Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal. Call that for me.
Speaker 2: I'm a man, I'm for I've heard so many players say,
Speaker 2: well I want to be happy.
Speaker 3: You want to be happy for day Edith state is
Speaker 3: that whoo whoom?
Speaker 1: And Dan and Tye welcome back to the solid verbal
Speaker 1: boys and girls.
Speaker 4: My name is ty Hildebrand joining me again my good
Speaker 4: friend over there in New York City.
Speaker 1: Dan Rubinstein, sir, how are you part two? Tye?
Speaker 2: Part ar duh Pardieu Pardieu. I'm excited, Tye. We have again.
Speaker 2: We have like seventeen now, we have eighteen pages of
Speaker 2: questions that we are trying to get through. We decided
Speaker 2: to do this mega Q and a preseason show. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Part one came out on Wednesday. Thrilled uh to welcome
Speaker 2: and Ross Tucker to that show to talk about I
Speaker 2: forget what you defined Wisconsin offense, Wisconsin's office their beefy,
Speaker 2: but it was like optimal beef poenis there was a
Speaker 2: good turn of phrase that you used.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Jeffy.
Speaker 4: Well, we had a fun time on Wednesday. We've got
Speaker 4: more questions that we're going to pull from here. I
Speaker 4: do want to start with a question to you though,
Speaker 4: because some folks are going to be listening to our
Speaker 4: Wednesday show immediately before this show, So to truly be
Speaker 4: a pro and establish some continuity, I want to ask
Speaker 4: you a very important question about Italian food, just to
Speaker 4: get things kicked off here. When we're talking about lasagna,
Speaker 4: and you know my theory about Italian restaurants, so I
Speaker 4: like to order the same thing at every Italian restaurant
Speaker 4: so that I can properly gauge which one is better
Speaker 4: than the others.
Speaker 2: I like that we're starting this out with previously on
Speaker 2: the solid verb. That's right exactly, and it's about lasagna.
Speaker 4: My thing is not lasagna, but some sort of dish
Speaker 4: with vodka sauce. So whether it's Penny vodka or Rigatoni vodka,
Speaker 4: I like to gauge how good an Italian restaurant is
Speaker 4: by the quality of its vodka sauce.
Speaker 2: It's like a creamy, a creamy tomato sauce.
Speaker 1: Do you have anything like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? If I'm in a pizza mood, either some form
Speaker 2: of pepperoni or soaprosda, some sort of spicy cured meat pizza.
Speaker 2: And if I'm in a more meaty mood, it'll be
Speaker 2: chicken palm okay, and if it's more pasta, so I
Speaker 2: guess it sort of depends on the category. If we're
Speaker 2: talking more pasta, it'll be like a rigged Tony and
Speaker 2: like a meat sauce, a bowlin AT's type thing.
Speaker 4: Didn't you have chicken parmesan when we went to the
Speaker 4: Italian restaurant all day in Chicago?
Speaker 2: I most certainly did tie and it was wonderful.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, don't forget that Chicago Live Show is going to
Speaker 4: be posted on Wednesday if you're interested in hearing who
Speaker 4: we selected at our Fantasy Things draft at the Vidim Theater.
Speaker 4: We had a great crowd, We had great fun. Afterwards.
Speaker 4: I ate two and a half chicken tenders for those
Speaker 4: of you playing the home game. And yes, as I
Speaker 4: gave away the game a bit, I did dress up
Speaker 4: as a Pilgrim during our unrecorded Q and an segment
Speaker 4: to make good on my promise to wear a Pilgrim
Speaker 4: outfit if Virginia Tech beat Virginia in the Commonwealth Cup
Speaker 4: in twenty seventeen, which.
Speaker 1: Was a dumb thing to say. I know it.
Speaker 2: I love the fire though. I love that you were
Speaker 2: so confident about a relatively inconsequential game.
Speaker 4: But I wasn't confident. This is what happens when I
Speaker 4: try to do a hot take.
Speaker 2: I would say the self confidence, not the confidence in
Speaker 2: the Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm fine that. I love the
Speaker 2: confidence in yourself. You made good on it. You looked wonderful.
Speaker 2: It was a cheap Amazon costume, but you you made
Speaker 2: it work ty.
Speaker 4: For those who have asked. For those who are interested,
Speaker 4: there will be future live shows. Dan and I are
Speaker 4: working on it. Stay tuned. Sign up for the newsletter
Speaker 4: at soliverbal dot com. The brand newssliverbal dot com courtesy
Speaker 4: of our friends over at Superboss.
Speaker 2: All Right, I tease this question in part one Corny
Speaker 2: in Dunwoodie. It's from Reddit, longtime listener. Yeah, your TV
Speaker 2: has broken and won't change. The channel not moving this
Speaker 2: Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend and oh my god,
Speaker 2: I gotta edit these before we get into it. So basically,
Speaker 2: your TV breaks the Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend
Speaker 2: and you're stuck on one single channel the whole weekend,
Speaker 2: can't watch on your phone, iPad, laptop. Which channel would
Speaker 2: your preference be to be stuck on? For those what
Speaker 2: seventy two hours.
Speaker 1: See now this is a very good question. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2: So the options are ABC, CBS, Fox, NBCESPN, Big Ten Network,
Speaker 2: Fox Sports One, and the SEC network. Now we can
Speaker 2: go over all the games, but we're not going to.
Speaker 2: Now that's just reading a lineup. What is your answer
Speaker 2: of those options?
Speaker 4: See here here's the tough part for me. The Notre
Speaker 4: Dame game against Michigan is going to be on NBC.
Speaker 4: There's not going to be any other college football on NBC.
Speaker 4: You're gonna be watching like golf all weekend, right if
Speaker 4: you pick NBC. So I don't think, as someone who
Speaker 4: hosts a Soliverbal I could pick NBC. I think I
Speaker 4: have to keep tabs on it through the Pontiac game
Speaker 4: changing performances or halftime shows. I think you gotta go
Speaker 4: with ABC, though the biggest games are generally on ABC.
Speaker 2: Sure, not a lot of highlights, though, you're not going
Speaker 2: to be oppressed of college football beyond the big games.
Speaker 1: But you're not gonna go Fox. What games are on Fox.
Speaker 2: FAU Oklahoma would be feisty North Carolina, col Akro, Nebraska.
Speaker 4: I think you probably gotta go ABC just so that
Speaker 4: you can first hand watch the biggest games of the
Speaker 4: weekend save for Notre Dame in Michigan.
Speaker 2: So my answer is ABC. You have Auburn, Washington, BAM, Milouisville,
Speaker 2: and LSU Miami, all neutral side games. So the flavor
Speaker 2: of college football outside of that Ohio State Oregon State game,
Speaker 2: you're not really getting opening weekend, which kind of sucks.
Speaker 2: I figured there was going to be good ABC program.
Speaker 2: You maybe watched some Saturday Morning cartoons in ABC before
Speaker 2: the game start. Guess what I learned today? ABC does
Speaker 2: not have Saturday Morning cartoon.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: God, that's been not a single like eight years one. Really, Yeah, do.
Speaker 2: Any of the networks have Saturday Morning cartoons?
Speaker 1: Maybe the Cartoon Network, Well.
Speaker 2: I mean cartoon I'm sure there's like Noggin or a
Speaker 2: channel like that cartoons specific Yeah, I think the answer
Speaker 2: is ABC. Although ESPN gives you the immersive college football
Speaker 2: experience because you're getting game Day, you're getting the halftime
Speaker 2: in the in between shows, you're getting Game Day final whatever.
Speaker 4: What means more to you having an immersive college football
Speaker 4: experience all weekend where you can stay abreast of the
Speaker 4: situation but can't watch all the games, or being able
Speaker 4: to watch the three biggest games or three of the
Speaker 4: biggest games all weekend without having the extra baggage of
Speaker 4: the scoreboard shows.
Speaker 2: I'm going to say, I'm actually going to switch to ESPN.
Speaker 2: I'm going to learn more about the college football weekend
Speaker 2: from ESPN, and after the weekend is over, I can
Speaker 2: go back and watch the specifics of those big games
Speaker 2: on NBC and ABC.
Speaker 4: I think, if you're a normal person, the answer is ABC.
Speaker 4: I think if you're Dan and I and you have
Speaker 4: to do a podcast on Sunday, the only answer is ESPN,
Speaker 4: because otherwise we're not ready to do the show Sunday morning.
Speaker 1: Right, All right, where are we going?
Speaker 2: All right? Next question, let's go to Oh I love
Speaker 2: this question. We're gonna have to pull up week one
Speaker 2: of the schedule, okay, because in a couple weeks we
Speaker 2: actually have to preview these But Nick wants to know
Speaker 2: which first week game will be deceptive and give us
Speaker 2: the wrong opinion about two teams, also known as what
Speaker 2: first week game is most likely to be? The Tyrone
Speaker 2: Swoops game from twenty sixteen Notre Dame Texas twenty sixteen
Speaker 2: where Notre Dame season was not good?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: If I remember correctly, That is correct. That's very Texas season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not good right.
Speaker 2: Where we thought we had like two heavyweights just smashing
Speaker 2: each other in the face, turns out it was it
Speaker 2: was a local match. It was a backyard brawl, not
Speaker 2: in a good way.
Speaker 1: Okay. So I don't think Notre Dame Michigan's the answer here.
Speaker 1: I hope.
Speaker 4: I think that's an option though it is definitely an option,
Speaker 4: but I don't think it's the answer here.
Speaker 2: Is what game is misleading.
Speaker 4: I think you could make a really strong case for
Speaker 4: Miami LSU.
Speaker 2: I think that's not a bad answer.
Speaker 4: Okay, because there are plenty of questions about Miami and
Speaker 4: their quarterback situation, and they're going against a really good defense.
Speaker 4: So Miami could be fine offensively moving forward, but could
Speaker 4: really struggle in that game. You could come away from
Speaker 4: watching that game and think, oh gosh, Miami offense. And
Speaker 4: then conversely, on the LSU side of things, we don't
Speaker 4: really know what we have with their offense, but Miami
Speaker 4: should also be pretty good on defense. I could see
Speaker 4: that game being an outright slug fest where one team
Speaker 4: wins like seventeen to fourteen, and both teams. Yes, I
Speaker 4: realized this is LSU, but both teams end up having
Speaker 4: a way better offense and a much different team from
Speaker 4: that point forward.
Speaker 2: I think that's reasonable. I'm going to say Virginia Tech
Speaker 2: Florida State because I think there is a chance this
Speaker 2: is an ugly game, not because one team blows out
Speaker 2: another team, but because of how new things are for
Speaker 2: both of these teams. Florida stay with the coaching staff
Speaker 2: overhaul and who knows who starts a quarterback, and Virginia Tech,
Speaker 2: with so many new faces on defense, offensively going to
Speaker 2: have to rely on a couple of new playmakers with
Speaker 2: the loss of a couple of standout guys on offense.
Speaker 2: And Virginia Tech always feels like to me, where they
Speaker 2: start the season off, You know that Ohio State season,
Speaker 2: nonwithstanding the one they won that game, the year they
Speaker 2: won the game. But there's something that Virginia Tech is
Speaker 2: not a slow starter, but they need they It takes
Speaker 2: a little bit of momentum to get to week seven,
Speaker 2: Week eight, week nine, We're like, oh, Virginia Tech has
Speaker 2: the best defense in the ACC, Virginia Tech has an
Speaker 2: All American caliber wide receiver. There's I think they take
Speaker 2: some time and I think there is. It's like a
Speaker 2: first half, maybe even three quarters of just you know,
Speaker 2: maybe a touchdown comes from a turnover, maybe a touchdown
Speaker 2: comes from a broken play where it's just not high
Speaker 2: level back and forth. But I think by the end
Speaker 2: of the season, Florida State we'll have a lot of
Speaker 2: momentum and Virginia Tech will have some much needed experience,
Speaker 2: especially on defense.
Speaker 4: All right, rapid fire, rapid fire. Let's get through as
Speaker 4: many of these as we can. Here, it's like twenty minutes.
Speaker 2: Troy wants to know what rule change could college football
Speaker 2: enact that would make you feel you weren't watching real
Speaker 2: football anymore. I don't. I don't even know what real
Speaker 2: football means. I guess if you like really couldn't tackle
Speaker 2: the quarterback something like that, if you could start challenging penalties,
Speaker 2: that's slippery to me in terms of it slows the
Speaker 2: game down a ton. You're taking power away from refs.
Speaker 2: I don't love that. But he has the second part
Speaker 2: to this question. If you don't have a really good.
Speaker 1: Answer, ty, go on, go on, I'm listening.
Speaker 2: What is the dumbest rule in the college football rule book?
Speaker 2: And he says, hint, this one hurts me too. It's
Speaker 2: the fumble forward out of the end zone being a
Speaker 2: touchback for the other team, and that hurts me because
Speaker 2: I watched Cameron coleve and do that in two thousand
Speaker 2: and seven and it still hurts and they lost a
Speaker 2: cow on that. So I hate that rule. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: I'm not the biggest every pi is fifteen yards fan.
Speaker 2: I'm not a huge proponent of that. I don't know
Speaker 2: what the middle ground is, but I'm not in love
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 4: I'm still not in love with targeting, and targeting is
Speaker 4: my answer here, because no matter how many times they
Speaker 4: try to tweak it, I feel like it's poorly implemented.
Speaker 4: I understand the need to improve player safety. I understand
Speaker 4: the need to make sure that players aren't turning themselves
Speaker 4: into a missile with the helmet to try and enforce
Speaker 4: proper tackling technique, but on some level, football is going
Speaker 4: to be a rough game. You can discourage behavior and
Speaker 4: still have it as part of the game just by
Speaker 4: the sheer consequence of people running at each other with
Speaker 4: full speed. So for me, I just I constantly feel
Speaker 4: like there's got to be a better way to implement
Speaker 4: targeting so that it discourages, but yet doesn't penalize in
Speaker 4: a way that is unjust so targeting for me, Always
Speaker 4: and forever is the answer here?
Speaker 2: Okay? Fair enough? James wants to know if Syracuse goes
Speaker 2: four and eight again this season, or even five and seven,
Speaker 2: is it time for the Orange to move on from
Speaker 2: Dino Babers.
Speaker 4: Here's the question that I would answer this question with,
Speaker 4: Ooh yeah. If not Dino Babers, then who then? Who?
Speaker 4: Who else are you gonna get?
Speaker 2: It's a tough job, man.
Speaker 1: I think Dino Babers is a good coach.
Speaker 4: Dan sure, I'm not sure Syracuse is necessarily a school
Speaker 4: that you could turn around in three years. Ken Neo
Speaker 4: Mattalolo answer Ken Neo Matalolo for every single opening I
Speaker 4: just said, and he coaches within the same states. Jeff Monkin, Okay,
Speaker 4: Armies won a couple in a row against Navy, right
Speaker 4: overhauled everything there a team that had been in a bad,
Speaker 4: bad place.
Speaker 2: Maybe my answer is Jeff Monkin. But I think the
Speaker 2: style of play that Dino Baber's employees should work relatively
Speaker 2: well at Syracuse. I think they should be able to
Speaker 2: compete for a Bowl every year.
Speaker 4: Why are you convinced that the option is going to
Speaker 4: work somewhere. Didn't we see this experiment with Paul Johnson
Speaker 4: where they took him down at Georgia Tech and it
Speaker 4: hasn't really materialized in the way they hoped. Like, why
Speaker 4: are we so convinced that ken Niamtalolo is going to
Speaker 4: work somewhere else?
Speaker 2: Ty, I'm old enough to remember the twenty fourteen Orange Bowl.
Speaker 2: I believe it was twenty fourteen, maybe twenty fifteen, whatever
Speaker 2: the season was when Georgia Tech won the Orange Bowl.
Speaker 1: What have they done since then?
Speaker 2: They've been fine? Okay, they haven't been They've been going
Speaker 2: to bowl games as Syracuse be going to bowl games. Nope,
Speaker 2: I ask you this, sir, they haven't. Uh, Georgia Tech
Speaker 2: has been fine, and I think it can work at
Speaker 2: a lot of places in which thinking a little bit
Speaker 2: differently about systems would go a long way.
Speaker 4: Listen, I'm all about thinking differently. I'm just unconvinced. I'm
Speaker 4: unconvinced that this works wherever you put it.
Speaker 2: I love the option, Tie, I know.
Speaker 4: I think that's why you answer the way you do.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm getting at here, which is fine. That's
Speaker 4: a fine answer, I'm just saying I'm right. I remain unconvinced.
Speaker 2: Who is the standalone This comes to us from Richard.
Speaker 2: Who is the standalone most exciting quarterback in the Power
Speaker 2: five this year? And why is your answer?
Speaker 3: M M?
Speaker 2: Is it philder Kovic? I guess he's technically not on
Speaker 2: a Power five team.
Speaker 4: I think the answer is Kyler Murray. What the answer
Speaker 4: is Kyler Murray? What most exciting quarterback?
Speaker 1: The answer is Kyle Shocked by that answer? Why?
Speaker 2: Why is he the most exciting quarterback?
Speaker 4: Because there is that secondary element to Kyler Murray, because
Speaker 4: if he blows a knee out, his other career that
Speaker 4: he signed five million dollars to get is suddenly in question.
Speaker 2: So most exciting because the most thrilling, intense. At any moment,
Speaker 2: things could go terribly wrong.
Speaker 4: I mean, the thrill of victory and agony of defeat
Speaker 4: is totally in play on every play for Kyler Murray. Wow,
Speaker 4: he could be really good. He could get twisted ankle
Speaker 4: and not play all year. There is an exciting storyline.
Speaker 1: How exciting? Wow?
Speaker 2: What you took this in such a dark way?
Speaker 1: I think so you're living on the edge of your seat.
Speaker 2: Man, I was I was just gonna say, Khalil Tait.
Speaker 1: Well, Khalil Tate's the boring answer.
Speaker 2: He could, but that's the right answer problem.
Speaker 4: I mean, Will it's probably the right answer. Yeah's million
Speaker 4: right it. Trace mcsorley's the right answer too. But in
Speaker 4: terms of pure intrigue, man, I'm real excited to see
Speaker 4: how this Kyler experiment.
Speaker 2: I'm going to part the words here. I'm gonna say
Speaker 2: exciting means and a positive context.
Speaker 4: Oh well, then it's probably Kyler Murray or Trace mcswory.
Speaker 2: It's still Kyler Murray.
Speaker 4: Then it's probably Khalil Tait or Trace mcswory. Someone like
Speaker 4: that a boring or Wow.
Speaker 2: Man, I love that you went dark, though I was unexpected.
Speaker 2: You're usually the bright shining light of this show. Next question, Oh,
Speaker 2: I like this question. Somebody asked about Stanford and Notre
Speaker 2: Dame and whether or not they can compete with their
Speaker 2: opponents with their recruiting strategy. Ivan, do you think schools
Speaker 2: like Notre Dame, Stanford, Northwes, Northwestern, and other high academic
Speaker 2: schools will ever change their recruiting ways to more challenge
Speaker 2: schools like Ohio State and Alabama, For the nation's top
Speaker 2: recruits or is the gap too big to ever be bridged.
Speaker 2: I feel these schools commit significantly less time, energy, and resources,
Speaker 2: but are okay taking one to two shots at the
Speaker 2: playoff every ten years?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 4: So there are things here that I in this question
Speaker 4: that I disagree with.
Speaker 2: Like I first and foremost, like grouping Notre Dame with
Speaker 2: Stanford obviously.
Speaker 4: Okay, Sure, No, I don't know if it's that the
Speaker 4: gap is so wide. I don't know if i'd say that.
Speaker 4: I also don't know if i'd say that they don't
Speaker 4: put the time and resources into the football program. Oh yeah,
Speaker 4: the way that other schools do that to me, seems
Speaker 4: like the opposite is true. What I would say, though,
Speaker 4: in answer to this question is that I don't think
Speaker 4: that they would change their ways because it really truly
Speaker 4: is woven into the fabric of who they are.
Speaker 1: And I've talked about this before when we.
Speaker 4: Address Notre Dame being an independent, right, and people from
Speaker 4: the outside look at it and say, wow, being an
Speaker 4: independent doesn't make sense. It's because Notre Dame is holier
Speaker 4: than thou and they just want to be different. And
Speaker 4: that could all be true, but you don't realize until
Speaker 4: you truly get closer to the Notre Dame football program
Speaker 4: how much they value that independence and how much they
Speaker 4: value it as part of their identity.
Speaker 1: And I think the same.
Speaker 4: Holds true for all the schools that have been mentioned
Speaker 4: here that like high academic standards are just sort of
Speaker 4: what they do. That's who they are, and in their world,
Speaker 4: they view that as a competitive advantage. So I don't
Speaker 4: envision that kind of mentality changing anytime soon. I just
Speaker 4: think it's what they've defined themselves as in who they
Speaker 4: will be moving forward.
Speaker 2: For no real reason. In particular, I feel like you
Speaker 2: could convince.
Speaker 4: Vanderbilt to be like, yeah, okay, all right, fine, Fandy's
Speaker 4: kind of in a different spot there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Duke has done a pretty good job, I mean
Speaker 2: on the basketball front of things over the years. You know,
Speaker 2: they've put in the effort recruiting, not football wise and
Speaker 2: in the same way, but they've built up that program nicely. No,
Speaker 2: I don't think Stanford Notre Dame, which are the two
Speaker 2: Power five ish programs that have come closest to the playoffs,
Speaker 2: with that level of academics, I don't think they're going
Speaker 2: to change things. First of all, they both recruit really well.
Speaker 2: Their shortcomings are not necessarily allan thing. Stanford has beaten
Speaker 2: USC pretty consistently over these past few years with inferior
Speaker 2: recruiting classes. Stanford has been on the upper echelon of
Speaker 2: college football in terms of grouping top programs in the
Speaker 2: past what eight seven years something like that. That's an
Speaker 2: incredible accomplishment. And as far as resources go, they don't
Speaker 2: pay David Shaw one million dollars. No, they don't pay
Speaker 2: him a couple million dollars. They pay him many millions
Speaker 2: of dollars. They just put a ton of money into
Speaker 2: their stadium and their facilities. They recruit nationally, which I
Speaker 2: mean so does Notre Dame. But as anybody that has
Speaker 2: to recruit nationally knows, in Stanford's case, because of grades
Speaker 2: and academic requirements, it is costly. It is costly to
Speaker 2: go into Texas and Georgia and Virginia as they have
Speaker 2: to get top level guys to get Kevin Hogan out
Speaker 2: of Virginia, to get Andrew Luck out of Texas. Walker
Speaker 2: little you know, these guys are no joke, far away
Speaker 2: and costly to recruit, and Stanford has done a fantastic
Speaker 2: job of doing so and same goes for Notre Dame
Speaker 2: recruiting southern California, recruiting all over the Midwest, recruiting you know, Florida,
Speaker 2: recruiting anywhere that there is talent that can get into
Speaker 2: Notre Dame and wants to go to Notre Dame. Brian
Speaker 2: Kelly and his staff will go after them. So I
Speaker 2: think they've put more resources than I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people think.
Speaker 1: All right, where are we going next? Let's go too
Speaker 1: rapid fire, rapid fire, rapid fire.
Speaker 2: Rapid fire, rapid fire. I'm scrolling way up. I just
Speaker 2: want to talk about Ed and Lisa McCaffrey some more.
Speaker 2: Okay with you, Maui beer guy, I feel like I
Speaker 2: know you. Yeah, Dan, you live in New York City,
Speaker 2: where there's an alumni slash fan bar for every major
Speaker 2: college football team. Have you ever gone to a bar
Speaker 2: of a team to watch one of their rivalry games? So,
Speaker 2: Lsubama Iowa Iowa State, just to enjoy the fandom and
Speaker 2: energy of the game. If not, why the hell not? Okay? So, yes,
Speaker 2: my answer is yes, I've been to a bunch of
Speaker 2: these bars. I usually don't because I want to watch
Speaker 2: a lot of games at once, and I'd like to
Speaker 2: have my laptop on me to be checking things because
Speaker 2: of work and the podcast and everything. But the experience
Speaker 2: is phenomenal. I went to a West Virginia bar in
Speaker 2: midtown and want I don't remember. I think it was halftime.
Speaker 2: It was West Virginia, god knows who, and players run
Speaker 2: off the field, volume goes down, take me home Country
Speaker 2: Road gets turned up. The whole place goes nuts singing
Speaker 2: it and it was incredible. But I have been for
Speaker 2: them some Thursday night games. I've been to a bunch
Speaker 2: of these. Part of the problem is also some of
Speaker 2: these bars are terrible. They're terrible bars who attract terrible people,
Speaker 2: not necessarily the college football fans, but the other people
Speaker 2: in that bar. So I've been to a bunch of them.
Speaker 2: They're extremely fun. You just have to do some scouting.
Speaker 2: Like all things in life.
Speaker 1: You got a scout, you got a scout, all right.
Speaker 2: Have you been to any of the New York bars,
Speaker 2: the team bars, the alumni bars.
Speaker 4: I feel like I've been. I feel like I was
Speaker 4: at a Michigan bar at one point.
Speaker 2: I went to Professor Toms that's a Michigan bar in
Speaker 2: in the East village, real cramped but decent. Nacho's huge, All.
Speaker 4: Right, real quick, Dan Jim wants to know, is it
Speaker 4: too early to drink pumpkin beer? Watching games during weeks
Speaker 4: one through four of the college football season. So pumpkin
Speaker 4: beer in September? Now, this is like poking at whether
Speaker 4: or not you like pumpkin beer. I'm gonna put that
Speaker 4: off to the side for a second and say that
Speaker 4: I saw pumpkin beer at Wegmans like two weeks ago.
Speaker 4: So it seems like they're trying to out pumpkin beer
Speaker 4: their competition by putting their pumpkin beer out earlier and
Speaker 4: earlier every year. And so if you're into pumpkin beer,
Speaker 4: I think your best option is probably to drink it
Speaker 4: some time in September because the good ones are out
Speaker 4: really early. Now that is separate from the fact of
Speaker 4: whether or not you should be drinking pumpkin beer. And
Speaker 4: while we could probably do a whole other podcast episode
Speaker 4: on that, but the answer, Jim, I think is it
Speaker 4: is not too early, because if you're into it, it
Speaker 4: is required.
Speaker 2: Consume what you'd like when you like time of year
Speaker 2: wise responsibly, and if you like pumpkin beer, drink your
Speaker 2: pumpkin beer. If you're hit by a bus and you
Speaker 2: haven't touched your pumpkin beer, nobody can say he went
Speaker 2: out like he lived full of pumpkin beer. Now you
Speaker 2: take advantage while we're all here.
Speaker 4: Jordan says that LSU has now had four of their
Speaker 4: last twenty scholarship quarterbacks finish their college careers at LSU.
Speaker 1: Not a question.
Speaker 4: Just wanted to complain. Thanks forward, and I'm sorry. Lowell
Speaker 4: Narcis has announced that he is transferring. I believe I
Speaker 4: saw that McMillan maybe transferring as well, so that quarterback
Speaker 4: competition between Joe Burrow and Miles Brennan appears to be
Speaker 4: at least somewhat narrowed down. We will find out more
Speaker 4: about that as obviously we get closer to the football season.
Speaker 4: Hopefully some folks are reading the Attle Athletic, the Athletic
Speaker 4: dot com slash solid Verbal and check it out.
Speaker 1: Bless you.
Speaker 2: Sorry, Ty got overwhelmed. What is what is your what
Speaker 2: is your view of that LSU situation? It is troubling, Well,
Speaker 2: it's troubling looking at the future and I don't know.
Speaker 2: I compared it from the Solid Verbal account to a
Speaker 2: restaurant space that no matter who moves in. If it's
Speaker 2: a kebab place, if it's a pizza place, if it's
Speaker 2: a cookie place, nobody's succeeding. I don't know if it's
Speaker 2: a if it's just cursed burial ground.
Speaker 1: Well, it is not a talent thing. It is not
Speaker 1: a talent thing.
Speaker 2: A bunch of changed positions. If you remember Russell Sheppard
Speaker 2: coming a safety.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think it's a talent thing.
Speaker 4: I think the talent that they're bringing in is obviously
Speaker 4: high end enough to support having a really good quarterback
Speaker 4: at LSU. It is either recruiting the wrong kind of
Speaker 4: quarterback for a system, or the coaching one or the other.
Speaker 4: It has to be one of those two things, because
Speaker 4: I really don't think it's the raw talent.
Speaker 2: I think Russell Sheppard moved to receiver, by the way,
Speaker 2: more I think about it, not safety. But we'll see, man,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I just I think it's because there
Speaker 2: has been weird continuity and at a certain point every
Speaker 2: program needs to be torn down and rebuilt back up.
Speaker 2: And you know ed Origron is a less Miles assistant,
Speaker 2: less miles being there forever, there's just certain ideas and
Speaker 2: certain ways of doing things that carry over and perhaps offensively.
Speaker 2: Now Steve Wensminger takes over the offense. He was the
Speaker 2: previous interim coach under ed Oorgron when he took over
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago. Now that Matt Canada's gone,
Speaker 2: there's just something that I just it needs to be
Speaker 2: rethought with new people. And I think eventually LSU will
Speaker 2: develop and succeed with quarterbacks that they themselves recruits. I
Speaker 2: just and Joe Burrow could succeed, but he's not a
Speaker 2: you know, not an LSU quarterback in the way that
Speaker 2: recruits are. He wasn't developed through that system. I don't know.
Speaker 4: All right, Dan, We're going to do two rapid fire
Speaker 4: questions and then we've got a special interview to bring people.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna take one for myself here and then you
Speaker 4: get to pick one for your all right. Uh, Anthony
Speaker 4: wants to know, especially for Tie, am I a sheets.
Speaker 1: Guy or a wah wah guy.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, Tye, please answer.
Speaker 4: The answer here is woah wah. Okay, the only answer
Speaker 4: is wah wah here, So count me down to guy.
Speaker 2: Let's start at the beginning, because I assume we have
Speaker 2: people that are listening outside of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so what does this question mean? Yea two?
Speaker 4: Yeah, these are two convenience stores slash gas stations slash
Speaker 4: places where you can go and get an mto sandwich
Speaker 4: that are what may to order, Oh my god, one
Speaker 4: of the little time screens. Sure so, sheets I think
Speaker 4: started up around your state college or Altoona, and wah
Speaker 4: Wah started here in eastern Pennsylvania. It's kind of like
Speaker 4: a staple here in eastern Pennsylvania. I think the wah
Speaker 4: wah subs and certainly the wah Wah coffee are a
Speaker 4: lot better than sheets.
Speaker 2: What makes I've seen this all over My friend Sam
Speaker 2: goes to New Jersey. I think it's from New Jersey,
Speaker 2: and he's always taken pictures of his woah wah sub
Speaker 2: wa wa. What makes it so good?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: I've never been able to pinpoint it, but all I
Speaker 4: can say is it's it's probably the bread on the
Speaker 4: sandwich that feels a little fresher, whereas sheets is more
Speaker 4: of like a subway, kind of like manufactured sub It
Speaker 4: feels like wah Wah has a freshness quotient that's a
Speaker 4: little higher.
Speaker 2: Wah wah the freshness quotient. It's a free advertise, so
Speaker 2: it's sort of like how people in Florida and the
Speaker 2: Southeast feel about publics. I don't think not comparing the
Speaker 2: quality of the two, but there is just something locally
Speaker 2: and tribal about locally desirous about the WA. I need
Speaker 2: to try it the next time I come out there. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we gotta go. Okay, sometime this season will do it.
Speaker 2: And final question, you get to pick Okay, we don't
Speaker 2: talk about this enough, even though we've mentioned it before.
Speaker 2: Let's go to our old friend Dan, who I believe
Speaker 2: is talking about taking his dad to football games and
Speaker 2: where to go Like the bucket listing miss because there
Speaker 2: is an element of people listen to the show, people
Speaker 2: who are just college football fans. There's like that second
Speaker 2: Bachelor party. Me and my buddies get together every year
Speaker 2: we try to see a new college football place. Sure,
Speaker 2: we've taken a form of this question many times, but
Speaker 2: he's taking his dad to LSU, which is absolutely on
Speaker 2: that list, if not the top of the list. It's
Speaker 2: the first time going on a trip like this. What
Speaker 2: other stadiums should they or anybody see? And is Michigan,
Speaker 2: his home state, A good pick for twenty nineteen. To
Speaker 2: answer his quiet first question, absolutely, and arbors great. The
Speaker 2: Big House is great. It's something that everybody should see.
Speaker 2: It is one of those places, one of those locales
Speaker 2: that helped to define what college football is. And if
Speaker 2: you haven't been, I've never I take that back. I
Speaker 2: went to Michigan Ohio State in two thousand and seven,
Speaker 2: but it's been a long time since I've been to
Speaker 2: the Big House for a game, and I can't wait
Speaker 2: to go back. Ty, you have not traveled extensively in
Speaker 2: the way that I have no facts only what would
Speaker 2: you say if you were getting together with the fellas? Yeah,
Speaker 2: go see a college town. Nobody's been to go see
Speaker 2: a stadium a big game. What boxes would you try
Speaker 2: to check?
Speaker 4: Well, I mean one that I'm dynasty is Clemson a
Speaker 4: great time. I'm dynasty.
Speaker 2: Clemson tougher to get to, yeah, but worth it.
Speaker 4: Tougher to get to and kind of along the same lines,
Speaker 4: Blacksburg is another one than that has really tough to
Speaker 4: get to. Yeah, a rich tradition, but maybe a little
Speaker 4: bit off the beaten path. The super fun third that
Speaker 4: I would throw out there be Madison, Wisconsin because you know,
Speaker 4: it might not be in a deep South and the
Speaker 4: weather might be a bit colder come middle to the
Speaker 4: end of the season, but everyone talks about the incredible
Speaker 4: tradition in Madison, and you know, I know our two
Speaker 4: Q and AH shows have been pretty heavy on Wisconsin here,
Speaker 4: but Madison, Wisconsin continually comes up among people who I
Speaker 4: know and trust as one of the coolest places to
Speaker 4: watch college football.
Speaker 2: Tennessee is very fun. Ole miss is fun and different
Speaker 2: within the SEC I've been to most place, most of
Speaker 2: the bigger places. Tennessee it's enormous, and it's like the
Speaker 2: Big House in that it houses you know, one hundred
Speaker 2: and ten thousand people or something like that, but it's
Speaker 2: banked a lot more dramatically. The stands are so you
Speaker 2: really feel fans on top of you down by the field.
Speaker 2: So I would definitely say Tennessee Washington is a great
Speaker 2: time and it's also red on the lake and people
Speaker 2: are also tailgating on boats across the Big twelve. Austin
Speaker 2: is a great town, but the experience of going to
Speaker 2: a Texas game is not all that overwhelming, So I
Speaker 2: would say, you know, still Water is a little out
Speaker 2: there in terms of distance from a major airport, but
Speaker 2: not too bad. Norman as well. Norman's not that far
Speaker 2: from Oklahoma City. I'm trying to think it's stadiums I
Speaker 2: haven't been to that I'd like to go to. Ohio
Speaker 2: State's fun Ohio Stadium is also one of those enormous places.
Speaker 2: But getting out of the Big Ten, getting out of
Speaker 2: the SEC. Clemson is a good answer. Miami does, probably
Speaker 2: not worth it. Florida State is fine, but I don't
Speaker 2: know if I'm putting it up with the rest of them.
Speaker 2: I think that's everything I really have.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, there are plenty of other ones that
Speaker 4: we've been to that are really good, you know, like
Speaker 4: Notre Dames and Experience and Penn State's and Experience. But
Speaker 4: for me anyway, those are my three answers. Clemson, Penn State,
Speaker 4: is Wisconsin difficult to get to, Yeah, Penn State.
Speaker 2: I flew into Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is no Pennsylvania tie.
Speaker 4: It's long, Manross Holy and it's well, it's five hours across,
Speaker 4: and then you drive an hour and a half and
Speaker 4: it's like ooh, detour real quick, yep, and then you're
Speaker 4: going around things and there are no lights on the
Speaker 4: highways or the interstates.
Speaker 2: It's it's a it's a far away drive from everything.
Speaker 2: That's well, that's what I will say. You know what,
Speaker 2: I'll give one more answer. West Virginia is a good time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Morgantown, baby.
Speaker 2: West Virginia, Morgantown, you can you can fly into Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: It's not that far from Pittsburgh. Morgantown's a good time.
Speaker 1: So here's how we're going to close out.
Speaker 4: We talked about how we didn't have a chance to
Speaker 4: really preview Conference USSA right.
Speaker 2: Well at Conference USA West.
Speaker 4: I believe Conference to USA West we have done something
Speaker 4: that no other college football podcast has done. That's right,
Speaker 4: previewing their conferences before the start of the season. Dan,
Speaker 4: We're going to close out on that note, correct.
Speaker 2: We are going to close out on this note. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Conference the Western Division of Conference USA has a lot
Speaker 2: of interesting teams, a lot of teams who have made
Speaker 2: noise in various way in recent years. We had seth
Speaker 2: latrelle on the North Texas head coach earlier during our
Speaker 2: scheme theme month, and I just figured why not actually
Speaker 2: go to the source. So I had a conversation with
Speaker 2: starting tight end Kelvin Smith, about all things North Texas,
Speaker 2: How camp is going, how the season's looking, the rest
Speaker 2: of the team's across Conference USA, where the Mean Green
Speaker 2: might improve a little bit, And let me tell you something,
Speaker 2: I'm a little bit higher on Mason Fine and the
Speaker 2: Mean Green than I was before. So here it is.
Speaker 2: And with that we are now joined by Kelvin Smith,
Speaker 2: tight end h back North Texas the Mean Green. Yes, sir, successful,
Speaker 2: huge offense. They go nine and three last year. And
Speaker 2: to everybody who says we are not looking out for
Speaker 2: really really good group of five teams, my goodness, we've
Speaker 2: got a star in the making. Kelvin, how are you?
Speaker 3: I'm going good?
Speaker 4: How bout just?
Speaker 2: I am wonderful. I am pump to talk to you.
Speaker 2: You guys were extraordinarily fun to watch last year. I
Speaker 2: expect more fun things this year. You're on the John
Speaker 2: McKie Award watch list. So everything is looking good. In August,
Speaker 2: how's camp so far?
Speaker 3: It's going good. We're about midway through and we're just
Speaker 3: going outside, going out there and competing, flying around and
Speaker 3: just making each other bet every single day.
Speaker 2: Is what's the difference. Obviously this will be your third
Speaker 2: year on the field for North Texas. What's the difference
Speaker 2: between I guess the year two off season last year
Speaker 2: when the offense is installed, you know, the team improves,
Speaker 2: you know, it becomes sort of feisty, and then last
Speaker 2: year going to a flat out winning team. What's an
Speaker 2: off season like after that kind of improvement?
Speaker 3: It was just changing the standard, just continuing to raise
Speaker 3: it because everybody has an understanding of the playbook of
Speaker 3: the scheme, So now it's just time to just continue
Speaker 3: to raise the standard and expect more out of each other.
Speaker 2: So do you feel like the playbook is going to
Speaker 2: be I mean, not to give state secrets away, but
Speaker 2: similar do you think you know you're staying ahead of
Speaker 2: the curve? Do you think there are tweaks? Do you
Speaker 2: think there are things that are being overhauled? How do
Speaker 2: you look at what your responsibility is going to be
Speaker 2: as this offense evolves?
Speaker 3: I think the playbook, I mean, it's about the same
Speaker 3: every now and then we add in different tweeks and
Speaker 3: adjustments for specific things. But I mean our mindset is
Speaker 3: always we can go out there with two or three plays,
Speaker 3: and our mindset is just go out there and execute
Speaker 3: those two or three plays all game and nobody should
Speaker 3: be able to stop with That's just the mentality we
Speaker 3: have when we step on a field.
Speaker 2: What is your view of the teams you played last year?
Speaker 2: Obviously some top teams getting a lot of attention. You
Speaker 2: finish out the season in somewhat disappointing fashion in the
Speaker 2: bowl game. But North Texas in a bowl game is
Speaker 2: you know, it's a big deal, It's an accomplishment. How
Speaker 2: do you view Conference USA as it stands now? You
Speaker 2: feel like it's getting to a really good place. You know,
Speaker 2: who stands out in your mind right now within the conference.
Speaker 3: I'll say FAU Louisiana Tech, but honestly, up and down.
Speaker 3: I feel like the whole schedule and the whole conference
Speaker 3: is starting to rise. And it's not many guys that
Speaker 3: you can look past them and be like, oh, that's
Speaker 3: the easy duve. I mean, every single team is going
Speaker 3: to come out here and give.
Speaker 2: Us all they have a couple of a few weeks
Speaker 2: last year, you know you had to score forty to
Speaker 2: win some games. Obviously, the defense is a work in progress.
Speaker 2: You're looking into this defense every practice against the ones,
Speaker 2: against the twos, wherever, where do you expect this defense
Speaker 2: to improve with another year of experience.
Speaker 3: I expect them to just continue to just improve in
Speaker 3: every phase.
Speaker 2: I mean another year in the scheme.
Speaker 3: Coach Reford is taking over full time for his second year,
Speaker 3: so they just they're settling it into that scheme real well,
Speaker 3: and they're competing with us every day and making us
Speaker 3: better every single day.
Speaker 2: And give me a name on offense that you expect.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously Mason's name is one that is growing
Speaker 2: and growing. But among the pass catchers, who do you
Speaker 2: expect to outside of you to to increase their visibility?
Speaker 2: Who do you think America will find more out about
Speaker 2: this year?
Speaker 4: You're going to see a.
Speaker 2: Lot of Jalen Darden.
Speaker 3: He switches number one, so he'll be wearing number one.
Speaker 3: But he's electric with the ball in his hand. And
Speaker 3: I usually get a lot of credit for my versatility,
Speaker 3: but I think he's right up there with me from
Speaker 3: a versatility standpoint. You can literally put him anywhere on
Speaker 3: that offense and you go to see, uh, just him
Speaker 3: make plays all over the field.
Speaker 2: So you have Coach Latrelle's ear. Obviously he's called you
Speaker 2: very versatile. But within a versatile offense, and you bring
Speaker 2: a tight end in h back if you have his
Speaker 2: ear and you're able to say, use me like this,
Speaker 2: put me in this kind of position, Put use me
Speaker 2: on this kind of play. Do you want you know,
Speaker 2: do you want to carry out of the backfield? Do
Speaker 2: you want a trick play pass? Do you want you know,
Speaker 2: to be up the scene more? What is your desire
Speaker 2: out of the tight end position for twenty eighteen?
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's really about the same as it
Speaker 3: was with twenty seventeen. Just continuing to expand my role
Speaker 3: in the passing game. But my mindset has always been
Speaker 3: I'm a primary blocker and that's that's just what I
Speaker 3: love to do. I have a pass for blocking, and
Speaker 3: I'll get I'll get excited when they dial up a
Speaker 3: run play more more excited when they dial up a
Speaker 3: run play rather than the pass play for me.
Speaker 2: Excellent. And what do you expect out of the offense
Speaker 2: outside of you this year? What has been the big
Speaker 2: difference in in your quarterback? Mason Fine as he enters
Speaker 2: year three, putting up big numbers and becoming a bigger name.
Speaker 3: Just more confidence. I mean I remember him coming in
Speaker 3: as a freshman, in coming in that first game against
Speaker 3: SMU and the season opener, and he came out there
Speaker 3: with a lot of confidence, but throughout the season it
Speaker 3: got shattered and shaped up a little bit. But over
Speaker 3: the past two years he's just showing just more confident
Speaker 3: taking the offense and the team by to him and
Speaker 3: just being a great leader for US.
Speaker 2: Kelvin Smith, thank you very much for your time and
Speaker 2: good luck this year.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Boom.
Speaker 2: There you go, Dan Yep, And to go through the
Speaker 2: rest quickly of the division. Louisiana Tech Skip Holtz should
Speaker 2: be pretty decent and balanced on offense. I like them
Speaker 2: a good amount. Southern Miss just not there yet. UAB
Speaker 2: should have a really good defense, replacing a couple of
Speaker 2: key parts, but remains an unbelievable story. Bill Clark has
Speaker 2: hired his old offensive coordinator back to that position to
Speaker 2: sort of regain the old magic UTSA. You know, they
Speaker 2: lose Marcus Davenport in a couple of big pieces on defense,
Speaker 2: but I think they're still going to be there. I
Speaker 2: would file them under your very exclusive pluckiness rankings.
Speaker 1: Ty Yeah, and.
Speaker 2: UTEP is going to They're going to struggle first year
Speaker 2: coach former Kansas State. I think offensive coordinator Dana Demmel.
Speaker 2: I'm pronouncing everything wrong. UTEP's going to struggle. But that's
Speaker 2: all I have on you go, Minors.
Speaker 1: Go miners.
Speaker 4: Okay, Well, thank you again to everyone who downloaded the
Speaker 4: show who listened in. We've got our Fantasy Things show
Speaker 4: coming up on Wednesday. Dan and I will be back
Speaker 4: to record next Sunday, a new show as we gear
Speaker 4: up for the college football season. The next show after
Speaker 4: our next show is going to be our Week one preview.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, ty we did it?
Speaker 1: The dull drums are we got through? About over? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: We've got a cool show, by the way planned for
Speaker 2: So the Fantasy Things Draft Live from Chicago is Wednesday, yes,
Speaker 2: and then Sunday, So a week from this episode will
Speaker 2: be a new type of episode that we've never done.
Speaker 2: And it's just sort of a tweaked System System season preview.
Speaker 1: In our own way, entirely naked.
Speaker 2: I am pretty pomped for this time. Yeah, I'm good
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 4: All right, Well, everyone, hope you enjoy the Fantasy Thing Show.
Speaker 4: We will catch up with all y'all in about a
Speaker 4: week with a new show that we're very excited about
Speaker 4: in the time, keep the tweets and Facebook messages and
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Speaker 4: Reddit dot com slash our slash solid Verbal. Go to
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Speaker 4: newsletter of Intent, where of course you will get all
Speaker 4: of our Solid Verbal updates mailed to you. We've been
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Speaker 4: you miss one, and as always, stay tuned to the
Speaker 4: Solid Verbal Store, which again is linked off of our
Speaker 4: main solid verbal dot com website. We've got new stuff
Speaker 4: that is in coming.
Speaker 2: So much is happening, ty, what going on?
Speaker 4: Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Enjoy your week Enjoy
Speaker 4: our fantasy thing show. Dan and I will be back
Speaker 4: next Sunday. In the meantime, as always, stay solid Peace,