20260528solidverbal Transcript Corrected

Ty Hildenbrandt 00:18 Dan Rubenstein at time of recording. It is officially 93 days, almost on the nose, until we get the first kickoff of the 2026 season at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, featuring UNC and TCU. We are now inside the 100-day mark. College football is getting a little bit bigger in the window, my friend. Welcome back. How are you?

Dan Rubenstein 00:48 I know it is getting bigger in the rearview mirror because last week Jody with an I said, "Hey, remember last year when you said you regretted not going to the beach that final weekend before Labor Day weekend so you could watch Week 0 football, and then said nothing really happened and you could have sort of caught up later in the day? Remember when that happened?" And I said, "Yeah, I do remember when that happened." And she was like, "Let's not make that same mistake this year." So I will be watching Week 0 in the way that somebody might have been watching it in 1977, which is to say, tape delayed. So that's how I know, because that conversation was already broached, knowing that I have 15 consecutive weeks where she is more solo than usual with the kiddos.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:36 Well, and truth be told, we don't do the midnight show.

Dan Rubenstein 01:38 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:40 On that Saturday following Week 0.

Dan Rubenstein 01:43 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:43 So you've got a little bit of a reprieve. And I was going to say, because we talked through the schedule a couple episodes back now, and Week 1 compared to previous Week 1s is not as loaded. It's still going to be a celebration of college football.

Dan Rubenstein 01:56 Oh, it's still great, yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:58 We're still going to do our midnight show and all that, but truth be told, again, not as jam-packed as it would normally be for a Week 1. So I suspect that there will be some folks out there who might take that same approach, but a week later for Week 1. Five straight days of football, you know, starts on the Thursday and the Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Might be able to take that approach too, just to build up a little bit of goodwill in the household to kind of save up for what is ahead.

Dan Rubenstein 02:24 Oh, yeah. Correct. So should I talk about what we're doing on this episode in a way that isn't fully encapsulated by the title that you probably saw before hitting play?

Ty Hildenbrandt 02:38 I would love to get more details about this journey we're about to go through together. Yes.

Dan Rubenstein 02:42 Okay, so I am not alone in noticing that there can be a lot of strife, a lot of negativity. A lot of tension, hair pulling, whatever, about the state of the sport. There are a lot of people who talk about the sport, who talk about the need for fixing, or how we hear these interviews with these completely selfless coaches, not at all speaking out of self-interest, other than Mike Elko.

Ty Hildenbrandt 03:07 Other than Mike Elko, right.

Dan Rubenstein 03:08 Mike Elko is great. Talking about we need to fix this, we need to fix that. Here's my issue with NIL, here's my issue with the portal, here's my issue with 12 teams, 16 teams, 24 teams not starting the season earlier, starting the season too late, or it was a joke, people calling the two teams in Tulane and James Madison Make-A-Wish programs in the College Football Playoff, right? There's just a lot of people, and a lot of the time we should include ourselves, that can be down on aspects of the sport and let that dominate the conversation. And I understand the frustration, but I think in the interest, because what did you say, 93 days out?

Ty Hildenbrandt 03:51 Ninety-three days out, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 03:53 I think as we head into June, as we record this in very late May, I think we should, in the interest of not fairness or evening out the universe, but just as a reminder, because we're getting into the time where we really do start looking ahead to like, you know, not that far out from fall camp and the media days and everything that comes with the lead-up to the sport, that this is almost, I don't know. We're getting people hot and bothered. We're lubricating up the fans of this sport, Ty. I called it kickoff yearning, and I just realized that's KY, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:29 Yeah, that is.

Dan Rubenstein 04:29 So I don't know if that works for you, but I want to talk about not specifics, but I want gentle reminders on this show about extremely specific aspects of this sport and the fandom culture that supports this sport. That we will always treasure. So, this isn't fantasy things where we're like, okay, an announcer might say this, or this might be a very specific occurrence that could happen in a Penn State game or something. No, no, no, no. What we are doing is we are taking the universal good of college football and putting it on a summer pedestal to just remind ourselves what makes this sport unique and special.

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:12 Yeah. Just sort of whet your beak as you go into summer.

Dan Rubenstein 05:18 Kickoff yearning. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:20 You know, as people listen to this, it might be 92 days, might be inside 92, 91 days, depending on when you download and listen, if you grab it over the weekend.

Dan Rubenstein 05:24 Absolutely.

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:30 93 days might sound like a lot. Depending where you're at in life, it might feel like a lot. But I think the one thing we have come to know as we now head into our 19th college football season of podcasting. Summers go by very quickly. That time goes by very quickly. The weather breaks. People go on vacation. People go see Cats again, which is now back on Broadway for the low price of $137 at the Broadhurst Theatre on 44th Street, FYI. Summer goes by quick. So this is, I think, intended to help people just whet the beak a little bit.

Dan Rubenstein 06:06 It does. Kickoff yearning.

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:13 Kickoff, kickoff yearning. Yeah. I've got my Marie Kondo sound.

Dan Rubenstein 06:17 Oh, I like that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:18 What sparks joy?

Dan Rubenstein 06:20 What sparks joy for me? This is in no specific order, but because this is a sort of entrance into things, I have unique entrances. So I have, there isn't this in another sport, right? There isn't the Power T, there isn't "Enter Sandman." There isn't a mascot on a motorcycle, right? There aren't, you know, the smoke machines in Coral Gables. There is something special that will always be special as long as college football exists about those unique entrances. And as somebody who has. Dreamt since he was, what, four or five years old about walking up to the home plate or doing something, like walking into the ring, right? There is always that, like, we used to in college, Ty, in the dorms, before we would play a particularly big game of NCAA football, we would set entrance music.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:15 What was yours?

Dan Rubenstein 07:17 Usually it was "Bring Em Out". Although I'm not sure if that timeline lines up, but that was maybe later, post-college.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:19 Okay. Right.

Dan Rubenstein 07:24 It was the "Bring Em Out", the T.I..

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:25 Right. So you continued the tradition even though you had expired your eligibility in college.

Dan Rubenstein 07:30 I'd put on the wireless headphones in a suit, walk out of my apartment, slowly walk into my apartment like an NBA player listening to T.I.. Yeah, of course. I love I love a unique entrance, and college football is the best at it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:43 For my money, it's hard to beat Virginia Tech with "Enter Sandman."

Dan Rubenstein 07:48 Sure, of course.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:49 I don't think the Tennessee T gets the love it deserves. With the dog. Now I'm a dog guy, as you know. I don't think that entrance is celebrated nearly enough by people outside Tennessee and people outside the SEC. Not because it's anything over-the-top sophisticated, but just because it looks cool and there's a dog involved and it's just a longstanding tradition. And there's a lot of history behind most of these things too, right? There's more to it than meets the eye, a lot of nuance with how they got to that in the first place, which we don't have time to go into here. But to say the least, that's one that I always look forward to. Great deal.

Dan Rubenstein 08:31 You ready for another one? You just stop me when you want to take over, okay?

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:35 What do you got next?

Dan Rubenstein 08:35 You want me to go through five in no particular order?

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:38 Go ahead.

Dan Rubenstein 08:39 The sport as common ground conversationally.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:42 So you're talking a water-cooler thing, right?

Dan Rubenstein 08:43 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:45 The world around us feels at times like it is crumbling for a multitude of reasons, but we all have this as a common

Dan Rubenstein 08:50 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:53 Cultural reference point that we can kind of lean on and talk amongst ourselves.

Dan Rubenstein 08:58 There is a lot culturally, politically, whatever, that can be quite polarizing, but if you find yourself in the south, if you find yourself in the Midwest, the East Coast, the West Coast, or whatever, you are bound to be surrounded by some people who are into different teams, right? So it's a little bit different to me that if you are in Philly, if you're in LA, like kind of everybody's a Laker fan. Maybe there's Clipper fans, but not really. Like, everybody's an Eagles fan. Like, there is something that is nice and communal about being in a place where everybody's rooting for the same pro team. But because people go to different schools, or people's parents go to different schools, or for people's spouses, they, you know, I went to a small school, but my, you know, my husband went to Iowa State, so we're an Iowa State fan. Like, there is something unique about college football, that the diaspora, what is, what is the word? Diaspora? What am I saying here?

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:53 Sure.

Dan Rubenstein 09:54 Yeah, I don't know.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:54 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 09:55 But there is something unique about the variety of teams and schools people root for that

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:55 I gotcha.

Dan Rubenstein 10:04 I think you can steer a conversation there. You can talk about, like, oh, yeah, I was at Wisconsin when Melvin Gordon was there, right? You can steer a conversation into somebody's personal experience going to games or watching their team with their family or their kids or something like that. And it is mostly a neutral conversation point that I think serves a really nice purpose.

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:28 Well, sports as a whole kind of serves that purpose.

Dan Rubenstein 10:30 Right, but what I'm saying what I'm saying is like everybody kind of has overlapping opinions of the Bears in Chicago. Okay? Like that's what that's the team that a lot of people root for. But It's not like everybody here roots for Illinois, or it's not like everybody here roots for Michigan, right? You have people from all over the place, and I kind of love that about the sport, that you can talk to somebody about their team and their experience that's uniquely theirs, whereas it doesn't always feel that way with Pro Sports.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:01 Here's what's wild about that, and I've mentioned this to friends of mine too, as we have traveled wherever on vacation as a group, you name it. Obviously, the NFL is internationally very popular. They have spent boatloads of money to make it more popular, make it more of an international game, right? I have found in the handful of times that I've left the country that the sport that seems to strike up the most conversation actually is college football.

Dan Rubenstein 11:34 I think so too.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:35 It's not pro anything. It tends to be college. And I don't know why that is. I really have not put my finger on why that is. But I have found in my own anecdotal evidence here. that it seems college football, just colleges as a whole, tend to give you a little bit more common ground to converse over than talking about the Philadelphia Eagles.

Dan Rubenstein 11:59 Yeah, there's like there's the unspoken reason you are a fan of a school. Not unspoken, but everybody kind of has a unique version of Their own fandom, which is, I don't know, that's kind of cool that you won't get necessarily with Cowboys fans or with Washingtonton Nationals fans.

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:22 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 12:22 So, I appreciate that unique element of the sport. How about throwing a football at a tailgate? I don't know.

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:29 Man.

Dan Rubenstein 12:29 People aren't bringing pucks to NHL games. People are like outside of maybe, I think, Milwaukee, people aren't. Throwing a ball around a baseball parking lot. The idea of there always being a football around, and look, it happens in the NFL, I'm sure, too. But a tailgate. And you're just like, well, this sport that I'm clearly not qualified to play is about to start in that stadium. Let's vaguely participate in that sport in our own way. and maybe hit somebody who's grilling burgers at the same time.

Ty Hildenbrandt 13:02 Right. And maybe tear a labrum or a rotator cuff while we're at it.

Dan Rubenstein 13:05 Absolutely. Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 13:07 While we're at it.

Dan Rubenstein 13:08 So he's gonna, how did Uncle Bob roll an ankle? Funny, you should ask. He was running a button hook by the like the communications building. It's great.

Ty Hildenbrandt 13:20 I've been at soccer matches before where you have, I would say, unskilled Soccer participants trying to kick the ball, and you tend to have that situation where it can go a little astray and crash into people.

Dan Rubenstein 13:32 Oh, it's great.

Ty Hildenbrandt 13:37 I feel like the football almost does more damage because if it's really off course, it's really off course.

Dan Rubenstein 13:41 Oh, man.

Ty Hildenbrandt 13:42 It's also mostly airborne. And when it bounces, it could do a bunch of odd things that a round ball doesn't.

Dan Rubenstein 13:45 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 13:50 So.

Dan Rubenstein 13:50 Somebody's going to get Jan Brady, right? In the parking lot of a Mizzou game, somebody's going to, and by the way, it's diaspora. I said diaspora, it's diaspora, and I was wrong. And I take full accountability, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:02 Do you have a favorite memory from a tailgate or just from somewhere in life of the football of the situation you're describing where

Dan Rubenstein 14:08 Great question.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:11 There's a football toss going on, and the ball goes astray, and then something crazy happens as a result of that.

Dan Rubenstein 14:18 No, I've never like fully seen remotely old I don't know if it happens in real life or not because I've never been successful trying it where you'll see on I don't know, California Dreams, or one of those types of shows where like two guys are throwing a football around on the beach and they purposefully throw it near a group of girls on a blanket.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:36 Oh, right, right.

Dan Rubenstein 14:37 I've never seen that at a tailgate. Mostly when it goes wrong, it's somebody overthrowing somebody and it going into somebody else's tailgate and them apologizing, maybe striking up a conversation. But I don't think, I mean, I've thrown a ball around. I used to go to the Holiday Bowl when Oregon was in it and I lived in LA. I don't specifically recall. Maybe somebody jammed a finger. I don't know.

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:01 I was, I was, uh, I witnessed

Dan Rubenstein 15:01 Do you?

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:08 And it wasn't my group. I witnessed a group of guys throwing a football constantly. Being off course, probably because they were drunk, and throwing it into another group to the point where it irked the guy so much that he popped out a stiletto knife and cut the ball in half.

Dan Rubenstein 15:26 Oh, come on, man.

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:27 I swear to God, I've never seen.

Dan Rubenstein 15:29 Who is he a fan of?

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:30 I have no idea. I've never seen anything like that in my life.

Dan Rubenstein 15:32 Okay. Well...

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:34 Hope to never see that again. But yes, the joys of throwing the football at the tailgate, the tribulations of throwing the football at the tailgate. What else do you got?

Dan Rubenstein 15:42 Yes. By the way, I did badly sprain an ankle playing Thanksgiving touch football.

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:48 Of course, of course.

Dan Rubenstein 15:48 In 2007, let's call it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:51 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 15:52 I don't know, somewhere in there. Maybe, no, maybe 2004. Okay, this is sort of an addendum, an addition to the steering the conversation to college football and having that ability in a lot of places to keep it things kind of neutral. Bowls as a solution to weird holiday awkwardness.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:12 Oh, okay.

Dan Rubenstein 16:12 Now, the bowl system gets a lot of flack from the, like, you got to expand to 60 teams. Nobody wants to watch the so-and-so Bowl, the Gasparilla Bowl. Okay, I hear you.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:21 Which, by the way, which is BS because they've released the numbers and the numbers are up.

Dan Rubenstein 16:24 Because people do watch. Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:27 So people like to watch bowl season, even if it means less now than it has in years past.

Dan Rubenstein 16:31 Right, a lot of holiday events Involve going to somebody's house and it's a potluck, and people are milling about, and whether it's Christmas Eve, whether it's a New Year's thing, whether it's an office party, something like that. You're bound to be cornered by your weird husband's weird or weird husband. I guess that's your choice. Your weird, or your husband's weird nephew.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:00 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 17:00 or your cousin's weird wife or something. And if you can steer your physical being to a couch that is showing the New Mexico Bowl. that is showing the Poinsettia Bowl. That is, at least you can pretend to be interested in whatever the hell UNLV is trying to do on third and long. Right? That there is something about bowl season that gives you a social out that I think cannot be forgotten during this discourse.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:37 You're not wrong about this. I don't know if watching Jackson Arnold try to throw a pass for UNLV in a bowl game is necessarily going to be the kind of thing that warms.

Dan Rubenstein 17:48 I'm sorry, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:50 warms the cockles of the heart, but it definitely makes for interesting conversation.

Dan Rubenstein 17:54 It's not even about interesting conversation, Ty. You can fake being interested. In the Auto Care Bowl. You can fake being interested in whatever bowl game where you're not interested in either one of those teams, and it's Central Michigan against Georgia Tech or something. But we all have not necessarily the weird relative, but like, oh yeah, Aunt and Aunt Telly brought her friend You know, I'm making up women's names on the fly, but I don't know what's going on.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:26 Yeah, what's going on here?

Dan Rubenstein 18:28 Aunt Barbara brought her friend Teresa over, and Teresa's got a lot of thoughts on crystals, right? And you're just like, I'm actually, I'm gonna. Actually, a buddy of mine is playing in this game, so I'm going to go watch Texas Tech in the whatever bowl.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:40 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 18:44 I think that's really nice.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:45 Can I throw one out here?

Dan Rubenstein 18:47 Please.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:49 I have the weirdness of starting the season in Dublin and Rio.

Dan Rubenstein 18:53 You like this. This is a thing you enjoy.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:56 Now they've added the Rio game.

Dan Rubenstein 18:57 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:58 So North Carolina and TCU kick off the year in Dublin. It's been a few years running, actually, that the season has kicked off for whatever reason in Dublin, Ireland. And now they've added the Rio game, which is going to be between NC State and Virginia. I have yet to actually have in front of me a hard and fast reason as to why this is a thing. You know, I like to pull on strings. We like to kind of go down some weird rabbit holes with this. You could argue that's the entire point of this episode. I have yet to fully understand why they start the season in Dublin, Ireland. I'm not against it. And as you know, we got invited to go to the one last year. We couldn't do it.

Dan Rubenstein 19:38 I think you're sort of I think you're getting there. I think you're unraveling the reason that somebody some tourist board

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:44 Oh, no, no.

Dan Rubenstein 19:44 Decided to say, we have $800,000 to sponsor a game. Will you come to our stadium overseas to play it?

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:54 Right. I get it. I understand.

Dan Rubenstein 19:56 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:56 I understand there's definitely a business.

Dan Rubenstein 19:58 I don't know if it's 800K. You probably could get a football game.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:01 They could probably get it for less, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 20:02 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:03 I'm sure there is a good business reason as to why they do these things, but it just seems to be very striking that

Dan Rubenstein 20:07 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:12 this is however many years running now, where the season starts in Dublin. Now they're adding the Rio game. The internationalization, globalization of college football seems to be very limited, but For whatever reason, this trend has continued and people are getting into it and now adding on to it. And I just think that's weird. I enjoy the fact that the first game of the year is played abroad for no good reason. And it sort of, I think, underscores what makes college football special in the first place. That is a lot of this doesn't make sense.

Dan Rubenstein 20:47 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:47 And this is just a really good way to remind people of that right out of the chute, 12 p.m. Eastern Time, August 29th, Week 0.

Dan Rubenstein 20:55 Well, this is also like the Larry Scott-ization of like we're going to be huge in Shanghai, right? Of the Pac-12. Do you remember, by the way, I don't think I'm speaking out of turn at this point. Do you remember our old Pac-12 Network hack?

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:11 I do remember that. I was thinking about that the other day. I've never actually talked about this publicly because I didn't want to burn you.

Dan Rubenstein 21:18 But it doesn't matter anymore, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:19 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 21:20 I don't think. I don't know what does the Pac-12 Network exist for the new Pac-12?

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:25 They might have a satellite floating around in space somewhere, but can you tell this story publicly now?

Dan Rubenstein 21:28 Not that I know of. I don't I think so. I'm just saying, yeah, of course. So the Pac-12 Network's YouTube page would broadcast the games live internationally. So if you had a VPN, you could just say, yeah, you could set it to like, I'm in Manitoba, and you could watch Oregon State-Cal, like, free of charge, without having to change cable providers or do whatever was necessary to legally get the Pac-12 Network.

Ty Hildenbrandt 22:02 This isn't what I'm talking about, though.

Dan Rubenstein 22:04 Oh, what are you talking about?

Ty Hildenbrandt 22:05 I'm talking about the hack before this hack.

Dan Rubenstein 22:07 Oh, this is my most recent hack. I don't have this kind of memory.

Ty Hildenbrandt 22:11 Didn't you have a direct URL that gave you the exact feed of the Pac-12 Network that you could plug into like QuickTime or I forget what it was?

Dan Rubenstein 22:17 I did VLC, yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 22:23 Yeah, you plug it into something and you actually get the direct feed.

Dan Rubenstein 22:24 That was...

Ty Hildenbrandt 22:26 This was like your original hack Right, exactly.

Dan Rubenstein 22:27 Yes. This was the original hack. So this is that was just straight piracy. That was so for the real ones out there who have dabbled in the dark arts of the M3U8 stream. As people are like nodding along, like, oh yeah, of course, sure, sure, sure, go on.

Ty Hildenbrandt 22:47 Somebody just drove off the road, by the way, when you mentioned that.

Dan Rubenstein 22:50 Like, be cool, Dan! Yeah, you could, if you could get your your hands on the right. M3U8 URL. You could plug that directly into VLC and watch whatever. And so a lot of times it would get posted on old Twitter or Reddit forums and stuff. I don't remember I honestly, I do not remember which site I used to find the repository of those streams, but it was much easier once you found out that the Pac-12 was just streaming all of its own games on YouTube, you just needed a VPN.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:23 That's right.

Dan Rubenstein 23:25 And so that was a lot easier. We were like, yep, I'm in Monterrey, Mexico. Let's watch. That was nice. But yeah, the shout out to the halcyon days of the M3U8.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:36 Good Lord.

Dan Rubenstein 23:37 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:37 Another thing that I jotted down.

Dan Rubenstein 23:38 But that a single link worked all season long, pretty much, I believe.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:41 Oh, yeah. Oh, the whole thing worked.

Dan Rubenstein 23:42 Yeah, that was great.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:43 It was great. It was incredible. The other thing that I jotted down, again, this is a little bit more specific here.

Dan Rubenstein 23:49 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:49 I jotted down a generational crop of players coming of age.

Dan Rubenstein 23:54 Okay, I like that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:56 And you could limit it to quarterback. You could go really any position. There is so much high-level talent. in this season, 2026. Even if you're just looking again at a position, you can Arch Manning, Dante Moore, CJ Carr. LaNorris, the creator. These guys, if they, you know, say, if CJ wants to come out, he'll get picked early. I think Dante will come out.

Dan Rubenstein 24:19 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:20 LaNorris is going to, obviously, he'll be out.

Dan Rubenstein 24:23 Not obviously. He has another year.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:24 Well, right, but I think he's probably he's probably coming out.

Dan Rubenstein 24:25 Yeah, yeah, this is it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:29 Jeremiah Smith, Cam Coleman, Colin Simmons, Dylan Stewart, Leonard Moore. There is a huge list. I know some like top 100 lists are floating around the web right now, but Just pick one of them out and go look at the name-brand players that are going to be within the top 25, top 30 of those lists. And it seems to me to be a generational crop. Not just in terms of the draft, because like we talked about this with Nate Tyson, we did the draft show. Everybody's sort of looking forward to the 2027 class. It looks incredible. It is going to be incredible, but before we get there, we get to see these guys play one more year of college.

Dan Rubenstein 25:05 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:05 So I'm excited about that because I think it represents Especially in some cases, like I can use Cam Coleman as an example, right? Like going to a new team, perhaps that unlocks. A little bit of a higher ceiling as compared to what we've seen in the past. Maybe we get to see more of that five-star potential as these guys grow and evolve and have another year of football under their belts. I expect that they're all going to be a little bit better for it, and I'm pretty excited about that.

Dan Rubenstein 25:33 I would say, if I had to encapsulate your item, I would say the fleeting but incredible nature of household names in the sport.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:40 Oh, hell yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 25:41 Doesn't happen a lot, but when you do have those, because it's been a minute since it felt like we've been able to have like a huge group, not just quarterbacks, but just star power in general.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:43 No.

Dan Rubenstein 25:52 That's been really nice.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:53 A lot of that is driven by the draft.

Dan Rubenstein 25:53 Um Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:55 A lot of that is driven by the draft because it and like clockwork, right? If you've got a standout player on your favorite team. Coming of age, just in an NFL sense, you're going to start hearing draft chatter a quarter of the way through the season, right? That's just sort of the way it works.

Dan Rubenstein 26:10 Correct.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:12 And I'm not going to say that wasn't the case last year. Obviously, it was, but I just feel like there has been so much momentum building towards the 2027 class that these guys are going to be put on a pedestal, unlike we have seen recently. And I'm excited about that. I really am.

Dan Rubenstein 26:26 I have down here no lead being safe. It's hard to call college football players amateurs at this point, right? The amateur nature of the sport. But a lot of them are at least relative to the years under my belt and the years under Ty's belt. These are children.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:44 Not kids.

Dan Rubenstein 26:45 And there is something special, yeah, about no lead being safe. I just that's all I wrote down. No lead is safe. And I like that about college football. And I guess it's more and more true about the NFL as well. But that is something that's nice. It's become more true at the NBA as players bomb three pointers. It can close a gap pretty quickly. I like that you have to stick around for four quarters, and it's harder to just sit on a team up fourteen decently late.

Ty Hildenbrandt 27:12 I mean, you could throw a dart and find five instances of that from the last season.

Dan Rubenstein 27:12 I like that about the sport. Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 27:18 High profile ones at that.

Dan Rubenstein 27:20 Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt 27:20 We're not talking Games nobody cares about. So yeah, the constant whipsaw nature of college football is definitely something that should keep you around for four quarters.

Dan Rubenstein 27:33 I have down here explaining to someone who doesn't pay as much attention as you do that there's still plenty of time left when your team is down, even though in your heart, you know there isn't. I just like that. Yeah, there's three and change. There's plenty of time left. I'm sure this god-awful coach that I root for will be able to manage his timeouts and the clock appropriately. Yeah, I just, there's something that is just. always true. I have down here a third quarter couch nap narrated by Bob Wischusen.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:07 I like Bob Wischusen.

Dan Rubenstein 28:09 Oh, let's be clear, I love Bob Wischusen.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:11 I think he's one of the b I think he's very underrated as a commentator.

Dan Rubenstein 28:12 They called a bunch of exciting games last year. He's Louis Riddick, is that who he's paired with?

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:17 I believe so, yeah. Local guy, Louis Riddick from right down the road here.

Dan Rubenstein 28:21 There it is.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:22 Yeah, all the greats from PA.

Dan Rubenstein 28:23 This is not a commentary on Bob Wischusen.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:26 No.

Dan Rubenstein 28:26 I might have just liked saying his name. It's probably because I'm watching a game that's interesting enough. And I just happen to be tired for whatever reason. And I think there's a lot of these guys just dulcet tones. And so they're fun to take naps to, you know, when you need quick 18 minutes. I have down here being surprised by your own bad team's competence and saying, "Why don't you always do this?" to nobody in particular? Right? Well, suddenly it's Week 9, and they're getting off the field on third down all the time. You're like, where was this in September? Where was this? I don't know. I just feel like I've been there too many times, and I relate to that sensation.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:08 I have Week 10 Week 10

Dan Rubenstein 29:10 Week ten, just in general? We've talked about this before.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:15 We talked about it recently. Week ten might be the single biggest weekend of college football that I can ever remember. And I don't think I'm being hyperbolic when I say that.

Dan Rubenstein 29:26 Oh, this year's Week 10, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:30 And, you know, it always looks that way on paper. But if you go through The high-level matchups that we've got in Week 10, first week of November, November 7th, even if it loses a little bit of its luster, which is bound to happen, it is still just going to be a banger of a week. Part of me wants you to come up with the name now, or at least start thinking up the name now for that Saturday. Because Miami, Notre Dame, BYU, Utah, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Florida, Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, Washingtonton. And there's like seven others here. I didn't want to turn this into a listicle of a segment, but you get my point. There's going to be a lot going on. On November 7th. Plan accordingly. If you didn't go out to the previous episode that we put together, where I actually did give you, I forget what the URL is now, I did make the website where people could go and add these dates to their calendar. But go back through the archives, find that one where we talk through the schedules and the weeks that you should circle. And just double your efforts to make sure you're in front of the TV on Week 10 or go into a game on Week 10 if that's your thing. As it goes here, and we've been doing this a while, Week 10 for my money looks like it's one of the best I've ever seen.

Dan Rubenstein 30:52 I'm with you, we covered it, and this year's Week 10 is Complete must-see, at least in late May. I was doing research for my next item, which is just one word, and I wrote down visors. I don't know if we have visors in the culture in a way in which college football still treasures the visor. I know we've had golfers over the years, but I feel like we're aging out of that in the golf world.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:22 Well, Keith Mitchell.

Dan Rubenstein 31:22 Maybe I'm wrong

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:25 A pro golfer who I saw up close and personal. I was at the PGA Championship. He very much has like a late-70s, early-80s vibe with his attire, and he goes with like I would say the high forehead visor, or visor, excuse me.

Dan Rubenstein 31:39 Mm-hmm. Yeah, the face

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:42 So it's, it's, yeah, it's a big visor that he goes with, and it's a vibe. And I remember we were talking it up while we were there, like seeing Keith Mitchell up close. You see the visor up close. It's like, yeah, he's got a whole thing going on. But we got a bunch of coaches around college football that are into the visor.

Dan Rubenstein 31:58 I don't know. I don't see visors in the same way that, like, you look at Kirby Smart or Lincoln Riley or any of these guys. Like, Over the years, the visor in college football has withstood the test of time in a way that I don't think it has in other areas of the culture. Has it? Are you coming across? Have you considered buying a visor?

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:18 I had a visor. I didn't like the way it looked on me. Back in the day, I had one. I wasn't sure if the hair in the front should go up over the front or if it should be like matted down underneath, but it didn't really work for me. But I have other friends that swear by the visor, or use at least used to, but don't anymore.

Dan Rubenstein 32:38 It's not. Look, I think we've had Spurrier, Lane Kiffin, wore a visor, maybe still wears a visor. Chip Kelly, Brian Kelly. I'm looking across. the sport. And it's just much, it seems to be much more Hugh Freeze, obviously. Gus Malzahn, like it seems much more popular among college football coaches than any other publicly facing profession, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:03 I have never thought of that in my life. I have never thought of that.

Dan Rubenstein 33:07 Is am I leaving out a group of people that wear visors as Often and are as dedicated to the look as college football coaches?

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:15 What about tennis? Do we see it in tennis?

Dan Rubenstein 33:17 Zero. Andy Roddick wore it briefly, and he apparently regrets switching over to a hat because it felt like it contributed to him losing hair. that the visor let his hair breathe.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:26 Oh, let it breathe, yeah. I don't know.

Dan Rubenstein 33:30 Visors I don't think so

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:30 What about like frisbee golfers or something? I don't know. I have no idea.

Dan Rubenstein 33:35 I don't think so. Maybe I'm happy to be proven wrong. I have down here rooting for a team that bats balls down at the line.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:44 Oh man.

Dan Rubenstein 33:44 Oh, is that a pleasure?

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:45 That is the most frustrating thing if you are playing a team that's really good at that.

Dan Rubenstein 33:50 It also covers for so much if your defense isn't that good, but you've got Calais Campbell right in the middle of that line.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:50 And My favorite, I would say, cousin of this one is when they talk about a team going up against a defensive front that happens to be really good at batting balls down.

Dan Rubenstein 34:09 Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:10 When they talk through the Byzantine practice sessions that they put their quarterbacks through to try and mitigate it, right?

Dan Rubenstein 34:13 Mm-hmm. Of course.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:17 I've seen the one where they're holding up push brooms and they're holding up like, you know Things up in the air that are obviously a lot taller so that the quarterback can like get the feel for what it's going to be like on game day. You see a lot of that, but there's nothing like Nothing more frustrating than rooting for a team that's going up against a defensive front that just is everywhere and always has their hands up and bats down like three or four passes a game. That sucks.

Dan Rubenstein 34:44 I it's and it's especially nice when your team is the team that bats it down because You immediately don't have to worry about any of the 37 things that could go wrong on that play.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:57 Right. And the camera the cameraman always sort of loses the ball.

Dan Rubenstein 34:57 Right? Goes past.

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:00 You see the little jump in the camera as they try to find where it went.

Dan Rubenstein 35:01 Yep. It's such a joy and it's such a relief that, right? Okay, your safety didn't take a bad angle. Your corner didn't trip. Your linebacker didn't get burned on the wheel. Like, that could be happening outside of the frame. But the ball is batted down. Makes no difference. I love that. Especially on third down. Oh my God. Borderline erotic Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:21 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 35:21 Your team bats down a third and three pass over the middle, and the team punts. Truly a treasure. Next, the 89-year-old who's had season tickets since 1958 for some average program. When they cut to the older person who was like, they've been going to Wake Forest Games since 1958, it was like, that's a life wasted. But, but, I will add, that is an unbreakable person. The spirit of season ticket holder William "Red" Johnson, or whatever that person's name is. That's been going to Demon Deacon games, that's been going to take your pick. They have to be not bad, not great, and this is just the constant in their life that they've been going to Kansas football games. Since LBJ was in office or something, I appreciate that about the sport. We're just like, wow. You will find this dude in section 238 every week, no matter what. And they always like missed one game for daughter's wedding.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:28 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 36:28 You know, there's always the addendum, you know, the little bullet point there. I think it's great. I think that's special about the sport.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:34 That's really funny. Oh my gosh. What else?

Dan Rubenstein 36:36 Okay, the general uselessness but persistent use of the pylon cam.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:42 I love the pylon cam.

Dan Rubenstein 36:42 Like it's great. The pylon cam is great, but usually you just see somebody's forearm flying by and you're like, all right, I don't know what that showed, but okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:51 Every now and again, I would love to know from people who track these things.

Dan Rubenstein 36:53 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:56 Maybe media reporters are on this beat. I would love to know what the actual return on investment is for the pylon cam. I'd imagine they're not super cheap to install.

Dan Rubenstein 37:05 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:08 They're probably not exorbitantly priced, but it's probably not a super cheap technology. It's all remote, whatever. Less in terms of how much does it cost and what do you get out of it, and more in terms of how many viable camera shots do you actually get from a pylon cam throughout the course of a college football year. Because when you get a good one, Down on the goal line, then it can be worth its weight in gold. But more often than not, you're not getting those. More often than not, what you're seeing is somebody crashing into the pylon, and then the whole thing goes fuzzy. And so I think it's a great use of technology. And I'm excited whenever you get one of those shots on the pylon cam. I just wish there were more of them.

Dan Rubenstein 37:53 I I agree. I totally agree. But I do like the idea of this weird spy cam in the teddy bear showing us whether or not Iowa State got that first down or that touchdown And it's never terribly conclusive. Again, it's Bob Wischusen and throwing it down to the pylon. Okay, let's see the angle from no, well, you can't really, yeah, we're gonna need a different look.

Ty Hildenbrandt 38:17 I'll tell you the one that I don't like that I think they've tried to introduce recently.

Dan Rubenstein 38:19 Please.

Ty Hildenbrandt 38:22 I don't like the ref cams.

Dan Rubenstein 38:26 I'm mixed on the ref cams. I kinda like being in the action for those few fleeting seconds.

Ty Hildenbrandt 38:32 I appreciate the spirit of it.

Dan Rubenstein 38:34 Yeah, same.

Ty Hildenbrandt 38:35 I appreciate what they're trying to do with it, but you really don't have a good field of vision to understand what's going on. And it always just looks like it's a big pile of chaos. So I don't get a lot out of it, even though I appreciate what they're going for.

Dan Rubenstein 38:52 Right. Okay. You ready for my next one?

Ty Hildenbrandt 38:55 Go.

Dan Rubenstein 38:57 Okay. Let's go with the microphone. Oh, I like this one. The look of Dabo Swinney with his hands on his hips in disbelief as he realizes he's spent literal years of his life building a team that's about to lose to Syracuse. I don't know, man.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:11 This is mean. This is mean. This is a little mean.

Dan Rubenstein 39:14 It's a little mean, and I just it's not because I care either way about Clemson winning or losing, but there is something about Dabo's posture and the look on his face that he can't believe he's watching what he's watching unfold in front of him. I don't know. And it's not unique to him that these coaches have these moments, but there's something about Dabo having built a perennial national championship contender, and then week in and week out. Having to endure the threat of potentially losing to Boston College in front of a school paying him $11 million.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:52 And then deal with like Tyler from Spartanburg or whatever that was on the coach's show calling in, somebody letting them through.

Dan Rubenstein 39:54 Yes. Yes. That's the unique nature of his experience. But yes, we've seen it from Kirby Smart. We've seen it from Dan Lanning. We've seen it from Ryan Day, right? Where they can't believe they're losing this game. Maybe we haven't seen it from Ryan Day. They've only sort of. I guess, yeah. Ryan Day can't believe he's losing to this Michigan team, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:15 Right, right.

Dan Rubenstein 40:17 I love that cutaway. The other cutaway that is sort of in second place to this is. When you see the ref issue a sideline warning and then back to the coach who got the sideline warning, the head coach, and they're not at the full 10 temper-wise, right? They're just coming down off of the warning, but they're not, they haven't fully calmed down. And you get that last salvo of like, I'll tell you what it is. It's horseshit. That's what it is. And you get that, it's like the perfectly timed out. People who have been on SNL talk about this, that it's not just about writing a funny sketch. It's about the dance with the camera guy, right? That you have to nail the line, the reaction shot, right? Cutting back to Keenan Thompson or whoever. Bulging his eyes, the comeback shot when a coach isn't at 98% hot, still at 31%, and it's that last horseshit. That's what it is.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:18 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 41:19 That's a treasure to me that never gets old.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:21 Well, uh a close cousin of this is the particularly testy press conference.

Dan Rubenstein 41:27 Yes, of course.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:28 I love these. And they're not unique to college football, but I feel like the ones that we see in college football tend to have a little bit more personality. Because unlike most of the pro sports, on any of these college campuses, especially if a coach is winning, they are sort of the king. And they feel, I think, along with that, a little bit of I don't know, immunity from criticism. They could say whatever they want. We will have no shortage of these this year. Every year, you get about a dozen. where it's just a particularly frosty press interaction. And I look forward to them. I cherish them as if they are the games themselves. And we will have them.

Dan Rubenstein 42:14 There's something so we like to make fun of Hugh Freeze and his Auburn teams as being elite losers, and then Hugh Freeze then taking the opportunity to say like, well, our quarterback's bad. I don't know what to tell you. His postgame presser I've tried to read coaches who are diplomatic, right? They don't do that. They say, we have to do a better job preparing our offensive line for that kind of look. Or we, you know, it's on us first and foremost, right? Where you know the coach is trying to say the right thing, but you're trying to understand the subtext and read between the lines of like, yep, our receivers are bad and they dropped a bunch of balls. I don't know what you want me to tell you. I love trying to figure out which coaches are the most talented at taking accountability, and you can read their faces, and they just cannot wait to get in the locker room to chew out that receiving group. I think it's great.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:13 All right, what else? What else we got here?

Dan Rubenstein 43:15 Okay, predictable coordinators who let you say "What'd I tell you?" after the play goes wrong on third and seven. So it's watching a game with somebody who isn't familiar with Ted Roof, or isn't familiar with Oregon-era Andy Ludwig, or isn't familiar with Brian Ferentz, right? They are like, here's what they're going to do. They're going to run a little out route. They didn't coach the receivers to run past the sticks, and it's third and seven, and they're going to catch a ball for four yards as they run out of bounds. And then it happens, and you get to sit on the highest, most mighty high horse as you explain to somebody "What'd I tell you?"

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:54 What did I tell you?

Dan Rubenstein 43:55 What'd I tell you? Did it again.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:55 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 43:57 Or we used to like make the joke the third-and-Pellum thing where Oregon would get a team to third and fourteen and then Willie Tuitama would I'm I'm mixing eras up here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:59 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 44:06 But you know, take your pick of Arizona quarterback. Would run for 17 yards and break 11 tackles in the process, third-and-Pellum.

Ty Hildenbrandt 44:14 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 44:16 So I like the ability of there's something very bad about bad coordinators in your life, but When you get to seem like a person who can look into a crystal ball and say, here's what's about to happen: Georgia Tech's about to muff this in an incredible way.

Ty Hildenbrandt 44:34 Right, right, right. I like this.

Dan Rubenstein 44:35 So.

Ty Hildenbrandt 44:36 I like this one a lot.

Dan Rubenstein 44:37 Thank you very much. Next one. CBS or NBC getting absolutely hosed and having to show two non- or borderline bowl teams on network TV against like Bama, Texas.

Ty Hildenbrandt 44:48 So, why do you why do you like this?

Dan Rubenstein 44:51 Because I you I have to I have to

Ty Hildenbrandt 44:53 Because these are things that you're supposed to like that give you joy, that make you excited for the season.

Dan Rubenstein 44:58 Because I'm curious as to how they're going to spin and promote.

Ty Hildenbrandt 45:02 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 45:02 I'm curious because there is a certain amount of, okay, we're now in the booth with Brad Nessler. And he has to sell America on Minnesota, Nebraska, right? On network TV. On a Saturday, neither team is ranked. Neither team is obviously going to a bowl. Maybe they'll end up in a bowl. And because of the Big Ten's weird deal or it just being an off week, that we get a god-awful Michigan State UCLA game on CBS. And I enjoy where they're like, well, UCLA trying to find some rhythm with Nico Iamaleava. And Michigan State looking to turn things around. Just the way that it's phrased. I enjoy that the Big Ten because there's so much money in this sport. I enjoy that all of these TV networks tripped all over themselves to give the Big Ten a billion dollars, and then they end up having to send a full A-list broadcast crew. to this game where they have to figure out how to sell it to keep people tuned in. I don't know. I like it. It's a challenge.

Ty Hildenbrandt 46:11 I like that we're focused on these quirks. These are nice quirks.

Dan Rubenstein 46:15 Okay. I have, I don't know how to describe this. The way teams and specifically or specific position units are coached Like, there is something very comforting about always watching the Ohio State kickoff team swing their arms, right? They all swing their arms. I don't know if it makes them better or worse. That's just a thing they do. I don't know if it started on Urban Meyer because he had the special teams background to get them, you know, have that momentum moving forward, and getting them amped to go make a play down the field. I like when teams coach, we saw this with Mizzou's quarterbacks coach way back when, with the casual dress, James Franklin, where certain quarterbacks wouldn't be bouncing on their feet in the pocket. They would try to maintain a calm so they could sort of loosely wing it down the field. I like when you notice. how groups of players or players are coached throughout the years identically.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:09 I have turnover props or just celebration props as a whole.

Dan Rubenstein 47:13 You're in on them.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:14 I'm in on them. Oh, yeah, 100% in.

Dan Rubenstein 47:15 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:17 I'm also

Dan Rubenstein 47:17 I think it was great when it started. I think the ship has passed.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:19 I'm also in on weird eye-black decisions.

Dan Rubenstein 47:24 Okay?

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:25 I feel like this is.

Dan Rubenstein 47:25 Which are now legislated, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:28 Yes, to an extent. But I still feel like there's a fair amount of innovation going on in this space.

Dan Rubenstein 47:30 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:34 Every time I turn on the TV on a Saturday, somebody has come up with some new sort of pattern. New strategy, as it were, for how to deploy the eye black. I think I told you I was watching just in passing a lacrosse game. I think it was Penn State lacrosse. And I saw some stuff that I have not seen on the football field, and I wonder how much of that makes its way onto Saturdays. But regardless, it just it seems like there's a fair amount of creativity that is still untapped in that capacity. And I'm interested to see where it goes this year.

Dan Rubenstein 48:07 Okay. All right. I respect that. I always appreciate when you get the eye black, just like very aggressive, like full cheek, right? We were just like, okay, I hope this gets you to your place mentally. I'm excited for you.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:25 Whatever it takes, man.

Dan Rubenstein 48:26 I have fan bases resorting to academic insults.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:29 Oh, man. This is a tale as old as time right here.

Dan Rubenstein 48:30 When it's again, you can say in 2003, you can say in 2027 that a kid decides to commit to Texas Tech over Michigan and the Michigan fan base is like, it's such a short sighted decision when you don't get to tap into the value of the Wolverine alumni network. Right. I always, or like you lose to a team, and you're just like, whatever, good luck getting a job. Okay, man, good luck tackling in the open field next week.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:01 Right, right, right.

Dan Rubenstein 49:03 So that's, I mean, just you don't get that in other sports. I have down here service academies slowly bleeding a favored team out.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:11 Yeah, that's pretty exciting. That I appreciate.

Dan Rubenstein 49:14 I don't know if it's exciting, but it's something that just doesn't happen all that often in any other sport where you're just like, this, like, Smaller, slower team is running a system, and the way in which they're beating the bigger, faster team is especially painful.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:30 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 49:31 That's college football.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:32 Yeah, I think you know, I mean, you've alluded to this a couple of times now, but um The constant threat of an upset needs to be called out here. You said no lead is safe, and that's true. Every year, we see a monster upset. A monster upset where a team is favored by like 28 points and somebody wins the game outright. Nobody saw it coming. It changes the conversation. You always hope it's not going to be your team. Unfortunately, it's been my team a couple of times now. You get the point, right? College football, I think, is uniquely positioned such that that is not common. But it also does happen nearly every year. And that's part of what makes it special. This constant push-pull, this constant David versus Goliath. Is what keeps people coming back for more. And if you are a fan of the team that happens to be a huge dog, but still somehow pulls out the upset, it's like golf, right? You hit the one good shot. It's what brings you back out for another round. It's what brings you back for another Saturday when your team pulls that off. That threat is constant. And I don't think anyone's immune to it, to be honest. Like everyone is, nobody is fully immune when it comes to the upset. And that sort of makes the sport pretty damn cool.

Dan Rubenstein 50:50 I agree. You want me to go rapid fire?

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:54 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 50:54 I have a lot left.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:55 Go ahead. Give me rapid-fire. Let's do rapid fire here.

Dan Rubenstein 50:57 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:57 Give me like your best 10 or whatever.

Dan Rubenstein 50:59 I'm giving you all of them quickly.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:00 All right.

Dan Rubenstein 51:01 Tee-retriever retrievers.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:02 The best.

Dan Rubenstein 51:03 I don't know.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:03 The dogs?

Dan Rubenstein 51:03 I'm not a dog person. I love involving dogs.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:05 Tee-retrieving dogs, 10 out of 10 all the time.

Dan Rubenstein 51:06 Great. Leaning forward on your couch right before kickoff and exhaling. Just like leaning forward, like, all right, here we go.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:17 I can't stay seated for a big game.

Dan Rubenstein 51:17 Right? Really? You pace?

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:20 No, I pace. I pace on them on the phone. Drives Kate crazy.

Dan Rubenstein 51:23 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:25 But for a big game, I'm just constantly on my feet. Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 51:29 Okay. Your team being bad but still beating a clearly better rival.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:34 That's a great feeling, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 51:34 Great feeling. Great feeling. Basically, nobody referencing their fantasy team. Right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:41 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 51:42 You never have to have fantasy conversations. Pretty much.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:44 Pretty much, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 51:45 Pretty much. Older folks see announcers, even if they're annoying and wrong.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:50 There are limits to this.

Dan Rubenstein 51:51 Look. You can be old and folksy and wrong and annoying all the time, but I'm still glad to have you in my life.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:01 Mostly true. I could think of a couple exceptions, but

Dan Rubenstein 52:05 I don't think I like I never really liked the Nessler Gary Danielson pairing. I'm happy they're in my life. I guess Gary Danielson retired, but

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:14 I like folks the announcers. The older folks the announcers, I am pro.

Dan Rubenstein 52:16 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:18 I just don't like all of them equally, is my point.

Dan Rubenstein 52:20 Okay. I have the feel of 68 degrees and sunny at around noon local. If you're at a game, that's just the best. It's not crisp, but it's not hot.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:29 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 52:30 And you're just like, oh, it's football. This is nice.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:32 Football weather.

Dan Rubenstein 52:32 This is nice.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:33 Good football weather.

Dan Rubenstein 52:33 The feel, the feel of the magazine off the rack.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:38 Oh, man.

Dan Rubenstein 52:41 There is I don't know. I don't know what your preferred magazine is, listener. I think I've gravitated towards Athlon these last few years. But you got to go to a newsstand if you can. If there's a newsstand within a few minutes of where you live that you know is carrying it, maybe even call in advance in an old fashioned way, right? I just I don't know, that feel is still something special to me after all these years.

Ty Hildenbrandt 53:07 I feel compelled to buy all of them.

Dan Rubenstein 53:09 Really?

Ty Hildenbrandt 53:10 Yeah, I do. I do. And there are some that I don't even read that closely that I still buy. Because I feel like I have had pretty good perspective on what goes into making these.

Dan Rubenstein 53:17 Just in case. Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt 53:22 And it's really hard to do preview content. You know, when you've got nothing to go on, when you've got coach speak ringing around in your ears, when everything is speculative. It's really, really difficult to put these together. And especially now, like it's not even like the NFL where you have, in most cases, the same players year over year over year. Contracts kind of lock them in. These teams, in some cases, are fully turning over their rosters year in and year out. That is not at this point an odd occurrence. We see it A couple dozen times a year, again in 2026. So it's really, really hard to do that type of work. And so, yeah, whatever you're into, I try to support it as much as I can. But that for sure, the feeling of going to, if this is something that you do, the feeling of going to the newsstand, it's very symbolic for me every year.

Dan Rubenstein 54:16 Oh my God, I love newsstands.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:18 It's very symbolic to me to sort of go to the place, to pick it up, put it in the bag, to come home with it.

Dan Rubenstein 54:19 I would

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:26 It feels like it's the start of something for sure.

Dan Rubenstein 54:28 I love, I'm not even just talking about, I mean, I'm talking in this instance about whatever your chosen magazine is, but growing up. Loved a periodical, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:40 Highlights for kids

Dan Rubenstein 54:40 I so SI for Kids and then SI, ESPN the magazine, huge EW head, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:44 Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 54:48 Entertainment Weekly?

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:49 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 54:50 Oh my God. That was the height, the like late 90s, mid-90s, late 90s entertainment weekly around Oscar time, year-end, whatever. Premiere magazine I subscribed to. Love all that stuff and still love going to a newsstand to this day if I have any reason to do so. Love a newsstand. I have down here someone's special or famous dip or dish of some kind. I don't know. I just, there's something great and communal about college football watch parties or tailgates where you're like, is Steve coming? Yes. Is he bringing his 14-layer dip? Not only is he bringing his 14-layer dip, he's added a layer. I don't know. I love that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 55:31 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 55:31 I have down here whatever is happening with Noah Eagle's hair. Sure, he calls other sports, but I feel like that hair is ours. We can give Noah Eagle to others. But whatever it is on the top of his scalp, that's ours as a sport.

Ty Hildenbrandt 55:49 Stop it, stop it.

Dan Rubenstein 55:52 Um the distant sad stare What He's got got great head of hair. There's no need to be mean about this Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:03 I'm not saying anything.

Dan Rubenstein 56:08 I have down here the distant, sad stare of a probable losing coach trying to ice a kicker.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:08 Oh, God.

Dan Rubenstein 56:13 Where it's just like, well, maybe this will work.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:16 I can't believe you went there.

Dan Rubenstein 56:17 Yeah, of course. Next. Okay, close-up shot of wings or burgers on a grill coming back from break.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:25 Great, great.

Dan Rubenstein 56:26 I never want to lose that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:27 No.

Dan Rubenstein 56:28 A DB getting absolutely juked out of his socks on a double move.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:32 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 56:33 Now, this is specific to gameplay, and this isn't really a gameplay episode, but to me, it's just an all-time like. rewatchable replay, slow-mo, different angles. Receiver throws his hand up for the he's wide open. I just, there's something special about that. Obviously, not unique to college, but I have down here someone getting accidentally trucked on a sideline.

Ty Hildenbrandt 57:00 Yeah, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 57:01 So we're talking about sideline reporter, we're talking about guy holding the audio cone, whatever that is. Camera guy, we're talking assistant coach, we're talking booster, whoever that's on the sideline and everyone at home and the announcers say the exact same thing. Got to keep your head on a swivel. Gotta say it. You physically can't watch that happen without saying, got to keep your head on a swivel. In these situations, you got to keep your head on a swivel. Next, I have, oh, this might be every... Okay, I've got alternate uniform swings and misses. That's fun. I think this is my final one right here. You ready? I think it's as good a way to close this episode as any. The fleeting moment. I think I've said fleeting a lot this episode.

Ty Hildenbrandt 57:57 You're a big "fleeting" today, yeah. It's okay.

Dan Rubenstein 57:59 The fleeting moment or the passing moment, the brief moment, where you think a desperation lateral has a chance. The desperation play lateral. Like you're able to string together two laterals and you stand up and you say, "Hold on, hold on, hold on." Even though in your heart of hearts you know it's not going to work out. I appreciate that about the sport, where, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:24 It is the hope that kills you. It is the hope that kills you. Write in: solidverbal@gmail.com. Let us know your thoughts on the.

Dan Rubenstein 58:35 You can picture Dabo with his hands on his hips.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:37 A hundred percent.

Dan Rubenstein 58:38 You can visualize him.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:39 A hundred percent.

Dan Rubenstein 58:40 I can't believe this is my life running through his head.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:44 One other thing that I'll add in

Dan Rubenstein 58:45 Please.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:47 Late night windows for games.

Dan Rubenstein 58:49 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:50 Not great if you're traveling east to west. Not great if you're waking up early the next day. Not always great for you and I. But the fact that we have it and the fact that it's weird to me is still essential to the college football experience. I would also add more specifically The group of five race is something now that I look forward to in a way that I didn't before. Because obviously, this past year we had two G5 teams in, I guess, G6 now. But Had two win last year, had one the year before. And no matter how many times we try to talk ourselves into that one team, and we all do it before the year, this year it'll probably be Boise, right? There's always a bit of an open conversation the deeper we get into the year. Last year, I remember we talked about like five or six teams that realistically felt like they had a shot as we went into November. So I think that aspect of the sport, you might not like the playoff. You might not like where the playoff is going, but I do like that element of it. And I hope we don't lose that with whatever we move to next, because I enjoy that conversation. I know it animated a good chunk of our ballerhood as well.

Dan Rubenstein 01:00:04 Definitely.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:05 And I would say, even though I know as recent reporting has indicated, that SEC coaches feel, quote, misled, per report by our friend, did you see this?

Dan Rubenstein 01:00:19 I don't think so, but continue.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:19 Brett McMurphy at On3 was reporting this that with the move now to the nine-game conference slate, SEC coaches feel misled because they were under the impression that if they went to a nine-game slate, that it would automatically mean they were expanding the playoff field up to 16, and that hasn't happened yet.

Dan Rubenstein 01:00:40 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:40 So, um I appreciate that um

Dan Rubenstein 01:00:46 Well, to you, I guess, what's the difference between the SEC having to play nine conference games and the Big 12 or Big Ten or something playing nine conference games?

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:57 There's no difference in the number. I do think the SEC top to bottom is deeper than those conferences.

Dan Rubenstein 01:01:01 Well, like, what would you say the SEC is navigating that's unique to those other conferences?

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:07 I don't know if they're navigating anything. I mean, I think what they think they're navigating is that the conference is harder and it's putting their teams at greater risk of missing out in the playoffs.

Dan Rubenstein 01:01:14 But if you had to come up with a word to describe what they're navigating that's unique to the SEC, God, that's all.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:19 Maybe a gauntlet. I'm excited for the nine-game slate, though. I'm excited for higher-level matchups. I'm excited that we get another one. I know, you know, obviously coaches might feel a little differently about that, but to me, as a college football fan, I'm just all about as many big games as we can get and make Saturdays fun.

Dan Rubenstein 01:01:43 Totally agree, though with this new world I'm not sure if we will be able to get that answer come November 21st. Is Texas A&M better than the Citadel? Like, how will we know moving forward?

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:00 I don't know if we're going to know.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:01 If Texas A&M or Tennessee is better than Furman, come November 21st.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:06 Text Bill C. Let's see if he's got a number that can help us with that.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:08 I guess that's the only thing we have.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:11 solidverbal@gmail.com is where you can write in and let us know what you're looking forward to. Be as specific or non-specific as you want. We don't care. We'd just love to hear from you. Been getting a ton of emails, Dan. A ton of emails for this time in the offseason, which is always good news. This is around that time of year where the line starts to bend up and to the left, or I guess what am I? Up and to the right, excuse me. Got myself all mixed up here, but we start seeing numbers tick up a little bit. People start getting deeper in the weeds of college football, start looking for preview stuff. We're still about a month out from that, but we're already thinking about it. We're excited. That's why we're doing this show. Whet the beak a little bit.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:51 Kickoff yearning.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:53 Kickoff yearning. We'll title it that, okay? If you want me to, I can do that.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:56 Thank you. I don't care.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:58 Dan Rubenstein, enjoy your weekend, all right?

Dan Rubenstein 01:03:01 Hey, you as well, enjoy that sunshine.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:03 Verballerhood, hit follow, hit subscribe, leave a rating or review if you feel led to do so. We will be back next week. In the meantime, stay solid.