Three two one zero, all engine running. Looks up.
We have a welcome back to the UFO Show here on the solid verbal. My name is ty Hildebrand, joining me way over there on the other.
Side of this here college football Galaxy. My man Dan Ruberstein, Sir, how are you? I'm so good because I can hear in your voice how happy it makes you that we have a vaguely space themed weekly college football show. And you're a very busy man. There are things that pull you in a number of directions, but I will randomly receive space messages as it relates to UFO ideas from you at all hours of the day. It's true, It's
so true. I'll get like a medical not a medical, but a science journal article about some sort of space dust or some sort of alternate form of matter that's only in the galaxy M eighty two. And I know that, even if you're not putting your all into anything else in life, you put your all into the UFO Show. And so I'm thrilled to be here.
I'm thrilled to be here as well on this momentous week. Yeah, as it relates to all things outer space, there was that.
You're a say college footbo through that man.
Okay, we're talking about space on the space themed show, and NASA and the Space Program made some news as they touched down and performed what they defined as a pogo sticking maneuver. Okay, on the asteroid one on one five menu, it's a near what it's a near Earth asteroid. I think I saw at some point. There is a possibility it could crash into Earth, which some would argue hasn't happened soon enough. But that being said, yeah, it did a maneuver o Cyrus r ex. I don't know
if it's Ocyrus rex. I'm calling it that because it sounds like it's way cooler.
Now. It performed a maneuver.
Where it did a pass by the asteroid and then it plopped down, it grabbed, presumably grabbed some of the soil from the asteroid, and then popped right back up like it was on a pogo stick. And by the time we do our next show, I believe by the time we do our next preview, at least we'll have confirmation that it grabbed the sample, and then I think it could you know, performance analysis.
So what does this mean? What does this prove that we can do moving forward now that we can pogo stick a near Earth asteroid.
To be honest with you, I don't know, okay, I just from a space standpoint, but at least within the context of our undiscovered Friday orbit Dan, Yeah, I think it's got a natural tie into charting the unknown, figuring out things that were previously undiscovered. In this case, how about the twenty twenty Big Ten college football season.
I like that connection tie. I like that connection. Is the near Earth asteroid, you know, something that could collide with Earth? Is there a Joe Milton comparison in there for you? Is there a plotting Iowa offense Holiday Bowl? Notwithstanding comparison there for you? What makes sense in terms of collisions and quick turnarounds and bounce offs? What's the connection there specifically?
I think? I think specifically, first and foremost, the Big Ten is an asteroid headed towards college.
Football, Okay, and so this show is that dip is that pogo stick hop onto the Big Ten asteroids than exactly back into the greater galaxy of college football at large?
I think that's right. I could not have said that any better myself. So we are, in a sense the probe we're going down doing the pogo stick maneuver. We're just gonna grab a little bit of that Big Ten alien soil.
We're gonna preation dust.
Yeah, we're going to bring it back up into the mothership, and we're going to give you just quick analysis for what you should expect from the Big Ten season.
Dan, I like this. I have a lot of thoughts. What I think we're going to do is we are just going to figure out the most intriguing thing about the fourteen teams to speak about in the Big Ten and largely focus on what is unknown and undiscovered about each of them. Right. I think that's right. Yeah, I think that's right. Just making sure, should we rifle off a little bit of news here before we do it? I would love to we are breaking news, Dan, Yeah, So what up with LSU? Huh? Yeah?
You may recall at the National Championship, obj Odell Beckham, junior, former LSU star, was there after the game Seene handing out what appeared to be money. Remember that the ultimate trick or treat Ultimate trick or treat literally making it rain, I read to you from CBS Sports. LSU was banning former star receiver Odell Beckham Junior from its facilities for two years after he appeared to hand wadds of cash to LSU players following the team's National Championsip victory over
Clemson in January. Dan, this is a complex story. It's a weird story. It is a self imposed ban that LSU is taking to avoid further NCAA penalty in response to any rules violations here obj for two years. There are also some voluntary scholarship reductions that are going to be taking place over that same period of time. I think account of eight total is what they're looking at in terms of reducing scholarships. They're also going to scale
back some of their own recruiting time. I have not seen further commentary on this matter, Dan, I'm a bit unprepared as it relates to whether or not this is going to be enough to stave off any future moves by the NCAA future in fractions.
But gosh, what a weird story. Yeah, very strange, and it's unknown at this time. I mean, the assumption, it appears I saw some reporting in a different couple different places that LSU is under the assumption that it's going to be looked at as a level one violation, but there are three different tiers, three different levels to level one violations, and so LSU and trying to get out
ahead of things. Also there is the accusation and the story, the allegation that a booster paid the father of now a former offensive lineman, Vidal Alexander one hundred and eighty thousand dollars out of the five hundred thousand dollars he is accused of or convicted of embezzling from a hospital, a local Baton Rouge hospital. I believe it's in Baton Rouge, which is the much more ugly part of the story. The OBJ thing is whatever, you distance yourself from OBJ
for two years. Fine, sure, I saw. There's also an impermissible contact allegation against ed Orgeron. He will suffer some consequences from that. But yeah, LSU is hoping that they can slap their own risk, but that doesn't seem to always work in these scenarios.
A story that we will continue to follow here, to say the least, for sure. I've also got that Florida Football is going to remain closed until Monday.
Again.
We're recording this on Thursday evening Monday because of the on going COVID outbreak taking place down there, So you know, again, talk about weird circumstances, right, we had Florida going on the road, losing to a and m Dan Mullen in the immediate aftermath saying how he wanted to have a full house in the swamp. Immediately a bunch of players seem to contract COVID, including Dan Mullen and now midsum talk over when they can resume activities. They're going to
remain closed for a few more days. So you know, again, we say all of this with the hopeful understanding that we're just rooting for everyone to get healthy and better and you know that they can get past this bump in the road. It has affected a number of other schools around college football. There is a touch of irony here that is not lost on anybody. But we hope they can get back up and running soon.
Yeah, oh for sure. And along those similar lines, I don't know if we mentioned New Mexico, Colorado State has been canceled. I think it was Colorado State. Who is you know, hopefully correcting a bit of a posetive situation positive in the testing way and should also mention just on better News because we didn't really touch on it too much because there aren't too many interesting games. But the Mountain West is back. Yeah, the Mountain West is back.
We've got Wyoming, Nevada, Utah State, Boise State, which I guess i'd like to see. Boise State new offensive coordinator was Zach Hill to Asu, Hawaii, Fresno State. So it's the premiere of the Kail Kaylan de Bor Bulldogs, excuse me, and the Todd Graham Warriors. Why Warriors, They're always the Rainbow Warriors to me air Force, San Jose State UNLV Marcus Royal now former Oregon offensive coordinator taking over there in San Diego State, and Brady Hoke, so there's interesting action.
And we also have it looks like two ten thirty eastern kickoffs, So if you've been missing late late night East Coast time football, a nice little pogo stick down there for you to enjoy. That is all I got.
I see that Garrett Schrader, formerly a Mississippi State quarterback. He's going to be transferring out. Started four games from Mississippi State last year. Obviously they're going with kJ Costello in a different system now. So Garrett Trader doesn't feel he's got a spot there any other news that you want to get through before we jump in and just pogo stick down onto this big ten asteroid.
Not especially, I'm excited because we're going to touch on a number of teams, and specifically with Iowa. I know you've been wanting to get off your chest the boundary corners I guess have tweaked their technique in this new Iowa defense, and you just wanted to touch on pogo stick down on some new tweaks and how that might affect their play calling. So I'm super pumped.
If you are just finding the show, don't forget the subscribe going out to solidverbal dot com. Look for the listen button in the upright hand corner. You can get all the info there on how to subscribe and of course how to sign up four hour newsletter which we send out every Friday.
Dan, okay, correct without shall we do this? Let's do it.
You've got the West, I've got the East. Where shall we start? Let's start west. Let's start with one of the teams that's in the state I'm literally in right now, the fight in a Lion I of Illinois, the Drive to five or four. I don't know, whatever makes you happy.
Tie. The thing is doesn't.
Really matter this year because of Bowl eligibility requirements being relaxed. You just need to find a way to win the crowd, need to find a way to be interesting, and then that's how you get into a Bowl game.
Right. Yeah, let's just go over what intrigues us about each of these teams. And with Illinois, I'm gonna say it's the furries tie. The furry asking you, sir as I'll put s furries? Does Dan speak up? The transferries tie, the transferries transfer into this program from a bunch of schools. Somebody I'm particularly interested in. Let's hope he's not injured by the time people watch this. But Luke Ford, the Georgia transfer, blue chip transfer from Illinois transferred back home.
I'm interested to see because they've succeeded so well with pass catchers coming in, especially from USC last year. We saw some big plays. So there's the imatorbe Bay family has a big presence at Illinois. And what does that mean for Brandon Peters Because I do believe the defense even though they've lost a couple of guys up front, and I think they're just going to be solid once again. It's the offense that worries me, And is that talent those transfers in. Is that talent enough those guys who
have transferred in enough to make Brandon Peters interesting? I think it's intriguing because at times he made plays last year, but that was just it at times. That to me is interesting and intriguing about Illinois. Has the talent level increased enough to the point where playing in the Big Ten West, they can make more noise than just be shock of the world Illinois like, they're just consistently interesting. Okay, No, I think that's a good point.
And of course, the Lion I square off against another West opponent, one of the Big Ten slate that is the Wisconsin Badgers. Dan, how do you feel about that? How do you feel about the Badgers this year?
I think good Wisconsin's one of those teams that it's very difficult to see a complete dramatic change in either direction, and because their ceiling seems to be so high, just not quite as high as I'm sure they would like
it to be. Jack Cone is injured and out for a considerable amount of time, and so my big intriguing thought question is I guess it's more hope where those Winter Wonders Ty, We've seen it almost year and year out that they they'll win the West, They'll get to the championship game and inevitably play against Ohio State most likely maybe go to the Rose Bowl and take on Oregon like they did last year. Who are those guys that those top tier teams across the country or within
the conference itself. Who are they scared of? Who are those receivers that teams have to game plan for. We know Jonathan Taylor's gone, and we know that he was somebody you had to know. You know, usually he's in the backfield, but you had to be extremely concerned about him touching the ball every time. Who are those guys? This year looks like it's a running back by committee with Kendrick pryor you know they lose Quintes Cephis to
the NFL. Who is that guy or group of guys for Wisconsin who you're like, Oh crap, he's lined up in the slot. Oh no, he's lined up outside. Oh my goodness, he's in motion. I'm worried about where those Winter Wonders are those guys who can perform in December and January against anybody.
The other thing with Wisconsin, you didn't mention the name Graham Mertz.
That's true, Jack Cone out.
Yeah, Graham Mertz is a highly touted quarterback recruit.
Does he fall under that for you? Is he a winter wonder? He could be.
We don't know enough about him, and I'm very curious to see what he can give them. I think Jack Cone, for his part last year was better than I expected, but still there was much room to grow in that offense.
And if you can add in a guy.
With a little bit more arm town, a little bit more consistency, obviously, that improves the quality of of that rushing attack for Wisconsin. Hard to do more of that, but it makes them all the more threatening as an opponent if you've got some sort of capable passing game to go along with it.
So I'm very.
Curious, very intrigued in which direction things go at the quarterback position for Wisconsin.
Yeah. I like Jack Cone, I like Graham Ertz. Hopefully he gives them a bit of a higher ceiling. Who is there a team to you? Let's tie it to Wisconsin. Tie. Is there a team to you in the East where you like, but your intrigue is about their ceiling. Well, I mean, I think I'll say Indiana, Oh, okay, go on. I'm intrigued by Indiana's ceiling insofar as I think they have really been trying to push up against that upper
crust of the East for a few years now. You know, they've been knocking at the door to knock off in Ohio state or a Penn state, or a Michigan or a Michigan state with any kind of consistency, And I think this might be the year where they finally get to that height. I'm not saying they're gonna win the East, but.
I think they've got enough consistency across the board, enough depth finally across the board where that actually becomes real possibility. Michael Penix was hurt last year. He's back this year. Peyton ram Is.
That your intrigue point, Big Lefty?
He is my intrigue point, because I think the ceiling with Penix is probably higher than it was with Ramsey, and we just didn't see enough of him. So you combine that with Stevie Scott, who we obviously like on the show and have talked a lot about. I think they're good at receiver, questions about the line, but the defense was young a year ago. It should show some improvement again this season.
Had we were we were all so young.
The year ago we were we were had there, we were young, but Hey had their offensive coordinator depart but promoted from within. So I just think that continuity, especially in a weird year like this, where teams are learning a new system, they have new coaches and new players, it really helps to have a core of guys who
just kind of get what your program's all about. And so that's part of the reason why, especially in a week one game against a Penn State, I find Indiana particularly intriguing and especially moving forward, right moving forward into the twenty twenty one slate, I do think Tom Allen is building something at Indiana, and for that reason, they're more intriguing to me than probably most.
Others, probably not Nine Windiana when you only have eight regular season games. Correct, the nine Windyana spirit it's there, it lives on, It does live on absolutely all, right, any other team where like So let's take it back to how I felt about Illinois, where I'm interested to see how they go from being scrappy to competent weekly competence. Is there a team that weekly competence is an intrigue point for you within the Big ten East, I'll nus say Rutgers.
Dan, Okay, I'm gonna say, good answer, good answer, Yeah, Rutgers.
Rutgers is intriguing.
So Greg Ciano's back, Yeah, he's been there before. I'm not saying there's going to be some sort of overnight transition. But at Furries too, they do. They did a lot of work. Because I'm still not comfortable saying that, but i know you're not. Shiano wasn't the sexy higher, but he knows the turf, he knows how to recruit to Rutgers. He obviously did some work on the transfer portal. The offense is going to be a work in progress. They've got a million quarterbacks on.
The roster that they're still trying to sift through.
As of recording, it looks like it's going to be King Arthur Saikowski the week one starter, but that could change depending on how Shiano feels. I am most curious about their defense. I think their defense can be cobbled together in a way that they they got enough parts to be competitive out there. To offer enough resistance and hey,
at a minimum, be better than Maryland. They've got everybody's got to be better than Maryland this year, and that would represent, I think, a pretty big step for for Rutgers. So if you're talking week to week, who's gonna who's gonna be intriguing? Just from a competence standpoint, I'm curious to see what Chiano can do in your.
One Yeah, I mean that the transfers are huge, and yeah, the week to week competence thing, I think that the Greg Ciano higher is not a year one higher. That is a we are investing these next five years into hoping that what he did before can become not necessarily reality, but in the realm of reality. New Jersey is a talented state, you see, I mean Pa, New Jersey, parts of New York, Connecticut. There's talent in the northeast. Rutgers
is just a very unsexy place. Yeah, and we'll see if if the Scarlet Knights can sex it up.
So let me build on that, okay, please, As you talk about unsexy places, you got a couple of those in the Big ten West, don't.
You, Yeah, I guess, But be more specific, what type of unsex do you want?
I'm talking about the Iowahawkeyes, Dan of the Iowha guys, as we've talked about on our showtime and again kind of feels vanilla, kind of feels the same every year.
They've got some of their own challenges.
In twenty twenty, They've obviously had a lot going on off the field. Here where do we stand on where Kirk ference takes things?
Explosivo? That's my word, ti, I's you familiar civo? Explosciva? Are you familiar with the band Tenacious D? I am, yes, Tenacious D. It's a song by Tenacious D. They say explosivo a bunch and it weirdly, I kept saying that looking at Iowa and the potential for twenty twenty, Iowa finished something like ninety fifth and ninety sixth and explosive plays on the ground and through the air, with an experienced quarterback, with relatively developed skill players, a good offensive line.
Tristan Wurf's obviously was the headliner, got drafted pretty early, and their ability to generate, or their desire to generate explosive plays something that's key in generating and stopping Iowa's fantastic on defense at doing But that to me is the intrigue point. Is I mean Spencer Petros this year is the new quarterback, a big kid from California and big arm whatever. But is that offense opening up at all?
Wisconsin for all of their identity, You know how solidly in to Madison, Wisconsin's offensive identity is They've gotten creative. They've run RPOs, they've run misdirection, they've spread the ball around. Iowa has not. Iowa has decidedly not. And it's is there any sort of evolution of this offense. I know they lose key guys on defense on all levels, but
to me, I'm not worried about their defense. It's offensively, what can they do to put a scare into teams that basically all kept Iowa under thirty points last year? They didn't score a touchdown in their first seven quarters in October last year against Michigan and Penn State. If you're an Iowa fan watching this, go back to how you felt during those seven quarters in which your very experienced quarterback Nate Stanley was unable and we knew his ability was there to lead Iowa to the end zone.
That those types of streaks can't happen anymore, ty if Iowa was going to win this division. No, it's true. That's the intrigue point. How are they getting the ball downfield? Quicker?
Iowa for a long time has challenged for the Big Ten West. This year, I think you could make a very real.
Case for Minnesota.
Minnesota is a veteran team, maybe not so much on defense, but they've obviously got a huge Week one matchup at home against Michigan. Are you buying in on the Gophers? Where's your intrigue point there?
Linebackers and defense in general, just because they were so disruptive in that back seven, and the corners are in pretty good shape. I know they're replacing safeties including Antoine Winfield, but their linebackers were so disruptive and so havocy. Because they return what they return on offense with a new offensive coordinator, I'm not terribly worried about the Gopher offense. What it is to me is the defense. What it is to me is what they look like in that
first half against Penn State. Do they have that same ceiling this year? As this has to be their year with Tanner Morgan as a senior this has to be their year with what they return on offense, and it can be, but I think it largely is going to come down to how well and how deep they are at linebacker and safety, and that, to me is the big intrigue point. Is what does Minnesota do to build upon and not just start out seven to zero and lose a couple late to you know, Iowa or whoever, Wisconsin.
What do they look like in terms of getting over that November hump that to me or December hump as it were this year, That to me is fascinating about Minnesota.
Yeah, And as I said, Minnesota's Week one opponent is Michigan, who is intriguing on a number of different fronts for me. You know, we've been in this very weird kind of whip saw state with Jim Harbaugh, where from year to year we expect different things. Now, expectations are always high at Michigan. Last year was supposed to be the year that if they were going to pull off that win over Ohio State, it was going to happen. Well it didn't, and so now we're in this COVID era where there's
a lot of turnover. We've got Dylan McCaffrey sitting out. We've got an entire offensive line that needs to be rebooted. We've got more turnover.
Than usual on the defensive side of the ball. I love Big Joe Milton.
I love Big Joe Milton, six five and a half, two thirty, A mountain of a man. He's huge, what has all the throws? He can really spin it down right. But yeah, I just my intrigue point with Michigan is how much they can rebuild, retool, re whatever, very quickly in a weird pandemic state, get themselves together in time for what should still be a pretty significantly difficult Big Tenie slate of games here. I have my doubts against Minnesota. I have my doubts against some of the others on
their side of the conference as well. And it's probably not fair to burden Jim Harbaugh with unrealistic expectations in this year twenty twenty season, just because I do feel like Michigan's in a much different spot than we've seen them over the last five years or so.
I would imagine Jim Harbaugh's expectations are higher than yours. I'm sure they are. I'm sure they are, absolutely so yeah, that to me feels right enough. The intrigu point is Joe Milton. The intrigue point is Joe Milton. Even though the Michigan defense has struggled in those games, you know, last year against Wisconsin, the past couple years against Ohio State, excellence at quarterback has escaped the Jim Harbaugh era at Michigan. I know the last two thirds of the Jake Rudock
season were interesting. Interesting doesn't beat Ohio State. It just doesn't. Excellence at quarterback beats Ohio State and covers for other issues. That to me is the entrigue point from Michigan.
And look, I like Zach Sharboney. I think he was great last year. I like Sean Haskins, I think he sawid as well.
It helps real nice.
It helps to have that running game that you could lean on. But without the line, with a new quarterback, there's just too many variables on that offense to really feel great about it. And again, as I said, I trust the defense generally over the course of the season, but there is a little bit more turnover there than I think we're used to.
So entry moved to another Okay, can we move to another beleaguered head coach.
Please Scott Frost, Scottie Scotti too hoty.
My hope for Nebraska is entertainment on one side of the ball, like we saw glimpses of now a couple of years ago, so I don't like looking too far into the past. My intrigue point is if Adrian Martinez is healthy, who is he throwing to? We know about Wandelle Robinson. They lose JD Spielman. He transfers out kind of late in the process. He goes to I think TCU, who's catching Adrian Martinez passes? They have a JC guy.
I know they like a lot. They've got a couple of recruits, I mean not recruits, but freshman younger players that they like a lot. But Nebraska's first step towards competitiveness ish in the Big Ten West. I have to add a lot of issues to discussion of Nebraska football. They have to be entertaining on offense. They have to be a threat on offense. And I watched good Scott Frost offenses at Oregon. We all watched good Scott Frost offenses at UCF. The defense is going to be pushed
around once again. I like their secondary a little bit, actually, but up front they're going to be pushed around a little bit, and that happens, they're going to allow points. They can't lose like they did to Minnesota. They can't lose like they did to Ohio State. And even if it's losing by twenty instead of thirty, that's something that's something for it. Give me a half of competitive football,
give me ount at halftime, twenty four to twenty. Yes, you've given up twenty four points, but you're kind of right there. That's my entry point for Nebraska is make the scoreboard ops work a little bit, please, just please.
I am intrigued by Nebraska as well, and not even so much within the context of this season. They got a brutal, brutal Big Ten slate in front of them this year.
I'm not even thirteen points against Northwestern last year. I know, I know.
And then they spoke up after some of the some of the COVID decisions by the conference. Time will probably tell us whether or not this scheduling situation was intentional, but they did draw a very tough slate. It will not make Scott Frost's life any easier. I do think that he is the right guy for the job. I really do. I think if you're Nebraska, you're not going to do much better than Scott Frost. So I think you give them time. I hope they're patient with you.
You don't think Nebraska did better with Bo Polini, Well, no, here do I do.
I think that to build this program back up from where it's been okay. I think Scott Frost can get them there and will get them there with the benefit of time. I just hope that the patience is there among the powers that be to give him that time to go and build this thing the right way, because I do have a lot of faith in him as a coach.
It's just going to take some time to get there. It seems to me they need to win at least two, probably three. I'm looking at their schedule. That's why I'm looking down right now at Ohio State, Wisconsin, at Northwestern Penn State Illinois. Okay, if they can go three and two at home, if they can sneak by Northwestern Illinois and Wisconsin, if Wisconsin's still sort of unsettled early on
at quarterback Grammartz isn't comfortable, Yeah, Yeah, that's encouraging. That's really, even if they lose big to Ohio State and Penn State whatever.
No.
Three and two is really really nice. I don't think it's unreasonable given No, I don't think three, four or five whatever it is now whatever it feels like? Yeah, right, who do you want to go to? Is there another beleaguered coach? Is there another offense? Is another offense that needs a spark? Who is well for you? We didn't talk about Ohio State yet?
Okay, yeah, I don't know how we can go this deep without talking to Ohio State. And the intrigue point for me, I don't have a matchup, you know, I don't. I don't have a thing with Ohio State. That's like, oh, that's the that's the gotcha, that's the Achilles heel. I am intrigued by style points because keep in mind the setting in.
Which the Big Ten is going to be playing these football games.
All the other conferences outside of the Pac twelve obviously have started up already have started planting their respective flags. Clemson won a game by you know, sixty six odd points, however many it was, and certainly Alabama has a few big wins on its schedule at resume ready, Yeah, Ohio State needs to come in late to the party and
prove itself. So you know, sure they've got turnover at some spots and the secondary maybe we have questions about it, but I think ultimately there's gonna be a pretty strong impetus to score as many points as possible whenever possible, and so I think that means big stats for justin fields as we saw a year ago. I think that means wherever they can possibly rip the arms and legs
off you, they're gonna do just that. The gap between Ohio State and I think the next closest team and or teams in the Big Ten is whoever, it is substantially wider than it was a year ago, and so I just think they're going to run rough shot through the conference. I think they're gonna score a ton of points, and I expect to see them not just holding up that Big Ten trophy, but eventually making it into the playoffs and really making a name for themselves.
So your intrigue point is murder potential. Murder potential.
They are college football's murder hornets this year.
Who is the team that they are least likely to murder? Is that Penn State Week two in an empty Beaver Stadium. I think so, I think so. Yeah.
I have a lot of confidence in Penn State. I think the ceiling is pretty high. I think the floor is pretty high because of their defense and what they've got coming back on offense. Now, sure that being said, my three points of concern for Penn State are a a giving up big plays on defense, which is sort of a byproduct of the defense that Brent Prye runs.
There's a risk reward element to it where big plays are sometimes a thing that you get, so they need to cut down on that obviously if they want to beat a team like in Ohio State. They also lose Micah Parsons. Micah Parsons opting out for twenty twenty. I don't blame the kid. I think they've got enough depth without him to still play a really good branded defense, but it hurts not to have him out there, So how they replace that gap is of concern of interest
to me. I think they'll be okay, but again I'm watching that intently and look on the offensive side, we know about Journey Brown being out medical condition won't be there for twenty twenty. I think they're fine from a depth perspective. What I really care about is the passing game, and especially about Sean Clifford finding targets out wide to throw two new offensive coordinator friend, he doesn't know it, but favorite of the solid verbal Kirk Shiraka.
I think his offense.
Is more streamlined, it's more simplified. He will find ways to better utilize a guy like a Pat Fryarmuth. But ultimately a lot rides on.
A lot of our stuff in Minnesota, for sure.
Absolutely a lot rides on whether or not Sean Clifford can be better with the football and show up in bigger spots than they did last year. So intrigued to see his progression. But I don't think they're going to get murdered by Ohio State.
Yeah, not terribly concerned. But we saw what happened with the Penn State offense last year, especially when they lost Sean Clifford, who was himself not all that good against Ohio State. This is this is an offense that can go into a shell pretty quickly. So hopefully we don't see that anymore in those big games for Penn State. Let's talk about Purdue. Let's talk about Purdue one, because they have given Ohio State some trouble in recent years
to have that's right, they have. We're talking about the Purdue boiler Makers and two we mentioned, you know, winter wonders for Wisconsin. Purdue has those dudes out wide. I think in Rondel Moore and you know you If Rondelle Moore can do that against Ohio State during the regular season, I imagine he can do it against somebody later on in the year, perhaps in December or January, if Purdue
ever makes it there. Purdue is fascinating to me because what do those two receivers, David Bell and Rondel Moore, what do they do for that offense? This was an offense. This was a Purdue team that was so beset by injuries last year that just crushed their season. I don't love where they are on defense. They've still given up too much and I don't think health fully solves everything. But what can those two guys on offense do gravitationally
for Purdue? What can they do for I don't know if it's going to be Plumber or Aidan O'Connell Jack Plumber, Aid and O'Connell at quarterback, what can they do for the running game? What can they do for each other, What can they do for the middle of the field. Because Purdue is another one of those teams that I think they're ahead of Nebraska when healthy, just because of they've proven it on the field. They've proven that they can be competitive, They've proven that they can beat big teams.
It's just a week to week thing. What does that gravitational consistency look like for that offense? To me, it's fascinating Perdue. When they are healthy and fully operational and weaponized, they're a great watch that's weaponized. Purdue is not something. Yeah, we've heard a whole lot drum. I don't know if the big drum is going to be on the field this year, but they do love the big drums somewhere on that campus. They do.
And I love that Rondell Moore is playing. You know, opted out initially, he's coming back down. Yeah, he's one of one of the more exciting players in college football.
And it's cool that cool that.
We get to see him after all after a lot of doubt.
Here. I want to talk about Northwestern.
Because I know you're very close to Northwestern University. Now, just geographically speaking, how do we feel about Northwestern. We didn't feel great about them last year. Is there any pulse in that Wildcat program?
That was a really nice thing. You just said we didn't feel great because we did. They were terrible. Okay, that's probably more accurate new offensive coordinators. The intrigued point to me is Peyton Ramsey as a quarterback who I think finished? Was he one of the best? Was he top five Big Ten quarterback last year? Which automatically makes him an even higher ranked quarterback in the Big Ten? Yeah?
Inner Morgan, justin fields, Jay Patterson. Maybe, I don't know, Like the it fell up pretty quickly in the Big Ten. Unbelieving Ramsey is. He's an accurate quarterback. I think he completed sixty five percent of his passes against Big Ten teams. He's efficient, he doesn't make a ton of mistakes. His ceiling is not particularly high. But what does Northwestern need at quarterback? If their defense is okay, Northwestern's down there in the NFL prospect Rashaun Slater left tackle, so that
hurts them. What do they have in terms of game changers on offense? It's not going to be a lot, but that's not how they're going to win the offense is there to be relatively efficient and serve the defense, which is fine. They won the division a couple of years ago. If they get pretty good quarterback play, it feels like they're forty times better than where they were last year. Yeah, that to me is intriguing. If Peyton Ramsey of twenty twenty looks like Peyton Ramsey of twenty nineteen.
I know it's a lot to ask with the issues that have surrounded this Northwestern offense for years, but that is raising the floor considerably from where it's been. Yeah, no, I'm with you.
And while we talk about floors, why don't we talk about Maryland? Okay, let's you know, how like you see in movies when somebody yells fire and everybody runs out of the movie theater like a stampede. That was sort of what happened at Maryland this offseason. They had just an incredible number of guys run for the exits. It's not uncommon whenever you've got a new coaching regime taking over, but it was pretty drastic. And so the intrigue point for me on the Maryland side is not anything to
do with wins and losses. But we know Mike Loxley knows the area. We've joked about that our fantasy things.
Mike Axley knows the DMV.
He knows the DMV, and I do think that if given some time, he can build up an interesting roster and move the program forward. It's not going to happen this year. My point of intrigue is at the quarterback position. It's at the quarterback position because we've got on one hand, Lance Lejon, my favorite Frenchman in all of college football. Don't know if he's French, certainly sounds that way. He was a four star recruit.
For a long New Orleans, so right he was.
He was a four star recruit in Locksley's first recruiting class, and there is obviously a lot of excitement around him, as well as Taliah Tongue of Ioloa Tonga.
They have a Tonga I looa, they have a Tonga, but they do have a.
Yeah Tua of course playing for the Miami Dolphins. The younger brother, Talia is now playing with Mike Loxley, who did coach older brother Tua for some period of time before he left Alabama.
So right now, at.
Time of recording, it's an either or situation on the depth chart, it's either le Jean or tongue of Ia Looa. We'll see who ends up getting more time. But that interplay between those two and how Locksley chooses to.
Deploy each is of particular interest to me. Okay, they god, they give a fifty four points, seventy three points, thirty eight fifty two. So yeah, I think the defense probably has for the to go to be very obvious. But yeah, offensively, there's talent there, there's speed there, there's recent talent in speed there. Yeah, and so they brought in what a blue chip receiver, a five star receiver this year. It's
slowly but surely becoming intriguing. I don't know if it's intriguing this week, next week, in the week after, but there is some intrigue to College Park.
I would say I would agree. I would agree the last team that I who do you have?
The last team that I have disrespected somebody Michigan State, maybe Michigan State. So Michigan State's in an incredibly weird situation. Michigan State had their longtime head football coach Marked Antonio resign abruptly on February the second of this very calendar year. They move quickly. They probably overpaid.
A little bit to bring Meltucker up from Colorado, but they got their guy, so mel Tucker. Mel Tucker takes over in February, tries to get things go as quickly as possible. We talked to their social media director on one of our shows this offseason. But obviously there's this
whole pandemic thing on top of it. So, on top of the fact that there was a late coaching change, which is always brutal for a program, we now have this very awkward quarantine period where teams just have not been able to get out there and do their thing and learn the new system and mesh together and be one as a team. So that does not bode well for Michigan State, at least in the early going here with regard to what are they going to do on
the field, what's the output going to be? That being said, I am very intrigued in this being stylistically a different offense because for a long time it's been a lot more points is that the new style, well, I just think I just think the tempo that I expect to see Jay Johnson comes along with mel Tucker from Colorado. The results in year one were if he okay, but mixed. There is a tempo component to the offense that I think they want to run that we frankly have not
seen at Michigan State. So that contrast from what we've seen in years past out of a D'Antonio offense, to me is of particular intrigue here. I'm curious to see some of the new faces in new spaces. Certainly Elijah College had a great freshman year, almost rushing for one thousand yards. To now see what they put around him, and just the general tenor of that offense to me is pretty interesting.
For a team last year against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan they scored ten, zero, seven and ten points. No, you're right, the entry point has to be offense. Just because we can't watch another year this. No, it's impossible. We cannot watch another year of Michigan State falling from playoff team from conference contender, not even just a vision const a conference contender. They've won the Big Ten. They forced Urban Meyer to eat crappy Papa John's pizza and
a golf cart. Yeah, to where they've fallen. Offensively, they're extremely efficient, not always flashy but extremely efficient at their you know, the early twenty teams or whatever. I offense is an intrigue. But if they can just rise to below average and then maintain some semblance of what their defense has been, which has been all pretty impressive considering what the offense hasn't been giving them, that's intriguing. That's intriguing.
Mel Tucker has a really good defensive reputation. There is talent, but if the talent has fallen off at Michigan State, I'm curious to see how well that offense can serve the defense just by staying on the field. Just stay on the field. Get get a field goal here, you know, give them rest, get three first downs on a drive and then punt. That to me is the very base level intrigue for Michigan State's offense. It's a low bar tie. Did we cover all the teams? I believe so? Did
you cover all of your teams? You want to come it out and check it off. I've got Ohio.
State, Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, Rutgers, and Marya.
I think we covered it. Yeah, I have Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Perdue, Northwestern Illinois, we're a set. Do you have a big ten West runner up to Ohio State or perhaps somebody who is going to win the conference that is not Ohio State.
Ohio State is going to win the conference. Ohio State is far and away the best team in the conference. I still think you got to go Wisconsin, but I'm very intrigued by Minnesota. Minnesota, to me, is that team that if they can get their defense together, there is certainly more than enough firepower on that offense, especially with Rashad Bateman now opting back in. You've got a highly efficient quarterback in ten Or Morgan, a good running game.
There are enough pieces there that I think we can rely on and count on that they are a formidable opponent, formidable challenger to Wisconsin.
My big grower is Purdue. My big grower is Perdue. My big faller might be Penn State. I could see it. I could see it. I could see it. I think the lack of obvious weapons, perhaps outside of your boy baby Gronk on offense, and with Journey Brown now unable to play this year, and defense losing their clear best player, losing a couple pieces up front, Penn State has me worried Penn State has me worried, just because I'm going to need a substantial jump from Sean Clifford to feel
really good about them all season long. And I don't know if I say it, that could be my foller.
What I like about Clifford, especially in the new system, is that he brings a little bit more mobility than Tanner Morgan. And you know what Shiraka can do with that mobility and especially having a big tight end that that could be interesting with that offense. Did really have that at Minnesota, So definitely a new dimension that he can explore. But I think you're right, You're right to question Penn State eight. It does hurt to lose Micah Parsons.
But I will add that the defense does bring a lot back.
So they've recruited and developed so well on defense. Yeah, yeah, it's yeah. The road schedule's nice at Nebraska and Michigan at Ruckers, okay, and they obviously open at Indiana. But I'm worried a little bit worried about the offense.
All right, Dan, I don't think I have a sound As the uh big ten information dust is loaded into our our capsule travel bag, I don't know what the terminology is here, but.
It's our toiletry bag, our toiletry, it's our space toiletry bag. Yeah that I don't have a sound for it, but.
We do hope that everyone here enjoyed our commentary on the Big Ten. We would also add that we are doing some fun and cool and just engaging stuff out on our Patreon, which you can find at verballers dot com. I know we've talked through the tiers a bunch of times and things and perks that you can get, but it's going to be an exciting weekend, if only on the Discord channel, because we've got the Big Ten coming back. As you said at the top, he got the Mountain
West coming back. We got a game day thread where people are going to be just giving us real time commentary as to what's going on as they watch their games and their respective parts of the world. It's not
just the US, it's really the world. Got folks are all over in there, so it's a ton of fun to be there on game day and just talk through things with the verbaler hood and as if you needed any further reminders, four toh eight Verbal one is our reverblind four oh eight eight three seven two two five
to one. That's where you can call in, leave us your stream of consciousness response to what's going on in your neck of the woods on college football game day, and then we'll try to cut them up, put them together, and play them on Sunday.
That sounds like a plan to METI. I am excited for this big ten season. I am hopeful that we get all sorts of good football, maybe new football, maybe teams stepping up that we were not expecting them to, maybe teams taking a step back but then coming back and looking better than we thought they were going to be. I'm hopeful for suspense, Ty, That's what I want. Suspense. Yeah.
All right, Well, we thank you all so very much for downloading the show. We hope you'll subscribe if you haven't done so already, please do follow us across all of our social media channels, and for that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Ty Hill.
The rant will catch you all on the flip side. Meantimes, stay solid, peace,