Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal.
Speaker 2: I'm that for me. I'm a man, I'm forty. I've
Speaker 2: heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy.
Speaker 2: You want to be happy for Dake Edith State. Is
Speaker 2: that whoo whoom?
Speaker 1: And Dan and Tie welcome back to the Solid Rebel
Speaker 1: Boys and girls. My name is Ty hilden Brant, joining
Speaker 1: me as always my man over there in beautiful New
Speaker 1: York City. The week before the season, Dan Rubinstein sir,
Speaker 1: how you doing.
Speaker 2: I think we're in the season technically, even if you
Speaker 2: ignore week zero because it's not a full regular week,
Speaker 2: we're in week one. This is the week one run up? Right?
Speaker 1: Did you get into the later start or the later
Speaker 1: finish to the week zero game? Were you awake for that?
Speaker 2: Ty, Let's back up? Was I awake for the second
Speaker 2: half of Florida Miami? The answer is a resounding no.
Speaker 2: The answer is a full on It's halftime. I was
Speaker 2: at a hotel on the Jersey Shore. I had just
Speaker 2: finished C C minus pizza and said to myself, I
Speaker 2: have a limited amount. You know, when you plan a RPG,
Speaker 2: you have certain you have this much life, this much health,
Speaker 2: this much stamina, this much weaponry, that kind of thing. Yeah,
Speaker 2: as a newly minted father and just general old man,
Speaker 2: I have so many late night college football nights just
Speaker 2: available to me this season. Was I going to waste
Speaker 2: it on Week zero? I was not. So I just
Speaker 2: found the full versions of both Florida Miami and then
Speaker 2: Arizona Hawaii the following day and watched it at my
Speaker 2: own leisure and now have many many thoughts.
Speaker 1: Absolutely as do I I will say, as not a
Speaker 1: new father, yeah, but a resident of a new state
Speaker 1: in which sports gambling is now legal.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, this I'm going to change the dynamic.
Speaker 1: I may have had a rooting interest in the final
Speaker 1: moments of that Florida Miami game, and let me tell you,
Speaker 1: both final moments were great, but yeah, both were great.
Speaker 1: But the Florida Miami one, from an over understandpoint, had
Speaker 1: real significance. And brother I aged about fifteen years on
Speaker 1: that last sequence, which we can get into here momentarily
Speaker 1: if we want to talk about that. But yeah, an
Speaker 1: interesting occurrence of events on both fronts. Really, no matter
Speaker 1: which game you were into, we are going to go
Speaker 1: through news on this show. We're going to talk about
Speaker 1: those two games very quickly as well. As some of
Speaker 1: the new starting quarterbacks that have been named in the
Speaker 1: run up two week one, and then we are going
Speaker 1: to cover the group of five. Now, we haven't done
Speaker 1: the full deep dive of like sixty group of five teams. Instead,
Speaker 1: what we've done is go through and look at, okay,
Speaker 1: who are the top dogs, who are some of the contenders,
Speaker 1: the pretenders, And we're going to try to cover it
Speaker 1: from that perspective because I know y'all love the show.
Speaker 1: We love the show too, there are only so many
Speaker 1: hours in the day. We can't cover all the teams
Speaker 1: we've received.
Speaker 2: Since January, we've received an email, maybe five emails a
Speaker 2: day strictly asking when we were going to deep dive
Speaker 2: the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, of course, and we've been putting
Speaker 2: it off. Yeah, we've been putting it off. I think
Speaker 2: the deep dive will be next year. I think the
Speaker 2: deep dive on Tulsa will be next year. But well,
Speaker 2: first of all, do we have housekeeping? Do we want
Speaker 2: to get into week zero? What is the order of
Speaker 2: operations here?
Speaker 1: Well, first and foremost the order of operations is we've
Speaker 1: been waiting to throw this one out into the podcast
Speaker 1: oh sphere for a couple of weeks. But the Wondering News.
Speaker 1: We talked about the Wondering News. We're very excited to
Speaker 1: be joining the Wondering podcast Network. It's exciting for us.
Speaker 1: What it means though, is if you're listening at home
Speaker 1: and we always get this, how can we help? Here's
Speaker 1: how you can help. Go to wonderre dot com slash survey.
Speaker 1: That's won d e r y dot com slash survey,
Speaker 1: and there's a survey there. You can fill it out.
Speaker 1: You'll have the opportunity to talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about our show and what you like about it, what
Speaker 1: you like to hear more of, and also give us
Speaker 1: a sense for what you're into and not into. It'll
Speaker 1: help make the show a better experience moving forward. Again,
Speaker 1: the show is not changing much, but that survey will
Speaker 1: help us out a great deal. Wondery, of course, is
Speaker 1: home to a number of great podcasts. Chief among them
Speaker 1: we'll show you might have heard of called Sports Wars.
Speaker 1: Is that correct?
Speaker 2: Dan correct? I do host Sports War as a show
Speaker 2: about sports rivalries that's narrative, about four or five six
Speaker 2: episodes per story. We've done like Kobe Shack. We've just
Speaker 2: finished a college football arc with Texas, Oklahoma and Florida, Georgia,
Speaker 2: or the other way around, depending on your fandom. But
Speaker 2: we did those neutral site, big long historic rivalry games,
Speaker 2: so they're really good to listen to in an evergreen
Speaker 2: kind of way. You don't want to be in the
Speaker 2: moment listening to college football or basketball or whatever. You
Speaker 2: just want to remember a rivalry. Maybe you've got some details.
Speaker 1: Sports Wars, sports Wars, So there you go, sports Wars
Speaker 1: fully indoctrinated into the old Wondery podcast ecosystem. We're very
Speaker 1: excited about it. The other thing that I should point
Speaker 1: out here is that the reverb line's going to be
Speaker 1: open this coming weekend. Four weight Verbal one saw a
Speaker 1: few people called in during the couple of games we
Speaker 1: had this weekend, not going to get a chance to
Speaker 1: play those apologize because we're still doing some maintenance, but
Speaker 1: we'll take care of that in time for all the
Speaker 1: week one action. As always, you can follow along on Facebook,
Speaker 1: on Twitter, on Instagram, and of course the subreddit. If
Speaker 1: you're an overballer, there is a teaming community Overballers that
Speaker 1: keeps the conversation going. Really if you're going out to
Speaker 1: reddit dot com, slash our slash solid Verbal had a
Speaker 1: chance to meet our good friend Peter who runs the
Speaker 1: soliverbal subreddit down in DC during our live show. And oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, if you haven't listened to the live
Speaker 1: shows yet, it's long. Show dropped at early morning on Sunday.
Speaker 1: But you get the flavor for all twenty four picks
Speaker 1: that Dan and I made in our Fantasy Things draft,
Speaker 1: spread out over two nights between Dallas, Texas on August
Speaker 1: the seventeenth and Washington, DC on August the eighteenth. That's
Speaker 1: out there.
Speaker 2: We're already seeing. We're seeing points roll in already, we
Speaker 2: are seeing points are probably already been. I saw because
Speaker 2: I selected not spoiler alert, I selected Marty Smith committing
Speaker 2: to a bit. Oh yeah, he's going to be calling
Speaker 2: Louisville Notre Dame from a blimp. I believe, Yeah, is
Speaker 2: that what's happening?
Speaker 1: I believe that's the yes. In celebration of the college
Speaker 1: football one fifty thing, he will be up there with.
Speaker 2: Yeah McGee I in promoting the Fantasy Things show on Twitter,
Speaker 2: I just did a simple search of Marty Smith gift
Speaker 2: and it is literally all all the gifts that are
Speaker 2: presented are Marty Smith committing to a bit. There's no
Speaker 2: just like Marty Smith looking just like waving at the camera.
Speaker 2: Marty Smith Hams commits to the bit. It's oh, he's
Speaker 2: committing to the bit. So that was a fantasy thing
Speaker 2: I selected and that's already pang dividends and check out
Speaker 2: the fantasy thing.
Speaker 1: Show mom aged Tex. She texted that Chris Collinsworth was
Speaker 1: selling some sort of NBC drama. Oh really, he doesn't
Speaker 1: call on a Yeah, I didn't see it, so I
Speaker 1: have to go back to football see if I can
Speaker 1: find it. But Chris collins Worth on whatever Sunday night
Speaker 1: football broadcast they had going was.
Speaker 2: Now he's Kirkhurbs Street selling Wendy's Spicy Nuggies. Is that
Speaker 2: what's happening?
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's well, probably to mainstream, yeah,
Speaker 1: to get points for you. But it's happening, man, It
Speaker 1: is all happening here. College football is going to be
Speaker 1: in full swing before we know. It's all sorts of
Speaker 1: ways you can connect with the verbal. We're also going
Speaker 1: to have a pickup game. People have asked about the
Speaker 1: pickup game of the process of getting that set up
Speaker 1: with their friends over at Chalk Line so stay tuned
Speaker 1: for that. The link will be up on the website
Speaker 1: before long.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this fantasy thing that we're referencing is
Speaker 2: a broadcaster becoming a spokesperson for like a company that
Speaker 2: is not one of the three or four or five
Speaker 2: industry leaders in that category. Because it was like Laura
Speaker 2: Rutledge and Marty Smith for Academy Outdoors Sports. I believe
Speaker 2: that was. So if brock Heward is doing dunk a
Speaker 2: Use commercials, yeah, you better believe that counts. That's what
Speaker 2: we're looking for. So Daniel, shall we get rolling here?
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: We have sort of stundi breaking news.
Speaker 2: I don't know what that could be.
Speaker 1: Well, we had Florida.
Speaker 2: That's right, we're doing this Monday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Florida knocking off Miami. This one took place at
Speaker 1: Camping World Stadium in Orlando. The first, I guess really
Speaker 1: big game of the year happened on Week zero.
Speaker 2: Great Drone shot opening the game up.
Speaker 1: Great drone Shot was an interesting scenario for young Jaron Williams,
Speaker 1: the new starting quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes. I thought
Speaker 1: showed some promise, but ultimately Miami's offensive line overwhelmed by
Speaker 1: Florida's defensive line and something like ten sacks in that
Speaker 1: football game, and it really was incumbent on Florida to
Speaker 1: just win the game at the end, to win the
Speaker 1: game at the end, to not try to lose, which
Speaker 1: is sort of what they tried to do. Felipe Franks
Speaker 1: with a horrible backbreaking interception. If not for a non
Speaker 1: sportsman like conduct penalty that went against Miami, perhaps the
Speaker 1: situation would have been a little bit more favorable towards
Speaker 1: the Hurricanes. But a last they get the ball back
Speaker 1: late in the game, Jared Williams has a chance to
Speaker 1: win it. There are a couple pass interference calls. Nonetheless,
Speaker 1: Florida ends up getting the w. Dan Mullens said as
Speaker 1: much at the end, basically what I said in the beginning,
Speaker 1: Like man, I aged a lot on that last drive
Speaker 1: and route to Florida starting off the season one and zero.
Speaker 1: What was your takeaway just generally from a very high
Speaker 1: level of this game.
Speaker 2: I just everything was pretty much sloppy. I mean, we
Speaker 2: say explosion plays that were largely a result of bad tackling.
Speaker 2: We saw Miami all out fail to protect Jaron Williams
Speaker 2: in his first start at quarterback, and I am hopeful
Speaker 2: we'll start with We'll start with Florida. Flabe. Franks threw
Speaker 2: some bad passes, but seemed to be improved in terms
Speaker 2: of command and accuracy overall. I mean he threw he
Speaker 2: had that one ridiculous pass up the seam, which is
Speaker 2: you that's the Felipe Franks experience. You're like, ah, this
Speaker 2: guy's kind of all over the place and green and rocky,
Speaker 2: and then he just throws an absolute dime. He seemed
Speaker 2: to be more poised in control early against a very
Speaker 2: good Miami defense, So I like to see that neither
Speaker 2: team could really run, and just the slop and inconsistency
Speaker 2: of playing your first game of the season against a
Speaker 2: legit opponent showed itself pretty pretty clearly. So from Florida perspective,
Speaker 2: you get the win. That's great against a what should
Speaker 2: be a pretty good Miami team, and from Miami, hopefully
Speaker 2: Jaron Williams stays alive all year long. Behind that life
Speaker 2: was really rough. It was a rough watch because I
Speaker 2: thought they game planned, especially early on, pretty well for him.
Speaker 2: A lot of quick passes and screens. Just get it.
Speaker 2: They knew what they had and what they didn't have
Speaker 2: from this offense, and there's only so much you can do.
Speaker 2: That kind of thing only works for so long if
Speaker 2: you don't have a next move, and Miami really struggled
Speaker 2: to find that next move. So I get a couple
Speaker 2: explosion plays, they go down the field a couple times successfully,
Speaker 2: but ultimately Florida just had the best thing in this game,
Speaker 2: which was the favorable matchup defensive line against offensive line.
Speaker 1: Florida with four turnovers in this game, which is something
Speaker 1: they obviously need to clean up. You see a big
Speaker 1: improvement between week one and nine two, in this case
Speaker 1: week zero in week two. Whenever Florida plays next, I
Speaker 1: would expect that Dan mullen is going to clean some
Speaker 1: of the stuff up. Miami, as he said, has a
Speaker 1: pretty good defense, so we'll see how they progress from
Speaker 1: this point forward. But Yeah, definitely a sloppy showing to
Speaker 1: start things off and ends to the other game that
Speaker 1: we saw on oh Saturday evening between Yeah, Arizona and Hawaii.
Speaker 1: Arizona got in a very early hole down fourteen to nothing.
Speaker 1: It went exactly the way I think you expect a
Speaker 1: lot of Arizona games to go this year, where kind
Speaker 1: of devolves into a shootout. Before you know it, it's
Speaker 1: all on the arm or legs of Khalil Tate. Khalil
Speaker 1: Tate scrambles towards the goal line on the last play
Speaker 1: of the game, ends up being stopped one yard short
Speaker 1: of scoring potentially the tying touchdown, and Arizona starts off
Speaker 1: on the wrong foot, on a sloppy foot in their
Speaker 1: own right, losing by seven on the road in a
Speaker 1: Loja stadium to the Warriors.
Speaker 2: Can we fully comprehend how difficult it is to win
Speaker 2: the turnover battle by four turnovers and put up over
Speaker 2: five hundred yards of offense and have the most dangerous
Speaker 2: dual threat quarterback in a major conference and lose to
Speaker 2: a team in the Mountain West that is not a
Speaker 2: Mountain West power. Hawaii is certainly a team on the
Speaker 2: come up. They have a lot of returning guys that
Speaker 2: should win games this year, but the degree of difficulty
Speaker 2: in doing that, And as I was watching this game
Speaker 2: fully knowing the result, as I said, I went to
Speaker 2: sleep at halftime in Florida, Miami. No shame well fully
Speaker 2: watching this entire game play to play, thinking how in
Speaker 2: the hell is Arizona going to give this away and
Speaker 2: then you see a backbreaking pick here, then you see
Speaker 2: a bad third down play there, and just situationally, Arizona
Speaker 2: when they had opportunities, they just blew so many of them.
Speaker 2: I think they had nine or ten penalties. And that's
Speaker 2: a week zero thing or a first game thing, but
Speaker 2: degree of difficulty, like not even mad, kind of impressed.
Speaker 1: Kind of impressed, wild yeah, kind of impressed by the
Speaker 1: way Khalil Tate three sixty one through the air, oh
Speaker 1: one awight on the ground. Any losing effort, yeah, oh
Speaker 1: my god. To open the season with that kind of
Speaker 1: losing effort. So Arizona will be dangers on offense there.
Speaker 2: I think they look deeper than ever skill position wise
Speaker 2: from where they've been these past couple of years. Defense
Speaker 2: is raw, That secondary was rough at times.
Speaker 1: All right, So as we now turn the page and
Speaker 1: move into week one mode, fully, hm, let's talk about
Speaker 1: some of the starting quarterbacks that have been named. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna run little list here and just give me any
Speaker 1: hot takes or just regular takes if you have them.
Speaker 1: Ben Hicks will be your starter at Arkansas. Some thought
Speaker 1: it might be Nick Starkle, but it's going to be
Speaker 1: Ben Hicks instead played.
Speaker 2: For played for Chad Morris at SMU. So there's the
Speaker 2: he's a familiar guy under Yeah, that's fine. I don't
Speaker 2: think it'll make a difference either way. Matt McKay will
Speaker 2: be your starter at NC State. Yeah, McKay was going
Speaker 2: to be the guy. McKay.
Speaker 1: I don't think that was too much to Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So here's one. Is it Michael Pennix or Michael Poenix
Speaker 1: Junior winning the job at Indiana?
Speaker 2: I believe it's Pennix. Damn, I know, I'm so sorry,
Speaker 2: eleven year old Dan Anti. He has won the job
Speaker 2: over Peyton Ramsey. He has in coming quarterback Peyton Ramsey,
Speaker 2: who put up numbers, who had, you know, put together
Speaker 2: nice drives and streaks of action. But I think it
Speaker 2: was long considered that Pennix was the superior talent. He
Speaker 2: came in as a pretty highly touted recruit and Tom
Speaker 2: Allen familiar with him from his time recruiting in Florida.
Speaker 2: So it makes sense that once healthy, because he I
Speaker 2: think he tore his ACL last year against Penn State,
Speaker 2: that he was going to be the guy if he
Speaker 2: was fully ready to maximize his skills.
Speaker 1: He's also a lefty, which good to see at quarterback.
Speaker 1: Not enough lefty quarterbacks out there. Correct, Michael Pennix will
Speaker 1: be your starting quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers. Hopefully he can,
Speaker 1: you know, get the ball to my boy Nick Westbrook
Speaker 1: down the field. Maybe they can generate some explosion plays,
Speaker 1: stretch the field a bit. That'd be nice for Indiana. Okay,
Speaker 1: Florida States they are going with James Blackman. You might
Speaker 1: remember that Alex horny Brook came over from Wisconsin as
Speaker 1: a grad transfer. Wily Taggert told me to have a
Speaker 1: chance to compete for the job. I think I said
Speaker 1: at one point he represented a clear upgrade over James Blackman.
Speaker 1: Apparently that is not the case, Wooly Taggert gonna go
Speaker 1: back to James Blackman.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Alex Harnybrook was going the wrong direction
Speaker 2: from good starter town to great backup Ville or whatever
Speaker 2: I said during the SEC preview.
Speaker 1: Let's go with Wisconsin here and Jack Cone Hm wins
Speaker 1: the job over Graham Mertz, who was the all world
Speaker 1: everything freshman Jack Cone as we know him here in
Speaker 1: the show. King Cone played in five games, started four
Speaker 1: last year when Hornybrook was hurt mostly gave the ball
Speaker 1: to Jonathan Taylor tailback.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was not super impressed with him, though he
Speaker 2: made plays against Miami. And I believe the pin Straight
Speaker 2: Bowl your an America's favorite bowl game on the Eastern seaboards.
Speaker 2: So yeah, has the experience has has shown Flashes is
Speaker 2: probably too strong. Twinkles, what's a minor version of a flash,
Speaker 2: Twinkles of upside, So perhaps it's a glasses get Hurtz
Speaker 2: comfortable and maybe by the time October. You know, I
Speaker 2: don't think it's going to be a long leash for
Speaker 2: for Jack Cone.
Speaker 1: Your boy Gaja Gubrud, No, Sir, has lost the starting
Speaker 1: job at Washington State. Instead it goes to Anthony Gordon.
Speaker 1: He's a fifth year senior. Yeah, was a junior college transfer.
Speaker 1: Mike Leech going with mister Gordon the fisherman.
Speaker 2: Yeah, looked better. And I think Gaja Gubrud is coming
Speaker 2: off of some tricky foot situations where he was hurt
Speaker 2: last year. Was beat up in the spring, so I
Speaker 2: don't know if it was a health thing, But apparently
Speaker 2: Anthony Gordon is the guy and generally when Mike Leach
Speaker 2: selects a quarterback, he throws for four hundred thousand yards,
Speaker 2: so he must be confident in him.
Speaker 1: Chase Garber's you're starting quarterback at Cal. He eats now
Speaker 1: Devin Monster kind of a supreme on Devon Moster. Excuse me, yes,
Speaker 1: a little surprising, but Devon Monster wasn't.
Speaker 2: Starting at UCLA. He came in thinking he'd have a
Speaker 2: chance because quarterback play has not been strong suit for Cal,
Speaker 2: and I guess Chase Garber's just was better. I'm not
Speaker 2: all that confident after watching him last year that their
Speaker 2: offense is going to be appreciably better, but you know,
Speaker 2: always open to it.
Speaker 1: Hank Bachmeyer the new starting quarterback at Boise State. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about Boise a little bit more as the show progresses. Formerly,
Speaker 1: a four star recruit head offers from a couple big schools,
Speaker 1: ends up going to Boise, ends up winning out the
Speaker 1: starting job. He beat out Chase Cord, who was redshirt
Speaker 1: sophomore and a senior Jalen Henderson.
Speaker 2: And so he's a freshman. He's true freshman. I believe,
Speaker 2: true freshman.
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 2: All right, that'll be interesting. We got a couple true freshmen.
Speaker 2: I mean, we talked about bo Nicks at Auburn and
Speaker 2: now Hank Bachmeyer here we'll see I am. I am
Speaker 2: optimistic that Brian Hearson is not just going with somebody
Speaker 2: because he he came in as a touted recruit or
Speaker 2: gives them the biggest opportunity to grow at quarterback. He
Speaker 2: is the dude, and I imagine they're going to be
Speaker 2: pretty good.
Speaker 1: All right. A couple ones that I think were pretty obvious,
Speaker 1: but I'll just list them anyway. Sean Clifford getting the
Speaker 1: nod at Penn State, Jacob Eason getting the nod at Washington.
Speaker 1: Tommy Stevens officially named starter at Mississippi State. We knew
Speaker 1: about Brandon Wimbush. We'll talk about Brandon Wimbush a little
Speaker 1: bit more here on the Group of Five show, but
Speaker 1: he will be your starter at UCF. Ryan Willis is
Speaker 1: again going to be the starter at Virginia Tech. Here's
Speaker 1: one that was somewhat interesting. Brandon Peters. Brandon Peters starter
Speaker 1: at Illinois.
Speaker 2: Right, Brandon Peters starter Illinois. There was a couple freshmen
Speaker 2: in the mix. I don't think ILLINOI is gonna be
Speaker 2: very good with or without Brandon Peters, but hopefully he realizes,
Speaker 2: you know something, closer to what he looked like against
Speaker 2: Purdue a couple of years ago. Outside of that, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's a guy we know. His name should be noted
Speaker 2: that Jake Hayner transferred the guy now who is going
Speaker 2: to be behind Jacob Eeson. I imagine he thought he
Speaker 2: was going to win the competition and they gave it
Speaker 2: to Easton or Easton earned it, and Haynah was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm out, I'm out, I'm gone, So Washington down and
Speaker 2: that's going to happen. We saw it in Nebraska last
Speaker 2: year where somebody just does not win the quarterback competition
Speaker 2: and they go elsewhere to find their place in the
Speaker 2: college football world. I saw what Josh Jackson official Maryland.
Speaker 1: Josh Jackson official at Maryland.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's good. West Virginia, Austin Kendall, the Oklahoma transfer,
Speaker 2: Justin Fields, Ohio State, Jalen Hurts Oklahoma all obvious. Jamie
Speaker 2: Newman at wake YEP over over Sam Hartman. Jamie Newman
Speaker 2: I think looked a little bit more promising near the
Speaker 2: end of last season. So a couple surprises, a couple
Speaker 2: young couple young freshmen that get the nod. We'll be
Speaker 2: interesting to see, especially now that one of them is
Speaker 2: starting arguably the biggest game of the weekend for Auburn
Speaker 2: against Oregon. But good to see the competitions coming to
Speaker 2: a close and excited to see some new faces.
Speaker 1: All right, so why don't we place the final piece
Speaker 1: of this jigsaw puzzle and talk a little group of
Speaker 1: five here on the show.
Speaker 2: Let's do it? Play the group of five sound that
Speaker 2: sandwich I'm so long, Oh, I'm so hungry.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, I just hit all the buttons on the
Speaker 1: soundboard here.
Speaker 2: I heard a double spicy, Like I heard you hit
Speaker 2: the I'm spicy sound twice, which wow, feeling it.
Speaker 1: I think it's fitting that we are recording our group
Speaker 1: of five show on International Dog Day. Dan, Okay, hey,
Speaker 1: why is that International Dog Day as an underdog day?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Talking to group, I'm talking about group of five teams.
Speaker 1: Excuse me. So we've got a number of teams here.
Speaker 1: I've got a list of like, I don't know, thirteen
Speaker 1: to fifteen on my end, just teams that were of
Speaker 1: interest to me. I don't have quite the level of
Speaker 1: depth that maybe I would say a Power five team,
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, these are teams that we talk about week
Speaker 1: in and week out teams that certainly have Power five
Speaker 1: opponents of note, and it would not surprise, it should
Speaker 1: not surprise when or if one of these teams pulls
Speaker 1: an upset throughout the course of the year. Do you
Speaker 1: have a list in front of you of some big
Speaker 1: group of five Power five non con matchups that we're
Speaker 1: gonna have in front of us here in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: Call me crazy, ty, and you can play whatever associated
Speaker 2: sound you want to right off the bat. I'm taking
Speaker 2: Hawaii over Arizona. I'm just doing it. I'm just doing it.
Speaker 2: Call me crazy. I like I'm in a shootout. A
Speaker 2: little sloppy deep passing turnovers, give me the Warriors. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So there's some interesting matchups. I think Fresno USC Week one,
Speaker 2: with what Fresno has done these past couple of years
Speaker 2: and what Jeff Tedford specifically has done turning around that team.
Speaker 2: New phases on offense for Fresno, but new offense entirely
Speaker 2: for USC. So I think that's a pretty worthy test
Speaker 2: for USC. If not, I mean, I think he was
Speaker 2: UNLV who's run all over USC recently. So I have
Speaker 2: Fresno stands a pretty good chance in that game.
Speaker 1: Hey, Fresno might have been like one of the best
Speaker 1: Group of five teams last year.
Speaker 2: If not they with a Mountain West America's Group of
Speaker 2: five conference.
Speaker 1: Yes, for sure.
Speaker 2: Sure on a different note, but like a more entertaining
Speaker 2: to me note ole Miss Memphis I think could be
Speaker 2: all sorts of weird and fun and look a little
Speaker 2: bit like Arizona, Hawaii.
Speaker 1: I love me some memphisis year.
Speaker 2: Brady White two more years.
Speaker 1: I love me more some memphisis here. I'm not crazy
Speaker 1: that they've got two new coordinators, but yeah, I love
Speaker 1: me some Memphis and some Brady White.
Speaker 2: And they still have the pop coxy magnifico trio. Right,
Speaker 2: that is correct. We have Florida State Boise State in
Speaker 2: Jacksonville opening the season. No Brett Rippon, no new starter,
Speaker 2: Hank Bachmeier, James Blackman.
Speaker 1: I think I saw that Florida State's a five, five
Speaker 1: and a half point favorite in that game.
Speaker 2: That makes sense. Boise's replacing a lot on offense, and
Speaker 2: they're replacing They've replaced their defensive coordinator. I think they
Speaker 2: have co coordinators. They brought in a guy from Eastern Washington.
Speaker 2: They promote somebody from within, so it's a newer look
Speaker 2: Boise State than it's been in a long time. What's
Speaker 2: Madison Avenue has gone couple receivers Brett Rippon, so.
Speaker 1: There to go. They're pretty stocked that receiver. They're in
Speaker 1: a good place. They recruited well there, They're at a
Speaker 1: good spot there. Their line should be good. Obviously breaking
Speaker 1: in a freshman quarterback tough spot week one. I don't
Speaker 1: care who you are. Tough spot freshman Week one on
Speaker 1: the road, neutral site game, neutral site in air quotes
Speaker 1: because the game's in Florida, correct, But I think the
Speaker 1: real issue for Boise State in this one could be
Speaker 1: if Florida State can get anything going with its offensive line,
Speaker 1: which should not be taken for granted. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: more of this on our Week one preview show later
Speaker 1: in the week, but I think cam Akers could pose
Speaker 1: an issue for Boise State here because the front seven
Speaker 1: for them isn't a particular area of depth. I could
Speaker 1: see a situation where Boise State wears down, especially in
Speaker 1: that Florida heat.
Speaker 2: But well, oh, Marvin Wilson's good Houston, Oklahoma, which should
Speaker 2: not answer, but give us insight into some questions for
Speaker 2: both of these teams. Houston, obviously hiring Dana Holgerson, bringing
Speaker 2: back a hopefully fully healed Derek King at quarterback, replacing
Speaker 2: a lot on defense as they sort of move around schemes.
Speaker 2: Think they're going four down line, but noow movies more
Speaker 2: before three. It's going to take a bit for this
Speaker 2: Houston defense, and you know what, it might take a
Speaker 2: bit for this Oklahoma defense. But that's also week one.
Speaker 2: I want to say, it's Sunday. That's Sunday again, Sunday night,
Speaker 2: Houston Oklahoma should be pretty fun all things considered. Is
Speaker 2: that it No, No, I got much more. I didn't
Speaker 2: know if you wanted to jump in with anything. Well,
Speaker 2: Cincinnati Ohio State justin fields throwing into a pretty nasty defense.
Speaker 2: Week two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I like Houston. I'm excited about Houston, excited
Speaker 1: about Derek King. I'm not excited about their defense. And now,
Speaker 1: okay that as some take abak that game in Week
Speaker 1: one between Houston and Oklahoma, I think is a recipe
Speaker 1: for a lot of points. For sure, the Cincinnati game
Speaker 1: between them and Ohio State is interesting on a number
Speaker 1: of different fronts. Keep in mind that Cincinnati won what
Speaker 1: eleven games last year should have this in front of me.
Speaker 1: I want to say, eleven games last year, and they
Speaker 1: did so with a freshman quarterback and like a sophomore
Speaker 1: running back and a bunch of injuries across the board.
Speaker 1: So it would seemingly be going pretty well for Luke Fickle.
Speaker 1: It was only year two under the Luke Fickle era
Speaker 1: at Cincinnati, and given the fact that Ohio State they're
Speaker 1: they're kind of figuring some stuff out as well. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying Ohio State is gonna lose the Cincinnati, but
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's gonna play him tough.
Speaker 2: Tulane Auburn, Okay, I mean the I'm not super confident
Speaker 2: in this Tulane team overall. I like their defense a
Speaker 2: whole bunch. I like the way they finished out the season. Offensively,
Speaker 2: they need to, uh they need to be a little
Speaker 2: bit better through the air. But I think it's gonna
Speaker 2: be tricky. I think it's going to be tricky for Auburn.
Speaker 2: And I think I believe it's the week after Oregon,
Speaker 2: so you know, maybe a letdown situation. Uh, Wazoo Houston,
Speaker 2: We mentioned Houston, but you know, Wazoo doing new things well,
Speaker 2: has a new quarterback. Anyway, on offense, So Houston really
Speaker 2: getting tested against some offenses early on.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Uh, Stanford, UCF, I think is gonna be amazing. Why UCF.
Speaker 2: They've gotten a lot of attention because of their offense, and
Speaker 2: we saw Scott Frost, we saw Josh Hypel year one,
Speaker 2: put up huge numbers with Mackenzie Milton. And even though
Speaker 2: Dariel mack gets hurt, Brandon Wimbush is the starter, which
Speaker 2: I'm sure you have thoughts about. Oh yeah, it's their
Speaker 2: defense and just overall talent level, which they are. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're as good as many many upper level power five schools,
Speaker 2: and Stanford is an upper level power five school. So
Speaker 2: this is just a flat out good game. This isn't
Speaker 2: upset alert. This isn't like ooh, little guy is gonna
Speaker 2: come take down. No, no, just a a good college
Speaker 2: football game. I'm excited for this.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, we talked rape secondary, We're talking about Richie
Speaker 2: Grant really good.
Speaker 1: We talked about our skepticism around Stanford when we did
Speaker 1: that preview, we did the pack golf preview, and the
Speaker 1: defense isn't what it used to be. This is a
Speaker 1: really good offense for UCF. And yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: defense Stanford. The defense will be fine. The line is
Speaker 1: sort of trying to figure it out and a bit questionable,
Speaker 1: but the rest of the defense should be good enough.
Speaker 1: And offensively, despite all the jokes I made about Brandon
Speaker 1: Wimbush for the last two years at Notre Dame, he
Speaker 1: still is a very talented quarterback and he's good enough
Speaker 1: to win. We saw that he's good enough to win
Speaker 1: some high level college football games. I think with this
Speaker 1: offense around him, he's going to have an opportunity to thrive.
Speaker 1: So this is a really good team. You mentioned the
Speaker 1: Stanford game. They've also got pit They've got Temple, They've
Speaker 1: got Cincinnati. They're probably the favorite in the American East.
Speaker 1: The gap between them and maybe the next closest in
Speaker 1: the American East has probably closed, and it's not quite
Speaker 1: as much of a clear cut thing as it was
Speaker 1: in the past. But this is still a very good
Speaker 1: football team. I'll accept it.
Speaker 2: At State. North Carolina doesn't really intrigue me as a
Speaker 2: Capital C college football game like the previous one does,
Speaker 2: but we get some insight into two new coaches. I
Speaker 2: believe North Carolina is starting Sam Howell, right, Yeah, bit
Speaker 2: of Baker Mayfield in him. That's a fantasy thing is
Speaker 2: reference that you have to listen to. We're not just
Speaker 2: being randomly obnoxious, We're being pointedly obnoxious. An app State
Speaker 2: with Eli Drinkwitz. What do they look like bringing their
Speaker 2: quarterback back and Zach Thomas. I think it's gonna be
Speaker 2: interesting insight. That's all I have for that.
Speaker 1: Zach Thomas was real good. Last year he was he
Speaker 1: was State was real good. Last year State was good.
Speaker 1: Zach Thomas was real good. Talk about a dude, he's real,
Speaker 1: real good.
Speaker 2: Georgia Tech Temple to finish out September just insight again,
Speaker 2: two new coaches, one who left behind one of these schools. Great.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see what I saw what the Tech
Speaker 2: depth chart looked like. It was like an effort based
Speaker 2: four two five is literally what it said on the
Speaker 2: depth chart. As for what system they're running, which gets
Speaker 2: my full enthusiastic support behind Georgia Tech. But yeah, Temple,
Speaker 2: Rod Kerry, we'll see. I think it's going to be
Speaker 2: a new beast for him. But I'm excited for this game.
Speaker 1: Temple's been very good at hiring coaches, Yeah, if only
Speaker 1: because a large number of their coaches all their coaches
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years, their new coaches have
Speaker 1: gone elsewhere. Many Diaz went elsewhere in a month.
Speaker 2: Former Temple coach Mani Das, You're correct, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Went somewhere else in a month. So they've proven I
Speaker 1: think that they know how to pick good coaches. And
Speaker 1: Rod Carey has had success elsewhere. I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: what he can do in Philly.
Speaker 2: All right, fair enough, where would you like to go
Speaker 2: to speak further about some of these group of five
Speaker 2: games and conferences?
Speaker 1: So Dan, here's what we're going to do on this show.
Speaker 1: I've got this list like fifteen teams, fiften really good
Speaker 1: group of five teams. I want to talk through each
Speaker 1: of them, and I want to see if we can
Speaker 1: place them on a totem pole kind of an impromptu
Speaker 1: ranking to figure out who are the real contenders, the
Speaker 1: elite level competitors who can compete with anybody, right, and
Speaker 1: who are the teams that are maybe a run or
Speaker 1: two below that, Just to try and provide some context,
Speaker 1: because again, you listed off all the incredible non conference
Speaker 1: matchups that we're going to see. It stands the reason
Speaker 1: we'll see some upsets there. How do some of these
Speaker 1: teams fit within the greater team that is college football
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteens. That sound like a plan.
Speaker 2: So I think how we define the top pack of
Speaker 2: teams is they can hang with basically anybody. Maybe not Oklahoma,
Speaker 2: maybe not Clemson, maybe not Ohio State, maybe not Alabama
Speaker 2: or Georgia. But after that top top, no doubt about
Speaker 2: it group. These are teams that can give anybody trouble,
Speaker 2: if not just win, just beat a team. So I
Speaker 2: will I'll say UCF, okay for sure, as in that group,
Speaker 2: I would I would love to put Fresno State and
Speaker 2: Boise State in that group. Okay, I'd put Memphis in
Speaker 2: that group, all right. And I don't know if I'm
Speaker 2: there with Ohio yet, but I do like them a lot.
Speaker 2: I do like Nathan Rourke and Ohio and the Bobcats.
Speaker 1: So I'm with you on UCF because UCF has clearly
Speaker 1: been there for a couple of years, still a really
Speaker 1: good football team. Yeah, I'm also with you on Boise
Speaker 1: because Boise has also been there. Boise brings back a
Speaker 1: ton from last season, and I think they're at least
Speaker 1: a sixteen point favorite in like seven conference games. So
Speaker 1: Boise State is going to be going to be pretty
Speaker 1: good again. I'm all in on Memphis this year. I
Speaker 1: feel pretty good about Memphis. I don't know if I
Speaker 1: want to lump anyone else in there. Maybe arm Do
Speaker 1: I put Army in there?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean I should have put Cincinnati in there.
Speaker 2: I should have put Cincinnati and Army I think belongs
Speaker 2: in that conversation as well. I didn't. Wasn't. They're not
Speaker 2: technically group of five since their FBS independent. But yes,
Speaker 2: and we should be talking Army absolutely as a non
Speaker 2: power five, Notre Dame type school that we should be
Speaker 2: putting in this conversation.
Speaker 1: I'm writing these down now just so we have them.
Speaker 1: So we've got you SEF. Sorry if this is confusing
Speaker 1: for you listening, but we're really just working this out
Speaker 1: for the first time here. Yeah, on the air, we've
Speaker 1: got UCF. I think that's a given. We've got Boise
Speaker 1: that is also a given. Beyond that, I think we
Speaker 1: agree on Memphis. Yes, Yes, Memphis is good enough to
Speaker 1: hang with pretty much anyone. And then after Memphis we
Speaker 1: start talking about, all right, what about Fresno. Fresno is interesting, yep,
Speaker 1: what about Army Armising?
Speaker 2: It would genuinely surprise me. If Army did not win
Speaker 2: double digit games this year, you.
Speaker 1: Have Cincinnati here, correct, and then we've got what do
Speaker 1: you do about a team like a Houston.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think Houston's there. I don't think Houston's there.
Speaker 2: I think defensively, they're going to be such an open book,
Speaker 2: if you will, that it's going to They're going to
Speaker 2: be more of like the seven and five, eight and
Speaker 2: four type. Even if things go incredibly well on offense,
Speaker 2: it's just a year one thing to me, dangerous wild
Speaker 2: card but not upper upper level. Could hang with pretty
Speaker 2: much everybody in college football in the way that some
Speaker 2: of those other teams could. Cincinnati has UCF I believe,
Speaker 2: at home and Houston on the road in consecutive weeks.
Speaker 2: But otherwise it's a pretty good looking schedule till the
Speaker 2: end of the year. In Memphis. That's that's what's nice.
Speaker 2: I mean, they have Ohio State early. It's a I
Speaker 2: wouldn't say tough. It's a sizable schedule, but I think
Speaker 2: they're at the point now with defense, quarterback, running game
Speaker 2: that they can they can weather a lot.
Speaker 1: You talked about Houston, and I think the big liability
Speaker 1: for Houston is is clearly their defense. Did we mention
Speaker 1: Dearic King? If we did, can we mention him again?
Speaker 1: Because the potential three thousand yard passer, one thousand yard rusher,
Speaker 1: He's got an incredible grouping of skill talent around him
Speaker 1: that I think will help. My issue is, of course,
Speaker 1: the defense.
Speaker 2: And Dana Holgerson running the team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Dana Holgerson, Yeah, yeah, I could see this
Speaker 1: team being anywhere between seven and five and ten and two.
Speaker 2: Ten and two is a big ask.
Speaker 1: Really, there's a lot of variability there. The defense is
Speaker 1: so mediocre, it's just a matter of how mediocre did
Speaker 1: they end up being. And I think that's the difference
Speaker 1: between honestly, two losses in five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're a little optimistic with Houston. I
Speaker 2: think it's a lot of offense and that's sort of it.
Speaker 2: But I'm looking I'm pulling up their schedule right now,
Speaker 2: and we mentioned the Oklahoma matchup and the Wazoo matchup,
Speaker 2: So don't feel great about either one of those. At
Speaker 2: Tulane's going to be tough. At North Texas, even though
Speaker 2: it's out of conference in a smaller school, I think,
Speaker 2: you know, mean Green even with the new offensive Cordney
Speaker 2: will be pretty tough at UCF. Memphis. Navy, I imagine
Speaker 2: will be improved this year after hitting a pretty low
Speaker 2: point last year. I just there's a lot there that's
Speaker 2: going to really push this Houston defense.
Speaker 1: I do agree with you though that Houston's probably not
Speaker 1: on that level. The defense keeps them beneath that level.
Speaker 1: But they're going to be interesting. That opening week game
Speaker 1: against Oklahoma for a couple of quarters could be interesting.
Speaker 2: I think, well, I think they're going to ultimately lose comfortably,
Speaker 2: but I think they have the most exciting single player
Speaker 2: offensively of any group of five school. And if d
Speaker 2: err King is all right, for sure, let's.
Speaker 1: Talk about North Texas because North Texas was not on
Speaker 1: that list. Yeah, North Texas might have the best offense
Speaker 1: in one of the best offenses in the group of five,
Speaker 1: probably the best offense in Conference w HUSA at a minimum.
Speaker 1: But really, like Mason Fine, really like Seth Latrell, who's
Speaker 1: been on the program before, talking through all things scheme,
Speaker 1: the defense loses standouts at both linebacker and cornerback, which
Speaker 1: I think is going to play somewhat of a limiting factor.
Speaker 1: But they're really good at the back end of their defense.
Speaker 1: They know how to rush the passer, which is nice.
Speaker 1: They've got a non conference slate against SMU and Houston,
Speaker 1: which isn't crazy, So it feels like this is a
Speaker 1: season that has a lot of upset potential. It's just
Speaker 1: a look at the defense, and much like Houston, it's
Speaker 1: sort of tough to square that with the offense and
Speaker 1: really get a good feel for where I think this
Speaker 1: team ends up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had a good offense last year. I didn't
Speaker 2: always finish drives, but they moved the ball really well.
Speaker 2: It's nice to have Mason Fine back. I'm not even
Speaker 2: sure which offense I like better. I just think it's
Speaker 2: going to be sort of wide open offensively Conference USA wise. Defensively,
Speaker 2: there are other teams that are definitely ahead, even with
Speaker 2: what Marshall loses. They were so good last year up front,
Speaker 2: and I was very excited because I thought they were
Speaker 2: getting I'm talking about thundering herd. Now I've shifted the conversation.
Speaker 2: I thought they were going to have a guy named
Speaker 2: ty Tyler, which no official defensive lineman of the Solid Verbal,
Speaker 2: but he transferred to Louisville, so Alas no Conference USA
Speaker 2: ty Tyler, which was all name USA. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: think North Texas is going to be good, but you know,
Speaker 2: redoing a little bit on offense, but the continuity of
Speaker 2: quarterback and coach and okay, skill guy should be promising enough.
Speaker 1: They're definitely in that grouping I think below the very top.
Speaker 1: They probably fall along the same lines, maybe a bit
Speaker 1: below Houston, but they're kind of there in the pecking order.
Speaker 2: Yeah, offense took a step back last year, but still good.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about Ohio next, so let's do that.
Speaker 1: Ohio started the year last year three and three, and
Speaker 1: then after that they played like one of the better
Speaker 1: teams in the country. They were really good over a
Speaker 1: stretch last season and you got to be excited this
Speaker 1: year because Nathan Rourke is back always he is always back.
Speaker 1: They've got a fair amount of depth along their defensive line,
Speaker 1: particularly at end and at cornerbacks. So group of five
Speaker 1: team pretty stout when it comes to key elements of
Speaker 1: their defense. I think that's something else that I like.
Speaker 1: But they've got some issues along their line wide at
Speaker 1: their skill positions, and they've got real issues. Much like
Speaker 1: my Notre Dame fighting Irish right up the spine of
Speaker 1: that defense. I think if you run right out Ohio,
Speaker 1: that could be a problem. That's something that Frank Solish
Speaker 1: needs to figure out. Frank Soulich, by the way, still coaching,
Speaker 1: which is amazing.
Speaker 2: Yes, the great thing about Ohio is this was really
Speaker 2: a tale of two seasons, like you mentioned last year,
Speaker 2: and so if there is any momentum to what they
Speaker 2: did at the end of last year, which is winning
Speaker 2: what six of seven including the bowl game, just demolishing
Speaker 2: a not that good San Diego State, but still when
Speaker 2: you shut out a team in a bowl, that's a thing.
Speaker 2: And they don't make it to the MAX Championship Game,
Speaker 2: but they still look like they were among the MAX
Speaker 2: best last year, especially as good as they got on defense,
Speaker 2: you know, in mid to late October.
Speaker 1: So I think I put Ohio a rungbull in North
Speaker 1: Texas then, mainly because well because of my questions on defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I like Nathan Rourke though more than
Speaker 2: I like Mason Fine, more than Mason Fine. Really yeah,
Speaker 2: I think so, yeah, it was really good.
Speaker 1: He's a senior now, and despite the fact that Ohio
Speaker 1: has been really good in the Mac East, they still
Speaker 1: haven't won that division. It's true the last two years,
Speaker 1: so hopefully for his sake, that's something that they can change.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Fresno now. They've got I think a
Speaker 1: fair amount of targets coming back from a year ago,
Speaker 1: not the least of which his guys who can come
Speaker 1: out of the backfield and catch passes. But the new
Speaker 1: quarterback thing. Jeff Tedford in the past has been pretty
Speaker 1: good at dealing with that situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he reached out with Marcus mcmaray in Oregon State,
Speaker 2: bring him in and looked great.
Speaker 1: He's been outstanding in his time at Fresno. That's looking
Speaker 1: like an incredible hire for the Bulldogs. I'm just not
Speaker 1: sure how high I want to rank them, knowing that
Speaker 1: this is their starting point with the new quarterback.
Speaker 2: The defense is it's been great. Recruiting has been really strong,
Speaker 2: as it always should be at Fresno State. You should
Speaker 2: be able to find plenty of high level Mountain West players.
Speaker 2: If you remember my plan, if Oregon slash budgets by
Speaker 2: like seventy five percent, would to be just cherry pick whatever. Fresno,
Speaker 2: Boise and San Diego State are recruiting because they're good
Speaker 2: at identifying, you know, those dudes that they can turn
Speaker 2: into draft type players, like NFL type players. Jeff Allison
Speaker 2: was one of the more recent guys at linebacker who
Speaker 2: was everywhere for the Bulldogs. He's gone, but there are
Speaker 2: bodies in the San Joaquin Valley. So I'm still pretty
Speaker 2: high on Fresno State and will continue to do so
Speaker 2: and continue to be so unless proven otherwise. So I
Speaker 2: think I like Fresno out coming out of the Mountain
Speaker 2: West again, despite the quarterback uncertain Fresno higher.
Speaker 1: Or lower than North Texas?
Speaker 2: Higher? Oh, definitely higher?
Speaker 1: Higher? I agree, yeah, higher, lower than Ohio. You had
Speaker 1: Ohio over North Texas. Oh, Fresno is above Ohio. Yeah,
Speaker 1: fresnent's a bub Ohio.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's Fresno above.
Speaker 2: Army probably, yeah. I just I'm always worried with Army
Speaker 2: going down, you know, eleven points and then having to
Speaker 2: to change things.
Speaker 1: Up a little bit. It's Fresno above Houston, Yes, Fresno
Speaker 1: above Boise. Yeah, it's Fresno above Alabama. Just shoot me straight.
Speaker 2: Is all they played last year. I believe Adam Amin
Speaker 2: called that game. They are not above Alabama. Fresnoe schedule
Speaker 2: this year at USC Minnesota to start the season off.
Speaker 2: Not easy. Uh So we'll learn a little bit about
Speaker 2: the Bulldogs early on. But in terms of their road schedule,
Speaker 2: they travel to Hawaii, which is always going to be
Speaker 2: tricky and I don't I guess it doesn't work where
Speaker 2: you get like a week off before or after because
Speaker 2: they just have a schedule. They're at the Inego State
Speaker 2: but otherwise Utah States at home, novat Is at home.
Speaker 2: This was a decent Avata team last year. I think
Speaker 2: they'll take a step back, but all in all, Mountain
Speaker 2: West wise, pretty advantageous schedule. They don't have boys C
Speaker 2: in the regular season. I don't believe they have Wyoming
Speaker 2: in the regular season, who you know, have been trickyly
Speaker 2: these past couple of years and I think are going
Speaker 2: to continue to improve. So yeah, I like the Bulldogs
Speaker 2: a whole bunch.
Speaker 1: You mentioned San Diego State. Last year they had a
Speaker 1: losing streak which was uncharacteristic.
Speaker 2: M m.
Speaker 1: They struggled on offense, the defense wore down mm hmm,
Speaker 1: and it didn't work out as well as it has
Speaker 1: in past years for San Diego State. Right this year,
Speaker 1: they've got a loaded running back core and they're going
Speaker 1: to run the ball a lot.
Speaker 2: This is what more of a spread look, But yes,
Speaker 2: this is.
Speaker 1: What they're gonna do. They're gonna run the crap out
Speaker 1: of the ball. And the schedule sets up pretty well
Speaker 1: for them. According to projections, they're in line for like
Speaker 1: eleven wins.
Speaker 2: San Diego State, San Diego State. I think they're coming
Speaker 2: back down to earth a little bit. I think they're
Speaker 2: more like eight to nine wins.
Speaker 1: Don't shoot the messenger. I understand the numbers, like the Aztecs,
Speaker 1: all right.
Speaker 2: But I mean it's because what they like John Washington,
Speaker 2: They're like they schedule trol The ball schedule is very favorable. Yah.
Speaker 2: They're replacing a lot on this defense, which is good bad,
Speaker 2: who knows. But I just I don't think they have
Speaker 2: the pieces that they had two three, four years ago
Speaker 2: when they were just an incredible half team, when they
Speaker 2: were keeping teams to like five point two points a
Speaker 2: games that level.
Speaker 1: To app State, let's do it as we continue jumping around.
Speaker 2: Better than Alabama. Yes, it's the answer. Preemptive.
Speaker 1: App State's got a new coach, Eli Drinkquitz comes over
Speaker 1: from NC State. He's got a really good, healthy football program.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. Incredibly.
Speaker 1: App State is twenty second nationally in returning production, so
Speaker 1: a lot of guys come back who have been productive.
Speaker 1: We mentioned Zach Thomas, a full on dude. Last year
Speaker 1: was his first year as starting quarterback. The defense has
Speaker 1: been really good, very consistent over the last couple of seasons.
Speaker 1: The problem that I have with app State is that
Speaker 1: they're going to ted Roof now.
Speaker 2: The problem with that state is that Scott Sadderfield is
Speaker 2: no longer Scott Saderfield no longer there. But yeah, I have.
Speaker 1: Been part of that ted Roof experience before.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: You've heard me joke about leaky Roof on the show
Speaker 1: dating back to his time at Penn State. I don't
Speaker 1: really know what to expect. I would hope that the
Speaker 1: defense continues playing at a very high level, but I
Speaker 1: have seen ted Roof's work before, and I reserve the
Speaker 1: right to be skeptical.
Speaker 2: I think that's fair. They have a beatable North Carolina
Speaker 2: team week three, as we mentioned, they get a chance
Speaker 2: at the revenge on Halloween against Georgia Southern. They're traveling,
Speaker 2: They're traveling to Troy, New Coach at Troy and they're
Speaker 2: at South Carolina as well later on in the season.
Speaker 2: So app State has its work cut out for him.
Speaker 2: But new coach and Will Healey at Charlotte on their schedule,
Speaker 2: I think they're going to be pretty good. I think
Speaker 2: this is going to They're going to take a step back,
Speaker 2: but not demonstrably so eight and four, nine and three.
Speaker 2: When you have the quarterback, when you have the pieces
Speaker 2: on defense, which I always love that combo, they're good.
Speaker 2: They're gonna be good. They're not gonna be capital g good.
Speaker 2: They're not gonna be like they were these past couple
Speaker 2: of years, probably, But I like, I like the talent
Speaker 2: they have on this roster enough that they're going to
Speaker 2: be in every I can't imagine them just being fully
Speaker 2: not in either what North Carolina or the South Carolina
Speaker 2: or the Georgia Southern Game or the Troy Again, they're
Speaker 2: gonna be in everything, if not winning, you know, damn
Speaker 2: near double digits.
Speaker 1: The thing is, they're still far ahead of the rest
Speaker 1: of the Sun Belt. Yeah, and they're only gonna be
Speaker 1: dogs against South Carolina. Otherwise, this is still a really
Speaker 1: good football team. Eli Drinkwitz picked a great situation, a
Speaker 1: great definitely. I don't know if they're on that top rung,
Speaker 1: but they're still in a very healthy spot.
Speaker 2: I think they're on the second rung. I do. I
Speaker 2: think they can hang with anybody on that first rung,
Speaker 2: but in terms of week two week, because we saw
Speaker 2: them hang with Penn State last year. Sure, So if
Speaker 2: if you consider them me a first run team, I
Speaker 2: can't mount a significant argument against it. There are teams
Speaker 2: that I like in the Sun Belt. I don't think
Speaker 2: the gap is super wide, but they are the class
Speaker 2: of the league. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So here's my thing with Army as we move on,
Speaker 1: Army plays Michigan an all offseason. We've been talking about
Speaker 1: how that's a tasty non conference game.
Speaker 2: Mm hm.
Speaker 1: We could see that as potentially an issue for Michigan.
Speaker 2: That's I mean, Army is a potential issue for anybody.
Speaker 1: I like Kelvin Hopkins A lot took over at quarterback
Speaker 1: last year was outstanding. I'm curious now to see how
Speaker 1: the line reacts with Bryce Holland gone, Okay, a big
Speaker 1: time center. Yeah, well that fine still compete at that
Speaker 1: same high level, I think. So the other thing is
Speaker 1: they lost their defensive coordinator to Mac Brown in North Carolina.
Speaker 2: I didn't think Jay Bateman was great. He was fine.
Speaker 2: I mean, the so much of their defense is their
Speaker 2: offense is that alley oop of the offense, you know,
Speaker 2: just completely wearing down the other team and the other
Speaker 2: offense getting a little bit cold on the sideline. Army's
Speaker 2: at Michigan this year, but beyond that at Hawaii is
Speaker 2: going to be That's a trip, ty They at least
Speaker 2: get a week off before traveling seventy thousand miles from
Speaker 2: from the Hudson Valley to the islands in the middle
Speaker 2: of the Pacific, But otherwise, what is the schedule they get.
Speaker 2: Tulane's tricky at home. Western Kentucky has not been good,
Speaker 2: and I don't think Tyson Helton's gonna do all that
Speaker 2: much this year anyway. San Jose State's been not great.
Speaker 2: Air Force should be improved, and they're they're always tricky,
Speaker 2: and the game is in Colorado. But UMass BMI Navy
Speaker 2: improved Navy right now, not sure it matters because Army
Speaker 2: has taken control, so UTSA hasn't been good. Rice hasn't
Speaker 2: been good. The sure thing losses Michigan, and even that
Speaker 2: doesn't feel like a one sure thing.
Speaker 1: All right, So let's do a quick regrouping here of
Speaker 1: the totem pole. We've got a few teams left to
Speaker 1: discuss songs at the top. We've got UCF Underneath UCF,
Speaker 1: we've got Boise and Memphis. Sound right so far?
Speaker 2: I would have Fresno for me in that you know
Speaker 2: that group.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put Memphis above Fresno.
Speaker 2: But why Boise above Fresno?
Speaker 1: Both teams are going to have new starting quarterbacks. I
Speaker 1: feel like Boise's got more coming back that I feel.
Speaker 2: Okay, a lot on that defense. There's a lot coming
Speaker 2: back on that boys, a lot on the defense. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: I would still I hesitate to have any sort of
Speaker 2: tear or wrung with one of those teams and not
Speaker 2: the other.
Speaker 1: After that, after Fresno, I guess we have what Houston?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Houston? App State? I think is in that conversation Ohio.
Speaker 2: I think it's all how do.
Speaker 1: You feel app State versus Ohio? I think I go Ohio.
Speaker 2: I think, hey, go app State, app State?
Speaker 1: Ohio? Okay, yeah, in some words.
Speaker 2: Go upstate. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Do we throw San Diego State at the bottom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm willing to talk about the Aztecs there. Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: I think has to be on that app State Ohio rung.
Speaker 1: Well, we didn't talk much about Cincinnati, but let's let's
Speaker 1: bring them up here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, since we've we did to talk about Memphis that
Speaker 2: much either, but they're at the top to discuss.
Speaker 1: We'll we'll bring up Memphis. Yeah sure, yeah, Cincinnati again.
Speaker 1: One eleven games last year. Desmond Ritter was a bit
Speaker 1: of a revelation. Inefficient in spots, but he knows how
Speaker 1: to use his legs, he knows how to extend plays,
Speaker 1: and he knows how to work with Michael Warren. The
Speaker 1: second the problem this year is that they are rebuilding
Speaker 1: the line, rebuilding the line. If they can rebuild it
Speaker 1: and have some level of success, the potential here is monstrous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, really really good.
Speaker 1: Last year the defense was very very good, dominant against
Speaker 1: the run. I am very curus is to see what
Speaker 1: happens now because they've got some turnover upfront. If they
Speaker 1: can still perform at a high level, they're gonna have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to show out against some quality opponents. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Ohio State, that run defense is going to have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to show what it can do. If they
Speaker 1: can't get that figured out in a hurry. If Ritter
Speaker 1: can't continue to play at the love we saw last year,
Speaker 1: that could be an issue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's all reasonable. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: the defense with the promising backfield, I think is plenty.
Speaker 2: To have Cincinnati in one of those wrung conversations, I
Speaker 2: think it's worth talking about. I mean there are elements
Speaker 2: of teams like even just in conference USA, UAB and
Speaker 2: Southern Miss both had great defenses last year, and Spencer
Speaker 2: Brown is back and should be incredible for the Blazers,
Speaker 2: Your UAB Blazers, So I think they're going to be
Speaker 2: in a nice place. Marshall, I mentioned is replacing a
Speaker 2: bunch of dudes, but defensively, they were in a great place.
Speaker 2: What are your Memphis thoughts? You have them right under
Speaker 2: uc Yeah, They've always been these past couple of years,
Speaker 2: not always so this past air of American football, Memphis
Speaker 2: has been right there with UCF. I mean, the offensive
Speaker 2: combination is super interesting. It's going to be a great offense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it will be Brady White.
Speaker 1: You mentioned demonte Coxy Joey Magnifico at tight end. How
Speaker 1: do you not like him? The questions, the line questions,
Speaker 1: the line and the questions the coordinators. If you can
Speaker 1: get that sorted out, I think they're in really good
Speaker 1: shape defensively. They were very young a year ago, very
Speaker 1: young a year ago, and weren't we all we were
Speaker 1: all a lot young, much different world. If they're a
Speaker 1: little better on defense, that goes a long way. I
Speaker 1: like the fact that you look at their schedule, they're
Speaker 1: probably a favorite in just about every game. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: for me, there are just fewer things to worry about.
Speaker 1: So many of the pieces are in place. It's really
Speaker 1: just a matter of the line, the defense playing a
Speaker 1: little better than they did a year ago, and the
Speaker 1: coordinator's not screwing it up.
Speaker 2: I don't know again which wrong this is. I've lost
Speaker 2: out of the tiers. But Utah States, we're talking about
Speaker 2: Utah State. I've got him on my list as well.
Speaker 2: There we're talking about. What do you. Let's give him
Speaker 2: something to talk about.
Speaker 1: Ty. I don't like that, Jordan Love, I don't like
Speaker 1: that they hired Gary Anderson back. It was good for
Speaker 1: them all those years ago. He was he was Jordan
Speaker 1: like the higher But yeah, at quarterback is back. The
Speaker 1: receiving core, though, is entirely new. It is the offensive
Speaker 1: line bit of a question.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm. And their defense was so good last year.
Speaker 1: Though the defense was really good last year. I loved
Speaker 1: David Woodward, but there's a lot of turnover at linebacker
Speaker 1: as well. Oh and it's safety. While we're at it.
Speaker 2: The thing that's rough about Utah State their schedule just
Speaker 2: doesn't stop. That's the problem.
Speaker 1: I think they are Fresno, Boise, he comes to town.
Speaker 2: They open at wake. San Diego's on the road, Sanego
Speaker 2: State's on the road. We've got BYU and Logan, I believe.
Speaker 2: But Air Force is on the road, Fresno's on the road.
Speaker 2: Wyoming's to be tricky at tricky out. Boise's at home
Speaker 2: at least, but not a lot of weeks off no
Speaker 2: for Utah State, and you know, thank god they have
Speaker 2: Jordan Love and a pretty experienced defense. But it's it's
Speaker 2: going to test them for sure.
Speaker 1: So let's round this out here. Yeah, we're in agreement
Speaker 1: that you CEF is one, U, c F is one,
Speaker 1: bois two. We have some disagreement over I guess the
Speaker 1: next three between Boise, Memphis and Fresno.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have Boise next. I'm gonna take I'm gonna
Speaker 2: take Fresno next.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're going Fresno next. I'm going high on the Bulldogs.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Then I'm going so I'm going u c F, Boise,
Speaker 1: Memphis and Fresno. You're going UCF Fresno, Boise and then
Speaker 1: Memphis Memphis, then Boise, Memphis and Boise. Okay, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a downturn for Boise this year.
Speaker 1: After that, I think we get into the next rung
Speaker 1: is what I'm what I'm feeling here, and that next
Speaker 1: rung consists of probably Houston next, and in some combination
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati and app State.
Speaker 2: I'm taking Cincinnati over Houston.
Speaker 1: Cincinnati over Houston. Okay, I'm just I'm putting more value
Speaker 1: on defense here. Then we've got Ohio and San Diego
Speaker 1: State also on the list. There are maybe two or
Speaker 1: three other teams that we need to place here before
Speaker 1: we can let the fine people go. You toss state?
Speaker 1: Where does you toss state? Rank? On this?
Speaker 2: The schedule has they're in the they're in this worth
Speaker 2: talking about tier of group of five teams, but they're
Speaker 2: add or near the bottom.
Speaker 1: I'm going to put them above San Diego State. Okay,
Speaker 1: We've also got Army in here.
Speaker 2: I would have Army right after like I would have
Speaker 2: them probably after Boise Sincy somewhere in there.
Speaker 1: They're going to win double digits.
Speaker 2: I would have Ohio right around there. I think I
Speaker 2: have an app State over Ohio. I believe that's what
Speaker 2: I said, Yes, but my memory is short. We've also
Speaker 2: I want to say, I think I have to have
Speaker 2: Ohio over San Diego State. We last time these two
Speaker 2: teams played Ohio shut them the hell out for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't have North Texas on our list here.
Speaker 1: I have North Texas maybe right below app State.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've no, I got them below Utah State.
Speaker 1: Blow Utah State.
Speaker 2: Wow, I'm down on the mean green a little bit. Yeah, seven,
Speaker 2: eight and four.
Speaker 1: I think that's it for all the teams that we
Speaker 1: mentioned here. And I apologize to the listeners if this
Speaker 1: was a bit disorganized, but this is sort of a
Speaker 1: real conversation. We're working this out on the spot, trying
Speaker 1: to figure out are we come down on a group
Speaker 1: of five. There are a lot of teams to talk about,
Speaker 1: a lot of teams to talk about, but at a minimum,
Speaker 1: we have a consensus that our four favorite group of
Speaker 1: five teams are UCF, boy C, Memphis, and Fresno in
Speaker 1: no particular order.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give you some wild cards.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's let's rifle through them, real quick.
Speaker 2: Wild cards to consider. I mean, we mentioned to Lane
Speaker 2: a couple times, but of all of these teams, they
Speaker 2: might have the best defensive line, and that is something
Speaker 2: that is something that is significant. So I'm saying keep
Speaker 2: an eye into Lane. They've got an angry wave logo.
Speaker 2: What's better than that. Temple was good a year ago,
Speaker 2: even with a new coach. I expect them to remain good,
Speaker 2: especially on defense. Conference USA wise, I think we covered
Speaker 2: everybody worth covering, and Neil Lanekiff and Fau, you know
Speaker 2: they have talent on offense. But man, what a step
Speaker 2: back last year. What an incredible step back. So it's
Speaker 2: hard to see just a complete reversal again. The bottom
Speaker 2: of Conference USA is is and should be rough, and
Speaker 2: that's unfortunate. Any any thoughts about UMAs new Mexico State
Speaker 2: b YU we haven't talked about. I'm kind of high
Speaker 2: on BYU. I don't know where they'd fit in among
Speaker 2: all of these teams as an independent, but with a young,
Speaker 2: promising quarterback and things in order. I think they should
Speaker 2: be okay, they just have a tough schedule. Listen to
Speaker 2: these these these first eight games for by Utah, Tennessee,
Speaker 2: USC Tennessee on the road, Washington at Toledo at USF
Speaker 2: which should be okay, not great, Uh, Boise State at
Speaker 2: Utah State. That's the first state. They have a bye
Speaker 2: before Utah State. They have a bye before Usflat's that's
Speaker 2: a slate. And then they finished pretty nicely with Liberty,
Speaker 2: Idaho State, UMass, San Diego State, both on the road.
Speaker 2: But I think Poise, I think by using me pretty good. Okay,
Speaker 2: Well they go nine and four last year, yeah nine
Speaker 2: one team I mean had a Bowl game. Yeah, that's
Speaker 2: they're improving. They're going in the right direction. Other teams
Speaker 2: at least, I mean not at least definitely worth mentioning
Speaker 2: from a group of five standpoint, I don't know how
Speaker 2: and where they would fit in on any sort of
Speaker 2: wrong but I mean we barely talked about the MAC
Speaker 2: other than Ohio. But Western Michigan still decent. Eastern Michigan
Speaker 2: had a hell of a defense last year and pulled
Speaker 2: off a couple of pretty impressive wins. And I you
Speaker 2: wins the damn Conference, and we haven't really talked about them.
Speaker 2: Buffalo is good but loses a lot, but I really
Speaker 2: think they're really well coached. Mountain West wise, I think
Speaker 2: we hit a bunch. I mean we hit Hawaii at
Speaker 2: the top. Think they're gonna throw on everybody and get
Speaker 2: intercepted potentially by everybody. But Cedric Byrd was crazy fun
Speaker 2: to watch against Arizona, and I suspect he will be
Speaker 2: against everybody else on Hawaii's schedule. Colorado State interesting moves
Speaker 2: in the transfer game. I think they'll have an okay year,
Speaker 2: even though they lose a good amount on offense air force.
Speaker 2: I think bounces back. I mentioned that I'm intrigued by Wyoming.
Speaker 2: Nevada was a bold team a year ago. I think
Speaker 2: they're not as good this year. And UNLV is dangerous.
Speaker 2: They are weekend week out, dangerous to either themselves or
Speaker 2: to whoever they're playing. So I can't wait, honestly for
Speaker 2: Mountain West football this year because I think at and
Speaker 2: you know, the top is sort of loosely defined in
Speaker 2: my brain. But the competitive teams in the Mountain West
Speaker 2: I think run pretty deep, so it should be a
Speaker 2: fun year out West.
Speaker 1: All right, well, please do right in. Let us know
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the Group of five. Yep, we are
Speaker 1: going to do a preview show on I guess Wednesday,
Speaker 1: which will go up and hit the airwaves on Thursday morning.
Speaker 1: We haven't said it yet on the show, we did
Speaker 1: say it at our live shows. This year's Solid Rebel
Speaker 1: is going to feature a little bit of a different schedule.
Speaker 1: So typically what we've done in the past is a
Speaker 1: review show every Sunday morning, goes up around noon lunchtime
Speaker 1: Eastern time here to recap all the action, and then
Speaker 1: we do our previews show on Wednesday, which goes up
Speaker 1: late on Wednesday night. This year, because on that Sunday
Speaker 1: show we can never quite cover the full scope of
Speaker 1: college football the way we would like, we've decided to
Speaker 1: add another show just for the season. We're going to
Speaker 1: be doing shows on Sunday, which would go up still
Speaker 1: around lunchtime Eastern Time, as well as on Tuesday morning
Speaker 1: very early. We'll drop it around six am in time
Speaker 1: for your morning commute, so we talk a little bit
Speaker 1: more about what went on in the past weekend of
Speaker 1: college football, and then on on Thursday early morning again
Speaker 1: in time for your commute. That will be the new
Speaker 1: posting time for our weekly previews show. So yes, Luno,
Speaker 1: those trees three shows talking about college football every week
Speaker 1: during the college football season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, think of it like this. It's the preview, it's
Speaker 2: the recap. Nothing really changes there. And then the Monday
Speaker 2: slash Tuesday show that we're doing is trying to make
Speaker 2: sense of everything, trying to see where everything fits in.
Speaker 2: Maybe answer a couple of your questions, Maybe do some segments,
Speaker 2: try to stretch a little bit, not stretch in the
Speaker 2: way of like kill time, but stretch in the let's
Speaker 2: touch on a bunch of things that we don't have
Speaker 2: time usually to touch on. And in years past we've
Speaker 2: done the deep dives on specific teams. I think those
Speaker 2: will be sort of micro segments within that newer big
Speaker 2: picture show. But we're excited to we have fun talking
Speaker 2: about is this team better than this team? Is this
Speaker 2: conference looking real weird? You know, if there's a guest
Speaker 2: that is going to add something, we'll have him or
Speaker 2: her on And that's that's the sort of cool thing
Speaker 2: that we want to h to flex our our lean
Speaker 2: muscles doing well. There you have it, so our lean
Speaker 2: podcasting muscle Lean podcasting muscles. We will leave it at that.
Speaker 1: Please get right in soliverble at gmail dot com. We
Speaker 1: will be back on Thursday correct posting our week one preview. Oh,
Speaker 1: we will be posting on our website.
Speaker 2: Give that sentence, give it some zazz.
Speaker 1: I'm trying not to get too excited today.
Speaker 2: Okay, Oh my gosh, it's week one.
Speaker 1: We will be posting details you want to get in
Speaker 1: on the Pickam game as well, mm hmm on the website,
Speaker 1: on the twitter feed, Facebook, Instagram, all the usual hotspots.
Speaker 1: But take a deep breath, because the season is near.
Speaker 2: It is I'm excited for that. Go over there, my good.
Speaker 1: Friend Dan Rubinstein for myself, Tie Hildebrand will be back
Speaker 1: in just a few days to talk some actual college football.
Speaker 1: At the meantime, say silent yes,