NCAAF Best Bets: SMU Debuts in ACC Against Nevada + More
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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid, week zero of college football is here and
00:07while there are only a handful of games, the prime time game Saturday night is SMU making
00:12their ACC debut on the road against Nevada and calling the game on television for CBS
00:18Sports Network is Rich Waltz and always excited to have Rich here on the show, in my opinion
00:24one of the most versatile and best broadcasters in the industry and so excited to have him
00:29back here on Newswire, great to see you, thanks for coming on.
00:34Thank you for that, it's week zero, which means I know less than zero about these teams
00:42when I started to prep because in this day and age of college football there's so much
00:46transfer portal stuff, NIL is fueling that, coaches leave, players follow them, programs
00:53change coaches like Nevada has and they're somewhat of a mystery but SMU is one of the
00:59teams that you have a pretty good idea of who they are, they have returned or are returning,
01:05their seven top receivers from last year, they've got a really good quarterback, Preston
01:10Stone led the American last year, of course they're stepping up in play, they are headed
01:15to the ACC, their pick seventh in the ACC, but this group is relatively intact, Rhett
01:22Lashley is in his third year, they've got weapons on the outside, they kind of run the
01:28spread but with a power running game, which is a fun little wrinkle there.
01:33And then Nevada changed coaches for the third time in like four years and Jeff Choate is
01:44their head coach, he's a guy that's had success at Montana State, took him to the national
01:49semifinals and that's a natural progression in coaching circles now, you have someone
01:55that at a lower level has success like he has and then he left to be the defensive coordinator
02:00at Texas.
02:01So there's the resume at Montana State, that 11-4 and then the last couple years he was
02:08been the defensive coordinator at a power, I guess it's power four now school, so that's
02:15kind of the setup and really, I mean I'll even show you the difference right now.
02:21So look, here's SMU's depth chart, okay, so nice and pretty, I got a little bit of
02:26stuff going in there.
02:28Here's Nevada's depth chart and it's kind of empty because there's a lot of, yeah, there's
02:34a lot of mystery there, you know, their quarterback is somewhat known, Brendan Lewis, he was the
02:40starter at Colorado, he's one of the guys that left a couple years ago, he got knocked
02:46around last year, they won two games last year, they gave up 41 sacks, so, but I will
02:53go this direction because I've learned in this business you can never say, well, you
02:58know, on paper these guys, this should be an easy game for SMU, last year I had Nevada
03:05at home and completely different coaching staff, almost a complete different roster
03:10and Kansas came to Reno and Kansas was a pretty good team and Nevada played them even the
03:18whole game, it was a one-score final, so, you know, week zero there's a lot of mystery
03:24and you're not sure what to expect, but I'm interested to see SMU, there are some people,
03:30Craig, who have kind of tabbed them as a dark horse possibly in the ACC, even though the
03:36preseason polls have them at seven.
03:39Yeah, no, and look, they're huge favorites in the game and so they're expected to win,
03:42but as Rich said, you never know, Rich will be calling the game, by the way, with Robert
03:45Turbin, former NFL running back, not only SMU, but Cal is in the ACC, Stanford is in
03:50the ACC, and so in the limited time we have, Rich, I just kind of want your thoughts like
03:55on this crazy landscape of college football, you know, I know I've seen people like
03:59complain a little bit about it, I think they're crazy, like once we get used to this, I
04:03think this is going to be the most exciting college football season ever.
04:06It can be, and once we get used to all this new realignment, it may change again in two
04:11or three years because everyone seems to think there'll be a super football conference.
04:15And that's what SMU has done here.
04:17I mean, SMU and Cal and Stanford were like the leftovers, right, from conference
04:22realignment. Cal and Stanford got an invite, but they're getting, I believe, less like
04:27a third of the TV money from the ACC.
04:30SMU wasn't going to get any money.
04:32They raised 150 million dollars in a really short time from boosters and donors and
04:40alums to fund the athletic department.
04:43I think it's a really smart move because they've elevated themselves into a power
04:46conference and whatever direction football goes, whether it consolidates to a 40 or 60
04:52team, they're in that group now and they should be.
04:55I think, you know, their location, they've continued to build their stadium up and
05:01their program is ready to jump in and have a really good year.
05:06Cal and Stanford, good luck with the travel.
05:09That's not going to be easy.
05:11Cal's better than Stanford in football right now.
05:14You know what? When David Shaw was really rolling like five, six, seven years ago, if
05:21that all this realignment had happened, Stanford might just be in the Big Ten because
05:25they were that attractive football wise.
05:27But they really held out on playing the portal and the NIL game, obviously, with
05:35Stanford, they didn't take a lot of transfers and that's kind of what sunk them.
05:39But yeah, look, I mean, look out here, I live on the West Coast, so it's somewhat
05:44disappointing because of the Pac-12 history.
05:46But you're interested to see Oregon and Washington and USC.
05:52I have UCLA in a couple of weeks.
05:54I'm interested to see them in the in the Big Ten, see how the travel works and see
06:00how their style of play works.
06:02When do you leave for Reno?
06:05I'm jumping in a car here in about an hour and a half and then I'll be down in Reno
06:11tonight and then tomorrow's a big day because, you know, when you do a college
06:14football game, you get in on a Thursday and then Friday you spend the day with both
06:19coaching staff. So it'll be fun to get to know Jeff Choate.
06:22And I've not met Rhett Lashley before, but those those meetings are always good.
06:28He's a Gus Malzahn disciple.
06:30So I want to know more about his offense and how they do it.
06:34Yeah, well, if you are watching Rich and you're like, wait a second, I've seen this guy
06:38doing baseball this season, too.
06:39You absolutely have. Rich has been on Apple TV doing Major League Baseball and the
06:43Major League Baseball Network Showcase.
06:45Rich, have a great time.
06:47We'll be watching the game Saturday and certainly a normal Saturday night with this
06:52game. Maybe nobody cares, but I mean, this is the primetime game this week at Week
06:55Zero. Glad you got it.
06:56And always appreciate you coming on whenever we ask on Newswire.
07:00And thanks again. Thanks for the invite.
07:02I miss you guys down in South Florida, but there's a ton of Miami kids that followed
07:06Lashley to SMU.
07:07So if you're a Miami person, you might feel right at home.
07:12All right, Rich, thanks again.
07:13Rick Waltz with us.
07:14We'll be right back after this.