11 07 25 Voice of the Buffs Mark Johnson Previews CU-West Virginia

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Boss now in West Virginia taking on the Mountaineers
tomorrow morning.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Yeah, the Boss said, three and six, three games left
and really no room for error. Joining us on the
KWA Common Spirit Health Hotline. Voice of the Buffs, Mark Johnson, Mark,
appreciate you joining us from West Virginia right now. Man,
I don't want to keep reminiscing or looking back at
these last two games, but what do the Bus need
to do in order to really snap this recon two games?

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Good? Well, Genie, If I had that answer right there,
I would call Deon Sanders and I'd say, this is
exactly what you need. They'd pay me ten million dollars. Right.
It's the last two weeks are really unbelievably head scratching.
Last night we're at dinner and our solid reporter for quarterback,
Bobby Passavana, I looked at I said, have you ever
seen a team that was playing as well as Common

(00:46):
a Bus? I mean you think about them, those to
those with top ten teams and Georgia Tech and BYU
and beating a top fifteen team in the Iowa state,
coming back from a buy and all of a sudden,
just the bottom folding out the way it has. I mean,
it's it's really perplexing what has happened with this team. Now.
Injuries certainly are a part of it, but that's not
the reason. That's just a byproduct I tak and so

(01:08):
you know, I know that's what the staff is trying
to figure out why the last two weeks they have
literally barely shown up and gotten rolled by two consecutive
pretty good football teams. Last week, Arizona's not nearly as
good as what Utah was the week before, and so
they got some answers to figure out and they've got
a great opportunity coming up tomorrow here at Morgan Time. MJ.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Dion Sanders very good about focusing his team's outcome on
himself in the wake of blowout losses, told you on
the Coaches Show this week that it's on him and
the schemes. He says, the kids are the same every week,
but we all know it's core the games about blocking
and tackling. He really does take accountability though it seems
to me for how his team's doing well.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
He certainly did. Yeah, he's in fact, in the press
conference David after the game against Arizona, I mean walked
in sat down said nobody will be available, which, by
the way, had stuck all week long. If you notice
on the show, we did not have a player or
an assistant come to the athletic director. One of the
basketball coaches came over and enjoined us this week, and
so it's all been on him. And you know, I
certainly appreciate that. That's kind of a buck stops here

(02:09):
kind of attitude. And we are going to get a
chance to talk to the coordinators today for the broadcast
tomorrow that we can utilize. But he's he's taken full
the full brunt of the response, if you will, out there,
and so I certainly appreciate that. Now, that's admirable from
a public standpoint. Now, internally, those players and those assistant

(02:30):
coaches have got to be held accountable, and they're the
ones that are going to have to fix this because
you know, the last time I checked number twenty one,
Dion Sanders is and check into the ball game tomorrow,
and so they got to make sure those guys have
got their minds right and you know, are playing a
high level of football once they take on the Mountaineers tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Ark let's talk quarterback Julian Lewis making his first career
start tomorrow, eighteen years old.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, well, Gina, he turned didn't turn eighteen until what
was the September twenty first or twenty second, so just
over a month ago. But he was a very highly
regarded He was a number two rated high school quarterback
coming out of high school last year. He reclassified to
be a freshman in college this year. Right now, my
own Whites, he should be a senior high school in

(03:11):
his home state of Georgia. So he was a number
two rank guy. He's got a very lively arm. I
mean the ball comes out very quick, on time, on target.
He has really got a lot of attention. There's a
reason why they had a ranked number two in the country,
and so it was a big get for Colorader to
get him. Fans have been clamoring for him all season long.
You know, when things weren't going crct color Letter's way
and Cayden Salter, who had been starting, wasn't playing the

(03:33):
best football, fans were wondering why he hadn't been playing
crimes to listen, I have to take care of him,
to prevarham, to make sure he's ready to go. Now
they're kind of being forced into that situation. And he's
a talented kid, but again, he's just turned eighteen years old.
That's allowed to put on him. We'll see how he
performs tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Mark Sanders was asked after the game. I can't remember
exactly the phrase, but it was something like has this
team given up or checked out or something like that,
and Dion said, immediately, what's your perspective?

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Well, that's always something you wonder about. There's a phrase
we use in sports as a team sacking the bats, right,
so they're putting their equipment away and getting ready for
next season. And listen, I think it's a fascinating question.
And Prime and I did kind of talk around that
topic on the show the other day because this isn't
traditional college sports that we grew up with. This is
now young men being paid. And he talked on the

(04:25):
show about they only that he had just had a
conversation with his team about this is becoming a transaction.
You need to understand we're giving you something, but you
owe something in a return. Now, just like professional athletes.
Still you're getting paid for this. It's a job, just
like you and I and everybody else has. And so
he was talking about that concept getting them to understand that.
So he was adamant about the team has not packed

(04:45):
it him. They have sacked the bats. As we say,
they're not looking towards next season. They're focused on these
last three games. But I think it's part of human
nature that we look at when things have kind of
gone south, do we all kind of go, Okay, well,
this isn't going to work out, move on to the
next thing. And I think that's one of the kind
of psychological attitudinal things that they're finding right now.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
The Buffs taking on the Mountaineers West Virginia tomorrow morning.
Our KA coverage will begin at eight am right and
early tomorrow kickoff at ten am. Voice in the Buffs,
It's Mark Johnson. Thanks Mark,