1
00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:06,880
Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal ull that for me, I'm

2
00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:08,079
Speaker 1: a man, I'm for it.

3
00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:10,119
Speaker 2: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to

4
00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,000
Speaker 2: be happy. You want to be happy for Dake Edo Steak.

5
00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:14,760
Speaker 1: Is that woo woom?

6
00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:20,680
Speaker 2: And then and Tie Tie, Welcome to part two.

7
00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,240
Speaker 1: How you doing? Hi? Dan? Why are you doing the intro?

8
00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:25,319
Speaker 2: I don't know why not. This is a two part show,

9
00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,760
Speaker 2: two host show. I just figure I'm going to jump

10
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,560
Speaker 2: right in. We already did our teams or the teams

11
00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:37,000
Speaker 2: that we would prefer succeed last week in Oregon Notre Dame.

12
00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,480
Speaker 2: With the addition of what Georgia Tech I said last

13
00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,680
Speaker 2: week last episode Georgia Tech UCF in South Carolina.

14
00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:43,240
Speaker 1: Correct.

15
00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, today we've got five more. I feel particularly enthusiastic

16
00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,360
Speaker 2: about these five teams. Got a good workout outside last night,

17
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,320
Speaker 2: and I'm just feeling that juice. Tie So I said,

18
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:57,720
Speaker 2: you know what to the to the victors go the spoils. Uh,

19
00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:00,200
Speaker 2: And I'm jumping in and trying to win this one.

20
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:06,120
Speaker 1: Ole Miss Utah, Wisconsin, Auburn and Virginia Tech Great are

21
00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,039
Speaker 1: going to be our subjects today. Go back and listen

22
00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,920
Speaker 1: to part one of this episode, which dropped on Tuesday.

23
00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,080
Speaker 1: Actually go back about a month or so and listen

24
00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,680
Speaker 1: to all of the when will it happen for dot

25
00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:22,480
Speaker 1: dot dot or will it ever happen? Will it ever happen?

26
00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:25,120
Speaker 1: For whatever we called it. Over the last month, we

27
00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,160
Speaker 1: did team specific shows from USC to Penn State to Tennessee,

28
00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:32,760
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma State, a whole variety of teams. Got a

29
00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:37,120
Speaker 1: great response. Welcome to one, Welcome to all new listeners

30
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:40,039
Speaker 1: out there who have found us. In the interim, we're

31
00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,280
Speaker 1: going to be doing two times a week, I guess

32
00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:47,400
Speaker 1: for the foreseeable future as we get into July. We're

33
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,080
Speaker 1: obviously going to start previewing teams and getting you ready

34
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,120
Speaker 1: for the college football season in twenty twenty four. But

35
00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:55,360
Speaker 1: we're not quite there yet, which is why we're doing this.

36
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,280
Speaker 1: So last episode kind of on the heels of what

37
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:03,520
Speaker 1: we've been doing, we stepped into this conversation of, well,

38
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,640
Speaker 1: when will it happen? At what point will so and

39
00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,360
Speaker 1: so Notre Dame Oregon, all the teams you just meanted optimistically, yeah, optive,

40
00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,040
Speaker 1: next year, a few years, get to that quote unquote

41
00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,440
Speaker 1: next level, and we sort of define what that meant.

42
00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,640
Speaker 1: On today's episode, we're doing the same thing, but with

43
00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,320
Speaker 1: five war teams, none of which I would add are

44
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,560
Speaker 1: our quote unquote preference favorite team. We're going to talk,

45
00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,120
Speaker 1: hopefully a little bit more objectively about some of these teams. Yeah.

46
00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:34,799
Speaker 2: The way I'm looking at this is post Halloween, when

47
00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,200
Speaker 2: you're cleaning off your your face pain or however you're

48
00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,480
Speaker 2: dressed up, or you're figuring out who you woke up to,

49
00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,600
Speaker 2: who you woke up next to after that Halloween party.

50
00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,000
Speaker 2: When you do open your phone and you're looking at

51
00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,120
Speaker 2: whatever your app of choice and you're looking at the

52
00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,280
Speaker 2: latest rankings, you're like, oh, look at that, my team is.

53
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,480
Speaker 2: In the conversation, that's all. That's your definition.

54
00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,120
Speaker 1: My definitions a little bit, a little bit more or

55
00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,440
Speaker 1: varied from team to teams. So we'll go into that

56
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:04,600
Speaker 1: and much much more here. Thank you for stopping on

57
00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,799
Speaker 1: by hit follow, hit subscribe wherever it is you are

58
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,840
Speaker 1: listening or consuming this podcast, We appreciate it. That ensures

59
00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:13,160
Speaker 1: you won't miss any of our episodes. We've got a

60
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,080
Speaker 1: lot planned here over the next six to eight weeks

61
00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,000
Speaker 1: or so as we start building to the twenty four season.

62
00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:21,360
Speaker 1: Of course, Verballers dot com is where you can go

63
00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,160
Speaker 1: if you want to further support with Dan and I do.

64
00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,960
Speaker 1: You can also get ad free episodes, bonus episodes, access

65
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,560
Speaker 1: to discord. You and I are right now in the

66
00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,320
Speaker 1: lab trying to figure out exactly what the Patreon offering

67
00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,000
Speaker 1: is going to be for this coming season, So a

68
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:37,320
Speaker 1: lot to come on that front. As always, we appreciate

69
00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,160
Speaker 1: your supporter or at least your consideration by going out

70
00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,600
Speaker 1: to verbowlers Dot. Oh yeah, calm Dan. The other thing

71
00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,800
Speaker 1: that we did instead of just mixing up I should say,

72
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,040
Speaker 1: in addition to just mixing up the intro and having

73
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,000
Speaker 1: you do it, is you've found a bunch of sounds

74
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,200
Speaker 1: I think that you feel optimistic about in addition to

75
00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:55,360
Speaker 1: these teams.

76
00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,000
Speaker 2: Right right, Well, we're tracking when this is going to

77
00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,040
Speaker 2: happen for these teams. What is our isn't on the horizon?

78
00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:10,240
Speaker 2: I think that's a plus.

79
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 1: Walkie time Now is that you on the walkie talkie

80
00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,520
Speaker 1: or is that I just looked up walkie talkie jimmers? Okay,

81
00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:16,919
Speaker 1: so we have no idea what that says.

82
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,640
Speaker 2: No, and if it says anything problematic when you play

83
00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:24,880
Speaker 2: it backwards or somehow unscramble it. Apologies from Tie and myself, which.

84
00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,640
Speaker 1: Of these five teams is most interesting to you?

85
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,600
Speaker 2: Auburn, Ole, Miss, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Utah.

86
00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:37,960
Speaker 1: Which one as you look and survey the landscape, I'll

87
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,080
Speaker 1: say the closest one, and that's Ole Miss Ole Miss

88
00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,080
Speaker 1: eleven and two season. Last year beat Penn State and

89
00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,800
Speaker 1: the Peach Bowl, finished top ten ninth. I want to

90
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,560
Speaker 1: say in the polls for me when we ask when

91
00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,000
Speaker 1: will it happen? The it again is a little bit

92
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,039
Speaker 1: subjective here for you. It's wake it up next to

93
00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,520
Speaker 1: whoever whatever after the Halloween already looking at the polls

94
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,000
Speaker 1: and wondering, oh, okay, my team is there? For me?

95
00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:06,479
Speaker 1: The it for Old Miss is winning a playoff game.

96
00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:08,760
Speaker 1: Got to get in the playoff, got to win a

97
00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:09,360
Speaker 1: playoff game.

98
00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,720
Speaker 2: Never been to the playoff or BCS championship game, Yeah.

99
00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:15,520
Speaker 1: Never been. It feels to me like that is the

100
00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,080
Speaker 1: thing that they are building towards, and they have been

101
00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,600
Speaker 1: blocked because of the SEC and its divisional structure and

102
00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,760
Speaker 1: the CFP and its structure limiting it to only four teams.

103
00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:28,839
Speaker 1: You know, over the last month, as we've done this,

104
00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,080
Speaker 1: there have been a number of teams that we've called

105
00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,760
Speaker 1: out and said Aha, Penn State, Tennessee, Kentucky. All these

106
00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:39,080
Speaker 1: squads that now stand to benefit Oklahoma State another one chuck.

107
00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,760
Speaker 1: Teams that stand and benefit from the expanded playoff field

108
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,800
Speaker 1: where it's not all on their regular season anymore. The

109
00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,800
Speaker 1: pathway into meaningful postseason action is a lot wider. Ole

110
00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,679
Speaker 1: Miss is a perfect example of a team that fits

111
00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,360
Speaker 1: that bill. For what it's worth, If the playoffs had

112
00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,600
Speaker 1: been expanded a year earlier, in the event of a

113
00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,200
Speaker 1: twelve team playoff last year, Old Miss would have gotten

114
00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,240
Speaker 1: in it as an eleven seed. They would have had

115
00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,080
Speaker 1: to go on the road to play Georgia, which would

116
00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,039
Speaker 1: not have been a great matchup. It wasn't the first

117
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,320
Speaker 1: time they played, but in round one getting to the playoff.

118
00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,200
Speaker 1: Ole Miss would have been there last season. So it

119
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,680
Speaker 1: stands to reason, with all they've got coming back, and

120
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,600
Speaker 1: we can get a little bit more specific here, that

121
00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,320
Speaker 1: this would be the year that they would not only

122
00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:25,200
Speaker 1: get in the playoff, but also achieve that it win

123
00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:27,599
Speaker 1: a game, maybe at home, maybe on the road. But

124
00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:31,320
Speaker 1: I think they're right there. As we start building towards

125
00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,360
Speaker 1: the season and looking out and projecting forward, like who

126
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:36,839
Speaker 1: are going to be our top twelve. Ole Miss is

127
00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,920
Speaker 1: certainly in that conversation, are they not? Of course they are,

128
00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:44,440
Speaker 1: and the intention is there. Right that Jackson Dart came back,

129
00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:48,840
Speaker 1: which I'm positive means that whatever his NIL deal appears

130
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,800
Speaker 1: to be even sweeter than it was last year. You

131
00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:54,599
Speaker 1: look at twenty plus guys brought in in the portal

132
00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,920
Speaker 1: via the portal king Lane Kiffin, highlighted by Walter Nolan

133
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,360
Speaker 1: and a focus on defense, and I think right so

134
00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,680
Speaker 1: as the offense has been lately ahead of the defense,

135
00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:08,720
Speaker 1: which has been at times very good. Last year, it

136
00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 1: was the games against Alabama and Georgia. The Georgia one

137
00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,400
Speaker 1: in particular, where Carson Beck looked like an NFL quarterback.

138
00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:18,120
Speaker 2: Against this Ole Miss defense spread the ball around. Georgia

139
00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,480
Speaker 2: ran the ball super well. It was a complete thrashing.

140
00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:24,320
Speaker 2: What ole Miss has done is they're doing its best

141
00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,080
Speaker 2: to address the defense. They went heavy on corner, they

142
00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,680
Speaker 2: went heavy upfront on defense. Again, Walter Nolan the big one,

143
00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:32,840
Speaker 2: but Juice Wells on the other side of the ball

144
00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,040
Speaker 2: is one of the highlight names. They built up depth

145
00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:39,200
Speaker 2: at running back after losing Quinchawn Judkins. So there's a

146
00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,720
Speaker 2: lot to love about where this Ole Miss roster should

147
00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,400
Speaker 2: be going into the season, even with a pretty tough

148
00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:51,560
Speaker 2: schedule that last year it was basically it wasn't. Basically

149
00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:53,120
Speaker 2: it was the two teams that ended up in the

150
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,720
Speaker 2: SEC championship game that outclassed ole Miss. I think Bama

151
00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,160
Speaker 2: went on like a twenty one to three run to

152
00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:01,600
Speaker 2: finish out that game in the last three quarters, and

153
00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,800
Speaker 2: Georgia just especially in that second half, just stomped them.

154
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,320
Speaker 2: So it's it's weird to say, but ole Miss isn't

155
00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:14,040
Speaker 2: necessarily measuring itself against Georgia in this moment because they're

156
00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,160
Speaker 2: simply trying to get in and once they're there, then

157
00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,040
Speaker 2: we'll see because of how much easier it is now

158
00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:22,680
Speaker 2: for a team like ole Miss, who very clearly at

159
00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:24,440
Speaker 2: their ceiling is one of the twelve best teams in

160
00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,920
Speaker 2: the country. So they're fascinating to me. I don't know

161
00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,920
Speaker 2: if it's win a playoff game this year or the

162
00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,400
Speaker 2: year as a failure, but it's definitely a failure if

163
00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:35,160
Speaker 2: this team does not make the playoff this.

164
00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,600
Speaker 1: Year, I would completely agree with that. Yeah, two points

165
00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,360
Speaker 1: that you mentioned that I also wanted to take and

166
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,400
Speaker 1: run with a little bit. So you mentioned the transfer

167
00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:47,240
Speaker 1: class the portal King Lane Kiffin Ole Miss per twenty

168
00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,120
Speaker 1: four to seven's transfer portal rankings came in as the

169
00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,640
Speaker 1: top transfer class. I think it's really easy to get

170
00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,760
Speaker 1: lost in those ratings and lose track of the strategy

171
00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,319
Speaker 1: behind it. To your point, old Miss was very liberate

172
00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:02,640
Speaker 1: about how they use the portal. I think if you're

173
00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:05,760
Speaker 1: not paying attention, you just see that they finish atop

174
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:09,040
Speaker 1: the list. You hear names. But to look at it

175
00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,280
Speaker 1: like from a more zoomed out view, it's very clear

176
00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,320
Speaker 1: that Lane Kiffin wanted to address defense with this portal class.

177
00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:19,880
Speaker 1: And you mentioned Walter Nolan. There are obviously others. We

178
00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,200
Speaker 1: don't have to list names, but there's like six guys

179
00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,800
Speaker 1: that they brought in who might be starters. If not starters,

180
00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,560
Speaker 1: they will contribute significantly to this defense. That was an

181
00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,880
Speaker 1: achilles heel. That was something they knew they needed to address.

182
00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:35,840
Speaker 1: The other thing that they did that you didn't mention

183
00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:38,920
Speaker 1: is they also tried to build some good depth along

184
00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,120
Speaker 1: the offensive line. Towards the end of the season last year,

185
00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,040
Speaker 1: they were crazy beat up along the line, so they

186
00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,160
Speaker 1: went out. They got two guards from Washington, they got

187
00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,320
Speaker 1: Diego pounds, They brought him down from UNC. Maybe would

188
00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,280
Speaker 1: start at one of the tackle spots. It's one of

189
00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:56,560
Speaker 1: those deals where I think, very strategically, they're looking at

190
00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:58,480
Speaker 1: this and they're saying, well, we needed help up front.

191
00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:00,520
Speaker 1: We did not have the depth up front, and now

192
00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,360
Speaker 1: that the season is presumably going to be a little

193
00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,199
Speaker 1: bit longer if we make the playoff, we need to

194
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:06,199
Speaker 1: make sure we have enough depth there. And they went

195
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:07,719
Speaker 1: out they addressed it. So I give him a lot

196
00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,360
Speaker 1: of credit for doing that. Bill c Ran the numbers

197
00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,400
Speaker 1: just based on what they've got on this roster now

198
00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,760
Speaker 1: seventy percent returning production, which is number twenty two nationally.

199
00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:20,959
Speaker 1: I can talk about that in a little bit and

200
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,640
Speaker 1: maybe put that returning production number in context because we

201
00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:26,320
Speaker 1: throw it around a lot here, but understanding what it

202
00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:28,120
Speaker 1: means I think is important for the people that listen

203
00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:29,880
Speaker 1: to this show. This is all a very long way

204
00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,560
Speaker 1: of saying that I think the Old Miss roster is

205
00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:33,240
Speaker 1: in a really good spot, and Lane Kiffen did a

206
00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:35,840
Speaker 1: lot to address depth and also some of the key

207
00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,240
Speaker 1: areas where they need to get better. The second thing

208
00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:40,720
Speaker 1: where I'd push back a little bit, not too much,

209
00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,360
Speaker 1: because you're right, you play an SEC schedule. Obviously it's

210
00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,640
Speaker 1: going to be difficult. But Ole Miss is not exactly

211
00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,440
Speaker 1: like a South Carolina. It is not exactly like a

212
00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,520
Speaker 1: I'll just use a different example Georgia Tech, where we

213
00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:55,400
Speaker 1: look at the schedule and we say, man, that is

214
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,400
Speaker 1: a murderer's row.

215
00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:58,839
Speaker 2: They're the one who knock.

216
00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think is as far as the SEC scheduling

217
00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:07,480
Speaker 1: draw went, all mis got it pretty good. Oh yeah, right,

218
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:09,880
Speaker 1: Like it's always going to be tough. It's in the SEC.

219
00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,200
Speaker 1: That's just what the SEC is. But their toughest opponents

220
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,600
Speaker 1: are Georgia and Oklahoma, both of which are at home.

221
00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:18,800
Speaker 2: LSU is in there.

222
00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, LSU is away. Florida is away, but who knows

223
00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:24,720
Speaker 1: what Florida is going to look like by that point

224
00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:26,599
Speaker 1: in the season. They could be without billion Apier for

225
00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,680
Speaker 1: all we know. They've got a Kentucky game also at home.

226
00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:33,160
Speaker 1: The Egg Bowl is also at home. Last I saw

227
00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:35,800
Speaker 1: the reverunders about nine and a half, which I think

228
00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,600
Speaker 1: is a good tell for how Vegas feels about the schedule.

229
00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:41,840
Speaker 1: Obviously this team is loaded, but I think the schedule,

230
00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:43,640
Speaker 1: just with the way this thing shakes out, I don't

231
00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:45,240
Speaker 1: think they're going to beat Georgia. But I like that

232
00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:47,480
Speaker 1: that game's at home. I think they've got a really

233
00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:49,600
Speaker 1: good chance of beating Oklahoma. I like the fact that

234
00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,480
Speaker 1: that game's at home. In terms of home road split, yeather,

235
00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,120
Speaker 1: there are some tough road games. You're just going to

236
00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:56,760
Speaker 1: have that. But by and large, this is not a schedule.

237
00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:58,640
Speaker 1: I look at and I'm like, man, there are no

238
00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:00,920
Speaker 1: breaks in this thing. I think it actually shakes out

239
00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:01,400
Speaker 1: pretty well.

240
00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:06,200
Speaker 2: For the other thing. I am sort of bullish on

241
00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:08,920
Speaker 2: with ole Miss, and it's a small sample sized theater situation,

242
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,920
Speaker 2: but last year's games against what LSU and A and

243
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:17,120
Speaker 2: M defensive clunkers who won ole Miss oh Miss right

244
00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,760
Speaker 2: that I think it's fair for ole Miss people to

245
00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,000
Speaker 2: have increased faith in Lane Kiffen in weird games late

246
00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:27,760
Speaker 2: that it's back and forth five times in the fourth

247
00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,960
Speaker 2: quarter or something, and that he is going to figure

248
00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:33,200
Speaker 2: out a way to time things up, to have a

249
00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:34,840
Speaker 2: plan at the end of a game, to have a

250
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,640
Speaker 2: certain set of excelsior plays. That's what I call like

251
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:41,080
Speaker 2: the you know, break glass when needed type offensive sets

252
00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:45,280
Speaker 2: where they're confident in what they're going to run at

253
00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:47,760
Speaker 2: the end of a game, even if they're not constantly

254
00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,040
Speaker 2: getting stops, that the offense will be in a good place,

255
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,319
Speaker 2: that they can manage the clock. That the coaching staff

256
00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:56,480
Speaker 2: has now been there. Your guy, Charlie Weiss's son has

257
00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:00,559
Speaker 2: been there forever now as Lane's offensive coordinatory like a

258
00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,240
Speaker 2: couple of years. But there is a certain amount of

259
00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:07,000
Speaker 2: stability within Old Miss as well. They've hired high name analysts,

260
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,920
Speaker 2: big name analysts. It's what Pete Golding and Charlie West

261
00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,920
Speaker 2: Junior as and what Byron Brown as the coordinators like,

262
00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:19,000
Speaker 2: they're just they're in a great place that it would

263
00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:21,920
Speaker 2: it becomes more and more surprising if they were to

264
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,760
Speaker 2: lose something dumb in a dumb way to a dumb team.

265
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:26,640
Speaker 2: All due respect to all teams.

266
00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,520
Speaker 1: The floor has been raised significantly. Yeah, over the last

267
00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,480
Speaker 1: couple of years. Old Miss was obviously a really good

268
00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,480
Speaker 1: team to use as part of this conversation because they're

269
00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,199
Speaker 1: on the cusp. It feels like they're knocking on the door,

270
00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,240
Speaker 1: especially now with the expanded playoff and with the new

271
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:45,200
Speaker 1: divisionless structure and just how college football has changed. All

272
00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:47,440
Speaker 1: Miss is in a really good spot to reap the

273
00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,960
Speaker 1: benefits of that. I did for a second hesitate about

274
00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,360
Speaker 1: putting them in this show because I feel like we

275
00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:56,839
Speaker 1: know exactly what Old Miss is. Sure, there's not a

276
00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:58,560
Speaker 1: whole lot of mystery here. We're going to talk about

277
00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,319
Speaker 1: some other teams that I think are a little more

278
00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,559
Speaker 1: mysterious and can't quite put your finger on what that

279
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,040
Speaker 1: team is going to be. We know exactly what all

280
00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,000
Speaker 1: Miss is. Ole Miss didn't play much defense. They were okay,

281
00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,880
Speaker 1: they're fine last season. They were okay last season. But

282
00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,360
Speaker 1: if we're looking at this in terms of what is

283
00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,959
Speaker 1: the Achilles heel by a large you'd say defense. They

284
00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:19,160
Speaker 1: address that in the portal. Oh yeah, offense is not

285
00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:21,760
Speaker 1: really an issue maybe against some of the better teams

286
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,560
Speaker 1: they played. That's a separate conversation. This team right now

287
00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,080
Speaker 1: easily good enough to make the CFP and probably win

288
00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,600
Speaker 1: a game. It's again going to be a lot a

289
00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:32,760
Speaker 1: lot of matchup dependency.

290
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,200
Speaker 2: By the way, wrinkle with what you brought up with Oregon,

291
00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,840
Speaker 2: like what happens if Dylan Gabriel gets hurt, what happens

292
00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,360
Speaker 2: if Jackson Dart gets hurt? Walker Howard one of the

293
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,720
Speaker 2: nation's like five best backup quarterbacks, probably along with probably

294
00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,040
Speaker 2: Dante Moore and Arch Manning.

295
00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:49,800
Speaker 1: And STEVANGELI throw them in.

296
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:56,000
Speaker 2: I'm a Kenny Minchi guy myself, but sure, absolutely, whatever

297
00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:58,720
Speaker 2: is the quarterback room and what it's going to look

298
00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,480
Speaker 2: like at Ohio State. Perhaps there's some interesting rooms out

299
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,320
Speaker 2: there and Ole Miss having that option, and just long term,

300
00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:09,760
Speaker 2: you know, Lane Keivin is going to find portal quarterbacks

301
00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:13,120
Speaker 2: to run his offense very successfully as long as he

302
00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,000
Speaker 2: is in Oxford. So a nice depth wrinkle there.

303
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,840
Speaker 1: And unless I'm mistaken, I believe Walker Howard was part

304
00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,360
Speaker 1: of that infamous three to sixty dance video with Brian

305
00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,240
Speaker 1: Kelly at LSU. Was he? Oh? I think he was

306
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,440
Speaker 1: the dude to know. Correct me if I'm wrong, all right,

307
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:30,200
Speaker 1: at me if I'm wrong. Okay, So I think we

308
00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,840
Speaker 1: have come to a consensus on Old Miss. Let's get

309
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,800
Speaker 1: into some other teams that I think are a bit

310
00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:42,600
Speaker 1: more ambiguous. Let's talk about the Wisconsin Badgers. Dan the Badgers, Yeah,

311
00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,400
Speaker 1: seven and six? Last year Luke Fickle's first season played LSU,

312
00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:52,720
Speaker 1: lost LSU in the bowl game. What is a reasonable

313
00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:57,360
Speaker 1: quote unquote it for Wisconsin? So if I am forcing

314
00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,600
Speaker 1: you to drill down a little bit more just in

315
00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:04,760
Speaker 1: the conversation. Come November first, But if I were to

316
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:11,280
Speaker 1: say the it for Wisconsin is making the playoff, how

317
00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,360
Speaker 1: far out are we from that? Do you think that

318
00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:18,440
Speaker 1: is a reasonable burden to put on Luke Fickel or

319
00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:20,200
Speaker 1: to put on Wisconsin at this oy? Okay? Or am

320
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:21,720
Speaker 1: I getting too far out in front of myself?

321
00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,320
Speaker 2: Correct me if I'm wrong. Luke Fickle fourteen playoff coach? Yes, correct,

322
00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:29,160
Speaker 2: and now we're asking him, with more talent and more

323
00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:33,320
Speaker 2: resources available to him in Madison, to make a twelve

324
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:35,200
Speaker 2: and eventual fourteen team playoff.

325
00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:36,760
Speaker 1: Correct. That's what I'm saying.

326
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,160
Speaker 2: At a team that has had national success, has played

327
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:44,000
Speaker 2: in Rose Bowls, et cetera, has beaten big teams out

328
00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,240
Speaker 2: of conference, has beaten big teams in conference.

329
00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:48,760
Speaker 1: Does not feel to me like that is unreasonable. I'm

330
00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:50,760
Speaker 1: not Unreasonable's doing a sense check here? I want to

331
00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:55,800
Speaker 1: get your sense now. Check out the twenty seventeen Wisconsin schedule.

332
00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,960
Speaker 2: Check out the twenty twenty four Wisconsin schedule different, a

333
00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:02,560
Speaker 2: little different. Check out And I know Wisconsin had a

334
00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:04,800
Speaker 2: good defense last year, but check out the offense is

335
00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:07,520
Speaker 2: that they faced last year and their final year of

336
00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:09,639
Speaker 2: that true Big ten West experience.

337
00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,560
Speaker 1: A lot of the Green yuck emoji.

338
00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,159
Speaker 2: Absolute offense rash. I don't know what the opposite of

339
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:21,080
Speaker 2: a murderer's row like a slapper's row of offenses last

340
00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,159
Speaker 2: year it's a pillow fight. There's work to be done

341
00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:26,359
Speaker 2: on this Wisconsin team. They went heavy I think after

342
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,840
Speaker 2: linebacker in the portal this year. I imagine that this Wisconsin

343
00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:35,040
Speaker 2: defense is going to continue to improve. I imagine Luke Fickel

344
00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:37,440
Speaker 2: and it's what Mike Tressel, their defensive coordinator, are going

345
00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,960
Speaker 2: to continue to find three star defensive talent in the Midwest,

346
00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:43,840
Speaker 2: although they're recruiting I think more nationally than Paul Chris did,

347
00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,639
Speaker 2: I mean kind of had to. And they're going to

348
00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:51,760
Speaker 2: develop NFL caliber defensive players like Wisconsin has this story

349
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,760
Speaker 2: tradition of doing that. Aren't coming in as blue chips.

350
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,800
Speaker 2: They will do that at Wisconsin. To me, the question

351
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,600
Speaker 2: is are they winning close games against good teams? Are

352
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,520
Speaker 2: they winning games against great teams over the course of

353
00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,760
Speaker 2: the season. Are do we consider them one of those

354
00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,080
Speaker 2: very strong Big Ten teams? And a Big Ten that

355
00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:15,320
Speaker 2: adds Oregon and Washington, USC, UCLA and already has Penn State,

356
00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,200
Speaker 2: Ohio State, Michigan add or near the top. Wisconsin has

357
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:19,200
Speaker 2: Alabama Week two.

358
00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:20,920
Speaker 1: Wisconsin's got Alabama Week two.

359
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, with Penn State, Oregon. Who else on the schedule?

360
00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,720
Speaker 1: Alabama, They've got a road game against USC, They're home

361
00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,720
Speaker 1: against Penn State, They're home against Oregon. They're on the

362
00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,000
Speaker 1: road against Iowa. By the way, if you're a Wisconsin

363
00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,280
Speaker 1: season ticket holder, the slate of road games, the slate

364
00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:41,520
Speaker 1: of home games, excuse me that you get to see Alabama,

365
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:44,720
Speaker 1: Penn State, Oregon, among others. That's pretty damn good. That's

366
00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:46,639
Speaker 1: about it as good as you're ever going to get

367
00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:48,840
Speaker 1: as a season ticket holder. I don't know how many

368
00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:50,159
Speaker 1: of those games are going to win, they could go

369
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,040
Speaker 1: oh and three, but at least to see those games

370
00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:54,400
Speaker 1: in personally pretty damn cool.

371
00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,080
Speaker 2: Do they not on the road this year? They have

372
00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,119
Speaker 2: like a really weird middle stretch on their schedule because

373
00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:02,359
Speaker 2: it includes a piscataway trip and a trip to Lake

374
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:05,960
Speaker 2: Michigan to play Northwestern, Like literally on the lake Wisconsin

375
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:07,040
Speaker 2: football will be playing.

376
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,199
Speaker 1: There is a stretch, a six week stretch starting the

377
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:14,880
Speaker 1: last week of September that goes at USC, back home

378
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:21,400
Speaker 1: against Purdue, at Rutgers back in the Midwest. Lake Michigan

379
00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,680
Speaker 1: against Northwestern, back home against Penn State, then on the

380
00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,080
Speaker 1: road against Iowa. That stretch of games ultimately will define

381
00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:31,840
Speaker 1: which direction this season goes, because there are games in

382
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,000
Speaker 1: there that they should win. Frankly, the book ends right

383
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,119
Speaker 1: where You've got Alabama in the first three weeks, Oregon

384
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,400
Speaker 1: in the last three weeks. Those games will be interesting,

385
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,480
Speaker 1: like fodder for conversation, But ultimately, if Wisconsin's going to

386
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,560
Speaker 1: have a better season, it's going to happen in that

387
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:49,000
Speaker 1: six week period in the middle.

388
00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, when will it happen for Wisconsin? My answer is

389
00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:58,160
Speaker 2: weirdly last year, right, and given that schedule, So when

390
00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:02,520
Speaker 2: will it happen for this and this growing program. I

391
00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:06,400
Speaker 2: don't have them as a playoff contending in earnest team

392
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,480
Speaker 2: into November until probably twenty twenty six. I think it's

393
00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,000
Speaker 2: going to take that long. That it was either five

394
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,480
Speaker 2: or six years in at Cincinnati for Luke Fickle to

395
00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,359
Speaker 2: get all of those super senior not super seeded with

396
00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,560
Speaker 2: seniors and upperclassman, you know, the lockdown corners, the pass rushers,

397
00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:26,960
Speaker 2: everything like that. Desritter as an experienced quarterback, Jerome Ford

398
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,960
Speaker 2: like it all came together that many years in and

399
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:32,760
Speaker 2: I think it'll happen quicker at Wisconsin because it's a

400
00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,720
Speaker 2: bigger destination, but the challenge is also more robust in

401
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,080
Speaker 2: the Big ten. So I have it as twenty twenty

402
00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,639
Speaker 2: six as that's what I would circle. I'm not a

403
00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,240
Speaker 2: huge TVD believer, though I am a Phil Longo believer,

404
00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 2: and they're still just the pop at receiver is just

405
00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:49,680
Speaker 2: not doing it for me. This is a year over

406
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,440
Speaker 2: year thing for me when they're able to find that,

407
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,639
Speaker 2: which they were able to do at times at Cincinnati,

408
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,280
Speaker 2: but that was also an issue there. I think he's

409
00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,560
Speaker 2: going to recruit really well all things considered for Wisconsin

410
00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:03,360
Speaker 2: relative to their recruiting history. Like I think we'll see

411
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:07,080
Speaker 2: some top twenty twenty five is classes continue, but I

412
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:09,200
Speaker 2: think more depth is needed in that conference. So I

413
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:10,200
Speaker 2: have a twenty twenty six.

414
00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,560
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, we both share a lot of faith

415
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:17,000
Speaker 1: in Luke Fickle to build this program back up with

416
00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:19,879
Speaker 1: a more modern offense, and last year kind of went

417
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,080
Speaker 1: off the rails when Tanner Mordecai broke his hand in

418
00:21:22,119 --> 00:21:24,879
Speaker 1: like week seven whenever that was. This year, it's going

419
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:28,639
Speaker 1: to be tvd's offense, presumably. I agree with you on

420
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,639
Speaker 1: the playmaking side of things. I think it's going to

421
00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 1: take a while to build that back up, so I

422
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,119
Speaker 1: don't think they're ready quite yet. I jotted down two

423
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 1: to three years away from Fickle a establishing that base,

424
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 1: getting the program to good stable footing, yeah, which to

425
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,240
Speaker 1: be fair, it's not not stable now. I just think

426
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,560
Speaker 1: it needs a little bit more Luke Fickle seasoning before

427
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 1: it's right to the point where we can talk about

428
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,320
Speaker 1: this in earnest. And I think Wisconsin two to three

429
00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,359
Speaker 1: years out for being in that conversation. It won't be

430
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,800
Speaker 1: with TVD. It may not be the next guy, but

431
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:03,600
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a slow build at

432
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 1: was kind of if you're a Wisconsin fan, a slow

433
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:08,560
Speaker 1: build is a really good thing to have if you've

434
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:10,199
Speaker 1: got a coach that you've got faith in who can

435
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,680
Speaker 1: do the slow build and get the program very gradually

436
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,760
Speaker 1: to a point where it's constantly in this conversation, that's

437
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,240
Speaker 1: what you want. You always want to contend right away.

438
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,640
Speaker 1: You always want to have those seasons, but you don't

439
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:22,480
Speaker 1: want to be a flash in the pan. And I

440
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:24,639
Speaker 1: don't think Wisconsin will be under Luke Fickle.

441
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,359
Speaker 2: I think if they had this last year's schedule with

442
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,480
Speaker 2: this year's roster and experience again. You know, if I

443
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:33,680
Speaker 2: had wheels, I'd be a bicycle. It'd be a ten

444
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,960
Speaker 2: and two program. I don't think they lose to Northwestern

445
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,720
Speaker 2: in the manner that they did just getting gashed on

446
00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,480
Speaker 2: the ground. They don't lose to Indiana. But you're also,

447
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,919
Speaker 2: you know, having a starting quarterback who's healthy all year,

448
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:48,160
Speaker 2: which is never guaranteed with TVD. So yeah, tenty twenty secs.

449
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:49,920
Speaker 2: I'll stick by that, and I think they become more

450
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:51,440
Speaker 2: interesting and dangerous along the way.

451
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,600
Speaker 1: When will Virginia Tech get back to nine or ten

452
00:22:54,640 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 1: wins a year?

453
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 2: They're not recruiting right now, like they're building that roster

454
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 2: to do so, and that's what gives me concern.

455
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:10,160
Speaker 1: Virginia tech storied program. Frank Breemer was there forever. Yeah,

456
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,639
Speaker 1: can you tell me the last time Virginia Tech finished

457
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:16,720
Speaker 1: a season with only three losses and that includes regular

458
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,680
Speaker 1: season plus the bowl game?

459
00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,679
Speaker 2: Was it the Gerard Evans here year one or whatever

460
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 2: of Fuente? It was twenty eleven. Oh, okay, so maybe

461
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 2: they lost more. That was like twenty fifteen or sixteen.

462
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to go back to Frank Beemer. Okay,

463
00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:32,200
Speaker 1: a lot of folks are high on Virginia Tech this year,

464
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,200
Speaker 1: and I think rightfully so. I mentioned returning production earlier.

465
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech is fourth nationally in Bill Connolly's updated rankings

466
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,879
Speaker 1: eighty four percent returning production, which is a really high number.

467
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 1: Only Iowa State, Stanford, and Oklahoma State are in front

468
00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 1: of him. Right now, let me demystify returning production. I

469
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:53,919
Speaker 1: mentioned it, Okay, Okay, we talk a lot about it.

470
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 1: Sometimes I think I lean a little bit too heavily

471
00:23:55,680 --> 00:24:00,959
Speaker 1: on it. I'm guilty of that. Generally, with the statistic

472
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 1: the extreme examples are the ones that are the most predictive.

473
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:09,040
Speaker 1: So good example that Bill used in his Twitter thread

474
00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:14,880
Speaker 1: was that last year's top four in returning production were Kansas, MISSOO,

475
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,199
Speaker 1: Florida State, and Michigan. If you take those teams combined

476
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:24,200
Speaker 1: versus the previous season combined, those four teams won thirteen

477
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 1: more games last season, so clearly it played some factor.

478
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,879
Speaker 1: Last year's bottom four, Kent State, uab ECU, and Stanford

479
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 1: combined to win thirteen fewer games. Let's say so a

480
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 1: little bit of symmetry there, but you get the point.

481
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: I think what we could take away from that number

482
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 1: is that Virginia Tech's going to get better. You combine

483
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:48,400
Speaker 1: that returning production with the schedule, which we've been talking

484
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:50,679
Speaker 1: about since February. I feel like other people have been

485
00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: late to the bandwagon here. Sure, we've been talking about

486
00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 1: the schedule forever. It is beautiful. It's easy to understand

487
00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: why the preseason hype is there at Miami week five

488
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,919
Speaker 1: home against Clemson week eleven. Otherwise a lot of Stanford

489
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,879
Speaker 1: and Boston College and Georgia Tech and Syracuse and Duke.

490
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 1: And there's a reason they're over under is I think

491
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 1: it started at seven and a half and it's since

492
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,199
Speaker 1: bumped up to eight at DraftKings, you get it.

493
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.

494
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,919
Speaker 1: We're also really high on Kiren drones. I don't know

495
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: if I like drone heads more or drones. Do you

496
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: have a preference for the nomenclature. Can you do better

497
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: than either of those? Oh?

498
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,080
Speaker 2: I'm first of all, I'm rejecting your proposed raging throner

499
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 2: A droner, excuse me, the droner. Okay, droneheads is not bad.

500
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,119
Speaker 2: It's pretty you know, straightforward rhymes of coneheads.

501
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,240
Speaker 1: We can work with that. We're both high on Kien drones. Yes.

502
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,560
Speaker 1: What we can't do, though, is pretend that Virginia Tech's

503
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 1: offense was like a well oiled machine last year, because

504
00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 1: against the better teams on their schedule, they were not good.

505
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 1: Tech gained one hundred and forty yards and lost by

506
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 1: thirty one to Louisville the Florida State game. They gave

507
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:01,959
Speaker 1: up twenty in the first quarter. They came back, they

508
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,879
Speaker 1: made it a one score game, but they ultimately lost

509
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:10,919
Speaker 1: that one handily. Kiren drones showed flashes, the offense showed flashes.

510
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,639
Speaker 1: I like where it seems as if that is headed,

511
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,800
Speaker 1: but it is still a very much unfinished product. And

512
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,679
Speaker 1: in going through and doing the research here, I'm not

513
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:25,719
Speaker 1: necessarily hedging on my Virginia Tech optimism. But you go

514
00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,680
Speaker 1: back and you look, and it's like, I'm not sure

515
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,120
Speaker 1: I want to jump in with both feet. Yeah, if

516
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: the conversation for me is getting back to nine or

517
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,159
Speaker 1: ten wins, there's a case to be made that that

518
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:42,200
Speaker 1: could happen as soon as this year. But I did

519
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 1: find cause for pause favorite pet charity and looking back

520
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 1: at what happened last year for the Hokies.

521
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,119
Speaker 2: Look, so you can look at it two different ways.

522
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:52,919
Speaker 2: You can say, this is a team that went what

523
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 2: three and eight the year before, and they turned it

524
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,639
Speaker 2: around and made a ball team, became a ball team

525
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:04,120
Speaker 2: and had a god awful September losing two shady law

526
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 2: firm Purdue Rutgers and Marshall and Kyron Drones found his

527
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,160
Speaker 2: footing and they were able to beat up on clearly

528
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 2: flawed ACC teams and at times compete with decent ACC teams,

529
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:21,000
Speaker 2: at times not really compete with ACC teams, And it's

530
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,719
Speaker 2: are they fake good or are they impressive growing? And

531
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 2: so that's that's where you have to you have to

532
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:31,400
Speaker 2: come down on one side at some point. With Virginia Tech.

533
00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: I think they are growing. I also think there is

534
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: some fake good. I think they are in that gray area.

535
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,919
Speaker 1: When Brent Priy got there, you'll remember the conversation we

536
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,520
Speaker 1: had about, Wow, there's a lot of guys changing positions.

537
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:49,880
Speaker 1: They just did not have quality depth anywhere. Their offense

538
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 1: was a disaster. Their offense improved a lot improved last season,

539
00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 1: and so again I understand the hype. It looks like,

540
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: if you are drawing a trend line, they are going

541
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,439
Speaker 1: up into the right. They're doing it right, sure, But

542
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 1: also there are plenty of signals from last season if

543
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,439
Speaker 1: you look into some of the numbers where it was

544
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:17,199
Speaker 1: not consistent throughout, it wasn't like consistently you saw throughout

545
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 1: the course of like the back half of the season,

546
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 1: market improvement that oh boy, when they hit the ground

547
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 1: running in twenty twenty four, this thing is going to

548
00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,200
Speaker 1: be like a rocket ship. I do not get that impression.

549
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, they also, like Wisconsin, they played one of the

550
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,800
Speaker 2: worst collections of offenses in America on last year's schedule,

551
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 2: and I think it's going to those offenses will improve.

552
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 2: And so my question with Virginia Tech at this point

553
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,400
Speaker 2: it's we know there's pop with Kiroen Drones, that he's

554
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 2: a dual threat, that he could he's a playmaker. We

555
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,760
Speaker 2: know the defensive line got after quarterbacks last year impressively.

556
00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 2: At this moment, I just don't see them as built

557
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 2: to impress in November again. Quality teams and to be

558
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 2: in that conversation anytime soon doesn't mean they're not, you know,

559
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 2: a decent team. Here's here's what I'm paying attention to

560
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 2: with Virginia Tech. One, what is the direction of recruiting

561
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 2: and interesting upgrades in the portal these next couple seasons,

562
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 2: and also does the ACC become a sort of Big

563
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 2: twelve where it becomes more wide open and it's anybody's

564
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 2: guests within the top tier of four or five teams.

565
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 2: If and when some combination of Florida State, Clemson, Miami, whoever,

566
00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:37,440
Speaker 2: North Carolina find new homes in the next few years,

567
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 2: then Virginia Tech becomes exponentially more interesting. But we're talking

568
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 2: about multiple factors, difficult factors needing to happen. So when

569
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:52,200
Speaker 2: when will it happen for Virginia Tech? The it to

570
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 2: me is still going to remain November conversation. I guess

571
00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:58,280
Speaker 2: we can. I don't know what their schedule looks like

572
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 2: next year. It's not going to be this year. I

573
00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:05,239
Speaker 2: think the roster's too far away. But Kyen Drones if

574
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 2: he comes back, he has another year after this eligibility wise,

575
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 2: I believe. So you're talking about him as like a

576
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:16,600
Speaker 2: fifth year guy. Sure, I think next year, depending on

577
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 2: what happens in the portal, depending on what happens with

578
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 2: the growth of players this year, it's possible. But I'm

579
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 2: going to say it's sort of na at the moment

580
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:30,479
Speaker 2: because of the roster quality and just going to need

581
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 2: to see results against more decent teams.

582
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: I will add one qualifier to what I mentioned earlier.

583
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:37,680
Speaker 1: On offense more often than not, and they played some

584
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: bad teams down the stretch, but on offense they overperform projections.

585
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 2: Sure they did. They did what a good team should

586
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 2: do offensively against those opponents.

587
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:53,120
Speaker 1: And that was due in no small part to what

588
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 1: Karen Drones was able to show us part of why

589
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: we're excited about him defensively. Defensively on the whole, they

590
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 1: kind of took a month step back last year. It

591
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: was mostly the same as the year prior, but that

592
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 1: to me is what felt like it was a little

593
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 1: bit more tougher to put your finger on right. Like

594
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: again against NC State later in the year, they like

595
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 1: what happened with that defensive show, and they gave up

596
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 1: thirty five points to NC State. Okay, that's interesting with

597
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 1: that offense at that point in time. That was surprising

598
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,440
Speaker 1: to me. So I just feel like I'd like a

599
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 1: little bit more consistency before I go to bat for

600
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech as like a ten win team in twenty

601
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,560
Speaker 1: twenty four. I don't see that happening. But I think

602
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:35,080
Speaker 1: I like eight wins feels like very doable with the schedule.

603
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: If they're halfway competent, they should get to eight. If

604
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,960
Speaker 1: they're more than halfway competent, they should get to nine.

605
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 1: So I think it could happen as soon as this year. Yeah,

606
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,160
Speaker 1: schedule is to be fair, You're right, schedule's pretty great

607
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 1: if if the growth remains linear. If it remains linear,

608
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,280
Speaker 1: they have by the way, they have at Miami and

609
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: at Stanford back to back, so they're going corner of

610
00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: the country full other coast in consecutive weeks. I think

611
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 1: the Miami game is a Friday night game. You forgot

612
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 1: one other very important factor with Virginia Tech tie. We

613
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:11,120
Speaker 1: discovered on our message Board Geniuses show that a Virginia

614
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 1: Tech fan was immediately impressed with Brent Priz's first you

615
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 1: know time as Virginia Tech's head coach because it appeared

616
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,239
Speaker 1: that he had a massive hog right, That's what that

617
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,960
Speaker 1: message board genius you know, unearthing discovered that there was

618
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: some message board poster. So now we're talking about what

619
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 1: can Brent Priye look like following through on that vision

620
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: in close games, you know, year three, now for Brent Priye,

621
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: you know they're down twenty nineteen, fourth and seven. Does

622
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 1: this Virginia, you know, are they making those big hog decisions?

623
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: So it's Brent Prize essentially his his hog above replacement

624
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 1: in the ACC Would that be a HORP? What is

625
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 1: that considered?

626
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:56,560
Speaker 2: I think that's is it horror?

627
00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 1: Horror?

628
00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 2: Hog above replacements?

629
00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 1: Horror? I'm thinking? Okay, I guess more would be value

630
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:07,560
Speaker 1: over replacement player, value over replacement hog H four H

631
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: with the silent H at the end, like or dervs

632
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 1: but reverse. Okay, Utah yes eight and five? Last year

633
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: lost to Northwestern in the bowl game. The it for

634
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,440
Speaker 1: Utah is getting to and winning a playoff game. And

635
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:22,200
Speaker 1: I don't think.

636
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:23,760
Speaker 2: That's a really waiting a playoff game.

637
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 1: Winning a playoff game, I don't know.

638
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,120
Speaker 2: I think you got to get there before you win.

639
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:28,600
Speaker 2: You gotta walk before you run.

640
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,479
Speaker 1: Right, all Right, put a pin in that for a second.

641
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: All Right, we need to start with a different question

642
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,080
Speaker 1: than if we're going to talk about Utah and be

643
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: on the same page. Okay, is Utah already the best

644
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 1: team in the Big twelve? They just got there? Are

645
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: they the best team in the Big twelve, even if

646
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 1: they're not the best. If they're one of the say

647
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 1: two best, getting into the playoffs should not be much

648
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,680
Speaker 1: of an issue. And winning a playoff game with the

649
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: style that they play, it'll be very matchup dependent. Not

650
00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 1: everybody can go toe to toe and play Utah's brand

651
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,800
Speaker 1: of football and win. But I don't think getting to

652
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 1: the playoff is all that big of an obstacle for

653
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:07,520
Speaker 1: this team, especially now in this new.

654
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:13,000
Speaker 2: Conference Okay, non conference late nothing, Utah State, Southern Utah, Baylor,

655
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,160
Speaker 2: and the Baylor game is in Salt Lake City. Not

656
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,239
Speaker 2: especially worried though that was a reasonably close game last

657
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 2: year with Utah's backup quarterback. So at Oklahoma State Arizona

658
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:25,200
Speaker 2: back to back, that's gonna be tough.

659
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 1: They play two teams that are projected to be ranked

660
00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 1: in the top twenty five, and both are in back

661
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 1: to back weeks in September at Oklahoma State home against Arizona.

662
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:40,040
Speaker 1: The rest of the way, though, I looked at it,

663
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:41,879
Speaker 1: and I said, the rest of the way, If Cam

664
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 1: Rising's healthy, Utah could win all those games, they could

665
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 1: go unbeaten. Against this schedule. I don't think it's bad at.

666
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 2: All, So I hear you. I think the Big Twelve,

667
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:55,799
Speaker 2: and I think Utah's schedule in particular, is stock full

668
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 2: of teams that if I told you one of them

669
00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 2: went five and seven or nine and three, you'd be like, yeah,

670
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,160
Speaker 2: I can see that. That's the story of the Big

671
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 2: Twelve this year. Though, it's a story of the Big Twelve.

672
00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 2: So I don't know how to gauge Utah's schedule, honestly,

673
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 2: because when you lose a playoff team in Texas, when

674
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 2: you lose a perennial champion in Oklahoma, you lose tiers

675
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,319
Speaker 2: and you lose the ability to gauge where everybody is

676
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,319
Speaker 2: falling in. And so yeah, if you tell me Iowa

677
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:25,720
Speaker 2: State nine three, you tell me they're five and seven. Sure,

678
00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,840
Speaker 2: same thing about TCU or Arizona. You tell me Asu

679
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,399
Speaker 2: is as feisty as they look at times last year

680
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:36,280
Speaker 2: as they move forward. Sure, Like, I'm willing to believe

681
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:40,880
Speaker 2: so much about so many of these teams without obvious losses,

682
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 2: like it seemed like a lot of them would have

683
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 2: against recent Texas or recent Oklahoma. So Utah's place in

684
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:50,920
Speaker 2: this they have the most experienced quarterback.

685
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:53,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, as far as I five twenty five year old

686
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:54,800
Speaker 1: came rising.

687
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 2: They should have good lines. They lose key guys in

688
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:03,440
Speaker 2: the secondary. They've largely recruited pretty well, though it seems

689
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,080
Speaker 2: like they've taken slightly a slight step back though they

690
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 2: I think they do have a quarterback of the future

691
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 2: local to Utah, so that's good. I think they're in

692
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 2: a very good position to compete for the Big Twelve,

693
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 2: of course I do, but without the year over year

694
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,640
Speaker 2: experience of playing all of these teams. And I mentioned

695
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:22,440
Speaker 2: Baylor as a non conference opponent, which they are not,

696
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:24,399
Speaker 2: but I think that's the is it the back end

697
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 2: of a home and home because they played them last year.

698
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 2: What I am curious about with Utah is immediate comfort

699
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,760
Speaker 2: in a new conference, going to new stadiums, by and large,

700
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 2: And this is the same question I'm always going to

701
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,160
Speaker 2: have about Utah or Kyle Winningham is like, can they

702
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:41,800
Speaker 2: find pop at receiver? Can they go downfield and succeed?

703
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:45,279
Speaker 2: You know, they lose a big weapon and tight end

704
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:50,839
Speaker 2: at tight end. I'm just I'm there with Utah in

705
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:55,000
Speaker 2: that top tier. But there's still a decent amount of

706
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,360
Speaker 2: firepower at a lot of these teams best. You know,

707
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:03,520
Speaker 2: the Kansas schools. So yes, top tier will compete for

708
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:07,080
Speaker 2: the conference this year, not waltzing in as obvious best team.

709
00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 1: I mean, but they don't play in into Kansas schools.

710
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 1: You know, they don't play Kansas They don't play Kansas State.

711
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:13,239
Speaker 1: They do have a game, I mean, they could end

712
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:14,879
Speaker 1: up playing them in the They could end up playing

713
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,279
Speaker 1: them in a championship. They have a game late in

714
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,880
Speaker 1: the year. It's at home late in the year against

715
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:21,960
Speaker 1: Iowa State, which I think is interesting because Iowa State's

716
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,120
Speaker 1: another one of those teams I mentioned them earlier, but.

717
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:27,120
Speaker 2: Closing the bounce house against your UCF Knights.

718
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 1: Closing the bounce house. Iowa State's got a lot coming back.

719
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:32,320
Speaker 1: They're one of those other teams on the stream side

720
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,120
Speaker 1: of having a lot of returning production. There is the

721
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,880
Speaker 1: Holy War now they're in the same conference against BYU.

722
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 1: That one also in November.

723
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 2: So the Colorado folsome.

724
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are games on here that are are interesting

725
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:48,279
Speaker 1: that I know we will talk a lot about when

726
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:53,839
Speaker 1: they come to fruition. But just early June early June projections,

727
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:57,520
Speaker 1: as I see it, this looks very manageable, especially if

728
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 1: Utah's got a healthy cam rising. I don't know if

729
00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,919
Speaker 1: we could assume that though, right, because we thought he'd

730
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,880
Speaker 1: be healthy and ready to go last season. Yeah, and

731
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:09,239
Speaker 1: he wasn't. He was hurt way more than anybody knew,

732
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,799
Speaker 1: needed a lot more surgical repairs than anybody knew. Could

733
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: play next year too, My man could play next year,

734
00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:18,799
Speaker 1: which I can't even fathom that. Yeah, the proof is

735
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,480
Speaker 1: in the pudding. From a stats standpoint, when you've got

736
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 1: a healthy Cam Rising, Cam Rising played twenty four games,

737
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:30,280
Speaker 1: I want to say, between twenty twenty one and twenty

738
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 1: twenty two. In that span of time, Utah's offense in

739
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 1: the sp plus now went up to fourteenth and eleven

740
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 1: nationally those two years. Last year with Bryson Barnes, with

741
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,959
Speaker 1: Nate Johnson, that odd collection of characters that they put

742
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:49,280
Speaker 1: forth sixty fifth nationally, it was apparent that they needed

743
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 1: more pop at quarterback, that they needed more pop. Just

744
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 1: from a playmaking standpoint, the line wasn't as good. They

745
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,920
Speaker 1: had trouble running the ball at least as compared to

746
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,800
Speaker 1: previous seasons, so there was it was not maybe Utah's

747
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,800
Speaker 1: best collection out there on display, especially given the injury.

748
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:08,160
Speaker 1: But if he's healthy, if he's healthy, there's a reason

749
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:09,840
Speaker 1: the over under this year is nine and a half.

750
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:12,960
Speaker 2: The question though with Utah to me though, and this

751
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 2: is sort of isolated to Utah, is they were so

752
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 2: beat up everywhere last year from both sides of the ball,

753
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,320
Speaker 2: that when year over year rosters are changing so much.

754
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:27,839
Speaker 2: Twenty two, twenty twenty one, they go to the Rose Bowl.

755
00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:30,799
Speaker 2: Both seasons, it's what Ohio State, Penn State, and then

756
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,480
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, so you know, you wag COVID however you

757
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:37,120
Speaker 2: want to weigh it in terms of that season, but

758
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:40,120
Speaker 2: like twenty nineteen, I think they finished top fifteen ish.

759
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:43,799
Speaker 2: So what we're doing right now in our Utah optimism

760
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 2: is saying, well, Kyle Whittingham always figures it out, Morgan

761
00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,040
Speaker 2: Scaley always figures it out. But we're not actually talking

762
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:52,360
Speaker 2: about what's on the roster or what they've done lately,

763
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 2: because what they did lately was play a bunch of

764
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 2: third string dudes and walk ons last year and switching

765
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:02,120
Speaker 2: guys different positions everywhere, Like they moved their safety to

766
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:06,280
Speaker 2: a starting wildcat quarterbackslash running backslash slot receiver in Sione

767
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 2: Baki and so, and he's gone, by the way, So

768
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:14,120
Speaker 2: we're just putting we're just sort of talking about Utah

769
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,920
Speaker 2: in this vague like a Kyle Whittingham team should be

770
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,920
Speaker 2: the favorite, which he's proven himself to be a championship

771
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:23,560
Speaker 2: type coach. But we really don't have a concept for

772
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:26,480
Speaker 2: where Utah is right now other than cam Rising should

773
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 2: be healthy. That's all true, And they said that's all

774
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:30,840
Speaker 2: we have kind of to go on at the moment.

775
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:33,560
Speaker 1: They still won eight and four last year, right, They

776
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 1: still won eight and four despite all of that, And

777
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 1: I agree. I mean you're moving to Ony Vaki around

778
00:40:38,120 --> 00:40:41,719
Speaker 1: and put walk ons in their third stringers in there.

779
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:44,280
Speaker 1: They were super beat up. It wasn't just cam Rising,

780
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,280
Speaker 1: but to win eight games, they lost the bowl game whatever,

781
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 1: To win eight games to get there at all, I

782
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,319
Speaker 1: think is a testament to what Kyle Whittingham does. Wasn't

783
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:54,800
Speaker 1: always sexy. It's never sexy.

784
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you watch the UCLA game last year, definitely

785
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:02,600
Speaker 2: not sexy. If you watch the Western game, definitely not sex.

786
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's it was a weird year. You know,

787
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:09,320
Speaker 2: Bryson Barnes beats USC on the road, the Sioni Vaki

788
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,759
Speaker 2: has the game against cal Asu super flawed and they

789
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:13,880
Speaker 2: just blow him out of the water. They have a

790
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:18,600
Speaker 2: shot against Washington, not competitive against Arizona, take down Colorado,

791
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:23,320
Speaker 2: like I think he will will this team Cale Whittingham

792
00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:30,359
Speaker 2: and cam rising to eight wins. But as a playoff conversation,

793
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:34,200
Speaker 2: I just don't know if they're there. I'm not there

794
00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:34,600
Speaker 2: yet with it.

795
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:36,920
Speaker 1: I think they will have an opportunity this year to

796
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 1: win a playoff game, and I think it is very

797
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:44,560
Speaker 1: matchup dependent, Okay, very matchup dependent. I think they are

798
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,719
Speaker 1: good enough, They're well coached enough for sure to get

799
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: to that spot to win a game. I think it's

800
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:52,759
Speaker 1: very matchup dependent though.

801
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,080
Speaker 2: If that's so, if you had to wager a thousand

802
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,400
Speaker 2: dollars of your American currency, Brad much Tie has one

803
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 2: thousand dollars at his disposal, would you take Utah to

804
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:07,439
Speaker 2: win the Big Twelve over not the field but because

805
00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 2: that's just bad value. But like, if you were to

806
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,399
Speaker 2: place your grand on any team in the Big Twelve, so.

807
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:17,840
Speaker 1: Here's what I would do. Yeah, I am not venturing

808
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:22,440
Speaker 1: into the snake pit that is the Big Twelve title odds,

809
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:26,480
Speaker 1: I'm sure Big Twelve feels like a complete crap shoot.

810
00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:29,680
Speaker 1: We've said it once, We've said it many times since

811
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:33,759
Speaker 1: all of this broken conference re alignment happened. This year,

812
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,080
Speaker 1: the Big Twelve is the most interesting conference because it's

813
00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:38,880
Speaker 1: totally wide open, no idea who's going to emerge. If

814
00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:42,600
Speaker 1: I were betting one thousand dollars on anything around Utah,

815
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:46,399
Speaker 1: I would bet over nine and a half. Wow, that

816
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,640
Speaker 1: feels like a very safe bet to me. I like

817
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:51,080
Speaker 1: that they don't have the Kansas schools.

818
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:51,799
Speaker 2: I do like that.

819
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:55,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would go over nine and a half because

820
00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:58,839
Speaker 1: I don't see that many losses on the schedule provided

821
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:04,400
Speaker 1: what provided Cam Rising's healthy. Yeah, that's a big X

822
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 1: factor as it was last year, same is true this year.

823
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,839
Speaker 2: I think if everybody is somewhere near their ceiling, all

824
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,919
Speaker 2: things being reasonably equal, I think Utah has the best

825
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,560
Speaker 2: chance to pair quarterback and defense together than any other

826
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:22,719
Speaker 2: team in this conference. Kansas has a quarterback, Kansas State

827
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,400
Speaker 2: probably has a quarterback. UCF has a quarterback. I just

828
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:27,120
Speaker 2: think Utah has that defensive.

829
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:30,160
Speaker 1: Edge, the beef edge, the beef edge. Perfect. Yeah, let's

830
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 1: close things out with the Auburn Tigers.

831
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:33,080
Speaker 2: Oh spicy, I like this.

832
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:36,040
Speaker 1: Auburn six and seven. Last year they lost the Music

833
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:40,719
Speaker 1: City Bowl to Maryland, thirty one thirteen. The it, as

834
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,920
Speaker 1: I've got it here on my sheet for Auburn is

835
00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:47,400
Speaker 1: getting back to nine or ten wins. Okay, I think

836
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:54,399
Speaker 1: in terms of your rubric, in terms of what you're using,

837
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:57,120
Speaker 1: is your measuring stick. If Auburn in the SEC gets

838
00:43:57,120 --> 00:43:59,080
Speaker 1: to nine or ten wins, they are by default in

839
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:00,640
Speaker 1: that November conversation, are they not?

840
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:03,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, yeah, yeah, for sure, definitely yes.

841
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,760
Speaker 1: Auburn has finished with seven losses the last three years.

842
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,800
Speaker 1: That includes the entirety of the Brian Harson slash Cadillac

843
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 1: Williams era, as well as Hugh Freeese's first year in

844
00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:20,160
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. Auburn, I think is a really really

845
00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:26,160
Speaker 1: interesting topic for discussion because they are very tactical in

846
00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: terms of how they're using both high school and portal recruiting.

847
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,440
Speaker 1: They finished top ten in high school recruiting, number twenty

848
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:37,000
Speaker 1: eight in transfer portal recruiting. There was a very clear

849
00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,960
Speaker 1: focus in the portal that was receiver, and that was depth,

850
00:44:40,040 --> 00:44:43,839
Speaker 1: especially on defense. The high school class also went very

851
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:46,960
Speaker 1: hard at receiver. I am in love with Cam Coleman,

852
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:48,960
Speaker 1: their five star freshmen. I think he's going to be

853
00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:53,319
Speaker 1: a monster in the college ranks. They also added some

854
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,839
Speaker 1: edge guys, so they are trying to add impact positions.

855
00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:01,600
Speaker 2: They added away with Robert Lewis the Georgia State or

856
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:02,919
Speaker 2: States for receiver.

857
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:05,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, yep, and A Mars Williams is the is

858
00:45:05,480 --> 00:45:08,359
Speaker 1: the five star edge guy that they got in high

859
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 1: school in high school, Bobby lou continue, Yeah, you can

860
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:15,000
Speaker 1: see that there is a deliberate effort underway by Hugh

861
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:17,080
Speaker 1: Freeze to try and plug some of those gaps and

862
00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:20,160
Speaker 1: make this team better in terms of getting back to

863
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: nine or ten wins. I don't see it happening with

864
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:26,520
Speaker 1: Peyton Thorne at quarterback, same against an SEC schedule. He's

865
00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: just too mistake prone. He's gritty, he can move. He's

866
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,239
Speaker 1: not good enough as a pastor to get them to

867
00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:34,279
Speaker 1: nine or ten wins. So with that as kind of

868
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,640
Speaker 1: the basis for this, at least from my standpoint, I

869
00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:40,359
Speaker 1: think we're two to three years out and I don't

870
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:43,160
Speaker 1: know if it's Walker White. They're true freshman quarterback that

871
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,160
Speaker 1: they just brought in, who's everybody is very excited about.

872
00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:48,080
Speaker 1: Not to be confused with Walter White, which is what

873
00:45:48,120 --> 00:45:51,160
Speaker 1: I did when I first read it. Nice different thing altogether,

874
00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:56,240
Speaker 1: Walker White drew comparisons to Will Levis like a bulkier

875
00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:58,600
Speaker 1: dual threat guy coming out of high school. Don't know

876
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:00,600
Speaker 1: where his stance is on the mayo and the coffee

877
00:46:00,719 --> 00:46:03,919
Speaker 1: or eating bananas weirdly, But uh, I think if it's

878
00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:06,400
Speaker 1: gonna happen for Auburn, it's gonna it's gonna need to

879
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:08,000
Speaker 1: be after the Thorn era ends.

880
00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:13,800
Speaker 2: Or maybe it's just another Midwestern quarterback transferring down south

881
00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:18,479
Speaker 2: and being immediately better, like Danny Atling, like Grammar, It's

882
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:21,760
Speaker 2: like Joe Burrow, like any of these guys, and Peyton

883
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:24,640
Speaker 2: Thorn is just waiting for some more stability, which Auburn

884
00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:29,080
Speaker 2: should have this year. Up front at receiver and this

885
00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 2: is a what'd you say they went hard after defensive lineman?

886
00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:34,440
Speaker 2: I want to say upfront on defense. Yeah, they did

887
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:34,960
Speaker 2: a lot.

888
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:38,280
Speaker 1: Of work at receiver at receiver both in the portal

889
00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:41,120
Speaker 1: and through high school recruiting, and the same is true

890
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:44,320
Speaker 1: in the transfer portal. They added a lot on defense,

891
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:47,920
Speaker 1: but they're they're really pretty focused on that edge rusher.

892
00:46:48,239 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 2: Okay, I wrote down media middle Arkansas at home, Oklahoma,

893
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 2: at home at Georgia, Bye Week at Missoo at Kentucky,

894
00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:00,720
Speaker 2: and they finished with A and M and the Iron

895
00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 2: Bowl on the road.

896
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 1: I would say that's a meedy middle. You've got Oklahoma

897
00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 1: and Georgia on back to back weeks, then a bye,

898
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:12,319
Speaker 1: and two road games at Miszoo and at Kentucky. Yeah,

899
00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:14,520
Speaker 1: that four week stretch is going to determine a lot

900
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:15,080
Speaker 1: for Auburn.

901
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 2: Here's the actual good news for Auburn right now is

902
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,799
Speaker 2: in year one they come up. They came up with

903
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,239
Speaker 2: a terrific game plan for Georgia and threw a ton

904
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 2: at the Bulldogs in a very competitive game without having

905
00:47:28,640 --> 00:47:32,759
Speaker 2: a competitive roster. They were a freak play away from

906
00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:36,400
Speaker 2: winning the Iron Bowl against the eventual SEC champion with

907
00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:40,759
Speaker 2: a not terribly competitive roster. So now the question is

908
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,520
Speaker 2: when you add a full portal class, when you have

909
00:47:43,640 --> 00:47:46,440
Speaker 2: impact freshmen that I don't know if camp Holman's immediately

910
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:48,239
Speaker 2: going to compete for the Blennikoff, but like he's going

911
00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:50,680
Speaker 2: to come in and be a playmaker. We think, I

912
00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:52,400
Speaker 2: don't think the passing game is going to be crazy,

913
00:47:52,719 --> 00:47:56,600
Speaker 2: but long term, I think we both believe Hugh Freeze

914
00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:59,480
Speaker 2: is going to string together top ten, twelve, fifteen classes

915
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:01,880
Speaker 2: at Auburn if not better, Yeah, I do it Already

916
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,719
Speaker 2: looks like the twenty twenty five class is on its

917
00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:07,799
Speaker 2: way to being pretty impressive. They have a quarterback of

918
00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:12,200
Speaker 2: the future, and say what you will about the likability

919
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:17,319
Speaker 2: of their head coach, losing Nick Saban, having Texas A

920
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:20,520
Speaker 2: and M start over, having Mississippi State start over, having

921
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:23,560
Speaker 2: Florida flounder. George is going to be a monster forever.

922
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:29,240
Speaker 2: But like, the stability in the SEC is great among

923
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 2: those traditional teams, but adding Texas Oklahoma becomes more difficult.

924
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:36,239
Speaker 2: I think Auburn's pretty well positioned. I'm going to say

925
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:39,840
Speaker 2: next year they're in that conversation, not this year, despite

926
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:43,600
Speaker 2: my like midwestern quarterback, you know, Protestations whatever is that

927
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:48,720
Speaker 2: a word. I'm going to say next year post peyton Thorn,

928
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:52,960
Speaker 2: I think they become increasingly dangerous with a roster that

929
00:48:53,080 --> 00:48:54,520
Speaker 2: still needs a little bit more work.

930
00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:56,800
Speaker 1: The other thing that I would add on the peyton

931
00:48:56,880 --> 00:49:00,920
Speaker 1: Thorn side, there is an assumption that he'll be the starter.

932
00:49:01,040 --> 00:49:04,880
Speaker 1: I think that's the safest assumption. Hugh Freeze has not

933
00:49:04,880 --> 00:49:09,200
Speaker 1: said anything negative about peyton Thorn. He also hasn't been

934
00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:14,160
Speaker 1: glowing about peyton Thorn when they've asked him about the

935
00:49:14,239 --> 00:49:18,080
Speaker 1: quarterback competition. He he's basically saying that Peyton Thorn is

936
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:20,799
Speaker 1: the guy. He's had the most reps, he's the most consistent.

937
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:24,880
Speaker 1: I think his are his exact words and the most consistent.

938
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: But he's not saying it's a slam. He really has

939
00:49:29,840 --> 00:49:33,239
Speaker 1: a big handle on this offense. He's we're going to say,

940
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:36,279
Speaker 1: a big jump, those types of things. So people who

941
00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:39,919
Speaker 1: cover Auburn a little bit more intently have at least

942
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:44,240
Speaker 1: left that door open for maybe somebody else. Maybe somebody

943
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:47,759
Speaker 1: else could could sneak in, could get reps, could I

944
00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:50,799
Speaker 1: don't know, could get some claim to the throne. We'll see,

945
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:56,839
Speaker 1: I think Thorn. But by and large, the more you

946
00:49:56,880 --> 00:50:01,240
Speaker 1: read about Auburn seems to be a consensus that Walker

947
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:04,320
Speaker 1: White is the guy who's got the highest ceiling among

948
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:07,080
Speaker 1: everybody in that quarterback room. It's just he's a true freshman.

949
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:08,680
Speaker 1: He may not be ready for this a lot. Yeah,

950
00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:09,719
Speaker 1: it's a lot.

951
00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:13,600
Speaker 2: And say what you will about Auburn TI at halftime

952
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:16,919
Speaker 2: last year, they were right there with New Mexico State.

953
00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:20,040
Speaker 2: They were right there with the aggies of you know,

954
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,239
Speaker 2: Jerry Kill and New Mexico State. Very true, so there

955
00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:26,720
Speaker 2: were you know, building that's.

956
00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:31,200
Speaker 1: All solid verbal at gmail dot com is our email address,

957
00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:34,600
Speaker 1: Please write in let us know your thoughts. Next week

958
00:50:34,640 --> 00:50:37,560
Speaker 1: we are going to do a super mega two part

959
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:42,400
Speaker 1: mail bag episode. Love that, so please send in your

960
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 1: questions to our email, to any of our platforms. We

961
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:49,200
Speaker 1: would love to incorporate as many, if not all, of

962
00:50:49,239 --> 00:50:52,440
Speaker 1: your questions as humanly possible, but we get a lot

963
00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:55,200
Speaker 1: of them, so send him in. We'll do our best.

964
00:50:55,239 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 1: We'll address the ones that we think make for the

965
00:50:57,520 --> 00:51:00,800
Speaker 1: best conversation. Also, if you have any other teams that

966
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:03,080
Speaker 1: you'd like for us to talk about here in the

967
00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:06,200
Speaker 1: pre preseason, I guess that's where we're at now, let

968
00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:09,160
Speaker 1: us know. sOliver blodgemail dot com, any of our social platforms,

969
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:12,040
Speaker 1: hit follow, hit subscribe. Of course, if you've listened the

970
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:14,759
Speaker 1: full way through to this show, we would love to

971
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:17,640
Speaker 1: have you on on board with us here for all

972
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:19,560
Speaker 1: of our episodes. Really, we're gonna be doing a lot

973
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:22,160
Speaker 1: more of them and then upping the frequency as we

974
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:28,040
Speaker 1: get into July to talk more about the preseason. Yes, sir, okay,

975
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:31,360
Speaker 1: I think that does it. For when will it happen?

976
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:33,360
Speaker 1: Week here on the show We've got a lot more planned.

977
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:36,160
Speaker 1: As we've said time and again, make sure you hit follow,

978
00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:38,279
Speaker 1: hit subscribe one more time so you don't miss any

979
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:44,520
Speaker 1: of the episodes. Dan Rubinstein, enjoy your weekend away. Thank

980
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:49,880
Speaker 1: you very much. Early June. Yeah, family vacation. I'm excited.

981
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:52,320
Speaker 1: Ty got to get it in. Why you can. Yeah

982
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:54,360
Speaker 1: for that guy over there, my good friend, Dan Rubenstein,

983
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:57,640
Speaker 1: For myself, Ty Hildebrand. Thank you for downloading, for listening

984
00:51:57,640 --> 00:51:59,479
Speaker 1: to supporting the show. We will talk to you all

985
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 1: next week. Meantime, stay silent, peace,