SEC Vibe Check with Cole Cubelic

date: 2026-04-23
episode_type: guest-interview
source: public
guest: [[People/Cole Cubelic|Cole Cubelic]]

Hosts: Ty Hildenbrandt & Dan Rubenstein Guest: Cole Cubelic (SEC Network; WJOX morning show with Greg McElroy; The Cube Show) Date: April 23, 2026 Listen: Apple · Spotify · YouTube

[!note] Episode Concept Second of the conference vibe-check series (after the Big 12 with John Kurtz). Not an SEC preview — a temperature read in late April on what fans, programs and SEC offices are feeling. Cole walks through Alabama's adjusted reality, Auburn's Marlborough hire and the Cam Coleman / Deuce Knight portal saga, why South Carolina ought to remember who they are, the Texas hype loop, and whether Lane Kiffin's LSU rebuild can find Baton Rouge glue. Ty closes with a "preview to the preview" SEC tier list.

Key Takes

Nick Saban / Urban Meyer / Bowden / Osborne stat lines are no longer obtainable in modern college football. The "comparative game" Alabama fans play is broken because the ceiling itself moved. Fan bases need a coming-to-Jesus on what success looks like now. → take
A nine-win season and a road playoff win is what 98% of fan bases would sign up for — yet Kalen DeBoer is on a manufactured hot seat. The sub-goals (winning the SEC, going to a New Year's Six bowl) have been deteriorated to the point that nothing short of advancing in the playoff registers. → take
South Carolina has to remember who they are. They had a generational player on offense and defense — they need to make something happen, not run Shane Beamer. Cole pushing back on Gamecock fan antsiness; Briles hire is good, Clayton White is underrated, the OL health is the swing variable. → take
Shane Beamer has done more with less through the portal than anyone. Joshua Simon, Rocket Sanders, Spencer Rattler — guys other people had given up on. Beamer keeps finding them. → take
Cole loves the Alex Golesh hire at Auburn — even though Auburn wasn't his top of the leaderboard. Golesh is a "football guy first" who happens to run a Heupel-style spread; people misread that offense as soft because of the splits and verticals. → take
No two players (Cam Coleman / Deuce Knight) are going to lift Auburn out of the worst five-year stretch in program history. You build foundations, not single-skill saviors. Cole's on-air frustration with the "we can't take a step without these two" framing — the Mercer game is not the win he's looking for. → take
Texas's biggest 2025 problem was tackling, not scheme. Cole watched a non-conference game (Illinois State / Utah Tech tier) where Texas missed one-on-one tackles in the flat and on stretch zone. Roman Harper called him back two days later: "Dude, you were right." Will Muschamp brought in to bring an edge. → take
Texas needs glue guys — and Cole can't name them yet. Last year had Jake Majors, Gunnar Helm, Jolly Baron, Michael Taaffe, Anthony Hill Jr. as program guys. This year? Unclear. Arch Manning is one of them and never gets credit for it. → take
Arch Manning raises the level of the players around him and will never get credit for it. Because the name is Manning, fans expect inhuman things. The actual contribution — teammates playing harder for him — gets ignored. → take
Lane Kiffin is almost perfectly built for today's college football. "We give you this, therefore we expect that — you can do it, or you can leave, and we don't care." The next-guy-up culture is a feature, not a bug. → take
Sam Leavitt's foot injury is the LSU question. Not health now — recurrence later. It's the kind of injury that comes back. Bigger Tigers question than the offensive line, which Cole isn't sold on. → take
You can't trust your September eyes this year — too many new coaches, coordinators, and QBs. September is "training wheels" in this SEC. Conclusions before October will be wrong. → take
Defensive coordinator turnover is the under-discussed SEC story going into 2026. Nine of 16 teams have meaningful DC shifts — Knowles to Tennessee, Muschamp back to Texas, Woodson to Ole Miss, Roberts to Arkansas, Bateman to Kentucky, White to Florida, Arnett back to Mississippi State. → take
There will be a "snakes in the SEC toilet" Saturday this season — a week where the standings invert. Cole's sub-goal point + Ty's coordinator turnover + Dan's continuity loss all converging on one chaotic October weekend. → take

Segment / Story Breakdown

1. Cold Open — Why a Vibe Check

Teams / People involved: Cole Cubelic, Greg McElroy

Vibe check, not preview — late April, no one knows anything, but worth taking the temperature. Cole's economy of words on radio (no "ums") gets a shoutout. Plug for The Cube Show and the Chizik / Armstrong "State of Defense" episode — high-havoc defense (turnovers, TFL) is replacing bend-but-don't-break philosophy.

Ty

The connective tissue to the heartbeat of the conference, which of course is the heartbeat of any conference — the craziest and weirdest fans, and I say that lovingly.

2. The Space Exploration Cold Open Joke

Teams / People involved: Cole Cubelic, Greg McElroy

Reference to a McElroy radio bit on space exploration that became national content. Cole at the San Diego Zoo getting texts about it. "I think it's never have I mimicked Hansel and Gretel more than on the radio that day." Cole was just dropping breadcrumbs.

3. SEC Championship Drought — Real Conversation or Overblown?

Teams / People involved: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kalen DeBoer

Cole's framing: SEC fans live in fantasy land. The drought conversation isn't real because the SEC narrative has always been "bigger, stronger, badder." More substantively — the records of Alabama and Georgia's recent "letdown" seasons aren't actually that different from teams that did advance in the playoff. Indiana the outlier.

Cole Cubelic

Nick Saban statistics are not obtainable in today's college athletics. They're just not. Neither are maybe even Urban Meyer's at Florida or a laundry list of other Tom Osborne's at Nebraska — not going to be replicated. Bobby Bowden at Florida State is not doable again. It just isn't.

The sub-goals point: SEC titles, ten-win seasons, New Year's Six bowls, even making the playoff no longer register as accomplishments. Texas A&M made the playoff and the fan base wasn't excited because they didn't advance. Illinois had a historic season and outside Champaign nobody noticed.

4. Tuscaloosa Mood Read

Teams / People involved: Alabama, Kalen DeBoer, Nick Saban (referenced)

Cole on the unrealistic comparative game Alabama fans play because they watched a head coach do unrepeatable things. The "we win because of the logo" mindset is dead — too many other rosters have seen it, beaten it, talked about it. But a large portion of the fan base still expects national championship or bust.

5. Who's the Antsiest Returning Fan Base?

Teams / People involved: Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Tennessee

Sandlot reference (Ty: Smalls and the lotioning/oiling scene; Dan: "Overrated"). Cole on Arkansas — would have been his pick if not for the new coach. Walton/Tyson NIL-savior narrative was unfair to begin with; the Waltons don't owe Arkansas Athletics anything.

Missouri — Drink has overachieved, even with soft schedules; antsiness probably overstated.

South Carolina — substantial scouting report (continued in next segment).

Mississippi State — sitting at the seven-win plateau, want their turn now.

Tennessee — needs to chill, you were a doormat four or five years ago, you just made the playoff.

6. South Carolina Deep Dive

Teams / People involved: South Carolina, Shane Beamer, LaNorris Sellers, Kendal Briles, Clayton White, Joshua Simon, Rocket Sanders, Spencer Rattler, Xavier Legette, Juice Wells

Cole's pushback on Gamecock fan antsiness: you have a generational player on offense (Sellers) and defense, and you were knocking on the playoff door two years ago. Briles hire is good. OL health critical (two starters out for spring). Clayton White doesn't get the credit he deserves as DC.

The Beamer portal résumé: Joshua Simon (Western Kentucky → MVP-level TE). Rocket Sanders (banged up, written off → great year). Spencer Rattler (USC washout, ego problem → productive run). Xavier Legette (booed at home → hit). Juice Wells (more productive when he left). Beamer keeps finding hits.

Cole Cubelic

Mark Stoops should sort of be the blueprint. Year two, year three, they all wanted him gone. They gave him one more time and he righted the ship and gave them seasons only Bear Bryant had ever delivered at that place.

7. Vice Principal Cubelic

Teams / People involved: Cole Cubelic

Dan: "I'm getting a lot of vice principal vibes from Cole. Like, the school's been acting up and Cole has to sit everybody down in the gymnasium." New segment for Cole's radio show pitched.

8. Auburn Spring — The Marlborough/Golesh Hire

Teams / People involved: Auburn, Alex Golesh, Cam Coleman, Deuce Knight, Greg McElroy, Jeff Lebby, Josh Heupel

Cole on Golesh — fan since the Tennessee OC days. Wasn't on top of the search board, fell into Auburn's lap, but circumstantially good outcomes still count. Defense of the Heupel-tree spread offenses against the "soft" / "tricky" framing — Lebby, Heupel and Golesh are all line-of-scrimmage guys who emphasize the trenches. The receiver splits and vertical shots get misread.

The Cam Coleman / Deuce Knight portal departure framing: Cole's caught-on-mic frustration. The fan/admin idea that Auburn couldn't take a step without those two players is wrong.

Cole Cubelic

Cam Coleman's probably gonna have a big year. I actually think Ryan Wingo is gonna have a bigger year because of Cam Coleman. But Deuce Knight has an abundance of talent. And McElroy shut me down when I asked the question on air: "What games did Auburn win because of these two guys?" And he immediately bursts out — "Mercer." And he was right. Deuce Knight went crazy against Mercer. Congratulations.

The Auburn 2000 reference roster: Rudi Johnson, Heath Evans, Ben Leard, Ronnie Brown, Alex Lincoln, Rob Pate. Won the West as a team, not because of one star.

Cole Cubelic

Like give me a Hines Ward or an Anquan Boldin. I'll build my damn program on those kinds of guys. When I hear a coach say, "I didn't need to make my guy a captain because he already does all those things" — that's the guy that maybe I'll make the foundation of my program.

Auburn is in the midst of arguably the worst five-year stretch in program history.

9. Texas — Hype Loop and the Tackling Problem

Teams / People involved: Texas, Arch Manning, Cam Coleman, Ryan Wingo, Colin Simmons, Steve Sarkisian, Roman Harper, Quintrevion Wisner, Jake Majors, Gunnar Helm, Jolly Baron, Michael Taaffe, Anthony Hill Jr., Will Muschamp

Hype is justified — Colin Simmons, Wingo, Coleman, Arch are real "sports cars." Cole's quarterback-finds-his-calm theory: Arch was throwing wormburgers early, found calm late, that's why he was better.

The 2025 tackling problem: Cole watched a non-conference game (Illinois State / Utah Tech tier) and called it the best individual tackling performance he saw all season — against Texas. Roman Harper pushed back ("get out of here, you're dumb"), then watched the tape and called him back two days later admitting Cole was right.

The Quintrevion Wisner exit — leaving for Florida State — and another starting RB headed to Kentucky. Sark moving for more "juice" at skill positions.

The Georgia framing: last two times Texas-Georgia, "we're about to find out how rugged you are" — Georgia using blunt-force trauma rather than scheme. Texas didn't manage it.

Glue-guys question: who replaces Majors / Helm / Baron / Taaffe / Hill Jr.? Cole can't name them yet. Will Muschamp's hire is partly about restoring an edge.

10. LSU — Lane and the Baton Rouge Glue Question

Teams / People involved: LSU, Lane Kiffin, Sam Leavitt, Blake Baker, Whit Weeks, Trey'Dez Green, Harlem Berry, Jordan Seaton, Austin Simmons, Dae'Quan Wright

Ty: "Do you believe in the Baton Rouge glue?" — coming off Indiana national championship, the connective tissue question matters less than it did.

Cole: nobody knows anything. But Lane has a track record — last QB to fail under him was at FAU year one, name forgotten. Glue back: Baker (DC), Whit Weeks, Trey'Dez Green. Big questions: OL (Cole not sold), Jordan Seaton's translation from talent-on-tape to elite production, Sam Leavitt's foot injury (recurrence the real worry).

Cole Cubelic

Lane is almost perfect for today's college football. Because we always viewed this as this laissez-faire, nonchalant, who-gives-a-rip attitude — when in reality, what I think it's kind of become is, we give you this, therefore we expect that. You can do it, and we will help you be really good at it, or you can leave, and we don't care.

The "next guy up" track record at Ole Miss — Austin Simmons came in vs. Georgia and was good, Dae'Quan Wright became one of their better players nobody saw coming.

11. Cookies Closer

Teams / People involved: Cole Cubelic, Ty

Ty owes Cole cookies — "your time is worth butter and brown sugar and not chocolate chips. Cut up chocolate bars." Cole signs off.

12. Debrief — Glue Guys, Continuity Loss, and the Vet Problem

Teams / People involved: Dan, Ty

Dan picks up Cole's glue-guys point: in an NBA-veteran sense (Al Horford), losing program continuity is worse than just losing transfers. You need the base layer of "this is what it's like to play at Texas." Now you're adding a guy like Rasheem Biles (Pitt LB, strong spring) but he hasn't been there with these guys. Both Verbal hosts root for portal-heavy teams and are hoping for the best.

13. Debrief — Nine-Game Schedule + DC Turnover

Teams / People involved: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, Florida, Mississippi State, Kentucky

First year of nine-game SEC slate. Arkansas brutal schedule, Oklahoma at Michigan in week 2 on top of it. ACC depth shifts (SMU/Cal/Stanford). The ninth game prevents the Mizzou/A&M kind of cupcake-conference run.

Defensive-coordinator turnover — Ty's count of nine of 16 teams: Jim Knowles to Tennessee, Muschamp back to Texas, Marcus Woodson to Ole Miss, Ron Roberts to Arkansas, Jay Bateman to Kentucky, Brad White from Kentucky to Florida, Zach Arnett back to Mississippi State.

Returning QB knowns: Trinidad Chambliss, LaNorris Sellers, Gunner Stockton, Arch Manning. New starters in flux at most other places. Combined with new HCs (Sumrall, Silverfield, Golesh, Kiffin to LSU, Will Stein to Kentucky), the conference may look completely different on November 9 than it did September 23.

Ty

This is, to me, a very long-winded way of saying we're going to see some snakes in the SEC toilet this season. There's going to be a week where we're like — oh, Kentucky figured it out. There's almost assuredly going to be a week where Kentucky just beat blank and Mississippi State just beat blank and Florida just beat blank and it completely threw off the track we thought we were on.

14. Ty's Preview-to-the-Preview SEC Tier List

Teams / People involved: All 16 SEC teams

Ty's early-April working tiers (will change "seven times" before previews):

Playoff-viable (7): Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma
Next rung: Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina
Tier three: Auburn, Vanderbilt, Florida (probably too low)
Bowl viable: Mississippi State, Kentucky
No idea: Arkansas

Dan calls out the Vanderbilt drop given last year's ten-win season.

15. SEC Tennis Cold Close

Teams / People involved: Georgia (host program)

Bit about hypothetically opening an episode talking only SEC men's tennis with no warning. Seven of the top 13, five of the top 10, twelve of the top 30 NCAA tennis teams from the SEC. NCAA tournament finishes at the Georgia tennis facility. Three new fans for life if they pulled the bait and switch.

Teams Discussed

Alabama — DeBoer hot-seat read; the "comparative game" trap
Auburn — Marlborough/Golesh hire, Cam Coleman / Deuce Knight portal departures, worst five-year stretch
Arkansas — would be antsiest fan base if not for new coach; Walton/Tyson NIL myth
Florida — probably too low in Ty's tiers; Brad White incoming as DC
Georgia — blunt-force-trauma blueprint vs. Texas; Kirby still loves the SEC title
Kentucky — Mark Stoops as the "give him one more year" blueprint; Will Stein new HC; Bateman new DC
LSU — Lane Kiffin Year 1; glue-guys back (Baker/Weeks/Green); Leavitt's foot
Mississippi State — seven-win plateau frustration; Arnett back as DC
Missouri — Drink has overachieved
Ole Miss — next-guy-up culture (Simmons, Wright); Woodson new DC
Oklahoma — at Michigan week 2 + nine-game SEC slate; Mateer at QB
South Carolina — generational player on both sides; Briles hire; OL health
Tennessee — was the doormat four years ago; Chambliss at QB; Knowles new DC
Texas — tackling, glue guys, Muschamp back, Arch's calm
Texas A&M — playoff team unappreciated; Reed at QB
Vanderbilt — ten-win season; Ty's tier-three drop questioned by Dan
Indiana — outlier comparison point for Alabama/Georgia letdowns
Pittsburgh — Rasheem Biles transferring to Texas

People Discussed

Segments

Vibe Check series (Big 12 → SEC; ACC and Big Ten still to come)
"Vice Principal Cubelic" — pitched new segment for Cole's radio show

Running Threads

The "snakes in the toilet" October — both hosts circling that this SEC season will produce a chaos Saturday
Sub-goal deterioration (national title or bust mentality) → linked to broader CFB expectations crisis
Glue guys / continuity loss as a portal-era diagnostic
Lane Kiffin as the "perfect coach for this era" framing — to revisit when LSU plays in October
Arch Manning's underrated leadership effect — note for previews

Open Questions

Who are Texas's glue guys this season? (Cole and Ty both asking)
Will Sam Leavitt's foot hold up across a full season?
Does the nine-game SEC + Michigan win Oklahoma's schedule actually break the conference?
Is Florida higher than Ty's tier three? (Ty already flagged)
Do the ACC vibe check and Big Ten vibe check run before previews season?