Roddy Jones, ACC Network Analyst

Hey guys, Mike Valenny for Cash the Ticket Podcast. If you like sports betting or if you just like sports, it's the podcast for you. We try to cover all the big games and maybe some of the games you didn't even know were important.

Give you some angles, pick some winners, have a good time, and hopefully help you meander through college and pro football season. So join us a couple times a week to get all your information you need to bet the games that you watch. It's Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Mike Valenny for Cash the Ticket Podcast. If you like sports betting or if you just like sports, it's the podcast for you. We try to cover all the big games and maybe some of the games you didn't even know were important. Give you some angles, pick some winners, have a good time, and hopefully help you meander through college and pro football season. So join us a couple times a week to get all your information you need to bet the games that you watch.

It's Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Jiradi, appreciate the time as always. How are you? I am fantastic. Zach, how are you, man? Good.

I got to start you off with your alma mater. They get rid of Jeff Collins. A name has been thrown out there.

I know it's very early, right? You got to figure out what's going to happen with the athletic director, and there's a lot to go before you start thinking about a new head football coach. But that name, Deion Sanders, has been floated around. Would you be on board if your athletic department elected to hire Deion Sanders at Georgia Tech? I would be on board with whoever they decide to hire because I think all alums should get on board and support the new head coach.

That being said, I don't think Deion Sanders is going to be the new head coach. And I think there would be a large contingent of Georgia Tech fans that would be against it before the hire, and here's why. I think primarily at the fundamental base of it, you're talking about a coach of an FCS program, and the only coach from an FCS program whose name is being thrown around is Deion Sanders because of his name. There's the fundamental thing of transitioning from a program of that size to an FCS program, and just the stuff that comes along with that from a media perspective, from a recruiting perspective, all of that. In some ways, him being able to sneak up on bigger programs at Jackson State would be easier than being an obvious target at Georgia Tech or any FCS program, so there's that. The other thing is I think that Jackson State has been able to have some advantages that Georgia Tech certainly wouldn't have.

His flexibility of getting players in would not happen at Georgia Tech because of the academic restrictions as much, and I think inexperience with that would be a part of it, certainly. So there's hurdles for Deion Sanders or any FCS coach to jump through that I think would make it more difficult. And then on top of that, it's a very small sample size, which people would be uneasy with, and then the biggest game that they played last year, which I would consider the celebration bowl. It's a little strange because it is somewhat of a bowl game.

They didn't perform very well. South Carolina State kind of whooped them in that game. So when you look at all of those things, it would lead you to saying no, but then Deion Sanders' name carries enough to get him in the conversation. So I don't think Georgia Tech is going to go that way.

I see the name thrown out a bunch. I've had to answer that question a bunch, but no, I don't think it's got a chance. I think it would be an exciting hire. I just wonder if Deion Sanders, and I know the connections with Atlanta, would want to go to Georgia Tech. I would personally rather see Deion go to the SEC, have all those resources, and could really make an impact on the recruiting trail now with the way that NIL goes down.

Sure. If an SEC school wants to take the chance, I think it would be interesting. The reason that I think most of the media thinks it would be an exciting hire is because of the Travis Hunter flip. NIL would be a big part of it, but would he come in and automatically start out recruiting Georgia and Texas A&M?

Maybe, but he's going to need to go to a place that has the resources that those have and then throws those resources out there. I think the novelty of it makes it an exciting hire, but other than that, the stuff behind it, I'm just not convinced of because of the small sample size. Rodney Jones here with us. NC State, Clemson, I'm really excited for this game.

I know we had you on before the start of the season. You were talking about how Cade Klubnick is probably going to take over at some point. DJ just played a really good game up against Wake Forest. Offense and defense, though, couldn't get on the same page. What are your expectations this week for DJ Wenguele up against NC State? All of this is weather permitting because it's supposed to be a downpour in Clemson, so the ability to throw the ball is going to be hampered by that. NC State's defense is a really good defense, and a lot of the stuff that they did against Wake Forest, challenging their corners, making plays on jump balls down the field, is going to be tougher against NC State simply because those guys are bigger. NC State's corners are more equipped to deal with some of that stuff than Wake's are, although Wake's had great positioning and great technique on a lot of those throws.

We'll see, man. The down-the-field throws that he made statistically are low percentage throws, so can he continue to complete them at the rate that he did a week ago? I'm a little skeptical of that, although he was accurate at the short and intermediate game as well. His supporting cast needs to continue to help him.

I thought they did a great job using tight ends with positioning to help give him reads and tells. I thought they did a really good job of that against Wake Forest, so that'll have to continue. On the deep throws, there will be some regression to the mean at some point. You just can't keep those at a 60% rate the entire season.

But he's played better. I thought at the beginning of the year, Cade Klubnick would be the quarterback at some point. Dabo Swinney has been adamant about playing D.J.

Ouyeong'o'o'o'o, even in blowouts. Cade Klubnick has got limited action. They believe in D.J. He's going to be the quarterback the rest of the year, barring injury or something ridiculous happening in terms of where he's at now and him playing a lot worse. So they're behind him and he's going to have to continue this level of play if they're going to continue the standard that we're accustomed to the last almost decade. What's your confidence level that they'll be in the college football playoff this year? All of that is contingent on what happens elsewhere. They could be in as a one-loss team if stuff goes haywire in other parts of the world. Because from what I saw from Michigan last week, what's my confidence level with Michigan getting the Ohio State game undefeated? What's your confidence level in Ohio State?

So I think a lot of that depends. I'm pretty confident that they'll win the ACC. They're the best team. They've got the best defensive line. The supporting cast is coming along on offense.

And D.J. 's playing better. Now, will that be good enough to get them in the college football playoffs? If they're undefeated, certainly. Will they get through unscathed?

I don't know. I think everyone is susceptible to a down game. And if you look back at the years that Clemson's made the college football playoffs, they've made it a couple times with a loss. So will they get through this slate when you've got five ranked teams in the Atlantic, they play Miami, who looks like a dumpster fire right now, but they have the talent to straighten things up by the end of November when they play. So I think if you made me put my feet to the fire, I'd say, yeah, it's probably a college football playoff team because I think they get through undefeated because I think they're the best team in the ACC. Talking to Roddy Jones, obviously weather permitting, Wake Forest and Florida State this weekend. Explain this one to me.

And maybe this is Vegas, though, and something I don't know. And I have a lot of respect for the job that Mike Norvell has done this year. Seven point favorite in a game between the 22nd team in the country against the 23rd team in the country? Explain that one to me, how Florida State's favored by seven points. I thought that was a lot for them to be favored, but I wouldn't have minded if Florida State was favored, but I thought seven points was a lot. But Florida State's played really well. The defensive line is really good. And good defensive line have tended to really have their way with Wake Forest. Now, it didn't happen last week against Clemson. I thought Wake did an excellent job in protection, not just of each individual making their block, but the running backs and Sam Hartman making them right when a guy did miss a block.

And then challenging down the field. I think if you look at that Clemson game and you saw the number of pass interference penalties that Clemson committed to help move Wake down the field, which eventually helped them score. I think you look at the way Wake Forest's defense played against the Clemson team that was able to make plays down the field. I mean, Florida State has a Johnny Wilson who's six foot seven, so you think they can have some success there. They've got a Malik McLean who's a big player.

Deuce Spann is a big receiver. I mean, you look at that running game. It's the best rushing offense in the ACC. And you think, wow, can Wake Forest duplicate what they did against Clemson a week ago in the run game? So it's a lot of factors that lead you to Florida State probably winning. But Wake Forest is a mature team and they have a mature offensive line, a mature quarterback that's going to be able to handle the moment. So I thought seven was a little much for Florida State to be favored. But I do think Florida State is going to win the game because it feels like this Florida State has sort of been building. This Florida State team has been building towards moments like this. I was disappointed with Arkansas last weekend, Roddy Jones.

They got off to that good start. And then once they were up 14-0 and they allowed that fumble to get returned to tie up the game, they just had nothing else. Alabama-Arkansas this weekend, is this a close competitive game? Because the one time we've seen Alabama go up against a legit team this year, if you want to call Texas a legit team, but a step up in competition, that was a close game and we knew Texas lost their quarterback.

Yeah, K.J. Jefferson is going to have to play well if they're going to make it a close game. My question about Alabama is how much of the stuff that we saw outside of, or in that Texas game, the penalties, the shots down the field that Quinn Hughes was able to hit, how much of that creeps in in this Arkansas game?

Last year K.J. Jefferson had a great game, threw for over 300 yards, Tre'Lon Burks went off, played like 180 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Arkansas doesn't have Tre'Lon Burks.

They don't have the receiver of that caliber, although Jaden Hazelwood has been very good for them. And Arkansas has been able to get after the quarterback, but a lot of those sacks that they got came against the worst competition that they faced. So if they're able to get to Bryce Young, then I think it can be a close game because Alabama's receivers have not been world beaters this year. But they're going to have to find – Arkansas, I mean, is going to have to find a way to challenge Texas down the field, and I don't know that they have the personnel to do it.

They just haven't been able to do it consistently enough. And look, I know Texas A&M has a pretty good defense, but from what we've seen from Texas A&M this year, you know, Miami's not very good on offense. They have multiple opportunities in the red zone, and I think that Texas A&M group, while they're talented, they're young in spots so they can be gotten. So I would expect Alabama to handle their business this week. It's the Tennessee game in a couple weeks that I'd be the most worried about for them. So you're that optimistic on Tennessee after that 4-0 start? Yeah, I think Tennessee's going to score points on everybody, including Alabama.

Yeah, Hooker's a good quarterback. Yeah, if you can challenge Alabama by getting them in a game where you've got to put up points, I'd love to see that. I mean, Texas looked like they were going to be able to do it, and then when Uris gets hurt, it kind of becomes a little bit of a slog. So Tennessee is going to be a challenge. That game is in Knoxville.

It's going to be ridiculously crazy. And so that kind of looks like a spot where Alabama could get gotten, but I mean, I would still pick Alabama and favor them in the game. For the third-best team in the SEC, is that Tennessee, or do you lean Kentucky? I was leaning Kentucky before the year. The way Tennessee has played, I'm starting to become more convinced that it's Tennessee, but I'll still go with Kentucky right now because, I mean, Tennessee still needed some later roachs to beat Florida, and I don't think Florida is that good. I think they're good. I don't think they're that good. So I'll still go with Kentucky for now.

Wrap it up with Roddy Jones. An Oklahoma State Baylor, is Spencer Sanders the difference in this one? Yeah, I think so. I think when you look at this Baylor team, Blake Shippen hasn't exactly duplicated the level of success that they had at the quarterback position last year. And this Oklahoma State team has sort of flipped back to a wide open offense, like let's throw it over the field team.

They've been putting up crazy numbers. Got some questions about the defense a little bit, but yeah, I don't think this is as close a game or games as they played last year. I think Oklahoma State wins it.

I think Spencer Sanders is the difference in that game. Before we let you run, the Pac-12, USC has impressed. We know Utah gets USC.

I know they had that tough loss to Florida, opened up the year. I've been impressed with Washington as well. How do you kind of evaluate this Pac-12 this season? I love the Pac-12.

Washington's got a big one tomorrow, or what's today Wednesday? Washington's got a big one on Friday against UCLA. USC has been unbelievably, I don't know if it's lucky, I think it is luck. When you've gotten 14 turnovers and you haven't turned the ball over once, there's going to be some sort of regression of the mean.

So what does that look like? Oregon State turned the ball over four times, and it still took, again, some late heroics from USC to go win that game. USC does not look to me like a team that's going to get through this thing undefeated. They've got UCLA on the schedule, obviously. They've got Utah on the schedule.

Neither does Washington. I think it's going to be another year where they sort of beat each other up in the Pac-12, but it is going to be a fascinating conference. Those two conferences, the Big 12 and the Pac-12, I don't think there's a bad team in the Big 12. From top to bottom, I think every team is pretty good. And then in the Pac-12, the bottom is certainly bad, but you look at Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC, Utah, you've got some really quality football teams that all are capable of ending up in that top two and playing in the Pac-12 championship game.

Yeah, I'm glad you bring up Oregon. I just don't know what to make about Bo Nix. Sometimes he looks so bad, and then he has that moment when his back is up against the wall where he looks so great. He's the most confusing player to me in college football. Yes, welcome to the Bo Nix experience. It's been that way for years, but jeez.

I know, and look, it's still confounding, and it's still exciting, and it's still frustrating, and it is all of those things. But if they can figure out a way, if Kenny Dillingham, the offensive coordinator, can figure out a way to harness that and just bring it, like you don't even have to have the peaks. If you can bring the peaks down a little bit and bring the valleys up a little bit and have them somewhere in the middle, then it's a team that's good enough to do whatever they want to do in the Pac-12. I mean, it is a very talented football team. Is it still Georgia and then everybody else, or do you put more stock in Alabama and Ohio State right now? The pedigree of Alabama, you can't kick them out. In the offensive Ohio State, you have to include them in there. But, look, Georgia's offense is drastically improved as well. Throw out the Kent State game, every team is going to have a game where they just don't care. That was Georgia's, and I think they're going to be coached hard because of it. The offense is much better. The defense, while they're inexperienced and they're not as sound as they were a year ago, they are extremely talented and they will get after you. Like, they still take pleasure in bludgeoning people. Nolan Smith and Jalen Carter on the defensive line really set the tone.

Keely Ringo's a fantastic corner. So, they will still be up there. They play on the half of the conference that's not quite as difficult, although with Florida the way they're playing, Kentucky, Tennessee, it is more difficult than we thought.

So, I think it's Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama off pedigree, and then there's sort of a gap until you hit Michigan, Clemson, and some of the rest of those teams. Roddy Jones, thanks so much. Appreciate the time.

Yeah, you got it, Zach. Hey guys, Mike Villani for Cash the Ticket Podcast. If you like sports betting or if you just like sports, it's the podcast for you. We try to cover all the big games and maybe some of the games you didn't even know were important.

Give you some angles, pick some winners, have a good time, and hopefully help you meander through college and pro football season. So, join us a couple times a week to get all your information you need to bet the games that you watch. It's Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Mike Villani for Cash the Ticket Podcast. If you like sports betting or if you just like sports, it's the podcast for you. We try to cover all the big games and maybe some of the games you didn't even know were important. Give you some angles, pick some winners, have a good time, and hopefully help you meander through college and pro football season. So, join us a couple times a week to get all your information you need to bet the games that you watch. It's Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.