July Q&A: Surprise Contenders, New Coach Leashes & Ice Cream Sundaes | College Football

Ty Hildenbrand

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. This is Tab Ramos from Inside American Soccer. And this summer, topgolf is turning into the ultimate soccer destination. They've got a new soccer themed game you can play with your group. Exclusive food and drink items. They've even installed full size soccer goals so you can try to hit golf balls right into the net. And every match all summer long will be on throughout the venue. And if you want to keep the fun going all summer, you you can get the topgolf Summer Fun Pass which lets you play every single day and bring up to five guests every visit. Get yours now@TopGolf.com FunPass Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts why did I search the Internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that. Don't go down the rabbit hole.

Dan Rubenstein

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Ty Hildenbrand

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Dan Rubenstein

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Ty Hildenbrand

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Dan Rubenstein

Welcome to the Solid Verbal. The solid Verbal.

Ty Hildenbrand

Come after me.

Dan Rubenstein

I'm a man. I'm 40. I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy. You want to be happy for a day? Eat a steak.

Ty Hildenbrand

It's that. Whoop.

Dan Rubenstein

Who? Dan and Ty.

Ty Hildenbrand

Dan Rubenstein, welcome back to the podcast. More importantly, I believe, I believe this is our final episode before we fully dive in to the 2026 season and start rolling previews out there. Can you believe it?

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah, baby. So we have our welcome to 2026 are just like, here's what's new. Here are like the big picture, interesting novelty type narrative stories, whatever new names, new places type of show. And then it's straight into conferences and teams.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yes, at time of recording, we've already got four in the can. Four in the can. We've already recorded the intro. All six of our G6 previews and we've already gotten through part one of the ACC.

Dan Rubenstein

I. I wouldn't go as far as saying I regret going game by game Brendan Sorsby previewing, but with the benefit of hindsight saddle, I spent so much time studying for that. No, we do have a couple things to. To clip out, but otherwise I think they're very good episodes that I think people will enjoy, especially if they find you traveling somewhere. You're going to a lake, you're going to a beach, you're going to a mountain, you're going to a different continent. Whatever you're doing, hopefully they are worthwhile episodes for your time and you enjoy them and they get you nice and hot and bothered for the season coming up here. I'm. I'm very excited for preview season because it, it allows me to really sink my teeth into the season coming up and remind myself of things that perhaps I had thought about in March. Like, oh, right, this schedule or this quarterback or this new coach. Like, I just, I love it all.

Ty Hildenbrand

We're dropping crumbs here.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Getting you ready for the season ahead. If you have yet to hit, follow or subscribe, please do so now. Be a perfect time to hit that button so that you don't miss any of the upcoming preview episodes. We, of course, would love to have you. Verballers.com is where you can go if you really want to support the team. You also can leave us a star rating or review on your platform of choice. All that stuff really helps other people find the show. Yeah, we very much appreciate any kind of help you'd be willing to throw our way.

Dan Rubenstein

By the way, a special shout out to everybody that you. Don't mention it a lot, Ty, but apparently you've been very gracious with your time with people who've been spotting you on the beach. And I know you're gonna get a little bit cantankerous.

Ty Hildenbrand

I went to the beach once, like three weeks ago.

Dan Rubenstein

I know, Ty, but, like, I just, I didn't want to make a big deal of it, but people look at you and you're just like, oh, my God, Ty Hildenbrand. He's like sunbathing over there with what I assume is solid wife Kate, and there's like a beefy, brawny security presence. And then. But once you go to Ty and say, hey, big fan. Been a listener for a long time. He could not be more generous with his time, more charming. And so I just, I don't want to dissuade anybody from approaching you when they see like you're going to head to the World cup, right. You're going to be out on the west coast as people are listening to this. So if you come across Ty on the west coast, just know that, yes, the presence around him seems intimidating, but he's got. Is he salt of the earth?

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm going to have to go back through the inbox. I haven't seen those emails, but maybe I wasn't looking closely enough.

Dan Rubenstein

No, I'm just hearing reports. Oh, reports out and about. Yeah, yeah. Everybody's just like there's a buzz where just like Ty just, he'll take every picture. He'll like, he'll just hang out, man. And that's a testament to you, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrand

Well, thank you. I appreciate the kind words. As much of our listening audience here in the states is set to enjoy a hopefully fun July 4th weekend, we thought maybe we would put together a nice little Q and A episode. We source these questions from our Patreon again verballers.com let's dive on in. Congratulations, Skippy. You've got mail.

Dan Rubenstein

You've got mail on the solid verbal Dan.

Ty Hildenbrand

As often as we can and usually once a month here in the off season. I guess we've got one more of these to go before the season gets rolling. We like to pay homage to the Verballers who choose to send in questions, comments, thoughts, things to really get the ticker going.

Dan Rubenstein

Yes.

Ty Hildenbrand

Let's start with John, who says as a BYU fan trying to be objective, why should Utah be considered a Big 12 contender even after losing Kyle Whittingham, much of the staff and many players to Michigan. Thank you, John. Appreciate the question, Dan. Yes, it's an excellent question.

Dan Rubenstein

What do you hear when you hear a question like that? Because I hear Buen needs more attention. I do hear need more attention. Why would any attention go to them?

Ty Hildenbrand

A little bit of salt on that steak I like is an excellent question. As you know, college football fans, pundits, we have long made a habit out of labeling the same teams as contenders every year.

Dan Rubenstein

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrand

If only because they were a contender a few years ago. You know, it's just nice to kind of continue the trend. So on this very specific topic, I have seen a whole range of opinions ranging from Utah is in transition now with a new coach to yeah, there is a path in the Big 12.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

I actually think both are true. I think it, yes, is a transition year and also they can be good enough given this schedule where they do have a path in the Big 12. Where are you at with Utah.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay. Utah's an interesting case study obviously because they've been a the model of consistency and just having the coach and obviously Morgan Scally a defensive coordinator and certain systems in place and how they've recruited and being located in a state where they can really build out the lines consistently and successfully. So I I'm not super down on Utah. I'm more Utah curious than anything just because when you look at their schedule, it's pretty good.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

Like you look at the upheaval on their specific schedule, obviously there's a lot of upheaval internally with everything Utah, as I dial this up, your starting point is quarterback is back. The interesting backup quarterback is back and Bird the Bird Bird Ficklin. There's some pop obviously remaking lines and playmakers along the line. On defense, the I think the defense will be noticeably similar given at least there's some consistency there and how that's run with Morgan Scally still there schedule wise. Idaho, Arkansas, Utah State, Iowa State. So it's an Arkansas and Iowa State program or programs starting over at head coach. So they're hitting the reset button as well. I'm going to have to see something from a new Kansas defense or at least a Kansas defense that has to be better than they were last year and a new quarterback at Kansas. Houston's going to be very tough. Cincinnati is going to be decent, but again, starting over at quarterback as well, BYU is going to be very difficult. That's at home, right? Holy War is at home. Yes.

Ty Hildenbrand

I mean they have seven home games or two toughest games are Houston and BYU both at home. There is no Texas Tech. It does get harder in November where they've got three of four on the road. But I would just say bear in mind the Big 12 is way more wide open now than it was even a month ago.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

And from the sounds of it, from the sounds of the schedule just on paper, seems like that's something they could navigate with what they have returning.

Dan Rubenstein

Right. TCU quarterback question, by the way. Arizona defensive question with losing a ton of what made them successful as a team last year and West Virginia is at home. So you can say Utah will not look as good as they did last season, specifically when they were absolutely a Big 12 contender. But also look around on their schedule and how wide open. I mean you they don't have Texas Tech on the schedule, but even Texas Tech there is a window that's more open to get Texas Tech given their quarterback strife. So yep, I like BYU being on more Solid ground right now, but even BYU starting over on defense in terms of leadership with J. Hill off to Michigan. Right. So nobody is immune from what could be a major change on one or both sides of the ball. And I still think there's enough on this Utah roster and you know, the development in Salt Lake City that I think there's only a handful of teams that can be truly dangerous and I think potentially they're one of them. So that's why we're having this conversation.

Ty Hildenbrand

I look at this through three different lenses. You already referenced the first two. The first is A Utah went 11 and two last year. They bring back Devin Dampier way, Sean Parker, your guy Bird, Fickle, and a host of others. I don't think they're like totally void of skill players.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

Did lose some players and staff, but they're not completely hollowed out or anything like that. Second, the schedule, I don't need to go back through that, but the schedule, at least to my eye, looks like it's pretty opportunistic for them.

Dan Rubenstein

By the way, on the topic of schedule, they do have a tough Houston team. October 24th.

Ty Hildenbrand

Right at home.

Dan Rubenstein

Is at home. It's at home. My question to you is because I tend to look at quarterbacks and how much change a lot of these other teams have. Are we positive Connor Wigman is going to be the healthiest dude in the country come late October?

Ty Hildenbrand

Of course we're not. Of course.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

The other thing that I would add here, more to the question, the specific question from John, is Utah still a contender? I think if you gave the Utah administration truth seer right now, they would say yes. It would say yes. They might view the staff Turner turnover. They might view some of this upheaval as a reason you should treat Utah as a contender. They clearly were ready to turn the page.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

So those are three reasons for it. I think the counterpoints, or at least the list of counterpoints is smaller. Yes. You've got Morgan Scally, who has been with the team for a while. He's clearly familiar with Utah, but this is his first time assembling a whole staff. It's his first time running a show. We could absolutely see a step back because of that. It wouldn't be the first time. I think the more important thing to keep in mind is what's going on in the trenches.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Because that has been the source for Utah optimism year in and year out. No matter what's going on around him, no matter if Cam Rising is healthy or not, all of that Stuff. The trenches have always been really, really solid. This year, there are five new starters along the offensive line. Again, not hollowed out. They've got some high end guys, just not a sure thing. And then defensively, you mentioned playmakers like John Henry. Daly goes with Whittingham to Michigan. Logan Finneau went pro. The interior is sort of up in the air. This was not a particularly good run defense last season, and now there aren't really any obvious answers. So I, I think we could see a step back on defense. I don't know if the line play is going to be where it was at before. Yes, I still like the schedule. Yes, I still like some of the talent that is returning. And I even like Morgan Scally because he's been there forever as well. But I just feel like there are fewer things, especially along those lines, that we can hang our hat on as compared to years past. And that would be my best case against Utah still being a contender.

Dan Rubenstein

This is, I think, a, a leap and a. A long shot. But I am open to the possibility that Kyle Whittingham deciding to leave Utah and sign with Michigan ends up with both programs being worse.

Ty Hildenbrand

Possible.

Dan Rubenstein

I don't know what that, that sensation would be called now. I don't think Kyle Whittingham would actually make Michigan worse. I think he will improve where Michigan is as a program from where they were because they kind of have to be internally better off with Kyle Whittingham. But given Michigan's schedule and some, I think, offensive questions, especially through the air and then questions regarding Utah, could we see Michigan and Utah both take a step back as a result of this movement? And if so, what would we call this phenomena? Phenomena. Phenomenon. I don't know if you have something. The best I could come up with as you were talking was the Wes Kyle virus. But I don't know. Seems like it might be in poor taste.

Ty Hildenbrand

I don't know. It could be. That's not bad, though. It's decent work on the fly.

Dan Rubenstein

I mean, that was. That was about eight seconds of brainstorming while you were talking about Utah's change.

Ty Hildenbrand

You have a gift, my friend. You really do.

Dan Rubenstein

Thank you very much.

Ty Hildenbrand

All right, so we got some stuff here regarding Pat Fitzgerald. And I know you and I have some Pat Fitzgerald baggage. I thought maybe we could take the opportunity. Not baggage. It's the wrong word. But what was.

Dan Rubenstein

Do you remember Pat Fitzgerald's like, like, if you have a problem with our offense, like, Tweet me at 1-800-I don't care.com. what was it was.

Ty Hildenbrand

There was some. Something like that. Look that up. Look that up. I'm going to read these off. Yeah, we got some comments. We got one from Chaka. We got one from Jeff. Chaka says Michigan State lost its AD to Kentucky and president to Clemson, both of whom helped bring Pat Fitzgerald to Michigan State. How much leash will Fitzgerald get with the new regime? We also have Jeff, who says, as a Michigan State fan, what would Pat Fitzgerald need to show this season to change your opinion of the hire? So notably for anyone just dropping on in here, neither you nor I are particular fans of this Pat Fitzgerald hire, Right? We've been pretty outspoken about that. Not rooting against Pat Fitzgerald, but it felt like an odd fit to us. He's been out of the game for a while. When he was in the game, was it like he was lighting the world on fire in terms of recruiting? Certainly not in terms of offense. So now.

Dan Rubenstein

And not in terms of winning Big Ten games.

Ty Hildenbrand

Winning Big Ten games now.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

To what degree does that have to do with him being at a place like Northwestern? To what end is he actually a good coach and not just a good coach for Northwestern? I think these are things we're going to discover here in the short term at Michigan State. But let's unpack our Pat Fitzgerald thoughts here, Dan, what would he need to show you in year one to change your opinion of them going in his direction at all?

Dan Rubenstein

I think if they got to a bowl game, I'd be like, all right, that's a really nice start for Michigan State. Pat Fitzgerald, if they go six and six against this schedule, given roster limitations, given Pat Fitzgerald's recent Big Ten lack of success, going 6 and 6 would likely mean wins against Toledo is Eastern Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern. So we're at 4, Rutgers is 5, and then the swing team like Illinois or Michigan on the road, which obviously is fraught with emotion for Michigan State. So you're. You're going to a bowl and beating at least one or two legit quality teams in year one. Given the amount of turnover, given how the roster hasn't been in a good place under Jonathan Smith necessarily, especially on defense, I would say, yeah, that is. That is getting the ball rolling in an impressive way.

Ty Hildenbrand

Prove to me that you can build an offense that isn't built around one player.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

I feel like his success at Northwestern always came back to like a dual threat quarterback that could run or a guy that could give the ball to 35 times a game or a. Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

Left tackle that could just run behind all the time.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah. Prove to me that you can build something that is not solely based on one gravitational player and then I'll believe it.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah,

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm sure there are examples of him doing that in spots, but I don't feel like consistently year in and year out, that was a thing, especially on offense. Defensively. Defensively, they were always kind of plucky, so I'll. I'll give them that.

Dan Rubenstein

But you're also. We're not looking to separate Pat Fitzgerald from any other new coach taking over a struggling program. What you want to see is a genuine attempt to find as many good players as humanly possible. Clearly play to a vision, and if you're outclassed, you're outclassed. But you want to see maximum effort. You want to see a team adjusting mid game to whatever extent they realistically can. And look, if you get blown out by Oregon or Notre Dame or whatever, sure, that seems understandable. But in some of the other games, when you're playing against Rutgers or Wisconsin or any other team that is not built in a totally dissimilar way, you're like, oh, they're competing, they're playing hard. You. It's 1713 at the half, and maybe it gets away from them in the fourth quarter, but they were locked in for most of the game. That's essentially, I think, what you're looking for from anyone who's hitting the reset button, I think.

Ty Hildenbrand

Let me stay with these coach questions because we got two more.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Zach says, how patient should Penn State and Virginia Tech fans feel be. Excuse me. With Matt Campbell and James Franklin, will these two be linked and compared? I can guarantee you, Zach, they will be compared. Certainly on the Penn State side they will, but not on the Penn State side. I guarantee you Penn Staters will be comparing Campbell's progress to Franklin's progress.

Dan Rubenstein

Yes, but it's also not a Lincoln Riley choosing to leave Oklahoma now.

Ty Hildenbrand

No, no, no, it's not the same.

Dan Rubenstein

He's being measured against Brent Venables.

Ty Hildenbrand

No, there's.

Dan Rubenstein

There's that kind of interesting, weird kind of malicious bad blood in the situation.

Ty Hildenbrand

I don't think there's anything like that. But I would be stunned if there weren't some comparison going on. Every time there's a new coach, you compare him to the old coach.

Dan Rubenstein

Right, of course.

Ty Hildenbrand

Sort of the way it is.

Dan Rubenstein

So the measuring stick for Matt Campbell will be winning big games, which. Guess what, that's the measuring stick for every coach ever who's hired or winning winnable games or winning Games against teams built similarly to you, obviously at a place like take your pick at, within the conference, at least with like Rutgers or Purdue or something like that, you're not going to be judged based on how you do against Ohio State every year. But at Penn State, it's going to be okay. Are you developing NFL players? Are we winning double digit games most of the time like James Franklin was able to do or threaten to win double digit games? Are you developing NFL talent? Are you producing defenses in the way that James Franklin was able to produce defenses and find offensive playmakers? And then in terms of James Franklin, yes, he'll be measured somewhat against Matt Campbell, but I don't really think James Franklin's measured against anything Virginia Tech at

Ty Hildenbrand

this point, I think it's a one way thing. I think Penn Staters will compare Matt Campbell's success to whatever Franklin did, but I don't think it's. People are going to be looking at James Franklin and comparing him to Campbell. They're linked in a sense, but I think it's much more Penn State looking outward as opposed to Virginia Tech caring whatsoever about, well, look, Campbell does.

Dan Rubenstein

It could reflect poorly on Franklin if Campbell has certain successes that Franklin didn't. And then in turn Virginia Tech is like, oh, who did we get here? But I think the bar right now in Blacksburg is low enough where you're just, yeah, you're happy looking internally at what's happening and whatever's happening or not happening at State College doesn't bear a lot of weight for you.

Ty Hildenbrand

There was so much commitment on the institutional level from both Virginia Tech and from Penn State. Sure, both these guys are going to get plenty of Runway. Neither of them are getting canned after three years. It's not going to be a situation like that. I just, I cannot see that unless one decides to leave and go elsewhere.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

They're going to get plenty of Runway. There's going to be a nice long leash for both these guys.

Dan Rubenstein

I still think that Penn State eyeballs will be on Blacksburg probably. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just comparing Matt Campbell against James Franklin, but it's, it's paying attention to James Franklin specifically. And the. In the best case scenario for Virginia Tech is a Penn State fan saying, why don't we get this version of James Franklin? But I don't know. Sometimes you just got to be happy for somebody as they go about their journey.

Ty Hildenbrand

And I am hope for the best for your person. I am, I am happy for him. I hope, I hope it works. Chris says, which team With a new coach do you think will show the most improvement from last year? So we have a couple other questions that push up against this idea. I'm going to refrain from my Eric Morris chatter right here, but Eric Morris is in there with Oklahoma State.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Some other ideas could be on the west coast with our boy Robert Edward Chesney at UCLA and Tasha lapoy at Cal.

Dan Rubenstein

Yep.

Ty Hildenbrand

I think Auburn could be a menace with Alex Gollish.

Dan Rubenstein

Yep. And there's continuity there with DJ Durkin.

Ty Hildenbrand

Any other names, any other teams you throw in?

Dan Rubenstein

So this in terms of just like the biggest shift from where they were

Ty Hildenbrand

last year, he says which team with a new coach do you think will show the most improvement from last year? So what does most improvement mean to you? Right, that's where we're at.

Dan Rubenstein

Virginia Tech, as just mentioned, I think would be one of those teams that can threaten like comfortable bowl eligibility in year one of James Franklin after going fact check me or three and nine last season.

Ty Hildenbrand

Three and nine.

Dan Rubenstein

So I think they would be a candidate. I had the same couple with you on the west coast in the Big 12. Yes. It would be Eric Morrison, Oklahoma State being that candidate. There is something about wagering on now I don't think like it's a big time quarterback upgrade because of the sloppiness at times last season for Baylor now moving to a new quarterback of course. But those are the instances where I'm like, okay, there's a ton of talent at quarterback on any, any team trying to make a now this is not a, a new head coach. But when I look at this like who did the most in terms of upgrading a quarterback? And it's DJ Lagway as a first year quarterback at Baylor. But of the first year guys that have that new pop at quarterback and obviously a new coach. Yeah, I think it's ucla.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay.

Dan Rubenstein

I think there's still too many questions to me on this defense for me to feel good about any one of these teams. But Virginia Tech is interesting. Auburn's interesting, as mentioned. I think that's all I have.

Ty Hildenbrand

Let's go to our friend Raul who is probably on the rushmore of question askers at this point in the oh, that's true. Rule says over the last two college football seasons I've been able to get tickets to see Miami against Florida, Iowa against Ohio State and Florida against Georgia for roughly 100 to $150 each.

Dan Rubenstein

Good for you.

Ty Hildenbrand

This week I'm in Mexico City with the family for the World cup atmosphere and the contrast is insane. The cheapest tickets I'm seeing for Mexico Ecuador in The round of 32 are $3,000. And if Mexico wins and plays England in the round of 16, the cheapest get in price looks like it could be around 4 or $5,000.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

So my question is, does college football have the best live event venue proposition in American sports?

Dan Rubenstein

Value proposition.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah, value proposition. What did I say?

Dan Rubenstein

Venue. But that's okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

Value value proposition. For all the complaints about ticket prices, TV windows, parking and the game day experience, you can still see massive rivalry games, iconic stadiums and real cultural events for a fraction of what global mega events like the World Cup, F1, Grand Slam tennis, et cetera, et cetera costs.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah. Yes. But yes, you do. It is a great value proposition to go to a huge stadium and see a big game with emotion and pregame festivities and tailgating the whole deal. College football, if you're getting in for that. Because college football, when they do play their version of a tennis Grand Slam or, or an F1 event or a World cup situation like a national championship game. I don't remember the pricing being all that affordable for Miami Indiana in Miami last season. Right?

Ty Hildenbrand

No.

Dan Rubenstein

So we're comparing kind of apples to oranges here, although I've never enjoyed that. Apples and orange phrasing, they seem very similar to me. They're sweet, they're delicious, they're fruit. They're not that different. I would say you're talking about a World Cup. That happens. Fact check me here, Ty. Four years every four years apart.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yep.

Dan Rubenstein

So there's a scarcity there. You're talking about usually going to interesting places that many people have not been to. In this case, places in North America. That's been a big deal of the tourists going to BUC EE's and Portillo's and eating a burrito in the Mission in San Francisco. Right. There's. There's like a novelty to going to these interesting places that you haven't been to because they're far flung places. Not to say Columbus, isn't that. Not to say Gainesville, isn't that just different?

Ty Hildenbrand

Well, okay. I don't even think we're so much comparing college football to the World Cup. I think the question is comparing college football as a value proposition to other sports that we have here. Right. So clearly there is a distinction between meaningful games and throwaway games.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

And we should state that up front. But the games that Raul mentions on the college football side are rivalries or just otherwise big games that have definitely seen demand over the years. I Won't pretend that I'm any kind of expert on ticket prices, but I know what it costs to go to a show in New York City. Know what it costs to go to a concert.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

I know that a ticket to any meaningful NFL game is expensive as hell. And the fan experience, in my opinion, is way worse. It's dreadful to see an NFL game in person with all the commercial breaks. It's horrible.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

Was that a golf major? I know what that's like. Go right down the list here. I've been to a World Series. I think pound for pound, because of the atmosphere that you get at a college football game, I would tend to agree.

Dan Rubenstein

It's a great. Especially there are so many games that. Yes, the biggest Alabama, LSU game and the biggest, whatever, usc, UCLA game. Those. Right. Th. Those are gonna cost a pretty penny. But you have your pick of like the medium large games, even between ranked teams, like a randomly ranked Wisconsin, USC game or something. I. That's gonna be fun as hell and it's not gonna break the bank.

Ty Hildenbrand

The X factor is the environment. Yes, that is the X factor. And now having gone to one World cup game and friends who have gone to other World cup games at different venues, not necessarily the United States, but that seems to be the common thread if we want to compare the two at all.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

That atmosphere is what is unique certainly to the World cup and I think absolutely to college football. That's why we like it above the other sports. So if you are paying a pretty penny for a ticket, over a hundred dollars is not a cheap ticket.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

But if you are paying for that and going to a college game, I think what you are getting is a far superior fan experience just because of the surroundings. So I tend to agree. Raul, it's a good point that you bring up.

Dan Rubenstein

Now. There's always. Now we're talking about just ticket. There are other associated costs with traveling to a place and going to a game. And if you're going to a smaller college town, harder to get to cost.

Ty Hildenbrand

It's harder to get to stay there. Yep.

Dan Rubenstein

The. The hotel prices and renting a car. If you need to rent a car because you're staying 45 minutes away from wherever. If you're going to a Penn State game and you piss your pants because the bathroom lines are too long, you got to buy new pants eventually. Right. The costs add up. And so that would be the only thing like college football games seem. I mean, they seem like a great value because they are a great value. I did look up while you were talking the different pricing for week one where there might be value. And we're talking about what, late August, early September. So the weather should be nice, if not pretty hot. A lot of places there's good value, man. Week one when we don't know how these teams are going to be, what do you say? Under a hundred bucks? Under fifty bucks for what you can go to. You can go to a Mississippi State game against Monroe, who's not going to be that good. $18 to be in the Mississippi sun tie in early September.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay.

Dan Rubenstein

That's the get in price. That's not bad. No, there's games that are under 10 bucks. You can go to UNLV, Hawaii. Those are two good teams in Hawaii. Also probably be pretty toasty.

Ty Hildenbrand

I mean, it's going to be a $900 plane ticket, but 105 bucks to get in.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay, two good teams. Week one, Texas, Texas State, $103. That's going to be hot as hell too in Austin, but like $29 to go to Miami, Pittsburgh. You know how I feel about the city of Pittsburgh. Great place. Like there's just, there's deals to be had, especially in some of these places that are easier to get to. I'm totally with it. That said, you're paying those premium prices with the World cup because you don't know if you're ever going to go again.

Ty Hildenbrand

Well, and also there's a whole thing that went on behind the scenes and I'm not going to make this about the World Cup, I promise. Even though we both kind of have World cup fear right now. But they had an opportunity to price these tickets a lot cheaper. And obviously the management of FIFA, the powers that be, the grifters in chief, decided that they wanted to price everything like it was a national championship game. And I guess to their credit, maybe they read the room correctly, maybe there's some sort of fixing going on behind the scenes. But every stadium is full, every savings full. And I don't know how they did that. I don't know how they did that. Right. With the prices that they are charging because they are outlandish. If you weren't like me and got lucky winning a lottery where you could buy them at face value, where they're still kind of expensive, but it is easier to justify as a once in

Dan Rubenstein

a while, what was face value this

Ty Hildenbrand

year my tickets out in Seattle were like 250 bucks.

Dan Rubenstein

For us Australia.

Ty Hildenbrand

For us Australia.

Dan Rubenstein

It's pretty great.

Ty Hildenbrand

Which to be honest, I would not pay that normally, but Given circumstances, given that it's once every four years, you can kind of justify it. I went with friends, you know, 250

Dan Rubenstein

bucks, it's hard to justify for a run of like going to like a Phillies game with good tickets. You're like, that's a lot of money to go see the Phillies.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

Using this example, because that's closest to you. But 250 bucks, if you had really great tickets for number five, Ohio State, at number three, Penn State, everything is more expensive. I'm not going to pretend like that's not a lot of money to go to a game, but relatively speaking, yeah, if it's a huge game and the tickets are good, you probably feel okay about that.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah, I mean, look, the, the World cup conversations, a broader one. But I think Raul's conversation here, his point is very valid. And obviously you're not going to get us to speak ill of the college football experience. That is the thing that hooks everybody. So, yeah, I think he's right.

Dan Rubenstein

Boise at Oregon, $83. Could be two ranked teams. Week one. Yeah, I think USC Fresno, I saw was under. Was it under 50? $34 to get into USC Fresno, week one in LA, night game. All right. It's good value. He's dribbling the ball with everything on the line. He's driving down the pitch. He's facing price hikes and cuts past him. Carrier contracts, tries to block him. Oh, he leaves him in the dust. He's at the edge of the box. He cuts past the nonstop group chat, trash talk. He clears on goal. He shoots. No unlimited data for $25 a month. Forever.

Ty Hildenbrand

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Dan Rubenstein

Amazon Health AI presents painful thoughts.

Ty Hildenbrand

Why did I search the Internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze. I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that. Don't go down the rabbit hole.

Dan Rubenstein

Amazon Health AI gets you the right care fast. Healthcare just got less painful.

Ty Hildenbrand

This is Jonathan Goldstein from Heavyweight. If your finance team spends more time finding data than using it. If there's one entity here and one here and one here and one here. If scaling your business feels like starting over, you need the Intuit ERP. Intuit Enterprise Suite is the AI native ERP solution that's powerful, painless, and proven. Learn more at intuit.com erp let's jump back here to Cody, who is the next 2025 Arizona State, a team people expect to be bad that surprises everyone and wins its conference.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay, I don't have a specific answer, at least not yet, before the full preview, where I've like, really jumped into rosters and new hires and schedules and everything like that. But there are some teams where, you know, like, you go to like a. A resort or a hotel and they say, we'll give you free. We'll give you like a. A free boat ride if you sit in for this presentation on timeshares.

Ty Hildenbrand

Hmm, don't do it, by the way. It's not worth your time.

Dan Rubenstein

Depends who you are. It might be raining outside.

Ty Hildenbrand

Just give them a fake email address.

Dan Rubenstein

Right. But it's like an hour, hour and a half presentation. You'd be like, all right, I'll take the boat passes. I think there's deals to be had anyway. I would sit and listen to a couple of teams if you were to try to sell me on a couple of these teams bouncing back from struggling season and are suddenly competing for at least November conference conversation. Like I can be swayed into a Kansas State conversation.

Ty Hildenbrand

You want me to play this? Yeah, I could play the Shark Tank if you want, but go ahead.

Dan Rubenstein

I'm saying I would listen to a presentation. I would listen to a Kansas State Colin Klein presentation.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay.

Dan Rubenstein

I'm not saying I'm buying it. I'm not saying I'm ready to write a check, but I'm saying I can listen to those conversations. That this is really tough. Cause, like, you want somebody probably energetic who's changing the culture somewhere and getting players to believe somebody who, you know, a portal situation like they had with Cam Scatter, Boo at ASU and Sam Levitt, but believed to be bad is such a tough thing because we have so much data now that teams who are believed to be bad, it's generally for pretty good reasons.

Ty Hildenbrand

So let me ask you this, though.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah. I don't think Kansas State fits that perfectly.

Ty Hildenbrand

If I change this question slightly, you can tell me if it makes it a little bit easier. He says a team people expect to be bad. I will add on to that. A team people expect to be bad or a team nobody knows anything about. Right. Because then that sort of broadens who we can talk about. There are plenty of teams that have like 60 transfers, and it's anybody's guess they could be good they could be bad, but they're not really on the radar in terms of conference championships.

Dan Rubenstein

I mean, we've been on the Houston train for a while, but they were quality last year, so that would just feel more like building on what they started showing last season. So I don't feel like that fully counts, but I don't. I still don't feel like I'm seeing a lot of Houston conversation around the college football universe.

Ty Hildenbrand

Oklahoma State.

Dan Rubenstein

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrand

Here is. Here is where. Here is where I do my Eric Morris praise.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

I think they're actually going to be pretty good. I do. I think they'll be fine. On offense, Eric Boris brought Drew Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins and White Young over with him from North Texas. It's going to be wait and see along the line, but whatever. They did some work in the portal, tried to bring in guys with experience defensively. There's a question about depth, however, I also think they'll be okay back there. Schedules backloaded, so I think there's a chance they have a little bit of a Runway to get things sorted out before they get really into the heat of the schedule. But at least in terms of a team that's not really on anyone's radar who could be a surprise, maybe be part of a conference championship conversation. I'm willing to listen to an Eric Morris presentation on Oka's Oklahoma State.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay, I'll give you another team because maybe it's just because of the Big 12 thing. I have not heard this team's name once in talking about, oh, okay. They could build on last season. They're interesting. They could have a higher ceiling than. Than people think.

Ty Hildenbrand

I think I know who you're going to say.

Dan Rubenstein

I'm going to stay in the Big 12. UCF? Is that what you're thinking?

Ty Hildenbrand

I was thinking Arizona, but UCF's on a bad.

Dan Rubenstein

Arizona kind of did it last year. Arizona was in it like ucf home field advantage. Interesting new quarterback coach who's one there. I'm not saying I'm super high on this situation. I'm saying as a candidate quarterback with pop. They get TCU at home, BYU at home. They miss Texas Tech. They get ASU and Iowa State at home late in the season. Their road games, we'll see what Oklahoma State is. We know Houston's going to be good. I have no idea how good I feel about PIT early and they have pit on the road, but it's not crazy. It's not a crazy pit team right now. There's experience on both sides of the ball, including offensive line and in the secondary, their starting position. As a team that could you blink in their nine and three. You blink in there eight and two, something like that. I think UCF is interesting to me. I'd have to dive more in to fully round out that opinion.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

UCF might be that team.

Ty Hildenbrand

Fair enough. Let's go over to Mark.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

For schools without unlimited resources, is it smarter to spend money on blue chip high school recruits or on the portal, Are certain positions better suited for one path or the other? I feel like we've had versions of this question over the last couple years. It's not a new question per se. I'd go heavy on the portal.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

If I didn't have unlimited resources, I would double down on the portal. I would hire like a Ted Lasso. Somebody who specializes in culture, can build culture out of whatever.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

Give me a good vibes guy and then give me a handful of scouts who know how to work the portal, know how to work behind the scenes, know how to find talent, find those diamonds in the rough.

Dan Rubenstein

I mean, you still need to pay,

Ty Hildenbrand

but yeah, you got to pay. But I would much rather devote my time and energy and resources to guys who actually have some college tape that I could go out and try and recruit as opposed to some of the blue chip guys who, let's be honest, this is where college football is at right now. You can spend all your time and money recruiting, can hook those guys, bring them in, sign them, pay them, and then they could go elsewhere after their freshman year. I don't want to be in that game. I want to be in the game where I have some actual tape on these guys with what they can do in college and then I want to try and lure them over to my school.

Dan Rubenstein

I think there are a couple of positions that are worth investing in from the prep level and worth investing in, maybe even early portal guys. It's hard to find offensive linemen who are truly going to make a difference in the portal, it seems depending on what your intention is, what your expectation is. Right. It's hard to build a national championship contending or playoff contending offensive line out of portal pieces, it seems. So that might be. You're just going to have to eat that money if it's a developmental position like offensive line is while they're not playing linebacker. Seems better suited to have somebody in your program for a while, getting guys lined up on the defense. Right. Being the quarterback of that defense. Yeah, it's hard to bring in that person and Expect huge things immediately. So that would be a position that I would look to invest in. I think you can fill in some gaps in depth at receiver, at running back. In the portal. I, I think in the secondary you can find interesting pieces, very specific kinds of defensive linemen, whether they're edge rushers, whether they're space eaters. That might be a little bit more difficult the, the space eaters because that's both a size and skill thing. But there is something about the offensive line, like this is the way we play and it's going to be so much easier to succeed when you have two, three years in a system and you have that rhythm and that momentum in learning the calls and learning the shifts. So I would skew more portal. It just depends on the place, right? It depends on what you can afford, it depends on your vision. And I would almost think about spending the like the quality money on position coaches because then you have guys with track record. You can go into the portal and say like I've gotten these guys drafted. You can hire based on like what your vision for scheme is. So I would hire those, you know, the, the combination of finding those grizzled guys who might cost a little bit more because they're more experienced and then the hungrier 29, 30 year olds who will be dogged, that almost seems more important right now because yeah, like out of high school quarterbacks. And I know we have a question about this as well. It's such a crapshoot and it's an unbelievable amount of money where you can make basically two decisions. If you're going after a quarterback in the portal, it's okay. I'm going to pay a premium for this guy who has entered the portal and is looking for more money and is one of four or five guys who could truly affect winning in a huge way that could lead us to the playoff if we're a Power 4 team or a higher NG6 team, or we're going after a guy who has been a backup and hasn't had the opportunity, but has physical traits and maybe was well regarded coming out of high school, but never really got a chance. And we're gonna, we're gonna buy low essentially on this kind of player. Otherwise I don't know how you can justify it beyond, you know, we're building out depth in the room so this guy is fine, but we just need bodies there. So that makes sense. So I think that's what my strategy would be, would be if I can find a portal quarterback and hope for the best. But I don't know what kind of ceiling you're going for with this type of question. I think it's mostly just like how do we get to eight wins on the cheap? And yeah, I think, I think you invest in offensive line. Maybe linebacker and assistant coach Kyle wants

Ty Hildenbrand

to know why does everyone seem relatively down on Marcel Reed after he was getting Heisman adjacent buzz before the final two games last season? I would add there was a reply to this question from DB who says Marcel Reed seems to have high highs and embarrassing lows reminiscent of Carson Beck. Even with Beck throwing away the championship game, discussion around him was rarely positive. I think the answer to Kyle's question is in Kyle's question actually.

Dan Rubenstein

Actually, yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

He says before the final two games last season, final two games last season were kind of brutal for Marcel Reed. And I would say, broadly speaking, if I were to answer this question, it was some combination of decision making in those two games and on the whole being relatively turnover prone.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

I also think some of the negativity around Marcel Reed is a little harsh. I've seen some in the media straight up say he's not good, which I think is a stretch. I do think he can be good. I just don't think he's consistent. So any negativity you're picking up is probably related to that inconsistency in key moments down the stretch.

Dan Rubenstein

Just my so yeah, I think some of the criticism. Criticism is warranted. I think the question was partially answered within the question itself that in this era of Texas A and M football, you're going to be measured by how you play against Texas, how you play in the biggest SEC and otherwise games. And if you're getting a team to the playoff. Marcel Reed got his team to the playoff. He was a big factor as to why Texas A and M ended up in the College Football Playoff for the first time. As you said, he was not particularly good in the playoff game. In the wind. Difficult situation, but both teams have the wind and Texas A and M couldn't get it done at home. And the game against Texas was not especially pretty. And you couple that in with the fact that Texas A and M had a pretty light schedule last season in terms of who they did and didn't play and teams with coaches who got fired and maybe Texas A and M was part of that. I think there is something to the taste that was left in people's mouth with Texas A and M and and now we're talking about an Aggie team that loses its offensive coordinator. Some Offensive playmakers that helped him out. We'll see. I, I'm, I think I'm decently high on Texas A and M this season. I think he's pretty good, but we've seen some of those lows where you're just like, man, that was a particularly ugly half against South Carolina. They were eventually able to pull out way back when, but turnover prone and big game tightness, I don't know. That's, that's where you're just like, okay, we know what the next step is for Marcel Reed as a quarterback in those games and being clean. And you have to give him credit where credit is due. Had an unbelievable pass to beat Notre Dame on the road. Had a terrific game against Notre Dame early on in the season. But what that does is that heightens expectations. So you watch that game and you say, cool, now we know what Marcel Reed can do on a stage like this. Excited to see XYZ as the season progresses. And the results weren't always there. So maybe he's the victim of his own success to a certain extent. I don't feel bad for Marcel Reed because I think he's going to be good this year. I'm excited to watch him play. But look, no touchdowns, four picks to finish out the year. The electricity is not going to be there with the hype right away.

Ty Hildenbrand

Daniel, I have a question for you from another Daniel.

Dan Rubenstein

Can't wait.

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm moderating Daniels here. He says, daniel, you've been skeptical of Oregon's offensive line, but they've been in the Joe Moore. Joe Moore Award contention for the last three years now.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Why not give them benefit of the doubt?

Dan Rubenstein

Why not give them benefit of the doubt? I mean, that's sort of the experience of being a fan, right? You're just like, ah, I hope it works out. But I don't know. That's. I don't know. That's. That's the kind of fandom that lives in my brain. Why. Why the skepticism with Oregon? So we're talking about new tackles two years in a row, new coordinator, new starting tackles. Yep, new coordinator. And when you look at where Oregon struggled in the biggest games, and basically you're looking at the games against Indiana and against Texas Tech in the playoff last year. Those, those last two games, game they won. The offensive line didn't have its best games. The communication between quarterback and offensive line and coordinator who's now gone wasn't always the best. And picking up what Indiana was trying to do in terms of hiding and disguising Edge rushers and pass rush. And this year, with two basically unseasoned tackles, one who's been in the program, who acquitted himself nicely in limited time last year at left tackle and at right tackle, it's either maybe a transfer from the Ivy League, maybe a true freshman, or maybe somebody who hasn't really played and has had injury issues. I believe that's where we are. And they're, I think, going to start a new guard as well. So it's not that I don't believe that they can have a high ceiling and big time results this year. It's just not a great position where you have to keep kind of starting over. And if I had to guess, I think they'll have a very good year. But also, if I had to guess, what's the difference between Oregon winning the national championship and not winning the national championship this year? It's how many steps forward did the combination of Dante Moore and his offensive line take in January? And so if that's the difference, I'm worried, I'm not sure that that's going to happen. I'm not worried they're going to be bad. I'm worried that they're going to be good enough to win those types of games.

Ty Hildenbrand

Here's one from Matt, and I will admit that when I first read the question, my thought was we've gotten this question eight times already. But then I thought a little bit more about it and I think there is an interesting onion that we can peel away at. Okay, Matt says how long will it take Texas Tech to be taken seriously as a national contender? Does nil success fast track perception or does it take decades like Oregon? So in the past, if you were trying to build a contender, it would take decades? I think in the end.

Dan Rubenstein

Well, not decades to build a contender. You only had so many years of eligibility. But yeah, I know what you're saying. Well, to build a perennial contender, to

Ty Hildenbrand

build up your program to the point where it could be a contender, yes, it would take decades. Sometimes didn't happen overnight for Boise State. Took like a decade for people to want to go there, for them to build that program into what it became. So, yeah, it can take decades. I think Indiana kind of broke that mold. And I think how a team is perceived is a different story altogether because you can be a really good team and you could be in the game. But for the national college football consciousness to actually perceive you as a threat, that's something that tends to lag behind. It also works the other way. It certainly has For Notre Dame. Notre Dame wasn't a real contender for a good long time, but they were treated like one because of the success that they had in the late 80s and the early 90s, certainly before that. This was a historic program. Right. So the question of perception and can you buy perception is what Matt is asking relative to Texas Tech. Do people take Texas Tech seriously now? Do you think they take it seriously?

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah, I think every conversation we have about a Big 12 contender, we're talking about Texas Tech right now. But as a perennial national contender to be lumped together with the teams that are often competing for national championships making deep playoff runs, I think what Texas Tech is going to have to show in a way that they haven't yet is that they're more than just paying for Portal and hoping for the best. Right. I said this before. Last season, they finished the season ranked once since like 2009 and that last year.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yep.

Dan Rubenstein

So it's a good start to string together years where you're finishing in the top 15, let's say. And then after that it's, it's very good. And you can be incredibly successful going to the Portal, paying, developing, building a good culture like Joey McGuire clearly has and winning a bunch of games. If you're talking about national title type contention, the teams that we're having this conversation about, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, we'll see on Indiana, but you kind of have to lump them because they already won the national championship. Although I like separating Indiana, I just think that's, I think they're lightning in a bottle. Not in terms of only winning it once, but in terms of like it hadn't happened before them. It'll be very difficult for anybody to replicate like the insane success that Kurt Signetti has had. Like, you just, you can't look at Indiana and say, well, we just need to find our Kurt Signetti. That's stupid. That when you look at those teams, Oregon, Michigan, you know, that have had that success or have come close to that success, they're not counting on 11 new big impact players every season. They're recruiting, they're developing, they're plugging holes. And Texas Tech, to their credit, is doing more of that in the prep game. Right. That they're building systems where guys are there for two, three, four years and then now you're dealing with 22 year olds who've been playing in the Texas Tech defense for a couple of years, for three years. That's when, okay, now the backup has been there for a couple of years and they're Paying to retain him instead of him transferring over to Texas State or to Wake Forest or Illinois or something. So that is, I think, the missing piece that a lot of those teams get the benefit of the doubt because they have a ton of players who've been in the system forever and who are backups last season and we're getting into games during blowouts and I don't think we have that proof yet with Texas Tech that they're building that kind of roster. Juggernaut via the portal and the preps, if that makes sense.

Ty Hildenbrand

Can't get shut out in the playoffs.

Dan Rubenstein

Can't get shut out in the playoff either. Right. If you want to be taken seriously. Look, a lot of good programs, Ty, Ohio State has been shut out at least once in the playoff, right?

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah. Yeah. Listen, that's not even a dunk. That's just reality.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah. You have to, you have to look good and competitive in a playoff game.

Ty Hildenbrand

First Boise State beat Oklahoma in that Fiesta Bowl. Right. For a lot of people, that was their first, first Boise State experience, you know.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

And they use that. They propelled off of that. And so it will take a moment like that for Texas Tech, I think, to really kind of go up a level in terms of just the national perception.

Dan Rubenstein

Signature wins.

Ty Hildenbrand

They're trying.

Dan Rubenstein

Also how Texas Tech has or hasn't scheduled in the non conference portion of the schedule. Right. If Texas Tech beats Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, any of those teams in the non conference, you're like, okay, well that becomes interesting. Let's build some hype off of that win.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yep.

Dan Rubenstein

This current Texas Tech schedule and last year's Texas Tech schedule left a bit to be desired in terms of like, okay, I see what Texas Tech is now that this, this measuring stick of a performance against Penn State or against Florida or whoever is like, okay, that's cool. Now that I've seen that.

Ty Hildenbrand

Right.

Dan Rubenstein

Let's see what they can do in the playoff against. Take your pick.

Ty Hildenbrand

Couple more here. Brian says, if college football has moved beyond the student athlete model and the NCAA struggles to enforce the rules, why should four years of eligibility still be the standard? Can someone challenge that? So I'm not a lawyer, I just play one here in the podcast. A few things we should mention, the first, Brian, is that four years apparently is no longer the standard.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

We didn't have a chance to talk about this, but I guess last week the NCAA approved new eligibility rules, which is now being called five for five. And so what that means is you get five seasons of competition over a five year period. That Begins at full time enrollment or the academic year following your 19th birthday, whichever comes first. So red shirts are kind of dunzo at this point. No more waivers for injury, hardship or low participation. There are a couple exceptions, religious missions, maternity leave, military service, stuff like that. But 5 for 5 moving forward looks like it's gonna be the new standard. And then secondly, to the point of can anybody challenge this? The answer is yes. People are always gonna challenge it.

Dan Rubenstein

Yep.

Ty Hildenbrand

The NCAA though, has won some eligibility cases recently and because of those rulings might be on slightly firmer ground than they have been in the past. Yeah, they should continue to win most of the eligibility suits so long as the rules aren't bargained with a union and schools continue to undermine their own association by backing some of these eligibility suits. So long as that is the case, the litigation risk is never going to go away. So yes, the answer is yes, somebody will continue to try and challenge in any way they can. Maybe when you're traveling next week, Dan, I can bring on Matt Brown from extra points. We can talk a little bit more about this and what's been going on just to offer some further insight, Brian, but right now it seems as if they're on decent enough footing. The new rule is definitely something that's going to be talked about a lot more moving forward. And though the risk doesn't entirely go away, seems at least like that side of things is in an okay place for the moment.

Dan Rubenstein

I would also add, like, yes, there are going to be individual, it seems to revolve a lot around quarterback, but that we've seen other positions. I think by and large, schools and conferences want rules. They want to be told what these are the guardrails, these are the restrictions so they know how to operate within them. You're going to get certain situations where players and lawyers and families are going to try to argue and the schools are going to support them, especially if they're really good players. But I think by and large, everybody wants an operating framework. They're like, okay, this is the rule. This is how we're going to budget our roster. This is how we're going to approach our roster. The, this is, we know this guy is staying for this many years. Like, you don't want to live in a chaotic soup.

Ty Hildenbrand

No. Well, and, and, and this is sort of the state of college athletics right now. And this is why the NCAA is in a bind. The NCAA doesn't want to do anything and risk further litigation. The ncaa, though it might be on decent footing with regards to eligibility, has not been on decent footing with literally everything else.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

They have taken it on the chin in a pretty significant way. And so that is why they went out and they hired a former state governor. That is why they're trying to lobby Congress to get some sort of rules passed so that it feels like they can enforce whatever rules they've got without risking further litigation. That's where they're at. Also, there's definitely a push from the powers that be. I'm not saying you and I, but the powers that be to avoid labeling student athletes as employees. Because if you label them employees, then that opens up another Pandora's box.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

And the NCAA is kind of caught in between that. Right. Not necessarily throwing their hat.

Dan Rubenstein

We're heading in that direction. They're fighting tooth and nail, but yes, we're heading.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah. Eventually I think it ends up there. But for the time being, the NCAA is trying not to throw their hat in that ring. They're trying to get rules passed through Congress so that it gives them more of a bedrock and they can actually enforce these rules. But for right now, we're still kind of in that wild westy gray area where everything is challengeable in court.

Dan Rubenstein

Yep.

Ty Hildenbrand

A couple more here. Bob wants to know. Over. Under two and a half new teams reaching the College Football Playoff this year, meaning teams that have never made either the four team or the 12 team playoffs. Two and a half seems high to me.

Dan Rubenstein

Oh, I would take the over.

Ty Hildenbrand

Really?

Dan Rubenstein

Yes. How many new teams were in it last year? Obviously that changes the calculus. The more new teams every year means, the fewer. Probably it was six.

Ty Hildenbrand

We had. We had Tulane.

Dan Rubenstein

Yes.

Ty Hildenbrand

We had jmu.

Dan Rubenstein

Yep.

Ty Hildenbrand

We had Texas Tech. Who else do we have?

Dan Rubenstein

Miami.

Ty Hildenbrand

Miami, yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

That's four.

Ty Hildenbrand

Ole Miss.

Dan Rubenstein

Ole Miss is five.

Ty Hildenbrand

Who am I forgetting? Who was the last one?

Dan Rubenstein

The last one is, I believe, A and M. Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

M. Okay, so those are your six teams.

Dan Rubenstein

Now that means there are fewer possibilities for new teams this year.

Ty Hildenbrand

Six less that we have to work with.

Dan Rubenstein

And last year had like the weird one in a million year where we had two G5 teams. So that's. That's new and different.

Ty Hildenbrand

To hit the over, you got to get the three.

Dan Rubenstein

You got to get the three.

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm not sure I can find two.

Dan Rubenstein

Well, basically you're talking about a G6 team that isn't Boise, JMU or Tulane.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay, so let's say UNLV. Just for.

Dan Rubenstein

UNLV. Just for the Navy maybe plays one of its toughest games after the selection show.

Ty Hildenbrand

But they're not going to be two. We talked about.

Dan Rubenstein

I know, I know, I know. I'm saying one of those teams. New Mexico, unlv, Navy. One at one of those.

Ty Hildenbrand

So there's, there's one.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Get. Fine. Two more for me.

Dan Rubenstein

I mean, I don't think that's that difficult. I'll pull up the list. More teams that are competing.

Ty Hildenbrand

Which new team from the Big Ten is going to be in?

Dan Rubenstein

I don't believe it. But I'm, I'm telling you, they're up. They could be of this quality. USC.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay. All right, so let's say USC. Give me a third then.

Dan Rubenstein

So it would be USC. Probably nobody else in the Big Ten in the Big 12, which we are pointing to being wide open. BYU.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay. BYU.

Dan Rubenstein

BYU has not been in a college. BYU. BYU would probably be our first question askers. Utah Utes. The Fighting Utes. If they don't succumb to the West Kyle virus.

Ty Hildenbrand

Right.

Dan Rubenstein

Houston, we don't mind. Right. Just in terms of conversation,

Ty Hildenbrand

I mean, it would have to be two Big 12 teams.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

And a G6. I think you would have to have USC. USC has not been to the playoff. You are correct. USC schedule is a murderer's row.

Dan Rubenstein

It is.

Ty Hildenbrand

If USC makes it through that schedule and their playoff worthy, they're going to be like number two in the country.

Dan Rubenstein

Sure.

Ty Hildenbrand

So I'm not banking on that, which is why I didn't include them as part of this. I have a hard time getting the three. I'm not sure I can find two.

Dan Rubenstein

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Ty Hildenbrand

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Dan Rubenstein

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Ty Hildenbrand

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Dan Rubenstein

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Ty Hildenbrand

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Dan Rubenstein

have to beat a non SMU or Clemson team. Right?

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm. I'm under on this.

Dan Rubenstein

The ACC and then sec. Which SEC teams have not made the College Football Playoff in any form? Vandy, Mizzou, Kentucky, Florida. Florida hasn't made it, Right?

Ty Hildenbrand

No.

Dan Rubenstein

You're fighting Florida Gators.

Ty Hildenbrand

They're not going to be a playoff team.

Dan Rubenstein

Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Arkansas. It's a weird sport, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrand

It's a very weird sport.

Dan Rubenstein

I'm just. I'm okay with taking the over.

Ty Hildenbrand

All right, we disagree. That's fine. Let's go here to DB. You and the boys, you're creating a G6 league in EA Sports College Football 27.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Who are you picking and what's the strategy? I need two things. Here's my strategy. It's very simple. I need a proven quarterback who can run because I need to buy time for myself. I also need decent recruiting pipelines. I actually did this with some friends in the 26 game and I picked Georgia Southern. It was a car crash. Don't do that. No disrespect to Georgia Southern. My Screaming Eagles defense was pretty fun. It took me forever to build an offense. I went the whole year through. I think I had one winning season. Don't do what I did. My answer this year is Texas State or utsa. Texas State. Because I like Brad Jackson. Probably the best quarterback now in the PAC12. Good mobility, good receivers in the state of Texas. So the recruiting pipelines are there. And if not Texas State, UTSA has a lot of returning production. A good quarterback, not as fleet of foot, but Owen McCown's a good player. Got a good running back. The team as a whole is probably better than Texas State, so it'll be easier to get going. Yeah, but it's one of those two teams in the state of Texas for me. Okay.

Dan Rubenstein

I would. I don't play the game. Not anymore.

Ty Hildenbrand

That's why I jumped in first.

Dan Rubenstein

That's why I jumped in first. I think I would only select teams that are Owls, first and foremost, of course. Temple fau, Rice, Kennesaw.

Ty Hildenbrand

FAU could be fun. FAU could be decent.

Dan Rubenstein

I will, I will allow Bowling Green in there because they have the word owl in their name. I think enough of those teams are interesting and fun that I would. I would only. I would limit myself to owl schools and then if not that I would do it probably be by uniformer style of play.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay.

Dan Rubenstein

So the United States Naval Academy isn't the worst idea for me. Right. United States Air Force Academy.

Ty Hildenbrand

I have a friend who picked FIU just because of the uniforms and because of Pitbull Stadium.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah, no, I go all owl.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay, last one here, Dan.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

Let's go to our friend Dan Klobucar. Another question for us. He says, since your jobs depend on social media, what guardrails do you use keep from being on your phone all day and all night?

Dan Rubenstein

I try to keep social media to work hours. I don't have Twitter on my phone during the off season. During the season I feel like I need to keep close tabs on the sport. That would be the responsible thing and that's the easiest way to get information.

Ty Hildenbrand

I feel like you and I have both really pulled back from social media. Like we read it all the time. I'll post maybe a couple times a week, but I. I couldn't care less how many followers I have about growing my account or anything like that. I just don't. I. It was much more of a distraction for me when I was working the mysterious day job.

Dan Rubenstein

In a good way.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah, in a good way. Yeah, in a good way. But now that I'm here and I'm home and I'm working on this, I feel like wasting time by doom scrolling. The Internet is cutting into what you and I can do here. So I've pulled back a fair amount on that front.

Dan Rubenstein

So I've pulled back on it both professionally and personally, or I've tried to because of my specific kind of personality. Because it's not just that I'm on Twitter looking up breaking news and on signing day and on portal days and all that. It's also if I'm on social media and I happen to see something that is interesting to me about any topic. Yeah, I know that the next 13 minutes of my life are spoken for the day's rule, and I can't afford that. I can't afford to let that kind of time go. So I know it's easy to make lists and to. To curate who you're following and it's very specific about, okay, this is somebody who only covers, you know, Texas A and M football and so the. You're just ingesting Texas A and M content. I'm just. What? What also happens if I'm just sitting on my computer during the workday. I just also have a brain with a bunch of random stuff popping around. And if I have the ability to immediately Google or type something in and. Oh, right, Pizza stuff. Oh, right, Tennis. Oh, right, kids stuff, whatever.

Ty Hildenbrand

It's very easy to see the shiny object and go in a different direction.

Dan Rubenstein

That's who I am.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah, me too.

Dan Rubenstein

And so if I have that available to me on a phone, on a tablet, on my computer, and I'm always signed in and have the ability to search everything and there's news and there's. Oh, this is a cool recipe idea. Like, I just. I know myself and I am not the type of person who can ride that wave successfully. I am swallowed up constantly by those waves.

Ty Hildenbrand

I am too. And I mean, we both are still pretty online. We have to be.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

But I found just going out of town for a few days and being away from it or not as attached to it, coming back home, it was a relief. It was like, yeah, good to be home. But also, I haven't been washed over by this wave of online negativity the way you tend to be if you're a little bit too online. The other thing I would add just, I guess, more broadly speaking. Dan. Yeah, like, social media is a component of what we do. I think with each passing year, it's a little bit less of a component.

Dan Rubenstein

I think that's right.

Ty Hildenbrand

The conventional wisdom has always been if you do what we do, you gotta be super active on social media and you gotta post a ton of clips. Posting a ton of clips is the best way to get new listeners. Some very smart people have done the studies on this where they run the poll and they go and they talk to, like, focus groups and stuff. And it is true. Social media specifically posting a ton of clips of this on social media is like the second biggest driver of getting new people in the door. And I think that's true. I have no reason to doubt the very smart people that do these types of things.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

I also think that is way more true for shows that do interview or do comedy or give advice.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

Or have really hot takes, you know, like, I don't think it's true across the board. I have also studied this for us.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

I don't think we're just bad at it. I think shows that are formatted like ours, it is not as effective a way of getting new people in the door. What I have seen.

Dan Rubenstein

We're more highbrowed. High.

Ty Hildenbrand

No, we're not highbrow.

Dan Rubenstein

No, I know we're not.

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm just speaking truth to power, man. This is what we've seen.

Dan Rubenstein

We've kept the Peter north name alive in a way that no sports show could even pretend they could.

Ty Hildenbrand

This is true. Yeah, this is true. I think for shows like ours, being aggressively active on social media tends to grow the social media account, but not necessarily the audience, which is ultimately. That's how we get paid. That's what we care about.

Dan Rubenstein

So I think having really good clips makes it easier to have more people to watch those clips.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah. And for people to click follow on that account, but not necessarily click back. This is the problem podcasting has. Podcasting definitely has this problem of converting. Right. You see a clip somewhere. Yes. If it's a comedy show, that's one thing. But if it's a sports show, and especially because of the way algorithms work and you don't always get things in real time anymore, like, if you go on Facebook, you'll see something like three weeks old.

Dan Rubenstein

Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

Well, by the time you see what I had to say about Indiana, Indiana may have lost a game and be out of the playoff by now. Right. So it's just different now than it used to be. I'm also not including YouTube in the social media bucket. I know some people do that. If I were starting a show now, I'd go heavy on YouTube because that's where all the growth is at right now. The platforms, the podcasting platforms and apps disproportionately will benefit the shows that come from bigger publishers. That's just the way it works now. But the YouTube algorithm is still pretty good at putting you in front of new people as long as you stay consistent. So that is one area where we will not scale back.

Dan Rubenstein

Well, the cool thing about YouTube too, in all seriousness, is it makes it more three dimensional. Right. You get to see our faces and graphics and, you know, the. The live thing, it's more real on Saturday nights after games. It's just a different kind of medium. And especially for, like, college football shows, you get to learn that, like, oh, man, we have the biggest college football following in Myanmar. Right. That there are. That are places that you're like, wow, we have 30,000 new subscribers, and they're all from Laos. And you get to learn that about your audience. And I'm not referenc anybody specifically. No, but that is a cool thing you get to learn is you have you have content mill farms.

Ty Hildenbrand

If they're all coming from Laos, somebody paid or you paid to have those subscribers from Laos.

Dan Rubenstein

You were, you were picking up what I was putting down.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah, somebody paid for that.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

But look, I, I have, I have definitely thrown myself more. I've probably watched more YouTube over the last five years just because I'm trying to learn more about YouTube and how YouTube works. Because I know that is an area that is growing for specifically what we do. But the social media thing, and I, I don't, I don't get as much value out of that as I guess I'm supposed to.

Dan Rubenstein

No, it's tough. Also, we're like, we're old, right? And then just like old. But yeah, no, no, but I'm saying our. We're old in terms of like, it is less interesting to sit on social media the older we get. Like there is a certain part of it where it's just like, it's a younger person's game to be able to scroll all day.

Ty Hildenbrand

If I were still at the day job, I would probably want to scroll all day. It'd be probably, it'd be a very useful distraction.

Dan Rubenstein

The other thing for me that has at least helped, I'm not going to say it solved it is having a kid be like, why are you looking at your phone? Look at me. Jump into the pool.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

You're like, there's like, those kind of wake up calls were like, you know what, that's stupid of me. I'm sorry. And so that, that sort of snaps me out of like wanting to dive back in to, to scrolling through Twitter, the everything app or Instagram or whatever all day. Where I'm going to get my information. The most important thing is always going to be how do we make this show as entertaining and interesting as possible. And I just, the returns I find with social media aren't great.

Ty Hildenbrand

Final question, Brent, how do you like your steak cooked? He also says, war dam eagle. I'm a medium guy. I like it medium.

Dan Rubenstein

I'm very boring and I'm a medium guy too. I don't like it well done. I don't like it super rare, having a pink steak. And I don't even order steak that much. I like like a skirt steak, hanger steak, something like that. Occasionally I like, I like going to restaurants. Ty and I, I imagine you're similar to this. I love being presented with as many options as possible in terms of how something is cooked. I love giving instructions on my potatoes. Well done. And then they say, well Done. I was like, wait, let me stop you right there. Really, really, really well done. Because even saying that you're not, you're not getting them black.

Ty Hildenbrand

I think the outside of how do you like your steak or burger?

Dan Rubenstein

Eggs, people like different. Egg, people like different.

Ty Hildenbrand

Outside of how do you like your burger or how do you like your steak? I think the only one off instruction I have, the only Nancy fication I have.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

Is when I get bacon. I like it crispy, of course, but that's pretty much it. I'm not.

Dan Rubenstein

Well, it's.

Ty Hildenbrand

It's not just too particular about most things.

Dan Rubenstein

It's not. But it's not just how you want it cooked, right. I just. I like getting options. I like getting side dish options. I like. What kind of toast would you like with your breakfast? What do you have? We've got a sourdough, we've got a white, we've got a rye, we've got a pumpernickel. I love, you know, a bagel, you get an English muffin. I just, I love temperature. I love options. I like going to a diner where they're like really good at remembering or writing things down or having various options so the steak one isn't as applicable to me. I love going to a restaurant like Ty. You order your namesake food, right? You order Thai food named after you.

Ty Hildenbrand

Always.

Dan Rubenstein

You love indicating a spice level, do you not?

Ty Hildenbrand

I do.

Dan Rubenstein

You wouldn't love for a Thai restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, an Indian restaurant, whatever to say we know best. Everybody's getting it the way we think the dish is best.

Ty Hildenbrand

I did that at an Indian restaurant. I damn near burned my face off.

Dan Rubenstein

Different people have different palates, so it's good to have that experience and that ability to be like, give me a two, give me a one, give me a zero, give me a four. I love having that option. I thought I was demising ability.

Ty Hildenbrand

I thought I was being pretty cool once and I was like, I'll have it the way the chef.

Dan Rubenstein

What are you doing?

Ty Hildenbrand

Well, I did. That was the only time I tried that. Don't do. Don't do it.

Dan Rubenstein

Especially cultures that grow up with certain kinds of peppers.

Ty Hildenbrand

No, no. That was not the smartest decision of my life.

Dan Rubenstein

It's. It's just different. So I appreciate the ability to customize. Again, I'm not a big steak orderer, but even like there's a what if you're ordering chicken, if you're ordering a piece of fish, right, they'll say, do you want to blackened? Do you want it fried? You want it grilled? I just, I love thinking through those things. I love options, Ty. Like there are football teams who run an option. I run. It's a life option for me, Ty.

Ty Hildenbrand

Dan runs the life I love. Sort very dabo of you, Dan.

Dan Rubenstein

I like sorting through lanes, Ty. What is. What is getting a blackened piece of tilapia going to do for my Tuesday? Let's think it through.

Ty Hildenbrand

Why don't we leave it there? We appreciate everybody dropping their questions and comments out on our patreon@verballers.com we made that post, got a ton of questions. Thank you so much to everybody for sending them in, even the folks that we did not get to. Maybe we'll keep a few of those in reserves for one of our upcoming bonus episodes. Of course. Solidverbal gmail.com yeah, if you have further thoughts on any of these matters or something else that you'd like to get off your chest, would love to hear from you. Please hit follow or subscribe. And if you have yet to do so, rate and review the episode.

Dan Rubenstein

Can I ask you one more option question? Because it really is a show about getting to know Ty.

Ty Hildenbrand

Put that. Put that right in my belly.

Dan Rubenstein

This is. This is not an occurrence. That happens a lot probably for either one of us. Maybe a little bit more for me.

Ty Hildenbrand

Okay.

Dan Rubenstein

You're faced with a sundae bar. Now. It's not just about putting the toppings on your ice cream.

Ty Hildenbrand

Right.

Dan Rubenstein

It's okay. What is your base layer ice cream? How complicated are you going with the base layer ice cream or in this case, frozen yogurt. And then what toppings play nicely together? Like you're probably not going to do like a chocolate sauce and gummy combo.

Ty Hildenbrand

No, no.

Dan Rubenstein

And you're probably pretty gummy. Skeptical anyway because they're going to get frozen on top of ice cream.

Ty Hildenbrand

Not much for gummies.

Dan Rubenstein

No, but you have to. You have to find things. Even if you like two or three of different options, they have to marry well together. So what is on your, let's say, base layer? Chocolate or vanilla? Something pretty straightforward.

Ty Hildenbrand

Base layer is vanilla.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

Base layer is always vanilla.

Dan Rubenstein

What direction are you going to with common topping?

Ty Hildenbrand

Heavy. Rainbow sprinkles.

Dan Rubenstein

Heavy. Rainbow sprinkles.

Ty Hildenbrand

Heavy.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

Rainbow sprinkles.

Dan Rubenstein

Because your eyes eat before your mouth. Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

Heavy on the rainbow sprinkles.

Dan Rubenstein

Okay.

Ty Hildenbrand

I like some nuts on there. Some peanuts.

Dan Rubenstein

Peanuts. Rainbow sprinkles. Whatever.

Ty Hildenbrand

Whatever. Whatever. You know, whatever kind of selection they got there at the end.

Dan Rubenstein

Are we saucing or staying dry?

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm not much for the sauce.

Dan Rubenstein

Marshmallow, caramel, chocolate, strawberry.

Ty Hildenbrand

No.

Dan Rubenstein

Are we. Are we limiting ourselves to those two nuts and sprinkles?

Ty Hildenbrand

Usually.

Dan Rubenstein

When was the last time you found yourself topping? A Sunday,

Ty Hildenbrand

10 years ago.

Dan Rubenstein

Really? You've never been like a kid. I guess you could go to a kid's party and decline it. You could go to a buffet and say like I'm just gonna pass and have a slice of cake or something. I've probably had two or three in the last few years. Options that I've taken advantage of because sometimes the mood just hits.

Ty Hildenbrand

I've had. I've. I mean I've had ice cream with rainbow sprinkles on it somewhat recently. But in terms of like a Sunday bar where I'm kind of.

Dan Rubenstein

You're in charge.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah. No, it's been.

Dan Rubenstein

You're the topping coordinator here like 10 years. But what if you are just going to an ice cream parlor place and it's not a Sunday. Thing is, do you go wild with one of the flavor options?

Ty Hildenbrand

So soft vanilla rainbow sprinkles? That's the order.

Dan Rubenstein

Really?

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah. Sometimes I go like half and half, you know.

Dan Rubenstein

No, but I'm saying you'll never get like a rocky road or like a coffee chip or something like that.

Ty Hildenbrand

No.

Dan Rubenstein

Cookies and cream.

Ty Hildenbrand

Sometimes. Sometimes I'll do like a chocolate chip cookie dough situation.

Dan Rubenstein

Sure. It's great.

Ty Hildenbrand

And obviously if I go to like the Penn State creamery, I got more options up there. But I. I generally keep it pretty straightforward.

Dan Rubenstein

See, if I go vanilla or chocolate, it's usually going to be a chocolate or caramel sauce with Oreo crumbles.

Ty Hildenbrand

I could do. I could do some Oreo crumbles. Not opposed to that.

Dan Rubenstein

Or. And maybe it's a whiff if I'm really going deluxe. Love a. Love a Reese's Pieces on top of

Ty Hildenbrand

now that's too much. No. Oh man.

Dan Rubenstein

How do you feel about a non pere?

Ty Hildenbrand

I'm a big none fan. Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

Would you do it on ice cream?

Ty Hildenbrand

I never think.

Dan Rubenstein

Non. Play well with.

Ty Hildenbrand

I never have. But I'd be open to that. I'd be open to that crunch in my Sunday. Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

Right. Cuz you're getting. It's essentially the chocolate. It's the mini nonels. Usually the snow cap type things.

Ty Hildenbrand

Y. I'd be open to that. I'm open to that.

Dan Rubenstein

But I think it plays well with a chocolate sauce or caramel sauce. You get the smooth and crunch. I'm just. I love the option.

Ty Hildenbrand

This could have been its entire it's entirely its own episode.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah. I never like. I never like mixing flavors beyond a swirl. You can get me with a chocolate vanilla swirl. No, but when you go to one of those places that has all the levers and peanut butter. You can do mint chocolate. What? No, no, no. I. I want. Focused. Yeah. I build it out just like a. From the trenches. Right.

Ty Hildenbrand

There was a place like that by the old mysterious day job, Dan.

Dan Rubenstein

Yeah.

Ty Hildenbrand

I forget what it was called. We actually placed bets as a friend group when we thought it would go out of business. They had probably 24 different ice cream machines in there, and it was always empty.

Dan Rubenstein

And they do it by weight. Right. They. You top it. And like a Menchees type place.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah. Yeah. All right. I don't know how this place is staying busy.

Dan Rubenstein

I haven't been to one of those, like, 15 years. But yeah, I think it's really good to go into a Sunday bar with a plan of attack.

Ty Hildenbrand

You need a plan. You absolutely need a plan. You need to do a scouting trip around first, of course, to see what you're working with before you place the order. I agree.

Dan Rubenstein

I don't hate, like a butterfinger crumble.

Ty Hildenbrand

Not for me.

Dan Rubenstein

But I'm not. I'm not stacking. I'm not stacking. I'm making. I'm going in a specific direction. Something crunchy and a sauce.

Ty Hildenbrand

Just like building a college football program to some of these earlier questions.

Dan Rubenstein

You need to have philosophy.

Ty Hildenbrand

You need to have a vision. You need to stick to it. You got to know who you are.

Dan Rubenstein

I agree.

Ty Hildenbrand

That's how you change perception, dan.

Dan Rubenstein

And basically, nine out of 10 times, I'm doing cup over cone. It's too much slop with a cone.

Ty Hildenbrand

I don't do the cone at all.

Dan Rubenstein

You got to show me something interesting about the cone, like if it's dipped like a chocolate dip.

Ty Hildenbrand

Iceman cones are overrated. They're overrated. They're messy. They melt.

Dan Rubenstein

I think there is a time and place.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah.

Dan Rubenstein

I think if you're going for a stroll, I don't know. But nine out of ten, I'm.

Ty Hildenbrand

Cup. Give me. Give me the cup and the spoon.

Dan Rubenstein

I agree.

Ty Hildenbrand

I feel like we covered some ground here, Dan. Not just in college football, but also in life and dessert and ice creams and Sundays. SolidVerbal Gmail.com, of course, is where you can write in if you've got anything further to get off your chest. As we mentioned our next episode, we are starting up previews, so buckle in. Enjoy your July 4th holiday weekend. Stay safe out there. Don't blow too much up. If you are, make sure you got like, protective glasses or something.

Dan Rubenstein

Safety first.

Ty Hildenbrand

Yeah, safety first. We don't want anyone getting hurt out there, but enjoy your weekend. Enjoy the holiday. We'll be back next week. In the meantime, for that guy over there, Dan for myself over here, Ty. You know the drill. Stay solid.

Dan Rubenstein

Peace.

Ty Hildenbrand

Grainger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail, filters ready to clog H Vac on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering and 20247 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click grainger.com or just stop by Granger. For the ones who get it done the game started, call your dad.

Dan Rubenstein

I'm on it. Ma Holo. Hello, Hijita? I can't hear you. I'm at the stadium in Monterrey.

Ty Hildenbrand

Here, Shout Go together. Get nonstop talk, tax and data in

Dan Rubenstein

the us, Mexico and Canada with T

Ty Hildenbrand

Mobile, America's best network. Switch on the TLife app or on T mobile.com Connectathy on qualifying plans, not for extended international use. You must reside in the US in primary usage Massacre on our network. Best based on analysis by Ooklo speed test intelligence data 2H 2025 this is tab Ramos from Inside American Soccer. And this summer topgolf is turning into the ultimate soccer destination. They've got a new soccer themed game you can play with your group. Exclusive food and drink items. They've even installed full size soccer goals so you can try to hit golf balls right into the net. And every match all summer long will be on throughout the venue. And if you want to keep the fun going all summer, you can get the topgolf Summer Fun Pass, which lets you play every single day and bring up to five guests every visit. Get yours now@TopGolf.com FunPass this is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.