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Texas Is Back and Title Talk · The Rand Report: Sports

• 0:09
  That's the line getting the most engagement right
• 0:12
  now. And it's not just noise. This is the Rand
• 0:15
  report. I'm Jim Rand. College football just turned
• 0:18
  the volume up. First, the preseason landscape.
• 0:22
  After Big Ten media days, the title talk is real.
• 0:25
  A short list of programs is being treated as
• 0:28
  actual contenders. Texas is in that conversation
• 0:31
  again. The Longhorns have the talent and the
• 0:34
  recruiting momentum. The question is whether
• 0:36
  the results finally match the roster. Every August
• 0:39
  starts with the same soft projections. By October,
• 0:42
  the list shrinks fast. Right now, the conversation
• 0:45
  is still wide open, and Texas is forcing its
• 0:48
  way into it. Second, what media days actually
• 0:52
  told us. Coaches talked, players talked, most
• 0:55
  of it was the usual confidence. The useful part
• 0:58
  is the tone. Programs that sound like they expect
• 1:01
  to be playing in December are treating these
• 1:03
  weeks differently than the ones still selling
• 1:05
  hope. You can hear the difference if you listen
• 1:08
  past the quotes. The Big Ten is carrying three
• 1:11
  straight national titles into this season. That
• 1:14
  weight shows up in how the rest of the sport
• 1:16
  talks about them. Third, the final stretch of
• 1:19
  the deadline in camp. A few more names are still
• 1:22
  in play on the baseball side. Camp is still sorting
• 1:25
  the NFL side. The useful filter is the same in
• 1:28
  both sports. Who is actually moving? Who is actually
• 1:31
  separating on the field? Everything else is just
• 1:33
  content. Here's the bottom line. Here's the quintessentials
• 1:37
  waking up, and Texas is part of the noise for
• 1:40
  a reason. The deadline is almost here. Camp is
• 1:42
  past the honeymoon phase. Watch the programs
• 1:45
  that act like contenders. Watch the teams that
• 1:47
  move before the clock hits zero. Ignore the soft
• 1:50
  rankings that still pretend every blue blood
• 1:53
  is equal. This has been The Rand Report. I'm
• 1:55
  Jim Rand. No soft takes. See you next time. Short
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  is right there in the show notes. The Odyssey,
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  a time from the early American colonies to the
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• 2:43
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  it today.