# BIG TEN TEAM PREVIEWS: Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, Iowa, Washington, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Rutgers & Purdue | College Football

An episode of [The Solid Verbal College Football Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/270037732), 4 Aug 2026, 1 h 30 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/21437ee1-47d9-4b16-8696-b30d011a2c26/df9a3de1-49c1-4b0c-897f-b49b014d2b85/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=51c7e0eb-425c-4d93-b5a8-b30d011a2c46

In this college football podcast episode, we continue our three-part 2026 Big Ten preview with a closer look at nine teams, beginning with the three programs most likely to determine the conference championship. Oregon has assembled another loaded roster, but is this finally the year Dan Lanning’s program gets over the hump? Can Ohio State maintain its defensive standard while building a new offensive identity under Arthur Smith? And how successfully can defending national champion Indiana reload around Josh Hoover and a wave of transfer portal additions? We make our Big Ten championship predictions and examine the questions that could separate Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana once the College Football Playoff race begins. Then we turn toward the conference’s crowded middle. Is Iowa’s favorable schedule enough to overcome another uncertain quarterback situation? Can Washington’s promising but unproven roster deliver against better competition? And what happens when Nebraska pairs the unpredictable Anthony Colandrea with Dana Holgorsen? We also discuss the stakes surrounding Luke Fickell at Wisconsin, Greg Schiano’s attempt to rebuild the Rutgers defense and Purdue’s difficult path toward meaningful progress. Plus: a spirited disagreement over Iowa, a possible resurgences for the RVO offense, suspicious Rutgers sandwich spots, the official installation of Ty as Chief Colandrea Officer, and more. Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Solid verbal hull.
[0:05] Speaker 2: That for me, I'm a man, I'm forty.
[0:08] Speaker 1: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
[0:10] Speaker 1: be happy.
[0:10] Speaker 2: You want to be happy for day? Edith State?
[0:13] Speaker 1: Is that?
[0:13] Speaker 3: Whoo whoo?
[0:14] Speaker 1: And no, Dan and Tie Den Rubstee, welcome back. Today
[0:20] Speaker 1: is big ten part dum.
[0:25] Speaker 3: We've got Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, Washington, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Rutgers,
[0:33] Speaker 3: and Purdue on the menu for today.
[0:36] Speaker 1: Good sir, welcome back. How are you? I'm good.
[0:39] Speaker 2: There's a lot of meat on this big ten bone today,
[0:41] Speaker 2: is there?
[0:41] Speaker 3: Not?
[0:42] Speaker 1: There is? There is very meety today, very meaty.
[0:45] Speaker 2: All I ask is because the episode in front of
[0:51] Speaker 2: us has a number of teams that a lot of
[0:54] Speaker 2: people are going to have a lot of opinions about August, September, October,
[0:58] Speaker 2: November are your favorite month when we'll finally know more?
[1:01] Speaker 1: December, December, that's right?
[1:03] Speaker 2: Always, do not I trust everybody listening or watching YouTube
[1:08] Speaker 2: dot com slash at Solid Verbal, do not use anything
[1:11] Speaker 2: we say against us. Should we not be fully one
[1:17] Speaker 2: hundred percent accurate and any of our very specific predictions.
[1:21] Speaker 2: Is that fair to ask?
[1:22] Speaker 3: By downloading, by playing, yes, this episode I think it
[1:28] Speaker 3: means people just sign off on the waiver. Yeah, that
[1:33] Speaker 3: you just described, you can't use it against us. I'm sorry, guys,
[1:37] Speaker 3: find another show if you want to go that route.
[1:39] Speaker 3: But we're we're all in the circle of trust. Now.
[1:43] Speaker 2: Tie is doing his best. I'm not sure I am,
[1:46] Speaker 2: but Ty is definitely doing his best. So I'm very
[1:49] Speaker 2: excited for this episode. We I got a lot of opinions,
[1:51] Speaker 2: We got a lot of again, a lot of meat
[1:53] Speaker 2: on this big ten bone.
[1:54] Speaker 1: I don't even know if I'm trying my best on
[1:57] Speaker 1: this episode.
[1:57] Speaker 3: With respect to that, because I was prepared to lead
[2:00] Speaker 3: off this episode by announcing I think a rather significant promotion. Oh,
[2:08] Speaker 3: I think this might be the first time I'm talking
[2:10] Speaker 3: about this.
[2:11] Speaker 1: I'm ready.
[2:12] Speaker 3: You know our little company here, Sliverbal Media. As of today,
[2:16] Speaker 3: I've officially been promoted to Chief Calandria Officer.
[2:20] Speaker 2: Dan Oh nice CCO.
[2:22] Speaker 1: I'm the CEO now, Yes?
[2:24] Speaker 2: Was it somebody else before? Are you replacing somebody else
[2:28] Speaker 2: that I didn't know about, some somebody in accounting or something.
[2:31] Speaker 1: I think I've been.
[2:32] Speaker 3: Informally the CEO for the last couple of years, but
[2:35] Speaker 3: now we made it, we made it official.
[2:36] Speaker 1: More of a corporate thing. For anyone interested at home,
[2:39] Speaker 1: Big Tony C.
[2:40] Speaker 3: Sure, as I said, we got nine teams. Today's a
[2:44] Speaker 3: big conference. Go back and listen to part one if
[2:47] Speaker 3: you are at all interested in how we stack these
[2:50] Speaker 3: teams up against one another Part one, Dan, how would
[2:54] Speaker 3: you know? We got some questions about Part one? Yeah,
[2:56] Speaker 3: how do you explain Part one to the layman out there?
[2:59] Speaker 3: Maybe just diving in and checking out the verbal for
[3:02] Speaker 3: the first time.
[3:03] Speaker 2: Part one is our ten twenty thousand, thirty five thousand
[3:06] Speaker 2: foot view, although we have I think pretty advanced telescopes
[3:10] Speaker 2: from that plane, from that that weather balloon, wherever we're
[3:14] Speaker 2: looking down from. And so, yeah, it's what's new with
[3:18] Speaker 2: the conference, what's new with teams, what schedules are looking like,
[3:22] Speaker 2: who misses whom, new players coming in of note across
[3:26] Speaker 2: new coaches coming in across the across the conference, and
[3:31] Speaker 2: which teams seem to be intriguing to us?
[3:34] Speaker 1: And why?
[3:35] Speaker 2: I mean that episode did like what an hour forty
[3:38] Speaker 2: five or so, so eighteen teams, A lot of thoughts,
[3:42] Speaker 2: even though we kind of went into every team and
[3:44] Speaker 2: our thoughts about every team. This, I hope is the
[3:48] Speaker 2: first part of a more granular look at each team
[3:51] Speaker 2: about who is scratching our specific Wisconsin itches. Also, if
[3:57] Speaker 2: you have a Wisconsin itch, there are over the counter remedies, right,
[4:02] Speaker 2: but I suggest you go see a physician to see
[4:05] Speaker 2: to get you know, maybe something stronger. But yeah, you
[4:07] Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, Ty, We're going a little bit
[4:09] Speaker 2: more specific with these programs. Our thoughts, our hopes, our
[4:13] Speaker 2: dreams are concerns.
[4:15] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[4:15] Speaker 3: Part one, we rank them according to tears, which teams
[4:18] Speaker 3: we like, which schedules we like, how we stack them.
[4:21] Speaker 1: Up on today's episode, and.
[4:24] Speaker 3: The one to follow Part two and three. As you said,
[4:27] Speaker 3: we dive into each of these eighteen teams, and we
[4:30] Speaker 3: start with half of the conference today. We purposely structured
[4:36] Speaker 3: this episode so that we could talk about Ohio, State, Oregon,
[4:40] Speaker 3: and Indiana side by side by side. Perceived favorites, Yeah,
[4:46] Speaker 3: the three presumed favorites in the conference. And the reason
[4:48] Speaker 3: that we did that, notably is because if you go
[4:51] Speaker 3: back and listen to part one, we didn't give a prediction.
[4:55] Speaker 3: We didn't give a prediction for what we thought the
[4:57] Speaker 3: conference title game was going to be. We didn't give
[4:58] Speaker 3: you a prediction for who.
[4:59] Speaker 1: We thought was going to win the conference today.
[5:02] Speaker 3: I thought could be a better opportunity to do that, because,
[5:05] Speaker 3: as you said, it's gonna be a little.
[5:06] Speaker 1: Bit more granular.
[5:06] Speaker 3: We're going to zoom in a little bit more, going
[5:08] Speaker 3: to talk about these three teams. Maybe there will be
[5:11] Speaker 3: other teams that we want to put in that conference
[5:13] Speaker 3: title game. If you feel differently, if you want to
[5:16] Speaker 3: go that route, for sure, let us know soliverbal at
[5:18] Speaker 3: gmail dot com. Of course, after you hit follow or subscribe,
[5:21] Speaker 3: we'd love to have you with us here in the
[5:22] Speaker 3: fort Baller heard the full way through. But why don't
[5:27] Speaker 3: we start with Indiana? Dan, We've gotten great to this
[5:30] Speaker 3: habit of starting with the conference champion, in this case
[5:33] Speaker 3: the national champion Indiana Hoosiers, which still kind of feels
[5:37] Speaker 3: unnatural to say, but nonetheless, here we are. They project
[5:42] Speaker 3: fifth in Bill Connolly's sp plus Kurt Signetti brings back
[5:47] Speaker 3: same coordinators at a top ten portal class. It is
[5:51] Speaker 3: not really a question at this point as to whether
[5:54] Speaker 3: or not this is a real thing. We're not asking
[5:57] Speaker 3: the same questions about Indiana that we have two years ago.
[6:01] Speaker 3: I think now the question is can the infrastructure that
[6:05] Speaker 3: he has built up in a very short period of
[6:07] Speaker 3: time absorb the loss of someone like Fernanda Mendoza and
[6:10] Speaker 3: frankly stars that they had at every position, which I
[6:13] Speaker 3: think is how he set it up on the last episode.
[6:15] Speaker 3: So sixteen to zero a pretty good second season for
[6:20] Speaker 3: Kurt Signetti. They ripped their way through the playoffs, beat
[6:23] Speaker 3: three marquee opponents, and now here we are in the
[6:26] Speaker 3: heels of all that boundless optimism I would say about
[6:29] Speaker 3: Indiana just in terms of words headed under.
[6:32] Speaker 1: Signetti, but.
[6:34] Speaker 3: Fairly significant questions about what it looks like now on
[6:38] Speaker 3: the heels of.
[6:38] Speaker 2: That agree And look at this point, it's not a
[6:42] Speaker 2: question of if Indiana can keep this up, but sort
[6:47] Speaker 2: of on the margins, what do they look like as
[6:49] Speaker 2: they keep this up? Are any of those close wins
[6:53] Speaker 2: from last year? Not quite where they were last year
[6:58] Speaker 2: when they had the great player in the history of
[7:01] Speaker 2: their program in Fernando Mendoza at the helm. They also
[7:04] Speaker 2: lose I think the quarterbacks coach, right, Chandler Whitmer, is gone,
[7:09] Speaker 2: and Fernando Mendoza credited him with a good amount of development.
[7:13] Speaker 2: Obviously a ton went into Fernando Mendoza's development, not just
[7:16] Speaker 2: a quarterbacks coach, in his final season slash I think
[7:18] Speaker 2: co offensive coordinator. But yeah, The question now is if
[7:24] Speaker 2: we're all agreeing that Kurt Signetti and the job he's
[7:26] Speaker 2: done is an all time effort, it's okay. It's year three.
[7:32] Speaker 2: Things are a little bit different in terms of roster
[7:34] Speaker 2: construction and where they attacked the portal, but the continuity
[7:39] Speaker 2: is there with coordinators and a number of players who
[7:41] Speaker 2: have been big time contributors these past couple of seasons,
[7:44] Speaker 2: especially last year their national championship season. So now it
[7:48] Speaker 2: is okay with a lot more expectations, a much bigger spotlight,
[7:55] Speaker 2: a schedule that looks to be decently challenging but not
[7:58] Speaker 2: overwhelming because they don't I believe, play anybody of note
[8:01] Speaker 2: in the non conference portion of their schedule. What do
[8:04] Speaker 2: they look like in a larger fish bowl when there's
[8:08] Speaker 2: a ton of attention on Indiana and the sport and
[8:11] Speaker 2: the sort of Big ten secification of it all that
[8:15] Speaker 2: Indiana was looked at as sort of a referendum on
[8:19] Speaker 2: continued Big ten strength last season. Now the question is,
[8:24] Speaker 2: with major, major holes to fill, can we pencil Kurt
[8:29] Speaker 2: Signetti in as a coach that we can count on
[8:32] Speaker 2: to win double digit games year in and year out.
[8:35] Speaker 1: You know, three.
[8:36] Speaker 2: Quarterbacks in three years. Some of the star power on
[8:39] Speaker 2: that defense is gone. You know, what does the replacement
[8:42] Speaker 2: look like after building a national champion? We've seen it
[8:45] Speaker 2: happen successfully at a number of places. There's no reason
[8:47] Speaker 2: to think Kurt Signetti can't do it. But what does
[8:50] Speaker 2: it look like? And how quickly does it take shape?
[8:52] Speaker 3: This sort of goes back to what I said when
[8:55] Speaker 3: I introduced Indiana like five minutes ago. The question after
[9:00] Speaker 3: twenty twenty four was was that a fluke? Are they
[9:03] Speaker 3: going to come back down to earth? The question after
[9:05] Speaker 3: twenty twenty five? Obviously when the national championship you answered
[9:08] Speaker 3: a bunch of questions. But it just is really striking
[9:11] Speaker 3: to me how quickly we have moved on to from
[9:14] Speaker 3: I should say, from are they a fluke?
[9:16] Speaker 1: To okay? How do the new players fit the scheme?
[9:19] Speaker 3: Like? There's just like a lot that we panned over
[9:21] Speaker 3: there in a very short period of time in my
[9:24] Speaker 3: lifetime as a sports fan, I was trying to think
[9:27] Speaker 3: before we hit go here, is there another example of
[9:34] Speaker 3: moving that quickly from are they a fluke?
[9:36] Speaker 1: To okay? Well, how well do the players fit the scheme.
[9:38] Speaker 1: I can't think of one.
[9:40] Speaker 2: No, I think college football is just unique in the
[9:43] Speaker 2: amount of the amount you can overhaul things year to year.
[9:47] Speaker 2: The difference, and this is a sort of a broader
[9:51] Speaker 2: question or topic, is when we've had Nick Saban teams reloading,
[9:56] Speaker 2: when we've had Kirby Smart teams reloading, when we've had
[9:59] Speaker 2: you know, Pete Carroll teams reloading, they're reloading with internal dudes,
[10:05] Speaker 2: right It's guys who were the twos and threes that
[10:07] Speaker 2: were spot linebackers or number five receivers or you know,
[10:11] Speaker 2: quarterbacks and mop up duty or you know, the secondary
[10:14] Speaker 2: coming in once they're already up thirty one. It's a
[10:17] Speaker 2: little bit different when you are projecting out dudes you
[10:21] Speaker 2: haven't coached before, which is when you look at the
[10:24] Speaker 2: edges that they brought in, when you look at where
[10:26] Speaker 2: they might be in the secondary, when you look at
[10:28] Speaker 2: where they might be at number one or number two receiver.
[10:32] Speaker 2: That's the difference right now with Indiana, it's they're not
[10:36] Speaker 2: necessarily solely reloading with dudes who were just like, oh yeah, yeah,
[10:40] Speaker 2: we came in when we were down or we were
[10:42] Speaker 2: up fifty one last year in the fourth quarter. That's
[10:45] Speaker 2: at least the difference and the I think for a
[10:48] Speaker 2: lot of coaches.
[10:49] Speaker 1: I don't know.
[10:49] Speaker 2: For Kurt Signetti, they added difficulty in getting back to
[10:53] Speaker 2: the top back to back.
[10:54] Speaker 3: So, as you said, twenty twenty six has given Kurt
[10:58] Speaker 3: Signetti and Indiana a bunch of holes to play.
[11:01] Speaker 1: They plugged a pretty.
[11:02] Speaker 3: Big one QB one with Josh Hoover, who comes up
[11:05] Speaker 3: from TCU. They also have a new running back and
[11:08] Speaker 3: Turbo Richard, a great.
[11:09] Speaker 1: Name from Boston College.
[11:12] Speaker 3: They've got a new wide receiver in Nick Marsh who
[11:14] Speaker 3: comes down from Michigan State. I think the Indiana line
[11:18] Speaker 3: will again be very, very solid for the moment. Center
[11:23] Speaker 3: is a little bit up in the air. I know
[11:24] Speaker 3: how you feel about center for the moment. It's more
[11:27] Speaker 3: a question of who is playing which role. But among
[11:30] Speaker 3: the beef that they have up front.
[11:32] Speaker 1: They're in good shape. I say quality, I say.
[11:34] Speaker 3: They're in good shape. So I'm not worried about that
[11:37] Speaker 3: aspect of things. I think the risk though for college
[11:40] Speaker 3: football fans is assuming that Indiana must certainly be worse
[11:45] Speaker 3: because of everything that they lost from a year ago.
[11:49] Speaker 3: Just one man's opinion here. I don't think they're going
[11:52] Speaker 3: to be sixteen to zero again. But if it's a
[11:55] Speaker 3: step back at all, it's very marginal, very marginal. This
[12:00] Speaker 3: team is built in a very similar way as it
[12:03] Speaker 3: was last season. I am especially interested in the passing game.
[12:08] Speaker 3: I think the passing game is going to be damn
[12:10] Speaker 3: dangerous this year. I love their receivers. I love that
[12:13] Speaker 3: they got Nick Marsh. Notre Dame won in Nick Marsh.
[12:15] Speaker 3: He didn't even visit Notre Dame. He went to Indiana
[12:17] Speaker 3: and just committed kind of right away. He's a physically
[12:21] Speaker 3: imposing receiver. He's not a burner, but he is quick.
[12:25] Speaker 3: I think he's sort of like their high volume guy,
[12:28] Speaker 3: maybe the trusted hand that Josh Hoover is going to
[12:30] Speaker 3: have out wide. The guy I really like is Charlie Becker.
[12:34] Speaker 3: I think Charlie Becker out wide is going to scare
[12:36] Speaker 3: the crap out of teams. Remember this is a guy
[12:38] Speaker 3: who only had six catches through the first eight games
[12:41] Speaker 3: of last season, but then came on late sort of
[12:44] Speaker 3: emerged as like a bona fide deep threat. I think
[12:47] Speaker 3: he is going to give teams fits. And I also
[12:50] Speaker 3: think that Omar Cooper Junior's slot role, though it isn't
[12:53] Speaker 3: fully defined, Like there's a guy Tyler Morris who had
[12:56] Speaker 3: a really good spring. There are some other names that
[12:58] Speaker 3: could slot in there. But if you were wondering, if
[13:01] Speaker 3: you were hoping that maybe Indiana would take a step
[13:03] Speaker 3: back on that front, I don't think that's going to happen,
[13:05] Speaker 3: at least not in the passing game. There is a
[13:08] Speaker 3: question about Josh Hoover and some of his Let's say,
[13:12] Speaker 3: I don't know, a willingness to turn the ball over or.
[13:15] Speaker 1: Take unnecessary chances.
[13:17] Speaker 3: Sure take chances, right, it's sort of well known territory
[13:20] Speaker 3: at this point.
[13:21] Speaker 1: Thirty one starts forty two turnovers.
[13:23] Speaker 3: I just really like the way that they have surrounded
[13:26] Speaker 3: him with what I think is a good line to me,
[13:30] Speaker 3: to my eye, looks like it's going to be a
[13:31] Speaker 3: very good receiver room, a deep receiver room.
[13:34] Speaker 1: And if they can hit on these running.
[13:36] Speaker 3: Backs and provide a little bit more balance, suddenly Josh
[13:40] Speaker 3: Hoover is not on TCU or is having to go
[13:42] Speaker 3: out there and play some hero ball in order to win.
[13:45] Speaker 3: Suddenly he's got a much better defense that is helping
[13:48] Speaker 3: support the effort as well. So provided all these things work,
[13:53] Speaker 3: even if they don't work as well as they did
[13:54] Speaker 3: a year ago. If they just work as well as
[13:56] Speaker 3: it appears that they will on paper, I think they're
[13:59] Speaker 3: going to be just fine. We think that this is
[14:00] Speaker 3: like a situation we're going to see a massive step back.
[14:04] Speaker 2: No, I don't think there's a massive step back at all.
[14:07] Speaker 2: A couple questions. If he's turning the ball over against
[14:10] Speaker 2: a big twelve schedule, I'll due respect to the Big twelve,
[14:13] Speaker 2: throwing into some of the defenses that seem to be
[14:15] Speaker 2: more talented. And if he's in the playoff, which I
[14:18] Speaker 2: suspect Indiana will be in the playoff, it's a different animal,
[14:22] Speaker 2: right that. If he's a little bit too careless, I
[14:25] Speaker 2: imagine he's going to be less careless this season.
[14:27] Speaker 1: I think he's going to get better coaching. I think
[14:29] Speaker 1: the system.
[14:29] Speaker 2: I mean, he had good coaching at TCU, was a
[14:31] Speaker 2: good quarterback at TCU, but I think maybe it's going
[14:34] Speaker 2: to be more specific and he'll be put in a
[14:36] Speaker 2: better position to make smart choices.
[14:38] Speaker 3: It's also going to be more balanced. And I pulled
[14:40] Speaker 3: this that out just because I was curious, but just
[14:42] Speaker 3: for context. Josh Hoover had four hundred and thirteen passing
[14:46] Speaker 3: attempts last season in twelve games. That's thirty four more
[14:51] Speaker 3: than Fernando Mendoza had in sixteen games. So it was
[14:55] Speaker 3: certainly an offense at TCU that relied a lot more
[14:58] Speaker 3: on the arm of Josh than what we saw at
[15:01] Speaker 3: Indiana with Fernanda Mendoza, which was a lot more balanced,
[15:04] Speaker 3: which I think, you know, if you asked Kurt Signette,
[15:07] Speaker 3: if you give him truth serum, what's your offense? He
[15:09] Speaker 3: still wants to try and build it around the rushing
[15:11] Speaker 3: attack this year again, Turbo Richard Kobe Martin will be
[15:15] Speaker 3: back again for Indiana, So I think they've got names
[15:17] Speaker 3: up and certainly along the line that will give them
[15:21] Speaker 3: a push in the ground or on the ground as well.
[15:23] Speaker 3: I feel pretty good about the balance of this offense
[15:26] Speaker 3: and what it could mean for Josh Uber.
[15:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Charlie Becker and Nick marsh is a
[15:29] Speaker 2: good case be made that they have two number one receivers,
[15:32] Speaker 2: so he'll be put in a position to succeed, especially
[15:35] Speaker 2: going downfield and winning some of those fifty to fifty balls.
[15:38] Speaker 2: I'm curious about the Riley Noakowski thing of him not
[15:41] Speaker 2: being there right that where they are at tight end.
[15:44] Speaker 2: He was sort of an unspoken or an unheralded glue
[15:48] Speaker 2: type player for this Indiana team last year. Tight end
[15:51] Speaker 2: h back a little fullback type look, and he was
[15:54] Speaker 2: a great safety valve for Fernando Mendoza when he needed it.
[15:57] Speaker 2: And so I just I wonder where they're going to
[16:00] Speaker 2: be without and he was maybe a six seventh year
[16:03] Speaker 2: type player last year. The Wisconsin transfer, they're not as
[16:06] Speaker 2: old on either side of the ball now. Obviously, Josh
[16:09] Speaker 2: Houver has started a lot of college football games at
[16:11] Speaker 2: this point, as has Nick Marsh. Charlie Becker was a
[16:14] Speaker 2: sensation the back half of last year. Turbo Richard has
[16:17] Speaker 2: played a lot, been a couple different places. The offensive
[16:19] Speaker 2: line has decent age to it, but it's not the
[16:23] Speaker 2: average age out of this world like Indiana was last
[16:26] Speaker 2: year on both sides of the ball. So I do
[16:29] Speaker 2: just I think it's fair to expect a little bit
[16:32] Speaker 2: of youthful inconsistencies, especially on offense transitioning away from again,
[16:41] Speaker 2: the Mendoza standard is crazy to approach or meet, but
[16:46] Speaker 2: we can see it at times from Josh Hoover.
[16:49] Speaker 1: He is not new to this sport. Yeah, no, no, I
[16:51] Speaker 1: like Josh Houver a lot.
[16:52] Speaker 3: Josh Hoover won or go to Indiana originally, by the way,
[16:55] Speaker 3: I'm glad that he finally ends up there and we
[16:57] Speaker 3: can see what he can do.
[16:58] Speaker 1: What do you think about the defense? How do we
[17:00] Speaker 1: feel about defense?
[17:01] Speaker 3: Because I look at this and I say, all right,
[17:04] Speaker 3: we know the deal with Brian Haynes, right, He's he
[17:08] Speaker 3: builds a defense that is heavy on disguising its fronts.
[17:13] Speaker 3: It is I think, overly emphatic about how much they communicate.
[17:18] Speaker 3: Last year's team that was sort of their charm. Their
[17:21] Speaker 3: charm was how well they communicated, how well they worked
[17:24] Speaker 3: after the snap, And so I guess as there are
[17:27] Speaker 3: new players now integrated into that side of things, I
[17:31] Speaker 3: like that the schedule gives them a little bit of
[17:33] Speaker 3: runway to get moving, shake off some of the rust,
[17:38] Speaker 3: get things settled in before you really get to know
[17:41] Speaker 3: the meat of the schedule. I am going to stick
[17:43] Speaker 3: my neck out a little bit though, because I think
[17:45] Speaker 3: Indiana is going to be gettable through the year.
[17:47] Speaker 1: Okay, Like I have some questions.
[17:49] Speaker 3: About what they look like on the back half of
[17:51] Speaker 3: that defense. I have some questions about what the pass
[17:53] Speaker 3: rush looks like.
[17:55] Speaker 1: This year.
[17:56] Speaker 3: This is not to say that they're going to be
[17:58] Speaker 3: a bad defense, that it's going to be a glaring hole.
[18:01] Speaker 3: It's probably still a top ten caliber defense at backfield.
[18:05] Speaker 1: But there are matchups on the schedule that.
[18:06] Speaker 3: I don't like, you know, like I don't like the
[18:09] Speaker 3: matchup at all against Ohio State. I don't like them
[18:12] Speaker 3: going to Michigan a week after they host Ohio State.
[18:16] Speaker 3: I don't like them going to Washington a week after
[18:19] Speaker 3: hosting USC.
[18:20] Speaker 1: I think you could talk me into being wary of
[18:22] Speaker 1: a road game at Nebraska Dan. Yeah.
[18:24] Speaker 2: By the way, those first three teams, Ohio State, USC,
[18:27] Speaker 2: Washington all built pretty nicely on the offensive line. They
[18:31] Speaker 2: are again not to say Indiana can't defeat them up
[18:34] Speaker 2: front like they did a ton of teams last year,
[18:37] Speaker 2: but those are strengths of those three teams, the experience
[18:41] Speaker 2: and quality along the USC, Washington, and Ohio State offensive lines.
[18:46] Speaker 2: And they obviously did see the Ohio State offensive line
[18:48] Speaker 2: last year with some other players for Indiana and dealt
[18:52] Speaker 2: with them just fine in the Big Ten Championship game.
[18:54] Speaker 3: I'm less bullish than Indiana this year. I like Indiana.
[18:57] Speaker 3: I think Indiana is a playoff team. Okay, let me
[18:59] Speaker 3: just get that out there. I don't think Indiana is
[19:02] Speaker 3: playing for the Big Ten title. I've got Indiana at
[19:05] Speaker 3: ten and two.
[19:06] Speaker 2: I think that's totally reasonable. I said in my notes,
[19:10] Speaker 2: I said no non conference. I mentioned you're back to
[19:12] Speaker 2: back Ohio State, Michigan by before USC and Washington on
[19:16] Speaker 2: Washington's on the road in Seattle, which is a very
[19:17] Speaker 2: tough place to play. If Hoover is very good, ten
[19:20] Speaker 2: and two seems like the absolute floor.
[19:23] Speaker 1: Yeah, I could go with that.
[19:24] Speaker 2: Yeah, in those big games, the two against Oregon, the
[19:27] Speaker 2: one against Ohio State, specifically within the Big Ten, they
[19:30] Speaker 2: don't play Oregon this season, it was especially edge and
[19:34] Speaker 2: the ability to move around, confuse the Oregon offensive line,
[19:38] Speaker 2: both with scheme and just obviously pure talent on Indiana
[19:41] Speaker 2: side that they were able to at times overwhelm Ohio
[19:44] Speaker 2: State and Oregon upfront. And so they bring in some
[19:48] Speaker 2: replacements via the portal and they might.
[19:50] Speaker 1: They might be even better.
[19:51] Speaker 2: I don't know. No, but they're new, they're new to
[19:55] Speaker 2: the system, and those dudes were obviously older for Indiana
[19:59] Speaker 2: last season, and that was it was such a leg
[20:03] Speaker 2: up for their own defensive backfield, which does have new pieces,
[20:07] Speaker 2: but does have a lot of experienced pieces back No
[20:10] Speaker 2: D'Angelo Ponds. Will see if they have like true number
[20:13] Speaker 2: one corner star power in this group. But it was
[20:17] Speaker 2: just such a special pass defense last year, you know,
[20:20] Speaker 2: from the top down, from Brian Haynes on down that
[20:24] Speaker 2: I think it's fair to wonder if they can accomplish
[20:27] Speaker 2: that same level of success working in new names on
[20:31] Speaker 2: both of the you know, the pass rush, and like
[20:33] Speaker 2: new names in linebacker experience at linebacker two with good names,
[20:38] Speaker 2: but new names in that rotation like many teams have.
[20:41] Speaker 2: So Indiana is just another team that has new name questions.
[20:46] Speaker 2: So I think you're right. I have ten and two
[20:48] Speaker 2: as the absolute floor, and I think that's that's where
[20:50] Speaker 2: I'm going to land ten and two with this team.
[20:52] Speaker 2: They're a playoff team.
[20:53] Speaker 3: Indiana knocked off Ohio State in the Big Ten title
[20:58] Speaker 3: last season. Ohio State finished twelve and two. They lost
[21:02] Speaker 3: that game in the Big Ten Championship thirteen to ten,
[21:06] Speaker 3: a low scoring affair against Indiana. Then they went on
[21:09] Speaker 3: to lose by ten twenty four to fourteen against Miami
[21:13] Speaker 3: and the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff. This
[21:16] Speaker 3: was a team that had an outlandishly good defense.
[21:21] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[21:22] Speaker 3: My favorite stat about the defense comes from our friend
[21:25] Speaker 3: Brett Over at Pick six, who noted that Ohio State
[21:28] Speaker 3: did not allow a first half touchdown until their eighth
[21:32] Speaker 3: game of last season, which is crazy. That is a
[21:36] Speaker 3: crazy stat, Bret. Ohio State was also loaded on offense, albeit.
[21:41] Speaker 1: A tad conservative, which maybe we can get into here.
[21:45] Speaker 3: As our friend Bill Connolly put it, they kind of
[21:48] Speaker 3: had a conservative setup that protected their new quarterback Julians
[21:53] Speaker 3: say in early but then when they had to shift gears,
[21:56] Speaker 3: and particularly when they were forced to chase, when they
[22:00] Speaker 3: were forced to chase the game against both Indiana and Miami,
[22:03] Speaker 3: it was almost as if they couldn't find that next year.
[22:05] Speaker 1: So look, this year.
[22:07] Speaker 3: You find a dart laying around, you throw it at
[22:10] Speaker 3: a preview publication, a set of metrics, you're going to
[22:14] Speaker 3: find Ohio State as the preseason number one team in
[22:17] Speaker 3: a million places. Everyone is high on this team. That
[22:21] Speaker 3: shouldn't come as a great surprise. But there are a
[22:25] Speaker 3: lot of moving pieces here, Dan, There are a lot
[22:27] Speaker 3: of moving pieces that I think makes Ohio State more interesting,
[22:31] Speaker 3: at least in the preseason, at least in the preseason
[22:34] Speaker 3: than I can remember in a couple of years.
[22:37] Speaker 2: So they go to the portal on defense, which obviously
[22:40] Speaker 2: they've recruited quite well on defense as well, but in
[22:43] Speaker 2: terms of ready to compete for a national championship, they
[22:45] Speaker 2: thought they needed some more on defense after losing the
[22:48] Speaker 2: playmakers that they lost and not insignificant, right with like
[22:53] Speaker 2: Cayden Curry and Cad McDonald, Caleb Downs exclusing.
[22:58] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's Caden mc donald, Kate and Curry, rvel Reeese,
[23:02] Speaker 3: Sunny Styles, Kale Downs, Davidson, Nig Binosen.
[23:06] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[23:06] Speaker 3: I mean it's a huge number of guys, big time
[23:09] Speaker 3: starting talent that is no longer on the roster this year.
[23:13] Speaker 2: Right, So we have the Matt Patricia continuity, which is terrific.
[23:16] Speaker 2: There are obviously rotation dudes who played last year who
[23:19] Speaker 2: are stepping up. Terry Moore is a huge name coming
[23:23] Speaker 2: in from Duke. If he can regain health and form
[23:26] Speaker 2: from where he was before at safety, and he'll be
[23:28] Speaker 2: moved around a bunch and hopefully is an answer to
[23:31] Speaker 2: accumulating what Caleb Downs was able to accomplish in that
[23:34] Speaker 2: defensive backfield. So I don't worry in any sort of
[23:38] Speaker 2: meaningful way about where this Ohio State defense is going
[23:41] Speaker 2: to be by the end of the season. They played
[23:44] Speaker 2: Texas in Week two. Now they've got some big games
[23:46] Speaker 2: along the way as they try to figure this out.
[23:48] Speaker 2: And last year was just such a crazy special group
[23:51] Speaker 2: that it's kind of impossible to think that they'll go,
[23:53] Speaker 2: you know, eight games before allowing a first half touchdown
[23:56] Speaker 2: once again. But fascinated to see how it works out.
[24:00] Speaker 2: We get a Sanchez as a major player in this
[24:03] Speaker 2: defensive secondary, Devin Sanchez, who looks like he's the new
[24:08] Speaker 2: cornerback number one and looks like he could be all
[24:11] Speaker 2: everything for Ohio State. So not terribly concerned with this defense.
[24:16] Speaker 2: I think the big thing with them is third and eight.
[24:19] Speaker 2: Who's making a play steaming off the edge? Now, that
[24:22] Speaker 2: to me is where they were last year. Those answers
[24:26] Speaker 2: seemed obvious where they've been these past few years. Now,
[24:29] Speaker 2: you know they have Alabama transfers, They've got all sorts
[24:31] Speaker 2: of stuff to look at. I think it's Bo Atkinson,
[24:33] Speaker 2: the North Carolina transfer from a couple of years ago.
[24:35] Speaker 2: He could be that answer off the edge. They have options,
[24:39] Speaker 2: but nothing completely proven in this specific defense at the moment.
[24:44] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think my broader point is for
[24:48] Speaker 3: as good as Ohio State is and probably will be,
[24:51] Speaker 3: especially on defense, Let's not act like the guys they
[24:56] Speaker 3: lost are going to be easy to replace. You know,
[24:59] Speaker 3: Sunny Styles, Marvel Reese are not grown on trees. Caleb
[25:02] Speaker 3: Downs was one of the better defensive backs in college
[25:05] Speaker 3: football the last three years. It's they will replace them.
[25:08] Speaker 3: Ohio State will be very good. I'm very high on
[25:10] Speaker 3: Ohio State.
[25:11] Speaker 2: Counterpoint, Buckeyes are literally grown on trees, right, They're nuts
[25:15] Speaker 2: that grow on trees.
[25:16] Speaker 1: They are nuts. So I think, just based on what
[25:19] Speaker 1: we saw.
[25:19] Speaker 3: From Matt Patricia a year ago when we had a
[25:21] Speaker 3: lot of questions, is this going to work? What's this
[25:23] Speaker 3: going to look like? Matt Patricia basically stuffed everybody in
[25:26] Speaker 3: a locker. So I think we could take that concern
[25:29] Speaker 3: and put it to the side. It's more of a
[25:30] Speaker 3: personnel thing. I'm curious about the offensive side. So on
[25:34] Speaker 3: the offensive side of the ball, they bring back Julian saying,
[25:36] Speaker 3: Jeremiah Smith, Bojacks and Brandon andis most of the line
[25:41] Speaker 3: I've seen some wonder what happens if defenses sell out
[25:44] Speaker 3: to stop Jeremiah Smith? What if they double cover and
[25:46] Speaker 3: where't they triple cover him? I have to be honest
[25:49] Speaker 3: with you, I think they're still loaded out wide. They
[25:52] Speaker 3: also added Devin McEwan from UTSA, who I think is
[25:56] Speaker 3: a hell of a receiver. I love the spring that
[25:58] Speaker 3: we saw out of Chris Henry Junior, who made a
[26:00] Speaker 3: nice move kind of up the depth charts. Brian Hartline
[26:04] Speaker 3: left for USF And I think there was like this question,
[26:07] Speaker 3: at least in the immediate aftermath, whether or not we've
[26:10] Speaker 3: seen any kind of drop off in recruiting out wide.
[26:13] Speaker 3: Thus far, we have not seen that at all, at
[26:16] Speaker 3: least not in terms of options this year, and certainly
[26:18] Speaker 3: not in.
[26:18] Speaker 1: Terms of the prep recruiting for future years. They've been right.
[26:21] Speaker 2: Marvin Harrison, Junior's brother is now committed.
[26:24] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[26:24] Speaker 3: So the question though, is what does the offense look like.
[26:28] Speaker 3: They've got the personnel. They now have a new offensive
[26:31] Speaker 3: coordinator and Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith, NFL guy noted track
[26:38] Speaker 3: record for a quarterback friendly system that uses a lot
[26:43] Speaker 3: of play action. Yeah, b physical rushing attacks. I think
[26:48] Speaker 3: we're going to see more under center stuff. I think
[26:50] Speaker 3: we're going to see heavier sets, the kind of stuff
[26:53] Speaker 3: that maybe sets them up a little bit better for
[26:56] Speaker 3: some of the teams that they're going to be up against.
[26:58] Speaker 3: The deeper they go into this, I can just see
[27:00] Speaker 3: a situation where, you know, this was one of the
[27:03] Speaker 3: talking points a year ago, you're going up against some
[27:06] Speaker 3: of the better defensive lines in the country. If you
[27:10] Speaker 3: can build a really strong physical ground attack, or suddenly
[27:14] Speaker 3: now teams have to pull resources from the back to
[27:17] Speaker 3: try and stop what's going on up front.
[27:20] Speaker 1: In theory, is.
[27:22] Speaker 3: That not a fabulous idea to unlock the likes of
[27:25] Speaker 3: Jeremiah Smith or really whoever you've got out wide, you
[27:28] Speaker 3: put a defense in a pickle of suddenly you're building
[27:31] Speaker 3: that ground attack up front and they've got the line
[27:33] Speaker 3: to do it. You build that assault up front, maybe
[27:36] Speaker 3: a little bit more under center, maybe a little bit
[27:39] Speaker 3: more contained, maybe it's a little bit more play action,
[27:42] Speaker 3: but you're trying to put that defensive front in conflict,
[27:45] Speaker 3: trying to pull resources from the backs that you can
[27:47] Speaker 3: unlock things over the top, which is another aspect I
[27:50] Speaker 3: think of Julian Sayin's game that I know pro scouts
[27:53] Speaker 3: would like to see a little bit more of, right, So.
[27:55] Speaker 1: I'm curious to see how this looks. I like the
[27:58] Speaker 1: theory behind it.
[28:00] Speaker 3: I've never been a huge Arthur Smith guy, but the
[28:03] Speaker 3: same could have been said for Matt Patricia year ago.
[28:06] Speaker 3: So I'm curious to see how all this works out.
[28:08] Speaker 3: Certainly he's going to have plenty of tools to play
[28:09] Speaker 3: with here.
[28:10] Speaker 1: Yeah, I look.
[28:11] Speaker 2: I wonder how it actually looks and how it actually
[28:14] Speaker 2: performs against the best of their schedule, and if they
[28:18] Speaker 2: are playing heavier sets, what does the personnel look like.
[28:22] Speaker 2: This is not a team that is stacked with proven
[28:24] Speaker 2: tight ends who have succeeded in Columbus.
[28:27] Speaker 1: I get that it can. You know, the play action
[28:29] Speaker 1: can open up.
[28:30] Speaker 2: A ton for Jeremiah Smith, But is this now a
[28:33] Speaker 2: passing friendly offense like we had come to expect in
[28:36] Speaker 2: previous years under Ryan Day. The vibes are not there.
[28:41] Speaker 1: That's the thing. Like I like the idea. I think
[28:44] Speaker 1: it's smart.
[28:45] Speaker 3: I just don't want to see them force the physical
[28:50] Speaker 3: ground attack the way they did a couple of years
[28:52] Speaker 3: ago when they lost to Michigan at random. Because now
[28:55] Speaker 3: they went on to win the National championship. Maybe they
[28:58] Speaker 3: learned something from that. It felt like a different team
[29:00] Speaker 3: from that point moving forward. But I hope This isn't
[29:04] Speaker 3: some sort of effort to kind of, I don't know,
[29:07] Speaker 3: get redemption for Ryan Day for what went south against
[29:10] Speaker 3: Michigan a couple of years ago.
[29:12] Speaker 2: Look, we saw the sort of beginnings of this last
[29:15] Speaker 2: season running heavier sets with the intention being like, we
[29:19] Speaker 2: want to control games more, we want to keep our
[29:21] Speaker 2: defense more fresh for the playoff, and we want to,
[29:25] Speaker 2: you know, just run fewer snaps just in general. And
[29:29] Speaker 2: so we saw that identity shift last year, and we
[29:33] Speaker 2: saw them become a little bit less explosive or at
[29:36] Speaker 2: least less often offensively. Last season. It was Julian Sayin's
[29:40] Speaker 2: first year. He struggled in some of those bigger games,
[29:43] Speaker 2: especially early on in those bigger games. And I don't
[29:47] Speaker 2: mind having a vision. I don't mind this being the vision.
[29:50] Speaker 2: It feels a little bit unnatural for recent Ohio State
[29:53] Speaker 2: but teams evolved, teams change, you're sort of building teams
[29:57] Speaker 2: for your opponents. So Ohio State absolutely has essentially Indiana,
[30:03] Speaker 2: Oregon and December January in mind with how they are
[30:06] Speaker 2: building this team out. I think there is probably a
[30:10] Speaker 2: step back from where they were under Chip Kelly to
[30:12] Speaker 2: where they now are under Arthur Smith in terms of
[30:15] Speaker 2: game planning and variability and familiarity with college defenses.
[30:20] Speaker 1: But could be wrong. I don't know.
[30:23] Speaker 2: I don't think their talent at receiver is as deep
[30:26] Speaker 2: and high end in terms of proven quality as we've
[30:30] Speaker 2: seen from previous Ohio State teams. Look, the transfers may
[30:33] Speaker 2: work out swimmingly. Chris Henry Junior, the five star all
[30:36] Speaker 2: everything freshman, might work out swimmingly right away. It's not
[30:40] Speaker 2: as obvious an answer in twenty twenty six as it
[30:44] Speaker 2: as it's felt like in years past. And maybe Brandon
[30:47] Speaker 2: Innis steps into that spot. It's all possible. But it's
[30:50] Speaker 2: what Cortez Hankton is the new receiving coach. There's just
[30:54] Speaker 2: a lot new happening at the same time. If offensive
[30:58] Speaker 2: line isn't a question in terms of floor in terms
[31:01] Speaker 2: of quality, but like how do they respond to the
[31:04] Speaker 2: best of this sport Come December and January, a lot
[31:07] Speaker 2: of those same offensive linemen are there. I think they'll improve,
[31:11] Speaker 2: I think they'll continue to develop, and I think will
[31:13] Speaker 2: end up not really looking at this offensive line is
[31:15] Speaker 2: as big a question as where they were in December
[31:17] Speaker 2: January last season. But it's a lot At the same time.
[31:22] Speaker 1: That's why I say they're interesting. They're nothing if not interesting.
[31:25] Speaker 3: And then you layer on top of it the schedule,
[31:28] Speaker 3: which is brutal. The schedules brutal. The schedule is a
[31:31] Speaker 3: major talking point with Ohio State. They play six preseason
[31:35] Speaker 3: top twenty two opponents per the SP plus at Texas,
[31:41] Speaker 3: at Iowa, at Indiana, at USC and then home against
[31:46] Speaker 3: both Oregon and Michigan.
[31:48] Speaker 1: If you look through this.
[31:48] Speaker 3: Schedule as such, they're over under is nine and a
[31:52] Speaker 3: half in wild, which feels very uncomfortable to me. That
[31:56] Speaker 3: feels uncomfortable, and I get it, there are a lot
[31:58] Speaker 3: of really good teams on the schedule. I personally find
[32:03] Speaker 3: it very hard to believe that they're going nine to three.
[32:05] Speaker 3: They'll be tested, but I think this is an eleven
[32:08] Speaker 3: to one team with a loss somewhere along the way
[32:11] Speaker 3: that gets into the Big Ten championship game.
[32:14] Speaker 2: I've gone back and forth. I think they're no worse
[32:16] Speaker 2: than ten and two. I would take the over, but
[32:19] Speaker 2: I could see growing pains once again. So this is
[32:22] Speaker 2: three coordinators and three seasons. Obviously, Ryan Day is always
[32:25] Speaker 2: going to have a heavy hand with this offense, and
[32:27] Speaker 2: he has been Obviously, you know continuing to be in
[32:30] Speaker 2: Uh it's not English, but he is.
[32:32] Speaker 3: He is.
[32:32] Speaker 2: He has been a steady hand as they've you know,
[32:35] Speaker 2: turned into a national championship program and competing for a
[32:38] Speaker 2: national championship once again. I don't know, I see I
[32:41] Speaker 2: see some cracks for this team, just because there's so
[32:46] Speaker 2: much new on both sides of the ball and the
[32:48] Speaker 2: expectation in this kind of conference that has this level
[32:52] Speaker 2: of talent at the top and this level of competition
[32:54] Speaker 2: at the top, alongside what's happening the sec ACC Big Twelve.
[32:58] Speaker 2: Wherever they can win the national championship. Absolutely, I don't
[33:04] Speaker 2: think they're going eleven and one or twelve to zero
[33:06] Speaker 2: against this schedule this season. I have them at ten
[33:09] Speaker 2: and two and likely competing in the Big Ten championship game.
[33:14] Speaker 3: So look, you're the Oregon grad. I'm gonna defer to
[33:17] Speaker 3: you on the Oregon preview. You know him better than
[33:20] Speaker 3: I do. But let me just set the stage a
[33:21] Speaker 3: little bit, please. Thirteen and two last season lost to
[33:25] Speaker 3: Indiana twice, once in the regular season, once in the
[33:28] Speaker 3: playoff semifinals. You had Will Stein, the offensive coordinator, leave
[33:32] Speaker 3: for Kentucky. Toshelpoy, formerly the defensive coordinator. He is now
[33:36] Speaker 3: the head coach at Cal. They are eleventh nationally in
[33:40] Speaker 3: returning production. They're projected as the number two overall team
[33:44] Speaker 3: in Bill Connolly's sp plus.
[33:46] Speaker 1: I'll say this. You can tell me if you think
[33:49] Speaker 1: it's fair. Okay.
[33:50] Speaker 3: The questions for Oregon are less interesting than the ones
[33:55] Speaker 3: I have about Ohio State, Okay, But I feel like
[33:57] Speaker 3: the ones I have about Oregon are far more existential.
[34:01] Speaker 1: Okay, Like, if we zoom in, it's two new coordinators
[34:05] Speaker 1: promoted from within. What does that look like? You know? Okay,
[34:07] Speaker 1: that's the tactical stuff. But if we zoom out, the question, the.
[34:12] Speaker 3: Cloud I guess that looms over Dan Lanning in the
[34:14] Speaker 3: Oregon program at present is how does Oregon get over
[34:18] Speaker 3: the hump?
[34:19] Speaker 1: Because Oregon's been right there?
[34:21] Speaker 3: Yep, they have, and Oregon's got the roster this year
[34:24] Speaker 3: to go pre damn far if not win the whole thing.
[34:27] Speaker 1: How does Oregon get over the hump?
[34:29] Speaker 3: Is a question that look Landing's going to have to
[34:32] Speaker 3: answer for Plenty of people throughout the history.
[34:36] Speaker 1: Of sports have had to answer for this one.
[34:38] Speaker 3: It's always the elusive question that at some point the
[34:40] Speaker 3: greats have to answer, and That's where I think Oregon
[34:43] Speaker 3: finds itself now as we go into twenty twenty six,
[34:45] Speaker 3: which is why I say it's existential.
[34:47] Speaker 1: How do you get past that? Dan? What is what
[34:49] Speaker 1: is the answer? Has Dan Lanning found an answer? It's
[34:52] Speaker 1: a great question.
[34:53] Speaker 2: I wish I could just plainland simply tell you to
[34:58] Speaker 2: me right now. It is if Dante Moore, along with
[35:02] Speaker 2: new offensive coordinator internal promotion Drew Marringer, are on the
[35:06] Speaker 2: same page, and Dante Moore develops and they just look
[35:11] Speaker 2: flawless on third and sevens and are constantly getting the
[35:14] Speaker 2: third and ones and are dictating things and are able
[35:19] Speaker 2: to build up enough leads to build up depth on offense,
[35:22] Speaker 2: you know, with younger receivers or running backs or whatever,
[35:26] Speaker 2: they should be in a special place. I think it
[35:29] Speaker 2: would be very nice if Oregon's coordinators weren't also head
[35:32] Speaker 2: coaches as they game plan for big playoff games. That
[35:35] Speaker 2: would be nice. But Oregon also lost to Indiana during
[35:38] Speaker 2: the regular season in kind of embarrassing fashion in that
[35:41] Speaker 2: fourth quarter they were overwhelmed. So what's the difference in
[35:46] Speaker 2: getting over the top. Really, it's just the little things
[35:51] Speaker 2: coming through with new players ascending to starting roles or
[35:55] Speaker 2: younger players taking over starting roles and looking like they
[36:01] Speaker 2: have a plan in ways they didn't before. It was
[36:05] Speaker 2: impossible before the season started last season, be like, you
[36:08] Speaker 2: know what's going to go wrong. Fernando Mendoza is just
[36:11] Speaker 2: going to have their number. The Cal quarterback transfer, who
[36:14] Speaker 2: I think Oregon had beaten while he was at Cal,
[36:16] Speaker 2: that's right, I think is going to just own this
[36:21] Speaker 2: Oregon team. The Indiana defensive front is going to give
[36:24] Speaker 2: Dante more and the protection fits that would have been
[36:28] Speaker 2: a difficult ask twice by the way given fits. So
[36:33] Speaker 2: they've exclusively lost to excellent teams these past three years.
[36:36] Speaker 2: Under Dan Lanning, they bring back a ton on both
[36:39] Speaker 2: sides of the ball. And so now it's a question
[36:42] Speaker 2: of what does the evolution look like under like the
[36:46] Speaker 2: broader umbrella of kind of similar expectations to where Penn
[36:50] Speaker 2: State was last season, and it broke Penn State internally
[36:55] Speaker 2: early on. Oregon had its own role in breaking Penn
[36:59] Speaker 2: State last season. This is championship or bust. You pay
[37:02] Speaker 2: the entire defensive line to come back, you have the
[37:05] Speaker 2: experience in the secondary. You bring in somebody like Coy
[37:08] Speaker 2: Perrich to take over at safety. The young corners who
[37:12] Speaker 2: showed out very impressively last year are back. They paid
[37:16] Speaker 2: to retain basically everywhere important along the starting elevens on
[37:20] Speaker 2: both sides of the ball. It sends a clear message
[37:23] Speaker 2: of anything less than a national championship in twenty twenty
[37:27] Speaker 2: six is coming up short. Whereas, yes, they took that
[37:31] Speaker 2: step forward and made the Final four last season before
[37:33] Speaker 2: losing to Indiana. But when you look across this sport,
[37:37] Speaker 2: there's no other team that brings back last year's accomplishment
[37:44] Speaker 2: combined with this year's promise, you can say like, oh,
[37:46] Speaker 2: Texas looks great with what they're bringing back. I don't
[37:49] Speaker 2: believe they played in a playoff game last year?
[37:51] Speaker 1: Is that correct? That's correct.
[37:52] Speaker 2: So Texas's next step with arch Manning as a quarterback
[37:56] Speaker 2: with a lot of these players is making and winning
[37:59] Speaker 2: a game or two in the playoff, even though they
[38:00] Speaker 2: themselves have national championship expectations, so organize what looks to
[38:06] Speaker 2: be the best defensive line in the country. They're elderly,
[38:09] Speaker 2: which has been very helpful for recent teams in going
[38:13] Speaker 2: deep in the tournament, if not winning the damn thing.
[38:16] Speaker 2: So you can't really look at Oregon and say this
[38:20] Speaker 2: is a backbreaking weakness. The linebackers aren't as good as
[38:23] Speaker 2: other teams linebackers, but they're okay. Terry Mixon is pretty good.
[38:27] Speaker 2: They replace this receiver or that receiver. Well, they bring
[38:32] Speaker 2: back one of the best receivers in the country when healthy,
[38:35] Speaker 2: and Evan Stewart who looks to be fully healthy next
[38:38] Speaker 2: to Decoryan Moore who also looks like a number one receiver.
[38:41] Speaker 2: They bring in a five star receiver, a couple five
[38:43] Speaker 2: star receivers. They lose Kenyon Sadik. They might have the
[38:46] Speaker 2: best tight end in the sport in Jamari Johnson. They
[38:48] Speaker 2: lose their tackles. Their tackles were kind of looked at
[38:50] Speaker 2: as their weak point along the offensive line last year.
[38:53] Speaker 2: And they have experienced dudes who are probably stepping in,
[38:55] Speaker 2: maybe even a true freshman stepping in at right tackle
[38:57] Speaker 2: if things break a certain way. But this is I mean,
[39:03] Speaker 2: this is a stacked, stacked, stacked team. The schedule is
[39:07] Speaker 2: not perfect, but it's fine.
[39:10] Speaker 3: I mean, there are three and a half games of
[39:12] Speaker 3: this thing that scare me. They're at USC week four,
[39:16] Speaker 3: They're at Ohio State week ten.
[39:17] Speaker 1: Week ten again, please.
[39:20] Speaker 3: First Chagan first weekend in November. Please get your affairs
[39:24] Speaker 3: in order, don't do anything that day. There's a ton
[39:26] Speaker 3: of football on the following week. They are home against
[39:29] Speaker 3: Michigan in week eleven, and then they close out the
[39:32] Speaker 3: year at home rivalry spot against the Washington Huskies. So yeah,
[39:37] Speaker 3: like it's relatively spaced out. I guess more backloaded than
[39:43] Speaker 3: front loaded with respect to what they've got coming up
[39:46] Speaker 3: in November. But all told, Oregon's over under is ten
[39:51] Speaker 3: and a half. And I looked at this for probably
[39:55] Speaker 3: five hours over the last couple of days, trying to
[39:59] Speaker 3: make heads and tails. Okay, where are the losses coming?
[40:01] Speaker 3: Where are the matchups? I don't see him losing two games.
[40:05] Speaker 3: I'm not sure I see him losing any games.
[40:07] Speaker 2: I mean, it's all poured into this year. And Chris Hampton,
[40:10] Speaker 2: the new defensive coordinator, has been a code DC has
[40:13] Speaker 2: been up in the sky while you Tosh Lupoi has
[40:15] Speaker 2: been on the field and has been involved in game
[40:18] Speaker 2: planning and play calling. They should be able to rush
[40:22] Speaker 2: the passer, they should be able to cover receivers, they
[40:24] Speaker 2: should be able to stuff runs. They've played against Ryan Day,
[40:28] Speaker 2: and they've played against Jeremiah Smith and they've like the
[40:31] Speaker 2: experience and just the dirt under their fingernails is there.
[40:38] Speaker 2: They've won close games, they've blown teams out. It doesn't
[40:42] Speaker 2: look like their coordinators will be hired away in the
[40:44] Speaker 2: middle of the portal season. It's hard to nitpick other
[40:51] Speaker 2: than the fact that they have this elephant on their
[40:53] Speaker 2: shoulders constantly.
[40:56] Speaker 1: Don't fall for the Oregon thing. Again.
[40:58] Speaker 2: They always come up short. It's not a season in
[41:01] Speaker 2: which there is an obvious team who has also done
[41:05] Speaker 2: what they've done in retaining the talent that they've retained.
[41:08] Speaker 2: So other than my own skepticism and having my own
[41:12] Speaker 2: heart broken in January's I think they're competing for the
[41:16] Speaker 2: Big Ten championship. I do, And they don't have to
[41:19] Speaker 2: play Indiana during the regular season, so there's that.
[41:21] Speaker 3: I think they are the Big Ten champions. I've got
[41:26] Speaker 3: them twelve and zero winning the title.
[41:28] Speaker 1: Okay, thirteen and in the Big Ten.
[41:30] Speaker 3: Yeah, so I guess thirteen and Oh. We'll talk about
[41:32] Speaker 3: the playoff and all that stuff a little bit later on.
[41:35] Speaker 3: It's kind of hard to project out who is playing whom,
[41:37] Speaker 3: But with respect to the Big Ten, yeah, I've got
[41:41] Speaker 3: Oregon over Ohio State.
[41:42] Speaker 1: I'm I'm not there. Who do you have then? Who
[41:46] Speaker 1: do you have winning Big Ten?
[41:48] Speaker 2: It's tough to say, because I Indiana misses Oregon and
[41:53] Speaker 2: Oregon misses Indiana. Ohio State gets both correct, and there's
[41:57] Speaker 2: nobody else I feel confident in on that level. Oregon
[42:01] Speaker 2: gets Ohio State on the road during the regular season,
[42:07] Speaker 2: I guess push comes to shove. I think Oregon goes
[42:10] Speaker 2: eleven to one, and I guess I'm gonna flip it
[42:14] Speaker 2: and say, yeah, Oregon's gonna win the Big Ten championship,
[42:16] Speaker 2: maybe get revenge on Ohio State after losing that game
[42:18] Speaker 2: in Columbus.
[42:20] Speaker 3: I do think it comes down to those three teams.
[42:22] Speaker 3: We will talk about USC on our next episode. That
[42:25] Speaker 3: was another one of these squads that you and I
[42:28] Speaker 3: sort of kicked around a fair amount trying to figure out, all, right,
[42:31] Speaker 3: where do they slot in?
[42:32] Speaker 1: How high can they go?
[42:33] Speaker 3: Another situation where you've got a team with the brutal schedule.
[42:36] Speaker 3: But I just you know, sometimes the easiest answer is
[42:41] Speaker 3: the right answer. And it feels to me just in
[42:45] Speaker 3: looking at these teams with what is new, with what
[42:48] Speaker 3: is changing. Ohio State's got the defense, Indiana's got a
[42:52] Speaker 3: ton new that they're trying to replace in piece together.
[42:55] Speaker 3: I think both teams will be outstanding. I think both
[42:57] Speaker 3: of those squads will be in the playoff. Oregon just
[43:00] Speaker 3: has the fewest variables.
[43:02] Speaker 1: To me, they do.
[43:05] Speaker 2: I mean, you know, there's the offensive line thing gives
[43:07] Speaker 2: me a little bit of pause. Two new tackles once again,
[43:11] Speaker 2: and a new guard. But there's a certain benefit of
[43:16] Speaker 2: the doubt that they've earned up front that I just
[43:21] Speaker 2: I can't linger on it too much because I think
[43:23] Speaker 2: they're going to be able to overcome game plan around whatever.
[43:26] Speaker 2: Didn't even mention Jordan Davison in deer Hill's name in
[43:28] Speaker 2: the backfield, right, they're deep there, They're deeper receiver. We'll
[43:31] Speaker 2: see what you know, tight end two looks like right,
[43:33] Speaker 2: Those are the questions now with Oregon. So I just
[43:38] Speaker 2: it just feels like it's all pointing to twenty twenty
[43:41] Speaker 2: six for them.
[43:42] Speaker 3: Speaking of Jordan Davison, Jordan Davison had sixteen rushing touchdowns
[43:47] Speaker 3: a year ago. He was tied in the Big Ten
[43:50] Speaker 3: with Jonah Coleman and k Tron Allen. I should say
[43:55] Speaker 3: fifteen touchdowns because the guy who actually had sixteen was.
[43:58] Speaker 1: Won by the name of Mark over at Iowa.
[44:01] Speaker 2: Dan my guy, Mark Ronowski.
[44:06] Speaker 1: I went on our show. I might have gone on
[44:07] Speaker 1: Josh Page show.
[44:08] Speaker 3: I don't remember when exactly we talked about it, but
[44:11] Speaker 3: I think it made the prediction that Mark Ronowski would
[44:13] Speaker 3: be the best Iowa quarterback since Brad Banks.
[44:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, were you right?
[44:16] Speaker 1: I don't think we quite made it there. I don't
[44:18] Speaker 1: think you hit that. He did get sixteen rushing touchdowns.
[44:21] Speaker 2: He got a little bit better over the course of
[44:23] Speaker 2: the year, for sure by the second half.
[44:24] Speaker 3: Yeah, Iowa was very, very Iowa. Last season. They went
[44:30] Speaker 3: nine and four. They beat Vandy in a bowl game.
[44:33] Speaker 3: All four of their regular season losses came to ranked
[44:35] Speaker 3: opponents by combining fifteen points. They were tied or leading
[44:40] Speaker 3: in the final two minutes in three of those, and
[44:44] Speaker 3: Iowa also blew a fourteen point lead in another. So
[44:48] Speaker 3: it bears repeating. This is Iowa. It does not need
[44:53] Speaker 3: to be pretty. It just needs to work. They have
[44:56] Speaker 3: lived by that mantra last year. It almost worked a
[44:59] Speaker 3: little bit better. But this is very much the philosophy
[45:02] Speaker 3: of one Kirk Farence. So as we go now into
[45:06] Speaker 3: twenty twenty six, my view of Viowa, which is certainly
[45:08] Speaker 3: not as highs yours. I view them as a top
[45:11] Speaker 3: twenty five caliber team. You've been talking them up potentially
[45:14] Speaker 3: as ten and two on the fringes of the playoff conversation. Like,
[45:19] Speaker 3: I also like their schedule, but I think there's just
[45:23] Speaker 3: way too much out there pointing in the direction of regression.
[45:27] Speaker 2: I like Iowa a good deal. Look, they return a couple,
[45:29] Speaker 2: at least a couple of decent pieces along the offensive line.
[45:32] Speaker 2: I never am really terribly worried about Kirk Farreens offensive lines.
[45:35] Speaker 2: Those dudes tend to develop and tend to be fine.
[45:38] Speaker 2: I like where they're at running back. We'll see a receiver, obviously.
[45:42] Speaker 2: The huge question that is hanging over this offense is
[45:45] Speaker 2: where they go at quarterback. What that means for how
[45:48] Speaker 2: this offense accommodates two kind of different skill sets. Hank
[45:51] Speaker 2: Brown's bigger and more of a pocket passer. Jeremy Hoklinsky's smaller.
[45:55] Speaker 2: He was at Wake Forest briefly, and he's more about
[45:59] Speaker 2: playmaking and impro and the smaller guy.
[46:01] Speaker 3: From an entertainment standpoint, Yeah, from an entertainment standpoint, Iowa fan,
[46:07] Speaker 3: not an Iowa fan. Jeremy Hecklinsky is your improv guy. Yes,
[46:12] Speaker 3: he's more mobile, uses weird arm angles, probably a lot
[46:17] Speaker 3: more fun just as a Saturday viewing product.
[46:21] Speaker 1: Right.
[46:21] Speaker 3: It does depend where you look, though, in terms of
[46:23] Speaker 3: who's quote unquote ahead at the moment. This strikes me
[46:27] Speaker 3: as one of those QB battles that might go a
[46:29] Speaker 3: few weeks into the season if it's not settled overwhelmingly beforehand.
[46:34] Speaker 3: And even if they decide to go with Hank Brown,
[46:36] Speaker 3: I think there are probably some sets for Hecklinsky, just
[46:38] Speaker 3: given h like you said, he's smaller, he's more mobile,
[46:42] Speaker 3: different kind of player altogether, So I could see them
[46:44] Speaker 3: finding a way to incorporate him even if he's not
[46:47] Speaker 3: QB one when camp breaks.
[46:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, look, if whoever that quarterback is, if there's any
[46:52] Speaker 2: way to generate I know we say this annually. Any
[46:55] Speaker 2: sort of pop on this offense downfield could be to
[46:58] Speaker 2: a tight end, nice tight end room, could be two receivers.
[47:01] Speaker 2: They've got an improving receiving room. But if there's any
[47:06] Speaker 2: way to get any more pop out of this room.
[47:09] Speaker 2: You talk about those close games, you talk about the
[47:11] Speaker 2: blown leads, you talk about the struggles and doing different
[47:14] Speaker 2: things on offense when those things are needed, And obviously
[47:16] Speaker 2: they're trying to play to a certain identity, protect their
[47:18] Speaker 2: defense to whatever extent. If they can get that, they
[47:23] Speaker 2: don't have to win every game. Ten to nine, sixteen
[47:26] Speaker 2: to thirteen, seventeen to fourty.
[47:28] Speaker 1: We've been saying that for ten years.
[47:30] Speaker 2: I know, ty, I absolutely know this says not in
[47:33] Speaker 2: a place to where quarterbacks develop. Yeah, I absolutely know.
[47:38] Speaker 2: Sometimes you can accidentally happen into something like that. If
[47:42] Speaker 2: your quarterback is merely competent, if your receivers are merely
[47:46] Speaker 2: pretty good and standing on two feet and healthy, and
[47:50] Speaker 2: there's enough in the rushing attack to generate something in
[47:53] Speaker 2: play action, right, or you get a bunch of short
[47:56] Speaker 2: fields because your defense is turning over Illinois or whoever
[47:59] Speaker 2: there are. There are reasons to believe that Iowa can
[48:02] Speaker 2: ascend to merely below average in terms of finding explosives
[48:06] Speaker 2: on offense. There are those reasons. The defense has some
[48:10] Speaker 2: questions in ways that they don't always have questions.
[48:13] Speaker 1: Well, the line. The line's the big one. So the
[48:15] Speaker 1: line is new.
[48:16] Speaker 3: The defensive line is being completely rebuilt. Also, the linebacker
[48:20] Speaker 3: room is relatively new. The secondary needs some work. I
[48:23] Speaker 3: think we have at this point a certain amount of
[48:27] Speaker 3: trust in Phil Parker, the defensive coordinator, to kind of
[48:30] Speaker 3: get that figured out.
[48:30] Speaker 1: But to what end?
[48:32] Speaker 3: To what end, I think is an important question. They
[48:35] Speaker 3: will be fine defensively, because they're always fine, but more
[48:38] Speaker 3: often than not, we're talking about a team that is driven,
[48:42] Speaker 3: that is powered by its defense, giving itself enough of
[48:45] Speaker 3: a margin that the offense can, you know, kick some
[48:48] Speaker 3: field goals, maybe score a touchdown, and win a low
[48:51] Speaker 3: scoring game. If the defense isn't up to that same standard,
[48:55] Speaker 3: then maybe we've got a little bit more of a
[48:57] Speaker 3: problem here.
[48:58] Speaker 2: I think the defense is going to find guys. I
[49:00] Speaker 2: think guys will look the I think there are just
[49:03] Speaker 2: fewer losses on this schedule, or for you, obvious losses
[49:06] Speaker 2: on this schedule. That's the interesting thing to me.
[49:10] Speaker 1: Now, I don't I think we disagree on this one.
[49:13] Speaker 2: I know we just well, there's no Indiana, there's no Oregon, right, yeah,
[49:16] Speaker 2: I know, Iowa State's starting over. Not to say it's automatic.
[49:19] Speaker 2: Rivalry games are not automatic. I'll throwut those records. Always
[49:22] Speaker 2: it's a good year to have Iowa State on the
[49:24] Speaker 2: schedule because maybe they turn into something eventually this year,
[49:28] Speaker 2: maybe they turn into something eventually the next two or
[49:30] Speaker 2: three years, they're starting over, and this roster.
[49:33] Speaker 1: Is completely new for Iowa State.
[49:35] Speaker 2: Okay, So I'm just saying that's a team that's generally
[49:39] Speaker 2: pretty standard competition.
[49:42] Speaker 3: I mean, if I told you that Iowa State one
[49:45] Speaker 3: that game thirteen to ten, sure.
[49:48] Speaker 1: That if they win that game thirteen to ten, quarterback
[49:50] Speaker 1: has not worked out once again, you would buy it totally.
[49:53] Speaker 3: I've got Iowa down at seven and five or eight
[49:55] Speaker 3: and four, like, I think they're going to be a
[49:57] Speaker 3: tough out.
[49:59] Speaker 1: But I'm not picking up what you're putting down here.
[50:01] Speaker 1: That's okay, dum. You know.
[50:04] Speaker 3: I think the quarterback thing is a much bigger deal.
[50:07] Speaker 3: I think the defense is a much bigger deal. I
[50:11] Speaker 3: do think they'll be good on the ground. I like
[50:12] Speaker 3: Kamari Moulton.
[50:13] Speaker 1: To be clear.
[50:14] Speaker 2: They're the guys that they're going to be starting on defense,
[50:15] Speaker 2: have been in this program playing. They're not like looking
[50:18] Speaker 2: to like the Great Danes of Albany to overhaul their defense.
[50:21] Speaker 3: Yeah, fair point. All teams who have done that have succeeded.
[50:25] Speaker 3: I am skeptical that they can do better than I've got.
[50:30] Speaker 3: Eight and four is my ceiling. I think a tough out.
[50:32] Speaker 3: They're always a tough out. I think it'll be plenty
[50:35] Speaker 3: of ugly games featuring Iowa.
[50:37] Speaker 1: I'm not in, You're not in.
[50:39] Speaker 2: No, that's okay. I don't even know when was the
[50:42] Speaker 2: last time they had a defense that was like kind
[50:44] Speaker 2: of disappointing for Iowa within like the context of Iowa.
[50:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pre COVID right to go back and look,
[50:51] Speaker 1: but yeah.
[50:51] Speaker 2: I'm scrolling through ty I like a legit disappointing Iowa defense.
[50:56] Speaker 2: I'm back in twenty seventeen right now. Nope, the twenty
[51:00] Speaker 2: seventeen team was good on defense. The twenty sixteen Nope,
[51:03] Speaker 2: the twenty sixteen was good on defense. It's like, look,
[51:06] Speaker 2: it doesn't happen until it does. But all one of
[51:09] Speaker 2: these quarterbacks has to be as a B minus for
[51:12] Speaker 2: me to think, okay.
[51:13] Speaker 1: Minus, Yeah, take a C plus.
[51:16] Speaker 2: You can take a C plus.
[51:17] Speaker 1: That's fine, Take a D plus.
[51:19] Speaker 2: If I'm telling you that they can run the ball,
[51:21] Speaker 2: get stops. Look, they didn't even force that many turnovers
[51:24] Speaker 2: last year and had a good defense. That's like like
[51:27] Speaker 2: a note for improvement this year. I know turnovers can
[51:29] Speaker 2: be random, but Iowa right now, I don't know, Man,
[51:35] Speaker 2: they always seem to find the star power. They always
[51:37] Speaker 2: seem to develop that star power. They've got the tough
[51:39] Speaker 2: at Michigan, Ohio, State at Washington right back to back
[51:42] Speaker 2: to back. We've got Illinois light on the road.
[51:45] Speaker 1: I'm gonna plant my flag on seven or five. All right,
[51:47] Speaker 1: I'm gonna say nine to three.
[51:49] Speaker 2: This feels like a team that, if there were still
[51:51] Speaker 2: the divisions, they would again lose the Big Ten champion
[51:55] Speaker 2: Chip forty two to three to the team on the
[51:57] Speaker 2: other side, the Big Ten East.
[52:00] Speaker 3: So while we're talking about Iowa, let's make the casual
[52:04] Speaker 3: transition now over to Nebraska.
[52:06] Speaker 1: Okay, all the kids are doing the six to seventh thing? Dan,
[52:10] Speaker 1: is this not anymore? Is this something that's no longer
[52:12] Speaker 1: a thing? I think we're past it. We're past it.
[52:14] Speaker 1: That's probably good for humanity. I agree.
[52:17] Speaker 3: Meanwhile, Matt Ruhle is still trying to make seven and
[52:19] Speaker 3: six a thing?
[52:20] Speaker 1: Am I right?
[52:23] Speaker 3: Oh time?
[52:25] Speaker 1: Am I right? Come on?
[52:27] Speaker 2: I don't think he's trying to get to seven and six.
[52:30] Speaker 2: I think he has higher aspirations.
[52:32] Speaker 3: Seven and six for the second straight year for Nebraska,
[52:37] Speaker 3: second straight year also where they started five to one
[52:40] Speaker 3: and finished seven and six. What's crazy is go and
[52:44] Speaker 3: look at the schedule again, Dan, looks like it sets
[52:47] Speaker 3: up almost identically.
[52:49] Speaker 2: Five winnable games to start.
[52:51] Speaker 3: In twenty twenty six. We'll talk about that in a minute.
[52:55] Speaker 3: But last year Dilon Rolo went down, he was out.
[52:58] Speaker 3: The offense was not of the run. Defense was very bad.
[53:02] Speaker 3: This year a lot back, a lot back. If that's
[53:05] Speaker 3: your starting point, okay, we can work with this. They
[53:07] Speaker 3: are third nationally sixty nine percent returning production. It's sixty
[53:12] Speaker 3: nine percent back on offense, sixty nine percent back on defense.
[53:16] Speaker 3: Of course, of course, very very nice for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
[53:22] Speaker 3: My sense, as the chief Calandria officer, is that there
[53:27] Speaker 3: is going to be a lot more boom or.
[53:29] Speaker 1: Bust in this offense in twenty twenty six.
[53:32] Speaker 3: So Calandria comes over. You know, his deal was previously
[53:36] Speaker 3: at Virginia, made the move over to UNLV was the
[53:40] Speaker 3: Mountain West offensive player of the year. Had nearly thirty
[53:43] Speaker 3: five hundred passing guards, almost six hundred and fifty rushing guards,
[53:49] Speaker 3: thirty three total touchdowns.
[53:51] Speaker 1: He will dazzle you, he will depress you.
[53:54] Speaker 3: To my eye, he seems like the type of guy
[53:57] Speaker 3: who is your prototypical Dana Holgerson quarterback.
[54:01] Speaker 1: He's that dude.
[54:01] Speaker 3: He's an improviser through and through. No window is too tight.
[54:06] Speaker 3: He's gonna scramble, He's going to take some shots. Sometimes
[54:09] Speaker 3: it works, sometimes it works famously well. Other times it
[54:13] Speaker 3: is a spectacular failure. But he is nothing if not interesting.
[54:17] Speaker 1: I love the guy.
[54:18] Speaker 3: I have always been a fan of Anthony Calandria. Yeah,
[54:21] Speaker 3: the best of him is fabulous. The worst of him
[54:24] Speaker 3: can be like head scratching. But I love the fact
[54:27] Speaker 3: that he is paired with Daniel Holgerson, and I think
[54:29] Speaker 3: they can do some really fun things together.
[54:32] Speaker 2: I'm with you. I found myself liking where Nebraska is
[54:37] Speaker 2: right now, not loving, liking, and in no small part
[54:41] Speaker 2: two due to the upside of Anthony Calandria.
[54:45] Speaker 3: I think you pair him with a wide receiving cores
[54:49] Speaker 3: that looks to be a relative strength on this offense.
[54:53] Speaker 3: Perhaps I think the line will be in a much
[54:56] Speaker 3: better place this year. Although, like Evergreen tweet, we say
[54:58] Speaker 3: that every year. Uh yeah, I just feel like there
[55:02] Speaker 3: is enough around Calandria. You don't want it to all
[55:07] Speaker 3: be on Anthony Calandria. I emphasize, for as much as
[55:11] Speaker 3: I like the guy and think he's got real potential
[55:13] Speaker 3: in this offense. We do not want a situation where
[55:16] Speaker 3: it is all on the right arm of Anthony Calandria,
[55:19] Speaker 3: because I do not think that will work. But if
[55:21] Speaker 3: they can achieve some level of balance, if you can
[55:24] Speaker 3: unlock some of what he gives you, moving the pockets,
[55:27] Speaker 3: some of his improvisational ability, taking some shots over the
[55:31] Speaker 3: top with this receiving corps, I think there is a
[55:34] Speaker 3: really strong case to be made that this could be
[55:37] Speaker 3: a much more exciting offense, especially as compared to last year,
[55:40] Speaker 3: which even before royalwa went down, it was a lot
[55:43] Speaker 3: of dink and dunk.
[55:44] Speaker 2: I think I would like Anthony Calandria to Nebraska a
[55:48] Speaker 2: lot more if he were transferring in as like the
[55:51] Speaker 2: last missing piece to an offense that like they've got
[55:54] Speaker 2: the offensive line finally to a good place. Can't say
[55:57] Speaker 2: that hopefully they have. But this is not an existing
[56:01] Speaker 2: good offensive line already. This is a hope for a
[56:03] Speaker 2: good offensive line. We're not talking about a you know,
[56:07] Speaker 2: a loaded receiving cores. Even though you look at as
[56:09] Speaker 2: a relative strength for this team, you know, with the
[56:12] Speaker 2: upside that they may have wasn't stocked with dudes torching
[56:17] Speaker 2: Big ten teams last year. They obviously have the injury.
[56:21] Speaker 2: Last year, the Dylan Royola experience experiment, whatever you're gonna
[56:26] Speaker 2: call it, fizzled out, didn't work out. He took too
[56:28] Speaker 2: many sacks, the offensive line allowed too many sacks, didn't
[56:31] Speaker 2: take a ton of chances downfield. He was just not
[56:35] Speaker 2: the quarterback. Not for the Times at that's not English.
[56:38] Speaker 2: For Nebraska. It didn't work out. It was a failed
[56:42] Speaker 2: stretch of time for the Nebraska offense. Now you bring
[56:46] Speaker 2: an Anthony Calandria, who, to your point, is a wild card,
[56:51] Speaker 2: So you're adding a wild card who you go back
[56:54] Speaker 2: to some of his time at Virginia. If you're gonna
[56:56] Speaker 2: play Devil's advocate through like seven picks in three games
[56:59] Speaker 2: against the best teams following at the end of the
[57:01] Speaker 2: twenty twenty would have been twenty twenty four season for
[57:04] Speaker 2: the who's that he's gonna take chances, He's going to
[57:08] Speaker 2: try to play hero ball. I don't love that for
[57:12] Speaker 2: this Nebraska offense won that ran the ball really well
[57:14] Speaker 2: last year. They just couldn't protect quarterback. I think there
[57:20] Speaker 2: will be signs of brilliance and then there will be
[57:22] Speaker 2: signs of what the hell Boomer bust.
[57:26] Speaker 1: It is Boomer bust, that's right.
[57:27] Speaker 2: I just don't think that's what Nebraska needs. They need
[57:30] Speaker 2: somebody from what they had in the room. I just
[57:34] Speaker 2: look at like I think their defense is actually pretty
[57:36] Speaker 2: interesting this year. I think their defense is going to
[57:39] Speaker 2: give them a pretty good chance to win some games.
[57:41] Speaker 3: They hired a new defensive coordinator, rob Oric from San
[57:46] Speaker 3: Diego State State. Yeah, he's retooling the defense. He's switching
[57:49] Speaker 3: up to a four to two five away from the
[57:52] Speaker 3: three three five.
[57:53] Speaker 1: John Butler no longer the defensive coordinator.
[57:56] Speaker 3: I have never been a Butler guy, nor have I
[57:58] Speaker 3: been a three three five guy, So I like the
[58:01] Speaker 3: fact that they're making this switch now. I really like
[58:05] Speaker 3: the move for williams Wanieri, their five star defensive lineman.
[58:11] Speaker 3: I saw a quote somewhere along the line that he
[58:13] Speaker 3: feels more comfortable where they've got a four man front
[58:17] Speaker 3: of front. It kind of unlocks him. I think we'll
[58:19] Speaker 3: probably see a really solid defense and to your point,
[58:23] Speaker 3: kind of a volatile offense.
[58:25] Speaker 2: I don't think they have the depth on defense. I
[58:27] Speaker 2: don't think they can weather too much on defense. But
[58:30] Speaker 2: I think the guys that they'll be putting out there
[58:33] Speaker 2: if health is reasonable that they should be able to
[58:36] Speaker 2: get off the field. Now a lot is on that
[58:38] Speaker 2: defensive line to stuff anything on the ground, which they
[58:41] Speaker 2: couldn't do last year. That's job one. But if they're
[58:45] Speaker 2: merely okay against the run, I think there's talent against
[58:48] Speaker 2: the pass. Schedules real hefty in the back end.
[58:52] Speaker 3: Well, they so they miss Michigan, USC and Penn State,
[58:57] Speaker 3: but they have five preseason as p plus top twenty
[59:01] Speaker 3: five opponents in Ohio State who's one, Oregon who's two,
[59:06] Speaker 3: Indiana who's three, in addition to Washington at twenty one,
[59:11] Speaker 3: in Iowa at twenty two. You can throw Illinois in there.
[59:13] Speaker 3: They're like a top thirty caliber team as well. So
[59:17] Speaker 3: this is not an easy stretch.
[59:18] Speaker 2: And by the way, it's Ohio State Iowa back to back,
[59:21] Speaker 2: and it's short week road. Yeah before Iowa, that's right.
[59:26] Speaker 2: They play Iowa and Iowa City on I think it's
[59:28] Speaker 2: the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend.
[59:30] Speaker 3: I think this is a seven and five or eight
[59:32] Speaker 3: and fourteen. I'd be willing to go as high as
[59:35] Speaker 3: dine in three, but I would need a few drinks
[59:38] Speaker 3: in me before I want to go nine and three.
[59:42] Speaker 2: Yeah. By the way, didn't Anthony Calandria finish his year
[59:48] Speaker 2: out losing to Ohio in a bowl game?
[59:50] Speaker 1: He did, Yeah, seventeen ten.
[59:51] Speaker 2: He did not have a nice day against against the Bobcats.
[59:56] Speaker 2: I think there's a good shot we have another. Like, oh,
[59:58] Speaker 2: they started five and oh, they're number twenty three and
[1:00:01] Speaker 2: they finish seven and five.
[1:00:03] Speaker 3: I'm worried about the hero ball. I'm worried about that
[1:00:07] Speaker 3: because I don't know what they're going to look like
[1:00:09] Speaker 3: on the ground. I feel like they really need a
[1:00:12] Speaker 3: running back to step up and give them some balance.
[1:00:15] Speaker 3: Well it'll be okay, Well it'll be fine, But unless
[1:00:18] Speaker 3: they have some element of balance, I am fearful of
[1:00:22] Speaker 3: what that means for this offense. If he's playing hero
[1:00:26] Speaker 3: ball and they don't have any semblance of a ground
[1:00:29] Speaker 3: game to try an offset, they're going five and seven.
[1:00:33] Speaker 3: It's a five and seven team if it's all in Calandria,
[1:00:35] Speaker 3: who I like. But you're right, as a wild card,
[1:00:39] Speaker 3: they got to try and like, I don't know, prune
[1:00:42] Speaker 3: some of those thorns. I don't know how you do
[1:00:44] Speaker 3: it if you're Dana Holgerson. But to my eye, the
[1:00:46] Speaker 3: best way to do it is to give them a
[1:00:47] Speaker 3: little bit of balance. I think that unlocks the offense.
[1:00:50] Speaker 3: I'm pretty high on this team generally speaking, but I
[1:00:53] Speaker 3: have some reservations about what that might look like if
[1:00:56] Speaker 3: we don't see any kind of ground game emerge.
[1:00:59] Speaker 2: Look, if you're going to say in those final seven
[1:01:01] Speaker 2: weeks that you feel best about them going on the
[1:01:04] Speaker 2: road and beating Rutgers, right, if that's that game, right,
[1:01:09] Speaker 2: I think that's what you would assume if you look
[1:01:11] Speaker 2: at that those final seven year I feel best about
[1:01:13] Speaker 2: them traveling across the country to play in New Jersey
[1:01:18] Speaker 2: in November. It's not great, like I think it's absolutely
[1:01:24] Speaker 2: on the board of them starting five to zero and
[1:01:26] Speaker 2: finishing five and seven.
[1:01:27] Speaker 3: Okay, Washington went nine and four last year. It was
[1:01:34] Speaker 3: Jedfish's second year. I think they were better than a
[1:01:37] Speaker 3: lot of people realized.
[1:01:39] Speaker 1: They did have a bit.
[1:01:40] Speaker 3: Of a scare in the off season when LSU came
[1:01:43] Speaker 3: stiffing around Demon Williams Junior.
[1:01:45] Speaker 1: It was a weird situation. As we discussed in Part one.
[1:01:48] Speaker 3: Jedfish compared it to a player demanding a trade and
[1:01:51] Speaker 3: then it not working out.
[1:01:52] Speaker 1: And amending back with the same team. That he's been
[1:01:54] Speaker 1: with so kind of.
[1:01:56] Speaker 3: Turned into a big nothing burger. I watched media Day.
[1:01:59] Speaker 3: Was there any kind of tension? Was it? There was
[1:02:01] Speaker 3: no tension. It's just whatever. Nothing to see here. I
[1:02:05] Speaker 3: like Washington a lot this year. I've been calling them
[1:02:08] Speaker 3: my pet team now for a few months. But portant caveat,
[1:02:13] Speaker 3: the important caveat is this is a maybe good, definitely.
[1:02:18] Speaker 1: Unproven kind of team an mg du.
[1:02:23] Speaker 3: Also, Washington and Demon Williams both had a pretty serious
[1:02:27] Speaker 3: problem in big games last year. Twenty two touchdowns, two
[1:02:31] Speaker 3: interceptions in Washington's nine wins, three touchdowns, six interceptions of
[1:02:35] Speaker 3: their four losses, including a three interception game against Michigan,
[1:02:39] Speaker 3: against Ohio State, against Oregon, against Michigan, against Wisconsin, Washington
[1:02:44] Speaker 3: averaged only nine point three points per game and four
[1:02:48] Speaker 3: point three yards per play, So there was a problem
[1:02:51] Speaker 3: when they got to the better teams on that schedule.
[1:02:54] Speaker 3: Now Jed Fish is calling the offense, and we can
[1:02:57] Speaker 3: discuss what that means. We can also discuss what it
[1:03:00] Speaker 3: means to get Ryan Walter back in year two. But
[1:03:03] Speaker 3: I see this as a team with a lot of upside,
[1:03:06] Speaker 3: a team with a lot of potential, but a team like,
[1:03:09] Speaker 3: I don't want to say that they're budget orgon.
[1:03:11] Speaker 1: I don't kind of mean that in any.
[1:03:12] Speaker 3: Derogatory way, but just in the sense that we've got
[1:03:15] Speaker 3: a question about how they perform in big games.
[1:03:18] Speaker 1: Washington is also there. I kind of.
[1:03:20] Speaker 2: Liked Washington more than I thought I would when I
[1:03:23] Speaker 2: dove in. I liked him on Williams. I like that
[1:03:28] Speaker 2: receivers skill position. Dudes tend to emerge out of jetfish
[1:03:31] Speaker 2: offense has talked about this a little on Part one.
[1:03:35] Speaker 2: I don't love where they are on the inside of
[1:03:37] Speaker 2: their defensive line, no, but I think they'll get it
[1:03:40] Speaker 2: figured out. I think they have enough bodies to throw
[1:03:43] Speaker 2: at the problem. They've recruited in interesting ways. Linebackers in
[1:03:48] Speaker 2: a good place I'll beat, a little thinner than where
[1:03:50] Speaker 2: we thought they might be. The secondary does lose its
[1:03:54] Speaker 2: starting corners, but I like where they are at safety,
[1:03:59] Speaker 2: and I like the guy is that they have options
[1:04:01] Speaker 2: with at corner. Like I don't hate where this Washington is.
[1:04:06] Speaker 2: Washington team is from a talent standpoint and where they
[1:04:09] Speaker 2: are top to bottom, but.
[1:04:11] Speaker 3: To the point of the defensive line, to the point
[1:04:14] Speaker 3: of the cornerback room maybe.
[1:04:16] Speaker 2: Good, Definitely right it's unproven and it's dependent on youth
[1:04:25] Speaker 2: coming through against especially the back half of the schedule.
[1:04:29] Speaker 2: Like they get SC on the road, and I think
[1:04:30] Speaker 2: they get SC the week after SC plays Oregon, right,
[1:04:34] Speaker 2: Like Oregon softens SC up for Washington, right, So that's nice.
[1:04:38] Speaker 2: But yeah, the back half of the schedule when they
[1:04:40] Speaker 2: do have when they're at Nebraska, and look, I'm not
[1:04:44] Speaker 2: saying that I think they're a better team than Nebraska
[1:04:46] Speaker 2: right now, I'm confident that Washington in the thousand simulations
[1:04:50] Speaker 2: of the twenty twenty sixth season gets closer to double
[1:04:53] Speaker 2: digits than Nebraska does an overwhelming majority of the time.
[1:04:56] Speaker 1: I think I'm with you.
[1:04:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, And they have a buye before that game.
[1:04:59] Speaker 2: But the game is on the road. It's difficult, it
[1:05:01] Speaker 2: can be a difficult place to play. They finished with
[1:05:03] Speaker 2: Indiana and.
[1:05:04] Speaker 1: Oregon and the game is in Eugene against Oregon, and
[1:05:06] Speaker 1: I think it's going.
[1:05:07] Speaker 2: To be quite difficult. But it's it's a good year
[1:05:10] Speaker 2: to have Penn State travel across the country to play
[1:05:12] Speaker 2: against you, Like, I don't hate this schedule. Even if
[1:05:17] Speaker 2: we agree that Minnesota is for risky. They get Minnesota
[1:05:20] Speaker 2: in Seattle, like there is going to be something about
[1:05:22] Speaker 2: these teams flying across the country to the corner of
[1:05:25] Speaker 2: this country to play against Washington in a difficult place
[1:05:29] Speaker 2: to play, like having a difficult game in Eugene, Oregon
[1:05:34] Speaker 2: and having a difficult game in LA. These are not
[1:05:37] Speaker 2: new things. These are not difficult trips. So I think
[1:05:42] Speaker 2: they're gonna get it figured out. They have three games,
[1:05:44] Speaker 2: three winnable games before Minnesota to work in the youth
[1:05:47] Speaker 2: in some of the new names.
[1:05:48] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:05:50] Speaker 2: Now, the problem is they don't see a truly challenging
[1:05:53] Speaker 2: quarterback before they get Jade Mayava. Yeah.
[1:05:56] Speaker 3: I mean, look, A big part of why there was
[1:05:59] Speaker 3: such a huge joke last year for Washington was on defense.
[1:06:03] Speaker 3: I think they need to get a little bit more
[1:06:04] Speaker 3: disruptive of front. I think that's going to be a
[1:06:07] Speaker 3: theme going into this year. But I do think maybe good,
[1:06:10] Speaker 3: definitely unproven applies on defense. I like where they're at,
[1:06:15] Speaker 3: though I think, like you said, they've got bodies they
[1:06:17] Speaker 3: can throw.
[1:06:17] Speaker 1: The problem. My bigger curiosity is on offense.
[1:06:22] Speaker 3: I like the fact that Jed has taking a little
[1:06:24] Speaker 3: bit more of an active role in calling the offense,
[1:06:28] Speaker 3: and I like the line in front of demon Williams.
[1:06:31] Speaker 3: My issue with the offense is that this is a
[1:06:33] Speaker 3: system built around the pass and around some of that
[1:06:37] Speaker 3: wide zone stuff. I don't know how I feel about
[1:06:40] Speaker 3: the pass catchers outside of Desmond Roebuck.
[1:06:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, playing inside now right is moving to the slot?
[1:06:47] Speaker 3: Maybe good, definitely unproven. Again a recurring theme here. I
[1:06:52] Speaker 3: certainly don't know what the running back room looks like
[1:06:54] Speaker 3: because they lose Jonah Coleman. He's gone, Adamhammand transferred out.
[1:06:58] Speaker 3: I thought it was going to be George Washington, but
[1:07:00] Speaker 3: then he had a pretty serious injury and he was
[1:07:02] Speaker 3: at the spring game, but unfortunately at a neck brace right.
[1:07:05] Speaker 1: So it's not an ideal situation.
[1:07:08] Speaker 3: I like, as you pointed out, that there is some
[1:07:10] Speaker 3: runway in September to get things figured out, but once
[1:07:15] Speaker 3: they get to October, there are a few stretches on
[1:07:17] Speaker 3: the schedule that I think make it really, really complicated.
[1:07:20] Speaker 3: And I also worry, much like I described with Nebraska,
[1:07:25] Speaker 3: I worry that if there's not a little bit of
[1:07:28] Speaker 3: balance here, even though it is built around the pass,
[1:07:30] Speaker 3: very much so built around the pass in a jetfish offense,
[1:07:33] Speaker 3: I do worry that unless there's a little bit of
[1:07:35] Speaker 3: balance if it does all on DeMont Williams, that that
[1:07:38] Speaker 3: is not necessarily the most successful setup. I like this team.
[1:07:43] Speaker 3: I've got him at eight and four. I think they're
[1:07:44] Speaker 3: going to be feisy. I definitely think we're going to
[1:07:47] Speaker 3: see another jump from Demond Williams. I think he's the
[1:07:50] Speaker 3: real deal. There's a reason why people wanted him. But
[1:07:54] Speaker 3: for me, it's more a question on offense about skill talent.
[1:07:57] Speaker 3: Who are they putting around Demon william I trust the line,
[1:08:01] Speaker 3: but what's the support staff look like beyond the line,
[1:08:05] Speaker 3: who is going to give you know, maybe beyond Desmond
[1:08:08] Speaker 3: Roebuck as well, who is going to give Demon Williams,
[1:08:11] Speaker 3: you know, another one of these out pitches that he
[1:08:13] Speaker 3: can turn to in a high leverage moment.
[1:08:17] Speaker 2: Right and if you need to score twenty four, twenty
[1:08:21] Speaker 2: seven points against sc Iowa, Oregon, Penn State, Indiana, and
[1:08:28] Speaker 2: they couldn't get to ten points last year against a
[1:08:30] Speaker 2: lot of those types of defenses and teams, and they're
[1:08:34] Speaker 2: not obviously as talented as they were last year when
[1:08:38] Speaker 2: they had some of those names you mentioned. You better
[1:08:42] Speaker 2: hope these you know, Tres Davis is awesome kind of
[1:08:47] Speaker 2: immediately with when they get you know, Iowa and USC.
[1:08:50] Speaker 2: So that's that's the like. There's just there's a lot
[1:08:54] Speaker 2: of balls up in the air, and not like they've
[1:08:57] Speaker 2: got a super promising young defense. I think the freshman,
[1:09:00] Speaker 2: a defensive lineman, an edge guy, Derek Coleman, Brusa, Brusse Brusa.
[1:09:05] Speaker 2: That is that the answer for this team? That erase
[1:09:09] Speaker 2: is all doubt, Like that's the quest. There's just a
[1:09:11] Speaker 2: lot riding on very few names.
[1:09:13] Speaker 3: The over under is seven and a half, which to
[1:09:16] Speaker 3: me feels like the exact right number. That's exactly where
[1:09:20] Speaker 3: I would put it if I were setting this as well.
[1:09:22] Speaker 1: I just don't know. I like a lot about this team.
[1:09:25] Speaker 3: I like the talent that's on this team, and I
[1:09:27] Speaker 3: think there's a pretty good chance that you know, there's
[1:09:31] Speaker 3: there's more wins on the board than eight. I could
[1:09:34] Speaker 3: see it, but I don't want to put my name
[1:09:36] Speaker 3: to it. So I'm at eight and four.
[1:09:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, they get Indiana, by the way, a week after
[1:09:41] Speaker 2: Indiana hosts USC, traveling kind of across the.
[1:09:44] Speaker 1: Kind of it kind of a tricky setup for Indiana.
[1:09:49] Speaker 2: How many points do you need to beat Indiana? This here,
[1:09:52] Speaker 2: you gotta get to twenty if the defense is good.
[1:09:54] Speaker 2: You got to get to twenty still, and that's TBD.
[1:09:59] Speaker 3: Wisconsin. Yeah, four and eight. Huh four and eight. Last
[1:10:06] Speaker 3: year missed a bowl for the second straight season. They
[1:10:08] Speaker 3: went zero to five on the road. They finished with
[1:10:10] Speaker 3: one of the worst scoring offenses in Power Conference football.
[1:10:15] Speaker 3: They decided to keep look fickle. So this is the year.
[1:10:18] Speaker 3: This is gotta be the year. It gotta be the
[1:10:21] Speaker 3: year you gotta make the jump board. It's gonna be
[1:10:23] Speaker 3: somebody else in twenty seven. And I think that's as
[1:10:25] Speaker 3: clear as day. They did a couple of things to
[1:10:28] Speaker 3: try and facilitate that. First off, new offensive line coach
[1:10:33] Speaker 3: Eric Botaeos, who comes up from Arkansas. I did a
[1:10:35] Speaker 3: good job while he was there Arkans. So we've talked
[1:10:37] Speaker 3: about the Arkansas offense. The Arkansas offense was actually quite good.
[1:10:40] Speaker 2: They had the number one rushing attack in college football
[1:10:43] Speaker 2: last season.
[1:10:43] Speaker 3: Yeah, so you'll take that if he can, you know,
[1:10:47] Speaker 3: condre up some of that magic.
[1:10:48] Speaker 1: You'll take that.
[1:10:48] Speaker 3: If you're Wisconsin, they desperately need to get a little
[1:10:52] Speaker 3: bit more push up front. That would be the whole
[1:10:54] Speaker 3: catalyst for the Jeff Grimes rv oh offense. Dan rv
[1:11:01] Speaker 3: I know this isn't a new thing. I know this
[1:11:03] Speaker 3: is not a new thing. You can go back and
[1:11:05] Speaker 3: he was doing this five years ago now when he
[1:11:08] Speaker 3: was at.
[1:11:09] Speaker 1: Baylor, the reliable violent offense. This kind of.
[1:11:14] Speaker 3: Sounds like AI slop. I assure you it is not.
[1:11:16] Speaker 3: It is a real thing. Yeah, you need the line, though,
[1:11:21] Speaker 3: you need the line. The offense starts now with a
[1:11:24] Speaker 3: rebuilt line, and I think it extends out to Colton Joseph.
[1:11:28] Speaker 3: Their new QB one comes over from ODU, hopefully a
[1:11:32] Speaker 3: little bit of a deeper running back room and hopefully
[1:11:34] Speaker 3: a little bit more tight end involvement. I think that's
[1:11:37] Speaker 3: what it looks. That's what the RVO looks.
[1:11:40] Speaker 1: Like this year. If you're Jeff Grimes, provided it all works.
[1:11:43] Speaker 2: Who's had some good offenses these past few years, Like
[1:11:46] Speaker 2: since the Zach Wilson stuff at BYU, Baylor's had some
[1:11:49] Speaker 2: decent offenses. I think it was only at Kansas for
[1:11:52] Speaker 2: a year or so, but I mean it was a
[1:11:54] Speaker 2: disaster last year.
[1:11:55] Speaker 3: It was not good last year. But yeah, track record
[1:11:58] Speaker 3: is there. I do think they he landed a good
[1:12:00] Speaker 3: one in Colton Joseph. The quarterback from ODU. So if
[1:12:04] Speaker 3: you don't know his deal, dynamic runner, truly a dual
[1:12:08] Speaker 3: threat guy. The risk with him is a twenty percent
[1:12:14] Speaker 3: pressure to sack ratio while he was at Old Dominion.
[1:12:18] Speaker 1: What does that mean?
[1:12:21] Speaker 3: That means for every five times he was pressured he
[1:12:24] Speaker 3: took one sack. You layer in that he also had
[1:12:28] Speaker 3: ten interceptions and seven fumbles.
[1:12:30] Speaker 2: These are against sun Belt defenses.
[1:12:32] Speaker 3: As I said in part one. As I said in
[1:12:34] Speaker 3: part one, the concern is you got to rebuilt line.
[1:12:38] Speaker 3: You got a mobile quarterback who they're certainly going to
[1:12:40] Speaker 3: put on the run with a recent track record for
[1:12:43] Speaker 3: turning the ball over, and just Wisconsin as a whole
[1:12:47] Speaker 3: has a problem with quarterback health. There is your downside. Okay,
[1:12:52] Speaker 3: there is your risk. The upside is obvious because he
[1:12:55] Speaker 3: could throw, he could run. They just have not had
[1:12:58] Speaker 3: luck with transfer quarterbacks. So what it looks like upfront
[1:13:02] Speaker 3: with that line, what it looks like with respect to
[1:13:05] Speaker 3: can they also like we've discussed with a couple teams here,
[1:13:08] Speaker 3: can they also get a little bit of balance on
[1:13:10] Speaker 3: the ground that I think is going to be overwhelmingly
[1:13:14] Speaker 3: important to.
[1:13:15] Speaker 1: Whether or not this project takes flight. Now with Colton
[1:13:18] Speaker 1: Joseph at the.
[1:13:18] Speaker 2: Helm, there are pieces to this team even pieces to
[1:13:22] Speaker 2: this offense that I could squint and see working. But
[1:13:28] Speaker 2: I have to squint. But I like the Hires. I
[1:13:33] Speaker 2: like the transfers on the offensive line. I like that
[1:13:37] Speaker 2: I can kind of see what they're going for. I
[1:13:40] Speaker 2: like that they know they probably if they get anything
[1:13:43] Speaker 2: out of receiver, it's a bonus. There's so much unknown
[1:13:46] Speaker 2: at receiver. They're like, Okay, let's lock in on running
[1:13:49] Speaker 2: the ball tight end. The athleticism of Colton Joseph. Figure
[1:13:52] Speaker 2: out how to put him in a position to succeed both.
[1:13:54] Speaker 1: Arms and legs.
[1:13:55] Speaker 2: Whatever limit turnovers. They're not gonna be bombing it down
[1:13:58] Speaker 2: the field. They're not gonna be running the air raid
[1:14:00] Speaker 2: they had been trying to do previously.
[1:14:03] Speaker 1: Do you remember that. I remember talking about that with you.
[1:14:07] Speaker 2: If Tanner Mordechai didn't get hurt.
[1:14:09] Speaker 1: I like Tanner Mordecai. I did like Tanner Mordecai.
[1:14:12] Speaker 2: But I like that they're going in a very specific
[1:14:16] Speaker 2: direction with this this wing. In a prayer, I guess
[1:14:20] Speaker 2: the defense will see. I think there are terrific pieces
[1:14:23] Speaker 2: on this defense, especially upfront, maybe not along the defensive line,
[1:14:28] Speaker 2: but edge and linebacker front seven.
[1:14:30] Speaker 1: They are kind of reassembling themselves, you know.
[1:14:33] Speaker 2: At least like that middle of the defense at linebacker
[1:14:35] Speaker 2: and maybe you know they line them up at edge
[1:14:37] Speaker 2: rusher or something. I'm fine with Wisconsin taking a step forward,
[1:14:41] Speaker 2: but what does that actually mean for Luke Fickle? What
[1:14:44] Speaker 2: does that actually mean for this program?
[1:14:46] Speaker 3: Like?
[1:14:46] Speaker 2: Are we putting in all this money, all this effort,
[1:14:49] Speaker 2: all of these transfers for Wisconsin who finally has some
[1:14:53] Speaker 2: breathing room on a schedule, which by the way, also
[1:14:55] Speaker 2: starts at Lambelefield against Notre Dame, right, Like, they still
[1:14:58] Speaker 2: have to travel to Penn State and I think the
[1:15:00] Speaker 2: first month of the season they're traveling across the country
[1:15:03] Speaker 2: to a UCLA team, but that might be more realized
[1:15:05] Speaker 2: by the time they play, and then follow that up
[1:15:07] Speaker 2: with sc following that up at Iowa, and then the
[1:15:11] Speaker 2: schedule opens up some more. But you're saying to yourself, Okay,
[1:15:15] Speaker 2: are they putting in this much effort into a year
[1:15:18] Speaker 2: where they don't have what Ohio State, Oregon or Indiana,
[1:15:21] Speaker 2: but they do have Notre Dame, so they do have
[1:15:22] Speaker 2: a playoff team in there. All this effort for seven
[1:15:27] Speaker 2: and five, eight and four to fully max out I
[1:15:30] Speaker 2: don't know. That's where I'm at with him. What's their number?
[1:15:33] Speaker 2: What's their their win total number?
[1:15:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, right now, Wisconsin's at six and a half.
[1:15:38] Speaker 2: I think I have them at seven and five. I
[1:15:39] Speaker 2: think they're a bowl team. If they win a bowl
[1:15:41] Speaker 2: at it does eight and five say, Okay, we're going
[1:15:43] Speaker 2: in the right direction. Let's keep spending. Wisconsin should never
[1:15:47] Speaker 2: be a seven and five program. In my mind, my
[1:15:50] Speaker 2: history with them was a different Big ten. It's a
[1:15:53] Speaker 2: different time.
[1:15:54] Speaker 1: What's the cutoff for Luke Fickle keeping his job?
[1:16:00] Speaker 3: Wins?
[1:16:02] Speaker 2: I just don't think you can put this much money
[1:16:03] Speaker 2: and effort into a program and not win eight games?
[1:16:07] Speaker 1: See the gay wins the game for seven and five
[1:16:09] Speaker 1: isn't good enough. I don't think so seven and five
[1:16:12] Speaker 1: would be progressed, though.
[1:16:15] Speaker 2: It would be progress. But again, we're all shaped by
[1:16:19] Speaker 2: how much better teams can get quickly. It depends I
[1:16:24] Speaker 2: guess who the seven are.
[1:16:26] Speaker 3: I also think it depends who else is out there.
[1:16:30] Speaker 3: It depends who else is out there on the coaching carousel.
[1:16:33] Speaker 3: Because part of the reason why, and I believe this,
[1:16:36] Speaker 3: I don't think Wisconsin made the movie year ago is
[1:16:38] Speaker 3: because it was a very crowded.
[1:16:39] Speaker 1: Field, and if you could avoid it.
[1:16:41] Speaker 3: You never want to be in that situation where you're
[1:16:43] Speaker 3: like the fifth best job. You know, you want to
[1:16:46] Speaker 3: have your pick of the litter. So I could certainly
[1:16:49] Speaker 3: see it in twenty twenty six. Let's say they get
[1:16:53] Speaker 3: to seven and five. Maybe even it's a shaky and
[1:16:56] Speaker 3: for I don't know.
[1:16:57] Speaker 2: We've seen a lot of shaky eight and fours in
[1:16:58] Speaker 2: this sport.
[1:16:59] Speaker 3: I could see a situation where they're looking around to
[1:17:02] Speaker 3: see who else might be gettable. And because I don't
[1:17:06] Speaker 3: expect it to be as active a cycle in the
[1:17:08] Speaker 3: coaching carousel, Wisconsin makes a move, even if they do
[1:17:11] Speaker 3: a little bit better than they have in in past years,
[1:17:13] Speaker 3: I could see them making that move simply because they've got,
[1:17:16] Speaker 3: you know, better options with respect to where they go next. Okay,
[1:17:22] Speaker 3: I've got them at seven and five again, just like
[1:17:25] Speaker 3: you do. I could see anywhere between six and six
[1:17:29] Speaker 3: and eight and four, but I'm gonna go seven and five.
[1:17:31] Speaker 1: We'll go right in the middle. All right, we grew.
[1:17:35] Speaker 3: All right, we got two more teams, Dan, we got Rutgers,
[1:17:37] Speaker 3: we got Purdue, which.
[1:17:38] Speaker 1: T you is more interesting?
[1:17:40] Speaker 2: Rutgers Absolutely, Rutgers. Why I don't know, like there is
[1:17:45] Speaker 2: something about a greag Ciano team making wholesale changes on defense,
[1:17:50] Speaker 2: going extreme in the portal, hiring a new coordinator, a
[1:17:53] Speaker 2: history of great shadow teams, figuring out defense, and finally
[1:17:58] Speaker 2: taking a really interesting start forward on offense last year
[1:18:02] Speaker 2: that maybe I just I have a soft spot, Maybe
[1:18:05] Speaker 2: I'm rooting for him. Maybe I've just liked watching Antoine
[1:18:08] Speaker 2: Raymond last season as he came on and the receivers,
[1:18:11] Speaker 2: both receivers under the Greek freak. I don't know that Rutgers,
[1:18:17] Speaker 2: a feisty Rutgers to me, is not out of reach.
[1:18:21] Speaker 3: Rutgers went five and seven last year. The offense produced
[1:18:26] Speaker 3: a three thousand yard passer, a one thousand yard rusher,
[1:18:30] Speaker 3: and a one thousand yard receiver for the first time together, yeah,
[1:18:34] Speaker 3: since two thousand and seven, So it felt as if
[1:18:38] Speaker 3: there was some progress on that side of the ball.
[1:18:40] Speaker 3: But on the other side, on defense, Rutgers was terrible.
[1:18:44] Speaker 3: They were ninety fifth in defensive sp plus one hundred
[1:18:48] Speaker 3: and thirty six, dead last in explosive plays.
[1:18:51] Speaker 1: Allowed, second from the bottom in sacks.
[1:18:55] Speaker 3: A bunch of numbers here that I could list off
[1:18:57] Speaker 3: that all proved that they were really really bad on defense,
[1:19:01] Speaker 3: and then to boot they had four blown second half leads.
[1:19:05] Speaker 3: They had three of those blown in the fourth quarter alone.
[1:19:08] Speaker 3: They also had a late interception after a really good
[1:19:11] Speaker 3: first half against Iowa. They botched a shotgun snap before
[1:19:15] Speaker 3: they missed a field goal in a three point loss
[1:19:18] Speaker 3: to Minnesota. And they had a scoop and score in
[1:19:21] Speaker 3: that Penn State game on a play action fumble that
[1:19:25] Speaker 3: tipped the balance of that one as well. So you
[1:19:27] Speaker 3: can kind of see it a couple different ways depending
[1:19:30] Speaker 3: on your point of view. On the Rutgers side, on offense,
[1:19:34] Speaker 3: definitely meaningful improvement. On defense, it was horrible, But then
[1:19:40] Speaker 3: somewhere in between you had these moments.
[1:19:43] Speaker 1: Often football is a game of moments.
[1:19:44] Speaker 3: These moments that went against Rutgers and no doubt contributed
[1:19:48] Speaker 3: to a five and seven season.
[1:19:51] Speaker 2: I agree, I agree, I just I think there's life there.
[1:19:54] Speaker 2: I think I'm choosing to look at the competitive nature
[1:19:58] Speaker 2: of some of those games. Their schedule this season combined
[1:20:02] Speaker 2: with look, if if they get something from quarterback once
[1:20:05] Speaker 2: again a reclamation project, it might be what Dylan lauergen
[1:20:09] Speaker 2: at quarterback. I still like the scale talent. Their schedule
[1:20:13] Speaker 2: is situationally kind of interesting. I don't know how much
[1:20:17] Speaker 2: you've looked at their slate this year. So they get
[1:20:21] Speaker 2: SC before SC's tear of difficulty and they host sc S.
[1:20:25] Speaker 2: He has to fly to New Jersey before SC hosts
[1:20:29] Speaker 2: Oregon and Washington before they themselves go back to the
[1:20:32] Speaker 2: East coast to play Penn State yep, okay. So there's
[1:20:36] Speaker 2: there's that element to them when you look at the
[1:20:38] Speaker 2: win the potentially winnable games for Rutgers. On this schedule,
[1:20:42] Speaker 2: they have Maryland on the road, but it's a week before.
[1:20:45] Speaker 2: A week before then, Maryland has Ohio State on the road.
[1:20:49] Speaker 2: Northwestern has something brutal I believe around at Northwestern right
[1:20:53] Speaker 2: after it has Oregon, Iowa, Ohio State, right after they
[1:20:56] Speaker 2: host Rutgers.
[1:20:58] Speaker 1: Yea, they have.
[1:21:00] Speaker 2: Rutgers has Wisconsin on the road a week after Wisconsin
[1:21:04] Speaker 2: has Iowa on the road. Like there's just moments here
[1:21:08] Speaker 2: for Rutgers that if there is something feisty about this
[1:21:11] Speaker 2: Rutgers team, if some of these smaller school transfers, because
[1:21:14] Speaker 2: that's what they are, a lot of these guys for Rutgers,
[1:21:17] Speaker 2: if some of these guys work out, I don't have
[1:21:19] Speaker 2: a ton of confidence that they will, but I think
[1:21:22] Speaker 2: the schedule does put them in enough of a position
[1:21:25] Speaker 2: to make it an interesting conversation.
[1:21:28] Speaker 3: This is one of the more interesting Sandwich games that
[1:21:32] Speaker 3: I circled in all of the notes that I've been
[1:21:35] Speaker 3: taking for all these power schools. Yeah, Michigan Wolverines. Okay, agree,
[1:21:42] Speaker 3: Misgan Wolverines come off of a bye, They host Penn State,
[1:21:46] Speaker 3: they host Indiana back to back weeks on Halloween, Dan
[1:21:53] Speaker 3: they are on the road against Rutgers. So two teams
[1:21:57] Speaker 3: that I think at that point will be ranked no doubt,
[1:21:59] Speaker 3: Penn State Indiana.
[1:22:00] Speaker 1: Now you're on the road against Rutgers.
[1:22:03] Speaker 3: The following week, you come back home to square off
[1:22:05] Speaker 3: against Michigan State rivalry.
[1:22:08] Speaker 1: And then after that, as.
[1:22:10] Speaker 3: We get into November fourteenth, week eleven, you're back on
[1:22:13] Speaker 3: the road, this time against Oregon. So clearly, in that
[1:22:16] Speaker 3: stretch of games, Michigan State might end up being the
[1:22:20] Speaker 3: worst of the lot, but for sure they're going to
[1:22:23] Speaker 3: be on the radar for Michigan. The team that I
[1:22:26] Speaker 3: think they are most inclined to overlook would be Rutgers
[1:22:29] Speaker 3: away on Halloween, where everyone's going to be dressed up.
[1:22:32] Speaker 3: I'm not saying they're beating Michigan, but in terms of
[1:22:35] Speaker 3: sandwich spots, there's like a double decker layer on both
[1:22:39] Speaker 3: sides of that Rutgers meet.
[1:22:41] Speaker 1: Yeah, that I think.
[1:22:42] Speaker 3: Is going to be a little bit more on Michigan's
[1:22:45] Speaker 3: radar than certainly the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
[1:22:48] Speaker 2: Absolutely do not go to the Rutgers meet something. Now,
[1:22:51] Speaker 2: do not go to Rutgers meets. Not what you think
[1:22:53] Speaker 2: it is, And I know what you think it is,
[1:22:56] Speaker 2: not what you think it is.
[1:22:58] Speaker 3: Schiano did respond though, by kind of nuking the defense,
[1:23:01] Speaker 3: and he's bringing in Travis Johanson who comes over from
[1:23:04] Speaker 3: South Dakota. He's been very successful at lower levels of
[1:23:07] Speaker 3: college football. It's an open question as to whether or
[1:23:11] Speaker 3: not a contingent of fcs and G six transfers are
[1:23:16] Speaker 3: going to hold up against the likes of USC and
[1:23:18] Speaker 3: Indiana and Penn State and all the teams we just described.
[1:23:22] Speaker 3: But he's at least trying something different, and he's at
[1:23:25] Speaker 3: least turning to a guy who's had some success, all
[1:23:27] Speaker 3: be it at a much different level of college football.
[1:23:29] Speaker 1: So I agree with you.
[1:23:31] Speaker 3: I also think, like to your point, Antoine Raymond at
[1:23:36] Speaker 3: running back is a really interesting piece. kJ Duff out
[1:23:39] Speaker 3: wide as a monster if they can get any kind
[1:23:42] Speaker 3: of consistency at quarterback, presumably from Dylan Lanergen, who played
[1:23:47] Speaker 3: a season ago at Boston College, has some powerful experience.
[1:23:52] Speaker 3: I think there are elements of this Rutgers team that, again,
[1:23:54] Speaker 3: if you squint, you you could find quite interesting. I'm
[1:23:57] Speaker 3: just not sure what the ceiling looks like these guys.
[1:24:01] Speaker 2: It's a ball. It's six and six, seven and five.
[1:24:03] Speaker 2: It's six and six and.
[1:24:04] Speaker 1: Seven and five. The over under is four and a half.
[1:24:07] Speaker 1: So I've got them.
[1:24:08] Speaker 3: Is a drive drive for six situation for sure, I've
[1:24:11] Speaker 3: got them at five and seven.
[1:24:13] Speaker 2: I got six and six. Okay, look they they're winnable.
[1:24:16] Speaker 2: Games are set up nicely right getting BC. I think
[1:24:18] Speaker 2: BC's on the road. You mass that finished with Michigan State.
[1:24:21] Speaker 2: A week after Michigan State, I believe host Oregon again.
[1:24:23] Speaker 2: So Oregon softening up another opponent for Rutgers. They got
[1:24:27] Speaker 2: to steal one. If they want to get to a ball,
[1:24:28] Speaker 2: they're going to need to steal one.
[1:24:29] Speaker 1: Of those games.
[1:24:30] Speaker 3: I just I don't It doesn't look obvious to me
[1:24:32] Speaker 3: who that team's going to be. But I do think
[1:24:34] Speaker 3: that at least on offense. There's enough talent there to
[1:24:37] Speaker 3: be interesting. It's just can they get any better on defense?
[1:24:40] Speaker 2: Look, Rock Obect knows a lot of things.
[1:24:43] Speaker 1: He doesn't know.
[1:24:44] Speaker 3: Rutgers, Okay, fair enough, fair enough, let's close this out
[1:24:49] Speaker 3: then with perdue perdue. Last season, new coach a lot
[1:24:55] Speaker 3: of new players two and ten zero to nine in conference.
[1:24:59] Speaker 3: This year, they got four new starters along the offensive line.
[1:25:03] Speaker 3: But they also want to lean a little heavier into.
[1:25:05] Speaker 1: The run game. So see how that works. Don't know.
[1:25:10] Speaker 3: Kevin Kane is back now as their defensive coordinator. He
[1:25:13] Speaker 3: was with Purdue, then he spent the year away with Minnesota.
[1:25:17] Speaker 3: Kevin Kane is a havoc guy. Kevin Kane wants to
[1:25:20] Speaker 3: dial up pressure. He wants to create sacks. He wants
[1:25:22] Speaker 3: to create TFLs. He wants to try and change the
[1:25:25] Speaker 3: game again. Can you do it with the talent here?
[1:25:29] Speaker 3: I don't would it be ts FL?
[1:25:32] Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess tackles for loss, but.
[1:25:35] Speaker 2: I don't know if it's the Okay, TfL is self
[1:25:38] Speaker 2: contained enough?
[1:25:38] Speaker 1: Okay? I think yeah.
[1:25:41] Speaker 3: I think that they will be better just in terms
[1:25:44] Speaker 3: of talent on the roster. I think there is clearly
[1:25:47] Speaker 3: more depth on this Purdue side. I also think it's
[1:25:51] Speaker 3: going to take a minute. I still think this is
[1:25:53] Speaker 3: very much a work in progress. I'm not crazy about
[1:25:56] Speaker 3: Ryan Brown, but at least there's some continuity on the
[1:25:58] Speaker 3: offensive side act But I don't know what the receiving
[1:26:02] Speaker 3: room looks like. I think they had a huge problem
[1:26:04] Speaker 3: with just in general offensive efficiency a year ago. That's
[1:26:08] Speaker 3: probably going to rear its ugly ahead at some point
[1:26:10] Speaker 3: here before long. I guess for me it's really a
[1:26:14] Speaker 3: matter of is another year of Ryan Brown and some
[1:26:17] Speaker 3: depth around him and maybe a renewed focus on trying
[1:26:20] Speaker 3: to run the football going to be enough for them
[1:26:23] Speaker 3: to take some meaningful step forward.
[1:26:25] Speaker 1: I'm leary on that.
[1:26:27] Speaker 2: Yeah, And obviously, always having Indiana on the schedule at
[1:26:30] Speaker 2: least for the forese of a future while Kurt Signette's
[1:26:33] Speaker 2: there is not going to be terribly pleasant.
[1:26:36] Speaker 3: And I mean it's not just Indiana, Okay, it's not
[1:26:39] Speaker 3: just Indiana. It's also Notre Dame, Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, Penn State,
[1:26:44] Speaker 3: and Iowa that are all on this thing. So if
[1:26:48] Speaker 3: you look at the schedule and if you're trying to
[1:26:50] Speaker 3: figure out.
[1:26:51] Speaker 1: Where are the must win games.
[1:26:52] Speaker 3: If we want to see some real meaningful progress here,
[1:26:56] Speaker 3: you're looking like Week two against Wake Forest.
[1:26:58] Speaker 1: They're just not tough.
[1:27:00] Speaker 3: Not a lot on the schedule that looks like it's
[1:27:01] Speaker 3: that gettable for Purdue.
[1:27:03] Speaker 2: Agree, and their path to scoring thirty points twenty seven
[1:27:08] Speaker 2: points more often is just not obvious. No, Like, they
[1:27:12] Speaker 2: want to run the ball more, Ryan Brown wants to
[1:27:14] Speaker 2: canned to develop and get more accurate, and I just
[1:27:20] Speaker 2: I'm not seeing it. I like the pressure they were
[1:27:24] Speaker 2: able to get a little bit on quarterbacks last season.
[1:27:27] Speaker 2: I like how for stretches two three quarters at times
[1:27:30] Speaker 2: they were looking competitive against some of the better teams
[1:27:33] Speaker 2: they played. I like that on this schedule, there are
[1:27:37] Speaker 2: opportunities at home if you know, Maryland doesn't work out
[1:27:39] Speaker 2: if Wisconsin doesn't work out relatively late. But those are
[1:27:42] Speaker 2: crazy sandwich moments too between Penn State, Iowa, and Indiana games.
[1:27:47] Speaker 2: So the schedule isn't terribly forgiving, as you've sort of
[1:27:50] Speaker 2: alluded to. When you get Notre Dame outside of the
[1:27:53] Speaker 2: conference late. I just don't see a path the five wins.
[1:27:58] Speaker 3: No.
[1:27:58] Speaker 1: I don't either either.
[1:28:01] Speaker 3: I will root for it, though, and I will send
[1:28:02] Speaker 3: a shout out to our Purdue contingent that yeah, listens
[1:28:07] Speaker 3: faithfully and roots on the boiler Makers, our hope, our
[1:28:10] Speaker 3: guy for baller. Eric continues sending us the long write
[1:28:13] Speaker 3: ups about Purdue football. He does a better job, frankly
[1:28:16] Speaker 3: than I.
[1:28:17] Speaker 2: Feel like he will send us an email resigning that role.
[1:28:20] Speaker 3: Well, he needs to get back at it. Let's get
[1:28:22] Speaker 3: back he's he's been sort of like my go to
[1:28:24] Speaker 3: source for all things perdue here over the last couple
[1:28:27] Speaker 3: of years out of bar dot com.
[1:28:30] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[1:28:30] Speaker 3: Okay, so we've got nine more teams that will be
[1:28:34] Speaker 3: coming your way when we jump on over into Part three.
[1:28:38] Speaker 3: We covered I think the Big Three on today's episode,
[1:28:41] Speaker 3: and then a collection of other teams that were of
[1:28:44] Speaker 3: interest for one reason or another. But this is such
[1:28:46] Speaker 3: a big conference at this point, it's not hard to
[1:28:48] Speaker 3: find interesting teams. In part three, We've got USC, Michigan
[1:28:52] Speaker 3: and Penn State. We've got Illinois, Minnesota and UCLA, and
[1:28:56] Speaker 3: we've got Northwestern Maryland and Michigan State, Yes, which I'm
[1:29:01] Speaker 3: very excited about. That'll be coming your way on our
[1:29:03] Speaker 3: next episode this coming Thursday. And then after that we've
[1:29:07] Speaker 3: got the SEC before we I guess snap into form.
[1:29:09] Speaker 3: We talk about some of the other news that's been
[1:29:11] Speaker 3: going on around college footballbit Jersey patches or perhaps congressional legislation.
[1:29:18] Speaker 3: What's going on with the class of twenty twenty two,
[1:29:21] Speaker 3: do they get more eligibility?
[1:29:23] Speaker 1: There's a lot going on around.
[1:29:25] Speaker 3: The world of college football as we go through these previews,
[1:29:27] Speaker 3: so we'll try to touch base on those fronts as well.
[1:29:30] Speaker 3: If you are new here, please make sure you hit
[1:29:32] Speaker 3: follow or subscribe if you want going out to verballers
[1:29:36] Speaker 3: dot com. Dan, I'm about to switch the portal on.
[1:29:38] Speaker 1: By the way, did I tell you ooh love.
[1:29:41] Speaker 3: That I'm going to switch the portal on this week?
[1:29:43] Speaker 3: So at time of recording, it's not done officially yet.
[1:29:48] Speaker 3: I'll probably be making a post out on Patreon atverbowlers
[1:29:50] Speaker 3: dot com giving people a little bit more details about
[1:29:53] Speaker 3: what they can expect and how they can get in
[1:29:55] Speaker 3: and check it out.
[1:29:57] Speaker 2: Love to hear it, solid rebel at gmail dot com.
[1:30:00] Speaker 3: If you have any thoughts on anything you heard here today,
[1:30:02] Speaker 3: if you want to add any flavor to I don't
[1:30:05] Speaker 3: know our preseason projections for any of these nine teams
[1:30:08] Speaker 3: or any of the nine that we're going to discuss
[1:30:10] Speaker 3: on our next episode. We'd love to hear from you again.
[1:30:13] Speaker 3: Hit follow or subscribe if you've yet to do so.
[1:30:15] Speaker 3: If that guy Dan for myself over here, Ty, thanks
[1:30:18] Speaker 3: again for ongoing support. We can't show on thurpytenstis all peace,

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.