ESPN host Marty Smith gearing up for 'incredible' Week 1 slate

Week 1 of the 2025 college football season has arrived! ESPN host Marty Smith joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Live to speak on a few exciting matchups on our screen this weekend, including No. 4 Clemson vs. No. 9 LSU, No. 1 Texas vs. No. 3 Ohio State and more.

Key notes from Marty Smith interview

• Week 0 set the table for us, brother. What an incredible game, Iowa State and Kansas State. All the way down to the last series, first and goal, and a key fourth-down conversion. Just so fun to sit down on the couch after Marty & McGee and watch a little college football. Now, it's on. Week 1 is incredible. As great as Week 1 is, we've become accustomed to this because there are so many interconference games and so many great matchups every year. But this year, there is a different energy about it, even escalated to what we have experienced in the past.
   
• Of course, Texas vs. Ohio State, everybody's discussing that. LSU vs. Clemson and Alabama at Florida State. I have the Syracuse and Tennessee game in Atlanta. That is where SEC Nation and Marty & McGee will be on Saturday, down at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. I think that game will be very interesting. New quarterbacks from the transfer portal on both teams. Steve Angeli was really good when Riley Leonard got hurt last year against Penn State in the playoff, and ultimately, that really endeared him to Fran Brown, the head coach at Syracuse. I expect big things from Angeli. You look at what Kyle McCord did in that offense last year, and they have an opportunity to be good even though a lot of bettors don't think that.
   
• Tennessee is in a transitional moment after Coach Josh Heupel had to let Nico Iamaleava go to UCLA, and they swapped him with Joey Aguilar, who put up 7,500 yards of offense in the last couple of years for Coach Shawn Clark at Appalachian State, so I am looking forward to that game. It is not a heater on most people's charts, but both of these teams need answers early, and they both are playing quality opponents early.
   
• I can't wait for that game in Clemson. It is so important for both teams, as a lot of people have Clemson as their national championship pick. I think they are going to be really good. Cade Klubnik is in his 17th year of college football. His progression is the best in the country at that position. Granted, he has been there forever, so that stands to reason. And he's played some really good opponents. I really like that kid. He's figured out who he is. He isn't playing for anybody else anymore, or outside that facility. He's playing for those guys in the facility and himself. Coach Dabo Swinney has done a great job of developing that young man.
   
• Then, on the other side with Garrett Nussmeier, a lot of people think he'll be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft next year if he just holds serve. Very physically gifted, but there is a lot of weight on those kids down in Baton Rouge. And that weight starts with Brian Kelly. Kelly has made it very clear in his first year as a leader, “1-0 us is the only thing that matters.” That's a different energy for him. It's been hard for him to win season openers. It has not been something he has done very often. So, this is an imperative game for them, and no matter who wins, both of these teams still have a national championship opportunity, even if they lose this game.
   
• They have so much talent. It is Year 4 for Kelly. It is time he wins, which was posed very directly to him by me when Ryan McGee and I had the opportunity to sit down with him at SEC Media Days. What has to happen for you to define success? It is, “Win.” It is, “Contend for an SEC Championship.” History precedes him with the three previous head coaches all winning national championships, but it is such an interesting marriage, and I like Kelly as a person. I think he's a great football coach. But nationally, he is very polarizing. So, a lot comes with that. I think that it's important for him that they contend, make the playoffs. I think they will make the playoffs. They’ll be my national championship pick.
   
• I’ll say it on August 25, the SEC is loaded. It is the hardest conference, I don't care what anybody else says. Your viewership probably agrees with me. Put up or shut up time for Kelly. It is not my opinion. It is a general opinion.
   
• Separation between teams: I was speaking with a prominent SEC director at the coaches' meeting in Destin. That person has been adamant that the most important thing for the conference as a whole is to raise the floor. Indisputably, that has happened. Many people are talking positively about Vanderbilt, but people think Mississippi State will be better. People are saying schools that had traditionally not vied for consistent excellence or winning records are in that conversation now. Forget the top of the league when you are talking about Texas, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, etc. Holy Bleep, man! When you have four to five national championship-caliber teams, that is just ridiculous. Maybe the Big Ten has that, too. Penn State is on that list. Oregon is going to be really good. We’ll see what Julian Sayin is. We know he has a lot of God given gifts, and they have a lot of talent coming back, but at the same time, they sent 14 players to the NFL Draft. That tied a school record. You look at Texas, they sent 12. Arch Manning is coming in, the biggest storyline in college football. I am excited, we are gonna have so much to talk about, and it is so positive.
   
• The experience side may not be so much lining up between the lines in games. Manning started two games last year, against Mississippi State and ULM, and played well when Quinn Ewers was hurt. The bigger factor is that it is Year 3 for him in Steve Sarkisian’s system. Sarkisian is the most brilliant mind in football. Maybe Ben Johnson with the Chicago Bears, too. To me, Sarkisian is brilliant at getting his guys the football in space so they can use those gifts. I don't think it is going ot be the exact same offense we saw with Ewers because Manning is much more dynamic with his feet, while being able to stretch the field. He doesn't have to go win the Heisman, just go get your guys the football.
   
• Manning only did group interviews at SEC Media Days. I got to sit with him back in the wintertime. I was so impressed with his poise, his complete lack of ego, with the humility with which he carried himself. There is the bloodline part of this. He lived it, man. I have high expectations for him. I think that his potential is incredible. I don't want to overstate, but I have high expectations for what he will do.
   
• The moniker of A&M going 8-4 every year? Go change it. The pieces are there. Mike Elko is such a great culture fit cause at Texas A&M, there is a specific culture, and for whatever reason, I thought Jimbo Fisher would fit it, but it didn't work. Coach Elko had lived it in the past and came in last year, and was adamant it was goint ot be instilled in the way he wanted it instilled, with toughness, acumen and brotherhood first. And we are going to build out from there. I think Marcel Reed, I have high expectations for him, second year in the system, with an offensive coordinator who appreciates a quarterback with that skillset and looks at it as a tremendous asset.
   
• Reed is going to show us that he has developed as a passer. I know it's important to stretch the field, but what is important is first downs. And that young man is capable of being so dynamic in the RPO game, and using his skillset, that if he can just hit a couple and keep them honest, they are going to be a big problem. They brought in some really talented guys on the perimeter at the wide receiver position. They have all of their running backs back. I have high expectations for them.
   
• Let’s break out this schedule. UTSA win. Utah State win. Notre Dame loss. Auburn win. Mississippi state win. Florida, hold on for Florida. Arkansas win. LSU loss. Mizzou, South Carolina, one road game, one home game. Samford win. Texas loss. That is where my head is now. Florida, Missouri, and South Carolina. Florida, barring injury, should be really good. That is the sixth game of the season, and there are going to be some injuries for these guys. Everybody is injured, but just how hurt? That game is going to be physical. Both teams thrive on that. 
   
• I really like Reed. I am sitting there watching tape, and I'm like, “They can't touch this guy. Nobody is even touching this guy.” As long as schematically, and I think Coach Collin Klein, he was this guy, maybe not as dynamic athletically, but he understands the value of this player. And that it's a very special player. There are so many great SEC QBs, but he is going to be in the narrative because he is the most important player in the program. From what I'm reading, leadership and confidence are the most important things a quarterback can have, especially confidence. If your quarterback is confident, then he can become a great leader, because leadership is influence. Are you looking at those guys in the huddle and going, “Alright, it's 3rd and 3 for the rest of your lives, let's get this.” And they follow you. The train is coming, and you are standing on the tracks with this guy. If that is in fact the case, and Reed has taken this confidence step, that is still just eight wins. That is still 8-4.
   
• CJ Carr is a big guy. Huge arm and one of the greatest programs in college football. With a really nice Heisman security blanket behind him, and a good offensive line in front of him.
   
• The last time the last 10-win season was Johnny Football. If A&M makes the playoff that year in 2020, does Jimbo stick around? They were 5-7 in 2023.