Good afternoon and welcome everybody. This would be the Jeff Cameron show right here on Real Talk 93 3 FM and War Chant TV.

Good Monday to each and every one of you. Oh man does it feel good to be here. We made it. We made it. It's game week my friends. Let's go.

I'm Jeff that is Tom that is also Matthew directing the program you are you and you are with us for the next two hours and that I appreciate very very much.

Good to be along with you on a Monday of game week and now the juices they get flowing you got a chance to to watch little college football you got a chance to take it all in and you know some of you were happy some of you not so much but I think collectively we

were all really happy to be watching watching college football again even if a lot of the games kind of got away from some of the global level teams that just did not present themselves with a lot of fight.

But you know the story of the weekend was no doubt Nebraska's lost Illinois watched every snap of that game and I got thoughts that I'll share with you in a moment but let's bring it back home for a second.

Let's let's do the right thing here and talk about and it's interesting because I think from an emotional standpoint the parallels of what's at stake in an opener like this are very similar with four state fans going into this game against Notre Dame on Sunday night and then what Nebraska fans were hoping to see against Illinois in that game on Saturday in the big 10 opener.

And I know the circumstances aren't quite the same but I'm just talking about the emotional attachment to a game to a first game and what people's expectations are and what they're hoping to see and I think it's very similar and you know what happens when you watch something like that play out because we've all been disappointed before it wasn't too long ago.

You know last year obviously Georgia Tech that game was something to take in but the year before and the year before that we've done this a lot lately and we all know what it's like to walk out of a stadium to have these these expectations not met.

And how you can become crestfallen and just sort of bereft of hope so quick so soon just after a season begins it seems.

It seems impossible and I try not to let myself get to a place where that can happen with the game but some games are huge some games really are big games and I think it all varies on it all depends on I should say on whether or not your teams in a position to really make a splash and have a huge impact so go back to when we were humming.

These games like the like the Alabama game or the game against Ole Miss even in Orlando where you where you had what you thought were based on previous seasons and talent levels reasonable expectations to make a big time statement in a game like that about what for the state could be whereas this takes on a different.

Feel this is what you're hoping is evidence that we're trending in that direction that there's a reason to begin to believe again let's begin to begin right let's begin to believe again based on whatever we see Sunday night I think that's more of the headspace fans are in as we go into this week there are those certainly you are nope hell or high water Jeff this is a win this has to be a win we got to get this win let's get this thing rolling there are others who say that is completely unreasonable you're crazy they're not going to win this game.

Hopefully they'll just show some evidence that they've gotten a lot better and then there's people that are probably somewhere in between more reasonable that are you know the modest expectations in the sense that they need to see fight for all four quarters they need to see an organized unit they need to see a team that obviously has shown the resolve in the resilience and the fight that teams over the last three years have not but mentally and physically they need to look prepared they need to look like they have a much better understanding of what is going to happen.

But they're doing for players that's obvious but also the coaches have to put those guys in a position to succeed consistently for you to feel pretty good about what you're watching so there's just a lot you got to see at the very least I think a rather sizeable amount of improvement again I've said all off season I'll reiterate for those that are just jumping on board now that it's actually game week

may not be from a record standpoint the kind of year that we're hoping for because obviously for a state the standard is very high when when your ultimate goal is to get back to the place where you are annually involved in a national championship conversation the college football conversation obviously we're not that right now the debate is about how soon we should start to expect that and what you need to see along the way to have real belief and confidence that this is the staff and that we're well on our way.

But I think you have to see real signs of improvement that's something everybody agrees upon record may not matter I know ultimately wins and losses happen for a reason as I like to say and they listed emotions and records ultimately are results and seasons you look at them as a whole and you say I went six games they won four games the one nine games and that makes you feel a certain way but I do believe that if you see consistent progress and real improvement and it begins on Sunday night against Notre Dame that you're in the game.

Think about all of the games last year against teams that were any good other than North Carolina for the state wasn't in those games just one even competitive it made you not just as I alluded to bereft of hope you were absolutely stunned early and often I mean there were games last year Tom I think middle the second quarter people staring back off into the distance is sort of the the stark reminder that oh okay.

Another Saturday another ass kicking we're not even we're not even competitive. Yeah, it's like when you get to the TV timeout you're saying what's what else is on in this window who else is playing right now who three point game not that she'd stay there but for me I'd never entertain if the nose are on it and let's just say you only have one television it's gonna be the

Noles television but I think I speak for a lot of people when I say last year goes to a TV timeout you're not leaving it on the commercials I need to see something else I just got to get that taste out of my mouth a little bit and can I say very quickly just a

personal aside. Yeah, you know a couple months ago wasn't sure that we'd be here on a Monday and we play together. Honestly I know so it's pretty cool it's pretty cool to be doing this again I agree with you I

Without getting overly sappy. I'm really excited. I mean that and I thought about it this morning when I got up eyes cracked open and I thought all right what do we

...