Miami's Statement Win + Predictions for Michigan-Oklahoma and the CyHawk Game

We're back to break down the remaining drama from college football's opening weekend, as Miami delivered when the stakes were highest, knocking off Notre Dame 27-24 in a game that felt like a must-win for Mario Cristobal. In this college football podcast episode, we dive deep into how the Hurricanes won the line of scrimmage and why Notre Dame's offensive game plan was so confusing. Also, a recap of South Carolina's slugfest with Virginia Tech, the return of "Beamer Ball" as a winning strategy for Shane Beamer, the frustration of watching Kyron Drones, and new steam on the "LaNorris The Creator" movement in popular media.

Plus, a look back at our leftover observations from Week 1, a twin pack of early bird specials looking ahead to the CyHawk rivalry and Michigan's big road trip to Oklahoma, and a lookahead at a meaty Week 2 slate of games.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:52 - Miami beats Notre Dame, 27-24
15:32 - South Carolina holds off Virginia Tech, 24-11
21:57 - Leftover Week 1 Observations
30:33 - Iowa vs Iowa State Predictions
41:37 - Michigan vs Oklahoma Predictions
51:43 - Week 2 Lookahead

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 hull. For me, I'm a man,
I'm forty.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
be happy.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
You want to be happy for a day?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Edo state is that?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Whoo whoo? And no, Dan and Tie Dan Rubinstein, welcome
back to the show, my good friend. We are recording
this on Labor Day, and the question of the day,
how is your voice doing? It didn't sound so hot
when we did the Saturday night live stream. I mean,
Angelica is ever right, but a little bit worse for

(00:36):
the wearer. How you feeling today?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I feel good. My voice is still on the mend.
I've got some tea with throat comfort tea bag right
in there. You know, I'm just trying to grind out
tough yards here, Tie, I'm trying to be Mark Fletcher,
trying to get that w at the end of the show.
I'm trying to give you a segue like a pro
despite my my vocal shortcomings here. But no, I'm trying

(00:59):
to grind it out and just you know, move those chains, Ti,
that's the name of the game.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
We will get to more specific recaps about Yes, Notre Dame, Miami,
of course, South Carolina, versus Virginia Tech as well. Also
on this episode, take more of a look back at
the week. That was just a few observations, things that
jumped out to us, either from some of the games
that we covered or from the handful dozen dozen and

(01:25):
a half or so games that we did not have
a chance to address on last episode. And then we're
going to give you a little bit more of an
early bird special. We're gonna do two games today Iowa
Iowa State Syhawk game and of course, I guess the
big one of the weekend. In Week two, it's going
to be Michigan on the road at Oklahoma. They are
playing that one at seven thirty Eastern time. Of course,

(01:48):
you can always write in solid verboat gmail dot com.
You can support the show at verbawlers dot com. We
hit a new high by the way for people stopping by, Oh,
we want to support what we do. We of course
would encourage you to follow suit if you're ever so inclined,
because every little bit really does go a long way.
We are going to open up the Verballer Top twelve pole.

(02:09):
We are recording this on Monday. The Verballer Top twelve
for Week two is going to open up very early
on Tuesday morning after the North Carolina TCU game, which
obviously we're unable to talk about now since we're recording
before it happens. If you want to vote in that poll, though,
sign up for any tier Certified or Premium one of

(02:31):
our paid tiers at verballers dot com. You'll get an
email bright and early. That's how you can vote in
the poll. We'll bring out the results on our Thursday
preview episode, mister Rubinstein, and then of course I will
give you a little bit of a look at it,
look ahead at what the slate looks like in week two.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I think all all those things sound very fun to
may tie, so count me in.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
How much of the Notre Dame in Miami game did
you watch?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
I watched some of it live, all of it this.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Morning, twenty seven to twenty four. The Miami Hurricanes end
up emerging victorious in this game, I think it goes
without saying enormous win for the Canes. I know I
talked about it on the preview. I'll say it again now,
but like Notre Dame went to the National Title Game
last year and coming into this one did not have

(03:24):
that same existential question about whether the program can win
the big game, because they won three big playoff games
and they were probably only a few big plays away
from Ohio State in that championship game. Sure, but Miami,
Miami played its way out of the acc They played
their way out of the playoff. They went out with

(03:46):
a huge whimper at the end of last season, and
they needed this. They needed this one to build some
goodwill in the fan base. They needed this one to
prove that the philosophy Mario Crystabaul is using to build
this program, some of the transfer moves that he made,
that these things were working, that these things could yield results,

(04:11):
as we say here, as the kids say these days.
I think we got to give Miami its flowers. Dan,
this was a really good opening week performance at home,
a lot riding on at stakes could not be higher.
I absolutely think it was a bigger spot for Miami
than it was for Notre Dame and they delivered, So
kudos to them.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, the pressure was on Miami right You mentioned the
off season moves, more specifically making a change a defensive coordinator,
making a change at quarterback via the portal and Carson Beck,
and getting healthier up front ruben Bain was dealing with
a lot last year, nicked up, and so we saw
what Miami can be against a good team we think

(04:50):
is going to be a really good team in Notre
Dame with the juice of a full stadium and the
juice of a pass rush. I think the story here
is what Miami was mostly able to do on defense, which, yes,
they gave up some chunk plays and there were breakdowns.
What was it? Eli Raridan is the tight end du
joure of Notre Dame this year, he got loose for

(05:10):
a long gain, and obviously I think it was Jadaien
Price had a long run early. But really, what Notre
Dame was able to do was not a ton on offense.
They were and that's you know. I'm sure Notre Dame
people will point to the combination of a new quarterback,
a somewhat deficiencies that tackle along the offensive line against

(05:33):
Miami's pass rush, and a conservative game plan, especially early on,
But really, if you're talking about a team that was
excited to be aggressive and impose its will, it's specifically
what Miami was able to do on defense, specifically upfront,
and just Mesdor and ruben Bain were getting tackles for loss,

(05:53):
They were getting to CJ. Carr, Ruben Bain had an
interception on that tip ball near the sideline. To me,
that's the story. It mean that Miami's defense is fully
developed and ready to stomp the acc not necessarily. They've
got Florid in a couple of weeks. I believe that'll
be crazy fun. But if there was any specific thing

(06:14):
that I came away impressed by, because we knew Notre
Dames defense was going to be really good, and for
a lot of this game they seemed to be. We
knew that it was there were going to be growing
pains for CJ. Carr. We knew Carson Beck, if healthy,
was going likely going to be really good even with
the new look receiving corps. But with that offensive line,
with the success that this Miami offense had last year,

(06:36):
I'm not penciling in. I wasn't penciling in this as
like a finished product Miami offense.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
No.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
But to me, the huge unknown, aside from CJ. Carr
and what he would or would not be able to do,
was Miami's defense, and they, I would say ninety three
percent answered that bell emphatically. That to me, was the story.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
See what I liked most about Miami, at least earlier
in the game, the first two and a half three quarters.
They established themselves bullies when they had the football, like.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Oh, when they had the football, Yeah, that too.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
You talk about what they did on defense, and I
can get to that. They certainly won the line of
scrimmage on defense, but I think for a good chunk
of this game, they also won the line of scrimmage
on offense. Definitely offensively. What they did on the ground
to me, and I made a video about this that
I post out on our social channels late last night,
what they did on the ground very much set the tone.
Granted it was like three yards of carry. You're not

(07:30):
gonna look at the box score. It's not gonna slap
you in the face. But they did get some key
runs over the first three quarters of the game. It
kept them ahead of the chains. It extended some of
those really long drives, those demoralizing drives. Sure you're watching
as a fan and it feels like the opponent is
never going to get off the field because they just
keep going and going and going and going. That is

(07:53):
what the ground game did for Miami. Here I had
the feeling for the first like six five percent of
this game that Notre Dame, just as I said, was
not going to be able to get Miami off the
field no matter what, and it was because of that
ground game. Now, I'm still mixed on Carson back. Carson
Beck at a good game.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
He did.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Still mixed on Carson Beck, but played a smart game.
I am all in on Malachi, Tony and CJ Daniels.
They had really good games.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Whooh that one handed catch, Buddy.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
I mean, you want to talk about clear upgrades over
what Carson had last year while he was at Georgia
when they couldn't catch anything. This was I thought, a
really really good showing, a promising start for the Miami
receiving corps. And then again, as you mentioned, you know,
defensive line, Rubin Bain had an awesome game. I checked
the PFF grades ninety three point three, which is really high.

(08:43):
That's a really good game from Ruben Bain. He was everywhere.
The Notre Dame line also did make a bunch of mistakes. Yeah,
you know, who's to say if that's because Miami's front
is so good or just because Notre Dame's line is
still figuring it out and they had some communications issues.
But either way, either way, the Miami defensive front is
definitely going to be a problem for pretty much every

(09:04):
team on this schedule. I thought, Corey Heathman, did you
see some of the clips of Corey Heatherman on the sidelines?

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Of course, Corey.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Heathman did a really good job in this game. Also
looks like a maniac, an absolute mediac.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
It was a lot of Corey Heatherman. It was a
lot of Chris ash in his weird mock turtleneck T
shirt situation, and a lot of clips of it is
it Tammy carry Car's mom? She was the Anthony beckt
of this game. Yes, absolutely the Anthony beck of this game. Now,
Corey heathererman man, I was. I watched the game with

(09:35):
my mom and we were like, who's that dude?

Speaker 1 (09:38):
You know? I even said to her, if you told
me at halftime he tried to eat a live bird,
I would have believed it just looks like a total maniac.
But I thought did a pretty good job in his debut,
so kudos to him. I came away impressed, I really did.
I will say this though, Yeah, if there is one
caveat on the Miami side. The first two and a
half quarters were great. Is exactly who Miami wants to be. Yeah,

(10:02):
the last quarter and a half, there's that Mario stamp.
The last quarter and a half was the microcosm of
what Miami has been. And so I think if you're
a Canes fan now, the question is at least the
rest of the way which Miami are you going to
get more of the season are you going to get
the first part of that, which was aggressive, foot on

(10:23):
the gas, felt like they had Notre Dame on the
back foot the final quarter and a half where they're
essentially playing not to lose, and it's not a Shannon
Dawson thing. Shannon Dawson called a great game. This is
a crystal ball thing.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, the third downs went terribly. I want to say
they settled, I mean not settled, but they were playing
for field goals. They sort of took their foot off
the gas. Again, that's a Mario thing. But winning is
good and they won the game. They won a close game.
They had what it was a fourteen point lead, it
was a twenty one to seven game that they could
have stretched out and really sort of lost their identity

(10:58):
for stretches there. It went into all you don't want that,
so Notre Dame started out in that shell.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, well no, of course. And this is the other thing. Okay,
if we can flip over to the Notre Dame side, please,
our friend Pete Sampson on his excellent podcast that he
does with Matt Fortuna The Independent. I listened earlier this morning,
and I'm paraphrasing here, but Pete hit the nail on
the head. His comment on the game plan was that
it felt like four quarters of them trying to get CJ.

(11:24):
Carr comfortable when CJ. Carr was kind of comfortable right away.
And that's what I liked about CJ. Carr in this game.
I mean, he wasn't perfect. He clearly has a different
relationship with intentional grounding than most quarterbacks in college football. Yeah,
there were some moments here, but I think by and large,
he didn't seem overwhelmed by the moment he did come out.

(11:46):
He did seem reasonably comfortable. The game plan, though, was
such where they were trying to do a lot of
that quick game stuff to the outside. The game plan
barely utilized. Jeremiah Love and Jadarian I do think they
need to find some way to rebalance their game plan
in time for Texas A and M in two weeks.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well, you knew it was a big game against the
top fifteen team because Jeremiah Love did nothing.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah, thank you, Dan, that's very kind of you.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Why does that keep happening? Jeremiah Love's the best running
back in the sport, and anytime he plays a really
good team, he does nothing. Okay, just checking.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
They didn't even give him a chance to do much
of anything in this car. He had three hurdles and
that was probably the highlight of the night for him.
I'd like to see them the rest of the way
find a way to utilize him a little bit more
if he's half as good as everybody expects he will
be this season. But there was I thought, from the
Notre Dame fan perspective, a lot of optimism over what

(12:42):
CJ showed. I mean, if this is the starting point,
if he's only going to get better from here. Again,
he's not perfect, nobody's gonna go out there and say is.
But I thought he seemed pretty good. The only other
point on the Jeremiah Love thing, did you catch an
all time mcdonaghism.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Maybe what did he say.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Later in the game when they finally got him the ball.
We had a McDonough Jeremiah Love out of the Witness
Protection program. Oh nice, it was great and Alzheimer and Alzheimer, I.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Mean, Jadarien Price had the one explosive run right.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
He did he did. Look the old line did not
look good. For as good as Anthony Nap was the
left tackle last season, he struggled with Rubin Bain whiffs,
came down with cramps later in the game. It just
did not seem like these guys were on the same page.
There were a handful of miss blocks. There was miscommunication
that just were used to seeing Notre Dame be the bully.

(13:37):
We're used to seeing them dictate the tempo and the tone.
They didn't do this at all on the offensive side.
The good news, if there is any on the Notre
Dame side, there's still a lot of season left. There's
still big games left, provided they can improve from this.
The season is still out there in front of them.
I do think they're going to fix the line. They've
got a track record doing so. We saw it all

(13:59):
last season. I do think they're going to rejigger the
game plan now that they know CJ. Carr is probably
the right choice to be the quarterback. I'm just I'm
most concerned about the defensive line, back to what I
said at the top, because they did get pushed around
trying to stop the run. They got better perhaps as
Miami went into a bit of a shell, but like
A and M's coming to town in two weeks, and

(14:20):
if they don't figure out how to stop the rushing
attack of whoever they're playing, they're going to start owing two.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Well, they got Boise, which is nice after what Boise
wasn't able to show against USF.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
They should hammer Boise, but the A and M game,
that A and M game is going to be a
problem if they can't figure out how to be a
little bit more aggressive against the run, because it felt
like it took Chris ash way too long to commit
resources to stopping that very specific aspect of the Miami
game plan, and at that point they had already done
a lot of damage. So again it's not you're not
going to look at the box scorer and it's not

(14:52):
going to whack you over the head as being something otherworldly.
But that in my opinion, anyway, already gotten some pushback
on this, but in my opinion, that was I thought
a very underrated aspect of what Miami did on offense,
just being able to dictate the tone up front.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
By the way, flip side, if Miami goes anything less
than ten and two after starting out the season beating
Notre Dame and looking like, look, the defense is not
a finished product. There's going to be lapses this season
and there's going to be surges this season. If they
finished anything less than ten and two after what they
showed Sunday night, that's a problem. That's a big old

(15:30):
problem with this schedule.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, it's gonna be a problem. The other game that
took place on Sunday was a little bit earlier. This
is a three pm start. They played it in Atlanta.
It was South Carolina twenty four of Virginia Tech eleven.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Shout out to secret verballer Kelly Stauffer of ESPN Radio Dan.
He has officially joined our movement, though he has not
come out and said that explicitly. He's the only other
person outside of you and I and are trusted for
baller hood to freely use the term the moniker. Leonoris

(16:03):
the Creator.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
It's a really good one.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
It's so good. I listened on the radio on the
way up to my mom's to eat dinner and get
ready for the Notre Dame game. Kelly Staffer was saying
Leonoris the Creator sometimes three times in one sentence, and
why the hell not because he's a real fun player. Kelly,
we are with you. Thank you for joining our movement.
Other media people out there, please feel free to borrow

(16:26):
this and use this on your own. Where are trying
to start something here? I don't know what it takes
to get the critical mass, but Leonoris the Creator is
going to be a story this season.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
My overwhelming sentiment in this game was that both these
teams are better than they showed or should be better.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
But isn't that like the Virginia Tech mo of the
last year or two as well?

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Though kind of is right, I'm almost using as a
as a pejorative on the Virginia tech side and as
a beacon of optimism on the South Carolina. It's amazing
how contacts can kind of shape this sure Virginia tech man.
I just watched this team and I feel like they

(17:09):
should be better. I feel like they should be better.
I feel like they have weapons out wide. I feel
like defensively, for the most part, they held their own,
with the exception of, you know, a late pass that
went deep ball to Nick Harber finally got a flash
out of him. Yeah, special teams. There was that eighty
r punt return from Vacari swing.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
He was also the one who muffed the punt earlier, and.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
He muffed the punt earlier.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Like.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, there are just a few key moments in this
game that tilted things in the direction of South Carolina.
But Virginia Tech for the most part held its own
on the defensive side of the ball. It's just like
Kyen Drones, ain't it, man, he ain't it.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
There was a brutal interception at like the one yard
line right the red zone. Stuff was you know, they
just couldn't figure it out. They were settling for field goals,
turning the ball over, and both of these teams really
struggled for protecting Kyen Drones and Lenora Sellers up front.
There was a lot of activity upfront. I just thought
there was something about South Carolina's defense. It just seemed

(18:08):
faster and more aggressively.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Yeah, And I thought their defense looked solid. I did,
and I had questions about them. Say it might recall,
I mean they lost a lot from a year ago,
but I guy GBD, Gabriel brownlow Dindee, their transfer played
really well. Fred Johnson definitely delivered a for education. Sure
ten tackles had that pick. Dylan Stewart's a problem like

(18:30):
every play, of course, and even a guy like a
Brandon Cisa out at corner was really solid in this game.
So if they're looking like this in week one on defense,
I think a lot of the questions I had about
that side of the ball kind of go out the window.
But offensively, Like I'm with you about the line play,
which has been a recurring theme as South Carolina fans. No,
I didn't have so much of an issue with the

(18:52):
pass protection, but the run blocking was not great.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Well, I mean Lenoris was running for his life a
number of times, Sure, trying to buy time. Receivers weren't
getting all whatever. I thought the Nick Harbor non touchdown catch,
like that should be a catch, Well, we saw it
in the LSU game too. We're just like we're breaking
everything down into a thousand frame per second thing. If
a guy comes down with the ball gets feed inch.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
I thought that was a catch.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
We're taking it to the ground every time after He's like,
I just it seemed like a touchdown to me. I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
And there was palpable frustration on the broadcast too. I
mean it was we weren't the only ones feeling yet.
I mean, I'm sure if you're a Virginia Tech fan,
you's say, nope, incomplete, We'll take it, thank you very much.
And it definitely worked to their advantage, kept that game
close for a good long time. But even still, I
just looked like a catch to me. I don't think
there was enough there. They called it out on the broadcast.

(19:47):
Whoever the was it, Matt Austin, whoever they brought in
to help try to dissect that one, said out, they're gonna,
I think it was a different guy. They're gonna overturn
that one. And they did, but man, that's just a
tough one.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, Virginia Tech is like wearing a cologne. They're like, oh,
that smells good, and then as you get closer to
the person wearing the clone, you're like, there's a little
bit of bo in there. There's just I don't know
if it's for me, but that's very interesting. It's almost there,
but there's something that's just not right underneath the surface.
So yeah, I don't know if it's the offense. I

(20:21):
don't know if it's just the mistakes. Special teams obviously
were an issue, but South Carolina, I mean South Carolina
only scored seventeen points on offense.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
They only scored seventeen points on offense, which is why
I said. The defense on the Tech side totally did
a good job. It really did a good job. But
it's just it's maddening. It's moments, man, it's maddening to
watch this human offense because you know they should be better.
They had I thought a really good showing for Aiden
Green out wide. The pass catchers for Virginia Tech were okay.

(20:52):
There were some drops, but by and large, I thought
they did a pretty good job out the Aiden Green's
going to be a star. Maybe not at Virginia Tech,
but he's going to be a star somewhere. He definitely
seems the part Karen Drones had throws that were open
that he missed. He was fifteen of thirty five in
this game and he's healthy now. He just ain't it man, and.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
It's he ain't inside a dome. Yeah, he's not it.
No glare, no winds, no elements.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Virginia Tech with a better quarterback that can deliver in
some of those key moments is probably a different conversation now,
Karen Jrones, ain't it? It just isn't. Now, Maybe it's
a different team if they get Terry and Stewart back.
He didn't play because he's dealing with the boot thing
that we talked about on the preview. Maybe a little
bit more of a compliment in the backfield will help.

(21:39):
But bad passes, if not drop passes, penalties. They should
be better than this. It should be we could be
looking at the beginning of the end here of Brent Pry.
I just I came away very underwhelmed.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
Where are we going next?

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Next, we're going to talk about other observations from the weekend.
If you're cool with that, I would love to.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Heay, what happened?

Speaker 1 (22:08):
What'd you think of Nico iamaliavat UCLA?

Speaker 2 (22:12):
I mean it's more what I thought of def and
Dan Pierre at Utah. But yes, it's just tough. I mean,
the line, the receivers, the running game. He was the
running game, I believe, which is not a great sign
for UCLA. UCLA's defense couldn't get off the fields, which
just makes things harder for him, forces him to feel
like he has to do everything on every play. Can't

(22:34):
imagine we're gonna be spending a lot of time on
Nico this year, just because I don't think we're gonna
be spending a lot of time on Ucla this year,
barring some sort of like hey, this was the first
game Utah has a tough opponent. They appear to have
done enough on offense that they can overwhelm teams and
look like a playoff contender. Sure, but UCLA is playing
in the Big Ten schedule is not gonna be easy. No,
So yeah, didn't think much of him the story. To me,

(22:57):
it was all Utah though forty three to.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Ten was the final. Yeah, Devin dan Pierre looked good.
Utah looked good.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
The fourteen of sixteen on third down.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Yeah, this was not a great showing for UCLA really
in any facet. They were just completely overwhelmed by a
Utah team that could be underrated this year. And it
was part of what we brought up in the previews.
We just didn't know to what degree we should value
some of these new faces, notably Dan Pierre, notably their
new offensive coordinator, both of whom came up from New Mexico.

(23:29):
So they got off to a really hot start. And
if you're thinking bigger picture in terms of the Big twelve,
that's a very interesting conversation if we're going to get
this type of performance week in and week out from Utah.
But I'm still hung up on the Ucla thing. I
just am. And this is not me trying to dunk
on Nico. I have never met the kid, I probably
never will, and I don't wish ill will upon anybody.

(23:51):
But I just cannot get it out of my head
that Nico's camp or somebody around Nico was putting out
this Kakamami theory that he wanted a better supporting cast
and he went to UCLA for that. There's nothing better
about this team at UCLA than at Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Nothing.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Maybe he is better at quarterback as an upgrade, but
literally nothing else is better.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
They have three winnable games coming up, so they could
start the season three to one and figure out some
sort of rhythm. There's I mean, there are wins on
this schedule.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
If they're decent, there are wins, and it is way
too soon to write off anybody at this point. I agree,
can't write off anybody at this point. Week one is
always an aberration. Teams always improve from week one to
week two.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
I see what you're about to say. The manner in
which they.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Lost it just was. It was toothless. There was nothing
about that that felt optimistic to me. Yeah, at home,
USC for staying out on the West coast, hung seventy
three on Missouri State. Welcome to FBS Missouri State.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
They got absolutely drilled a good game from Jade Mayava
Whussan Longstreet came in and went nine for nine in
this game.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Ran well, Yeah, had a fumble, had a fumble. USC
was they were they were lightning. Yeah against Missouri State.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
It looked really good. I mean, for whatever that's worth.
But look, you'll take that in week one. I don't
care what team you're talking about. You will take seventy
three points to start things off. We're just gonna have
to see how they evolve as they get into more
of the meat of that schedule.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
They've got undefeated Perdue on the road in a couple
of weeks.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Ty Purdue wants thirty one.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Nip nip zip, nip nip zip nil Yep, yeah, perdue
shut out ball State. I want to say all State yeah.
And Notre Dame has Purdue in a few weeks. I
believe as well.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Watchower makers could be spoiler makers in twenty twenty five.
What else you got from this weekend?

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Washington played Colorado State pretty tightly until they eventually I
think in the fourth quarter ran away with it. A
really nice day offensively, some good adjustments on defense for Washington,
but colorad State it was running well for a chunk
of this game, so they've got that to figure out
moving forward. I think they've got Ohio State not in
a terribly long time. I believe. If you're looking at

(26:09):
the Washington schedule, I am not. At the moment, Colorado
State solid team. It's week one. I imagine Washington's going
to improve. I'd much rather be a Washington fan in
this moment than a Washington State fan who barely got
by Idaho late in that one. That's Idaho with the
first year head coach as last year's coach moved on
to New Mexico Wazoo and Oregon State are going to

(26:32):
have themselves a long year, it seems. In this moment
we mentioned a little bit of the Jaron Kiave Sanga
Poola La Teley vision. You were close, I was close
songa so Oh Poola Songapoola Telly, Here you go songapool
it Telly vision. He started hot. The true freshman quarterback,
the lefty for Cal. Oregon State just really had no

(26:54):
answer and didn't do a terrible amount offensively, but they
settled in and made it a little bit more earthy.

Speaker 1 (27:00):
Was okay.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I thought it was pretty good. Sorry, but I think
if Cal can you know the receiver's name for Cal,
Who's gonna pop this year? Tron Grizzle, Tronde t ro
O n D Trond Grizzle.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Absolutely great name Cal is interesting to me, man, they are.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
And I have a ton of pop.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
But yeah, you know, I brought this outside of Yeah,
I brought this up when we did previews because it
definitely feels like it's a bit of a last gasp
from Justin Wilcox to make this work. Sure, and there
have been some head scratching moves like Brian Harson to
run the offense. Okay, whatever, whatever floats your boat, right,

(27:43):
but jks, we should just call him. That looked awesome,
really good as a true freshman getting this start. I
thought a lot of the newcomers on the cow side
actually looked quite good as well. And my theory of
the case with the Cal Golden Bears this season is
not that they're going nine to three. It's just that

(28:04):
they find themselves in a bunch of interesting situations this season,
Like if you look up and down this schedule, now,
if they're going to get real pop at quarterback from
this freshman, and it's probably a bit premature to assume
they're going to get this every week. It was Oregon
State August State played no defense a year ago, so
take that for what it's worth. But I suddenly start

(28:26):
looking at games a couple weeks from now on the
road at Minnesota. Minnesota was tight. Sure in their first game,
maybe a bit of a mirage that final box score,
but Boston College is a cross country trip. But Boston
College is not bulletproof. Virginia Tech. They got to go
to Lane Stadium, which is not easy, but Virginia Tech

(28:50):
could be gettable. Sure, even like SMU to close out
the year, who knows what kind of position they'll be in.
I just this is me getting out over my skis.
But if we get this type of performance from cal
moving forward, there's probably a little bit more upside here
than we initially thought.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
A week after Hawaii beat Stanford, Arizona took it to them.
So that's nice for Arizona. Our friend Michael Junior on
the call, I think eating hot dogs nor dogs in
the booth. I didn't see that he was doing that.
Fresno got We talked a little bit about this on
the show. Fresno comfortably beat Georgia Southern, who now has
USC coming up this week. B YU very comfortable over

(29:28):
Portland State Bear Bachmeyer, the Bear, very very good, three touchdowns,
didn't have a great stat line, didn't like throw for
a million yards, but had three touchdowns and I thought
big plays. Yes, And we kind of mentioned Virginia getting
over on Coastal Carolina in a big way. And this
is a new look Virginia team, so we'll see what
that means for the ACC. But yeah, fun, fun, fun Saturday,

(29:50):
and we have one left. I mean, by the time
people listen, they'll have no they'll know what happened in
Bill Belichick's debut. I'm not just opening the Patriot League
to see if there was anything. Oh Bowl and Green
George took it. So he took it to a lofty ideal.
Lee High beat Richmond in the Patriot League matchup of
the weekend of the year, maybe maybe of the year.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
I did not see if they had their Twitter account
unsuspended yet. I'm gonna have to check on that after
we hit stop Georgetown. B Davidson, Man Davidson, don't even
bring that noise. And and I you barely beat Holy
Cross barely. I picked a Crosssaders, didn't I I.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
Think you did. And so if you wagered on the
Cross Sader, screw them, good on. You still got some
scar tissue from that one.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
You want to do a little bit of an early
Bird preview, would love to. Early Bird Special started doing
this last week. I think normally on this Tuesday episode,
we'll take a little bit more time to unpack some
of the key storylines from the week that was. But
it's a screwy week one. It always is because they
have games for five straight days. It bleeds out into

(30:54):
Sunday and Monday, just the way they've been scheduling this thing.
So kind of puts you and I in a bit
of a bind. We can't as much of that ground
as we would like otherwise, but we do want to
give you a little bit of an advanced preview for
two really big games in Week two. Now, there are
a bunch I can talk through the slate a little
bit later, but we called out these two specifically because

(31:16):
these seem to be the ones that the verballer hood
is most interested in hearing us talk about early. Those
being the Syhawk game, Iowa versus Iowa State, and of
course the Michigan Oklahoma game, that big Week two non
con matchup, Michigan on the road at night in Norman
to square off against John Mattier and the Oklahoma Sooners.

(31:37):
Why don't we start off, though, with that Syhawk game again.
It is high noon, it is on Fox, It is
Iowa on the road. They are a three point dog
against the Iowa State Clones. Now, you know where I've
been on this game. You know where I've been on
Iowa for the last couple of weeks. Now, Yes, I

(31:59):
am going to take Iowa and the points in this
matchup and have fun. Yeah, I definitely felt a lot
less confident about it. After seeing Week one Mark Ronowski,
which I can discuss a little bit more detail speaking
of observations from week one. But this is usually a
close one score affair. As we know, the Clones won

(32:22):
last year on the road in Iowa City. Actually, in
the last three matchups the road team is won. So
perhaps that trend continues this time around. Gives me at
least a little bit more support from my Iowa prediction
here in this one. Where are you at on this game?
Are you going Iowa State?

Speaker 2 (32:42):
I'm going to Iowa State? Why because I watched Iowa's offense.
Now again, this could be an Iowa team that relies
on the run, relies on defense. He's going to try to,
you know, win a bunch of games fourteen to ten, seventeen, thirteen,
something like that. We've seen it happen year after year
after year. Iowa State's gonna play good defense this year. Now,

(33:07):
and there's something unsettling about how Mark Ronowski started his
season off against Albany.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
I'm sorry you said unsettling. Yeah, it was embarrassing. Unsettling
is being generous, Dan, Yeah, And I'm a Mark Ronowski fan.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Well, I say unsettling because it's week one, but the
manner in which he struggled is pretty worrisome unless there
was some sort of nagging something or he was drugged
before kickoff, or if there's some very clear explanation, Like
I'm willing to give everybody the benefit of the doubt

(33:47):
with week one, just crazy nerves, which doesn't really make sense.
He's played in big games, just at the FCS level,
so that doesn't fully make sense. And this wasn't a
big game against Albany in week one. So you're using
extreme adjectives and then talking about taking the points.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Well, I am taking the points because that's just the
matchup and I was done that with worse quarterbacks than Markronowski. Yeah,
although I don't know how much worse because you and
I have been sending clips back and forth, and maybe
it was just a week one aberration and it's a thing,
and he had jitters and it was a bad game
plan and they need some time to get It's not
going to get easier against Iowa State.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Definitely not Iowa State.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
It's already got two games under its belt, so to
that end, they're going to be I think a little
bit more seasoned. I don't see how they couldn't be
as compared to Iowa. But like the conversation around Markronowski,
if you have monitored at all online, has been merciless.
And this is not a program that is used to

(34:44):
having good quarterback play. As of late. He was awful.
He was eight to fifteen for forty four yards. They
did most of their work on the ground, to be clear,
because they've got a good line, because that is I
think their preferred style of play. But it is absolutely
the understatement of the year at this early stage in

(35:06):
the twenty twenty five season for me to say that
I am wavering a little bit, at a minimum a
little bit. Yeah, on all of the praise I heaped
upon Mark Ronowski, he was terrible in Week one.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Look, the encouraging thing is Kirk ference has done nothing
but win games with one winning fights with one hand
tied behind his back.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
I guess that's the challenge he prefers.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
I guess. So, yeah, I'm willing to extend grace and
say that there was something amiss and there was something
there that prevented him from fully realizing his potential.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Like I feel personally affronted by this because I stuck
my neck out and I talked about how he was
going to be the best quarterback in Iowa since Brad Banks.
Look what he did against UC Davis, he might not
be a better quarterback than Tyra Banks. Dan Like.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
It was just really bad. It was really bad. Do
they look very confused? Which is the troubling thing too.
Now it wasn't just him dirting balls, it was.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
I'll shut up now, don't I don't want to.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Okay, so talk to me. Okay, I'm gonna tell you
why I like Iowa State. Tell me I like Iowa
State because of the experience in winning a sloppy game
and the experience of winning a game they should have
run away with and did run away with. I like that.
I like the comfort and experience of rock obect. I
like that this defense is specifically built to make quarterback
sea ghosts, either in the pass rush or in the secondary.

(36:33):
And if you are going to employ that against a
quarterback who seems to have ghosts built in, that seems
like a good thing to me. So I think Iowa
State at home is feeling like they have juice right now,
whereas Iowa is walking into this one skeptical, perhaps of
its own offense. In a way that they're not fully

(36:54):
used to. They're used to it, but not in this
specific way. I think it's just a charmed moment for
the clones. So I'm going to Iowa State here by
seven to ten. Yeah, I could see it, honestly, and
by the way to thirteen.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
By the way, when I put my neck out there
and I said that I was beating Iowa State, there
were two other games that I called out kind of
in the same breath, early season predictions that I was
also that confident in. One was Texas over Ohio State.
The other was Notre Dame over Miami. It's not looking
good for Iowa, I hate to tell you guys.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Also, I think this is a big noon game, right,
big noon game. Yeah, this like the big noon studio
show is going or the big new preview show. And
so all of their features that they have ready to
go with about Mark Gronowski might need to be tempered
a little bit. We might need to go back into
the editing bay and be like, well, we'll see what happens.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, let's let's fire up final cut. See if we
still got that source file.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Maybe make Fox is using final cut. They've got bigger
issues it's uh, there's a heavy spotlight on this one
because it's not a packed week of obvious headliners.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
It definitely helps that Iowa State has those two games. Yeah,
and I came away from their Week one showing feeling
even better about the Clones because there was a real
opportunity on a short week after a big win in
Ireland to have a letdown, which we have seen from
Iowa State before in September.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, that's quality South Dakota team as well.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
And they pounded them, they ripped them limb from limb.
That was a good showing for Iowa State. Definitely to
come back home to get a win like that, I
felt real encouraged after seeing it. Yeah, So I kind
of backed myself into a corner here with all this
Iowa love, with all this Mark Kronowski love, I'm going.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
To stick with perfect storm. Stick with it.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, Okay, I'm going to stick with it. I'm not
going to back down now. My thought back in July
was that the Iowa State second could be an issue
in a game like this because my theory again was
I was going to find a way to utilize Markronowski's legs.
They're going to be able to run some misdirection, and

(39:11):
they're gonna be able to run some fakes off of that. Sure,
I am envisioning a situation where there's a Mark Ronowski
fake draw pop over the top. That's how they take
advantage of the secondary. They still could try that.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Well, look, maybe Iowa State secondary is in trouble because
their muscles will atrophy from lack of use.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
I don't know. Okay, the matchup to watch is this, though,
whatever I think is going to happen doesn't matter. The
matchup that I am most interested in here is the
Iowa offensive line against the Iowa State defensive line, because
if they're able to get a push, if they are
able to establish something of a ground game, I like
their chances. Now, we've seen them be very good at

(39:52):
this in the past. I would like their chances a
lot more. It would instill a lot more confidence in
me having made this pick. If I knew right now
that they'd be getting a push with their offensive line.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yeah, well, what's stopping Iowa State from putting ten dudes
at the line of scrimmage?

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Well that's the question, right, Yeah, that's the question. So
if this one devolves into three yards and a cloud
of dust and a bunch of punts and field position
and whatnot that probably benefits IOWA. I think that's the
style of play that they need here. I'll stand by
the pick. I truly don't feel great about it, but

(40:28):
I'm gonna say IOWA outright twenty one to twenty?

Speaker 2 (40:31):
What do you think? Fell across Tim Lester's face as
he started calling that game, like, Oh, what have we done?

Speaker 1 (40:39):
What have we unleashed? I don't know, man, I was.
I was blown away watching the highlights of this one.
I went back, I watched the game. I saw the highlights.
Then I went back and I watched the game like
I gotta see what I'm what I'm missing here? And
it was I'll stick to my pick, all right?

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Like tie out of Victorious Secret walk Through? Yes, exactly
like that? What am I doing here? I feel like
I'm out of my elements. I'm nervous about everything I
do and say I do with my hands.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah? Where do I go?

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Am I supposed to be here?

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Did I say Victoria Secret walk Through? How about like
a fashion show or some like? Ties backstage? The look
that must have fallen upon my face? Kate walked into
the room. She said, what's wrong.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
I was like that. I just gave her the wave, like, now, yeah,
you don't want to know. You don't want to know about.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
Mark cons now, sweetie.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Yeah, all right, I got twenty one twenty. Iowhall, I'll
stick with that. I'll be rong twenty three thirteen. So
the other big game that we're going to talk about
today is one that we've had circled for a while,
and it's interesting on about a thousand different fronts, not
the least of which is interesting conversation for Big ten fans,

(41:52):
really interesting conversation for SEC fans. I think in the
broader national conversation. It's one of those early bell Weather games,
one of those non con games for sure, that people
have circled just as an interesting tell early on to
see where some of these programs are at. This is
seven point thirty ABC. It is Michigan on the road
at Oklahoma. This is a point spread that has jumped

(42:14):
around a fair amount since I jotted it down on
my document. I had three at one point. I think
it opened at one and a half. Right now I'm
looking at it, it says Oklahoma minus six. So let's
go with that. Yes, I was genuinely surprised when we
put out the call on Saturday night for a little
role playing segment where we ask fan bases, tell us

(42:35):
who you're root for, and tell us what your emotions
are having watched your team play. Most of the Oklahoma
people that wrote in were concerned about what they saw,
which I found surprising because they won by thirty two points.
But I went online. I did verify it to some extent.
I would say is about an eighty twenty split. Eighty
percent good vibes, good emotions, twenty percent concerned for one

(43:00):
reason or another. I don't know if it was an
early turnover from Oklahoma. I don't know if it was
the third quarter interception from John Mattier. But like a
good tune up, you will take it.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Today it was lingering offensive line questions that weren't immediately answered.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
You will take this tune up. Though they only allowed
one hundred and fifty one yards to Illinois State, that's good.
That's the defense should absolutely be a strength of this team.
John Matteer three ninety two at four total touchdowns set
a record a lot I think to build on. But yeah,
the line, the line is going to be interesting and
it's something we should discuss.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Illinois State ran probably better than Oklahoma fans thought they would. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Again, the line is six Stan, it is at night,
it is in Norman, and obviously that's a pretty advantageous spot.
There is no benefit at this point in Brent Vannable's
tenure to go out there and to leave anything in
the clip, like he just has to empty at all.
He has to win this game, much like we talked

(44:00):
about with Miami and Notre Dame. This one is very
meaningful for Brent Vnables.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
Obviously meaningful for Sharon Moore, who's probably going to be
shown in the first three minutes in an Oklahoma uniform.
Two minutes ninety seconds. I don't know, noted Oklahoma alum. Yeah, yeah,
And I think what game day is there too?

Speaker 1 (44:18):
Right? Yep?

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Game day is going to be in Norman. What do
I think of this one? I? You know, my general
rule of law with picking games is if you've got
a what appears to be a strong defense, and you're
playing at home in a difficult environment, and the added
benefit if you're an Oklahoma fan of playing against a
quarterback who has never played in a game like this,
who has one game of experienced I thought looked pretty

(44:41):
good against New Mexico all things considered, and the offense
definitely had more juice against New Mexico for Michigan. But
taking on Oklahoma in this spot and Michigan has advantages,
I think Michigan upfront on defense against Oklahoma's front, it's
gonna be a big question for the Sooners. And we'll
see what happens with the targeting a pe to uh
It's Jayshawn Barram, the Michigan linebacker.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
H a lot of a lot of conversation about that
one out out on the interest.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
So I like Oklahoma here. I do like Oklahoma here
just because it fits snugly into my picking arms of
the situational play. And I think Michigan is going to
come out not apprehensive, but they're going to come out
I think prepared. I think in a way that's more

(45:27):
prepared than usual. But to beat a defense as good
as what we think Oklahoma is going to be, you
have to have an offense that can win in a
number of ways, and we just haven't seen it from Michigan.
We just haven't seen, you know, a game changing tight end,
a game changing receiver. I like what we saw itt
of Justice Haynes in Week one. Obviously they play running back, Yes,

(45:50):
running game really good. Running games should be good all
season long. But what they're what are they putting on
Bryce Underwood's plate TBD? How much are they going to
trust him to look like a third year quarterback rather
than like what Notre Dame did with CJ. Carr in
Week one against Hit their first real opponent. This is
Michigan's first real opponent, all due respect to the Lobos.

(46:12):
So I'm going with the home team here because I
just it's so incomplete from Michigan's offense in this moment.
To pick Michigan in this spot, you either one have
to believe Oklahoma is extremely overrated based on last year,
which is not an unreasonable take, that we need to
see a much better offensive line performance against a real team,

(46:34):
or you have to be so almost inexplicably high on
the ceiling of this Michigan offense immediately with a new
coordinator and a new quarterback. And I don't fit into
either one of those boxes. So I'm going to give
those points, and I think Oklahoma wins this game by
eight to twelve points.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Okay, Wow, Bryce Underwood looked good. Though.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
He did look good. He looked good, but I think
it was a combination of being scripted and not having
to go through a ton of progressions.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
Yeah, I mean it was good, really good on the
short stuff. It was still pretty good with the intermediate
stuff once he started throwing beyond twenty yards at the
UZOH for two. I checked the passing grades. They weren't great,
but even still a really good showing for him.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:21):
I like the fact that Justice Haynes comes in. That
to be is more of the story than Bryce Underwood.
Of course, the transfer from Alabama, as I mentioned, three
touchdowns had like one hundred and sixty yards or so.
They need to have that in the backfield. It can't
all just be on the arm of Bryce Underwood. The matchup, though,

(47:43):
is what you mentioned earlier, and it's a really good
Michigan front seven against an Oklahoma line that we're still
trying to suss out. It was bad a year ago,
it really was, and so this is one of those
matchups where you like to talk about quarterback and defense.
I still think like the best quarterback and best defense
is probably on the Oklahoma side, And so I tend

(48:06):
to agree that the Sooners are going to win this game,
but I don't think we can take for granted that
Michigan's front isn't going to have a huge say in
this ball game. I think the reason why I favor
Oklahoma is given a setup like that, it also plays
into the hands of a guy like a joh Matier,
who is an improviser, who if he doesn't get a

(48:26):
lot of time, they can still figure out a way
to move the pocket. They can get well it's a
quick hit offense by design. They can get him out
of the pocket. They can find ways to utilize his legs.
He's a very talented runner, maybe the best running quarterback
in college football. Whoa you can use that to great.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
I mean Lenora's Sellers exists in this university.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
I said, maybe, I said, maybe he's not as big
as Lenora's the Creator, mind you, but he's every bit
is electric and a ton of fun. So I am
curious to see, in the absence of any real pass protection,
if it comes to that, if John Matier, the improviser
comes out, and if he's able to help lift this
offense in a way that you know, Oklahoma hasn't seen

(49:05):
maybe since like a Caleb Williams or a Baker Mayfield.
I'm not saying he's those guys, but he is that
style player to some extent.

Speaker 2 (49:13):
I agree. He was really really good last year and
they're basically one game against a good defense in Boise State.
He had a good game. He threw it a bunch,
but he got the ball to his receivers. The receivers
made big plays. It's different playing in Norman against Michigan.
That's just it's a different level for John Mattier as well.
If we're going to say that about Bryce Underwood, Mateer

(49:34):
is more experienced, but this kind of stage is just
different than where he was playing its Mountain West teams
by and large last year.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
I've got Oklahoma twenty eight twenty. I think we can
agree on the tenor of this game, and I do
think the ultimate difference is going to be what I
just mentioned, John Mattier's ability to make plays. Look, we
can talk until we're blue in the face about how
he's unproven against an SEC schedule, certainly playing against teams

(50:01):
like Michigan. He largely played against a Mountain West schedule
last year when he was cutting up all things up
there at Washington State. I do think this is one
of those games that probably suits his skill set pretty well.
He's just gonna have to be on the move. I
still don't trust that Oklahoma line, and I think he
is built for these types of games. So twenty eight

(50:24):
twenty I think a lot to build on. If you're Michigan,
I don't think they're gonna seem terribly overmatched in this game,
if only because of their front seven and how good
it is. And I think we'll see some pop out
of Bryce Underwood and for sure some pop out of
a guy like a Justice Haines. I don't expect this
to be a bad matchup at all. I think it'll
be fun. But I ultimately favor the playmaking of intire

(50:44):
That's why I'm going twenty eight twenty.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Uh, twenty four fourteen, twenty to ten. I don't think
it's I just don't think Oklahoma's going to score a
ton on this Michigan defense, and I don't think Michigan
is going to score a ton of this Oklahoma team.
So yeah, I'm gonna go low scoring here, but yeah,
ten points.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
We do have this thing that I have talked about
for years in this show that I often reference as
the de facto national championship, right, And I think this
is an early season de facto national championship for Oklahoma,
like they gotta have this one, Dan, they got it,
Brent Vanderbiles has to have this one.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
I don't think that's true at all. I don't think
that's what de facto national championship means. I am being
a little bit liberal with my They play Texas, they
play arch Manning.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
I'm saying in the early part of this season.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
It's their de facto first two weeks of the season
national Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Let's go with that. Okay, it's a very meaningful game.
I think it means more for Oklahoma than it does Michigan.
I'm going to take them twenty eight twenty Okay. A
couple other games just to put on your radar as
we wrap this thing up in advance of Week two. Now, again,
Week two is not as high profile as Week one,

(51:54):
but a bunch of matchups at least here in the
forballer hood that I think people would find very interesting.
It starts off on Friday night. Actually, James Madison at
Louisville given fun, given where everything's at now in the
G five, with Boise going down, USF obviously getting a
pretty big win. We saw Louisiana go down, We saw
Army go down. I think there's a lot of uncertainty

(52:18):
on the G five level, which of those schools might
rise up and perhaps claim that playoff spot. James Madison, man,
it's there for JMU now. I don't know if they
got the schedule. I know that they're using maybe some
different metrics this year, but JMU now on the road
at Louisville is in a must win situation if they
want to find themselves in that conversation later in the year. Louisville,

(52:40):
for their part, was fine in week one. ISAs Brown
is good, Middle Moss is fine. He threw a couple
picks though, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you know they're fine.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
I haven't. I haven't broken down the tape yet.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
Not not terribly worried one way or another about the
Louisville side. But this is one speaking of true de
facto national championships. If we want to be purists about
the definition, jam you needs to have this one. They're
a fifteen point dog at time of recording is Friday
night at seven pm on ESPN two. As for other
matchups that we did not have a chance to really

(53:12):
address here, also in that noon slate, alongside the Iowa
Iowa State game, Illinois at Duke we're going to have
to talk about on Thursday.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Yeah, Shire showdown.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Yep, the Shire showed. It's a monster game for both
these teams. And it's not going to fly, you know,
it's not going to be flown on a banner at
any of these pregame shows, and it's not going to
be the game that your eye is drawn to. But
Illinois at Duke's a big one. Baylor at SMU. SMU's
favored in this game three points.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Okay, I understand it's that it's in Dallas. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
The afternoonslate's loaded too. Kansas at Missoo the Border War
Missoo favored by five and a half. Nice Old Miss
at Kentucky. Bit of a revenge spot for Old Miss. Yeah,
Oklahoma State on the rot at your Oregon ducks.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
The Alkahoma State without its starting quarterback. Oregon looking good
week one yep.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
Uh, Delaware at Colorado I have labeled as a Fox
game at three point thirty sure, which is an interesting
choice if that's if that is correct, I don't know
for sure, but that's how it was labeled, so I
put it down.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
I mean, if there's nothing else, go with what you
assume are going to be Dion ratings continue.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
And West Virginia at Ohio could be a spicy matchup
Ohio right now about a three point home dog. We've
got the Texas State utsa rivalry in this window. We've
also got a Fresno Oregon State game, Oregon State favored
by two, that should be tight.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
We've got USF Florida, right, your guy Byron.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Brown, us F Florida, Yeah, dude, thank you.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
We've got NC State Virginia.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
Who's going to go seven and five? Who's going to
go six and six? This year? This could be a
determining factor.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
Man, No, I think it's a really fun week. I
think there's a lot of good stuff here. Is there
anything good at night? Late night?

Speaker 1 (55:03):
There is? Man, there absolutely is got a couple here.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
Okay, okay, I'm listening.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Army K State.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Does Army have a Tarleton State problem? The answer right
now yes, a symphatic yes.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
Georgia Southern at USC Clay Hilton Bowl. Just interesting because
of the US. They should win easily. Yeah, name to
play Vandy have Virginia Tech. Bit of a revenge spot
for Virginia Tech. Definitely got Boston College at Michigan State,
two teams that I think are kind of on the
same level the season. Michigan State favored by about a
field goal at home. Arizona State on the road at

(55:37):
Mississippi State, Okay, that could be spicy man.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Yeah, Arizona State had a reasonably comfortable win against Northern
Arizona last year. Yeah, or last week.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Ucla on the road at UNLV.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Gotta win that, gotta win that Ucla slays.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
Gotta win that game.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
That must win. Weird to say, but true.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
They gotta win that game. And here's an interesting one.
Alabama coming back home after the loss. Clips circulating online
widely about lack of effort among that defense. Ulm coming
to town. Now, Bama is favored by thirty eight points.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
This sho history here.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Yeah, should win this game handily. Ulm's gonna run, though, Dan,
That's true. They're gonna run. They run right at them.
It's all they know how to do. And they are feisty,
so don't be surprised they cover. They're not gonna win,
but don't be surprised they cover that. One's Saturday evening.
A couple others in this window that I think look

(56:42):
somewhat interesting to me. But then we go to the
late night Stanford at Byu Bayu healthy favorite, San Diego
State at Washington State, Washington State favored by two.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Okay, I dig it, full slate, Man, full sleep. It's
gonna be fun.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
So here's the deal on going out to verballers dot com.
Sign up today to support what Dan and I do.
Not only will you get entry into our week two
pick them pool, which will be I think open for
business around the time that most of you start listening
to this. If nothing more, you can vote in the
for Baller Top twelve poll. We will give you a
list of all one hundred and thirty six teams. You

(57:21):
have to pick the best twelve. Then you have to
order them, and then on our next episode we're going
to bring that out for everybody and we're going to
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If nothing more, If you don't care about any of that,
you also get ad free episodes, bonus content, access to
our Discord server, which I popped in a couple times
this weekend. It's like trying to read the matrix.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
In the game day Change yep.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
People chatting like a million miles a second, which is
awesome by a community. Come and join it, Come and
hang out and chat there on Saturday afternoons. If you
don't like what you get elsewhere on social media, if
nothing more, you support with Dan and I do, which
goes a long way.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
To help us keep very meaningful to us. Yeah, you're
very meaningful.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
So there's that. Of course, if you made it this far,
if you like what you hear, hit follow, hit subscribes
that you don't miss any of our episodes. There is
an outside chance, probably a pretty good chance that as
most people are watching this out on YouTube, we're going
to get to that vaunted twenty five thousand subscriber number,
which we only started posting videos relatively recently. To get

(58:23):
to this point that quick is a pretty good accomplishment,
so we're pretty excited about that. Again, if you are
number twenty five k, give us a holler at sliverbleatgemail
dot com. I'll send you a hat whoa's that, I'm
a hat.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
I think that's it. Look, our next episode is going
to be on Thursday. As always, it'll be a much
deeper preview for the week ahead. Of course, we did
two previous here, but we've got many more that we
need to do. On the next episode. We will also
give you maybe some upset picks. I got a few
that I'm working on here, workshopping a little bit yep
in the lab. We will talk about that. We of course,

(59:02):
will give you everything you need to ready, everything you
need to know to get ready. Excuse me for the
week two that is in store for us.

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Dan can't wait. Gotta get this voice right. Take care
of that voice. Man, Go drink some broth or I
don't know what. Do you have, an elixir, anything.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
You're working on.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
I've been gargling salt water, broth, lozenges, throat comfort tea.
I've been chopping up ginger and putting in my tea,
trying to get there.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
Ti adam a means thing he told me was wild
sweet orange tea from Tazo.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Not a sponsor, could be? Not a sponsor could be? Okay,
I try. Let's see if they have it.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
It didn't not help. I don't know if it helped
as much as he claimed, but he would know better
than me.

Speaker 2 (59:41):
I'm doing it. I'm going to all the performance enhancing drugs.
Tie beautiful.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
All right. Well, on that note, thank you for tuning
back in Hope. Everybody enjoyed Week one. As many of
you listen to this, you already know the results of
the TSU North Carolina game. That's the only one left
on Monday night. But as people are coming back to
work here, we wanted to make sure you had some
content in the app to keep the college football fire burning.

(01:00:06):
For that guy over there, my good friend Dan RUBERSTI
for my self, Tie Hilda Brad. We'll catch you on Thursday,
and I meantimes, stay solid.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Peace,