Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hull that for me. I'm
Speaker 1: a man, I'm for 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?
Speaker 1: Edith Steak is that woo woom? And then and Tye,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the Solid Verbal boys and girls. My
Speaker 1: name is ty hilden Brand, joining me once more, the one,
Speaker 1: the only Dan Rubinstein out there in Chicago, Illinois. How
Speaker 1: you doing, man?
Speaker 2: Long time?
Speaker 1: He'll talk. I can't.
Speaker 2: I don't know if we can license anymore. I don't
Speaker 2: know again because I was about to start singing. And
Speaker 2: it's a cover version. It's not playing the actual it's
Speaker 2: a terrible cover version. But I have I've waited here
Speaker 2: for you, Tie while I've been attending to business. That's
Speaker 2: more important because there is a second solid baby.
Speaker 1: Hey, Youngratue.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty good and pretty tired, but pretty excited to
Speaker 2: be back after what Andy Staples and Matt Brown too
Speaker 2: feer friends of the show filled in for a couple
Speaker 2: of fantastic shows. So I'm no worse for the wear.
Speaker 2: In fact, I am better for the wear because I
Speaker 2: have a healthy baby boy number two. I kind of
Speaker 2: joked about it talking about a family band that I
Speaker 2: wanted to start, that I should have another kid. We're
Speaker 2: a little bit of ways away from that. But healthy baby,
Speaker 2: Solid baby number two boy. So I'm a boy dad
Speaker 2: in a big way. And I got to tell you,
Speaker 2: Solid toddler not super interested his little brother, so not
Speaker 2: dealing well.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I mean he's like squarely in the terrible too. So
Speaker 2: you know, everything is a change and difficult, but at
Speaker 2: the same time pretty fun. So yeah, got two little
Speaker 2: guys in the house and can't complain. Everybody's healthy. Everything
Speaker 2: went smoothly in the hospital. We were actually we actually
Speaker 2: went in to be induced because Jody with and I
Speaker 2: was beyond ready. And they sent us home and they're like, eh,
Speaker 2: there's no room, no room at the end, come back
Speaker 2: in a few hours. And so then they called us
Speaker 2: and we went back and everything went super well, and
Speaker 2: so we in the shadow tie the Shadow of Ryan
Speaker 2: Field is where Solid Baby number two arrived.
Speaker 1: Born the same day as Mamma H's birthday. No less,
Speaker 1: that's true, the nineteenth Yeah, correct, So if you are
Speaker 1: looking to steal Mama H's identity, that's right, you've gotten
Speaker 1: one step closer. I get. I guess the operative question here.
Speaker 1: Since this is the first a lot of folks are
Speaker 1: hearing about this. Did you know about this in advance
Speaker 1: or did it just happen.
Speaker 2: Just sprung up on us. I thought Jody was looking
Speaker 2: more broad. Didn't have any clue, none in the least. No,
Speaker 2: we knew.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 2: Jody was pregnant. Yeah, to answer your question, well, Jody
Speaker 2: was pregnant, and we were very fortunate that through all
Speaker 2: of the moving and through all of a very pretty
Speaker 2: trying last year, everything went well on that end. So
Speaker 2: that's good. I'm thrilled to be a father of two.
Speaker 1: You know, when you busted out the acoustic guitar in
Speaker 1: the beginning, I thought you were going to break out
Speaker 1: into song, because every band in the history of bands
Speaker 1: has the band leader who writes the song about the newborn.
Speaker 2: Of course, I have not done that. If anything, I
Speaker 2: just am spending more time in the basement with the
Speaker 2: solid toddler, looking up random blink onin eighty two and
Speaker 2: apparently Foo Fighters tabs and tuning my guitar down to
Speaker 2: accommodate my spur of the moment guitar tab needs.
Speaker 1: Whatever you can do with power chords and a g
Speaker 1: in a C and a D.
Speaker 2: You're good, it's plenty, It's plenty.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome back to you, sir, it's great to have
Speaker 1: you back. Congratulations, I'm glad everything went well. Thank you,
Speaker 1: and welcome back to our trusted verballerhood out there on
Speaker 1: the intersphere. Hello, I am Ty, He's Dan. Don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe to the show. We've got a Q and
Speaker 1: A show coming up on the Thursday release of the podcast.
Speaker 1: As you know, we do twice a week in this
Speaker 1: year off season. At some point, as we get closer
Speaker 1: to the actual season, we'll switch back up to three,
Speaker 1: but for now we are sticking with two. You can
Speaker 1: also going out to verballers dot com because at verballers
Speaker 1: dot com that's where you can find our Patreon where
Speaker 1: you can find the tears by getting some bonus content
Speaker 1: and some other fun stuff that we give you access
Speaker 1: to if you decide to pledge. Yes, follow along on
Speaker 1: social media as well, Daniel, I guess we're doing a
Speaker 1: bit of a baby theme show today, aren't we.
Speaker 2: We absolutely are. If I can't use my baby for
Speaker 2: content inspiration, what is the point, Tie, So, I don't
Speaker 2: know how much news you want to I mean Alan Bowman,
Speaker 2: if you want to play the song, if you have
Speaker 2: your voice zoomed breaking abbreviated breaking, not bad, not bad.
Speaker 2: Eric Gilbert also back in the transfer portal. Little dip
Speaker 2: dip of the toes in Gainesville just went in the beak.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure exactly. Hopefully more will come out soon
Speaker 2: about what exactly did or didn't happen in Gainsville for
Speaker 2: Eric Gilbert, but he's officially back in the transfer portal.
Speaker 2: VI All Everything combo tight end receiver who ended up
Speaker 2: at LSU from the state of Georgia, went to Florida
Speaker 2: and now is back in the transfer portal, So potentially
Speaker 2: we'll see what happens in terms of who might be
Speaker 2: getting an interesting pass catcher. And Alan Bowman, who had
Speaker 2: a promising start, took his career at Texas Texas quarterback
Speaker 2: and dealt with a number of pretty significant health issues
Speaker 2: including lung issues, collapse, lng issues, airlifting issues. He found
Speaker 2: his way now to Ann Arbor to add depth and
Speaker 2: compete for the starting quarterback job that is presumably open.
Speaker 2: Kate Cunningham, JJ McCarthy, the incoming freshman now Alan Bowman
Speaker 2: battling for the starting job there, which is not a
Speaker 2: great sound battled. Now. So Joe Milton, of course started
Speaker 2: last year and he is now in the transfer portal himself,
Speaker 2: and it just doesn't sound like the quarterback room has
Speaker 2: ever been fully solved at in an arbor, at least
Speaker 2: since the glory days of Jake Rudoch. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: Alan Bowman kind of looked like a shell of himself.
Speaker 2: I hope a change of scenery is good for him,
Speaker 2: good for Michigan. I hope it works out. But I
Speaker 2: don't know. When you're banking on that kind of thing.
Speaker 2: It's things seem dire to me. And I know Michigan fans,
Speaker 2: you know, want to have hope and be optimistic, but man,
Speaker 2: I don't know, it looks like you're adding up a
Speaker 2: lot of dimes and trying to convince everybody you have
Speaker 2: a dollar. So that's definitely not an idiom, and that's
Speaker 2: definitely something I invented poorly just now. But I don't know,
Speaker 2: that's just how it sort of how I feel about
Speaker 2: it and hope it works out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The other news, it's of course very sad and tragic.
Speaker 1: But I'm guessing you saw the news about Lewis Nicks.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, yes, awful.
Speaker 1: Awful story. They found him dead on Saturday, a few
Speaker 1: days after he was reported missing, down in Jacksonville, Florida.
Speaker 1: Just twenty nine years old, A big personality, a big
Speaker 1: part of some really solid Notre Dame teams, and a
Speaker 1: fan favorite. So when the news, well.
Speaker 2: Loved among the coaches and players and South Bend. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: really really tragic. I'm sure details more and more will
Speaker 2: come out, but yeah, had been injured. I think he
Speaker 2: was shot in December in Florida, and so it doesn't
Speaker 2: sound like things were going all that great. And man,
Speaker 2: I just hate to see it. It's sad stuff, that
Speaker 2: sad stuff.
Speaker 1: Immediately upon seeing the news, just slogged onto Twitter and
Speaker 1: saw a lot of what the Notre Dame faithful had
Speaker 1: to say about Lewis and sad stuff. Hate to close
Speaker 1: it out on a sad note here, but it is
Speaker 1: news and I certainly wish his family well. Okay, with
Speaker 1: that being said, we have two choices here for our
Speaker 1: sounds to intro some of these different things that we're
Speaker 1: going to discuss.
Speaker 2: You, we've got a not an easy transition. We should
Speaker 2: mention this is as good as we can do. This
Speaker 2: is as good as we can do something awful to
Speaker 2: something more off season, Drilly, We've.
Speaker 1: Got option A, which is more standard. Now that is
Speaker 1: not your baby, it's a baby I found on YouTube.
Speaker 1: And then we've also got this one. We want to
Speaker 1: get a little bit more poppy with it. We can
Speaker 1: go either one. You could tell me as we go
Speaker 1: through our game, what's your feeling, Moro, since you are
Speaker 1: the man of the hour, the father of the hour,
Speaker 1: Dan Rubinstein, our game today is called in their infancy?
Speaker 2: Yes, correct, Well, I guess I guess we could use it.
Speaker 2: Feels like the Justin Bieber baby is more optimistic and
Speaker 2: the crying is more pessimistic. Right, So could we not
Speaker 2: assign situations their own baby? Sound?
Speaker 1: We could? It's our damn show. We could do whatever
Speaker 1: we want. Sure what we are doing here we are
Speaker 1: taking a look at coaches that started their journey in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty. Obviously a weird year in twenty twenty. As
Speaker 1: we move forward into twenty twenty one, I'm going to
Speaker 1: get an opportunity to see more of what they can do.
Speaker 1: But we've got a long list of coaches here who
Speaker 1: are about to enter their second year with their current school,
Speaker 1: and I guess we probably won't have time to go
Speaker 1: through all these maybe we will, but we're going to
Speaker 1: pick a few out of the grab bag here and
Speaker 1: break down where they're at, how things are going. Their
Speaker 1: ten years are obviously still in their infancy, get it,
Speaker 1: And we're going to see if the program's growing old
Speaker 1: and strong or if it's just sort of in that
Speaker 1: developmental phase still. Let's sound about right.
Speaker 2: That sounds absolutely correct.
Speaker 1: So you get first, pick your first showback, new father
Speaker 1: of two, I should say, yeah, where we going first.
Speaker 2: Let's go Lane Kiffin. Let's go at the biggest name
Speaker 2: on the board in terms of and we should mention
Speaker 2: that when we say in their infancy, it's pretty clear
Speaker 2: that twenty twenty was not a normal first season for
Speaker 2: coaches because it was a normal It was not a
Speaker 2: normal anything season for any coaches in any situation across
Speaker 2: the country. We all know this by now. That's sort
Speaker 2: of an old hat way of looking back, but for
Speaker 2: new coaches it was especially tough, with abbreviated to no
Speaker 2: spring practice and workouts being very different and the season
Speaker 2: being up and down depending on just whether it was
Speaker 2: going to happen or not. Depending on the power conference
Speaker 2: that these coaches are coaching in, and then the very
Speaker 2: different way of scheduling fall camp and the season, and
Speaker 2: on again, off again scheduling situations. So it was an
Speaker 2: especially situation for brand new coaches trying to get to
Speaker 2: know their team and their recruiting and their new town,
Speaker 2: moving families and everything that comes along with being a
Speaker 2: first year coach. So of all these coaches, I think
Speaker 2: Lane Kiffin at ole Miss is the biggest name, perhaps
Speaker 2: in the biggest division in college football, the SEC West.
Speaker 2: So let's start talking about ole Miss in its infancy
Speaker 2: under Lane Kiffin. I am looking at this with I
Speaker 2: think rose colored eyes, rose colored glasses. Whatever, I am
Speaker 2: high on ole Miss. I know the situation is difficult
Speaker 2: in that division, but based on the recruiting, based on
Speaker 2: what quarterback looks like moving forward, I am, and based
Speaker 2: on the results. I mean, you take the Auburn game
Speaker 2: and you flip it to ole Miss if you would
Speaker 2: like to. Because of the ending and controversy they're in
Speaker 2: with that game, I believe Ole Miss would have one
Speaker 2: five of its final six. So momentum seems on the side.
Speaker 2: Whatever you believe in momentum of Ole Miss and recruiting
Speaker 2: quarterback and hopefully defense. I mean that's gonna be the
Speaker 2: big question mark given where all Miss was defensively before
Speaker 2: Lane Kiffin arrived. But to me, it's trending upwards. I
Speaker 2: see healthy growth rounding into shape. But the weight gain
Speaker 2: is the hair. Every check mark is coming in next
Speaker 2: to the appropriate box.
Speaker 1: To me, Well, here's the thing. When Lane took over,
Speaker 1: one of the things that you could point to was
Speaker 1: his knowledge of offense, and the other one was on
Speaker 1: the recruiting trail. He's a gifted.
Speaker 2: Recruits going to recruit.
Speaker 1: He's going to recruit. Year one in the twenty twenty class,
Speaker 1: Lane Kiffen finishes twelfth in the SEC sixth after this
Speaker 1: past cycle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's with like no time that first class,
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty class because of the early signing period.
Speaker 2: It's kind of an impossibility. It's an impossibility. But the
Speaker 2: important point here in looking at a number of these
Speaker 2: other coaches that he is going to be compared against,
Speaker 2: a lot of them didn't go up in terms of rankings,
Speaker 2: They didn't improve, some of them stayed static. Lane Kiffin
Speaker 2: went from twelve to six. Weird year blah blah, blah,
Speaker 2: but still noted improvement. Secondly to the first point, they.
Speaker 1: Scored a ton of points this year, Dan, They were
Speaker 1: fun as hell to watch. They got knocked around a
Speaker 1: little bit against just a brutal first half schedule that
Speaker 1: had Florida and Bama and Auburn, and you know, Arkansas
Speaker 1: was tougher than expected.
Speaker 2: Well through those the.
Speaker 1: Ton of interception game was the Arkansas gau five or
Speaker 1: six picks. Yeah, they beat some good teams in the
Speaker 1: second half. They beat Mississippi State, they beat Indiana in
Speaker 1: the bowl game. Maybe I shouldn't be lumping LSU in
Speaker 1: with a quote unquote good team, but they're still talented.
Speaker 1: They could have beaten LSU, which would have been a
Speaker 1: moment for Lank Kiffin. That was a low key great game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so five and five was what Kiffin finished at after
Speaker 1: bowl season. I think that's a hell of a job
Speaker 1: in year one for the Lane train. I'm with you, man,
Speaker 1: I'm super bullish on on Lane Kiffen.
Speaker 2: Something fascinating to pay attention to is also when we
Speaker 2: talk about recruiting, we now have to especially consider transfer recruiting,
Speaker 2: losing transfers, bringing in transfers, and certainly what it was
Speaker 2: what Kenny Oboa from Temple was an immediate contributor at
Speaker 2: that sort of tight end receiver spot. So what Ole
Speaker 2: Miss does in the portal is going to be interesting
Speaker 2: moving forward. I know they added a few guys last year,
Speaker 2: lost a few guys this year. We'll see the quarterback
Speaker 2: room gets a little thinner. But it looks like obviously
Speaker 2: they have a quarterback of the present and it looks
Speaker 2: like they have a quarterback of the future. So it
Speaker 2: looks like in terms of their I think twenty four
Speaker 2: to seven calls it scholarship distribution, they're in a nice place.
Speaker 2: The defense needs to get a lot better, but there's
Speaker 2: time and the expectation right now is that the the
Speaker 2: roster will become better and better stocked with talent. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I am especially between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. In state,
Speaker 2: I mean, I gotta lean Kiff at this point. Oh
Speaker 2: yeah for sure. Okay, yeah, so we're feeling good.
Speaker 1: I want to go to.
Speaker 2: Where you want to go. Let's go to a different
Speaker 2: conference or we can stay in the SEC.
Speaker 1: I want to go to Meltucker.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Mel Tucker takes over very late in the cycle for Michigan.
Speaker 1: State comes over from Colorado. Michigan State finishes with the
Speaker 1: tenth best class in the Big Ten, which does not
Speaker 1: have ten teams anymore. Right, this past cycle stayed static,
Speaker 1: finished tenth again. This is a team that went two
Speaker 1: and five in YR one weird year. We assume twenty
Speaker 1: twenty was weird. Yes, of course, beat Michigan on the road, Dan,
Speaker 1: I know Michigan was not quote unquote. Michigan was right
Speaker 1: there with Rutgers, Tie was right there. But beating Michigan
Speaker 1: on the road was a big deal for Mel Tucker
Speaker 1: and y're one. You don't have a whole lot to
Speaker 1: be excited about, but that's something that you could point to,
Speaker 1: something that you could try to use on the recruiting trail.
Speaker 1: Michigan State as a defensive entity was still very good
Speaker 1: this past season. Couldn't do much on offense. I think
Speaker 1: they need to improve there. I think they know they
Speaker 1: need to improve there. But as defensive entity, they were
Speaker 1: pretty good.
Speaker 2: I know the numbers and some of the advanced metrics
Speaker 2: like Michigan State, but we're still talking about an Ohio
Speaker 2: State team gashing Michigan State, Iowa Iowa gashing Michigan State
Speaker 2: it's it's tough for me. In the second half against
Speaker 2: Penn State, I think that was what a Johan Dotson
Speaker 2: Parker Washington Clinic.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: They were up twenty one to ten at halftime and
Speaker 2: then just got totally demolished in the second half. So
Speaker 2: giving up forty nine to fifty two and nearly forty
Speaker 2: to close out the season. I know they beat Northwestern
Speaker 2: in there, get shut out against Indiana. Yes, the defense
Speaker 2: was the clear bright spot, but I wouldn't go as
Speaker 2: far as very good.
Speaker 1: Defense was demonstrably better than the offense. And if we're
Speaker 1: looking for bright spots, yes, in terms of advanced analytics,
Speaker 1: they were twelveth in defense. I'll admit that's tougher number twelve. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's tougher to swallow. But on a per play basis,
Speaker 1: sure that was the bright spot. They need to get
Speaker 1: better at not turning the football over. It was a
Speaker 1: huge problem for them this season. They were among the
Speaker 1: worst in college football, had a minus nine turnover ratio,
Speaker 1: which is just not going to help when you're a
Speaker 1: new team with a new coach trying to get some momentum.
Speaker 1: Turnovers kill that. So they need to do better in
Speaker 1: that regard, but I think I still feel really good
Speaker 1: about mel Tucker. You know, he was a guy who
Speaker 1: obviously went to Colorado with much acclaim. Michigan State ponied
Speaker 1: up gave him the big bucks to come up to
Speaker 1: East Lansing very late in the cycle to try and
Speaker 1: work his magic. So it feels like he's a guy
Speaker 1: who is building momentum even though the results may not
Speaker 1: be there. Again, we're twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: I don't think I'm super high if I'm using quarterback
Speaker 2: of the future recruiting what they look like to a
Speaker 2: minimal degree in twenty twenty as some sort of barometer,
Speaker 2: some sort of litmus test, whatever, I don't necessarily see
Speaker 2: a quarterback of the future. Do you know how many
Speaker 2: Michigan State commitments the Spartans got out of the top
Speaker 2: fifteen players in state in the class of twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one top fifteen. Zero of the State of Michigan's top
Speaker 2: fifteen players are going to East Lansing. It's not everything,
Speaker 2: but it's something. They lost commitments to Michigan. It's just
Speaker 2: it's not an amazing place to be right now. And
Speaker 2: so he Meltalker has recruited pretty well, has a good
Speaker 2: history of resonating with players on the trail. I'm just
Speaker 2: I'm looking at this team and I'm trying to find
Speaker 2: a reason to think, yeah, they can eventually be a
Speaker 2: top forty offense. I don't see the a game changer
Speaker 2: at any clear skill position. And I just I wonder
Speaker 2: because right now the Big Ten with a what we
Speaker 2: presume to be still average to down Michigan and Wisconsin
Speaker 2: and Penn State after Ohio State, there are no sure things.
Speaker 2: I mean, I suppose depending on how much you believe
Speaker 2: in Iowa or Minnesota, whoever. But Indiana. I always believe
Speaker 2: in Indiana. L el but I don't know this. It
Speaker 2: feels like there needs to be more reason for hope
Speaker 2: because I don't know, it seems as open as ever
Speaker 2: to say, yeah, they can go eight in four. The
Speaker 2: Big Ten is at a place between the new coaches,
Speaker 2: between the misfires at coordinators, between the perhaps one year
Speaker 2: success blips of certain teams. I just I'm disappointed in
Speaker 2: Michigan State isn't moving in a direction to make their
Speaker 2: own fans feel more confident. To me, I don't know,
Speaker 2: what do you think?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'm not too put off by the
Speaker 1: fact that they're only signing three stars and that maybe.
Speaker 2: Well, no, there's a trail. There's three stars, and there's
Speaker 2: higher level three stars. Finishing tenth, eleventh, twelfth out of
Speaker 2: you know, not that many more teams in the Big ten.
Speaker 1: Is that's a problem?
Speaker 2: Not great?
Speaker 1: No, it's not ideal. I'm not put off as much
Speaker 1: by the recruiting stuff. I take your point, though, about
Speaker 1: the offense and trying to revamp that and turn things around.
Speaker 1: Mel Tucker's a defensive guy. I think he's going to
Speaker 1: put a good enough defense out there. But the problem,
Speaker 1: at least over the last five years for the Spartans
Speaker 1: has been offense had not been able to put it together.
Speaker 1: I guess the looming problem for mel Tucker is in
Speaker 1: looking at this schedule Dan coming up in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: If we're taking wins and losses as a measure for momentum,
Speaker 1: first half of the schedule at Northwestern to open up
Speaker 1: the year, not the easiest game in the world. At
Speaker 1: Miami week three, They've got a game against Nebraska in there.
Speaker 1: On the road at Rutgers and Indiana. Now, look, no
Speaker 1: one's saying these are juggernauts, but that's the easy part
Speaker 1: of the schedule. Yep, that's the easy part of the schedule.
Speaker 1: Because after the bye week, going into Halloween weekend, we've
Speaker 1: got games against Michigan at Purdue and Maryland back to
Speaker 1: back weeks at Ohio home against Penn State back to
Speaker 1: back weeks to close things out. It gets a lot harder.
Speaker 1: So they got to get their house in order very
Speaker 1: early on through those first seven games or so if
Speaker 1: they're going to try and establish any kind of real
Speaker 1: momentum going into the latter part of the season, because
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a tough stretch. Michigan's not gonna be
Speaker 1: as bad as they wear a year ago. Ohio State
Speaker 1: Penn State will be again loaded for bear and ready
Speaker 1: to go. Even if they're not as good as they
Speaker 1: were a year ago. In the case of Ohio State,
Speaker 1: they're still gonna be pretty damn good. So it's just
Speaker 1: gonna get harder and they got to figure it out.
Speaker 1: I'm not uber confident that they can do it, but
Speaker 1: I guess I'm just biased because I like Bell Tucker.
Speaker 1: I like the higher at Colorado, I like bringing him
Speaker 1: up to Michigan State, albeit under weird circumstances. I'm willing
Speaker 1: to give him a bit of a free pass in
Speaker 1: a goofy years see if he can turn things around
Speaker 1: now in twenty one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don't know. If I'm a Jay Johnson
Speaker 2: guy the Sparti offensive coordinator. I just Michigan State, even
Speaker 2: when they succeeded, because we're always going to have to
Speaker 2: look at the Spartans in the context of the Mark
Speaker 2: d Antonio era for the foreseeable future. Because the blueprint
Speaker 2: was there to win the division, win the conference, go
Speaker 2: to Rose Bowl, whatever, so it's more than doable. They
Speaker 2: went to the playoff tie. This is not a program
Speaker 2: with no hope because they've done it. They've won, but
Speaker 2: they did so with smart offense, efficient offense, and defensive excellence.
Speaker 2: And that wasn't including recruiting. So I think it's fair
Speaker 2: to say, you know, recruiting is not everything with them,
Speaker 2: but in terms of trajectory and what their offense looks
Speaker 2: like moving forward, they lose Rocky Lombardy, they add Anthony
Speaker 2: Russo you know, there was a lot of movement in
Speaker 2: the transfer portal in the secondary, which either means that
Speaker 2: they're active and they're attractive to people looking to reinforce
Speaker 2: the defense or they're scrambling, and you know, I assume
Speaker 2: the truth is somewhere in between. But yeah, I would
Speaker 2: hope that moving forward, Michigan State can appeal to some
Speaker 2: sort of promising young quarterback who thinks he has an
Speaker 2: opportunity there to turn things around. But yeah, right now,
Speaker 2: it's it's a steep, uphill battle. So I am. I
Speaker 2: can't find a reason I will play. I will play
Speaker 2: the other baby? Sound okay? Yeah, what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That could be a happy cry. We don't know.
Speaker 2: They could be.
Speaker 1: That could be, but doesn't sound it? All right? Dan,
Speaker 1: I want to move. Let's talk about Mike Norvell.
Speaker 2: Let's do it. Grnoles fourth in.
Speaker 1: The ACC in recruiting in the first cycle, fourth in
Speaker 1: recruiting in the ACC in the second cycle under Norvell.
Speaker 1: A three and six finish overall. Beat North Carolina. Nice win, right,
Speaker 1: good win?
Speaker 2: Yeah? An amazing first half anyway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, beat North Carolina, landed Mackenzie Milton through the transfer portal,
Speaker 1: an immediate position of need at quarterback. I think, answering
Speaker 1: some questions, that's good for a Mike Norvel system. But
Speaker 1: I feel like I could go either way on this.
Speaker 1: We need more data on Mike Norvel in Tallahassee is
Speaker 1: what it ultimately amounts to. But this is not a
Speaker 1: program that has established a whole lot of momentum over
Speaker 1: the last five years. I feel like we're still talking
Speaker 1: about some of the deficiencies there that we were talking
Speaker 1: about five years ago. We have Bud Elliott on the
Speaker 1: show talking about how bad the offensive line is, or
Speaker 1: you know, that offensive line problem hasn't really gone away.
Speaker 1: Have been able to solve that one. It still do
Speaker 1: a little better, It's gone a little bit better, but
Speaker 1: it's still not what I would consider solved. So we've
Speaker 1: got a program here that we know has limitless potential.
Speaker 1: It's in a great recruiting hotbed, a ton of history,
Speaker 1: I think, a good coach to lead them to greener pastures,
Speaker 1: but kind of an incomplete with what we saw in
Speaker 1: year one. If you look at it at face value,
Speaker 1: three and six is not something that is all that palatable,
Speaker 1: not anything that would indicate any kind of continued momentum
Speaker 1: and success.
Speaker 2: I am optimistic. I'm a Florida State optimist right now,
Speaker 2: because one, they have already landed a couple of absolute studs.
Speaker 2: So if they can hold on to them from the
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two class. That's an increasing I think it's
Speaker 2: the number one player in Georgia, one of the top
Speaker 2: corners in the country. I look at quarterback recruiting in
Speaker 2: terms of Okay, we've got Chubba Party, which is the
Speaker 2: clear quarterback of the future after Mackenzie Milton. Let's hope
Speaker 2: Mackenzie Milton's lower body is okay and he's able to
Speaker 2: step into throws and plant and look as accurate as
Speaker 2: he did way back when under Scott Frost. And he
Speaker 2: was also fine under Josh Hypel, but that the Scott
Speaker 2: Frost season was special. So I am I'm trending in
Speaker 2: a good direction with Mike Norvell. I think the offensive
Speaker 2: line will continue to improve. They're young, a lot of
Speaker 2: their talent is young, and so we've been saying that
Speaker 2: for a long time. But I think we've now reached
Speaker 2: the point where the locker room is going to be
Speaker 2: a series of better fits at various position groups. Because
Speaker 2: we're talking about Jimbo holdovers into Willie Taggart holdovers into
Speaker 2: Mike Norvell new guys and sorting out that that dynamic
Speaker 2: within the locker room it's going to be tricky, and
Speaker 2: so I think we are getting to a good point.
Speaker 2: Of course, Chubba Party hurt himself and we'll have time
Speaker 2: now if he is indeed the real deal to develop
Speaker 2: behind Mackenzie Milton, we presume. I am just I'm optimistic.
Speaker 2: I like the skill position guys, I like the younger
Speaker 2: guys there. They need to have an amazing, bonkers class
Speaker 2: this year because I think the last two years they
Speaker 2: finished fourth in the ACC. They should never ever, ever, ever,
Speaker 2: ever finished below third in that conference. You wanted some
Speaker 2: combination of Clemson in Miami with them. North Carolina should
Speaker 2: not be out recruiting Florida State in any year, how
Speaker 2: charming and wonderful mac Brown is on the trail, Florida
Speaker 2: State should be ahead of North Carolina each and every year,
Speaker 2: and so I am cautiously optimistic that they will be.
Speaker 2: That this is going to be an excellent class for
Speaker 2: the Knowles. So I'm a believer. I am an absolute
Speaker 2: believer in the Mike norvel Era. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The other thing, Florida's state was kind of in disarray
Speaker 1: when he got there. Of course, it's kind of in disarray.
Speaker 1: That's why I got there and while he was there.
Speaker 1: Last was a tough off season. It was a stately
Speaker 1: tough off season, very tough offseason. But he got there
Speaker 1: and it was a program very much in disarray. That's
Speaker 1: why they hired him in the first place. So it
Speaker 1: can take a while to build these things up, and
Speaker 1: especially given circumstances. I feel like that's a qualifier for
Speaker 1: each of these coaches that we're going to discuss. But
Speaker 1: I think I share your optimism. I like the hire
Speaker 1: when they brought him down. I didn't think they overthought it.
Speaker 1: They brought in a guy who could certainly help revidalize offense.
Speaker 1: And as you said, I think the early steam on
Speaker 1: the recruiting trail is all very positive. So I think
Speaker 1: I'm feeling I think I'm feeling pretty good about this.
Speaker 1: I was pretty high in Florida State too, and I
Speaker 1: think we did one of our look ahead episodes a
Speaker 1: few weeks back. I'm pretty high in Florida State.
Speaker 2: Good same page, and there's I mean, you look at
Speaker 2: what the line looks like moving forward. You are the
Speaker 2: defensive line. Excuse me, I mean interior. We'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 2: I don't know if there's there are immediate answers on
Speaker 2: the inside. But you look at what the linebacker position
Speaker 2: looks like moving forward, especially you look at what they've
Speaker 2: done on the recruiting trail at the secondary positions, I
Speaker 2: mean that corner at safety. They're in a nice spot.
Speaker 2: They're in a nice spot. I know they've lost a
Speaker 2: couple guys, but I think that speaks more to the
Speaker 2: uh the evolving nature of having three coaches in not
Speaker 2: that many more years.
Speaker 1: Speaking of being high, Oh no, talking about your boy,
Speaker 1: Jeff Halfley, You love Jeff Haick.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you loved I think so.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Jeff Hafley went six and five in year one
Speaker 1: for the Boston College Eagles. Twelfth in recruiting in the
Speaker 1: ACC's first cycle, went up a few pegs to eighth
Speaker 1: after this most recent cycle helped develop Phil Jerkovic, who
Speaker 1: came over from Notre Dame. Had a good season seventeen
Speaker 1: touchdowns to just five interceptions. I thought BC was pleasantly
Speaker 1: a surprise this past season. They played hard. They were
Speaker 1: right up there against teams like Clemson Lawrence without Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1: But still that's meaningful for Boston College year one under
Speaker 1: halfway to be that close against the Clemson team, even
Speaker 1: without Treyl Lawrence. That's a big deal, very close against
Speaker 1: North Carolina as well. This is a team that got
Speaker 1: up for some of the biggest games on its schedule,
Speaker 1: and that is one of the intangibles that I like
Speaker 1: to look at when we're looking at any new team
Speaker 1: in their new coach. We're looking at any team with
Speaker 1: their new coach. If there is that tenacity, that pluck
Speaker 1: when they're out there on the field, I think that's
Speaker 1: a positive sign. So I'm pretty optimistic here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, outside of the game against Virginia Tech, I mean
Speaker 2: it was win loss, win, loss, win loss, snip snap, snip,
Speaker 2: snap all season long, So they were they were a
Speaker 2: contact hitter, they were putting the ball in play. They know,
Speaker 2: when I say the Virginia Tech game, they lost that
Speaker 2: game comfortably. But otherwise, I mean, they had the strange
Speaker 2: win against Louisville. But the games that they did lose,
Speaker 2: they weren't blown out in and that's a nice encouraging sign.
Speaker 2: Filled Jerkovic was interesting. What do you call him? Herky Jerky?
Speaker 2: But you know, there's no clear quarterback in the future
Speaker 2: following filed dr Kovic, but I like the staff. He's
Speaker 2: put together, even though the defense was kind of a
Speaker 2: nightmare at times. I'm somewhat confident in Jeff Haffley in
Speaker 2: his ability to simplify things and get that defense. And
Speaker 2: recruiting is is interesting, right, They're Boston College is never
Speaker 2: gonna be a top five class in the ACC just
Speaker 2: by the nature of being where they are geographically and
Speaker 2: the states that surround Massachusetts. It's just going to be
Speaker 2: an uphill battle recruiting. But if we start seeing more
Speaker 2: and more of those high level three stars, if they're
Speaker 2: getting those guys from Ohio and from New Jersey, and
Speaker 2: you know, winning those battles against similarly sized and programs
Speaker 2: with similar expectations, then they're going to be They're going
Speaker 2: to continue to be a hard out and those games
Speaker 2: like losing by whatever it was, ten to eleven points
Speaker 2: to Virginia or losing by four or five points to
Speaker 2: North Carolina, They're going to be able to beat those
Speaker 2: good but flawed teams every now and then. So I
Speaker 2: am I'm up on BC, but it is going to
Speaker 2: take two and a half years to I think fully
Speaker 2: realize what Halfley can get the Eagles team to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even if they continue picking up an extra win
Speaker 1: each season if they keep playing hard the way they
Speaker 1: did that to me would be a big upgrade. Not
Speaker 1: to say they didn't before, but it just felt like
Speaker 1: it took on a different feel in twenty twenty. Defense
Speaker 1: needs to improve, we know that, but offensively, I just
Speaker 1: I admire the way that they played under Halfley. Seems
Speaker 1: like there was a plan, like it was going somewhere.
Speaker 1: It all felt like very cohesive, which I can't say
Speaker 1: as much about the previous regimes. So I was hugely
Speaker 1: optimistic about Halfley in year one. Definitely a little biased
Speaker 1: because of fielder Covid coming over from Notre Dame, but
Speaker 1: I think if you're a BC fan, you got to
Speaker 1: feel pretty good about this.
Speaker 2: You know what I also like about Boston College. They
Speaker 2: were a pretty good special teams team that they could
Speaker 2: find hidden yards, they could find hidden points. That's if
Speaker 2: you go back, what two three years now to that
Speaker 2: Syracuse team who played well in the ACC despite not
Speaker 2: having killers all over the place on the field, they
Speaker 2: were a good spe teams team. And that's how you
Speaker 2: tip those three five six point losses into wins by
Speaker 2: picking up those extra yards and turning them into short
Speaker 2: fields and you know, flipping the game in interesting ways.
Speaker 2: So that's that's another reason, the sort of hidden stuff
Speaker 2: I like about Boston College.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, So we're good. We're feeling good. Feeling
Speaker 1: good about this all right? Why your boy Jimmy Lake,
Speaker 1: My boy? Yeah, Jimmy Lake had a four game slate
Speaker 1: this year for Washington because the PAC twelve only played
Speaker 1: a handful of games. Second in recruiting to close out
Speaker 1: the first cycle sixth this past cycle, Jimmy Lake took
Speaker 1: over from within. So when Chris Peterson left, Jimmy Lake
Speaker 1: was promoted. Had a familiarity with the program. Defensive minded guy,
Speaker 1: right Dan, I.
Speaker 2: Would hope, so as a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so now he's stepping into this new role. Did
Speaker 1: we see enough out of Washington in year one to
Speaker 1: really make any kind of assessment here?
Speaker 2: I mean, the PAC twelve is especially hard to figure
Speaker 2: out because Washington played four games in twenty twenty and
Speaker 2: didn't start until what November? So I don't know what
Speaker 2: you can possibly take from Washington that seriously in either direction.
Speaker 2: I mean, they go three and one, they're not able
Speaker 2: to play in the packed TLAL Championship games. To Oregon
Speaker 2: steps in. There are certainly things to really like about
Speaker 2: Washington and the way the defense plays and the talent
Speaker 2: that's there that he helped to develop when he was the coordinator.
Speaker 2: The thing I'm concerned about is you mentioned the recruiting
Speaker 2: numbers and the drop off. So Chris Peterson retires. I
Speaker 2: believe it's what late November early December twenty nineteen, so
Speaker 2: that class is pretty much done signing days two weeks later,
Speaker 2: and Jimmy Lake does a good job, you know, keeping
Speaker 2: things together for that class, finishing strong on the actual
Speaker 2: signing day, and that they finished what number two you
Speaker 2: said in the PAC twelve the class of twenty twenty yep.
Speaker 2: So that's crazy encouraging that Washington was able to attract
Speaker 2: talent there. And I was pretty bullish on Jimmy Lake himself,
Speaker 2: a big personality known as a good recruiter, and you know,
Speaker 2: he was one of the guys you could always count
Speaker 2: on after the Apple Cup, just explaining, hey, Mike Leach
Speaker 2: does the same thing every year, and so we just
Speaker 2: keep doing the same thing every year and it keeps working.
Speaker 2: He's a great quote, he's a you know, big personality.
Speaker 2: I figured it would continue, but it looks like, you know,
Speaker 2: changes within the recruiting department, and you know Oregon coming
Speaker 2: on the way that they did as a recruiting force
Speaker 2: and USC bouncing back as a recruiting force in southern California.
Speaker 2: Washington is now at the point where they're having to
Speaker 2: defend their recruiting class and the steps back that they
Speaker 2: took as oh, we found a lot of diamonds in
Speaker 2: the rough, which is fine if they did, and it's
Speaker 2: fine to have that strategy, but if your goal is
Speaker 2: to win the Pac twelve, not going to work. As
Speaker 2: down as the conference is. Jimmy's and Joe still matter,
Speaker 2: and they should matter to Jimmy, and I'm sure they do,
Speaker 2: but that to me is a concern. Quarterback of the
Speaker 2: future seems to be there in sam Hewart five star
Speaker 2: legacy in state coming in this year. And I don't
Speaker 2: think I was a huge fan of Dylan Morris. He
Speaker 2: was fine. I just I don't nobody really pops for me.
Speaker 2: I like Kate Otten at tight end, but nobody really
Speaker 2: pops for me on that offense. Ty Jones was their
Speaker 2: leading wide receiver. He left for I believe Fresno, and
Speaker 2: he had his own issues at receiver. So it's I'd
Speaker 2: like to see more in terms of game changers on offense.
Speaker 2: And then you look at the game that they lost,
Speaker 2: and again four games. This is you know, they could
Speaker 2: have lost this game and gone on to win eighth
Speaker 2: straight or whatever, but they were just kind of bled
Speaker 2: out by Stanford, a not amazing Stanford team. However much
Speaker 2: you want to believe or not believe in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: pack twelve results, I don't know. The offense left me
Speaker 2: wanting for more. And then on the recruiting thing, recruiting
Speaker 2: John Donovan and Bob Gregory, are they battling a lot
Speaker 2: of teams for those coordinator higher I don't know. I
Speaker 2: don't know. Maybe they were, but they hired Bob Gregory internally.
Speaker 1: You know where I stand on the John Donovan thing.
Speaker 1: I still have antsd from his time at pinn State.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm left in a sort of fox moulder. I
Speaker 2: want to believe, but I'm searching. I'm searching because you
Speaker 2: look at the strength of Washington in terms of talent groupings,
Speaker 2: it's clearly been in the secondary and they had ZTF
Speaker 2: this last year was not an incredible front that they
Speaker 2: were pushed around but ZTF is one of the great
Speaker 2: underrated Havo guys in college football. He was incredible from
Speaker 2: the edge. But to have the guys drafted that they
Speaker 2: have had a Buddha Baker and all those you know,
Speaker 2: Marcus Peterson like obviously he got kicked off the team.
Speaker 2: But that's where the brand of Washington has been recently
Speaker 2: and they have just haven't turned it into success. On
Speaker 2: the recruiting trail, you look at this past year, not
Speaker 2: at all. There no blue chips in the secondary. So
Speaker 2: it's concerning to me. So I am I want to believe.
Speaker 2: But outside of Sam Heward being just Bonker is incredible,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what there is to buy in on.
Speaker 1: Can we even buy in on Sam Hewart being.
Speaker 2: Sure? I mean, big arm, five star quarterback, I mean
Speaker 2: the measurables and the belief in his potential is there.
Speaker 2: I don't know who he's throwing to that's going to
Speaker 2: be the next second coming or whatever of John Ross
Speaker 2: or I don't know who that person is. But yeah,
Speaker 2: if Samyward is incredible, he's gonna have to do a
Speaker 2: lot of it himself.
Speaker 1: My only point is there have been a thousand quarterbacks
Speaker 1: who had big arms and he named Jake Tye.
Speaker 2: There all named Jake, and this is the Sam.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now I'm I'm I'm going to I'm going passing
Speaker 1: this picture.
Speaker 2: The good news we should say is they return a ton.
Speaker 1: They do.
Speaker 2: It's coming here. But in terms of long term projection,
Speaker 2: I'd like to see a big bounce back recruiting class
Speaker 2: before I fully buy in.
Speaker 1: All right, we got time for one maybe two more.
Speaker 1: You want to pick a name out of the hat here, Dan,
Speaker 1: we can, we.
Speaker 2: Can rapid fire these as well. I am. I am.
Speaker 2: I think lukewarm on Carl Durell. I think the transfer
Speaker 2: portal stuff is interesting. Lost a couple of key guys,
Speaker 2: bring in a couple key guys, we'll see. But to
Speaker 2: do what Colorado did, and I know their opponents weren't
Speaker 2: all that impressive, but I know they just they took
Speaker 2: advantage of mistakes from teams like UCLA and they get
Speaker 2: blown out by Texas. It was an ugly, ugly Bowl loss,
Speaker 2: but I'm impressed with the resilience considering what they did
Speaker 2: or did not actually have a quarterback that they won
Speaker 2: like they did. I think that's a good reflection on
Speaker 2: Carl Durell. So I'm gonna say luke warm, not luke cold.
Speaker 2: On Carl Durrell. I don't know if you have any
Speaker 2: thoughts there.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean I thought they actually had a pretty
Speaker 1: good showing to start out the year. Again, it's tough
Speaker 1: with the Pac twelve. They didn't play a whole lot
Speaker 1: of games, but they started four. And oh and I
Speaker 1: remember on the show talking like Colorado, Colorado look at
Speaker 1: a lot better than expected. That being said, the Carl
Speaker 1: Durell hier to me as just like a passive observer,
Speaker 1: felt like he came out of left field, and even
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks into the year, it was like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I had to remind myself that Carl Durell
Speaker 1: was coaching again. So that's not to say that he
Speaker 1: can't and won't do a good job. But again, I
Speaker 1: kind of in the Washington camp here.
Speaker 2: He's a really nice commitment for the class of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two, a blue chip I think linebacker from Texas.
Speaker 2: So there is something And you have to remember with
Speaker 2: Carl Durell the point of the process in which he
Speaker 2: was hired. Mel Tucker was hired late, late late in
Speaker 2: the process because of the timing of Mark d Antonio's retirement,
Speaker 2: so he's already starting way way behind. So that's why,
Speaker 2: just to me, in year one, given all the craziness,
Speaker 2: it was pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: Totally all right, how about Sam Pittman, Dan, Yeah, woo okay,
Speaker 1: three and seven. But the fact that this season was
Speaker 1: not a complete disaster would be the first bright spot.
Speaker 1: Second bright spot is they were plucky as hell, Man,
Speaker 1: They were plucky as hell. They beat Mississippi State, They
Speaker 1: could have beaten Auburn, They played well against Ole Miss
Speaker 1: could have beaten LSU, which would have been a big deal.
Speaker 1: They could have beaten Miszoos. So there were a bunch
Speaker 1: of could have beatens on that schedule. And again, I
Speaker 1: just come back to the fact that because they weren't
Speaker 1: a total disaster, it was a huge step forward. They
Speaker 1: got a pretty good year out of Felipe Franks. You know,
Speaker 1: recruiting has improved from your one to year two under
Speaker 1: Sam Pittman. Really one of the bright spots in the SEC.
Speaker 1: If I'm being honest, I was so pumped to see
Speaker 1: the job that he did. Near one.
Speaker 2: The question with Arkansas is the ceiling because obviously Sam
Speaker 2: Pittman has resonated on the recruiting trail. Obviously, he has
Speaker 2: resonated in coaching, hiring circles, and in the portal they've
Speaker 2: succeeded obviously. You know, the biggest mark was Felipe Franks
Speaker 2: coming over and being a reasonable success for the Hogs.
Speaker 2: They look like they may have a quarterback of the future.
Speaker 2: I think kJ Jefferson is fine. I hope he keeps resting.
Speaker 2: There's also I think it's Malie Hornsby is the other option,
Speaker 2: the young quarterback option. So hopefully one of those guys
Speaker 2: works out. It looks like an open battle there. They
Speaker 2: may have the best receiver in the SEC. I mean
Speaker 2: where this is more team than Sam Pittman, but I
Speaker 2: I mean Trailon Burks, it's just something else. So there
Speaker 2: are immediate building blocks to feel good about with where
Speaker 2: Sam Pittman has Arkansas. The problem is who's trending noticeably
Speaker 2: downward in the SEC West. I think LSU finished the
Speaker 2: season on a high note, and I think that was
Speaker 2: probably going to be a one year blip of embarrassment.
Speaker 2: And then TeX's A and M looks like they're still
Speaker 2: trending upwards. Alabama, the Mississippi schools look like they're in
Speaker 2: a decent place, even as Mississippi State closed out that
Speaker 2: most of the season in ugly fashion. I still think
Speaker 2: they're going to improve, and they look like they have
Speaker 2: a quarterback of the future. So it's just I mean,
Speaker 2: Arkansas fans do and should expect winning records in bowl games,
Speaker 2: because that is reasonable to expect at a place like
Speaker 2: Arkansas's down as they've been recently, given the proximity to recruits,
Speaker 2: they should be a bowl team much more often than not.
Speaker 2: But the question is where those wins coming from? Where
Speaker 2: are those wins coming from? So I am optimistic, but
Speaker 2: I'm still looking for some of those pieces to the puzzle.
Speaker 2: I'm still I mean, I love Barry Otam and he's
Speaker 2: making a ton of money in Fayetteville, and for good reasons,
Speaker 2: one of the absolute best defensive coordinators in college football.
Speaker 2: But where are those ws? Where are we finding them?
Speaker 2: That's the tough part to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that's the problem, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we can talk about being like down
Speaker 2: on Jimmy Lake. I can find w's for Washington, I
Speaker 2: absolutely can. It's just tougher with Arkansas and they were there,
Speaker 2: They're right there and for a year zero nightmare of
Speaker 2: a twenty twenty if you were to tell Arkansas fans,
Speaker 2: you're going to hire this guy who hires good coordinators,
Speaker 2: brings in a legit quarter back, and you are competitive
Speaker 2: with teams much more often than not. I mean you're
Speaker 2: talking about a celebration orgy, that's all. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I mean socially distanced. Socially distanced. So it's very encouraging
Speaker 2: so far. That's where I'll leave it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you take that, you absolutely take that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: What about Greg Schiano.
Speaker 2: Rutgers man, I'm such a sunshine pumper today. I don't
Speaker 2: know what it is. Maybe it's having another kid, maybe
Speaker 2: it's the loss of sleep. I think, as we mentioned
Speaker 2: with the Big Ten earlier, where after Ohio State and
Speaker 2: maybe after Iowa. I don't know what you can depend
Speaker 2: on right now in the Big Ten. If the New
Speaker 2: Jersey recruiting continues, if they're able to get more high
Speaker 2: level three stars, if we agree that we like Sean
Speaker 2: Gleeson at offensive coordinator, there is a formula in the East.
Speaker 2: If Rutgers finds a quarterback of the future, which I
Speaker 2: don't think they have right now, the absolute peak of
Speaker 2: defensive excellence and decently efficient offense is going to a
Speaker 2: Rose Bull it's Michigan State, right, Yeah, because Michigan State
Speaker 2: didn't get to the Rose Bowl on the backs of
Speaker 2: top twelve recruiting classes a year and in year out.
Speaker 2: It's identifying and developing and New Jersey while not Michigan
Speaker 2: in terms of a recruiting home state. If you do
Speaker 2: pretty well in New Jersey and in the Northeast, you
Speaker 2: out recruit Boston College and schools like that that you're
Speaker 2: competing with. I don't know, Ruckers can be a bowl team,
Speaker 2: and if Rutgers is a bowl team, Greg Ciano is
Speaker 2: in bronze in front of the stadium and thataway. I
Speaker 2: don't know. If the recruiting has improved. They're competitive, they
Speaker 2: were this close to beating Michigan goes to OT. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I'm there's very little reason in a vacuum.
Speaker 2: They're eating the portal very hard. I don't know if
Speaker 2: then quarterback emerges. If we're not even talking about excellence
Speaker 2: at quarterback, we're talking nineteen touchdowns, nine interceptions, sixty one
Speaker 2: percent through the air, something like that, you're winning games.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like we graded on a curve
Speaker 1: when you're talking about a team like a Rutgers or
Speaker 1: in Arkansas, because these are programs that have been down
Speaker 1: and out really bad, really bad over the last five
Speaker 1: years or so, and so you know, at least in
Speaker 1: the immediate short term, it's going to take a little
Speaker 1: bit to ramp these programs up. To what degree that
Speaker 1: remains to be seen. But at least with Shiano, we
Speaker 1: know that he knows the lay of the land. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's really overvalued. In most cases it is in this case,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think Shiano is coming back
Speaker 1: to the place that he knows. He obviously built a
Speaker 1: pretty successful program there previously and that helps. And look,
Speaker 1: they were more organized this past year. They were not
Speaker 1: to use a phrase that just said about Arkansas a
Speaker 1: total disaster. They put it together. They were very close
Speaker 1: to beating Michigan, could have beaten Michigan in that game.
Speaker 1: So I think there were bright spots.
Speaker 2: I can find you six wins on the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one schedule. Yeah, so I'm looking at it right now.
Speaker 2: Temple Syracuse, Delaware. I mean shout out to the Blue
Speaker 2: Hens obviously, of course, and always Michigan State, Illinois, Maryland
Speaker 2: and whatever the Hell, Wisconsin, Indiana, Penn State. There's all
Speaker 2: sorts of toss ups. What does Northwestern look like with
Speaker 2: a new quarterback? I A decently efficient Rutgers team with
Speaker 2: a couple of breaks is a ball team in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one? That's crazy.
Speaker 1: So I feel pretty good. Sunshine pumping March one. I
Speaker 1: give you one final coach if you want, I would
Speaker 1: love one. Let's talk about David Randa. Can you do
Speaker 1: the voice post? Oh, I would love to. I'm Dave Randa.
Speaker 1: Let's talk Baylor two and seven at Baylor.
Speaker 2: We're skipping Mike Leach, or ski about Mike Leach, or.
Speaker 1: Skipped on Mike Leach.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Uh, Dave Randa.
Speaker 2: M hm.
Speaker 1: Let's talk Dave Randa. Two and seven at Baylor. The
Speaker 1: recruiting did improve from year one to year two. I
Speaker 1: was not high on the Bears going into last season,
Speaker 1: and boy was I right about that.
Speaker 2: For the most part. Yeah. I was higher and I
Speaker 2: was wrong. Oh well, you know they were.
Speaker 1: Charlie Brewer again just kind of running for his life.
Speaker 1: That's been the story of his college career. Zeota quarterback,
Speaker 1: Utah quarterback. Thank you, literally running out of Baylor. Yeah, Randa,
Speaker 1: I feel like still has really good long term prospects.
Speaker 1: I like the that he's put around him. I do
Speaker 1: think it's going to take some time to ramp that
Speaker 1: program up. So this is another situation where I don't
Speaker 1: necessarily think that year one was very representative. I know
Speaker 1: all of these schools were in the unenviable position of
Speaker 1: essentially starting over amid a pandemic, not being able to
Speaker 1: get some of those organized team activities together, meeting face
Speaker 1: to face, going over playbooks on the field instead of
Speaker 1: on zoom calls, so on and so forth. I get
Speaker 1: that everyone here was in a very similar situation, but
Speaker 1: it was such a reboot that I felt like Baylor
Speaker 1: really would have benefited, like it's obvious, but would have
Speaker 1: benefited so so much more and maybe gotten off to
Speaker 1: a much better start if they actually had that face
Speaker 1: time with the new coach and new coaches. So I
Speaker 1: remain high on Baylor. I'm certainly not high on last season,
Speaker 1: though last season was a mess.
Speaker 2: I am I think once again up on Baylor, and
Speaker 2: the reason is to me, you look at their schedule,
Speaker 2: you watch their games, and I rewatched some of the
Speaker 2: latter parts of their year. Now, if they could only
Speaker 2: play schools in Kansas. That would be amazing, they would
Speaker 2: be set. That was their only wins in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: But the fact of the matter is with what they
Speaker 2: had to replace on defense, with how much of a
Speaker 2: nightmare their offense was essentially for all of last year,
Speaker 2: the fact that they were battling against Iowa State, against Oklahoma,
Speaker 2: they made things very, very difficult for Oklahoma. I'm sure
Speaker 2: the Oklahoma State loss they got just demolished by the Pokes,
Speaker 2: but you know, the Tech loss, I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: it's heartbreaking. But the fact is they were competing, they
Speaker 2: were fighting, and it clearly wasn't working out with Larry Fedora,
Speaker 2: and they made a change. They did not let something fester.
Speaker 2: David Randon did not let if that was just a
Speaker 2: bad mix, whatever it was, He's not gonna like, well,
Speaker 2: let's see if it improved, Like okay, if it's a
Speaker 2: bad mix, do it now if you know you're going
Speaker 2: to do it eventually. And he does. He makes a
Speaker 2: change of offense, change at offensive coordinator. So I'm I
Speaker 2: think I'm just I'm in on Dave Randa. I think
Speaker 2: he has been thoughtful about waiting for the right place
Speaker 2: and in terms of quarterback of the future, we'll see
Speaker 2: they've got well regarded guys at quarterbacks, but it's not
Speaker 2: clear that somebody is that guy moving forward and that
Speaker 2: you know, that guy can be developed by this specific
Speaker 2: staff in this specific system. But even when they were
Speaker 2: succeeding two years ago with Matt Rule, it wasn't on
Speaker 2: the back of an explosive offense. So if they if
Speaker 2: this offense is good enough to service the defense, which
Speaker 2: we assume will continue to improve, I think I'm good
Speaker 2: with an up and up Baylor. Yeah, I am all right.
Speaker 1: We will talk at some other point about a couple
Speaker 1: of the other coaches that we left drink wits. Yeah, each.
Speaker 2: I don't know I'm saying it like that, but I
Speaker 2: I am all right.
Speaker 1: Well, right in, let us know your thoughts soliverable at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. Don't forget to check out for Ballers
Speaker 1: dot com again. That's the Patreon where you can find
Speaker 1: some of the cool bonus stuff that we are about
Speaker 1: to start ramping up. Daniel, Yeah, did.
Speaker 2: You have any questions about the birth? Did you have
Speaker 2: any other follow ups? How's Jody with an I feeling
Speaker 2: pretty good all things considered. I mean, she was incredible
Speaker 2: in the hospital. I am just in awe of what
Speaker 2: women go through to have a kid.
Speaker 1: Are we playing the food Fighters again? That's we're playing
Speaker 1: food fighters? I am, Yeah, I am.
Speaker 2: This is more of a finger picking version, right, can
Speaker 2: you finger pick on that?
Speaker 1: I can't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, don't you hear me doing it?
Speaker 1: I hear it, but I I can't tell if it's
Speaker 1: a recording. It sounds wonderful.
Speaker 2: No, that's me so yeah. I mean it's it's a miracle, right,
Speaker 2: it's it's a childbirth. It's incredible. And I recommend it
Speaker 2: to everybody who's interested in having kids. I recommend being
Speaker 2: the dude. You just eat some food and encourage and coach.
Speaker 2: That's the move.
Speaker 1: So now you're gonna be switching up from the zone
Speaker 1: defense where you've got numbers to manned a man, have
Speaker 1: you and Jody with and I prepared for that.
Speaker 2: It's almost a double team with the solid toddler at
Speaker 2: over two years old, now just running a muck. I
Speaker 2: think the solid baby is mostly just being ignored. I
Speaker 2: think it's you remember the Memphis Grizzly player who just
Speaker 2: was a defensive specialist and everybody left him alone? Was
Speaker 2: his name? I think that's it's Tony. I'm totally blanking
Speaker 2: and I remember watching it in Awe Memphis Grizzly Tony Allen, Tony.
Speaker 1: Allen, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to feed the solid baby.
Speaker 1: We're going to attend to his needs. But also we're
Speaker 1: not going to be in his face like we were
Speaker 1: with number one, be like oh look at that heck up,
Speaker 1: Oh god, that's sneeze.
Speaker 2: No, it's chasing the toddler around and checking in on
Speaker 2: the baby every so often, so he's getting the Tony
Speaker 2: Allen treatment right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, Well, I'm glad that everyone's doing well, and
Speaker 1: congratulations to you guys. It's really nothing like comparing a
Speaker 1: newborn to a defensive specialist. That's what we do here, Dan,
Speaker 1: you know that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, in a different sport entirely from what we
Speaker 2: talk about on the show.
Speaker 1: For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein.
Speaker 1: For myself, Tie Hillo Brand, thanks so much for downloading,
Speaker 1: for listening, for playing along with our madness. We will
Speaker 1: be back on Thursday. Q and A coming your way.
Speaker 1: Get those questions in. We'll post how on all of
Speaker 1: our social media channels in the meantime. For that Guy,
Speaker 1: Dan Rubinstein and myself Tie Hildebrand. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Talk to your students, say styling Hellllo. Peace,