Welcome to the Solid Verbal. I'll 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 Edith.
State is that woo woom?
And Dan and Tye.
Welcome back to the Solid Verbal, boys and girls. My name is Ty Hildenbrand, joining me as always over there in New York City, my beloved co host and dear friend, the one, the only Dan Rubinstein, Sir, how are you.
A little bit tired, a little bit surprised, a little bit worn out from from all sorts of things, but glad to be with you, Ty. How's life with you?
Wife? Life is good. Life's a little bit somber. Because college football, the season is now over as of today, officially everyone's undefeated. I love that line.
Mm hmm.
But we had quite a game last night, Clemson. Congratulations to the Clemson Tigers, forty four to sixteen, your twenty eighteen nineteen national champions A dominating effort from Dabo Sweeney, certainly from Brent venimals from Trevor Lawrence. We're going to go through all of that over the next forty five minutes or so. Clemson, of course, finishes with a mark of fifteen to zero. H Dabo now has as many
national championships as Bobby Bowden as Joe Paterno. It was Alabama's worst loss since nineteen ninety eight and the vaunted Mike Dubo's era, which I'm sure still gives BAMA fans some nightmares. Yeah, we've got a lot to break down. Dan.
Quite a finish here, it was, And bless me really for saying, now, watch Clemson lay the wood after saying that was the least likely outcome, which alter of Dan one hundred percent of the time, am either right or wrong? Alter of Dan, Alter of Dan, that's right. Sure, a sting in college football picking. We both at least took the points. But what we thought this game before does
not matter because we have the actual results. And the actual reality is Clemson now has to be in the conversation of best team ever just in terms of sheer, dominance and production and the level of team they beat at the top. And I could not believe my eyes in the best possible way the degree to which Clemson in every facet pretty much from Trevor Lawrence and the lines and the defense and the moments that they won
on down. To do that against Alabama is you know, the King is dead, long lived the King kind of thing.
It's funny you bring that up, because I was texting with friends at halftime and I was keeping an eye on the halftime line. What was the money line for Alabama still winning the game despite being down at that point thirty one to sixteen. We've seen this before with Alabama. We saw that last year in the National Championship.
They strike immediately.
Yeah, they find a way to make a second half adjustment, they reassemble the robot, and they find a way to win. That was not the case here. We saw a field goal very early on, about fourteen minutes left in the second quarter that gave Alabama the leads sixteen to fourteen, and from that point forward, Dan, they did not score.
Clemson went on an incredible run thirty unanswered points between the very start of the second quarter and the very end of the game, as they ultimately end up winning the game by twenty eight points, which is just amazing to me. I'm glad I didn't take that number that I saw at halftime, because it would not have worked out in my favor.
No, it would not have.
There.
There were elements of this game, even with how Clemson and we'll start at the top, I'm sure momentarily, but there were elements of this game no matter what we had seen for fourteen games. Whether it was the offensive line coach by Robbie Caldwell, by the way Turkey and
eminator to the stars, that's right. Whether it was that offensive line, a very experienced offensive line led by I guess what Mitch Hyatt started for four years, right, yep, Whether it was the defensive line, which we knew was with absolute certainty, was going to wreak havoc on anybody lined up in front of them, that it was going to take them on every play, winning every moment. And they outshined even that bar which was which was just incredible,
especially with the game. The way the game started, we were like, oh, shoot, fourteen thirteen after thirty five seconds. It wasn't thirty five seconds. We're like, okay, somebody, this is TCU Baylor two thousand and whatever. It was fourteen where it's just fifty nine to fifty six, last one with the ball wins. Turns out last one what the ball did win, but just in a very calm victory formation.
I'm going to start in the first quarter because, as you hinted, the first quarter was the most frenetic of the game, a lot of back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. So first off, if Clemson gets the ball, they go three and out. Alabama gets the ball to it throws a pick six on their first possession. Twitter goes nuts. People are going crazy.
Yeah.
Then Alabama gets the ball back to his very next pass three plays into their next drive, a sixty two yard strike, a beautiful deep ball to our boy Jerry Judy. With that, Clemson gets the ball back a touchdown. Then Alabama gets the ball back a touchdown, and then a missed extra point. Now we're at fourteen thirteen. We're near the end of the first quarter. Everyone's wondering, it's the age old line. Will the extra point come back?
Taunt out?
Oh yeah, six points was the line. Huh. That's interesting to at least plausible at this point. But then Bama forces a three and out, they get the ball back. They put together an eleven place minute drive. It seems like they're starting to steady that ship a little bit. They kick a field goal at the start of the second quarter. That's when they go up sixteen to fourteen.
As we mentioned earlier, from that point forward again, fourteen minutes, eighteen seconds left in the second quarter, all Clemson, All Clemson, thirty unanswered points, complete domination for the next forty four minutes in eighteen seconds of the football game, Dan, what stood out to you as being the main reasons why Clemson dominated in the manner that they did and what surprised you about what you saw?
I mean, do you want me to spell out Trevor Lawrence as all of the reasons on offense at least? So, First of all, the shocker in terms of where Clemson went from being down while they were down sixteen to fourteen yep to being comfortably up at the half by double digits thirty one sixteen is that they were not doing it sort of meticulously with perhaps the best running back in the country and Travis etn and even when he did break loose for a couple of runs, it was not game changing.
Now they used him in a very complimentary role.
I thought, right, they had a nice screen. I think to Tavian Feaster on that drive, that touchdown drive where they got to twenty one points. But really it was going downfield. And this is something I want to sort of bring up later on in the show in terms
of strategy against Bama whatever. But what looked to me as just at least for the offense, because the defense is also worth really honing in on, was Trevor Lawrence being counted on to not be a freshman on the biggest stage where you would understand if he played somewhat like a freshman for better or for worse in that you know, going in and I was one of these people you say, well, is he going to be trusted
to do more than read half the field? Is he going to be trusted to look at, you know, look off more than one receiver, go through more than one progression, whatever, And repeatedly third and sevens, third and eights, third and thirteen's whatever. He was saying, this is the tight window I have to throw, and I'm going to look off this guy and I'm going to hit Justin Ross here
along the sideline. And I'm not just specifically talking about this in the second quarter, but it was Trevor Lawrence having the option to do what needed to be done against a very good Alabama defense. The line protecting him and them saying we are not going to win this game with Tavian Feaster and Travis Etn on the ground, and let's not even try to do something that we've already determined is not the best course. And we said it. I don't know if it was in the Instagram live
thing we did postgame. Devil Swinney is cutthroat. He may come off as aw shucks, but between the Kelly Bryant thing and we are not going to feed Travis Etn because we like him and we know he's excellent, if it's the wrong thing to do against Alabama, and I commend that entirely, and I on that stage to say, you know, we're not going to be fifty to fifty run pass. We are just going to do everything that's necessary in every possible moment to win. That's best of
the best tie. That's just that's all. It is. Stuff, that's good stuff.
You mentioned Clemson's offensive line. They created what I would describe as a hermetically sealed pocket. Yeah, around Trevor Lawrence for most of the game. That doesn't mean he didn't take some shots. He took some shots for sure. By a large he had a lot of time to throw. He was under duress a lot less than too, it was and much more accurate on the night twenty of thirty two, three hundred and forty seven yards and three touchdowns. That is a legendary performance for any quarterback on that
big of a stage. Let alone the fact that this kid is a freshman. In case he didn't know by now, Dan Trevor Lawrence is a freshman. He's nineteen years old. Well now was was a freshman. Yeah, we're going to be talking about him for quite some time, for at least the next two years. He's going to have justin Ross with him. He's also going to have some of
his other targets around next season as well. He is a once in a generation talent and it's going to be exciting to see what his ceiling ends up being on the college level, if there is any, if he can continue this incredible run with Clemson, but on a more basic level, just as someone who's watched Brandon Wimbush, watched Ian Book, and watched a bunch of other quarterbacks around college football, what stands out to me about him and I don't care if he's a freshman or a senior.
You don't see any of those weird frantic backfoot throws from him.
No, he's He did have one really good backfoot throw, but it was not frantic. It was with purpose, I think, on a big third down.
You know, you see it a lot in games like this, where an opposing quarterback is overwhelmed by a pass rush or a situation or a bad read or who knows whatever else, floats one and they back up. They back they back up. They sort of float one trying to get it out of bounds. Maybe they get it there, maybe they don't, or they float one over the middle trying to make a play. Trevor Lawrence doesn't do that.
He doesn't have to do that. And like you said, even when he's throwing off his back foot, it's going somewhere. There's a purpose to it. He's making that throw because he knows he can complete the pass. That to me, that little aspect of his game, to me, is what really stands out and puts him head and shoulders above so much of the competition.
It's incredible, by the way, and rightfully so. Eyeballs were following the pass itself on that ridiculous justin ross third down conversion one hand sideline. Yeah, Trevor Lawrence was absolutely pulverized by Isaiah Buggs on that play. Like he broke through. He totally beat I think the Clemson right guard, I want to say, And to your point, he was not
backing up and floating that. He stepped in as well as he could have on that throw, delivered it to the exact window it needed to be delivered too, and got busted up, Yeah, and lived to move the chains and play another down. And it was that's I mean, that's just ridiculous. I mean, how do you be so good that we are talking about you in a game with Tua, who was arguably the best letterback in the country.
Let's switch gears a little bit and let's talk about Tua. Tua was on the other side of this thing, and he was going against that Clemson that vaunted Clemson defensive line, you know, the one that was without Dexter Lawrence, which is still amazing to me. That line for Clemson changed the rhythm for Tua. He had two very uncharacteristic interceptions, one very early another one still pretty early in the game.
In particular, though Clemson's line and its ability to generate pressure without actually blitzing is what I thought played such a huge role in this game. Whenever you can do that again it's a good passing team like Alabama, it's a huge advantage. Whenever you do that against any team, it's a huge advantage, but especially against Alabama because it's not something Bama has to deal with a whole lot.
They were just four of thirteen on third downs here on the flip side, Clempton was something like ten or fifteen. It felt like they were converting every big third down play. Alabama could not get it going because Clemson was able to play pass coverage and yet still generates so much pressure with they're front.
For Did you read, by the way, Pete Thammill, I believe from Yahoo did like the anonymous coaching scouting report ahead of this guy.
I didn't see that. No, so he did that, and I listen, I am such a sucker.
Listen, listen less, I am such a sucker for that like blind item, like it happens a lot in like preview magazines. Oh yeah, like anonymous coaches break down because you get a certain amount of honesty.
Athlon does like a whole page perpose on that Yeah, it's great.
I understand the trepidation about anonymous source and whatever, but I appreciate the honesty in those situation because it's something. They're the ones watching the games with with a finer tooth comb than any of us. And the big one of the big notes that caused a minor stir was Alabama's offensive line is good but not great, and this is still an offensive line with a ton of talent. Jonah Williams might be the first He's gonna be the first, yeah,
off the board in the NFL draft. We'll see what happens, but he's on that level. And I saw some pushback with that, especially with our pal and curling teammate Cole Kubltz from ESPN SEC Olympian. Yeah, does radio down in Alabama, and he was like, this is madness, this is insane to say this about this Alabama offensive line. And he's
somebody who watches a ton of tape. And I don't know if it was him short selling Clemson or him, you know, just not understanding that what Clemson is capable of, and I of course believe he is, but that was
what caused a stir and Alabama's off fensive line. We saw it running plays and they ran the ball all right at times, but protecting to I know on a fourth and goal they ran like to a left right it was just a QB run to the left off tackle and I believe it was Cleveland Virule who just almost went untouched and destroyed the play behind the line of scrimmage. And they just they won the moments. That's
what I'm gonna keep harping on. It's what they did on third down to keep Alabama away from moving the chains, what they did on fourth down. Alabama finished what three of six The Alabama had to go for six fourth downs. That's just and it's not just the defensive line. It's Kendall Joseph in the linebacking corps everywhere. It's the secondary weathering an injury. I think it was a cramp in the second half. And Mark Fields, I believe was the
guy who came in. He was making plays. It was challenging balls at the top of their the whatever the passing arc it was. It was just a total every down efforts. And yes, I do think it started with the line just making life hell for the Alabama offense.
So do we learn anything now from Tua after seeing him go up against a really good Clemson team. Again, we saw Tua burst onto the scene sure win the national championship against Georgia year ago in overtime. That was a great game. Clearly, Tua has had an amazing year. He had forty one touchdown passes. But this this was fundamentally and much different.
Without a lot of second halves. Yeah, without a lot of second halves. He's an incredible college football talent and will continue to be so, at least for one more year on the college stage. But this was a different too that we saw.
And I don't know if you can put it all on him, because again that line really did win the point of attack against Alabama's front. But to see Tua kind of on his back foot at times frantic that this was a different side of him. Every quarterback is going to see this over the course of their career, there are no exceptions. But it was just a much, much different stage for him in this setting now to see him kind of frankly where a lot of Alabama's opponents are on the offensive side.
So I can't in good conscious say something like, well, Tua on the big stage or Tua like didn't play up to the moment, because you can't say that that is that is taking away a ton from what this all time Clemson defense was able to accomplish. And I think that was it. I mean, the first interception was uncharacteristic. He was throwing to the wide sizes under the field side. The pass was behind the receiver, and it was just easy pick six. It was just bad pass, bad read,
bad execution, blah blah blah. His second interception, he saw something that wasn't there. And would you say he was seeing ghosts. I don't even know if he was seeing ghosts. He just went into the house. What is the ghostbusters? You know the pack? Oh, the proton pack, the proton pack. Thank you, it's been a while. He just went into a house firing. He didn't see ghosts. He was just like it was a heat check moment. When he went deep on that pass, I think he saw man coverage.
Perhaps maybe that was the ghost he saw. They were in some variation it looked like to me of cover three. So it was Travion Mullen who made plays all over the place. He was also the one who got home
against on a corner blitz. So he had that left side of the field and he was just playing the left side of the field and he was just running alongside a receiver while somebody else was underneath, and it was just a really it was a bad pass, it was a bad read, and it was I think that led to a touchdown, right.
Yeah.
So it was both those interceptions, either directly or indirectly led to points, and that is Clemson. That is Clemson perhaps making to his sea ghosts, but it was a terrific game plan. It was forcing to it to be perfect, and at times he looked like he was I mean, the third of Jerry Judy Early was still.
Throws to his ear a hell of a deep ball. I know it didn't all work out yeah last night, but it'd be silly to taunt to at this point after he's done so many great things already and say, wow, you know he's not a big game player.
Yes, and they ran the ball decently enough early, but they were just there was a team that made mistakes small, medium, large. I still remember that fake field goal. Oh yeah, I just took a screen grab rewatching and that wide shot. I think it was the wirecam shot of what Clemson's defense was in and what after the game Alabama's I don't know if it was the kicker or the holder said, you know, we knew they might be in that look, and we still liked it.
It was a base four to three or.
So, I mean it was there was I could bring up the screenshot. This is you know, definitely a visual medium. But as you look at it, there's four down linemen, there's a standing like edge rush or whatever. It would be a four to five two I guess technically, and they are just all facing looking at each other and saying, you know what to do if and when they fake it?
And Alabama's kicker is staring directly into this, and the holder is looking directly into this and saying, yep, fourth and six, iy, we got this, and spoiler alerts, they did not.
It was the least special special teams formation for Clemson in that moment.
It's been a hell of a last month for botched fakes. Between Oh my God, Georgia, the Oregon Red Box Bowl disaster fiasco with the fake and this, it's been it's been rough for creativity, execution, actual deciding to go through with it. Miss and Alabama wasn't going to I guess call a time out, thinking, Okay, we're still down fifteen with ten minutes left in the third quarter. Let's not waste a time out here. If this is not indeed the full field goal unit we won on the field.
But nope, Well you know what, and there is no longer any excuse for wearing an ill fitting suit.
No an excuse for that fake or an excuse for wearing an ill fitting suit. Yeah.
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Daniel, you know who could probably use a better fitting suit. This is something I did notice, Dabosweeney. Really I was watching. I'm not used to seeing him in a suit.
Actually, I know.
Well, Saban always comes out in a dude you see that, you know, entering the stadium stuff, Dabo walked out on the field a little bit. I think after Nick Saban to just like get a sense how's the turf moving tonight, which is actually pretty importantly by stadium. You know, there's always the option that, oh, there's like a bunch of sprinklers in the way, there's anyway. So Dabolswoeney comes out and his suits. He's a pretty in shape dude, college
footmore college football player, he's under fifty. It's a pretty baggy suit, really, And if he's going to be in this position for these next few years with Clemson, as I imagine he will be on this big national stage, we got to get him a better suit.
You think he's going to pull a Rick Vaughan when Rick Vaughan got famous and then started wearing suits in Major League two.
I think, if he's going to have to wear a suit, and I appreciate the reference to wild thing, sure because in many ways, Taboa is our wild thing. We got to get a little bit slimmer of fit going on. There was there was some some Tracy McGrady s qualities. Oh no to it fit, It fit fine. Tracy mcgrady's did not fit, but he could he could stand to go to Endochino dot Com for sure.
How do you feel about this seemingly new trend to wear the snow white suit like Morgan Freeman and Bruce Almighty.
Well, wasn't he playing god?
He was playing God, but he was wearing the snow white suit.
So it's a full white suit.
Yeah. I think Bradley Cooper tried to pull that off at the Golden Globes. I've seen a couple of other athletes trying to pull that off. You like that, would you go snow white?
When I hear Morgan Freeman and then Bradley Cooper? My next name is ty Hildenbrand. Every time, it's right every time, So my answer is yes, if and when, like you renew your vows, That's what I expected, snow.
White suit and you got it Indochino dot com. He's a promo code, solid check out, get your suit? All right? Where do we want to go next?
There?
There's a whole lot to cover here. We talked at nauseum about what Trevor Lawrence did, what to a tongue of iloa had to face in this National championship and certainly how Clemson won in the trenches. With any National championship game though, and certainly now this this apparatus that ESPN has constructed around it, it's a whole experience. When you're sitting at home on your couch watching, you've got multiple options. So you've got the main broadcast feed, which
was Chris Fowler, Kirk kurb Street. Yep, we had the ESPN two.
Feel it was on the field. It was Bernaldi and Maria Taylor.
Maria Taylor and Tom Arnaldi were on the field. Yep, did a great job. We had the ESPN two feed, which it wasn't the Homer cast as I think we've seen before with our friend Adam Ameen. But Adam was down on the field alongside Steve Levy. I think they had some personalities that they were able to rotate in
and out. But I caught a big chunk of Jonathan Vilma, who did a great job on the field alongside Steve Levy, as well as Gene Chiswick, who was doing his part to call out some plays alongside Adam Aman earlier in the.
Game, alongside Burns. What are we talking?
You couldn't see the side Burns because he had he had the headset on. Oh and I was desperate for him to maybe just scratch his ear or something to remove the earphone to see if he had grown any sideburns. I'm going to assume that he can't because he never has had them. But it really would have been the upset of the night if he removed them and we saw some mutton chops there, that.
Would have been wonderful. Yeah. I watched a little bit of that on my iPad as I was out. Someday I'll tell the story unexpectedly, but but yeah, I watched the first half of my iPad and I was going through a couple of the different the different feeds definitely interesting. I didn't watch the who is it Greg McElroy and who does the host? Show with somebody on the SEC network. I did not watch that feed, did not watch the Monday night football feed, did not watch the skycam or
Blimp feed. Whatever they had going on, I appreciate it. I think there's a command center feed.
Yeah, so the commit of a lot of different angles, a lot of people on the Instagram chat when we were doing our live thing, we're talking up the command center feed and I watched it. So what they had is in the in the top right corner, they had
the game feed, if you were watching regular ESPN. I think in the top left corner they had the skycam to the wirecam where you could get that on field view, and then in the middle they had statistics running statistics, so after each play, that window would update to show you the latest statistics. I tried to watch it, and it was sensory overload for me.
Yeah, that's a lot.
I couldn't focus on one, which is weird because it's not all that different from when I'm used to watching multiple games on a Saturday, But just to have it all on one screen.
To me, we have a bunch of text and numbers. You've ever been in a TV truck for like any sporting events I have?
Actually, there's a lot going on, A lot going on in those.
I went and did a documentary with old company I worked for, and we did a little documentary feature on the Fox Sports a Team NFL truck which is three trucks, and I was in the booth in the truck for that. That's a lot going You can't imagine what's going on with that. So yeah, Command Centers Rough. I was just happy because we didn't have the coaches, the coaches whatever feed film room to watch the main feed with Falor and herb Street and the two reporters down on the field.
I will say this as it relates to the broadcast tie that was as ideal an outcome if it was going to be a comfortable win as possible, because you had Bama down at the half, but everybody thinking, including you, checking the money line, thinking it's only a matter of time. I'm going to keep watching. If it were thirty one sixteen Alabama, you're thinking this is crock potting. They're trying this one forty to twenty one. It's never even going to feel that close. But I don't know when it was.
I mean I had tweeted out at a certain point that this one's far from over. In the middle of the third quarter, it was over for.
Sure, Dan, there was an element of disbelief that kept a lot of people awake to watch that full game.
Yes, and so in terms of ratings, in terms of interest and stuff, it's as ideal a comfortable win on a game, in a game like that, in a spot like this, as probably ESPN could have hoped for. So yeah, I guess if you are in Bristol, good for you. Yeah.
So the only two final points here that I'll add about the broadcast. Yeah, I did catch a little bit of the Monday Night Football Feed and I switched it off. Not because I was repulsed by Jason Witten or anything, though, Yeah, I mean there were just a lot of other options that I found a little bit more attractive. I had friends watch the Monday Night Football Feed and they texted me and they said that booger McFarland was killing it. He did a great job. Oh good, So you know
I didn't. I want to give that it's due. It sounds like that actually went off pretty well. Please write in let me know what you think. I also want to give a shout out to our friend Adam Aman. Now. I'm sure people will hear this and think that we're terribly biased, and to some degree we are.
But who doesn't like Adam a meme that says more about them than us. Yeah.
I can't emphasize this enough. To call a game to do play by play is extraordinary difficult. Yeah, way harder than the DRIVELL we put out there twice. It is infinitely more difficult. Good use of DRIVELL for him to be able to do that as well as he did. From the sideline walking around having to avoid footballs being thrown at him and people in the way. You could
see he was carrying his sheet down there. For the most part, he was the one commentating that field pass look that we got on ESPN two, and I just thought he did a hell of a job. So I don't know if Adam's listening, but good job to use, sir, A good job all college football season long. You were you were really a star on that ESPN two field pass.
Did you see the tweet from somebody This is definitely not from us. I think it was ahead of an NFL playoff game when it was announced that Booger was not going to be in the boogermobile. Boogermobile along the sideline which is certainly raised up so he can get a better view, that he was not going to be in the boogermobile, but he was going to be in the booth, and somebody had tweeted out, man, just let Booger just attach him to the wirecam and let him
just swing behind plays. Have the players and punters and stuff have to avoid him. That's that's a that's a tough ask because of his size. A former lineman Adam Amine is perfectly sized to do the wirecam attachment. So there's that. Let's talk about Alabama's defense for a moment. Yeah,
let's Alabama's defense early on in the season kind of maligned. They're, what replacing five starters in the secondary from last year and the way that they play a lot of times they are there are five guys back there and that that sort of bass nickel that they are known to run.
They lose Terrell Lewis before the season, arguably their best pass rusher, Christian Miller obviously gets hurt against against Oklahoma, who then becomes their best pass rusher without Terrell Lewis, and still Alabama is in a place where they finish the season either number one or number two defensively in terms of whatever metric you care about, and Clemson just doesn't care. They just make every play. They're not necessarily
always going out a specific player. Even though it was he was Justin Ross who ragdall?
Was it?
Saveon Smith on the long touchdown, then got hurt. I don't know if he rolled an ankle on that play. And then obviously Justin Ross you know, goes to the end zone. But it was whether it was you know, Mac Wilson maybe overrunning a player two or the defensive line just not being able to collapse the pocket with any sort of consistency. For what Clemson did against this you know, watching what Clemson did against this Alabama defense, it wasn't we see a weakness here that that's what
we're going to focus on. It's we're going to play our game and force them to consistently beat us. And that's not something that a lot of teams have done against the best of Alabama defenses. And Clemson you can argue for sure a couple of years ago when Deshaun Watson wins the National championship, totally fearless, his pants are ripping, he's being helicoptered, whatever.
But it was.
To give up. I mean what it was thirty seven points they ultimately gave up because of the pick six. Just it's just Buster Douglas, I mean, except Clemson is not that kind of underdog.
Let's take a look at what Alabama did defensively down the stretch for the most part. So we're not too keen on the total yards stat sure, because that can be a bit deceiving, But in terms of yards per play, let's look at Alabama's last three games starting first weekend of December, then the bowl game playoff semi final in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma and Clemson. Those are the
three best teams they played all year. LSU might try to argue to the contrary, but I would argue that Georgia, Oklahoma, Clemson are a cut above. Against Georgia five point seventy five yards per play, against Oklahoma six point eighty three yards per play, against Clemson seven point six' five yards per. Play it seemed to get worse as they played better teams down the. Stretch, certainly not a knock against That alabama. DEFENSE i would imagine that would happen to most defenses
when you play against better. Offenses, sure but it does stand to reason that against better teams this defense started to show a little bit more of its.
FLAWS i think you can even drill down into a more detailed. Level but it's ALSO i think a bigger picture thing when you look at And alabama has been the standard defensively since what two thousand and, nine twenty, ten something like, that And clemson since twenty fifteen when they really started to build up that. Depth when you look at the teams to succeed or beat those Those alabama teams with these Recent clemson teams think there is something. Bigger and first of, all you have to have a
quarterback who is. Fearless if if you look at the guys who have gotten to like ten plus yards per attempt in the, pocket wherever it's you, Know Johnny, manziel It's Chad, kelly It's Bo, Wallace Steven garcia early on in twenty. Ten they have these big. Receivers we've talked about this ad. Nauseum you, know whether it was you, Know Evan ingrin up the, Middle Lakwan, Treadwell, Alshon, jeffrey you,
Know Zach mettenberger had success against them in twenty. Thirteen you have like the standout you, know all timers In Johnny manziel And Cam. Newton to me that at this point says if you were a program that has and obviously Against clemson it was weirdly Enough Nate peterman who didn't get to ten yards per, attempt BUT i think he had five touchdowns and obviously Tested clemson deep and.
Succeeded it is not team saying we're going to control the game on the, ground we're going to play smash mouth. Football there's few and far between. INSTANCES i Know Trey mason had a really good game Against alabama one, year but that needed to be coupled with the most miraculous modern play that we've seen in the kick. Six James connor had a pretty decent game Against. Clemson but a Thing i'm starting to take, AWAY i don't think this is,
absolute but Something i'm pretty strongly leaning. Towards if you hire a, coach if you're a team that has designs on competing, nationally you, know which means winning A power five, conference which means being competitive in a playoff. GAME i, Apologized Hi Notre dame obviously was the better defense Against
clemson in the. Playoff but if you have designs of that coming in and saying we are going to be a smash mouth, Team we're going to control the game on the, Ground we're going to be a power team that is telling the world we have a, ceiling and that ceiling is we don't want to compete with the
best of the best of the. Best AND i say that as somebody who roots for a team with a coach like, that with designs of that with recruiting on that, level and we saw that With clemson strategy Against alabama last. Night we've seen that As alabama has evolved to that, Point they're still going to run the, ball but in those biggest, games that ball that is going To tua and is going to, Whoever Calvin, Ridley Jerry, judy.
WHOEVER i think that's true to an. Extent the caveat here Is clemson In. Alabama you can compete with most of the other teams in college football if you've got a really strong, identity if you've got the right personnel to execute, properly, right, well.
That's not everything goes through. Them so you are competing regionally unless you have a quarterback who can dramatically alter a game going downfield with big targets and not sort of trying to adhere to an older. Ethos we've seen it With, Michigan we've seen it with, WHOEVER Usc, Stanford we've seen it across college. Football now we've seen it With,
washington you, know really struggling in the playoff Against. Alabama we see a year in and year, Out Michigan, state wisconslyof right that you can win ten games with that sort of identity and That i'm not going to tell you not. To and if you're a program that really realistically is not going to have that. Chance if you're cal if You're, minnesota if you are, Whoever. Baylor this is not to look down on any of these, programs but they're just not ever going to most likely compete
on this. Level do, whatever do whatever it needs to win a bunch of, games beat, rivals get to eight nine, wins that's considered a. Success but if this, goal if you're spending, money if you're hiring, coaches if you're recruiting on the level that says we want to win eleven games and play IN nfl stadiums In, january Late, December
i'm not saying you have to go air. Raid i'm saying you have to realize what football is in twenty, eighteen twenty, nineteen twenty, twenty and you know jumbo packages all the, Time that ain't. It AND i think that's what we have gotten to with the evolution Of, alabama with what we saw From, clemson and WHAT i think is go it's going to take AND i believe it will happen With Ohio state With Ryan day running the. SHOW i don't think they're going to be nearly as stubborn.
OFFENSIVELY i think there is going to have to be a come To jesus or whoever your chosen deity is moment For, michigan because those are the teams that could potentially recruit on that level and put together defenses on a huge level and just need to figure out how they can get the ball to speed in an open area well as often as a big part of, that, though is, depth and those are the teams that can
build that that. State, whoever the teams that can build that depth are the ones that are best suited to run more the System i'll call it that you're describing one that's not truly a system defined by, identity but one defined by, depth one defined by putting your personnel in the best position to, succeed much the way we saw With, dabosweeney like you described, earlier he wasn't so much Giving travis et and the ball because he had.
To he was doing so when it made. Sense, sure maybe that's more of the model moving forward now as we go against these teams that have just so much depth that they can beat you a variety of different. WAYS i don't. Know it's a tall mountain to climb if you're on the outside looking, in if you're a team like A Notre dame or a team even like In oklahoma that's got a lot of talent that got to the, playoff that did their best against two, buzzsaws
two respective buzz saws In alabama And. Clemson there is still a bit of a gap, though between where those teams are at and WHERE i think they need to get to if they truly want to.
Compete by the, WAY i don't Think oklahoma stylistically is off from WHAT i just. Described they were a matter of, DEFENSE i Think Notre dame would stand to build up the depth of speed and passing.
AGGRESSION i think THAT'S i think that's. FAIR i think that's. Fair there is a depth on defense that we see With alabama And clemson that does not exist on The oklahoma, side and perhaps that will get better now they've Hired alex grinch away From Ohio. State we'll see what he's able to.
Do, annoyment BUT i Saw Pete quitkowski From washington was rumored For, yeah codc, linebackers, murderers Bro.
As we look forward, now into twenty. Nineteen throughout the course of this, week over the span of the next couple of, weeks you're going to start seeing these way too. Early top twenty. Five we're not going to break down the top, ten but with these two teams in, Mind, dan it's going to be one two again next, year, two isn't? IT i?
IMAGINE i, Mean clemson loses so much along the lines on both sides of the, ball not that they haven't recruited, there not that they haven't worked in you, know the twos to get a ton of, snaps but it's hard to imagine with the offensive skill and the way That clemson has recruited and the offensive skill even with, SO i Think alabama loses a lot upfront to do both sides the ball as. WELL i can't imagine there is a strong. CASE i, mean who are the other cases.
For we don't know What oklahoma is going to look like personnel wise on offense or. Defensively Notre Dame, georgia, Look Notre dame loses a lot on, defense, Right, yeah, Yeah Georgia georgia should be in a terrific. Position.
Yeah Ohio, state you Through Ohio state in. There although there's going to be some turnover.
At the, Top Dwayne haskins Declared Dwayne.
Haskins, Declaring Ryan day taking. Over, sure.
There is not clear examples of you, know there's nobody in The pac twelve right. NOW i, Mean washington's still probably considered the, favorite But oregon returns Justin Herbert washington loses a ton on, defense and then you, Know michigan appears to have a ceiling even Though Shaye patterson is. Back they lose, obviously we've seen what they've lost on the defensive side of the. Ball and there is you, Know florida And Florida. State you, know we expect. Improvements
florida obviously finished the season in impressive. Fashion but to, me they right, now the way their offense operates is still having a little bit of The Battering graham mentality with the, quarterback and That Dan mullen offense really. Good might have a, ceiling might have a ceiling in twenty nineteen if you are not able To If Felipe franks is the one counted on to win huge games with his arm right, now with the evidence we, have feels like a. Ceiling, yeah all, Right, Dan well there you.
Go forty four to sixteen is your final score At clemson again finishes the year fifteen to oh one of the best teams in the history of college, football undoubtedly the way that they Dismantled, Alabama congratulations to. Them congratulations To alabama on an incredible. Season congratulations to all the teams that made the, playoffs all the teams that won bowl,
games and more, Specifically, dan congratulations TO rvor. Bowlers let's give out of applause to the listeners this dumb show who hung with us all throughout the college football, season enjoyed our stupid banter and our appreciation for college. Football it's been a hell of a ride. Here as we move into our off, season, Now, dan can you wet the appetite of some new verballers who might be listening for the first. Time maybe they started The instagram live
feed and decided to tune into the. Show maybe they just picked us up midstream here throughout the course of the twenty eighteen. Season what can folks expect now as we switch up to once a week Every wednesday is where we're going to start dropping shows from this point until the start of the new. Season what kind of stuff are we going to be putting out.
There so we'll be doing MORE q And a's will be doing what we call a scheme theme that generally happens in the, spring where we talk to specific types of nerdy experts and coaches about elements of college football strategy that have evolved that are new and just, like, okay what is it THAT tcu does on defense to COMBAT? Rpo something like. That we talked last year With CHRIS.
B brown Aka Chrispy brown frisbe about communication and signaling and language verbiage involved with with getting plays off and executing. Whatever and so we do have a time of year where we nerd out like. That we will talk to coaches sometimes new, coaches and we just do random like we In. August we have a thing we, do The Fantasy Things, draft where we draft narratives instead of players because fantasy college for there were something that has ever really there.
Were some narratives that came out of this one last, Night, yes there. Were i'm very excited about twenty nineteen and what this has in store for.
Us, yeah we keep going and so we will you, know shine spotlights on specific teams or conferences or you, know storylines to be. Followed you, know we have what we have another signing day to discuss in a few. Weeks we, have you, know probably the coaching carousel will spend a couple more, times you, know WITH nfl perhaps hiring. COACHES i, Know Matt ruhle and The jets are hot and heavy at the time we're recording, this And Cliff
kingsbury might be a head coach or an offensive. Coordinator so we Will we'll try to dig deep with new coaches and their fits at their new, places and just generally try to, unearth turn over every rock and nerd out over what college football has to offer between now and when do we start previewing Late july Late. July, yeah we're not going. Anywhere at the very, least we will continue to sound the best of any college football. Podcast the bar is incredibly, low and so we are
happy to hurdle it and give you contents as. Often you, know sometimes listen listen may give you a couple shows in a.
WEEK i don't see what we can.
Do we'll surprise you. Sometimes but the best way to stay in touch about the new stuff that we're going to be, doing because, yeah of course there will be live, shows which we're working on, now way in advance of what we normally. Do there will be more merch coming, forward for. Sure sign up for the.
Newsletter if you go to our website soliverbal dot, com you'll see. It it's right. There type in your email. Address we don't send them out that, frequently but when we have new and exciting things to, announce that's usually the first line of. Defense you can also follow us out On, Twitter you can follow us out On, facebook you can follow us On. Instagram those are the main channels where we try to announce any new happenings in
The Solid verbal, world new guests coming out. There if you're a super, fan like we have so many super, fans don't forget to check out the subreddit at reddit dot com slash r slash Solid. Verbal they got some stuff that they're working. On is totally separate from, us but a teeming community Of soliverble fans for, ballers as it, were so a lot of exciting stuff ahead here in twenty. Nineteen just because this season is over does not mean
we stop. Podcasting we're going to be with you all throughout the dol drums that are the college football, offseason.
Ty where do you put this is going to, be this is our engaging into the show the. CLIFFS i don't have my answer yet and maybe you. Won't where do you? Put just in solid verbal? History so since the two thousand and eight, SEASON i want to, say, sure where does This clemson team fall of the last ten national? Champions WHO i have in front of me in terms of just pure, dominance in terms of how
impressed you? Are you, know it's not to, say, okay if this team played the two thousand and Eight florida team on a Neutral, no, no, No let's just tell me where who is definitively ahead of This clemson. Team last Year's alabama, Team so that's too a coming in at the end in, relief really good Team, Clemson Deshaun. Watson so that's two years. Ago so it's a lot of. It there's a lot of overlap in the way these
two teams have played and our built personnel. Wise twenty Fifteen, alabama which was that Big Derrick henry.
Year it Was Dereck henry.
Year sure that was an impressive, year but that was that Was Jake, coker who was, Fine it Was Lane, Kiffin Derek Derek, Coker Jake, Coker Dereck. HENRY i want to say who is their leading receiver that? Year, Oh Calvin Ridley, ridley That Ohio State Zeke, Elliott Cardelle jones Beating oregon In. TEXAS i was. There that was a really good. Effect that Was Darren lee on the defensive side of the. BALL a lot of talent on That
Ohio state. Team that what they lose to is that the year they lost To Virginia tech to start the season in The National. Championship, yep you have The Jamis redschirt freshman Year Florida, state which basically everybody on That Florida state team went to THE. Nfl yeah that one, Twelve, yeah twenty Twelve, bama which WAS i think The Johnny manzell lost they. Lose THAT'S aj, McCarron Eddie. Lacy that's
they beat notre name in The National. Championship. Wow twenty eleven is WHAT i think is considered to be the all Time alabama. Defense, right that's where they have EVERYONE rg three wins The. Heisman That's Trent richardson And Eddie. LACY A j mccheron is is throwing the passes but still that defense is. Stupid twenty Ten Cam Newton auburn
not a great, defense but an all timer at. Quarterback two thousand and Nine alabama is the one the team that Beat texas in The National, championship and that IS i think a McElroy, team Mark Ingram Trent richardson and another you, know just stupid Defense Hovey, Arenas orlando. McClain i'm just naming, players just Naming and then finally that two thousand and Eight, Florida florida that was that Was tebow's as a, starter not as like The Chris leak
Relief Chris, Rainey Percy, Harvin Manual. Moody, Wow i've not said that name in a long long, time but you, know just a ridiculous, defense all sorts of Speed URBAN. Myerso, see you're asking Me clemson's fit in that.
Roster, well we've had the pleasure throughout the course of this run to look at some great college. Quarterbacks and, again college doesn't always translate to THE. Nfl it didn't For, tebow But tebow was a transcendent player on the college stage and fit that system, really really. Well we've seen the likes Of Cam, Newton we've seen the likes Of Jameis.
Winston i'm having a hard, time and perhaps it's just because this game happened last, night finding other teams on this list that felt as dominating both on defense and offense the way we saw against another really good, team like we, see.
It's the complete element Of.
Clemson that's not to say some of these other teams couldn't go toe to toe with This clemson. Team, sure you mentioned that Great alabama. DEFENSE i would love to see what they could have done against This clemson offensive. Line and certainly there were moments along the way That Cam newton team, that as you know full, well there was an l them into that team that felt almost untouchable on.
Offense, sure but.
The complete package is certainly here With, clemson and far be it from me to rule them out against any of these, teams just the way they came, together the way that system could jeal down the stretch After, september When Trevor lawrence got a little bit more, Comfortable it's tough to look at this roster here and say that This clemson team couldn't have at least given a, game if not have beaten most of the other schools that we've, listed SO.
I, would without thinking a lot about, IT i would have them ahead of twenty Seventeen. Alabama, yeah for, sure The Jalen hurts. Team for. SURE i would have them ahead of twenty Fifteen alabama.
But.
Close but The Jake koker thing scares me a little. Bit But Lane kiffin certainly did a terrific job with That alabama. OFFENSE i THINK i would have them ahead of twenty Fourteen Ohio states because what did they turned the ball over four times Against. OREGON i just don't think they're weathering a performance like that against.
It AND i have a hard time WHEN i try to think about twenty thirteen for That Florida state team Is, yeah that's the one to me that that job that's on that complete, level that's right with how much talent was on both sides of the.
Ball twenty eleven is really tough for me because that is probably the best modern defense if it's not this Year's clemson, team just because they had to prove it so. Often twenty Twelve alabama we can talk. ABOUT i would Probably i'd probably have them ahead of twenty Ten auburn and two thousand and Nine. Bama not because the starters on two thousand and Nine bama were anything short of really. Good they just didn't have the, depth because that was What satan's third.
YEAR i. Think for, me IT'S i Think Florida state and twenty thirteen is the one THAT i have the most difficulty. With that's WHY i hedge a, bit yeah in Putting clemson at the very, top because THAT i think that's. Right That Florida state team was. Loaded, yeah and the other teams were obviously very very good as, well but That Florida state, team to, me really jumps. Out.
Yeah SO i would say out of those, TEN i think this Year's clemson team is probably at worst second or third top. Three. Yeah so that's given the talent and success and production of all of those. Teams what an Absurd clemson. Team believe this was.
Unbelievable what a job By Dabo, Sweeney what a job By Nick Saban that we're here. Again it Was Clemson Alabama part four over the last four. Years perhaps there will be a part. Five.
Yeah and by the, way we should, say in terms of complete teams and, performances This alabama team this year is ahead of a lot of.
These oh my.
God, yeah because it is the clear most Complete alabama team of the last Dec they were, Incredible, Yeah.
Brandon buzz all, right, well thank you for bearing with us over the last hour or. So we will be back in the near. Future, yes talking more college. Football we are at solidverbal dot. Com we're On, Twitter we're On facebook or At. Instagram check the subreddit at reddit dot com slash r slash solid verbal that is created by verballers for verbal. Ers and of, course as a last, resort please do sign up for our, newsletter The newsletter Of, intent which we send out from time to time with big.
Announcements you can find that on our website at solid verbal dot. Com one more, Time Congratulations, clemson you are the college football national. Champions for my good friend over there in Beautiful New York, City Dan, rubinstein and for myself over here IN. Pa my name is Ty. Hildebrant we will see you when we see. You in the, meantime stay, solid, peace