Citrus Bowl Takeaways, NFL Playoffs Finalized, SEC Basketball Underway

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
UPCMPY World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. It's the cheese at
Cipress Bowl. The Texas Large against the Michigan Wolverine hand
off and to the right side. Park breaks the tack
of midfield forty five down the sidelines of forty and
so the Michigan thirty yard line stepped out at the
thirty one to be exact forced down by Paul Sullivan.
That's another twenty two yard gain on third down. On

(00:39):
third down as the snap drops, the snap picked it
up in Trebland sack. Colin Simmons got him once Underwood
dropped the stamp. He picked it up. Simmons did the
rest and he drops Bryce Underwood for a loss on
first town in Golfer, Texas. And it's a handoff Park
to the left side for the gold line touchdown Texas.

(01:01):
The lawboards get it in and the end zone around
the corner and in for the score pro Texas as
Christian Clark first down in ten Texas and the Michigan
seventeen mark remains the running back off set to the
left side of Arch. Many play action. Arch looks to
throw steps up in the pocket, sends it twion so.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
I've got a man off the top and touchdown.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Texas Jack andrees down between a couple of Wolverine defenders.
Manning found and put that ball right in the slot
for a seventeen yard touchdown. Hand off for the white
shide Coastal trying to cut outside ty.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Anthony spins running him down behind. That'll be a loss.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Hi Anthony really turning on the jets of the softboard
from Jasper, drops Bryce and Kuzzdog for a loss of
three yards. It'll bring up third down, second out and
ten at the Michigan twenty three Manny pass the snap,
Arch looks to throw, steps up, he'll take off. Here's
arts till the twenty to the fifteenth down with the
tent down with the five touchdown, Texas Arch Manning with

(02:01):
the legs twenty three to the house and the long
orange are back in front. So now third down and
seventeen from Michigan at the Texas twenty five yard lock,
Rice underwent out of the shotgun. Underwood has the step back,
the throw looks sends it up the sideline. That passenger
scept it. Horn Now Mack with the pick back outside

(02:23):
still on his feet, hit hard. They'll go down back
of the five yard line, but Warnell Mack comes in
with the pick. Second down play acts passed down field
looking for rocket.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
He caught it.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
He caught it.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Touchdown Texas. The freshman Dully Rockett a thirty yards break
down the boundary to Manning, who rocked it right in
the bucket and the Longbarns moved back in front.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Second down and four from Michigan. Two receivers outline right,
two on the short sade of field, split left, Underwood
out of the gun. Let's look for Texas. Underwood has
it hands off, did trouble and drop for the walls
to play made by Brad Spence as he promp cuts
off for a loss of four. Two receivers on either
side of the field. On third down, Underwood out of

(03:09):
the gun, halfs the snap blitz coming and he fires
up with the middle of the field intercepted.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
Picked up at.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Midfield, still on his feet, tie Anthony Smith and the.

Speaker 5 (03:18):
Law boards get a huge turnover.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
They'll have the football Christian Clark back on the field
of running back off set to the left side of
Arch Manning and on first down it's Manning and the zign.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
Keeper straight up the middle Manning say good night to it.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Sixty yards to the house. Arch Manning a dagger in
the hearts.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Set it down a four shotgun snap Underwood's plumps, looks
under pressure, hit as he prows, and that's intercepted.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Ty Anthony Smith his second pick of the ball game.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Smith, running loudly, came right in.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
He caught it him full stride before he stepped down
the bounds and the low boards have their third takeaway
one with this third interceptions, Ty Anthony.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Spit pulls down his second pick of the ball game.
Mason Chipley a fifty two yard field goal trip from
the left hat. Good snap and hold the kick on
the way. Blundy a leg The kick.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Is god Shipley rides it through and the law Warns
are up fourteen with three thirty six remaining in the
ball games.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Manning looks up at that scoreboard. Actually, it's gonna be
Matthew Caldwell coming in to take that snap, and Caudwell
will put down the knee and that is gonna do it.
The law Morns are gonna win this football game. The
Gator eight bath. The long Worts head coach Steve Sarkeesian,
cheeseys All that's trying to get the cheez in coming.
That's right, and nothing cheesy about this win. Texas gets

(04:50):
the win and they concluded long the high notes final
score from here at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
The Texas lawmorn It's forty one, the Michigan Wilvereves twenty seven.

(05:12):
So it was a successful ending to the twenty twenty
five college football season for the Texas Longhorns, if not
completely the success story Texas wanted, obviously not making it
to the College Football Playoff, but finishing it with the
bowl victory, finishing with ten wins, and now it's on
the twenty twenty six, but there's a lot to get to.

(05:33):
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the program here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred, The Zone and where you always
listen to us for free on the iHeartRadio app. My
name is Craig Way. Glad to have you with us.
Hope your holiday season went well, the Christmas, the New Year's,
all of that stuff, and now we're into January twenty
twenty six. Headlong, we of course includes the producer Jay Carman.

(05:57):
Your holiday season.

Speaker 5 (05:58):
Went well, I take it, Yeah, yeah, it was. It
was great.

Speaker 6 (06:01):
I split my time in DC and Houston and of
course here in Austin in between swinging back through to
hold down the Ford and help out with the Citrus
Bowl pregame festivities. So a lot of traveling, a lot
of family time, and it was it was a success.
Minus my stomach bug.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, for folks that didn't here. When I was on
the other day with Jake, he reportedly had a stomach
bug deal. But you came through it, Okay.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
I came through it.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (06:26):
You know, by the time I chatted with you, I
was the worst of it. The worst of it had passed,
and I was just waiting for that appetite to come back.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
And it came back with a vengeance.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
So was there any any theory on what caused? Was
there a specific thing or you just think it was
just a bug.

Speaker 6 (06:44):
Just a bug, no flu. I know, because I got tested.
I felt pretty bad for a couple of days.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Okay, okay, Well, good that you're back, Good that you're
one hundred percent again. The uh did you have any
travel issues in terms of the flying You flew to DC?
You flew, did you you fly to Houston, drive to Houston,
would you do with that?

Speaker 6 (07:02):
Drove to Houston, flew to DC, and flew with my
girlfriend for the first time.

Speaker 5 (07:07):
Yeah, interesting experience.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
What way?

Speaker 1 (07:11):
What way?

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Well?

Speaker 5 (07:13):
I for one, really enjoyed it.

Speaker 6 (07:15):
But she maybe likes flying solo, you know, wants to
be on her own schedule.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
The jaggravator. Did you you were nagging her about stuff?
Are you bothering her?

Speaker 6 (07:24):
I'm a polite seat mate, I'm easy going, Okay. I
gave her pushback on how early she wanted to arrive. Oh, really,
that might have been okay, the first Domino.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
How early did she want to arrive?

Speaker 6 (07:35):
She wanted to be there about an hour and a
half before the flight. We weren't checking backs. I told her,
we've got pre checked an hour before we board. Will
do just fine.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Okay, I'm I'm going to kind of side with her
on that deal, only because I've been through some of
the airport nightmares, which I'm going to share one in
the three o'clock hour as it relates to Texas women's basketball,
which almost didn't get on the air the other night.
No k yours night. I'll I am exaggerating a little.
It got dicey as to be able to get on

(08:07):
the air in time for the game. That's I'll leave
it at that, and in the three o'clock hour we'll
hear from Vick Schaeffer and we'll you know, i'll relay
the story because holiday travel, as we know, can be
quite the issue. But good, all right, I'm glad. So
so you were like, no, no, we're one o'clock with

(08:28):
now that' one hour out. So that was flying from Austin,
you're saying.

Speaker 5 (08:31):
Flying from Austin as well as flying from Dulles at DC.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
Okay, It's been a long time since I've flown flown
in the Dulles, so I don't know what it's like there.
I know what it's like at this airport. And unless
you've got t SA pre check and or priority boarding
and in my case, in a lot of times are
clear or one of those others, you're setting yourself up
for for a lot of tension. So, okay, I get

(08:56):
what you're saying. Maybe we lucked out, all right, So
it all worked out though, right remarkably. Yeah, Okay, very
few delays. Okay, all right, that's good to know. Now
that we've got all that settled, there's a lot to
get to on the program today, not only Longhorn Football
and where it all goes in terms of the portal

(09:18):
and the guys who are coming back and those who aren't.
All that sort of stuff we're going to hear from.
And these would be from the postgame interviews following the
ball game, because I thought it was kind of important.
One is Kaleik Lockett, because his story is pretty interesting

(09:40):
and to hear him talk about it. Remember the interview
we had with Ryan Niblett when he talked about how
he's ready to walk out and so I kind of
talked him into staying and all that kind of stuff.
I don't know that it ever got to that point
with Khalik Lockett, but he was kind of down in
the dumps and he kind of explains it, and that
was one of the postgame conversations that And then I

(10:01):
want you to hear the postgame interview we did with
Sark after the game. Normally on a Monday, we usually
don't air that because we have the Sark News Conference
coming up at eleven o'clock in the mornings. On Mondays
following games, obviously we don't have that the season is over.
But in addition to that reason The other reason would

(10:21):
be you can hear his happiness, elation, relief and determination
in his voice about where this program has got to
go and where he plans to take it. So we're
gonna hear that postgame conversation with Sark. And for those

(10:43):
who are going well, if it's a postgame interview, let
me tell you the way he ended it. I've had
several people come up to me and ask me if
they could re err it on their podcast and who
to give on air credit to you, the courtesy of

(11:04):
which is you know, long Warn Radio network from Learfield,
but that kind of thing. So I've had several media
outlet's ask me about it. So anyway, you'll hear it
coming up on the program this afternoon. Also, end of
the NFL regular season. What an ending to the NFL

(11:26):
regular season, I'll clear this, get this out of the way.
Happy as a Rams fan that they finished with a
five seed. I thought they were going to be locked
into the six. But once the forty nine Ers lost
to the Seahawks had opened the door for them to
get in there on the tie break, and even then
they kind of scuffled around and played with their food
a little bit with the Cardinals yesterday before they kicked
it in the high gear late third quarter into the

(11:47):
fourth quarter to pull away. They're the five seed to
go into the fourth seed to play an eight to
nine Carolina Panthers team. The Rams finished twelve and five
and they're gonna play in Charlotte. But that's the way
it works with the winning a division has to means something.
And this is like the fifth time in NFL history
that a team with the losing record has won its division.
And the cream has always risen to the top. They

(12:09):
never gotten beyond the division round. They have won wild
card games, but they have never the team with the
losing record, but they've never won, and they've never never
gotten to a conference championship game. So there's that. But
there is the end of the Dallas Cowboys season, so
we'll hear from Brian Schottenheimer on that. With that, then

(12:29):
Demico Ryans. The Texans finished with a nine game winning streak.
They're going into the playoffs. They are the five seed
because Jacksonville finished its run. Jacksonville will be the three seed,
and Jacksonville won the AFC South. The Texans wind up
as the five seed, and who boy where they're going.

(12:50):
If you didn't see the end of the Pittsburgh Baltimore
game last night, we'll get to that as well, because
that was high drama the way it ended at what
is it called Akuascher Stadium. I think it's called Pittsburgh's Stadium,
this student accuser, I believe it's called. So it was

(13:11):
quite the ending to the regular season. Seeds are all set.
We'll go through all of that. So we've got a
lot to get to on the program this afternoon. Glad
to have you with us. He and before we get
to the break, this is what I mean about two things.
One the opportunity for you to listen to us for
free all the time on the iHeartRadio app. That's one thing.

(13:31):
And then the other thing is our talkback feature, our
talkback microphone, which we use as the tool, the pathway,
if you will, for you to reach out to us
voice your opinion on anything, or when we're contesting, to
have a contest when we use that. So there's that,
but it's mainly there for you to reach out and

(13:54):
let us know what's on your mind, like what this
guy did. This was right before Christmas and it was
worth uh playing just as an example of how you
have the floor, so to speak.

Speaker 7 (14:06):
Hey guys, I'm traveling to Mississippi to attend a funeral,
and the only thing that's making this trip worthwhile is
I'm able to listen to you guys with my iHeart
radio app. And the trip is just so much better
because of it. Happy holidays, Thank you for what you do.
Looking forward to hearing more.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
All right, So that's an example. It was very nice
for that gentleman to tell us that. So, and I'm
not saying only use the thing to send us flowers
or whatever. Compliment is what if you've if you've got
a grumble or something like that, that that's fine.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
If you don't like the way Craig pronounces something, there
you go, for example, there you go.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
You can you let us let me know the proleen man, Yes,
the probleen prelen thing, because because in New Orleans down there,
they do say probleen. In Texas they say prelink. So
I'm never even heard of them growing up in North Carolina.
Until I got out to Texas, I never heard of
pralines or prolens. You know, blue Bell calls it praleens
and cream they're ice cream so that's a Texan pronunciation.

(15:12):
But Texans, you know, some of the towns in Texas
are pronounced ways that you wouldn't imagine, like Bernie instead
of born b o E r n E or refurri
o r E f u g i O, not refuge
oh or refuge, it's refuri.

Speaker 8 (15:30):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
You know Waksahatchie. When we first got out Texas, my
dad said, it looks like Waxahachie, not Waksahatchie. But that's
how it's pronounced. Uh, maynor, not manor you know Texas.

Speaker 9 (15:42):
You know.

Speaker 6 (15:42):
I remember my first time on the air in any
kind of live broadcast. It's called high school football at
the field in Flugerville with h with Brad Kelner. Yeah,
and I was doing color for the game. I was
doing a halftime hit as well, going through an out
of town score right, And the look on his face

(16:02):
as I attempted to pronounce these towns is a moment
that I'll never forget and also the most read my
face has ever turned in the middle of a segment.
A valuable lesson for a nineteen year old broadcaster new
to a state.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
There are things you can do online where they have
Texas town pronunciation guides. Now they used to be a
little pamphlet I remember when I worked in Dallas. But yeah, yeah,
it's a helpful thing to learn because the pronunciations in
Texas can be a lot different.

Speaker 6 (16:33):
Austin High Connolly Charles Wright outdueled a Connolly team that
included Jday.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Baron, there you go, there you go, all right, coming up,
we'll get to some NFL here. Glad to have you
with us on a Monday in the New Year on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone and guess where
you always listen to us for free on the iHeartRadio app.
We're starting a new week, new year. But I hear this.

(17:02):
I hear the Rolling Stones and the Steel Wheels tour,
and I think that was my concert ending days. And
I worked with the Stones this tour in Dallas and
in the Superdome in New Orleans, and they were firing
off fireworks at the end of the show inside the
Louisiana Superdome, which is now I guess the Caesar's Superdome. Smoky, Yeah,

(17:24):
it was. It was some of that. I always remember
the sound check guy coming out to do the sound check,
the roadie coming out there, going should do be?

Speaker 4 (17:32):
Should do be?

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Shattered? Shattered? Similars, similars, should do be? Rice crispies who
all right? All right? Always always one of those things
that just sticks in your mind of the time of
the Stones were on that tour back in December of
nineteen eighty one, is when I was in college, all right,
Like I said, starting up a new week and a

(17:57):
new year with a look back at how the twenty
twenty five college football season ended. It ended on an
up note for the Taxes Long Orange who won the
Chiefs at Citrus Ball. I liked how the fact how
the Long WRN players were they accepted what it was. Ultimately, yes,
everybody knows this, your captain. Obvious statement is they wanted

(18:19):
to be in the college football playoff. We know that.
Having said that and not having the opportunity to playing
the playoff, they went about their business for the Citrus
Bowl with serious preparation, and they leaned into the bowl activities,
going with the kids over the amusement park, doing all
that kind of stuff. And they played with that intensity

(18:40):
and ferocity. In fact, both teams did. That's why I
got a little chippy at times and almost a couple
of fights. All the guys who were there playing in it,
it looked like were really invested in the game.

Speaker 6 (18:50):
Yeah, so much for bull season dying off right, And
like you told everyone before break, if you don't care
about the Bulls, if you want to complain about the Bulls,
don't watch. If fans didn't watch this game, they missed out.
It was an entertaining product and for Texas, like you said,
a good note to end on a forty seven.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Thousand fans in a fifty thousand seed stadium. So it
wasn't a half full stadium or anything like that. And
the guys worked at it very very hard to get
the win. Among those was freshman wide receiver Khalik Lockett.
He was a five star coming out of Saxy and
had pretty much had to accept a backup role because

(19:29):
of Ryan Wingo and Parker Livingston and you know, DeAndre
Moore and they had play got that Dylan McCutchen was
coming along, so Lockett got limited duty, but he got
out there, wound up having a because of the long worns,
depletion through the portal and opt outs for the draft
that he you know, played a big part of it,

(19:50):
called that thirty yard touchdown, as it was a huge
point in the ballgame when the long Wrns came back
down to retake the lead from Michigan. So he reflected
on what he had to go through in his freshman campaign,
coming in as a highly heralded guy, as well as
making that big play in the game. When Will Matthews
started off our conversation with him, with Roger Wallace joining

(20:11):
me as well, I'll start with the obvious. Take us
through the touchdown catch and and what you saw on
the call and and everything that went through it.

Speaker 10 (20:19):
Ah man, uh so regular RPO play, you know, art
Gator signal.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
It was.

Speaker 10 (20:26):
It was just like every regular day of practice. He
threw the bomb and man, that same spin and I
haven't got the you know, as many opportunities, you know,
as I would would have wanted this year, but you
know I had to make this when I had to
make the opportunity count.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Caught it touchdown. That's pretty good. That that's a that's
a pretty good call there.

Speaker 11 (20:55):
Hey Khalik, what is the last the last few weeks
been like for you? Knowing you probably are gonna get
some more chances and then in the game you got
am it going down? In the first half, Wingo was
a little a little banged up. How does that kind
of change your thought process knowing that something that you
might be called upon to make a huge play like that.

Speaker 10 (21:14):
Well, well, what people don't know is me and Wingo
we've been working on you know, my uh you know,
on my releases, you know, and you know other route
combinations of the route tree, and uh, Coach Jackson has
really been a you know, a great help and.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Uh damn have been a long time.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Yeah right, I'll tell you what, Kalik, you did a
pretty good job of a play call. I want you
to listen to the actual call and then and then, uh,
Will Matthews, you have to describe Colick's reaction to this.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
So here now you guys like this.

Speaker 12 (21:49):
This guy is just so excited right now about this opportunity.
I think it's all coming full circle today, this whole year,
being young and getting this opportunity.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
Tell us about it, you.

Speaker 10 (22:02):
Know, coming in as a five star, you know, I
was expecting. I was expecting to come out of high
school and play right of way.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, but I.

Speaker 10 (22:10):
Took a real humbling experience this season. Coach Sark, Coach Jackson,
you know, they I know. I know that They're not
going to put me out there on the field if
I'm not ready. So they put me out there at
the right time, and I made that play happen.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
Well, I'll tell you what clique. I want you to
listen to the highlight and then and then will I
want you to describe the expression you see from colleague.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
Here.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Here's the call as it happened on the field. They
listened for the highlight here, second down play action passed
down field looking for rocket.

Speaker 3 (22:39):
He caught it.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
He caught it, touchdown Texas the freshman colleague Rockett, a
thirty yards strike down the boundary from Manning who dropped
it right in the bucket and the long orange group
back in front.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
Okay, will yeah, describe the reaction they're from police?

Speaker 12 (22:56):
What the Well, the reaction was just totally authentic, almost
as if he was reliving that moment again. I'm sure
you have heard that a thousand times in high school,
but coming to college and needing to feel that feeling
and do that talk about when you caught that ball
and you hit the ground, like what it felt inside.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Man, I forgot how I took down felt so long? Man?

Speaker 10 (23:21):
It felt like it felt like I was supposed to
be in there. But then once I got in there
and I got on the sideline, I noticed that I
do this all the time. Yeah, I just needed a
reminder that I'm that gospel well and in.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
Cleete, that this is something that you take as as
as as a tool that's a token on into the
off season workouts and spring practice and all that stuff
for next year. And now that you have proven it
to other people what you do all along, that you
were capable of doing.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
That, right, Oh, yes, sir, for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Well that's terrific. Hey, Cleik, we thank you for joining
us and brass it's on the big catch and in
the wind of that, Yes, sir, thank you for having
me so kind of a refreshing statement, so to speak.
Hearing from Khaligue Lockett and what it meant to him
being in there. So he's obviously planning on staying. Others,
of course, have talked about, you know, their future being elsewhere.

(24:17):
Of course. The transfer portal opened on Friday, but players
had been announcing their intentions to transfer really you know,
starting from the end of the regular season. By midday
on Day one, more than forty five hundred Division one
college football players entered the transfer portal, So players have

(24:40):
between now and January sixteenth to enter their name to transfer.
Doesn't mean they have to find their new schools by then,
and it also didn't mean that you can't return to
their previous schools. Several do that. That's even happened at Texas,
so it could happen that way. But you have to
be in the portal by the sixteenth.

Speaker 6 (24:56):
And there are a couple of Longhorns who entered the
portal that already have announced new destinations. Connor Strow has
committed to Kansas. That happened I believe yesterday. Jared Gibson
is going to Purdue, among a couple of others.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, so you know there's a going Parker Livingston announced
the other day he was going in. There's several guys
that obviously are going in the port of I think
the last count was thirteen or fourteen, something like that.

Speaker 6 (25:22):
And Livingston right now on three projecting him to Indiana.
We know he's also talked to several other schools.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Right exactly in terms of you know, the quarterbacks who
have entered her name. Nashally and the portal Brendan Sowersby
is going to Texas Tech, leaving Cincinnati, going from one
Big twelve school to another. Sam Levitt, the Arizona State quarterback,
they thought that he might wind up at Texas Tech,

(25:51):
but not the case, so he'll transfer somewhere. Drew Messamaker
from North Texas, as many expected and thought, is going
to be following his head coach at North Texas, Eric Morris,
to Oklahoma State.

Speaker 13 (26:03):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
They're waiting to see about Caleb Hawkins, the outstanding running back.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
Josh Hoover from TCU will be heading to Bloomington.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah. Uh so so that's two going then to Indiana
or Bloomington, Illinois talking Indiana, Yeah, yeah, Illinois would be
Champagne Arbana.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Byron Brown. Uh it will be transferring from South Florida
Rock Obeck following his head coach at Campbell to Penn State.
Dylan Royola, the Nebraska quarterback, is transferring out uh at
d J. Lagway transferring out of Florida. Kenny Minsche is

(26:43):
transferring from Notre Dame to Nebraska. Jaden Craig from Harvard
is transferring to TCU. Aiden Childs is leaving Michigan State.
Aaron Filo is leaving Georgia Tech, Deuce Knight is leaving Auburn.
Austin Simmons, as we know, is leaving Ole Miss. He
started the season as the old Miss Rebels starting quarterback

(27:04):
and then of course got hurt in Trinidad. Chandlers just
took over and has relinquished that job. Chadlis By the way,
has said that if his waiver goes through for another
season of eligibility, that he will return to Ole Miss
if the waiver is okay, So he's agreed to a

(27:25):
new deal that would have him return if the NCAA
approves his penning waiver for a six season of eligibility.
He took over for Austin Simmons in the third game,
held onto the job, completing sixty six percent of his passes.
Named SEC Newcomer of the Year, he was the eighth
in the heuts been voting, and there was speculation he
might enter the portal, maybe join Lane Kiffin down at LSU,

(27:45):
but he had started his career at Farris State, where
they won two national championships at the D two level
in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four, so there's
no word yet on whether he'll be eligible. We know this,
he has at least one more game in the semi
finals of the college football Playoff in the Fiesta Bowl

(28:06):
when they play against Miami.

Speaker 6 (28:09):
Unbelievable. You get to see a lot of that Georgia
Ole Miss game.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Well, I had it on on my iPad while calling
the women's basketball game, and then when I got on
the plane to get rigod watch the last like ten
minutes of the game on my phone before we took off,
while they were still loading the plane and all that.
It was an amazing ending to it. We're gonna talk
more about that coming up in the three o'clock at

(28:33):
four o'clock hour. The college football Playoff and down to
the final four. Up next Inconceivable for a Monday here
on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the
iHeart Radio app. We're happy to join us. We're underway
here in Austin, and Old Miss controls the tip harm
and again with it on the left side, rolls a
dribble to the right wing, sends the pass of the

(28:54):
cutting Pooker, scores off the glass. Lattimore looking you're still
looking for a target, sends it across It's pick off
by Hut Ashton Will laid off the glass pissed it,
but the Hartman's there for the foot pack bounds pass
to the right side. Ashton Judge sends it in to
Booker posting lows fins, turns to the ball, knock out
of her hands, got it back, goes up strong and
that scores off the glass against Laddimal Booker, looking toward

(29:16):
George Lee, still holding it, now drives down the three
on the shot clock. She's got a hurry along the
baseline of Hartman launches at the shot.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Crack buzzer and knocks it down. There's harmon Lee pass
into the front court.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Maddison Booker on the left side sends it underneath the
cutting and who scores off the glass. The arch Texas
with the basketball into the frontal left wide open to
shoot the three George Lee and she buries him. Madison
Booker has it upside bounce pass in the old acres
slipped behind and.

Speaker 13 (29:40):
Laid it in.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
Rory on the dribble to the left side, now rolls
the dribble back to the right. It's parted by down
in the shields trying to drive on her and the
steps back flips the pass into the paint. Old Acre
posting low against the bucket and one the fowl will
be on des Ray Kiles Kila just got great position
in the block. He's got the spin to turn around,
the bucket off the glass and one tarmin roll to
the right side of the Booker. It's Madison trying to

(30:02):
drive squares something with the foutline chuck or good great.

Speaker 5 (30:05):
Answer by Brooklyn. Texas has got to get a stop
and just continue to get stops. Craig without vouling.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
Down the tent on the shot clock. Jordan trying to
drive in around driving in trouble.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
Pop the glass.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
It's good as she's fouled. Great body controlled by Jordan
Lee got the bucket and one out the jug Ashley
on the dribble, rolls it back to the right side, spins, turns,
goes around. Lattimore scores at his ball points seven of
the gold would text us up three Christina Waller the
inbound per ale miss Rooking. Rooking sends it in a

(30:39):
three pointer up. It's rude after front iron McMahon narrowly
misstying the score, but the Longborns get the wind. They're
two to zero. In SCC play take a deep breath
right to the who.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
We turned that into a party X.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
On the afternoon, we began hour number two here on
sports Radio AM thirteen one hundred The Zone with an
air tight win, or at least an air tight finish
to the win for the Texas women's basketball team yesterday
afternoon at Moody Center, hour number two of the program.

(31:16):
Craig Way alongside the producer Jay Carmon. Glad to have
you with us as well. We'll talk long worn men's
and women's basketball also NFL, now that the playoff picture
is completely set and the schedule is set, will do
all of that. But you heard the tightness of that game.
Texas actually led by nineteen points early in the third quarter.

(31:37):
They were up forty two to twenty three, and then
they started missing shots, and Ole miss started making shots
and getting some drives to the bucket, and they wound
up doing what they had to do to get close
and actually had a chance to tie on that inbounds
and you heard the call there a three point turnaround
shot and it was close but missed, and Texas, some

(32:00):
might say, escape. They got to win sixty seven to
sixty four. Here are the thoughts from long onrne's head
coach Vick Shaffer.

Speaker 13 (32:07):
Just giving God glory for seventeen and oh, you know,
it's a learning experience today. Really proud of our kids
finding a way to to get through a really difficult
fourth quarter.

Speaker 14 (32:21):
You have to give old miscredit.

Speaker 13 (32:24):
You know, those kids didn't quit, and you know, we
had some really uncharacteristic things happened that I'm extremely disappointed in,
and you know, those things can't happen.

Speaker 14 (32:34):
You know, toughness comes in all forms.

Speaker 13 (32:37):
It's physical, it's mental, and we just really had some
we had some mental breakdowns, especially in that fourth quarter
where we were turning the ball over, they were going
down and laying it in.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
We you know, we.

Speaker 13 (32:52):
Smoked some layups. You know, just really struggled in the
fourth quarter. And we had shared the ball so well
the first half.

Speaker 14 (33:03):
I think everybody would agree we.

Speaker 13 (33:05):
Were really special that first half, held them to four
points in the second quarter, really locked them down. Playing
so hard to Jordan, I'm sure is exhausted. She played
forty minutes guarded their best player. Still went six for twelve,
two for six from three, three for three.

Speaker 14 (33:19):
At the line. She got four rebounds.

Speaker 13 (33:21):
I asked her to get four today, and so you
know it's I'm not gonna sid here in a layment.
Y'all can pick it apart all you want. It's a
win in the SEC. It's a ranked team again, you know,
but I think there's a lot of learning that we
can get from it. We'll watch the film a film

(33:42):
don't lie, and you know, we'll have to look ourselves
in the mirror, and myself.

Speaker 14 (33:47):
Included a lot of times I don't call time out.

Speaker 13 (33:50):
So I got a lot of faith in these kids,
and you know I tonight we just we didn't really
execute very well in certain situation. Then boy, you know
we did in some Jordan had an incredible and one
book had a really big shot down the stretch that
we had to have.

Speaker 14 (34:06):
And that's what you want.

Speaker 13 (34:08):
You want those kids being solid and finishing, and you
know that's what I think. You know, we made enough
of those, but we also had enough of the bone
heads and the selfish plays that really bothered me. And
and so you know, we'll have to we'll have to
look at that and address it. But I'm proud of

(34:30):
my kids for getting through it. And you know, it's
a win we'll thank somebody sent me something today on
tech via text. One of my former assistants said, eleven
years ago today, we were seventeen, and oh good luck,
go get it today.

Speaker 14 (34:44):
So I'm not sure what year that is. Eleven years ago.

Speaker 13 (34:49):
I guess that's two thousand and maybe in fifteen or
that's a long time ago.

Speaker 14 (34:54):
But again, we'll we'll learn from it and we'll get
better from it.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Next.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
In the post game press conference, coach Schaefer was asking
was it a good thing to have a close game,
since said they had some many blow out victories to
this point in the season.

Speaker 13 (35:11):
I mean, I guess you asked me in a month,
and we'll see if we learn from today. I hope
we learned from today the way it shows up Thursday
when we play whoever we play, wherever we plow to
know where do we play?

Speaker 14 (35:24):
Okay?

Speaker 13 (35:24):
So I mean I think you know, tomorrow's an off day,
and Lord knows, these two can use it. And you know,
hopefully the ones that didn't play well and and melted
down a little bit toward down toward the end, they'll
stew on it a little bit and learn from it.

Speaker 14 (35:42):
You know.

Speaker 13 (35:42):
It's uh, I don't I don't. I tell them all
the time. I don't need to lose to get my attention,
you know. And that's what I'm battling a little bit
right now, to be honest with you. I think you know,
we played so good offensively the second half the other
night at Missouri, and and really first half today we
played really good, got great looks, played within the offense,

(36:06):
shared the ball like we were sharing the ball so well.
I made some substitutions late and we went empty the
last three minutes of the of the second quarter.

Speaker 14 (36:16):
And you know that's the thing.

Speaker 13 (36:19):
We've got a thing on our list, continuity through substitution.
You know we're gonna get a minus for that today.
You're trying to see something, and so you know, that's
part of our evaluation of ourself after every game. We
got twenty five things that are up there, and one
of them is continuity through substitution. And so you know,

(36:41):
we just you know again, I'm playing, you know, I'm playing.
I am playing a couple of young kids who got
some sophomores out there, and then you got Ashton who
hadn't played a lot and so she's getting her feet
back wet. I'm trying to rest heya, because I really
want to get that kid healthy, because I think she's
a really good player and she's healthy, and so you know,

(37:04):
it's just we've got some growing pains with our younger kids,
and uh, you know, I don't have time to play
you through that in these types of games, right, I mean,
it just we can't do that.

Speaker 14 (37:15):
And so I wish I could, but I can't.

Speaker 13 (37:17):
And so in any case, we'll we'll we'll learn from it,
we'll grow from it, we'll get better, and those kids
are gonna be good. They're you know, they've been good
in practice, they've been good in some of the games
we've been in. But that's the piece you're looking for, consistency.
And you know, I think these two have been a
model of consistency all year long.

Speaker 14 (37:37):
And you know, when I wake up.

Speaker 13 (37:38):
In the morning on game day, I don't typically worry
about these two and and and so you know, I again,
I think they've worked hard and and and put themselves
in a position where they are consistent. You know, they
when the lights come on, they're ready to go. And

(37:59):
for the most part, and so you know, it's it's
all part of it.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
So coaches always refer to games like this as learning opportunities,
lessons to be learned, things like that. So is this
better to happen early in SEC play?

Speaker 13 (38:16):
I don't prefer today happening at all, but I do
think it gets our kids attention, you know. I do
think that there's some kids on my team that it's
going to get their attention, and it should, you know,
I wanted to. I mean, we get to learn a
lesson today with a win, and it's just like kind
of the first half the O the night at Missouri.

(38:38):
You know, we had we got to learn a lesson
through victory, but we did not come out like we
should in our conference opener, you know, with the.

Speaker 14 (38:47):
Focus that we needed. And so that's we are. You know.

Speaker 13 (38:51):
I know we had a lot of success early, played
some really good teams early, but I see them every
day and we got a lot, We've got a lot
of growth, a lot of area of growth for us.
We can get so much better and improve in so
many areas, and I think that's.

Speaker 14 (39:07):
What's exciting, But it's also scary.

Speaker 13 (39:10):
You want to be that coach that wakes up every
night and every morning and you go out as long
as I know so and so and so and so
and so and so and knows what time we're leaving
and where the bus is loading.

Speaker 14 (39:20):
We're good.

Speaker 13 (39:21):
And I kind of feel that way about a couple
of my kids. I'd like to feel that way about
all five of them. And I think that's where we're
trying to get to, right. So again, I've had some
great teams where all I made sure is they knew
where the bus was loading and what time we were leaving,
and I knew we'd be good.

Speaker 14 (39:40):
This team is not that team yet.

Speaker 13 (39:42):
We have a lot of area, a lot of room
for growth, a lot of room for maturity, a lot
of room for understanding time and place. There's things that
happen on the floor sometimes and you want them to go, Okay,
you're trying, but time and place, you know, And so

(40:03):
there's there's always an education piece to every game. And
they know I'll be educating on Tuesday when we go
to film, well, we'll we'll be we'll be learning. But
that's my job, right and we'll watch the good, the bad,
and the ugly.

Speaker 14 (40:18):
We do it on every Tuesday and every Friday.

Speaker 13 (40:20):
And and so, uh, I think my concern right now,
I do have a little bit of a veteran team
in in some areas, I don't want to have to
worry about their maturity.

Speaker 14 (40:36):
I don't want to have to worry.

Speaker 13 (40:37):
About them not understanding and showing up and being ready
to go and then understanding in a game things are
going to happen.

Speaker 14 (40:46):
You can't wear it, you know what I mean.

Speaker 13 (40:49):
Okay, we've got to move on to the next play.
We can't let that play turn into two or three
bad ones. So I think that for me is my concern.

Speaker 14 (40:57):
And again I see them every day.

Speaker 13 (41:00):
So I think we have just an incredible amount of
upside that.

Speaker 14 (41:03):
We hadn't even approached yet.

Speaker 13 (41:06):
You know, if we if we had to finished that
game off tonight the right way, you know, that would
to me have been a growth, would have had some
growth and step in the right direction. We didn't, And
so that's a piece that's in the back of my
head now going I can't. I'm sitting there holding on
to a time out. I might need to call that
time out a little quicker now, because typically we find

(41:28):
a way to get through those hard times.

Speaker 14 (41:31):
We didn't today.

Speaker 13 (41:32):
We didn't for reasons, and I've got those reasons now
in my head.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
So Texas with the wind. We'll hear more from Vic
Shaeffer coming up next hour. As I mentioned the top
last hour, we you know, we all have the holiday
time of year travel stories, close calls, nightmares, delays, cancelations,
all of that kind of stuff. So I'm no different
than anybody else if I have to travel commercial here
and I will get on a plane later with the

(42:04):
Texas men's basketball team headed for Knoxville, Tennessee. They'll play
the Tennessee Volunteers tomorrow. Jake will be handling the program tomorrow,
though I'll check in from Knoxville tomorrow. But that's a
charter flight and it's a lot easier to do the
charter thing. Sometimes I have delays and charters, and we've
had those before too, but nothing beats good old commercial

(42:25):
airline travel for having issues. I mentioned I would last
hour that I would tell you this story of this hour.
So this is just to let you know stuff like
this happens to all of us. I had a seven
am flight coming out of Orlando on New Year's morning,
coming off of the Buvid. Now this started, by the way,

(42:48):
when I got up New Year's Eve morning to get
ready to go to the stadium to call the Citrus Bowl,
and the rental car wouldn't start. It had a dead battery.
So Roger Wallace and Will Matthews and I piled in
to a rental car with my son who had his

(43:11):
own car with him. He had flown by himself separately
and had a rental car, and we piled into the
car with him and rode over there to the stadium,
called the game, and rode back. Well. Then I called
the rental car company. They got roadside assisidents over there,
got a guy go out there. He was not happy
to be out there at night on New Year's Eve,
but he got the car jump started wow, and said
leave it running for about thirty minutes to charge up

(43:32):
the battery. So I got to go upstairs the hotel
room where Lynda and I rang in the New Year
in the hotel room, watched the ball drop while the
car was outside idling. I came back down the engine
had shut off. Oh no, but it was just he
had an automatic shut off anything. It started back up.
So next morning, now we had to leave the hotel
at four fifteen am seven am flight, which goes to

(43:54):
your reference about you know how early to get to
the airport, but we were each checking a bag as well,
so cars started right up. We got it back to
the airport, dropped it off, checked their bag. We get
on the plane to leave at seven. The way the
schedule worked is seven am flight out of Orlando land
at the FW. Linda was then going back home, connecting

(44:15):
the flight going back to Austin, and I'm going on
to Columbia, Missouri. I had about a fifty minute change time.
Not that big a deal, you know. At the FW,
I know it pretty well and all that kind of stuff,
as long as everything runs on time. So we get
on the plane in Orlando and we're sitting sitting, and
of course my intenna go up when we're sitting longer
than we should be, and I'm wandering. Sure enough, captain

(44:35):
comes on and he sounded just like it if you've
ever heard in family got Quagmire as the pilot. Where
he goes and we'll be flying at about a thirty
seven thousand feet we'll get you today. This guy was
like that spit it out. Yeah, he was like, uh,
we got a problem there. He later would come back

(44:57):
home given credit for this. He later admitted to being fooled.
There was some oil underneath the coling on one of
the engines. He thought there was an oil leak, so
they had the coll A maintenance crewut it took an
hour for them to determine there was no oil leak.
Everything was fine. There was just some loose oil in that.
We took off over an hour late, so I knew
this is going to be trouble. We landed the FW,

(45:18):
he made up a little bit of time and I thought,
if we can get to the gate, I might have
a chance to make that connecting flight to Columbia. We
pull up there's an aircraft parked at our gate and
I thought, that's it. I'm dead. There's no way I'm
making that connecting flight. And it didn't. And Linda didn't
make her connecting flight back to Austin, but she was
able to get pretty easily rebooked. So I go to

(45:41):
the American Airlines desk and I'm like, what can you
do for me here? How can you make this? And
they said, well, the next flight to Columbia leaves like
at four to ten. It's not going to get into
like five forty.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
No, the game is at six thirty and it's a
six fifteen airtime, and if you've ever been into mid Missouri,
Columbia at the airport is about halfway between Columbia and
Jefferson City, so it's about ten to twelve miles south
of town anyway. So I thought it's not gonna work.

Speaker 5 (46:05):
He thought that's not gonna work.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Yeah, So then I asked her, I said, can you
get me to Saint Louis. She looked, yeah, there's one
fifteen flight to land at three. I thought, okay, it's
a two hour drive if you're driving speed limit, it's
a two hour drive to get there. And I thought,
get three. If I can get in the car get
out of there by three thirty, I'm probably get there
by five thirty and be okay. Even though it's just

(46:30):
six fifteen every time, I can probably still get it.
And remember the equipment is sitting there because the basketball
managers for women's basketball, they transport our broadcast cases. So
and I've been told they're going to be put up there,
and we're in an elevated position kind of like we
are at Moody. It's not court side, but that the
cases will be there. I would still have to hook
up all the equipment when I got there. But I
thought I can do this if and get out, So

(46:53):
they booked me on the flight to Saint Louis and
get to Saint Louis and land. We actually landed like
two fifty five. Olo, this is gonna work. We pull
up to the game. There's an aircraft parked at our
getting It's different pilots, same type CAD. It's forty minutes.
We wait until it comes out. So now I'm about
to go crazy. But I get out. I go running

(47:13):
out and remember I'd had a bag that I'd had
to check, which had been rerouted to Saint Louis, and
it had my broadcast charts in it as well as
closing stuff too, so I knew I was gonna have
time to change into something nice to wear to call
the game. I'm wearing a Texas long worne hoodie. That
was beside the point. I just needed to get there
to the arena. That's when you wish you were old

(47:35):
school and flew in a suit. That's exactly right. So
as my old broadcast mentor, the late Bill Mercer, used
to say, just get the game along the air, So
I go, I get my bag. It came out pretty quick.
I go racing out. I had to jump in a
rental car shuttle to go to a rent car center,
and the lady was very nice, and I tell her
about it. She said, let's see how fast we can

(47:56):
get you there.

Speaker 4 (47:57):
Foo.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
She got me it pretty quickly. I tipped there very nicely.
And then and so then she's.

Speaker 5 (48:04):
Like, I've waited for this challenge all week.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, no kidding. And I was the only one on
the rental van, so she didn't wait for anybody else.
I just took off. So I got in and went in,
and they were pretty nice at the counter and got
me my keys pretty ounced. When I pulled out, it's
four oh five. Okay, if I'm driving the speed limit,
it's gonna be six o five when I get there.
I'm not going to be driving a speed limit now.
I didn't drive crazy, maniacal, psychotic, anything like that. And

(48:28):
in a lot of cases there were cars moving much
faster than me, and I would just kind of fall
in behind them in the fast lane and going down
for a while. But I did one hundred and twenty
five miles in about an hour and twenty seven minutes.

Speaker 6 (48:39):
Okay, let's see only one carry the one account for
count for the time you took to probably park and
get out of the city.

Speaker 5 (48:46):
Yeah, that's pretty fast.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
Yeah. And they'd set it up where I could roll
in around back to the loading dock area. I did
park running in. Uh, there was still time to record
a pregame interview with Vick Schaeffer. Went and did that,
got it done, and then got upstairs and I had
about fifteen minutes to set up the equipment, and I
set it up in ten minutes and Moon six fifteen
girls and we're on the air Texas plays and they

(49:11):
went and we just pack up the equipment and fly home.
So those kind of adventures happen. They do happen from
time to time. I prefer that they don't, but if
they happen, you know, you know, deep down inside you
can kind of pull it off as long as you
get some kind of cooperation and from things that are
out of your control like airlines. So anyway, that's all

(49:32):
the more pleasing if you can then get on the charter,
because then you don't have to worry about it as much.
All right, coming up, we're going to take a look
at the NFL playoff scene when we continue thirteen under
the zone.

Speaker 4 (50:01):
Still the mouth made the plans.

Speaker 8 (50:05):
It's the Craig Waishut with the voice of the Texas
Longhorns broadcast actor, Craig, You're the dead.

Speaker 1 (50:13):
Deepen in the devil. I don't know if you got
a chance to watch the Steelers and race. And I'll
be honest with you. After doing the women's game yesterday
afternoon and getting back home, there's dinner and I had
to pack and get things ready for us, I was
kind of like, eh, okay, all right, yeah, I guess
we'll turn it on. In the first half was kind
of typical Raven Steelers, AFC North you know, Taffy pool slog,

(50:35):
you know that kind of thing. But the last ten
minutes of it were absolute box office theater and uh
for it to come down to the the raven scoring
a touchdown, the Steelers scoring a touchdown, the Ravens scoring
a touchdown the Steelers and missing the extra point so

(50:57):
it was only a twenty six twenty four league and
then the Steelers coming down the field with an opportunity
to win it, or rather the Ravens, excuse me, coming
down the field after Boswell had missed the extra point
for Pittsburgh. And then the Ravens come down the field.
They hit a couple of big passes and here they
was Isaiah Likely made a huge catch.

Speaker 6 (51:15):
Yeah, And like Mike Zurrico laid out, Isaiah Likely is
the near miss story of the Ravens over these last
couple of seasons. He finally makes the big play in
the big moment.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
Yeah. And then they line up for the forty forty
yard field goal and it gets missed, and it was
just a heartbreak for the Ravens, no doubt for a
team has started one in five, whether they win three
and one in five, something like that, and then an
imposition to win the AFC North and Pittsburgh and Aaron
Rodgers lived to play another day and they're going to

(51:46):
play the Houston Texans, and we're gonna hear from Demico
Ryan's next hour. The playoff matchups are now set, and
of course the playoffs do not include the Dallas Cowboys,
who finished seven to nine and one with a thirty
four to seventeen loss to the Giants yesterday.

Speaker 6 (52:03):
The Giants who continue to win when it benefits them
the least. Yeah, same thing my commanders did.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
How about that? Beating the Eagles and costing Philly the
number two seed. Because the Bears lost.

Speaker 6 (52:15):
To the Lions at costing itself the number five pick instead,
Washington will pick seventh.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Okay, so here are the Cowboys season over. Ryan shott Emmer,
we brought you his comments all SE's a long after games,
no reason not to bring you the final ones today,
and he was asked if he saw the right style
from his team despite that loss.

Speaker 15 (52:35):
You know, I thought they played hard, man. I thought
you saw how important the game was to us. You know,
I thought, you know, you could feel the hitting and
really pleased with the way we ran the football today.
And yeah, I mean this group, I've never doubted that
with them though. It's always been a group that they're
going to answer the call, they're gonna play hard. And
I just told him, I said, hey, look, I'm proud
of you guys. I'm disappointed in the way the season

(52:56):
turned out. We didn't clearly win enough games, but every
week they laid it on the line, and I'm proud
of them for that.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Well, what he's not proud of is fact they lost
for their last six games when they were in position
and could have qualified as a wild card. So is
that a momentum killer?

Speaker 15 (53:11):
Yeah, we got to look at it, you know, and
see what those issues were. Now the season's over, we'll
go back and we'll look at everything with a you know,
fine tooth comb if you will, and we'll break it
down into all the different areas that you need to
in terms of offense, defense, special teams, running game, situational football,
third down, red zone, all that stuff, and they'll be things.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
They'll be.

Speaker 15 (53:31):
There's always things, you know, and things that we have
to address. Will prioritize those and we'll folks on getting better.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
All right. They all feel some bitterness from this, So
is that motivation for twenty twenty six?

Speaker 14 (53:44):
Always?

Speaker 15 (53:44):
I mean, I think you know, anytime you come up
short of goals, there's motivation. I think these guys are hungry.
We have the right type of guys, there's no question
about that. You know, we've did we did some good
things this year. We just got to figure out the
things that we need to improve and address those issues
and coach those things up better. But always, you know,
and uh, yeah, it's a long, long season, and uh

(54:08):
we'll start the process immediately though. If trying to figure
out the areas that we can improve.

Speaker 1 (54:13):
Does that mean change is starting as early as today?

Speaker 15 (54:17):
Yeah, it starts immediately. I mean there's no time where
you know, you get into it. You know, I'll study
the film tonight and look at it on the way back,
and you know, they we'll have the exit interviews.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
We'll go through the process.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
You know. I love that process.

Speaker 15 (54:28):
I think that process is important where you talk to
the players, you talk to the coaches, you evaluate everything,
and I think, like I said, there'll be some very
clear things that we need to address now.

Speaker 14 (54:39):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
As I was driving the Moody Center yesterday to get
ready to call the women's game, I'm listening to Cowboys
pregame coverage on our sister station on ninety eight point
one FM k BETT, and they were openly speculating probably
that Matt Eberflus would not return as defensive coordinator. They
were pretty much saying that they thought that that changed
would happen. So Sean Aber was asked the when did

(54:59):
you up beating your wife question as to assess eber
flution to the defense. And here's the when did you
stop beating your wife part of it. Do you want
him back?

Speaker 15 (55:08):
I think at the end of the day, you know,
as you look at the way the game went today,
I mean, you know, we we put him on a
short field and the time possession got kind of flipped around.
But again, we're gonna look at everything, and you know,
at the end of the day, we didn't win enough games,
and that starts with me. I'm responsible for that, and
that's where we'll start.

Speaker 5 (55:26):
Okay, it didn't answer it.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
So then he was as how disappointing was that to
see somebody defensive penalties persist weekend week out.

Speaker 15 (55:34):
Well, again, I think, you know, we have to look
at it. I do think that the one that hit
to the head. I do think that he's slid a
little bit late. You know, that's always going to be
an interpretation. They're always going to make a decision to
protect quarterbacks, which I obviously understand and and and probably
agree with. But you know, the biggest thing is some
conversions that we gave up on third down, you know,
p I penalties and things like that. It's some technique

(55:56):
stuff that you got to clean up.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
But at the end of the day, it was a
there's a lot of flags out there today.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Dak Prescott was pulled at the half, and so his
ask was that to play it all along. I was
kind of the plan.

Speaker 14 (56:06):
Maybe we weren't sure.

Speaker 3 (56:07):
We were going to evaluate as we went.

Speaker 15 (56:08):
You know, we said we wanted to, you know, play
to win the game, and certainly thought we could win
the game with Joe. We felt like we could do that.
But this was kind of what we had planned. And
I didn't say, oh, it had to be at halftime.
It could have been before, that could have been a
little bit after that, but just you know, wanted to
get Joe out there and see how he did.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
One more from Schottenheimer. Was he disappointed with the overall
seven nine and one record. I'm disappointed.

Speaker 15 (56:30):
Yeah, of course absolutely, And again the question is why,
you know, we need to look at and figure out why.
I did not think that we would be seven nine
to one. I didn't think that we wouldn't be in
the playoffs. I expected to be in the playoffs and
competing for Super Bowl. We did not do that. That
starts with me, and I understand that. But I can
promise you this, We're going to get to the bottom

(56:52):
of it. We're going to work our asses off to
figure it out, and we're going to adjust and make
changes that we need to do to help us get there.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Okay, all right, and then uh Dak Prescott was asked,
how would he sum up the season?

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (57:05):
Tough, tough season.

Speaker 16 (57:06):
Frustrating in the sense, you know, I think I've alliterated
this before. One of the first seasons, if not the
first of my career, right, my, I can't directly correlate
my play to the wins, the loss, or the end
of the season or overall success of the season. So
that makes it frustrating. One of the best offenses in
the league. Explosive, now, sure, not always to our standard.
Didn't play like that every week week, weekend and week out,

(57:30):
but but put up a lot of points. Unfortunately, right,
just didn't win all the games that we should have
and didn't finish out some of those one score close
games on on on our end, and ultimately leads us
to a eight nine and one record. It sucks, but
it's the reality. A lot of good in this season,
but unfortunately it's not as you just said, right, it's
not the destination, it's not the.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
End goals and not where we wanted to be.

Speaker 16 (57:52):
But thankful for the experience, Thankful for the men in
the locker room.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Who gave it.

Speaker 16 (57:56):
They're all the coaches each and every week. I don't
think effort or lock of focus or intensity was ever
our problem. So appreciate everyone, you know giving it. They're
all and leaving it all out there.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
Actually, Dad is seven nine and one, not eight nine
and one, So yeah, seven ninetymore important correction. Yeah yeah,
all right. Coming up next, we're gonna hear from Texas
fans basketball head coach Saw Miller when we continue on
thirteen under the zoneless unname.

Speaker 6 (58:33):
So you're hitting us back with here, Jake, Well, we
talked earlier about the funny Texas town names.

Speaker 5 (58:39):
This is Waxahatchie, the artist, not the town.

Speaker 1 (58:42):
Okay, so you go wax A Hatchie Yeah all right.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
Well she goes she's wax a Hatchet.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
Yeah yeah, okay, all right from Alabama? Okay, that works.
All right, we just heard from a disappointed head coach
and Brian Shott. I mean, here's some thoughts from another
disappointed head coach. Because the way the men's basketball game
went on Saturday evening was heartbreaking. Texas was down nine
in the first half, did not they had led early,

(59:09):
had like a one point lead at about the eleven
a half minute mark of the first half. From that
point until nine minutes ago in the game, they trailed,
trailed by as many as nine, reclaimed the lead on
a Kendle Weaver three pointer sixty six to sixty five
at about nine and a half minutes to go, held
that lead all the way down into the final seconds.
Regulation in fact, had a seven point lead with under

(59:31):
two minutes to go, but Josh Hubbard had a unbelievable game,
wound up with thirty eight points, hit a couple of
big threes, The game gets in overtime and it slips
away dayal and Swain also called for some might say
a controversial fifth fallon and he'd had a landmark game
with thirty four points and fourteen boards. So all of

(59:53):
that on the mind of a disappointed head coach Shawn
Miller after the game.

Speaker 9 (59:57):
Very tough game. I have a lot of thoughts about
the game.

Speaker 17 (01:00:02):
You know, I'll just start with the obvious that you know,
I've coached Dalen Swaying for three years and clearly that
thought tonight played the best game that he's played in college.

Speaker 9 (01:00:16):
Unfortunately didn't lead to a win.

Speaker 17 (01:00:17):
But you know, a guy on your team scores thirty
four points, fourteen rebounds, six offensive, twelve for fifteen from
the free throw line, ten for eighteen from the floor,
you know, three assists of steal in thirty six minutes.
You know, when he filed out, that certainly hurt us
down the stretch. And I thought he was outstanding, not perfect,

(01:00:38):
but clearly we would not have been in a position
to win, and when we were in a position to
win in large part of his due to just his
outstanding play. You know, I thought the difference in the
game is the rebounding, and you know, we played smaller
and at times that might have helped us on offense,

(01:00:59):
but it was negated. We just we could not get
a rebound, a chew, a chew, you know, on their
team number ninety nine, he had seven offensive rebounds.

Speaker 9 (01:01:08):
They had nineteen as a team.

Speaker 17 (01:01:10):
But I thought like some of the biggest plays in
the game were like loose balls, long rebounds, just plays
where the quicker, the tougher team getting those two or
three rebounds, it was going to win and we weren't.
I think the most concerning part for me just with
our team is, you know, we thought we came out

(01:01:30):
very similar in this game, as we did against Virginia.
Very methodical, you know, not alert, not confident, not flying around,
you know, and you look up at that board and
you see in the twenty minutes we had five or
six deflections in the first half, and I think maybe
we got two on the last play where we got

(01:01:52):
a deflection and a steal man.

Speaker 9 (01:01:54):
That's terrible.

Speaker 17 (01:01:55):
And yet I think for the game, you know, we
came in somewhere around twenty six, so you know how
you're going to get almost twenty reflections beyond halftime and
you only had six in the first half. You know,
you have to be able to come out with that confidence,
that effort from start to finish. That's something we have
to continue to grow and cultivate, in particular more playing

(01:02:17):
at home and we have our crowd. Also, just want
to tip my hat to Josh Hubbard. You know, I
know he took thirty one shots, but twelve or fifteen
from the free throw line thirty eight. Obviously, I said
what I said about Swayin, he was an outstanding player
on their team. Last point, I would make sure you're

(01:02:39):
gonna ask me. I've talked to you guys a lot
about our ability to play defense without fouling, whether it's
the scheme, whether it's the matchup, whether it's just discipline,
and it really hurt us badly. In tonight's game. There
were a couple of times late in the clock. There
are a couple of times when look, it was going
to be a tough too. He might make it, but

(01:02:59):
you don't have to reach in and hit him on
the head or his arm. I think we filed four
shooters and he filed a three point shooter. It's never good.
We did that three or four times in this game.
It's tough to win when you foul like we did.
I know we got forty free throw attempts, but they
got thirty one. And I thought our fouling also was

(01:03:22):
a big problem and a big reason we lost.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
So, with the disappointment of the defeat, with the game
having gotten away from his guys in the waning moments
and then in overtime, George Miller was asked if he
felt his team might be a little bit mentally beaten
down or even broken at this point.

Speaker 9 (01:03:41):
I don't know for mentally broken. We have a long
way to go.

Speaker 17 (01:03:45):
It's never good to lose a home game at any
time and in particular conference play, like you mentioned, But
there's some things that we have to build and we
have to grow, and we have to become a smarter team,
smarter prom tougher physically, and you know, sometimes you can
do some of those things in a couple months. Sometimes

(01:04:06):
you can't. But we're gonna keep working and keep getting better.
We had the opportunity to win in tonight's game, and
we weren't able to do it. You know, I'm disappointed
from the perspective of thought. We had a good week
leading into the game. We did not play very well
in our last game, and I thought.

Speaker 9 (01:04:27):
It would lead into the beginning of this game.

Speaker 17 (01:04:29):
When we were at halftime, we were very much tonight's
game on our heels, and you guys have to be
more confident, tougher.

Speaker 9 (01:04:37):
Again.

Speaker 17 (01:04:38):
We had seven turnovers and we had a total of
six deflections in the first twenty minutes. I don't know
if Modus had a defensive rebounded to half. Like, they're
just things in that game that can't happen for us
to win. We repaired those things. We were much better
in the second half, but down the home stretch, I

(01:04:59):
thought Mississippi's he got some big rebounds, made big plays,
and we didn't.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
So now Texas goes on the road to play an
angry Tennessee team that lost on the road at Arkansas
on Saturday, and as a result of that, coach Miller
was asked if there's something about this group that might
help them focus better on the road than they do
at home.

Speaker 9 (01:05:21):
You know, I'm not sure.

Speaker 17 (01:05:23):
We don't have the sample size that probably really double
down on what I said, But I've been on a
bench twice Virginia at home and tonight at home, and
I thought both of those first halves had a team
that was just searching for confidence. We weren't a confident
group at the tip, you know, and again that's my
job to set the tone and try to give them

(01:05:45):
that confidence.

Speaker 9 (01:05:47):
We were, however, much much.

Speaker 17 (01:05:49):
Better after halftime, and there were times in the first
half where we might have played better than others.

Speaker 9 (01:05:54):
But I think you guys know what I mean.

Speaker 17 (01:05:56):
When you have a group that says six deflections in
the first twenty minute at home and then puts together
twenty or more, you know, in that in the next
twenty twenty five minutes, that's a different group, and we
have to be able to capture that for forty.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
So Texas will take on Tennessee tomorrow night at eight o'clock.
You'll hear it right here on thirteen under the Zone,
as well as on ninety eight point one FM Cave.
That's seven thirty year time and an eight o'clock tip
off from Thompson Bowling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. And coming up,
we'll be back to wrap up hour number two here
on thirteen hundred the Zone. And so we begin the
third hour here in this brand new year, our first broadcast,

(01:06:40):
our first program of the calendar, new year, or at
least you know in this the Craig Way Show, and
glad to have you with us. I am Craig Way,
alongside the producer Jay Carman. And so we begin this
new year with looking back at the old, ringing out
the old, and in with the new. And I know
a lot of long warn't football fans are happy that

(01:07:02):
it's moving on forward and hopefully there'll be a lot
of success in the portal and the freshmen coming in
and there's a clean start in twenty twenty six. I
get all that. It's not like twenty twenty five was
of garbage here. They did go ten and three. They
did win ten ball games. They did in Texas, A
and M's unbeaten start to their season at eleven and zero.

(01:07:24):
Coming in to Austin, they did win the Red River
rivalry matchup again with Oklahoma. They did beat Arkansas the
second straight year, and by the way, it's the first
time that they swept all three of the rivals Oklahoma, Arkansas,
and A and M in back to back years since
nineteen sixty nine and seventy, those two national championship years.
So and they wind up with ten wins in a
bowl victory. So there are good things to come out

(01:07:46):
of it, but obviously they want more than that. Everybody
wants more than that. That's connected with UT football, so
nobody's kidding themselves or anything like that. That said, it
did finish on an up note for them, So that's
why I wanted you to hear long worn head coach
Steve Sarkesian's thoughts on this afterwards when we visited with
him after the game to talk about how his team

(01:08:09):
stepped up, made the plays they had to make, won
the ball game, and finished up on a good note.
As say, you look ahead to twenty twenty six.

Speaker 4 (01:08:15):
Sark.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
You said it in the pregame, but you've been saying
this for the past few weeks leading up to this,
that the guys who were with you, the guys who
were here, really really wanted this game and worked very hard,
and I think we saw the fruits of the labor,
even with the even with the adversity that happened today,
amate your thoughts over all of what you saw.

Speaker 18 (01:08:32):
From your guys, I'm just so proud of our players
and our staff for that matter. You know, we dealt
with a fair amount of adversity this season, and you
know we live.

Speaker 4 (01:08:41):
By a simple modo.

Speaker 18 (01:08:42):
You know, life's ten percent what happens to you, ninety
percent how you react to it. And through some of
the tough losses, through through the committee and not getting
into the CFP, through players opting out to go to
the NFL, through players transferring, through us making some staff changes,
there was of adversity to go around. And I don't
think that anybody wanted to dwell in the adversity.

Speaker 4 (01:09:05):
They wanted to move forward.

Speaker 18 (01:09:06):
And that takes a lot of togetherness, that takes a
lot of connectivity, and that takes a real unique competitive
spirit that I think our culture really shined through here
in this ballgame because a ton of new faces, man,
I mean, I mean from Christian Clark to Cleik Lockett
to Wardell Mack to Bo Barnes to Jordan Johnson Rebelle
and I'm just naming a few of these guys that

(01:09:28):
stood out today, but also some of the same names
that had to rise up into leadership roles. And I
think about ty Anthony Smith without Anthony hill Leungla fowl
Ethan Burke, I think about Jelan and McDonald without a
Michael taff back there. I think about an Arch manning
I've really taken the reins and being the leader of
this offense. And so a lot of guys took a
step forward this month and in this game that I'm

(01:09:50):
just I'm very proud of them, but be I'm also
really excited about what twenty twenty six could look like
for this group.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
Yeah, and Sark, I got to ask you about Arch.

Speaker 11 (01:09:58):
I mean, what he did with the legs, with the arm,
with the patients, with the toughness. I mean, I could
use all those adjectives, but he was a big part
of this win and kind of the way he went
about his business.

Speaker 18 (01:10:09):
Man, he played fantastic, you know, I mean, shoot, I wish,
I wish we could have made a couple more plays
for him. It could, It might have even been a
bigger night. But he's a really versatile guy, and you know,
and I think he's growing before our eyes.

Speaker 4 (01:10:22):
It seems like as.

Speaker 18 (01:10:23):
He goes, you know, his ability to find that fine
line of when to use his legs on scrambles and well,
if you're gonna now try to play zone and keep
eyes on him. He can make those intermediate throws and
a huge one to Wingo early in the game, a
couple another one later in the game over the middle.
And so he poses some real issues for you defensively
because you have to kind of pick your poison if

(01:10:45):
you're going to play man and play titan coverage in
your back's turn. He can tuck it and run and
hurt you. He can do the rpo stuff. I mean,
how many times does the ball spit on the edge.
It felt like it was Quinn today spitting the ball
on the edge. And so, man, he has worked really
hard and he's developed himself in a very dangerous football
player right now, because it hurts you and beat you
a lot of different ways.

Speaker 12 (01:11:04):
Coach, offensive line, especially on the ground, was stellar today.
Can you talk about that attitude of continually staying with
the run game?

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
And we talked to Christian Clark.

Speaker 12 (01:11:15):
He was emotional even about getting his his opportunity today
and what it meant to him.

Speaker 4 (01:11:20):
Can you talk about the line and the running game.

Speaker 18 (01:11:22):
Yeah, you know, we've we've grown and grown and grown
in that aspect. And I and I'll be the first
one to tell you we were not great early in
the season, and we were banged up and we were
running back and then the offensive line it was some
musical chairs going on at left guard at center, and
you know, I think I think at the end of
the day, we kind of stayed patient with it, but

(01:11:42):
yet we were aggressive to find out the issues and
solve our problems. And so you get all the way
to this and you know, three of your top backs
at the start of the season are gone. But really
we had found a niche on that offensive line here
about the last month of the season with Cole at
left guard and Connor at center, and and and Christian
trusted us. And I think, you know, again, I think

(01:12:04):
I think Jabbar ju Luke at running back. Coach was
was a was a was a big ad to that here.
There was an attitude about what he brought into these
bull practices, and then we found the things that we
felt like Christian was good at and we gave him
opportunities to run those runs over time and many did
a heck of a job.

Speaker 4 (01:12:19):
I'm very, very proud of him.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
Sark. I want to go back to Arch for a
moment because I want to ask you about the play call.
You're coming right off the ty Anthony spent interception and
the Red Seed parted on that sixty yard touchdown run.
How about what what was going through your mind there
as ty Anthony comes up with the pick about what
you wanted to do on the next play call?

Speaker 18 (01:12:37):
Well, it was really you know, we were having some
success with with kind of the RPO game where there
was a lot of those kind of bubble and and
and smoke screens and things on the perimeter. There was
a lot of pressure that was happening on early downs.
But built into that play, we'd run that play early
in the game. I think to Parker, maybe and and
so off of that play, he really has the option

(01:12:59):
to throw kind of a bubble screen or hand the
ball off the Christian and then depending on how we
block it with the left tackle, if the left tackle
doesn't man block it and goes down, Arch now has
a zone read option, so it's really triple option football.
And he read it beautifully, I mean, and it was
something that we hadn't practiced, we weren't anticipating, but he
fell back into his training and made a heck of
a play, and then you saw the speed to take

(01:13:21):
it right down the.

Speaker 4 (01:13:21):
Middle of the field.

Speaker 9 (01:13:22):
Sark.

Speaker 11 (01:13:23):
I know, you go to work to rebuild the roster,
do what you have to do. But for these young guys,
how important is a knight like this, say a Collique Locket.
I mean he was overcome with emotion visiting with us
with his touchdown. Christian Clark, the guys you mentioned on
defense as they go into the off season knowing, Okay,
now I've actually done it in an important moment.

Speaker 18 (01:13:41):
Well, I think it should be inspiring to them, but
even to their buddies, you know, because there's plenty of
other freshmen that maybe didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:13:47):
Get all those opportunities today.

Speaker 18 (01:13:50):
But I just think it speaks volumes to if you
just keep working and if you just keep trusting the
process and if you just stay process oriented and not
so result oriented, which is hard to do in today's society,
that when your numbers called, you can seize the moment.
And that was that was the messaging with these guys
from the moment we started talking about this Bowl game,

(01:14:12):
Let's go seize the moment. Let's go seize the opportunity
and to seize it individually and also sees it collectively.
And a lot of guys sees the opportunity today and
I'm very, very proud of them.

Speaker 12 (01:14:22):
Which as as the game went on, there was definitely
adversity up and downs and back and forth. But what
about your culture continually keeps the guys focus and pushing forward.

Speaker 18 (01:14:32):
Well, I think it's just that, you know, it's like, hey,
adversity is going to strike. We got to stick together,
We got to be stronger together. I thought there was
a great moment when calling called up the defense today.
I thought it was a cool moment for him to
really becoming the leader of that defense. But also those
guys sticking together, right, and they played a great you
know second half, you know, a quarter and a half

(01:14:52):
there late in the game to get stops, even after
a lot of the fourth down stops. I thought that
was that was a great moment for them. That was
a great moment for the offense. One touchdown drive, we
overcome two holding penalties. I think that shows mental toughness, right,
and perseverance to fight back. Now, we can't win every
game with twelve penalties, and so that's got to be
addressed this offseason because our penalties were too much all
year long, but twenty one penalties in the game overall

(01:15:15):
for both teams, that's not great football. So we've got
to fix some things there on our end. But man,
it takes a lot of mental fortitude to overcome some
of the diversity we had tonight.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
Start, let me give you the opportunity to tell long
worn fans about what these next several weeks into the
months in the offseason, what that looks like for you
and your staff, and what these guys would be like
when you go through spring ball and all of the
other Obviously we know the portal opens coming up in
a couple of days, all of those kinds of things.
What's foremost in your mind and that of your staff

(01:15:47):
as these next few weeks unfold.

Speaker 4 (01:15:50):
Well, first, of all.

Speaker 18 (01:15:51):
From the staff's perspective, there's no rest for the weary, right,
the transfer portal is going to open January second, and
you know that's going to go until January sex sixteenth,
as well as our ability to go on the road
to recruit high school So you're kind of dual. You know,
your task with dual duties here of recruiting high school
kids but also dealing with the portal, And everybody thinks

(01:16:11):
dealing with the portal is external, right.

Speaker 4 (01:16:14):
Who we would like to join our team.

Speaker 18 (01:16:15):
We've got to make sure we retain our players, and
we've got a really good team, and we got a
bunch of really good players in that locker room and
culture guys that we don't want to lose, and so
there's a lot of work to be done on that.
There's a lot of work to be done on the
twenty sevens from a recruiting standpoint. Our players will be
off when we get back tomorrow, and they'll be off
until school.

Speaker 4 (01:16:34):
Starts January twelfth.

Speaker 18 (01:16:35):
Then they'll have a few weeks a couple weeks here
when school begins to go be students and do some
workouts on their own, and then we'll start winter conditioning
just before February, and away we go and we start
forging and forming the culture of next year's team, because
we got new high school kids that are gonna be
mid years. But I think there's twenty two or twenty
three of those. We're gonna have some transfers that join
these guys. We're gonna have new leaders on this team

(01:16:57):
that I think we're starting to already see emerge, and
those as we'll start to come together, and that'll get
us ready for springball in March and then into summer
and then into fall camp, so on and so forth.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
Sark, we say what we always say at the end
of the season. We appreciate the access to you, so
the program. We appreciate the cooperation everybody. We always enjoy
working with you and with the staff. And it's even
more enjoyable when it ends on a day like I
did today, and we appreciate the time.

Speaker 18 (01:17:23):
Again, you know, I'll say this as well, we appreciate you.
And like I told the team today after the game,
it's a privilege and an honor to put on this
helmet and to wear this jersey for our players. It's
a privilege and honor for me to be the head
football coach at the University of Texas.

Speaker 4 (01:17:38):
We don't take that lightly.

Speaker 18 (01:17:40):
And if we're gonna play a game, we're gonna play
it Longhorn football style, and we were able to do
that tonight. We appreciate all the fans that made it
to Orlando to support us. We appreciate our fans for
the support they gave us all season long through some
tough times. But man, it sure felt good kicking OU's
ass in Dallas. It phil felt good kicking A and
M's ass dk R, and it sure felt goodnight kick

(01:18:02):
in Michigan's ass.

Speaker 4 (01:18:03):
So appreciate Longhorn Nation.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
Man hook him horse baby, that's a kick ass conversation.
We appreciate that. Sark, thank you all righty'll look so
that pretty much puts it in its place. You heard
Al Sark was in his words, happy to uh, you know,
to get those wins over you know, Oklahoma and A
and M and Michigan as well as the win winever our.

Speaker 6 (01:18:28):
You spend a lot more time with Sark than I do,
and obviously than most of our listeners do. Have you
seen that side of him like we saw on the
field post Lone Star showdown?

Speaker 5 (01:18:39):
In victory. And like you heard in that conversation, is.

Speaker 6 (01:18:41):
This the first time you've seen that side of Sark
those last month or so?

Speaker 1 (01:18:45):
No, no, no, he's watch him on the practice field,
for folks. He is the CEO of the program, no
doubt about it. He's also the emotional epicenter from the
coaching staff on that it all Y eight's out from him,
and he wants to carry it forward. He wants his
team to move for it. He cares, He eaply cares

(01:19:07):
about this. And what was encouraging and what was good
to see is that his team did not mail it
in on the ball game. They were into the pre
bowl activities and they were into the bowl itself and
played like it. And that was good to see, not
only for those who are coming back, but even those
who are leaving to understand this is what Texas football

(01:19:27):
is supposed to be all about. They just want to
be able to get a couple, if we're being honest
about it. They're one loss away, the poor performance at
Florida or the tough loss at Ohio State. They're one
to feed away from being in the playoff. And you
look at the way the playoff is, they might have
as good a chance. It's just about anybody. We'll talk
more about that and the NFL playoffs to come when
we continue on thirteen under the Zone. Love me some

(01:19:52):
finn is he from the mid seventies. There, The boys
are back in town. I could have a lot of
different means the Boys are back when the Cowboys, Yeah,
they're not leaving town. They make the playoffs, as anyone
needed reminding, Yeah, yeah, but the Houston Texans are in
the playoffs. What a finish nine game winning streak to

(01:20:16):
finish twelve and five, and if Jacksonville had slipped up,
Houston w hal to come all the way back.

Speaker 5 (01:20:20):
To when the AFC South. That did not happen.

Speaker 1 (01:20:22):
The Jaguars, who also looked at as being one of
the more dangerous teams going into what may be considered
the most wide open postseason in some time, if ever
in NFL history, certainly in the age now of fourteen
teams making the playoffs. The Texans certainly looked at as
being as one of those dangerous teams they had to

(01:20:42):
rally back. They got the late field goal from Kymie
Fairbarn and then I didn't see what the boys in
the Desert had said it as the line. But that
crazy last play where to you Scott Van Pelt's turn
where the Colts try to go pitchy pitchy woo wu
and throw the ball backward and then winds up going into

(01:21:05):
the end zone and it's a touchdown for the for
the Texans to end the game. I don't know whe
if that kind of messed up, if it became what
is it they like to say, becomes a very important
play to some people.

Speaker 5 (01:21:17):
Yeah, significant to some.

Speaker 1 (01:21:19):
Significant to some because with the field goal, the Texans
went up by two, and with that rumble into the
end zone off that crazy pitch back, they wind up
winning by eight. So I don't know what the I
don't know what the what the FIPO line was.

Speaker 6 (01:21:34):
Well and look right, the Texans were like you'll hear
from Jamiico Ryan's scoreboard watching I'm looking for the line.
So it's very perilous if you were gonna wager on
this game. Because the Texans were playing their starters contingent
on having a chance to move up a seed line.
It did not affect your spread if you got ten

(01:21:56):
points with Indianapolis, but as it yo yo throughout the week,
maybe a few peopull that bed at the wrong time
got screw it over.

Speaker 1 (01:22:03):
Okay, all right, the Texans going in on a high note,
as we've done each week, certainly on this run in
the second half season, we brought to the locker room
speech from Devinko Ryan. So let's hear from the Texans
head coach.

Speaker 8 (01:22:15):
Hey, man, I just want to say congratulations on the
heck of a regular season. Man, everybody, outstanding job rights there.

Speaker 5 (01:22:21):
Try to finish the season the right way, all.

Speaker 8 (01:22:23):
Right, guys, hit a couple I mean a couple of
really impressive feats, all right. There's nine games in a row.
That's tired for the longest in Texas history. All right,
outstanding the job there. Another one for you, guys, we
tied for twelve wins, is to tie for the most
wins in the season as well.

Speaker 3 (01:22:42):
Give yourselves a hand for that one too.

Speaker 8 (01:22:46):
God, you know we did a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:22:47):
Of a lot of incredible.

Speaker 8 (01:22:48):
Things throughout his entire year, all right, And that's credit
to everybody in his room, coaches play, everybody in his
room working together, all right, and that that game is
kind of representative of how our season is being like.
It didn't look great there to start, but everybody, nobody blinks.

Speaker 9 (01:23:04):
Everybody just keep battling.

Speaker 8 (01:23:06):
And that's what I love about this team, Like, no
matter what we're up against, no matter how, we have
to go out and find.

Speaker 9 (01:23:11):
A way to win games.

Speaker 8 (01:23:12):
You guys do that. Man, when the game's online, we
find a way to close it out. And that's all
that matters going forward. I don't care how it looks.
It's about getting the dub each and every time we
step on this grass again. Right, that's the mindset we have.
And I love everybody for the way you guys go
out and play.

Speaker 14 (01:23:28):
All right.

Speaker 8 (01:23:29):
A couple couple of things in for man, another impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:23:32):
One, all right, coming a ball here, all right?

Speaker 8 (01:23:35):
This ball first and goals to this guy Man most
tied for most.

Speaker 3 (01:23:39):
Field goals in a season.

Speaker 8 (01:23:41):
All right, Kai Kyami Way, Yeah, maybe.

Speaker 4 (01:23:47):
We can't.

Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
We can't do it without him, right, that goes Man.
We can't take it for granted.

Speaker 8 (01:23:51):
Today made six field goals, tied for the most he's
had in a game. So pray John Caymi, right, Joub
Gray job, all right, and I'm in with this one.

Speaker 14 (01:24:02):
Called it on Friday.

Speaker 3 (01:24:03):
We tried to get him in the end zone earlier.

Speaker 8 (01:24:05):
But Seas called as audible all right, and he took
your touch down the way. But Tommy dright Man, great job.

Speaker 4 (01:24:18):
Wait end the game right there.

Speaker 3 (01:24:20):
Amen, Hey, all to the next right.

Speaker 9 (01:24:23):
We got the playoffs.

Speaker 8 (01:24:24):
Guy, We don't know exactly who we're playing or when
we're playing, so we'll come in tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:24:29):
They treated like a day after game.

Speaker 14 (01:24:31):
We'll watch this from flush it.

Speaker 3 (01:24:33):
We still got a.

Speaker 8 (01:24:33):
Lot to improve on from this game right here, so
we always take a look at it and learn from it.

Speaker 9 (01:24:37):
Flush it, get our lift in and then we'll see
who we played.

Speaker 4 (01:24:40):
Probably figure that out tonight.

Speaker 9 (01:24:41):
Okay, what outstanding regular season?

Speaker 1 (01:24:45):
Now, that's what we all worked for right here.

Speaker 9 (01:24:48):
In front of us.

Speaker 8 (01:24:49):
How are we going to finish this name one at
a time? Everybody locked in, oys in front, Let's go
on the hunt man.

Speaker 2 (01:24:55):
Great job, amen, Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:24:58):
So with the celebration now in tow and the Texans
getting ready, and at the time they won yesterday, they
didn't know whether they were going to be going to
Pittsburgh Baltimore. That obviously was determined last night. But here
are Demika Ryan's comments coming off the win.

Speaker 8 (01:25:13):
Thankful for such an incredible regular season, right guys were
able to accomplish a lot of great things, no matter how.

Speaker 3 (01:25:22):
Dim it looked to start the season.

Speaker 8 (01:25:23):
It's proud of our guys for continuing to battle every
single week, finding a way to win games and to
now you know, finish on a high note, winning here
versus a really good team.

Speaker 3 (01:25:33):
Really proud of our guys.

Speaker 1 (01:25:34):
Okay, So you mentioned it, Jake, about the scoreboard watching
because they needed a Jacksonville loss to have a chance
to win the AFC South. So were they keeping track
of the Jaguars game and did that impact his decision
to start pulling starters.

Speaker 8 (01:25:51):
Of course, I saw the score of the game and
Jacksonville was up, so we got our got a few
guys out, I guess. And that's the whole thing about
you know, everybody's over and starters. It's hard to take
everybody out. You only get forty eight guys to go
play on game day, so it's hard to take everybody out.
But when we saw, you know, where they were in
that game, and they were up at a pretty big lead,

(01:26:13):
So pulling out selective guys, selected guys when I could.

Speaker 1 (01:26:16):
Okay, So there was this crazy ending Tommy Toguy scoring
on that last play when they were trying to do
all the laterals or the backward passes for the Colts
and so Ryan, what was the sideline light when tug
I scored on that last play because they tried to
design an offensive play for him earlier in the game.

Speaker 8 (01:26:35):
There was a huge moment for her for our team,
fitting way to end the game. I thought we would
getting Tommy. I told him on Friday, you know the
team is going to go crazy when Tommy scores a touchdown,
So we thought he's going to get in earlier.

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
In the game.

Speaker 4 (01:26:50):
He did it, but to close it out the way
he did getting in the end zone.

Speaker 8 (01:26:54):
That's why you saw in our entire sideline running down
celebrating with Tommy. Fitting for a guy who who stuss
everything the right way, everything you ask a guy to do.

Speaker 3 (01:27:04):
He's a coach's dream.

Speaker 8 (01:27:05):
He's always in the right place, always doing what you
asked him to do, and very cool way for him
to have that clutch moment and in the game with
a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (01:27:15):
If you followed the Texans this season, you know how
appreciative Damiko Ryans has been of the efforts of Davis
Mills when he had to come in when CJ. Stravels
out in the concussion of protocol in missing games. So
obviously he's going to be appreciative of what Mills did
coming in later on in yesterday's contest.

Speaker 8 (01:27:33):
When Davis went in there and we were a little
bit ahead of the two minute warning there at the end,
and I told the guys, signed for a little meals magic, Like.

Speaker 3 (01:27:41):
That's what he's done before.

Speaker 8 (01:27:43):
We've seen him lead our team to victory there in
two minute situations. So everyone was calm in the moment,
understanding that we knew Davis would be able to make
the plays and get us down. You know, we want
to get in range there to hit the field goal,
and Davis did exactly that. We threw the ball, ran
all whatever we need to do the get game yards.
Davis was able to execute the offense in such a

(01:28:04):
great manner to put us in position to win the game.

Speaker 1 (01:28:07):
Now again, at the time the Texans won the game yesterday,
they didn't know who they would be playing. They only
knew that they'd be traveling either the Pittsburgh or Baltimore,
So it was gonna be more of a generic form
and talking about looking ahead to the postseason and Ryans
was asked how much does the back and forth game
help his team going into the postseason.

Speaker 8 (01:28:24):
So I told our guys after the game, it really
We've been in all sorts of games, you name it,
and what I'm most proud of is our guys find
a way to finish, no matter if it's like it
was today in that fashion where you need.

Speaker 3 (01:28:38):
To drive at the end of two many you need
to close it out. Hey, we can go do that.

Speaker 8 (01:28:42):
We're not shying away from any of those moments. That's
the game of football. And it never You're never just
gonna line up and just blow everybody out. That's not realistic.
But you gotta persevere no matter how it looks. You
keep persevering, you keep making winning plays throughout the game,
You'll end up on top.

Speaker 1 (01:29:00):
He was asked about the performance of his first team
offense earlier in the game and the importance of having
a clutch kicker like Kymie Fairbairn.

Speaker 3 (01:29:08):
I thought, how many points did we have? Yeah, we had,
we had over thirty points.

Speaker 8 (01:29:12):
Again, I thought our offense did enough to get us
down score points. You know, just shout out to emmy, Uh,
we can't be where we are right now without Emy
and what he's been capable of doing a right to
hit six field goals today, you know Todd for his
career high, Todd for most field goals and if NFL
history in a season like a lot of times, I

(01:29:33):
tell you, guy, you take for granted when you have
such a great kicker who's able to secure you points
right even if.

Speaker 3 (01:29:40):
Things don't go your way in the red zone.

Speaker 8 (01:29:41):
You want to score touchdowns every single drive, but it
doesn't happen. You get in range and you got a
sure for the kicker who can make those points. And
we were so thankful for Amy and how he consistently
has performed throughout this entire year.

Speaker 1 (01:29:55):
Emy, that's Kayimi fairband. They just call him me there.
And then finally, how about the team's mindset now having
one nine in a row, carrying a twelve and five
record into the playoffs. What is the team's mindset the
shift now going into the postseason.

Speaker 8 (01:30:12):
Nothing shifts for us is when it comes to our mindset.
Our mindset never changes. We don't turn it up because
we're in the playoffs. We continue to you know, grind out,
put the work in, do what we have to do
to practice. Really well throughout the week, no matter who
our opponent is, we got to have a great week
of practice and that shows up, you know, on whatever
that game is. How we work throughout the week of

(01:30:33):
to show up then, so our process, our mindset doesn't change.

Speaker 1 (01:30:36):
All right. We'll talk about the Texans upcoming opponent and
the entire NFL playoff picture up next when we continue
on sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (01:30:47):
Want a week because I mean you stop thinking you
think you're looking at that.

Speaker 12 (01:30:52):
Like the sushi, because it's never a tucher brine dan
a lot of likeabi one of us crimes because.

Speaker 1 (01:30:57):
I'm all about value. Okay, Yeah, it's about twenty five
years ago when I really got into bar Naked Lady
and my kids here this part right here, my kids,
I memorized the whole Ed Robertson ran for this and
especially the Chickenya China, the Chinese chick of the whole
thing like that, the whole thing with uh this song.

(01:31:20):
So it's it.

Speaker 5 (01:31:25):
Was an entertaining time and a really good band at
the time.

Speaker 1 (01:31:28):
Baronnaked Ladies was all right, speaking of entertaining time, we
should be in for a lot of entertainment with the
college football, I mean playoffs and the NFL playoffs. The
brackets were now set. Earlier, we played that the call
Mike Urrico of the call on NBC last night Sunday
Night Football, of that miss field goal try by the

(01:31:49):
Ravens would try to win the game and the Pittsburgh
Steelers got the win. I thought it was pretty poignant
that Tariko and Chris collins Worth, we're both pointing out
how Aaron Rodgers they thought they might have been seeing
him walk off the field for the final time, and
they lost to the Lions on that Sunday night that
could have gotten them in a year ago or three
years ago. Then he spent two years with the Jets
and the lot he was done then, and Tariko said

(01:32:12):
they thought they might see him walking up the tunnel
again there in Pittsburgh, having seen him for the last time.
Can't kill him off yet, not as a competitor in
the NFL, because the Steelers are in the playoffs and
they will host the Houston Texans. By the way, that
game is the Monday night Wildcard round game, which only
seems fair really, because the Steelers had to play that

(01:32:34):
last game on Sunday night, So that makes sense.

Speaker 5 (01:32:36):
But the Texans are out of the Saturday afternoon slot.

Speaker 1 (01:32:39):
How about that that goes to my team. And it's
not the first time the Rams had played in the
Saturday afternoon slot. I remember being in Morgantown, West Virginia,
to call a Texas basketball game, and I had a
Rams Seahawks Playoffs Saturday afternoon game on my laptop watching
and the Rams won that game. Actually, I remember thinking

(01:33:01):
about that watching that. So they've played Saturday after noon
games a couple of times, and they have the first
game of the playoffs, and that'll be Saturday afternoon at
three point thirty. The Rams to five seed, the Panthers
the four seed. Yes, the Rams for twelve and five
and the Panthers are eight to nine. But you get
to hosted a playoff game if they're a division winner.
And the Panthers emerged out of that crazy three way

(01:33:25):
tie in the South because even though Carolina lost on
Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening to Tampa Bay, the Falcons
beat the Saints, creating a three way tie. Atlanta had
been already been eliminated from being able to get into
the playoffs, but they could be a fly in the
ointment by creating the three way tie via the tiewerker.

(01:33:48):
That's what they did, and that knocked Tampa Bay out.
So Carolina gets in Tampa Bay's out, and the Falcons
fire their head coach and general manager after the game.
Were you surprising? I'd seen some stuff about hot seat
things and they said Arthur Blank really kind of wanted
to keep them, but I you know, and even though

(01:34:09):
they finished, you know, they finished a hot They beat
the Rams in that Monday night game that ended up
not costing the Rams the five seed. What cost the
Rams the one seed? What cost the Rams the ones?
He was losing that seattle that But anyway, maybe a
little a little bit. But the other firings Jonathan Gannon
of the Cardinals, now that didn't surprise me. Stefanski with

(01:34:32):
the Browns didn't really surprise me, So, you know, I
wasn't really surprised by that.

Speaker 6 (01:34:38):
Terry font know, the GM left with Morris. I thought
I thought he was the one who probably deserved to
go more so than Morris did. But you understand, if
you're bringing in a new GM, that GM wants to
hire a coach.

Speaker 1 (01:34:51):
I loved when Raheem Morris was the Rams defensive coordinator.
I thought he did a whale of a job. Now,
oh that might be coming open. Yeah, we'll see they Sula,
you know. Yeah, so we'll see. If he winds up
getting a head coaching job, then I could see Rahim
heading back to LA I'd be fine with that.

Speaker 6 (01:35:10):
So, man, what, I love him as a DC in Washington.
I don't think he will dan quiz. They call him
the defense right exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:35:17):
Uh So, anyway, that's the first playoff game Saturday, the
five seed the Rams of the four seed Carolina. Then
Saturday Night and that's on Fox. By the way, I
feel compelled to tell you where to find these games
on television because there's a variety here. Okay, Saturday Night.
The oldest rivalry in the history of the nash you know,
Football League. In Sir John Fascinda voice here, Packers the

(01:35:40):
seventh seed at the two seed. The Bears. Bears wind
up getting the two seed despite losing at home to
the Lions yesterday, and that helped the Lions finish with
a winning record, even though they had stumbled down the
stretch and stumbled right out of playoff contention. As opposed
to the Chiefs, who just continue to stumble all the

(01:36:02):
way out on their way out the door. But the
Packers play the Bears seven o'clock Saturday.

Speaker 4 (01:36:09):
Night, and.

Speaker 1 (01:36:11):
It's on Prime Video.

Speaker 3 (01:36:12):
Good grief.

Speaker 5 (01:36:13):
So if you don't have Prime that's my al Michaels.

Speaker 1 (01:36:16):
Yeah, yeah, you better get a place where you can
see it.

Speaker 3 (01:36:18):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:36:18):
That's Saturday night, going deep, that's right. Sunday, the early
game Sunday, no surprise here, Bill Jags. That game in Jacksonville.
I think good game. I think that could be the
best game of the whole group. Actually do the first
of the first day, first weekend, that might be the

(01:36:38):
best game. If not that, maybe it's the game after that.
Sunday afternoon, forty nine Ers at Eagles. Forty nine Ers
the six seed Eagles the three seed. That's a three
point thirty game. That's on Fox. By the way, the
Bills Jags game is on CBS. Then the Niners Eagles
Sunday afternoon, the six seed San Francisco to the three
seed Philadelphia.

Speaker 5 (01:36:57):
What a big difference it is for the Rams hating
to move up to that five seed.

Speaker 1 (01:37:01):
Oh, it was huge, huge, And so that's why I
was getting a little angst when they were when they
gave up two third quarter touchdowns and suddenly trailed the
Cardinals twenty to sixteen. But then they kicked in the
gear and scored twenty one. An answered, it finishes the
five seed. There Sunday night the seventh seed, the Chargers
at the two seed New England.

Speaker 5 (01:37:19):
That's the NBC game. And then Monday night on the
ESPN and ABC.

Speaker 1 (01:37:23):
One last Manning cast Texan Steelers, so that'll be the
Monday Night And of course the Broncos get to buy
in the AFC, the Seahawks get to buy in the NFC.
So there's your NFL playoff bracket. We'll be got to
wrap up today's edition of the program here on sports
Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.

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