The Solid Verbal College Football Show

Five weeks into the 2026 college football season, the easy answers are disappearing. We unveil the latest Verballer Top 12, clean up a few things we missed from Saturday night, and then bring in ESPN’s Bill Connelly to help us figure out what we can actually trust as the season moves into October.

How good is Missouri? What does the top of the Big 12 actually look like? Who belongs behind Miami in the ACC? Is there a clear second tier in the Big Ten behind Ohio State and Indiana? We also ask Bill about the teams and units outperforming expectations, the ones falling short, the Group of Six picture, and how this season’s early chaos compares with some of college football’s stranger years.

Then we turn to the quarterbacks. In honor of October, every situation gets one of two confidence levels: full-size candy bar or Milk Duds. Tennessee has a decision to sort through. Michigan has to figure out what it has in Bryce Underwood. Penn State’s passing game is under pressure. Oregon suddenly has an interesting Dylan Raiola question while Dante Moore works his way back. And Oklahoma heads into Red River with John Mateer, Ben Arbuckle and a season that could move in a very different direction depending on what happens next.

Support the show by signing up at Verballers.com/join.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

College Football Week 5 gave us another reminder not to get too comfortable with anything we thought we knew in September.

We start with Missouri’s emphatic win over Florida and what it means for both teams after a month of wildly shifting expectations. Then we get into Alabama’s dominant performance against Mississippi State, another ridiculous day from Keelon Russell, Ohio State handling Iowa, and Northwestern’s statement win over Penn State in the debut of its new stadium.

From there, we run through the rest of a strange Saturday: Notre Dame finding something on the ground, Minnesota taking back the Little Brown Jug, Florida State showing signs of life, Wake Forest pouring it on, USC surviving Washington, Kentucky winning a thriller, and one of the strangest in-game coaching changes we can remember.

Plus, Reverbs, Dude Alerts and the increasingly challenging task of putting together our AP Top 25 ballot after five weeks of college football.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

College Football Week 5 is here, and a bunch of teams are trying to figure out whether the good vibes are real or just another mirage.

We make our picks for Alabama-Mississippi State in Starkville, Ohio State-Iowa in Iowa City, Florida-Missouri, Miami-Clemson and a pair of fascinating Friday night games with Pitt-Virginia Tech and Penn State-Northwestern. Can Mississippi State prove it belongs in the SEC race? Is Iowa’s offense actually evolving? How much should we trust Florida after its breakout win over Ole Miss? And can Clemson make things uncomfortable for Miami under the lights in Death Valley?

Then we work through the rest of the Week 5 slate with Michigan-Minnesota, Notre Dame-North Carolina, Auburn-Tennessee, Virginia-Florida State, Louisville-NC State, Kentucky-South Carolina, BYU-TCU, Washington-USC, Baylor-Arizona State and more. Plus, our Locks of the Week, the Quadfathers, Under-The-Radar games and a very important discussion about finding water.

Join us at Verballers.com for ad-free episodes, bonus shows, our Run the Board pick’em game and more.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

September is almost over, which means we finally have enough evidence to start wondering who has actually taken a meaningful step forward, who has gone backward, and which teams are still making us wait for a real answer?

We run through a wide range of teams that have changed the conversation around themselves over the first month of the season, including Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Iowa, UCLA, West Virginia and Missouri. Some have found new life. Others have made their early optimism much harder to defend. And a few are still sitting in the uncomfortable middle, where one good or bad weekend could change the entire read.

We also catch up on the biggest news we missed after Saturday night, talk through the latest Verballer Top 12, and answer a few listener questions about College Football Playoff dark horses, how much head-to-head results should matter in the polls, and whether offensive continuity still means what it used to in the transfer portal era.

Then, because we somehow forgot them on Saturday night, Dude Alerts return with the standout performances from Week 4. And, as promised, an extended cut of Reverbs for our esteemed Patreon community. Shout out to Shae for putting these together!

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

College Football Week 4 gave us the kind of Saturday that starts changing how the season looks.

We start with Florida’s emphatic win over Ole Miss and what it means for a Gators team that suddenly has to be taken seriously in the SEC race. Then we turn to Oregon’s wild road win at USC, where an early injury changed the entire shape of the game and forced the Ducks to find a very different way to win. Iowa stunned Michigan at the gun, Texas stymied Tennessee in Knoxville, and several teams that entered the weekend with real expectations now have much harder questions to answer.

From there, we run through the scores that made us ask, “Am I hearing correctly that…?” Wisconsin erased a 17-point deficit at Penn State, Mississippi State moved to 4-0, Wake Forest pulled off a road upset at Louisville, Cincinnati kept pounding people on the ground, and Northwestern pushed Indiana far harder than expected.

Finally, we sort through a major reshuffling of our AP Top 25 ballot. Six teams drop out, six new teams move in, and the middle of the rankings gets messy fast as we try to separate résumé, projection and what we actually believe after four weeks of football.

Plus, Week 4 Reverbs, listener reactions and all the usual late-night chaos.

Support the show by signing up for our Patreon at https://www.verballers.com/join.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

College Football Week 4 is absolutely loaded, and we’re breaking down as much of it as humanly possible.

We start with Texas traveling to Tennessee for its first true road test, then turn to Oregon-USC and a major prove-it game for both programs. Plus, why Ole Miss-Florida has all the makings of the mother of all letdown games, whether Michigan can create enough offense against Iowa, and what to make of Oklahoma State-West Virginia.

Then we bring back the Quadfather to rip through the rest of a massive slate, including Oklahoma-Georgia, Utah-Iowa State, Wisconsin-Penn State, Texas A&M-LSU, Missouri-Mississippi State, South Carolina-Alabama, Clemson-Cal and much more.

Plus: our Week 4 picks, locks of the week, the Window of Opportunity and the games flying under the radar. 

Support the show by signing up for our Patreon at verballers.com/join.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three weeks into the college football season, how much do we actually know?

For our September Mailbag, we turn the show over to questions from the Verballerhood and try to figure out which teams have given us enough evidence to trust what we’re seeing. We talk Ole Miss, Texas, Miami and the ACC, then dig into whether early stumbles from the Big Ten and SEC could open the door for the Big 12 to land multiple teams in the College Football Playoff.

From there, we get into some of the coaches who have impressed us early, what to make of Florida and Northwestern, and why Oregon and Texas A&M have both looked flatter than expected. How much responsibility falls on the Dante Moore and Marcel Reed? How much falls on new coordinators and rebuilt offensive lines? And when does the grace period officially end for teams still trying to figure things out?

Plus, we take an early look at a loaded Week 4 featuring Texas-Tennessee, Ole Miss-Florida, Oregon-USC, Texas A&M-LSU, Oklahoma State-West Virginia and plenty more.

Subscribe for more college football coverage, and check out Verballers.com to join the community and send in questions for future Monday shows.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

College Football Week 3 delivered the kind of Saturday that forces you to reconsider a few things in a hurry. We start in Oxford, where Lane Kiffin returned with LSU for a game that had been circled for months, and Ole Miss had a chance to prove just how much of the program survived his departure. We get into what the night told us about Trinidad Chambliss, the Rebels, LSU’s still-developing offense and where both teams fit in the bigger SEC and College Football Playoff picture.

Then comes the result almost nobody saw coming: Kentucky went into Kyle Field and beat Texas A&M without needing a fluky turnover fest or some bizarre special-teams swing. What does that say about Will Stein’s early progress at Kentucky, and how worried should A&M be about an offense that still seems to be searching for another gear? We also dig into Louisville’s big win over SMU, Texas Tech surviving Houston, Mississippi State’s comeback at South Carolina and the other Week 3 results that changed how we see the season.

Later, we go through your Reverbs and “Today I Learned” responses, then turn to our AP Top 25 ballot. How far should Ole Miss rise? What do we do with Texas A&M after the upset? Where do Louisville, Mississippi State, Florida, Texas Tech and BYU belong now? We finish with Dude Alerts and some of our favorite individual performances from the weekend.

Support the show at https://www.verballers.com/join.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

College Football Week 3 is here, and the schedule is loaded with games that could get strange in a hurry.

We make our picks for LSU-Ole Miss in Oxford, Houston-Texas Tech on a short week, SMU-Louisville in a massive ACC matchup, Florida State-Alabama, Mississippi State-South Carolina, Florida-Auburn and more. Along the way, we dig into which teams we actually trust, which early-season performances might be misleading, and where weather, travel and matchup problems could create some very uncomfortable Saturdays.

We also hit Arizona State-Kansas in London, Kentucky-Texas A&M, West Virginia-Virginia and a long list of under-the-radar games worth keeping an eye on. Plus, we give our locks, potential letdown spots and the best window to actually leave the couch before the schedule gets serious.

Support the show and play Run The Board by signing up at https://www.verballers.com/join

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two weeks into the 2026 college football season, it’s time to challenge some of our preseason assumptions.

First, we look at where we may have been wrong, or at least too confident, on teams like Oregon, Texas Tech, Illinois, Washington, BYU and more. Then, we revisit our AP Top 25 ballot and talk through the teams that may deserve more love, including Mississippi State, Houston, Tulsa, Virginia, Boise State and North Dakota State.

Plus, Premium Verballer questions on Kansas State’s defense, Oregon’s loss of ferociousness, Michigan and Oklahoma, and whether the Sooners are becoming “High-T Quarterback Iowa South.”

Support the show by signing up at https://www.verballers.com.

Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.