Speaker 1: Welcome to the Solid Verbal. I'm that for me. I'm
Speaker 1: a man, I'm forty.
Speaker 2: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
Speaker 2: be happy.
Speaker 1: You want to be happy for Dake Ado State?
Speaker 2: Is that? Woo woom?
Speaker 1: And Dan and.
Speaker 2: Tie welcome back to the Solid Verbal boys and girls.
Speaker 2: Ty hilde Brand over here, Dan Rubinstein over there. Solid
Speaker 2: Verbal at gmail dot com as always is our email address.
Speaker 1: Don't forget.
Speaker 2: You can subscribe at iTunes dot com, slash solid Verbal,
Speaker 2: or wherever your favorite college football podcasts are sold.
Speaker 1: Sir, how are you old? Can we be making money
Speaker 1: off of this from people? What is that a thing? Maybe?
Speaker 1: I don't know where available? I am.
Speaker 3: I sound sick, but I'm feeling better. I just have
Speaker 3: just gunk in my head at this point. I'm good.
Speaker 3: We have a national champion. We had a a rates
Speaker 3: albeit very long, national championship game that I think you
Speaker 3: can probably speak to specifically, and I couldn't be happier
Speaker 3: that we had a back and forth, and we have
Speaker 3: a national champion whose fan base has not been in
Speaker 3: this space in quite some time.
Speaker 2: Let's jump right in, Dan, Yeah, we have breaking new
Speaker 2: your twenty sixteen to seventeen national champion is officially the
Speaker 2: Clemson Tigers. Clemson wins by a thirty five to thirty
Speaker 2: one score. As you mentioned, a back and forth game,
Speaker 2: an epic showdown, perhaps the best game of the year,
Speaker 2: maybe the best national championship game that we've seen since
Speaker 2: that epic USC Texas game in the Rose Bowl about
Speaker 2: ten years ago. What was your take watching this football game, Dan?
Speaker 2: What were the key points that jumped out to you?
Speaker 2: Other than the fact that this was a great football
Speaker 2: game between two awesome teams and a fantastic singular performance
Speaker 2: by de Sean Watson.
Speaker 3: My takeaway is I hope Deshaun Watson has access to
Speaker 3: a hot tub for like the next week. I hope
Speaker 3: that he has access to massage therapy and cold tubs
Speaker 3: and hot tubs and naps and more napping and sixteen
Speaker 3: hour nights of sleep because he took so much abuse
Speaker 3: to get and pull Clemson past the finish line for
Speaker 3: the National championship. And which is also to say the
Speaker 3: Clemson defense did as well, standing up to Alabama's offense,
Speaker 3: namely the rushing attack, with or without both Scarborough that
Speaker 3: there was there was nothing easy, and this is something
Speaker 3: I talked about in the postgame show I did with
Speaker 3: our pal Ryan Nanny at the day job at Espanation
Speaker 3: is that we've seen national championships in which there are breakdowns,
Speaker 3: and certainly there was a breakdown for Clemson's defense on
Speaker 3: that long Oj Howard touchdown. But for Clemson to win
Speaker 3: this game, there wasn't a single play that was taking
Speaker 3: advantage of an Alabama breakdown. They earned every single inch
Speaker 3: and that is an incredible feat against what I still
Speaker 3: think and what I would still consider to be the
Speaker 3: best college football thing, which is Alabama's front seven, their
Speaker 3: rush defense particularly, and the way that they get to
Speaker 3: a quarterback in the passing game. The fact that Clemson
Speaker 3: was able to defeat them while they were playing at
Speaker 3: an extraordinarily high level. We're talking about a senior laid
Speaker 3: in front seven as well, We're not just talking about
Speaker 3: pure talent, talent and experience and age and intelligence. That
Speaker 3: to me is the incredibly impressive thing that they were
Speaker 3: able to weather that sort of just extreme success.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Deshaun Watson, I think cemented his legacy, is probably the
Speaker 2: best player in the history of Clemson Football's clearly one
Speaker 2: of the best big game players of all time. Dan
Speaker 2: that final drive last night was the kind of thing
Speaker 2: that every kid envisions when you're playing around in the backyard.
Speaker 2: I didn't even play organized football, but when I was eight,
Speaker 2: even sometimes in the holidays, when I'm like thirty, we'll
Speaker 2: go out in the backyard. We'll pretend we're running that
Speaker 2: two minute drill to try and win something big. Yep,
Speaker 2: the moment never seems too big.
Speaker 1: For Deshaun Watson. No, absolutely not.
Speaker 2: And that's the one thing that comes up time and
Speaker 2: time again when you see in these situations, even if
Speaker 2: he's in that dream scenario that you plan for, that
Speaker 2: you hope for when you're a little kid, even when
Speaker 2: he's getting crushed on every play, as you eluded a
Speaker 2: few minutes ago, no interceptions last night, twenty one carries
Speaker 2: for forty three big yards, a big rushing touchdown, almost
Speaker 2: had a second rushing touchdown when he tried to superman
Speaker 2: in from the five yard line. Thirty six of fifty
Speaker 2: six passing, four to twenty through the air, three.
Speaker 1: Touchdowns through the air.
Speaker 2: The guy has a quiet confidence to him, and when
Speaker 2: his team needs him the most, that's when he steps up.
Speaker 2: It's what we talked about in all of the preview
Speaker 2: shows we had done leading up to the National Championship.
Speaker 2: This game was going to be a function of what
Speaker 2: Deshaun Watson could do on his own. Now he had
Speaker 2: plenty of help, and we'll talk about what his receiving
Speaker 2: corps did and how it rose to the occasion. Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 2: I thought, the best singular entity in this game. We
Speaker 2: knew it going in. If he had this kind of game,
Speaker 2: Clemson clearly had a shot to win. He pulled it off.
Speaker 2: They pulled it off. Now, the th the National champs.
Speaker 3: Throwing the ball fifty six times no less. If that
Speaker 3: is a number that you're hearing against Alabama, that's generally
Speaker 3: a bad thing because it indicates the rush is not there.
Speaker 3: And the rush was one hundred percent not there for
Speaker 3: Clemson by Deshaun Watson, by Wayne Gollman, Buye, whoever. So
Speaker 3: Clemson loses the rushing battle in a big way. I
Speaker 3: think they're out gained on the ground two twenty one
Speaker 3: to ninety one, and it was it was like six
Speaker 3: and a half yards per carry it to to whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's for Kerry. Clemson could not move the ball on
Speaker 3: the ground at all, and they lose the turnover battle,
Speaker 3: and Clemson moves to something like fifteen and one or
Speaker 3: something when they have two turnovers or more.
Speaker 1: They're just so good at overcoming.
Speaker 3: And I think it's pretty clearly a reflection of Davioswinny
Speaker 3: and the coaching staff that Clemson just sort of has
Speaker 3: singular focus and has unwavering confidence in their ability even
Speaker 3: with setbacks like turnovers. But for Alabama, the story was
Speaker 3: clearly offensive struggles. Uh not willing to really open the
Speaker 3: playbook up with Jalen Hurtz throw the ball downfield a ton.
Speaker 3: They had a little bit of success, we had that
Speaker 3: broken play that not broken play but the great sort
Speaker 3: of screen fake, and then Oj Howard running unimpeded down
Speaker 3: the sideline. But beyond that, it was a one dimensional
Speaker 3: attack in that it was like like a twelve yard
Speaker 3: field that Alabama was playing with on offense, and once
Speaker 3: both Scarborough went down and yes, huge factor, but he's
Speaker 3: not their only running back and he's not their only
Speaker 3: running back that can turn out chunks of yardage. It
Speaker 3: was it was a different story for Alabama's offense, and I.
Speaker 1: Would have liked to see that.
Speaker 3: I would have liked to see them get maybe more
Speaker 3: creative with their rushing attack, you know, spread the ball
Speaker 3: out a little more, look for like some more tossy,
Speaker 3: reedy option e things that they could almost play action
Speaker 3: off of. But adjusting on the fly to losing Bo
Speaker 3: Scarborough probably is much more easy in theory than it
Speaker 3: is an execution, especially with a first game offensive coordinator
Speaker 3: in Steve Sarkasian. So that, to me was the story
Speaker 3: Alabama's inability to adjust to a great defensive performance from
Speaker 3: Clemson and having a what seemed like a very small
Speaker 3: playbook for Jalen Hurts downfield.
Speaker 1: I would agree.
Speaker 2: I think the final stanza now of Alabama's season is
Speaker 2: that even with the best defense in college football, you
Speaker 2: need more balance on offense to win a championship. In
Speaker 2: their two biggest games of this season Dan Washington and Clemson,
Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts had his two worst games in terms of
Speaker 2: yards per attempt. In the Washington game, he was a
Speaker 2: shade under four point one yards per attempt. In this
Speaker 2: game against Clemson, a shade over four point two yards
Speaker 2: per attempt. So, to your point, not very creative, not
Speaker 2: very wide open. There are a bunch of viable reasons
Speaker 2: why those numbers are lower. By the way, and it's
Speaker 2: not all on Jalen Hurts. Part of that is absolutely
Speaker 2: going up against two great pass defenses that definitely plays
Speaker 2: a factor. Part of that could also be the game
Speaker 2: plan being too conservative or run heavy. Could have something
Speaker 2: to do with a new offensive coordinator. Part of that
Speaker 2: could also be Jalen Hurts needing to mature as a passer.
Speaker 2: He's got much more time at Alabama to do that,
Speaker 2: and I suspect that he will. I don't think any
Speaker 2: of it reflects poorly on Alabama, and certainly they're not
Speaker 2: going to get sympathy from the college football world because
Speaker 2: they lost. This game didn't look as pyrotechnic on offense.
Speaker 2: But I think it's an important footnote as they now
Speaker 2: try to build this thing in twenty seventeen. If you're
Speaker 2: a Bama fan, if you're a college football fan, that's
Speaker 2: what you watch for. You already know that Alabama can
Speaker 2: run the football, both with Hurts or whoever is in
Speaker 2: the backfield. The second missing piece now is going to
Speaker 2: be passing, because lord knows, they've got plenty of toys
Speaker 2: out wide. It's not just oj Howard. Calvin Ridley had
Speaker 2: five catches for what thirty six yards. Plenty of guys
Speaker 2: all around the field who can catch the ball, can
Speaker 2: make plays in open space. They just weren't able to
Speaker 2: put those guys in a position to really make those plays.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they Clems were just sitting on all
Speaker 3: the short stuff for daring Jalen Hurts to throw the
Speaker 3: ball downfield and make bigger throws than perhaps he was
Speaker 3: able to against this defense. Are allowed to against this defense,
Speaker 3: And it should also totally be noted with all due
Speaker 3: fairness and respect, Jalen Hurts the Alabama offense. If going
Speaker 3: into this game you said, okay, well Alabama has the
Speaker 3: Alabama defense, we agree, Alabama has that thing on one
Speaker 3: side of the ball that just monstrous entity. Should thirty
Speaker 3: one points be enough to beat Clemson? Probably?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Probably.
Speaker 3: I mean with what Clemson has done this year with
Speaker 3: turning the ball over in in unfortunate spots, you know,
Speaker 3: playing a little sloppier, you know, not being able to
Speaker 3: generate the rush, especially thirty one points with Clemson not
Speaker 3: able to run the ball, that should be enough. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And that I think it much more speaks to Clemson's
Speaker 3: ability and to Shaun Watson's ability to come through in
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter, which, by the way, should also be
Speaker 3: noted our pow Ryan Anny looked this up. How many
Speaker 3: points did Alabama give up in the fourth quarter since
Speaker 3: the Arkansas game October eighth in the fourth quarter, So
Speaker 3: we're talking about eight straight games I believe since October eighth. Ye,
Speaker 3: Alabama before giving up twenty one to Clemson in the
Speaker 3: fourth quarter last night, combined in those one hundred and
Speaker 3: twenty minutes to give up zero fourth quarter point no,
Speaker 3: so thirty one points and knowing that your fourth quarter
Speaker 3: defense has been exceptional all things considered, and Jalen Hurts
Speaker 3: had you know, obviously an excellent run on the ground
Speaker 3: for a touchdown late. But what came back to haunt
Speaker 3: Alabama was and this was sort of an all season
Speaker 3: long thing that didn't seem to matter, but third downs,
Speaker 3: which are you know, just as important in and of
Speaker 3: itself that it is. I don't know what I'm trying
Speaker 3: to say here, that it's a product of first and
Speaker 3: second down as well as being a big spot on
Speaker 3: offense during drives. Alabama was two of fifteen on third downs.
Speaker 3: And Jalen Hurts this season when you put him in
Speaker 3: an obvious passing downs like third and six, third and seven, plus.
Speaker 1: He was not very good. And we hammered on this
Speaker 1: in the pre show.
Speaker 3: If they can force those situations, if they can force
Speaker 3: no brainer passing downs where they know they can pressure him,
Speaker 3: then they can blitz and sit on short stuff that
Speaker 3: Jalen hurts is going to struggle. Fact that they still
Speaker 3: scored thirty one points is sort of a testament to
Speaker 3: weathering some obvious deficiencies.
Speaker 2: I saw it written somewhere, and forgive me for not
Speaker 2: citing properly. It might have been Spencer, not you. Yeah,
Speaker 2: definitely not me. The gist of this was that Alabama
Speaker 2: saw a lot of meaningful fourth quarter plays in this
Speaker 2: game from Clemson. Defensively, that's not something they're accustomed to seeing.
Speaker 2: By the time they get to the fourth quarter. In
Speaker 2: a lot of the games they play, the plays themselves
Speaker 2: don't mean a whole lot in this game, obviously, it
Speaker 2: was a fight to the finish, and the implication was
Speaker 2: that because Clemson tried to spread out and run to
Speaker 2: the perimeter as much as they did early on in
Speaker 2: the game, perhaps they wore out Alabama's defensive front, and
Speaker 2: the meaningful plays later on in the game Clemson had
Speaker 2: worn them down by that point.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to say if Alabama had entered a fourth
Speaker 3: quarter not by double digits. I know the Old Miss
Speaker 3: game was a back and forth. Looks like I'm looking
Speaker 3: at Alabama Arkansas, that did not appear to be the case.
Speaker 3: Alabama LSU was ten points obviously in the end, and
Speaker 3: all those points were scored in the fourth quarter, so
Speaker 3: a scoreless going into it.
Speaker 1: So that was.
Speaker 3: Probably the only real example of Alabama's defense giving full
Speaker 3: attention knowing that a game was in the balance, at
Speaker 3: least recently. So you're right, and Alabama's defense is built
Speaker 3: to shut down teams for four full quarters. And I
Speaker 3: don't think it's a full excuse that Alabama's defense finally
Speaker 3: had to play meaningful fourth quarter minutes. But man, Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 3: Hunter Renfro, the ability to spread the ball around, Mike
Speaker 3: Williams making enormous catches, you know, a presence both he
Speaker 3: and Mike Williams and Dion Kane in this game, not
Speaker 3: in this game last year, just enormous, just in a
Speaker 3: game where once again, nothing was easy, there was nothing routine,
Speaker 3: there was no play. It seemed that like Mike Williams,
Speaker 3: you know, had like a slant that sort of froze
Speaker 3: a corner or something like that and took it seventeen yards.
Speaker 3: Everything was by three and a half inches something like that.
Speaker 3: So an unbelievable performance from Clemson. Everything sort of came
Speaker 3: together bite just a hair, and that's that's crazy.
Speaker 2: I have a very important question here. Yeah, did you
Speaker 2: see the final play, the on side kick? No, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: the final touchdown? Oh, the final touchdown? Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: Did you have any problem with that rub play?
Speaker 3: Okay, so this is something that obviously you are going
Speaker 3: to feel a particular passion point about as a notre dame.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't have a problem with it. I think I
Speaker 2: think it was fine. I think the officials were calling
Speaker 2: the game very loosely.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Not the only pick play touchdown in this game, either.
Speaker 2: Not the only not the only rub touchdown shore. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I am fine with I thought. But Elliott did a
Speaker 2: really good job explaining why it was an offensive pass interference.
Speaker 2: Right defender initiated contact. The receiver was doing his best
Speaker 2: to at least sell running a passing route. It wasn't
Speaker 2: as if he went out there and overtly tried to
Speaker 2: block the defender. So I'm okay with those plays. I'm
Speaker 2: sure they're gonna be Alabama fans will feel differently. That
Speaker 2: is the main primary difference between what we saw last
Speaker 2: night on two separate occasions, mind you, versus what we
Speaker 2: saw in the Notre Dame game like two years ago.
Speaker 2: That was clearly a different story.
Speaker 3: I don't have a problem with it if receivers are
Speaker 3: taught to play within the rules of how officials see
Speaker 3: those plays. So the defenders initiating contact and sort of
Speaker 3: looking to the quarterback for the ball, you know, putting
Speaker 3: your hands out so sort of conceivably running a route.
Speaker 3: Clemson's players, to me, to my eyes, ran those routes
Speaker 3: plause enough that it was sort of on Alabama. And
Speaker 3: you know, there are teams that succeed against those kinds
Speaker 3: of routes, that are able to sort of match up
Speaker 3: and switch and do what is necessarily. I believe that
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl ends on one of those with Seattle
Speaker 3: and New England.
Speaker 1: I believe so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I believe it is so you can stop those
Speaker 3: But good for Clemson four. I think running that play
Speaker 3: to the satisfaction of the letter.
Speaker 1: Of the law.
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Speaker 2: All right, So on that awkward note where we left off,
Speaker 2: what were some other notes that you had while watching
Speaker 2: this game? Because it's not all about the game when
Speaker 2: you get to this point right in the college football season,
Speaker 2: a lot of neat stuff going on around the game.
Speaker 2: I thought, the most notable of which was the way
Speaker 2: that ESPN covered it. So obviously on ESPN you've got
Speaker 2: Fowler and Herbstreem, who do a bang up job.
Speaker 1: Rinaldi ponder on the sideline, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Ronaldi ponder on the sideline.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: You also had the ESPN homer Feed on ESPN two,
Speaker 2: which featured Joe Tess and Barrett Jones.
Speaker 1: Whoa, whoa, whoa, Adam Amen, That's where I'm going with it.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, on the Clarson side, Wow, okay,
Speaker 2: our new best pal adam Aman yep sidled up with
Speaker 2: the ToJ Boyd. So they had the ESPN homer Feed.
Speaker 2: And then on ESPN News, I want to say it
Speaker 2: was the ESPN Film Room. It featured a bunch of coaches.
Speaker 2: Did you have a chance to check out any of
Speaker 2: those other broadcasts?
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 3: I watched a little bit of the coaches. The problem
Speaker 3: was our office. I guess we don't get ESPN.
Speaker 1: News in the sp Nation office. Really, hey for the
Speaker 1: full package that includes ESPN News.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: So I put it on watch ESPN on my computer
Speaker 3: and watched a little bit of that, but it was
Speaker 3: a good like thirty forty seconds behind, so that made
Speaker 3: it a little bit more or difficult to sort of
Speaker 3: pay attention to both because I did want to see
Speaker 3: what was happening live on TV.
Speaker 1: But Dino Babers was great. Yeah, Matt Rule was really
Speaker 1: really good. Matt Rule.
Speaker 2: I thought Matt Rule and Dino Babers stole the show.
Speaker 3: Yes, I thought those were the two best. And they
Speaker 3: got snacks in there, which is yes.
Speaker 2: Kilanie Sataki did not talk.
Speaker 3: No, he did not. I did not tell Fridge Mark
Speaker 3: Helfrisch was supposed to be in that room. I was
Speaker 3: very curious, but he ended up not being there.
Speaker 2: Kalanie Sataki did not talk, and I saw that. Somebody
Speaker 2: on Twitter noted that the only real notable action from
Speaker 2: Klanie Sataki is when they brought the snacks out.
Speaker 1: He was the first to jump all over that absolutely.
Speaker 2: Otherwise, the coaches feed was sort of difficult to digest.
Speaker 2: There wasn't a whole lot of organization to who was
Speaker 2: saying something and when they were saying it, So unless
Speaker 2: you were really in the weeds into the x's and
Speaker 2: o's and know the keywords to listen for, it was
Speaker 2: difficult to figure out and just what was actually being said.
Speaker 2: A lot of guys just yell and stuff and oh
Speaker 2: look at that cover two here comes to safety. There
Speaker 2: wasn't much organization around the actual commentary, but Matt Ruhlandino
Speaker 2: Baber's I thought, brought a little personality to that side
Speaker 2: of the broadcast, which was a lot of fun to watch.
Speaker 2: I enjoyed it to the extent I could understand what
Speaker 2: was going on.
Speaker 3: I might cut that to like three or four coaches
Speaker 3: next time. Yeah, And I would imagine that the big
Speaker 3: interesting parts of that feed was like the because they
Speaker 3: I don't think they really went to commercials all that much,
Speaker 3: so commercials at halftime to sort of talk big picture
Speaker 3: about what teams are trying to do. I thought it's
Speaker 3: a really interesting concept. I think they're still honing it.
Speaker 3: And then on another feed they had Bill Walton dressed
Speaker 3: as a seven foot uncle sichel saying about pot and all.
Speaker 1: Sorts of aliens and all sorts of filings. So this
Speaker 1: is totally true.
Speaker 3: So if you haven't go back and find some vines
Speaker 3: or videos or whatever, because it was wonderful just the
Speaker 3: Bill Walton part. I mean, I think it was a
Speaker 3: lot of people talking over each other otherwise, and I
Speaker 3: think Paul Finebaum did something Okay, no idea, but I yeah,
Speaker 3: I was mainly just watching the game.
Speaker 1: After the fact, I'll go and.
Speaker 3: Scan through the coaches feed to see if they were
Speaker 3: talking about anything interesting, but that's about it.
Speaker 2: There was a cool bit where Mike McIntyre clearly went
Speaker 2: to the men's room and they all they all ganged
Speaker 2: up on him, joking that he was going to talk
Speaker 2: to his financial advisor because he just signed like a
Speaker 2: thirty million dollar extension.
Speaker 1: It's true. No, he's in Boulder for a bit now,
Speaker 1: Good for him.
Speaker 2: So that was fun. And then of course the Homer
Speaker 2: feed I thought was outstanding good And I'm not just
Speaker 2: saying it because Adam Amine is like one of our
Speaker 2: favorite commentators, but he and joy Test did a great
Speaker 2: job painting the picture of the game from the sidelines,
Speaker 2: talked about the experience of being there, really tried to
Speaker 2: cover the emotion of both sidelines. That was a lot
Speaker 2: of fun to watch. Again, it's a different way to
Speaker 2: look at the broadcast, and I saw Adam even mentioned
Speaker 2: on his Twitter feed might not be everyone's cup of tea,
Speaker 2: but certainly a different perspective that gave you a new
Speaker 2: way to watch the game.
Speaker 3: Game lasted a long time too, Ty, Yeah, you have
Speaker 3: you have a personal I am aware of this, So
Speaker 3: what was your game watching situation? I watched from work
Speaker 3: because we're doing a pre and post show wake Up
Speaker 3: College Football on YouTube. So that was my general game
Speaker 3: watching situation. But this lasted. This game lasted right about
Speaker 3: four hours and fifteen minutes, which I was I was
Speaker 3: timing it. I was paying close attention because I wanted
Speaker 3: to see if it would equal or surpass Game seven
Speaker 3: of Cubs Indians went four to twenty eight, and that
Speaker 3: was ten innings with the seventeen minute weather delay.
Speaker 1: With the weather delay, Yeah right, how'd you do not well?
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: I didn't do well well? As we were down in
Speaker 2: Tampa and we both our plan was this. Our plan
Speaker 2: was to go early on Friday to get set up
Speaker 2: and do our interviews and finish up our preview show,
Speaker 2: which I hope everybody liked. We got good reviews on
Speaker 2: it so far right And actually, if you go back
Speaker 2: and listen after the fact, there weren't any glaring mistakes
Speaker 2: in anything that we said. I thought the preview did
Speaker 2: a pretty good job painting what was to be expected
Speaker 2: in the game in it in the end kind of
Speaker 2: turned out the way we thought it could fearless prediction.
Speaker 3: That's Rubinstein, that's right, called the quarterback alter of Dancy,
Speaker 3: called third downs, called a close Clemson win, continue.
Speaker 2: Alter of Dan. But the plan was to go in
Speaker 2: early on Friday, which we did, recorded all Friday, all Saturday,
Speaker 2: most of Sunday, and then you and I both had
Speaker 2: late flights out of Tampa to get back in time
Speaker 2: to our respective homes to watch the games from the
Speaker 2: comfort of our own living room or the office or wherever. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so we did a lot of travel. We were both
Speaker 2: kind of tired. I went to work yesterday, the mysterious
Speaker 2: day job, worked a full day, came home, sidled up
Speaker 2: next to my television, had a Voodoo Ranger IPA from
Speaker 2: New Belgium, which was delicious, A great way to close
Speaker 2: out the college football season. Sat Indian style on my
Speaker 2: floor for the first half of the game, and then
Speaker 2: decided I was feeling a little dangerous and a little
Speaker 2: tired of I'm being honest, decided, why don't I prop
Speaker 2: up my feet and sit in the couch and set
Speaker 2: a hunching over and bending my knees like I'm a
Speaker 2: praying mantis. Why don't I lay on the couch, prop
Speaker 2: up my feet, watch the second half. The next thing
Speaker 2: I knew, it was about one point fifteen in the.
Speaker 1: Morning, a tradition unlike any other.
Speaker 2: About one fifteen in the morning. My contacts are dried
Speaker 2: up in my eyes. I'm trying to look through these
Speaker 2: cloudy lenses, yeah, and figure out exactly what transpired, only
Speaker 2: to discover that I missed most of the second half
Speaker 2: in that Clemson won the game.
Speaker 3: So this morning you went back and watched everything with
Speaker 3: clear eye, literal clear.
Speaker 2: Eyes, clear eyes, and a full heart. Yeah yeah, Okay,
Speaker 2: went back every morning, watched it, got the full take.
Speaker 2: So I guess I didn't really miss any of the action.
Speaker 2: I just missed it in real time.
Speaker 3: Prett Nott, Alabama and Clemson people possibly offended that Tye
Speaker 3: fell asleep during your huge national exciting championship. He did
Speaker 3: that for his own team as well. He fell asleep
Speaker 3: when his own team was in the national championship. This
Speaker 3: is much more an indictment on Tye's feelings about consciousness
Speaker 3: than it is about college football.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I'm sure this is a huge hit on my credibility.
Speaker 2: Every show we do is a huge hit on our credibility.
Speaker 2: It's fine, but we're nothing if not honest on this show.
Speaker 2: And that's true. I zonked out. I zonked out. I
Speaker 2: saw about five minutes the third quarter, and then I
Speaker 2: was out. I went back. I watched probably with greater
Speaker 2: attentiveness this morning, and took my notes in now here
Speaker 2: we are but.
Speaker 3: The end of the game, God, probably like twelve ten
Speaker 3: twelve fifteen am Eastern time. Not only was I tired,
Speaker 3: I realized that I would be tired if I were
Speaker 3: watching this on the West coast. It had reached that point. So, yes,
Speaker 3: we are old and disappointing, and it happens.
Speaker 1: What are you gonna do?
Speaker 3: But no, I think there has to be moving forward
Speaker 3: just for the sport itself. And this isn't even a
Speaker 3: national championship thing, which also has a longer halftime, but
Speaker 3: like an early October CBS.
Speaker 1: Game is lasting like four hours and twenty minutes.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to put on a hat of like
Speaker 3: TV executive, and I very much am not that, But
Speaker 3: I think the sweet spot needs to be no games.
Speaker 1: Lasting longer than like three and a half hours.
Speaker 3: That probably just in terms of holding interest and growing
Speaker 3: the sports and being a viable TV product moving forward
Speaker 3: with sort of increased competition all the time, Like maybe
Speaker 3: only stop the clock when somebody goes out of.
Speaker 1: The bounds in the last two or three minutes.
Speaker 3: Like there's some antiquated clock rules that I think need
Speaker 3: to be revisited. The first down clock stoppage maybe needs
Speaker 3: to be revisited. There's a lot that says, Okay, is
Speaker 3: this really necessary? Do we really need to like go
Speaker 3: to commercial after every punt? Do we really need to
Speaker 3: I think the way college football is broadcast and governed
Speaker 3: from a rules perspective needs to be overhauled a bit.
Speaker 2: You know, what they need to do, what they need
Speaker 2: to do. Whatever the hell they did in that Seahawks
Speaker 2: Lions game.
Speaker 3: Well it's twelve minute halves. Yeah, and well, especially since
Speaker 3: college football perhaps more than pro and I do not
Speaker 3: have the data to point this out because I do
Speaker 3: not watch a lot of pro football. They run the
Speaker 3: ball so infrequently in college and some of these big
Speaker 3: games just because these you know, spread offenses, even like
Speaker 3: de facto runs like little screens that are sort of
Speaker 3: they might as well be like slight pitches when they're incomplete,
Speaker 3: when they're they're just sort of running out of bounds
Speaker 3: because everybody's stretching it wide. It just lengthens it so much.
Speaker 3: And so I don't know if the game is all
Speaker 3: that different on the pro level, but the rules are such,
Speaker 3: especially with first down clock stoppage, that you need let's
Speaker 3: let's this stop. Let's let's get to three three and
Speaker 3: a half instead of three forty five four fifteen.
Speaker 2: We watched that playoff game in the hotel room on
Speaker 2: Saturday night. Yeah, and you and I both looked over
Speaker 2: at each other, like, did we just step into a
Speaker 2: time warp?
Speaker 1: It was great.
Speaker 2: Halftime was over and what felt like three minutes the
Speaker 2: game was over and what felt like twenty minutes. I
Speaker 2: don't know how you speed the game up, but I
Speaker 2: should not have fallen asleep Mia Kolpa on that front.
Speaker 2: But I did have a chance to go back and
Speaker 2: watch it. And we're nothing if not honest here on
Speaker 2: the program. The other thing I did want to mention,
Speaker 2: which needs to be mentioned because it was awesome and
Speaker 2: because the tweets on it were awesome. The referee in
Speaker 2: this game had Giant Bear arms. Dan Yes he did,
Speaker 2: Giant Bear did, and Chris Fowler all due credit to
Speaker 2: Chris Fawlor for not only pointing it out a couple
Speaker 2: times as it needed to be, but also referencing the
Speaker 2: medium referee jersey that he was with.
Speaker 1: It was tight. It was tight. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I always like a good strong referee makes me feel
Speaker 3: like he has command even if he doesn't of the proceedings.
Speaker 2: So now, this is officially the end of the twenty
Speaker 2: sixteen seventeen college football season, but lord knows there are
Speaker 2: plenty of other sporting events out there. What else going
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Speaker 2: you have it, Dan, Clemson again wins thirty five to
Speaker 2: thirty one, a great way to out the college football season.
Speaker 2: Clemson scores the go ahead game winning touchdown a short
Speaker 2: pass to Hunter Renfro with one second remaining on the clock,
Speaker 2: any party shots here on the season that was dan.
Speaker 3: I think it was a good season, not a great season.
Speaker 3: Great if you're a Clemson fan. Great if perhaps you're
Speaker 3: a USC fan. You know, teams that sort of turned
Speaker 3: on later on in the season improved. I think that's
Speaker 3: the big thing. If your team got better and improved
Speaker 3: over the course of the season, even if they end
Speaker 3: up nine, three, eight and four, seven and five, whatever,
Speaker 3: If there's optimism, that's the big win. Not a ton
Speaker 3: of high level quarterback play, which usually helps to define
Speaker 3: a really great season. Quarterback play all over the country.
Speaker 3: But that's just my own personal preference in college football.
Speaker 3: I know a lot of people love big defenses everywhere,
Speaker 3: you know, power running games everywhere. I like it when
Speaker 3: there are many quarterbacks in control, and it didn't seem
Speaker 3: like that was the case this year. And we had
Speaker 3: a couple of big injuries. You know, Josh Rosen was
Speaker 3: out pretty early on, and a lot of people, I
Speaker 3: think expected a lot from him in terms of development
Speaker 3: as a big national quarterback moving forward. But all things considered,
Speaker 3: it was weird. It was funny, it was impressive, it
Speaker 3: was unexpected, and we somehow have Dabo Swinney face down
Speaker 3: on the grass crime to end the year, so it
Speaker 3: can't be all that bad.
Speaker 1: So I enjoyed the season.
Speaker 3: I thought we had a great year, just because I'm
Speaker 3: entertained by you endlessly. And this is also to say
Speaker 3: we're not stopping. We go all off season long. We've
Speaker 3: got we already have shows banked that we did in
Speaker 3: Tampa and before that, so there's a ton coming out.
Speaker 3: We will revert to going once a week instead of
Speaker 3: twice a week. But this is when things get particularly
Speaker 3: weird and fun and honestly ty.
Speaker 1: This is when we can get really nerdy.
Speaker 3: Having stat guys on, having scheme guys on, all sorts
Speaker 3: of X and o's. We're gonna have coaches on over
Speaker 3: the course of the spring, particularly new guys. We love
Speaker 3: having the new guys on that just accepted new jobs
Speaker 3: all across college football. So this is when we really
Speaker 3: like to produce. We have a little bit more time
Speaker 3: to breathe and come up with concepts for shows. You
Speaker 3: remember the verbies last year. You remember all sorts of
Speaker 3: fun games and fantasy drafts, So this is when it
Speaker 3: becomes more of a show than churning out podcasts, which
Speaker 3: I really.
Speaker 2: Like absolutely, Yeah, I thought it was a good season,
Speaker 2: not a great season in terms of a football product.
Speaker 2: Still better than the NFL, obviously, obviously because obviously, but
Speaker 2: very curious to see now moving forward, how some of
Speaker 2: the risers and fallers rebound or accelerate in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2: Both of our teams went four and eight.
Speaker 1: Yes, they did, yours more notably, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Mine more notably. Sure, but it's kind of tough to
Speaker 2: overcome that black guy. If they do, it's a huge
Speaker 2: story in twenty seventeen. If they don't, it might be
Speaker 2: an even bigger story.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I thought a lot of what happened in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: just on a personal college football fan level, is setting
Speaker 2: us up for what's to come in twenty seventeen. Yes,
Speaker 2: Oregon went out and hired a new coach. What happens there,
Speaker 2: we'll see. And then on the flip side of that,
Speaker 2: you got teams like USC and Penn State, both of
Speaker 2: which came on like a freight train second half of
Speaker 2: the season and clearly are going to have a ton
Speaker 2: of momentum as they enter this coming football season. That
Speaker 2: to me is the takeaway outside of this great finish
Speaker 2: and a couple great bowl games to close out the season,
Speaker 2: the risers and the fallers, and now what happens as
Speaker 2: we enter the twenty seventeen season, That, to me is
Speaker 2: what I'm going to follow closely. With all that being said,
Speaker 2: I am excited to see what we're able to come
Speaker 2: up with over the next couple months, because, as you said,
Speaker 2: it's not all about churning out podcasts and game reviews
Speaker 2: and previews and whatnot. We actually have a chance to
Speaker 2: take a deep breath, look to see what people care about,
Speaker 2: and focus in a little bit more intently on it.
Speaker 3: The final a people came out ty yes, speaking of
Speaker 3: the off season moving forward? Who is obviously Clemson one
Speaker 3: Alabama too. Who's the number three team in the country
Speaker 3: to finish the year?
Speaker 2: I heard it was USC, and I do have a
Speaker 2: sound Yeah, the high train is going to be in
Speaker 2: full working order by the time we get to like July.
Speaker 3: Clemson, Alabama, USC, Washington, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Penn State, Florida State, Wisconsin,
Speaker 3: Michigan are your top ten. So by my count, we
Speaker 3: have one, two ACC teams finishing in the top ten.
Speaker 3: We have one, two, three, four Big Ten teams finishing
Speaker 3: in the top ten. A very top heavy league though, still,
Speaker 3: but there is the top and it's well deserved. All
Speaker 3: of those teams, with the exception of Michigan, I think,
Speaker 3: finished pretty strong well.
Speaker 1: I guess Ohio.
Speaker 3: States, sure they are, you know, on a a four
Speaker 3: quarter the qualified for the playoff, but they did qualify
Speaker 3: for the playoff. Oklahoma as a top five team. I
Speaker 3: may have had them a little higher, but you know what,
Speaker 3: that's fine, and they go into next season with Baker
Speaker 3: Mayfield and in a pretty strong sense of momentum. Wisconsin
Speaker 3: as a top ten team given their schedule is incredible.
Speaker 3: Florida State, given the injuries all over the field and
Speaker 3: how they finished the season, that's a pretty big victory
Speaker 3: for the Seminoles and it sets up a pretty wide
Speaker 3: open because after after that, like number eight, so we're
Speaker 3: pretty confident in Ohio State, in Oklahoma and Penn State,
Speaker 3: Washington USC having what should be very good twenty seventeens
Speaker 3: after number eight. So like before, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oklahoma State, Stanford.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows, no, I don't.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is not a preseason top twenty five.
Speaker 3: This is a final top twenty five. But it is
Speaker 3: so wide open fan.
Speaker 2: All right, well, do stay tuned here to the solid verbal.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: We will clearly be talking much much more about this
Speaker 2: as we progress now into twenty seventeen. As Dan mentioned,
Speaker 2: we're going to go to once a week starting now,
Speaker 2: so our next podcast will be about a week from today.
Speaker 2: We're going to get back in the habit of publishing
Speaker 2: every Wednesday, and the first show that you will hear
Speaker 2: after this one will actually be a live recording of
Speaker 2: the live show doing this weekend Saturday evening in New
Speaker 2: York City at Hill Country Chicken. Tickets are completely sold out.
Speaker 2: We do have some folks who I've added to a
Speaker 2: waiting list in case other people report that they're unable
Speaker 2: to attend, But this is sort of our first crack
Speaker 2: at and we're excited about it. Will put that show
Speaker 2: out into the wild next Wednesday, so you can listen
Speaker 2: along and then maybe, if it's something you're into, buy
Speaker 2: tickets to come to the next one, because if it
Speaker 2: goes well, we will be doing a next one, So.
Speaker 1: That's the plan.
Speaker 2: In addition to that live show, We've got all sorts
Speaker 2: of goodness coming your way over the course of the
Speaker 2: next couple months. During the off season, going to talk
Speaker 2: very closely about recruiting. Don't forget, National Signing Day comes
Speaker 2: up first week of February.
Speaker 1: Recruiting is three weeks from tomorrow time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, recruiting is the lifeblood of college football. We will
Speaker 2: cover it as we always do here on the podcast.
Speaker 2: We've also got spring games that come up towards the
Speaker 2: end of March and all throughout April, and along the
Speaker 2: way we'll talk to a bunch of new coaches. We'll
Speaker 2: deep dive some of the topics that college football fans
Speaker 2: care deeply about.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: And of course we'll bring our normal amount of weirdness
Speaker 2: to the college football either, I would hope. So that's
Speaker 2: what we do. Yeah, that is all I have, Dan,
Speaker 2: That's everything I've got. We have a long off season
Speaker 2: to talk about anything that we perhaps forgot on this show.
Speaker 2: Congratulations to the Clemson Tigers. Congratulations to Alabama as well
Speaker 2: on a hard fought game and two great seasons.
Speaker 1: And above all, Dan, yeah.
Speaker 2: Congratulations to fans of all teams now because we're all
Speaker 2: undefeated once more. For that guy over there, Dan Rubinstein,
Speaker 2: for myself, Tie hilding Brand, thanks again for tuning in.
Speaker 2: Catchy all Next week's stay Solid Peace