This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.
Three 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 between the football and the basketball, we've got a lot to do today. Plus, we're going to be giving away tickets to see Blake Shelton in Greensboro at some point during the show, so for no other reason than that. Make sure you're staying tuned.
However, and wherever you are listening or watching, we greatly appreciate that. In terms of college football, this is the lightest weekend locally that we've seen all season. No Duke. No NC States.
No App State. Heck, to rope the NFL into it, the Carolina Panthers are even off. Which means all eyes will be under the lights. ACC Network primetime. Wake Forest at North Carolina and Keenan Stadium. There are massive stakes attached to this game and massive stakes for both teams. For the Deacs, bowl eligibility is at stake.
Dave Clawson's group, currently 4-5 with 3 games to go. They need to finish 2-1, obviously, in order to qualify for a bowl to prevent going back-to-back seasons without making a bowl game after they had that 7-8 year run of going to a bowl every year. If they don't win tomorrow night, they're not going to get to 6. Here are their remaining 2 games after visiting the Tar Heels. They're at Miami next weekend, and then Duke comes into Winston-Salem for the finale. 2-loss Duke and Miami, who's a top-10 ranked team.
Good luck with that. They would have to win both of those if they don't win tomorrow night. That makes tomorrow a must-win game for Wake if they want to achieve their goal of making a bowl game. For North Carolina, so much is still left on the table for this team.
Think about it like this. The Tar Heels, they are 5-4. And all 3 of their remaining games are winnable. They're at home against Wake tomorrow, obviously. They're at Boston College next week, their final road game of the season. I said they're at Boston College next week, Mac Brown's team is.
WD slow to the pull trigger today on this Friday. And then they close things out, home against NC State. Which of those games is unwinnable? Which of those games is North Carolina not going to be favored in? So, when you look at what's possible, they're 5-4. If Mac wins all 3 of those games, then this is not just a successful season for the Tar Heels. This is the best coaching job Mac Brown's done in his return back to Chapel Hill. Nobody was talking about an 8-win season for North Carolina going into the year. Especially where they were after what transpired against JMU and Duke.
Are you kidding? And then the tragic death of Tylee Craft. It would be an incredible story for North Carolina to get off the mat without Drake May, without Sam Howland to get to 8 wins.
Now, on the flip side of that, so that's one end of the spectrum. If they lose all 3 of these games, if they even lose 2 out of the 3, then Mac Brown's probably out of a job. And uncomfortable conversations have to happen about pushing a legend out the door. And that likely happens because of what Pete Thamel's been talking about for a month. That he gets more texts about the North Carolina job than the Florida job before we learned last week that Florida was going to keep Billy Napier for next year. Like it's that type of appeal.
And you can get that type of a coach in here. So all of that is still on the table. If they win 2 out of the 3, who knows what happens then.
But there's still so much. Would it shock you if North Carolina lost those 3 games? Lost tomorrow night, then lost on the road to PC, and lost to NC State in a rivalry game and they don't make a bowl game? Wouldn't it shock me? It wouldn't shock me if they win 3 in a row either.
So there's fascination with the folks in Argyle. Despite the 11 point spread, this is a toss up. In fact, Will Dalton, I know we give out college picks on Thursday, add it to the card.
It's a robust card. Probably the biggest card we've had all year. We're adding Wake Forest plus the 11 points because the big question from an X's and O's standpoint with this game. Is whether or not North Carolina consistently can take advantage of Wake's greatest weakness, which is its secondary.
Is Jacoby Criswell, we know what Amari and Hampton is. In North Carolina, where Wake's going to sell out on the run, I'm confident Brad Lambert can scheme up something to stop Amari and Hampton consistently. Try to force North Carolina to throw the ball.
Can Jacoby Criswell beat you over the top? Can these weapons North Carolina has, can they consistently beat Wake? Because Wake can score. And Wake can score on this North Carolina defense. This is going to be a fun high scoring game that comes down to the fourth quarter when it shocked me.
And you shouldn't be shocked either if Wake Forest playing for its season is able to pull off the upset. But the stakes are high for both teams. On X at WSJS Radio if you want in, that's where we're streaming video.
In addition to YouTube and Twitch, however and wherever, again, you are listening or watching. Greatly appreciate that. We have the rest of our bets to hand out. NFL bets ten minutes from now. Best bets. Send me that cash out, fam.
Will Dalton, the executive producer of this show, is here. And you got high school football tonight? The playoffs?
Southeast Guilford, at Reagan, first round. Two, six, and four teams here, so this should be a good game. Playoff, high school football. Starting tonight in Popovtown.
730 kick time, 7 o'clock, pregame on WSJS. In Hoops, looking at the ACC slate this weekend. Virginia Villanova tonight. Florida FSU tonight. Clemson Boise State on Sunday.
Those are all games that are worth keeping an eye on. Can be instructive about some of the better teams in the ACC, some of the worst teams in the ACC. But no game is more important for the ACC than tomorrow at noon in Cincinnati, Wake Forest going to Xavier. That is the game of the weekend in ACC Hoops. The urgency should be super high.
The urgency level for the Deacs. Because last year, and they've been hit over the head with this all offseason long, Wake was 2-9 in true road games. This is their first road game of the year.
That was the reason they didn't make the tournament. I know it's easy to point at the home loss, the Georgia Tech. Yeah, you should have won that game. Are you in if you beat Georgia Tech?
Probably. But don't blow second half leads against NC State and Pittsburgh and Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. Don't do that. If you win even one of those games, you're probably getting the benefit of the doubt. But they were abysmal on the road. Now they're going to Xavier. And in order to be comfortably into the tournament when that time comes in March, you need to show some things at a conference. And for Wake, it means win this game or win at Texas A&M in the ACC SEC Challenge. You're going to need one of those two wins to demonstrate that outside of the conference context, you can win away from Joel Coliseum and win away from the Triac. Because I know they won technically in a neutral setting against Michigan in the building previously known as the Greensboro Coliseum this past weekend. Either way, this game is a valuable data point for Wake. If they play well, well then you can write off the underwhelming performances we've seen in bi-games, including allowing 80 points to USC Upstate on Wednesday night and playing mediocre basketball against Coppin State and against A&T last week.
You can just write that off and say, hey, when Wake, when the lights turn bright, Wake shows up. When it matters, here are the dekes. It mattered against Michigan. Trey Spillers gets the steal, dunks the basketball home. Hunter Sow is a big punch dunk and Greensboro, they look pretty good.
Look more than serviceable. If they beat Xavier tomorrow, you can kind of write off the bad performances. If they lose the game, then that only affirms what we've seen the first four games. Where you're like, eh, well, when you're playing average teams at home, it's not looking very good. Michigan, there's a reason why they made a coaching change.
It's not because they were awesome last year. They were picked ninth in the Big Ten. How impressive is that win anyway?
You eke that one out 30 minutes from your home gym. Those types of questions are going to be asked if you face this test and you lose. And in terms of who wins the game, see, going to hear from people saying, Garrett, Wake hater, even though I just said despite being a double digit underdog that Wake football can beat North Carolina tomorrow night. It's hard to believe it with Wake until you see it. Value the sample size that you have.
And Steve Forbes would be the first one to tell you. The sample size we have so far, even though Wake's 4-0 isn't very good. Wasn't good defensively the other night. Wasn't good offensively really in all four of the games.
It's not very good. And you have the track record, 2-9 on the road last year. So give me Sean Miller's unbeaten musketeers to win in the Skip Prosser Classic tomorrow at home. However, there is no basketball game I'm more excited to watch. Maybe no game the entire weekend in college sports, lumping in football, that I'm more excited to watch than that one. At noon, national game, FS1, Wake at Xavier. Biggest college hoops game that you have in the ACC this weekend.
WD. It's not a joke when I say, by the way, Dave Pulaski, a guest today, voice of our high school football game of the week. Our final weekly visit with Will Pelagic. Voice of Charlotte FC.
Charlotte FC season's over now. We'll visit with him a little bit later on. We've got to keep it simple later this hour.
Blake Shelton tickets to give away. A lot to do as we've established. But WD, this is easily the longest card that we've had all year long. All together, including our loss last night with ECU. Shout out to the Pirates gaining bowl eligibility. Just more points than I thought there would be. We're looking at ten.
Ten. Ten picks that we have this weekend. Six in college and we got four for the NFL. More than we've had in any NFL weekend so far this year. We'll share those four picks with you and best bet next on the drive. I don't know if you've heard, but UConn's facing North Carolina in women's basketball tonight at the building previously known as the Greensboro Coliseum.
Don't know if you've heard that. Even though the Tar Heel men are in action tonight and we'll get to them in a little bit. That game is fabulous. And we have best bets. We'll do that momentarily. But UNC UConn women's hoops, this is fantastic. They are facing the number two ranked team in the country, the Tar Heels are.
That's cool. It's Gino Auriemma coaching in the state of North Carolina. Paige Becker's her last ride. That brand power gives you a nationally televised game, which is a big deal on the women's side. ESPN2.
Tonight's game will be broadcast. And this game shouldn't be a rump. Women's basketball is in a place today that women's UFC was in about 10 years ago where Ronda Rousey ran the sport. And then I think it was Misha Tate that beat her. I might or might have been Holly Holm. I get some of the fighters mixed up, but the fact was you couldn't name other women's fighters in 2015 other than Ronda Rousey. Once she got beat, it was obvious, oh, there's now depth in this sport.
Ten years ago in women's basketball, back when I was traveling the country broadcasting it, including UConn games in Connecticut, it was UConn and then everybody else. They had Breanna Stewart. They had Kalina Mosqueda-Lewis. They had a ton of great players, and their average win in conference play were by 45 to 50 points. They killed everybody. Nobody came close. Breanna Stewart won the most outstanding player in the final four consecutive years, for four years playing in college basketball. And that's not what we're looking at anymore. There are a lot of programs that can compete.
A lot of. So that's all to say tonight shouldn't be a romp. Last year, North Carolina went to Connecticut, and it was a competitive game. I think UConn ended up winning by 12 points. So now in Courtney Bangheart's backyard, the Tar Heels, they're 14th ranked. They shouldn't get run off the floor tonight. This is a different women's basketball than it was even 10 years ago. And this is a terrific game for the city of Greensboro.
How about this to book in the week? Sunday, ESPN, you have Wake Forest facing Michigan. And then to close the week, you have UConn facing North Carolina on the women's end. This city always supports good basketball.
Whether it's on the men's side or the women's side, it's a 6 p.m. tip. So right when we're getting off the air, it'll be UConn, UNC, women's basketball, two top 15 ranked teams. OK. Robust card, biggest card that we've had all year long. We love the board. Both overall and in the NFL, we have four picks to hand out. Let's do that right now. We're off to a tough start, taking the under Tulsa ECU.
That was a tough beat. So we're 0-1 so far. But all together, we're going to have 10 picks this week because six for college football since we added Wake Forest to that mix now, plus 11 at North Carolina. And four NFL picks.
I went to East Carolina. Doing the math in my head can be tough sometimes. Yeah, that's 10. 40 and 42 for the season. Two under 500 were two and three last week.
It's get right time. W.D., let's get started with the war in Pennsylvania on Sunday. We're taking Pittsburgh plus three and a half against the Ravens. In the last 12 meetings between the Ravens and Steelers, the underdogs record against the spread, 10-1-1. In the last eight meetings between these teams, Pittsburgh has won seven of them and all eight of them were decided by one score.
So yeah, give me more than a field goal. The Steelers, eight and two is home dogs the last 10 times they've been home underdogs. I don't love this pick.
I'm taking it out of general principle and following those trends. I do think that Baltimore's weakness is its secondary and Russell Wilson, I don't know if he's the guy that's going to be beating you much over the top even though his last two weeks, his passer rating. There aren't many better passer ratings across the NFL than Russell Wilson's the last couple of weeks. But we're trusting a divisional game, the home team, to potentially pull the upset if not keeping it within three points.
Elsewhere in the one o'clock slate, this one's gross Will. We're going with the Cleveland Browns plus a point and a half at the New Orleans Saints. It's Jamis Winston's return to New Orleans, that's our guy. And even though the Saints won last week, this isn't a good football team. They have an interim coach, they're banged up, they traded players. I know the numbers say their offense is horrific. I think it's the 32nd ranked offense in the league going up against the 32nd ranked defense. But they have been better since Jamis has taken over QB. The run game has been better since Nick Chubb has returned to the lineup in the last few weeks.
So I do think it's different than what we've seen most of the year. The Browns are coming off a bye week and, this is related, Cleveland, nobody's on their injury report. Ton of players on the New Orleans injury report. I think Cleveland's going to win this game outright, so if you're giving me points, I'm going to take the candy. We'll celebrate at CC's afterwards. And WD, we've got two more to go. We're rolling with my brother's survivor pick.
He went with Minnesota at the Tennessee Titans. WD, we're taking Minnesota minus five and a half in Nashville. We should have been tailing my brother's picks all along because not only do they win, they win big. Every single week it feels like.
This feels like the week that's probably not going to happen now since we're tailing it. But Minnesota played poorly in a win against Jacksonville. Kevin O'Connell is an offensive guy.
He was frustrated. I think there's a lot of tape to watch from that that's going to make the offense play a lot better this week against a Titans team that maybe has quit. It's seven and two versus two and seven. Minnesota minus the five and a half points on the road.
And lastly, we got to do it, Will. Chiefs plus two and a half at the Buffalo Bills. If you're going to give me Patrick Mahomes and points, I'm going to take it. I think Pat Mahomes is 11 and one or 12 and one. His last 12 or 13 games as an underdog. Yeah. And there are some saying, well, Harrison Buckner being hurt, that's a big deal.
You know what else is a big deal? Dalton Kincaid being listed out in the last hour for this game. Amari Cooper questionable for the game.
He's banged up. And you might say, well, the Chiefs have had a lot of close calls. Well, are we really going to say that the Chiefs a month ago are the same Chiefs that we're looking at right now when you got DeAndre Hopkins looking revitalized?
I say not. And kind of the same logic with the Minnesota game last week. I think it's a wake up call. What happened on their home field against Denver? I think the fact their underdogs will motivate them to give me Kansas City plus the points at the Buffalo Bills. So in review, we're taking Pittsburgh plus the points, we're taking the Browns getting a small number in New Orleans.
We like Minnesota laying five and a half on the road in Nashville and the Chiefs as a underdog, despite being an unbeaten team that's won something around 15 games in a row. They're eating the dogs. Yeah, we're taking the dogs. I'm looking at our card here, Will. Take a guess. So we have one total.
It didn't work out. That might be the last total I give out all year long. The under not hitting.
Don't look at it right now, Will. We have nine sides that we've taken. Nine.
College and pro. How many of those nine teams we've given out are underdogs? I'm going to say maybe seven. That's correct.
Hey, and I didn't even look at it. Seven. The two favorites we like are Colorado and the Minnesota Vikings.
They're eating the dogs. Seven of our nine picks are underdogs. We're feeling ourselves a little bit. The drive brought to you in part by our friends at the local YMCA.
W.D., you know the rules. If you're a member at one local YMCA of Northwest North Carolina, you're a member of all the Y's Northwest North Carolina, including the one in Kernersville that has a pool. I don't think now is the time to be utilizing that pool. It is the time to be signing up for rec league basketball that you can learn more about.
Again, at YMCA in WNC dot or North Carolina. Excited for tonight's local high school football slate, talking about the playoffs having begun. But that pales in comparison to my excitement at some of the sound that we have to play for you today. It is incredible.
It really is. And the first bit of that comes from an unlikely place. Well, maybe it is likely, considering you have the Jake Paul, Mike Tyson fight tonight.
Even before tonight's fight, a youngster learned that you better be careful when you stand opposite to Iron Mike Tyson. That's next on the drive. It's the drive with Josh Graham WSJS. Keep it simple. 15 minutes from now, recapping the week in an efficient manner.
Efficiency. That's something that we strive for here on the program tonight. Mike Tyson will fight Jake Paul. That is tonight. I will not be watching. W.D. Will you?
Yeah, I might take a look at it. It's been a while since I've watched a fight. There are too many good options for me to watch that. You got at six o'clock. UNC-UCOM women's hoops in Greensboro. Followed by the men's team facing American at the Smith Center at eight o'clock. A game we'll get to in just a bit. There are just too many options this evening. High school football to keep an eye on, including the game you could listen to on WSJS. Mike Reagan facing Southeast Guilford. Also, everything I need to watch this fight. I'm probably just going to get on social media.
It probably will just pop up there. Which brings us to this. Mike Tyson was interviewed by a kid. And this is something you see more and more of.
And it's great. People who are interested in the industry. You have that kid that was interviewing. Devante Adams, who was a huge Raiders fan.
That was fantastic. Wearing the suits. And you bring kids into the press conference.
Sports Illustrated kids. They ask a question and the coaches are generally very nice. And they try to give them something. Try to give them a great answer.
And usually we all use those answers because when the coaches give anybody anything, we all benefit. That's not what Mike Tyson did. Mike Tyson, he made it clear that he is locked in on this fight.
Here's the clip that's now gone viral. The legend, Mike Tyson. So after such a successful career, what type of legacy would you like to leave behind when it's all said and done? I don't know. I don't believe in the word legacy. I think that's another word for ego.
Legacy doesn't mean nothing. That's just some word everybody grabbed onto. Someone said that word and everyone grabbed on the word.
So now it's used every five seconds. It means absolutely nothing to me. I'm just passing through. I'm going to die and it's going to be over.
Who cares about legacy after that? What a big ego. I'm going to die. I want people to think that I'm this.
I'm great. No, we're nothing. We're just dead. We're dust. Absolutely nothing. Our legacy is nothing.
Well, thank you so much for sharing that. That is something that I have not heard before. Someone say that as an answer.
Can you really imagine somebody say, I want my legacy to be this way. You're dead. Why do you want to think about you? You're dead. You're dead. You're dust.
And I love her response. Thank you for sharing that with me. I might remember that the next time I'm in one of these locker rooms or in these postgame settings. And a coach decides, ah, this guy with the glasses.
I'm going to dunk on him. Something royal. Thank you for sharing that with me. Thank you so much for sharing that. That is something that I have not heard before.
Yeah. Roy Williams storming out of the press conference. Daggum, you're smart under that. You're smarter than that, Josh. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you so much for sharing that. Mike Tyson is dead. Here's the big great lesson. Great lesson that Mike's teaching there. Iron Mike's teaching not placating the reporter. Yeah, it's a kid.
But you know what? Kid learned a lesson. He is dead. Sometimes. You might not get the answer you're expecting.
Sometimes the person you're interviewing is not going to be the most friendly. He is dead. And that's a good lesson to learn young. It really is.
Thank you so much for sharing that. As a person of faith. I'll also say, too, you know, it might drive your thinking differently if you are not.
Gain, you know, your goals not to accrue just money and possessions. And that be what your primary interest is, because in the end, as Mike says, he is dead. You're dead. You're going to die one day. It's going to happen.
Someone's in their car with a young child right now. Dad, what's he talking about? He is dead. I didn't say it. Mike did. He is dead. Getting back to the fight, though. Do you have any thoughts on this fight that I think it's all staged?
See, because you and I are in agreement on this. Yeah, because I think Mike Tyson is going to win. And I think it's going to be controversial because I think there are going to be you can bet on this, which I would never do because I think it's staged. I think Mike Tyson, who's twice Jake Paul's age, is going to win this fight.
He is dead. And there are going to be allegations that Jake Paul threw the fight. Why? Because he's a former YouTuber. And what would draw the most attention?
What would make this go viral the most? Not if Jake Paul wins. If Mike Tyson wins and then people are debating, is it legit or not? Well, and I'm pretty sure that these guys are kind of tight away from all this. Is that right? I think so. I think I've heard that. Is this a friendly two?
Is this or like, I don't know. I don't understand the sanctions of things anymore. Like, because I remember Mike Tyson bought a van or Holyfield a few years ago. And it was so disappointing because neither of those guys were trying and they just collected a paycheck. I don't know if you mentioned this or not, but did you see last night when they when Tyson slapped him at the weigh in? I did. Yeah. And then Jake Paul went and he changed his Instagram profile picture to Chris Rock getting slapped by Will Smith. See, this is it. Showbiz, baby. Nah, it's all for the clicks and it's dead. Going viral, all that, which is why Mike Tyson's going to win. And will it be a legit fight?
Probably not. But that's probably what we're looking at. That's the Mike Tyson, Jake Paul fight. Getting to the game in Chapel Hill. North Carolina facing American tonight. Here's what tonight is about. It's about developing a rotation for Hubert Davis.
And most importantly. The Tar Heels need to get Cade Tyson up to speed. Because he flat out was not ready.
To play at Allen Fieldhouse. Do you remember what his stat line was against Kansas, W.D.? Did he put up a goose egg? He had. He's not been good at all so far.
Not just Kansas. He played one minute and in that one minute he missed a shot and then had a defensive miscue. Yeah. And Hubert Davis said, I don't trust you to go back into this game. And it was a terrible shot. So he never went back into the game.
Now. North Carolina might not need Cade Tyson to be Brady Manik. That's a very high bar for anybody to meet, let alone somebody who's been playing at Belmont rather than playing high major basketball like Brady did for years before arriving in Chapel Hill. But could Cade Tyson be Pete Nance? Can you at least be Pete Nance? Can you be that? Or better yet, can you be better than Jaylen Withers?
Can you be that? Because if Jaylen Withers, all due respect, is your best option at the four, I struggle to believe you're a top 10 basketball team. Let's hope that Cade Tyson does get up to speed and develops into something that looks better than Jaylen Withers, closer to Pete Nance, and not what he's looked like so far, which reminds me a lot of Justin Pearce. Tar Heel fans, no.
Remember that? Oh, we're bringing in these recruits from Georgia Southern and from William & Mary, Christian Keeling and Justin Pearce. Look at all these numbers these guys have put up. Yeah, this team's not good.
So that's Cade Tyson. The two freshmen, they need to continue making strides. Can Ian Jackson follow up the double-figure scoring effort against the Jayhawks? Can he show some consistency? That's something that's generally a problem for freshmen, for younger players. Okay, you're great when the lights are brightest, but how about the following week when you're supposed to win by a million?
What do you do in that game? Ian Jackson, this is kind of nuts. You might have known that Ian Jackson scored double digits against Kansas, looking for positives from that game a week ago. Did you know that Ian Jackson scored 10 points in just 15 minutes? He only played 15 minutes in this game. Drake Powell played five more minutes and he had two points.
Now, that's normal behavior, especially in a high-level game your first week of the season. But they're going to need Drake Powell to continue progressing. Again, that's what tonight is about against American.
He needs to play more, Drake Powell does, to continue getting better. So those minutes will be worth watching. After tonight, so this is a gimme tonight for the Tar Heels. After tonight, the schedule gets real. After tonight, it's the Maui Invitational where they face, for sure, they're going to face Hawaii and Dayton, but then you get to some of the heavy hitters that are going to be contenders in college basketball in the Maui Invitational.
And then it's Alabama at home, then it's your ACC opener against Georgia Tech. So there isn't a lot of time for patience. The NBA and NHL seasons are 82 games long, those are marathons. The college basketball season is not a marathon.
It really isn't. So tonight, we'll see how some of these guys play. If Cade Tyson can make some strides, if Ian Jackson, if Drake Powell can continue taking steps.
Because after tonight, that's when the schedule gets real. Yeah. Mike writes in, Who is talking about Tyson lighting it up?
The funny part is, given what this segment is, I don't know if he's talking about Cade Tyson or Mike Tyson. Heyo! Heyo! Yeah, if Cade Tyson opens up this basketball game, missing a shot and having a defensiveness assignment against American, Hubert Davis is going to point at them and say, He is dead. Excitement builds going into the weekend, Rhinestone Cowboy Friday in just a bit.
But that excitement is lukewarm right now because it's with sadness that we reach our final weekly visit with the voice of Charlotte FC, Will Pelagic. Wow. W.D. feeling confident enough to his face to play the Mickey Mouse sound. Wow.
I was going to say I appreciated the music choice of Blink-182 on the way in and that comes. That's it. Yeah. I see how I want to be remembered by W.D. That's it. He hits you with the good with the Blink-182 and then he hits you with the Mickey Mouse drop.
I would like to think as somebody who was given the same given Christian name as me that they'd be more respectful. Oh boy, it hit me deep. And then, you know, Willy P's team, the Mets, will probably respond in time by taking one. No they won't! From your Yankees. Stop! But it's our last.
We're just going indoors out there in California talking to them. Oh, I know. The Charlotte FC season is over. It ends in unfortunate fashion.
They were so close to advancing in the postseason against Orlando and all of that. So we'll next talk with Willy P on a weekly basis when the spring arrives. But before we get into all that, we need to remind people of a rule on this show.
Uh oh. W.D., what's one of our primary rules of this show? We have a few. One of them is if you give us stuff, we wear it. That's right. So when you joined us a few weeks ago, we were talking about Bossy Beulah's and said that we could do for some Bossy Beulah's gear.
Look at you. Got the Bossy's hat on my head right now. Shout out to Bossy Beulah's, which is not only in your city of Charlotte, it's in Winston-Salem, Ardmore, West First Street, near the hospital. Get yourself some, including the party package, including four Buttes, four orders of Bossy Bites, a pound of Crispy Wings with choice of sauce. Serves around ten people, eight to ten. All natural chicken, W.D.
It's chicken! Yes, Bossy Beulah's. So if you give us gear, we will wear it, Willy P. And I understand they, uh, I think they have some sort of free promotion coming up on Monday as well. You can get a free Butte. I believe that's something coming up this upcoming week. That is. The 19th or 18th, one of those days? I do know this, if you sign up for Aunt Butte's Buddies, you receive a free Butte.
So go to BossyBeulah's.com to learn more about that. Will Pelagic with us here, now getting into the soccer. How do you, so last year, Charlotte makes their first ever postseason appearance, losing a wildcard game. Then, they actually make the playoffs for real, not in a wildcard sense, but you're playing in a series, you're losing kicks in the third game in a best of three. How would you define this Charlotte FC season?
Well, I've only, it's been almost a week. It's taken me this long to get to a point where I'm, like, okay talking about the end of the season because I was still kind of bitter myself with the way that season ended. I thought Patrick Agyemang was very clearly onside. I thought that the penalty that was given at the end of the game was pretty harsh and maybe even a bit soft. I thought Maguire made a meal of it.
There was a sure tug, but I don't think the sure tug was what caused him to go down, but you allow the call to be made. And I hate that the season and the fact that it continues or not comes down to those two moments, but I think it was a season of very fine margins and Charlotte FC thrived a lot on those fine margins. They were very difficult to beat, but I also think it kind of personifies what happened throughout the year is that there were games where chances came very, very easily for them.
And then there were many more that they didn't. And I think if there's one thing you look at the way the season has done is that Dean Smith has changed the conversation and brought Charlotte FC into the forefront of Major League Soccer. Now, bringing them into the forefront and contending for championships, there's different steps now that have to happen in order to make that happen. You obviously have to make the decision on Pep BL. You have to make a decision on whether or not you want to bring Karol Swierdowski back for his walk year or extend him or send him somewhere else.
And you have to figure out how you're going to take the chance creation part of it and turn it into chance conversion. And I think that's the biggest thing that sits in front of Charlotte FC. I know that there was a big transformation this year about, you know, do they want the ball? Do they not want the ball? They thrived a lot of times without the ball and still were able to create chances. But I think a lot of times there were moments in games where they had to suffer. And I think they have to really dial down on the fact, OK, do we want to be this team that's just this counterattacking team all the time? Or do we want to try to create a little bit more of our own luck? And I think that comes down to the level of player that they target during the offseason and how that goes about doing things. And there's also the curious case of Patrick Adjumon. And how big of a role do you see him fitting into come next season?
I know I hit you with a lot of unanswered questions, but I guess that's where I sit. This season was incredible. I think they've gotten better every season that they played. I think this is probably their biggest jump of anything. But at the same point in time, I think they still leave you wanting more, leave the fan base wanting more. And that's not a bad thing. They've created expectation, and I think that's the biggest part of what Dean Smith's inclusion of this team has brought for them going into year number four next year.
Will Blodgett, voice of Charlotte FC, with us here? Since you're in the Queen City, let's talk about the other team that's in your stadium. While we're being reflective, the Panthers have hit their bye week. Through 10 games, they're 3-7.
Is that beneath your expectations, right on them, or exceeding them? I think the last two weeks have looked better than any point that this season has been outside of the Raider game. And again, those are the three wins of the season. But I think I've been impressed with their ability to handle what they are without. What are they without? Well, they're without their biggest defensive player and maybe their best talented player overall in Derek Brown. They're without their leading linebacker Shaq Thompson.
They are devoid, at least to this part of the season, of any real veteran presence that's been consistent in the pass-catching portion of their team. I say tight end. I say wide receiver. I even say running back outside of Chubo Hubbard. Deontay Johnson was here.
He is now gone. Adam Thielen started the season with them. They expect him to be back after the bye. But the fact they've been able to weather those parts of the storms to get three victories, I think stands to reason that a lot of the moves they made during the offseason with Dan Morgan need to be applauded. The bringing of the two guards, the drafting of Xavier Leaguet, the undrafted free agent signing of Jalen Coker, the drafting of Ja'Tavion Sanders, locking up Chubo Hubbard for the future, and a couple of other pieces on the defense. Josie Jewell has looked very good over the last couple of weeks as well. J.C. Horne, I feel like, is the next that's going to get big money.
And there are some other ancillary pieces. I think about Trevin Wallace on the line backing position as well. He's somebody who can be used as a building block for the future as well. There's a lot to like. Is it a perfect team in any way?
No. There are still some significant holes. But the thing I keep coming back to is it's all going to come back to what the quarterback position looks like and how we evaluate it at the end of the year. Bryce Young's taken significant strides. I don't think he's at the level yet to be able to say we can plan on him for 2025. Could he get there by the end of this year?
I think he can. But the thing I keep coming back to is that the decision about quarterback, the longer that you can either delay that decision, prolong needing to make that decision or not changing anything about the mechanism of that decision. It behooves the Panthers to put that off longer so that they can rebuild the rest of the roster. If you feel like you've got to go out and get a new quarterback in 2025 by hook or by crook, that I just think delays your ability to contend, return to contention, be in the hunt, etc.
and so on. So I think the longer that they can keep this status quo, whether or not you feel like Bryce can develop, whether or not you feel like maybe Andy Dalton is the answer, but on a shorter term deal, I'm not necessarily sure. But making a big investment in the quarterback position, if that doesn't have to be made in the offseason, then they can use those nine picks, maybe even accumulate some more. Also helping free agency to help reconstruct this football team. And that's something I feel like was always supposed to be the goal of this season anyway. That's what the last seven games are going to be about, figuring out what you have in Bryce Young. But yes, shout out to Dan Morgan and his big brain, Dan Morgan, for the roster that he's put together fixing the offensive line in this draft class. That's very exciting.
What has tickled you more to see back on your timeline, whatever social media app you might be using? Jon Gruden during Washington, Philadelphia analysis? Fire! Or Mike Tyson berating a child ahead of the Jake Paul fight? He is dead. I wasn't into the Tyson thing until seeing that clip.
He is dead. I feel like I'm actually going to pay it more than a casual attention. Am I into it where I'm going to want to break it down after the fact? I don't know if I am. Jon Gruden during the Washington Philly game, I mean, yeah, it's out there.
Fire! I think that when it comes down to it, he's trying to find his avenue back into relevance and Barstool is a good way to do that. I think people have resurrected their careers with them before, so I'm not trying to delegitimize what Barstool is going to be. But the Tyson-Jake Paul thing is incredibly intriguing because I think there are a lot of people rooting for Jake Paul, but I think there are a lot of people rooting for Mike Tyson as well. And count me as one who's maybe wanting to see Mike Tyson humble Jake Paul a little bit. He is dead.
Yeah, that's right. You better watch tonight Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, or you're dead. He is dead. How much are you going to miss our weekly chats between now, this is we, you have a big beard. Tom Hamilton was telling me our GM today is like meeting Will Pelagic, he's taller than I thought he would be. So, you know, this is your hibernation season in the WSJS context and then we'll bring you back out in February and you're going to be nice and rested and ready to go.
I might even be clean shaven, who knows. But it's I have enjoyed every week talking with you guys. I very much appreciate you guys coming out to the games as well. I love seeing you guys there. I love how big you guys make Charlotte FC feel.
The fact that it resonates with so many of your listeners resonates with the people in your building, I think is incredibly heartfelt. I know I said that to you guys when when you guys were at the stadium for the home playoff game and you mentioned meeting Tom, he couldn't have been more gracious with his words and the way that he went about talking about us. We definitely appreciate it. We love having you guys as an affiliate and I hope that continues. But I really just I feel like you guys have set the model for the way we want people to act towards us when we when we have them on our air or when you have us on your air, I should say. So we definitely appreciate it and we cannot wait to see you guys in 2025.
Yeah, you better be back in 2025 or he is dead. Wilt the Logic, it's good to see you and we'll see you at a Panther game somewhere down the line, I'm sure. Thank you so much for making the time and for what you do along with Jess Charman and we'll talk to you somewhere down the line. Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Will. Congratulations also, Josh. I know I said it to you privately, but congratulations to you and your wife and your new beautiful boy. It's going to be a lot of fun watching him grow and watching you all grow together.
Hopefully he's walking by the time we have Charlotte FC's first championship next year. Oh, yeah. Well, you just gave WD another opportunity to play another drop. Yeah. Every every time that my kid comes up because I'm trying to not be the dad that brings up his kid too much on the air.
WD's hitting me with the Billy Zane from Titanic. Yeah, that's it. All right.
That's literally one of my wife's favorite. Yeah. I have a child. I have a child. All right. See you, Willy P for real this time. Thank you, pal. Appreciate it.
