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Speaker 1: This is WSV the Solid Verbals Friday News Broadcast. My

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Speaker 1: name is Ty hilden Brand, my co host as always

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Speaker 1: Dan Rubinstein. You give us a download, we will give

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Speaker 1: you the world. Don't forget to go on out to

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Speaker 1: our Patreon verbalers dot com. V E R B A

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Speaker 1: L L e r s dot com. Don't forget to

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Speaker 1: go to Solid Saturday dot com. Check out the live

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Speaker 1: stream that Dan and I do eleven a m. Every

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Speaker 1: Saturday morning. That's East Coast time. And finally, and last

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Speaker 1: but not least, don't forget to go on out to

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to the Solid verbal and drop a review. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: if you like the show, Dan, how you doing today?

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Speaker 2: I'm wonderful. I just wolf down lunch and we have

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Speaker 2: I think expansion news to talk about. We have a

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Speaker 2: weekend of action with weird numbers to discuss. And of

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Speaker 2: course it's Bill Connolly. It's Bill Connolly on the show

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Speaker 2: from ESPN, The the Man s P plus he is

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Speaker 2: the man. Right before we hit record, all we did

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Speaker 2: was talk about tennis and you sort of nodded along politely. Ty,

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Speaker 2: So here we are.

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Speaker 1: Do not steal my thunder. Bill Connolly from ESPN. He

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Speaker 1: is the one big thing to know at this hour,

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Speaker 1: this Friday morning, wherever we find you, Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for downloading, for listening, and for playing along with

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Speaker 1: our madness. Without further ado, Dan did a little intro.

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Speaker 1: I'll do more of one. It is Bill Connolly, the

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Speaker 1: wise Wizard, the sage of college football statistics out there

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Speaker 1: on ESPN dot com. Sir, how you doing? Long time,

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Speaker 1: no talk?

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Speaker 3: That's right, it's been like two whole weeks. I'm good.

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Speaker 3: How are you?

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Speaker 2: We're great, We're great.

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Speaker 1: Expansion Expansion, Expansion, I guess is the one big real

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Speaker 1: time moment from a college football standpoint. The news broke.

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Speaker 1: We are recording this on a Thursday, a little bit ago,

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Speaker 1: around ten am Eastern time, that six schools had accepted

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Speaker 1: an invite to join the American Athletic Conference, those being Florida, Atlantic, Charlotte,

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Speaker 1: North Texas, Dan's UTSA Roadrunners, of course, Mate, Rice, and

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Speaker 1: UA B. So the American is expanded up six new teams,

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Speaker 1: mister Connolly, what does your instant take on those six

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Speaker 1: new teams joining the AAC.

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Speaker 3: So my instant take is when the OU Texas news

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Speaker 3: came down in July and I wrote a big reaction

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Speaker 3: piece about it. One of the sections in there talked about,

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Speaker 3: like whatever the Big twelve does next, Like remember the

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Speaker 3: example of the sun Belt over Conference USA. So you know,

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Speaker 3: Conference USA raids all the wrong programs from Sun Belt.

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Speaker 3: Sun Belt goes and actually brings in football programs and

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Speaker 3: suddenly better than than Conference USA every single year. And

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Speaker 3: apparently now if there's more rating to be done, the

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Speaker 3: sun Belt might turn around and raid Conference USA. So

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Speaker 3: in this example, I reference that, you know, Conference USA

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Speaker 3: went after Florida Atlantic and Florida International as an approximation

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Speaker 3: of Miami, and UTSA for San Antonio, and Middle Tennessee

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Speaker 3: for Nashville, and North Texas for Dallas, even though it's

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Speaker 3: a it's a little ways up from Dallas. And you

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Speaker 3: know Charlotte had just you know, they had a startup program.

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Speaker 3: Let's add them to we got all the markets. And

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Speaker 3: the fact that one to three four of those six

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Speaker 3: teams I mentioned as a what not to do example

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Speaker 3: are now moving to the AAC. I think that's probably

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Speaker 3: my initial take on the matter. They brought in a

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Speaker 3: bunch of programs with potential. They brought in two that

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Speaker 3: are actually good at football at the moment one, for

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Speaker 3: the first time ever, they're splitting the money six extra ways.

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Speaker 2: Now, does it make the conference more interesting? Obviously losing

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Speaker 2: what they lost and adding what like, are you immediately

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Speaker 2: saying okay, I can see the potential If these programs

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Speaker 2: are these three programs whatever continue to buy in and

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Speaker 2: spend and invest, does it become not more interesting but

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Speaker 2: interesting enough to warrant these invites?

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Speaker 3: Bringing back the Memphis you Ab rivalry is great. I

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Speaker 3: mean the battle of the Bones, the rims, yeah or yeah.

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Speaker 3: And then the basketball rivalry. Obviously that's great. I'm happy

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Speaker 3: for you a B. That's the one. I'm absolutely happy

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Speaker 3: that they got to move up. I guess this is

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Speaker 3: still sort of a move up, so that's great. But

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Speaker 3: all I know is, you know, ten years ago in

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Speaker 3: Conference USA added these teams, we talked about their potential,

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Speaker 3: and ten years later we're talking about their potential. North

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Speaker 3: Texas especially. I know they've invested. I know you know

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Speaker 3: they're they're trying, but and I'd rather take the programs

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Speaker 3: that are actually good at football consistently, that we know

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Speaker 3: can be good at football consistently instead of talking about potential.

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Speaker 1: Was this expansion for the sake of expansion? Was this

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Speaker 1: expansion for the sake of what they see as survival?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 1: What do you see as a rationale for making this

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Speaker 1: move at this time?

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Speaker 3: Well, they didn't have to add six to survive. They

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Speaker 3: needed to add you know, adding UAB made sense if

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Speaker 3: you want to strike while the iron's hot and bring

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Speaker 3: in UTSA. I mean, that's fine, but they didn't need

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Speaker 3: to add six. I don't understand how. I mean, I'm

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Speaker 3: not privy to the money conversation, so I can't tell

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Speaker 3: you for sure that they absolutely won't make as much money.

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Speaker 3: But I don't really understand how bringing in these six

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Speaker 3: and splitting the money fourteen ways was the best money

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Speaker 3: option there. So they really do seem to be betting

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Speaker 3: on potential. And like I said, I don't I don't

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Speaker 3: buy that.

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Speaker 2: Were you surprised that the Mountain West teams that were

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Speaker 2: rumored to be joining or rumored to have American interest

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Speaker 2: schools like Bois, San Diego State, whatever, We're pleased. We're

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Speaker 2: pleased with how things were going in the Mountain West

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Speaker 2: as everything was moving around in college football. Did the

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Speaker 2: sort of stationary element of things surprise you.

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Speaker 3: Well, the rumors from the start about how like Bois

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Speaker 3: in San Diego State said no real quickly because they

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Speaker 3: assumed they might have other options here in a few years. Right,

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Speaker 3: that kind of made sense. I'm still not I don't know,

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Speaker 3: so how what the Big twelve is going to be

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Speaker 3: thinking in that regard, and so we don't really know.

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Speaker 3: But if they wanted to basically, you know, stay in

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Speaker 3: their time zones and wait to see if something bigger

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Speaker 3: came along, that made sense. The Colorado Air Force thing

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Speaker 3: was confusing to me from the start, number one, because

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Speaker 3: of the same thing. Like, right, air Force is occasionally

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Speaker 3: good at football. I don't know that they draw viewers

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Speaker 3: at all, but I mean, hey, air Force Navy conference

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Speaker 3: or that's fine. Colorado State is not just another program

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Speaker 3: that's been nothing but potential for years. Beautiful stadium, lots

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Speaker 3: of great breweries, all that stuff. But I didn't really

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Speaker 3: understand that to start with. And the fact that they

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Speaker 3: looked at what the AAC might be doing and decided,

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Speaker 3: I mean, you're basically creating a Mountain West, but over there,

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Speaker 3: we'll stay over here. Like that that kind of made

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Speaker 3: sense to me too for them to pass.

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Speaker 1: Well, look a lot more to come, for sure, on

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Speaker 1: the expansion front, whether it's rumors, whether it's actual teams

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Speaker 1: moving from one conference to another, but just the latest

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Speaker 1: domino to fall here. I did want to switch up

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Speaker 1: and talk about the spplus. By the way, we got

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Speaker 1: questions what does sp plus stand for?

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Speaker 3: So in two thousand and eight, no, two thousand and seven,

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Speaker 3: when I was doing this at rockem Nation, just fiddle

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Speaker 3: in around with numbers. I everything I did at the

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Speaker 3: start of anything football analyticsy that came about was based

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Speaker 3: on baseball stats, and so I immediately said about basically

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Speaker 3: trying to create an OPS for baseball, so the on

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Speaker 3: base percentage would be success rate. So there's your ass.

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Speaker 3: My first stab at an explosiveness measure for to be

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Speaker 3: the equivalent for slugging percentage was basically called equivalent points

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Speaker 3: P points per play, and there you go success rate

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Speaker 3: and points per play. And then I had to, you know,

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Speaker 3: get rid of the ampersand after a while for reasons,

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Speaker 3: and we ended up with sp plus even though it's

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Speaker 3: like there's much more that goes into it than just that. Now,

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Speaker 3: but I'm I'm not going to change the name.

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Speaker 1: Great, you got to stick with the branding. It's served you. Well, Okay,

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Speaker 1: here is your top five right now per the sp plus.

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Speaker 1: This is after week seven. Georgia one, Ohio State two,

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Speaker 1: Bama three, Florida five, and then just kind of conspicuously

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Speaker 1: there at four, the Clemson Tigers four and two. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I am assuming I do not know this is fact.

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Speaker 1: I am assuming you've caught hell. Because Clemson is fourth?

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Speaker 1: Why are they fourth?

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Speaker 3: Defense? Defense? And preseason projections basically the end they like,

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Speaker 3: that's the whole story. You look at the ratings, the weather,

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Speaker 3: they take shape. Georgia and Ohios date are very close.

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Speaker 3: That's P plus loves what Ohio State did to you know,

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Speaker 3: lesser teams over the last few games. And you know

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Speaker 3: we saw in twenty fourteen that that can easily be

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Speaker 3: the start of something when you play real teams. Again,

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Speaker 3: Bama's two and a half points back in third place

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Speaker 3: right now and Clemson four through whatever. Clemson's three point

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Speaker 3: eight points back of Bama, like over six points behind Georgia,

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Speaker 3: So there's a humongous gap there. And then you look

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Speaker 3: at just the kind of clustering. Four through eleven are

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Speaker 3: very close together. So I mean Clemson could easily be

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Speaker 3: seventh if I tinkered with the Knobs slightly differently, but

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Speaker 3: basically the bottom line is they were projected as a

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Speaker 3: top whatever two or three team I think to start

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Speaker 3: the season. The defenses that lived up to every bit

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Speaker 3: of whatever projections they had, and the offense has only

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Speaker 3: dropped two thirtieth because preseason projections are kind of propping

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Speaker 3: them up a little bit. So, I mean, that's it.

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Speaker 3: I out of curiosity, I looked at what the ratings

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Speaker 3: would look like with no preseason numbers whatsoever, which I

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Speaker 3: don't usually try to tweet about that or anything because

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Speaker 3: people run with that like that's the Reeld number, and

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Speaker 3: the reason I use preseason projection is much better and

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Speaker 3: more accurate to do so. But like, even without preseason numbers,

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Speaker 3: they're still like tenth or eleventh right now because the

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Speaker 3: defense is so good. The same with Wisconsin. They're sitting

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Speaker 3: there at seven just you know, yelling at me and

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Speaker 3: making fun of me every week because I have to,

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Speaker 3: you know, eyeball the ratings and think, okay, that'll make sense,

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Speaker 3: and up yep, three and three Wisconsins. I had a

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Speaker 3: you know, Michigan and whoever else, they'd be like eleven

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Speaker 3: or twelfth, right now with no preseason it's because again

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Speaker 3: their defense is that good.

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Speaker 1: But you have to have circumstances like this almost every year,

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Speaker 1: right Like Clemson obviously is pretty prominent right now given

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Speaker 1: where they've been over the last four or five years.

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Speaker 1: But I have to imagine, even if it's not top

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Speaker 1: five every year, there are stragglers who kind of work

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Speaker 1: their way in for being a half team, as Dan

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Speaker 1: and I would classify them here, right, really good one

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Speaker 1: side of the ball, maybe not as good on the other.

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Speaker 3: Right, And you know it is you know, that's the

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Speaker 3: trade off you make, Like I did, I keep the

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Speaker 3: preseason numbers in pretty like it's still fifty percent basically

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Speaker 3: right now, and even at the end of the year,

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Speaker 3: Like I had a bunch of like real math people,

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Speaker 3: you know, I talked to this like when I made

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Speaker 3: some changes a few years ago, and they said, like,

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Speaker 3: priors are good, prior, like priors, priors, priors, they make

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Speaker 3: everything more predictive. So I finally broke down because back

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Speaker 3: like a decade ago, I was trying to get rid

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Speaker 3: of the preseason numbers by like October first, basically just

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Speaker 3: like let these let the season stand on its own.

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Speaker 3: And that's fine, but it's not all that great from

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Speaker 3: a predictive standpoint to do so. But yeah, the trade

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Speaker 3: off is it makes sure that you know Ohio State,

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Speaker 3: for instance, you know, stays where they should be because again,

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Speaker 3: like Vegas will project them as a favorite against anybody

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Speaker 3: in the country besides you know Georgia right now, maybe

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Speaker 3: Alabama and and s P plus is the same. It

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Speaker 3: props teams up that should be propped up in that regard,

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Speaker 3: and then occasionally when there's just a team that it

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Speaker 3: doesn't have it even though it should have it, it

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Speaker 3: keeps them propped up.

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Speaker 2: To who are you personally most aligned with SP plus with?

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Speaker 2: Like where when your football watching eyes and brain watch

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Speaker 2: a team and watch results and see consistent patterns with

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Speaker 2: teams and sp plus sees the same thing or doesn't

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Speaker 2: see the same things. Where are you most aligned? And

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Speaker 2: obviously you know they're going to be situations like you

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Speaker 2: mentioned with Wisconsin and Clemson were like, wow, the predictive

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Speaker 2: preseason stuff is why those teams are ranked where they are.

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Speaker 2: I'm not there with them, but like number seventeen makes sense,

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Speaker 2: number of nine makes sense. Where are you guys aligned?

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Speaker 2: When I say guys, I mean you and an algorithm.

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Speaker 3: I've always said that spplus is better at identifying overrated

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Speaker 3: teams than underrated teams.

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Speaker 2: Interesting, and so when you have.

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Speaker 3: A situation like I mean, Iowa fans just stopped yelling

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Speaker 3: at me, so I should mention their team ever again.

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Speaker 3: But I mean, when I was number two in the country,

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Speaker 3: the way they became number two in the country and

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Speaker 3: playing great on one side of the ball, but relying

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Speaker 3: so heavily on turnovers, going three and out on more

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Speaker 3: than almost anybody in college football, the numbers are going

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Speaker 3: to start screaming that they are not the number two

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Speaker 3: team in the country. And you know, they were sixteenth

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Speaker 3: last week. They lost to Purdue in a kind of

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Speaker 3: a funky turnover ish manner as well, they don't drop

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Speaker 3: the still sixteen, So I think that is definitely a

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Speaker 3: case of they are who we thought they are. And

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Speaker 3: that is something that my eye kind of catches as well,

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Speaker 3: just the teams that it's fun when they're forcing turnovers

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Speaker 3: every play, and then you remember, like no team does

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Speaker 3: that all year. No team can pick off four passes

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Speaker 3: in every single game and therefore dominate field position and

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Speaker 3: eventually win because of it. And that's certainly that's the

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Speaker 3: way it played out with Iowa at least.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I tend to agree with that, especially looking at well,

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Speaker 2: really the two teams that Ty and I root for

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Speaker 2: with Notre Dame, whose defense has come along well, and

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Speaker 2: Notre Dame fans know that Notre Dame fans know that

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Speaker 2: the defense has gotten stronger over the course of the season,

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Speaker 2: and know that their offense has had the continued same

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Speaker 2: issues beat against some good defenses. When you look at

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Speaker 2: you know, playing Cincinnati, Perdue, Wisconsin, whatever, and Oregon keeps

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Speaker 2: getting or keeps giving points, you know, Vegas sees Oregon

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Speaker 2: as a strong team, even though Oregon fans and even

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Speaker 2: though anybody who has actually watched Oregon looks at the

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Speaker 2: Ducks and says, look, they're talented, they make plays at times,

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Speaker 2: but the underlying trends with both sides of the ball,

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Speaker 2: be it the injuries on defense and beat the inconsistencies

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Speaker 2: in the past game, say that this is not a

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Speaker 2: team that should be in a top ten and playoffish conversation.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we are at a weird point of the year.

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Speaker 3: And this happens to some degree every year where you've

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Speaker 3: got some power conference teams that have managed to win

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Speaker 3: some close games and remain undefeated, or in an Oregon's case,

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Speaker 3: to lose once, I guess, But Oklahoma State, Wake Forest,

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Speaker 3: orgon teams that are higher ranked, then we kind of

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Speaker 3: assume their capabilities are We just kind of have to

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Speaker 3: in a lot of cases just kind of wait for

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Speaker 3: them to lose. Like we know they're probably not going

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Speaker 3: to win out Oklahoma State's probably not going to beat

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Speaker 3: Iowa State and then at the end of the year

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Speaker 3: beat Oklahoma and then beat Oklahoma again, or however that

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Speaker 3: plays out. Wake Forest, you know they actually I mean,

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Speaker 3: if they get past Army, they get Duke next. But

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Speaker 3: their last four games they're projected to lose all four

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Speaker 3: in sp plus, which hates their defense. So we are

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Speaker 3: in that weird limbo period where we have to you know,

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Speaker 3: teams haven't lost yet and therefore they get the respect

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Speaker 3: in the headlines and deservedly so, but we also know

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Speaker 3: this probably isn't going to last much longer.

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Speaker 2: Is there anybody on the flip side of that that

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Speaker 2: is performing really well but is not getting the attention

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Speaker 2: because of their record, right like a Nebraska defense. And

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Speaker 2: that's the example that I always turned to right. The

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Speaker 2: Nebraska defense is playing like a top fifteen team, but

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Speaker 2: the offense isn't closing out games. Is there a team

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Speaker 2: that s P plus has identified as being I mean

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Speaker 2: you mentioned Clemson, but like that is that their record

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Speaker 2: is not where it should be, but their performance is

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Speaker 2: actually quite impressive.

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Speaker 3: Iowa stayed out gained Iowa and Baylor by almost to

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Speaker 3: combine four hundred yards. Yeah, they never with the law.

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Speaker 3: I mean I've seen a lot of the disappointment kind

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Speaker 3: of headlines or analysis or whatever. But I mean, if

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Speaker 3: they only throw two picks against Iowa, they probably win.

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Speaker 3: If they only screw up like have a major special

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Speaker 3: team's miss qu once against Baylor, they probably win. I

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Speaker 3: took a lot for them to lose those two games.

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Speaker 3: So they're basically what three four plays, you know, catastrophic

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Speaker 3: plays away from being unbeaten, which I mean those plays happen. Therefore,

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Speaker 3: you don't get to play for the national title. And

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Speaker 3: that's fine. But their twelfth right now, and that s

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Speaker 3: P plus and I get it. Their defense is probably

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Speaker 3: even better than it was supposed to be, or at

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Speaker 3: the very least it's as good.

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Speaker 2: And also, you need a Matt Campbell addendum basically to

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Speaker 2: the Iowa State Form. You're like, well, I'm going to

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Speaker 2: work in two and a half more points because of

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Speaker 2: special teams screw up with Matt Kamis.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and you know I'm not as P plus

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Speaker 3: like their twelfth and s P plus even though he

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Speaker 3: never tries against FCS teams, like they try to win

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Speaker 3: by six points against any FCS team they play, and

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Speaker 3: they're still twelfth even though that game counted. So there

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Speaker 3: are rock solid. They're basically what they were supposed to be.

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Speaker 3: They just you know, they had a couple stupid errors

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Speaker 3: in the two biggest games they've played so far.

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Speaker 1: As we said, I think an interview or to a

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Speaker 1: go you have been trying to will two thousand and

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Speaker 1: seven back into the existence, yep, in this year twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one.

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Speaker 3: One.

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Speaker 1: How does the seasons compare so far? Have you taken

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Speaker 1: a look at all about you know, where we stand

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Speaker 1: now relative to that crazy season.

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Speaker 3: Here's where it gets hard, because I mean in terms

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Speaker 3: of ranked teams losing, I think twenty twenty one is

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Speaker 3: still ahead of the rest of the pack, ahead of

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Speaker 3: two thousand and seven and everything else. Like there's been

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Speaker 3: a ton of movement. And as I wrote last week

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Speaker 3: for I think my Friday ESPN column, there was once

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Speaker 3: you have that first layer of chaos, once Ohio State's

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Speaker 3: lost and Clemson is not what they're supposed to be

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Speaker 3: an Alabama's lost, then it becomes really easy to keep

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Speaker 3: the chaos going because then I was ranked second, and

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Speaker 3: you have a bunch of teams that are way out

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Speaker 3: over their skis in terms of what they're supposed to

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Speaker 3: do on paper versus what their record is and what

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Speaker 3: their ranking is, and those teams lose because they're projected

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Speaker 3: to lose, and it goes down as an upset and

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Speaker 3: all the chaos continues. So we've gotten the hard part

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Speaker 3: out of the way. It is. It's kind of a

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Speaker 3: lull this week for sure. Like if we're gonna have

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Speaker 3: an other top two team lose this week, it has

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Speaker 3: to be Cincinnati losing to Navy, which feels very Stanford

359
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Speaker 3: USC like at that point, like I'm not really holding

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Speaker 3: my breath on that one. Plus I want Cincinnati to

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Speaker 3: finish unbeaten just to see how that plays out. But

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Speaker 3: like so far it really has kind of matched up.

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Speaker 3: It's just November is where most of the genuinely, just

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Speaker 3: the week to week chaos really started picking up steam

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Speaker 3: in two thousand and seven. So the bar keeps getting

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Speaker 3: higher as we go along here and we'll see.

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Speaker 1: Well, and that was gonna be my next question. What

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Speaker 1: kind of chaos do you potentially see on the horizon

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Speaker 1: based on your numbers?

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Speaker 2: Are the agents of chaos too?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Who's like, who is the granule of sand inside the

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Speaker 2: shell to get our chaotic pearl?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Tennessee chaotic pearl?

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Speaker 2: Very strange, you should know.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So so, yeah, Tennessee I thought had some

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Speaker 3: potential in that regard. Obviously, Ole miss isn't a title contender,

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Speaker 3: so the fact that they lost last week wasn't a

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Speaker 3: big deal. But they still get obviously they get Alabama,

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Speaker 3: they get Georgia. A couple of weeks after that, they

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Speaker 3: had Kentucky. But that's that's a non story, I guess anymore.

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Speaker 3: But they were one option. I think the biggest chaos

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Speaker 3: right now is if everybody in the big ten East

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Speaker 3: destroys each other enough, and you know, the everybody in

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Speaker 3: that conference ends up with two losses, that's kind of

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Speaker 3: the biggest source. Because I mean, the PAC twelve is

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Speaker 3: already kind of kind of chaos itself out to a degree. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: if UCLA beats organ this weekend, that could go even further.

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Speaker 3: But I think we're kind of like that's by the wayside.

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Speaker 3: I assume the ACC will kind of take care of

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Speaker 3: itself a little bit. Maybe Pitt can keep this up

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Speaker 3: a little while, and we have to schedule an emergency

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Speaker 3: game with West Virginia at the end of the year

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Speaker 3: for them. We must, we must West Virginia to get

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Speaker 3: revenge for two thousand and seven. But you know that

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Speaker 3: it's hard unless Pitt really does beat Clempson and run

397
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Speaker 3: the table, it's kind of hard to see them really

398
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Speaker 3: having a contender at the end of the day. Sorry, weak,

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Speaker 3: but so we're already down to three power conferences in Cincinnati. Basically,

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Speaker 3: I mean, if SEC teams wanted to really pick up

401
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Speaker 3: the slack here, if Tennessee finally wanted to beat Alabama

402
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Speaker 3: for the first time in fifteen years, I'm you know,

403
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Speaker 3: let's do it. Let's keep that train going. But otherwise

404
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Speaker 3: I think it's going to come down to the Big Ten.

405
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Speaker 3: Big twelve has potential with Oklahoma having already survived thirty

406
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Speaker 3: eight one score games. But yeah, with Michigan, Michigan State,

407
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Speaker 3: Penn State, and Ohio State all having to play each other,

408
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Speaker 3: there's a chance that they all beat each other up

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Speaker 3: and the Big Ten doesn't get a team in the playoff.

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Speaker 1: Wow, that would be crazy. That that's one of those

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Speaker 1: chaos scenarios that people ask us about.

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Speaker 3: And sorry, like you know, I think I'll State probably

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Speaker 3: went out and makes it like that's probably the most

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Speaker 3: likely scenario right now. But it's absolutely on the table

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Speaker 3: that weird stuff happens there.

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Speaker 1: And it will I think shift a lot in the

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Speaker 1: top ten because by virtue of the fact that we

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Speaker 1: have so many Big ten teams up there. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: inevitable that we'll see a lot of it. You mentioned, Pitt.

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Speaker 1: I just want to come back to that, who do

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Speaker 1: you like in the acc like legitimately, like if you

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Speaker 1: had a gun to your head and you had to

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Speaker 1: pick someone to I don't know, run the table or

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Speaker 1: just win the conference.

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Speaker 2: I mean it's sort of pit n C State is

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Speaker 2: the conversation, which is very strange.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean would you pick either of those

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Speaker 1: teams or some of those.

429
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Speaker 3: Two I mean these words like kind of get stuck.

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Speaker 3: But like I think I trust Pit the most, like

431
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Speaker 3: n C State so far this year has laid a

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Speaker 3: big fat egg at Mississippi State, beaten, Clemson tried really

433
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Speaker 3: really hard to lose to Louisiana Tech, who is another

434
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:33,160
Speaker 3: team that only plays well and barely loses to good

435
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,280
Speaker 3: teams or try barely went beats bad teams. And then

436
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 3: they pummeled Boston College, who it seemed like was at

437
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,320
Speaker 3: least a pretty solid team. So I mean, I do

438
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 3: not trust the n C State at all. They can

439
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,159
Speaker 3: lose that at Miami and it won't surprise me in

440
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,560
Speaker 3: the least. They clearly have upside, but I don't. I

441
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 3: don't trust those for me though, I just I need

442
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:51,840
Speaker 3: to see Clemson lose to Pit like that. That's what

443
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,879
Speaker 3: it comes down to. I need to see Pitt actually score,

444
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:59,639
Speaker 3: come through laid beat Clemson as a favorite, as the

445
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:03,240
Speaker 3: rank team in the matchup and a favorite, and as

446
00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,120
Speaker 3: a potential national title contender. I need to see Pitt

447
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,280
Speaker 3: win that game. And if they do, then they're I

448
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:10,479
Speaker 3: think they're the easy pick at that point, even if

449
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,159
Speaker 3: NC State still has a shot.

450
00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:16,080
Speaker 2: Who are the great overachievers, either to your eyes or

451
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,360
Speaker 2: to sp plus the great overachiever. I mean we saw

452
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 2: Purdue come in already playing good defense and sort of

453
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,720
Speaker 2: emphatically play good defense against Iowa in that big upset.

454
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,920
Speaker 2: But across the sport there are a number of teams

455
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,280
Speaker 2: it seems like I don't think expectations were super high

456
00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,040
Speaker 2: for Baylor, and they seem to be operating at an

457
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:36,240
Speaker 2: impressive clip. Same can be said about I mean Pitt

458
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 2: of course that we just mentioned, but even in the SEC.

459
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:40,680
Speaker 2: I don't think a lot of people saw this Kentucky

460
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:43,159
Speaker 2: team coming in this Kentucky season coming. So who are

461
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,639
Speaker 2: the great overachievers almost through October?

462
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,159
Speaker 3: I mean Baylor is a good one. I think the

463
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:50,159
Speaker 3: list has to start with Michigan State, right, I mean

464
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:54,240
Speaker 3: that's absolutely you know, They're It's funny they I love

465
00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:56,360
Speaker 3: their often so much. They got three guys who can

466
00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 3: score on a nine yard run or pass at any

467
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:01,280
Speaker 3: given moment. Well, man, I guess you have to be.

468
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,680
Speaker 2: At the one or playing Nebraska in the second half

469
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 2: in Nebraska, but I mean they're still only like forty

470
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,840
Speaker 2: eight then offensive spplus because their efficiency numbers are so bad,

471
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:10,679
Speaker 2: but their defense.

472
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,679
Speaker 3: Is still top fifteen. Like they had to lean on

473
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 3: their defense last week and it worked. So the fact

474
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:17,239
Speaker 3: that they're still unbeaten, and the fact that, I mean

475
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,639
Speaker 3: they're of the four teams in the Big ten East

476
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:25,200
Speaker 3: like competition right now, they're the least reliable, I would say,

477
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 3: but they're all like they're in the conversation, they're legit

478
00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,399
Speaker 3: top twenty or twenty five. So that leads the I know,

479
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,280
Speaker 3: Bud Elliott, I know some people were pretty high on

480
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:34,600
Speaker 3: them coming into the year. I don't know if they

481
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,280
Speaker 3: were this high on them, and I still didn't trust

482
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 3: them at all. So so kudos to them for sure.

483
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 3: You know, it's hard to say Arizona State at this

484
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:49,199
Speaker 3: point because they're so glitchy, but their upside is pretty definitive,

485
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 3: I think, and I like them a good amount, but

486
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:53,640
Speaker 3: they probably haven't won enough. All Miss is a team

487
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,840
Speaker 3: that you know, I said all preseason, like all they

488
00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:58,880
Speaker 3: got to do is be competent on defense, and they're

489
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 3: kind of pushing it starts. They're towing that line. They're

490
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 3: sixty six right now in my in defensive sp plus

491
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 3: and that's borderline competent for a Power five team, I guess.

492
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 3: But that their offense is awesome and they have shown

493
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 3: they can pretty much beat anybody, like I'm sure they'd

494
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 3: like that Alabama game back, but I mean they have

495
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 3: the upside to touch to beat anybody left on their

496
00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,679
Speaker 3: schedule for sure, so they could wouldn't really surprise anybody

497
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 3: if they finished ten and two or eleven to one.

498
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,719
Speaker 3: So that's that's not what we necessarily expect from ole

499
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 3: Miss on a year to year basis, So I put

500
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:35,720
Speaker 3: them pretty high too.

501
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,680
Speaker 2: We don't have them playing a big game this week,

502
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,760
Speaker 2: but in a couple of weeks they are playing Michigan State. Michigan.

503
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 2: Michigan is sort of your I don't know. I think

504
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,400
Speaker 2: it's more the most emotional fan base in terms of

505
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,040
Speaker 2: what sp plus thinks. They hate it when it's good.

506
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 2: They don't understand it when they perceive Michigan to be

507
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 2: excellent and they're not getting enough attention. What is your

508
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 2: current temperature check with the Wolverines? A couple not to

509
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,960
Speaker 2: disrespect Northwestern, but you should disrespect this year's version of Northwestern?

510
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 2: What what is the current temperature check the barometer with

511
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 2: the Michigan Wolverines A couple weeks ahead of their first

512
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,760
Speaker 2: really big, big Ten East matchup.

513
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're the one team where if I start saying

514
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 3: negative things, their fans are like relieved. Goodness. I do

515
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,960
Speaker 3: not want my hopes up right now. Yeah, so I'm

516
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,919
Speaker 3: a little concerned about Michigan right now. And this is

517
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,920
Speaker 3: a very numbers base thing. So that postgame win expectancy

518
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 3: number that I talk about from time to time a

519
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 3: lot on Twitter, just about you know, you take all

520
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 3: the stats from the game, not not like prediction stats,

521
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 3: but the game, the stats that the game actually generated,

522
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:47,480
Speaker 3: and you know, you toss them up in the air

523
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 3: and it basically says, you know, with these, with you know,

524
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 3: this success rate in this category, and blah blah blah,

525
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 3: you could have expected to win this game this percentage

526
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,000
Speaker 3: of the time Western Michigan first week hundred percent. Obviously,

527
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,439
Speaker 3: Washington's second week ninety five percent. No NIU obviously one

528
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 3: hundred percent. There. So they, I mean, they were genuinely

529
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,399
Speaker 3: dominated at the beginning of the year. Rutgers thirty six percent,

530
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:15,680
Speaker 3: at Wisconsin, fifty six percent, at Nebraska forty four percent.

531
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 3: Like some of those predictive stats that were loving Michigan

532
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 3: earlier in the year, it's kind they're kind of breaking

533
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,520
Speaker 3: even right now. And they had a bye week, and

534
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 3: I mean two of those games are on the road,

535
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,199
Speaker 3: they have a bye week, like maybe they're full on

536
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:30,879
Speaker 3: Michigan again moving forward, But that was that wasn't the

537
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,840
Speaker 3: most encouraging thing that I've seen, Like they really to

538
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:36,680
Speaker 3: get the stats all the way back on their side,

539
00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 3: so to speak. They need to probably you know, manhandle

540
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 3: Northwestern and in Indiana beat Michigan State as they're projected

541
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 3: to do, although he ever knows about that game. So

542
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:47,919
Speaker 3: that's kind of a dicey one just from a if

543
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:49,919
Speaker 3: you're if you're using if you're trying to read the

544
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 3: tea leaves, that's that's one that could be a little

545
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 3: dicey there. But there's still eighth in SP plus there's

546
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,959
Speaker 3: still second in special teams, ninth on defense, and eighteenth

547
00:26:58,040 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 3: on offense. So that's clearly the ceiling's high.

548
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 2: Least I can tell you anecdotally because as most people

549
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,360
Speaker 2: have in the greater Chicagoland area, I have, well I'm

550
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 2: married to a Michigan alum, but I'm surrounded by Michigan

551
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,199
Speaker 2: and Wisconsin and Illinois people whatever. And I made a

552
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,880
Speaker 2: pizza for a neighbor who's a diehard Michigan fan came

553
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 2: over wearing like a Michigan fleece or something like that,

554
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:19,720
Speaker 2: and he was asking about college football season and he

555
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 2: doesn't really watch much beyond Michigan. And I said, hey,

556
00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 2: Michigan's pretty good this year. That's good. It's nice little turnaround.

557
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 2: And he just looked at me and said, let me

558
00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 2: tell you how the rest of the season is going

559
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,959
Speaker 2: to be. Let me walk you through it. Like sometimes

560
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 2: there are new episodes and sometimes there are reruns, and

561
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 2: at a certain point you know which are which. You

562
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 2: turn on TBS and there's a Seinfeld episode, You're like, ah,

563
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,480
Speaker 2: this is not new. And so I can tell you

564
00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 2: that fatalistic impulse exists. I'm confirming everything that you've already said.

565
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,679
Speaker 2: But he was very clear that, look, they're going to

566
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,359
Speaker 2: be competitive and lose to Michigan State, They're probably going

567
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 2: to lose to Penn State, and they're gonna get killed

568
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 2: by Ohio State. And I said, I don't have a

569
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 2: good argument against you, right, but I think they're pretty good.

570
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, And if we don't, even if we're we ignore

571
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 3: recent history and just look at what they are so

572
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,280
Speaker 3: far this year in the schedule. They're still projected to

573
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:09,199
Speaker 3: lose at Penn State, they're still projected to lose to

574
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 3: Ohio State, you know, at Michigan State, and hell like

575
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:14,720
Speaker 3: at Maryland they're only like a six point favorite, you know,

576
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 3: just a normal team without knowing anything about Maryland's history,

577
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 3: you probably look at that and think, oh, it's pretty

578
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,120
Speaker 3: solid ten and too right there, right, And that's I mean,

579
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 3: that's that's what the odds kind of favor right now.

580
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,360
Speaker 3: So the only reason we're we're a thinking of more

581
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 3: than that, but then b thinking that the bar should

582
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 3: be high and they won't clear it and all that

583
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 3: other stuff is because we know their recent history. Just

584
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 3: a normal team with that is ranked eight and playing

585
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 3: these teams would probably finish about ten and.

586
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,320
Speaker 2: Two before we wrap. Then, I know Tie has a

587
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 2: couple more questions, but I'm curious because we had a

588
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 2: question in our Q and A show about SMU running

589
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 2: the table versus Cincinnati running the table and the different

590
00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 2: perceptions of each. Obviously, SMU has a decent Power five

591
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,959
Speaker 2: win over TCU, but some close wins against less than

592
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:05,000
Speaker 2: stellar competitions. Cincinnati's has looked more impressive, especially lately. Who

593
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 2: is the second most impressive G five team right now

594
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 2: after Cincinnati, to you, is it SMU?

595
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: Is it?

596
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 2: I mean San Diego State has been winning ugly and

597
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 2: Nevada has been pretty impressive like there have been. It's

598
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 2: been actually a really cool year in the G five ranks.

599
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 2: So who to you is that that that silver medallist

600
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:22,720
Speaker 2: right now?

601
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously I would have said Coastal before right

602
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 3: we have last night before Wednesday that was I mean,

603
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 3: losing that app is not a shame byans, but it's

604
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 3: still yeah, kind of a dings them a little bit.

605
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 3: I really, I think Fresno State has a lot of potential,

606
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 3: but they've kind of, you know, they've messed around a

607
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 3: little bit and and maybe that I'll I guess SMU.

608
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 3: San Diego State is another one where we've seen this

609
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 3: episode of Their defense is incredible again, like Rocky Long

610
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 3: left two years ago, it's still a Rocky Long defense

611
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 3: doing Rocky Long thing. It's amazing. And their offense is

612
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 3: still one hundred and seventeenth on offensive. Its people US.

613
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 3: So that's just they're going to go as far as

614
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,719
Speaker 3: they're the Mountain West Iowa. They're going to go as

615
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 3: far as they can without moving the football. And I

616
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 3: mean that's pretty far. They'll probably went nine or ten games. Yeah,

617
00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 3: I guess give me.

618
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 1: Smu Okay, Bill, I wanted to close out by asking

619
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 1: you about two teams in the state of Texas, because

620
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,320
Speaker 1: we get a lot of questions about Baylor in Texas.

621
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,200
Speaker 1: Let me start with Baylor. Dave Randa, I guess, now

622
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: his first full season, year two, if you want to

623
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 1: call it that year one, if you count year zero,

624
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,280
Speaker 1: it does seem as if Baylor has been really solid.

625
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 1: When Dan and I talk separately, not even so much

626
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 1: on the podcast about Baylor, the word that comes up

627
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: is solid. They're just consistent. They're solid from a stats

628
00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 1: standpoint when you go in there and you pour over

629
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,640
Speaker 1: your numbers. What does it say about Baylor that Bears

630
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 1: fans might want to hear?

631
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 3: The offense is awesome. I expect it. I guess really

632
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 3: the defense might still be ahead of the offense overall.

633
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,240
Speaker 3: I know it is from an s P plus standpoint,

634
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 3: but you know the new changes that what's his name

635
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 3: Grimes brought to the offense, I mean, I think they've

636
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,960
Speaker 3: taken They run the ball really really well, and they

637
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,120
Speaker 3: got you know, at least two good running backs. They've

638
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 3: got at least two good pass targets. They the Oklahoma

639
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:21,479
Speaker 3: State game was really disappointing. They just just that just

640
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 3: wasn't a good performance, you know, not that losing at

641
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 3: Oklahoma State is you know, shameful biting means they just

642
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 3: didn't play well. But they're very well rounded. They you know,

643
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 3: scrolling through here like you know, twelfth in points per drive,

644
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 3: thirtieth in points per drive allowed, tenth, and success rate

645
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,920
Speaker 3: twenty ninth and success rate allowed like across the board,

646
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:44,680
Speaker 3: very few weaknesses. And I think that's pretty awesome because

647
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 3: it was easy to like last year, you know, year zero,

648
00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,800
Speaker 3: he kind of openly admitted he got the offensive hires

649
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 3: wrong out of the gates and had to try again,

650
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 3: which happens sometimes to first time head coaches for sure.

651
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,240
Speaker 3: But it really seems like this is a team that

652
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,960
Speaker 3: he this is the team he intended to craft, and

653
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 3: it's looking really good. I saw. I can't decide that

654
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 3: if the I know, you know, the LSU jobs open now,

655
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,560
Speaker 3: and I've seen you know, people on Twitter trying to

656
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 3: get you know, Baylor fans worried about that and everything.

657
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 3: I don't I assume that LSU will aim hire from

658
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 3: just a head coach experience standpoint right then probably probably,

659
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 3: but the.

660
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 2: Early returns are so like so, the fact is he's

661
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 2: a defensive coach. It doesn't work out an offense ere one.

662
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 2: He immediately cuts ties with Larry Fedora, offensive coordinator, who

663
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 2: I'm sure on some level he was seduced by his

664
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 2: history and he's a name and whatever and like that,

665
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:47,040
Speaker 2: and that pops in Texas given his success, and I'm

666
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,040
Speaker 2: sure his hands are just off of the offense. Right.

667
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,720
Speaker 2: You see defensive coordinators become head coaches and say, oh,

668
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 2: I want ball control, I want you to service the defense.

669
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 2: And then he just says, do your thing. You're great

670
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 2: at BYU and Baylor's doing their thing. They don't bail,

671
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 2: doesn't seem to do anything poorly. David Randa handles himself

672
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 2: really impressive, like just even behind a microphone. Like That's

673
00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,560
Speaker 2: why I think there's potential for him. I don't know

674
00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 2: if it's LSU, but a big job soon, a big er.

675
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is. It's funny every time a new crew

676
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 3: does a Baylor game, you know, they come into town

677
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,760
Speaker 3: and they talk to the coaches on Thursday Friday whenever,

678
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 3: every single one of them goes out of the way

679
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 3: during that broadcast, say, man, this guy's impressive. They're just

680
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 3: surprised because he's so different in the way he carries

681
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 3: himself and everything else. They're just like they just seem stunned,

682
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,360
Speaker 3: and they have to say something about it, like like

683
00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 3: no one else ever has and everybody says the same thing,

684
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 3: but correct, No, he's a unique guy. And I'm I'm

685
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 3: very impressed with what they're doing this.

686
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 1: Year and the Texas Longhorns. So Texas is what a

687
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 1: different kind of half team though, right Ty, different kind

688
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 1: of half half team, not just only offense, only defense.

689
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 2: They just they play really well right away.

690
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:01,680
Speaker 1: They play really really well right away for three new coach.

691
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: You know, expectations are always high at Texas. That's kind

692
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,239
Speaker 1: of a given. Sark is a first year guy, so

693
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,040
Speaker 1: it's going to take some time, I think, to settle in.

694
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: But I know from some of the comments and from

695
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: some of the voice messages that we received, there was

696
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: a lot of oh, it's the same old Texas, right,

697
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 1: same old tewl never changed, the same old Texas. Talk

698
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:27,320
Speaker 1: to me thirty thousand foot view, What the hell is

699
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: going on at Texas?

700
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 3: Thirty thousand foot view is, you know, the Arkansas game

701
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,400
Speaker 3: was bad. They played a good Oklahoma team to a

702
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 3: toss up. They post win a game, postgame win expectancy

703
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 3: against Oklahoma State last week's seventy six percent more like

704
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 3: a seven point Texas win than an eight point loss.

705
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:49,279
Speaker 3: And obviously the game was really weird. I su ended

706
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:51,719
Speaker 3: up with you know, twenty whatever more plays than they did,

707
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,840
Speaker 3: but you know, per play, they were kind of the

708
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 3: better team. It kind of looked that way. You know,

709
00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:00,839
Speaker 3: they they were up big, you know, five minutes into

710
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 3: the second half, So like that was if you just again,

711
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 3: if we play the Michigan game where you ignore everything

712
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:07,839
Speaker 3: you know about Texas and you just kind of look

713
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,240
Speaker 3: at a team with you know, top ten or fifteen

714
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 3: recruiting and clear upside on offense, lots of big plays

715
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:16,799
Speaker 3: on offense, decent efficiency numbers. They do go three and out.

716
00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,279
Speaker 3: It's it's it's one of those little funny splits where

717
00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:21,359
Speaker 3: they're forty first in success, right, but they go three

718
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:23,040
Speaker 3: and out thirty two percent of the time, which is

719
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,160
Speaker 3: ninety second. So it's kind of one of those like

720
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 3: once you get the first first down, you're going to score.

721
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,200
Speaker 3: Kind of situations, but they don't always get rolling. We

722
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 3: certainly see that in the second half of the last

723
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,680
Speaker 3: couple of games. I don't see anything to worry about

724
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,759
Speaker 3: from a thirty thousand foot view if you strip all

725
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,359
Speaker 3: the history and the context away. Their team that has

726
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 3: obvious upside. They're a team that's stunk on defense for

727
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:46,839
Speaker 3: most of the last two or three years. They're worse

728
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 3: now than they were last year, which isn't great, but

729
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 3: you know, it's still you know, he's an offensive coach.

730
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:55,480
Speaker 3: He's quickly found when he needs offensively the defense. You know,

731
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 3: if maybe he'll pull an Aranda if creet Cows didn't

732
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:00,120
Speaker 3: work out, start over, try again next year. I don't know,

733
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,520
Speaker 3: but I don't there's still twenty fourth and spplus. They're

734
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 3: still favored at least three of their last five games.

735
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,680
Speaker 3: Wouldn't surprise me. If they got to eight and four,

736
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,400
Speaker 3: that's fine. It's not terrible. There's much worse than that

737
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 3: out there, and so yeah, I mean, I would say

738
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 3: he at least passes a test, even if it's like

739
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:20,319
Speaker 3: a seed this year.

740
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:23,000
Speaker 2: Final question, the one I guess we've all been just

741
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:24,640
Speaker 2: leading up to, and it's the one that I know

742
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:26,120
Speaker 2: is on the back of everybody's mind.

743
00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 3: Andy Murray's first serve.

744
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 2: I was going to ask about as we get into

745
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,760
Speaker 2: the meat of the indoor season on the ATP tool,

746
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:38,040
Speaker 2: I know you were high on seb Coorida, but lately

747
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:42,400
Speaker 2: Jensen Brooksby, isn't it good? That's the name, So I guess,

748
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,920
Speaker 2: give me the finale of this ATP tour season and

749
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 2: the name internationally and domestically that you've been paying most

750
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:49,680
Speaker 2: attention to.

751
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,759
Speaker 3: Man. So I've talked to Brad Gilbert once in my

752
00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,240
Speaker 3: time at ESPN here story about the future of men's

753
00:36:55,239 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 3: tennis in June. I guess he's a guy right, Well

754
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,319
Speaker 3: he was, Yeah, he was right after a Quorda had

755
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,080
Speaker 3: had done well at the French and was looking like

756
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,000
Speaker 3: the future, and so we talked about him, and that

757
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 3: was the article was based mainly around him and and

758
00:37:11,440 --> 00:37:13,759
Speaker 3: Opelka and some of the other guys that were already

759
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:15,560
Speaker 3: up there. I didn't put it in the article, and

760
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 3: I should have because it would have made him look brilliant.

761
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:19,960
Speaker 3: I think I tweeted about it later on, like just

762
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:21,960
Speaker 3: in a sidebar. He's like, you know, actually another guy

763
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,160
Speaker 3: you should pay attention to he's not up yet, he's

764
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,960
Speaker 3: coming back from injury. This Jens and Brooksby guy is amazing.

765
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 3: He's going to be so good, and he moves so well,

766
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 3: and he's so just an interesting and then dude just

767
00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 3: took off. Like the moment Gilbert said his name, Brooksby

768
00:37:35,239 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 3: has just been on a straight upwards trajectory since. So

769
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:43,239
Speaker 3: he's our Medvedev. Right, he's the weirdo. Just nothing he

770
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:48,200
Speaker 3: does is normal. Every shot he hits kind of unexpected,

771
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 3: and that's a lot of fun. I still think Quarter

772
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:54,120
Speaker 3: might have the most upside, sure, but yeah, Brooksby.

773
00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 2: How old is quarda? Though? At this point you got

774
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:56,560
Speaker 2: to show a little.

775
00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:02,600
Speaker 3: More, don't you twenty Let's see Cord looks he's twenty

776
00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:03,839
Speaker 3: one now he did turn twenty one.

777
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to show a little bit more. I

778
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:07,440
Speaker 2: know TI has been back and forth about Riley Opelka,

779
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:09,600
Speaker 2: and he's like a fun stories you know, the service

780
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 2: robot whatever. But also at the same time, I need

781
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:14,160
Speaker 2: an all court game.

782
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:19,760
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, that's that's fine, he didn't have anyone.

783
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:21,520
Speaker 2: I like Riley Opelk a lot, but like I think

784
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:22,240
Speaker 2: he has a ceiling.

785
00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:25,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, well yeah, and you know that that amazing interview

786
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,440
Speaker 3: he gave a couple of weeks ago just where he

787
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,239
Speaker 3: you know, whipped all of the tennis media and just

788
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:34,319
Speaker 3: spoke his mind. Oh right. He also mentioned too that

789
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:35,799
Speaker 3: he's like, well, if I win ninety five percent of

790
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,680
Speaker 3: my service games, nothing else matters. On top eight in

791
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,000
Speaker 3: the world or something. I'm like, yeah, I mean ay,

792
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 3: like true, ye bo. I don't know how these guys practice.

793
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 3: It's not like he doesn't practice returning serves, so.

794
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:52,680
Speaker 2: I can't say, like also ten, like you're just limited

795
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,319
Speaker 2: on a certain level physically moving, you know, having an

796
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 2: all court game. I think he's great. I love watching him.

797
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 2: I love his giant kickserve Ty has talked about comparing

798
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,239
Speaker 2: him to Isner, and I like watching Opelca more than

799
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 2: I like watching Isner.

800
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:05,760
Speaker 1: I love the kicks, love the kickser.

801
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 2: But yeah, Brooksby, I think is the current hotness. There

802
00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,719
Speaker 2: you go, Ty, did you have a USMNTA question? Well,

803
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:16,480
Speaker 2: I have to ask now we each need our our

804
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:18,800
Speaker 2: variety and not a variety, but our vanity. Question.

805
00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, last I saw Bill, I think the US men's

806
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:27,600
Speaker 1: national team is something a hair over ninety percent when

807
00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,840
Speaker 1: it comes to chances of qualifying for the World after

808
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:36,799
Speaker 1: some very early scares with two draws in the opening Stanza,

809
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:38,960
Speaker 1: seems like they got a little bit back on track.

810
00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:43,600
Speaker 1: It Do you feel relieved at all or are you

811
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 1: still like we said the word fatalist a few times here?

812
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:51,480
Speaker 1: Now there is that quality to us soccer fans. How

813
00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: did you feel watching that last round of qualifying.

814
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:56,000
Speaker 3: Well, it's one of those things where like this was

815
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,640
Speaker 3: an opportunity to truly just like get everybody really excited

816
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:04,680
Speaker 3: again and they're just going to kind of qualify like

817
00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 3: they I mean, both of these windows now, both of

818
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:10,840
Speaker 3: these three match windows, they had basically must win matches

819
00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 3: because of disappointments and weird you know, lineup selections and

820
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:18,799
Speaker 3: everything else. They had to win the third match of

821
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 3: both of these little windows. But they did so therefore

822
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:23,239
Speaker 3: they're probably fine. And they got kind of lucky that

823
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 3: kaylern Aavas was hurt for the second half against Costa

824
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 3: Rica and they kind of sneaked in a pretty creddy

825
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,040
Speaker 3: goal there. But I mean, they were the better team

826
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:34,520
Speaker 3: and their stats overall. That was one thing I wrote

827
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:37,960
Speaker 3: about last week was like match to match, you can

828
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:40,600
Speaker 3: really get kind of sucked into all the changes that happening.

829
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:42,239
Speaker 3: I mean, every single match in the US has looked

830
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 3: like a different team. You look at their six match averages,

831
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 3: it's basically exactly what you would expect for the US

832
00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 3: team that wants to possess the ball and you know,

833
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 3: all the things they're trying to do it kind of it.

834
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 3: It made me feel a little bit better that over

835
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:57,880
Speaker 3: these six matches they've basically done what was they were

836
00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:00,360
Speaker 3: supposed to do. It was just there have been a

837
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,239
Speaker 3: lot of weird little twists along the way here that

838
00:41:02,239 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 3: don't make you just incredibly And I don't think anybody

839
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 3: is going to be totally one hundred percent comfortable until

840
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,920
Speaker 3: they officially qualify, which they'll probably do.

841
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 2: They will probably can tell you, by the way, with

842
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:18,800
Speaker 2: Tye and the men's national team specifically, is his college

843
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,840
Speaker 2: football brain and his international soccer brain are merging into one.

844
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,440
Speaker 2: I will get texts at like three am, and it

845
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,920
Speaker 2: will It's It's the equivalent of somebody being extremely excited

846
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:32,160
Speaker 2: about a recruit, right like, this guy is the future,

847
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,000
Speaker 2: This four star quarterback is the one who is going

848
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,319
Speaker 2: to be Just wait for him, Just be patient, wait

849
00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 2: for this guy and I'll just get these three am

850
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:42,000
Speaker 2: texts like this guy's a dual national with El Salvador.

851
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:45,000
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get him on the Ricardo Pepe and

852
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:46,680
Speaker 1: Unus Musa trains.

853
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 3: Man, it's hard not to be on the Musa train

854
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:50,760
Speaker 3: all of a sudden after these last three games.

855
00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,200
Speaker 2: But I know, right, I love the receiving the texts.

856
00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:55,480
Speaker 2: I only really watch the bigger matches in the world.

857
00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:57,919
Speaker 2: That's kind of why I lousiasm. That's why I'm rooting

858
00:41:57,920 --> 00:41:59,880
Speaker 2: for L. Salvador right now too, not that it matters

859
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:00,959
Speaker 2: this window.

860
00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,840
Speaker 3: But that basically half of their team is on the

861
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,439
Speaker 3: roster because a guy I think it was he lives

862
00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 3: in like California or did, was just like obsessantly obsessively

863
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 3: searching the internet for anybody with a Salvador and sounding

864
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:16,560
Speaker 3: name if they could figure out how he had ties

865
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 3: to L. Salvador, and he would personally contact him without

866
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:21,959
Speaker 3: being it tied to the national team in any way

867
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:23,799
Speaker 3: and basically say have you have you thought about playing

868
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 3: for L Salvador and like they have more talent now

869
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:28,200
Speaker 3: than they have in a while. I love that story,

870
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:30,399
Speaker 3: and they finally, I think the national team actually hired

871
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 3: him a while back.

872
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 1: Amazing. All right, well again, his name is Bill Connolly

873
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,799
Speaker 1: from ESPN. Sir, it is always our pleasure to have

874
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:43,120
Speaker 1: you on and we will most certainly talk soon. Absolutely

875
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:48,160
Speaker 1: all right again, that is Bill Connolly SPN dot com,

876
00:42:48,160 --> 00:42:51,879
Speaker 1: the purveyor of one sp plus success rate. And what

877
00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:52,880
Speaker 1: was the second thing.

878
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:57,440
Speaker 2: Points per play. That's the Yeah, that was his initial

879
00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 2: I mean points per play is pretty good just in

880
00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:02,239
Speaker 2: terms of looking at how quickly teams can score. So

881
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:04,719
Speaker 2: that does point to explosion. But yeah, he has thus

882
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:06,040
Speaker 2: tweaked and added to that.

883
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,279
Speaker 1: Don't forget to go to our website, solidverbal dot com.

884
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:19,960
Speaker 1: That's where you can find out all the articles that

885
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,880
Speaker 1: we do during the course of a week, where you

886
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:25,799
Speaker 1: can figure out how to follow along slash subscribe to

887
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:29,680
Speaker 1: this here college football podcast. We put out three episodes

888
00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:32,160
Speaker 1: a week. Bonus content available if you go on out

889
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,919
Speaker 1: to Verballers dot com. That's our Patreon and look, even

890
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:39,080
Speaker 1: if you're not a Patreon subscriber, go on out to

891
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,680
Speaker 1: wherever you get this podcast, leave us a star rating

892
00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:42,280
Speaker 1: and a review.

893
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:43,440
Speaker 2: It helps.

894
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,479
Speaker 1: Also check out solid Saturday dot com for our live

895
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:50,640
Speaker 1: stream on Saturday morning. And I think that's it.

896
00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:53,120
Speaker 2: Dan That's it. That's all I have. I mean, what

897
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:55,120
Speaker 2: more can you ask for if you're getting college football

898
00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:59,960
Speaker 2: both on field and analysis thereof via numbers and then

899
00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:04,080
Speaker 2: Brooksby and I already forget the name of the soccer

900
00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:04,879
Speaker 2: player you guys are about.

901
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 1: Eunice Moosa Moose?

902
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:09,400
Speaker 2: Excuse me? Is he the one?

903
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:09,799
Speaker 1: Is he?

904
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 2: Where is he from? Is he from here? Is he

905
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:15,160
Speaker 2: from the United States? And has dual citizenship?

906
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:17,920
Speaker 1: He could he could play for any number of different countries.

907
00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:18,720
Speaker 2: He is that true?

908
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:21,080
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, and he chose the United States.

909
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:22,120
Speaker 2: What position?

910
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:23,200
Speaker 3: Uh?

911
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:26,319
Speaker 1: You can play him in midfield, that's where Burhalter has

912
00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:28,160
Speaker 1: played him for the US team. You can also play

913
00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:29,719
Speaker 1: him out wide, I think on his club team he

914
00:44:29,760 --> 00:44:31,000
Speaker 1: plays a little bit more out wide.

915
00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:33,719
Speaker 2: So interesting, bigger guy, smaller like Pulistic.

916
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 1: What is he's eighteen? He's bigger than Polistic. He's definitely

917
00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:42,720
Speaker 1: a little bit more solidly built. His game is different.

918
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:46,359
Speaker 1: Polistic's more of a quick, jitterbug type that'll cut in.

919
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:49,160
Speaker 1: He has all the skill moves. Moose has got moves,

920
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:51,120
Speaker 1: but Moos is a little bit more of a physical

921
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: ball control presence in the center of the field. Gives

922
00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:57,800
Speaker 1: the US some directness, which is something that they've struggled

923
00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:00,440
Speaker 1: with in the past. So he had three really good

924
00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 1: games in this past qualifying window. Be it Travion Henderson

925
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:06,359
Speaker 1: type A little bit, A little bit, Yeah, you.

926
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:09,600
Speaker 2: Can count on him. He's versatile physically, really in a

927
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:11,040
Speaker 2: good place for being so young.

928
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,000
Speaker 1: And also a freshman at the start of this campaign,

929
00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:15,880
Speaker 1: if we're being honest, because we were pretty excited to

930
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:18,880
Speaker 1: get Musa to get his commitment for the national team,

931
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:21,239
Speaker 1: but didn't really know what we were going to get

932
00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:23,960
Speaker 1: out of him. Looked a little raw first few times

933
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 1: we saw him out there, but in the last window

934
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:26,880
Speaker 1: he looked superb.

935
00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:28,880
Speaker 2: Future is bright. I like to hear it.

936
00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,400
Speaker 1: For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein,

937
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:33,960
Speaker 1: and for our guest of honor, one Bill Connolly from

938
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:37,120
Speaker 1: ESPN dot com. We appreciate your time. Thanks so much

939
00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 1: for downloading, for listening, for playing a long at home.

940
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:43,319
Speaker 1: We will be back to talk more about what transpires

941
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:47,239
Speaker 1: in week eight, either on Sunday for our patreons, either

942
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 1: on Sunday for our Patreon subscribers, or on Monday for

943
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:54,360
Speaker 1: the general public. Dan Rubinstein, stay solid, Peace,