Welcome to the solid verbal. I'm that for me. I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. You want to be happy for dake Edo State. Is that woo woom? And Dan and Tie, welcome back to the solid verbal, boys and girls. My name is Ty Hildebrandt, joining me as always still way over there in beautiful sunny southern California. My man Dan Rubenstein, sir, how are you.
I've got a little indigestion. Oh, all things considered, Yeah, what they made breakfast tacos for lunch, and they were a little spicy, and I I think I overestimated my ability to handle the spice, or underestimated, as it were.
And so here we are. I feel good, though, And there's something about some of these teams that we're discussing on part two of First Place Losers that it's definitely gonna cool off my digestion track with some of what they did or didn't accomplished high So I'm confident I'm going to make it out on the other side.
Here likewise, as well, to say thet Hello, welcome back, I'm Tie, He's Dan. We are the solid verbal. Yes, we are still podcasting about tangential college football topics. If you will still some doubt as to what's going to happen this season, I'm going to try and hope for the best, maybe expect a little bit of the worst. Nonetheless, we are going to be on a schedule here. We're talking every week at a minimum, We're going to be doing some video stuff. We got all sorts of cool
stuff still in the chamber. As it is only mid May right now, Dan, I get a long way to go between now and whatever comes this fall time is a flat circle tie. That being said, don't forget to follow along on our Instagram feed at solid Verbal. We also have a Twitter, we have a Facebook, and of course there is a popular subreddit at soliverbal dot reddit dot com. If you'd like to join in on the fun talk about the verbal long after the final bell. Also going out to our website at solid verbal dot
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I would also say throw us a note at solidverbal at gmail dot com, I'm behind and answering. We're behind and doing qa Q and A episodes. But as we get into warmer months, tie, we're going to need to hear from the finest and most elite of verbal ers, both on the subreddit and at solid verbal at gmail dot com, the real ones, no tie, solid verbal at gmail dot com, soliverbal.
At gmail dot com. We do read every message. No more nudes. Let's plant the flags we As the messages come in, we do read every one of them. Yes, yes, but no more nudes please. Okay. On that note, we have got much to get through. Last week, we did something called first place Losers. It was we did runners up between the two thousand and five season in two
thousand and nine college football season. Not only did we talk about each of those teams and put their seasons and their final games and context, we also ranked them against one another. At the end of that deathmatch, we had two thousand and five USC effectively running the table in that first grouping of five and coming out on the other end. So as we get into some of these teams, we're going to compare them all to two thousand and five USC. And see how they rank till the plan.
Yeah yeah, I mean, there's no right answer here, but it's our show, so who cares. I am ready to do this, especially since this is going to be us dissecting and diagnose everything that went wrong with a couple of unfortunate versions of our favorite teams.
We get to talk about Oregon twice in Notre Dame once. Why are we doing on the show again? It was your idea, don't ask me.
Because we are honoring teams that came up just shorts and here's okay, this is what I'm going to ask you, Ty, Let's just let's be organized for once in our lives.
What yeah, I know.
Okay, here, here are I've come up with five questions, Ty, what is what is the sort of season that led this team to this point? So in our first case would be the twenty ten Oregon team. We are not going to be labor Oregon Auburn since we've already discussed this game on our our rewatch game from a few weeks ago, but we'll put into more context and talk about the season a little bit more around it. Could Oregon have beaten Auburn or you know, any of these teams.
So could this first place loser have beaten the first place team ultimately? What held them back? Is there a decent what if about another team perhaps also high up in I think all of these are BCS rankings this episode, right, I think Florida State, Auburn. Oh no, we have the first playoff, the first first world playoff?
Yeah? Yes?
Is there a decent about other teams just missing out? And how did this first place loser follow it up the next year in the near future whatever? I think those are the five things we're going to focus on. How does that sound? That sounds good to me?
And why don't we start in twenty and ten with your Oregon Ducks. The Oregon Ducks that year went nine to zero on the PAC twelve. They won the PAC twelve, finished twelve and one, but only after losing in a game we previously discussed, a National champions game. We were both at by a twenty two to nineteen score to the Auburn Tigers, and of course Cam Newton. Now, just to go back and provide some context here, it was a very good Oregon offense. They were fifth according to
the SMP forty seven points per game. Defense was actually really good too, which isn't something you always think of when you hear the Orgon Ducks. The chip Kelly organ Ducks buteenth in the S and P Plus averaged somewhere in the vicinity of eighteen nineteen points a game overall. Again, according to S and P Plus, they were the third
best team that season, allowing eighteen nineteen. Yeah, allowing eighteen nineteen. Sure, So I guess with that kind of as the as the groundwork here, Dan, what say you about this team and what led them to this point of even getting into this football game.
So the context that you need to keep in mind is this is year two of Chip Kelly as the head coach, year four of Chip Kelly in Eugenie, he was the offensive coordinator for two years, as everybody remembers. Jeremiah Masoli led the team to the Rose Bowl in two thousand and nine. Also, that was the season Lagarrett Blunt was suspended for a good chunk of the season after punching Byron Hout of Boise State out or punching him.
After they lose that game. In two thousand and nine, Jeremiah Massoli leads them to the Rose Bowl and then the following early spring is arrested for theft, stealing I think a laptop and a guitar. He is suspended for the season. So Darren Thomas, who had been in the program for a couple of years, he comes in and leads the team to an undefeated record in his first year, starting no Jeremiah Masoli. Obviously, Massoli eventually makes his way to Ole Miss. But Oregon really they have, I guess
a couple scares, but they have a successful season. It's not a crazy talented team, but they They end the season in a three point loss to Auburn. As we've discussed Cam Newton and Auburn, Michael Diery in my humble opinion was down they're scares. Their scares were limited to a fifteen to thirteen win at Cal and then going down twenty one to three to a crazy talented Stanford team in Jim Harbaugh's final season. This is in Eugene and they go on a forty nine to ten run
from that point on and drop fifty on Stanford. They win that game fifty two to thirty one. Otherwise close call wise, they don't really exist and not a crazy non conference schedule.
They win at Tennessee.
There's a lightning delay in that game, but ultimately a really successful season there. I don't think they've maxed out the sort of Chip Kelly or the Chip Kelly ish era with Mark Helfrich at the tail end of it. But a solid team, an experienced team, and a well coached team that didn't really have too much in doubt before the National Championship game.
Let's go back to Darren Thomas for a second. As he said, interesting circumstances that brought him to be the signal caller for the Ducks that year. Came in through thirty touchdowns, ran for five more. He was not a guy that was going to blow you away, but he was remarkably consistent. Each year he played again a little bit better, and he was really good for that system.
He could use his legs if he had to. He obviously could hand the ball off to a Michael James who was sort of the feature back and had almost two thousand yards from scrimmage in that two thousand finalists, Yeah, twenty ten campaign. Heisman finalists. For sure that the offense as a whole was largely a function of what well Mike could do in space, but Darren Thomas was the
He was a trigger man. So whether he's handing it off to James or whether he was throwing the football to Jeff Mayl, who benefited greatly from well Mike as well, he was sort of the guy who really made the whole thing work. And he did a hell of a
good job. He really did. I remember going back and watching this game and we commented in our previous show about how he had some early yips and there were some throws that he missed, and maybe he didn't look like his optimal self, but still, by and large over the course of the season, if it weren't for him having such a good campaign, none of this happens.
Yeah, he is an all time underrated Oregon quarterback. He put up great numbers, he led them back in big games and wins the Rose Bowl the next season against Wisconsin, and does have a bit of a down game but makes some big plays in the second half against Auburn. So he is ultimately a good but not great Oregon quarterback who accomplished great things.
On the defensive side of the ball. As I mentioned, a pretty good defensive team for Oregon. Remember this is a team with Casey Matthews. He had seventy nine tackles, a bunch for loss. Cliff Harris, John Boyette or fierce in the defensive backfield, eleven interceptions combined between the two of them. Cliff Harris was great at four touchdowns on special teams, Kenny Row at seven sacks. So they had players.
I don't know if they had the high end talent that we're going to talk about when we get to twenty fourteen Oregon, but certainly enough enough of a presence on defense to keep this team in games, and as we saw in the National Championship, held a really good Auburn offense down to what twenty two points? They're pretty good.
Yes, they were absolutely pretty good. And they were just solid all around. They had built depth. This is you know, Mike Bolotti leaves Chip Kelly a nice roster, chip Kelly builds upon it. But theirs speed, there's intelligence on this defense, there's depth and that that ultimately, especially with Chip Kelly bringing in a new defensive line coach, paired with Nick Aliotti, the longtime defensive coordinator, they absolutely were a National Championship caliber team, not just offense.
With that being the context for how they got here. I think we've already established that they could have won this game. This is a close National Championship game. Sure what ultimately held them back?
They lost moments early on in the National Championship. You know they're near the goal line, they go for it on fourth down, they don't get it.
They allow Nick.
They're trying to read Nick Fairley an unstoppable force, and that works out really poorly for Oregon. Of course, the unstoppable defensive tackle that year for Auburn, and so they lose moments. Cam Newton does a terrific job of finding mismatches, especially you mentioned Kenny Rowe. A great pass rusher, not so great when he's caught on a wheel route with a running back or a tight end. And Auburn won those moments in a very big way. They make the pl a the end of the game, whether or not
you think Michael Dyer was down. Michael Dyer made that play and kept running, and so Michael Dyer made a play that sets up the game winning field goal. And even though Cam Newton the Heisman Trophy winner and just an all time physical legend for Auburn and college football, Oregon just didn't have the performance maybe on the coaching staff in those big moments then when they were knocking on the door to score at various times.
Is there and I know we're we're really playing into your wheelhouse with this question. Is there a scenario and interesting what if scenario that could have involved a different team not named Oregon? This is a great question. What do you think ty TCU? TCU I think was in the Mountain West at the time. But when thirteen and oh after winning over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, that was a good TCU team. That was a team with Andy Dalton. I want to say, sure, Andy Dalton, Ed
Wesley remember him, of course, Wayman, James, Jeremy Curley. They had some players on that team. They're really really good, really solid. We were in this era where group of five teams were even less valued than they are now, and perhaps TCU didn't get a fair shake. It probably was never in the cards for them, but they rose to the polls like they finished third or I don't know, pretty high up, definitely in the top five when all
was said and done. So I don't know if it's so much of what if, but definitely a curiosity for me would have been TCU TCU because of their defense. Absolutely.
I'm looking at the polls right now, I'm trying to say where they finished, but they either finished second or third. I'm looking at the wrong Wikipedia page.
Ty. Don't you hate it when that happens. Yeah, I think they finished third or fourth, So they get third or fourth. Okay, So the TCU team from the problem is certainly they're playing in a group of five divisions, so they're just not going to get the respect. And TCU fans will certainly say that should have been us in the National Championship. We could have beaten Auburn. You know what, their defense is such or was such in
twenty ten, they should have been able to hang. They have an NFL quarterback in a defense Andy Dalton's certainly a Winter wonder and taking down Wisconsin and the Rose Bowl that year. I don't know that they have.
The overall team speed and offensive skill to do it, but they certainly had the defense. If Oregon had the defense, there's an argument to be made that certainly TCU had a better defense TCU, though they did have a common opponent with Oregon. TCUO beats a five and seven Oregon State team by nine. I think Oregon beat them by seventeen or eighteen points, So if there's any sort of
comparison there, there's that. Stanford finished the year as an extremely strong and talented team, but as mentioned, they lose to Oregon by three touchdowns. Twenty ten Ohio State, which I think ultimately they don't have any wins that year because of the NCAA. Looking back at some ineligible players, namely I guess Terrell Pryor, they finish I think what twelve and one themselves, they win the Sugar Bowl. Outside of that, I don't think there's a strong enough case.
I think there are interesting teams. Wisconsin loses the Rose Bowl, so it's hard to say that they could have hung with Auburn. But we can talk about twenty eleven Wisconsin a little bit with Russell Wilson in that amazing offense, but I don't think the twenty ten version of the Badgers are there. So outside of that, the only other team left if we're going to talk about a group of five team and it's probably a better team than TCU, is Boise State. Well, yeah, Boise State is incredible this year.
They in terms of the points per drive, they're number one in both offense and defense. They have a really strong quarterback. This is as talented a Boise State team as there was. They lose that game to Nevada, which I watched the last couple minutes of that tie. I felt I felt like I was watching some be like be dumped in a public place the last four minutes
of that game with missing those field goals. But ultimately no, I think Oregon was the right team to try and challenge Auburn, and they were right there for good reason.
Final question, which maybe we could get to at the end, comparisons to two thousand and five USC Why don't we save that for the very end. I'll write that down. Okay, okay, fair enough, Let's move on to two thousand and eleven. Your LSU Tigers, Dan mine yours the LSU Tigers eight to zero in the SEC. This was the nine to six year. This is the game of the century year. Incredible defenses both for LSU and Alabama. You'll remember they played in November, a nine to six overtime slugfest that
went to LSU. There eventually was a rematch in the National Championship between LSU and the Alabama Crimson tied won't behold. LSU lose that game twenty one to nothing in the National Championship. So I went back and I looked at this one dan.
One touchdown though one touchdown from one Touchdowntional Championship.
Yeah, I'm curious if you would like to provide any more context than just nine to six, because truly nine to six does a lot of lifting there. Talk about nine to six to a college football fan, I think they know exactly what you mean. But what else was going on in and around the world of college football? How did we arrive at this point where a rematch in a national title game, which at the time it
was like, haresy, Oh my god, so much controversy. I remember we talked about it on the show, a rematch. Who wants a rematch? Of course SEC people they wanted the rematch, but no one else wanted the rematch. How did we get to this point that a rematch was possible?
And depending on what you think about TV ratings, really nobody wants the rematch. Not a lot of people watch this game, which is fine. LSU starts the season with the previous first time loser. I don't know if it happened in that quick order in previous instances looking back and forward. But LSU opens up the season in Jerry World with Oregon. So this is a first time loser that largely returns a good amount of players and adds
a couple of interesting skill players. But ultimately Honey Badger and the LSU defense are too swarming and too good. They win that game forty to twenty seven. They don't score a ton against Mississippi State in Starkville, but they get the job done. I don't think they scored twenty points in that game. This was a team that was led by an absurd defense. If Alabama had this all time amazing historic defense in twenty eleven, which we can
agree they did, LSU was right there. LSU was right there in terms of talent, in terms of performance under John Chavis. They win that game nine six against Alabama, but ultimately the rest of the season there's not a lot of competition within the SEC. They beat down Florida I believe in Depth Valley by like thirty points. The Auburn game isn't particularly close, so they do score points with as much flak as the less miles offense. And what it turned into later on this was a coordinator
thrown into service. It's Greg Stude rahwa I always going to screw up that pronunciation because Steve Cragthorpe gets sick before the season. So that's it's an admirable job having
a coordinator thrown into the pressure like that. Jordan Jefferson has legal issues going into the season and he is suspended and there's some you know, there's controversy about what his actual involvement was in a bar fight down in Louisiana, and he was charged with felonies, but then it was reduced to misdemeanors and he had all sorts of people that testified and on his behalf saying he was trying to break up the fight. So there's all all sorts
of news stories in controversy around the offense. It's a very young LSU offense, especially at receiver. It's what a young Odell Beckham, a young Jarvis Landry, and then we have Ruben Rand and Russell Shephard, so a crazy talented man receiver corps. Running back wasn't especially great. Quarterback wasn't especially great, splitting time with Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson, but the speed and talent at receiver paired with the
talent all over the defense. So it's what Morris Klayburn, Morris Claiborne, Honey Badgers, Hiram Matthew and then Sam Montgomery and Barkhevius Mingo and Kevin Minter in the middle. Eric Reid is at safety, Craig Loston. So this is it's a crazy talented team that doesn't fully have its act together on offense and they don't ultimately cross midfield in the National Championship game. And this is a great what if about other teams? What do you remember about this twenty eleven LSU team?
I think I don't know if it's so much a memory. I got a lot out of just looking back, and I think we now have a real appreciation for the skill talent on that team. This was a run heavy team. They rotated Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson at quarterback depending on the situation and suspension situation and whatnot. But Spencer Ware and Michael Ford got the Lion's share of the carries, and Albert Blue and Kenny Hilliard both were worked in.
But this was a run heavy offense. What's really crazy to me is what you alluded to before they legit had four wide receivers. They had six wide receivers who played in the league, but they had four that ended up being what I would consider legit NFL receivers in Obij and Jarvis Landry, both of whom are very young, just freshmen. On this team, Obij was the second leading receiver, behind Russell Sheppard and ahead of Ruben Randall, both of
whom also played pretty extensively in the NFL. So my question here is really looking back, what happens if you take the twenty eleven receiving corps and put them on the twenty nineteen LSU team. What would they have looked like if they were on this twenty nineteen version of that offense? And by the way, I don't intend that as a swamp at last year's class either, because Justin Jefferson went in the first round Jomar Chase Jamar Chase at almost eighteen hundred yards. He's probably gonna go in
the first round next year. But just the sheer depth of talent on this twenty eleven receiving corps to me is so striking in hindsight, knowing what a lot of these guys went on to be.
Yeah, I mean, especially if their upperclassmen, especially what Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry looked like later on in their careers, even at LSU in that twenty thirteen offense became quite fun. Carnage tie, that's the answer you're looking for. You're looking for carnage from this team in that Joe Brady, Steve Ensminger, Joel Burrow. That's what you're getting from this receiving corps.
What I think is interesting one is is what ultimately undoes LSU against an Alabama team they've already beaten to you?
What is that? Because they could not have won, you can answer that, no, No, I don't think they could have. What undoes is the offense? The offense, let's it down.
Well, it's yeah, it's the offense, it's creativity, and it's the fact that they're playing an all time maybe the greatest college defense ever, the twenty eleven Bama defense unbelievable. Right, There's not much you can do against that team. And that's why, like, especially if we're going to discuss other teams potentially in contention for the national championship that year, it's.
Hard to say oh, okay, Yeah, Oklahoma.
State, who had a somewhat legitimate case to be considered for this national championship team, not National championship game instead of LSU. They could have made some hay against Alabama. Well, they had a more creative offense, they had deadlier offensive skill players, but you're still trying to move a fortress covered in electric modes, covered in you know, there's so much weaponry on this Alabama defense that I don't know
that you can make a strong case. But yeah, ultimately it's not reruiting and developing quarterbacks, which was something that was going to recur with the LSU offense in less Miles' tenure over and over and over again.
Absolutely, And that was sort of my next point. I've made the point countless times. We saw what happened with LSU this year when they really made a commitment to the right guys developing the offense, they had the right personnel in place to make everything go. But how many times had we heard it before in the wake of the less Miles era at LSU, that all we're going to fix the offense we know offenses is probably we're going to fix the offense this year. This is the
first year they actually did it. It's part of the reason why it's really scary moving forward now Joe Burrow and Joe Brady they're gone now. Still we know that ed Ordron maybe is smart enough to know as weaknesses and if you can find a way to try and apply energy with the amount of offensive talent that they have there, just find ways to keep ramping up that offense, it makes them really scary. Proposition. Final question on this twenty eleven LSU topic is are there any other what ifs?
If we play the what if game? There any other what ifs throughout the course of this season that to you are I don't know, interesting in hindsight.
So we absolutely need if we're talking about finding a team that will get that will cross midfield against the twenty eleven Alabama defense and scare them a little bit and keep this close and maybe win a couple moments and get a couple breaks and beat this Alabama team. Because the twenty eleven Alabama offense was good, not exceptional. It's not a TOUA Alabama offense. The twenty eleven defense is obviously crazy good. So we have Wisconsin has is
the most efficient offensive team in the country. That's Russell Wilson Wisconsin. There are playmakers, but I don't know how good that offense is really. I mean that the running backs are good, but the pass catchers to really challenge Alabama down the field, I don't know if they're necessarily there for Wisconsin. Oklahoma State has those guys, but I don't think it was actually a good defense.
For as much as Oklahoma.
State scored, I would have liked to probably have seen Oklahoma State against this Alabama team more than any other team in the country. Looking back, Stanford had a really good this was David Shaw's first year, a really really good team and Andrew Luck's final season in Palo Alto. But Oregon's right behind Stanford and they slack them on the farm at Stanford. So that's a hard case to be made when you lose a game as decisively as
Stanford lost that game. Oregon's an interesting case. They lose to LSU in Week one, so what do they look like later on in the season. Ultimately, I don't think Oregon had the defense to stop Alabama enough, and that's sort of it. Twenty eleven had an amazing Bowl season. Around this twenty one to nothing national championship, including I think Houston beat Penn State. I want to say, besides the Joe pas season. Yeah, is it the Ticket City Bowl?
Yeah, this was.
I think it's the Row Bolden Penn State team and the Ticket City Bowl loses to I think it's case Keenum's final game. There's just a bunch of weird.
Oh yeah, that game's that Bowl season. Well, this was the twenty eleventh season. I think was a year that Justin Blackman caught like one hundred and twenty two balls or so. Yeah, I'm looking at one hundred and twenty two balls. That's right, one hundred and twenty two balls for fifteen hundred and twenty two yards. Justin Blackman. Maybe it'll work out in the league, but as a college player, was a hell of a presence out there between him and Brandon Whedon it was.
And Joseph Randall was on that team. Oh man, Yeah, no, this is a crazy talented offense.
The other question that we do have listed is how they followed it up in the near future. A decade later thereabouts they won a national championship. Yeah, short term though with Joe Burrow. Short term though, it you know, LSU had a bit of a run, but it started to kind of be minishing returns. They don't I won't.
I don't believe after the twenty eleven season. I don't think they make a BCS game again. Under Les Miles. It's Chick fil A Outback, Music City, Texas Bowl. Then he's fired in the middle of twenty sixteen. They win ten games in twenty thirteen, but that tenth is their bowl game, so they go nine to three. The previous
season they go ten to two, So they're good. They're a top fifteen ish team, but they don't get the magic back of both that defense and to a certain extent, that offense, even though in twenty thirteen that's the Zach Mettenberger year where it's I think Jeremy Hill in the backfield and then coming into their own OBJ and Jarvis Landry. That's a really fun LSU offense. But they just can't get a lose SEC games where they didn't before, and they just can't crack the ceiling that Less Miles had.
I suppose from the two thousand and seven season in the twenty eleven season.
That brings us Daniel to the two thousand twelve Notre Dame fighting irish. I'm just gonna leave your mic open time. Just keep talking. Notre Dame that year went twelve to oh in the regular season. They lost in the title game in Miami forty two to fourteen to the Alabama Crimson Tide. You look at the S and P numbers for that Notre Dame team. You're okay on offense. They weren't world beaters, but they're okay, much better on defense overall.
We both found this interesting. Our friend Bill Connolly's then SNP plus before they dropped the end was fifteenth, the fifteenth best team according to Bill's rankings. Right, that's pretty damn significant, isn't it. That tells you something. They're right out of the shoot. Yeah, that maybe you're not a national caliber team tells you something. Right out of the shoot they were national caliber, but maybe not national championship caliber.
Give me the context, Give me the context. Your your your unbiased context for what led to this point in the twenty twelve season.
So, this is this is year three of Brian Kelly. Right three, This is year three of Brian Kelly. This is ever Golson starting as a red shirt freshman. This is a talented defense there. You know Mantiiteo's in the middle. He has you know, himself in the news later on in the season, I want to say, into November with the catfishing situation that he found himself in. But on all three levels of this defense, there was talented and there was talented players and they produced. There's just no
dudes on offense outside of the offensive line. Yeah, but Zach Martin is the dude anchoring this line. Our friend Michael Lock junior playing on this line as well. It's just I don't know what this offense is. And I know you have opinions on the offense, but you look at what they did during the season, and it's close call after close call against five and seventy after five and seven team, whether it's Purdue or I mean, Michigan was fine that season. I think BYU was a close call.
They have overtime against a good Stanford team. The Oklahoma game was impressive. They go to three overtimes against pitt and score twenty nine points and three overtimes. This is a pit team that lost to Youngstown State, an FCS team to open up the season, and so this might be a Hall of fame LRO team. If we're going to use solid verbal parlance, that is just it only lasts so long, tie my ability to escape so so teams, and it's just not going to last against this Alabama
defense and Eddie Lacy and Amari Cooper. So this was a very interesting year for Notre Dame. Obviously, they went undefeated, they made it to the National Championship, but the quarterback spot was really up for grabs and no one really knew what was going to happen. Eventually, Everett Golsen wins the job as a freshman, and that was news in an of itself. But this was a season, this was
a campaign that was almost entirely built on defense. You think of where we're at now, with all the news that we read about, how much do you yearn for the.
Days of Manti Tao's fake girlfriend Dan? Wouldn't you kill for some news like that right now? I mean, in retrospect, you feel sort of really sorry for him that just to find yourself in that situation. I feel sorry for I feel sorry for him. It was, no doubt a huge shit storm. Let's be clear that I'm sure he wanted no part of that. Notre Dame wanted to know part of dead'spin. Loved it. It was a great story if you didn't like Notre Dame. But Manti Tayo found
himself the victim of a catfishing thing. They have embellished a little bit, let's be clear, but yeah. Nonetheless, Manti Teo had a great year that year, one hundred and thirteen tackles, seven interceptions as the middle linebacker, the anchor of this team. And there was defense defense led by Bob Diaco. Here defensive talent, high level defensive talent in the form of Lewis Nicks and Stefan Towitt, Caapran, Lewis Moore, who had a hell of a year. There were some
ballers on this defense. The offense, though, when you look a little closer at what they had outside of Everett Golson, you really start to wonder, like, Wow, how did how did this happen? What exactly was this offense? In twenty twelve, we talked about the twenty eleven LSU receiving Corps. By comparison, let's talk about TJ. Jones, Tyler EIFERD. Devares Daniels and Robbie Toma and Oh theo Riddick getting plugged in at both running back and receiver depending on how Brian Kelly
needs him. That's what we're talking about here.
Not a lot of dudes on that list, I guess beyond Tyler eiferd who led the team, I believe in receiving right, he.
Led the team in receiving yardage. She was tied for receptions with TJ. Jones. Both he and TJ. Jones, both of whom, by the way, went on to play in the NFL, but both of them had game breaking ability. Though right fifty balls caught that season. The offenses, I remember it constituted mostly of ever Goholston running around until he could figure something out right, which under normal circumstances isn't really that sustainable. But he was just he was
crazy athletic. He was sort of fearless, very erratic, but he brought his a game to a night game in Oklahoma, turned in his best performance in Norman. They went on the road, they won that game, and it was from that point forward that you started wondering, like, despite all the erratic qualities that Golson had, what was he good enough in big moments to sort of get notre Dame through the end of the year undefeated and over the finish line as one of the top two teams. Eventually
might have been something he gets up for. The Blockie finishes in there. But ultimately the defense was good enough. They they bent, they didn't break. The offense got enough moments cobbled together to get them into that final game in Miami against the Alabama Crimson time, what was your recollection of getting to that National Championship game? Dan, Like, I don't mean from the Notre Dame perspective, I mean from the solid verbal perspective. If you remember that trip for.
Us, Yeah, it was a good time. We explored Miami, we ate well. We ultimately decided not to go to the game, but we had I feel like, what are we stay in? Like Fort Lauderdale. We stayed not too far away from Yeah, so all time leaving New York in the winter, I.
Fell asleep after Notre Dame fell behind twenty with nothing at the start of the second quarter. It still got worse too. It still got worse. So to give you some context, we had gone to the National Championship for the first time in twenty ten. We skipped the nine to six year but we went in twenty twelve. Now, you know, we had contacts here and there, but for this one, we couldn't get anyone to answer us about a press pass. So we said, screw it, We're just
going to show up the whole week. We did interviews in the lobby of some hotel in Miami, wherever the media stayed. It was cold as hell in that lobby. I remember I was freezing cold in that lobby. But we did a ton of interviews. It was a lot of fun. We got invited to some ESPN party. We're all excited about. We dressed up. Remember it took us two hours to get there. We're lucky we made it
at all. We showed up comically late. My lasting memory of that was sitting on the chairs outside whatever schwanky club. This was watching the cars, watching the people, and then seeing Josh Elliott walk by. I remember I was transtixt by Josh Elliott at the time. I think he was still working. Was this at the Della and my Delano? That's it, the Delano and you and I. It was super swanky. It was great. Oh, we sat outside, we
waited for the car. All these fancy cars are driving by, doesn't the valet just roll up in our Nissan Versa hatchback that we got ours, the solid Versa, our crappy rental that we deemed the Solid Versa. We see Josh Elliott rolling by, We're hearing stories about show thighs. Been walking down the road. There we are. We can't really
get it anywhere we went. Afterwards, we got a Cuban sandwich, went on to do interviews the rest of the week, and then there was that moment for me of internal dialogue and what I find after going to after all these national championship games, what I find about going to these media events is that if you get enough media people on the college football side in a room for a long enough period of time talking about the same thing, eventually you talk each other out of whatever your preconceived
notions were. So coming into this game, I think everyone knew that Alabama was they were the better team. Like everyone knew they were the better team, and everyone felt that way going into this week. But then what happens the closer you get the game time, people talk themselves into Everett Golson's a big game quarterback. Maybe he doesn't have the numbers, but he just he wins those moments,
Manti tale, he's got something to prove. You know, this is a defense, right, don't underestimate that Notre Dame defense. They'd be getting it done all year and so in the end, paying nine hundred dollars for a ticket, though it sounds like a lot, could be my one shot to see a national championship in my lifetime keep going. So eventually, despite all of that talk about I wouldn't want to bet against this Notre Dame defense, bet against him, eventually,
I like, screw it. I'm not paying nine hundred dollars for this. I don't care. I don't care what Stu Mandel liked that he heard at Media Day. It doesn't matter. I'm not paying one hundred dollars. I'm glad I did. I did not buy the ticket. I probably spent that money on a new phone or something later in the year. But Notre Dame goes on to lose by a forty two to fourteen score. It was never really close at all. What was your interesting what if scenario for the twenty twelve season?
Everybody else, literally anybody else, now this this was another excellent Alabama team. You would have needed something special to beat this Alabama team. They do, of course, lose a game during the season, but the fact that we got Notre Dame I remember being.
Bummed about it.
In twenty twelve, I think they lost to Johnny Manziel and Texas A and M in that ridiculously amazing game. It was twenty nine to twenty four I believe was a final score at home. They lose to TEXTA, A and M. So we'll start there in terms of what ifs. What if Texas A and M got another shot at Alabama that would have been nice, but you know, A and M loses what they lose. I think they lose two games that season, but just obliterate Oklahoma in the
Cotton Bowl. You have Aaron Murray and Georgia coming up just short against Alabama, so they had their shot. Oregon themselves had an amazing season. They only lose to that year as Stanford, and it's another good Stanford team, but they finished season strong and they beat Kansas State. That would have been at least somewhat interesting because we'll have Marcus Mariota his freshman season and this is the best Chip Kelly Oregon team. I would claim this is the
best Oregon team of all time. The twenty twelve team was the deepest, the most well rounded Oregon team. That would have been an interesting shot for Alabama even Boise State to a certain degree that season. It falls off after that. But what Texas A and M showed against Alabama red shirt freshman Johnny Manziel at the Helm, and how they finished out the season just doing what they did in the Cotton Bowl to Oklahoma, that would have been interesting. But we've already seen it. We saw it.
They were better than Alabama in twenty twelve. That's just period. It was settled in Tuscaloosa twenty twelve. Notre Dame lost forty two to fourteen. After this point, though, as we've been asking here, what did teams do after this? Well, Notre Dame is an interesting case because Notre Dame when Brian Kelly took over, was still trying to figure out what to do post Charlie Weiss. And as I've said time and again on the show, I think Brian Kelly built the team in a really good way. I think
he built from the inside out. He obviously got a ton of talent along the offensive line. We had some ballers on this offensive line. This was Harry high Stands first season, I believe, yeah. I mean, he did really well recruiting tight ends, had a lot of pre eminent tight ends coming through, really just improve things across the board. And I don't know if they've had a defense quite this caliber since then, but I would say ultimately the
talent level has risen. The one missing piece, the missing link that they still have yet to really solve as the quarter position. This is going to be the first year, provided we have a season, that Notre Dame has had the same starting quarterback for three consecutive years in the Brian Kelly era. That's meaningful. Just hard to do for anybody, though, It's hard to do for anybody, But there has been so much turnover at the quarterback position that I think
to some extent it's really held them back. So we'll see what it means for them in twenty twenty or twenty twenty one again, whenever all this happens again. But nonetheless, I think things from here went in a positive direction. Despite the fact that Notre Dame didn't get back to a national championship game, they have made it to a playoff. They have been in contention with more consistency than at any point before, certainly the twenty twelve season. So they've
done a good thing since then. They were win.
Eligible against Clemson in their playoff appearance. I'll point that out go the record saying they were win eligible. Could Notre Dame have won? No, they could not have won this game. They fell down thirty five to nothing with you know, sort of halfway through the third quarter, Eddie Lacy had his way. AJ mccarenta, Marii Cooper had their way.
You'll remember this was the Brent Musburger Catherine Webb, oh where he noticed AJ mccaron's then girling in the crowd, and that became she was the next I guess when Brent Musburger discovered Jen Sturger in the crowd. So I guess Brent Musburger had an eye for something. When games got out of hand, Alabama had their way with Notre Dame. Notre Dame what held them back? They were flat out not good.
Enough to be in this kid. They weren't. They weren't good at Obama. They weren't good. They didn't have the skill talent, didn't have the skill. Time.
Yes, I think twenty twelve. Wise, if we're talking about who could have hung in a more impressive fashion, it's obviously A and M since they already won. It's Oregon and Georgia. Beyond that, I'm not crazy about anybody within the context of whatever the top five, ten, twelve of college football that season.
But so it is.
That's what we had from twenty twelve, and at least we got to go to Florida and enjoy some warmth.
Twenty thirteen, it's the Auburn Tigers. They went twelve and two that season. They lost on the road in September, I guess the end of September to LSU. LSU was number six at the time, and then obviously to Florida State and Jamis Winston in the title game. But it was thirty four to thirty one that game. They had a pretty good sized lead for like fifty six minutes of this game. Maybe not all fifty six minutes, but they led for fifty six minutes or so in this
football game. A bit of a second half choke job, which I suspect will address when we talk about could they have won, but they did lose. This was the last year of the BCS. The championship went to Jameis Winston. This was a good offense, an okay defense gave up about twenty five points a game. Maybe not the best, but they were. They were electric on offense. According to Bill Connelly's SMP plus at the time, sixth overall. The context here is that this is the kick six This
is the kick six season, the kick six team. Chris Davis, again the Auburn player who returned that shorted field goal one hundred plus yards for a touchdown to knock off Alabama in the Iron Bowl, also led the Auburn Tigers in tackles that year. They had so much talent on defense. It wasn't just Chris Davis. They had d fourd ten and a half sacks, Carl Lawson four sacks, Montrevius Adams also on this team. The offense led by Nick Marshall and Trey Mason. This was an offense that was super
creative in the running game. Trey Mason was a bell cow, got three hundred and seventeen carries eighteen hundred yards, had twenty three touchdowns that year, and I would say, ultimately just a fun team to watch it. Sammy Coates is a vertical threat. They were just like the persistent wild card that was a ton of fun to watch. I remember going into that title game against Florida State that it wasn't apparent to me like how close they'd be able to keep it because everyone was so gung ho
in the Seminoles going into that game. But they were just so damn gritty that they were really fun to watch, weren't they.
Yes, So this is year one of Gus Malson, and so he is the coordinator on the twenty ten championship team, the Cam Newton team. He leaves for Arkansas State twenty eleven, comes back in twenty twelve. Because gene chiswick for all of the good things. It was a Scott Leffler. Brian Van Gorder coordinated Auburn program by the time he was fired. And that's going to get you fired, ty, I just I assume you agree. That's just going to get you
fired ultimately. And so they're unable to develop a quarterback. Nick Marshall transfers in. Obviously everybody knows the story. A Georgia Corner high school quarterback, but a Georgia Corner he transfers to Auburn. So he's a first year quarterback, with the first year coach, and Auburn they have to sort of sneak their way in almost to the point where they're considered a national contender. They open up the first BCS rankings at number eleven. That's October twentieth, so that's
the ground that they need to make up. They get to number nine on November third. They move up to number seven on November tenth, so we have Alabama at the top of the sport, the defending national champ. They lose the Kick six game. Florida State has been incredible all season long. Jamis Winston's in the news for all of the right and wrong reasons, but they keep winning. Florida State does, and they have this incredible upper classmen Leyden team, so they end up at number one December first.
Ohio State is right there number two, but then ultimately Ohio State loses in the Big Ten Championship game. Auburn wins on the Kick six game. Auburn wins the SEC Championship Game, and Auburn thus gets to the National Championship game. By the way, that SEC Championship game was maybe my all time favorite, so good Zoo Auburn game like fifty something to forty something.
You have this the crazy good receivers for Miszoo. It's casual dress, James Franklin, it's Nick Marshall and Trey Mason going everywhere. Just a wall to wall entertaining game. Auburn ends up in the championship game. Could Auburn have won Absolutely, one hundred percent. The Tigers could have won this National championship. They sort of go into a shell in the second half.
You know, they miss opportunities even in the first half as they build it was it twenty one to three lead at halftime, Yeah, it's twenty one three lead at halftime. They go into a shell.
They score late, but Florida State drives down the field and scores with almost no time left, and Auburn only has a prayer of a kick return to try and win the game and it doesn't work out. The interesting thing is Auburn didn't have a good enough defense to be a national championship winner, just like in twenty ten. The defense did not come anywhere close to leading the way for the Tigers. But the fact is the off was amazing enough on the ground, and they had a
knack for surviving. I don't know if you remember the twenty thirteen Auburn Texas A and M game. That was sheer survival from Auburn. And you know what, great teams survive and they figure out how to win and they win moments. You have the kick six, you have the Georgia game. If you remember the tip ball to Ricardo Lewis. Yeah, so they're somehow finding ways to survive. That was kind of was forty three thirty eight was that Georgia game.
So they don't get they don't get a lot in the way of stops, but they get a ton in the way of Nick Marshall and sort of third and eight, nobody's there.
Oh there's Nick Marshall running for eight point two yards.
They got a lot of that out of Nick Marshall and Trey Mason that season. And it should have been good enough for Auburn to beat Florida State because they came out with such an amazing game plan. It was Nick Marshall here, it was Trey Mason there. They were slicing and dicing a very good Florida State defense. But ultimately the calm, the poise, the play calling of Florida State to crawl back into this game, wins out, and
Auburn was right there. So the answer to our first question or whatever question, is yes, Auburn absolutely could have one. What held them back? Second half? Play calling?
Execution? Is there a what if to you about twenty thirteen and the teams involved? The what if to me is what if the kick six doesn't happen? Right? What if the kick six doesn't happen? And instead of Auburn, we're talking about Alabama against Florida State. This is a really good Alabama team too. This was AJ mccern, This was TJ. Yeldon, Kenyan Drake and Derrick Henry all in the same team, same backfield, which is asinine three NFL
caliber running backs. You also had Amari Cooper had the most receptions on that team, Christian Jones, Kevin Norwood, O J. Howard, the Andrew White. There are some ballers on this offense, to say the least. And that's not even talking about the defense, which had CJ. Moseley and Lane Collins, Taha Clinton Dix is Sean Robinson's like, there were some players on this team.
I'm not too hung up on the what ifs. Louisville had a really nice season that year. I don't know, I just nothing really jumps out to me from a what if. I don't think even as good as Oregon was that year, they lost a couple of games that they shouldn't have. Well they should have because they lost them, but they weren't good enough to beat Florida State that season. So I'm happy that we had Auburn getting the chance, especially with how they finished out the season to get
a shot at Florida State. Just a bummer if you're an Auburn fan, obviously that they couldn't close the door.
Where did Auburn go from here? Well, the next year eight and five, the year after that, seven and six, the year after that eight and five again, it wasn't until twenty seventeen that they had a double digit win season and they finished tenth in the AP Poll. But you know, twenty eighteen, eight and five, again, twenty nineteen, this past season, nine and four, a good team. Questions at quarterback. We talked a lot about the twenty nine teen team. Fair to say, they have not gotten back
to that level since the twenty thirteen season. They've had some good squads. We've had good players for sure, But part of I think the consternation around the gust Malson era is trying to recapture some of that magic.
Tight It was pretty magical the way they almost beat UCF, though, that was well, sure there was Pixie dust in what was that the Peach Bowl a couple of years ago, so there's that at least. Yeah, No, they haven't really fully gotten there. They've made their way through coordinators and I can't even count the stories of Gus Melson calling plays, not calling plays, retaining play calling duties, taking giving away play calling duties.
So the good thing is the defense.
Has solidified for Auburn if that was the concern in twenty ten and twenty thirteen, which is fair to say, the defense has become incredible. They are probably they're probably just a developed quarterback away from contending for the national championship again. And you know they were in the SEC championship game not too long ago. This is a team that's still there. So great move hiring Gus Malson, even with the consternation that comes with coaching at Auburn.
If you're a head coach, final team this show the twenty fourteen Oregon Ducks. Your Oregon Ducks of note here. This is the first year of the playoff. Yes, it is first year of the playoffs. So Florida State wins the national championship for twenty thirteen, they go into a playoff semi final against the Oregon Ducks. They lose. They get drilled fifty nine to twenty in the Rose Bowl. Is an Oregon team that went thirteen and two this season.
They lost at home at the start of September to Arizona and then they went on to lose forty two to twenty to Ohio State in the National Championship game. Really Good Offense fourth according to the SMP. Really Good Defense seventeenth according to the SMB. The notable player for the Oregon Dux this year was Marcus Mariota. Marcus Mariota was a Frickin' beast. Won the Heisman almost forty five
hundred yards forty five touchdowns to just four interceptions. He also rushed for close to eight hundred yards, had another sixteen offensive touchdowns, even caught a touchdown. That's how versatile he was. He was really the focal point of this team, and for good reason. He was unstoppable, right, just utterly unstoppable this year.
Yeah, this is the best offense of the Oregon era, which you know, the spread, hurry up era, where now no longer in as we watch Oregon sort of become more of a power team. But yeah, this was the best offense in the country by I think a considerable distance in twenty fourteen. Ultimately, though, Oregon and Mark Helfrich make a terrible decision. They Nick Aliotti retires after the
twenty thirteen season. I think they beat Texas in the Alima Ble in Mac Brown's final game for Texas, and Mark Helfrich replaces him with Don Pelham, who is a promotion from linebacker coach. Instead of going out and finding the best possible candidate, Mark Helfrich goes with continuity instead, and defensively, it is disappointing in year one, which is the National Championship season, and it turns into a full on disaster that culminates in even Brady Hokee failing to
turn things around at Oregon. But that's in the near future stuff. But Oregon rides its offense to this National Championship game. They're probably not as talented as the Florida State team. They trounced, but Florida State was exhausted and just not at all on the same page and fully willing to give up, and they lose that game.
I was there.
It was absolutely happening in front of my eyes, Florida State giving up and just wanting to leave. So Oregon gets the nod to the National Championship game. They meet Ohio State, who ultimately run literally pasted Alabama. This is the Blake Simms Alabama team, twenty four team. It's Zeke Elliott, it's Cardile Jones. Third stringer j T. Barrett gets hurt
against I think it's Michigan. He gets hurt later on in the season, and of course Braxton Miller gets hurt before the season even begins, so they're down to their third string quarterback and Oregon. What holds them back is
probably a combination of losing a lot on offense. They lose their left tackle before the season starts, so that doesn't really fully count because they have the whole season to figure out things without him, but they lose their starting tight end and they lose three receivers I believe, so it's Devin Allen, Darren Carrington to suspension and Braylan
Addison early on in the season. So they're down a lot of firepower on offense, and defensively they're down their best corner who gets hurt in practice after the Rose Bowl, and so they're pretty hobbled. But ultimately they don't have the dudes on defense after I mean on the line they do. They have a couple first round picks on the line, but at linebacker. The secondary is just it's not you know, they don't have Winter Wonders tie we
like to say. And so they generate turnovers, they get to Cardale Jones enough, but they're not able to string together drives. I know they score. I think they jump out to a seven to nothing lead. They generate turnovers, but they're not ever able to capitalize. And it's just Tom Herman and Zeke Elliott over and over and over again.
I was there.
It was not pleasant. If you were there and you were an Ohio State fan, I'm sure it had to have been incredible. But that was ultimately that's what kept them back is they couldn't tackle in space at all.
Yeah, this is you know, not to go back to the playoff thing, but this is a super interesting year, not just because it was the first year of the playoff, but because of the matchups right right, you had returning national champion Florida State Jameis Winston. You had national championship
aspirations for the new Heisman winner in Marcus Mariota. You had on the other side of things in Alabama team that was clearly in the midst of its run, going up against an Ohio State team that was playing its third string quarterback and went on this amazing run at its own right through the end of the regular season, the Big Ten Championship, the playoffs, and now into the National Championship. So a lot of interesting storylines that were waiting for us in the first year of the College
Football Playoff. The question that I posed to you on our Super Secret chat where did you come down on the twenty ten Oregon team that we talked about a bit ago versus this twenty fourteen team, Because at least if you look up and down the roster, you can make a case that the twenty ten version was an all round, like, more well rounded team, sure, definitely, whereas this twenty fourteen team certainly had some headliners in the form of DeForest Buckner and Royce Freeman who was only
a freshman at the time, and Marcus Mariota who went on to great things. But it just felt like, in looking up and down the roster that maybe that twenty ten version was more well rounded. It was just that the high the peaks were higher in twenty fourteen, and perhaps they were hampered a bit by.
The likes of Don Pelham. Yeah, I think twenty fourteen was a better team. Defense was never going to fully win Oregon a national championship. It had to be passable, and it was definitely passable. It was actually pretty good in twenty ten and not great in twenty fourteen. But yeah, the fact is the best thing on the field, if you're going to play those two teams against each other, is the twenty fourteen Oregon offense. They have the better
results during the season. They don't have as many scares, even though they do lose a game, and the twenty ten team doesn't lose a game.
Their highs were just higher.
They beat a very good Michigan State team they eventually run away from them, and the twenty ten team doesn't have that kind of non conference and check mark on their schedule, So I think it's twenty fourteen because of Marcus Mariota and what just how just ludicrous that offense was in his fourth season in Eugene, third season as starter, he took a red shirt year. The if you're talking about winter wonders, the absurdity of Marcus Mariota wins out.
I think that's right.
Okay, is our team though, because I have an answer for a team that I think could have challenged Ohio State. Oh, go ahead, I think that year's TCU team, and I know we had that sixty one to fifty eight loss to Baylor earlier on in the season, and there was that controversy. You know, Ohio State loses early on to Virginia Tech and they ultimately get into the playoff as the number four team over TCU or Baylor, and I get all of that frustration if you're a Baylor fan
or a TCU fan. I probably go Frogs here because I think they were good enough on defense that I would have trusted them more against Cardale Jones and Zeke Elliott than I would have Oregon, though ultimately the Ducks undoing, and to have Trevon Boykin to have the type of talent that he had around him. I think they just completely blitzkrieg. Ole missed that season. In the bowl game, it's like forty two to three or something like that.
TCU was, they were on a war path, and so that is the answer with as and I thought Ohio State did an amazing job adjusting to the speed of Oregon's offense. Their defensive line was everywhere, their linebackers were everywhere. I still think there's a good chance they beat TCU, just like they beat Oregon. But that's the clear answer to me that year's Frogs not going back to twenty ten because I don't think there is talented I don't think they're as battle tested as the twenty fourteen team was.
I'm going TCU. Everybody has a bad day, you give up sixty, that's fine. Ultimately, they still had a really really strong defense. That's the curiosity to me what the Frogs look like, because I know what Baylor looked like when they had a chance to put an exclamation point on the season and they lose. So I'm going to see you here.
That TCU team scored forty six and a half points per game and allowed under twenty allowed nineteen per game. A big year for Trevon Boyken almost well he did. He got the thirty nine hundred yards thirty three touchdowns. Josh Doson had a big year that year. Remember him, of course?
Interesting, all right, Yeah, Baylor loses one of the weirder games, by the way, in their bowl game, I think it's the Cotton Bowl that season. They lose forty two to forty one. Michigan State comes back. They just decide to completely sell out to stop Baylor on the ground. Baylor finishes with like seven hundred yards through the air and negative forty on the ground.
What a weird fun game. So as we look at this grouping here twenty ten, Oregon, twenty eleven, LSU twenty twelve, Notre Dame, twenty thirteen, Auburn twenty fourteen, Oregon, do we take any of them over two thousand and five USC. Yes, so.
I probably I probably take the twenty fourteen Oregon team. I probably take the twenty thirteen That Auburn team.
I don't know.
The defense is tough, but I take good passing team. So I'm not taking Notre Dame. I saw what Oregon was able to do against Pete Carroll better Pete Carroll defenses later on in his tenure, so that has me confident that that sort of spread with the talent that they ultimately built up on offense. I'm gonna say the
twenty fourteen Oregon team. I think Gus Malson is able to to with a running quarterback, just like what we saw a weakness of USC's that year, and Nick Marshall, albeit different physically, I think they have a very good chance. And twenty eleven LSU, with how good that defense is, I think they also have a chance. But I'm favoring I think Auburn and Oregon because that defense just did not have the speed to tackle in space and the ability to tackle in space. That was ultimately their undoing
against Texas. So I think those are the two teams I think I'm taking.
Yeah, I think the Oregon and or Auburn. The answer here is interesting just because of how both teams use the quarterback. Both teams played with a lot of tempo right and we're very good at utilizing space, and the defense are used to defending speed. The Reggie Bush would get his against anybody ever, but in terms of what
USC had and horsepower wise, on offense. Yes, they would have scored against twenty fourteen Oregon and twenty thirteen Auburn, but there's experience in dealing with speed from those defenses. So yeah, I think with those quarterbacks and those offensive systems and those offensive coaches, yeah, they would have put a lot of points on that two thousand and five USC defense. That twenty thirteen Auburn defense was pretty good too. I mean it didn't it didn't necessarily rise to the
level of elite when you look at the numbers. I think I had what forty fifth or something in the smp plus. But there were some players on that team. I mean, you have christ they came to play against an all time Florida State team. They did. They had Chris Davis back there, who we talked about with the kick six and led the team in tackles. But again, some really good pass rushers up front who could change the game, who could move the line, and that that
would have been an interesting combination to see. I don't know, I want to hear from people on this one again. What was that email address at the top. Would you say solid verbal at gmail dot com? Did you say juno or Gmail?
I didn't I didn't hear you Gmail or I mean, we can register juneo, but we're not going to check it.
Solid verbal at gmail dot com. Let us know your thoughts wherever you're watching this show, listening to the show. Hope you can tell your friends about this. Hope you're staying safe and washing your hands and trying to enjoy the time indoors as much as possible. Who do we got next week final installment? I think it's all Alabama and Clemson.
Let's see who we have. So we have Clemson losing the twenty nineteen season national championship, and then we have Alabama losing the twenty eighteen season national championship. Then we have Georgia on the last second losing the twenty seventeen season national championship. Then we again have Alabama losing to Deshaun Watson and Clemson. And the year before that we have Deshaun Watson and Clemson losing to I believe Jake Koker and the Crimson Tide.
Wow, so we're going to really be pretty deep with three teams essentially. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. All right, well, email us again at solidverbal at gmail dot com. Give us your thoughts on what you heard here today. We appreciate any and all feedback. Don't forget to follow along
out in our social media channels Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. Check out the subreddit started owned operator by our good friend Peter soliverble dot reddit dot com if you want to get in on the fun talk about all of these topics and much much more. And uh yeah, tell your friends about the saliverb We'll be here all off season, all quarantine, all pandemic long. Hopefully we'll have football to talk about soon. But in the meantime, hope you enjoyed this discussion. Dan, It's been fun hungry.
Even though we talked about Oregon and Notre Dame losing and embarrassing themselves. I'm still there for.
That guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Tie hilden Brand. Thank you so much for downloading, for listening, for playing along with us at home. Until next time, Stay solid, peace,