Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal.
Speaker 2: Come that for me.
Speaker 3: I'm a man, I'm forty.
Speaker 2: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
Speaker 2: be happy, you want to be happy for Dake Edith State?
Speaker 1: Is that whoo whoom? And Dan and Tye, welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Solid Verbal, Boys and girls. My name is
Speaker 1: ty Hildebrand. Joinning me as always over there in New
Speaker 1: York City. My man, the one and only Dan Rubinstein, Sir,
Speaker 1: how are you?
Speaker 2: They said the Bison couldn't do it, They said North
Speaker 2: Dakota State with a freshman quarterback couldn't come through in Frisco.
Speaker 2: And here we are to recap all things. Trey Lance, Ty,
Speaker 2: I'm great. How are you?
Speaker 1: I am doing well? Welcome one, Welcome all, and congratulations
Speaker 1: to the LSU Tigers who triumphantly won the College Football
Speaker 1: Playoff National Championship last night by a forty two to
Speaker 1: twenty five score over the Clemson Tigers. This is a
Speaker 1: different show for us. We only have one game to recap.
Speaker 1: We're going to do our best to go through all
Speaker 1: the minutia of the game that transpired last night in
Speaker 1: New Orleans. In the meantime, though, if you haven't yet
Speaker 1: subscribed to our show. You can do so at soliverbo
Speaker 1: dot com or anywhere you get your podcasts. Every subscription
Speaker 1: helps us boost the show and grow the footprint. Really,
Speaker 1: we're going to be here all off season long, so
Speaker 1: we want you along for the ride as we talk
Speaker 1: about the ins and outs of college football with interesting
Speaker 1: guests with funny themes. Who knows what comes our way
Speaker 1: over the next few months. But as we make this
Speaker 1: turn now into the so called doldrums of college football,
Speaker 1: it's always great to have Oarver Bawlers with us. We
Speaker 1: would urge you to join if you haven't already.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do that. So we do have the one game
Speaker 2: to discuss. I think we can also discuss implications moving
Speaker 2: forward after we now know the results and where these
Speaker 2: two teams are heading and who perhaps might be in
Speaker 2: position to be in our recap show on an early
Speaker 2: Tuesday morning in early January next year. I'd like to
Speaker 2: frame this show and you can turn me down it's okay,
Speaker 2: and figure out what is and what isn't as it
Speaker 2: relates to LSU and Clemson. So I suppose, unless there's
Speaker 2: more housekeeping to do, people understand that LSU is a
Speaker 2: national champion. They'd beat Clemson forty two to twenty five
Speaker 2: in a game that wasn't really in doubt late. But
Speaker 2: to you, what was this game? What did you come
Speaker 2: away with being sure of after watching LSU's offense put
Speaker 2: forty two and over six hundred yards and really when
Speaker 2: they got going dismantle a very very good Clemson defense.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, a week ago, when we previewed this
Speaker 1: game in hindsight, we were right to frame it out
Speaker 1: by asking will it matter? Will it matter that Clemson's
Speaker 1: got a great pass rush and one of the best
Speaker 1: pass defenses in America? Will it matter that Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: and at orger On I haven't been on a stage
Speaker 1: this big, or that it's a home game, or we
Speaker 1: listed off about fifteen items, Will they matter? What we
Speaker 1: know now is that most of it didn't matter, not
Speaker 1: over the course of sixty minutes. What truly mattered was
Speaker 1: that Joe Burrow was again unflappable in two playoff games,
Speaker 1: accounting for fourteen total touchdowns, which is a crazy stat,
Speaker 1: a crazy stat maybe the greatest individual season in the
Speaker 1: history of college football. We can read through the stats later,
Speaker 1: but first and foremost I came away from this game
Speaker 1: sure that Joe Burrow and this magical season he's had
Speaker 1: was not a fluke. Not a fluke. He had a
Speaker 1: good year last year where he won moments, and we
Speaker 1: talked about those moments, but the offense around him hadn't
Speaker 1: quite been assembled. Certainly, the offensive line in front of
Speaker 1: him was a big question mark going into this season. Now,
Speaker 1: after seeing the full body of work and in particular
Speaker 1: what he did in two huge playoff games games, there
Speaker 1: is no doubt that this was no fluke by Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: He should be the first pick by the Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 1: to go home to Ohio. And I think that has
Speaker 1: to be the main starting point here, even though it
Speaker 1: may be cliche and overdone at this point, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: was the man.
Speaker 2: Well, to be fair to the game itself, he was
Speaker 2: you said, unflappable, but he was flapped early.
Speaker 1: Early he was first first, like three drives, he was,
Speaker 1: and then after that not so much.
Speaker 2: Right and Clemson looked strong and more composed on offense early.
Speaker 2: They sort of generate bigger plays and are able to
Speaker 2: string together first downs a little bit more easily, spread
Speaker 2: the ball around. Trevor Lawrence certainly looks more comfortable. Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow talked about how Brent Venables and the Clemson defense
Speaker 2: were coming at him from mystery angles. You know, they
Speaker 2: were playing their three down linemen sort of bunched together
Speaker 2: near the middle of the line, and then they were
Speaker 2: sending guys delayed guys and twists and whatever. And Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow had a legitimately difficult time and the one play
Speaker 2: he did make was called back for an offensive lineman
Speaker 2: illegally downfield, because how could you assume that Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: was going to be tackled in the backfield after spending
Speaker 2: that much time with the ball scrambling for his life.
Speaker 2: But Clemson looked like the better prepared team to win
Speaker 2: this game for the first quarter and beyond as they
Speaker 2: were looking at the LSU defense and figuring out ways
Speaker 2: to move the ball. And then the second quarter, right,
Speaker 2: it was like the first twenty minutes of this game,
Speaker 2: the first third was all coming up Clemson. But after
Speaker 2: that point LSU figured it out on offense, and as
Speaker 2: you get to the back half of the game, LS
Speaker 2: you shut down Clemson's offense completely shut it down for
Speaker 2: the last twenty five minutes of the game, and the
Speaker 2: attention is rightfully going to go to at Oorzan and
Speaker 2: Joe Brady. Dave Randa not as much, I guess, Dave Randa,
Speaker 2: but you know they, like you mentioned, the offensive line
Speaker 2: coming together, these incredible receivers, Tis Marshall and Jamar Chase
Speaker 2: goes for over two hundred justin Jefferson. Another great game.
Speaker 2: Fad moss Key catches, Clyde Edwards, Hilaire kept getting it done.
Speaker 2: The LSU defense. After they go down seventeen to seven,
Speaker 2: I think LSU goes on a thirty five to eight
Speaker 2: run the second half where you get the Joe Burrow touchdown.
Speaker 2: He runs out of bounds and he throws the touchdown
Speaker 2: pass right before the half. They get the ball at
Speaker 2: halftime and get shut down. But it was the LSU
Speaker 2: defense that was anywhere Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson offense
Speaker 2: wanted to be. It was hands in passing lanes, it
Speaker 2: was making him uncomfortable, it was making it was showing
Speaker 2: no open lane for anything Clemson that ultimately, as much
Speaker 2: as the LSU offense scored the points and brought lightning
Speaker 2: to the National Championship Game, it was really the LSU
Speaker 2: defense that ultimately stamped the ticket for LSU as national champions.
Speaker 1: To me, you know, we start this discussion rightfully talking
Speaker 1: about Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner, of course, incredible
Speaker 1: individual season. Again, I emphasize all the story of this
Speaker 1: game to me was that LSU defense, because clearly opposite them,
Speaker 1: this Clemson offense had enough firepower to contend with just
Speaker 1: about anybody Dan. The fact that they were able to
Speaker 1: shut them down in the manner that they did was
Speaker 1: truly impressive. So I start with Burrow, I think I
Speaker 1: end and I'm most impressed by the LSU defense in
Speaker 1: the effort they put in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's an LSU defense. And we talked about
Speaker 2: the Ali Oup quality of you know, putting a defense
Speaker 2: on the field a lot if the offense is playing
Speaker 2: really well or really poorly. They were scoring, LSU was
Speaker 2: scoring quickly. LSU was moving the ball downfield, I mean
Speaker 2: largely Joe Burrow to his receivers, namely Justin Jefferson and
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase and Teris Marshall. The LSU defense got off
Speaker 2: the field. I mean, you'd look at what Clemson was
Speaker 2: able or really not able to do in the second half.
Speaker 2: They score that touchdown early on on their first possession
Speaker 2: in the second half. But then it's punt four plays,
Speaker 2: punt four plays, punt three plays, punt five plays for
Speaker 2: six yards and then Trevor Lawrence fumbles on their final
Speaker 2: possession or I guess they got twenty or thirty yards.
Speaker 2: But it was such a complete performance, and you know,
Speaker 2: you can look back at the sliding doors and all
Speaker 2: of the events that led to you know, ed Orgeran
Speaker 2: getting the job, and Joe Oliva and holding onto less miles,
Speaker 2: and you know Tom Herman being involved, Jimbo Fisher being involved,
Speaker 2: and the foresight allegedly because this is what I want
Speaker 2: to get into next of Joe Burrow coming to LSU
Speaker 2: or and seeing something in Joe Burrow. But LSU got
Speaker 2: to this point because of desperation. Now they got their
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen season, was we have to figure out something
Speaker 2: on offense. We have to figure out something where we
Speaker 2: don't count on the offensive line after what they showed
Speaker 2: in twenty eighteen. We have to figure something out at
Speaker 2: quarterback and maybe this three star Ohio State backup is
Speaker 2: the answer. We need something, We need a spark for
Speaker 2: this offense. We need anything, and what I want to
Speaker 2: get into with what it isn't and we can talk
Speaker 2: about Clemson, we can talk about LSU somemore because I mean,
Speaker 2: six hundred plus yards forty two points and getting their
Speaker 2: act together after that first quarter was nothing short of incredible.
Speaker 2: But I think what sort of gets lost because we're inundated.
Speaker 2: Everybody's trying to come up with a different angle, everybody's
Speaker 2: trying to come up with a different feel good story.
Speaker 2: Edrogron gets positioned as he's the local guy who went
Speaker 2: through some stuff and you know, USC didn't hire him
Speaker 2: and he had a bad tenured old miss and he's
Speaker 2: coming back home to LSU and he's just this down
Speaker 2: home guy. Edorrigron is a full on great coach. And
Speaker 2: I think that's that everybody thinks that he's almost like
Speaker 2: the I don't I couldn't recall his name, the voiceover
Speaker 2: guy who is homeless on the side of the road,
Speaker 2: Oh right, that I want to say, yeah, yeah, we
Speaker 2: like And you know, it's like, oh, this Joe Brady kid. Finally,
Speaker 2: like Joe Brady won an essay contest to become the
Speaker 2: LSU pass a game coordinator. These are full on great coaches.
Speaker 2: These are full on great players. Joe Burrow just happened
Speaker 2: to be a backup, probably at the wrong school or
Speaker 2: for the wrong system, whatever. But this isn't like a
Speaker 2: scrappy feel good thing. This is incredible coaching, an incredible infrastructure,
Speaker 2: an incredible talent coming together. And so to me, what
Speaker 2: LSU's twenty nineteen isn't is like a bad News Bears thing.
Speaker 2: Their game against Clemson proved was this is just college
Speaker 2: football excellence, and it's all time excellence. For all of
Speaker 2: the reasons why excellent teams have come together in years past,
Speaker 2: it's just new in this decade for LSU to do
Speaker 2: what they did. And Clemson's a great team, and what
Speaker 2: LSU was able to do in the second and third
Speaker 2: quarter and just trample them was nothing new for this
Speaker 2: team this year. But nevertheless, an incredible watch.
Speaker 1: An incredible watch, and to your point, Ed ors run
Speaker 1: ed Orgron's run in college football circles for a long time.
Speaker 1: Of course, was coach at ol Miss. He saw during
Speaker 1: the broadcast they showed all of his stops around the
Speaker 1: state of Louisiana, had a brief runt at USC ed
Speaker 1: orgs Heron's never been short on motivation and there's never
Speaker 1: been any doubt about the fact that he's an elite recruiter.
Speaker 1: The guy knows how to get you amped up to
Speaker 1: play for him. But what was lacking, and specifically lacking
Speaker 1: at LSU even before he got there, was this infrastructure
Speaker 1: on offense trying to figure out a new twist, some
Speaker 1: way to liven it up. And so when we all
Speaker 1: heard that going into the year that this was the
Speaker 1: year they had figured it out or they were trying
Speaker 1: to figure it out, they were trying something new, I
Speaker 1: think it was met rightfully with some skepticism because we've
Speaker 1: heard that act before and it hadn't materialized. And to
Speaker 1: your point, Dan, there's a lot to be said for
Speaker 1: a coach going out making a key decision and having
Speaker 1: it work. Look at Daboswiney on the other side of
Speaker 1: the field. We've had guests on this show time and
Speaker 1: again talk about how when Dabo took over at Clemson,
Speaker 1: his first choice was to go out and hire assistant
Speaker 1: coaches who he knew were going to be very good,
Speaker 1: who could carry some of the weight for him as
Speaker 1: a first time head coach. That was a decision that
Speaker 1: in the long term has paid handsomely. Multiple hundreds of
Speaker 1: times over for that Clemson football program and the legacy
Speaker 1: that Dabosweeney's going to leave behind. I don't know what
Speaker 1: the eventual story is going to be for Ed Orgeron,
Speaker 1: but the fact that he made this decision, now, as
Speaker 1: you said, maybe a bit out of desperation to try
Speaker 1: and retool this offense, the way that it worked out,
Speaker 1: the way that it was cobbled together and built around
Speaker 1: this personnel grouping that he had, was nothing short of
Speaker 1: a great coaching decision. So all due credit to him
Speaker 1: and what he put forth in twenty nineteen because, as
Speaker 1: many have said, and I'm sure we'll debate in the offseason,
Speaker 1: clearly one of the best offensive performances in the history
Speaker 1: of college football.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of know what you are, know what
Speaker 2: you aren't, and lsu knew that they were not in
Speaker 2: a good place offensively. They tried this a few years
Speaker 2: ago with Matt Canada to modernize and it didn't work.
Speaker 2: For personality reasons, for on field reasons, consistency reasons. It
Speaker 2: didn't work. So it's not just the idea of we
Speaker 2: need to change, we need to evolve. I'm checking my
Speaker 2: ego at the door. You also have to find the
Speaker 2: right guy. You also have to be incredibly lucky, and
Speaker 2: everybody that succeeds has some sort of luck at some point.
Speaker 2: I will also add, and people have pointed to the
Speaker 2: Clemson template, the Dabo template of hiring great assistance and
Speaker 2: taking less money up front. It also helps when you
Speaker 2: have a school behind you, an athletic department behind you,
Speaker 2: that has a ton of money that they're willing to
Speaker 2: spend on modernizing, on hiring and retaining coaches. Which I
Speaker 2: don't know how much Dave Randa made this year, but
Speaker 2: it's not two hundred thousand dollars. No, it's not seven
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars. It's closer to two million dollars. So
Speaker 2: this is it's an incredible story. But I think because
Speaker 2: of the personality involved specifically, we tend to look at
Speaker 2: things in a very binary way. Either they're like the
Speaker 2: ruthless killer Nick Saban type or they're sort of aw
Speaker 2: shucks whatever type. And the fact of the matter is
Speaker 2: LSU specifically got lucky with Joe Burrow, but they did
Speaker 2: the right thing. LSU got lucky with Joe Brady and
Speaker 2: Steve Ensminger working together. I mean, I think Steve Ensminger
Speaker 2: is what twice Joe Brady's age, so there's a certain
Speaker 2: amount of luck. It's also really nice that LSU happens
Speaker 2: to be in maybe the most per capita talented high
Speaker 2: school recruiting state as Louisiana. I think has been written
Speaker 2: as I couldn't have been happier to watch LSU this
Speaker 2: season because their specific road was so different from Clemson's
Speaker 2: to get to this point in that I think it
Speaker 2: was what six ranked teams that they beat, and significant
Speaker 2: ranked teams Florida, Auburn, I mean, Texas I think finished
Speaker 2: in the top twenty five, but Georgia, Oklahoma, teams that
Speaker 2: do at least one thing in incredibly well, and so
Speaker 2: Clemson didn't necessarily have that. They couldn't control that. And
Speaker 2: I get kind of bored trying to put LSU in
Speaker 2: like an all time conversation because context is so different. Sure,
Speaker 2: I'd like to just appreciate LSU for what they did
Speaker 2: this season, which was just remarkable. But I came away
Speaker 2: from this game refreshed to watch a team really turn
Speaker 2: it around as quickly as they did, knowing the clear
Speaker 2: advantages that they had. But I just I love watching
Speaker 2: Clyde Edwards Hilaire. I loved watching Jamar Chase. I loved
Speaker 2: that the defense really came into its own later on
Speaker 2: in the season as you watch them against Oklahoma and Georgia.
Speaker 2: It was just it's an incredible story and it's something novel.
Speaker 2: It wasn't Clemson winning again, it wasn't Alabama winning. It
Speaker 2: wasn't Ohio State, even though Clemson goes through Ohio State.
Speaker 2: There was something. It was something we hadn't seen that
Speaker 2: level of offensive dominance paired with and LSU is very
Speaker 2: clear a blue blood, but within that context something that
Speaker 2: is just it's at least a little bit different, and
Speaker 2: I loved it.
Speaker 1: So as we talk about what LSU did on offense,
Speaker 1: and especially the performance they turned in again last twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes of the game, really where they shut down
Speaker 1: Clemson's let's look a little bit at some of the
Speaker 1: stats from this game. Not to be too heavy on
Speaker 1: the stats, but now you're good. Clemson held under four
Speaker 1: hundred yards, which you know, in most normal discussions about
Speaker 1: college football, under four hundred yards is like nothing really
Speaker 1: to write home about. But with this Clemson offense and
Speaker 1: all the weapons they have, particularly Trevor Lawrence. To hold
Speaker 1: them down to three ninety four in total yardage is
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. Trevor Lawrence. On the day we talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about Joe Burrow being flapped early. HM, Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence saw a lot of pressure, He saw some interesting coverages.
Speaker 1: I heard some of his comments in the postgame presser,
Speaker 1: and yeah, they they had him guessing at a lot
Speaker 1: of spots in this game. Eighteen of thirty seven for
Speaker 1: two thirty four no touchdowns. He had that fumble late
Speaker 1: in the game when it was pretty much on ice
Speaker 1: at that point. The big number here, though, is one
Speaker 1: of eleven on third downs. Elis who really brought their
Speaker 1: a game on third downs, holding down Clemson and doing
Speaker 1: their part to try and give the ball back to
Speaker 1: the offense and extend that lead.
Speaker 2: Oh one hundred percent. And then third down is where
Speaker 2: they thrived last year against Alabama. We remember all those
Speaker 2: fifty to fifty throws to Justin Ross and t Higgins
Speaker 2: against Alabama, those out routes from you know, a true
Speaker 2: freshman quarterback. They really nailed the moments last year and
Speaker 2: there was just nothing. There was no oxygen on third
Speaker 2: down for Clemson at all. After they went up seventeen
Speaker 2: to seven. And that's LSU. That's confusion, and that is
Speaker 2: that is Dave Randa, and that is the those corners.
Speaker 2: Just it seemed like if Clemson were if Clemson was
Speaker 2: going to move the ball, it was going to be
Speaker 2: Trevor Lawrence fitting passes into impossible windows. And we've talked
Speaker 2: about this with national championships, We've talked about this with
Speaker 2: big games. If that's what you need for four quarters,
Speaker 2: it's going to be almost impossible if you can't generate
Speaker 2: anything easy, if you can't generate any you know, crossing route,
Speaker 2: if you can't generate Okay, Trevor Lawrence hits t Higgins
Speaker 2: for nineteen, he hits you know, justin Ross for eleven,
Speaker 2: and you know, just the guys are sitting in zones,
Speaker 2: the guys are making really nice double moves. If you're
Speaker 2: not able to get that downfield like you normally are
Speaker 2: against everybody else, it feels like there's a three percent
Speaker 2: chance that you can beat a team as talented as LSU.
Speaker 2: And that ultimately was I mean, you're right to mention
Speaker 2: the third downs, but I mean I remember watching you know, Oregon, Wisconsin,
Speaker 2: Wisconsin needed fourth down after fourth down after fourth down,
Speaker 2: and they did a really good job there. But when
Speaker 2: you need that, it's hard to separate. It's hard to
Speaker 2: hang with another good team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, got to stay ahead of the chains, got to
Speaker 1: stay ahead of the change, especially when you've got an
Speaker 1: offense like LSU's on the other side of the field
Speaker 1: that has so much just you know, so much weaponry.
Speaker 1: It's tough to get tend with that if you can't convert.
Speaker 1: I keep coming back to those last twenty five minutes,
Speaker 1: but the reason I do so Clemson held to sixty
Speaker 1: five total yards in their last five drives of the
Speaker 1: football game, and it's just tough to get back in
Speaker 1: a game. It's tough to do much of anything when
Speaker 1: you're under take from you, i know, under literally one
Speaker 1: hundred yards of total offense in five possessions.
Speaker 2: Who are the best two teams in the country now
Speaker 2: that we've seen everything play out as thoroughly as we
Speaker 2: possibly can.
Speaker 1: Well, clearly LSU and it's yeah, it's a question of
Speaker 1: like a question of number two. You know, I still
Speaker 1: am partial to Clemson here. I think we got the
Speaker 1: best two teams maybe with two A or two B
Speaker 1: being Ohio State because that game was so close. But
Speaker 1: in the end, I think Clemson with what they do
Speaker 1: on defense, and you know, never mind what happened in
Speaker 1: this football game with Joe Burrow shredding them, but what
Speaker 1: Clemson has done on defense, moving from what we saw
Speaker 1: a season ago when they won the national championship, having
Speaker 1: that incredible front four, moving to this crazy system where
Speaker 1: they move Isaiah Simmons all over the field. They being
Speaker 1: pressure from linebackers as opposed to their front four in
Speaker 1: a manner that's a little bit different from what we
Speaker 1: saw a year ago. Their ability to adapt and still
Speaker 1: play at a very high level defensively, to me, is
Speaker 1: what puts them. Puts them just a nod over Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Aside of the fact that they actually won the football game.
Speaker 1: They're probably is still my number two. Where would you
Speaker 1: put into Alabama to Alabama? Ooh man, that.
Speaker 2: Might be my number two. Actually, that's the thing. They
Speaker 2: gave LSU more offensively. Now I know they weren't fully
Speaker 2: you know, it wasn't a one possession game consistently, even
Speaker 2: though it finished I think what they lost by five,
Speaker 2: they put forty one on LSU and that was in Tuscaloosa,
Speaker 2: So this is not a neutral site like Clemson got.
Speaker 2: I think with what Alabama has firepower wise, and I
Speaker 2: know they took a step back on defense. Again. We
Speaker 2: talked about this on our Instagram live before the show.
Speaker 2: If I had ten thousand dollars to bet on a
Speaker 2: team to beat LSU on a neutral field after having
Speaker 2: watched now what Clemson was or was not able to do.
Speaker 2: So this is you know, we're basically hYP hypothesizing there.
Speaker 1: It's the word.
Speaker 2: I guess Alabama and Ohio State as teams who have
Speaker 2: that talent that didn't get a shot against LSU. I
Speaker 2: think I would take Alabama over Ohio State to take
Speaker 2: down LSU.
Speaker 1: Well, Alabama was within five of LSU when they played
Speaker 1: earlier in the year, and that was a good football
Speaker 1: game to watch. TWA was in that football game. If
Speaker 1: two is on the field is probably a much different conversation.
Speaker 1: It has to be. But as it stands right now,
Speaker 1: I think Clemson is still my number two to a
Speaker 1: play in that game. But beat up, yeah, beat up,
Speaker 1: beat up for sure. How do you feel about these
Speaker 1: guys moving forward? Both these teams, Obviously LSU is losing
Speaker 1: its quarterback in Joe Burrow. Trevor Lawrence will be around
Speaker 1: for another year. And we've heard so much about Clemson's
Speaker 1: constant infusion of talent in year around one recruiter in front.
Speaker 1: They're always in the mix, and lsc was as well.
Speaker 1: But I don't think there's any doubt that LSU has
Speaker 1: to take a step back because Joe Burrow, I'm assuming
Speaker 1: he's going to be in the NFL. But where do
Speaker 1: we stand on both of these teams now as we
Speaker 1: enter the twenty twenty season. Clemson's in a better place
Speaker 1: because they've been able to, whether you know, the losses
Speaker 1: of incredible players to get back to this point. LSU
Speaker 1: is on to chapter two, whereas Clemson feels like they're
Speaker 1: on chapter four or five. So at least there's there's faith.
Speaker 1: There's confidence in the I was gonna say Tiger, but
Speaker 1: the Clemson Tiger program that they'll hire if they lose
Speaker 1: Brent Venables. I mean, they just lost an offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: in Jeff Scott. But there's confidence that they'll be able
Speaker 1: to retool and figure out systems and keep the keep
Speaker 1: the factory open. LSU is interesting. I can't imagine anybody
Speaker 1: believes Joe Brady is long for Baton Rouge, even if
Speaker 1: he coaches another year there. Next year quarterback is a
Speaker 1: lot less certain system hiring assistants because as well as
Speaker 1: LSU's defense is played, it now seems like, okay, this
Speaker 1: is Dave Randa with his maximum value. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: he gets hired by an NFL team, maybe he sticks around.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to get a better situation
Speaker 1: in college than what he has at LSU.
Speaker 2: But ed Orgeron passed chapter one with flying colors. LSU
Speaker 2: is gonna be in a great position talent wise right now. Though,
Speaker 2: with what Clemson has coming in and they have their
Speaker 2: return basically everybody in important mean, they're SI. You probably lose,
Speaker 2: you know, t Higgins and Travis etn. But the receivers
Speaker 2: that they have there, that's probably the best coach receiver
Speaker 2: team in the country. Clemson should I believe they are
Speaker 2: the odds on favorite. Yeah, right now, So I'm looking
Speaker 2: at the odds. Clemson is a two to one favorite,
Speaker 2: followed by Ohio State at three and a half to one,
Speaker 2: Alabama at seven to one, Georgia at seven and a
Speaker 2: half to one. LSU is at fourteen to one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, and what LSU does that quarterback, whether it's
Speaker 2: Miles Brennan, whether it's another one of the younger guys,
Speaker 2: whether they go to the transfer portal. I saw Derek
Speaker 2: King put his name in officially after taking that weird
Speaker 2: red shirt situation after a couple of games, and I
Speaker 2: imagine he will be a hot commodity. I don't think
Speaker 2: Oklahoma turns to another transfer, but who knows. So LSU
Speaker 2: seems like a pretty ideal situation with what he'll have
Speaker 2: around him, especially if Joe Brady returns. Yeah, the chapter
Speaker 2: two is a mystery to me for LSU. I really
Speaker 2: hope we get as many entertaining football games from the Tigers.
Speaker 2: But Clemson's in a better place right now. I would
Speaker 2: agree with that.
Speaker 1: And you know, for sure, LSU caught lightning in a bottle.
Speaker 1: What makes them different is that they knew exactly what
Speaker 1: to do with it, or they figured out what to
Speaker 1: do with it on the fly. And Joe Burrow, I
Speaker 1: think they knew they had something last year. They just
Speaker 1: needed to beef up that offense. And that was clearly
Speaker 1: a concerted effort in the off season, and that's what
Speaker 1: that's exactly what ed or Dron was trying to do.
Speaker 2: Are you ready for And it won't be a fantasy thing,
Speaker 2: So I'm I'm happy to talk about it now. There
Speaker 2: was going there are going to be stories that will
Speaker 2: use the phrasing. Could be a Joe.
Speaker 3: Burrow type, a little bit of Joe b or a
Speaker 3: young offensive coordinator coming in and like they think he'll
Speaker 3: have a Joe Brady like effect on the blobby blah offense.
Speaker 1: We're going to need the Joe Brady fantasy things item
Speaker 1: for sure.
Speaker 2: The Joe Brady fantasy things. Yeah. Well, I mean an
Speaker 2: incredible job by both Brady and Enspinger and Burrow. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's nothing short of just terrific. But what LSU did
Speaker 2: is not going to be respected as it should be
Speaker 2: as something that only LSU could accomplish. And we are
Speaker 2: going to see, Oh there's a template, there's a template
Speaker 2: of opening things up, of finding a new coordinator who's
Speaker 2: going to have this type of effect. And I can't
Speaker 2: wait for it. I cannot absolutely wait for it.
Speaker 1: So your final score here was forty two to twenty five.
Speaker 1: LSU becomes now the second fifteen and oh team in
Speaker 1: the history of college football, behind Clemson. Last year, Clempson
Speaker 1: finishes fourteen and one, a marvelous season for them as well.
Speaker 1: How did you watch this game? ESPN had its Mega
Speaker 1: cast going again, where we had multiple different feeds that
Speaker 1: we could watch. I did my best to graze and
Speaker 1: sample each of them.
Speaker 2: So I watched the main feed. I flipped a little
Speaker 2: bit at different points in the game early on to
Speaker 2: just get a sense. I thought the I don't know
Speaker 2: what it was called the sideline with our pala Adam Amemeil,
Speaker 2: Penny Levy, the field pass, thank you. I think it
Speaker 2: was what Pat McAfee and Daniel Rostovsky. Yeah, maah, seemed
Speaker 2: to be pretty good. But they're reacting without a vantage point,
Speaker 2: without context, so that's tough. I watched the coach's film room.
Speaker 2: Some actually came away pretty impressed with Jeff Haffley Boston College.
Speaker 1: For more than one reason. Please. Yeah, so that feed
Speaker 1: remains the one that I'm most interested in. But I
Speaker 1: can't stand to watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's not a good live watch. It's an
Speaker 2: after the fact watch, I think, is where it really is. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And like in the past, they've tried to plug in
Speaker 1: a host play traffic cop right, and this year. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing they ditched that idea and sort of decided to
Speaker 1: let Mike Gundy and Jeff Haffley do it. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: Sean Parker lose the the Yeah. I think they actually
Speaker 1: did a decent enough job doing it. The problem is
Speaker 1: that Gary Patterson does all the talking. Is the alpha.
Speaker 1: He is the alpha. And to his credit, he's been
Speaker 1: a coach for a long time. He's very bread and
Speaker 1: he's good at what he does. There's a reason he's
Speaker 1: been at TCU forever. But from a watchability standpoint, sitting
Speaker 1: at home, the only two solutions are to either a
Speaker 1: put Gary Patterson as the only one in the film
Speaker 1: room or b get rid of them all together and
Speaker 1: invite someone else. Oh, the Gary Patterson Room, the frog room,
Speaker 1: the frog Room.
Speaker 2: I imagine there's an element of because he's done it
Speaker 2: so many times and because he has always sort of
Speaker 2: looked like the strong personality in the Coaches room, that
Speaker 2: a producer pulled him asides like listen, there's dead air.
Speaker 2: We need you. You know, we can count on you.
Speaker 2: If there's a lull, we need we need you GP.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: The Coaches film room was just an exercise in four
Speaker 2: different dudes saying, can you rewind that? Okay, rewind that place?
Speaker 2: Can you rewind that? Can we go back?
Speaker 1: We go back? QUI go back?
Speaker 2: Quig go back, QUI go back. And they didn't want
Speaker 2: to come across as like this is a run, this
Speaker 2: is a pass, this is a draw. They they were
Speaker 2: genuinely impressed with both teams, I thought, and the sort
Speaker 2: of architecture of their game plans, which I like to
Speaker 2: see coaches come away with things like oh that's an
Speaker 2: interesting RN call, Oh wow, okay, they didn't show that,
Speaker 2: and to actually that phrasing, they didn't show that. I
Speaker 2: saw Steve Ensminger I was. I don't know who he told,
Speaker 2: but it was like the sixth or seventh straight game
Speaker 2: where LSU's offense saw a defense that they hadn't seen
Speaker 2: on film, like what Clemson threw at LSU was not
Speaker 2: anything that they were prepared for, and still they adjusted,
Speaker 2: they stayed calm, and it was It was very cool.
Speaker 1: I did enjoy elements of that coaching film room is
Speaker 1: it is fun. Like I said, it remains the feed
Speaker 1: that I'm most interested in, but it can be can
Speaker 1: be a tough watch. I'm with you on the field pass.
Speaker 1: It's it's a ton of fun, not just because our
Speaker 1: good friend Adam is involved, but I do enjoy watching
Speaker 1: them move frantically about the sidelines, like just the machinations
Speaker 1: of that. Oh yeah, yeah, to me is very interesting.
Speaker 2: Hit by arrant punts.
Speaker 1: Exactly did you did you dabble it all with the
Speaker 1: ref cast?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: I did not either. I didn't do the roughcast.
Speaker 2: I didn't do the NAT sound of just like a
Speaker 2: wide camera and the dome. Didn't do that. Did not
Speaker 2: do the local radio guys, which I'm sure was cool
Speaker 2: if you're specifically an LS you are a Clemson fan, sure,
Speaker 2: but yeah, that those were the Those are the feeds
Speaker 2: that I went. I didn't do the stat camera, the
Speaker 2: all twenty two whatever I mean, I guess the coach's
Speaker 2: film room was all twenty two ish. It was the
Speaker 2: wide angle, but no, it was. It was a good broadcast.
Speaker 2: I thought Fowler and Herb Street were good. I came away.
Speaker 1: It was long, really long, four four and a half.
Speaker 1: Felt some of those quarters needed halftime.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it lasted and last and lasted. But you know,
Speaker 2: this is the final game of the season. If you're
Speaker 2: complaining about a long football game, maybe you're not super
Speaker 2: into football.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're not so all right here we are. Yeah,
Speaker 1: everyone starting today is official undefeated. Congratulations as we enter
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty college football season. Dan. As we said
Speaker 1: at the top, just because they aren't playing the games
Speaker 1: does not mean we are not putting out the podcast.
Speaker 1: We officially now switch back to our once a week format.
Speaker 1: We will be here doing our show once a week
Speaker 1: until when like late July, early August. At some point
Speaker 1: around then, we'll start previewing games and then we'll jump
Speaker 1: back in. But as for the time being, we're looking
Speaker 1: at about seven months of off season college football content.
Speaker 1: Mister Rubinstein, Yes.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't take it to the bank that we're only
Speaker 2: doing once a week. I think we have some stuff
Speaker 2: up our sleeves that all schedule a little bet, but
Speaker 2: that's another day another time. I would encourage people, if
Speaker 2: they are not subscribed, to subscribe right now to join
Speaker 2: the subreddit. I also have in front of me our
Speaker 2: friends Dumandel's Way too Early top twenty five okay for
Speaker 2: twenty twenty. I'm putting this on you. I have he
Speaker 2: has Clemson one, which I think is Ohio State two,
Speaker 2: Alabama three. I think Mac Jones, and I guess he'll
Speaker 2: be battling a five star true freshman quarterback Bryce Young.
Speaker 2: It'll be a new receiver corps because I think Jerry
Speaker 2: Judy and Henry Ruggs both declared, but DeVante Smith and
Speaker 2: Davanta Smith and Jalen Wattle still there. Georgia four with
Speaker 2: Jamie Newman, but they returned some some studs on defense.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you feel about Jamie Newman. I
Speaker 2: think we're going to probably do a transfer and new
Speaker 2: look specific show with coaches and transfers popping up all
Speaker 2: over the country. LSU five too low, too high with
Speaker 2: quarterback uncertainty.
Speaker 1: Let's say you that might be pretty high. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: that might be. That might be pretty high, Dan, I.
Speaker 2: Guess quarterback and coordinator uncertainty. Penn State at six. You
Speaker 2: gotta love Kirk Shiraka. Yeah, if you like Penn State
Speaker 2: at number six, I think I.
Speaker 1: Think you're really really subscribing to Kerch Shiraka. If you've
Speaker 1: got Penn State at number six.
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 1: But Su mandel is Stu Mandel is. But there's so
Speaker 1: much coming back on that defense that again as the
Speaker 1: bedrock and the starting point for what Penn State's going
Speaker 1: to do next year. That's that's as good a spot
Speaker 1: as any. They do lose kJ Hamler, which it will
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how they replace that kind of production.
Speaker 1: Receiver was not a strong suit for Penn State this year.
Speaker 2: Outside of him, Yeah, a couple of bus as well,
Speaker 2: higher rated recruits. That receiver didn't really work out for
Speaker 2: Penn State as well. Florida at seven, Kyle Trask is
Speaker 2: is he the clear best reason?
Speaker 1: I think? I think Florida is my way too early,
Speaker 1: like to the extent that they can be a sleeper. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're my way too early sleeper team. Their corners for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oregon at eight, they don't have an offensive coordinator
Speaker 2: at the time we're recording this. I know the team
Speaker 2: really likes Tyler Shuck who was justin Herbert's backup at quarterback,
Speaker 2: and their juniors on defense are all returning that perhaps
Speaker 2: we're flirting with the NFL. Their defense should be absurd.
Speaker 2: This will be a don't top five defense in the country, probably,
Speaker 2: especially with what they'll be seeing on offense, which will
Speaker 2: now include the Nick Rolovich Washington State Cougars. That was
Speaker 2: sort of announced during the game. So there's that Oklahoma nine.
Speaker 1: That's wow. Yeah, I don't know. They won't finish ninth.
Speaker 1: Let's put it that way, They'll finish higher.
Speaker 2: The Big twelve will be better in twenty twenty. It
Speaker 2: should the year of the new coaching under the belts
Speaker 2: of what Neil Brown and Chris Cleman and Matt Wells like.
Speaker 2: There's a lot more to count on with the Big twelve.
Speaker 2: So I think it's gonna be tough for It's probably
Speaker 2: gonna be Spencer Ratler, who I know they like a lot.
Speaker 2: I think he was the number one quarterback last year
Speaker 2: coming out of high school. I think you're right. Notre
Speaker 2: Dame ten.
Speaker 1: Notre Dame ten is I think about right. I am
Speaker 1: curious though. Again I go back to preseason odds and
Speaker 1: I mentioned the top five, but Notre Dame is number
Speaker 1: six at twenty to one. They're in front of Florida. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're in front of Texas, They're in front of USC Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: They're in front of Michigan and Penn State. I think
Speaker 1: ten's about right. To be honest with you, there are
Speaker 1: some losses that they're going to have to contend with
Speaker 1: as well, especially on the defensive side of the football,
Speaker 1: but should have a good team coming back. The schedule
Speaker 1: does get harder, though.
Speaker 2: If Notre Dame makes the twenty twenty Slash twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one college Football Playoff. Let's agree now to pool our
Speaker 2: life savings to gamble against Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: Deal.
Speaker 2: Okay, good Wisconsin at eleven? Uh huh, I might wager yeah.
Speaker 2: I think the Wisconsin defense should be pretty good, but
Speaker 2: they're without Zach Bond and Chris Orr. I don't know,
Speaker 2: no jtt. I think that's an off year for the
Speaker 2: Badgers to me, but have not really fully gotten in
Speaker 2: deep with the Badger of y. At Auburn at twelve,
Speaker 2: adding Chad Morris I think is interesting. I'm not fully
Speaker 2: sold on bow Nicks Iowa thirteen, USC fourteen no defensive
Speaker 2: coordinator at the time of this recording. Oklahoma State fifteen
Speaker 2: doing anything for you at Chuba Horbard coming back.
Speaker 1: Cuba Hubbard coming back.
Speaker 2: I like that, And they promote Casey Dunn, the receivers
Speaker 2: coach from within, taking over at offensive coordinator after losing
Speaker 2: Sean Gleeson to Rutgers Minnesota at sixteen. Ill like well.
Speaker 2: They hire Mike Samford I think they're gonna be a
Speaker 2: good team.
Speaker 1: I think they're still gonna be pretty goods still gonna
Speaker 1: be pretty good.
Speaker 2: Inner Morgan back, Yeah, all right, all round it out Texas, Cincinnati, Tennessee,
Speaker 2: Michigan at twenty. I guess it's Dylan McCaffrey, Joe Milton,
Speaker 2: who knows a quarterback? Memphis new head coach. We'll see
Speaker 2: A and M I.
Speaker 1: Think is.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I feel good about a Top
Speaker 2: twelve Hellen mand led offense, but happy to be surprised.
Speaker 2: North Carolina ASU with an intriguing quarterback and a new
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator. Call it twenty five tie, let's plant the flag.
Speaker 2: Top fifteen. Cal Are you ready?
Speaker 1: I'm ready, baby, I'm ready.
Speaker 2: Okay, they lose Evan Weaver, which is damage because he
Speaker 2: tackled everybody at twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: So Daniel, here is the deal. We have our three
Speaker 1: winners in the college football Bullpool, OH Conference Pool. Keith
Speaker 1: Richards eighty six held on, okay, held on to win.
Speaker 1: Also let down look Ahead Sandwich, an entry that I
Speaker 1: had spot shadowed when we did our analysis a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, eventually did jump up and look at this.
Speaker 1: I love my Oregon Ducks one. Oh yeah, coming in
Speaker 1: third place. Keith Richards actually tied for twenty fifth overall.
Speaker 1: Like across however, many hundreds of thousands of millions of
Speaker 1: entries on the esp dot com website, he actually fared
Speaker 1: pretty well, so on.
Speaker 2: By two points seven hundred and sixty six to seven
Speaker 2: sixty four. And then I Love my organ ducs one
Speaker 2: was seven fifty so tight at the top.
Speaker 1: Very tight at the top. Here is the deal, boys
Speaker 1: and girls. Send us an email, solid verbal at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. You are entitled to gift cards from our
Speaker 1: good friends over at roback dot com. We will be
Speaker 1: happy to provide those to you. You just got to
Speaker 1: send us an email and prove to us that you
Speaker 1: are who you say you are. Then will make sure
Speaker 1: that we get those over to you. But congratulations to
Speaker 1: one and all, Thank you so much. To the gosh.
Speaker 1: Would we have fourteen hundred people or so that ended
Speaker 1: up playing in our pool our biggest showing yet, We
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Hope you had as much fun as
Speaker 1: we did. Wish I would have done a little bit better.
Speaker 1: I finished with six hundred and eighteen point stand in
Speaker 1: the seventieth percentile.
Speaker 2: I went six forty four eighty fourth percentile, okay, edging
Speaker 2: out the PA contingent.
Speaker 1: It's not the fantasy things, but you want something gradations.
Speaker 2: Thank you very very much. This was god. I missed
Speaker 2: I think my lowest four, which was pretty great, my one, two,
Speaker 2: three and four pointers and I hit my number one.
Speaker 2: But I did lose my number two, but then I
Speaker 2: went on a nice run at the top, so it
Speaker 2: would have been better if I guess Nevada had one
Speaker 2: and uh SMU had one. So thanks for nothing, Lane Kiffin.
Speaker 1: Well, among all the groups across all of ESPN, our
Speaker 1: group finished number one eighteen, which ain't bad. Hey, good
Speaker 1: job guys, and pretty much all those other groups are
Speaker 1: way way smaller than ours.
Speaker 2: That qualifies for Wimbledon. I believe believe that there are
Speaker 2: one hundred and twenty eight entrants in Wimbledon, so great.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you again to everyone for downloading
Speaker 1: the show. Don't forget you can follow us out there
Speaker 1: on social media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Don't forget to
Speaker 1: pop in on the subreddit at solid Rebel dot reddit
Speaker 1: dot com, where you can join hundreds of other ver balls.
Speaker 1: Long after we hit the stop button on the podcast,
Speaker 1: keep the conversation going deep into the off season. As
Speaker 1: you said, mister Rubenstein, We've got all sorts of fun
Speaker 1: stuff planned for this college football off season, which officially
Speaker 1: begins today. But in the meantime, Dan, congratulations again to
Speaker 1: the LSU Tigers and at Orgeron, Joe Burrow, the entire
Speaker 1: Bayou Bengal family on a fantastic fifteen to oher season.
Speaker 1: It was a true pleasure to watch it from this chair.
Speaker 1: And that's pretty much all I got.
Speaker 2: Congratulations to us three shows a week all season long,
Speaker 2: dumb boat jokes, and both of our teams finished impressively,
Speaker 2: and I think we'll be reasonably optimistic going into twenty
Speaker 2: twenty about the Ducks and the Irish.
Speaker 1: I think we are. I think we are.
Speaker 2: That's all I have.
Speaker 1: On that note for that guy over there and my
Speaker 1: good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Tie Hilton Brandt over
Speaker 1: here in eastern Pennsylvania, thank you so much for hanging
Speaker 1: with us, not just on this show, but really throughout
Speaker 1: the course of the season. We will be back at
Speaker 1: you next week. In the meantime, stay solid, peace,