Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal ull that for me. I'm
Speaker 1: a man, I'm for it. I've heard so many players say, well,
Speaker 1: I want to be happy. You want to be happy
Speaker 1: for Dake, Edith Steak is that woo woo?
Speaker 2: And Don and Tie, welcome back to the Salibarbo Boys
Speaker 2: and Girls. My name is ty Hilton Brandt, that fine
Speaker 2: gentleman over there, the one, the only, always, the incomparable.
Speaker 2: Dan Rubinstein, sir, welcome back.
Speaker 1: How was your weekend good. I think we had a
Speaker 1: little bit of a miscommunication when we were talking about
Speaker 1: this episode, Tie, and I want to apologize upfront, just
Speaker 1: because you're going to see the description of this episode
Speaker 1: and it's going to make sense given world events. But
Speaker 1: I think I'm misprepared for this episode and I just
Speaker 1: want to get out ahead of that, if that's okay
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 2: You misprepared, I misprepared.
Speaker 1: I just looked up something and I think I just
Speaker 1: realized that when you said you wanted to do an
Speaker 1: Eclipse themed show, I did all my research on the
Speaker 1: wrapper clips and apparently that has nothing to do that
Speaker 1: is with the conversation we're going to have that is
Speaker 1: slightly different. Dan, So all of the grind and research
Speaker 1: I did is for not and that will have to
Speaker 1: be a special Patreon Thursday episode when we deep dive
Speaker 1: comparing college football conference strengths and potential up and comers
Speaker 1: to the rapper Clips clips and for that I apologize. Okay, well, look,
Speaker 1: nobody's perfect now, as I really doffed it.
Speaker 2: We love you like a brother here on the show.
Speaker 2: We're going to do our best to power on through this. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we're recording this on Monday, April the eighth, and there's
Speaker 2: big old clips going on. You've got about ninety three
Speaker 2: percent coverage that you can see out in your parts
Speaker 2: in the Midwest. I've got about a lowly ninety one
Speaker 2: point two or three over here in eastern Pennsylvania. In
Speaker 2: any case, we'll be done recording this episode in time
Speaker 2: to witness the natural events outside the wonder that is
Speaker 2: a solar clips that everyone's talking about today, and we
Speaker 2: figured why not themale College Football Podcast episode around that,
Speaker 2: because that is the goofiness that we put forth into
Speaker 2: this here universe. So thank you for downloading, for listening,
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Speaker 2: just to remind the fine for ballers out there, what
Speaker 2: is the one thing, the most important thing that they
Speaker 2: can do to support what we are doing this soft season,
Speaker 2: really the whole year throughout, but in particular this soft season.
Speaker 2: What is that one thing?
Speaker 1: Uh, slowly shadow you, collect straight bits of your hair,
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Speaker 2: We're not doing the smell to you. We're not doing
Speaker 2: the smell tize hair thing again.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: It took me a year and a half to get
Speaker 2: past that. We're not doing it again.
Speaker 1: Quick quick second apology. Clips is a duo of rappers
Speaker 1: which I think I said it was a singular rapper
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Speaker 2: It only helps us here in the off season in
Speaker 2: more ways than we could ever put in two words. Okay,
Speaker 2: so listen, go back and listen to old episodes that
Speaker 2: we've been doing over the last couple of weeks, we
Speaker 2: had the Grievances bracket, we had Michael Felder on last week.
Speaker 2: We've been putting out some fun stuff here that I
Speaker 2: think you and I are both quite proud of being.
Speaker 2: So the eclipse is in a couple hours from now.
Speaker 2: We are looking at conferences, Dan, We are looking at conferences.
Speaker 2: We are looking at the stars of particular conferences. We
Speaker 2: are looking at which teams, if any, could block those
Speaker 2: teams out and what it means to the conference scape
Speaker 2: as a whole if that situation occurs.
Speaker 1: Right, Yes, that is correct. I assume you don't want
Speaker 1: to You don't have a lot of thoughts on NC
Speaker 1: State's spring game from this past weekend, particularly the Cam
Speaker 1: Coleman emergence at Auburn, along with I guess the introduction
Speaker 1: of DJ Diurkin. Hooray Auburn, what a cool decision you made.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Grace McCall was pretty good in
Speaker 1: the spring game, my guy man, as far as what
Speaker 1: I could gather, he and Noah Rodgers, well Hollywood Smothers
Speaker 1: transfer from Oklahoma action. Yeah, we had NC State Clemson,
Speaker 1: Chris Vezina perhaps pushing cade club nick club level get
Speaker 1: a little full?
Speaker 2: Can we do some sort of like club level versus
Speaker 2: the mezzanina or that's not bad tie.
Speaker 1: He struggled in years past, but this is a nice
Speaker 1: little connection.
Speaker 2: This is a nice little bit of connective tissue, the
Speaker 2: zina mezzanina.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. That's real tough, but it really scratches
Speaker 1: me where I hitch tie. Yeah. So I think those
Speaker 1: were early spring games, and hopefully if you're a fan
Speaker 1: of one of those schools you saw encouraging things.
Speaker 2: We will do spring game recaps. We'll do it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we'll do a lot more on that, I promise you.
Speaker 2: But this was just low hanging fruit today. We can't,
Speaker 2: especially on this show if you've been listening to this
Speaker 2: show for any amount of time. Yeah, we do not
Speaker 2: miss opportunities like this that are tied up by mother Nature.
Speaker 1: We celebrate we have a what an on staff unofficial
Speaker 1: meteorologists during the season, Tim, So we celebrate all things
Speaker 1: events that have to do with the solar system and
Speaker 1: or weather, and we are we are pro everything eclipse.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think the gist of it is, as
Speaker 1: we begin this, we are going to talk about where
Speaker 1: the big shine and energy comes from. In each conference,
Speaker 1: specifically the major conferences. But I think we can take
Speaker 1: a look otherwise as well, and then where the obvious
Speaker 1: candidates are to block out that light, that winning light,
Speaker 1: and then perhaps the emerging the emerging moons. Earth has
Speaker 1: but one moon, but it's a powerful moon, as we
Speaker 1: know helped. Maybe we'll find more tides, maybe we'll find more.
Speaker 1: You block out the block out one, maybe we'll maybe
Speaker 1: we'll find out more. So let's start. Let's let's talk
Speaker 1: about like the Big ten.
Speaker 2: Let's talk Big ten. So the Big Ten, I don't
Speaker 2: know who we want to single out here as as
Speaker 2: the star. I mean, Ohio State is the obvious one,
Speaker 2: given how they have loaded up, but we need to
Speaker 2: keep in mind that the conference is expanding. Oregon is
Speaker 2: coming in from the west, as are of course Washington
Speaker 2: and UCLA and USC. But I think when we talk
Speaker 2: about the Big ten, at least when we have here
Speaker 2: in the off season, the two kind of I don't know,
Speaker 2: warring factions, let's say it's not Ohio State and Michigan,
Speaker 2: it's Ohio State and Oregon. Well.
Speaker 1: Well, well, first of all, we should be clear, we
Speaker 1: should put some respect on Michigan's name because they were
Speaker 1: the moon they were the black hole that'swollowed up the sun.
Speaker 1: I don't know my space that well. This is what
Speaker 1: is it? Is it a supernova? A nova when a
Speaker 1: star explode, that's right. So I don't know if we
Speaker 1: saw a Michigan supernova that fully blew up Ohio State
Speaker 1: these past couple of years, because Michigan ends up winning
Speaker 1: the national championship. So I don't know. When you have
Speaker 1: a team that is a defending national champion, I think
Speaker 1: they deserve sun consideration here. Uh, even if you were
Speaker 1: looking at Michigan moving forward with a bit of a
Speaker 1: bigger question mark without Jim Harbaugh and given what Michigan
Speaker 1: loses on that roster on both sides, I understand where
Speaker 1: you're coming from that Ohio State if you look at
Speaker 1: the past dozen years or so, the clear son of
Speaker 1: the Big ten. But I think we just saw a
Speaker 1: Michigan eclipse. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I think that's fair. Michigan just loses a lot. There's
Speaker 2: a lot coming back, is a lot coming back, but
Speaker 2: they're losing, losing JJ McCarthy and Blake, losing your coach.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just a lot. It's a lot to
Speaker 2: try and replace that, and especially with a new guy
Speaker 2: new slash old guy in charge and shrowan more like,
Speaker 2: I have faith that Michigan is gonna be fine. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's like the bottom is going to fall out,
Speaker 2: but it's.
Speaker 1: I just think it's it's fair in this instance, and
Speaker 1: you know more about this world than I do. We
Speaker 1: could have our guy John on right from the the
Speaker 1: what's the name of the observatory, man, the Keck Observatory,
Speaker 1: thank you. There are universes, there are solar systems out
Speaker 1: there with multiple suns. I assume a binary system like
Speaker 1: bright stars, binary system. Yeah, right, So what I'm saying
Speaker 1: for the Big Ten right now is it's a binary system.
Speaker 1: Like I don't know how you consider one school to
Speaker 1: be the obvious star when another school literally three months
Speaker 1: ago won the national championship. So I would split that
Speaker 1: sun down the middle.
Speaker 2: In this instance, if we are blocking out the shine
Speaker 2: of Ohio State and Oregon.
Speaker 1: Or Hio State Michigan to me, but yes, continue.
Speaker 2: Or Ohio State Michigan. Yeah, if we are walking out
Speaker 2: that shine, who is doing it? What does the rest
Speaker 2: of the conference look like right behind those teams? Because
Speaker 2: this is what we're going to find when the solar
Speaker 2: clips happens. There are studies that take place. Listen to
Speaker 2: the soundscape of the nature. As sudden onset darkness appears
Speaker 2: in the natural habitat, you start hitting crickets, you start.
Speaker 1: See driving the back half of us. He's twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: Sudden onset darkness continue.
Speaker 2: See things start to happen in nature that only typically
Speaker 2: happen at night. So the landscape changes once the natural
Speaker 2: lighte from the sun suddenly goes away.
Speaker 1: So you're talking about a vacuum. The obvious conversation at
Speaker 1: that point, because of recruiting, because of recent success, is
Speaker 1: Penn State that Penn State would help fill that gravitational
Speaker 1: void Moon has. Moon has something to do with gravity, right,
Speaker 1: keeps the earth? Honest, dude, did you not did you
Speaker 1: not have science? I do have science, tie, but most
Speaker 1: of the Pythagorean theorem, most of the genus, phylum species,
Speaker 1: most of like I do. Remember that mitochondria is the
Speaker 1: powerhouse of the cell I th most of that has
Speaker 1: been replaced by dough fermentation. I think the moon has
Speaker 1: something to do with gravity. Yeah, he's the guy who
Speaker 1: are honest, who.
Speaker 2: Lived next to the ocean and is probably familiar with
Speaker 2: the tides.
Speaker 1: The tides yes, which is a nice little tie into
Speaker 1: college football. Talking about the tide. Yes, the moon and
Speaker 1: its gravitational pull on Earth keep the tides regular, high
Speaker 1: and low tides and oceans, and I think somewhat in lakes,
Speaker 1: but I'm not as pronounced. What I'm going to say
Speaker 1: is Penn State fills that void rather easily when you
Speaker 1: look at on field success and recruiting. But I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you a dark horse because certainly we've seen
Speaker 1: the highs of Lincoln Riley's offense, we have no idea
Speaker 1: what to expect from UCLA. Washington is at least interesting,
Speaker 1: but we don't have a I think at this moment
Speaker 1: of Washington and carrying over success, I think washingt would
Speaker 1: be an interesting candidate because I think Jetfish will be
Speaker 1: able to recruit. It's a great home environment, and given
Speaker 1: recent success, Washington has to be in that conversation. I'll
Speaker 1: give you an interesting one though. I'm very curious about
Speaker 1: the eclipse capabilities of the spartans of Michigan State Aiden Chiles,
Speaker 1: whether short term AID and Chiles. I just think Jonathan
Speaker 1: Smith is a really good coach. I think you can
Speaker 1: find line talent in the Midwest. Jonathan Smith has done
Speaker 1: a very nice job hiring in his short time. His
Speaker 1: own pedigree as a Chris Peterson guy is very impressive.
Speaker 1: You like to see that. And there is something about
Speaker 1: and I know, I don't think matt Ishbia is around
Speaker 1: in terms of NIL anymore after he bought the Suns,
Speaker 1: so they don't have that specific benefactor that would help
Speaker 1: on the NIL front, at least whatever short medium term.
Speaker 1: But if the money's there at Michigan State, I know
Speaker 1: there's other big money guys there, and the transfer destination
Speaker 1: element with Jonathan Smith is there. And I really like
Speaker 1: the hires that Jonathan Smith brought to East Lansing. In
Speaker 1: this moment, I'm not telling you I'm high on Michigan
Speaker 1: State this year. But if you're telling me who could
Speaker 1: be that gravitational fly in the solar ointment tie, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I can be swayed. I can be pulled,
Speaker 1: not unlike how the moon pulls the tides. Okay, I
Speaker 1: can be pulled in the direction of Michigan State as
Speaker 1: an interesting dark horse moon here.
Speaker 2: What about the Iowahawkeyes. It almost talking about like longer term. No,
Speaker 2: I'm talking about shorter term. I'm talking about right away
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four, if there's a situation where the
Speaker 2: obvious shine of Ohio State, in Oregon and Michigan is
Speaker 2: blotted out for whatever reason, I don't know, don't know
Speaker 2: what Mother Nature has in store for us this Big
Speaker 2: ten season. But over Penn State, well, they don't play
Speaker 2: Penn State first off.
Speaker 1: No, But I'm saying just in general, like, do you
Speaker 1: think i was in a better position to fill that
Speaker 1: void than Penn State?
Speaker 2: Probably not. But if we're talking about dark horses, the
Speaker 2: reason I bring up Iowa was because i was actually
Speaker 2: got a fairmount back. They lose a fairmount but they've
Speaker 2: got a fairmount back on offense in particular. Now, a
Speaker 2: lot of scuttle butt here in the off season about
Speaker 2: what's Iowa's offense going to look like? They hire a
Speaker 2: guy it was like similarster. Yeah, not necessarily the sexiest
Speaker 2: hire in the world. It was somebody with whom Kirk
Speaker 2: ference was familiar. So I don't have any grand aspirations
Speaker 2: for this offense this season, going above and beyond. But
Speaker 2: they did have an injury to Kate McNamara last year,
Speaker 2: which certainly set the offense back. So you want about
Speaker 2: the way that Kirk Ferns has called offense over his
Speaker 2: time in Iowa, specifically the last ten years or so, Right,
Speaker 2: But it hurts when you're starting quarterback goes down. You
Speaker 2: don't have a ton of death behind him, and so
Speaker 2: they get him back. They're up there in the nation.
Speaker 2: I don't have the number in front of me. I
Speaker 2: think they're thirtieth nationally in terms of returning production. They're
Speaker 2: inside the top fifteen returning production on offense. There's a
Speaker 2: lot back that they can work with. I don't have
Speaker 2: grand aspirations again for what that's going to look like,
Speaker 2: but I am curious to see if a change in
Speaker 2: leadership on the offensive side of the ball can give
Speaker 2: them a little bit more pop. We have come to
Speaker 2: know that defense needs to tie. It can't be any worse.
Speaker 2: We've said that is healthy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if Kate McNamara is healthy, the offensive line takes
Speaker 1: another step forward and they're successful enough developing skill talent.
Speaker 1: You know, there's promising guys at running back from last
Speaker 1: year back like there's something there that should say, especially
Speaker 1: remove Ohio State from the schedule. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you have the schedule in front.
Speaker 2: Have in front of you, so and this is why
Speaker 2: it's interesting. Okay, listen to the teams in this schedule
Speaker 2: and tell me how many of these, on the surface
Speaker 2: you feel like are our losses?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Iowa State, Iowa State, it's got a lot back, so
Speaker 2: that'll be a tough game, rivalry game, who knows, but
Speaker 2: it's in Kinnick Stadium. Troy Trojans and Jared Parker at
Speaker 2: Minnesota bye week before Ohio State first week of October.
Speaker 2: That will have big equal we'll remove that from the
Speaker 2: stead out in this eclipse conversation. Yeah, Washington down Michael
Speaker 2: Pennix at home in Iowa City, at Michigan State, Michigan
Speaker 2: State kind of rebuilding now home against Northwestern, home against
Speaker 2: Wisconsin on the road, at UCLA on the road at Maryland.
Speaker 2: They close out the season at home against Nebraska. How
Speaker 2: many of those teams scare you two?
Speaker 1: Yeah, not many, not many, like you know, on the
Speaker 1: road at Minnesota on I mean coming off of what
Speaker 1: a twelve ten loss to Minnesota on the road. Michigan State.
Speaker 1: We'll see what Michigan State looks like in mid October.
Speaker 1: Ucla starting overs on the road at Maryland's kind of scary.
Speaker 1: We'll see what they look like at quarterback this year.
Speaker 1: But no, that is if you're talking about eleven games,
Speaker 1: it's nine or ten wins. If they take an acceptable
Speaker 1: step forward, it's got to be a par on offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's got to be acceptable on offense.
Speaker 2: But the defense has been one of the main stays
Speaker 2: really throughout college football for the last decade. I mean,
Speaker 2: the offense is always kind of a struggle, bus the
Speaker 2: defenses has certainly served up its part and kept Iowa
Speaker 2: very relevant.
Speaker 1: And they now plenty of time. They have plenty of
Speaker 1: time to look up how to signal or not signal
Speaker 1: what on punt returns correct, so they can work on
Speaker 1: that all off season long.
Speaker 2: I just think we have gone so far down this
Speaker 2: rabbit hole with Iowa and the offense, and the jokes
Speaker 2: are funny and it seems like they're limitless and we
Speaker 2: enjoy them.
Speaker 1: I think that I think the jokes are continue. I
Speaker 1: love them. Okay, I'm not going to be a joke
Speaker 1: goalie here, ty, so I'm gonna pull back.
Speaker 2: I speak for myself on this one. I am pro
Speaker 2: every Iowa offense Okay, but that but that being said,
Speaker 2: if you do pull back and if you look at
Speaker 2: what the landscape looks like around them here, Yeah, the
Speaker 2: schedule is going to continue to get harder in the
Speaker 2: years to come, and I think that's when the rubber
Speaker 2: is going to beat the road. But here in the
Speaker 2: short term, given some of the uncertainty around the conference
Speaker 2: and some of the turnover that's.
Speaker 1: Going on around them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you blought out Ohio State, It's like, Okay, this
Speaker 2: is still Iowa with its defense and they're going to
Speaker 2: take some of these teams to the wire.
Speaker 1: Also, Iowa has beaten Ohio State not terribly long ago.
Speaker 1: So even if Ohio State were on the schedule.
Speaker 2: Before we move on and talk about a different conference here,
Speaker 2: do you.
Speaker 1: Have like a dark so as Iowa your dark horse
Speaker 1: or is that like your legit moon for the big ten?
Speaker 2: I think I probably we will put Iowa more in
Speaker 2: the dark horse category, just because it feels to me
Speaker 2: like they've been written off by a lot of folks,
Speaker 2: if only because of that offense. Okay, you know, we
Speaker 2: really don't know what that's going to look like this year.
Speaker 2: We can make assumptions, but I.
Speaker 1: Think it's disrespectful. We didn't include Wisconsin in this conversation.
Speaker 2: Well, I was going to ask you about Wisconsin. I
Speaker 2: was actually gonna ask about Michigan if we could talk
Speaker 2: a little bit more about them. Okay, but the Wisconsin
Speaker 2: thing is interesting. We have talked about the Badgers before.
Speaker 2: We both have a ton of respect for Luke Fickle.
Speaker 2: The problem that I have with Wisconsin, specifically with respect
Speaker 2: to the twenty twenty four season is the schedule is
Speaker 2: kind of brutal. Yeah, to assume that they're a dark
Speaker 2: horse in this landscape with all of this AMMO and
Speaker 2: the schedule, to me is a bit of a stretch.
Speaker 1: I think that's fair. I think I'm thinking about this
Speaker 1: more big picture, long term that like, could Wisconsin ascend
Speaker 1: in the universe in which you know, Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan,
Speaker 1: whoever you want to say, Like, are you a believer
Speaker 1: enough in Luke fickle roster building continuity coach Hires to say, like,
Speaker 1: I think Wisconsin could build something that could even with
Speaker 1: those schools existing as they do right now that they're
Speaker 1: all those places are in very positive places more so
Speaker 1: than Wisconsin. Arguably that Wisconsin could ascend to a point
Speaker 1: where you're just like, there's so much of a pain
Speaker 1: in the ass. They look like where they were in
Speaker 1: like the late twenty teens. That they're fielding a top
Speaker 1: five defense, which is not out of the question with
Speaker 1: Luke Fickle and recruit to a very specific vision offense,
Speaker 1: and are just such a pain that they're winning ten
Speaker 1: games even in a loaded big ten. I'm asking you,
Speaker 1: I'm asking you, like, what your belief like. I need
Speaker 1: to see what they what they look like at quarterback
Speaker 1: post TVD. Yeah, because I'm not there right now.
Speaker 2: It's yeah, I mean, there's almost two ways to look
Speaker 2: at this right. Part of it is longer term, the
Speaker 2: other part is in the short term and bigger picture. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we have a lot of respect Luke Fickle on what
Speaker 2: he brings to the table and how his how his
Speaker 2: track record can inform us as for what's what's to
Speaker 2: come for Wisconsin. I think all that's very exciting. I
Speaker 2: almost can't get past this season though, and the TVD
Speaker 2: experiment to me is supremely interesting. You know, it's on
Speaker 2: my It's on my top twenty five list of most
Speaker 2: interesting off season slash early season storylines that I don't
Speaker 2: want to follow. What does TVD look like in this system?
Speaker 2: Because we know, we know the highs of TVD can
Speaker 2: be pretty good, We've also seen the lows and those
Speaker 2: have been a little bit more dramatic.
Speaker 1: They're like a shady horse to me. Not quite a
Speaker 1: dark horse, sha, not quite an obvious horse. They're a
Speaker 1: dusky horse. Dusky horse. Yeah. They like you have to
Speaker 1: you have to believe a little bit more than what
Speaker 1: you can see with your eyes in this moment because
Speaker 1: of where the offense or where we think the offense
Speaker 1: could have sent to. But right now, with the injuries
Speaker 1: at quarterback they had last year, with the way they
Speaker 1: use certain guys on offense, Like I just you have
Speaker 1: to believe more than you can see right now. I'm
Speaker 1: a believer, But right now I think I give Jonathan
Speaker 1: Smith and Michigan State a slightly more intriguing edge longer
Speaker 1: term because of his history with quarterbacks and talent and coaches.
Speaker 1: I think I'm slightly there. I want to move to
Speaker 1: a different conference, please please.
Speaker 2: I want to talk real quick about Michigan though, Okay,
Speaker 2: just a quick thirty second hit.
Speaker 1: Please.
Speaker 2: The thing with Michigan is this, you cannot go three
Speaker 2: weeks three weeks at a pop with this schedule without
Speaker 2: running into a.
Speaker 1: Buzzsaw of some sort.
Speaker 2: Open the year Fresno State, Texas games at home, but
Speaker 2: Texas and Arkansas State first grouping of three, next grouping
Speaker 2: of three after that home against USC home against Minnesota
Speaker 2: on the road at Husky Stadium. That might be the
Speaker 2: easiest stretch of three weeks. Okay, I hear you. After
Speaker 2: a bye week at Illinois home against Michigan State rivalry
Speaker 2: home against Oregon, that won't be easy. Tough close out
Speaker 2: the year at Indiana New Look Indiana Kurt Signetti home
Speaker 2: against Northwestern on the road at Ohio State. There aren't
Speaker 2: a whole lot of breaks here for a new coach.
Speaker 2: Hard for me to see a situation in which they
Speaker 2: are the star of the conference this year. It could happen,
Speaker 2: but it's hard for me to see.
Speaker 1: That was a great That was That was an all
Speaker 1: time hedge by the way from you that I was.
Speaker 1: I was a fine moment of hedge. I don't see him, hedge. Hey,
Speaker 1: I won't hedge. I don't see it. You said it
Speaker 1: could happen, but I don't see it. So your bases
Speaker 1: are covered. My bases are covered. I don't see it.
Speaker 2: I don't I don't see Michigan against this schedule, with
Speaker 2: everything that just left going on, the kind of run
Speaker 2: light they've had the last three years with the new coach,
Speaker 2: I just don't see it. Prove me wrong.
Speaker 1: What's the scene, what's the line in Breaking Bad where
Speaker 1: Skyler is like, they're coming after you, They're doing all this.
Speaker 1: Aren't you scared of this? Aren't you scared of that?
Speaker 1: And he says I'm the one who knocks right. And
Speaker 1: the counterpoint is Michigan just comfortably beat the team who
Speaker 1: beat Texas in the playoff, and now they get Texas.
Speaker 1: Now these are all different rosters, these are all you know,
Speaker 1: every season has its own different context. But if Michigan
Speaker 1: plays to what we already know is Sean Moore's very
Speaker 1: specific vision for this team, it's it's carrying over from
Speaker 1: the Harby. I don't think you're gonna see a lot
Speaker 1: different on offense. And there's enough back on defense. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at the secondary, you look at the defensive line.
Speaker 1: There's just enough pieces who played significantly for a championship
Speaker 1: team that I don't know, I think you should be
Speaker 1: a little bit more scared if you're playing Michigan than
Speaker 1: if you're looking at Michigan's schedule.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying they're a pushover Dan there is, but
Speaker 2: I'm just saying I'm not expecting an undefeated season.
Speaker 1: I know what, I think they can still go ten
Speaker 1: and two against the Stanley Can's what I'm saying, Like, Uh,
Speaker 1: there is something about what's the fun phrase.
Speaker 2: Like championship DNA.
Speaker 1: Right, that there is something in ann Arbor that should
Speaker 1: scare the bejesus out of every team on their schedule. Right,
Speaker 1: Michigan is squarely living rent free in Ohio State's head Right.
Speaker 1: Ohio State's out there spending four hundred million dollars to
Speaker 1: to keep the roster intact and bring in new guys
Speaker 1: on the roster as is their right. As is great
Speaker 1: to see if you're an Ohio State fan that your
Speaker 1: team is doing everything they can. But they're doing it
Speaker 1: because they've been pushed around a lot recently by this
Speaker 1: Michigan program, different players, different offensive linemen, different guys in
Speaker 1: the secondary. That there has been something about inside this
Speaker 1: Michigan program that has them better prepared to win that
Speaker 1: game every year. Where's the Texas game? Texas games at home,
Speaker 1: Texas games at home. It's in ann Arbor. That's pretty nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty nice. Where's the Oregon game? Oregon games at home?
Speaker 1: ORG games at home? Where'shio State game?
Speaker 2: Ohio State game is in the shoe?
Speaker 1: Have they recently won in the shoe? As luck would
Speaker 1: have it, they have?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, So all I'm saying right now, and you know
Speaker 1: you're there, chief hedging officer, so I understand where you're
Speaker 1: coming from. But I think the counterpoint is pretty strong
Speaker 1: for Michigan in this moment, that like they are more
Speaker 1: feared than we should be scared of what's on their schedule.
Speaker 1: That's all.
Speaker 2: Michigan blotted out Ohio State the own version of the eclipse,
Speaker 2: and now now we're almost talking about it in reverse
Speaker 2: a little bit because they have owned Ohio State.
Speaker 1: I mean that that kind of goes with they're saying,
Speaker 1: I don't know, different elements, different ways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not as high on Michigan this year.
Speaker 1: I don't see how anybody. I don't know officially where
Speaker 1: I stand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have not done the full preseason deep dive
Speaker 2: and all that. I'm not as high on Michigan this
Speaker 2: year as it was last year. I don't see how
Speaker 2: anybody could be I think. I think if you are
Speaker 2: as high on Michigan this year as you were last year,
Speaker 2: you are you are living in an alternate reality.
Speaker 1: You're a Michigan fan.
Speaker 2: You're a Michigan fan, many of whom have commented on
Speaker 2: our videos and emailed in about how disrespectful I was
Speaker 2: towards Michigan. Keep it coming.
Speaker 1: I don't care.
Speaker 2: I can't get as high about Michigan as I was
Speaker 2: last season, but they're still going to be very good.
Speaker 2: Let's leave it at that. Yeah, where do you want
Speaker 2: to go next? Which conference? Uh?
Speaker 1: You want to go to the Mountain West?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Oh great?
Speaker 1: Laid on me fastball, screwball, curveball. Who's the star in
Speaker 1: the Mountain West? Who is that bright shining orb in
Speaker 1: the middle of the Mountain West in this moment? Or
Speaker 1: does one exist?
Speaker 2: My default answers are always either Boise State or Fresno State.
Speaker 1: What about Oregon State twenty twenty six? That was mean?
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, that was mean. Yeah, those are always my
Speaker 2: default answers. Is there a better answer for the Mountain
Speaker 2: West than Boise, Boise or Fresnoe.
Speaker 1: Boise Fresno, San Diego State Air Force. I don't think
Speaker 1: there's an obvious star here, but is there a team?
Speaker 1: Is there a team on this obviously Wyomi makes a
Speaker 1: coaching change. U and LV is interesting to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know if Barry Otam is long for Vegas
Speaker 1: washed Jada Mayava lost a Mayava to USC proximity to recruiting.
Speaker 1: Vegas has become more and more of a sports town
Speaker 1: with the addition of what the NHL team, an NFL team,
Speaker 1: and at some point a Sacramento team moving from MLV
Speaker 1: MLB's Oakland A's to Sacramento as to the Vegas A's allegedly.
Speaker 1: I don't know. There's something about UNLV. I don't know
Speaker 1: what they have behind the scenes in terms of NIL
Speaker 1: if like Guy Fieri is going to be a big
Speaker 1: booster as Barry Otum ramps it up. You and V
Speaker 1: is interesting to me as a moon to like what
Speaker 1: they made the conference championship game last year. Weren't great
Speaker 1: in it. No but Boise with a new full time
Speaker 1: head coach. San Diego State new head coach. There's a
Speaker 1: lot that's pretty open, Like Tedford seems to be near
Speaker 1: the end of his tenure at Fresno. I don't think
Speaker 1: you can count them out. I think UNLV is the
Speaker 1: obvious Sun here to blot out the energy of the
Speaker 1: recent powers in the Mountain West. First, as long as
Speaker 1: Barry Odein is there.
Speaker 2: First off, continuing science lesson for you, please, it is
Speaker 2: the moon that blots out the Sun and not the
Speaker 2: s You said that they were the obvious sun.
Speaker 1: That was going to excuse me they were, Well, they
Speaker 1: could ascend to obvious sun, but right now they're the
Speaker 1: obvious moon to blot out the sun. Correct.
Speaker 2: I think I think I tend to favor Fresno by
Speaker 2: a nose if we're talking about sort of the star
Speaker 2: of the conference, and if you look at it just
Speaker 2: in terms of who's coming back.
Speaker 1: Jay Cane Ray walking through that door, Ti.
Speaker 2: Jay Cane Ray walked through that door. But they've got
Speaker 2: a lot back on offense. Yeah, and they are almost
Speaker 2: they're almost kind of a I don't know, a one
Speaker 2: to eighty as compared to Boise State, which has a
Speaker 2: lot coming back onto you a new coach, new situation, but
Speaker 2: a lot coming back on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2: So in that sense, it'll be interesting to watch how
Speaker 2: the Mountain West season plays out, where you've got offense
Speaker 2: on one side, maybe defense on the other. If those
Speaker 2: are the two teams that we end up talking the
Speaker 2: most about, UNLV is interesting to me, I tend to agree,
Speaker 2: and that was sort of where I went first when Yeah,
Speaker 2: when you mentioned you know who is interesting because it
Speaker 2: does feel like that program has seen a bit of
Speaker 2: a jolt lately. I'm interested in Colorado State. Colorado State
Speaker 2: isn't all that good, but they're another team that has
Speaker 2: a fair amount back on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 2: I still like Jane Norvel a lot as their coach.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be a slow build to
Speaker 2: kind of get them back to respectability. So it's probably
Speaker 2: a bridge too far at this point to assume that
Speaker 2: they're going to be the team that like finds.
Speaker 1: Some way to blot out the stars.
Speaker 2: But I kind of have one eye on Colorado State
Speaker 2: just to see, if not them rising to that level,
Speaker 2: just to see how that program grows under Jane Orvell.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, Okay, let's go to America's conference, and that
Speaker 1: would be the only conference that features the eucalyptus trees
Speaker 1: of Palo Alto and the palm trees of Coral Gables.
Speaker 2: The All American Conference, Yeah yeah, acc.
Speaker 1: ACC America's conference. Who is the star of the ACC
Speaker 1: The bright shining star right now is Florida State. Because
Speaker 1: I'm just going to give benefits of that. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to sweat what they lose. I'm still going to
Speaker 1: doubt that they can accomplish big things with DJU, but
Speaker 1: based solely on recent growth, recent ascension, the way that
Speaker 1: they played at their best last year, the last couple
Speaker 1: of years, what Mike has done in the portal, what
Speaker 1: he's done on the recruiting trail, somewhat to the disappointment
Speaker 1: of Florida State diehards, but also like still a good job.
Speaker 1: I think the energy is with Florida State. I think
Speaker 1: the momentum is with Florida State. And as much as
Speaker 1: you want to call it, what was it a a
Speaker 1: buy something binary solar system with two bright shining suns.
Speaker 1: I think you can say that in terms of brand
Speaker 1: recognition and you know, ten twelve years of results, But
Speaker 1: right now I would say that if you were to
Speaker 1: anonymously ask every head coach in the conference, they're most
Speaker 1: gunning for Florida State and not a Florida State Clemson answer.
Speaker 2: Clemson Clemson, though, is I mean you're doing a little
Speaker 2: bit of disrespect to Clemson by not throwing the Clemson
Speaker 2: Tigers out there, am I I think so?
Speaker 1: I mean I understand why you put Florida State.
Speaker 2: I do tend to look at this a little bit
Speaker 2: through a little bit more through the lens of returning production,
Speaker 2: and Florida State gets absolutely crushed totally. Now, talent acquisition
Speaker 2: has not been a problem for Mike Norvel. He's actually
Speaker 2: proven quite good at it. But there's just there's so
Speaker 2: much leaving that I'm not going to say we're going
Speaker 2: to see another like Orange Bowl situation at Florida State.
Speaker 2: I think they'll be fine. I think obviously you know
Speaker 2: they're going to win their fair share of games this year.
Speaker 2: But I have a hard time not giving Clemson the nod,
Speaker 2: knowing what Florida State is going to have to backfill
Speaker 2: and what Clemson has coming back.
Speaker 1: But what is it about Clemson that you feel like
Speaker 1: there is just a tonage of radiation emanating from this
Speaker 1: program in the way that there is from our solar system.
Speaker 2: Son, I think there's enough continuity on offense that I
Speaker 2: feel good about. On the Clemson side, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, what is the continuity that you feel good about?
Speaker 1: You like film, Afa, I do? Hey, club Nick I do? Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't. They don't have receivers. Maybe Matt Luke will
Speaker 1: improve this offensive line, but the defense should be real good.
Speaker 2: I've come full circle on Clemson.
Speaker 1: Okay, what does their schedule look like this year?
Speaker 2: Georgia first week of the year. It's good, the ACC
Speaker 2: non ACC outside of that app State, NC State, Stanford
Speaker 2: at Florida State at Wake, Virginia home against Louisville at
Speaker 2: Virginia Tech at pitt the Citadel in South Carolina.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know, man, I'm gonna have to see
Speaker 1: something from like this roster outside of clear NFL players
Speaker 1: on defense to get me excited about like ten to
Speaker 1: eleven win possibility.
Speaker 2: We could sit here and argue until we're blue in
Speaker 2: the face over which teams are the alpha essentially in
Speaker 2: the ACC. Who are the teams? Who are the proverbial
Speaker 2: moons that could blot out the powers because there were
Speaker 2: There's a Louisville conversation to be had, h I think
Speaker 2: there might be more on the sleeper side and NC
Speaker 2: State discussion to be had. We both seem to be
Speaker 2: abnormally high on Kiren drones of Virginia Tech this year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: who want to talk about sleepers? I mean, you've been
Speaker 2: singing the praises of the Stanford Cardinal here ever since
Speaker 2: they joined the ACC.
Speaker 1: You did it again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so maybe they're you're sleeper. I don't want to
Speaker 2: speak for you, little smu Action. Yeah, a little Preston Stone.
Speaker 1: Why not?
Speaker 2: I mean, if you're thinking next rung down teams, that
Speaker 2: could take some of the shine off of those top dogs.
Speaker 1: M h is it Louisville?
Speaker 2: Is that the next obvious one? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to see where they go at quarterback
Speaker 1: long term. I don't I'm not there yet with Louisville.
Speaker 1: I think that might have been a really nice year one,
Speaker 1: a sort of fortunate year one, given the schedule. I
Speaker 1: might be inclined to ride with Brent Key and Georgia
Speaker 1: Tech Here for this answer, Oh, I guess I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that they are going to be they are going
Speaker 1: to become the son of the ACC. I'm saying just
Speaker 1: in terms of blot out potential that, like, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to sing the praises of like an Atlanta recruiting base.
Speaker 1: It's not the same situation, like it's a difficult school
Speaker 1: to get into. There's too many schools around there that
Speaker 1: recruit Georgia and Atlanta Metro so well. But there is
Speaker 1: something about a team that plays with the fire that
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech has played with recently that they're going to
Speaker 1: win some twenty seven to twenty fours that they shouldn't.
Speaker 1: They're going to finish strong. I like year one of
Speaker 1: Haines King, little sloppy with the ball, but playmaker in
Speaker 1: ways that I didn't anticipate that In terms of the
Speaker 1: true spirit of a moon blotter, a moon that is
Speaker 1: blotting by the way, I cannot wait to get a
Speaker 1: number of emails that have the subject quick quick science
Speaker 1: note about the moon. Need a little primer for Dan
Speaker 1: Rubens quick science correction eighteen. Dan mentioned the tides. So
Speaker 1: there is the spirit of a school occupying a place
Speaker 1: to blot out the lights of others. I think Georgia
Speaker 1: could be like the spoiler maker, that kind of school
Speaker 1: within the ACC moving forward that like, yeah, they only
Speaker 1: won eight games, but man, they are getting a lot.
Speaker 2: Of people's way Georgia, Georgia Tech. Excuse me, yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 2: I we have commented before on the pain in the
Speaker 2: acidness of Georgia Tech. That's a specific science term that
Speaker 2: I used. They play hard for bran Key, they did
Speaker 2: it ever since he was the interim Sure and Haines King.
Speaker 2: I think is is a super interesting prospect. You know,
Speaker 2: we got to.
Speaker 1: See not an NFL prospect college football this season kind
Speaker 1: of situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. They are extremely plucky and as a team
Speaker 2: that could serve as that thorn, maybe more of a
Speaker 2: temporary eclipse. Sure, I could see it longer term. Longer term,
Speaker 2: I think the the arc here still favors Florida State Clemson,
Speaker 2: but in the short term and no Miami.
Speaker 1: In this conversation, I don't.
Speaker 2: Know what to expect from Miami, Dan, I don't know
Speaker 2: what to expect from Miami.
Speaker 1: I expect growth, I do. I expect growth, but to
Speaker 1: what end?
Speaker 2: You know, We've expected growth each of the last two years,
Speaker 2: and I feel like in both instances, maybe there has
Speaker 2: been a little bit of growth, but it has far underwhelmed.
Speaker 2: And so I don't I don't want to get too
Speaker 2: high on the Kinges this year. I think longer term.
Speaker 2: Mario is very good at assembly talent, sure, and the question,
Speaker 2: the obvious question is can he translate that into wins?
Speaker 2: And we just you know, we didn't see it. We
Speaker 2: saw loss in the bowl game to Rutgers last year. Whatever,
Speaker 2: who cares about it?
Speaker 1: So, in a universe in which Florida State and Clemson
Speaker 1: are sucked into that black hole, who do you think
Speaker 1: has the strength to stabilize the a sec at the
Speaker 1: top if it's not Miami As what I'm getting from
Speaker 1: your words is this. Does this become an NC State conference?
Speaker 1: Does this become a Brent Privee Virginia Tech Conference?
Speaker 2: Now I'd be incline to Louisville.
Speaker 1: You think Louisville would would have that shine.
Speaker 2: I'd be incline to Louisville in that situation. Yeah, if
Speaker 2: we're not talking Florida State, if we're not talking Clemson,
Speaker 2: A healthy nil backing, Yeah, healthy nil backing. It's it's
Speaker 2: a program that is willing to invest in the football team.
Speaker 2: They've got a good coach who last season alone proved
Speaker 2: that he can assemble the pieces pretty quickly and turn
Speaker 2: into good year. I think I think I would be
Speaker 2: inclined to go team Jeff Brahm for this guy right here.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do that. I don't think I have that
Speaker 1: in me. Put my vote down, one vote for Dan
Speaker 1: and the for Animal at Syracuse occupying that's.
Speaker 2: Not that's let's go down the SEC then, all right,
Speaker 2: SEC the obvious ones.
Speaker 1: Georgia. Yeah, we agree that it was the obvious Sun. Especially.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, it was obviously a two moon, a
Speaker 1: two sun system with Nick Saban present in Tuscaloosa. But
Speaker 1: with the absence of Nick Saban, it'd be impossible to say,
Speaker 1: you know this, this college football conference universe revolves around Tuscaloosa. No,
Speaker 1: it's Georgia who's.
Speaker 2: Going to block out that son of that Kirby Smart son,
Speaker 2: that Red Sun who's blocking that out? Uh?
Speaker 1: In terms of what they've proven at their school all
Speaker 1: around right now, I'd lean LSU, the LSU ceiling, the
Speaker 1: Brian Kelly winning the West in year one ceiling where
Speaker 1: recruiting is. I would think that's the school that can
Speaker 1: build a roster consistently and build the energy consistently to
Speaker 1: not just blot out but have the chance to usurp Georgia.
Speaker 1: That's the closest to me in this moment without saying
Speaker 1: what Kaylin Debora Alabama fully looks like, without seeing how
Speaker 1: Texas and Oklahoma adjust, knowing what the current what we
Speaker 1: perceive the ceiling for a school like Ole miss to
Speaker 1: be or Tennessee to be, I think LSU kind of
Speaker 1: stands alone as the obvious answer, what do you think?
Speaker 2: Well, we need to bear in mind that the SEC
Speaker 2: is bigger now right much the way the Big Ten,
Speaker 2: and we included Oregon, Ohio State, even Michigan into the conversation.
Speaker 2: I mean Texas now comes in from the west. Texas
Speaker 2: was a playoff team a year ago for sure, so
Speaker 2: maybe doing a bit of disrespect to the Longhorns not
Speaker 2: considering them as they're a Big twelve playoff teams as
Speaker 2: one of the suns here, but yeah, they were coming
Speaker 2: from a different conference. We don't know how they'll fare
Speaker 2: against an SEC schedule, so I think it's probably premature to.
Speaker 1: To put them up there.
Speaker 2: I mean, Texas to me seems like the obvious one
Speaker 2: given where that program's at. You know, Sark is trying
Speaker 2: to build it in a very saban esque kind of way,
Speaker 2: and clearly they all are. They all are, but Sark's
Speaker 2: got the first hand experience. Yeah, as does Kirby Smart. Right,
Speaker 2: that's one thing that they have in common. So that's
Speaker 2: why I think I go there next. If I'm thinking
Speaker 2: in terms of all right, who's sort of like the
Speaker 2: next team up? You know, if there's there going to
Speaker 2: be anybody that takes off the shine from Georgia, who
Speaker 2: is that team if not Alabama?
Speaker 1: And you would put Texas ahead of LSU in this moment,
Speaker 1: I think I would. Yeah, Oh man, I totally disagree.
Speaker 2: I think I would because they have gotten very, very
Speaker 2: physical on the defensive side of the ball. That's been
Speaker 2: a big deal and that I think above all else.
Speaker 2: We've talked a lot about the talent they've got an
Speaker 2: offense and quinn Ewers and arch Manning and whoever else,
Speaker 2: but truly defensively, that is where they have made some
Speaker 2: serious strides. That's what enabled them to kind of take
Speaker 2: that next step forward. And that's not to say that
Speaker 2: Elise you won't get there. They've certainly got a boatload
Speaker 2: of talent. But ls you didn't play any defense last year.
Speaker 2: If it was a matter of offense, then it would
Speaker 2: have been a different conversation. But you got to play
Speaker 2: both sides of the ball if you want to win
Speaker 2: in the SEC. And Texas did that. Texas did that
Speaker 2: last year. Well, different schedule, I get it.
Speaker 1: But I mean, even with you get lit up a
Speaker 1: little bit by Josh Hoover, I don't know if we
Speaker 1: can fully make that claim. You know, previously on Texas football,
Speaker 1: it was Michael Pennox destroying Okay, this team.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's all fair. Did they or did they not
Speaker 2: get better on defense last year?
Speaker 1: They definitely did. That's why my answer is Texas, okay.
Speaker 1: I just think LSU is always going to be closer
Speaker 1: to improving things for whatever reason. I think, what so,
Speaker 1: Texas has Arch Manning as quarterback of the future and
Speaker 1: LSU has the twenty twenty five number one quarterback Bryce
Speaker 1: Underworlrice Underwood committed. So they're both in what we think
Speaker 1: terrific shape moving forward at quarterback. Like there's a ton
Speaker 1: of promise on offense. Both tools should be able to
Speaker 1: recruit a ton of defense. I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: there's just still going to be an adjustment period for
Speaker 1: Texas in moving to a new conference, whereas I think
Speaker 1: LSU is better fitted in the short term better fit better,
Speaker 1: I don't know, better equipped in the short term to
Speaker 1: be that Moon. Otherwise, Look, you can there have been
Speaker 1: moments of Tennessee. There have been moments, you know, a
Speaker 1: few years ago now of Florida. Like it's a little
Speaker 1: bit difficult to say ole Miss because previously on ole
Speaker 1: Miss Georgia fifty two for Georgia's for ole Miss, Like,
Speaker 1: gotta believe it a little bit more. Ole Miss certainly
Speaker 1: fits that like dark Horse Moon Like, they're definitely improving.
Speaker 1: The roster has definitely gotten better since the end of
Speaker 1: last season, but there's a thirty five point gap right
Speaker 1: now that I just am a little bit concerned about.
Speaker 1: So my my interesting answer is actually Oklahoma more so
Speaker 1: than Texas for like the next tier down after LSU
Speaker 1: why I want defense, And Oklahoma has been recruiting the
Speaker 1: hell out of defense, just stacking dudes in the recruiting
Speaker 1: the last couple recruiting classes.
Speaker 2: Defense got better last year, it did.
Speaker 1: Both sides of the ball got better last year.
Speaker 2: After after all of the ted Roof jokes from twenty two.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma has taken steps in the right direction, not as
Speaker 1: dramatically as Sark and Texas if Jack snartled works out,
Speaker 1: if like the line of succession at quarterback. To me,
Speaker 1: the big question you know in the term is probably
Speaker 1: offensive line for Oklahoma and figuring out playmakers on offense.
Speaker 1: Which offensive line not an issue for Texas, but they
Speaker 1: are replacing some playmakers at Texas. But there is that
Speaker 1: combination that tantalizing like Oklahoma could get to a scary
Speaker 1: good place on defense in the next year. I think,
Speaker 1: depending on how these guys work out, obviously, but I
Speaker 1: think the general roster level on defense is getting to
Speaker 1: a really interesting place. And you gotta protect Jackson Arnold.
Speaker 1: You gotta find guys to step into those roles, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and they've recruited, They've they've brought in some good receivers.
Speaker 1: But Oklahoma to me, because of the Venables factor, because
Speaker 1: of how I think he's going to stack players on defense,
Speaker 1: that to me is what I have my eye on.
Speaker 2: I don't know about Texas.
Speaker 1: A and M uh interesting, but like we haven't seen
Speaker 1: any of ELC. We we have though not at A
Speaker 1: and M, not as the A and M head coach.
Speaker 2: But you know, I think this is a guy throughout
Speaker 2: his career who when he's running a defense. He's getting
Speaker 2: the most out of that talent. He was much sought after.
Speaker 2: That's why A and M paid him a boatload to
Speaker 2: come and leave Notre Dame and go down to College Station.
Speaker 2: He was good as a defensive coordinator. He was very,
Speaker 2: very impactful in a short time at Duke, got the
Speaker 2: most out of that roster, totally was able to build
Speaker 2: a good defense out of that roster and didn't have
Speaker 2: like a third of the talent that he's going to
Speaker 2: have at Texas A and M. Now, we can't necessarily
Speaker 2: project forward that all of that stuff, all of that
Speaker 2: pixie dust, is going to come with him now to
Speaker 2: College Station as the head coach. But it stands to reason,
Speaker 2: at least in the short term, there is a fair
Speaker 2: amount back on that rod. There's a lot leaving, but
Speaker 2: there's a lot of returning production that is still in
Speaker 2: place in College Station, be it from the roster that
Speaker 2: was there before or some of the guys that have
Speaker 2: decided to transferred A and M. So I don't think
Speaker 2: this is like a complete rebuild type situation.
Speaker 1: No, But like this is a classic A conversation. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: how does Texas A and M get to that place?
Speaker 1: Are they on their way to that place. I see
Speaker 1: them getting to that place where, for whatever reasons, they
Speaker 1: never do. And so at least for a stretch of time.
Speaker 1: And so Texas A and M is almost in its
Speaker 1: own category of sure. But okay, that's the issue with
Speaker 1: Texas A and M. That they occupied that very specific
Speaker 1: space of sure. Potential's there. But no matter who they hire,
Speaker 1: no matter who the quarterback is, no matter what the
Speaker 1: identity is, things go wrong for three and a half
Speaker 1: weeks plus every year.
Speaker 2: Who is the star of the Big Twelve?
Speaker 1: It's a great question. I actually like went back and
Speaker 1: forth on this a lot. I think the only true
Speaker 1: answer to this question is Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2: Fourth nationally in returning production, but first or second in
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve behind Iowa State. So they're up there,
Speaker 2: top team in terms of returning production, fifteenth on offense,
Speaker 2: fourteenth on defense. I am probably not the best person
Speaker 2: to talk about Oklahoma State.
Speaker 1: No, just remove yourself from your view last year and
Speaker 1: if you evaluate where Oklahoma State more often than not
Speaker 1: is with Mike Gundy, who's by far the most tenured
Speaker 1: Big Twelve coach. Obviously, Kyle Whittingham has been at Utah
Speaker 1: for a long time. He has not coached a Big
Speaker 1: twelve game yet, So within that conference, he has the tenure,
Speaker 1: he has the level of success, and even if you
Speaker 1: work to compare him against somebody like Chris Climbing in
Speaker 1: Kansas State, like Oklahoma State recently has played very favorably
Speaker 1: against Kansas State over the past five six years.
Speaker 2: Why would you not go Utah though?
Speaker 1: Why would you not say Utah?
Speaker 2: Because Utah has been steady eddy sure under Kyle Whittingham.
Speaker 2: Now they get Cam Rising back. We don't know what
Speaker 2: he's going to look like. I don't think we can
Speaker 2: assume it's just going to be the Cam Rising from
Speaker 2: three years ago. At this point, right he had a
Speaker 2: serious set of injuries he was dealing with. But generally
Speaker 2: Utah plays defense and they do enough offensively to beat
Speaker 2: your brains in.
Speaker 1: Look, their program might be in a healthier place right
Speaker 1: now than Oklahoma State, but I think we still have
Speaker 1: to put some respect on Mike Gundy in this program's name,
Speaker 1: Like there was nothing expected of last year they make
Speaker 1: it to the conference championship game. I think there's a
Speaker 1: certain amount of like Gundhy and the Cowboys have proven
Speaker 1: it against this collection of teams well more often than
Speaker 1: not this collection of teams, whereas Utah is in a
Speaker 1: terrific place as a program with Kyle Whittingham. Like they're
Speaker 1: down a quarterback, they're down two quarterbacks last year. They're
Speaker 1: still going to USC and winning. Right, They're still doing
Speaker 1: a lot of great things. I think they beat ASU
Speaker 1: fifty five to three in November, like with not much
Speaker 1: healthy on that roster. And so Utah has a great program.
Speaker 1: Utah has a great coach. But in terms of the
Speaker 1: sun this conference revolves around I don't know, you gotta
Speaker 1: play a game in this conference before I fully label
Speaker 1: you that title. Again. I might be higher on Utah
Speaker 1: than any other team in this conference in the short term,
Speaker 1: but we still got to put some respect on respect
Speaker 1: and stillwater.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The interesting thing about Oklahoma State, if you look
Speaker 2: at the schedule, it's pretty much front loaded. Okay, it's
Speaker 2: front loaded in that they've got Utah and case State
Speaker 2: on back to back weeks at the end of September.
Speaker 2: After that, though, Dan West Virginia at home, than a
Speaker 2: bye at BYU at Baylor home against Arizona State on
Speaker 2: the road at TCU home against Texas Tech on the road,
Speaker 2: at Colorado. Of the teams that at least right now
Speaker 2: are doing this early April are projected to be ranked,
Speaker 2: there's only two and they're back to back weeks. It's Utah,
Speaker 2: it's Kansas State again to close out the month of September.
Speaker 2: This is a favorable schedule. It's a favorable schedule and
Speaker 2: for extendent that's got a lot back that's pretty good.
Speaker 1: It's a potentially tricky November, right if we have a
Speaker 1: good Jayden Rashad, if we have an improved TCU on
Speaker 1: the road, that's gonna be difficult. Texas Tech will see
Speaker 1: how feisty they are. But they ran the ball really
Speaker 1: well at the end of last year. Colorado on the
Speaker 1: road at altitude, we'll see should or should be protected
Speaker 1: better than he was this year. I think that's a
Speaker 1: tricky November. But the other this is to your point,
Speaker 1: there's no Bedlam on the schedule.
Speaker 2: There's no Bedlin. No, there's no Bedlin. And if we
Speaker 2: want to talk about true eclipse situations, yeah, I don't
Speaker 2: know if this is a lunar eclipse set up, but
Speaker 2: it very much has been Oklahoma getting in the way
Speaker 2: of Oklahoma State over Mike Gundy's tenure. There have been moments,
Speaker 2: of course, but yeah, by and large, Oklahoma has ruled
Speaker 2: that roost.
Speaker 1: So would would you say Utah is then the if
Speaker 1: I'm going to put words in your mouth, the obvious
Speaker 1: eclipse candidate as they come in, if we're going to
Speaker 1: agree that at least Oklahoma State in this conference, of
Speaker 1: the teams that have played in this conference, I think,
Speaker 1: is it a Kansas State eclipse? Is it a TCU
Speaker 1: bounce back eclipse? Is an upcoming ASU eclipse? Is it
Speaker 1: watch out for Gus Melson and Florida tallon out east eclipse?
Speaker 1: Like that's the thing. When you don't have that super
Speaker 1: obvious sun, then you've got a lot of moons floating around,
Speaker 1: a lot of moons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm I'm most interested in Kansas and Kansas State.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Kansas absolutely include the Jayhawks.
Speaker 2: Are Kansas and Kansas State? I say Kansas State because
Speaker 2: I think Chris Clemb's got the track record. You just
Speaker 2: sort of know that he's going to put a good
Speaker 2: team out there.
Speaker 1: And but not against Gundy.
Speaker 2: Not against Gundy. Yeah, and Kansas is interesting. You know,
Speaker 2: the defense needs to improve if we're going to seriously
Speaker 2: consider them as part of this conversation, like definitely at
Speaker 2: the top rung of the conference at all, but they've
Speaker 2: certainly got enough offense in the short term to make
Speaker 2: life hell for some of these other teams that are
Speaker 2: in the conference. I was looking at Kansas's schedule earlier,
Speaker 2: and I mean the first month and a half of
Speaker 2: the season. They've got a team on their schedule called
Speaker 2: the linden Wood Lions, which is a real team. Great
Speaker 2: Illinois that Illinois UNLV West Virginia, TCU, Arizona State. That's
Speaker 2: the first month and a half of the season. After
Speaker 2: that it gets a little trickier. Houston on the road
Speaker 2: at case date for the Sunflower game, Iowa State at UYU,
Speaker 2: Colorado at Baylor. Extremely workable schedule for Kansas.
Speaker 1: Good thing about this concept, by the way, is the
Speaker 1: process of mooning is also like thumbing your nose at
Speaker 1: the powers that be. I would say right now, just
Speaker 1: in terms of the ceilings, and I think this conference
Speaker 1: has five to six moons.
Speaker 2: This this is for my money.
Speaker 1: You can talk me into a whole bunch of nine
Speaker 1: and three squads.
Speaker 2: For my money. I'm gonna make a statement here. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this is the most interesting conference in America in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty Saller football. Football. Oh okay, yeah, well I know
Speaker 2: about basketball. I just don't about basket.
Speaker 1: They felt they're like playing at Rucker Park or whatever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't care about from a football standpoint, this
Speaker 2: is the most interesting conference in America, okay. And at
Speaker 2: this point, Look, we've evolved to the point now where
Speaker 2: all of the conferences that are still in existence have expanded, right,
Speaker 2: every single one of them, whether it's the ACC, the
Speaker 2: Big Ten, the SEC, the Big Twelve, They've all the
Speaker 2: power conferences have expanded at this point, so to some
Speaker 2: extent that you know, like we're looking at newcomers and
Speaker 2: what they bring to the conference. But I think by
Speaker 2: virtue of some of the subtractions in the Big Twelve,
Speaker 2: with Texas and Oklahoma leaving, there's a huge void now,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, And to your point, there are
Speaker 2: a thousand moons, a thousand other teams in there that
Speaker 2: I think we could talk ourselves into, whether it's k
Speaker 2: State or Kansas or even in Arizona, you know, with
Speaker 2: what they've got returning.
Speaker 1: I agree. I was disrespectful for us to leave off
Speaker 1: a team that features probably one of the best three,
Speaker 1: if not best quarterback to receiver tandems in the country. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, of course Jed Fish leaves, but Brent Brennan's a
Speaker 2: good coach in his own right, and you know, with
Speaker 2: some of the returning talent on hand in Arizona, it's
Speaker 2: that's another team that I think is interesting. Arizona State
Speaker 2: will improve this coming season, might not block out the sun,
Speaker 2: but will improve on some level. Colorado, You're right, should
Speaker 2: product chateor a little.
Speaker 1: Bit better than they have right last season. Yeah, They're
Speaker 1: still not going to be great, but yeah, they should
Speaker 1: be more intriguing. Yeah, there's just.
Speaker 2: So many points of intrigue in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1: You said the most interesting, the most intriguing, the most
Speaker 1: what is the scriptor here?
Speaker 2: Most interesting conference in America is the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1: I'm not there because I still think you need like
Speaker 1: the clear top as a measuring stick, and in my mind,
Speaker 1: the top rung is real fluid within the conference? Does
Speaker 1: that not make it more interesting for you? Though? It
Speaker 1: might be the most entertaining, I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: the most interesting.
Speaker 2: I could go with entertaining too.
Speaker 1: I don't know what. I don't know what the exact
Speaker 1: difference is it's more entertaining because week to week you
Speaker 1: don't exactly know what you're going to get. But I
Speaker 1: like what we're going into the season in the Big
Speaker 1: Ten and probably less on the ACC, but the Big
Speaker 1: Ten in SEC with where you like the tiers can
Speaker 1: be argued a little bit more cleanly than you can
Speaker 1: in the Big Twelve. I think it makes for more
Speaker 1: week to week entertainment, but I don't know if that
Speaker 1: makes me more interested in the depth of this conference more.
Speaker 2: There's a there's a pretty good chance that two teams
Speaker 2: from this conference are going to be in the playoff
Speaker 2: this year, Okay, right, because figure at least three from
Speaker 2: the SEC and the Big Ten six, probably two from
Speaker 2: the ACC. That takes up to eight. We know there's
Speaker 2: gonna be one from the non power level yep, and
Speaker 2: that leaves you with three and you can kind of
Speaker 2: mix and match with you know where where those teams
Speaker 2: come from. But I think I think we can assume
Speaker 2: at least two come from the Big twelve, which two
Speaker 2: That makes it incredibly entertaining, incredibly interesting from week to
Speaker 2: week because it's so wide open. You know, whoever wins
Speaker 2: the conference is going to get in and then there's
Speaker 2: probably a team behind them. So which two teams those
Speaker 2: are going to be means be seen, Sure, but it's
Speaker 2: gonna be fun as hell. Who do we want to
Speaker 2: close out with? We've done the power conferences so far.
Speaker 2: We've obviously done the Mountain West.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you want to be American, you want to do
Speaker 1: the sun Belt? Where you want to go? I want
Speaker 1: to talk about the Sun Belt a little bit. Let's
Speaker 1: go Sunbelt.
Speaker 2: I'm super interested in the sun A lot of changes,
Speaker 2: a lot of changes, a lot of changes the sun Belt.
Speaker 2: To me, we've called them the fun Belt. Everyone else
Speaker 2: is called them the fun Belt too. Yeah, the James
Speaker 2: Madison storyline over the last year was so much fun,
Speaker 2: and part of me is worried that it's just going
Speaker 2: to bottom out now because Kurt Signetti's left. Now, this
Speaker 2: has been a program that's been pretty good for a while.
Speaker 2: I mean, they made the decision, it was a conscious
Speaker 2: choice to go up to the FBS level, and they
Speaker 2: obviously acquitted themselves pretty well in the short term.
Speaker 1: Wait, but which conference did JMU turn to to fill
Speaker 1: that void? Would that be the Patriot League? And be
Speaker 1: the Patriot League? Would that be the gentleman from Holy
Speaker 1: Cross stepping in Bob Tesney. Sure is that the name? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Okay, continue the James Madison storyline, I think for me
Speaker 2: is the most interesting full stop.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: But outside of them, we'll get app State. App State's
Speaker 2: been sort of the top dog for a while. Sure,
Speaker 2: you know the one that we think of. Louisiana's been
Speaker 2: pretty good.
Speaker 1: Troy loses its coach. Forget Troy, They've got Jared Parker.
Speaker 1: I'm not even considering them.
Speaker 2: South Alabama loses their coach, Ken Wamack going down. Georgia
Speaker 2: Southern well Clay Helton.
Speaker 1: Act three and five in the sun Belt last year.
Speaker 1: Georgia Southern. Yeah, who's the star? The star is still
Speaker 1: probably jam you until proven otherwise. I mean Apupstate, given
Speaker 1: track record, obviously has to be in that conversation. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is a binary solar system, but
Speaker 1: I know who my my moon is. GJ. Kenney and
Speaker 1: the Texas Tate Pobcats. Oh man, he stole it from me.
Speaker 1: Come on, I was setting it up, man, I was
Speaker 1: setting it up. That's the up and comer. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the up and comer with Troy starting over with South Alabama.
Speaker 1: The Jags have done really nice job, and I think
Speaker 1: occupied that space has been pretty dangerous these past few years.
Speaker 1: Young gj Uh. The Bobcats not very easy to say, No,
Speaker 1: it is not. It is kind of a mouthful, a
Speaker 1: secret mouthful, which was what that was the name of
Speaker 1: your debut album. It was way back when it was
Speaker 1: mixtape technically, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Bobcats baby, I think.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 2: I was intrigued by what they did in the Portal
Speaker 2: last year, Yeah, And I was impressed at how quickly
Speaker 2: he was able to assemble the troops and put something
Speaker 2: out there that felt cohesive and was the TJ.
Speaker 1: Finlely experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I trust GJ. Kenny at this point. I think, Yeah,
Speaker 2: as as your ones go, that was pretty impressive. And
Speaker 2: you know, if you live and die by the Portal,
Speaker 2: you're always going to get burnt at some point. And
Speaker 2: I think the Portal is still a pretty big part
Speaker 2: of how he plans on building that system whatever one
Speaker 2: comes next.
Speaker 1: But I think, yes, the Portal giveth and taketh away.
Speaker 1: But I think GJ. Kenny might be looking at this
Speaker 1: as like giveth him a bridge to TCU.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like bail will take GJ. Kinney after r exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm in on Texas State as a team
Speaker 1: that's going to keep growing as a couple of these powers.
Speaker 1: I don't you know, starting over is a weird thing
Speaker 1: to say, because Troy has been good for a few
Speaker 1: years now. So like even if you're down on Jared
Speaker 1: Park or whatever, like, there's still dudes there. It's a
Speaker 1: really interesting conversation. It's really interesting conference.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, so listen With all that said, about an
Speaker 2: hour from now, what starts to happen, Dan, is the
Speaker 2: moon passes between the Earth and the Sun.
Speaker 1: Let me write this down. I saw that there's a
Speaker 1: very specific path. We know people who are like driving
Speaker 1: to Indiana for like cause that's where like the very
Speaker 1: specific path near here is through like southern Indiana.
Speaker 2: It it kind of worms its way up into a
Speaker 2: good chunk of Ohio Eerie, takes out Eerie, and then
Speaker 2: goes across I think through the Northeastern Corridor up through
Speaker 2: Vermont as such. So that is what happens. That is
Speaker 2: the the I guess schematics of how this actually occurs.
Speaker 2: The moon then casts a shadow on the Earth, Dan,
Speaker 2: and that track that you just reference that's where that
Speaker 2: shadow is most prevalent. Right, So I don't know if
Speaker 2: you've got plans to go out there and see this, don't.
Speaker 1: I think it's hidden here in like I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess there too or whatever. In like half hour, what
Speaker 1: do you say, an hour?
Speaker 2: It's going to start up in about yeah, a half
Speaker 2: hour hour? And then can I.
Speaker 1: Don't have a glasses? Do you have the glasses? I
Speaker 1: do have the glasses. Where did you pick them up?
Speaker 1: Like a supermarket or something?
Speaker 2: My wonderful mother in law dropped them off. She found
Speaker 2: she found ones that were legit and not the knockoff
Speaker 2: type that you can buy online that might burn your
Speaker 2: eyes out. These are like legit ones that are to code.
Speaker 1: My older son brought home a pair, so I'll probably
Speaker 1: look through his.
Speaker 2: I mean, you got muscles, man, take them muscles. You
Speaker 2: got more muscles than the kid. Just take the glasses.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, no, I'm gonna give him an.
Speaker 2: Opportunity to assert your dominance.
Speaker 1: How long is it? How long does it pass in front?
Speaker 1: What is it the time?
Speaker 2: I think here it peaks around three thirty. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure about how No.
Speaker 1: But like, is it like a two minute thing? A
Speaker 1: thirty minute thing. How long will you will be in front?
Speaker 1: You will see some portion of it for you know,
Speaker 1: maybe like twenty thirty minutes. Okay, right, so there's time
Speaker 1: for both of us to get some time in absolutely.
Speaker 1: Is this something that excites you? Is this something that
Speaker 1: gets you going as a space guy?
Speaker 2: It is? Actually yeah, okay, I'm into it.
Speaker 1: But can you fully appreciate it with your like subpar vision?
Speaker 2: Well, they say that when the eclipse occurs, reds and
Speaker 2: greens will look a little bit different to the off
Speaker 2: right and you can't handle that, to which I say,
Speaker 2: they already look different for this guy. Yeah, how much
Speaker 2: different could they look?
Speaker 1: Did you look at a solar eclipse when you were
Speaker 1: a child and that did that alter?
Speaker 2: It? Could have? It could have? I mean, it happens
Speaker 2: every like I mean the last one was twenty seventeen.
Speaker 2: It happens every so often.
Speaker 1: But was that solar or lunar? No?
Speaker 2: It was solar, okay, But we did not have quite
Speaker 2: the same pathway as we do.
Speaker 1: And this doesn't happen again for how many years? Twenty
Speaker 1: is like twenty one years, twenty one years, yeah, so
Speaker 1: twenty forty five something like that. Yeah, twenty twenty years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll look through. I'll look through my kid's glasses. Get
Speaker 1: a good sense of it. I'm excited. I can appreciate it.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful day here in the Midwest. It is
Speaker 1: here over there, it is here. Great all right, Well
Speaker 1: look right in silver badgemail dot com. Let us know
Speaker 1: you're yes, Let us know which moons are passing in
Speaker 1: front of which stars in your particular conference. Do you
Speaker 1: have a favorite moon non earth division.
Speaker 2: I'm a big iyo guy.
Speaker 1: I've always been a big iyoga. That Jupiter.
Speaker 2: That's Jupiter. I've very volcanically active love that. Yeah, big
Speaker 2: io guy, always have been. All right, poster on my
Speaker 2: wall fio.
Speaker 1: Is that true? No, not at all? Oh, come on, tye,
Speaker 1: all right, that's all I have.
Speaker 2: Hit follow wherever it is you listen to this. We
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Speaker 2: social media. We've been pushing pretty hard there as well.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your followership. Is that a word? Probably not it
Speaker 2: is now that's fine. For that guy over there, Dan Rubinstein,
Speaker 2: for myself, Tie Hill and a brand. Thank you so
Speaker 2: much again for your support. We will talk to you
Speaker 2: all on Thursday. In the meantimes, day so Peace