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The Big Brew & A: Part 1

Nov 30, 202258 min
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Episode description

Ty and Dan tackle an overflowing inbox and answer questions about Luke Fickell's ceiling at Wisconsin, expectations for Matt Rhule at Nebraska, and Hugh Freeze's return to the SEC. Plus, a hypothetical SEC vs. Big Ten Challenge, and more!

Part 2 of this episode is available exclusively to our Patreon community at: http://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Welcome to the solid verbal hell that for me, I'm a man, I'm forty.

Speaker 2

I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy.

Speaker 1

You want to be happy for day Ato steak is that woo whoo? And them and Tye, welcome back to the solid rub of boys and girls. My name is Ty hilden Brandt. That fine gentleman over there, as always Dan Rubinstein, sir, sure, how are your brother?

Speaker 2

I'm always excited to speak with you, Ty, Nothing ever changes, and perhaps it's because you are my one outlet to humanity as I sit here in a basement all day. But you're a good outlet. If you're going to be that person for me, Uh, that's pretty great. So I'm very good. We have an incredible treasure trove of quality questions that are both going to get released in Q and a form to the public, and then a much longer, more detailed personal version that's will be released on verballers

dot com. So I'm excited for everybody to hopefully get their questions weighed in on. And if you feel like your question might have been weighed in on, but it's on verballers dot com, I'm not saying you need to sign up. That's a personal choice for you in your wallet, but maybe poke around and see what's doing over there, because we've got you pretty exciting. What it's our Our Winter Wonders are our bowl pick on pool, it's coming up, the stars coming. We're not of one prize with the

run the Board which is coming on to it. We're not very big in pivotal week here in week fourteen, however, yeah, Winter Wonders is getting awfully big in the window.

Speaker 1

Yes, we're very excited. So going out to verbalers dot com if you want to hear the full version of this, but a lengthy part one. Nonetheless, we'll be posted on the public feed because we've got a bunch of questions. As we typically do on these big long Q and A episodes, we sourced questions not just from Patreon, but also from Twitter, from Instagram, from email, really all of the channels that we have at our disposal. We put a call out and said, folks, give us your questions.

So I've got the list in front of me, you've got the list in front of you. This episode driven by our good friends over at Geico. We thank them for their tireless support all throughout this college football season. Don't forget to go on out again tibbawlers dot com if you were ever so inclined, and again, many of you are going to be listening to this. I hope before Friday. We've got a live show in Atlanta. Yes, we did, got a live show in Atlanta. I've got

my gear right over here. You can't see it on the camera. I've got all my gear packed up nicely, neatly, youw. I need to do some tests to make sure that we didn't break anything, because really New York got out of hand, as you know, right. But I've got it here. We are psyched, we are ready. We're locked on content, which maybe is the earliest we've ever been locked on content for a live show. Yes, it is going to

be a banger. I am excited for this. Come on out Terminal West six thirty pm Eastern time, I believe is start time for the show.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's it's basically a happy hour show. You can still go out to dinner after, you could still have yourself a needle. We're going to go watch the PAC twelve championship together at a nearby bar. And by together, I mean let's all meet up and eat some tenders and I don't know, macaroni and cheeseballs, some potato skins. Whatever it is we have to do, I'll have my beer and a half or whatever it takes. It's gonna be great. Solid Rublelive dot Com. Only a handful of

tickets left. Go check out. Go check out the tickets.

Speaker 1

If you're in or around, or can you get to Atlanta. This is a big one. Let's do it. Congratulations, Skippy, you've got mail, You've got mail on the Solid Ruble. That is one of the few sound effects that we've had on the Solid Rouble. Oh big, We've fat elbow over there, our old sausage, fingers held and brown. It happens sometimes. I was going to say that is one of the few sounds that we have from day one. We never changed out the male sound. It's been with

us since twenty two thousand and eight. Yeah. I know many of you listening are as well, so thank you for your tireless support. Our first question, our first questions come to us Curtis EJ and Brad via Patreon over averballers dot com. EJ wants to know what is Wisconsin's ceiling with Luke Fikele and Brad wants to know what made Luke Fickle the right choice at Wisconsin over Jim Leonard. This felt like Leonard's to lose. I'm not convinced he

did anything during his interim time to lose it. So two questions there bundled together with respect to Luke Fickle. Of course, Luke Fickle announced as the next head football coach at Wisconsin. It's a big deal. It's a big hire.

I'm not going to say it's a shock higher. But we had been led to believe for a good long time that there were only a handful of schools Luke Fickle might leave Cincinnati four, one being obviously Ohio State, another maybe Notre Dame, but all within that big ten footprint, right, That was sort of what we came away believing after the turmoil of last last season in the coach in carousel world. So Luke Fickle has now decided to take

this job, Dan, what makes him the right choice? And what's his ceiling?

Speaker 2

It's a fascinating higher. And you know what, I thought about it a little bit more after it happened, because it didn't come out of nowhere, Because obviously the interest in Luke Fickle has been pretty widespread these past few

years with his success at Cincinnati. I thought about Chris Peterson right waiting for the right place, you know, had talked to usc that was interesting, Ucla, Stanford, all over the place, the SEC, and he wanted something that fit him, and so he ends up at Washington, and so I think his recruiting ceiling probably isn't as high as Chris Peterson and what he was able to accomplish at Washington because there's just a limited number of recruiting powers out west,

and so Washington was able to take advantage. What Luke Fickle brings to Wisconsin should be better recruiting than where they were under Paul Christ. Probably similar defensive ceiling, which is to say excellent, full on excellent. The difference being Cincinnati seemed to be more of a transferred destination for Big Ten schools for guys who didn't work out for

whatever reason. Obviously we saw Jerome four coming from Alabama, and the other difference is the best of Desmond Ritter can be attributed to whatever extent to being developed to a playoff caliber quarterback, something we haven't seen from Wisconsin.

So I think of it is my opinion that Luke Fickle is a more modern head coach than Paul Christ was, for better or worse, because there were a lot of old school things that you know, we can sort of harangue about if that's the correct There's a lot of very old school things in terms of keeping roster together, in terms of you know, not playing players until they were ready, and it really showed with success that Wisconsin had under Paul Christ in the trenches for a long time.

What I think Luke Fickle will do and what I think his ceiling is is sort of I think what it was for Mark d Antonio at Michigan State right place, right time, right defense, if I've Michigan or Penn State or Ohio State is sort of floundering a bit. And so that's where we were with Penn State when Mark Dantonio was there, and to a lesser extent, Michigan when Jim Harbaugh was relatively new, or when it was Brady

Hope Michigan Right place, right time. Wisconsin can go from a ceiling of Big Ten championship game, but we're now going divisionless, which makes it a little trickier for a school like Wisconsin. I think he can get Wisconsin right place, right time, to a every so often lightning in a bottle late season playoff conversation. If things break right, we're

talking about a playoff coach. We're talking about a coach who has used lesser talent to beat Notre Dame on the road, who has developed high level NFL talent, and with the recruiting connections he has in the Midwest. I do not think it's unfair for Wisconsin fans to expect competing for the Big ten crown every so often and being a double digit program, doubled win program right more often than not.

Speaker 1

How about that, Well, you have to figure if he can take Cincinnati to the playoffs, he get one hundred percent get Wisconsin there, especially friend schedule, different schedule, difference schedule, but especially in an expanded universe. Remember we're going to twelve here in a matter of two to three years.

So with so many pieces already in place, the programs, I think at a relatively good spot, it helps to have the bones of a good defense, which they do have now as a starting point somewhat not as much, but not as much as before, but still it's not starting from scratch here. I think he makes them competitive more competitive right away. It may take some time to get the right skill guys in place, but I think this is a slam dunk higher over the long haul.

And to the question that Brad was asking, why not Jim Leonard, I think that is the that is the point there. Yeah, Luke Fickle's done this for a while. Luke Fickle has I've got his record here. Has been very successful, to say the least, fifty seven in eighteen as a head football coach. But eight of those losses came in year one when he was starting over, right when he was basically starting over. So this is a guy who's proven that he can build a program, that

he can do it over the long haul. Jim Leonard will probably could probably do that for somebody else, but Luke Fickle is much more of a known quantity at this.

Speaker 2

He also, Yeah, you're You're totally right. And the Athletic had a piece a couple of years ago. I believe about Luke Fickel as a recruiter and how much he blanketed the state of Ohio, And so we talked about this. Cincinnati recruited on par with like a mid tier Power five program, Yes, and so, which makes sense given the success he had in the NFL players that were developed

at Cincinnati. And so, what I expect for Wisconsin on the recruiting trail is for Luke Fickele to be tireless in the state of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, wherever talent is in the Midwestern footprint and continue to you know, you know, Wisconsin has had success. You know, Graham Mertz is from Kansas. I believe they've gone outside of the

Midwestern footprint to recruits somewhat. But if there was a criticism of Paul Christ near the end that didn't have to do with the offense and lack of improvement and development of receivers, et cetera, et cetera, It was that recruiting was not taken as seriously as the teams Wisconsin positions itself against in Madison. And so I think that has already changed. That changed the second Luke Fickle and that plane touchdown in Madison. Yeah, I mean, let's forget

about the ceiling for a second. If I could, at a minimum, I don't think you have to.

Speaker 1

Worry about lowering the floor, which was sort of the conversation we started to get into. With the way things headed now with Wisconsin over the last year year and a half, I think you'll see consistent results the way Wisconsin fans are accustomed to seeing consistent results. I think you will see strong defense in the way that Wisconsin fans are used to seeing a very strong defense. In course, maybe it needs a bit of repair, but it'll get there.

With Luke Fickley's that kind of coach. You will absolutely see that improvement on offense as well, because Fickle has shown in his time at Cincinnati that he can adapt to the personnel. We saw him do it this season right immense turnover on offense. They it wasn't as good of an offense, but it was still very very reputable and still very very solid, and still very much of

the conversation for the best group of five team. I don't think it bears repeating, but part of the problem with the Paul Christ offense is that it was very rigid and pretty stubborn. So just marginal improvements on that front on offense make Wisconsin a much much better team, certainly within the Big Ten West. Now as it stands, I know that's going away, but Fickle will improve that side of the ball ever so gradually, and I think that's what will ultimately raise that floor, make the ceiling

more attainable for the Wisconsin Badgers. I also think, and we didn't mention this, this strikes the perfect balance between one needing new blood and two not sacrificing your identity

to get it. I agree. Luke Fickle feels to me like he's that happy medium where it's more of a firmware upgrade as opposed to a full on new operating system, which is really what you want when you're going after a new head coach, someone that feels like your program but isn't going to go so drastically in a different direction that it's going to be new and different and it's going to take a while to actually see the results of it. So I love the hire. I think it's a slam dunk, as do I.

Speaker 2

And we'll also mention though he is not a Wisconsin guy and so measured against that. I know somebody asked, why not Jim Leonard, you know, in comparing Luke Fickle to Jim Leonard. Jim Leonard has coached I think at precisely one school school at which he played.

Speaker 1

Is that correct? You can in fact check that for me.

Speaker 2

I believe that that is my understanding that he has only coach at Wisconsin. He's a younger dude, late thirties, round forty something like that. Not crazy young, not Charlie Weiss junior young at twenty eight or nine or whatever. But why Luke Fickle. Luke Fickle has proven himself exactly as an excellent head coach, and so I know there

has been this run of coaches. I guess Gary Anderson exempted, I forget, but I don't think he was at Wisconsin on any level, meaningful level before, you know, jumping from

Utah State to Wisconsin. But obviously Brett Bielham as a defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, Paul crist As an offensive coordinator at Wisconsin that the romantic Wisconsin guy move would be to elevate Jim Leonard, and I don't think Wisconsin was against it, but I think they probably needed to be told no by Luke Fickle and maybe somebody else before saying, okay, let's roll the dice. This guy understands, you know, what works, what doesn't work, the culture whatever at Wisconsin. But if

you are the Badgers. Not to say Jim Leonard would have been settling because he got to audition for the role, and I'm sure he ingratiated himself really well to those in power there. But if you if you see yourself as a team competing for Rose Bulls, which Wisconsin should you owe it to go for the biggest names who will listen and sit in a room with you. You owe it to the fan base, you owe it to the program. And I think it's going to work.

Speaker 1

Really really, I really like the higher and I think you hit the point that is very very important there for Wisconsin fans. Though it would have been the romantic thing to elevate Leonard, Luke Fickle is much more of a sure thing at this point. Like there's a very very low degree of risk here associated with Luke Fickel as compared to let me get into the next question pro transition, Dan, we're podcasters after all. Kelsey Cardinal Hello Kelsey on Instagram says I'm an Auburn alum. How should

I feel about Hugh Freeze? So this is a different conversation altogether when we talk about Hugh Freeze, much like this episode, there are football elements and non football elements that we need to consider here. On the football field, Hugh Freeze has gone eighty three and forty three and ten seasons. It's pretty good. Notably, he's had one losing season out of those ten. I believe his last season when he was in Oxford before things fell apart at

Old Miss. He's a pretty good football coach. I don't view this as something that makes Auburn as a sudden threat in the SEC SEC West because the West is a lot harder now than it was when he left. But he's a good football coach. He's a good football coach. The numbers would bear that out off the field. Off the field, Look, I can't tell you how to feel there. Right, he was run out of Ole Miss for recruiting violation.

Speaker 2

He does a pretty good job telling you how to feel about Hugh Freese as a person. Continue exactly the recruiting violations. There was also that, shall we say, scandalous pattern of phone calls that came to light.

Speaker 1

With his call logue. Well it wasn't just the calls, but yeah, right, I mean there are things with direct messages to sexual assault victims in his time at Liberty, so there's like a whole slew of off field stuff, and you know, we kind of have to consider that as well when we're looking at whether or not this is a higher worth making. I'd imagine the off field stuff is part of the reason why Auburn had it written into his contract that he had to relinquish rights

to his social media account before accepting the job. They also needed to consult with a pr person before making the higher, So of course, again there's a duality there. There's two things going on at once. There is the on field stuff, which for sure has been successful. There's

the off field stuff, which is definite baggage. Personally, if we're talking about the low risk nature of the Luke Fickle higher, personally, I don't think the Hugh Freeze risk is worth taking because Auburn has had two years of relative instability now preceded by what three years of more

instability in a sense of uncertainty. Let's say when they finally got rid of Gus Valson, they knew they wanted to get rid of them, but it's the will they won't They think that took forever until it finally came to fruition. Now they're high and a guy who they're obviously banking on him cleaning up his act, but they did have to hire the PR person to tell them how to feel first and what to do in light

of the announcement. On some level, there is the Taylor Swift Jake Gillenhall knowing somebody is trouble before they walk in. And I'm not saying people don't deserve second chances, Dan, but I'm just saying that Auburn does not feel like the program, given where it's been lately, that should take that risk at this moment. So, Kelsey, I can't tell you how to feel, but if it were me, I wouldn't be pleased.

Speaker 2

Auburn does not feel he's a grown up, right Auburn, And this isn't This is interesting because there are certain radioactive coaches that you can say to yourself, sure, this guy is a problem, but you know he gets results.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 2

Sure, if we hire urban Meyer, it's not a great look. But there's nothing about urban Meyer on the sideline and recruiting and running up program football wise that would lead you to believe that that program would be anything less than the absolute best it could be. If urban Meyer took over Texas Tech. If he took over Washington State, if he took over cal if he took over NC State, whatever,

they'd win ten or eleven games every year. Yeah, and so that's the deal you make because you know, Urban Meyer is that good of a college football coach, or at least we believe that to still be the case.

Speaker 1

Hugh Freeze.

Speaker 2

Yeah, Hugh Freeze is where like he had a nice little run. I don't care about the NCAA stuff. You know, things have changed in terms of NIL and sure you know the way money and recruiting, and even though it isn't necessarily the spirit of NIL that bothers me to a much lesser extent, I'm okay with with a lot

of those things. But off the field, and the fact remains that Auburn I'll reiterate this with the social media stuff, with whatever, It's clear that Hugh Freeze does not have a command in a daily sense of being a grown up. And this is already a place that has difficulties behind the scenes with power struggles and with who's making decisions and paying attention to perhaps the wrong boosters to make big decisions or have sway. And now you're throwing this

little cherry bomb into the mix. Yeah, I know that Laane Kiffen was their first choice. And it's very clear that Auburn is not a place a lot of good coaches want to continue their career and continue to build. That much is clear, and that much has come to pass over these past few years where they have to go so far outside of you know, the SEC universe and hiring Brian Harson and Jean Chizy all these guys, Gus finally made sense for them.

Speaker 1

But you freeze, Okay, I don't know what this does.

Speaker 2

We talk about a ceiling with Wisconsin, what does this mean for Auburn's ceiling? Like the offense will get better, probably they'll recruit better, but like you know, it's going to blow up, probably sooner rather than later. They already don't trust them so great.

Speaker 1

I just don't think it's worth the risk. I think, on some level, like everybody wants to win. You're in the SEC and it's gotten harder to win, so I understand the value in taking a risk. I just don't think this is the risk right that they should be taking at this time, given where the program's been. You want a sure thing, you want to slam dunk. I don't think you want to have to deal with that baggage. You don't have to worry about that. And again I

come back to what you said for Hugh Freeze. It's one thing of it's Urban Meyer, right, Hugh Freeze. We're gonna We're gonna do this for Hugh Freeze.

Speaker 2

By the way, the negative recruiting fodder that LSU Texas A and m Alabama, Georgia, Florida, everybody Tennessee has with Hugh Freeze and Auburn, with everything that happened with Brian Harson. Now everything that has already happened in the Hugh Freeze universe, the free universe, the Hugh Freeze multiverse, multiverse, cinematic universe, multiverse madness. It's it's a costco sized shopping cart of ammunition.

Speaker 1

That's all Allan on Patreon wants to know who leaves their current job first, Matt Rule or kirk Farence Dan h kirk Ference leaves before Matt Rule. Yes, wow, why.

Speaker 2

Matt Rule has an eight year deal and kirk Farence, you know, in the next year or two is liable to retire. I think you think, I think Brian Farrence was a clear succession plan with the ascension and the the hiring and promotion to offensive coordinator and sort of clearing the path that Kirk Farence has that kind of

cachet in Iowa City. I don't think Matt Rule is if, like if Penn State opens up in a year or two, because that's the thing that everybody's pointing to, that that's the dream job, that's the dream gig.

Speaker 1

I don't know.

Speaker 2

I'm also of the mind that like things change, right, that he's in the big ten at a major place with major job security, that I don't think he would

jump after a year or two to Penn State. Maybe four or five years, sure, But I think it's more likely that Matt Rule has given such a long leash and such an opportunity to rebuild the roster and rebuild the culture that I'm a believer in that Nebraska is such a believer given that deal, that I would say it's likely or because I don't even Matt Rule is getting any NFL attention anytime soon, No, that it's a Kirk Farren's retirement before me believes Lincoln.

Speaker 1

If James Franklin pulled a stunner and decided to go to Colorado, Matt Rule would rip up that contract and go to State College tomorrow. Matt Rule has a well, well, that timing is different, but yes, I'm saying a year or two. Yeah, he has a track record of not being anywhere for that long, right, true, four seasons has been his max. I'm telling you right now he will be the next coach at Penn State whenever that comes to fruition, and I don't think it's going to be

longer than five years. I think Matt Rule will have an opportunity if he wants to to leave for State College. The Kirk Farens thing. You know, maybe I just live too long through the Joe Paterno era, right, if we separate out sort of the scandalous aspects of Paterno and how he eventually departed Penn State, there was a good long time even before that, when you had this this

fissure in a sense within the Penn State community. The people who loved Joe Paterno and didn't want him to ever leave, and then the people who were like enough of this already. We're running up the middle. Every play. The offense is the same as it's been for the last twenty years. Something's gotta change. Also, in that instance, we had what, at least on the surface, for a brief moment in a time, looked like a succession plan handing it off to his son, which again went bust.

That did not work with Jay Paterno. So there's a lot of similarity again on a on one level, right one very specific level, between Ference and the way things went down at at Penn State with Paterno right in the late stages of his career. I just think that Farence is so much the honorary governor of the state that he's only going to leave on his terms whenever he sees fit. It's going to be really hard to

push him out. And knowing that there is already this track record with Matt rule not staying in one place for too long, I think it's one hundred percent Matt rule is the answer here, one hundred percent Matt rule. Howl is Kirk Farence. I don't know. He's not thirty, he's not thirty.

Speaker 2

Ference age sixty seven years old. It's going to be seventy, and I'm gonna do some quick math.

Speaker 1

Boo boo b boo boo boo bo boo boop three years. No, I don't know, man. I think the answer is rule by Let's ask another thing about Rule here that came to us from Keston on Twitter. Do you think Nebraska can make a bowl game in rules first year or are they cursed to lose forever? Nothing's forever, Keston. They're not cursed. They've had a bad run here. It sucks. As a Nebraska fan, I want Nebraska to do better.

But here's what I'd say about Matt Rule. If we're looking at track record, the track record for Rule has been that he's been terrible in each of his previous two college jobs. In the first season m h and then he followed it up with a five hundred campaign, and then he followed it up with ten wins or more. So it's pretty quick turnaround. He's definitely got this track record for doing a really good job within three years. The difference, I think is that Nebraska's in a much

better place than both Temple and Baylor. Baylor was decimated after Art Briles, and Temple sucked all the time, all the time. With the estion who did he take over for? Did he take over for? Al Goldie? Who did he jump in for I don't recall the exact state of affairs, but he was like one and eleven his first year right at Temple. It was a really bad season. So my only point here with this is that Nebraska is not Temple, It's not Bailor. There is more talent here.

I took a look at the schedule in twenty twenty three. They could go six and six with that, they go seven and five, but I think it's gettable and there's a lot of things that needs to fill in and improve in very short order. But he can absolutely go five hundred with that schedule next year. So I think it's doable. I don't think they're going to go two

and ten. I think it's doable Keston. But you know, obviously it's it's very early days here in the rural era at Nebraska, and you know, we need to see who's playing quarterback. We need to see what he's what he's going to bring to bear with respect to coordinators and so on and so forth. Well, okay, so first of all, it was Steve A. Dazio for two years.

Speaker 2

He took over a four and seven Steve Adazzio Temple program. When Nadazio I think got the best sea job. That's right, that's from Temple. It is a in terms of Bowl season one, I think it's tough. I think we'll know pretty quickly in terms of how aggressive Nebraska wants to be in the portal. This is shaping up to be the biggest and most expansive transfer portal in the history

of three years of portals. But we're already seeing big names, are already big name rumors, so I can only imagine the medium names and the little names are going to be vast as well. Nebraska needs to be a player in the portal every year for a while, and so depending on you know, we got to see who you mentioned quarterback, but the staff looks like and how active they are and filling in gaps. You know a lot

of teams and I even know my team. I think took two defensive linemen from Nebraska last year and their defensive line coach. It's it's going to be different because, as we're seeing everywhere, with so much coach movement comes even more portal movement. And that doesn't always happen right away. Sometimes a lot of that roster will give the new guy a year and say all right, this isn't the

place for me. This guy didn't recruit me whatever. So I almost think year one might be better than the year two, that there's going to be so much, so much change. But no, I think if you can build a defense and you can build a little bit of depth through the portal, Nebraska should be bowling. If not, you're one year two.

Speaker 1

We got a question here from Nick on Instagram. Yeah, and you know you're talking about the portal, which is why I thought of this question. He wants to know if I'm prepared for Notre Dame quarterback Cade McNamara next season. Kate mc and where's he? He's from Nevada. He's from Novada. He's from Nevada. But it brings up a really interesting point and also a totally new perspective for me. Mm hm.

The portal era is relatively new. You know, at least this much activity in the portal is only like two years old, right. This has not been a thing that's been with us all that long. I gotta say, as a fan of a program that we know going into next season is going to need a quarterback, all of these announcements about guys entering the portal are very, very exciting. I've never been more excited about the transfer portal than

I am right now as a Notre Dame fan. And that's a change for me because for so long, you know, it's been you kind of know who the next guy up is going to be. And even the Jack Cone thing, I'd be moaned Jack Cone, but Jack Cone is pretty good in retrospect. Hm, I gotta say, I'm very excited about all of these possibilities. I hope they can shoot higher than Kid McNamara.

Speaker 2

Right.

Speaker 1

However, even Kid McNamara is a huge upgrade over what Notre Dame had this year with Drew Pine. So again, I've been making the joke. I'm only half joking, Nick. I hope Marcus Freeman's leaving his card on all of these lockers of opposing quarterbacks, like, hey, we've got an opening in twenty twenty three, stop on by, whether it's Kid McNamara or who else? Did you say is a Vaia Malie Hornsby? He's available? You know, there are all these names that are going to be.

Speaker 2

Entering a bat from I think from Ohio, well not from Ohio, excuse me, from Miami, of Ohio. I believe I hope I didn't get that wrong. Okay, so you can only be your authentic self. Yeah, you are a Notre Dame fan. You're a Penn State fan. You are a fan of the beneficiaries of the portal, the recipients. That's right, that's you're getting the man of from Heaven from the portal right now.

Speaker 1

You're not at the Pittsburgh Pirates scenario that we well know.

Speaker 2

It's more like you are not a Memphis fan, right you are. You are not an FAU fan. You are not a James Madison fan. You know that if anybody starts an Eastern Washington fan, I am. I had an incredible twenty fifteen because of Vernon Adams, right, Probably wasn't as fun that year to be an EWU fan. Although I think you had Cooper cups, so that's not bad. That's not a bad He had like two hundred and

sixty yards in Audston Stadium. It's exciting from a national perspective when you don't root for a team who loses or gains somebody important, right if you if you happen to root for a team whose roster is consistently gutted or at least the top of your roster is gutted or is almost gutted. It kind of sucks.

Speaker 1

That sucks. That really does.

Speaker 2

It's kind of the idea of and I'm sure it sucks for those coaches too. I'm sure it like even more so than like if you're Dan Lanning or Marcus Freeman or whatever. You know you're gonna lose guys, but you know you're gonna gain guys as well. That there is a transactional nature to Thanksgiving through MLK whatever in January. So I think it's fascinating and I think there will be more to come in terms of how from an

administrative perspective things are dealt with with the portal. Everybody sort of rushed to be pro player and say, well, of course they can play right away. They should have the freedom to move, coaches move. That's all all reasonable, that's all but and I don't want to say guard rails because I just think it's difficult to institute a

one rule applies to all type thing. But I wonder if we're going to see more and more conversations about, yes, all of this is good, you can transfer, but here's how that's going to work moving forward, right And be more specific, and I know you know that that conversation has come to nil and you know just how everything how the gears and pulleys should operate in a way that's beneficial to as many people as possible.

Speaker 1

Because I don't know, man, it's it.

Speaker 2

It hurts college football on a certain level to see this kind of movement movement because it it tamp It dampens your excitement for your own team, knowing that you're going to lose a bunch of people, and it it I think it weakens your connection to the team. Knowing that that's possible for a lot of teams. Obviously if you're Alabama, it just makes everything great. But also, I

don't know. Here's my zag. Here's my zag. With the portal, I'm very excited to see who enters the transfer portal and where everything goes, where players go, where you know, who's the new coach that recruits super well out of the portal and or who's the guy that loses, you know, and a fifth of their roster to the portal something

like that. What if this is maybe a third bake, it's not even half baked, ty, What if we said yes, you can transfer, and you can go and you can play immediately, and you enter the portal and it's a more organized structure. What if it were one and done.

Speaker 1

What if you just get a year.

Speaker 2

You're transferring from a school, you get to play right away one year, you get hurt in the first four games. In the same way you can apply for an injury waiver, you get the full you get to you know, have the opportunity to get your degree, but you only get to play. You get one year of eligibility and sort of make it. You're not punishing anybody, very hall passy.

It's a little bit haul passy. And so then you're saying if you want to transfer after your freshman year, good luck, because then you're just gonna have to train for a year if you think your NFL quality, and maybe there's exceptions if your coach leaves or something like that. I think, but that to me is interesting, not punishing players for transferring on the front end, but just saying

here is what your eligibility window now looks like. Yeah, I mean I want to transfer with immediate, immediate eligibility.

Speaker 1

What I was going to say is, I think we are going to a universe in which every fan of college football. It would be advisable to have a Group of five team that you like and a Power five team that you like, so that you cover both your bases. Because I agree, it's very clearly going to a point where, you know, some of the some of the players at a prominent group of five schools, there will be incentive for them to look and see what's available in the

Power five level. And it sucks, right, and you know, we don't have to have to bemoan that more than we have to. But that's just that's where things are headed. And so make sure you your bases if you like the sport, is what I'm saying. Yeah, look, maybe it's two years. Maybe you get two years, maybe you get one year. I don't know though. Man, all right, let's go over to Adam on Twitter. Did Dabo try and

fail to outdo Shane at Beamer Ball? A couple unusual for Clemson special teams plays that backfired see a kickoff return huddle fumble and the EJ. Pochkick touchback came off as arrogant and helped South Carolina win the game. So was Dabo trying to be too cute in that thirty one to thirty loss in the Palmetto Bowl against South Carolina. Dan, I don't know. I think part of it is you save trick plays for big games. Yeah right.

Speaker 2

I don't think it's him saying little old South Carolina, let's just screw around and do a couple of unorthodox things on kick returns or whatever, on pooch punts. I think you save that for those big moments. You save the double pas is, you save the you know, Michigan handing the ball off to was he a backup linebacker in it full back? When he popped it over with a jump pass, you save it. You save the unexpected for those big moments against opponents you respect. So I

don't look at it as arrogant. I just look at it as failed. Right that if that little huddle you know who has the ball hot potato thing works on the kickoff return, we're looking at it as genius. And so there are some plays that you can look at on the face like that does seem kind of silly, even if it worked, And maybe that qualifies for that. But also, and I've been consistent with this, I like aggression,

I like risks, I like thinking differently. You know, take a swing if it ends up looking weird and not working out, which that didn't. But it was because of a fumble, not because of that actual I think formation so be it, take swings, fail, be wrong, look foolish. It's better than being an eyeway here him.

Speaker 1

It's better than being eye with it. Here's the question I have though, Did he have to do that? They need to do that? I mean, it's always easier in retrospect to say, when a play blows up, he didn't need to do that. He didn't need to go for it on fourth down from your own twenty nine Oregon. You didn't need to go for two in that specific, weird, mathematically curious instance Brian Kelly, which we've seen him do in his time at Notre Dame, not so much else.

You you didn't have to do that. You could have done something else and still want That would be the question I would ask, right, did he really have to do that to beat South Carolina? You don't have to do anything. You don't have to do anything. I get that, But that I think is the spirit of the question, did you really have to do that? I don't think

it's arrogant. I think it's probably more along the lines of what you're describing, which is we've got these trick plays, they've been in the quiver all year, we're saving them for a big spot in a rival game. Now we're going to roll them out there. So I get that. Also, the hidden benefit, not just of what you see on the field, is if a trick play works, even if it doesn't go for a big play, those are the tens. Those are the types of things that tend to build

within the ranks within your program. Sure players look forward to seeing those plays rolled out there in the wild on game day, so there is added benefit to doing it. Just didn't work here, and I don't think they needed do it when they did, but it certainly wasn't arrogant. Yeah, I don't think.

Speaker 2

Look, this is just it's a personal thing, right If you think believe football should be played a certain way and to not get silly and fancy and whatever, that's.

Speaker 1

Your worldview, and you're free to have it.

Speaker 2

Whether it's a fourth down call, whether it's a trick play, whether it's the moment for the trick play. We can question a number of things, but in terms of fourth down calls and aggression, and you know, I think Bill Connolly wrote about this. What Ryan Day is being criticized for is the opposite but the same of what Dan Lanning is being criticized for. It right that you're like, you know, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

But also context matters, and Ohio State should have been aggressive in that big moment, in those big moments against Michigan and Michigan team who was not going away, who was giving Ohio State everything it could handle, And in the context of Dan Lanning going for it from his own twenty nine One, they've been very good on fourth down this year. Two couldn't stop anybody for the last

four or five weeks other than Utah, I guess. And three their punter just dropped the ball on their own goal line and so he went into the season as backup or third string punter or something like that. So they didn't have a lot of confidence in Oregon being able to flip the field. So I don't look at risky maneuvers in terms of the results. I was like, I look at risky maneuvers as like, Okay, you're going for it on fourth down, what's the intention with this play?

What's the creativity involved? In this play, are you doing something that has never worked and it seems riskier than you need to be in the way that you're doing things. So maybe you say, Okay, that Clemson return huddle thing was risky in that I love it. The return huddle thing is risky in that, no, I don't think anybody has really done it, at least recently successfully, and whatever. I'm just not going to criticize them for being aggressive

and trying. Now you say, okay, let's do like the fake handoff as a guy's swinging behind, you know, the fake end around thing, kick return or laying down in the end zone. There are any number of things you can do. I always enjoy the like two punt returners back and one guy gives like the fake one him right and it's caught elsewhere on the field and totally fools the the punt team. But I'm not results oriented with this. Okay, I'm manner oriented, but I'm proaggression and I'm good with it.

Speaker 1

Next question, let's go to the next question here very quickly, we were talking about South Carolina Gary from Twitter. Please, as a game Cocks fan, I'm super excited about the last or the super excited about what I saw in the last two games. From your studies and observations, it really makes us sound important. Thank you, Carol. How often does a good end of season lead to continued cess success versus momentum just dying off with the off season. So look, I don't have the numbers here. I don't

have numbers. I'm sure Bill Connolly has numbers that would back this up one way or the other. That said, this is like my favorite thing to look at the off season. Yeah, I go by this is what I go by. I'll go by this going into bowl season. I think it's very useful as a tool for picking confidence pools, which we will be doing over after bowlers dot Com. But I really believe in momentum and I think it's a thing that you can use as an effective tool to gauge how a program's going to do

in the following season. South Carolina actually is a very good example of it. This season. South Carolina finished eight and four this year. Great season. They closed out in dramatically impressive fashion, beating two top ten teams. What did they do at the end of last season, Well, they were lucky to get into a bowl game. They went to the Duke's Mayo Bowl. They won. Shane Biemer had the vat of you know, almost got a concussion getting the mayo dumped on his head, but nonetheless they were

able to hold up the Duke's Mayo Bowl trophy. They took that momentum into the off season. They were aggressive in the portal, which of course helped. But it all built to a point where now they're eight and four, they're going to go to a good bowl game. They had two really impressive wins here to close out the season, and it feels as if it is just building on itself.

I think that's important. You heard me talk about it at nauseum in the early days of Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, some of those early teams, Right the momentum that they took with them into a bowl game throughout the latter half of a season, it built into the beginning part of the next season. Eventually they got that flywheel going. Not to sound too marketing, but you know, I think it helps. I think it all builds on itself. So I would much rather be South Carolina going into

twenty twenty three than I would say Miami. It's a state of Miami right now, right there was just a thing you sent me. They couldn't even get stued to hop on the bus to come to the stadium for Miami games. So that would be the opposite of positive momentum. It might take a while for Mario to build it up, and I believe still that he will, okay, but it'd much rather be South Carolina with the just two different circumstances, two different in terms of my second year coach. Yeah, yeah,

much much different. But the trajectory of one does not necessarily equal that of the other.

Speaker 2

So I think maybe typically in years past, ten, fifteen years ago, what you're saying probably is true. But South Carolina just had their offensive coordinator hired away by Matt Ruhle. Yes, Marcus Sadderfield, I believe so. As assistants are more mobile, as so much changes year to year because of the portal, because of early NFL declarations, because of uh just changes to the sport in general, I think it's harder to say this is how we finished, this is how we're

going to continue to be. Now, if there is relative stability within your program and you bring a good chunk of players, you bring back a good chunk of coaches, and you add guys who fit in well in the locker room and the culture. I think you're probably largely right. It's easier to win when you're happy than it is to win when you're dysfunctional. And it seems like if things are somewhat consistent within the program and you win near the end of a year, you at least go

into the next season in a good place. But also, guys just get hurt, right, Guys just fumble the ball at an opportune times, and so all of the pieces can be there, and then the universe says like, well, you won that game twenty eight twenty seven last year, you're losing it twenty eight twenty seven this year. And so there's too much with football that's up in the air,

and there's too small a sample size to me. Whereas, like you look at the NBA with eighty two games, if a team finishes really really well in their last twenty even if they don't make the playoffs or something like that, and that team coming back the next year, and that coaching staff is coming back the next year, I would generally feel better about an NBA team finishing strong than a college football team, just because there's so many moving pieces that even if there's harmony in the

locker room, even if everybody's.

Speaker 1

Feeling good, I don't know.

Speaker 2

Schedules are so variable that I just sort of try and fail, but try to take each season as its own, living, breathing thing and then throw it out and move forward. Like what do we think about last year with Arkansas? Right, kJ Jefferson emerges as this good point. Sam Pitman is his revelation, finally gets this opportunity at a big place, you know, energizes things. They hit the portal hard, they beat who they beat Penn State right in the bowl game.

They beat a top tier team in front of everybody in a medium to large size bowl game. I forget which one it was exactly. You know, they send Traylon Burks, He's one of the best three receivers in the country to the NFL. I think he's good in the NFL. Like there's so much positive about Arkansas Moving into twenty twenty two, kJ Jefferson gets hurt. Defense falls apart. They lose an all's sec caliber safety early on, and the

season is just kind of a mess. They have the text A and M opportunity and they don't get to lose like all of the good juju that was happening in Fayetteville, no kind of quickly evaporated through just football things. And so that's why. And that's an example. That's not an exception that proves anything, but that's what I would go back to when I think about momentum heading into an off season.

Speaker 1

Fair Enough, we've got a few more questions here before we flip it over to the Patreon exclusive portion of this. Here, Q and A Dan. While I am reading this question, I want you to pull up on your computer, okay, on your touchtne keypad. Would love to the standings for both the SEC and the Big Ten. Okay, I have it already.

Speaker 2

I always have standings up when we'd record shows, just because I'm stupid and I need to refer things.

Speaker 1

A terrific question from aj Morse four on Instagram. Let's say SEC versus Big Ten challenge, mind them up one through fourteen and have them play. Ok what happens. So here's what we're gonna do. We have not pre rehearsed this obviously. I want you to list out as you've got the standings in front of you. I want you to list out number fourteen versus number fourteen. We're gonna quick pick who wins. I will keep track of the tally here, whether it's SEC, whether it's Big Ten, and

we're gonna give aj very quickly, rapid fire. We're not going to go into like deep seated analytical stuff on any of these games, but we're gonna give him very quickly the results on who wins that challenge between the SEC and the Big Ten.

Speaker 2

All right, So Vanderbilt is as promising as those last late couple wins were. They gave up the most points in the SEC on and five against rank teams, or at least to text A and M with the same record three and two against AP ranked teams RS. Weirdly enough, So Vanderbilt against Northwestern, Yeah, Vandy Northwestern, Vanderbilt's beating Northwestern. I think I would take Vandy there, yep, Okay, what's next?

I guess we'll go just in terms of what I'm seeing here, I guess Auburn, Okay, at thirteen sure against home wreckers, I think so, I think it would have to be. Yeah, I would take Auburn.

Speaker 1

I would definitely take Auburn, right, so that's two two for the SEC. Next up, the next worst team I think in the Big Ten would probably be Indiana, Indiana A and M probably go A and M. Right, yeah, seventeen thirteen A and L. Sure, all right. Next next worst in the Big Ten is either well, it's probably Nebraska. I was gonna say either Nebraska or Michigan State, but it's Nebraska. Who is next up for the SEC.

Speaker 2

Either Arkansas or Missoo who won that game at the end of the year Missoo believe it was Missoo. So we'll say Arkansas.

Speaker 1

So we're gonna say Arkansas. I take Arkansas.

Speaker 2

Arkansas v. Who Sorry I miss what you said. Over Nebraska, I think I would take Arkansas for Nebraska's well, nice finish for Nebraska.

Speaker 1

Though, Michigan State would be the next one up here on the totem pole. Yeah, Michigan State. They would have Missoo.

Speaker 2

They would either have Missoo or Florida, who won the Missoo Florida.

Speaker 1

Game this year. I think Florida won that. Florida won that, So we'll say Missoo. Yeah, I mean Missoo plays defense, they do, and Michigan State kind of a mess. Down the stretch, so I think i'd probably take MISSOO again another SEC team, I think I would take my Zoo SEC's five and oh here as we work from the bottom. Yeah, let's keep going. All right, let's do this quickly. Mixed up on the Big ten side, I would say is probably Wisconsin. So now we're saying Florida or Wisconsin. Florida

Wisconsin is what what I think we decided on. Yeah, so Florida, Florida Wisconsin. I think I.

Speaker 2

Florida finished the season basically demolishing South Carolina, throwing a lot, but coming up short against Florida State, losing to Vandy. Whatever you want to say as a free class comfortably beating A and M. I don't think if if you're gonna look at Florida.

Speaker 1

Has as a weakness team, it's their defense. I don't think Wisconsin's good enough. That's the thing I don't think. I don't think right six and o SEC. Next up for the Big ten is probably let's say Maryland.

Speaker 2

Okay, so above Florida, we'll say it's Kentucky.

Speaker 1

It's seven and five Maryland against Kentucky. I'd probably pick Maryland. I think Kentucky is one two three CanCon. Somebody asked, by the way, the difference between pack it up pack it in? Yeah, the same thing, the same thing. I think. I think one two three CanCon is you're already gone.

Speaker 2

I think pack it up pack it in is in the process of packing. Okay, that's what I take. Two different stages of yeah.

Speaker 1

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Giving Kentucky Maryland an incredible basketball matchup historically.

Speaker 1

I go, I go Maryland. Kentucky's out of it.

Speaker 2

So Maryland got shut out by Penn State. From where Will Ebs transferred, I mean nothing, nothing I'm gonna take.

Speaker 1

We're talking all neutral site games. Yeah, I might take Maryland there. All right, we'll take Maryland there. We'll maybe six to one in favor of the SEC very quickly. Let's go. We're halfway, let's go. Let's keep going. But next up Minnesota Minnesota.

Speaker 2

Oh, okay, and then my team, I guess Minnesota or excuse me, Minnesota. So South Carolina are Ole Miss. We will go ole Miss because South Carolina three and two against ranked teams Ole Miss.

Speaker 1

One and one, taking ole Miss there. Yeah, next up, so next will be South Carolina, South Carolina against I guess Iowa.

Speaker 2

Mmmm.

Speaker 1

That's an interesting matchup. I might take Iowa there on a neutral field, I'm gonna take Iowa. We'll give you a big ten one. All right, movie on very quickly. We've got seven and two for the sec. Let's go over to.

Speaker 2

Actually, I don't even know South Carolina. With the way they finished, I'm seduced a little bit. Let's just give one to the Okay, big charitable Okay, Illinois, So Illinois or Mississippi State. Oh god, I'm inclined to go Illinois. What did Illinois finish against AP teams?

Speaker 1

I mean they're November, They're November. It was terrible. There were one in three.

Speaker 2

Yeah, they're they're pretty mistake run. I'm gonna Mississippi State.

Speaker 1

There, all right? You talking in too, We'll go Mississippi State. Eight and two in favor. Yep. Perdue is next Perdue against I guess Alabama. Okay, so we go Alabama, yep. Nine and two. Next up would be Penn State.

Speaker 2

Penn State would be depending on who you would to start at quarterback, Tennessee I mean right now, would probably be Penn State, although I guess we could flip flop Tennessee Alabama Tennessee's seventh Alabama sixth, which is weird considering they played each other and both ten and two. So Tennessee against Penn State, you said, yeah, we'll go starting at quarterback for Tennessee, Joe Milton. Joe Milton. So they

play this game tomorrow. Yeah, Penn State, I Michael Penn State with the current state of the Tennessee defense.

Speaker 1

And then we've got Ohio State and Michigan is our final two.

Speaker 2

So Ohio State Michigan, and so then you would have Ohio State LSU.

Speaker 1

I take Ohio State.

Speaker 2

LSU, by the way, ranked behind both, but they won the division. So I guess we're going with LSU, Ohio State LSU.

Speaker 1

I'd go Ohio State, and then Georgia against Michigan. I still take Georgia. I still go Georgia. So the long winded answer to this was the final tally eleven and three, ten and four four favorite the SEC. All right, let's do one final non college football question here before we cut over. In a in a complete capacity to our Patreon world, Dan, let's go to your favorite Thanksgiving leftover recipe. Dan, This is from the Thanksgiving leftover recipe. Your favorite Thanksgiving

leftover recipe, the example being turkey chili. Well, that's a good, that's a good one favorite Thanksgiving. I don't know. Usually I just stuff everything onto a sandwich and it's nothing that glorious. How about a cold turkey sandwich.

Speaker 2

Cold turkey sandwich, if you like the cranberry sauce, throw that on there, stuffing on there. Honestly, I I'll throw it in the toaster oven. I just there's nothing specific. I just want another Thanksgiving me all some stuffing and broccoli casserole and turkey if you've got it. Something I do like to use, though, for leftovers in general, which you could very easily use with Thanksgiving stuff is instead of a sandwich, to make a hash, essentially a scramble

or something like that. If you got a bunch of crispy potatoes, eggs, and if you want turkey, if you don't want turkey, stuffing, all of that would be great in a hash, like some sort of scrambly hash. I'm just into because you just it's that old.

Speaker 1

Where do they do this?

Speaker 2

I think Rochester, New York, is known for it, but they do it all over the Midwest and Northeast, like the garbage plate right where you just like have a plate full of stuff, mix it with eggs, throw a bunch of hot sauce on top, and then just don't move for the rest of the day. I think it's Rochester, New York that's famous for their garbage plate, but maybe I'm wrong about that. You can do it with a soup, you can do it with a salad, you can do

it with whatever else. You can throw turkey out of pizza of course.

Speaker 1

Yeah. The other way I would do it.

Speaker 2

Is, you know, make a hash and then roll it up in a tortilla and make like a breakfast burrito Thanksgiving leftover thing.

Speaker 1

That would be delicious. But now sandwich or hash I think is the way sandwich has all right, So here is the deal. One in all going out to verballers dot com. If you're going out to forballers dot com. If you sign up, you will hear a continuous audio file of part one and two. We're going to keep going even after we hit stop here on the public feed. We would encourage you again to go out to verballers

dot com and check that out. Soliverblelive dot com. If you're gonna be in the Atlanta area on Friday evening. Terminal West is where the show will be at six thirty pm Eastern time. As Dan said, more than enough time to come out to the show, to watch the games afterwards, maybe to come out and do tenders with tie. Tender to tie coming out soliverablelive dot com, Smell ties hair dot com. If you're a weirdo either way, we love you all the same here in the Verballer hood.

Go on out and make sure you support us live. If you like the show, we'd love to meet you, love to shake your hand. Dan. That does it for part one of this here, Q and a bruine as we call it. That's true in the verball You just have some that was brewed this morning. Dan. Let's keep this thing going. Okay, all right, thank you everybody.

Speaker 2

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