Speaker 1: Welcome to the Solid Verbo. I'm that for me. I'm
Speaker 1: a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well,
Speaker 1: I want to be happy. You want to be happy
Speaker 1: for Dake Edith State. Is that whoo whoom? And Dan
Speaker 1: and Tye.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Solid Urbo Boys and girls. My
Speaker 2: name is ty hilden Brand, joining me as always over
Speaker 2: there in sunny, still summery New York City.
Speaker 1: My man, the one, the only, Dan Rubenstein, Sir, how
Speaker 1: are you You know how I like signs, Tye? You
Speaker 1: know how I like to look for signs that it's
Speaker 1: going to be a great show or all we might
Speaker 1: be in trouble, something from above the universe telling me something.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. So I'm I'm dragging a little bit on
Speaker 1: the way home to record the show, and I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: you know what, a burst of sugar would be great,
Speaker 1: nothing too intense. But we're talking about the Big twelve.
Speaker 1: We're talking about a high octane conference, and I just
Speaker 1: I don't want to stop it and get some candy.
Speaker 1: I don't want, you know, I want M and M's
Speaker 1: or Skittles or something like that. I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: just I don't need a lot of sugar. So when
Speaker 1: I do, I want something good and I'm walking down
Speaker 1: the street and all of a sudden, three little kids
Speaker 1: have set up a stand with rice crispy treats and brownies,
Speaker 1: and I just felt like the universe was smiling down
Speaker 1: not just on me and my what breaks down sugar
Speaker 1: in the body pancreas sure, oh no, okay, but also
Speaker 1: the Big twelve preview, that we have so many teams
Speaker 1: looking for a jolt of energy. All of this segue
Speaker 1: is coming together on the fly.
Speaker 2: This is all kinds of cheeseballs right here. Continue to
Speaker 2: thank you, But.
Speaker 1: The universe sent me a delicious corner piece of a brownie,
Speaker 1: and I feel like we are We're on borrowed time here,
Speaker 1: We're doing great.
Speaker 2: So delicious corner piece of a brownie? Yes, right into
Speaker 2: the Big twelve preview?
Speaker 1: Are you? You're generally in favor of like a corner lasagna,
Speaker 1: corner brownie pizza.
Speaker 2: No problem with corners now, but first choice? Probably not
Speaker 2: first choice? No, whoa interesting, Probably not first choice. I
Speaker 2: just assumed that was everybody's first choice. Nope, nope, you
Speaker 2: are one in a million. Dan Rubnstein crunch factor high
Speaker 2: for me. Okay, so crunch factor high for the Big twelve.
Speaker 2: This is preview number two. But before we get into it, Ty,
Speaker 2: I have a feeling you're going to touch on some housekeeping.
Speaker 2: I am going to touch on some housekeeping. Thank you
Speaker 2: for the setup, Ice Man, I appreciate it. Solid Verbaltickets
Speaker 2: dot com, Slash Texas. If you want to buy tickets
Speaker 2: to our live show in Dallas or North Texas if
Speaker 2: you want to get particular, that show is in August
Speaker 2: the seventeenth at Alamo Draft House, eight pm Central. Some
Speaker 2: tickets still available, Please do buy them. You're running out
Speaker 2: of time. If you're interested, tell friends you know the drill.
Speaker 2: We're going to do our fantasy things. We started putting
Speaker 2: that show together ever so slowly, but coming together very
Speaker 2: very nicely. We are excited. And don't fret if you
Speaker 2: can't be in the Dallas slash North Texas Fort Worth
Speaker 2: area on August seventeenth, because thanks to the marvel of
Speaker 2: modern air travel, Daniel, you and I will be hopping
Speaker 2: on a bird the very next morning, flying cross country
Speaker 2: to the nation's capital August the eighteenth. It's a Sunday night,
Speaker 2: It's at Union Stage. It's along the Water in d C. Yeah,
Speaker 2: seven thirty pm Eastern time. We will be doing another
Speaker 2: fantasy thing show, not the same show. There might be
Speaker 2: some crossover, some overlap, but by on large via a
Speaker 2: Nate Stanley dedicated segment on each on each show. I
Speaker 2: think that goes without saying yeah, but by and large,
Speaker 2: two different shows. If you want to get tickets to
Speaker 2: that DC show, solidverbotickets dot com, slash DC, we're gonna
Speaker 2: send out another emailer. You're probably sick of getting them
Speaker 2: from us by now, but soliverbletickets dot com, Slash Texas,
Speaker 2: soliverbletickets dot com, slash DC. The show weekend is going
Speaker 2: to be nuts for you and I. It's coming up
Speaker 2: very quickly. Looker that I'm comfortable with, but that's fine.
Speaker 2: We'll make it happen. Please do get on out there,
Speaker 2: or we can go to our website soliverbo dot com.
Speaker 1: The link is at the very top of the page.
Speaker 1: I like that hour, and I guess more of my
Speaker 1: brand is strong enough that I like. I tweeted somebody
Speaker 1: that is like a taco expert in Dallas about where
Speaker 1: to go, and then other people saw that, and then
Speaker 1: we got emails. I like that. People are looking at
Speaker 1: me like I am like I have a problem, Like
Speaker 1: I'm some sort of addict. And we have all these
Speaker 1: pushes like what are you looking for some langua you
Speaker 1: looking for some posstore looking for we want to taste
Speaker 1: of that asada I can get you going. So we
Speaker 1: are very excited. We're going to work both our minds
Speaker 1: and bodies ragged to give you two excellent shows in
Speaker 1: the Dallas area and DC. And couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 1: And we I think we're stapling on like a slight
Speaker 1: not a bonus show. We're stapling on it a little
Speaker 1: surprised that we'll reveal close. I guess next week, Uh
Speaker 1: you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: I think I do know what you mean yet two weeks.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be right two weeks.
Speaker 1: So next week we can tease out the little well
Speaker 1: a bonus hag kind of thing. Bonus hang. I like that.
Speaker 1: That's a good way to please it.
Speaker 2: Okay, So today, as you mentioned at the top, it
Speaker 2: is preview Numero Dose. We are going into all things
Speaker 2: Big twelve. If you're interested in hearing preview Numero who
Speaker 2: know that was the acc we did it last week
Speaker 2: after today's show. Of note, because we have gotten some
Speaker 2: questions about this, you can listen to two Celiverble episodes
Speaker 2: per week starting this coming Sunday. Yeah, that's right, This
Speaker 2: coming Sunday, we will start dropping our two shows a week,
Speaker 2: our normal regimen as we get near and into the
Speaker 2: college tripball season here in twenty nineteen, So something.
Speaker 1: To look forward to. As always, if you don't already.
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Speaker 2: can talk about.
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Speaker 2: have a bunch you need to send out, Dan, I
Speaker 2: haven't told you about this yet. I got to send
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Speaker 2: have trouble saying that. I don't know why I.
Speaker 1: Still I still drift a little too close to lawyers.
Speaker 1: How about Treasured Verbal, Treasured Verballers, thank you? I have yeah,
Speaker 1: some surets I have to send out. But Soliverble dot com.
Speaker 1: When we put store Soliverble dot com slash store, we
Speaker 1: put the Letdown look Ahead sandwich one back up in
Speaker 1: the store. I saw we got a bunch of requests
Speaker 1: for this good if you're interested in that. It's very comfortable.
Speaker 1: People will be very confused and say, wait, who started?
Speaker 1: Is that from the people that started? Jersey might no,
Speaker 1: no different, something different, But it's an icebreaker. You can
Speaker 1: have a conversation about it. But it's very comfortable to design.
Speaker 1: I think came out cool. So the Letdown look Ahead
Speaker 1: sandwich shirt back up, Solid Verbal dot com slash store.
Speaker 2: On that note, Dan Boom, let's get into the Big twelve,
Speaker 2: same format as a week ago. You and I have
Speaker 2: constructed questions for one another. We're trying to facilitate a
Speaker 2: discussion here, man, that's what we're doing on this show. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I've got questions for you, You've got questions for me.
Speaker 1: Where do we want to start? You want to start
Speaker 1: with the defending champion? Please? All right? Ask me a question.
Speaker 1: You have the.
Speaker 2: Defended champion, your Oklahoma Sooners. They went to the College
Speaker 2: Football Playoff. They lost to Alabama, but had a great season,
Speaker 2: we had by one Kyler Murray Heisman Trophy winner, number
Speaker 2: one overall pick in the NFL draft, And now as
Speaker 2: we enter the twenty nineteen season, I think everyone's going
Speaker 2: to ask what about Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts is the
Speaker 2: transfer from Alabama, obviously had a fair amount of success
Speaker 2: during his time in Tuscaloosa.
Speaker 1: Now he's jumped.
Speaker 2: Aboard the Lincoln Riley bandwagon in Norman, and the obvious
Speaker 2: question is, well, can Lincoln Riley engineer yet another Heisman
Speaker 2: campaign at the quarterback position. I think that's a fair question.
Speaker 2: I think we'll get into that. Yes, what I need
Speaker 2: to know from you though, I need to talk about
Speaker 2: Oklahoma's defense because defense was clearly the Achilles heel last season.
Speaker 2: It's been so for a while. Lincoln Riley made a
Speaker 2: big move in the offseason. He snagged Alex Grinch over
Speaker 2: from Ohio State, formerly of Wazoo, to come in and
Speaker 2: upgrade it. So for people who aren't familiar with Alex Grinch,
Speaker 2: what can they expect? What do you expect in year
Speaker 2: one in Oklahoma? And do you see an immediate impact
Speaker 2: from him or from the defense like we've seen at
Speaker 2: other places?
Speaker 1: He's been first off Giant Dome, so fits that Mike
Speaker 1: and Bob Stoop's mold of having a big head. Alex
Speaker 1: Grinch brings that right off the bat. What's in that brain? Well,
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be a little less predictable
Speaker 1: than late era Mike Stoops. I think he is. He's
Speaker 1: going to do. He's going to attempt to hide weakness
Speaker 1: a little bit better. That secondary was absolutely torched by
Speaker 1: admittedly very very good quarterbacks you know, led by Will
Speaker 1: Greer near the end of the season than Tua in
Speaker 1: the playoff. I think he's going to try to generate
Speaker 1: more confusion. They're going to take more chances. I think
Speaker 1: it's very easy to look at Alex Grinch as somebody
Speaker 1: who is coming in fixed defenses like he did at
Speaker 1: Washington Satan, say what is he going to do this year?
Speaker 1: I think they're a year away. I honestly think the
Speaker 1: best that they can hope for from going to from
Speaker 1: horrid is to not great, to blow average, that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. I think you're going to have to. This
Speaker 1: is going to be the cliche of previews and new coaches,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be a walk before you can run.
Speaker 1: Because last year of the defense, especially against the pass
Speaker 1: and in the Big twelve it seems important, was putrid.
Speaker 1: And so it's generating a better pass rush. It's you know, confusing.
Speaker 1: Like I said, they last year and you said achilles heel,
Speaker 1: it was it was more heel, calf, quad, every back
Speaker 1: part of the body was a problem for Oklahoma. So
Speaker 1: they married the best offense when appears to be the
Speaker 1: best offense of the modern era, with a truly abysmal defense,
Speaker 1: and then they add penalties to that. So I think
Speaker 1: that's something that you can in year one fix pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: It's discipline. And so if that happens, and you look
Speaker 1: at the better teams in college football that are outperforming
Speaker 1: the talent they have a lot of it is turnovers
Speaker 1: and disciplined, you know, killing penalties and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. So if they're able to do that with
Speaker 1: a higher talent level than most, they're going to be
Speaker 1: in a pretty good place to win those those fifty
Speaker 1: to fifty games like the Texas game from last year
Speaker 1: and the Iowa State game from a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: If Alex Grinch and this is the thing that it
Speaker 1: kind of pains me to say, because I know how
Speaker 1: it might be taken by Oklahoma fans if he can
Speaker 1: be middle era, So like twenty thirteen, fourteen fifteen Mike
Speaker 1: Stoops and the defense that he put together with, I
Speaker 1: would say more talent the middle part of that defense,
Speaker 1: especially linebacker Eric Striker and Frank Shannon. Guys like that.
Speaker 1: They're gonna worship him. He's gonna be a god middle
Speaker 1: eras middle era, very specific, Wow, middle era Mike Stoops.
Speaker 1: But here's the other important thing. Last year's defense, as
Speaker 1: bad as it was at times, was bailed out by
Speaker 1: again an incredible offense.
Speaker 2: Well see, and that's the thing we talked about it.
Speaker 2: You'll remember countless times on the show. Last year. The
Speaker 2: offense was playing so well that it was almost as
Speaker 2: if Oklahoma's entire game plan on defense was to try
Speaker 2: and create one or two plays like one or two plays,
Speaker 2: get a turnover, do something that gives an extra possession
Speaker 2: to the offense, and that at a minimum will be
Speaker 2: enough to create some separation. Because the offense was so
Speaker 2: high powered, it was so efficient, I think you want
Speaker 2: to be better than that. Last year Oklahoma gave up
Speaker 2: six point one to three yards per play. That's worse
Speaker 2: than Kansas. That's worse at Oklahoma State, neither of which
Speaker 2: you might have assumed was all that great on defense either.
Speaker 2: So just marginally better makes them so so so much
Speaker 2: better as a team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they had a true freshman quarter and Bookie was it,
Speaker 1: Radley Hile whatever it is, it's a three namer starts
Speaker 1: with Bookie. He was picked on a lot, especially in
Speaker 1: that Will Green or West Virginia game. And so confidence
Speaker 1: is going to be a huge thing. And the other
Speaker 1: thing is, I don't know. I mean, they have CD Lamb,
Speaker 1: they bring in three blue blue blue chip receivers. Charleston
Speaker 1: Rambo's an all time great name at receiver, Grant Galcatara
Speaker 1: comes back at tight end. Obviously we know about Trey
Speaker 1: Sermon and Kennedy Brooks at running back. So I wonder
Speaker 1: if they play with tempo a little bit. I wonder
Speaker 1: if because Jalen Hurts, I don't think is necessarily going
Speaker 1: to be Kyler Murray nor Baker Mayfield downfield with that
Speaker 1: sort of confidence throwing into tight windows, timing kind of guy.
Speaker 1: Because if there was anything that we questioned from his
Speaker 1: time at Alabama was the fearlessness, the accuracy, the consistency
Speaker 1: of Jalen Hurts downfield. Now, maybe going to Lincoln Riley
Speaker 1: University solves everything. And we admittedly we didn't get to
Speaker 1: see him in the Mike Loxley Josh Gaddis dan Inosarah
Speaker 1: at Alabama, so maybe if he were forced into starting
Speaker 1: duty last year it would have been better. And obviously
Speaker 1: we saw him save the SEC championship game with Tua
Speaker 1: and his issues medically, but I'm curious, you know, a
Speaker 1: full off season in this program. But on the flip
Speaker 1: side with that, the track record of grad transfers, guys
Speaker 1: thrust into a big spot, whether it's at Florida, whether
Speaker 1: it's at wherever it's it's tough. It's absolutely tough to
Speaker 1: pick something up and have that command right away. So
Speaker 1: Oklahoma's defensive line, pretty experienced linebacker, has questions, especially Caleb Kelly,
Speaker 1: longtime starter and a keycog. He hurts his knee in
Speaker 1: the spring and still the secondary is a nightmare. So
Speaker 1: just improving on penalties. The schedule is I mean, they
Speaker 1: open against Houston here.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing you mentioned the schedule, Yeah, and
Speaker 2: I think when you combine that with the whole conversation
Speaker 2: around Jalen Hurts. It changes expectations a little bit. The
Speaker 2: schedule that Jalen Hurts had to play at Alabama was
Speaker 2: a far cry for what he's got this year in
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve right with Oklahoma, and I think that
Speaker 2: plays to his favor. To be honest, I think he
Speaker 2: can get away with being, you know, seventy five percent
Speaker 2: of Kyler Murray. He might be a lot better and
Speaker 2: he would still be a huge success for the Sooners
Speaker 2: this season.
Speaker 1: Which one of these defenses on the road for Oklahoma
Speaker 1: scares you the most or scares you period? UCLA, Kansas,
Speaker 1: Kansas State, Baylor, Oklahoma State. These are schools that I
Speaker 1: mean the Kansas State defense was actually really nice at
Speaker 1: preventing bigger plays. But it's a new look defense in
Speaker 1: some regard, and I just don't see that hornet's nest.
Speaker 1: I don't see that multi sport field in Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: is twenty nineteen that's going to be bearing down on him.
Speaker 1: Could be wrong, but at first glance, it's tough to find.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it sets up well for Oklahoma this year.
Speaker 2: There's still a ton of talent on the offensive side
Speaker 2: of the ball. I think any kind of improvement on
Speaker 2: defense makes them incredibly better. Any kind of I think
Speaker 2: any kind of improvement on the defensive side of the
Speaker 2: football makes them nothing short of a contender that are
Speaker 2: already there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, or so.
Speaker 2: So Again, we're splitting hairs trying to find issues with
Speaker 2: this team at this point. Lincoln Riley has done a
Speaker 2: tremendous job job in his first two seasons, and I
Speaker 2: would expect that to continue now into twenty nineteen. The
Speaker 2: next obvious question then, is is there a challenger other
Speaker 2: than Texas or maybe just is Texas a challenger that
Speaker 2: is going to emerge in the twenty nineteen Big twelve Conference.
Speaker 1: That it's a great question, and we're not splitting hairs
Speaker 1: finding a waakness. To be clear, we know the weakness.
Speaker 1: That's clear. It's clearly the defense. But it were splitting
Speaker 1: airs in terms of looking at Oklahoma and saying, are
Speaker 1: there significant problems outside of Oklahoma that you know it's
Speaker 1: obvious that they're going to take down Oklahoma because that
Speaker 1: doesn't exist necessarily. I have Oklahoma, as you know, best
Speaker 1: case scenario probably eleven to one. I have them going
Speaker 1: the defense going against I don't know, six to six
Speaker 1: and a half threatening quarterbacks on their schedule. The worst
Speaker 1: case scenario is probably nine to three with no defensive
Speaker 1: improvement this year, not a great fit with Jalen Hurtz.
Speaker 1: This is worst case again, and they won a couple
Speaker 1: of significant shootouts last year that if they don't beat
Speaker 1: Tech I think it was Texas Tech and Oklahoma State,
Speaker 1: and obviously they lose to Texas in a shootout last year.
Speaker 1: You know, they go nine to three this year and
Speaker 1: it just doesn't it doesn't fully work this year. And
Speaker 1: then moving forward with presumably Spencer Ratler the number one
Speaker 1: quarterback in this past year's class, or I think it's
Speaker 1: Tanner Mordecai, great name also on the depth chart that
Speaker 1: they would you know, approach the levels of Kyler Murray
Speaker 1: and Baker Mayfield. So that's my best case, worst case.
Speaker 1: Where are we going next year? Dan, you want to
Speaker 1: ask me something, Well, you you seem to be itching
Speaker 1: to talk about Texas, Texas Hawk Kansas football. Now, okay,
Speaker 1: the Texas question is I mean fairly certain, fairly obvious
Speaker 1: right now, and they lose chunks of that defense that
Speaker 1: actually wasn't great. So I'd like there are some people
Speaker 1: that worry about like, oh, they lose you know, big
Speaker 1: players at each level of the defense, Like a defense
Speaker 1: struggled some against some some pretty significant opponents, and then
Speaker 1: weirdly enough, the offense struggled against teams they shouldn't have
Speaker 1: struggled against. So and it's sort of it's become a
Speaker 1: Tom Herman calling card of getting up for the huge
Speaker 1: opponents and all of a sudden not showing up for
Speaker 1: some lesser ones. Do you have reason to believe the
Speaker 1: Longhorns can be more focused and consistent week to week
Speaker 1: than they've been in years past? We saw the Maryland
Speaker 1: games these past two years with Tom Herman.
Speaker 2: More focused and consistent week to week than they have
Speaker 2: been in years past. First off, Dan, I would preface
Speaker 2: this entire discussion by saying that, you know, Sam Ellinger
Speaker 2: declared Texas's back after their Sugar Bowl win last year,
Speaker 2: So we may we probably probably we may be able
Speaker 2: to omit this preview entirely and just move on to
Speaker 2: Kansas if you're install m. So, here's the thing with Texas, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think consistency comes down to what can Tom Herman
Speaker 2: and Todd Orlando put together after losing eight senior starters
Speaker 2: on defense. I'm looking at defense first and foremost. The
Speaker 2: talent's there, but they're going to be super young. Linebackers
Speaker 2: are real question. Jeffrey mccallough really needs to have himself
Speaker 2: a year. Yeah, I'm cool with the safety situation. You know,
Speaker 2: I love Caden Stearns. We talked about him too, but
Speaker 2: they're going to be relying on a nice player. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: three true sophomores at corner, which could be an issue,
Speaker 2: and it's just going.
Speaker 1: To be a tall order.
Speaker 2: By the way, they got to get better on third
Speaker 2: down defense as a whole. It sank all the way
Speaker 2: to one hundred and ninth in the nation last year.
Speaker 2: And keep in mind, this is a team that played
Speaker 2: a lot of close football games. Getting off the field
Speaker 2: on third down can really go a long way towards
Speaker 2: creating some breathing room. Mm hm. So I think that's
Speaker 2: where I stand on the whole Texas defense side of things.
Speaker 2: On the offensive side, they got to find a way
Speaker 2: to get more explosive. It was just not a running
Speaker 2: game issue. This was just a team that, for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: had a hard time generating chunk plays. They didn't have
Speaker 2: a single play over fifty yards last season if you
Speaker 2: can believe that same. Yeah, So the Sam Ellinger Colin
Speaker 2: Johnson connection is going to be really important this year.
Speaker 2: But I think there needs to be some other cog
Speaker 2: in the works that can help generate big plays. I
Speaker 2: don't know if it's Jake Smith. They're freshman wide out.
Speaker 2: A lot of folks are excited about him. Maybe he
Speaker 2: can step in and generate some spark as well.
Speaker 1: Sam Allen Dubernet, I think, I mean, he's shown flashes
Speaker 1: in the past.
Speaker 2: Sure, sure, sure, But Jake Smith, I know, is a
Speaker 2: name just from reading that people are very excited about.
Speaker 2: Somebody's got to step in and someone's got to do
Speaker 2: something to help out Sam Ellinger. His numbers were absurd
Speaker 2: a year ago. I don't mean to diminish those at all, right,
Speaker 2: but he needs to get some help in any one
Speaker 2: of like eight different ways, not the least of which
Speaker 2: is the Running game.
Speaker 1: The Running Game. You're absolutely right, And I think Keanta
Speaker 1: Ingram was good enough to feel more confident than we've
Speaker 1: been able to in a couple of years. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. But yes, you're right. So the load needs
Speaker 1: to be taken off of him. And we've seen and
Speaker 1: you know, It's not always accurate to say, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: if he throws this many times, they're in trouble. But
Speaker 1: when he went over thirty five times, he was either
Speaker 1: legitimately excellent and they needed every one of those throws,
Speaker 1: or it was a little bit worrisome that he was
Speaker 1: shouldering that level of things that they couldn't move the
Speaker 1: ball in. Like you mentioned, chunkier plays, thick and chunky plays.
Speaker 1: They need to be restaurant salsa tie. They need you
Speaker 1: have the spicy sound. They need to be thick and
Speaker 1: chunky with their plays. And I hope that they can
Speaker 1: get to that point because I mean, they appear to
Speaker 1: be the teams at the top of the conference when
Speaker 1: you mix talent and results something.
Speaker 2: They're right right there. But you're right, the question is
Speaker 2: on point. It is a matter of consistency, and I
Speaker 2: think it's a matter of being consistent all throughout the
Speaker 2: depth chart and in every facet of the game. Sam Ellinger,
Speaker 2: to your point, is way too valuable to the success
Speaker 2: of this team. He cannot finish with one hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty four rushing attempts like he did last year. You
Speaker 2: cannot finish with that many. It's just not sustainable. Tom
Speaker 2: Herman knows it. At Big twelve media Days, he said
Speaker 2: Techis is a power running team, and he tried. Last
Speaker 2: year they had the most rushing attempts in the conference,
Speaker 2: but still they tied for seventy sixth nationally in rushes
Speaker 2: of ten yards or more. So I don't know if
Speaker 2: it's key on to Ingram, if it's Jordan Whittingham, I
Speaker 2: don't know who's going to change that this year. But
Speaker 2: somebody's got to take the load off of Sam Ellinger
Speaker 2: or this is not going to work the way I
Speaker 2: think sam Ellinger thought it was going to work when
Speaker 2: he said that Texas is back. Yeah, still such a
Speaker 2: great short yardage weapon though, just his feel for space
Speaker 2: is so great around the goal line or on you know,
Speaker 2: third in inches stuff like that that I don't think
Speaker 2: they're going to fully take the ball out of his hands.
Speaker 2: But no, he had six sixteen rushing touchdowns last year,
Speaker 2: so he's a weapon down at the goal and he
Speaker 2: had forty one in total, only five interceptions over thirty
Speaker 2: two hundred passing yards.
Speaker 1: How's their schedule?
Speaker 2: Their schedule, there's only two games on the schedule where
Speaker 2: they're not favored at this Scouley juncture. That's the Red
Speaker 2: River shootout against Oklahoma, and then there's a big non
Speaker 2: conference game at home against LSU in Week two. Every
Speaker 2: other game, all ten of the other games, they should
Speaker 2: be favored. I don't know if they drop one of
Speaker 2: those here or there. I mean, who knows how the
Speaker 2: defense ends up playing? Like I said, they're young.
Speaker 1: Here's my question, Dan Prefaces. I am a big believer
Speaker 1: in loving teams who can put forth the best combination
Speaker 1: of quarterback play and defense. You know, it's great to
Speaker 1: have great running back, it's great to have great line,
Speaker 1: great to have receivers and whatever. Quarterback and defense. Quarterback
Speaker 1: and defense ultimately, to me, is the most attractive thing
Speaker 1: and feeling good about a complete team experience. Who is
Speaker 1: that team in the Big twelve quarterback and defense, quarterback
Speaker 1: and defense that you are feeling that they are our
Speaker 1: most aligned in being high level? Ah boy, I know
Speaker 1: I'm putting you on the spot, but I have my
Speaker 1: answer if you don't want to offer.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm looking at my teams. I've got the
Speaker 2: Texas teams in Kansas. Yes, it's I don't think it's
Speaker 2: from that grouping. It's not from this grouping. No, No,
Speaker 2: I think it's Iowa State. You could be right about that.
Speaker 2: Do you want to go there next?
Speaker 1: Chips? I would love to go there next because I
Speaker 1: watched a Okay, when I say a, I mean three
Speaker 1: uh mixtapes of rock Party today and I'm sweating just
Speaker 1: thinking about a.
Speaker 2: Time mixtapes of rock Party.
Speaker 1: So mixtapes of rock Party, and I'm feeling juiced.
Speaker 2: You've got the vapors for Brock Party.
Speaker 1: We all do.
Speaker 2: I'm excited about Brock Party had a really good freshman campaign.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm issue this year. David Montgomery the running back,
Speaker 2: and Hikeem Butler the receiver, are now both in the NFL. Collectively,
Speaker 2: they accounted for fifty three percent of Iowa State's offensive
Speaker 2: yardage from a year ago. I don't think Brock Party
Speaker 2: can replace all that on his own. It's going to
Speaker 2: have to fall on the lap of somebody else. The
Speaker 2: question is, how does Matt Campbell replace that kind of production?
Speaker 1: Right, No, it's a wonderful question, and I think it's
Speaker 1: the biggest one there is because of how strong they
Speaker 1: appear on defense, especially up front. The back end has
Speaker 1: Greg Eysworth at safety, who we mentioned total dude a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago when we did our preseason Dude watch list,
Speaker 1: So that is enormous. The great news is this with
Speaker 1: regard to David Montgomery, really good player, did so much
Speaker 1: for the team, was a leader, you know, bell cow
Speaker 1: in the backfield. Iowa State did not win on the ground.
Speaker 1: They did not produce on the ground. They were not
Speaker 1: even close to one of the Big twelve's better rushing team,
Speaker 1: let alone somebody who was to be looked at admirably
Speaker 1: in the country. They won through the air, and they
Speaker 1: won going to not exclusively, but a lot of the
Speaker 1: time to Keem Butler, who even when he wasn't catching
Speaker 1: the ball, was a gravitational player, you know, unlike many
Speaker 1: other receivers we saw last year. The good news for
Speaker 1: Iowa State is they're well coached. So even if they're
Speaker 1: not a lights out offense, even if they can't fully
Speaker 1: replace like you're asking me David Montgomery and hi Keeen
Speaker 1: Butler's production, they don't shoot themselves in the foot. They
Speaker 1: get off the field on third down. The schedule, yes
Speaker 1: is tough this year. Yes, they gave up too many
Speaker 1: big plays last year, but they were excellent in the
Speaker 1: red zone. They really did make a nice year out
Speaker 1: of Ben, but don't break especially after starting the year
Speaker 1: last year. What one in three they score three points
Speaker 1: against Iowa. I think that's a zeb Nolan game. Who
Speaker 1: was good against Oklahoma. They lose in a low scoring
Speaker 1: close game to TCU. Then they win seven of eight
Speaker 1: with Brock Purdy. They were essentially last year a chunk
Speaker 1: of grass and a gust of wind from going ten
Speaker 1: to two. And yes, I remember the Drake game. We've
Speaker 1: accepted it. It was not pretty. The camera lens fogged up,
Speaker 1: and we've moved forward. Quarterback is set, you know. I
Speaker 1: don't think running back is in a great place. Sheldon
Speaker 1: Crony is the name that's being thrown out. They'll be fine.
Speaker 1: But if he's only okay, I don't think that's any
Speaker 1: different than the production that they've gotten in years past.
Speaker 1: Tariq Milton had a really nice year. They had, they
Speaker 1: get an Arkansas transfer in the Michael Petway, de Chante
Speaker 1: Jones was good. The entire offensive line is back. My
Speaker 1: only real question about Iowa State has not a lot
Speaker 1: to do with Iowa State. It's that they're October is
Speaker 1: TCU at West Virginia at Texas Tech Oklahoma State a
Speaker 1: bye week before Oklahoma on the road, which is nice Texas,
Speaker 1: and they end with the Kansas schools. So they could
Speaker 1: again go eight and four or something like that and
Speaker 1: look like a ten to two team if they win
Speaker 1: those fifty to fifty games that you know, it was
Speaker 1: six three going into the fourth quarter against Iowa last year.
Speaker 1: You know TCU was obviously very close. I think they're
Speaker 1: the best combination. You know, you watch these clips of
Speaker 1: Rock Purty again and it's been months and months, and
Speaker 1: there's there's Johnny football to him. He's not as good
Speaker 1: as Johnny Manziel, but that style of playing Brocky football.
Speaker 1: I apologize for that. I'd take it all back.
Speaker 2: Wow, this is the cheese balls episode.
Speaker 1: I know it really is. So best case is Rock
Speaker 1: Perty's a Heisman caliber quarterback. The defense does even better
Speaker 1: against a somewhat neu Loik Big twelve. They win the
Speaker 1: close ones, and I think the best cases they go
Speaker 1: nine and three ten in a bit of a stretch.
Speaker 2: I can't even tell you right now to pump the
Speaker 2: brakes in Iowa State because really you.
Speaker 1: Have fully removed them. I cut those. I'm wheeling out
Speaker 1: of control, I am passing cars. I am yeah, there's
Speaker 1: there's smoke coming out, and I don't even care that
Speaker 1: I'm riding this poppy until it explodes.
Speaker 2: Who am I to rain on your Iowa State parade?
Speaker 1: So are you worst case scenario? Are you the worst
Speaker 1: case though?
Speaker 2: Are you picking Iowa State to finish better or worse
Speaker 2: in Oklahoma?
Speaker 1: I think there's just too much talent in Norman that
Speaker 1: they will do better surviving any defensive deficiencies they have
Speaker 1: because it's just Iowa State. While they're more experienced, especially upfront,
Speaker 1: they're probably you know, the team I like the best.
Speaker 1: If you're talking about a combination of offensive and defensive lines.
Speaker 1: I just if they can't handle two key injuries, they
Speaker 1: just can't in the way that Oklahoma probably can in
Speaker 1: most places other than perhaps quarterback. So I think because
Speaker 1: of depth, because of talent, Because that game is in Norman,
Speaker 1: I think I like Oklahoma just a little bit more
Speaker 1: than Iowa State. But I think I have Iowa State
Speaker 1: ahead of Texas. Oh, even Texas is on the road
Speaker 1: in mid November, Yes, sir, yes, sir. So worst case,
Speaker 1: worst case they again lose, they have Iowa at home
Speaker 1: this year so they again lose Syhawk and their road
Speaker 1: woes continue. They lose those fifty to fifty games and
Speaker 1: they go seven to five. That's worst case to me.
Speaker 2: You are high on Iowa State? Oh yes, sir, yeah, excellent.
Speaker 2: Where do you want to go next?
Speaker 1: I don't want to be on a fence here, ty No,
Speaker 1: I pushed it ships to the center.
Speaker 2: It's not quite a hot take, but it's just as
Speaker 2: it's a definitive, confident take.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you they were. It's a take that they were.
Speaker 1: Whatever I said, a sneeze away from ten to two,
Speaker 1: A couple sneezes. It's a take. It's a take. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go. Let's go to TCU because I'm super hot
Speaker 1: and bothered by Iowa State. So let's bring the passion
Speaker 1: to your Okay, sorry, you want it, you know you
Speaker 1: want it. It seems the frogs have. I was trying
Speaker 1: to really find something positive about this quarterback room. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's tough. It's sort of a B minus group battling
Speaker 1: it out for that job. Would love to be wrong,
Speaker 1: but it's you know, this guy's promising but has a
Speaker 1: terrible foot, or this guy came from Kansas State, he
Speaker 1: was beat out because he wasn't that good. Is there
Speaker 1: anything about TCU that has you confident about them as
Speaker 1: something beyond like just being a wild card like a
Speaker 1: thorn in two and a half team sides good teams? Okay,
Speaker 1: fair question.
Speaker 2: This is a challenging preview for me on a personal
Speaker 2: level because I'm always in on TCU and then they
Speaker 2: break my heart. TCU usually usually follows up a season
Speaker 2: like last year where they went six and six in
Speaker 2: the regular season with a ten or eleven wins season. Right,
Speaker 2: that's been their mo It's gonna be real hard for
Speaker 2: me to not jump back on that bandwagon, especially now
Speaker 2: that they've got seven starters back on offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm full disclosure. I'll put that out there is
Speaker 1: one of them, Trevon Boykin.
Speaker 2: No, okay, it is not okay, And that's an issue.
Speaker 2: I don't know who's playing quarterback. They have a ton
Speaker 2: of options. The options range everywhere from Alex Delton who
Speaker 2: comes over from Kansas State, to Max who's a freshman. Yeah,
Speaker 2: almost doesn't matter who's playing. My guess is it's probably
Speaker 2: Alex Delton. Regardless. They got to get better in the
Speaker 2: passing game. They want to make that jump to ten
Speaker 2: or eleven wins, They got to get better in the
Speaker 2: passing game. The other thing they need to do is
Speaker 2: not get hurt. They were so banged up last year
Speaker 2: to the point literally where Gary Patterson was not even
Speaker 2: focusing on twenty eighteen, was focusing on getting ready for
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen. Did you know they were missing twenty two
Speaker 2: players going into the spring. They didn't even do a
Speaker 2: spring game because they were so banged up. They didn't
Speaker 2: even want to tempt fate. They just had a public practice.
Speaker 2: Oh man, what's how bad it was? Yeah, I'll walk through.
Speaker 2: But still, even despite all the injuries, they were the
Speaker 2: best in the conference on a per play and per
Speaker 2: game basis in terms of yardagellout. So they still play
Speaker 2: defense at TCU. They just really nicked up. Now, what
Speaker 2: does TCU need to do outside of the quarterback position
Speaker 2: if they want to be more than just that thorn.
Speaker 2: They've got a really great one two punch at running
Speaker 2: back Darius Anderson and a gentleman whose name I cannot say.
Speaker 1: Oh, you're talking about Shawo. I cannot say alonea lua
Speaker 1: I have gone on YouTube. I can't do it. It's
Speaker 1: Shawoh Shay.
Speaker 2: I know it's Shawo. I can hear it. I just
Speaker 2: can't say it alone Shawa shawoh. Shit, I can't even
Speaker 2: say the first thing. Shoo Alona Lua Shawo alone o
Speaker 2: Lua m hmm shawoh alonea Lua.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Between him and Darius Anderson, that's a really effective one
Speaker 2: two punch at running back. They got a couple guys
Speaker 2: back along the offensive line, but really just a ton
Speaker 2: of guys who got experienced last year because they got
Speaker 2: so many damn injuries.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm excited about this team this year. All right.
Speaker 2: I'm not fully in yet. Still got some turnover all
Speaker 2: on the defensive line. Got to replace Ty Summers in
Speaker 2: the linebacking corps, good secondary. I think they're going to
Speaker 2: be fine on defense. Gary Patterson knows how to coach defense.
Speaker 2: They got freaks on the Bruce Veldman freak list between
Speaker 2: your boys, Shawoh and Jeff Gladney, Jalen Reager, who we're.
Speaker 1: Going to talk about. But I am in on TCU.
Speaker 1: I'm in on him this year. Here's what I think
Speaker 1: the TCU offense should be. Whoever wins that job, Max
Speaker 1: Duggan or Alex Delton or if Justin Rodgers, you know,
Speaker 1: is able to heal and recover. You walk up to
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and you get off. Quarterback job
Speaker 1: is to identify where the mic linebacker is, the middle linebacker,
Speaker 1: and sort of sort out the defense from there. Point
Speaker 1: right at the middle linebacker and you say, we're not
Speaker 1: passing the Jalen reagor this down, and then you do,
Speaker 1: and then you do the old one two switcheroo. I
Speaker 1: think that's the best way psychle you can go about
Speaker 1: their psychological warfare. Twenty fourteen, twelve and one, twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: eleven and two. Wow, everything's going well. Let's not talk
Speaker 1: about the bowl game after twenty fifteen twenty it's never happened.
Speaker 1: Never happened to me. The Alamo Bowl is a bowl
Speaker 1: had happened some years TCUGO six and seven, eleven and three,
Speaker 1: seven and six. So they've been flip flopping since twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen double digit wins and then bowl eligibility ish. So
Speaker 1: this year would be a double digit win year if
Speaker 1: everything universe wise checks out. I don't think it's the case.
Speaker 1: But can they be led with a really good pass
Speaker 1: defense and creative offense, maybe they rejigger some things offensively
Speaker 1: and go eight and four, nine and three. I think
Speaker 1: it's within the realm. It's within the realm.
Speaker 2: Here's the other thing. Yeah, I have never been able
Speaker 2: to figure out Alex Delton. I like their offensive line
Speaker 2: a lot, by the way, as well.
Speaker 1: I like their line.
Speaker 2: They've got guys back, Lucas Niang all good. I could
Speaker 2: never figure out Alex Dalton when he was at K State.
Speaker 1: Never.
Speaker 2: I always underestimated him, and I know that in the
Speaker 2: early going here they're pretty high on his ability to
Speaker 2: throw the ball, implying that maybe we didn't see what
Speaker 2: he has to bring fully to the equation because he
Speaker 2: wasn't afforded that opportunity at K State.
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't know if Alex dalt have.
Speaker 2: If Alex Dalton is a starter at TCU this year,
Speaker 2: it will really be the cherry on top of a
Speaker 2: preview that I am already uncomfortable with and am not
Speaker 2: willing to offer a definitive take on.
Speaker 1: I am ready to declare Alex Delton not great, not great.
Speaker 1: I hope he's great this year. That'd be really cool,
Speaker 1: because that would mean TCU is all of a sudden
Speaker 1: another competitive team on top of the near the top
Speaker 1: of the big twelve. I have figured him out, and
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not crazy encouraged, but I hope I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: All Right, Dan, we mentioned K State, Let's talk about
Speaker 1: K State. They've got Chris mm hmm. I think that's right.
Speaker 2: Comes over from North Dakota State, a program you and
Speaker 2: I know well.
Speaker 1: Intimately. He comes over after being recruited by Gene Taylor.
Speaker 2: He was formerly the athletic director at North Dakota State,
Speaker 2: now at K State. Longer term you're looking at this,
Speaker 2: I think the goal would be to implement some kind
Speaker 2: of North Dakota State model.
Speaker 1: Which is what which is let's fine time well.
Speaker 2: Winning all the time, sure, but find the guys who
Speaker 2: go unrecruited in that part very regionally, recruit well, find
Speaker 2: guys that fit your system, maybe that don't get into
Speaker 2: some bigger schools, and establish K State as the place
Speaker 2: for those kids to go.
Speaker 1: It's worked very well for North Dakota State.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Shorter term though, m hm. Shorter term.
Speaker 2: What's the transition look like from Bill Snyder now to
Speaker 2: Chris Climan.
Speaker 1: I gotta get better on offense. They have to get better.
Speaker 1: They they were off the field real quick, a lot
Speaker 1: of they were not great on third down, they were
Speaker 1: not great in the red zone, they didn't generate big plays.
Speaker 1: And a couple of years ago they were Skyler Thompson's
Speaker 1: the guy. As we mentioned Alex Delton in Fort Worth.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was great in the old system.
Speaker 1: Maybe things are revolutionized. It's running back by committee. After
Speaker 1: Alex Barnes goes to the NFL. You know, Dalton Showan
Speaker 1: has been there for a little bit, and he was
Speaker 1: he was impressive. I want to say he's a former
Speaker 1: walk on, but I want to say that about everybody
Speaker 1: in Kansas State. I think when you go to twenty
Speaker 1: four to seven, it's just as former walk on next
Speaker 1: to everybody in their class. Their defensive line should be strong,
Speaker 1: linebackers should be all right, secondary decent, noticeable losses there.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the recruiting is is that that's the
Speaker 1: model of finding under recruited guys. Filling your depth chart
Speaker 1: with grit and determination, and you know, perhaps guys who
Speaker 1: have the frame to grow, but come in, you know, underweight,
Speaker 1: you know, six two one eighty, and so suddenly they
Speaker 1: become six two two twenty by the time they leave
Speaker 1: it at outside linebacker or something. Recruitings going well. They're
Speaker 1: getting top thirty top forty guys at their positions around,
Speaker 1: whether it's Kansas or Oklahoma or Texas. I don't know
Speaker 1: how strongly they're going to follow the junior college model
Speaker 1: that Bill Snyder did. It's very early to say. Obviously,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of junior colleges in Kansas to pick from,
Speaker 1: but I think the outlook is pretty positive long term.
Speaker 1: I like Scottie Hazelton. I thought that was a really
Speaker 1: nice higher defensive coordinator. You know, he's in that tree,
Speaker 1: that coaching tree. He was at Wyoming with Craig Boll.
Speaker 1: Schedule wise, they're in a good ish place. They have
Speaker 1: Mississippi State, they go back to Starkville. I think it's
Speaker 1: week three, they go to Stillwater. The November is pretty tough.
Speaker 1: They're at Texas. They have West Virginia at Texas Tech,
Speaker 1: and Iowa State. They were not that far away from
Speaker 1: being a wild card last year. TCU, Baylor, Iowa State,
Speaker 1: Texas were all real close and winnable at moment moments,
Speaker 1: and I think they can get to seven and five
Speaker 1: this year. I think when you have an improved I mean,
Speaker 1: if you are able to maintain the discipline so they
Speaker 1: didn't shoot themselves in the foot they were Obviously it's
Speaker 1: a Bill Snyder team. They're well coached. They're gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: to grind out wins. If they're able to maintain that
Speaker 1: and then get something offensively. I think they're seven and five,
Speaker 1: eight and fourteen. Worst case they're overhauling everything and they're
Speaker 1: five and seven again or something like that. But I
Speaker 1: think the variance is pretty wide, and if they can
Speaker 1: keep recruiting at this clip, I know their class is
Speaker 1: pretty much already put together. I'm feeling very good. The
Speaker 1: North Dakota State model that you mention is different in
Speaker 1: the Big twelve because they were able to rely on
Speaker 1: guys in Wisconsin and Minnesota and in the Dakota's And
Speaker 1: I know there are other really good FCS schools in
Speaker 1: the you know, North Dakota, South Dakota and Northern Iowa,
Speaker 1: stuff like that, but in that general area, if you
Speaker 1: were a pretty good player but not Big ten level
Speaker 1: and maybe borderline mac and you were from Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: and maybe you want it to be a big fish
Speaker 1: in a slightly smaller pond, you see Carson. What's the
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz. That's the guy the NFL get drafted in
Speaker 1: top one to two pick whatever. Maybe that's attractive to you.
Speaker 1: It's different down in Kansas when the best players can
Speaker 1: or borderline players can still go to Texas Tech, they
Speaker 1: can still go to Baylor, they can go to TCU,
Speaker 1: and they're not necessarily as attracted to Kansas State. I
Speaker 1: hope it's not the case, but I think that model
Speaker 1: is going to be a little bit more difficult to replicate.
Speaker 2: It's going to have to be tweaked. It can't be
Speaker 2: the same where you're recruiting from northern Minnesota. That's not
Speaker 2: great work but feel good. But can it be tweaked?
Speaker 2: Can it be modified so that it works in that
Speaker 2: part of the country. I think absolutely.
Speaker 1: If you're able to put together sound game plans, if
Speaker 1: you're able to teach your team effectively, if you're able
Speaker 1: to get buy in every week, even if you start
Speaker 1: zero to three, you're gonna win a lot more often
Speaker 1: than you're not. In a pretty wide open conference, which
Speaker 1: right now, given Oklahoma's defense, given questions about Texas, all
Speaker 1: think Kansas is Kansas State's competing for the conference. But
Speaker 1: you can win more often than not. Like the move.
Speaker 1: I like it, I do im in I am as well.
Speaker 1: Where are we going next? All right, let's go, let's
Speaker 1: go to Tech. Let's go to another new coach. Let's
Speaker 1: go to Lubbock because it's been far too long without
Speaker 1: mentioning British comedy legen Alan Bowman and his ceiling, which
Speaker 1: I think is sky high. I mean, I'm kind of
Speaker 1: jealous that you are the one to talk about Texas Tech.
Speaker 1: They hire Matt Wells. He's not an air raid guy
Speaker 1: as obviously Mike Leach and Brave Tommy Homer and then
Speaker 1: Cliff Kingsbury were Cliffy Cliff Kingsbury. But the pieces are
Speaker 1: in place, quarterback, receiver, just offensive skill in general, improve
Speaker 1: defense to go. I'm not gonna say seamlessly, but kind
Speaker 1: of seamlessly from one one pass happy system to another
Speaker 1: and and keep progressing all around. Do you do you
Speaker 1: think that's true? Or is this a full reboot in
Speaker 1: the in the vision of Matt Wells, this is this
Speaker 1: is not a reboot.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is not a reboot like you might see
Speaker 2: elsewhere when you get a new coach. I think the
Speaker 2: offense is actually going to be similar enough to what
Speaker 2: they ran last season, which is good news for your boy,
Speaker 2: for our boy, Bridge Comedy legend Allen Bowman moment. He
Speaker 2: was outstanding as a freshman last year. He actually led
Speaker 2: the nation in passing before he suffered that collapsed along. Now,
Speaker 2: so this is a kid who's got a ton of talent.
Speaker 2: I think you're gonna see a lot of the same concepts.
Speaker 2: I think you're gona see a lot of tempo this year,
Speaker 2: and I think it suits the offense well. Now, they
Speaker 2: need to stay healthy out wide, they really do. They
Speaker 2: need to find a way to get TJ Vasher the ball.
Speaker 2: He's the six to sixth beast of a wideout who's
Speaker 2: a matchup advantage every time and he's on the field.
Speaker 2: And then there are other names you should listen for.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, Seth Collins, Kashawn Carter, he's a burner. We've
Speaker 2: got a red shirt freshman. Another guy can't say, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna try Eric Azukenma.
Speaker 1: I don't have it in front of me. So you
Speaker 1: did an a plus job. I'm just steering into it.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: I have a hard time with some of these.
Speaker 2: Then we've got to transfer McLean Mannix, who put up
Speaker 2: stats at Nevada the line, the line has the most
Speaker 2: returning starts.
Speaker 1: In the Big twelve.
Speaker 2: You wrap that all together, Dan, and this should be
Speaker 2: a really high powered offense. Again, moving away from Cliff Kingsbury,
Speaker 2: moving towards now Matt Wells. Maybe not an air raid guy,
Speaker 2: but he's passionate. He's trying to change the culture. He's
Speaker 2: really trying to build in this sense of accountability, all
Speaker 2: the sorts of things that you hear from a new
Speaker 2: head football coach. But I think it all plays very
Speaker 2: nicely into a young core of players that are coming
Speaker 2: back for twenty nineteen. So offense, offensively, they should be
Speaker 2: I think pretty outstanding. The defensive side of the ball
Speaker 2: is where I texted you or why I texted you.
Speaker 2: There was a line in not one, but many of
Speaker 2: the Texas Tech previews that I read Keith Patterson, new
Speaker 2: defensive coordinator, talking about guys getting ready to play a
Speaker 2: more aggressive attacking style.
Speaker 1: Aggressive attacking.
Speaker 2: I love it, yeah, of course, and if you're a
Speaker 2: Texas Tech fan you should love it too. Utah State,
Speaker 2: where Patterson comes from, along with Matt Wells, had thirty
Speaker 2: two takeaways last year that was tied for best in
Speaker 2: the nation. They've got a really good pass rusher, and
Speaker 2: Eli Howard had fifteen hurries and nine sacks as a sophomore.
Speaker 2: I think they're trying to build better on defense. It
Speaker 2: might take them a little bit to get there, but
Speaker 2: this is a good team. This is a good team.
Speaker 2: I'm excited about Texas Tech. They've got road games against
Speaker 2: Oklahoma and Texas, which isn't great m h. Otherwise, though,
Speaker 2: the schedule's okay. Early on, Tech has Montana State UTEP
Speaker 2: and then a road game against Arizona.
Speaker 1: Pretty good, although I think Arizona's gonna be okay this year.
Speaker 2: Arizona might be okay this year. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 2: offense in that game, to say the least. Otherwise, though,
Speaker 2: you know, there's a road game against West Virginian there,
Speaker 2: it could be tricky. I guess West Virginia is sort
Speaker 2: of a piece of definite. Yeah, And obviously a lot
Speaker 2: of the teams we're talking about in the Big Twelve
Speaker 2: should be I think improved. But as it stands, the
Speaker 2: schedule isn't as bad as it could be. The over
Speaker 2: under for Tech right now sits at six.
Speaker 1: I love the over there, do you okay, So that
Speaker 1: would be this is me speaking, not you, Montana State,
Speaker 1: U TEP, Kansas YEP, Kansas State, West Virginia, Baylor, that's six.
Speaker 1: That's six. Arizona would be seven. I think they beat Arizona, Dan,
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's tough. Arizona's defense is putrid. It
Speaker 1: is bad. It is very bad. In Utah State because
Speaker 1: you mentioned, you know, David Yost at offensive coordinator who's
Speaker 1: had success both at Missouri and I think he was
Speaker 1: a receivers coach for Mike Leach at Washington State and
Speaker 1: then Utah State last year. Will not talk about his
Speaker 1: one year at Oregon. They finished eighth in the country
Speaker 1: in offensive points per drive, no garbage time, and eleventh
Speaker 1: on defense because you mentioned the aggressive attacking Keith Patterson,
Speaker 1: so encouraging that they got to that point that even
Speaker 1: if Texas Tech is not fully formidable this year, that
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, Wow, this is this is a more
Speaker 1: complete Texas Tech team than we've seen in a long time.
Speaker 1: Would be something we might say.
Speaker 2: If Alan Bowman stays healthy, yeah, this could be a
Speaker 2: dynamic offense.
Speaker 1: And that I asked you a question, Yes, so I
Speaker 1: was looking up the quarterbacks from twenty eighteen who both
Speaker 1: against their conference opponents, led the nation in either rating
Speaker 1: or yards per attempt. As you might imagine, it was
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray into a tongue of a top that list.
Speaker 1: Do you have a guess?
Speaker 2: Be it?
Speaker 1: I don't know, Will Greer, Dwayne Haskins, whoever? Who is
Speaker 1: number three? I don't know. Is it kJ Costello?
Speaker 2: Maybe?
Speaker 1: Is it Derek King, British comedy legend, Alan Bowman. It's
Speaker 1: not British comedy legend Alan Bowman. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he had enough stats to qualify enough games started. It's
Speaker 1: Brock party. Yeah, it's Brock party. So the break said,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to I wanted to circle right on
Speaker 1: back to Ames Iowa, Daniel. Let's go to West Virginia.
Speaker 2: Okay, new coaches here, your boy Brown from Troy, my guy.
Speaker 2: He is switching up the defense from a three three
Speaker 2: five to more of a hybrid y four two front
Speaker 2: four two five sort of yeah, right, sort of. Two
Speaker 2: questions on this A does West Virginia have the personnel
Speaker 2: to make the switch? And then B can they be
Speaker 2: better on defense because of it? In twenty nineteen, because
Speaker 2: that's really been an Achilles Hill for them as well.
Speaker 1: Sort of yes, I mean Tony Gibson I thought did
Speaker 1: a really nice job bringing West Virginia from pretty bad
Speaker 1: to pretty dangerous a couple of years ago, three four
Speaker 1: years ago. Last year they were not good. Last year
Speaker 1: they struggled. The good news is, I think, given what
Speaker 1: he runs and where he happened to be coaching these
Speaker 1: past few years, Vic Caning is potentially a very very
Speaker 1: good fit for what West Virginia is going to be
Speaker 1: transitioning sort of to, because he kind of already also
Speaker 1: runs a three three five. He's pretty multiple upfront. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's a three man front, sometimes it's a four man front.
Speaker 1: And my guy, VIC loves a good hybrid player nickname.
Speaker 1: I think he's got a spear. I think he's got
Speaker 1: a bandit. There's all sorts of names for players. I
Speaker 1: think there's got a hybrid outside linebacker safety who I
Speaker 1: believe is the spear and the bandit is the hybrid
Speaker 1: linebacker defensive end who plays pretty close to the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage under vicating at Troy, who comes with Neil
Speaker 1: Brown to West Virginia. They were very very good against
Speaker 1: the run, which who knows how much. That fully means
Speaker 1: in the Big Twelve, they were decent against the pass,
Speaker 1: They generated turnovers, their havoc great was through the roof.
Speaker 1: He's everything I would want in a transitioning defense in
Speaker 1: the Big twelve. Essentially, he's been around. He was in Illinois,
Speaker 1: he was at North Carolina. He's coached a number of places.
Speaker 1: I think he interviewed. Where did he interview recently? I
Speaker 1: think Oklahoma State I saw and they ultimately hired Jim Knowles.
Speaker 1: So he's a big name that if West Virginia can
Speaker 1: generate havoc, if they can continue what Troy was doing
Speaker 1: in the air as I want to say, the best
Speaker 1: passing team in the Sun Belt last year. You know
Speaker 1: it's a new quarterback in Austin Kendall would probably be
Speaker 1: nicer if Will greor we're back, but it's not the case.
Speaker 1: Austin Kendall is the probable starter. The Oklahoma transfer Kennedy
Speaker 1: McCoy is back, a strong all purpose running back, pretty
Speaker 1: big hit at receiver. TJ. Simmons is the big new
Speaker 1: name there. I don't love their line, but you asked
Speaker 1: about defense. The defensive line is in good shape. There
Speaker 1: are bodies, there is it the deepest. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but there are bodies along the defensive line that I
Speaker 1: think can get it done. And Reek Havoc linebacker is thin,
Speaker 1: but they get healthier there and they've shown a good
Speaker 1: amount of promise there defensive back. Okay, I can't fully
Speaker 1: say they're really good. After watching them play against Oklahoma
Speaker 1: last year. They didn't. You know, Ed Reid is not
Speaker 1: going to be starting in center field for West Virginia,
Speaker 1: said the sports talk radio. But as for your question,
Speaker 1: do they have the manpower? Do they have the ability?
Speaker 1: I don't think they're transitioning in a dramatic way. Defensively,
Speaker 1: I like vacaining. I like the transition. If Austin Kendall
Speaker 1: is really good and the defense can get off the
Speaker 1: field pretty quickly, it's be a good team. They went
Speaker 1: eight and three last year. They lose that shootout to Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: They gave away the Oklahoma State game. I think it
Speaker 1: was three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. They give up.
Speaker 1: They just regressed. And so if they're able to play
Speaker 1: more disciplined, if Austin Kendall is good, if the defense
Speaker 1: is wreaking havoc eight and fourteen, you know it's a
Speaker 1: nice first year given how well they've recruited skill position
Speaker 1: guys and where they are defensively. Worst case scenario, it
Speaker 1: takes some time to install on both both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball. It is a tough non conference schedule. They
Speaker 1: go to Missouri and they have NC State. They have
Speaker 1: a tough October stretch with Texas, Siowa State, and Oklahoma
Speaker 1: in Norman. It could be a six and six, five
Speaker 1: and seven type year, one mucky kind of year, mucky.
Speaker 1: It could be mucky. I am leaning towards they're a
Speaker 1: bowl team that I was. I've been low on West
Speaker 1: Virginia in years past, where you've been higher. I think
Speaker 1: they're a bowl team for sure. I just like the
Speaker 1: fact that they got a Neil Brown and be Austin Kendall. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Bringing Austin Kendall over should help. Oh, it absolutely should help.
Speaker 1: And you know, they they were bad in the bowl
Speaker 1: game against Syracuse, but they didn't start Will Greer. You know,
Speaker 1: losing guys who've been around forever like David Sills and
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball. But I think they're okay.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be all right. I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna be I mean, listen, if they just clean up,
Speaker 1: you know, allowing huge plays and giving and giving up
Speaker 1: stupid penalty yardage, they're better. They're just they're already better.
Speaker 1: So I feel pretty good I have.
Speaker 2: I have a high degree of confidence that Neil Brown
Speaker 2: will be better at building an all around team than
Speaker 2: Dana Holgerson, which was yeah, lopsided offense being dynamic most years,
Speaker 2: and defense being hit or miss right.
Speaker 1: And I believe I'm googling this as we speak, though.
Speaker 1: Good connection. Tony Gibson, the longtime defense coordinate at West Virginia,
Speaker 1: is now running the defense at NC State, who West
Speaker 1: Virginia has early on. So familiarity there, circle of life. Okay,
Speaker 1: where are we going next? All right, let's go to Baylor.
Speaker 1: How about that. Let's go to Baylor, who had a
Speaker 1: pretty promising year last year.
Speaker 2: You want to talk about cutting the brakes out from
Speaker 2: Iolas to God. Let's talk about my Baylor Bears.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about your Baylor Bears. Yea, their competitive last year,
Speaker 1: they won a bowl game. Last year, they find a
Speaker 1: quarterback for sure. Last year. They're ahead of where I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people thought they'd be given the
Speaker 1: talent drain in Waco. They're still not. It doesn't seem
Speaker 1: particular really deep in a in a pretty open, big
Speaker 1: twelve middle class. But does that matter?
Speaker 2: Does it?
Speaker 1: Does it make it easier given the changes at West Virginia, Kansas,
Speaker 1: Kansas State to uh who my in Texas Tech to
Speaker 1: maybe uh to find eight wins?
Speaker 2: I have a lot to say about Bailey this year, Dan,
Speaker 2: all right, I'm gonna sit down a lot to say
Speaker 2: about the Baylor Bears. The most important thing to remember
Speaker 2: is something you touched on. Matt Rule is still building
Speaker 2: this program. He had to basically raise the whole thing
Speaker 2: and start fresh. So you're gonna read You're still gonna
Speaker 2: read a lot about you know, trying to find the
Speaker 2: right starting.
Speaker 1: Five quote unquote, or.
Speaker 2: You know, depth issues along the defensive front, or guys
Speaker 2: switching positions to find where they might be able to contribute.
Speaker 2: All that stuff is is very much in line with
Speaker 2: I think what you'd expect given the starting point that
Speaker 2: Matt Rule had Here. They're all really young, which is
Speaker 2: another thing to keep in mind, So temper what I'm
Speaker 2: about to say accordingly, Okay, I think this team is
Speaker 2: positioned really well, really well to continue improving you know
Speaker 2: where I stand on Charlie Brewer at quarterback. Let's start there.
Speaker 2: But you talked about him a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 2: Last year had a one thirty eight QB rating, just
Speaker 2: nine interceptions in three hundred and ninety attempts as a sophomore.
Speaker 1: I really like him.
Speaker 2: I really like Denzel Mims out wide. The line is
Speaker 2: the work in progress. That's a work in progress.
Speaker 1: That's a rough line.
Speaker 2: That's a rough line. They're still trying to mix and
Speaker 2: match and find the right combination there. They're going to
Speaker 2: get better. It's not saying much because they gave up
Speaker 2: the most sacks in the Big Twelve two years running.
Speaker 2: But I don't think they can get any worse. I
Speaker 2: don't think offense is going to be an issue here.
Speaker 2: I really do think they're going to be fine on offense.
Speaker 2: Watch out for Trestan Ebner in the backfield. Junior running
Speaker 2: back Chris Platt is back at wide receiver. He's a
Speaker 2: six year senior. He's going to get some work. And
Speaker 2: Matt Rule's really excited about Josh Fleeks out wide. He
Speaker 2: only had fourteen catches as a freshman last year, but
Speaker 2: they're talking about him as some sort of dynamic playmaker.
Speaker 1: To me, we should make a list of players that
Speaker 1: coaches are excited about, and they're excited about all. Revisit
Speaker 1: all the players.
Speaker 2: The problem that they need to solve most immediately is
Speaker 2: playmaking on defense, because last season they forced only ten
Speaker 2: turnovers all year.
Speaker 1: Long, and that's not going to be random. We can
Speaker 1: be random.
Speaker 2: It relies on luck, no doubt, but ten turnovers in
Speaker 2: one season is not good enough. Secondly, they allowed twenty
Speaker 2: five touchdowns of thirty or more yards and eighteen touchdowns
Speaker 2: of forty or more yards DAN, So it's not just
Speaker 2: a turnover playmaking, it's just stopping the big plays from happening.
Speaker 2: They got to get better to do with that. I
Speaker 2: don't know if they rely on their linebacking corps to
Speaker 2: help guide them through that. That's really the one position
Speaker 2: of depth on that defense. But they got to find
Speaker 2: some way to solve that riddle because it killed them
Speaker 2: killed them last year. There was a lot of good
Speaker 2: on that defense, just a couple plays here and there,
Speaker 2: a lot of plays here and there that were bad news.
Speaker 2: The schedule is backloaded big time into November. They're at TCU,
Speaker 2: They've got Oklahoma and Texas all in November. I saw
Speaker 2: one game by game projection that had Baylor at nine
Speaker 2: and three. That feels a little generous to me, really
Speaker 2: really generous to me. I think eight and four. Eight
Speaker 2: and four is realistic. Eight and four, if I'm being
Speaker 2: really optimistic, is where I come down on this team.
Speaker 2: There is plenty of room to move down on that
Speaker 2: scale if you so desire. But I'm going to be
Speaker 2: very optimistic on Baylor this year because I like Charlie
Speaker 2: Brewers so much. I like Matt Rule as a football
Speaker 2: coach so much. Eight and four, I'm gonna go real
Speaker 2: optimistic with the Bears.
Speaker 1: I know this is a good thing. If this this
Speaker 1: is happening, it speaks well of your coach and his ability.
Speaker 1: I mean, are you are you banking on long term
Speaker 1: mat Rule and Waco?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: I mean, is he the Houston Texans coach next year?
Speaker 1: Is he you know, the Arizona Cardinals if Cliffy is
Speaker 1: a disaster? Is he in Washington or Buffalo like that?
Speaker 2: He is?
Speaker 1: Yes, he talked to the Colts. Reportedly, he talked to
Speaker 1: the Colts. It's it's well known. I think at this
Speaker 1: point that Matt Ruhle is willing to listen, right, and no,
Speaker 1: perhaps sign an offered contract. Yeah, I am not.
Speaker 2: I am not at all banking on him long term,
Speaker 2: but right, I think he's a really good football coach
Speaker 2: and he's done a good job guiding Bailor through this
Speaker 2: rough patch. Here. Just take that on its face. I
Speaker 2: like I like their youth. I like the fact that
Speaker 2: they play hard. I like the fact that it seems
Speaker 2: as if they're getting better, and carry that forward now
Speaker 2: to twenty nineteen that I.
Speaker 1: Think could mean eight wins.
Speaker 2: Where do you want to go, Daniel, I want to
Speaker 2: talk about the final team on your side here, Okay,
Speaker 2: let's talk about Oklahoma State.
Speaker 1: Yes, new quarterback this year? Play the spicy sound please.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you bite into a wing and it's super duper spicy.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes are like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is interesting flavor and all. But they're using a different
Speaker 1: kind of chili pepper and there's good crunch to it
Speaker 1: and there's like an interesting after burn. I'm using weird
Speaker 1: lingo to discuss something that ultimately is going to come
Speaker 1: back to Oklahoma State football. But sometimes you just bite
Speaker 1: into something and it's spicy and you're like, well, this
Speaker 1: is just burning. Oklahoma State can go a number of
Speaker 1: directions this year in terms of spice. They can go
Speaker 1: in the oh damn. Sean Gleeson is a revelation for
Speaker 1: this offense. You know, as good as Mike Yersick was,
Speaker 1: which he was excellent, you look at what Mason Rudolph
Speaker 1: did and Justice Hill and you know Junkyard, Jim Washington,
Speaker 1: all these guys who put up enormous yards and won
Speaker 1: huge games. I think Sean Lison offers something a little
Speaker 1: bit different, and I think there's more creativity. I think
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of Chris Peterson to him with
Speaker 1: tempo spread. I think there's that kind of you know,
Speaker 1: playing forty called forty chess, is that you're forty forty?
Speaker 2: Do you know?
Speaker 1: You know how?
Speaker 2: I know that you're excited what Olahoma State? Yeah, you
Speaker 2: didn't even let me ask my question. I know, so
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna lest play here talk to me about
Speaker 2: Oklahoma State. I think you're very excited about them, aren't you.
Speaker 1: No? I am, well, I am because I finally sat
Speaker 1: down and watched some clips of Princeton football, where he
Speaker 1: was the offensive coordinator of these past couple of years.
Speaker 1: And he could bring something really really interesting to the
Speaker 1: Big twelve, something pretty not novel, but wrinkles that that
Speaker 1: would be pretty exciting to watch. So I assume your
Speaker 1: question is something in the way of what are they
Speaker 1: going to look like on offense or what's what's the
Speaker 1: impact going to be something with that.
Speaker 2: New quarterback, new offensive coordinator, new offensive line coach. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what does all that mean for Oklahoma State? What does
Speaker 2: it mean for the offense that we know and love
Speaker 2: and are used to seeing, And how much different, if
Speaker 2: at all, will it look.
Speaker 1: So a recent headline I saw was two quarterback system
Speaker 1: question mark coaches are saying it's a possibility, oh boy,
Speaker 1: And that would be Drew Brown, who set out last
Speaker 1: year five eleven. They thought he was gonna win the
Speaker 1: job last year. He's he's not huge about five to eleven.
Speaker 1: But the transfer from Hawaii who's played a lot, and
Speaker 1: then Spencer Sanders, red shirt freshman, big arm, you know,
Speaker 1: a big, big recruit. I really hope it doesn't go
Speaker 1: in that direction. I really hope they don't go with
Speaker 1: what I considered to be the equivalent of an open marriage.
Speaker 1: We're like, this makes sense, Let's see what we got
Speaker 1: and then just like in practice, like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: a nightmare. So I whoever wins the job is going
Speaker 1: to have a very good running back next to them,
Speaker 1: behind them whatever in Cuba Howard Cuba Hubbard. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: I think that's auto correct. My notes corrected Hubbard to Howard.
Speaker 1: Sure Tylan Wallace maybe the best receiver. I mean, Ceedee
Speaker 1: Lamb is, you know, huge Jalen Rager, but Tylan Wallace is,
Speaker 1: in the conversation best receiver. I think he was a
Speaker 1: Bolittannikov finalist along with Dylan Stoner. They have a lot
Speaker 1: of interesting skill They've They've recruited receiver very well. The
Speaker 1: offensive line is experienced dot dot dot, but not great.
Speaker 1: It's one of those things where like, okay, I can
Speaker 1: learn from their past mistakes they have. They have a
Speaker 1: new offensive line coach, Charlie Dickey comes over from Kansas State.
Speaker 1: He's a long time Bill Snyder guy. You know, year
Speaker 1: after year with this offense at at Oklahoma State with
Speaker 1: Mike Yersick, they put up a ton of huge plays.
Speaker 1: I imagine that's going to continue. It seems likely that
Speaker 1: it'll continue. So what is it going to look like
Speaker 1: They're gonna be they're gonna spread out, They're gonna hunt
Speaker 1: for mismatches. There's gonna be a lot of motion before
Speaker 1: the snap. They're gonna play with pace. There's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of red zone creativity. I saw a wild
Speaker 1: Princeton play from a couple of years ago where it
Speaker 1: was like a jet sweep, fake run path, I don't
Speaker 1: know whatever was It was great, some real creativity down
Speaker 1: near the goal line. I think it's going to take
Speaker 1: some time. I think the verbiage, I think the comfort
Speaker 1: in the offense is going to take some time to
Speaker 1: get comfortable. But ultimately I think it's a pretty wise investment.
Speaker 1: So what's it going to look like? At times really
Speaker 1: friggin fun, other times against some of the better defenses
Speaker 1: in the conference, kind of ugly and off the field
Speaker 1: pretty quickly. Ultimately, again, I'm very excited about the potential
Speaker 1: of Sean Gleeson. In Oklahoma State. This was you know,
Speaker 1: we talk about the allue between offense and defense. The
Speaker 1: defense did an okay job of getting off the field
Speaker 1: because of their pass rush, but they were awful against
Speaker 1: the run. Tie no, And if you were going to
Speaker 1: leave the offense on the sideline because a team is
Speaker 1: just pumping out six yard run after six yard run,
Speaker 1: and it's not great. So they need to get a
Speaker 1: lot better. Inside on defense was the worst rush defense
Speaker 1: in the Big Twelve last year, which was sort of
Speaker 1: strange because if you remember, they shut down Boise State
Speaker 1: Madison Avenue, but they just collapsed. They fully collapsed again.
Speaker 1: The pass rush was fine. The big plays have to
Speaker 1: have to go. Me turnover margin has to get better.
Speaker 1: I just man, there's so it can go in so
Speaker 1: many directions. I'm very excited for this season. Give me
Speaker 1: a win total, give me a take all. Right, the
Speaker 1: best case for Oklahoma State, they're probably going nine to
Speaker 1: three best case, which is an incredible bounce back year.
Speaker 1: A quarterback works out, the offense clicks quickly. That's a
Speaker 1: nice non conference schedule. Even if the defense is only
Speaker 1: okay against the run, that's an improvement. Worst case, neither
Speaker 1: Drew Brown or Spencer Sanders really clicking the offense right away.
Speaker 1: It's inconsistent. The defense is still leaky against the run.
Speaker 1: Six and six, seven and five again, So I think
Speaker 1: there's pretty high variants, and in a pretty wide open
Speaker 1: conference to have you know, a lot returning including a
Speaker 1: a gravitational big play receiver in Tylan Wallace. It's a
Speaker 1: it's a significant leg up. All right, damn, are you
Speaker 1: looking forward to this Oklahoma State team? I? Yes, I
Speaker 1: went through.
Speaker 2: I probably didn't read as much about Oklahoma State as
Speaker 2: you did, right, But everything that I read twenty two
Speaker 2: boom or bust. Yeah, to your point, it could go
Speaker 2: a bunch of different directions. So I have a tremendous
Speaker 2: amount of confidence in Mike Gundy to assemble the pieces. Okay,
Speaker 2: he'd been very consistent in his time at Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2: I think he'll find a way to get the job done.
Speaker 2: But there are a lot of unknowns here.
Speaker 1: What does that mean getting the job done? Flirting with
Speaker 1: double digit wins getting the job done? Yeah, So the
Speaker 1: losses have to come somewhere. We have We definitely have
Speaker 1: one team that we've not talked about that is going
Speaker 1: to generate a lot of losses.
Speaker 2: I believe they're the last one on our list here.
Speaker 1: Because we're talking about I said Kansas State, I had
Speaker 1: as a worst case scenario about four and eight. That's
Speaker 1: the absolute bottom to me for Kansas State. The other
Speaker 1: teams that I've had as not Bowl eligible, I think
Speaker 1: I mentioned five and seven with West Virginia Oklahoma State
Speaker 1: I have as Bowl eligible pretty much no matter what,
Speaker 1: and obviously with Oklahoma I do as well. Who do
Speaker 1: you have as a worst case of the teams that
Speaker 1: you have previewed other than Kansas we're about to talk about.
Speaker 1: Who do you think you know? Ending up going home
Speaker 1: at the end of or at the beginning of December
Speaker 1: is a real possibility? Baylor TCU. Do you think TCU
Speaker 1: is bottoming out a little bit after the cheese At Bowl?
Speaker 2: Do you?
Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think they're going to bottom out. Okay,
Speaker 1: I have a lot of confidence in TCU. I think
Speaker 1: five and seven Texas Tech. I think five and seven
Speaker 1: Texas Tech is a possibility. I could see things going
Speaker 1: sideways for Baylor if they get injuries. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: Matt Wells definitely had a couple of pretty disappointing years
Speaker 1: Utah SED eight.
Speaker 2: But it's not happening to Texas. I don't think it's
Speaker 2: happened to PCU. Okay, the others. You could make a
Speaker 2: case for.
Speaker 1: It wide variants absolutely, Okay, final team. Shower your Kansas
Speaker 1: questions upon me, please, Okay, I'm not a big believer
Speaker 1: in Kansas. I don't know if you have there, you
Speaker 1: should not be. I don't know if you have it. Okay,
Speaker 1: if Kansas is able to shock somebody or make you
Speaker 1: change the channel to is this the Big twelve on
Speaker 1: ESPN plus this year? Who knows? If they're suddenly along
Speaker 1: the bottom line of Fox Sports or ESPN. You're like,
Speaker 1: Kansas is up thirty one to thirty with seven minutes left.
Speaker 1: Why will that be the case against a Big twelve opponent?
Speaker 1: What is it about this year's Kansas squad? You're like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to win much. First off, what was
Speaker 1: the score? You just said, thirty one thirty.
Speaker 2: It will never be thirty one thirty. Kansas is in
Speaker 2: the Oh my god.
Speaker 1: That means it's definitely going to be thirty one thirty.
Speaker 2: It will never be thirty one thirty. It's going to
Speaker 2: have to be low scoring, and it's going to have
Speaker 2: to be against a team that struggles in the front seven.
Speaker 2: Because the only way that that is possible is and this,
Speaker 2: by the way, is the most less miles thing possible
Speaker 2: to say, the only way that that happens is if
Speaker 2: they feed the beast. That is Pucka Williams Junior a
Speaker 2: million times. He actually has a fairly experienced line to
Speaker 2: run behind. Doesn't mean they're great, but he's got some
Speaker 2: experience in front of him. He's going to get a
Speaker 2: healthy workload this year. They're going up against some team
Speaker 2: that has a hard time defending it and less Miles
Speaker 2: is able to play ball control offense, and that's how
Speaker 2: the game is closely.
Speaker 1: It's the only way should mention Pooka Williams back from
Speaker 1: a suspension I missed six or seven months. He's out
Speaker 1: the first game of the year. It was a domestic
Speaker 1: battery charge that he I think he's in a diversion program.
Speaker 1: Missed the WAGA. Yeah. The way I hear you describing
Speaker 1: Kansas is when one of those videos goes viral of
Speaker 1: a senior citizen just nailing jump shots where they're just
Speaker 1: hitting eighteen footer after eighteen footer. Nobody's guarding them, right,
Speaker 1: you know, everything is set up for a really nice environment.
Speaker 1: So that's what you're telling me. They're going to have
Speaker 1: to win a game in the snow, going against a
Speaker 1: fifth string quarterback. The conditions are optimal. Somebody gets Charlie
Speaker 1: Brewer gets hurt.
Speaker 2: It's going to have to be some combination of events
Speaker 2: that is unfortunate for the opponent. And I think relies
Speaker 2: a lot on Pooka Williams Junior.
Speaker 1: But that's it.
Speaker 2: Really, that's it. This is not going to be a
Speaker 2: good Kansas team. The big story in Lawrence is that
Speaker 2: Les Miles is the new coach. He's assembled the cast
Speaker 2: of characters on the coaching staff that aren't exactly hot commodities.
Speaker 2: Les Kennig, formerly of Duke Houston, Alabama, Texas A and
Speaker 2: M South Alabama, Mississippi State.
Speaker 1: And UAB, so he's gotten around.
Speaker 2: And then Dj Elliott on the defensive side of the
Speaker 2: ball Kentucky and Colorado wasn't great no, most recently, but
Speaker 2: he will be your new defensive coordinator. So, you know,
Speaker 2: Les Miles is the story. It's great to have him
Speaker 2: back in college football. He's going to bring with him
Speaker 2: a sense of personality and a flair and commentary that
Speaker 2: only Less Miles can provide on the football field. I
Speaker 2: am far less convinced, and I'm curious to see if
Speaker 2: he can do more than just hand the ball off
Speaker 2: to Pooka Williams.
Speaker 1: You know, I mean, you've you've purchased a TV in
Speaker 1: recent years, right, I have? What's that? What's a huge
Speaker 1: selling point for new TVs? What is something about the
Speaker 1: picture that people are really looking for, especially like cinophiles,
Speaker 1: people super into the ice you need.
Speaker 2: To get I don't know if they're up to eight
Speaker 2: K now, but the resolution at a minimum, you need
Speaker 2: to get a four K TV if you're going.
Speaker 1: To go new What is it about color that's crucial?
Speaker 1: But you're asking really, you're asking some color blind here.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but you want deep black, right, you want
Speaker 1: the deep black. That's why I went with an old read. Right,
Speaker 1: you want with an O lead because it has that
Speaker 1: deep black, and so if you set that that black
Speaker 1: tone at a certain depth, then everything really pops, right,
Speaker 1: That's right? Yeah. I think this applies to Less Miles
Speaker 1: hair coloring. I think the deeper and richer the color
Speaker 1: he goes with, I think if he can get to that,
Speaker 1: there's certain paints that are like the darkest, darkest black possible.
Speaker 1: I think if he can get that involved in his
Speaker 1: look by twenty twenty, okay, they can go to a
Speaker 1: bowl game. The darker his hair, the better.
Speaker 2: Kansas Football were talking about less Miles. Here is what
Speaker 2: I think I'm hearing.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying for a goth reason. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: for the full like dark look, no, okay, I'm just
Speaker 1: saying his hair color has varied so much over the years.
Speaker 1: He had like a sandy copper era. It's darker than
Speaker 1: ever now, which I love. I think I think he
Speaker 1: has to go even darker. We're also Kansas has to
Speaker 1: go full o lead.
Speaker 2: We're also in the era of less Miles wearing that
Speaker 2: pancake makeup in the old Capital one commercials?
Speaker 1: Was it Capital One?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 1: I have no idea.
Speaker 2: I don't remember what that commercial series is for. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but the pancake makeup was a bit ominous.
Speaker 1: Puka Williams oh lead depth for less Miles. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean this is going to take a while. If if
Speaker 1: less Miles is more about improving Kansas fully, you know,
Speaker 1: getting back to how much he was respected for a
Speaker 1: time at LSU as a as a really good coach.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna be really recruit like he was at LSU.
Speaker 1: He's not gonna be on the stage like he was
Speaker 1: at LSU. But if he is the guy to keep
Speaker 1: hiring and keep recruiting and build the talent level up,
Speaker 1: take advantage of some uncertainty, if you know, things go
Speaker 1: sideways for for West Virginia and Texas Tech and Oklahoma
Speaker 1: State and Kansas State, whoever, if he's there building a
Speaker 1: solid program, if he can get them to wherever Kansas
Speaker 1: State was averaging at. I know that sounds like insulting
Speaker 1: for for Kansas fans, probably Kansas State fans. If he
Speaker 1: can get them to that, if you get them the
Speaker 1: seven wins a year, my god, heroic, don't think it's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Dan, It's gonna be a while. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a while. I just well, he's the guy.
Speaker 2: Let me close out with this, Okay, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: put together a hypothetical proposition bet for you you get
Speaker 2: either Homo or the group of Texas, Oklahoma State, and
Speaker 2: Iowa State to win the Big Twelve in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Which side of that better you're taking. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: essentially giving me Oklahoma or the field, right essentially? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm taking the field for sure. There are ways for
Speaker 1: things to go wrong. There are more ways for things
Speaker 1: to go wrong with a single school than there are
Speaker 1: for everybody else. All screwing up to me. All right,
Speaker 1: you're giving me odds. I mean, you're just the odds
Speaker 1: are that with ten teams and teams that Oklahoma has
Speaker 1: lost too recently in Texas and Iowa state. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: going to struggled with at times.
Speaker 2: I've got a homemade spreadsheet where I calculate points per drive. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I am playing the probability of this.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And you know how I feel about Brock Party
Speaker 1: Dwayne the Brock Johnson. Yeah, I know it's okay. Really,
Speaker 1: TI go on YouTube type in b r ockp U
Speaker 1: R d Y and you will fall in love. Just
Speaker 1: party like a brockstar. You know how it is. I
Speaker 1: would He's America sweetheart, all right?
Speaker 2: Well as always right in It's Oliverblegmail dot com or
Speaker 2: anywhere on social media. Go comment about the show out
Speaker 2: on the subreddit, reddit dot com, slash r slash solid verbal.
Speaker 2: Let us know what we got right, what we got wrong,
Speaker 2: Where you agree disagree, It all goes with the territory.
Speaker 2: But we are now officially in preview mode. Our next
Speaker 2: episode is going to drop on Sunday. We will be
Speaker 2: talking about the PAC twelve. Dan's got the North. Obviously,
Speaker 2: I've got the South. We are going to continue attacking
Speaker 2: every conference in this fashion. And by the way, for
Speaker 2: those of you who have asked the important question, why
Speaker 2: was it Notre Dame part of the ACC that's my fault.
Speaker 2: We're gonna lump them in with their geographic peers that
Speaker 2: are in the Big ten.
Speaker 1: Mac Oh what what? I also want to do some
Speaker 1: G five stuff as we get closer to the season.
Speaker 1: We'll do G two we have to. Yeah, we'll do
Speaker 1: some G five stuff too. Ye who's in the Because
Speaker 1: you asked me about champion Oklahoma versus the field, who's
Speaker 1: in the championship game?
Speaker 2: To you, I it's Oklahoma Texas, Oklahoma Texas. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: it's the easy answer, but I think that's the right answer.
Speaker 2: Oklahoma Iowa State could happen.
Speaker 1: And that's not great because there's a good chance, you know,
Speaker 1: Iowa State, if they're in that game, they go in,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe they lose to Iowa and they're nine
Speaker 1: and three and all of a sudden, you have a
Speaker 1: ten and three Big twelve champion and whoop, no playoff.
Speaker 1: Oh well, don't.
Speaker 2: Forget if you haven't already gotten tickets to the show
Speaker 2: that we're going in Dallas Soliverblltickets dot com, Slash Texas.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start editing our bank of fantasy. Yess we do.
Speaker 2: I need to start adding to it as well, please do.
Speaker 2: We've also got a live show in DC soliverbill Tickets
Speaker 2: dot com, Slash DC August the seventeenth, August eighteenth.
Speaker 1: We are planning.
Speaker 2: Emails are flying back and forth, not just between you
Speaker 2: and I, but also with the venues, the people going
Speaker 2: to the shows. We're gonna bring our boy Taylor along
Speaker 2: with us to both places. Going to be an extravaganza.
Speaker 2: Get you ready for college football season in the funnest way.
Speaker 2: We know. Possible tenders, with tenders and with our fantasy things.
Speaker 1: Yes, all right, that's all I got. It's all I
Speaker 1: got as well. Thank you for bearing with.
Speaker 2: Us here as we talked about all things Big twelve.
Speaker 1: We will be back on Sunday.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your week, enjoy
Speaker 2: the beginning part of your weekend, and until next time,
Speaker 2: stay solid peace,