SEC TEAM PREVIEWS: Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn & Vanderbilt | 2025 College Football - The Solid Verbal College Football

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

Speaker 2 (00:05):
For me, I'm a man, I'm forty.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
be happy. You want to be happy for day Edo
state is that whoo whoom and Dan and tie Dan Rubinstein,
I want you to hold up one finger there. It
is one figure. Wherever you are in the verbowler hood
out there, hold up one finger. Because we got one

(00:30):
big preview episode left. Mister Rubinstein gonna run hard through
the tape today, my friend. We've got the SEC Part
three incoming imminent the next sixty minutes or so. We've
got eight teams, eight more teams to discuss.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Welcome back. How are you? I'm great, Thank you very much.
One conference preview because we are also doing Notre Dame
and signing the U Constitution. Right, We've got one episode
left of previewing teams that's going to be a part
of a larger episode. But we're not leaving out Notre Dame.
Should have been within the ACC episode this whole time.
I disagree. I disagree. I like this.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
We're gonna try this approach instead.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Here's what I was thinking about, because I just took
a shower. If you're watching this on YouTube dot com
slash Solid Verbal. You'll notice I have a particularly clean
sheen to me. I do all my best thinking in
the shower. I clean my beautiful body, and I move
forward with my life. So I was thinking about college,
tie and think about going away to college. This is
good Blink song. By the way. This is a college

(01:31):
football show, and there is something central to college. Right.
A lot of times people are moving. They're not going
to college in your hometown. But even more important, you're
going to college. And whatever you used to be, you
didn't necessarily have to be anymore, right if you were
super into sports. But you're like, I'm past that part
of my life. I'm getting into art. I'm getting into
the cello, I'm getting into literature. Whatever you can change that.

(01:55):
I change my name from Danny to Dan. I was
gonna say you were a Danny, you became a Dan.
I became a Dan first day, and there's something great
about that. Obviously, there's a lot of movement in college football.
And what you were at Washburn College doesn't mean that
you're that at your next stop. What you were at
Fresno State doesn't mean that's what you are at Minnesota

(02:17):
doesn't mean that's what you are at Texas Tech. I
can appreciate that even though the SEC is where it
just means more, where it does matter, right, everything matters.
My central thesis for this episode, given the teams we're
talking about, given the struggles that some of these teams
or the successes that some of these teams had last year,

(02:38):
I think we can just sort of leave it in
the past and to quote your boy Justin or JC
or Chris or Joey or Lancett, there is something very
specific about these teams that you figure out your offense
this year. Finally, Oklahoma, but you got that schedule. If
it's not good enough, right Arkansas, You ended on a

(03:03):
bang last year in that Bowl game, Taylor Green huge,
But then everybody leaves, make new hires, bringing a bunch
of transfers. So last year in a lot of ways
for all of these teams, right Auburn. Look at Peyton Thorn,
some of the issues in the passing game for Auburn,
some of the issues that Hugh Freeze had after the
games where he's just throwing his own players under the bus.
It's a new year, there are new transfers, and you

(03:24):
know what if it's the same old story for Auburn
that as it relates to the transfers't I can't wait
to talk about these teams because never in our preview
season this year have we been faced with a grouping
of programs that could go in so many different horrendous

(03:46):
or spectacular directions. So what's the lesson in all of
this tie? The lesson here is doesn't matter if your
offense is good, doesn't matter if your defense is good.
All that matters is that with the schedules ahead, with
the pressures ahead, in this conference, doesn't matter if you're

(04:08):
not in sync.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Wow, that is an old fashioned, vintage Dan Rubinstein preamble.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Thank you very much, Thank you very much. A lot
a lot on the line here.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
You're getting warmed up for the regular season. Well, what
we've got, Yeah, as you said, eight teams in front
of us Tennessee, Texas, A and M, South Carolina, Florida, Auburn, Oklahoma, Arkansas,
and Vanderbilt. We can decide on the order here momentarily.
Thank you for coming on back to the show. Hit follow,
hit subscribe if you like what we do. That's the easiest,

(04:41):
the freest way for you to support what Dan and
I are doing here. If you're watching out on YouTube,
hit the subscribe button, leave a comment. We're told that
the comments help now, or at least I saw somebody's
theory on that out on the end. This is only
half the show. This is only half the show. The
other half is happening down below in the comments, good
or bad. Believe a comment, hit the subscribe button. That

(05:02):
stuff helps. And of course, as we have said time
and again, for ballers dot com is where you can
go to get these episodes a little bit early without
all the ads. You get access to our community as well.
Discord the game that I'm going to spin up here
in just a couple of weeks, the prizes that go
along with that game, Vote in the polls, that type
of stuff forballers dot com.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
V E R B A L L e r.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
S dot com. Dan agree, I am excited for this episode,
really excited for this episode for all the reasons that
you went through in your wonderful preamble.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I mentioned South Carolina, I didn mentioned Vanderbilt. Oh, there's
so much wildcard potential.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
There is so much wildcard potential in this crop of
eight teams that I almost cannot wait to get started?

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Where do you want to get started? Which?

Speaker 1 (05:51):
Which of these teams do you find it would be
the best leadoff hitter on this episode a Florida Gators Artigators. Yeah, okay,
let's do.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
You're wearing that that royal blue shade right now as
we speak, So it felt right.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Florida went eight and five a year ago, they're over
and under this year is seven and a half wins
finish Strong had a four game win streak to close
out the year that included upsets over LSU and Ole Miss,
plus they won the Bowl game over two Lane. You
have to start any Florida preview this year by calling

(06:27):
out the schedule, and I'm sorry to do it because
I know it's not necessarily a team preview, but it
is a season preview in that this is easily one
of the hardest schedules in the country, full stop.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
You know everybody grades schedules a little bit differently, There
is not much debate on this topic with regards to Florida.
The schedule is murder.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
So with that is a starting point. My big question,
I think everyone's big question, and it's even more of
a question now if you been following any of the
Florida injury news. What happens if DJ Lagway A does
stay healthy this year and b makes the kind of
jump that everybody is expecting slash hoping for. That to

(07:16):
me is the big central question, the whole theme of
this Florida season, and it does revolve around DJ Lagway.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Now we can talk about the health.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Concern concerns, excuse me and all that, but that in
and of itself, I think, is where you have to
start this conversation.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
That's, by the way, on the Florida broadcast in Barcelona.
The health concerned, the health yeah, continue.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
No, I wanted to start there. So it's like it's
a really good situation at Florida. I think we're finally
starting to see the payoff after a few really hard
years for Billy Napier, but good recruiting. This roster is
like eighty percent homegrown guys. I talked to Gator Dave
from Gator's Breakdown about this a few months ago. It's
it's amazing how finding your guy in DJ Lagway can

(08:04):
change the narrative around a program. And it's clear that
he's been one of the big selling points in the
recruiting game, getting some of these stars to come and
play in Gainesville. So the upside with him is evident. Yes,
six and zero last season in games that he both
started and finished. There was one that he started but
didn't finish and they lost that one. I think that
was a Georgia game. Throws a great deep ball, maybe

(08:26):
the highest ceiling of any quarterback in college football right now.
But he's young. He's young, just a freshman. Bill connell
ed I talked a little bit about what Bill said
in part one, but based on what Bill was seeing
in the numbers on the tape, a lot of what
Lagway needs to clean up is common freshman stuff. We're
talking about processing, we're talking about just like accuracy in spots,

(08:51):
knowing when to make the right move outside the pocket,
things like that. I saw our friends over at PFF
talked about some struggles that Lagway had against drop coverage.
These are all things that can be fixed, but only
if he stays healthy correct. Last year it was a
hamstring and a shoulder. He missed spring camp because of
sort of an ambiguous arm thing. Recently, he picked up

(09:15):
another knock that does not seem to be all that serious,
but it's just you don't want to keep hearing about
these things with your star quarterback, right, So he's obviously
the headliner. I think again, this is where the conversation
needs to begin with the Florida Gators. If you're listening
to this, you already know about DJ Lagway, but I
just need to re emphasize it. It really is all

(09:37):
revolving around this guy.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
I agree and disagree just because there are questions elsewhere
that will affect DJ Lagway. Right. So it's wide receiver
health and depth, and they played a ton of guys
everywhere last year. They were I think Bill C said
one of the unluckiest teams in terms of roster consistency, right,
that they were playing so many different dudes because of

(09:59):
inj highlighted of course that DJ Lagaway was probably thrown
into the mix a little bit too early given Graham
Mertz's injury status. You're right that DJ lagwe should absolutely
take a step forward, provided offensive line continuing to improve,
wide receiver health, running back running game continues to be
pretty good. They didn't do anything excellently last year. They

(10:21):
are elite in terms of what they could potentially do well,
but they haven't shown that specifically yet and ahead of
this schedule. By the way, the last five games I
looked at it, it looks really bad. Now in twenty
twenty two, it would have been the craziest five games
stretch in America. I'm very high on DJ Lagway. I'm
very high on him because of when a quarterback shows

(10:42):
immediate comfort and confidence as a true freshman. They were
one of the best teams if there were any If
there was anything that they did extraordinarily well last year,
they did generate a ton of explosive plays. This was it.
They were kind of boom or bust, but they boomed
a lot, and so I'm excited about more of that.
That's going to require wide receiver health, you know, the
tantalizing true freshman Dallas Wilson just went down I think

(11:05):
with an unspecified leg injury of some kind. Hopefully that's
quick turnaround for him. I haven't seen an official report,
so hopefully he's back a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, it looks like a couple of weeks. But it's
not just him. I mean Trey Wilson coming in. I
mean missed a ton last year. Yeah, Trey Wilson was
out Yeah, but he's been dealing with some injury stuff
now in camp. Adim Mazelle nicked up as well at
time of recording, So yeah, it's his jump forward is
definitely contingent on them having health out wide. I think
they have a lot of good options. I mean it's

(11:34):
not just those names that we mentioned. J Michael Sturtevant
comes down from UCLA. I think he has an impact.
Vernell Brown the third one of their prize recruits, Dallas Wilson,
I just to go back to him for a second.
I think he has potential to be an absolute superstar.
I am thrilled to see what he can do in
this Florida offense. How long it takes for him to

(11:54):
get up to full speed, I guess that remains to
be seen. But it's whatever your starting point is. This
DJ Lagway, a quarterback that everybody agrees is going to
be the dude, and a line that brings back four
starters led by a guy like Jake Slaughter at center.
That is a really, really good starting point with your offense.
If they are now in this position of having to
put the pieces around the star quarterback, you'd almost always

(12:19):
rather have that situation than trying to figure out who
your quarterback is. Right, you have all the other pieces,
but you don't have the guy. They've got Lagway. I
think they're surrounding him with a really good supporting cast.
They need to stay healthy, but it's all there. On offense.
There should be some sort of quantum leap forward provided
we have that health.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, and that health better be there, and it better
travel because they have LSU and Miami on the road
in the first what four or five weeks of the season. Yep,
So Florida's going to be fascinating this year. The upside
of Florida is super intriguing. Billiy Napier still has a
ton of pressure on him, although it was alleviated a
little bit with how they finished last season. The defense

(12:58):
is going to be fascinating because if there is concerns
about offensive health, defense needs to get better quickly. Defense
was fine improved last year. It's much more of I
think Ron Roberts is assuming more power. Ron Roberts is
the guy. Austin Armstrong has since left. He went to Houston.
But this is a defense. Last year was the most

(13:19):
improved scoring defense in the SEC. They cut thirteen points
off per game, which is a pretty noticeable increase or decrease.
I guess the counterpoint is that the secondary gave up
a bunch of big plays, yes, and the returning talent
is there. It just needs to improve.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
They can't do that again, obviously, So to your point
of boom or bust, there was some busting going on
on the Florida side with regard to their secondary. But
like otherwise, I think the linebacking corps is in a
good spot. They need guys like Grayson Howard, Miles Graham
to step up because they lose Shamar James, but I
think there's talent there. I think the defensive line has

(14:00):
guys that can play in the NFL, like Caleb Banks,
Tyreek Sap.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
These are really.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Really high caliber players that they've got to help anchor
that defensive line. So I think they will be fine
on defense, provided they can continue some of that momentum
that we saw under Ron Roberts last season and especially
down the stretch right. I talked to Gator Dave about
this when we interviewed him a couple months ago now,
But part of that change that we saw when they

(14:26):
did win four games to close out the season, I
think was pretty strongly correlated to what we saw on
the defensive side with some of those games, so they
got to continue that momentum.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, I think if you're a Florida fan, you're just
hoping for a very boring season, right, You're not hoping
for boring, not necessarily great if it's in a you're
not exciting offensively or defensively, but boring in terms of
you're winning the games you should win and you're not
getting hurt. You're not getting hurt.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Hey to keep coming back to that, but here this
is a recurring theme here that yeah, if you're a
Florida fan, like, let's just keep these guys healthy and
see what they can. I'll do together.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Right, even the excitement of beating Ole miss that was
an extremely losable moment for Florida, and that they won
that game, it's a great sign. Starting with Aiden Warner
against Texas, they really didn't have a chance in that spot.
But really, they didn't lose to bad teams last year. No,
as I recall, it was, you know, A and m
and Miami turned out to have a crazy impressive offense.

(15:25):
So it's winning boring games, staying healthy, not making dumb mistakes,
having the defense continue to improve, having the offense look
like it's more of a developed product. It's gonna be
a really fun Florida team, especially, Like you can look
at the teams, and you can look at the schedule,
and it's more a product of yes, that they have
these games in a row, LSU and Miami. What's Miami's

(15:47):
defense going to be? Like, what's LSU's defense going to be?
Like what's Tennessee's offense going to be? Like what is
Georgia going to find? What's Florida State going to find?
Like there are still a lot of teams with enormous
questions on this schedule, So Florida could be the one
who knocks, not the one receiving. So it's fun, It's fine.
I did a.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
Literal loll when I saw the schedule, just to highlight
this again.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
You mentioned you can say I laughed. You don't have
to say lol.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
I'm trying to be You're not texting me right now.
I'm trying to be gen Z. You know you've got younger's.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
So obvious that you just fit in with the youth.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Younger listeners on this show, don't be SUSTI we got
a comment about that. By the way, it's great at
LSU at Miami to close out September before a bye week.
Then it's Texas at Texas A and m Mississippi State
in another bye close out the year. The last five
games to your earlier point, Georgia in Jacksonville, Georgia coming

(16:44):
off of bye, Florida coming off bye at Kentucky at
Ole Miss home against Tennessee home against Florida State.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
All the teams with huge questions, huge questions maybe outside
of Georgia. But yeah, but.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
That is a lot of AMMO close out this season.
So if Florida can continue what they did last year,
finishing the year strong, more to the point of running
hard through the tape, that would be quite a gauntlet
to go through to close out this thing in November.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
And don't forget Florida State. Florida State won nearly three
games last year, So there's that.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
As I said, the over under is seven and a half.
I'm inclined to go over with Florida.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
You know what, I will too, just because bad luck
isn't necessarily consistent all of the time, and so maybe
the universe breaks them even I tend to go over.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
I think this is eight, maybe nine if everything goes great, yeah,
and everybody stays healthy.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yep, I'm with you. I want to talk Oklahoma now. Okay.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
I said this on one of the other episodes we did.
Oklahoma to me is the most interesting team in the country,
and I don't even think it's close.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
I really don't. So that Oklahoma LSU game for us,
it's going to be very special because I LSU is
super fascinating. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, Oklahoma. The team went six and seven last year.
If you count the Bowl loss, the over under this
year is six and a half. They struggled in year
one in their new membership in the SEC. It was
six and six regular season, it was two and six
in conference. It's about to be year four now for

(18:24):
Brent Vannables. And if you go back walk back through
the offseason, it seems pretty clear that Brent Vannibles.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Understands the stakes at this point.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Definitely very aggressive in the portal, very proactive in trying
to fix the offense, to which I say a bron
tompshells answering libella. There are two actually three actually if
you want to really widen the aperture here, but the
two biggest names to know John Mattier, Ben r Buckle,

(19:00):
Ben don't call me Eric Arbuckle. Yeah, both of whom
come down from Wazoo. Mattier wasn't technically the top quarterback
in the transfer portal Okay. Might be the most interesting,
though it was umber one. I think it was Nico oh, Okay.
I think it was Nico and then Carson Beck at
least per twenty four to seven. But then John Mattier
was third. Either way, it doesn't matter. Might be the

(19:22):
most interesting of all those names. Definitely a little bit
of Baker Mayfield in his game, A really really gifted runner.
He would have been Oklahoma's leading rusher last season. For
what it's worth. Ben Arbuckle was his offensive coordinator in Pullman.
Before that, Ben Arbuckle was at Western Kentucky where he
did wonders with Bailey Zappi. This was a very super

(19:45):
aggressive hire by Brent Venables. Arbuckle is young, he has
a track record. He makes offenses better almost immediately by
installing his version of the air raid. That's just his deal.
So he's going to play with tempo, He's going to
try to stretch the field. It should be a different offense,
Dan full stop.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Agree, Yeah, very excited to see if you can plug
and play a coordinator, quarterback combo from a smaller place,
but Wazoo obviously is of Power Conference caliber and has
been for quite some time. If you can plug and
play that like I guess sort of Vandy did last year. Yeah,

(20:27):
but expectations long term, Marge is always going to be
considerably higher at Oklahoma than they are at Vanderbilt. I'll
due respect, So this is going to be super fascinating.
You're right to be fascinated by Oklahoma. It to me
watching Oklahoma last year, it wasn't a simply oh, this

(20:47):
quarterback isn't talented enough, although that case can be made.
It was this offense wasn't built for success in any conference,
let alone the sec that from the ground up, from
the offensive line, from receivers to running backs to court back.
It just Oklahoma is a very strange place to have

(21:10):
a warm body problem. There's a lot of schools who
have warm body problems, but a lot of these schools
that were preview when you look at the rosters, when
you look at the recruiting and you're like, I don't
know who's going to be the guy here. But they've
recruited very well and they're going to figure it out
whether or not it's this transfer or this red shirt
freshman or red shirt sophomore or something like that. Oklahoma
should be that kind of place. And last year was

(21:30):
a warm body search on offense for Oklahoma, and it
was what three years ago as well? Yeah, the Dylan
Gabriel year in between. So my question is, yes, the
arbuckle higher bringing in Jometeer. We'll see on jade not
he missed some time last year. We'll see on receiver,
We'll see on offensive line. I just don't want to

(21:51):
be having this conversation next year about having a warm
body issue along the offensive line.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
If we're having this conversation again next year, it might
be without brand.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Venables, right. You know. I have four burning questions.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
All relate to the materi arbuckle thing, how I think
they fit in with the personnel on offense, the warm
body thing.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Right, So, by the way, shout out warm bodies. What's
better than a warm body? Can the best? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Great season last year for Jeometier, over thirty one hundred
yards passing eight hundred on the ground. Let's call it
what it was, though, was a Mountain West schedule. So
can he replicate that against a very tough SEC, A
very tough SEC schedule, I think is the biggest question
that we have to ask coming into this thing because

(22:37):
it is.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Not surrounded, right, and I was gonna say it, not
surrounded by proven SEC talent. He's not plug and play
around Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase, you know, guys like
that continue.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
So that's the first thing. Two is he's undeniably a really,
really talented runner. He makes guys miss Dan. I don't
know if you've watched the tap of genre tier I have.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
He's fun.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
He's not always the most accurate passer. He has a
tendency to hold onto the ball too long. This is
a bad line. Last year, to your point, they were
nicked up. They also had a thirteen percent sack rate,
which is not good. Now, Oklahoma fans are going to
listen to this and they're going to say, well, everybody
was hired. Of course the number was high. Yes, granted,
I'm with you. They got to get better there. They

(23:19):
still have Bill Beatenbow, their noted offensive line coach, who
has been very productive. It just did not work. Out
last season. If he can't improve this unit, there's a
real problem, and it might be completely separate from John Mattier,
from Jade, not from Ben Arbuckle. But they got to
get better up front. I think they will. I don't
think they can get worse. But that's something else to watch,
and I think that's got to be another big question

(23:40):
about this offense. Number three receivers. Do they have the
receivers to run this kind of passing game.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
TVD? What do you think? I mean, they were banged
up out wide last year. I don't think they They
missed a bunch of time. I don't think they were
healthy the whole year through. They've recruited receiver Okay, they
have some blue chips, younger blue chips who are working
themselves into the rotation more and more, or have worked in.
I'm not confident, but I'm willing to be surprised.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
I just don't see a ton of star power out Why.
That doesn't mean it can't work, doesn't mean it won't
be better. I think it has to be better. Yeah,
but I think fair to ask the question. And the fourth
thing is Jade not who we alluded to and mentioned
in passing but jade Not would be the third name.
I'm not going to play this sound again that.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
I think you've had some big games.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Yeah, can be a bombshell with this offense. Has been
very productive, was more productive a couple of years ago
at Cal, but had some injury issues. And you know,
there's a whole conversation around Cal that is separate from
this preview episode. But how they integrate jade Not into
this offense, which again is more of an air raid,
remains to be seen and could be really interesting. I

(24:51):
like jay Not a lot. I'm curious to see how
he fits into this scheme that Ben r Buckle is
bringing down from Pullman. Those are my very big questions
about this team, at least on offense. I have more
questions about defense, But offensively, I think that's how I
am trying to structure my thinking around Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah, I mean that's the obvious question. And then the
other obvious question is if the offense improves, is not
killer but is competent pretty good at times, how good
must the defense be to win some of the bigger
or the biggest games on the Oklahoma schedule, Because on
all three levels there seems to be star power to

(25:32):
varying degrees. I think it should be a monster defense.
I think it'll be a very good defense, monster defense,
excellent defense, whatever. But if they're hung out to drive
for long stretches, offense is going three and out a
little bit too often, or getting off the field a
little bit too quickly, or dealing with injuries. Once again,
you're asking so much of this defense to get to

(25:54):
eight wins right now, asking so much. And so I'm
curious because they've recruited, well, they've developed, well, there's depth there,
there's transfers there. But do they have to be a
top seven defense in America?

Speaker 1 (26:09):
They might have to be. They might have to be,
and I'll get to the schedule in the second. But
to put a bow on the defense, it hurts to
lose Danny Stutsman, who is kind of like the quarterback
of that defense. It hurts to lose Billy Bowman Woody
Washington in the secondary as well. But otherwise, with what
they have here, the defense is loaded. I mean, I
see the line is a big time strength. I'm not

(26:31):
going to read through all these guys.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
I mean they got an arm Mason Thomas kink Oh
of course. Yeah. Now, there's a ton of there's a
ton of production and obvious production and havoc on this roster.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Absolutely, and yeah, they're really deep up front. They bring
over was it Marvin Jones from from Florida State. The
linebacker room is Kip Lewis, Kendall Daniels. Secondary looks okay
to me. The Bowen brothers, Eli and Peyton back there
as well. So they just have so much much depth
on defense that I think they have potential to be
really good.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
The problem, I kind of have a problem with your hair.
It's bothering me.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
The Lorenzo Lamis flallfinder is out here. For the schedule,
this is the only SEC team that does not play
any of the projected bottom four in the league. They've
got road games at South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. They've
got the neutral sider of the Red River game against Texas.
They host Michigan in week two. They also host Auburn, Ole,
Miss Missoo, and LSU. This is a monster schedule. They

(27:32):
do have a couple weeks off with like Illinois State
and Kent State, but otherwise Dan this thing is loaded
to the gills. Temple, they go to Temple. They're gonna
be an Eastern pa Ti.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
They go to Temple.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
If anybody wants to stop on by the way, Oklahoma fans,
if for some reason you're going to that Temple game,
Angelo's angelos go to Angelo's unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
Just get a hogy anywhere this is I think it's
the sandwich capital of America. You can quote me. Continue.

Speaker 1 (28:00):
So this is gonna be I think a very very
tall ask for this Oklahoma defense and especially this offense,
because there are a lot of good defenses that they
have to play against. Sure, Oklahoma is going to be better, right,
we agree on this. They gotta be better than they
were a year ago. Sure, the question is how much?

(28:22):
And this is where I think there has been a
pretty wide disparity in thought. I have seen some that
have Oklahoma in the playoff, Oklahoma as a contender in
the SEC. I have seen others that have them add
or near the bottom tier of the conference, not because
they're not better, but because of the schedule that I
just read off. Right, Where are you at on that spectrum?

Speaker 2 (28:45):
What's the number again? Well, the over under is six
and a half. I think I'm going over. I don't
know how dramatically it could be barely.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
I think it's a seven maybe eight win team if
everything clicks.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Okay, so I'm TBD on the head coach element of
it all, but that's fair. If I am going to
stick with my credo of quarterback and defense. I understand
the offensive line and health issues from last year. I
understand that there may not be obvious star power at
receiver right now as we record this in early August.

(29:17):
But if I'm gonna stick to Matier and a top
national one of the best defenses in America, then I
think they can win seven or eight games no matter
the schedule. If that's what your starting point is, quality quarterback,
very good defense, and you assume health for everybody until
shown otherwise, if Oklahoma is a top five defense in America,

(29:41):
they win ten games. The offense just has to hold up.
It's end of the bargain, and offense doesn't need to
be amazing. But if the offense isn't amazing, doesn't matter.
They're gonna win games. I just yeah, I'm in that
seven eight range with them.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
I've got them eighth in the conference, eighth in the conference. Yeah,
but they're in that X factor tier because Oklahoma, like Florida,
like a few of the other teams that we've discussed here,
just given their proximity to the influencers in the SEC. Sure,
with all the AMMO on this schedule, you pull off one,

(30:21):
you pull off two upsets, it changes the entire complexion
of the conference. So Oklahoma, there's nothing if not interesting.
That's why I said at the very top of this
they are the most interesting team in the country, given
the stakes, given what they brought in, given the schedule,
the conference that they play on or play in.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Excuse me, Yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
Know you're doing it wrong if you're not at least
a little bit interested in what the Sooners do this year.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
It's also kind of funny where eight months removed from
using the word Oklahoma as a pejorative when talking about
the playoff, You're just like, this is this incredible, historic,
elite program, And in the conversation in December about Alabama,
it's like, and you lost to Oklahoma.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, oklahom this year's Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
How embarrassing for you that you lost to look around,
don't say it too loudlyma So, but they have an
opportunity to change that, which is great. Let's go to Tennessee.
Dan Tennessee went.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
To the college Football Playoff last year. They had a
ten win season. They lost in the first round, but
I think we'd agree successful season.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yes, yeah, didn't wear their shirts heading into the shoe
in Columbus, but yeah, one of the more newsworthy programs
in America right now? Oh yeah?

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Or in twenty twenty five? Oh yeah, No, that that's
an understatement.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Man.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
Yeah, eight and a half's the win total. How big
of a drop off do we see this year? Do
we see any? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (31:46):
I don't think they're a playoff team. I don't see
them as a playoff team.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
I don't either, But how big of a drop off
are we thinking? Because still eight and a half it's
a pretty good number. You hit that over or you're
getting a nine wins, you might not be in the playoff,
but that's still I think a successful season, or would
be viewed as a successful season because there is a
lot of turnover here.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
I think everything was pointing to last year as a
significant year. Obviously, Nico had a year in the system
before ascending to that starting role. Dylan Sampson was obvious
pop in the backfield. The offensive line was experienced, maybe
not going into the year that there was an obvious,
true number one receiver, but that room seemed deep and
talented and able to do with Josh Hypelasts and the

(32:32):
defense was stacked last year, so I just think there's
obvious drop off. I think the defense can be really,
really good, but I think it is a more dramatic
question on offense than even Oklahoma, just because of the
quarterback change, just because the receiver room is thinned out,
just because and I think the running backs will be good.

(32:53):
But I just think I from Afar Tennessee fans who
are much more playsugged in, are expecting a pretty noticeable
drop off, even with their disappointment with Nico's performance in
twenty twenty four, that you're scrambling to find a quarterback
in April or whatever. I know, it's just it's asking

(33:13):
a lot for this to be a top thirty offense
in America. Willing to be surprised, but given the schedule,
given the changes on that side of the ball, they
can win a bunch of games because of this defense
and merely being competent on offense. But yeah, I expect
this to be seven eight win territory well and I
think that's the real point. Tennessee last year had its

(33:33):
best defense of the last twenty five years something like that.
I think they again end up leaning on their defense,
probably to a greater degree. Know this. If they're hitting
that over.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Eight and a half, it's because the defense is nails
and because josh Hipel's a wizard on offense. Right If
the offense could get its act together quickly, then maybe
it's a different conversation. Because there's been like a real
effort here to invest in this program on the recruiting trail,
not so much live and die by the portal. There

(34:06):
is talent on hand which I look at and I say,
this is going to pay off in the future. Maybe
the future is now right, that remains to be seen.
So the new quarterback is going to be Joey Aguilar.
He comes over from UCLA. He was previously at app
State before Ucla. We had that bit of a transfer
trade there with Aguilar coming to Tennessee Nico going out

(34:28):
to UCLA. It's not just him though that is new.
There are new wide receivers, there are four new linemen.
It hints at a bit of a transition year. If
you're looking at it from that perspective. Essentially, this is
a move that, to Josh Paid's point when we had
him on, is something that the Tennessee community is rather

(34:48):
animated around. Sure, if Nico didn't want to be there
for whatever reason, be it money, supporting cast, you name it,
get rid of him. Let's bring someone else in by
virtue of that trade.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
If you really want to.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Get deep in the weeds with this, they're saving about
one point two million dollars. I think Nico is getting
about two and a half. Joey Aguilar is going to
get around one point two. So if you think of
this in terms of like pro trades, a bit of
a salary dump there, which I guess he'll take, But
it looks like it's Aguilar's job to lose. He had
a very good twenty twenty four campaign through a ton

(35:20):
of picks, and I think the transition to this new
offense is not going to be the most optimal scenario. Well,
I've referred to him as the middle class nus Meyer
because there's a little bit of gun slinger slash hero
ball in his game. But Josh Hipel's work with guys
like this before, and he's had a lot of success.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
Yeah, And I think the offense as we've seen it
at times and Nico, you know, there was he had
a different issue. He was taking a lot of sacks
and he was sort of timid a little bit too
often in terms of pulling the trigger throwing the ball
down field. This offense at its best makes things very
simple for the quarterback. Yes, that Joey Agilar is not
going to have to go through four or five receiver progressions.

(36:02):
That something is there, something is not there. This is
the decision, the great point and something you hear often
around the draft. Right, we have heard this before.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
And it's to the detriment like Hendon Hooker writer Joe
Milton at playing in this system, how does that translate
to the NFL. I'm more speaking of it from the
standpoint of he really showed up on campus slate. Right, Oh,
I said this earlier. Looking for a quarterback in April
is not optimal.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
So there is something with this like old Baylor system,
you know, all the different elements to the system where yes,
you can hold it against a quarterback at draft time.
Josh Hipels is trying to win games. So that works
at its best, it works really well. So they can
run the ball if the offensive line comes together. I'm
not terribly worried about the defense. Their best corner is
I don't know when Jamal McCoy is gonna play. He

(36:47):
tore his ACL I think at the end of last
year it was January.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
He was working out at home in Texas, Yes, and
tours ACL, so they're expecting they're going to get him back.
But September October an exact timetable at time of record.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
That's big.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
No.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
I expect them to have a really good defense. I
expect them to have an offense that flashes at times.
I don't know if you have the schedule in front
of you, but I did got to happen pretty quickly.
It's going to have to happen pretty quickly. I think
the receiver room.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
I want to give a little bit more attention to
that because they lose their top three. They lose Squirrel White,
Dante Thornton, Brew McCoy. That creates a pretty big void
in this offense, which as we know. I mean, they
ran the ball really, really well and I still think
they'll be okay this year. They go like three deep
at running back, even though Dylan Sampson is gone. Really,

(37:33):
getting that passing game to click is going to be
important given circumstances.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Mike Matthews is back. You know, I love Mike Matthews.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
He's like, hey, you had like six catches last former
five star. I thought he was going to pop more
last year. He didn't, but he needs to step up
and play a leading role. The same is true to
an extent Chris Brazl, who everybody was excited about last
season last spring, especially when he came over from Tulane.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Now he is a key piece.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
They need to get some more pop out of that
receiver room. Notably, both those guys have been nicked up.
So it doesn't sound a big deal, but I think
we need to get more production out of that receiver
room this year. Now somebody new needs a step up.
And the line, Yeah, the lines replacing four guys. They
lose Cooper Mays in the middle of that line. That's
a problem. So there's just a lot of moving pieces

(38:19):
offensively there. It helps to have a good tight end room,
but otherwise, like.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yeah, that helps a lot New I don't okay, So
when I said that they need to figure it out quickly.
They do have Georgia relatively early. If Tennessee, if I'm
gonna if future Dan arrives in your living room tonight,
which by the way, thanks for having him. That's very
hospitable of you, that'd be very weird, Like I am
future Dan if Future Dan arrived and said Tennessee is
definitely pretty good in twenty twenty five, and then you

(38:44):
look at the schedule and you're like, oh, so they're
winning at least eight games. Schedule is not terrible. They
have Georgia early, they have Syracuse neutral site.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
It's one of the easier schedules in the SEC. I
think I saw forty seventh nationally, so relative to the
field in the SEC when we're talking about teams like
the Florida's and the Oklahoma's of the world, both of
whom I think play something like seven ranked teams, it's
like the highest in college football alongside Mississippi State. If
you saw any of the new polls that came out,

(39:14):
Tennessee's not on that list right at least not that
high on this list because it is one of the
easier schedules in the conference.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
And by the way, so Alabama gets Tennessee after they
play Miszoo, Georgia has Tennessee in an optimal spot. Tennessee
has Oklahoma a week after Oklahoma has Ole miss like Tennessee,
and that game is in Knoxville. Tennessee can very quietly
have a record that lies about how good they actually

(39:43):
are in a good way. Like Tennessee's nine to three
and ranked number sixteen in the country. They haven't looked
that good, but here we are. They're gonna be led
by defense. I think the defense is deep, defense is talented.
They are good at all three levels.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
I have the questions about Jermad McCoy as we talked
about earlier, but you know, they've got plenty across the board.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
I'm not just going to sit here and name names. Yeah,
it's great. Here's what I'll.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Say about Tennessee. You know this isn't a betting show.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
In conclusion, Tennessee is.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Going to annihilate Syracuse in week one. Hmmm. I like
that that is a neutral site game. They're playing it
in Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Turning your back on Steve Angelly immediately.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
I don't know how this game came about. I like
that it's occurring. Yeah, they are going to throttle Syracuse
in that game. Wow, and there is going to be
suddenly a lot of steam on Tennessee because Week one
has that Tennessee Georgia Week three at home. I don't
know if perception will alter point spreads going into that

(40:49):
Georgia game. Georgia is clearly a better team than Tennessee
in my view at the stage. So just pay attention
to that first three week stretch of the season because.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Artificially low spread, in that game, george is only favored
by three and a half or something.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Yeah, I mean it'll be more, but I and I
know that the people that make these lines aren't emotional
about it. But the betters, oftentimes, the more casual betters
who do go in on these types of games, especially
a big one in Week three Tennessee Georgia, they tend
to be a little bit more driven by emotion. Just
pay attention to that line and pay attention to what
happens in Week one, because again I haven't seen what

(41:27):
the line is for that Syracuse game. I probably should
have been better prepared. I think they're going to throttle
Syracuse in that one.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah, I mean last year's Tennessee team scored one hundred
and fifty seven points the first three weeks of the season,
and then fourteen against Arkansas as soon as October started.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Yeah, Okay, so I think I'm on the under for
Tennessee maybe going eight and four, just barely under. I
think that's a good over under. I don't hate this team.
I just think there's a lot new and sure. I
think Tennessee fans would be wise to show a little
bit of patience, be mindful of the fact that they
are building a really, really solid program under hypol. The

(42:04):
recruiting has been shown, there's a lot to like. It
just might be a bit of a step back here
because there is so much new.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
They're just looking to date twenty twenty five and then
get serious with another year soon. Okay, where should we
go next? Ay and m ooh rubbing, take your teeth
and tie.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
I'm rubbing my hands together.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Dog, Yeah do walk?

Speaker 1 (42:29):
You know, as I get older, grays start popping up
in the temples.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
Or maybe as the black hair starts showing itself. You
got maybe more gray than black. Where's my button? Net? Here?

Speaker 1 (42:42):
I'm talking about this?

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Oh I'm w If you're watching this on YouTube dot
com slash solid Bubble, you're seeing the same thing on
my scalp. Yeah. Continue.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
As I get older, I am more and more drawn
to teams with really good rushing attacks and really good defense. Like,
if you give me five more years, I'm wearing the
defense wears championships.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Defense wins championships. Yeah mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
I've got A and M in my playoff this year.
I am really high. Not a crazy take on Texas
A and M. They were eight and five a year ago,
the over under his eight and a half. I don't
care about any of that. You kind of know where
I stand based on this intro. I'm just I'm assuming
that it's all going to click for Texas A and M.
My biggest question about A and M this year is
the passing game, Like, can Marcel Reid, who is the

(43:28):
dude now? Can he develop into more of a consistent passer?
Are they going to need a game plan around.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
The Can he live up to his last name when
it comes to evaluating defense? This is what you're telling me?

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Ah, yes, okay. On offense, it is a double edged
sword with this guy. He definitely needs to get better
at working the ball down the field. He definitely needs
to improve decision making, especially under pressure, don't we all.
He also was never officially given, like the Rains, as
the guy. There's always this time share right now, he's

(44:01):
had a full offseason cycle to know he's the guy,
for Colin Klein to know he's going to be the
guy and put stuff in the playbook for him. So
it's you know, probably not fair to be too critical
of what we saw out of Marcel Reid. I think
you're willing to live with some of that downside though,
knowing that the upside is he's a crazy good runner
and he's escape he's an escape artist. Yeah, there's a

(44:23):
lot to like with this game. So I think given that,
given the line, which is really solid, given the stable
of running backs that he's got behind him, given that
Colin Klein I think wants to prefer this style of
football to begin with, I think they're going to give
teams fits. And on the Part one episode I called
them the Alabama of Ulms because I think they're going

(44:45):
to run the crap out of the ball. I stand
by that comparison. I think this is going to be
a super duper physical rushing attack with a quarterback who,
if improved, can make you pay if you start over committing.
Sure bullish. I am very very bullish on Texas A and.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
M all good points.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
I think what I care most about is that last
bit though, the over committing. And we've seen this time
and again with a really good rushing attack and a
quarterback who can put you on skates if you've got
a defense start to creep up. Like I don't care
about the completion percentage. I care about not throwing interceptions,

(45:27):
and I care about having some of that explosive pop
in the passing game. And I think this guy can
give them both. The opportunities are gonna be there. They
don't have the receivers right now who can go up
and win like the big jump balls, not a big
receiving core, but they do have guys that are burners
who I think can blow the top off the defense.
That's what I care about with this offense. That's what

(45:47):
I hope that they are building with this offense, and
if they can succeed, then they might find themselves into
the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Yeah, I'm just curious to see what the vision is
for the offense, because if the clear strength is a
deep running back room with what Lashawan Daniels, Excuse me,
Lahan Daniels I think was an Iowa running back like
four years ago. At least I caught myself Ruben Owens, No.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
Moss, Maury Daniels. Yeah, it's a stable of running backs.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Yes, and obviously Reid can run well. The offensive line,
while experienced, I think, needs to go up another level.
And you're right about the receivers. So it's just like, Okay,
Colin Klein has these ingredients, what does the meal look like?
That's going to be super fascinating.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
I think the line, I mean, it's all five starters
back from the line. I agree they got to take
a step forward, but if they do, they could win
the Joe Moore Award. Like, there's just a lot I
think to like, provided they assume that identity with this offense,
which again I hope they do. Defensively, the issue last
year was the secondary. They had a really good pressure
rate from the pass rush, but they didn't convert those

(46:54):
into sacks, and then you know what happens. Oftentimes the
secondary can't hold its own, you start giving up a
bunch of big chunk. This is not a case this
year of like, oh man, new secondary. These guys gotta
gel quickly. They're coming from UNC Wilmington, from UTEP Bowl
and UTEP we got five U TIP guys here.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Again, that is not the case.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
The secondary is pretty much all back, including will Lee.
Like they added some experience via the portal, but I
think there is enough experience back there that hopefully they
can take a step forward as a group. It's not
going to be a question of are these guys going
to mesh and that is the story of the defense. Frankly,
it's having a lot back. It's the fourth most returning

(47:38):
production in the country on the defensive side of the ball.
That includes a great duo of Tarian York of Scooby
Williams at linebacker. That is a fantastic pairing. They did
lose some along the line, but I think it's more
of a reload than a rebuild. I am very bullish
on A and M. I like offense, I like defense.

(47:58):
I have minimal questions. I'm all in. I got him
in the playoff.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Okay. So if you are enthusiastically and thoroughly horned up
for A and M this year, I am. They go
to South Bend Week three, they do. The intent of
A and M's offense is probably going to be a
little bit different than Notre Dames. But you're still talking
about great running back play, dude. That's the experience lines.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
That's the measuring stick for both teams.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
And also, if you're saying A and M has issues
giving up too many plays downfield, buddy, Notre Dame has
got you covered because they can't do any of that stuff.
They have a new freshman, a new starting quarterback. Excuse me,
they didn't last year, right, and they haven't for a minute.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
No. I mean the road games are at ND week three,
they're at Arkansas, They're at LSU, they're at Missoo, they're
at Texas, and that lone Star game, the rivalry game
is at Texas for the first time in a decade,
so there will be stakes on that game late in
the season. Everybody knows that going into this clearly that

(49:05):
one's going to be circled. But like to the point,
there are gonna be a lot of big games on
this The pivotal ones for me, I think the ones
that define the season clearly Notre Dame. Week three, that's
the measuring stick to see how they stack up against another.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Really fishing last year was Elco's first game week one. Yeah,
it's yes, a different scenario. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
They are home against Florida on October the eleventh. They
are home against South Carolina on November the fifteenth. Those
three games in particular totally separate from the road games
that I mentioned a second ago. Those are the three
that I am looking at right. So, yes, at Notre
Dame that one goes without saying. But home against Florida,
home against South Carolina. I think the season tilts on

(49:48):
those three games. Okay, I'm going over. I have to
go over. I said eight and a half. If I've
got him in the playoff, I've got him as like
a nine or ten win team. I think a lot
comes together. I like what they've got across the board.
Maybe it's not a crazy take. You can call me
crazy if you want. Let me know in the comments
what you feel about Texas A and M. But I'm
in help me in.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
A couple of those perhaps winnable games for A and
M come out at an advantageous spot. They have Auburn
at home a week after Auburn is at Oklahoma. Yep,
so some body blow theory there. They have Florida a
week after Florida hosts Texas. So that's nice for A
and M. By the way, I love that you're doing this.

Speaker 1 (50:28):
I love that you are going a level deeper and
working out the matrix in your head for pretty much
all of these Power Conference teams and how that schedule
sets up.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
It's also okay, so this is the SEC. So the
counterpoint would be like, yeah, there's a bunch of really
scary looking teams and quality teams, so of course you're
going to get somebody a week before or a week
after whatever some MISSOO doesn't some of these teams have
great schedules. Tennessee schedule's pretty good. So yeah, this is
I think working to A and m's advantage because of
the you know, if you are tired after playing Texas,

(50:58):
if you were beat up after playing Oklahoma's defense, and
then you're staring down an A and M team who
just wants to gash you on the ground over and
over again, with a bunch of twenty one year old
offensive linemen that can keep rotating in and out running
backs that are going to gas you, it's potentially extremely
bad news.

Speaker 1 (51:16):
I couldn't agree more and more to the point that
game on Week three at Notre Dame is going to
be a slugfest.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
Yeah, smash burger.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
It's going to be low scoring. I'm not so sure
that A and M doesn't come along come out of
that one as the winner. I think that's gonna be
a hell of a football game.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
And so you've established Notre Dames beating Miami week one.
There you're on the record. They are, they're gonna be.
You're on the record, Tennessee smashing Syracuse. Yes, what else
have you said? What else are your early season guarantees?
I forget now at this point, I'm very old Temples.
I'd have to go back and check. Oh you did
you say Texas is absolutely beating Ohio State? You said

(51:55):
that's going to beat at Ohio State. We know that.
Okay on the road week one? Yeah, okay, try I
remember your other mark me downs.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
Yeah, we'll make a board when we get when we
get to the predictions episode, I'm gonna get a white
cord here behind me, will jot these down.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
Love to hear it.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
But that big one on September the thirteenth in South Bend,
Notre Dame off a bye. Yeah, cantalizing to say the least. Sure,
I'm in on A and m I'm in count me
in obvious. The obvious counterpoint, once again, doesn't win nine
ten games.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
It is there's a lot of pressure. There always seems
to be reasons why quarterback doesn't work out, or defense
doesn't work out, or coaches don't work out. I like
Mike Alcohol a lot. I think if there's a guy
who can sort of buck that trend, I just think
he's a really good coach.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
Let's talk Arkansas, Dan Okay, seven and six. Last year
you're over under is five and one half. Let me
paint you a picture.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
Of the Hogs this year. Put it into this season.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Sam Pittman going into your six, I know they like
him down there. He's coaching for his job. Yep. Last
year it was seven to six campaign, they did go
to a bowl. They were certainly entertaining. I do think
it's fair to wonder at this point what everybody in

(53:16):
the room is asking, and that is, does Sam Pittman
know how to break through and get out of this cycle?
Because the harsh reality is this, Arkansas's got one of
the most difficult schedules in all of college football this year.
I think you combine that with what has been the
undercurrent of this program being that they have had more

(53:36):
portal departures than any other SEC program over the last
three years. It's hard to be optimistic in the face
of that. This is just not a situation where it's
like they're bringing in like for like, guys, Okay, we
lost somebody big to Alabama. We're going to bring in
somebody big from Penn State.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
Yea.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
They're bringing in replacement level guys Dan Yeah, So they're
doing that to fill the gaps, to build some depth.
It feels like there has been a slow drain of
talent out of Fayetteville, and that's not a great situation.
The good news is Taylor Green. Taylor Green's fun at quarterback.
If you are optimistic about the Hogs this year, it's

(54:16):
because he saw him last year and he said, hey,
there's upside and he said, hey, this is going to
be year two now under Bobby Patrino. Maybe he learns
a little bit, maybe he finds his game a little bit.
The best of him throws a great deep ball, can
run like a deer, is a straight up playmaker back there.
The worst of him is loose with the football, fumbles

(54:37):
a little too much, tries a little too hard to
force a big play. He needs to be more consistent
if they want to have any chance of hitting that
over And I think that's probably where you got to
start pretty confidently with all of your Arkansas previews out there.
He's got to play well. If he doesn't play well,
then we're going to start talking about these other issues

(54:58):
that could bring this team even lower. They lost their
entire receiving corps right their top four guys, including Andrew Armstrong,
all gone. Luke has another name, Yeah, he transferred out.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
So while Taylor Green might.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
Be able to stretch the field vertically, it's a question
of who's he throwing to, and if he's not consistent,
it's even more of a question of can they get
any pop out of this passing game? Yeah, I think
like the line will be improved. I think the line
will be better. It's important that Taylor Green gets some
time to throw back there. It's important that there be
some sort of ground game to give him a compliment
so that it's not all on him. But it comes

(55:36):
down to whether or not they can get that level
of consistency out of Tailing Green. And if they can,
then it's like how far can he take them? You know,
but as a starting point at least for this conversation,
if they don't get that play out of him, it's
a problem.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Yeah, And I mean, how many times have we seen
a quarterback without proven receivers. And that's not to say
that the transfers coming in can't be pretty good. Armstrong
came in, came in from was it like Texas A
and m Commerce like it was one of it was
a very small like he was a D transfer. So
they can hit on these guys, they can evaluate and
they can develop. Part of tom with Taylor Green is

(56:15):
he's not flawless. No, like he himself has been a
wild card. For every three incredible plays, there's a play
that completely changes the trajectory of a game of a half,
a season of a quarter, whatever that there, there are
some mental mistakes going on there as well, So he

(56:36):
needs to We talked about what if Florida has a
boring ear, that's a good thing. We need to say
Taylor Green needs a boring season. Exciting plays, but boring
in terms of decision making, boring in terms of turnovers,
boring in terms of general poise whatever. So that's what
I'm looking for from him because he's not advantaged with

(56:59):
what's around him from approven per sect, He's not advantaged
with the like I only need to score twenty seven
points a week because my defense can take care of
business defense very much could not on the back end
last year.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
No, And That's where I was going with this next,
because I'm burying the lead a little bit, starting the
conversation with Taylor Green, because the most concerning bit coming
into this year, or at least looking back at last,
was the pass rush and the secondary.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
They got no pressure. The spreadsheet one of the other friends.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Yeah, the spreadsheet that I look at is all red
in the past defense categories. Now, so this year you're
looking at like two returning starters, a couple of transfers
in the secondary. It is very questionable to me whether
or not they're going to improve this thing. I'm not
sure the pass rush is going to improve either, now
that Land and Jackson and some others are gone. It's

(57:48):
like I was thinking, what was the scene Lucille Ball
in the cookie factory.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Whatever that was?

Speaker 1 (57:54):
I think, yeah, yeah, where the conveyor belt's going and
she's trying to pick the cookies up and she's eating them.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
It just seems like there's a lot to.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
Keep up with here on the Arkansas side, especially on defense.
The one bright spot is the interior of that defensive line.
The run defense is still anchored by cam Ball, who
was really solid last year. I think defensively they'll they'll
definitely show some bite against the run, but how they

(58:21):
defense against the pass is going to be a real
issue here and probably the bigger story that will dictate success,
as opposed to tailing Green, who's important in his own right,
but you got to stop people otherwise it's going to
be kind of a non starter.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Yeah, and the defense did improve last year, for whatever
it's worth. We saw the win against Tennessee look like
a nice step forward. They did get sixty three scored
on him by a hole miss. A few weeks later,
they just didn't seem to be the same team week
to week, like they did a good job against Texas

(58:55):
keeping that close and frustrated.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
It wasn't even week to week it was play to
play in something.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
It was play to play, Yeah, you know, but then
the ball against Texas Tech, I think, you know, you
can only take so much away when there's so much
roster turnover. But I think vibes are at least okay
in Fayettville right now. And by the way, shout out
to you for connecting with the youth on an episode
in which you're talking about how graying you are, mentioning
a show that was broadcast in black and white as

(59:22):
a reference point. Good jobs.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
Everybody's seen that clip though, No.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Buddy, you have to explain to people who Lucille Ball
is in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (59:30):
All right in the comments on YouTube, because apparently that helps. Yeah,
let me know if you're old enough to know that
clip or I've seen that clip, even if you're well.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
I think we have viewers show. I think we have
viewers and listeners who get it.

Speaker 1 (59:44):
I want them all to comment because again, apparently that helped.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
That was like seventy years ago. Probably what Yeah, okay,
where we're going next? South Carolina? Does that sound good?

Speaker 1 (59:54):
Well?

Speaker 2 (59:55):
I just wanted to talk about the schedule real quick.
Oh sorry, sorry, continue you look at the schedule.

Speaker 1 (59:59):
You completely yet why the over under is five and
a half and unless there is like a big lead beforeward,
I can't put Arkansas in a bowl road games Apple
Miss at Memphis, which is a non con game, which
actually is a tough matchup.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
It's a good year to get Memphis.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
They lose a lot, but yeahes at Tennessee at LSU
at Texas. They also play Notre Dame, another SEC team
with Notre Dame on the schedule.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
It's at home.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
They get A and M at home Auburn missoo, it's tough.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
This is tough.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
I'm under I'm like four and eight for Arkansas this year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Yeah, I think five and seven is where I sit.
I mean, look, you get Notre Dame, as you mentioned, like,
it just doesn't help with the number games in faeithfel though, right,
it's in faithful Arkansas is hosting. Yeah, I don't think
even like let down look ahead wise, there are some spots,
but you got to have that base of like known

(01:00:53):
quality that Arkansas just don't think has in this moment.
Thrilled to be surprised. Thrilled to be surprised. I've long
said Arkansas the most college football college football program. Thrilled
to be surprised by them this year. Speaking of known quality, Yes,
Lenoris Sellers is good. Talk about the South Carolina game Cocks, Yeah,
he's good. Nine and four last year, the over unders

(01:01:16):
seven and a half. This year, they closed out the
regular season with a six game winning streak, including that
big win over Clemson to close things out. They were
on the fringes of that playoff conversation. It was a
very successful year for Shane Beemer.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
I think the main question going into twenty twenty five
is whether or not that defensive front seven can be
rebuilt quickly enough to compliment what should be a fun
as hell offense with Lenoris the Creator.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
We call him Lenoris.

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
The Creator on this episode for those newcomers. Okay, if
you've watched Leonora's sellers, you know why.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
Yes, you know why.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
He is the kind of quarterback who gives you a
chance every play, every game.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
He is fun.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
He is going to be fun again. He just needs
a little bit of help from that defensive front. They
lose a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
The more nuanced tie take that people heard in part
one was me worrying about depth because there are three
big headliners, three big names that are on lists.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
I'm ready.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
Leonora is the creator. Dylan Stewart maybe the best pass
rusher in the conference, in the world at this point.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
I don't know. Nick Harber. Now that might just be me.

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
Okay, we can get into that in a second.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
Do you think announcers will note that Nick Harbor has
legit track speed during South Carolina games this year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Like seven times per game.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
This guy is a legit track guy.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Let me zoom out a little bit, though. Let me
examine my own take there. If we zoom out a
little bit, if we're looking at the defense, this was
an outstanding you know, last year, haven't got cleaned out.
Kyle Canard, he was the All World Everything, first Team
All American.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
He's gone.

Speaker 1 (01:03:06):
Four interior linemen are gone, TJ Sanders, three linebackers.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
A lot of these guys are gone.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
The secondary much more of a veteran presence this year.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
Best player's gone though, Yeah, Nickie men Warre, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
But there's enough back there I think to be comfortable.
So back to the original point, it's a question of
how are they going to fill those gaps. It's gonna
be a combination of a few transfers, a lot of
younger guys. I count only three seniors on the projected
starting lineup at this defense. So how the underclassmen perform
I think ultimately defines the ceiling it helps to have

(01:03:38):
Dylan Stewart as a starting point.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Great starting point. Right, He had a sack.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
And a half and two forced fumbles in his first
game last year, then he went on to be a
freshman All American. That's a good starting point. You'll take that.
He's a type of talent that down the road you're
talking him up as like maybe a number one overall.
Pick the two guys that I am watching, Gabriel Brown,
Low Dindy. I had to say it slowly. I'm going
to call him GBD great three point fifteen, a former

(01:04:06):
five star. I don't know if GBD is legal for
recreational use in South Carolina. Probably probably is going to
be outlawed around the rest of the SEC provided he pops.
We'll see how this season goes. Get yourself a good
fifteen milligram dose of GBD this year.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
Yeah, get high on GBD.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
Secondly, Fred Johnson, Okay, linebacker Fred Johnson played thirteen games
as a true freshman, described on the official South Carolina
team website as rangy, as smooth, as fast, and extremely talented.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
That's how they talked about you as a second basement
in eleventh grade. Right, always always the descriptor.

Speaker 1 (01:04:46):
Yeah, if he's good, Dan, he's going to do something
that might be your favorite thing ever. He's going to
give that sec a real freeducation.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
We love a freeducation. Shout out Mississippi State in like
the early twenty teens, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Absolutely, absolutely ross. So I am like talking myself in
circles a little bit here with South Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
There are headliners.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
I think what I am really saying is I want
to know who the contributors are going to be behind
those headliners and who pops. Maybe it'll be GBD or
Fred Johnson, maybe it'll be others. Again, the secondary is experienced.
I like what they've got back there, even Evan Maxwell,
Dan has some eligibility. I think he gives him a
veteran presence on the back end of that defense. Right,

(01:05:34):
So I'm curious to see what they look like on
that side of the ball. Again, offensively, they're building the
plane out of Leonoris the Creator.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
Uh, it's a great starting point. You're right about that.
I'm not sure I'm same page with you with Nick
Harbor as somebody who will pop or I guess you're
just curious.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
I'm curious, potent, Yeah, the skills are there, the.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
Raw physical tools are there. But yeah, he wasn't like
a you know, a scary weapon catching seven balls a game. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
Third on Bruce's freaks list. Yeah right, So everybody acknowledges
that there are freak athletes on this team. It's not
just him. Leonora Sellers was like thirty third on Bruce's list.
Let me start with him though, Okay, elusive as hell.
He forced eighteen miss tackles alone in that Clemson game.
He's a really good deep passer. How Shane Beemer uses

(01:06:26):
him will be interesting. The answer could be, however the
hell he wants, right, because it seems like he can
do a little bit of everything. None of us should
question the creator, and I don't really question their two
returning tackles, but I question the interior line. I question
what the running game looks like now that Rocket Sanders
has gone. I'm still waiting, as you are, for the
new offensive coordinator too, new offensive coordinator, Mike Schulet. Yeah,

(01:06:49):
I'm still waiting as you are, as everybody is, for
Nick Carver to show more than just flashes. There are
questions about this offense outside of Lenora's Sellers. I agree
they need receivers to pop and stay healthy. They need
Rosul Faison, their transfer running back from Utah State, to
get his damn waiver through the NCAA so he can play.

(01:07:11):
I realize these aren't the only guys, but at least
it seems to me like Leonoris needs some playmakers around
him and he.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
Cannot do it all.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
He might be fun as hell if he's trying to
do it on his own. But some of these other
names that I'm mentioning, you know, Maszio Bennett, like, some
of these guys need to pop and give him a
little bit of cover because he will not be able
to do it all himself.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
There's just no way. He's a big guy.

Speaker 1 (01:07:40):
I think he can withstand the pressure of an SEC schedule.
Six three, two forty. That's a big dude who can
do all these things. He needs some help. I think
South Carolina is gonna be good. I don't think they're
going to be a team with the ceiling of last season,
and even last season there were issues and they needed

(01:08:00):
everything from Lenora Sellers to win that Clemson game because
they had to overcome some mistakes from Lenora's sellers. They
finished seven of their final nine games are as follows Missoo,
ascuse me at Missoo, at LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama at Ole,

(01:08:20):
Miss at A and M and Clemson. Yeah, buddy, it's
not a good year to have this much turnover. And
I understand this is the way of the sport now
and whoever navigates this much turnover is ultimately who is
going to be the ones that you know come out
on top.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
That's too much. That's too much for me. And Shane
Biemer has sort of had an every other year one
year up, when year down, one year up. When you're like,
I just think they are due for a stretch of
struggle and figure it out. They can be Clemson again
if they're you know, together and everything in order. I
just it has the feel of seven and five.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
Me. I want you to know that as we're doing
this preview, Shane Biemer has stepped down no because of
that schedule.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
I have just purchased for us the domain of coctober
dot com. Oh no, ty, I'm going to get some
interesting emails wanting to buy that one, aren't I.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
I mean you might get some huge offers, some huge
throbbing Vaney offers on Coctober dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:09:26):
Okay, because it's Coctober if you're a South Carolina fan.
Because of what you described those games in October right
at LSU home against Oklahoma home against Alabama on the
road at Mississippi, I guess November first, but it's going
to be a very very big, meady, middle.

Speaker 2 (01:09:45):
Big media October.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Yeah, that's right for the South Carolina game Cocks.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
When solidwife Kate over some like Veggie Enchilada tonight, like
how is your day, and you're like, oh, let me
tell you something. We spent seventeen dollars of our retainment
ten ninete eighteen ninety nine of our precious retirement on
October dot is it dot net? No, it's dot cot
dot com. Okay, we got Coctober dot combaby, congratulations to

(01:10:13):
you and yours tie.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
Where we're going next nineteen ninety nine with taxes?

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
By the way, the Evan Maxwell I mentioned earlier is
not actually in the secondary. He was in our Spotify comments.
I just wanted to make sure he's paying attention.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
Lock in, Evan, lock in, lock in baby. Come on, Okay,
we're got.

Speaker 1 (01:10:33):
Two teams left. Let's go to Auburn. All right, I'm
tired of talking.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
Give me your Auburn spiel h Auburn has the potential
to again be one of the most fun teams in
the country but also win games. I am not a buyer.
If our motto on college football in twenty twenty five
is stability is currency. Auburn doesn't feel like the most

(01:10:59):
stable place in the world right now, at least on offense.
There is somewhat of a quarterback battle, but I think
we expect Jackson Arnold to win this battle. They are
as advantaged at starting receiver as any team in the country.
Their offensive line, while experience, is kind of TBD to me,
just because they brought in the weak link of USC's

(01:11:23):
offensive line last year to shore up a tackle spot. Yeah,
that worries me. I think they'll have enough pop at
running back even without Jarquez Hunter. Defense should be good.
Say which you will about dj Dirkin comma human being.
They got that develops a lot of good defenses.

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
They got better last year.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
They of course, I'm saying say what you will about
as a human being. As a defensive coordinator, he's rock solid.
There are some battles along this defense. They're just they're
in a good place at enough position groups on both
sides of the ball that it would be stunning considering
how they lost games last year, which is red zone miscues,

(01:12:07):
turnover mis cues.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
You're setting me up ice man.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
It would be insane to do that two years in
a row. And so for that reason, sarks, I'm in Auburn.
I'm in because I just don't think mathematically you can
lose that way over and over a year after year
after year. So even though Jackson Arnold hasn't exactly proven
himself to be a stable, safe quarterback making his own

(01:12:35):
errors at Oklahoma with his own issues around him that
are not his fault or we're not his fault at Oklahoma,
I'm not so sure when your competition is Jackson Arnold,
who comes in with baggage but obviously a good amount
of potential and talent, and Ashton Daniels from Stanford dealing
with a troubling situation in Palo Alto in terms of

(01:12:59):
talent and plan and pop on that offense and offensive
line issues and a true freshman induced night that there's
no obvious reason that quarterback is going to be solved
this year. But it also seems like Hufreeze has been
there long enough, there's enough back, there's enough reasons why
it should go right that it'll improve.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
So yeah, I'm kind of in on Auburn this year. Well, look,
I really like what Auburn did in the portal.

Speaker 2 (01:13:25):
Yeah. Oh, and adding Eric Livingston with two cam Coleman like,
it's just I don't know, there's a lot to be
excited about.

Speaker 1 (01:13:30):
Even Eric Singleton too. Eric Singleton, Eric living much much
better than Eric Livingston. I'm so glad you're here to
correct my dumb dumbness. I love what Auburn did in
the portal.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:13:40):
And I really like putting this preview together because the
biggest question was also the most obvious.

Speaker 2 (01:13:46):
I love when it's just clear his day like that.

Speaker 1 (01:13:49):
Yeah, what is Jackson Arnold's ceiling? I loved him coming
out of high school. I'm eager to see what he
can do with a new team. My concern is that
last season kind of broke his brain and that he's
going to be trapped in limbo like Leo's character and inception.
I'm a little bit worried about that with Jackson Arnold.
But this is the question that's going to define the season.
He did show flashes at Oklahoma. I remember people writing

(01:14:11):
in after his freshman year when he got limited action,
and we had reverbs that came in on the voicemail
line like this, They found their guy. He processes the
game quickly, He can do what is required. Last year,
we didn't get those messages like it was not the
case last year. It seemed like his awareness regressed. It

(01:14:31):
just seemed like, you know, despite the fact that we
saw him show off his legs against Alabama. The sub
question that was underpinning everything was is this guy taking
a step back because he's not as good as we thought,
or because his supporting cast isn't good.

Speaker 2 (01:14:47):
Yeah, he's playing in quicksand yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Yeah, the cast of characters this year is definitely better
than what he had last season. Right, And this isn't
me comparing Auburn in twenty twenty five to Oklahoma in
twenty twenty five, But Auburn in twenty twenty five definitely
as a better supporting cast than Oklahoma did in twenty
twenty four. I'm not sure they're better at running back,
but the receiver room is loaded. It's an extremely veteran line.

(01:15:11):
It's a system that should be quarterback friendly. He will
have every opportunity to succeed. So Cam Coleman, Malcolm Simmons, Eric,
don't call me Livingston Singleton.

Speaker 2 (01:15:22):
There isn't Eric Livingston in this sport, to be clear.
Continue it's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
Yeah, we do a lot of these previous These guys
have all the attributes that they need. They got the
guy who can win the jump balls and the burner
and the guy who can pull the top off a
defense and run their intermediates, like if it's not Jackson Arnold,
it might be Ashon Daniels, it might be Deuced Night.
They've got options across the board to make this team better,
and I think that's apparent. Auburn's problem, to your earlier point,

(01:15:48):
was that they had production. They just couldn't convert it
into points. They couldn't convert it into wins. This was
one of the nation's worst red zone offenses. Bill Connolly
put together, I think in his preview, you know, the
same spiel that talked about with us when we had
him on the show. The good news is that this
was basically at eight and four team last year that
played at a five and seven level. They got to

(01:16:08):
figure out a way to reduce some of those bonehead moments. Yeah,
get more out of their red zone offense for sure.
And the defense, Yeah, the defense got better. Like I
think every conversation around the Auburn defense needs to start
with Keldrick Falk, who is six six, two seventy a

(01:16:29):
lock as a top twenty pick, probably higher. He is
an absolute game wrecker. And I'm not sure about the
other guys in that line, especially in the middle. Auburn
took on some losses there, you know, elsewhere there's a question.
I think the secondary is talent. I'm not flashing like
an SOS or anything like that. They'll be fine if
I'm asking questions though about the defense. It's the middle

(01:16:50):
of the line, the linebacker room, that type of thing.
So like they got questions, they got to answer up front.
But they got Keldric Folk as a starting point, which is.

Speaker 2 (01:16:58):
Are you going to buy fo October non dot com
right now?

Speaker 1 (01:17:01):
Now? We already blew the domain budget, okay, nineteen ninety
nine including taxes on October?

Speaker 2 (01:17:07):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:17:09):
Schedule looks front loaded. Most of the obvious tough games
were in the first seven weeks at Oklahoma at A
and m home against Georgia. They got a road opener
against Baylor on a Friday night, which I think is
low key a very big game, but the back half
is winnable. Like they could beat Miszoo, they could beat Arkansas,
Kentucky and Vandy Mercer. They can beat Georgia, Bama and

(01:17:33):
the Iron Bowl at home as well. I have no
idea what to make of Alvern this year. I really don't.
I have no clue. Again, seven and a half year
over under. I think a lot comes down to Jackson Arnold,
and I just don't know how to gauge whether or
not he's actually good or it was just trapped with
a supporting cast that wasn't well.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
And here's the other thing, too, is you can say
that his situation at Oklahoma was disadvantageous. Is that a
word that feels like a word is now was less
than ideal? I don't know if you turn to playing
for Auburn as a stable turn in life, right, true,

(01:18:17):
I don't know that that's a landing spot. You're just like,
I just want things to calm down, so I'm transferring
to Auburn. Right So that's a concern that this is
a place, this is a landing spot for a transfer
quarterback in Auburn has had successful transfer quarterbacks. Before you
go back, you know, obviously they're the best quarterback in

(01:18:38):
Auburn history was a transfer. I think all of the best,
like Jared Sidham, Nick Marshall, Cam Newton, these guys are
all transfers. I just worry when you come from where
Oklahoma has been that you are looking for everything in
its place ready for you to succeed. Auburn's just not
necessarily that school year over year. I just I like

(01:18:58):
these players. I like who they have on this roster.
I don't hate this schedule. It's not easy. It's you
definitely have to be good right away, but you get
some you get to start with, like the Baylor secondary.
That should be nice.

Speaker 1 (01:19:11):
Yeah what secondary? All right, they didn't have a secondary
last day.

Speaker 2 (01:19:14):
They porled in some guys. We'll see if it works.
But I think Auburn can flash a lot of pop
this year and win a bunch of games. So I
have them going over seven and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:19:24):
I think they're over seven and a half too. I
just don't know how much over sure.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
That's fine. Close this thing out with the Vanderbilt commodorees.

Speaker 1 (01:19:35):
Dan Let's maybe the most unlikely success story in college football. Sure,
given circumstances, the conference they play in. Clark Lee's revived
the program. We know he wants to be there, He's
excited to be there. The first winning season since twenty thirteen,
including that monumental upset of number one Alabama that had

(01:19:58):
everybody talking and I'm sure Vandy fans pinching themselves a
little bit throwing the goalpost into what the Cumberland River?

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
Mm hmmm. That was a moment.

Speaker 1 (01:20:08):
So definitely overachieved last year. Over each years tend to
aggress regress. Excuse me, it's a little complicated when you
consider that they've got a lot back. They lead the
SEC in returning production. They didn't lose that much on
either side of the football. So, yes, overachieved a year ago. Yes,
regression tends to follow, but a lot coming back. The

(01:20:32):
obvious question is can they build on that.

Speaker 2 (01:20:35):
It's a good question. They're not sneaking up on anyone
this year, no, and so that is going to be different.
Their road schedule is brutal.

Speaker 1 (01:20:48):
At Virginia Tech, at South Carolina, at Alabama, at Texas,
at Tennessee to close out the year.

Speaker 2 (01:20:55):
They have the best tight end in the conference. They
have the guttiest quarterback in the conference. They've got a good,
defensive minded head coach. They hit the portal pretty hard.
Which four schools that have Vanderbilt or Stanford or Northwestern
that type of academic standing that's not an annual occurrence.

(01:21:18):
So they're proactive and maintaining this roster. Obviously, they were
proactive last year with the new Mexico State players and
bringing Jerry Kill. But I think they had the sneak
attack factor last year and there was a well coached game.
They made timely plays when they beat Alabama. That game
was at home, Vandy on the road. Playing against these

(01:21:38):
places who are just going to show the Alabama film
on the monitors in the facility all week long leading
up is just different. Just on loop right, just looping it. Yeah, man.
And so you kind of saw that at the end
of the year, where like South Carolina is not sleeping
on them, LSU's not sleeping on them. Tennessee obviously was
not sleeping on them. In State. I think it's going

(01:22:01):
to be a different kind of year. I don't think
they're making a bowl game this year. I think they're
in sort of like they'll sneak on somebody, they'll beat
somebody in an ugly way, but I think it's more
of a four and eight, five and seven type here.

Speaker 1 (01:22:16):
Yeah, I'm out. I like Diego Pavia and I've said
it time and again, he's a big game hunter. Now,
he was doing a little bit of talking in this preseason,
talking up like playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:22:28):
I mean, forget it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:29):
That's great, but good for him, Like you want that
kind of confidence out of it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:32):
You don't succeed without confidence. Now, yeah, No, so.

Speaker 1 (01:22:35):
He's not doing anything wrong, but I hear that and
I kind of roll my eyes a little bit when
I look at the schedule. But they have a lot
back and I'm curious to see if they can build
upon that. The offense, the system that they run is
kind of hard to prepare for, and so that does
give them a little bit of an advantage, I think.
But you're right, they're not going to be sneaking up

(01:22:57):
on anyone this year. I think we need to pump
the brakes a little bit, especially on the defensive side
of the ball. Like overall, Vandy's defense improved, but against
the pass it was a nightmare. And I do think
the secondary is gonna get better. I'm just not sure
if it's gonna be enough this season. I think they're
fine up front, like the front sevens okay, but you're
gonna be able to throw a lot on Vandy and

(01:23:18):
some of these teams that we rattled off, they're gonna
be able to throw in Vandy.

Speaker 2 (01:23:22):
I think I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (01:23:24):
I can't get them the more than five wins, at
least not on paper.

Speaker 2 (01:23:27):
I think that's right. But as you mentioned before, some
of these teams are advantaged in terms of when they're
getting teams. Vanderbilt is advantaged in terms of when they're
getting teams. They have South Carolina a week before South
Carolina travels to Missoo. But I don't know. I don't
think a look ahead that early in the season is

(01:23:47):
that huge a deal. They get Alabama once again after
the Georgia game. Yep, so there's that at least, but
that game is in Tuscaloosa. They get LSU between and
a sandwich spot between South care Line in a and.

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
M wow, I can get that one out, I think,
didn't I in part two?

Speaker 2 (01:24:04):
That sounds right?

Speaker 1 (01:24:05):
Yeah, that's a big time Sandwich spot.

Speaker 2 (01:24:07):
Uh, they get Miszoo a week after Miszoo has Alabama
and Auburn on the road in consecutive weeks. Okay, the
Texas spot, I think is fine. They have Auburn. The
Auburn spot is fine. There was somebody else O Tennessee
has has Vandy and look that's an in state you know,
big deal game in better years. A week after Tennessee,

(01:24:29):
I believe is at Florida. So they are advantaged situationally
with some nice spots.

Speaker 1 (01:24:36):
Comment on the YouTube video, comment out on Spotify, Send
us an email, solid verbal at gmail dot com. Hit
us up on social media. Lord knows, there's a million
ways you can get touch if you want to. Let
us know where we're right, let us know where we're wrong.
Let us know your predictions for the eight teams that
we discussed, or for the conference.

Speaker 2 (01:24:55):
As a whole. If your comment is nice, we love you.
If it's not so nice, we're still friends.

Speaker 1 (01:25:04):
We're still friends.

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
We can By the way, here's the ombuds Dan moment.
There's not even a player named Eric. What did I
Eric Livingston? Yeah that I was confusing him with the
coordinator with Eric McAllister at TCU.

Speaker 1 (01:25:22):
You've been struggling with these guys, Eric, Eric Singleton, Eric Callister.
Thing has prompted you to invent a player named Eric Livingston.
Named Eric Livingston.

Speaker 2 (01:25:32):
Yeah, so that's where I am in my aging process. Listen,
you'll all get there, young people.

Speaker 1 (01:25:37):
We've done one hundred and thirty four teams now that's true,
which is crazy, yep, but we made it through the
bulk of this. As you said, we got Notre Dame
in Yukon, which will bolt onto the episode that we
do next Tuesday. But yeah, you're allowed to fumble with
a name or two. Lord knows, I've done it a
million times.

Speaker 2 (01:25:56):
If you're excited for Tye to do a solid seventeen minutes,
I'm Leonard Moore. That show is going to be free.
That show will be for you.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
Yeah, we do own October nineteen ninety nine. I have
no idea what we're going to do with it, but we.

Speaker 2 (01:26:12):
Have it sexy Halloween costume.

Speaker 1 (01:26:15):
We stand ready for whatever goes down for South Carolina
in the month of October. Okay, we stand ready for
the kind of ballerhood weighing in with their thoughts on
where all things sec go this season. We would encourage
you not just to comment, but the check out for
Ballers dot com if you want to support what Dan
and I do. If nothing more, hit follow, hit subscribe,

(01:26:36):
leave a star rating, or a review. All this stuff
helps us grow. We have had a really big preseason
doing these previews. The previews have really popped in a
way that I did not expect, So I'm pretty excited
about the state of the show at the moment. I'm
pretty excited obviously talking through these teams with you. We
do have a predictions episode that is going to be forthcoming.

(01:26:58):
We got to get through the woods though on doing
all of our previews to be complete here. We can't
do the predictions before that. So this coming Tuesday is
going to be a news show to cover some of
the things that we have not had a chance to
address because we've been doing previews. We're also going to
bolt Notre Dame and Yukon onto the end of that,
and then maybe a little bit later on in the

(01:27:19):
week or maybe the Sunday before week zero. I haven't
quite figured out the math yet. At that point, we're
going to do our predictions. We'll talk through again who's
winning conferences, which you already have heard if you've listened
to these episodes, but who's making the playoff, who we've
got coming out of the playoff, that type of stuff.
Any other predictions that you want to bolt on there,

(01:27:39):
then we can include those in that episode.

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
Definitely you want to hear my impression of all of
the Browsers executives listening to the show and finding out
that they can no longer purchase coctober dot.

Speaker 1 (01:27:50):
How is it available?

Speaker 2 (01:27:52):
I don't know how it was available. Here's my impression.

Speaker 1 (01:27:56):
What no listen, make me an offer, make me an offer.
I will we will sell it. We will gladly sell absolutely,
we will profit from this.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
Yeah, well absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:28:11):
If somebody tried to buy brock tober off of us,
which we still have, nice I want and they were
only offering like a hundred bucks, you're gonna need to
do better than that.

Speaker 2 (01:28:19):
Come on, I need a second beach house.

Speaker 1 (01:28:21):
But I need a first beach house. I need to
pay off this house.

Speaker 2 (01:28:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
Soliverbot Gmail dot com is always is the email address.
Thank you one and all for bearing with us here
through all of our conference previews. The sec now in
the books, we got a few more to tie up
the loose ends to really get you ready for the
season and make sure it's complete.

Speaker 2 (01:28:40):
But I'm excited. Congratulations, we did a good job.

Speaker 1 (01:28:44):
I agree, Hit follow, hit subscribe one more time verballers
dot com If you want to support for that guy
over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, form myself, Ty
hilden Brand. You know the drill has always stay solid.

Speaker 2 (01:28:55):
Peace,

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SEC TEAM PREVIEWS: Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn & Vanderbilt | 2025 College Football

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}SEC TEAM PREVIEWS: Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Arkansas, South Carolina, Auburn & Vanderbilt | 2025 College Football