Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hell that for me, I'm
Speaker 1: a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well,
Speaker 1: I want to be happy.
Speaker 2: You want to be happy for a day? Ato steak
Speaker 2: is that woo woof?
Speaker 1: And them and tie Welcome back to the ceburb of
Speaker 1: boys and Girls. My name is ty Hil the brand
Speaker 1: joining me as always over there in sunny in spring,
Speaker 1: downright summary Chicago, Illinois, and Rubinstein, sir, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm pretty good. I attempted to go for a run
Speaker 2: earlier today and then my foot hurt and I went
Speaker 2: for a walk, which might be some sort of nice
Speaker 2: allegory to a story that we could compare to.
Speaker 1: One of these teams coaches in this.
Speaker 2: Progress report episode that I'm very excited to do, just
Speaker 2: because when we were talking about what we were going
Speaker 2: to do earlier, I got to use the word technodrone,
Speaker 2: and I don't always get to do that when planning
Speaker 2: an episode.
Speaker 1: So I'm in a good mood tech no dron. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll get into that momentarily, but in the meantime, Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the show. I am ty he is Dan.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to follow along on social media. Don't forget
Speaker 1: to follow along this podcast. We go twice a week
Speaker 1: all throughout the off season. You can follow along on Apple,
Speaker 1: on Google, on Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasts. You
Speaker 1: can follow along with the show and have that stuff
Speaker 1: automatically delivered to you. We also over on Thepatreon at
Speaker 1: verballers dot com have a very special off topic show
Speaker 1: coming up this week. I guess it drops one on Friday.
Speaker 1: We've been doing an off topic show per month, the
Speaker 1: third Friday, I think of every month, and we've wanted
Speaker 1: to pull this one together for a while. Bill Barnwell
Speaker 1: over at ESPN has long been kind of like our
Speaker 1: go to guest when it comes to off topic shows.
Speaker 1: We did all sorts of fun stuff with him in
Speaker 1: the past. We've got the Off Topic Show with Bill
Speaker 1: Barnwell slated for this week. Our topic is.
Speaker 2: Nineties sports kid movies.
Speaker 1: The Heyday? The Heyday? So, what are some topics for
Speaker 1: you that you want to broach here? We get to
Speaker 1: talk like some sandalot here, Mighty Ducks, anything you want.
Speaker 2: I think we're gonna hit some tropes like the flawed
Speaker 2: Coach is a big one, the Gordon Bombay, the what
Speaker 2: the o'sha brothers and little Giants. There's all sorts of
Speaker 2: flawed head coaches because this was if you look at
Speaker 2: kids movies, especially in the nineties, it was a lot
Speaker 2: of kids are the smart ones and doing the adults
Speaker 2: don't know what they're doing. And I'm very excited for
Speaker 2: an episode where we get to the say things like
Speaker 2: that with Bill.
Speaker 1: Verballers dot Com is where you can go to sign
Speaker 1: up for the patreon and get access to that exclusive content.
Speaker 1: It's only going to be available for our Verballers dot
Speaker 1: Com patreons. Okay, all that being said, Dan, this is
Speaker 1: a another one of those deals where the show came
Speaker 1: together mere hours before we hit the record button.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't it be weird though, if we did an off
Speaker 2: season show where we had planned it days and like,
Speaker 2: there's no sports podcast that's timely ish. I mean, there
Speaker 2: are shows like thirty for thirty and stuff like that
Speaker 2: that spend a ton of time crafting episodes. But it
Speaker 2: would be very strange if we pulled this episode together
Speaker 2: last Thursday, wouldn't it.
Speaker 1: It would be it would be that said, we are
Speaker 1: working on some things in the sOliver bol abortree which
Speaker 1: we aren't ready to take the bubble bubble wrap off
Speaker 1: of yet. Excuse me, but yes, this show came together
Speaker 1: as of about ten thirty this morning when you and
Speaker 1: I had a phone call and we centered around this
Speaker 1: idea of progress reports. Dan, what was the final version
Speaker 1: of this show that we agreed on.
Speaker 2: So we're doing progress reports on what will be third
Speaker 2: year head coaches. Guys like Mike Loxley or Dana Holgerson
Speaker 2: or Ryan Day, guys enter their third year in that
Speaker 2: they had one quote unquote normal year in twenty nineteen
Speaker 2: and then whatever twenty twenty was, and now they get
Speaker 2: to move forward and to hopefully a year that resembles
Speaker 2: more of what we consider be normal in the college
Speaker 2: football universe. So we've got some G five guys, We've
Speaker 2: got some Power five guys, and we are just going
Speaker 2: to I don't know how we're going to grade the trajectory.
Speaker 2: I guess we could talk about launch angles. If we're
Speaker 2: going to mix sports, we can talk about lob wedges
Speaker 2: and drivers. If we want to stay timely with the masters.
Speaker 2: I just use the word technodrone when talking about this,
Speaker 2: because there's at least one program here. There has to
Speaker 2: be that each of us says they're just digging themselves
Speaker 2: underground with how they're handling things. So I have what
Speaker 2: eight names here? We can discuss all of them, some
Speaker 2: of them more than just these eight names. We can
Speaker 2: do whatever we want, but I couldn't think of a
Speaker 2: really good cartoon. Is like I know, Captain Planet sort
Speaker 2: of launched into space. So if we want to name
Speaker 2: one of these guys Captain Planet and one of these
Speaker 2: are technodrone or a krayng, I did pull a crang
Speaker 2: sound for you.
Speaker 1: I have it here. If we want to use it,
Speaker 1: think about Ampty prom I heard alls. Yeah, that's an
Speaker 1: underwhelming krang on my end. So here's what I have.
Speaker 2: I have Mike Loxley, I have Chris Climb, and I
Speaker 2: have Dana Holgerson, Scott Saderfield, Jamie Chadwell, Will Healey, Jeff Collins,
Speaker 2: Ryan Day.
Speaker 1: Okay, those are eight that stood out to me, that
Speaker 1: stood out to you, and.
Speaker 2: Maybe on our next Q and A if you want
Speaker 2: to give us another soon to be third year head
Speaker 2: coach to discuss and the program's trajectory right now in
Speaker 2: this offseason, in the middle of spring, heading into I
Speaker 2: guess summer workouts in fall camp, we'll be happy to
Speaker 2: because there's no way we can fit all of the
Speaker 2: third year coaches into a single episode. But I want
Speaker 2: to talk trajectory and progress report progress reports. Did you
Speaker 2: get progress reports in high school where you sent home
Speaker 2: grades between report cards?
Speaker 1: I feel like in elementary school. We were in elementary school. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was the the I think the OS and U scale.
Speaker 1: Actually that might have been our report cards. I don't remember.
Speaker 1: It was a long time ago, but I feel like
Speaker 1: along the way, yes, we were giving progress reports.
Speaker 2: Oh, I definitely was. In high school. There was like
Speaker 2: mid semester report cards called progress reports. At one point
Speaker 2: I did I did for just signature. I did for
Speaker 2: just signature that said I was doing totally good in
Speaker 2: English and I was, I was fine, whatever I had.
Speaker 2: I misspelled the word Eileen, and my mom was like, huh,
Speaker 2: never never seen anybody spell Eileen with two l's. So
Speaker 2: that didn't go that well.
Speaker 1: So I think I would think English should be a
Speaker 1: strong suit for you. What happened, you would think?
Speaker 2: I think I panicked under pressure. I was like, I
Speaker 2: gotta get something down here, and I went with Eileen
Speaker 2: two l's.
Speaker 1: Yeah. All right, Well we're going to get into eight coaches.
Speaker 1: Here one more quick tidbit newsletter dot slid verbal dot com.
Speaker 1: New place you can go to sign up for the
Speaker 1: mailing list and do some fun and creative stuff over
Speaker 1: the next few months. Newsletter solid verbal dot com. Where
Speaker 1: do you want to start? I guess the Jetsons are
Speaker 1: a cartoon spaceship right, sure, now it's thank you.
Speaker 2: Let's start with Mike Loxley, Michael Angelo Locksley. Because I
Speaker 2: mentioned the technodrone, let's talk about I mean, it's Fear
Speaker 2: the Turtle.
Speaker 1: So it's Fear the.
Speaker 2: Teenage mutant Ninja turtles and Maryland's kind of fascinating in that.
Speaker 2: Twenty eighteen was an interim situation. Matt Canada takes over
Speaker 2: for DJ Diurkin, who suspended and eventually fired, and they
Speaker 2: actually have a pretty entertaining season. There were three points
Speaker 2: away from going seven to five, but they opt to
Speaker 2: not take the interim tag off of Matt Canada. They
Speaker 2: hire Mike Loxley, fresh out of a lot of success
Speaker 2: at Alabama, and they've struggled. I think it's fair to
Speaker 2: say Maryland has, but it looks like there's you know,
Speaker 2: after last year they ran the ball really well with
Speaker 2: Jake funk and they've recruited pretty well potential game changers.
Speaker 2: So I guess I turned the question to you. Is
Speaker 2: Maryland a team with an impressive or an encouraging trajectory?
Speaker 2: Do you see this as a straight line? Do you
Speaker 2: see this as a technodrone situation and a tough division?
Speaker 2: Where do you stand on the trajectory of the mics
Speaker 2: The Mike Locksley knows the DMV Maryland.
Speaker 1: Therapists, we were pretty plugged into the Mike Locksley higher
Speaker 1: right from the jump because that was a fantasy thing's
Speaker 1: how of course, fantasy thing's item. How Mike Loxley knows
Speaker 1: the DMV, He's going to take advantage of it. He
Speaker 1: loves a DMV.
Speaker 2: One of the most explosive teams. Yeah, in a limited
Speaker 2: college football twenty twenty, it was sort of all or
Speaker 2: nothing passing, but the defense definitely looked improved through the air,
Speaker 2: So there are signs. They also lost an embarrassing fashion
Speaker 2: more than once last year, and they turned the ball
Speaker 2: over a lot, Yes, they did. Their plus minus was
Speaker 2: pretty bad, but okay, so here's where we're at with
Speaker 2: Locksley three and nine the first year, two and three,
Speaker 2: this past year in the weird COVID year. The couple
Speaker 2: things that jump out to me. Though I agree with you,
Speaker 2: I do feel like we saw improvement on a couple
Speaker 2: different fronts over this past season. Only played five games again,
Speaker 2: but I feel like they were trending in a good
Speaker 2: direction there. They did have a top twenty recruiting class
Speaker 2: during the twenty twenty one recruiting cycle, which, yeah, they're
Speaker 2: sort of in line with the Minnesotas in Iowa's right
Speaker 2: now in the Big ten.
Speaker 1: Yeah, which should should not be overlooked. I also feel
Speaker 1: like in the twenty cycle getting the top player in
Speaker 1: Maryland Rakeen Jared rakeem Jared excuse me? Who was the
Speaker 1: top player in the state of Maryland? Awesome wide out
Speaker 1: had twenty three targets this past season. Wasn't the guy?
Speaker 1: Wasn't the guy? Miss was the guy? Yeah, wasn't the
Speaker 1: guy yet, but still I feel like getting a guy
Speaker 1: of that caliber is hopefully a harbinger of what's to
Speaker 1: come for Locksley again in the DMV and area that
Speaker 1: he knows well and wren and raised all that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel.
Speaker 2: Like the great recruit out of Florida this past year too, right,
Speaker 2: the number one inside linebacker in the country.
Speaker 1: I feel like that is that is reason for optimism.
Speaker 1: The most obvious obstacle, though, is the side of the
Speaker 1: division that they're in. Yep, It's just it's gonna be
Speaker 1: hard to really take any giant step forward unless you
Speaker 1: can pick one of those off. Now, maybe Michigan State
Speaker 1: falls down. They've been up there the last few seasons,
Speaker 1: clearly above Maryland. Maybe they fall down now because of
Speaker 1: some of their turnover. Who knows what the future holds
Speaker 1: for Michigan and Penn State. I don't think Ohio State's
Speaker 1: really in any danger of falling down. So I think
Speaker 1: if you're a Maryland fan, if you're looking at Mike Loxley,
Speaker 1: if you're trying to analyze a trajectory, they did beat
Speaker 1: Penn State last year. Penn State was a mess, but
Speaker 1: still Maryland had lost the previous season to Penn State
Speaker 1: by a fifty nine to nil score. Getting one on
Speaker 1: the board against Penn State's a big deal and that's helpful.
Speaker 1: I feel like this is trending in a good direction.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say it's like a ninety degree
Speaker 1: launch angle where we're launching to the moon, but it
Speaker 1: feels like there is enough of a steady drum beat
Speaker 1: going in a good direction that I'm encouraged by what
Speaker 1: he's done so far. So I feel pretty good about this.
Speaker 2: Do you feel bowl good about Maryland as a program
Speaker 2: moving forward, because that's where we, I think are expectation
Speaker 2: wise with Maryland.
Speaker 1: All good? Bowl good.
Speaker 2: So they go what two and three, So that's bowlish
Speaker 2: losing my forty and then beating Minnesota and Penn State.
Speaker 2: You beat Minnesota and Penn State, and I mean they
Speaker 2: did lose to Rutgers. So I think bolish is the
Speaker 2: expectation that they're like somewhere between five and seven and
Speaker 2: seven and five, depending on a couple of breaks like
Speaker 2: we had in twenty eighteen, the overtime loss to Ohio
Speaker 2: State by one, and then who do they lose too close?
Speaker 2: They lost to somebody very close, Indiana, I believe. So
Speaker 2: that's the conversation right now in terms of success, in
Speaker 2: terms of the talent they're bringing in. By the way,
Speaker 2: this is the reunion of Ron Zuck and Mike Loxley
Speaker 2: going back to Illinois, so there's that. So they should
Speaker 2: be the talent levels should continually should continually improve in
Speaker 2: College Park. I there are twenty twenty one schedules little
Speaker 2: it's brutal.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at it right now. I see four obvious
Speaker 1: wins and that's it.
Speaker 2: I don't even who are youre for because Kent State
Speaker 2: can bomb it, dude, Kent State can bomb it really good.
Speaker 1: Rutgers is probably not a sure thing at this Spicure's
Speaker 1: lost to them. Yeah, no, this schedule is not great.
Speaker 2: In twenty one, the October and then first week of November. Now,
Speaker 2: they beat Penn State last year, so we got to
Speaker 2: give them credit for that if we're going to talk
Speaker 2: about them losing to Rutgers. But after Kent State in
Speaker 2: late September, it's Iowa, Ohio State, Minnesota, Indiana, Penn State consecutively,
Speaker 2: and whatever it is that you believe about Michigan State
Speaker 2: and Michigan after that. So it's it's a lot of gas.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of gas in the middle of that schedule.
Speaker 2: So it's you gotta beat Yeah, I guess you have
Speaker 2: to beat Howard. You have to beat Illinois, and we
Speaker 2: don't know what Illinois will look like in week three.
Speaker 2: I guess of brett Ilama, it's hard to find a
Speaker 2: bowl in here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't see the path. I don't see the path.
Speaker 1: It's not obvious anyway.
Speaker 2: Talia has to be great. He has to cut way
Speaker 2: back down on the interceptions. The receivers have to be
Speaker 2: really good. They have to get better upfront on defense.
Speaker 2: So trajectory wise, what are you giving me? You want
Speaker 2: to give me a launch angle? The higher the better?
Speaker 1: Yeah? So from what zero to ninety? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Or are they are they digging underground.
Speaker 1: A little bit? They're not digging underground.
Speaker 2: Don't think they're not technodrone adjacent?
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no, okay, Oh man, I mean I
Speaker 1: guess skimming forty five would be like average, right?
Speaker 2: Forty five is a bowl game?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll say like thirty. I got twenty five? What
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, Yeah, it's it's hard to go
Speaker 1: above that looking at the schedule.
Speaker 2: Jake Funk was really good last year. He got finally
Speaker 2: got healthy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One thing I brought up great had a hair
Speaker 1: by the way, too, terrific head of hair. One thing
Speaker 1: I brought up with you earlier. And this is silly,
Speaker 1: but I need to bring it up now because it's
Speaker 1: our damn show. Has nobody ever referred to Maryland as
Speaker 1: a teenage mutant Ninja Turtles like a really young team
Speaker 1: either in basketball or in football. I don't feel like
Speaker 1: ever hears.
Speaker 2: Too mouthy, tie, it's too wordy.
Speaker 1: Well, just a Ninja Turtles, I think. I mean there's
Speaker 1: copyright issues there. I mean, Fear the Turtle is great.
Speaker 1: Fear the Turtle improve saying no, No, I always approve
Speaker 1: Fear the Turtle. I've the turtle in my personal life.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying, have we never used Ninja Turtles?
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I don't think so. All right,
Speaker 2: this makes Mike Loxley master splinter. I don't know where
Speaker 2: we are with that comparison, But no, I haven't. I
Speaker 2: haven't seen it. Although they did. There was a terp
Speaker 2: that was mutant mutated. It seemed like a Toka Raizar situation.
Speaker 2: So that's in the direction.
Speaker 1: When do I play the crank sound again? Do I
Speaker 1: just play it for each guy or just ad will?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Okay, I like the sound even if
Speaker 1: it doesn't quite fit. That's good.
Speaker 2: That's all we care about.
Speaker 1: Next up, let's go to Chris Climban. Let's Chris Climbon
Speaker 1: eight and five, year one, four and six, four and six.
Speaker 1: This past year, Chris Climbon comes down to Manhattan, Kansas
Speaker 1: from North Dakota State where he went sixty nine and
Speaker 1: six and five seasons. Nice beat Oklahoma two straight years,
Speaker 1: which I think is very notable. It's an incredibly small
Speaker 1: sample size, but it does feel like recruiting is headed
Speaker 1: in the right direction. You know. I feel like they
Speaker 1: signed a blue chip quarterback, so there's that, Yeah, signed
Speaker 1: the Baker quarterback. Probably. I feel like for Climbing specifically,
Speaker 1: recruiting may be kind of like a bad metric to
Speaker 1: look at. It's always important, but Chris climb In, especially
Speaker 1: at North Dakota State, very good at just getting whatever
Speaker 1: he could maximizing production out of the talent that was
Speaker 1: at his disposal to the extent where you know, they
Speaker 1: built a bit of a powerhouse. He took that over,
Speaker 1: but he kept the plane in the air, and they
Speaker 1: were really really good in his time there. We saw
Speaker 1: them firsthand. I think he's a perfect fit for Case
Speaker 1: State in that regard, because this is not a place
Speaker 1: that's ever going to get a ton of blue chip talent.
Speaker 1: They're just not. They're going to get one one guy
Speaker 1: every now and again, and they're going to have to
Speaker 1: make do with three stars, with two stars and the white. Sure,
Speaker 1: if he can get the most production possible out of
Speaker 1: those kids and continue to maximize their ability, that's exactly
Speaker 1: what you need a Case State. So I feel really
Speaker 1: good about what he's done because these are teams that
Speaker 1: seem pretty well disciplined, They play hard. They obviously beat
Speaker 1: Oklahoma two years running. This feels like it needs to
Speaker 1: be a higher launch angle, if only because they've already
Speaker 1: been to a Bowl game under his tenure, and you know,
Speaker 1: he catched the big twelve in the right spot. Could
Speaker 1: a Case State win like nine ten games? I don't know,
Speaker 1: Maybe not this coming year, but it's certainly foreseeable for me.
Speaker 2: They need to return to the warm embrace of eight
Speaker 2: and four. They're an eight and four program, which is terrific,
Speaker 2: which is very good if you're a perennial Boll team.
Speaker 2: That's a terrific place to be if expectations are not
Speaker 2: to be in a New Year six game every once
Speaker 2: in a while, which Kansas State has been, but with
Speaker 2: Oklahoma looking like they're only trending upward, with Iowa State
Speaker 2: now probably at its peak, which is contending for the
Speaker 2: conference most years, Kansas State's in a nice position. It's
Speaker 2: hard to fully look at twenty twenty with Skyler Thompson
Speaker 2: going down the way that they did, and they still
Speaker 2: were obviously right there for against Oklahoma State and Baylor
Speaker 2: with a pretty underwhelming, to be kind, passing game with
Speaker 2: Will Howard, So it was sort of a feast but
Speaker 2: largely famine offense once Skyler Thompson went down.
Speaker 1: I think you're right.
Speaker 2: I think you know you're gonna rely on development. You're
Speaker 2: gonna rely on keeping guys in the program and developing
Speaker 2: them and starting them as upperclassmen, and you know, not
Speaker 2: beating teams with talent and town alone.
Speaker 1: So I think that the.
Speaker 2: Trajectory is good. I don't think. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, sixty degrees, fifty two degrees, something
Speaker 2: like that, where there seems to be a definitive ceiling
Speaker 2: unless a quarterback is you know, special, unless he's El Roberson,
Speaker 2: unless he's Callin Kleine.
Speaker 1: Guys like that. Skyler Thompson's good, he's better than Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: but seems to lose games he shouldn't and Kansas State should.
Speaker 2: I think they're just going to cruise along. They're not
Speaker 2: a rocket ship, but just it's a winning program. So
Speaker 2: I think the trajectory is good. They're nowhere near a technodrone.
Speaker 2: They have that floor, probably, but no, I see this
Speaker 2: as a team that's just gonna keep going to bowl
Speaker 2: games and it's it's impressive. It's just impressive football year
Speaker 2: and in, year out, and hopefully the offense continues to
Speaker 2: move forward creatively and put the most exciting five foot
Speaker 2: five tall duce van Is into a great all purpose
Speaker 2: position every week. If that's the case, the Big twelve
Speaker 2: has a good but not great Oklahoma State team, a
Speaker 2: changing Texas team that should be pretty good, to TCU
Speaker 2: team that's a wild card West Virginia that we hope improves,
Speaker 2: but it's nothing. It's not a killer team. Texas Tech
Speaker 2: is in a down place, Baylor has a lot of
Speaker 2: room to grow, and Kansas is a nightmare. So Kansas
Speaker 2: State is and continues to be Kansas State. So the
Speaker 2: trajectory is Bill.
Speaker 1: Snyder, Bill Snyder, Yeah, eight and four yeah.
Speaker 2: Program where there's nothing that makes me think that they
Speaker 2: are a threat to not go to bowl games aside
Speaker 2: from quarterback injury issues.
Speaker 1: Where would you grade out their launch ankle right now.
Speaker 2: Sixty sixty, Yeah, forty five is bold. Maybe I said
Speaker 2: fifty two sixty somewhere in that region.
Speaker 1: Ok. Yeah, I don't know if I go quite that high.
Speaker 2: But I mean they're sort of utahs, right, like they're
Speaker 2: just gonna have their act together. If they're reasonably healthy,
Speaker 2: they'll have their act together.
Speaker 1: And if you don't, they'll just beat you'll beat you. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll go. I'll go fifty five. Okay, so I guess
Speaker 1: I'm not too far off. Let's go to Dana Holgerson.
Speaker 1: Dana Holgerson four and eight and year one, three and
Speaker 1: five this past season. I'm gonna let you take the
Speaker 1: wheel on Holgerson here, Okay. I feel like every Holgerson
Speaker 1: team is exactly the same. Oh, I definitely don't. I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 2: If you've watched side by Side Clayton tune and Will
Speaker 2: Greer clips, it's not the same.
Speaker 1: I feel like I can't give an accurate readout on
Speaker 1: Holgerson because I'm a little biased. I'm almost sick of
Speaker 1: Dana Holgerson in college football.
Speaker 2: And really, yeah, I mean, I just if you've watched
Speaker 2: us in the past couple of years.
Speaker 1: I get that, but overall, no, not as like a personality.
Speaker 1: I just I guess I feel a little bit frustrated
Speaker 1: because we did have some good years with Hulgo at
Speaker 1: West Virginia, and there was a lot of excitement. We
Speaker 1: were waiting for West Virginia to turn the corner and
Speaker 1: like develop a defense and become more well rounded, and
Speaker 1: that just kind of never happened. They had some great seasons,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but it just over the long
Speaker 1: haul kind of fell apart. For me, I'm just frustrated
Speaker 1: that he hasn't done better. That's fair.
Speaker 2: Obviously, the nightmare of the twenty nineteen season with his
Speaker 2: planned red shirting bulk red shirting, I don't know, didn't
Speaker 2: work out for twenty twenty with guys like Derreck King leaving,
Speaker 2: defense improved the defense actually, and the defense improved near
Speaker 2: the end of his time at West Virginia. There was
Speaker 2: a couple of nightmare years in there, but the defense improved.
Speaker 2: In Houston, Clayton tune probably has a relatively low ceiling,
Speaker 2: gives the ball away too much. I don't know if
Speaker 2: the competition is open for quarterback right now, but an
Speaker 2: interesting enough season last year you know, they get edged
Speaker 2: out by Memphis. They lose to Hawaii to close out
Speaker 2: the year the Bowl game.
Speaker 1: I just Houston and Hulgo.
Speaker 2: Don't if you're going to hire Dana Holgerson and you
Speaker 2: don't have any sort of real pop on offense, I
Speaker 2: think it's a failed higher and I don't know if
Speaker 2: the next quarterback is going to be the guy. But
Speaker 2: I don't know they were running the ball so well
Speaker 2: in Morgantown. I don't really run the ball that well.
Speaker 2: They haven't been running the ball all that well. It's
Speaker 2: it just feels like an average team that doesn't have
Speaker 2: much zazz or juice right now. I mean, the schedule
Speaker 2: is nice this year. They should probably have an impressive record,
Speaker 2: but I think they miss UCF and Cincinnati. I just
Speaker 2: in terms of trajectory, I'm just I don't know. I'm
Speaker 2: left at like a like a straight forty five. Maybe
Speaker 2: then that's too upward, probably as.
Speaker 1: Sarah, don't you gotta go below forty five?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're sort of like a thirty team. That doesn't
Speaker 2: mean they won't make a Bowl. But in terms of
Speaker 2: just like the the launch angle, I just I'm not
Speaker 2: you know, they're not to the moon. They're just sort
Speaker 2: of there. They lost by four touchdowns at Cincinnati this year,
Speaker 2: so they're not competitive with the top of the conference.
Speaker 2: They give up forty plus two. I mean, it's understandable
Speaker 2: to BYU. But in a strange year, and it was
Speaker 2: incredibly strange. I think they had like a month off
Speaker 2: between games at a certain point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It was really So this is all
Speaker 1: grain of salt, but.
Speaker 3: In a year where in a in a year where
Speaker 3: tackling in defense didn't exist in a lot of places,
Speaker 3: it seemed like a good year to pop a little
Speaker 3: bit more on offense.
Speaker 2: I mean we're still talking about I mean, I'm not
Speaker 2: a big Kyle Porter fan, but I like Marquz Stevenson
Speaker 2: going into last year, and I just they just didn't
Speaker 2: separate themselves offensively. So if that's a hole th team,
Speaker 2: I don't know really what you're getting excited about. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm like a twenty five or thirty with them worse scamming.
Speaker 1: Let's play it. You go crying? Why not? Yeah? Scott Sadderfield,
Speaker 1: Yeah you're a big Sadderfield guy, weren't you? I was?
Speaker 2: And I'm bummed about Louisville with sadderfield because it felt
Speaker 2: a bit like last year should have been a real
Speaker 2: jump up year. Yeah, and the turnovers killed so much
Speaker 2: of what could have been killed him, And yeah, I
Speaker 2: expected more. I think, what did Michaeale Maleik throw twelve picks?
Speaker 2: Had three fumbles and this was a year where they
Speaker 2: still were able to managing putting a top twenty offense
Speaker 2: or so on the field. I mean, you have two
Speaker 2: two at well, an all time receiver for the Cardinals.
Speaker 2: You have Dez Fitzpatrick. You have Javian Hawkins forever long
Speaker 2: he played, and a quarterback who was I mean when
Speaker 2: you say an all time Louisville explosive quarterback, you're still
Speaker 2: saying somebody who followed Lamar Jackson. But to waste that
Speaker 2: offense with what that the results ended up as in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, and to not be able to generate juice
Speaker 2: coming off of I love that word today for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: the juice on the recruiting trail an underwhelming recruiting destination
Speaker 2: right now in the ACC coming off of what the
Speaker 2: most exciting college football player of the modern era, and
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson really excellent offensive play these past couple of years.
Speaker 2: A young energetic coaching staff that you felt like, I
Speaker 2: felt like would be recruiting at a higher level. They're
Speaker 2: a below average acc recruiting team.
Speaker 1: He was really good at app State. He built strong defenses.
Speaker 2: It's a different but it's a different game there, man
Speaker 2: different game wiring talent and winning. I thought they were
Speaker 2: gonna I thought they were going to give Clemson trouble
Speaker 2: like they did for a stretch there under Bobby Patrino.
Speaker 1: I really did. Between Scott Sadderfield and Neil Brown, you
Speaker 1: had a moment when those guys got hired by bigger
Speaker 1: programs because I think you really liked each of them
Speaker 1: a great deal, and you know, Neil Brown, I think
Speaker 1: to some extent, we kind of acknowledged that was going
Speaker 1: to be more of a longer term thing. It wasn't
Speaker 1: going to be right away. But Louisville felt like they
Speaker 1: had it felt like they had more of the ingredients
Speaker 1: to get there quicker. And I'm with you. I thought
Speaker 1: this past season, for all its flaws, was going to
Speaker 1: be a much much different story for Louisville, and the
Speaker 1: turnovers were just brutal. Moreover, it was I think a
Speaker 1: situation where they shot themselves in the foot a lot.
Speaker 1: Dux is a better team than four and seven, but
Speaker 1: they just constantly were getting in their own way, and
Speaker 1: I'm kind of left now not knowing what to think.
Speaker 1: I felt really.
Speaker 2: Out showed out really nicely to end the season against Wake,
Speaker 2: So there's that.
Speaker 1: I felt really optimistic after year one under Statterfeld. This
Speaker 1: past season it felt like it all fell apart, and like,
Speaker 1: certainly Louisville would not be the only college football program
Speaker 1: that saw a bit of that. We saw Michigan, we
Speaker 1: saw at Penn State, like we've seen it all around
Speaker 1: college football schools that just didn't show out at all
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. So I don't know how much value
Speaker 1: to put on that. I was left very very very underwhelmed, though,
Speaker 1: and that is certainly going to affect my launch angle
Speaker 1: after eight and five. After eight and five, I might
Speaker 1: have said, like seventy five degree of launch angle, I
Speaker 1: was gung ho away I started.
Speaker 2: They started their ACC season one and six. Yeah, last year,
Speaker 2: that's against a Miami team who was good but not
Speaker 2: a killer pitt okay, Georgia Tech losing by what twenty
Speaker 2: to Georgia Tech, Notre Dame team who they weirdly shut down.
Speaker 1: Well the seven Yeah, ah, I just.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm I'm left deflated on the too. I can
Speaker 2: I recognize. And you know, Braden Smith start out the
Speaker 2: season really impressively at receiver, looking like a really promising
Speaker 2: young receiver, and just kind of disappeared throughout the year.
Speaker 2: I thought he was going to make more of a contribution.
Speaker 2: So no, it leaves me feeling just sort of forty
Speaker 2: forty five ish in terms of launch angle and trajectory
Speaker 2: that this is a Louisville team that's going to be
Speaker 2: a bowl team, and we'll climb out of a slumber
Speaker 2: cave to give somebody trouble. But I mean, they didn't
Speaker 2: string together wins this year. They did not win two
Speaker 2: games in a row at any point in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Now it maybe it was just the strangeness of last fall,
Speaker 2: but everybody was operating under similar circumstances.
Speaker 1: So I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm just left tampering, tampering my expectations of the Scott
Speaker 2: Sadderfield era.
Speaker 1: Why don't we say fifty, Okay, why don't we say
Speaker 1: fifty because I think we both believe, we want to
Speaker 1: believe that it's going to be higher, and it can
Speaker 1: be higher, but last season that doesn't wash off, not
Speaker 1: so easily.
Speaker 2: They give up a lot of big plays. Look, the
Speaker 2: Miami game was early and they gave up all those
Speaker 2: huge plays and we're being sucked into play action like
Speaker 2: the high school team. But I don't know if what
Speaker 2: is the record that Louisville just they need to go
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one for you to feel good about
Speaker 2: a respectable launch angle.
Speaker 1: Well, they got to make a bowl. I got to
Speaker 1: make a bowl that that I think is given. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pull up their schedule here quick, m hm and
Speaker 1: see what this looks like. But you know, I think
Speaker 1: the bowl is probably that's that's table stakes at this point.
Speaker 1: If you're sadder filled, I think it's field not felt
Speaker 1: to be clear field. What did I say? Feld? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've You've been thrown in a couple of Felds there.
Speaker 1: It's been a long day ole miss to open up
Speaker 1: the year, that won't be easy. You see f in there,
Speaker 1: Matt Carroll and Dylan Gabriel in the non conference. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's not the most ideal. There's a Kentucky game in there. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the rivalry later in the year, so you could do
Speaker 1: a lot better in terms of non conference scheduling.
Speaker 2: I mean, the last time Louisville played Kentucky, a receiver
Speaker 2: completely destroyed them at quarterback.
Speaker 1: But there are games in here against Eastern Kentucky, Wake, Forest, Syracuse, Duke.
Speaker 1: It's it's a easier path for sure than Maryland.
Speaker 2: But what's your trajectory again.
Speaker 1: Got to get to a bowl, got to get to
Speaker 1: what is the number, I'll say fifty fifty fifty.
Speaker 2: So you feel like they're cruising on an above average trajectory.
Speaker 1: I am going to keep the faith that they are.
Speaker 1: Didn't see it last year.
Speaker 2: They could easily if Mackenzie Milton is good, they are
Speaker 2: starting there's a good shot of starting out one and three,
Speaker 2: one and three and then at Wake, Virginia, BC, NC State, Clemson.
Speaker 2: It's not ideal, but it's not the great Bob.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I see him going to a
Speaker 2: bowl game right now, if if they're even somewhat has
Speaker 2: turnover prone and turnovers are random. When they're not though,
Speaker 2: you'll know it. And there were some not so random turnovers,
Speaker 2: bad decision making in the passing game and just not
Speaker 2: holding onto the ball.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Keep all my.
Speaker 2: Faith hard to circle.
Speaker 1: Keep the faith with me with Scott Satterfield.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm in that, Like twenty seven is my launch angle.
Speaker 1: He's all right, maah. But Jamie Chadwell, huh, I mean
Speaker 1: he's my captain planet Jamie Chadwell Coastal Carolina. Jamie Chadwell
Speaker 1: is interesting. He's had three non consecutive seasons with Coastal Carolina.
Speaker 1: Was hired initially in twenty seventeen, then the last two
Speaker 1: seasons twenty nineteen and twenty twenty. Here's an interim. Here's
Speaker 1: an interim guy. Yeah, so here, here's the here's the
Speaker 1: official win loss record three and nine year one, five
Speaker 1: and seven year two, and then eleven and one this
Speaker 1: past season. So for our purposes here where we're considering
Speaker 1: third year coaches, will say five and seven eleven one
Speaker 1: pretty big jump. Sure, I think Coastal may come out
Speaker 1: of a pandemic in better shape as a program, because
Speaker 1: first off, they captured the imagination of the nation at
Speaker 1: huge stage all season long, specifically the BYU game, which
Speaker 1: we'll talk about till we're blue in the face, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: And secondly, they're gonna have Grayson McCall for at least
Speaker 1: another year, and that dude's a legit pro prospect for
Speaker 1: as long as he's there.
Speaker 2: I haven't seen one way or the other.
Speaker 1: He's a pro prospect. Yeah, nice, good for him. For
Speaker 1: as long as he's there, Coastal's gonna have a platform,
Speaker 1: They're gonna have eyes. And it may be a little
Speaker 1: too soon to start grading out recruiting, and I'm always
Speaker 1: hesitant to dig too deep into recruiting on the group
Speaker 1: of five level, but I do think they're going to
Speaker 1: see a lift as a result to what we saw
Speaker 1: this past season. And Chadwell, for as long as he's there,
Speaker 1: I guess that's the other component here. He was a
Speaker 1: name that came up in association with some bigger openings.
Speaker 1: I don't know how long he's going to stay at Coastal.
Speaker 1: You'd obviously like to believe that he's going to be
Speaker 1: there a while, but I think we know better in
Speaker 1: this world of college football that if he continues having
Speaker 1: double digit wins, people are going to come calling for him,
Speaker 1: especially with the offense he runs, which is just fun
Speaker 1: as hell. I don't see how you could look at
Speaker 1: this program and not feel like it's like eighty Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a couple of things. The offensive system is incredible,
Speaker 2: and I won't say they lucked into Grayson McCall, but
Speaker 2: it was a perfect match. And certainly, you know, if
Speaker 2: we could do it all over again in terms of
Speaker 2: the class of twenty nineteen, that he'd probably be receiving
Speaker 2: more offers than he did from Power five schools. They
Speaker 2: ran a ton and that option look to set up
Speaker 2: the pass, and Grayson McCall happened to be talented enough
Speaker 2: to take advantage with defenses sucking up, and they were
Speaker 2: a crazy explosive team. I think they're going to regress
Speaker 2: a bit. They were the number one turnover margin team
Speaker 2: in the nation, I believe. I don't know if you
Speaker 2: came across that number as well when you were looking
Speaker 2: at them. So that's something that's not really sustainable because
Speaker 2: fumbles will bounce the other way, interceptions will get tipped
Speaker 2: and caught by the defense if they weren't caught last year.
Speaker 2: Those kinds of things tend to turn season to season.
Speaker 2: Their schedule is awesome. They are at app State this year,
Speaker 2: but it's after a bye week, so I don't think
Speaker 2: there's any reason to think that they won't flirt with
Speaker 2: ten wins, especially with how much better the defense got.
Speaker 2: From twenty nineteen to twenty twenty. We saw the defense
Speaker 2: make some big plays at the end of games. They
Speaker 2: did win a couple of clunkers. I mean they held
Speaker 2: on against BYU. They won that game by what a
Speaker 2: yard and a half at the end, And then they
Speaker 2: held on in a crazy game against Louisiana Lafayette or sorry,
Speaker 2: just Louisiana on the road, and I think that was
Speaker 2: a Thursday, a Friday night game. They beat the rageing Cajuns.
Speaker 2: So I think they're going to continue to flirt with
Speaker 2: double digit wins, but I don't think what last year
Speaker 2: was is necessarily sustainable. So, yeah, you're right about your
Speaker 2: eighty eighty two whatever. They're in a good place, but
Speaker 2: it's it's a tight rope back because Jamie Chadwell is
Speaker 2: probably going to jump on a bigger opportunity in the
Speaker 2: next year or two if the success continues in Conway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm very curious to see what the future holds
Speaker 1: for him. Look, if they keep running that offense at
Speaker 1: the same level that they did this past year, it's
Speaker 1: impossible for me to believe that there won't be schools
Speaker 1: that are at his door. We'll going to bring him.
Speaker 2: He's your next Louisville coach. Yeah, I don't know that
Speaker 2: he knows. Yeah, No, They've got way better. They stopped
Speaker 2: a lot of big plays through the air, and so
Speaker 2: that's going to be the thing. The offense gets the attention,
Speaker 2: but I think it's the defensive improvement and the turnovers
Speaker 2: forced and not given up that really helped to pace
Speaker 2: everything for a crazy improvere.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Will Heally. Let's Will Healey at Charlotte
Speaker 1: seven and six, year one, two and four in the
Speaker 1: weird COVID year Dan, I don't know if I have
Speaker 1: enough knowledge to make a informed opinion of Will Heally,
Speaker 1: but I know that Will Heely's a name that has
Speaker 1: come up a little bit fringe candidate pretty consistently, maybe
Speaker 1: not as a leading contender, but in conjunction with some
Speaker 1: of the bigger openings that we've seen over the last
Speaker 1: you know, season or two. Here, Sure, where do you
Speaker 1: stand on Charlotte and Will Heally? I think he's impressive.
Speaker 2: He strikes a lot of people in the college football
Speaker 2: universe as an impressive and he's a younger dude did
Speaker 2: a great job at Austin p in Tennessee, and you know,
Speaker 2: it was the weird coaching shuffle with Jmu and everything
Speaker 2: like that in Charlotte. So takes over at Charlotte and
Speaker 2: they kind of out of nowhere, but the schedule set
Speaker 2: up nicely for it in twenty nineteen to win their
Speaker 2: final I think five games to take forty nine ers
Speaker 2: to their first Bowl game ever. Chris Reynolds, I think
Speaker 2: is a really impressive quarterback. Needs to cut down on
Speaker 2: the turnovers himself, but I think is a really nice
Speaker 2: starting point, and I like Charlotte a good deal. They've
Speaker 2: recruited all right, It's sort of been all over the
Speaker 2: place in terms of recruiting, but I'm I'm pretty happy.
Speaker 2: I mean, the defense was legitimately bad at times. They
Speaker 2: gave up fifty to Duke last year. So I don't
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pump the brakes on the will Heay bigger
Speaker 2: job conversation right now. I'm going to need to see
Speaker 2: a little bit more like he has a nightmare of
Speaker 2: an opening few games in twenty nineteen and does an
Speaker 2: amazing job to close out the year. So I am
Speaker 2: I think the trajectory is good, especially for I mean,
Speaker 2: this has only been what an FBS program for eight
Speaker 2: nine years or something like that. They took a few
Speaker 2: decades off, so I'm gonna cut them some slacks. So
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say, all things considered, they were another one
Speaker 2: of those teams I think with like a five week
Speaker 2: break between games last year, and I think they missed
Speaker 2: what I'm looking at the schedule right now. Yeah, they
Speaker 2: have two weeks off between app State and FAU and
Speaker 2: they're in They're definitely in the harder side of Conference USA.
Speaker 2: They're in the East, which is I mean, UAB is
Speaker 2: just in firm control of the West, it appears, so
Speaker 2: they're in the harder side of Conference USA, and his
Speaker 2: job is going to continue to be to maximize this
Speaker 2: offense while the defense takes probably a little bit of
Speaker 2: time improving. So I think the trajectory is good all
Speaker 2: things considered. Within the context of Charlotte football and how
Speaker 2: young it still is, I'm gonna I'm gonna say.
Speaker 1: Like fifty to fifty five. He doesn't not look like
Speaker 1: Kaylor Lautner from what was that keeen drama, The Vampire One.
Speaker 1: Why can't I think of it Twilight, Twilight. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: knew Taylor's name, but not Twilight. I couldn't think of it. Okay,
Speaker 1: he doesn't not look like he looks like a nerdier
Speaker 1: version of Taylor Lautner.
Speaker 2: Right, they did bring in a big transfer this year,
Speaker 2: I think from A and M at quarterback.
Speaker 1: We'll see. I don't know if.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's a competition in Charlotte, but
Speaker 2: there's at least that there are. If they can bring
Speaker 2: in some of those guys, it becomes a little bit
Speaker 2: more interesting.
Speaker 1: All right. Well, heally only thirty six, so he's a younger.
Speaker 2: Only thirty six. Oh my god, you're a whole generation
Speaker 2: older than him.
Speaker 1: It's true. Okay, let's go to Jeff Collins. You're Jeff Collins. Thoughts.
Speaker 1: I love Jeff Collins. Man, I'm in mister Atlanta, Mister Atlanta,
Speaker 1: Jeff Collins. Three wins in year one, three wins in
Speaker 1: year two. Well, it's gonna be a slow burn. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a slow burn to root out the option.
Speaker 1: What I like about Jeff Collins is that he just
Speaker 1: has limitless.
Speaker 2: Is that still a thing? Is that still a narrative?
Speaker 2: With Georgia Tech the Atlanta two years. No, no, no,
Speaker 2: the option, rooting out the option. Now, after two seasons of.
Speaker 1: It, it's becoming less of a thing. I think we're
Speaker 1: getting to that point where he needs to put up
Speaker 1: or shut up. But it was going to take at
Speaker 1: least two seasons to fully get that system out of
Speaker 1: the system, you know. Okay, No, I'm right here with you.
Speaker 1: So I like Jeff Collins. I stand by the fact
Speaker 1: that Georgia Tech plays hard. That is my thing. It's
Speaker 1: always been my thing. It doesn't always equal more wins,
Speaker 1: but more often than not, if you find a team
Speaker 1: that is playing hard, that's a pretty good bet. And
Speaker 1: I feel like they have under him. I like what
Speaker 1: I've seen, So I like the fact that he's selling
Speaker 1: Atlanta hard. They've obviously got a lot of talent down there.
Speaker 1: He's doing his it's in an amazing state. Yeah, to
Speaker 1: try and improve the recruiting, to adapt to a different system.
Speaker 1: I am going to remain optimistic on Georgia Tech. Now, Okay,
Speaker 1: so does that mean a Bowl.
Speaker 2: Three?
Speaker 1: That means that they need to get to a Bowl
Speaker 1: game in year three for me to maintain this level
Speaker 1: of optimism. So I will put it at I'm very optimistic.
Speaker 1: I will put it out a fifty five because I
Speaker 1: honestly believe they are headed in the right direction.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1: I want to see him go to a bowl they
Speaker 1: don't go to a bowl game, and we come back
Speaker 1: and we do this next year. It's going to be
Speaker 1: big time crank, big time crank. But I'm going fifty
Speaker 1: five finally answer. Their schedule is really hard.
Speaker 2: They're at Clemson, at Miami, at Notre Dame, and of
Speaker 2: course they have Georgia.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I think what we need to see from Georgia Tech
Speaker 2: this year because of those teams that I name, they
Speaker 2: just can't get blown out like fifty two to three
Speaker 2: against you know, Clemson or Miami or Georgia or Notre
Speaker 2: Dame or any of those teams. They need to be
Speaker 2: losing games because they've they've won games against quality and
Speaker 2: more talented teams.
Speaker 1: They have.
Speaker 2: I mean, weird to say backfield of the future at
Speaker 2: this point because they've already been the backfield, but Jeff
Speaker 2: Simms and Jamior Gibbs are really impressive when they're on.
Speaker 2: So I just need to see them at the very
Speaker 2: least because they're gonna lose likely lose what to Clemson
Speaker 2: and Georgia. If they could lose, I don't know, forty
Speaker 2: five twenty eight instead of forty five eight, that's something
Speaker 2: that will help with my trajectory. And they absolutely in
Speaker 2: terms of really bumping up this launch angle, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: need them to beat I think they have North Carolina
Speaker 2: quote unquote Neutrals in Atlanta, so it's not a bad
Speaker 2: neutral site matchup. You're gonna have to beat either North Carolina.
Speaker 2: You gotta beat maybe both Virginia schools pit maybe give
Speaker 2: Notre Dame a little bit of trouble. I don't know
Speaker 2: if they have if the Irish have somebody before or after,
Speaker 2: if that's like a sandwich situation for Notre Dame, but
Speaker 2: something let's say Georgia Tech, Notre Dame has Stanford.
Speaker 1: The week after in Virginia the week before, two road games.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's super intimidating, final.
Speaker 1: Final home game of the year for Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Senior Day, Yeah, I really need Sims and
Speaker 2: Gibbs to pop for me to feel Sims and Gibbs.
Speaker 1: The problem, the problem with being too optimistic on Tech
Speaker 1: is that they are really only three obvious wins here.
Speaker 2: But and I U Kennesan Duke.
Speaker 1: That's about it. They can beat BC, it's at home.
Speaker 1: They can beat Virginia Tech.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you're a big BRAXI believer, not really.
Speaker 2: And they should be able to beat Duke pit is beatable.
Speaker 2: That's at home. I can find five.
Speaker 1: I'm sticking with fifty five. Okay, don't talk me out
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 2: I'm at thirty five because some point we need to turn,
Speaker 2: you know, putting the Atlanta area code on every jersey
Speaker 2: into actual wins.
Speaker 1: Final coach Ry Ryan Day, he's our technodrome straight down.
Speaker 1: Let's play it anyway, even though he's not. Yeah, Ryan
Speaker 1: Day thirteen and one in year one, seven and one
Speaker 1: and went to the National Championship Game lost Tobama. This
Speaker 1: past year, Ryan Day has done nothing at all to
Speaker 1: make folks like me feel leary about the future of
Speaker 1: the program. And I say folks like me because my
Speaker 1: thing that I always stand by is it's really tough
Speaker 1: to follow a legend, and coaching changes are like a
Speaker 1: coin flip. You just you kind of never know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna get, even if it seems like it's gonna
Speaker 1: work out on paper. There's a lot of times that
Speaker 1: it doesn't. Ryan Day has Ryan Day, did you just
Speaker 1: did you just kind of pseudo quote Forrest come maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit. Okay, that wasn't the intention of that,
Speaker 1: but maybe a little bit. Yeah, Okay, So look, twenty
Speaker 1: and two, uh, two years, that's pretty good. Both are
Speaker 1: you laughing at me? Twenty and two is more than
Speaker 1: pretty good. Both years have been with Justin Fields, though,
Speaker 1: and that's a huge cop out. But let's just say
Speaker 1: moving forward now, new quarterback, I'm curious to see what
Speaker 1: happens in twenty one, curious to see if that has
Speaker 1: any effect whatsoever on this juggernaut that has been the Buckeyes.
Speaker 1: I have no reason to think that this train is
Speaker 1: slowing down anytime soon. So I don't know how we
Speaker 1: grade out trajectory when you're ready kind of at like
Speaker 1: a night, but it doesn't feel to me like this
Speaker 1: is gonna go in a bad direction anytime soon.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, there arguably the most talented or one of
Speaker 2: the what one, two or three most talented teams in
Speaker 2: the country and got blown out by one of those
Speaker 2: other teams in the National Championship Game or comfortably beaten
Speaker 2: correct correct more appropriate. So it's all relative. They were
Speaker 2: not a good defensive team relative to what I think
Speaker 2: their potential was, because the talent level is so high,
Speaker 2: and we saw that finally exploited. We saw it exploited
Speaker 2: against other teams Indiana Northwestern at points of that game.
Speaker 2: But you know, the juggernaut that was the Alabama twenty
Speaker 2: twenty offense was the one that really put the exclamation
Speaker 2: point on some of those defensive issues, again relative to
Speaker 2: the talent on hand. So Ryan Day is done a
Speaker 2: fantastic job. He's captain planet for Ohio State. This the
Speaker 2: trajectory is unbelievable because their first goal is to win
Speaker 2: the Big Ten and there is nowhere near an obvious
Speaker 2: reason to think they won't this year, which is crazy.
Speaker 2: The recruiting has, if nothing, gotten even better than what
Speaker 2: it was under ed Meyer.
Speaker 1: It is better you look at.
Speaker 2: So they are. They're in a quarterback battle right now
Speaker 2: between a blue chip from southern California and a blue
Speaker 2: chip from Arizona. They have the number one overall player
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two. This upcoming class in Quinn Yours
Speaker 2: from Texas coming in. So they are operating like crazy.
Speaker 2: On a national level, the recruiting machine is and the
Speaker 2: stage certainly does not seem too big. Taking the baton
Speaker 2: from Urban Meyer, so I think in terms of assistant hiring,
Speaker 2: he's done a fantastic job. You look at what you
Speaker 2: know with Al Washington and Greg Madison stabilizing things upfront, Carrie.
Speaker 1: Combs, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 2: But offensively it is, there just seems very little to
Speaker 2: worry about. The unbelievable group of receivers Garrett Wilson and
Speaker 2: Chris olave back this year, probably the most obvious star
Speaker 2: duo at receiver in the sport right now heading into
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. So I don't have any concerns trajectory wise,
Speaker 2: other than Ohio State in some form. You can't get
Speaker 2: blown out on a stage like that, and they're not
Speaker 2: Notre Dame. But they are again going to have to
Speaker 2: break through after that showing in the playoff. I mean,
Speaker 2: they have this unbelievable game against Clemson, killed them and
Speaker 2: then killed Clinton. Then yeah, so we'll see. The secondary
Speaker 2: left some to be desired last year, as did linebacker.
Speaker 2: So yeah, there are still problem areas, but you know,
Speaker 2: you look, you pull back the camera and Ryan Day
Speaker 2: has been sensational.
Speaker 1: I just don't see, to your point, an obvious pathway
Speaker 1: for somebody else to upend them and win the Big Ten.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing they're They're gonna keep getting bites
Speaker 1: at that playoff Apple because all they have.
Speaker 2: To do is lose once to a one lost team
Speaker 2: in the East.
Speaker 1: That's all it takes, right, But I just don't feel
Speaker 1: great about that. Who's that team? Right? Is a team?
Speaker 1: Who's a team Michigan.
Speaker 2: Looks three steps back? Michigan State starting over, Penn State
Speaker 2: has its own issues, especially on offense, and they're starting
Speaker 2: over at coordinator there so and.
Speaker 1: Then who on the who on the western side gives
Speaker 1: you the warm fuzzies? Nobody obvious. So it seems like
Speaker 1: Ohio State has the unique circumstance of being far and
Speaker 1: away better in what is already a really good conference,
Speaker 1: really good conference. It's not like an acc situation where
Speaker 1: it's Clemson and then everybody else is just sort of
Speaker 1: like trying to punch their way to get to like
Speaker 1: anywhere close to that top run. We've got teams that
Speaker 1: are blue blood programs, teams that have been at the
Speaker 1: top of the polls very recently, and Ohio State's just
Speaker 1: way better than all of them, and that bodes well
Speaker 1: for them as it relates to the playoffs. So I
Speaker 1: don't know. I just it's got to be ninety right,
Speaker 1: like they're They're just on a wide path to the moon.
Speaker 1: It's what twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: Yes, is Ryan Day hoisting a national championship trophy by
Speaker 2: the end of the twenty twenty four season. By the
Speaker 2: end of twenty twenty four, Yes, so he has won two, three,
Speaker 2: four bites at that apple.
Speaker 1: Yes, I would say yes. Okay, I think I agree.
Speaker 1: I would say yes, and I'd be inclined to say
Speaker 1: it could be this year. But I still don't know
Speaker 1: what their quarterback is going to look like. I have
Speaker 1: a lot of faith, see they'll be CJ. Stratter, Jack Miller.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of faith that one of those
Speaker 1: two kids is going to be very, very good. But
Speaker 1: with the kind of turnover that BAMA has losing Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence or Clemson, it's going to take some time. Didja
Speaker 1: you just saying it's gonna be there? Okay?
Speaker 2: There isn't a tiny part of me that worries that
Speaker 2: Ryan Day isn't fully ready to annually beat Clemson or
Speaker 2: Alabama or simply Alabama, like we could be saying in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, does Ryan Day have a Nick Saban problem?
Speaker 1: We could be Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think I would like to see what this Ohio
Speaker 2: State because we saw a difference last year with my
Speaker 2: guy Jeff Hafley two years ago in this Ohio State defense,
Speaker 2: and it seems like they took a step back this
Speaker 2: past year. But again, this is twenty twenty, so all
Speaker 2: grain of salt. I am I'm very optimistic about I mean,
Speaker 2: were you not optimistic about Ohio State's future at this point?
Speaker 1: Yeah? It's tough. It's tough.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, there you have a ready or do we
Speaker 2: have an agreed upon technodron team.
Speaker 1: A technodrone team? Yeah? Of those eight who is clearly
Speaker 1: digging downward hlgo sadderfield, it could be Collins has not
Speaker 1: won a lot of games in Atlanta. I'm still optimistic though, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm still optimistic. I'll go hold go. If you want
Speaker 1: to go hold go.
Speaker 2: I think we'll go hole go. I expected more. I
Speaker 2: just that's a conference where you should be able to
Speaker 2: move the ball and uh drive the ball. Downfield a
Speaker 2: lot more than Houston has. So yeah, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1: There, solidverbotgmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Right in, you have a favorite Ninja Turtle? Did you
Speaker 2: watch the original Ninja Turtles? I did, like early nineties,
Speaker 2: late eighties. I read up on the Ninja Turtles. By
Speaker 2: the way, started out as a joke comic book. It
Speaker 2: was a parody comedy comic book, and then a toy
Speaker 2: company one is like, hey, can we make the toys
Speaker 2: from this joke comic book? And then the toys were
Speaker 2: seen and they said can we make a full on
Speaker 2: TV show out of it?
Speaker 1: And it exploded total joke. Though I was a Michael
Speaker 1: Angelo guy.
Speaker 2: Interesting, you do strike me as your class party dude.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was a Michelangelo guy. I feel like he
Speaker 1: is everybody's guy.
Speaker 2: I like Donatello because you've got approximate the Dona Tello
Speaker 2: experience with a bat. And I know Casey Jones was
Speaker 2: involved in this universe. But I like Donatello. He like
Speaker 2: he he had a dry sense of humor without being
Speaker 2: sarcastic like Ralph Raphael Raffi, and without being an out
Speaker 2: and out goofball like Michelangelo.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, Michael, I feel like Michael Angelo was kind
Speaker 1: of like sort of not to mix my metaphors here,
Speaker 1: but there's sort of like a nay more quality to
Speaker 1: Michaelangelo to borrow a little bit from European soccer. Like
Speaker 1: he's just he's got more talent than everybody, but doesn't
Speaker 1: always choose to apply it, right, you know. Interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the thing that I always enjoyed I never really
Speaker 2: noticed at the time was we have a turtle with
Speaker 2: a dagger, and we have a turtle with a sort
Speaker 2: two swords, right Michael Angelo or excuse me, Leo has two.
Speaker 1: Swords, yes, and Michael Angelo had that no blood in.
Speaker 2: The movie, all right, Michaelangelo has noun chucks and what
Speaker 2: are they size Raphael's weapon and then you got a
Speaker 2: bow bow staff for Donatello, but no blood. No blood,
Speaker 2: daggers and swords, no blood in the TMNT early universe.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, fun show as always fun show. Soliverble
Speaker 1: dot com is the website. Go there find all of
Speaker 1: our old stuff. Newsletter dot soliverble dot coms where you
Speaker 1: can sign up for that newsletter and follow along on
Speaker 1: social media. Dan Don't forget off topic show with their
Speaker 1: friend Bill Barnwell, coming your way later in the week,
Speaker 1: Available only at for bowlers dot Com our Patreon, Dan
Speaker 1: that's all I got.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and tell us your favorite kids sports movies from
Speaker 2: the nineties and we'll talk about whatever we can.
Speaker 1: For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein,
Speaker 1: form myself, Tie Hilton Brandt. We will talk y'all on
Speaker 1: Thursday and I meantime stays SCE