Midseason CFP Bracket Projections + Leftover Thoughts from College Football Week 7

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the solid verbal call that 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 Steak, is that whoo whoo? And
then and tie be Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Mister Dan Rubins seen how's the voice today? Is it
better than it was on Saturday night? It feels better.
I don't know if it sounds better, but it feels better.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
And that's that's something.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Seems like it's in about seventy five percent. You're not
fully back yet, but it's better than it was when
you sounded like Reyese Davis on Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
I don't even think did I sound as bad as
reys Davis did twenty one hours into a shift?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
If I did, I apologize, I feel like you kind
of did. And it's not your fault. I'm just saying
that that was kind of the experience that we had
for people.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Well, it happens to all of college football's most notable speakers.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Welcome back one, Welcome back all, Thank you for joining us.
This is the Tuesday spillover episode. This is the episode
where we get to talk about the things that we
didn't get a chance to talk about when we did
the Saturday Night at Midnight recap of all things college
football Week seven. We also have a game of sorts,
a topic that was suggested to us by our verballers

(01:18):
out at verballers dot com, where we can sign up
for bonus content and add free episodes and take part
in our games and all sorts of fun stuff. Again
that is at verballers dot calm Dan. We also have
a new Verballer Top twelve poll, which will unveil here momentarily.
Of course, if you are new, make sure you hit
follow or subscribe. We'd love to keep you around to
do three episodes a week, trying our best to keep

(01:41):
you up to speed on all things college football. Now
as we have I guess officially made it past the
midway point yes in the season, and we get to
start an exciting new chapter as we've made it through
into middle of October.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
It's always an exciting chapter with you, Ty.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
You know that I do I do any thoughts, any
thoughts in retrospect, or I should say, how many thoughts
do you have in retrospect looking back? Now on Week seven,
we're gonna unveil the poll here momentarily. But I'm I'm
curious if you found it as easy as I did
to just randomly identify like seventy five things that we

(02:20):
needed to discuss in this show.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh, it was super easy. Across the sport. It's super
especially you look ahead to schedules, You look at results
from Saturday, Friday, Thursday, whatever. You look at the games
that are coming up that immediately add intrigue. You look
at the reactions like Lane Kiffin reacting to the LSU
game in such a human moment. I don't know if
you saw his comments after losing the LSU game, where

(02:41):
he was like, man, losing by two touchdowns is one thing.
Losing like this, man, that's he's just sort of like
staring off into the nothingness. He was like, that's going
to stay with me, and I just I appreciate because
that's how I think about losing games. And I have
zero skin in any of these games personally, like I
will not be fire from solid verbal media, inc If

(03:02):
my favorite team wins or losing. But to see him
like react that way, I was like, man, I feel you, Lane,
I really do feel you, because there are losses that
we all have in our Marrow from six years ago,
fourteen years ago, twenty seven years ago, whatever, and I
appreciate him laying out that kind of honesty in front

(03:23):
of the world.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, I have an ole miss item that I want
to discuss with you great a little bit later on
in this podcast as we get into our leftover thoughts
from week seven, because I think, oh, this is an
interesting topic for discussion right now. Where they stand for
sure is something that we need to discuss here as
we start looking at the SEC as a whole and
really what it looks like moving forward after a lot

(03:46):
of steam on the rebels coming into this season, why
don't we start though with our Verballer Top twelve poll.
We do have a new one that's out. We vote
every week at verballers dot com and there have been
some changes as you might expect. Yes, this week number
twelve BYU finally getting a little love. Number eleven LSU

(04:08):
by virtue of their win, moving up now into Overballer
Top twelve, Number ten Tennessee Tennessee at ten Dan Okay,
we have a two way tie in eighth. We have
Iowa State and Clemson both tied with seven hundred and
thirty seven points. In our poll, okay at seven, we
have Alabama at six, we have Miami at five, We

(04:33):
have Georgia at four. We have Ohio State, after losing
that organ game, dropped a couple spots. At three, we
have Penn State moving up, and then in a very
very tight race, we have Oregon at two and Texas
at one. Texas got the overwhelming majority of the first
place votes, but nearly everybody else who voted in this

(04:55):
poll had Oregon very high up. So because of that
and because of the way we do the scoring for
the poll points, this was a very very close contest.
Just about one hundred points separate Texas from Oregon, which
again by our measure here is is very very tight.
The drop off that you see comes after number six

(05:16):
with Miami. That's when it starts to become that mishmash
that we've talked about now for a couple of weeks running.
When you get to Iowa, Stay and Clemson and Tennessee
and Lysu and be like, this is where people start
to I think really have some differing opinions. I should
also add the first four outer the next four in
however you want to categorize it. Notre Dame would be

(05:36):
thirteenth in this poll. Indiana would be fourteenth, Texas A
and M your Texas M A and M fighting Aggie's
would be fifteenth, and the pit Panthers would be number sixteen.
I'll just throw another one in there because we are
going to talk a little bit about the playoff. Boise
State in this poll would be number seventeen.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
For what it's worth to you, any thoughts on that. Yeah,
it's a great year for the BCS, right, got Oregon,
Texas lock it in, right, there's the drop off, that's
what teams people want to see. Great, let's do it.
Let's go to the Rose Bowl. Let's settle this on
the field. Okay, what are my thoughts here? There is
a broader conversation as to why it feels like everybody's

(06:17):
pretty flawed, except maybe for Texas, and we'll see it
with Oregon. Right now, they seem to be in a
good place. Penn State winning is a skill. So look,
they're undefeated. It's very hard to go undefeated in a
major conference, and they are that right now. But when
you get to I guess, depending on how you feel

(06:37):
about Georgie's performance against Mississippi State, which was pretty uneven,
especially that secondary took some hits. You get into that
like Miami Alabama Range, and you're like, well talented, but
I don't know, surviving some weird games losing in the
case of Alabama. Iowa State, I don't know. I love

(06:58):
Iowa State. I'm really in and Iowa State. I've been
in on Iowa State since the jump. I both in
on Iowa State. And also I have no concept of
how Iowa State and I'm still a doubter and a
hater when I say this, How rock obacked is a
quarterback who could beat any of the teams around Iowa State.
Does that make any sense? We're like me time, I

(07:19):
like them. I'm so impressed with what they did against
West Virginia. But Rocoback throwing into like the Penn State
defense feels disastrous to me still, and I need to
be convinced. I need actual proof for me to believe well.
Iowa State is.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
A team that I'm going to discuss here at a
little bit as well, yeacause I have deep, deep Iowa
State thoughts that I think we need to discuss here
on this program. The one that jumped out to me
was twofold. It was Bama, right, Bama. I feel like,
is this team that Arvard Ballerhood has had trouble putting
its finger on? Yeah, and obviously Ohio State right it.

(07:54):
I posted it out on Twitter. I wanted to see
how did people feel about dropping Ohio State?

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Where would you drop them?

Speaker 2 (08:00):
And I think outside of the jokesters who responded, most
people agreed. They're obviously the kind of team that deserves
to be in the top five based on what we
saw this weekend. Losing to Argue by one point on
the road is a far cry from being a black eye, sure,
and so to see them drop to four, it it

(08:22):
felt to me like Arvar Ballerhood was very responsible in
how they chose to handle the buck guys, BYU peeking
in at number twelve. Indiana was in this pool last
week at twelve, and again because of that drop off
and because the poll shifts a lot towards the bottom
end of things, it's not surprising me that Indiana was
not in this one because BYU had a resounding victory

(08:45):
over Arizona, so they're deserving of that. I am doing
my part to get past whatever skepticism I have with BYU,
and I'm not doing a great job of it. I
just went back through. I looked at a bunch of
numbers again before we hit record.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
Here.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
We could talk through a little bit of them as
we go through this episode. However, I am pleased to
see that they are at number twelve. It is a
nice comfortable lead over Notre Dame too right now, that
could change, but BYU peaking it taed In has a
pretty good resume thus far. I think they deserve to
be there, whether or not you put them there or not.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
I mean, look, when you look at BYU's resume as
I pull it up in front of me, it's beating
SMU aged well, although different SMU offense construction obviously, but
certainly that win has aged well. BYU. Beating Kansas State
in resounding fashion, even if it wasn't just like the

(09:43):
offense driving the field over and over and over again killed.
You beat a team thirty eight to nine. You beat
a team they killed nine. They absolutely murdered him. Beating
Baylor by double digits is a good thing. Ye, Baylor's
at least feistier this year. And then beating Arizona and
specifically turning Arizona over the way that they did, taking
advantage of a deeply flawed and undisciplined Arizona team and

(10:06):
getting up to forty forty points, forty to one to
nineteen forty one nineteen Yeah. I mean, the results are there,
even if the underlying numbers say, look, they're not an
elite team, They're probably not going to go undefeated. But
this is a strong bounce back year when people were
questioning Kilanie Sataki's job security, It's been an incredible year.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's been an incredible whether or not they win the
conference or make the playoff for any of the headlining
stuff that we talk about.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
I'm just saying, compared to the teams around them, like
Notre Dame still lost to NIU, right, oh.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, oh yeah, No, compared to the teams around them,
they deserve to be there. And I think relative to
preseason expectations, what they've done has been incredible.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
You remember I went on the air and I talked about, oh,
Kalanie Sataki. Everybody talks about how good of a coach
he is. I think it's time for him to put
up or shut up. I think he's putting up jokes
on me, doesn't Jake reetzlof Man, Yeah, your boy all right?
So right in Saliverbolgima dot com. Let us know your
thoughts on this poll. Will post it out on social media.
Get your comments out there. We do have some breaking
injury news actually, before we get into our leftover thoughts

(11:10):
from week seven, of which there are many, three really
significant bits of injury news just hit the wire here
as we're recording on Monday afternoon.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
The first is that Cam Rising is out again. Man.
And you know, for as much as we have made.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
Kind of the broad Cam Rising joke about the will
he won't he play, we don't want to keep getting hurt. No,
And he didn't look good when he came back this
past weekend when Utah lost its game, And now we're
finding out that he is out indefinitely due to a
lower leg injury. Don't know what that means. Perhaps we'll

(11:50):
hear more from Kyle Whittingham, but we wish Cam the best.
I don't know what this means for his future. If
he decides he wants to give it another go, he
probably could get one another medical red shirt or something
of that nature. But this is a bummer, certainly for
Cam rising. Also for Utah fans who have been kind
of in this search now for a while, the will

(12:11):
he won't he plaything has definitely worn a bit thin,
and we just wish the team well, wish him well.
That's a bummer, that is. We've got news in South Bend.
Benjamin Morrison, the All American cornerback for the Irish, suffered
a hip injury against Stanford. He needs surgery. He has
done for the year. He still, I believe, is projected

(12:33):
as a first round pick. My hunch is that he
will leave now as a result of this, wanting to
come back and do anything to damage his stock any further.
But that is a significant blow for the Notre Dame defense.
Really a Notre Dame squad in its entirety that has
had a ton of injuries that they are dealing with,
not the least of which is along the defensive line,

(12:55):
along the offensive line. Now you throw this in the mix.
All things considered, the defense has played pretty well and
I think they're stocked fairly well in the secondary, but
it's tough to replace a guy like Morrison, so he
has done for the year. And then on top of it,
we got another quarterback Graham Mertz. Graham Mertz done for
the year. Torres acl in the game this weekend. It's

(13:16):
gonna be DJ Lagway's team from here on out. Graham
Mertz posted a really nice, thoughtful message out to Gator
Nation out on social media shortly before we hit record here,
so I can imagine that was emotional for him. Whatever
the problems have been for Florida over the last two years,
Graham Mertz has not been the problem. He's been pretty good.
Graham Mertz has been pretty good. I remember when they

(13:38):
signed him to come down and be their transfer quarterback.
A lot of us rolled our eyes kind of eyebrows
went up, like, oh, that's the best they can do.
Graham Mertz has been pretty good, and I feel like
he's gotten better.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, and hopefully the silver lining with DJ Lagway, who
struggled somewhat against Tennessee but obviously through a crazy dime
to tie that game. I believe late against Tennessee he
will get reps. The future will get plenty of reps,
and hopefully Florida people, both fan wise and administration wise,
are patient and understand that he's a true freshman and

(14:11):
that you know, for all of the terrific throws. There
are going to be some duds, There are going to
be some miscommunications, there are going to be, you know,
some some negative moments, But I don't know. There's no
substitute for experience, and hopefully DJ Lagway is able to
use this time to you know, claw closer and closer
to his ceiling, which I think is pretty damn high.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
All right, time for leftovers from week seven. Again we
do the midnight recap episode. We can't get to everything right.
That is the purpose of this segment today. Dan Rubinstein,
as we were recording last week Kansas State one thirty
one to twenty eight over Colorado, I hit that bet,

(14:53):
by the way, that home doog of the week bet
with Colorado plus three and a half. Yeah, case State
needed a late touch down pass to Jace Brown to
go ahead with about two minutes left. It is amazing
to me at this point, and I guess I should
not be surprised, but truly it takes skill to do
what Colorado did in this game, and by that I

(15:15):
mean offer absolutely zero threat of a rushing attack and
still almost beat a really good team at home in
kse State. They had a team total of negative twenty
nine rushing guards if you factor in sacks. If you
don't factor in sacks, they had ten carries for twenty
one yards.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Ooh, that's totally different, totally different.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
So the fact that they're putting it all in Chador
with their offense, that they came this close to winning
is dan. And they also lost Travis Hunter. He got
hurt with a shoulder injury in this game as well.
I think they lost Jimmy Horn Junior as well. They're
dealing with injuries. They at least they were in this
game out wide. But for them to kind of take
case Date to the wire without having truly one whole

(16:00):
dimension of their offense is damn impressive to me. So
good win for K State on the road.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
I hope you're going to say for Colorado to get
this close without having safeties, well that too, that too. Yeah, Yeah,
it was a really impressive win from K State. It
was really impressive from you know, again, the one man
performance from Shdor Sanders or the one aspect performance in
this passing game. That quick release came up big in
big spots, and to me, it was just and I

(16:28):
think it was Avery Johnson went down at a certain
point and came back in this one, So it was
a gutty win from Kansas State getting the He was
interfered with right jas Brown at the end of the game,
but still came down with the catch and scored that.
A gutty win for Kansas State on the road and
a tough place to win. So yeah, really fun rewatch
as it was unfolding during our Saturday night reaction show.

(16:51):
And if nothing else, it also underscores the fact that
Colorado is going to win more games.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yes, this year, Colorado is going to be a ball team.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
They're going to be a ball team.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
They're going to go to a bowl, and I think
that's real progress. Yeah, so I give them props for
definitely being better this season and correcting some notable issues
that we saw a year ago, notably defense.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Defense. Yeah, Colorado, by the way, they're better. Colorado coming
up a flawed Arizona team, a decent but still pretty
flawed Cincinnati team, a decent but somewhat flawed Texas Tech team,
a Utah team with no cam rising, a Kansas team
that has fallen off and or completely fallen off, an
Oklahoma State team who is reeling. So a lot of

(17:31):
meat left on that Colorado scheduling bone for sure. What
else do you have here? Oh my god?

Speaker 2 (17:38):
In terms of leftover thoughts from week seven, I've got one, two, three,
four big ones on my lists. I suspect you have
many more.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Also unfolding as we were beginning this show, Iowa State,
West Virginia. I did not watch a ton of this
as it was happening and came away so impressed with
Iowa State. West Virginia came out kind of punching me
in the mouth, drove down, scored early, and Iowa State
was patient. They did a decent enough job even with
Garrett Green getting loose for a few runs, that they

(18:14):
kept that rushing attack down so well. Iowa State and
just I don't know, they're a multi phase team that
they're able to react to what teams are trying to
do quickly. They pick up on what teams are doing quickly,
and then with what they were able to do going downfield.
That was the big thing for a stretch of time
with Iowa State was that they were trying to play
pickball every week. They were trying to just sort of
possess and play defense. I don't know, when you have

(18:38):
Noel when you have Higgins, like they're just there's a
fearlessness downfield. I'm not talking about bombing it downfield, but
I'm talking about like over the heads of linebackers, wheel routes,
like taking shots in Iowa State is keeping defenses honest,
like this is a legit really good team because I
really felt strongly. I'm not just like saying they're good

(18:58):
because I doubted them and they proved me wrong specifically,
but like that's a tough spot to go to Morgantown
on the road given the situation, Like this is still
a good West Virginia offense something most of the time.
And I thought that was a losable moment that they
I think they're up twenty eight ten with like a
minute left or something like that, and West Virginia scored late.

(19:19):
They left no doubt here to me, and so I
came away super impressed upon not even a rewatch, just
a watch of that. I don't know if you have
any Iowa State thoughts.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Well I have many, and not to give away the
game too much, but the segment that ar for Ballerhood
wanted us to go back through and talk more about
was a revised playoff bracket. Right now that we're halfway
through the season, how does it change our initial thoughts?
I went very deep with this, Okay, very deep with this.

(19:48):
I did look a lot at the Big twelve, because
the Big twelve feels like it's almost anyone's at this point.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Right now, Iowa State has a forty one percent chance
per ESPN of winning the twelve and a fifty four
percent chance of making the playoff. Their win out percentage
just eight point one percent, So Vegas, not at ESPN, Vegas,
whoever does the number.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
It's just hard to go undefeated, hard to go undefeated.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Not as confident in that, but at least what they're
standing in the Big twelve, they feel the numbers do
pretty confident in Iowa State. So I'm with you on
that front. I did go back and look a little
bit deeper at some of the new teams in the
Big ten this year.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Big ten or Big twelve.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
I want to shift to the Big ten. Oh Okay,
I think UCLA is going to finish two to ten
or maybe one and eleven.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
They might be one and eleven, yep.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
And I'm wondering if we see a coaching change as
a result of that. I don't know what the state
of USC athletics is. I know part of their rationale
for leaving and wanting to join the Big Ten was
so that they could get an influx of cash.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
You mean, yeah, you see it.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, but this team has effect taken a nose dive
on offense and they have not scored more than seventeen
points in any game this season. Sean Foster does not
really instill much confidence in me at this point. It
just feels like, even if we expected a bit of
a drop off after Chip went to Ohio State, this

(21:19):
is extraordinarily drastic and maybe not something a lot of
people saw coming. Very disappointing to see this version of
UCLA out there. I keep saying, USC, forgive me. So
I'm just wondering what the what the status is of
that program. I remember when he was hired, asking Bruce Feldman,

(21:40):
is this just going to be a one year sort
of interim type situation before they can find somebody else
to come in there? And I don't think that was
his answer. I don't think he necessed out.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Bruce said he didn't think so he didn't.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Agree with that sentiment. But if they finished one and
eleven Dan with a win in week one by three
points over Hawaii. I can't imagine there's much appetite for that.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
No, of course not. And I mean, look, the the
UCLA job is an especially difficult one for a number
of reasons. And you know, I think Chip Kelly and
the money behind the scenes were probably on different pages,
to be kind, and so that was not a long
term solution, even if Chip seemed to have them kind
of reaching their ceiling as an eight and four, nine
and three type program at their best. And that's in

(22:27):
a different conference, of course, But look, what can you
point to right now with Tshan Foster to sort of
keep him around. He's not expensive, so it's not like
you're on the hook for a ton of money. He's
not going gangbusters in recruiting as far as I can tell,
and so you're like, wow, you know, can't get rid
of them quickly. You know, we got to see what
you got to give him time to see what he

(22:47):
can do with this like crazy impressive recruiting class. He
doesn't have a history at UCLA in terms of head
coaching history to lean back on to be like, yes,
it's a down year, but like you know, you look
at somebody like Dave Randa, Like Dave Randall won the
com Tilani Sataki has had success here, so there's a
little bit of benefit of the doubt to say, like,
you know what, let's give this guy a shot to
get back to where he has had this program before. Also, though,

(23:12):
like one year is such a short amount of time,
especially given the timing of when he took over, to
give a head coach, especially one who you have to
have every belief like, wants to win at UCLA, played
at UCLA, was a star at UCLA, is a big
believer in UCLA. Like it would be ideal if Deshaun
Foster got it figured out in the medium term, but

(23:32):
there has to be at least morsels, you know, just
look at and say like, oh, I see you know,
you squint and you're like, well, I can see how
the offense is picking it up.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
You see the vision, you see where it's headed, the
recruiting machine.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Is ramping up, and you're just like, I don't know, man,
I really hate the idea of firing a coach after
one year, truly, especially given the circumstances he came in under.
But this is not a team that looks prepared to
compete for four quarters, like did it for quarters at
LSU didn't score a single point in the second half,

(24:03):
And there's like that that ongoing trend with UCLA just
they're not built to They're not coach too. That doesn't
seem like they have the vision to compete for four quarters,
no matter the level of opponent. And that's that's hard
to see changing. But I don't know. I'm still a
believer that unless unless it's so obvious behind the scenes

(24:24):
that he's so in over his head, and if that's
the case, you got to move on. You just have
to move on if a coach is if this level
is not for the coach and in this moment in
his career, you gotta move on.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
That got me to thinking more broadly about the coaching carousel. Okay,
I still have questions about Florida. I expect that they
will move on from Billy Napier. Don't know, don't know,
especially now with Graham Mertz coming down with that injury.
If starting the freshman is going to give him something
of a stay of execution.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
The next three look beatable. Can Kentucky at home? Yeah?
But then but then go ahead, Georgia at Texas. Other
next three Kentucky, Georgia.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Texas going then home against LSU, home against Old Miss
and Florida State and Florida Stable. Florida State right now
projected to beat Kentucky but lose four in a row
to those four big dogs.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Which would put them at five and seven. That would
put them at five and seven. I don't know LSU's defense.
I mean, look, they're right there with Tennessee. So if
you're saying Florida is Tennessee, ish, I still think they're
going to move on. But we'll see.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
That's one to consider. Yeah, I think Miranda is done
at Baylor. Okay, I think Sam Pittman maybe done. Wouldn't
surprise me, but okay, better vibes wouldn't surprise me. If
Mac Brown walks away given a reason that North Carolina
is having, it might be the best thing for him.
Ryan Walters at Purdue that's been a disaster. Brent Prye

(25:58):
has been a disaster this year at Virginia Tech. Hugh
Freeze has been something of a disaster at Auburn. Starting
to wonder about Sunny Dike's at TCU. I'm up to
eight here as I'm counting out. Yeah, that's not even
to mention what's going on at Kentucky with Mark Stoops,
which feels like bad vibes, and his buyout, by the

(26:18):
way I checked, is only four million dollars. They decided
they wanted to go a different direction there, or whatever
it's worth to you. I don't expect that they would
pay eighty eight million dollars to buy out Lincoln Riley.
But there aren't great vibes right now at USC either, right.
Ten names right there? Ten names just kind of off
the top of my head.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
You don't suspect USC is going to pay eighty eight
million dollars to get rid of Lincoln Riley. Yeah, they're
not paying eighty eight million dollar. I don't think they're
going to. But there's ten names for you. There's ten names.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
If we start thinking broadly about the coaching carousel, maybe more,
maybe I left somebody off that I think make this
a very very active cycle eventually once we get there
and we haven't seen a coach get fired yet, despite
some of the preseason shadow that we had, whether it's
going to be Napier or Pittman or somebody else, we
haven't seen anybody pull the ripcord.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yet I'm interested about I don't know. Talking a little
bit further about Sam Pittman and Arkansas right now, they're
at four and two right, could easily be at five
and one, which is not necessarily a good thing in
Pittman's favor, given the way they lost the Oklahoma State game.
But they've got a bunch of flawed teams on this
schedule too.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
I like them. I don't want them to fire Sam Pittman.
I really don't, but talk about flaws, Okay, The two
flawed teams that they've got on the schedule are Mississippi
State and Louisiana Tech, who's on an SEC team. But
outside of those two, they've got LSU, They've got Old
miss they've got Texas, and they've gotten missoo.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Right, but they have lis the back end of LSU.
LSU's defense, and that's LSU in a letdown spot right
this coming week. Arkansas coming off of bye YEP Situationally,
that's not too bad for Arkansas. We've all watched Arkansas
LSU games. We all saw what was it Arkansas's groundskeeper
leave the sprinklers on in freezing temperatures, and ice the field. Yeah,

(28:08):
there's just that game is always strange. It's always strange.
And that game is in Fayetteville at night this coming week. Yes, correct,
Mississippi State on the road. It's still gonna be difficult.
Their offense seems to be getting to a nice place.
They're starting. Was it van Buren? Michael van Buren? Van
Buren one time Oregon and Penn State commit. I think
correct at quarterback, and he's shown some spunk. Texas is

(28:28):
not flawed. No ole miss We'll see. That game is
in Fayetteville once again at MISSOO is going to be difficult.
But we're not talking about a MISSOO team that has
appeared to be as bulletproof. I'll speak for myself as
I thought they'd be heading into the season. I'm just
saying Arkansas can be just the flying the ointment across
the board this year. And I said maybe, I don't

(28:49):
say maybe, and this was not a definitive term from you.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah, And look as it stands right now, you beat
Mississippi State, Louisiana Tech two team to should beat, You're
going to a bull yep compared to where we thought
Arkansas would be at this point in time halfway through
the season, when truly we thought Sam Pittman might already
be fired. That's progress, that's real progress. Yeah, you know,
I like Taylor Green, right, Don't get me going on

(29:13):
tailing Green. I could do a full hour on tailing Green.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
LSU has gotten better against the run, to be clear,
and that might be a bad thing for Arkansas. Might
be a bad thing. And they could lose four.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Of these six games to still finish six and six
going to a ball I don't think they should, but
I also don't know the state of play at Arkansas
and what their expectations are for this program moving forward.
I want to believe that seeing somebody like a Tailor
Green out there has given them some hope and promise
that Sam Pittman still has an eye for talent. I

(29:43):
do think this is a better team on the whole,
and you're right, there are some flawed teams. But if
they drop one of these what appeared to be mulligans,
that's a problem for them.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
You know.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
I think if they miss a Bowl then I could
see them maybe making a move.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
I also don't think Arkansas behind the scenes is going
to be all too thrilled with only six and six
as like a proof that things are better once again.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
No, especially now knowing that they're willing to go out
there and spending it John Calipari on the basketball side right,
clearly they've got expectations for the athletic program, and I
don't know six and six is good enough. So that's
just at least something to keep an eye on.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Things are about to go wild in the American I
have that down as things that I've sort of recently
discovered more thoroughly, just with what Tulane and Memphis and
Navy and Charlotte and North Texas have coming up at
or near the top of the American and less. So.
I think it's Navy who has Tulane. Army does not.

(30:38):
They both have Notre Dame Army and Navy do, but
only Navy has Tulane. It's about to get very intestuous
within the American scheduling wise. Everybody's playing everybody, and it's
about to get very fun and more will be there
will be more sense made coming up in the American
But it's about to get very fun this back half

(30:58):
of October in the a see what else you got
for me? If Wazoo doesn't go eleven in one, it'd
be kind of surprising. Have you seen wazoo schedule in
this moment, Yes, Wazoo is on and now, look they
don't have a conference to win and get into the
playoff in that sense, they can get in as an
at large team, yes they could. They can get in

(31:21):
as an at large eleven and one team really needed
that Boise Win, really needed to go undefeated to have
the best possible shot. But with what their schedule looks
like in the back end, I don't believe they have
UNLV right. No, it's Hawaii at.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
San Diego State home against Utah State at New Mexico
at Oregon State. That's really the big one that remains
in this schedule, and then they close out the year
at home against Wyoming. By this measure here, they are
at least a two touchdown favored in every game, with
the exception of that Oregon State game, which right now
figures to be about to pick them.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
And that's an Oregon State team who just lost at
Nevada and is down like five to six defensive linemen
in this moment to injury. They are extremely thin on
defense right now, which is not great when you look
at what Washington State has been able to do on the.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
Ground, about a seventy seven percent chance of winning at
least ten games for WAZU, which look totally separate from
everything and where it fits into the broader discussion. It's
a nice effort for Washington State to get a season
like this, after all the real from a year ago.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
And lost their quarterback, Loostter quarterback to Miami.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, yeah, John Mattier. We're all material girls.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
You know that, We're all material girls. Louisiana School were
mentioned LSU, but like both Louisiana and Monroe are having
like quietly really nice years, and I think it's worth
monitoring Sun Belt wise. But oh, Purdue Illinois. That second
half was maybe the most entertaining half of football for

(32:53):
people who don't necessarily need defense in their lives. Illinois
blew a lead two quick touchdowns for Purdue. Purdue is
throwing the ball super well. Devin Mock could be both
running the ball and out of the backfield as a
pass catcher. Scored forty second half points, and the actual
passing game for Purdue looked real and it largely hit.

(33:17):
It likely has something to do with Hudson card no
longer being the starting quarterback and Graham Harrold no longer
being employed as the offensive coordinator. That they're just sort
of an effet mode. Oregon has Purdue this week, short
week on the road. I'm just telling you Purdue does
not have a defense. That the talent level of Purdue

(33:39):
is not anywhere near what Oregons is. But let's Purdue's
nickname as like an identity within the Big Ten? Are
they not the spoiler maker? Organ's coming off of a historic,
monumental program defining win and now has to travel to
West Lafayette on short rest. I don't believe Lafayette is

(34:03):
going to win this game. We'll get into this in
the preview more. But this sort of struck me watching
the game that like, this team does not give a
flock tie. Yeah, this team does not care and they
lost the game to Illinois. Luke Altmeyer looked very good.
The passing game for Illinois looked really good. But situationally,
I saw Oregon was favored by like four touchdowns. I

(34:23):
think Oregon might be throwing a bunch of second stringers
into this game. Let's go win by ten to thirteen
and move on, because not ideal a time to play
a team who just does not care if you're Oregon, if.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
I'm an Old Miss fan, right now, I feel like
I'm stuck inside that Spider Man meme where he's pointing
at himself. Okay, on one side, you've got the twenty
twenty four version of Old Miss. On the other, you've
got him pointing back at pretty much every previous version
of Old Miss.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Hm. It feels.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Like an identical team pointing back at itself at this point,
and I can only imagine how how frustrating that must be.
After all of the hype coming into this year, after
we looked at the schedule and looked at the roster
and felt like this was finally going to be it,
we talked, as you may recall a lot about how
Old Miss had a lot in common with the Tennessees

(35:16):
and the Penn States and maybe the Utahs of the world,
these teams that have been very good, but because the
system before wasn't big enough to allow more teams into
the playoff, they just never really had a shot, and
you'd lose one, you'd lose two, you were done. Here
we stand out midway through the season, and it feels

(35:37):
like Old Miss is out of this thing already. It
feels like they're out of it. To your point from
earlier with Lane Kiffin sort of having a human moment,
human moment in reaction to the loss. I would welcome
feedback from Arvar ballerhood out there that cheers for Old Miss,
and we got a couple of calls about it, but
I'd like to hear more about how you're feeling right now.

(35:59):
And I saw our friends at messageboard Geniuses. We're having
a little bit fun with this as some people out
on the Old Miss message board for saying it's trying
to move on past Lane Kiffin, and I think this
is when you see some of the crazies come out
and some of the crazy talk come out in response
to another loss. But frustrating, I don't know, extraordinarily frustrating

(36:21):
to know all this talent is assembled and ready to
go and still.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
It feels like you're back at square one. I'll stay
in the SEC. Briefly. I rewatched Vanderbilt Kentucky one. I'm
pretty sure they have two head coaches. I'm pretty sure
Clark Lee is just coaching the defense and Jerry Kill
and Tim Becker coaching the offense, and maybe the high
level decisions are being made by Clark Lee about timeouts
and whether to go for it on third or fourth
or something like that, maybe even not. I was watching

(36:47):
that and I was like, Okay, they built the whole
plane out of Diego Pavia and he's incredible and he
is improvising and he is coming up with play after play.
What does a post Diego Pavia Vanderbilt look like like?
Have they already started scouting like the G five quarterback
that they feel like they can throw money like they
should be constantly in this cycle? Are they gonna go
hard at Sluka? I was gonna say, Haja Malik Williams,

(37:10):
Oh yeah, Souga backup, just hollow out unlv man. But
it does feel like, yes, a Sluka type somebody who
is just making play after play A right. I love it.
I don't know how sustainable this model is, but Vanny's
gonna be. Look, first of all, we made a big
deal out of the Vandy offense, obviously of the stripsack

(37:32):
against Alabama, which essentially sealed it. The defense played so
well against Kentucky. This Kentucky offense is broken. They have
too many players to be this flawed on offense, like
the receivers are too good, like they just have too
much talent to be I don't know if it's a
Bush Hampden thing. I don't know if it's a quarterback thing.
Whatever it is, Vanderbilt is just squeezing every drop out

(37:56):
of this roster, and it's quite fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
It is fun to Did you happen to see Mark
Stoops's reaction to this? There was some weird, bizarre NIL
related comment associated with it, okay, kind of akin to
what we saw a year ago when he urged Kentucky fans,
if they are unsatisfied, they need to.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Donate more to the NIL.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
And he sort of had a circuitest way of taking
Diego Pavia and his success with bringing him to Vanderbilt
and then linked it back to how Kentucky fans need
to go harder at Nil.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
Didn't they go grab George's backup quarterback who was a
five star.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Whenever you start hearing kind of like complaints and excuses
and some of this blame storming, that's why I start
looking up buyout figures right and start wondering, Okay, is
this a long term relationship at this point, it's been
very successful in Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
I mean, he tried to leave for the text A
and M job. It seemed like he was going to
that worked out really well text A and M. Because
right now Mark stoops for as much success as he's
had at a program that's not necessarily known for high
level success in their conference playing football, He's like one
for six on offensive coordinators, and he tried that one
twice in Liam Cohen. And so for whatever reason, I

(39:18):
don't know if he can't get out of his own
way in terms of offensive vision, or he just does
not have an eye for offensive coordinator talent, or he
doesn't he's doing something internally that year after year other
than that one year of Will Evison Liam Cohen, they're
just like, Man, Kentucky just can't even accidentally step into
a fun offense. It's just puddle after puddle, and it

(39:41):
sucks that they're wasting this defense. I can say that. I'm
sure Kentucky fans are feeling the same way. But yeah,
watching that game, you're like, man, what is the plan
here on offense?

Speaker 2 (39:50):
If you're North Carolina, it's your Auburn, would you have
interest in Mark Stoops.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
North Carolina or all Auburt's not getting rid of their coach.
I don't think. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Hugh Freezes making a lot of excuses. It seems like
vibes are bad. I don't expect I don't expect they'd
makeing a move, But recruiting vibes are very high.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
A recruiting vibes are very high. Would I be interested
in Mark Soops if I were in North Carolina? Probably?

Speaker 2 (40:18):
He's a name that comes up all the time. People
cite the success he's had at Kentucky. There has been
an ongoing discussion as to whether he has hit his
ceiling at Kentucky for a multitude of reasons we won't
go into here. If there were to be any kind
of coach and change and Mark Stoops is on the market,
I'm just curious to see who'd be interested in those services.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
I mean, if if the coaching change comes because Kentucky
loses like their final seven games or something, his name's
not gonna be as hot. That's just the reality. Maybe
I'll take a year off and do some TV and
then coach. I don't know. Yeah, he has at Kentucky
won enough games in a difficult conference to warrant his

(40:59):
name being valuable, and so yeah, whether it's a place
like North Carolina somewhere in the relative regional vicinity, yes,
I could see it being attractive.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
Any other thoughts before we get to my revised playoff bracket.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
I mean, I do have thirty seven more Oregon thoughts
to get into Oregon Ohio State here. Here's my final
thought is this will serve as a nice transition, yeah,
to your next segment that as an organ fan, it
felt great. It was a very fun experience for me.
After the game ended. It was not fun on that
last drive wondering if Oregon was going to be able

(41:33):
to get that stop. But as I've distanced myself from
the game right Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and I've seen
like playoff projections like I'm sure what you're about to
unferral funeral unleash to the world. There's just a lot
of like, yeoh, Higo State's still go to win the
Big Ten like kind of reactions where you're just like, oh,

(41:55):
so Oregon fans get to enjoy this for about forty
eight hours, and you know, we have all these Ohio
State people just absolutely losing their mind for forty eight hours.
They're in like the loser Jacuzzi, the losey Chacuzzi. I
don't know. But in this new beautiful system, you know,
in TI hilden Brands America, a big win lasts for

(42:16):
twenty four hours, right, and then you're just like, oh,
it doesn't matter, guy, it doesn't matter because they're going
to play again or Ohio State. It's going to be fine,
and they're going to win the conference. They're gonna get
to buy. So it was cute that all of you
Oregon people thought it was a fun, amazing experience, but
ultimately it's not going to mean a damn thing. That's
TI hilden Brands America. Everybody.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Yeah, I have, I have Oregon losing to a exact match.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
I do, Yeah, I do.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Yeah, that resounding one point win. It was very It
was special. I enjoyed watching it. But Greg Sankie and
Tony Petiti's America as well.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
The implication here that Oregon dominated Ohio State in any way,
shape or form.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
Oh, they didn't dominate. I mean, you know, well, Ohio
State could beat him the next time they play, if
they play right, and look, maybe they'll review an obvious
interception next time. That's fine, you know that's one of
those things there will be more attention because you know
you can get away with nobody watching a huge game
on network TV. Yeah. I think there's a case we
made that Oregon should have won by more points and

(43:16):
they left more points on the field than Ohio State did.
And maybe next time Ohio State dodges a kick that's
kicked right at the spleen of a player.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
I think Oregon's five to ten quarterback will still be
upright by the time they get to that rematch in
the Big Ten Championship.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
I mean, the best defensive line they played didn't touch them. Right?
Should we count the sacks Ohio State had? Okay, here
we go, I'm going to review the play by play.
Oh it's none, tie, it's none sacks that Ohio State's
five star line had against Oregon's five foot ten quarterback,
who also had a thirty yard touchdown run. Right, it's correct.
And how much money did that five to ten quarterback
lose Denzel Burke on Saturday night? Oh no, no, it's

(43:56):
always like second third round ish, Oh no, no, no, no,
I don't know. Seems like five to ten might be
the move by quarterback is out here losing all these
five stars money.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
All right, let's do some projections here. So what we
do In this middle segment we talked through a topic
that is suggested to us by the for bawler hood.
This one came to us from Daniel a premium for
Baller again forballers dot com, go and check out our perks,

(44:27):
who says, it's mid season, we're halfway through. It would
be cool to see revised playoff brackets.

Speaker 1 (44:36):
Agreed to dis a great continue.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
I went very deep with this, I know very deep
with this. I have a full revised field of twelve.
I went all the way through, looked at individual conference tiebreakers,
you name it.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
This is about as informed a projection.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
As I can give you at this point through seven
weeks of the year. So if you can indulge me
here for a few minutes, I can go through this
thing for those watching the video at the end, I've
got the bracket drawn up that I can flash up
on the screen.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
Floor's yours.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
First things first, Notre Dame is getting in. Okay, Notre
Dame is getting in. Some people out down, some people
out there are ironclad on them getting in. I am
not in that camp, all right. I'm not worried about
the games against Army Navy. I am a little worried
this weekend against Georgia Tech away from home. I am
certainly still worried about that USC game. It's a rivalry.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
I don't know where USC will be.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
We can talk till we're blue in the face about
USC is not a good team. That's what you said
before the game last week. USC almost beat Penn State.
Maybe Penn State's flawed too. Definitely a real chance of that.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Penn State, even getting rid of the Hail Mary interception,
Penn State did plenty to try and lose that game
to US.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so they're you know, there's definitely
a bigger discussion about Yeah, everybody feels like they're kind
of the same, or everybody feels like they've got a
fatal flaw.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Notre Dame is no different in that sense.

Speaker 2 (46:02):
I am not counting that USC game as a definite win.
It's not one that I'm looking at and saying, oh,
I feel totally confident with that one. Right But at
time of recording, I think Notre Dame gets in finishing up.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
It's year eleven to one. How's Notre Dame's defensive line.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Notre Dame's defensive line, all things considered, has still been
pretty good.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
But then they're going to destroy USC upfront. Okay, all right,
did you see what Abdul Carter was able to do
from lining up in the middle of that defensive line
on was it third and thirteen? There was some like
crucial third or fourth down late in that game, and
he had one on one with USC center, who kind
of barely touched him. USC kept in five and a

(46:43):
running back to Chip and Miller Moss had a milliseconds
He had like what a supercomputer can calculate in terms
of time. He had so little time that it would
take something in Stockholm, a computer that's taking up a
room in Stockholm to calculate how much time Miller Moss
on that play with a four man rush continue.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
In the Big Ten. Regarding the playoff discussion, I think
the Big Ten is the least interesting power conference. Okay,
I do think the order of teams will be interesting,
but I think compared to the SEC, compared to the
Big Twelve, compared to the ACC, you can compared to
the G five Big ten is the least interesting conference.

(47:25):
There are three teams getting in. Those three teams are
going to be Oregon, Ohio State, and Penn State. I
realize this is the point in the conversation where we
need to talk about Indiana.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
Of course it is.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Okay, Indiana, great story, six and oho. The best team
they have played to date is.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Maryland, who just got destroyed by Northwestern, destroyed thirty seven
to ten.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yeah, Indiana is getting into the stretch of their schedule
now where things are going to get real. They've got Nebraska, Washington,
Michigan State, and Michigan. They also go to Ohio State
in late November. I like this team a lot, Dan,
I do. I love Kurt Signetti. I like the story
more than I like the team, though I personally hope

(48:07):
they go twelve and zero. I hope they win the
damn national championship.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Good for that. That'd be awesome.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Yeah, I will believe it when I see it. I
think this is like a ten and two, nine to
three team, which in its own right is a great,
great deal for Kurt Signetti, a great.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
Deal for this program.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
But let's be real about this, okay, ok, Indiana is
not getting in the playoff. I also don't think I
was getting in the playoff. I think I was gonna
win out. I think they're going to finish ten and two.
I think they'd need a lot of help to get
into the Big Ten title game. It's just going to
be a postseason story that we take and run with.
They might beat somebody in the bowl game, or they
might get shut out like they did a year ago.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
The plus for Iowa right now is their loss to
Iowa State. Iowa State needing what a fifty plus yard
field goal to win that. Yeah, it's a better lossitt
more defensible losses in America right now, if that's important
to you, if that's important to Greg Zank, whoever's actually
deciding the playoff.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
But they're not getting in that Big Ten title game.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
They would need a ton of help.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
So I was out to me, Michigan's out to me,
all right. I think they've got at least two more
losses in them. I don't trust them against Illinois, and
it feels to me like every time I try to
go through it and work out the math, it's coming
down to those three teams that I mentioned at the top.
The bigger question to me is this, is there a
chance that Penn State could not Ohio State out of

(49:24):
this conversation entirely with a second loss. With a second loss,
James Franklin does not win this game historically against the.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Unless unless they're what blocking a miracle field goal at
the end. Yeah, historically is not a game he wins.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
It has been a source of obvious frustration.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
In the Penn State community.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
Yeah, but I think it's worth having that conversation as
for whether or not a second loss for Ohio State
losing to what would be two playoff teams, essentially, is
that enough to keep them out of the conversation That's
gonna be a big.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
One on November two.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
That being said, I've got Ohio State winning the conference.
I've got them beating Oregon in a rematch in Indy.
I've got Oregon as an at large. I've got Penn
Stated as an at large. Essentially, three one loss teams
coming out of the Big Ten. Those are four now
if you factor in Notre Dame, Okay, four teams I've
got in my updated bracket, so.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
You only have the Big Ten getting three in three teams.
Three teams from the Big Ten so if Indiana goes
ten and two, they're out. And no, you think ten
and two Indiana only losing to what Ohio State and
Michigan are something, they're out. Well, so you're at that
point you're comparing ten in two Indiana against other ten
and two programs across America. Yep. And the thing you

(50:38):
probably have to knock Indiana four is scheduling. It's the
non conference portion.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Or there's a non conference portion of the schedule.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
And who have you beaten? FIU, Western Illinois, Charlotte, who's
decent this year. They've taken care of business. They have
an opportunity. The problem is road wise, it's at Michigan State,
which right now I think they're too touchdown. It is
the projection right now, the s P plus is a
two touchdown favorite. Michigan their favorite to win. But that's

(51:06):
going to be very difficult. Still, I'm not I'm not
buying that. I'm just not buying that. I mean, Michigan
lost to I know, I know, but I just i'm not.
I'm not. I'm not I believe that when I see it.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
I love the Indiana story more than I like the team.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Yeah, So I hope I'm wrong. I do you know.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
I'm not here to like take a dump on Indiana
or anything, but if if I'm being real with you guys,
this is where I feel, just how I feel about
the Big Ten.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
Do you think Penn State would have a shot against
Ohio State at home? Do I think as you as
you say James Franklin doesn't win this game. Oh I
think they'll have a shot. I do think they'll have
a shot.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
I think it'll be a good game, and it'd be
a better game than.

Speaker 1 (51:42):
Was last year.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
I don't but I don't think they're going to win
the game.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
I think Ohio State is still like if Ohio State
is usc Ish, if they need to come back and
go to overtime. I think Penn State is a full
stop No, I agree, although Ohio State. Yeah, let's be real.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
Ohio State did lose to five to ten quarterbacks, So
who knows?

Speaker 1 (52:01):
What's everybody that the five to ten quarterback has played
this year has lost? Who knows? Honestly, I was more
scared of Idaho than Ohio State at the end of
that game. Continue, all right, the ACC. The ACC is interesting,
all right, it is interesting.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
I have Clemson now winning the conference, okay, and I
have them winning over SMU in the championship game. The
champion game, I have Miami making it as an at large.
So I am not sure how many people have looked
at this to see how it is setting up, but
there is an awful lot coming down to a game
on November two. It is a game between PITT and SMU.

(52:37):
Because right now PITT is six and oh SMU is
five and one, still unbeaten in conference. That one loss
was against SMU, right or was against BYU?

Speaker 1 (52:46):
Excuse BYU?

Speaker 2 (52:47):
Yep, and my acronyms mixed up here. There is a
good chance that the winner of that game has an
inside track into the ACC title game. Should Miami stumble, Yeah,
and I do think Miami is gonna stumble because we
have seen some hints of this along the way the
last couple of weeks. Miami has three road games left.
Against Louisville this week, it's only about a three point line.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
They've got Georgia Tech on the road.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
They've got Syracuse on the road to close out the season.
I would be surprised if they don't dump one of
those games. Okay, So I got them losing one of
those games, and I think SMU gets to the title.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Game by virtue of beating Pitt okay, and I think,
I mean the logic is sound with Miami getting into
because they scheduled and beat Florida on the road, which again,
if you're comparing resumes against Indiana, if Indiana is ten
and two and Miami's ten and two, I don't know
if there's specific connective tissue between Miami and Indiana, but

(53:41):
that's what you have to start looking at. Right. Teams
that don't make conference championship game, you got to start
looking at non conference and I think you have to
start looking at magnitude and where those wins occurred.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
I think that would gets in you to eleven and two.
Maybe I'm watching the math a little bit here. I
think Pitt loses to SMU. I also think they dropped
the Clemson maybe someone else once that air is out
of the Blueion house.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
You have SMU in at eleven and two.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
I have SMU in the ACC title game.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Do you have them in the playoff at eleven two?
I don't.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
So I've got SMU go into the title game as
an eleven to one team. I've got them losing to
Clemson in that game, probably in resounding fashion. Yeah, and
then I've got Miami sneaking back in as an eleven
to one team. As an at large, I'd also add
Syracuse is interesting. I don't think the defense is sustainable.

(54:29):
I think Louisville is interesting in theory. But they've still
got Miami, Clemson, and Pitt on the schedule. Yeah, they
also play BC on the road. They close out the
year against Kentucky. They're just like, too much that can
go wrong with that schedule.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
I'm I'm out on your perception that SMU is going
to be eleven and one heading into and make the
conference championship game, just because traveling to California, which is
not terrible obviously from Dallas, but at Stanford and at
Duke back to back, okay, so different sides of the
country and back to back weeks, and and then the
Duke defense. I don't know. I just think Manny Diaz

(55:04):
is gonna be ready. And then Pitt at home, which
look Pitt is pretty good, but they're not. They're not
a six and oh team at six and oh now,
and that's okay, that's way better than being four and two.
It's way better than two and four.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
That Pit SMU game is going to have so much
riding on it. I think it's gonna be a fun game.
I think it's gonna be a lot of points. It's
gonna be a big time shootout. I think SMU wins
are at home in that game. I think it's set
up well for them. I think the schedule is set
up fairly well for them, and it feels like they
have gotten better. It feels like they've now got some
momentum after making their own quarterback change. I don't feel

(55:39):
great about that pick. For as much as I like
to talk about SMU, I'm not going to act like
I feel super confident there. But I'm just looking at
that Miami schedule and I'm seeing landmine after landmine after landmine.
I don't see them making it the full way through.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
But you don't see lanmdmine after landmine for SMU finishing
with Boston College at Virginia and Cal.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
I just think the teams on Miami schedule and those situations,
they they weired me out a little bit.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
So I mean, also the hist Mario Christopaul's coaching history
should play well. There you go.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Yeah, So I do have Miami getting in, but as
an at large, I have Clemson winning the conference over SMU.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Okay, fair enough, and.

Speaker 2 (56:15):
Then in the SEC, I think I got four teams in.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Hold on, I'm bringing up clemson schedule. I just I
appreciate the confidence, but Clemson has not looked incredible all
the time, even though some of the scoreboards look at.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Clemson schedule before we move on to the SEC. Look
at Clemson schedule and tell me.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Okay, Virginia, they should be able to beat relative even
with like the defense looking a little bit more suspect
than I expected. Yeah, Louisville at Virginia Tech at PITT
I don't know. I feel like they're gonna drop something.
It doesn't mean they're not making the conference championship game.
I think they're gonna drop fir enough, fair enough.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
Continue, SEC gets four teams in. Okay, unless you're thinking
that Vandy's going to take down Texas in addition to
Alabama in the same season, Buddy, I assume nothing with Vandy.
I think Texas makes it through unbeaten. I think they
make it through twelve and OHO, maybe eleven to one.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
I mean, they might not make it through the weekend. Unbeaten.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
They might not make it through the weekend. They've got
a big one this weekend against Georgia. Yeah, and they
close out the year against Texas, A and M. It's
basically a two game schedule the rest of the way
as I look at the schedule, Okay, so I think
Texas is in. I think they win the conference. I
do think Texas beached Georgia this weekend, but I think
Georgia finishes out. It's season ten and two, Okay, And

(57:34):
at that point, this is why the SEC is the
most interesting conference with respect of the playoff. By the way,
at that point, you're basically comparing losses because you'd have
Georgia with two losses on the road against Bama and Texas.
I think, as compared to some other teams that I
might talk about as also being part of this conversation,
they make it through with that, Okay, they make it

(57:55):
through with that. I think they give Tennessee a third
loss later in the year. I think they fish knocked
them out of the conversation. I think the body of work,
all things considered, provided they're not getting blown out against Texas,
I think they would get the grace and they would
be through into the playoffs, so George is my second
SEC team that gets in.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
It's a tough November one too, though, with Ole Miss
and Tennessee. That's it's tough.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
It is tough, but I still have a fair amount
of faith in Georgia. I would add the possibility does
exist that this weekend's game between Alabama and Tennessee is
a playoff elimination game.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Probably I favor.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Bama in the matchup. I think there's a good chance
they win this game, they win out. I think they
finished eleven at one, So I've got Bama as my
third team going to play.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
Really think they're going to finish eleven and one. I do.
All they're doing is playing down to everybody.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
I know, but that's true about a bunch of teams
in the SEC.

Speaker 1 (58:51):
It's not as Bama, I know. But what is there
like right in this moment to like love about Alabama.
They used to have Nick Saban Jalen mil.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
I know that's about it.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
At Tennessee, Miszoo, at LSU, Auburn is always going to
be weird.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
That Auburn game could be real weird. Yeah, that Armor
game could be super weird. I looked at that one.
But as I look across this this calendar, I'm you know,
the calendar of games and the schedule.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
In front of them.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
I favorite Bama, So Bama was my third team, and
then we're looking around, all right, where's the fourth team
coming from? All miss alreadys two losses. I don't have
faith faith that this team is suddenly going to be
the one that beached Georgia. Right, I've got them down
for three losses. I think they're out. I think they're
already out. I think Miszoo's got another loss in them,
probably to Bama, maybe to South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
I'm not as high on Maszoo.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
I think the game next weekend between A and M
and LSU decides who that last team is from the
SEC getting into the playoff. Actually, it could Quasi clinch
a playoff spot for A and M. If you're of
the mind that they can beat South Carolina and Auburn both.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
On the road, tough. I am of that mind. But yes,
I just.

Speaker 2 (01:00:02):
I like the way they're playing right now. They got
Connor Wigman back. It's a big deal, and it's a
nice by timing for A and M.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Too.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
This this is really nice by timing. So bear in
mind they lost to Notre Dame to start the season.
They've got this LSU game coming up, which I think
is a big deal. They close out the year at
home against Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
Huge.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
I think they lose that game, but I think because
it would only be their first SEC Conference loss, and
because of the four tiebreakers that I went through, they
would then play Texas another week in a row for
the SEC title game. So in this scenario, it will
be a rematch. I figured this whole thing out basically

(01:00:41):
sure the BAMA loss to Vanderbilt would leave them.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Out of the SEC title game.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Okay, so in that scenario, I've got Texas winning, I've
got A and M finishing ten and three.

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
I've got Bama and Georgia getting in, and.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
I've got A and M kind of as the twelve
seed because I think the committee's gonna want to make
a statement about three lost teams getting in, but I've
got four teams getting in.

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
Here's what I think you are too positive about. I
think we're gonna have a cacophony, a murder, whatever animal
group name you want to say, of nine and three
teams at the end of the season. It's possible. I
just think with expansion with higher floors of mid tier
teams either because of like having older COVID year players

(01:01:30):
or you know, adding depth through the portal or you know,
having Diego Pavia on your team. I just think I
think you are assuming a little bit too much of
all of these teams with either new coaches or new
quarterbacks or new schedule types that like, yeah, I think
you're listening, You're you're too high on business right now,

(01:01:52):
and teams taking care of it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Those are my four from the SEC and the iver
got Iowa stayed out of the Big twelve. I don't
think two teams from the Big twelve romking it this year.
I also think the Big twelve is going to be
the most fun to watch in the back half of November,
because that's when we'll figure out who's making this title game.
Right now, there's a lot of talk about Iowa State
and BYU because they're both unbeaten. Of course, they both

(01:02:15):
seem to be getting better. Texas Tech, I would also add,
is still unbeaten in conference in conference in conference, yeah,
I think one conference loss is good enough to get
somebody in the title game.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Right now.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
K State Cincinnati, Colorado, West, Virginia, ASU, A bunch of
teams have one loss, so they're still in it. Technically speaking,
Utah a team that I expected to be there already
two conference losses. We heard the deal about cam Rising.
I think they're pretty much going out here. They would
need to maybe be a spoiler in this conversation, as

(01:02:50):
they have both BYU and Iowa State at home in November,
but I don't think they're a contender at this point.
K State could win out case wins out. This is
a team that could potentially get to that title game,
but I don't see them buttoned up enough on offense
to get there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
I still think it's Iowa State.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
I still think it's Iowa State neutral field. They'd be
about a three and a half point favorite over BYU
per the numbers I saw, and I trust them more
on offense and on defense. I just think they're a
more complete team. It is getting harder to doubt BYU.
It feels like they are also improving. They're plus seven
and turnover margin, They're intercepting passes like crazy. But Iowa

(01:03:31):
State is sort of my sort of my vibe right now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
I just think I think You're right in that November
is going to present a number of everybody eating each
other in the Big twelve moments, And I just think
we're going to get to like the ninth tiebreaker in
the Big twelve. It's going to come down to a
spelling bee between BYU and Kansas State.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Hire Possible and them IG five teams. Boise and I
would love nothing more than for Army or Navy to
get in.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
I think that be fun.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
But I think Boys is gonna win out. I think
the close loss to Oregon looks better every week. Sure,
I don't see the committee leaving them out, especially if
it's a deal where Ashton gent is going to break
Barry Sanders nineteen eighty eight rushing record. He's going to
be a Heisman finalist. They're not going to leave him out,
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
I mean there are opportunities for teams elsewhere to go undefeated.
I just think Boys gets thirteen to Oh. I think
Boys gets in. Okay, if Boise wins out there in
and they're a name.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Yeah, so here's how this sets up, then, Okay, walk
me through it. Number nine Georgia on the road at
Notre Dame in round one with the winner playing Texas Okay.
Number twelve Texas A and M on the road at
your Oregon Ducks with the winner playing Iowa State. Okay,

(01:04:50):
as I flash up this bracket on our video. Number ten,
Miami on the road at Alabama. Crazy matchup by the way, Yeah,
Winter playing Ohio State. And then I've got Boise on
the road at Penn State with the Winter playing Clemson.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
I'm not making picks further than this, but to the
question that we got on for ballers dot Com from Daniel,
this is the way that I think the bracket shakes out.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
First round games would be Northern Indiana, Eugene, Oregon State College, Pennsylvania.
Three of the four would be cold weather it first
rounds in your bracket. Okay, that's Recember twentieth ish. That's
my pick. That's not bad. This would make for an
entertaining group of games.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
It would be entertaining if nothing more. I did the
best I could to try and go through tiebreaker scenarios
or whatnot.

Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
But you know what, this actually makes me feel. This
is my hipster take. You ready for my hipster take?
It actually makes me feel like the second tier of
all of these conferences is secretly more entertaining than the
top totally because there's so much room for flawed quality,
which hopefully that's what people feel about this show, flawed quality,

(01:06:08):
wild card spoilers, it's great.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
And also that top tier is so poorly defined in
most conferences. Yeah, it really is poorly defined. And that's
why I say the Big ten is maybe the least
interesting of all these because I feel like I know
who the three teams are right now, right, you could
change upsets happen all that, But outside of that, truly

(01:06:33):
Big twelve acc kind of all over the place. SEC
We generally think Texas is the best team, but there
are obviously going to be a number of teams. Georgia
can knock them off this weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:06:43):
Can I give you a homework assignment? It's not due
until next week's Tuesday show. I want you to find
the like machete teams. I want you to find the
teams who play the most teams that are in the
thick of it, like you know, at the top of
my head is like, who are the machete team? Like well,
kind of like Virginia, Arizona State, Vanderbilt, and Illinois.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
Oh, Virginia's definitely won. I mean I mentioned Utah. Utah
has got. Utah has got the opportunity to play spoiler
here with BUYU and Iowa State.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
Theater, like who's hacking through the thickets? Yeah, so right in. Yeah,
go and watch the video if you have yet to
do so.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
I've got the bracket up there, but I did my
best to talk through it, yes, real quick before we
let the fine people go, Dan, let's take a look
at some of the weekday games. We have any thoughts
on those early bird special So there are a couple
games here that I that I pulled out. Boston College
at Virginia Tech on Thursday night, Virginia Tech currently favored
by seven. Oregon your Oregon Ducks minus about four touchdowns

(01:07:47):
on the road at Purdue on Friday night at eight
pm Eastern.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
I thought about going, but it's going to be too
much of a stretch and I'm too old.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
Friday night, ten fifteen is the game I'm most interested in.
That's Oklahoma State coming off of on the road at BYU.
BYU favored by nine points. We also have some other
Friday games. Got FSU at Duke Duke favored by three
got Fresno at Nevada. Nevada is a yeah, the chokehold.
They're a three point home dog, which could be interesting

(01:08:17):
for Fresno. What are your thoughts in that Oklahoma State
BYU game and the Oregon Perdue game?

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
For what it's worth, my thought is that you saying
you're interested in that, I'm going to put you at
one point two quarters worth before you pass out and
watch the rest of it the balance of that game.
Saturday morning, I gave sort of my thoughts on Perdue
organ that Situationally, it's a nice spot to be like
a screw it team as Purdue is and doesn't have

(01:08:42):
a defense. I think Oregon should have win that game.
Not a spoil, but like kind of like pre scared
about Perdue Oregon and I don't know how to explain
it beyond Purdue just does not care and it, you know,
might be Ryan Walter's final season wes Lafayette and I
don't know, let down and go to West Lafayette seems
dicey to me. At Florida State, Duke, I hope for

(01:09:08):
for whatever's sake that brock Glenn is fun and entertaining
against Florida State fans something to be hopeful about for
the future. What are you saying to Ada Fresno, Nevada Fresno. Yeah,
these are all fun. These are all like super watchable
entertaining matchups. The BYU game to be is interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
I don't really know the state of the quarterback situation
at Oklahoma State, Okay. At time of recording, Alan Bowman
has been benched twice. It seemed as if Garrett Wrangell
looked better in his most recent action. It would not
surprise me if he is the dude. But there's just
been a lot of issues with this Oklahoma State team

(01:09:50):
that we didn't really foresee. Again, this is a team
that had a ton of returning production, a schedule that's
seemingly set up well. They have had trouble running the football.
Alan Bowman has not been good enough to shoulder the
load on his own. They've had basic issues with like
tackling Dan. I read our friend Scott right at the
Oklahoma just to see what he was saying. He talks
a lot about just tackling has been bad with this

(01:10:11):
Oklahoma State team. So again, I'm I have skepticism with BYU.
But BYU's been solid, winning as a skill, tie, they've
been solid and just because they don't jump off the
page at you with any kind of fantastical statistical prowess,
winning is a skill and I feel like they've gotten
better through the air. There's still not a very good

(01:10:32):
running team, but Jake Retzlith has been good as a
passer of the last couple of weeks running, I'm almost
inclined to lay the points. I don't think I'm going to.
I think I'm still going to go Oklahoma State because
I have it in the back of my head what
happened to case Stay a year ago when they played
against Oklahoma State coming off of bye and it seemed
as if they were able to take advantage Oklahoma State

(01:10:54):
was of that bye week and make some changes and
from that point forward it was off.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
To the races.

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
So I'm going to take the but I think BYU wins.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
Okay fair enough. And you know how they say quarterbacks
who are like these folk hero types. So we'll never
pay for a drink in this town again. Yeah, Alan
Bowman will pay full price for drinks in still Water.
They'll be happy to see him. Hey man, thanks for
all the efforts of Oklahoma State that's actually gonna be
a twelve dollars cocktail. He will pay for drinks, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
So for the week ahead, we've got Big ten Breakfast
coming up on Friday morning. We post every Friday morning
at nine am out on our YouTube channel. We posted
a bunch of places you'll see Big ten Breakfast if
that's something you're into. We've got the Big Old Week
eight recap episode Saturday Night Live at midnight.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
And before all that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
We've got our week eate preview episode, which drops to
the feed on Thursday. We've got a very interesting week
of games in front of US Nebraska, Indiana, Miami, Louisville
in the early block. We've got Alabama, Tennessee and Notre Dame,
Georgia Tech in the afternoon block, and we've got LSU Arkansas.
As we mentioned before, we've got Georgia, Texas in the

(01:12:05):
evening block. There are a bunch of other big games.
It will be difficult for you and I to just
narrow it down to a select few, but we are
going to get working on that pretty much the second
we hit stop here.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
And I'm excited for you to make a John Tannuda
video No. With Notre Dame Georgia Tech coming up. That's
my that's on my list, that's on my list. Yeah. Yeah,
we've got a deep cut coming on the not I
remind you we have a call about like what's what
is what is the history? What is there something interesting
talking point wise with some of these matchups, and you
had fully blocked out the two thousand and seven I

(01:12:39):
think it was two thousand and seven six seven Georgia
Tech Notre Dame situation. I had to remind you of it. Yeah,
I blacked out.

Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
Yeah, I memory hold that one.

Speaker 1 (01:12:47):
Yeah, suppressed traumatic memories. Just brutal, just brutal. Bunch of
games to discuss here.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
Encourage everybody to go on out to verbolers dot com
to sign up to support what we're doing, but also
get in on the action.

Speaker 1 (01:13:00):
Don't want to give too much away.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
We are giving away a gigantic prize this week as
part of the Pickham game.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
Oh you gotta join then.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Now this is like once a month we save up
enough money where we can give out a big time prize.
And this is going to be this is going to
be a choose your own adventure prize of sorts. I
will detail that on Thursday. But get into Alverballers dot com.
That's how you can join play run the board. So

(01:13:28):
I got same, Dan Rubisy, keep nursing that voice. We
need him back to full strap the tea net. Look
at this, it's in a solid verbal mug. I've got
coffee and a newer solid verbal mug shop dot solidverbal
dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
That's the right of U r L. Yes, Merch merch
dot Solid merch dot, Solid verbal dot com. Yeah, but yeah,
I just ordered a new case of Throat Comfort Tea.
So I'm juice and Tie. I'm doing everything I can.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein,
for myself, Tie Hillebrand. Thanks for downloading, for listening, for
playing along at home.

Speaker 1 (01:13:59):
Right in solid verbal at gmail dot com. Let us
know where we're right, where we're wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:14:02):
We'd love to hear from you in the meantime, As always,
stays solved.

Speaker 1 (01:14:06):
Peace, m

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