Ty and Dan talk with Stewart Mandel about spring storylines in the Pac-12, the rise of Michigan and Ohio State, Texas A&M’s stock, television shows and possible suitors for a hypothetical Pope of College Football. Plus, an in-depth discussion about the diseases in Oregon Trail and American Gladiators.
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Show Summary
On today’s Solid Verbal, Ty and Dan talk to Stuart Mandel from SI.com on all things surrounding the offseason. But first, they touch on a few housekeeping items:
- If you head over to The Solid Verbal Facebook page and become a fan, click on the “Overtime” section and check out the audio of Ty and Dan as they drive around South Beach before the BCS Championship.
- It’s about time to fill out your brackets. Join The Solid Verbal bracket challenge over at ESPN.com and compete with Ty, Dan and other Verballers. Winner takes home a t-shirt.
Mandel drops in via Skype and is prompted as to whom his choice for “college football pope” would be. After throwing out a few names, Mandel nominates Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel for his embrace of tradition and understanding for the current state of the sport and how to improve it.
Mandel then gets into a few of the teams he’s visited over the past few weeks and what could be expected come September. He was impressed by how good Stanford looks, especially throwing the ball down field. He also talks about how Sonny Dykes’ first year at Cal could be rough, but he has changed his tune on how good of a long-term fit Dykes is at Berkley. Mandel takes on the “Texas is Texas” adage and says this year, with 19 returning starters, Mack Brown has no excuse if his team doesn’t compete for the Big 12 title. He also visited Texas A&M and despite having the “hot program” label, overcoming its losses on defense and Kliff Kingsbury could be tougher than most think.
Before he goes, Mandel hits on a few more subjects, including new coaching hires, which program is primed to be the next Boise State, the Pac-12 programs that will be able to compete with Oregon and Stanford every year and how many teams can win the Big 12.
Ty and Dan spend the last part of the show tackling some emails, Facebook messages and tweets. They decide if a Clemson national championship or Jadeveon Clowney winning the Heisman is more likely, which Oregon Trail disease they’d most like to contract, if there’s any water to Urban Meyer’s idea of eliminating the redshirt system, a follow up on sexiest non-human animated character, and which American Gladiator they’d be.
Links
> SI.com — Sonny Dykes set on energizing Cal’s offense in 2013
> SI.com — Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel still adjusting to celebrity life
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