Power-Cleaned Transcript (Timecodes Preserved)

Ty Hildenbrandt · 00:18

Dan Rubenstein, happy Monday, my great and good friend. I hope you got a lot of sleep on Saturday night, on Sunday night. I hope you are back to full capacity as we enter into game week in advance of a very big week for my friend. How are you?

Dan Rubenstein · 00:35

I'm always great on Mondays, Ty. This wasn't always the case. Mondays I catch up on sleep after Saturday. And look, I got like kids' sports all day on Sunday, which is terrific, but we're standing on rainy fields yesterday watching games, which happened to be very fun, but all the same, just standing in the rain. Last night I knew I slept well because my dreams were weird. They went places, which means my body was trying to heal. Monday morning, kids are back in school. Kids, this is like every single Monday they're in the season. Kids are back in school. I get to watch games that I couldn't watch during the day either because you know there's just a bajillion games or because they're happening late at night while we're recording. So, you know, I get a chance to watch like UCLA-Purdue. Sidebar: Purdue has an offense.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:17

Hey, hey.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:17

Kinda sorta maybe. We'll see. Um, so Monday mornings, then yeah, you know, you fire up the camera, you turn on the lights, and boom, there you are on my screen. I just, it's it's hit after hit after hit on Mondays for me, Ty. So I'm thrilled to be here.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:31

Well, I am thrilled to be here as well, and I am thrilled to be speaking to the Verballerhood. The support so far through the early part of the season has been phenomenal. We would be nothing without our wonderful community. Both those who listen to the free feeds out on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or YouTube, wherever it is you listen to the show.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:44

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:52

Also, of course, our great and good friends out at Verballers.com where we're running pick'em games every week. Discord popping off throughout the course of a college football game day.

Dan Rubenstein · 06:24

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 07:28

Today's episode is going to be a bit of an homage. Thank you. A little bit of a delayed reaction, or you didn't see that coming. It's okay.

Dan Rubenstein · 10:52

No, I'm still having weird dreams.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 13:07

A little bit of an homage.

Dan Rubenstein · 17:13

I'm still having weird dreams. Continue.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 18:49

To our premium Verballers. We pulled them bright and early this morning.

Dan Rubenstein · 22:01

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 22:02

We were asking for a few questions that we could use on today's show. We got so many good questions, we decided maybe we'll just run with those. Maybe that's the show on this here Wednesday. So we're gonna dive into those in just a little bit. One more time, please make sure you rate, review, and subscribe. Please make sure you at least check out Verballers.com. And SolidVerbal.com is the newsletter, which we send out for free. Twice a week, once every Monday morning to get you caught up another Thursday mornings, Thursday slash mornings, early afternoons to teach you something new, perhaps that you didn't know before.

Dan Rubenstein · 23:24

Yes. Buddy, I have questions too. It's not just, you know, these these beautiful, handsome, spectacular listeners of ours that are supporting the show at Verballers.com. I've got tons of questions looking across this landscape, and uh I am I'm I think we have some answers, maybe, but

Ty Hildenbrandt · 25:09

Okay. Well, well, who does really after week three? But let's just let's dive in.

Dan Rubenstein · 26:59

Let's do it.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 29:40

Let's do this, Dan, I hope you're ready for it this time. As often as we can, we like to pay sweet homage. To the fine Verballers that write in, this is a crop of our premium Verballers out there at Verballers.com.

Dan Rubenstein · 30:20

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 34:54

Please check that out. It is the best way to support what Dan and I do. Why don't we start with your questions? Dan Rubenstein, you said you had a couple. I know I have a couple.

Dan Rubenstein · 35:00

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 37:10

We got good ones that were sent in to us, but you're the co-host of the show, my man. What do you got for me?

Dan Rubenstein · 40:12

So here's a question. Who do we know the most about? Right? Whose data points and performances so far? Because we do have teams, right, that, like they've played what we perceive to be quality teams. We don't know to what extent, but like a team like Ole Miss has played LSU and Louisville. Two teams that seem somewhat tested. Like Uh up and down the sport. I'm not just talking about like, oh, they've played two like potential top 15 teams, whatever it is. Like Oregon State, we kind of have an idea, should be pretty feisty in quality this year. based on how they played, two teams that we also perceive to be of quality in Houston and Texas Tech, depending on your stance on the the the powerful Grizzlies of Montana as well. But I I'm wondering when you go through the sport. Who are the data point teams? And I um I apologize, we don't have any Brent Spiner. Is that the actor who played Data on Star Trek? We don't have any Brent Spiner drops, though I have seen him like in a restaurant. I'm like, oh cool, in a restaurant

Ty Hildenbrandt · 42:10

In a restaurant? Did you go over and commend him on his work?

Dan Rubenstein · 44:26

I didn't because when you're in the public eye like Brent and I both are, you learn No, there's like a an unspoken thing

Ty Hildenbrandt · 44:28

Sure, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 47:30

in I guess places like LA and New York and the Lehigh Valley, that you just you don't feed the animals, Ty. You let everybody just sort of do their thing. And I'm sure people afford you that luxury as well in your daily life. Scooping up cheesesteaks and Wegmans pre-made salmon. Right?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 47:56

Uh, yeah, I don't really have that problem.

Dan Rubenstein · 53:41

I don't know where that took us, but

Ty Hildenbrandt · 56:25

I have I have to wear a disguise and a fake mustache in order to be out amongst the people, but yes.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:01:38

I get that. You check into hotel rooms under assumed names like Dan Wetzel, right? That you are just like that's not well maybe it is. I don't know. Okay. Which teams though? Ty, data points, Brent Spiner points. Which teams do you feel like you have a handle on because of who they've played? And given that they've played eight or twelve quarters against, you know, reasonably matched up teams, who who are those squads right now?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:05:14

I think the obvious one and you said him is Ole Miss right now, right?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:07:37

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:08:18

We have a pretty good sense for what Ole Miss is. They have the win over Louisville. They had the win this weekend over LSU. This was one of the things, by the way, that was sent into us a lot because I posted

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

our AP Top 25 ballot, there were a lot of people trying to make the case for Ole Miss to be higher. You may recall when we did the episode on Saturday night, initially we had flipped Ole Miss and LSU. Ole Miss had been at ten in our week two poll or a poll after week two, and LSU was up at seven. Initially we flipped them. But then you had the insight to go up to five with Ole Miss. And we've had some people chime in and say, well, you know a lot more about Ole Miss than you do maybe Notre Dame, maybe Georgia.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Georgia, sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Why why not put them all the way up at two ahead of Ohio State, at least in our ballot?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I think that's a very valid point. I don't necessarily think they're better than the teams in front of them, but I understand that logic, and so for sure, Ole Miss is one of those data point teams. I think to a degree, we can say we know a fair amount about both Texas and Ohio State. We will know a lot more about Texas after this weekend, given that they are on the road against Tennessee.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

First time leaving Austin, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But first time leaving Austin. The nature of that game against Ohio State, their ability to come from behind, to score unanswered points, to win that one basically in the final six minutes of the game told me a lot about Texas. It is a brutal schedule for the Texas Longhorns. My sense is that we will continue to learn more about them, but as data points go.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

You'd be hard pressed to find a team outside of Texas or outside of the Texas Longhorns that you can point to and say they singularly had a game. That I think I could hitch my wagon to more than that Ohio State game. Like I learned a lot just from watching that game. Certainly more than I've learned from the likes of Georgia, the likes of Indiana. the likes of a number of these other teams on our sheet right now.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

But

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

So I think Texas is another one. Does that make sense to you? Does that compute?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Uh, well, look, Texas State and UTSA are are real teams, of course. Texas is not measuring themselves against those teams. That's who they've scheduled this season. Um the only thing on the Ohio State thing

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Kihas,

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, obviously you have to give more credit to Texas than to Ohio State because of how they finished that game. But if we're talking about the the specifics of what we think of Texas, three quarters of struggling offense in that game.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Right, right.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Now, they did what an excellent team should do and finish strong and and you know get through that fourth quarter and figure out how to get stops and get on the board. And so they did that, but like that's part of the the math of right now what we know about Texas because that is the measuring stick matchup that we have for them thus far.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, and and to say that I feel like I know something about Texas is not to imply that Texas isn't fallible.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right, totally. I I get what you're saying.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I did see the first three quarters of that game as well. And so I have questions. It just so happens that they were able to kind of zoom in front of Ohio State at the gun. But I feel like we learned something about the makeup of this team. I could go the other way too on some other teams in power conferences.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

But but I I think I think you should. The only thing I will add in in a sort of yes and way, hopefully, shout out to all of our improv dorks out there, is there's there's somebody in I think call that covers college basketball, something like that. I don't know if it was NBA playoffs or college basketball that says, you know, you what you want to do is you want to like add together road wins minus home losses that I feel like we don't have data points until we've seen what you look like, at least away from home. Now Ole Miss has played in a neutral site game, but that was against a quality team, not like in their own backyard that closely. And so that's when like I really think that if we're going to separate what we know, you know, about with teams, like I would say we know like a in a more pronounced way about Kentucky than what we know about Texas. right now because not only have they left home but they thrived in a difficult environment so that's and we know like

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I I understand that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Uh you know, on the other side of things, like we know things about Oregon now because of what they look like at Oklahoma State, that they weren't prepared for that specific moment.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Well, yes.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

that you know had they won that game, we'd be like, yeah, that was that's good. We don't know exactly what Oklahoma State is now. We know more about Oregon, I think, from that loss than we would have from a win, if that makes any sense.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Well, and I was gonna go there next. I was gonna talk about Oklahoma.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I was gonna talk about Michigan. I was gonna talk to a degree about Texas A&M, although we have a question here later about Texas A&M. I don't want to give away the game too much.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure, I think that's a good one.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I think we know, at least at this point early in the season, Oklahoma's offense is not fixed. That is not exactly a take, Dan. If you have watched Oklahoma these last two games, we could say at this moment doesn't mean they won't fix it.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Doesn't mean they won't.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Did you watch Brent Venables in his press conference?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I think I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm saying it doesn't mean that they won't.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I know.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

It just means at time of recording here in advance of week four, they most certainly have not resolved that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I'm just going to lean on the dude who knows this team better than literally everybody in the world in Brent Venables. And look, it was in the shadow of that New Mexico win. And they won. Winning is better than losing. We don't have a copyright on that, do we? Winning is better than losing.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I don't think so.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Um, but when somebody asked him like, is there any like takeaway? I'm paraphrasing here, any any takeaway in like a positive direction that you can take from this? And Brent Venables essentially said, “Did you see any positive take? I didn’t.”

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, no, that's always the good stuff.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

So he's not vibing right now on the idea of in-season growth. At least in the shadow of those last two performances. You know, it I the the tune will change, I'm sure, as we get later in the week. But uh yeah, not great.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Michigan, I think we have an understanding for what Michigan is. And there are plenty of offensive questions on that side of the ball. The one thing that I will say about Michigan that we cannot say or should not say about Oklahoma. New coach, new system.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, I was gonna say we can extend a little bit of grace if it's year one, but uh you know on that I I'm interrupting, but like We can be impressed by Will Stein in Kentucky because of what they showed on the road already in year one. Continue.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Michigan though is worth charting because I think there is reason to be optimistic there could be growth.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Agree?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And we might have seen a little bit of that from Bryce Young, Bryce Young, Bryce Underwood, excuse me, and Bryce Young for Notre Dame.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yes. There's a lot of braces. Bryce Love is on TV now, by the way.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But I saw that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, he's doing a good job in studio.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I did see that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Continue.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Texas A&M I will get to because as I said, we have some questions that came in about Texas A&M as well. What about teams outside of the top twenty-five, Dan? Are there teams that you look at around college football?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And of course the big challenge when we do an exercise like this As we go into week four, there are very few teams that have those matchups, those tent-pole games that we could rely upon, that we feel confident in looking back, making a conclusion.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

There just aren't that many teams that are in that boat. Ole Miss is obviously an exception. That said, as we look around college football, given the performances that we have seen, just going strictly on eye test, maybe not resume.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Are there programs around college football that you feel you have a pretty good handle on right now?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, of course. All over the place. So if if you've played two games, especially if you've played on the road and you're seeing overlap between those performances. You're like, okay, this is what they kind of look like on defense in both of these games. This is what they kinda look like on offense in both of these games. I can see where this is going. Even in a year one situation, like UCLA for instance. You're like I think this team is going to lean on the run. I think this team might have some defensive issues at times through the air, as they did against Cal for a chunk of that game, and as they certainly did against Purdue in some of those higher leverage passing downs. Um I think we're of the mind that they're going to be entertaining against pretty much everybody.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Oh yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

And in a year one, when you are getting your fans to feel a little bit of the vapors that they haven't felt in a minute Um that's a a success story. So yeah, something uh a team like UCLA, um, you know, a team like Virginia Tech right now, where you're like, look, I the the opponents haven't been there necessarily, but you watch them and you're like They're not going to win 10 games, but there's something there, right? Based on that performance against Maryland, based on like what Ethan Grunkemeyer looks like against again, it's Maryland and their schedule otherwise isn't crazy, but you're like, I see what they're going for. Even three games in, even without the biggest, you know, the the biggest number of data points, that's a team where I'm like, okay uh I I think we know something about them. Um is there a conference you want to look at specifically?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I'm curious about the ACC because I feel like we know what Miami is going to be.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

We got a lot of Big 12 questions. ACC, sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

This isn't any great secret. Miami is clearly going to be the top dog in the ACC. I feel like we know a thing or two about Duke.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

But we haven't Miami's been Wake Forest and Stanford.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Miami is not battle tested at this point.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But the nature of their wins leaves me with some confidence that this is going to be the Miami that was promised. They may not go 12-0 The manner in which they are winning these games, though, is utterly dominant. They have scored 155 points. They've only given up 33 so far this year. To my eye, that's 122-point margin through three games. That's pretty good.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Who's the first team on their schedule where you're like, okay, now that they've played them, either at home or on the road from Miami, I have it in front of me They have Central Michigan, road Clemson, Florida State, Pitt, road North Carolina, and then we know that the road Notre Dame game is going to be huge for both of these teams data points. Is there a game before that game for Miami where you say to yourself, okay, I have circled that one as a like, that is the moment where I will update my Miami software?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yes and no. I mean, both Clemson and Florida State and Florida State have been less than impressive this year.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

All right, that covers both directions. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Clemson is on the road, but I don't know what that means with Tait Reynolds with the state of this Clemson program right now. They easily could have lost a week ago.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

That's true.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Pitt is an interesting matchup to me. I also don't feel like I know anything about Pitt because they've played two straight weather games.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, it's true.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I like their personnel. I want to like their personnel more. I want more to go on before I'm willing to go there

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

The game against North Carolina could be the answer, and I only say this because it is a prime look-ahead spot with Notre Dame on deck.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And the question with Miami football in the year of our Lord 2026, specifically as it relates to the ACC, is not, is Miami going to be a good team? It's not, is Miami going to be a playoff team? It's can Miami avoid some of the brain farts we have seen in the Cristobal era?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Games like this, or games that remain nameless at this point in time, ones that we do not see coming, that they randomly put up a stinker. The North Carolina game could be one of those given the circumstances. Maybe that's the game. Maybe that's the one. That one's on the road. It is a week before they travel to South Bend. Perhaps their attention will be elsewhere. There is not an obvious answer for me before that Notre Dame game. Certainly the tests that they have coming up. Clemson, I think. Florida State, Pitt, North Carolina may all be better tests than what we saw against Wake Forest, than what we're going to see in week four against Central Michigan.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Is there a definitive answer though? No. Notre Dame is the big one. Notre Dame might be the test.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, I I don't think there is. I you know, like I I would love to make the case for Pitt or Ed you know, the Florida State game is always wonky and competitive, no matter you know, who's actually good that year, but I don't think it's it happens before Notre Dame, which is not to say they're not obviously excellent right now, in my eyes, but it's just Now that Miami is coming off of a national championship appearance and is the presumed favorite in the ACC, there is not an ACC team. And so now we're not even including Notre Dame. There is not an ACC team on this schedule that that is built in any way similarly or has the track record in recent years to say like Okay, this is the heavyweight battle that shows us the the Miami measuring stick. So it is Notre Dame, but like Yes, the you know if there's a letdown effect it'll be against Duke, which looks to be of like pretty high quality right now, all things considered. But no, there there's no measuring stick game in the way that like Oregon has USC this week. And Texas has Tennessee. You're like, okay, what does Faizon Brandon look like against a defense like Texas? There is not that for Miami, which is too bad.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

No. And here's why I brought up the ACC. When when you ask the question, here's why I bring up the ACC first.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I look at the SEC, I look at the Big Ten, I look at the Big 12.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I look at three power conferences, and maybe we can jump into the G6 here a little bit before we move on. I look at those three power conferences and I say to myself, a good number of these teams I know virtually nothing about. There are a handful. that I feel confident saying something definitive about.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But with regard to power conferences, the ACC is the one that I feel like I've got the most confidence in right now. I do have a lot of confidence in saying something definitive about Miami, even though they have yet to be tested.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, agree.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I feel fairly confident in saying that Duke will again be very, very serviceable under Manny Diaz. Just seems like they're solid. And I win ten games. But they're solid.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Buddy, their schedule is opening up like the widest possible fairway. That's a uh a golf reference Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Go off reference. No. I'm with ya.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I mean, ahead of that Miami game that we just mentioned, the number of teams on the sketch where you're like, ooh, they might not be that good. Just opened up, Ty. Just it's a beautiful, beautiful view.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But am I right in saying that? We have some degree of confidence that we know what Duke is, all right?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yes, totally

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Some other teams that I think we can say something about and we can actually feel like we're standing on solid ground

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

And by the way, Duke, to piggyback what you're saying, road win against the quality team in Illinois.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Clemson.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

So we have that. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I feel like we can say something definitive about Clemson. It's not all pretty

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

No right

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But I get a sense that we kind of know what this team is not at this point. Louisville, that part goes without saying. Big win this weekend at home over SMU. Played Ole Miss. Pretty tough. Ole Miss is like a top five team now.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Louisville's quality side. SMU. SMU, also a quality team, also likes to turn the ball over.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

What you're looking for, I think, when you do an exercise like this is any kind of repeatable trend. The repeatable trend, unfortunately, for SMU and Kevin Jennings is that they like to give the ball away to other teams. We saw four turnovers, I believe, in that game against Florida State back in week one. We saw three this past weekend. That's seven in key moments. Luckily for them, they won that game against Florida State in week one when they were on the road in the Doak with the power outage and all that. They did not have the same good fortune as they played on the road at Louisville this past weekend. But I think we know something about SMU

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

You mentioned Virginia Tech. I would agree with Virginia Tech. I would also throw in Florida State. We've seen enough of Florida State against better competition to at least have a good sense for what this team is and is not.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Agree

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

NC State, oh my gosh, NC state.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We know that they can't get out of their own way I don't know if we've necessarily seen what the ceiling is or could be for this group of roster or group of players on the roster.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Or end zone, I guess. Yeah Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But we look at one and two and we say, okay, there's no there's a lot to improve here. I don't know how many teams I just listed off. This is a big conference with 17 teams. But if I listed off seven or eight, that's already more than all the other power conferences. I feel pretty good about where the ACC is at, or at least my understanding for where the ACC is at.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, I I have a good understanding of Syracuse right now that their defense might look better this year, but the win column might not look dramatically better. Um I now that they've played what, Cal and Pitt, um, you're like, okay, the that's coming together in a way that is not ideal for the Orange moving forward. So yeah, I I think the ACC has a good amount there. They've they've played a good amount in the first three weeks.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

The other teams that I would throw into this conversation from the G six

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I think we know definitively that North Dakota State is not going to be a shrinking violet as it plays FBS competition.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Definitely not

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Right? Because this was the big question about any team jumping up into FBS, not just North Dakota State, but I feel like we have this question every year when there are new teams. How will their style of play translate to the next level? North Dakota State is playing exactly the same as they did a year ago, as they have throughout their really good run. I'm looking at this conference right now. I'm looking at the Mountain West. I'm not feeling great about UNLV. I like New Mexico's defense. Outside of those two sides. It's a big old shrug to me with respect to I've been watching a lot of soccer.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sides. I was just gonna say, but I'm you're hitting it hard this episode

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

So yeah, I've been watching. I know it's just coming out. I'm sorry.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Outside of those two teams in the Mountain West, I don't I don't know, but I feel pretty confident in North Dakota State.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

It's just coming out, isn't it? Yeah. Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Um, the other school that jumps out to me is Boise State.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Boise State I think has looked really good. Boise State to me has looked better than I expected. And um I know when I posted One of our ballots over the last two weeks got a question from a couple of Boise State fans like, hey, like Nudge Nudge, when are you gonna rank us? Nudge Nudge, when are you gonna rank us?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

It could be after week four. We'll see how things go. I th my sense is that we're going to see a lot of shifting around after all these games that we have on the slate. We can maybe preview them a little bit later just to give you a sense for what's coming down the pike, but Boise State, I think, has looked better than I expected. Maddux Madsen has proven to be the veteran leader that we knew he could be, but I feel like he is taking control a little bit more than I expected.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yep.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And I'd like to see that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, I mentioned I mentioned Oregon State just in terms of like when we are talking about Pac twelve. You know what I Because of their schedule, we don't actually know what it means, but it is worth acknowledging that we do have an undefeated UMass on our hands.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, and I don't I don't know what that means.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

And they have Eastern Michigan and Sacramento State coming up.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Did you see Pop Watson running down the field throwing a block on like an end around?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yes, of course.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I don't know if we know enough to say that UMass is gonna be in the hunt for a conference championship. I think we know enough to say that they are definitively better than where they were a year ago.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

They're halfway. Well I guess they're not halfway because it's two FCS wins, right? Sacred Heart and Stone Hill. So they're almost halfway to a bowl.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But they got votes. They're in the others receiving votes category of the AP poll.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Really?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

That's interesting. I guess because Rutgers looked feisty and so they beat Rutgers, so there's that.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah. Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

They got they got some votes in in one of the polls now. Maybe I'm misremembering here a little bit, but um

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Either this one or in the coaches poll, one of the two, they were getting some some love.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Uh I don't oh yeah, they have two votes in the coaches poll.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah. Coaches poll. Okay, thank you.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah. Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Why don't we go to some of our listener questions, okay?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Let's do it.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Sam brings up a very interesting question that has tentacles. Tentacles that stretch out and grab on to other questions that we received out at Verballers.com.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

These are our premium Verballers. This is the crop, cream of the crop.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Uh do not Do not Google tentacles reaching out. I learned recently that this is a subgenre, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Excuse me?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

There is a tentacle sub-genre. Of entertainment. Don't you remember the um God there was some like political commentator who left like a tab open? You don't remember this?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I don't remember any of this.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

So don't Google it.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

A tentacles subgenre.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yes

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

You're gonna need to explain that one to me off air.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I mean it's adult entertainment Ty.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Still have no idea what you're talking about, but okay.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay, I didn't know until this thing happened. It was like five years ago Okay, Ty. You're you're pretending not to know something that you yourself explained to me in unbelievable detail.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I don't I Yeah, right.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

No, I'm just

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I don't remember any of this. I'm down here in the college football mines.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I know, I know, I know. Continue with your tentacles.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

This question's got tentacles from Sam Sam says, how strong do we think the Big 12 is this year compared to last? And do we think more than one Big 12 team will make the College Football Playoff. If BYU, Utah, and Texas Tech all finish the season with one conference loss, does the loser of the title game still get in? Or does the odd team out get in? What about both? How about none? Okay, that's Sam's question.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I say it's got tentacles because we also got this question from David, and it also dovetails quite nicely with some other questions that I have about the.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

About the Big Twelve specifically?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Allow me to finish, please. David says in terms of conference surprises, after an offseason filled with confidence, the Big Ten seems to have had some stumbles in non-conference play with Ohio State's collapse, Illinois

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

It's true.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Oregon, sorry, Dan, Oregon, Michigan's escape.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I saw the game. You don't need to apologize.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

How big of a deal is it? Does this narrow the window for the number of Big Ten at large bids for the college football playoffs? So let me back up here for a second.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Well we did our Big Ten Part One, our episode dedicated to bigger picture themes, power rankings, things of that nature.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

The question that I posed to you about the Big Ten, will there be a fourth College Football Playoff team that makes it from this conference? Didn't seem like it was a given. I don't know if it's a given now.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

To David's point, we have seen some stumbles here.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

No

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We have seen, I think, some reasons for We need that topic back up. I don't know.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

But is okay, so but there's also teams where you're like, okay, well they look they haven't played anybody, but they look like something.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And state.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

They look very clean. I was gonna say Penn State.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And states look really good. But your picture. We zoom all the way up.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Could ask that question about the Big Ten. I think that's why David's asking. It's a good question to ask. We could also pose that question now about the SEC. Teams like Texas A&M, at least on offense, have looked very ordinary. Oklahoma on offense certainly has looked very ordinary.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Bama, if what we saw this past weekend is any indication, Bama could end up being a team that's in a bunch of shootouts. And I love Keelon Russell, but um I don't like getting in shootouts more than you have to.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

And they they've been a slow starting team as well.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

A slow starting team.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Right? I just feel like there is less to rely on in the SEC than maybe we thought at the start of the year.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

It's also and this is a bigger picture thing that always sort of rears its head at this point of the season and certainly at the end of the season. We've gotten more questions, it seems, lately, about perceived conference strength, overrated, underrated, and you're just like

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

To go back a few years and sell you, we're gonna get a number of questions about Big Twelve Pride. Be like, what? People are taking pride in the Big Twelve? Um Because we always used to like kind of clown on SEC people. Just be like, it's a conference. Like root for your team. Um, but there is like More and more, and obviously I you know a lot has gone into it with the playoff and perceived strength and weaknesses of conferences, which is just like How do you even lump all of those teams when there's 16 teams, 18 teams together in any sort of cohesive way in terms of like they are definitely a B plus all together? Like, okay. Um We've definitely seen the tribal nature of all these arguments increase. And it's very strange to me on a certain level, which is why we kind of make fun of like ESPN going to bat for the SEC like they do so nakedly all the time. Gauntlet. Um but My broader point is like it's kind of impossible to say any conferences underrated or overrated, especially three weeks into the season, but I am here to tell you we can group some teams together in a like, okay, these six teams seem to all have this in common, but like three weeks in.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Well listen, but uh but but yes, that's the point.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

How do you do that? Yes.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

That that is my point. My point is not necessarily that we know everything about teams in the Big Ten and the SEC. Or or really the Big Twelve or even the ACC, which I think I know a little bit more about, but it I I get the point.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

All I'm saying, and I know this is a bit of a long windup, I apologize. The Big Ten, the SEC could both be a little flimsier than we expected when we put our bracket together.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And so circling all the way back now to Sam's question, I think the path has widened for either the Big 12 or the ACC to get a second team in. I don't think it's going to be a situation where both get two in.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

For as equitable and as well-versed as that might make the playoff system, I don't think we're going to get that. But I do think the pathway is widening a little bit to get another team in from the Big 12, given that some of what we have seen elsewhere has been less than stellar.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure. I mean I I think that's fine. Um The problem with some of these teams in the these teams is when you look at the teams that we are looking as measuring stick type playoff teams. So what BYU, Texas Tech, Houston, Utah Their collective non-conference portions of their schedule doesn't make for a super enticing tiebreaker if we're having 12 versus 13 or 12 versus 14 or whatever conversations. I don't believe, unless I'm uh missing something from one of those teams in terms of who they've played in the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Not yet. Not yet, no.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I don't believe BYU, nor Texas Tech, nor Utah uh has played a a specific team of note where you're like, okay, Big 12 Pride guitar riff.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Guitar up. I I think there are four teams right now at the top of the Big 12.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I think the conversation is going to come down to four teams. And I think it's the three that you mentioned, Texas Tech, BYU, Utah. And I would throw Houston in there because Houston was neck and neck with Texas Tech.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I think there is a bit of a gap before we go down to the next round, whatever that looks like

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yep.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

The next rung down, by the way, could be West Virginia, given the way they have started their s their season so far.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

That could include the likes of Arizona State. That could include the likes of Arizona. as well. But I feel definitively at this point that those are the four teams that I've got earmarked the most to make a run at this thing. Oklahoma State probably a rung down for as much as I like them at the start of the year. Still trying to figure out exactly what went on in that Tulsa game. Obviously the Oregon win was pretty impressive and they looked good a week ago. We'll see what they look like as they get deeper into their conference slate. I'm not willing to bump them up into that top tier yet. But they could be a candidate for it as well. All I'm saying is out here in the marketplace of ideas, Dan, and to answer Sam's question,

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

The path has widened, and I think the chances have increased that we might get multiple Big 12 teams in. That's all.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay, fair enough. And by the way, um just in terms of how we're positioning these conferences If people in charge at ESPN were were sort of in more invested financially and emotionally in the Big Ten, this past weekend would have been Any given week, you look at what Rutgers was able to do, the bottom of the Big Ten against any given week, this conference has a bunch of dogs.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Right. Dogs.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Rutgers is not

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

They're old.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Not considered to be a great team, but look how deep this conference goes. USC's a perceived playoff contender. Rutgers gave them all that they could handle. Bunch of dogs

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Dogs.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Purdue flew across the country. UCLA is a team of note in terms of like improvement this year. Undefeated. Guess what? Purdue Purdue, bunch of dogs going across the country, Ty Look at how deep this conference is Purdue's a bunch of dogs. That's what you'd be hearing non-stop. And so I think you're right to criticize the Big Ten in this moment. But maybe the Big Ten should be repositioning in that manner. That's all.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Let's go to this one from Jackson. I have a sense that you're going to have a flowery response.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Jackson wants to know, now that conference play has started for the Power Four, is it worth giving teams a half? even a whole game of leeway to adjust to games that count for conference play, similar to the way we do in week one with marquee matchups.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

We're talking about week four, week three, week four?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Or Or, or, let me finish. Are we too late? Are week three and week four put up or shut up time, Dan Rubenstein? Do we give them We extend to them your Dan Rubenstein grace, as we now get into conference play.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

No, is my answer. We're a quarter of the way into the season at this point. Uh give me a third of the way this week. Um This is why you should your program should schedule somebody decently, preferably in a home and home fashion, so every so often you are playing a quality game on the road in the first three weeks of the season to try and

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Pörska,

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

diagnose something first couple weeks of the season. I think you get a week one grace period if you're playing against a quality team week one. If you're playing against an FCS team You know, we can sort of say like, well, you you schedule that as a as a warm-up, so now that you've warmed up, we expect you to look closer to your you know final product. Um by week three or week four, there are no excuses. As we are in the shadow of October, you're not who you are at the end of the year, but you don't get to like Hey, the it was uh it was the first game in the ACC though, so it's different. No, you have September to try and test yourself and stress test yourself. against whoever you think is worthwhile to do so against, and then you go from there. So no, I I think we are we are dunzo, as Kristin Cavallari likes to say, uh, in terms of uh grace periods. Here's but here's my question. And this has nothing to do with Oregon, even though it probably sounds like it does. Should we be using heat as some sort of qualifier in the way that we're using? I swear to you, it has nothing to do with Oregon.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Oh my gosh.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

But I'm telling you, independent of Oregon, independent of Oregon at Oklahoma State.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Look at this guy. This friggin' guy.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I'm stating for the record, Oklahoma State whooped up on Oregon. Okay? Can we agree?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, w I watched the game, yeah, they killed him.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right, of course. But what I'm saying is when we are looking at the heat factor of some of these games, should we be treating it terribly different than a monsoon game? Exactly, Ty. Hot and that was a quick pull by you, Ty. I don't I don't know I don't have a good answer for that. But I think if we're considering extreme weather conditions, that seems extreme, right? The Arizona schools don't schedule September home games before like midnight. For a specific reason.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Here's the problem with that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah. I know, I know like rain is tangible, right? And it affects the field. And I I know what I know what you're gonna say. Continue.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Like 75% of the country has been playing in extreme heat through the month of September.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I know.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And so it's one thing if you're playing in 45 mile an hour sustained winds. That is a one-off.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Not everyone has to deal with that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

It's something else altogether if the

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

And And there are two teams on the field, right? That like Oklahoma State was better prepared to deal with it or Texas against Ohio State, whatever. That they play in it and they practice it, whatever. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Case in point, Miami-Texas A&M in the playoff last year was a crazy wind game. And I'm not going to pretend that either of those two teams look great on offense. They did not. But the wind clearly played a factor.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

That's why When we did some of our preseason stuff and we talked about Texas A&M and oh they didn't let Marcel Reed and the offense, they didn't really look good in the playoffs, and is that cause for concern? I mean, maybe it was, but also the winds were crazy.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Nobody could do anything. So yes, in that sense, in that sense I am willing to take the weather game and throw it out the window.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I agree. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But when 75% of the country, or whatever the number is, somebody can do the math.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

When that many teams are playing in extreme heat week in and week out, I think it kind of negates. I I can't use that necessarily. Now Could it come back to haunt them a week after? One of those rosters. Maybe the recovery isn't quite where it needs to be.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Maybe a team comes out flat. Okay, then we can have that conversation. But I'm not willing to take it, crumple it up, and throw it away, or devalue a win or a loss because of it.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

No no no. I'm not devaluing. What I'm saying is is that something like You're like, okay, look, the this this result happened, but it was in a monsoon game. So like you gotta like.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

In a monsoon game, yeah. In a monsoon game, I would say yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But when it's hot, everyone's hot.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Everyone's playing in hot temperatures right now.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I I know Ty. I'm there's hot and then there's like the decision to play at that at a specific hour too and not play at night. I I don't know.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Ty, it's a half-bait question. I'm talking about we're saying extreme weather. And I just want to know where the line is. That's all.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Okay. Matt wants to know which head coaches have you been the most impressed by so far? Examples could include Jeff Lebby, Rich Rodriguez, Morgan Scalley, Will Stein. Dealer's choice, Dan. Choose your own adventure. Whatever you're into.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Matt was posing this question to us. By the way, all of his examples are good ones.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Um, you know, Jeff Lebby, Jeff Lebby since he got to Mississippi State, the teams have been feisty. The teams didn't necessarily have Super Kamario Taylor that they could rely upon.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

So the way he is using him, the way that this offense and this team seems to be picking up momentum each week. They've got a big game this weekend. Against Missouri, which we can talk about here, as we give you maybe an advanced look of what we'll be discussing on Wednesday. But um Jeff Lebby's a good one. Richrod, I this is why I took Rich Rod plus the points in that game against Virginia.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I did not expect them to win, but I felt pretty confident that they'd be at least plucky and they were.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right. There's a I mean, even in the American, we don't really know what South Florida's gonna be yet. But they've taken care of business with Brian Hartline. I think Charles Huff at Memphis with all eyes on that UNLV game. Now UNLV maybe we're downgrading because of what their defense has looked like thus far, but even in the losing effort against Boise, they threw the hell out of the ball.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Um North Texas is one and two under Neil Brown, but like their their own destruction of UNLV is not nothing, and they also played the defending champs. So, you know, basically any other you know, UNT season, they're probably two and one in this spot with a little bit of offensive momentum. Um I think it's what you do on the road. So that's like for those reasons, the Will Stein and Jeff Lebby thing. you know, two games in a row for Jeff Lebby and then Will Stein doing it at Texas A&M. I think those are two crazy impressive. Bobby C at UCLA has been on the road in an emotional spot and offensively at least they've they've certainly

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

flip things around pretty dramatically pretty quickly. Um we'll see on Morgan Scalley and Utah. It wasn't as dominant an offensive performance, especially on the ground, I don't believe, against Utah State this past week, but Hard to nitpick in a I think they won 33, 34 to nothing. Um, but it wasn't the yards and the the production and efficiency, whatever. I need to watch that game more closely though. But the numbers indicate that it was not the most dominant. But I'm I'm willing to reserve judgment there. But yeah, I want to see what Utah State, excuse me, what Utah looks like on the road. Do they have Iowa State on the road this week? They do. Okay. That's that's a data point. I d I don't exactly know what Iowa State is other than that they are very close to Iowa in this moment. Um other new coaches that that I mean How do you not include Eric Morris?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I mean, yeah, that was my you took the words out of my mouth, but uh off to a bit of a rocky start in that game against Tulsa.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

You know out of, you know, the this conversation, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Clearly they answered the bell against Oregon, though. And then they look good again last week. This will be interesting now for Oklahoma State. going forward. We need to see what this looks like as they get into their Big Twelve schedule. By the way, they've got a road tilt this weekend on the road at West Virginia, which is not going to be a ranked matchup, but clearly needs to be a matchup that we discuss when we do the Wednesday preview. I suspect, knowing our audience, I suspect that that game will be of incredible interest here in the Verballerhood.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We have a lot of West Virginia fans that listen to this show. We don't have as many Oklahoma State fans who listen to this show, but I think there is

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Right.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Just from what I've been picking up, the tea leaves that I have read in our Discord and from messages that have come in, there is a lot of interest in both sides of this one. And this is a really interesting measuring stick game for both of those teams.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We're going to find out something about Oklahoma State. It's one thing to play on the road and lose against Tulsa. It's another thing to go to Morgantown. So that to me is going to be, I think, a really interesting measuring stick.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Agree. Letdown spot for West Virginia.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yep.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Um couple more names by the way. And we don't automatically lump him in this, but like given the enormous pressure of this past week, Pete Golding.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Seems to have uh weathered h his early tenure at Ole Miss pretty well, to say the least.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Do you remember what I said about Pete Golding? Remember what I said about him in the previous.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Uh we no, but maybe we're not gonna be able to do that.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I kind of went off half cocked and made a statement like, I'm I'm unimpressed by Pete Golding. You know, I've seen I've seen I've seen press conferences with Pete Golding, and he did not move me emotionally.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Oh, right, right. Just his presence, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Something like that. I don't know.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

He did the reverse like uh Green Bay Packer left guard in the game against LSU. You know in the playoffs when like the the offensive linemen of a cold weather team refused to wear sleeves.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

He wore a full hoodie in 90 degree humid weather. What kind of sick human throws a hoodie on?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Speaking of Stanky Saturday, good lord.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

May maybe he's got a skin condition or something. Oh my god, I saw that. Just like, come on, man. Uh I would also uh JaMarcus Shephard, another one of those coaches.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Oh yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

At a place He's got some juice. Let's hope it's 2024 Fran Brown and not 2025 or 6 Fran Brown. But yeah, JaMarcus Shephard, Oregon State, uh tough situation and playing with a good amount of fire. So I I would say that he has done a an admirable job early on for a week one or a year one coach.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Um, okay.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Uh hold on and and and Jon Sumrall.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Let's go to

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I'm just naming everybody, but like there's been a lot of like fun. Jon Sumrall at Florida

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We got a question here. So one of the other things that I put out on this thread where I was asking for questions was I was asking people, teams generally speaking that they're curious about, confused about, trying to get a better sense for

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

So as you bring up Jon Sumrall, Kimmy, writes in that she is curious to learn more about Florida. They have looked promising over their first three games, but they host Ole Miss this week. They go to Missoula the following week Will the defense perform better? I personally am afraid that Trinidad Chambliss will make them look silly. The only hope is to win in a shootout, and I have more confidence in that with their performance against Auburn. By the way, Florida is favored at time of recording by three points at home over right now the number four team in the country, the Ole Miss Rebels.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

That is certainly going to be a line that's going to jump out and grab the attention of the Verballerhood as they are playing Run the Board, which is our weekly pick-em game. Um Vegas feels pretty good about Florida, Kimmy, and what they have seen so far. I have not really seen anything on the Florida side that leaves me any less optimistic than I was three months ago I stand by what I said then. I'll say it again now. Florida is going to be better this year than a lot of people realize because the roster was in a really, really good place. They needed to get consistent quarterback play. They needed Aaron Philo to hit. Thus far, he has hit. He looked really good, I thought This past weekend against Auburn, on the road no less. Yes, the defense thing is going to be a concern, okay? Especially with Ole Miss coming to town. But you get Ole Miss in a really advantageous position. I can't imagine a bigger letdown spot then than having beaten LSU deep into the game, fourth down, going for two, stopping LSU to win like. All of that stuff has to still be with them and is certainly baggage as they now go to the swamp.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Agree. Um something else by the way, if you're gonna talk about worrisome elements to the Florida Gators early season, which has a lot of promise, 16 penalties against Auburn. Gonna have to clean that up pretty quickly. The SEC to their credit though, has I think three or four of the worst dozen teams in terms of penalties committed, all of whom are having okay seasons despite it. Mississippi State is pretty far down there, Vandy's pretty far down there.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Um but as Florida gets into more of the meat of their schedule, some cleanliness. And they weren't terrible on deep they were great on defense. But they were able to get off the field some. The Auburn didn't bust a ton of huge runs or huge passes. Um but yeah, Florida has has work to do ahead of Ole Miss. But yeah, situationally it is a nice spot uh in which to get him.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Raul says he is curious to learn more about the Northwestern Wildcats, Dan.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Let's go, baby. Again, if ESPN were invested in the Big Ten You're like, Northwestern with all this Big 12 attention on Coach Prime coming into town, Northwestern has some dogs.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

They smoked them 41 to 7.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yes, they did. Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Raul says they are currently number eight in Bill Connelly's resume, SP+, right now. They solidly beat FCS juggernaut South Dakota State. Then they absolutely manhandled Colorado. Now we get the perfect two-week test. Back-to-back Friday night games, first at Indiana.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Which is number 10 in Bill Connelly's resume SP+. And then Penn State, who was 13th for the opening of Ryan Field. By the way, I have to book the flight. I still didn't do that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, come through, dude

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But I'm gonna um we're gonna two weeks I guess two weeks two weeks Like Iran, Mexico?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Do you have to book that flight under an assumed name? Or just because if you're flying local?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

No, I'll I'm just gonna use my my birth name

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay, what it what it says on your official documents?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Uh but he's right, right? So we get Indiana on the road, we get Penn State to open up Ryan Field.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

What is the buzz out there? You're kind of in the shadow of Northwestern, Dan.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Oh my God.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Is it like all people are talking about at Costco? What what what's the vibe?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

First of all, so many conversations at Costco, regardless of the college football happenings. I just love talking in Costco about random deals. It right now we're in a high pitch phase with Northwestern football.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Pär

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Like you see that? Pretty good. Right? Northwestern, maybe not bad. Um that's the phase we're in right now. that the the f was it 41 to seven over Colorado win that like it has joking aside caught people's attention Like o obviously if if people know what I do for a living, they love talking about college football with me. Um and so I I do field a lot of questions about a lot of different teams and I do get a lot of questions about like what do you make of this whole NIL thing? You're like, I don't know, man.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

It's a very complicated question.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Right.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah. So there there the the Northwestern conversations are not at zero. I'll say that. There is there is conversation.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I thought they looked pretty good. I mean if we're gonna

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Dude, Aidan Chiles had some wide open receivers against that Colorado defense.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah. I mean if we're gonna commend coaches, I think David Braun should be commend now, he's not a new coach.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I understand that violates the spirit of our previous question. But David Braun, I believe, just got a contract extension. David Braun understood the assignment this offseason, went out and tried to make the offense better. Thus far, we have seen it. I don't know how good Colorado will end up being by the time all is said and done. I what was there over under? Like four and a half or something this year. We're not expecting them to necessarily make a run at the Big 12, but as a power conference opponent. And moreover, I'd say it's an opponent that previous versions of Northwestern probably would have lost to.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

This is a really nice showing here, especially after Colorado. Wasn't there that whole deal about them making fun of the stadium on their way out into it, the temporary stadium.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, the way into the stadium. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

They showed them one by thirty-four

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

And uh Yeah, lot of we got a lot of uh Go-Go offense uh confidence heading into the season. And uh the Colorado offense Uh tried to go and ultimately did not go against Northwestern. Who by the way, uh if we're gonna say Duke's schedule seems to open up like a wide open fairway Northwestern schedule is looking like one of those jagged open championship courses where it's always thirteen degrees with 73 mile an hour winds with

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, it's tough.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

rocks jutting out of the fairway from the ocean. Like there's a lot to this schedule. Well you met you mentioned Penn State and Indiana, but they I think they also have do they also have Oregon, Ohio State, Iowa on this schedule

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Have everybody, dude. Everybody.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

They don't have USC and that's kinda they don't have the LA schools, Northwestern, but they're on the road at Oregon, on the road at Ohio State, and on the road at Indiana. So It's tough, but they've won two games and they could win three, four, five, six is on the table for sure. Six, seven games.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I want to go to this one from Kyle, and maybe we'll close out this one. This is sort of a two-parter.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

In the spirit of what are you curious about? Kyle says, I'm curious about the regression. Of Oregon and Texas A&M. Both did internal coordinator hires. Both have been blown out. And I wonder what the story of each team is going to be this year going forward.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

There is there is a third item in common for both of those teams.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Um,

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

And that item I think is not fully responsible or maybe even close to fully responsible for early season disappointment from and by the Texas A&M did comfortably beat a quality Arizona State team and Oregon did beat a quality Boise team, though not as impressively. The thing that the third thing in common is rebuilt offensive lines. So maybe the combination of rebuilding your offensive line and having a new full time coordinator, even though it was an internal hire, um and possibly with in both of these cases playing with a little too much hubris against an opponent that ultimately looked a lot more dangerous than people thought early on, or at least I'll speak for myself, than I thought early on in both Kentucky and Oklahoma State. I think there is connective tissue between the the the early seasons for both of those teams. And and disappointment in quarterbacks that I think these fan bases had high hopes for.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I can speak to this more from the Texas A M side because

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I think that's the part of Kyle's question that I find most interesting. So unlike Drew Mehringer, who had called plays before, um

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Holman Wiggins was brand new at this. And one of the things that I recall speaking about when we did our previews back in July. was how they felt what they saw from Marcel Reed a year ago gave them enough confidence that they could give him a little bit more responsibility this year. That was one of the talking points going into the season. There was this idea that, well, we can turn a little bit more over of the offense over to him.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We know he's an athletic quarterback. We can move the pocket. We can do rollouts. We can do things that take advantage of his best attributes. And that should then help us as we sort of turn the page from Colin Klein into this Holman Wiggins era. And I think what we have seen is not so much that the plays are bad because if you watch the Texas A&M offense..

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Marcel Reed had guys open. He has guys open.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Agree

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

The problem is not necessarily Holman Wiggins. The problem is that Marcel Reed is not executing. He has not looked good so far through the first couple weeks of the season. And so maybe the question now boomerangs back on Holman Wiggins and how Texas A&M is scheming this. Are they actually trying to put too much on his plate? Or the simple stuff is suddenly kind of more difficult. I don't know the answer to that question, but if you are asking me, as Kyle did he about coordinators and what role does that play in what we have seen thus far from Texas A&M. I'm sure there is part of it that Texas A&M fans would take issue with with regard to the scheme. But I've watched all of these games in some cases more than once. And to me, the problem is Marcel Reed. It is not Holman Wiggins. I don't know if you can say the same on the Oregon side with how they are scheming things for Dante Moore. I know he's had some bouts maybe with injury, and you could probably speak more to that than I could.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But at least on the A&M side, when I see a question like this, I first go to Marcel Reed. Because to me, undeniably, he has been the issue with this offense.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Now, also not running the ball effectively, you bring up the offensive line.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Well I was gonna say both of those teams have had the issue where they have not run in any anywhere close to a dominant fashion. against early season opponents. I know Texas A&M improved a little bit against Kentucky, but Oregon has not established any sort of impressive run game early on. And if even if you want to point to Dante Moore and Marcel Reed, which I don't think is unfair, uh, everything becomes easier when you're able to run the ball. And neither of these teams has been able to do that either. So no, I I think there there is stuff on Dante that you can absolutely look at him and say he's missing this guy.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

T

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Or he's fully, you know, getting scared in the pocket and s just slow to react to things. And you can make criticisms about Marcel Reed that seemed pretty fair in this moment. Um it's early on. I think both of these teams are very well coached overall. Like they're head coached and the the infrastructure of both of these programs I think is quite strong under Dan Lanning and Mike Elko. There is time to improve. Both of these dudes are seasoned. Both of these dudes have had success. But there is a a thing with these quarterbacks in bigger games where you're like I don't trust that we can Dante Moore ourselves to a win against Ohio State, Indiana, or in this case, Oklahoma State. I don't trust that we can Marcel Reed ourselves to a win against LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia, take your pick. And that's a problem because these are experienced, experienced guys at this point. So I I think both in both of these situations you can point to defensive stuff as well.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, sure.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Um these are just more flawed teams than we thought, which is why it's okay to quickly update our our opinions as the season progresses.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Something Kyle doesn't bring up here, but I do think is part of the whole idea of regression.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Why does Oregon feel so flat? Why does it why is it that when I turn on an Oregon game through the first couple weeks of the season

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah. Mm-hmm

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I don't feel that sense of urgency. I don't feel the killer instinct. It just feels to me like there's sleepwalking out there

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Is there any way like what are people saying on the boards about Oregon? I don't know the answer to this. I mean I can imagine what they're saying on the boards, but like

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Um

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Are other people feeling that as well? Like where where is this killer instinct?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Oh, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Where is this sense that this is going to be our championship year?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

I I think what Oregon people and I don't speak for everybody, this you know, the the nobody can be painted with a a full broad brush, but I think Oregon people see some of the other quality quarterback play across the country, and there is that sense of urgency, right? Like Trinidad Chambliss, who is somebody that Dante Moore should rightfully be compared against given the hype. He plays every play like it's his last play, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

That some of like w we look Kamario Taylor also in the in the Big 12, in the SEC. You look at some of the great quarterbacking that we've seen early on this season, and there is not that urgency from Oregon's offense. I think there's there's a number of theories at play here. You know, talk about the offensive line issues, you can talk about the coordinator stuff I I don't know what it is because we have seen Oregon never play down essentially under Dan Lanning. They you know, before entering the season they were 24 and one in Big Ten play. uh or a regular season as a Big Ten team. Um they're like fifty and nine overall now. Like they just they don't lose games.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Exactly.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

that they shouldn't. Um and that's what changed this year, uh, presumably against Oklahoma State, maybe almost to Boise State. So yeah, a lot of it is It they they seemingly came into the season maybe underestimating what they had to show and be against Boise State and Oklahoma State. And now that they're past the behemoth, that is Portland State. That USC has their full appropriate attention, which is misguided if that's how Oregon went into the season. Um but Whatever Oregon actually is at their best, you should probably see this week against USC. Even if they don't win, I would imagine you're going to see a lot more fire.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

All right, why don't we leave it there? A great batch of questions, not just from us, but of course from our very smart Verballers out there in the verballerhood.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We put out the call. I think we're going to put out the call every Monday morning for calls from our premium Verballers. Help them steer where our Monday episodes go. It seems like the right thing to do. And we've been enjoying it now through the first couple weeks of the season. So keep it coming, folks. Again, Verballers.com is where you can go if you want to learn more about how you can support the show, how you can be part of the Monday shows We would love to have you aboard and be part of our community. If nothing more, rate review, subscribe. I say it at the top all the time, but that stuff really does help.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, baby.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And of course, SolidVerbal.com/newsletter. You get the free newsletter. Tyler, our newsletter guys were doing a bang up job. Really. Every week he's been bringing the fire, man. Really, really good stuff. Would encourage everybody. The sign on up for that. It's free. Doesn't cost you anything. Get a nice little email every Monday and Thursday.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Yeah, buddy

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

You wanna take a look real quick, just real quick at what we have coming up?

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Lot of lot of first uh first road trips.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I'm gonna do this.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

We definitely have that.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I I don't usually like to do this. I don't want to give away the game too too much, but

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay. Northwestern outright? Friday night

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Cal outright over Clemson

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Where's the game? Oh, we've called this a long time ago though. But yeah.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I just want to make sure people are aware of this one. Make sure people are aware of this game going down. Cal is a one-and-a-half-point favorite. Cal is a thousand percent winning that football game. That's on Friday night.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Cal's got some issues though, let's be clear.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We've Yeah. Have you seen Clemson? They've got issues too. Cal minus whatever. That's Ty's one of Ty's locks. It won't be on the Run the Board thing because it's a Friday night game.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Point and a half is where we are right now, Cal being favored.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

But yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Um Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

I'm all in on that.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Lock of the week.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

And as you said, yes, we've got the Friday night game as well with Northwestern and Indiana.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Indiana, yep.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Some other games that I think are of note here as we go around college football. It's a relatively big week among power conference matchups as we start getting into some of our conference play. Texas at Tennessee. An enormous matchup. Ole Miss on the road at Florida.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Mm-hmm.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We talked about that one. Florida's actually a home favorite. We've got Georgia playing host to Oklahoma. Georgia's first real big test. We've got South Carolina against Alabama. We've got Texas A&M against LSU. And oh by the way, we've got Missouri on the road at Mississippi State. It's going to be a very, very big week in SEC territory. We also have some interesting matchups in the Big Ten.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

We do.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We've got Iowa, Michigan. We've got Wisconsin-Penn State.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

The race to fourteen

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We've got your Oregon Ducks against USC. And then deep into the night at eleven p.m. Eastern. Minnesota on the road at Washington is one of those measuring stick games that should tell us a thing or two.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Damn.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Big games there.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Big, big games there. Oklahoma State, I mentioned earlier, on the road at West Virginia. Big game. Very big game. Over in the ACC, we don't quite have as much as we did a week ago. But we're gonna have Wake Forest against Louisville, which I think is only interesting because there's some real letdown potential for Louisville.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

We will see what Virginia Tech and James Franklin look like on the road at Boston College. Former coach of Penn State, Bill O'Brien, against former coach of Penn State, James Franklin.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Oh, that's true.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

A little symmetry there. Um Delaware against Virginia. Not a high profile matchup. Delaware's actually pretty good. See what they got.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Also agree.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Plenty of other games, but it should be very, very interesting. Week four. It's going to be loaded to the gills. We're very excited about it. Again, we're going to be running a big old pick-em game at Verballers.com. We call it Run the Board. give out fabulous prizes every week. But um get your affairs in order, as I like to say. Because week four is loaded.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Oh, it's a big one. Who does Brentford have, Ty?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Coming off that 3-0 win against Chelsea? Come on, Ty! Who does Brentford have?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

It looks like Brentford, blah blah blah.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Oh, okay. Fair enough. Everybody's more concerned about Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and rightfully so.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

That is correct. This Saturday, the 26th, at 4:30 p.m., the U.S. will be playing host to Peru for those soccer heads out there who are

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Oh, with the with the babies, right?

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Yeah, we got the baby Yanks out there playing. They brought in like seven, eight guys under the age of twenty. I will probably have that on one of the spare TVs. I can't pay as much attention to it as I'd like, but um very excited about this next generation.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Okay. October 10th, Brentford on the road against Aston Villa. I'm feeling pretty good. And by feeling pretty good, I know nothing. Yeah, so there it is. Go bees.

Ty Hildenbrandt · 01:10:07

Thank you to one and all for downloading, for listening, for supporting. It's been a great season so far. We're about to ratchet this thing up as we go into week four. Get some conference games that we can react to when we do the Saturday night live stream. We would encourage everybody again. For the last time, rate, review, and subscribe. For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubenstein. For all the Verballers who chimed in and sent in great questions for myself, Ty Hildenbrandt, thank you again for all your support. We'll catch you all on Wednesday. In the meantime, stay solid.

Dan Rubenstein · 01:10:07

Peace.