AP College Poll, Vic Schaefer, Greg Tepper

Craig Way talks the AP College Poll and interviews with Texas women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer, as well as the weekly Tuesdays with Greg Tepper. It's all here on The Craig Way Show!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kisa, Texas legend, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, the voice
of the Texas Longhorns, and your host of the Craigway Show.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Here he is now Craig.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Way here on sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
My name is Craig Way. Glad to have you with us.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Thank you so much for joining us here on this
Tuesday afternoon. We're with you up until five o'clock on
this not only this particular weekday afternoon, but Monday through
Friday two pm to five pm. And glad to have
you with us here on the program this afternoon. I
know Tuesday is a difficult day when it comes to

(00:42):
the daily commute, so I hope you're traversing that did
okay with it this morning, and then it'll be okay
going home this afternoon for those of you who are
doing the commute. For those of you get to work
at home or you know, would be commuting after the
rush hour thing, good for you. I'm envious, so glad
to have you.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
With us today.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Let me tell you what we have coming up here
on the program. Obviously, the AP Top twenty five College
Football poll will be out before this month is complete.
The coach's poll, which is published by ESPN, did come
out late yesterday afternoon. We'll run down that you've probably

(01:24):
heard by now who's sitting on the top of the poll.
But we'll discuss that coming up. And so there's plenty
of college football conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
To have on the program this afternoon. We'll do that.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Also, will have coming up here in just a few minutes,
the head basketball coach for Texas women's basketball, Vick Schaeffer,
will join us. We'll get his thoughts on his team's work,
what's happened in the offseason, and also today's release of
the SEC conference schedule. So the conference game games have

(02:01):
been released, so they pretty much know their schedule now
going into the season. We'll get his thoughts on that.
And they've got really good things going on in the season.
Ticket sales are the best they have ever been in
university history, and they're hoping for even more. We'll give
you some details on that a little bit later on. Also,

(02:21):
we'll have Inconceivable this hour, which includes a fast food
junk food update, but some other topics as well. In
the three o'clock hour. This being a Tuesday, it's a
tepper Tuesday, so we visit with Greg Tepper, the editor
in chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine, and we'll
talk some more college football with him, and high school

(02:42):
football will continue our statewide high school football previews as well.
Today would be Class four A, so we'll get to
that on the program. We're also going to give away
a couple of copies of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine,
so stay tuned for that. So we have all of
that coming up on the program this afternoon, and glad
to have you with us. You can always text us.

(03:04):
Feel free to text us. You can text the program.
Text the word Texas followed by your question or comment
to eight one five to three zero. So text the
word Texas follow by your question or comment to eight
one five three zero. Standard messaging and data rates may apply. Okay,
the college football poll is out. The coach is weighing

(03:24):
in on this is the coaches poll. By the way,
Steve Sarkishan does not have a vote on the coaches poll.
Let's see, there's sixty seven I think it is. Yeah,
sixty seven coaches vote on this. It rotates, so Sartin
does not have a vote this year. Interesting because the

(03:45):
number one team in the ESPN Coaches Poll is Texas.
The log worn's garnering twenty eight of the sixty seven
first place votes chosen by the panelists. It's a random
draw from a pool of applicants to the American Football
Coach Association who demonstrate their willingness to participate in this,

(04:08):
So it's a random draw of the sixty seven. Well
of the sixty seven, twenty eight pick Texas to win
the national championship, or.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
That's a bit of a misnumber.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Twenty eight of the panelists say that Texas is the
number one college football team going into the season. That's
the better way to put it. They're not saying, I
don't want to put words in their mouth. They're not
saying Texas is going to win the national championship. They're saying,
right now, the number one team in the country the

(04:41):
pre season poll going in is Texas, which might or
might not change before we get out of the month
of August, because on August thirtieth, the long runs play
at the number two team in the preseason poll, Ohio State,
the defending national champion Buckeyes, garnered twenty first place votes.

(05:04):
So Texas got twenty eight first place votes a total
of sixteen one hundred and six points because each spot
in the poll has a point value assigned to it.
Texas is number one and picked up twenty eight of
the first place votes. Ohio State is number two, picked
up twenty of the first place votes. Penn State is

(05:27):
third the nintey Allons, garnering fourteen of the first place votes.
Number four Georgia picked up three first place votes. Of course,
Texas will play at Georgia on Saturday, November fifteenth. As
I mentioned, they will play at Ohio State on August thirtieth,

(05:47):
and Ohio State will play Penn State at home on
November first, So the Buckeyes have two of the top
three teams in the country, including the number one team
in the country, coming to their house. Texas will be
in the Horseshoe on Saturday August thirtieth, Ohio State will
be there, and then Penn State will be there on

(06:09):
November first, so about two months apart. So Texas won
Ohio State two, Penn State three, Georgia four. Notre Dame
is five. Clemson, which picked up the other two first
place ballots, is in the sixth spot. Oregon is seven.
Alabama A, LSU nine, Miami is tenth. Second ten begins
with Arizona State, followed by Illinois, South Carolina, Michigan, Ole Miss,

(06:33):
SMU comes in at number sixteen, Florida seventeen, Tennessee eighteen,
Indiana's nineteen, Kansas State is twentieth, Texas A and M
at twenty one, followed by Iowa State, BYU, Texas Tech,
and Boise State.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
In case you're wondering.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
The SEC total number of teams that have landed, and
I'm just counting right now, You've got Texas, you have Georgia,
you have Alabama, you have LSU.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
So there's four in the top nine.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
South Carolina which is thirteen, Ole Miss is fifteen, Florida seventeen,
Tennessee is eighteen, Texas A and M is twenty one.
Nine SEC teams ranked in the top twenty one of
the country. That is again the coaches pol and So
you know, take that for what you choose to accept it,

(07:33):
and the AP pole will be out later this month.
All right, we'll have more college football conversation to get to.
But up next we'll talk Texas women's basketball. We'll visit
with the head coach Vick Shaffer, when we continue on
a Tuesday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
On thirteen hundred the Zone here on a Tuesday.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Afternoon on the Craigway Show. Glad to have you with
us this afternoon. Hope you're stained, cool and dry. When
you have a season like the Texas women's basketball program
had last year, thirty five and four and going to
the Final four, winning share of the SEC Championship, you
can expect that there will be a positive response, certainly

(08:07):
from the fan base. But this has been going on
ever since Vic Schaffer's been a year and now there
are over five thousand total season tickets sole It's most
I can ever remember, and closing in on two thousand
new season ticket holders. This is about to be my
twenty seventh year coming up on calling Texas women's basketball,
and I can tell you that the excitement around the

(08:29):
program has probably never been higher. We're very pleased to
have the head coach join us here for a few
minutes on the hotline.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
Vick, I appreciate it. How's your summer gone so far?

Speaker 1 (08:39):
And good to hear for Imy Craig's great day to
be a longhorn.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Not doing good. Summer's been.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Busy, you know, You've had lots going on, and it's
you know, with us going to Toronto next week to
play you know, Canada and Brazil and Puerto Rico, and
then you're going to play one more game against one
of those teams. Again, our kids have really had a

(09:10):
good summer.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
We're in the middle of.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Ten days of practice to get ready to go over there,
so it's been been a good summer.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
That's where I wanted to start with because I know
some people might have heard about this trip to Canada
for this Global Jam coming up, but others might not
be familiar with it. I'm curious to get your thoughts
not only on what you're going to encounter, what your
program is going to deal with when you're up there
and playing these games against these national teams, but also

(09:42):
how you know the good that it does, if there's
if there's any downside to playing real, heavy duty competitive
basketball games as the Texas Longhorns in August before you
really get into the practices that will lead up to
your season opener coming up in November.

Speaker 4 (09:59):
Yeah, it's yeah, I think you have to.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
You know, again, my team, our program, our players, my staff,
our philosophy has always been if we're keeping score and
the clocks weren't running. We're going to try to win,
and so you know, we we take that approach in practice,
in preparation. And you know, this group we do have

(10:29):
so many We have, you know, four new players that
all are projected to be you know, impact our program
and our team this year and so and potentially two
more in Lavisa who's not here, she's playing for her
country right now at.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
U twenties for Sweden.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
And then Grace who's playing for Ireland. She had twenty
seven night before last. So you know, it's a great time.
But our kids have worked really hard this summer because
our idea to go to Toronto is to go for
and try to win.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
How challenging is it for you and the staff with.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
I remember a couple of weeks ago when we were
over there when we were obviously visiting with Madison Booker,
were visiting with Jordan Lee coming off their national team experiences.
And then when we got a chance to visit with you,
you mentioned about just then starting to get close to
the full collection of your roster together to start working.
So for folks that don't understand, you know, how do

(11:39):
you and the staff go about getting the other guys prepared,
getting your other ladies prepared for this international competition, even
when you don't have your full compliment players together, and
the work that goes on to individually get these players
ready to go before you can even get them together
collectively to get ready to go.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, so the rule is we get ten practices before
we go over there. The other rule is in the summer,
each week you're limited to four hours on the court
with the basketball with me in the gym, and four
hours in the weight room with us in the weight room.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
So we're very limited.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
In how much we can do and what we can
do with our with our players, and so we have
a lot of individual work going on, especially when you
got Jordan Lee and Leah Crump at U nineteen Trials,
you got Booker at the America's Cup, and so you're

(12:44):
not having team workouts, per say, you're doing a lot
of individual work.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
And things of that nature.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
And so then when we start trying to get prepared
to go to Canada, these ten practices, we've got eleven
players right now here minus Grace from Ireland and Levisa
from Sweden. So you know we're That's how a summer

(13:13):
looks for a basketball player, a men's or women's basketball player.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
It's not like we're.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Having full fledged practices every week because you can't.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
But you can have them in the gym.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Four hours with a ball with coaches, and you can
have them in a weight room four hours. So we
take full advantage of that. Our kids are in summer
school as well, and so you know, we really feel like,
you know, the summer is important. My staff does an

(13:47):
incredible job, and I tell you, the culture of our
program and our kids is really really special. And our
kids want to be in the gym, they want to
be getting shots at, they want to work on their game,
and it's really really cool to have kids that want

(14:11):
to do that, and then they want coaches in the
gym with them.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
Visiting with Vic Shaffer, Texas women's basketball coach here on
thirteen hunder the Zone, I want to give you a
chance to tell folks a little bit about these newer
faces that come in. Let's start with your two internationals,
because it's the end of the yang, isn't it. You
have a five eight garden, a six six post, so
let me let me get your thoughts. Starting with Lavisa
asbrink Jose, who is, as you mentioned, playing for her

(14:38):
national team in Sweden right now. Tell folks about Levisa
and what she brings to the party for you.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Has played one year over here in college at Florida Atlantic,
and you know, she's a we look at her as
a project. You know, we're hopeful the red shirt her
this year. If we can get Kyla and Brea to
really embrace their role and and be able to handle it,

(15:08):
it'd be nice to red shirt her. And and that's
kind of the plans when we recruited her. And I
think she's you know, obviously she's accepting and open to that,
but you never know, and she does have some college experience,
but that's our plan with her. And then Grace is

(15:30):
a little more problematic and that she's trying to graduate
from high school in a it's just different. She has
a lot of it's almost like taking a lot of oh,
it's like taking a test to try to place out
of a class in college. She's trying to take some

(15:52):
tests to place out and graduate, you know, from high
school so she can get here. You know, we had
the issue with the I twenties and the and the
such that that our US government had imposed some restrictions
on that since been lifted just here recently. So we're

(16:14):
trying to get her here, you know, for the start
of school and get her eligible right away. But we
still have some work.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
To do in that area.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
I think folks who heard what was the situation last
year and saw what Aliah Crump was doing at the
high school level and the McDonald's all American and all
the stuff that she brings in, how about her game
and the excitement that you were expecting her to be
able to provide to your roster.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
Yes, like Booker, you know, a big two guard three
player that can really shoot it, plays the game extremely hard,
and you know, I'm hopeful that she's gonna you know,
it's really hard as a freshureman. You know, it's just

(17:08):
it's you know, it's a different game, different speed. You're
you're going against people four and five years older than
you sometimes, so it's a big challenge. But uh, this
is a kid that works extremely hard. I need her
to be able.

Speaker 4 (17:23):
To help us.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Uh, just like with any young player, you know, you're
you're teaching the same things.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
You got to take care of the ball, You've got
to be able to.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Guard somebody and uh, you know, it ain't about shots,
it's about mates. And so you know, just and realizing
you're you're not you know, you're playing with a lot
of really good players now, and and we've got some
you know, we've got some really good players. We've got
all Americans on our team. And those kids, you know,

(17:58):
they need they need shots, they need looks before anybody
else on the team does. And and so you know,
we've got great inside players and you know they need
they need looks as well. So I think that's the
learning curve right for any new new player that comes

(18:19):
in to play here at Texas, they have to realize,
even our Portal kids, they have to realize, man, we've
got some really good players. They've got some really good teammates,
and they don't have to carry the load. You know,
We've got we've got people that can do that. They
just need to take care of the ball, you know,

(18:39):
and not turn it over. Got a garden, defend a
little bit, play really hard, and you know it'd be
nice if you make a shot when nobody's guarding you, no.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
As we visit with Vic Saver, Okay, the portal was
where I was going to go next with you, Vic,
because I was reminded of a quote from the great
baseball coach we had here, the late Augie Garrido, talked
about when he got junior college transfers and he said
sometimes sometimes, and.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
This was junior college players, but he.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Said sometimes it was a little more difficult transition for
them because they had been leaders and big producers when
all we need them to do is settle into a
role and not try to.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
Be everything to the team.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
And while it's different certainly with a portal with players
who've had experience playing in Power four leagues or Power
five leagues, that sometimes I know that that goes in there.
With that in mind, I will want to ask you
about your portal transfers. Let me start with with Ashton Judd,
the guard coming in from Missouri, and what you like
about her game?

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, I thank you, first of all, just a common
denominator with all three they all came from Power four schools,
So our transfer is they weren't good, you know, men,
major players.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
They were really good.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
Power four players. Ashton was really good at Missouri, played
the three and the four. Uh, what a great kid
has an incredible motor, beautiful shot. She's a physical kid,
she's tough so and played for a coach that I

(20:23):
have a great deal of respect for. So I'm just
really excited about her. She again can play the three
and the four and give me some minutes you know,
where Madison Uh needs a break, we can we can
play her at the three a little bit, and and

(20:44):
so really excited about her. Then you go to Taya Uh.
Taya is the all time leading scorer in the history
of Utah high school basketball and you know started at
Utah then went to Boston College to years.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
But man, what a motor.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Rebounds the ball extremely hard, plays the game hard, and
both her and Ashon can both stretch the floor, shoot
the three. Both of them are probably four players.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
First Ashton can move to.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
The three, but both of them wanted to come to Texas.
Knowing both of them were coming. I think that speaks
volumes to who they are and what's important to them.
And so both those young ladies, man, they bring a
lot to the table. And super excited about them. And

(21:39):
then the third one was bray At Cunningham, the kid
that I finished second on. She was the number two
player in the country coming out of high school, ended
up going to Arizona. Was there two years six, three, six,
four or five player that you know again, had a
great and on visit with the family. Really felt good

(22:00):
about her. Thought we were going to get her. We didn't,
but that's okay. Sometimes those things happen. And when I
saw she went into Portal Man, I couldn't wait to
call her mother. And her mother answered the phone, Coach Shaeffer,
And so I said, well, you say my number? She
said absolutely, I saved your number. You never know when
things might happen. And so I really felt like her.

(22:23):
You know, they wanted her here, and so you know,
Brea averaged I think eleven and nine and the big
twelve as a sophomore for Arizona, and we're going to
need her to really come in here along with Kai
and continue the two headed monster that we've always had

(22:45):
and give us that inside presence that we really need.
So those three kids, man, are really special out of
the portal Yeah, and veterans, no, you know, I think
they all have a you know, I love I love
Taya and Ashton's motor like it runs full go every day.

(23:09):
I call Taya smiling the kid's never not got a
smile on our face.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's always good to have.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Oh man, just a wonderful, wonderful thing. And so anyway,
those kids.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Are all going to help us win well, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
And I didn't even get to ask you yet about
your returning veterans and you look at a kid like
and it was so impressive to hear Brianna Preston when
she was there a couple of weeks ago, talking about
how she's been working on her game.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
And this is a kid who's a sophomore.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
So you think of veterans, you think of the grizzled
old veterans, the upper class and the four maybe five
year seniors. But I know Brie is somebody that you're
really going to be counting on this year, in addition
to what everybody is looking forward to seeing from Rory
back on the floor this year.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Well yeah, and we're gonna play those two together, and
I think that'll really give us a unique one two
punch to go along with Madison. But I think both
of them will be be really fun to watch defensively
hopefully and then in transition. So uh, but yeah, Bray,

(24:20):
Brie is she's she looks like she should in my opinion,
and that she's improved the most you improved in your
college basketball career istween your freshman sophomore year in my opinion,
and she's certainly improved, gotten better. I think she's worked
hard on her game, has to continue to take care

(24:42):
of the ball good, you know, and and not turn
the ball over and be somebody that's accountable in that area.
But man, love love having her again. I've got fast
and rory, and I've got electric and breathe and the boy,
the kid is just all that and then something. So

(25:06):
looking forward to her being able to play, you know,
quite a bit more and play multiple positions well.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
And continuing along that theme what you've said about the
most improvement coming between the freshmen and sophomore seasons, I
know you're expecting more out of Justice this year. Who
folks may have forgot about Justice Carleton and what she's
capable of producing for you.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Well, And the thing is is, I think this, if
we had to say something this summer, Justice might be
the most you know, improved kid coming back from last year.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
She's made big strides in my opinion, and looks good.
Looks like the kid.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
That we were recruiting her junior year before she got hurt.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
And so.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Really really again excited about her, her and what I
think she can bring to the table for us at four.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
I'm remiss if I don't if I don't at least
ask you coming off the national team work that Madison had,
how she feels. I know, that's a lot of work
for a young lady. She's done it back to back
years now and then coming back here for the junior
year as well, and how she's held up even going
through the grind to playing on a national team the

(26:30):
past couple of years.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
She looks great.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
And you know, the kids won four medals, four gold medals,
and she's nineteen, and just that's a special She's a
great kid. She's a special talent, special young lady, special player.
I know they've had some great ones here at Texas.

(26:57):
I think she's she's going to be when she's done,
gonna be the all time greatest to ever play here.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
And I think she's gonna go on and have an obviously.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
A great career in the w But the kid is
just again, she's a great example of the game is
real fair you get out of it? What you put
into it, and she has poured into her game and
she's you know, obviously benefited from that. But the kid

(27:31):
works extremely hard and you know, just like today, got
done with practice and then comes over here wants to
get up more shots. And so it's, uh, it's I
want our fans to understand. You know, we we think
we're always gonna recruit great.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
And get great players.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
And and and we will to an extent, We always
will have great players. But every once in a while
you get that great, great one and you know, Rory Harmon,
you can throw her in there with with Madison in
that Rory's already set the record for what twelve hundred

(28:14):
points and seven hundred assists, and any other player ever
done that. Booker is going to have a chance to
be the all time leading scorer, all time you know,
score in the history of the University of Texas. Get
she brings so much more to the table. So you're
talking about two great guards that when you look across

(28:38):
the country, not too you know, I don't know of
anybody that can say they've got a Madison Booker and
a Rory Harmon on their team. And I want our
fans to understand that and embrace that and realize when
they come out and watch our team play, they're looking
at two of the greatest to ever play here, no doubt,

(28:59):
no doubt. Again, not taking anything away from you know,
the players that have been here before, but in the
modern era of what we you know women's basketball today.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
Man, it is really a special time. And you know,
we had Shay.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
Holly who set the record for most games played in
in the history of the university. And so it's it's
really cool right now to have the team we have,
the young ladies that we have and realize, Man, when
you come to watch us play, you're you're looking at

(29:42):
some of the best to ever play here. And again,
I really, I really feel like when it's all said
and done, you know, those two in particular, will have
etched their names in the history books.

Speaker 4 (29:56):
Here in several hilarias. Then we're lucky that we've had them.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
The last thing I want to ask you about, Vick,
is the SEC released the conference schedule.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
Game.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Now, this is following on the heels of a pretty
unique non conference schedule.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
You have, If I if I.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
May suggest that, I mean, you have obviously every basketball program,
certainly every successful one has what are called the bye games,
and you've you've got that in Incarnate Ward in Louisiana
LAFAAD and in Texas, Southern and Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
But you've got these. You have the home at home
on the.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Back end at home when you had to go on
the road to play Richmond and James Madison last year,
and you've got both of them at home this year,
and you have been at home. But then you've got
some other unique things you've got. You've got Penn at home.
You have the acc SEC Challenge game at home against
North Carolina. You have a trip back to the Rio
Grand Valley to play UTRGV. You have Baylor in Fort

(30:55):
Worth at Dickey's Arena. And then and you've got a
trip to Brooking, South Dakota to play South Dakota Steam.
That's before you even get in the conference play on
New Year's Day against Missouri. You've got a road trip
to South Carolina home and home with LSU. You've got
a road trip to Tennessee, a road trip to Vanderbilt.
You've got some pretty interesting challenges on your schedule, both

(31:19):
non conference and overall.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Would you think.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Craig, you just and you missed the two other games
in November out in Vegas. Yeah, we're gonna u CLA
and Duke.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
Or South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
We're gonna play UCLA and then we're gonna either play
the winner or the loser of Duke South Carolina.

Speaker 4 (31:42):
So we could potentially play South.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Carolina again twice for a Duke team that was in
the either Sweet sixteen or Elite eight. So we've got
plenty of schedule. Of course, the SEC doesn't do us
any favors. We've had to open now back to back
years twy. You know, we have home at home with

(32:04):
South Carolina a year ago. Now I've got a home
and home with LSU. The only difference is last year,
at least, when I had South Carolina home and home,
I got LSU at home. This year, I got a
home a home with LSU.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
And I'm at.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
South Carolina, I'm at Tennessee, I'm at Vanderbilt, I'm at Alabama.
I mean, all those schools are picked top six in
our conference. So I don't know, I don't quite understand it.
I don't think it's fair because this is how it

(32:40):
will be every year, now every other year we're gonna
We're gonna end up every other year.

Speaker 4 (32:47):
We will have this schedule.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
At Vanderbilt, at Tennessee, at South Carolina, at LSU. That
is a lot. Nobody else in our league has that.
Nobody I've been through it. But it is what it is, you.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
Know, So we'll just have to do the best we can.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
We navigated last year pretty hard, pretty well, you know,
and what I felt like was a very difficult schedule,
and you know, we'll have to do it again this year.

Speaker 4 (33:22):
I know.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
Also, Florida had a solid team last year. You got
to go to Gainesville. You would expect that eventually Arkansas
is going to get back in a good rhythm. You
got to go to Fayetteville, and like I said, you
open on New Year's Day in Colombia against a solid
Missouri program. I guess, you know, all of all of
those things had up to to What makes this thing
as challenging as it does.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
It's the sec There's no off days, there's no off games.
You don't play well on any given night, you won't
get beat, you'll get embarrassed. And that's just the nature
of the beast. So we've got to try to navigate
the best we can. Again, it's the hand.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
We're dealt with. And I think too, you know what
we've done with.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
Our non conference schedule. I mean you're going to open
with two top you know, potentially two top ten teams,
top twelve teams, got to go to a top twenty
five South Dakota State. They're always in the nca Tournament.
I'm gonna have to play Baylor, They'll be in the
top twenty five up in Dickie's. They've got a hell

(34:35):
of a team coming back and got some new transfer kids,
some new portal kids. Obviously, gonna have to play North
Carolina at home.

Speaker 4 (34:45):
They're always in the top fifteen.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
So it's it's not a very friendly schedule in my mind.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Well, and that's why I mentioned at the top. You
have over five thousand total season tickets sold. You're closing
in on two thousand new season ticket olders. That's what
you want, that's what you envision. I've heard you say
this before when you came here, and in the going
on twenty seven years of calling the games, I can
scarcely remember too many crowds until you got here, of

(35:17):
even five thousand fans total, and sometimes that was visiting
fans like for Baylor or.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
Tech or whatever.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
I know, you've got to be pleased with what you have,
even as you're wanting even more to get season tickets
and show up this year for sure.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
I mean, part of building your programs building your fan base,
and that's been the part that's been really you know,
challenging here. You know, Mississippi State we averaged ninety five
hundred to night in a twenty five thousand person community.
I felt like coming here with two million people right
here close by, you know, we could do the same thing.

(35:57):
And we've certainly had some great crowds, no question and
buy it. We've had some you know, big crowds over
ten thousand, you know, four or five, six times a year,
but just trying to build that consistency. It's not about
who I'm playing. You're not coming to see North Carolina play.
You're coming to see Texas play. And that's I think

(36:19):
the philosophy that's kind of hard to get through to
our fan base. You're not you're not buying season tickets
because I've got Connecticut on my schedule. You're buying season
tickets because the University of Texas is a top ten team,
a top ten.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
Program and you want to come support them.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
It doesn't matter if we're playing Connecticut or some three.

Speaker 4 (36:39):
Named directional school. And that's that's.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
The mindset that sometimes is a challenge to change. But
you know, I think we're getting there again. To me,
it all has to do with the product you put
on the floor, and the better the better team you
have have, the more accessful they are, the better kids

(37:04):
that they are, the better support you'll have. And I
think that's where we've we've really been good. We've we've
got great kids. They work extremely hard, they played the
game the right way, and they're fun to watch and
and so I think that's that's how you do it.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
You can have all the.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
Promotions on, you know, whatever you want, but at the
end of the day, those things aren't worth more than three,
four or five hundred people. It's it's the kids themselves,
it's their styli of play, it's how hard they play.
That's what truly builds your fan base, builds your season

(37:48):
ticket foundation, and then builds your walk up. And so
I'm proud of our kids. I'm proud of my staff
for what we've been able to do in five short years.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
No doubt about it. Hey, I appreciate you taking the
time to do this. I know things are really really
busy right now as you get ready for this Canadian trip,
but I thank you for taking a few minutes to
let everybody know what's coming down the road and and
how to continue to jump on board and be a
part of this thing. And and I'm thankful to you.
Thanks so much for doing this today.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Vic.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
Oh, thanks you having us on and your love and
support of our program.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
We we appreciate you more than you know.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
So thanks again. Everybody, have a great day. Praise the
Lord and hook of Morns.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Thanks Vic.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
That is Texas women's head coach bick Schaefer. Yeah, SEC
schedule oed today and he's right.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
They weren't done.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
And he favors by some of these road destiny, having
to go to South Carolina, having to go to Tennessee,
having to go to Vanderbilt Florida was a good program
last year, having to play them and then UH and
then the other challenges they have with a home and
home with LSU.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
He mentioned the UH, the.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
Schedule that they're going to have with the players Era
event in Las Vegas. We'll play Ucla and then either
Duke or yes, South Carolina. Here's a chance they could
wind up playing South Carolina three times in Las Vegas,
in Columbia and then maybe in the SEC tournament like
they did last year, so who knows. Of course, last

(39:21):
year they also played him in the final four, as
we know. So it's the way the game goes all right.
Up next here on thirteen hundred the Zone, second hour
of the program.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Here, I'm thirteen hundred Zone.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Glad to have you with us, And like I said,
we were playing catchup a little bit after having that
long overdue a lengthy conversation with Texas women's head coach
Vick Shaffer. Has been busy, he's been traveling the team
in its off season conditioning workouts, but it was great
to catch up with him to talk about his team,
talk about the new faces, the returning veterans, and the

(39:52):
brand new SEC schedule that was released for women's basketball.
The men's SEC schedule of conference games has not yet
been released. I'm told it will probably be sometime this month, probably,
but that television is a big factor in that in
selecting the games they want on the days they want,

(40:12):
and things of that nature. So that's why the men's
schedule is not out yet, but the women's schedule was
released today and so I thanks again to Vic Shaffer
joining us on that. After practice today for long worn
football head coach Steve Sarkisian will do a media availability
and you'll.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Be able to hear.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Excerpts from that both tomorrow morning on the Morning Kickoff
with Mike Hardball Hard and Mark Henry and during this
program tomorrow afternoon. Among the topics obviously that sark will
address will be the expected announcement of the loss of
Andre Kojo to a knee injury in practice, as he

(41:00):
was battling for that starting right tackle spot or do
to be in the rotation.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Put it that way, when down with a knee injury.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
We'll probably get at least some sort of details from
Sark that'll be later this.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Afternoon, but that is indeed a loss for that.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Also, next hour, some of the expected top players in
college football nationally, you get three guesses as to who's
probably going to be listed at or very near the top.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
I think we all know who that will be.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
But not only will arch Manning's name be in there,
but there will be other names as well. So that'll
be coming up in the four o'clock hour. But up
next we talk football across the state of Texas, both
of the collegiate and high school variety. Greg Tepper is
the editor in chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine.
By the way, we'll give away a couple of copies

(41:54):
of the magazine in the four o'clock hour, but tep
will be with us to talk some college football and
also from high school football.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
We continue our previews.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
We did six A a couple of weeks ago, five A,
last week today four A. So that's coming up next
when we continue here on thirteen hunderd The Zone here
ready on Tuesday afternoon on thirteen hundred of the Zone.
You know when I am a guest on DCT of
today Dave Campbells Texas Football to Day, which if you
go on line to Dave Campbell's if you go to

(42:25):
Texas Football dot com, you'll see how you can, you know,
get a membership on that subscription and hear the outstanding
work of Greg Tepper, Ashley Pickle et al. When when
I've been on, when they've had me on Tuesdays, and
I think the I think it's changing this year.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
We'll find out in time.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
But Pickle used to refer to it as Tuesdays Tuesdays.
So my wife this morning said, I said Teppers on
the show today, and she went, oh, Tuesdays with Tepper.
So there he is the the the editor in Trump
of Day, Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine. And you know,
whereas Mitch Album had the best selling book Tuesdays with Maury,

(43:08):
we have Tuesdays with Temper.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
So that's a good thing. Let's sit well with you.
I love it, Okay, Yeah, that's that's that's great.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
I love branding like that, especially when people can just
set their watch to it, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
That's uh, that's what we.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
Got to do.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
By the way, speaking of branding, and I don't know
if I'm out ahead of this or not, but I've
heard a rumble that and I know this will interest
to you, is as tied in as you are as
I am to the high school scene in the state,
that there's going to be some different branding with what
we've done for the past several years. Is the Taco
Shack Bowl that it's going to be called the Shoal

(43:44):
Creek Showdown. I think, Oh, I don't know, I don't
know any of the particulars.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Just just heard that through the grapevine that that might
be the case. There was there was something.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
There is something so pure about the Taco Shack Bowl
because it's just like like there, it's it is. It
is born from just like, well, what's where do we
all meet?

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Like where where we.

Speaker 5 (44:07):
Where we all going after the game? Basically those are
the best kinds of games. It's kind of like a
couple of years ago, I went out to a game
New Diana was playing Or City out there in East Texas,
UH to real places by the way and uh. And
it was during it was it was it was on
a Thursday night. And the reason it was on a

(44:27):
Thursday night is because because you know, both these teams
have their own stadium, there's no reason to play on
a Thursday night. They played it because none of the
kids had school on Friday, because they were out for
the Yamboree, which is of course the Yam Festival out
there in East Texas.

Speaker 4 (44:43):
UH.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
And so it was the Yamboree game between Or City
and New Diana, and the coin flip was done by
the reigning Yam Queen of course it was so Yeah.
Like again, when you're giving a gift, you just say
thank you to it. So I'm sure I'll come to
love the Shoal Creek Showdown, but the Taco Shack Bull

(45:04):
will always resonate in my heart.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
No doubt.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
And and again that's just a rumor I've heard that
it'll be that. We'll see if that indeed comes up.
By the way, since you we've mentioned the aforementioned Taco
Shack Bull, I absolutely love the two page photo UH
in this year's edition if folks don't have it of
Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine. And again we're going to
give away two more copies in the four oclock hour.
Chris Schmidt this beautiful photo of House Park and three

(45:29):
youngsters future. It looks like Anderson Trojans sitting in beyond
the end zone looking back toward the south end uh
there along Lamar Boulevard as as the great House Park
UH sets up there. It's it's a great photo, by
the way, and I know you guys take a lot
of pride in a lot of these wonderful photos you
have in the magazine.

Speaker 5 (45:49):
Yeah, it was I was when I when I found that,
you know, kind of I'll tell you the truth of
how that, how that ends up happening, is that basically,
throughout the course of the year, I I whenever i'm
we're getting all these as we have more than three
hundred photographers across the state of Texas who helps out
across the year. When I'm kind of going through photos,
I'll just like like bookmark them and be like, Okay,
this is this one, keeping on this one, keeping it

(46:10):
on this one, because especially during the off season, you're
gonna need, you know, content and stuff.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
I may not need it now, but I know only
it later.

Speaker 5 (46:17):
And I remember when that one came out, and I
remember thinking, well, that feels like it's got a place
in the magazine in twenty twenty five, and sure.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Enough it did. So yeah, it's it's a terrific shot.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
And and I I don't need to tell you your
listeners how much House Park is, how great House Park is.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Uh, it's it's it's spectacular.

Speaker 5 (46:33):
You guys, You guys have it so good you don't
realize what a uh what what a what? Sometimes I
hope you guys don't take for granted what a monument
to Texas High School football you guys have down there,
uh in House Park, even even if uh it is
located kind of directly in a floodplaine. Every year I
hear once or twice it's like, well, I can't play
at House Park because it's under a foot of water.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Yeah, you know it's turned into an aquarium. Uh, it's
half a couple of times. And for folks who don't
know or haven't been to a game in House Park.
It was built in nineteen forty I believe it was.
It was a WPA project during the Great Depression, but
it was named for Colonel Edward House, who had been
a Secretary of State in the Woodrow Wilson administration at

(47:19):
one time, and he donated the land. And it's wonderful
it used to be. And the only reason why I
say it used to be is because you can't work
from it anymore. It used to be my favorite place
in the entire state of Texas to broadcast high school
game when we could go up on the roof and
you'd work from the roof and you'd look back now
Lamar Boulevard toward downtown in this panoramic view, and you

(47:40):
might get a nice breeze on a late September early
October evening.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
You might also get.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
What I got one year when I did Anderson and
Victoria there first game of the year on what we
were still calling zero week, and it was one eight
on the roof when we were doing that.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
I'll never forget that.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
It was one O eight Aloisa hormometer up there was
one of weight on the roof, but full of great memories,
idiot is And that's that's part of what this whole
thing is all about, really.

Speaker 5 (48:08):
Well, and it's it's funny you mentioned because House Park
is was built during the Works Progress administration, and there's
still a handful of those WPA stadiums around here. Actually,
my my my mom was in Cleeburn the other day
and she like texted me and she's like, hey, by
the way, I went by a Yellow Jacket stadium there
and she's like, and they have this like plaque. It's like,
do you know this was built during the Works Progress

(48:29):
like the w P A. I'm like, yeah, actually, mom,
if you'd like to know, there's a whole like I
think Navasota was built there.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
I know the Tomato.

Speaker 5 (48:37):
Bowl was, Yeah, they activations there, but house House Park
is on there Alamo Stadium.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
Yea, the rock pile, the rock pile.

Speaker 5 (48:46):
Yeah, And so like, yes, I I hope that people
understand the history that is that that is in their backyard,
because uh, there are because this is also the time
of year, and I'm sure you get this too. Uh
where I will start to get requests from friends who
are coming in town for a weekend and they want
to be like, oh.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
I want to go see Texas high school football? What
game should I go to? Where should I go?

Speaker 5 (49:09):
And it's easy to send them, especially up here in
the DFW Metrocs, to be like, oh, we'll go to
prosper or go to McKinney or Alan or one of
these like mega stadiums and just see the grandeur.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
That's easy, you could do that.

Speaker 5 (49:18):
But also it's like, if you're willing to travel, you
can see some you see a cool a cool stadium
that's you know, ninety years old and was built in
the thirties, and then get a real history lesson there.
So yeah, just make worth remembering how good we've got
it around here.

Speaker 4 (49:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
My target used to always be when I lived in
the Metroplex Metroplex was tell people go to Dennis and
go to Munson Stadium. Now they since moved into a
different and bigger and more modern digs. But that was
another old rock pile WPA nineteen forty ish facility, and
I remember calling. This was a regular season game, not
a playoff game, a regular season game between Dennison and

(49:57):
Highland Park there, and it had a lot of a
lot of them a lot and it was just And
when it's in the venue like that, it becomes even
more special, no question. You remember a few years ago
when we uh when we did uh Scoreboard Live and
we did the Texas Kickoff Days thing was Sherman Dennison
there and it was in Sherman and that was another

(50:18):
neat old facility.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Yeah, yeah, right off right off of thirty five there.

Speaker 5 (50:22):
We were kind of tucked in across the near the
stone walls and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Yeah, it was good. It was a good time. It's uh,
you know.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
It's uh now I've got the itch now if I
already started playing on my first Thursday night, so we're
getting close, which is your first Thursday night by the way, TVDA.

Speaker 5 (50:37):
It might I might end up being at Tatum at Winnsboro.
I'm currently there's that's that's on the docket. There's also
a game out West and Cisco between only in Reagan
County that might be calling my name because I could
eat it.

Speaker 2 (50:50):
I could eat at Mary's.

Speaker 5 (50:52):
So a lot of uh we are we are deliberating
in the in the in the the at the decision.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
Desk, right, Dave Campbell's okay, all right, all right, so
and I'll jump back to high school in a minute.
As we visit with Correig to have editor in chief
of Dave Candils Texas Football Magazine. I was intrigued by
the fact that the always astute, always on top of it,
Mike Craven pens apiece yesterday or day before on.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
The power pole.

Speaker 3 (51:23):
And the reason why I even bring this up is
because obviously, yesterday afternoon the ESPN Coaches Poll came out
for college football and Texas number one in the country, YadA, YadA,
so on and so forth. And there's nine teams in
the SEC that are in the top twenty one, including
Texas and Texas A and M and Texas Texas in
there as well. So you've got all those teams and

(51:44):
SMU are all in there. But I'd noticed creating it
by a full day was the DCTF FBS Power Poll.
We're all thirteen Division one FBS programs are ranked from
one down to thirteen. So this is a very lone
star state specific poll.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
The weekly poll.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
And Noah, I was not surprised to see Texas number one,
but seeing Texas Tech number two, A and M three
S MU four, Uh, those I almost cut the feeling.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
You could probably take it.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
And maybe Mike feels the same way that you could
almost put those three in any specific order and not
have a real big argument.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
I would agree.

Speaker 5 (52:30):
And I think that that actually it may be a
you know that this may even be just a measure
of like ceiling. And if it's a measure of ceiling,
then yeah, I think that this is right. I think
Texas Tech, you know Texas I think at this point
people know Texa's is gonna be pretty good.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
I don't probably don't need to.

Speaker 5 (52:47):
Tell that to the voice of the long Horns, but
they also you take a look past them, you know
Texas Tech. Mike Craven wrote on Texas b All dot
Com that they won the off season and really what
they've done as far as talentquisition is concerned, in whatever
ways that those exist. Nobody has done it better recently
than Texas Tech and and there they will have, in

(53:08):
my estimation, the most talented roster in the Big twelve
this year. What does that mean? Can they put it
all together? You still got to go out there and
do it. Texas A and M. Is interesting too, because
a lot of the roar shock test there is going
to be ultimately about Marcel Reid. They're handing the keys
to the offense and saying go out there and get him.

(53:29):
And I've said this on other shows before, but I've
said this, I think this is a referendum on offensive
coordinator Colin Kline. We will find out exactly if he
is the guy. I think the ceilings very high. I
also think the floor is kind of low there because
they play in the SEC. And if it doesn't work
offensively as good as I think the defense has an
opportunity to be, I'm not sure if it's going to be.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
Able to make up for it.

Speaker 5 (53:52):
SMU has got Kevin Jennings back and the playmakers they've got,
but they are going to have to replace a ton
on defense. The team that I'm really interested in is
the one he has clocked number five, which feels like
the place that you put the team that like, I
want to buy more stock, but I don't want to
go all in on him.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
And that's Baylor.

Speaker 5 (54:11):
Baylor finished strong, Baylor returns loaded right, bryceon Washington, Sawyer robertson,
Josh Cameron, David Randa's calling, plays on the defense, and
they have an opportunity to be.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Really, really good.

Speaker 5 (54:26):
If you believe in the idea that carryover from last year,
then Baylor could be that team that could really make
that surge this year. It's a fun year in the state.
It's also a relatively kind of outside of the top one.
It's kind of unpredictable across. Essentially twelve of the thirteen
FBS teams feel like they're very high variants. For Texas,

(54:47):
it does feel like their ceiling is very high, but
it also feels like their floor is very high, and
that should be really encouraging for Texas.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
You know, it's interesting you brought up Baylor because I
got to ask the other day on the show show
that it was on about which team in the state
of Texas had the most to prove going into the year,
and I said, it's one of two teams in my opinion, Uh,
and that's either Baylor or TCU coming off the seasons

(55:15):
they came off of.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Similar to what you were saying.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
Texas is going to be expected to finish high and
they are preseason number one of the coaches. We'll see
what they turn out to be in the ape pole
and like you said, the floor is probably high as well.
But teams that are coming off Remember we were talking
last year when Baylor got ready to play TCU, and
the conversation was the loser of that game the head

(55:39):
the losing head coach might be in trouble for his job. Well,
they're both obviously back, but that's gonna be a big
game when they play this year, and I think it's
a big season for both of those teams.

Speaker 5 (55:50):
I think for Baylor, you've got to go out there
and prove that the way you finished last year is
actually what you guys are. And I think that if
you are TCU, you to go out there and say
what we were last year is not indicative of what
we're going to be. We're going to be a lot
closer to what we were when we played for College
Football Playoff National championship instead of you know, the disappointment

(56:12):
that it's been since then. So I think that you're
right both of them, both of them need to get
them on a positive trajectory. The trajectory is more positive
right now for Baylor, but if it turns back downward,
we're going to be right back. In the same conversation
we were having about Dave Randa and whether or not
he's the guy to take Baylor where they want to go,

(56:34):
folks can market on the Calndar October eighteenth, and Fort
Worth is when Baylor and TC you get.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Together, all right?

Speaker 3 (56:40):
Talking football with Greg Tepper Dave Campbells, Texas Football Magazine's
editor in chief. Okay, let's continue in high school previews,
and we're going to start now. We're to plast four
A because we did five A last week and we
did and we did six A the week before. So
we're to for a what leaps all the page A

(57:00):
two not necessarily one specific team, but as we as
we preview for a D one where there seems to
be pretty much an agreed upon defending state champion who
looks every bit the part in Solina and Division one
and you got Carthage and in D two that's one
ten state titles if you just take them out of

(57:22):
the equation for a moment, what leaps off the page
at you about for a both in Division one and
Division two.

Speaker 6 (57:27):
So in for Division one, I think is fascinating is
you either in for Division one to be a contender
in twenty twenty five, you either have to have a
ton of pedigree, right, a ton of pedigree.

Speaker 5 (57:39):
Salina Kilgore, Stevenville, Lavernia, you know, even Austin LBJ who
played for a title, right, Sulfur Springs, Alvaredo, Bay City, right,
Or you have to have no pedigree, none at all. Okay,
whether it's Canyon West Plains a second year of varsity
program or you know now gonna be a fourth year

(58:01):
of varsity program that is looking every but the part
of of of a state championship contender after what was
a remarkable run through the playoffs last year to a
regional to a state semifinal. Or you have to be
San Antonio Davenport, a young program down there in the
Alamos City area that that was spectacular, very very good
last year. The true the arrow has been pointed up.

(58:21):
They've won ten plus games each in the last three years.
Or you have to be Frisco Panther Creek, which might
be the most loaded team there with guys like Jalen Lott,
who is one of the best receivers in this in
the state. Donovan Webb the number one safety according to
our rankings in the state. So in four Division one,
you have to be on one side of the other.
There's no in between. You either have a ton of
pedigree or like you're you're the new guy at the

(58:43):
party and nobody's figured out that you're not supposed to
be there. For a Division two, it feels like you've
got the big bad wolf there in Carthage and the
program of record right now in Texas high school football.
You know there, Scots are at is ten and oh
in state championship games. I think he's won eighty four
playoff games and lost eight. It's insane what he's done there.

(59:08):
And by the way, what is fascinating about Carthage this
year is that they have all the star power back,
all the star power quarterback Jets are out, running back
kJ Edwards, linebacker Quevebeck.

Speaker 2 (59:21):
They have to fill in the nuts and bolts.

Speaker 5 (59:24):
And what's interesting is that as good as some of
these other teams are going to be like Lavega, the
team that played in the state championship last year, brings
back Courtney Parr at the quarterbackspot.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Brock is going to be really good.

Speaker 5 (59:33):
Sealy Belleville, who played for a title last year, is
gonna or a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
It's going to be really really good.

Speaker 5 (59:38):
The team that is going to be I think the
biggest threat to Carthage is within their own region and
Pleasant Grove. This is a team that brings back I
think seventeen starts from a year ago, and they get
a transfer in from Colt Yancey, who was a star
quarterback at White Right, Josh Gibson hired his dad onto
his staff and so now Colt Yancey's gonna be the quarterback.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
They are loaded.

Speaker 5 (59:57):
There is an argument to be made there have been
great teams for both these squads. There is an argument
to be made that these are two of the best
teams in these programs history, and right now it's looking
like they're going to be headed for a Thanksgiving showdown
and the winner of that game will be the favorite
to win the state championship.

Speaker 2 (01:00:12):
It is a four division.

Speaker 5 (01:00:14):
Two is really really remarkable in a lot of ways,
especially at that very tippy top with Carthage and Pleasure Growth,
who look like they're on a collision course for a
spot at AT and T Stadium, I want to throw
a dark horse out of each division at you and
just see.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
And I was thinking about these, and then when I
got the magazine, I was pleased to see they were
both ranked near the bottom of the respective top twenty fives. Butudge,
that's where we hide them. That's where we hide them. Well,
these two might be hidden in Division one. One reason
I like this particular choice a because of eleven starters
back on defense, but Canyon Lake is one of those.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
I also like.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
It because even with all the recent tragic floodings that
happened there in Hunt County and Kerrville and all that,
some of the other follow up reign that's coming has
has filled up Canyon Lake, or at least filled it
to about sixty percent capacity when it was down about
thirty percent. So that's good for the Hawks that you
have that one and then indeed two. The other one

(01:01:10):
I like is Athens, a team that has a lot
of kids back, and so I was pleased to see
both of those. If toward the bottom of those top
twenty fives and which would classify them as a dark course.
Both of them ranked in both of those divisions.

Speaker 5 (01:01:24):
Kenyon Lake, I think you're spot on with eleven starters back.
It's also a second year under coach Sam Parker, and
that is always for us really important of like you
get a full off season with your guys, they're used
to hearing you and stuff like that. They feels like
that feels like a real step forward if they can
find some some offensive firepower. They lost a lot of
their kind of the their playmakers, guys like James Garza

(01:01:46):
and Harris Gillham ofso the next level. But they do
have their quarterback back in Jase Wheeler. But they're going
to be really really good defensively and in the guts
of their team, they're going to be really really good.
And then for Athens, you know, look, part of it
is they're just in the wrong stinking region. They're in
the wrong stinking district they're in with they're in with Carthage.
But they have a ton coming back, including David Richardson,

(01:02:09):
who is a guy who I want to say he
had like two thousand total yards last year. And he
was playing with like a Liz Frank fracture for for
like his first like the for like six the last six.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Games with him with Jayden Davis, Jabori Taylor. They are
really really loaded for Zach Harrell and company. Those are
those are the teams?

Speaker 5 (01:02:29):
Is that like you're gonna pay attention obviously to the
ones in the twos and who's the top five, But
if you get down there, you start to see the
depth of these of these classifications and teams like Canyon Lake,
teams like lam passas right, teams like Fort Ben Crawford
uh in D one you mentioned you know, you mentioned Athens.
We're really interested in in in Robinson in four A
Division two, which is a team that's got Bryce McCurdy,

(01:02:51):
who's a quarterback. I think he's one of more underrated
core players players in the state Brookshire Royal. That's where
you can kind of find those teams that we we
want to say, hey, we're.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
Keeping an eye on them.

Speaker 5 (01:03:01):
That's a team that maybe if things break right, they
could be a team we're talking about into early December.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
Would Blogo be one of those as well?

Speaker 5 (01:03:08):
Blago Vista I was definitely just having a conversation recently
about Lago Vista. They're a team that's really interesting to
me for for a number of reasons. The biggest reason
is that I think that they are They are a
team that has enough coming back at the right spots.
They're gonna be good on the offensive line, They're gonna
be good the skills spots. They do lose their best player,

(01:03:29):
Sway Griffin was their best player at corner who signed
with the University of Arizona, but they bring back a
ton of other guys like Brock Morton, Noah Aaron Bulah
at the at the running back spot, who's a guy
who is a real workhorse for them. They're gonna be
a team that I'm very interested in in a region
for that with Wimberley and the changes going on in
Wimberley could be more wide open than it has been

(01:03:51):
in past years.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
That's what's interesting to me about Lago Vista.

Speaker 5 (01:03:54):
They will have a you know, they will have an
opportunity to really make some noise in district. With Wimberley,
they could be a real canary in the coal mine
in district. Play of the is the wind blowing a
different direction of region for which has been so dominated
by Cody Stover and Doug Warren. They're at Wimberley, both
of whom who are now not there.

Speaker 2 (01:04:15):
He's Greg Tepper. Follow him at Tepper of course.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
He is the editor in chief of Dave Campbells Texas
Football Magazine.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
You can listen to him. You m Picklar doing the
show right again, the daily show? Correct? Come see us? Yeah, yeah,
I thought so.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
Okay there Texas Football dot Com as well for the
subscription information, and we will give away a couple of
cople copies of the magazine at four o'clock hour.

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
Hey, appreciate it as always.

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
Next week we'll do three A and we'll do some
other stuff too.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Can't wait. Let's talk three next week. We do it,
all right.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
That's Greg Chepper, Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine's editor in chief.
More coming up here. I'm thirteen under the zone, all right,
thanks to giving Greg Chepper, editor in chief Dave Campbell's
Texas Football Magazine for join us. By the way, it
is official now that the name is changed from the

(01:05:11):
Taco Shack Bowl to the Let me make sure I
get it right. The legacy Turf and Greens shoal Creek Showdown.
That'll be the That'll be the name of it there
at House Park, the Shoal Creek Showdown. The title sponsor
is a turf company, Legacy Turf and Greens, so they're

(01:05:34):
the sponsor of it now, the Shoal Creek Showdown between
Anderson McCallum, and they always play that first Thursday night
of the regular season.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
Here.

Speaker 3 (01:05:42):
There was a time when they were both five A
programs in the same in the same district, and they
would play later in the year and broadcast my share
of those on radio, and then worked with Roger Wallace
on kbvo's telecast of it because they've been televising that
game for years and years as well. So now it's

(01:06:03):
the Shoal Creek Showdown. Will be the name of that.
On the text line, folks listening all the way back
to when I had Last Hour on with Coach Vic
Schaeffer and I love this so he said, I could
hear coaches sweet iced tea jiggling in the background. Yeah,
he does enjoy himself a good glass of a sweet

(01:06:25):
iced tea. And this is my own personal opinion on this.
People who know me know that I grew up in
the state of North Carolina. But I've lived most of
my life in Texas. I moved out here when I
was eighteen, so I've been out here since then, So
you can do the math on that. One of the
very early things I discovered when I came out to

(01:06:48):
Texas was that restaurants in general, and even folks that
I came to know who were natives in the state,
had a much better handle on how to make sweet
tea than where I grew up North Carolina. They have
sweet tea, and but initially, initially it wasn't it wasn't

(01:07:14):
sweet enough. Then I got to the point where here
it got a little too sweet for me. I got
used to going back there and having a slightly different
version of sweet tea. I like sweet tea regardless. My
wife makes really good sweet tea, and she's a native
Taxan as well. Somebody else said, in talking about the
story about donating your pets or livestock to the zoo

(01:07:38):
and Denmark to provide fodder feed for their predators, somebody said,
can I donate my great uncle Hagen to that zoo?
Maybe a little leathery, but he's ready to go.

Speaker 2 (01:07:50):
Stop that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
It's not nice and then somebody else went horse meat,
you know, with somebody that donated the horse. You know,
that stuff happened in Denmark. That's what's been going on
in Denmark. All right, we'll be back thirteen under the Zone.
Third and final hour of the program. Here on thirteen
under the Zone, Craig Way with you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Glad to have you with us.

Speaker 3 (01:08:09):
The producer of this afternoon is Ronald Savage Junior. Glad
to have him alongside. As well. A first hour of
the program, we had a lengthy visit with Texas women's
basketball coach Vick Schaeffer. The SEC announced its conference schedule today,
so now we pretty much know the long worn women's

(01:08:31):
basketball schedule for the coming season and the conference schedule
for Texas. Yeah, you figured it was going to be challenging,
and it is exactly that that it was going to
be challenging starting off the conference schedule. Well even and
we'll get to the conference schedule in a moment, but

(01:08:51):
just even you know, going through the non conference schedule
was going to be you know, a great chance challenge
for them, and we talked about that. In addition to
the new players on the roster, they had what they
have also gleaned through the transfer portal, and and then

(01:09:13):
we talked about the non conference schedule for Texas, which
includes playing in Las Vegas over the Thanksgiving week.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
They will, you know, they.

Speaker 3 (01:09:26):
Have a non conference what are called the bye games,
the home games with like Incarnate Word and Texas Southern
and Penn and Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana.

Speaker 2 (01:09:41):
And then you add to that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:44):
Some games that they were due on the back end
of a home and home because the ed they had
trouble filling out their non conference schedule a year ago
and ended up having to go on the road to
places like Richmond and James Madison to play. They went
to both places and they wanted both places, So they
have both of those teams coming. But then on top
of that, then you you have the acc SEC Challenge,

(01:10:10):
the host North Carolina, and that's coming up in December.
They're going to play Baylor on a Sunday in December
in Fort Worth and Dickey's Arena. They have a Sunday
game in Brookings, South Dakota against South Dakota State, and
then they have these players Era games in Las Vegas
where they'll play UCLA, a national finalist from a year ago,

(01:10:33):
and then they'll and then they'll play either Duke or
South Carolina depending on whether they win or lose, So
they could play South Carolina in a non conference game.
Then they're going to play them in conference play in Columbia.
Now last year they had a home and home in
South Carolina. I don't playing them one time this year,
but it's in Columbia on January fifteenth to Thursday night.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
But they actually open SEC play.

Speaker 3 (01:10:54):
On New Year's Day in Columbia Missouri at Missou UH
and then three days after that they play Ole Miss
in Austin, followed by a Thursday game at home against Auburn.
Then after that a Sunday game in Baton Rouge against LSU.
Then they play South Carolina on that Thursday night. In Columbia,

(01:11:15):
they have a Sunday game at home against Texas A
and M.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
That's on January eighteenth.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
Then they go to Fayetteville on a Sunday of an
open date on the conference schedule. During the week between
that and they'll play Arkansas in Fayetteville on Sunday, the
twenty fifth of January. On Thursday, the twenty ninth of January,
they'll be in Gainesville to take on Florida. That's followed
up by back to back to back, three consecutive home

(01:11:41):
conference games Sunday February first against Oklahoma, Thursday the fifth
against LSU on.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
The back end of that home and home with Kim
Maulki's team.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
And then they have a big Monday game against Kentucky
at home on February ninth. On Thursday the twelfth, they
have Vanderbilt in Nashville. On Sunday the fifteenth, they have
Tennessee in Knoxville on Sunday the twenty second, again another
open date on the conference schedule. Remember last year they
only took one open date on the conference schedule because

(01:12:13):
they played Maryland in the MLK Classic in Newark. It
was actually the Coretit Scott King Classic on MLK Day
and that was in Newark. Well, they're taking their both
open dates on the schedule this year, so there's no
midweek game between the fifteenth and the twenty second. Two
Sundays in February when they have Tennessee on the road

(01:12:36):
and then Mississippi State at home, and then they conclude
it with Senior Night home finale on Thursday, the twenty sixth,
the February against Georgia and they finished the regular season
on Sunday, March first in Tuscaloos at Alabama. So it's
very challenging a conference as well as non conference schedule.
And that entire conversation to be posted online at AM

(01:12:57):
thirteen under the Zone and if you want to listen
to that on our podcast page. Speaking of AM thirteen
hundred The Zone, I mentioned that we were going to
give away a couple of copies of Dave Campbell's Texas
Football magazine, and we are and we're going to do
it right now, and this is how we do it.
We've been doing this for the past couple of weeks.
This is the final week of the giveaway. But what

(01:13:19):
we do is we've been given away two copies daily
and the way that you have a chance to win
is to participate via the talk back feature at AM
thirteen hunderd the Zone.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
And the way you do it is if you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
Don't already have the iHeartRadio app downloaded on your smartphone,
really easy to do, it's free, don't cost anything's really easy.
You just download the iHeartRadio app, then you do a search,
you know, the little magnifying glass of the search winning.
You just do a search for AM because there's hundreds
and hundreds of stations obviously, but you just do the
search for AM thirteen under the zone. It pomps right up.

(01:13:59):
And then what we suggest by the way, go ahead
and just make it a preset on your phone. That
makes it real easy to do if you just make
it a preset on your phone to go to it
for things like this for contesting. So once you land
on AM thirteen hunderd the zonder, you'll see two buttons.
One's a little white ones kind of shaped like an
arrow or a triangle. That's to listen to the AU

(01:14:21):
air programming that we have, whether it's long warn games
or whether it's daily shows, whatever it might be. That's
what you would push that button for. But the one
that has the microphone on it, it's a little red
button with a white microphone. You hit that and it
activates our talkback feature and then you can leave us
a message of up to thirty seconds, and you have
to go thirty seconds just for the purposes of this,

(01:14:44):
just give us the answer to the question. So it's
a little red button, white microphone. You push that and
then you're leaving us a message on the talkback feature.
Here's the question, when it was announced that Texas and
Oklahoma would leave the Big Twelve Conference for the SEC.
This was back in twenty twenty one, when it was
announced that that was going to happen, how many teams

(01:15:07):
were in the Big Twelve at the times?

Speaker 2 (01:15:10):
As simple as that.

Speaker 3 (01:15:12):
So again, download the iHeartRadio Apple phone, search AM thirteen
hundred the zone, and then after you search AM thirteen
under the zone, you'll see the little red button with
a white microphone.

Speaker 2 (01:15:23):
You hit that. That's the talk back feature.

Speaker 3 (01:15:25):
Leave us the message with the answer to the question
when it was announced that Texas and Oklahoma would leave
the Big Twelve Conference to join the SEC, how many
teams were in the Big Twelve at that time? So
the first two correct answers on that, and it chronologically
populates up on our talkback feature. So the first two

(01:15:47):
correct answers on that will win a copy of Dave
Campbell's Texas Football Magazine. It is as simple as that.
Glad to do it. Okay, before we get to the break,
I wanted to go back over the coaches poll because
it's already sparked a great deal of conversation. I remember

(01:16:09):
when we get into the regular season, the coaches Poll,
if we're being completely honest here, pretty much takes a
back seat to the AP Poll. The AP Poll will
come out near the end of this month. I don't
know if Texas will be number one in.

Speaker 2 (01:16:26):
The AP poll.

Speaker 3 (01:16:27):
There's a lot of people who think Penn State ought
to be number one, or or Ohio State, whatever. But
in the Coaches Poll as it came out, Texas was
number one, garnering twenty eight of the fifty seven first
place votes. So that's pretty much half the votes, twenty
eight to sixty seven. Excuse me, so it's less than half,
but it's twenty eight of the sixty seven panelists. These

(01:16:47):
panelists are coaches head coaches Division one A FBS coaches.
They're chosen by a random draw from a pool of
applicants to the American Football Coaches Association showing a willingness
to participate. So not only are these coaches selected via

(01:17:09):
a random draw, they have to be up for this
and wanting to do this, so they submit it their
names in and say yes, I'd like to participate in
the ballot. Longgrn's head coach Steve Sarkisian is not one
of the panelists.

Speaker 2 (01:17:24):
I don't know if he.

Speaker 3 (01:17:25):
I think he may have submitted his name and said yea,
I would vote, but whether he did or not, in
the random draw, his name did not come up. So
he was not one of the sixty seven panelists who
put together this preseason ballot. Simple water here, when you
talk like going through I go through three or four

(01:17:50):
seventeen ounce bottles of water during one show, and at
least as much, probably more so calling a football game.
I had a lot of people asking and say, you've
rarely lost your voice. Do you have a secret or
what your secret is? And there's nothing real secret to it.
It's a little bit of preservation and you know, and

(01:18:12):
preventative measures and things like that. But one of us
is drinking a lot of water, and I usually go
through three or four bottles during one three hour rendition.

Speaker 2 (01:18:21):
Of this program. So second ship there.

Speaker 3 (01:18:28):
Twenty eight of the sixty seven votes picked Texas as
the pre season number one. Now it's an important distinction
to point out this is not a selection of who
the coaches think is going to win the national championship. Now,

(01:18:49):
some coaches, maybe a lot of them, I don't know
who voted for Texas might be of the mindset that
they do believe that the log Worns are going to.

Speaker 2 (01:18:57):
Win the national title.

Speaker 3 (01:18:58):
We don't know that, but that's not the responsibility they
were charged with here. What their responsibility is is to
select the top twenty five teams, and this is every week,
by the way, during the course of the season, not
just with the preseason poll, but to select the top
twenty five teams right now, preseason poll, going into the season.

Speaker 2 (01:19:28):
Who are the top twenty five teams.

Speaker 3 (01:19:31):
Not the team necessarily think is going to win the
national title, but the top twenty five teams as you
see them this year.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
So that's where that is right now.

Speaker 3 (01:19:44):
So Texas garnered twenty eight of the sixty seven first
place votes. Ohio State, the defending national champion, picked up
twenty first place votes. Long runs I think if I'm
looking at the point total, forty one points ahead of
Ohio State. That's not a big margin. And then Ohio
State was forty points in front of the third place

(01:20:06):
team in the preseason poll, Penn State, which had fourteen
first place votes. Georgia ranked fourth. They had three first
place ballots. There are another fifty nine points back of
Penn State. Then is Notre Dame, then Clemson, which received
the other two first place votes. Clemson is number six,

(01:20:27):
Oregon is seven, Alabama's eight, LSU is nine, mimis ten. Okay,
there's some big games obviously that first week involving the
top ten. Numb bigger obviously the number one against number two,
at least according to the coaches, Texas at Ohio State.
But in addition to those matchups, you have number six

(01:20:48):
Clemson hosting number nine LSU. That's going to be on
Saturday night. Then you have number eight Alabama playing at
Florida State eight also on that Saturday night. On the
Sunday night, remember this is Labor Day weekend and there's
no pro football yet, so you have a Sunday night game.

(01:21:09):
Number ten Miami plays number five Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (01:21:13):
So you have those.

Speaker 3 (01:21:15):
The SEC had four teams inside the top nine. They
had nine teams in the poll. The other ones thirteams
ranks South Carolina number fifteen, ho Miss number seventeen, Florida
number eighteen, Tennessee and Texas A and M tied it
said for the number twenty one spot with Iowa State
Big ten had six teams. In addition to Ohio State

(01:21:40):
and Penn State in the top five, they also had
number fourteen Michigan, well A, number twelve Illinois.

Speaker 2 (01:21:51):
I think the Alina are going to be really good.

Speaker 3 (01:21:53):
Number fourteen Michigan, number nineteen Indiana, and the Big twelve
has five representatives. Highest of those ranked is Arizona State
number eleven, Kansas State number twenty, Iowa State tied to
Texas City and m twenty one BYU number twenty three
in Texas Tech number twenty four. SMU, another school from

(01:22:13):
the state of Texas, was the only other team from
the ACC to join Clemson to Miami. And if you're
wondering about G five or some would say G six conferences,
I think it'll be full full on G six once
the PAC twelve gets completely inaugurated in twenty twenty six.
But the other G five team to be ranked to
start the season is Boise State at number twenty five. Okay,

(01:22:37):
the AP rankings come out one well, it's one week
from yesterday. It'll be next Monday when the AP preseason
poll comes out. It's great conversation, clearly, and a lot
of folks are excited about it, but it is just
that it's conversation is just preseason rankings and stuff of
that nature. However, there's some other important factors to note.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
And we'll do that.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
We'll note those when we come back on this Tuesday
edition of the program on thirteen under the Zone. Continue
with the Tuesday edition of the program here on thirteen
under the Zone, and glad to have you with us
this afternoon. There were a couple other things I wanted
it wanted to get to. First of all, is a

(01:23:24):
tip of the hat and a wishing you the best
of luck to Texas State, because not only are the
Bobcats going to be a contender in their final year
in the Sunbelt Conference, I think most preseason picks have them,

(01:23:44):
maybe is the number two team in the Western Division
of the Sunbelt. I think that that was one of those,
and they are, you know, fighting perhaps Arkansas State and
South Alabama for the top spot there. And then of
course we know that in twenty twenty six, Texas State

(01:24:06):
is going to be in the newly reconstituted PAC twelve. Now,
clearly the university was looking for something exciting and new
and obviously more revenue producing. Those things the branding. There's
going to be so much different about that. I mentioned

(01:24:30):
when Greg Tepper, the editor in chief from Dave Campbell's
Texas Football magazine, was on with us about Mike Craven,
who's outstanding college football writer, covers the state very extensively and.

Speaker 2 (01:24:45):
He does a lot. And Jacob Rodriguez did a piece
on Texas State.

Speaker 3 (01:24:50):
On the countdown to what was going on in the
back and forth and things like that before that ultimately
enabled Texas State to become a member of the PAC twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
And it was at the.

Speaker 3 (01:25:03):
End of June, and through Texas Open Records requests, they
got a chance to see some emails about this and
going on and going forward, and there were a lot
of people that are very very excited about this now.

Speaker 2 (01:25:16):
In addition to that, there.

Speaker 3 (01:25:19):
Was a media relations person wrote about the team, the Bobcats.
Success in twenty twenty four would have seen Texas State
as the second best performance on the field among the
eight new PAC twelve members, only behind Boise State, and
that result was based on calculations Football Power Index sp

(01:25:42):
plus and Sports Source Analytics Team Success Ranking. The math
was also done for other team sports and the numbers
were crunched for the travel cost. According to these documents,
team travel at Texas State for playing in the Sun
Belt Conference. Now remember in the Sun Belt they would

(01:26:03):
go as far east and north.

Speaker 2 (01:26:05):
You might say, as James Madison.

Speaker 3 (01:26:08):
With you know, the possibility of traveling to Conway, South
Carolina to play Coastal Carolina, to Troy, Alabama, to Southern
miss to South Alabama several you know, there were some
there were some lengthy trips on that. The team travel
at Texas State costs three million, two hundred and fifty one,
nine hundred and fifty nine dollars. That's three million, two

(01:26:32):
hundred and fifty you know, three point twenty five million,
basically three million, two hundred fifty one thousand, nine hundred
and fifty nine dollars. When the Bobcats become members of
the Pac twelve, that travel increases, going up to five
million dollars, five million, ten thousand, nine hundred fifty one dollars.

(01:26:53):
Most of the teams are going to see an increase
in travel costs except for track and field and men's
and women's golf. The call will more than double for
baseball and men's basketball, and nearly double for women's basketball, tennis, soccer, softball,
and volleyball. So that's and then it was voted on

(01:27:17):
Texas State paying an additional five million dollar exit fee.
They got it in under the deadline in time to
leave the Sun Belt off of that. So you know,
they're betting on themselves clearly that it's going to work
out and be able to you know, write those checks
understanding what the additional costs were going to be. So anyway,

(01:27:41):
that's like I said, a tip of the hat to them,
they're jumped to the PAC twelve of basically betting on
themselves and saying that, you know, the move to the
PAC twelve is going to be better for them in
the long run, and you know it may well be
they're going to have to deal with those additional travel calls.

(01:28:07):
And let's see, if we're being completely honest to the
newly reconstituted PAC twelve is not going to be the
same as the old PAC twelve, you know, with Oregon
and Washington and USC and UCLA and Arizona and Arizona
State and Colorado and Utah in addition to Stanford and

(01:28:30):
cow because the only two that were left standing were
washing State in Oregon State Now, to their credit and
to the surviving front office members of the PAC twelve,
they rolled up their sleeves, reconfigured and went out and
basically gobbled up all of the schools that were interested

(01:28:53):
in joining from the Mountain West. And they also got Gonzaga.
Of course, Gonzaga is not playing football, but they do
have Gonzaga, which is a name brand for college basketball,
and they've been good in baseball too, by the way,
and they've been really good in women's basketball, so they
were able to get them. But the newly reconstituted PAC

(01:29:18):
twelve is going to have nine members, eight football playing members,
which was important, which was a key in order to
be eligible for the College Football Playoff on down the road.
Texas State became that eighth member of eighth football playing member.
But it is a league that has Utah State, San

(01:29:40):
Jose State. Who will see in Austin when they play
Texas on September six, I believe it is Fresno State,
Colorado State, they have a lot of those, they have Wyoming,
so they have a lot of those quote unquote state
those schools in there and what will be the new
PAC twelve now clearly they'll try to make themselves a

(01:30:05):
power conference, to make it a Power five again and
not just a Power four, because this year it is
clearly a.

Speaker 2 (01:30:12):
Powerful with them, we're PAC twelve. When they come back, we'll.

Speaker 3 (01:30:15):
See chances are they're going to wind up being a
G six league at least in the interim until they
can prove themselves. But again, it's a step up for
Texas State, So congratulations to them, Okay. In talking about
college football, there were two lists that came out today

(01:30:35):
In addition to yesterday's ESPN poll, there were two lists
that came out, one from ESPN and one from The Athletic,
and it's pretty interesting in what they compiled. For example,
ESPN's list is the forty most important players in college

(01:30:59):
football in twenty two, twenty five. I'm going to run
down this list pretty quickly and they'll take a break.
Then I'm going to take about this other list from
the Athletic, which kind of has perhaps even more intrigued
because it's much more than forty players.

Speaker 2 (01:31:10):
But i'll get to that.

Speaker 3 (01:31:12):
So, out of their top forty, forty impactful players, and
they rank them as to what they might be able
to do, Like, for example, number forty is going to
be one of two players. It's either going to be
Anthony Colandrea from UNLV either quarterback, or Alex Orgie. Remember
him from Michigan got in the ball game laid against Texas.

(01:31:34):
He transferred to UNLV, so that it'll it'll be interesting
to see what happens with that.

Speaker 2 (01:31:42):
Number.

Speaker 3 (01:31:42):
Thirty nine is Jaden virgin Morgan, a Boise State outstanding
defensive player. Jake Retzloth, the former BYU quarterback, transferred to
Tulane as number thirty eight. Maddox Madson of Boise State
is number thirty seven. Josh Hoover, the TSU quarterback, is
thirty six. Sawyer Robertson, the Baylor quarterback, is thirty five.

(01:32:04):
Sam Levitt the Arizona State quarterback, we saw him have
a big game in the Peach Bowl against Texas. He's
number thirty four. Avery Johnson number thirty three from Kansas State.
But they were all put into a group called most
Important players in the Big twelve race. The next group
was the most important players in the ACC race. Number
thirty two. Darien Menzev Duke, number thirty one. Miller Moss,

(01:32:27):
the quarterback from Louisville or transferred from USC number thirty,
Ruben Bain from Miami number twenty nine, Kevin Jennings of SMU.
The next group was called pure transcendence potential, and it's
a mixture, so it has like Leonard Moore and or
Christian Gray of Notre Dame at twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (01:32:47):
And then they list others.

Speaker 3 (01:32:48):
Who could be in that group, and in that others
Anthony Hill, the Texas linebacker, Colin Simmons, the edge rusher
for Texas among those listed in that but they also
list Ryan Williams of Alabama. They also list Peter Woods
and or TJ. Parker of Clemson at twenty six, Caleb

(01:33:08):
Downs of Ohio State at twenty five, and Jeremiah Smith
of Ohio stated number twenty four. Then it is grizzled
old spoiler quarterbacks at twenty two and twenty three. Number
twenty three is Haines King, the former Longview low bow
and Jackson's Aggie who's still playing, still chucking it for
Georgia Tech Diego Pavia remember him from Vanderbilt won a

(01:33:30):
court battle to keep some eligibility going, and so he'll
be here in Austin later in the season. Then is
more most important non quarterback transfers Number twenty one is
Dylan Feinman of Oregon, Zachariah Branch of Georgia at twenty,

(01:33:53):
and Mackay Hughes of Oregon at nineteen. The next group
potential stars in need of a break through number eighteen
Harold Perkins of LSU, seventeen Danny Dunnis, Dennis Sutton of
Penn State, and sixteen Antonio Williams Bryant Westco Junior or TJ.
Moore of Clemson. Then you get to young, experienced or

(01:34:14):
new quarterbacks with both spoiler and contender potential. Austin Simmons
of Ole Miss at fifteen, Marcel Reid of A and
M at fourteen, John Matteer of Oklahoma thirteen, d J.
Lagway of Florida, twelve of the Leonoris Sellers of South
Carolina at eleven. Did you notice every single one of
those quarterbacks are SEC quarterbacks. Then you get the quarterbacks

(01:34:37):
with a potential game changing leap in them number ten
Carson Beck Miami, you transferred obviously from Georgia. Garrett Nussmeyer
of LSU at nine, Kay Klubnick, the Westlake graduate of
Clemson at eight, Drew Aller of Penn State their quarterback
at number seven, who, by the way, was number two
two years ago, number five last year, but he's number

(01:34:59):
seven now. And then finally, the last group is new
starting quarterbacks for likely contenders for a national title. Julian's
saying of Ohio State, we'll see if he wins the job.
He's number six, number five, Dante More of Oregon, number four.

Speaker 2 (01:35:17):
CJ.

Speaker 3 (01:35:18):
Carve Notre Dame, number three, Ty Simpson of Alabama, number two,
Gunner Stockton of Georgia, and yes, number one of the
most impactful players is Arch Manning. So the most important players,
they say, the forty most important players in college football
in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:35:38):
And it's a unique list. But I'll tell you what.

Speaker 3 (01:35:41):
The athletic had an even more unique list, and it's
not necessarily about important players. We'll tell you about that
when we come back on thirteen under the Zone the program.
I'm glad to have you with us this after day.
I just ran down that list. That ESPN list is
the top the forty most important players in college football.
The only the only problem that I have with that
is that I didn't think it was a true ranking

(01:36:04):
of the forty most important players in college football. And
the reason why I say that is because it grouped
them by like say, new quarterbacks who could make an impact,
or old veteran quarterbacks, or these are the best players
in the ACC who could make an impact, and so
on and so forth. But it's pretty good representative left.

(01:36:26):
It's a good cross section. And the one thing I've
learned over years, this is what makes the sporting life.
One of the things that makes the sporting life great,
one of the things that makes a lot of fun
to be involved with is that you have so many
divergent opinions on a variety of things, best teams, best athletes,
best games, best coaches, best moments, all of those kinds

(01:36:49):
of things. And because we have so many different opinions
on those, I think it just makes for you know,
more of the beauty of it, of getting a chance
to enjoy it. So with that in mind, there is

(01:37:09):
another list. This one is more of just a flat
out list, and it's from the Athletic and it was
put together by Bruce.

Speaker 2 (01:37:18):
Felman, you know, the national college football writer.

Speaker 3 (01:37:22):
And Bruce can get out there sometimes some of the
stuff he, you know, whatever, reports on might be like,
you know, but what he did was he put together
a list. And he's been doing this for twenty years.
I don't know if you know this, he's been doing it.
You know, he wrote for What USA Today, He's written

(01:37:42):
for several other publications, so because the Athletic hadn't.

Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
Been around that long.

Speaker 3 (01:37:47):
Although it's really really good, I enjoy so much that
the athletic has to offer. But he says, he wrote,
He said, even though I've been reporting this list two
thousand and five, I'm still blown away numerous times while
working on this project with what I hear about some
of the amazing things college football players have done or

(01:38:08):
can do. I rely on the intel from coaches, schools, teammates, parents.
See that's I think out there a little bit, NFL scouts,
NFL Scout, and combined trainers and agents. As you can see,
the hardest part of this project is keeping it to
one hundred. To think, when I first started the list,
there are only ten.

Speaker 2 (01:38:29):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:38:30):
This list is called the Freaks List, and what it
does is it chronicles the strongest, fastest, and most physical
players in college football. Now, like I said, there's some
of the things that Bruce Fellow will write on that
I'm a little like and when he mentioned that one
of his sources are parents, he loses me a little

(01:38:53):
bit there. But coaches, schools, teammates, NFL scouts, combine, trainers,
and agents.

Speaker 2 (01:38:58):
I get all that. I believe that.

Speaker 3 (01:39:00):
So he's got his list of what's called the Freak List,
and it's actually one hundred and one.

Speaker 2 (01:39:10):
So it's one hundred and one, and.

Speaker 3 (01:39:12):
He actually it's really you know, it's one hundred and one,
and then he adds there might be a few freaky
athletes are expecting to see on here who aren't, but
there's different reasons for it. So, for example, we mentioned
Notre Dame's running back Jeremiah Love when high school won
the Missouri state one hundred meters title by running a

(01:39:34):
ten point seventy six. Notre Dame staff has been very
helpful in getting me the best information possible for the
Freaks List over the years. This summer they sent over
their info and I noticed Love wasn't on there. I
asked about him and was told it because he was
in a recovery phase of his training and was not
at full go. His numbers do not reflect what he's
actually capable of doing. So he's obviously an elite athlete

(01:39:56):
and a fantastic running back, but that's why he's not
on here. So that's an example of why some guys
might not be on there. And then there's guys. And
I'm not obviously not going to read every name on
this list, and I'm not even going to read all
the the specs on even some of these guys, but
I will tell you if you, for example, if.

Speaker 2 (01:40:15):
You want to know who the.

Speaker 3 (01:40:17):
Freaks List version of Mister Irrelevant would be the last
one on the list. Number one on one is Jamichael
mcgoy junior, who's a corner for you Team Martin that's
in the Ohio Valley Conference FCS. Number one hundred would
be Abe Williams of New Mexico, a cornerback and a
kick return. Okay, so that's like one hundred and ninety nine, right,

(01:40:38):
and then just moving down the line from then, and
like for example, number ninety four, this includes FCS players.
Number ninety four is Jalen Walthall, who is a wide
receiver at Incarnate Word. Six one and a half one
hundred ninety eight pounds, won a Texas state title in
the triple jump.

Speaker 2 (01:40:57):
Began his college career at Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (01:40:59):
In his first season at UIW had seventy catches for
twelve hundred andninighty yards and fourteen touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (01:41:04):
Last season.

Speaker 3 (01:41:05):
He also vertical jumped forty inches this summer and broad
jump ten to seven. He's also at twenty two miles
per hour on the GPS and power clean two hundred
ninety pounds. That's the definition of someone on the freak list.
So Baron Tipton from North Texas is just ahead of
him at number ninety three. A guy who's a wide
receiver at sixty five to eleven. He's broad jumped ten five,

(01:41:28):
vertical jump forty one inches, power clean three point fifteen
clock the one point four to three second ten yard
time with a ten yard run up. So's that's what
is meant by the Freaks List. These guys that are
freakish athletes. Here's one that'll interest you. Brennan Thompson at
Mississippi State.

Speaker 2 (01:41:47):
Remember him.

Speaker 3 (01:41:49):
He spent three seasons at Oklahoma before transferring to Mississippi State.
But Brendan Thompson, who's from Spearman, was a Texas long
worn before he transferred to Mississippi State. Former high school
quarterback He's number ninety one on that list. Other guys,
Davian Carter of Texas Tech offensive lineman is number eighty
eight on the list. Number eighty two from Oklahoma, Robert

(01:42:13):
Spears Jennings defensive back. Howard Sampson, Texas Tech offensive tackle
is number eighty on the list. Trey Williams North Texas
tight end number seventy seven on the list. A guy
we'll see in Austin September, Zakwi Lawton of sam Houston
offensive tackle is number seventy six on the list. And

(01:42:34):
then just quickly going down the line to give you
a couple of other names that you may recognize on
down the list. At number I had him here in
front of me, pull him. At number fifty five is

(01:42:55):
Oklahoma running back Jayden Ott.

Speaker 2 (01:42:58):
May see him this season.

Speaker 3 (01:43:00):
There's several SEC players the longest, Josh Cameron, the Baylor
wide receiver put returner from Cedar Park, is number forty
nine on the list. At number forty three is David Bailey,
Texas Tech outside linebacker. At number forty is Jane Woods,
Florida's edge rusher. Let's see a couple others down in

(01:43:22):
the thirties. Leonora Sellers, the South Carolina quarterback as thirty three,
Chris Hilton, the LSU wide receivers number thirty two on
this list, and then it goes down into the twenties
and nobody. Daniel Heishaw, the Kansas running back, is number twenty.

(01:43:44):
I remember seeing him a couple of years ago. Parker
Brails for the Alabama center is number twenty on the list.
The top one hundred and one freak. Trevor Gooseby is
ranked number seven. The Texas offensive tackle on the Freak's list.

(01:44:04):
Eli Stowers, the Vanderbilt tight end, former Texas and quarterback
remember from Denton Geier. He's number fifteen on the list.
And then finally into the top ten, you got Ohio State, Auburn,
Penn State, Iowa, LSU, Peter Woods and Clemson at five,
Amari Washington and Oregon at four, Nick Harver, South Carolina

(01:44:28):
at three, Cayden Proctor of Alabama number two, and the
number one on the freak list is Jeremiah Smith of
Ohio State. So there you have it, just the one
long worn there, Trevor Gooseby. All Right, we'll map up
today's edition in the program. I'm thirteen under the zone,