It's Luiji Time (11-3-23)

This is The Drive with Josh Graham podcast. We're internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on WSJS.

We've made it to a Friday drive. It is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad where we were out at Wallace Wade for Duke Wake Forest last night. And we'll get to that game and some of the postgame sound shortly. But first, how about a pick for Panthers Colts?

Would you like that? This isn't just going to be a Carolina Panthers win Sunday. No, this is going to be a game Bryce Young reminds the football world why he was taken number one overall. Remember, even though it's in Charlotte, it's a four o'clock kick. One of those late afternoon games, one of three games that's in that late afternoon slot, and our guy Kevin Harlan is going to be on the call. So when Bryce has his coming out party against the Colts, when he goes off against Indy, a lot of eyes are going to be on him.

And this is something that's been building for a few weeks now. The line has four of its five starters healthy. The exception, Brady Christensen out for the remainder of the year, replaced by a veteran that they've picked up who's starting to play better in Calvin Throckmorton. And because of that, we're seeing Bryce play with some more confidence. The staff feel comfortable calling more plays down the field. The Adam Thielen throw stands out, the throws to DJ chart down the right sideline. We're seeing deeper patterns, deeper throws, passing yards numbers going up for Bryce as a result. And he hasn't had a turnover in the last two games that he's played. And on top of that, of course, he drove his team down the field when they needed him most to get a game winning field goal in Carolina's first win, which had Frank Reich earlier today talking about the confidence level he wants everybody to have surrounding number nine when he climbs under center. When we walk onto the field with a game winning drive opportunity and we got number nine in the huddle, we want everyone on our sideline to feel we want everyone in the stadium to feel like this is going to go our way because of he's our quarterback. And I think last week, hopefully was the start to something like that. It's not always going to be perfect. You won't make everyone. But I think that's what we're looking for.

That's the guy who's going to be our leader. Plus, there's no longer this dark cloud hanging over the franchise, this pressure to win a game now that they beat the Houston Texans, which means expect them to play loose, expect them to have some fun, play with some joy. In playing a Colts team that Carolina matches up very well with the Colts, they are the perfect mark 25th of the NFL against the pass. The worst team Carolina has faced against the past so far this year.

How about this? Indianapolis has allowed 37 or more in each of the three games they've had in this losing streak 37 or more. It's also a benefit that the games in Charlotte. It's the Frank Reich Revenge game. No Anthony Richardson. So it's going to be Gardner Minshew in a pseudo homecoming for him. Once upon a time, he was East Carolina starting quarterback before joining the late Mike Leach out west at Washington State. So what does Bryce Young going off look like? Somewhere between 275 and 300 yards likely. Multiple touchdown passes. He has not exceeded 250 yards in a game yet. He's come close a couple of times, hasn't exceeded that number. I think he does that Sunday.

He has only thrown for multiple touchdowns in a game one time. I think he does that on Sunday afternoon. Sunday is going to be the Bryce Young coming out party and Carolina is going to beat the Indianapolis Colts 27 to 20. On X at WSJS radio.

That's where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch. Will Dalton, the executive producer of this show. W.D. You're going to be going to which game? You have North Carolina, Campbell, but you're going to NC State, Miami. I'll be at NC State, Miami Saturday night.

Let's go. A game that you're getting. Bob Sutton, who used to write in Burlington, came up to me at Duke last night and said, ran into W.D. last weekend and said, Hey, you got an A game. Usually Josh gets the A game. You have to settle for the B game.

Yeah. You got the A game a few weeks in a row so you can enjoy that tomorrow night out at Carter-Finley Stadium getting the last night. Whenever there's a game between two of our locals, there are always two angles you can approach it from the side of the winning team or the side of the losers.

And obviously, the takeaways are different from whatever vantage point you choose to look at it from. However, to me, last night's game in Durham was more about Wake Forest than it was Duke because losses don't get much more painful than the ones. The one the dekes endured at Wallace Wade.

The game was gift wrap for them. Duke had its third string quarterback. Duke was missing two NFL caliber offensive linemen in this game. Duke has three players I feel pretty comfortable saying are going to get drafted.

All of them were out of this game. And Wake, meanwhile, is a team that really leans on its defense. It's probably the best defense that Dave Clawson's had since Mike Elko left for Notre Dame back in 2016 or 17.

This was gift wrap for them. And Wake Forest gave it away and did so in an uncharacteristic way. They were leading by a touchdown in the fourth quarter, 21-14. And in the fourth, Wake turned it over not once, but twice when they went seven straight quarters without turning it over. They didn't have a turnover against fourth ranked Florida State last weekend. And on top of that, three or four penalties on that final drive.

Careless ones like a late hit. One of them was on third and 14, a pass interference. Wake missed two short field goals when going into the game. Their kicker had only missed two kicks all year long. This is a well-coached football team that usually leans on special teams and is reliable when it comes to being disciplined.

And they weren't. Boss two fumbles in the fourth quarter alone. Missed a short field goal, had one earlier in the game as well after a turnover. And then bad penalties that set up the kick for Duke to win 24-21.

Dave Clawson agrees. This was a game Wake should have won and they outplayed Duke. All losses sting, Josh.

They all sting. I mean, they're hard. And this isn't like last week that we got outclassed. We played really well. We played hard. Again, credit to them. But I certainly feel this is a game that we gave away between the turnovers and the penalties.

Exactly right. If they miss a bowl, if the bowl streak ends at seven, it's not extended to eight this year. This is going to be the game that they look back on and say, boy, did we miss a chance. It won't even be Georgia Tech at home because Georgia Tech flat out was better that day. They were up 20 to three at halftime, won that game by double digits. That's not a good Georgia Tech team. Obviously, you feel like you like your chances if you're playing them and you're at home.

But this was a situation where the game was gift wrap for you. You were up a touchdown against a team with a third string quarterback and missing two of their best offensive linemen. And you found a way to lose and you lost by beating yourself. They have four wins. They need to go two in one in their final three games in order to clinch bowl eligibility. And one of those games you're not going to win. You're going to South Bend to face Sam Hartman and Notre Dame. Good luck with that one.

You're not winning that one. So you'll have to be NC State at home eight days from now and you'll have to win at Syracuse, who's in action tonight against Boston College and looks a bit Boston College. Those are winnable games, but it could have been, hey, you only have to take one of the final three and now you got to take two of the final three to get there. I'm not doubting Claussen, not after all the injuries they endured in twenty eighteen. And they figured out a way late in the season to make it happen. Dave Claussen is just that good of a coach. But if they do miss a bowl this year, if they can't get it done, this is the game that you're going to go back to losses. They don't get much more painful than what we saw for the Deeks last night.

It's the drive with Josh Graham WSJS. One of my favorite jobs in football is to get that coach whose job is to try and wrangle in the head coach if he's getting a little bit to what's the word I'm looking for? Angry, a little bit too vicious. You got to reel them in a little bit.

Keep them on the sideline, prevent the team from having a penalty. That's why we're bringing in Will Pelagic right now to see if he could be my hot take. Get back, coach, because not only do I think the Panthers are going to beat the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and we'll get to our Charlotte FC season wrap up in just a bit. I think Bryce Young is going to go off.

I think it's been building to this point. He hasn't thrown for 250 yards in a game. I think he exceeds 275.

But when it shocked me, if he exceeds 300, I think he throws for the second time this year, multiple touchdowns in a game. Are you having to wrangle me back as the hot take get back coach for this? We might have technical problems with Will Pelagic. We'll have to reconnect with Will and bring him back on. I can hear him now.

I don't know if it's a. Can you hear me? Oh, I can hear you, but I think you're on a little. I think you're on a delay. So we might just have to reconnect with you and we'll make that happen.

W.D. can try and coordinate that. See, already doing a poor job of being the get back coach where you grab it. You try to wrangle if he's. If you're trying to do that on a bit of a five second delay there, as it sounded like we had, then it could be a little bit more difficult to do so. In that case, the coaches already ran onto the field trying to fistfight the official.

What do you do about that? I don't know. I don't know where that came from, too. I need to figure out where the get back coach came from. Was it after, like, Woody Hayes punched a player that somebody decided that we might need that?

I'll look into the homework of that. First, we go to Will Pelagic, who tells me if I'm a crazy person or not. I don't think you're crazy.

I don't know what happened with the technology there. It took us till last year, last week of the season to to have an issue. But no, I'm playing more of the role of the matador.

I'll have the red the red sheet in front of you there. I think I think Carolina is prime this week for a second consecutive victory. I don't think Indianapolis is all that good. And I honestly think, you know, anyone who's trying to devalue what the Panthers did last week gets a Texas is not looking at the full picture. I think you're seeing a progression with this offense. I think Thomas Brown brought a fresh face to the offensive play calling. And I also think that the run defense for Indianapolis might be the worst run defense the Panthers have seen all season. And we saw when they were able to run the football, they were able to play effective offense like they did against Atlanta and other times during this season. I think it's a big, big game for the Panthers. And I also don't know if this Indianapolis offense will be able to score on the paint defense, which I understand has had its ups and downs this season, but it's getting a lot of people back. Twenty fifth against the pass as well. In addition to struggling against the run, they've allowed thirty seven points in all three games of their three game losing streak.

Willy P joining us on Twitter at Willy P style or X, I should say. I don't want to overreact to a small sample size with Will Levis, but he had a better game on Sunday against the Falcons than any rookie quarterbacks had this year. Four touchdowns, no picks. And then on a short week, goes into Pittsburgh, gives his chance to win, gives his team a chance to win and threw for more yardage than Bryce Young's thrown in any game this year.

Two sixty nine. If we're looking at what are you willing to say about this quarterback draft class already? As far as I'm willing to go and again, I might need the hot take, get back coach again, is that it's the best quarterback class we've seen since Burrow, Fields, Zach Wilson, Mac Jones or excuse me, it's better than that.

You probably have to go back to Burrow, Tua and Herbert. That's what I meant to say from two thousand and twenty. Do you have any feel already on how good this class can be?

I still think the sample size is too small. I think what will really be the big determiner for me is, is what each of these quarterbacks can do trying to get their teams to the playoffs. I think that's the biggest thing that I need to see is because, you know, you could have all these great regular seasons. It's whether or not, you know, one of these quarterbacks can lead their team to a Super Bowl berth or lead their team to a deep playoff run or, you know, have the ability to get over the hump like, you know, Joe Burrow getting into the Super Bowl. The thing about, you know, even a guy like a Josh Allen is that, yeah, he's gotten his team deep in the playoffs, but has yet to kind of get themselves to the big, big stage. And I think that's the issue that I feel like happens a lot is that when you see some of these quarterbacks, they get themselves to a ceiling. I think the biggest part of what each of these quarterbacks is going to have is that they're going to have to do it under a rookie deal. And I think that's the biggest issue is that when you see these teams pay these quarterbacks, you know, outside of my homes, you really haven't seen any of them on their second contract have the ability to, you know, make up the better part of that in terms of trying to make sure that you have the ability to build the team around that quarterback.

So I'm curious to see over the next three to five years what each of these guys looks like, especially in terms of how these different situations get built up. But there's definitely very happy returns so far in a lot of situations, including with Indianapolis, despite the fact that the Anthony Richardson has done for the year. Would it surprise you at this point, given the Panthers didn't move at the deadline, didn't add more capital, the Sanders contract looks terrible and he's been benched. Not going to start, according to Frank Reich earlier today, and he shouldn't. Chuba has been playing that much better. Would you be surprised if Scott Fitterer retained his title of general manager after this year?

I wouldn't be. And I think honestly, it comes down to this was almost kind of year zero for this particular regime. I think there was the conventional wisdom that, you know, much of what was done before this offseason was done with a divided mind. And that divided mind obviously comes in with Matt Rule being the focal point and having the final say in a lot of the things involving drafts and free agents, things of that nature.

It was very hard to attribute really anything to one singular person outside of Matt Rule. And I think that's the part of this issue that they want to make sure happens. I honestly think that Fitterer and Reich are somewhat tied at the hip because the last thing you want to do is bring in a general manager who didn't hire this head coach, because it seems like the biggest thing that is going on right now with the Panthers is that they don't have the same kind of schedule between front office and head coach. So as long as you have a scenario where these two guys are on different schedules, I feel like it kind of leaves the organization in a bit of imbalance. So I honestly think they probably each will get one more year, Reich and Fitterer. And I think the two jobs are somewhat tied together beyond this year.

If next year starts out the way that this one does, maybe then you're thinking about a full entire clean of house, if you will. But I don't know if they're going to let Fitterer grow because of the fact that you bring a general manager in here who didn't hire this head coach. And I think that's a scenario that I feel like can once again kind of feel like a bit circular for the Panthers and not in a good way.

Getting to Charlotte FC, Will Pelagic, voice of Charlotte FC with us. How would you define the outlook? We know what the result was and how historic it was that they made the postseason. How would you describe the outlook move looking forward to the offseason and what can happen as a result of what they did this year? I think it's intriguing, Josh, especially when you think about the way that the first moves of the offseason went through.

Charlotte FC kind of had their end of season option pickups and declines. And while there were some choices that were very difficult for the club to make, they feel like they have a pretty strong core. And I think that part of that core will need to be added to. I think that there are some positions in all three phases, the defense, the midfield, and in the striker position that all can deserve some additions. And I think, too, the biggest question that I think remains right now is whether or not you make any changes at the DP spots. And I think Karol Sverderski, a lot of the people who are out there from the punditry standpoint think that he's at least going to test the waters with Europe, which definitely leaves a gaping hole with Charlotte FC, but also leaves a lot of money that could potentially come in and then can be reinvested in the club.

I think there's also a potential intrigue around Camille Juzviak. There's a lot of talk that he hasn't necessarily lived up to his DP contract as well. And whether or not Charlotte FC can really add at that wing position. I feel like, you know, Kerwin Vargas, with the way that he played at the end of last season, kind of earned himself a permanent job in the starting lineup, assuming that he sticks around.

And I think the biggest question is whether you replace Juzviak if he ends up leaving with another midfielder from the central attacking midfielder standpoint, or if you go out and get another striker to go along with Enzo Capetti or another winger. I think a lot of transformative action still can take place with this offseason. But I think the one thing that they have to look at is that this result this season is not a destination or a summit.

It's a road. It's basically a rest stop on the way to something bigger. I think that's the biggest thing you look at with this club is that they feel like they're progressing forward, even though they finished in the same spot. The new rules to the playoffs allowed them to get them into the playoffs. They got one more point than they did a year ago. They want to take a bigger step and they feel like that they have the core there to make that happen. But I also think they understand that there's some business that will be done during the summer or during the winter transfer window, I should say. Will Pelagic, voice of Charlotte FC, with us here for those watching on YouTube, Twitch or on X, you've got your Mizzou gear on.

Really is an awesome slate this weekend. We were talking about the marquee games. And unfortunately, we just ran out of time before we got to that one. When you consider the final bedlam for the foreseeable future.

LSU, Alabama, Washington, USC. I asked W.D. this and he was way off. I'll ask you in case you haven't seen it. Do you know what the total is for this game? The over-under? Missouri, Georgia? No, no, no, no, no. For Washington.

No, for Washington and USC between Caleb Williams and Michael Penix. You want to take a guess? Sixty-six. Seventy-six and a half. Wow. That's about what I get.

Sixty-five. Buckle up, buckaroos, for that. But getting to last team has the ball wins. Exactly.

Missouri, Georgia. What is your level of optimism for a program that has, you know, that's led by a coach that people around here know very well? They definitely do. And believe me, I hear from app fans all the time about him and they're not happy about the way that he kind of left the program and the condition he left the program in. And I had to hear about Sean Clark being the savior. And it seems like a lot of the folks who said that have a different feel about themselves now. But in terms of Missouri, you know, I have a realistic outlook on this. I don't have any delusions of grandeur that Missouri is going to go in and pull the upset, although I think that this is probably the best chance they've had in the last 10 years to be able to do that.

And I didn't even really have big hopes 10 years ago when they made that happen. They had to survive a an injury at quarterback and a double pass to Bud Sasser to get themselves a victory and also withstand a potential 12 point comeback by Georgia in the final period to outlast them in Athens 10 years ago. So from that perspective, I know it takes some things going your way. They're going to have to figure out how to take the ball away from Georgia. They lead the country in fumble force, but only have one fumble recovery. And they're also good at getting the ball from interception standpoint. They got two of the best corners in the country and Ennis Rake straw and Chris Abrams drain. But it's a quarterback first quarterback matchup. And I feel like Brady Cook's going to have to outdo Carson Beck. And it all comes down to whether or not the Missouri can end up getting more points on the board against Georgia.

And that's a big, big ass, especially against this squad. Was it last year where Georgia had a bit of a scare in Columbia? Yes.

Yes. Mizzou had basically a lead in the fourth quarter or as late as the fourth quarter in that game and ran out of gas. It's unfortunate the way that a lot of that series has gone. It's felt that way is that Missouri's definitely put some scares into Georgia, but nothing like they had 10 years ago. And the stars are all aligned.

We'll see whether or not it can happen on Saturday in Athens. Do people what portion of people in the state of Missouri call it Missouri? It's the lower half of the state, basically. Anything south west of Columbia is is Missouri country. Yeah, because I live I'm I live in Winston-Salem now, but I was born in Baltimore.

And there's the portion of people we call from Dundalk who have Baltimore's accents, very pronounced is sometimes it comes out like the Scott Van Pelt like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like O'Strayer's and Addie Bowes, hon. That's that type of thing comes out from time to time.

I just needed to get an answer from an expert. The old AD used to say it all the time, even though he didn't really come from the part of the state that ended up being that. But he did it to try and, you know, curry favor to those who who had the money and the purse strings.

So he he always kind of used it almost as a political political tool, if you will. Will it be I'll see you, I hope, Sunday for Panthers Colts at Bank of America Stadium. And dude, man, we've been with a few exceptions every week. We've been at it for seven months plus, maybe close to eight months that we've been doing this. So we're going to give you a little bit of a break and then we'll fire it back up close to March next year. Appreciate all that you guys have done. Appreciate WSJS being a an affiliate of Charlotte FC. It's been a great first year. Hope that there's many more involved and love that you guys have embraced what I feel like is one of the great, great summer things that we have here in this state.

And we'll hope to get a longer run in the playoffs, maybe even some hardware coming up next season. Let's go fire it up. He was never voted most likely to succeed. You're such a loser. But then again, were you?

The very concept is unimaginable. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. We spend so much time talking about the games that are going to be played around here that we don't really get a chance to hit on the big marquee national games. There are three in college football we need to talk about and we'll do that in just a few minutes. But as promised.

Last week. We delivered three benchmarks that the Panthers needed to hit in order to beat the Houston Texans or they needed to hit two out of three of those in order to beat the Texans. And that's exactly what Carolina did. And they won their first game of the year.

So here are three benchmarks that if Carolina hits, they will win on Sunday or they get two out of the three. That's what they need to do to win a football game. This is not as simple as the Tony Romo graphic. Oh, let's get some keys to the game. Get off to a good start or something that's as ambiguous as just make sure you run the football.

We want to make this very tangible, easy to consume. There are so many different variables that can decide a football game. So if you're watching Sunday and you have these three things written down or make mental notes of these three things. You'll know whether or not the Panthers are doing the things they need to do or if they're not based on how they're performing in these areas.

Starting with. Pick off Gardner Minshew. In the three games Gardner Minshew has thrown an interception. The Colts have lost their own three in the three games that Gardner Minshew has played and thrown more than two passes.

He had that one game where he was just in there for a series. In the three games he has not thrown an interception. The Colts have won their three and 0.

That sounds like a pretty big key. And the Carolina Panthers were as good as their defense can be when they're rushing the passer and Brian Burns is getting off. They have not had an interception since the Minnesota game.

That's four games ago now. No picks against Miami or Detroit before the bye week. No picks against the Houston Texans. They need to change that and pick off Gardner Minshew who's having a bit of a homecoming in that.

He used to be East Carolina's quarterback before going to Washington State under Mike Leach and being drafted late in the draft. That's the first game. Pick off Gardner Minshew. Secondly, do not allow more than three sacks in this game. Carolina has only allowed three sacks or fewer in two of Bryce Young's six starts. Three sacks or fewer in two of Bryce's six starts. Last week they allowed six and the only reason they were able to win that game is because Houston nearly dialed up ten penalties in the game.

That's not something that is sustainable. You need to protect the quarterback better and Bryce Young on a few instances needs to get rid of the ball. Receivers need to get open.

It's all linked together. It's not all the offensive line. That's not coach speak when Frank Reich says it or B.S.

when it comes out of Bryce Young's mouth. Everybody has to do a little bit better of a job. This is the good news for the Panthers. Indianapolis has not exceeded three sacks in a game in their last five.

And in fact. They only had one last week to two weeks ago. They're not getting a lot of sacks, so this could be a perfect team for Carolina to get right as their offensive line begins to get healthy. Or their five starters are healthy and playing Calvin Throckmorton in the place of Brady Christensen is the exception. But he's a vet and he actually, according to some of the advanced analytics, isn't playing all that bad at left guard. So don't allow more than three sacks in this game.

That's the second key. And lastly, don't let Jonathan Taylor beat you. Last week was the closest since he started playing again that Jonathan Taylor's look to being back. He had 95 yards rushing.

So what does it look like not having Jonathan Taylor beat you? Don't let him clear the century mark. Hold him to fewer than 100 yards rushing, because this might be the craziest stat that I dug up. In the last 11 games that Jonathan Taylor has played in for the Colts in which he did not rush for 100 yards. The Colts lost.

Let me say that again. The last 11 times Jonathan Taylor has played for the Colts and not rushed for 100 yards in a game, the Colts are 0-11. They've lost all 11 of those games.

So there you go. Pick off Gardner Minshew. Minshew 3-0 in games he throws. No picks. 0-3 in games he throws a pick. Don't allow more than three sacks. Don't let Jonathan Taylor hit 100 yards or more. Those are the three keys, three benchmarks for the Carolina Panthers Sunday against the Colts.

Dave Pulaski going to be in studio with us in just a few minutes. Now, as promised, let's get to those marquee games that stand out in college football. But before you do, you let me know which of these games you're most excited about.

You have the final bedlam. At least for a while, for the foreseeable future with Oklahoma leaving for the SEC. It's Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. LSU, Alabama. In Tuscaloosa, night game, 745 CBS. And Washington going to L.A. to face USC.

It's the latter of all those. Really? Washington, USC? It is because, you know, as I was filling out my card for our Graham's gambling thing with the crackers, I was doing that. Everybody had Washington winning that game, including me.

He did. And I'm going to pick Washington to win it, too. But just because of how USC has been recently, I'm curious how they're going to stack up. You went 9-0 last week. I'm aware nobody's ever done that before. Pretty impressive stuff. It is. Washington, USC.

Let me ask you that. Michael Pennix against Caleb Williams. What do you think the over under for this game is?

Washington, USC. What is it like? Sixty-five. Sixty-five? Are you talking total?

Oh, yeah. Over under. Sixty-five. That's a lot, huh? Seventy-six and a half.

Is it really? Seventy-six and a half, which means in order for the over to hit, one of these teams is going to have to score 40. And even then, even then, you're not guaranteed the win because if you score forty-five and the other team scores thirty-one, you still lose by a half point. That's a lot of points.

So that might be the right answer. However, I'm still going to answer the question with the first two. As much as I'm excited about that game, I'm more excited about the first two for the following reasons. You got Mike Gundy, who's had a number of things to say about Oklahoma over the years, the final bedlam, the final one that's going to be played that we know Oklahoma's coming off the lost Kansas. I would love nothing more than to see Oklahoma State win this game. I love the fact that it's in Stillwater. Three thirty game tomorrow.

But something just tells me the line six, six and a half. Oh, yeah, man, they have a running back who has 250 yards in each of his last two games there. They're on a roll. Oklahoma doesn't look very good. Oh, you're getting six points there at home. You got to take it. Something tells me.

Lamb and laugh. Oklahoma's going to win this game. But that's why we took the over sixty and a half. Because regardless of who wins points, lots and lots of points, and then there's LSU in Alabama, which is always one of the most fun games of college football each year. And after my trip to Baton Rouge. Go Tigers. We're rooting for LSU to win this game also because we're trying to root for a scenario in which the SEC doesn't get any teams into the playoff.

Go Tigers. Georgia has a bad schedule or, yeah, they don't have a tough schedule. So if they lose one in the regular season and say lose the SEC championship against a team that has three losses like LSU or with two losses like LSU, maybe an SEC team could get left out. But kind of like the Oklahoma, Oklahoma State game, while I'm rooting for Oklahoma to win, something tells me. Bama's not going to lose to LSU back to back years. And this game's in Tuscaloosa.

Roll Tide. And yes, I'm taking Washington to beat USC as well. But all three of those games I can't wait to watch.

And I just realized I picked favorites in all three of those games. How boring. I might just take USC. There it is. I'm going to go against the grain.

USC beats Washington while Oklahoma and Alabama win their games. Yesterday, we did a useless sound segment with some Bryce Young and some Thomas Brown. We've started to enjoy this more than we thought that we would. Finding stuff that's particularly funny and useless.

Funny in how useless it is. That's true. Well played. But for some reason, in recent weeks since the buying, Agyro Evero would not speak until during our show on Thursdays. So we felt the last few weeks you've been robbed of Agyro Evero sound. But we don't want you to feel robbed, to feel underwhelmed, to feel like you're missing out on something. So we've got some Agyro Evero sound.

Here he was, completely devoid of context, walking up to a microphone and opening his press conference this way. All right. I just wanted to start off long overdue, but I got to give a lot of love to my amazing family. My wife, Natalie, my son, Flint, and my other son, Pierce. They're my everything. They're my reason for why. And they support me in this crazy profession. So I just want to give my family a shout out. That's nice, coach. Now tell us why you haven't had a defensive interception the last three games. No one explained why that was. I had to Google.

Is something going on with Agyro Evero's family or is it as simple as Agyro Evero was told by his son or daughter or by his wife? You know, it'd be pretty cool. I know you don't really say much in these press conferences at all.

It's not like you're saying useful things that people can use for their work. How about you just walk up and say, hey, guys, shout out to you. What up? Or maybe he was just genuinely feeling it.

He was in the mood and he just being nice. You know what? Shout out to you. And again, I'm not anti this. I know. It's just perplexing. No one, no one explain it. I texted a few people. Why?

Oh, I don't really know why. Well, OK. Then he got to this news today. Frank Reich. He said that in the absence of Justin Houston at linebacker, who is doubtful to play.

Prodik. Luigi Villan, who played linebacker here a few years ago, is going to be activated after the Panthers picked him up off waivers from the Minnesota Vikings. So a Wake Forest linebacker going to be playing for the Panthers.

Here was Agyro on Luigi. He's been great. He's he's picking up the defense really well. He spent a lot of extra time studying and trying to get caught up and really comfortable with where he's at right now.

It was the help for a guy like Luigi to climb when he comes in off another team and you're trying to get him up. It's a steep hill, but the good thing for him is last year he was in the scheme in Minnesota before they changed defensive coordinators. And so he's got a lot of experience with the scheme, with the verbiage. And so he's he's a step ahead. Step ahead.

I guess that wasn't completely useless, but it's so many cliches, so many. Luigi Villan going to be in action for the Panthers on Sunday. It's Luigi time. What was that?

It's Luigi from Mario. I should have saw that one coming. Yes.

How many of these do you have? Just just those two. OK.

I just want to make sure I'm not thrown off guard at all. Yes. Here's how I want to give away tickets.

I figured it out. This is what I want to do. We have App State Marshall tickets tomorrow.

In Boon should be a great time. We have Wake Forest basketball tickets for Elon on Monday. Yes. Call us right now. I'm going to ask you a question. And you just got to answer it with the most cliches you can possibly come up with. And if you do, you will get tickets to one of those games of your choosing.

Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one six hundred is the phone number. So that's what it's going to be. Just a lot of, you know, got to go back and watch the tape. Yes. Got to go.

Yes. Got to. Got to make sure we, you know.

Have everything tightened up. Yeah. You know, again, at that point, you know, we're just got to respect our opponent. Got to make sure we respect the game.

So many of these cliches. On the next week. Oh, that's right. If you want tickets to App State Marshall. Yes.

Or Wake Forest, Elon. Yes. Monday in basketball. Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one six hundred. Give us a call.

And if anybody wants to throw some of the cliches at us, then those tickets are yours. That's a time that is Sunday. Four o'clock is Luigi time as W.D. fields those calls. We'll get to some other Frank Reich breaking news. Chuba Hubbard is going to start over Miles Sanders on Sunday.

Here is Frank Reich from the day. I have a lot of confidence in Miles. Sometimes it running back. I've seen this happen before. It kind of goes. Somebody gets the hot hand like tubes has a hot hand a little bit.

And the game flow goes a certain way for a few games. You know, we got a lot of football left. You know, have a lot of faith and confidence in Miles.

Again, I go back to say some of the start of the season was just how unproductive our offense was early on in general. Not just you know, it wasn't Miles. No, it wasn't Miles. Tubes.

Yeah, I like that. How do you spell Tubes? Probably c h u b e s. I was thinking c h o o b s. Tubes.

Ice Tubes. Chuba Hubbard. Let's go through some of the stats here between Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders. Miles Sanders. Has been outplayed by Chuba Hubbard this year.

That is not a hot take by any means. In six games, Miles Sanders 63 carries for 190 yards. That is three yards per carry. In seven games this year, 69 carries, 270 yards for Chuba Hubbard. That is four yards per carry. Miles Sanders, one touchdown run. Chuba, one touchdown run. Miles Sanders also has 15 catches so far this year. How does he have more catches than Hayden Hurst?

Kind of amazing. 85 yards on those receptions. Meanwhile, about the same numbers for Miles. Or at least the same number of catches, but not nearly as much yardage. Chuba's been better.

And here's the difference between the two. You're paying Miles Sanders four years, $25 million. You're not paying that. It's a fourth round draft pick.

Chuba Hubbard, who's in the last year of his contract, if memory serves. W.D., I don't think anyone wants to play along with our game. I don't think so either. Is this going to be like one of those deals where, because we asked the audience to do something.

Yes, it absolutely is. That no one calls, but then the moment I say all you have to do is call in without having to do anything, they win something. You know how this goes. It makes me not want to do that. I know. And then typically what happens, kind of like what you're doing now, you shame them into finally calling. No, they don't respond well to shaming. They don't. Oh.

336-777-1600. How challenging do I have to make the challenge? People might not know enough cliches.

Well, that's why they're cliches is because they're easy. Yeah, I don't want to like. Question, I don't want to make somebody lose their dignity by saying that you do a Luigi impression and that be enough to win the tickets.

I don't want to do that. Luigi time. So apparently shaming the callers has worked because now we've got about six or seven people calling into the show right now. So let's try to do as many as we can do in about a minute and change WD. Let's go to who am I talking to here? Mike in Winston. He doesn't know what we're doing. He doesn't know what we're giving away, but he wants in. All right, Mike, how about you just throw as many cliches at me as possible when I ask you why the Panthers will beat the cult Sunday?

Well, because it's there, you know, why not? I'll take it. Let's see, let's see. Bryce Young finally figured it out.

Figured it out, yeah. And Garden Minshew, hey, I'll tell you, he's fairly good, but he's on, off, on, off. I like that. I like that. On, off, on, off. That's what he is. On, off, on, off. We've come up with the new cliche. So Mike doesn't know what he's going to win, but I think it's between App State tickets and Wake Forest basketball tickets on Monday. On Monday, congratulations to him.