Welcome to the solid verbal hull.
That for me, I'm a man, I'm for it.
I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. You want to be happy for a day? Edith Steak is that woo woom?
And then and tie Dan Rubinstein back in the home studio after a long weekend away and beautiful and arbor Michigan, my friend watching your Oregon Ducks take it to the Michigan Wolverines. We had a weird setup in the hotel room to pull off something of a recap episode on Saturday night. But alas, as you can see from the background for those of you watching the video back where it all started, my friend, how goes it?
It's it's very good time. Life is very good. Not my first time, probably won't be my last time hauling production lights into a hotel room and getting a few looks in the lobby're like, what's about to go down in a room two three one tonight? As I'm looking around, like.
Everything's cool, guys, this is just college football and we're not talking ring lights. We're talking the big light with the umbrella, like full on production. I said, we use for what we do. Yeah, and a few kind of stray glances, like what's what's going on up in that room? Yeah?
Like like, are we going to be interviewing somebody on camera saying you ever done something like this before?
No?
No, huh, I mean you're a natural. That's that's the vibe that I picked up on from people's eyeballs looking at me hauling a light stand and a giant light dome in the Hilton Garden, Detroit, Marriott. Yeah, that's the life we lead.
Welcome back to the show, one and all. Thank you for your patients this past weekend as we did our best to put a show out there. This show now is going to be a continuation of what we did on Saturday. So yeah, because we were at the Oregon Michigan game, we did not have a chance to do our normal bit of football consumption. This gave us an opportunity to go back and rewatch games, formulate some thoughts. We did not talk a whole lot about what transpired
in the nightcap because we recorded the show earlier. This episode is going to give us a chance to go through some of those games and also take a stroll back down memory lane talk through what happened at other points throughout the day in Week ten.
Yes, I have a lot of thoughts, a lot of opinions. We have rankings, reverbs. It's a jam pack show. Yes, it is a jam pack show. Hit follow, hit subscribe.
You don't want to miss any of our episodes moving forward, because as we will discuss on today's show, as I'm pretty sure I am going to discuss at nauseum on the Thursday preview show, there is a lot that's going to go down in November. Oh my god, Yes, a lot is going to go down in November with respect
to conference standings. So if you are ever so inclined, folks, for the next forty five minutes, sixty minutes, what whatever time you choose to spend with us to distract yourself from the healthscape of American politics which is going on today. As we released this episode, thank you for joining us here in the Rebowler hood.
Dan thrilled your hair.
So look. Week ten featured seven teams of the AP Top twenty five going down. Yes, we had Penn State, we had Texas A and M. We had Iowa State, Clemson, Kansas State, Pitt and Illinois. Of those teams, Texas A and M Clemson and pitt All lost at night while we were recording. I would also add Iowa State lost while we were in the car, Kansas State lost while we were in the car. Illinois happened a little bit
earlier in the day. That was one that we had telegraphed as part of my locks yep on our previous preview episode. But definitely an active week with respect to rankings, which leads me to where we are right now with Harvard Baller top twelve. Got a new one that is out there, number twelve, Boise State crack in the top twelve, number eleven, SMU welcome to the dance, my friends, number ten, notere Dame now firmly in our top twelve. They hadn't
been there before. Peeking back in Tennessee at nine, BYU at eight. Penn State drops all the way down to number seven, but still very much in the thick of things here. Indiana all the way up to number six. Dan Rubinstein, wooh, finally getting a little bit of love for the Hoosiers. Top five is Texas at five, Miami at four, Georgia at three, Ohio State at two, Oregon, Your Oregon Ducks a comfortable first place in this poll.
Also add before I get your comments, Alabama is thirteen, Ole, Missus fourteen, Army fifteen, Texas A, and m sixteen in LSU at seventeen. Any reactions, any thoughts to that top twelve?
Uh? Yeah, I mean the conversation around number three is fascinating, though it's hard for me to put Texas there, obviously losing to Georgia the way that they did, hard for me to put Miami there in terms of strength of performance that you know, there's no good answer for number
three in this moment. Georgia won an absolute clunker given Carson Beck's interception issues against Florida, and it's difficult to say Indiana, even with an undefeated record in a power conference like a slam dunket number three, given who they've played. Now you can say they've performed like a number three
team should with a weirdly weak schedule. And I understand why they scheduled down in the non conference, because Indiana has been long a program scheduling to get to a ballgame, and so they weren't even thinking about like style, points and record and any of that kind of stuff, because why would you given the history of Indiana football. So that's sort of defensible that they're sort of not in that number three conversation. And I don't think, what are they in the eight.
People yet there's somewhere in that vicinity. Yes, six, seven, eight, Yeah, they've now cracked the top ten, which good for them. They should be there given the way they've played. Definitely, and to your point, this schedule definitely predates Kurt Signetti
and all this renewed optimism around the program. Like you said, they're trying to get too a bowl game that was kind of seen as the stepping stone, but never in their wildest dreams did we did they did we expect that they'd be in the thick of this thing come mid November.
In terms of if we are once again just looking at this poll, is it a poll that combines who we think are the twelve best teams or the twelve best resumes or everything you know that goes into a ranking, like I happen to think Ole Miss is probably one of the best dozen teams in the country right now. Even with the injuries. Trey Harris didn't play against Arkansas, you know, a little bit thin at running back at the moment. Set in records. The defense I think might
be leading the nation in sacks. They're playing at their best, as complete a football game as most, if not all, of the sport, and so that's an O mission And I get it because of the loss to Kentucky. Totally defensible why you would leave them out. But if we're just having that conversation about who are the twelve best teams in the country, I think you're doing a little bit of an injustice leaving will miss out.
We opened up this poll to all of our Patreon members, so those who are certified in Premium for Ballers, also those who join on the free tier, just to get more opinions because things are starting to heat up now, I think again with respect to how these teams sack up. We're going to see the first round of playoff rankings on Tuesday evening for those who care to pay attention.
We a little distraction. Yeah yeah, nice distraction.
We'll see how it compares to this for ball Oer Top twelve poll. Again, this is voted on by our community and everybody kind of has their own measure for it. We have some folks that want to put Vandy in the top twelve. We have others that take it. You know, I think from your standpoint of well, I don't care
what the records are. I'm just looking at this in terms of who I think the best teams are, right, I've tried to take something of a hybrid approach, though not including Vandy, I would add, and I find it interesting that we've now got some new teams that are that are peeking their way into this thing. It took a while for people to get comfortable again with putting
Notre Dame in their top twelve. That' SMU finally getting something of a boost after playing really good football, progressively better football after that loss earlier in the year, to BYU, even BYU. I feel like our voters have struggled with where do we put BYU. If you take the poll points the way I calculate them, you can use that to figure out where the decision points are. Right now, Oregon is a clear number one, Yes, Ohio State and
Georgia damn near tied for that second spot. All right, So, even though Georgia did have a bit of a clunker this past weekend against Florida, it stands to reason that at least our for baller hood still feels pretty confident in Georgia. Miami a very comfortable fourth in front of Texas. Texas are very comfortable fifth in front of Indiana. Once you get to six, this is when things start to
get interesting. There's still a nice gap between Indiana and Penn State, but after you get to seven, seven, eight, nine, like the whole way down, it's very very tight. How the committee kind of susses all this out would be really interesting to see. I don't know what to expect there. I don't take the first round of polling that seriously, of course, but it will be interesting just to get kind of like a check as for how the Committe feels about what it's seen so far.
I'm not so sure I understand why Penn State is where they are on this list. You play in a big game, a top ten matchup at home and score how many offensive touchdowns tie once exactly zero, exactly zero. Now we don't know what b y you would do at home against Ohio State. We don't know what Indiana would do. We don't know what Tennessee would do, we
don't know what Notre Dame would do. But we know what Penn State would do, and that is not all that much, and so I'm with them in like that ten to eleven range instead and having to prove themselves to be a top ten team given that the results this year to that point, as we talked about on the preview show, little to no throttle on offense all year long, that they are just in general, you know,
distancing themselves from clearly lesser teams. That's that's not the Penn state of twenty twenty four, and it feels like they're in that spot, whether it's the A People Coaches Poll or even more important for Ballerpol that they're getting a benefit of the doubt for an unclear reason right now.
Well, I think this week will help us sort things out a little bit further agreat. We've got Georgia on the road at ol Miss, We've got Alabama on the road at LSU, We've got BYU on the road at Utah and the Holy War. Even games like Colorado Texas Tech have a lot of intrigue associated with them. There are suddenly real conference implications for some of these games
that we couldn't have dreamt up weeks ago. So we'll get into that and much much more either on today's episode or as we get into the preview, but as we have advertised this show as sort of our opportunity to take a look back at what we missed. Let's talk week ten again. Dan, Let's what did you have the pleasure of going back and watching where did your
where did your attention go? First? When you look at the sheet, realize what we still had to cover, and decided to fire up the nefarious YouTube streams and watch a game. I think Texas Tech won their game in such a losing effort that I cannot believe Iowa State lost that game. I cannot believe Baron Morton threw two picks in the opening part of the middle eight within like a minute and a half of time, want first opportunity. Iowa State went three and out in like twenty seconds.
And then they score a touchdown right before halftime, get the ball back after halftime, and lose their first fumble I think of season.
I think that's what I saw. Their tight end got it punched out from behind as they were driving. It starts raining like crazy near the end of the game, and somehow Texas Tech. Texas Tech puts together like a twelve play buck forty two long drive down the field in the rain, surviving a third and fifteen, a fourth and seven, and are able to punch it in with I don't know, twenty seconds left something like that, and somehow hold on to win that game. I don't it was.
It was a cocktail. It was a losing cocktail that somehow came together for Texas Tech. I could not believe watching that game back, and they had the performances right. Josh Kelly was very good and was an absolute dude, especially early on in that game. TODJ. Brooks continues to
be a dude. Baron Morton did make plays. I just can't believe the stolen possessions and the freak fumble loss all added up to losing this game for Iowa State in the rain, Right, it was going to be so difficult for Texas Tech to move the ball down the field against the quality Iowa State defense. And credit to Texas tack of course, of course, credit to Texas Tech. Win your clunkers, of course, of course, of course, win is a win. I can't believe Iowa State.
Lost this game and Texas Tech now finds itself in a position of real consequence. That's not to say that they have a great chance of winning the Big Twelve. I don't think they have much chance at all of winning the Big Twelve, if I'm being honest with you, But they definitely have a chance to impact the way that that conference shakes out, not the least of which is this game this weekend against Colorado.
I cannot believe it.
I was curious what happened in that one. I put the call out on our discord, and people were just like, Iowa State kept stalling out. They kept stalling out, they had some mistakes. It was totally unfounding that they would lose that game, because it felt like they were good enough to win. But we know the way that sometimes these games go, especially in the Big Twelve.
It was twenty two to seventeen Iowa State with two minutes left with I think a long field right seventy one yard drive, so yeah, a not insignificant amount of yardage to cover in the rain. I can't believe. I just I watched that game and I knew what had happened. It had happened twenty four hours early, and I was like, I must have seen the results wrong here. This is
an impossible game for Iowa State to lose. Yes, the offense was not on track at all and they couldn't generate bigger plays consistently ied the touchdom pass of Jaden Higgins the lone touchdown pass.
Its great, But man, I first went to the South Carolina win over Texas A and M.
Oh.
Yeah, you and I were watching this one a little bit in the car as we were stuck in Michigan stadium traffic.
Yeah.
South Carolina ended up winning forty four to twenty. A game was at home and Williams Brice over Texas A and M. A and M was fine high right and was the only unbeaten team in the SEC. That obviously is no longer the case. I was really struck. First off, South Carolina came out like a ball on fire, Yes, a ball on fire away, jumped on A and M, had a long drive, scored a touchdown like right away, right away. South Carolina was in this one to win it.
Over the course of this game, though, for them to amass two hundred and eighty six yards and three touchdowns on the ground, that I think speaks volumes about how they were able to control the line of scrimmage, and that is not something that we saw coming at least I didn't. I expected at Carolina would give them a game. I didn't expect that they would bully a really good A and M front Lenora's sellers over one hundred yards
rushing Rocket Sanders one for four rushing two touchdowns. You combine that, by the way, with what Lenora's sellers also did through the air, which was close to two fifty had two touchdowns. Didn't make the killer interception, right, didn't make that killer mistake. This is a really really interesting spot now for Texas A and M, which in effect
still controls its own destiny in the SEC. If they went out, they owned the tiebreaker over LSU, who's got a big game this week, and they beat LSU earlier this season, and I believe they would make it in over Tennessee due to their own win over Arkansas earlier in the year. Go to like the second tiebreaker or something of that nature. So and I'm still in a pretty good spot. But like we have seen elsewhere in the SEC, losing a game in this capacity, it gives
you more questions than answers about their viability longer term. Right, Truly, nobody in this conference is bulletproof and that is such a departure from where I feel like we have been over the last decade. There's always been a bulletproof team in the SEC, somebody that you can count on getting to the playoff feeling good that they're going to win a game and get into the championship. I don't know
if that's the cases here, I really don't. We have gone from a point in time where the SEC was, in some respects one of the least interesting conferences, because all too often it felt like a foregone conclusion, to where we're at now, where there is a true log jam. We have a log jam dan of five one loss teams with Georgia and A and M and Tennessee and Texas and LSU, and there are all sorts of different combinations that are possible as a result of this loss.
So I was blown away by how well South Carolina controlled that point of attack. I'm even more impressed that they were able to win this one going away in the way that they did. I at one point, you recall, thought about trying to throw some money on the live line on A and M. I was like, there's no way this is going to continue on this path. A and M is gonna find their way to call back into this thing, right They didn't. They didn't. It was a professional win by South Carolina.
Yeah, it felt going in as somebody who had happened to have a very good week picking games. I'm a big data guy, Ty, you're a little data guy. It felt like a scheduled loss for A and M. I told you I'm a low information pick low information. I'm a high information Yeah. Non better. It felt like South Carolina or excuse me, Texts A and M received specific directions don't go swimming in. There are definitely alligators lagoon and texts A and M said, I don't know. I
think the title's misleading. And then guess what the lagoon was full of. In Williams Brice, they both of their lines got beat up. They play surprisingly undisciplined football on defense, like they're using the crowd energy to try and motivate themselves. I think it was Shamar Turner is playing like not an inch out of control, but a couple feet out of control, and that the A and M defense, for as strong as they've gotten over the course of these games,
South Carolina got under their skin. Whether it was on the ground, whether it was when they got pressure that Leonoris Sellers was lofting it into the end zone. I think was Josh Simon who had the big game for South Carolina through the air and honestly beside it was one long run from was it Daniels who spelled Levon Moss for texts? A and M couldn't run the ball at all against the South Carolina front. Marcel Reid looked overwhelmed,
not fully his fault, for sure. The offensive line themselves were overwhelmed in this one.
But this was.
Texas A and M entering the lagoon and making those mistakes early on that they you just can't come back from. If South Carolina's offense with even short little dump offs, the tackling was awful for Texas A and M uncharacteristically so, and so it was just maybe it was the letdown moment after the nice win over LSU. Nice is probably under selling it. Really impressive win over LSU, the way that they came back, but it was just a tough spot.
And so I'm not down on A and M. I think that was just an impossible task, a near impossible task to ask of them going into again. Definitely Alligator Lagoon and so really really interesting conversation we had about South Carolina and what their ceiling might be when fully healthy Lenora Sells is in there and they're playing at home. They are really fun. I wish there were more to their offensive line in terms of consistency. I wish there were more in terms of the back end of that
defense in terms of consistency. But there's a lot there. There's a really solid foundation. If they can keep recruiting like this and finding those guys up front. I don't know, man, They're awfully fun.
They are fun. And look, this has been by any measure, and incredibly successful season so far. Yeah, because I recall, as is ever the case with South Carolina, at the start of the year, you look at the schedule and you say, there's no chance, right, there's no chance. I think I even said if they make it to a bowl game, there's just like no chance of them making a bowl game. They're five and three right now, they are five and three. They close out the year with Vandy, Mazoo, Wafford, and Clemson.
That's just a fun TV show, right, That's a fun stretch of the South Carolina TV season.
Three of those games are obviously tougher than the Wafford matchup. They're gonna beat Wafford, They're gonna get the six wins, They're going to go to a bowl. Yeah, what is the ceiling? We know Vandy's beatable, Vandy's plucky.
They can win all those games for sure. Where's the Clemson game?
Clemson games at Clemson.
Tough but not flying across the country All.
Metal Bowl closed out the year. Clemson's beatable. Missoo, we know Missoo's beatable. Yeah, a nine and three South Carolina if everything goes according to the plan, oh Man.
Nine and three, maybe get that tenth in a bowl game and get just an unbelievable amount of offseason juice in Columbia could be a candidate.
Shane Beemer would have to fight off Oklahoma with a stick if that happened, Just go to Oklahoma. Tennessee also struggled a little bit. If we're talking all things SEC struggled with Kentucky. Of all teams, Kentucky led ten to seven and half. Then Tennessee came storming back in the second half. They outscored Kentucky twenty one to eight. Kentucky was down five starters to injury. Then they lost Brock
Vandergriff to a hard hit. They also lost Barrion Brown during the game, so it should not be understated how banged up Kentucky is.
But and yet, well, I was gonna say, and yet Kentucky was in this one late.
They were in this one late. They had momentum. Tennessee could not stop missing field goals. They missed three field goals, including one early in the third quarter. They get the ball back, Rock vander Griff loses a fumble on the ensuing drive, sets up Tennessee for go ahead score. Suddenly, the game's fourteen to ten. From that point forward, they had all the momentum Tennessee did. Yeah, so it continues
what I think is a frustrating season for Kentucky. They're four straight week now where they failed to score points on a drive inside their opponent's five yard line. Feels a little bit like Penn State, frankly feels a little bit like USC feels like there's a lot there. Yeah, Kentucky has yet to score more than twenty points in an SEC game this season, so the offense is not
really taken. Kentucky's got a lot to sort out on the tennis seaside, though they close out with Georgia, with U tepping with Vandy and big games coming up.
Definitely.
Nico finally threw from more than two hundred yards against an SEC opponent, but.
Was not really like super decisive. Kentucky did a good job taking away the deep ball. He had a nice Nego, had a nice rapport with was A Kitzelman the tight end. Sure, he had a sensational game. Dylan Sanzman was one who
pretty much drove the train for Tennessee. I would say a continued apprehension from Nico at times that improvised well because he wasn't necessarily on time going through his progressions and hitting somebody in stride and then the pass rush would collapse the pocket, but he would, you know, scramble to pick up a third and three first down or something. But there is not that it doesn't seem that there's that comfort and confidence to just like hit a guy
up the seam in rhythm right now. Credit Kentucky, of course, But I don't know there's he's just he's taking a tick too long still and then rolling out and then hoping to find somebody during a scramble drill a little bit too often.
I believe Tennessee, Yeah, can make the SEC title game if they win out and if Bama beats tells you this weekend.
If Bama beats LSU, Tennessee winning out means wins over Georgia and Vandy anybody else on Tennessee schedule. I forget you went through it just recently.
Yeah, So if that happens, let me pull it up here quick. They would obviously have the win over George, WHI would be a really nice win, and that would knock Georgia from out in front of them right in these standings here other teams that they have beaten. They beat Alabama, that was a big one. They beat Oklahoma, which is a common opponent with some of their.
Yeah, and George and Vandy are both on the road.
Georgia Vady both in the road. They lost their one SEC game to Arkansas on the road. And that's sort of why we start looking at this and wondering, right, who has to lose to whom in order to give them an opportunity. But this is what you want if you're a Tennessee fan, you want you want to win the rest of the way, and then you want, of course, for Alabama to knock off LSU.
Yes, you want if you're a Tennessee person, you want the defensive effort to continue, and you want just a little more in terms of pop. I think I have it. Poll got on that offense, just a little more in terms of big plays, a little more in terms of opening things up on the outside, a little more of that confidence just in terms of what they have left on their schedule, what they might have moving forward. But all things considered, to just have the one loss pretty nice place to be.
The one issue that we did not discuss at all on the episode was the ACC title race. Right we talked about Miami. We talked about the Miami duke game because that was close until it wasn't late. Miami ended up winning that one, put up over fifty points, ended up winning that one going away cover the point spread. Louisville knocked off Clemson thirty three to twenty one on Saturday night and Pitt knocked off or excuse me, SMU knocked off Pitt by a forty eight to two twenty
five score. Yes, where things stand right now is both Miami and SMU undefeated in conference both five and zero. Clemson and Pitt need to win out and get some help if they want to have any opportunity to get into that ACC title game. I think the way things are shaking out right now, it is unclear to me whether or not it's going to be the ACC or the Big twelve getting two teams in. I had for a long time been in the camp that I think the ACC is going to get the two teams in.
I think Big twelve is only going to get one. I think Notre Dame's going to get in. We're obviously going to have our G five team, and then the rest are going to be split up among the Big ten and the SEC. Yes, starting to question how that's going to shake out now. I think I need to see more data. We know that the Big twelve is going to come down to the wire. I think it depends a lot on how some of these teams look
from this point forward. But let's start with the Clemson game. Yeah, as we were recording, we were looking at the score on my laptop thinking, what the hell's going on here? Yeah, what is going on here? Because Louisville had a seventeen to seven lead at half. They were up twenty six to seven after the third quarter. Clemson did try to mount a late rally, but it was too little, too late. If you look up and down this one, Dan Louisville blocked two field goals, one in the first half, one
in the second. Their defense a defense, by the way, that to I think a fair it's not unfair to say that Louisville's defense to an extent has underperformed. They didn't end this game, No.
They did not.
In this game. They had plenty of opportunities to showcase how good they are. They had a really big fourth down stop late in the third quarter. Clemson went for it, I think from their own thirty three yard line something like that. They did not get it. They stopped film off up up the middle. This was a nice showing for Louisville. I don't know if it poortends anything for the remainder of Louisville's season, where they go in the
bowl season, what it looks like moving forward. But there were individual moments in this game, not just on defense, but Tyler Schuck sort of flying through the air doing his summer assaulting Superman into the end zone to emphatically score and give Louisville a little bit more of a lead. This was a loss for Clemson that really caught me off guard. I've watched a lot of Louisville this season. I genuinely did not see this one coming.
It was the high leverage moments and the line play, especially the defense, But honestly, I thought the offensive game was called a little bit weird. Certainly when you look at the two point conversion versus extra point decisions that Dabo was making late where he pointed to not going down eleven because the card said to kick two extra points and hope for at least one on sidekick.
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I'm just not terribly bright.
And they attempted two of them. They attempted two of them, Louisville recovered both.
Yeah, I just don't think the percentages are terribly in Clemson's favor for that type of plan. But I don't know. It just seemed questionable to me. But everything was questionable about Clemson. Their defensive performance was not good. They got pushed around a ton, especially up front. Defensive line was
on skates. Neither of these quarterbacks were particularly great and consistent downfield through the air, Louisville just made better decisions and executed in big moments in a way that Clemson simply couldn't. And so I guess the best possible thing now for the ACC would be I mean, because it's what SMU and Miami aren't kind of a collision course, yep.
So in regard to your saying you know who's going to get two teams in the ACC are Big twelve, I guess the worst thing would be for BYU to run the table and give somebody a second or third loss in the conference championship game. So you have one BYU team standing apart and then an easily dismissable second or third team whatever within the Big twelve, whereas we could just have a conference undefeated SMU with a loss
to BYU. So that's an interesting conversation to have down the line when there's a head to head with SMU and BYU, if they're being pitted against each other in terms of playoff selection, and a Miami team that has
been good but inconsistent and undefeated. Right, So Pitt certainly did not look to be of playoff caliber or of conference championship caliber given their performance against that SEMU, which we can get to and we talked about the Miami game already that they had you know, long dry spell, but did what very good teams do and pull it out and improve over the course of the game. I I don't know if I want to see Clemson again in this ACC championship game.
Well, I don't think you're gonna. I mean, Clemson would need to run the table, would need some help to have any shot of getting into that title game. Their ability to do so is limited because they close out with Roague games against Virginia Tech and Pitt the Citadel and then a non conference game while the Citadel's non conference, but a Citadel another non conference game the pull Metal Ball.
As we mentioned earlier against South Carolina, there are just not enough teams above them in the standings on this schedule, so they're going to need help from the outside. They've got a big one against Pitt that will be meaningful for both of those teams I think, to decide in effect the third place finisher in the ACC regular season.
But as things stand right now, with any kind of luck, right if Miami, if SMU find their way through this thing without hitting a snag, they're going to be unbeaten, and they're going to be playing for the a SEC title game now. Between by Miami and SMU, Miami definitely has more in their path that I think could trip them up. I think it looks pretty clear for SME.
This is one of the reasons why I like them to win the conference, or to at least be in contention to win the conference at the start of the year. The schedule sets up real nice. I think it's harder from Miami this point forward. People who listened to this show know I'm on record saying that one of these games is going to jump up and bite it me. It could be this week, could be this week. We'll
talk about that on Thursday. The other one, though, if we're talking about SMU, so, it was Louisville thirty three Clemson twenty one. SMU beat Pitt forty eight to twenty five. They led thirty one to three at half. They outscored Pit twenty four to zip in the second quarter. Pitt was down thirty four to three before they scored their first touchdown in this game. Damn So. This was a dominant effort from SMU. Of Pitt's four hundred and fifty three yards They had three hundred of them after half,
when they were already down four scores. This was a game where pitt was uncharacteristically bad at tackling, at least in the early part of this game. They had some early tackling miss apps that led to big plays for SMU. That is what I think sprung them and gave them that momentum. Also, speaking of professional wins, Kevin Jennings bounce
back effort. Yeah, absolutely, bounce back effort on horrible outing a week ago looked really solid, really solid, big game for Brishard Smith, my guy, you know, I love.
Them, dude, Roderick Daniels all over the place.
SMU rose to the moment in this game, and it was not a matchup that got a ton of national attention for whatever reason.
MM.
But here we are now going into week eleven, looking at the standing, it's clear as day it's there for U. Say, it was there for the winner of this game to just have this march into the ACC title game. Being so SMU one looking at schedules, they've got the clearest path through. They really truly do. It's incredible.
I can't believe. September sixth BYU SMU was a game that we now look back on as having major majum major playoff implications, right, And it wasn't a blowout, No, it was. It was a crazy close game.
It leads us down a very very uncomfortable path frankly, where somebody in one of those post ranking interviews on the Tuesday Night rankings reveal shows is going to say at some point, quote SMU gets the benefit of a close loss to BYU. B Why I cannot express this enough. I did. I thought by you might win four games this year.
Yeah, four games.
I did not see this coming. So we're going to have that conversation. That game is extraordinarily meaningful. I wanted to write SMU off after they lost that game because they looked horrible. But we now have the benefit of hindsight, and.
We're talking about two teams who are brand new to Power conference football now having a result in which there are major implications in SMU playing forever in the American
and BYU most recently as an independent. But certainly you look back at some of those West Coast conferences they were in wild that that is a big success story of realignment in terms of programs who have invested and have been patient and have hired well, especially in terms of where SMU is with you know, going coach over coach over coach for so long that RHT Lashly and making a move from Preston Stone to Kevin Jennings has paid off in a big way. It's it's crazy impressive
that these two teams are in this spot. And I look, I mean Crowe, I was making fun of you for your SMU talk you season.
We have our story.
It's on me.
We all have stories. There were ones that I was way off on too, so it's yeah, I don't hold it against you. I love you like your brother. You know that.
Thank you so much time.
A couple other games here that we did not get to discuss in any great level of detail. You and I watched the edd of this Washington USC game, and to peel back the curtain a little bit, Yeah, what.
Did I tell you?
You foretold what was going to happen in this game. I mean the universe foretold it, The Universe four told it. Yeah, but you were watching this game. They were about five minutes left, and you pretty much said it to a t USC's gonna have the ball late. They're going to have an opportunity to score, They're gonna have an opportunity to win, and they're gonna find some way to blow it.
Yeah.
Sort of happened to him again, didn't it.
Yeah, of course it did. This is USC on the road. This is USC with Miller Moss making some absolutely sensational throws. This is USC leaning on the run game super effectively down the stretch. It is a Washington team who was able to play good enough defense. I think it was Carson Brunner who came up with the big, big pick when it seemed I think USC was up twenty one to twenty at the time and driving, and Washington was able to completely silence that drive and take away any
sort of momentum, and then the goal line stand. I think it was run, run, pass, run on fourth and goal from the one for a loss, and then more Lincoln Riley saying, you can just see how close we are. Anybody who's watching knows how close we are. Losing late always is not close. It becomes a certainty at a certain point if you're in a position to win a game on the road late always and are always losing. And I think I saw some stat that Eric Gentry is still leading the team in sacks and he hasn't
played in five weeks. That they just don't get to the quarterback. That I don't think.
I don't think.
Again, this is me paraphrasing. I don't believe a defensive lineman has a sack for USC this season. I think they've all come from linebackers or dbs. It's either this season or in Big Ten play or something. So as far as the defense has come in terms of tackling, in terms of getting off the field, this defensive line is very limited in terms of tangible pressure and results and improvement. It's wild that this USC team just does not get home.
Ever. Where do they go from here?
Don't know?
Man, Like, what is what is the grand plan? If you're Lincoln Riley and you have to give a power point at the end of the year to your boss and outline what the philosophy is the what the strategy is for getting this team to the next level. Right, We've already seen them try to do it on the back of incredible individual efforts I e. Kleb Williams, and certainly they have had talented skill position players at USC.
The last couple of years, that's not anything new for SC. Right, it does feel like the defense is improved this season. They're better, if nothing more, at tackling, but it still feels like they are a few ticks short of where they want to be. Is it a Miller Moss thing? Is it a play calling thing? Is it a Lincoln Riley thing? Is it too complicated to pin on just one thing? What should the strategy be? Where is it falling short?
I mean just finishing games? I mean that's generally the difference. That USC was in a position to be a disappointing Maryland team, a disappointing Michigan team, decent Minnesota team, but the game was in their grasp, and now a four and four Washington team. It's away from home, but it's high leverage moments. It's having a plan. It seems like it might be whatever it is that they are or aren't practicing in practice and just being ready to be
on the same page for these big moments. I don't know. Sometimes those excellent teams you watch them and you're like, this is second nature. Right, They've practiced this so much that they can't screw it up. And USC it was receivers getting open. It was pass protection. It was Miller Moss not being able to pull the trigger, laid on that fourth and I think it's fourth and four. Yeah, deep in Washington tear. They're just, for whatever reason, they're not ready to succeed late.
Ever, I'm curious to get your read on who impressed you this weekend. Not so much from any of the games that we have discussed here over the last half hours. So maybe going back to some of the games we talked about on Saturday. I have three in particular that I want to call out. The first is Arizona State. Yes, shout out Jonathan Pope, who sent us a tweet asking when are you guys going to talk about Arizona State.
It's not lost to me now that we now have dueling big twelve popes Jonathan and Peter Oh.
I was hoping this was going to be like your psych like psich, We're still not going to talk about ASU and set up a nice little teas there continue.
I feel compelled to talk about ASU because I was so high on Oklahoma State. Yeah, so this conversation is half what the hell is going on with Oklahoma State and half how about Arizona State? Arizona State is Tame Bowl eligible. They were a bull elder six and two. They held the ball for damn near forty minutes. They held Oklahoma State to two hundred and seventy yards, including just twenty five from Ali Gordon. This was a really nice cam scattabo.
Come on, man, scataboo. Yeah, what are we.
Talking about here? I got scat on the old doodle alerts on the list. I had to put him on the list. A great effort on the ground and through the air. He is powering this team. I like Sam Levitt, I don't know. I like Kenny Dillingham. Seems like could be a fun dude to have a drink with, you know, I is he old enough? Probably not.
I think I saw he was the first coach born in the nineties to take a team to Bowl eligibility.
Ever, ASU closes out with UCF on the road at k State home against BYU and on the road at Arizona. Here's what's interesting about that slate M no idea what to expect from UCF at this point. Now it's a winnable game. It's at home, on the road at K State. K State's be difficult. I would still see difficult. I get able.
Maybe that was a tough spot against Houston, but yes, by not not impossible, BYU.
Not impossible, tough, but not impossible. Arizona. They're going to beat Arizona. Arizona's a mess right now. Yeah, what's interesting about that slate? Though, even if they're not going ten to two, maybe the most consequential November in the Big Twelve because they've got both k State and BYU remaining. Yeah, if they were able to pull an upset in one of those two affairs, that would have real significance elsewhere
in the conference. Ash's not going to win the conference, but as you, with a shot at both of those teams is interesting and makes the Big Twelve all the more fascinating just from a TV show standpoint. So, I'm impressed in the manner in which they won this game forty two to twenty one. This was a bludgeting good for them.
This is let's be clear, though their schedule leaves a lot to be desired in terms of how we evaluate their quality. Agreed same with Indiana saying with a number of these teams, I guess he was not different in this regard. But also if they're a quality team. They'll draft off of the opportunity truck. And they have a collapsing Utah. You have a collapse in Kansas, a collapsing Oklahoma State can't lose to them, and quality teams don't. As you didn't.
They didn't win this game twenty three to twenty one at the gun. No, they won this game going away, and would I would hold that same argument up for Indiana, because there is such thing as a killer instinct. Again, a team is not necessarily only as good as it's scheduled. It's the old Boise State argument, as I've made years and years and years now. Right, the schedule does not necessarily mean you are a weaker team. It is just another data point.
And Boise would schedule to be fair to Bois, they would schedule Georgia, they would schedule again, they would schedule I think Virginia Tech was one of those teams. Maybe I'm conflating it, but Boise would go out there and try.
This is another instance, though, of a team that's just trying to get the bullligibility at this point.
Yeah, and they were decimated after the Herm Edwards thing in terms of their roster just going out and getting as many guys as they could and it's coming together. I mean, they're ahead of schedule. That's all you can say. Good on them.
I'm impressed with Houston knocking off Kansas State. They showed real resolve late, getting too late scores in order to knock off the Wildcats. That was nice for Willie Fritz. I'm also really impressed by Iowa. I mean I was.
Brendan Sullivan was my answer to your question.
Why why Brandon Sulivan? Why do he impress you?
Because he looks like a real cornerback and you don't see a lot of those in the Big ten all the time.
He was like a real quarterb Forty two to ten for Iowa.
Forty two to ten. Multiple running backs went off. Their offense looked continue to continually modern, you know, just spreading the ball around more and more, making decisions at quarterback faster and faster. Brendon Sullivan used his legs efficiently. The defense was opportunistic against a real bummer of a Wisconsin offense. If we're going to be clear, like it's very difficult to see this Wisconsin offense going anywhere significant as currently
constituted and as currently run. It's just it's such a disappointment and disjointed Wisconsin offense. It's difficult to squint and see what they're going for the next year or two. And so Iowa did what again, any quality too very good team should do against a Wisconsin team like this, went straight at them. They were varied, they finished drives, and they left no doubt.
Any other teams, any other games that you want to discuss here, We've got doodal words, We've got your reverbs from week ten that we still need to get to. I can give you a brief outline of what's to come in week eleven. Kind of a weird week, but a fun week, I think in front of us here as we get into Saturday. But anything else, Dan, any other points that you need to bring up, I.
Don't think so. It makes me look forward to week what's next week? Week eleven? Yeah, even more. I still want to go back and watch a couple more games that I that I missed out on before the preview show this week. But no, I think I think that's just about it. I mean I sort of underlined ole miss performance against Arkansas as being of top ten twelve quality nationally and who knows the way it shakes out with the end of the SEC schedule. Weird things have happened.
Even though you've claimed ole Miss has done though.
Well, they're done so with respect to the SEC, they're not winning the SEC. They get a win over Georgia, they're back in the playoff conversation.
Yeah, they have to be.
They have to be. They have to be back in that playoff conversation. But they got to be Georgia. That's the thing that you can't lose again and still be in this thing. They'd have three loss at this point, and I am very skeptical that this is the year. I feel like we say this is the year every year for ole Miss, and so as I look at that matchup, not to give the game away too much, there are real issues I have with their ability to go toe to toe with Georgia.
I mean, they have a path rush and Carson Beck gets very sloppy and unhappy and skittish with the pass rush.
Did against Florida. He did against Florida.
And it's Georgia's second straight game away from home.
I get it.
I'm just I'm skeptical, and we'll find out at three thirty Eastern on Saturday. I am skeptical, but to that point, they're not done. So not done.
So so they're not done. So let's do dudes. Let's do dudes. I've got Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech Dan thirteen tackles, nine solo, two pass breakups, two sacks, two tackles for lost, big day or Jacob Yeah? Isaac Brown? Do you go ahead? No?
Keep going?
Isaac Brown from Louisville had a big game on the ground. Jordan Noys from Colorado State kicked a sixty yard field goal. This is a thing. Now is a thing. Dylan Rizzik had a great game for UCF. Is the backup to the backup better than the starter. Who's to say, Rockets Sanders or South Carolina campskataboo. There he is there he is twenty three for one to fifty three on the ground and a touchdown, four for one twenty one and
two touchdowns through the air. Jordan Watkins from Ole Miss. Somehow we miss this stat line record center eight catches, two hundred and fifty four yards and five touchdowns. Mike out Wide and of course Mari and Hampton, who we did mention on the abbreviated Saturday recap that we did went off against Florida State, anybody else, anybody else that I missed.
Bryceon Washington for Baylor ran for I think right around two hundred yards anytime you can had a last second win. I think the kicker was hoisted after Baylor was able to get that win over TOCU. But Bryson Washington was a major major reason. Treyshawn Holden stepped up for Oregon against Michigan. Though the game we were watching, Tes Johnson leaves the game I think on the first drive and
Trey Shawn Holden downfield against again beleaguered Michigan secondary. But he stepped up really nicely in this game against Michigan, and you know, come back coming back nicely from the pretty dumb awful incident against Ohio State, so they're gonna need him, and he stepped up as always.
We put the call out on social media later in the day every college football Saturday to get your dude suggestions, your dude nominations. There were many other awesome individual performances, but these are just a few of our favorites.
Dan.
Yes, we also got a bunch of calls from the verballer hood at eight five to five verbal three. We did not have a chance to play those because we did not have the ideal audio setup on Saturday night, But our guys, Shay dutifully went back through.
Did you say dutifully?
Dutifully?
Yeah, I was obviously that's a word. But I thought you were gonna go with dude duty full Ley. I know, I know, I was hoping that was intentional.
Week ten reverbs have listen.
Damn Hi, I hate college football. Hey boys, This is Adam from Minnesota.
This is Brian from Virginia. Hey guys, it's Ween calling from our local community, Craft Fair, and I just have one question for you. Did Vanderbilt just win the Iron Bowl?
I just watched elite loser he Freeze use one of our final two timeouts while there was two minutes one second on the clock in the fourth quarter. Let me say that again, while we were losing, we use a time out to save one second.
I graduated from Purdue, I married into an Auburn family, and my.
Team's just lost to Nerds?
Is it basketball season?
Watching Ryan Day and James Franklin out Day and out Franklin themselves should only be done under the heavy influence of drugs from Atlanta, Georgia calling but nine Windiana. Look we got boys, coach to Olyncian.
This is Jeff from me Flanston.
I'm currently walking back to my car from the stadium early. The only joy I can find in my pain is the fact that Michigan is also losing. Go Green.
We may have lost the game, but let's not worry about those details.
It's all about the friends you make along the way.
Great to see you guys in sunny Annaba. Theme of your defending national champions at least for a little while longer.
If winning is a skill, Brent probably could really use some practice.
And the words of the great Pete Webber, who do you think you are?
I am youcon baby?
Going bowling?
Let's go commencing big twelve kind of Ball's they shunning racom tack? Hey, dan Ty, is it time for kids to talk to their parents about Nebraska football?
How they may never see them playing a bowl again? Skym rolled the boat. This team could be eight and one if they didn't show against UNC and if they didn't get jobbed against Michigan. But you know what would it could have should have rose before nos go gos Hey.
It's Jack from Louisville.
I have a boss who's a big Clemson fan, and we killed them tonight because our defense set up.
Isaac Ground is a beast and my boss is a deeply bad person.
Jobsablog, dan Ty, It's Halloween and guess who just got murdered.
Ulane with forty two minutes of possession. Visceraates Charlotte Rowaves very good. Thank you, Shay, Thank you for baller hood, for those wonderful messages. We did meet Jimmy and Ann Arbor, who oh yeah, give us a call out there did not talk at all like that in person, I would add, now.
And maybe there are two Jimmies.
Maybe.
Uh.
The one that we met had a very normal sounding voice.
Yes.
Uh.
By the way, a couple like weird results elsewhere. Rice beat Navy like cleanly fired their coach and beat Navy by a couple touchdowns.
Yeah, that was one of my terrible bets of the weekend. I also had South Alabama covering the six when I looked at the when I looked at the scoreboard before we hit record on Saturday, they were up big. And then I woke up the next morning and looked to see why didn't they cash my bet? And I realized they lost? Right, that wasn't good. That was a bit of a weird result, or at least a weird finish.
Slow ish start for Ashton genty but got going and led the way for Boise. That was Friday night, slow but eventual win for Army over air Force, which good to file away. You're gonna have those games. There's a lot of emotion obviously tied up in Army Air Force. Good good on them. How about Colorado State? Do you have a sense for what Colorado State is doing this year?
Not a great sense.
Okay, you're mister tiebreaker, You're mister standing. All of these things are true. Colorado State hasn't lost a game in the Mountain West. Look at the standings. It's not a slam dunk that it's gonna be UNLV Boise State, Colorado State, I believe, will technically play five non conference games because Oregon State technically is not a Mountain West team.
Right.
Colorado State has beaten precisely nobody in terms of how good these teams are. But I think that's they're either four or five and oh within the Mountain West.
Right now, they're four and oh. Right now, yeah, they are four and oh.
Their schedule gets a little bit more difficult a little bit. I mean they have left.
They've got Wyoming, who's two and seven.
Okay, Wyomy is not good.
They're on the road at Fresno, who is the best remaining school, right.
That's the team that's more difficult. But Fresno just lost two They hung with Hawaii.
Right and Utah State, which Utah State does have statistically speaking, the worst defense in college football right now.
Yeah, Colorado State, they've lost to Oregon State. They got destroyed by Texas. I don't know if they've lost anything that. Yeah, they've lost a third game as well, Colorado, Oh, Colorado, of course. But in the Mountain West, they've snuck by with single digit wins against Air Force San Jose State and then beat Nevada by seventeen, beat New Mexico by eleven, beat UTEP non conference by ten. Like they're just they're not crazy impressive, but they're they're painting the corners tie.
The Rams are in an interesting weird position to play in a postseason game right now.
Yeah, and Boise, for what it's worth, has Nevada road games against San Jose State and Wyoming. Then they close out the year non conference against Oregon State. So things are setting up really well for boise to make a run at the Mountain West, for Boise State to finish the season one lost, just that one loss being the close one against Oregon right now projected to be at least a fourteen point victor in each of their remaining games,
So things definitely set on a nice course. Let's say to put Boise State in that G five playoff spot.
And look there, this team is not going to make the playoff because they did lose to Boise State. Wazoo is probably going to finish the year eleven and one, Yeah, and probably not be in a place of consequence because they just dumb bad luck. It's pretty great what we're seeing around this spar right now. Here's what we're looking at for Week eleven. I mentioned it's kind of a weird week.
Yeah, there are four big games that I pulled out. The four that jumped to mind are Georgia at Old Miss, Alabama at LSU. Those I think are obvious I mentioned earlier BYU at Utah obviously the Holy War. There's a lot riding on that for BYU. Also, Colorado at Texas Tech suddenly has a lot more meaning attached to it because Colorado's there, Colorad's got one loss in the Big Twelve, and if things break accordingly, they could find themselves playing
for the conference. Those are I think the most significant with respect to standings immediate future. But there are a bunch of other interesting games. Florida at Texas interesting.
Ah, not anymore ish because of Djail Lagway.
But yeah, at least interesting hypothetically two big brands. Miami minus eleven at Georgia Tech. Is this one of those games where Miami trips up West Virginia at Cincinnati since he a four point home favorite. We've got Clemson at Virginia Tech. We've got Michigan at Indiana. Indiana favored by fourteen points against Michigan.
You saw that.
Yeah, I Alwa stayed at Kansas. This was not a game that I really pulled out thinking it was going to be all that competitive given the way Kansas started the season. But Kansas is slowly kind of like a nuisance. Yeah, I Alwa stayed on the road. Who knows. South Carolina at Vandy suddenly a very interesting matchup one that I think has real consequence for the aforementioned SEC tie break?
What about what about Mississippi State Tennessee in a letdown look ahead spot Mississippi State Tennessee.
Yeah, also got Florida State Notre Dame Washington at Penn State. This is the proper wideout game. I guess eight o'clock on Peacock, Maryland at your Oregon Ducks. You see f at Arizona State. Let's keep the train rolling here with Arizona State.
Baby, can't wait.
A bunch of really interesting matchups this week. Hope to have you there with us on Thursday when we preview all of the games. Make sure you hit follow or subscribe. Also check out, of course for ballers dot com. That's where you can go to get in on the action, not just to vote in the Verballer Top twelve poll every week, but take part in our play the Run the Board game where we pick. Last week, I think we picked sixteen games against the spread. This week we
want to have sixteen games. We're going to introduce some player props as well, but if you are looking to play for fabulous prizes, we introduce a new one every week, so go to verbowlers dot com or play rund theboard dot com for a little bit more information on that.
I agree, by the way, just to file away, ty, because we do this generally on the Tuesday show with the in week games. Yeah, the return of Tuesday Wednesday Action. Yes, Yes, we have Iowa traveling to La to play Ucla Friday night eight pm, well APM Central, nine pm Eastern, and my math tells me six pm local. And I'm going
to tell you something. If you're thinking that, even if UCLA is having kind of a resurgencies and wins over Nebraska and Rutgers, if you think anybody is getting to Pasadena on a Friday night at six pm, you are out of your mind. It's going to be a very strange looking Rose Bowl for Iowa, Ucla, Rice, Memphis all of a sudden has a little bit of juice. I don't know. Memphis lost to Utsa, Calwake Forests to four
and four. Maybe that gets a little bit weird. App State Coastal four and four, and even like the Mac Games right now, everybody's like kind of evenly matched up. It should be a nice, hopefully week of distraction for everybody.
We'll take it with college football. Yeah, let's take it. Let's leave it there. Dan, Thank you one, thank you all for your patience. You know it took us a little bit more elbow grease to get all of these recaps out there to talk through what transpired in week ten. Next episode, we start looking forward into week eleven. These last couple weeks are gonna be nuts, so buckle up, get ready for what amounts to a great close of the season. We'll be back on Thursday. We're not just
going to preview games. We'll react to the playoff rankings. We'll do the whole thing. For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for my self, Tie Hiled Bred, thanks again for downloading, listening, supporting. We'll talk to Elsey. Stay solid, peace,