This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.
Three internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS. Welcome to a Wednesday Drive.
It is WSJS, NewsTalk Sports for the Triad. We're up top. We remind you that this will be our last show of the week.
We'll be enjoying some time with the family over the extended Thanksgiving weekend, and we hope you will do the same. But enough of that. Let's move on.
There's a lot for us to get to, so let's get into it. Even though North Carolina's search for its next football coach won't really begin in earnest until after the holidays, and certainly after Saturday's home finale against NC State, here are two coaches that should be viewed as the best-case scenarios for the Tar Heels on the front end of the search. Those coaches are Tulane head coach John Sumrall and Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. They are the perfect candidates for this job, and they are also coaches that in a normal cycle, with several power conference openings, which we do not see in this cycle, North Carolina is the only one that is open among power schools. These would be coaches Carolina normally would not be able to hire.
They'd take better jobs than North Carolina. John Sumrall, Glenn Schumann. Here's what they have in common. They are defensive coaches that will finally bring defense back to Chapel Hill. Mac Brown didn't do it in his six seasons.
Larry Fedora didn't do it before that. So you really would have to go back 15 years to the Butch Davis era to find the last stellar stout North Carolina D. That's Marvin Austin. That's Quinton Copels. Remember a lot of guys from that defense. Kevin Reddick, thinking who some of the edge rushers would have been. Quinton Copels. Trey Boston might have been on one of those teams as a freshman.
Cersei in the secondary. A lot of really good players. We haven't seen strong defensive football in Chapel Hill in a very long time. Both Schumann's Georgia Bulldogs and Sumrall's Tulane Green Wave. Top 15 in total defense in college football. Tulane's actually top 10 in both scoring D and total D. And you kind of know what the Georgia Bulldogs have been the last few years when Schumann replaced Dan Lanning and Georgia really hasn't missed a beat on that side of the ball. But focusing in on both candidates.
Here is the case for Sumrall. He is the top up and coming head coach in all of college football. He is easily the best group of five head coach right now. When the Sunbelt was the best group of five league a couple of years ago.
You can make the argument last year too. He won the conference. Both the seasons he was the head coach at Troy. So he was the head coach at Troy 2022 and 2023. Won the Sunbelt both of those years including in the championship game against App State a year ago. Then he gets the job to replace Willie Fritz at Tulane.
The American has consistently been the best group of five league over the last decade. And he comes in and doesn't miss a beat. Tulane's currently ranked 17th in the college football playoff poll that dropped last night. All this dude does is win. He's given off Kalen DeBoer like vibes when he was flying up the coaching ranks from Fresno State to Washington. Now in his first season with Alabama.
So that's the case for Sumrall. As for Glenn Schuman he should be the next great head coach from Georgia. The Kirby Smart coaching tree is more robust than you might think.
And there are a lot of misses. Guys who come out of that program and don't turn out to have any level of success. Dan Lanning the best success story leaves Georgia immediately creates a monster out in Oregon. Mel Tucker before those allegations sunk him.
He had that massive contract that he signed. Gray in the portal had built Michigan State back up into a top 10 team. He came from Georgia. Fran Brown hired at Syracuse in the last cycle. Syracuse doing a really nice job this year. A formidable football team. Georgia here's what's most appealing about their program. They run arguably the best NIL operation across the country. And schools across the country might want to emulate that.
Including North Carolina. If North Carolina is really serious about winning in football. Well bring in a guy from that operation. Given that high batting average of assistants that have done well after leaving Georgia. And pour resources into an operation that he now leads. That should net more success in building something.
So those are the two best options. The most proven up and coming head coach. Whose best days are in front of him.
In his early 40's. Or a coach in his late 30's who hasn't been a head coach yet but comes from that operation in Georgia. Which has netted a lot of really successful head coaches. Those are the two best candidates on the board for North Carolina. Jon Sumrall from Tulane.
Glenn Shuman from Georgia. OnX at WSJS Radio. If you want in, that's where we're streaming video. In addition to YouTube and Twitch. However and wherever you are listening or watching. We greatly appreciate that.
Will Dalton, he is the executive producer of this show. WD, we got weekly positivity we're doing. And we'll do something a little bit special this time. Rather than you just telling us something good. How about, tell us something you're thankful for.
I like that twist. This Thanksgiving week. And what will people be winning if they are able to get in on weekly positivity. We have Wake Forest Duke football tickets. This Saturday, noon kick out of the Legacy Federal Credit Union Stadium in Winston-Salem. WD will be at Panthers-Bucks on Sunday. So even though we're not live over the next few days.
It's live action Tracy. Make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel. Where WD will have some content from Bank of America Stadium. On the field out that way after Panthers-Bucks this coming week. Speaking of that game.
It pains me to do this. But the Carolina Panthers are due a setback against Tampa. Everything seems great right now, right? Oh, look at the progress. Look at the growth. But if I've learned anything in following sports as long as I have. Success and growth, they are not linear. They're almost never linear. In terms of just success continuing to look like success.
And only arcing upwards without setbacks or roadblocks along the way. So while Carolina is soaring after competing with the champs. It feels that we need to be reminded because we hadn't seen it in a while.
How bad Carolina can look at points. It's been a month since we've really seen that. The Denver game seems like a long time ago.
And this feels like the perfect setting for that. Sometimes it's tougher to handle success than failure. Carolina is carrying itself as if they beat Kansas City.
News flash, they didn't. If you were in that locker room, you wouldn't know that Carolina lost the game. Usually after a loss, guys are racing to get out of there. And the locker room is just empty.
It's like the Will Smith meme in Fresh Prince. After a while you're standing on the Panther logo looking around. Where is everybody? But everybody wanted to talk after Sunday's game. Oh, that locker room was full of people wanting to talk. Because they feel good about themselves. And this team is young enough that they probably might be susceptible to believing some of the positive press.
And paying attention a lot to the positive press. So don't expect that the Panthers are going to be this hungry team Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock. Expect they're probably not going to bring the same intensity they did against the Chiefs. Against the champs coming to town. The Super Bowl element of things.
This is your Super Bowl. That's a real thing that teams struggle with. And after that game, there's letdown potential. Especially if the team that you're facing is just now hitting their stride like Tampa Bay is.
See, the Bucks, they've been forgotten over the last month. And we told you it would be difficult for them, but not to write them off. Because they were going to play a really difficult stretch. They had, in a four-game stretch, Will, Kansas City, Baltimore, and San Francisco.
It's pretty tough. So now things ease up a little bit for them, and what happens? They go to the Meadowlands in New Jersey, and they beat the Giants by nearly 30 points. That's not something you see all that often in the NFL, even if it is against Tommy DeVito. So they get Panther killer back, Mike Evans. That guy always torches the Panthers.
He's back in the lineup after being injured. They are playing for more than Carolina is. They're one back of Atlanta in the NFC South.
These are all things that factor into this. And don't forget that this is Todd Bowles against Dave Canales. Bowles, he's the veteran coach.
Three straight NFC South titles. Canales, he's the first-year head coach that came from Tampa. So you don't think that Todd Bowles has a good understanding for what Dave Canales is going to want to do? Now, from Canales' end, there's no bad blood. Here was Dave Canales talking about the weirdness of watching guys on tape that he was coaching last year.
Oh yeah, it's a lot of the crossover film, right? Because we're in the same division, so just seeing what a good job Liam's been doing with that group. Baker and the guys finding ways to have success. It was a little bit more strange earlier on in the season, but as the season goes along, we're so inundated in the things that we're doing and trying to grow here. It's kind of like, what are our guys doing as they start to get rolling on the Bucs' defense, the different challenges that they present to us from an offensive standpoint. It's just kind of seeing the things that I kind of remembered that they were doing, the wrinkles that they've gotten to since. It's Todd Bowles' defense, and he's not going to sit in the same deal and kind of let you attack him that way.
Mm-hmm, yeah. And Carolina doesn't strike me as being as savvy as Todd Bowles will be with their coach. And even though there's no bad blood from Canales' in, and who he was talking about, Liam, is Liam Cohen, the first-year Tampa Bay offensive coordinator that replaced Canales. Tampa might feel differently. In some circles, it's bad pull, it's poor pull to take coaches, poach coaches off of the staff that you're on when you leave to take a job.
And you took away a longtime assistant head coach and run game coordinator in Harold Goodwin from Bowles' staff, and you took away Joe Gilbert, their longtime offensive lineman as well. This all points to a Tampa Bay win and Tampa Bay by double digits, actually, even though the game's in Charlotte. Bucks, 31, Carolina, 20. The setback, Carolina feels due for it.
It's the Drive with Josh Graham, WSJS. Your chance to win. Tickets to see Wake Forest face Duke, noon kick in Winston-Salem this Saturday. All you have to do is give us a call on this Thanksgiving week and tell us something you're thankful for rather than just tell us something good.
336-777-1600 is the phone number. Again, 777-1600. It's something we do each week. It's time for Weekly Positivity.
Oh, yeah. I've got nipples, Greg. Can you milk me? Meet the parents, WD's movie for next week. Weekly Positivity brought to you by Biscuit King. Biscuit.
Lexington, high point. Biscuits. WD, seldom do we let you get started. Oh, yeah, thank you for that. Get us started in Weekly Positivity. What is something that you're thankful for? I'll tell you what I'm thankful for. So we've had some late nights the last couple nights with these late tips in Maui.
That is true. And I was, you know, I've been staying up and grinding out the whole night, going to bed at like 2, 3 a.m. And yesterday I was really tired, like I was feeling really sleepy during the day, just dragging a little bit. But I got so much rest last night. How much rest? I went to bed probably around 1230-ish or so. When did you wake up?
I woke up around like 730, so a good solid over seven hours, or about seven hours sleep. And I'm just feeling so well rested today. Now, part of it was because… This is not what I want to hear.
Well, you asked me what I was thankful for. I know, like it feels like you're rubbing it in. Oh, I got so much rest.
Oh, because you're not getting much rest these days. Yeah, and I get notifications now on my watch and on my phone. We have a thing called, we have one of those baby monitors. Oh, yeah. That tells me when baby's crying. And just in the last 10 minutes, baby's crying. Oh, no.
I'm also thankful the fact that I got my Christmas, I started to get my Christmas decorations out this morning. Wow. Yeah. It gets me fired up. That's good.
Let's go to Josh and Clemens. Josh, what are you thankful for? I have called in from time to time to brag about my sons. My older son is a Marine. Yeah.
My youngest son goes to Ohio State. And two weeks ago, if you remember, I called in from a hospital bed because I got in a very bad car wreck. Oh, that's right.
Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, I had two surgeries and yesterday I got discharged. And my wife didn't tell me when they rolled me out of the car to go home. My two sons were standing there. Oh, wow. That's sweet.
They had come home to take care of me and spent time over the holiday. Wow. So you're going to watch some ball tomorrow together? Is that the plan?
Well, I was going to let them go together because I'm still recovering. Oh, no, no. I mean, I'm talking about the NFL tomorrow, you know? Oh, NFL? Oh, yeah. We're definitely watching. Yeah.
Sorry, I misunderstood. Yeah, tomorrow we're definitely going to eat and watch football. Oh, well, enjoy that. I told you a few weeks ago to keep us posted. And gosh darn it, Josh and Clemons, you kept us posted. And we appreciate that. Happy Thanksgiving to Josh and Clemons. How cool was that?
It's really cool. Because he called us from the hospital bed a couple weeks ago and now he's out. His sons are back. I love good surprises.
It is. Both his call and also the surprise of his sons. That's what Thanksgiving is all about. Even though we can joke about lack of sleep and that type of thing, it's been overwhelming the outpouring of support since baby Daniel's been born.
And I'm talking about our local support system. Are you familiar with the concept of a meal train? A what? A meal train. No. Well, this is. Are there biscuits?
Can be. People sign up to bring you meals so you don't have to worry about meals while you're like super tired, not wanting to cook, that type of thing. So ever since baby Daniel's been born, two or three times a week, people come over and bring stuff.
Wow. And we put it up on, we shared it amongst a few friends. And we're booked out through the middle of December.
People just wanting to help us out. And last night, won't say the name of the place because it's not a sponsor, but somebody brought some barbecue over. Good barbecue?
Oh, the works. It's like you've got your own meal prep service. It was like, it was pulled pork, chicken, brisket, mac and cheese, beans, slaw, banana pudding, fries, all of it. It was just chef's kiss perfect.
Beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes. Oh, it's that time. I can't wait. Do you want to find that song? Yeah, I would. And have us bump back to it? I think I will. In about five minutes? Yeah. Anywho, that's been Weekly Positivity.
You know what else is good? Both the Carolina Hurricanes and the Charlotte Hornets, they're at home tonight on the docket. The Carolina Hurricanes are facing the New York. The Canes are facing the New York Rangers. I don't know this.
This is what you call an educated guess. But I imagine it's going to be Spencer Martin that's in the night for Carolina since Piotr Kochekov is in the concussion protocol and Freddie Anderson is going to be out for a few weeks. Carolina, after losing Kochekov in overtime against the Blue Jackets, didn't really need a great goalie on Monday night in Raleigh as Carolina beat Dallas 6-4. Tonight it's the New York Rangers. And the Rangers are really good. Carolina is really good.
So this should be a fun game. And then Carolina gets the defending champs on back-to-back nights Friday and Saturday. Florida Panthers in Raleigh Friday and then the Panthers hosting the Canes on Saturday.
That's what the Canes have going on. The Charlotte Hornets, this is interesting. So Lamelo Ball has, ever since he was benched last week against the Nets, he's been going off. He had 35 points in Charlotte's win against the Detroit Pistons last Thursday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. He had 50. Against the Orlando Magic a couple nights back, he had more than half the points for Charlotte. He had 44 of Charlotte's 84 and 11-point home loss. Kind of ominously today, Charlotte listed him on the injury report. Said with a wrist, he is probable to play tonight. So he should play, but not what you want to see with Lamelo ever.
Him on the injury report for any reason given some of the injury problems that he's had. It is the Miami Heat facing the Charlotte Hornets. Neither of these teams are really all that good. The East isn't all that good as of right now.
But you have that on tap in addition to all the college basketball as well this evening. What day is going to be worse for travel? When we get off the air right now, like drive time the day before Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving morning? What is a worse time to drive? Like if I'm, hypothetically, looking to drive on 40 and get towards Raleigh, hypothetically again, is it better that I leave right when I get off the air tonight, or is it better Thanksgiving morning? I would like to think maybe Thanksgiving morning.
I think. I feel like a lot of people are probably heading out tonight. I'm giving it a shot tonight.
We'll see what happens. Now last night, I tell you, it takes me about 30 minutes to get home from here. It took me like 45 minutes because I got behind like three different accidents on the road. Like two of them were like standstill traffic on the highway.
Another one was in Greensboro when I got off the highway. Be careful. Be careful, everyone. Keep a lookout, people. Yeah, and if you're a young person, because a lot of colleges in the area here, or if you're just back in town from college for the weekend, stay away from the X, okay?
Yeah, totally do that. Apparently tonight is like a big, for young people, a big night out. Is that right?
Where people go back to some of the old places and you might run into people. I've totally never taken part in that at all. Bad idea.
Yeah, it is. Bad idea to go back in the past, if you will. So we'll throw that out there as well. Let's go, baby.
What, kind of like this? Let's go. The Drive with Josh Graham. There are three college football games I can promise you will not be on the card when we do best bets 15 minutes from now. Coming off one of our best weeks of the season, actually, we've had two outstanding weeks that have put us 6 over 500 for the season, three games that I'll be staying away from, which also WD might be the three college football games I'm most interested in watching over the extended Thanksgiving break. It starts at noon on Friday. Navy at East Carolina. No way I'm touching this.
No shot in the world. So East Carolina opened as a one-point favorite against Navy. Then, I think people probably figured out, oh, ECU always loses the Navy and Navy always scores a million points against the Pirates. So then, as of Monday morning, that line moved to Navy minus a point against the Pirates.
Okay. What did we learn Monday? East Carolina is keeping Blake Harrell as its coach.
He had the interim tag officially removed off of him the day after a Board of Trustees meeting. East Carolina is now a two-and-a-half-point favorite against Navy. Navy has looked dead over the last couple of weeks. So that game, it could be East Carolina winning by two touchdowns, and it's Blake Harrell having the crowning moment five in a row to close the regular season, and he's East Carolina's guy.
Or Navy can do what Navy's always done against the Pirates and rise up and drop 60. I don't know. I don't know which of the two it's going to be. I hope it's the former. I do.
I really do. I don't know that. So I can't wait to watch it Friday at noon, but I don't know what's going to happen. Then you get to Saturday afternoon, a game I'll be at, NC State, North Carolina.
Again, your guess is as good as mine. I think North Carolina will win the game. Carolina is favored by three-and-a-half.
That sounds about right. But it also could be NC State caring about this game again more than North Carolina does. Oh, but it's Mac Brown's last game. Okay. NC State's playing for bowl eligibility, and State's won the last three times against Carolina.
Who knows? Then you get to Saturday night. Or actually, this is a nooner on Saturday. Clemson, South Carolina. This is another one, Will. If you're just stacking up talent, I think South Carolina has more of it than Clemson does.
That was a troll. I like Sellers as a quarterback more than I like Cade Clubnick. I do. South Carolina's having a really good year. Shane Beamer against Dabo Swinney. This feels like an awesome game. But sometimes the better team doesn't win. And it's in Death Valley where Clemson doesn't lose all that often, just a complete toss-up during Rivalry Week.
So when we do best bets in just a bit, those games, I can promise you, will not be on the card. The Drive is brought to you in part by our friends at Tar Heel Basement Systems. WD, it's the holidays. Everyone loves driving around, looking at the twinkling lights, the yard decorations, that type of thing. But sometimes beautiful decorations can't hide a leaning brick porch or a cracked and sloping concrete driveway or uneven sidewalks. That's a tripping hazard, by the way. So if that's you, you should get Tar Heel Basement Systems to come out and help. Their concrete lifting solution here to save the day, keeping your family, keeping your neighbors safe from tripping hazards in your home looking great. Schedule a free visit with Tar Heel Basement Systems.
Team of experts by going to tarheelbasementsystems.com today. Here's the question. Is the ACC better in football right now than it is basketball? In the spring, this would seem like an absurd question. Maybe with a few exceptions over the last 75 years, 70 years of the league's existence, it would seem absurd at any point to ask that question.
Almost sacrilege to ask that question. But this year feels like one of those exceptions. The ACC right now is better in football than it is basketball. This is something you've got to grapple with. You've got to recognize reality when you see it.
If you disagree, by all means, 336-777-1600. The ACC right now is better in football than it is in basketball and look no further than this week's rankings. Both the CFP rankings and in the AP poll, three of the top 12 teams will, in football, are from the ACC. Three of the top 12. Miami, SMU, and the Clemson Tigers. In basketball, Duke of Carolina are the only ranked teams, neither are ranked in the top 10, and both lost last night. And then when you look further, like if you look at both AP polls, you have the others receiving votes category. There are six teams in football that are receiving votes, which means they're close to getting into the top 25. ACC basketball has Pittsburgh.
So, better at the top, deeper, what else do you want to look at? And then, well how about championship pedigree, Josh? The ACC basketball has championship pedigree in a way the ACC in football does not.
Does it anymore? Because strangely, ACC football might not have a lot of it, but it has more than basketball does currently. After Tony Bennett's retirement, none of the ACC's head coaches, active head coaches, have won a national championship.
It's the first time for this league since 1981-1982. Meanwhile, as of right now, two of the three active head coaches in all of college football that have national titles come from the ACC. Mac Brown and Dabo Swinney. Mac Brown about to be fired, which means, as of Saturday, this will be a crazier stat. That in the entire sport, a sport that has 130 FBS teams, only two men across the entire sport, active head coaches, have won a national championship. Dabo Swinney and Kirby Smart.
That's the list. Saban retiring last year, Jim Harbaugh leaving to the NFL. The start in basketball, it's concerning. You had the Q3, Q4 losses that piled up last week. North Florida beating Georgia Tech. The loss that Jacksonville, the Dolphins of the 8th, Sun, delivered to Virginia Tech in the castle.
Elon beating Notre Dame. These are bad losses. And until Louisville blasted Indiana today, Duke's win at Arizona was really the only win you could write home about the entire conference had. So they really need those Louisville Cardinals and Clemson and Wake and NC State to emerge in a way that they aren't right now. Pittsburgh as well.
As of now, currently, the ACC is better in football than it is basketball. 3-3-6, 7-7-1, 600 if you want in. Let's go to Dave in Clemens who wants in. Dave, are you with me? What's up, JG?
I am. Our basketball conference has unfortunately fallen off. When Tony Bennett retired, I called in and said, Josh, we've lost all our coaching legends, right? Bennett, Bayhimes, Coach K, Roy Williams, all the legends are gone and they got me to thinking. When those legends were there, our second tier coaches like Skip Prosser, Seth Greenberg, Buzz Williams, Jamie Dixon, Mike Bray, those guys were great coaches as well. Not the legends, but great coaches. That was our middle tier. All those guys are gone as well, right? And not only did Bray and those guys retire, but Jamie Dixon jumped to TCU and is doing a great job out there. Buzz Williams has got a Top 25 program at Texas A&M. So we have lost our coaching talent to other leagues and I think it's starting to show.
Yeah, I'm with you. I will say this, Jamie Dixon wasn't the most effective coach. He was consistent. I like what Jeff Caple's doing at Pittsburgh. They should have made the tournament last year and I think they are a tournament team this year. Some of the other ones that you mentioned there, you're right about losing Buzz Williams. I thought Mike Young would be better than he is this year and he's had some success at Virginia Tech. I mean, the dude won an ACC championship, didn't he?
Yeah, he beat Paulo Bancaro in that ACC championship game just a few years ago. The only time Virginia Tech's won a conference title. So there's still some quality coaches, but I wouldn't call Buzz Williams, Jamie Dixon, and I'm not saying you were, put them in the legend status. There are a lot of good coaches in this league and with the resources Duke, Carolina, and Louisville have, those are the three programs, I think, that are going to have to carry this league into the future. And Louisville winning today in a blowout, I think, is a much bigger deal beating a top 15 Indiana team by close to 30.
A much bigger deal than I think it will get credit for nationally. Looking up at my screen here, Gonzaga, looking like they're going to survive. They were up five, now they're up two. West Virginia hits a three, it's 71-69 with 18.9 to go. After a seven and two week last week, we got seven picks on the card for this week. We'll share those with you next on The Drive. The Drive with Josh Graham, only on WSJS. We went seven and two last week.
Let me say that again. Seven wins, two losses. Which means we're now six games over 500 for the season.
That's pretty darn good. We're not content though. We're not fat and happy about that. 53 and 47 on the season. This week's card, we're handing it out today because we're not live tomorrow or on Friday. We're doing both college football and we're doing the NFL on the same day rather than splitting it up. That's what we got. Seven picks are on the card right here. Only a couple for the NFL.
Conflicted. Really want to pick the Carolina Panthers game. Want to pick the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in that, but I resisted there. Well, looks like Gonzaga's not out of the woods just yet. Number three Gonzaga facing West Virginia. The same West Virginia team that had the breaks beat off of them by Pittsburgh in the backyard brawl a couple weeks back. So Gonzaga had the ball with eight seconds left, up two, and Nolan Hickman turned it over.
Tucker Devries was the guy who stole it. He brings it down. He goes up and he gets fouled. Hits both free throws.
Just hit a second one and then they just took a quick time out just then. So five seconds Gonzaga with the time out. 71 71 Gonzaga having the ball. We'll keep it right here before we get to best bets because now we got it on our screen here. That's it. Gonna do our best play by play impression. 71 all. This is the battle for Atlantis.
Hashtag feast week. Five point nine seconds to go. They're showing West Virginia's coach on the screen. Apparently none of these coaches tuck in their their polo shirts.
They look ridiculous. I I could not tell you who West Virginia's coaches. If you put four names on the screen and said one of them was West Virginia's coach. Mark Few looks like he's ticked off and wants to go home.
And great analysis. That's what I'm here for. And eventually I think they'll let Andrew Nimhar inbound this basketball and keep playing the final five seconds.
Eventually, I think that'll happen because I kind of have a show that we're just a little bit trying to do here. We're huddling. We got refs talking to assistant coaches now. A refs clapping his hands. Hey, let's go. I agree with said referee.
He's turning his arm saying, come on, let's play basketball. Yes, let's. West Virginia coach Greg Smith. Shout out to Greg. I'm just kidding. I made that name up.
Oh, but you know what? You bought me some time to Google the real name. It's Darian DeVries, which I imagine is related to the DeVries that you just mentioned in your analysis. I think we're about ready to play. But now we got West Virginia players, including the DeVries kid, wondering what the heck's going on. And he's got his arms outstretched. And we got a late substitution by some guy named Huff.
It looks a lot like Chet Holmgren, just a foot shorter. Are they going to go the length of the court and win this basketball game? Oh, boy. Now we're going to defend on ball in the inbounder. Let's go.
Seventy one seventy one. The ball's inbounded. Nimard has it. It's off the battle. Battle is assaulted. They don't call it. Where was the whistle? We're going to OT.
Where? Seventy one all between Gonzaga and West Virginia. Stan Cotton, I'm coming for you. Now let's hand out some picks and best bets. I'm not a betting duck.
Care to make it interesting? You know you do. You're on. Call me in on this. Your best bet. But my money's on the other team. This is Josh's best bet. About as anticlimactic as that could be.
That's the beauty of live radio, where sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Just got to get shots up. We've been getting shots up with the picks again.
Seven over or make it six over five hundred for the season, seven and two last week. Five college picks, two in the NFL. Let's begin with college football on Black Friday. Georgia Tech is at Georgia between the hedges.
What do we know about Brent Key? His team shows up when they play ranked ranked squads. Do I think they win the game?
I don't. But Georgia labored a little bit with UMass last week. Georgia Tech's had a little bit more time to prepare. Last time we saw them, they were at home against NC State. Maybe caught looking ahead to this game a bit. I'm going to focus on the first half, Will. Georgia Tech plus ten and a half first half at the Georgia Bulldogs.
Saturday, noon slate. We're on Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt plus eleven against my vols against Tennessee.
Diego Pavia is saying that games like this are life and death. Diego Pavia, Tennessee versus Tennessee. The game is in Nashville and we're going to roll with Vandy because of this stat right here that Brett McMurphy posted on social media today. W.D., there have been 27 games this year between SEC teams where an SEC team was a double digit underdog. Against the spread, how many of those underdogs covered out of 27? I'm going to say 20. 23 is the answer.
85 percent of them, 23 and 4. I'm going to say it's 24 and 4 and say Vandy keeps it tight against Tennessee at home. We have to include an ACC play somewhere and we're not going to get cute this week, Will. One of our two losses last week was saying, let's look at the team total with SMU.
They didn't get a two-point conversion and that's why they ended up with 33 when we needed them to score 35. We're just going to lay it with SMU. SMU minus 13 and a half at home against the Calgorithm. Cal, emotional comeback.
They're putting it on t-shirts, Will. Fernando Mendoza in his emotional post-game interview said that he's never going to forget going 98 yards with his boys. Now, you're going a little bit further than 98 yards. That's what travel in the ACC is when you play at Cal. They're going to SMU. SMU has a lot to play for. Cal, they emptied the bucket and an emotional win against their rival. I say SMU wins this game going away. Style points don't hurt as well when you're in the CFP mix. Lay the points with SMU.
Uh, elsewhere. WD, do we like laying a lot of points? Is that something we normally do? No, we're not huge on that. Nah, we like underdogs generally.
But WD, this is an exception. They're eating the dogs. I think Oregon's about to eat the dogs. Big underdogs.
And also, aren't Huskies dogs? They're facing Washington. Do you know how many times Dan Lanning has beaten Washington? I don't.
The answer's zero. He's never beaten Washington. Two heartbreaking losses last year. I don't think Dan Lanning's forgotten that.
And the last time we've seen Dan Lanning's team, number one team in the country, they nearly lost to Bucky in Madison. So they've had the week off, they're facing Washington, their biggest rival. It's an 18 and a half point spread.
I don't think that's enough. Washington is going to play 60 against, uh, Oregon's going to play 60 against Washington. I mean, lay the 18 and a half points. Last college game, blindly taking Texas A&M against Texas. A&M plus five and a half, WD. Texas' best win is against Vanderbilt.
Mike Elko, he's going to have something defensively for Quinn Ewers, who I think is overrated. A&M, they're coming off a loss, and they've been circling this game forever. The rivalry is back within the SEC, within conference. And A&M has a lot to play for, trying to get to the SEC championship game, potentially get into the college football playoff. And we know they've been focusing on this game, Will. Did you see Mike Elko's quote last week?
No, what'd he say? Mike Elko was talking about their focus being on Auburn, not on Texas. Except what he said was, our focus is on Texas. I mean, Auburn.
Hmm. They're going to be ready for Saturday night under the lights in College Station. Two more in the NFL to hand out. We like the Falcons, plus two and a half against the Chargers. WD, Atlanta's off a bye. Atlanta, they're facing a West Coast team that's on a short week. Monday night football that has to play one o'clock on the East Coast.
That's generally not a recipe for success. Give me Atlanta, plus the points. I think the wrong team's favored here. And then I'm going to tail my brother's pick. Broncos minus five and a half against the Cleveland Browns. All his picks win. They win in routes. Denver, yes, that's a tough place to play.
Cleveland, they're due a setback after beating Pittsburgh last week. Do I include Bucks minus six and a half here? Do I do it? You know what? You think the Bucks are going to win by double digits. So why not just include that on the card here? That's what I'm telling you to do.
I say put your money where your mouth is. Tampa minus six. Let me see if I can get a better number than that. Give me that cash out, family.
Let's see if I can find something that's better than that right now. So that way you've got to capitalize on the best number, Will Dalton. You know what I'm saying?
I do know what you're saying. Because if there's a five and a half out there, I will happily take the five and a half with Tampa. I see six at one place. I see six at another. We're keeping tabs on things here.
This is live action, Tracy, in the realest form. Recapping what we're doing real quick before we get to that final number. Georgia Tech plus ten and a half first half at Georgia. Vandy at home plus eleven against Tennessee. We're on SMU lane, the points against Cal. We have a lot of points that we're laying with. Oregon against Washington minus eighteen and a half.
Texas A&M sign us up. Plus five and a half against Texas. Falcons plus two and a half against the Chargers. And I got a five and a half, Will Dalton.
There you go. I got a five and a half on Fandle. We're going to take half. Falcons plus the Bucks minus five and a half at the Carolina Panthers. Got eight.
Got eight. And we're handing out this week. So Jimmy Buffett, final stretch of our week. We're not live on Thanksgiving Day. We'll be carrying football all day.
We're not live on Friday either on Black Friday. So enjoy your leftovers. Enjoy the football and basketball. Hashtag feast week. We'll be back with you next Monday. But since we are listening to Jimmy Buffett, that means that David Glenn from NC Sports Network is joining us. You can catch the David Glenn show on his YouTube channel at ncsportsnetwork.com.
A lot of ways you can consume DG who joins us each week. There's football. There's basketball for us to get to. But we must start with the big news of yesterday. What angle do you find most interesting about North Carolina's decision to fire Mac Brown? I'm probably most intrigued by where they go next simply because I've known Mac Brown truly since he was hired the first time in 1987. I was at his press conference as a student when he was hired.
He and I have had a lot of jokes about that over the years because we're both gray now and we both had brown hair back then. But I've gotten to know him really well. So it didn't surprise me that he was going to be somewhat defiant and stubborn. And I believe I've earned more time. And UNC's Bubba Cunningham faced a tricky decision because some very deep pocketed and high influence UNC boosters were in favor of Mac Brown getting more time.
And you know how this stuff works behind the scenes, Josh. There is a zero percent chance that Carolina failed to give Mac Brown the option of stepping away gracefully without having to classify this as a dismissal. Which means Mac Brown said no to that option and Bubba Cunningham had to fire him.
So it's not a happy ending in that sense. But Mac Brown both deserves credit. I mean, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, Carolina fans should be incredibly thankful, not just for what he did in the 1990s where he built two of the best teams in the history of that school's football program. But I'd argue he also deserves some thanks for these last six years where they were interesting again.
They are going to six straight bowls. You know, they signed Sam Howell who had been committed to Florida State and Drake May who had been committed to Alabama. And those guys played for the Tar Heels instead and were part of these energizing teams. But looking forward, I think Bubba Cunningham made a clear headed decision. Portal recruiting wasn't good this last year.
High school recruiting is not good right now. And there are fair questions about any head coach who will have his 74th birthday next summer under those sorts of circumstances. The analogy I made yesterday in terms of what's next for North Carolina is where Wake Forest was in 2020, where there usually are 10 to 12 high major changes that happen each cycle in college basketball. But because it was a month after the pandemic hit, Wake Forest was the only one. And they hired a coach that they probably wouldn't be able to hire at Wake if the normal amount of competitors and suitors were out there looking at the pool of candidates. North Carolina, a lot to do with the looming revenue sharing and house settlement across college sports. The only power conference school to make a change up to this point, which means easily it's the most appealing job across college football right now.
There's opportunity with that. To me, my criteria is two-pronged. Best coach available regardless of the normal ties to the area conversation that happens with these searches. And for me, defensive background because it's been 15 years since the Tar Heels sported a respectable defense, which is why names like John Summerall at Tulane stand out, Georgia D.C., Glenn Schuman as well.
What is your criteria for North Carolina if you were leading this search? Yeah, unlike on the basketball side where every Carolina search for everybody's lifetime has included looking for those UNC ties, right? And that went horribly wrong when they reached all the way for Matt Dougherty way back when.
I don't think on the football side Carolina has to take that approach at all. Although a prominent NFL assistant coach, Arthur Smith, is a former UNC offensive lineman and a former NFL head coach whose father happens to be the founder of FedEx. That might not hurt on the financial side if they decided to give Arthur Smith a call.
But Bubba Cunningham knew this was coming, Josh. He may not have been sure which year it was going to come. But when you have a coach in his 70s, you better have that proverbial list in your back pocket about where you want to go, what is your budget, whom do you think you can get, et cetera. So I find John Summerall intriguing as well. Oddly enough, Carolina found Mack Brown at Tulane the first time way back when.
I find Georgia's defensive coordinator intriguing. I don't think I do think regional ties help. I do think having been a college head coach before helps. But I wouldn't be exclusive. I would take that wider net approach that you're describing there where if the best fit doesn't check all the boxes, that's OK. But the person has to be a fundraiser.
The person has to be a recruiter and the person has to be a staff builder. Because, as you mentioned, with these financial changes, you know, Carolina football is not wealthy the way Carolina basketball has been wealthy. And it is part of today's head coaching job description to rally boosters and inspire them to contribute to third party name image like this money, just as we're about to transition to this world where a lot of that NIL money will come straight from the universities themselves. David Glenn with us here, NC Sports Network.
You could check out his stuff. There's good news and there's bad news for the Clemson Tigers, starting with the bad news, because I always like the bad news first. Based on last night's rankings, the Clemson Tigers would be the first team out of a 12 team playoff.
But the good news is there's still some time left in the season and you got a top 15 showdown with your rival inside Death Valley Saturday afternoon. How do you feel about Clemson's picture right now? Well, I don't think it's impossible that they'll end up in the ACC title game. Of course, Miami's favorite against Syracuse. That's the expectation. It'll be Hurricanes against SMU.
But one quick wrinkle on that one. Miami has not been great on defense all year. They played in these high scoring nail biters against mediocre teams like Virginia Tech and Cal. And oh, by the way, you know who leads the ACC in passing right now? It's actually not Cam Ward.
You can win a good bar bet with that one. It's not the Miami Heisman Trophy candidate. It's Kyle McCord of Syracuse, who at Ohio State won, I think, 12 of his 13 starts for the Buckeyes.
And he has brought his winning ways and his swagger and his production to upstate New York. So I think Syracuse, I mean, who knows if the orange can stop the Hurricanes. But if they can force field goals or create turnovers, man, anything can happen there. So that would be Clemson's direct route to the playoff. Because obviously if you get into the ACC title game, you got a chance to win it.
And that means you're punching your ticket that way. In the broader sense, obviously a win over the Gamecocks would be one of the Tigers' best wins of the season. Given that this is Shane Beamer's best team in Columbia. I like the Tigers in Death Valley to win that one. But it's going to be nail-biter time, Josh, because you know the deal. There are so many moving parts among all of these fringe or edge candidates for the college football playoff, the at-large teams, that you could be left out with a win if you're Clemson.
You definitely could. But of course if you beat the Gamecocks, you're improving your chances. We just don't know yet how various three-loss teams are going to be perceived by the committee, even though we have their weekly rankings. When push comes to shove, those three-loss SEC resumes are going to be a point of contention before all is said and done. Is it possible ACC football is better than ACC basketball right now?
Gosh. Well, it is possible. And you don't say that often. And I've been covering this league for not far from 40 years at this point.
Here's the bottom line, right? I would argue, and you'd probably agree, that there's three at least really good football teams in the ACC, in SMU and Miami and Clemson. And we're only sure of two in basketball right now with Duke and Carolina.
And even they, of course, have lost, although they've lost to really, really high-end opponents, the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils. It is really a strange feeling, especially with the ACC now at 18 basketball programs, that you and I, whoever we might like besides Duke and Carolina, there is no way either you or I would get to, let's say, six teams where we would bet the ranch, the farm, and the dog that they're going to be in the NCAA tournament. I would at Duke.
I would on Carolina. It forced me, I would say, the Pitt Panthers of Jeff Caple. I might go to the Clemson Tigers after that.
And there are a handful of others that I'm intrigued by. Louisville after today, yeah. Including State and Wake. But, whew, you know, you can't be an 18-team league and only end up with four or five bids at the NCAA tournament and expect to be taken seriously.
So, the answer to your question is yes. Temporarily, ACC football might be more impressive than ACC basketball. Crazy. But I do think that's where we're at. But to close with basketball, based on both teams' early season losses, Duke and North Carolina, whose problems do you feel are easier to fix? Hmm.
That's a great question. And while you think about it, because Duke has, you know, it seems a point guard problem where you have great, talented freshmen who are turning it over at the end of games because it feels like too much is being asked of them. And then you got, with North Carolina, just no resistance in the defensive interior, no rim protection. That seems to be where they're missing Armando Bacot the most.
Armando! He's on it. So, I guess, which of those things or if there are anything you want to add, do you feel are most visible? I think my short answer would be that Duke's issues are less complicated to fix. And I think that's in part because, you know, Caleb Foster needs time to be used to being a point guard. That's not even really his primary position. Tyrese Proctor led the Devils in assists last year with 118. That is by definition a point guard, and he's being asked to essentially play on the wing this year. Reminds me of how Nolan Smith and John Shire switched places way back in 2010 when the Blue Devils won the national title after those two guys switched roles in the backcourt, basically.
We'll see. But at Duke, you have so many freshmen that you expect will be better by the end of the year as most freshmen have that, you know, harsher curve. And then you have other guys who aren't freshmen, but they're in different roles than they've been at either at their previous school with the transfers or with those two returnees in the backcourt. So I think John Shire is right where he wants to be. His latest comments after Duke's most recent loss were basically, I think we can reach our ceiling and I haven't seen anything that alarms me or prevents us from getting there over time. Whereas your UNC points is well taken. There is no magical John Henson style shot blocker on the Carolina bench waiting to be discovered.
It's just not there. So the heels are going to have to scratch and claw for rebounds and they're not going to be a great shot blocking team. And that's not an issue that's going to go away no matter what buttons Hubert Davis pushes as the coach. What are you most interested to watch over the next few days Thanksgiving wise? Are you going to have your eye more on the football or on the basketball?
I am curious about state Carolina. I just know so many people in those two fan bases where, you know, the Wolfpack fans might be mad at Dave Doran right now, but they'd be really happy if he posts his fourth straight win over the Tar Heels in the head to head rivalry. Do you have a read on that game?
Because I'm struggling to find it. I would I would back away from the way the betting window. I was cut.
I would, too. The bottom line is, look, whichever defense harasses the opposing quarterback better is going to win. And whichever team quarterback plays better under whatever pressure he faces. And I know Jacoby Criswell at Carolina is a fifth year senior, but he is brand new this year to a starting role.
C.J. Bailey of State, of course, is a true freshman, so he's brand new to this stuff. They both had very good games this year. They both had really bad games at quarterback this year. So good luck predicting what you're going to get from either of those quarterbacks against either of those defenses. And that's why I just think it's likely to end up being one of those one possession nail biters that has the fans on the edge of their seats at the end.
Here's what's strange about the game to me. You can look at State's defense and say, huh, Josh, Steve's 13th in the ACC in total defense or 15th, pardon me, their 13th in scoring defense. Carolina has Omari and Hampton. But the thing that's interesting is State's rush defense actually is held up decently. It's their back end that has had a lot of issues this year. And I don't know if North Carolina has the personnel or the quarterback play to really apply the pressure that you want in that spot. To me, I feel that's where the game's decided. If State can bottle up Omari and Hampton decently well, the Wolfpack probably win the game.
And if Omari and Hampton runs roughshod on the pack, well, I think you have your answer of where this game's headed. Yeah, Boston College followed that script to beat the Tar Heels up in Chestnut Hill and did so convincingly. On the flip side, remember Cayman Rucker's return from injury changed Carolina's season. He was invisible at Boston College, and he's been phenomenal in most of the games he's played while healthy. He missed several entirely.
He played a couple others while limited. But while healthy, he's been an absolute difference maker for the Tar Heels. Imagine the difference in the job of C.J. Bailey of NC State if Rucker harasses him the way the Tar Heels put up, what, 10 sacks against Virginia? And harassed Florida State's quarterbacks and just completely overwhelmed the Seminoles? I think you're circling the key to the game when the Tar Heels have the ball.
And I think that pass rush of Carolina is the key to the game when the Wolfpack has the ball. David Glenn, I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving, or as Chuck Amato once said, Happy Thanksgiving as NC State faces North Carolina this week. And we'll talk to you next week. We appreciate you. And I am thankful for you as well. It's always great to be with you, Josh. Good to see you, W.D. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. And I'll see you next time.
