WEBVTT - Pleasant (and Unpleasant) Surprises 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:06.880 Welcome to the solid verbal coll that for me, I'm 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.680 a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well, 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:11.639 I want to be happy. You want to be happy 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:16.040 for Dake Edith state is that woo woom and Dan 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:17.120 and Tie. 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.919 Welcome back to the solid burb of boys and girls. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.120 My name is Ty Hilden Brandon, joining me as always 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.119 over there in beautiful New York City. The one and 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:30.720 only Dan Rubinstein, who graciously pinch hit for me last year. No, 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:33.720 who graciously pinch hit for me last week as I 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:35.760 was quasi dying from illness. 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:38.960 Thank you, Yeah, youth only sound like you have a 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:40.040 hint of illness. 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:44.320 Right, well, that's sort of the beauty of modern audio 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:46.080 editing equipment. Dan, let's just leave it at that. 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.920 Okay, how are you? I'm terrific, Ty, I am great. 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.360 We haven't spoken since the day after the LSU National 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.400 Championship because, correct, you fell ill. You were supposed to 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:00.240 come to New York and got sick, and solid wife 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.440 Kate was under the weather, all defensible reasons not to 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.360 come to New York and eat Korean barbecue with me. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.679 But I've missed talking to you. We have an exercise 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.720 to sort of look back on the season today, and 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.840 I'm excited for that, but I'm glad that Andy could 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.080 pinch it last week talking about new coaches and their 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:24.160 spiciness quotients. And today, if you're up for it, we 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:28.000 are just going to talk about we spent a lot 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.480 of the summer previewing and figuring out our thoughts about 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:33.760 the season and how we felt about certain teams and 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.759 what our expectations were fair, deserved, undeserved, and I think 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.200 it's fair to I think hold ourselves accountable. And I'm 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:42.760 not going to ask you to rehash all of your 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.000 predictions for every team, but I'm going to ask you 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.800 and provide my own because that's only fair. We are 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.160 going to discuss the biggest surprises of the season. We 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:55.520 expected Team X to do blank, but instead they did 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.080 why and that was shocking. Or we didn't expect Team 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.440 A to do blank, but it turns out they were 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.800 really good at doing this or had a terrific season 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.840 or a terrible season. So what I think we should 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.639 do is we should go through the teams that we 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.680 sort of talk about the most and probably not enough, 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:20.560 and figure out where the pleasant surprises were and where 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:25.160 the not so the e sort of surprises were and 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.160 sort of admit where we overlooked teams good or bad. 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.080 So you're saying a good old fashioned surprise. 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:40.080 I love it. Oh and I like that you're pushing 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:42.440 yourself almost excite bike style. Yeah. 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.920 I know you're holding down that B button and the 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:47.160 meter is going red. 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.200 Yeah, but I appreciate it. 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.400 Yeah. So there's gonna be no voice later tonight, but 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.240 that's fine. As you said, we haven't talked, actually talked 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.839 in about two weeks. So it's good to be back 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.000 in front of a microphone with you about all things 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:05.959 college football. If you're just finding the show, Hello, I'm Tie, 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.160 He's Dan. We're going to be with you all off season. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.400 We're going to be doing one show a week. We 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.520 talk about all sorts of topics here in the off season. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.200 Go back and listen to the show we put out 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:18.040 late last week. Andy Staples, our friend from the Athletic, 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.200 was kind enough to pinch hit talk some new coaching 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.400 news with Daniel. Today. We're going to talk about surprises. 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:27.919 We've got a bunch in store for you as we 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.359 progress through the doldrums that is the college football off season. 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.280 Please do subscribe. If you like the show. You can 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:36.560 also find all of our old stuff out on solid 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.320 verbal dot com. And if you really like the show, 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.040 don't forget to follow along on social media. We're very 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.560 active on Twitter, not as much on Twitter and Instagram. 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.400 That will try to change that this off season. We've 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.920 also got a newsletter that you can sign up for 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.600 on our website. We use that generally to keep you 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.400 up the speed on when we're going to be doing 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.000 some of our live shows, yep, and some other odds 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:00.400 and ends throughout the course of the off seat that 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.080 might be interesting. We won't spam me. That's not our 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.440 cup of tea. And finally, if you just want to 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.840 talk to other for ballers. If you're wondering where can 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:10.560 I talk to other people who listen to the show, 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.880 Our great friend Peter does an awesome job running a 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:18.800 soliverbal subreddit started buyver Ballers Fourverballers. All you gotta do 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.920 is going out to solidverbal dot reddit dot com and 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.360 you can take part in the discussion long after the 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:26.880 final bell of each and every episode. 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:32.159 Daniel correct, we're recording this late January, just in case 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:35.720 you don't see the date in your podcast app So 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.040 we are under the I don't know, the working understanding 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.080 that there's nothing crazy happening right now when there are 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.800 new coaches that we haven't really you and I haven't 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.200 really done a deep dive into I think we're still 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.279 waiting for because we have what signing day, the official 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:54.400 signing day, not the early signing day, in a little bit, 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:58.400 all the dust to clear before making sense of all 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:00.960 of the transfers, all of the coaches. Obviously I did 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.960 a preliminary version of that with Andy, but people want 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:05.919 to know how you feel. TI sure you are at 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.159 least twenty percent of this show, at least at least 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.000 and so we are obviously going to touch on all 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.239 of you know, the transfers and new coaches and firings, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.040 hirings and movements of the college football the early college 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.560 football offseason, and how we feel about all those things. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.559 But I think just because we're still in the after 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.960 glow of the season, we should take a glance at 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:27.920 things in twenty nine. 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:31.640 Yeah, man, I'm with you. So because my voice is 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.200 in excite bike mode when you hold down the B 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.359 button a little too long mm hmm, I want to 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.880 try and avoid it cutting out during this broadcast. So 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:41.680 if you would be so kind as to be our 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:47.080 Shirpa here oh on this broadcast, this podcast and lead 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:51.000 us through each conference all the areas that you think 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:52.200 would be fun to cover here. 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.400 I have thoughts. I can do your part of the 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.080 show too, though. I just can you do an impression 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:00.800 of me. I can do something like Tye, I think 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:02.760 my PAC twelve surprise, and this is true. I guess 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.440 we could start with a PAC twelve because why not, Tye? 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.240 I think my Pack twelve surprise is Oregon State? And 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:13.440 then I will say from you Dan never heard of them? 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:14.280 Right right? 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.640 So okay, that's my best Why don't we Why don't 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:19.680 we do that? Let's start with the PAC twelve. Okay, 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:22.600 you go first. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:30.320 What is your biggest surprise during after whatever time limitation 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.000 you'd like to put on this? Yeah, relating to the 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:33.800 PAC twelve. 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:36.520 So it's Oregon State. I didn't make it up with 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.200 that little tell. Yes it was not as twelve. 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:39.440 There was. 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:42.000 There were a lot of surprises to me. So Jonathan 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.440 Smith in his second year takes Oregon State to five 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.680 and seven. Damn near Bowl team. If you especially if 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.400 you watch the end of that Washington State game, and 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.400 with how far they appeared to come on offense. You know, 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:57.520 two good running backs splitting time, Jake Luton improving. Isaiah 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.520 Hodgins was obviously very good all year. The defense at 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:05.240 least showed flashes of competence. I came away very impressed 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:07.960 in a pac twelve that I wouldn't call it up 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:12.160 for grabs, but I would call the third and second 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.360 tier perhaps wide open for business, and Oregon State should 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.800 be a bold team. And considering how they've done on 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.000 the transfer market. Trey Low is a four star from Washington, 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.960 Treyshawn Harrison a four star from the Pacific Northwest, but 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:28.600 from Florida State. They are more talented than people realize 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:34.040 considering how low they got fifteen, twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen. 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.320 I am quite excited to see what Oregon State can 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.600 do moving forward and how competitive they were this year. 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.640 I did not see coming. Pleasant surprise. 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:47.760 Yeah, pleasant surprise for me is Oregon State as well. 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.200 For many of the reasons that you listed. I'll go 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.240 on the flip side of the coin and I'll say 0:07:54.240 --> 0:08:01.040 not so pleasant surprise. Washington losing Chris Peterson, Yeah, perhaps 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.560 that could be the center square on the Bingo card 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:05.480 because I think that caught a lot of people off guard. 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.239 But we can't do a show like this without talking 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:11.680 about what that means. Now, clearly, Jimmy Lake steps into 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.360 that role promoted from within. If he's able to establish 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.040 some continuity within the Husky program, that would be a 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.240 good thing. But guys like Chris Peterson don't grow on trees. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.520 And we come back to the same thing that we 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:28.160 set about the coaching transition at Ohio State. Sometimes it's 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.280 a bit of a coin flip, and I'm always sure 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.360 what you're gonna get. Jimmy Lake's been there, he sort 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.080 of knows the system. At this point. We'll see what 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:35.319 he can do if he can pick it up and 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.280 run with the baton. But losing Chris Peterson, I think 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.679 is notable. I would also add that I'm sort of 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.480 mixed on the retention of one Clay Helton. 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.240 And somewhat surprising. Yeah, you know, talk about there are 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.880 a lot of eche surprises in the back twelve. 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.600 There really are talk about other items that could fall 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.800 into that center square on the Bingo card category. The 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.520 Clay Helton thing. We talked about that for months on end. 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.720 Long before the season, we looked at the schedule, we said, wow, 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.120 if they don't get past X nine wins, I forget 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.040 what it was, They're not going to retain Clay Helton. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.920 And they didn't get past X. They still decided to 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:17.480 retain Clay Helton for myriad reasons, many of which will 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:21.680 probably never know. But after maybe pursuing a guy like 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.199 an Urban Meyer and some other hot commodities out there, 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:29.040 they elect to keep Clay Helton. They also retain Graham Harrell, 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.520 which I think is a nice move for them. I'm 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:34.480 not sure which of those two things is better for 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.920 the health of the program moving forward. But I think 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.120 a lot of USC fans, to say the least, were 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.040 very surprised that Helton was ultimately retained. 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.360 Yes and no. I would imagine that there are a 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:48.640 number of USC fans who were so down on the 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:53.040 administration and pessimistic about the new administrators that they, in 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.200 some form weren't all that surprise that he was retained. 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:58.920 I think you're right. I think my not so pleasant 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.120 surprise was Stanford in the season they had, and they 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.839 were so beat up that a certain amount of their 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.720 results are defensible. I guess but they looked horrific at times. 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.280 They really did look horrific. And this was not a 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.760 year where there was a robust middle class to the 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:19.600 PAC twelve. After Oregon, Utah, and USC. I don't think 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.120 any other teams had winning records in the conference. A 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.320 lot of four and fives. Now, you know, Cal has 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.760 an injury at quarterback. Washington State probably kind of a 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.800 crazy bad surprise with their defense looked like this year, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.800 but this was a PAC twelve with winnable games, and 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:35.920 so the fact of the matter is a team is 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:39.160 talented as Stanford. Not being able to survive a crazy 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.719 amount of injuries, to be fair, was still pretty surprising. 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.360 Washington State doesn't win a road game, a true road game. 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:49.240 They beat Houston on a neutral field, But just how 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:51.320 ugly the middle class the PAC twelve was was an 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:52.440 ugly surprise as well. 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.000 Does it surprise you know that Jacob Easton left? 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.960 No? I think he won to leave as much to 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:05.360 the imagination as possible before really leaving no doubt as 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:07.360 to what he is or is not capable of. 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.800 That one sort of caught me off guard. I get 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.720 why kids would want to leave. I don't begrudge him 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:21.360 for doing that, but clearly flashes. Yeah, we've mentioned Purple 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.560 Cutler countless times on this program over the last six 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.800 months or so. I don't know if that's so much 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:31.920 a compliment, But nonetheless, he's clearly a kid with talent. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:33.800 He can make a lot of the throws, and in 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.280 a clean pocket, he looks very good. But when you 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.040 bring the pressure on, or when you mix up coverage 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:39.800 a little bit, that's when things start to get a 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:44.560 little bit more interesting. And certainly he falls into that 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.520 category of having a ton of talent. Clearly an NFL 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:51.000 caliber arm I'm just not sure it's NFL caliber everything else. 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:52.440 And I caught me off guard. 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.920 Ty, when your temperature is ninety eight point six and 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.160 you sleep for ten hours, you feel pretty good. Right, 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.240 this is true? This is true? How often that happens? Okay, 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:01.280 what conference do you want to go to? 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:07.680 Let's go to the ACC. So I want to read 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:13.319 something here that I wrote about Sarahcuse preseason. 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:14.800 I'm ready. 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:19.240 These are my notes for Batim. How much do you 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:23.000 temper last season's results given that it was sort of 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.480 a down ACC in twenty eighteen? Fairness, I think a 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:31.360 good question. I love the line I love the secondary. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.400 I loved Andre Cisco and the defensive backfield, who is 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:39.280 already a star coming into the year. The defensive backfield 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.360 was mostly freshmen and really good in twenty eighteen. They 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:47.880 pretty much all came back this past season. The line 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.079 looked as if it was going to be able to 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:54.600 get after the passer. Talked about Alton Robinson on many 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.679 a preseason show. Sure, Kendall Coleman, those are some names 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.679 that we were watching. I liked Syracuse with nine wins 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:05.320 in the twenty nineteen season. 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.199 I was a little less in on the Orange. 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.360 But yeah, Syracuse did not win nine games, Dan, and 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:15.679 at many points in the season they looked awful, downright, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:21.360 just dreadful. So from an analysis standpoint, as you said 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:24.480 at the top, going back and reevaluating some of our 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.280 preseason picks, Syracuse was a mighty whiff for me, to 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:32.080 say the least. 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.520 They I'm looking right now did Syracuse did not win 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:37.880 a Power Five game until November sixteenth, Yeah, when they 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.840 beat Duke on the road. Yeah, it was a tough 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:45.400 year Syracuse offensively without your boy grungy Eric Donee. Sure, 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.920 who did so much they you could run on Syracuse 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.079 you could throw on Syracuse and they couldn't do much 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.240 of anything. When they had the ball. They generated some 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.800 bigger plays on the ground, but other than that, yeah, 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.000 I was a nightmare for Syracuse. I have Miami as 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:02.040 my unfortunate surprise, okay, and what the back half of 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.800 their schedule looked like with as much as they returned 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.160 on defense, a defense that was still good. But the 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.280 surprise to me is that they couldn't get it figured 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.280 out with quarterbacks that were in the system. I know 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.200 it was an open quarterback job going into the air, 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.360 but with the experience they had all over this offense, 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.360 and I know the line was rough, but with DJ 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:24.240 Dallas and Cameron Harris at running back, with how promising 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.800 I thought Jaron Williams looked at time the first half 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.120 of the year, Yes, as a red shirt freshman, but 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.680 still I was surprised they couldn't get it together and 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.560 couldn't improve on offense over the course of the season 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:40.640 before losing to FIU Duke and being blanked in their 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:44.040 bowl game against Louisiana Tech. And so that caught me 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.720 by surprise, I thought, even though it was a first 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.480 year coach of many Diaz, it caught me by surprise 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:57.080 the wide swaths of ineptitude that creeped into the Miami bloodstream. 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.360 Okay, yeah, and you know, as we've now got into 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.360 the off season, some of the storylines surrounding Miami are mixed. 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:04.680 Right. 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.200 We've got Jaron Williams. He mentioned I think the promise 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.560 that we saw in him wasn't consistent per se. He 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.320 has entered the transfer portal because Deeric King is coming 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:20.200 over from Houston. The Tate Martel thing hasn't really yielded 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:24.000 much fruit, to say the least has not, So we'll 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:25.760 have to wait and see what Manny Diaz does in 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:26.240 year two. 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:31.080 Pleasant surprise, but rtt lashly you know, yeah, some success 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.320 as an offensive coordinator takes over Miami. My pleasant surprise 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:39.400 is the new quarterbacks of the ACC. You mentioned the 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.400 twenty eighteen season and the fortuitous road. I suppose that 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.360 Syracuse had to whatever extent good teams take advantage of 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.160 fortuitous roads, but the addition of Hendon Hooker, Michael Cunningham, 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.600 and Sam Howell to the ACC was a breath of 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.120 fresh air. I was pleasantly surprised by the ceiling of 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.240 each of those guys. Hendon Hooker becomes that full time 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:03.560 starter into the year. Michael Cunningham is wildly efficient and 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.760 appears I think he'll be a red shirt junior next year. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:08.760 I forget, I should look that up while I'm talking. 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:13.480 And of course Sam Howell with his almost immediate impact 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.120 into North Carolina's offense under mac Brown, I could not 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.200 be more excited for that trio moving forward for a 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:24.280 conference that sorely needed new exciting faces. 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:29.040 Well, you kind of touched on two of my pleasant surprises. Okay, 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:35.080 North Carolina for starters obviously hired Mac Brown in the offseason, 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.400 and as I look back here on my acc notes, 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:44.400 I have marked pretty boldly five wins would be a revelation. Okay, 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:49.600 a revelation. They finished six and six, that's a big deal. 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.560 They didn't just dominate in the bowl game. They destroyed 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:57.360 Temple by a fifty five to thirteen score, and a 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.560 lot of their losses were very close. They were within 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:06.040 one point of the Clemson Tigers, within a touchdown, one possession, yeah, 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.480 a touchdown of teams like app State, who were very good. 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.680 Even Wake Forest too maybe had to dip down the stretch, 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.160 but still looked pretty good for the majority of the season, 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:20.679 Virginia Tech, Virginia Pit All these were one possession games. 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.280 So this is a team that fought hard, obviously caught 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.800 lightning in a bottle with Sam Howell, and I think 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:29.760 Mack Brown did a really good job coming off a 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:33.159 two to nine year in which they obviously made the 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:35.760 coaching change. North Carolina was. 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.840 A great story and we talked about it before the 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.159 twenty nineteen season. The twenty eighteen season, pre mac Brown, 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.199 that team was in games. The record wasn't there, but 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.200 they were competitive, they fought. They just whether it's bad luck, 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.919 ball bouncing the wrong way, whatever, they were in those games. 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:56.080 So mac Brown should be commended for flipping Sam Howell 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:59.840 and entrusting him to run the Tarhill offense. 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.560 The other team that I throw out there, and they 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:04.480 were two to ten a year ago. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.439 Is Louisville Louisville Louisville. 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:13.639 New coach Scott Saderfield. The commentary on them before the 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:15.959 year is that they're going to want to run it, 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.400 because Scott Saderfield was pretty run happy at app State. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.560 But yeah, it was a question of well do they 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.159 really got the personnel to do that. They also had 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.800 a really difficult schedule in that they played Notre Dame, 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.840 Florida State, Clemson Miami. I had Syracuse down here, woe 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:35.600 was me Kentucky obviously to close out the year in 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:42.240 that rivalry game. And it wasn't a situation preseason where 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.399 I thought you could measure success in terms of wins 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.600 and losses. He wanted to hope that Scott Saderfield could 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.840 lay down a new foundation upon which he could build 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.720 for the future. Never in my wildest dreams did I 0:18:55.800 --> 0:19:00.160 expect that we'd be sitting here late January talking about 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.480 a Louisville team that went eight and five total with 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.000 the bull win over Mississippi State, a Mississippi State team 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:08.520 which you may get to a little bit later when 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.440 we talk about the SEC. But lo and behold, Scott 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:16.080 Sadderfield comes in makes an immediate impact. Talked a lot 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.200 preseason about trying to change the culture of that program. 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:22.320 I'm not close enough, You're not close enough to know 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.760 for sure if that's something that did occur. It would 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.160 seem as if though through one year of Scott Sadderfield, 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.359 he has done something right, and if culture is among 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.399 those things, then clearly he's headed in the right direction. 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.359 Yeah, I was surprised watching my guy, Michael Cunningham, thinking 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:43.000 this guy wasn't your starter. This guy didn't start the 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.720 season atop the quarterback. Maybe it was an injury thing, 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.000 but I was surprised that the most efficient quarterback in 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:51.680 the country, not the best, the most efficient the ball 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.440 in his hands on a per play basis was Michael Cunningham. 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.080 Javian Hawkins goes forward fifteen hundred yards on the ground 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:00.000 too to at well was terrific as a sophomore, little guy, 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:03.560 I believe, I believe it's a sophomore. I know he's 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.440 totally but yeah, I think Louisville, Yes is included is 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:12.120 in that pleasant surprise tent with Hendon Hooker and what 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:13.840 Virginia Tech was able to do in the second half 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.840 of the season in unc Where are we going next? 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:19.040 Where are we going next? By the way, Florida State's 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.240 the center square in the bingo card there. 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:24.240 But is that a surprise the way that they looked late, 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:26.800 I guess you could be surprised they didn't improve. 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.760 I'm surprised they didn't improve. I'm surprised they fired Willie 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.440 Taggert before the end of the season. Yeah, and so Yeah, 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.120 I'm not that I was expecting a ten win year 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.199 out of Florida State. I wasn't, but just the manner 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.359 in which the season all went down was surprising to me. 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:44.840 It did not feel like they improved. 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:50.640 No, it seemed that you would think God for him 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:52.240 to go in the middle of the season. Yeah, that's 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.080 a surprise, and it is a surprise that they couldn't 0:20:56.119 --> 0:21:00.440 address the clear weaknesses that were addressable over an offseason. 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:02.720 You can't all of a sudden snap your fingers and 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:06.680 have a competent offensive line. But the discipline, the defense, 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.679 the fundamentals, the clock stuff. Yeah, that's a bit of 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:12.199 a surprise. They couldn't really figure that out given the 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:12.960 months they had. 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:18.920 Let's go over to the SEC. Okay, what do you 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.720 got in the SEC? What surprised you other than other 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.960 than lsu. 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:29.359 Gosh, So, Kentucky is my pleasant surprise that they lose 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.800 Terry Wilson when they do, they lose Sawyer Smith when 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:36.359 they do, and they're basically completely without a competent throwing quarterback. 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:40.399 They turn things over to maybe the most athletic player 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.280