2026-08-30 Week 0 Reaction - Virginia, Memphis and the First FBS Arrivals (raw)
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:18 Dan Rubenstein, you know, we had North Carolina pulling an upset in Ireland.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:23 We had Beau Pribula clearly showing that Beau still knows football.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:28 Apparently, no one knows how to say his name, which I will get to
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:31 in just a little bit.
Dan Rubenstein 00:31 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:32 We had the Memphis Tigers in the dead of the night entering the Group of Six playoff chat.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:39 Week 0 is now officially in the book.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:41 Stan Rubenstein.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:42 Welcome back to the show.
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:43 How are you, my good friend?
Ty Hildenbrandt 00:44 Welcome.
Dan Rubenstein 00:45 Uh very good.
Dan Rubenstein 00:46 Happy to have college football.
Dan Rubenstein 00:47 Officially back in my life, obviously there was a there was some FCS action earlier in the week, but happy to have FBS football as well.
Dan Rubenstein 00:56 back in my life.
Dan Rubenstein 00:56 College football being back is obviously great for us.
Dan Rubenstein 00:59 It's great for, as far as I'm concerned, the world.
Dan Rubenstein 01:02 It's an international sport now that we do play in Ireland and nearly played in Rio this week.
Dan Rubenstein 01:07 So
Dan Rubenstein 01:08 Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 01:08 Uh nothing better.
Dan Rubenstein 01:09 In my mind, nothing better than having college football back in our universe because ostensibly, well, this is a college football show.
Dan Rubenstein 01:18 So it gives us something for great.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:20 Yeah, we're also gonna talk about what Saturday night meant for both USC and Florida State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:26 We're going to talk through what the welcome party looked like for both North Dakota State and Sacramento State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:33 And then we're going to talk about that crazy finish, at least from a betting standpoint.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:39 in the Stanford Hawaii game and then any other knick-knacks that maybe we picked up along the way.
Dan Rubenstein 01:40 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:44 We usually do this at midnight
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:47 After the round of games, we'll do it next week after Week 1, or I guess after the Saturday version of Week 1, since it's a five-day extravaganza.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:56 Right now we're doing it a little bit early.
Ty Hildenbrandt 01:58 Rate, review, or subscribe so that you do not miss any of our episodes and tell other people that you like the show.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:04 Um
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:05 I am excited to get into this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:07 It is great to have some actual football to discuss.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:10 Week 0 is always like the amuse-bouche, you know?
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:12 It's not the full thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:14 It's just enough to give you a little bit of an appetizer.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:16 And um though there weren't any like true headline y type games that I think we're gonna see in Week 1, there were plenty of takeaways.
Dan Rubenstein 02:24 Can I can I get on my annual soapbox high horse about
Dan Rubenstein 02:29 the a team's first week of college football, so whether it's Week 0 or Week 1.
Dan Rubenstein 02:35 A team is not, or at least not necessarily,
Dan Rubenstein 02:39 Because sometimes they are.
Dan Rubenstein 02:41 They're not necessarily who they are in their first game.
Dan Rubenstein 02:45 The most dramatic improvement, in my mind, can happen depending on the opponent's structure between
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:51 So much hedging here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 02:53 So much hedging here.
Dan Rubenstein 02:54 But I just I I'm saying this both because I believe it and I want like NC State fans to hear me.
Dan Rubenstein 03:03 That you are not who you are, TCU fans, necessarily.
Dan Rubenstein 03:08 You might be, but not necessarily who you are in your first game, especially if you're traveling overseas to play in that game.
Dan Rubenstein 03:15 So for better or for worse, your season is not ruined, and you are not all of a sudden a world beater, depending on what happens in your very first game.
Dan Rubenstein 03:26 Now, I always believe that there are takeaways.
Dan Rubenstein 03:29 I always believe that there are things that we can extract from a team's first game.
Dan Rubenstein 03:33 You're like, oh, that's weird that that's happening.
Dan Rubenstein 03:34 Or like, ooh, that player seems electric.
Dan Rubenstein 03:37 I am noting that.
Dan Rubenstein 03:38 But once again
Dan Rubenstein 03:40 It has been months upon months since these teams have last played games.
Dan Rubenstein 03:45 Rosters have all changed pretty much dramatically.
Dan Rubenstein 03:48 Coaching staffs have changed.
Dan Rubenstein 03:51 So, this is the coach's first look.
Dan Rubenstein 03:54 These are the players' first time together in a lot of these cases, playing in real bona fide action.
Dan Rubenstein 04:01 So
Dan Rubenstein 04:02 Once again, it's not that you take these results with a grain of salt in the first week, because there's something to be extracted.
Dan Rubenstein 04:09 But this is not the full story.
Dan Rubenstein 04:11 The story of these teams is not written, positive or negative, in the first week.
Dan Rubenstein 04:16 But once again, there are chapters, there are stanzas, there are portions to be highlighted, be like, ooh, I'm gonna come back to that.
Dan Rubenstein 04:26 Let's put a post-it on page 76.
Dan Rubenstein 04:28 I just I want to be careful, be like, well, TCU's done.
Dan Rubenstein 04:32 You know, that kind of stuff.
Dan Rubenstein 04:34 I don't think that would be fair, you know
Dan Rubenstein 04:36 in late August to sort of plant that flag.
Dan Rubenstein 04:40 So that's all I I I want to be like clear that I'm I have hope for everybody, no matter what they do, and that that obviously goes for teams next week uh playing in their first game
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:48 I didn't know you could drum up that kind of inspiration at 8.
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:51 06 AM Eastern Time, but here we are, Dan Rubenstein really trying to
Dan Rubenstein 04:53 So I'm nearly a mug-in.
Dan Rubenstein 04:56 What does it say?
Dan Rubenstein 04:57 Good morning, good vibes.
Dan Rubenstein 04:58 So I guess I'm bringing that, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 04:59 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 04:59 Um, and I've got some throat comfort coffee or throat comfort tea, excuse me, as well.
Dan Rubenstein 05:05 So I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 05:06 I've I've got a lot coursing through me right now, Ty.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:08 Well, you mentioned the TCU game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:12 This was the first FBS game of the 2026 season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:16 It took place over at Aviva Stadium in Ireland.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:20 This is between North Carolina and TCU, of course, a rematch of a pretty significant game a year ago.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:25 Remember, we got a drive-in.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:27 Skip Bayless was talking up.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:29 The North Carolina offense, national championship, caliber offense.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:33 And then they gave up 41 straight points, ended up losing 48 to 14.
Dan Rubenstein 05:34 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:36 So this is the rematch.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:38 North Carolina wins this one in a bit of a rock fight.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:42 15-10.
Dan Rubenstein 05:43 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:44 15-10.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:45 The weather got progressively worse as the game wore on.
Ty Hildenbrandt 05:49 My question for you is whether this was more impressive on the North Carolina side that they would go to Ireland, that they would follow up their performance from a year ago and win in this capacity.
Ty Hildenbrandt 06:00 Or was it more upsetting on the TCU side, given what I think we hoped we would see from them on offense and certainly did not?
Dan Rubenstein 06:09 I think the TCU side, and that's couched in what North Carolina did, especially on defense, without their
Dan Rubenstein 06:16 actual defensive coordinator Steve Belichick who's on I think medical leave, I believe.
Dan Rubenstein 06:20 I I think it's the TCU thing is seems more meaningful that they came out.
Dan Rubenstein 06:25 Again, this is not the story is not written on these frogs
Dan Rubenstein 06:29 But the penalties, the the s the way that they stalled, the mistakes that they made, and the general slop for
Dan Rubenstein 06:38 A program, obviously, with a new offensive coordinator, a new starting quarterback, but a coach who's been there this long, who's been able to recruit a very recruitable area to a very recruitable school
Dan Rubenstein 06:49 who went to a national championship game and won a playoff game not terribly long ago, and to have this the way that the season opens against the same opponent that they trounced last season, albeit stateside
Dan Rubenstein 07:03 Um, I would say the more dramatic emotion would be TCU fan disappointment in the way that like you have all the time in the world to prepare for this game and this opponent.
Dan Rubenstein 07:15 And you score on a short field early.
Dan Rubenstein 07:17 You know, the lone touchdown for TCU is after, I believe, what, a nice punt return that gets them uh, you know, to the twenty-five of North Carolina
Ty Hildenbrandt 07:21 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 07:25 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 07:26 So and with opportunities in the red zone that they couldn't capitalize on, that there were mistakes and errant throws and uninspired play calling, that
Dan Rubenstein 07:37 I think I would be left more disappointed as a TCU fan than necessarily thrilled with the outcome if you're a North Carolina fan.
Dan Rubenstein 07:45 But I assume if you're a North Carolina fan, you're also kind of thrilled that it was
Dan Rubenstein 07:49 kind of a boring win that the fan base that's most disappointed and up in arms isn't yours, right?
Dan Rubenstein 07:55 That like the defense made plays after that.
Dan Rubenstein 07:58 You know, there was a long run and long Jeremy Payne run.
Dan Rubenstein 08:00 The run defense wasn't incredible for four quarters.
Dan Rubenstein 08:03 But they tightened up when they needed to.
Dan Rubenstein 08:05 The offense wasn't incredible, but they did, you know, Billy Edwards made plays in a way that, you know, North Carolina quarterbacks didn't always do last season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:12 I thought he looked pretty good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:14 I thought the combo of him and Jelani Thurman their tight end transfer from Ohio State
Dan Rubenstein 08:19 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:19 I thought they look really good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:21 I think that's potentially going to be a tough matchup for some teams in the ACC.
Dan Rubenstein 08:24 Maybe.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:25 Billy Edwards has to stay healthy, right?
Dan Rubenstein 08:27 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:27 We he's got to stay healthy, and we need to see this version of him against other defenses that are
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:33 to come here on their ACC schedule, but I thought all things considered, he looked better than I thought.
Dan Rubenstein 08:37 Gnarly weather, by the way.
Dan Rubenstein 08:39 That should be like we should men but it's you know it's Ireland, you're gonna get dampness, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:43 But no, I thought Billy Edwards Jr.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:46 looked okay.
Dan Rubenstein 08:46 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:46 I thought the combo again with Jelani Thurman was
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:50 potentially something to watch moving forward.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:52 And to the point, like you're right, in the first half the run defense was just nowhere to be found.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:57 Belichick talked about this in the postgame.
Ty Hildenbrandt 08:59 He said
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:00 They didn't really call anything different in the second half.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:02 They just sort of changed up how they were addressing the run, their run fits, as it were, to try and make things a little bit better on that front.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:09 And it seemed to work.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:10 The defense was demonstrably better against the run in the second half.
Dan Rubenstein 09:10 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:14 It just felt like they got a little bit more organized.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:16 It was a nice win for them.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:18 I'm with you, though, on the TCU side of this, man.
Dan Rubenstein 09:20 By the way, before before you start.
Dan Rubenstein 09:23 TCU can revoke, I guess, abilities to talk about the Horned Frogs.
Dan Rubenstein 09:28 So be very careful.
Dan Rubenstein 09:29 I don't know if they have the ability to revoke our credentials just to merely talk about TCU
Dan Rubenstein 09:35 But just watch your words, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 09:37 That's all I'm saying, man.
Dan Rubenstein 09:38 They're always listening.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:39 I mean, other than Jeremy Payne, the TCU running back, who I said in the preseason is headed for a big year, and I have no reason to think otherwise.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:47 He had a really good game.
Dan Rubenstein 09:48 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:48 Other than him, I have almost nothing good to say about this TCU offense.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:52 And I know it's Week 1 or Week 0, excuse me.
Dan Rubenstein 09:53 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:55 I get it
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:56 It's gonna change.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:57 It's probably gonna get better.
Ty Hildenbrandt 09:59 The play calling from their new offensive coordinator, Gordon Sammis.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:03 Definitely more intentional about the run.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:05 We saw that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:06 That's why Jeremy Payne had a good game.
Dan Rubenstein 10:06 Yep.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:08 It worked great in the first half.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:10 Otherwise, though, very vanilla.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:14 It felt to me, and I was messaging this to Tyler, who writes our newsletter.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:19 It felt to me like midway through the third quarter, they were just straight out of ideas.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:24 They didn't know what to do at that point.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:26 Now, they were without Jordan Dwyer, the top receiver, which I think kind of limited what they could do in the passing game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:32 And as we've said a couple times now, the weather got worse as the game wore on.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:36 But that was just something both teams had to deal with.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:38 So maybe that factored in here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:40 But
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:40 It just felt like I knew what was coming.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:43 And if I know what's coming, so does Bill Belichick, you know?
Dan Rubenstein 10:46 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:47 Like a week ago
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:49 Maybe longer.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:50 Didn't we read about Sonny Dykes how he wanted to quote weaponize the mobility of Jaden Craig, their transfer quarterback?
Dan Rubenstein 10:56 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 10:58 We didn't see one quarterback run.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:00 in this game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:01 Put him on the run once, make the defense think about him a little bit back there.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:04 They didn't do any of that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:06 I didn't think he was good at all either.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:08 Like when they moved him out of the pocket a little bit and when they kinda got him on the move, like you could see why there is excitement.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:15 Clearly he's athletic, clearly he's got the size, he was able to bounce around the pocket.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:19 That was I thought that aspect of his game was pretty good
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:23 But his timing was off.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:24 There were a few passes that were a bit late, a bunch of others that were just inaccurate.
Dan Rubenstein 11:25 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:29 Later in the game, he did kind of grow into it a bit.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:32 There was a stretch where he did seem to find a little bit of a rhythm.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:35 And so
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:35 Hopefully, if you're a TCU fan, that continues on as we get deeper into the season, but um not a not a good opening act for the transfer from Harvard.
Dan Rubenstein 11:45 No, he seemed to sort of speed himself up, right?
Dan Rubenstein 11:47 The the Happy Feet situation where um he was he seemed very quick.
Dan Rubenstein 11:53 to freak out a little bit.
Dan Rubenstein 11:54 Just a little bit.
Dan Rubenstein 11:56 And that was a pa again, it's it's a weird spot, not making excuses.
Ty Hildenbrandt 11:59 Kukus.
Dan Rubenstein 12:00 You know, we I I sort of kept slamming like doing like the IR in Ireland.
Dan Rubenstein 12:04 Like it's different
Dan Rubenstein 12:05 It's a situation like going from uh playing in the Ivy League to this level and immediately playing uh an ACC opponent who might be pretty decent this year.
Dan Rubenstein 12:14 We'll see.
Dan Rubenstein 12:15 It's a change.
Dan Rubenstein 12:15 It's new, but he and the offense just, other than, again, as you said, Jeremy Payne just didn't seem ready for this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 12:22 Okay, um, Virginia won thirty-four to eight, Dan
Ty Hildenbrandt 12:29 Good hell.
Dan Rubenstein 12:30 Yeah, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 12:31 Good hell.
Ty Hildenbrandt 12:32 Is Virginia better than we thought, or is NC State worse than we thought?
Ty Hildenbrandt 12:37 Or both?
Dan Rubenstein 12:38 I was gonna say yes.
Dan Rubenstein 12:40 So no, I was higher on Virginia, I believe, heading into the season than you were, although I think I kinda talked you into it and and you're suitably high as well.
Dan Rubenstein 12:47 Um you were higher on NC State
Dan Rubenstein 12:49 And again, this is not the story on NC State season, one game, and it's not the story on Virginia's, but man, that was a whooping.
Dan Rubenstein 12:58 That was just a whooping, and it was a whoopin' in a way that like
Dan Rubenstein 13:03 You wouldn't think NC State typically would be outclassed like that in the trenches.
Dan Rubenstein 13:08 Just traditionally speaking, NC State has developed a lot of good big dudes.
Dan Rubenstein 13:13 And what Virginia was able to do, we knew going into the season, Virginia was going to have a strong offensive line.
Dan Rubenstein 13:19 But Beau Pribula specifically. Pribula?
Dan Rubenstein 13:22 Is it Pribula?
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:22 "Prabula" is what everyone was calling him on the broadcast.
Dan Rubenstein 13:24 "Prabula."
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:26 It was
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:26 the the in the play by play they were doing it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:29 They did it at other studio halftime shows.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:33 No, it's Pribula.
Dan Rubenstein 13:35 How do you know?
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:35 Pribula.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:36 It says it on the UVA website.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:39 You can hit the little play button.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:40 Our friend Tom Fornelli tweeted it out.
Dan Rubenstein 13:41 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:42 I go to those sites all the time because I'm tired.
Dan Rubenstein 13:43 I know I was gonna say right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:45 of phonetically botching names.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:47 They didn't do that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:48 They called him "Prabula," like it's some sort of Halloween gag.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:52 Meanwhile, I should add, on a brighter note
Dan Rubenstein 13:52 Uh huh.
Ty Hildenbrandt 13:56 The Virginia radio guys apparently got a message from a Virginia fan who suggested that they start calling Beau Pribula "Slim Tebow."
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:08 Which isn't bad.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:09 It's not great, but it's better than "Prabula."
Dan Rubenstein 14:12 I wouldn't call him slim though.
Dan Rubenstein 14:15 Would you?
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:16 I mean he's slimmer than Tebow
Dan Rubenstein 14:18 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 14:19 I I mean he's I think he's thick with only one C, but
Dan Rubenstein 14:23 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 14:24 I I appreciate it.
Dan Rubenstein 14:25 Here's what I took away from that game.
Dan Rubenstein 14:27 I took away that Virginia and their defense that has sort of retooled a little bit but brings back a lot.
Dan Rubenstein 14:33 Um
Dan Rubenstein 14:35 They're gonna be good.
Dan Rubenstein 14:36 They're gonna be good in the ACC.
Dan Rubenstein 14:38 They're gonna be a good college football team this year.
Dan Rubenstein 14:40 The worry for me is the whole plane thing with Beau Pribula.
Ty Hildenbrandt 14:46 Probably a little bit.
Dan Rubenstein 14:47 I I wouldn't necessarily call what Virginia was doing through the air, nor did it necessarily need to do this, but I wouldn't necessarily call it like
Dan Rubenstein 14:57 Oh, we are confident in our quarterback running a pretty advanced passing attack given his experience as a college football quarterback playing for major teams like Penn State and Mizzou.
Dan Rubenstein 15:09 Now, he connected on some deeper balls and some bigger plays, which were very impressive, but they ran just the hell out of the ball and set up play action, which is what a good offense should do.
Dan Rubenstein 15:22 He hit a couple of those big throws, but he only threw it like ten or eleven times, right?
Dan Rubenstein 15:26 They weren't saying like we're gonna have a balanced offense.
Dan Rubenstein 15:28 He's gonna throw it twenty-five times, we're gonna run it, you know, forty-five times or something.
Dan Rubenstein 15:32 That's not how they leaned into the new Beau Pribula experience.
Dan Rubenstein 15:37 And so I'm curious if he's running the ball
Dan Rubenstein 15:40 this many times and throwing the ball this many times that he's gonna take hits, he is going to be counted on to be everything all of the time, if that's the case, and
Dan Rubenstein 15:54 I don't love that for Virginia.
Dan Rubenstein 15:57 I kind of like it right now because you're winning games by 20 some odd points, but it is I
Dan Rubenstein 16:03 It w my my quick scan was Jet Beau instead of JetBlue, building the whole colon, building the whole blame.
Dan Rubenstein 16:09 But that would be my only negative because
Dan Rubenstein 16:12 I there's a lot of fun thing.
Dan Rubenstein 16:14 Like the way that Virginia on defense overwhelmed NC State's offense, NC State not finding answers on the ground, not finding answers, you know, new receivers.
Dan Rubenstein 16:22 Through the air.
Dan Rubenstein 16:23 CJ Bailey looked constantly under fire against this team.
Dan Rubenstein 16:26 The offensive line looked, again, overwhelmed trying to prevent the the Virginia pass rush from wreaking havoc.
Dan Rubenstein 16:32 So
Dan Rubenstein 16:33 I'm not I'm not fully out on NC State, but they're another team.
Dan Rubenstein 16:38 This is third year quarterback.
Dan Rubenstein 16:40 This is a system that's been in place on both sides of the like it's it's certainly disappointing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:47 I was blown away by the result of this game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:51 And it could be because I was thoroughly convinced before the year that NC State was going to be pretty good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:57 They still could be pretty good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 16:58 They still could be pretty good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:00 But part of the frustration with this team over the years has been random disappearing acts.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:07 I'm gonna resist my own urges here for a second to pile on NC State because I think what we saw from Virginia might have been the single most impressive thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:16 that anybody did in Week 0.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:18 You may recall the preview we did a few weeks back.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:21 And it was mostly you because you as you said you were higher on Virginia than I was.
Dan Rubenstein 17:25 There's schedule rules.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:26 The thing that we kicked around was Virginia being Iowa East.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:31 Winning by running the football, having a good defense, having a good line.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:36 Virginia looked like a version of Iowa that knows how to use a dual threat quarterback yesterday.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:42 They physically controlled that game from start to finish.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:45 They outgained NC State by a 413 to 168 margin.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:50 Great example of that physicality.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:53 So they're up 24 zip.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:55 Third quarter.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:56 NC State not doing anything.
Ty Hildenbrandt 17:58 Finally get down the field.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:00 They score a touchdown.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:01 They get the two-point conversion.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:02 They make it 24-8.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:04 In that moment, Virginia could have crumbled a bit.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:09 They could have let NC State back into that game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:11 They answered with a 23-play drive that went 75 yards and ate 12 minutes off the clock.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:16 That made it 31 to 8.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:17 That was the game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:18 They put it on ice.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:20 NC State had zero answer for that UVA run game
Dan Rubenstein 18:25 Twenty three plays.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:28 Twenty-three plays.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:30 They had no answer.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:31 Beau Pribula was the one who really opened things up
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:35 A good quarterback running game, as you know, gives you the extra blocker.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:38 It it's it's hard.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:39 It's hard if you've got the line that you can pull it off and if you've got the type of player back there who can run it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:44 Um, Beau Pribula went for 110 on the ground, averaged over seven per carry.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:49 I have the same questions you do.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:50 At some point, they will probably encounter a team that can take away
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:54 that ground game or at least make it less effective.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:57 They're gonna force him to throw.
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:58 What does that look like?
Ty Hildenbrandt 18:59 Will they be able to keep him healthy?
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:00 They're gonna have to wrap him in bubble wrap if they want to run this offense the full way through.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:05 But look, to the point, the schedule does rule.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:09 The schedule does rule.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:10 If UVA is going to play like this all season long against this schedule, if we just sort of hypothetically project that out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:18 They're gonna win like nine games at least against this schedule.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:22 If they play this brand of football, that is good enough to get them to nine wins at least.
Dan Rubenstein 19:26 Eighty-eight percent of this, a B plus Virginia team, has SMU on the road, legitimately tough.
Dan Rubenstein 19:35 Also, we'll see, right, if like West Virginia or Cal or North Carolina, Virginia Tech by the end of the season, that game's on the road.
Dan Rubenstein 19:43 That's always tough.
Dan Rubenstein 19:43 There's always emotion there.
Dan Rubenstein 19:45 But like the starting point of Virginia, now that we've actually seen their starting point, they're gonna push teams around.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:54 They're gonna.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:55 They're gonna.
Ty Hildenbrandt 19:56 And specifically on the defensive side
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:00 NC State just couldn't figure these guys out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:02 You know, CJ Bailey had 84 yards passing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:05 All the work they did as an offense NC State in the offseason trying to beef up their offensive line.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:13 It just it didn't seem like it worked all that well against Virginia.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:16 You may recall the questions that I brought up about the receiver room as well in the preseason.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:21 And it was like, well, they focused a lot of their energy on trying to build up the offensive line.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:25 I had people in the comments yelling at me, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:28 They went out, they got receivers, they the receivers are going to pop.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:31 They they all know CJ Bailey.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:33 They played Pop Warner with them.
Dan Rubenstein 20:34 Right, right.
Dan Rubenstein 20:35 Promising new offensive line transfers.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:38 Did you hear what Dave Doeren said at halftime walking in?
Dan Rubenstein 20:38 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 20:41 I I didn't happen to catch that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:42 He said our guys gotta get open, Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:44 They couldn't get open.
Dan Rubenstein 20:45 One of the biggest keys.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:47 I know you.
Dan Rubenstein 20:47 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:47 It doesn't mean you can get open against the FBS defense.
Dan Rubenstein 20:51 That's true.
Dan Rubenstein 20:52 Well, you've only known me since 2008, 2007, 2008.
Ty Hildenbrandt 20:54 True.
Dan Rubenstein 20:56 So, you know, we didn't have that kind of chemistry.
Dan Rubenstein 20:58 Let me ask you this, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 21:00 Do you feel as an NC state believer
Dan Rubenstein 21:02 having swiped right on the wolf pack that you showed up for a first date and had NC State say like, yeah, I know I look a little bit different than I did in my profile picture.
Dan Rubenstein 21:13 It's been a tough couple years
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:14 Yeah, this is a cat fishing
Dan Rubenstein 21:16 Uh, I get stung by bees all the time.
Dan Rubenstein 21:18 Tough scene.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:19 I I don't know.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:20 I mean look, they're gonna have three games now or they can get right before their schedule kind of heats up a little bit and they've got Louisville on this thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:28 And I it's still a good enough schedule that they can
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:32 end up with a really, really good season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:34 So I don't want to push the panic button, but this was not a good showing.
Dan Rubenstein 21:38 And if NC State is as consistently coached and as consistently pseudo successfully,
Dan Rubenstein 21:45 Which I guess is maybe accurate for for NC State, as we think they generally are, this could be an incredible wake up call.
Ty Hildenbrandt 21:47 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 21:54 Okay, we saw that this player and that player may not be the guy at that position.
Dan Rubenstein 21:59 Let's see what we have in practice this week or the next couple weeks that you have now the gift of being able to self-diagnose
Dan Rubenstein 22:07 and fix quickly.
Dan Rubenstein 22:09 And so that would be the the silver lining on this this pretty rotten cloud of a Week 0 for NC State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:17 How much should we read into USC forty-two San Jose State 26?
Dan Rubenstein 22:25 In terms of like was this a sixteen point differential between these programs or a score not representing the game?
Ty Hildenbrandt 22:34 Your own adventure game.
Dan Rubenstein 22:35 I think USC is more than sixteen points better as a program than San Jose State.
Dan Rubenstein 22:40 I think there are
Dan Rubenstein 22:42 some concerns that may be exposed by uh by the Spartans, like the secondary of USC at times and San Jose State kinda being fearless and at times being successful taking those shots against the USC secondary.
Dan Rubenstein 22:56 But I think USC is one of those teams that there's enough to like along the lines of scrimmage for these teams, that they should be able to run on most teams, that they should be able to get pressure up front on defense against most teams that
Dan Rubenstein 23:10 You know, it's a new defense for SC once again, and it might take some time to fully gel and figure out what they have.
Dan Rubenstein 23:17 Uh Jayden Maiava was throwing to like five different true freshmen yesterday because Tanook Hines didn't play.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:21 Oh yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:22 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 23:23 The true freshman that people were overlooking at receiver it seems and Trent Mosley I mean maybe USC fans weren't but like the the two names that everybody was talking about were I think Kayden Dixon-Wyatt and uh Boobie Feaster, Ethan Feaster
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:23 I mean
Dan Rubenstein 23:36 uh the the true freshman from Texas, those were like the two borderline five-star receivers that were gonna be counted on.
Dan Rubenstein 23:41 And it was Trent Mosley, who by the way, has got some wiggle.
Ty Hildenbrandt 23:44 Yeah, he's good.
Dan Rubenstein 23:44 There's something kind of fun about Trent Mosley.
Dan Rubenstein 23:46 If this is who he is, game one as a you know a student at USC, right in both uh special teams, he was returning punts out there and uh in the receiving game.
Dan Rubenstein 23:56 He broke tackles
Dan Rubenstein 23:57 He's got great balance.
Dan Rubenstein 23:58 He was getting a ton of extra yards.
Dan Rubenstein 24:00 They weren't throwing deep.
Dan Rubenstein 24:01 It didn't seem like USC was showing a ton in terms of the playbook because they do have, you know, the stretch that they have in a few weeks.
Dan Rubenstein 24:09 I'm not terribly concerned.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:11 Now, I mean look, this game was thirty-five to three after three quarters, then we saw backups come in.
Dan Rubenstein 24:16 Yeah, Jonas Williams, the backup quarterback, played the fourth quarter.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:18 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:19 So it's like I I suppose we could have a conversation about depth on defense since we both believe that USC is a
Dan Rubenstein 24:19 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:27 b borderline playoff team, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:30 Good enough.
Dan Rubenstein 24:30 Sure.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:30 They've got enough enough talent to be in that conversation.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:33 I don't take too much away from seeing 26 on the board for San Jose State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:39 Like the first team was on autopilot.
Dan Rubenstein 24:41 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:41 For SC.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:42 And Jayden Maiava, like you said, he spread the ball around.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:45 He was trying to get a bunch of people involved.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:47 Twenty-five of twenty-nine, two eighty-six, two touchdowns.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:50 The offense had a success rate of 72%, which if you are keeping score at home, that is a big number that you don't usually see.
Dan Rubenstein 24:56 Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:57 So I
Ty Hildenbrandt 24:58 Don't really take much away from this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 25:00 We expected USC maybe to win by a wider margin, but I think if you actually watch the game, it was pretty apparent that USC was not, like you said, not really needing to show all that much.
Dan Rubenstein 25:12 Yeah, it it definitely had the feel of a very focused scrimmage for USC.
Dan Rubenstein 25:19 And I think the what 10, 12,000 people in attendance.
Dan Rubenstein 25:26 I think they would agree, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 25:29 Did you see Stu Mandel tweeted out a picture of the of of what the stadium looked like?
Dan Rubenstein 25:35 I generally think stadium photographs like this is the crowd before kickoff.
Dan Rubenstein 25:40 I think it's kind of cheap shots
Dan Rubenstein 25:42 Um, we're all trying to do the best we can Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 25:45 And you know, I'm not gonna make excuses.
Dan Rubenstein 25:47 It was not a pretty picture.
Dan Rubenstein 25:49 But uh
Dan Rubenstein 25:51 I don't know, man, if the championship window is open, you'd think there'd be a little bit more of a like a fervor in a big city like Los Angeles.
Dan Rubenstein 25:59 For uh for USC football and I don't know what the ticket prices were.
Dan Rubenstein 26:03 I know it was hot, but like I don't know, man.
Dan Rubenstein 26:06 This is the first football in town in quite some time
Dan Rubenstein 26:09 I I'd I'd be kinda disappointed to see that if I were like Tony Petiti in the Big Ten, that like one of these one of our sort of big programs is not not bringing the juice as they open the season.
Dan Rubenstein 26:21 I don't know.
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:22 When you talk to your friends and family out in LA, is everyone talking about the championship window being open?
Dan Rubenstein 26:25 Sure.
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:28 Has the word gotten to them yet?
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:30 Maybe that's part of the problem.
Dan Rubenstein 26:31 Man, it's it's all Dodgers and Lakers all the time.
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:35 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 26:36 And sometimes tacos.
Dan Rubenstein 26:37 That's those are the conversations.
Dan Rubenstein 26:39 Um no, USC has always sort of been like, oh, if they seem to be excellent, people will show up
Dan Rubenstein 26:45 And I don't think this year will be any different, and I think they will seem to be excellent at times, and I think more people will show up.
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:48 I think they're gonna be excellent, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:52 Uh Florida State won by 17 over New Mexico State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 26:57 A place called Marco's Pizza came in with a huge buy on The CW.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:02 I saw a million Marco's Pizza commercials.
Dan Rubenstein 27:03 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:05 I've never heard of this place.
Dan Rubenstein 27:06 Oh, it must be regional.
Dan Rubenstein 27:08 I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 27:09 Did it look good?
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:11 It looked like pizza.
Dan Rubenstein 27:11 As you're giving them a free advertisement on a a gigantic college football show?
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:14 Not a sponsor could be.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:17 Not a sponsor could be.
Dan Rubenstein 27:17 I don't know, man.
Dan Rubenstein 27:18 Valley Circle Pizza has the sort of The Solid Verbal on lock situation, but continue.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:25 You watch this game, do you watch this thing the full way through?
Dan Rubenstein 27:27 I did watch I watched it after the fact, so I didn't really focus on the commercials all too much.
Dan Rubenstein 27:33 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 27:33 Uh I like Florida State's running backs a good deal.
Dan Rubenstein 27:37 They got some bursts.
Dan Rubenstein 27:38 They have absolute ability.
Dan Rubenstein 27:39 It was Sam Singleton.
Dan Rubenstein 27:40 Sort of burst onto the scene.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:41 Yeah, Ousmane Kromah is my dude though.
Dan Rubenstein 27:42 So a new also really good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 27:45 Um yeah, he's my dude.
Dan Rubenstein 27:47 Duce is Duce.
Dan Rubenstein 27:48 He's gonna be very good once again this year.
Dan Rubenstein 27:51 Uh Florida State not having like a fifty-eight to ten type game against New Mexico State, a team that I think many teams would have against New Mexico State, who all due respect.
Dan Rubenstein 28:03 They were not scared about playing in Doak at all.
Dan Rubenstein 28:06 They were taking shots.
Dan Rubenstein 28:08 They were confident in big moments.
Dan Rubenstein 28:10 Um
Dan Rubenstein 28:12 I Florida State just sort of like sorta same situation.
Dan Rubenstein 28:16 Sloppy in terms of penalties and procedural stuff.
Dan Rubenstein 28:18 The offensive line seems pretty dubious if this is how they look against New Mexico State.
Dan Rubenstein 28:23 I I wasn't particularly like enthralled with the pass rush of Florida State, like in an opportunity for them to absolutely dictate the terms of this game.
Dan Rubenstein 28:32 Um
Dan Rubenstein 28:34 SMU's gonna be harder, man.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:35 Well, so here's the thing, okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:37 I I think I think a couple things are true at the same time.
Dan Rubenstein 28:39 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 28:40 Ash and Daniels like seem to have a little bit of juice, but at the same time I'm like
Dan Rubenstein 28:45 I don't think you can bring Ashton Daniels to a like revolutionary Florida State season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:50 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:50 The problem is it's just a little bit of juice.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:53 But look, I I like the way that they ran the ball.
Dan Rubenstein 28:56 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 28:56 My guy, Ousmane Kromah, went for 117 and a touchdown.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:00 I think the best version of this team is probably one that leads with the run.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:03 They could run it down your throat, and then that opens up guys down the field like Duce Robinson.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:07 But you're right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:08 You're not going to put Ashton Daniels in a situation where he's throwing the ball 35 times and he's going to will you to victory.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:13 That's just not the type of player he is.
Dan Rubenstein 29:15 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:15 He can put him on the run.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:16 He's a big guy.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:17 And we saw a little bit of that in this game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:20 I think the best version of this offense is one that is self-aware enough to not put themselves in those types of situations.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:27 Because to the point, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:29 Is Ashton Daniels gonna like throw you to victory against Miami on the road?
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:34 Probably not.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:35 That's just not what this team is.
Dan Rubenstein 29:36 Unlikely, yeah
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:37 Unlikely.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:38 Um
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:39 This was a close game for a while.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:42 And to your point, New Mexico State did move the ball a little bit.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:47 The big problem though.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:50 Florida State on third downs.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:52 Their third down defense was just atrocious.
Dan Rubenstein 29:53 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 29:55 Like in no universe should a team like New Mexico State, God love them.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:01 In no universe should they be 10 of 17 on third downs.
Dan Rubenstein 30:02 Sure.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:06 The New Mexico State quarterback went 10 of 13 for 153 and two touchdowns on third downs.
Dan Rubenstein 30:12 You did
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:13 Norvell talked about this after the game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:15 They had some coverage breakdowns, some communication errors, things like that that you gotta clean up
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:20 Because it's one thing against New Mexico State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:22 It's going to be a different animal against the likes of SMU, Bama, who they've got on the road, Miami, who they've got on the road, Virginia, who we just got done singing the praises of.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:32 Like there's a lot to clean up here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:34 If you watch the game, it definitely felt like they were stuck in the mud for a good chunk of it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:39 They definitely got it going a little bit later on.
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:41 So the question that I kept sort of wondering over was
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:47 Are the odds better or worse that Mike Norvell makes it through the season based on what we saw in Week 0?
Ty Hildenbrandt 30:52 Or is it too early to tell?
Dan Rubenstein 30:54 Look, you can only judge Florida State as a program against the measuring stick programs that they play on their schedule.
Dan Rubenstein 31:02 And so
Dan Rubenstein 31:03 I think it's only fair to extend grace in the way that I open the show saying you're not who you are in your first game.
Dan Rubenstein 31:10 You have the ability to diagnose and improve.
Dan Rubenstein 31:13 But this looked an awful like like a an awful lot like previous Mike Norvell games and teams.
Dan Rubenstein 31:19 And it's it's hard to imagine that if this was not going to be a game that they could dominate in the trenches
Dan Rubenstein 31:26 that suddenly when the schedule gets more difficult, and I believe they play against Alabama on the road soon as well, that you gotta feel great about where Mike Norvell has this program at the moment.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:39 Yeah, I don't I'm not gonna push the panic button on this one.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:44 I I think there was enough
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:46 on offense to like that I'm willing to punt on this question until we see a little bit more game action.
Dan Rubenstein 31:50 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:55 But um the third down thing's problematic.
Ty Hildenbrandt 31:58 They gotta they gotta clean that up.
Dan Rubenstein 31:59 Was this this was a one score game deep into the third quarter, was it not?
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:02 It was.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:02 Yeah, it was.
Dan Rubenstein 32:03 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:03 It was close.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:04 It was close for a while.
Dan Rubenstein 32:05 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:05 And New Mexico State dropped a touchdown in the back of the end.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:09 The guy was wide open.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:11 Dropped at that maybe could have changed the complexion of the game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:14 But um, you know, instead of seven, they come away with a three-pointer.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:20 Florida State poured it on late.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:22 And so they deserve credit for that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:24 But um I don't know.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:25 There are pieces here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:26 It just for whatever reason feels like it it hasn't fully congealed and maybe it will like week two or three, but we're not there quite yet.
Dan Rubenstein 32:34 But yeah, but I mean sort of
Dan Rubenstein 32:36 the point of what you just said, this should be a game where Florida State is not pouring it on late.
Dan Rubenstein 32:40 This should be a game in which the twos and threes are getting the majority of the run in the second half and getting valuable game experience and not the case
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:49 Dan, before we go any further, have you heard of a little website called Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 32:54 dot com?
Dan Rubenstein 32:54 Favorite website on the whole internet.
Dan Rubenstein 32:56 It's not even close.
Dan Rubenstein 32:56 V-E-R-B-A-L-L-E-R-S dot com is what you're referencing, correct?
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:00 That is correct.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:00 So if you want to support what we do, if you like the show, if you want to support what we do, this is going to be a very, very big week out at Verballers
Dan Rubenstein 33:01 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:08 dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:08 We have a season-long game called Run the Boards Pick'em Game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:11 Each week you get like 12 to 15 games you pick against the spread.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:15 We built it ourselves.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:16 We've got our own little Verballer portal.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:18 It's only for our community.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:19 I promise you we made it fun.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:21 It will be fun.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:22 You can share it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:23 It'll be a really good time
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:25 First week, we play for a $500 prize.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:28 We're not going to reveal what that prize is yet.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:30 We're actually still working on that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:32 But a $500 gift card
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:34 That everybody can use for anyone who signs up to play out at Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:38 dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:39 You gotta be a certified or a premium Verballer
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:41 But if you want to get in on the action, this is a very big week to do so.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:45 That game's already open.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:46 So as you're listening to this, you can go and sign up at Verballers
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:49 dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:50 You can hop into our Verballer portal and you can make your picks.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:53 You can change them all the way up till kickoff.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:54 That's cool.
Ty Hildenbrandt 33:55 But play for the prize in Week 1 and then we've got a season long prize where if you win, or I should say if you finish in the top five of run the board at the end of the season
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:06 You get a seat on our coveted board of trustees.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:10 Okay?
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:11 You get to be part of the decision-making process here.
Dan Rubenstein 34:14 Do they get the level of college football prestige?
Dan Rubenstein 34:19 and get to fly private like any of Kirk Herbstreit's dogs.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:24 Absolutely not.
Dan Rubenstein 34:25 Damn!
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:25 No.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:25 We do not have that in the budget.
Dan Rubenstein 34:26 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:27 We can afford a couple
Dan Rubenstein 34:27 Can their dogs fly private like Kirk Herbstreit's dogs?
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:31 If they've got the money to pay for it, yes, but we cannot foot that we do not have that kind of budget, unfortunately.
Dan Rubenstein 34:33 Okay, just making sure.
Dan Rubenstein 34:35 Damn.
Dan Rubenstein 34:37 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:38 Verballers.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:39 dot com, V-E-R-B-A-L-L-E-R-S dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:42 While you're there, you also get ad-free episodes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:45 Get them a little bit early.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:46 Bonus content.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:47 We do bonus stuff every Thursday.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:49 We've got a big Discord server that
Dan Rubenstein 34:49 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:51 was popping off yesterday as the games were going down.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:53 So it's the best way to support a show like ours, which is fully independent.
Ty Hildenbrandt 34:57 We rely on support from the Verballers out there.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:00 If they uh want to help us keep this boat afloat, V-E-R-B-A-L-L-E-R-S dot com.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:05 For more information, go and check it out.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:07 And if nothing more, if you made it this far, as I said at the top, rate, review, or subscribe, all that stuff helps us out.
Dan Rubenstein 35:13 Unless you're afraid to compete, obviously.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:14 Unless you're afraid to compete, that's a completely different story.
Dan Rubenstein 35:17 If you're if you're too afraid to compete in pick'em games, if you're just like, yeah, no, I know all my picks are better than the public, Joe Public, but I just there's something in me holding me back and I don't have it.
Dan Rubenstein 35:27 So I guess that's it's not for you then
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:28 I don't know if you had a chance to be very meta about the experience of watching college football yesterday and examine it from the media perspective.
Dan Rubenstein 35:37 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:38 But I had a few takeaways that I'd like to share with the Verballerhood right now.
Dan Rubenstein 35:41 I think you're probably going to lead with knowing exactly and precisely when Jordan Rodgers has something to say during a broadcast via
Dan Rubenstein 35:52 uh a graphic underneath the score.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:54 Yeah, so they got rid of the BottomLine.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:56 BottomLine's gone.
Ty Hildenbrandt 35:57 Donezo.
Dan Rubenstein 35:57 BottomLine is gone.
Dan Rubenstein 35:58 But there are like score update top right-hand corner every so often.
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:00 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:02 Yeah, so they they do that.
Dan Rubenstein 36:02 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:03 I mean they we figured they would, right?
Dan Rubenstein 36:05 Yeah, mm-hmm
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:06 But they they and they don't do it the whole game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:09 But they added at the bottom of the main score belt, every now and again, a little thing like you would see in Zoom if you're doing a Zoom call or if you're in Discord, you do voice chats in Discord, really any of these audio apps now.
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:23 Where they put a little icon next to whoever the speaker is.
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:26 And so I posted it out to our Twitter feed just asking generally what do people think of this?
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:32 I would say it was probably 55, 45 in favor of
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:37 What are your thoughts on it?
Dan Rubenstein 36:37 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 36:38 You're a little bit more opinionated on score belts.
Dan Rubenstein 36:41 Um I still don't like the look of ESPN's score bug.
Dan Rubenstein 36:46 Um I think it's it's too clunky and large, but
Dan Rubenstein 36:51 I don't miss the BottomLine.
Dan Rubenstein 36:53 I thought I thought the BottomLine had a time and place where it made sense
Dan Rubenstein 36:58 And I'm happy with the score updates going up like between plays or something in the top right hand corner or coming back from half, coming back from commercial stuff like that.
Dan Rubenstein 37:06 I want the game to be the game.
Dan Rubenstein 37:08 And if I'm super interested in other games, I have a phone, I have a laptop, I have a tablet, I have whatever.
Dan Rubenstein 37:14 Ty's got a ticker, literally a digital ticker behind him.
Dan Rubenstein 37:17 I think Pac-Man is running on it right now
Dan Rubenstein 37:19 But there are scores that you can look at on your uh on on on some sort of technological device if you need to keep taps.
Ty Hildenbrandt 37:27 That's right.
Dan Rubenstein 37:27 And
Dan Rubenstein 37:29 I understand it if like you're in a bar and like you you can't switch and maybe service is bad or I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 37:34 There there are situations where like the BottomLine is useful.
Dan Rubenstein 37:37 I always was distracted and you see like a like oh it's 57-54?
Dan Rubenstein 37:41 You're like, oh, it's a women's basketball game right now.
Dan Rubenstein 37:44 That's that's wrapping up.
Dan Rubenstein 37:45 Or like you have the the South Carolina is losing to Towson
Dan Rubenstein 37:50 But they didn't have enough real estate to fully write out South Carolina state.
Dan Rubenstein 37:56 And you're just like, wait, what's happening now?
Dan Rubenstein 37:58 It just it took away.
Dan Rubenstein 37:59 Obviously we've talked about the flashing yellow for a score update
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:01 Uh it's been see that's the thing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:03 It's been dead to me since that.
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:04 They killed it when they started using yellow to to advertise other things beyond a penalty flag.
Dan Rubenstein 38:04 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 38:09 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 38:10 I I have no interest in knowing who's talking when
Dan Rubenstein 38:14 during the broadcast.
Dan Rubenstein 38:15 That addition just seems like technology for the sake of technology that like, yep, Mic two is hot right now.
Dan Rubenstein 38:20 Now it's mic one.
Dan Rubenstein 38:21 Like, okay, let's just enjoy the broadcast.
Dan Rubenstein 38:24 Um
Dan Rubenstein 38:25 But look, if the if the BottomLine were still there, I would still be watching happily.
Dan Rubenstein 38:31 If the BottomLine's not there
Dan Rubenstein 38:33 It's a 2% cleaner experience, a 7% cleaner experience that I'm also good with.
Dan Rubenstein 38:38 It doesn't make or break anything for me.
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:40 The only other media observation I had yesterday was I wanted to give a shout out to Philly native Kevin Negandhi.
Dan Rubenstein 38:47 Oh, okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 38:47 Because when Kevin Negandhi, all the greats are from PA, when Kevin Negandhi was talking about the Miami Hurricanes, he referred to their coach specifically as Mario Cristobal, baby.
Dan Rubenstein 38:48 Everybody worthwhile is from Pennsylvania, right?
Dan Rubenstein 38:51 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 39:01 Oh, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:01 Short A You're an Eastern PA
Dan Rubenstein 39:02 You get a lot of
Dan Rubenstein 39:04 A lot of flack for Mario instead of Mario, and then seem just so confused, like, wait, I'm not saying it wrong.
Dan Rubenstein 39:14 You guys out there are saying it wrong.
Dan Rubenstein 39:17 Even though I'm pretty sure Mr.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:18 Thank you, Kevin.
Dan Rubenstein 39:19 Cristobal says his own name as Mario.
Dan Rubenstein 39:22 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:22 I don't know Kevin personally, but I would hug him if he were in this room with me.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:26 Thank you for the sweet vindication of calling him Mario Cristobal.
Dan Rubenstein 39:29 I appreciate it.
Dan Rubenstein 39:30 I dig it.
Dan Rubenstein 39:31 Good for him.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:32 All right, let's go rapid fire through these other games.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:35 We've got a couple more that I think we need to discuss.
Dan Rubenstein 39:36 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:37 Actually a relatively big one that we need to discuss here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:40 I'm curious what you learned from Memphis 27 UNLV.
Ty Hildenbrandt 39:46 21
Dan Rubenstein 39:47 Uh it's very easy.
Dan Rubenstein 39:48 Stay up late and watch Memphis and UNLV type games in the mountain west, in the American, wherever you enjoy football.
Dan Rubenstein 39:57 Uh super entertaining.
Dan Rubenstein 39:58 Uh
Dan Rubenstein 40:00 Big plays, Jackson Arnold was something until he wasn't.
Dan Rubenstein 40:05 Um I I don't know.
Dan Rubenstein 40:07 I just I enjoyed the cartoonish nature of this game.
Dan Rubenstein 40:10 I enjoyed the Memphis defensive line
Dan Rubenstein 40:13 absolutely hounding UNLV up front as the game wore on in the second half and I enjoyed the big runs.
Dan Rubenstein 40:21 I enjoyed
Dan Rubenstein 40:22 The best of Marcus Stokes was super entertaining for uh for Memphis.
Ty Hildenbrandt 40:24 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 40:27 I enjoyed the job that seems kind of impossible to do, that Charles Huff has now done.
Dan Rubenstein 40:32 At least in the first game for Memphis, but following what he was able to do at Southern Miss last season, a team that was pretty terrible before he arrived and turned them into something.
Dan Rubenstein 40:41 That Memphis is seems to be playing with a little bit of of Verve, a little bit of juice.
Dan Rubenstein 40:48 And I dig that on the road in like a huge NFL stadium in Week 0.
Dan Rubenstein 40:54 Um
Dan Rubenstein 40:55 And my God, can Jackson Arnold like develop s an antenna somewhere in his body to know where where and when the pass rush is happening?
Dan Rubenstein 41:06 Uh, because
Dan Rubenstein 41:07 It seemed to escape him late.
Dan Rubenstein 41:09 But I I was super entertained by the game and uh hopeful that Memphis helps to make the American as deep as we hope it it will be this season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:16 This was Tim Brando in Vegas, Dan.
Dan Rubenstein 41:19 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 41:19 And Devin Gardner, I believe?
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:20 Devin Gardner, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:21 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 41:21 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:21 They had Urban Meyer in the booth for a little bit, yucking it up with Devin Gardner doing the normal Ohio State Michigan thing.
Dan Rubenstein 41:24 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 41:26 Elvis came out with the UNLV team, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:29 As you have to and yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 41:30 As he should, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:32 Remember when I mentioned Memphis as a sleeper playoff team and your eyebrows sorta went up?
Dan Rubenstein 41:36 Look, it is closer to happening this morning as we record this than it was yesterday morning before that game happened.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:37 Remember that?
Dan Rubenstein 41:45 I agree.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:46 Yeah, I don't think it's far fetched.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:48 I really don't.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:48 I mean you gotta squint to see it, but this is a really good opening act for Charles Huff and it's look, it's an uphill climb.
Dan Rubenstein 41:48 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:53 There's so much new, but
Ty Hildenbrandt 41:55 I thought the fight that they showed on the road here in Week 1 with new coach and everything that is new, they trailed by seven points three different times in this game.
Dan Rubenstein 42:01 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:04 They answered each one of 'em, and then they went on to score the final thirteen points to eventually win.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:10 Um what happened with their defensive line slash pass rush was really notable, especially down the stretch.
Dan Rubenstein 42:19 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:19 Jackson Arnold sacked six times.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:21 Four of them came within the final seven minutes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:24 That ended up being, I think, a pretty significant moment or series of moments in this game that ultimately helped give Memphis the win.
Dan Rubenstein 42:32 And they kind of weren't a threat until they were.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:32 Um
Dan Rubenstein 42:34 UNLV was running straight through them.
Ty Hildenbrandt 42:34 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 42:36 The tackling in this game, just overall, pretty atrocious at times.
Dan Rubenstein 42:41 Um
Dan Rubenstein 42:41 Jackson Arnold had time.
Dan Rubenstein 42:43 He was hitting receivers downfields.
Dan Rubenstein 42:44 He himself was running like through wide open lanes.
Dan Rubenstein 42:48 And the Memphis team, to their credit, the Memphis defense up front especially.
Dan Rubenstein 42:53 Just kept coming.
Dan Rubenstein 42:54 They kept coming.
Dan Rubenstein 42:54 They they did not get worn down.
Dan Rubenstein 42:56 They did not get uh sort of uh disappointed by the bigger plays and they kept at it and it worked out
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:03 It really did.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:04 And I uh for a good chunk of this game I thought Jackson Arnold was like pretty good.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:07 I was like, Oh
Dan Rubenstein 43:08 Good nails, yeah
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:09 Yeah, like this this would have been a better version of him at his previous stop.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:14 So if we got this version of him, it would have been an interesting uh Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 43:17 Sure.
Dan Rubenstein 43:18 But they play four quarters, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 43:21 They play four of 'em.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:22 I know.
Dan Rubenstein 43:23 You gotta be good all four.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:23 I know.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:24 Twenty-seven to twenty-one, a really nice win for Charles Huff going on the road.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:29 And um
Dan Rubenstein 43:29 Definitely.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:31 Winning here uh against UNLV.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:34 Stanford 37, Hawaii 27.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:38 This game featured a miracle front door cover.
Dan Rubenstein 43:39 Man.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:43 A miracle front door cover.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:46 So in case you're wondering, Stanford was a four and a half point favorite.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:49 They scored the go-ahead touchdown with about a minute and forty left.
Dan Rubenstein 43:53 And by the way, this is this is after like looking really good for most of the game and kind of not dominating, but like they were the team in this game.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:53 That made it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 43:58 Correct.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:02 That is correct.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:03 They score the go-ahead touchdown.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:05 That makes it 30 to 27.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:07 Hawaii gets the ball back.
Dan Rubenstein 44:07 Yeah, mm-hmm.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:09 Their quarterback, Micah Alejado, fumbles.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:13 Stanford, nice little scoop and score, runs it back for a touchdown, puts him up by 10.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:21 Gives him the front door cover.
Ty Hildenbrandt 44:23 Thirty-seven twenty-seven.
Dan Rubenstein 44:26 Yeah, this was okay.
Dan Rubenstein 44:28 So the good from Stanford, other than needing to come back in a game that they led basically the whole time, was
Dan Rubenstein 44:36 for long stretches in this game on both sides of the ball appeared to be boringly competent, which is kinda new for Stanford.
Dan Rubenstein 44:45 Davis Warren hit dudes running open downfield
Dan Rubenstein 44:49 Davis Warren looked confident in this offense.
Dan Rubenstein 44:52 The running game and there were a couple of bigger plays.
Dan Rubenstein 44:54 It wasn't really there for Stanford, but they had a couple of big moments and
Dan Rubenstein 44:57 Um I think with Micah Ford, right?
Dan Rubenstein 44:59 He had a couple big moments, but it was largely not a ton there against the Hawaii defense up front.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:00 Microphone.
Dan Rubenstein 45:04 Um
Dan Rubenstein 45:05 And then they got stops on defense, which has not always been the case for Stanford recently.
Dan Rubenstein 45:10 And winning is better than losing.
Dan Rubenstein 45:12 This is a team against whom they lost last year.
Dan Rubenstein 45:15 So a step in the right direction for Stanford.
Dan Rubenstein 45:17 It looks like
Dan Rubenstein 45:18 Their act isn't together, but it's closer than it was.
Dan Rubenstein 45:22 And you know, they they they found pop in the receiving core at times.
Dan Rubenstein 45:27 It was nice to see for Stanford.
Dan Rubenstein 45:29 I don't know how much this changes their full season outlook.
Dan Rubenstein 45:32 But if they wanted to win more games than they've been, this game was must-win uh when you're when you're counting on your fingers.
Dan Rubenstein 45:39 They had to take this one uh when you look at their schedule.
Dan Rubenstein 45:42 So good for Stanford, a step in the right direction.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:44 A career high 310 passing yards for Davis Warren, still playing college football.
Dan Rubenstein 45:47 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 45:50 Still playing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:50 Still playing.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:51 I was looking for my sound.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:52 Where is it?
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:53 Nice little front door cover.
Dan Rubenstein 45:54 Sorry, dogs.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:55 Sorry, doggos out there.
Dan Rubenstein 45:56 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 45:57 Sorry.
Dan Rubenstein 45:58 But a lot of familiar quarterback names, by the way, that have just been playing call like you have Davis Warren, Noah Kim for Eastern Michigan, Ashton Daniels has been playing for a minute.
Dan Rubenstein 46:07 Um, Jackson Arnold has been playing for a while.
Dan Rubenstein 46:10 So CJ Bailey's been playing for a while, even though he's just a third year guy.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:12 Hey, this has been the story in the run-up to the 2026 season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:16 A lot of quarterbacks that we know a thing or two about, yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 46:16 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 46:17 Jayden Maiava?
Dan Rubenstein 46:19 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 46:19 Speaking of UNLV, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:21 Let's close this out with the welcome party for the two new teams in FBS.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:27 We had North Dakota State.
Dan Rubenstein 46:27 Please,
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:29 Winning in resounding fashion, 33-7 in the Fargodome over Jacksonville State.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:34 We had Sacramento State going to Ypsilanti and losing to Eastern Michigan by a twenty-eight to seventeen score.
Dan Rubenstein 46:41 I don't think you pronounce the Y, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:41 I believe the
Dan Rubenstein 46:43 It's just Ypsilani.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:43 Ypsilani Well, I say Mario, you say Mario, so yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 46:44 I don't think it's yip.
Dan Rubenstein 46:45 I believe it's just Ip.
Dan Rubenstein 46:46 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 46:48 You do your thing.
Dan Rubenstein 46:49 Do what feels right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:51 Um I believe the five hundredth
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:55 500th victory in the history of the Eastern Michigan football program as well.
Dan Rubenstein 46:59 Great.
Ty Hildenbrandt 46:59 Eastern Michigan also has a raccoon turnover chain.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:03 Did you see this?
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:05 They call it the the MACcoon chain.
Dan Rubenstein 47:09 Perfect, no notes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:11 Beautiful.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:11 Um so they win
Dan Rubenstein 47:12 Is there like a folk hero raccoon on campus that they're honoring or something?
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:16 I did not have time this morning to dig into the full um etymology behind this, but I will, believe me, I will.
Dan Rubenstein 47:19 Okay.
Dan Rubenstein 47:24 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:27 Here is what I thought.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:28 I thought in watching that North Dakota State game, first saw Brian Kelly on the call.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:34 I thought Brian Kelly was actually quite good as an announcer.
Dan Rubenstein 47:35 I I thought he was pretty good.
Dan Rubenstein 47:37 I'm looking at the raccoon chain right now, by the way.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:37 I
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:39 Oh it okay I was wondering what that pause was on your end.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:41 You're looking at the record.
Dan Rubenstein 47:41 It's just, it's not an actual like stuffed raccoon.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:45 No, no, no.
Dan Rubenstein 47:46 It's just an it's a printed, yeah, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:46 It's not like a taxidermy thing.
Dan Rubenstein 47:48 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:49 Right.
Dan Rubenstein 47:49 Apparently it came from a YouTube comment.
Dan Rubenstein 47:51 Continue.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:52 Perfect.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:53 Um Brian Kelly was good on the call.
Ty Hildenbrandt 47:55 A little bit rough in times, but the fact that he was up there paying his dues, doing a game in the Fargodome, I thought was was, you know, he he's
Dan Rubenstein 47:57 Okay.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:04 I obviously taking it seriously and wants to do it.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:06 So he did a good job.
Dan Rubenstein 48:06 Definitely.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:07 Uh North Dakota State did a good job.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:09 North Dakota State in their first FBS game looks suspiciously like all the other North Dakota State games that I have seen over the last 10 years.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:17 You know, they controlled possession, they ran the ball, they gradually suffocated Jacksonville State.
Dan Rubenstein 48:17 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:22 It was close for a little bit, but eventually they sort of asserted their dominance.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:27 They outgained Jacksonville State by a pretty wide margin.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:31 After it was tied early on, North Dakota State just went on this run, they scored the final 26 points.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:36 So I like the immediate question for me is not whether they're going to be able to survive now being an FBS team.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:42 I
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:42 I think we know that they'll be just fine.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:44 They've got plenty of talent on hand.
Dan Rubenstein 48:46 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:47 It it to me immediately shifts to a question of, okay
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:52 To what degree should we consider them a contender in the Mountain West, in the new look Mountain West, right?
Ty Hildenbrandt 48:59 I think we saw a little bit of a shakeup yesterday, obviously with the UNLV loss, North Dakota State with their ability to run the ball.
Dan Rubenstein 48:59 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:06 I think it's an interesting conversation.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:08 I'm not saying they win it, and we obviously need to see a little bit more data, but the fact they were just able to play their style of football again against any FBS team, I think is really encouraging.
Dan Rubenstein 49:15 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 49:23 Their offense was not able to finish in the second half.
Dan Rubenstein 49:25 Their lone touchdown in the second half, they jumped on a bad snap in the end zone for a touchdown, uh, but held to field goals, so
Dan Rubenstein 49:33 Obviously it's Week 0, something to address, you know, getting getting the offense a little bit more fine-tuned, but you know, it's a big moment for North Dakota State, and they showed up.
Dan Rubenstein 49:41 Good for them.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:41 They did.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:42 And Sacramento State, look, Sacramento State's defense probably made enough plays to keep things interesting for a while.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:49 Um, but the offense looked like they're still adjusting.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:52 You know, like it it the physicality in particular is something that stood out to me.
Dan Rubenstein 49:52 Right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 49:56 It just seems like they might be a cup below at this point.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:00 As we've seen with plenty of teams that make the jump up, it doesn't always pop right.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:03 Not everyone's James Madison.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:05 Maybe North Dakota can be James Madison.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:08 I don't think Sac State's gonna be.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:09 I think it's gonna take a little bit for them to adjust to
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:12 Yeah, the speed and the size of the game at the FBS level.
Dan Rubenstein 50:14 Yeah, a little bit sloppy from what I could tell, and uh look
Dan Rubenstein 50:18 It's Week 0, Week 1, whatever.
Dan Rubenstein 50:20 And good for Eastern Michigan, who has been a a great story in recent years with Chris Creighton and Noah Kim's still there.
Dan Rubenstein 50:27 Um, you know, had I think it was the big second quarter where they they poured it on a little bit and just look like the the team ready for the moment to a greater degree.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:35 That's Week 0, Dan Rubenstein.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:38 Um we've got a really big week.
Dan Rubenstein 50:40 It's Week 0 if you want to ignore Cal Poly over Idaho, my big beautiful San Luis Obispo
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:46 Or William & Mary in their miraculous comeback over Villanova on the road.
Dan Rubenstein 50:50 Pat McQuaide, yeah, absolutely.
Dan Rubenstein 50:53 Um what Southern Illinois goes down to West Florida, new FCS team.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:57 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 50:58 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 50:58 Big deal.
Dan Rubenstein 50:58 I mean the West Florida had a bunch of transfers too to bigger places
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:01 Lafayette escaping from Multi-Sport Field with a no contest.
Dan Rubenstein 51:04 With a no contest?
Dan Rubenstein 51:06 Lightning in the area?
Dan Rubenstein 51:08 Yeah.
Dan Rubenstein 51:08 No, it was it was a fun FCS week from what I could tell as well.
Dan Rubenstein 51:11 Um watched a little bit, but uh no, it's now things get big.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:16 Well, this is where I'm going with this.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:17 This is going to be a very big week for us, very big week for college football fans, certainly for us here in the Verballerhood.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:24 Um we will have
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:26 an episode early in the week.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:27 We will have an episode a little bit later in the week previewing the games, and then we will do our normal stream on Saturday night after all the action.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:35 So
Dan Rubenstein 51:35 Yes.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:35 And I shouldn't say after all the action, because that's technically not true.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:38 We do have three games that are going to be played on Sunday, and then another one that's going to be played on Monday.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:43 You could probably make a case that some of those games being played on Sunday and Monday are better than the ones being played on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Dan Rubenstein 51:48 Not a difficult case, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:50 But we will celebrate them for all their glory as we see fit here.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:56 Please make sure you hit rate review.
Ty Hildenbrandt 51:58 or subscribe so you don't miss any of the episodes and also let other people know what we're doing over here at The Solid Verbal.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:04 Verballers.
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Ty Hildenbrandt 52:09 Love to have you with us throughout the course of the college football season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:13 If you have yet to do so, we've got a newsletter that goes out twice a week now.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:17 Go to solidverbal.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:18 com slash newsletter.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:19 It's entirely free
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:20 Give you an update early in the week, give you something new that you might not know later in the week.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:25 I'm excited about what we're going to be doing this season.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:28 Should be a lot of fun.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:29 And of course, if you've got any comments, anything you got to get off your chest, you can reach out on social media if you want, but the best way to hit us up is always solidverbal at Gmail
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:38 dot com.
Dan Rubenstein 52:39 Agree.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:41 All right, Dan.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:42 Um rest up, hydrate, stretch.
Dan Rubenstein 52:44 Of course, yeah
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:46 We got a big week in front of us.
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:47 Week 1 is about to become a reality.
Dan Rubenstein 52:51 What this is how I'm gonna close this out, Ty.
Dan Rubenstein 52:54 What part of your body are you most worried about making it through the long, arduous physical season?
Ty Hildenbrandt 52:59 My voice.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:00 It's already going.
Dan Rubenstein 53:01 Oh, interesting.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:02 You can hear it already.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:03 It's going.
Dan Rubenstein 53:03 Yeah, mine's not terrify mine's either like a C C minus right now.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:07 I woke up at like five thirty today.
Dan Rubenstein 53:07 I I've I've been lower.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:09 I was trying to do the vocal exercises because you know I've had the voice thing over the years
Dan Rubenstein 53:11 Same.
Dan Rubenstein 53:13 Yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:14 It's it's coming back.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:15 It's starting to come back now.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:16 So we should probably cut this off before it fully dies.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:20 We got a lot of yelling, a lot of excitement that we need to communicate out this week.
Dan Rubenstein 53:20 Yeah, yeah.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:25 So why don't we leave it here?
Dan Rubenstein 53:26 To be clear, mine is hammies slash glutes.
Dan Rubenstein 53:29 I need to do a better job standing up, walking around while watching these games, staying loose, getting a stretch in early.
Ty Hildenbrandt 53:36 You need some sort of contraption like Sylvester Stallone in Over the Top, where as you're recording, you can just sort of, you know
Dan Rubenstein 53:42 Buddy, if anybody has any sort of hammy contraption that I can use while watching
Dan Rubenstein 53:49 you know, Minnesota football or something, please, solidverbal at Gmail
Dan Rubenstein 53:54 dot com.
Dan Rubenstein 53:55 College football involves a lot of sitting for me, so I gotta stay loose, stay limber
Dan Rubenstein 54:01 And stay solid, right?
Dan Rubenstein 54:03 That's what I have to do.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:04 Words of wisdom from Dan Rubenstein for that guy over there in beautiful Chicago, Illinois.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:10 for myself over here in eastern Pennsylvania.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:12 We'll talk to y'all soon in the meantime.
Ty Hildenbrandt 54:13 Stay solid.
Dan Rubenstein 54:14 Peace.