Big 12 Preview Part 1 — Power Cleaned Transcript
Source: Podcast(1).txt
Speakers: Ty Hildenbrandt and Dan Rubenstein
Format: Speaker labels and timestamps preserved
Transcript
Ty Hildenbrandt — 00:18
Dan Rubenstein, we are gathered here today to talk about an entirely different conference than we have over the last couple episodes. You know, we started with the G6. We did a two-part G6 preview. Then we moved on to the ACC, a three-part ACC preview. The time has come for the good old Big 12. This is Part 1. This is where we do the whole 30,000-foot view, talk through tiers, themes, storylines and anything else that we find interesting to get people primed and ready for our team previews, which are to follow. Sir, welcome back. How are you?
Dan Rubenstein — 00:54
First of all, two things right off the bat. When you said we were going to talk about a different conference, I was hoping you were just stopping it right there. Like this conference is different, man. I don't know how to tell you. It's just different.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:07
It is, it is.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:09
And number two, if we're going to be just correct here, if we're going to be accurate, if we're going to use facts here, we are talking about the Caffeine-Free Cherry 7UP Big 12, are we not?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:21
I believe we're talking about the Monster Energy Big 12.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:25
Not to me. Every episode, a new sponsor. Every single time, I'm going to challenge myself this season to name a new soft drink or energy drink sponsor for the Big 12. You can't make me say the Monster Energy Big 12 all season long. Every episode, we're doing something different.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:49
Doing something a little different.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:50
So for today, it's the Caffeine-Free Cherry 7UP Big 12.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:53
I appreciate the hustle. Well, if you are new here, please hit follow or subscribe. Even if you're not new here and you have yet to hit follow or subscribe, these are ways you can help us. If you have yet to do so, please leave a star rating or a review wherever it is that you find this podcast. If you want to support the team, Verballers.com, V-E-R-B-A-L-L-E-R-S dot com. As people are listening to this, we are rounding the bend and getting ready to flip on our in-season benefits over on the Patreon. So, in addition to the ad-free episodes, the bonus content, getting these a little bit early and having access to our Discord, so on and so forth, we've got some other little knickknacks that we've been working on here in the offseason. As we get a little bit deeper into July, we'll be able to switch those things on.
Dan Rubenstein — 02:43
Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 02:44
But if you want to support the team, it's the best way you can do it.
Dan Rubenstein — 02:47
I should add, I'm going to apologize right up front here, Ty. 7UP is naturally not caffeinated, okay? So, diet—it was just being redundant, is what I was doing. Diet Cherry 7UP. Continue.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 03:01
So this is the Big 12. This is Part 1. For anyone out there wondering, what the hell is Dan talking about with the Pepsi Big 12? There is some context, okay? Brett Yormark announced the start of a broad sponsorship agreement with Monster Energy. Monster becomes the quote-unquote entitlement partner, whatever that means, the entitlement partner of the Big 12 Conference. Which means, Dan Rubenstein, it is not just Big 12 football in the year of our Lord 2026.
Dan Rubenstein — 03:37
No.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 03:37
It is now officially Monster Energy Big 12 Football, in addition to that weird branding. Monster also gets some co-branded jersey patches. It's their logo, the Big 12 logo. It's also going to be a thing in men's and women's basketball, if that's your thing.
Dan Rubenstein — 03:55
Saw that. Yep.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 03:59
Monster for what it's worth is getting all of this for just twenty million dollars a year, which I'm not a businessman. That seems cheap to me. Seems like a decent deal for what they're getting in return.
Dan Rubenstein — 04:10
Ty, we're not seeing that money.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 04:12
Wow.
Dan Rubenstein — 04:12
It's the Diet Cherry 7UP Big 12.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 04:13
No. Monster's giving their money to Brett Yormark. Each school is going to get $1 million annually out of this agreement.
Dan Rubenstein — 04:20
Here's what I'm going to do right now. I'm going to plant my flag, Ty, and I don't know how ethically sound this is.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 04:27
Great, great.
Dan Rubenstein — 04:28
All right? I will sell The Solid Verbal's Big 12 reference sponsorship to any beverage company. And depending on how much sponsorship you want to get into, we will wear 7UP patches on our shirts.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 04:48
Oh, a hundred percent. I'll wear the full racing suit if they want to give that to me.
Dan Rubenstein — 04:53
It can be about, I guess, any conference. It has to be a soft drink. I prefer the Big 12. I prefer that Ty and I—if you know somebody at 7UP or wherever—we will use that sponsorship to refer to the Big 12 as that.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 05:11
Because the Big 12 is now officially the Monster Energy Big 12, does this mean, if we are selling sponsorships on our show specifically for our references, that it would be the 7UP Monster Energy Big 12?
Dan Rubenstein — 05:28
No, we refuse to acknowledge that sponsorship because they're not involved in our show. So we will sell the reference sponsorship to the Big 12 Conference to any beverage company that passes a background test. I'm not—you know, we're not—I'm not accepting money from your uncle's root beer company that he sells out of, you know, a trunk. But I'm willing to listen, first of all. But yes, any beverage company that wants to sponsor our previews and recaps from Big 12 games this season: advertising@solidverbal.com.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 06:05
This is like how FIFA refuses to acknowledge Lumen Field and makes it Seattle Stadium.
Dan Rubenstein — 06:11
Exactly right.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 06:12
So there's precedent for this.
Dan Rubenstein — 06:14
Yeah. Lobster Cola, get at us. Shout out Triple Play 97.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 06:19
A little bit like the Dana Carvey thing.
Dan Rubenstein — 06:21
Yeah, exactly right. I want to cash in on Beverage Big 12.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 06:25
This is the Big 12. This is the Monster Energy Big 12. A little bit of a recap as to what went down last season: Texas Tech won the conference. Everyone knows that by now. They beat BYU in a rematch. They won that game 34-7. I believe the score of the first game, the first meeting between those two teams, was something like 29-7, so it got a little bit worse the second time around. But we had a couple teams in the conference that finished with double-digit wins, Texas Tech and BYU obviously among them. Utah, very quietly, finished at 11-2. Houston finished with 10 wins as well. We also had Arizona with nine wins. We also had TCU with nine wins. So some of these teams have kind of snuck under the radar a bit. Perhaps we can get into that a little bit here on this episode as we look forward.
But definitely some strides forward for schools like the Arizonas, like the Houstons and, to an extent, like the TCUs. We can discuss that again here over the course of the next hour or so. But that is where this conference is at now going into 2026. Texas Tech has sort of become that team that everyone is focused on. And it seems as if, based on preseason projections, if you believe those sorts of things, Texas Tech is the top dog. What I find interesting about the Big 12, maybe outside of BYU, is that there's a whole grouping of teams that, frankly, I have no idea what to expect from. I can point out some players, I can point out some things that I like, but much like the ACC before it, there is that big old meaty middle.
Teams that I think are going to be in a bowl, but if things go right, if they get a break, perhaps they could spring forward and be a little bit more part of this conversation at the top of the conference. Did you find the same thing when you were going through?
Dan Rubenstein — 08:28
I think so. I mean, I think that's also just a product of the sheer number of teams. In a conference like the Big 12, if we feel like the competence floor is relatively high, especially post-Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State—because we had seen that floor the year before, in 2024, and knew that it was possible—then when you have a competence floor that's relatively high, you are going to get a pretty extended middle class. And generally, that means teams that, with breaks, could be bowl eligible; teams that could go from being bowl eligible to that eight- or nine-win zone; teams that perhaps have health luck and schedule luck and, for whatever reason, miss teams, could be in that nine- or 10-win range, competing in mid-November and in that conversation with the 73-part tiebreaker to go to the Big 12 title game.
So, yeah, in a conference this size—and this year more than last year, I think—the number of returning quarterbacks makes it pretty interesting in the top half, which we don't always get. After we just did the ACC preview, that makes it pretty interesting as well with the Big 12. But yeah, generally speaking, it looks like you'll probably have a lower tier, a clear selection of teams that aren't quite sure things to go bowling, but you're going to have a chunky middle here.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 09:54
Some other facts on the Monster Energy Big 12, Dan. Not going to get used to that.
Dan Rubenstein — 10:01
Not my sponsor.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 10:02
We've got four new coaches in the conference. We've got Morgan Scalley at Utah. We've got Collin Klein back with his alma mater at Kansas State. Jimmy Rogers is coming over to coach Iowa State from Wazzu, and Eric Morris is going north from North Texas to be in charge of Oklahoma State. We've got a handful of coaches that I think are maybe hot-seat adjacent this year, but only about one to three by my count. I could see it for Aranda, maybe for Deion, depending on how things go out at Colorado.
Dan Rubenstein — 10:32
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 10:35
Scott Satterfield, maybe, although I thought he did an okay job last year. Doesn't feel to me like there's going to be too much turnover going into 2027, but who knows? We always seem to miss on a few. Beyond that, eight teams to your point with either a new starting quarterback, a quarterback competition or a starter in a new offensive system. Those being Cincinnati, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, West Virginia, Arizona State, Colorado, and Kansas State. At the very top of the conference, it's a little bit of a different situation.
Dan Rubenstein — 11:11
Yeah, I mean, Will Hammond has starting experience, and we'll see when exactly he returns. It seems that there's more optimistic conversation about him returning, if not at the very beginning of the season, pretty close to there. I think they have Week 3 circled, as they'd love him to be healthy for Houston.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 11:30
I didn't even include him.
Dan Rubenstein — 11:31
Yeah. Yes, he's in the sort of gray area, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 11:34
We could say nine teams, but yeah, certainly not a full-time starter.
Dan Rubenstein — 11:38
No, starting experience. But yeah, Bear Bachmeier at BYU, Devon Dampier at Utah, Conner Weigman at Houston, Noah Fifita at Arizona and Avery Johnson at Kansas State is a cool starting point for teams that seem like they're in the upper half of the conference, because we like stability in a chaotic college football landscape.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 11:59
In terms of returning production, for whatever that's worth to you at home, this is a conference that has a lot back. There's a lot back in the Big 12. Fourteen of the 16 teams in this conference rank in the top half of FBS. Nine of the 16 are in the top 50. Three are in the top 20, those being Texas Tech, Houston and BYU. A lot back, not necessarily with respect to the offensive line. Very few teams have an offensive line that isn't in some state of upheaval, and almost every team in this conference has a major loss on defense, either on the field or in the booth, in some cases both. So this is more the case, I think, everywhere around college football. This is not necessarily a unique thing.
Dan Rubenstein — 12:46
It's almost unique when it doesn't happen.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 12:48
It is.
Dan Rubenstein — 12:48
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 12:49
What is unique, though, in the Big 12 is that Texas Tech is this dominant storyline. They remain the dominant storyline, as I said at the top, and that's for a whole multitude of reasons. It could be because of the Brendan Sorsby saga. It could be because of how quickly and how aggressively they've been building their roster. It could be because of Cody Campbell's role in the larger college football discussions, slash potentially paying off politicians to file state lawsuits.
Dan Rubenstein — 13:18
Or threatening letters, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 13:19
Or threatening letters, right? Just you know, threatening language.
Dan Rubenstein — 13:23
Yep.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 13:25
The fact that Texas Tech is so out there and has very much been the type of team in this conference with a target on its back, I think that is a good thing for several different reasons. Because after Texas and Oklahoma left and joined the SEC, there was a real question about where the center of gravity was now in the Big 12. Tech, to its credit, sensed the void. They went all the way in. All the way in. No matter how fun it is to have a conference where everyone is even, the national discussion needs some of those tentpoles over which you can drape a conversation, Dan. Would it have helped if they didn't get shut out by Oregon last year in the playoffs? Yes, that absolutely would have helped.
Dan Rubenstein — 14:11
That did happen, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 14:12
But I think Texas Tech kind of stepping up here, becoming that team, has definitely been good for the conference, because now there is something that people can point to in the Big 12 and say, aha, I know their story. Secondly, because Texas Tech has kind of sucked up all the oxygen, the other 15 teams can do whatever they want. The other 15 teams are playing fast and loose. They can build it at their own pace, in their own way. And because that next tier down in this conference is so damn jumbled, it kind of feels like everyone has a shot. So my sense is that, in addition to them getting the big sponsorship for Monster Energy, or Cherry Pepsi, or Fanta, Diet AriZona, in addition to that—
Dan Rubenstein — 14:55
Diet Cherry 7UP, yep.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 14:59
It feels to me like the vibes as a whole in the Big 12 are pretty good. And that's a good thing.
Dan Rubenstein — 15:05
I think so. I think so. I think you're absolutely right, even though, you know, Texas Tech's season didn't end the way that they had hoped. The defense did plenty to win that game against Oregon. Texas Tech absolutely proved themselves to be of playoff caliber, as did, I would argue, BYU and Utah as well. That's not to say the gravity is outside of Texas Tech at the moment, because of how they handled Utah, how they handled BYU and, for that matter, Utah. But internally, yes, everybody is aiming for Texas Tech. There is, to me, reason to believe that there was at least last season depth at the top of playoff caliber, right? We've seen teams get blown out in the playoff. There's no reason Utah couldn't have been blown out in the playoff, no reason BYU couldn't have been blown out.
And so when you have those three teams, plus other teams that have built themselves and won games, that have good arguments to also be considered in or around that top tier, and you have, I think, the level of coaching that exists in this conference, the intrigue of, look, if things don't break right, we're probably 6-6. If they do, we're 9-3 with a chance to go 10-3 with a bowl. That kind of upside, I think, is healthy for a conference. And I think we definitely have that in the Big 12.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 16:30
Yeah, I'd agree.
Dan Rubenstein — 16:31
The quarterbacks we went through, that's important, right? If we have household quarterback names in a conference, especially associated with the same team year over year. Or, like in a couple of the cases here, right, with DJ Lagway at Baylor. DJ Lagway is a household name in this sport. That is good for the conference. Whatever DJ Lagway is, whatever he isn't, the name recognition of a quarterback at Baylor, I think, is great. So yeah, I tend to think the Big 12 is in a much more positive place than not.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 17:07
Anything surprise you or any other observations as you were going through the Big 12 from a really high level?
Dan Rubenstein — 17:14
No, nothing terribly surprising. I think, you know, it's actually because of that household-name thing. I didn't even mention Drew Mestemaker, who established himself as a big-time national quarterback, who had big-time national interest, both in his play at North Texas and in his potential transfer to a major program.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 17:31
I mean, I could tell you mine. The one for me that really jumped out—and again, this might be to the earlier point of how Texas Tech has sucked up all the oxygen in the room—but when you put the blinders on and get past the Texas Tech portion of the studying, you start talking about BYU and Utah. Okay, we know about BYU and Utah. They'll be pretty good. We'll talk about them in a second. Kansas State, Arizona, TCU, Houston, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Cincinnati. I can go pretty far down here, and I have reasons to feel good about a lot of these teams. I wasn't expecting that. I wasn't expecting to feel that this conference is as deep as it is, not fluke-deep. Not like, oh, this team who's probably going to finish 11th in the conference, I could see a situation in which they upset the No. 3 team in this conference. I don't mean that.
I'm talking about teams pretty far down on this list that, if I look at them, if I really investigate them, I could make a pretty strong case for. UCF this year, for example. I'm really interested in watching to see what UCF looks like with Alonza Barnett at the helm. There are reasons here, I think, to be excited about this conference the full way through and not just for a handful of teams at the top. And that's encouraging. Again, that's, I think, more to the point of good vibes.
Dan Rubenstein — 18:51
I don't know if it's a surprising thing, but at the moment there was a surprise to me about two of the coaches who seemed to be the most entrenched with their teams moving on, in Matt Campbell and Kyle Whittingham. Now, obviously, Kyle Whittingham's time in the Big 12 specifically was limited. So there is the surprise of now seeing, you know, new polo shirts on those sidelines—or, in the case of Morgan Scalley, the same polo shirt, different position and different responsibilities on that sideline. That's going to take a minute to adjust to for Utah and Iowa State. But I'm with you that there are cases for teams making noticeable leaps, right? UCF went 5-7 last year, more led by defense than offense, but they themselves get a known, household quarterback name in Alonza Barnett from James Madison. Yes?
So there is reason, when you look at whatever—even Oklahoma State—to talk yourself into jump reasoning for more teams. And I think I was ready to do so, if that's barely English.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 20:09
Let's talk tiers here.
Dan Rubenstein — 20:11
Okay, we can do both.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 20:12
T-I-E-R-S, of course. We can do both. Who are your top dogs?
Dan Rubenstein — 20:20
I think Texas Tech, BYU and Houston are, to me, the teams—for various team-specific reasons—that I consider to be in the top tier. I can talk myself into thinking that they have a shot to win this conference for a couple of different reasons for each of those teams. Texas Tech: it's a talent thing, it's a coaching thing, it's the ability to withstand losing their presumed starting quarterback, Brendan Sorsby, to a gambling scandal. He is out. That is 100% done. BYU, even though there are some changes on this defense with their defensive coordinator leaving for Michigan, there is something to me about—do you argue that BYU does not have the best backfield in the conference? And I'm willing to listen to Caleb Hawkins and Drew Mestemaker at Oklahoma State. I think the BYU backfield is in a better system and infrastructure at the moment.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 21:15
Texas, Texas really good, too.
Dan Rubenstein — 21:16
Texas Tech is just a Will Hammond-and-health question to me, and a question of what he looks like full-time as an actual, consistent starter. But yes, they should have good running backs, obviously. But BYU's combination of coaching—I was actually surprised he didn't leave with Kalani Sitake. It seemed like he was.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 21:32
I thought he was gone.
Dan Rubenstein — 21:33
Got that cookie cash, got that weird frosted-cookie cash.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 21:36
I thought he was gone there for a hot minute, but apparently not.
Dan Rubenstein — 21:39
So that combination of what seems to be consistent success for BYU, defensive development, the portal guys who have come in for BYU—the tight end room looks really interesting. Look, BYU's been there, done that, and they play 73,000 feet above sea level. So, you know, I'm always going to have a soft spot for that. And Houston: it's the continuity, it's the coaching and it's the schedule. They won double-digit games with the bowl win last year, and that's with some pretty big health issues and a Year 2 coach getting to double-digit wins last season. So, as for proof of concept for a team that it won't take much for them to get to a conference championship game, I have Houston there because of those combinations.
The teams that you like, the Arizona schools and your TCU, Kansas State types—and I'm sure I'm leaving out teams that I have on the next tier—I think there are just more boxes checked from those three than others. Who do you have on the top tier?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 22:40
I have just Texas Tech and BYU, and I did grapple a little bit with both Utah and Houston.
Dan Rubenstein — 22:43
Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 22:48
I mean, I have been talking up Houston all offseason. You don't need to sell me on the Cougars here. I think they're going to be really, really solid. Let's round out the top tier for a second. So, as we said at the top, Texas Tech, defending conference champion, has a really high returning-production number. The big qualifier is that quarterback position. If you can forget about Will Hammond and the Brendan Sorsby saga and just look at the rest of the roster, the rest of the roster is good enough to win this conference. And I don't think there's much debate on that. This is probably, far and away, the best roster in the Big 12. But the Will Hammond thing, I think, is going to be a real question. Now, he is coming off an ACL injury. We don't know for sure when he will be back.
When he's healthy, as we did see in moments last year, particularly in that second half against Utah, the talent is there. He has the ability to take over games. But they're going to need to manage his workload, I would expect, early, when he first steps foot on the field. And they're going to need to rely on other elements of that offense until he's out there and feeling back up to full speed. That's where the running backs come in. Both Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams are back for Texas Tech. Quinten Joyner, who tore his ACL in August before last season, is also going to be returning. Remember, he had transferred over the previous offseason from USC. They've got a really good stable of running backs that I think are going to carry this thing for at least some portion of the month of September.
But the Will Hammond question looms pretty large. What kind of upside does he give them, if anything at all, once he's healthy?
Dan Rubenstein — 24:40
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 24:41
Beyond that, it's like I feel good about where they're at, but they are losing David Bailey, Jacob Rodriguez, Lee Hunter, Romello Height, some others on that defense. They did well in the portal. I still think they're going to be really, really sound on defense. But I think there's a very obvious question of, all right, what do you get from Will Hammond? Is this defense going to be as disruptive as it was a year ago or anywhere close to that level of disruption? It may not matter because this is the best schedule in the whole freaking conference. They miss BYU, Utah and K-State. They have no road games against a preseason top 30 SP+ opponent, and they get Houston, Arizona, Arizona State and TCU all at home. It is the easiest schedule in the conference. I'm not even throwing them under the bus. I'm not even making that joke.
Doesn't matter. This is a really, really good team. That's why they're top, in my view.
Dan Rubenstein — 25:42
Yeah. I mean, look, it's the portal class with Texas Tech once again, adding to what they were able to add and develop last season. The defensive proof of concept was obvious last season. Now you need the guys, and we'll see if the new guys are as productive as Jacob Rodriguez, David Bailey, Lee Hunter, Romello Height, guys like that. But even in just a season, Shiel Wood and this defense have earned the benefit of the doubt based on the quick turnaround that we saw last season. The only thing I would add—and we can discuss this a little bit more on the team-specific previews, because we're doing two more Big 12 episodes following this one, looking at teams more specifically—I'm not immediately convinced that plug-and-play Will Hammond is even going to be where Behren Morton was last year, which was pretty average.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 26:34
I'm I'm not there either.
Dan Rubenstein — 26:36
I think Will Hammond was pretty average. Outside of that Utah game, I was not watching Will Hammond be like, ooh, this is the next big thing. No, that wasn't my reaction.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 26:49
For a half, he looked that way against Utah.
Dan Rubenstein — 26:51
Against Utah. But outside of that, there was a lot of aggressively ordinary moments.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 26:58
Number two, I think, is very clearly BYU. There's a lot to like with BYU. You got Bear Bachmeier coming back. You got LJ Martin coming back. That combination, to your point. gives them probably the best combination of quarterback continuity and an offensive centerpiece in the backfield. That's probably not much of a debate.
Dan Rubenstein — 27:21
I mean, look, what we saw out of North Texas's backfield last year makes me think we could see some cartoonish numbers from Oklahoma State if it all works out. The potential is there, but that was in a different conference. Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 27:34
There is a question about whether Bear Bachmeier can be a little bit more of a passer. That is definitely an area of his game that needs to improve. But just having those two guys in the backfield is pretty good. Pretty good offensive line in front of him. The back seven of the defense looks like it's going to be really, really solid as well. My big question is, A, if you're going to be throwing a little bit more with Bear Bachmeier, who are you throwing to? Targets are, I think, a very real concern. I don't know if they're going to have quite the edge rush they had a year ago. The schedule, I think, is mostly favorable because, as we said a moment ago, they miss Texas Tech. They also miss K-State, and they get Arizona at home, in addition to the Notre Dame game at home in Week 7, which will be a huge deal.
Dan Rubenstein — 28:18
Big deal game. Yeah. Obviously not a conference game, but the opportunity to pop on the national stage.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 28:26
The other quirk that I would mention about the BYU schedule is, obviously, they host Notre Dame. Huge deal to have that one at home, at altitude. It's immediately followed by a trip to UCF. So there are some potential landmines on this schedule in weird, situational-type things. But by and large, this is still a team that is going to be in a really, really good spot. They did retain Kalani Sitake. They did not retain Jay Hill, their defensive coordinator, as Kelly Poppinga is now going to step in.
Dan Rubenstein — 28:54
Big deal.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 28:57
So, though the scheme and most of the guys on the team return, you're still replacing the coordinator who built the defense. And anytime we see a situation like that, I think it's cause for a pause, our favorite pet charity. But there's no reason not to have BYU in this top rung.
Dan Rubenstein — 29:15
Yeah, agree.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 29:17
The Houston conversation to me is an interesting one. I've been high on Houston. I don't think I'm this high on Houston.
Dan Rubenstein — 29:24
Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 29:25
But I like Willie Fritz. They did take a jump last year. They return a ton of their production. I like Conner Weigman. I like that their coordinators are all coming back. I think the case for them to take another leap is fairly credible and easy to make. Bill's SP+ still sees Houston as, like, the seventh-best team in the Big 12, but I still feel like, with what they have returning and with the coaching talent they've got on hand, I'm not as deterred by some of those projection numbers. I feel good about the Cougars this year.
Dan Rubenstein — 30:00
As do I. Yeah, look, I think you can talk yourself into most, if not all, position groups with Houston as having, at the very least, a high floor. Experienced quarterback, winning coach. They added interesting skill-position talent in the portal, interesting players along the defensive line, all the places where I want a team to keep adding and keep getting better if they are going to challenge for a conference. I think Houston did a good job doing that. And now it's just doing it. Their home-road splits are pretty great, especially even though they have potentially tough teams on the road. Year 1, new-coach Utah, right? There is something nice about how this is the year Houston gets them. It just aligns nicely with what is happening externally to Houston and what is happening internally with Houston.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 30:49
Now, what I would say about Houston, why I didn't put them higher. The defensive line is a question to me, both on the interior and edge rush. We'll talk about that more when we get to team previews. I've got some uncertainty about the offensive line. And I would also add Bill Connelly talks about this all the time, but there was a little bit of a luck factor for Houston a year ago when they went six and one in one-score games. So you could make the case it's a better roster. You can make the case that maybe those one-score games are such that you got a little bit more wiggle room in 2026. If it's a situation where you're finding yourself in a bunch more one-score games, does that sort of regress to the mean a little bit? I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein — 31:35
Yeah, the math doesn't love playing constant close games, but I don't know. I think, in Year 3 of a good coach, if their baseline coming from last year was a pretty—I would say—pretty decent defense in different respects, they were pretty consistently good on both sides of the ball. And they lost their quarterback in the Texas Tech game, right? Conner Weigman went down in that game and suddenly it became a—correct me if I'm wrong—was that a Zeon Chriss takeover situation?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 32:05
Zeon Chriss, oh my gosh. Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 32:08
I believe it was. They lose the close game to TCU. They lose the weird shootout to West Virginia, and they kind of choked that game away. It was just a weird, back-and-forth game. I think there are correctable moments on this schedule. And hopefully, to your point, they're able to distance themselves even more. And look, that was a losable moment to Arizona. Teams go in directions. It seems to me Houston is going in the correct one.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 32:34
I tend to agree. I like Houston. I'm not willing to put them in that top tier, but we can go off of yours. I'm cool with going off of yours.
Dan Rubenstein — 32:41
But I also like what else is happening near the top of the Big 12 for Houston, right? If Will Hammond doesn't work out, if the defensive line, if the defense at BYU takes a step back, right? That there is a little bit of stability at Houston that I'm into.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 32:57
Willie Fritz is the type of guy you would hire to pull off a heist like this.
Dan Rubenstein — 33:01
Of course.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 33:02
Very detail-oriented, very disciplined. He goes out in the portal, knows what he needs to target, and we'll talk more about that in the team previews. He's very calculated and seems to get the hang of this thing pretty quickly when he goes to a new place. And we're seeing that pay dividends at Houston.
Dan Rubenstein — 33:20
The analogy that I had with Willie Fritz in this chaotic world: You know how people say, like, 'Oh, I've got a guy,' right? Your shingles are messed up on your roof, and there's just an old-school guy who lives in your town. All he does is fix shingles and think about shingles and dream about shingles. All Willie Fritz does is think about quickly improving teams and winning games without being fancy.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 33:45
This is all he does.
Dan Rubenstein — 33:47
I like that.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 33:47
I was surprised Utah wasn't in your top rung.
Dan Rubenstein — 33:50
Man, Utah loses everything other than Devon Dampier. So, Devon Dampier's offensive coordinator from the past couple years, first-round tackles—plural—at Utah last year. Yes? I think the entire offensive line, I think basically all of the playmakers up front on defense, on the defensive line, everybody who caught passes. And the new-head-coach thing. I want to put Utah there. Rice-Eccles is a terribly difficult place to win if Utah is operating on a high level, as is obviously the case with most home fields. But Utah has just been, when healthy, such an impressive program. But it was under a different guy. And that's, like, new guy plus so many new faces. I can't do the top tier. I just can't. I want to. I can't.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 34:43
I'm a little bit hung up on the fact that I think this is an offense that's going to want to run it, but they lose all five guys up front.
Dan Rubenstein — 34:51
And not just five guys, monsters.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 34:53
Monsters, monsters.
Dan Rubenstein — 34:54
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 34:55
Every guy on that starting offensive line is going to be new. The two deep was at last reading for me, still unsettled after the spring. So you lose that upfront on offense, and then on defense, they lose their best pass rusher, a bunch of interior guys from a group that was already kind of struggling to stop the run a year ago.
Dan Rubenstein — 35:17
Man, that Kansas State game was something.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 35:19
So I'm with you. I wanted to feel better about Utah, and I'm still not going to put them like eighth in the conference or anything crazy. I think Utah will be fine. But I couldn't go much higher than this to the case for Utah. They also missed Texas Tech and K-State. And the first two months of this schedule are very manageable. So they have runway to get things sorted out. I think once they get into November, obviously, they've got some bigger matchups that we can discuss more in team previews. But I like that setup for them, but there's just too many moving pieces here for me to feel all that confident.
Dan Rubenstein — 35:55
The good news is there are pieces of the Kyle Whittingham infrastructure still standing in Salt Lake City. One of the interesting ways—I guess it's an interesting way to think about it in a lot of different cases similar to where Utah is—Utah lost its defensive coordinator, who has been amazing at being a defensive coordinator. He's still there, but he doesn't have his hands on the defense like he's had for years upon years running the show there. And so that's a difference, right? It'll be his vision. He'll call the ultimate shots. But the day-to-day, hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute, it's not Morgan Scalley's defense anymore.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 36:36
All right. So you've got Utah rung down. Who else is in your, I guess, second tier outside of Utah?
Dan Rubenstein — 36:45
I'll say TCU, Arizona, Utah as mentioned, Kansas State, and I think ASU. Likely ASU.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 37:00
Likely ASU.
Dan Rubenstein — 37:02
So these are teams where I'm confident in the head coach and overall roster, and, if I squint, I can see how they can make it through their schedule going 8-4, 9-3 with breaks.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 37:15
I'm with you on Arizona.
Dan Rubenstein — 37:17
Yep.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 37:17
I'm with you on TCU and K-State. I don't think I'm with you on ASU.
Dan Rubenstein — 37:23
Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 37:24
I don't think I'm with you on ASU. I would actually sub in Oklahoma State for ASU, because on my note sheet, my second tier is Utah, Houston, Arizona, TCU and K-State. And Tier 2B for me is what I call, 'Don't do it, Ty.' And the only team in that tier is Oklahoma State.
Dan Rubenstein — 37:44
Yeah, I mean, look, we can't help but be misled and misguided by Curt Cignetti in every single facet of the way we think about this sport.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 37:52
I know.
Dan Rubenstein — 37:55
So in ordinary times, we'd say, cool, love the hire at Oklahoma State. Really interested to see how this can all come together. Really interested to see how these North Texas players perform and how the other transfers come in at a difficult place, an impassioned place, which Stillwater obviously is. But there is still part of me that was like, okay, if we remove Curt Cignetti from all of this—
Ty Hildenbrandt — 38:19
I know.
Dan Rubenstein — 38:21
What can we reasonably expect in Year 1?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 38:24
I'm trying not to go too crazy on Oklahoma State.
Dan Rubenstein — 38:27
I get that.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 38:28
Because even though they bring over Drew Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins, Wyatt Young—these are guys who know the system—and Eric Morris, I think, is a really bright, young, offensive-minded coach, I don't know if they're going to play defense. I think the defense might be better than we expect, but there's a question of the week-to-week rigors of playing in a power conference. How does that talent from North Texas translate to a setup like that? I don't know. I think it'll be fine, but that's a question. The offensive line is very much in flux. I believe these guys were not playing together at all this spring because of injuries, so the starting five is still a bit unsettled up front. You know, there are questions abound here, especially when you've got so many new pieces.
But it just feels to me like Eric Morris has enough of a track record, at least on the offensive side of the ball, that the quarterback, the passing game, the running game—the parts that matter when it comes to scoring points—all that stuff is going to be there from Day 1. They also added so many other guys that they could bring on just as depth pieces. So it's not going to be a thin team, even if somebody goes down. I think they're well-positioned, and I like what I'm seeing there. I might be a little bit too high on Oklahoma State, but as I look at the schedule, it looks like the draw is fairly manageable.
Dan Rubenstein — 39:50
Yeah, I'm with you. I just can't I can't say anything with certainty with this much new.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 39:55
Arizona, TCU and K-State.
Dan Rubenstein — 40:00
Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 40:01
Talk me through those.
Dan Rubenstein — 40:02
K-State is, like—I'm—I really want to like K-State more than I actually do, just because of so much new on defense and at head coach. There are still offensive pieces that I like. It's still a place where teams largely win seven-plus games year in and year out. They've recently won the conference. The new head coach is obviously not new to the Little Apple in Collin Klein. So I think, again, that's just part of the infrastructure still standing, even though there were changes made, obviously, all over the place. I think I still like K-State. I'm not a big Avery Johnson believer anymore. I like a little bit of both in my marriage and in my college football fandom: dependability. There's still just too much wild card.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 40:47
Do you think, though, that now, with Collin Klein at the helm, knowing the types of systems that he likes to run with a mobile quarterback, you could make the case that this is going to be a more friendly setting for Avery Johnson, in that this could unlock some of what we thought he brought to an offense?
Dan Rubenstein — 41:06
This is year four of him playing games, not starting, but year four of him playing games.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 41:10
Correct.
Dan Rubenstein — 41:12
They've had players, offensive skill guys, quality offensive linemen, quality coaches, including Collin Klein. I know quarterback can be a developmental position, but Avery Johnson also falls into the, like, by now, I would have liked to see a little bit more tender loving care with the ball. And so I think there will be moments where Avery Johnson looks like the best quarterback in the Big 12. Maybe it's a half. Maybe it's a game. Maybe it's a big game. But then you're going to get a couple games, if he doesn't develop into something beyond where he's been, where you're just like, he fumbled again? Who exactly was he throwing it to on that third-and-eight? Right? Those are the moments. Like, did he just throw into quintuple coverage with the receiver not even looking?
That's what worries me about putting Kansas State too much higher, alongside all that's new there. But I'm still a believer in the infrastructure. We'll talk more about it when we talk K-State specifically.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 42:15
I think teams are going to be able to run on K-State.
Dan Rubenstein — 42:17
It's just so much new up front.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 42:19
Yeah, we'll get into that. But that's, I think, my biggest concern about the defense. I think some teams are going to be able to run on K-State. Arizona is another team you've got in here. Arizona went 9-4 last year. Kind of a breakthrough. We weren't sure for a minute there, but they figured it out. Noah Fifita had a good year. Now both coordinators are coming back. Bill's got them No. 30 in his preseason SP+. Can the defense that we saw last year, which was really good, especially against the pass, survive losing basically the secondary? Right? It was the secondary that kind of drove the bus on the defensive side of the ball. Now that's gone. What does that look like?
Dan Rubenstein — 43:05
It's not just losing the secondary. It's losing pieces that are clear, high-level, potential secondary guys who really thrived in this new system last season. Totally correct to be concerned about that. I do like the stability of both coordinators being back, Noah Fifita being back for his 13th year at Arizona. I like all of those things. The home-road splits aren't great, but with that kind of experience, I like the skill talent. The offensive line is still somewhat of a question to me, but I think the vibes are pretty high in Tucson at the moment. And there's just something to me about them sort of flying below the radar still. They won the games they won last year and they were close to winning more, but I still feel as if so much of the—what do we use?—the gravity of this conference still seems like it's kind of nowhere near Tucson.
It feels like there's no pressure on Brent Brennan after there was a ton of pressure after Year 1, when he was not able to immediately replicate Jedd Fisch's success in Tucson. The pressure is off of him. I think they re-upped Danny Gonzales on defense. They hit the portal once again. There's just enough about Arizona where I could see another year where, if the portal guys work out on defense especially, it's like, oh, they're 7-2?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 44:19
No.
Dan Rubenstein — 44:19
Haven't even been paying attention. Great.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 44:20
No. TCU won nine games last year, but there's a new quarterback situation and offensive coordinator situation. They still got a pretty high mark in Bill's preseason projections, at No. 34, but I have many more questions about TCU than I do any of those teams that we have talked about previously. That's at quarterback. There are some on defense as well.
Dan Rubenstein — 44:46
If you were a Big 12 quarterback, you could throw on TCU last year.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 44:49
Well, yeah. They've got to find a pass rush this year. They were good against the run a year ago, but really bad against the pass. They have no returning edge who proved that he can consistently create disruption. That's a problem.
Dan Rubenstein — 45:05
I'm still waiting for my own edge to get back, Ty. A lot of us have returning edge issues. Yes, I think that's all right. I think there's still enough skill talent on this offense. Look, quarterback's the question. Quarterback comes over from Harvard. That's a leap.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 45:19
Jaden Craig?
Dan Rubenstein — 45:19
Jumping from the Ivy to the Big 12 is a leap.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 45:21
Yep, Jaden Craig.
Dan Rubenstein — 45:22
So, speed of the game, comfort with the game—obviously, a very high-level quarterback within the Ivy League. Had NFL interest. I think Illinois may have had interest in him as well, but they were scouring the market for a new transfer quarterback. So the interest is obvious. To me, it's just a question now of, can they do multiple things well at once?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 45:45
Right, right.
Dan Rubenstein — 45:46
Right? They stopped the run last year, couldn't run the ball last year. Josh Hoover made huge plays, did throw some interceptions. Can TCU string together boring things successfully at the same time? That is the open question to me about TCU. Because, look, I still like Sonny Dykes as a coach. I still like Andy Avalos. I mean, it's more personal to me because he ran one of the best modern Oregon defenses. I think it was the 2019 one. That was a Pac-12 championship defense. So I'm into the possibility of TCU surprising teams once again.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 46:23
Yeah, I'm into it. I'm just not, I don't know if I'm buying it.
Dan Rubenstein — 46:25
I think it's a high floor.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 46:26
I don't know if—yeah, it's a high floor.
Dan Rubenstein — 46:27
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 46:28
It's not like this team's going to bottom out or anything, but there are more questions, for sure, about this TCU team. Okay, so we're through Texas Tech and BYU. You've got Houston somewhere in there, which I'm fine with.
Dan Rubenstein — 46:43
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 46:43
Utah, Arizona, TCU, Kansas State, and we talked about Oklahoma State. A team that I think we disagree on then is Arizona State.
Dan Rubenstein — 46:52
Yeah, I had them in that tier as well.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 46:54
Yeah, okay, a soft spot.
Dan Rubenstein — 46:55
And that's a soft spot thing for me, I think.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 46:58
What do you mean?
Dan Rubenstein — 46:59
I think Kenny Dillingham's a really good coach. He took a team pretty quickly to the College Football Playoff and won this conference. The portal development and the evaluation, I think, have been pretty great. I have questions about quarterback. I have questions about how they're replacing some key guys they lost. I like who they bring in at receiver. I like what they've been able to do with a healthy defense. It hasn't always been healthy. So that's just a benefit-of-the-doubt thing for me, that there is always going to be a high floor with Kenny Dillingham at ASU. There's a reason why he was in demand last year, with Michigan calling his name. There are certain coaches, to me, who are going to bring vibes and culture to the point where they're never going to not go bowling. And I think that's where ASU is.
I think that's the baseline with ASU. So from that point forward—look, they went 8-5 last year.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 48:01
Right.
Dan Rubenstein — 48:02
What is memorable about last year's ASU team beyond Sam Leavitt getting hurt?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 48:07
It was going eight and five with Jeff Sims.
Dan Rubenstein — 48:10
They developed running backs. They went 8-5 with Jeff Sims. I just. I don't know, man. He's a chicken wire duct tape type coach when things are not going well, and he does that well. So I don't know if Cutter Boley is going to work out. I don't know if any of the younger quarterbacks are going to work out. I don't know, man. He is just he just finds ways. And so I can't say that about a lot of coaches in this conference.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 48:38
It's a hard schedule.
Dan Rubenstein — 48:39
It's a hard schedule. They have A&M in Week 2, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 48:42
This is the hardest schedule in the conference, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 48:44
It's real difficult.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 48:46
Texas A&M, Texas Tech, BYU, UCF, Arizona, Kansas in London. This run of games that I'm looking at here in October—Texas Tech, K-State and at BYU—I mean, that's just brutal. So they've got a little bit of a runway to get things sorted, but it's not just the quarterback situation, on which I remain kind of unconvinced with Cutter Boley. Offensive line, especially the tackle position, questions about that. Defensively, are they healthy enough up front? That's a question. I like Kenny Dillingham a lot. I think everything you're saying is 100% true about Kenny Dillingham. There's a reason he's in demand. There's a reason ASU is happy to have him. But I have more questions about ASU this year than I have answers, so I'm a little bit lower on them.
Dan Rubenstein — 49:36
Yeah, it was Sam Leavitt for, it looks like, six and a half, seven games last year, including—they did beat the champ, right? They did beat them. Now, that was a champ without their starting quarterback in Behren Morton, but I don't know, man. If a non-memorable ASU team can win that number of games, with a chunk of it coming with not a ton of quarterback play, especially on the road, to me, I'm just like, okay, that's kind of the bottom. Okay. I know. You're right about the schedule. I just believe in the D-man.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 50:13
So we obviously had a little bit of a disagreement there, but that's fine. There are seven teams left then, and here's the way that I ordered them. In no particular order, in my third tier, Cincinnati, Baylor, Kansas, and UCF. And then in my last tier, I've got Iowa State, Colorado, and West Virginia. Does any of that conflict with what you've got on your side?
Dan Rubenstein — 50:38
No, that it's sort of like my I want to believe tier. Was that what the tagline was of the X-Files?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 50:44
I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein — 50:45
Something, right? Did you never watch the X-Files?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 50:47
I was creeped out by the X-Files back in the day.
Dan Rubenstein — 50:49
I didn't watch a ton of it.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 50:50
I think I'd really like it now. I think I'm past that stage, and I'd be really into it.
Dan Rubenstein — 50:55
Something, right? Did you never watch The X-Files?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 51:11
Yeah, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 51:13
This is my Big 12: I Want to Believe tier. I want to believe that Dave Aranda stepping away from calling the defense at Baylor and them hiring—is it Joe Klanderman? Is that his name?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 51:38
Yeah, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 51:40
Yeah. I guess I want to believe. I just don't know if I do.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 51:44
Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 51:44
Who else did you include in there?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 51:46
No, I just those four teams.
Dan Rubenstein — 51:47
Cincinnati, UCF and Baylor?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 51:49
Yeah, I mean, my tiers are a little bit different than yours.
Dan Rubenstein — 51:51
And I would have Oklahoma State and I want to believe as well.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 51:53
Yeah, so mine, mine's not too far off from yours. I've got tech and BYU at the top. I've got Utah, Houston, Arizona, TCU, K-State, and the next one down. Like I said, 2B is Oklahoma State, where I said don't do it. Then I've got ASU. That brings us to where we're at now. And I've got it in this order: Cincinnati, Baylor, Kansas, and UCF. I could probably make a case for UCF to really jump up. I like a lot of what I have seen in the preseason from UCF. The Baylor conversation to me is just different every year. Every year, it's a different way to frame what's going on at Baylor with Dave Aranda. I really don't know what to make of both Cincinnati and K-State or Kansas, excuse me. I won't say K-State.
Dan Rubenstein — 52:36
Yeah, I would probably include Kansas here. So you're getting Lance Leipold and Andy Kotelnicki. Kotelnicki?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 52:43
And it's Kotelnicki, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 52:45
Okay, just making sure. I want to believe in that duo once more. Questions at quarterback. I still need to see something from this defense. So yeah, they're in that space for me as well.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 52:59
I'm looking at my Cincinnati notes here, and they're all over the place. They really are. They lose Brendan Sorsby. Brendan Sorsby won't be playing college football this year. They're replacing him with J.C. French, who comes from Georgia Southern. Everything that was written about him in the spring is all very encouraging. But there's a difference between being efficient in the Sun Belt and being efficient in the Big 12. How does that translate? I don't know. Cincinnati also only forced 10 takeaways last year. So can they get more? I don't know. They're going to need to, I think, if they want to jump above this tier. And, like, a totally new group of skill talent. So, too many questions for me. I think there's enough to build on here for Scott Satterfield. And I think, all things being equal, he did okay last season.
But I don't really know where to go with that Cincinaughty roster, excuse me.
Dan Rubenstein — 53:54
Hold on. I love you saying Cincinaughty, though.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 53:57
Cincinaughty, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 53:57
Let's write that down for something during the year. I don't know what it means. I don't know if that's a new after-hours club you and I are going to invest in. Cincinaughty.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 54:05
Cincinaughty, not bad.
Dan Rubenstein — 54:06
Woo. Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 54:08
And on the Kansas front, it's a quarterback race between Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall. Kotelnicki is back. I like that he's back. I like that he gives them structure. I like that they've got some continuity elsewhere. I think they've got good speed. Dylan Edwards is now playing for this Kansas as he makes the world tour.
Dan Rubenstein — 54:27
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 54:27
But leery about quarterback, leery about O-line. Just too much for me to put Kansas any higher.
Dan Rubenstein — 54:37
Okay, I think I'm with you.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 54:39
Uh who else do we want to talk about then? I guess the last three.
Dan Rubenstein — 54:42
It'll be Colorado, West Virginia, and who am I leaving out?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 54:48
Iowa State, yes. Iowa State is just too much flux for me to have any real read on. Jimmy Rogers did a nice job in one year at Washington State, FCS before that. With the amount Iowa State lost, mostly to Penn State but to other places as well, it just feels like almost a Year 0, especially with the timing of it all. So, Iowa State: show some energy, show some flash, show a spark. But I don't feel—what is it? It's the Arkansas State quarterback coming in, right?
Dan Rubenstein — 54:50
Iowa State, yes. Iowa State is just too much flux for me to have any real read on. Jimmy Rogers did a nice job in one year at Washington State, FCS before that. With the amount Iowa State lost, mostly to Penn State but to other places as well, it just feels like almost a Year 0, especially with the timing of it all. So, Iowa State: show some energy, show some flash, show a spark. But I don't feel—what is it? It's the Arkansas State quarterback coming in, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 55:28
Jalen Raynor. Jalen Raynor, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 55:29
Jalen Raynor. Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 55:30
Twenty-one interceptions over the last two seasons.
Dan Rubenstein — 55:34
Not my favorite. I like dependability.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 55:37
He's been dependable. I mean, he started 36 games. He's thrown for nearly 8,700 yards in his career.
Dan Rubenstein — 55:43
Yes, I don't love picks.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 55:45
But yeah, 21 interceptions over the last two years. Uh, don't know if they're gonna be able to run the ball Don't know how the defense is going to look. I feel like there are questions abound, and that's to be expected whenever you've got a hard reset like this with Jimmy Rogers coming over and so much of the talent going elsewhere.
Dan Rubenstein — 56:02
But that said, taking over Washington State when Jimmy Rogers did, they went 7-6. They won their bowl game, yes. And Wazzu was in it for three quarters against Washington, destroyed San Diego State last year, nearly beat a semifinal College Football Playoff team in Ole Miss on the road—which, obviously, I'm sure there was circumstance and context—nearly beat the ACC runner-up in Virginia and nearly beat College Football Playoff team James Madison. So they nearly had a crazy season.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 56:39
What's the deal with Colorado, man?
Dan Rubenstein — 56:41
Colorado has interesting upside to me. I don't love them because there's nothing like—look, if you're in on Brennan Marion, speaking of getting his passport stamped on his 14th school in 15 years, or whatever it is for him—
Ty Hildenbrandt — 56:55
Man, he rents, he doesn't buy.
Dan Rubenstein — 56:57
Exactly. And furnished.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 56:59
Furnished, yep.
Dan Rubenstein — 57:00
DoorDash options, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 57:01
Yep. Inflatable furniture, whatever it takes.
Dan Rubenstein — 57:04
There is reason to believe that the offense will become more interesting this year with Brennan Marion and JuJu Lewis. Danny Scudero coming in from, what, San Jose State? Yeah, it's mostly just a defense thing to me right now. And it's mostly just, if Colorado is going to be flirting in the six-, seven-, eight-win territory, I have to be convinced in mid-July that they're going to do something excellently. It doesn't need to be a lot of things. What do you do? What is the thing that you do really well? Is it rushing the passer? Is it running the ball? Is it bombing it deep to Danny Scudero? Whatever it is, because of how they have been lately, it's sort of like, I need proof.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 57:49
I need proof that the line can block. Remember, Jordan Seaton left.
Dan Rubenstein — 57:53
Along with a bunch of other dudes, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 57:54
Along with a bunch of other dudes, I need proof at running back that whatever system—the Go-Go system—they're going to try and run with Brennan Marion is going to work. I need proof about their defensive line, that they can stop the run. I think they'll be fine in the back seven, but up front, we've seen that on occasion come back to bite Colorado. You combine that with the fact that it's a really difficult schedule, at least to my eye.
Dan Rubenstein — 58:23
They open up at Georgia Tech, yes?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 58:25
Yeah, I just don't feel great about this. I'm curious to see Juju Lewis. I want to see what he can do. Really small sample size a year ago. This is obviously going to be his first full season as QB1 in a new offense. So it's either really going to hit or it's really going to not. Interested, but I'm out.
Dan Rubenstein — 58:45
They won one power conference game last year. Yes, they beat Iowa State.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 58:51
Correct. Correct.
Dan Rubenstein — 58:52
Then proceeded to lose their final five last year, not this year, especially with how much Deion Sanders turns over that roster. I didn't love the quote at Media Day—I think it was at Media Day—from Julian Lewis talking about, like, yeah, last year we didn't even study defenses.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 59:05
Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 59:06
Like, excuse me?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 59:07
Great, it's great stuff, right?
Dan Rubenstein — 59:09
What's that? So, yeah. Got to see something before I feel anything positive about the Buffs right now.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 59:20
I think I am with you, and then that brings us to, I guess, our final team here. How are we feeling about West Virginia?
Dan Rubenstein — 59:27
TBD. Again, it's one of those teams that, with the sheer number—and, look, the vibes seem to be good. The recruiting class was nice, the incoming high school kids. I just want to know what they are. I want to know what they're going to do well after last season. And, look, if the starting point for West Virginia is winning the Backyard Brawl, great. Don't lose five straight after that. Beat Houston, beat Colorado and then lose 49-0 to Texas Tech. Well, I guess they also lost close to ASU. So it's going to be this year, similar to Colorado: What are they going to do really well? I don't love where they are at quarterback. They stopped the run pretty well last year, and they were equally bad stopping any quarterback. So, college football is always much more fun when West Virginia is fun.
RichRod, good coach, has proven that at multiple places. Now it's like, what are we stringing together?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:00:30
I like Cam Cook, their transfer running back. Almost 1,700 rushing yards last year. He gives that offense sort of the workhorse that we know RichRod wants. So there's upside there. I think he fits the scheme. I think they will find ways to use Cam Cook for all he's worth. But is it Michael Hawkins Jr.? Is it Scotty Fox Jr.? Who is the quarterback? Does it matter? Offensive line: They have more guys along the line now. I think they were adamant about trying to get more options, but more options do not necessarily fix a unit that was among the least efficient in both run blocking and pass blocking a year ago. And just overall, on the defensive side of things, they lose their top five tacklers. They're rebuilding the entire back end that was already pretty bad against the pass a year ago. There's a reason they're down here.
I'm rooting for RichRod. I have nothing against West Virginia. I like a lot of these players, actually, but relative to the field, I think I'm pretty bearish on West Virginia this season.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:01:39
They scored 30 points once after that Backyard Brawl last year. Couldn't run, couldn't throw, quarterback health issues, quarterback non-health issues. I just want to see stability from the Mountaineers before feeling decently about them.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:01:54
Do you have a pet player this year? A player who, in your research, just kind of piqued your curiosity?
Dan Rubenstein — 01:01:58
I really liked Ashton Porter at Oregon. He was a rotational edge, obviously couldn't really crack any sort of significant rotation in big moments with Matayo Uiagalelei and Tatum Tuioti there. He's a good player. Now he's, I think, going to be counted on at Houston to be a difference-maker on their edge, and he's a good story. So I'm rooting for Ashton Porter because of that connection. Rooting for Noah Fifita this year, just because of the stability. I think it's the first time he has two straight years with the same coordinator.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:02:34
Correct, yep. Seth Doege.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:02:37
I've always—look, two years ago, he was an absolute nightmare, and it did not seem like a sure thing in that first year of Brent Brennan that he was going to be hanging around or on this level or whatever. I liked him hanging in there last year and having that bounce-back year. So I'm rooting for Noah Fifita. This is a big conference. Let me see, what other team? Do you have anybody who stands out?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:02:57
Yeah, I've got two other quarterbacks, actually. Alonza Barnett III. So Alonza Barnett comes down from James Madison. He did miss spring because of injury, but it seems like he's going to be a full go. I am curious to see what the offense looks like with him at the helm because he's an athletic guy, 38 total touchdowns. He definitely gives the offense the type of quarterback who can go out there with designed runs. You can use a guy like that in the red zone. I'm curious to see what they're doing with respect to Alonza Barnett. And I think he's got some decent pass catchers. Maybe not household names, but I think the combination of what they have on offense, just in terms of their athletes, and what they have on defense, especially in the secondary, makes UCF a really interesting case this year.
And I don't want to get too far out over my skis. It's not the easiest of schedules. But I think a healthy Alonza Barnett clearly gives UCF a very easy path to get into a bowl, if not go a little bit higher and maybe pull off an upset or two. The other one that I'm really interested in is DJ Lagway.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:04:10
Oh, yeah, I'm rooting for that to work out.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:04:12
You know, you mentioned him in passing, and it's cool. It's cool. You understand why Baylor isn't necessarily on the tip of our tongue when we're talking about the top teams in the Big 12. Clearly, there is a lot at stake for a guy like Dave Aranda this season. DJ Lagway has been a guy who's easy to root for. He's had his moments. Clearly, he had his moments while he was at Florida. That situation in Gainesville was imploding out from under him. There were moments in that game—or in that season, both last year and the year before—where it was sort of on hero ball, right? Like, what can DJ Lagway do to kind of lead us out of this thing?
Dan Rubenstein — 01:04:46
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:04:51
I don't know if this is a better situation for him. It's probably more familiar confines given personal history. He's got the arm talent. He's got mobility. If he can cut back on those interceptions, this is like a completely different conversation for Baylor.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:05:06
I mean, but that's the sport, right? The talent being tantalizing, the mistakes just take—like, I think Max Browne just did a video about this, about DJ Lagway, on YouTube. I've watched a chunk of it. It's very good. It would be very cool if it worked out for DJ Lagway and Baylor. The other—I don't know if it's a pet thing, but it's a thing that stood out to me because I like putting certain players or groupings of players, like, oh, they're the best combination of linebackers, they're the best edge rushers. I was thinking about it: If ASU can figure out quarterback, Omarion Miller and, I think it's Reed Harris, the Boston College transfer, are on my radar.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:05:39
I love Omarion Miller. Yeah, I talked about him all offseason, too. I think he's great.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:05:45
If the passing game is something, if quarterback is something, whoever that quarterback is for ASU, that could be the best receiving tandem in the conference. It has a chance to be. I'm just in mid-July. That's where my brain is.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:05:57
I could see it. I could see it.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:06:00
So, yeah. Got to have somebody throw them the ball. But yeah, that's where we are.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:06:06
I've got Texas Tech over BYU in a much closer game in the conference title.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:06:12
I've got Houston beating Texas Tech in a rematch after losing that first game to Texas Tech. They beat them in the championship game.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:06:23
Write in, solidverbal@gmail.com. Let us know your thoughts on the Big 12. Again, we've got two other parts yet to come here following this episode. We're going to break it into eight and eight, talk about eight teams in Part 2 and then the eight other teams in Part 3. That'll be our Big 12 team previews that will, of course, follow this episode. Follow or subscribe if you made it this far so that you don't miss any of the preview content. And if you are ever so inclined—
Dan Rubenstein — 01:06:49
Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:06:51
Leave us a star rating or review. Head on out to Verballers.com. It's the best way to support the team, help Dan and I keep the lights on here at SVHQ.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:07:00
And mention that you heard on The Solid Verbal for half-off entry, half-off drinks at the new club Ty and I are starting, Cincinaughty.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:07:12
Cincinaughty.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:07:15
Just mention you heard about it on The Solid Verbal, and our bouncer Terry will let you in. Half-off cover.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:07:21
Well, you know how it is. Like I have my notes here, and I don't, I don't, nothing is scripted.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:07:24
Oh, it's the best. Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:07:28
It's all just a bunch of bullet points. And so I'm worried about: How long is the show running? Do we need to move to the next topic? What are we talking about next? How can I make my point here? And it's all of those conflicting things that lead you to get a little bit mushmouth and say things like Cincinaughty, which now could actually be a fine-dining establishment in the greater Cincinnati area, depending on who's in charge.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:07:52
You think it's a fine dining sounding name?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:07:55
I think it could be. I don't think it's that, but it's open to interpretation. Maybe there are some entrepreneurs out there in the Cincinnati area who would like to weigh in. solidverbal@gmail.com.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:04
Oh, I think it's an adult establishment. Not like a strip club, not like a gentleman's club, but I think for like the discerning adult.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:12
Oh, for like, okay, right.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:14
Cincinaughty, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:14
Right. Cincinaughty.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:16
I don't know.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:17
Dare we Google to see if there is a Cincinaughty?
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:20
No, I don't want the dream to be dashed, Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:20
I'll do it. Cincinaughty.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:24
Also, should we start doing an X-Files rewatch podcast on our bonus Patreon show?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:28
Oh, here we go. If I type in Cincinaughty, I get—apparently there's an escort website. There we go. Okay.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:34
Really?
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:35
There's your answer. Yep.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:37
It was too good a name.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:38
Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:40
It always had to fly free. So there you are. Our business dreams of Southern Ohio have been destroyed.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:47
They've been destroyed.
Dan Rubenstein — 01:08:49
Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt — 01:08:49
All righty, that does it for Big 12 Part 1. Thank you for bearing with us here. Much, much more to come. Looking forward to diving in, talking in more depth about all of these teams that we covered here just in passing today. Dan Rubenstein, again, I would encourage everybody to write in, either at the email, solidverbal@gmail.com, social media, wherever you can get ahold of us. We read everything. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to get your thoughts on where you stand in the Big 12, what your tiers look like. In the meantime, until next time, for that guy over there, Dan, for myself over here, Ty, you know the drill. Stay solid.