AP Poll Reactions, Dunzo Teams & Early Week 3 Predictions | College Football

We're just a few weeks into the college football season and the picture is just starting to come into focus. In this college football podcast episode, we react to the latest AP Poll and our own Verballer Top 12 rankings, questioning whether voters are being bold enough with early-season movement. Should teams like USF be ranked higher after their impressive wins? And are teams like Penn State and Georgia too high?

We also bring back our beloved "Dunzo or Not Dunzo" segment to evaluate teams -- Arizona State, Kansas State, Virginia Tech and others -- that might already be cooked relative to preseason expectations. Finally, we dive deep into three massive Week 3 matchups: Georgia at Tennessee in a battle of undefeateds, Florida trying to bounce back at LSU in Death Valley, and Texas A&M visiting Notre Dame in what could be a statement game for both programs.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
4:27 - AP Poll Reactions & Verballer Top 12 Reveal
16:11 - Dunzo or Not Dunzo
44:16 - Early Lookaheads
45:36 - Georgia vs Tennessee Preview
52:13 - Florida vs LSU Preview
59:56 - Texas A&M vs Notre Dame Preview

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the solid verbal hum ah for me, I'm
a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well,
I want to be happy. You want to be happy
for a day? Edith state is that? Whoo whoom and.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
No den and tie.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Dan Rubinstein news flash.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Uh oh, it's already gonna be Week three?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Can you believe it? I can. I can because as
the years go by, my body responds more slowly to
staying up into the wee hours of Saturday night, Sunday morning,
and Monday is when I fully recover. So I really
have an acute sense of how much time I've put
in late at night. So I love putting in the time.

(00:46):
Let's be clear, it's the most fun I have all
week when we get to react to games on the
fly at midnight Eastern time each Saturday night. But yeah,
I'm like late stage Dave Winfields just gutting out single
like you when you watch Dave Winfield run for whoever
he played for, Like this is what the kids respond to, right,

(01:07):
Dave Winfield references.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
A lot of Dave Winfield references yet football.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Player two, sports star Yeah right, yep, where you're just like, man,
I know what his knees feel like just watching him
stand forget running. So that's how I feel emotionally come
Sundays and maybe early Monday mornings. So yes, I know
it's week three. TI here we are.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
I've compared it to being a running back. The deeper
you get into the season, the more the body breaks
down totally.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Of course, we're not exactly out there.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
On the field of play, but we are here in
our little verballer sphere. Welcome one, Welcome all, Thank you
for stopping on back. Week two is in the books.
We're going to take a little bit of a look back.
We're also gonna do a little bit of a look
ahead with a couple previews. Of course along the way,
do not forget to hit follow or subscribes that you
don't miss any of our episodes. Of course, verballers dot

(01:58):
com is where you can go if you want these episodes,
all of our episodes a little bit early no ads,
you can play in the games, you can vote in
the poll which we're going to talk about here momentarily,
be part of the community at large, and of course,
if nothing more, support what Dan and I do, help
us keep the lights on. It really does go a
long way. We appreciate we have a lot of new
people sign up over the last three weeks or so, Dan,

(02:20):
so we're eternally grateful to all y'all out there who
have chosen to support what Dan and I do. Just
know that it really truly does go a long way.
With that being said, yeah, we're going to talk through
some poll reactions, both to the AP and the Verballer
poll that are out there. We're also going to bring
back an old crowd favorite of a segment in just

(02:42):
a little bit to talk through how we're feeling about
a couple teams through two weeks of the season. We
are going to do a more extended look ahead at
week three because, as we have teased now for the
last couple weeks or so, week three is a biggin
I cannot help you if you have plans. I had
a very kind gentleman reach out to me and say,

(03:04):
I've got my kid's birthday? What do I do? Listen,
you can't skip it. You can't skip it, but we
can help you work around that in some way, shape
or form by giving you an advanced look at the
biggest games of the coming week. We will do that
a little bit later, and of course to close things out,
I will give you a preview of the games that
you get to pick this week in or run the

(03:26):
board challenge.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Oh I like that in my advice. By the way,
in that very specific scenario you've heard of breakfast for dinner,
how about breakfast for birthday? Right? All right, everybody's over
at seven am. We're doing a pancake party. Like it's
some sort of boy scout party and we're going for it.
We'll do eminem pancakes, We'll do a pinata at seven thirty,
and then everybody out. I mean it.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Sounds like three to five Eastern is when this party
is going to go down.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Okay, well that's a choice.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Then I was going to ask if the child is
young enough to not remember the birthday, and so if
maybe there are a few corners you can cut, knowing
that it won't come back to bite you down the road.
You won't be you know, giving this child any baggage
that they carry with them.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
How about instead of having the birthday party at like
a play zone or one of those type places, just
go to a sports bar, go to a sport nachos, yeah,
TVs memories, Yeah, absolutely, go to a sports bar.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, welcome back, one and all. With all of that
being said, we do have a new AP Top twenty
five out there that I wanted to get your reaction
to because there are some interesting movers and shakers. By
and large, what we see at the top is relatively static.
We've got Ohio State still at one, Penn State still
at two, LSU still all the way up at three.

(04:49):
But you're Oregon Ducks. By virtue of their big victory
sixty ninety three over Oklahoma State, they moved up two spots.
They jumped Miami, who is now at number five. Georgia
dropped a little bit. They are now down to six,
Texas at seven, Notre Dame at eight, Illinois at nine,
Florida State jumps four all the way up to number ten.

(05:10):
Some of the other big movers in this poll Oklahoma,
as you might expect, they go up five spots all
the way up to number thirteen. Tennessee in advance of
their big game against Georgia up seven spots to number fifteen.
We've also got Utah people starting to take notice of
the utes, up five now they're into the top twenty.

(05:33):
Michigan's still in the top twenty five, they drop eight.
They were the I guess biggest delta if you want
to call it that, looking at this pole. But I'm
curious to get your reaction based on this top ten,
on this top twenty. We're starting to see some situations
where teams are making themselves known and the voters seem
to be responding.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Look, I can't say that like this is how every
person should vote, But when I see polls or on
in the season, I love a preseason poll. I love
getting a sense a snapshot of where people think teams are.
Hear me out, Okay, I'll get I think I'll give
you the floor.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
We also have our own Verballer pole, which I can
read the results of shortly, but continue.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
But I think if we are going to do something
as dramatic as ranking teams based on no data, then
once we have data, things should shift dramatically. Right Like
I think right now USF should be a top ten team.
Like what more can a team do but schedule violently impressively? Right?

(06:38):
USF did that. They're playing Boise State, They're playing in
state Florida, and they have what in state Miami coming up?
Like USF has that Pat Hill mentality any team, anywhere, anytime, whatever.
So I love that for USF, they should be ranked
higher than where they are. Like, I think there should
be a collective admission of voters that like, yeah, USF

(06:58):
wasn't ranked and now they are looking like one of
these strongest teams in the sport based on the data
we have. Okay that if we're going to say Boise
is a ranked Ish team, and we're going to say
that Florida is a ranked team, then we have to
be impressed by a team beating both of those teams
more so than they've they've earned us far or they
seem to have earned us far. I would also like

(07:19):
I would I would have Penn State somewhere in the region.
But like, who they've played does not tell me that
they're one of the best teams in the country thus far,
and once they beat Oregon at home or something, vault
them up high. Right, I want to be impressed by
teams based on who they play and how they've played.
So like I'm okay with what LSU did on the
road having them this high. I'm okay with what Miami

(07:42):
did to Notre Dame with having them this high, having
Notre Dame in the top ten when they are zero
to one and have done nothing but lose a winnable
game on the road to a quality team. Notre Dame
should not be this high. Eventually they should be. But like,
I want flexibility. I want this to be a limber pole,
which not pun intended they're phrasing, but yeah, when I

(08:06):
see something like when I see Tennessee laid the lumber
against Syracuse, that's awesome, they should be a little bit higher.
Like what they did is more impressive to me than
like what Texas has done this season. Yeah, what has
Texas done this season? It hasn't looked all that impressive,
to be honest with you, But I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
I am with you. I would also add Missouri and
sure our conversation, Missoo is now into the top twenty five,
they are at number twenty five. But Missoo's looked really good. Yeah,
the two games, I think Miszoo has looked really impressive.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
I'm like, Michigan shouldn't be ranked, Like I want to
treat Michigan every year. It's its own thing, and Michigan
this year has not accomplished anything to say like, oh yeah,
they should be ranked because they looked okay for a
stretch against Oklahoma. Now get out of the pole, and
when you do something to earn a spot there, get
there at Limberpool. That's what I I'm looking for to Limberpole.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
I would also add, just in looking at the others
receiving votes category Georgia Tech, others receiving votes, Okay, Nebraska,
others receiving votes my Pitt Panthers got three votes or
three points, Vandy with only one.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
I think Vandy should have more. I think Vandy has
has earned a more concrete place in week three's top
twenty five pole than Michigan. I think that's totally fair.
I think what Mississippi State has done. If we're going
to agree in the preseason poll that Arizona State is
of quality heading into the season and then Mississippi State,
with zero expectations, takes them down and completely shuts down

(09:42):
Sam Levitt in the ASU passing game, we should be
rewarding Mississippi State with a heaping amount of attention and
spotlight based on that. And if they lose something dumb, goodbye.
But they've earned attention.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
I don't think you can say what you're saying right
now and still be in favor of preseason polls, because
what happens, and the reason that you don't see more
movement is people who vote in these things. And I'm
going to exclude our wonderful verballers because I have the
results of their poll here.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Well, they're better looking and wiser than most.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Obviously, But when people go to vote in that ap pole,
in many cases they're basing their current week's vote on
where a team was in the previous version of the pole.
There's a hesitance, in my opinion, to drop a team
too low or bump them up too high because of
where they were previously, especially in the early part of

(10:33):
the season. Where As you said, we have no information
on any of these teams, but because a team is
ranked fourth, let's say, just as an example, we can't
drop them too low. There's still probably pretty good. We
just haven't seen it that prevents the floor from falling out.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
My question is why, like, why not drop the fourth
best team in your eyes once they lose something embarrassing
to nineteen to twenty two. It's the week three pole.
It doesn't have any bearing on anything, but you can
say what you've done, did not impress me to the
point where you're nearly falling out of the pole. And
if you are able to earn back my respect and adoration,

(11:09):
then you'll get up to number eleven. Then you'll get
up to number seven, then you'll get up to number twelve, whatever. Like,
I think this should be a much more fluid situation
early on, and then as we start to accumulate data,
you can say, yeah, you were my number five team.
The loss wasn't great, but based on what I've seen,
you're like nine, we're like twelve.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Well, so now with that in mind, okay, yeah, bear
in mind that arver Baller top twelve pole. It's not
a full top twenty five though I could do that,
but we focus on the top twelve here, the dirty dozen. Yeah,
Arverballer Top twelve pole is voted on by hundreds overballers
in the span of a week. Over the course of
a year, it's well into the tens of thousands of
people that vote in this thing. I think this is

(11:50):
much more calibrated for where we're at now. Entering week three,
we've got Ohio state one, Oregon two, ahead of penn State,
which is three, which I agree with, by the way,
with how good Oregon has looked, let's you at four,
Miami at five, So more of the same teams, sure,
Georgia at six, Florida State up at seven, Texas down

(12:13):
at eight, Oklahoma up to nine, Illinois at ten, Iowa
State at eleven, and then Notre Dame barely sneaking in
at number twelve. The first five out per this poll Alabama, Clemson, Tennessee,
South Carolina, and Utah. In some cases, though not all,

(12:34):
all of the teams that I've listed there in the
first five out are ranked a little higher than where
they might be in the AP poll. That's certainly the
case for Alabama. I think that's the case for Tennessee,
definitely the case for Utah. South Carolina and Clemson both
a little bit higher in their respective polls. But nonetheless,
I think we did a good job, just as for Ballerhood,

(12:55):
putting these teams in order. That makes a little bit
more sense. Now we can make some of the same
points about this as we do the eight people. But
I agree with putting Oklahoma up at nine. With the
way that they looked against Michigan, I think they looked awesome.
I certainly agree with putting Oregon where they're at at
number two. Go back and listen to what I said
about Penn State. I don't think Penn States look that good.
Doesn't mean they won't be good by the time they

(13:16):
play Oregon, Ohio State, whoever on the schedule, but thus
far through two games, not really getting the vapors. Florida State.
Florida State absolutely deserves to be a top ten team, sure,
based on what we've seen so far. I mean, they
have looked damn impressive in this new version of themselves,
and they're going to have an opportunity to be tested
here before long. But I think Arever Bawlers did a

(13:37):
really really good job putting this together and I commend
them again. You could vote every week at for bowlers
dot com. You sign up for the certified the premium
tier out there support what we do. You also get
a vote in the poll, which drops very early every
Sunday morning.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
I would have Iowa State higher in the verbaler poll.
This is just based on my limber pole needs and wants.
I would have Oregon maybe a little bit lower. They've
looked incredible against Montana State and Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State
was one of the worst power for teams in the
nation last year, and so maybe they're bouncing back this year,
but they already have a hurt quarterback, so it's probably

(14:12):
not looking good. I'd have maybe Miami a little bit higher,
probably higher than LSU after LSU did not look thrilling
against Louisiana Tech last week. So yeah, I would. I
would move things around a little bit. Illinois seems like
they're in a good place there. I might have them
a little bit higher. I might have Oklahoma a little higher.
I might have Texas a little bit lower. But otherwise

(14:33):
that's just my own belief system at work here.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
That's all right in sliverbo at gmail dot com. Leave
us a comment wherever you're listening or watching, if you've
got something to add your own reaction to share with
us with the verballer hood, and again if you're interested
in casting your own ballot in the most accurate college
football running pole, a very limber pole at that. Throughout

(14:56):
the course of this college football season in the Year
of Our Lord twenty twenty five us out at verboalers
dot com. Sign up for the Certified or the Premium tier.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Are there any teams not anywhere near the top twelve,
top ten that you're just like, these teams have been
taking care of business and they have peaked my interest
as a potential team to spring up into this conversation,
I have two go ahead, because we already mentioned Maszoo.
I think Maszoo is one of those teams.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Definitely.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
I would say Utah and USC. I'm not fully sold
on those being complete programs, but they've taken care of
business in an emphatic way that I'm like, all right,
I'm now more curious about what you look like as
a top ten to fifteen team.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
I think USC's looked really good so far.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
There's still deficiencies there for USC. I think I want
to see what their secondary looks like as we head
into October something like that, when they get to know
pretty decent quarterbacks. But it's gonna be a minute before
we see that.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
It's going to be a minute, and there's going to
be a little bit of runway for them to work
out some of the kinks. So based on the early season, yeah,
so far, just through two games, USC in the others
receiving votes category, definitely room to grow one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
Okay, where are we.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Going, Dan, I want to bring back an old segment
of ours that I think is one of the crowd
favorites here in the forballer Hood. Okay, I can't honestly
remember when we started doing this for the first time,
and I'll admit that, at least originally when you pose
this idea to me, I had no idea what you

(16:29):
were talking about. But over the course of time, this
is a segment that has grown on me and it's
come to be known and loved here in our world
as Donzo or not Done. So, yeah, we have this sound,
So I need you to explain to the reballerhood what
that means, and also just to maybe emphasize the level

(16:51):
of research that goes into this show. Sure, please tell
the fine folks the level of research you did into
that segment before we hit the go button.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Okay, So, as everybody listening knows and recognizes, that's Kristen
Cavalari's voice from two thousand and four the hit MTV
reality show, quote unquote reality show Laguna Hills, when her
Asuzu Trooper Juna Hills, Laguna Beach, Junah Hills, Laguna Beach. Sorry,
she was also on the Hills though I thought you
did the research, Dan, I know I was speaking too
quickly and too confidently. Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach, thank you,

(17:23):
Colin the Real oc yes on MTV when her Asuzu
trooper stalled out and conked out on PCH, causing a
traffic jam. And she has claimed in recent years that
even though that was like a mostly faked reality show,
that that moment when she called her card donezo hold
on was absolutely authentic, thank you, authentic moment. So that

(17:45):
was real.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
That was a real moment amid real moment reality show.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yes, And she was like, that's just how we spoke
in Laguna Beach, and as somebody from southern California, I
believe it.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
I knew people know people that speak like that, and
it is accurate. Okay. So we are figuring out if
a team after two weeks is done as it relates
to vague preseason expectations or program expectations, or if there's
a lot of football left to be played, and we're
going to extend grace because it was just their worst

(18:17):
day or days and give them time to grow into
something more beautiful.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Why don't we start here where I think much of
the conversation has been over the last forty eight hours
or so. Yeah, the Florida Gators. Florida loses at home
eighteen sixteen to USF. Clearly that put a bit of
a dent in some of the preseason hype surrounding Florida
and what they could be given the weapons that they
brought in, given much of what they had returning. Where

(18:46):
are we at with Florida, Dunzo not Dunzo relative to
your expectations.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
I'm calling my shot, I'm planting my flag, Dunzo.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Wow, now coming out hot?

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Okay? Why I don't think Florida is going to be
as inefficient as they look like at times against USF.
I don't feel like they're going to look as lost.
You are allowed to look inefficient and lost in week
two against equality opponent. My problem is if you are
taking that sort of ability to be inefficient and lost

(19:18):
and the reality that you can look like that into
the rest of their schedule and that you are unable
to navigate close calls in a sensical way when you
have Miami, when you have Texas and LSU this week
at A and M you know, obviously neutral site against Georgia,
at Ole, Miss Tennessee, and suddenly what we believe to

(19:40):
be at least competent quality Florida State. Why am I
feeling like Florida State has a lot or excuse me,
Florida is not donezo. That yes, they can look good
against a lot of these teams, but they can also
lose twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty to nineteen, twenty four
to twenty three double digit halftime lead. That there is

(20:02):
something about anybody's confidence in this Florida team navigating this
schedule that should be questioned.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
I am not done zo on Florida, Okay, because this
game against USF, for as ugly as it was, was
an absolute clunker and it reminded me a lot of
the game that Notre Dame lost the year ago to NIU.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
But they didn't win their clunker.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Well, right, But in thinking back to that experience from
a year ago, I was on my couch yelling do something,
do something, screaming it. The dogs were freaking out do
something because it felt like they were stalled out, they
were stuck in the mud. They couldn't get any momentum going.
You had this question of urgency. Does anybody care about

(20:49):
this game. There's a real chance that this was a
look ahead spot for Florida. Not that that should excuse
a performance like the one that we saw on Saturday,
but we're going to talk on a little bit here
about this big one coming up Saturday night against LSU,
So I think there is a chance that there was
a little bit of a look ahead at play there.
I still think this team is way too talented to
be written off. I will admit the schedule element that

(21:12):
you brought up is wise to bring up and definitely
something that I thought about when trying to work out
my thoughts around the Gators this year. Because they effectively
lost the Mulligan. Nowt you got to look flawless the
rest of the way. You could probably still lose another
gaming conference, but at some point this USF loss could
definitely be used against them. It didn't hurt Notre Dame

(21:33):
as much because Notre Dame when they lost NIU, they
went on this incredible tear the rest of the season,
and I think they could show that they got better
as the year went on. Florida now needs to do that,
but against a infinitely more difficult schedule the one I.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Was gonna say Notre Dame was like, wow, I know
you didn't work out. Let's see what Purdue hasn't see exactly,
So see what Stanford's up to.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
It is not apples to apples by any stretch, but
it reminded me a little bit of that circumstance from
year ago. So I'm I'm not Donzo yet on the
Florida Gators.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
So not Dunzo means you think they can vaguely get
to eight wins? Still I do? Yeah, Okay, have fun.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Arizona State. Dunzo not Dunzo. Just lost to Mississippi State.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
All right, Arizona State. I'm looking at my bank. I
have not Donezo. Not Donzo, Okay, why not Donzo? Okay?
It was ugly against Mississippi State, Yes, especially through the air,
especially the miss assignments on defense, and just I didn't
love the defensive play calling upon rewatch. They were just
going for broke a lot. But against this schedule, which

(22:38):
is not great, I would have liked to have seen.
So they have Texas State, which you're just gonna need to,
you know, win that game. Forty five thirty eight or
something like. Texas State should be able to score on
a lot of teams. Sure they're gonna be able to
move the ball against Baylor, but the defense is going
to have to play to a higher level against Baylor,
especially on the road.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
I jotted down on my sheet here Baylor, Utah, Iowa State,
all on the road, and all three might currently be
better teams than ASU.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
So ASU deserves more of a benefit of the doubt
than Florida because they won this conference last year with
this head coach, with this starting quarterback, with a lot
of the guys on this defense. I know you're gonna
mention Cam Skataboo, but with the number one receiver, like
they've earned something more than Florida has in the SEC
for what ASU can do against the Big twelve. They

(23:28):
have a run of five straight games. ASU does against quality.
We believe quality defenses TCU by at Utah, Texas Tech,
Houston at Iowa State. We think TCUs a quality defense. Yes, Okay,
I think there are enough guys on that team. Quality
does not mean great, Quality does not mean really good.

(23:48):
Quality does not mean excellent. Quality means like, all right,
there's some talent there. Everybody kind of has an idea
of what they're going for and the play calling is
pretty good. Okay, I think that can be what TCU's
defense is this year, and that with what can be
an explosive passing attack for TCU. That's a tough game, yeah,
I think.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
I mean, listen, it's a tough game totally separate from
the defense. You're gonna have to score thirty eight points
to beat TCU, right, yeah, maybe they're gonna score a
ton of points against everybody they play.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
I'm just saying not Dunzo, because we know there's enough
good things about this program, like this was still a
program that built a team in not that much time
to the point where they were inches away from beating
Texas in the playoff. So okay, I'm gonna say not
Dunzo based on benefit of the doubt, though the upcoming
defenses slash teams in general coming up have me Dunzo adjacent.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
I'm Donzo.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Wow, I'm out.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
Yeah, I'm out. Unlike Florida with their loss to USSEF,
I think USF is a pretty good team. I don't
think Mississippi State's that good at all. Better they got
to be better than a year ago, but still not great.
And then you men the schedule thing. I'm not going
to go back over that. But again, the three that
I pulled out, Baylor, Utah, Iowa State all on the road,

(25:07):
and I could probably make a pretty compelling case at
all three or better teams. Right now.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
The thing that I think is most concerning though.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
About ASU and why I'm ultimately done SOO. Sam Levitt
has not looked good so far.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
I agree he has not looked good.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
I mean, he's had this connection with Jordan Tyson. Everybody's
excited about that. Jordan Tyson's probably going to be a
first round pick. You can make a case that Sam
Levitt is going to be a high pick at some
point as well. But yep, and this goes back to
what I said back in July. I am not ready
to assume that sam Levitt's progress is just going to
be linear, that we can just assume he's going to

(25:41):
continue on this upward trajectory. It's going to be a
hockey stick curve up into the right. He's going to
go into the stratosphere. He's going to propel ASU to
another conference title, and they're going to get back to
the playoff. I don't think we can assume that. I
really don't and without Scataboo. Listen, I've had so many
ASU people tell me it doesn't matter. We can Kanye

(26:03):
Yudo has been pretty good okay, and Real Leak Brown. Yeah,
they've been fine. They're not Cam Skataboo. It's going to
take multiple guys to get that kind of production, maybe
to replace that fire. I don't know, so I'm out.
I'm out. I still think AS is going to be
a good team, but as a team that gets to
and plays for the Big twelve them out.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Wow, Okay. I think it was more situational than anything.
I think that's a tough place to play. That team
was amped up to get ASU, a team that was
in the playoff last year, blake shape and healthy. I
think situationally, it was a nice spot for Mississippi State
and I hope we get to ride that wave a
little bit further.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
By the way, Cam Skataboo Yeah, fun as hell to
watch in the New York Giants.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Oh, he played yesterday.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
He got just like a handful of touches. The first
play he was in, didn't get the ball at all,
but leveled a guy in pass protection and then they
gave the ball right back to him. On like a
quick throw and he like ran three guys over. He
might get ball six times a game. That experience, I
am all in. I feel whatever the ASU people out

(27:06):
there were feeling a year ago now having him on
the team that I root for, even though they scored
I don't know, six points whatever it was. Uh, he's
a ton of fun.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
I'm glad he's got a new what who was it,
the big dude, Brandon Jacobs. Yeah, I mean nobody's as
big as Brandon Jacobs, but you know, the mentality is similar.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Alabama, Dan, Yeah, Alabama won seventy three to zip over ULM.
Nice bounce back effort. Clearly still a ton of talent.
They're gonna win a lot of games. I had them
as my SEC champion. I had them in my final four.

(27:43):
Were you out on Alabama? Not even close to Donz?

Speaker 1 (27:47):
No? No, okay. So the reason being is I wanted
to see something like results against ULM ultimately are going
to be meaningless. But somebody needed to take the brunt
of that frustration. And I'm glad Alabama came out and
Ty Simpson came out like he did. And I know
what Ryan Williams is a little bit dinged up and

(28:09):
everybody is at this point right and jam Miller didn't
play or like there are injury stuff in the situations
to be taken into account. But the way this schedule
breaks down, getting Oklahoma, LSU, Tennessee all at home, I
know they have Georgia, Miszoo, South Carolina, obviously Auburn on

(28:29):
the road. It's not horrible, it's not amazing. And if
we're going to let Ty Simpson grow into what quarterbacks
that have played for Kaylin de Boor have grown into,
if we're going to let the receivers grow into something
that could be dominant, and the offensive line maybe get
some time to improve from where they were against Florida State,

(28:52):
I think betting on talent level and returning talent level
that have played together in this system on both sides
of the ball, it's not that difficult to bet. If
the problem is getting a team to care. The track
record of Kaylin de Borr, even what should be against
a pretty difficult schedule this year, you're betting on his

(29:12):
track record, You're betting on talent. They might not be
anywhere near where they were at their best under Nick Saban,
but I'm still gonna say not done. So also, Florida
State might be good.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Florida State probably is good.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
They're likely good. So if you're saying Bama's done, then
you're also kind of saying Florida State is just an
average team, and an average team stomped, Like that's what
you're saying. And I think Florida State has a chance
to be really tricky at the very least.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
What I cannot get out of my head, though, yeah,
is the clip that has been floating around the internet
of a defender giving minimal effort against Florida State.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Totally might just be the wrong defender. It might just
be the wrong defender somebody that needs to lose his job.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
And it is probably wrong of me to take that
and project it out across the entire def in the
entire team. Sure, but I have not gotten that out
of my head since I first thought, because Saban would
have launched that guy into the sun. He never would
have played again at Alabama if he saw that on tape.
I think my Alabama SEC Championship pick has done. So, Okay,

(30:18):
I'm not saying this is a bad team. I'm not
saying they don't get it together and go crazy the
rest of the season, But I am out on them
as SEC champions because there are other SEC teams at
this point that I think have looked way more impressive
so far. Who, like, if you want to meet to
power rank, let's say the top four SEC teams, sure,
who have looked the best to your eye?

Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, so far this year, no particular order.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Sure, Oklahoma, Okay, Tennessee Okay, Missoo, Okay, LSU. I think
they've all looked better than BAMA. And to your point,
I don't necessarily take a whole lot of way from
stomp in ULM, but I think there are other teams

(31:06):
across this conference that right now, get my blood phone
a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
I know what you're still wagering on. What an LSU
offense that hasn't done much that probably can offense that
hasn't done much, or a defense. No LSU, I'm saying
this ye is season, it's the offense that's holding LSU back. Okay,
or in two games and one of them was enough
to beat what we think is a quality for SU.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Sure, Okay, Now I understand, I hear you.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Miszoo's signature win is against a team that will likely
have a lot of defensive struggles this year. Yeah, Texas
hasn't shown much, Right, I didn't say Texas. I know
you didn't list Texas, but I'm just saying the teams that,
like Georgia hasn't shown a ton no. So I'm just saying,
right now, if Alabama's deficiency is losing to a good

(31:53):
team on the road in unimpressive fashion and not giving effort,
not having fire, not looking like a team that should
be wearing the colors that it's wearing based on what
we saw that from them for so long, the only
question I have for you is basically like, Okay, so
Alabama's done in your eyes, but it's time for Joey

(32:13):
Aguilar to assume that place in your life, Like, Okay,
I'm just saying you have to, like you kind of
have to gamble on something somewhat big, uh in the
sec If you're feeling confident in any one specific team
in this moment.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
You do, absolutely And I think that's a very valid point.
And again this is not me saying Bama's going six
and six for sure. I think this is still a
really good team. What I'm saying is Donezo is my
pick of them winning the SEC, they could still find
their way into the playoff. Totally listen. I was higher
on Alabama than like most people out there. I really

(32:48):
like this see and everybody else was pretty high and
I'm too, yep, but I've been all in on Alabama
with how much they have back. I still like Kaitlin Debor,
I like Tyson like this is well documented at this point,
I'm just saying the pick of them winning the SEC
for me is done.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
So yeah, I just yeah. The only thing I would
add is, you can figure out how to light a
fire under a team, It's very difficult to figure out
how to make a player immediately. A lot more talented,
and Alabama has the talent. So a lot of talented
teams have had horrible seasons. But if I'm going to
pick one of those things, I'm going to pick fire.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
So we should drill Wisconsin this weekend.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
If you're right, I agree. Although I don't know if
you've seen Danny O'Neil's hair, he's got the hair to
make some noise.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Boise State, Dan Boise State. We both had him as
a playoff team. Yes, Dunzo not Donezo.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Not done so no, Well, same line of thinking, if
we believe USF to have had the most impressive season
thus far, then you can't fully penalize and write off
Boise for losing to them the way they lost to them. Sure,
the lack of fight from Boise State. Sure, but also

(34:05):
look at Boise's schedule moving forward. Dude, there are three
more losses on this schedule against whom there are three
more Notre Dame and who else.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
I'll pull it up. I counted three. They could lose
to Notre Dame for sure. I mean they will. They're
going to lose to Notre Dame. I just okay, I'm
saying this as a Notre Dame fan, so forgive me
if I sound a little bit better.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
It's in South Bend. Continue, but that.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
That based on the version of Boise that we saw
against USF, that should be a loss. App State. Do
not take app State for granted. There's a lot new
app States looked really good so far. Games at allah UNLV,
What do we think UNLV has? I don't think they
play defense, but I think they can score. That's of

(34:48):
interest to Me's interesting?

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Well, where's that game? That game is also in? That
game is also in Boise Yeah, Fresno State.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
I don't think super highly of Fresno State, but Fresno
State I actually think has been a little bit better
than I expected so far.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
That typically is weird game.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
That one's also in Boise as well. Yeah, I'm just saying,
I hear where you're coming from. But based on what
we saw against USF, that was a mistake prone effort.
It seemed like it was all a Maddox manson. I'm out,
I'm done.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
So, Dinze, I've got.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Somebody else going to the playoff.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Boise, no problem, could go nine and three, ten two.
Kansas State, I can't state has done so, Dinzel, agree.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Or disagree, I think they're done, so, Dinze.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
So okay, track record, Chris climbing a good thing. The
way they've looked this year with as much as they
have returning. And I know Dylan Edwards is hurt and
that's a big deal. But I don't know, if you're
a team that's supposed to be challenging for a conference Crown,
a running back going down early can't completely derail your season.

(36:04):
With how long he's been there and the opportunities they've
had to recruit and how many good running backs they've
had in Manhattan, And it's so much more than just
not having Dylan Edwards at this point. The way that
they couldn't do much with the opportunities that they had
on offense against Army fresh off of Tarleton State win
or loss to Tarleton State, based on the struggles that

(36:26):
they had in Ireland and the struggles they had against
North Dakota, like that very much should have been a
like take out all of your Irish frustrations on this
team at home that's playing on the FCS level, and
North Dakota is not an especially good FCS team, to
be clear, So I am I'm out on Kansas State

(36:47):
at this point because they just haven't shown that fire,
they haven't shown that explosion, they haven't shown that gear
at all that they can get past poor performances. So
what have we seen from Avery Johnson to make you
think that like he can consistently be dependable and a
reason that they're scoring.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Forty plus things? We haven't seen it.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
You've seen plays where were like, if he could do
this way more often, that'd be super fun. But then
you see flubbed handoffs and bad interceptions and just inconsistent
performance where You're just like, if a team's identity is
what their quarterbacks identity is at the end of the day,
then this seems like a seven and five team.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
For what it's worth, I checked the sp plus. The
sp plus has Kansas State losing six of their next
nine games with like no data, but no declayer with
no data, and that's going to change a thousand times over.
So certainly, do not take that as gospel by any stretch.
But like usually, by now three games into this thing,

(37:49):
you start to see some progress. You hope to see
some of the wrongs being righted right feeling like there
is positive momentum for a lot of teams across college football.
That is what happens between your first and your second gamer,
in some cases between your second and your third. But
we're now three weeks into this thing for k State,

(38:10):
and each week has been pretty bad. So I'm with
you on being Donzo. I had k State winning the conference,
going to the playoff. I mean, I'm not going to
go super duper crazy and say I'm not sure if
they're making a bowl, but seven and five is getting
awfully big in the window.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
So I think relative to preseason expectations for sure, I'm
donezo on them.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
We've seen enough squares be removed from the poster of
Rachel Phelps from the movie Major League. Like, I'm not
sure exactly what this Kansas State poster is going to
look like, but I'm seeing some squares. Yeah, and I
can surmise what's behind the rest of those squares. That
has me a little bit worried.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Yeah, And when they pulled all the squares off, there
was a caption next to Rachel Phelps that read, you
guys stink and that might be where we're headed with
k State.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
That's true. Also, I just had to google the last
name I knew was Rachel. I didn't remember Phelps, so
I did not have that in the old Sarahbellum at
the ready, Let's do one more, Okay, let's Virginia Tech.
It's a donzo for me, Ty, I'm not going to

(39:26):
play it a second time.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
I don't want to add insult injury to the Tech
fans out there, but I'm with you, right, Why are
you done?

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Zoe the manner? It's not just going oh in two
because I think we agree that at the very least,
this is like my word of the season that South
Carolina and Vanderbilt a quality sure, maybe not world beaters,
maybe not threatening for an SEC crown. These are two
bowl type SEC teams.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
Look, there are probably one hundred other teams across college
football that played a much easier slate of teams first
two games than Virginia Sex. So yes, a the opponents
for sure.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
This is what Kyroen Drones's third season starting at this
point feels like his eighth. But yes, continue, Brent Price
has been there long enough we kind of have a
sense for once again what their strengths and weaknesses are
based on. You know, it's it's difficult to say a
team is done when they've exclusively played quality opponents, but

(40:22):
those quality opponents also reveal realities that lesser than opponents
don't necessarily reveal, Like Oregon's not going to score sixty
five points a game this season, but they've played Montana
State and Oklahoma State. We'll see what happens when they
play teams of Vanderbilt and South Carolina's level, but giving
up leads, not performing in the red zone, making boneheaded plays,

(40:47):
having opportunities, and not being able to take advantage closing
second halves like they've closed them. What is there to
give you confidence that when they get into the meat
of their schedule against comparable teams or teams that can
do one specific thing really well on one side of
the ball. What gives you confidence in Virginia Tech to say, oh, yeah,

(41:09):
they can figure that out on the fly. Not a
lot for me.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
So they just got smoked in the second half against Vandy.
They got absolutely smoked, And that to me was the
big red flag. Yeah, you know, if you're going down
with a whimper in a very winnable game. And I
know some people argue with me when I said that
Vandy has or or Virginia Tech has a better roster

(41:34):
than Vandy or it's a very winnable game for Virginia
Tech against these teams are about even. The point spread
was give or take a few points one way or another.
But Vegas saw these two teams on about equal footing.
Vandy ran away and hid in the second half of
that game. And that always creeps me out when I

(41:55):
see it, because I ask a question about effort. I
asked to start asking the culture questions, right, all these
things that are below the surface that speak more to
the integrity of the program as a whole and not
just the team you see on the field. All of
that stuff starts to come up, and unfortunately that reflects
on a guy like a Brent Prye. Sure, at this

(42:16):
point in time, Brent Price is done, man, this is
a done deal where they're going to be looking elsewhere. Yea,
unless they go on some improbable run rip through the ACC.
None of these were conference games, mind you, So I
suppose there's still a chance unless they go on some
improbable run and Kyrone Drones or somebody else, right, Garrett

(42:39):
Wrangel or Pop Watson, they bring somebody else in their
quarterback that gives them a little bit more fire. But
short of that, totally done on Virginia Tech, totally donezo
on Brent pry and I think can't start soon enough
looking for a new coach if things don't turn around soon,
because this has just been a really, really awful way

(42:59):
for them to open up their year.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
They they basically need to beat Cal and Virginia to
have any hope of getting to five and seven. To
get to eight wins at this point means Odu Wafford,
Wake Forest, Virginia, Cal Louisville, I don't. I don't know

(43:27):
how you even like it's NC state on the road. Yeah,
you gotta really believe in something that hasn't been on
the field thus far.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
I don't know, man, So we do agree right in again,
soliverbogmail dot com. Let us know your thoughts on all
of these teams.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Dunzo not Dunzo.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
Leave us a comment. Of course, we love to hear
back from the verbowler hood as a whole. I will
take this opportunity to remind people of verbowlers dot com.
That's where you can go to support what Dan and
I do. You get these episodes without the ads, You
get all the bonus perks of bonus episodes early episodes.
You can play in the game, which again I will
discuss here momentarily. You can participate in our discord for

(44:09):
ballers dot com. Sign up for a certified or premium
tier if you want to help us keep the lights on.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Agree, damn time to help me the week.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
So we've been doing this the last couple weeks now,
and I actually really like it. I really like it. Typically,
what we've done over the course of all these years
of doing this shows we've crammed everything into that Thursday
episode and we start previewing games, and when we do that,
we leave ourselves a little bit shortsighted in that we're

(44:45):
unable to maybe unpack some of the biggest games in
the way that we would like. So by moving them
a little bit earlier in the week gives us a
chance to do that and still gives us an opportunity
on Thursdays to make sure that we cover all that
college football has to We've got three big games here
that we're going to talk about. We will talk about
them a little bit again on Thursday. So if you

(45:07):
miss this, that's fine, or if you just want to
hear some new thoughts, you can go and listen to that.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
So wait, are you telling people if they are missing
the thing they're actively listening to right now?

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Listen? Sometimes just making sure sometimes your voice gets out
in front of your brain. And that was one of
those instances.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Okay, I appreciate it. I was gonna let it slide.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
No, No, you can't let that slide.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
If you are not listening to the thing you're listening to,
don't worry. We've got you covered. What Three point thirty
on ABC.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Georgia on the Road at Tennessee both teams two and
zero at time of recording, Dan, Yes, George is only
a three and a half point favorite in this game.
It's down from four and a half when I made
the document like an hour ago. Yeah, so clearly there
is a lot of steam on Tennessee right now. Now,

(46:03):
full disclosure and no disrespect to Sarahcuse or East Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
Okay, but here comes some disrespect.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
I don't think either one of those teams was really
good enough to challenge the biggest question on Tennessee, at
least on offense, which is the old line. So the
vows of a great so far, the early reviews on
Joey Aguilar have been off the charts beaming. But if
we're being real here, that's the matchup.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
No a good.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Georgia front, a rebuilt line, which one of those two
is going to get the better of the other.

Speaker 1 (46:39):
And Kirby's track record with Tennessee and Josh Heipel is exemplary, exemplary.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Now, with that being said, and the reason I said
full disclosure, I am going to describe now exactly what
I warned everybody else about when we did the collab
with Josh Pate. Yeah, and the reason I'm bringing it
up is because I am falling into my own trap. Literally,

(47:05):
My whole theory was that Tennessee was gonna come out
of the gates ball of fire, make everybody forget about
how much new they have, and then they were going
to lose to Georgia and all will be forgotten and
it'd be fine because Tennessee fans, I think, are happy
with the direction of the program. They're certainly happy with
the way things have looked early. Sure, but that was

(47:28):
my whole theory for how September was going to shake
out for the Balls.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
What I did not anticipate, though, was.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Feeling this lukewarm on Georgia. Right, I don't think they've
looked that good so far. I went and I looked
at their stats. This has been a pickleball passing offense.
Do you know what the average airy yards per completion
number is for the Georgia Bulldog so far?

Speaker 1 (47:55):
Seventeen inches? No, what is it? One point eight.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Yards per completion? Air yards per completion?

Speaker 1 (48:02):
One point eight air yards per completion. Correct, Oh, that
doesn't seem good and I triple checked it.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Dog. Okay, that is an extreme pickleball passing offense if
we've ever seen one on this show.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
So I just have to ask the question, and this
is what changed my mind. Are you gonna give that
against Tennessee? Are you gonna tell Tennessee, hey, bring your
safeties up. Yeah, We're gonna throw everything within one point
eight yards of the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Do we think that's gonna work against Tennessee Valls? Even
if there are.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
Questions about that line, it's still pretty good defense. No?

Speaker 1 (48:43):
Yes, absolutely so?

Speaker 2 (48:45):
Are you just gonna let the safeties creep? Are you
gonna rely on Zachariah branch or whoever breaking a tackle
and running for one? Is that gonna be the passing offense?
I ask you?

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Now, Okay, I'm willing to let this offense grow into
something with a new quarterback and some new line, some
new receiving talent. Like I don't think this is a
finished product offense in Athens. They will look more explosive
and more competent as the season goes on. But if

(49:15):
you're just gonna ride, if you're gonna buy a ticket
on the Underthink Express, you're saying this is an unproven
Georgia offense as a favorite on the road against what
our perception tells us is at least a pretty good,
if not really good Tennessee defense, And I just I
think you have to earn that kind of respect to

(49:38):
be a favorite against that kind of team. I don't
think this Tennessee team to go on the other side,
is a finished product either.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
No, No, I agree with that one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
And so even though the early results are good, I'm
not sure I love Syracuse after needing everything that they
could muster to force overtime against ucon Older respect to UKON,
but I think Syracuse is taking a step back this year.
So how much do I respect Tennessee's dominance of them
or do I say, yeah, that's probably what a quality

(50:09):
a good team should do against Syracuse this year, given
what Tennessee has on both sides of the ball. And
obviously I don't take much East Tennessee state, but Georgian
not taking care of business this early. It's what Marshall
and Austin p you mentioned the numbers. Well, you can
just watch this game and know that this is not
a rhythmic offense in this moment. And so I think

(50:33):
the best of whatever this Georgia team is can beat
Tennessee Week three. It's not for me. I'm taking Tennessee
here and the points happily. Game's gonna end at night.
By the way, it's a three thirty kick right, Yeah,
so you're ending at seven eight pm local. Yep Oh.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
I found myself asking a lot of the same questions
of the Georgia offense that I've been wondering about for
over a year now with a Notre Dame offense, and
that's not right I expect to be now. Could they
change the game plan, Yeah, they could change the game plan.
Could they grow into it. Yeah. Tennessee's going to be
without their two starting corners, right. Jermad McCoy is still out, Yeah,

(51:09):
of course, working his way back from the ACL. Ricky
Gibson's out for undisclosed reasons. So could that play a factor. Sure,
But as I said at the beginning of this segment,
we don't know anything for sure. It's impossible to know
for sure. I think we've prefaced everything we said on
this episode with that with that qualifier. But based on

(51:30):
the limited sample size, Tennessee home dog of the Week,
I don't hate it.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
The Yakus home Dog of the Week quite literally a
good dog on the Tennessee sideline.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Absolutely smoky baby, Yeah, I got them winning out right
thirty one twenty four.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
I like my supposed top tennis teams to look like
they can do things easily, even if it's early on
in the season, but especially against teams that they should
be able to find ease against. And it's just been
too difficult for Georgia this early. So yeah, Tennessee here.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
One point eight air yards per completion.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Yep, crazy, yep. Seven point thirty ABC.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
The aforementioned Florida Gators at one in one go into
Death Valley Tiger Stadium square off against LSU, which is
two and zero and a nine and one half point favorite.
I think this is going to be the most entertaining
team entertaining game of the day. Usually is I'm thrilled
about this game. Where are you at here?

Speaker 1 (52:36):
I'm taking points? It's just too many points. I'm just
at this point of the season and I say this
every year. It's the like, what have you done to
earn this? What LSU has done is beaten Clemson on
the road and held on to that win, and it's
impressive and we can't take that away. But what I
also see from LSU is for some reason, probably offensive

(52:58):
line issues, probably running game ish shoes, maybe a couple
of Garrett nus Meyer decision issues. They didn't look particularly
comfortable doing easy things last week. They couldn't finish drives
against Louisiana Tech. They still are struggling to run the ball.
There was one really nice run from was harlem Berry,
the freshman who cut across the field. That was really nice.

(53:19):
But I'm not sold on LSU as a top five, seven,
eight nine team based on what we've seen this year.
I know they've earned that kind of ranking because of
the Clemson win. In my eyes, sure by in terms
of what I want to see, especially given the experience
of Garrett nus Meyer, that Brian Kelly's been there long enough.

(53:41):
It's weird to me that the offense has sort of
started sluggishly. So I just don't think they're a team
that is built whatever you think. Florida is average, below average,
above average, but can look below average at any given moment.
I just think it's going to be a back and
forth game between flawed teams. I think LSU wins this game,

(54:03):
but that number is too big to me, so I
think it's back and forth. I think I'll have it
something like, I don't know. I actually wrote down a
score in my document. I want to get it right.
Twenty four to twenty LSU wins this game. Oh, low scoring,
relatively low swow.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Yeah, that'd be something. Look time's going to tell if
Florida was playing in a look ahead spot a week
ago against USF. I think what's most concerning how they
shot themselves in the foot and specifically what I mentioned
on the recap show about how it just you watch
that game, it felt like DJ Lagway was getting worse.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
He seemed to like not have a great feel in
the pocket, and when he did have time in the pocket,
he was rushing things or was quick to pull the
ball down and run like there was just the poise
didn't seem to be at a place where I thought
it would be with him in a second year as
a transcendent quarterback. Well, and granted, look.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Could end up being a playoff team, absolutely, that could
end up being a good team. But still I think
if you teleport that version of Florida that we saw
in Week two and put it in Tiger Stadium at
night against LSU, they probably lose by twenty four points,
so I don't expect we're going to get that version
of Florida. I think they'll be tuned up for this game.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Great.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
The pressure is now really on Billy Napier, really on Florida.
Remember the win total for Florida was seven and a half.
I'm assuming that that was assuming a win over USF.
So if you bet the over, they're definitely sitting up
in your chair a little bit.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
YEP. I think the X factor here is going.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
To be that LSU defense because it looked out standing
on the road against Clemson in Week one, and for me,
that was like, low key maybe the biggest story of
the weekend because an offense this good most of the time,
with a defense that look that good is probably playing
for the SEC title. Sure. The question I have though,

(56:02):
is was the defense really that good or was Clemson
just kind of stumbling offensively out of the gate.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
Buddy, say what you about Clemson, but they are likely
better than Troy. That's my point, right, They are likely,
that's my point, better than Troy. You can build a
pretty strong.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
Case through two weeks of the season that Clemson isn't
there yet offensively, so pump the brakes a little bit.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
LS.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
You look good on defense. Kind of take that for
what it is. But I'm going to fall somewhere in
the middle. I'm tempering my excitement over the LC defense
because I'm not sure about Clemson. Looking forward now into
this game, I think we're looking at a situation where
one of these teams, or both of these teams have

(56:47):
to try and open it up a little bit more
in order to win.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
I mean, they'd like to, but Garretnusmeyer can also underthrow somebody. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:56):
I think the winner of this game is going to
be whoever has the most chunk plays through the air. Okay,
And I say that because I also looked at the numbers.
Maybe I was just on another air yards kick. But
for as much of a gun slinger as Garrett Nusmeyer
is branded, we haven't really seen LSU open it up either.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
No, well, they've tried to. They've tried to, but not
do it successfully all the time.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Yeah, there's been a lot of shorter stuff to Aaron
Anderson to get him in space. He's very good in space.
Barrion Brown the transfer from Kentucky, he's mostly been out wide,
like eighty eight percent at the time, but he's been
more of a possession guy. Nine yards per reception, nine
air yards per reception, right, catch it and drop potentially
is what that amounts to Florida. Florida's used Vernel Brown

(57:43):
the third as their burner, but Trey Wilson has like
three point eight a dot. Right, he's not really getting
a whole lot with respect to deep attempts.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
By the way, define a dot average depth of target. Okay,
thank you.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
So he's been out there catching balls. I think leads
a team in receptions, but not exactly working down the field.
We haven't seen Dallas Wilson at all, the five star
freshmen yet to play. He still in a.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Boot, So I think that, to me is where.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
I was focused the most on when I was trying
to put the pieces together for this one. Somebody's going
to have to open it up, and I believe that
whoever gets the most chunk plays through the air is
going to be the one that emerges victorious. But frankly,
we haven't seen it from either team thus far, which
is why it's important here, and somebody's going to have
to break tendency. I think this is fun as hell.
I think this is back and forth. I think it's

(58:36):
high scoring. I think LSU wins thirty eight to thirty one.
But I'm all over Florida plus those points. Man Like,
despite what we saw last week, they're better than that.
They've got the firepower if they play a good game
to beat LSU. It wouldn't surprise me if they did.
I'm not calling for that. I'm calling for them to cover.
Though thirty eight thirty one, LSU wins, Florida covers that number.

Speaker 1 (58:59):
Yeah, so we agree. By the way, to be clear,
how many touchdowns did Florida score against USF. They scored
one touchdown and guess how many yards they had to
drive to get to the end zone. I want to
say it was like twenty yards. It was after a
long punt return aided by I think a penalty. So
we're talking about now playing against an all due respect

(59:21):
to the I don't know the audacity of the Todd
Orlando defense at USF. Els you's got more talent. Ohahse
game's at LSU. I know it's not going to get
easier necessarily. And DJ Lagway does have that same gunslinger
mentality that the interception he threw was rolling out to
the right, throwing across his body in the air and

(59:44):
threw a terrible ball down the middle. Just like if
you have the ability to do that, I'm worried about
your ability to put up three point fifty at LSU
in a winning effort. That's all.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Final preview here NBC Texas A and M two and
oh Notre Dame, oh and one. The Irish are a
six and one half point home favorite. Dan, Yeah, I
have a lot to say, I'm sure on this game.
It is one team clearly that I know and love.

(01:00:20):
It is another that I just found myself loving more
than I expected in the preseason. So I'm very torn
on this matchup. If I'm being objective about it, I'm
very torn. Ty's' brullian to continue on what goes down here?
Why don't you lead us off? Where are you at
Texas A and M on the road at Notre Dame?

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Okay? I like Notre Dame a lot here Why and
I didn't I didn't going into my prep for this.
But the more I dug in, the more I think
I like Notre Dame. Here the reason I don't like
Notre Dame and I'm not a Harry Potter. Person ty,
have you seen the Harry Potter films or read the books?

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
All? I didn't read the books, but I've seen all
the movies.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
I assume on some level somebody is like the keeper
of the spells or the potions, right that you're like, oh,
I need to do this, so let me look up
a good spell that'll get this done, that'll make a
horse appear, or will make lightning rain down from the sky.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
I think that's what they did. Yeah, maybe course of
pure sure.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Yes, I assume Mike Elcho in his brain has a
cast of spells at the ready for very specific situations,
and probably loves the idea of getting to game plan
against an extremely green quarterback like that is something that
probably excites any defense of any quality defensive coordinator that like, ooh,

(01:01:42):
I get to do stuff. I get to play around
with stunts and coverages and whatever to make this quarterback
who has played basically no games sea ghosts expelle armis right.
Whatever it is. Again, I assume at some point I
will I have small children. They're gonna want to read
and watch Harry Potter. But that's what gives me pause

(01:02:03):
about this, that CJ. Carr not a finished product. The
Notre Dame passing attack has not been incredible these past
couple of years. Continue so Mike Alco incredible defensive mind
who now has talent on that side of the ball,
has more depth, There has options to make CJ. Carr uncomfortable.

(01:02:25):
That's what I like about Texts A and M, aside
from the other quality things, but like just in a
more abstract way. That's what I enjoy. What I like
about Notre Dame is game against Miami on the road
was winnable. They're now coming home, They're coming off a
bye week, they have different ways to win. I don't
think Texas A and M's offense is anywhere near explosive

(01:02:49):
enough through the air to scare Notre Dame into playing
conservatively on defense. Notre Dame very famously likes to and
has continued to play defense. Texts A and M is
bringing a bunch of five to nine, five to eleven
six foot receivers to this Notre Dame secondary, which should
have guys in this secondary, new guys, old guys, whatever,

(01:03:12):
licking their chops because I don't think they're gonna be
pushed around by these receivers. I don't think these receivers
as quality as they are. Again, that's my word of
the season. Mario Kraver, Casey Concepcion, Terry Bussey, take your pick.
They're not out jumping. They're not winning a ton of
fifty to fifty balls. So that means Texts A and
M is going to need to get work done on
the ground. That means Texas A and M is gonna

(01:03:34):
have to get work done in the red zone on
special teams and do it all on the road against
what should be a really good Notre Dame defense and
a pretty patient Notre Dame offense. If they're gonna lean
on the run, lean on tight end, and get I
think they're gonna get more out of receiver this year
with Malachi Fields and Jaden Greathhouse, CJ. Carr will continue
to get better. I just think it's a good spot

(01:03:55):
for Notre Dame coming off of bye to win this game.
Not with ease, not with comfort, but I think confidence.
So I have Notre Dame here, I'll put it down
twenty seven to seventeen. I think they win this game
by ten points, and I think it's just a good matchup.
Marcel Reid will play little dinged up offensive line has

(01:04:16):
been okay for Texas A and M thus far, but
I think Texas A and M is more of a
grower than a shower in early September.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
That's interesting. I mean, all the points you bring up
are I think incredibly valid. The biggest matchup for me
is what you mentioned at the very end, though, and
it's that Texas A and M offensive line against Notre
Dame's defensive front. Notre Dame did get bullied a bit
by Miami, sure, in that not the whole game, not
even for one hundred and fifty yards on the ground,

(01:04:45):
but on some of those longer drives earlier in the game.
I think Miami really set the tone by getting good
push up front. Now, to Notre Dame's credit, they did
get better as the game went on. By the time
that game concluded, Miami wasn't doing much on offense at all.
But Texas A and M is going to build the
whole plane out of that mentality, and I think that's worrying.

(01:05:08):
The outcome of this game, in my view, is directly
related to how well A and M can run the football,
because their winning formula is not going to be thirty
passing attempts with Marcel.

Speaker 1 (01:05:19):
Reid, right, and that's not his strength. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
The winning box scorer for A and M looks something
like one hundred and ninety two yards on the ground,
seventeen passing attempts probably what thirty eight minutes of possession? Right,
that's what it looks like. I think we can probably agree.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
On that, right, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
The other thing that I think about often now since
I've had two weeks to ruminate over this loss, is
something that you have been saying for a couple of
years now. I'm ready, Mike Denbrock. The Mike Denbrock experience
left a little bit to be desired, has.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
Not not for LSU, but for Notre Dame. Yeah, a
little bit. I mean they went to the National Championship
last year. You can't be too critical.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Well, no, but I haven't seen a great explanation for
what they tried to do against Miami. You probably never will.
And this feels like it's year two of oh man,
wait till he cranks this thing up, it's gonna be.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
I think that was protecting CJ. Carr in Miami to
a certain certain extent. Get him one start under his belt.
And a bye week, and perhaps we see a little
bit more.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
Never opened it up last year. It never happened in spots. Yes,
overall philosophy of this offense was very pickaball last year. Sure,
maybe Mike dan Brock is a good coordinator. Maybe he's
just a coordinator who looked into Jade and Daniels. Those
guys tend to make everybody look good. He win a

(01:06:53):
Heisman Trophy.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
What and Malik neighbors Brian Thomas.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
Yeah it was Ridiculouah that helps you know. Yeah, So
this is like I like the higher. I still like
the higher, and I still think clearly there's nowhere to
go about up CJ.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
Carr.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
This is an offense with a lot of potential, but
the game plan left me a little bit worried. That
matchup makes me a little bit worried. I do think
the version of Notre Dame that we saw in the
second half against Miami is going to be more what
we get the rest of the way. I think CJ. Carr,
all things considered, look really good in his first start.
They've now had multiple weeks to lick their wounds to

(01:07:30):
prep for this one. There needs to be more emphasis
on the running game, separate from what you had to
say about Jeremiah Love, which is accurate. They need to
emphasize that a little bit more. I don't know what
they were trying in week one, but let's get back
to basics. Let's run the football with the two backs
that we know are pretty good, if nothing more, and
then let's see if off of that we can find
a way to stretch the field. Now that you have

(01:07:50):
a quarterback who you're probably more confident in being the guy,
I think you can handle O great.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
Okay, there is part of me that believes that you
need to bring something downfield to beat a team in
a defense like Notre Dames.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
Yeah, and likewise, I think that works both ways. I
think Notre Dame wins at home. It's at night, but
I'm all over the points.

Speaker 1 (01:08:14):
Yeah, I'm giving them, give me all of them.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
I've got at twenty seven to twenty four, Notre Dame
wins A and M covers. I think it's tight.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
Onward.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Here are some other games real quick, just so that
you can plan accordingly. A couple games at noon, a
couple in the afternoon, a couple at night, other big
ones earlier in the day. Were not doing picks here,
just rattling these off. Clemson at Georgia Tech very spicy.
That line is four. That's at noon, Wisconsin at Bama.

(01:08:45):
It's about three touchdown line in favor of Bama. Your
Oregon Ducks on the road at Northwestern Big Noon is
going to be there at the portable stadium. Are Gus
and Klatt going to be there at the portable stadium
calling this game?

Speaker 1 (01:08:58):
I believe so? Yeah. More importantly I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
There, dance there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
Yeah, four thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:09:06):
We've got USF at Miami. As somebody pointed out on
social media, probably the biggest game c dub is ever covered.
They didn't know it when they got it, but USF
at Miami is now a very important game. Miami favored
by seventeen USC traveling across most of the country to
play Perdue Iowa State, traveling down to Arkansas State and

(01:09:27):
school that can score points didn't last week against Arkansas
No sir, and then Louisiana Missouri Missouri heavy favorite there
letdown spot yeah, but they'll likely be fine. And then
five big ones in the nightcap. Other than the two
we mentioned, Vandy at South Carolina is crazy interesting to me.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Can't wait. That'll be incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:09:48):
Duke at Tulane the Darien Mensa Bowl. Tulane actually favored
by three at home. That's interesting. Arkansas on the road
at Ole Miss Ole Miss favor by nine. That's a
tasty map.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Love it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
I bring up Virginia Tech not to dunk on Virginia Tech,
but just to say that if they lose to ODU
or if that game is super close, that's a real issue.
They're only favored by seven and a half at home.

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
Let's be clear, od you again again the like former
James Franklin Ricky Ronnie Pride game. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
We've also got app State on the road at Southern
miss which figures to be a tight matchup. There are
Thursday and Friday games as well. NC State minus touchdown
on the road at Wake on Thursday. And then we've
got Colorado at Houston Houston a four point favorite on Friday,
and then k State at Arizona. Care to guess the
point spread in this one? Dan on Friday night?

Speaker 1 (01:10:41):
It's in Tucson. It's in Tucson, Arizona by a point
and a half. That is a straight up pickum. My
friend whoa Arizona quietly competent, which I've been called worse
in my life again for the final time.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Right in solid verbal at Gmail dot let us know
your thoughts on these games. Leave a comment wherever you
can give us your thoughts on all of this action.
We will do a much more expansive preview on the
Thursday episode when that rolls around, but for now, at
least a little bit of taste as for what's to come.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
Love a taste, don't forget to tune into the next episode.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Where again we're going to go into much more detail
about the overall sleep in week three, make sure you
hit follow or subscribe. If you made it this far,
make sure you check out for ballers dot com. Dan
as I said, you get all sorts of bonus perks.
Our game is up and running. I thought maybe I

(01:11:43):
could talk through what the games are this week that
people are going to have an opportunity to pick. We'll
love that all of the ones that we just mentioned,
all of them in addition Pit at West Virginia, in addition,
Minnesota at cow Ooh. In addition some of these other
matchups like the Vandy South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, Appstate, Southern miss.

(01:12:05):
In total, you've got twelve games. Again, most of the
other ones have been mentioned, but go and check them
out at verbalers dot com. Sign up for any certified
or Premium tier. We just gave away one hundred and
fifty dollars rowback gift card.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
We will give away another fun prize to the winner,
and of course if you come in the top five
at the end of the season, you get to be
on our board of trustees.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
No brainer, No brainer.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
Dan Rubstein, good episode today, Well great, keep healing up
that voice, keep heeling, trying off. Maybe by the time
Thursday rolls around will be perfect health.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
I'm targeting week seven here.

Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
For that guy out there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein,
for myself tie over here in Eastern PA. Thanks again
for downloading, for listening, for supporting what we do. We'll
catch you on Thursday times.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
Stay solid, peace,