The Rundown Take
Can Miami Bounce Back? U Talk Previews the App State Letdown Game
Six days removed from the Alabama embarrassment, Devin and Larry Frank Jr. opened the Friday hype show with one question: not whether Miami can win the home opener against Appalachian State, but whether the coaching staff can get these players to respond at all. What started as a scouting report on a dangerous Group of Five team turned into the rawest hour of caller venting the show has aired all season.
Key Takeaways
- Appalachian State brings a real threat under Clemson transfer QB Chase Brice, plus running backs Nate Noel (126 yards last week) and Camerun Peoples, and receiver Corey Sutton, a former K-State transfer who set App State's single-season touchdown record.
- Larry Frank Jr. flags new head coach Shawn Clark's offensive-line background as the scary part — two backs over 100 yards last week means a Mountaineers front that can move people.
- A wave of top recruits — including five-star corner Carmani McLean and receiver Hykeem Williams — will be in the building; the panel says a flat performance risks decommitments.
- Caller DJ delivers the show's most searing rant, tying Miami's tackling fundamentals and player development directly back to a coaching staff he says has never beaten a ranked opponent.
- Callers Jamal Davis and Jay Blaze both predict a Miami win but warn it won't be a blowout unless the offensive line shows up dramatically better than it did against Alabama.
Scouting the Mountaineers
Larry Frank Jr. reminded the family not to sleep on App State's pedigree — this is the program that beat a top-five Michigan in Ann Arbor as an FCS team in 2007, and has picked off North Carolina and South Carolina since moving up to the FBS. Chase Brice has a national championship ring from his Clemson days and threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns last week. With two backs already over the century mark and a receiver in Corey Sutton who can take the top off a defense, Larry Frank Jr. said this is a live trap game, not a guaranteed layup — especially coming off a Miami performance as flat as last week's.
DJ's Reality Check
The most memorable moment of the night belonged to longtime caller DJ, who tore into the coaching staff's fundamentals, arguing the program is teaching tackling technique instead of real football and that the same conservative approach shows up by the second drive of every game. He credited defensive backs coach t-Rob for at least taking ownership publicly, but said Manny Diaz's staff has never beaten a genuinely good team, going back to the 2017 defense that thrived only on turnover luck.
"We shouldn't even be feeling like this. Why are we dejected going into an Appalachian State game?"
By the end, Larry Frank Jr. and Devin agreed on the same uncomfortable bar for Saturday: not a statement win, just competence — get pressure on the quarterback, protect D'Eriq King, and prove the tackling fundamentals from Alabama were a one-week problem and not a season-long one.