Our 2026 College Football Playoff Predictions

Ty Hildenbrandt 00:18 Dan Rubenstein, by this time next week, we will actually be talking about game results.

Ty Hildenbrandt 00:23 Can you believe it?

Ty Hildenbrandt 00:23 It's finally here.

Dan Rubenstein 00:25 I can't believe it's coming up this quickly.

Dan Rubenstein 00:27 So this is our show previewing

Dan Rubenstein 00:30 our predictions for the season before the season is coming up shortly.

Dan Rubenstein 00:35 And so you have it down on our document that this is our pre-coming episode, which

Dan Rubenstein 00:41 honestly, my Google Doc flagged as something, but I think we just roll with it, Ty.

Dan Rubenstein 00:47 I think good for you.

Dan Rubenstein 00:48 And, you know, I'm very excited for the season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 00:50 The episode actually is titled within this Google Document 2026

Ty Hildenbrandt 00:57 Playoff Prediction episode.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00 It is officially game week.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01 Week Zero will be here in just a matter of days.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:06 There is one preview show that we have left to do.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:09 That is our official playoff and national championship.

Dan Rubenstein 01:10 Ivy League.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:12 No, we're not doing Ivy League.

Dan Rubenstein 01:12 Oh, Patriot League.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:14 I did not dig in on any of that stuff.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:17 This is

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:18 the big tamale right here.

Dan Rubenstein 01:20 Yeah, it is.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:21 We've got our playoff predictions.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:22 We've got our national championship predictions.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:24 Go back and listen to any

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:27 of the preview episodes that we dropped on the feed over the last month, month and a half or so.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:32 We started back on July the 7th with sort of like an intro to the 2026 season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:37 We did the G6 conferences, we did the ACC.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:40 Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, three-parters for all those power conferences to get you up to speed first with contender tiers and who we're picking in each conference.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:50 And then we drilled down to individual teams.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:53 So we would encourage everybody to go and check that out as you get yourself prepared for the football that is ahead.

Dan Rubenstein 01:59 Cannot wait.

Dan Rubenstein 02:00 Yes.

Dan Rubenstein 02:01 I enjoyed our Fantasy Things episode immensely.

Dan Rubenstein 02:03 I thought that was a great time.

Dan Rubenstein 02:05 Our preview episodes were terrific.

Dan Rubenstein 02:08 We have more than ever, more than ever.

Dan Rubenstein 02:11 Gotten YouTube comments like, Yeah, they did okay more than ever.

Ty Hildenbrandt 02:17 Which I'll take.

Dan Rubenstein 02:18 So if that's

Ty Hildenbrandt 02:18 I'll take that.

Dan Rubenstein 02:20 It is the best endorsement we have ever received from an anonymous commenter to say, like, yeah, this is all right.

Dan Rubenstein 02:28 This is an okay look.

Dan Rubenstein 02:30 That was, I honestly, I've been dining out on that for weeks now, Ty.

Dan Rubenstein 02:35 So, yes, preview season was terrific.

Dan Rubenstein 02:37 And as I've told people, because I'm sure you get this.

Dan Rubenstein 02:40 This question a lot or this comment a lot in your Ty's a very social person.

Dan Rubenstein 02:44 Ty has a lot of friends, Ty has a lot of obligations out and about, but there is a lot of conversations that are like, Oh, but this is, you know, work's probably real ramping up for you right now, right?

Dan Rubenstein 02:53 Huh.

Ty Hildenbrandt 02:53 I got it twice this weekend, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 02:55 I get it twice an hour.

Dan Rubenstein 02:58 And the sort of return and response that I have.

Dan Rubenstein 03:03 For people, is yeah, preview season's a lot like studying for and taking a midterm every day, and all we do is live in college football all year long.

Ty Hildenbrandt 03:08 That's exactly right.

Dan Rubenstein 03:14 But when it comes down to preview season, you're like, wait, who's playing linebacker for Iowa State?

Dan Rubenstein 03:19 What exactly is new on Texas Tech's offense?

Dan Rubenstein 03:23 That's the sort of fun of it, right?

Dan Rubenstein 03:25 That like there is so much novel, and I know people complain about it, but preview season is great for that reason.

Dan Rubenstein 03:31 that you get to get re-energized all over again with all of the off-season stuff, with all the portal stuff, with all the moving pieces.

Dan Rubenstein 03:39 And so check out your chosen conference, your chosen team, whatever, your preview.

Dan Rubenstein 03:44 There's a lot there.

Dan Rubenstein 03:45 Cannot wait to throw all of the previews away and get going with real ass football.

Ty Hildenbrandt 03:52 To paraphrase the great prophet Jake Taylor, there is only one show left to do, and that's for us to talk about who's going to win the whole effing thing.

Dan Rubenstein 04:00 I love that we've agreed our references are going to like end around 1996.

Dan Rubenstein 04:06 97.

Dan Rubenstein 04:08 Okay, continue.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:08 We're still working through it, still working that calculus.

Dan Rubenstein 04:10 Yeah, that's cool.

Dan Rubenstein 04:11 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:12 We've got a 12-team field that we have probably hinted at multiple times over the course of our preview episodes, but we have yet to actually put it

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:24 out here into the ether.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:26 Everyone else is doing it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:27 Everyone else beat us to the punch at this point.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:28 I feel like I've seen a million of these floating around across social media and my podcast feeds and whatnot.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:34 But we typically wait until the very end to drop this to the feed.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:39 So here we are.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:41 Over the next hour or so, we're going to talk through who each of us has in our brackets, who are the first handful of teams out.

Dan Rubenstein 04:45 Y

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:52 what we see the playoff looking like in terms of results, who is making it through what are the toughest pathways and whatnot.

Ty Hildenbrandt 04:59 And of course, we will talk through who we think is going to win the national championship, Dan Rubenstein.

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:04 So

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:07 Let me ask you this, okay?

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:09 How did you feel about this exercise as a whole?

Dan Rubenstein 05:12 Oh, hated it.

Dan Rubenstein 05:13 But that's just because I forget most of what I said during the preview episodes.

Dan Rubenstein 05:19 I'm like, wait, who did I have?

Dan Rubenstein 05:20 I had Houston winning the Big 12.

Dan Rubenstein 05:22 And then you can't go back on it.

Dan Rubenstein 05:23 But as you know, one of my central life priorities is reminding people that I reserve the right to change my mind at any given moment for any given reason.

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:32 That's right.

Dan Rubenstein 05:33 So.

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:33 That's right.

Dan Rubenstein 05:35 I'm sticking with Houston, by the way, to win the Big 12.

Dan Rubenstein 05:37 That, like, if you stick your neck out, if you plant your flag, what do we call it?

Dan Rubenstein 05:40 Zagriculture.

Ty Hildenbrandt 05:41 The zag the zag flag, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 05:42 The zag flag, yes.

Dan Rubenstein 05:44 So, yeah, I actually really do like this exercise, and it's random.

Dan Rubenstein 05:52 We're accountable.

Dan Rubenstein 05:53 You can pull back a clip of anything we say on this episode come November or December, and

Dan Rubenstein 05:59 I don't think any of the advertising agreements will go away because we had Indiana as a two-seed or a six-seed or an eleven seed.

Dan Rubenstein 06:08 If you want to start a campaign to say you shouldn't advertise or become a paid subscriber because Ty listen to me, listen to me.

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:15 What are we doing here?

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:16 What are you doing here?

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:18 Why are we giving people these ideas?

Dan Rubenstein 06:20 Hold on, hold on.

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:20 What is this?

Dan Rubenstein 06:21 I'm saying if you are going to start a campaign to say you shouldn't support The Solid Verbal because Ty

Dan Rubenstein 06:29 had Miami as, like, the eighth seed, and they were the number one team in the country in the final College Football Playoff poll.

Dan Rubenstein 06:36 I say that might be great for the attention and spotlight on this show.

Dan Rubenstein 06:41 Like, if you're going to start the campaign, make it like super loud and public to draw as much attention to the show as humanly possible.

Dan Rubenstein 06:47 That's great by us.

Dan Rubenstein 06:49 So, really highlight how wrong we are and make sure.

Dan Rubenstein 06:53 You know, you send it out to everybody you know, and you just tell people and send them to.

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:55 All right, all right, what are we doing here?

Dan Rubenstein 06:57 I don't know.

Dan Rubenstein 06:58 I don't know.

Ty Hildenbrandt 06:58 Good Lord. All right. Anyway, we're going to post all this stuff, so people will be able to find it after the fact.

Dan Rubenstein 07:00 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:06 I did go back to look and see how we fared last year.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:10 Last year, I mean, more to the point of this being kind of a useless exercise.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:14 Fun, but useless.

Dan Rubenstein 07:16 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:16 You had six of the 12 teams correct in your bracket.

Dan Rubenstein 07:19 Oh, who knew?

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:20 I had five of the twelve correct in my bracket.

Dan Rubenstein 07:22 Take it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:24 I am not talking about teams being in there, but being in the wrong spot or anything.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:29 I am saying I had seven teams in my 12-team bracket that were nowhere to be found in the playoff, and you had six.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:35 So it's a very difficult exercise.

Dan Rubenstein 07:37 Remind the people who your national championship featured last season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:40 I had, I think, Penn State over Clemson.

Dan Rubenstein 07:43 Yeah, sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:43 They did play, just not in the championship game.

Dan Rubenstein 07:47 I think that's a perfect prediction that Ty nailed the postseason matchup of Clemson Penn State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 07:53 Sort of, sort of.

Dan Rubenstein 07:53 That was perfect.

Dan Rubenstein 07:54 You are always going to be legit aligned with the Pinstripe Bowl, whether you love it or not.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:00 Dan Rubenstein, why don't we start here?

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:03 We're not going to do seeding yet.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:05 I want to know the twelve teams that you have in this playoff field.

Dan Rubenstein 08:10 I do too.

Dan Rubenstein 08:11 Okay, this is what I... You want me to start from one, from 12?

Dan Rubenstein 08:15 How do you want me to do it?

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:16 No seeds.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:16 I just want you to just brain dump the teams.

Dan Rubenstein 08:18 Okay, I guess I could do this in alphabetical order or something like that, but I'm not quick enough to do that on the fly.

Dan Rubenstein 08:23 I have Georgia and Texas.

Dan Rubenstein 08:25 I have Oregon, Miami, Houston, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Indiana, Oklahoma, Boise State, Alabama, Texas Tech in no particular order.

Dan Rubenstein 08:36 Was that 12?

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:38 I believe so.

Dan Rubenstein 08:39 Yeah, I think I did I say Ohio State?

Dan Rubenstein 08:41 I think I did.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:41 Yes.

Dan Rubenstein 08:42 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:44 I have in mind from the ACC, Miami, from the Big Ten, Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:52 I did not put a fourth team in.

Ty Hildenbrandt 08:54 From the SEC, I've got Georgia, Texas, LSU, Alabama, and Texas A&M.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:01 From the Big 12, just Texas Tech.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:04 I've got Notre Dame in, and my G6 qualifier is New Mexico.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:09 I really struggled with the G6, and we can get into that in just a little bit.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:13 But those are my 12.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:16 My first handful of teams out that I really deliberated over.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:21 Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and USC, and then in addition, BYU.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:30 And then obviously it was for me, it was either New Mexico or Boise.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:34 I ended up going with New Mexico because I kind of like their schedule a little bit more.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:39 Provided Jack Layne is healthy at quarterback.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:41 I think they've got the defense to make a run through the Mountain West.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:45 I did consider UNLV, but I didn't really want to back the horse that's got Jackson Arnold at quarterback.

Ty Hildenbrandt 09:53 So I decided that we'll stick with New Mexico and Jason Eck since we're such Eck-heads here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:00 Who just missed out on yours?

Dan Rubenstein 10:03 So I have no particular order as well, but from a G6 perspective

Dan Rubenstein 10:08 strong consideration for New Mexico, UNLV and Fresno State.

Dan Rubenstein 10:12 Now, I know Fresno State's replacing key dudes, especially from that.

Dan Rubenstein 10:16 I think they were like top 10, top 15-ish defense and points per drive allowed, especially along the edge.

Dan Rubenstein 10:22 But for them to do what they did on defense last year with hopefully upgrading at quarterback, because

Dan Rubenstein 10:27 they had sort of a mistake-prone and error-prone quarterback situation with E.

Dan Rubenstein 10:31 J.

Dan Rubenstein 10:31 Warner there last year.

Dan Rubenstein 10:32 I think Fresno is going to be in that conversation deep.

Dan Rubenstein 10:35 It's probably not going to be pretty against USC early, but otherwise, I kind of like Fresno as well.

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:39 I also considered Fresno.

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:41 And I think the reason that I opted to go New Mexico over Boise is because Fresno has kind of had Boise State's number.

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:50 Over these last couple seasons.

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:52 I believe they've got him at home this year.

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:55 And so I could see a scenario in which

Ty Hildenbrandt 10:58 you know, Boise's got an early loss to Oregon, maybe picks up another one along the way.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:02 There are some questions about that team, even though I think they'll be able to run the football.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:06 But the game at Fresno, I believe it's at Fresno, should be another one of those tests.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:11 And

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:12 I think Fresno's got the defense to contend with them.

Dan Rubenstein 11:15 Fresno is playing Boise on October 10th in the San Joaquin Valley in California.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:22 Beautiful.

Dan Rubenstein 11:22 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:22 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 11:23 So

Dan Rubenstein 11:25 You want my others receiving Dan votes in the region.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:26 Yes, sir.

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:27 Yes, sir, please.

Dan Rubenstein 11:29 In no particular order, I just have these teams as being in the conversation in mid to late November.

Dan Rubenstein 11:36 USC, Illinois, Michigan, LSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Fresno State, as mentioned, Virginia, Iowa, BYU.

Dan Rubenstein 11:44 So that's like 13 through 21, somewhere in there.

Dan Rubenstein 11:50 Do you want me to narrow that down any more to like three or four teams?

Ty Hildenbrandt 11:53 So there are two things that I think are really worth discussing here, because we both kind of ended up in the same spot.

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:01 The first thing is going to be, at least from your side, having two Big 12 teams in, Houston and Texas Tech.

Dan Rubenstein 12:09 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:10 No fifth SEC team, no fourth Big Ten team.

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:13 So essentially, Texas Tech, based on the way you've drawn this up, gets the nod over a school from the Big Ten, a school from the SEC.

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:22 That's the first thing.

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:24 The second I can speak to on my end, which was, you know, what is the logic behind putting five SEC teams in?

Ty Hildenbrandt 12:31 How do you envision this playing out that you're going both Houston and Texas Tech over a team from, say, the SEC or the Big Ten?

Dan Rubenstein 12:39 I don't know.

Dan Rubenstein 12:43 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 12:45 Essentially, I think Texas Tech will have a I mean, depending on what happens with them at quarterback, because there's Thomas Castellanos is now in a conversation allegedly, rumoredly with Texas Tech.

Dan Rubenstein 12:57 So.

Dan Rubenstein 12:58 Texas Tech to me is now more up in the air, weirdly, going into the season.

Dan Rubenstein 13:02 So I guess it would be Texas Tech being largely dominant and maybe losing a rematch game against Houston.

Dan Rubenstein 13:09 They play them relatively early on, right?

Dan Rubenstein 13:11 Like week three.

Dan Rubenstein 13:13 and losing a rematch in the Big 12 championship game and having I mean, look, their non-conference resume is not going to be great.

Dan Rubenstein 13:22 So

Dan Rubenstein 13:23 I just I think we're going to look at teams beating each other up in the SEC, and I think we should take that into account that they're finally playing a ninth conference game.

Dan Rubenstein 13:31 But I think Texas Tech's resume might be a little bit cleaner.

Dan Rubenstein 13:37 That like, look, if you're judging a 12-1-type Texas Tech situation against a

Dan Rubenstein 13:44 9-3 SEC situation, you're going to really have to parse things out, but I think there are some simulations in which we could see this.

Dan Rubenstein 13:54 And I don't know.

Dan Rubenstein 13:57 I just this is where I landed.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:00 Your guess is as good as mine.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:01 I mean, this is way early, and it's going to be difficult.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:04 Now, what I admire about your pick, and you did this last year, and you're planting your zag flag again this year, Houston.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:12 Last year it was old miss.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:14 Ole Miss made the final four.

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:17 We can talk through how deep you have Houston going, if you have Houston making it out of the first round at all, but

Ty Hildenbrandt 14:24 my sense from looking at your selections here is that Houston's that team for you in 2026.

Dan Rubenstein 14:29 Yes.

Dan Rubenstein 14:30 Houston is the unexpected team.

Dan Rubenstein 14:32 Honestly, I did toy with

Dan Rubenstein 14:36 a second ACC team getting in, a team like, you know, I didn't have them, my others receiving votes, but a team like SMU.

Dan Rubenstein 14:42 Just because my rubric has always been quarterback and defense, that has been my whatever, you know, my qualifications.

Dan Rubenstein 14:48 That's the bar to clear to me.

Dan Rubenstein 14:50 And even though I didn't talk about SMU there, that's a team I considered in that conversation.

Dan Rubenstein 14:55 Virginia is a team with their schedule.

Dan Rubenstein 14:57 It's a pretty great schedule.

Dan Rubenstein 14:59 I couldn't get there with Virginia because of quarterback.

Dan Rubenstein 15:03 But I really do like their defense.

Dan Rubenstein 15:05 I like their offensive line.

Dan Rubenstein 15:06 And there were a couple of other teams that like Illinois and Iowa and Texas A&M.

Dan Rubenstein 15:12 There are teams that I felt like

Dan Rubenstein 15:14 You know, clear that bar.

Dan Rubenstein 15:16 But that was, I like to try and think about college football.

Dan Rubenstein 15:22 somewhat chaotically, and that's where Houston fell for me because I think that they have the potential to have quarterback defense and schedule what we perceive to be a workable schedule in late August.

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:34 How close were you to putting in a fourth Big Ten team?

Ty Hildenbrandt 15:37 How much deliberation went into that on your end?

Dan Rubenstein 15:39 Very, very close.

Dan Rubenstein 15:42 I was considering USC and Michigan.

Dan Rubenstein 15:44 You know, I had Iowa as a dark horse as making a lot of noise in the Big Ten.

Dan Rubenstein 15:48 I couldn't get there with USC.

Dan Rubenstein 15:51 I think they're going to be really, really good.

Dan Rubenstein 15:53 I just don't think they're fully formed on both sides of the ball to the point where I felt great about them against their specific, again, what we perceive to be a pretty difficult stretch.

Dan Rubenstein 16:03 That you would have to get USC to 10-2, which is easier without Notre Dame on the schedule, of course, but

Dan Rubenstein 16:11 the number of teams that they have to figure out how to beat both at home and on the road.

Dan Rubenstein 16:16 And early on, it's nice for them to have those games at home.

Dan Rubenstein 16:19 I couldn't get there with even as open as that championship window appears to be.

Dan Rubenstein 16:25 I couldn't quite get there with what's new on both sides of the ball.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:29 You love the chip.

Dan Rubenstein 16:30 Now, losing their center, losing.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:31 You love the championship window thing.

Dan Rubenstein 16:33 I love the championship window.

Dan Rubenstein 16:34 Championship window is open.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:35 It's open, baby.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:36 It's open it up.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:37 We got to get a window opening sound.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:39 I don't even know what that is.

Dan Rubenstein 16:40 Ah, it's the opening Windows 98 chime or whatever.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:43 Well, I already used that for my window of opportunity.

Dan Rubenstein 16:44 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 16:46 I know that's true.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:47 I mean, there are other window sounds.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:49 I'll pull another one off somewhere.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:51 I'll find one for the championship window being open.

Dan Rubenstein 16:51 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 16:54 Or just the word open.

Dan Rubenstein 16:56 We can come up with something with open.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:56 Open Sesame.

Dan Rubenstein 16:57 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 16:58 Yeah, we can come up with something.

Dan Rubenstein 16:58 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 16:59 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:00 I struggled with this.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:01 I really did.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:02 And USC was that team for me.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:04 You know, I know in the previews I talked about Penn State and Michigan and

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:08 You know, even Iowa, to an extent, I feel like you can make a case.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:11 I think Iowa is going to be crazy interesting this year.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:14 Like, I'm really excited to see what they look like.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:17 I couldn't get there with USC.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:19 It's just a schedule thing.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:20 Like, I agree with you.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:21 And frankly, you're the one who sold me on USC.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:24 That yeah, I agree with you.

Dan Rubenstein 17:25 Oh, I think it's going to be really good.

Dan Rubenstein 17:26 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:28 I mean, we did the preview, and I think we're both pretty high on them.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:31 We voted them pretty high in our AP poll.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:33 We like this team.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:34 It's just

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:36 unlike when you're ranking for the AP poll before the season, when we're doing this exercise, you actually need to consider schedule.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:45 And just the schedule to me, it's I don't know, too many landmines on there, an uncertain defense, albeit probably improved, hopefully improved under Gary Patterson.

Dan Rubenstein 17:46 I think so.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:55 But I'm only in with three teams in the Big Ten, not four.

Ty Hildenbrandt 17:59 Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:01 The real calculus for me, though, was trying to figure out who I wanted from the SEC.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:06 And like we had agreed when we did the preview that we both like Georgia and Texas to make, in all likelihood, that SEC title game.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:16 We did differ, I think, pretty significantly with regard to LSU.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:20 Like I'm much higher on LSU than you are, which is why I have them in here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:23 We both agreed on Alabama making it in.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:26 But that fifth SEC team for me

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:29 Man, that was a slog trying to figure out who I wanted in there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:32 I kept going back and forth between Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:38 And I can make a case for all of them.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:39 I think AM's got a little bit of an easier schedule.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:42 And it just feels to me like we've at least seen the offensive output

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:48 On the AM side, as compared to the Oklahoma side, which is still sort of developing, right?

Dan Rubenstein 18:54 Totally agree.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:54 We'll see if they can run the ball.

Ty Hildenbrandt 18:57 But that to me, I gave a slight nod to Texas A&M, even though there's some questions about their offensive line.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:04 And the old missed thing, I agree with what you said.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:09 when we did our previews about Ole Miss, that they're being overlooked.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:14 They're being overlooked to an extent because there's a lot new.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:18 Especially on the coaching staff, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:20 And just the situation that they find themselves in now is fundamentally different, even though there are plenty of good players and they had the No. 2 overall portal class.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:27 There's a lot of reasons to like Ole Miss.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:29 But

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:30 I cannot get past that feeling that I think I gave voice to when we talked about Ole Miss specifically.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:36 I'm not ready to just sort of rubber stamp Pete Golding as the dude.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:41 As the coach who can lead them through a full SEC slate and get them back into the playoffs, he did admirably in last year's playoff, for sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:48 And if that's any indication, I'm dead wrong.

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:50 I'll take that.

Dan Rubenstein 19:52 The counterpoint, which I think is right, by the way, the counterpoint is like you have to rubber stamp something kind of sight unseen with a lot

Ty Hildenbrandt 19:58 Well, yeah, that's the whole point of this, right?

Dan Rubenstein 20:00 With well, yeah, but I'm especially with like the mess of SEC teams that are kind of 1B, 1C or 2A, whatever in this conference.

Dan Rubenstein 20:10 That you're rubber stamping like Texas A&M against a more difficult schedule with a bunch of losses up front along the offense, whatever it is.

Dan Rubenstein 20:18 That like you're saying, like, yeah, you may not believe in Pete Golding, but then you have to make the case that, like,

Dan Rubenstein 20:23 I believe, without a ton of evidence, that Oklahoma's offense is going to be, you know, significantly better.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:29 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 20:29 That kind of stuff.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:30 So it's like if those are my three options, at least the way that I drew this up.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:34 I've got Mike Elko, a quarterback I feel I can trust in an offense that is probably not going to put it all on him, and they're going to want to run the ball.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:43 Just feels like it's a little bit more of a

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:45 stable situation than Oklahoma, which is going to be great on defense, but offense is kind of a shrug.

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:53 And Ole Miss, which is turning over the coaching staff and kind of

Ty Hildenbrandt 20:57 you know, starting from square one, at least on a couple fronts.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:00 So it's not a strong case to be made one side or the other, but I opted for Texas A&M.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:06 So those are my four, or five teams, I guess, in the SEC: Georgia, Texas, LSU, Alabama, and Texas A&M in that order.

Dan Rubenstein 21:13 And we both have Alabama, and I don't think either one of us feel like incredible about it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:18 I do.

Dan Rubenstein 21:19 Do you?

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:20 I really like Alabama.

Dan Rubenstein 21:21 Oh, okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:21 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:22 I think Keelon Russell is going to be an absolute superstar.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:26 I think he is the real deal.

Dan Rubenstein 21:26 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:28 And so, provided they get that version of Keelon Russell, the version that's in my head.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:34 and get something of a ground game going.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:37 As we know, that was sort of an emphasis in the offseason here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:40 If I'm saying if a lot here.

Dan Rubenstein 21:42 Yeah, of course.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:44 With all those qualifiers in mind, that's why I've got Alabama here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:48 Because I do think it could be a really nice season for them if Keelon Russell is as good as I think and if the ground game is just

Ty Hildenbrandt 21:54 you know, present in a way that it wasn't a year ago.

Dan Rubenstein 21:58 Yeah, essentially.

Dan Rubenstein 22:00 If you were to tell me or if you were to broadcast to the world that Alabama is definitely good, but maybe not great this season

Dan Rubenstein 22:09 10-2 seems totally within reason.

Ty Hildenbrandt 22:11 A thousand percent, yep.

Dan Rubenstein 22:12 That they've got a coach who wins with good teams, with flawed teams, wins close games.

Dan Rubenstein 22:20 maybe has not produced a complete team or whatever, but like seems to figure out ways to eke out ground balls when they need to.

Dan Rubenstein 22:27 So

Dan Rubenstein 22:28 You have that, you have what we believe to be the high ceiling at quarterback, that there looks to be explosion in the skilled positions.

Dan Rubenstein 22:37 There is star power on this defensive roster.

Dan Rubenstein 22:40 Those still questions up front, I would say, and especially a linebacker with some new faces or new full time faces.

Dan Rubenstein 22:45 There's reason to believe that this team can be legit good, but perhaps not

Dan Rubenstein 22:50 bulletproof, excellent, you know, lightning-in-a-bottle kind of thing.

Dan Rubenstein 22:55 If that's the case, ten and two seems like it's a really tough November into early November.

Dan Rubenstein 23:01 but they're playing against teams that have like pretty sizable questions themselves outside of the Georgia game.

Dan Rubenstein 23:08 But the Georgia game is in Tuscaloosa, yes?

Dan Rubenstein 23:11 So I don't know.

Dan Rubenstein 23:13 I'm there with Alabama.

Dan Rubenstein 23:15 I don't love it, but I don't think it's a terribly difficult case to make.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:21 I'm going to read through your seeding, okay?

Dan Rubenstein 23:23 Please. I—yes, I will.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:24 We do have a bracket here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:25 I don't know if you're able to put this up on the screen for folks when we cut the video, but here's the way you broke it down.

Dan Rubenstein 23:33 Which I would—there is one situation in which I would probably take it back, the way I seeded it.

Dan Rubenstein 23:40 I didn't do the full—I didn't fully think it out, think it through, but continue.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:42 Okay, well you can correct me here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:45 So the version that you sent me earlier was number one, Notre Dame, number two, Ohio State, number three, Georgia, number four, Oregon.

Dan Rubenstein 23:54 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:55 Those are the four teams that would get a bye.

Dan Rubenstein 23:57 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 23:58 The other four matchups that you have here is number five Texas playing host to number 12 Boise State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:07 Number six, Miami, playing host to number 11, Alabama.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:11 Number seven, Houston, playing host to number 10, Texas Tech.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:16 And number eight, Indiana, playing host to number nine, Oklahoma.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:21 With those matchups in mind, where would you tweak it if this is like your last chance to do so?

Dan Rubenstein 24:26 I would flip Texas Tech and Alabama.

Dan Rubenstein 24:28 I would make Tech the 11, Alabama the 10.

Dan Rubenstein 24:32 Just so that wouldn't be the third matchup between Houston and Texas Tech, which I think we would avoid.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:38 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:40 We can do that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:41 We can make that change right now.

Dan Rubenstein 24:41 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 24:42 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:43 Can't make that change tomorrow.

Dan Rubenstein 24:43 Thank you.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:44 We can make that change today.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:46 My seeding is similar enough.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:50 Obviously, not exactly the same.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:52 I've also got Notre Dame at one.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:54 I've got your Oregon Ducks at two.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:57 Georgia at three.

Ty Hildenbrandt 24:58 Miami as a four.

Dan Rubenstein 25:00 So you have Oregon winning the Big Ten.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:02 I do.

Dan Rubenstein 25:03 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:05 Then I've got the 5-12, Ohio State playing host to New Mexico

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:10 I've got the six seed Texas Tech playing host to Alabama, the eleven.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:14 I've got the seven Texas playing host to the ten Texas A&M in a rematch of that rivalry, which would be very spicy.

Dan Rubenstein 25:19 Ooh, yeah, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:22 And then I've got maybe the spiciest first-round matchup of them all, the number eight seed Indiana playing host to number nine

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:31 LSU and Lane Kiffin.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:33 Cignetti against Kiffin will be friggin' awesome.

Dan Rubenstein 25:34 Great.

Dan Rubenstein 25:35 Can't wait.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:37 I hemmed and hawed over this.

Dan Rubenstein 25:38 Would watch.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:40 Like it's impossible to put seeding next to any of these right now.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:44 We just don't know.

Dan Rubenstein 25:44 I started hemming, but I didn't fully haw because I almost felt like the more I worked, although I did screw up the Houston, Texas Tech thing, the more I worked, the wronger I would be.

Dan Rubenstein 25:55 So I was just like, all right, I'm just spilling it all from my gut and we'll see what happens.

Ty Hildenbrandt 25:59 The team that really gave me the most trouble was Texas Tech.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:03 I really struggled with where do I put these guys?

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:07 I wanted them in my playoff.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:08 I picked them to win the Big 12.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:10 And I think initially I had them maybe down on like that eight line.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:15 Then I bumped them up to the seven.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:17 Then I looked at it again and I said, No, I'm going to bump them all the way up to the six.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:21 I feel like there's a lot of variability there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:23 And it's not because of the Thomas Castellanos thing, which is still taking shape.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:27 And if he does sign on.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:29 To be part of the Red Raiders this year, probably as a QB2, but also maybe playing some other positions, just TBD on what that looks like.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:38 But that was not the reason I shifted them around.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:41 I just frankly don't know what to make of that quarterback situation.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:44 I think they're going to be really good.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:47 Especially on defense, especially running the football.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:50 But the quarterback question to me is like the limiter.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:54 And though I like the best of Will Hammond, I just don't know how much we're going to get of that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 26:59 this season now if he's playing the full year through.

Ty Hildenbrandt 27:02 So I struggled with them mightily.

Dan Rubenstein 27:06 Yeah, it'll be interesting to see because of the teams that you have in here.

Dan Rubenstein 27:11 So as at-large teams.

Dan Rubenstein 27:13 So, you know, you have your four-bye teams, but of your at-large teams, so Texas, Texas A&M.

Dan Rubenstein 27:20 Texas Tech, Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Indiana, only Indiana has a extremely weak nonconference schedule.

Dan Rubenstein 27:32 Right?

Dan Rubenstein 27:32 So of the games that they can control, like LSU plays Clemson, Texas and Ohio State play each other, Texas A&M plays Arizona State, if I'm not mistaken, correct?

Dan Rubenstein 27:42 We'll see whatever Florida State is, but that's like legit scheduling from Alabama.

Dan Rubenstein 27:49 And yeah, I mentioned Ohio State and LSU as Clemson.

Dan Rubenstein 27:52 So

Dan Rubenstein 27:52 I wonder, especially with the SEC going to nine games, that resume wise, I wonder to what degree Indiana and Texas Tech

Dan Rubenstein 28:03 depending on what they actually do in conference with the best teams that they play, especially Indiana has, I think, a tougher schedule in conference than Texas Tech does.

Dan Rubenstein 28:13 I wonder what the resume and the

Dan Rubenstein 28:17 the voting looks like with those teams when you start comparing against teams that have scheduled a little bit more aggressively.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:23 I'm on Texas Tech to win their conference.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:26 But again, remember, they changed up the seeding a year ago.

Dan Rubenstein 28:30 That's true.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:30 So.

Dan Rubenstein 28:30 You have them winning.

Dan Rubenstein 28:31 But yeah, the seeding is different.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:32 We're not that far off.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:34 We've got a few, I think, key differences.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:36 I would say the other team that I really struggled with trying to figure out where they belong in terms of seeding was Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:44 And I knew it was going to be in the top six.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:47 I didn't think I could go any lower than that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:50 And if you go back and listen to the Big Ten

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:52 part one preview we did, I've got Oregon beating Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:56 But Ohio State also has a really tough schedule, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 28:59 Ohio State's got Texas

Dan Rubenstein 29:00 Impossible, man.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:01 Yeah, I mean, Texas Week two, they do have games against other, you know, high-profile Big Ten opponents, to say the absolute very least.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:11 So it's going to be a tough ask for them this year.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:14 It's not exactly a schedule that we look at and we say it's going to be smooth sailing, even though we think pretty highly of Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:20 So I kind of went back and forth on how high I should put them, but I

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:25 gave them that five spot against the No. 12, New Mexico.

Dan Rubenstein 29:28 In this universe, as we both have Notre Dame as the one, do we have them running the table?

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:36 No.

Dan Rubenstein 29:37 11-1 with a loss to...

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:38 Oh, you mean re regular season?

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:39 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:40 Regular season, yes.

Dan Rubenstein 29:40 Regular season.

Dan Rubenstein 29:41 So getting to one, they're there as like the clean number one team in the country at 12-0, obviously not playing a 13th game.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:41 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 29:48 That's how we lock them in.

Ty Hildenbrandt 29:52 I didn't want to be too confident about that because, as I said at the top, this is kind of a pointless exercise to begin with, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:00 But it's kind of a catastrophe if they don't at least find their way into this thing.

Dan Rubenstein 30:07 Agreed.

Dan Rubenstein 30:07 It's a failure of the season if they're not in the playoff.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:09 It is an absolute failure if they don't make the playoff.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:12 It's probably a failure to a degree if they don't make the final four.

Dan Rubenstein 30:16 Or like CJ Carr, knock on wood, but doesn't, you know, finish the season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:19 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:21 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 30:21 Obviously, want him to.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:22 Barring injury.

Dan Rubenstein 30:23 That kind of thing.

Dan Rubenstein 30:23 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:24 Barring injury, I think it would be an unmitigated failure for them to not get into the playoff and maybe make the final four.

Dan Rubenstein 30:31 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:31 But with regards to the regular season, yeah, I think at least on paper, the toughest game that they're going to have all year is going to be that monster weekend, first weekend in November, week ten against Miami when Miami comes to town.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:44 I think right now they're better than Miami, but reserved the right to change my mind.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:50 I think they're better than Wisconsin in week one.

Ty Hildenbrandt 30:53 I think they're better than BYU in week seven, whenever they play in the middle of October, even though that game's in Provo.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:01 They've got a game at the end of the year in November where they're playing against SMU.

Dan Rubenstein 31:05 Tough, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:06 Which I think will be a tough opponent, but those are basically the four games that you got to watch out for, and the rest they should be putting up like 40 points.

Dan Rubenstein 31:13 Agree.

Dan Rubenstein 31:14 Fully agree.

Dan Rubenstein 31:15 That's why I have them there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:16 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:17 Dan Rubenstein, I want you to talk me through your first couple rounds here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:23 5-12, you've got Texas against Boise State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:26 I'm assuming you're going to go Texas.

Dan Rubenstein 31:28 I'm going Texas, setting up Oregon, Texas in the next round.

Dan Rubenstein 31:31 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:31 Six and eleven, you've got, I guess in this case, Miami against Texas Tech now.

Dan Rubenstein 31:39 Yes.

Dan Rubenstein 31:41 Miami Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:42 Miami gets through.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:43 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:45 Seven against ten would be the number seven Houston playing host to the number ten Alabama, correct?

Dan Rubenstein 31:52 Yes, Alabama through.

Ty Hildenbrandt 31:56 And then the 8-9 would be Indiana against Oklahoma, Indiana at home.

Dan Rubenstein 32:02 Indiana through Oregon through

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:04 Oregon against Texas Georgia against Miami

Dan Rubenstein 32:15 Georgia through Georgia through

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:18 Alabama against Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:20 Ooh, that's tasty.

Dan Rubenstein 32:24 Ohio State through.

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:26 Notre Dame against Indiana.

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:33 Was there a little bit of a recoil there?

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:34 I heard a recoil.

Dan Rubenstein 32:35 Yes, yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:36 Why?

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:36 Why the recoil?

Dan Rubenstein 32:38 I have at the moment as of August 24th, is that today?

Dan Rubenstein 32:44 Josh Hoover throwing into the Oklahoma and Notre Dame defenses consecutively and coming out clean and alive.

Dan Rubenstein 32:53 I got to see it before I believe it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 32:57 Oregon over Texas would be a fun matchup and

Dan Rubenstein 33:02 Huge.

Dan Rubenstein 33:02 Could be the first two picks in the draft at quarterback.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:05 And I think from a narrative standpoint, if you go back to our QA episode, I think we brought this up.

Dan Rubenstein 33:05 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:11 I know others have as well.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:16 Oregon and Texas, like the expectation is national championship this year.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:20 So them playing each other in the quarterfinals is there won't be any shortage of interest in a game like that.

Dan Rubenstein 33:27 That would be huge.

Dan Rubenstein 33:28 It'd be enormous.

Dan Rubenstein 33:28 I don't know where that game would be played, but that an astronomical matchup.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:33 Let me give you mine, my first two rounds here.

Dan Rubenstein 33:36 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:37 I've got Indiana over LSU.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:41 I've got Ohio State over New Mexico.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:48 I've got Alabama over Texas Tech.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:52 And I've got Texas over Texas A&M.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:56 My next round then looks like this.

Ty Hildenbrandt 33:59 I've got Notre Dame over Indiana.

Dan Rubenstein 34:02 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:03 I've got Ohio State over Miami.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:07 I've got Alabama over Georgia.

Dan Rubenstein 34:11 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:12 And I've got Oregon over Texas.

Dan Rubenstein 34:14 Oregon over Texas.

Dan Rubenstein 34:15 So it was Texas playing Oregon.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:16 Yes, sir.

Dan Rubenstein 34:17 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:19 Which brings us then to our final four.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:22 For me, that is Notre Dame against Ohio State

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:26 Oregon against Alabama.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:28 And for you, you pull yours up here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:32 We've got Notre Dame against Oregon.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:34 Oh my God.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:37 We've got Ohio State against Georgia.

Dan Rubenstein 34:42 Georgia, yeah, chalk.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:45 Wow.

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:47 So now what are the rules around a Notre Dame, Oregon semifinal game?

Ty Hildenbrandt 34:51 Like do we end the podcast after somebody wins that game or do they need to go on to win the national championship and then we put up

Dan Rubenstein 34:57 Oh, good question.

Dan Rubenstein 34:58 Well, we have to go, right?

Dan Rubenstein 34:59 That's the rule?

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:00 I think if they play, they have not played in the entire span of time we've been doing this show.

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:06 So yes, if they play, we got to find a way to that game.

Dan Rubenstein 35:09 We went to—well, we didn't go to the initial Oregon-Penn State game and the Big Ten Championship game two years ago, but we did go to the White Out together last season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:17 Correct.

Dan Rubenstein 35:17 your alma mater.

Dan Rubenstein 35:19 So I think we would have to go.

Dan Rubenstein 35:23 I think we would have to find a way.

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:26 We'll hitchhike.

Dan Rubenstein 35:26 What are the

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:27 We'll do whatever we got to do to get there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:29 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 35:29 What are the, okay, College Football Playoff locations 2027? That's what we're talking about at this point?

Ty Hildenbrandt 35:36 Man, with how long this calendar is running, it might be 2028, but start with 27.

Dan Rubenstein 35:42 So 2027, the semifinal locations appear to be the

Dan Rubenstein 35:48 Oh my god, this graphic is truly terrible from the College Football Playoff.

Dan Rubenstein 35:52 I'm going to have to read it.

Dan Rubenstein 35:53 So it's the Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.

Dan Rubenstein 35:57 So we would be in either the greater Miami area or New Orleans for one of these games.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:03 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 36:05 Okay?

Dan Rubenstein 36:06 Doable.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:07 Ohio State-Georgia.

Dan Rubenstein 36:09 Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:10 We're recording this on August the twenty fourth, Why Ohio State?

Dan Rubenstein 36:20 You know, when I sort of sit down and I close my eyes and I do deep breathing and I have the visions come to me.

Dan Rubenstein 36:28 Over and over, it's Laura Rutledge telling me about how teams are gassed.

Dan Rubenstein 36:33 They're so gassed going through that SEC gauntlet.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:34 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 36:37 And so Ohio State playing nobody all season long other than that one Texas game.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:41 Sure.

Dan Rubenstein 36:42 Because it's an SEC team.

Dan Rubenstein 36:45 It's a cakewalk, is what the visions are telling me.

Dan Rubenstein 36:48 The spirits are elders that are communicating to me in my meditations.

Dan Rubenstein 36:54 So I'm going with Ohio State there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:54 Do you have a lot of that when you're thinking college football?

Ty Hildenbrandt 36:56 Do you get like the ghosts of, you know, like Beano Cook and such, the just sort of like speaking to you?

Dan Rubenstein 37:01 Keith Jackson, sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:03 And yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 37:04 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 37:05 Oh, loud and clear, crystal clear, Ty.

Dan Rubenstein 37:07 192 kilobytes per second.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:07 No.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:10 That's good.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:11 I appreciate that.

Dan Rubenstein 37:11 Yeah, that's clear, right?

Dan Rubenstein 37:13 192?

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:13 Pretty clear.

Dan Rubenstein 37:13 It's high quality.

Dan Rubenstein 37:14 I don't, you know, it depends on the microphone and it depends on the room, but yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:16 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:17 You don't need something like that for a podcast.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:19 Some people try that.

Dan Rubenstein 37:20 No, but I'm saying it's so clear that it's coming in at a robust 192.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:21 You don't need that much, but yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:26 You can deal with 128.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:27 128 is okay.

Dan Rubenstein 37:28 I totally agree.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:31 Notre Dame against Oregon.

Dan Rubenstein 37:33 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 37:33 Who do I have winning?

Dan Rubenstein 37:36 Oregon.

Ty Hildenbrandt 37:38 Big surprise.

Dan Rubenstein 37:40 It is a big surprise.

Dan Rubenstein 37:41 Nobody has taken the last two years harder than I have.

Dan Rubenstein 37:50 Uh okay, so the thing that

Dan Rubenstein 37:53 I think that the separator in this case, and this is not an unimpeachable take, is

Dan Rubenstein 38:02 some of Notre Dame hasn't been here before.

Dan Rubenstein 38:06 Now, obviously, they were in the championship game a couple seasons ago, but the roster has turned over, whereas Oregon has had a lot of these guys the past two years in the playoff.

Dan Rubenstein 38:15 Fact check, Notre Dame did not end up in the postseason last year of any kind.

Dan Rubenstein 38:21 So if we are looking at growth and we are looking at Oregon's trajectory.

Dan Rubenstein 38:27 The trajectory is now: get blown out in the championship game, get blown out in the quarters, get blown out in the semis.

Ty Hildenbrandt 38:36 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 38:37 And we only have seen Oregon lose to teams who are competing for or winning national championships.

Dan Rubenstein 38:45 And so

Dan Rubenstein 38:46 I guess that could be Notre Dame in this scenario, that Notre Dame goes on to win or compete for the national championship, obviously, in the semis.

Dan Rubenstein 38:53 But if I'm going with the trends, the trends suggest growth.

Dan Rubenstein 39:00 And given that Oregon has a little bit more to me in terms of ways to win and dependability and experience at some skill positions on offense

Dan Rubenstein 39:11 now, you're counting on a lot of things.

Dan Rubenstein 39:13 Oregon going this deep and having like a healthy Evan Stewart?

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:16 Yeah, right.

Dan Rubenstein 39:16 Certainly, right?

Dan Rubenstein 39:17 That's you gotta sort of suspend recent history to believe in something like that.

Dan Rubenstein 39:22 And hopefully, knock on Wood as an Oregon fan.

Dan Rubenstein 39:24 We do get to see that.

Dan Rubenstein 39:25 But.

Dan Rubenstein 39:26 that I think might be the differentiator that Oregon has more guys who are more seasoned with the like going deep in the playoff.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:36 I think that's a fair take.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:38 I do.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:39 I think that's two excellent teams, a completely fair take.

Dan Rubenstein 39:39 But I think these are two excellent teams.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:43 Again, a completely ridiculous exercise that we're going through here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:47 But

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:48 this is where we're at.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:49 We got to do it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:50 One show left to do, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:51 All right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:51 So you've got Oregon against Ohio State in your national championship.

Dan Rubenstein 39:55 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:56 Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:56 We'll come back to that in a second.

Dan Rubenstein 39:58 Yep.

Ty Hildenbrandt 39:59 On my end, I am taking Ohio State over Notre Dame, and I am taking your Oregon Ducks over the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:12 Which means that we have the same national championship game, don't we?

Dan Rubenstein 40:14 Ohio State over Notre Dame.

Dan Rubenstein 40:16 So we have the same national championship game.

Dan Rubenstein 40:17 We have different semis.

Dan Rubenstein 40:18 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:18 My thought on the Ohio State-Notre Dame thing is

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:22 I am still completely terrified of the Julian Sayin to Jeremiah Smith connection, as everybody should be.

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:31 I am also concerned that Ohio State can win a variety of different ways on offense.

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:40 In particular, with Arthur Smith in there

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:43 and I know there are some questions about whether they can pull this off, but if they're able to establish a little bit more bully ball.

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:51 You think of how dangerous that makes an offense like Ohio State's, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:55 Where they can do the ground and pound if they have to.

Ty Hildenbrandt 40:58 They can run play action off of that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:00 They can obviously stretch the field with the likes of Jeremiah Smith or whoever else in that receiving corps.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:05 The question for Ohio State obviously is defense, but my hunch is by the time we get to a potential matchup like this, all those questions go out the window.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:14 You know who your guys are.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:15 Matt Patricia already proved it once that he can build the defense.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:19 In very short order, I think he'll be able to do it again here with Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:24 So I like the Buckeyes a lot.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:26 There's a reason why we both voted him number one overall.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:29 In our AP Top 25 ballot.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:31 And, you know, I'm excited to see what they look like coming this season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:36 Obviously, I would be rooting for Notre Dame.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:39 In a matchup like this.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:40 But I think there's a really strong case made over Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:44 Two excellent football teams.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:45 I could probably make just as strong a case for Notre Dame.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:48 Gun in my head right now, August the 24th.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:51 I probably would go Ohio State in a matchup like this.

Ty Hildenbrandt 41:54 And the Oregon-Alabama thing, I think Alabama, Alabama of the teams that I have in my field,

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:00 is the one that I am taking the biggest risk with because I've got him as an 11.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:04 I've got him beating Texas Tech, which I think is a decent enough matchup for them.

Dan Rubenstein 42:05 It's amazing risk.

Dan Rubenstein 42:06 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:11 But a lot needs to come together.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:14 I also have them beating Georgia, which would obviously be a hotly contested battle between two SEC teams.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:23 If Keelon Russell hits the way I think he's going to hit, I think it stands to reason they could get into the semifinal matchup, but Oregon's a better team.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:32 Oregon's a better team.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:33 So we both have Oregon, Ohio State, which we did not plan.

Dan Rubenstein 42:35 Both have Oregon, Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:37 We do not script this.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:38 We do have a common sheet just so we know where we're going next.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:41 But nowhere in here is it scripted that we both had.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:45 Oregon and Ohio State.

Dan Rubenstein 42:47 Correct.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:48 So let me ask you this then.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:51 Would this be like the third time these teams played this season?

Dan Rubenstein 42:55 I think potentially, yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 42:58 It's kind of crazy.

Dan Rubenstein 43:00 Yeah, it is pretty wild.

Dan Rubenstein 43:03 We've had weird repeat rerun situations.

Dan Rubenstein 43:06 I don't think we've ever had a third matchup in a national championship game.

Dan Rubenstein 43:11 But we haven't had a lot of things that college football is offering us up in 2026, slash, I guess, of this situation 2027.

Dan Rubenstein 43:18 So I'm going to say, screw it, that this is what happens.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:22 Where's your head at with an Ohio State-Oregon three Pete, if that's what we get?

Dan Rubenstein 43:27 So who wins this game?

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:28 No.

Dan Rubenstein 43:30 So okay, previewing a game in which I've seen none of their previous whatever fourteen or fifteen

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:34 Again, ridiculous exercise.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:36 So I'm not going to hold you too much to this.

Dan Rubenstein 43:37 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:40 I know people will.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:41 And that's part of the fun, and that's the game.

Dan Rubenstein 43:41 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:44 This is what this whole thing's about.

Ty Hildenbrandt 43:46 But I won't think any less of you one way or another, Dan.

Dan Rubenstein 43:46 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 43:50 Ty, with an eye on Dan Gagement, with Indiana fans still reminding me that I said Indiana didn't have that many starters who would actually play for Oregon last season.

Dan Rubenstein 44:02 Still stocking up, still filling up those YouTube comments, which I love it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 44:06 They're still commenting on that, by the way.

Dan Rubenstein 44:09 Thank you guys.

Dan Rubenstein 44:10 With an eye on day engagement, I'm going to take the Oregon Ducks to win the 2026-2027 National Championship.

Dan Rubenstein 44:20 A lot is going to depend on a million different lucky factors, health being probably the biggest, and what their paths look like within the College Football Playoff to get to this point.

Dan Rubenstein 44:31 We have two separate ones.

Dan Rubenstein 44:33 But I'm going to say there is something, and we've seen this across many different sports about the experience of being there.

Dan Rubenstein 44:41 And with Oregon bringing back its defensive line, like Ohio State themselves did a couple of years ago, with having the number of starts at quarterback.

Dan Rubenstein 44:51 Now, Julian Sayin will be well seasoned by this time, of course.

Dan Rubenstein 44:54 But Dante Moore, a little bit more seasoning.

Dan Rubenstein 44:57 We saw it with Will Howard.

Dan Rubenstein 44:57 We saw it with Fernando Mendoza.

Dan Rubenstein 44:59 Like in this new era, these things tend to matter.

Dan Rubenstein 45:02 That Oregon.

Dan Rubenstein 45:03 If they don't shoot themselves in the genitals on a stage this large, that if they're they're just if they're not down 14 nothing after three minutes or something.

Dan Rubenstein 45:15 That I think they are better built in this moment to win it.

Dan Rubenstein 45:22 And now, am I saying that so somebody can roll this back when they lose to, you know, Texas or something in the first round?

Dan Rubenstein 45:29 Sure, certainly.

Dan Rubenstein 45:30 We'll repost it.

Dan Rubenstein 45:32 But.

Dan Rubenstein 45:35 Sort of the business of content aside, I do believe this is an Oregon team when healthy.

Dan Rubenstein 45:44 that is one that has enough to hold up the hardware.

Dan Rubenstein 45:48 And there are enough game changers on both sides of the ball.

Dan Rubenstein 45:51 There's enough speed, there's enough power, there's enough depth.

Dan Rubenstein 45:53 That they're loaded at enough positions, that they can weather some injuries, which has, you know, been the story.

Dan Rubenstein 45:59 You know, last time Oregon's won the national championship game, they were down.

Dan Rubenstein 46:02 offensive linemen and receivers and guys on defense.

Dan Rubenstein 46:04 And it was very obvious that they did not have the roster or the know-how to compete against Ohio State at the conclusion of the twenty fourteen season.

Dan Rubenstein 46:13 I just think this is a ridiculously talented team.

Dan Rubenstein 46:17 And eventually somebody gets their time.

Dan Rubenstein 46:21 Eventually.

Ty Hildenbrandt 46:22 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 46:22 And I think this year is Oregon's.

Ty Hildenbrandt 46:24 Well, what's kind of crazy about the matchup, and again, we both have the same one.

Ty Hildenbrandt 46:29 Ohio State against Oregon would guarantee that a Big Ten team wins for the fourth consecutive year.

Dan Rubenstein 46:35 God, it would be a fourth straight GameDay set slash offseason of Nick Saban being the But King, right?

Dan Rubenstein 46:44 Nick Saban, comma, capital B, But capital K, King, right?

Dan Rubenstein 46:49 That like, yes, you have to hand it to the Big Ten and these excellent teams, but

Dan Rubenstein 46:55 I still feel like the SEC showed that they have the teams.

Dan Rubenstein 47:00 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:02 I've also got Oregon over Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:06 You got to go with me on a journey.

Dan Rubenstein 47:08 Let's go on this journey together.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:08 If you're going to listen, if you've made it 40 some, whatever it is, through this episode, you're already with us on our journey.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:16 Don't hold me too closely to this, but

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:20 my thinking was, if Notre Dame and Ohio State are playing each other, that's going to be a bare-knuckled brawl.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:27 That is going to be a tough matchup one way or another.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:29 Not to say Oregon against Alabama on my bracket.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:33 would be any easier.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:35 But I just feel like the contest between a Notre Dame and Ohio State would be we would see it all hanging out.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:42 By the time Ohio State gets into that matchup with Oregon, they will have had plenty of rest, but it will be a situation in which Ohio State is coming off an emotional victory.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:54 And Oregon will have seen Ohio State.

Ty Hildenbrandt 47:57 Again, on my side of the bracket, this would be the third time.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:00 I like the chances there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:03 I like the chances there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:04 I still think Oregon, even if they don't have the highest ceiling roster in college football, I think it's the most well-balanced roster.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:14 In college football, from the top on down, from quarterback all the way through what they've got on defense.

Dan Rubenstein 48:14 Go ahead.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:20 There aren't a whole lot of holes there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:22 That's true for most of the teams that we have making it this far, granted.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:27 But I stand by what I said when I've done these previews now.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:31 I think Oregon's got the most balanced roster of any team in college football.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:35 They've got really good depth.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:37 Provided they make this stage in the tournament, I like their chances to obviously go pretty far, but knock off Ohio State.

Dan Rubenstein 48:46 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 48:46 Finally get the monkey off of Dan Lanning's back.

Dan Rubenstein 48:49 I just, okay, here's the thing.

Dan Rubenstein 48:51 As an Oregon fan, as an Oregon alum, it does hurt me to make a pick like this.

Dan Rubenstein 48:57 But also, if you're going to love, you got to know that you have the potential, you have the possibility in the back of your mind that you could get hurt.

Dan Rubenstein 49:07 So I'm willing to love Ty.

Dan Rubenstein 49:09 That's what I'm saying here.

Dan Rubenstein 49:11 Right here, right now, I'm ready to be hurt again officially.

Dan Rubenstein 49:15 It didn't really strike me until like three or four days ago.

Dan Rubenstein 49:19 I was protecting myself, Ty, but that's no way to love.

Dan Rubenstein 49:22 That is just no way to love, Ty.

Dan Rubenstein 49:25 And so I love college football.

Dan Rubenstein 49:27 This is who I'm picking.

Dan Rubenstein 49:29 I encourage you to clip these clips.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:32 Don't tell them this.

Dan Rubenstein 49:33 When it all goes awry, I need that engagement Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:34 Don't tell them this.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:38 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 49:38 I need it.

Dan Rubenstein 49:39 I'm addicted to it.

Dan Rubenstein 49:40 I crave it.

Dan Rubenstein 49:41 I thirst, I yearn.

Ty Hildenbrandt 49:41 All right.

Dan Rubenstein 49:44 But yeah, that's the pick.

Dan Rubenstein 49:45 I'm not doing that for a content reason.

Dan Rubenstein 49:48 But yeah, that's.

Dan Rubenstein 49:51 If Oregon's roster or Oregon's roster situation were wearing Texas uniforms or Ohio State uniforms or Florida uniforms or Pitt uniforms or whatever.

Dan Rubenstein 50:02 I think that's what I would go with.

Dan Rubenstein 50:05 I think I'm going into this, like ties, rods and cones, as colorblind as possible.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:10 Well, and look, I kind of did the same thing.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:13 I was looking more.

Dan Rubenstein 50:13 Not fully, of course, but yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:14 No, no, no.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:15 I was looking at roster quality.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:19 That's really all we have to go on right now.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:21 Roster quality.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:22 I mean, you could project out schedules and things of that nature, but who do we think has got the best roster?

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:27 I think Oregon's got the best roster.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:29 So for me, it was a relatively straightforward.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:31 Obviously, there's some other voodoo that goes into it, but oh, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 50:34 By the way, they also hit my quarterback and defense thing, that there is a universe in which they have one of the best five quarterbacks in America and one of the best

Dan Rubenstein 50:43 five to twelve defenses, certainly one of the best two or three defensive lines in the country.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:49 I think I'm with you.

Dan Rubenstein 50:50 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:50 Absolutely.

Dan Rubenstein 50:50 So that it does check those boxes.

Dan Rubenstein 50:52 And so if I'm going to claim that all these times, all these years, that does, you know.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:57 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 50:58 Okay, I'm going to do a rapid fire in a second before I get there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:02 A.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:03 solidverbal@gmail.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:04 com is where you can go via your email.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:07 You guys can't go there, but call it up on email.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:10 Send us a note.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:11 Let us know what your bracket looks like.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:13 Let us know your national championship picks.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:15 As I like to say, don't be a dick.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:17 This is an impossible exercise.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:20 We have to do it.

Dan Rubenstein 51:20 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:20 It's fun to do it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:22 It's fun to like theorize what this could look like eight months into the future, whatever it is.

Dan Rubenstein 51:22 It's okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:29 But let us know your thoughts.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:31 We'd love to hear it.

Dan Rubenstein 51:32 If you're going to be a dick, be funny about it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:33 Be funny about it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:34 Be funny about it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:35 That we will accept.

Dan Rubenstein 51:35 Give me a wink and smile.

Dan Rubenstein 51:38 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:38 That we will accept.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:39 Okay.

Dan Rubenstein 51:40 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:41 Secondly, we said it at the very top.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:43 I'm going to say it again here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:45 Verballers.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:46 com.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:48 V-E-R-B-A-L-L-E-R-S dot com.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:51 I'm going to keep talking this up over the next couple of weeks, probably throughout the course of the year.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:56 We are an independent entity, Dan Rubenstein.

Ty Hildenbrandt 51:59 We need your support in order to keep the lights on, quite literally.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:03 So, Verballers.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:04 com is the best way you can do that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:06 If you do, sign up to support the show.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:09 you not only get bonus access to stuff that doesn't drop to the public feed, you also get ad-free episodes that drop a little bit early, Discord access.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:18 You can vote in all the polls, play all the games, and just be part of the general community.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:23 It goes a tremendously good way for us to keep the lights on here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:28 I cannot emphasize that enough.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:30 We would encourage everybody, if you are just a fan of what we do, at least check it out.

Dan Rubenstein 52:30 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:34 Even if you don't follow through, it's cool.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:37 Verballers.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:38 com.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:38 If nothing more, if you made it this far, rate, review, and subscribe.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:41 This is the time of year when people are looking for these types of shows.

Dan Rubenstein 52:41 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:44 And there are a lot of people out there who don't know about us yet, even though we've been around forever.

Dan Rubenstein 52:48 Unbelievable.

Dan Rubenstein 52:49 Unbelievable.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:50 A lot of people out there still don't know about us.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:52 So, as an independent entity, we rely on our community to help propel us forward.

Ty Hildenbrandt 52:58 And this is one way you can help do that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 53:00 So, rate, review, subscribe if you've yet to do so.

Dan Rubenstein 53:03 Look, Ty, it's not just this episode, a predictions episode.

Dan Rubenstein 53:07 I think it's pretty clear we're dumb.

Dan Rubenstein 53:09 Right?

Dan Rubenstein 53:10 I think over the years, I think we've proven that to be the case.

Dan Rubenstein 53:14 But I will say, in terms of supporting the show.

Dan Rubenstein 53:18 There aren't many who are more courageously dumb than Ty and me.

Dan Rubenstein 53:25 Me, myself?

Dan Rubenstein 53:26 I don't know.

Ty Hildenbrandt 53:27 See, we've come so far now on this grammar journey.

Dan Rubenstein 53:27 I think it's then

Dan Rubenstein 53:31 Than we are.

Dan Rubenstein 53:32 How about that?

Dan Rubenstein 53:33 There are not many who are more courageously dumb than we are.

Ty Hildenbrandt 53:37 We have gone so far down this grammar journey pathway that I think you are now starting to question some of the rules you tried to explain to me earlier in the year.

Dan Rubenstein 53:37 Courageously dumb.

Dan Rubenstein 53:44 100%.

Dan Rubenstein 53:49 Yeah, well, I don't, I can't get him wrong, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 53:54 The pressure it's suffocating.

Dan Rubenstein 53:55 I know, it is a lot of pressure.

Dan Rubenstein 53:58 So I'm just going to say, we have the courage to put out our wrong picks out there in August.

Dan Rubenstein 54:03 Because a lot of people will come through and say, like, look at these dumb pics, but they don't post theirs, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:08 No, no.

Dan Rubenstein 54:09 We're out here with high-quality equipment.

Dan Rubenstein 54:13 Saying, here are all of our wrong picks ahead of the season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:16 Yep.

Dan Rubenstein 54:17 And you got to reward that kind of courage, Ty.

Dan Rubenstein 54:19 You just have to.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:20 All right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:21 I've got three rapid fire questions for you.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:26 Question number one.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:28 I'm looking at your bracket.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:30 You've got Texas Tech, Alabama

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:35 Oklahoma and Boise State as your four teams in the first round that are playing road games.

Dan Rubenstein 54:42 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:45 Of those teams, which do you feel most confident about being in the playoff?

Dan Rubenstein 54:52 Texas Tech, Alabama, Boise, and Oklahoma.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:55 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 54:57 Uh Texas Tech.

Ty Hildenbrandt 54:59 Of the playoff picks that you made here today.

Ty Hildenbrandt 55:02 Which do you feel you will regret the most when we have this conversation again at the end of January?

Dan Rubenstein 55:10 Um maybe Oklahoma.

Dan Rubenstein 55:16 Oklahoma getting in just because they're in that mess of my second tier in the SEC and

Dan Rubenstein 55:25 I, at the same time, on one hand, I do believe winning is a skill, but on the other hand, that like stretch run of results, and Bill Connelly highlighted this a little bit on social media last week.

Dan Rubenstein 55:36 that they had like a two and a half percent chance of going through the Tennessee, Alabama, Missoula LSU run unscathed, and they made it happen.

Ty Hildenbrandt 55:45 Yeah, right.

Dan Rubenstein 55:46 I think they're going to grow and develop into something better this year, but I think there is a chance that their offense is still average or below average, and it's just not a tightrope walk that one can successfully pull off every season.

Dan Rubenstein 56:01 So that paired with if they're an at-large team and they're traveling to Ann Arbor, right?

Dan Rubenstein 56:06 That there is potentially a non-conference loss on this schedule already that might be tough to bounce back from.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:13 My third and final question for you, and then I'll answer the same.

Dan Rubenstein 56:16 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:17 Just from a personal standpoint, because there is at least a little bit of ego that goes into this.

Dan Rubenstein 56:19 Mhm.

Dan Rubenstein 56:22 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:23 If we have the same conversation at the end of January, and on one hand, you've got a correct prediction that Oregon made the national championship and won.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:37 On the other, you've got something comparatively speaking, not as exciting, but Houston winning the Big 12 and getting into the playoff.

Dan Rubenstein 56:49 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:49 Your team winning a national championship, or a bit of a dark horse pick in Houston making it through and getting into this field at all.

Ty Hildenbrandt 56:57 Which one of those two picks is something that you would put up on the wall?

Dan Rubenstein 57:02 So, the Houston pig is a little bit more courageous and out there.

Ty Hildenbrandt 57:05 Right.

Dan Rubenstein 57:05 So, that would be something that, like, I'm sort of riding alone with.

Dan Rubenstein 57:09 That's my own personal Dan Rubenstein Zag flag that's flying over my house.

Dan Rubenstein 57:15 Or Oregon's winning the national championship.

Dan Rubenstein 57:18 And I it's not that courageous to say Oregon's winning the national championship this season.

Ty Hildenbrandt 57:20 That's my but it is your school, which is why I bring it up.

Dan Rubenstein 57:22 But it is my school.

Dan Rubenstein 57:24 So what would I be more prouder about predicting?

Dan Rubenstein 57:30 That's a great question, Ty.

Dan Rubenstein 57:34 I'm going to say the Houston thing.

Ty Hildenbrandt 57:36 I kind of feel like if I were you, I would say Houston as well.

Dan Rubenstein 57:39 Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein 57:42 And now that doesn't that doesn't make us any more money.

Dan Rubenstein 57:46 But maybe Willie Fritz invites us to town and we can have some Viet Cajun food or something.

Dan Rubenstein 57:51 Maybe we'll become local heroes and we have to sit in a lot of traffic, mind you.

Dan Rubenstein 57:55 but in the greater Houston area.

Dan Rubenstein 57:58 No, I think that's a little bit more fulfilling, but like that's also a guess.

Dan Rubenstein 58:03 That's not also something that, like, I've crunched the numbers and I see an inefficiency in the Big 12 that Houston can exploit.

Dan Rubenstein 58:10 No, it's, I think Houston's good.

Dan Rubenstein 58:11 I think their schedule's good.

Dan Rubenstein 58:12 You know, Conner Weigman needs to stay healthy.

Dan Rubenstein 58:14 The transfers need to pop, especially on defense.

Dan Rubenstein 58:17 Um,

Dan Rubenstein 58:19 Yeah, it's not especially interesting to say Oregon's going to win the national championship this year, but it would be fun.

Dan Rubenstein 58:26 To clip this clip about Oregon winning it all and post it back then.

Dan Rubenstein 58:30 But I've got a lot of receipts Ty to get out to the world

Dan Rubenstein 58:34 And I'm wrong about so much that I can't do too many victory laps.

Dan Rubenstein 58:38 So, yeah, the Houston thing would be a more isolated fun thing.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:42 So for me, of the 9, 10, 11, and 12 seeds, for me it was LSU, A&M.

Dan Rubenstein 58:46 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:49 Alabama and New Mexico.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:51 I think AM is probably the one I'm least confident in, not because I don't think they're a good team.

Dan Rubenstein 58:58 Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 58:58 But it's because I was jostling back and forth between Oklahoma and Ole Miss for that spot instead.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:05 And that's just

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:07 That's a tough one for me.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:09 That's a tough one for me to determine who I think is going through.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:11 I think there are three really good teams, but ultimately I gave the nod to AM.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:15 So that one to me, I'd probably be least confident in that.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:18 In terms of the picks that I regret the most or potentially regret the most, it's clearly Ohio State over Notre Dame.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:25 Because if I have the opportunity

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:28 To root for the team I have cheered on since I was a wee lad, and I decide that I'm picking the other team instead.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:38 If that comes to fruition, yes, I will regret that pick.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:41 Or if I guess I don't pick Notre Dame as I'm not today, I'll end up regretting that pick.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:46 That's kind of an easy one for me.

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:50 And

Ty Hildenbrandt 59:52 I guess the counter to this would be if, let's say, Notre Dame ends up winning the national championship versus

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:05 Let's say New Mexico making it in as the G6.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:09 I kind of feel, I mean, I didn't pick Notre Dame to win the national championship, but

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:13 I would still be proud as a fan.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:15 I feel like correctly guessing the G6 team this year is especially difficult.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:21 And I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out who do I think is actually going to be that team because I was going back and forth between New Mexico and Boise.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:31 I looked at UNLV, I looked at Fresno, I considered UTSA, I considered Navy.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:38 I had a bigger list of teams that I whittled down to those six.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:42 And it took me a while to eventually arrive at New Mexico.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:45 And so I just feel like, with the level of elbow grease that went in there, there are a lot of people picking Notre Dame to win the national championship to go pretty far.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:52 That's not exactly an adventurous pick.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:00:56 But I feel like you could get yourself into trouble going off the reservation with a collection of different G6 teams.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:05 I went with New Mexico.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:06 So if they were to make it in, even if everything else bottoms out, I'll be pretty excited about the logos.

Dan Rubenstein 01:01:13 Sidebar on that, if Notre Dame ends up as the five seed and gets New Mexico and Jason Eck in the first round, Ty will not sleep for two weeks, friends.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:19 Right now.

Dan Rubenstein 01:01:25 With Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman's specific history, not that Notre Dame would overlook New Mexico in the College Football Playoff, but with Jason Eck as like potential giant killer, especially if New Mexico rides into the playoff.

Dan Rubenstein 01:01:37 having like an Oklahoma win on their resume, which they probably won't, but that's it's there is a universe in which that happens.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:44 There's a universe, yeah, there is.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:46 So

Dan Rubenstein 01:01:47 and just New Mexico throwing like all of the epheses, the ephi at Notre Dame in that opening round matchup, Ty will talk himself into that being extremely dangerous for two consecutive weeks.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:01:59 I will.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:00 I definitely will.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:01 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:01 Oh, man.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:02 All right.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:03 Look, glad we finally got this out of the way.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:06 We've been sitting on this for a while.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:09 Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:09 Now we can go forth and prosper.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:11 We can actually talk about upcoming matchups on our next episode.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:15 We'll do our week zero preview.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:16 We'll also touch base

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:18 on some of the other news subjects that are floating around college football.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:22 Quarterback battles, injuries, some of the weirdness going on with eligibility.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:28 We'll do our part to try and get you caught up.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:30 On all of those things and make some picks in advance of week zero.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:34 We will not be doing the Saturday night live stream.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:37 There just aren't enough games to support it.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:40 This coming weekend, but we'll definitely have something for you on Sunday.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:43 We'll figure out what that is.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:44 Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:45 And then, as we go into next week in advance of week one, that's when we'll really turn the jets on.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:50 That's when everything starts up.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:51 But

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:53 it's here, man.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:54 It's game week.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:02:55 We made it.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:56 Do we still own SmellTysHair.

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:58 com?

Dan Rubenstein 01:02:58 What is the link that we were giving out to people to remember for the Saturday night live streams?

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:02 We do.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:02 Well, we have all of them, I think.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:04 We do have Smell Ty's Hair.

Dan Rubenstein 01:03:04 Okay, you've kept okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:06 Yeah, we have Smell Ty's Hair.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:08 We have Brocktober.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:09 We have Cocktober now as well.

Dan Rubenstein 01:03:11 Yeah, of course.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:13 I have to check and see.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:15 Our domain budget is just way out of whack here.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:18 We're going to have to do something about it this year.

Dan Rubenstein 01:03:20 Yeah, we got to scale it back.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:22 Dan, this was fun.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:23 You are as ever a gentleman.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:26 It is a pleasure to be on this show here with you.

Dan Rubenstein 01:03:26 Thank you.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:28 I am excited for another season.

Dan Rubenstein 01:03:31 Same, can't wait.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:32 For that guy over there, Dan, for myself over here, Ty, thank you for downloading, listening, supporting.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:37 Check us out at Verballers.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:39 com.

Ty Hildenbrandt 01:03:39 Stay solid.