Previews: The Sun Belt, MAC and AAC | 2025 College Football - The Solid Verbal College Football

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the solid verbal hull.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
For me, I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so
many players say, well, I want to be happy. You
want to be happy for a day? Edith State is that?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Whoo whoom?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
And Dan and Tie.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Dan Robinstein preview season. It's finally upon us. We got
one episode that we dropped about a week ago. Now
we're really starting to rev up the engines. We're flipping
up the three episodes a week, every Sunday, every Tuesday,
every Thursday, and we are officially on this episode starting
off with our conference previews. We've got the sun Belt,

(00:41):
We've got the Mac, and we've got the American. Today,
on our next episode, we will continue our journey through
the group of five slash six conferences. But alas, welcome
back to previews season. My friend, how are you.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
I'm good. I'm very glad you mentioned reving up the
engine because there's a whole lot of combustion happening and
about to happen here on the solid verbal and tight Look.
It's we're nearing the apex of summertime, and everybody wants
to be hot, Tie, every team wants to be hot,
every program wants to be hot. You want hot soup,

(01:16):
you want hot coffee, right, you want a hot shower. Like,
there's just there's a certain amount of pleasure tie, pleasure
that comes with friction that comes with heat. Tie. And
we accidentally decided totally by accident, totally thematically. But you

(01:39):
know what, I think it works really well. Like I
feel like we can put these puzzle pieces together to
make it work, to combine the silly with the literal,
with the sensical. And I like heat as a theme
here tie. Yeah, because too, even if the idea of

(01:59):
moment momentum can be argued, the idea of juice, and
the idea of a program or player or coach or
system or whatever having heat, it can't be argued because
you just have to believe it or you don't. It's fine.
And I like the idea of going into this preview
season with a sort of heat scale with literal not

(02:24):
literal I guess, figurative thermometers in the back of our
heads as we try to assess program, conference, player, coach situation.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Heat. Yeah, we're doing a heat check. This is a
big old heat check. I'm thrilled with it, Ty, I'm
thrilled with it now. We got to this point because
we're having fun with what Lorenzo Lamas and the very
short lived show Are You Hot? Very short lived, very inappropriate.
I have four Lamis sounds now on the soundboard, obviously,

(02:57):
because that's what we do here. We will roll those
out as we see fit. Yes, I did jot down
a bunch of flaws that I found as I went
through the Sunbelt in the American for this episode, so
we'll get to that here in due course. But yes,
we happened upon this by accident. I am weirdly very
excited about the theme, and I'm really excited to actually

(03:21):
talk some football. You know, we've spent far too long
this offseason talking about news things and administrative things, business things,
money like. All of this stuff, yeah, certainly has its place,
But when we can actually talk football, that's when I
think the juices really start to get flowing. So I'm
excited to do this here with you. If you are

(03:42):
excited to be along for us on this journey, hit follow,
hit subscribe that you don't miss any of our episodes.
We would also encourage you to go on out to
verbalers dot com. E R B A L L E
R s dot com. You get the episodes without the
ads a little bit early. You get access to our
discord community. We are going to be spinning up a
game in time for the season. If you're interested just

(04:02):
seeing what it's all about, you can just go out
to the website and sign up for free and you
still get updates sent out to you even if you're
not a paying person at this point. That's fine, we
don't care. We just want to have as many people
under the big tent as we can. So Verballers dot
com again is where you can go for more information
on that. And the only other thing that I will
add here as a means of context. If you are

(04:24):
listening to this and we get something wrong, I'm mostly
talking about me getting something wrong. Perhaps perhaps a name,
because you know I have a track record for that.
It's oliverble at gmail dot com. Let us know. Yeah,
we're not going to be perfect. You're always going to
know your team a little better than us because we're
a national show.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Let us know. Let us know.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
I definitely went to greater lengths this year trying to
farm out interesting nuggets on some of these teams that
I'm going to talk about, and I can reference some
of those spots for people who are interested as well
and doing further research on their own out on the web.
But if we get some the wrong, let us know. Okay,
don't be a dick about it, but let us know.
We would also benefit from knowing if we're wrong about something.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
This would be a good time to remind everybody that
the year was twenty fifteen. We were doing an ad
for Blue Apron and Tye overthought the red and said,
they'll send you Blue Apron will send you such dishes
as like a capraise salad complete with fresh globe tomatoes. Yeah,
it was a nice moment.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
It was you left me the show to your credit.
I didn't know. I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
I didn't call you out in the moment. No, oh nice,
that was good by me.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Then, okay, why don't we start off this grand shin
dig by talking about the Sunbelt? Dan, Okay, let's talk
about the Sun Belt fourteen teams.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Right there in the title the Hottest conference name there
is it's got the sun right there?

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Could it be any more thematic to start our heat
check with the Sun Belt? The Sun Belt's interesting for
a whole multitude of reasons. I wanted to lead off
with this conference in particular because when we talked about
it last year, I feel like we just didn't give
it enough credit. It's a good conference. It's a fun
conference to watch. You know. We have a lot of

(06:15):
what I would classify as G five hipsters that follow
this show, people that have Power Conference teams, but for
one reason or another find the G five more entertaining
and so they maybe don't have a reason to root
for a specific team, but they just find reason in
our community to cheer on the G five conferences. And Ye,

(06:35):
the Sun Belt is fun as hell, and I want
to talk more about it than we did a year ago.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Agree, I think we should.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
There are five teams in this conference with an identical
over under of seven and a half wins, those being
James Madison, Louisiana, South Alabama, Georgia Southern, and Texas State.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
So we've got a.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
Cluster at the top, We've got a cluster in the
middle teams that have an over under of six and
a half or five and a half, and then we
got three on the bottom. We've got three teams that
are either four and a half or three and a
half in terms of their win total. I think the
clusters really make for an interesting season. I think that's

(07:17):
especially true in the West. Remember, this is a conference
that still has an East and a West division. They're
unique in that sense. Not a lot of that anymore
in college football. But in particular, that race that I
think we're going to see unfold between Louisiana and South Alabama,
Texas State, I'll include maybe even Troy, I think that's

(07:37):
going to be a really really fun race to watch. Sure,
So that in and of itself, I think makes it
an interesting conference. The other thing that makes all of
these conferences that we're going to talk about over the
next two episodes really interesting is the sheer amount of
roster turnover.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Dan fortunately or unfortunately, Yeah, have you.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Been experiencing this as well as you were going through
and putting together previews for your conferences and teams, because
I am a guest at the amount of roster turnover
we're going to have to go through here over the
next two episodes.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Well, you also get to learn which D two players
or FCS players left to Mark last year because they're
now playing for UMass, they're now playing for Marshall, and
you know, as the power conferences, the quote unquote power
conferences look to you know, the MAC or the Mountain
West of the sun Belt or whoever for infusing depth

(08:29):
and talent and you know, adding potential star power to
a certain position. Those schools have spaces to fill. And
so yeah, I just learned about the fair est State
team and the Shippensburg team. And you gotta find every
you know, it's everybody's I guess, trickling down to find
the next player to plug in or the next group

(08:50):
of players to form a new defensive line or something.
So yeah, especially in the MAC, especially as coaches leave
like Tim Albin did at Ohio, you're seeing a ton
of roster turnover. And you can look at it one
of two ways. You can say, what a bummer that,
you know, there's no such thing as continuity as soon
as you get to some of these conferences. But on

(09:12):
the other hand, it makes for hopefully a continued wide
open season that somebody who didn't necessarily look like they
were going to vie for a conference title is suddenly
in the thick. And I'm okay with that.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Where do you want to start in the Sun Belt, Like,
what are your points of intrigue? I know this was
kind of my area of focus, but I do enjoy
kind of kicking it back and forth a little bit here.
I'm just so in the weeds with this now. I
spent a good chunk of my weekend going through YouTube
videos at like two x speed and taking that would
say like, I'm really in it with this conference because

(09:48):
I wanted to give it its due from a high level.
Where are you at with the sun belt? Where are
your points of I guess curiosity?

Speaker 2 (09:55):
Well, I mean the depth add or near the top
the heat is always going to be where I want
to start, just because I want to know where the
bar is and what teams who have been good are
doing to stay good and what teams who have not
been consistently good are doing to ascend to that hot,
hot heat level.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Yeah, so while you were talking there, I was vamping
a little bit. I did add some sounds to the
board that I think are relevant here. If you want
to start at the top, we can start with James Madison. Yes,
this is where the heat is in this conference in
my opinion. Okay, per Bill Connolly's projections, I've got and
some of my own stuff that I put together here though,
it's not as scientific. I've got JMU as a solid

(10:38):
six to seven point favorite over the next what I
would consider best teams in the conference Louisiana, Georgia, Southern
and South Alabama. I think we've got a clear stratification there.
With respect to JMU, they're over under is seven and
a half. They're one of those teams that's kind of
clustered at the top. But I feel really good about

(11:01):
where this team is at nine and four. Year ago,
they went four and four in conference, won their bowl game.
My expectation for JMU this year is that they're going
to win the East Division, that they're going to play
for a conference title, and ultimately that they're going to
be in the mix for the playoff. This is the
other bit of calculation. I think that's interesting. As we
go through these conferences, there is definitely an impulse to

(11:25):
look at this on the macro level and which of
the teams that we're going to discuss do we think
are good enough to be considered for the playoff, as
well as sort of the micro level, which I think
people care more about. So I don't want to drone
on too much about the playoff stuff, but I do
think it's important when it's relevant, and in this case
it certainly is. JMU is one of those teams that

(11:47):
I think we're going to have a conversation about. Bill
Connolly gives them about a twenty percent shot of winning
the Sunbelt as a whole, which is double the next
closest teams. They probably could have done it last year,
if I'm being honest. They just couldn't seal the deal. Right,
there's a whole other conversation. I just don't think it's
hard to figure out what JMU is going to be,
especially on offense this season, because this is a coach,

(12:10):
This is a coaching staff.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
Staves, stabs, multiple stabs. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
It has proven very adept at being adaptable to the personnel,
and this season they've got a big time strength in
the running back room. They got four quality options, low
key one of the better running back rooms in the country.
You know, they got some guys to replace up front,
but I just think the combination of George Petaway and

(12:36):
Wayne Knight and Joby Mallory and Iowa Day the transfer
from North Texas, those four guys are going to get
a lot of work and they should also they bring
over a guy from Holy Cross, Jordan Fuller, who was
like a thousand yard guy. It just seems to me
like Bob Chesney, who was the first year coach last year,

(12:56):
now entering a second year with JMU, if he kind
of reverts back to form, he's going to want to
line you up and beat your brains in on the ground.
Even though they were active in the portal and they
went out and they got pass catchers, I just don't
think that's going to be the philosophy. I think they
want to line you up. I think they want to
beat your brains in. And I think it gets even

(13:19):
more interesting when you consider the quarterback situation. So last season,
remember Alanza Barnett a really good year, kind of a
breakout year, but then he blew out his ACL in
the last game of the season. It's unclear to me
whether or not he's going to be healthy to start
the season. It's unclear to me that even if he
is healthy, he's going to be the starter. Because Bob

(13:40):
Chesney went out and he brought back his former quarterback
via UNLV, Matt Sluka, remember him, Matt Sluca is now
back with his old coach. They also went out and
got Cam Coleman quarterback from Richmond. This is a flexible system. However,
I will come back to this again. If you know
anything about Bob Chesney, if you've done any research, there

(14:02):
is certainly a clear preference for dual threat quarterbacks and
a really strong ground game. So it's either going to
be Alonza Barnett or Matt Sluke in my opinion, And
I think you're going to get a really fun rushing
attack this year which is going to obliterate some of
these Sun Belt defenses. Truly, if you can build a
beast of a ground game in the Sun Belt, there
are very few defenses in this conference that are going

(14:25):
to be able to stop.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
You agree.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
So I like where they're at on the offensive side
of the ball. I'm curious to see what that formula
looks like and how they adapt things. But defensively, like
their stout. You know, this is a top forty defense
a year ago. There's enough back that you got to
expect the defenses again a relative strength. Certainly within the conference,
there are enough new faces that are worth monitoring. They

(14:49):
did add thirteen defensive transfers, and a handful of those
guys come from the FCS ranks, which we know doesn't
always click right away, but defensively they should have a
relative strength there as well. The really interesting bit if
you are charting JMU this year is the schedule and
the way it sets up, because you've kind of got

(15:11):
two distinct phases early on. They've got a game at
Louisville in week two and at Liberty in week four,
and that shows or should show their ability to go
out of conference and play against some teams that can
serve maybe later on in the conversation as a measuring stick.
Certainly Louisville going there is a nice game, and the
game against Liberty is meaningful too, could have real playoff

(15:34):
ramifications for both sides of that. Then you get a
little bit later on in the season and you start
getting into your conference games, you start getting into Louisiana
week seven, you start getting into these games that I
think are going to be more meaningful with how they
stack up in the Sun Belt. So across the board,
there are enough road games that I'm really not taking

(15:57):
anything for granted, but I do think this is the
best team in the Sun Belt. Again, you know, on
paper this drops early July, right as best we can
tell at this point. Yeah, I like them a lot.
I'm inclined to go over seven and a half if
I were a betting man, not because there aren't losses
on this schedule. I think there probably will be a couple.
It just doesn't feel like a seven to five team

(16:18):
to me, Dan, I think they're better than that. They're
a lot better than that. Whether or not they make
the playoff, they're they're eight and four better in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
Okay, that all makes sense to you. It does absolutely.
I anticipate big things. Although look year one, Bob Chesney
being able to even with as much as Kurt Signetti
was able to take with him to Indiana. Right that
you're never positive what you're getting with a year one
when a coach is coming in with a different roster.
As much as the transfer portal can affect things, it's

(16:49):
a wild card. So year two is certainly going to
be more fascinating.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah, and I guess their primary competition, if you read
the preview pubs is Louisiana, and it was ten and
four year ago. They lost to Marshall in the conference
title game and they lost to TCU in the New
Mexico Bowl. Athlon got a quote from an anonymous Sunbelt
assistant and I'm paraphrasing a little bit here, but the

(17:13):
gist of it was that last season was a really
big deal for Louisiana's coach, Michael Desormo. Remember he was
the one who took over for Billy Napier. Before last year,
it was two consecutive seasons of six and seven and
on the heels I would add of like double digit
win seasons and three bowl wins. So to go ten

(17:34):
and two in the regular season last year just to
make the title game, that was a big deal. They
got smoked in their last two games, mostly because of
quarterback injuries, so I don't read too much into the
way they closed out that season. I think this is
a solid program, but if we can get out the
Lorenzo Lamis flawfinder.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Letter, you introduced my flawfinder.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Okay, seven starters back from last year's team. They have
very much taken the same approach as Billy Napier at
Florida in that they brought in only a handful of transfers,
which I'll discuss, but they're mostly rolling with their homegrown guys.
So this is a less experienced team than a year ago.
We've been doing these previews for a long time, Dan,

(18:14):
and I would say, with rare exception, when I see
that you've got just seven starters, I put up eight
fingers when I'm met seven.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Don't tell people not a.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Math major, I'm a podcaster. When you've got just seven
starters back, that's almost always a hard pass for me. Okay, Now,
I'm not worried about the bottom falling out on the
Louisiana because I do like the talent they have on hand.
I think the schedule is favorable. It's just that there
are a lot of ifs with this team, and if
we're being honest, you know, I got to call that out.

(18:45):
So the biggest if here for people at home is quarterback.
The transfer is Walker Howard from Ole Miss, who until
now as a college prospect. His claim to fame is
that weird video of him and Brian Kelly doing like
the three sixty dance thing. You remember that when I
was crazy about this guy as a recruit. So I've
been dying to see him get a little bit more

(19:06):
game action. I'm glad he caught on somewhere. If he
pops the conversations different about Louisiana. You know, suddenly we're
not talking about experience or any of that stuff. We're
talking about them winning the West, playing for the conference again.
Even if he doesn't pop. Frankly, I still think we
got to consider a. Louisiana as most likely the team
to beat in the West, just because the other teams

(19:27):
in their division are far more flawed. And this is
an athletic team, a physical team. It's a roster that
I think, on its own merit stands for something. I
wouldn't bet the seven and a half over, but I
like the roster. The other thing that I would add
before we move on here, by.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
The way, should be noted before you add, this is
the only conference with divisions, So when you talk about
that in this division, I know, I just it didn't
sync in with me. Continue.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
No, it's an interesting wrinkle. Another interesting wrinkle. I'm gonna
call this out because I've been looking at schedules and
I know you have two. Louisiana goes to Miszoo on
week three. For Miszoo, that's one week after the border
war against Kansas and one week before hosting South Carolina.
Interesting let down look ahead spot there, Okay, Okay, Louisiana

(20:18):
has been competitive in these games before. I don't know
about against against MISSOO, but just throwing that one out
there is an interesting spot I think for the people.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Okay, so I like him.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
I just seven returning starters, brand new quarterback. I you know,
I got I got real. My flawfinder is out and about.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
For let's be clear, the Lorenzo Lamas flawfinder was, or
maybe still is, privately a laser pointer with which he
circles parts of people's bodies that are either too far
gone to improve or need improve.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
No, I got here. Here's one for you.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
I'm not necessarily pointing at any flaws. I'm pointing right
now at perfection.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
So he had a softer side when the show was
highly inappropriate.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
I mean it depends on your your perspective that.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
It depends on your perspective. Yeah, I would say this
about Louisiana.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Okay, not as hot.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
As JMU, but they've got a good spice level to them. Okay,
South Alabama another seven and seven and a half over
underwin team seven and six. A year ago, they won
the Bowl game, did beat Louisiana twenty four to twenty two.
Last season. South Alabama to me is the ink blot
test of the Sun Belt. Okay, what you see when

(21:34):
you look at South Alabama it says a lot more
about you than it does about them, because on one hand,
you've got the cruel reality, which is that Major Apple
White is a really good coach who got annihilated in
the transfer portal. I mean they got obliterated. They lose
Go Lopez, their quarterback to North Carolina. They lose your
guy fluff bothwell, the running back to Mississippi State. They

(21:57):
lose a right tackle and edge rush, sure, three corners,
a kicker, and to boot their offensive coordinator. It's a lot.
And then on the other hand, there's really enough back
to kind of feel like, okay about where they're at
quarterback is an open question. Yes, it's either Bishop Davenport,
who was the MVP of the bowl game, I believe,

(22:18):
or Zach Pyron who comes over from Minnesota was originally
at Georgia Tech. These are capable guys. They're capable enough.
The offensive line looks good to me. I don't know.
I think that's a strength even though they lose your
guy Fluff. Kenhrell Bullock is like an All Sun Belt
caliber back who had over eight hundred yards last season.
Again lining it up running it directly at a Sunbelt

(22:41):
defense is usually a pretty good formula, so they can
do that. I think they'll be okay. We have come
to expect good offenses from major Apple White teams. I'm
curious if it looks different this year because the wide
receiver corps is basically starting over. I don't know what
to expect there. So I know he likes the pasth,
but I think the strength might be more on the

(23:02):
ground than through the air. Also, kind of starting over
on the defensive line and the secondary both are huge concerns.
If I'm South Alabama again, I run the crap out
of the ball, I eat the clock. I try to
keep the defense off the field. There's a lot of
half team potential here. I think a lot of the
defense is a work in progress. I would not go
with the over seven and a half for South Alabama.

(23:23):
There's just too many variables here to feel good about
where they're gonna be. I don't think it's gonna be
a bad team. I think they'll be competitive. I'm just
not super confident that it's all going to click, especially
on the defensive side of the ball, right. Interesting note
they host Louisiana on November the first. I could totally
see that game being a lot like last year, decided

(23:45):
in twenty four to twenty two, something to that nature.
I think there's going to be a propensity for both
of them to play ground and pound and slow and
just try to keep the defense off the field as
much as possible makes sense. And then the other, if
I'm going by cluster here, the other team that I
think is really interesting in this conference is Georgia Southern.

(24:07):
Georgia Southern has not been talked about nearly enough.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Give me some Clay thoughts, I don't We don't talk.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Enough about Clay Helton in the job he's done. Like, yeah,
he took a lot of shit for what went down
at USC, but his ability here to kind of shepherd
this team from running triple option to now more of
an air raid successfully, he's been successful at doing that.
That almost never happens. There's almost always another coach that

(24:36):
steps in after a previous coach attempts the transition because
it's hard, you don't have the personnel. It takes forever.
It's he's been able to do it It is not
an easy transition. It's really freaking hard to do. He's
done a good job of it. He got a new
contract as a result of it in the offseason. He
has done a really good job at Southern eight and
five a year ago. Two of their five losses were

(24:59):
against Boise and will Miss. The others were at Old
Dominion home against Troy, home against sam Houston in the
bowl game, I guess, not home against sam Houston in
the against Sam Houston in the bowl game. They did
beat JMU. They did beat Marshall Marshall of course, and
ended up as the conference champion. I like this team
a lot. It's another half team though, no d Yeah.

(25:21):
I'll talk about the defense in a second, but like offensively,
this is probably the best offense that Clay Hilton's had
in his time here, and I think it's going to
pose a real issue in a conference where there just
aren't good secondaries Dan they're few and far between here.
I think J. C. French, their junior quarterback, is going
to have a big year. I like his options out

(25:42):
why they've got good depth. This is a line that
brings back three starters, four guys with starting experience, I'm
willing to talk about this being the best line in
the conference and one of the better offenses in the conference. Sure,
I think it's going to be a legit good passing
offense that's going to have teams on skates. In his defense, though,
it's like, yes, it got better last season from twenty

(26:04):
twenty three, but we're still talking about like the ninety
first best defense in the country. So I think they're
good upfront. I think they're okay in the back. They
brought in some younger transfers that maybe can grow with
the team. But it's just an open question about like
how much better is this defense? Gonna get used to
say it about teams all the time. Oklahoma's one that

(26:25):
comes to mind, But like, marginal improvement on defense makes
his team a lot better. Marginal improvement probably makes me
feel good about taking that over seven and a half.
I still like them to go over seven and a half.
I would like them more if I felt better about
the defense. I thought Bill c. Bill Connolly said it
best when he said that they have a high floor.

(26:45):
I tend to agree. I can squint and see a
nine and three season. I don't want to put my
name to that, but okay, I would go over seven
and a half here.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
What's the next group that's sort of your cluster at
the top, Yes, all right, your next group is where
we start. Like, okay, where are we headed with this thing?
Where are we going? We've got a bunch of teams
that are clumped together with six and a half over
unders or five and a half over unders. Marshall went
ten and three last year. They won the conference and

(27:19):
then they did not play in the bowl game because
so many guys transferred OU when Charles Huff left. Yes,
this was a certified mess at the end of last
season ten and three. Two of the three losses were
against Virginia Tech and Ohio State, so not bad losses.
They also won a crazy overtime game two overtime game
against JMU last game of the season their loss. Their

(27:41):
other third loss was against Georgia Southern who I just
mentioned twenty four to twenty three. Talk about a freaking
whipsaw man, Like you put it on Louisiana, You'll win
the conference thirty one to three. Then Charles Huff and
pretty much everybody leaves to the point where they opt
out Marshall players win in the.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Portal five zero that so many people. It's crazy context, Yeah, crazy.

Speaker 1 (28:09):
As Phil Steele put it, And I thought this was
a great way to kind of add context here. There
are more returning Marshall players on the Southern Miss roster
than there are on Marshall. Twenty one of those fifty
ended up going with Charles Huff the Southern Miss. Yeah,
which is a crazy number. So look now they got
Tony Gibson stepping in from NC State. It's like an

(28:30):
unprecedented test of how he's going to be able to
construct this roster. With how it's reset. This isn't even
I've joked about control alt delete before. This isn't even
a control alt delete. This is hey, unplug it for
thirty seconds. Yeah, let the router reboot and then plug
it back in and see what See what happens. They
returned zero rushing yards from last year's roster, one of

(28:53):
their eight defensive linemen with more than fifty snaps, only
three linebackers snap from last year's team, not guys snaps,
and only two of their thirteen defensive backs with more
than thirty snaps. So this is ridiculous. Yet the vibes
are good. The vibes are really cool. Yeah, Ticket sales

(29:17):
are up, donations are up. The fan base seems engaged.
It's a coaching staff with like really strong West Virginia
Rootstony Gibson and some of the others on the staff.
People are excited to like move forward with a new chapter,
which I thought was kind of cool. You know a
lot of reports about guys buying in. You know, it's

(29:37):
the popular cliche whenever you've got a new guy in town.
But they're if you're gonna strip it down to the
studs and start over, especially in this dramatic of fashion
to get buy in like this, like ah, all right,
They're going to try to build the offense for speed,
like rely a lot on the run, have a little
bit of pop that they can beat deep if you
over commit. It looks like the new quarterback is Carlos

(30:00):
Real Wilson, remember him, of course Syracuse Zion Turner from
You Got, both of whom are like mobile guys who
fit the system. It's just a hard schedule. It's a
team that's entirely new. The over unders five and a half.
I'm not touching that, but I do think the fact
that the vibes are strong at Marshall is a good thing.
That's at least a good starting point. We know that

(30:20):
can wear off quickly, but at least for the time being.
You know that's an okay place to be. Arkansas State.
I love Arkansas Date.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Okay, why is that?

Speaker 1 (30:31):
You know how we get emails every year from people
who are like abroad, maybe on a military base, and
they won an offbeat wild card team to root for.
I'm going to nominate Arkansas Date in the right Okay,
eight wins last year it was zear four of Butcher Jones.
He has improved this team's win total every season since

(30:53):
he's been in Jonesborough. I did look up where Arkansas
State is located. I did not know jones Borough off
the top of my head. Full as Closures is a
show about honesty. Yeah, this is going to be a
fun team on offense. His teams can be fun as
hell on offense. Jalen Rainer their quarterback. He was the
Sun Belt Freshman of the Year two years ago, had

(31:13):
a better season last year. There is enough back that
he's going to improve again. So now this is also
his third season under Keith Heckendorf. The offensive coordinator. All
too often in this day and age, we have seen
coordinators coming and going his third year with the same coordinator.
I think is also reason enough to give us confidence

(31:33):
that he's going to continue improving. He can run, he
is mobile, that is not his preference. He wants to
throw it. And he's just one of these guys that
finds a way to make things happen on a bust
to play his wide receiver one Corey Rucker. He already
leads Arkansas State just over his career in terms of
receiving yardage. They bring in some help as well. I

(31:57):
think they go about three deep at running back, which
Quez Cross who had thirteen hundred dollars purpose yards last season.
I really like this team. The problem I have, where's
my flawfinder?

Speaker 3 (32:07):
You know, your face and your personality make up for
that extra seven to ten pounds and problem.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
You know, just brutal. Loss is brutal? WHOA what a jerk?
The flaw is that you're only a wildcard if you
know you're only entering too this wildcard conversation for me
if you've got some real flaws. And Arkansas State loses
four of five linemen and there are questions abound on
the defense. Man, like, this is a bad defense. A

(32:33):
year ago, there's only one starter back, butch tried to
work the portal to beef up the defense. I'm just
not sure how that's going to go. So I think
the reason that I point to Arkansas State is one
of those interesting teams. They're gonna play in a lot
of shootouts. They've got really good skill talent that we
should see on display, and they got questions everywhere else,
you know, Like I don't think they're contending for the West,

(32:54):
but I think they're gonna dump one or two teams
of merit. They do host Iowa State a week after
the Syhawk, they host Georgia Southern a week after Southern plays,
and their rivalry against Georgia State. Another fun scheduling quirk
that I found for Arkansas State. Six of Arkansas State's
twelve games fall before or after an opponent's by Wow,

(33:16):
so you know you got a high powered offense against
team play, maybe a getaway game or I don't know,
there's something a monitor. Yeah, all right, So again I'm
I'm blong winded with these. Okay, Curry, we're at thirty minutes.
It did five teams. That's a six teams. That's a
little much. So let me tell you why to be
entertained about the rest of the Sun Belt. I have
a lot more detail here. We can share some of that.

(33:39):
Maybe on a bonus episode, I'll make a post it. Well,
you know, if these are things that are of interest
to you and you're a patren I remember, let me know.
But teams that entertained me, Old Dominion entertains me. Old
Dominion is one of these teams that's worth following. Tell
me why six of seven losses last year were in
one score games. So I like their quarterback situation with
Colton Joseph. He was an nice catalyst for this offense.

(34:02):
In conference games a year ago, Odu was second in
yards per play. It's just like depth, it's skill positions.
It's finding the right guys to put around him that
I think could make this team more interesting. The schedule, I.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Kind of have a problem with your hair. It's bothering me.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
The schedules brutal. Yeah, at Indiana at Virginia Tech, Liberty
at JMU at Georgia Southern.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, that's tough.

Speaker 1 (34:30):
That's tough. Over under six and a half I'm not
touching it, but I do like what I see from ODU.
I think we'll see improvement. I think they're gonna be
really competitive. I think they might challenge JMU or Georgia Southern.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
They're a great bottom line team, right Yeah, like ODI
us up on Virginia Tech by how many with how
much time left?

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yes, I'm I'm on board of them finishing top half
of the East. Probably not going to sign up for
much more than that. Okay, I am going in a
little bit on Troy. You know, I'm not a j
I'm not a Jared Parker fan. It sounds like you are.
I'm not. I'm still not. I would have paid for
the first class plane ticket to get him out of
South Bend to go to any job, not just this one.

(35:07):
But I will say this, it is not entirely surprising
to see Troy, a program that had five double digit
win seasons in the last decade, dropped to four and
eight last season for reasons other than the coach. Okay,
we cannot put it all on Jared Parker. There were
four starters back last year, Dog four and it was

(35:29):
a tough schedule. The quarterback got hurt and like the
first series of their conference play. However, cynical I am
on Jared Parker. We should mention that he stepped into
a rebuilding situation and he didn't like Torpedo the whole.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Thing, right, But a winning program an Troy and with
John Summral.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Yeah, and the reason that I think we should feel
good about them, and the reason that I'm entertained, and
the reason that I think there's at least a little
bit of spice on They started one and seven, they
finished three to one. They did not bail on him.
They did not bail on him, So they're definitely still
in rebuilding mode. It doesn't sound like they're talking that way. Internally,
there's a lot of belief, and you know, you hear

(36:07):
about all the positive vibes and stuff Internally. Part of
the issue last year was that quarterback injury to Goose Crowder,
who is now back. Also they call him Goose, which
is fun like that keeps me entertained. Of course, there
might be six losses on the schedule. I don't see seven,
So I see a feisty six and sixteam, and I
put a lot of stock in these teams, you know this,
that finish strong even when the season is basically over.

(36:28):
So I like Troy. I also I like Coastal. Coastal
Carolina six and seven last year. Last year was a
comedy of airs, which didn't help. Got worse across the
board last year, but still went to a bowl, which
is a plus. Yes in its own right. According to
Phil Steele, there are sixty seven new players on this roster,

(36:51):
which is nut.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
I had a triple check that unless he made a
mistake and other people made a mistake, sixty seven new people.
That's a lot and it's hard for Tim Beck to
build chemistry based on that. I am optimistic about the offense.
I like their new offensive coordinator Drew hollings Head. Okay,
if I said that correctly. He looks like Kellen Moore

(37:13):
with a beard is what I'm okay what I'm getting
at here. But I like what they bring back. There's
like a veteran presence out wide, Jameson, Tucker, Cameron right.
I'm not going to listen names here, Okay. I really
wanted to list Coastal as a dark horse in the East.
I can't do it. There is too much new. I
think the schedule's really tough. They also played James Madison
at home the last game of the year, in addition

(37:34):
to at UVA at South Alabama, at ODU at app State,
app Georgia Southern at South Carolina just in case they
need another loss in there. I will talk in more
detail about Coastal Carolina on one of our bonus episodes.
But I like him. I'm struggling with how much I
like him, like. I still haven't figured that part out yet.

(37:55):
App State's like entirely new five and a half over.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
I don't new coach, yep, yeah, it's all new Dol Loggins. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
Twenty twenty four was the first losing season they've had
since they joined the FBS ranks back in twenty fourteen,
and so that's given way to extreme makeover. Mountaineer edition
is what we're looking at here, with the coaching staff
and the scheme and a ton of new players and
just complete uncertainty about what happens next. This is the
reason why I said a few weeks ago, and I

(38:25):
think some people misinterpreted this app State's one of the
more interesting teams in the country because it could all
go horribly wrong. I'm fascinated to see what the new
coach Dal Logins looks like he comes over from South Carolina.
He looks like a younger version of Matt Rule. If
we're talking at toppelgangers here.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Does he have a smock? Does he have that clear
Baylor smock? Unclear?

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Okay, very aggressive in the portal, which tells me he's
trying to jump start this thing quickly and maybe try
to pull a signetti. It's almost impossible to judge his
team this year. Seventeen new starters. Am I supposed to
take anything from that? AJ Swan comes over from LSU,
It's gonna be AJ Swan. JJ Cole at quarterback comes
over from Iowa State.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Yeah, that's LSU. Via, that's Vanderbilt as well. Right before LSU. Yeah.
Play also their.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Defensive coordinator DJ Smith, former legend there. You might be
surprised to learn once to run an aggressive attacking defense.
Of course, of course, I would not touch this win
total with a ten foot poll. I am also not
judging this season purely on wins and losses. I think
we're going to learn a lot by just understanding how
long it takes for the team to mash level of

(39:35):
effort throughout the course of the season. It's just it's
so easy to lose the plot when you're basically speed
dating trying to fill roster spots like this, and you
put a bunch of guys together don't know each other,
like it could come together, it could bode well, really
well for Dalla Loggins. But I just you know, if
it looks good and if it seems like they're on
the same page by the end of the year, that's

(39:56):
a dub in my book. Okay, Texas State. I like
Texas State. I'm not sure how much. Okay, they also
have a seven and a half win total. I forgot
to mention them earlier. I like GJ. Kinney, Like that's it.
I've liked him since he got there. He's the portal
king of the G five ranks fifty new guys last year,
thirty six again this year. He's raised the floor for

(40:19):
this program with back to back eight and five seasons.
So the offense in particular, it's fun as hell. This
is why we watched Texas State. But Jordan McLoud has
gone so new quarterback Brad Jackson, I don't know. He
might not be the best fit for the program. It
might be another transfer that they got Keldrick Luster comes

(40:42):
over from SMU. Nate Yarknell is also in town. I'm
really curious to see how the offense takes shape. I
think that's the point of intrigue for Texas State. They've
got good options in the running back room and you
know elsewhere. He doesn't tend to rely on one guy
on the ground, So I think we're going to see
a bunch of guys to get a lot of work.
But I won't play the flawfinder sound the problems like

(41:03):
defense for Texas State. You already knew that pass rush
in the line. You know, the pass rush in the
line actually are good. The problem is if you don't
have the secondary that can sort of back you up
when you're rushing the passer like that, that's a problem
and that's where they got into trouble. So they need
to continue getting better either in the secondary or up front,

(41:25):
preferably both, and if they don't, it's a real problem.
And also they had killer penalties, like boneheaded penalties last
year in key spots, So I don't know if that's
a communication thing, a coaching thing, or what they need
to get better at that One game to watch here
on the schedule October the fourth against Arkansas State. It's

(41:45):
going to be a fun shootout. Nice talk about Georgia State.
I like Del McGhee. There's a lot of steam on
him when he came over l Yeah. They have Christian
Veyu back, they have Ted Hurst back out wide. I
think the front seven is good. I think it's notable
on this show that they have a safety named de
Icy Hopkins.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
Okay on the heat shell.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah, but it's a tough schedule and I don't really
expect a whole lot. So that said, they signed the
best recruiting class in all the Sun Belt, better than
the Louisville, better than Tulane and Kansas, and you see,
it could just be that this is going to take
some time. I think that's where we're at. ULM is
fun because they're going to run the hell out of
the football. They established an identity last season. As Bill

(42:31):
c put it, They're going to run as much as
is allowable. They're kind of like the Army or Navy
of the Sun Belt. So watch for that. I'm interested
in going over four and a half for ULM.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
Tough scale.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
M'd be eight Bowl teams on that frisky Southern Miss.
I talked about Charles Hoff earlier. They've got a bunch
of guys that were on the Sun Belt championship team
from a year ago, and they bring over a bunch
of other folks from other situations as well. So it's
a lot to get your head around with all these
new faces. But if I told you six months from
now that it all worked and Southern Miss made a bowl,

(43:08):
you would believe it. A great story in the wake
of what Dion Sanders has done and what GJ. Kinney
I just mentioned at Texas State has a depth of
where Southern Miss has been. I kind of like the schedule.
I don't think they're winning the conference or the West,
but most everybody in this conference saw a ton of
roster turnover. Maybe it's not this extreme, but I think
there's a real chance that it could work and people

(43:29):
are just missing Southern Miss because frankly, it's hard to gauge.
I don't think I got I don't think I missed
everybody or anybody. At this point. I think I got
through my sun Belt. I took way too much time
doing it. I pure okay, but I'm really excited about
the sun Belt. I think these clusters make it interesting.
My pick is JMU. Don't think JMU is the pick here.

(43:50):
I think they're going to be in the playoff conversation.
But there are certainly points of intrigue, and I'm going
to go I'll go into all that more, I promise
on Patreon and unpack some of these other nuggets that
I was able to harvest out. Why don't you give
me a break? Yeah, and why don't we talk about
the Mac?

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Okay, so the Mac nobody knows, nobody knows anything. There
are likely four good to very good to possibly sometimes
good teams at the top in Ohio, Toledo, Miami and Buffalo.
Those seem like they're the teams that have the best
chance at distancing themselves from the middle of the conference.

(44:32):
Now we can have an NIU conversation, we can have
maybe a Bowling Green conversation. I mean, that's a team
that is brought in, I mean new head coach and
Eddie George high profile has been a head coach, albeit
at a lower level at Tennessee State, but brings in
a guy like Drew Pine, and there's there's interesting talent
at Bowling Green. Despite all the turnover with Scott Leffler

(44:53):
leaving for the Philadelphia Eagles, I believe quarterbacks coach Yes,
Scott with one T, Scott with one tea. Right, it's
you've sort of come to expect what a lot of
these teams are going to be every year, and weirdly enough,
it goes against what I think the national perception of
the MAC was over a lot of time, which is

(45:15):
all those shootouts on Tuesday Night fifty eight, fifty two,
forty nine, forty eight kind of thing. A lot of
these teams are led by defense. Like you can go
through most of this conference short a couple of teams
and say, man, they just can't figure it out on offense,
but they can depend on their defense. The defense is
ahead of the offense. Last year the champion Ohio was

(45:36):
very much the case, so they figured things out late.
This is also a conference that just when you group
it as a whole, you're gonna see a lot of
teams start the season one in three because there's a
lot of money games and a lot of pay to play, right.
There's a lot of like at Washington, at Florida, at
Ohio State to start the season like okay, all right,
Kent State that's a decision. It's funning your entire athletic

(45:58):
department for a year. I get it. Don't know how
I could do something different. I don't know how I
can argue against it. But what ends up happening is
a lot of teams start out terribly and have you
know the points allowed one hundred and fifty eight, the
points scored sixteen kind of way to start the season.
And then the teams who are actually decent and actually
have you know, the ability to understand how they're weathering September,

(46:20):
they rattle off five in a row or six out
of seven. So I guess in terms of like our
Lorenzo Lama's dictionary stretch marks tie, there's a lot of
stretch marks within the MECH. There's a lot you look
at the end of the season last year, there's a
lot of lost five one seven, one five one seven
of eight kind of situations in the MECH. And that's

(46:41):
great and I'm here for it. I enjoy it. It's
always entertaining. Almost all of these teams were depleted or
have hired new coaches from you know, Kent State and
the late weird situation with Kenny Burns. There's a new
coach there. There's a new coach at Central Michigan with
Jim mckaway retiring, stepping down. There's a new coach at

(47:04):
UMass who is joining the conference. So there's just for
me to sit here and say, I like, you know,
this team getting over their five and a half win total.
It's insane. It's insane for most of these teams to
have strong opinions like, do I think NIU is a
well coached team with Thomas Hammock, Yeah, definitely. They can't

(47:25):
figure out offense. That's been a consistent thing with NIU.
So how do like, what do I feel good about?
Five and a half? Six and a half, seven and
a half? They beat a team who played for the
national championship. I don't know if you remember this in
Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
But it's of note here.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Yeah, they don't play enough good football consistently and haven't
been good enough at finding answers on offense to feel
really good about them. They're a quality team. There's a
lot of quality teams in this conference. And for as
much as the turnover, for as much as the like
the lows of recent UMass and who's joining again for

(47:58):
the first time.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
Hold on, we have a stat that.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
A Broner tombshells answering the Fellas is in the villa.
So in this situation, UMass is love Island. Everybody is
going to love taking on UMass in the short term
with a new coach, Joe Harris Simiac, I think coming
over from Rutgers.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
I think you got the phonetic spelling of that, right, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Okay, Joe Harris Simak been a good coordinator at Rutgers.
Has a very much uphill battle. U Mass has taken
a lot of different roads to try and find a
head coach who can get them to bowl eligibility. Has
not worked out. No, not worked out for Don Brown,
for Walt Belt, Walt Bell, excuse me, who's now at
Western Michigan. Has not worked out for a lot of

(48:45):
these teams. And so I kind of just want to
focus on that top four chunkage at the moment, because
there's it doesn't seem like there's a path right now
for Akron, who's not even going bowling because the grades
and retention rates, the API scores have fallen to a

(49:06):
pretty terrible level. Defense is a little bit ahead of
its offense, which is weird to say for a Joe
moorehead team, but they're just it's gonna be a real
tough road for Acron, It's gonna be real tough road
for ums Me, a real tough road for Kent State,
probably for ball State. With a new coach, he was
Butler's head coach last year, Mike Yuremovich. It's gonna be

(49:28):
Hopefully there will be moments of entertainment from some of
those teams and you know, fun individual players, but the
ceiling seems pretty low for that foursome. This has been
a conference in that top chunkage everywhere in the conference
that has been I called it, what did I say?
The Mac Chance You with Dion Colsey and de Kwan

(49:50):
Finn and Chip train them and Drew Pine. There's a
lot of guys that you just like. I hope this
is a fun last year for these guys. I really
hope this is they find their home. So Dakwan Finn
coming back to the Mac, Miami Ohio, He's mister Ohio
for this show. Ty, we don't need to call it
Miami of Ohio because there's no other Miami. If we

(50:12):
just talking about the Mac, that's right. You have to
refer to the other one as Miami of Florida, Sir,
that's right on this show. Yes, yes, so Chuck Martin's
been around forever. He's won a ton of games for Miami.
Their big thing is like they win a bunch of games,
and they lose some close games because he's pretty conservative,
kind of plays not to win and now has a

(50:33):
fun new quarterback and Dakwan Finn, who has succeeded in
the MAC at Toledo, tried to make it work over
at Baylor. Didn't work out for him. He's back in
the MAC and Miami will once again likely be led
by its defense and will likely once again be a
difficult out, even with a ton of roster turnover. I'll
stick with that theme. Ohio won the conference last year

(50:55):
Tim Albin and a ton of players left. Tim Albin
went to Charlotte. Ohio promoted their offensive coordinator and Brian Smith.
They return their starting quarterback who probably threw too many
picks but was still pretty decent and also ran for
a thousand yards. And this is kind of what Ohio does.
They lose a bunch of players and they keep winning.
Now they haven't really won the conference. Before last year.

(51:19):
But they've been competitive, they've been good. I don't believe
they have any more Canadian quarterbacks locked in storage of
some kind.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
The Rourke family dynasty has.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Nathan and Curtis have moved on to They're not dead,
They've just moved on to new places in life. But
Ohio's gonna be fun. The Ohio defense should once again
be good enough even with new players. There's enough continuity
in the coaching staff that I feel good that this
program is still going to be competitive and a tough program.

(51:50):
The schedule is not terrible, and I don't even look
at the non conference if you look up like toughest
schedules in the MAC that like, this team has West
Virginia and Ohio State and like, okay, whatever, that's fine.
Ohio's going to be good. Toledo, for which is weird
to say, hasn't been able as another one of those
teams led by its defense. Obviously, they've had notable names
in the secondary recently and continue to do so. They

(52:13):
have continuity on offense, but they haven't be able to
figure things out on offense. I think overall, their talent
level is still basically the highest in the conference. And
so even though they haven't been winning the conference at
the level you'd expect, given you the continuity with Jason
Kandell being there for as long as he has, this
is me a quality team. So that's Toledo, that's Ohio,
that's Miami of Ohio. Excuse me, just Miami. Buffalo's fascinating

(52:36):
to me, the Bulls Buffalo. If I am high on
a team, I'm high on Pete Lambo in Buffalo. Why
so they bring in to Kwan Roberson who I think
was recruited to Penn State in twenty eighteen. I think
that was the year of the correct year. We're now
deep into twenty twenty five. It's not even barely twenty

(52:59):
twenty five. We are deep into twenty twenty five. But
in year one, Pete Lembo, who had experience, who has
experience in the MAC, returned to the MAC once again,
return to the MAC. Patriot League. Guy played at Georgetown,
coached at Lehigh. So maybe I just have a soft
spot for a guy with Pat League bona fides, that's right.
But year one coming in coming in late with how

(53:23):
Molinguist left and getting this team to a bowl game,
getting this team to nine wins. I just think he's quality.
I always, I mean speaking a soft spot. This is
like kind of a sidebar. I like special teams coaches
getting head coaching jobs. Big Shane Biemer, guy, Well it's
Shane Biemer. Urban Meyer had special teams experience. John Harbaugh, right,

(53:44):
was the special teams coach for the Eagles before he
took the Ravens job. There's something about those guys where
you have to pay so much attention to detail regarding
so many different facets of football, and that if your
team has good special teams, it kind of limits dumb
dumb mistakes. And if you're a college football team playing
at a competitive conference and you can limit dumb dumb

(54:06):
mistakes in punt coverage, in kicking field goals or blocking
field goals or hands team situations, I just kind of
like that. I don't know what it is, okay, And
I think you're just on the margins. It's going to
be a positive thing if you have more hands on
deck with special teams. Fair enough, Okay, So I think

(54:29):
to Kwan Robson, we'll see you know, Penn State to
Yukon to Kansas State, now to Buffalo. Sure four schools
in seven years, four schools in seven years. They open
with Minnesota. Okay, interesting enough, don't they're road games like
Central Michigan with a new coach, Bowling Green with a
new coach. You mess with a new coach, can't State

(54:51):
with a new coach. That's pretty good. They miss Toledo,
they miss who else do they miss? They miss? They
get Bowling Green and they have Miami. But like Miami's
at home after that Central Michigan game. Like I just
they don't have the Ohio State and Michigan and Texas Town.
They don't have those teams. They have Minnesota to open

(55:13):
the air. I just think there's a lot of wins
on this schedule. We'll see what happens with the Yukon game.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
I like it. So I'm in on Buffalo once again.
I'm in on Pete Lombo. They hit the portal well enough,
and if Takwan Roberson is at least decent, that puts
them ahead of most of the teams in the MAC.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
And the other thing that I noticed when I read
through on Buffalo, it seems like they have fewer defensive
question marks.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
Yes, led by the defense, another team led by its defense.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
They have a good size up front, which tends to
I think translate pretty well in the MAC and oftentimes
when we're talking about MAC teams. I know this was
the case last year, a lot of half teams half teams.
This isn't to say there aren't questions on offense. I
think there are questions about all these teams, but I
would much rather come down on the side of having

(56:08):
a good defense. Oh yeah, I don't hate Buffalo at all,
and you're I think inkling to like them. I think
they're physical on offense. I think there's a lot of
upside on offense. So I'm with you on that front.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
It is hard to know, to be fair to all
of this, what win totals mean when so many of
these teams, I mean, this has been the trend recently,
are deficient on offense. And you're talking about like, yeah,
they won five in a row to finish the year,
but also that was the number one twenty seven, one
oh six, one to eleven, one thirty three, and then

(56:44):
they beat Liberty in the Bowl game. But Liberty was
going through a lot of personnel changes themselves, So you're
just like, what does it mean to win nine or
ten games in the MAC when there are so many
such dramatic half teams. So really, if your starting point
is a good coaching Pete Lombo, a promising ish quarterback
to Kwan Roberson, a good defense to start things out,

(57:07):
and honestly a pretty advantageous schedule, I don't know if
Buffalo is winning. I'm just really high on this Buffalo team.
So you're saying, what a heat on buff They've got
heat for me? What about So how does Buffalo? I
know you mentioned Toledo before. Yeah, in your mind as
you're looking through Toledo, Buffalo, Miami, the Real Miami, the

(57:30):
real Miami here and the Ohio Bobcats. Of those four teams,
do you have a preference because a lot of places
are in on Toledo or Barflow.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
I mean there's a lot of steam on Buffalo as well.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Yeah, I mean it's sort of on the margins because
a lot of these teams, you know, those top four,
top five teams play each other, and especially near the
end of the season. I believe Toledo's at Miami later
on in the year, and that's the sort of range
of games once they get to November. This is true
for everybody in the MAC. If you look at the
MAC schedule week ten or whatever, in November is like

(58:05):
November fourth through November eighth, because that's when the MAXI starts, right,
So then calendars become so wonky for these teams, and
then you see the results that sort of mirror that
that wonkiness that. So I like Toledo's roster better than
I like anybody else's roster, So I'm probably gonna give
the edge to Toledo. They don't play each other during

(58:26):
the year. Toledo and Buffalo, Ohio's schedule at the end
is pretty great. So they're on the road. So starting
October twenty fifth, y're on the road at Eastern Michigan,
who I think is okay. I think the job Chris
Creighton has done was has been incredible given the depths
of this program to keep this program like five hundred ish.
Noah Kim is now competing for the starting quarterback job

(58:47):
at Eastern Michigan, his third stop, so back to the
state of Michigan. Yeah, but again, this is just another
team that has a lot of deficiencies, especially on offense,
and it's the defense for Eastern Michigan isn't that far ahead.
But the good thing about Eastern Michigan is Chris Crane's like,
screw it, we need to win games, Let's take chances,

(59:09):
Let's do everything we can all of the time to
eke out a little bit of an advantage. And so
he's sort of the anti Chuck Martin in that way.
I probably if we're looking at this conference as a
conference that has immense turnover basically everywhere, so then continuity
becomes a secret sauce, and I think I like Miami
a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
Now.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
Miami's schedule at the end is brutalful, but in terms
of continuity, in terms of upside it quarterback. If you're saying,
if I'm going to say over the course of all
these years that quarterback and defense is my elixir ta
Kwan Finn and Miami's defense, I feel like it is
a really good elixir. That said, Miami ends the air

(59:52):
at Ohio, Toledo at Buffalo before getting ball State. So
it's just a really tough November. So to answer your question,
I like Buffalo, and I like Toledo, and I like
Miami in what order. I'm going to say Buffalo on
top I just think God, schedule wise, there are just

(01:00:13):
more wins.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
This is a conference mind you, that at least for
some portion of the end of last season we thought
could have a six way tie. Correct, So there's not
a whole lot of disparity as we're talking about some
of these teams at the top. And frankly, who knows
with like a team Northern Illinois, who knows what we're
going to get out of Bowling Green with a new
coach Ed George he mentioned. My hunch is that as

(01:00:38):
we get into November, we're going to see more of
that clustering and it will make for an interesting conversation
around the back.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
So here's another interesting thing, just more broadly speaking nationally
about the MAC. It seems every year one of the
quality teams either puts the fear of death into a
Power Conference team or just full on beats them and
leaves Matt Campbell beside himself. Ohio has Rutgers on the

(01:01:07):
road in week one, Toledo has Kentucky on the road
in week one, Miami, Ohio, excuse me, Miami has Wisconsin
week one, Buffalo has Minnesota week one, and I mean
Ball State has Purdue. But there's a little bit of
intrigue in all of those matchups, because all those Power

(01:01:28):
Conference teams have a ton of questions and could be
looking past their MAC opponents Week one. I'm just saying
one of them is going to put a lot of
fear into a fan base in late August.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
That's a good call. That's a really good shout. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
So otherwise, just sort of meaty middle within the MAC.
Like Central Michigan has a new coach comes over from
Army was briefly their offensive coordinator than their offensive line
coach and Mike Drinkle, and he's going to be looking
to fully revitalize this offense, which has struggled. We'll see
Western Michigan has had the offense, but has at times

(01:02:03):
had a catastrophically bad defense Under Lance Taylor. We'll see
there's no reason at this juncture to fully believe in
Western Michigan. But somebody's gonna come out of this. Bowling
Green I mentioned a little bit. Bowling Green is my
wild card team, just because they're the team that have
brought in so many defensive transfers. Thank you. I don't

(01:02:24):
know what Drew Pine is in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
I know what Drew Pine was in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
Yeah, exactly, a guy who could beat Clemson. I think
he's fine. They lost one of the best playmakers in
college football in Harold Fannon. We loved Harold fannin and
he lit up. I think what Penn State and Texas
A and m early on last year, they don't have
somebody like that. But there is the like Eddie George
gets his first real shot now as an FBS coach.

(01:02:50):
I don't know there's something likable about Bowling Green right now,
just because they were down so far and Scott Leffler
dragged them to become an interesting program, like they were
competitive with Penn State for a half. There's just enough there.
And they get America's team to open up the season
in the Lafat Leopards, so there's that. Their road schedule

(01:03:13):
is difficult. There's Cincinnati on the road, Louisville on the road,
Ohio on the road, they have Eastern Michigan on the road.
Like it's not amazing, but I think Eddie George could
be of a decent quality for Bowling Green.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
Eddie looks like he could still play, by the way.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
He absolutely looks terrific.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
I don't know if he's got any eligibility left, but
they could use him.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
Yeah. Otherwise, like I talked about, the teams that are
just going to they're just trying to survive. They're just
trying to survive this season, whether it's akron UMass Ball State,
I think is going to be pretty down this year
once again they make their coaching change. So I don't know.
I think that's where we are. I think there's three

(01:03:54):
or four teams that have the ability to go bowling
in that middle if they're able to regroup after tough septembers.
There's three or four teams that are gonna eat each
other alive at the top. And I sort of hemmed
in hot about who I actually like the best. I
think it's still Buffalo because I think the combination of
coaching and schedule is meaningful. I'm gonna go Buffalo and

(01:04:15):
then Toledo and then Miami and then Ohio, Ohio, just
because it's a year one coach dealing with a lot
of changes, even with quarterback back. So I'm gonna go
Toledo and Buffalo, and I still I think give the
edge to Buffalo in this moment, pending what they get
out of quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
I like it. Okay, we got one conference left, Okay.
I will try not to drone on the way I
did with the sun Belt. When I tell the American,
you were intrigued by the sun Belt, the sun Belt,
intrigued by the sun Belt, the American. Let's talk about
the American. I think bigger picture, we're going to keep

(01:04:56):
having this debate now, especially in the playoff ero out
which conference is strongest. I think the American is strongest
at the top. I won't speak to the whole conference
and averages. And look, there are a lot of bad
teams in the American as well, he says, there are
the sun Belt, as are the MAC But at the top,

(01:05:18):
you've got a cluster of I'm going to say five
teams that could realistically make a case as a contender.
They also, all of these teams are dealing with this
push pull of the transfer portal. Like Tulane, one of
the top tier G five programs, really took it on
the chin in the TRAA.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Yeah, took it on the chin.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
They lost. They lost those two guys, they lost six
others who were starters. Most programs here are in the
same boat where they're losing their best players year in
and year out power conferences. Then there's this power vacuum,
which weirdly opens up the door for underdogs to like
swoop in and try to build their own transfer class

(01:05:59):
and maybe make a run at the conference. So it's
it's bad, but it's also good again for the aforementioned
hipster G five fans out there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
Who have no idea what to think of any of
these teams. Yeah, no, but it's it's it does make
it fun.

Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
To root for some of these conferences. It really really does.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Here here's how you could look at it from a
heat perspective, from a hotness perspective. Tie, because I was
thinking about this a lot with the MAC as well.
Sorry to interrupt you, no please, This feels like a
nice place to fit this thought in. People talk about
the end of college football as we know it, and
how are these smaller conferences going to compete when you know,

(01:06:38):
the bigger conference are scooping up the biggest programs from
wherever the Mountain West or the American and NIL has
rendered it and the portal has rendered all of these
situations to be so on basically borderline untenable that it
basically feels like a meteor is coming for the American,
for the Sun Belt, for the mac for the Mount
West whatever. If you think about it, though, if we

(01:07:01):
found out that a catastrophic life ending meteor were coming
to Earth, you have one of two choices here. You
can freak out and hide and just dread everything, or
you can find your nearest bottle of whatever and start
getting weird with the people you love the most. Right. Yeah,
So what I'm saying, if you love these conference is

(01:07:21):
the most, it's about to get weird.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
It's about to get really weird.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
It's about to get weird.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
It's gonna get It's gonna get it continue being weird.
The thought that kept coming to mind as I was
looking in particular through the American is there is probably
a lot of fun to be had and headlines to
be made. Is somebody just decides to go full moneyball. Yeah,
full moneyball with this thing. Just moneyball the crap out

(01:07:48):
of the portal, Build a beast scouting department, build a
conference champ on the fly, exclusively out of the portal
because you're better than your opponents at scouting.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Yeah, I think that's out there. Your scouting department in
classes and books. Yeah, and lookite a problem. The American's interesting.
The American has been a good conference for a long time.
No offense to the beloved service academies.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
But when Army and Navy make up two of the
three best defenses in your conference, you might not be
a very good defensive conference. Right right now, Army only
Army projects as the top fifty defense in this conference.
It's gonna be a lot of offense. They're not gonna
play a whole lot of defense. Let's get used to it.
Let's get used to it. By the way, this is
the second straight year where I was hoping for a

(01:08:33):
scheduling quirk where somebody would play both Army and Navy
on back to back weeks. That has not happened again for.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
The soup straight year.

Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
We got a couple teams North Texas, Temple, Tulsa, and
UAB that play them both, but none of them play
them on consecutive weeks. Sooner or later it's gonna happen.
That's gonna suck for whoever it has to be. But
here is where I am at. All right, everybody's gonna
be talking up tu Lane. I want to talk up Usa.

(01:09:00):
USF is my team.

Speaker 2 (01:09:04):
You're falling for it like I did last year.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
So like the fifth straight year, USF is my team,
and I'm referring to them as my October surprise. And
here's why. Okay, USF comically starts at season. Here are
the first three weeks home against Boise State, on the road,
against Florida on the road at Miami of Florida. Okay,

(01:09:32):
then they played like South Carolina State or somebody. There's
a pretty good chance they're going to start one to three.
But this is a good team. There's a lot back,
a ton of returning production, like eleventh nationally, eight starters
back on both sides of the ball. Offy factor in
the transfers Byron Brown, I believe should be back in healthy.
He didn't play in the spring game because he had
like a hamstring thing, but he snapped his leg five

(01:09:53):
games into the year last year, and from that point
forward they were just Alex Golish was just trying to
figure it out well.

Speaker 2 (01:09:59):
He was also like refusing to talk about his status,
and people had no idea near the end of the
year what his actual status was. Playing very cooy it was.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
It was a whole thing, But I believe he's back.
They've got an experience line, they've got a good receiver room.
Defense has a lot back. I'd like for the defense
to be a little bit more consistent, but they're going
to play quick. They're going to run a million plays.
I'm asking the rebollerhood to live dangerously with me and
PICKINGSF to win the MAC or excuse me, the American.

(01:10:30):
We already talked about. They could win the MAC, but
I think they also could win the American. I am
aggressively going over six and a half for USM. I
fully I pushed all the chips, all the chips in
the middle for USF. I say October surprise because I
think September is going to suck. But in October, people
are going to start realizing that, hey, USF's actually a

(01:10:52):
pretty good team.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
So caught the bad break last season with Byron Brown
going down a couple of games in but even still
went six and six, went a bowl game in one man.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
They beat some awful teams though.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
They did, but they they won the bowl game. I
think they played against San Jose State in that five
overtime they did. That was a really fun game, A
fun game. It was a fun game. I'm in on USF.
I'm really in on USF this year. Okay, I'm in
on Twu Lane as much as anybody's in on Tulane.
You know, they deserve to be in the top tier
nine to five. Last year, they lost to k State

(01:11:25):
and Oklahoma early. Then they went out with a whimper,
losing three in a row. It's probably still the best
team in the conference. There's probably still a very good
shot of them going eleven and one and winning the
thing and grabbing a playoff spot. Ultimately, if you are
looking at Tulane, here is what is going to be

(01:11:47):
the determining factor for their season. It's the middle of
September and then a four week stretch between middle of
October and early November. If you want to make the playoff,
if you're too Lane, you got to win the Darian
Mensa Bowl, which is going to happen third week of
September when Duke comes to town, and then they've got

(01:12:09):
a road game against Old Miss the following week. You
gotta beat Duke. You got to be competitive against Ole Miss.
It's that simple. And then later in the year there
is a stretch Army a bye week at UTSA at Memphis.
Those three games I think pretty much defined the whole
season in the American for two Lane.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
I think they're worse on offense. I think they're better
on defense. I think last year's team had more higher
end talent. This year's team maybe a little bit more depth.
That may be Phil Steele's creative way of saying that
they're worse, but he still has optimism for TWU Lane.
They were really aggressive in the transfer portal. If they

(01:12:48):
do take a step back on offense, it's not really
their fault because they did lose Darien Mensa. Oregon did
steal Mackay Hughes steal. They stole him, appealing place to
a lot of people time. So their quarterback, I think
is Brandon Solivan from Iowa. I just think it's going
to look different on offense because the quarterbacks aren't as good.

(01:13:09):
The personnel is different. They're going to need to rely
more on the running game and less on Darian Mansa
just creating a play in bombing it deep, that type
of thing. So I do think there's a chance that
some of the previews I saw are overvaluing to Lane.
I also think a good number of them may be
undervaluing to Lane's defense. Sort of a double sided coin there.

(01:13:32):
I don't know, Like I think it's a really good
front seven. I think they're going to pose a problem
for most of the teams in this conference their thinnick corner.
It's problem if they get injuries and that sort of thing.
But their win total is eight and a half. I
understand the logic. I just think they're nine and three
zero worse. This is a good team, Don't get me wrong.
I just kind of like USF a little bit more.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
Man, Okay, I think I like USF fine, depending on
their offensive health. Once they get to the American they
open what is Boise State, Florida and Miami brutal USF
op It's brutal.

Speaker 1 (01:14:05):
It's brutal. So they're gonna go one to three in September,
they're gonna go one to three. They're gonna hit a
bye week before they get into October. And I can
tell you college football fans who don't really pay attention
to the American are gonna look at USF and they're
gonna say, O, they're one of three, But yeah, who cares?
After that? Though? After that after we get into October.

(01:14:27):
This is when the October surprise occurs. Yeah, this is
when they start winning. It's like, okay, everybody's sleeping on
USF because they forgot about him. They had a bad
record to start the season. Well, maybe the context here
is important, and I think this is when they make
their move. But Byron Brown's got to be healthy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
That's Boise Week one though, and it's at home, correct, correct?
So Boise is traveling across the country to play in Tampa,
Florida in late August with no Ashton Gent, no Ashton Gent,
Boise State is definitively better, but situationally getting week one,
that's interesting. It's Georgia. It was Georgia Southern last year,
right that scored a bunch of points in a shootout

(01:15:04):
against Boise's defense. Yep, because it was in Georgia.

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
Okay, And I mean, look, they're gonna play an up tempo,
fun version of an offense. If Miami and Corey Heatherman
can't get their defense sorted.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Out, Miami will be fine. But yeah, you want to
talk about.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
These games where they put the fear of God into somebody.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
I know, I Hearriett.

Speaker 1 (01:15:26):
It could be could be one of those situations you have.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
To did two years ago with Obama.

Speaker 1 (01:15:30):
Yeah, I'm not sure they're winning any of those three
games that we mentioned, but it's of note talking about
the Service academies real quick. I like them both. Bryson
Dally is gone from Army, which sucks. That's an enormous void.
I don't know how they fill it. One of the
reasons why they were so successful last year is because
they tweaked the offense to fit more of his game.
I think they're gonna need to do that again. All right,

(01:15:52):
new quarterback. I think it's Dwayne Coleman. I think that's
gonna be the dude. They also lose their running back,
Kanye Udo. They're gonna need to make some modifications here.
They really are. I don't know what the offense looks like.
I mean, we know what the offense looks like. I
just don't know how effective it's going to be.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
He ended up in Arizona State, by the way, Kanye Judo,
I believe so for the ultimate change, going ultimate change
talk about a culturoinst tempe cultural change.

Speaker 1 (01:16:15):
The defense, though, for Army, as I mentioned earlier, is
what gives them the high floor opponents because of the
way they play offense only get the ball about nine times.
So if you've got a competent defense, that's you know,
that's starting you out in a pretty good spot. If
your defense is above average, which Army certainly is, you're
going to be a conference contender. And I think that's

(01:16:37):
the case again here there're season. They've got three road
games that are going to define everything at Case State
Week two at two Lane, middle of October at UTSA
on Black Friday. I'm not counting the Army Navy game.
By the way, they need to move Army Navy to
Week zero, especially now with them being in the same conference.
I now like the scheduling is just weird, especially if
they end up having to play in a title game

(01:16:58):
or something.

Speaker 2 (01:16:58):
Which they won.

Speaker 1 (01:16:59):
They on the confinals last year. I know, just play
at week zero. I get that as breaking a tradition,
but it's going to be a fun way to start
out the year. Move it, move on with our lives.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
I hear you.

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
I like Army. I like them more on defense than
I do on offense because they have more questions about
their offense.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
And then Navy.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
The first thing that jumps out to me about Navy,
which went ten to three last season beat Oklahoma in
a bowl game. They have a very favorable schedule. Horvath
is back right, as is most of the backfield, So
we could probably stop the preview right there if we
want it, because I think the offense is going to
harm I think the line is, you know, dealing with
some turnover. But Navy's been good at plugging in guys,

(01:17:40):
even when they don't know who those guys are going
to be. They've been very good at just plugging and
playing along that line. But the schedule is why you
like Navy. They got the game against Notre Dame, but
they have Army later in the year. You know, who
knows if it's going to matter at that point. They
miss Tulane, they miss UTSA, they miss USF, and they

(01:18:01):
get Memphis on the road late in the year, which
is going to be a tough spot a week before
I guess a game before that Army spot to close
out the year. But like Navy going nine and three
and hitting their eight and a half over feels really
good to me. That feels like a good bet. I
don't know if they're going to be able to stop
the pass. I kind of think they won't again, but

(01:18:24):
they might be a little bit better at it. It
is a defense as a whole that returns a fair amount.
So if you start talking about a team that's just
marginally better, they do have a NFL caliber lineman Landon
Robinson their nose guard. I think maybe the defense in
the front seven can improve. It's just the secondary again.
For me, you couldn't stop the pass last year either, right,

(01:18:44):
So I like the Service Academies. I think they're going
to be a player with respect to the conference. But
I like those other two teams more.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
I kind of like the Service academies in the American
by the way, I kind of like that they're getting
regularler you know, maybe potential budding rivalry games. I like
seeing them when they're of quality playing in conference championship games.
I like it. I think it's fun to have a
more regular Service Academy schools in our lives as college

(01:19:13):
fob efense instead of just like jumping around and playing
Notre Dame in San Jose State and Arizona State.

Speaker 1 (01:19:17):
Like, I like this, I really like you TSA. Yeah, okay,
let me tell you what I don't like everything about
their defense.

Speaker 2 (01:19:25):
Okay, fine, they got.

Speaker 1 (01:19:27):
Some interesting linebacker transfers from like Alabama and TCU. I
don't know if they got a pass rush. I think
the secondary is going to be a problem. Even though
they got some like interesting linebackers, they don't really have
any depth or experience there. I don't like that at all.

Speaker 2 (01:19:44):
But I like so what's interesting about them that they
happen to be like third string dudes at bigger schools.

Speaker 3 (01:19:49):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
I like their offense, No, I know, but I'm saying
with the linebackers.

Speaker 1 (01:19:51):
Yeah, they got a guy from Alabama and TCU. Yeah,
that's why. Okay, eighty two percent of their production is
back on offense though as is as are nine starters,
so ohen McCown's back. They're loaded out wide, the line
is solid, it's deep. They're gonna score like thirty five
points a game. I also really like Jeff Trailer. He's
going to be in his sixth season at UTSA. Despite

(01:20:14):
starting three and five last season, they ended up going
to a Bowl. They finished seven and six, so having
him gives them stability. He's a great coach. Put a
lot of emphasis in the offseason. I saw an interview
where he talked or somebody talked about little things, right,
they were poorly coached in some key moments. They're trying
to get accountability and discipline. You know, all these tropes

(01:20:35):
that we hear in the preseason. The TLDR is that
UTSA is going to be a hell of a half
team this year. They're going to play in a lot
of shootouts and it's a really fun schedule to play
as a half team. Hit me at Texas A and
M Week one, who the hell knows, Great, it's going
to be a good offense home against Texas State and

(01:20:55):
that rivalry. Week two, two teams that are going to
play shootouts home against Tulane end of October. They're at
USF the following week, and then they're home against Army
to close out the year. So I'm including UTSA and
my contender Tire because I think the offense is so
good that it's going to put them in that prime position.

(01:21:16):
I think for my money that UTSA is the new
Memphis this year. Okay, they are the new Memphis.

Speaker 2 (01:21:22):
Late in the year, you're like, are they eight and
one with some just like the lost A and M.

Speaker 1 (01:21:26):
Okay, don't play any defense, but they're dynamite on offense.
They're the new Memphis. Okay, I'm out, by the way
on Memphis. Okay, I'm totally out on Memphis side. Note, Yeah,
totally out Phil Steele. I think he had them first.
A bunch of people had Memphis first. People are really
high in Memphis this year. Nearly everybody has them as
a contender, which I get the logic. Everybody is just

(01:21:49):
panning the fact dan that they lost Seth Hennigan, who
was there for four years, was a crazy productive quarterback.
They lost a thirteen hundred yard running back on top
of that, and their top five receivers. That feels like
a lot for a program.

Speaker 2 (01:22:05):
Doesn't it a lot? Yep?

Speaker 1 (01:22:06):
Like they've almost exclusively fielded half teams over the years,
so the offense has to work in order for this
team to be any good. When you lose all of
your offense, why is everybody just assuming, Oh, I it'll
work again, that'll be great, It'll be fine. Oh, by
the way, the quarterback that everybody's talking up this year,

(01:22:27):
Brendan Lewis, remember him, of course, Colorado, Colorado and Nevada.

Speaker 2 (01:22:33):
Yeah, he's going to be the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:22:34):
No, I'm out, Okay, I'm out there's a step back coming.
No offense to Brendan Lewis, no offense to Memphis program
that's been pretty good over the years, but.

Speaker 2 (01:22:46):
Down here regression year.

Speaker 1 (01:22:48):
That not a down year, it's an eight and four year.

Speaker 2 (01:22:51):
Oh okay, down here for them.

Speaker 1 (01:22:53):
It's a good schedule. Yeah, and one game that you
know you should note here if we're pulling out our point.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
I'm not necessarily pointing at any flaws. I'm pointing right
now at perfection.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
This is perfection. They get Arkansas coming to town a
week before Arkansas goes back home to play Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
And oh the look ahead action.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
If you have read up anything on Arkansas this year,
we had some people send this into us. People in
Fayeteville are already talking up that Notre Dame game. That
Notre Dame game is going to be very much on
the radar for the Arkansas faithful and the team. So
I would not be at all surprised if they go
to Memphis a week before and it's like, hmm, this

(01:23:34):
is a team that still could play offense, might not
be as good at it to facto Super Bowl tie. Yeah, yeah, man,
that's what I'm talking about when.

Speaker 2 (01:23:41):
The SEC team coming to town.

Speaker 1 (01:23:43):
Okay, those are like my main points of intrigue in
the American those five teams, Tulane, usf Army, Navy, and
UTSA at Memphis. I guess I I put Memphis in
my wishful thinking tier, okay, because I'm just not buying it.
The other team that's in my wishful thinking tier is

(01:24:04):
North Texas. North Texas another one of these teams that
you know historically has been a half team. They're interesting
to me this year just on a very personal level
because they have two quarterbacks with four syllable last names. Okay, Okay,
nobody else cares about that type of thing. That's the

(01:24:25):
type of thing that I care about. But this is
a program that enters what I think is a really
important third year for Eric Morris, their coach. They need
to show some significant progress here. They need to address
some of their defensive struggles. Defense has just been such
a problem. They're going to be good on offense. I
think there's a high ceiling on offense. They run that

(01:24:48):
air raid. It's going to continue to be the case.
Drew Mesta Maker, Reese Poffenbarger, those are your.

Speaker 2 (01:24:56):
Oh yeahs, all right, Reese Poffenbarger, O to you to
all Albany to Miami to North Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:25:02):
Okay, they're there, defensive front turned over guys. Their secondary
is rebuilding. They've just not been able to demonstrate that
they can get to, you know, whatever that next level
is considered. So he's he's got to do it this year.
Otherwise I think there could be some changes. Okay, interested
in that on the North Texas side. And then we're

(01:25:24):
talking about a bunch of programs that I lumped together
into just, you know, a whatever tier. I don't know
what to make of E C U. We've got a
handful of programs that I put in my new coach
thank you, next tier Temple, FAU, Charlotte, Rice and Tulsa.

(01:25:46):
And then we've got U a B, which I put
in my should hire a new coach tier.

Speaker 2 (01:25:51):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:25:51):
Agree, I don't know how much detail you want me
to go into with any of these programs. We're ready
run whatever whatever. Your most pressing thoughts are, like, I'm
I'm really interested in Temple and Casey Keeler. If I'm
just talking about new coaches entering into situations, I don't
think any of these teams are gonna be very good,
by the way, So for me to sit here and

(01:26:12):
talk about like two deeps and stuff like that, which
I could do and I have on my note sheet,
I'm not going to do that because that's beside the point.
Casey Keeler is interesting because he's got roots in this
part of the country. He's an old school guy. He's
been trumpeting this Temple tough culture thing which he's trying
to get guys.

Speaker 2 (01:26:28):
To buy into Delaware. To Sam Houston, Yep, yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (01:26:32):
So he's he's like all in, Okay, he's all in
on this part of the country. He's trying to build
this toughness in this culture and that sort of thing.
You know, we'll see. I don't think Temple is going
to be very good. Zach Kittley at FAU is interesting
to me, Yeah, if only because we know that there
is a track record there for him coaching up offense. Also,

(01:26:54):
I think he's been able to flip the roster in
his first year and bring in a bunch of transfers.
There has definitely been some magnetism with this guy coming
over from his previous stops. Knowing what he did on
offense to FAU, so I think he's going to be
able to get that offense in a really interesting spot
pretty quickly. He was able to bring over Caden Veldtcamp,

(01:27:18):
the quarterback that he helped recruit to Western Kentucky. So
if nothing more, you bring a guy like that in,
you should be fairly competent at quarterback. He knows the
system because there's familiarity there already with Zach Kitley. I
think the quarterback position could be fun. I think there'll
be an interesting receiver hook up between him and Easton

(01:27:40):
Messer also, who comes over from Western Kentucky. That'll be
fun if you're an FAU fan. Otherwise, though, it's like
a defensive rebuild. There's not a lot of experience, there's
not a lot of depth. Turn it over a bunch
of running backs like it's outside a Messer. I don't
know what to expect that wide receiver. So it's going
to be the type of thing that takes a while

(01:28:00):
at FAU. But they're of interest to me because of that. Sure,
you know, Charlotte tim Albin, it's like brand new situation. Again.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
Brought a bunch of dudes. Did brought a.

Speaker 1 (01:28:10):
Bunch of dudes. There's a huge roster transformation that's taking place.
I think it's important to set expectations that this could
be a four or five win team reaching a bowl game.

Speaker 2 (01:28:22):
Charlotte's been a tough job. It seems like it's a
better job than it's been. But like you know, Will
Heley and Biff Poge like just couldn't get it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:29):
It seems like, yeah, this is getting to a bowl
is in my view and your impossibility, I just don't
see it. If they do it, it'd be a huge
dub for Tim Albin in year one. I think they'll
be solid running the ball. They've got some decent options
at quarterback, but like it's just going to take a while. Man,
it's going to take a while for any of this

(01:28:50):
to take effect. ECU I don't know. I just I
don't know they could make a bowl. I'm interested in ECU.
I think there's some momentum at ECU. Katon Hauser for
ECU had a good season last year. Mm hmm, so

(01:29:10):
that could be interesting. I like their receivers. I just
don't know about the defense. Again, it's been a big
overhaul in defense.

Speaker 2 (01:29:20):
They finished the air well last year they did. They
ended up beating NC State with a bunch of fighting
in the bowl game, that's right, But it was a
strong end to the air. It was a slow start,
but they finished impressively if memory serves now. The teams
they played weren't great. Temple Fau Tulsa's the other team

(01:29:41):
you haven't mention in North Texas was a five hundred team.
They lose to Navy, but like win the winnable games,
and that's what ECU did.

Speaker 1 (01:29:48):
All of these teams that I'm talking about here towards
the end and frankly in the beginning. Yeah, everybody's got
defensive questions. Dan Tulsa's interesting because Trey Lamb. Trey Lam's
got an interesting track reck. He's from Eastern Tennessee State.
He's only thirty five years old. He's the second youngest
coach in FBS.

Speaker 2 (01:30:09):
He's like a couple of generations removed from you.

Speaker 1 (01:30:11):
The youngest is Zach Kittley, who I just mentioned. He's
only thirty three. Geez, he's got a track record. So
it's a rebuilding situation. But he went to an FCS
playoff game with Gardner Webb Eastern Tennessee like his best
offenses have been really balanced, pretty explosive, so it's going
to take time to build that up. But I don't

(01:30:32):
hate the move for Tulsa and then all I me
just close this thing out with Uab and Rice real quick,
make or break season for Trent Dilfer. Gotta do something,
Gotta do something, got to figure out a way to
make this work because otherwise, if they don't get better
on defense, it's over, full stop, it's over. I don't

(01:30:54):
have high expectations for this team. I think they'll play
offense well. I don't know what to expect on defense though.
They just got to get that defensive things sorted out.
The defense has been such a liability. They allow so
many points, so many yards. It's really hard to win.
Light that. And Rice as a new coach, Scott Able, Yep,
he's going to implement a shotgun spread option attack, which

(01:31:17):
could be fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (01:31:17):
They actually got a little bit going these past couple
of years. Rice not enough under Mike Bloomgren, but they
got a couple things going.

Speaker 1 (01:31:25):
Quintin Jackson Taji Atkins are there running back tandem that
I'm really interested in watching in that system in particular. Okay,
and there are you know, there are some bright spots
in defense. Actually the defense secondary is pretty good against
the pass. Ty Morris is a fun linebacker for them
that I think is going to be a name brand

(01:31:45):
player in the American But it's just a transition year offensively,
especially on the line quarter It's a system like that
requires that you have a quarterback that knows how to
run it, so I might take while to figure out
who that is. And there's just again more turnover on
defense broadly speaking. So long story short, I'm in on USF.

(01:32:08):
I like USF. I think I like USF over two lane.
That's my predicted order of finish in the American Okay, wow,
double bulls show with you going Buffalo with me going USF.

Speaker 2 (01:32:22):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:32:22):
Sorry, Then, just to put a bow on all this thing,
I'm going to stick JMU. Stick with JMU as my
team in the Sun Belt. I like it. One hour,
thirty eight minutes here on my time.

Speaker 2 (01:32:39):
Time.

Speaker 1 (01:32:39):
Damn. Next episode, we're going into the Mountain West. We're
going to talk about Conference USA. We'll talk about the
PAC two packed well last.

Speaker 2 (01:32:46):
Year of the PAC two because we've got a lot
of Mountain West and I guess movement because of it.
But yes, there's going to be a PAC twelve, which
we'll have nowhere near twelve teams next season.

Speaker 1 (01:32:57):
But yeah, I have an in co ordinate number of
notes here that I did not get to on the
sun Belt. I'm way too interested in the sun Belt.
I am sorry. If anybody out there is offended by
how much time I spent on the sun Belt.

Speaker 2 (01:33:10):
Don't be offended. I hope I'm super interested.

Speaker 1 (01:33:15):
I'm very interested in the sun Belt this year. Yeah,
I poured my heart and soul into the sun Belt.
So okay, big thanks to everybody out there for following
along with this. We've got a part two coming up
on our next episode. We would encourage you again to
hit fall hit subscribes that you don't miss any of that.
And of course, like I said, I'm going to go
into detail on one of our upcoming bonus episodes talking

(01:33:35):
about some of these teams that I was really interested in.
We'll do it maybe a little bit like we did
last year where we dove in covered some more specific
position groups and stuff out on Patreon on the bonus
episode for Bawlers dot Com.

Speaker 2 (01:33:47):
Yeah, if you're interested in.

Speaker 1 (01:33:48):
That, Dan, great, all right, why don't we call it
quits on this episode? Why don't we come back strong
on the next one. We'll talk through more of the
G five slash G six. I don't know what the
proper nomenclature is for this at this point. We will
do that on our next episode. We will round things
out before we jive jive dive on into the acc Yes, sir,

(01:34:11):
for that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein,
for myself, Tie Hilton Brand. Thank you for barion with
us here on the first of our conference. Previous episodes.
Talk to y'all next episodes.

Speaker 2 (01:34:20):
Stay soul, peace,

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