's been to build back up. I mean, the thing that they had now that they did not have for a long time was being able to get university boosters and the football coach all on the same page. And I do think that some of the scars of Jimbo Fisher's demands for what he thought that Florida State needed are probably playing a part in a lot of these money concerns and the idea that, you know, if we aren't able to, you know, provide all of these things, which the 30 million dollar gap may represent, then we're not going to be able to keep the best coaches.

We're not going to be able to, you know, keep up in a way where we want to be. And they are one of the 12 to 20 programs that legitimately believes that they should be competing for national championships. When they hit the recruiting trail, they recruit to national championship caliber talent. And that is the expectation that they need to always be moving in that direction. I could not agree with that more, that they should be. And that's what the ACC needs.

Not just one program doing that. They need more than that. Clemson and Florida State both need to be that. And then they need maybe a couple of their other football brands to also remember that that's the level that they should be competing at.

We're looking at you folks in Coral Gables. I said earlier, and I want to talk about State and Carolina if we could, but I said earlier that I think for the ACC's purposes, I know Florida State LSU top 10 matchup, that is going to have national implications. But I'm not sure that the Tar Heels and South Carolina isn't a bigger game for the league because the Tar Heels should, I'm going to say this out loud and I'll probably pay for it, should beat South Carolina.

I'm not sure they will. Yeah, I think the same house should have won in Blacksburg. Like I said, I'm sure, like there are reasons why North Carolina has not won any of those games, right? But I think they should beat South Carolina, mostly because South Carolina is basically a top, what do you think, like a top 40 team in college football. North Carolina is probably a top 20, 25 team. And they have the Heisman Trophy hopeful in Drake May. I think they should win the game, doesn't mean they will. And I think if they don't, it says more, I know it just says more about them than it does about the league, but that isn't how the narrative works. I do think that from like, from a North Carolina centric perspective, there have been too many times where, you know, there, there's been a little bit of a letdown.

I mean, and like, letdowns it within the context of a game, right? I mean, you blow a lead to Oregon or you can't beat Georgia tech when you're nine and one, it seems more North Carolina centric to me. My argument is that Florida state LSU might be more important because if LSU smacks Florida state around on a nationally televised, one of the biggest non-conference games of the entire year, then the ACC is disrespected from the jump. You know, then, then Florida state's not going to be able to work their way back from an embarrassing public loss like that and make the college football playoff and then beating Florida state's not going to meet as much for Clemson. So I think that for Florida state, that is bigger implications for the ACC because they are being propped up as an ACC championship contender as a top 10 team. That is the one where if they do not look like they belong on the same field as LSU, then the expectation is that the ACC does not belong on the same field as college football playoff contenders.

But I would argue the same thing. If North, if South Carolina beats North Carolina and then goes seven and five, which is a real realistic possibility, then North Carolina at the end of the year is like, I don't care what your record is, you lost that game. If LSU finishes, you know, 10 and two or 11 and one, and is competing not only for an SEC title, but for a national title, Florida state's still going to have a good record and they could point to at least, look, I don't, again, I don't want to get lost in the weeds here.

I think the negatives for North Carolina losing to a South Carolina outweigh the negatives of Florida state losing to a team like LSU. So Chip, can North Carolina be really good and get to the, toward the end of the season and be relevant nationally because the first part of their schedule, not going to say is easy, but it is easier than the last part of their schedule. Can they get to the end and be relevant of if their defense is just okay? They've got to get really tough and big and physical along the lines of scrimmage. I read the schedule differently because I see a Minnesota team that is physical.

I don't believe it as much in the Greek rifle, their new quarterback, they got taken over for a standard Morgan, but I do know that the mentality of that program is to run the ball, right down your throat, push you around and try to make you quit. And I know that pit is one of the best teams in the ACC in terms of what you have along both lines of scrimmage. So, you know, if you don't come out with a real physicality and intensity along the lines of scrimmage, this North Carolina team could start one in three now, because you have Drake may and you've got an offense that even through, you know, I loved being able to hear from Drake may at the ACC football kickoff that we've got to change an offensive coordinator, but in terms of the language and the approach of the passing attack, we're not really changing much. And so we've got a test Walker status we're concerned about, but man, the tight ends are absolutely awesome.

And we saw that group come on later in the year. I do think Nate McCollum, the transfer from Georgia Tech is going to be good. North Carolina can outscore, you know, pretty much everyone that they've got in that middle section of the schedule. I just think that they need to be ready to go from the jump with a real toughness and a physicality at the line of scrimmage. You know, you, your heights and weights might look good. You are a former four star prospect.

So like, for example, I was texting my buddy Jamie about this. Feldman releases his freaks west every year, you know, it's followed him. You know, I didn't see, I didn't see any North Carolina players, right? Three state players on that list. There is something to be said for this North Carolina football team having something to prove in terms of bringing a nastiness, a physicality and a dominance along both the offensive and defensive lines, because Drake may can get you to seven and five, but you're talking about being nationally relevant going into those last two roadies against Clemson and state nationally. Nationally relevant means that you're a one or two loss team, right? And that means that you've got to be able to really dominate the lines of scrimmage against a couple of teams early in the year that are absolutely going to try to do that. I want to get two more things in for chip Patterson before we have to let you go.

And I appreciate his time. Cover three podcast at chip underscore Patterson. I think NC state has the perfect opener for them because they can't just throw their helmets on the field and beat Yukon. Yukon's got, they're at FBS school.

They got all the scholarships. They played a pretty good season last year. I don't think they're great, but it's on the road. I think state will have to play well to win that game. And that at least gets them ready for a game like Notre Dame. The steps forward that Yukon took from being horrendous to, um, you know, like going out there and that you're one under Jim Moore, Jr. And just bringing together a handful of wins is that they didn't beat themselves. You know, they, they go out there and, which is hilarious going up against an NC state program under Dave Doran, which has made his bread and butter just not beating himself. Um, I think, uh, I think it will be a game that will be frustrating and probably a little bit dumb that NC state will win, but not by so many points that you're excited, uh, about the future. I think it's just one that you want to go through and get, you want to get through it with no injuries and being able to see that that defense, which has a lot of experience, especially compared to that returning starters number, uh, you want to see them be able to go have the upper hand because of all the four units on the field, you know, NC state offense, defense, Yukon, offense, defense, the one group that is outstanding in my opinion for my projection is the NC state defense. So if it does take a little bit of time for everything to click for the offense, I think that's okay. Uh, just don't go out there and make any mistakes because Yukon is a team that has been able to win games that statistically should not have been able to win. You know, like, uh, they, they don't gain as many yards as their opponent, but they won the game anyway.

Yukon was the king of that last year. So don't give them those opportunities and you'll get in and out of stores with the wind. Right. I'm just going to say this before I ask you our last question. Um, I think that NC state should approach this game, uh, with a different offensive mindset. I think it's time to stop being cautious offensively and it's time to start letting it rip because if you want to be great, then you have to have that mindset offensively, unless you're not giving up any points, unless you're running Georgia's defense out there every, uh, every Saturday and NC state as good as they are defensively. Isn't that, I think you need to be better offensively and you can't, you got to stop playing it close to the vest. All right, let me ask you this question, Chip, before we say goodbye, is Lucas Glover going to be on the Ryder Cup team?

I don't think so. I don't think that we should overrate a late season hot streak at the expense of picking up someone with Ryder Cup experience, uh, or experience with the other members of the team. I've loved watching this late, this Lucas Glover hot streak, but I'm, I'm not going to let it blind me to, um, I'm not going to let it blind me to what we would be missing if we left someone home with Ryder Cup experience.

I am going to ask this question of a friend of mine. Has anybody ever been selected as a captain's pick who was not eligible for any of the major championships that season? Because Lucas Glover has played in zero majors this year. Right.

I, I, there's a reason for that. He was fighting to keep his status on the PGA Tour. This hot streak is awesome.

I applaud him, yes, but I would not, I would take Justin Thomas a thousand times in a row, and I promise that his name is written on a whiteboard in permanent marker in Zach Johnson's house. Six, two, and one in the Ryder Cup, I believe it is. And the way that he gets under the skin of the Euros is like the American Ian Poulton.

I mean, he gets on there every last nerve and you need to have that, especially if you're trying to get the rare wind in Europe in the Ryder Cup. All right, last, last thing. Last time the United States won a Ryder Cup on European soil was? 98. 93. 93. 93. There you go. At the Belfry, Tom Watson was the captain, believe it or not.

It was a disaster at Gleneagles 21 years later. Chip, I'll talk to you next week, man. Thanks. Yeah, I don't know why the Gremlins got me. I told Victoria it felt like I was Patrick Swayze and Ghost.

I could see you and I could hear you and I was screaming right back at you, but you didn't hear me. It was heartbreaking. What a great, I wasn't even doing any pottery. What a great movie that was. Thanks, Chip. I'll be well. You got it. Chip Patterson here.