Week 1 Predictions, Under-the-Radar Games & What Teams Need To Prove | College Football

We've been waiting all offseason for this moment, and Week 1 in finally here! In this college football podcast episode, we take a look at the biggest games that Stakeout Saturday has to offer, from the big Texas-Ohio State and LSU-Clemson games, to Notre Dame's trip to Miami, Alabama's opener at Florida State, the Beamer Bowl between Virginia Tech and South Carolina, Bill Belichick's debut with North Carolina against TCU and more.

Plus, we discuss which teams have the most to prove in Week 1, from with Nebraska's offense to Miami's defense, Florida State's latest transfer haul, and and beyond. We also highlight a handful of the under-the-radar games worth watching, from Mississippi State's portal gamble to Cal starting a true freshman quarterback on the road. And, of course, a full breakdown of your Saturday Window of Opportunity, the most ideal quad for your vieweing pleasure, and a Patriot League Lightning Round with a special plea on behalf of the Mountain Hawks.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro & Saturday Nickname
5:23 - Prove It
19:32 - Picks of the Week
21:50 - Texas vs Ohio State
24:35 - LSU vs Clemson
26:13 - Notre Dame vs Miami
33:45 - Alabama vs Florida State
39:27 - Virginia Tech vs South Carolina
43:50 - Syracuse vs Tennessee
48:30 - Utah vs UCLA
51:58 - TCU vs North Carolina
54:48 - Window of Opportunity
56:49 - Under-The-Radar Games
1:04:45 - Pat League Lightning Round

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Edo State?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Is that? Whoo whoom? And now Dan and Tie Dan
Robertsteiny twenty twenty five College football season at long last
is upon us. Good sir, welcome back to the show.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
And I couldn't be better? Tie, I could not be better.
The season we have are about to start five straight
days of college football. You know, not all day, of course,
but we have Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night,
and I think afternoon and Monday evening as well. There
are thirty thousand narratives that are finally going to see

(00:50):
the light of day. I am so excited, Tye. I
don't know if you want a nickname now. I don't
know if you want a nickname later. I have a
lot of thoughts and I kind of just want to
if you will grant me this, I kind of want
to talk.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Half of this show is yours, so sure that's true?
At least very least half.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I want to talk about waiting, Tie, What have we
been doing since the National championship game. Essentially, we've been waiting, waiting.
We've been waiting to see how rosters would shake out,
how transfers would shake out, how coaching movement would shake out,
Spring football, summer moves, fall camp lines, predictions, everything that

(01:37):
happens over the course of an off season really is
an exercise in waiting. For now, we are waiting to
see what will happen. We're keeping our eyes peeled on
what's going to happen. And it's a lot, you know,
it's a lot of teams taking chances with their rosters,
with their coaching moves, with their schemes, with their scheduling.

(01:58):
It's a lot of chance taking Take.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
A chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street,
or sticking your face in a fan.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
It always is, it always is. But we're waiting, and
I'm waiting no longer tie because welcome everybody to steak
out Saturday call in. Things are happening.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
You take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing
the street, or sticking your face in a fan. Sticking
your face in a fan, beautiful.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Thank you very much. Leslie Nielson Naked gun. I think
that was from two and a half if I'm going
to be accurate here, pretty.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Good steak Out Saturday. Well, look, wonderful name off to
a hot start here, thank you. In week one. In
terms of what we are talking about here to help
you get ready for steak Out Saturday, we've obviously got
a bunch of previews ahead of us. We did some
of them on Tuesday. We'll revisit parts of those as

(02:52):
we go through the course of the next hour hour
and fifteen or so. Going to take a look at
some of the under the radar games that maybe are
get enough love. Of course, we have sort of our
public service announcement section of this episode. Yeah, coming up
in a little bit here with Windows of Opportunities. We'll
talk about quads later, we'll get into all of the

(03:14):
usual stuff that keeps people coming back for more. And
at the very top, we're going to at least I
don't know, put our heads together more on the topic
of waiting and thinking and ingesting all of these narratives
throughout the course of the off season. Going to take
a quick run through which teams have the most to
prove yes in week one, which is I think a

(03:36):
very very important angle that needs to be discussed a
little bit further and.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
You might be asking yourself prove to whom exactly these
two super handsome dorks. And the answer to that question
is yeah, absolutely, absolutely so we got to do a segment.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, absolutely so. If you're new here, hit follow, hit subscribe.
I will give more details as we go through the
course of this episode how you can get in our
big run the board pick'em game. Every like half second,
my phone is thrown a notification that somebody knew is
joining the game, is signing up at verbowlers dot com.

(04:12):
We are thrilled with the influx of new community members
who have decided to join and support the show. I
will give you all the details on that as we
go through this episode. But I don't want to burn
any more time. I know people are here to listen, and.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, if there's a grouping of people not afraid to compete, ty.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
It's a great we beat. I don't want to burn
any more time. I want to get into the meat
of this year episode. Just know, if you do sign
up for a paid here at for bowlers dot com
in week one, you're playing for a five hundred dollars
Visa gift card just by picking against the spread like
ten games, sure, five bucks to win five hundred Like,

(04:48):
that's a move that I would probably make.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
You could go all out throwing a watch party or
tailgate in week two just by picking game one. Super well,
no brainer to me. Hit foll hit subscribe again. If
you are new here, we'd love to have you aboard,
even if you're not signing up at verbowlers dot com.
Every little bit helps.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
We are getting oh so close to twenty five thousand
subscribers out on YouTube, which would be a nice number
to hit here. I think we're going to hit it
before long. But if you are number twenty five thousand
on the nose, give us a holler at soliverbe at
gmail dot com. That would be cool. That would be
very cool.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Where are we going?

Speaker 1 (05:23):
All right, So we've been waiting around for a long
time for Week one to get here. We had Week
zero last week. We've got a couple weekday games, but
for all intents and purposes, when it really hits the fan,
it's Saturday at high noon. We're going to go into
all of those games here momentarily, but we cannot move

(05:44):
forward without offering I think a little bit more context
in particular, the players, the coaches, the teams, all of
these things that have been bouncing around in our heads.
Who needs to prove what in week one? Dan? That
is the question. Who needs to prove the most in
week one? In this lifetime, you don't have to prove

(06:07):
nothing to nobody except yourself.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
We're just rolling with this. This is still just gonna
keep playing. You don't like that sound? Oh god, no,
it's horrible. It's truly bad.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
I mean I had maybe ten minutes before we hit
go Here to put that together, and I just thought,
we don't have a whole lot of horns on the show,
and maybe we could incorporate the hornet. You don't know,
you're shaking your head.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
I don't know if you did that as a goof
or if you did that to make my skin melt.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
It's about time. We've been doing this all this like
seventeen years now, Is that what it is?

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, usually you're the one making my skin melt. It's
real tough. I think it was intentional, like you thought
it was good. You're like, oh, here's an interesting way
to arrange audio. And people are pulling off the road
and throwing their their stereo. Do people still have. People
are throwing their dashboards out there when they're ripping it

(07:06):
out of their car. After hearing that audio arrangement, I
thought it.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Was a very poignant horn. But okay, that's fine. Listen,
we can evolve that sound over the course of the
year if anybody out there has better ideas or the
soundbite's fine. The horn quote from Rudy is great. But
if you've got other ideas for a prove it sound
that we can play at the top of these episodes.
Soliverblotgmail dot com. If you've got any sort of creative

(07:31):
audio background, give us a holler.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
I'm sure there's like a kids sports movie.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
We're like, oh yeah, prove it. I'm sure there's something
like that out there. Dan, Who has to prove the
most to you in week one?

Speaker 2 (07:45):
So I use this assignment to figure out not like
who has the most pressure on them or what is
the most exciting national narrative, but rather who needs to
prove that they are something that they haven't been very clearly.
Who out there is saying, man, we haven't been able
to figure this element of college football out. And now

(08:07):
it's Week one, and now we're in a situation where
it would be really nice if we could prove that
we are this thing we want to be. I have
number one Nebraska's offense. Yeah, So Nebraska's playing Cincinnati in
Kansas City, Yes, neutral site, Arrowhead, YEP. There will be
a considerable amount of attention on this game. Not the
biggest game of the weekend, but I think there's rightfully

(08:29):
going to be a lot of attention on this game.
They haven't been able to figure out an explosive offense
during Matt Rule's time there. And because they're invested in
Matt Rule, because they're investing in Delan Royola, because they're
now invested in a couple new receivers that they hope
bring some pop to the offense, because they're paying Dana Holgerson,
former high profile coordinator and head coach, a bunch of
money to run this offense. Now, I think there is

(08:51):
an extremely large amount of pressure on this Nebraska team
to figure out offense. Now this is they're not paying
for this program to be a Stripe Bowl team. All
due respect to the pen Stripe Bowl, Arthur Avenue shout
it out, but I am positive that if this team
shows what it has shown these past couple of years
on offense, things are gonna start collapsing in Lincoln, and

(09:15):
so I think it has to be week one show me.
They showed it a little bit last year the first
half of that Colorado game, but it just sort of
fizzled out pretty quickly. This needs to be an even
bigger step forward for this offense. I think there's an
immense amount of pressure on this offense to show a
lot more.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, that game is Thursday, so tonight as many people
are listening to this at nine pm. Apologies in advance
to anybody listening to this on Saturday. But it still holds. Yeah,
it still holds. Whether you're listening to this early or late,
it doesn't matter. There's a lot of pressure on Matt
Ruhle and Nebraska to make it go.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
I'll give you some quotes if it works out, and
if it doesn't work out, so you can pre hear
my reaction. You know what, good for Nebraska, right, They
really needed to show it and they showed it, and
that makes the Big Ten more exciting. That makes the
ability to watch Nebraska football more exciting all season long.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
All Right, that was pretty good, right.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, Now authentic here's the other one. Man, you couldn't
figure that out against Cincinnati. Like Cincinnati, events should be
fine this year, but to come out that flat and
unable to address what clearly needed to be addressed. I'm
not saying they can't do it these next few weeks.
That was pretty disappointing.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Did I cover? I think you're good. I think you're
all set, all right. I think Miami has a lot
to prove.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Give me something specific.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
I think, in particular, Mario Crystobaal needs to prove that
not only can he go out there in an advantageous
spot just having this Notre Dame game at home in
Week one and prove that he can win a game
like this, but I think throughout the course of the
season he needs to prove that they're not going to

(10:58):
have some of these rain farts late game situations, not
going to find themselves in a situation later in the
year on the road at pitt lose a game like
that that could essentially kick them out of the playoffs.
All of that is very forward looking, but I think
with respect to what we've got in week one here,
they've got this Notre Dame game at home. Notre Dame

(11:20):
comes into the state of Florida with a brand new quarterback. Again,
it surprised some folks that they even named him starting quarterback,
despite the fact that he had the name attached to
him and that there was a lot of assumption in
the Notre Dame world that it was always going to
be CJ. Carr. Miami's got a very very good front,
Miami's got a very very good offensive line, Miami's got

(11:43):
a seasoned quarterback. The offense might look different, but it's
all there for them. And so if they find themselves
in a close game situation against Notre Dame, which I
think is likely and I can talk through a little
bit later, Miami has to prove that they're not going
to fall victim to some the stuff that's jumped up
and gotten them in the past. They have to find
a way to win this game. I think it means

(12:04):
more to Miami than it does to Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Sure, that's all understandable. I have this and more specifically
the Miami defense in one of my dannerable mentions that
wasn't in my top five, but specifically, like I want
to hear, it's Sean McDonough I believe doing this game.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Mcdonna and McElroy.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, I want to hear third quarter, fourth quarter, if
it's a tight game. I want to hear something along
the lines of like crucial stop there for the games,
like something we're like good for Miami again off the
field when they needed to something in that realm of
like in Miami's defense started out pretty well last year

(12:42):
when that Florida game was particularly impressive, but against Notre Dame,
like prove that you can make CJ. Carr feel like
a first time starter in a hostile environment. Right, That's
what a team with Miami's hopes and aspirations should be
doing to CEJ Carr and not a new look Notre
Dame offense, but a new look starting quarterback and what

(13:02):
is going to be asked of him. I think Miami's
to prove they can do that.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Who else you got?

Speaker 2 (13:08):
All right? Number two? I have LSU's defense being prepared
for the task at hand. Yeah, so of all of
the things on the field, we have a good handle
on what Clemson's offense should be at its best and
what Clemson's defense should be at its best, what LSU's
offense should be at its best. LSU having to prove

(13:28):
that again they've addressed what needs help on this defense
and that they can actually come out and get off
the field in a crucial like that's it's I'm pretty
aligned with that, although it's a more difficult task because
LSU is on the road here. But Brian Kelly not
winning those openers. LSU's defense another year disappointing given what

(13:51):
LSU's defense should be basically every year. I think there's
a lot.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
To prove from this LSU defense in Week one. I
can't believe we made it three items in. We haven't
mentioned Florida State yet.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
I don't even have them down here. You don't think
Florida State is I think Florida State has something to
prove to you against Alabama in Week one.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
I do, actually, yeah, okay, I do, because you know
this game and again we'll talk through this one a
little bit more. But this game is like the ultimate
contrast between where one program's at versus the other. Florida
State tried the transfer thing before last season. It didn't work. Famously,
it did not work. Or infamously, I guess this year

(14:29):
they went out, They again took to the portal, and
I think Mike Norvell just needs to prove that even
if they find themselves a two touchdown dog at home
against Alabama in a game that I think we all
expect they're going to lose, and losing to Alabama, this
version of Alabama certainly is not a black eye. But
they need to prove pretty much right out of the

(14:49):
shoot that this is going to be an offense that
feels like it's going somewhere, that the players that they
have now added to this offense are going to make
it better than it was a year or ago, that
Gus Melson coming up from UCF is going to make
the offense better. I don't know if Florida State fans
out there are expecting that there's going to be like

(15:10):
a three point spread between these two teams when all
is said and done, but I think what they are expecting,
what they're hoping for is competency. There needs to be
a base level competency on display that can prove just
serve as like a proof of concept that when they
play some of these other teams in the schedule, this
is going to be a team that's prepared. It's going
to be an offense that has some pop and they're
not going to find themselves in the same situation that

(15:32):
they were in a year ago. So again totally separate
from the result, we need to at least see and
feel like this is going somewhere with Tom Castellanos, with
Gus Melson and with whatever version of this whole thing
that Norvell's put together.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
I see where you're coming from. It's not unreasonable. But
here's the unreasonable part of what you said.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
Florida stat Inco seven and five last year, Florida State
t Inco six and six last year.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
When you go to and ten, you have basically nothing
to prove against an excellent team. You have to prove
something against Virginia. Listen, if you proved something against pat
if you're.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
An annual to in ten team, if that's always who.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
You are, buddy, same coach, if that's always who you are,
then I think you can make the case that they
don't have anything to prove. But this is a blue
blood program, Okay, they're not used to going to intend.
That was very very hopefully hopefully a bug, not a feature.
And so Mike Norvell's got a lot to prove.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
There's a reason that I think he's on the hot seat,
and rightfully so. Because what happened last year at Florida
State is not acceptable. They need to get better in
a hurry. He understood that assignment, but now he needs
to prove that he can put this cast of characters
together and actually get something more out of it. So
we'll see.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
I think they've got a lot to prove. You don't
sprint out of comas ty. You ever see somebody do that?

Speaker 1 (16:50):
I can't say have So.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
You gotta get to You got to prove that you're
a six and six team. And I just don't think,
you know, for better or worse, whatever at Florida State
looks like against Alabama, it's not going to be in
any sort of indictment or like, yes, if they beat Alabama, great,
they have proven to me that they have done something
extraordinary this offseason. But to ask them to sort of
look competent after what they did last year and there's

(17:15):
new players in here, still the same head coach, same
locker room, same practice fields, I don't know. It's more
of a pit Miami type situation, not even Miami Pitt
and Virginia situation. We were for Florida State.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
We disagree. Give me a next item, give me one more,
I'll rifle through a bunch I have. Let's go with
Jackson Arnold.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
I mean this goes without saying right.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Obviously, in a terrible situation with regard to offensive line
injuries and receiver injuries and general offensive malaise and you know,
emotional injuries incurred at Oklahoma, but this opportunity and Baylor
may have addressed situations successfully on its defense in the
back half and defend the pass and give up fewer

(17:59):
big plays. Jackson Arnold from the jump is expected to
go on the road and prove that he is the
guy to take Auburn to a level that we haven't
seen under Hugh Freeze at Auburn, and that is finishing games,
being boringly competent, not making huge mistakes in the passing
game in the red zone they're downs, whatever that. I

(18:22):
think there's an enormous amount that Jackson Arnold and Auburn's
offense need to prove this week because it's only going
to get more difficult with this schedule. So because of
the shortcomings that he's had, some self inflicted, some just situationally,
I think Jackson Arnold and Auburn and this passing attack

(18:42):
have a ton to prove against Baylor and in this
specific spot as well, which is also pre Saturday. Right,
it's a Friday night game, so I think there's a
ton to prove there. My Dannerbill mentions, by the way,
I have A and M pop against Utsa's not so
great defense from last year. Text is picking up where
they left off Syracuse, proving that that they're more than

(19:04):
just Kyle McCord covering up for defensive issues. Uh Minnesota
not playing a close Week one. The shape of Colorado's
offense needs to be obvious. Bryce Underwood processing power I need.
I need to learn the Nvidia Intel take your pick
qualities of Bryce Underwood against I think New Mexico. That's
approve it. Malik Murphy being a worthwhile investment for Oregon State, Like,

(19:28):
there's a ton here that I mean, we'll get to
it in the preview, but I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Why don't we wait no longer, Let's do picks. If
you're ready, ready, damn time they need the week. I
am ready to hear it. It feels good. We played
it on one of our earlier shows, but this is
when it really has the gravitas. So look going out

(19:56):
to for bawlers dot com. Forballers dot Com is where
you go to sign up if you want to get
in on Run the Board. Run the Board is our
pickam game. You can play for a five hundred dollars
Visa gift card in week one. If you play the
full year through and finish in the top five, you
get a seat on the coveted board of trustees here
at saliverbal headquarters. It's up to you at that point

(20:19):
do you want to give Dan and I a vote
of confidence? I suspect that depends on how the season goes.
To our credit, we have unanimously gotten votes of confidence
each time we have done this, but there's always room
for a dissenting vote. If you're interested verballers dot com,
if you're just interested in supporting our community, supporting what

(20:39):
we do, you can sign up. You can also get
access to ad free episodes, bonus content. Vote in the
Verballer Top twelve poll every Sunday. We'll talk about that
on the Tuesday episodes. Our premium tier is going to
have an outsized influence on what we talk about every Tuesday.
You get access to the discord and much much more.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
I love the idea of an activist board member that
was like, all right, now that I'm in, I got
a lot to say.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
My old company, we had an activist swoop in. They like,
redid the whole thing. It was crazy, love it. Verballers
dot com is where you can go if you want
to support what Dan and I do. This is like
our big push. This is the final time you will
hear us talk about it before the game locks at
noon on Saturday. Yep. So, uh, if you like what

(21:29):
you hear, if you like us, if you want to
support what we do, help us keep the lights on,
help us keep pushing the envelope and what we can do.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Help us afford more T shirts so that we don't
always look the same on camera. And domains and domains, yes, domains.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
If you want a different sound, maybe for the proven
thing at the top, I don't know. Verballers dot com
is where you can go to support Dan. We talked
about two of these on our last episode, but we
can revisit them briefly because two of the three biggest matchups.
Two of the three matchups this weekend between ranked teams
are Texas at Ohio State, LSU at Clemson. Dan Yes,

(22:08):
now you and I differ on at least one of these,
notably that is the Texas at Ohio State game. Yeah, now,
having given yourself maybe forty eight hours to think it over,
more or less confident in your pick of Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Equally confident, not not any more, not any less. I
feel good about Ohio State. I think the defense is
going to be quality. They're playing at home. The crowd
is going to be frenzied at what is it a
four am kick local? They're doing four am. No, I
think Texas is going to be very good. I'm the
thing I'm most excited to see is if Texas just

(22:45):
keeps belonging, you know that, Like Texas beat Alabama by ten.
I want to say in Week two, two years ago
on the road, they beat the defending champs in Michigan
on the road. Now they once again get this year's
defending champs on the road, and they looked more than
ready to compete in those two games. Do they come
out and just look at ease in the fire? I

(23:08):
can't wait.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, I think I'm most excited to see what Texas
looks like using arch Manning's legs. Okay, and I gave
a little bit of voice to this when we did
the Texas preview and when we did the Deeper Dive,
which you can go back and listen to on our
Tuesday episode. Like, I just feel like there were so
many opportunities last year for hard yards down in the

(23:32):
red zone where they just did not have that element of.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Quilt with the red zone. Yeah, Quin, youwers.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
Being a scrambling quarterback. This is not to say that
arch is a scrambler. I don't think that's so much
as pedigree can He's definitely a lot fleeter of foot
then Frankly his uncles or then the predecessor at Texas
and Quinn.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
I feel like Archie could move though maybe it's just
a skip a generation.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
I didn't say it's grandfather, I know, but definitely more
fleet of foot than both Peyton and Eli for sure.
So I'm excited to see if they use that aspect
of his game, if they use that in critical situations,
if that is the kind of thing I mean, it
was sort of my whole theory of this game that
they will find a way to utilize this to spring

(24:22):
them for a big game on a third and long
or a third and crucial and that will ultimately give
them enough cover to win this game. I think I
had it at like twenty seven to twenty three somewhere
in that neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
So you're sticking with your big road pesticula in Texas.
The other headliner that we did our full preview for
was LSU Clemson. I feel just as good in this
moment about my Clemson pick.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
I'm really excited to see what Clemson looks like, and
I'm really excited to rejoin our community out there on
the club level. I do need a club level sound
if anybody's interested, so at gmail dot com. This is
the year like he's still there. He's finally growing into
all of that hype that he came in with when
he was recruited out of high school. I am excited

(25:06):
to see if he takes a step forward as a passer.
I think we saw that last year, but I think
as the receiver room around him has continued to grow
and improve. In showcase why everybody was excited about then,
we saw flashes of that. I think this could be
a really big step forward, and frankly, if that happens,

(25:27):
we're talking about kay Klubnick in New York sure, that's
what I'm most excited to see, and this is going
to be really good opportunity for that. Like they might
have to score thirty some points in order to beat LSU.
So I'm curious to see. I'm excited to see what
he looks like.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Most importantly, one of these down on their luck opening
coaches has to win.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
They do. Brian Kelly has never won an opener in
his time at LSU, and.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
Tough few years for Clemson and dabbload opening the open
the season up.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, so I've got this one still at thirty four
to thirty one Clemson again. Go back on Tuesday and
listen to the full deep dive of this one, but.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
So not covering LSU covering now, I've got LSU.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Plus the points right now, it's Clemson minus four time
of recording. I've got a tight one here, but a
fun game. Next headliner, let's go ahead in time to
Sunday night at seven thirty on ABC. Yeah, this game's

(26:24):
at seven thirty Eastern. I'm gonna be breathing into a
paper bag around two pm Eastern in preparation for this
one on Sunday night. It is Notre Dame minus two
and a half on the road at Miami. Crazy way
to open up this game, open up this season with
this game. Yeah, I am on the record stating that
Notre Dame is the better team and that they're going

(26:46):
to win this game. I'm also on record saying that
Miami is an eight and four team. I am not
backing down on either front. Okay, I can't at this point.
I am too invested in both sides of that argument.
I actually think that this one looks a lot like
Notre Dame's game last year, their opener on the road

(27:08):
at Texas A and M. Yeah, and I don't know
how much of that game you remember. I don't know
how much of that game the for ballerhood remembers, but I.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Do It was a lot of Riley Leonard in this offense,
sitting on a lead late six.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Of twenty five combined on third downs. Between those two teams,
we had seventeen total penalties, eleven of which went against
Notre Dame, just thirty six total points. The final score
was twenty three to thirteen. The final the score was
tied until late in that game when Jeremiah Love broke one.
So I think that's the kind of game that Notre

(27:41):
Dame would like to play here. Like for as much
as everybody has talked about this quarterback contest at Notre
Dame and how they're looking to get more pop out
of the passing game, which is still very very true,
and I hope it's true. M H. Marcus Freeman would
be thrilled. He would be jumping up, he would be
clicking his heels together if this devolved into a battle

(28:04):
of defense and field position and time of possession and
big dumb Mario crystal ball football, frankly, Mario, because I
think if that's the way that this game goes, that's
big time advantage Notre Dame. Sure. Now, unless they had CJ.
Carr out there throwing interceptions in the preseason as like

(28:27):
some kind of propaganda thing, I don't know. I would
expect that this game plan is going to be really conservative.
It's going to be a lot of emphasis on Jeremiah
Love and Jadarian Price. You get them going, you're somehow
able to open it up a little bit down the field,
maybe take a shot or two with Jayden Greathouse, Malachi Fields.
I don't know, but I'm gonna put the over under

(28:48):
at twenty two and a half for passing attempts for CJ.
Carr in this game, okay, because I think they're going
to play it close to the vest I think they're
concerned about a backbreaking pick, some sort of freshman mistake.
This should be a really good Miami defense. At a minimum,
it's going to be a very good front. I think
Notre Dame is going to do everything within its power

(29:09):
to try and minimize the effect of a new full
time starting quarterback.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
And I think Notre Dame respects the best of what
Miami can look like upfront in rushing the passer and
attacking the run. I think there's a lot of good
defensive linemen that they're pretty deep there. We'll see how
successful they are. But in terms of raw talent and ceiling,
I think Miami's going to the front seven especially is
going to look quite good. We'll see if all these
transfers work out. We see if a new defensive coordinator

(29:34):
gels and Corey Heatherman with Miami. I'm going to take
Notre Dame here, and I hate it. I absolutely hate it. Okay,
But because of how Notre Dame looked in icing that
Georgia game, in icing the Penn State game. And yes,
they did not win a very crucial game against a
MAC team mid season, but because of how that Notre

(29:55):
Dame team grew, if you're telling me that Notre Dame
pretty co it clearly has the big game coach and
defensive advantage in Week one. I think it travels well enough.
And what Notre Dame did on the road against Texas
A and M last season as an opener, I think
Miami's gonna be really good this year. I think to

(30:16):
ask them to arrive in Week one even with a
home field advantage, but with a quarterback coming off of injury.
Because of a new look receiving corps, the offensive line
should be great for Miami. But I think it's a
tall ask in Week one against Notre Dame. And I
think Notre Dame will have a better ability to dictate,
as you've mentioned already and alluded to the rhythm of

(30:38):
this game, and so I think Miami has a great
opportunity to win this game playing Notre Dame ball, right,
you know Mario christ Baul wants to do that. He
wants to push Notre Dame around upfront with an experienced,
very talented offensive line. Good running back room quarterback who
can take advantage in play action. But I just think
Notre Dame is better built for it completely. But again,

(31:01):
if you're telling me the final score is thirty eight
thirty four, I'm going to take Miami. I think that
I think they're they are better built right now with
what they were able to do on offense last year,
with Carson Beck's experience, I think they are a team
that can get to thirty five faster. But I think
Notre Dame is a team who can keep a team
to seventeen more effectively. So I have what's the final

(31:24):
spread as of this recording, two and a half in
favor of Notre Dame. In favor of Notre Dame. Yeah,
I'm going to give those points. I'm going to say
twenty four to twenty Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
Yeah, I'm And by the way, I think we're kind
of along the same lines here.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
I hate it.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
I think the matchup that ultimately decides this one is
exactly what you pointed out. It's Miami's offensive line against
Notre Dame's defensive line. Because my theory all along has
been that Miami has to look different on offense this year.
They don't have cam Ward. It's just a different style quarterback,
and I expect them to look more like the Georgia

(31:59):
offenses that we saw when Carson Beck was at Georgia.
I'm not saying it's a perfect replica, but to your point,
this is Mario Crysto Baal's default state. He wants to
line you up, he wants to push you around. And
I think he'd be wise to use his running back
room this year because I do think they've got a

(32:20):
lot of depth. It's new guys. It's not Damian Martinez anymore,
but they've got enough depth back there to be pretty good.
So I think it looks different. I think Carson Beck
is pretty good. I'm luke warm on him being the
type of quarterback who can go out there and single
handedly win the game for you. I think that's something
he needs to prove this year.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
My theory this year is that, especially in this game,
Miami needs to establish a ground game and I just
think it's going to be tough sledding. So my theory
if this one devolves into a defensive slugfest, I think
we see a couple turnovers one way or another. I
think the difference much like it was last year in
a big spot. Is Jeremiah Love just getting a sliver,

(33:05):
or maybe, like we saw in the playoffs, Jaden great
Hoouse finding some space. I think Notre Dame plays it close.
I think Notre Dame uses one of their playmakers. I
think they get a big play in space to get
enough separation. Twenty six twenty one. Notre Dame wins on the.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Road twenty six twenty one. Okay, by the way, third
and medium is gonna be incredible when Miami has the ball.
Oh yeah, they were the best third down team in America,
not just at avoiding three and out, but actually, like
their success rate on third down was incredible. So when
they can't just count on a yard and a half
from a back, when they are going to have to
make tougher choices on third and four at midfield or

(33:42):
in their own territory, that's to me, that's gonna be everything.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
We talked about this one a little bit at the top.
This one is Saturday at three thirty on ABC. It's
Alabama minus thirteen and a half points. See my brows
go up when I said that's a lot of points. Sure,
thirteen and a half points on the road at Florida State. Now,
I think there is a chance here that Alabama's looking

(34:07):
to make a statement because for as big of a
disappointment as it might have been for Florida State, Alabama
definitely internalized the fact that they did not make the
College Football Playoff last year, and they internalized it to
a great degree. They brought back a number of starters
from last year's team who had the option to go
pro but decided they wanted to stick around here and

(34:30):
see if they could do a little bit more at
the college level. That's a credit to Kaylen de Borr.
Another thing that's a credit to Kaylen de Borr is
that he understood again that they needed to get better,
they needed to figure out their offense to a greater degree,
and he brought back Ryan Grubb. So I like that pairing.
I like the fact that Alabama has an unusual amount

(34:51):
back from last year's team, which was still pretty good,
it just didn't fire on all cylinders. And I like
the fact that they're catching Florida State at this time moment. Yeah,
this is the right time to catch Florida State. Now.
I know we may not be crazy hig in Florida State,
but it's still a tough place to play. I gotta
believe they're going to be better. And if if this

(35:12):
is a very big if, if they are able to
put an offense together, if they are able to realize
all the upside of Tommy Castellanos, then at some point
down the stretch, this could be a team that's a
tough out because there still is a lot of talent
on Florida State. I just think this is the right time.

(35:32):
There is no chance with all that they have new
it's suddenly going to click at home week one against
the top five team. I don't see it.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, I'm searching for reasons to take Florida State, and
I feel good about Florida State maybe scoring an early
touchdown and it's seven to three after the first quarter,
Florida State's up, and then it goes pay wire. But yeah,
over the course of four quarters, with what the ceiling
of this Alabama defense should be with if we're going
to assume Simpson is ready to just hit that throttle hard,

(36:05):
then there's every reason to think that this is a
you know, thirty four to ten game Alabama wins. I'm
not there with Ty Simpson yet. There was something to
me about like he's competing against a true freshman and
a guy who hasn't played any meaningful snaps, and like
the competition went deep into fall. Now I like, no,
maybe he's just pretty good but not amazing. I still

(36:29):
like you just you have to have faith in Florida
State after going to and ten that they've dramatically gotten better.
I think the defense will be more organized with Tony White.
I think the offense will have a different vision. I
don't know if it's a better vision with Gus Melson.
I don't know about hiring this version of Gus Melson
in twenty twenty five as like a big fix. But

(36:50):
there will be a plan, and so I think early
on Florida State will look like they have that plan.
I just over four quarters. Yeah, I think Alabama's three
touchdowns better, So I'm going to give those points. Really searched,
but I'm not there.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
I'm just really drawn to the contrast between these two
schools right now because Alabama, like I said, internalized a lot,
almost a little bit of zombie Alabama if you think
about sure, a little bit of taste in their own
blood after what went down last year. Now coming into
this new season, loaded for bear and on. Like the
Florida State side, they like, they basically unplugged the router

(37:26):
for thirty seconds. They unplugged it, they let it cycle through,
they plugged it back in, and that this is what
you have now. Yeah, this is what it is in
twenty twenty five. I'm excited to see how they use
Tommy Castellanos. I hope we can start calling a big
Tom Callahan again like I did in the previous But

(37:47):
I've got real questions about this being the dude. You know,
if quarterback was an issue last year with DJU. I
know Tommy Castellanos here talks a good game, but he
had a propense to kind of dance around in the
pocket and take a drive killing sack or commit a
big turnover or something that will not serve Florida State. Well,

(38:09):
it did not serve him well at Boston College. Even
though he's athletic, he's fun to watch, he can make
plays all that. I'm just not sure. I'm not sure
about that. So, like bigger picture, it's gonna be really
interesting to see how this transfer class looks for the
Knowles if it pops more than it did a year ago.
They're basically doubling down on the approach.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
I agree. If he's not the guy for Boston College, right,
why is he the guy for Florida State's. And we've
seen guys get benched before and come back strong. I
watched it with Bo Nicks got benched at Auburn came
back strong, or at Auburn came back much stronger at Oregon,
like it happens. But those two programs are sort of

(38:52):
on par.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
I would love nothing more than to do our show
on Saturday night at midnight. By the way, subscribe to
the YouTube channel. You can watch the Saturday and out
live stream if you're interested. As we talk through all
of these.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Games, smell tieshair dot com. Right, we can link.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Smell tieshair dot com. Back up with that. Okay, you
have all these domains. We gotta do something.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
I know, I know.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
I would love nothing more than to talk about this
one as a close game, a fun game, or Florida
State got it together and the crowd got into it,
and I've got it at thirty five seventeen Alabama. Okay,
I think light away. Yep, let's go to Sunday at
three pm Eastern time. Okay, Virginia Tech at South Kakilaki

(39:36):
sneaky fun, South Carolina favored by eight points. Where are
you at? Here? Where you at in this game?

Speaker 2 (39:41):
I had to prove it. Danni Will mention that Virginia Tech,
with the way they've started the last three seasons, so
that I think is losing to Old Dominion and then
losing to like Purdue Marshall Rutgers. I think Vanderbilt last year,
which was not that's a defensible loss with how Vanderbilt
season went, but in the moment richly did not feel

(40:02):
super fun for Virginia Tech fans. So Virginia Tech and
Brent probably have a lot to prove in a game.
I believe this is a neutral site.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Right, neutral site game of playing in Atlanta and.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
Atlanta, Ah, they have a ton to proof. Virginia Tech.
To me, I think I'm gonna go South Carolina here
if you're giving me a quarterback advantage, a momentum advantage,
and as much as anybody can have momentum in week one,
but program momentum the best of this defense with a

(40:32):
lot of unproven full time guys, I just think culturally,
South Carolina is in a better place to come out
and win this game. And they haven't been the best
September team either, for sure. But I just think there's
more to like in this moment about South Carolina on
the road, So I'm gonna need to see it before
I believe it from Virginia Tech still in this moment.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
So this is like the Beamer Bowl, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (40:55):
It absolutely is. Yep.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
This is one of those season openers where I feel
real weird about taking chalk. And the more I thought
about this, it's like everyone's talking about Leonora's Sellers. Leonora's
the creators creator creator. Yeah, Dylan Stewart, who I love,
might be the best pass rusher in the country. South
Carolina finished strong. They do have that momentum six game

(41:19):
winning streak. But I think I've come around to the
idea of Virginia Tech covering and maybe even pulling an
upset here, and I can tell you why. Okay, I
think South Carolina is going to have some growing pains
on defense. I agree, like you lose Kyle Kinnard, It's
not easy to backfill all four interior linemen, three long.

Speaker 2 (41:39):
All American caliber safety.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Yeah, there's a lot that's missing. You're basically asking a
bunch of new faces, albeit very talented new faces who
are not entirely new like they have played. Granted, but
you're asking these guys to step up, take on more
responsibility in a big week one neutral site game against
a team that you know is looking to prove something.

(42:03):
This is a team in Virginia Tech that I think
should be significantly improved. It was not a bad team
from a year ago. And that's the thing that I
think is missing from much of the commentary I've heard.
Did they underperform, yes, but it wasn't a bad team.
They were just very inconsistent and they had injury luck
that went against them, basically like Auburn North Okay, in

(42:23):
some way, shape or form, they just could not translate
production into wins. They had trouble in close game situations.
They couldn't stay healthy. Those three things will kill pretty
much any team.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
So you're going with Virginia Tech a team who starts
poorly and does not finish close games.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
Well, I am, actually, yeah, I am, And I can't
explain why. I mean, I'm trying to explain why, But yeah,
I just think Kyroen drones back and healthy. A revamped
roster a new offensive coordinator who should get more out
of the quarterback position. They did pick up Terry and
Stewart from Bowling Green the running back who I love,
but he was seen in a walking boot last week.

(43:00):
I don't know his status at time of record.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
That's super helpful before our football game, right, It's not ideal. Yeah,
I hope he's able to go.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
I think he could have a real impact here. The
matchup that you you gotta watch here is the Tech
offensive line, which is rebuilt the South Carolina front seven,
which also has a bunch of new faces. I think
we could be on track here for a South Carolina
freeducation from Fred Johnson the linebacker if they show out
on defense. But I don't know. This one was kind

(43:27):
of giving me the willies. Like I think Carolina wins.
I think it's a slugfest, and I think it's something
like twenty four to twenty. South Carolina wins, but Virginia
Tech keeps it close. I would not be surprised if
we come on the air Saturday night Virginia Tech wins
in an upset.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah. I have Virginia Tech losing this one thirty three
to twenty four. South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Let's go to another one, Syracuse at Tennessee, another neutral
psyche game. This one's on Saturday at high noon. Yeah,
Tennessee favored by thirteen and a half. How confident are
you in Tennessee winning this game and covering?

Speaker 2 (44:07):
It's a big number.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, a lot of new on Tennessee, right, at least
on the offensive side.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
I'm not super confident in them covering. I think Tennessee
wins this game because I still think the best thing
in this game should be Tennessee's defense. But I'm not
confident that number. You're talking about a lot new on
this Tennessee offense, including Joey Aguilar.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
It's right, I think.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Even if so, what you're saying is if you're setting
this line to get action on both ways, but if
you think this is about where this game lands, what
you're saying is Tennessee should get to thirty ish points
against Syracuse. Correct, because the Syracuse offense, if Steve Angeli
is quality, which I think we think he is. Sure,
it's all just a guessing game in week one really

(44:53):
more than anything, I just don't think they get to
that number. So I think it's something like twenty seven
Tennessee twenty four to seventeen Tennessee. So I have Syracuse
covering this game, but Tennessee winning just because I think
there's gonna need that. There needs to be a little
bit of time for Tennessee to get its act together
gelling on offense. So I don't love the Syracuse defense

(45:16):
and where it was last year and where it looks
like it's going to be, albeit improved, this year. I
don't love the ability for Syracuse to continue what it
was doing on offense with Steve Angeli. I think they're
gonna be good. I think they're gonna be decent. But no,
that number is still too big for me. So Syracuse
keeps it close enough. Tennessee lock of the week, Wow.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Luck of the week Lim from Lim then Yeah. The
matchup to watch here is Tennessee's defensive front against Syracuse,
which has a rebuilt offensive line. I think the balls
get pressure. I think they change up Steve Angeli's timer.
In his limited action, we saw moments where he was

(45:59):
like slow to process, where he took a sack, he
made a bad decision. Again, very limited sample size, but
I think this is a kind of game where that
could be a factor here. Yeah, I feel very confident
about laying the points here because everyone's talking up Tennessee,
like new quarterback Joey Agilar. But truly, this is a
story of defense, and that defense is loaded.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
It should be very good.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
And the other thing on the Syracuse side, I did
get some pushback to this. I stand by what I said,
cuse lost a ton. They might be worse at every
offensive position this year. Okay, it's just a really tough
ask to expect them to just click in Week one
against one of the better defenses in the country. And
their defense too, they lost a bunch. Seven of their

(46:45):
top ten tacklers are gone from a year ago. I
think they're going to get pushed around by Tennessee upfront.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
By the way, you know who else rebuilt their offensive
line Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
I know they did, but I just like their talent better.
And I think when you contrast that with Syracuse also
losing a ton on defense, the meat of this Tennessee offense,
in my view, is still in the running game all right.
Whether or not they're rebuilding their line. It's a very
very deep group of running backs, and I think they're

(47:16):
going to be solid. I also would not put it
past Joey Aguilar to actually end up being better than
Nico was a year.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Ago, which Tennessee fans will tell you is not a
terribly high bar.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
It may not be a high bar. But for as
much as people are talking up Agalar and new quarterback,
and we'll see and everybody expects to step back from Tennessee.
And I do think we will see a step back
because the line is concerning as they get a little
deeper into this thing. Sure not in this one. Not
in this one. I think the favorite pulls away. I

(47:47):
think it's a second half game where we see Tennessee
start to show what it's made of, show where that
talent gap is. Forty one seventeen Tennessee wins going away here.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
So you're not just in love with Tennessee here, you're
doing ghost style pottery. Yeah, but Tennessee a little bit? Yeah, okay,
fair enough, Okay, we also to be fair, you know
who else has rebuilt their offensive line? One hundred and
nineteen teams. Everybody's rebuilding their offensive line outside of like Texas,
A and M and Alabama.

Speaker 1 (48:22):
And Notre Dame in Penstate.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Yeah, for sure, there's I know there's a handful, but like,
this is where we are as a society right now.
Everybody's got offensive line questions.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
We're going to talk about some under the radar games
here in a moment rip through them. But one that's
I think a pretty significant non con game. And it's
weird to call it a non con game. Mind you
sure hasn't been talked about at all. Eleven pm, Old
School pac twelve after dark on Fox, Utah minus six

(48:52):
on the road at UCLA.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
This is a great one.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Does that line surprise you at all?

Speaker 2 (48:58):
No, UCLA's talent level not great in this moment, and
their rosters not great dealing with coaching turnover. It's just
it's tough to see. Even if Nico gets closer at
UCLA than he was at Tennessee, real unlikely, but closer
to what we perceived his ability and ceiling would be

(49:19):
who's he throwing to, who's he handed off to, Who's
he protected by h who is bolstering everything he does defensively?
That that to me is weird. Utah. They're getting a
little bit of respect here because of the mysterious nature
of their offense with Devin dan Pierre and with a
Jason Beck now calling the offense. They're like doing the

(49:40):
mini Kittlization of their offense coming up from New Mexico.
The Kittlization. No, we could call it that.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
We can call it an r buckling. We can call
our buckle. Was He's a branch on the Kittley tree, right, Well,
this is true, and it's a big tree because Zach
Kittley is six seven.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
That's true. It's a mighty edwood. I think this is
a fascinating game, absolutely fascinating game for Utah specifically, it's
not this is at UCLA, right at UCLA, so their
road favorites. You know, I don't think the environment's going
to be that crazy because it basically never is in
the Rose Bowl for this team.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
I like Utah here, but a fascinating matchup for sure
to see if you know stage one of Utah's journey
goes well.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Yeah, I mean on the UCLA side, Nico's going to
dominate headlines. I think he's one of the only upgrades
on this team. And I know that there was some
chatter about, well he wants to go somewherehere we can
get a better supporting cast or maybe just more money.
I don't know. This is not a better supporting cast.
It's a largely unproven cast of characters on offense, and

(50:44):
it's a rebuilding defense. So you combine that with the
fact that Utah is going to have one of the
better offensive lines in the country. They've got that coordinator
quarterback tandem, which should hopefully speed things up. I think
it's notable that Kyle Whittingham is going to give Jason
Beck quote complete autonomy to run his version of his system.

(51:07):
I just think that's a good situation. It's not so
much a guy learning a new system. He's going to
have new people around him. But this is a proven
now combination of guys getting a chance to cook at
a little bit of a higher level, which I like.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
Yeah, it just sort of goes against everything we've believed
Utah football to be over time. I know, but you
got to evolve, I guess.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
But they're much more proven, and at this stage of
the game, that's really all we have to go on.
I like their line. I like the quarterback offensive coordinator pairing.
I like Wayshan Parker, who's another name, yeah that comes
down from Wazoo. Feels like one of those to me
where the veteran team with the continuity finds a way
to take care of business. Twenty eight to seventeen, Utah

(51:52):
covers something a lot of points for Utah lately. Okay, yeah,
I have Utah covering, but it's a mystery cover. We've
gotten fifty some minutes without talking about Bill Belichick. Not
talking about this or excuse me.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
Hulu and Instagram present the University of North Carolina football
at Chapel Hill.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Yeah, eight pm ESPN on Fox. TCU minus three against
North Carolina. How the f are we supposed to handicap this?

Speaker 2 (52:20):
No, there's no way. It's just like, hey, I'm interested
in this TV show.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
I'm interested in the TV show very much so because
I think the Bill Belichick story is going to be
crazy fascinating. We have no idea what to expect there
and TCU, like, we both like TCU. TCU's got a
brutal schedule, but TCU's got a great offense, got to
get better on defense. Many the same questions that we

(52:45):
ask about every Sunny Dykes team, Like, I kind of
think it's thirty seven thirty one, somebody wins.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
I think TCU comfortably wins this game. Okay, I think
there's gonna be a lot of excitement. I just to
assume twenty thirteen, Bill Belichick, with the roster he had
with the New England Patriots when they were rolling, is
going to use that same pixie dust in Week one
against TCU. Might not be great, but a power Conference

(53:13):
eight and four type team, I just don't think North
Carolina is there. And maybe they get to an interesting
place this season, and I think there's going to be
an electric atmosphere early on, but I still think you
need the players. I think TCU has his act together
and North Carolina doesn't even know what its act is.
So yeah, I have TCU in my mind doing something

(53:35):
like thirty one to seventeen here.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
I think it's going to be a random shootout. Okay,
I am believing the hype. I think North Carolina will
be better, maybe not right away, but I think they'll
be better at least on defense as the season goes on.
And I think it's an advantageous schedule. So this could
be a situation where you look at the final record

(53:59):
and they're maybe not as good as the record would indicate.
But I'm going to give Bellichick the benefit of the doubt.
Thirty seven thirty one. TCU wins, but Carolina is surprisingly feisty.
Okay in this week one game, we disagree, we do disagree. Look,
I'm not going to go back through. We talked about
all of the earlier games this week on the Tuesday episode,

(54:23):
so you know, like Auburn Baylor is super interesting. Georgia
Tech Colorado, we talked about that one again here a
little bit on this episode. But Boise State playing on
the road at South Florida, Nebraska, Cincinnati. A bunch of
these early week games are a ton of fun. Go
back and listen to the Tuesday episode if you are
ever so inclined because we went into a lot more

(54:44):
detail on those games.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Then agree.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
For those of you wondering out there, given all of
these big games, when can I go out and just
do something with the family, we have a segment for
you on the show called Window of Opportunity. Yeah, it's
a good slate of games this week, Dan, it is
very evenly distributed. Whoever was in charge of putting this

(55:10):
schedule together hit us up Solid Verbal at gmail dot com.
Dan and I need help organizing our lives, please, sure
we need this. The goal of the Window of opportunity
is to figure out when you can safely leave the house,
step away from the TV without missing too much of
the action on the college football Saturday. If you are
listening for this segment with anticipation like you would a

(55:31):
weather forecast that is squarely on you. You had months
to get ready for Labor Day weekend. I can't save
you if you're listening to this gritting your teeth right.
But if you're out there, if you're wondering, why can
I step away? We are solutions oriented. If you got

(55:52):
to do it. I'm targeting somewhere between four and eight
pm Eastern time. I think that's your window to go
to dinner early. Chuck E Cheese? Is Chuck E Cheese
still a thing?

Speaker 2 (56:05):
I think it's still a thing, not as people getting
fights at Chuck E Cheese all the time. If you're
one of our German listeners, there are good tickets still
available to catch the famed Broadway show Cats, which is
doing an international tour right now in Berlin. So grab
some donor go see Cats. Sure, go Seekats whatever. You're
into a bunch of games.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
In that block with big point spreads, so you can
play catch up afterwards, but no later than eight pm
Eastern time, because I think you're gonna want to see
some of these night games.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
I've got the premiere of the twenty twenty five Oregon
Ducks season right in there against Montana State, very very
good FCS program right now. Oregon favored by I think
nearly thirty points, but Oregon should win. I feel good.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
All right, let's put a bow on this one. Let's
talk about some under the radar games, please. I got
a couple here that I'm interested in. Tell me. Saturday
high noon, Mississippi State minus thirteen and one half on
the road against Southern Miss. Yeah. So Mississippi State goes
really hard in the portal. They definitely made their roster better.

(57:15):
But Southern Miss did a little bit of a hold
my beer moment? Did they not?

Speaker 2 (57:19):
They absolutely did.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
They brought down basically the championship roster from Marshall along
with Charles Huff and they're at home in this matchup.
I'm taking the points. Would not be surprised by an upset. Wow,
no belief in Blake's shaping coming on back. Saturday at
twelve forty five sec Network Toledo at Kentucky Dan Kentucky

(57:41):
favored by seventeen twenty seven thirty seven. Clearly they're playing
a Mac team. Seven and a half points is to spread. Yeah,
I like that. There is always one of these token
Mac games early in the year. Where's my button not
talking about this? That scares the Bejesus out of a

(58:04):
power for school?

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Right?

Speaker 1 (58:07):
I think Kentucky's a mess. I don't know, man, They're
a mess. Ok. And Toledo is actually quite good.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
And to be fair, there's always a Mac team who
loses by thirty eighth.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Yeah, Toledo plus the points here on the road in Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
So the way I'm looking at these under the radar
games is I'm galloping onto the Zesti Ranch. We did
a zest Ranch show a few years ago. I'm looking
for teams just to show me something, and like Mississippi
State is a good example of that. Show me that zest.
I know the defense probably is going to take a minute,
but show me some zest on that offense. Northwestern Tulane.
Tulane gets there starting quarterback late in the process with

(58:43):
Jake Rehetz laugh and Northwestern trying through the portal even more,
they're my local team. Here, so I'm always curious about that.
That's in that noon window as well on espn U
Tulane favored by four and a half at home. I'm
looking for zestiness there, especially from Northwestern, but just in
general as well. I've got Cal at Oregon State Saturday night.

(59:04):
Oh that's super zesty yep.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
Oregon State minus two. Catastrophically bad Oregon State defense last year.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Yeah, they were beat up like crazy. I'm giving you
take a moment, just take that pillowy breath right now,
and tell everybody the name of Cal's starting quarterback, true freshman,
true fresh making a road start against Malik Murphy, new
starting quarterback for Oregon State. Two A's Malik. Two a's Malik.
I'm going to prove there, I guess from Oregon State
that that investment was worthwhile. Cal is starting a true

(59:33):
freshman quarterback. Cal did not go to Devin White.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
They went to Jaren.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
They went to Jared. Oh that's pretty good, ty, I
like that. It also takes you away from pronouncing the
following four hundred and fourteen letters.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Frankly, I am the best in college football media at
pronouncing this one. Maybe second only to our friend Brandon
Hoffman who listens.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
To the show right and knows him and his fans
knows him.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
It's Jaron Kave Songapoola Tela.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
There it is.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
That is how you say it. I practiced it a
thousand times in front of the mere Brandon. Yeah, that's
the only reason why.

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
That was your like rain in Spain falls mainly on
the plane.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
Kate thought it was nuts down here. It's like, what
do you do, Jaren Kave Somopoulo Tela. That's how you
said it. Yeah, really bad. Oregon State defense a year ago.
Col's going to Jaren. They're winning this one outright. Wow,
true freshman quarterback. I think he makes a mark. I'm
excited to practice one a couple other ones here under
the radar very quickly, very quickly, UNLV. Remember I talked

(01:00:32):
about that point spread on our last episode. They were
favored by thirteen on the road at Sam Houston, it's
down to ten. I like Sam Houston at thirteen. I
still like him at ten. What the hell? Why not?
UNLV No defense five hundred and fifty five yards to
Idaho State. Didn't like that. Didn't like that at all.
Also Friday Night Western Michigan at Michigan State. It's early.

(01:00:55):
It's the Michigan State Championship Game Part one.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
I think Western is going to be fun this year.
I think Michigan State is going to blow the doors
off of them in this matchup. I like Sparty a lot.
Two more for you, Okay, two more, all right? Just
two more doing the side of the horns here. Wake
is gonna beat Kanisau State. This is more of a
curiosity than anything else. Friday night, seven pm ACC Network.

(01:01:20):
Kennesaw is doing the thing where they switch from the
option to any other offense, and that almost always goes poorly,
but it can be fun to watch. Going from an
option to an up tempo spread is very difficult to do.
I feel like Clay Helton actually had a lot of
success with this at Georgia Southern. Right, So you combine

(01:01:42):
that with the fact that Wake Forest is starting our
old friend Robbie Ashford still in college football. Honestly, still
a bit underwhelming. They are favored by eighteen points at
home against Kannessaw. They will win, but there are interesting
things to watch there. Dan, I agree, And last but
not least for me, Thursday night, eight pm, Fox Sports One,

(01:02:05):
Buffalo at Minnesota already pre scheduled the Minnesota Zoom call
for December, when we're all going to gather and be
disappointed together that it didn't go better for Minnesota. Yeah,
I'm just excited to see Drake Lindsay. Drake Lindsay is
now my Minnesota quarterback that I am all in on.
By the way, Max Brosberg made the team for the Vikings.

(01:02:27):
I don't know if you saw that. Local boy had
a really good preseason with the Vikings, so bros Before nos,
I have not yet come up with my Drake Lindsay nickname.
I'm still workshopping that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
But okay, I mean you have the word Drake to
go with a huge international musical artist.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Yeah, I mean sure, Okay. Those are my under the
radar games.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
I think UTSA, Texas A and M is fascinating. UTSA
had a catastrophically bad defense preventing big plays, and A
and M had a very difficult time generating those big plays.
So in terms of prove it, I think I'm there
with Texas A and M, which has every opportunity, especially
and we talked about this like slowly crock potting a

(01:03:13):
team with two good running backs a really good offensive
line should open things up and play action from Marcel Reid.
So hopefully it's an opportunity for UTSA offensively to see
what they are and are not. They struggled with Arch
last year on defense, so I think that's pretty fascinating.
How about deep below the radar, South Dakota on the
road against Iowa State in a huge letdown spot for

(01:03:34):
the Clones. South Dakota a really good season last year. Yeah,
a lot different, but I wouldn't put it, you know
past Matt Campbell and Iowa State in a letdown spot
in early September to struggle. I don't know if they're
losing this game, but yeah, they won thirteen to ten,
and that's good enough to go to and O. That

(01:03:55):
to me is interesting. I'm trying to think if there's
anything else below the radar here. I mean, I'm always
gonna watch Oregon, but I think those are the ones
that really stood out to me. Oh the other one.
We mentioned this on the earlier show, but it's worth
mentioning once again. App State and Charlotte with two you know,
not high profile but very interesting new head coaching situations,

(01:04:16):
I think is worthwhile.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
Yeah, and dal Loggins, who's the coach for app State,
has not tried to temper expectations at all. You know,
some just come in and do that. But there is
just like a lot new. App State's one of those
teams where there's so much new, much like another team
in North Carolina where you kind of don't know what
to expect. Agree, and the other North Carolina team in

(01:04:39):
this one, Charlotte, also has a new coach came down
from Ohio. I'm on app State minus the number, but
I think this could be a weird game.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
Yeah. The only other request I have.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
Ty, get that finger ready, Tie, get that finger.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Ready, get those those digits ready. Just a personal favor
if you could drop that big, stanky, surging, sumptuous s
shicking at drum and fife.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
Baby, oh baby, baby baby. We've got a loaded slight
of pat League games. DAN starts on Thursday night on ESPN,
plus your Lafayette Leopards on the road at Bowling Green,
possible upset.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
A lot of people are talking ty Vegas does not
know what to do with this line.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
No, is there a line, by the way, I don't
I'm clear. I don't think they even put lines on these.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
No, no, not usually. I'm going Bowling Green, Okay. So
this is Eddie George's debut. Yes, with that surging, sumptuous,
shaking Drummond Fife. Good luck, mister George. You do not
know what is what is arriving down there in Bowling Green, Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
Friday, seven pm ESPN plus Monmouth on the road at Colgate,
the Gators getting a big one at home here to
start off the twenty twenty five season. Yeah, I don't
think the mouthis have a chance here, So I'm going
Colgate with a nice bounce back year. Saturday high noon, Richmond,
a new entrant into the Patriot League. On the road

(01:06:14):
at yours at Mine Mountaine Lee High, mountainh Hawks. Dan,
who you got?

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
This is kind of the game of the season.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
Early on Spiders Mountain Hawks. But Staum.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Yeah, how's the weather right now?

Speaker 1 (01:06:32):
Beautiful? Ah, cool, crisp out this morning. The dogs are
running about. My little pup tried to get through the fence.
Not talking about I'm not going to play the sound here,
but right yeah, it's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go to the home team.
Just a lot of energy happening in that Lehigh Valley.
I'm gonna kill the music for a second. Lehigh Football's
Twitter account x account was randomly suspended a couple weeks,
a couple months ago, okay, just a few days now
before the game.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
It remains suspended. The biggest college football story that nobody's
talking about. You hear it here in the cliverb.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
What do you have to do anybody on that site
to get suspended? Now?

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
Well, yeah, that's the question, right. Nobody has told them
why the otherly High sports accounts are tweeting desperately because
they can't get it unsuspended. So if anybody out there
is listening, who's got a little bit of pull, or
if you're another podcaster or another media member, help me out.
We're starting a movement here. We got to get this unsuspended,
all right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
You definitely can't put enough turgid drum and fife on
there suspended.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
So somebody do something, is what I'm saying. I'm bringing
the music back up here.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
Please.

Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
Next Saturday, one pm, the Georgetown Hoya is away from
Multi sport Field oh Man traveling down to Davidson, Dan
to Charlotte.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Steph Curry's Davidson that's right. I think Georgetown is going
to take a really really successful off season on the
road with them and take it to Davidson here.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
I'm going Davidson, give me David Wait, it's a great
Saturday two pm. Fordam on the Road at BC. Is
this a real Fordham against Boston College Dylan Lanergan's debut Spicy.

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
Boston College by seventy.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
I think Boston College is going to hammer them. Yeah yeah,
Bucknell at air Force and CBS Sports Network three point
thirty pm Eastern Time on Saturday. I gotta go air
Force here right, air Force Large. My friend Jordan Kent
is calling this game. Okay, have fun at the Academy.
Next and last, but not least, it is Holy Cross

(01:08:39):
on the Road at NIU. I'm going Cross Saders outright,
Cross Saders outright outright n IU by eighty.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
Thomas Hammock is on it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
So look, if you're out there, if you've listened this
whole way through, thank you for your support. Verbowlers dot
Com is where you can go to get in on
the game. We've had so many people trying to sign
up for this game that the game has at times
broken truly, So if you are one of those folks
that want to support the verbal. If you do sign up,
if you do try to play in the game and

(01:09:13):
you get a weird message, you can leave a comment
and you can send me a message. We will make
sure that you're set up in time. Because everybody wants
in on this thing. That's what's going on with it. Basically,
it's just there's so much demand. But you get other
perks if you sign up to support us again. For
ballers dot com is where you can go to find
out more, if nothing more. If you've made it this far,
hit follow, hit subscribe. We're trying to get to that

(01:09:35):
twenty five thousand number out on YouTube, which would be
a big milestone number for us. Many have said, how
haven't you gotten there already? We just started posting YouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Let's just build together, guys. Let's hear it is. Here's
the sound. Let's just build this thing together. Support the show,
support tie. If you want to support me too, that's cool,
but man.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Let's build. I've got one final thing.

Speaker 2 (01:09:58):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
My question to you is how bad do you really
want place?

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
It's a good question.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
We didn't play the quad Father at all. I do
want legs. Where's the best squad this week. Best quad
this week's at noon. If you're one of those degenerates
like Dan and I who like to watch a bunch
of games at once, or at least like to dabble
in watching a bunch of games at once until we
lose our attention span. New in Eastern Time, here's what
you got. Texas against Ohio State, Syracuse versus Tennessee, Mississippi State,

(01:10:27):
Southern miss Toledo, Kentucky the games that I mentioned before.
You can also sub in with Northwestern against Tulane could
be interesting. FAU Maryland, which could be interesting to give
you a chance to look at Malik Washington if he plays,
and Ball State versus Perdue. A lot of new players
in that one, A lot of new players in that one.
You got options. That's all I'm saying. If you want

(01:10:47):
to be the quad father at your particular watch party
noon Eastern times, your best shot for it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
Are you eating anything good? Anything special on the menu.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
I'm not sure I'll be able to keep food down
on Sunday with that Miami Notre Dame game. Yeah, big
in the window. I don't know. I haven't decided. I'd
like to make it an event. But you know, I'm
going to be in front of this TV most of
the time, so I'm not sure if I'm going to
do anything too extraordinary about yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
I'll probably make pizza for the Sunday night. I'll probably
have some sad dad meals on Saturday. Okay, some weird
room temperature noodles happening on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
Wherever you are out there, enjoy Week one. Thank you
for hanging with us. Hope to talk to you out
on our discord. If nothing more, hit us up on
social media. You can find us at solid Verbal. That's
the handle across pretty much every account. Then yes, dude,
it's here. Oh man, No longer are we inventing episodes

(01:11:47):
at the end of May. We now actually have games
to talk about. I am thrilled, I am excited. I'm
excited to do this right again with you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
I no longer have to pretend to know what K
Pop Demon Hunters is. Oh that's great for.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
That guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein with myself,
Tie Hilton Brand, thanks for hanging with us all off season,
for bearing with us through our Week one preview episodes,
and for popping back on the horse with us here
in the Year of our Lord twenty twenty five. As
always you know the drugs stay solid.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
Peace