This Things Got Some Scars

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

We're internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS. You're on a Monday Drive. It is WSJS, News Talk Sports for the Triad, where we fully intend on having a good time today. How good of a time? We're going to try to have as much fun as Jason Kelsey wearing black and gold striped overalls at the App State tailgate Saturday.

That's the bar that we're setting. Sean Clark, by the way, joining us next hour, head coach of the Mountaineers. Fortunately, the football we watched this weekend, it's given us a lot to talk about, especially the game involving Jason's brother played in Uptown Charlotte.

Even though the Kansas City Chiefs finished with more points, the Carolina Panthers won in Uptown Charlotte. And despite Patrick Mahomes being the quarterback that led the game-winning drive at the end, Bryce Young was the story from this game because this game was Bryce officially earning back the respect of the football world. In hindsight, it's kind of wild that he lost respect in the first place. It's kind of wild how quickly many people did write him off. Let's not forget, Bryce was the number one overall prospect in high school football in a football-rich area in Southern California, number one player across the country, goes to the Fishbowl that is Alabama, where he wins the Heisman Trophy. He is seen as the consensus number one player in the draft, seen to be the number one pick, and yet people are surprised that this guy could be pretty good at football. Some have already labeled him a bust, but this isn't Trey Lance. Trey Lance, there was a reason why he was playing at North Dakota State. This isn't Zach Wilson being undersized and then emerging on the scene at BYU, where the evaluations got out of control. This isn't Josh Rosen playing at UCLA, number one high school recruit, number one college football player, doing so in the top league in college football, and then became the number one pick. It's just wild how quickly many bailed on him.

He's still 23 years old, he turned 23 in July, and he was thrown into such a bad situation and everybody agreed it was a bad situation. Yet, a lot of people owe Bryce an apology today. We were not the ones bailing on Bryce. We didn't like the fact that he was benched after week two because this season's meaning will be derived by getting an answer on who Bryce Young is. At that point, it looked like they had decided, and it was weird.

Why would you decide that early on when there was still a lot that he could potentially show you, like we saw yesterday? But now, many of those people that wrote him off might be deleting tweets, might be sending apologies, might owe apologies to Bryce. Because the Chiefs, well, to be fair, the Chiefs didn't respect Bryce.

They'll say the right things publicly, but they didn't respect him going into this game. That's why maybe the best defensive coordinator in the sport, Steve Spagnuolo, he loaded the box almost every play of the first half. And this is what balance is.

We talked about this in our instant Graham breakdown on the field that you can find on our YouTube channel, Surcin' to Drive with Josh Graham. Had a football coach get mad at me one time because I said, you guys weren't really all that balanced. You had ten run plays and just three passes or four passes.

He's like, you don't understand balance. What balance is, is looking at a defense and what they're giving you and being so cool with passing it or running it on a given play because you feel so good about your running back in your passing game. That whatever the defense gives you dictates what play you run. So in theory, if they play run 30 times, you throw it 30 times and vice versa.

Credit to Dave Canales for seeing Steve Spagnuolo play so aggressively against the run and in the first half calling 20 or 21 pass plays to just three running back carries for Truba Hubbard and Jonathan Brooks. And Bryce responded. Bryce had 177 passing yards at the half. How much is that? Well, the folks in Vegas put an over under for Bryce's passing for the game at 176.

Send me that cash out, fam. Bryce went over that number in the first half. Then he delivered on that touchdown drive at the end, fourth down to Adam Thielen driving the team all the way down the field.

They get the two point conversion, they tie the game before the Chiefs ultimately won it. Andy Reid might be the most respected current head coach. And he had this to say about Bryce Young afterwards. I thought he did a heck of a job. Well, coach, he's lucky to have a redhead over there, number 14, to help him out.

Nothing like that. Having a veteran player that kind of sees it the same way you do. And then he's very talented. And the organization made a nice move by taking him in.

It's fair to say Bryce Young won over Dave Canales, too. Yeah, I mean, I don't have to make any statements. He's making it for himself. You know, he's continued to show us the progress we're looking for, bringing our skilled players to life. You know, Xavier played the X position today. So just kudos to Xavier as well, just taking on a new role and finding some success there. You know, a couple of plays he'd love to have back, I'm sure.

He'll be the first to tell you. But, you know, talking about Bryce, you know, it's again, you know, it's the coaching staff, it's his teammates. You know, he's showing us, you know, what he can do when he's out there. So we can expect him to start next Sunday. Absolutely. For the last few weeks, Canales wouldn't say Bryce is the starter.

Would say it's week to week, week to week. And what he said there at the top is, I don't have to make a statement. Bryce has made the statement himself. Maybe Dave Canales, this has all been part of the game for him. Bryce needs to go out there and earn it. And now Bryce has done that.

And you have all the football tape nerds breaking it down. Dan Orlovsky putting it out on his social media. Some others that have said Bryce Young is a bust. Saying it was a disaster that they took him. Looking at what he did and being impressed. 23 years old, year two, Bryce Young, all those things, best college player, best high school player, consensus number one pick.

Whoa, it's crazy. This guy might actually be pretty good at football once he gets his confidence back and once he starts figuring things out. Bryce earned respect.

That's what this game was about. On X, at WSJS radio, if you want in, that's where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch. Will Dalton, he's the executive producer of this show. W.D., we got Sean Clark who's going to be on the show today.

We do. What tickets are we giving away when Darren Vaught joins us to answer unusual questions? Got some from my favorite band, Linkin Park. Emily Armstrong. Yeah, the new singer, the new vocalist. So we have that that we're doing and since we're not live Thursday and Friday of this week, we're cramming a lot into three shows that we do have for you. We got some college football news that we need to get to.

It involves my alma mater. According to Steven Igoe, according to ESPN and many other reports, the Pirates are going to remove the interim tag from coach Blake Harrell, who's the defensive coordinator. Gonna have him be the head coach of the Pirates moving forward.

That move expected to be approved at a Board of Trustees meeting in Greenville, America on Wednesday. I don't like it. There. I said it. I'm an ECU alum.

I've followed this program closely for the last close to 15 years. I don't like this because of what it means and why this move is happening. I understand it and I think it's important for all of you to understand why this move is happening. This is not a football decision. That's not what this is. They will tell you this is a football decision. I don't believe them.

I don't think that's the truth. Removing Blake Harrell's interim tag, it was business. Business.

Good business. It's a business decision for East Carolina and nothing more. That's how you should view this.

Now, let me break it down for you so you can see it as clearly as you should. There's something that's hanging over college sports right now that everybody should be talking about in terms of fans. That behind the scenes, it's all administrators want to talk about. And that's the House settlement and how that's going to affect college sports.

Talking about revenue sharing with athletes. That's looming over everything here and it's why, remember in past years, we'd always hear, if you're going to make a coaching change, you want to make it early. Because of recruiting, signing days, December 4th, and you have the portal opening up and all that. Take a look at how many power conference coaching changes there have been this year.

You might notice something. There aren't any. There is not a powerful coaching change that has been made so far this year. That's why North Carolina fans who are in my mentions saying it's for sure that Mac Brown is gone. Well, Mac said today he intends to be back next year, essentially saying, if I'm not here, it's because I'm fired. And if North Carolina were to fire them, they might be the first school to fire a coach this cycle.

Don't think that's a guarantee by any means. So I think North Carolina fans, App State fans, they need to hear that. That there's a reason why they're not here. That there's a reason why there are not a lot of coaching changes because you have athletic programs that are tightening the books. You might have noticed Temple put out a statement. They're considering dropping football because of this. You're going to see a lot of it. John Curry put out a statement in his, from the Quad newsletter. Bella Cunningham put out a statement talking about this last week.

This is what ADs are talking about. And according to USA Today Sports, Mike Houston was paid $2.5 million this year. How much is that? Well, that's one of the highest paid group of five salaries out there. That's more than what Rhett Lashley is making at SMU. Again, according to USA Today Sports.

And Rhett Lashley, of course, in the ACC now. So if you want to lower that number, how do you do it? Well, I have an idea. How about you just promote the interim that you could probably pay half that number and he'd take it. That'll save us a million plus dollars each year that we can maybe spend somewhere else.

That would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it? That's what happened here. And you could say, well, Josh, it's because they actually started four and up. He's gone four and up. That's why you give him the job.

Okay, well, then why not just wait and see if he goes five and oh before you make this decision? Why not wait till next week to announce this rather than right now? Oh, it's because they're playing a team that the last three head coaches for ECU haven't been able to figure out in Navy. And Navy's made ECU look bad. And if you get blown out in that game, potentially, this won't be as popular as it is right now where you have all the players say, we want our coach. Hey, give him the job, whatever. And ECU is like, ah, twist our arm.

John Gilbert's like, ah, twist my arm to hire a coach that we can pay half the salary of the guy that we just fired a few months ago. Yeah, let's twist my arm. Let us, yeah, yeah, that's a, oh, man, I don't want to do that. Certainly want to want to do that. Like, that's why, because it might not be as popular to do so a week from now.

So you do it now, and then you could say if things go badly Friday afternoon. Well, this is what the players wanted. This is what the fans wanted to do. The fans wanted to, cool. It's a business decision. This is not about football. The removing of Blake Carroll's interim tag.

And it's why I don't blame ECU, but I don't like it as an alum. Darren Vaught joins us each week. Towards the end of this segment, we will have tickets for Linkin Park. W.D., a big fan of Emily Armstrong. I am a fan of her work. She's going to be with Linkin Park in Raleigh next May.

In fact, W.D. was looking for somebody to go to that show with. Won't be me. I'll be doing a show here.

Darren Vaught, though. This is the awkward part where we welcome him in and say, You busy? What are you doing? I mean, what's the day?

I can maybe be enticed. It's in May, and it's Linkin Park in Raleigh. Voice of USA Baseball, Lottery Boy, ACC Baseball, etc. High Point Basketball, ECU Basketball. How did you somehow get more titles than David Glenn? It's amazing.

Upset of a century. Don't know how you've done this. So we're going to list that as a maybe. Yeah, I'm a maybe. I'm a maybe for that. There you go.

Fire it up. Let's talk. You just got back from Daytona. High Point Basketball doing some things. So it only makes sense to ask, who would you most like to see Juan Soto play for next year?

No figure. W.D., he walked up to me in the office today. He says, I just got a bad feeling. Just got a bad feeling that this week something's going to happen.

It's not going to be good for Juan Soto. Isn't that a Star Wars thing? I've got a bad feeling about it. Yes, every movie. It's set at least once. Every single movie. All right, so you just you just turned this into a Star Wars movie. I did.

Not knowingly. I think so. I I think we talked about this some with the Yankees this season. That felt like a really, really good fit for him. It's just like there aren't many guys who can who can play in New York and be superstars.

And take what all of the outside stuff is. Maybe the better question is, who would you most who would you least like to see Juan Soto play for and why is it the Dodgers? Yeah, they don't need him. They don't need it. The Dodgers are already awesome.

They don't need him. Like why? Yeah, that would be frustrating. And I kind of like the Dodgers and that would still be still be frustrating.

The one the one scenario that I am kind of hoping for just in the interest of absolute chaos. So Soto, who was a Yankee, is a free agent. Pete Alonso, who was a Met, is a free agent. They're both rumored to be like up for grabs by the other New York teams. I think it'd be hilarious if they swapped places. Like if Steve Cohen, the owner of the Mets, came in with a bag of money and said, hey, Juan, come meet the Mets. And Pete Alonso was like, well, they don't really want me anymore or have a use for me anymore. But I like New York.

So, yeah, I'll sign with the Yankees. I think that would be that would be a comical result for all of this. Let's get ready to answer some unusual questions. But last week, guys, everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference.

That's not right. I thought it was an unusual question and it's OK. It's time for Unusual Questions with Josh Graham. Feast week.

Now it's become feast weeks with all these tournaments that we see, including the one you had in Daytona Pirates two and one, by the way, in that tournament. A lot of people getting together with family this week and. I have a child, which.

Obviously, you know, some of the math with travel and figuring things out with family. How about with pets? What should the protocol be with bringing dogs and or cats to holiday functions with your family, assuming you have to drive somewhere to see them? Cats are a no on this, right? Cats are not pets that you bring to to the function, right? Like that's I agree with you because cats can fend for themselves with like they have, you know, litter boxes and things that make it easy to get a cat instead of a dog is that you don't really have to take care of it like it just exists on its own and it's going to be fine.

So like, what are you going to be gone a few days? Leave the cat at home. So the cats. OK, fine. The cat is a no.

Yeah. And then with dogs, because like Willow the dog, we're bringing Willow to my parents place. And they love going to my parents place. There's a lot of room for her to run around. It's great, but maybe other families places might not be as good of a fit for Willow the dog.

So I think it matters. Are there other dogs in the family? No, not at my parents house.

I think Willow would be the only dog there. Yeah. All right. That matters.

That matters. Does that is that more of a deterrent or welcoming? It's like, hey, Willow's here now. We don't have to worry how Willow is going to get along with other dogs. That's a good point.

That's a good point. Although I do think that generally families are just like some of them are dog families, right? Yeah, it's a family and everybody's got pets.

They're just all there. They know each other, the dogs know each other. Yeah, they know each other and maybe you got a big yard and they just kind of run around and then they sack out at some point and it's not a big bother. What one person bringing a dog is interesting because then what's Willow going to do? She's going to hang out with the family.

She's part of the family. That's what Willow's going to do. You've seen the dynamic of Willow the dog. I mean, it exists. The dynamic you're speaking of exists. I'm not refuting it.

I just don't think it's as common as a bunch of dogs or no dogs. There's a chance we might be doing full family matching pajamas and Willow's getting some. Nice. Love that.

Baby Daniel and Willow are getting some. Oh, did I also trample on you playing the Titanic sounder there? You totally did.

Well, I think the objective of it is is for Will to trample on you with it. Yeah, he was looking at me like he had his finger on the button on something and then I really didn't hit it. You were telling me that you saw Titanic on this weekend. I did.

And ironically, it was Friday night, I was switching around the channels and ironically enough, it was like five minutes before that part. So I just stuck around and it just hits different now. Do people still this might be a second unusual question.

I hope you allow it does. Do people still surf channels? So, OK, actually, I was about to interject because often when I'm traveling for calling games, I will do this in hotels and I love just pulling up like AMC or whatever it is and seeing what's on. So over the weekend in Daytona, AMC was on a huge Brad Pitt kick. I caught Moneyball twice in its entirety. And let me tell you guys, now that the Oakland Athletics are no longer a thing, it hits different and does different that the ending might make you cry, actually.

Yeah, yeah, it was heavy, heavy. So, yeah, I am I often will do that in hotels, pull up whatever movie channel is accessible. And what is your what is your unusual question today, Darren?

All right, so it's a holiday week. I am I'm those who can see me who are watching and you guys, of course, can see me. I'm comfortable, comfortably dressed. I'm in sweatpants, a hoodie here. But this just isn't any hoodie, right? This is an Emory & Henry baseball hoodie that I believe to be the oldest thing that I own clothing wise. Wow.

This was team issued when I was a freshman in college in the fall of 2008. And it is frayed. It is tattered.

But I love his character. It's got this thing's got some scars. OK, seen some stuff been been with me through thick and thin. It's it's an interesting thought.

I don't imagine you guys think about this that often. What's the oldest clothing item you own? Yeah, I have a sweater vest that I remember I wore when I was still like late high school, like early freshmen. So like 15, 16 years old that I still wear. And I I remember wearing it first time I ever covered a Carolina Hurricanes game.

I'm a freshman in college and I went into the locker room with it on and some guy had his first NHL goal and I was asking a question about it to this guy and I was just the distraction Alex Oveshkin needed to come in and pie him in the face. Well, part of that pie got all over my my my black sweater vest that I still have. And it's one of those things where the sweater vest is big enough. It was oversized then on me then and now fits a little bit better. It's just one of those items who's buying more and more sweater vest.

It's like, all right, I got a sweater vest already. I don't need another one. See, for me and Darren, you you might you know how like travel ball baseball teams, showcase baseball teams will often have those like neon color like drive. I did not mean to hit that button material. That didn't belong there.

No, it did. Do you know those like neon jerseys that like the showcase or travel teams will wear? I'm familiar with the concept. Yeah, so so mine was like Virginia Tech because we had like neon orange. Also had a neon pink one. I still have those jerseys from like 10th grade and every once in a blue moon. I will put them on and wear them to the gym. I will do that. They're very okay. That counts.

That can work. Sean Clark was giving you grief for your outfit today. Yeah, it's because I'm wearing leggings. I'm wearing tights because I'm going to go to the gym later after the show.

So I got shorts and I got Nike leggings. But he's going to film himself while he's lifting. I'm not.

I'm not going to do that. It's not it's not photo shoot up on the tripod. No, it's the most inconvenient spot possible. No, like right at the machine next to you.

So if somebody tries to use that one, it's in the way. No, I've got pictures. I don't need reflecting off of the mirror. So shame people.

Shame people if they start staring at you. No, I don't do that. Oh, it's going to happen. What's your unusual question, Will? Do we actually like Thanksgiving turkey? Yes, because like, you know, there's some depth to this.

Sorry, sorry. So like, I feel like most people don't actually love Thanksgiving turkey because more often times than not, unless you're like a really, really good cook and make it a certain way. It's dry.

It doesn't always have the most flavor. You don't know. So what do you think? Let's just say, you know what? We're getting rid of Thanksgiving turkey.

We're not doing it anymore. What's a viable replacement for Thanksgiving turkey? Ham. Ham? Bro, give me a Thanksgiving prime rib. See, I like that. I want a good steak.

Let's make that a thing. I mean, sure, but I'm also just pro ham in more ways than one. Like Mad Men support pro ham in that sense. I'm pro ham over turkey. See, the question you ask is, do people like turkey?

Yes. Do they like it as much as they like some other Thanksgiving items? No, but you still need the turkey there.

It's like asking people who your favorite football player is. Seldom are they saying the offensive lineman, but you need that offensive lineman out there. That's what the turkey is.

Turkey is your left tackle. Like, without it, that's the reason why we're all here. Yeah.

Big fan of Icky Aquano and his work. Is it like, I don't like, we can do the same thing, but it's like a chicken. Nah, you sound like the person saying Patrick Mahomes doesn't need his offensive line. He's going to win regardless.

That's what I'm saying. Oh yeah, we could just do it with the stream beans and the mashed potatoes. We'll be just fine without the turkey.

No, you need to row lines. I'm saying turkey is, at best, a replacement level protein, a replacement level meat. So if you substituted the turkey with chicken, we're not throwing, you know, we're not throwing Will in there instead of Patrick Mahomes. Like we're, I don't know, who's the best and worst left tackle in the league, to keep up with your analogy.

Okay. Oh, I thought you were like asking who'd be the worst possible option to throw out there at left tackle. And I'm just thinking somebody short like Ian Eagle. Turkey, the gobble gobble. Oh, he's doing a Thanksgiving game Thursday. Wait, was that Ian as Raf? That's it. That's Ian Eagle last week. Turkey, the gobble gobble. That's Ian doing an impression of Bill Raftery calling Thanksgiving hoops after the football on Thursday. That's what that is. And while I'm at it, I feel obligated to say, Ian Eagle, very excited for you to watch SIN of a Woman for the first time tonight. Ooh-ah.

Open water. He is. He's a treasure, man. We have like so many clips of him now. Just a treasure treasure.

We do. He is the voice of at the WD Awards. He is. He was that. Now he's doing this. Like it might be the best broadcasting work he's done this year.

Honestly. And he did the Final Four. He did.

He did. Darren Vaught, is your week busy this week? What do you got? Yeah, pretty busy. ACC Volleyball Wednesday. ECU is back at home with a football men's basketball doubleheader on Friday. North Carolina A&T is the opponent. And then High Point is back from the Caymans on Saturday to play Pfeiffer.

There it is. Darren Vaught, Lottery Boy, USA Baseball, ACC Baseball, et cetera. High Point, ECU, Volleyball. Oh, ACC Women's Hoops on Sunday too, actually. Now that I think about it. Clemson, at Clemson.

I get to do a game in Littlejohn for the first time. Okay. There you go. Darren Vaught.

Any time. We have. I fear this sometimes, Darren.

I really do. I fear we got so many moving parts. I want this show to be inclusive, not exclusive. Where people understand what's happening. And I hope it's pretty obvious, some of them, that when you say Littlejohn Colossey of WD says, I hope that's obvious. Like, I hope some people can figure out that when I bring up my kid, Baby Daniel, that it's obvious like what we're doing here sometimes. I feel I have to explain this sometimes or else people will get lost. But we just want to be the inclusive show. We don't want to be exclusive. Yeah.

Yeah. People figure it out. People figure it out. And as long as we're laughing, then they're going to laugh. It's that psychological thing.

It's why they put laugh tracks into old TV shows. Darren Vaught, let's close with a laugh. Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Not just courtesy of me, courtesy of Ian Eagle and as Bill Raftery. Turkey, gobble, gobble. We'll talk to you next week. See you guys.

Happy Thanksgiving. We'll get to tonight's basketball slate momentarily. But getting back to the football from this weekend, no conference in college football enjoyed a better weekend than the ACC did.

Why? Because going into the weekend, most people felt that the ACC was only going to get one team into the 12 team playoff. And coming out of the weekend, after all the carnage that we saw, the ACC is in prime position to get two playoff bids. It was a catastrophic Saturday for the SCC.

It really was. Same thing for the Big 12 as well. Your two top ranked teams in the Big 12, BYU and Colorado, they both lose.

In the ACC, or pardon me, the SCC, they had not one, not two, but three, two loss Colorado loss college football playoff hopefuls that lost to unranked teams. Ole Miss starting it off by losing in the swamp at Florida. Alabama getting its doors beaten off by Oklahoma and Norman. And in the nightcap, Texas A&M falling in that hokey two-point shootout that they have after you get through the first two overtimes in Jordan-Hare Stadium on the planes at Auburn.

All of them lose. Thus, all three of those teams are going to get bumped back behind SMU. And the committee has to respect SMU's win at Virginia.

Why? Because they respected Notre Dame beating Virginia by a smaller margin in a home game for the Irish a week ago. So SMU going into Charlottesville and beating them by more points has to be respected. And those teams are all going to fall behind SMU, or they should, in the playoff rankings that release tomorrow.

So that's fantastic. And Miami, they survived the scare early on in the fourth quarter against Wake Forest, 20 to 14. But what did we learn about Miami, W.D.?

What do we know about Mario Cristobal and the Canes? You get all four quarters. All of them.

60 minutes. They're not going to stop. They covered the 25.

20 to 14 in the fourth quarter. That team doesn't start. That team doesn't stop. That team doesn't stop, so the SEC is now looking at a scenario where they're only going to get three.

And we know who they are. Tennessee, Georgia, Texas. And the Big 12 isn't guaranteed a team right now. That might sound crazy to you. Josh, isn't there automatic playoffs for the Big 12 champion?

In theory there is, but they don't say it like that. They say the top five ranked conference champions get automatic bids to the playoff. So that's your SEC champ, your Big 10 champ, your ACC champ. But Boise State is higher ranked than the top ranked Big 12 team. The top ranked Big 12 teams were BYU and Colorado, and they both lose. And don't forget about Tulane. Tulane was 19th in the poll this past week. And you would think with teams losing, there's a chance that the American Conference champ might have a higher ranking than the Big 12 champ. Still unlikely that that happens, but it's a possibility because of how bad the Big 12 was this past weekend. I don't want to hear from another person that the ACC is on par with the Big 12 Conference. I don't want to hear it again. Don't want to hear anybody say, we said this at the start of the year, that Brett Yourmark, he is a snake oil salesman. We are deeper than we were with Texas and Oklahoma. Okay. It's because of their social media.

So deep. And then the people in the media that second this garbage. If the ACC sucks, I'd love to hear what you think about the Big 12 Conference, where they don't have a team ranked in the, well actually Arizona State's at number 14. But there are three ACC teams that are ranked in front of the highest ranked Big 12 team.

So here's what has to happen. I think for the ACC to guarantee itself to playoff bids, or at least put themselves in a position where they should have it. Hopefully you don't see like a Florida State, Alabama, the ACC getting the shaft situation again like last year.

They said it was because of the injury to Jordan Travis. Okay. Let's see what happens this time around. If Miami and SMU win this weekend, that should guarantee both spots for them.

Plain and simple, full stop. If Miami wins at Syracuse and SMU takes care of its business at home against Cal, that should guarantee two spots for the ACC regardless of what happens in the ACC Championship game. Because you're going to have those three SEC teams that don't have a conference championship game to play in, or at least Alabama and Ole Miss do not, and they're going to be like, uh, why aren't we going to get in over the runner-up of the ACC? Well, you didn't make your conference championship game. They still have one fewer loss than you do, and you're not going to be punished for losing to Miami or losing to SMU. That's not going to be viewed as that bad of a loss. So I think the committee would not put a three loss Alabama or a three loss Ole Miss over the ACC runner-up.

I just don't believe that would happen. And if you want to get really crazy, Will Dalton, I got this text from somebody in the ACC office yesterday. There is still a chance for three ACC teams to potentially get in. Now, this made my head explode a little bit, but they spelled out the scenario. They said Clemson is going to play a top 15 matchup with South Carolina.

Yeah. If Miami, SMU, and Clemson all win this weekend, Clemson has two losses. That probably will be a better resume than Ole Miss or Alabama playing better towards the end of the year. And they'll finish 10-2. You'll have the runner-up of the ACC have two losses. And then, of course, your ACC automatic bid, they would need some more carnage for that to happen, but that's something that they brought up as a possibility.

Clemson beat South Carolina, SMU and Miami take care of their business. It's just great that you're talking about having not two, maybe three ACC teams with a shot going into the final week of the season. And how great would that be if the ACC gets just as many teams into the playoff as the ACC does? It'd be fantastic.

Would be just chef's kiss perfect. And we'll see how the folks Paul Feinbaum and the SEC media machine reacts to it. But the ACC in prime position to tick off the folks like Paul Feinbaum and others and receive those two playoff bids, at least. That should be the goal for the ACC, and it's very much obtainable because of the bad weekend the SEC had. Getting to... Yeah, let's get to that.

We love a little feast week action already at this time of the afternoon. You kidding me? Oh yeah, we do have basketball right now. And don't look now. Actually, look now because I'm about to tell you about it. Those Memphis uniforms are gross. You know what isn't gross?

What? That score. If you're a Memphis fan. UConn Memphis in Maui, 40 all at the half. Memphis shooting 62% from three in the first half. And in terms of UConn, their best starter right now in terms of scoring Alex Carabans six points. I mean, their two best players are coming off the bench. Jalen Stewart with 14 points. Terrace Reed Jr. with 15. So we'll see what that starting lineup looks like to start the second half, which looks like... It's the same starting five that they opened up with.

So there you go. 40 all. 43-40. Memphis just hit a three. I love the Maui Invitational. It's great and Dan Hurley's head is about to explode because not only is his team not winning by 25 points, they're down by three in the second half of this game at Maui. North Carolina tonight facing Dayton. 10-30 tip time.

11-30. This is the part where I'm happy I have a newborn. One of the many reasons why I'm happy I'm a dad now. That I have a child. It's because, you know, getting the night shift.

I don't have as much of a problem with it with these 11-30 tip times that we fire up. And you got the Charlotte Hornets. They're in action too. The Hornets. Face of the Orlando Magic.

Gonna be a lot of former ACC players on the floor when you see these teams face off. Obviously, Paulo Bonquero is the one that stands out the most, but... Joel Anthony. Yeah, that guy.

Let's not forget about him. Jonathan Isaac is a FSU guy. I don't even know if he plays for Orlando. I know he's on the team. Mark Williams won't be on the floor, but he'll maybe be in the building. Yeah, he might be at Wendell Carter for Orlando. There was a Duke Carolina game the day before a Hornets Orlando game in Charlotte last year, so there were a lot of former Blue Devils from those two rosters in the building. In the building when they met.

There was a lot of that. And for good reason. W.D., you know who sponsors the drive with Josh Graham? Biscuit King. Biscuits! Lexington. High Point. Pay them a visit.

Tell them that we sent you. And we tell you, it's not... We encourage you to get a biscuit. Sop it up with a biscuit, if you will.

But it's not just that. They have those pancakes. Polym High, man, and they have lunch too, and it's tasty. Their burgers and their seasoned fries. Eat local.

Before the holiday arrives at Biscuit King. So we got Hornets. We got UNC basketball tonight out in Maui.

W.D. There are three pieces of sound from three different local games that we absolutely loved this weekend. Three pieces of sound that we will play for you next on the drive. All right, let's go. I'm so excited. And three, two, one, go.

Back to the drive with Josh Graham. There's so much sound that we could play for you from over the weekend. And we can figure out ways to justify it, because there's a lot of interesting things that happened over the weekend. But no, cut out the stuff that isn't truly great. Distill just the best stuff that makes it here on the air.

You got to know how to cut, Will. So, for example, we could play for you how Noah Gray got really excited after catching two touchdowns against the Panthers. To talk about Duke football. How about Duke, by the way? Make them home underdogs, and what will they do? They'll just beat Virginia Tech Saturday night. That team's eight and three.

They are indeed. Play at Wake Forest on Saturday. How crazy would it be if Duke wins double-digit games in Manny Diaz's first year? Could happen. Haven't had a 10-win team since Cutcliffe did it.

10 years ago, if memory serves. So, we won't even get to that. What we will get to is Jason Kelce visiting Boone.

Gotten this question a lot. Why was Jason Kelce in Boone? Part of it was probably to watch his brother play in Charlotte yesterday.

Taylor Swift not in the building, even though she got the SEC coaching treatment where people are tracking planes, private planes from Toronto, to see where she might have ended up. Jason Kelce visits App State. Apparently, on his podcast, he wanted to recognize stories of perseverance. And the Mountain Strong mantra this year is something that caught his interest. So, he was visiting tailgate lots, pounding some cold ones, probably was introduced to the Yosifs a little bit, and then he got behind a microphone and did this. Good work. Jason Kelce.

Such a character. I don't remember the Bonnie Tyler version having F-bombs in it, but then I remembered that the Dan Band in old school threw in those F-bombs. Doesn't surprise me at all that Jason Kelce might be a fan of 2000s comedies. The Dan Band, that was a real thing. What were the other movies that they appeared in? I think they were in Hangover as well, singing Candy Shop. Like a sexy version of the Candy Shop. Yeah, the Dan Band.

Jason Kelce crushing it there. It's all about... W.D., I was with you when you sang karaoke for the first time. You sang Sinatra. I did.

And as I told you then, so much about karaoke is about song selection. And I think Jason Kelce found a winner there. He did. Do you think he's big on the Disney songs too? Do you think he knows that one? Oh yeah. He's got to know that one. Oh yeah. I was hoping to catch up with Travis yesterday and ask him about it, but they closed up that locker room really quickly.

Very quickly. And then Travis walks out and he was wearing this cotton candy stripe shirt. And he had this blue bucket hat on. And I had a moment where I could have said something. I was like, I'll let him be. Yeah.

Just let him be. He was just taking a couple pictures with some young fans there. Oh, you were standing next to me when that happened. I was. I was right there with you. Yeah, I didn't know you were there.

Yeah. Getting to who we actually did catch up with in the Chiefs locker room, Patrick Mahomes. He had some thoughts on Bryce Young when I asked him about him.

And here's how that sounded. Yeah, no, I thought he played his tail off, man. It was a really good football.

You know, it's funny. I think Texas Tech was the first one to offer him when he was in eighth grade. And I was at Texas Tech. So I remember watching his highlight takes then and knew he was gonna be a great player. Obviously, he went to Bama and was the first draft pick. But I think it's been cool to see him bounce back these last few weeks and play some great football because, you know, I know he has it.

I've seen it for a long time. And he gave us a scare today, man, because he played his tail off. You weren't threatened by eighth grade Bryce Young, though, right?

I was hoping to be out of there before he got there. So, no, he's been a great player for a long time and won a lot of football games. Patrick. I love that. Yeah. I do like Patrick Mahomes in college, though, pulling up his film.

Be like, this guy sucks. Yeah. It's not as good as I am. No, totally. Doesn't have the gun that I had.

The arm doesn't have it. So he's like the eighth grade kid who's like the kid in the Cam Newton NFL Play commercial. Yeah. So, sitting right next to me in that press conference was the Hunt family, the owners of the Kansas City Chiefs.

And this was kind of a surreal experience for me. Apparently, the daughter of the Chiefs ownership is like an influencer type, maybe does some television stuff. Her name's Gracie Hunt. If you don't know who that is, Google her to go all Kurt Cignetti.

Seems like a very nice lady. And I wasn't interested in talking to her as much as I was. I recognized her boyfriend. It's like, where do I know this guy from? And it dawned on me, oh, he was a backup quarterback for ECU.

When I first started covering the team, I was in school. So I talked to him a handful of times. His name's Cody Keith. He's from Charlotte. And it was great to catch up with him.

And there was a fact I had in my head, something that, you know, things just kind of get nestled into your brain that you don't think about for more than a decade. And the reason why his name triggers in my head is because I believe that was the first quarterback that Lincoln Riley ever offered at ECU. That's the first player he ever offered.

Cody Keith, quarterback from Charlotte. And yeah, I said, oh yeah, man, I remember catching up with you. And he said, yeah, I was the first guy Lincoln offered.

I'm like, ah, I knew it. So saw him yesterday, which was cool. And then Steve Forbes. He always delivers. He was telling a Juke Harris story as he's emerged.

Off to the best start of any Wake Forest freshman we've seen. And Steve shared this story after Wake's win against Detroit Mercy on Saturday. I told a story to the team the other day. I don't mind sharing it.

I was like, I'll get, I'll just tell you the shortened version of it. Asking them what kind of person they are. Do they do the little things? Like when you go to shop, when you go get your groceries at Harris Teeter, do you take your cart back or you just leave it there? Or do you just take it back because somebody was looking? Or do you just do the right thing, right? And so after we talked about those things and then about 15, 20 minutes, probably about an hour after I got home, I got a video from him putting his cart up in there in the parking lot.

But that doesn't surprise me because that's the way he was raised. Do you put your cart back up? Well, I'm 1000 on that. Because I just, I was raised to do things the right way. I don't like, I don't, I don't like, I pick up trash. If I see it, I don't litter.

Good for Steve. Yeah. Can I make a confession?

Sure. At Costco, I don't do this every time, but sometimes if it's super crowded and I'm far away from one of those places you put it up in, I'll do the, lift the cart up onto like the sidewalk where they have like the rocks and stuff on Haines Mall Boulevard. And I think they have those in Greensboro too. I'll just put the cart up on that. I shouldn't do it. I feel bad now.

As Steve was saying it, I'm like, man, I would never be a wake basketball player for Steve Forbes. Yeah. I mean, you tried it with the mix tape. You tried it that way and your, your, your cart etiquette is not such. Is your car etiquette strong? Strong? Yeah. I always take it back. So I would play for Wake Forest.

Steve? So, I mean, I'm wearing leggings. Like clearly I'm athletic. You don't have eligibility though. No, I'm all out. I'm all out.

You know what? I missed the whole COVID year thing by one year. It happened right after me.

So I, you know, I could have had five years. Fresh off a win, App State football coach Sean Clark, our guest here in the Triad. Sean, Saturday was the final home game of the season in Boone, especially considering what's happened in the town this year. How special was it to find a way with all the snow in the backdrop, find a way to finish on top over the weekend? It was a great weekend for, for all of App Nation. We had a chance to celebrate 19 seniors that will be playing their final game with the Rock and again, another sold out stadium. And then we also had Jason Kelsey up here doing a story on, you know, the Mountain Strong brand, but it's a great weekend.

It was a typical November day, a little snow on the ground. And again, it's a great college, college football game. We were fortunate to come on top and get a great win versus James Madison. When did you know Jason Kelsey was coming? Did you get a chance to chat with him? I found on Wednesday that he was going to be coming to town and he was going to get in early Saturday morning. So I had a chance to speak with him just very briefly at the Mountaineer Walk and some of that great guy. I know both my kids got pictures with him and from what I hear was that he had a great talk there at halftime. So it brought a lot of buzz, a lot of excitement to the high country. So it was great for him. We appreciate him doing that.

And but again, the biggest, the best thing was we won the game and we're still in contention for postseason play. I bet you all former linemen just get along. Like I wonder what you guys like talk about.

Do you talk about like who likes Seek and Destroy by Metallica more? Like what exactly is it? Well, we didn't have much time to talk. He asked what the game plan was.

I said, run the damn ball. And he liked that. So he kind of said, you're my kind of coach.

So again, it was awesome, man. And I know we had a bunch of former players here and he had to hang out with them. He was at different tailgates around campus. And we just will tell our story, tell our story about the resiliency of our town, our county. And it's a story that needs to be told. Yes, he did go to multiple tailgates. You know what?

One more thing on this before we move on to what you have ahead. The best thing I might have heard all weekend. He's in App State overalls, Jason Kelce. I need you to grade the karaoke choice. Here was some of Jason Kelce belting out some Bonnie Tyler out on those App State tailgating lots. I don't know if you ever watched American Idol. Sean Clark, but put on your Simon Cowell, Katy Perry type hat on. How did he do?

Yeah, from one lineman to another. That's a 10 plus for me on the 10 scale. But you know, I'm sure there's a few adult beverages included in there. So whenever you have that kind of beverage, you're a lot better singer anyway.

So again, 10 plus for me. Sean Clark's with us here. Have you ever sung karaoke? Oh, of course. Summertime to the lake. That's where it's at. What do you choose? Like what's a common hit for Sean Clark?

Like a crowd pleaser. I go old school. I go a little Rob Bass from back in 1989. So I got a little old school rap on.

When rap was rap, I could hit it pretty good. Wow. Didn't see that coming. Yeah, had that one in his belt, man.

That's impressive. Got it. He's in his bag. He's in his bag.

Okay, get him back to football. Focusing our sights. It's Georgia Southern week. This has become a top rival for Appalachian. As an alum, as a longtime coach here, what's your favorite memory of this rivalry? There's a lot of, a lot of highs and a lot of lows in this rivalry.

Probably one of the best memories was 1996. We were down 21 in the fourth quarter and Baker came in at quarterback and brought us back to win that game. And you know, as many highs there are, there's a lot of lows because this game means so much to a lot of people. I mean, it's one of the oldest rivalries in our conference. Again, with two great fan bases, two great football programs.

And again, we're just very privileged to be playing this kind of game. To me, it's the Florida Georges, the North Carolina state game. It's that kind of rivalry. And the Auburn Alabamas, there'll be no love lost if we walk in that stadium. And we're preparing our players for that now. So again, very fortunate lot to play for and I know our kids are excited to play.

Yeah. On that note, dovetailing off that, bragging rights, it's one thing. Bull eligibility is another. You earn a win, you get a bowl eligibility.

What would that mean for this group, Sean? Well, basically a chance to reach one of our goals. That's to play in post-season play and have a chance to play for a championship in a bowl game. So it's been a tough year in a lot of ways, but again, our kids are resilient.

They keep coming back every day to practice, working their tails off. And I think this past Saturday lives to show if we can play some clean football, don't turn the football over on offense and tackle well on defense so we can be as good as we want to be. I was just reminded because thinking about bowls, you guys won the Cure Bowl last year in that absolute downpour in Orlando. And then we saw the snowballs being chucked all over the place in Boone over the weekend. What is the, this is probably a long list of answers you could give as the head coach at App State up on the mountain. What is the most adverse weather game that comes to mind, like the most memorable weather game that you either played in or coached?

Well, as a player, it was 1995. We played Western Carolina here last game of the season. It was about 40 degrees at kickoff. And by the second quarter, it was sleeting. And by the fourth quarter, there was about six inches of snow on the ground. That was definitely a cold one for sure. Then you go back to 2019, we played Georgia Southern here on Halloween. And it started off of a little rain drizzled in and sleet and snow and 60-minute-an-hour winds. So there's been a lot of good games, a lot of unique games in some ways.

But those two really stand out to me. Sean Clark, you'll be on the way out. You'll be happy to know that W.D. is watching Sin of a Woman tonight.

Ooh-ah! And Ian Eagle yesterday was setting him straight. We saw him in the broadcast booth for Chiefs Panthers, suggesting trading places. There's something about Mary.

We're covering, again, we're doing the Lord's work, covering some ground here. But I just wanted to let you know those are some of the choices that have been thrown his way. Did you say Iron Eagle with Lou Gossett Jr.?

Oh, no, no, no, no. Ian Eagle, voice of the CBS, he was doing the Chiefs Panthers game yesterday. Well, we have to get one Iron Eagle with Lou Gossett Jr. there. So another great one for you. That's outstanding. I love it.

Writing it down. Got to make sure we keep a tab on things. Is it holiday season in the Sean Clark household yet? Do we have Christmas lights up?

Any of that? We do. My wife, it started early this year. She went out and we already have the decorations outside. She started to put up the tree. So we're getting there. It's a little unique this year because we're playing away in November.

So she always goes home to her parents' house, takes the kids. So I'll be by myself Thanksgiving evening, watch a little football, relax. Last thing for you. Just make sure, you know, I don't know how much you follow, like, five star, the star ratings and recruiting and things. Try to, you know, keep your ear out for some potential talent, potential, you know, top potential mountaineers. Just keep an eye on one Daniel David McCollum Graham class of, I don't know, like 2042.

There you go. Keep tabs because that guy, he's going to be a specimen now. I tell you, when you see Daniel this afternoon, you let him know he's offered from Appalachian State. Yeah. He has a lot of potential and I see he's going to be a big man.

And let's say he's got a little bit of fast twitch as he moves around a little bit. So he's my kind of guy. So he's offered. It's his first official offer and we accept and accept this week.

We're moving on. We got to put that out there that some guys on your team are going to feel self-conscious like Mahomes did. Patrick Mahomes said that he watched eighth grade Bryce Young film because Cliff Kingsbury offered Bryce Young while while Pat was in school at Texas Tech. So yeah, we'll see. I don't know what other offers he has, but we appreciate his first offer being from App State.

His first onesie was a Yosef onesie. So it just makes sense. Your first offer is always the most special. So we're in it for the long haul. And again, I might not be here when he gets to that age, but I'll make sure it's on file. I love it. Thank you so much. Best of luck against Georgia Southern this week. Coach, thank you for making the time for us as always. Josh Frischhagen, congrats to you and your wife and for your beautiful son. And have a great Thanksgiving and make sure Double D is taken care of watching the good Iron Eagle this weekend.