2026-08-16 August Q&A - Most Interesting Teams, Rivalry Intensity and Season Questions (raw)
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:18 Dan Rubenstein, welcome back, my great and good friend.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:21 I want you to join me in taking a very deep
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:25 breath.
Dan Rubenstein 00:27 In through the nose, out through the mouth.
Dan Rubenstein 00:29 Circular breathing.
Dan Rubenstein 00:30 Well, circular breathing, I think, is like what musicians do, right?
Dan Rubenstein 00:34 When they are breathing as they play.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:36 I took the deep breath.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:37 You didn't take the deep breath.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:38 Take the deep breath.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:41 The previews
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:43 are now in the past.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:44 Go back and listen to any of our last 14 or 15 episodes that we put out there, giving you the intro to the 2026 college football season, talking through the G6 conferences.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:56 And then a part three that we did for each of the ACC, the Big 12, the Big Ten, and the SEC.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02 In that order, we also had a little bit of a news briefing, news briefing, excuse me, in between.
Dan Rubenstein 01:05 News breathing, Ty. That's true.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:07 I mean, I got breathing on the brain right now.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:09 A deep breath.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:10 We are through the woods on the preview stuff.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:12 We've got one prediction show yet to come.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:15 But today's episode, Dan Rubenstein, will be our final—
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:19 using the F-word—the final Q&A episode before the 2026 season kicks off.
Dan Rubenstein 01:26 Wow.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:26 It is our August Q&A.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:28 Can you believe it?
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:29 We are here.
Dan Rubenstein 01:30 I can believe it because it's been a long offseason.
Dan Rubenstein 01:34 Yes, very excited for this.
Dan Rubenstein 01:36 I have fresh ginger tea.
Dan Rubenstein 01:38 I sprinkled in some saffron.
Dan Rubenstein 01:39 That's right.
Dan Rubenstein 01:40 Premium spice.
Dan Rubenstein 01:41 Because it's supposedly a mood booster.
Dan Rubenstein 01:43 I have no idea if that's true.
Dan Rubenstein 01:44 So I always like being in a good mood.
Dan Rubenstein 01:46 Ty, being on this show is already putting me in a good mood.
Dan Rubenstein 01:48 So this is just going to put me over the top.
Dan Rubenstein 01:50 We've got a ton of great questions.
Dan Rubenstein 01:52 Love a Q&A episode.
Dan Rubenstein 01:54 Love interacting, love people prompting me to be specifically wrong.
Dan Rubenstein 01:59 I guess a lot of these are pretty subjective, right?
Dan Rubenstein 02:02 Like which four teams do you think will be like most intriguing?
Dan Rubenstein 02:05 I understand I'm not giving away the game here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:07 Don't give away the game, you're ruining the hook.
Dan Rubenstein 02:10 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 02:11 Ty has thoughts on which four SI swimsuit models were the most influential in 1996 for him personally.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:18 Thank you, thank you.
Dan Rubenstein 02:21 You left off Kathy Ireland and I'm furious.
Dan Rubenstein 02:24 Continue.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:26 Let's just jump in.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:27 Let's jump in.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:28 Rate, review, subscribe.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:29 You know the drill.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:30 You're not here for that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:31 You want to hear the questions.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:32 We want to talk about the questions.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:34 Let's play the sound.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:42 Once a month and as often as we can during the season, we like to pay kind homage
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:49 to the wonderful Verballers that send in messages.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:53 We solicited these out at Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:55 dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:56 We were inundated with questions out at Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:59 dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:59 Again, that is where you can go
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:01 to sign up to support the show.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:02 I will talk about that in just a little bit, Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:06 Let's start off with this question from our friend Bryant, who writes in.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:10 He says—did you play a sound there?
Dan Rubenstein 03:13 Yeah, that was—it's been the summer of Christopher Nolan, and so I just want to add some of that effect-driven soundscape to The Solid Verbal.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:14 What was that?
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:24 Okay, soundscape, geez.
Dan Rubenstein 03:28 I just—these questions are landing to me in a, in a very influential—not influential—in a very impactful way, Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:28 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:35 We never should have given you a soundboard.
Dan Rubenstein 03:37 I know it was such a big mistake.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:37 That was my first mistake.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:39 I take ownership of that.
Dan Rubenstein 03:40 This also helps me edit and I can put in stuff if I'm playing a sound at each question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:43 Yes.
Dan Rubenstein 03:45 Continue.
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:46 Bryant wants to know, he says, I know we don't have a four-team playoff anymore
Ty Hildenbrandt 03:51 for the best four teams, but I want to know: Who are your top four most interesting teams going into the 2026 college football season?
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:00 So we're going with most interesting, Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:03 Not the best, but most interesting, which frankly makes for better audio anyway.
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:09 Interesting is subjective.
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:11 What does interesting mean to you?
Dan Rubenstein 04:13 What does government mean to me?
Dan Rubenstein 04:16 Interesting means that when I turn on their game early on in the season, I'm not exactly sure
Dan Rubenstein 04:23 what to expect, what is going to unfold.
Dan Rubenstein 04:26 I'm not sure if this team playing against this team is a great matchup, if it's a farce of a matchup.
Dan Rubenstein 04:33 And to me, with college football,
Dan Rubenstein 04:36 there is something about novelty, and we're getting it more because of the portal/NIL era, but there is something about novelty to me where, like
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:40 Yes.
Dan Rubenstein 04:45 There are your stable programs, and then there are your chaotic programs, and then there are your sort of newer look programs.
Dan Rubenstein 04:52 And I think because this season specifically has enough new-look programs or big, interesting-question programs,
Dan Rubenstein 05:01 that, like, LSU is one of the four most interesting teams in the nation for me.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:05 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 05:05 Oklahoma State, not just because of a Drew Mestemaker, Eric Morris new coach thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:07 Yes.
Dan Rubenstein 05:11 But when you think about the depths of where they were and they had the same incredibly successful guy for so long,
Dan Rubenstein 05:19 until he hit rock bottom at the end, that they are resetting that router and hoping for a fast connection.
Dan Rubenstein 05:28 That to me is super interesting.
Dan Rubenstein 05:30 I would add, of the teams that don't have a new coach, like I'm going to some of these different conferences, like USC is super interesting to me.
Dan Rubenstein 05:38 Right, USC because of their schedule or the perceived strength of their schedule in this moment?
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:42 Because of the competing narratives, right?
Dan Rubenstein 05:44 Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:44 Like, yes, they should have a killer offense.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:47 What's the defense going to look like under Gary Patterson?
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:50 Yes, it should be a good team.
Dan Rubenstein 05:50 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:52 Can the good team survive a brutal schedule?
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:55 So there's a lot kind of in conflict.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:57 USC is on my list, too.
Dan Rubenstein 05:59 The window's open, by the way, Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt 06:00 The window's open, right?
Dan Rubenstein 06:01 Remember, the championship window is officially open.
Dan Rubenstein 06:04 So I'm feeling that breeze.
Dan Rubenstein 06:06 How can I not respond?
Dan Rubenstein 06:07 So USC is on my list.
Dan Rubenstein 06:10 I'll give you one just for because I think there's a lot of positivity that is cloaked in my LSU and Oklahoma State picks and USC as well.
Dan Rubenstein 06:21 The one that I'm like, mmm, it's interesting because it could go wrong in so many ways so quickly, and that's kind of interesting to me: North Carolina.
Dan Rubenstein 06:35 I mean, all the new coach situations sort of fall approximately in the same distance from the interesting tree to me, right?
Dan Rubenstein 06:42 That like Penn State, obviously super interesting.
Dan Rubenstein 06:47 Of the teams, like the ACC has a lot.
Dan Rubenstein 06:49 Like, Georgia Tech is really interesting to me, and that's not a negativity thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 06:49 Sure
Dan Rubenstein 06:52 There's a Mendoza, and there's just a lot new for the first time in a little while for them.
Dan Rubenstein 06:57 But North Carolina, in terms of like the pure,
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:00 The theatrics of it.
Dan Rubenstein 07:01 I don't know how this season's going to play out in the back pages.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:05 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 07:05 North Carolina.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:06 Yeah, I've got, number one, Oklahoma State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:09 You already know my deal with Oklahoma State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:11 Like, I'm fully hook, line, and sinker.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:14 Taking the bait there.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:15 I'm convinced they're going to be a lot better than people think.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:18 USC, for the reasons that you outlined, that I outlined, just because of the competing narratives.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:23 And I think they should be pretty good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:25 I just don't know how they're going to hold up against that schedule.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:28 Florida, if you've listened to any of the previews or frankly any of our episodes over the last four months now, you know how I feel about Florida.
Dan Rubenstein 07:34 Yeah, you're in.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:37 I think if it works out the way I think it could work out,
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:41 they could just end up being a big-time spoiler in the SEC.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:44 And again, I've got them as like an 8-4 team.
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:46 I'm not saying they're going to win the SEC or anything crazy, but I just think, like,
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:51 a team like Florida being very competitive, being in a bunch of knife fights could make the SEC season all the more interesting.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:00 And then I'm look, I'm a sucker.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:02 I'm a little bit biased here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:03 Virginia Tech.
Dan Rubenstein 08:05 I think that's right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:06 Virginia Tech.
Dan Rubenstein 08:06 Look, it's a n it's it's new coach, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:08 And this, you know, we've got Virginia Tech, we've got Florida, we've got Oklahoma State, at least on my list, all of whom have new coaches.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:16 Yeah, I listen.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:18 James Franklin was at my alma mater for 12 years.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:20 Now moving down to a new team where there is some passive aggressiveness, it's clear that he doesn't like the way things went down at
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:29 the end of his tenure up at Penn State, which I totally understand.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:32 But I just I look forward to the quotes.
Dan Rubenstein 08:32 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:35 I look forward to what should be a nice start for Virginia Tech this year.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:38 And we'll see to what end they can carry that momentum through, that presumed momentum through
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:44 as we get into the month of November.
Dan Rubenstein 08:47 I'll stick ACC.
Dan Rubenstein 08:48 This is like a bonus also receiving votes in terms of a team that's massaging my shoulders and neck just how I like it.
Dan Rubenstein 08:55 California Golden Bears Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:56 Oh, well, I mean, you were ready to rank Cal when we did our AP top 25.
Dan Rubenstein 09:02 You can roll back the tape in a few weeks, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 09:04 Roll it back in either a very positive, impressive way or disappointing, laughable way.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:10 Next question comes to us from Niamh, who says, which team would you say is your biggest dark horse in any conference
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:19 to make the playoff or make a run at the national championship, the dark horse conversation.
Dan Rubenstein 09:24 Well, I just mentioned Cal.
Dan Rubenstein 09:27 No, it's probably probably not a playoff team.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:29 The dark horse.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:30 So, look, Niamh, I don't want to make this about the national championship.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:35 Not yet.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:36 Because if you're picking a dark horse, especially for the title, it's got so much to do with the pathway in,
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:43 injuries, momentum.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:46 It's mid-August.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:47 That stuff's impossible to project.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:50 But just in terms of conference dark horses, that we can do.
Dan Rubenstein 09:52 But yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:56 That we can do.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:57 And I think you've got a ton of options in both the Big 12 and the ACC.
Dan Rubenstein 10:00 I have the odds in front of me if you wanted to go in that direction.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:03 Oh, okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:04 Well, I could tell you mine.
Dan Rubenstein 10:04 So
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:06 Mine are very simple.
Dan Rubenstein 10:07 Like at plus five thousand, you can get Tennessee and Florida.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:11 No.
Dan Rubenstein 10:13 So do you want to go deeper, dark horse?
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:15 No, no.
Dan Rubenstein 10:15 Like BYU at ten thousand, plus ten thousand?
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:17 I don't have, I'm not doing national championship odds.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:23 I am doing conferences.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:25 I'm doing conference champions.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:27 I'm not even going to go to the next layer and talk through national championship.
Dan Rubenstein 10:30 Okay, so which of the all I'll tell you some odds.
Dan Rubenstein 10:32 Give me which teams you're thinking.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:34 I've got a dark horse tier in both the Big Twelve and the ACC because I think those are the most obvious.
Dan Rubenstein 10:39 Give me the Big Twelve.
Dan Rubenstein 10:40 My proposed champion, I believe, was Houston at plus 1600.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:44 I've got Houston, Arizona, TCU, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State in the Big Twelve.
Dan Rubenstein 10:49 Okay, so Oklahoma State is your longest distance dark horse at plus 2700.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:55 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 10:55 That's some value if you're a big believer.
Dan Rubenstein 10:58 I don't know what that offensive line and that defense is going to look like.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:02 I think the defensive line will look better than people are expecting.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:06 But yeah, I mean, there's obviously questions.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:09 There's a reason they're in the dark horse here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:11 But those would be my five teams in the Big 12 dark horse.
Dan Rubenstein 11:14 Yeah, Houston fourth, TCU sixth in terms of the conference winning odds.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:18 Yes, dark horse to varying degrees, obviously.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:22 And then over in the ACC, my dark horse tier is NC State and Virginia Tech.
Dan Rubenstein 11:27 Um okay, I'm not going to allow you to fall for NC State again.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:31 I'm doing it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:32 We're going to schedule a call at the end of the year like we do for Minnesota people when NC State inevitably lets me down.
Dan Rubenstein 11:39 I think you're better off if you're looking for an ACC dark horse.
Dan Rubenstein 11:42 I don't have the schedules in front of me, and that you know, obviously, you know how I feel about the California Golden Bears.
Dan Rubenstein 11:48 You either have to find, in my opinion, you either have to find a quarterback where you're just like, that guy, if he reaches his ceiling and catches fire.
Dan Rubenstein 11:58 Who knows?
Dan Rubenstein 11:58 Or a defense, which is a lot harder because of all the new pieces that everybody has.
Dan Rubenstein 12:03 But you have to be a believer in the defense and the coordinator and perhaps the quarterbacks they're facing because
Dan Rubenstein 12:08 just getting to the championship game in the ACC is difficult with the tiebreakers.
Dan Rubenstein 12:12 And I know that they're redoing some of them.
Dan Rubenstein 12:15 So I think you could feel a certain way about Louisville's defense.
Dan Rubenstein 12:18 Louisville.
Dan Rubenstein 12:20 I don't hate SMU, their third most likely.
Dan Rubenstein 12:23 But if you're going darker horse than that, those are like some of the favorites, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 12:25 I was going to say, but that's not a dark horse.
Ty Hildenbrandt 12:29 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 12:30 I would say you could talk me into Pitt or Georgia Tech.
Dan Rubenstein 12:39 Like, it's Mendoza and it's Heintschel.
Dan Rubenstein 12:46 But at least there is something, like, to Georgia Tech's recent past
Dan Rubenstein 12:52 of competing at a high level in the ACC and winning a bunch of games, beating Miami a couple of years ago, competing with Georgia year in and year out, it seems recently, took them to 44 overtimes a couple of years ago.
Dan Rubenstein 13:04 That to me is at least a combination of maybe head coach, quarterback, and I don't believe in the Georgia Tech defense, but you can talk me into like the pit defense most years.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:17 Now, the reason that I didn't list off any SEC teams, nor did I list off any Big Ten teams.
Dan Rubenstein 13:22 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:23 is because even among the teams that I could see going on a run, I just don't see any of them as dark horses.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:32 And I suppose what dark horse means to you is a separate conversation.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:37 But I just like if you told me Tennessee won the SEC, I wouldn't be like, oh, they're a dark horse.
Dan Rubenstein 13:40 Right
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:42 Tennessee's going to be ranked.
Dan Rubenstein 13:43 They have the eighth best odds, though.
Dan Rubenstein 13:45 That's pretty deep.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:46 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:47 What about national championship?
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:49 Like I didn't go that deep with it, but conceivably, if you've got the odds in front of you, which team with the longest odds could you see going on a run and maybe winning this thing?
Dan Rubenstein 13:54 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 14:00 You're talking coaching, talent, quarterback, defense.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:04 The schedule to get him in the playoffs to begin with.
Dan Rubenstein 14:06 Right, the schedule to get them there.
Dan Rubenstein 14:09 I don't think I would go terribly further than
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:18 Like it gets hard, especially if we're talking dark horse, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:21 Because dark horse almost implies that it's a team that nobody saw coming.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:25 And most of the teams that I think are going to be in the playoff, have a run at this thing, they're going to be name brand teams, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:31 They're going to be blue bloods or blue-blood-adjacent teams.
Dan Rubenstein 14:34 I wouldn't go farther than USC at plus 3,500.
Dan Rubenstein 14:37 And so that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
Dan Rubenstein 14:43 They have the 14th best odds.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:45 Right, okay.
Dan Rubenstein 14:47 I think I would give you the field happily after those fourteen teams.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:53 Okay, fair enough.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:55 Shall we move on?
Dan Rubenstein 14:55 All right, let's.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:57 Let's go to Jared, who says, how many teams in the Big Ten or SEC can you build a hypothetical nine and three resume that would get them into the playoffs?
Dan Rubenstein 15:06 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:06 Texas seems obviously in at nine and three.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:09 I don't know about obviously, Jared.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:11 We can talk about that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:12 How many others could get close?
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:14 As an example, not that it is remotely likely, but let's say South Carolina goes 9-3 with losses to A&M, Oklahoma, and Georgia, but wins at Bama and Clemson and
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:25 at UF, Florida.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:27 Is that playoff worthy?
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:31 So look, I
Dan Rubenstein 15:31 Having no idea how any of those teams actually are.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:34 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 15:34 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:35 But here's the thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:36 Okay, I'll oversimplify this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:38 This basically needs to be a team with a brutal schedule that also has a couple big wins.
Dan Rubenstein 15:38 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:42 Yeah?
Dan Rubenstein 15:42 Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:43 He's talking both Big Ten and SEC.
Dan Rubenstein 15:45 Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:45 I think any SEC team.
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:48 Any SEC team that goes 9-3 is going to have a PR machine around them, the likes of which we have not seen maybe since Alabama a year ago.
Dan Rubenstein 15:55 I mean, since last week?
Ty Hildenbrandt 15:55 But since last week.
Dan Rubenstein 15:57 I mean, this is an operation that is ongoing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:00 Yes, the PR machine is already starting around around do we have the sound?
Dan Rubenstein 16:00 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 16:02 It's a gauntlet.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:05 Do we have the gauntlet sound already?
Dan Rubenstein 16:05 Of course.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:13 So I think any SEC team with a nine and three regular season, given the changes to the schedule, and this isn't even me poking fun.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:20 It's just this is reality.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:21 There's going to be a PR machine around that possibility,
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:24 and I wouldn't want to rule it out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:26 Over in the Big Ten, the only three that I listed because of their schedules are USC, Ohio State, and maybe Michigan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:36 That I think would have a claim to get in at nine and three.
Dan Rubenstein 16:39 I think it's more about the manner than the actual path, because people aren't going to say
Dan Rubenstein 16:47 you know, okay, I respect this team's schedule.
Dan Rubenstein 16:50 They should be in.
Dan Rubenstein 16:51 Nobody respects anybody's schedule.
Dan Rubenstein 16:52 That's just sort of the nature of the beast with college football.
Dan Rubenstein 16:56 I think you could get the widest collective acceptance of a nine and three team from whatever power conference.
Dan Rubenstein 17:05 If we are talking about a loss, perhaps without a starting quarterback, healthy.
Dan Rubenstein 17:11 You're talking about a last-second 28-27.
Dan Rubenstein 17:16 Kind of loss.
Dan Rubenstein 17:17 You're talking about a loss on the road in a hostile environment that people felt like, oh, that they lost on a Hail Mary.
Dan Rubenstein 17:25 And they didn't get the snap off before the clock stopped, and for some reason they didn't review it correctly, right?
Dan Rubenstein 17:30 That there's a circumstance that we collectively are like, that's kind of BS that they lost that game.
Dan Rubenstein 17:36 I think there's wiggle room for that type of nine and three season.
Dan Rubenstein 17:43 And I think that those nine wins
Dan Rubenstein 17:46 have to either have to be a combination of clearly taking care of business against the perceived lesser on their schedule
Dan Rubenstein 17:56 and looking especially impressive, even if it's a close win, against the better teams on their schedule.
Dan Rubenstein 18:03 Like, I think you can construct an impressive nine-and-three season, but I think there has to be sort of
Dan Rubenstein 18:10 dotted i's and lowercase j's and crossed t's along the way.
Dan Rubenstein 18:14 Like when you talk about Texas's season last year and Sark's going on and on about like if we had just scheduled like Bowling Green.
Dan Rubenstein 18:21 Instead of Ohio State, I think that misses the whole point, but he's not there to make a cogent point.
Dan Rubenstein 18:26 He's there to defend Texas.
Dan Rubenstein 18:29 I think when you look at the totality of the strength of Texas's performance, there's a reason why the PR machine is like, everybody's the 85 Bears in this conference, right?
Dan Rubenstein 18:41 That, like, you have to defend beating Mississippi State in overtime and nearly losing to Kentucky and losing to a Florida team that you know was about to fire their head coach.
Dan Rubenstein 18:51 So
Dan Rubenstein 18:52 I think if a team does take care of business and we widely agree that those losses are understandable given the circumstances, then I think there is a realistic chance that a nine in three team can get in.
Dan Rubenstein 19:06 But again, I think I's and J's have to be dotted along the way.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:11 Let's go to this question from Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:15 Lane Kiffin made a bet.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:18 He made a bet that was true for decades, and he's making the bet that it is still true today.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:25 That bet is the birthright of certain groups of schools
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:29 to consistently have an advantage over other schools, win ten games and compete for titles.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:36 Do you think
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:37 that's the smart play in an era where schools like Oklahoma, Michigan, USC, and Florida are inconsistent, and schools like Vandy and Indiana can have double-digit-win seasons?
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:50 So
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:51 first off, this is a fabulous question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:53 I would expect nothing less from Dan, who always sends in fabulous questions.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:56 Thank you.
Dan Rubenstein 19:57 Yes, Apex Verballer.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:59 Apex Verballer, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:00 He is saying, in effect, do we still believe that programs like LSU are worth jumping over to?
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:08 Because they still have a built-in advantage, even in an era like this, 2026, where so much has been thrown into a blender.
Dan Rubenstein 20:15 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:16 I think several things are true at once.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:19 I spent a great deal of time in the shower thinking about this very question.
Dan Rubenstein 20:23 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:24 First off, would we agree that the gap between the haves and the have nots has been dramatically altered given the current state of college football?
Dan Rubenstein 20:34 I think so.
Dan Rubenstein 20:35 Yes.
Dan Rubenstein 20:36 I think the deepest teams aren't quite as deep, and the advantage of being able to weather injuries at specific positions has been lessened.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:44 I think the portal, the money, the roster movement, all of that stuff has made it considerably easier for programs outside
Dan Rubenstein 20:53 Well, also, the nationalization of the sport.
Dan Rubenstein 20:57 If you're growing up a huge prospect in Texas, it's not just assumed you're going to a school in Texas because you can watch everything.
Dan Rubenstein 21:04 You can get a sense for everything.
Dan Rubenstein 21:07 Everybody can find you.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:08 There was a lot of talk about that when Saban was at Alabama, how he was going to like South Florida and recruiting guys, and that was upsetting the balance of what had previously worked for Miami.
Dan Rubenstein 21:15 California
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:18 We've seen that happen
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:19 in a bunch of different places.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:21 So that's also, I think, a fair point to make.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:24 I think that combination of factors has made it easier for programs outside of the traditional power structure, if you will, to build a good team pretty quickly
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:34 or quicker than you would have in the past.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:36 So that definitely has altered things.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:38 But I still think there is a difference between
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:42 having a great season or being capable of putting together a good team for a season and building a program that can repeatedly do it.
Dan Rubenstein 21:53 Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:54 And that is what we are testing now at places like Indiana.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:58 I think they've been pretty successful, but it's only been two years.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:01 They're testing it at Texas Tech.
Dan Rubenstein 22:04 Hold on, hold on.
Dan Rubenstein 22:04 It hasn't been pretty successful.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:06 Well, you know what I'm saying.
Dan Rubenstein 22:07 The Indiana Hoosiers won a national championship in American football.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:12 I'm being understated, you idiot.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:14 I'm being understated.
Dan Rubenstein 22:15 Why?
Dan Rubenstein 22:15 Why?
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:16 It's worked so far.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:18 Maybe it'll bottom out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:19 I don't think it will, but I'm just saying.
Dan Rubenstein 22:19 Don't be understated.
Dan Rubenstein 22:21 Indiana was the biggest success story in the history of the sport, all things considered.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:26 I feel bad calling you an idiot.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:28 My apologies.
Dan Rubenstein 22:29 It's okay.
Dan Rubenstein 22:31 I've been called worse.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:33 There is a difference, though, between doing it once and doing it over and over again.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:38 And I think that's probably where Lane is at.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:40 I don't think Lane is saying that Ole Miss
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:43 can't win big, even though he kind of implied it in leaving.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:48 But I think what he is saying is that
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:51 if LSU and Ole Miss are both really well run, LSU still gives him more resources.
Dan Rubenstein 22:52 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:58 It certainly gives him more margin for error and probably more chances to win a title.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:04 Again, the built-in advantages of being a blue blood aren't as automatic as they used to be, as Dan points out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:11 We have seen the inconsistency of places like Florida and USC and Oklahoma.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:15 I think that's all a testament to this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:17 But
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:18 I think the hierarchy has changed and not disappeared, if that makes sense.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:25 Like everybody has a better chance now, but some programs still get more bites at the apple.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:30 And that probably is why Kiffin made the move over to LSU.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:34 There's also a prestige element to this that I don't think Dan really references in his question, but I'll reference in my answer.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:43 Look, Ole Miss could be very much on the rise.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:45 Pete Golding could very much take the baton and run with it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:50 LSU is still a more prestigious job.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:52 And
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:54 so I get it on that front.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:55 I would say if that's something that you're after, and on some level, I think Kiffin was going to the more prestigious program
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:02 even if it doesn't necessarily guarantee you a better crack at the national championship, is also something that needs to be considered here.
Dan Rubenstein 24:10 Yes, I think as much as the sport has changed and as much as the field has been leveled in a lot of very specific ways,
Dan Rubenstein 24:20 status can't be ignored.
Dan Rubenstein 24:22 And I'm not going to sit and tell you you can't win a national championship at Ole Miss.
Dan Rubenstein 24:26 I'm not going to tell you you can't build a championship roster and can't build a roster through both recruiting and the portal at Ole Miss in a way that
Dan Rubenstein 24:32 you win the SEC going away and you destroy everybody on your path in the College Football Playoff, and you hold up the hardware as the head coach of Ole Miss.
Dan Rubenstein 24:41 I think it's 100% possible.
Dan Rubenstein 24:44 I think there's a certain amount of calculated risk involved, and there is just more opportunity if you simulate a hundred college football seasons in a detailed enough way
Dan Rubenstein 24:58 LSU, even under the current parameters, because of local recruiting, because of brand recognition nationally, because of the ability to bring a recruit
Dan Rubenstein 25:09 to Baton Rouge, put them on the sideline and say, Now compare this to your other places.
Dan Rubenstein 25:16 And if you're comparing it to anything less than
Dan Rubenstein 25:19 one of those mentioned schools.
Dan Rubenstein 25:21 If you're comparing it to any power conference program that doesn't quite have the number of NFL players, that obviously the jerseys are probably lining the facility at LSU, right?
Dan Rubenstein 25:30 And you're seeing all the DBs.
Dan Rubenstein 25:32 And you're now seeing all the receivers that are in the NFL and thriving, right?
Dan Rubenstein 25:35 That you're seeing, oh, Justin Jefferson went here.
Dan Rubenstein 25:37 Oh, Jayden Daniels and his argument about the number five jersey with DJ Pickett and Lane Kiffin went here, right?
Dan Rubenstein 25:46 We are all human.
Dan Rubenstein 25:47 And so, if it's all talent acquisition in the end via the portal or via recruiting,
Dan Rubenstein 25:53 and you are walking through the halls of Michigan or LSU or Miami or any of those places, and they're telling you you can be the next Jonathan Vilma.
Dan Rubenstein 26:03 I don't think any recruit has heard of Jonathan Vilma's time at Miami, but
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:05 I was going to say, hey, who's that?
Dan Rubenstein 26:07 He is a contributor to obviously the modern Miami experience.
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:11 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 26:12 It's very difficult to ignore.
Dan Rubenstein 26:14 And so
Dan Rubenstein 26:16 you can win big at Ole Miss.
Dan Rubenstein 26:18 But in terms of the math, it is easier if your goal is winning a national championship.
Dan Rubenstein 26:24 And I think we can with a certain amount of authority say Lane Kiffin is driven by both winning a national championship and a good degree of insecurity that is fueling his desire for a national championship or even the ability to coach in a single playoff game.
Dan Rubenstein 26:38 If you're just doing the math and you're looking at recent history and the number of different coaches who have thrived at LSU compared to the number of coaches who have thrived at Ole Miss,
Dan Rubenstein 26:49 the math tells you that that's a—it's a juicier bite at the apple in Baton Rouge.
Dan Rubenstein 26:55 Now, the way he handled it, I think is garbage.
Dan Rubenstein 26:59 But if that is his defense of that move, that there's more status involved, it'll get you closer to winning a national championship more often, I get it.
Dan Rubenstein 27:12 So, yes, I think it's true still to this day.
Dan Rubenstein 27:15 I think what Vanderbilt has done, I think we can say like crazy impressive, what Indiana has done, otherworldly impressive.
Dan Rubenstein 27:22 But
Dan Rubenstein 27:23 not every coach is Curt Cignetti.
Dan Rubenstein 27:25 And so you have to do the math.
Dan Rubenstein 27:27 And a really great way to overperform and overachieve is by figuring out how to get the best players on your two deep.
Dan Rubenstein 27:34 And I think it's just.
Dan Rubenstein 27:35 It's a slightly easier deal at LSU.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:40 Bob says lots of coaches moved last year.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:44 Who is going to have more wins this season?
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:46 In the group of coaches moving up versus the coaches who have moved on/slash got promoted.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:51 Okay, so here is what he is doing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:54 He lists some programs in two teams.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:58 Team one is UCLA, Penn State, and LSU.
Dan Rubenstein 28:04 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:04 Team two is James Madison, Virginia Tech, and Ole Miss.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:11 Between team one and team two
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:14 which will have the most combined wins?
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:17 He didn't want to include Florida.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:19 He knows I have a man crush on Florida.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:20 Thank you, Bob.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:21 I appreciate that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:22 So again, UCLA plus Penn State plus LSU versus James Madison, Virginia Tech and Ole Miss.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:30 It's team one, I think.
Dan Rubenstein 28:31 I think it's team one.
Dan Rubenstein 28:33 I think if you're just looking at the upside, I think Virginia Techs is somewhat limited in my view.
Dan Rubenstein 28:39 I know you're higher on the Hokies year one.
Dan Rubenstein 28:42 JMU is a favorite in the Sun Belt for good reason, but there's a lot new there, including head coach, obviously, with all these teams.
Dan Rubenstein 28:52 Ole Miss, I think, has a really strong level of upside, but
Dan Rubenstein 28:56 I'm just not confident that it can replicate where they were last year with so much new.
Dan Rubenstein 29:03 Penn State schedule, LSU talent, UCLA, I don't think is going to win a ton, but
Dan Rubenstein 29:08 I think I'm going team one because of just collective upside.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:11 I do think it's an interesting proposition, though, because you can probably match up LSU and Ole Miss.
Dan Rubenstein 29:14 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:19 You can probably match up Penn State and Virginia Tech, and you can match up UCLA and JMU.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:25 Obviously, that's what he's doing here with how he kind of set up this whole coaching
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:30 team one versus team two.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:32 But I do think there's a case to be made that a lot of those teams are going to be level with each other.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:38 So it probably would be relatively close if we want to keep track of it throughout the course of the year.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:43 But I still think I would go on the—I would err on the side of team one.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:49 This next question comes to us from Gary.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:53 With opening weekend on the horizon, what is the one thing you are most looking forward to this season?
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:00 Bigger-picture question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:03 I have what I believe is a thoughtful answer, but why don't you go first?
Dan Rubenstein 30:07 Oregon and Notre Dame in Las Vegas for the national championship.
Dan Rubenstein 30:12 The most poetic possible finish to
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:14 The Solid Verbal Bowl.
Dan Rubenstein 30:16 The Solid Verbal both as a season and it's the end of the podcast, if Oregon wins.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:21 I think that would be the end of the podcast, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:23 That would have to be the end.
Dan Rubenstein 30:26 And we wouldn't even record a recap.
Dan Rubenstein 30:28 We would.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:28 Just go out on a high note.
Dan Rubenstein 30:30 We would record it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:30 We'll post a picture on Instagram.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:31 Thanks for 19 years.
Dan Rubenstein 30:32 Here's what we'll do.
Dan Rubenstein 30:33 Here's what we do.
Dan Rubenstein 30:35 Whoever wins the national championship, that's the end of the show.
Dan Rubenstein 30:39 We record a two-hour recap together in person in Sin City in the afterglow of the game.
Dan Rubenstein 30:51 And we only release it on vinyl.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:53 This is your dream, the vinyl, the vinyl
Dan Rubenstein 30:55 That's my dream.
Dan Rubenstein 30:57 Hundred dollars.
Dan Rubenstein 31:00 I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 31:00 Can you fit two hours?
Dan Rubenstein 31:01 I don't know how much you can fit onto a single record.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:03 I have no idea.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:05 I have no idea.
Dan Rubenstein 31:05 Probably not.
Dan Rubenstein 31:06 It might have to be a double vinyl offering for $100.
Dan Rubenstein 31:11 It's the final episode.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:13 Where do you even put music on vinyl?
Dan Rubenstein 31:15 So vinyl is sort of a wax disc, and it's recorded via—there's specific machinery that gets the sound onto the wax disc.
Dan Rubenstein 31:25 What do you mean, where do you get it?
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:25 I don't know like how do you even procure a custom vinyl?
Dan Rubenstein 31:29 What do you mean?
Dan Rubenstein 31:30 How does anybody procure custom vinyl?
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:31 I don't know.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:32 That's what I'm asking.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:33 I know how we make this.
Dan Rubenstein 31:34 You can actually—so I went to, I think it's
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:34 I know how you make a cassette, but I don't know how to make a vinyl.
Dan Rubenstein 31:39 I went to in Nashville, I think they have a location in Detroit as well, Third Man Records, which is Jack White's record store, but there's also a recording studio.
Dan Rubenstein 31:49 And you can, I think, record directly onto
Dan Rubenstein 31:52 I don't know if it's directly onto vinyl or you record onto analog tape and then the vinyl is pressed, like all in one studio there.
Dan Rubenstein 31:59 So, like, if you and I started a band,
Dan Rubenstein 32:02 we could go there and record and walk out of there with a record.
Dan Rubenstein 32:07 So I just assume there are places who can take a digital file and turn it into a record, a pressing studio.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:15 I'm going to have to go on YouTube, go down a rabbit hole or two, and see how the sausage gets made.
Dan Rubenstein 32:20 We get ten thousand pressed double records, and it's a hundred dollars each.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:25 And then we're out a hundred grand.
Dan Rubenstein 32:27 I think we could move it.
Dan Rubenstein 32:30 Maybe not 10,000.
Dan Rubenstein 32:31 That's a lot to ask.
Dan Rubenstein 32:32 Oh, okay.
Dan Rubenstein 32:33 So what are we most looking forward to aside from that very specific scenario?
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:38 So, I mean, we do a college football show.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:40 I'm looking forward to all of it, Gary.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:41 But let me point out a very specific feeling.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:46 That I wish they could bottle up and sell over the counter to sickos like us.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:51 And this kind of dates back to when I was working the mysterious day job, you know, and I was in that state of trying to keep both the job and the show.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:00 Going at the same time, I would get an incredible rush on that first Thursday before week one.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:08 An incredible rush.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:10 Something about that Thursday was always a balm for the soul.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:15 The soul of a corporate drone.
Dan Rubenstein 33:15 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 33:17 Tyagra, if you will.
Dan Rubenstein 33:18 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:18 Tyagra, thank you.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:20 That's beautiful.
Dan Rubenstein 33:20 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 33:20 You're welcome.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:20 Well, well constructed.
Dan Rubenstein 33:22 Thank you.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:22 You know, like when work's killing you and you feel like a hamster on a wheel and you're just looking for something to kind of get you over the hump and get you through to the weekend.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:33 There was always something uniquely hopeful about that first Thursday.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:39 Even in the era of doing more on week zero and all that, something about that first Thursday of games.
Dan Rubenstein 33:44 The crowd and the flyover.
Dan Rubenstein 33:46 I remember there was a South Carolina game and the sandstorm of it all.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:49 Oh, yeah, I remember driving I I I raced home because I remember Carolina played that that game
Dan Rubenstein 33:49 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:56 Kenny Trill, a little bit earlier in the day.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:00 And I'm like, I'm getting home.
Dan Rubenstein 34:00 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:01 I got to watch this.
Dan Rubenstein 34:02 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:02 I'm getting food.
Dan Rubenstein 34:03 Ticket picka bam dick a picka pam pick a pampick a ticket panic pampa pam pick a picka pampick. Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:03 I'm going home.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:04 Kate's not home yet.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:07 I was fired up.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:09 And it's sort of like reaching the finish line of the offseason and the starting line of the new season, both in one.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:15 That rush, if I could bottle that up
Dan Rubenstein 34:15 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:18 If I could sell that, I would be out of the podcasting business altogether because everybody would buy it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:23 So, what am I looking forward to?
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:24 I am looking for that feeling again.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:26 And I only get it once a year, and it doesn't even matter that I'm not at the office anymore.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:31 But something about that very first Thursday to me is what this is all about.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:35 So, I'm getting like, you can't see it on the camera.
Dan Rubenstein 34:36 Yeah, you're getting that goose bump situation?
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:38 I'm getting like the hair on the back of the neck.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:40 Yeah, it's, it's, this is why we do the show.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:43 This is what it's all about.
Dan Rubenstein 34:45 Yeah, to me it's the moment right before. It's not necessarily that first Thursday
Dan Rubenstein 34:51 but big games, especially early on in the season, like I'll feel it right before Ohio State-Texas.
Dan Rubenstein 34:56 I'll feel it obviously before the first Oregon game because they're playing a legit opponent in Boise State.
Dan Rubenstein 35:00 I'm sure you'll feel it before the first Notre Dame game happens.
Dan Rubenstein 35:03 I guess it would be 2027, right?
Dan Rubenstein 35:05 The first, the next big Notre Dame game.
Dan Rubenstein 35:08 No, it would be the Miami game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:09 November 7th.
Dan Rubenstein 35:10 How many weeks into that?
Dan Rubenstein 35:11 BYU?
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:11 November is well BYU first in October and then and then Miami.
Dan Rubenstein 35:15 Is BYU goosebump worthy for you as a snooty domer?
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:15 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:20 Snooty Domer?
Dan Rubenstein 35:21 I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 35:22 You're not an alum, but as a Notre Dame fan who
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:25 I yeah, I think so.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:28 I think so.
Dan Rubenstein 35:28 Do you feel nerves?
Dan Rubenstein 35:29 Do you feel excitement?
Dan Rubenstein 35:31 Butterflies?
Dan Rubenstein 35:32 What do you feel before a big Notre Dame game?
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:35 Me, always impending doom.
Dan Rubenstein 35:37 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:37 Always, a hundred percent of the time, even if I think they're going to win.
Dan Rubenstein 35:40 You're thinking they're going to fumble this opening kickoff and it's going to go downhill from there.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:44 A thousand percent, yes.
Dan Rubenstein 35:45 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:46 Always impending doom.
Dan Rubenstein 35:49 Yeah, I don't feel it like that.
Dan Rubenstein 35:50 I feel nerves.
Dan Rubenstein 35:52 I feel excitement for big Oregon games and big games in general.
Dan Rubenstein 35:55 Obviously, I only have the emotional tie-in with Oregon and Lafayette here.
Dan Rubenstein 35:59 But
Dan Rubenstein 36:01 Yeah, I think so.
Dan Rubenstein 36:03 I think it's not as much the like, oh, I'm excited for this Texas game or I'm excited for this Michigan game or something.
Dan Rubenstein 36:08 I'm excited for all of it.
Dan Rubenstein 36:10 But yeah, there is something specific early on, especially because the world, the universe, at least for now, tells you
Dan Rubenstein 36:19 that, oh, it's a crisp fall morning, right?
Dan Rubenstein 36:22 That, like, perhaps you're going out for a walk with your dogs on whatever, October 11th or something.
Dan Rubenstein 36:29 And you're like, oh, okay, there's a crisp autumnness to this day.
Dan Rubenstein 36:36 And
Dan Rubenstein 36:38 there is something that you can't replicate when there is that feeling in the air before the games start.
Dan Rubenstein 36:44 For me, like I go to kids' soccer games, or maybe I go for a run or I'm playing tennis or something.
Dan Rubenstein 36:48 Where you're like, okay, this has a general feeling of a big Saturday, even if the games aren't huge, that you're just like, okay, I'm in my routine, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, and now I settle in on the couch.
Dan Rubenstein 37:01 Right, here we go.
Dan Rubenstein 37:03 That's something that I always look forward to.
Dan Rubenstein 37:05 And I don't know, that's just a college football thing.
Dan Rubenstein 37:07 I'm going to do my best to watch it with more people Saturdays this year.
Dan Rubenstein 37:12 Because the other thing I would add is
Dan Rubenstein 37:14 because we do this show like we do, we don't get to go to games all that often.
Dan Rubenstein 37:19 So, going to the Michigan game two years ago and going to the Penn State game last year.
Dan Rubenstein 37:25 Like, I felt something that I don't usually feel about the sport that you can only get in person.
Dan Rubenstein 37:30 You can only get wandering around to tailgates.
Dan Rubenstein 37:33 And I'm envious of the people that get to do it.
Dan Rubenstein 37:34 And I know that someday I will return.
Dan Rubenstein 37:37 To that hallowed routine, but I was oh my God
Ty Hildenbrandt 37:39 If Notre Dame or Oregon win, we can call it all off and we can do like a road tour next year.
Ty Hildenbrandt 37:45 Our wives would love it, I'm sure.
Dan Rubenstein 37:49 Look, next year would be third grade and first grade, two of the least important grades possible.
Dan Rubenstein 37:58 They're not doing much.
Dan Rubenstein 38:01 They're learning to read.
Dan Rubenstein 38:01 They're doing some math.
Dan Rubenstein 38:02 There's social skills needed.
Dan Rubenstein 38:04 But we could take a third grader and a first grader and
Dan Rubenstein 38:10 free interns. Time.
Dan Rubenstein 38:12 Free.
Dan Rubenstein 38:13 I could teach him to edit.
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:13 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 38:16 Yeah, I'm all in.
Dan Rubenstein 38:17 Do you want to know what text I just got, by the way?
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:19 Sure.
Dan Rubenstein 38:22 This is not anything to do with college football, but this is just who I am as a human now in 2026.
Dan Rubenstein 38:30 I just got a text.
Dan Rubenstein 38:31 I don't know who this person is number-wise.
Dan Rubenstein 38:34 It's like they're not in my phone.
Dan Rubenstein 38:35 They introduced themselves via text and it said, Hi, Dan.
Dan Rubenstein 38:39 This is so-and-so from so-and-so address.
Dan Rubenstein 38:41 I'm wondering if you have any extra Grande Cheese I could buy off of you.
Dan Rubenstein 38:46 If so, I'm around all day today and tomorrow can swing by whenever.
Dan Rubenstein 38:51 I have a reputation as a cheese dealer, Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:52 I was going to say, you're an illicit cheese dealer now.
Dan Rubenstein 38:54 This is like the seventh person because I figured out how to procure the most in-demand pizza cheese.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:01 Do you worry that too much word is getting out and suddenly you're going to be on the wrong side of the tracks with more illicit cheese dealers?
Dan Rubenstein 39:10 Oh, you mean like that I'm encroaching on turf?
Dan Rubenstein 39:13 No, I don't think so.
Dan Rubenstein 39:15 I think this is my corner, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 39:17 I think this is—I think I am the one who knocks.
Dan Rubenstein 39:20 I think if I were to find out about cheese dealers, I'd be like, hey, hey, hey
Dan Rubenstein 39:24 Take your business elsewhere, ma'am.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:26 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:27 Dan Heisenberg going to go bust some heads.
Dan Rubenstein 39:30 Yeah, this is true.
Dan Rubenstein 39:33 Just letting you know.
Dan Rubenstein 39:33 Okay, next question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:35 Before we get to the next question, this is going to be our nineteenth season of doing this show.
Dan Rubenstein 39:42 That's many seasons.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:44 For anyone new here, we have been doing this independently the entire time.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:50 We wouldn't still be doing the show if we didn't have a good audience and a great community, and furthermore, for it to continue to grow as it has.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:57 But the big reason we're always calling out Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:00 dot com is we don't have the backing of any, like, major sports media company or anything like that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:05 We do have this community, which to us is worth more.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:08 But
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:09 if you're tired of hearing me talk about supporting us at Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:13 dot com or jumping in to tell your friends about the show or even rate, review, or subscribe.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:20 It's because of this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:21 It's because we need your help.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:23 The fight is a little bit harder for a lean operation like this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:27 And I just want to remind people that your support goes much, much, much further than you could possibly imagine.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:33 So
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:33 if you're interested in helping us out, Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:35 dot com is where you can go.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:36 The Verballer portal is open.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:38 You can vote in the polls.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:39 You can also get ad-free episodes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:41 You can also get things a little bit early.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:43 Join up on our Discord, things of that nature.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:46 But
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:47 just a not-so-subtle reminder that your support really does go a long way.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:52 And we're very appreciative having you here with us throughout the course of this season, or what will be this season, I guess, in a few short weeks.
Dan Rubenstein 40:59 And we thought we were going to be in a great place.
Dan Rubenstein 41:01 We put all of our money in Matt Ishbia's company.
Dan Rubenstein 41:04 Woof, man.
Dan Rubenstein 41:06 So we really
Dan Rubenstein 41:08 We're really out there.
Dan Rubenstein 41:09 No, we obviously appreciate all the support.
Dan Rubenstein 41:12 It's incredibly useful.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:14 Dan, Aaron wants to know, if you were a punter, would you rather play for a school like Iowa or a school like Ohio State?
Dan Rubenstein 41:20 Oh, Iowa, no-brainer.
Dan Rubenstein 41:22 What are you talking about?
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:23 I think it's got to be Iowa, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:24 More bites at the apple.
Dan Rubenstein 41:26 You want to do what you do?
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:28 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 41:29 Nobody's going to give you credit.
Dan Rubenstein 41:31 Nobody's going to spotlight you.
Dan Rubenstein 41:33 Like, look, if you put one in the coffin corner
Dan Rubenstein 41:38 for Ohio State.
Dan Rubenstein 41:40 And it is the defining change in momentum and move to beat Michigan because you bombed a 53-yard punt and it rolled out at the six-inch line.
Dan Rubenstein 41:52 You will get your flowers.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:54 Yes.
Dan Rubenstein 41:55 But that's fleeting, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 41:56 You want to get those reps in.
Dan Rubenstein 42:01 You're not doing this to win a national championship.
Dan Rubenstein 42:03 You're doing this to boot the hell out of a ball.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:06 That's right.
Dan Rubenstein 42:08 I want that Ray guy.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:10 Raul says, are there any sports conspiracies, college football or otherwise,
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:17 i.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:17 e.,
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:18 the frozen envelope, a juiced baseball during Sosa versus McGwire, etc.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:23 , etc.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:25 , that you actually think may be true.
Dan Rubenstein 42:28 I've long suspected that one of Wake Forest's announcers was selling off Wake Forest playbooks before games.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:28 Sports conspiracies, Dan.
Dan Rubenstein 42:34 No.
Dan Rubenstein 42:35 That, I think,
Dan Rubenstein 42:37 that came out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:37 I think I've talked about mine on this show, haven't I?
Dan Rubenstein 42:40 College football or sports in general?
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:43 College football.
Dan Rubenstein 42:45 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:46 My theory is that the networks conspire to put the commercials on at the same time.
Dan Rubenstein 42:51 Oh, okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:52 That you're watching one game, it goes to break.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:55 You're like, ah, you know, yeah, F this.
Dan Rubenstein 42:57 Let me flip over to Fox.
Dan Rubenstein 42:59 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:59 I don't need to see another Skyrizi commercial.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:01 I'm going to flip over to Fox, and they're also showing the Skyrizi commercial.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:06 That's my conspiracy.
Dan Rubenstein 43:07 That's very difficult to pull off.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:09 It would be incredibly difficult.
Dan Rubenstein 43:09 You'd need a lot of moving pieces to work out together.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:11 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:12 But if you watch games on Sundays, if you're into the NFL, I feel like it's even more prevalent with the NFL.
Dan Rubenstein 43:18 Really?
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:18 It's crazy.
Dan Rubenstein 43:20 I know there are certain commercial windows that are baked into the way sitcoms and stuff are produced.
Dan Rubenstein 43:25 Like if you're watching a rerun of The Office.
Dan Rubenstein 43:27 And you're interested in a different rerun of the office on a different channel.
Dan Rubenstein 43:31 Or, I know, all these networks show like one show each.
Dan Rubenstein 43:34 MTV only shows the Rob Dyrdek show.
Dan Rubenstein 43:37 So
Dan Rubenstein 43:39 you flip over because your show has gone to commercial, and they're like, oh, everything's a commercial, you know, 12 past the hour.
Dan Rubenstein 43:45 I mean, I did really have one, and then
Dan Rubenstein 43:48 Folarin Balogun got his red card rescinded, and we couldn't even come up with a conspiracy theory.
Dan Rubenstein 43:52 It was so out in the open.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:53 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 43:55 I obviously think Michael Dyer was down.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:57 Sure.
Dan Rubenstein 43:58 And I'm still investigating it on Dan Rubenstein Finds Out, a new podcast being released at Meadowlark.
Dan Rubenstein 44:03 I'm trying to think of anything on the T V level, anything in the sport level.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:07 This would be a good topic for Verballers to write into solidverbal at Gmail
Dan Rubenstein 44:10 Yeah, I want to know the conspiracy theories, and I'll respond to your conspiracy theories.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:11 dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:15 Here we go from Richard.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:17 Marching band covers of film scores are a time-honored tradition.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:23 With The Odyssey dominating the summer pop culture discourse, we are almost guaranteed many Odyssey-themed covers floating around stadium rafters in 2026.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:33 What is your favorite movie theme?
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:36 To be blaring through the screen in a tense moment on a Saturday broadcast.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:40 Extra credit for a specific team:
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:43 For example, Florida playing Jaws with the Gator Chomp, Georgia playing “Planet Krypton” at the third-quarter break, or even “Conquest” by USC, coming from the 1947 epic Captain from Castile.
Dan Rubenstein 44:57 I like the USC band playing Tusk, although that's not a movie score, that's just a Fleetwood Mac song, right?
Dan Rubenstein 45:02 Way back when the Oregon band did the theme, they did multiple parts of the score of the Pirates of the Caribbean.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:09 Oh, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 45:10 I don't think I've seen any of those movies.
Dan Rubenstein 45:12 Not for any specific reason.
Dan Rubenstein 45:13 I just haven't seen them.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:14 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 45:15 But it's like a surprisingly epic score and soundtrack.
Dan Rubenstein 45:20 Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
Dan Rubenstein 45:23 Like, that was really cool.
Dan Rubenstein 45:24 And I
Dan Rubenstein 45:25 would actually listen to
Dan Rubenstein 45:27 a recording of the Oregon Marching Band when we were at tailgates before Oregon games, and that would get me hyped up.
Dan Rubenstein 45:34 My twenties were different, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 45:36 No, I know songs.
Dan Rubenstein 45:37 I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 45:37 I'm trying to think of like scores that get me going.
Dan Rubenstein 45:39 Like, there's the classic ones from like Jaws and Indiana Jones.
Dan Rubenstein 45:42 The—
Dan Rubenstein 45:43 those, you know, Star Wars, that kind of stuff.
Dan Rubenstein 45:45 That's all ancient.
Dan Rubenstein 45:47 What I was super impressed by, and I've mentioned this before, you know, I think you know where I'm going with this.
Dan Rubenstein 45:52 Whoever made the video of Michigan coming out to Sicario in Columbus, I just, when I'm in the movie, I'm like, this is a cool score.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:57 Oh, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 46:02 But, like, I can't recall.
Dan Rubenstein 46:03 I don't have that kind of recall in my advanced age of specific scores anymore.
Dan Rubenstein 46:08 Any of the epic stuff, any of like, you know, the Braveheart and Gladiator, that kind of stuff is always great.
Dan Rubenstein 46:12 But that's Sicario.
Dan Rubenstein 46:13 Because the Sicario thing, it wasn't, like,
Dan Rubenstein 46:16 an earworm.
Dan Rubenstein 46:17 It was just like the ominous nature of, and then that paired up with
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:20 Yeah, controlled intensity, right?
Dan Rubenstein 46:24 And it's by like Jóhann Jóhannsson, or you know, there's some, whoever it was the, the composer was killer, but paired with the like
Dan Rubenstein 46:32 the imagery of Michigan on the road entering the arena.
Dan Rubenstein 46:37 That kind of stuff is super cool.
Dan Rubenstein 46:40 I just think it needs to be done in post-production, maybe more than in the stadium.
Dan Rubenstein 46:45 But I couldn't tell you what the Odyssey soundtrack was, both because it broke my eardrums while watching the movie.
Dan Rubenstein 46:53 And also because you're just so like wrapped up in the movie and it it was all epic and all crazy.
Dan Rubenstein 46:58 So, yeah, something like that is always killer for me.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:01 I just think the honest answer from me is also one that has been tried and done many times over, the Imperial March from Star Wars.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:10 I love that.
Dan Rubenstein 47:12 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:12 And it's not necessarily the theme from Star Wars, but it is one of the most prominent songs in Star Wars, the Imperial March.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:19 I love that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:19 I love when they play that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:20 It's a perfect third down song.
Dan Rubenstein 47:22 Yeah, they do.
Dan Rubenstein 47:22 What does Notre Dame have a current or Penn State?
Dan Rubenstein 47:24 Do they have I know Penn State had like they were used they were
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:26 Penn State is everything.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:27 Penn State's throwing everything at the wall.
Dan Rubenstein 47:28 Because they had Mo Bamba forever.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:29 I hate it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:30 They they're trying everything.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:32 They do Lion King.
Dan Rubenstein 47:32 Are they continuing Mo Bamba with Matt Campbell?
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:34 They're continuing everything.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:35 They do everything.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:36 We were there for the White Out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:37 They played all the songs all at the same time.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:41 Somebody needs to get that house in order.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:43 I'm not saying it's not fun, it was a religious experience.
Dan Rubenstein 47:43 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:47 But somebody over there with the Blue Band and working the stadium PA system, they need to, like, get everybody together and make sure it feels cohesive because what they're trying—or what they tried in the Oregon game
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:57 was all of the songs all at once.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:59 We have Lion King, we have Mo Bamba.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:01 We have like they're all playing at the same time.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:04 Pick one.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:05 I don't need them all.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:07 Pick one, pick a lane, pick a theme.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:10 Let's roll with that.
Dan Rubenstein 48:12 I'll tell you this, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 48:14 If there is a coach, a GM, an athletic director listening
Dan Rubenstein 48:18 and they're looking to up the intensity of the in-game experience via the marching band.
Dan Rubenstein 48:25 I don't believe this has been used on a score, although it probably has been.
Dan Rubenstein 48:29 How about
Dan Rubenstein 48:32 this is pretty intense.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:34 Yeah, there you go.
Dan Rubenstein 48:42 Third and seven.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:46 A little Dvořák's Eighth never hurt anybody.
Dan Rubenstein 48:49 Little Dvořák might hurt somebody.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:51 It could, it should.
Dan Rubenstein 48:53 Yeah, I think there's a lot of wiggle room here.
Dan Rubenstein 48:56 No, Oregon does, like, uh, Wolfmother, like “Joker and the Thief” on third downs, where it's like the guitar: dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:59 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:01 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 49:06 Dumb Don and on a Tomfo
Dan Rubenstein 49:08 So it's it's pretty good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:08 A little bit of hangover, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:09 A lot of lot of places are doing that.
Dan Rubenstein 49:11 Yeah, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:13 Okay, let's do a few more here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:18 Derek says, after, and I'm just going to paraphrase this a little bit, but he's saying, after everything in Congress settles down.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:28 Okay, with ongoing legislation, obviously, we're kind of in the aftermath of the House settlement.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:32 There's a lot going on there on the legislative front that we don't need to get into on this episode.
Dan Rubenstein 49:35 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:37 After all that settles down.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:40 And we decide to stick with a 12-team playoff.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:42 He has fingers crossed here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:44 What will be the next big issue for college football?
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:48 And why will it be slash should it be full-time referees?
Dan Rubenstein 49:52 I think it's going to be the employment thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:55 I think so.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:57 I think so.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:57 Although if they pass this legislation, the legislation per my rudimentary understanding of it is that it kind of
Dan Rubenstein 50:00 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 50:04 Well, now there's more opposition to it.
Dan Rubenstein 50:06 There's mounting opposition.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:07 There's a whole thing.
Dan Rubenstein 50:08 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:08 The longer it goes, I think the less likelihood of it actually getting passed.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:13 Because there's a whole political agenda and that side of things that we don't cover, thankfully, on this
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:18 here podcast.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:19 But yes, there is legislation currently worming its way through Congress.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:24 It looked about a week ago as if it had a pathway to be law.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:30 I don't know if that is still a thing at this point.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:32 It seems like each news story I read makes that increasingly less likely.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:37 I happen to be with you, though.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:39 Legislation, the congressional climate.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:43 These things change every two to four years.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:47 And I don't think it'll be long before there is again a push to try and get
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:53 players recognized as employees of the colleges that they play for.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:59 And obviously, that would be sort of like a gigantic bomb dropped on the NCAA.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:07 And really, the structure of the sport.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:10 Even if they pass something in the interim that sort of makes that not a possibility, my hunch is that there will be continuing pushes to try and make it so.
Dan Rubenstein 51:21 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:22 The other thing that I would add, Derek, and I know, again, this is probably contingent on this new bill becoming a law.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:31 But there are some provisions in there that seemingly guard against superconferences or guard against breakaway scenarios or things of that nature.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:43 What hasn't been too widely reported is that some of the most recent amendments that were offered up
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:51 also make it so that if you are in a conference right now, the time to get out is before it becomes a law, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:58 Or before we get too deep into this thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:00 Which could trigger a whole new wave of conference realignment.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:04 I'm hoping that is not the case.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:06 But I already saw some speculation
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:08 from people who cover Florida State and cover some teams in the ACC, like, oh, the ears are perking up.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:14 What could this mean if, in fact, there is an out and if, in fact, it makes logistical sense to do it now as opposed to later?
Dan Rubenstein 52:20 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:21 Don't know where that goes, but that's something else to keep our eye on.
Dan Rubenstein 52:24 The infusion of private capital into the sport?
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:28 God.
Dan Rubenstein 52:28 And what that, in the long term, may mean for how programs are run, what operations are like.
Dan Rubenstein 52:36 That's something to monitor.
Dan Rubenstein 52:38 The playoff growth is going to be something that people are going to yell and argue about.
Dan Rubenstein 52:40 ESPN was shooting for like sixteen or twenty.
Dan Rubenstein 52:43 Fox still wants twenty four.
Dan Rubenstein 52:46 I think that's going to be ongoing until the next deal is there.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:49 Just a lot of change, man.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:51 A lot going on.
Dan Rubenstein 52:51 Curt Cignetti's hair, I think is have you seen the latest?
Dan Rubenstein 52:55 Did you see any of the video with him and Rece Davis?
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:57 It looks a little darker.
Dan Rubenstein 53:00 It doesn't look darker to me.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:01 No?
Dan Rubenstein 53:02 It's not the color.
Dan Rubenstein 53:04 He shaved the sides of his head.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:05 It's a little bit tighter, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 53:06 Not a little bit tighter.
Dan Rubenstein 53:08 It's fully tight.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:09 Is he going with like a one or a two on the sides?
Dan Rubenstein 53:13 Buddy, it's like skin.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:15 You think?
Dan Rubenstein 53:16 I think it's it's you're seeing all scalp.
Dan Rubenstein 53:20 Like, there might be a little bit of hair there.
Dan Rubenstein 53:22 Take a look.
Dan Rubenstein 53:23 He just did a video with Rece Davis.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:26 Oh, yeah, look at this.
Dan Rubenstein 53:26 It doesn't look bad, to be clear.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:27 Oh, I didn't see this.
Dan Rubenstein 53:29 Yeah, look at that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:31 Oh, wow.
Dan Rubenstein 53:33 Very tight.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:34 Do you think that's a stylistic choice?
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:36 Or do you think that's a choice because he's a very busy coach and doesn't want to go more often than he absolutely has to for a haircut?
Dan Rubenstein 53:43 Well, when you look at his hair history, he always keeps it pretty tight.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:47 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 53:47 Like, there's nothing
Dan Rubenstein 53:50 nothing flowing about the Curt Cignetti scalp experience, but he's changed it up a couple times in the last few years.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:53 No.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:59 Wow.
Dan Rubenstein 53:59 Went darker, was grayer, and now went.
Dan Rubenstein 54:02 Borderline Bic-ing the sides.
Dan Rubenstein 54:04 Real tight shave.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:05 I see it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:06 Oh, that looks like a one, Dan.
Dan Rubenstein 54:08 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:08 I think that can't be the over-under is a one that's a one and a half over under right there for that.
Dan Rubenstein 54:10 It's not beyond a one.
Dan Rubenstein 54:14 I think it's a half over under.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:18 Wow.
Dan Rubenstein 54:19 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:20 Do they make a half guard?
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:21 I don't even know if they make a half guard.
Dan Rubenstein 54:23 No, in terms of other things that I mean, the players coming back after they were, like, at NFL camps.
Dan Rubenstein 54:33 If there's some sort of huge player that does it, maybe that's a thing that really riles people up.
Dan Rubenstein 54:38 By the way, we did get a question about which retired NFL player would have the most impact on a current college team.
Dan Rubenstein 54:45 I think it's a very easy answer.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:47 Retired NFL player?
Dan Rubenstein 54:48 Which retired NFL player?
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:50 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 54:50 So you would have to assume that they're like vaguely in football shape.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:53 Sure.
Dan Rubenstein 54:54 Like you can't have seen a picture of them like, oh, they gained a bunch of weight.
Dan Rubenstein 54:57 And maybe retired relatively recently, where you're like, well, the best of like the recently retired Barry Sanders experience would be great for Oklahoma State.
Dan Rubenstein 55:05 Barry Sanders is not recently retired.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:06 No.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:07 You're thinking like Tom Brady?
Dan Rubenstein 55:08 I think it's TB12, no question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:10 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:11 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 55:12 He has stayed in shape.
Dan Rubenstein 55:13 And if you replace Bryce Underwood with the best quarterback arguably in the history of the sport, definitely the winningest.
Dan Rubenstein 55:21 And just Tom Brady out there throwing BBs to Andrew Marsh and J.
Dan Rubenstein 55:25 J.
Dan Rubenstein 55:25 Buchanan?
Dan Rubenstein 55:26 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:27 I'm going to do one more question here from Kevin.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:30 We're going to use some of the spillover in our Thursday bonus episode.
Dan Rubenstein 55:34 Oh, good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:35 Or I guess as people are listening to this on a Sunday publicly, you can go and listen to the Thursday bonus episode out at Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:43 dot com if you want to hear some of the spillover.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:45 But after I do that, and before we put a bow on this episode, as we come to the end,
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:49 I am going to give you an opportunity to ask me one question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:53 It could be any question, anything you've ever wanted to ask me, Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 55:56 And I'm doing this only in this instance because I still feel bad about calling you an idiot earlier.
Dan Rubenstein 56:00 Oh, you shouldn't feel bad.
Dan Rubenstein 56:02 I think you hit the nail on the head.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:03 I'm going to give you that opportunity as a payback.
Dan Rubenstein 56:05 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:07 But first off, Kevin says, my friend and I, Arkansas fans, sorry, guys.
Dan Rubenstein 56:07 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:12 We hit one SEC Road stadium a year.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:15 We've been to Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, and this year, A&M.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:20 Which stadiums are on your bucket list?
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:21 You're the best suited to answer this question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:24 You have been to far more than I have.
Dan Rubenstein 56:26 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:26 I think you're well way more informed on this front.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:29 I have a couple of favorites.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:30 I have a couple that I'd like to go to, but I always turn to you when it comes to which stadiums that should be higher on the bucket list.
Ty Hildenbrandt 56:37 So can you give Kevin a little bit of advice here?
Dan Rubenstein 56:40 I always appreciate a stadium that is part of something interesting geographically or is like amongst something interesting or adjacent to something interesting.
Dan Rubenstein 56:52 Like the mountains of like Boone, North Carolina and going to an App State game, that seems like it would be so fun.
Dan Rubenstein 56:58 Like to go to Boone.
Dan Rubenstein 56:59 It would be so fun to go to Provo, right?
Dan Rubenstein 57:01 Up against the Rocky Mountains, that kind of thing.
Dan Rubenstein 57:04 Even just like Washington or Tennessee, I think are super interesting because they have the tailgating element on boats.
Dan Rubenstein 57:11 The stadium experience itself, there are a lot of great ones, and it's really hard to screw up.
Dan Rubenstein 57:16 I'm sorry, what are the ones he listed out?
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:18 He listed out Ole Miss Mississippi State, Auburn, Florida.
Dan Rubenstein 57:21 Oh, SEC ones.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:22 Tennessee and A&M.
Dan Rubenstein 57:22 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:23 I could just tell you my bucket list, but number one for me is probably Tennessee because of the sailgating and because it's a huge stadium.
Dan Rubenstein 57:28 Yeah, Vol Navy, yep.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:30 And, you know, yeah, the vault, like all that stuff to me is very appealing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:33 And I'd love to get down there to see a game at some point soon.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:36 That's number one on the bucket list, on the rotation.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:40 I don't know.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:40 Whatever.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:41 That's number one for me.
Dan Rubenstein 57:42 But look, there this Kevin is specifically talking about SEC stadiums.
Dan Rubenstein 57:46 Is there a stadium not listed on that list?
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:49 He doesn't have LSU.
Dan Rubenstein 57:51 LSU is pretty terrific.
Dan Rubenstein 57:53 It's a great time.
Ty Hildenbrandt 57:55 If you had to give your your top three SEC stadiums for Kevin, because you've been to most of them.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:02 How do you rank them?
Dan Rubenstein 58:03 LSU is great.
Dan Rubenstein 58:04 The tailgating at The Grove is a unique experience for Ole Miss.
Dan Rubenstein 58:10 A&M is really fun in-stadium.
Dan Rubenstein 58:13 I'm not sure like the college station experience matches it.
Dan Rubenstein 58:17 I mean, it's fine.
Dan Rubenstein 58:18 It's college town.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:19 I loved Athens.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:21 Georgia was fun.
Dan Rubenstein 58:21 Athens is quite fun.
Dan Rubenstein 58:22 Maybe it's Georgia.
Dan Rubenstein 58:23 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:24 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:25 Final question goes to you, Dan Rubenstein.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:29 You get one.
Dan Rubenstein 58:30 All right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:32 Make it count.
Dan Rubenstein 58:33 Top of my head, F.
Dan Rubenstein 58:35 Marry, Kill: Alvin, Simon, Theodore.
Dan Rubenstein 58:41 Alts, you can do Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:42 Okay, okay.
Dan Rubenstein 58:43 I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 58:44 Snap, Crackle, Pop?
Dan Rubenstein 58:45 I don't.
Dan Rubenstein 58:46 I have questions on here that were intriguing, but if you want to save them.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:48 All right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:49 Well, you can pick one more.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:50 Go ahead.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:50 You get to pick the last one then.
Dan Rubenstein 58:52 Okay, I'll pick the last question.
Ty Hildenbrandt 58:52 I feel like I owe this to you.
Dan Rubenstein 58:54 Okay, we had a question about I'm finding it right here.
Dan Rubenstein 58:59 Are you worried about the int this is Chris?
Dan Rubenstein 59:01 Are you worried about the intensity of rivalries lessening because more players are out of school not because they grew up a fan of that school, but because that school offered the most money?
Dan Rubenstein 59:10 Feels like less loyalty to a school could equal less hatred of a rival.
Dan Rubenstein 59:15 And this comes in the shadow of
Dan Rubenstein 59:19 like Bryce Underwood saying Ohio State is just another game.
Dan Rubenstein 59:21 Julian Sayin saying he hates Michigan.
Dan Rubenstein 59:23 Kyle Whittingham saying, like, you know, I hope we win that game, but like, is it going to help if I hate them?
Dan Rubenstein 59:30 If it is, I guess I'll hate them.
Dan Rubenstein 59:32 Like, he wasn't.
Dan Rubenstein 59:33 He wasn't pretending to be a child of that rivalry in a way that I think some of the more intense fans would have liked him to be, if I'm getting that right.
Dan Rubenstein 59:44 So, what say you, Ty?
Ty Hildenbrandt 59:47 Am I worried about the intensity of rivalries?
Ty Hildenbrandt 59:49 No, I'm not.
Dan Rubenstein 59:50 I think there's something especially charming and cool about
Dan Rubenstein 59:55 if Ty Hildenbrandt, superstar from Northampton High School in Northampton, Pennsylvania, is heavily recruited by Florida State to be their next star edge rusher.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:07 And he, like, gets an education on Florida-Florida State or Florida State-Miami.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:14 And it actually makes it cooler that an outsider comes in and is like, this is the coolest possible thing.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:20 I love it.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:21 I'm wrapped up in it.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:22 Screw Miami.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:24 Screw Florida.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:25 Let's get it.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:26 Like, there is something cool about coming in and being absorbed into the hate stew.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:34 And, like, oh, this guy gets it.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:36 Ty didn't get it growing up, but he gets it now, and that's awesome.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:38 Yeah, I think this is kind of a bogus question personally.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:46 But I understand it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:46 I understand it.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:47 I understand there's a transient nature to the sport that
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:47 No, no, no.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:48 I understand why you asked it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:51 Sure.
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:52 You know, I think the meaner of us would call players mercenaries, right?
Dan Rubenstein 01:00:57 That they're just chasing a dollar, that they don't care where they end up.
Dan Rubenstein 01:01:00 They go where they're told to go, the check clears and they're on to the NFL.
Dan Rubenstein 01:01:06 I don't think that's the case.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:07 I'm not worried about this at all.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:09 I mean, case in point, you've got like bitter rivalries in, say, the NFL or across
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:17 all professional sports that have had free agency for years.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:21 And in many cases, these are guys who have played on the same team, but now they're opposite each other.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:25 And it's still an intense rivalry.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:27 You know, I still think there's a respect among the players that are out there on the field, even if they don't say it publicly.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:33 And I don't think it makes the rivalry any less intense.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:38 If anything, in this day and age where there is so much money on the line and so much so—the stakes are arguably higher than they've ever been before.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:46 I think that just adds to the intensity of many of these rivalries, regardless of who's playing on which team.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:52 So
Dan Rubenstein 01:01:52 Marie.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:52 I read this and I was like, I did sort of hand wave it, Chris.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:56 I did.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:57 I got to be honest.
Dan Rubenstein 01:01:57 Yeah, I'm pretty sure the the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry was pretty intense when Tom Brady, son of Northern California, was able to come in
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:08 and become an eventual star for Michigan, right?
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:11 That like Ohio State has had players from everywhere.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:13 Alabama has had players from everywhere.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:15 Auburn has had players from everywhere.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:17 Maybe Lehigh and Lafayette are more based in the Northeast.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:21 People grow up with an understanding of that.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:24 But no, I think Cal Stanford players are from different places.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:28 USC, UCLA players are from different places.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:29 I mean, Julian Sayin from Southern California talking about hating Michigan, right?
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:30 I think.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:34 Like, you can be.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:34 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:35 And he went to Alabama to start his college career.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:38 You can be sort of indoctrinated into a rivalry.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:40 I think it's the intensity is for the fans and for the alums, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:43 I agree.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:44 And I don't think that is apt to change anytime soon, despite the fact that everything from underneath our fandom seems to be changing every other minute.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:52 Well, we just we we are though sort of
Dan Rubenstein 01:02:55 I've used like shadow and afterglow a bunch this episode, but like Michigan had Jim Harbaugh, who is the most Michigan person possible.
Dan Rubenstein 01:03:03 And, like, instituted the, like, “Beat Ohio” period of practice, right?
Dan Rubenstein 01:03:08 That—that was Tyagra for the Michigan faithful
Dan Rubenstein 01:03:12 and so sometimes you get, like, that perfect storm of intensity.
Dan Rubenstein 01:03:17 But no, I'm not worried either.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:20 Why don't we leave it there?
Dan Rubenstein 01:03:22 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:22 As I said, go back and listen to our bonus episode on Thursday, where we will cover any spillover, anything that we found interesting.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:31 Frankly, anything else that we want to talk about. Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:33 dot com, again, is where you can go if you want to support the team.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:36 Help Dan and I out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:37 Don't forget to rate, review.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:39 And subscribe or subscribe if you've made it this far in today's episode.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:44 Again, if you've got anything else to add, solidverbal at Gmail
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:48 dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:49 Dan Rubenstein, it is a pleasure as always.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:53 It is wonderful to do these episodes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:55 I am thrilled that we got
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:57 another Q&A episode in under the wire.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:00 We will try to do another one throughout the course of the season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:03 I'm sure we can find a Tuesday here or there where we talk through some of our Verballer questions.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:07 Stay tuned.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:08 We do like to poll the Verballerhood at Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:11 dot com for those questions first and foremost.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:13 But make sure you follow us in other places too.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:16 Every now and again, we'll throw the invite out there as well.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:20 For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubenstein, for myself, Ty Hildenbrandt, over here in eastern Pennsylvania.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:25 The dogs slept through the entire episode, Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:28 The entire episode, she was walking around a little bit.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:30 She slept through the entire episode.
Dan Rubenstein 01:04:31 Well, that's just because she didn't have an opportunity to truly hear me because she got your half of the show, but she has no idea what Tyagra is in reference to.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:35 Well, I'm sure.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:40 She has no idea what Tyagra's about.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:42 No, no, no.
Dan Rubenstein 01:04:42 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:43 For myself, Ty, over here in Eastern PA, for my pup Liam down over there, for that guy over there in Chicago, Illinois.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:49 Thanks as always for downloading, for listening, for supporting.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:52 We will catch you all soon.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:04:52 Stay solid.