They're Cheeks

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

Three internet sensations, guys. Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS. You are on a Thursday drive. It is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where we're back in the studio after being out at Joel Coliseum for Wake Forest when yesterday, well, ahead of our show in Boone tomorrow, APS State Coach Sean Clark will be our guest at around 5.35, so make sure you're around for that. We likely won't know who the Carolina Panthers' next coach is going to be for another two months.

Today is the last day of the month of November. However, I want to be on the record now who I think the coach is going to be. Not who the best candidate is, not who they should hire given the options.

No, it's a prediction. The most likely choice for the Panthers' next coach is Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, because he's the best alternative to the Lions' OC Ben Johnson. Carolina had a ton of interest in him last year.

He decided he was going to remain another year in Detroit. There was even a report today from Jacina Anderson saying that the Panthers would have strong interest in Ben Johnson. When you look at the similarities between the two, both are innovative, creative coaches with creative offenses.

Both are in their 30s. Both are having success offensively at franchises who are unaccustomed to success, Detroit and Houston. The problem is with Ben Johnson, while he wasn't the hottest name on the coaching carousel a year ago, Shane Steichen was, D'Amico Ryans was, he certainly is now. When you make Jared Goff look like a Pro Bowler and revitalize the Detroit freaking Lions, yeah, you're going to draw a lot of interest. And when you start to read the tea leaves, usually there are five, six, maybe seven changes in a cycle in the NFL.

Some are talking about eight or nine this cycle. And really, and organizations that don't quite open up all that much could become available. You're talking about as solid of a franchise as the New England Patriots, or maybe even the Green Bay Packers, or being the first hire of a new ownership group, the Harris Group in Washington, DC, or getting to coach Justin Herbert out West, knowing what you have in that quarterback. It seems like Ben Johnson is going to have his pick of the litter. And while Carolina's job is attractive enough to bring in a good coach, I don't think it's one of the most attractive jobs on the market. Secondly, Bobby Slowik, there are things that he does that make him a better fit for Carolina specifically. It's why he's a great alternative to Ben Johnson.

If you can't get that young offensive mind, get the one that does a lot of the things offensively that you wish you got out of Frank Reich. Specifically, pre-snap motion and RPL. Carolina's dead last by a mile when it comes to pre-snap motion. Nobody runs less pre-snap motion than the Panthers do, which is staggering considering the lack of talent they have on the perimeter. You might want to have that motion to try and make things a little bit more difficult on defenses trying to stop those receivers.

Carolina, last in motion percentage. Bobby Slowik comes from the Shanahan coaching tree, which runs more motion than anybody else. Think about Mike McDaniel's offense in Miami, how much they move at the line of scrimmage. Bobby Slowik can bring those tendencies from the Shanahan coaching tree to the Carolinas. Houston's also top 10 in the NFL and RPO plays, which Bryce Young ran a ton of in college and doesn't run a lot of with the Panthers. Despite the success we've seen CJ Stroud have, the successes that Bobby Slowik's had this year working with Stroud. Slowik wanted to coach Bryce Young.

Now, he hasn't said that and he never will say it publicly, but here's what we know. Based on reporting in the spring, the Texans wanted Bryce Young. They wanted to draft Bryce Young if they had the opportunity to do so. And when you really start to break down that concept, if that's true, the Texans hired a defensive minded coach, Tabiko Ryans, which means the most important hire he was gonna make is his offensive coordinator and it's Bobby Slowik. And odds are Ryans was gonna let Slowik get the quarterback that he wants to run Bobby Slowik's offense. So if the Texans wanted Bryce Young, that means Bobby Slowik wanted Bryce Young, which means he can see appeal since the Texans did as extensive of a quarterback breakdown as the Panthers did a year ago. He can see the good in Bryce and have the appeal of wanting to work with Bryce. So two months out, that is my prediction.

Not saying he's the best coach available, not saying if you had your pick of the litter, that's the guy that you want. This is my prediction of who Carolina ends up with, Houston Texans offensive coordinator, Bobby Slowik. On X at WSJS radio, if you want in on the show, that's where we're streaming video on, in addition to YouTube and Twitch, Will Dalton, the executive producer of the show taking your calls at 336-777-1600WD, quite the 24 hours for you. During the basketball game last night, you're watching Ace Ventura because you have to do so in order to secure gear, secure the swag bag for you and I from Sean Clark. That's right, we love swag stuff. And we went on a Costco date together. Yes, we did. We did do that.

A hot dog. You were very impressed by the kiosks that they have available at the Haines Mall Boulevard location. I was impressed by that. I also learned about your cycle theory when it comes to getting gassed. Okay, put a pin in that.

We do need to discuss that when it comes to decorum when getting gassed at Costco. The ACC-SEC challenge ends in a split, seven to seven. Let's get to hoops and let's get to the first caller of the day, Ed in Winston-Salem, 336-777-1600, once in on that. You are a Tar Heel fan, Ed. We could talk about the heels in a second, but what do you have on the ACC-SEC challenge? I thought it was a very well played, you know, playoffs. And, you know, the teams were pretty well balanced and a lot of, you know, close ballgames. I agree. Like you look at the game that decided it, Georgia pretty much wanted the buzzer to beat Florida State. That was a lot of fun last night.

Clemson and Alabama, a great game. I mean, geographically, it makes more sense. And I think, yeah, it's a better brand of basketball, too.

Yes, I agree with you. And as far as Carolina, I thought they played exceptionally well last night. Oh, it's incredible. Here's what I think about Carolina.

And thanks so much for the call, Ed. It's hard to overstate how impressive last night was for North Carolina basketball, but here's my best shot at doing so. Hope this is not overstatement. This is the most talented Tar Heel team in five years.

Now I'm choosing my language intentionally there. See, we get paid for the words that come out of our mouths. This isn't me saying North Carolina is going to make it to the Final Four and be the most successful team we've seen in the last five years. North Carolina, number one seed in 2019, making it to the Final Four in 2022.

That's not what I'm saying here. In terms of sheer talent, this is the most talented Tar Heel team we've seen in five years, because this squad has NBA draft picks plural on it. W.D., quick trivia question. When was the last time the Tar Heels had a draft pick in the NBA? Was it Cole Anthony? It's actually the year after Cole. It was De'Ron Sharp.

That's right. He was drafted. That might've been the same year. Did they play together, Cole Anthony?

They may have, I'll double check. And De'Ron Sharp? Well, this squad, the last two drafts did not feature a North Carolina Tar Heel in it.

The last two. When I look at this team, I see Elliott Cadeau and I see Harrison Ingram. Harrison Ingram might be the best player on this team, which is not something I saw coming. Elliott Cadeau, hey, turns out it's a good idea to start that guy. Who could have saw that coming? Ten assists, no turnovers. Pretty impressive stuff. Plus you have R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot still around.

Armando. A lot of talent. The last time North Carolina had multiple draft picks, same draft, it was when Kobe White and Cam Johnson were both taken in the lottery in 2019. Dismantling Tennessee sends a loud message to the rest of the country.

Nobody drops 60 and a half on Rick Barnes. Hasn't happened his entire tenure at Tennessee. Hasn't happened to the Vols altogether as a program since 2006. North Carolina hasn't done that since 2005. They dropped 100 on the number one defense in college basketball, according to Ken Palm. Here was Armando Bacot after the game.

Armando. On the message he felt Carolina sent. I mean, our message all week was just how we respond.

I mean, the Bahamas, we wanted to go there and win a championship. And I mean, coach has just been all week just challenging us. And I think today we really set the tone, especially early. I mean, later on in the game, we kind of let him get back in a little bit.

But I think today, really, we were just trying to put the world on notice. It was a personal game for us. And I mean, me and R.J., we don't forget how bad they beat us a couple of years back in Mohegan Sun.

So that's something that we charted off. As soon as we knew he was playing and we was ready for it. And coach, he's been electric and turnt up all week. And we knew coming in, like, physical teams.

So we wanted to be physical, too. This is the most talented Tar Heel team in five years. Last night was North Carolina's first top 10 non-conference win in five years. Gonzaga, number four in the country in the Smith Center December 15, 2018. And they have a chance to continue to impress. You got UConn at MSG.

You have Kentucky and Atlanta. Offensively, there's nobody you can cheat off of on this team. There isn't any selfishness out there.

Let me be clear on what I'm saying. No Leaky Black or Caleb Love on the floor. With respect to Leaky Black, who defended quite a bit, teams cheated on him defensively off of him all the time because you weren't afraid of his shot.

You just weren't. And you weren't afraid of him being a scorer. And with Caleb Love, he'd be a black hole so often the ball would just go to him and then it wouldn't go anywhere else. The ball would just stop moving. The ball moves with everybody on this team. And everybody can pass. Everybody can shoot.

So it's just really hard to defend it. And you have a true point guard in Elliott Cadeau who's pushing the pace now. And that Carolina break looks fantastic.

It's the most talented Tar Heel team we've seen in five years. Great week to be an App State Mountaineer as we visited with Doug Gillen a few days ago talking about how big of a weekend it's gonna be. App at Troy Saturday Sunbelt Championship, ESPN four o'clock. And then App State basketball will be hosting Auburn Sunday afternoon. We will be doing our show live from Boone from the home center tomorrow afternoon.

So make sure you're locked in for that. Right now, we're being joined by App State football coach, Sean Clark. Sean, you got a Sunbelt Championship game on Saturday. And I mean this well.

So don't take this the wrong way. Why can't you guys play just one normal football game? Because even though you coasted in the second half last week, it was after spotting Southern a double digit lead. But it's never easy at App State that, you know, we're talking with Doug. He wanted to make sure he sold all the concessions early.

So I want to make sure everything was paid for before he broke loose in the second half. It was a great win for us against old school rival. And it's a lot of fun. And there's a lot of excitement in Boone right now with our game going to Troy and with Coach Kearns and the Mountaineers take on Auburn.

So it's a great day to be a Mountaineer. Those who are unaware of the Sunbelt scheduling format, you guys get a couple of games against the cross division across the West division. You didn't play Troy in the regular season. App State has played in four of the five all-time Sunbelt title games that actually ended up getting played.

2020 didn't. As an assistant, you won twice. You lost as a head coach. But take me behind the scenes of game prep. When you're facing a team you didn't see in the regular season, Coach, just how much tape do you watch? How many games?

What games? Well, again, we were fortunate. There was a crossover game. They played James Madison. So we watched them earlier.

And then they also played Southern Miss late. So we had a chance to watch them. We weren't paying much attention to Troy throughout the season, but way to go back. We got here early Sunday morning and we watched all 12 games.

And then really the last four you really watched because you're not going to change too much from your last four games. So it's been a long week. It's been an exciting week to have the opportunity to play for a championship. Anytime you're somebody's champs and represent your university, your program on a national stage again on ESPN.

So a lot to be thankful for. And now we have to go and play our best effort, play our best game to have a chance to win this game. Wet ball drills this week with the weather looking not so great in Alabama. We did on Wednesday, we did yesterday. Tuesday it was so cold we had to go inside.

It was 25 degrees with 50 mile an hour winds. So wet ball drills supposed to be 98% chance of rain with thunderstorms. So we have a great plan in place in case the game was delayed, but we're going to play the game no matter what. It's not just, as you mentioned, and as we talked about a second ago, a big weekend on the mountain for you guys.

Dustin Kearns, men's basketball program, welcoming in Auburn to the home center. On Sunday, it's one of the biggest games in the history of that building. How locked in do you suspect you'll be on Sunday afternoon for that? Well, I'm going to be there. Well, we get back late Saturday. We're going to have a staff meeting on Sunday morning before we go out recruiting, but Coach Clark's going to be there supporting Coach Kearns.

They're off to a great start right now. So make sure we are a full support to Coach Kearns and the boys. So Saturday, you have Sunbelt Championship. Sunday, you have the home center where Auburn's going to be going to face App State. Then on Monday, the transfer portal opens, and Sean, obviously the Sunbelt title game is a priority, but how weird is the calendar where you guys are having to prepare for a football game on Saturday, but you're also having to make sure you're ready and buttoned up, knowing especially how important the portal is.

I mean, your team's a good example of how important the portal can be. What have you done to make sure you're prepared for that? It's a blessing and a curse playing a championship game because you lose this week talking to your players of who's coming back, who's going to transfer, but it's going to be a busy week. You mentioned we played Saturday. We'll get back late Saturday night, early Sunday morning. You have to meet with your players Sunday, and then we have to be on the road recruiting, and depending on when our bowl game is, we might only get three days out on the road recruiting before it goes dead again. So thank you guys. We have a great recruiting department. Thomas Gary has got a great plan in place for us, but all of our focus right now is on Troy. As it should be, Saturday, four o'clock, Sunbelt, title game. Now let's get to the important stuff.

W.D., you were given a homework assignment. I'll tell you something that frustrates me about W.D., coach. Like, W.D., he was told by you a week and a half ago, hey, by the next time we speak next week, we're gonna, you need to watch Ace Ventura, Tech Detective.

That's what you watched on the ride back from JMU. He will wait until we're sitting at a basketball game last night at Wake Forest to watch Ace Ventura. He is an ultimate procrastinator. I mean, coach, coach this guy up in the first place on the perils of procrastination. You have to have a plan, you have to work your plan, but you have to do it before your basketball game. It's a great movie and you want to be by yourself so you can laugh and cut up a little bit.

During somebody's free throws. That's right, just giggling. Then you look across and it's Jim Carrey and Courtney Cox. Okay, what did you think of the movie? This is an impromptu at the movies with the W.D. What did you think of Ace Ventura?

I loved it. I mean, just his mannerisms. Like, cause I would just start laughing. And you know, what are you laughing at?

Just everything, like everything he said, just watching him talk was funny. And I'm a fan of Courtney Cox's work and Jim Carrey gets after it in this movie. He's got options. He does. This is the most important question I think I'm going to ask you though, Sean Clark. Sean Clark joining us here. Do you, or do you not, when the kicker is practicing, say, laces out. Always laces out. Laces out! Laces out, Dan!

Laces out. Sean Clark, man, this is the last time we're going to visit until the bowl game arrives. Do you know at this point what bowl game you're probably going to be playing in? Like, do you have, I mean, Doug Gillen said it's probably down to a couple of regional options. Do you have a pretty good idea?

I don't. Doug has given me a few options. Again, we're just very fortunate to play in a bowl game. I hope it's where it's warm, but we're looking for a great matchup.

But anywhere warm would be nice. That does sound nice to me. You'll know by the next time we chat with you. Best of luck on Saturday. Hate that we'll be missing you on, or tomorrow when we're going to be out there in Boone. But I'll tell you the same thing I told Doug. I'm happy that I'm not going to be seeing you tomorrow, because that means you're on a flight to the Sunbelt Championship game. Thanks so much for doing this, Sean.

No, I appreciate you having me on. I always look forward to this. WD, what's the next movie we have? JFK. JFK, that's the one. It's 60 Year Anniversary. I don't know if you're a history guy at all, Sean Clark, but I love the JFK, the topic, and 60 Year Anniversary.

We need to give him a little bit of culture. Yes, great. I tell you what, if you're ever in Dallas, do the JFK Memorial down there.

Did you do that? I did it, fantastic. I love history.

I love that whole time in our country, but that's a great museum, and it's kind of eerie feeling when you walk through it. So we're here to help you, WD, okay? I appreciate it. Come a long way. Sean Clark, thank you so much for doing this. Go get a win on Saturday. Thanks, guys.

Appreciate it. You're on the drive with Josh Graham, WSJS. Brent the Marks from The Athletic was at North Carolina's Demolition of Tennessee last night.

You'll join us to talk about that. I was at Wake Forest beating Florida. We'll get into Duke's loss against Arkansas, too. A lot from the ACC-SEC challenge to get to you.

Probably listened to that game on WSJS last night. This almost sounds like a mad lib. Cam Newton is suggesting that the Carolina Panthers are gonna try and hire Bill Belichick. Like, if you had the mad lib and it said Panthers legend, and then you were asked in one spot, name a football coach, Bill Belichick. Name a football team, Carolina Panthers.

If you just filled in those spots, it could read that way, if you would have told me that months ago, but that's where we sit right now. He was on one of those barstool potters. On one of those barstool podcasts. It might even be his fourth and one, I think is what it's called.

I think it was his, and he was having a barstool gat on. Okay, Cam on the Panthers opening and why he believes David Tepper's gonna go after Bill Belichick. I think Tepper is really, knowing what I do know, he's hoping that he can land Bill Belichick. That will be, that right there will be a win, win, win, win for David Tepper. Because Tepper will give him everything that he would need. And also that will allow Belichick to say, you know what, things didn't work out here.

Now I can show you, I could do it somewhere else. Don't dismiss this. You, your first reaction might be to push off of this whole thing, no way the Panthers do this. Fans hate Bill Belichick. No way Belichick does this.

Don't be so sure. It actually makes more sense than you might think. The appeal for the Panthers is obvious. What David Tepper is trying to find more than anything in this cycle is credibility. Something that lends credibility to the Panthers. Can you find something that is more credible in terms of a coaching hire, than Bill Belichick, arguably the greatest NFL coach ever? Probably not. Even though Bill Belichick's 71, age shouldn't be a concern.

Here's why. He needs 17, 18 wins in order to pass Don Shula for the career wins leader in NFL history. And for all these perceptions about Bill, oh, he's a curmudgeon, oh, he's a grouch. And he is in front of the media.

Go and find the numerous clips of him when asked interesting football questions, historical questions. When he did that NFL 100 thing, talking about the history of the game, that's a milestone that matters to him. He's not gonna stop coaching until he hits that mark. And if he does that in two years with the Panthers, how many wins have the Panthers had the last few years?

I don't know, but it's not 17 or 18. If you do that in a two year stretch and Bill Belichick says, peace after that, I say in a year to year league in this sport, sign me up. Sign me up for 17, 18 wins in a two year period. If it takes a third year and he's building something, then that's not a short tenure for Bill Belichick. And if you're Tepper, you can have the greatest coach ever, perhaps pass Don Shula while doing so as the Panthers coach.

You're looking for credibility. So from the Panthers end, that appeal is obvious. What about Bill Belichick though?

Here's why it makes sense for him. I don't know if you've noticed, the Patriots aren't very good this year and they've trended downward the last couple of years. Bill Belichick, when you get older, you don't really compromise on comfort things, professional things.

Like if you have things done a certain way for such a long period of time, you're not gonna wanna move off of that. And in Belichick's case, he's had player control for such a long time, getting to pick the groceries and then coach it as well. I don't know how many teams are gonna give him that ability, that much power in this next cycle. I don't know how many teams will do that after the Patriots are in the position they're in right now. Would David Tepper give it to him?

Probably, probably. I don't know if these other teams will. I don't know if the Packers would do that or Washington would do that. I don't know. The Chargers would do that.

I don't know. The Panthers, I feel like could probably do that. And he has a great relationship, Belichick does, with Nick Saban. Bryce Young, one of Nick Saban's favorite quarterbacks. And who is the offensive coordinator that Bill has? Bill O'Brien, who was Bryce's offensive coordinator last year at Alabama. So you can start to put together some of the pieces of why it might be appealing to Bill Belichick. He gets power, he gets paid, he gets a new opportunity. He works with a quarterback that has the approval of one of his closest friends in coaching and also his current offensive coordinator.

There's a relationship built in there. And Cam Newton is not just some random guy spouting tapes. He spent three seasons under Tepper and he played for Bill Belichick. So this is not to be dismissed.

This isn't me saying it's gonna happen, but don't dismiss it. If Bill Belichick's not coaching for the Patriots, we know that the Panthers are looking for a coach and that's something that Tepper's probably going to investigate. Here's more from Cam Newton, though, on the Panthers' situation, where things currently are after firing Frank Reich. Without stating the obvious, he should have never got rid of Steve Wilks.

A local person. Yeah, who had them playing well last year at the end of the season. But with that roster, though, and Steve will never say it. They didn't have a good roster. I think Tepper has not found out during my time there the importance of continuity in the locker room. He flushed the toilet, got rid of a lot of key guys, the Ryan Kalils, myself, TD. A lot of key guys. That doesn't surprise me that Cam's caping for Steve Wilks, though, considering Cam was, I mean, Steve Wilks was on staff when Cam Newton was the quarterback and taking the Panthers to the Super Bowl and all that.

But he's not wrong. If the Panthers could do it over again, I bet you they hire Steve Wilks. It's a question I wish if David Tepper talked for more than 10 minutes, he would have been asked.

I don't know. Could he swallow his pride and go back to Steve? That's the interesting thing. What if he just looked at Steve Wilks and eliminated the Panthers' background and just said, hey, who has the best defense in the NFL right now? Oh, let me hire the defensive coordinator from that team. Oh, and he has NFL head coaching experience? Oh, yeah, let's just hire that guy. Oh, wait, he's from Charlotte?

Oh, bonus. And just ignore the drama from last year. I brought Steve Wilks back to Charlotte.

Concert, Messi, the high school. I brought Steve Wilks back to Charlotte. I can see that, I can see that already.

It'd be fantastic. I will say this, I'm saying Steve Wilks won't take that call. It's more likely that Steve Wilks takes the call than David Tepper makes the call, if you ask me. Because that's still his hometown, whether David Tepper owns the football team in it or not. And he had a lot of his best career moments as a coach with the Panthers prior to David Tepper's arrival. And he still has relationships with many of those players. But does he have too much pride to make that call?

Probably is the answer. Tonight's schedule, the Hornets and the Hurricanes are both in action. Charlotte staying out in New York after playing at MSG to play in Brooklyn. The Canes at home on ESPN Plus tonight.

So a national broadcast in Raleigh. The Canes play the Islanders 730 right here on WSJS. The Cowboys are home to the Seahawks. Good Thursday night game. Both these teams are rested. You don't see that on Thursday night that often. Both played on Thanksgiving a week ago and both these teams have a winning record.

So in Dallas, it is the Cowboys and the Seahawks. Really good slate. We have our Graham's Gambling that we'll do a little bit later on, handing out some picks. Ding, ding boys.

School's in session. Let's go, man. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. As we welcome the Athletics' Brendan Marks to the show. Covers Duke, Carolina, National College Basketball now. I want to clarify a point because somebody is saying, my point was this is the most talented Tar Heel basketball team in five years. And somebody says, Coby White, Cam Johnson to Cyr Little, that team. Don't look now, but this year is five years removed from the 18-19 season. I agree. I think that team is the most talented team that we've seen prior to this one that we're seeing right now that might have multiple draft picks on it.

That's the last team that had multiple draft picks and the Cyr Little, Cam Johnson and Coby White that were taken in that draft. Brendan Marks is with us here. This might be me overreacting and overstating something based on a small sample size. How far would you risk?

How far would you have to go to risk overstating what you saw and the significance of it? North Carolina dropping a hundred on this Tennessee team? Yeah, well, Josh overstating isn't really like you.

I've never known you to be somebody to do that. I think it's fair to say, and I wrote this in my column last night after the game, like that was the kind of game that I think, quite frankly, North Carolina fans have been waiting for since that 18-19 season. If you outside of that magical six, seven, eight weeks in 2022, that was as enjoyable a half of UNC basketball that I've seen in five years. It was.

It was, and I think it's the kind of performance, the way that it was, the opponent, the stakes, having just not come home with a trophy out of the Bahamas, it's the kind of game that puts the rest of the country on notice. And this is what I said in my column. I said, this puts North Carolina back in the conversation.

It does. And you mentioned, I'm doing a little more national stuff for us now. We ranked North Carolina in the top 10 today in our national power rankings. And I don't think that that is in any way an overreaction. Who's the best player on this team? It's a great question. I don't know that there is a singular answer. I don't think there needs to be. I think there's a clear top three.

I think RJ Davis, Armando Baycott, and Harrison Ingram have very clearly established themselves as being- Armando! I thought you guys got rid of that. We're still waiting to appear in our inbox, but it's happening. We're in our bank account.

It's on the way. But I think those three guys are very clearly the three best. And I would hear arguments for any of the three. I think that in RJ Davis's case, this is a guy who is on the all American path. He's averaging 28 and a half points the last two games. He single handedly, last night when the game started getting close, when Tennessee was able to cut it to seven, who's making the clutch three catch and shoot to bring it back to 10 and sort of quell the fear that was in the Dean dome.

It was RJ. You know, Harrison Ingram obviously has shown that he is the inside out guy they needed. And more than that, he's got all of the, he's got the fight.

And then obviously Old Reliable is doing what he's doing. So I think it's clear that those three are the top three. That's the most important. When he said North Carolina did the top 10, I'm trying to think of a way to capture my reaction.

That's probably a good way to do so for those watching on X on YouTube and on Twitch. Will Dalton is pretty good at knowing where I'm headed in that direction. Brendan Marks joining us from the Athletic.

What's good to do? They lose last night, second loss in the first month of the season. Way too soon to be concerned about Duke, right?

Yeah, it is too soon. Let me say that. Duke is gonna be fine. Like Duke is going to be a top 20 team all season long. Duke is gonna win a whole bunch of games. In late February, Duke is absolutely gonna be in the mix to win the ACC.

I have no doubt about any of that. However, I will say, even through the first month of the season, my confidence in Duke's ability to win six games in March is not as high as it was before the season. And the two main reasons for that are, last year this was the ninth best offensive rebounding team in the country. They absolutely mauled you inside.

They were gigantic and you felt the full brunt of that. And Tennessee was the only team really that they played that could match that. This year, they are outside of the top 200 in terms of offensive rebounding. They were out rebounded again yesterday at Arkansas.

That is a recurring problem. Now, listen, the difference is John Shire is starting three guards this season. He has stylistically chosen to go away from that identity. And that makes sense given the glut of backcourt guys that he's got. Like they should be running that many guards against your best players on the court. The problem is the reason those guys are on the court is to space the floor to create driving reins and to shoot the three. And right now those threes aren't falling. And so if you're not rebounding at a high rate and you're not shooting at a high rate, then I start to have questions.

So I think that it's easier for the shooting to come around than for the rebounding just because of the way the roster is constructed. But it will have to for Duke to get back to the ceiling that I thought they had before the season. You said North Carolina in the top 10. Duke was seventh, I believe they lose. Who's higher ranked on Monday next week, the Blue Devils or Tar Heel?

I wouldn't be surprised if it's North Carolina. I mean, North Carolina has the best win of the two. Tennessee is better than Michigan State.

Obviously one fewer loss. I think the Michigan State win that Duke has is probably not getting the credit that it deserves right now like Michigan State is a better team than being three and three at this point. They're a better team than like by February that's gonna be a really good quality win.

But it wouldn't surprise me at all if North Carolina was higher. And the other thing is it's not just, listen, we're talking about these two teams like a lot of teams lost this week. A lot of good teams lost. Tennessee might be the best four and three team in the country. Texas A&M lost, Villanova lost. All of these, Miami lost. All of these great teams who we thought maybe could be in the top 10, they lost.

Like somebody's gotta fill that spot. And I'm expecting North Carolina to fill one of those holes. And I think quite frankly what they did against the number one defense in the country is deserving of that. It doesn't look like to me from afar that there's one overwhelming team in college basketball this year, but how many teams would you put in that top tier? Three right now, Purdue, UConn and Arizona. I think they are clearly a cut above the rest. I think Marquette, if you wanted to include them in the conversation, I'd hear arguments for that. But to me, those three are the ones who have basically everything that you need to win a title. They've all got uniquely and individually, like they have the individual elite talents. They have offensive and defensive balance. They've got really good coaches. Like they've got everything you need to win a title. And we were joking last night, like the way that college basketball works now, like I wouldn't be surprised if North Carolina ends up playing Arizona and NCAA tournament at some point.

But like those three teams are all built to win in the long haul. Any bigger takeaways from the ACC-SEC Challenge as a whole, seven to seven? Let's give the ACC some respect. I thought the ACC did really well. Clemson beating Alabama at Alabama. That's a great win.

That's a great win. I think Clemson's right there, man. I've been in on Clemson. Me and Randolph were yelling at the top of our lungs that they might be a top three, top two team in the ACC this year.

And I want to write them off. They're good. They're really good. And they're doing this without Jack Clark yet. You know, when Jack Clark gets back in the fold even more, I think that, I mean, I think this has a chance to be Brad's best team that he's had at Clemson. I think PJ Hall is one of the most underrated players in the country. I think Georgia Tech is better than I gave them credit for. They got some athletes playing with confidence.

That's not an easy game for Duke on Saturday. I think Virginia's figuring it out. Virginia's defense looks Virginia-like finally. And Ryan Duncan, he's got bunnies.

Like I could jump. Between Ryan Dunn and Reece Beekman, Virginia's got two of the better perimeter defenders in the country. Offensively, we'll see. Hey, Virginia basketball. And by the way, if you don't like the Brendan Marks meme, we'll take 15K from you too.

If you want to offer us 15K, we'll stop doing it. If I had the revenue that Armando did, Armando. Might be a different conversation. He's got more zeros that he can throw around than I do. But I think the ACC is better than people give it credit for.

And it would not surprise me if we get to the point where five or six ACC teams are ranked at some point. Didn't I hear it right that Armando said he left money on the table literally last week in the Bahamas? You did not mishear that. I mean, that dude is, I mean, and that's why I, shameless plug, I did a feature story on him earlier this week. And he, like I think a lot of fans are really rooting for him.

Like he's just such a relatable character, like one of the best characters to come through the Triangle in quite a while. You're one of our favorite characters, Brendan Marks. I thought this guy was talking smack about you on the chat, but it's actually me. Smokey Mountain writes, and the guy in the hat is a Muppet question mark. I have gotten that before.

B. Dot did that to me. He said I looked like a Muppet. Yeah, if you Google, I forget the name of the Muppet, but it's Scooter, Scooter the Muppet. If you Google that, it's uncanny. I see it.

It's unbelievable. I see it, I see it, I see it. Brendan Marks, thank you for agreeing with that. Thank you for spending the time with us as well. And we'll talk to you sometime soon.

Absolutely, sounds good. Thanks, guys. There you go. It's The Drive with Josh Graham, WSJS. Five and four last week.

Should have been six and three. Horrific beat, Sunday Night Football. Just go down, Keaton Mitchell.

I love you. You're an East Carolina pirate. We're about it, but just go down so that way the Chargers can arrive in Covertown.

Didn't happen. Still a winning week, though. And we're five or six games over 500 for the year, 59% clip. That's pretty darn good for free. Some services require you pay and they don't hit 59%. This is free. Quality right here. I got five. I got five on it for this week in Graham's Gambling.

If you're not gambling. Come on now, let's talk some money. You're not trying. You are so money. You don't even know it. But you do. Let's play some bats.

I'm going to make you rich. This is Graham's Gambling. Only got two for Championship Weekend in college football. We are melancholy that we don't have a slate of 65 FBS games to pick from anymore since the regular season is now finished. Let's go with the SEC Championship.

Lay them with the dogs. Georgia minus five and a half against Alabama. This is a flab-bama team.

Nick Saban's an incredible coach. They're always in the mix. Alabama is. They always find a way to be in contention this weekend.

But we're still talking about Jalen Milro against a healthy Georgia secondary that's going to make him earn every single throw in this game. And let's not forget, Alabama has had some bumps. The reason they got that past Ole Miss the way that they did was because Ole Miss was incredibly banged up. They were bad against USF in a game that they benched Milro early in the season, beaten by double digits, at home by Texas, and last week needed a miracle to survive at Jordan-Hare Stadium. This Georgia team's one of the three best teams in college football.

Them, Washington, and Michigan standing out among the rest. So yes, I'm going to take the dogs minus less than a touchdown. Minus five and a half is what we have it at in Atlanta in the SEC Championship.

Send me that cash out, family. It's a great day to be a Mountaineer. We're saying Saturday's going to be.

We've got Sean Clark coming on the show next hour. And WD, the last couple of weeks, whether it be at state at JMU or laying a big number against Georgia Southern last week, the Mountaineers have gotten there. And we're going to trust that the Mountaineers are going to do that again. App State plus six at Troy.

Looks like it's going to be bad weather. I think that benefits the Mountaineers, who love to play an ugly style of football. They don't play any normal games, so taking nearly a touchdown in points feels wise as well in that regard. And it looks like Troy's going to have a couple of their key defensive players perhaps jumping into the portal after Saturday's championship game. The vibes are off with Troy, and also Troy comes from the lesser of two divisions in the Sunbelt. They're only, I think they're the only team in that division that has a winning record in conference, while the East has four or five teams with at least a 500 record in conference play. App State, even though JMU is supposed to be the team in this spot, they're just not qualified for postseason play, they had to do more to get in this position than Troy did, so I don't care that it's at Troy. I think it actually benefits the Mountaineers that it's at Troy. App State upsets Troy in the Sunbelt championship, so I'll take the six.

Send me that cash out, fam. Three in the NFL. WD, get ready. This is the hold your nose, you're going to hate this pick game. We've got New England plus five and a half against the Chargers. West Coast team traveling East, one o'clock game, the Chargers, as we covered, not a team that should be favored by five against anybody on the road. New England, this feels like a Belichick, doing Belichick type of game. I think they win this game outright, but give me the Patriots plus five and a half anyway in Foxborough.

Send me that cash out, fam. The last four times we've seen an interim coach in the NFL, three and one record for those interim coaches in their first game. How about that? The last four interim coaches, three and one in their first games as the interim. Panthers.

Oh boy. Plus five and a half at the Buccaneers. Tampa's not good. They played like cheeks the last few weeks. You, how's that for analysis? Do people still say cheeks? I just did. Carolina, they're going to go in there and I don't know if they'll win the game, but they're not going to lose by more than five.

Send me that cash out, fam. Cheeks, that's your analysis. Yeah, that does it.

They're cheeks. Yeah. This is another pick you might hate, but just on the other side, this is another pick you might hate, but just on general principle, I have to do it. Philadelphia's at home on Sunday. Philadelphia has the best record in the NFL and they're getting points against the San Francisco 49ers. Huh? So I guess by that logic, I'm just going to have to take the 49ers minus the two and a half points in Philadelphia. Why? Vegas knows. Ask them.

They set that line, which stinks. San Francisco beats the Eagles by more than a field goal. Send me that cash out, fam. There you go, 59% rate.

I don't need to explain myself. Just giving you a bunch of winners here. Georgia minus five and a half against Bama. App State plus six at Troy. Patriots plus points against the Chargers. The Panthers plus the same number in Tampa and the Niners laying points in Philly. Those are the five that we've got this week.

WD, do you hate any of those pecs? Yep, coffee bat time. Give me the Chargers over the Patriots. Again, yep. Yeah, that's right, Chargers last week. My Chargers-Ravens thing.

I'm trying to go for three straight weeks and I've gotten coffee off of you. I had the over for Wake-Notre Dame. I had Chargers over the Ravens or vice versa. No, I had Ravens instead of Chargers. You had the Chargers. No, no, no, you had the Chargers, I had the Ravens.

Okay. No, no, no, you're right, I had the Chargers. You had the Ravens.

Yeah, you did. I was like, man, what was he doing over the Ravens, really? Both of these teams stink, but the Chargers have the better quarterback by far, so I'm gonna do that. Minus five and a half. Chargers win.