Week Frickin' Zero, the GameDay Intro Mystery & Packing Tips to Live By

1) The Season. Is. Here!

We did it, folks! The 2023 college football season officially kicks off tomorrow afternoon from the sport’s birthplace in… Dublin, Ireland? Sure, why not. Notre Dame and Navy will get the party started at 2:30 pm ET from Aviva Stadium, the site of Northwestern’s only football victory in 2022.

There are only seven FBS games tomorrow, but that’s just enough to whet our appetite for next weekend’s main course. What’s at stake in each Week 0 game?

2:30 pm ET - Notre Dame vs. Navy. The Irish were very good in openers under Brian Kelly; Marcus Freeman is hoping to get back to more of THAT. Notre Dame is heavily favored and needs to get off to a good start to cleanse its palate after a disastrous beginning in 2022. Sam Hartman should have every opportunity to show why he was graded as the No. 1 transfer quarterback this past offseason. Also, the more we talk about his passing game, the less we have to talk about the weird bone necklace thing.

5:30 pm ET - UTEP vs. Jacksonville State. Welcome back to FBS, Rich Rodriguez! The Gamecocks of Jacksonville State are making the jump from FCS and you just know that RichRod is going to run the crap out of the football. Are they physical enough along the lines get a push against better competition?

7:00 pm ET - UMass vs. New Mexico State. I’m not sure what’s at stake between two of college football’s worst teams, but it’s somehow a primetime ESPN game and that’s pretty rad.

7:00 pm ET - Ohio vs. San Diego State. This might be the best game of the day. I joked on the podcast this week that Ohio is a forced to be… Rourkened with, because its star quarterback, Kurtis Rourke, is set to return after blowing out his ACL less than a year ago. This feels like the kind of game that someone wins by a 19-17 score, if only because San Diego State is involved.

7:30 pm ET - Hawaii vs. Vanderbilt. Vandy won this game by 53 (!!!) points last year when they played it on the islands. It’s already a must-win for the ‘Dores, who have aspirations of making a bowl, despite a brutal schedule. (Also, a necessary W if you joined me in betting the over 3½ Vandy wins.)

8:00 pm ET - San Jose State vs. USC. The Trojans will win and Caleb Williams will put up more pinball numbers. But what, if anything, will we learn about USC’s defense? We should get some indication, as San Jose State will air it out behind 17th year starter Chevan Cordeiro.

9:00 pm ET - FIU vs. Louisiana Tech. These were two of the worst defenses in college football last season. FIU won the 2022 version of this game in a fun shootout. Maybe we’ll get another one of those?

As always, we’ll be tweeting (zeeting?) along with the action. Follow along if you’re an online college football fan like us.

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2) I can’t even…

After a few weeks of footsies between Cal, Stanford, SMU and the ACC, I’m convinced that it will soon become the next marriage of college football convenience. In this case, the pre-nup is more interesting than the union:

SMU’s role in this situation is the most curious of all. The Mustangs have boosters with deep pockets and are desperate to join the ranks of the Power 5. So desperate that they’d consider joining the ACC for free until it’s time to negotiate new media rights. You can’t make this stuff up in The Dumb Money Era™.

More to come!

3) Place your bets on the new College GameDay intro…

As we look ahead to next Saturday, the biggest Week 1 storyline might be the fact that College GameDay will be releasing a new intro score for the first time in 16 years. Via this video, Big & Rich is “passing the torch” to someone else.

Which “talented artist” is being referenced in this video? Given ESPN’s previous work with Fall Out Boy, I would’ve been inclined to pencil FOB into this slot if not for their role in hyping up NBC’s upcoming Big Ten coverage.

Tweet us and give me your thoughts on who should get the gig.

4) New starters!

The 2023 college football season promises an almost unprecedented level of quarterback turnover at major programs. With Week 1 getting closer, coaches have started letting cats out of bags. Some notable announcements:

• Arizona State will start true freshman Jaden Rashada

• Payton Thorne has won the Auburn job after transferring from Michigan State

• Florida is going with Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz 😬

• Kirby Smart made it official that Carson Beck is his guy

• Georgia Tech is giving the keys to Texas A&M transfer Haynes King

• Illinois has named Luke Altmyer, the Ole Miss transfer, as its QB1

• Oregon State is now officially rolling with DJ Uiagalelei

We’re still waiting on Alabama and Ohio State. It seems like Jalen Milroe has the edge in Tuscaloosa; meanwhile, Ryan Day is staying mum on the race between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown.

5) Buy one, get… five?

College football is absolutely at its best when it resorts to Minor League Baseball tactics to juice attendance numbers. I’m guessing (hoping?) that someone at Memphis ran the numbers on this and that it won’t bankrupt the athletic department.

Declining attendance has been an increasing problem for the last decade. It wouldn’t surprise me to see more programs getting creative in this manner.

✍️ Others Receiving Votes

The best video I could find was a 43-minute explainer on how to get the most taste out of your garlic. Instead, here’s a question from the Verballerhood with an answer from Dan Rubenstein, my beloved co-host:

Dan, Ty, what is your packing routine for a long trip. How long before the trip do you start preparing a bag? Is it ever too early to start preparing for a trip?

-Brendan in DC, excited about South Carolina this year.

***

First of all, you should be excited about South Carolina this year because you should be every year. If you’re not excited about your team, even in the context of “people are wrong to be down on us, they’re just sleeping on us,” you shouldn’t be a fan. I have no idea if South Carolina will be good this year, Shane Beamer probably doesn’t, either, but he sure seems excited, which I like.

As for packing, in my more grown-up moments, I make a list of things I need to remember for the kids (clothes, sunscreen, iPads, snacks, etc), a list of any tech things I need if I’m gonna be recording remotely with Ty, and then wing my own clothes and toiletry stuff. The only real preparation I do in advance is check on my laundry status, as I like having the luxury of choice before packing.

My typical inventory if I’m doing a week somewhere sunny (with laundry access, like at my parents’ house in LA) is five t-shirts, 1-2 workout shirts, three pairs of shorts (can be worked out in), five pairs of socks (usually no shows, can work out in them), eight pairs of underwear (always add one to the number of days), sandals, regular shoes, bathing suit, light jacket.

The thing that ends up taking the longest time packing is remembering every last item for the kids. There are no rules midair, which means the iPad has to have 30+ hours of content, each kid has access to 10-15,000 calories of snacks, plus books, stickers, toys, whatever for the flights. We’re almost out of diapers with the younger guy, so eliminating diapers and wipes is nice. Still, though, the random stuff for the little guys takes the longest to remember, retrieve, and pack.

On top of all of this, I almost always screw up my cable selection for traveling. When I was in Europe this summer, I messed up and brought the wrong AC adapters, which wasn’t a huge deal, just annoying. Also, I strongly recommend everyone own and charge up a portable battery for their phone/tablet, especially if said battery has pre-attached cable options and can plug directly into a wall/outlet. I’ve never regretted any portable charger purchase. I probably own and use (and lend to Jodi) five or six of them and love them all.

-Dan

WHAT'S GOOD IN THE VERBALLERHOOD?

This week, we caught up with our old friend Dan Carlin from Hardcore History to get his read on how his beloved Colorado Buffaloes have impacted college football over the last calendar year. Also, it goes without saying that we put together an enormous Week 0 preview episode, featuring questions from all around the Verballerhood.

Listen to the podcast by clicking here or check out this week’s episodes below. You can also view full episode videos and smaller clips on our YouTube channel. If you’re already a subscriber, I’d urge you to tell as many of your friends as possible about The Solid Verbal College Football Podcast. Ratings and reviews also help!

THIS WEEK'S PODCAST EPISODES: