Coach Terry Bowden Previews the Week 1 Slate in CFB
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00:00It is great to have, of course, Coach Terry Bowden with us here on Coast to Coast, 28 years as the head coach, Auburn, Akron, UL Monroe, former national coach, a year at Auburn, are you kidding me, Coach?
00:12It's great to have you, as always, my man. Happy Friday. I mean, this is the first big Friday, Coach. We got to be pumped up here this weekend.
00:19Mike, you got it. What a great weekend this is. There's football every single day.
00:25College football takes over. We love it. Before I get to this weekend's slate, I want to ask you one thing about last night.
00:32Because Colorado clearly has gotten a lot of attention the last year and a half because of Deion, obviously.
00:38They were 4-8 last year. I get Deion getting a lot of attention, Coach, but watching that game last night, Travis Hunter is a guy who's going to get a ton of attention.
00:49He had three touchdowns. Two of them were highlight reel catches. He had seven catches, a buck thirty, three totties.
00:56And, Coach, he also played 40-plus snaps on D as a defensive back. Now, that's impressive stuff that you know the NFL's already looking at, Coach.
01:06I mean, Deion breaks all the rules. They stop letting players play offense and defense because they won't rest their legs.
01:14They'll get too many snaps. They do play counts. Deion did the same thing when he played for my dad. He played defensive back. He was a receiver.
01:20He went to the track team, ran track. He went to the baseball team. Deion believes the best player needs to play as much as he can.
01:27129 snaps for Travis Hunter is so impressive, and it puts a lot of people to shame who says that they can't play 50 or 60 snaps.
01:35And he keeps that going all year, Coach. Like, that's a kid that, and last year there was talk there, and he unfortunately got hurt in that Colorado State game.
01:43He took the cheap shot, and he was out for a good portion of the season. He's doing this stuff every week.
01:49He's going to be in that conversation when we talk Heisman at the end of the year.
01:54I mean, already last night, his odds moved up from like 30 to 12 or 15 to 1, so people are going to take a lot of notice of Travis Hunter for that award.
02:02Well, the good thing is he also plays office because it seems like every year it's the office.
02:07The fact that he can play both ways and play to that high, high level, and it would not be done if Deion wasn't the coach.
02:15Most other coaches, including myself probably, would have said, no, I can't play a guy that many snaps.
02:20But Deion would say, hey, I did it. You can do it.
02:23Coach, let's get to some of these games coming up this weekend. Let's start with Clemson and Georgia.
02:29I'm always a fan coach. When these big programs schedule other big programs in other conferences to start the year, I love it.
02:37I don't want to see you playing New Hampshire or any of these other teams week one.
02:41I love heavy hitter football the first game, and that's what you get, Coach, with Clemson and Georgia.
02:46Well, and I hope we continue to have it with the large conferences.
02:49I'm not sure teams are going to continue to do that. This is a great game.
02:53Clemson really against Georgia. Georgia is the team Clemson was about six years ago.
02:58They've got a great quarterback that can lead the team, NFL prospect, great defense, great offensive line and a running attack.
03:05And they are so strong. There's only one team, Ohio State, that has the talent level that Georgia does.
03:10And it's just Clemson without the portal, without that side of the ball.
03:14It's going to be hard for them to keep up. I think Clemson will keep it close.
03:17And I think Clemson will be ready for this game.
03:20They'll be ready. You know, they played a tight, low scoring game a couple of years ago in Charlotte, Coach.
03:26And now they swing it, and they move it over into Georgia.
03:28I always, you know, they call these neutral site games, and Georgia's playing in Atlanta.
03:32Coach, that ain't a neutral site game. I don't care how close Clemson is in South Carolina.
03:37That is a Georgia home game, Coach. You know it.
03:40It'll be red and black, I'm sure, and both of their stands will be red and black.
03:45But Clemson needs to, you know, it's going to be a low scoring game, I think,
03:48because I think both teams are going to run the football, going to try to control the line of scrimmage.
03:52I think Clemson's going to want to try to run it to take the pressure off Klubnik.
03:55I think Georgia wants to run it all the time.
03:57They've got Etienne, who does a great job. They've got a great offensive line.
04:01So I think it stays close at halftime.
04:03The only way Clemson has a chance, and I think they'll beat the line,
04:07I just don't think they'll win the game, is to keep that game close at half and keep their confidence up.
04:12Because all they've heard about is Georgia, Georgia, Georgia.
04:15We've got two coaches going in on the hot seat on big programs this Saturday.
04:20Mario Cristobal at Miami, into Gainesville, Billy Napier and Florida.
04:25One fan-based coach is already going to be looking to run their guy out of town if they lose this one.
04:31Yeah, they're both on the hot seat, but Billy Napier probably more so,
04:34because they have not had hardly any success under him.
04:37And a lot of fans will be hoping he loses so they can make a change.
04:42And he needs this game. He needs an early victory to have a chance.
04:46Not only does he need an early victory, because the last five games of the season are unreal,
04:50he needs to have a great first half to make sure he's still in this game.
04:53Because you've got to wonder, with all the criticism, how much confidence does Florida really have?
04:57They're going to come out fired up.
04:59But they've heard so much how they're not where they used to be,
05:01and fans have not been reluctant to tell people they may be going for another coach.
05:05So they need to play real well coming out the stretch.
05:09Big game opener for Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame as they go to Kyle Field and Texas A&M.
05:15You know, this is the third year for Freeman, coach, in South Bend,
05:19with the expanded playoff this year going to 12.
05:22I'm a Notre Dame fan. I say all the time, he needs to make the playoff this year
05:27after what I feel was a couple of subpar first two years.
05:31Yeah, I mean, I think he can make the playoff.
05:33He's number nine, I think, in the country. He's top ten.
05:35But he's an underdog versus Texas A&M and going into College Station.
05:40And Jimbo left Mike Elko talent. He left him a lot of talent.
05:43And Mike Elko did an incredible job of turning that program around at Duke.
05:47I think he'll immediately change the A&M program around.
05:50And it's going to be a great game now, and it's going to be a close game.
05:53But Notre Dame's offensive line is young and untested.
05:56And I think the difference with the strength of Texas A&M's defensive line
06:00against a very young, inexperienced offensive line for Notre Dame.
06:04Unfortunately, coach, I think I agree with you, that on that side of the ball
06:08is where things are going to be a problem for that young Irish O-line.
06:12Penn State and James Franklin.
06:14I kind of put them in the same category as Marcus Freeman, right, coach?
06:17Now that it's gone to 12, he's got to finally get Penn State
06:21in the college football playoff.
06:23But this is the kind of game he likes to flex his muscles, coach,
06:26early in the year against a team that he's probably a little bit better than.
06:30I could see Penn State giving the business to West Virginia tomorrow.
06:33Yeah, and I'm really up on West Virginia as kind of a sleeper.
06:37Of course, I am a Mountaineer. I did go to West Virginia.
06:41And I think West Virginia will have an outstanding season
06:44and will get to a bowl game.
06:46But I don't think having a great season is beating Penn State.
06:49Penn State is a great, solid team.
06:51They've got a little better talent.
06:53And West Virginia will play them great at home.
06:55And this was a nasty robbery through the years when I was playing there
06:58and my dad was coaching at West Virginia.
07:00But Penn State seems to always have a little more talent than West Virginia.
07:04And, coach, let me ask you this.
07:07There were some kids on West Virginia who were on that team last year
07:10that talked about Franklin kind of rubbing it in,
07:14throwing an extra touchdown on at the end of that game last year.
07:17You've been involved in heated rivalries before.
07:20Does that stuff get remembered the next year?
07:22And are some of the kids on West Virginia going to be thinking about that?
07:25Well, I mean, anything you can do to motivate your players.
07:28I remember my dad running the score up on Lou Holtz when he was at William & Mary.
07:32And Lou Holtz said he didn't appreciate it.
07:34And my dad said, Lou, it's your job to hold the score down, not mine.
07:37And they were good friends and he was kidding.
07:39But, again, I don't think that's going to make a factor
07:42in how well they play at West Virginia.
07:44Again, you've got to look at the history.
07:46West Virginia does need a reason to get up to play Penn State.
07:48It's always been a big brother type of program that looked down at West Virginia,
07:51these Mountaineers, these Hillbillies, and we take them serious when we play Penn State.
07:57LSU the last couple years, coach,
07:59high-profile first games against Florida State, lost both of them.
08:02Now they go to Vegas to play USC who wanted to get out of this game.
08:05How about Brian Kelly and the Tigers on Sunday night?
08:08I like him.
08:09I like him to cover the spread.
08:10I like him to win the game.
08:11And I just like the head coach.
08:13He is a great defensive coordinator.
08:15Now, both teams hired defensive coordinators that are pretty damn good.
08:18But Elko proved what he could do at Duke by taking that average talent
08:22and having the lead scoring team in the conference at Duke.
08:25And now he's going into Notre Dame team where the quarterback was at Duke.
08:28He knows the book on that quarterback.
08:30He knows his strengths and his weaknesses.
08:32I think this is a game that Texas A&M is going to be hot, 110,000 people,
08:36and I think it's going to be close and a lot of fun.
08:38But I think Texas A&M is going to start their season out on a good note.