ACC Preview: Part 1 - Contender Tiers & What Happens After Miami? | College Football

Summary

---

The Solid Verbal College Football Podcast

Episode: ACC Preview, Part 1 – Contender Tiers & What Happens After Miami?

Hosts: Ty Hildenbrandt & Dan Rubenstein
Release Date: July 14, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this first installment of a three-part ACC preview, Ty and Dan take a 30,000-foot view of the conference, sorting out "contender tiers," establishing storylines, and wrestling with one big question: after Miami, who’s next? Through spirited banter and a little comedic riffing, they examine team strengths, roster changes, quarterback chaos, and coaching narratives, laying the groundwork for team-specific deep-dives to come.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Naming the ACC for 2026: Identity and Chaos Riffs

• Creative Naming Draft: Before getting serious, Ty and Dan "fantasy draft" new monikers for the ACC, joking about its annual unpredictability.
  • Favorites included: “After 'Canes Conference” (Miami or Bust), “All Cluster F Conference” (No idea who’s good), “Altogether Competent Conference,” “Always Close Conference,” “All Cannibal Conference – Let’s Eat,” and Dan’s jam-band-themed “All Coachella Conference – Let’s Jam.”
  • Notable Quote:
    • Dan: “There’s something about the ACC...it fills me with joy. I have so many joyous memories with the ACC—just as a fan of television, I’m in every year on the ridiculousness.” (02:17)

2. Setting the Stage: Miami’s Place and the Obsession with “Who’s Next?"

• Miami’s Dominance:
  • Consensus #1 team, far outpacing the field in SP+ and overall roster talent despite losing multiple key players at quarterback, offensive line, and edge rusher.
  • Notable Roster Additions: QB Darian Mensah (from Duke), WR Cooper Barcade (from Duke).
  • Quote:
    • Ty: "It’s not so much a matter of whether Miami is taking a step back...I’m assuming Miami is going to make the College Football Playoff for our purposes here—can they finally win the damn conference crown?" (12:38)
• The “After ‘Canes” Theme:
  • Central tension: After Miami, the second spot in the ACC is truly up for grabs, with deep parity and no obvious #2.
  • Ty: “What really gives texture to the ACC this year is the After 'Canes portion...Who is number two? These are the things that I spent a lot of time trying to figure out.” (13:35)
• Do Miami Fans Care About an ACC Title?
  • Conference title value is declining in the playoff era.
  • Dan: “[The title] would be nice, but it’s not keeping Miami people up at night...everything still worked out in a way that led you to beating Ole Miss, Ohio State, and nearly beating the national champion Indiana team. So yeah, it’d be nice, but it’s not keeping you up.” (17:47)

3. Roster Movement & Position Group Questions

• Major Head Coaching & Staff Changes:
  • Three head coaching changes: Franklin (VT), Pritchard (Stanford), Lupoi (Cal), but huge changes at coordinator spots.
• Quarterback Uncertainty is Widespread:
  • Several ACC teams are working with new starters or transfers (Clemson, Louisville, Virginia, Florida State, etc.)
  • Ty: “There are so many quarterback questions in the ACC this year...some subset of those new quarterback situations [is] going to immediately catch fire and do well.” (20:21)
• Offensive Line Turmoil:
  • Nearly every possible contender has offensive line holes or turnover (Miami, Louisville, Clemson).
  • Dan: “It’s just hard to keep 19 offensive linemen both with a budget and with playing time...unless you have unlimited funds and opportunity, which basically nobody does.” (23:37)

4. Misery and Deep Parity in the “Meaty Middle”

• Impossible to Rank after Miami:
  • Ty: “Once you get past Miami, you can go pretty deep...you can make a case for a lot of teams potentially being Miami’s opponent in the conference championship game.” (24:30)
• Coaching Age Spectrum:
  • ACC features everything from "young up-and-comers" like Pritchard and Dickert to "coach past primes" like Narduzzi, Doran, Belichick, and possibly Dabo Swinney.
  • Dan: "If Deion Sanders wants to be Coach Prime, this conference has a couple 'Coach Past Primes' as well..." (25:44)

5. Pet Teams & Rebuilding Projects

• Ty and Dan’s Pet Teams:
  • Dan: Wake Forest—loves their “Moneyball” approach and coaching adaptability.
  • Ty: NC State—intrigued by C.J. Bailey, improved O-line, and favorable schedule, but realistic about their “be who they always are” ceiling.

---

Tiers Breakdown with Analysis & Notable Quotes

1. The Miami Tier

• Team: Miami
• Summary: A clear cut above; “finished Lego project.”
• Quote:
  • Dan: “Miami is a definitely finished, built Lego project. There are other teams with missing Lego pieces. … The only concern with Miami is leaving this DeLorean on a shelf too low that a dog or a toddler would knock it over.” (38:14)
• Schedule Watch:
  • Toughest games: Week 5 @ Clemson (Oct 3), rivalry vs Florida State, trap spot @ UNC (Halloween), and biggest: Week 10 @ Notre Dame (Nov 7). (38:31)
• If they go 10-2: “Not a failure, but it’s approaching failure.” (39:42)

2. The “It’s About Trust” Tier

(Key programs with at least one major virtue but real flaws; these are plausible finalists, but not safe bets.)

• Teams: SMU, Louisville, Clemson

SMU

• Reason for hope: Experienced QB Kevin Jennings; Rhett Lashley’s targeted portal work, stability, schedule.
• Ty: “SMU is a real contender. They were my #2 because of Kevin Jennings. … I like having the quarterback…and I like Rhett Lashley’s track record.” (42:27)

Louisville

• Strengths: Portal wizardry, Jeff Brohm’s consistency, fortunate schedule (misses Miami, Clemson, VT).
• Red flags: QB Lincoln Keenholtz (transfer, no sample), rebuilt O-line, new defensive co-coordinator, rebuilt secondary.
• Quote: “How much of a risk is it being too high on a team with a transfer quarterback who has virtually no sample size?” (44:01)

Clemson

• Strengths: Defense, recruiting floor, tradition.
• Red flags: Recycled internal hires, O-line questions, lack of proven offensive spark.
• Quote: Dan: “I just don’t have faith in the coaching staff. I don’t have faith in the evolution of this program.” (48:31)

3. The “Who Knows”/Meaty Middle Tier

(A grouping so volatile it could produce the ACC #2 or finish .500.)

• Teams: Virginia Tech, NC State, Virginia, Pitt
• Each has some combination of new QB/staff, schedule quirks, and one or more position groups “to be determined.”
• Quote: Dan: “They all can appear to be able to do something pretty well and they all have clear flaws.” (53:17)

Notables:

• Virginia Tech: Can Ethan Grunkemeyer or defensive improvements get them to 8 wins?
• NC State: C.J. Bailey + much stronger O-line and friendly draw (misses Miami, Clemson, ND).
• Pitt: “Seductive” floor with Mason Heinzel at QB and high-floor coaching.
• Virginia: Defensive proof-of-concept and likely to face less dangerous QBs.

4. The “Jam Band”/Wild Card Tier

(Teams with “spark” potential, strong coaching, or wild variance.)

• Teams: Duke, Florida State, Cal, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech (for Ty)
• Notable point: Each has a case for bubbling up, but real roster and/or coaching transition concerns.
  • Example: Duke with Manny Diaz—“pulled rabbits out of the hat” last year with extreme adversity. (59:01)
  • Wake: Still loves their “2002 Moneyball” mentality and regular upsets.

5. The Basement/Bottom Four

(Bad schedules, talent drains, or full rebuilds. Ceiling: six wins and a smile.)

• Teams: North Carolina, Syracuse, Boston College, Stanford
• Quick hits:
  • North Carolina: Defense might be its best asset, schedule is brutal late (“looks like murder”).
  • Syracuse: Steve Angeli’s return helps. Fran Brown is motivating, but ceiling is 6-6.
  • Boston College: Ted Roof at DC, new QB from D2, and a brutal closing schedule.
    • Ty: “Defense one of least efficient in the country. … Ted Roof is going to fix that? Question mark, right?” (76:36)
  • Stanford: Full teardown. Pritchard has “familiarity,” but it's “year zero mode.”

---

Most Memorable Lines & Moments

• Lego Project Metaphor for Miami

  • Dan: “Are we leaving this DeLorean on a shelf too low that a dog or a toddler would knock it over? It’s a built Lego, man.” (38:14)

• Conference Nickname Draft

  • “The After 'Canes Conference, colon, who’s next?” (05:30)
  • “All Cannibal Conference: Let’s Eat.” (08:12)
  • “All Coachella Conference—Let’s Jam.” (10:38)

• Miami Title Apathy

  • Dan: “It’d be nice, but it’s not keeping you up.” (17:47)

• Parody & Parity

  • Ty: “I almost felt more confused with more information.” (24:30)

• Real Talk on Program Ceilings

  • Dan (on NC State): “They’re going to finish around .500 in the conference. And then when you kind of talk yourself into them, they’ll lose 35-7 to an actually good team.” (30:07)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:42–11:45: “Elsewhere ACC” – Nickname brainstorm & comic riffing
• 12:38–19:21: Miami’s status, Playoff assumptions, and the “Does it matter to win the ACC?” debate
• 19:21–22:34: Coaching and coordinator changes; QB chaos preview
• 22:34–24:30: The “who’s next?” middle tier, O-line and defense worries
• 25:25–27:55: Coach “timeline” parity: up-and-comers vs. past-primes
• 27:39–30:45: Pet teams (Wake & NC State), plus healthy self-doubt on taking the bait
• 34:08–39:42: Miami’s unassailable position, schedule analysis, what could go wrong
• 41:18–44:01: Deep dives on SMU, Louisville, and trust/uncertainty in the ACC clearing
• 48:07–50:44: Clemson’s “high floor, low ceiling” diagnosis
• 51:27–55:57: Who deserves to be in the second/third tier? Case studies: VT, Virginia, Pitt, NC State
• 59:07–64:09: The “jam band” tier, and why Duke, Wake, FSU, Georgia Tech, Cal are wildcards
• 69:37–71:14: Cal’s wild new regime & Tosh story
• 73:22–76:19: The bottom: North Carolina, Syracuse, BC, Stanford, why BC is dead last for Dan

---

Final Tier Summary (per episode conclusion)

1. Miami Tier: Miami
2. Trust Tier: SMU, Louisville, Clemson
3. Who Knows Tier: Virginia Tech, NC State, Virginia, Pitt
4. Wild Card “Jam Band” Tier: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Cal, Duke, Wake Forest
5. Basement/Battlers: North Carolina, Syracuse, Boston College, Stanford

---

Ending Note

The hosts set the table for parts two and three—where they’ll go team-by-team and include Notre Dame. They encourage listeners to share their own tiers and disagreements at solidverbalmail.com.

---

Stay solid.

Transcript

[A]

This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human. If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Your coffee would never get cold, your flight would always be on time and your mattress would always respond to you and your unique sleep needs. Sleep number mattresses are designed to respond to your body and shift with your changing life, helping you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com sl number to a good life sleep.

[B]

What's up, fam?

[A]

It's sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'? All? It's your girl, Sam J.

[C]

And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches

[A]

Women's Sports, a new podcast from 2gether. We're breaking down the biggest headlines, the viral moments and the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. From game changing performances to culture shifting conversations.

[B]

We'll give you our takes, our debates

[A]

and a few laughs along the way because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone watches women's sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[C]

I'm Jake Brennan and on the Disgraceland podcast, I explore the wild lies of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history.

[B]

These are the stories you haven't heard,

[C]

the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in a notorious prison. Or the bizarre crime Lady Gaga is accused of. Or that time Blondie's Debbie Harry escaped Ted Bundy. Listen to Disgraceland on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

Welcome to the Solid Verbal. The solid Verbal. Come after me. 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.

[C]

It's that. Woo.

[B]

Woo. And now Dan and Ty.

[C]

Dan Rubenstein. It is preview season, baby. It is time to talk some acc. How are you today?

[B]

I'm great, Ty. Ty, I. The ACC is one of, I don't know, my 13, 14 favorite conferences. It's one of my favorites. I love this episode, if not because I. If only because I remember the all Costco conference moniker that we gave it years and years ago. I think web one point we called it the Postal and the Fatlantic. There's just something that opens up part of my cerebellum when I talk about the ACC that it just, it fills me with joy. I love. I have so much in the way of joyous memories with the acc. Just as a fan of television, I'm just in every year on the ridiculousness of the acc. So it's a pet favorite conference of mine.

[C]

This is part one of a three part ACC preview. We did this last year. It worked really well. People seem to really get into it. The first episode is bigger picture. The first episode is the two of us talking through our contender tiers. Some of the things we're watching for in the conference. We'll sort of debate a variety of topics. Again, 30,000 foot view of the ACC. And then next episode we'll split it off into one half probably plus Notre Dame. We'll do Miami and Notre Dame together and we'll include Notre Dame in the ACC team part. And then part two will be whichever teams we don't get to in part one. And we'll continue to do that for the other power conferences as well. So if you're a Big 12, a Big 10 and SEC fan, doesn't matter. Part one will be an episode like this. Parts two and three will be more team specific stuff that you can sink your teeth into.

[B]

Look, am I going to lie and tell you that I didn't spend the majority of my time thinking of nicknames for this conference that are start or words starting with A and C. All

[C]

right, now hold on. Hold that thought.

[B]

I'm not going to go any further.

[C]

Yeah, that thought. We do not script this show.

[B]

No, we don't.

[C]

We do not script the show.

[B]

We script it in as much as we say, okay, part one is narratives and general thoughts and tears and just vibes.

[C]

Yeah, we know generally like the walls for the show. Right?

[B]

I don't have access to your thoughts. You don't have access to my thoughts. We are going to organize which teams we do on parts two and three, but that's it.

[C]

I also came up with different nicknames for the acc. We were thinking along the same lines. Do we want to do this now? Should we use this table center we have called. It is the Atlantic coast conference that we have called the all Costco conference for years now. I don't even know how far back this goes.

[B]

Colon quality in bulk call and quality in bulk. Yeah.

[C]

So I have in front of me. How many do you have?

[B]

I have four.

[C]

I have six. I think we should go back and forth and decide if only for the sake of these previews if we want to go in a different direction beyond all Costco quality and bulk. Because the impetus for me, I don't know if that applies this year, I

[B]

don't think so either.

[C]

And that's why I started thinking along different lines.

[B]

I just like coming up with new ridiculous things. So you want my first or do you want alternate?

[C]

We're doing this fantasy draft stuff.

[B]

All right, go for it.

[C]

I've got the Atlantic Canes conference, Miami or bust.

[B]

Oh, not bad. I didn't do any post colons.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Actually, I can come up with a

[C]

couple on the floor. Of course you can.

[B]

Relatedly, I have the After Keynes conference. Who's coming next? If we're agreeing on the top dog after Kane's conference colon, who's next?

[C]

All right, I'm going to jot that one down and we're going to see if we can beat it. I've got the all cluster F conference colon. Yeah, I have no idea.

[B]

That's pretty good.

[C]

You're up.

[B]

I have the altogether competent conference because in terms of playing the percentages, I only count two teams maybe where I'm like, there's a really, really good shot. They're not competitive all year. And that I think I have that as Stanford and bc. There's just limited reasons to believe this early was Stanford and with what BC is going to put on the field, it seems that altogether competent. We're just like, you look around, you're like, look, they're not great, but they have things in order. They're not getting weird penalties all the time. The quarterback hasn't thrown 19 picks. Like there's a certain, like the high floridness of the accident jumps out sometimes.

[C]

I still prefer After Keynes conference, but that's, that's okay.

[B]

Listen, we're just whiteboarding this.

[C]

I've got the Atlantic Costanza conference. It's not a lie if you're nine and three.

[B]

It's not a lie if you're nine and three.

[C]

Yeah, it's like, it's not a lie.

[B]

I understand the reference. Not a lie if you believe.

[C]

I don't know. I just came up with that one before we hit record. That's probably not the strongest work.

[B]

Okay, My next one is open to interpretation. As it's written, it says always close conference, but it could be always close conference because it seems like there are a number of teams every season that they're like, yeah, they're seven and five, but they were five points away from being 10 and two. Right. That there's like a closing issue. We saw it last year with Miami, of course, but we see it every year that there's a weird result, like a 3 and 9. Virginia Tech beats NC State by 15 or by 2 or something where you're just like, you couldn't close out that game. And there's. It's. I mean, the same thing goes. We had a. Like a Duke. Virginia championship game last year that was very closeoutable for Virginia, who had already beaten Duke, and they just couldn't close it out. So that's. So it could be close. Could be close.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

So it's always close. Conference call and open to interpretation.

[C]

I don't. I don't hate that. I was also playing into the fact that we make the joke every year. We don't know who plays whom at any given week in the acc. And there is definitely a lot of potential for sort of a demolition derby in the middle with everyone beating each other. So I have the all Cannibal conference colon. Let's eat.

[B]

Oh, I don't mind that. Yeah. Because now cooking is a verb. Right.

[C]

Apparently.

[B]

Like Virginia Tech is cooking.

[C]

That's right.

[B]

Or they cooked them. Don't hate it. So my last one I think I'm most proud of creatively, but it doesn't fit in with AC I think the idea I'm going for. So, as people know, Ty is extraordinarily into jam bands. Yes.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Love jam bands. Yeah.

[B]

But I know nothing about jam bands beyond, like the Big three or what. However many are big. I know that. I don't think it's.

[C]

Is Fish a jam band? Does they.

[B]

Fish's jam.

[C]

They count as a jam band.

[B]

The Dead. And obviously the Dead has taken a number of iterations as they've lost memory. Members and added members. And the. The Dead, I think, is the. The sort of Godfather type band. There's a newer one called Goose that people are getting into. Not to be confused with Geese, which is accused of the band. To say which accused.

[C]

Which is the one that bought credibility or bought.

[B]

I think that's Geese.

[C]

That's Geese.

[B]

I think the marketing thing was Geese. Goose. I think a lot of Fish people are into now as well.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Different band. But what from what I know about jam bands is the little, like you're jamming. Right. That, like there's going to be space for the keyboard player to explore the space on a song. There's going to be space for a couple guitar solos or for a bass breakdown or for the singer to do a weird harmonica part or the drummer to shift to the bongos and do a drum solo. In this sport, we're used to the big stories jumping through. Right. Indiana. What A story, right? Like out of nowhere, Indiana or like realignment stuff or a team that has been close to breaking through finally does. Right. There's something about the ACC that it's not on a big level all the time, but there's always like a don't look now. Duke just had a pretty great year. Don't look now. Wake Forest kind of figured out defense in year one of Jake Diggart. Right. Don't look now. Virginia did really well in the portal and they're 7 and 1. And so everybody kind of has a chance for that solo. Everybody has a chance to jam a little bit. Every year there's a different team that gets a slightly above average schedule and you're like, I know they haven't played anybody, but they're nine and two and like nobody saw that coming. Good. Good for Mike Elko and Duke. So I have them as the All Coachella Conference colon. At some point, somebody gets it. Well, no, that's way too long. The All Coachella Conference colon. Let's jam.

[C]

Let's jam. That's not bad. I like that.

[B]

All Coachella. If there is a jam band that starts with C, that's more appropriate. I, I salute you. But there, I. That's the jam band nature of. There's room for somebody to just have a crazy late September through early November and have a record that makes you say, hey, good for them.

[C]

I, I like the cut of your jib there. I have two.

[B]

It's a long explanation. There's a long wind up. It's a hard sell. I get it.

[C]

It's okay. I mean, these are all a hard sell, frankly. I have two more, and this is really paying homage to our audience down in the great state of Georgia. I have the Alberto Coast Conference football below. The Mendoza Line colon football below.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I like that.

[C]

And then I just. Just for SMGs, the All Cabello Conference, East Atlanta, Unana.

[B]

How old is that song now?

[C]

I don't know. It's been a minute.

[B]

All respect, but Camilla. Yeah. Is that her name?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I like After Keynes. I think we go after Keynes conference.

[B]

The After Keynes conference. Okay.

[C]

Because I think that's really the general theme of the ACC this year. Miami is the clear favorite. They are number eight in our friend Bill Connolly's SP plus is preseason SP plus. It's by a rather wide margin. Of course, on top of what they did last year as they were trying to construct the 2026 version. They add Darian Mensah from Duke. They bring over Cooper Barcade from Duke as well, his number one receiver. And bear in mind, this is a team that loses a fair amount. And we will talk through that, I think in much more detail once we get into the Miami team preview. But broadly speaking, if you're listening to this, you probably already know. Yeah, they lost a lot off of that team, but they're still pretty well loaded. And even despite the fact that they lost two primary edge rushers, they lost, you know, their quarterback. We can go down the list. There's a fair amount of guys off the line. Even despite all that, this is still far and away, in my opinion, the best roster in the acc. So it's not so much a matter of is Miami going to be taking a step back or anything like that. I read this as I am assuming Miami is going to make the College Football Playoff for our purposes here, can they finally win the damn conference crown?

[B]

Right.

[C]

Which is within an ACC context, I guess, what we're after as we're going to go through these next couple episodes.

[B]

The ACC currently has how many teams who have made the College Football Playoff.

[C]

They've got Miami, smu, smu, Clemson, Florida State. Made the original, if you want to go back. Yep. But beyond that, I think it's it

[B]

that appears to be it. So when I look at. I don't know if you want to do tears right now. I don't know if you want, you want to do off season stuff and changes and storylines and broader stories that interest you about. We can do whatever.

[C]

Well, I think setting the table here beyond Miami would be the most instructive at this point because in all likelihood, if you downloaded this podcast episode, you already know Miami is going to be pretty good. What really gives texture to the ACC this year is the After Keynes portion of that moniker. What next? What happens then? Who is number two? These are the things that I spent a lot of time trying to figure out. I don't know if I got any closer to it, studying this for hours on end, but for me that is really the primary thing that I think most of our audience is going to be most interested in.

[B]

Yeah, I agree. And the reason Miami seems to be standing alone is even though they do have questions. I would like to separate the word questions from concerns.

[C]

Yes, good point.

[B]

Because yes, it is a question when you have to replace full time starters along the lines, but in terms of how they've recruited, how they've addressed it, and the guys that they work in to those new starting positions, they are questions, not concerns. And when you look across the conference There are pretty significant concerns, depending on what you think the intention of the season is for that specific program. I think everybody has legitimate concerns outside of Miami, whether you want to talk about potential contenders with teams like smu, Louisville, Clemson, Pitt in that tier, there are concerns in areas of that team. And there are concerns that were addressed via the portal, via new coaching hires along the coordinator positions. And then you look at other teams, perhaps they're starting over at head coach teams like Cal and Virginia Tech. And the concern is more just like, what does it look like? That's a question of concern is like, well, they had to hire a new coach for a very specific reason. So there is concern that they haven't figured it out immediately and that's reasonable. And then the intention of teams who didn't hire a new coach and were sort of around the bottom of the conference last year, the concern is have they done enough to address what brought them to that level, whether it was bad luck, whether it was players who didn't meet the muster of that team, whether it was coaches who were in over their head. Miami's that one program, as far as I can tell, where you're like, well, all these guys are back. This is how they address those questions. That makes me feel pretty good. And I just, I don't have that level of conversation internally about any other team.

[C]

My question on the Miami front, and I guess I could pose this now, I think we've pretty much given away the game that Miami is going to be our top team as we talk through our contender tiers here in a minute, right? But I've been thinking a lot about does it matter to Miami fans if they don't win the acc? Because you know, that's the talking point. The talking point, the joke that people like to make and it's the low hanging fruit we've done it too, is Miami's never won a conference championship. All this time they've been in the acc, they'd never want it in football, right? So clearly, given the way this roster is set up, given the way the schedule is set up, the schedule is wonderful. It would appear as if Miami is the top dog. It would appear as if they're the odds on favorite to win the acc. I look, it got crazy last year. I could get crazy again this year, who the hell knows? I personally think it'd be a stretch for them not to be in that game again this year, but this has kind of been their MO and that's why it's the joke. But I've Just been thinking a lot about the fact that because now there are 12 teams that get into this and because Miami had a proof of concept a year ago, they made it to the national championship, they weren't that far off from at least given Indiana a run at trying to win at the end. Like, do Miami fans care about the acc? Do they care if they win the conference? Does that other than the perks that come with winning a conference, which might be better seating or better matchups or, you know, a bi week, whatever. Other than that, do Miami fans actually give a rip about winning this thing?

[B]

Yeah, I think. I don't speak for Miami fans specifically, but I think anytime you can win your conference, you feel good about that. Anytime you can check that box, it feels good. We are also in an era where a conference championship game and the idea of winning a conference has been annually devalued. That Miami was able to make the championship game without even playing for the conference championship last season because of weird, arcane tiebreakers. And yes, Miami's been in this conference for a long time. It would be nice, it would be fun for Miami to win this conference, I suppose, for its fans. Is it end all, be all? I don't think so. Are Miami fans en masse going to travel to the conference championship game when it appears that they're going to be in the College Football Playoff and would rather have money saved to fly to Dallas or Vegas or Wherever? I think 4K TVs are great and you can watch that game comfortably on your couch. So, yes, the idea of winning the ACC Championship would be great. It's also an extra game when you could potentially have a long road in the College Football Playoff. I don't know. I, I think it would be nice. I don't think it keeps Miami people up at night like, oh my God, we didn't win it last year. You know, what, what, what, what stopped us? And we're just like, I don't know. You couldn't close out the SMU game or the Louisville game and everything still worked out in a way that led you to beating Ole Miss and Ohio State and nearly beating the national champion Indiana team. So, yeah, it's, it'd be nice, but it's not keeping you up.

[C]

So within the acc, there were really only three head coaching changes. Those being James Franklin at Virginia Tech to Vita Pritchard at Stanford and Tosh Lupo taking over at Cal. Wasn't a whole lot of movement in terms of head coaches. There was a lot on the coordinator front and we can get into that in a little bit, but I do think the coordinator carousel will be interesting to chart both offensively and defensively. All that said, the real intrigue in the acc, not so much on the team, who's going to win level, who comes after Miami level, but position group to position group. There are so many quarterback questions in the ACC this year. So many questions. We talked about Dari Men's at Miami. I think we feel pretty good about him. Kevin Jennings is back at SMU. Kevin Jennings is sort of a proven deal. C.J. bailey at NC State is at a minimum a high end, ish returning quarterback.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But beyond that, beyond that, we've got a league that is full of new starters and a bunch of unsettled quarterback rooms. Christopher Vezina at Clemson, Lincoln Keenholtz at Louisville. Ethan Grunkemeier, who follows James Franklin from Penn State down to Virginia Tech. Ashton Daniels named quarterback 1 at Florida State, the transfer from Auburn. Okay, Virginia's got two transfers in. Beau Prabula who comes to Virginia from Mizzou, previously at Penn State. Eli Holstein is also on campus. He comes down from Pitt. He transfers out Walker Egan at Duke, Geo Lopez now at Wake forest, Billy Edwards Jr. At North Carolina. And there are probably other guys here. I'm just not going to list any more of them. You get the point.

[B]

Well, just in terms of the unsettled nature of the position, I would add Steve Angeli to Steven Jelly. Coming back off, coming back, like flashed. It seemed good things, but it was very brief.

[C]

So I think what I'm going for here is there is going to be some subset of those new quarterback situations that immediately catch fire and do well. And suddenly because there is so much clustering in the middle in this conference, one or two of these teams are going to bubble up as a result.

[B]

I agree. And by the way, I would also add JKs to the settled quarterback. But still questions because of a new coaching staff.

[C]

This is not a new office. This is, this is just. But you get the point, right? There's a lot here that I think remains up in the air.

[B]

Yes. And a lot of these quarterbacks that are starting, it's either their first time as like the, the, the no doubt about it, starter or they're at a new place there. There's not a lot of like, okay, they've got the same coaches, they've got receivers that they're used to, they got a system they're used to and they've been at this place and they know where the bathrooms are. That's a limited number because you can't even say that, like Dari Mensa, stuff like that. So, I mean, this is no different than most seasons, right? Quarterback is going to determine a lot within this conference, but it's also the amount that's changing around those quarterbacks that that sort of throws it into chaos.

[C]

There are plenty of questions about the offensive lines on these teams as well. Like, every plausible ACC contender has at least one offensive line question. They're different questions depending on the team. Miami still might have the best line in the league, but they are replacing four starters. Jackson Cantwell, the true freshman, figures to be the left tackle. I've heard nothing but good things about him, but you never know what happens when the rubber meets the road. Louisville lost five of their six guys that played along the line. Clemson lost a couple. I guess Virginia's sort of an exception to that. They return a bunch. But offensive line, it's a lot of the same stuff over and over again. Quarterback, offensive line, we could shift our focus to defense. It's much the same on the defensive side of the ball. So while Miami might be the most complete team at this juncture, there are plenty of other candidates that I think could definitely bubble up if a quarterback, if a defense, even if a different positional group pops in a way that we can't possibly see coming as we record this and drop it in July.

[B]

Yeah, I think this is sort of a new reality just because offensive line is such a developmental position that teams, even if they're paying top guys. We heard Sark talk about this out of high school. You know, the schools in this conference that you know are competing on that level, it's just hard to keep those backups on campus. And so then when one of those backups has a surefire opportunity to start somewhere else, you're going to see that position remain in such flux all of the time. It's just hard to keep 19 offensive linemen both with a budget and with playing time that you are going to see, you know, an offensive lineman at Pitt or an offensive line at NC State say, oh, I have this opportunity, I can make more money. This school's not paying me. And so you're going to have that turnover year over year over year, unless you have unlimited funds and opportunity, which basically nobody does.

[C]

I'm curious if anything surprised you as you went through all the material trying to figure out the acc, because what surprised me, and maybe this plays back into the central theme of the conference this season. I knew it. Going in that there was going to be a cluster of teams in the middle. What I don't think I had an appreciation for was just how tight that cluster was. I really, truly, and I am not hamming it up just for the audio, I genuinely did not know who to put number two. Because once you get past Miami, you can go pretty deep into this conference, Dan, or you can make a case for a lot of teams potentially being Miami's opponent in the conference championship game. And I knew that going in, but coming out of this, I almost felt more confused with more information.

[B]

What kind of surprising about this conference, not surprised me, but maybe jumps out is when you have a conference this big and you start looking at the names of the head coaches, how different so many of these guys are in their timelines as head coaches in the acc.

[C]

That's true.

[B]

Where you have the, like, okay, kind of brand new to this conference on the young side, you know, Tosh and Tavita Pritchard and Jake Dicker, like, there's like younger guys who are just sort of like figuring it out within this conference. You have guys who have flashed a little bit early on in their time. Guys like Manny Diaz and Brent Key. I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody. I mean, like Fran Brown flashed and then had a disastrous season last year. But, you know, there were reasons. But so you have those kind of like young up and comers trying to come into their own or youngish up and comers as head coaches in the acc. And then like, if Deion Sanders wants to be coach prime, you gotta like, couple like coach past primes in this conference as well. Or like, the question of are they past their prime with guys like Narduzzi and Doran and obviously Bill Belichick. And like, what, at what stage of his career competing for playoff berths is James Franklin, right? That there are guys that are just like, is, have we seen the best of Mike Norvell? Is he past his prime, even as a youngish dude? And so it's not terribly different from other conferences. But you do, I think, see the stark contrast when you have whatever 17 teams now in the ACC. Now Bill O', Brien, has he. Has he passed his better days? Perhaps he's not old, but perhaps he has like, or perhaps just Boston College is that job that makes it seem like you have. That kind of thing has jumped out that so many. They're different factions within the conference of coaches that, you know, the. The differences jump out. I guess when you combine all of that, you get Jeff Braum, that Maybe he's up and coming. Maybe he's fastest prime. Maybe he's squarely in his prime. Mario Crystal Ball is in his prime, you could say. Is Dabo Sweeney past his prime? Sure, you can say that. That to me is interesting that they're there are those stark contrasts.

[C]

Do you have a pet team? I always have an ACC pet team. Do you have a pet team like last year? Mine was Pit, kind of. Kind of Clemson last year, too. I was way high on Clemson. That didn't work out.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Do you have a pet team this year?

[B]

Maybe Wake, because it always kind of feels like wake is playing 2002 California Angels Moneyball. What do they call it? Small ball.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

They're like, look, they're going to lose a lot of their best players, but they're going to figure out how to replace those receiving yards. They're going to figure out how to get stops on third down. They're not going to do with a huge budget. They're going to get a quarterback on his third school in Geo Lopez. South Alabama to North Carolina, now to Wake. They have a coach from across the country whose team left or lost a conference in the process. And they quietly had a really good year last year. And like this year, I just am along for the ride. And maybe they're overrated going into this year based on defying early expectations. Last year, their schedule kind of rules. You know, I have a pet thing about people who have situational advantages that they're all, they're playing this team after they play Notre Dame, they play this team before they play Miami. Wake kind of has that kind of schedule this year. I don't know. They always seem like an afterthought. You're like, well, Florida State lost, but they have Wake this week, so they'll be all right. And then they lose to Wake.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So I don't know. I always kind of root for teams like that. And it's the other side of the spectrum. As an Oregon fan, you root for a team who keeps losing dudes in the portal and doesn't have that budget and doesn't have that top team reputation, but they figure out ways to sort of use duct tape and chicken wire to get to bowl games. I like that.

[C]

I think mine is NC State.

[B]

Oh, don't do this to yourself.

[C]

I know, right? I know.

[B]

What are you doing? You're going to fall for it again.

[C]

I'm not going to do what I did with Pitt last year.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Where I built them up to an unrealistic degree and Then when it came crashing down, I might as well put the clown nose on. I'm not going to do that. But when I say pet team, a team of interest to me, a team surprisingly of interest to me, I also had that thought, why am I doing this to myself? But I like what I'm seeing when I look at NC State this year. We can get into that here. We can get into that. We'll talk about our contender tears next.

[B]

Here's why I don't do that with NC State. They're going to finish around.500 in the conference. I know they're going to win some games against lower teams. They're going to lose a game or two against a team they shouldn't. And then when you kind of start talking yourself into them as being pretty good, they'll lose like they did last year, like they do a lot of years. I know, 35 to 7 to an actually good team, and you're like, oh,

[C]

yeah, okay, we're back, baby.

[B]

Yeah, we're. Didn't they score seven against Miami and seven against Notre Dame last year?

[C]

I forget. I don't know.

[B]

It's something like that.

[C]

I know that they. I had the same thought. I had the same thought.

[B]

41 to 7 and 36 to 7. I can't go along for that ride in convincing myself that this is going to be an actual, like, competitive game for a stretch against Notre Dame or Miami or a good Clemson. And I know they've won. They've. They've won some of those games in years past. I'm just. I can't do it again. I can't. I can't talk myself into them again. But that's okay. What's up, fam?

[A]

I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'?

[B]

All?

[A]

It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together. And I heart women's sports because, let's be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. So Kelsey Findler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is, like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports.

[B]

Naomi Osaka showing out.

[A]

She beat Sabalenka. Shout outs to you, Naomi. You get the Palm.

[C]

Naomi, you get the Palm for that.

[A]

Because we're not just interested in what happened, we're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports Listen to Everyone watches women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey everybody, I'm Tareka Fosta Brasby. What's up y'?

[B]

All?

[A]

I'm your girl, Sheryl Swoopes. When you tune in to a new new episode of our podcast, Levels to this, you're definitely going to get some Spy CW NBA analysis.

[C]

Yup.

[A]

But then the conversation goes on and levels up beyond basketball, because on Levels to this, the game is always the starting point. But we're more than just hoops and the real conversation is what we actually bring. This is Levels to this, the podcast about all the levels of stuff that women go through. Listen to Levels to this with Sheryl Swoopes and Tareka Foster brasby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Summer is here, which means we all want to look and feel our best. A GLP 1 may be right for you. Visit orderlymeds.com to learn more about which GLP 1 you could be eligible for. Getting started is fast, easy, and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals. Check it out for yourself. Go to orderlymeds.com podcast that's orderlymeds.com podcast taking care of yourself feels great. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.

[C]

I want to go into Contender tears next before we do. If you made it this far, if you want to help support the team, please hit, follow or subscribe so that you do not miss any of our preview episodes, which we're going to be rolling out here every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday until we run out of teams and then we'll sort of jump back in and talk about news. Please, if you are ever so inclined, go to verballers.com that is our Patreon. That's where you can directly support the team by signing up to be a certified or premium Verballer. You can also go on out to solidverble.com Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter we send you free stuff every week. It's a lot of fun. Totally free.

[B]

Yes, agree.

[C]

My top tier. I am calling the Miami tier because it's only Miami.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And as I said at the top, I feel like I view Miami through two distinct lenses. One is the acc. The other is the College Football Playoff in the conference. Again, this is easily the best roster in my opinion. I think with the exception of a road game at Clemson, this is a schedule that's tailor made to get them to the ACC title game. And you really don't need to squint to find a very easy pathway through that schedule to get to this ACC title game. There has been a track record for Miami having the random letdown game. And so can Miami get past that? Is that still something that's going to be part of their repertoire in 2026? That part remains to be seen. I hope for their sake it is not. Either way, to the point of Chris Felica, who we had on the show.

[B]

Felica.

[C]

Felika. Excuse me. Oh my God.

[B]

He corrected us. Not corrected us, he confirmed us.

[C]

He confirmed it. We knew how to say it. Now I just said it wrong. Perfect.

[B]

Come on.

[C]

To prove Mr. Felica's point, a proud Miami grad who he had on the show last month, it would take an act of God or some kind of catastrophe to keep Miami out of the College Football Playoff. And I agree, right, whether or not this ACC thing matters to you, to each his own. But that is an I think open question. Can they finally get the job done on the ACC front? Bigger picture, I think they're in the College Football Playoff. I think Darian Mentza is an upgrade at quarterback. I think they're fine at the skill positions. They do need the line to gel. As I said, they've got got some new guys that they're trying to incorporate into that line. They lose Ruben Bay and Akeem Mezador off the edge. So they're going to need to find other ways to create pressure this year. I don't know if any of this is really going to be that big of a problem. I think I'm splitting hairs here and I think that's part of the reason why Miami is kind of into class ones to itself. But I'm open to competing ideas if you feel differently.

[B]

No, I don't. I don't think the concern is specific or direct with Miami. Right. You can be concerned about line issues, as you've mentioned. I think my bigger concern would be emotional with Miami that, okay, they got a taste last year of going deep into the playoff and being on the verge of a national championship and nobody else is built like Miami moving forward in this conference. So Miami, and with the exception of Notre Dame for some of these teams, but Miami, more so because they are fully in this conference. They're the. They're the lone circle team. They're the uniquely circled team on everybody's schedule, right. That they're not in a grouping where you're like, well, we have Miami, we have Clemson, we have Florida State. I mean, it's going to get rocky. Like, everybody circles Miami in a unique way. And so that to me, as the sole hunted team atop the conference, this isn't the Big Ten with, you know, Ohio State and Indiana and Oregon and USC or whoever, or the Big 12 with, you know, Texas Tech and BYU these past couple seasons. It's not the SEC with the number of teams that are, like, in that top grouping. Miami may have been in this group in previous seasons, but they're alone now. And so it's not just that they're getting everybody's best shot. It's that even internally, there has to be a little bit of a pressure. Saying anything less than winning the conference and going deep in the College Football Playoff. Last year, it wasn't like, the specific concern of, like, feeling the pressure to get deep in the way that it is this year and the way that they've spent and the way that they've built their team. Again, I looked at this almost from, like, a Lego perspective. Like, Miami is a definitely finished, built Lego project. There are other teams that have missing Lego pieces. There are other teams who have people who are worried about following directions three pages in. There are other teams that are building Legos with pieces from other Legos. And they're like, we'll get there.

[C]

We'll.

[B]

We'll make this pirate ship work. But mi. The only concern with Miami then is like, are we leaving this DeLorean on a shelf too low that a dog or a toddler would knock it over? Right? There's just like, you know, brain fart. It's a built Lego, man.

[C]

As I look at the schedule right now, the game that they are clearly going to have circled is on November 7th. November 7th, week 10 is going to be a monster college football weekend. We've said it time and again. Make sure you've got that one blocked off on your family calendar so that you can be in front of a tv. That is when they are on the road against Notre Dame. That will clearly be the biggest game of the season for them. Otherwise, though, beyond a game on October the third in week five on the road at Clemson, there's not a whole lot on here that really gives me the heebie jeebies. There's a game at home against Florida State. I don't Know what state Florida State's going to be able to talk about?

[B]

It's always going to be emotional, but

[C]

it's going to be right. It's a rivalry and they got to buy before that, which helps. There is a weird trap spot before that Notre Dame game, which I know I've talked up before this one on Halloween on the road at North Carolina. I don't know. What do we make of North Carolina in year two under Belichick? We can talk that through. But beyond that, Dan, all of the teams on here are very beatable. For Miami, maybe with the exception of Notre Dame and certainly within conference, it figures to be a really clean path through. If they don't have a brain fart along the way.

[B]

I would say them going 10 and 2 is not a failure, but it's approaching failure. I would have to know how that happened.

[C]

That's gotta be the floor for this team.

[B]

Like it would have to be, you know, and knock on wood, it doesn't happen. You know, Darian Mensah getting hurt or something going completely wrong with an important position. You know, five dudes in the secondary getting hurt. Something crazy that we hope doesn't happen. But you look at the schedule and it's that Note, the only team that is constructed comparably is Notre Dame.

[C]

So let's talk about the next tier down. I called mine. It's about trust. The way that I structured mine. I've got the Miami tier. I've got the. It's about trust here. I've got the trying to earn my trust here and then just the bottom five. Who do you have in your next tier down after Miami?

[B]

After Miami, I have smu, Louisville, Clemson, Pitt, Virginia Tech, and I think that's it. Pitt, yes.

[C]

So you're in on Pitt this year. Even I don't.

[B]

I'm not in on contending for the conference. You're basically asking me who can go 8 and 4 and with a couple breaks, 9 and 3. I'm not crazy confident in any of those teams. I'm not either, but somebody's got to do it. Did I say Virginia? I didn't say Virginia. I put Virginia there as well.

[C]

Let's start with SMU then, okay? Because I think we agree on smu, Louisville, Clemson, then it starts to come off the swivel a little bit and we can debate that. But SMU y smu? I've got SMU as my number two team and I hemmed and hawed over this one. But I ultimately settled with the Mustangs.

[B]

Rhett Lashley basically always figures it out. They return a quarterback who is an elderly statesman type, an elder statesman. They do a good job in that system. They have continuity, not at coordinator, but in hiring from within, which if SMU keeps winning and they have maintained coaches on that staff, that does it for me. They've been very smart in the portal over the years. And so I trust Rhett Lashley and Kevin Jennings. That is a playoff duo. And so track record does not necessarily indicate future results, but in a conference, in a world with so much chaotic transition every season, you got to find the islands that, you know, you can sort of anchor your boat to.

[C]

I think SMU is a real contender and at the end of the day, they were my number two because of Kevin Jennings. Because the offensive line, which is really

[B]

there, was the Cal game away from going to the championship game last year.

[C]

Yeah, it was just the Cal game.

[B]

And they went and got that running back who shredded them. Kendrick.

[C]

Yeah, and that's, that's a really good point. You mentioned it, but truly the way that they went about their work in the transfer portal was very targeted. They were spearfishing out there. They went out out after their exact weak spots. They went out after running back, receiver, tight end, defensive line, secondary. Beyond that, this is like a fabulous schedule. Like outside of a road trip to Louisville in week three, I don't look at the conference slate and get too worked up. They do go to Notre Dame late in the year as well.

[B]

Won't count towards their ACC record, but.

[C]

Right. That's a separate issue. There are some ifs here, but I think what it boils down to is, is the defense good enough to not put it all in Kevin Jennings or is he going to be in a bunch of shootout situations?

[B]

A lot of new starting faces with a new full time coordinator.

[C]

But ultimately I tend to agree with you on the trust side. On the trust side, I like having the quarterback in Kevin Jennings and I like Rhett Lashley's track record. I think it's very underreported, maybe because SMU is a relative newcomer to the Power 5, Power 4 now, and specifically the ACC. But he's done a really good job there in a short amount of time.

[B]

I agree. I look, he beat the national champion runner up last year.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Right. With this quarterback, he was hurt a good chunk last year, so. Or beat off anyway. Yeah, I think SMU is a no brainer for that contending tier, but not obvious leading of the packed here.

[C]

So I originally had Louisville number two.

[B]

Okay, well, I'm just going tears. This is the acc. I bunch teams together.

[C]

Yeah, I'm just. I did the same thing. But I'm explaining my thought process here in that okay, originally I came into this thinking that I was going to have Louisville number two and SMU somewhere else in that second tier down after Miami. But what I kept getting hung up on was how much of a risk it is being too high on a team with a transfer quarterback who has virtually no sample size. Yeah, and look, Jeff Brahms been nothing if not consistent when it comes to integrating a bunch of transfers every year and winning like eight or nine games. It's sort of his deal. He's very good at doing that. But I realized after the fact, and I didn't plan this, I swear I realized after the fact that when I was just ranking these teams through my list here, I basically ranked them in terms of how I feel with their stability and I feel better about SMU right now than I do Louisville. Even though both coaches have a pretty good track record. Yeah, Brahms track record has been solid when it comes to integrating new pieces. The schedule in this case is also pretty solid in that they miss Miami, Clemson and Virginia Tech. The roster has good running backs. They've got a force off the edge. I think they brought in enough reinforcements through the portal. There's a lot to like here. I just keep getting hum hung up on Lincoln Keenholtz, who's probably going to be their starting quarterback behind a rebuilt offensive line. And they've got some other new pieces like a new co coordinator situation on defense. They've got a rebuilt secondary. We can get into this again a little bit deeper when we talk about the Louisville team preview. I know from looking over our inbox over the years how many Louisville fans have written in and said we like what they're doing. We like Jeff Brom. We still feel like there's a little meat on the bone and that part is frustrating. And so I was a little hesitant, maybe because of the emails, maybe because of the new pieces, especially at quarterback, to go higher than three with Louisville if I am ranking them. But if you're not doing rankings, that's fine. They're definitely in that next tier down. There's no question about that.

[B]

The problem is still Louisville is taking on the spoiler maker identity. They're good for that upset over Clemson, they're good for that upset over Miami. But then they lose three straight to finish out the ACC slate, losing the teams like, you know, last year's California. So I don't fully trust Them. I also think it's strange that the calling card of Jeff Brahm is offense and their defense just feels like it's always ahead of the offense. Like they'll be able to run the ball this year. But yeah, is Lincoln Keenholtz close to do? I don't know, man. Take your pick of backup quarterback with no reps who transferred somewhere and succeeded, or is he closer to what happens seemingly more often, which is that big name, big blue chip quarterback who doesn't get a shot somewhere like, even in state, like Brock Vandegrift last year for Kentucky or a couple years ago where he's just like, oh, okay, that he's not the guy and there's a reason why it didn't work out at the previous place. And so I just. I don't have that trust in Louisville. I trust them to be Louisville. I trust them to be fine, but I don't trust them to have pop on both sides of the ball consistently.

[C]

And that's why I put them below smu.

[B]

Another one of those teams, by the way, Louisville. Six points against SMU to finish out their ACC schedule. Six.

[C]

Beat Miami on the road.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Got four interceptions. It could have been five. And then couldn't do much with it.

[B]

No. Yeah, I'm out. I'm out on them as a serious contender. They're a good team.

[C]

I don't even want to lead off the conversation about Clemson because we both have Clemson in this tier as well.

[B]

I just look in. In my Lego nomenclature. They're not fully built. They have pieces. There's nothing that inspires confidence about looking backwards with hiring internal guys who played for you. And I think like Taj Boyd is now the quarterback's coach and we like Taj Boyd. Fine.

[C]

Was on our show.

[B]

But going back to Chad Morris. Yeah. I just. I don't see where there's an actual spark. Like, I don't see a way to be confident in this team competing against a legit good team. Like, I just. I don't have faith in the coaching staff. I don't have faith in the evolution of this program. I don't have faith in the offensive line. Again, another solid team with really good expectations.

[C]

I don't have any more sunshine left to pump on the Clemson side. I was so high on him last year. I think I need a minute over here, kind of.

[B]

That's fine.

[C]

Clemson's a top 15 caliber team.

[B]

And by the way, they have LSU on the road, Miami in the first few weeks, Cal on the road, and then the Back half is sort of a wild card and they always obviously finish with South Carolina. So I think their absolute ceiling is 9 and 3.

[C]

I think they could be a top 15 caliber team, mostly because of their defense. If the offense pops, then maybe we're talking about a little bit more. But I am first focusing my glaze on the defense and what I think they have.

[B]

Glaze or gaze?

[C]

I said glaze on purpose. Did you like that? Oh, God, Ty.

[B]

Spicy.

[C]

Thank you.

[B]

I didn't know you were out here focusing your glaze.

[C]

That's right, baby. But the ceiling for me is offense. You know, they bring back Chad Morris. Can he build a really good offense in 2026 with these players? It's not 2012 anymore. You know, like, can they get better by going back to the former version of themselves? I don't know what that looks like. Christopher Vezina is going to be the new starting quarterback. If he's any good, they'll be fine. But as you know, we did our Shark Tank episode, Sark Tank episode with Andy Staples a few months ago. Now he brought up Tay, Reynolds, Taylor, they're freshmen. Like, maybe he could be part of this conversation if it doesn't go well. So who knows what happens in the early part of that season? Who knows what happens if Florida State's any good this year and how that could change the calculus of the schedule as well and make it a little bit.

[B]

They weren't bad last year. They're another one of those teams that has had, well, not, I shouldn't say consistently, but, like, they had a high floor last year. They weren't incompetent, could win all the time.

[C]

All right, so we agree on those four. I think this is where we start to go on separate paths. We've got Miami, smu, Louisville and Clemson. Next up, you've got Pitt, Virginia. I have Virginia Tech and NC State in this bracket. Okay, it didn't sound like you do. So explain to me why you're high on Virginia and Pitt and why you've got them, I guess, one rung above me.

[B]

It's not that I'm super high on any of these teams. It's that I've just watched ACC football before and you're always just going to have a couple of chunks in the meaty middle of teams. And so I think James Franklin's a good coach. I think there's talent on this roster. I think they're going to be significantly better at times than they were last season. I think they've got a good home Field advantage. I'm not high on them in a. In a huge way in year one, but literally 90% of teams in the ACC can go 8 and 4 in any given season. 7 and 5, 8 and 4 in any given season. And again with a couple of breaks, even better. So I feel good about what Virginia can do on defense this season.

[C]

Virginia or Virginia Tech?

[B]

Virginia. I'm sort of listing why. So Virginia Tech was my initial points and then period. I also feel good about where Virginia could be on defense once again this year. And it kind of to me, when I look at these teams that I consider to be in that second tier of threatening eight, nine wins, I say, okay, what are the quarterbacks they're facing and if we're starting this episode with quarterback concerns and what Virginia has on this schedule is a decent amount of quarterback concern, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What Virginia Tech even has on this schedule is a good amount of quarterback concern. And so I think maybe Virginia has a slight advantage there in terms of the quarterbacks they're going to face this season. But I saw the proof of concept last year that they can win close games, that they can win games with defense and timely offense at least. I just, I'm going to, I'm going to lump a lot of these teams together. They're very hard to separate. They all can appear to be able to do something pretty well and they all have clear flaws.

[C]

Why pit?

[B]

I can be seduced by the best of Mason Heinzel. I can be seduced by having a high floor coach and coaching staff. I know they made an internal promotion at defensive coordinator. They're just, they're very good evaluators of talent. They develop talent at Pitt. It just seems every season we're either getting decent draft picks or oh yeah, this linebacker is great and he's going to Texas. Like they develop dudes at pit. They seem to win enough at pit. Now they'll have their seasons where they're super down and they'll have their seasons where they're uncharacteristically up higher than what they usually are. But when you bet on coaching and returning upside at quarterback, again, nine wins seems like a stretch. Seven and a half, eight. That's fine. They're. They're in that category.

[C]

For me, what I'm doing now is I'm breaking apart my tears and maybe your tears as well. Okay, so I've added a fifth tier in between my. It's about trust and trying to earn trust. I have a who knows tier which I'm going to add Virginia And Pitt to. And I'm also going to add Virginia Tech and NC State too because those are the two teams that I think we disagree on. I agree by the way with a lot of what you said about Virginia Tech. I think Virginia Tech is damn near impossible to project this year. Of course, there's just too much new and look, I know we have obviously seen this before or a new coach comes from one place, brings all his guys, it can take flight rather quickly. I'm of the mind this is a solid eight win team for Virginia Tech and I think if they get to nine it's because Ethan Grunkemeyer ends up popping or maybe Brent Pry fixes his own defense from a year ago. Given some of the reinforcements that they brought in, I don't think it takes much to get them to nine wins. But at a minimum, the days of going like three and nine, if you're a Hokies fan, those are over.

[B]

I think those are over. I think the floor is considerably higher.

[C]

Those are done. The irony for James Franklin is this. He could potentially start 7 and oh and then close out the year with ranked games on the road. Clemson, SMU and Miami all could be pretty good ranked and on the road. He got fired after losing some dumb games this year, but the real reason was because he couldn't beat ranked teams at the end of the day.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And so he's going to have an opportunity maybe to avenge some of those ranked losses. I think the deeper we get into this year it'll be interesting to see how he responds to that. If this team is built such that it can handle, you know, one or multiple of those games.

[B]

Well, didn't he build the team though? He didn't coach the team that beat Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl.

[C]

Yeah, he did.

[B]

All right. Institutional knowledge of how to beat current day dabo.

[C]

I don't have much to add on the Virginian pit front, but let me throw NC State into this bucket as well.

[B]

Okay, that's fair.

[C]

North Carolina State has C.J. bailey, who I just I believe can make things happen. Their focus in the portal was very much getting protection for CJ Bailey more so than it was going out and getting targets for C.J. bailey. You debate the philosophy behind that, but protecting your star quarterback I think is important. Yeah, you factor that in with Jaden Scott who switched his jersey. Now the running back. Jaden Scott, now wearing number one very much has the profile of a bell cow back and the schedule avoids much of what is projected to be the

[B]

ACC's top tier, no Miami, no Notre Dame for them obviously no Clemson. It looks like no pits, no Tech or Virginia. It's a really good schedule. Yeah.

[C]

The hesitation is receiver. Right. So you focus your resources on protecting the quarterback. Maybe not giving him a little bit more to throw to. So that's an open question. The defense doesn't bring back a whole lot. I think I saw linebacker. I don't know. One of those rooms is being completely rebuilt. The past defense last year left a lot to be desired, but I think eight, nine wins with maybe a shot at more is probably on the table if, if they can find those targets. If the defense gets a little bit better against the pass. That's why I think I'm higher on NC State than I expected. Just because the schedule really, really sets up nicely and it's not a stretch to think that one of those two things goes well and gives them a little bit more lift.

[B]

I think they could have a very good record and I think they could also lose to in the back half of their schedule. They could lose to if Steven Jelly's back in healthy Syracuse, I think they could lose to a Cal team. I don't know who Cal has before NC State. They're on. It's a, it's a tough stretch because they're at SMU be a week before but I'm just, I'm in on NC State taking advantage of a gettable schedule and I'm out on NC State being anything truly more than they've been recently.

[C]

So so far we've got the Miami tier featuring Miami, we've got the it's about trust tier featuring smu, Louisville and Clemson. A who knows tier which is Virginia, Pitt, Virginia Tech and NC State.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And then that brings us to the bottom half. I guess in our case the bottom half of the Conference 9 teams, those being Florida State, Georgia Tech, Cal, Duke, Wake, North Carolina, Syracuse, Boston College and Stanford.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

How would you group those remaining teams?

[B]

So I would group Duke, Wake Forest, Florida State and Cal together. Maybe Georgia Tech together because they're my like squint and they've got a spark teams that they're like what my jam band teams that you're not really considering much from them this season. Georgia Tech with everything that's new. Florida State with recent track record, Wake Forest with like yeah, they have upside but do they have the actual dudes on this roster? Cal, I, I, they've been sort of a pet team for me this season. But it's hard with a first time head coach and very Young coordinators to feel good about them. Big picture. I think they're going to be really fun stretches for Cal and there's something about Duke and Manny Diaz that I can't get past in a good way. They won the conference with basically no offensive line and no defense last year. They won the conference. They pulled rabbits out of the hat constantly and it was a weird, obvious year with, you know, losing all those non conference games to at Illinois, Tulane and Yukon. That to me is coaching. That to me is coaching talent. They let their quarterback walk before the season started last year, got another quarterback and he was terrific. He is finding wins at yard sales and I can't put them any lower than this tier, even though things seem to be working against them considerably. I have Duke there, Florida State. I don't know they were competent enough last season. I don't feel great about them, but I don't think they're going to be catastrophic. Wake, I think has upside because I think they're well coached as well and if the starting point is returning enough key guys on defense and they found wins at yard sales last year. Who else did I have here? I had Cal, Florida State, Wake Forest and Duke.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

I'm not tempted by Georgia Tech here. I think it's going to be a down year. I think Brent Key is a very good coach. I think it's going to be a, an adjustment season. Is there anybody else that you would put in that kind of category?

[C]

I, I do have Georgia Tech in there.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I do have Tech in there and I struggled with that one too. I think they're past the proof of concept stage under Brent Key. Remember when he got the job? Can you make this work? Right. He's a Georgia Tech guy through and through. Got the offensive lineman mentality. Is it going to work? I think the time that he had Haynes, King and Buster Faulkner and that they were running that system, it built up a lot of optimism.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And now they've had three straight winning seasons. What does that look like now? Post Haynes, King, post Buster Faulkner, I don't know. Right. Alberto Mendoza's gotten a lot of buzz. We've been reading about him all off season long, not just because of his brother, but because he is impressed in his time, the short time now since transferring over to Georgia Tech. So if he pops, maybe this is a different conversation. They also got Justice Hayes at running back. They're going to try to use him and give that offense more of that physical mentality that they've had these last couple years. But I Need to see it, to believe it. Because so much of what they did was built around one guy and now that he's gone and they got to go in a different direction. That, to me, I think is. Is not concerning, but it's worth noting here.

[B]

So this will be Brent Keys, if I'm doing my math correctly, his fourth season coaching Georgia Tech. Four defensive coordinators in four years. You just can't sell me on this Georgia Tech team who. I think he's done a terrific job, but I think it's been because of the offense and I don't know how long you can keep that up. That type of change, that type of searching for somebody to build a foundation on defense. Like I thought. Tyler Santucci, that's two years ago now. The Tuch.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Thought he had a pretty decent job. Blake Gideon's gone. Starting over again on defense. Like, I just. I don't love starting over at defense and quarterback. If those are my two things the same year and offensive coordinator for that quarterback. It's. It's just rubbing me the wrong way. I'm not in right now.

[C]

Yeah. I couldn't go much higher than this, I'll tell you that.

[B]

The job he's done is undeniable. What Georgia Tech has been recently is undeniable. I just think it's difficult to keep up with those types of changes.

[C]

I think I agree with that. Not to mention that the end of their season is just brutal schedule wise.

[B]

Correct.

[C]

They've got a nice little Runway, but it gets real in a hurry at the end of the year.

[B]

Oh, yeah. I don't. I don't love this schedule. The home road splits aren't great.

[C]

No.

[B]

They have Wake in a great sandwich spot for Wake between a road game at Clemson and before a road game against Georgia.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Not ideal.

[C]

The only other one I wanted to call out. I do want to go back to Florida State for a second because that will, for a multitude of reasons be a really interesting team to follow. The deeper we get into it this year. Man, this schedule, the schedule makes it really tough for Mike Norvell. And what I jotted down on my doc here was, here we go again. Here we go again. How many years are we going to do this now? So they keep Norvell. He goes out, he gets Ashton Daniels, who is now going to be QB1. They announced it earlier this spring. They still do have Deuce Robinson, who's a really good wide receiver.

[B]

Agree.

[C]

Trey Wisner, Usman Chroma at running back, I think will be able to carry the run game, provided the line is functional. Those guys are pretty solid and they do bring back Tony White for another crack at it on defense. But like, I'm not sold on Ashton Daniels. I think his physical tools are good. I think there's a lot to his game that needs some polishing.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

And for me, we have not seen a recent body of work for Mike Norvell training these guys up. How many quarterbacks have really popped for Mike Norvell outside of Jordan Travis, who was also a transfer right away when he first got to Florida State? Yeah, but outside of him, how many quarterbacks have actually worked at Florida State?

[B]

I think. I think it's a slightly unfair question because everybody just counts on transfer quarterbacks right now. Like you. You can count on one hand essentially the number of internally developed quarterbacks who are going to pop this year on a huge stage. Whereas the transfers, how many of the

[C]

ones that he's brought in have actually gotten better or lived up to the hype?

[B]

Not many, but it's. I'm not saying he's done a great job there, but I don't know. In this era, you can look at, you know, Ohio State just won a national championship with a quarterback. Somebody else, quote, unquote, developed at another place that, you know, Ryan Day, Lincoln Keenholtz, Air Noland. Who else am I thinking of? Devin Brown? Was that who it was? You're like, what's going on with Ohio State? Nobody's saying that, Julian, saying technically a

[C]

transfer, everybody's a transfer.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I want to believe that Florida State's got the personnel to turn this thing around. I just wonder if this constant albatross that's going to be hanging around their necks with Mike Norvell's job status at some point is going to be too much to bear. Because that's going to be the conversation starting in week one. And every Florida State fan knows that everybody who follows college football. Certainly if you're listening to this show, when you think of Florida State, that's the first thing you're going to think of. This is very much a referendum on the Norvell era. He has taken the play calling sheet back. He rebuilt the staff again and personnel infrastructure and, you know, is running it back with Tony White and all that stuff. But this is not like a favorable schedule. It's a schedule that's going to demand proof almost immediately of the teams in

[B]

this conference that we think could have potential to struggle. Boston College, maybe Duke, maybe Stanford, probably Stanford, North Carolina, like Florida State doesn't play any of them. Florida. These are the power conference teams Florida State has on this schedule. SMU, Alabama, Virginia, Louisville, Miami, Columbia, Clemson, Pitt, NC State, Florida and Boston College. BC is they have one game where at least right now you're like they're probably not going to be good. That's it. In terms of the power conference slate, I'm not saying Florida State can't beat some of those teams, but the math is such where I'd think like okay that's 6 and 6, 7 and 5 maybe.

[C]

Where do we have Cal? Where do you have California?

[B]

Did you mention I have them in the wild card tier that you know with Wake and Duke teams like that I have them ahead of Georgia Tech just because I think their quarterback starting point is more. I don't know what Alberto Mendoza is going to do for Georgia Tech. Obviously there's reason to believe he'll have a good year. I'm not sure. I love the system that Georgia Tech is running and the, the pop that they have in the passing game. Overall Cal, I trust that pop. I think we're going to have a nice step forward for this offense.

[C]

Do you think Tosh is going to be a good coach?

[B]

I think Tosh is better suited to be a head coach than a coordinator.

[C]

Why?

[B]

I think he has the personality. I think he's the recruiter that is needed at a place like Cal. And I think that because he has coached at places where he's seen what it takes at Alabama, at Washington when they were good or at least decent at Oregon most recently like he has seen the rhythms. I mean I think he was with Urban Meyer at Jacksonville so he's been around Urban Meyer perhaps not peak Urban Meyer.

[C]

Strike that from the record. We'll just redact that.

[B]

I think he has spent enough time around success where he's been able to take the proper notes of like what he sees works and and what he would do once he got this opportunity. I think he has the personality to to build a quality team.

[C]

Well, it's a first year head coach. They have two first time coordinators. The line is unsettled. The backfield is rebuilt, the defense is replacing most of its production. But they did retain jks Jaron, K Ave Sanga Pulatelli, their true sophomore quarterback who had a really good freshman campaign. I'm sure there were plenty of teams around college football that came asking to see if jks would want to leave. But as Tosh made it his first order of business I believe flew to

[B]

the Islands, slept on a bench at the beach, slept on a bench. It was something like, he flew there. I'm going to get this story wrong, but he told the story. He flew there. He met with the family. His flight wasn't until like 6am but he didn't want to ask the family to stay over. So he's like, all right, I'll just figure something out.

[C]

Did he not have a company card at that point?

[B]

I don't know what it was. It was like not worth it to go find a hotel for an hour and a half or something.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

He was. I think he brought us suit and he slept on a bench in a suit. I got that story wrong. But there. There are grains of that story that are true.

[C]

I love that cow. Be a fun story, especially in this conference where traveling out there kind of gives them something of an advantage.

[B]

They've got a tricky schedule, but I think they can be tricky for others, too. They have ucla, they have Clemson, but Clemson's coming to Cal on short notice. They have one of the two Mountain west favorites in unlv, and that's on the road in Vegas. There's a lot of quality on this schedule. They're another one of those teams where obviously Cal has Stanford, but there's not a ton else where you're like, all right, that's. That seems like a win. There's. I mean, there's just a high floor on this schedule.

[C]

So we've covered pretty much every team at this point, if only in passing. There are a few left. We've covered Miami, smu, Louisville, Clemson, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Virginia and Pitt, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Cal, Duke and Wake. The last four are North Carolina, Syracuse, Boston College and Stanford. Of those four, which do you feel the best about?

[B]

Okay, so I feel best about Syracuse's upside at quarterback with Steve Angelli. I don't know his current health situation.

[C]

He's ready to go. He says he's a full go.

[B]

Okay. I like Angeli. I like the energy of Fran Brown.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Yeah, they play in a weird place. I guess I'll put Syracuse there. They had the clear worst season, essentially, of these teams last year. So I guess I'll go Syracuse, Stanford, North Carolina, then Boston College.

[C]

I've got it as North Carolina, Syracuse, Boston College and Stanford. I thought about putting BC last, but

[B]

I guess North Carolina showed flash near the end of last.

[C]

Well, they showed flash, and I think their defense is.

[B]

But they lost those dudes.

[C]

I know. But I still think with what they have, they're going to be okay.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And I Was looking at Bill's SP plus and of course, this isn't gospel, but he's got him as like a top 35, top 40 caliber defense. A lot of heavy turnover. Right. Like, no question. But if you've got a top 40 caliber defense, you're above those other teams that we mentioned, in my opinion. So I'm a little bit higher on them. I don't get the whole offense thing. Like, I guess it's going to be Billy Edwards Jr.

[B]

Cool.

[C]

Paired up with Bobby Petrino.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, look, Bobby Petrino is going to score points sometimes at some places.

[C]

Take a look at the schedule. I'm curious to get your thoughts on the schedule.

[B]

The North Carolina schedule.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

They open with the. The return trip now to tcu. They have Clemson on the road, Pit on the road. Duke on the road in the rivalry. New look. Yukon on the road.

[C]

That game in Iowa. Way to open the year. We should specify.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

Go to Bambino's Pizza. Notre Dame, Miami, Louisville.

[C]

The end of the schedule looks like murder to me.

[B]

If there. If North Carolina is going to a bowl game, it is likely through TCU, Elon, Duke, Syracuse, UConn, NC State. I don't know. I don't feel great about those six wins.

[C]

I've got North Carolina there and I've got them above Syracuse. Q wasn't as bad as 3 and 9, certainly not as Steve Angeli's healthy and they're bringing over Vince Karras, the longtime defensive coordinator at Toledo, who I think gives them. Gives them a fresh start on defense. They have a really high overall returning production number, especially on the defensive side of the ball, which sort of gives them a base for everything.

[B]

But what's that base? This was a defense that did 0.0.

[C]

This is the Bill Connolly thing. Just because you're returning guys, is that good that I don't know.

[B]

His track record's great. But also, if you don't have the guys, you don't have the guys. You can put Dick LeBeau on this sideline. Take your pick. Put Mike McDonald. Doesn't matter.

[C]

I still think that Syracuse is going to find a way to get into a bowl because I believe in Fran Brown. Fran Brown knows how to motivate the troops. And provided they can stay healthy, I think this will be a team that at a minimum puts up some points if they get a little bit better on defense. Yeah, I think. I think 6 and 6 is probably the ceiling for me. I see Bill's got it at like a 25% chance. They get the six. I think that maybe is a little bit low.

[B]

Thank God we have. We live in a college football universe that gets us Cal at Syracuse as a conference matchup. Cool.

[C]

I thought about putting Boston College last, but it does look like they're at least trying to build the roster in a serious way. Their quarterback's going to be Mason Mackenzie from, I believe, Saginaw Valley.

[A]

Great.

[C]

He can run great for his life. Maybe he might have to. Yeah, I like that part of his game. I'm curious to see how they use that. My problem is always and forever Ted Roof. I just. I don't understand why they hire this guy. Their defense is not going to be any better with him coaching it. So I am not counting on there being any kind of defensive support for Boston College this year to the point where I thought about putting them dead last.

[B]

I have them dead last. Finishing their schedule out with Pitt, Georgia Tech on the road, Duke on the road, North Notre Dame on the road, Florida State sandwiched between Duke and Florida State, Miami on the road, and Ted Roof being the chaperone on those trips.

[C]

I jotted down on my note sheet here. Defense one of least efficient in the country. Dot, dot, dot. Ted Roof is going to fix that. Question mark, right?

[B]

No, thanks.

[C]

And then Stanford, Look, Stanford is in full rebuild mode. I don't know what to make of the hire. Clearly to Vita Prichard's got some institutional familiarity with the Stanford Cardinal. Retention looks a little bit better than I expected. He was able to retain a little bit more. But Davis Warren is the quarterback still playing. Apparently. A lot of this looks to me like it's your zero situation.

[B]

Yeah, Stanford's not going to be good this year, but I still think they have more. I think because of where their defense at least got to. I mean, look, they gave up whatever it was 50 to Notre Dame at the end of the season, but the defense was quietly decent enough down the stretch that I feel good about a reset. I feel good about them getting enough stops they can recruit in a way at Stanford and this is more big picture moving forward that I think they're just gonna be able to build better rosters than these teams. We're comparing them against North Carolina, Boston College and so forth. Syracuse that I just feel like there's slightly more in the way of vibes in Palo Alto that could. And they also. They have the weird thing where everybody's flying across the country to play them too. Where, you know, they beat Louisville a couple years ago. I don't know. They'll They'll. They'll back into a couple wins. They shouldn't, perhaps.

[C]

So I think that's how we've got this. Our top tier is Miami. The next one down is smu, Louisville and Clemson. The next one down after that is Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Virginia and Pitt. These are in no particular order, by the way. Then to close things out, we've got Florida State, Georgia Tech, Cal, Duke and Wake in a tier. And the bottom four, North Carolina, Syracuse, Boston College and Stanford. Those are 17 teams. We did not include Notre Dame in this episode. We'll do that on the next one once we get into team previews. But lay of the land. I think that's how I'm feeling about the After Keynes conference stand.

[B]

The After Keynes conference. I'm trying to see if I have anything else written down. Legos. Nicknames. Tears. Yeah, that's. That's sort of. Oh, and I had the different factions of coaches too. We're just like, well, okay, there we are. ACC part one. Can't wait.

[C]

ACC part one in the books. We've got parts two and three yet to come where we dive into questions about individual teams. Yes, a little bit deeper. Tell you what to look for. Why to be interested. Why you should care about some of these teams even if you don't care. Otherwise, make sure you hit, follow or subscribe so that you don't miss any of those episodes. And of course, verballers.comv e r b a l l e r s.com that is our Patreon. If you want to go and support the team, sign up for the certified or premium tier. You get access to some of the games that we're going to be rolling out. We built the whole fan portal this year. Dan, you know about this already, but I do. Fan portal. Everyone's going to be able to play the games there. Be a nice little community. You also get these episodes a little bit early without the ads, et cetera, et cetera.

[B]

Tight. You also agreed, right? I don't want to speak out of turn here. You will be doing virtual personal training for new Patreon signs.

[C]

I absolutely will not. No.

[B]

Ty will help you hammer your core.

[C]

Nope.

[B]

Now, the whole. I'm not talking just apps, let's be clear, the whole chain. Your hamstrings, your lower back, your core, your glutes.

[C]

Doing any of this? Nope.

[A]

This is.

[B]

We're talking weekly 4k tutorials. And depending on the tier, Ty will do live sessions. I'm under that understanding. I saw that in our Google Doc. Is that comes in completely different. Is that a different thing?

[C]

You must have made that Google Doc. I will not be doing that.

[B]

I just with with our history with the Quad Father, you were feeling especially inspired and wanted that kinetic chain to be really thumping for our paid subscribers. No, I'm sorry, I misinterpreted that Google Doc.

[C]

That is your ACC Part 1 preview. Write in solidverbalmail.com if you have thoughts to the contrary, if you want to reinforce anything we said if you have thoughts. Otherwise, we'd love to hear from you. For that guy over there, Dan Rubenstein. For myself over here, Ty Hildebrandt. We'll catch you all with Part two. Stay solid.

[B]

Peace.

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.