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Sal Gusta National: Elite Coaches, QBs, Losers, and Schedule Gauntlets

date
2026-04-09
episode_type
fan-mailbag
source
public

Hosts: Ty Hildenbrandt & Dan Rubenstein Date: April 9, 2026

[!note] Episode Concept Inspired by Masters Week, Ty and Dan create their own exclusive "country club" — Sal Gusta National — with membership categories for: Elite Losers (2025), Amen Corner schedule gauntlets (2026), Elite Quarterbacks (2026), and Coaches. Recorded against the backdrop of the Masters tournament.

The Elite Losers Club

Dan assembled 22 teams that deserve membership in the Elite Losers Club for the 2025 season. The definition: a team with a very specific, recognizable pattern of losing that college football fans universally understand.

Dan

"I appreciate the different varieties of losing available in this sport. There are different classes of elite losers."

Inductees

Auburn — Coined the phrase "elite loser" under Hugh Freeze, who would blame players in press conferences. Under DJ Durkin last season: lost 6 of 7, four straight close losses to decent teams, couldn't reach 11 points against Kentucky, lost a winnable Iron Bowl. New coach Alex Golesh takes over.

[!note] Auburn Amen Corner (2026) After a bye Oct. 10: at Georgia → home vs. LSU → at Ole Miss. Season-defining stretch.

Arkansas — Lost 10 straight at one point. Great offense, disastrous defense, year after year. See also: 2026-03-26 Missing Pieces - What Your College Football Team Can't Seem To Fix.

Oregon — The "can't win the big one in January" variety. Two national championship game losses (Auburn, Ohio State). Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State. Lost to Indiana Hoosiers in 2025 playoffs. Dan's argument: "It's a spectrum. If you're only losing to elite winners, what does that make you?" Ty's counter: that's Indiana excellence, not Oregon failure.

Boston College — Drove out their starting QB, lost first 10 FBS games, beat Syracuse to finish.

Air Force — Five straight FBS losses to open the season, three winnable, lost tight to Army later.

Colorado — Won the turnover margin 3-0 vs. Georgia Tech, blew a winnable game to BYU, got blown out by Utah.

Florida — Kept Texas out of the playoff, then lost to USF. Fired coach after a win.

Clemson — Lost to Georgia Tech (winnable), season-altering loss to Duke 46-45, dropped fans calling into radio to yell at the coach.

Syracuse — Lost their starting QB who beat Clemson; season fell apart. (Note: Rickie Collins has now transferred to Kennesaw State, competing for the QB job.)

Mizzou — Elite loser in a very specific way: only lost to good teams. Beat bad teams, lost to decent ones. Consistent snip-snap pattern.

Iowa — Lost only to really good teams close. Also: in 2023, played Penn State, Michigan, and Tennessee (three ranked teams) and combined to score zero points across all three games.

Texas Tech — Dan's controversial pick. Had the most successful season in program history, won the Big 12 — but got shut out in the biggest game in program history (Orange Bowl vs. Oregon). "How many teams have been shut out in the 12-team playoff era? One." Ty strongly disagrees with this inclusion.

Ty

"This is mind-blowingly stupid to me. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt."

UCLA — Fired a coach in his second year, then won games with Rick Neuheisel's son as OC, got another coach fired (Penn State), then lost again. "The winning island in the elite loser sea."

Virginia Tech — Not just losing, but firing the loser (James Franklin) and bringing back a loser in a different role. "Such dedication to the cause of losing."

Oklahoma State — 0-18 in the Big 12 over the past two seasons under Mike Gundy. "The heel turn to losing has to be commended." Eric Morris and Drew Mestemaker now rebuilding. Dan: "I actually think they're going to be pretty good this year."

Maryland — Elite September winners, then you know exactly what's coming in November. "I don't know how to put it more clearly. Maryland doesn't win in November." 2026 November: at Purdue, home vs. Wisconsin, at USC, home vs. Penn State.

UMass — "Master of the art form."

Oregon State — 2025 was a mess: injuries, paid premium for a QB who went 2-10, defense was horrible.

Washington State — Lost to North Texas, James Madison, Ole Miss, and Virginia — but was competitive in all of them. Gumpy losing.

Georgia State — "So, so, so, so, so bad." Had one island: almost beat James Madison.

Northwestern — The pinnacle: won the turnover battle 5-0 and still lost a game. Elite Loser of the Year, 2025. (Though: 90th offense, 30th defense in SP+. David Braun retooling aggressively. New stadium opens on a Friday night vs. Penn State in early October.)

Amen Corner — 2026 Schedule Gauntlets

[!note] What is Amen Corner? Holes 11, 12, and 13 at Augusta National — all Rae's Creek holes where championship rounds go to die. Ty used this as a framework for identifying the 2-3 game stretches that will define each team's season in 2026.

SEC Gauntlets

Texas A&M Aggies — The most "Amen of Amen Corners": home vs. Tennessee (Nov. 14) → at Oklahoma → home vs. Texas on Black Friday. "That is a tough stretch for even the best teams in college football."

Alabama — Home vs. Georgia (Oct. 10) → at Tennessee → home vs. Texas A&M → (bye) → at LSU (Nov. 7).

Mississippi State — Five-week gauntlet: vs. Alabama in October → bye → at LSU → home vs. Oklahoma → at Texas on Halloween.

Texas — Two distinct gauntlets: (1) neutral-site vs. Oklahoma → home vs. Florida → home vs. Ole Miss. (2) At LSU (Nov. 14) → home vs. Arkansas → at Texas A&M (Black Friday).

LSU — Early: at Ole Miss (Sept. 19, prime time) → home vs. Texas A&M. Late: home vs. Alabama (Nov. 7) → home vs. Texas → at Tennessee.

[!note] SEC Gauntlet Verdict "The gauntlets I'm seeing in the SEC are much more Amen Corner than anywhere else around college football." ACC and Big 12 don't rise to the same level; Big Ten is closer but still behind.

Auburn (revisited) — at Georgia → home vs. LSU → at Ole Miss (mid-October stretch).

Big Ten Gauntlets

Iowa — End of September: at Michigan → home vs. Ohio State → at Washington. "I don't think Iowa has the offense to make it through that gauntlet."

USC — Early: home vs. Oregon → home vs. Washington → at Penn State. Late: home vs. Ohio State (Halloween) → bye → at Indiana. Five losable games: Oregon, Washington, Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana.

Oregon — At Ohio State (Nov. 7) → home vs. Michigan (Nov. 14).

Michigan — Home vs. Penn State → home vs. Indiana → later: at Oregon → home vs. UCLA → at Ohio State.

UCLA — Quietly one of the more favorable schedules in the Big Ten. One tough early road game at Oregon, game at Michigan, USC rivalry. Bob Chesney year one. Ty is bullish. (Side note: UCLA has an "elite bad stadium situation" — wandering without a real home venue.)

ACC & Big 12 Gauntlets

Florida State — "Punishing schedule." SMU, Alabama, Louisville, Miami, and Clemson all on the slate. Huge buyout for Mike Norvell regardless.

Virginia Tech — Backloaded: at Clemson → at SMU → at Miami (road game). Tough finish from week 7 on.

Arizona — Season-defining stretch: at Texas Tech (Halloween) → home vs. TCU → home vs. Utah (Nov. 14).

BYU — Four-game gauntlet: home vs. Notre Dame → at UCF → home vs. Arizona State → at Utah.

Elite Quarterbacks — 2026

Ty's framework: "I understand a world in which we are saying this guy had the best season of any QB in the country."

Above the Cut Line

  • CJ Carr
  • Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss Rebels)
  • Drew Mestemaker — wild card due to level jump, but moving with his coach and offensive system
  • Julian Sayin
  • Jaden Maiava — QB-friendly system, Heisman-track head coach
  • Dante Moore — wasn't great vs. best competition in 2025, but ceiling is real
  • Arch Manning — not a no-brainer (had low lights in 2025), but early September showcase vs. Ohio State sets his own narrative
  • Gunner Stockton — 13:1 TD/INT ratio vs. ranked teams in 2025. Ty's cut line.

Just Below the Cut Line

  • Darian Mensah — new system, didn't thrive vs. best Duke opponents; has Malachi Toney (one of the best WRs in the country)
  • Devon Dampier
  • Josh Hoover — needs to be cleaner; new receivers at Indiana
  • Sam Leavitt — injury concern, new system with Lane Kiffin; "a playoff quarterback"
  • Bear Bachmeier — true freshman, great opening stance, upside TBD
  • Kevin Jennings — disrespected in most conversations; good player, inconsistency and roster concerns hold him back
  • LaNorris Sellers
  • Whoever wins the Alabama QB battle (Keelon Russell vs. Austin Mack) — Kalen DeBoer QB track record earns this spot

Notable Omissions Discussed

  • Bryce Underwood, Marcel Reed, John Mateer, Demond Williams Jr. — Dan surprised Ty put the Alabama winner ahead of these
  • Brendan Sorsby (Texas Tech) — "If he can give them more consistency, not get hurt, and add dual threat… could easily find his way into the top tier. That's not even a take."

[!note] Quarterback Year Preview "It's going to be a very interesting quarterback year. The combination of newcomers, guys like CJ Carr and Arch Manning first-time starters at new places — it's a really interesting mix."

Full Transcript

Welcome to The Solid Verbal. The Solid Verbal. Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40! I've heard so many players say, "Well, I want to be happy." You want to be happy for a day? Eat a steak. It's that whoop, whoop. And now, Dan and Ty.

Dan Rubenstein, we've got a big weekend in front of us, my friend, do we not? We do. Um, is Shingo Katayama going to be a factor? I don't follow golf. I don't think so. Okay. Hideki Matsuyama might be a factor, former champion playing this week. That's true. But I got that name right there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Shingo, did he wear like the cowboy hat? Was that my guy? I think you might be thinking of Jumbo Ozaki. Really? Oh, okay. I thought one of them wore one of the — one of the Japanese players wore a cool hat, but perhaps I'm mistaken. I always enjoy the Masters. I always enjoy The Masters, but I don't follow golf closely. I listen to a golf podcast sometimes, but I don't remember anything I hear. So I just enjoy the TV show spectacle of it all.

As do I, which is why we are fashioning today's show after the Masters, in some sense. We will get into that and what that means. You know, we like to try some stuff here on the show. We've been doing it all throughout the offseason. We're going to continue doing it today. Go back and listen to our episode from earlier this week, which we did with Coach Jerry Mack of Kennesaw State, who was very gracious with his time. Got a lot of great feedback from that interview. Hopefully, we can have him on again at some point in the very near future.

We are still getting feedback from the episode we did a week ago, The Secret Garbage Bracket Year of Our Lord 2026. So if you have thoughts on that, solidverbal@gmail.com, you can always reach out. We do also have a bracket — still have the bracket out there that you can fill out if you are so inclined at garbage.solidverbal.com, the most important URL right now on the interwebs. Of course, if you are here, if you're stopping back for more, if you just made it a few minutes in, if you like the cut of our jib, please hit follow. Please hit subscribe so that you do not miss any of our episodes.

[Transcript continues — full discussion of Elite Losers, Amen Corner gauntlets, and Elite Quarterbacks for 2026...]