Welcome to the solid verbal hull. That for me, I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. You want to be happy for a day? Edith state is that? Woo woo and Dan and Tie.
Welcome back to the celibverbal boys and girls. My name is Ty Hildenbrand, joining me as always over there in the Burbs, oh Chicago.
The fugitive of this show, Dan Rubisteine, Sir, how are you? I'm pretty good. It's telling that when did we start this show. We started this show in two thousand and eight thousand eight, twelve and some odd months ago, twelve years and however many months. I can't remember ever thinking to myself, Oh, I should definitely pee before doing the show. And here we are. I think we both pee now regularly before the show because we want to give our
best and fullest selves to the overballers. I didn't plan on starting my conversation like this, but here we are. I don't want to be distracted Dan.
I want to make sure that most focused, that I'm listening, that I'm present in each and every moment, and that I can give the best show possible.
Hello, Welcome, back, a very awkward way to start the show. That's what we're here for. Though it is March, it still is a college football show.
We've got college football content that we're going to presume to bladder talk, blatder talk, shoots and bladder, shoots and bladders.
Okay, yeah, not bad.
Solidverbo at gmail dot com is the way you can get in touch. Also going out to the website soliverbal dot com or hit us up on social media. Verballers dot com is where you can go and find out all you need to know about our Patreon. We had a bit of a scheduling change. A bit of a scheduling change, I think on the last show we discussed that we're going to do childhood movies with Bill Barnwell.
Yeah, kids sports movies from the nineteen nineties, with our friend Bill Barnwell of ESPN. It's NFL Free agency week, so this is one of his absolute busiest times, so we are pushing that until next month for our Patreon subscribers. Learn Moore at verballers dot com.
In lieu of that awesome idea which I was excited about and still am excited about. Course, we're going to do a different off topic again, only available to Patreon.
Subscriber bladder Talk.
Bladder Talk coming in a very strong second. Okay, good personal tech, Dan, Yes, personal what does that?
What does that mean to you? What does government mean to me? What does personal tech team to me? Anything that we used growing up as children, high school, college, be it for video games, music, television, computing, any sort of gadgetry that is digital and can be considered to be using technology. So it's it's a pretty loose term. And then up and through what we've used now, what we use now on an everyday basis, and what we hope to have in our lives. I suppose in the next year to five years.
We need to we need to devote a serious amount of time to the Nokia fifty six to fifty the phone that everybody had, Literally everybody our age had that phone.
I was hoping you were gonna say, the game Gear TV adapter used eight double A batteries every twenty minutes.
Yeah, so we got a lot to discuss here. Again, that show is only available everbowlers dot Com. Check it out for more information.
Okay, on today's show, Dan, Yeah, keep that we're keeping with that theme.
The NCAA Tournament is starting on Friday, apparently, which I just discovered via text message.
With a LINEI fan Scott. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I had no idea that this is a Friday type of thing now, but playing Drexel nearby, Drexel the Dragons, the Dragons, that's true. Just another one of the Pennsylvania teams that has made the tournament since penn State last died. I looked it up. In twenty eleven.
Penn State just tired the assistant from Purdue. The assistant from Purdue. Yeah, it's h He's got a funny name.
Okay, Shrew's Shrewsbury. I'll look it up. I just read about it this morning. I had no idea. Penn State lost by two to Temple in twenty eleven. Another Pennsylvania team that has repeatedly made the tournaments since Pennce State last did. I looked it up, TI, because this is what I do. The number one movie of the week the day that Penn State last appear in the NCAA Tournament was Rango Rango Johnny Depp Rango playing a chameleon. The number three movie was Red Riding Hood starring Amanda
Seyfried from downtown pa Alan High. Hey, there's your full circle.
Continue Micah Shrewsbury by the way, Sistan from Purdue.
So what are we using as inspiration? We are using upsets, buzzer beaters as inspiration, Dan Flip little Gush Johnson as some inspiration.
Here we have gone through our friend Bill Connolly's piece that he put out on ESPN dot com. I don't think it was recent. When did he publish this? Probably a couple months ago, a couple of months ago, talking about the top twenty five games of the twenty twenty season. We picked out our favorite five five upsets that we keep.
Said, tuzzer beaters, something that came down to the wire, Yeah, something in the vein of what attracts people to the first round of the NCAA tournament.
And so we decided we wanted to dissect these from a couple different angles. We wanted to talk about the circumstances going into the game, where each team was, what the storylines were going in, how our perception changed after just kind of a deep dive, a quick glancing blow, an oral history of some of these games as it was to be a fan in twenty ten.
As two people not there as two people not there. Nobody was there depending on the game. Yeah, it's dealers choice. We came up with five games. I don't do we have any news? Do you have any like things you want to get to before we dive in.
Well, we have to get to the Patriot League later. Oh true, That's the only other pressing thing that I have at this point. Right, do you want to start with LSU Florida.
I would love to. Let's start LSU Florida, which was number one right on Bill C's list of the best games of the season. And I want to go through as we talk about these games, because yes, it was clearly an upset. LSU had a crazy down season and the game was in Florida and LSU was starting what their third string quarterback for the first time in this game,
and Max Johnson correct. I want to go through and sort of dissect and discuss upsets in general, like what are the factors what goes into the cocktail of a college football upset? Because I think we're going to find ingredients mixers in this cocktail that are a point in all of these games. The connective tissue in all five of these games, not necessarily upsets, but a team either completing the upset or getting close or cinching the game with a buzzer beater, or holding off holding off a
team that was going to upset that team. That's I think we want to find that connective tissue, especially as we look forward to games and say, oh, could this be could there be the elements, could there be the mixers?
Well, I mean there is definitely a through line for four of the five. We're going to discuss the ot ball. The oddball is coastal in BYU because I.
Don't even know I have a connective tissue all five.
But continue, Yeah, I mean, I think the most obvious thing is that you're talking about a team with lofty expectations, perhaps title playoff conference championship aspirations, and they get knocked off by a team that nobody expects him to get knocked off by. So, like, you know, if we with Florida and LSU, Florida going into that game had lost in week three of the season on the road to
A and M, but otherwise look pretty killer. They had beaten Georgia, they were number six in the college Football Playoff rankings, and they were going to get a crack at Bama in the SEC title game. So for LSU to knock off Florida, LSU was three and five headed into that game. The myth that LSU was going to go on some run to follow up the Joe Burrow season had long diminished.
They were terrible.
Yeah, maybe terrible too strong a word, but they're just disappointing. They were disappointing. They were off back to back losses coming into that game against A and M and Bama. They had also lost a couple of weeks earlier to Auburn. They lost Week one against Mississippi State. Remember that's when everyone thought that the the Mike Leach experiment was going to be.
You know, taking the conference by storm. Yeah, they had no quality wins at this point. They almost lost to Arkansas a couple of weeks and that Bama game was the game that featured Devonte Smith hauling in like two hundred and thirty yards worth of catches in the first half. Yeah, exactly.
So you know, LSU by no stretch is an underdog story, but they were disappointing at the point in the season when they played Florida, and Florida definitely had some SEC championship aspirations. They were going to get a crack at Bama. They knew it, and so I think, at least from our standpoint coming into this game, I remember when we previewed it, we felt like this was kind of a foregone conclusion, that Florida was just a lot better than LSU, that LSU was kind of a mess. They had this
new quarterback situation, we were sorting it out. We just didn't expect much out of LSU, and Florida had a lot to play for. So for me, the through line with that this game, for Florida certainly and some of the others that were going to discuss was we had a team with lofty expectations that ultimately was felled by a team that did not.
Yeah, I think what I have through all five of these the connective tissue is there are unexpected wrinkles, both in terms of the environment, in terms of the context of the game, and in terms of something unexpectedly novel. No pun intended with the novel Coronavirus, of course, and the wrinkles in this Florida LSU game were pretty vast, right, So Florida has no idea what to expect from a Max Johnson offense. From a freshman starting they don't really
know how to game plan for. I mean, obviously he does not destroy Florida. He's fine and does make plays, but that's ultimately not the biggest reason why LSU won this game. You have the wrinkle of the fog. You have the wrinkle of a killer penalty at the end of the game to a shoe and a drive for Elise Marco Wilson and the shoe throw. You have uncharacteristic mistake and turnovers from Kyle Trask. He goes forty three touchdowns to five picks. Two of those picks were in
this game. One of them was the pick six it was Eli Rix and the other one was a freak red zone interception and he also had a fumble. So there is something about any upset. And we all know this that if two teams are going head to head and there are not a lot of mistakes made and the environment is fine and normal, the better team's going to win an overwhelming number of those games. And Florida
was clearly heading into that game the better team. Another wrinkle, Kyle Pitts does not suit up for Florida now Kadarius Tony is incredible and did plenty to win this game himself with his playmaking along with Kyle Trask, But there is something about I mean, really, what is a kaide York the kicker with just an uncharacteristically vast successful game winning, ultimately game winning kick, not a buzzer beater, because Florida had an opportunity at the end of the game to
kick their own kick to ultimately win the game. But the wrinkles involved with I think a fifty seven yard are in the fog, so foggy that the wirecam had to take over as the main camera. Incredible, right, It's like piece soup. It was, It absolutely was, and so the wrinkles involved in this game, a game in which Florida fully out gained LSU healthily. I think it was
by like two hundred issuyard they killed them. Yeah. All of that is to say LSU was good enough to take advantage of mistakes, to be in the right position to take advantage of those mistakes, and those mistakes are both mental and physical for Florida if you look at the shoe throw, but that ultimately is not what lost Florida the game, but the broader capital m mistakes on
Florida's part is what lost the Gators the game. And it cannot be stressed enough that of all of the ways to lose a football game in an incredible upset, a fifty seven yard on the road in a hostile environment, in dense, dense from the fog seems like the least likely.
And so this is a tip of the cap just in terms of degree of difficulty, because one of the other three points, if you look at a lot of these games, and it's not necessarily true dramatically in all of these is who's picking up free yards, who's returning an interception, who is bringing a puntback sixty four yards? Who is bringing an interception back to the opponent's eight
yard line. When you get out gained, you're not necessarily knowing the full story because there are free yards to pick, the penalty yards tie, all of these things go into upsets and LSU just kept hitting, They kept checking all of those notches, all those boxes. Do you know, incredible?
Do you know, according to Bill Connolly and his sp plus Advanced Metrics, what the post game win expectancy was for LSU and what the adjusted scoring margin was.
So this is him taking all of the numbers, the success rates and saying, Okay, a team that is outgained and has this percentage more in terms of explosive plays, this is how often they will win a game when they have these advantages. Correct, So that's post has to be Yeah. Postgame win expectancy measures that adjusted scoring margin looks at the same stuff but then puts a point value on it. So case in point, LSU had beaten South Carolina earlier in the year by a fifty two to twenty four.
Score twenty eight points. When Bill c crunched the numbers, the adjusting score adjusted scoring margin excuse me in that game was that LSU was only about thirteen points better right in this Florida game. In this Florida game, ls's post game win expectancy was one percent. That's wild one percent. I was going to guess eighty five in terms of
Florida eighty five to fifteen one percent for LSU. I'm guessing the one percent comes into play because of that goofy penalty and how they threw things in favor LSU and gave them a shot. The adjusted scoring margin was that even though the final score indicated LSU one by a thirty seven to thirty four final. He has that Florida was actually twenty four points better.
Which is Malik Davis, who led Florida in rushing averaged eleven point six yards per carry. Kadarius Tony, of course the Swiss Army knife for the Gators eighteen point seven yards per rush. Three carries for fifty six yards, So if my math serves, it's something like ten carries for one hundred and thirty seven I think yards in a losing effort by Florida's top two rushers, and Kadarius Tony also finished with nearly two hundred yards through the air.
Perhaps we should have issued a trigger warning for Florida fans before talking about the depths of the improbabilities of this loss. But yeah, it's even though Max Johnson didn't shred Florida. He was fine. He didn't throw any pain, no picks. He made a couple of huge plays when there were coverage bus when a corner would blitz and a receiver was wide open. He threw a really nice touchdown pass early on, and it was just who grabbed who stole more of those free yards? I mean LSU
was more penalized LSU didn't. I mean, it was just that pick six and the way Florida's offense stalled in the second half, with LSU eventually taking advantage that, on top of all of the capital m mistakes, won the game for LSU. So improbable, but certainly I think in line with how any team upsets another team. I don't know, do you have the spread in this game? I can look it up. I don't have it in front of me, but no, I think it's it full on matches with my elixir. Yeah.
The storyline going in was that Florida is going to get a crack at Bama and this is another speed bump because the LSU had not shown much promise again they had.
Lost two in a row. The storyline twenty four point favorite twenty four Yeah, yep. The storyline coming out was that Florida shot itself in the foot somewhat literally with the shoe penalty that put LSU and field goal range.
And also I think on the LSU side a bit of promise because you mentioned Max Johnson and the numbers weren't eye popping twenty one to thirty six, two thirty nine, passing three touchdowns, no picks, but he just he showed a command of the offense that you know, couldn't really be represented by any of the numbers. He just really looked comfortable running first to start in the swamp in the FuG love his career.
Comfortable and that was a bit of promise for LC that they took away from it. So fun game. Bill Ce had this one as number one in twenty twenty. Where do you want to go next?
Let's go do you want to go to that coastal BYU game? You say that one for let's talk about the Civil War? Shall we? Let's talk about civil war? Let's go across the country or whatever we're going to call that matchup? Moving forward? Oh right, okay? Oregon State Oregon still the Civil War to me? Maybe to you? Okay.
Oregon State wins forty one to thirty eight. Oregon headed into this game was three to oh. They had just beaten UCLA by thirty eight to thirty five margin, and they were ranked eleventh in the AP Top twenty five. Oregon State one to two. They just be cal but they had lost to both the Washington schools in the first two weeks of the year. Didn't look like Oregon State was exactly going to go on some Cinderella run to win the PAC twelve. The storyline going into this game, at least for me, by.
The way, everybody watching this game, I think it was the only game on Yeah right right at the moment, Yeah, exactly.
Storyline going in for me kind of the same going out, And it wasn't so much a definitive as it was a question is this a lost season for the PAC twelve?
Does it really count?
Does Oregon have a realistic shot at the playoff or really anything outside of winning the PAC twelve given the odd circumstances that led to a very abbreviated PAC twelve season, Dan, what was your take on that? What was your take on that? Because I recall us having a conversation where you were like, yeah, Oregon's not good enough to be much of anything.
Well, this was sort of at the height of the broadcasters treating every game as if it's important if it has clear playoff implications. We're not talking about any sort of important game if it doesn't have playoff implications. So that sort of set me off during the season of like, what can we just watch a football game and enjoy it and hope for a fun finish and good performances. So, yeah,
this was clear in this game. Watching this game because Oregon, because well they were undefeated, there were three and oh coming game I believe. Yeah, I was not a big believer in Oregon. And the passing game started showing some weakness and some struggle. UCLA was blitzing the hell out of Tyler Shuck and he was struggling with that. So there were some moments and they were kind of sloppy against Wazoo, but they pulled that out in a strong second half. Oregon looked like they were going to run
away with this one. They scored twenty one within the first quarter and three or four minutes. They were humming offensively and getting enough stops. The issue is they weren't tackling all game long. Even when they were getting stops, they weren't tackling, and tackling is about effort. I'm not going to accuse Oregon players of not playing with effort, but for whatever reason, they were not tackling well in
this game. And there's another game that can be highlighted with that lack of tackling acumen that we're going to get into as well. So what struck me about this game is Oregon as a team on both sides of the ball, they came up short situationally and in high leverage moments, even though they got a stop with I think two minutes left in this game up, they're winning in this game with two minutes and they get a
stop deep in their own territory, Oregon States driving. They go for it on fourth and ten and Oregon gets a stop, so they essentially need a first down or two to ice this game, and they immediately get two.
Basically nothing gains on the ground to let the clock tick and have Oregon State called timeouts and then they throw it, which is controversial, right the idea of third and ten, we can take forty seconds off with an inconsequential run and punt it or force the team to I don't remember recall how many timeouts Oregon State had left in that moment. I don't know if they had any, But any case, that's the conservative yet somewhat if not
usually effective move right play clock. So they decide to pass it, and it was another example of Oregon really struggling through the air. Tyler Schuck struggling to lead this offense in a high leverage moment late in the game and threw a nothing incomplete pass gave the ball back to Oregon State. Oregon couldn't get any drops, their linebackers struggled in coverage of this game. And this was another
foggy game, by the way, So there's your wrinkle. There's a wrinkle a rival game with fog and LSU Florida is its own rivalry, of course, but it's a it's a rivalry game with fog with I think Oregon's missing a key receiver. I don't think Micah Pittman played in this game, but whatever, everybody's missing players all season long in twenty twenty and just looking uncomfortable. Whereas Oregon State was coming up big, Tristan Jebbia came up really nicely
in big moments. Jamar Jefferson obviously ran all over Oregon State, and Oregon did have a shot at the end of this game to get I suppose into field goal range, but at this point Oregon didn't really have a kicking game to speak of, so I don't know how much of an option that was. But those last two drives for the Oregon offense were indicative of a team that was not prepared to close out games no matter the
quality of opponent. And so Oregon State just showed up to the game, showed up to the moment, and made those plays. And there were the stops at the end of the game that you know Oregon was trying to get a goal line stand and ultimately that took off a lot of time and Oregon State eventually punches it in and there was there was no real cohesive plan at the end of the game for Tyler Schuck to
go downfield successfully throw double coverage a couple times. And Oregon State the clear, clear better team one at home in the fog, and I can pull up the spread in this game, but it was it was striking to see how much over the course of the game this Oregon offense stalled like it came out in such impressive fashion. And the three point is winning on the road is tough. Winning on the road and the fog is tough. And Oregon State was sort of a team with nothing to lose.
They outgained Oregon, they played hard, and they rose to every large occasion. And Oregon by the way, with three turnovers in Oregon State with none, still with an opportunity to win.
Yeah, and still with a sixty two percent postgame win expectancy, sure, which if you've turned the ball over a couple times like that, you don't usually have a number that high. Bill c still has them as about a three point victor in the game, kind of again adjusted scoring margins, so.
A close game by any stretch.
He's not looking at this one in the same manner that he did the Florida LSU game.
It was obviously much tighter, you.
Know, rightly or wrongly, Dan, After Oregon dropped this game, we still covered the PAC twelve.
We always cover everybody.
But in my mind, I sort of just like lost a lot of the expectations I had for the PAC twelve.
Yeah, I mean, it wasn't It wasn't like a there was something I was gonna say something interesting about LSU Florida was not a high quality football game. No, it got you win from Morgan State. But it's not like you left that game thinking, man, just Haymakers after Haymakers. Now somebody had to lose.
Dan, I think we've been conditioned to look at a week what was this thirteen game?
A rivalry game.
Like it's got some real national significance, And in hindsight, none of these games really did. They just they didn't really And after Oregon lost, it was kind of like the dam broke for me, and I just kind of didn't care about the PAC twelve in the same way that I might otherwise, which is.
Through no fouth of the PAC twelve.
But yeah, it was really hard to get jazzed up for Pac twelve football after what I thought was the best team in the conference lost on the road to its biggest rival.
I think that's correct. Yep, all right, let's go to Indiana Penn State. Let's oh man, there's a lot to unpack here.
So this is different because I think all the other games that we're going to discuss happened after teams had played at least one game. We're gonna talk about Texas Twistech. That was the second game of the year for both teams. But in the case of Penn State Indiana, both teams were unbeaten and untested because it was week one.
Yes, this is an upset of expectations. Yeah, of the season.
Remember now, the Big Ten season was delayed until Week eight of the larger season that was twenty twenty, so we really had no idea what to expect.
We were both pretty high on Indiana. We liked Indiana. We felt like they were building something we still do.
Penn State had gotten a lot of acclaim going into this season. They had Micah Parsons who was opting out, but I think we still thought very highly of what
Penn State could do. And despite the fact that we didn't really know what to expect, it was kind of a thought that Penn State is going to play Ohio State pretty early on in the year, and that could benefit Penn State because you know Ohio States, maybe they're going to be a little untested, Maybe because of COVID they're not going to be there are.
Lost bunch of key guys on defense.
Yeah, the secondary right, we had questions like Penn State could take advantage of this. So going into the game, I think we were pretty excited about it. I remember watching on my patio on my iPad and just being transfixed by the way that this game unfolded. Sure, if you look at Bill C's post game win expectancy, the takeaway here is that Penn State played well enough to win, and he had them at a ninety five percent postgame win expectancy that they were fifteen or sixteen points better
than Indiana. But Indiana capitalized on the opportunities that it did get, and this one had an unbelievablending went to overtime. Indiana eventually ends up winning thirty six to thirty five, going for two in overtime. That amazing play where Michael Penick scrambles to his left, he lays out dives towards the pylon. The refs gave it to him. Replay was inconclusive.
I still feel like he was short, okay, but he got the call and there wasn't enough to overturn it. Regardless of how you feel about that play, an incredible individual effort by Panics to at least give his team a shot to win the football game. So a lot to unpack about the game itself. The immediate takeaway for me was that Indiana was legit, and also that penn
stated played well enough to win in some regard. The longer term takeaway is actually a lot more interesting to me because it was still that Indiana was legit a really good team, nobody will deny that, but also that a little bit of the luster of that Penn State win had faded, if only because Penn State started zero to five, right and they lost to al State, and then they lost to Maryland Nebraska in Iowa. It took them a while to get it together down the stretch.
They got better and they ripped off a couple wins to close out the season, but certainly by virtue of Penn State losing a bunch four games after that Indiana game, it was a little bit of a diminished accomplishment for Indiana, rightly or wrongly wrongly. I mean, look, Indiana did not play that good of a game. This was not LSU played an interesting game against Florida. They made big plays. They came up big in big moments, and same can be said for Oregon State. They the plays were made
Indiana on offense especially. I mean we're talking about what Penn State missed three few goals, one of which was a twenty five yarder. Yes, they commit ten penalties for one hundred yards, so which is okay in week one, right, you can you can get things fixed. I mean not that Penn State necessarily did in terms of mistakes, but the game was there for Penn State as you mentioned, and Indiana, I suppose what's the adage of, like, you don't have to be faster than a bear, you just
have to be faster than your friend faster. You don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than your buddy. Yeah right, And so I in rewatching this game, it was pretty obvious to me that both Indiana and Penn State slathered themselves in beef and then decided to run into an area populated by, you know, mistake prone bears, which is what this game was a giant mistake prone bear coming for somebody. And so Penn State makes those mistakes. And even that first drive is a thirteen play drive.
And the thing that was striking about and I don't watch this game first, is the Penn State offense, intentionally or not, was basically built around like, hey, we're going to run RPOs and hope for six or seven yards and maybe we'll get three or four. And there is something so dangerous about trusting college kids to execute fully all eleven dudes for long drives. And that ultimately is
aside from the field goal. I mean, Sean Clifford was off and you guys were getting beat repeatedly in one on one matchups, and there was just something about Indiana hanging around. Was that Marci player on the first line
of sexydunty. This was a hangaround game for Indiana. Obviously, Sean Clifford connects with Johan Dotson late for that big I think it was a sixty yard touchdown, But otherwise there was not much to either one of these offenses, and Indiana took advantage when they could, and the defense played pretty well and just kept Penn State's offense and check but offensively, there was nothing remarkable about about excuse me,
Indiana rising to the moment. So this is one of those games where somebody has to win, somebody has to win, and that play was that wrinkle. I suppose in terms of this game, that freak play overtime, But this was not a classic upset, more of a happenstance kind of upset,
and that's okay. But the wrinkle was that it's week one and that Penn State uncharacteristically made just maybe characteristic for twenty twenty, but just a myriad of mistakes, and that's where Indiana was able to take advantage of those.
Free yards and I seem to recall going into this game that one of our talking points on the preview show was that you should take Indiana and the points. What did we say that the point spread was here, I'm looking at it everything like five points, I forget, but it was a lower number.
Seven points touchdown.
Yeah, I remember saying this is a great place to take Indiana because what we were seeing as a trend at that point was in the early part of the season for pretty much every team they were playing below expectations. There was just such goofy circumstances that brought us to the start of the season at all that it was. It was a bridge too far to expect that anyone was going to go out there and just be killer. So hopefully you cashed Indiana in getting the plus value there.
Yeah, I plus to be thrilled to have.
Plus two five money line. So you getting two to one odds on Indiana to win.
Outright, it was such a bad offense to watch of Penn States, even aside from the interceptions, it was just it felt like they were trying to win five yard fields. Yeah, all year, all year, and there's I don't know, if you watch that Sark Clinic talk that he gave right where he talked about how he almost never, if ever, has routes run by Alabama receivers that involved them stopping and sitting in zones or you know, stopping right, you know,
come back, like he doesn't have that. He wants his receivers catching the ball in stride just because he wants explosive plays. He doesn't want to trust eleven guys working perfectly together for eleven, twelve, thirteen plays every drive. And there was something about that Penn State offense where like, I hear you, but what if we just four and a half yard at at a time? It was tough, all right, and that's why they made a change. Let's go to the great State of Texas.
Dan.
Oh my god, what a game.
Both teams had played one game. Texas Tech barely beat Houston Baptist thirty five thirty three. Bill connolly had them losing by three or four points postgame adjusted scoring margin. So not a great start for Texas Tech.
In Matt Wells.
On the Texas side, they were one to zero. They were a top ten team. They had just completely retooled offense and defense in the offseason, so a lot of promise for Tom Herman coming into this year with what they could do with this new staff. Now, I think in hindsight we recognize really difficult circumstances. We say it a thousand times a show, really difficult circumstances to install anything new. You're doing calls and game planning over zoom like.
It's just it was not optimal for anybody. But the playing field was level in that regard. The storyline going in was that Texas had all this hope. The storyline coming out was, Okay, we beat Texas Tech by seven in overtime. Maybe still a work in progress. Dan scratched and clawed.
Maybe maybe maybe not quite the upset, but Herman needed to shape up. It was a buzz though it ended with what a pick at the end? Right? Yes, yes it did. Okay, it's a buzzer beater in its own way.
Texas followed up this effort by dropping too straight to TCU and Oklahoma, and maybe this was a harbinger of things to come.
I don't know. Obviously, Tom Herman is no longer the head football coach at u T at Austin. But this is a fun game.
There's a lot of offense, right, There was There was a lot here from a fans standpoint to just watch and enjoy the points. But certainly, if you were a Texas fan, this is the not the showing that you wanted.
On defense, Do you know how hard it is for Texas to be down what they were down fifteen and make that comeback thanks to an on sidekick in the last second drive to send it to overtime and then win it in overtime? Do you know how hard it is to do when the defense completely other than one play they stopped Texas Tech on the ground. They pick off British comedy legend Alan Bowman three times, Sam Ellen
Girl only throws one pick. They move the ball pretty well all at least in that middle section of the game, the first half especially. I think they scored what thirty points in the first half. You scored thirty points in the first half of a game and you still have to claw back because you're down big is a wild
way to live your life as a football program. And you're right, and we talked about this too with Tom Herman, where it's just like, if this is where they are, this many years into Tom Herman's tenure, where they need to come back to win by double digits against a flawed Texas Tech team, not a horrible Texas Tech team, but one that just got by Houston Baptist barely. This is how old is your niece or your oldest niece. Oldest niece is going to be ten eleven, it's going
to be eleven. Yeah, it's going to be eleven years old. If you were to play her one on one on the basketball court and spot her five, playing up to eleven, but all of a sudden you're down nine to one, and all you're like, oh, I have to get my act together, yea quickly. I have to scramble and start swatting shots and being mean because I can't lose this game.
It had that vibe on the rewatch tie. It absolutely had that vibe on the rewatch and I, you know, I opted out of Texas football and sort of pouring a lot of emotion into the Horns pretty early on in the season after games like this. But watching this game specifically Texas Tech was really fun. On offense. It was what TJ. Vasher made big plays, Dude, Kashan Carter like they It was an explosive play aganza. And that's the wrinkle to me is that you know, Texas needs
to pull out this game. They need that on side kick, they need that last second drive, and they need that pick to seal things. But it's just if you are looking to quote unquote upset a team, you need to be turnover focused on defense, so taking chances and you know, getting hands and passing lanes by your defensive line, whatever, getting tips, which Texas Tech was able to do. They turn turnovers into points. But also you got to take shots. You cannot hope to nickel and dime your way to
an upset win. No matter what Indiana was able to pull off. That is not a great strategy for defeating a team consider more talented than your team. And so what Tech was able to do four penalties for fifteen yards Texas ten for one hundred. There's you're hidden yards in this game. And even though Tech does out turn over the Horns, they also out explosive played the Horns. You know, that huge run from Sir Rodrick Wasroderick Thompson, that's his name, was incredible and the Texas tackling was
so woeful all game long. They not only should have lost this game, they probably could have lost to Houston Baptist the way that they were tackling, especially early on in the season. Yeah, I mean.
The interesting thing for me now headed into the sark Era, especially in light of what we saw last year, they had the same sequence of games Texas Tech, TCU, Oklahoma Okay earlier in the year, starting the end of September. So hopefully for their sake, it goes a little bit of a different direction and they're not witting by the skin of their t Keith against Texas Tech and then losing to TCU in Oklahoma.
But we'll see. I don't know, they have their chance to get some redemption a year later. I almost can understand, and I can write off major tackling issues early on in the twenty twenty season when you don't have that same sort of live fall camps you know, to get used to. I mean, it's about effort, but it's also about just comfort in a system. I can write off that to a certain extent for a number of teams
early on in twenty twenty. But with a fourth year starting quarterback to not have that kind of explosive offensive success all game long against Texas Tech, that's the part that seems inexcusable. They had big plays and then they just would become wildly inefficient, you know the next drive. So that to me was the takeaway that, like, yeah,
this was almost more obvious than anything else. You know, they have the loss to TCU where they get pushed around on the ground but needing over time and get having up fifty plus points to Texas Tech, Like, well, the program clearly hasn't arrived to an acceptable place. So yeah, this was it was a good hold on, I suppose, and wild It was a wildly entertaining game at the end of the fourth quarter in overtime, but damn the wrinkles were there all right.
And our final game here, Dan is the bigin this is the big en Coastal Carolina twenty two BYU seventeen. So here is the lay of the land headed into this game. Coastal was nine to zero. They were eighteenth in the College Football Playoff rankings, highering the other polls. In general, though, just a ton of fun to watch, kind of the darling of the twenty twenty season. A lot of folks didn't know who they were. Had the heel field, the shot of the close calls too A
bunch of close calls. They're fun to watch, and if you watch this game, if you watch any Coastal Carolina, they were legit fun as hell to watch because I think, as I've said time and again, their offense is a combination of every offense.
Every offense they're like, that's what they do. They do everything, So that is the wrinkle for them.
And Grayson McCall, their quarterback, the freshman, very very good, no doubt about it. On the BYU side of things, they were also nine to zero headed into this game. Their quarterback, Zach Wilson is going to get drafted very highly in the upcoming NFL Draft. They were thirteenth in the college football playoff rankings headed into this game, but eighth in the Associated Press poll, so people thought very highly of the Kops headed into this football game.
This is my favorite game of the year. This is my favorite game of the year.
And the oddity here was that it came together sixty hours before kickoff. Due to circumstances. Coastal was supposed to play Liberty, but the Flames had a COVID issue. A bunch of guys came down with it. They couldn't follow through and play that game. But BYU was also looking for an opponent, and so they made it happen. They made it happen. The game did not disappoint. The takeaway here was that both teams acquitted themselves quite well for
my money, the game of the year. The bigger thing, which we can talk more about after we talked about the game itself, was I think that college football should take another look at how it allows teams to schedule. We're so used to this policy of scheduling games fifteen years in advance, the home and homes with Alabama or Ohio State.
But this one came together.
A couple hours before, sixty hours before it actually happened, and it did not disappoint. It was exactly what we needed at that moment in the college football season. Dax Milne for BYU stopped.
Like a yard short as time expired.
So a great ending, an awesome matchup Mormons versus Mullets. So this had everything that you want as a college football fan. A lot people got into it. I remember they made a big deal of it on College Game Day.
Of course it was Field Conway.
Yeah, a great moment for both schools to be part of this and truly I don't say this slightly truly, this is what we needed in twenty twenty as sports fans, because so much of the season had been a flaming pile of you know what sure postpone Min's uncertainty weekend and week out. They effectively steered into all of that and gave us the best game of the year. So
I will always remember this game fondly. I hope BYU fans do as well, even though it didn't have the desired outcome, Just to be part of that I think is really unique and special in a otherwise strange season.
Agree agree, but still disagree with punting on fourth and two from your own forty seven to close out the game. Still disagree with it. Even though Bhyu drove the length of the field pretty quickly and they got to what the one or two yard line where they were, they were still owned to try to win this game because they're down five, so they have to get into the
end zone. So still disagree with that call, I thought because of how well Coastal played, and the wrinkle in this game is obviously what you mentioned, the Coastal offense and preparing for it with almost no time because of that option element because of the unorthodox way that the Shans play on offense where they can throw the ball, but there is that option element that's quite successful as well.
That to me was the difference, and of course the wrinkle of just not having time in general and traveling across the country, going from Provo to Conways, It's got to be some kind of weird journey to connect those
two places. So I understand all of that. In rewatching the game was it was so clear to me that watching Zach Wilson play football that it would have been far more interesting to watch him play and this is no intended slide at BYU to see him against bigger opponents, to see him on a bigger stage, to see him perhaps with a bigger time receiver. And I like this guy. It was a dex Milne and gosh were the I
mean it was Tyson Algeer in the backfield. All these names start flowing away from my brain when we get into this Neil Neil Powe, Neil nick Pow, Neil Powe. I think there was a Romney prominently featured with BYU. So there was something about this game with Coastal really bending and not trying to break that paid off. That is a way to win this game. But yeah, this
game definitely had the feel of the Wrinkle. It definitely had the feel of UH BYU not fully adjusting in those big moments to figuring out what Coastal can do on the ground, especially with Grayson McCall. I loved rewatching this game because there this was one of those very rare games where you could kind of get a sense for the emotion involved in the stadium. I'm not saying any team was wrong to limit fans or have no
fans like do your thing. I understand every cent of that, but also there was something nice about if you suspend everything in your brain. There was something nice about sensing the energy in a stadium for a big game that this game also featured.
Yeah, and I think to the point just the fact that it was BYU, that it was Coastal Carolina, two teams that are not used to being featured on this kind of stage, it was very fitting of the twenty twenty season that they brought us as much joy as they did.
Do you think that and I think the answer is yes, but that's my opinion. Do you think that there is something or there was something so appealing about this matchup, not just because of the way it came together, but because the top of the sport, even with what BYU and Coastal are both undefeated at this point. Do you think there was something inherently and newly appealing about two undefeated teams playing with no chance at playing in the
college football Playoff? No matter what you might have thought about BYU at the time, they were the more likely to him, I guess, but no chance of the playoff that this was there was something refreshing about caring about a game not having to do with the playoff, and also just it lived outside of the foregone conclusion section of the sport that the teams that are so advantaged like Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, you know, George, Oklahoma, all
these schools that there was there was something nice about watching this game that just had fun implications, not playoff implications. Oh for sure, for sure? And yeah no, so I agree one hundred percent. There it's a pushback against that element of the sport.
Well, and you always have that with college football, right you had that with UCF. Remember when they declared themselves national champions and we had folks riding in calling, in telling us UCF deserves a shot. You always have that underdog component to college football, and that's part of what makes it special. So the underdog story to me was first off, that they played the game at all, and then secondly that this got the kind of stage that
it did because of how it came about. Because both teams to that point and through the season, frankly had really good years. They're both up there worth talking about, worth watching.
These are really good teams. Yeah. I will push back.
A little bit though, on the point that neither one had a shot. I think we know in hindsight, and I think we knew if we thought about it, if we really came to our senses, we knew that neither team was going to play for anything. But at the time, like we were postponing games left and right, we didn't even know if there would be a playoff, a bowl season,
a postseason. So I think there was definitely an element here of not taking anything for granted moving forward, and that's what made this game as bet as it ended up being. We just didn't know what the future was going to hold in football, in life, there's a lot going sideways I.
Had forgotten about the fact that there was there was no love lost between these two love them, they hated each other. It was it was contentious. You had the halftime fight because of the way that Coastal players went after Zach Wilson when he threw that Hail Mary pick, and you know, I think they try to double team block him, like, oh, this is opportunity to hit him with live play going on. And so there was a scrap at midfield at the start of halftime. So I
just I like that inherent emotion. Oh yeah, fighting and getting hurt. But you know, it was it was nice to feel the bad blood. Yeah, to feel to feel that bad blood.
It felt very authentic in a way that look, we talked to a lot of college football fans, a lot of people were very ambivalent about this season, didn't know how to feel sure, and this authentically got the juices flowing. And again, to further my own point, they played this game on December the fifth, that was after Thanksgiving. We had cases starting to spike again, just so much uncertainty about what the future, what the immediate future of the sport,
of the country, of just life in general health. This game came at a really good time for us as sports fans, and I will forever be grateful. You know, sometimes I get a little too deep for my own good. I'm really grateful that we had this experience to sports fans, because I felt we really needed it at the start of December.
The nice thing about these five games, and it's I think, is it only true of the Indiana game, where there was only one walk off offensive winning play in these five, Right, it's Florida Yeah missing the field goal, it's BYU being tackled short one yard one, Texas getting that stop, it's Oregon State getting that stop after taking the lead lates and Oregon not being able to finish. And usually that's always kind of a letdown, Right. You want the game to be decided by the team who has the ball
last in a positive way. You want to see that team get that get in the end zone with no time left, or kick the ball through the uprights with no time left. There is something that's inherently romantic about that. But even watching these games back, that didn't really matter all that much to me. And the Penn State Indiana game was clearly the worst full game to watch, and that was the only one that got decided offensively with
a game winning play. So fascinating. Rewatch on all of these games, and I had remembered a lot of parts, but also had forgotten a lot of the context. All Right, well, Dan, I think that's it.
In looking back at these games, at these five games, for me, my favorite was clearly Coastal in BYU. Okay, do you have another one that was your favorite instead? Probably LSU Florida LSU Floor.
That was a strange one too, wasn't it. It was? It was so strange, but just from a narrative perspective of Florida not having Kyle Pitts and LSU being down the players they were down and having the season that they were having and going on the road, and just I mean, there was no way Kade York could even fully make out where the uprights were from his vantage point. He's just like, I got to kick it into the abyss and hope for the best. That to me, that
was like my Steffan game. This game has everything so that that is that is one of the last things. And then the Marco Wilson element as well, throwing the shoe. So in terms of strange and upset and it's still difficult to say upset with the defending champ, but it works in this case. So that's my pick for the craziest one.
Right in sliverladgmail dot com let us know your thoughts. Also check out for Ballers dot com. That is our Patreon. That's where you can find our off topic show. It's going to drop on Friday morning talking about personal tech. You know, I'm a bit of a geeked in as am I.
Before we go, can you drop that quivering, quenching I don't know, quilting, drum and fives? Who could forget about the Patriot League spring season? Dan, Yeah, buddy, talk about your Fordham Rams on the road at fitt and Field and Wooster Mass squaring off against the Crosssaders. Dan, who you got? Woo? I mean Fordham Obviously I no longer live in New York, but I do recognize New York's
one true team, Fordham Rams. Of course, of course I got assted gotta gotta go home team in these uncertain times, Dane, I feel like everybody there's so much money going to the Crossaders because of that win last week against who did they play? Uh Lehigh Lee High that's right, Lehigh. We're gonna look back on that lee High wind like
of course, everybody beats the Mountain Hawks. Speaking of the devil Lehigh Mountain Hawks on the road at Colgate, Hello, old friend at Andy Kerr Stadium up there in Hamilton, New York. Dan, we go way back to Beaton's. Yeah, we go way back with Colgate, traveled all the way out to North Dakota State to watch them lose handily to the Bison. But I gotta go Mountain Hawks here. You know where I stand. Lehi lost demonstrably right twenty to three. They looked very bad. Still without a touchdown
this spring. I'm going to go Gators here, ty. I feel pretty pretty good about the boys in Maroon. They're both probably both yea, they're probably both maroon, the boys in Hamilton, And finally your Lafayette Leopards on the River by eight and a half. By the way, can I get a line on that game? Really? Yeah? According to Caesar's hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on hold Coldgate Faper by eight and a half. What was the other game you wanted to
know the line on? Well, I'm game. I'll take the line in any of these games. Fordham at holy Cross, Fordam at holy Cross is uhh? No line for this one. It's on ESPN plus, it's gonna be forty five degrees. But I'm not seeing a line. Caesars had a line on the other one, not this one. Sorry. Okay. Finally, your Lafayette Leopards on the road at Buckdal Buckdell is a seven and a half point home dog, That's what I'm saying.
Playing at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium up there in Louisbourg, Dan, uh are you taking the points here?
What are you doing? Everybody knows the LEPs travel. Absolutely, I am giving those points. Double digit win for the Laps, easy, easy, Come on? Do you not believe?
I don't believe, and I'm inclined to take points in all of these games.
I feel like that there are actually a lot of college football games. They beat the Gators by two touchdowns, right, yes, Lafayette did. They'd be their coming off a win just the other day, and twenty nineteen over Lehigh at Lehigh. The energy's there, Ty, you know this, I know this, Lafayette.
How on God's Green Earth is Vegas going to set a line on any of these games.
I don't know, but I feel like if you know bat League football, there's money to be made. I feel like you should just take points. Okay, just take the points.
Like every game.
Over under at forty two points. So Vegas has done their homework and they're anticipating something like a twenty four to seventeen type matchup here.
I'm locking it in right now, where's hold on? I'm looking this up you know where I still going to bet the game. I'm going to bet the game. Why not bet it? There's nothing else to bet other than all the college basketball action, in which case I will also be taking the points because.
Bunell has not played a game in fifteen months. Oh really yeah, My last game they played was a seventeen point loss to Ford. Them and there's still only a seven and a half point home dog right whereas Lafayette played a game. The cobwebs are off the laps.
I'm going I'm going ten bucks on Buck plus the points.
Why not? Okay, you can if you feel really good about Buck now money lines at plus two thirty? No, no, no, no, out right, come on, maybe crazy believe, let's not go crazy here. Okay, all right, well, look enjoy the NCAA tournament. We will be talking again tomorrow about uh, do we have a bracketick? Should we launch a bracket? Do you want to? Is it too late? No? I don't think it's too late. Yeah, let's launch a bracket. The game start like calling family members.
Yeah, there will be a bracket game to search for the solid verbal out on ESPN dot com.
Yes, we'll launch it there. We had a lot of people last year we did this, so yeah, it's fun.
All right, I'll make picks, you'll make picks. Will be a grand all time done. I will talk to you tomorrow, Daniel. We'll talk about personal tech all right, forbolloer dot com for that, go there, Dan Rubinstein, for myself, tie Held a brand. Enjoy the rest of your evening.
We'll talk to you soon. Stay solid peace,