Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid Verbo I'll that for me.
Speaker 2: I'm a man, I'm for I've heard so many players say, well,
Speaker 2: I want to be happy. You want to be happy
Speaker 2: for Dake Edith State.
Speaker 1: Is that woo woom and down and tie? Welcome back
Speaker 1: to these solid Verba boys and girls. My name is
Speaker 1: Ty Hildebrand jointing me over there in locked down in
Speaker 1: New York City, the one and only Dan Rubinstein, Sir,
Speaker 1: how are you tie?
Speaker 2: In these very strange times, It's kind of comforting. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie. It is always comforting to hear
Speaker 2: your voice, but it is especially comforting to hear the
Speaker 2: enthusiasm in your voice. As at least I as a
Speaker 2: pretty full stream podcaster, and you as somebody who regularly
Speaker 2: wears I would say classified hazmat suits your secret day job.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's just cut it off right there.
Speaker 2: We are at least used to a little bit of isolation. Sure, Wait,
Speaker 2: but as as more and more people self isolate or
Speaker 2: self quarantine and are taking measures, and I hope everybody
Speaker 2: is using common sense and consideration during these again, very
Speaker 2: strange times, I'll say, welcome to the party.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the party. One and all. Thank you for
Speaker 1: downloading the solid verbal. I am Ty Hildebrant. He is
Speaker 1: Dan Rubinstein. Both of our hands look like the dinosaur
Speaker 1: eggs from Jurassic Park one. At this point, I am
Speaker 1: assuming we are not alone in this journey. However, we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk as much college football as we can. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Over the next hour or so, we got some fun
Speaker 1: games to catch up on. Talk about where things are
Speaker 1: headed over the I don't know, next couple months, assuming
Speaker 1: there is a season, I'm assuming it's going to happen.
Speaker 2: I don't know why you would just assume that tie well,
Speaker 2: of course, of course, now as we are recording, it
Speaker 2: does feel like the world is falling apart.
Speaker 1: Many schools have canceled spring athletics, March Madness is off.
Speaker 1: Countless sports entities in leagues are canceling or postponing. So
Speaker 1: there is clearly a lot of action out there. But
Speaker 1: at least for the next like forty five to sixty minutes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: at least for the next forty five to sixty minutes,
Speaker 1: let's assume it's going to happen.
Speaker 2: I think that's reasonable enough. What is actually still happening?
Speaker 2: Golf and NASCAR NASCAR without the crowd. I mean, as
Speaker 2: of our recording, we're doing this Thursday at five pm Eastern.
Speaker 2: That's what seems to be still happening. And certainly there
Speaker 2: seems to be generally more of a distance between golfers,
Speaker 2: definitely with NASCAR drivers.
Speaker 1: Correctly, I mean, it might just be podcasting in Netflix
Speaker 1: by the time we get done with the show.
Speaker 2: Certainly, the least consequential victim of COVID nineteen coronavirus is
Speaker 2: the ability to generate content now without spring practice, now
Speaker 2: without recruiting it's right, So that is the least consequential
Speaker 2: and important victim of all of this, and that's where
Speaker 2: we stand today. Ty, I'm going to explain what we're
Speaker 2: doing here today. I don't know if you wanted to
Speaker 2: promote various avenues that we have where you can find
Speaker 2: us where we're now getting more and more active on
Speaker 2: Instagram because it's March. It's March. We got nothing else
Speaker 2: to do, right, we have nothing else to do, so
Speaker 2: we're doing more and more on Instagram. So just solid
Speaker 2: Verbo right there on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, anywhere that generally
Speaker 2: we can possibly be found there.
Speaker 1: We are the beaks of content hungry for ballers are
Speaker 1: open and pointed towards the heavens, and we're going to
Speaker 1: try and do our best to feed the hungry here
Speaker 1: as we progress through whatever remains of our college football springtime.
Speaker 2: Correct. So do you remember the theme that we used
Speaker 2: for signing day and recruiting. Yeah, it was construction. We
Speaker 2: were building a house, and we were talking about how
Speaker 2: team were doing constructing their programs for the future, and
Speaker 2: tried to say the word lifeblood as little as possible. Today,
Speaker 2: it's sort of we're using a similar analogy or metaphor
Speaker 2: whatever in that college football in general is I would argue,
Speaker 2: a layer of many different things, especially teams, and constructing
Speaker 2: a college football cake is something that became interesting to
Speaker 2: me as I took a shower the other day and
Speaker 2: had cakes. The Distance the band Cakes hit song from
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety six, The Distance all of a sudden pop
Speaker 2: into my head, and I started thinking about the distance
Speaker 2: between certain programs and certain accomplishment points, fence posts, or
Speaker 2: sort of tears within the sport. And I broke it
Speaker 2: down cake tears because like a good birth day cake,
Speaker 2: which I would argue doesn't exist. But that's neither here
Speaker 2: nor there for the time being. They're multiple layers, sometimes
Speaker 2: with different flavors, different colors, different thicknesses is different viscosities. Tie.
Speaker 2: Here's how I'm breaking down the five college football layers
Speaker 2: in terms of program and team and competitive health. I've
Speaker 2: got five s's. I've got sad sort of three and
Speaker 2: nine in blow subpar flirting with ball eligibility. You're four
Speaker 2: and eight's, your five and sevens, maybe your six and
Speaker 2: six every so often satisfactory, your ball team six and six,
Speaker 2: seven and five, maybe sparkling up an eight and four
Speaker 2: every so often striving. That's a team that is contending
Speaker 2: for their division, maybe the conference. Late in the season,
Speaker 2: maybe they're in a weak division and they can end
Speaker 2: up in the conference championship game. Top fifteen ish program,
Speaker 2: and then you've got your supers, your super programs. They're
Speaker 2: basically in the playoff conversation annually. They're a mainstay of
Speaker 2: late November playoff talk. If this team wins, then this
Speaker 2: team has a shot. If this team doesn't make it,
Speaker 2: then suddenly this opens up. That's those are my five
Speaker 2: s tiers. Does that sort of make sense? We've talked
Speaker 2: about the sport in some of those in that tier talk.
Speaker 2: So what we're gonna do if you can give me
Speaker 2: some eight bitcake?
Speaker 1: Thank you?
Speaker 2: Oh love a good eight bit mid nineties early two
Speaker 2: thousand's funky alternative rock band. We're going to figure out
Speaker 2: the distance between certain programs and their next level that
Speaker 2: they could be approaching, perhaps what it'll take if they
Speaker 2: can ever realistically get there. We ask for suggestions on
Speaker 2: Instagram via Instagram Stories. A lot of good teams were
Speaker 2: thrown out there that I think we're going to review.
Speaker 2: But I want to figure out if a reasonable distance exists? Y,
Speaker 2: all right? And what it actually will take for teams
Speaker 2: to go the distance? God, I how to throw that
Speaker 2: in there for you just at the end it will
Speaker 2: stab call that into business now. Obviously the song is
Speaker 2: about I guess perseverance, which in a way we're talking
Speaker 2: about here. Sure, even though the main character characters are
Speaker 2: nowhere near winning the race, they keep going and going
Speaker 2: long after the crowds have left. So, ty, what are
Speaker 2: some teams that I think would be under consideration for
Speaker 2: SAD with an I on becoming.
Speaker 1: Subpar well first and foremost. Yeah, this would be a
Speaker 1: perfect segue to say, follow us on Instagram at Instagram
Speaker 1: dot com slash Solidverbal. You can also join in on
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Speaker 1: Facebook dot com slash Soliverbal as well. If you've got
Speaker 1: nothing to do over the next couple weeks and or months,
Speaker 1: which is likely at this point given the current state
Speaker 1: of affairs, join the party at soliverbal dot reddit dot
Speaker 1: com our good friend Peter the subreddit. The conversation continues
Speaker 1: among verballers long after the final bell of the podcast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, talk about all show topics, A lot of fun.
Speaker 1: Takes a lot of fun chatter, and you could talk
Speaker 1: about this show which is cake themed, Dan, Now your
Speaker 1: first cake tier is the sad tier, right? These are
Speaker 1: teams that were what three and nine and below or worse?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, three.
Speaker 1: And nine are below. So some that come to mind,
Speaker 1: Rutgers in Kansas I think are are like the gimmes.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Sure, Arkansas is interesting to me as well because I
Speaker 1: don't think they have sunk to quite the depth of
Speaker 1: a Rutgers or Kansas. But a last they did finish
Speaker 1: two and ten and didn't beat any Power Five teams
Speaker 1: in the twenty nineteen season.
Speaker 2: Do you want to review all of Chad Morris's SEC victories.
Speaker 2: That's all of it. That's it. We covered it that
Speaker 2: it feels sad, that feels like it's it'll qualify as sad. Yeah,
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen. I don't think Arkansas is
Speaker 2: a sad program. I think the current status is sad
Speaker 2: but optimistic. But a chunk of what we've seen recently,
Speaker 2: which is four and eight to inten to in ten,
Speaker 2: has at least the most of the current Arkansas players.
Speaker 2: The current generation of Arkansas players are used to college
Speaker 2: football sadness, so that qualifies for me.
Speaker 1: So why don't we do this. Let's talk about what
Speaker 1: it would take for let's pick one of these teams, okay,
Speaker 1: to make it from the sad tier up to the
Speaker 1: subpar tier, which would be flirting with bull eligibility.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, what do you think of all three
Speaker 2: of these teams, we can focus on one of them.
Speaker 2: I think we should focus on Arkans.
Speaker 1: Let's focus on Arkansas because I know we have a
Speaker 1: lot of Hogs fans that listen to this show and
Speaker 1: on occasion. But yeah, I mean, like Rutgers, I'm not
Speaker 1: usually a proponent of going back to the future with
Speaker 1: an old coach. In this case, I think greg Ciano
Speaker 1: makes a lot of sense. He needs players across the board.
Speaker 1: He needs some sort of draw to keep New Jersey
Speaker 1: kids in New Jersey. It's not a bad state for
Speaker 1: talent from a college football perspective. He was able to
Speaker 1: build that program up once. I think if anyone's going
Speaker 1: to do it, he's a good guy to put in charge.
Speaker 1: Baggage aside all the other Greg Ciano stuff aside, I
Speaker 1: think he's the right guy to maybe take a run
Speaker 1: at this, and kind of on the same lines, I
Speaker 1: think we saw the value last year in bringing in
Speaker 1: a big name head coach like Les Miles. Like this
Speaker 1: is a tough category, right because if you're three and
Speaker 1: nine and your Rutgers or Kansas, you pretty much need everything.
Speaker 1: But from a high level, you just need a reason
Speaker 1: to believe, and maybe Seano can provide that. At Rutgers
Speaker 1: less Miles, I thought did a pretty good job of
Speaker 1: doing that at Kansas. The truth is they were more
Speaker 1: relevant in twenty nineteen. They beat two Power five teams,
Speaker 1: Boston College and Texas Tech. Neither one of those were
Speaker 1: world beaters, but still it's a start and not to
Speaker 1: mention competitive against teams like Texas, Iowa State, and West Virginia.
Speaker 1: They still need a lot of help to get up
Speaker 1: to that next tier, and I don't think it's going
Speaker 1: to happen tomorrow or a year from tomorrow. But I
Speaker 1: do think there was some notable improvement on the Kansas
Speaker 1: front that it validates that move to less miles.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we saw results in year one from Kansas.
Speaker 2: We know that they're at least trending in the right direction.
Speaker 2: They made the change at offensive coordinator. I think in
Speaker 2: early October Brent Deerman, who became the new offensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: certainly helped spark the offense. They dropped nearly fifty against Texas.
Speaker 2: I think they finished something like aith in the country
Speaker 2: and offensive S and P, which feels like a huge deal.
Speaker 2: They were more competitive certainly in the Big Twelve. An
Speaker 2: up and down year, I guess a changing year for
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve and Rutgers they're doing a little bit
Speaker 2: what it looks like Oregon State has succeeded in doing.
Speaker 2: Because we didn't use that name and talking about sad teams,
Speaker 2: a program that had been in that sad space and
Speaker 2: made the leap to subpar in twenty nineteen, and that
Speaker 2: is hit the transfer market hard, go after coaches who
Speaker 2: know the area really really well, assistants, and certainly Rutgers
Speaker 2: and hiring from within the state of New Jersey and
Speaker 2: Greg Ciano leveraging his relationships within the state. And I
Speaker 2: know they have a Michigan and Ohio State transfer Brendan White,
Speaker 2: the safety for Ohio State, Michael Dwumfoor from Michigan. So Rutgers, certainly,
Speaker 2: like any team that's trying to make this move, is
Speaker 2: trying to reassess the roster talent wise, re energize, get
Speaker 2: commitment and secure and thanks to the big tens ft
Speaker 2: TV contract, hopefully keep around assistants who make a difference
Speaker 2: both on the field.
Speaker 1: That's actually a good segue to talk about Arkansas. So
Speaker 1: Sam Pittman comes over from Georgia where he was an
Speaker 1: assistant head coach. He released Chad Morris of his duties,
Speaker 1: or I should say steps in after Chad Morris was
Speaker 1: to take the mass duties.
Speaker 2: What a brutal way to go. Have the guy replacing
Speaker 2: you do the action fire. It wasn't like someone came
Speaker 2: out of a bullpen and.
Speaker 1: Tapped the starter on the shoulder, nothing like that stone
Speaker 1: cold Sam Pittman. But you're talking about keeping assistants, and
Speaker 1: I don't know how long Sam Pittman can keep his assistance.
Speaker 1: I do know, though, that he hired two notable ones
Speaker 1: in Kendall Briles to run his offense and former Missouri
Speaker 1: coach and defensive guru Berry Odom to run his defense.
Speaker 1: It is tough looking at this schedule to imagine a
Speaker 1: world in which Arkansas gets the six wins. Sure, very
Speaker 1: tough SEC West. They also a play Notre Dame. They
Speaker 1: also play Tennessee from the other side of the conference,
Speaker 1: which I don't think is a pushover. So it's it's
Speaker 1: going to be slow going. But again, given where they're
Speaker 1: coming from, having finished two and ten didn't beat any
Speaker 1: Power five teams, we're close in the first half of
Speaker 1: the year, but the results were not there. I think
Speaker 1: at least an interesting framework here is in place for Arkansas.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it looks to put their existing
Speaker 1: personnel grouping into whatever system Sam Pittman's going to set forth,
Speaker 1: but I do know that I see the names that
Speaker 1: I'm encouraged by them.
Speaker 2: Okay, so as it stands today, in mid March, with
Speaker 2: Arkansas reluctantly crouched at the starting line. Thank you, Yeah, Maha.
Speaker 2: Their talent level is a lot higher thanks to the
Speaker 2: recruiting of the last couple of years than a team
Speaker 2: like Rutgers or Kansas, which has not been able to
Speaker 2: transfer any early enthusiasm for their new coaches to success
Speaker 2: on the recruiting trail. Arkansas also brought in Felipe Franks.
Speaker 2: They've brought in an Xavier to Xavier Kelly from Clemson,
Speaker 2: a highly regarded and played a ton for the Tigers
Speaker 2: this year defensive linemen. So they're trying to re energize
Speaker 2: the roster, and certainly what Sam Pittman was able to
Speaker 2: do in hiring especially those coordinators tells me that one
Speaker 2: people probably want to work for Sam Pittman. He's been
Speaker 2: around long enough in his reputation I suppose speaks for
Speaker 2: itself that somebody with the success of both Kendall Brile's
Speaker 2: and Barry otom wants to work with him and believes
Speaker 2: enough in Arkansas's potential long term that even if they
Speaker 2: succeed in leave, that Sam Pittman would be able to
Speaker 2: go out and find replacements that would keep any sort
Speaker 2: of success that they've built up going. I am pretty
Speaker 2: confident that Arkansas can get to at least becoming a
Speaker 2: bowl team once again. When you look at the SEC
Speaker 2: West and the SEC in general, there's still a lot
Speaker 2: of with Alabama year over year losing what they lose,
Speaker 2: and I'm never going to cry for Alabama. But LSU
Speaker 2: with a lot of turnover this past year after becoming
Speaker 2: the best LSU and maybe SEC team on offense of
Speaker 2: all time, and the Mississippi schools hiring new coaches as
Speaker 2: well Texas A and M I certainly think is acending.
Speaker 2: But I think Arkansas is in a good place. I
Speaker 2: just it's very hard for me to see them as
Speaker 2: anything less than subpar long term. With Sam Poman, I.
Speaker 1: Don't really understand the Felipe Franks move, not from Arkansas' standpoint,
Speaker 1: but from me. They need somebody, No, no, I understand
Speaker 1: it from their perspective. Okay, I don't know if I
Speaker 1: understand it from his.
Speaker 2: But well, he'll be on a big stage to prove
Speaker 2: his worth for any sort of evaluation at the next level.
Speaker 2: If he succeeds at Arkansas, he continues his growth. It
Speaker 2: was just bad luck last year. He probably would have
Speaker 2: had a good year like Kyle Trask did at Florida.
Speaker 2: I just I suppose it's he wanted to stay in
Speaker 2: a very big conference and that was an immediate opening.
Speaker 2: And they've recruited receiver pretty well. They've got a number
Speaker 2: of talented young receivers, blue chip guys. So to me,
Speaker 2: it seems fine.
Speaker 1: It's fine. It's fine for Arkansas. I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: what kind of offense Kendle Briles tries to form around him.
Speaker 1: But I think there is reason for optimism, as there
Speaker 1: always is whenever you go in a different direction with
Speaker 1: your h head football coach. And they got some names here. Now,
Speaker 1: if we assume much, just assume, because we are starved
Speaker 1: for good news right now, let's assume that Arkansas makes
Speaker 1: that jump into the subpar tier. Yeah, well, Dan, right now,
Speaker 1: we've got four teams here in the subpar tier. It's
Speaker 1: a little thicker than that bottom tier.
Speaker 2: If we By the way, do you do you have
Speaker 2: any confidence in Kansas or Rutgers or between the two.
Speaker 2: Not in the short term, Not in the short term. Okay,
Speaker 2: not in the short term. No, I don't have either
Speaker 2: right now because of the quarterbacks uncertainty with both schools,
Speaker 2: but I think that's what places Arkansas level above, even
Speaker 2: arguably in a more difficult division.
Speaker 1: So the inner workings of our cake here are very competitive.
Speaker 1: And as one team moves up into the sub par tier,
Speaker 1: you know another has to move down, but also some
Speaker 1: in that subpar tier have to move up as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a show about positivity today. We want progression.
Speaker 2: We want progression. So we're talking about teams that have
Speaker 2: been flirting with Bowl eligibility working up into the satisfactory tier,
Speaker 2: i e. They become a pretty consistent Bowl team. The
Speaker 2: ones that we have listed out are Ole Miss, Arizona Nebraska,
Speaker 2: and Texas Tech. So Ole Miss is the only of
Speaker 2: these teams working in a new coach, a new system,
Speaker 2: new assistance. It's an overhaul of a program that actually
Speaker 2: showed a good amount of fight at times last season
Speaker 2: under Matt Luke, and now as they moved to Lane Kiffin,
Speaker 2: they've recruited somewhat well, certainly dealing with a lot of
Speaker 2: unfortunate off field attention. I am curious as to what
Speaker 2: quarterback looks like because John Reese Plumbley is not It
Speaker 2: doesn't seem like the prototype for a Lane Kiffin quarterback,
Speaker 2: but that has evolved over the course of his coaching career.
Speaker 2: And defensively, I was impressed with the step up they
Speaker 2: took last year because they had grown nightmare of a defense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and last year they showed a good amount of fight
Speaker 2: relative to where they were. Now it's another new defensive coordinator.
Speaker 2: They have the one year blip of Mike McIntyre, and
Speaker 2: so they're again making a change there. I'm intrigued, but
Speaker 2: I don't have huge reason for hope right now that
Speaker 2: a leap to SAT Factory is imminent for all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think I disagree there at all. At first off,
Speaker 1: I was surprised by the move to get rid of
Speaker 1: Matt Luke. I think I always assumed that they would
Speaker 1: do it when they named him coach, but it didn't
Speaker 1: feel like there was that level of aggression. However, to
Speaker 1: go out and get Lane Kiff. And I understand that
Speaker 1: there's an appeal there. I like John Reese Plumbley. I agree.
Speaker 1: I don't know how he fits in, but I think
Speaker 1: they're going to have to try and find a way
Speaker 1: because he's an exciting player, and I just think overall,
Speaker 1: I like the personnel at Old Miss. I think it's
Speaker 1: a good situation for Lane Kiffin. So we'll see. But
Speaker 1: I agree with you, I don't think they're an obvious
Speaker 1: candidate to jump tiers. What about Arizona, Dan, If I'm
Speaker 1: going to be negative, yeah, I think the thing that
Speaker 1: I do like about Arizona is I like Grant Gunnell.
Speaker 2: They get in the Oregon transfer Brendan schooler whose brother
Speaker 2: is actually really good for Arizona. On the other side
Speaker 2: of the ball, Colins Schooler. But the talent level, the
Speaker 2: upheoval at coach, They get rid of Marcel Yate's late
Speaker 2: in the season, the defensive coordinator, and now they hire
Speaker 2: Paul Rhodes to take over the Arizona defense, who he's
Speaker 2: been well traveled. Paul Rhodes came on the show, friend
Speaker 2: of the show. Yeah, but the talent level and overall plan,
Speaker 2: this would have been a program that I just I
Speaker 2: would have liked to see the Wildcats do. What's so
Speaker 2: clearly happening in Tempe that there's enthusiasm that there is
Speaker 2: you know, they are turning a big win into something more.
Speaker 2: We saw Arizona beat Oregon two years ago and then
Speaker 2: just sort of get worse. Khalil Taate and the offense
Speaker 2: and everything just sort of snowballed downward, which I guess
Speaker 2: is technically where snowballs go. And the enthusiasm just doesn't
Speaker 2: seem to be at Arizona there, the recruiting is down,
Speaker 2: the defense. I'm not all that confident in the talent
Speaker 2: level there. I just you have been.
Speaker 1: And again, we talk pretty much every day. Yeah, usually
Speaker 1: we're pretty even keel, both of us. But you were
Speaker 1: viscerally angry when we talked about Arizona a couple weeks ago,
Speaker 1: like this is a program that should be better. I
Speaker 1: think I agree with you. I won't go too negative,
Speaker 1: but I do think it's highly unlikely that this jump
Speaker 1: up in tears happens anytime soon for Arizona, at at
Speaker 1: least in years past. Yeah, you could count on the offense,
Speaker 1: but we're at a point now where the idea of
Speaker 1: a Kevin somewhat offense maybe better than the actual product.
Speaker 1: At least that's the way it's felt the last two seasons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not I'm not there. Texas Tech, though it
Speaker 2: is interesting to me.
Speaker 1: Is British comedy legend Alan Bowman going to be healthy
Speaker 1: this year.
Speaker 2: I don't think we can make that assumption based on
Speaker 2: previous just playing bad luck. I don't like to think
Speaker 2: of college players as frail or injury prone. Sometimes there's
Speaker 2: just bad luck, and that kind of also helps to
Speaker 2: define what Texas Tech's twenty nineteen look like. I think
Speaker 2: they lose four games by either three or two points,
Speaker 2: and while yes, you can control a lot in close losses,
Speaker 2: they're not be getting blown out. Their pass defense needs
Speaker 2: to get way better. They gave up a ton of
Speaker 2: huge plays to a Big twelve that didn't have a
Speaker 2: ton of amazing quarterbacks. This wasn't, you know, the twenty
Speaker 2: eight Big twelve. So I am somewhat confident if they're
Speaker 2: a little bit healthier that just dumb luck will go
Speaker 2: a little bit more their way. If you remember the
Speaker 2: end of the Kansas game, they're going to turn. I
Speaker 2: hope it's this season. I don't know, but again, the
Speaker 2: Big twelve doesn't buy and large scare me a ton no,
Speaker 2: So a team that's just above average, I think Texas
Speaker 2: Tech can be a consistent Bowl team under Matt Wells.
Speaker 2: I think baseline, so yeah, I feel pretty good about
Speaker 2: the part of satisfactory trajectory for Red Raiders.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about Nebraska.
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: I could see Nebraska starting seven and oh this year.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm recording that. I am, I am.
Speaker 2: I could see them starting out of that.
Speaker 1: Look at their schedule, their first seven tier. I could
Speaker 1: see them going seven and oh and finishing seven and
Speaker 1: five because the last five weeks of the season are brutal.
Speaker 1: I don't think Nebraska is far off from consistent Bowl eligibility,
Speaker 1: and I don't think they need any major changes, which
Speaker 1: is which is good news.
Speaker 2: They just need to be a little bit more cu well.
Speaker 2: Using Nebraska can beat Cincinnati. I said they could be
Speaker 2: seven and oh, Oh my gosh, I'm qualifying. I they're
Speaker 2: beating the Jacks. They have San Diego State. They could
Speaker 2: go seven and oh to start the year. Oh man,
Speaker 2: they could start the year oh and not on three.
Speaker 2: They have Central Michigan and improve Central Michigan.
Speaker 1: Just work with me here, Dan, there's a global pandemic.
Speaker 2: I think positively as likely as h and four.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Okay, okay, I think Nebraska's in a
Speaker 1: pretty good place. They need to be more consistent. I
Speaker 1: do think that Scott Frost has done a good job
Speaker 1: on the personnel front as well. Was a good recruiting class,
Speaker 1: fourth in the Big Ten. They focused a lot on
Speaker 1: what they need on defense, especially in the secondary. We
Speaker 1: said for a long time the Big Ten West can
Speaker 1: be had. Minnesota rose up a little bit last year,
Speaker 1: a lot of bit last year and had a wonderful season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would expect that they would be pretty good again.
Speaker 1: But it seems like if you're gonna be on any
Speaker 1: side of the Big Ten, the West is where you
Speaker 1: want to be. If you're in a position like Nebraska
Speaker 1: finds itself currently where you just need to sort of
Speaker 1: get up into that next tier, you need to try
Speaker 1: and do so with the path of least resistance. It's
Speaker 1: certainly the easier side of the Big Ten.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but when you look at the actual Nebraska roster
Speaker 2: and you look at the actual improvement or lack thereof
Speaker 2: of the defense and how beat up and even when
Speaker 2: he wasn't crazy beat up, Adrian Martinez and his twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen season were. And there's something I guess a little
Speaker 2: bit encouraging about Luke McCaffrey, But that seems to be
Speaker 2: more about his running ability than his throwing ability. They're
Speaker 2: very thin at offensive skill made even thinner. JD. Spielman
Speaker 2: has taken a leave of absence for the time being,
Speaker 2: so it's unclear what his future is going to be
Speaker 2: if everything returns to normal in the college football world
Speaker 2: and just the world in general. I really hope twenty
Speaker 2: eighteen wasn't a matter of Scott Frost getting the best
Speaker 2: of Adrian Martinez and also surrounding him. I think it
Speaker 2: was divine a zigbow in the backfield, one thousand yard rusher,
Speaker 2: and then Stanley Morgan, a thousand yard receiver, inheriting enough
Speaker 2: offensive skill talent to make it seem like there's patchwork
Speaker 2: potential in Lincoln. The defense is what has me pretty
Speaker 2: troubled now. They got trounced against good teams last year.
Speaker 2: They had a hard time against the run, they really did.
Speaker 2: They got drownced. And this is year three. This is
Speaker 2: Scott Frost's team. Yeah, and all of that hope and
Speaker 2: potential going into last year, and I know the injury
Speaker 2: at quarterback everything like that, but I really like Wandale Robinson.
Speaker 2: That's a proven factor for them on offense. But I
Speaker 2: just I didn't see a lot to make me think.
Speaker 2: And I you know, you have their schedule in front
Speaker 2: of you. I guess I do too. Now it's not horrible, No,
Speaker 2: but they finish the back half is after Rutgers on
Speaker 2: the road, they stay on the road, and it's Ohio State,
Speaker 2: Penn stayed at home, and then Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota. With
Speaker 2: Iowa and Wisconsin both on the road in consecutive weeks, tough.
Speaker 1: Back half of the schedule is pretty tough, That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I don't have any confidence right now with how the
Speaker 2: team is currently built and coached, and I just that
Speaker 2: Nebraska is going to be anything more than slightly better.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if that makes me think that
Speaker 2: they're fully satisfactory.
Speaker 1: All right, Dan, I thought we were thinking positively here,
Speaker 1: but trusting too. I guess that's not what we're here for.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, I have, so we're gonna we're gonna think positively.
Speaker 2: I think there's a good distance. We're moving distance. Okay,
Speaker 2: thank you gotta prep me before you do that. No,
Speaker 2: you're just on your toes. I like it.
Speaker 1: So if Nebraska moves up, that means someone else got
Speaker 1: to move up. In the next tier and satisfactory again
Speaker 1: is pretty consistent bowl team. You go from satisfactory to striving,
Speaker 1: which is a division or conference contender team that's sort
Speaker 1: of top fifteen.
Speaker 2: Ish, right, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Starting to get up into that rare.
Speaker 2: Eight and four, nine and three somewhere in there. Yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe ten wins with the ball. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The first item on our list here, the first team
Speaker 1: on our list is Florida State. Florida State will no
Speaker 1: doubt be a hot talking point as we enter the
Speaker 1: fall again, assuming there's a season. Yeah, but of course
Speaker 1: made the coach and change going to Mike Norvell. The
Speaker 1: Lillie Taggart thing did not work, fired unceremoniously before the
Speaker 1: end of the season. Confirmed they were wildly inefficient on offense,
Speaker 1: They had quarterback issues, they were undisciplined. Honestly, I have
Speaker 1: no idea what the offense is going to look like.
Speaker 1: If James Blackman's a starter anyway, I have no idea
Speaker 1: what the offense looks like. We know they got to
Speaker 1: get better along the line, we know they have to
Speaker 1: recruit better. It's just sort of like a full rebuild
Speaker 1: at Florida State. They're not starting from quite the same
Speaker 1: depths as a team like Arkansas obviously much much better
Speaker 1: starting point there, a much easier conference than the ACC
Speaker 1: as well. But what is your level of confidence that
Speaker 1: they can take that jump up? Let me say in
Speaker 1: the next, well one year, so this year, this fall, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they do it this fall. Can they get up to
Speaker 1: top fifteen ish in one year?
Speaker 2: I don't think so. No, And that's a combination of
Speaker 2: what the roster looks like right now. Me still having
Speaker 2: not a lot of confidence in quarterback and offensive line.
Speaker 2: I have confidence in Mike Norvel and his staff getting
Speaker 2: Florida State to competence just as a football program, which
Speaker 2: a lot of the time they just weren't under Willie
Speaker 2: Taggart and that staff that previous regime. So I'm confident
Speaker 2: that they can get back to that point, that competence point,
Speaker 2: which we I think played a game around that on
Speaker 2: the twos cruise. I like the staff. I like you know,
Speaker 2: they keep Odell Haggins and Ron Duggins on staff, which
Speaker 2: I think is pretty wise for continuity's sake. They've been
Speaker 2: there forever. But no, there's nothing to me that says
Speaker 2: this is a big jump year. I think this is
Speaker 2: a big year zero year for interesting.
Speaker 1: I think I agree with you. Curious to see again
Speaker 1: what the offense looks like under Mike Norville. West Virginia
Speaker 1: another team here. Now it's can we really count West
Speaker 1: Virginia in the satisfactory category right now?
Speaker 2: I think based on the totality of their last two
Speaker 2: or three years, they look to be subpar for a
Speaker 2: lot of the season last year. But I don't think
Speaker 2: when I when I think about the health of West Virginia,
Speaker 2: I don't look at them as like an Ole miss
Speaker 2: or Arizona. Even with as bad as you know, year
Speaker 2: one under Nill Brown was I really like Neil Brown.
Speaker 1: We both do, and statistically they did get better as
Speaker 1: the season war on. So at a minimum, yeah, they
Speaker 1: were fighting in every game, the games were closer. Austin
Speaker 1: Kendall though not the answer at quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he was. Austin Kendall was there. He
Speaker 2: was hurt all year essentially too.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't feel very confident about West Virginia
Speaker 1: taking this jump.
Speaker 2: I'm a little more confident. They got a little bit
Speaker 2: out of youth. Sam James was nice at receiver at times.
Speaker 2: The defense, I think it's gonna take a bit. They're
Speaker 2: replacing a chunk. I'm I don't feel great about it,
Speaker 2: but I don't. Again, this is echoing what I said
Speaker 2: earlier about the Big twelve. There's not a lot that
Speaker 2: scares me right now. The weird thing was that their
Speaker 2: offense was as bad as it was. They finished the
Speaker 2: year what beating Kansas State and TCU and being right
Speaker 2: there against At least the defense was decent against Oklahoma
Speaker 2: State to finish out the year. So I at least
Speaker 2: not that you know, finishing out the year with you know,
Speaker 2: supposed momentum is anything that important, but they prevented big
Speaker 2: plays on defense. There's something at least to build on there.
Speaker 2: For West Virginia. I think they're going to improve, and
Speaker 2: maybe they'll improve to only solidly satisfactory if they're sort
Speaker 2: of in that satisfactory subpar gray area. So I think
Speaker 2: there will be They will be solid lea a Bowl team,
Speaker 2: and they just won't be as hopefully disgusting on offense
Speaker 2: at times.
Speaker 1: Col.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Col's interesting. They need Chase Garber's to not get hurt.
Speaker 2: They need yep a week a week Pac twelve to
Speaker 2: jump up to that level. I don't think it's probable.
Speaker 2: I don't think they can get Evan Weaver back for
Speaker 2: another year. That would help. But Justin Willcox is pretty
Speaker 2: good as a defensive mind. They've been pretty good defensively
Speaker 2: under him, so I've been really good defensively.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I again, I I'm not confident they can get
Speaker 1: quite that high. But I always feel like I'm a
Speaker 1: little higher on col at the start of a year
Speaker 1: than you.
Speaker 2: Ty. I have breaking news. Yes, we have no idea
Speaker 2: what the PAC twelve North is gonna lie in the fall.
Speaker 2: If you run through the division. Washington has a new
Speaker 2: coach and QB is TBD. They should have a good defense.
Speaker 2: Washington State has a new coach, QB TBD. We don't
Speaker 2: know what they're gonna look like. We know Nick Rolovich's system,
Speaker 2: but we don't know Washington State is going to look
Speaker 2: like Oregon new quarterback, new offensive coordinator, new offensive line.
Speaker 2: We have no idea what that offense is going to
Speaker 2: look like. Oregon State new quarterback certainly seems to be
Speaker 2: moving in the right direction. It's Tristan Jebia presumably taking over,
Speaker 2: but again, we have no idea. They've done really well
Speaker 2: in the transfer market. Stanford Davis Mills kJ Costello is gone.
Speaker 2: They took a huge step back last year. We have
Speaker 2: no idea. You look at Cal. They make a change
Speaker 2: at offensive coordinator with Bo Baldwin leaving. They bring in
Speaker 2: Bill Muskraveh has been in the NFL forever and played
Speaker 2: at Oregon. I don't think they have dudes on offense,
Speaker 2: but everybody they did have who was good enough when
Speaker 2: Chase Garber's was healthy, is back, and right now that
Speaker 2: sort of solid ground feels promising. I don't know about
Speaker 2: fully striving to win the no, but with how good
Speaker 2: they've been on defense, and yes they lose their safeties
Speaker 2: in Evan Weaver, I think Cal's in a really nice position.
Speaker 1: I like Kel.
Speaker 2: I think they're starting. I don't want to talk about
Speaker 2: reluctantly crouched at their starting line is a good spot.
Speaker 2: Reluctantly crouched at the starting line.
Speaker 1: Thank you again. You gotta warn me so I'm I'm ready.
Speaker 2: You're just you're good at You're a pro.
Speaker 1: I also think Tennessee's in a pretty good spot to
Speaker 1: jump tiers.
Speaker 2: Have you looked at Tennessee schedule?
Speaker 1: That was gonna be my next That was amazing. That
Speaker 1: was gonna be my next comment. They do have Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama,
Speaker 1: and Georgia this year, Okay, which is difficult, Dan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it definitely is. But in terms of what
Speaker 2: it could be, they always have Alabama in the Cross Division.
Speaker 2: But who else do they have from the West? Yeah,
Speaker 2: it ain't bad, Dan there what are their SEC road games?
Speaker 2: And this is not a Tennessee preview, but this is
Speaker 2: just an evaluation of cake tears in Tennessee. Okay to
Speaker 2: s road games? Are South Carolina a down team, We'll
Speaker 2: see if they can bounce back, Arkansas a down team.
Speaker 2: We'll see if they can bounce back. Georgia. Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: gonna be tough, but we don't know what to expect
Speaker 2: from Jamie Newman, I guess at quarterback and Vanderbilt. No,
Speaker 2: Tennessee's schedule is awesome. Now Charlotte's bowl team and they
Speaker 2: made moves in twenty nineteen. The Paladins of Furman always dangerous, tie,
Speaker 2: but otherwise to get Florida missoo with a new coach, Alabama, Kentucky,
Speaker 2: Troy all at home, the experience they returned Juwan Jennings
Speaker 2: obviously gone at receiver, but getting Tray Smith back. On
Speaker 2: the offensive line, they lose a chunk, but they've recruited
Speaker 2: well on defense. I'm not going to fully dive into
Speaker 2: the Tennessee pool of hype. I am just saying the
Speaker 2: pen in which we are baking this cake tie is sturdy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I feel pretty good about Tennessee. Okay, I feel
Speaker 1: pretty good about their situation. They played hard last year.
Speaker 2: I feel great about this situation.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's there. I think it's there. I
Speaker 1: want to talk about k State though. So K State
Speaker 1: was an interesting story last year, not only because they
Speaker 1: beat Oklahoma right that was obviously a big deal, but
Speaker 1: got the new football coach. It was meaningful for us
Speaker 1: because Chris Climbing came down from North Dakota State. Remember
Speaker 1: we went to go see a game up at North
Speaker 1: Dakota State in the frigid temperatures of Fargo, North Dakota
Speaker 1: at the end of the twenty eighteen calendar year. So
Speaker 1: when Chris Climbing came down to work with an athletic
Speaker 1: director that he had known from North Dakota State, it
Speaker 1: was interesting to us. Chris Climbs had a ton of
Speaker 1: success as a Chris climb had a ton of success
Speaker 1: at North Dakota State. Could he build a similar program
Speaker 1: at K State?
Speaker 2: Ky State kind of packed it in after they beat Oklahoma,
Speaker 2: kind of packed it in.
Speaker 1: They were scrappy and fundamentally pretty good. Kind of packed
Speaker 1: it in after Oklahoma. I think it goes without saying
Speaker 1: that they need a lot more explosion on offense, but
Speaker 1: top fifteen ish consistently that feels like a bridge too
Speaker 1: far for me, at least for now. I like Chris
Speaker 1: Kleiman is still working in his guys and still working
Speaker 1: with guys from the previous regime. They finished eighth in
Speaker 1: Big twelve recruiting, but they signed a bunch of three stars,
Speaker 1: and I think the plan, as I understand it, is
Speaker 1: to try and mold those three stars into higher level performers.
Speaker 1: It's not quite the same situation as North Dakota State,
Speaker 1: where he sort of got the best of the best
Speaker 1: talent from the upper planes, kids that maybe were like
Speaker 1: tweeeners and could have gone and played D one or
Speaker 1: could have gone and played FBS, but decided to go
Speaker 1: SCS instead. Like he was able to successfully recruit those kids,
Speaker 1: and over time he built up a really successful program
Speaker 1: that had a lot more talent than most of the
Speaker 1: other teams they played. That's not gonna be the situation here.
Speaker 1: If it's gonna thrive in Manhattan, Kansas, it's gonna thrive
Speaker 1: because you can turn a number of those three stars
Speaker 1: into four star talents on the college football field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Kansas State seems like a situational success story when
Speaker 2: certain powers are down. It's really good that Kansas State
Speaker 2: can be good, and they took advantage. They were at
Speaker 2: their best. I think what twenty eleven and twenty twelve
Speaker 2: junior and senior years of Colin Kline. You look at
Speaker 2: that twenty twelve team, I think they scored fifty points
Speaker 2: like seven times, which seems a crazy long time ago.
Speaker 2: So I think the twenty twelve Big Twelve was a
Speaker 2: little bit better at the top. But twenty eleven was
Speaker 2: kind of a mess for the conference. That was the
Speaker 2: last season if you remember of A and M and
Speaker 2: mis Zoo in the Big Twelve. So just a lot
Speaker 2: of changes in upheople there, and Kansas State was just
Speaker 2: a good team and took it advantage. I'm not a
Speaker 2: big believer in Skyler Thompson. I think he can be fine,
Speaker 2: but the year one offense, there's a lot of questions
Speaker 2: at receiver. I don't see a lot of pop from
Speaker 2: this Kansas State team, and I think they need that
Speaker 2: pop in the conference still, even with the dynamic of
Speaker 2: Baylor winning with defense and you know, just a lot
Speaker 2: of changes. You know, West Virginia takes just a giant
Speaker 2: slide down on offense. TCU looks completely lost on offense.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't know what you're gonna get from
Speaker 2: Texas week to week. Kansas State, I guess they have
Speaker 2: an opportunity to make a move, but I'm not a
Speaker 2: big believer in their current talent level on offense to
Speaker 2: give me any sort of pop. Although their quarterback coach
Speaker 2: is Colin Klein, so maybe there's some of that DNA
Speaker 2: or something. But right now, I think Kansas State is
Speaker 2: sort of in that what do we say, it's satisfactory
Speaker 2: to striving. I think they're status tithing. I think they're
Speaker 2: just in that purgatory right now, and I don't see
Speaker 2: the pop to really get them there unless there is
Speaker 2: there are unforeseen disasters around them in the conference.
Speaker 1: All right, two more tiers here, Yes, striving to super
Speaker 1: So this is again top fifteen ish conference contender, ish
Speaker 1: to playoff mainstay, or at least in the conversation.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's late November and we're talking about different
Speaker 2: levers and pulleys to get them in their machinations. Whatever.
Speaker 1: We've got Michigan and Auburn in here, but I've got
Speaker 1: Oregon boulded because I want to hear what your thoughts
Speaker 1: are on the Oregon Ducks where they're at now as
Speaker 1: they enter the twenty twenty seas and Mario Crystal Balls
Speaker 1: had some time in Eugene to kind of implement his system.
Speaker 1: Of course, they lose Justin Herbert, Yeah, which is going
Speaker 1: to leave a mark. They're starting a rare quarterback. But
Speaker 1: what is the status of that Oregon program and how
Speaker 1: likely do you feel a jump is anytime soon?
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to see them against Ohio State in
Speaker 2: Week two, so we'll have a decent enough sense of
Speaker 2: what I assume. Tyler Schuck will be the starting quarterback.
Speaker 2: He's been there a couple of years. Everybody's getting used
Speaker 2: to the new Joe moorehead offense, so that feels like
Speaker 2: the quarterbacks are sort of on an even playing field.
Speaker 2: But he seems to be the answer. I'm concerned about
Speaker 2: the offensive line, but not crazy concern because they've recruited
Speaker 2: well there and given Mario Christo Ball's own background there,
Speaker 2: I think they should be good upfront, just not incredible,
Speaker 2: which is where they were this past season. They're going
Speaker 2: to be led by their defense. They return essentially everybody
Speaker 2: important on defense, and their schedule is pretty incredible. I
Speaker 2: know they start with two incredible programs, North Dakota State
Speaker 2: and Ohio State, but both in autsin and then you
Speaker 2: look at their road slate with in the conference cal
Speaker 2: Arizona Wazoo, and it is never easy to go to Wazoo,
Speaker 2: even with the first year coach in Oregon State, and
Speaker 2: it's a very strange ending. All they have to do
Speaker 2: is be above average and creative on offense, and I
Speaker 2: still am not in love with the skill level on
Speaker 2: offense though we'll see what Tyler shuck. Because the defense
Speaker 2: is going to be incredible tie the event is going
Speaker 2: to be amazing. So in terms of their distance to super.
Speaker 1: Which by the way, which by the way, is not
Speaker 1: something over the last ten years we've gotten used to
Speaker 1: saying about Oregon.
Speaker 2: No the twenty twelve, twenty thirteen that was a really
Speaker 2: nice stretch for Oregon's defense, but I don't think on
Speaker 2: the level of what it can be given where they've recruited,
Speaker 2: bringing in two five star linebackers this year, I'm going
Speaker 2: to say they have closed the distance. They have closed
Speaker 2: the distance, and it's thank you both because of how
Speaker 2: they've recruited and because of I mean, who's the threat
Speaker 2: in the pack twelve right now? Who is keeping them
Speaker 2: from that conversation? They have Ohio State and North Dakota State,
Speaker 2: and surely it's true, but I don't with that schedule.
Speaker 2: With what I think people should be encouraged by Joe
Speaker 2: Moorehead and what he was able to do as a
Speaker 2: coordinator at Penn State, I think they've really closed that
Speaker 2: gap Michigan and Auburn. Auburn I'm I feel pretty good
Speaker 2: about because we talked about the changes in the SEC
Speaker 2: West and they've been a top tenish recruiting program these
Speaker 2: past few years. I don't know how great I feel
Speaker 2: about bo Nicks, but I think similar to Oregon, I
Speaker 2: like Chad Morris as a coordinator, I and the continuity
Speaker 2: on defense feels right. They were basically the team to
Speaker 2: figure out LSU's offense in twenty nineteen Michigan. I think
Speaker 2: they're just firmly entrenched as striving. Okay, and that's I
Speaker 2: think largely because of quarterback.
Speaker 1: Right now, if Oregon goes up to that super tier,
Speaker 1: mm hmm. Let's go negative for a second here, and
Speaker 1: let's say one of them, one of these six teams
Speaker 1: has to be relegated LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson
Speaker 1: or Oklahoma. So a common thread among four of these
Speaker 1: teams that they lose their starting quarterback LSU, Alabama, Georgia,
Speaker 1: and Oklahoma going to be starting over a quarterback in
Speaker 1: some sense. Alabama they also lost Scott Cochran strength coach
Speaker 1: talked about that a couple of weeks ago. M HM,
Speaker 1: Ohio State and Clemson to me are the two intriguing
Speaker 1: ones here because I don't I don't know how to
Speaker 1: answer the question. We have mused for a while that
Speaker 1: if something like Brent ve Venables were to leave at
Speaker 1: some point, that maybe that would be the catalysts to
Speaker 1: take them down a peg. Recruits been so strong, so strong,
Speaker 1: that it's hard to believe it would just trail off.
Speaker 1: But that's at least something you can identify that would
Speaker 1: have a real impact. But the one that I actually
Speaker 1: have a harder time trying to figure out is Ohio State,
Speaker 1: because if it was going to happen, it would have
Speaker 1: happened last year amid the coaching change from Erbi Meyer
Speaker 1: to Ryan Day. But now alas here we are. Ohio
Speaker 1: State was very, very good last year, is the answer.
Speaker 1: Injuries is the answer. Justin Field's going pro after next year? Like,
Speaker 1: how do you even come up with a situation in
Speaker 1: which Ohio State would not be part of the conversation
Speaker 1: in the foreseeable future.
Speaker 2: I don't have a good answer. I think Ohio State,
Speaker 2: of all these teams, is probably best positioned. There are
Speaker 2: a couple of reasons why I could see them losing
Speaker 2: out on playoffs or going down to simply a ten
Speaker 2: win team every year. And they got a taste of
Speaker 2: the NFL coaching with Chip Kelly, and I think what
Speaker 2: Philly and San Francisco. Sometimes, when you win a ton
Speaker 2: on a certain level, you want to see what you
Speaker 2: can prove on the next I'm not going to say
Speaker 2: Ryan Day's an NFL guy, but he's from New Hampshire.
Speaker 2: He didn't grow up in a college football hotbed. Maybe
Speaker 2: he wants more of the NFL, and maybe they screw
Speaker 2: up a transition to a new head coach in a
Speaker 2: couple of years or something like that. Maybe it's they
Speaker 2: just revert to the excellent but have one weird weak
Speaker 2: Urban Meyer level Purdue Iowa whatever, and that keeps them out.
Speaker 2: But that's still like an eleven and one t So
Speaker 2: I don't have a good answer for Ohio State Oklahoma,
Speaker 2: it's their defense. And maybe Lincoln Riley it seems his
Speaker 2: name seems to come up, which doesn't always feel like
Speaker 2: an accident. Coaches who are just like I have no
Speaker 2: interest in the NFL, their names come up less. Georgia
Speaker 2: is hard to see, but I understand Florida's emergence in
Speaker 2: the SEC could make things complicated for Georgia getting back
Speaker 2: to the SEC title game consistently. And they've kind of
Speaker 2: messed up at quarterback, and we'll see what Jamie Newman
Speaker 2: does for them. But I like the Todd munkin Higher Alabama.
Speaker 2: There's no flaw immediate flaw to me, especially with a
Speaker 2: little bit more continuity with songs. Staying LSU is interesting.
Speaker 2: They've been in this conversation for a number of years.
Speaker 2: They only really made the move in twenty nineteen, and
Speaker 2: so it's a matter of these other schools have done
Speaker 2: it more often recently, whereas LSU maybe they're just a
Speaker 2: bright shooting star in twenty nineteen and then they go
Speaker 2: back to being a ten and twoish team moving forward,
Speaker 2: because I don't know how much confidence there is right
Speaker 2: now at quarterback and that they can continue what they
Speaker 2: started under Joe Burrow and Joe Brady. So to me,
Speaker 2: the interesting one though, might be Clemson. Okay, reluctantly crouched.
Speaker 2: I just loved the beginning of that song, the starting line.
Speaker 2: Do you have a picture in your head? You mentioned
Speaker 2: Brent Venables leaving. I think they've reached the point where,
Speaker 2: even if Venables were to leave, that they've reached Alabama
Speaker 2: like status of they'll have their pick of basically any
Speaker 2: defensive coordinator who wants to coach exclusively three deep blue
Speaker 2: chip talent against a weak conference.
Speaker 1: Right right right.
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is unless it's what happened
Speaker 2: in Syracuse a couple of years ago or three years
Speaker 2: ago now, where it's just quarterback injury and it's weird
Speaker 2: situation where they'd take an early game lightly. You have
Speaker 2: the North Carolina game. This past year. We've seen the
Speaker 2: near loss and I think it was an overtime game
Speaker 2: against NC State or the pit game, But that's one game.
Speaker 2: I don't see them falling to a nine to three
Speaker 2: ten and two program anytime soon because of the talent level.
Speaker 2: But it is it is strange where if Florida State
Speaker 2: gets good, if Louisville gets pretty good and they beat Clemson,
Speaker 2: that could be it for Clemson's chances to get to
Speaker 2: the conference championship game. So you have like a weird
Speaker 2: at eleven in one, yeah, I mean it's been out
Speaker 2: of the playoff, yeah, So I think.
Speaker 1: It's more likely that if there is any kind of slide,
Speaker 1: it comes from the inside as opposed to the outside.
Speaker 1: It's going to take a while till Florida State or
Speaker 1: Louisville or any of those teams can catch up to Clemson.
Speaker 1: You know, even if they beat them with a stroke
Speaker 1: of good luck on some given Saturday, like, they're still
Speaker 1: not going to consistently be on that level. I think
Speaker 1: it's more likely. And I remember I was on Larry
Speaker 1: Williams show YEP noted Clemson writer Larry Williams, and he's
Speaker 1: been on our show as well. Yeah, and this is
Speaker 1: a question that I've discussed with him, like what would
Speaker 1: it take to essentially slide back a teer? And his
Speaker 1: answer was it's it's probably not a talent thing, and
Speaker 1: it's probably not an injury thing because there's so much talent.
Speaker 1: If anything, it would be coaching, It would be coaches
Speaker 1: leaving a mass to go elsewhere, upsetting the chemistry that
Speaker 1: Dablosweeney has built as an organization as a program. But
Speaker 1: it does not seem likely anytime soon. And you know,
Speaker 1: I hate to even talk about it in these hypotheticals
Speaker 1: because I'm trying to keep it positive today, as you know,
Speaker 1: right of course. But I guess if it's going to happen,
Speaker 1: it would be some sort of turnover among the coaching staff,
Speaker 1: and I guess a lack of chemistry, a breakdown in
Speaker 1: culture of some sort.
Speaker 2: There are, depending on your view, there are three and
Speaker 2: a half to four and a half teams in the
Speaker 2: ACC who have been pretty down during this incredible run
Speaker 2: from Clemson, Louisville, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina.
Speaker 2: So I think that adds up to like four point
Speaker 2: one dangerous teams at different times depending on the day
Speaker 2: in the quarterback. That that's intriguing to me. Not that
Speaker 2: they're going to be able to beat Clemson, all things
Speaker 2: being equal, but if Clemson has a weird scheduling quirk
Speaker 2: with short week on the road at Syracuse, at North Carolina, whatever,
Speaker 2: against a decent quarterback, we've seen that takedown clearly superior teams.
Speaker 2: I think it is all circumstance. I really really with you.
Speaker 2: I think it's circumstance within the conference more than it
Speaker 2: is internal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I understand it. I just.
Speaker 2: I don't know everybody finds a Michael Cunningham.
Speaker 1: All right, Well those are our tiers. Our cake, our
Speaker 1: college football cake has been so baked here now on
Speaker 1: the show, we've gone from sad to subpart A satisfactory,
Speaker 1: just driving to super and back down to striving. Hypothetically, Dan,
Speaker 1: can we get back to the saccer and suite, the
Speaker 1: saccer and sweet?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Actually, before we actually talk about Cake, do you
Speaker 2: like Cake? The band?
Speaker 1: They're Okay?
Speaker 2: Have you thought about them recently?
Speaker 1: I thought about them because I saw the Google doc Okay,
Speaker 1: and you know, going the distance, and.
Speaker 2: Have you about them in the last three to five years?
Speaker 1: Not for any prolonged period of time. I remember hearing
Speaker 1: the Distance on my satellite radio, okay, maybe like a
Speaker 1: year or two ago, and I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: I remember this song, but no, I don't pay too
Speaker 1: much attention to Cake.
Speaker 2: They had the opening song and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, another
Speaker 2: ass Sarah Marshall, and I saw them in the theaters
Speaker 2: and that song was great over some sort of Dolby
Speaker 2: sound system. I think it's my favorite Cake song. Love
Speaker 2: You Matt, love You Madly. That is probably my favorite
Speaker 2: Cake song. I like the trumpet, I like the singer's voice.
Speaker 2: I like at least let Me Go is another good one.
Speaker 2: Short skirt, long jacket. They do enough for me where
Speaker 2: if I listen back to Cake, I think that's different
Speaker 2: enough that I respect the success they carved out for
Speaker 2: themselves themselves.
Speaker 1: I want to get to I want to I want
Speaker 1: to talk about actual Cake though real quick. Here, just
Speaker 1: to close out the show again, Solid verbal at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. If you have anything you'd like to get
Speaker 1: off your chest, have anything you'd like to get off
Speaker 1: your chest, you can always feel free to drop us
Speaker 1: long and we read all the emails. We had a
Speaker 1: rather spirited discussion, did we not. We did super secret
Speaker 1: g chat this week putting this show together. We had
Speaker 1: a rather spirited conversation about cakes. You, Dan Rubinstein, think
Speaker 1: that a lasagna is a cake. I said, a lasagna
Speaker 1: is a savory cake. You said, it's a cake, a
Speaker 1: savory cake. Yeah, you still said it's a cake. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a cake cousin. It's the savory cousin
Speaker 1: that lives in the big city. Lives in the big city.
Speaker 2: Well, think about it. So cake, I mean you cook
Speaker 2: them in the oven. That does not mean it is
Speaker 2: a cake. It has layer doey layers, right, filling between
Speaker 2: the layers. Okay, it is topped with something different and
Speaker 2: that gives it a unique texture, frosting and cheese. But
Speaker 2: it's not a dessert, Dan, I said, it's a savor cake,
Speaker 2: just like a chicken pot pie is not a dessert.
Speaker 1: There's a separate species of items cooked like cakes that
Speaker 1: are just dinner items and do not fall under the
Speaker 1: cake specification.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying, and it's not the same species. But
Speaker 2: you look up the phylum, you look up the genus, okay,
Speaker 2: and it's Cacus italianis.
Speaker 1: So this is like both hawks and ducks are birds,
Speaker 1: even though they're very different.
Speaker 2: Totally Okay, yeah, this is it's a cousin. It's a
Speaker 2: distant cousin. But in terms of construction and how you
Speaker 2: eat it and what it looks like coming out of
Speaker 2: the oven, I think there is the general blueprint is
Speaker 2: there for each being distant cousins? I think alasagna is
Speaker 2: a savory cake.
Speaker 1: This is the Italian food version of asking if a
Speaker 1: hot dog is a sandwich, or if cereal is soup?
Speaker 1: Cereal is soup? Right, exactly right.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna stand by it. Lasagna is savory cake.
Speaker 1: No disagree?
Speaker 2: Hard Are you a cake person?
Speaker 1: I like cake?
Speaker 2: Do you? I'm not gonna go cake versus pie. They're
Speaker 2: two different foods pie. Are you? I know you're a
Speaker 2: pumpkin pie person. Are you generally excited? I don't work
Speaker 2: in an office the way you do. And again, your
Speaker 2: spans many continents, sure, known and on. Are you excited
Speaker 2: when it's somebody's birthday? Like there's cake in the breakroom? Ummm?
Speaker 2: And when you go in there have a slice? Are
Speaker 2: you happy that you did it? I'm never happy that
Speaker 2: I did it?
Speaker 1: I'm never happy that I did it, because you always
Speaker 1: get that two pm sugar crash, right or three pm
Speaker 1: sugar crash where that's when you regret it and it's
Speaker 1: a bit of a struggle to make it through to
Speaker 1: the end of the day.
Speaker 2: Well, it's just like, yeah, that slice was exactly like
Speaker 2: every other slice I've had in this situation.
Speaker 1: Give me, I'm a place of music. Give me your
Speaker 1: top five cakes to close out the show. Oh, thank you,
Speaker 1: a little music for you. Go ahead.
Speaker 2: So I was thinking about it, and I thought, I'm
Speaker 2: not a cake person, and then I realized I'm just
Speaker 2: not a birthday cake person. My number five like a
Speaker 2: good upside down cake, orange pineapple. I'm big on citrus.
Speaker 2: I love citrus. Number four a pound cake. Most of
Speaker 2: my pound cake experience is limited to entemens, but damn
Speaker 2: does entimates make a pound cake. Number three? Any lava
Speaker 2: cake will do. Okay, something that I am taking a
Speaker 2: spoon to that's hot and I'm breaking it open, and
Speaker 2: something runneth over.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: I love a good lava cake. Number two. Any kind
Speaker 2: of coffee cake. There's a crumble factor, there's a really
Speaker 2: nice flavor factor, and coffee cake is just doesn't have
Speaker 2: to be coffee flavor, but cinnamon factor. Love that my
Speaker 2: number one cake is probably and this goes back to
Speaker 2: my love of citrus. I think a lemon cake I
Speaker 2: don't want. I don't want. I don't want frosting on
Speaker 2: any of these. Lemon cake can have a little bit
Speaker 2: of icing. In a bunt situation. My number one cake
Speaker 2: might be lemon I love. I love the lemon flavor type.
Speaker 2: Some that you left out, well, no, no, I didn't leave
Speaker 2: out those are my favorite. You can't correct me.
Speaker 1: Some that you left out, Dan, I'm correct.
Speaker 2: Tell me your favorites.
Speaker 1: I have a list, it's no particular order.
Speaker 2: I do like.
Speaker 1: Red velvet cakes very good.
Speaker 2: Is this your number five?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I didn't do the rankings like you did.
Speaker 1: I don't have strong opinions on cake other than did
Speaker 1: say that Lazani is not cake.
Speaker 2: When you thought about this, did you know or did
Speaker 2: you look up what red velvet is? No? No, I
Speaker 2: know what this is. Okay, I just make it. I
Speaker 2: didn't know the difference between chocolate and red velvet, and
Speaker 2: it's very subtle. But I learned that there's it's cocoa
Speaker 2: and cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and there's like a vinegar.
Speaker 1: Factor, red velvet up for consideration. A really good carrot
Speaker 1: cake to be can be very very good, Okay, can
Speaker 1: be a contender, terram Asu.
Speaker 2: Not bad, creamy, very creamy. Yeah, you like that puff factor.
Speaker 1: Cheesecake deserves at least a mention.
Speaker 2: Here, may I I'm going to take a little step
Speaker 2: into this conversation. I think a cheesecake is a pie.
Speaker 2: I'm going it's called a cake, Dan, if you are
Speaker 2: going to step on my savory cakes called a cake.
Speaker 2: I know it's called a cake, but people listen to podcasts,
Speaker 2: not on iPods, sometimes the name is not It sort
Speaker 2: of misrepresents what it is. I think cheesecake is a poe.
Speaker 1: This is where you're going to say chicken pot pie
Speaker 1: or shepherd's pie.
Speaker 2: No. Continue, But that's just I'm just throwing it out there.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying I'm taking exception with that categorization.
Speaker 1: Next, the last one I have written down here is
Speaker 1: I've had very few good ones. Okay, but a banana
Speaker 1: cake could be very good. So like a banana cream
Speaker 1: banana cream or sort of like almost like a banana
Speaker 1: nut bread cake. I've had something like that.
Speaker 2: Is it Is it like loaf form it? Sometimes?
Speaker 1: Yes, it can be formed kind of like.
Speaker 2: But it's a different sheep. See banana bread to me
Speaker 2: seems like cake. Yeah, because it's just a loaf cake,
Speaker 2: right right, Okay, just some items, sure your consideration. So
Speaker 2: is there is there one that you would I would
Speaker 2: probably put carrot cake in here. So if it was
Speaker 2: a birthday meal, you'd be most excited for your meal.
Speaker 1: To conclude, I think the ceiling is higher interesting with
Speaker 1: carrot cake, but it's got to be good. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of bad carrot cakes out there that was unexpected,
Speaker 1: but carrot cake. I just I don't know a lot
Speaker 1: of carrot cake lovers think it's you and Mindy Kaling. Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't know why I know that. Now I really
Speaker 1: want coffeecake right now, all right.
Speaker 2: My mind is, go at your coffeecake if you can
Speaker 2: get out, Okay, I will.
Speaker 1: Okay, that does it for the show. Hope everyone out
Speaker 1: there is uh staying safe, enjoying their time listening to
Speaker 1: this show. Concluding in a very awkward fashion here as
Speaker 1: we talk about our favorite types of cake after doing
Speaker 1: a cake themed college football show, as always soliverble at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. That is the email. You can finder
Speaker 1: website all of our old stuff out at solid verbal
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also go on out to the
Speaker 1: subreddit solid verbal dot reddit dot com. Join the conversation
Speaker 1: long after the bell, and do follow us on social
Speaker 1: media Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all the usual hot spots. Uh,
Speaker 1: Dan and I are excited about the next few months
Speaker 1: in soliverbal In Soliverbleville, You've got some exciting things that
Speaker 1: are on the horizon, so do stay tuned for that. Again,
Speaker 1: I would I would just say everyone stay safe out there.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for downloading the show, and thank
Speaker 1: you for embarking on this journey with us. Yeah, wash,
Speaker 1: wash your hands, wash your hands for that guy, Well
Speaker 1: then you think you need to over there, my good
Speaker 1: friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Ty hilden Brand, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for downloading the show. Will catch you on
Speaker 1: next game. In the meantime, stay solid, hey,