Why wasn’t Riley Leonard ranked at ALL in this category?

Starting tomorrow night, five straight nights of ACC football in primetime.

We have State Connecticut. That's one of two primetime games tomorrow night. Louisville and Georgia Tech in primetime on Friday night, which there's some intrigue there a little bit. We'll talk about it. You've got Carolina and South Carolina Saturday night. Sunday night is Friday night. Florida State and LSU and then Monday night.

The battle at Wallace Wade between Duke and Clemson and we're going to start not necessarily talking about that game, but talking about one of Duke's players with my friendship Patterson, who joins us every Wednesday here to talk college football and more. He joins us on the Adam Gold show. Smiling chip. All right, I have beef, not with you. But with Tom for Nelly. Oh, excellent. QB power rankings have really stirred up Adam Gold.

Yes, I when I saw it, I'm like, Oh, this will be good. I can't wait to see where he has Riley Leonard ranked because I think he's a top five quarterback in the country. If he played for a team not named Duke, some a team that might have a chance to win 9 or 10 games. I think he would be in the top five.

I don't know that if you put him in Chapel Hill that he wouldn't be right where Drake may is. I think that highly of Riley Leonard, like not even in the top 10, not even in honorable mention categories. Does Tom know that Duke plays football? Tom is a big supporter of Mike Elko and the Duke football movement. And I think I don't think so. Listen, there has got to be a difference between I like Riley Leonard.

I love tools. I love the talent. You know, the scouts, I the the NFL, I the buzz that has been created is created by a lot of people who honestly don't watch a lot of college football outside of cut ups doing player evaluation. The player eval of Riley Leonard is outstanding and what is really driving a lot of the hype.

I think that, you know, what we saw with our eyes is certainly something that makes us excited about it. But I don't think like if I even had to power rank him in the ACC. Riley Leonard is in the conversation for number three, but he doesn't crack top two for me. So if he's got Jordan, he's second for me. OK, well, all right. Jordan Travis is at eight in Tom's rankings. So, you know, where where is he fit?

You know, if all of a sudden he comes out and he's able to avoid. So apparently I have beef with you for the first time. I'm trying to create controversy here, Chip. Look, I think incredibly highly of him. I think he is.

These are not pro prospects, right? These are just how are you as a college quarterback? I think he's phenomenal. 20 touchdown, six interceptions, but seven point six yards per attempt is somewhat middling. His 141 passer rating is about like fifth or sixth in the ACC last season. I think that there is a lot to evaluate about Riley Leonard and be excited. I think that the entire body of work, if we're talking about the best quarterbacks in the country, there's another step. And guess what?

A lot of people believe that another year with Kevin Johns with a lot of the same skill players will lead to another step for this Duke offense. I'm not satisfied. It's fine. Chip Patterson is with us here. He is every Wednesday. All right, let's get to most. We'll go in sort of chronological order. We'll start with state state at UConn.

That's right on the CBS Sports Network. Actually have to find out. Do we know what the play by play voice is for that for that game? Go ahead and start your start your question. I'll be able to pull it up.

All right. Honestly, is there is there reason to worry if you are the Wolfpack? All of the Panthers wins touchdown Carolina Panthers Playbook.

Download and subscribe today at WRL sports fan dot com or wherever you discover your favorite podcasts. Not for an outright law like that. I don't I do not think they're going to go to Connecticut and lose the game. Connecticut has something.

Yeah, it's it's fast. No, no, no, but it's they have a quarterback. They did not have a quarterback. They had a player who played the quarterback position last year, but he did a lot of running around. Not a lot of throwing. But now they actually have a quarterback.

But here's the thing for you. I could be excited for you that you have a quarterback going up against one of the best secondaries, not just in the ACC. You're going up against one of the better secondaries at the power conference level. And you're going to have Daven Van and the rest of this defensive line just clawing down on this defense is going to make it so NC State will win the game.

But especially with Notre Dame on deck, how the offense performs against a well coached defense. That's the big takeaway. Yeah.

My my fear. It's not just about this game. It's about all year is that Dave Dorn will have a hard time on tethering himself from the offense and letting the offense go. Because as much as he's talked about letting the offense good like they Robert and I and Brennan Armstrong, they're going to go do their thing. They don't have awesome skill players. I mean, they've nobody proven anyway. I think there's talent there. But yeah, Pentax can be a dynamite tight end and they can use them in a lot of different ways.

But I haven't I want to see the philosophy altered and that's what I'm looking for. And I said this last year when they had Devin Leary and a lot of people that they knew, right? Like, are you going to let the offense go? And Dave just couldn't bring himself to let it happen.

I hope he lets it happen because I think this I think they could do some cool things. And I think the first game, even though it's not a slam dunk that you could just show up and win. I think the first game should allow you the ability to do that, knowing that your defense can bail you out.

That's why you have a great defense. I think it'll be I think they will have baked in. So like the first 15 plays, I think will be probably creative. And then we'll see how those go. Like, I think that the expectation is the evolution. You know, that's I'm using Dave Doran's words. I've been looking to evolve over the last couple of seasons and this gave me an opportunity. The evolution, I think, will be present in the way that it's scripted.

So then we'll see how they go and if there's a course correction or if they decide to double down. I just think that with Robert and I's track record, which we have to extend beyond Virginia and Syracuse, we're talking like what, a 30 year coaching veteran, somebody who's got like good BYU offenses under his belt, all different kinds of conferences, all different kinds of levels of competition. You just have to give some respect here that even if he's not doing what Brennan Armstrong was doing at Virginia, when he had Keaton Thompson and Zacchaeus Olamide, was it, was it Olamide, Olamide?

You know what I'm talking about? Oh, man, I forgot how to pronounce his name. Don't accuse me of watching Virginia football. Listen, I think that there is going to be some confidence that Robert and I, even if those first 15 don't go well, is going to be able to to adjust on the fly because even he has not had the same offense at all his different stops.

And I'll just go ahead and be the 14th person to go ahead and just drop this one. But I'm excited about Casey Concepcion. All right.

Right. Garlic Kid, you know, a little bit overlooked in the recruiting process picks NC State over UNC. A lot of buzz in the in fall camp about what he's going to be. So that's that's probably my big player to watch, because like you, I've got a high floor assumption that Pennix can be steady when he's healthy. I think that Houston has a good chance to have somewhat of a redemption year after kind of getting pushed to the side with it in the overall rotation.

And I do think that Brendan Armstrong is going to be able to find his own redemption after a really disappointing season last year. But the the NC State defense is just so good that I'm not going to I'm not going to criticize NC State. If there aren't enough trick plays, creative, I don't need trick plays.

I need I need a go for it philosophy. I don't need gadgets. I don't need double reverses. I don't need flea flickers.

I don't need criticism. That's like when Virginia fans are popping up and saying like, you know, Robert and I will also make you want to pull your hair out like they start referencing all these different plays because, you know, Brendan Armstrong threw for 400 yards a game, the offense at a billion yards per game. Virginia still left a couple out there.

I'm sure they did. And Virginia is some of the blame gets put. Put it in nice feet when he tries to get too cute on third and goal.

Oh, that'll be he'll fit right in. All right. North Carolina, South Carolina. Let me start start on the defensive side for UNC. Where are the trouble areas for the Tar Heels again?

Not we know that they do. They weren't good. We know that Gray is an outstanding linebacker. I still don't know if they have a difference maker on the defensive line.

So if South Carolina is effective, how is it going to look? It's number three, and it's going to be the problem of when all you see is Wells Junior because you're seeing the back of them as Wells is running away for another touchdown. They've got an all like an all American candidate at wide receiver named Antoine Wells.

They call him Juice and Juice. Wells had almost a thousand yards last year. Adam, I honestly believe we're talking about someone by the end of the year, he will be in that line of succession from Alshon Jeffery to Deebo Samuel to Juice Wells of his thousand nine hundred and twenty some odd yards receiving last year.

Five hundred and fifty five or after the catch. So tell me if you are a North Carolina fan and you just found out that there's somebody who's really shifty and tough to bring down. And watching your defense try to bring down players in the open field, how confident are you that this yards after catch, a.k.a. Yak, that this Yak machine is not going to take a whole bunch of Spencer Rattlers four yard passes and turn them into 40 yard touchdowns is a huge, huge problem for North Carolina's defense, one that I'm sure Gene Chiswick is circled. He's Gene Chiswick is very well aware of where number three is going to be, but they're going to move him all around in that offense. And South Carolina has a new offensive coordinator.

Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield is now with Matt Rule at Nebraska. Some have argued it might be an upgrade for Shane Beamer and being able to get him out of town. Well, I'm looking at Juice Wells. I think it's going to have a huge game.

Can you limit what he's able to do? Because it could be one of those spots where I mean, like, don't NC State fans have an old Deebo Samuel nightmare? Oh, no. Was it state fans or was it care? I might have been safe and we're Carolinas.

One of the two locals got Deeboed. Yeah, I think that this is a this is a real concern for North Carolina's defense, because whether it's past defense or whether it's open field tackling, you know, being sound in all of those areas. These are a bunch of weaknesses that have been on the on the card for this North Carolina defense.

And it does. South Carolina does have a really special player who could take advantage of that. By the way, North Carolina's two and a half point favorite.

That's a very low, low number. And I always get back to this when it comes to UNC. It's a bright lights game and it's game one, but it's a bright lights game and their history and bright lights games. Not good.

And that's a major, major concern for me. Let me ask you about Florida State and LSU. So these two teams met at the beginning of the year. It was not a great football game. Florida State won. I think LSU won. Did they miss an extra point or a field goal or something at the end?

It was a game tying extra point was blocked because they forgot to pick up an assignment off the edge. But ultimately, it was a football game played by two name brand schools that really weren't ready at that point to be any good. By the end of the season, LSU did look good. By the end of the season, Florida State, at least their record looked good.

Which was legitimate? Which of those two was legitimately good and now are both legitimate contenders? LSU was legitimately good at the end of last year against their competition.

No asterisk needed. Florida State was legitimately good compared to where Florida State had been. LSU beat Alabama. LSU was able to, I mean, they got thumped by Tennessee and they choked it away against Texas A&M. They are not imperfect, but they went out there and they were able to win high scoring games. They were able to win low scoring games, you know, win ugly, win pretty the throughout the SEC schedule and the one that LSU has to maintain. I think that LSU was legitimately good at the end of last season. I think Florida State was just so much better than where they had been that that's why the hype is in part powered by the intrigue, by us wanting to see that next step, 0-3 against ranked opponents. 10-0 against unranked opponents, but 0-3 against ranked opponents. You know, the Florida game was closer than it should have been.

The Oklahoma game was closer than it should have been. Now, who has a better chance to be a contender? I think neither for a national championship. I think Florida State is closer to an ACC championship than LSU might be for a an SEC championship.

And I'll tell you where the difference is. Two wide receiver rooms in this game are both going to have tremendous advantages against the secondaries. LSU is not DBU this year. The secondary, for the first time in a long time, is a red flag. And Florida State's fine. You know, they're pretty good.

You know, you go get Fentral Cypress from the transfer portal from Virginia. But going up against Malik Nabors, Brian Thomas, and the rest of these LSU wide receivers, I think it's going to be a little bit of a problem. And don't forget Keon Coleman, the kid from Michigan State who came over after spring practice. That guy is a day one starter. Him and Johnny Wilson on either side.

It's going to be really tough for LSU to keep up. So in a game that I think is going to have the potential for a lot of big explosive plays through the pass game, which of these two quarterbacks is going to be able to get it done? Because Jane Daniels sometimes holds on to the ball too long. Doesn't always do a great job with pressure. He has great rushing numbers.

That's because sometimes he holds on for too long and then has to go off and run. Jordan Travis, good mobility, you know, does a lot of good work within the framework of that Mike Norvell offense. But can he just make some really tough throws into one-on-one situations to go and give those wide receivers a chance to go and make a play?

Whichever one of these quarterbacks delivers, when they've got the opportunity, they're going to be the one to win. So it sounds to me like you're picking the third best quarterback in the ACC, Jordan Travis, behind Riley Leonard, to maybe beat the ninth-ranked quarterback on Tom Fornelli's list. Yeah, I have decided that I'm picking Florida State in this game and... Did Danny Connell buy you off?

No, LSU just has more bad vibes. Okay, I'm good with it. Yeah, just, I mean, I don't need to run down it all, but, you know, Mason Smith is going to be suspended. He's their best defensive lineman. John Emery, who was supposed to be part of their running back room and was a former five-star recruit. This is going to be the third straight year he's unavailable for the season opener, and, you know, it's not like a nefarious off-field issue. I'll just say that sometimes you just don't have all your paperwork in on time.

Sometimes you've got a difficulty, you know, lining the letters up in the right places. Hey, Carolina Panthers fans, Chris Lee and Dennis Cox here. We're excited to offer you all the inside information on your team with the newest member of the Capital Broadcasting Podcast Network, Panthers Playbook. Twice a week, we'll keep you updated on your Carolina Panthers. We're talking about locker room insight, exclusive interviews, and, of course, in-depth looks at all of the Panthers' wins. Touchdown, Carolina!

Panthers Playbook, download and subscribe today at wrelsportsfan.com or wherever you discover your favorite podcasts. I remember John Bunting used to come on the show every Monday, and the first time they had a disappointing result, he said, we just couldn't get lined up correctly, and I couldn't imagine why a head coach would tell me that. Like, we couldn't get lined up correctly. What? I mean, practice, right?

You should work on that and practice. Whether it's an academic suspension, which is disappointing, or the suspension for Mason Smith. Have you heard about this?

No, I have not. So he, a violation for selling an autograph, for an autograph signing, but the NCAA is saying because it happened in the pre-NIL era, and not after NIL was legal, he has to serve a suspension. It gets worse. He was injured all of last year, tore his ACL going into the season. They say, we can't count any of that time for your suspension because you were injured. We have to find a game where you are healthy and then make you sit for that one. And this is honestly the second best defensive player for LSU.

Massively disappointing. He's not going to play in this game for the dumbest rules. If he does the exact same thing right now, tomorrow, it's NIL, and it's perfectly legal. But because it happened two years ago, it is a one-game suspension, and it, yeah. So let me get this straight. So the NCAA is applying the rules to this situation before they changed. But in the Tez Walker situation, they are applying the rules after the fact, as opposed to the time he transferred to UNC when there wasn't a restriction on second transfers.

Is that true? You have it lined up correct. You should be as angry as everybody else is. I can't fathom why the NCAA doesn't have any common sense.

None. There should be somebody in an office, like the common sense desk. Does this make sense to you, Alex? And Alex could go, no, this doesn't make sense.

Let the kid play. But they don't have a common sense desk in Indianapolis. It is a lovely office, though. They should make an enforcement officer go sit with Tez Walker's family. It's just gross.

The whole thing is gross. All right, final thing for you before I have to say goodbye to Chip Patterson is, would you go watch, let's just say North Carolina, South Carolina in a movie theater. Let's just say the Rialto in downtown Raleigh. Would you go watch North Carolina, South Carolina in a movie theater? And what candy would be appropriate for something like this? Well, for North Carolina, South Carolina, we naturally would have fireworks and other homemade explosives for a game that is definitely going to be decided in the 30s. But I know Hayes would not allow such things in the Rialto.

He runs a clean shop. We're going to talk to Hayes later. I did watch the U.S. Women's National Team, their opener. I did go down to the Rialto to watch that with a theater full of friends. It was a great experience. I'm very excited about all that. So, yeah, the ACC's deal to put football games in movie theaters, let's go. Sign me up my movie theater.

I'm a little bit boring. I still like your traditional popcorn. But if I'm really going to indulge, I'm either junior mints or the oversized box of butterfingers where you get approximately like 12 servings of butterfingers. I mean, they got the mini butterfingers, but it's a box full of them. Why in the world am I having 450 percent of my saturated fats for the week in a two and a half hour movie? I don't need all those butterfingers, but I'm going to eat them. Junior mints, those go fast, too.

They're also dangerous in surgery for the Seinfeld fans out there. All right, Chip Patterson, I appreciate your time, man. I'll talk to you next week. Sounds good. Y'all be well.