AP Top 25 Reactions, CFB Red Zone & Notre Dame and UConn Previews

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the solid verbal hull. For me, I'm a man,
I'm forty.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
be happy. You want to be happy for day Edith state?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Is that? Whoo whoo? And no, Dan and Tie Dan Rubinstein,
welcome back to the show. The haze of the preseason
is very slowly lifting. We've gotten through all of our
power conferences. We've got two teams left that we're going
to talk about at the end of this episode. We've

(00:35):
also got some news hot off the presses that we
need to get into today. My good friend, welcome back
to the show. How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I'm great. I was at a party brag much Friday
night solo Jody with and I was out of town.
And as per usual, my my friends, who are there,
the dads in the neighborhood, in the area, they you know,
you got a Wisconsin fan, you got Notreed fan. A
lot of Big ten represented, We had some sec we
had some West Coast people. They like, ooh, seasons come

(01:06):
around the corner, getting busy, right, you're in the think
of it, Robie right and getting ready. And I tell
each of them, I say yes, and also, if you
have any questions. This is as prepared as I'm ever
going to be. So if you want to download some
Michigan state knowledge, whatever I have in my brain maybe
as limited as it is. If you want to download

(01:27):
any sort of Arkansas knowledge or Tennessee, if you need
to extract that from me, or just my opinions about
what Oregon State's going to look like or Tcuo's going
to look like. Now's the time, and people took advantage.
It was a lot of like Indiana, Illinois, what do
you think? And I was like, funny, you mentioned that
they are kind of competing for that, Like all right,

(01:49):
who's after Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon and whoever might
compete It might be Illinois, Indiana and they're playing it
should be fun and they look at me and they say, oh, okay, cool.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
I find I have to throttle it back in conversations
like that, Yeah, because I've had I've had friends and
neighbors asking me about these types of things as well,
and it's hard to like pull back and not dive
into full deep dive mode where we're talking about too
deeps and strengths and weaknesses and reasons to be entertained

(02:21):
and stuff. Like that.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
You want to talk about justice ains, we can do that.
We can do that. We can as long as you
want to do that, we can do that. So that
was fun. That was good.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Well, welcome back in one and all. Thank you for
stopping on by. I've got a lot of new people
who have been tuning in over the last few weeks.
We appreciate having you with us. I am TI, he
is Dan. This is a soliverbal If you have yet
to do so, please hit the follow or the subscribe
button if you can. If you're ever so inclined, believe
me when I say that it helps so very much

(02:50):
to leave a comment wherever you can to rate the show,
to leave a positive, preferably review for the show. Yeah,
tell your friends about the show. We have been growing
like a weed here in this early part of the
new season. We would love to have more under the
big tent of the verballer hood. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Of course we need you. I'm not going to make
any bones about this. We need you in here. You
don't need to support the fat cats in the mainstream media. Nope, nope,
this is this is Tye and I grinding here.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Of course you can go on out to verballers dot
com if you want more information on how you can
directly support what Dan and I do. There are a
couple interesting announcements, and then we're going to get into
the actual content for this show.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Ti in me, Ty and Ty and Me. I think
we were the objects. There continue a couple big announcements here.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
It is first and foremost the prediction Special drops on
Sunday morning for the public. On Saturday morning for the
folks that I am subscribe out on Patreon. All right,
so this is when we do our previews. This is
also where we want to get predictions from the verballer hood.
So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to hit

(03:58):
a question shortly out on our Patreon feed at verbowlers
dot com. Everybody who subscribes, whether you're paid or free,
you're going to see a question come through. I want
your predictions, and I'm going to pick out some of
our favorites for that episode that's going to drop on Sunday.
You can also reach out on the reverb line, which
I'm going to open up for the first time all

(04:20):
season long. The number is eight five to five verbal three.
I will put together I will craft a special Reverbs
edition that we're going to drop on that prediction special
on Sunday, so call in. Limit it to one prediction, please,
just one. There's a lot of these that I'm gonna
have to go through, but of course, leave one prediction
your hottest take, your crown jewel, your crown jewel, the

(04:42):
thing you feel best about, not a hot take, yeah,
not a take diiction. Leave it on the reverb line
or out on Patreon again. You can sign up for
free if you're not willing to fully commit yet and
go all in on a paid tier or anything like that.
That's going to drop on Sunday. We'll have some other
goodies long on the way again. Episodes drop for you

(05:03):
kind Verballer every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at five am
Eastern time. If you're a Patreon subscriber. If you don't
want the ads, the bonus content, all that stuff, you
can get it a little bit early a day early
to be clear, by going out to verballers dot com.
But that's coming. We're working on some new merch right now.
I'm spinning up I run the Board, pick them game.

(05:25):
There's also going to be a preseason poll for members
of our Patreon, verballers dot com Again, if you want
more intel on how you can vote in that, we'll
be spinning that up probably at some point early next week.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
And Ty's charity mobile massage truck is going to be
making its rounds. He is deeply caring, nimble with his
thumbs in a way that you wouldn't predict. That's all
I have in terms of housekeeping.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Let's get into news, Dan, we do. We have quite
literally breaking.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
New there is mid season four.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Quite literally, right before we hit record on this episode,
the first AP pole of the new season dropped. It
is the first time ever that Texas is number one
in one of these preseason AP poles. Now, we saw
a coach's poll drop a short while earlier, but of
course the AP pole is one that is always going

(06:30):
to get people sitting up a little bit more in
their chairs. Here's the way this looks, Dan, Maybe when
you're doing the video for the people watching on YouTube,
we can put this graphic up on the screen just
so that we don't have to go through all of
the teams, but one through ten is this Texas at one,
Penn State at two, ahead of Ohio State at three.
I believe in the coaches poll that was reversed. Ohio

(06:51):
State got the nod that's flopped. Yeah, Clemson's at four,
Georgia's at five, then my Notre Dame Fighting Irish, followed
by your Oregon Fighting Ducks six and seven. We've got
Alabama eight, LSU nine, Miami at ten. Dan, Yeah, got
the full graphic in front of us. I won't go

(07:12):
through and list off all twenty five of the teams.
Listing off teams in an audio format isn't always great.
But as you look at this, I'm curious to get
your reaction, your first reaction to it, and then maybe
we can talk through who's too high, who's too low,
things like that. Where are you like, where are your
eyes drawn? Upon looking at this poll?

Speaker 2 (07:32):
I think the teens hold on. I'm gonna be careful
how I say this out loud. I was about to
say I think the teens are the most tantalizing settle.
I'm not going to put that opinion on the right
at all. I this is disgusting. I think that in
between eleven and twenty tie are the rankings points that
I'm exceedingly curious about, because you obviously have questions about

(07:56):
Arizona State without camscataboo. That's eleven. That's fringe top ten.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, hold on, now, you're going to make me read it. Yeah,
I'm going to have to read this anyway.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
No, Okay, we'll go through one by one.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Okay. Eleven is Arizona State, twelve is Illinois, thirteen is
South Carolina. Coctober dot com.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Played each other in a bowl. Illinois, South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
That's right, fourteen, Michigan, fifteen, Florida sixteen, SMU seventeen, Kansas
State eighteen, Oklahoma, nineteen, Texas A and M twenty Indiana
And what the hell just because I made it this
far twenty one Ole, miss twenty two, Iowa State, twenty three,
Texas Tech, twenty four, Tennessee twenty five Boise State. There

(08:35):
are other teams in the others receiving votes category that
I'm going to talk about here momentarily. But that is
what it looks like at time of recording your top
twenty five. Now right, please continue. You were saying the
teens are tantalizing. I'm glad you said it, not me.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Didn't say it. I said that was where I was
going to go. And reference to rankings positions.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Arizona State at eleven, we got Illinois at twelve, South
Carolina at thirteen. You're drawn to like that middle column
of this graphic.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
I'm drawn to the middle column, and there's the others
receiving votes, and there's a whole bunch of wild cards there.
Georgia Tech is in there, USC is in there. I
like both of those teams a lot. Miszoo obviously, I've
talked about liking a whole bunch Auburn. I'm in on
this season. I think we're both in on JMU. Your
pit Panthers did not receive enough votes to be in
the top twenty five. Wow, they're in there.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Incredible disrespect for the pit Panthers, but contain.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Incredible disrespect who are on a sizeable losing streak at
time of this recording.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Where's my button not talking about this?

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Continue fair? The Oklahoma one is interesting. So they get
to ten wins a couple of years ago and have
a catastrophic season last year in large part because of
injuries upfront and at receiver, and make a bunch of changes,
but them getting the benefit of the doubt and jumping
into the top twenty is interesting to me. I'm in
on Arizona State this year. I don't know that they're

(09:54):
gonna have quite the second half of the They're not
gonna have quite the season that they're second half of
last year would indicate they would have. But I think
they're good. We differ there a little bit. I'm not
in on Illinois as a top twelve team in this moment.
I think they're probably more in the twenty to twenty
five range of just like purely where I think they

(10:16):
stand stacked up against the rest of the sport Michigan,
who knows they have that top fifteen potential if they
get something out of the offense. SMU has a little
bit too much new for me to feel good about
them Top twenty in this moment.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
They're too high on SMU for sure.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
I like SMU more than you do. But that's that's
an interesting number. Like there's a lot of benefit of
the doubt going on in this top you know eleven
to twenty that I'm not fully sold on, not sold.
I mentioned Oklahoma. I like Kansas State, I'm not I'm
not fully there on them as top twenty in this moment,
and I mentioned the teams that I seem to like

(10:53):
a little bit more when they rattle around in my
brain that I just rattled off in the others receiving votes,
I think Texas Tech has a terrific opportunity to spring
board up, and I like All Miss, but I think
there that's a good way to slide them in at
twenty one.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Right, So yeah they should if you're gonna put Old
Miss in this poll, they deserve to be on the
back end of this just because there is a lot
new and we talk through the questions that we have
about their defense. I think South Carolina is too high
on this list. I understand why they're thirteenth completely. But
one of the things that I think you find when

(11:29):
you look in this as we look at at the
middle column where they're going eleven through twenty, there are
a lot of teams that I think are there based
on potential. Yeah, right, South Carolina is one of them.
Michigan is another one of them. SMU maybe another one
of those teams. Maybe that's got more to do with
past performance than it does what we project moving forward.

(11:50):
Oklahoma certainly one of those teams that falls into that
category as well. I think all of those teams I
understand again, why there is hype South Carolina at thirteen,
Oklahoma at eighteen. For me, I need to wait and
see before I'm willing to go that high with both
of them. Frankly, Yeah, and SMU is another one. You

(12:13):
kind of stole my thunder a little bit there. But
I think for sure those are teams that I looked
at and I was like, I think they deserve to
be ranked. I just don't know how I feel about
them being inside the top twenty right now, and I
realize people are going to have a negative reaction to that,
especially the Oklahoma and the South Carolina people. I don't
have a problem with those teams, but there's a lot

(12:36):
to me that remains unanswered right now. So I would
be a little bit more cautious, let's put it that
way on those fronts. The teams that I look at
and I say, wow, these teams are really too low.
You know where I stand on Clemson. Clemson is four.
It's tough to go higher than for I think Clemson
should be number one, So I.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Would coaches pull number six.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Yeah, by default, Clemson to me is the obvious answer
for who's too low? Because I think Clempson should be
number one, So you know where I stand on that one.
I think Alabama's too low at eight. I really like Alabama.
I would put Alabama ahead of Georgia. I'd put Alabama
ahead of Notre Dame. I'd certainly put them ahead of Oregon.

(13:15):
I might even be inclined to put them ahead of
a Penn State or in Ohio State. I really feel
good about Alabama this year. I get that this is
a preseason poll, this is not obviously etched into stone
or anything, but given what they have coming back, I mean,
the quarterback position being what it is, Alabama is a
team that I would go higher than eight Texas. A

(13:35):
and M is the big one for me though. And
if you listen to any of the SEC stuff that
we did the parts one, two, and three, most recently
we talked about A and M and the Part three
episode that just dropped on the I guess Sunday for
people listening to this on Tuesday, right, I've got A
and M as a playoff team. I like what they've

(13:56):
got coming back on defense. I like the ground assault
that I think we're going to on offense. I really
like Barcel Reid. I think there's a lot of upward mobility.
For him to have them all the way down at
nineteen to me seems like a bit of disrespect. Wow,
it really does. I don't understand the logic there with
A and M, and they were low in the coach's

(14:16):
poll as well. Now counterpoint, you're all about eight and
four Texas, A and M all the time.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, I mean they're gonna have to coach show fewer
than four losses in a season. Yeah, But I feel a.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
Little bit more confident about A and M than obviously
the pollsters here.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
They are also on a losing streak, to be clear,
losing to Auburn, Texas and USC to conclude the twenty
twenty four campaign. So the momentum obviously factor is something here,
right that teams like Illinois and South Carolina and SMU
are where they are, and A and M, even though
you think they have upward mobility, which I happen to

(14:52):
agree with, they blew a lead against USC, they had
a weird loss to Auburn, and did nothing on offense
against Texas. So there's only so much benefit you can
give a team like that when that's the last time
you saw them, and every team has so much new
pretty much because of transfers in the way this sports
seems to operate. So yeah, I mean you mentioned a

(15:13):
little bit the Clemson thing, that you'd have them higher,
that there's a little bit of disagreement there at the top.
Georgia is number four in the coaches poll, number five
in the AP, Notre Dame five and six in the
Coaches and AP respectively, Clemson four and six in the
AP and coaches respectively. If by my count, six of
the top eight schools in this AP pole have full

(15:35):
time new starting quarterbacks. Yes, yeah, new full time starting
quarterbacks right, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oregon, Alabama.
So all that tells me is this is about to
get scrambled pretty magnificently, and so I can't wait for that.
Here's my follow up tie, Generally speaking, where do you

(15:57):
stand in twenty twenty five on preseason polls and their
right to exist?

Speaker 1 (16:02):
I hate preseason polls.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Now you're back to this. You hated them, you are
okay with them, and you're back to hating them. It's
tougher now, obviously with the amount of movement.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
But yeah, I've always kind of hated them, and I
think I've grown to accept them over the years, because, look,
we do this full time, and so for us, you
see something like this drop in our case mere minutes
before we hit the record button, it's content. It's something
to talk about. People care about these polls. People love

(16:34):
ranking anything, yes, let alone college football teams, So of
course it's going to be newsworthy and discussion worthy, and
people care what we think against the odds, they care
what we think about these types of poles. But I've
just seen it all too often where we see these
preseason polls drop. It influences how people feel about a

(16:54):
specific school. It ratchets up pressure in a way that
probably is on warranted in many cases, and it just
tends to shape the narrative in a way that I
don't always agree with, And so I hate that about
these preseason polls. I do think it kind of factors
in as we get a little bit closer to committee

(17:15):
playoff rankings, and whether it's something that they will openly
acknowledge or not. I just think like subconsciously they have
these types of things in the backs of their minds,
and so for me, I just assume do without it,
you know, like, let's wait until we get a week
or two into this thing before we start ranking teams,
when we actually have a body of work to go on,
and we're not just basing it based on Tie and

(17:37):
Dan's projections or how a team finished out last season.
In some cases, I great content. I think it's going
to be scrambled very quickly and tossed in the watbind
before long.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
To be clear, Arizona State, Indiana and SMU unranked going
into last season and made the collegeable layoff.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Right, yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
I don't think it has I think people like to
talk about it having a bearing, but I think when
you actually look at things and how teams are ranked
that start unranked, teams that are ranked get spoken of
more often in August and early September, but as soon
as the games happen, as soon as there are upsets,

(18:20):
I don't know. I think things shift pretty quickly.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:23):
I always find it funny that, like we'll do an
episode about like, hey, what's going on with Wisconsin, and
there will be a random comment that, like, we just
have one issue voters in this sport, in the way
that people vote for politicians based on their stances on
immigration or foreign policy or the economy, and the one
issue will be like, yeah, the Wisconsin thing's interesting. What

(18:45):
we really need to be talking about is getting rid
of preseasonble. You're just like, Okay, it's June fourteenth, ma'am,
but thank you. I don't feel that strongly about them.
In fact, I kind of them, that's my zag. Well,
I understand why you would say that. I just I've
never been a fan of this. I've always But isn't

(19:07):
it sort of woven into the fabric of the sport
that like, if you are a casual fan interested in
watching college football, you are immediately going to be more
intrigued flipping to a game between numbers eleven and nineteen
rather than two unranked teams that you don't immediately have

(19:28):
an indicator of quality. And so getting that number, that's
just a unique thing to college football, Like you don't
tune in, like do they put the when you're watching
the Masters? Do you know that Scotti Scheffler is immediately
the best golfer in the world If you're not like
closely following golf, No, you don't. You don't see that
number one next to his name, And so I think

(19:51):
it's a really valuable thing to generate interest for a
limited run season, for a September October November season. I
think it's really cool that you can tune in, Like, look,
maybe they're not the ninth best team in the country,
but they're probably top twenty, and so I enjoy that,
even if you want to disagree and you say, like,
these rankings are based on nothing, and they're propping up

(20:12):
these teams based on brand value alone, and Notre Dame's
always overrated to start the season, right raw, I don't know, man,
that's the sports. That's what we're all signing up for. Yeah,
I mean, look, I understand this world about as well
as anybody at this point. And the longer you do this,
the more you realize that half of the stuff that

(20:34):
we talk about, most of this sport is engagement porn.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Right, That's what this is. This is about getting people talking.
That has been the fabric of college football for as
long as you and I have followed it. Maybe to
some extent that's changed now that we've got a committee
in a playoff, but we still find things to argue about,
whether it's an eight game conference schedule in the SEC,
or how the committee values one conference over another. We

(20:59):
can find a million to argue about with college football,
and this is just another one of those things that
just happens to be early enough to get people revved
up in time for the season. So I don't hate
it from that perspective. I just hate that there is
any possibility that it could shape how people view these
teams down the road because this is based mostly on nothing, right,

(21:20):
This is based mostly on nothing, and there will be
jobs that are lost as a result of it. There
will clearly be a narrative that begins to take shape
a little bit closer to the season with regards to
who has pressure on them and who doesn't. This is
going to go up and smoke very quickly, and the
fact that it's going to shape any of the actual
decisions that play into college football, to me, has always

(21:43):
sent a bit of a shutter down my spine.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Oh I love it. I love it. I don't know, man,
you're signing up for you want to be a college
football coacht? What this is?

Speaker 1 (21:52):
What we get? I don't want to be a coach.
That's why I didn't sign up for that.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
I know, but you're talking about coaches getting their jobs
are on the line.

Speaker 1 (21:59):
If I work coach. I would hate this, sure, I
would absolutely hate this. And that's completely secondary to where
you're ranked. Right, if you're Texas, if your Penn State
this year, and you see that you're a preseason top
five team, you already knew that going into the year.
Your fan base already had those expectations going into the year.
You don't need this to validate it.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
So you're you're a big Tony petiti Atto big guy.
Then I hate the auto bid too.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
I hate it.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
Settle it. On the field, we shouldn't have rankings. We
should have Iowa playing to get into the college football
playoff or on Thanksgiving that's the number team in the
Big Ten. Well it isn't It isn't right. You're taking
the power away from those ranking teams.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
I hate these polls, man, I hate I hate these
preseason polls with every fiber of my being. But I'll
play nice with it because we need someone to talk
about So.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yeah, by the way, Google engagement porn. But just be ready,
no you ready for what?

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Man? I'm on a heater between this now and October
on the last episode.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
That's true. Apparently that's a Howard Stern thing. By the way,
is it?

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yeah, of course I got weird emails about that already.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, how did mom h feel about it? Did not
talk to her about where is my not talking about
this fair enough?

Speaker 1 (23:09):
Did not talk to her about that, thankfully, even though
she listens to the show religiously.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
Oh I love these rankings. I love them.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
I think Baylor, I think USC and Georgia Tech, both
of whom you mentioned, and of course my your pitt
Panthers all are in the others receiving votes category, which
is interesting to track the other thing that I think
we need to come back to, and maybe we can
do this on the Prediction Show. But Toulaine now with
Jake Retzliff is a more interesting conversation than it was

(23:41):
six weeks ago. And we started doing American previews yea
and things of that nature. And Tulane, even though I
think we assume Boise is still probably the best nonpower school, Uh,
Tulane may be in a different spot than they were
when we talked through that last time. So I'm curious
to see if you're thinking has evolved at all. We

(24:01):
can get into that on the Sunday episode where you
do predictions.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
I like that you phrased it American previews as if
there's a Canadian preview forthcoming.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
American Conference preview. They changed their name, by the way,
it's not the AAC, it's America.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Oh. They don't want the acronym anymore.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
They don't want it. No, they want to go strictly American.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Okay, fair enough.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Marketing and branding people, What are you going to do
with them? I don't know.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
USC, also outside the top twenty five has an opportunity
to springboard up.

Speaker 1 (24:26):
We had some interesting injuries or injury news around college
football that I at least wanted to give voice too.
This is, by no means a complete list. This is
just a list of players that I think again, you
and I saw and we sat up a little bit.
The big one has been Garrett Nusmeyer. Actually, yes, there
were rumors that had circulated on message boards surrounding Nuss's injury.

(24:49):
What's what's wrong with him? Is it an ACL is
it something else? Pateeller tendonitis. Pateeller tendonitis seems to be
the confirmed ailment. Via Brian Kelly. He did lead off
some of his coaching remarks talking about this. It seems
as if he'll be fine, but Garrettnsmeyer obviously is a
lot riding on him this year. LSU success depends on

(25:12):
Garrett Nusmeyer this season, So you don't want to hear
about any kind of the teller ten tonight, this or
really anything at all. Does not seem like it's gonna
be super serious. But we have to pay attention to this.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yes, but if he is playing and nicked up and
is affected with an unproven rushing attack, that there seems
to be a lot on Garrett nus Meyer's plate in
terms of how responsible he's going to be. Obviously, a
quarterback is already immensely responsible for an offense, but if
he is limited in some way, if he is favoring

(25:41):
one side of his body and it leads to disappointing throws,
there's a lot on the line here with Garrettusmeyer's health.
And they do have one of the better, if not
like the best, one of the best backup quarterbacks in
the sport, built a little bit differently physically, and I'm
gonna say Martin van Buren and let's just stick with that,
Michael van Buren. So they're not in a terribly thin

(26:03):
spot at quarterback. Should this go in an unfortunate direction.
But we as we talked about on the SEC preview,
Garrett nus Meyer's ceiling is New York. It's the Heisman
finalist or winner or something like. They're in a great
spot offensively provided Garrett nus Meyer's health is optimal, so

(26:24):
something worth monitoring. I hope it all works out because
they've got a big old opener to open the season
at Clemson.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Death Valley Invitational, the old DVII, the DVII yep. Dawson
Pendergrass from Baylor, the backup running back, has a foot injury.
Done for the year.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Okay, too bad.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Chris Brazzle from Tennessee was arrested after speeding and found
to be driving on a suspended license, So who knows
if there will be any kind of ramifications regarding that
this is a Tennessee wide receiver room. By the way,
that we talked about I guess in part three of
the SEC show where Mike Matthews been dinged up, I
think Brassl's been a little bit dinged up as well.

(27:05):
A lot of new pieces. I think we're both expecting
something of a step back, if only because there's just
a bunch new at Tennessee. But clearly the wide receiver
health is going to be a pretty big deal in
a Josh hipel system. Whether it's health, whether it's just
eligibility in general. We'll have to see if there are
any longer term repercussions from this one. But worth noting
on this show since we will be talking about Notre Dame,

(27:27):
and maybe I can save this for the Notre Dame bit,
but keeteran Young, one of their backup running backs, that
people were excited about the.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Third string, fourth string somewhere in there.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, third fourth string, I mean I think that. Well,
we could talk about this as we get into Notre
Dame a little bit later on. Clearly the rushing attack
is going to be paramount to the success of the
project this year. In twenty twenty five, bummer, but we'll
see see who else they've got that they can elevate
in his stead. I've been following this Molik Washington injury

(27:59):
news at Maryland. Okay, there hasn't really been a whole
lot available publicly on Malik Washington. They're big quarterback recruit freshmen,
not not a recruit anymore, yes, formally recruit now a freshman, Yes,
I am curious to see what he looks like and
if there are any kind of injury concerns as we

(28:19):
get a little bit closer to the year. Again, I
have not heard anything super definitive on that front, and
most of the updates I've seen have been encouraging, but
just something to keep keep your eyes and ears open
for because Malik Washington could factor in is just an
exciting prospect a great season for Maryland and you know,
maybe he could alter the course of the Big Ten.
And the only other thing that I wanted to call

(28:41):
out maybe you have other names. I don't know, but
I did mention this guy when we did our Penn
State preview and just because of how we recorded it
and because of just schedules and what.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
News comes out.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, totally with like full disclosure on the news that
Max Granville, the edge rusher on the Penn State side
that I'm really excited about. Yeah, he's done long term injury.
When he comes back, when he arrives at full health,
I think it'll be exciting to see what he can
bring to bear. But does not look like that's going

(29:12):
to be happening anytime soon. So that one's on me.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
All right, well, it takes a real man to fest
up take good for you.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Listen, it is what it is. We did one hundred
and thirty four teams. We're going to do the last
two today.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
I am choosing not to be accountable for any of
the minor or major errors that I made any of
the preview episodes. No, I'm sure I made a ton
and I apologize, not in advance, but I apologize after
the fact if I screwed something up. I'm doing my best.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
I do have one other thing that I wanted to
talk to you about.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Please, Usually an ointment can take care of most of it.
But continue.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
Did you happen to see that ESPN acquired the rights
to the Red Zone brand?

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Did see that? Well, it's part of the broader NFL
deal that ESPN has entered into.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Yeah, so the NFL Red Zone Channel. I don't know
if you've had a chance to check this out out,
but a pretty awesome way to stay plugged in on
an NFL Sunday.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Where are you asking me if I've checked out the
NFL Red Zone twenty years into its existence.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Have you watched it? I don't know. Yeah, of course,
I'm sure it's not a new concept for people who
are listening, you guys.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Always you're just like a Jay Leno Yes, Apple.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
TVM rocom even strict extremely popular hosted by Scott Hansen.
The idea, as I'm sure everyone's aware of by now,
you see every touchdown every game. Great for people who
play fantasy football if that's your thing. Sure so in
our world here the move made some waves because of

(30:39):
something that Roger Goodell said, and he floated the idea
of there being a college football red zone channel, which
we've sort of had to be clear, we sort of had. Yeah,
caused a bunch of us in the college footble ecosystem.
Whether it's Twitter or blue Sky or MySpace, whatever you're into,
it doesn't matter. Yeah, sat up a little bit more
in the chair. Now listen before people write me the email.

(31:03):
I understand that there are some obstacles to this. The
NFL controls the rights to all of its games. ESPN
does not control the rights to all of college football.
Some may believe that's the case, but yeah, just as
an example, ESPN, if it had a red zone for
college football, could not show plays from the Big Ten
because of broadcasting rights. Our friend any Staples from on

(31:26):
three wrote a long piece on how it require a
literal Act of Congress to make this actually a thing. Sure,
I was glad that Andy wrote that it prevents people
from taking it seriously or too seriously, right, which creates
an opening, Dan, for you, for I to get in
our official application.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Now we're really messing up our knees and eyes today. Continue.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
I am formally throwing in my hat. I am formally
throwing in our hat if you would like to join.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Okay, so this can't happen in the way that it
should happen. Yeah, your enthusiastic volunteering the show.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
I am making this central to my twenty twenty five platform.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Dan, But how are we overcoming the obstacle of not
being able to show all games?

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Somebody else can figure that out, people with more money
and better legal knowledge than you and I.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Yes, well they tried sort of right that they tried
to come up with a streaming service venue. I think
people were joking that it was called venu, but I
think it was a pronounced venue, which is like the
agreement between the now defunct Warner Brothers Discovery and ESPN
and Fox to sort of have a sports streaming service.
So maybe I could have lived there as part of

(32:38):
that agreement. I do not know enough about mergers and
streaming businesses.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
But.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, that's a tough ask. I don't know what our
opening looks like. And you and I both know that
should ESPN be able to figure out a college football
red zone, I think we both know that the whole
host would be like Pat McAfee's Electrician, an intern for
the Pat McAfee Show is taking over.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
So I have a three point plan for this. Okay,
I have a three point plan, which is one, if
you're starting a college football red zone, your core constituency
is the super online crowd and the sickos that care
about all the games. True, in the Year of Our
Lord twenty twenty five, that online culture is like the

(33:31):
fabric of the whole experience on college football Saturdays.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Three hundred and fifty five of the craziest fans in America.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, so, to paraphrase the wise profit Bane, Oh, your
other hosts would have to adopt that culture. We were
born into it, Dan.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
And we've already sort of been doing this, haven't we,
with watch alongs over the last couple of years, which
have literally gotten hundreds of thousands of views. You can
stop by, executives listening. You can stop by any time
you want, Just please hit the subscribe button.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
So you're saying, lean into like the more esoteric elements, right,
that it's not just about teams about to score. It's
about weird things happening when a punter absolutely rifles it
off of the long snap.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Right, exactly, right, exactly. I am treating every watch along
we do this here as a tryout. Okay, every single
one of them.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Oh, what's the third element?

Speaker 1 (34:23):
This is only the first element?

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Oh, only the first Okay, the second one.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
The second one is in my opinion, and I'm biased.
There is no other duo that can blend the serious
with the stupidity. Okay, this damn sport. And if you
don't believe me, unnamed executive listening to this, you can
just ask your media personalities, because they all listen to
us have either been on the show, have emailed the show,

(34:49):
or have stolen bits from the show over the last
fifteen years. Yeah, and this is the god's honest truth.
And you know it's true.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
That's true. Some of them have even made their way
to the ty Hilden branch charity massage mode.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
That's right, that's right. There are a lot of folks
out there who take the sport very seriously. Also true,
and then there are you know, others who are just
in it for the madness. I think you and I
are the best at combining both of those worlds, whether
it's like EPA per play and what that means. Actually,
I still don't really know what that means.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
I'm not positive. I'm not positive when I'm getting.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Close EPA per play Ohio state represented by a giant nut. Yeah,
there's a middle ground. We do a pretty good job
blending those two. That's why people be listening all these years.
We can do this better than almost anybody.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah. Third point, we're willing to wear diapers fullwood.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Yeah. I mean, if that's what it takes to get
a gig like this one.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Look, and we can partner with Dean Sanders, who is
out front man, he's very out there.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yeah. Yeah, this isn't even a joke. He's like all in.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
If we could, I'm I'll do whatever. Man.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Here's a third thing. Third thing, and this is going
to be the most controversial. Okay, ready unnamed executive listening
at home. Yeah, maybe watching on the YouTube. I don't know. Yeah,
you don't need a big media personality to carry this.
People are not tuning in to see Matt Barrier whoever
you pick. They're just not That's not the appeal. The

(36:16):
draw is the format. The focus should be on the games. Also,
and I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but we're
all friends here, right. I think we'd be cheaper, wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
We definitely be cheaper, very affordable.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Matt Barry is gonna want like a Hollywood star and
a private jet to do something like this. Yeah, just
pay for my guess to get over to New York City,
get Dan an exit row. Yeah, that's pretty much all
we I mean, you'd have to pay us something, but
definitely not as much as like the Matt Barry's of
the world. There's also the possibility that our wives would
want to divorces, which also true, which like if you

(36:52):
can get us a lawyer on speed dial, that might
be helpful if push came to shove. But I think
we could build a real case, and I will continue
building that case throughout all of our watch alongs this
year and all the content we do that I want
to be out in front of this. I saw other
people throwing their hat in the ring. That's great. We're better.
We just are we'd be better at it. I agree

(37:13):
Ty wants to buy a lake house. I don't even
care about the lake house. I just want to do this.
I think it'd be fun. I think i'd be better
at it then pretty much everybody else out there who's
throwing their name into the ring.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Now, are you limiting it at all? Or are you
doing full scope because there's a lot of games happening
at once, much more so than on an NFL Sunday Listen.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
I'm not charge of this. I'm in charge of this, okay.
I'm just saying we could do it better. If you
want to give us a trial run, it's oliverbe at
gmail dot com. If you want to put us on
one of those like playoff alt casts, we could do
the dark Web altcast whatever. True. If you want to
use that as a proving ground, great reach out. Or

(37:53):
you could return our emails, which you know we've sent you.
We'd love to try it out. I think we could
do a good job with it.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
I think we do great.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
That's my diatrep.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
It's going to Pat McAfee's Electrician.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
It's going to go to Pat McAfee's Electrician. Yeah, they
got to somehow pay for all that.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
But yes, yeah, all right, I'm in can't wait.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Solid Verbo at gmail dot com of course is the
email right in. Let us know your thoughts on this
and any other pressing content or hashtag?

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Do people still use hashtags that you want it? That
you want to employ? About this sv red zone, I
don't know what. We don't know.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
You have until the end of the show to come
up with something creative. Okay, fair enough, this is going
to be your task. Okay, we do have two teams
left to preview. I have champagne upstairs, actually prosecco upstairs.
I am popping the cork. I told Solid Wife Kate,
we are popping the cork on the prosecco after we

(38:47):
get through these two teams, because that means we've officially
previewed all of them.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
That's sparkling Italian White Wives Italian Yeah, okay, Ty Hilton
Brandt maybe has the Italian look, does not have the Italian.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Last We've got some Lamarka prosecco upstairs. Not a sponsor, could.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Be okay, but the Mama h side Italian.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
That's right. Okay, let's start with the Notre Dame fighting
Irish Dan Rubinstein, I'm ready. Notre Dame fourteen and two
last season. This year they're over under per our friends
in the desert is ten and one half wins. What
is your reaction to seeing ten and a half? How
do you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (39:26):
I feel fine about it. Yeah, would you go over
it's a big number?

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Would you go over?

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Not confidently?

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Me neither, not confidently. But Notre Dame as a program
right now, with the way the sport is built, you know,
it's I don't know what rhymes with ten, the drive
to six, like you just got to get to ten wins.
You're in the playoff. So ultimately that doesn't matter a
ton right now, they don't have the same I don't know,
a dramatic need to win a conference to get a

(39:57):
certain seating or you know, they've got a brutal schedule
with these five powers in their conference that are recruiting
on an insane level. They've got tough games on this schedule.
They bring back so much. Yeah, and there are so
many known quantities outside of quarterback, which again They're one
of those six of top eight teams that will have
a new full time starting quarterback that if quarterback is

(40:21):
plug and play, competent or pretty good, they're going to
win ten games. So no name's to be really good
this year. They're going to be really good this year.
I think they're going to improve upon certain aspects of
what they needed to improve upon from last year, and
that they have the seasoning and the proof of concept,
and that Marcus Freeman can go into that locker room

(40:42):
and say, I haven't been here that long, and I
took you to the top of the mountain. We couldn't
plant our flag, but we were there. And so what
I am doing, who I am hiring, the culture I
am instilling is championship culture. And you either get on
board or you transferred to Nebraska, Tennessee or whatever. Like
the offensive linemen have done that didn't seem like they

(41:03):
were going to start. So that kind of advantage that
only five six seven type coaches have in this sport
is I think immense.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
I don't know if you're watching me right now, but
as you're saying all this, I'm just nodding. I'm nodding
in silent approval because Dan, you are stealing my thunder here.
I'm sorry, No, it's okay. It means that I'm not
off base, because you can't do a Notre Dame preview
without starting with that bigger picture view of this whole program.
At this point, this is and I was thinking about

(41:35):
this before I came down here, like this is far
and away the strongest this program's ever been in my lifetime.
WHOA and possibly in like the modern era. Yeah truly.
I mean, I know they haven't won the title yet,
but they were played for it last year, and it
feels like they are on the cusp of playing for
it again, or at least being in that conversation year
and you're out. The only way that you were building

(41:56):
a sustainable winner in twenty twenty five is if you've
got alignment, the big A word, your athletic director, your
athletic administration, your overall university administration, and the coach. And
they've got that. They've really got that. It feels like
it's now more the case than ever at Notre Dame,

(42:17):
especially under Freeman. He's built the culture that you speak of,
doesn't just make guys want to come to Notre Dame.
But it makes them want to stay when they're there.
I heard rumors about guys on this roster that we
will talk through who I will not mention, who were
kind of straddling the line of like should I go,
should I go get a paycheck? Should I go somewhere else?
You get closer to home. So they're still there. Okay,

(42:41):
So this is a roster now, This is a program
now that is recruiting itself. It is a roster that
is deeper than ever as a result of it. And
more to the point, Notre Dame had really bad entry
luck last season. We saw it along both lines, some
of it early, some of it in the playoffs. This
was never a situation where they were just plugging in
guys willy nilly, and they were changing the game plan.

(43:04):
And I think that that is an undersold part of
what Marcus Freeman is doing right now, because you see
it across college football all the time. Got to plug
in a new lineman, we got to change the game
plan on offense, on defense. We got a new quarterback,
we got to change the game plan, got a new
running back room, we got to change the game. He
is doing the same thing regardless of who is in there.

(43:25):
And we see that among the truly elite teams in
college football, whether it's Georgia or Ohio State or Oregon.
Right like, you see this among the top teams where
they just truly adopt the next man up mentality and
it is just plug and play with the next guy
stepping in. They don't have to reboot the entire game
plan in order to fit whatever new personnel they got

(43:46):
going into the starting lineup. Notre Dame has gotten them
to this point now, or Marcus Freeman excuse me, has
got Notre Dame to this point now. And so, as
someone who's watched this team his entire life, I am
thrilled with where they are at right now. And it
just to me like a program that continues to churn
and continues to get stronger. Yeah. The point that I
think a lot of people have missed, though, is how

(44:07):
young Notre Dame was a year ago. There obviously was
a veteran presence that was leading the charge, be it
Riley Leonard or Xavier Watts or Jack Kaiser, Riley Mills,
Ben Morrison, like, there were veterans, but there were also
a lot of freshmen and sophomores that were playing. Their
starting left tackle was a true freshman. Their best cornerback,

(44:30):
they're starting cornerback by year's end, Leonard Moore, My guy,
Leonard Moore, true freshmen. You had sophomores up and down
this roster that were playing huge roles in what we
saw in getting them to the national championship. Both Jeremiah
Love and Jadari and Price were sophomores. So just a
ton of underclassmen that were part of the thing last year.

(44:54):
There's a ton back now coming into twenty twenty five,
and it's more back on defense than offense. But I
think that stat might be a little bit skewed because
of Riley Leonard leaving. But alas, there was definitely a
big time youth movement last year that I think we're
going to see pay dividends now in twenty twenty five.
That's part of why they're a top five team.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
Okay, fair enough.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
The problem though is a quarterback. Yeah, And it might
be a bridge too far to call it a problem,
because I think their problem is one that a lot
of schools would pay to have, and that's two seemingly
capable quarterbacks competing for the gig. But from our chair
as we were previewing these teams, CJ. Carr, Kenny Minshew,

(45:34):
we haven't seen a whole lot of either of those guys,
if any of these guys at the major college football level.
So when you ask the question, what do you expect?
What should we expect, it's a big old shrug. I
know that Notre Dame people have been very excited about CJ.
Carr for a while, and I know that, and I'm
guilty of this too. I just sort of assumed, sight

(45:56):
unseen that it would be CJ. Carr's job to lose.
I still believe that that's the case. But from all indications,
this is a legitimate quarterback race. Dan. It's not like
they're just trying to appease Kenny Minshee to keep him around.
They don't want on the transfer, they don't like. It's
neck and neck from everything that I've been told. And
though there might still be a bit of an inclination
to go with Carr because he was the bigger prize

(46:18):
recruit of the two of them, still I think it's
an open question as to which one we're going to get.
Different quarterbacks. CJ. Carr early comps for him were Mac
Jones when he was being recruited out of high school. Right,
accurate passer, mobile, enough to move around in the pocket,
but he's not a runner. Kenny Minshee more of the athlete, right,

(46:38):
you can do more with him. You can put him
on the run.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
Throws a nice ball, though, throws a nice ball.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
He's your guy. You love Kenny Minshee.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
I've liked him for a little bit.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Maybe not quite as big as CJ. Carr, but definitely
a different style athlete. So this is obviously going to
be the biggest question. There's a lot around whoever you
put at the quarterback position. You've got the ground game
with Jeremiah Love and Shadarian Price. I gotta believe the
Notre Dame offense is going to flow through background assault.

(47:07):
You've got the line up front. Notre Dame lost some
guys via transfer along the line. There was a narrative
out there in the preseason like, ah, well.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
It's falling apart, wheels are coming off the offensive line. Yeah,
those guys weren't going to play dog. They weren't going
to play. They weren'ting to play.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
They were in playing last year for injured dudes who
are now healthy. The fact they've got this line in
front of this running back room with I think this
wide receiving corps, which is better, still has some of
its own questions, but led by Jaden great House. You
bring in some other transfers as well, Malachi Fields while Pauling.
I think this is a receiver room that's going to

(47:47):
be better at getting open down the field and hopefully
stretching the field a little bit more vertically. But you
look at this offense and you say there's a lot
back who's playing quarterback? What does that quarterback look like?
That's the big old ug for Notre Dame this season
on offense.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
I assume it's Jayden Greathhouse is going to be the number, like,
the clear number one pass catching option. Yeah, I tend
to think so. I mean, I like Jane Greathhouse.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Jane Greathouse clearly showed out down the stretch last season.
He factors to be I think their number one target
out wide. Malachi Field was really productive at UVA before
coming over. Will Pauling has been productive in his own
right coming down from Wisconsin. To me, those are the
three names, but you know they've got other guys that
I think can factor into this thing as well. Jordan

(48:33):
Faison is still there. Cam Williams a young guy who
maybe could step in and have more of a presence
out wide. Eli rarit in their tight end.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Is he on the level do you think of recent
tight ends that can be.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
I think he can be Valves, I think he can
be absolutely so. There there's plenty of options in terms
of pass catchers, but I do think it's going to
depend somewhat on the quarterback to see how they are
utilized and to see moreover what that offense looks like
as they try to get down the field. Because this
was a pick a ball offense last year. There was

(49:06):
a lot within ten yards of the line of scrimmage.
If it wasn't open after one read, Riley Leonard would
take off and run with it. That was a whole
plan of attack in the National Championship game.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Until Steve Vangelli came in against Penn State and showed
what he can do for the beautiful Syracuse Orange.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
Your questions on offense or who's playing quarterback and who's
ever playing quarterback? Can they stretch the ball down the field? Yep,
It's pretty cut and dry on that front.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Yeah, I mean the duo of Love and Price is
as good a running back duo in the country, it seems, yep.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
I mean it's either them Penn State. It's like one
A and one B.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of cases
out there, but yes, they are in rarefied air. Offense
should be fine, as you mentioned, need to find a quarterback,
need to find a quarterback who has pop And the
only issue I see with finding quarterback is if it
is seen and it becomes clear to the offensive staff

(50:06):
that Kenny Minsche is the guy. He's got to be
perfect because he's gonna have so much more pressure looking
over his shoulder than car would looking over at Minshe.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
We're gonna end up seeing both quarterbacks, Okay. I mean
I think especially Week one on the road against Miami,
there will be positions or situations where the position could
benefit from having a little bit more mobility and you
need the hard yards and you can bring Kenny Minsche
in to more effectively run something like a zone read like.

(50:39):
I think we're gonna see that. I think it's probably
trending in that direction at this point.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
I hate that for Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
By the way, I don't like that. Run an offense
with one quarterback, I don't. I don't like that either.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
But unless unless it's a you know, a belldozer type
guy who is built to be that kind of battering round.
But neither one of these guys are.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
I am increasingly of the belief that we're going to
see both these guys and it might just be like
a package thing for a minsheer, even a car. You know.
I don't know who the starter is going to be.
But to my surprise and to the surprise of many
people who I know personally who cover the team, this
is a legitimate quarterback race, ok. And we're going to
have to wait to find out who gets the nod

(51:15):
Week one on the road against Miami. So that's the
big thing with Notre Dame. Defensively, They're loaded, They're absolutely loaded.
What stands out to you if you look at this
team is the depth that they have at all three levels.
And this is like Mike mickens Opus on the back
end of this.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
He's the assistant defensive coordinator at a flash secondary's coach.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
Yeah, secondary's coach. He's found a lot of great ones
over the years. He found another great one in. Leonard Moore,
who was a true freshman last season, might be the
best cornerback in college football this year. Wow, he's really good.
Leonard Moore on one side, Christian Gray on the other.
They brought over Devonte Smith the other, Davonte Smith from Alabama,
who's going to be like a nickel corner. But whether

(51:57):
you're talking about the cornerback positions or the depth that
they've got at safety, it's just like a revolving door
of guys that can step in and be productive. They
figure to be really good a linebacker up front. They're
again very deep along the defensive line. The one thing
to watch Jordan Bettello got hurt again towards Peck, figures
to be out until like September October. They get some

(52:19):
help back with Bubakar Treori, who's I think factoring in
to be one of their edge defenders. They need him
to stay healthy. I'm excited to see my guy Bryce Young.
Bryce Young was a true freshman. Lash is a big kid.
Just different is this Bryant young Son Just built different? Okay,
just built different. Dan He's going to rotate it and

(52:40):
he's going to play a pretty big role. I would
like to see the pass rush get better this season.
I had like a little bit more production there that
makes this defense an absolute force. But they've got so
much that they can work with upfront. Again, more to
the point I made earlier, the depth that they have
built on defense especially is just astounding compared to where
they were like ten years ago. Yep, it's incredible. It's

(53:01):
not you, Yeah, Brian Young Sung, Yeah, so comes from
good stock. Obviously, you see him out there. He's he's
a big kid and he's different. The only real question
I have, and it's not much of one, is you've
got a new defensive coordinator and Chris Sash, who.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
To be fair, was a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars
last year continue.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Al Golden went to the NFL. It's Chris Ash. I
was very lukewarm on the higher. I've warmed up to it. Okay,
here's a picture of this guy. I mean, you've seen
him sort of restoring the tradition of a Notre Dame
defensive coordinator with a very strong hairline. Oh, it's not
like Diaco territory yet.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Is Diaco coaching this year? I have no, that's your
trivia question.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
Look at this hairline. Oh he looks terrific. Bob Diaco,
by the way, is Bill Belichick's defensive line coach, continuing,
Oh beautiful. Yeah, I mean airline.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
If Chris Ash is holding his own point of attack
like this, there's a school of thought he can carry
that over to Notre Dame's front.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Yeah. That's a that's a thing that a lot of
the beat writers are talking about behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
That's why we're different here, man. Yeah, he's really holding on.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Hope it works out. I don't love the well traveled
nature of where he has coached these past few years,
that they didn't hire the best possible, or they didn't
go after and up and comer, or they didn't go
after like I understand. Chris Ash has, you know, has

(54:38):
a history in the Midwest at Wisconsin and Ohio State
and has called some really good defenses.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Urban Meyer called it the hire of the off season cycle.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
Well, he's an urban Meyer guy, so yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
I don't know. Listen, it doesn't sound like Chris Ash
is going to invent reinvent the wheel.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Right, I'm sure it's it's the Notre Dame. He's running
the Notre Dame defense.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
He's running the Notre Dame defense. It does sound like
their elements. He wants to simpy simplify so guys can
play faster, with more freedom and other thing that they
all say. They're going to play a little more zone,
a little bit more match coverage, which he's done at
previous stops, which I don't hate. Gives them a little
bit more variability. They were very man heavy a year ago,
so this is a defense that probably could use a

(55:20):
little bit of variation. He did answer a question when
they asked him about what he wants to do. He
didn't use the exact words, but he basically said that
he's got concepts of a plan, which was okay, maybe
not the most reassuring way to answer it, but he
basically likes what they did last year. He's going to
try and find ways to evolve it, not reinvent it,
which I don't hate. Right This is a front loaded

(55:42):
schedule for the Irish. Their toughest games are out of
the way by mid October. If they can get through October,
the eighteenth being relatively unscathed, this is a playoff team.
The three big games on this schedule Week one on
the road at Miami Sunday night. Then after a bye

(56:02):
they come back home, they host Texas A and M
and then they've got USC a little bit later on
down the road. That's that October eighteenth game that is
at home as well. Those three big ones on the
road at Arkansas could be interesting. That's another one of
those games that's on September the twenty seventh, the Monster
College Football Weekend. In Week five, they've got Boise State

(56:25):
on here as well, which will be interesting to see
how Boise stacks up potential landmines. But otherwise, the only
other game that I'm really sort of concerned about November
the fifteenth on the road against Pitt, My pitch.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Pitt Panthers. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
But by and large, Dan, this is a schedule that
sets up well, there's not a murderer's row on here
with this roster of the floor should be ten and two.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
I think that's right. Should also note the USC schedule
when they get Notre Dame is after USC travels to
Illinois on playing that on September twenty seventh, they get
a bye week and then it's Michigan at home immediately
followed by a road trip to Notre Dame. It's a

(57:09):
tough stretch for USC, the team that seemed to give
in the back half of the regular season Notre Dame
the most trouble, and so it seems Notre Dame and
Notre Dame the Irish do not have USC in the
midst of anything as dramatic. It's after NC State, it's
before Boston College. All the respect to those teams, USC

(57:29):
is sandwiched in something a little bit trickier when they meet. So, man,
that A and A game is gonna be tough. The
Miami game is going to be tough, especially since Miami's
Week one, and you're likely going to need to score
thirty points or in that vicinity to beat the Canes
with how much firepower they seem to have. Yep, so

(57:52):
that'll be a fascinating Week one. Not any sort of
controversial statement that that game is going to be great,
but it's very difficult to find more than two losses
on this schedule. If Notre Dame is good, I've got
them at eleven to one, Okay, likeliest loss being.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
Texas A and m Okay, i've got him at eleven
and one. I think they win Week one on the
road against Miami. I'm going to stand by that. I
think they're better than Miami.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
But it's in South Beach. It's you know, it's not
South Beach. It's not South Beach in Miami. It's in
Coral Gables. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
But coming back home then a week three after the bye,
AM's a different animal and that's going to be a
very physical game. I think it's going to be close.
I think it's one of those games it's like seventeen
to sixteen somebody wins.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Like the sort of Georgia games, the Georgia Notre Dame
games from before.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
Yeah, very much. That style of game that's there is
going to be such a thin margin for error. And
with two quarterbacks in that case, Marcel Reid and whoever
Notre Dame ends up trotting out there, two quarterbacks who
I can only assume need to improve some of their
downfield passing. We saw it with Marcel Reid. I think
there's going to be a thin margin for air and

(59:01):
that's going to be a game that's one or lost
on a couple of key plays that go one way
or the other. But that's the loss. I think Notre
Dame b twosc I think Notre Dame is better than
the USC, and I think that game later in the
year at Pitt could be dicey because I do believe
in the Pitt Panthers. But eleven to one for me,
Notre Dame gets in the playoff.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
Okay, And if you are a coach, how would you
like what type of team should Notre Dame worry the
most about? And I guess the answer is probably just
like a team more talented at most positions than Notre Dame,
because that's who beats them in the National Championship game.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
Yeah, it's a team with a really, really good defensive front,
which is part of why I look at that A
and M game and I'm a little bit fearful. A
really stout defensive front is what I'm a little bit
worried about. You know, Miami could fit that bill. USC.
You can make a case that they fit that bill
as well.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
They're better there than they were. Yeah, sure.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
I mean this is not to demean any of those teams,
because I think they're all fine in their own right,
but that A and M game, to me, I think
A and M can take away to some extent Notre
Dame's ground attack and if you're putting Notre Dame in
a position where they have to suddenly throw the ball,
they have to work the ball down the field. You know,
that's when I think things could break, if only because
we don't know at this point what Notre Dame has

(01:00:14):
a quarterback. That's the kind of game that frightens me
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
And to Notre Dame fans listening, if you could help
them out, what's this whole AI thing about? What's going
on with all these young people? And all right, fair enough.

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
We've got one team left. We saved number one, thirty six,
the best for last.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
Let's talk about your mind. America's Yukon Husky stand. Okay,
nine and four year ago, you're over under a seven
and a half this year. Jim Morris done a really
good job. That's why you got a contract extension through
twenty twenty eight. Definitely, they beat North Carolina, I want
to say in the bowl game last year.

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

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
It's a pretty exciting situation for these guys, like they've
got a seventh year quarterback now, yep. The pride and
joy of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, which I inadvertently demeaned. I guess
a year ago on a show we got hate meal
for that one. Joe Fagnano is the quarterback, very good
last season, twenty touchdowns for interceptions. This is going to

(01:01:23):
be an offense led by a ground assault. They've got
a very very good running back room Cam Edwards mel Brown.
They've got transfers that they're stacking in there as well.
But you factor in what they can do on the
ground with what I think they can do through the air,
which has a legit NFL prospect in Skyler Bell out wide.

(01:01:43):
I think this will be a very very interesting team
to chart moving forward. Also, that doesn't even mention Alex Honig,
who is number thirty nine maybe on Bruce's freaks list. Okay,
the tight end originally from Germany, original only a quarterback
originally at TCU now at Yukon playing tight end. I

(01:02:04):
think they'll be pretty stout on offense and defensively. This
is the secondary that should be pretty good. Got some
questions about what they can do up front. Not as
much back on defense as there is on offense. But
I think you look at this team this year, you
look at what they've done now under Jimora, I think
you look at the quarterback who's been around in the
block forever, seventh year guy. There's a lot to like here.

(01:02:29):
There's a lot to be entertained about with respect to Yukon,
especially with the schedule Dan, which is something that you found.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
They get well. So they were competitive with the ACC
teams they played last year. They get I believe this
year both Duke and Boston College a week after each
of those teams plays Clemson. Yeah, and I don't know
what they're doing in terms of winning those games, but
if your starting point is experience, confidence, solid coaching, and

(01:02:56):
they lost a good amount in the portal, quality guys
in the portal, but still turn a lot of guys,
are enough guys that you can build around and bringing
in potentially quality dudes from smaller schools to sort of
enter into a newly winning culture. You can jump on
somebody with that combination, with that formula, and so Yukon
is interesting. They should be if this keeps carrying through

(01:03:21):
a perennial Bowl team, which is kind of crazy to say,
give some of the recent lows of Yukon, but it's
a great I don't know what act number this is
for Jim Mora second third, fourth act. He's clearly a
quality coach, Like this is a very difficult job, especially
when if you discover and develop somebody at Yukon, it's

(01:03:41):
probably not staying at Yukon terribly long. It's just too valuable, yeah,
in the modern college football universe. And he's actually been
like very forthright and has said a lot of interesting things,
very human things about how like he doesn't hold it
against his players when they look around. It's just the
sport and it's the coach's job to sort of be
honest with them and to put them in a position
to succeed and you know, hopefully help them live out

(01:04:03):
their football dreams. So Yukon's a quality situation right now.
They were very good on defense last year, but they
lost a lot of those contributors, and his defensive coordinator
higher was very good last year. I think they were
great at generating three and outs, they were great on
third down specifically, and so it's just going to be
an annual thing for Yukon to sort of to recruit

(01:04:25):
William and Mary, to recruit Georgetown right that they're just
going to have to go after guys at smaller schools
or well traveled guys who've been at three schools in
three years and figure that their culture and their system
will work better for those guys looking for a home.
So I think it's a great story of what's happening

(01:04:47):
in Yukon. They just need to jump up and win
one of those games against an ACC type team because
there's a lot of wins on this schedule.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
To me, there are a couple of games on this thing,
on this schedule that are I think, bigger picture interesting
for people who might be listening at home and have
no other interest in Yukon football. There's a game early
week two on the road at Syracuse. That's another situational spot, right, Yeah,
because Syracuse opens up the year that neutral cider against

(01:05:16):
Tennessee and then they come back home they're squaring off
against Yukon, which I think will be hungry to prove itself.
This was a competitive game a year ago, and especially
as we're looking at Yukon, a team that I think
can run the ball, a team that at least can
guard against the pass. I don't know about their defensive front.
You could see a situation in which that is interesting, right.

(01:05:39):
So that's one I look at Boston College, I look
at a home matchup against Duke in November. Those are
games that are very important, even they're on the road
against Takwan Roberson used to be their quarterback. Against Buffalo,
your Buffalo Bulls, of course at the end of September.
Another big game on septemb the twenty seventh. Maybe not

(01:06:01):
the headliner, far from it, but speak for yourself, these
are really important games. I gotta believe based on a
lot of what we have seen over the last two
years or so, Yukon wants to jump up. They want
to get into the Big twelve, they want to get
into the ACC. They're upping up their nil spend. They're
trying to double it each year, or at least improve

(01:06:25):
upon it year in and year out. They are actively in
conversations about what they can do with the stadium, maybe
to expand it all the way up to sixty thousand people.
This is a program that seems to want to do
more with that football side. Clearly, Yukon's been a basketball
school forever. They're very successful in their own right there,

(01:06:46):
but one of the more intriguing stories to follow and
moving forward, like totally agree they want to keep more around.
They are having conversations, maybe with the Big twelve, maybe
with the acc they.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
Were packed twelve conversations before as like a football only situation.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Yeah, like they're very much dipping their toes in that
water and they want to see what they can get.
So the over under is seven and a half. I
remember being down on Yukon last year and Yukon one
nine games. I look at the schedule, I kind of
feel similarly to last year, where it's like, I don't
see it. I'm going to go over. I'm going to

(01:07:24):
go over because I believe in Jim Moore and I
believe in the Broader Yukon project.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
Ok, the Broader Yukon, Broader Yukon project, Yes, and rumber.
If nothing else, there's always a basketball coach on campus
who at some point will eat somebody's face off.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
And put him on the defensive line. Man. We can
all live in swer center of gravity, but definitely has
that type of fight that you want from your defensive lineman.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
Sure, Danny Hurley, They've got the wild card and Danny
Hurley on campus.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
Yeah, that does it. One hundred and thirty six teams down.
We covered some of the news executive mystery unnamed executive
Soliverble at gmail dot com if you're interested.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
In right or missus executive yet, what is our missus?

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
Excuse me? What is the hashtag that you've decided on?

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
Oh, I don't think it's good enough. I don't know.
I was trying to come up with something college football
that rhymes with red for like red and or something
solid verbal that rhymes with red for red zone, but
college football, and I didn't get anywhere. Okay, so I'm
not there yet. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
All right, Well, you could write people can write in
Soliverble atgmail dot com let us know your thoughts on
that as well, or hit us up on social media.
I guess that's where the hashtags live anyway, So if
you want to throw a few our way, we will
take them under advisement. Yes, okay, again, here is the drill.
We've got an episode that drops on Thursday, A now

(01:08:52):
unnamed episode that drops on Thursday. Dan and I are
still working that one up. We've got a couple fun
ideas for the Verbaaler hood on. There will be a
prediction special. We would encourage you to go on out
to Verballers dot com. V E R B A L
L E r s dot com sign up for any tier.
I'm gonna pose a question out there. I want you
to respond in the comments with your one. Just one,

(01:09:13):
you get one. If you put more than one, you're
going to disqualified. I'm gonna delete all your messages. One
prediction that you can put in that comment thread and
or eight five five verbal three. That's the reverbline. It's
open for business starting now. You got a few days

(01:09:34):
to call in and leave a voice message of voice prediction.
I will cut up a special preseason Reverbs edition. We
will play it on the Sunday episode with your predictions.
Can't wait that drops this coming Sunday. Okay, writing it down?
Beautiful on that note, Thank you kind of baller hood.

(01:09:55):
Hit follow, hit subscribe, Tell your friends a lot more
is coming. The season is coming, So get excited. Dan
and I are, Dan and me are whatever the grammar
says we are. We're both excited for that guy over there, Dan,
for myself, Tai, thanks for tuning on. We'll talk to
you all say and stay soft peace

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