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As Ty attends to shoulder issues, Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples joins Dan to go deep into SEC updates, his post-spring top 25, Les Miles, futures USC and Texas coaches, and BBQ meats. Lots of BBQ meats.
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Ty is off doing day job stuff, so Dan is joined by EDSBS and Deadspin’s Celebrity Hot Tub to discuss all things, well, who knows. There’s a little bit of college football and a lot of life talk in the next hour. I can’t promise you’ll be smarter, but after listening, you’ll definitely be an hour older.
Show SummaryToday on the Solid Verbal, Ty is off working at his mysterious day job so Dan welcomes Celebrity Hot Tub to the show. Hot Tub makes his in-person/voice debut after several years of saying ridiculous things on Twitter under his anonymous moniker. He divulges the origins behind his Twitter account, his alter ego, Run Home Jack on Every Day Should Be Saturday, and what he does outside of his Internet dealings.
Dan starts off with the only serious topic of the night, the Ed O’Bannon suit and the chatter around it following Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney’s interview with SI.com.
They then get into various reader questions, starting with whether farting in a meeting at work could hinder your ability to move up in a company, which schools would be the first to use drones (Lethal and nonlethal) and what their top-three favorite words are.
The veil continues to be pulled back on Hot Tub with the revelation that his favorite drunk food is the combination of chocolate milk and animal crackers, and he is a multicultural man with knowledge of several languages.
The conversation switches back to college football with the question of which coaches are the ones who don’t eat, breathe, sleep football and instead stalk exes on Facebook, play Snood and look at cat gifs.
Dan and Hot Tub then get into a talk about 90s game shows and Dan throws out an elaborate situation in which you run into Carmen San Diego at the grocery store. What would you do? What if she was an actual criminal and how did she get away with so much while being so good looking?
A Vicky writes in asking why the guys don’t start the college football season at the Clemson/Georgia game. Hot Tub gives Dan the scoop on South of the Border, off Interstate 95.
Hot Tub then asks Dan about his first karaoke experience the night prior and Hot Tub talks about his go-to songs when hitting the stage.
The guys close out the show with some Mariah Carey talk and reflect upon 90s music videos.
Links
> Yahoo! Sports — O’Bannon case could be a game changer
> SI.com — Delaney: Big Ten could de-emphasize athletics if O’Bannon plaintiffs win
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Ty and Dan talk with Stewart Mandel about spring storylines in the Pac-12, the rise of Michigan and Ohio State, Texas A&M’s stock, television shows and possible suitors for a hypothetical Pope of College Football. Plus, an in-depth discussion about the diseases in Oregon Trail and American Gladiators.
Show SummaryOn today’s Solid Verbal, Ty and Dan talk to Stuart Mandel from SI.com on all things surrounding the offseason. But first, they touch on a few housekeeping items:
If you head over to The Solid Verbal Facebook page and become a fan, click on the “Overtime” section and check out the audio of Ty and Dan as they drive around South Beach before the BCS Championship.It’s about time to fill out your brackets. Join The Solid Verbal bracket challenge over at ESPN.com and compete with Ty, Dan and other Verballers. Winner takes home a t-shirt.Mandel drops in via Skype and is prompted as to whom his choice for “college football pope” would be. After throwing out a few names, Mandel nominates Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel for his embrace of tradition and understanding for the current state of the sport and how to improve it.
Mandel then gets into a few of the teams he’s visited over the past few weeks and what could be expected come September. He was impressed by how good Stanford looks, especially throwing the ball down field. He also talks about how Sonny Dykes’ first year at Cal could be rough, but he has changed his tune on how good of a long-term fit Dykes is at Berkley. Mandel takes on the “Texas is Texas” adage and says this year, with 19 returning starters, Mack Brown has no excuse if his team doesn’t compete for the Big 12 title. He also visited Texas A&M and despite having the “hot program” label, overcoming its losses on defense and Kliff Kingsbury could be tougher than most think.
Before he goes, Mandel hits on a few more subjects, including new coaching hires, which program is primed to be the next Boise State, the Pac-12 programs that will be able to compete with Oregon and Stanford every year and how many teams can win the Big 12.
Ty and Dan spend the last part of the show tackling some emails, Facebook messages and tweets. They decide if a Clemson national championship or Jadeveon Clowney winning the Heisman is more likely, which Oregon Trail disease they’d most like to contract, if there’s any water to Urban Meyer’s idea of eliminating the redshirt system, a follow up on sexiest non-human animated character, and which American Gladiator they’d be.
Links
> SI.com — Sonny Dykes set on energizing Cal’s offense in 2013
> SI.com — Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel still adjusting to celebrity life
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Ty and Dan delve into a healthy batch of college football and non-college football questions courtesy of the listening public. It gets a little weird.
Show SummaryIn today’s episode of The Solid Verbal, Ty and Dan take a break from the guest circuit and answer questions from listener emails, tweets and Facebook messages.
They start off with the shocking news of the day that former four-star recruit Gunner Kiel decided to transfer after spending one year with Notre Dame and later speculate as to where he might land.
The guys open up the mailbox and give their thoughts on who could be the surprise team come next season and stay away from some obvious choices, picking Virginia Tech and Cal among others.
A reader poses the question as to how easy Ohio State’s 2013 schedule is based on a scale of 1-to-10 drunk Paris Hilton’s. They run through the schedule and, at this point in time, foresee the schedule at being an 8 on the drunk Paris Hilton scale.
Ty and Dan get into some movie talk, first discussing what their name would be in a sports-related porno. They shift into talking about what movies they’ve seen lately, which sports movies they’d like to see remade in 3D and which non-human animated character is the hottest.
They get back into the sporting realm by answering which team they put the most the most hope into before the season, only to be let down. The guys keep on rolling hitting on rivalries, the time they tried to get Bill Simmons on the show, road trip plans for the 2013 season and their holiday power rankings.
The show winds down with one last disgusting hypothetical: Would you rather watch your parents have sex in perpetuity or join them once and never have to watch again? There is only one answer.
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Ty and Dan talk with Chris Brown from SmartFootball.com about up-tempo offensive trends, the evolution of the Air Raid offense, Auburn’s switch to a 4-2-5 defense, the graduation of the read option to the pro game, the turnaround of Matt McGloin, and much more. (In short, just listen because this was really good.)
Show SummaryToday on The Solid Verbal, Ty and Dan welcome the original knowledge-bomb dropper, Chris Brown from Smart Football.
Brown starts off with a few general trends he noticed from the previous college football season, such as an increase in the prevalence of the zone-read and the overall increase in the pace of the game.
Brown talks about the reigning Heisman Trophy winner in Johnny Football and how he’s different from Tim Tebow and Cam Newton, how he’s progressing as a quarterback, and the challenges Kevin Sumlin faces coaching him.
Next, Brown hits on the big changes fans have seen from Mike Leach’s original air raid offense implemented by his coaching disciples around the country. While Leach’s offense is the air raid in it’s purest form, he points to others who are incorporating more running plays into the system and how there are even coaches like Sonny Dykes who mix in power formations.
The Texas defense/piñata is brought up and Brown examines whether last year’s issues where more personnel or scheme based.
Brown breaks down a few new hires, from Ellis Johnson and Gus Malzahn at Auburn, to Butch Jones at Tennessee, to new Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich. He also touches on what voodoo Penn State coach Bill O’Brien put on Matt McGloin to make him the best pocket passer in the Big Ten.
Brown talks about the read option in the NFL, its long-term viability in the league and how it’s another wrinkle carried over to the pros that college football fans have been watching for over a decade.
Naturally, the interview ends with a hypothetical from Dan: Which coach would you have a drink with, which would you have dinner with and which would you take on a road trip?
Basically the “Kill, Marry, F***” of college football.
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Dan is Ty-less, but checks in with Football Study Hall’s Bill Connelly to talk the latest college football metrics and what they tell us about the current crop of college football players and teams and where numbers are headed in the future as we constantly try to learn more.
Show SummaryOn today’s show, Dan flies solo while Ty is off working at his mysterious day job.
Bill Connelly from Football Study Hall and Football Outsiders stops by to keep Dan from being lonely, but mostly to break down the numbers from the previous college football season.
Connelly starts off explaining the F+ rankings he uses on the site to determine offensive, defensive and special teams efficiency.
Next he gets into some of the things he found surprising after watching quarterback tape from the 2012 season. A few of the nuggets: One third of Geno Smith’s completed passes were to players behind the line of scrimmage, Connor Shaw slings the ball downfield about once every five passes and Matt Barkley has a below average completion percentage in throws greater than 25 yards.
The talk shifts toward the NFL draft and how one applies this information in the draft process. Connelly breaks down the pundit-favorite term “arm strength” and what the experts really mean when they throw that phrase around.
Connelly discusses what role luck plays in college football and how recovering fumbles and picking off passes, as opposed to batting down balls, can really swing a season a few games one way or the other. He identifies the lucky and unlucky squads of 2012, and touches on how Bill Snyder and Kansas State defied the numbers, lucking out for two successful campaigns.
He also hits on his favorite command in Excel, favorite statistic, least favorite statistic, and which teams were underrated and overrated according to the numbers in the 2012 season.
Dan closes out the show by posing to Connelly the awkward hypothetical of the evening: You’re an 18-year-old and you can have a romantic rendezvous with an unobtainable adolescent crush or the “hot” celebrity of your day. The catch is, your performance will be analyzed by Bill Snyder. Do you still do it?
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Ty and Dan talk through a few of the current offseason storylines in college football and work their way through a diverse catalog of Verballer messages, answering questions about Wisconsin’s future, Texas A&M hype, robots, and Nic Cage.
Show SummaryTy and Dan lead off the show talking about offseason storylines thus far. They discuss the NFL combine, draft coverage and how the pro football media dissects the players they’ve watched during the past few years. The guys delve into a little NCAA talk with the latest news surrounding Nevin Shapiro and Miami, and bring up Clay Travis’ article on how Johnny Football could potentially cash in on his name. Jim Bollman and his mustache get a mention too, as the former Ohio State offensive coordinator is set to take the same job at Michigan State, to the sadness of many Spartans.
Next up Ty and Dan dive into some mail, starting with the most important question of the night: What is your Disney animated film hierarchy? They agree with Lion King as the No. 1 seed, but it takes a bit of discussion from there.
Next they hit on teams that will be over-hyped and under-hyped coming out of spring practice, Jadeveon Clowney and Braxton Miller gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated, and Ty breaks down how the Fast franchise could go 10 movies deep. Boudoir photos are brought up and Dan proves yet again he is a master at hypotheticals.
The show closes, at long last, with the BCS Championship game Reverbs. Enjoy.
Links:
> AP — AP Source: NCAA Found 170k in Shapiro Benefits
> Outkick the Coverage — Johnny Manziel Opens Massive Loophole in Paying Players Rule
> SB Nation — Jim Bollman to be Michigan State offensive coordinator, according to report
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Ty and Dan record from Allentown and Madison and discuss upset losses by Oregon and Kansas State, Notre Dame’s looming game with USC, “FCS Week” in the SEC, and Dan’s demeanor in a lonely Wisconsin bar.