Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal.
Speaker 2: I'll that for me.
Speaker 3: I'm a man, I'm forty.
Speaker 1: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
Speaker 1: be happy.
Speaker 2: You want to be happy for.
Speaker 1: Day Edith State?
Speaker 2: Is that?
Speaker 3: Whoo?
Speaker 4: Whoam?
Speaker 1: And now Dan and tie.
Speaker 3: Oh hi verbals. This is your captain, Tye Hildebrandt. I
Speaker 3: am joined as always by my Lieutenant Dan Ruvenstein. Welcome
Speaker 3: aboard this college football experience that we like to call
Speaker 3: the Tuoes Cruise, don't forget. If you like the solid verbal,
Speaker 3: subscribe to the show out on Apple, Google, Spotify, stitch, Er, Tune,
Speaker 3: and overcast, all the usual hotspots wherever you like to
Speaker 3: find your podcasts. We are a college football show. We
Speaker 3: do three shows a week. This is the one where
Speaker 3: we look back, try to put it all in perspective,
Speaker 3: figure out what all the results mean. We've also got
Speaker 3: a Thursday preview show as well as a Sunday afternoon
Speaker 3: recap show where we try to really give you the
Speaker 3: full holistic picture. Lieutenant Dan, what's going on in and
Speaker 3: around the world of college football?
Speaker 1: How are you, Tye? I want to de stock this
Speaker 1: salary of performance that we're doing right now. After I
Speaker 1: peeled back the carrot of digital Audio on Sunday. I'm
Speaker 1: good we started our connection. I guess I'll keep it
Speaker 1: on theme. I went down to your stateroom, I went
Speaker 1: down to your cabin, and you had been struggling with
Speaker 1: your voice, yes, traustion, and then you hit record and
Speaker 1: you go, oh hurry, and you are fully in. So
Speaker 1: I want everybody to know that the sacrifice that Tie
Speaker 1: is giving to you. All systems, go man your battle stations,
Speaker 1: oh fore boting. It's very real, Tie. You are dedicated
Speaker 1: to the craft, and I appreciate it. I am dedicated
Speaker 1: to the craft. I have so much tazzo wild orange
Speaker 1: tea swimming at meat that we might have to go
Speaker 1: over to the side of the boat. Not a sponsor,
Speaker 1: not a sponsor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, drain the old lizard into the international waters that
Speaker 3: surround us here on the two's cruise Neah, where we
Speaker 3: talk about college football. So, as you know, we've been
Speaker 3: playing mini games all throughout our previous versions of this
Speaker 3: Tuesday Show. Today we're gonna give one more a chance
Speaker 3: to breathe. Okay, we got some suggestions about this. We
Speaker 3: honestly had it in the Q long before anyone suggested it.
Speaker 3: But since since this is more of a nautically themed show,
Speaker 3: since we talk about being on the open seas, we
Speaker 3: decided that we would play a game of battleshow.
Speaker 2: That ship Milton Bradley's great game of strategy. It's loaded
Speaker 2: with action and suspense.
Speaker 3: So here is what we are doing to keep this
Speaker 3: within a college football context. Okay, what we've done is
Speaker 3: you've got a board. It's a smaller board than the
Speaker 3: actual battleship board. Otherwise we would be here all afternoon. Yeah,
Speaker 3: four by four ABCD one two three four, got our
Speaker 3: own little grids and randomly played on each of our
Speaker 3: respective boards are four preseason assumptions that we made that
Speaker 3: are really on the verge of sinking. And so part
Speaker 3: of this game is sort of just to do the
Speaker 3: humanitarian thing and put it out of its misery.
Speaker 1: Oh man, yeah, our bad preseason takes.
Speaker 3: But also we're competitive individuals and we're trying to win
Speaker 3: the game and sink the others first.
Speaker 1: Oh, very true.
Speaker 3: So what you're gonna do is, I hope you've got
Speaker 3: your board ready. I haven't seen it.
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 3: Okay, what we're going to do is we're going to
Speaker 3: guess we might have to flip a coin here to
Speaker 3: see who goes first. I've got the sounds queued up.
Speaker 3: We're ready to go. We're going to make this as
Speaker 3: close to the real thing as we can. You and
Speaker 3: I are quite literally going to play college football battleship, Dan.
Speaker 1: Yes, and what should we call a college football version
Speaker 1: of battleship?
Speaker 3: You, I can't take credit for this. You have to
Speaker 3: unveil the official name of this.
Speaker 1: So it's the best name that either involves ship or battle.
Speaker 1: So we're playing our nasm Arnaz battleship, right. Yes? You
Speaker 1: were you a fan of his Notre Dame career, pro career?
Speaker 1: He was. He was a tim Rette era forty nine
Speaker 1: ers for everybody following at home, Arna's battleship battleship. Did
Speaker 1: you like him? I like the name. Oh man, you
Speaker 1: didn't like watching him? I like the name.
Speaker 3: He was a receiver, wasn't he he was once he
Speaker 3: got to the pro game?
Speaker 1: Correct? He was a dual threat quarterback in college.
Speaker 3: Correct, played quarterback, played receiver, played more receiver once he
Speaker 3: got to the league.
Speaker 1: And the name is cool. It is very cool. U
Speaker 1: double major. It looks like with a three point two gpa.
Speaker 1: Now that is one more major than I had, and
Speaker 1: he went to a better school than I did, So
Speaker 1: much respect, Daniel. Are you ready to play Arna's.
Speaker 2: Battleship, Battleship Milton Bradley's great game of strategy. It's loaded
Speaker 2: with action.
Speaker 1: I guess we could have gone with Bill Blanken Battleship
Speaker 1: something like that, but we could have. Yeah, it's okay,
Speaker 1: let's go. I'm not a huge A one sauce fans.
Speaker 1: Let's go A two, tie A two? All right, No, no, no,
Speaker 1: Dick didn't hit anything. Ding means he didn't hit anything.
Speaker 1: Ding means it. Okay, let's go. You get to guess now,
Speaker 1: or do I get to go again? I get to guess.
Speaker 3: Okay, I am gonna guess A two. I'll go far
Speaker 3: corner D four.
Speaker 1: Yes, there's a hit. Yeah, that's officially what do we got.
Speaker 1: So I thought Miami would win the Coastal end up
Speaker 1: in the ACC Championship game. It's not looking like that'll
Speaker 1: be the case. Tie. I thought that defense, which returned
Speaker 1: a good amount of guys and an offense that was
Speaker 1: talented enough, and we didn't know before the season and
Speaker 1: when we recorded our AEC previeould be Nikos Perry or
Speaker 1: Jared Williams ended up being Williams. But I guess I
Speaker 1: just did not foresee the offensive line and the mistakes
Speaker 1: and the catastrophes on both sides of the ball, the
Speaker 1: big play errors coming. And so I am officially singing
Speaker 1: year one Manny Diez hopes of going to an ACC
Speaker 1: championship game, and I don't know if the prognosis is amazing,
Speaker 1: but they should recruit well enough. He obviously deserves time
Speaker 1: to establish a culture. But I feel very wrong in
Speaker 1: thinking that Miami was going to be the team. So
Speaker 1: Miami's ACC championship game hopes you are officially at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the ocean.
Speaker 3: Well, if you look at Miami so far, three and
Speaker 3: four on the year, they've lost to Florida North Carolina,
Speaker 3: Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech the overtime one
Speaker 3: that we saw back in in week just a few
Speaker 3: days ago, one in three in the ACC, one and
Speaker 3: three in the ACC. On the schedule right now, we've
Speaker 3: got road games against pitt and Florida State.
Speaker 1: We've got a.
Speaker 3: Home game against Louisville, home game against Florida International, and
Speaker 3: then they close out the year on the road at Duke.
Speaker 3: At least according to some projections, they are favored to
Speaker 3: win all of those games. I think the hardest, I
Speaker 3: guess would be at Pitt, maybe rivaled by Florida State,
Speaker 3: you know, both those games feel kind of the same
Speaker 3: to me.
Speaker 1: But does something excellently well And we'll get to that.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe not. And I think you're right at Pitt.
Speaker 1: We saw what you happen to UCF there. I think
Speaker 1: that's the answer the thing.
Speaker 3: That I look at Miami and say, And it isn't
Speaker 3: all that different from my own preseason projections, which, by
Speaker 3: the way, I mean, you take the hit for this one,
Speaker 3: but I was right there with you.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: They needed to get more consistent quarterback play, and of
Speaker 3: course they bring over Tamar. Tell you Jared Williams gets
Speaker 3: the start. There was a lot of praise with some
Speaker 3: of what he did early on. Manny Diaz got the
Speaker 3: hype stirred up down and Coral Gables just has not materialized,
Speaker 3: has not materialized at all.
Speaker 1: In fairness, there are moments for Miami defensively where they
Speaker 1: look absurdly good. It's just that we're describing it as
Speaker 1: moments and not quarters or series is strung together, or
Speaker 1: games or has it's moments. There are times where they
Speaker 1: just look otherworldly on defense. And that's I mean, as
Speaker 1: up and down and as weird as the coastal is
Speaker 1: not good enough to be that moment to moment.
Speaker 3: The one thing that I will point out and then
Speaker 3: I promise, Saul, let you have your turn. Yes, Miami
Speaker 3: has lost all four of those games by one score
Speaker 3: or less. Four points against Florida, three points on the
Speaker 3: road at North Carolina, seven points against Virginia Tech, and
Speaker 3: of course the overtime game that they lost is past
Speaker 3: weekend to Georgia Tech. Second order wins, which is something
Speaker 3: that our friend Bill Connolly tracks has Miami at five
Speaker 3: five point four, meaning if things go a little bit differently,
Speaker 3: this could be a five win team as opposed to
Speaker 3: a three win team.
Speaker 1: Could obviously be a lot different of a story. Ifs
Speaker 1: and butts tie, ifs and butts, bigger picture as we
Speaker 1: look forward, now, where does Miami go from here?
Speaker 3: How do you feel about Miami's prospects?
Speaker 1: Well, the offensive line has to improve. We're talking after
Speaker 1: the season, talking next offseason. The offensive line has to improve.
Speaker 1: There have been really nice again, the word is moments
Speaker 1: for Jaron Williams. I think they're going to continue to
Speaker 1: recruit well, and it's it's a year zero one. It
Speaker 1: was an unexpected retirement from a head coach, and so
Speaker 1: there is something that is incredibly deserving about saying, okay,
Speaker 1: this all happened unexpectedly, was all thrown together sort of
Speaker 1: last second, unexpectedly. Again, it's going to be okay. I
Speaker 1: think losing to Georgia Tech is completely indefensible. Losing in
Speaker 1: the way that they lost to Virginia Tech late also
Speaker 1: sort of indefensible. So I don't know what you know.
Speaker 1: There's like win expectancies and stuff like that. If Miami
Speaker 1: can get to the point where they just win where
Speaker 1: they should, they're like a nine to three team, They're
Speaker 1: just not there yet.
Speaker 3: All right, your turn. You guessed A two incorrectly. See
Speaker 3: if you could do better this time.
Speaker 1: All right, let's stick with the two theme and we'll
Speaker 1: go B two. You got me mono a mono here?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, playing Arnez Battleship.
Speaker 1: M hm.
Speaker 3: I have here maybe my most controversial opinion. It was
Speaker 3: certainly one that I was very confident about going into
Speaker 3: the season, and that was that this Michigan team was
Speaker 3: not only going to win the Big Ten but also
Speaker 3: make the College Football Playoff. Wow, you doo, okay, lot
Speaker 3: to peel back here, A lot to peel back here.
Speaker 3: This has not worked out well, no, suffice to say,
Speaker 3: but Michigan is five and two. They're five and two,
Speaker 3: at least in terms of a win loss record. That's
Speaker 3: better than Miami. You could do worse than five and two.
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 3: Of Michigan's five remaining games, though, given the way they
Speaker 3: look on offense, you could see like four of them
Speaker 3: being competitive. I don't think that's too big of a stretch.
Speaker 3: The issue that we say that is because the new
Speaker 3: offense has yet to click. That may still happen. There
Speaker 3: were moments down the stretch against Penn State where yeah,
Speaker 3: I kind of clicked. They didn't give up, they played hard.
Speaker 3: They probably should have tied it if they don't have
Speaker 3: a drop pass in the end zone. They just need
Speaker 3: more of those clicks. You need to get it together
Speaker 3: earlier on in some of these games. Right now, they
Speaker 3: are fifth in the country, and this is something that
Speaker 3: I know you and I have texted about fifth in
Speaker 3: the country and starting field position. Yeah, yet it's just
Speaker 3: that their offense is super inefficient at the moment, not
Speaker 3: getting any bang for the buck there. They need to
Speaker 3: find a way to correct that, and they need to
Speaker 3: start by at least looking a little bit more organized
Speaker 3: on offense. Maybe the defense hasn't been quite up to
Speaker 3: the level that we've seen in past years. It's still
Speaker 3: really good and still more than good enough to give
Speaker 3: this offense good field position. It's just a shame they
Speaker 3: can't turn it into more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's one of those things too, Where on
Speaker 1: first downs are they can they get a six yard run.
Speaker 1: It's not complicated complicated things. It's not cracking this giant
Speaker 1: mystery that is football. It's basic things that they can't
Speaker 1: consistently string together. They find themselves in third and long
Speaker 1: a little bit too often, and even though they've been
Speaker 1: okay on third and long, they're just they're finding themselves
Speaker 1: there far too much. It's not like they're playing opponents
Speaker 1: on their skill level. Penn State is, Ohio State is,
Speaker 1: but the rest of the year they're more talented than
Speaker 1: a team like Wisconsin. At the very least, they should
Speaker 1: be losing that game last second that they should be
Speaker 1: in that game for four straight orders, and so we've
Speaker 1: sort of talked ad nauseum about the Michigan issues this year,
Speaker 1: but it's self inflicted. It's the turnovers, it's the fumbles
Speaker 1: I think they have. You know, they're they're comparable in
Speaker 1: terms of turnovers already to where they were last year
Speaker 1: all year, and so you can only give the ball
Speaker 1: away so much before you just say, I guess we're
Speaker 1: just doomed. I guess we're just doomed. And I don't
Speaker 1: think Michigan full. They may well beat, you know, the
Speaker 1: back half of their schedule until Ohio State in an
Speaker 1: exciting way, but something is just off. And I was
Speaker 1: with you in the optimism, and I'm not going to
Speaker 1: say that we should be tearing down the Michigan season
Speaker 1: because they could go nine and three and win a
Speaker 1: bowl and go ten and three. That's not, you know,
Speaker 1: a crazy, crazy thought, but they're way behind Ohio State,
Speaker 1: and that was what the change was meant to affect
Speaker 1: the distance, then close the gap between Michigan and Ohio State.
Speaker 1: And that's just it's not a reality.
Speaker 3: That was part of the reason for the optimism because
Speaker 3: of course Ohio State bringing in a new coach, even
Speaker 3: though he was already on the staff. Dudes, right, Whenever
Speaker 3: you swap out a legend, it's it's tough. It's a
Speaker 3: coin flip to begin with when you swap out a coach,
Speaker 3: and especially when you're replacing a legend, it's just you
Speaker 3: never know what kind of traction you're going to get
Speaker 3: on that front. And they have not done much to
Speaker 3: close that gap. On offense, They've looked very disorganized. Here's
Speaker 3: what they look like now. I mentioned that four of
Speaker 3: the five games are competitive. The big Notre Dame game
Speaker 3: this weekend, it's at home, it's at night. They're around
Speaker 3: a point and a half favored in that game, which, okay,
Speaker 3: a little confusing to me, but fine, tough game, easily losable.
Speaker 3: They're at Maryland the week after Notre Dame. I think
Speaker 3: I think they should have that one in the bag.
Speaker 3: But then final three weeks of the year home against
Speaker 3: Michigan State. That's a rivalry they should have. Wait, but
Speaker 3: yes it is. Who knows at Indiana in between Michigan
Speaker 3: State and Ohio State. That's a letdown look ahead spot
Speaker 3: that we've been talking up since June. And Indiana ain't bad.
Speaker 3: That's a losable game right and then obviously Ohio State
Speaker 3: to close out the year. Obviously thought maybe will be
Speaker 3: a little bit of a closer scenario when we got
Speaker 3: to week fourteen, when we talked about it again back
Speaker 3: in June. But right now Ohio State does look like
Speaker 3: their leaps and bounds better and.
Speaker 1: In terms of ifs and butts at the same time,
Speaker 1: they go to the wire against Army and what do
Speaker 1: we know now about Army. Yeah, not particularly great this
Speaker 1: year now, so that looks worse. They might be a
Speaker 1: top seventy eighty team that looks worse right now. They
Speaker 1: blow out Rutgers. They have a great defensive game against Iowa,
Speaker 1: and i was a tough team Illinois, even though now
Speaker 1: in retrospect we've seen Illinois beat Wisconsin Penn State. If
Speaker 1: Ronnie Bell catches that ball, you have what a tie
Speaker 1: game lay against the James Franklin team. That's a good
Speaker 1: spot to find yourself in. Yeah, it is. Well, it's
Speaker 1: just it's IF's and butts again, and it's it's It
Speaker 1: could go either way from Michigan at this point, and
Speaker 1: I am I'm still excited to see which direction it goes.
Speaker 1: I'm not fully willing to give up on an exciting Michigan,
Speaker 1: but we should sink those playoff hopes down to the
Speaker 1: bottom of the ocean.
Speaker 3: What do we think about Michigan now moving forward? Because
Speaker 3: if we after the season big right, if we focus in,
Speaker 3: if we focus that periscope in on the future state
Speaker 3: of this offense. Shaye Patterson gone after this year, but
Speaker 3: elsewhere on the offense, maybe aside from the line, which
Speaker 3: we know as a veteran group, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: young skill talent on this roster, so a lot of
Speaker 3: those guys will be back. Presumably Dylan McCaffrey will be
Speaker 3: back as well, and the new starting quarterback in Junior
Speaker 3: twenty twenty, he will have had a year in this
Speaker 3: system now under Josh Gaddis. Provided they hold on to Gaddis,
Speaker 3: Where do we like come down on this Michigan offense
Speaker 3: moving forward.
Speaker 1: I think they'll hold on to Gaddis. I think it'll
Speaker 1: go up. I do I have high hope they've recruited
Speaker 1: well enough. Zach Sharboney seems pretty promising a bigger back
Speaker 1: as a true freshman thrown into it. I think fumble
Speaker 1: issues can be dealt with, you know, a big toss
Speaker 1: up will be what happens with the junior receivers to
Speaker 1: replack Nico Collins and Donovan People's jones, and see, you know,
Speaker 1: they're obviously not maximizing their value. So I imagine a
Speaker 1: couple of them at least will be back just in
Speaker 1: hopes of proving that they have NFL draft potential. So
Speaker 1: I am I'm going to remain bullish on Michigan, and
Speaker 1: I know they're in Columbus next season, but the schedule
Speaker 1: should be I don't do you have their their schedule
Speaker 1: twenty schedule in front of you. It seems like it'll
Speaker 1: be okay. I still am hopeful that when you consistently
Speaker 1: year over year have an excellent defense and all you
Speaker 1: need to do is produce and above average off with talent,
Speaker 1: there's a lot to still be hopeful for.
Speaker 3: Well, maybe we'll talk about LSU in a little bit. Perhaps,
Speaker 3: maybe we'll talk about LSU in a little bit. And
Speaker 3: it was a similar story there for.
Speaker 1: A long time at Washington Michigan September fifth in the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty season.
Speaker 3: All right, so who's up? I guess I'm up, Yes,
Speaker 3: I am up to guess I'm going to go? Where
Speaker 3: was I was D four last time? Correct, I am going.
Speaker 1: B four crap?
Speaker 3: I thought maybe you did the corner thing where you
Speaker 3: stacked them all in the corner.
Speaker 1: No, I'll give you another shot, though, Tay.
Speaker 3: I feel bad, okay, D three.
Speaker 1: Ah wow, Like Shaye Patterson, I'm just a miss after
Speaker 1: a miss that was great.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to work my way out from the corner.
Speaker 3: I'll give you one more shot, tie another one. I
Speaker 3: feel terrible. Yeah, all right, let's go. We'll go D
Speaker 3: D one. Yes, I knew you had another one in
Speaker 3: that D column.
Speaker 1: I knew you would do that. I do. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: deeper Dan. Your hit and my miss, really, and this
Speaker 1: is very specific, is an actual miss is Mississippi States.
Speaker 1: I was very high on year two of the Joe
Speaker 1: Morehead experience. Moving past there, what I thought was going
Speaker 1: to be the end of very bad quarterback play. I
Speaker 1: thought they'd have a complete team, returning the receivers that
Speaker 1: they did, returning an underrated running back in Kylon Hill,
Speaker 1: returning a pretty experienced offensive line. And I know, you know,
Speaker 1: losing Montes Sweat and Jeffrey Simmons was huge, but good linebackers,
Speaker 1: upperclassmen on the line, some experience in the secondary, not
Speaker 1: a lot. I knew that was gonna be a question
Speaker 1: coming in, but I didn't fully see how they could
Speaker 1: fall off the way that they have. Obviously, you lose
Speaker 1: to Tennessee and you have to have a sit down,
Speaker 1: you have to have a conversation, and so Keithon Thompson
Speaker 1: leaves and comes back, and Tommy Stevens comes in, and
Speaker 1: you know, he and Joe Morehead have this rapport, and
Speaker 1: Garrett Trader, this blue chip quarterback, starts getting time. I
Speaker 1: still felt pretty good about them two three weeks into
Speaker 1: the season, but the mistakes on offense and god, the
Speaker 1: last I mean I was saying the last. The entirety
Speaker 1: of that Auburn experience has me so soured on the
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen season for the Bulldogs that I have to
Speaker 1: write it off. I have to sink that take to
Speaker 1: the bottom of the ocean. Just the picks against Tennessee
Speaker 1: and coming out of a bye week, and to look
Speaker 1: that listless on offense, just mistake prone. And even when
Speaker 1: they have completed passes to their own team, they've been okay,
Speaker 1: they've been pretty good, but that's that's a pretty big qualifier.
Speaker 1: When you throw the picks that they do. So, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've been thrown on and have had, you know, the
Speaker 1: continued struggles throwing where this was the best pass defense
Speaker 1: in the SEC last season. Yeah, and they did actually
Speaker 1: have some success even though the score would indicate otherwise
Speaker 1: against LSU. I thought they did a pretty good job.
Speaker 1: They tightened up in the red zone against LSU early
Speaker 1: and it was a close game for that first half.
Speaker 1: But I just I didn't see it. I had a
Speaker 1: lot of faith that the Mississippi State team would build
Speaker 1: on last year's experience and they haven't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Tennessee game on the road, granted, on the
Speaker 3: road in Tennessee not the easiest place in the world
Speaker 3: to play with that offense. Oh, but offense was abysmal.
Speaker 3: Ten points against Tennessee is.
Speaker 1: Just not good enough. Three picks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you look at the schedule now, they've already got
Speaker 3: four losses. They've lost three in a row at Texas,
Speaker 3: A and M. This coming week, there's a road to
Speaker 3: bil against Arkansas in there, which should hopefully be a
Speaker 3: win for their sake, a bye with then they come
Speaker 3: back home against Alabama. They've got a game in there
Speaker 3: against Abilene Christian they should win that one easily. Then
Speaker 3: they close out with the Egg Bowl. Yeah at home.
Speaker 3: So I don't think it's a foregone conclusion at this
Speaker 3: point that Mississippi State's making a bowl game at all,
Speaker 3: which is not a good look for Joe moorehead in
Speaker 3: year two. Certainly, the line has not helped these quarterbacks much,
Speaker 3: but no, you could argue the quarterbacks haven't helped the
Speaker 3: quarterbacks much either. True, So it's just not really been
Speaker 3: a great situation. We talk about Michigan's disorganized offense, this
Speaker 3: is sort of on a whole different level. It just
Speaker 3: feels like they don't know at all what's going on,
Speaker 3: and the quarterbacks in particular have not helped.
Speaker 1: I've liked Garrett Schrader some. I think there is promise there,
Speaker 1: you know, being thrown in as a true freshman freshman truths,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about, they're just going to be lumpy moments. Ah.
Speaker 1: I just thought everything else around him would be okay. Well,
Speaker 1: just thought they'd be led by defense and Kylon Hill.
Speaker 1: But now you can just stack the box. You can
Speaker 1: stack the box that the passing threat just doesn't really exist.
Speaker 3: It doesn't. And to further your point, Garrett Strader. You
Speaker 3: look at the way he's built, the way he can move,
Speaker 3: got a pretty good arm. He would be should be
Speaker 3: the prototypical Joe moorehead quarterback. He would seemingly fit exactly
Speaker 3: what they're.
Speaker 1: Trying to do. Definitely, why it hasn't clicked.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know if it's the line.
Speaker 3: I don't know what's going on, but it certainly has
Speaker 3: not clicked. And we can sink this one to the
Speaker 3: bottom of the ocean. Dan, I don't where do we
Speaker 3: come down on Joe moorehead twenty twenty and beyond at
Speaker 3: Mississippi State, because right now we've got rumors about the
Speaker 3: whole Rutgers opening. Maybe he'd kind of a weird rumor
Speaker 3: to begin with, but we know he's got familiarity with
Speaker 3: the Northeast.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if he has familiarity with the Northeast, that's why
Speaker 1: he shouldn't go to exactly. And as as much talent
Speaker 1: as they're actually is in New Jersey, there isn't talent
Speaker 1: overall running the Rutgers athletic department. It's just a terrible situation.
Speaker 1: So I think he's smart enough not to jump to Rutgers.
Speaker 1: I like Joe Morehead. I like his ability. I think
Speaker 1: he should resonate with recruits. He should be able to
Speaker 1: improve a culture if it needs improving, which obviously, after
Speaker 1: the way they've lost this year, Mississippi State probably does.
Speaker 1: He's resonating with recruits. They have a top twenty class
Speaker 1: at the moment they have. It looks like six or
Speaker 1: seven blue chip guys committed verbally right now. And I'm
Speaker 1: still going to say because of that home environment, because
Speaker 1: of his intellect, I'm willing to write it off as
Speaker 1: you know, whiffing on the Tommy Stevens thing, and see
Speaker 1: that's pushing the chips in with Garrett Strader and hoping
Speaker 1: for the best in terms of developing guys on defense
Speaker 1: with what I still think is a pretty good defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator in Bob Shoot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if Tommy Stevens thing didn't work out, this was
Speaker 3: always a risk. Yeah, the defensive component is quite troubling,
Speaker 3: but yeah, you know, it is what it is at
Speaker 3: this point. So we're gonna sync that to the bottom
Speaker 3: of the ocean. You gave me three shots at you
Speaker 3: before I hit one, so I'm just gonna let you
Speaker 3: go until you until you get one.
Speaker 1: Dan Okay, I guess A two before. Uh let's go
Speaker 1: C two because I got a B two last time. Nope,
Speaker 1: all right, now gotta get away from two. Uh C one.
Speaker 1: You got it, You got it, all right?
Speaker 3: This, I think will be an interesting discussion between you
Speaker 3: and I. I came into the season and I don't
Speaker 3: know if I ever formally verbalized this.
Speaker 1: I think you when we when we talked about tears. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's right.
Speaker 3: We talked did nauseam before the season, even during the
Speaker 3: season about the tiers of college football programs in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 3: and I sort of came into the season with it
Speaker 3: being a foregone conclusion that it was gonna be Alabama
Speaker 3: and Clemson playing for the national championship, and that one
Speaker 3: of those two teams is gonna win. And obviously if
Speaker 3: they play, someone's got to win. But I didn't really
Speaker 3: give anyone else a chance. Ohio State starting over in
Speaker 3: some respect with the new coach. Oklahoma, the defense has
Speaker 3: been mud the last couple of years. Hasn't really mattered
Speaker 3: how good they.
Speaker 1: All light is actually a little bit better than what
Speaker 1: Oklahoma's defense might put them teams through. I think that's right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there have been other teams right that you could
Speaker 3: throw in there as well, just like I didn't give
Speaker 3: anybody else a chance LSU. LSU plays in the same
Speaker 3: division as Alabama. I didn't give them a chance. Well, now, Dan,
Speaker 3: here we are through eight weeks of the season, and
Speaker 3: you can make a really good case for Ohio State,
Speaker 3: certainly with where their offense is and how their defense
Speaker 3: has improved from a year ago. I think they're number
Speaker 3: one in the SP. Plus if I look correctly, you've
Speaker 3: got Oklahoma playing as good, if not better than they
Speaker 3: ever have on offense, with an improved defense now that
Speaker 3: they brought Alex grinchover from Ohio State, and the LSU story,
Speaker 3: which again hint, nudge, nudge, we may actually talk about
Speaker 3: here momentarily, but the offense has been dynamic. Defense sad
Speaker 3: defense hasn't been as good, but offensively they've been light
Speaker 3: in the world on fire. I think you can make
Speaker 3: a really good case for those five teams as your
Speaker 3: top tier of college football in this twenty nineteen And
Speaker 3: that means no disrespect to Alabama, who has been outstanding
Speaker 3: behind to a tongue of Iiloa Naji Harris, and of
Speaker 3: course they're incredible wide receiving core and a really good
Speaker 3: defense has some injury but are still a really good defense.
Speaker 3: And the Clemson Tigers, which honestly, Trevor Lawrence has let
Speaker 3: me down a little bit this year. You know, I
Speaker 3: still think he's incredible. I still think he's got to
Speaker 3: be the top pick of the twenty twenty one draft,
Speaker 3: but has left me a little bit underwhelmed so far
Speaker 3: this year. The defense is good, obviously, the skilled talents
Speaker 3: out there, they've been killing teams. But I think right
Speaker 3: now that is my top tier. I'm willing to sink
Speaker 3: that previous assumption to the bottom of the ocean and
Speaker 3: say that I think, legit, we've got a five team
Speaker 3: race through eight.
Speaker 1: So what's more pronounced to you the fact that Alabama
Speaker 1: and Clemson haven't distanced themselves on their own tier, like
Speaker 1: something that they've done to themselves that they've been able
Speaker 1: to control, or the fact that the teams that you
Speaker 1: mentioned Oklahoma, LSU, and Ohio State have impressed you so
Speaker 1: much that you have to put them on. It's definitely
Speaker 1: Alabama Clemson thing or the other three things.
Speaker 3: It's the other three thing. It's the other three thing.
Speaker 3: With what LSU has been able to do on offense,
Speaker 3: taking the college football world by storm. They've got the
Speaker 3: second best offense according to some of the metrics we
Speaker 3: look at. Nobody saw that coming. I don't care how
Speaker 3: much you believed in what they were going to try
Speaker 3: and do this year. Nobody saw this for Joe Burrow
Speaker 3: big school record halfway through the year.
Speaker 1: No one saw this offense producing at this clip. So
Speaker 1: literally showing their butt to the.
Speaker 3: World, literally showing their butt to the world, Oklahoma. I
Speaker 3: think we expected the offense, but as we said the
Speaker 3: last two years, just marginal improvement on defense would take
Speaker 3: them to a different stratosphere. Yeah, I think they've done that.
Speaker 3: And in Ohio State. Look, Ohio State's playing next level.
Speaker 3: Justin fields has been, as rabal Or Daine has told
Speaker 3: us time and again, maybe the best quarterback in Ohio
Speaker 3: State history ever through like seven games or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So yeah, I'm very impressed by what I've seen
Speaker 1: from those three teams. So I think it's both. And
Speaker 1: I don't think you touched on some of the conarning
Speaker 1: parts of Clemson and Alabama enough. I think those three
Speaker 1: teams that you mentioned, I think are instilling a lot
Speaker 1: more confidence at this point than either Alabama or Clemson. Now,
Speaker 1: neither one of those teams has been tested by a
Speaker 1: top tier, uber talented team. They both played Texas A
Speaker 1: and M. I believe that's a common opponent. But Alabama
Speaker 1: has given up more on defense than we're used to,
Speaker 1: and honestly, it's such a tight rope. The margin for
Speaker 1: air is so slim when you're basically revamping a coaching
Speaker 1: staff every year, dealing with injuries and playing freshmen. And
Speaker 1: now it's a great problem to have if you're Alabama
Speaker 1: that you're still Nick Saban hiring who he wants and
Speaker 1: recruiting who he wants, not a matter of who's going
Speaker 1: to go there. And Clemson, I wonder if there's an
Speaker 1: element of what's the line from social network, like do
Speaker 1: I have your attention like you have the minimal amount
Speaker 1: of my attention. I wonder if the medium size of
Speaker 1: Clemson's schedule has Clemson minds wandering like you just you're
Speaker 1: not going to get the focus. We've seen them have
Speaker 1: to take on what Lamar Jackson. We've seen them had
Speaker 1: to take on a good Virginia Tech team that was
Speaker 1: within what a touchdown in the a SEC Championship a
Speaker 1: few years ago. We've seen you know, Miami, Miami teams,
Speaker 1: Florida State teams, and there's just I don't think there's
Speaker 1: anybody that is captivating to Clemson in the acc that.
Speaker 1: I think it starts affecting the way that they're focused.
Speaker 1: I think it starts affecting the way that you get
Speaker 1: punched early on in the season and it wakes you
Speaker 1: up and you're really locked in, right, and I did.
Speaker 1: Clemson's not there and I don't know if they will
Speaker 1: be until they make it to the playoff. It didn't
Speaker 1: really affect them last year they beat Notre Dame by
Speaker 1: twenty said.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's the cautionary tale because we said the
Speaker 3: same thing almost verbatim about Clemson a year ago. And
Speaker 3: how do they have the killer instinct? They they've been
Speaker 3: killing teams simple that one point victory on the road
Speaker 3: at North Carolina destroyed Florida State. Just beat Louisville by
Speaker 3: thirty five. On the remaining schedule, Boston College, Wafford, anc
Speaker 3: and Wake before a more interesting game than you might
Speaker 3: have expected to be honest against South Carolina.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the Clemson. The The Clemson roster, though last
Speaker 1: year was filled with dudes who had been through those wars. Look,
Speaker 1: you look up all three levels of the defense. You
Speaker 1: look at some of the offensive lineman Mitch Hyatt. These
Speaker 1: guys that you know are are leaders that are able
Speaker 1: to keep a team locked in, and it's just it
Speaker 1: feels like a transition here for Clemson. Doesn't mean they
Speaker 1: can't win the National champions no, exactly, but the feeling
Speaker 1: that the moment we're recording this, there is a different
Speaker 1: feel there is you know, the coaches are trying to
Speaker 1: work in as many players as possible in close, closer games,
Speaker 1: you know, against North Carolina in the first half, or
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence is going a little bit rogue to see
Speaker 1: what he can get away with throwing into coverage that
Speaker 1: it just it feels like there's a little bit of
Speaker 1: boredom until they can get onto a bigger stage. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And by the way, just to clarify the reason I
Speaker 3: say South Carolina is a little bit more interesting than
Speaker 3: I think, it's because they beat Georgia and I didn't
Speaker 3: think South Carolina had that in them. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're going to beat Clemson.
Speaker 3: The game is at home, but I know let me,
Speaker 3: let me let me ask you this and then we'll
Speaker 3: move on here.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Is this the new norm now in college football? Where
Speaker 3: we've been used to talking about Alabama Clemson the last
Speaker 3: couple of seasons, Is it the new norm now that
Speaker 3: we're going to talk about Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, we
Speaker 3: can throw Georgia in the mix as well, in that
Speaker 3: very top tier of college football teams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so. I don't think there's a team
Speaker 1: right now that I see as being a full time
Speaker 1: threat for years moving forward, just because of the level
Speaker 1: of talent, and Georgia is sort of teetering right now,
Speaker 1: at least at the time we're recording this. But I
Speaker 1: would certainly have Ohio State right there. I would certainly
Speaker 1: have LSU right there. And here's the thing about LSU,
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll get to LSU later.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the board, but there's something if you're
Speaker 1: looking long term at the Tigers, you go to Alabama,
Speaker 1: You're like, Okay, you can be the next to uh great,
Speaker 1: they have a five star quarterback, they've got to his
Speaker 1: little brother. You can be the next Dwayne Haskins. Justin
Speaker 1: Field's transfers there, you can be the next Marcus Mariota.
Speaker 1: You can be the next Matt Lioner. You can LSU
Speaker 1: finally has that they have never had that in the
Speaker 1: modern era of some guy who's there multiple years producing
Speaker 1: on a high level. You can be the next Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow is a selling point that LSU has not had
Speaker 1: in the modern era, and that to me feels very dangerous. Okay,
Speaker 1: shall we move on? Sure, you can be the next Kyler,
Speaker 1: you can be the next Maker Mayfield, great Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: is there? All right? So is it my guess or
Speaker 1: you're okay?
Speaker 3: I guessed D one last time. We'll move off the
Speaker 3: D comn. We'll go to I'll go I'll go A one.
Speaker 3: All right, you missed it? Look in, look in.
Speaker 1: What have I already had? I've already had a C.
Speaker 1: I'll go D callum D three D three?
Speaker 3: Huh no, no, no, okay, I am going B three.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: What do we got? So the take that I'm going
Speaker 1: to send to the bottom of the ocean I had
Speaker 1: and this was I'll qualify it. This was a worst
Speaker 1: case thing for me. Pitt may win as few as
Speaker 1: four games. Hey, we caught hell for this one.
Speaker 3: Well, they just won their fifth We caught hell for
Speaker 3: this one from some fans who actually listened to the show.
Speaker 1: Yeah we did, and I am wrong. I am. I mean,
Speaker 1: the worst case has now been eclipsed. Now. Pitt has
Speaker 1: had a very strange season. They lose late, but with
Speaker 1: a chance to beat Penn State right with a hail
Speaker 1: Mary that in the back of the end zone to
Speaker 1: tie it, they lose light there they demonstrably lose to Virginia.
Speaker 1: They win in very strange fashion to an underwhelming Duke team.
Speaker 1: I think that was on the road, strange game, but
Speaker 1: a decent enough win at Syracuse and the Carrier Dome
Speaker 1: always tough on a Friday night. And their defense has
Speaker 1: been the best thing in the coastal. It's either their
Speaker 1: defense of Virginia's defense, their defense especially doing one specific
Speaker 1: thing well, which is just causing havoc, which is an
Speaker 1: actual status, you know, tackles for loss and sacks and
Speaker 1: force fumble stuff like that. They are riddling teams with
Speaker 1: havoc and the defensive front is so strong, especially on
Speaker 1: the inside. I'm gonna stand by my doubts on the
Speaker 1: offense because I think the offense is still full on bad.
Speaker 1: But if you do something really really well in the
Speaker 1: coastal it goes a long way. And I was also
Speaker 1: down on this defense. It has been an underwhelming defense
Speaker 1: these past few years with you know, a defensive a
Speaker 1: successful defensive coach and Pat nardoozy, and they now look
Speaker 1: like a top twenty five, top thirty defense nationally. And
Speaker 1: again they harm teams. Yeah, that's good enough, and I
Speaker 1: didn't see it coming.
Speaker 3: Here's what I find interesting about Pitt other than the
Speaker 3: reasons that you just outlined. Yeah, maybe the most eclectic
Speaker 3: named wide receiver corp and all of college football.
Speaker 1: We got Maurice French leading the way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, with fifty six catches. That's French with two f's
Speaker 3: at the double yep, Tay, Sir Mack you Mac to
Speaker 3: seer Mac, excuse me, Nikiyah, Griffin Stewart, will grag, Dontavious Butler, Jenkins, Shocky,
Speaker 3: Jacques Louie. Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1: Got some interesting names in there, Yeah, DBJ, SJL NNGS
Speaker 1: and GS is it tight end by the way, good
Speaker 1: team on defense.
Speaker 3: On defense, playing a lot of close games, a lot
Speaker 3: of close times.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a weird back half of their schedule.
Speaker 1: I see a lot of thirty to twenty nine's a
Speaker 1: lot of nineteen eighteen's a lot of you know, the
Speaker 1: acc regrets the error kind of games. The back five
Speaker 1: games of their schedule, it's Miami at Georgia Tech should
Speaker 1: be Georgia Tech, even it's on the road. Virginia Tech
Speaker 1: on the road should be tough for them. North Carolina
Speaker 1: feels like a toss up. I also think that they've
Speaker 1: already played three times and Boston College without Anthony Brown,
Speaker 1: so I winning two or three of them seven eight.
Speaker 3: Wins not bad race, seems realistic. All five of those
Speaker 3: games are projected as one score games. Wow, okay, all
Speaker 3: five projected as one score games, and they've already played
Speaker 3: in one, two, three, four five. Five of their seven
Speaker 3: games so far been one score games.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And that Delaware game, that close call against Delaware,
Speaker 1: I think was with Nick Patty, their backup quarterback playing.
Speaker 1: But yeah, right, this is pit games are just me
Speaker 1: entertaining all year long, like South Carolina last season, where
Speaker 1: they're just it's going to be competitive one way or
Speaker 1: the other. Might get a Kenny Pickett like three hundred
Speaker 1: yard game. Maybe not, maybe not. Okay, my turn to guess.
Speaker 1: I believe your turn to guess. Yes, right, let's go
Speaker 1: a four, A four not you know what, I'll give
Speaker 1: you another one.
Speaker 3: You're sniffing, though, you're getting rid am I you're oh,
Speaker 3: you're sniffing, you are sniffing.
Speaker 1: Let's I think I did a two N a four.
Speaker 1: So let's do a let down, look ahead, sandwich here
Speaker 1: with a three. There it is. He got it.
Speaker 3: You got the LSU one. Oh, you finally got it.
Speaker 3: God bless you finally got it. So you The preseason
Speaker 3: assumption for me was that LSU's offensive upgrade that we
Speaker 3: heard about, right, the shiny new offense that opening things up. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that was opening things up. It was gonna be new
Speaker 3: and revolutionary and different in the Bayou. And yeah, I
Speaker 3: just felt like it was BS. I felt like it
Speaker 3: was BS because how many times before have we heard
Speaker 3: about some sort of LSU offensive change or upgrade or
Speaker 3: a new twist or wrinkle that was gonna make it better?
Speaker 3: And how many time I'm gonna lose the weight This time, ty,
Speaker 3: I'm really gonna do it. I'm gonna get back together,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna eat better, I'm gonna work out all the time,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna get off the couch. This is the year
Speaker 3: my new year's resolution of a wide open offensive life
Speaker 3: plan comes together. Previous attempts at this had left a
Speaker 3: lot to be desired. So the skepticism I don't think
Speaker 3: was unwarranted. They've had issues on offense for a long time.
Speaker 3: It's been a thing, it's been a thing, and it's
Speaker 3: just the defense has been so good that you you
Speaker 3: can paper over the offense right. Well, Coach O makes
Speaker 3: the decision, gonna make some renovations. Hurt a lot about it.
Speaker 3: Every now and then, Dan, we have pleasant surprises like
Speaker 3: this in college football where we do some grandiose plan works.
Speaker 3: If you told me before the year that we'd be
Speaker 3: midway through, Joe Burrow would have twenty nine touchdown passes
Speaker 3: instead of school record Joey Dirt, by the way, completing
Speaker 3: eighty percent of his passes seventy nine point four percent.
Speaker 3: Excuse me to be exact, filthy, seventy nine point four
Speaker 3: percent of two hundred and eighteen attempts have been completion
Speaker 3: so far for Joey Dirt.
Speaker 1: That's like two thousand and eight Colt McCoy level.
Speaker 3: Yeah, his receivers have been money justin Jefferson has caught
Speaker 3: ninety percent of his targets.
Speaker 1: Oh god, I don't know what the advertise.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know what the averages in college football,
Speaker 3: but that ain't it?
Speaker 1: Okay? Right?
Speaker 3: Five hundred and thirty yards a game. I believe I
Speaker 3: might have saw at least fifty.
Speaker 1: Points a game. I don't know if that's right or not,
Speaker 1: but it could be.
Speaker 3: This has been by any measure, any metric, and incredible success.
Speaker 3: So I hereby sink all of that skepticism to the
Speaker 3: bottom of the sea. Bury it in the Marianas Trench,
Speaker 3: whatever it's called, in the middle of the Atlantic.
Speaker 1: Good call. Just bury it down there.
Speaker 3: And I am happy to progress in this new world
Speaker 3: where LSU has the offense. Their receivers are finally being
Speaker 3: tapped into in a meaningful way, and suddenly we've got
Speaker 3: a new contender that has risen in the SEC West.
Speaker 1: Well, it always seemed like they had the talent to
Speaker 1: do this, and maybe it's not specific for this style
Speaker 1: of offense, like you're not going to take Leonard Fournette
Speaker 1: and turn him into a full on, all purpose back
Speaker 1: and split them out. And you you know, when you
Speaker 1: have a talent like that perhaps you have to run
Speaker 1: a power centric offense. I get that, but you'll always
Speaker 1: have speed. You should always be able to recruit linemen.
Speaker 1: This is an LSU program that consistently, through thick and thin,
Speaker 1: is recruiting top four, six seven classes. Right. Sure, So
Speaker 1: this wasn't an overhaul like Michigan was so entrenched in
Speaker 1: older offensive ways and Michigan has struggled to move the
Speaker 1: ball like LSU has. But just the amount of team
Speaker 1: speed does not feel like it's equal in ann Arbor.
Speaker 1: This was always lurking ty, much like isn't it Godzilla
Speaker 1: sitting under the trenches under japan AfOR all these monsters
Speaker 1: are always there. You know that they're there to I guess,
Speaker 1: protect humanity, and I guess the same way Joe Brady
Speaker 1: is here to protect our eyes and give us fun
Speaker 1: football to watch. Yeah, but it wasn't an overhaul. It
Speaker 1: was simply, let's do something that makes a little bit
Speaker 1: more sense. We have it looked what looks to be
Speaker 1: a pretty good quarterback. We saw Joe Burrow show flash
Speaker 1: is last year, make plays. We've recruited well along, you know,
Speaker 1: into the receiving corps. You know, Clyde Edwards Hilaire showed
Speaker 1: flashes last season as well. They look balanced. The big
Speaker 1: thing is it's just LSU committing to it and everybody
Speaker 1: getting on the same page. The bringing in this guy.
Speaker 1: We're overhauling. We're going to ride or die with this
Speaker 1: offensive plan, and so far it's a lot of riding tie.
Speaker 1: So to bring it full circle, it's like LSU realize
Speaker 1: that their family is entirely made up of personal trainers,
Speaker 1: that maybe they should just do the right thing and
Speaker 1: lean on the expertise and speed of everybody in their
Speaker 1: house because it always made sense.
Speaker 3: It will be interesting to see what happens moving forward
Speaker 3: into the future into twenty twenty. Yeah, so Joe Brady
Speaker 3: and Joe Burrow, Yeah, you know, we'll have to see
Speaker 3: if this is sustainable. But at least in this present
Speaker 3: iteration with Joe Burrow and a really good receiving corps,
Speaker 3: young receiving corps at that, Yeah, they've been dynamic and yeah,
Speaker 3: there are no two ways about it.
Speaker 1: And they've been healthy too. They've been healthy, arras Marshall
Speaker 1: has missed some time, and I know they've been beat up,
Speaker 1: uh defensively a little bit. But the offense by and
Speaker 1: large has had a pretty good run of health, and
Speaker 1: so I am. I'm encouraged because, as mentioned before, you
Speaker 1: can be the next Joe Burrow, you can be the
Speaker 1: next Justin Jefferson, you can be the next Jamar Chase,
Speaker 1: you can be the next Clyde whatever that they're going
Speaker 1: to be able to recruit, not necessarily better, but more accurately. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so let's bury. Let's bury that take new year, same
Speaker 1: old LSU promises unkept.
Speaker 3: I'm I'm happy to bury that one. All right, my
Speaker 3: turn here? Yeah, I will go Where was I B
Speaker 3: three last time? I will guess C one this time?
Speaker 3: That the win you're inching, But no, not quite that
Speaker 3: would have been for the win, all right? You go?
Speaker 1: Oh okay, so I did I got the A three
Speaker 1: sandwich last time? Let's go see four because it's explosive.
Speaker 3: Tied three three here, drama on the high seas. I
Speaker 3: guess I'm gonna go see.
Speaker 1: Two? Yes, yo, sonk my battleship. What do we got here? Okay?
Speaker 1: So I was skeptical and this is a team we've
Speaker 1: already mentioned a couple of times. I was skeptical of
Speaker 1: crowning Ohio State before the year, and I think I
Speaker 1: was more on board with the Michigan thing. I may
Speaker 1: even picked Michigan to come out of the Big Ten.
Speaker 1: The fact that in ann Arbor experienced quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: bringing a lot of guy back on offense. But Ohio
Speaker 1: State in hiring a new coach, in bringing in a
Speaker 1: couple of new defensive coaches, Jeff Haffley as a co coordinator,
Speaker 1: losing Greg Cchiano, bringing in Greg Mattison now Washington from Michigan.
Speaker 1: I was just thinking to myself, it feels like a
Speaker 1: lot of change, especially with throwing a transfer quarterback who's
Speaker 1: going to be immediately eligible, decorated as he was as
Speaker 1: a recruit. That I almost felt like assuming Ohio State
Speaker 1: as another ten to eleven twelve win team with all
Speaker 1: those changes, with a quarterback thrown in without any time
Speaker 1: in the system. It was a lot to ask and
Speaker 1: almost underappreciated how good Dwayne Haskins was last year to
Speaker 1: assume that there can just be another Dwayne Haskins or
Speaker 1: another great quarterback at Ohio State. So I was skeptical
Speaker 1: and I was wrong to me, because right now Ohio
Speaker 1: State looks like they're the best alley oop team that
Speaker 1: the offense is doing their own defense so many favors.
Speaker 1: The defense is doing their own offense a ton of favors.
Speaker 1: We talked about the speed and competence and just laying
Speaker 1: integrity on every play and the experience of the secondary.
Speaker 1: Damon Arnette coming back. We saw how they were affected
Speaker 1: a little bit losing Browning this past week and not
Speaker 1: playing against Northwestern. But they're just all over the place.
Speaker 1: The defense doesn't have to get all that sweaty, and
Speaker 1: that just softens up the other team's defense. And you
Speaker 1: can't say enough good things right now about where Ohio
Speaker 1: State is at just because they look like the most
Speaker 1: consistently complete team in the country. The opponents aren't there yet. No,
Speaker 1: they were not tested in a big Power five way
Speaker 1: like they had been against Oklahoma those couple times, or
Speaker 1: even TCU last season at least when we thought tc
Speaker 1: was gonna be pretty good. So I am very curious
Speaker 1: about the back half of their schedule with you know,
Speaker 1: some seriously good defenses. But they've passed every test with
Speaker 1: a plus plus colors justin fields so far. Yeah, seventy
Speaker 1: percent of his passes, seventy point seven percent of his
Speaker 1: passes excuse me, have been completions twenty two touchdown passes
Speaker 1: to just one interception, which is amazing first year as
Speaker 1: a starter. And he's also run for a little over
Speaker 1: seven yards a clip and eight touchdowns. That's a pretty
Speaker 1: big footprint, especially when combined with JK. Dobbins, who's also
Speaker 1: rushing for over seven yards at a clip with seven
Speaker 1: touchdowns of his own, especially when you look at some
Speaker 1: of these wide receivers who are doing their part to
Speaker 1: catch most of their targets. Yeah, no standout, There no
Speaker 1: standard way that they've had these past couple years. No
Speaker 1: above and beyond number one option and you know.
Speaker 3: But very consistent, but very consistent. And part of that
Speaker 3: is obviously due to what Justin Fields is able to
Speaker 3: do and his accuracy throwing the football. But it's just
Speaker 3: a really consistent effort across the board. To your point,
Speaker 3: it's not just the offense, it's not just the defense.
Speaker 3: It is both of them working in tandem, which I
Speaker 3: think has been so impressive to me.
Speaker 1: If they are the most complete team in the country,
Speaker 1: how would you game plan? What does a win over
Speaker 1: Ohio State look like? If it is a team that
Speaker 1: is not Alabama or Clemson or Oklahoma that you know
Speaker 1: the team's remaining on their schedule, which I'm sure you
Speaker 1: have in front of you, because this is an item
Speaker 1: of yours. Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan are the big ones. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what is that recipe? What is the guideline to beating
Speaker 1: a team this complete?
Speaker 3: Well, you've certainly got to have a power defense, and
Speaker 3: there are three of them here. There are three of
Speaker 3: them in Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan. You got to
Speaker 3: do something to disrupt that timing that Justin Fields has
Speaker 3: right now, mm hmm. You've got to have enough speed
Speaker 3: as a defense that you can contend with his legs,
Speaker 3: and I think all three have that as well. So
Speaker 3: I think it starts up front. You've got to do
Speaker 3: something to create this disruption, and you also have to
Speaker 3: be very thrifty with the football. I don't think Jack
Speaker 3: Cone is that quarterback. Shaye Patterson probably isn't that quarterback,
Speaker 3: And to be honest, I don't know if Sean Clifford
Speaker 3: is either. I don't know how much I trust any
Speaker 3: of them to not make mistakes against a really good,
Speaker 3: really fast defense. Can you run the football effectively against
Speaker 3: Ohio State Michigan hasn't been great running the football. Now,
Speaker 3: Wisconsin is pretty good in most cases. Penn State still
Speaker 3: a work in progress. We don't know what kind of
Speaker 3: voodoo they're working on. So I have questions about all
Speaker 3: three of those opponents. I think you got to create
Speaker 3: some disruption though on defense, otherwise you have no chance.
Speaker 1: I think the answer is Wisconsin, and this is this week,
Speaker 1: so we'll preview it. It's slowing the game down. It's
Speaker 1: getting to third and two and getting every single one
Speaker 1: of those third and two's. It's wearing down defenses, getting
Speaker 1: them frustrated, keeping the offense off the field, and making
Speaker 1: honestly making justin field see ghosts. My favorite phrase from
Speaker 1: last season. It's having a defense that can show one
Speaker 1: thing and then drop into another. And not that Wisconsin
Speaker 1: necessarily plays the most convoluted, complicated defense. I think Jim
Speaker 1: Leonard's done an incredible job. And you see the teams
Speaker 1: that they're able to shut out, which to me, even
Speaker 1: though they're not all great teams, they shut out Michigan State.
Speaker 1: That's not insignificant. And there's so much focus and there's
Speaker 1: so much tenacity to this Wisconsin defense. Even with the
Speaker 1: Illinois loss in the way that they lost, I still
Speaker 1: think the high end of Wisconsin is probably the most
Speaker 1: likely upset candidate because of the way that they can
Speaker 1: limit possessions potentially, and if they can get those third
Speaker 1: and shorts, No, that's dangered. And like we saw what
Speaker 1: Army did against Oklahoma last season, where all of a
Speaker 1: sudden you have seven possessions to win instead of your
Speaker 1: normal fourteen. That to me is the interesting way to
Speaker 1: beat Ohio State. And it's a hard it's an impossible tightrope,
Speaker 1: but that's the tightrope.
Speaker 3: I think we're both in agreement that based on their
Speaker 3: blue chip ratio, their number of just really highly regarded
Speaker 3: recruits that have come through Columbus, combined with the fact
Speaker 3: that the new coach isn't going anywhere and Justin Fields
Speaker 3: has got at least another year, I think we feel
Speaker 3: pretty good about Ohio State and the health of this
Speaker 3: program in the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, All right, Dan, So, I guess technically I've won.
Speaker 3: But there's one more here, all right, one more for you.
Speaker 3: We're completests. Yes, I did see.
Speaker 1: Four last time for explosives B four because it's a word. Now,
Speaker 1: this is just getting embarrassing. This is garbage time.
Speaker 3: Just start plowing through all the rows, now, okay, D
Speaker 3: four D four.
Speaker 1: Here we go close to d fod. Here we go
Speaker 1: going out on a high note. Here across the finish line.
Speaker 1: Everybody's given me sympathy, applause. I am burying to the
Speaker 1: bottom of the ocean my long standing relationship with TCU. Oh,
Speaker 1: don't do it. I am burying it. Dan, I'm out.
Speaker 1: It's a setback, Tie, it's a setback.
Speaker 3: I went pretty close to the line of saying that
Speaker 3: TCU is back. Of course, we all remember their legendary
Speaker 3: cheese at Bowl victory over Cal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and.
Speaker 3: We knew the stat going into this year that TCU
Speaker 3: usually follows up seasons like last year with something like
Speaker 3: ten or eleven wins.
Speaker 1: Right, they get their act together, they.
Speaker 3: Get it together, and especially this year with seven starters
Speaker 3: back on offense. Plus, they were really banged up last
Speaker 3: year to the point where they didn't even have a
Speaker 3: spring game this year.
Speaker 1: Because average out things, you know, health would have suddenly
Speaker 1: progress to a reasonable level.
Speaker 3: So there was a lot to be excited about there.
Speaker 3: Plus in terms of yardage allowed on a per game basis,
Speaker 3: and per play basis. Last year, TCU was the best
Speaker 3: in the Big twelve conference, so there were signs there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they finished with the top twenty five to thirty
Speaker 1: defense something like that.
Speaker 3: They have three freaks on Bruce Felman's annual Freak list,
Speaker 3: like there was there was a lot to be excited
Speaker 3: about this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, their frea quotient was quite high.
Speaker 3: Well, Daniel three and three at the moment. Yeah, the
Speaker 3: defense has given up a ton of big plays.
Speaker 1: On offense. They cannot throw. We saw that skillet matchup, Tye.
Speaker 1: We all saw it. We all saw it.
Speaker 3: You might say, well, they don't They don't throw because
Speaker 3: they've got really good running backs and it's not an
Speaker 3: offense based on the pass. And sure, maybe maybe I
Speaker 3: agree to an extent, but when they have to throw,
Speaker 3: they really stink.
Speaker 1: They're just not good at it.
Speaker 3: No, they've got five losable games left against Texas, Oklahoma State, Baylor,
Speaker 3: Texas Tech, and Oklahoma. I could see any one of
Speaker 3: those being a loss.
Speaker 4: I'm not saying they're going to lose all of them,
Speaker 4: but eight losses. Eight losses is very much a at least outside.
Speaker 3: Chance at this point for TCU. That's that's the depths
Speaker 3: to which we have unfortunately now progressed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can't wait fun quarterback. You just this is
Speaker 1: the most obvious statement that perhaps we'll ever make. But
Speaker 1: they've had what one and a half good quarterbacks since Yeah,
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton, you had a really high level Trevon Boykin,
Speaker 1: and I think a definitely good Kenny Trill. But they
Speaker 1: I mean the Sewn Robinson thing, Justin Rodgers and his injury.
Speaker 1: They've recruited it seems well, but it's just you can't whiff.
Speaker 1: And I know they're starting a true freshman. I know
Speaker 1: that they are going to be issues, but they still
Speaker 1: have two really good running backs Darius Anderson and Shawo
Speaker 1: alone Shawoh Alona Lua got it, I got it, you
Speaker 1: got it. And this is not a tough big twelve year.
Speaker 1: This is not loaded for bear with like, oh this
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and over four thousand yards this quarterbacks and throw
Speaker 1: four thousand yards. Well, Greer's gone, Alan Bowman's hurt at
Speaker 1: Texas Tech. Sam Ellinger is still good, Jalen Hurts is
Speaker 1: really good. Brock Purty dropped fifty on them, but the
Speaker 1: rest of their schedule Spencer Sanders, Charlie Brew is good.
Speaker 1: Austin Kendall, Like, this is a schedule that should not
Speaker 1: have been a navigation issue. Losing to Kansas State year
Speaker 1: one of Chris Clemon, Skyler Thompson. It shouldn't be happening
Speaker 1: with the with how complete in terms of talent they
Speaker 1: look at times, but at times is not. The problem
Speaker 1: is also they're devolving into a pseudo half team. Tie.
Speaker 1: Exactly are they? Exactly? Is I just thought of something
Speaker 1: so mean, but I have to get out of my system.
Speaker 1: Tie are they fort Western? I'm a bad person. I
Speaker 1: regret it, but I had to. I had to expunge
Speaker 1: it from my brain.
Speaker 3: All I know is I look at what this team
Speaker 3: has done, and I hate to focus too much on
Speaker 3: the passing game. I look at what this team has done,
Speaker 3: and I see that Max Duggan has nine touchdowns to
Speaker 3: zero interceptions, Alex Delton only one interception on the year.
Speaker 1: Maybe the ter quarterback run of the season Max Douck.
Speaker 3: Their quarterbacks have a nine to one ratio. Why does
Speaker 3: it feel like they're not getting enough out of that
Speaker 3: passing game? And I know they're focused a lot on
Speaker 3: Darius Anderson and what's his name? Shawoh on Alulu Alua. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I got it, sort of. I know they're focused on that,
Speaker 3: but it does feel like they're almost evolved into a
Speaker 3: bit of a half offense as well, and sure, that's
Speaker 3: just no way to go about winning games. TCU for
Speaker 3: a long time was sort of like my favorite Big
Speaker 3: twelve team. They've let me down so much now that
Speaker 3: I don't know how I feel about them moving forward,
Speaker 3: and I'm very disgruntled.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, ty, but I'm glad we got to talk
Speaker 1: it out. Bury that love to the bottom of the sea,
Speaker 1: and it's time to move on. We have we have
Speaker 1: abandoned all Central Time Zone purple teams. Yes, we have
Speaker 1: a certain ETCU and Kansas State's got Actually they're a
Speaker 1: good story, all right. There we go down.
Speaker 2: Battleship, great game, Barnez.
Speaker 3: Battleship now officially in the books here on the twos cruise.
Speaker 1: Did you see the Battleship movie?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: I didn't. I did not either. I looked up the
Speaker 1: Wikipedia plot and that was enough. Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, not not not, definitely an appointment movie.
Speaker 1: Types of spent two hundred and twenty million and domestically
Speaker 1: made fifty six. That is not good. I think it
Speaker 1: made up some money internationally, tie, but it was like
Speaker 1: five people from Friday Night Lights, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, a
Speaker 1: guy from True Blood, and the movie involved aliens and
Speaker 1: force fields, proposals being dishonorably discharged, and war games. So okay,
Speaker 1: yeah that was battleship apparently, well.
Speaker 3: This was our NAZ battleship. Yeah, way better. Thank you
Speaker 3: to each and all for downloading the show. I am
Speaker 3: your captain, Ty hilden Brand. He is Lieutenant Dan Rubinstein.
Speaker 3: We will be back on Thursday to preview all of
Speaker 3: your week nine action. In the meantime, Daniel, enjoy the
Speaker 3: next couple days. I'll talk to you soon, okay, I
Speaker 3: hope so fair sees may tees. I'm Ty, He's Dan.
Speaker 3: Catch you all on Thursday morning and meant stance up
Speaker 3: peace