Space City Houston w Dan Mathews 12-7-24

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome aboard.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven
ninety Dan Matthews Live and local h Town breakdown of
the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
All these great Houston fans here. We love you all.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
So finish up on that to do list.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Flute up the cooler because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start now bear me eight.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
This is Space City Saturday.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's insane.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Anyway we go here on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews
here with you for the next couple of hours. If
you want to jump aboard, once I throw out a
topic or two, you can do so. One three two
one two five seven ninety once again, that's seven one
three two, one two five seven nine zero. Heard Doug

(01:08):
Pike as he was jumping off the of his show
talking about Monday. They're at the Golf Club of Houston,
Saint Jude Golf Tournament. Yep, I'm gonna be playing with Doug,
Gonna looking forward to it, Gonna have a good time.
And he was telling Melvin to tell me that, you know,
I need to be able to get out there today,

(01:29):
hit the range, be able to hit some practice balls,
do all of that. So, Doug, if you're still listening,
I'll have to do that tomorrow because I've got a
rule when it comes to golf. Is the number one
rule that I'm steadfast on. I mean, I do not
break off this rule. I want to enjoy myself when
I'm playing golf. Wet and cold. That ain't the way.

(01:51):
And shout out to my future brother and father in law.
They're both out on a golf course this morning in
a tournament, and I actually, about five minutes before the
show texted them and was like, you guys aren't still playing,
are you? And they're like, oh, yeah, we're out here.
I was like, oh, that is just brutal, man. I mean,

(02:11):
I feel like golf and baseball are kind of the
same way where I mean, if you ever grew up
playing baseball, and I mean even around these parts where
I mean I grew up here, I think most of
us did too as well. You could always count on
those early season scrimmages or even the early season games.
Maybe you had like a tournament or two over a

(02:33):
weekend where you would have that cold snap come through
in about the early to mid part of February, and
it's brutal man. I mean, if you're out in the field,
your pitcher is not throwing strikes, you're having to stand around,
so the colds kind of getting to you a little bit.
Maybe it had rained, but it didn't saw it didn't
soak up the field enough for the game to get banged.

(02:54):
So you got to get out there and play. And
especially too, in baseball, you wear one off barrel like
on the inside of the bat right there, and it
rattles you a little bit with that aluminum bat. Oh
that's not fun. Golf's kind of the same way too.
You hit a fat shot right there, the hands start
to ring. You're really just hoping for good iron strikes

(03:17):
on the on the course that day and to be
able to get through and then at the end of it,
probably instead of the golden soda at the end that
you felt like you earned, you're probably going to the
harder stuff to be able to try to warm you
up a little bit, or maybe even before you get
out there, you might want to do a shot or
two before you get out there to kind of give

(03:37):
yourself a little extra energy, a little extra swing.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Juice.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
So anyway, Doug, I will be ready for Monday. We're
gonna have some fun. It's gonna be a great cause.
Of course, if you're listening to us here on Sports
Talk seven ninety the last couple of days, the Saint
Jude Radio Telethon with us Sunday ninety nine point one
ninety four to five, the Buzz, the beats everybody pretty
much as part of our iHeart family of stations. We

(04:04):
did a great job and we were able to raise
a ton of money because just quick note on this
before we get into sports, because I know that a
lot of you want to get into that, but you know,
being able to do this every single year for Saint
Jude is something that is a really cool thing for
us to be able to do because I mean, I

(04:25):
think most.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Of us listening have kids.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
I don't, but if you do have kids, the number
one thing that you never want to see them go
through is any sort of pain. And for any of
us that have ever either had cancer or have had
a family member who dealt with cancer, it is an
absolutely just grueling, painful process and you want to be

(04:49):
able to make sure that you have an ally on
your side and you want to make sure that you
have somebody that is there to give you support, because
I mean, let's be honest here, it's medical bills. It's
all these different things can start to rack up and
can kind of feel overwhelming. Saint Jude takes care of
that for families, and the fact that we were able
to help Saint Jude even further their chances to not

(05:09):
only be able to take care of it. You heard
the radio spots that we were running, and also too
as well any of our guys here on Sports Talk
seven ninety who were compelling you to donate, we're telling
you as well about the reason why we raise the
money is so that families that have a child with cancer,
they don't receive a bill and they're able to make

(05:31):
sure that their child receives the absolute best care possible
and is able to hopefully beat this thing and you know,
be able to get on the other side, because there's
no better thing than I think to see a family
member or even enough for the person themselves who's gone
through it to be able to post that video of

(05:51):
them being able to ring the bell signifying I'm done
with chemotherapy and soon enough to whenever you get that,
you know, note from people that says, hey, I'm done,
you know, I'm cancer free, all of those things. That
is the ultimate victory when it's all said and done.
So just awesome work done by all of my colleagues

(06:13):
and everybody here at iHeartRadio Houston. As it was a
really really great couple of days of being able to
help out very very deserving people who definitely need this
type of help, and especially to like I said, when
you're dealing with cancer, it's the absolute worst thing that

(06:34):
you can deal with. So I appreciate all of you
who contributed on that front. But now let's get into
some sports as we've got a lot to be able
to chew on today here on Space City Saturday. If
you saw the tweet from us on Sports Talk seven
ninety it would even lend you to believe so because
we got a lot of guests to get to. I'll

(06:55):
get to that here in just a second, but sometime
during the show as well, going to definitely get into
the Azaz al Shaire three game suspension being upheld. Of course,
I mean just kind of taking us through the timeline
of how everything went. Remember it was Sunday, it was
the hit on Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Did he slide too late?

Speaker 4 (07:14):
Was Aziz al Shayir necessarily in a no win situation?

Speaker 3 (07:18):
There depends on who you ask on that.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
Of course, around these parts we're going to say the
second part that al Shayir was in a tough spot.
But then, of course too, the other side of it
as well is that was a dirty hit. It was
an illegal hit. All of these different types of things.
Why did he lead with the forearm? And of course
too it was the concussion for Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
I mean, he was there. What did they call it? Posting?

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Is that what they call it? When somebody seizes up
like that after a hit like that. I mean, we've
seen unfortunate hits in football before, and guys get concussed
for that very hits and then you know they have
to get carted off the field. It's not a good situation.
So all of that kind of baked into it. And

(08:01):
then of course Monday you had to meet o'ryans with
his comments, and of course, you know, people in Jacksonville
were not very happy with his comments, saying that the
Jaguars overreacted to the hit, and I mean, there's just
a lot to be able to get into on that,
and we can as the show goes along. But the
moral of the story is John Running handing down the

(08:23):
three game suspension, and then Ramone Foster, who was the
hearing officer for both the NFLPA and also the NFL
to hear the appeal, decided to uphold it. So you're
not gonna have a ziz Al Shaier for the next
three games. And it is a tough stretch, no doubt
about it. The Texans as they stand right now, it's

(08:43):
the bye week, but when they come out of it,
a very much different Miami Dolphins team comes to NRG Stadium,
a place you've lost two straight game sets, so the
Texans are trying to get right there. But with Tua
back for the Dolphins, they have been able to live
up to the potential that they thought they were going
to have this season. So that team that lost a

(09:03):
bunch of games earlier on in this season, they are
a much different team now with two at quarterbacks.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
So that's gonna be a very tough game.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Then you got to go up to Kansas City for
a Saturday tilt against the Chiefs, I mean the Chiefs,
especially there at Arrowhead have almost had some sort of
voodoo magic on their side in terms of being able
to find a way to win close games. Be no
better example than last week against the Las Vegas Raiders,
where it seemed like the Raiders were going to be

(09:31):
in position to at the very least tie that ball
game up and send it to overtime and give them
an opportunity.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
To maybe be able to steal one on the road
against the Chiefs.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
But then you get the snap off the chest of
Aidan O'Connell and the Chiefs are able to recover it,
and the Chiefs win yet another game. But they're a
one loss team for a reason this season. They find
a way to get done. So that's gonna be a
tough one. It's Christmas Day. I mean we're already almost
a Christmas how about that late Thanksgiving this year? Christmas
Day again back at NRG Stadium against a team too

(10:04):
that kind of like the Rockets with the Warriors, the
Ravens have kind of been.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
That to the Texans.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
The Texans have just not been able to solve the
puzzle that is the Baltimore Ravens, either in the regular
season or in the postseason as well. So that's gonna
be a tough game there at that point as well,
so Texans entering a really tough stretch. I mean, you know,
one bit of good news that you can point to
with Aziz al Schaier being out is that it sounds

(10:31):
like Christian Harris is going to be back. But then
the question becomes, how much can you really count on
Christian Harris. I mean he's been out for now over
about fourteen fifteen weeks that he has not been on
the field, And with that being the case, I mean
you also now are running into a situation where it's
going to be how much can you really be able

(10:54):
to rely that he's gonna be able to give you
on the field. I would say probably kind of like
what we had seen the first few weeks in a
return of Nico Collins. I think it's on steroids with
Christian Harris. I think you're maybe seeing a series or
two here and there, and maybe even not a full series.
I mean, I think that's one of those where you know,
no matter what, you do, have players who are going

(11:16):
to be possibly subbed in right next to the defensive
coordinator or whoever it is their position coach there on
the sidelines, I think you're going to be seeing a
lot of Devin White. You're going to be seeing a
ton of Neville Hewitt, which Neville Hewitt will be the
starting linebacker in place of Aziz al Shaier. He's been
that whenever he's been called on at times this season.

(11:38):
Shake Hanson the same deal as well. So the Texans
luckily do have options, are they as he's al Shaire
and what he's been able to do this season in
terms of being an extension of Tamiko Ryans as the
captain of the defense, Well no, they're not. So you're
going to take a step back in that regard. But
you've got a guy in say Devin White, who has

(11:59):
been a really good player in this league. You know,
he was a high draft pick coming out of LSU.
He's won a Super Bowl And is he the same
player that he was when they won the Super Bowl?
Probably not, but two at the same time, I mean,
he's still a guy that can be able to give
you some meaningful contributions on the field, and the Texans
I think feel pretty fortunate to have been able to

(12:20):
scoop him up off the waiver wire earlier this.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Season and Neville Hewitt two.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
I mean, even though he's contributed mostly in special teams,
his probably best highlight of the season was the interception
and near pick six return against the Packers, and he's
done some good things. And same deal with Jake Canson
as well. So Texan's going to try to be able
to piece this thing together before you get as E's

(12:45):
al Shaier back and you know, hopefully he's still in
good enough shape to be able to help you in
the playoffs too as well. But I mean, these next
three games incredibly crucial for the Texans where you can't
lose all three of them in a row like.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
That absolutely cannot happen.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
The worst that you can hope for in this spot
is if it doesn't go your way in Kansas City,
it doesn't go your way, say even Sunday against the
rap or against the Dolphins next weekend, then you absolutely
have to win that game against the Ravens.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
So I think Secans obviously.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
I mean, we get tired of hearing the cliches one
game at a time, but I think that's kind of
the way they have to take it right now, especially too,
when you factor in that you've got a lead, right
now and you should be able to hold on to
the lead. But I mean you also to have a
Colts team that's going to have a very soft schedule
the rest of the way, where they've got the Broncos

(13:41):
coming up, they're going to have the Giants the second
to last game of the season.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
They're in New York.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
I mean, the Giants I think are even kind of
already in surrender cobra mode. And also to games I
believe against the Titans and the Jags still left this season.
And you know, far be it from me to say
that the Titans are a pushover. They just came in
your place and we're able to beat you. So hopefully,
if you're looking to Tennessee that you're saying, hey, what

(14:07):
you did to us a few weeks ago, why don't
you do that to the Colts too. That'd be pretty
helpful if you were able to do that. So that's
what they're up against in terms of trying to climb
their way back into I mean, we could very honestly
be looking at a similar scenario to what we saw
last year, where Week seven, our Week eighteen is going
to matter incredibly much for both the Colts and the Texans,

(14:30):
especially too with you know, like I said, the stretch
that the Texans have coming up here, So that is
something that they're going to have to keep a very
strong eye on. We will get into a lot of
the Alex Bregman conversation. Of course, if you follow us
here on Sports Talk seven ninety, you saw that Brian

(14:50):
mctagger had the report twofold number one that the Texans
did have an offer out to Alex Bregman for six
years in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty six
million dollars. But the thought is is that Bregman of
course would not take that offer because he wants to
try to get as close to two hundred million as possible.
And there are other teams out there that are interested.

(15:11):
I mean, we've already heard about the Detroit Tigers being
one of those teams.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
It's a possibility.

Speaker 4 (15:15):
I think the Boston Red Sox are in that category
as well.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Keep here in the Washington Nationals too as well.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
I think the Nationals are kind of in that area
right now where they feel like they can start adding
some good veteran talent to go along with guys like
Dylan Cruz to hopefully be able to take that step
into getting back into contention with the Braves, the Phillies,
the Mets. They're in a pretty crowded and pretty competitive
National League East, so they're another team to look out

(15:44):
for in that regard. But also too, the other part
of that report that McTaggart had is that the Astros
do have contingency plans in place, indeed, if they have
to pivot and go elsewhere away from Alex Bregman, So
we'll see how that all shakes out. Now, you're actually
gonna hear from Tags here in about fifteen minutes because
you joined us earlier this week on the A team.

(16:06):
So I want to be able to have that visit
for you all, and we will let you hear that.
So we'll get into some of the Bregman also to
speaking of baseball, an interesting interaction last night on the radio,
and it was somewhere else that I've got some thoughts
twofold on that, So we'll have that a little bit
later on in the show. The Rockets have lost too straight.

(16:27):
They've got the Clippers tomorrow nights out in La. If
you heard Ima Udoka after the loss to the Warriors
where this was a Golden State team that did not
have Steph Curry, did not have Draymond Green on the floor,
but still able to beat you for the fifteenth straight time.
And you're gonna get the Warriors on Tuesday night at

(16:47):
Toyota Center as part of the knockout round for a
chance to be able to go to Vegas as part
of the NBA Cup Ncason tournaments. So Rockets hoping they
can snap that streak on Tuesday night.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
So maybe we'll get into.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
Some rocket here as the show goes along. But like
I said, ima Udoka even going as far as calling
his team soft after that loss to the Warriors. But
in the second hour, we're gonna get into a ton
of college football. Of course, Texas and Georgia SEC Championship game,
both teams likely going to be in the CFP, but
still gonna be a really fun matchup today because of

(17:23):
course Texas wants to get some revenge on Georgia for
the thirty to fifteen loss they gave them earlier this season.
And also too, I mean, both teams fighting for a
chance to be able to get that first round by
of staying out of that kind of you know, pseudo
wild card weekend if you will, in college football for
the college Football Playoff, but we're gonna have that game

(17:45):
here as well. Two o'clock is when Craig Way and
the crew get going here on Sports Talk seven to
nine year home for the Longhorns for football in men's
basketball in Houston, So we'll get into that in the
second hour. My good buddy Will Matthews from the Longhorns
Sports Network does sidelines for Craig Way and Roger Wallace there.
Of course he played at Texas. He's gonna join us

(18:05):
at eleven o'clock eleven fifteen. We're gonna head over to
Georgia and we're gonna talk with my buddy Roddy Nibolsei
of ugasports dot Com, the rival site there as he's
been covering UGA for some time. So if you're a
Texas fan you want to get a little bit of
a scouting report on what the Bulldogs could try to
bring the Longhorns here in the rematch.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
We will have that.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
And then we had a good visit yesterday with me
and Ross Villarreale on The Matt Thomas Show with Ross
from Barrett's Lee of College Football Smothered and Covered also
OutKick dot Com and Sirius XM. He hosts a good
show over the weekends with Tom Louganbill of ESPN. So
we'll hear from Barrett too as the show goes along.
But as it stands, I'm way over for a break

(18:47):
because coming up next. You know, I use the saying
consider the source. I would say the source is a
good one to follow if you're an Astros fan. We'll
continue the Alex Bregman conversation on the other side. We're
just getting going here on Space City Saturday, Dan Matthews
here with you until noon on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
It's Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
Dan Matthews here with you on your home of Texas
Long Horns football and men's basketball here in Houston.

Speaker 3 (19:22):

Speaker 4 (19:24):
The Horns will be on your radio a little bit
later today two o'clock coming your way with the SEC
Championship game called Craig Way. Roger Wallace and my eleven
o'clock guest, Will Matthews. They're on the sidelines. They're in
Atlanta against Georgia, so that'll be a lot of fun.
We'll have that for you coming up a little bit
later on. We are also to your home of the

(19:46):
Astros and the Astros right now as you head into
a very important Major League Baseball League meetings coming up
this week from North Texas. Of course, as we remind
you to do all the time, stick and stay right
here on Sports Talk seven ninety especially for this week,
any news coming out of there. You know that Joe
Aspota will be speaking from there in North Texas, and

(20:08):
of course he'll have some thoughts and also too as well.
General manager Dana Brown going to be speaking from there
in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. As hopefully we will
have some news on Alex Bregman. I mean, really just
kind of find out one way or the other if
you're the Astros, either hey, he's accepted an offer and

(20:29):
you're going to keep him here, or also too that
you've got to go elsewhere.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
So we'll try to figure that out.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
But one of those names that I just mentioned already
spoke this week, and he is your manager, Joe spot Um.
He spoke with Will Kunkle on Kicking It with Kunkle
on Fox twenty six. Of course, Will the sports director
over there at Fox twenty six, and he does the
podcast series where he's had a lot of really good

(20:54):
guests on and this week he was able to sit
down with Joe Aspodum and the source.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
That I was talking about. Yes, of course it's Joe.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
A spot up because let's start things off on a
high note. While it does seem like there's been a
lot of pessimism in terms of the Astros being able
to ward off other teams that are going to try
to come with their contract offers to Alex Pregman, you've
got the Astros manager who feels pretty good about their
chances of being able to retain Alex Bregman here in Houston.

Speaker 5 (21:26):
I feel good about our chances assigning Breggie. I think
BREGGI Reggie loves loves winning. We know how to win here.
I think our fan base, he's family. There's so many
things that we got going for us that I think
that he won't be able to find any of that

(21:47):
somewhere else. I think that's that's important for Alex.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
All Right, So there's a couple of other, you know,
bits of audio that we're gonna get to here. But
the first part of that is, while I do agree
with Joe Aspata that at least next season, I think
the Astros with Alex Bregman here would still be in
a very good position to try and win. You've got him,
You've got Jose Altuve, You've got a pitching staff that

(22:13):
took a massive step forward last year and a lot
of those guys are coming back, and I think the
Astros will still try to add both in the bullpen
but also to the starting rotation to try to create
some sort of depth at that point. So that's something
to keep an eye on. But I've got to believe
that Bregman's conversations and ever either if it's directly or

(22:34):
indirectly through his agent Scott Boris with the team is okay. Look,
I could accept your offer that you give me, and
you know that's all fine and good. I want to
be somewhere where I want to win. Alex Bregman does
not strike me as the type of guy that's going
to just take the huge money and then just say, oh,
well I got my money.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
I'm all good.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
If he's going to accept an offer from someone, I
think he wants to be able to try to merge.
But both of those goals together of number one, get
a nice payday, because this will be his last huge
payday he's going to get. This one's going to be
in the six to seven maybe even if someone wants
to kick it up to an eighth year range. And
he's now i think going to be thirty one this season.

(23:15):
I'm trying to remember exactly, but he's already into his thirties.
So the moral of the story is when he gets
out of this current deal, he's going to be in
the later stages of his thirties.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
And at that point you're.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Probably in the area of getting a one year deal,
two year deal, something like that before you finally call
it a career. And most guys now, I think probably
especially two With as much baseball as Bregman plays, that's
probably the best case scenario you could be looking for
at the end. But it's also too I mean, with
some of the teams he's talking with, if he's able
to get that from Detroit, we just saw it last year.

(23:51):
The Tigers have a lot of young talent already up
at the major league level, but they've already got a
lot of major league talent that is still to come
to the major league level that they're counting on for
the future of their organization. I think they probably feel
like that they're in a position to be able to
take that next step this season, and a guy like
Alex Bregman could absolutely help them do that. And again,

(24:12):
he'd be going to a situation where they feel like
they're able to compete, they're able to win, and they're
able to go for the whole thing when it's all
said and done.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Boston, I think kind of the same deal. It sounds like.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
They are really really heavy into trying to get Wan
Soto there in Boston, and I think if that were
the case, that would probably preclude them from getting Alex Bregman.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
But if not, I mean, you've.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
Already had Scott Boris talk about the willingness for his
client to play second base if needed. But also too,
I mean, you've seen the reports from the Red Sox
that they would move Rafael Devers away from third base
if they were able to pick up a guy like
Alex Bregman. So they're a team that feels like they're
probably a really good bat away from having a chance

(24:54):
to not only get into contention, because that is a
crowded American League East, with both the Yankees and the
Orioles in front of them right now. You've also got
Toronto who's trying to find their way back in. So
I mean, it's a crowded field out there in the East.
And also to teams that feel like that they can
be competitive for years to come. So that's the question

(25:15):
that I think is probably being asked of Dana Brown
and of Jim Crane, of you know, we've got the
comments from Jim Crane saying, as long as I'm here,
the window never closes. Well, okay, I think that probably
if you're Bregmant, you say, what do you mean by that? Like,
does that mean that you're going to spend heavily to
be able to make sure that that doesn't happen, That

(25:36):
you're going to somehow be able to try to replenish
this farm system as best as possible, to try to
be able to get some younger talent in here and
some guys that can one day be Major League ready
that can keep this thing going. Like, You've got to
explain that to me, Like, what do you mean by that?
So I think those conversations are being had real quick.
We'll get to the other two bits of sound before

(25:56):
coming up. In the next segment, we'll hear from Brian
McTaggart's Aspata continues with Will Kunkle talking about Bregman, saying
he really isn't sure that he wants to go anywhere else.

Speaker 5 (26:07):
I'm going somewhere else to start, you know, again, it'd
be something that I don't know if Alex wants that,
you know, he might, but at least then Alex Bregman
that I know how much he loves the city, the fans,
these teammates. I think we had that going for us.

Speaker 4 (26:28):
So the final part of these audio cuts from Joe
Aspata is something that I think we all know pretty
fully well. It doesn't just take this Bregman situation for
us understand that it is a business. It is a
business for not only Bregman, but also too for the
Astros as well, because I think the Astros could kind

(26:49):
of find themselves in a situation of if the contract
ask is so high that they've got to be able
to walk away, and they've got to be able to
pivot and be able to go elsewhere in terms of
maybe a trade or even a free agent opportunity. While
you might take a step back with the glove over
there at third base, maybe you're still able to have
somebody that is a good enough bat over there that

(27:10):
can help you be able to sustain what you've been doing,
and that's winning the American League West and finding your
way into the postseason. So that's the business side of it,
but also too, Bregman's overall value. We've heard numerous people
talk about that side of his game. This is what
Joe spot I had to say, you.

Speaker 5 (27:26):
Know the business side of things, and you know that's different.
There's other teams that probably I'm looking for for winning play.
These guys a winner, these guys are champion, These guys
a go glove, you know, defender, this guy is it's
a really good hitter. This guy makes people around them
that much better. Like you're not only acquiring a really
good player, you're acquiring a great clubhouse guy, a guy
that loves to be on the community, like organizations value that.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
We value that.

Speaker 5 (27:51):
So I hope that we he knows that we got
that going for us, and then we don't want to
lose him. So we trying to our best day Night's
where can you stell off johnn to improve our club?

Speaker 3 (28:04):
So hopefully we get that done.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
And I mean with Bregman on that front. I mean,
we know the Hunter Brown. Story of Hunter Brown was
awful at the beginning of last season, and then it
was the conversation with Alex Bregman. Hey, start using that
two seamer, start using that sinker against right handed hitters,
and you're gonna be able to miss barrels, and you're
gonna be able to jam those guys up, and you're
gonna be able to run it inside on them where

(28:27):
they can't get the bat around, and you're racking up
your strikeouts.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Taylor Scott. Same deal.

Speaker 4 (28:32):
He was on with Rob Friedman the Pitching Ninja, talking
about how they'll get their scouting reports from Josh Miller
and the Astros pitch coaching staff there, but also Bregman
will come to them with his own scouting reports of saying, yeah,
you're probably gonna be.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
Facing this guy here in this inning.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
And if you're facing this guy, this is what he likes,
this is what he looks for. All of those different things,
and it's also too I don't know if Bregman is
necessarily the most vocal of a leader inside the club.
I think he'll probably speak when compelled, but I think
he's also too very much a lead by example guy
of this is how you work, this is how you
go about your business, this is how you be a pro.

(29:11):
And the guys in that clubhouse seemingly respond to it.
So hopefully he is still here with the Astros, but
just wanted to share some thoughts from Astros manager Joe
Aspata with kicking it with Kunkle with Fox twenty six
sports director Will Kunkle some good stuff there. We're gonna
continue the Bregman conversation on the other side because earlier

(29:31):
this week we had a chance to catch up with
Brian McTaggart of astros dot com and MLB dot Com.
He of course had that report on Bregman and what
the Astros could possibly do if Bregman is no longer
in the cards for them in the future. We'll let
you hear that as we continue to roll along here
on Space City Saturday, on your home of the Astros,
Sports Talk seven to ninety, Space City Saturday on Sports

(29:58):
Talk seven ninety Sports.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
SOX seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Dan Matthews here on Space City Saturday, as we will
let you hear in a second from Brian McTaggart earlier
this week when he joined us on the A team.
Of course you listen to me on the Nightcap had
it on there as well, So we'll have that here
in just a few minutes. Again, if you want to
weigh in on the phone lines, you can do so

(30:23):
someone three two one two five seven ninety. You can
also get at me on Twitter as well. That's at
Dan Matthews h Ou as at Dan Matthews hou as well.
Though I've been told numerous times that some of you
are not a huge fan of my use of that word,
so you know, aside from you know, somebody telling me

(30:45):
yesterday that they would have to load their gun, which
I was like, okay, so you're threatening to shoot me.
I don't really understand that you getting to that point.
If that's the case, you probably shouldn't have firearms around you.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
But whatever.

Speaker 4 (30:58):
Anyway, all right, So Brian McTaggert joined us earlier this
week after he was able to have the reports on
Alex Bregman, and of course his report was it was
six years, one hundred and fifty six million, and also
if the Astros were unable to come to a deal
with Bregman, that they have a contingency plan in place,

(31:21):
and that's where the conversation started with Adam and Adam
where they asked him his thoughts on not only they
reported six years, one hundred and fifty six million dollar
contract offer, but also here's that word, the contingency plan
that the Astros could have in place if indeed they
have to pivot from number two.

Speaker 6 (31:42):
Yeah, I think the Astros have sort of been waiting
see mode. But realistically, I mean, I think most people
in the organization think they're they're just not going to
be able to get to a point in years or
money that they'll be able to resign him. And I
think they're, you know, they're going to wait to see
what shakes out over the next week we get to Dallas,
you know, once Soto signs and it seems like that

(32:03):
could come here sooner than later, I think the market
will shake for you a little bit. And you know,
Bregman's the next big name on the market as far
as position players. But I still think the money in
the years are are going to be too much. I mean,
Crane a couple of weeks ago, you know, reiterated his
stance and you know, it's the stances work for him
where he doesn't give out these massive, long term, ten eight,

(32:23):
nine year deals for hundreds of million. You know, he's
never done it and they just continue to win. So
you know he'd rather somebody else pay Alex Bregman when
he's twenty eight or thirty eight, thirty nine years old.

Speaker 7 (32:35):
So I think in the next week we'll know a
lot more.

Speaker 8 (32:37):
You know, not to put you completely on a spot,
but I'm going to I think that's kind of the
next The next natural place to go is to ask you.
I mean, you've seen this guy every single game, You've
covered him his entire career as an Astro. If two
hundred million is the magic number, so to speak, here
is Alex Bregman worth two hundred million dollars?

Speaker 7 (33:00):
You know that's tough to say. Uh.

Speaker 6 (33:02):
You know, he's a very good player. He's not what
he was in eighteen and nineteen, probably never will be.
But I think the next two three years, four years
of his career, I still think he could be an
elite third baseman. You know, you're worth what someone's willing
to pay you. But you know, if he doesn't sign
with the Astros, you know they they could improve their team.
If they, you know, sign a mid level third baseman

(33:25):
and go out and hit a home run at first
base and spend less money, they could be better than
they were last year.

Speaker 7 (33:33):
I mean, everybody wants this core to stay together.

Speaker 6 (33:35):
You know, jose Al Tuve pretty much pleading with him
to sign Bregman just lets you know how important important
he is to this team.

Speaker 7 (33:42):
And he is a leader. I mean, you know, he
was in every mound visit.

Speaker 6 (33:46):
We all know the stories of him helping out the
pitchers this year. He's a pillar in that clubhouse. All
that stuff has to be fackored into it as well.
But that's not going to change the Astros philosophy where
they're going to all of a sudden give him two million,
two hundred million dollars to play here in the next
seven or eight years.

Speaker 7 (34:00):
Well, and that's the other thing.

Speaker 8 (34:01):
You know, you just mentioned the contingency plan, which is
in your headline of your article on MLB dot com.
You know, is that the contingency plan or is that
least the the the timeline or the chain of things
like you do have maybe a stop gap situation or
just you take a hit at third base from a
talent and leadership standpoint. But then you go get you know,

(34:22):
what would be a home run at first base if
that were the scenario that were to unfold.

Speaker 6 (34:28):
Yeah, if they don't sign him, I mean, maybe they
go and get Christian Walker for a couple of years,
who's probably the best free agent first basement on the market,
three time Gold Glove winner.

Speaker 7 (34:36):
I mean he would fit very nicely.

Speaker 6 (34:38):
And then maybe at third base you kind of patch
it together a little bit.

Speaker 7 (34:42):
You know, one name I've mentioned a few.

Speaker 6 (34:43):
Times with Joge Polanco who was with the Mariners last year,
didn't have a great year.

Speaker 7 (34:49):
It's coming off surgery.

Speaker 6 (34:50):
But you know, he's a guy that maybe you could
get eight nine million, you know, hope he has a
rebound year and then maybe you know, at first base,
like I said, you know, make a make a a
bigger impact deal. Maybe, you know, do you look into
acquiring someone like you know, gold Schmid, who's thirty six
and on the decline, but maybe you can get a
good year or two out of him, you know, being
back in his hometown. So there's a lot of ways

(35:12):
they can go here. But you know, the corner infield
is their biggest needs, their biggest need however, they want to,
you know, piece it together, but they can't wait forever
until Bregman. If this is going to drag out until January,
then I think we'll see them start to make moves
to sort of move on. But once Soto makes his decision,
I think things will move pretty quickly, not only for Bregman,

(35:34):
but I think for the Astros.

Speaker 9 (35:35):
Do you think there's a chance they actually signed somebody
to real money before an Alex Bregman decision has been made,
because you just said if it gets into January, you know,
you think they're you would have to move on. I
think if it gets to January and they don't have
a decision on him and they haven't already moved on,
they're in huge trouble.

Speaker 7 (35:52):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
I mean I think I think in the next two
weeks will probably know what they're going to do. I mean,
they're not going to wait forever for Bregman. I mean,
I think, like I said earlier, I think most people
in the organization know he's probably not coming back. So
I don't think it's that big of a stretch for
them to say, Okay, let's let's just go to our
contingency plan. Here sign this guy, you know, beep up
some production at first.

Speaker 7 (36:13):
And then move on at that point.

Speaker 6 (36:15):
I mean, if they were, if they were a team
that was willing to make a two hundred and two
hundred and forty fifty million dollar offer for Bregnant, maybe
they hang in it longer. But I mean they're already,
you know what, forty five million dollars short on probably
where they need to be to make a real push
for him. So I don't think, yeah, they're not going
to wait very long. I mean, you know, the next
week is going to tell us a lot, but yeah,

(36:36):
they're I think you're right. I mean, I think by
January we're gonna, even if Bregman's still out there, will
know which direction Astros are going, and it won't be
with Alex Bregman.

Speaker 9 (36:44):
Brian McTaggart Astros dot Com, MLB dot Com beat writer.
Do you think soon to be big Brother Knox will
be going to more Phoenix Suns games? Do you think
he'll be seeing Celtics games in the future. Do you
think maybe he'll become a Lakers or a Clippers fan,
maybe a Bulls fan, any idea, maybe a Raptors fan.

Speaker 8 (37:04):
I don't tell me he's gonna go to stee home
games at Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 7 (37:08):
Please God, how about the How about the Nets?

Speaker 8 (37:11):
If he goes to New York and he signs with
the Mets, I can at least stomach it.

Speaker 7 (37:15):
Brian, Yeah, that would be That would be a tough one.

Speaker 6 (37:19):
Of all the core players that have left and gone
on to other teams, I think for Astros fans, Bregman,
who's probably at the top of the list of most beloved,
next to Altuve, who's not going anywhere, but Bregman going
to the Yankees, I think would be. Uh, that'd be
the toughest to swallow. Look, we know he was a
Jeter fan, and one of the reasons he wore number two.
His family's got deep ties to Washington Baseball, going back

(37:41):
generations with his grandfather. You know, I think, you know,
Washington is an up and coming team. The Red Sox
make a lot of sense with that short porch and
left field. I think Bregman needs somewhere where he can
really pull the ball just like Mini made. You know,
he lives and he's spent the last couple off seasons
now in Phoenix, So I don't know if the are
a big player.

Speaker 7 (38:01):
But yeah, he was at the Suns game the other day.
But it's going to be interesting.

Speaker 6 (38:05):
If I had to guess, I would say he goes
somewhere on the East coast, Boston, New York's, Washington, wouldn't
completely roll out some other locations, but I think he'll
wind up on the East coast.

Speaker 9 (38:17):
Dana Brown has said very clearly about biggest priority being
Alex Bragman. He also acknowledged conversations we're being had with
other free agents here and Justin Verlander, and there's been
a lot of reports about some creative ways to put
the team together next year, which might include Ryan Presley.
So about those two pitchers, do you think the Astros
are truly interested in a deal?

Speaker 7 (38:37):
Likely very short term?

Speaker 9 (38:38):
I'm sure one year with Justin Verlander, and do you
believe there are real opportunities and they'd be interested in
moving Ryan Presley to a place where he'd obviously accept
and that he can dictate that.

Speaker 6 (38:52):
Yeah, he's got a no trade clause, which makes it
makes it tricky, but yeah, I mean, if they need,
if they need to free up some payroll, you know,
I think Presley is the direction they go. The fact
he's got no trade clause, like I said, makes it
a little more difficult. I think at the end of
the day, he's probably back here. I was told early
in the off season that they didn't have an interest

(39:13):
in bringing back Verlander, but certainly that's going to.

Speaker 7 (39:15):
Come down to money as well.

Speaker 6 (39:16):
I mean, if Erlander finds is just not a market
for him, and maybe he comes back to the Astros
on a very friendly deal. I mean, Astros have already
paid him tons of money, a lot of it not
to pitch, so you know, I wouldn't completely rule it out,
but I still think Verlander coming back to a long shot.

Speaker 8 (39:33):
I'll ask you the same question I asked Wex if
Bregman departs, and maybe even if the contingency plan, you know,
goes according to plan and you know, whatever you end
up having, don't the Astros seem like even after all
of that, they'd still be the favorites in twenty twenty
five in the AO West?

Speaker 3 (39:53):
I think so.

Speaker 6 (39:54):
I mean, it depends on what you know, some of
the other teams do in the off season, but yeah,
I mean I think as they stand now, they're they're
the best team. I mean, and they're not gonna sit
here and stand still. I mean, they're gonna make some
moves here to improve themselves. You know, if they can
address the corner infield spots, which they will, Uh, maybe
they get a center fielder or an outfielder, uh, to

(40:15):
you know, beef up that situation.

Speaker 7 (40:16):
I think they'll be in the market for a reliever.

Speaker 6 (40:18):
They could certainly use another depth starting pitcher, probably like
every team. So yeah, I still think they're the team
to beat. I mean, you know, the Rangers have a
lot of talent, but uh, you know they're gonna lose
some of it in free agency. You know, a lot
of those guys were banged up, you know, some of
their you know, like, what are they going to get
out of de gram Voldie's gone. So unless one of

(40:39):
those other teams makes a big splash, I'm talking about
the Rangers and the Mariners because I still don't see
the the Angels being a player. And you know, hey,
they signed Sevarino today, so you know, maybe they're on
the Uh, maybe they're going to start spending some crazy
money going to Sacramento, which is kind of crazy. But
I mean I still think the Astros are unless they
completely flub this off season going to be the class

(41:01):
of the Alos.

Speaker 9 (41:02):
Final thirty seconds for us here, Brian, do you feel
like these meetings coming up next week in Dallas will
start multiple major money deals being agreed to.

Speaker 7 (41:13):
I think they will.

Speaker 6 (41:13):
I mean, these things have generally been a big bore,
but all the stuff I'm reading about Soto seems like
a decision could be coming, you know, maybe by the
end of the weekend, and I think that's really going
to break the really break things free. Whether the Astros
get involved that earlier or not, I'm not sure, but
you know, we had a deal done today with Severino,
so maybe, you know, maybe things are starting to happen.

(41:35):
When everyone in baseball gets together under the same roof
and you know, the the drinks start flowing, things tend
to get done.

Speaker 7 (41:41):
So we'll see where we're at in a week.

Speaker 8 (41:43):
It's your favorite time of year, the off season. That's
never an off season for you, Brian. We appreciate you
carving out some time on the fly, and we'll catch
up very soon, I'm sure.

Speaker 7 (41:53):
All right, Thanks guys.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
All right, great stuff from Astros dot com, MLB dot
coms Brian McTaggart. You can find him on Twitter at
Brian mctaggarts, and it is the weekend before the league
meetings get going, and that is true to what he said,
is when things kind of start to come go ahead
in terms of deals being made. Also, I mean you

(42:17):
get announcements of deals being made, so players are able
to have their press conferences right there. And Scott Boris
usually likes to be able to hold court of some sort.
I mean, I know that he did it earlier this
year at the GM meetings and had his dad jokes
all the different types of things that he likes to
throw out there, and he likes to be able to

(42:39):
do that pretty much at every single Major League Baseball
sanctioned meeting. So we'll see if that comes to fruition
this week. I was going to play a little bit
of audio, but I also want to give myself enough
for a runway to be able to talk about it afterwards.
I mean, there is kind of a beginning to lead
up to it, sequence of a and then it's the

(43:01):
audio itself. And then there's also too the scenario after
the audio that I'm just not gonna have enough time
to be able to get to if we want to
be able to stay on the clock and also get
Will Matthews in at eleven o'clock because I know he's
busy today in terms of trying to get ready for
his game in Atlanta between Texas and Georgia.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
As coming up next.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
Hour, we will have a lot of college football conversation,
not only with Will, but also too we'll head to Georgia,
we'll talk with Roddy Nibolsei of UGA sports dot com
and also to our conversation that we had earlier this
week with Barrett's Lee of college Football Smothered and Covered,
as well as Serious XM and OutKick dot com.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
So we'll do all of that coming up.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
But in the immediate next segment, I do want to
get into a little bit of Rockets conversation because interesting
things said after both games this week by Ema Udoka
that I want to be able to get into. So
we'll do that ten o'clock cower right here on your
home of the Rockets and the Astros Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
I'm Dan Matthews. This is Space City Saturday.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
We now returned to Space City Saturday Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
They don't make music like they used to do. They well,
man in the box for you.

Speaker 4 (44:20):
I'm bringing you back here on Space City Saturday, Dan
Matthews here with you just a couple more minutes to
close out the ten o'clock hour. We've spent most of
this ten o'clock hour on the Alex Bregman Astros situation.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
So I guess we'll find out.

Speaker 4 (44:37):
I mean my gut feeling with Matt on the Matt
Sama Show with Ross earlier this week when we did
gut feelings, as I said, by Wednesday, we'll know about
Alex Bregman, either if it's good or if it's he's
going to be suiting up somewhere else in twenty twenty
five and beyond. So I'm sticking to that gut feeling.
I think we will find out something. And mc taggart
back me up on that as he said, Yeah, this

(44:58):
is gonna move pretty quickly, both not only him but
also for the Astros, So we'll see how it all
shakes out.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
The Rockets have lost two in a row.

Speaker 4 (45:07):
Just want to spend a couple of minutes on the
Rockets as they lost to the Sacramento Kings earlier this
week final NBA Cup group play, and I mean it
was one of those that if you were watching the
game and you were following along with Ryan Hollins and
Craig Ackerman, even in garbage time, they were imploring the
Rockets players, Hey, you gotta score points. You got you

(45:28):
got to be able to cut down this deficit in
the game, because that point differential is huge if you
want to be able to host a knockout round home game.
And luckily the Denver Nuggets did the Rockets as solid
in terms of beating the Golden State Warriors, so that
was nice.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
So Tuesday night will be in Houston.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
No better time to end a streak than Tuesday nights,
So hopefully the Rockets can do that.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
But yet he may.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
Joka, of course, after he got thrown out of the
game going to the podium, and I think most of
us who follow Madoka knew where that was going. And
he did not fail in that regard, calling it tiki
tak and other stuff, but also too using another interesting
word and in front of get yourself some glasses to

(46:15):
the referee John Goebel. That got him a fifty thousand
dollars fine and he may gonna have to send over
some of his pay to the NBA League office. But
then after the loss. Again, I laid it out for
you earlier in the show. You didn't have Steph Curry,
didn't have Draymond Green on the floor, Emydoka calling his
team soft. So maybe a little bit of a reflection

(46:36):
point for the Rockets at this point of They've been
able to do some really good things. It is a
crowded Western conference. It's going to continue to be a
crowded Western conference. But he may Udoka kind of going
to the nuclear option at that point of, Okay, I'll
start calling some guys out, and that's what he did
earlier this week. So we'll see if the Rockets are
able to get right.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
And I did have the.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
Gut feeling too that the Rockets will go one for
three on the West Coast, So hopefully they can pick
up their third win in a row this season against
the LA Clippers there in their building.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
All right, Coming up next.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
We'll get into the college football conversation as Will Matthews,
the sieline reporter for the Longhorn Sports Network. On the
radio side, he is going to join us to a
preview today's Texas Georgia game in the SEC Championship game
for the Texas side and then after him at eleven fifteen,
canna have a chance to catch up with Rodney to
bolseyougasports dot com to preview the Georgia side. We'll do

(47:30):
that as we kick off the eleven o'clock hour here
on your home of the Longhorns football in Men's Basketball
in Houston Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Welcomebore, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety, Dan Matthews Live and local h Town breakdown
of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world,
the great Houston fans here.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
We love y'all, So finish up on that to do list.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Flute up the cooler, because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
Now bear me the eight. This is Face City Saturday.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
It's in samee.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
Here's seven nineties Dan Matthews.

Speaker 4 (48:26):
It is in the SEC Championship game this weekend, and
of course the Texas call right here on your home
of Longhorn football and Men's basketball in Houston Sports Socks
seven ninety. A man that you know is going to
be part of the coverage. He's with Craig Way and
Roger Wallace. He's the sideline reporter Lifetime Longhorn. He is
Will Matthews, Will did you guys just kind of show

(48:48):
the rest of the SEC? Hey, this isn't so hard,
Like why do y'all keep talking about this? We just
got here in year One's the what's the huge deal?

Speaker 10 (48:57):
You know, that's exactly how it feels looking back through
going through the process. You know, the guys put in
the work, and I think if we'd wind back a
couple of years ago when Sart comes in, he's got
Jon Robinson and you know, just that team that that
he moved past the five and seven and.

Speaker 11 (49:16):
He had just begin to start and recruiting.

Speaker 10 (49:19):
Really what he says was, let's recruit big guys that
run fast, that can compete with SEC teams. And then
fast forward that's what he's done. And now it definitely
what you said. It's like, oh, this isn't hard. How
could how could A and M be in so long
and not get there? And uh, Texas get there the
first the first time, the first year in the SEC
is as you can tell, that's a little snub to

(49:41):
my m buddies, But.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
That's how it goes. No, that's what it's all about.
That's what rivalries are about.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
And seems like Texas has really kind of embraced the
SEC lifestyle already. I mean, you know, I'm sure you're
on social media enough. You see Texas fans. You know,
they know, Hey, Georgia fans like to do this. Okay,
so do we Alabama.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
Fans do them?

Speaker 4 (50:02):
Okay, Hey, well we'll meet you there. So no, it's
it's all in good fun for sure. I mean, this
has got to be a rematch that I'm sure once
the Longhorn coaches and players saw it was going to
be this game, they probably were salivating a little bit.
I mean, just kind of take us through, you know,
the first time. I mean, what what went wrong? Like,

(50:24):
what what did Texas not do to allow that game
to get out of hand and get away from them?

Speaker 10 (50:30):
You know, the if we just really boil it down
to the nuts and bolts of football, if you look
at what happened, Texas had four turnovers taken from from Georgia,
and they in Texas gave away three turnovers.

Speaker 11 (50:43):
Well, Texas didn't.

Speaker 10 (50:45):
Capitalize on any of those four turnovers point wise, and
Georgia was able to come out fourteen points, which really
is the difference there was, what's the difference in score?
Texas wasn't really able to take care of the ball,
and this coach saw and the team has said many times,
just didn't feel like Georgia got the best of Texas.

Speaker 11 (51:07):
And so that's really been the.

Speaker 10 (51:08):
Message over this week of like, let's give Georgia the best,
the best shot that we have, and if we do that,
at the end of the whistle, we'll be pretty happy
with what happens.

Speaker 4 (51:22):
And I mean, you know, just from that game until now,
I mean, what have you noticed a visible difference in
this Texas team, either offensively, defensively, anywhere that would lead
you to believe that this second meeting is going to
go a lot different.

Speaker 11 (51:37):
Yeah, there's a couple of things.

Speaker 10 (51:38):
Well, we all know that Texas's defenses is the best
in the country, and the way that they're playing is
really like that. Eighteen interceptions are taking the ball away,
they're huge stops on goal lines. I mean, they're really
doing their job. That's been constant. They haven't stopped that
this whole season. But I think on the offensive side,
there's two things that have really happened. The offensive line

(52:01):
has solidified and they seem to be keeping the heat
off Quinn. And the other thing that they're doing is
they've opened they've opened the holes for an established running game.
Last week, Trey Wisner ran for over one hundred and
eighty yards.

Speaker 11 (52:18):
I mean that was just not something that we were
doing this season.

Speaker 10 (52:23):
And for him to be able to do that for
the O line coming together, it just makes things a
lot easier. And if Quinn has a good running game,
he's confident and comfortable, and that's when he really takes care.

Speaker 11 (52:34):
Of the ball and is really able to be the
general that we need him to be.

Speaker 7 (52:38):
Again.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
He is the sideline reporter.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
He also is, as they say in Austin a lifetime longhorn.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
He is a long horn let a letterman.

Speaker 4 (52:45):
He is Will Matthews and he joins us here on
Space City Saturday. Last week, Arch Manning, I mean a
few packages we saw in there. And you know, of
course Quinn Ewers is dealing with the ankle issue. But
that's I mean, even though he played against Texas Georgia
a little bit in that first matchup, I mean, how
much do you think that we're going to see Arch

(53:06):
on the field in this game?

Speaker 3 (53:07):
Is kind of an offset?

Speaker 10 (53:09):
Well, It was interesting to see to see arch last
week against A and M. What an incredible time to
bring in to bring him in. You know, Quinn definitely
had that ankle injury but still moving really well.

Speaker 11 (53:24):
But what a great change of pace to bring arch in.

Speaker 10 (53:27):
You know, Coach Sarkle's as point blank have we seen
the whole playbook? And he says, you're gonna have to
wait and see, And so I think they're going to
have to continually find a way to get Archie in
because it really changes that dynamic.

Speaker 11 (53:42):
His athletic ability and ability to run.

Speaker 10 (53:45):
He's so big and so strong and so fast that
really brings a dynamic to the offense that didn't have
with Quinn and so being able to do that is
really important. So hope, just me as a fan and
a next player, I want to see the guy I
love when he gets on the field, and what he
does for the team is pretty important.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 4 (54:03):
I mean you touched on a little bit with Trey
Weisner and just how well he was able to run
the football last week and just the physicality both sides
of the ball for this team. I mean, I've got
to believe and it's not even a I've got to believe.
I mean, when you were there, I mean, you guys
were physical, and there was a period right there where,
of course the offense started to jump up a little

(54:23):
bit and that physicality kind of went away. But as
a fan base as a whole, I mean, I've got
to believe. It's kind of like when your team is
physical like that fires you up, right, like that absolutely
like makes you say like, yeah, we're going to come
into your place and we're going to absolutely beat you up.
I mean, how fired up are Texas fans with with
how this team plays and again how physical they are

(54:44):
on Saturdays.

Speaker 10 (54:46):
Well, you know, you're just hitting the nail on the head.
Two weeks ago, Texas at home against Florida, the last
home game of the season, ending the game, ran the
ball fifteen times in a row. I mean, that is
a statement that is saying we are we're gonna have
physical you, and we're gonna you're gonna know where we're going.
We're either going left or right, you pick one, and

(55:08):
we're gonna get it done. And Texas has been able
to do that, and even last week into A and M,
they were posing their will on that on that upfront
I mean on the defensive side of the front seven,
and then also on the offensive side. The offensive line
has really just been focused, and I think all of
the fans and ex players and everybody is just so

(55:29):
excited about it because we all know how big and
fast and how physical the SEC is, and for Texas
to be at the forefront of that just kind of
pushing their way through to get.

Speaker 11 (55:39):
To the front is really special. And the fan base
is ignited. We're so excited.

Speaker 10 (55:45):
We've waited and now it's time for Texas to do
their thing.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
A couple more minutes with Longhorn Sports Network sideline reporter
Will Matthews. You're gonna hear them later on today right
here with Craig Way and Roger Wallace as part of
the Longhorn Sports Network. I mean, you know this Georgia team,
it's a team that I think has kind of been
up and down all season, especially on the offensive end.
I mean, you touched on it last time Carson Beck
turned the football over. He hasn't done that a ton lately.

(56:13):
So how can you know this Texas defense be able
to stemy Georgia today?

Speaker 10 (56:19):
You know, Texas has got to prepare for two Carson
becks to be. To be honest, there's a Carson Beck
who who's got twenty eight interceptions, and then there's Carson
Beck who's played over the last couple of weeks and
really he's put on that the Superman cape and he's
carried his team in different times. And so Texas has
got to really be ready to match the intensity on

(56:40):
that offensive side with their defense. And then on the
offensive side, if Texas can take care of the ball,
keeping the ball away from Georgia as well as running
the ball efficiently.

Speaker 11 (56:52):
On the ground.

Speaker 10 (56:53):
I mean, it doesn't have to be a two to
three hundred yard on the ground game.

Speaker 11 (56:56):
It just has to be efficient so that Texas can
stay ahead of the chains.

Speaker 10 (57:00):
Because we all know when quin yours is confident and
comfortable and he's in that intermediate area, he is he
is precise, he's deadly, he's he's the kind of guy
that you want, and when he's comfortable, it's just it's
lights out. So hopefully that is the recipe that we
see that we see today, and you know that's that's

(57:21):
what they get to done.

Speaker 11 (57:21):
Get done well.

Speaker 4 (57:22):
Well, we'll be listening here in Houston. Great work all season.
Look forward to hearing you Craig and Roger today and
also too. I mean, I mean, you know, even though
it does seem like Texas is going to get in,
I gotta believe that this is probably a huge goal
for them to say, hey, win the conference, leave no doubt,
get in as a top four seed, and then feel

(57:44):
pretty good about the chances to go for it all.

Speaker 10 (57:46):
Right, Yeah, I mean, you're so right, and just being
close to this team, I'm really impressed they have kept
the message the same and that as the standard has
got to be the standard, and no matter how things
shake out, the only thing that you can control is
what you do on Saturday and how you respond to adversity.

(58:06):
And they've done just a really good job of growing
up in maturity. I think the game they played earlier
in October against Georgia, the magnitude of the moment may
have gotten to them, and so as they have matured
throughout the season, going up to Arkansas and Tampa, business
went to Kyle Field and played the Aggies and handled business.

Speaker 11 (58:26):
I think that they're.

Speaker 10 (58:27):
More ready than they've ever been for this game, and
I'm excited to see the Horns.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Do their thing.

Speaker 4 (58:32):
It'll be fun Horns and Georgia Bulldogs. They're in Atlanta
for the SEC Championship game. Will you're the best man.
It's been awesome catching up with you all season long,
and we look forward to listening to you guys today.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
All right, all right, hook them.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
All right, there you go.

Speaker 4 (58:47):
Will Matthews with us here on Space City Saturday. We've
got the Texas side of today's SEC Championship game that
you're gonna hear right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
How about the Georgia side. My good buddy Roddy the
Bullsey from UGA sports dot Com, the rival site that
covers the team. We will find out about the Dogs
that's coming up next right here on Space City Saturday.

(59:09):

Speaker 2 (59:14):
Space City Saturday continues fine Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
And the weather around here. It kind of feels like
Soundgarden is correct today. I'm a huge Soundgarden guy.

Speaker 4 (59:28):
I bet our next guest, Roddy NIBOLSUGA sports dot Com,
he's a Soundgarden guy.

Speaker 3 (59:33):
Roddy, you a you a Soundgarden fan? Were you a
grunge guy?

Speaker 12 (59:37):
And I'm started writer as I got to college and
I was still in the big hair metal and rap day.
So I wasn't into the grun scene. I was still
trying to wrap it. You know, listen to rab Usic
A poison Man. That just wasn't my scene.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
There you go, there you go.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
Don't don't, don't follow the trend to Roddy, you know,
just because everybody else says it's cool. That's I know,
I know that's what you're about. So, you know, talking
the Georgia side of today's game, I mean, we can't
really get into today's game without talking about October fifteenth
there in Austin, where you saw a Georgia defense that
probably put together their best performance of the season, but

(01:00:13):
you saw a Georgia offense, namely Carson Beck, that did
not put together a very good game. Kind of coming
out of Ole Miss it seems like we've seen a
different Carson Beck. What have you noticed has been the
difference in the Dogs quarterback?

Speaker 12 (01:00:28):
They stopped pressing. That was the big thing. It was
he You've seen the fact that Georgia leads the league
and dropped passes and you know, the defense doesn't get
a whole lot of turnovers. They did in that Texas game,
and that's what changed it. I mean, you had a
Georgia could have won by you know, thirty points, you
know more, but they turned them all over three times,
so there was only a plus one differential. Georgia turned

(01:00:51):
them over four times. But that has not been the
mo for the Dog's defense. They just do not get
a lot of turnovers. So Carson's like, look, dropping passes,
we do not have a run game. I've got to
make things happen. All the pressures on me. I'm the
one getting all the money, I'm the one getting all
the fame and this accolades. And he started pushing hard,

(01:01:12):
and he started forcing balls, and he started getting picked
off the minute he stops. The last three games, he's
throwing eleven touchdowns and no interceptions. So once you kind
of saying, look, you know, just decide that I don't
have to make things happen. I could just throw the
ball away. He also started running a little bit. There's
been many times I'm just sitting in the press boxer
sitting on her YouTube show. I watched a long show

(01:01:33):
because Jim Donnon and I'm just like Carson. If you
hang on to the ball here when you're doing that
play action, there's no money on the back side. You
could run for fifty yards before they'd realized you were
gone out of the backfield. Once he started running, the
offense looked completely different. Nate Frasier's come on to helped
out the run game a little bit. They got the
Tate Ratlin's back, and Monroe Releis took over left tackle

(01:01:56):
for an injured the turn the screen, the offense looked better.
But car Person has looked better because he's They're starting
to play better around him. But I don't know if
he've been enough today, But at least that's why he
looked great over the last three games for the middle
of the season. You know, if you've got ten touchdowns
to twelve interceptions, he leads the sec and interceptions. Still,
that's not a good look for Carsons again.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
Roddy Nibolseega sports dot Com part of the Rivals network
of sites, joining us here on Space City Saturday. Dan
Matthews here with you. How about the offensive line. I mean,
that seems like a group that was in a little
bit of flux earlier this season. He touched on the
run game a little bit. But you've gotten Tate Ratlic
back and he's obviously a huge part of that group.
What do you expect from that group of five.

Speaker 12 (01:02:42):
I'm kind of excited to see what they do today.
This will be their best test because that defensive front
for Texas is phenomenal. Ernest Green is out or I
don't know how much it he's going to play. My
roa Freeling. You know, I got this a lot younger
than him. Has played well over the last two games.
But Tate Ratleige was not available for that first game

(01:03:03):
against Texas, and I Trevor etn I mean he had
three touchdowns against and Malagas were set up by you know,
some turnover or some good field position. But Trevor was
able to run pretty well. But he's got banged up ribs.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
He may be.

Speaker 12 (01:03:17):
Able to play today, but I think George' is gonna
be really relying on Nate Frazier and I want to
see what Tate radleage and that's.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
What he can do.

Speaker 12 (01:03:24):
Because in that eight overtime win against Georgia Tech, he
saw that there were a lot more passes and Carson
back was just kind of you can see the frustration
on his face. Well, who goes over grabs him round
shoulders and starts talking to him real closely. Tate Radvalis,
He's definitely the leader of that offense. They all looked
to him. He kind of willed them to win the game.

(01:03:44):
He's the one they sent out for the coin toss
for overtime. He didn't get to play. He's a leader,
and I think if he's out there on the field
against this Texas team, that does a lot for Georgia's
chances in this game.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
Let's flip it over to defense.

Speaker 4 (01:03:59):
And I mean the first time that Georgia was able
to go against Texas, we saw a lot of Mikel Williams.
He was huge for them, as well as Jealon walker Is.
He was able to make some huge plays for them.
But the wild card in this I think could be
a little bit of the running arch manning. How much

(01:04:20):
do you expect that they will be ready for that
plan of attack today from Steve Sarkisian's offense.

Speaker 12 (01:04:27):
I'd love to be ready for him, but I don't
know that they can stop it. That's the thing we
saw that Dalen Walker and Mikel Williams went off that
Texas game. Where have they been since then? And I'm
not banging on the kids and they're fantastic players, but
they've not had a game like that since and you know,
sitting in the pocket trying to complete passes downfield. You know,

(01:04:47):
the pro style system Georgia is designed to stop that.
And that's why, you know when the UMass came in
and ran on him and Georgia Texas ran all over
the field on him. They can't stop a running quarterback.
They know what's coming. They haven't been able to stop it.
They couldn't stop the Florida's third stream Yale transfer quarterback.
So it's just a situation where if they put Arch

(01:05:10):
in there and let him run it, especially you know
when they run that gh counter and the quarterback comes
in behind it. Georgia's not being good at that. So
it'll be very interesting to see how Georgia handles that
one goal. They did not have for that first game, though,
that might change the scheme, the approach, you know, the
flow of the game. Small London also didn't play, and

(01:05:31):
I remember he's the inside linebackers preseason all SEC. He
missed that game in Austin as well, but he's been back,
he's been healthy. He led the team and tackles last week,
So it'll be interested to see if they use him
as a spy in the arch Manning situations or you know,
the way teams have attack Georgia has mainly been the
fund whoever is. You know, when Georgia has a safety
or a linebacker in coverage, everyone's talking about arch Manning

(01:05:55):
maybe coming in and running it. But if I'm a
seat ARCHESI and I do that, and I'll also go
empty of five wide receivers it's at all possible and
just say, okay, well who's who's covering, which safety's and coverage,
which stars and coverage, which linebackers and coverage because that's
where exectly I'm going to go ole Miss did it
and it just killed Georgia. So tartigas watching the tape,

(01:06:17):
he saw what all Miss did. I guarantee he'll repeat
in this game again.

Speaker 4 (01:06:22):
We're catching up with Roddynobowlseyega sports dot com, part of
the Rivals network of sites, to give us the Georgia
side of today's SEC Championship game against the Texas Longhorns.
I do want to get back over to the offensive
side because kind of helped me out with this. I
know that a Houston area kid Julian Humphrey uh is
entering the transfer portal, so he's out. What is the

(01:06:44):
status of Trevor et N. I've seen reports, but then
I guess I saw another report Roddy that he is
expected to play to get play today. What's going on there,
especially for a guy that was so huge for them
in the first matchup.

Speaker 12 (01:06:58):
He scored three touchdown, so you know, you'd a little
love to have him back. And he's missed the last
few games. He got banged up in the Florida game,
hurt his ribs and then was ready to go the
next week. But at some points, you know, away from
the ball, hurt his ribs and made it worse. And
sometimes when you get a small you know, hairline fracture
or something, you can make it worse. He hasn't played

(01:07:20):
the last few weeks, but I'm told from the my
sources inside UG eight he has a chance to play,
and we knew he wasn't he would in the last
few weeks because he didn't even dress out. So the
fact that I'm I'm sure he'll be dressed, but of
course Georgian dresses. A lot of guys that may not
play anyway, they did that with Robert Robinson and Branson Robinson,
even though we knew those guys weren't going to play

(01:07:40):
at all. But if you're getting closer, you know, and
it's an extreme emergency, they'll have you dressed out. And
I think at this point I expect to see him
get in the game. I just think he'll be on
a very tight pitch count, mainly because Georgia doesn't have
a ton of depth of running back. He wants to
get back. You definitely need that guy, but you're also

(01:08:00):
going to look at you know, you're still in the playoffs,
win or lose if he makes it worse, and then
maybe you don't have him for December twentieth or the
end of the month, so you don't do anything to
make it worse.

Speaker 4 (01:08:11):
Final one for you here, Roddy. I mean you've covered
recruiting for some time. Obviously you know the state, uh,
but Kirby and his coaching staff seemingly have really liked
the Houston area. Have you ever gotten any type of
response from them in terms of, you know, seemingly why.
It seems like they like to have at least one
or two guys from this area and everyone at their classes.

Speaker 12 (01:08:34):
Well, it's one of the big things that Kirby Smart
did when he got to Georgia was he started recruiting
Texas hard. They did not have a lot of Texas
players getting to Houston. I mean that's big boy football.
And a lot of people say we'll go to California
because they have the most D one players. Yeah, well
they also have the biggest state, but per capita, giving
the kids out of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, they

(01:08:54):
played a different sort of football. And then when you
go for speed, you head down the Florida because it's
the fastest guys you'll ever fine, but Texas is absolutely loaded.
I mean, look at what a feeder program. Feeder stated
is for all these D one programs, and Kirby and
Georgia just did not get a whole lot of them.
Kirby's coach Alabama, where he got a lot of Texas players,
and he's like, why aren't we getting our kids out Houston, Dallas,

(01:09:18):
Fort Worth, give me all those kids, And he started
getting them and it's He's won a couple of titles.
I mean not only Julie Huppers, but I mean big
Dyllan Bell's don't want to go big, Cash Jones, we
want to go big in this game. He's got a
lot of Texas kids that they went win this game, no.

Speaker 3 (01:09:34):
Doubt about it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:35):
You'll be watching it just like we will as well.
Roddie appreciate the time safe travels getting from Athens to Atlanta,
and hopefully we're all in for a good one today.

Speaker 7 (01:09:46):
I pickure awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:09:48):
Good to hear from you, buddy, Roddy Nibolsei again UGA
sports dot Com part of the Rivals Network.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
And yeah, that's.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
Things we know about Houston area high school football and
Kirby Smart, I mean he's not I mean when he
took over the job, it seemed like it was at
least once or you know, twice a class that he'd
have a guy from the Houston area. I mean, Julian
Humphrey looks like he's on his way out of the program.
But Dylan Bell out of Kincaid, you got Cash Jones

(01:10:15):
out of the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. So Kirby Smart
knows that we play good football here in this state
on the high school levels. So you'll be seeing some
of those guys on the field today. All right coming
up next year. In this eleven o'clock hour of college
Football Talk, with it being at college Football Championships Saturday,
we are going to hear from Barrett's Lee of college

(01:10:39):
Football Smothered and Covered, as well as kick dot Com
and also Serious xem. He will be joining us right
here on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with you
on your home of Texas football and men's basketball here
in the Houston area.

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Welcome back to Space Cities Saturday on courts Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (01:11:04):
Well, there could be some jealousy today, especially if you
are not on the winning side of Championship Saturday. Althose
you just heard from Rodny Nibolesi right there, well, Texas
and Georgia. At this point, it's just about whoever wins
today gets inside the top four, so then you get
to skip out on a couple of weeks from now.
In that I mean, I don't even know if they're

(01:11:26):
calling it a wildcard weekend, but it is the college
football version of NFL Wildcard Weekend, so that's pretty much
what that would be. And then the following ten days later,
I think I think they're gonna still do the actual
semifinals of the CFP on that January first and then
go from there.

Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
So that's what you have to look forward to.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
But speaking of looking forward to things today, that's exactly
what Barrett's lee again, college football smothered and covered as
well as serious XM and OutKick dot Com. He joined
me in Ross yesterday on The Matt Thomas Show with
Ross and just like us, Barrett fired up and ready
for today's games.

Speaker 13 (01:12:07):
Getting ready for a very unique SEC championship game. I
don't know how many people thought we'd have Texas here
in this game about five years ago, because I don't
think anybody expected Texas to even.

Speaker 14 (01:12:18):
Be in his conference yet, yet here we are. It
should be a lot of fun. Yeah, it should be
a lot of fun. We'll definitely get tepted into it
in a second. But I actually had a question of
more general and we've been talking about this a lot
on the show today with all the recruiting stuff that's
been happening in the last couple of days, and we've
talked about Phil Knight and what he's doing at Oregon.
Clearly the boosters at Texas poning up the cash this year.

(01:12:39):
What do you think happens long term with all this
NIL money that's being spent. Because we've seen at some programs,
for example an M they had the huge pop in
twenty two, but since that's subsided, you've had some boosters
in Miami and other schools talk about donor fatigue, but
then these other schools keep popping up, and I mean,
I don't know if Phil and I can even possibly
get in loved with save him dying. I know, if

(01:13:00):
he's gonna get donor fatigue. What is the future of
the college landscape as it comes as it goes with NIL?
When does the government step in or how long is
it going to be the Wild West? This is what
it feels like right now.

Speaker 13 (01:13:11):
Well, revenue sharing is coming, and I think that sort
of will stabilize everything because the NIL the collectives, you know,
I think they overspent for everything, right Like you mentioned Texas,
A and M.

Speaker 7 (01:13:24):
Of the twenty six.

Speaker 13 (01:13:25):
Players who signed with that historic class, I think only
eleven or ten or eleven are still there, and so
donor fatigue will be real, especially for a lot of
these guys who are are paid handsomely that just don't
pan out, you know. So I think when revenue sharing
kicks in, you're going to see a little bit more structure.
Will there be deals done under the table? Sure, but

(01:13:47):
I kind of liken this whole thing to Appenduleum right
ten years ago. I mean, everybody would be floored by
Cam Newton making one hundred and eighty thousand dollars, which
is chump change now, and now you've got twelve million
dollars from quarterbacks going from LSU to Michigan.

Speaker 7 (01:14:04):
Sorry Dan.

Speaker 13 (01:14:06):
And then now it's going to come back to the
middle with revenue sharing.

Speaker 7 (01:14:09):
So I think it's just a natural progression.

Speaker 13 (01:14:10):
And you know, as far as the government, I don't
trust anything the federal government does at this point, but
I think it'll stabilize just with the revenue sharing that's coming.

Speaker 4 (01:14:19):
Apparents Lee again joining us a host of college football
Smothered and Cover. You can also hear him on Sirius
XM College Channel eighty four. Let's talk about the game tomorrow, Barrett.
I mean, this is a game that I'm pretty sure
after October fifteenth, Texas was looking at it and saying, Gosh,
would really like to have those guys again. What could
be the storyline tomorrow? If Texas is able to exact revenge.

Speaker 13 (01:14:44):
Well, they do to Carson Beck what they did to
Carson Beck last time. You know, you guys saw it firsthand,
and and folks around my part in the state of
Georgia just sort of choose to ignore the fact that
Carson Beck was outright bad in that game against Texas,
And honestly, Trevor etn scored the touch downs, but they
weren't very good on the ground either. That offense was
was pretty dreadful. And that's a credit to Texas's defense,

(01:15:06):
which has been, you know, pretty solid all season long,
to say the least. So I think they're gonna have
to do to Carson Beck what what they did last time,
and hope they get a little bit better offensive offensive
line plays. And without Kelvin Banks or with the limited
Kelvin Banks, whatever happens with him, that's gonna be difficult.

(01:15:26):
But I think that's the biggest thing is if if
they do to Carson Beck what they did last time,
they should at least give themselves a puncher's chance as
long as they're able to figure out how to block
Michael Williams and some of those guys. So and look,
talking to some folks around here, you know, there there
is a lot of scuttle butt around around that defense

(01:15:47):
that you know, maybe after a lot of those players
put that Texas game on tape, they kind of backed
off a little bit. And I don't know how much
validity there is to that, but that kind of mindset
could linger. Even if you do go all out, you know,
you might not necessarily know what you're true.

Speaker 7 (01:16:03):
All out is if you're looking for the looking to
go to the pros. So, you know, I think it's gonna.

Speaker 13 (01:16:08):
Be, uh, you know, a situation where you know, if
they can just repeat what they did defensively, they're probably
gonna give themselves a chance. But that would definitely uh
center around their offensive line, uh, playing just a little
bit better, to say the least.

Speaker 15 (01:16:26):
What's your opinion of Quinn Ewers as a quarterback in general,
and especially considering keeping in mind that he was benched
last time these two teams met.

Speaker 13 (01:16:36):
Uh, My opinion of him is that he does not
have a ceiling that's nearly as high as I thought
it was, and then a lot of people thought it was.

Speaker 7 (01:16:44):
But his his floor is pretty high.

Speaker 3 (01:16:46):
Right.

Speaker 13 (01:16:46):
He's not gonna go out there and make stupid mistakes
like Carson Beck will like a lot of other quarterbacks
in the in the SEC, well, Jalen Milroe.

Speaker 7 (01:16:53):
So you know, to me, he is he's.

Speaker 13 (01:16:56):
A he's an above average quarterback who is is not
necessarily gonna be a difference maker in every single game,
but he's certainly not gonna lose your games.

Speaker 7 (01:17:04):
And and I think in the.

Speaker 13 (01:17:05):
SEC this year that's that plays well because you know
it is so you know Jekyl and Hyde essentially with
every single team, and so you know, as far as
moving forward the pros.

Speaker 7 (01:17:17):
I I have no idea.

Speaker 13 (01:17:17):
I don't scout scout people like that, but I think
right now for me, he's a he's a perfect quarterback
for this particular season in the Southeastern Conference.

Speaker 7 (01:17:27):
Uh, and he's gonna have to be better.

Speaker 13 (01:17:29):
He's gonna have to show a higher ceiling if they're
gonna win the national championship because you know, Dylan Gabriel
has not slowed down at all this year, right, So
I mean, if Oregon's gonna continue to do what it does,
it's gonna be hard for Texas to uh keep up.
And and if if that becomes a track meet, if
that's into that ends up being a matchup at some point. So, uh,
you know, I think he's he's really solid. Quinn's really solid,

(01:17:51):
but he does not have the upside that uh that
that I thought he'd have because I, you know, I
hell I Paton win the Heisman Trophy.

Speaker 7 (01:17:58):
So that shows you exactly where he'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
How dare you, Barrett? How dare you? All right?

Speaker 4 (01:18:03):
Let's flip it up to Charlotte though, because another game
that's of somewhat local interest around here, SMU and Clemson.
There's a lot of scuttle about SMU. They lose this game, hey,
they should still be in What do you have to
say about that? Like, do you do you think that
the committee would, honestly if SMU loses put them in.

Speaker 12 (01:18:21):
Dan.

Speaker 7 (01:18:22):
I have no idea what the committee's thinking right now.

Speaker 13 (01:18:24):
For eleven years we heard we'll start with the blank
sheet of paper, clean slate, blah blah blah. And then
suddenly Ward Manual's like, oh yeah, they're all set in
stone on Tuesday.

Speaker 7 (01:18:34):
Wait a minute, that's that's not how it works. And
they did mention that SMU.

Speaker 13 (01:18:39):
They said hypothetically SMU could drop below Alabama, But then
they don't want to talk about hypotheticals, whatever, But it's
kind of a job I think they're gonna I don't
think they're gonna punish SMU that much.

Speaker 7 (01:18:52):
Right, they ran the table in the ACC.

Speaker 13 (01:18:57):
That is, that's really hard to do for anybody, right,
I don't care that the ACC is down doing it
as hard. They're one loss right now to BYU is
a pretty quality loss. Their second with Clemson would be
a quality loss as well. Alabama has two of their
three losses are inexcusable, so I think that would matter.
But above all else, I don't think they're gonna punish

(01:19:20):
any team for playing their way into a game that
they lose. You know, I've kind of thought about this,
and to me, I think these championship games and an
expanded playoff are going to be basically like how the
Basketball Committee treats conference championship a conference tournament.

Speaker 7 (01:19:36):
I hate comparing football to basketball, but.

Speaker 13 (01:19:39):
In this case, I think they will in a sense
that you can play your way up in a conference
championship game, but unless you lose in the first round
in epic fashion, you're not really gonna play your way
back down. And I hope that's how they approach it.
But Dan I have no idea what to expect of
this committee anymore.

Speaker 7 (01:19:58):
To be honest with you, anybody does.

Speaker 15 (01:20:00):
Yeah, do you Barrett talking about Barrett's sale here on
a sports Talk seven ninety do you think they should
keep the automatic bids for conference championships or a conference
champions or do.

Speaker 7 (01:20:11):
Away with it?

Speaker 13 (01:20:12):
Automatic bids are the dumbest thing in all of sports.
I don't like them in in pro sports. I mean,
I really what, I am a Falcons fan. There are
several years where I wouldn't even want my Falcons making
the playoffs if they're seven and nine or seven and ten,
and that's been a possibility.

Speaker 7 (01:20:33):
You know, it's just and especially.

Speaker 13 (01:20:34):
In a sport like college football, you have one hundred
and thirty four teams.

Speaker 7 (01:20:38):
Every conference is built differently.

Speaker 13 (01:20:40):
There's you know, their scheduling differences are as wide as
the Grand Canyon. Sometimes why should anybody get an automatic bid?
But you know these are this is the system that
all these guys voted on.

Speaker 7 (01:20:55):
All these commissioners are out for themselves.

Speaker 13 (01:20:57):
They know that they need to have a chance to
get in with our conference champion regardless.

Speaker 7 (01:21:01):
So you know it's it's not going to change.

Speaker 13 (01:21:04):
But like I said, I think automatic bids are ridiculous.
Based on conferences, based on geography, based on whatever. You know,
none of those things actually prove if you're a great
team or not.

Speaker 4 (01:21:19):
Barrett's if you know, as far as we go for
the CFP, do you think that it is going to
be set up well enough where we can have every
single of these wild card weekend games be competitive or
do you think that we're in for two three of
them to be well?

Speaker 3 (01:21:35):
Kind of wasting my time watching that one.

Speaker 7 (01:21:38):
I think a few of them are going to be
pretty bad.

Speaker 13 (01:21:41):
Look, I like Indiana, I really do. If they get
you know, Alabama or whatever, it's going to be sad, right,
So yeah, I mean there are going to be a
few that are just ridiculous, and automatic bids are a
part of that, right, Like that's just that's the way
things all are.

Speaker 7 (01:22:00):
And you know, they're not going to change.

Speaker 13 (01:22:03):
Like I said, they got to throw some of these
conferences and conference commissioners a bone, and you know, they
get what they need and they're gonna get that money.
But yeah, I think some of these first round games
they might be aesthetically pleasing because they're on home campus
stadiums and that'll be cool for playoff games, but you know,
I would imagine that in some of these they look
a lot like those paycheck games that everybody complains about

(01:22:25):
early in September.

Speaker 4 (01:22:27):
And I mean final one for me here is you know,
you get Ryan Day losing to Michigan for the fourth
time in a row. I know what the ad said
the other day, but not only him, but Lincoln Riley
as well. I mean, we've seen late in the cycle
firings before. Do you envision that maybe sc or Ohio State.
Could you know, say Ohio State gets bounced in the

(01:22:48):
first round that finally you could have rossby York saying yeah,
it's been real Ryan, but we're moving on.

Speaker 13 (01:22:54):
Well, I don't think with USC, although Lincoln Riley's way
over eight, but I don't think it's going to happen.
I think with Ryan Day, you kind of have two different,
two different camps at work, right. You have I would think,
a relatively younger group of influencers that say, hey, look,
it's the national championship that's more important than the rivalry,
and then you have older folks to say no, no, no
rivalry over everything. Those two have been sort of at

(01:23:17):
odds over the last three years. But if they lose
a playoff game in round one, they're gonna be They're
gonna be all kind of together, or at least closer together.
And so it wouldn't surprise me if they lose a
playoff game, especially if it's big, especially if it's at home,
which it looks like they will be playing a home
game in less than chaos and tews, So it wouldn't
terribly It wouldn't surprise me terribly if they decide to

(01:23:39):
move on, because like, look, if you're good but not great,
that can only last for so long at a place
like Ohio State that at some point you got to
break through. At some point, you got to win a
national championship. And if you're if you're close, okay, that's
tolerable most of the time. But if you're close, you
never break through. And it don't beat your rival, especially

(01:24:02):
in a year when your rival can't complete a forward pass.

Speaker 7 (01:24:05):
Yeah, that change might have to happen.

Speaker 4 (01:24:07):
Hey, final one here if you follow Barrett on Twitter
at barretts Lee is where you can find them. What
is this thing that you posted that they're going to
be serving tomorrow at Mercedes Benz Stadium.

Speaker 13 (01:24:19):
It's a rack of ribs that looks like a bowl,
and it's got it's got all kinds of stuff in
the middle. It's got sour cream, cheese, kettle chips, and
it's looks like a volcano. And there are only one
hundred dishes of it, and Texas fans and Georgia fans
get get to pick which one they want has been in.

(01:24:41):
The Georgia version has Saint Louis ribs with with a
sweet tea honey sauce, and then the the Texas version
is Texas ribs with Chipotle barbecue.

Speaker 7 (01:24:53):
Do we have a do you have a calorie count
on that?

Speaker 13 (01:24:57):
More than you should have in a day? I'm going
to go mention that. I guess all right.

Speaker 7 (01:25:01):
That is Barrett's Lee.

Speaker 15 (01:25:03):
Thanks so much for the time joining us here on
Sports Talk seven ninety in Houston. Barrett, let them know
the folks know where they can find your content.

Speaker 13 (01:25:10):
Yeah, you can download watch whatever the College of Bossmothering
covered daily show. You can catch it on YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
all that stuff.

Speaker 7 (01:25:17):
Serious XM.

Speaker 13 (01:25:18):
We'll do a Sunday morning recap show and I'm sure
that will be lively and then Colins on out kick,
basically recapping the entire weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:25:26):
All right, there you go.

Speaker 4 (01:25:27):
Barrett's lee with us yesterday on the Matt Thomas Show
with Ross, so good stuff from Helm. That's enough for
the college football conversation because coming out next this is
something that I think most of us in this industry
have been through at one time or another, and there's
a lot to get into on the other side. I'll

(01:25:48):
let you hear what I'm talking about. What's some context
added as well? As we close out this edition of
Space City Saturday, Dan Matthews here on your home of
the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:26:00):
This is Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven night.

Speaker 3 (01:26:04):
I like it, Melton Brown, I like it.

Speaker 4 (01:26:07):
I see what you're doing here with the Counting Crows,
because well we are in the December. But I mean
that's also a song kind of that. It's kind of
like a train leave in the station. It takes a
little bit to get going there. You know, an eighteen
wheeler stuck in traffic, if you're stuck behind them, then
you know, boy, you know they're not really able to
get that moment I'm going yet, so but no, it's

(01:26:28):
it's Counting Crows season right now in terms of the music,
although I mean you get the Christmas music, which, of
course you know Sunday ninety nine point one, all Christmas
music all the time right now. So our friends over
there at Sunny you know you can count on them
as you're driving around doing your holiday shopping. I know
some of you might be doing that right now because

(01:26:50):
you want to be able to settle in for the
Texas two step tonight of a major college football conference
championship games. You've got the Georgia Texas game coming up
middle of the afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:27:02):
That's gonna be a lot of fun.

Speaker 4 (01:27:03):
And then of course from some of you that are
of the pony persuasion for the SMU Mustangs, you're gonna
have SMU taking on Clemson. Clemson with a quarterback from
the State of Texas former Westlake product Kate Klubnick.

Speaker 3 (01:27:19):
Whose uncle, Funny enough, was my young life leader in
high school.

Speaker 4 (01:27:23):
So shout out to his uncle John as I'm sure
they're going to be keeping close tabs today on what's
happening there. The Big twelve championship game going on right now,
and Arizona State with a huge defensive stand against Iowa State.
So Iowa State having the lineup and kick a field
goal to try to tie that one up at ten.
So tons of fun college football today. But I said

(01:27:46):
we were done with the college football talk, and I
mean it because if you are on social media, you
probably caught this last night. But there was an interesting
interaction on air between Wfan and New York's Keith mcpher,
who I think hosts their night show there, and also
longtime baseball writer John Hayman. Now, of course, John Hayman

(01:28:07):
is not incredibly popular around these parts because I mean
he's kind of thought of as being a little bit
of a Yankees honk a little bit, but also too,
I mean for other reasons as well, that people are
not the largest fan of John Hayman.

Speaker 3 (01:28:24):
I'll get to that here in.

Speaker 4 (01:28:26):
Just a second, because we start off first with the
context behind all of this. Remember this time last year
you had Aaron Judge going through his free agency process
and there were people who wondered, is Aaron Judge actually
gonna leave the Yankees? And John Haman had the report
that he got wrong twofold and his tweet was Arson
Judge likely headed to the Giants. Well, first off, his

(01:28:49):
name's not Arson, Judge, it's Aaron. And also too, he
ended up not going to his childhood favorite team, the
San Francisco Giants. So that's what that was on that
And of course you had the Twitter Warriors who immediately
pounced on John Hayman for getting that wrong and they
started to kind of get at him that way. So

(01:29:09):
he's been having to wear that a little bit. But
it's something that was brought up last night when he
joined Keith McPherson. And let's just say that the attempt
at a joke from Keith McPherson, it did not go
well at some point.

Speaker 16 (01:29:24):
I think someone could could probably drop it if they're
a nice person.

Speaker 11 (01:29:28):
I thought, what I think is is one. It's just
like how I introduce you. Everybody in baseball knows who
you are, so one. It's a credit to your work you're.

Speaker 16 (01:29:37):
Following now, by the way, I won't be going on
with you again. The whole thing has been a disaster.

Speaker 3 (01:29:42):
That's okay.

Speaker 1 (01:29:43):
I can't even.

Speaker 16 (01:29:44):
Believe you said that to question my integrity.

Speaker 11 (01:29:47):
Are you being serious right now?

Speaker 16 (01:29:50):
I'm being serious? Yeah, John, Mean, if I'm getting a
cut because I have a relationship with an agent. That's us.
I know you're not a journalist. You don't know anything
about this. I know you get and you don't, but
that's an outrageous It's Friday night at eight, John, and
I am goodbye.

Speaker 1 (01:30:14):
John.

Speaker 11 (01:30:15):
You know, thank you for Thank you, John, appreciate your
your time.

Speaker 4 (01:30:24):
So there you go, John Hayman, Keith, Keith McPherson getting
into it right there, John, pretty fired up. I'm gonna
start with John first. Look in that situation right there.
I mean, there's a better way that you can handle it.
And I'm gonna get to Keith too, because there's some
there's some fault with Keith. But I'm gonna start with John.
Don't lecture people about journalism. You're not the gate keeper

(01:30:44):
for journalism. And if you're going to try to do
the whole journalism thing, I'm gonna get slightly political here.

Speaker 3 (01:30:50):
But John, that argument right now is widely.

Speaker 4 (01:30:53):
Rejected by people, and people like you are starting to
really get on people's nerves about, Oh, I'm the only
one that can really do this job.

Speaker 3 (01:31:01):
You're not.

Speaker 4 (01:31:02):
And I think that the current climate of this business
has shown you that you're not.

Speaker 3 (01:31:07):
For the most part, John's in a dying business.

Speaker 4 (01:31:10):
I mean, print journalism is going away, and it's no
better example of newspapers continuing to shed payroll like crazy,
because people don't subscribe to newspapers anymore. People don't read
newspapers anymore. Like it's a part of the business that
is no longer as as as widely it's it's no

(01:31:34):
longer as widely demanded as it was in the past.

Speaker 3 (01:31:37):
And I mean, if you're going to try.

Speaker 4 (01:31:39):
To go that route, I've got to tell you you're
not gonna have a ton of people on your side.
So just hang up the phone and move on. I
think John made himself look a lot worse in that situation.
I think if he had just left it at hey, man,
that's not cool. Don't bring that up, because look, I've
been in situations before where I've had an interview with
somebody and they texted me afterwards and said, hey, I'm
not gonna lie. I didn't really pre shape that question.

(01:32:01):
That's cool. I can handle it. I'm not perfect. I'm
not going to be perfect. Some of you have a
voice to me that you're not a huge fan of
sometimes how I handle my shows, that's your opinion. You're
more than welcome the field that way. But it's also
too as well. Keith wanted a cheap shot right there.
He wanted a cheap pop, and there's a lot of
people in our business that'll do that and then try

(01:32:23):
to do the whole Oh I'm.

Speaker 3 (01:32:24):
Kidding, man, I'm kidding.

Speaker 4 (01:32:26):
No, you're not like you're trying to get some clout
with your audience. You're trying to make yourself look good
and make yourself look funny. And if you're going to
do that, then I mean own up to it and
just say hey, look. I mean, once John started to
come back at Keith, I would have had more respect
for Keith if Keith would have just said, hey, John,
you got it wrong, dude, Like what do you want

(01:32:47):
from me?

Speaker 3 (01:32:48):
Like you got the report wrong?

Speaker 4 (01:32:50):
You called the guy Arson second of all, because you
were even to your own admittance right there, trying to
get it right and trying to be first on it
that you're sad yourself up for this. So I mean
that's the other part of it as well. If you're
going to do the cheap pop right there, then do
it and just own up to it and just say hey, look,
if that's the way the guy wants to act and

(01:33:10):
he doesn't want to take a joke. That's on him,
But also too is well, you know how you also
keep yourself out of this situation. John, You don't get
the report wrong and you don't get the guy's name wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:33:21):
Like that's how you do that in that situation.

Speaker 4 (01:33:24):
So, I mean, there's faults on both sides with this,
but too at the same time, if nothing else, it
provides good content for us to be able to pass along.
And I'm sure a lot of you that are Astro
fans are probably like.

Speaker 3 (01:33:37):
Egg on John Hayman's face again.

Speaker 4 (01:33:40):
So the New York Post columnist, come on, man, you're
not teaching a class here. You're not the gatekeeper of journalism. Like,
don't go that card because it's not a card worth
playing anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:33:50):
Anyway, that's gonna do it for us here on Space
City Saturday.

Speaker 4 (01:33:54):
As I want to thank Melvin Brown as always, also
want to thank Brian mctag. I want to thank Barrett
sta Lee, Roddy topolse Will Matthews as well, as we
had a really fun show today.

Speaker 3 (01:34:07):
Joy College Football Championship Saturday.

Speaker 4 (01:34:10):
I'm Dan Matthews. We'll catch up with you next week
right here, Sports Talk seven ninety

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