College football analyst Josh Pate joins TexAgs Live at SEC Media Days

On Monday's edition of TexAgs Live, college football analyst Josh Pate joined us at the Omni Atlanta Hotel, the site of the 2025 SEC Media Days. Pate discussed what is expected from many SEC head coaches, who could be on the hot seat and much more.

Key notes from Josh Pate interview

• It’s the first hit of the first morning. I haven’t even spit my gum out.
   
• For Brian Kelly, it’s after a couple of years as head coach that he’s expected to make the playoffs. For Hugh Freeze, it’s three years in. A lot of it has to do with what you inherited. I think most people look at it as “here are the resources they have.” Mike Elko deals with this since he inherits resources. They don’t think it matters where he starts. Kalen DeBoer and Hugh Freeze started in different galaxies in terms of entry point. Likewise, with Billy Napier taking over at Florida, even if he knows what he’s doing, they’re going to have to do it from scratch. It’s a mixed bag with Kelly because some people think they left a good situation, and some people think the culture rotted a bit. I’d say to take the first year to do what you need. But in this talent era, by the second year, you should be expecting things. By the third year, you should be cruising. I can’t say give them a little more time in year three.
   
• Kelly is on the hot seat if LSU doesn’t make the playoffs this year. You wouldn’t term him being “hot seat” this year, but he is a year away from it. There are a lot of guys in college football like that. If you made a list, it’s not deep, but it’s very deep for guys that don’t potentially do a good job this year. It’s a weirder conversation, but what if Alabama went 8-4 this year? I haven’t entertained that at all, but what if it happened? Brent Venables and Freeze are there now, in my opinion. But how many people are immune to a 7-5 season? It’s more likely statistically in today’s SEC. The odds of that record with a decent team have increased. How many coaches are immune to the impact of putting their name on the proverbial hot seat next year?
   
• For Elko, next year has to be better than 8-4. You and I have talked about the difference between 8-4 and losing by a combined 15 points vs. 9-3 with three blowouts. 8-4 probably shows a better result as a program, but it’s impossible for us to know how that will go in July. So, you need to be 9-3. That’s using preview magazine logic, though. Looking at the depth chart and no one’s hurt. There are scenarios like Florida playing Texas without DJ Lagway last year. That game was over. I couldn’t have known that in the preseason. Then, at the end of the year, Florida gets Lagway and is one of the better teams in the country. You look at the Texas game, and there’s a “Yeah, but...”
   
• For all I know, A&M could have a stretch like that this year, or their opponents could have stretches that A&M is the beneficiary of. I think, blindly, 9-3 is reasonable. But more so, when I watch the team, even if they go 8-4, do I see tangible improvement? Maybe the wins are backloaded, and you finish strong. I’m not happy, but it’s acceptable.
   
• I think you would agree that at their best, A&M is capable of having one of the best ground games in the country. That needs to be the case. But also, I think defensive personnel in the sport have not fully come back to the middle, so to speak. There was a violent shift, adjusting for all the RPO and spread offense stuff. Linebackers used to be 250 pounds, now they’re 215. For A&M, if you do nothing more than have a dominant ground and pound, ball control, plus-turnover, type of football team that plays dependable defense, that’s their identity. How many times do we not know the identity of a team come November? If they can establish identity out of the gate, stuff works downstream from that. The style of play they’ll have to play this year will put them in a lot of one-possession games. The biggest key stat for A&M this year is their plus/minus in one-possession games. That’s their season.
   
• I’d say South Carolina has the most potential to have a drop-off from their preseason expectations. Because it’s so quarterback-dependent. Do you think a lot of people’s answers would be Notre Dame? I feel like we’re trained to think their potential is always lower than a national championship. But then they actually got there last year. You feel like it might snap back to reality this year. But, I don’t fully agree, so I would say South Carolina... With the defensive talent they lost, how unproven they are at receiver and how up in the air the running back situation is. LaNorris Sellers might have to be All-American, but I say just be as good as they were last year.