The Ol' Zesty Ranch of Takes+ College Football Podcast for 6/9

Ty and Dan react to the spiciest takes from around the Verballerhood and invite their favorites to join the campfire on the Ol' Zesty Ranch. Will Lincoln Riley turn USC into the next Alabama? Is Ryan Day a secret bust? Does Sean Clifford have a Heisman run in him? Could Kentucky win the SEC? Also, Ty's takes put his Ranch status in question.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the solid verbal ull that.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
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?

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Edo state?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Is that? Woo woom?

Speaker 1 (00:14):
And Dan and Tye.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome back to the salid verbal Boys and girls. My
name is ty hilde Brand. That fine gentleman over there,
the one, the only, still, the incomparable, the fatherly Dan Rubinstein, Sir,
how you doing today?

Speaker 1 (00:31):
I'm tired, but I'm good. I've got the kiddos all
day today. We're sort of between school and camp, and
we've got some childcare COVID issues. Everybody's all right, so
that's good. But you know, sometimes you gotta juggle, and
I'm juggling here, and you might be asking yourself, well,
surely that stopped Dan from making the equivalent of I

(00:51):
think six or seven dough balls now got up super
early to make pizza dough even though I had full
time kiddo duty today. They're currently napping, let's hope. And
you might be thinking to yourself that surely Dan could
not have ignored all of the takes and the opinions
that we are going to be looking at today from
the college football world and just solely focused on a

(01:15):
silly concept for a way to frame it. Now, I'm
right there, I've got a concept. I'm locked in. I'm
very excited for today's show, and I have nothing else
other than just the hope that you yourself are prepared for, Like,
do you have corn meal at the ready? If it
gets real hot? I think you know what I'm referencing.

(01:35):
I do.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
I do know what you're referencing. I have sunglasses here.
I'm putting these on for the folks for you, Yeah,
for the folks in the verballerhood who have accessed via
verballers dot Com. If things get a little too spicy,
if it's a little too bright, I'm going to pop
these guys on, depending on the opinions that you share
with me, that I share with you, that the verballerhood
shared with us today is our hot take show. We'll

(01:57):
get into that. Yeah, momentarily, what exactly that means as
we welcome y'all in to our hospitality here. Yeah, momentarily,
the show, this show, all of our episodes driven by
our good friends over at Geico. Don't forget verballers dot
Com is where he can witness the aforementioned video.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
You'd also get.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Access to early, early, early access to these episodes, all
the episodes that we do get access to the Discord server,
which continues to pop off even though we're still technically
in the offseason of college football. Though the line's starting
to bend up a little bit. Yeah, the Google trends
starting to bend up a little bit. Is college football

(02:37):
is very so slowly coming back into season yep, and
all sorts of other bonus features at verballers dot com,
so don't forget to check that out. Going out to YouTube,
we post a couple clips per week of these shows
and last but not least, solid giveaway dot com, throw
your name in the hat to win a Brian Brazi
he plays for Clemson signed mini helmet, going to be

(03:01):
I think a first round pick at some point in
the NFL. So this is your chance to strike while
the iron's hot. It is the off season. Just a
few quick and easy steps if you are ever so
inclined to get your name in that hat to win
the sign mini helmet. But on today's show, we put
a call out on social media on our Discord Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,

(03:24):
we don't have a snapchat, but I'll just say it anyway.
We put out a call for your college football hot takes,
and my original thought was that I was going to
score them in terms of hotness or rank them in
terms of spiciness. But then you swooped in in the
eleventh hour and you decided, let's just be let's just

(03:47):
be a little bit more welcoming to the for.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Baller, I want to be hospitable. I think I pride
myself on my hospitality, whether it's inviting people over for
food or whether it's sort of fostering a hopefully inclusive
community in the in the Discord area for Verballers at
verballers dot com. Like I just I want to be welcoming.
I want to make sure everybody is you know, has
a has a glass of water, you know, an Arnold

(04:09):
palmer if they want a digital Arnold Palmer, and I
just want to make sure it's Because here's the thing too,
I don't even know what a hot take means anymore.
That was a phrase from a long time ago, and
the submissions that we received, I feel like there's there's
a certain amount of authenticity to them, right that there
is there is authentic emotion, even if they're not based

(04:30):
in reason or rational thinking. I don't think somebody is saying, like,
Notre Dame is gonna go five and seven just because
they want them to, just because they or no, just
because they want to go against conventional wisdom for like
the s's and g's and so. I don't know what
it is that they should be labeled as now. But

(04:52):
all I'm saying with regard to hospitality is I like
the term zesty, I like the term bold, anything that
a new flavor of Dorido's could be described as. I'm with.
So what I want to do is I either want
to welcome or politely ask to leave these takes, these opinions,

(05:13):
whatever from the zesty ranch. Ty that's right, because I
just want to kick it, kick it. I just want
to sip on something cold, watch the sun set on
the zesty ranch. What's wrong with that?

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Just kick your feet up, get that Arnold Palmer maybe
an adult libation of another name, and hop on over
to the old zesty ranch.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
We put out the call it. That's what happens when
you move to the Midwest. Everything is ranch, everything's We
put out the call on social media.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
We've got your opinions. We're going to get to them
in a little bit. Some of them sort of straddle
that line between opinion and prediction. A lot of what
we have here, at least what I have here, I
tried to veer away from prediction by I did have
some of those as well. Do I want to start
with our own zest opinions?

Speaker 1 (06:06):
I didn't bring a ZESD opinion. I mean I can,
but I didn't. I didn't bring my own. I'm just
here to be the old, the old grizzled rancher.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Well, let me start with mine. I mean, I feel
like I bring them all the time. You bring them
all the time. I do not, So I tried to
wear a different hat. I'm putting my spurs up, put
on these sunglasses here.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
My first opinion, Dan, that I'd like to share here
as part of the Old Jest ranch is one that
I've actually I can't even see my notes with these on.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I was gonna say, this is a terrible idea.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
This is something that I have talked about time and again.
It's something that I feel like I've kicked around just
hanging with you on the ranch. Yeah, this opinion is
that Max Johnson LSU transfer. Max Johnson presumed starting quarterback
at Texas A and M is solely a game a

(06:59):
game manager with a pop gun arm, and he should
have transferred somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
That's a take. That is my take. Oh man, that's
unseasoned potato salad tie. You don't think that's hot. No,
there's no zestiness to that.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
You.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
I think you could come off hours to take a
tour of the ranch. But I don't know if I'm
if I'm making you a nice cold Tito's and soda
or something on the zesty ranch. I mean, you're just
describing him.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
He's a he's a game manager with pop gun arm,
and Okay, everything I read seems to imply that Max
Johnson is going to be your starting quarterback. Gonna be
your starting quarterback text saying him, yeah, a lot of
what I've seen. Okay, you haven't seen that.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
What do you seeing? I mean that there is a
certain assumption there, given the high profile nature of his
transfer from LSU, But they wanted to start another guy
last year. He just happened to get hurt early on
Haines king.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
If I'm if I'm a Texas A and M fan,
and I'm looking at Max Johnson's body of work, I
understand why Jimba Fisher would want him on campus. He
provides depth. Clearly, he's been pretty i think responsible with
the football, something like twenty seven touchdowns and just six
interceptions a year ago. He's a good player, right, He's fine.
But in terms of getting to that next gear, which

(08:17):
look this money they're spending, this money the Boosters are
spending excuse me, it ain't to try and get to
like nine to three. They want to clearly get to
that Alabama level where they're winning the SEC West and
playing for national championship in the playoffs. You need somebody
who's got a different skill set, and I think Haines
King's that guy. Jimbo Fisher has said that he's one

(08:38):
of the three fastest players on the team, which is
crazy given all the talent they've got. But Haines King
a true dual threat guy. If he can be healthy,
if he could come in and provide that pop, I
think he's got to be the guy. Don't know of
Max Johnson is the answer. There definitely a capable backup
in my view, But in terms of bringing him over
to be the starter from day one.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
I've seen that written about.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
I don't know if that's necessarily the kind of thing
that Texas A and M fans are wobbying for, but
I am certainly not among those folks. I think it
should be Haines King.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Okay, Yeah, I think that's all reasonable. I think everything
you've said is sort of by the book. I think
we've seen a good amount of Max Johnson, and there's
been some hiccups at LSU and the coaching changes. I
hear all of that, but no, I'm gonna stand by
that not being especially as esty.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
So I'm not welcome on the old Zesty ranch with no.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
No, we are inclusive, we are will have you, but
you're just not in the interest. You're not around the campfire.
Not around the camp fire, right. How about Okay.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Kenny Dillingham and bow Nix that one two punch, Yeah,
will set Oregon back five years.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
That's really tough to do in a single year, like
Oregon will if Kenny Dillingham doesn't work out as often
some coordinator and bow knicks we kind of understand who
he is and isn't at quarterback, it'll probably send them
back like four days, I just it'll not work out,
or four games or something.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Five years.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
I'm saying five years, five years, Okay, show the work.
Why how could that possibly be? Here's how this could
possibly be. Kenny Dillingham new offensive.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Coordinator for Oregon. He joins a stave among all these
staves around college football that are new and kind of
settling into their new territory. Kenny dilling Ham's a young
guy's been an offensive coordinator for three years.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
What's he thirty two? Yeah, he's young. Yeah, he's young.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
So his first gig was actually coaching bow knicks at Auburn,
and then after that he took the gig over with
Mike Norvell right and jumped over to Florida State. So
he's been and OC for three years. One at Auburn,
two at Florida State. It all calling plays, not calling plays,
to be clear. Yeah, he was at Memphis with quarterbacks

(10:57):
and yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Yeah, but this is his first time, you know, sort
of his vision for the offense being realized by him.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
His vision being realized by him, Thank you.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
So I think what concerns me about this is that
because the first big move in a sense was to
bring up bow Knicks from Auburn that you're gonna have
two years now, I think, two years of eligibility for
bow Nicks where everything on offense, the entire plane is
built out of bo Nicks. And that scares the ever
loving hell out of me, Dan, That scares the hell

(11:30):
out of me because, look, granted, whether it was his
vision or not, we saw two systems that he got
an up close and personal look at at Auburn and
Florida State where the quarterback was relied on very heavily
to make the offense tick, rightly or wrongly. That's the
way those things sort of shook out those two situations.
If that is the case at Oregon, and if in

(11:53):
fact we're going to run the whole thing through bo Nicks,
that's two years where you're not focused on developing another
quarterback behind him. That's two years that I think are
probably gonna end up being frustrating for you as Oregon alum,
Oregon faithful, And before you know it, we're pushing this
thing out to like twenty twenty six. The World Cups
come into town in twenty twenty six, Dan, before we're

(12:15):
actually talking about oregon homegrown quarterback, not one that they're
picking off from somewhere else. So I have questions about
the whole Dan Lanning experience as a whole. I think
Oregon did about as good a job as they could have,
given circumstances with Crystal Ball walking off walking off late
in the game. But Dillingham, the system that he runs,
what that vision looks like, how much he does or

(12:37):
doesn't rely on Bonnicks is a little bit concerning to me.
Five years sets them back five years a whole time.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
I'd be wild that would take that would take a
bone Nicks situation in which he is above average this
year to lock up the job next year. And I
assume he has designs. I'm not saying the world has designs.
He has designs of being a one and done type
quarterback that he's gonna sho I know, Yeah, I'm saying

(13:05):
he does. Yeah. Uh. I think I think that the
more accurate take is Oregon's move to pursue both Bonnicks
and Kenny Dillingham ends up in a six and sixth season, Okay,
that it's a you know, barely a bowl team that
to me feels appropriately esty five years, like it's just

(13:28):
if Bnicks is good enough to start two years at Oregon,
then he's probably winning a bunch of games because Oregon
has moved on to or has continued to and moved
on to, a more ruthless way of recruiting and starting
guys at different positions, going to youth. And I don't
think that's going to change now with Dan Lanning. So
quarterback recruiting right now is sort of up in the air,

(13:48):
right And that's so hold on holding pause it right there. Sure,
if bo Knicks plays this season, what happens.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
To the guys behind him? You think they're going to
hang around knowing that Bonnicks is another.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
At least one will. Yeah, if he decides to come back, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Bo Nix is coming back. Bo Nix isn't going pro.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
I just don't think right now, I think the job
is definitively his right now. Sure, I just don't think
he has a stranglehold on it.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
He shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
I agree with that. This is just my response to
your to your zest.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
But if he plays, if he plays all year, one
of those guys is gone, of course, And to your point,
quarterback recruiting has been a bit up in the air
for organ.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, Well, Oregon will land somebody in this class, and
likely they will pursue somebody in the portal again next year,
because with the volatility of everybody's quarterback room, you'd be
silly not to pursue unless you're at the top of
the top of the top and able to string together
blue chip quarterbacks like at Ohio State or Alabama and
keep them around for a couple of years. At least,

(14:52):
everybody should be pursuing. So I'm not terribly worried. I
don't I don't think your five year take is is
sort of landed on my zesty ranch. I don't think
it's it's grounded there. But I'll I'll come back around
and admit that you were right in twenty twenty six
when we're doing this show in space for.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Sure, what do we think of?

Speaker 1 (15:13):
All right? So am I in the campfire?

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yet?

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Am I at the campfire?

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yet? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (15:16):
That's zesty enough?

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, told you we've already seen the ceiling for Mike
Leasch at Mississippi State.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Doesn't seem zesty? Come on, man, this is a you
take or is this a listener to? It's a take?

Speaker 2 (15:33):
These are all my takes, These are tie takes. Okay,
so I'm not on.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
The ranch with that. So basically we're saying the best
of Mike Leach that we've seen is probably two thousand
and eight or the season with Wazoo with was it
Gardner Minshew who had the huge who was whoever was
the quarterback? The year that they had Hercules Mataafa, when
they had a really good defense with Alex Grinch, that

(15:58):
nine ish win. I think it won nine game. Maybe
I'm wrong. It's somewhere around there. So now in the
SEC West that they are a occasionally dangerous team with
an interesting defensive coordinator and scheme and competent but not
world beating quarterback, with interesting receiver talent, with good offensive
line development that should be running more often, probably to

(16:21):
mix things up. I think we're right around what we expect.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
I just feel like when they hired him, when they
hired him, you remember this, Yeah, when they hired him,
it was going into the COVID year. After the twenty
nineteen season, they made a Bowl in the COVID year
despite going like four and seven whatever, it was right,
everyone yeah who could play did play in a Bowl game.
But I recall pretty vividly when he was hired, not

(16:47):
him being viewed as some sort of like savant who
was going to put the SEC on its ear. But
there was definitely an implication that there would be a
leechification of sorts sure the SEC, that this system was different,
this system was going to cause havoc for opponents in
the SEC and the SEC West. And to be fair,

(17:11):
we did see it in game one they played LSU.
That was a game where kJ Costello you remember him
through for six hundred and some odd yards five touchdowns.
It was like, WHOA, what is going to happen with
the air raid in the SEC. It hasn't materialized. It
is occasionally dangerous, as you said, and I am just
fearful that there are gonna be folks out there who

(17:33):
expect that the Mike Leach thing is just kind of
getting ready for liftoff, just getting ready for launch. They
won seven games last year. He's very good at going
to bowl games. He's done that pretty much everywhere he's been, Like,
with the exception of two years, Mike, we've just gone
to a bowl game every year. I just don't think
you can expect too much more than what we've already
seen because he's in the SEC West occasionally dangerous is good.

(17:56):
I think you can get him to a place where
they're relatively stable. But anything beyond what we saw last
season where they're around like six, seven, maybe eight wins,
that's probably a bridge too far from me.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
That's too sesty. So Mississippi State since two thousand, they're
playing eight SEC games. How many times they've won more
than four SEC games since the year two? Yeah? Two
thou how many times? One time? One time? Yeah? Twenty
fourteen with a full on good NFL quarterback, which is

(18:29):
Dak Prescott still a full on good NFL quarterback?

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Probably, I think he got a big contract. So I
know he got a big contract, but he's considered to
be good. Correct, that's correct. Okay, So Mississippi State doesn't
have a lot of those guys walk through their doors.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Correct. And so twenty twenty one, and this is still
it was year two of Mike Leach. They go four
and four. So you're saying that four and four is
basically in the SEC their peak. That's just sort of
in line with reality of coaching at Mississippi State. Now
you're saying, is he better than like the back half

(19:03):
of Jackie Cheryl or Sylvester Krumer Dan Mullen clearly the
best modern coach in Mississippi State's history. I think he's
right there. There's nothing to me about the Mike Leach
experience right now because they'll either need to really lock
in with defensive recruiting to get to where they were. However,

(19:25):
many years ago was a year one of Bob Shoop. Well,
they mounted like a top ten or twelve national defense
and also have an NFL ish quarterback. No, No, that's
a lot to ask in Starkville.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
You are just the wet blanket to my hot takes here.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
This is about as good as I can do in No,
I think the direction if you were trying to get
on this ranch tie, you're trying to wrangle and wear
it kick up your spurs. I think you have to
say Mike Leach will win ten games at the next two.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Or three years.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Well, I appreciate the authenticity, but that but I'm saying
if you want something zesty with Mike Leach and Mississippi State,
that's where you would go and you would support it.
That's by saying something like there there will be a
reckoning in the West where Nick Saban retires and Lane
Kiffin explodes somehow, and uh something something weird happens with

(20:21):
Jimbo and oil money at Texas A and m uh
Like I'm saying, you can paint that picture for me
and I will follow along. I don't. I'm that's fine,
But like, something's always going to happen at Arkansas like clockwork,
like one hundred and eight minutes un lost. Something's always
going to happen at Arkansas. So that situation hopefully won't

(20:43):
but could implode. It's just the nature of they'll fayetvielle beast.
You can say LSU is always prone to to dramatic occurrences.
You can say A and M is throwing a lot
of money at a program with no hit. Like there
are things that there's a universe that you could construct
in which Mississippi State not unlike other teams and other

(21:07):
conferences that are in the right place at the right time,
can pick up those wins off the opportunity truck. That
to me is the zesty world building that will get
you on my ranch. Okay, sorry, ty, I'm holding you
to a standard. This ranch is bullshit, all right? Do

(21:29):
you have any more? I think you have it? In you.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
The only other two things that are wrote down is
and this is just more of a me thing that
despite all of the all of the what do you
want to call criticism, all of the fun that was
poked online, we have not heard the last of Brian
Kelly's fake accent. I believe it'll come back.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Really, I like that. Oh there's some zest to that.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
You don't think it's coming back?

Speaker 1 (21:58):
No, No, I think it will.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah. See, here's the thing I want to fashion myself.
Everybody needs their lane in college football media and media
as a whole.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
I don't particularly care about being right about anything. I
want to establish the lane as college football's foremost Brian
Kelly watcher slash observer slash predictor.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Sure, I want to be.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
I want to be that guy in your life. For
those of you listening at home.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, we how old are you? How dare you? How
old are you? Come on, how dare you? I'm thirty eight,
you're thirty eight.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, probably at some point before our time. I'm a
little bit older than you. I'm in my fifth decade
of life now, I'm.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
A man of forty. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
There was an era where the all powerful guardrail in
society was shame, where shame actually meant something. But now
we're in this era of social media and clickbait and
politics and like a whole sort of whole bunch of
stuff where shame just doesn't really matter, right, if you've

(23:06):
got it within you to just switch off the shame,
switch the sensor. Sure a lot of us can't do that.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
I can't do that.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
You're better at doing it than I am, but you
still can't fully switch it off because you care. Yeah,
I feel like Brian Kelly can just switch it off.
It's like the big breaker switch in the basement, that
Brian Kelly can just switch off the shame. And I
don't think he cares. I think he's proven that he
can switch it off. It wasn't even like the accent
was something he tried to hide. He was in the

(23:38):
middle of a gymnasium.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, he just did it'll. I think what will happen
with Brian Kelly is what probably happens to all of
us on a certain level, where the more time you
spend around people, and the more people spend time around you,
the more certain mannerisms will rub off. Now, he was
not in Baton Rouge for all that long.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
This was not not a Matt Ryan situation right right, okay,
where Matt Ryan is from Downingtown, played in Boston College,
goes to Atlanta right now within a short enough period
of time, Like that's a normal thing that happens where you.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
Kind of pick up little drawl.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
And now he's in where Indianapolis, and I think he's
just brought the drawl with him, like.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
That's a thing that happens.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
But Brian Kelly was there forty five minutes right and
picked up the draw family.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
He'll he'll, he'll just an oppressor. He'll drop a y'all,
he will will drop it. Y'all are asking a lot
about the quarterback opening, Yes, but you're not to word
that's what it'll be. And I don't know if he's
around it all day every day, And truth be told,
y'all kind of rolls off the tongue, and it's easier

(24:46):
to say than all of you or you guys or
all of you out there. It is easier. And so
I wouldn't fully blame him for picking up a couple
of more regional words or s now, there is a line, there.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Is and thank you bring up the line, continue to
talk about.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
The line, and go with it. Next, if Brian Kelly
starts going into like old fashioned sayings, like during these
pressers where somebody asks him about an outside linebacker, you know,
becoming an edge rusher or something like that, and he
says something like, well, you know what they say. You
can't teach a cricket to sing twice on Thursday. Like okay, okay,
settle down, Brian, settle, settle down. But beyond that, I

(25:33):
think whatever he morphs into will now be more gradual
and thoughtful and calculated.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
I think he's got that okay, calculated politician side of
him that is not always apparent, but now he's his
guard is up though because he was called out. He's
gonna do it anyway. I don't think he cares. I
don't think he gives a damn okay. I think he
sees it as a way to help benefit him, help
benefit the program, help get him that national championship.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
And I think he'll use it. I don't think he cares. Okay,
fair enough.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
The only other thing I had here is my last one,
is that setups that involve three or more televisions are
overrated right, And I don't know if that's too hot of.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
A take, you're asking the wrong person. Probably, I can't
pay attention to more than two. I can't pay attention
to more than one. Yeah, I can do two. I've
sort of trained my eyes in my very silly brain
to be able to handle two. It's not great, but yeah,
the multi TV setup thing, it it works in a bar.

(26:36):
If you're like more locked in on one game, the
bar is want something to look at.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
The bars, the reception, the bar is the exception.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
But yeah, it's tough. It's tricky, all right.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
Do we want to get to Harver ball Er hot
takes here on? I would love to old Zesty Ranch
give me that music one more time.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
I need people working on my ranch.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
I'm apparently just sort of passing through here, not sitting
at the campfire, not in the inner sanctum.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah, you're a contractor.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
I'm a contractor, right, I'm installing a new fence or
something whatever. Who is getting admittance to your old Zesty Ranch, Dan?

Speaker 1 (27:15):
I mean anybody that brings a little bit as zest.
I like this one right here. Ryan Day could still
be a bust. Okay, that's good. Been to the playoff.
When the Rose Bowl, Ryanda could still be a bus
Most Ohio State fans would admit last year didn't live
up to potential, and COVID protocols supported them through twenty twenty.

(27:36):
I think that's pretty hot, because that's extremely hot. I
welcome you Brendan from Instagram. You're welcome to work on
my ranch. I I don't think that's true. Now, there
are certain situations, you know, you look at Larry Coker
and you look at Mark Helfrich where somebody has a

(27:56):
certain degree of success early on with somebody else's players
and the rhythm and momentum of somebody else's program. But
with Ryan with what Ryan Day and this staff, especially
Brian Hartline, have done on the recruiting trail and are
pretty ruthless about getting rid of and hiring new assistants

(28:19):
who clearly aren't working out and clearly aren't the answer,
but keeping them on from the previous administration for continuity's sake.
I don't know. It's really tough to see a world
in which Ryan Day is a bust in a world
in a world. But if I were to paint that universe, ty,

(28:39):
if we're going to sit around this digital bonfire on
the Zesti Ranch. You can say, Okay, Michigan's only getting better.
Maybe I'm just saying I'm just paying a universe. Michigan's
only getting better. Penn State can't be worse given their
talent level. Michigan State under Mel Tucker is coming up,

(29:01):
and there is a certain level of competence that we're
seeing from teams. And even if they're half teams, even
if it's just Wisconsin's defense, even if it's just you know,
Minnesota doing it three times every four games or something,
then they have a dud game. There are enough teams now,
and Purdue is always going to be spicy for a
week or two. There are enough teams now to guarantee,

(29:22):
thank you.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
It took me a little bit longer.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
To guarantee Ohio State one and a half losses a year,
and by Ohio State standards, if they just largely missed
the playoff under Ryan Day, that could feel busty that
they're losing to a good team and an average team
most years in the Big Ten. I could be talked

(29:45):
into calling him a bust Sure, there's got to.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Be a line for that, though, don't you think by
the way, I got the sunglasses on. That is bright,
that is bright, that is its great, that is white hot.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
That take I think Brendan brought it.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Brenda did bring it taking the lasses off. So I
can see again. What is the line though, for bus,
Because you know, there are a lot of good coaches
in college football. Not everyone's Nick Saban or Dabbo Sweeney
or Kirby Smart. Right, It's very normal in the head
coaching profession, especially in college to have a run of

(30:20):
like five or six good years and then at Peter's off.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Look Gary Patterson.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
Right. Gary Patterson was at TCU for a while, some
better days, some words, but you know when he lost it.
He lost at mac Brown at Texas.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Right.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Mac Brown one with a historic team, a national championship
over USC and the Rose Bowl. H after that, you know,
a couple of years after that, I should say it
started to peter out. Mac Brown might not be the
best example, but you know what I'm going for here,

(30:52):
like it doesn't always last forever. And so what I
don't want to do with Ryan Day, who I think
is a good coach and has maintained and recruiting at
the same, if not higher level, than it was before
he got there. What I don't want to do is
throw him into this into this unwinnable space where if
he doesn't continue this clip forever, he's some sort of bust.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
That wouldn't be fair. But that's the bar given how
well they recruit. The bar is playoff often, and so
the bar for me is if they lose three straight
to Michigan, if they mount consecutive three loss seasons. I'm
not saying he is a bust, but I'm saying Ohio

(31:34):
State fans and powerful Ohio State people will fall into that.
Taylor Twelman, what are we doing? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (31:41):
What are we doing? I gotta get that sound, don't
I Let me make a note.

Speaker 1 (31:44):
Of that he's the best. I like him a lot.
That's all. That's that's the world, that's the universe that
I would construct that he would be in that category,
especially with how much quarterback success he's had both as
a coordinator and head coach ched Ohio State, that it
is especially zesty to think that will disappear as Ohio

(32:08):
State continues to bring in the best quarterbacks in the
country or the you know, the grouping in the grouping
every year bringing in I think they have the number
one or number two guy in the twenty twenty four
class from Arizona. I want to say, so, all right,
I'm ready for something new. You're ready. Go ahead, let's
hear it. Peyton from Twitter Casey Thompson will finish top

(32:29):
three in Heisman voting this year while leading Nebraska to
a ten and two record. So that's pretty good. Wow.
So there are certain implications and allusions to saying.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
That in that ten and two.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
In that Casey Thompson is going to be especially accurate
and I'm not careful, but not the same level of
carelessness exhibited by the Nebraska offense in high leverage situations
or just in dropback passing situations that they've been in
these past couple of years. That playmakers will develop on offense,

(33:04):
and that they'll be very little fall off on defense
despite losing some key contributors, and Nebraska's schedule we talked
about this a little bit, is much more manageable and
navigable this upcoming year. So on its face, it seems like, yeah,
there's a good amount of zest to that claim. But

(33:26):
he'll have the opportunity relatively early on. I don't know
what week they have Oklahoma, but to perform at an
extremely high level against a high profile opponent that people
will be watching that game, and that seems to be
important most years, that you have that big showing in
the first four or five weeks of the year to
get on people's radars. So the world I'm constructing is

(33:53):
I'm not totally terrified of a lot of the defenses
on Nebraska's schedule. Are you? You have it in front
of you.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
I do have it in front of me. I'm looking
at it right now. To run through it quickly. They've
got Northwestern week zero as it were in Dublin, North Dakota,
Georgia Southern. They've got Oklahoma at home that is week three,
since they get off to a little bit of an
early start here. Then as you continue through, they've got

(34:21):
their bye week after Oklahoma, followed by Indiana at Rutgers
at Purdue, another bye week because they play a week
zero game home against Illinois, home against Minnesota at Michigan,
home against Wisconsin, close out the year on the road
at Iowa. So that's their sort of murderer's wounders row
as we've called yeah last three weeks of the season.

(34:42):
At Michigan home against Wisconsin at Iowa. But the rest
of it is extremely workable, And so ten and two
is aggressive. I like the spice, so there's zero baggage.
I like the aggressiveness of that take and the spiciness
of that take, And I could kind of see it like,

(35:03):
I'm not enamored with Iowa, I'm not enamored with Wisconsin.
I'm not even enamored with Oklahoma in the way that
I expected when I saw this game on the schedule.
So ten and two, though very spicy, very aggressive, is
not totally outside the realm of possibility.

Speaker 1 (35:23):
If you're going to believe that the universe evens itself out,
that things come back to the mean that Nebraska losing
the number of games in the manner in which they
did last year means that the universe now tilts in
the direction of the Huskers. If you're a believer in
such things, I think there is reasonable belief in that

(35:46):
kind of zest that Casey Thompson does not come in
with that type of Nebraska baggage that oh my god,
I've been here for so long. I really need to
make this work and help Scott Frost live up to expectations.
Blah blah blah. He comes in new offensive coordinator who,
by the way, had a high has been caliber quarterback
under his tutelage last year, and Kenny Pickett, yep, that
there was you know, Casey Thompson doesn't start last year,

(36:07):
Hudson card starts and then you know was yanked in
the Arkansas game. That there was a a certain amount
of baggage at Texas. Sure, I A good amount is asked,
so I welcome you. But that's the universe building that
I could do.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
What is unclear, and what we will find out very
quickly is how much of the Nebraska offense that we
saw last year was due to design versus how much
of it was due to Adrian Martinez just trying to
go out there and do everything. Because he rushed for
thirteen touchdowns, he threw for fourteen more, wasn't a particularly

(36:41):
careful passer. He had ten interceptions, though he did complete
over sixty percent of his passes. How much of it
was Adrian Martinez, how much of it was the actual design?
And we're going to find out a lot. New quarterback,
new offensive coordinator, same old Scott Frost trying to save
his job. That's been a recurring theme, but we'll find
that out relative soon. You're ready, I'm ready, Matt from Twitter.

(37:04):
Blake Shapen will be the Big twelve Offensive Player of
the Year and also adds Florida wins the SEC East
on both accounts.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yes, grab a cold one, grab some SaaS Marilla, kick
off your spurs.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Welcome Blake Shapen. Huh Blake Shapen as Bradley who writes
for our site. Yeah, said Shapen not stirred, which I love,
not bad and will continue to use. Blake Shapen in
the limited action that he saw only eighty six passing attempts,
but five touchdowns, no interceptions, and completed seventy two point

(37:39):
one percent of his passes last year. Yeah, so you'll
recall the situations in which Blake Shaping came in. When
Gary Bohannon was hurt, No one really knew what to expect.
He looked very poised, he looked very good. It didn't
look at all like the moment was too big for him.
And I think that, among other things, is why if
you're Dave Randa, you really had no issue turning the

(38:01):
reins over to him, right, you know? In advance of
the twenty twenty two season, Gary Bohannon transfers out. So
it is Blake Shapeen's thing now, come hell or high water.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Sure, uh slowed down against Oklahoma States some in the
Big Twelve championship game, but that's to be expected. And
he was young. And I if if I'm gonna go
against the zestiness, who are the the front runners to
be the Big twelve offensive player of the year, Like,

(38:33):
who are the people like? Okay, JT. Daniels, I suppose
could have a magical year.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
Well, I mean, Queen Viewers is gonna be geenre Johnson
sure could be the quin Youewers, depending how that goes.
Dylan Gabriel, all of There's there's a lot of names.
I wouldn't go as far as saying obvious names.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
No, nobody's obvious. TCU is a mess. Yeah, Texas Tech
is sort of starting all over and number of ways. Yep.
I don't know if they'd necessarily have a front running
type name. So I think there's a good amount of zestiness.
It's a good sign that he was already named quarterback. Yes,
that it wasn't Dave Randa in spring saying guys. Both

(39:15):
of these both of these fellows are competing. It's going
to go into fall camp. I want to see who
can bring it more consistently. It was No, he's a guy,
and that's that's probably a very human thing to do
to tell Bohannan like, look, it's not going to be here,
so you should probably take advantage of this timing to
find the right fit and home for you. So that's
a good sign that Blake Shapin has probably a much

(39:39):
higher ceiling than Bohannan. But no, I think this is good.
I think this is a good, well thought out ZESTI take.
I'm with it.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Also, Geary Bohannon did not have a bad year last year.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
No, I think he had an obvious ceiling.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
He had an obvious ceiling. But there were yeah, pretty
good chunks of last season where we came on this
show talking about how accurate it was, how how responsible
he was with the football, that type of stuff. So
the fact that as soon as humanly possible, David Randa
would make this call, would let Gary Bohannon know so

(40:16):
we could go elsewhere, and would turn this thing over
to shape. And I agree, I think you're I think
you're singing the right tune here. What I'm not sure about, though,
is Florida winning the SEC East.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
That's got a lot of zest. That's really really spicy,
fair fair, that's that's a little much. So you would
need a number of things to happen in the SEC East.
I mean in terms of a Georgia implosion. What else

(40:50):
do you truly need in the SEC East beyond that?
And you need everything to work out. You need everything to.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Work for Anthony Richardson to work out, right, and he
was her last year. This is not like.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
It's not especially he's esty, because there's a very good
chance he will work out. We've seen what he's capable of.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
That part's not particularly zesty. But you know, you're kind
of forced into this corner where you have to assume
Billy Napier gets everybody playing optimally right away. It's not
an easy slate for Florida to start the season. The
game against Utah followed by a game against Kentucky, both

(41:28):
at home.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
But there's no.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
Buffer zone. You don't have any opportunity to kind of
get into the flow of the season before things really
come at you hot and heavy.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Unless you're a believer in Stetson Bennett having a fat
Elvis face where he's accomplished where he wants to what
he wants to accomplish. He's reached the mountaintop and he's
just coasting. I'm not implying that Stetson Bennett's going to
have an unfortunate ending on a toilet, but if you

(42:01):
are to believe that el he's if Stetson Bennett, especially
with the loss of you know, probably both of his
best receivers last year and George Pickens and Jermaine Burton,
is going to have fewer guys running open downfield, new
running backs, too much new on offense that even if

(42:22):
they're the clear class of the East that it's in
any given Saturday situation in the cocktail party, and Florida
is hitting on all cylinders, and Anthony Richardson just is
fulfilling the promise that he has displayed and is thrilled
with this kind of fresh start with a new staff
and new system. Okay, right, I'm it's zesty. It's zesty. Nonetheless,

(42:49):
but I would appreciate if everybody who were submitting, who
was submitting these actually built that universe and not relied
on the proprietor of this fire. I'm all right, all right.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Next take here on the old zesty ranch Dan.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
Are you a ranch fan, by the way, will you
go out of your way for ranch dressing?

Speaker 2 (43:10):
I'm not not a ranch dressing fan. I'm sort of
to it.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
I like it. Yeah, I like a ranch seasoning.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
No.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
I don't go out of my way for the dressing.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Nah. I don't go out of my way for anything
ranch related.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
But people love it on their pizza. Here.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
I have everything here. Good love ranch dressing in the Midwest.
Next take please, by Next take okay?

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Next take ty, you choose it, go for it.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
This one from bad Way Okay on Twitter. Twenty four
year old super Duper senior Sean Clifford will use all
of his experience to place himself in the Heisman. Running
through the Ohio State game culminating in Penn State is
very well written. Culminating in Penn State beating the Buckeyes
to improve to a seven to one start. The Lions

(43:54):
then lose two of their final four games. Clifford, creators
by the Way bad Way, hosts a podcast called The
Last Row, one of my favorite movie podcasts which are
check out nice This is very well written, and I
think very much on Q. I don't know how spicy
this is, but Sean Clifford getting himself in the Heisman
running is I think the key kernel here that we

(44:15):
should unpack on the ranch because I could see it
going well for Penn State. It's got to go better
than it did last year, right, Sure? I could see
Penn State getting to that juncture where there's seven to one,
they go in, they knock off Ohio State to get
to seven to one, excuse me, and then just crater
and maybe Clifford gets hurt and the whole thing comes
apart and we're talking like, what what's the future look

(44:39):
like for Penn State football?

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
I could totally see this happening almost exactly the way
he laid this out. So the Sean Clifford case is
that you're Sitch is what his third coordinator in three
or four years and having.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
Kirksharrock. You weren't ready for this, worry were you weren't
ready to have the drop at the ready? I wasn't. No,
you aren't. It's okay? And he did he overlap with
was he recruited by Morehead? I believe so yeah, okay, so.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
That's tricky, and so now he gets him, he gets
your sitch. A second year, they can't be much worse
than they were running the ball last year, and as
we know, you know that affects the play action game.
He'll be given opportunities by what we presume to be
another good defense, whether it's field position or just you
don't need to score a ton because the defense is
limiting other teams. The Ohio State game is in Happy Valley, correct, correct,

(45:37):
at noon.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
They should start out. There's a good chance they start
out five and zero. So in terms of the Heisman stage,
he'll get Auburn on Network TV, right on CBS. Yep,
it's zesty, it's hopeful. It sounds like bad Way is
speaking from the heart, which I can appreciate because I
don't know what else you would speak from if you

(46:02):
believe Sean Clifford to be a Heisman caliber quarterback, and
you can look at the rocky nature of Porus, of
Kenny Pickett and a number of quarterbacks who weren't anywhere
near Heisman caliber before they were right, I think you
need an unexpectedly down big ten coupled with the universe.

(46:23):
I've built for Penn State to get Sean Clifford into
that conversation, just because the tentative nature of his game
is not It doesn't speak Heisman volumes, so I can
see how you would build it, but I also still
think it's built mostly out of duct tape and chicken wire.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
David, on a related topic, says that Minnesota and Penn
State will only have one combined loss when they play
in Week eight. Okay, Also, Michigan State comes back down
Earth goes seven to five with losses to the other
three in the East. Wow, that is zesty. So to

(47:04):
bad ways point, David is bringing up that the Minnesota game,
which is going to be played in Happy Valley Week eight,
So it's a weird sandwich spot for Penn State if
we're being honest, but also a revenge spot for Penn
State given the history with that Minnesota game and how
they ruin things in the late nineties for the Nitney Lions.

(47:27):
Minnesota going into that game is also in an interesting spot.
We talked about them on the episode that we did
a couple weeks ago. I guess last year, but Minnesota
starts out spectacularly in terms of their own schedule New
Mexico State, Western Illinois, Colorado before they get to Michigan
State a little bit later on in the season week four, right,

(47:51):
The schedule before they play Penn State is also very
very workable. So I think it absolutely stands to reason
that there's one combined loss between those two teams when
the Golden Gophers go to Happy Valley. That does not
seem particularly spicy to me.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
What I'm curious to get your quick take.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
On, though, is the Michigan State thing. The Michigan State
thing is of interest because what he's saying here is
seven to five, which would be like a big step
down from where they were last year, and then also
including losses to the other three teams in the Big
Ten East. Of course, that would include Ohio State, Penn State,

(48:28):
Michigan Right, Michigan and Penn State. Of those three games
are on the road.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
So no Michigan State is especially active in the portal
on both sides of the ball, and so presumably the
talent level and production on defense, especially in that backfield
they brought in. It was a mere speed from Georgia,
I believe Corner great name, yes, So they have addressed
those issues as best they can they lose a Heisman

(48:54):
caliber running back? Do they not? Kenith Walker? Correct, he's done,
though you probably don't have that at the ready either. God,
you're pretty good. There we go. That's pretty bad. That's
you're good. You're back falling to seven and five. There
were some instances where Michigan State caught a good bounce

(49:17):
last year, which all good teams need, most good teams need.
That's okay, I could see it. I think they're worse
than Ohio State. All they do is beat Michigan like
that would be an unforeseen Thank you very much, Gus.
We're considering Penn State part of a big like I

(49:40):
who does Michigan State have non conference? Do you have
that in front of you? I do.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Michigan State has Western Michigan, they have Akron, they have
Washington in their non conference.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
That's already three. It's already three likely wins. That doesn't
take much more to get to seven.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
You beat Illinois, Rutgers in Indiana, you get to six. Yeah,
then you just need to beat Maryland to get to seven.
And then this implies that they this this hot take
implies that they're losing to Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan
and Penn State. Yeah, I think they can win a

(50:20):
couple of those games.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
All right. Next, I think I think eight is a
I So that's zesty. It's zesty that they're going to
have a downturn, but decent. You can you can hang.
You're not a full timer to me? Do you have
the USC Bama one? Is that in front of you?

Speaker 2 (50:37):
I have the USC Bama one right in front of Okay,
this is from This is from Jimmy on Instagram. Come
on over, Jimmy, get take a load off. Keep the
music playing now. I want to I want that music.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Yeah, go for it.

Speaker 2 (50:51):
Lincoln Riley and USC will be will be.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Alabama in five.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Years? Oh man, Okay, you cut the music off too soon.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
It's not out in my ears. Okay, there you go.
You can live in it.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I can fade it out and post.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
I know you can. We're going for a vibe here
on the old Zesty ranch. All right. Oh you want
that part? Right? That's the part. I want the harmonica.
I think it is a harmonica.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Yeah, we do a nice little smooth fade out whatever
you need.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Will this happen? Will this not happen?

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Dan?

Speaker 1 (51:36):
I mean I can manually fade it here. It is
work that board man, Thank you. This is so zesty.
Alabama is squarely in the middle of the most dominant
run of the modern era in college football. USC, at
its absolute peak, has a disputed national title, an out

(51:59):
and out national title, and a national title loss in
consecutive seasons memorable fashion. I'm gonna ask you a personal question.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
I love when you ask me personal questions.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Did you have a type when you were dating?

Speaker 2 (52:13):
I think I probably did? Yeah, Yeah, okay, I think so.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Lincoln Riley seems to have a type. And that type
is either a receiver or a cornerback. And in order
for USC, which has certain advantages that there's not in
the way of a return to dynastic form in the
Pac twelve, cornerback or quarterback corner quarterback is yeah, everybody

(52:41):
has to have quarter like you look at what USC
has been able to recruit and get commitments from. It's
basically there's no offensive and defensive line. Linebackers are few
and far between. It's a lot of defensive backs and
wide receivers that he's building the plane out of six
to undred and eighty two pound guys. Sure, right, right,

(53:04):
But it's early. It's early, so he doesn't have a
lot in the way within the PAC twelve, it looks
like it's going to be Utah and Oregon for the
foreseeable future. That you're probably selling short to medium term
on ASU. Washington is not recruiting on a level that
would have you confident that they're back to being playoff ish,

(53:25):
and Stanford is free fallen. Cal doesn't seem all that thorny.
It's just it's not. Colorado's taking a, you know, a
nose dive after their appearance in the PAC twelve championship game.
And UCLA just seems to have a seven and a
half eight win ceiling, right. Yeah, UCLA is kind of
unserious about becoming a ten win program, even though they

(53:46):
spend the money with Jim Kelly to do so. It
just doesn't seem like that's in the cards. So their
path to becoming a consistent playoff team is pretty decent.
The zestiness of the net Bama being Lincoln Riley and
the defense is Lincoln Riley has been able to mount

(54:08):
by and large, other than the back half of twenty twenty. Yeah,
I love the zest of this. I wish that this
person who submitted it.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
This was Jimmy on Instagram.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Yeah, I wish there was more in the way of
showing Jimmy's work, but there's a good amount of s
to this. I love it. I love that Jimmy's heart
is has to be purely cardinal and gold.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
I love it, I will say, And this is continuing
a trend that we've seen all off season long. Everybody's
got a hot take on Lincoln Riley, whether it's from
the Oklahoma side, whether it's from the USC side, whether
it's from the NIL side.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Everybody.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Everybody has some sort of Lincoln Riley take. Let me
run through a couple of these here and you can
pick one out that you like. Three tech Pod on
Twitter amidst Nil quarrels and too many in the kitchen,
ussego seven and five and watches Utah win the Rose Bowl.
They also give up sixty plus to use CLA again.

(55:08):
Bread Buddy on Instagram Lincoln Riley will need three or
more years to win the Pac twelve with USC on
the Oklahoma side, We've got Lincoln Riley was just holding
Oklahoma back. We've got And then some sort of semi
related points here about Brent Vannables leading Oklahoma to a

(55:29):
Big twelve title and a playoff. Berth also implying that
perhaps Lincoln Riley was holding back Oklahoma. And then we've
got a general Booty related one here, which is to
say that General Booty is going to put the team
on his back and Oklahoma is going to win it
all this year. It's a very aggressive general Booty take.
Thank you Christian from Instagram, like that any of those

(55:49):
speaking to you on the old zesty ranch, I.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
Mean, nobody really showing their work here. But the General
Booty one is zesty give and that he's not going
to be starting a quarterback. And I think this person
just wanted to use the phrase general booty. I don't
know USC goes seven and five. I think they're much
better than seven and five. But USC watching Utah win

(56:16):
the Rose Bowl unseasoned potato salad, to me, they did
it pretty recently. They can do it again. Utah is
in a much better position giving up sixty plus to UCLA. Again,
that's a take. I don't see that.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Lincoln Riley will need three plus years to win.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
The Pac twelve with USC. I think he can win it,
not this year, but in two years. I think he
can take can take it in two years. The question
to me about USC, and this isn't really a take
question necessarily or take reaction, is is there a team
that has won a major conference and I know that

(56:56):
you know the portal logistics are pretty new, and how
quickly you can overhaul things with the portal because of
the transfer rules. Has there been a team that has
fully overhauled the roster and it just worked out like
a lot of the teams who have succeeded and won
a conference with the aid of the portal have done

(57:18):
so just kind of plugin holes, right. Not necessarily we
brought in twenty three guys.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Yeah, we pulled the West seventeen recruited all he's a Baptist.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
I just think there's a certain amount of continuity and
understanding of coaches and scheme and rhythms of a program
needed that this definitely feels like USC is just trying
to tread water for year one as they bring in
the more homegrown talent. I just don't know when the

(57:54):
offensive and defensive linemen and linebackers show up. That's the
issue for me. But it's PAC twelve. I don't know.
I still think USC can win a bunch of games
even if we got if it's sort of a transient roster.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Here you go this one speaking of Old Miss from
b Gibbons on Instagram. Luke Altmeyer will beat out Jackson
Dart for the Old Miss job and is the better quarterback.

Speaker 1 (58:20):
That is intriguing. That's intriguing to me. It is a take.
There is.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
There is an assumption that Jackson Dart is going to
be the guy. But like if you've read anything on
Old Miss, first off, Jackson Dart did not look good
at the spring game, which is fine, it's a spring game, right,
But there's a lot out there to support this this
take that Luke Altmeyer might be the better of the two.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
Sure, Jackson Dart was a true freshman last year, played
the majority of his time after he got hurt. He
had a good game against Wazoo when he was pressed
into duty when Keaton Slovas got hurt. Loses to Arizona State, UCLA,
b y U and Cal had kind of down games
against ASU and UCLA, and wasn't especially electric against BYU

(59:08):
or Cal. All in losses. Beat Arizona a very bad
Arizona team, but wasn't especially great down field. So the
Jackson dart experience is one of projection that here's this
guy who came on late I believe as a high
school senior, was good enough to win the number two
job at USC as a freshman, made some plays and

(59:31):
was just a victim of a pretty terrible circumstance with
Clay Helton will they won't they? And then they get
rid of them pretty early on. And certainly Dante Williams
was not the guy to be a head coach at USC,
so there was a definite circumstance of USC was just
not bringing anything anywhere near enough to win even games

(59:53):
against down team.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Oh man, Yeah, these are high times for Jackson Dart.
Man gets the ride over to Old miss with his
obsession for Anakin Skywalker as it were, Sure, we'll bei
Wan Kenobi now on Disney Plus.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
Yeah, the appeal of Jackson Dart is in squarely in
the theoretical. In theory, he looks like he could be this,
But I don't know if the attention he got in
the portal. Obviously, any quarterback with that kind of potential
is gonna get attention in the portal. But yeah, what
exactly has he done exactly to sort of fully lock

(01:00:30):
him in to the starting role here, whereas Luke Altmeyer
has more time in the system, more time with Lane Kiff,
and they have a better concept of who he is
at this point. So yeah, I think there's a good
amount of zest to that, just because of the degree
to which ole Miss attacked the portal for a quarterback,
because they that's the thing if if Lane Kiffin knows
what he has in Luke Altmeyer, how aggressive is he

(01:00:53):
going after a top flight quarterback? Now it could be
that Lane Kiffin also feels like Jackson Dart is a
project and gives them depth or whatever, like why wouldn't you,
you know, go after the best possible quarterbacks in the portal?
But on that other hand, it's if Luke Altmeyer was
a sure thing, like why would you risk turning him

(01:01:13):
off by bringing in a high profile quarterback transfer? Yeah,
so all right, there's a good amount of SS there.
Sure some other ones here.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
You are keen to point out the folks who show
their work Jimmy on Twitter. Kansas head coach Lance Leipold, Yeah,
is going to be the head coach at Nebraska in
twenty twenty three former Nebraska assistant ties to the quote
good old days. Already right down the road, will run
an offense the fans like and has a history of winning.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Thank you, Jimmy, thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah, going the extra mile here, that's got some zest
to it and I like it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
Yeah, a number of dominoes need to happen. So that's
what Kansas being unexpectedly good within the context of Kansas
Nebraska finally becoming fed up enough with Scott Frost to
say that they're moving on and and other high Because
Lance Leiphold is still not a high profile name as

(01:02:05):
much as he seems like he is to dorks like us,
they would have to whiff on a couple of other
names that they think they could get after getting rid
of Scott Frost. So good amount as asked, good amount.
It would also, it's leaving after two years, which we've
seen happen. Doesn't happen often? Yeah, what happens if Kaylen

(01:02:27):
de Bor wins nine games at Washington and the Raska
job opens up? Watch out?

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
All right, here we go, here we go, plugging our
way through this. What else do we got here? Eric
on Twitter, Oh my gosh, Spencer Rattler in South Carolina
finish second in the SEC East behind Georgia. Look, I
hate to be the bearer of bad news.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Eric with a K. Yeah. South Carolina's schedule.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Is brutal, brutal, brutal here at Arkansas home against Georgia
at Kentucky, Texas A and m at Florida Tennessee Clemson,
those three to close out the season. Right, there is
no chance in hell they are finishing second in the
SEC East unless all hell breaks loose and somehow Spencer

(01:03:15):
Ratler is you know, just otherworldly Heisman caliber. I don't
see it. I would be a great story. I'm a
Shane Beemer fan. But there's a lot of zest on
that one.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Hmm, Okay, there's zest. There is for sure zest and
you definitely need to talk yourself into a few different
things happening. I think there's a ted Lasso type quality
to Shane Beemer that, oh no, if they win something

(01:03:52):
early and there is what is what is he right
above the doorway?

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Believe, believe, believe, fully believe. Who do they have early?
I know they have Georgia early, Arkansas early. I think
they have Georgia state Week one at Arkansas week two,
Georgia week three.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
And is Georgia in any sort of advantageous situation for
South Carolina? Like, does Georgia have somebody before that game?

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Georgia's got your Oregon Ducks week one neutral? See right,
the week before Carolina it's Sanford and the week after
it's Kent State. Right now they're on the road in
South Carolina. There'll be a little bit of a sandstorm
going on there, Williams Bryce, but otherwise.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
No, Okay, So let's just say Spencer Rattler at his
best is a Power five conference winning quarterback right correct.
One with Oklahoma, I believe right, Oklahoma beat I was
staying the Big twelve champions game. I'm not mistakes pulled
it out largely because of the defense. But Spencer Ratler

(01:04:56):
made place. If he returns to form, defense improves and
there is that Ted Lasso like belief and they ride
that excitement against Fat Elvis Stetson Bennett in week two
or three or whatever. I'm just saying, Fat Elvis, Oh no,

(01:05:17):
there's gonna be No. I'm saying, wax your boards and
get ready for the cockwave. That's all I'm saying. Ted
lasso in Columbia, South Carolina. Oh my gosh, because okay,
all it takes is the Georgia win, and I guess
not losing to anybody else, and you know, having the
tiebreakers in the East, New Florida, Kentucky new offensive coordinator,

(01:05:41):
and you believe will Levis returns to becoming will Levis.
Apparently Tennessee always prone to an implosion for whatever reason.
It's zesty. There's a lot of that, dorito. But who's
said this, Jimmy Eric with Eric, Welcome to the ranch. Yeah, welcome.

(01:06:05):
I think you're getting an invite to the reading room.
He's getting the invite before I am. Damn it all right, Yeah,
you're manning the grill. Everything's happening with you on the ranch.
Other ones here. The two folks took to both Twitter
and Instagram because they wanted to get this through to us.
Nicholas feels rather strongly about a ten and two Virginia
and mister Mikey says that Arkansas is going to win

(01:06:27):
the SEC West in twenty twenty two thanks to kJ Jefferson.
I love kJ Jefferson. I don't like Arkansas's.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Path through the SEC West, which could be said about
quite literally anybody in the SEC West. We did talk
about their schedule though, as it relates to just the
SEC as a whole, and with that in mind, it's
not easy, but about as good of splits as you
could expect if you were Arkansas. They've got Texas A

(01:06:57):
and m excuse me, neutral site game at Arkansas. They've
got Bama at home. Their non conference games are I
think of interest, as in, they won't be glossed over
by the media. Game against Cincinnati week one is interesting.
A road tilt before a bye in week seven against

(01:07:18):
BYU is interesting. It's not an easy slate, but if
you're kJ Jefferson, if you're Arkansas, I think just the
way it breaks down, that's that's at least intriguing to me.
So winning the SEC West requires a lot of other
dominoes to.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Fall, but.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
It's at least set up about as well as it
could for Arkansas.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
So here's what I'll say. The case for Arkansas winning
the West is zesty. I hear you, Yeah, I hear you.
But if Arkansas in twenty twenty two, the Hogs are
twenty twenty one esque, this is what it means for them.
It means starting out four and oh with a dominant

(01:08:00):
especially on defense, win over A and M. Right, you
said that long. I think it was Isaiah Speller broke
it up through the broke it off through the middle
of the field, losing terribly to Georgia, though if there
are any sort of tie breakers, it doesn't matter. In
the West, barely losing to ole Miss that it's just

(01:08:22):
going one away or the other. They lose fifty two
to fifty one to ole Miss, so let's say they
are twenty twenty one esque and they win that game.
That ole Miss does not have a sure thing NFL
caliber quarterback under center, so they beat ole Miss after
losing by one, scoring fifty plus. They lost to Auburn
decisively last year, but Auburn's worse clearly worse than they

(01:08:42):
were last year, so that becomes winnable. I think that
game is at Auburn, though, so we'll see. They beat
Mississippi State, they beat LSU, they were extremely competitive against Alabama,
and that game is in tuscle Loosia. This year, they
beat Miszoo and here we are, so it's a few
gusts of wind away from winning the West. That kJ

(01:09:07):
Jefferson will be improved. Alabama will still be very, very
good games in Fayideville this year. I don't know it's zesty,
but I don't know. Through kJ Jefferson all things are possible.
To paraphrase, Did I just compare kJ Jefferson to Jesus Christ?
Maybe maybe I did. You can just the ceiling is

(01:09:30):
especially high when you have an All American caliber quarterback.
All right, right?

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
Do you want to pick two or three more off
the vine here? We're getting a little long in the tooth.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
I don't care what are we doing. But but bah bah
bah Jim Harbo won't win another Big Ten championship with Michigan.
Oh that's spicy?

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
Is like that?

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
You think the conventional wisdom is that he'll definitely win
another Big Ten chame. I don't think that's conventional wisdom.
I just like I. I just like that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
There is shade being thrown here from the real sugar
Shade in Twitter.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
That's shade. But is it zest to say a man
who's only won at once will continue to lose it
most of the time?

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
The real Sugar Shane is welcome to help me in
the stables, as I'm not allowed at the campfire with
my lukewarm takes.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
But he's welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:10:23):
I like that. I like that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
Warner here we go. Oh yeah, hit me with this one.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
I like this, says Sam Hartman will be the top
quarterback in the ACC over all the others getting attention
like Brendan Armstrong, filed Jerkovic, TVD, Tyler Van Dyke, and
Devin Leary. I could see that happening. I don't know
how spicy that is. But one thing we'll say about
the ACC, and we mentioned this when we went through
some of our preview to the preview content about the ACC.

(01:10:50):
Decent quarterback conference, some decent quarterbacks that need to be
on your radar going into the twenty two season.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
Agree, who is the second quarterback after Kenny Pickett in
the ACC last year? Statistically last year in twenty twenty
one okay, against ACC teams, Kenny Pickett was fourth in
the conference in quarterback rating and Sam Hartman was tenth
last year. Yep, okay, so that would take somewhat of

(01:11:19):
a jump. He was the problem with Sam Hartman is
he threw fourteen picks last year. He threw it more
than I think anybody else. Well, no, Brendan Armstrong threw
it more yards per attempt. Sam Hartman tenth as well.
That's an issue, so he would need a major jump
up in both of those categories to be the clear best.

(01:11:39):
To me, Malie Hunningham finished number one in rating and
yards per attempt. I think we again also Malite Cunningham,
so this was it Warner.

Speaker 2 (01:11:49):
Warner doesn't even mention Malite Hunningham, not one name, but two.

Speaker 1 (01:11:54):
McHale. It's zesty. I admire the grit and the determination
from Warner with this take. Don't see it happening myself,
but sure there's a universe he does have.

Speaker 2 (01:12:13):
He does have both his top receiver in at Perry
and Taylor more in back from a year.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
We lost somebody, didn't he last year to Corey Roberson
Y Yeah, yeah, okay, any other takes the last one
he Dan Klobacar because he mentions you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
I don't know why he's mentioning me. He's saying he's
saying that Purdue is going to lose to Wisconsin for
the sixteenth straight time, but for some reason, Ty's going
to ignore that and he's going to pick the Boilers
to beat the Badgers.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:12:41):
Yeah, did I do that last year? I may, I
don't remember it. Great, definitely, here's the one that I
want to pick off the vine. Here from another trusted
verball er, Chaka on Twitter says that Kentucky will play
Alabama in the SEC title game and Will Levis will
be in New York as a Heisman finalist. Now here's
what's interesting about this. Here's what's interesting about In any

(01:13:01):
other universe, will Levis being in New York as a
Heisman finost would be the hot take here. But because
that's already gotten so much play from some of the
draft knicks out there who have convinced us, convinced themselves
that Will Levis is a first round talent, the hot
take here is actually that Kentucky is going to be
in Alabama playing for the SEC title game.

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
Yeah, it's somewhat hot just because George is there. I mean,
how far away was Kentucky from other than the Georgia loss?
Whut you is the second best team in the East
last year?

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
End of the season, maybe Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
Maybe Kentucky loses three straight. They lose the shootout to Tennessee,
they lose to Mississippi State, and didn't have really a
chance in hell, Georgia was competitive for a minute and
they but it was not. That was the closest win
I think Georgia in the seventeen points there. Yeah, I
don't know, man. If will Levis is is what they

(01:14:11):
say he is. Where's that game? The game is in Lexington?
This year game is in Lexington. Yeah, and it's in
a disvent disadvantageous situation for Georgia. Right, it's back to
back with another road game. I think in Starkville, that
is correct.

Speaker 2 (01:14:25):
Yep, it is Starkville then Kentucky before Georgia Tech. Right, Okay, so.

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
Some sort of weird body blow theory situation. Pat Elvis,
that's god. I love that. That's so good. Really, we're
gonna roll with that all year. Yeah, just enjoying the
twilight of his career. I'm cool with it, man, I'm

(01:14:55):
cool with it. Is that listen, this is why last
year's Georgia squad was capital s special, an all time
defense with all time pieces, and this year's gonna be
excellent as well, but not in that lightning in a
bottle fashion. And it's tough to bring people back and

(01:15:16):
maintain that level of play. It's tough to keep everybody
as energized and focused when they're already at the mountaintop.
That's why what Alabama has done these past fourteen years
or whatever is so special. We've seen Kirby Smart Georgia
teams lose dumbly, not a word is now seen them

(01:15:37):
lose those games. We've seen Kirby Smart make wrong quarterback decisions.
We've seen them come out flat against lesser teams and
lose those games. So if we are taking the Kirby
Smart Georgia experience in its totality, they're capable of losing
something stupid. So all of these people saying Florida wins

(01:15:59):
the South, Carolina's you know, second in the East, Kentucky
wins the East. I think in a thousand simulations, ten
thousand simulations, you're getting a handful. Yeah, I'm okay with it.
Good zest.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Also, final point on Kentucky, the schedule was very advantageous
on the show that we did on the show that Tuesday.
Yeah they could start, yeah, they could start seven and oh,
there is definitely a real possibility of a ten or
even an eleven win Kentucky because there aren't any crazy stretches.
Here are the teams that they do play maybe outside

(01:16:37):
of the Tennessee road tilt in week nine, which will
be tough to close out the month of October. There's
plenty of questions about the other teams in the schedule.
Florida Week two a good time to catch Florida. It's
in the swamp, which is a tough place to play,
very loud. But Florida is gonna be working through some stuff,
right That's part of that opening tilt of two games
for the Gators. That's gonna be really tough to open

(01:16:59):
up the month of October on the road at Old Miss.
Old Miss is going to be working through some stuff.
They've got a lot of roster turnover, new guys coming
in from the portal South Carolina. South Carolina is going
to be better, but the games in Lexington and South
Carolina is still not all that great. You know where
I stay in Mississippi State the week after in week seven,
I think Mississippi State has some potential danger in them.

(01:17:20):
But nonetheless I'm not too enamored with Mike Leach at Tennessee.
To close out the month of October, I think is
the big one for Kentucky should be a tough game.
But at Miszoo Vandy there's a Louisville game of course
that close out the season the rivalry, and then of
course Georgia in week twelve. So it's there for Kentucky
if Will Levis can be the Will Levis that some

(01:17:42):
folks have thought.

Speaker 1 (01:17:44):
Are you? This is my final question? Are you an
Elvis guy? Isn't there a movie coming out? Like a
Baz Lureman movie? Am I had? Elvis guy?

Speaker 2 (01:17:52):
No, I'm not an Elvis guy.

Speaker 1 (01:17:53):
Well, you are a fan. You're a fan of certain
musicians and movies, and like some people are like super
into Elvis, somewhere into the Beatles or led Zeppelin or
Stones whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:18:04):
No, no, not.

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
There is some Elvis lore that I'm super into, like
the Sun record, Sam Phillips, like the old Memphis, like
record labeling, the I don't celebrate his catalog. I wouldn't
go that far, but I like Elvis.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
I have nothing against Elvis, and I like Elvis stories.

Speaker 1 (01:18:32):
Yeah. More than I like Elvis's music. I like a
good transition into acting poorly that you're so famous that
you're gonna start becoming a movie star, because that's what
happens when you do other things like we've seen it,
I mean it still happens right where Like the Rock
is so famous. I don't know that the Rock cannect.

(01:18:55):
I don't know that he can do any of the
stuff that he purports to be able to do. But
I like that he became so big in a tangential field.
But we're like, we gotta put him in a movie
about space mountain or whatever. I can appreciate that part
of his career as well, like a trend like the
Blue hawaiis like, I like, it's a fascinating arc. So

(01:19:17):
the Elvis story to me, I'm a huge fan of
his catalog. It's fine to me, Yeah, it's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:19:23):
A lot of compressors do in the heavy lifting on
those volts.

Speaker 1 (01:19:25):
Yah, yeah for sure. Just throwing that that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
But all right, look, so this has been a fun show.
As now are on the Old Zesty Ranch one more time.
Just give me that thank you always for you ty,
kick up your feet, maybe tilt that cowboy hat down
a little bit. Take a sista. We enjoyed spending time with.

Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
Y'all in the Old Zesty Ranch.

Speaker 2 (01:19:51):
Y'all and your family Verballers dot Com is where you
can go to find out much much more about what
we offer to our Patreon. Subscribe iber Base, Patreon, don't
forget to subscribe to the Solid Verbal Let your friends
know about what we're doing over here on the ranch
going out to solid giveaway dot com. A few quick

(01:20:12):
and easy steps if you want to get your name
in the hat to whin he signed mini helmet Dan.
We'll be back next week for the general public and
on Friday, of course for our Patreon for Ballers, where
we answer questions as part of our bruin a every Friday.
But for now, I believe that is all. We have.
Longer show than usual, but a ton of fun as ever.

(01:20:33):
Touch base with the Verballer foot Stay on the ranch
for that guy Ouver there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein,
for myself, Tie Hildebrand. Thanks so much for downloading, listening
and supporting.

Speaker 1 (01:20:43):
We'll talk to you all next week from me now,
Stay solid peace,