- 1 week ago
Governor Wes Moore joins the show to give out his picks for the biggest games of the first weekend of college football and the opening games of the NFL season.
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00:00Okay, we have Governor Moore joining us.
00:03Hello, Gov.
00:03How do you do, man?
00:04Been a while.
00:05Man, I miss y'all.
00:07We're glad that it feels like football season when you're calling in to make picks.
00:11You know what I mean?
00:13Listen, it's the best comedy year right now.
00:16It's the best comedy year.
00:18Now is when I get obsessive and locked in.
00:22And so this is a good time, man.
00:25Now, Gov, I'm going to tell you the truth.
00:26I am coming to you from Delaware.
00:29I'm in Dewey Beach at the starboard, but I am wearing a Terps hat.
00:32Hopefully that evens it out.
00:34I love it.
00:35You know what we call Delaware?
00:36Northern Maryland.
00:40I love that.
00:41I love that.
00:42So, Gov, obviously we have kind of an interesting weekend in that it's not really NFL.
00:48You usually make NFL picks, but we're going to do a hybrid.
00:51We're going to do three college games and then two NFL games.
00:57Yeah.
00:58All the conversation in the world is surrounding LSU and these NFL players that the judge ruled down there could
01:05come back and play for LSU.
01:06We don't know how that's going to shake out.
01:08But just for the two teams we know that will be on the field, Lane Kiffin goes to LSU.
01:13What do you think about LSU Clemson?
01:16Yeah, I mean, well, one, let me, I know why this has become the feature of the conversation because it
01:23doesn't seem fair.
01:25And it doesn't seem right.
01:27And I mean, like, and listen, this, this was a bigger problem that I think that the, that, that college
01:33sports had to figure out how to deal with.
01:35And you saw how kind of like the whole opening up a Pandora's box was NIL, where I, I, I
01:41have said the whole time, you know, before NIL was that it wasn't fair.
01:45What they had before where you had these athletes who were, you know, sacrificing everything and making these places billions
01:52of dollars and then turning around and then them being like, oh yeah.
01:55Yeah. And here you get a scholarship like that. There, there was something unfair about it.
01:59The problem is, is that what NIL turned into has just been a complete nightmare.
02:03And this is now the continuation of what it is until, until college sports kind of get this figured out.
02:10You're absolutely right about Lane, right?
02:12You know, Lane, Lane is going to try to make a statement in, in, in, in game one.
02:17And let's never forget that like Lane, Lane Kiffin is one of the best coaches in college.
02:23Forget college football, one of the best coaches in college sports.
02:26And I think there's a reason that, that, that he continues to, you know,
02:31he used to, to win at the place that he goes to.
02:33And I just think that like Baton Rouge is going to be nuts.
02:37It is going to be absolutely on fire.
02:39You know what I'm saying?
02:40Like, like I, I think anyone, anyone within like 200 square miles of Baton Rouge needs to be careful because
02:45that place is going to be an absolute nightmare.
02:48He better win that game because that's all I got to say.
02:51Sounds like you're taking the Tigers.
02:53I'm going with the Tigers.
02:54I'm going, I'm going, I'm going with LSU.
02:56I think, I listen, I think, I think Clemson, Clemson, Clemson looks solid.
02:59And I honestly, I think, I think Clemson's defense could actually end up surprising, surprising a lot of people.
03:06However, I just think that, you know, when you look at the combination of, of Sam Levitt and, and, and
03:11what LSU is going to bring,
03:12I think it's going to be too much for our power.
03:14Yeah, man.
03:15Levitt two years ago, I guess, for Arizona State was phenomenal.
03:18Lane really knows how to run offense.
03:20So, it's, it's going to be interesting.
03:23We're going to keep it on the college side of things.
03:25Yeah.
03:26Let's go to Notre Dame, Wisconsin.
03:29So, this one, this one is actually, I think, going to be, going to be tough because, you know, even
03:36though I don't, I don't know if, if Wisconsin's defense is going to, is going to let too much happen.
03:42Um, and I, I, I really have a lot of confidence in Wisconsin's defense and I think they actually can
03:47surprise me a lot of people.
03:48Uh, I, I just think that, you know, when you look at who Notre Dame has and you look at
03:54the fact that with, with content, um, you know, with content, uh, just really has, you know, still has holes
04:00that I think Notre Dame is going to be able to exploit.
04:03I mean, if you look at, if you look at what happened with, with, with content, right, last year, I
04:07think they, they, you know, they allowed over 200 passing yards a game.
04:11Um, and the problem is on certain teams, that's okay.
04:17That's not okay against Notre Dame, right?
04:19That's not okay when you're, when you're going up against TJ Carr.
04:21And so I think that there's going to be a, uh, there's going to be a real challenge that Notre
04:26Dame is going to, a real challenge that Wisconsin is going to have.
04:29I think the big question is going to be, is going to, uh, what happens with, uh, um, with Williams.
04:33And because, you know, Jeremiah Love is a real hole that has a bill, but like everything we've seen from
04:38Williams and so far that we've heard about, about, uh, about camp from them has been, you know, pretty remarkable.
04:44So my, my, my, my gut tells me I go with Notre Dame on this one.
04:48I think you're on the right side there, Gov.
04:50I, I love Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame.
04:53I just think he's such a good coach.
04:55And I wonder, you know, I think Notre Dame could win a natty, honestly.
04:59Um, last college.
05:01And by the way, he's a player's coach.
05:03I mean, like the players love playing for him.
05:06They love playing for him.
05:08So I, I, I agree with you.
05:10Um, what I love about him and B, you can speak to this.
05:13He's a player's coach, but he also challenges his guys.
05:15Like people have this notion.
05:17People have this notion that a player is soft, right?
05:21Nah.
05:22Like, don't you want to be challenged, B?
05:23Oh yeah.
05:24If you don't challenge me, I don't believe you care about me.
05:27That's right.
05:27That's right.
05:28And not to mention the fact that he could probably outlift half the team.
05:31I mean, like, this dude is insane.
05:33He's insane.
05:34He is.
05:35Governor.
05:36So one of the trickier spots, we've talked so much about Lane Kiffin in LSU, but what
05:41about the team he left in Ole Miss?
05:43They have that quarterback, Trinidad Chambliss, who was absolutely electric last year.
05:48They have a pretty big opening game against Louisville, somehow an ACC team.
05:52What do you make of Ole Miss-Louisville?
05:56So, I think, actually, Chambliss is one of the biggest questions in college football this
06:00year.
06:02Because, like, he was maybe one of the biggest surprises in all of college football last year.
06:09I mean, dude threw for, what, like 4,000 yards?
06:14I mean, it's actually crazy what he did.
06:17The question I think people are going to have, you know, is, was that him or was that a Kiffin
06:24scheme?
06:25And I think this is going to be his chance to really show that, no, no, no, like, he is
06:30that dude.
06:31And regardless of who the coach is, he's going to be able to, you know, to put up the kind
06:35of numbers that we're talking about.
06:38The other thing about Louisville, and I think Louisville actually looks like they're going
06:41to have a decent squad, Louisville also, what Louisville's doing is they're asking a new
06:47quarterback to make his first start against Ole Miss.
06:51I just think that's a really big ask.
06:54And you could have a very talented quarterback, but your first start is against Ole Miss.
06:59And I just think that's going to be really, really complicated for, you know, for Louisville
07:05to be able to navigate.
07:06And so, I mean, I'm a believer in Trinidad.
07:10Trinidad, I think that he is someone who can show out and show off and show that it was
07:15not about the scheme and it was not about the coach, that it really was about his raw
07:19natural talent.
07:20And I think Ole Miss pulls this one off.
07:23All right, God, we got the rematch of the Super Bowl.
07:26We got the Seahawks going against the Patriots.
07:28What do you think is going to happen in that game?
07:30Would it be the same or would the Patriots, you know, come back and say, hey, we got you
07:35this time?
07:35No, it's going to be the same.
07:40It's like the Patriots, first of all, the Patriots did nothing to get better.
07:47And I think you have to, when you're the champ, you don't have to do anything to get better.
07:55Right?
07:55You're the best.
07:57Every other team in the NFL, that's not your answer.
08:02Every other team in the NFL, you have to answer the question, what are we doing to get over
08:07the hump?
08:08And, you know, and listen, the Patriots struck lightning in a bottle last year.
08:13And I'm actually really impressed with what they did.
08:17Yeah, I mean, and also, like, we talked about it, y'all know I was a Patriots hater for most
08:22of the year.
08:23Like, I never believed that they were a real story.
08:26And they surprised me.
08:27They actually turned out to be, you know, turned out to be, you know, turned out to be good.
08:32The challenge I still really have, though, is I don't think they did enough to get better
08:38to make the result of this anything different.
08:41And then you also talk about, you know, then you also talk about the Seahawks are doing
08:45it at home.
08:47I just think it's going to be really complicated for the Patriots to be able to do anything,
08:51you know, different besides what they did in the Super Bowl.
08:54That crowd's going to be electric.
08:56It's going to be crazy.
08:57Gov, it's going to be crazy.
08:59I mean, you have Christian Gonzalez going to be covering JSN all night.
09:02I mean, you know, this is going to be fascinating to watch.
09:07That crowd is going to be crazy.
09:09Governor, last one, which I also think is going to be crazy.
09:12You have the Niners playing the Rams in Australia.
09:16Yeah.
09:16And you have San Francisco.
09:18They're already there.
09:19They're trying to get acclimated time-wise, all of it, versus the Rams are flying in the
09:24day before, and they're trying to ignore that time zones exist.
09:28I think that's fascinating.
09:30Obviously, you know, your Ravens are headed to Brazil in a couple weeks.
09:33Like, this international stuff isn't going anywhere.
09:37But with Niners-Rams in Australia, what the heck do you make of this matchup?
09:42So, I mean, like, but the Ravens one is going to be different because you don't have the
09:45same kind of time zone differences, right?
09:47I mean, they'd be, you know, Australia, they're literally looking at different dates.
09:51Yeah.
09:52You know what I'm saying?
09:53It's tomorrow, though.
09:54I just, I don't, exactly, right?
09:56So, I mean, like, I don't understand the decision by the Rams on this.
10:03The only thing I will say, though, is, like, the Rams are pissing me off the way that, like,
10:09the Dodgers piss me off in baseball.
10:12Like, it's just not right.
10:13It's not, it's like, it's actually crazy what they were able to do.
10:17Like, Garrett, I mean, like, your defense is now Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett?
10:21Like, this is actually crazy what the Rams are doing.
10:26So, listen, I think it is the height of arrogance what they're doing to try to, you know, try
10:32to not take advantage of that time difference.
10:35I think the Niners are a good team.
10:38There's been distractions that we've seen on the Niners front or during the offseason.
10:43And, yeah, to say the least.
10:45And they haven't, their roster hasn't really lifted up and improved the way that it's necessary.
10:53So, even with the time difference, I think that the Rams basically say,
11:00I don't care if it's today or tomorrow, we're going to beat you.
11:02I mean, they're loaded.
11:04Yeah.
11:04Gov, I figure we'll do our official kind of commanders and Ravens previews next week
11:11as they open up next week.
11:14But how are you feeling about the two teams that play in the state of Maryland?
11:18Yeah, so I'll start with the commanders.
11:25I think that on some of the most important things that needed to get done,
11:29I still think there are things that weren't done.
11:31You've got to find a way of – I actually think that the commanders have found more tools
11:36to put around Jaden, which I think has got to be priority, had to be, you know, priority 1A.
11:44I think still priority 1 has got to be, what are you doing to make sure that he is staying
11:49upright?
11:49Like, I'm still very worried about the offensive line.
11:54And listen, you know, and to be clear, like, you know, Antonio Williams, the dog, you know,
12:00he's been at the absolute star of the camp so far for the commanders.
12:04And the fact that, you know, the fact that he's going to be a great target for Jaden,
12:08I think it's going to be good.
12:10Stephon Diggs, I'm still curious to see how that was going to work out, both on the field
12:14and off the field.
12:16But I still think there has not been enough that's been done to make sure that the offensive line
12:22is going to be strong enough to be able to keep Jaden upright.
12:26And so I think that's a hole that has to get figured out.
12:31On the other side, the Ravens, I've got to tell you, man, I don't put a whole lot of weight
12:38in preseason.
12:39I'm saying, like, the fact is, many people who you watch in preseason,
12:44you'll never watch them on Sunday.
12:45You know what I mean?
12:46So I don't put a whole lot of weight on that.
12:48What I do put weight on is the schemes, the playmaking, and the attitude.
12:53Because that's not about the players.
12:55That's about the coaching.
12:56And there is a difference in what we've seen with Minter.
13:02And specifically on the defensive side of the ball.
13:04And that's the thing I think we needed, right?
13:06We needed a defensive coach.
13:08We needed somebody who was really going to stress,
13:10what are you doing to get that defensive mentality back?
13:14To Baltimore because we had lost it.
13:16We had a lot of the talent, but we lost the mentality.
13:19And Minter has brought that back.
13:21And so when you include the fact that we have a different mindset on defense,
13:25and then you add Trey Hendrickson to our defensive scheme,
13:29I think what you saw in the preseason,
13:32and again, I don't put too much weight on it,
13:34but what you saw when the Ravens played the commanders,
13:36and that absolute trudging that took place,
13:40forget about the numbers and the points that went up.
13:42Pay attention to the defense.
13:44And that's the thing I think makes me most excited about what the Ravens are bringing on board this year.
13:50Gov, we appreciate your time.
13:52As always, look forward to chatting with you next week.
13:54Maybe we'll see you in person in Landover or Baltimore soon.
13:58You already know.
14:00I'm looking forward to it.
14:01All right, man.
14:01Take care.
14:02Maryland Governor Wes Moore in the books.
14:04He's taking Ole Miss, Notre Dame, and LSU, as well as the Seahawks and the Rams.
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