Cowboys Make a Deadline Splash, CFP Rankings Preview, HSFB Playoff Picture

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome into the program on a busy Tuesday afternoon. You know,
there's some folks out there that want to make Election
Day a holiday, federal holiday, it's also.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
A holiday in sports.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
We've got the NFL trade deadline to discuss college hoops
in full swing, the college football playoff rankings coming out
later tonight. So much to discuss, and we'll get to
as much as we can over the next three hours
with you from two to five PM right here this
afternoon on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone. My name

(00:44):
is Jay Kerman, the producer of this program, filling in
for Craig Way here this afternoon. Craig is in his
home state of North Carolina. He's getting all set up
at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte to deliver the call
of Texas men's basketball season opener against the Duke Blue Devils.
That could be heard right here on AM thirteen hundred

(01:05):
the Zone tonight starting at six forty five pm.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
We will touch base with Craig a little later on.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
That'll be right near the top of the three o'clock
hour here this afternoon. Coming up before that, we've got EJ.
Sanchez from Texan Live. It's the final week of the
high school football regular season, so much at stake for
area teams. Will break down those playoff races, the key
matchups we're watching.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I don't want to use key race alert on Election Day.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
But you know we've got some key playoff races we're
going to be keeping track of, including some wild tie
breakers that we will dive into. Coming up in just
a few minutes with EJ. Then at about four point fifteen,
Evan vs from Inside Texas will join us. He covers
Longhorned football for Inside Texas, the On three affiliate. He's

(01:57):
going to talk about what this bye week looks like
for Texas and what you can expect in the College
Football Playoff ranking reveal later on tonight, and at the
end of the program stick around, I'll give you my
best shot at where I think Texas will slot in. Ultimately,
it doesn't matter as much as people might tell you

(02:17):
it does, but still an interesting measuring stick the first
time that the College Football Playoff Committee publishes their thoughts
on where the Longhorns stand, what the landscape of college
football is like at the moment. We'll also talk about
Texas women's basketball off to a one to zero start,
with a one hundred and twenty three to fifty one

(02:38):
win over the University of Incarnate Word at Moody Center
last night. We'll hear from Vick Schaeffer some of his
star players after that victory. During this program, you'll also
hear from Brian Schottenheimer after his Dallas Cowboys dropped one
they were favored to win at home last night on
Monday Night Football. Cowboys three five and one after a

(02:59):
twenty into seventeen loss to the Arizona Cardinals. I picked
the Cardinals on the show yesterday, said they were going
to snap that five game losing streak, all those sort
of fourth quarter collapses. Even in that win over Carolina,
the Cardinals did not play a great fourth quarter. Cowboys
made a late push, had a chance to make it
a one score game. Ultimately, the Cardinals win comfortably and Dallas,

(03:23):
sitting at three five and one, has had a busy
day during the NFL trade deadline. We're going to recap
all the moving pieces for the NFL trade deadline, which
by the way, is coming up at three o'clock local
time here at three o'clock Central, and we'll tell you
where everybody's headed, even some of the smaller trades you
might have missed. There's been some interesting moves around the league,

(03:44):
but none more interesting than what the Dallas Cowboys did
just a few minutes ago. They have acquired Quinn Williams,
outstanding All Pro defensive tackle from the New York Jets
in exchange for their first round pick in twenty twenty seven,
the Cowboys first round pick and a twenty twenty six
second round pick. The rest of the term still kind

(04:05):
of being finalized, but those are the two main picks
going back to the New York Jets in that return.
The Cowboys deciding to add to their defense, we wondered,
and Jerry Jones sort of fanned the flames of rumor
as to what the Cowboys were going to do at
the trade deadline. Did they feel this defense was good
enough for the team to accomplish its goals? And despite

(04:28):
the loss last night to Arizona, where the Cowboys defense
did some good things and you heard Brian Schottenheimer talk
about that got great pressure on Jacoby Brissett, forced a
few negative plays, more than a few negative plays. They
had five sacks in the game last night, but they
just couldn't get off the field. On third down, whether
that was the guys in coverage Darn Bland struggling against

(04:49):
Marvin Harrison Junior last night, or just the lack of
the pass rush being there in those key situations. The
Cowboys dominated last night in terms of of third downs. Offensively,
they struggled. Defensively, they struggled, and that was what led
in large part to their twenty seven to seventeen loss.
You'll hear from Brian Schottenheimer on that during the program,

(05:11):
and we want to hear from you with your reaction
to the NFL trade deadline, the CFP rankings coming up.
You can text the show at eight one, five three zero.
Just text the word Texas followed by your message. We'll
try to get to as many of those as we can,
but want to get to some Jerry Jones because well,
the way this NFL trade deadline moves news ages fast.

(05:32):
This was last night after the Dallas Cowboys lost to
the Cardinals. Jerry Jones sort of in the tunnel in
the media scrum, and he's a man of his word,
because you'll hear his answer to this question in a second.
Would Jerry Jones as of last night consider selling at
the trade deadline rather than adding after a disheartening home defeat.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
No, no, not at all, like our nuts and boats a.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
Lot, Jared, you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Don't like what's happening to the nuts and boats.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
Like a lot.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, they added some big bolts on the defensive line
in Quentin Williams today, but before that, they picked up
Logan Wilson, middle linebacker from the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange
for a seventh round pick. And now that the Quentin
Williams news is out, it's a little bit more clear
what Jerry Jones was talking about yesterday when he was

(06:28):
hinting at big trades on the horizon for the Dallas Cowboys,
But Logan Wilson was the first dominoda fall. He was asked,
why is Logan Wilson the right edition for the Cowboys
defense in this moment?

Speaker 3 (06:41):
His ability to see it. Some people would think about
it in a way of instincts, but he can read
a key. A key would be the type of thing
when you know there's a lot going on in there,
and I'm not going to be tried, but some guys
have the ability to see a certain key and at

(07:03):
the same time take a step up in the hole.
He knows how to get in the gaps right now.
He would remind you of well, I already don't know
who to say his play style is. He's got a
lot of length Layton. He probably has a little bit
of that and when you watch him play, But the

(07:25):
main thing is what we need right now. He can
come in immediately and help set linebacker.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
As Leyton vander ash He was comparing Logan Wilson to
remember Wilson, you know, one of the captains of the
Bengals defense, a big part of the story for them
during that Super Bowl run and subsequent playoff appearances that
Cincinnati has made. But lately he's kind of found himself
as the odd man out as he tries to work
his way back from an injury he suffered back in
twenty twenty three. So he was asked by the host

(07:54):
on one O five three the Fan and they talked
to Jerry about this this morning. What's your calend or
to the argument of should we be concerned that Logan
Wilson lost playing time on a pretty bad Bengals defense.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Well, we have a need here. We're addressing a direct
need and his skill set is a directing a need
that we don't want to wait to get by having
our players that we do have a bob into that
skill level. And so it's a it's a fair compensation

(08:31):
for what we're trying to do. That's what you want
in a trade right here, This has certainly long term
for me. Could could he have a role here for
the next few years?

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Absolutely well, it turned out that move was small potatoes
in comparison to what came today. Again, the Dallas Cowboys
have spent a first and second round pick on Quinn Williams,
defensive tackle from the New York Jets, as they try
and fix the defensive issues plaguing them in the midst
of a three to five and one start. You'll hear

(09:07):
a little more from Jerry Jones later on, as well
as Brian schottenheier Heimer.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
But coming up, we're gonna.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
Visit with the j Sanchez of Texan Live with a
whole lot of playoff high school football races coming down
to the wire for area teams.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
This is the Craig Ways Show.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
We're getting ready for a busy afternoon. Lots to come
all leading you up to the seven o'clock airtime for
tonight's Texas men's basketball season opener, which, by the way,
you can hear on both AM thirteen hundred Zone and
on ninety eight point one FM. Kvet well, glad you're
listening to us, whether that's right here on thirteen hundred

(09:45):
Zone or always for free on the iHeartRadio app. We're
just getting started on this Tuesday afternoon on Texan Tuesday.
We always make time for the immortal Stevie ray Vaughn.

(10:06):
You'll hear from him, George Strait, Willie Nelson, several other
iconic Texas musicians throughout today's Texan Tuesday edition of the program.
One of my favorite Texans is up next, and we're
going to talk Texas high school football. It's j Sanchez
from Texan Live.

Speaker 6 (10:23):
EJ.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
What an adventure or a misadventure we had last week
calling that game up at bass Drop with the lights
huh Yeah.

Speaker 7 (10:33):
For those that don't know, you and I will both
call the game. I'll be a different network. We get
there and you know, we're doing.

Speaker 8 (10:40):
Our usual you know media thing. We go down to
the field pre game and that's the seven thirty kick.
It's about six fifty when we're coming back up and
I think you're the one that looked at me and said,
you know, they probably got a kick on the light too,
pretty soon, right, And then we both head up to
our booths.

Speaker 7 (10:57):
We wish each other luck on the call. It gets
to be about.

Speaker 8 (10:59):
Seven, and then you know, it kind of dawns on
us that like, I'm pretty sure this isn't by choice,
and you know, obviously the excitement began from there.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
I mean, senior night, I was like, okay, maybe there's
you know, they want the dim lighting, but no, it
was a football game between Basstrop and Fluggerville that was
eventually postponed to Saturday and then won by the Bears
by a score of seventy to six. We're gonna get
back to bass Drop a little later on and start
this conversation with the spectacular playoff race in District twenty

(11:31):
five six, a like we've seen unfold throughout the season,
well documented here around the area and on this program.
We could have a two way tie, a three way tie,
a four way tie, or maybe an outright winner. Two
big matchups towards the top of the standings. All four
teams that are currently in the playoff spots are facing
one another and starting with McNeil and Huddo the Hippos

(11:54):
at just one district loss, McNeil's got two. Am I
correct to expect a lot of points in this one
from coach Hermas's team against coach Ryan Hart's offense.

Speaker 8 (12:06):
I think you would be absolutely correct, And I think
the key to that matchup is going to be you
know which defense is going to make you know the
final play, and we've seen both defenses do it. Of course,
a sepic interception to finish off that exciting one against
this the Ridge talking about Huddo here, that was certainly fun.
And McNeil had to make the big defensive stop against Vandergriff.

Speaker 7 (12:26):
So both defenses, you know, have sewn that they're capable
of it. But these are.

Speaker 8 (12:30):
Probably, you know, just on telling alone, maybe the two
most fun teams to watch offensively.

Speaker 9 (12:38):
In this district.

Speaker 7 (12:39):
And you know, I've been on McNeil all year. You know,
I can't say that I would have predicted their their
upset of Vander Group. But you know, I'm a big
fan of Durell Gary. I really like what they're doing
and I'm.

Speaker 8 (12:52):
Looking forward to just seeing that one and sing, you know,
kind of who blinks first?

Speaker 7 (12:55):
Because I think that's that's what that matchup is gonna.

Speaker 9 (12:57):
Come down to.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Huddle very resilient win over Vista Ridge last week McNeil
by the way five and zero at home, just one
in three away from the Palace on Palmer. This year
brings us to another matchup Vandergrift at Round Rock, and
you know, these are the a couple of teams that
have really had up and down seasons to this point.
But a round Rock win here might mean that Vandergrift

(13:21):
would then have to play the Dripping Springs Westlake winners.
So there's big seating stakes on the line in this one.

Speaker 8 (13:28):
And that's what I wanted to make sure we illustrate,
you know, to the folks tuning in, is that there's
only three.

Speaker 7 (13:34):
Things that we know.

Speaker 8 (13:34):
We know that Vandergriffs, Huddo, and McNeil are in in
some sort of order. Round Rock can fall out of
the race, or they can win the district championship if
they beat Vandergrift at home. I don't know, at least
in the most recent future. You know, at the States
at stakes like that haven't haven't popped up in that manner.

(13:57):
So that's that's the interesting part. Is because Huddo has
the head to head over round Rock. If rownd Rock
were to win, then Huddo wins that type. Director Vinca
Ridge also has the head to head over round Rock,
which is why you can't rule out vis the Ridge necessarily,
who has a favorable matchup against Westwood this week. So
if you're round Rock this week, you have no choice.

Speaker 9 (14:21):
You have to win this game. Ben.

Speaker 8 (14:23):
Look, obviously the D one and D two implications, those
are big, but you have to get in the dance
before you can start worrying about you know where the
seedings are and round Rock is not out of the
woods if they lose this game, which is I think
what kind.

Speaker 7 (14:38):
Of makes this, you know, so amazing And it kind
of almost.

Speaker 8 (14:41):
Makes me think of, you know, the last inning of
not to switch sports here per second, but of the
World Series a couple of days ago in game seven,
where one pitch was going to be the difference between
winning it all and losing it or I've been vice versa,
and for round Rock, this game could either mean you
can claim a district championship or you might not even advance.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, pretty unbelievable when you put it that way, and
Dave Campbell's who puts out predictions with their website, has
a six point edge for Vandergrift in that one. But
Round Rock three to zero in district games at home
this season. A lot of interested eyes on that one
from Vista Rich who has a really great story. Cameron

(15:23):
Lasik took over at quarterback, came off the bench to
help win that round Rock game, and that's the win
that's keeping them alive right now, like you mentioned, because
of that head to head time breaker. So what Vista
Ridge needs is a win over Westwood. They've done that
in five of the last six years, and they need
a round Rock loss. How plausible is that for the Rangers?

Speaker 8 (15:44):
Depending on you know, what part of round Rock and
what part of the Ender you're from, I'd say in
some areas you could call that likely. And now I'm
not backtracking. I'm still a big fan of what Round
Rock has done. But the thing for round Rock, they
haven't done themselves any favor in the head to head matchups.
They won the games that they're supposed to but and
the games that they're supposed to steal, you know you're

(16:07):
not winning the head to head. Now, the important head
to head obviously it would be to.

Speaker 7 (16:11):
Beat Vandergriff and then you can really.

Speaker 8 (16:15):
You know, cause some confusion amongst the rest of the district,
as if we haven't been dealing with it, you.

Speaker 7 (16:20):
Know, all season long. But round Rock if they lose
and Vista Ridge wins, round Rock would look back on
the loss.

Speaker 8 (16:28):
Against Visca Ridge early on in the season when they
were still figuring things.

Speaker 7 (16:32):
Out, and really pointed that, as you know, one of
the driving factors.

Speaker 8 (16:37):
But that again, that's completely dependent on what Trent fires
at the pot Dragon Stadium.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
So lots to watch all three of those matchups McNeil, Huddo, Vandergriff,
round Rock and Vista Ridge Westwood could swing the entire
playoff perception and the way the things shake out there,
We'll be certainly keeping our eye on that and Dripping Spring.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
They go to west Lake.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Westlake gets another of its toughest district opponents here at home.
Is they look to bounce back from that loss to
Lake Travis, give us a little preview of that one.
Is this a Tigers team that can go to Chaparral
Stadium and kind of follow that Lake Travis recipe?

Speaker 8 (17:19):
I think it is, I mean, the easy thing to
do here is really just compare the games that these
two played against Lake Travis. Who's Who's who's going to be,
you know, the lead dog in that district. And if
you look at the west Lake and Lake Travis game,
you know, obviously tough news for a Chaparral fans that

(17:40):
Lake Travis ran away.

Speaker 7 (17:41):
They ran away in the second half with that game.

Speaker 8 (17:44):
And if you look at the way Dripping Springs played
Lake Travis, sh Dipping Springs was driving down for a
game winning score with a couple of minutes left and
two Lake turnovers.

Speaker 7 (17:53):
You know, you know, flip that game.

Speaker 8 (17:55):
So the way you have to look at it right
now is cam Westlake, the Dripping Springs offense off the field,
you know, Dripping Springs.

Speaker 7 (18:02):
They've been at ben without Cooper Reid. I really think that.

Speaker 8 (18:06):
Changes a lot of things offensively for them.

Speaker 7 (18:10):
But overall, when you look at.

Speaker 8 (18:12):
This drift, m Breen had a better resume at this point.
And the biggest point of emphasis for west Lake where
we said Okay, west Blake is back was that early
season win over Prosper and Attack to see. One thing
to remember is that a tax to theater was playing
without Carde Max, and I don't. I'm just pointing it out.

(18:34):
You have to go to Houston to win that game.
That was a huge win for Westlake. But since then,
the lost Lake Travis has been really the only indicator,
and you have to go recency when it comes to that,
and Dripping Springs has held up just maybe a tad
bit more. And they've they've kind of proved that they're

(18:54):
in this conversation to be there with Westlake and Lake
Travis because in years past it has always been WETSC
in Lake Travis.

Speaker 7 (19:01):
And then let's see how good Dripping Springs is.

Speaker 8 (19:04):
They've absolutely earned their right to be here everywhere else.
And so you know me, Jay, I've been on Dripping
Springs all year. When they began with that forty one
to fourteen win over Vandergrift, we want.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Yeah, you said, why is nobody talking about this team
like the upper echelon of the area that they are.
This is their opportunity. I think to really try and
improve that. You almost need a red zone channel though,
And I'll give the folks that texted live that idea
for free. They can have it in order to keep
up with all the action around the area. This weekend

(19:35):
because you know we're gonna get to some other great
games on Friday night, but just on Thursday night, you
got Anderson playing Weiss. The Trojans have never gone ten
and ozho they can try and do that. As Caleb
Crenshaw tries to run down Cedric Alexander's AISD rushing record,
that's one hundred and forty yards that Crenshaw still needs.

(19:57):
And then there's Weiss, as talented as any body in
the area, and they lost two one score games in
College Station.

Speaker 8 (20:05):
And you illustrated it perfectly that you know, the it's
hard to be upset at a seven and two record,
but you know the fact of the matter is that
White is playing for a momentum because.

Speaker 7 (20:17):
It's it's settled. There's nothing to.

Speaker 8 (20:19):
Be one or lost in five AY Division one, Anderson
has the head to head over everybody, so they're going
to be the one seat. And they actually are the
first five district matchup that is already solidified, which is
the first week that next that following Saturday, so by
the calendar up, Yeah, on November fifteen at three pm

(20:39):
at House Park, they're playing Friends with that's already booked.

Speaker 7 (20:42):
Like you can you can go get your tickets for that.
Right now, White is playing to see how.

Speaker 8 (20:48):
Good they can get before they have to go down
and play a really good Laport team, and it's it's
what you get in the final week of the year
for two good teams, but rarely is it with nothing
on the line.

Speaker 7 (21:04):
At least statistically speaking. So I look for Anderson to
continue to do what they've done.

Speaker 8 (21:10):
And the one thing that has been tough for White
and those two Austin College Station is is kind of
finishing those games and if they're able to, you know,
maybe play spoiler and you know, kind of knock off
the story of Anderson, that's gonna be big for Malcolm
Hills Ball Club when they start to plan to head
down to Houston to play Laport.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Yeah, I think the experience for them in just just
winning one of those big, big games would would feel nice.
But that's a team that certainly has as high of
a ceiling as any How do you think these two
teams kind of match up in particular, Anderson's not really
built quite the same way as those teams out in
College Station.

Speaker 8 (21:49):
No, they're not. And I mean we talked about Caleb
Crenshaw as much as he deserves to, because like you said,
he's you know, maybe the best Austin area or running
back that's come through. And I often id specifically and
since Cedric Alexander, his cousin, who obviously you know, is
tearing it up for as part of a resurgence Vanderbilt program.

Speaker 7 (22:11):
I mean Texas fans thought, you know.

Speaker 8 (22:13):
Last week he's approaching you.

Speaker 7 (22:17):
Know, the nineteen hundred yard mark. I do think he'll
get there.

Speaker 8 (22:21):
But that's how their identity is built. Wife's identity is
built behind Jackson Chad throwing it to Jordan Anderson and
to Trey more. Do you get Daniel Barry back. It's
kind of this old school Texas Tech air raid style,
even though Malcolm Hill's adamant that it's not the air raid,
but it has certain elements to it. So it comes

(22:41):
down to the defenses and when you approach these defenses
at a wider scope, Anderson has just been able to,
you know, finish a couple of these, and that includes
the sick overtime win against A and M consolidated kind
of when everybody are excuse me.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Five over times now that I have it in front
of me, oh, being a huge.

Speaker 7 (23:01):
Everybody said huge.

Speaker 8 (23:03):
Now everybody's like, Okay, Anderson, it's real, if not just
a good story and Cotacher, you know, with his son
in the senior class.

Speaker 7 (23:12):
I really do think it's one of the best stories
in Austin.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Well, we'll see if that story ends with a perfect
regular season on Thursday night. Another district being settled on
Thursday night, Well, I should say Friday night is District
eight in five A Division one. Georgetown can win the
district with a victory. They're six to zero in the
District eight and one overall. Cedar Park is hot on
their heels at five and one in district play, and

(23:37):
all Georgetown has to do is win to avoid any
kind of tie breaking scenario. They took care of Cedar
Park thirty one to seven last year. But e ja,
the Timberwolves are playing some pretty good football right now.
What kind of game do you expect in this one?

Speaker 8 (23:51):
I think it's a matchup of the other running backs
in this area that maybe have been overshadowed for one
reason or no. And Trey Hill for Heater Park and
Jet Walker for Georgetown. Trey Hill is going to go
over fifteen hundred yards in this game. He's averaging one
hundred and sixty. For those that don't know, Jet Walker,

(24:12):
the running back for Georgetown, committed to West Virginia. He
was unavailable and you know, his status was a little
up in the air at the beginning of this season.
And when you look at the Georgetown team, their whole,
you know, scope of the season was kind of a
little bit in doubt. After Belton came down and beat Georgetown,

(24:36):
that wasn't a thought coming into that game. Now at
a different conversation for another day, but the whole point
is is that, you know, Georgetown did not get on
to the start they wanted. Now, since Walker has been
fully healthy and I'm counting after the Coppers Code game
in Week four, Georgetown has put up fifty eight, fifty six, thirty.

Speaker 7 (24:55):
Five, and thirty one points.

Speaker 8 (24:57):
He may be the most I don't want to say
dependent because Georgetown has McDougall and Xavier Warren just made
in Texas State.

Speaker 7 (25:05):
They have amazing players.

Speaker 8 (25:07):
But maybe the greatest wrecking ball in the area for
my estimation, so I don't anticipate this being a you know,
a forty eight.

Speaker 7 (25:18):
Forty five game.

Speaker 8 (25:20):
I think it's going to be, you know, whoever gets
more carries between Trey Hill and jet Walker.

Speaker 7 (25:25):
I believe that team is going to win this game.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Interesting sort of like a padlock stat not just because
of what those guys can do with the ball, but
what them having the opportunity to carry the ball kind.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Of means for your game script, right, correct? Yeah, I
like that. We'll see if that comes out to fruition.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
And then two teams that have both dominated in district
eleven to five a D two but both beat you
in completely different ways. Those are Bastrop and Liberty Hill,
and now they're rematching for the district title, just like
they did a season ago when Bastrop won thirty five
thirty one on a late touchdown pass from Weston Nielsen
to Brent Carter. You got the slot team machine at

(26:06):
Liberty Hill with a new coach and David Seborn, but
the same story in offensive dominance. And then you've got
a bass drop team averaging sixty three a game. I mean,
where do you even start to dive into this matchup
and figure out where it gets decided?

Speaker 8 (26:22):
I mean you you start to gain points for yourself
by you know, standing out on the standing out on
a limb and say, you know what, I think a
lot of points are going to be scored, So you
can take that one for free, Jake, take that to
the bank and Atletic gain some interest because it's true,
there's gonna be a.

Speaker 9 (26:36):
Lot of points scored.

Speaker 7 (26:38):
You know, we didn't get to finish.

Speaker 8 (26:40):
And call that game, but I was able to, you know,
dive deeper into the film of what bass Drop is doing.
I think Bassdrop can run with anybody. And what you
and I have talked about, you know, in our own conversations,
has been that's a good defensive line at bass Drop.

Speaker 7 (27:00):
Hey, it's Tiky Hole of the Notre Dame.

Speaker 8 (27:03):
Commit might be the most unsung player in the Austin area.
He's Carter Buck. Those two were neck and neck for
you know, maybe the best interior defensive linemen. And the
amount of talent on that bass Drop defensive line I
think might be the only answer. Because it's one thing
to be big, it's quite another to be athletic and

(27:24):
to beat the spot c you need to have two
and potentially three defensive linemen to stop it. And if
there's anybody in the Austin area that had that, I
think it's bass Drop.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
And then Liberty Hills defense has been, you know, a
much improved unit from where they were I think in
the non district play. But this is going to be
the toughest test that they've seen, probably I don't know
since since going to Rouse week two. So kind of
how do you see that matchup for West and Nielsen,
a future power for quarterback potentially going up against the

(27:55):
Liberty Hill defense full of guys that'll play on Saturdays.

Speaker 8 (28:00):
I think this is the time where we see Western
Nielsen run a little bit more. I mean, you talk
with Jake Gridle more than I have Jake, but I
think I'm correct and assuming that they've held onto his
legs waiting for the right time, waiting for a playoff game,
because for all intensive person this is a playoff game,
especially when you talk about seeding what you could potentially face,

(28:23):
you know before, I think this means Western Nielsen's going
to use his legs bar that rushing total or rushing
attempts might get into double digits. And what that does
is it opens up everything else. I look for Wilkinson
to have a big day. They're outstanding outside wide receiver.
And what hurts me is that you know, Crescendo is

(28:44):
not going to be in this game the Purdue wide
receiver because when in a game like this you have
to you want to see every piece of talent the deal.
So the fact that he's unavailable really really does just
simply break my heart. But Liberty Hills defense have to
be able to play both the run and the past

(29:05):
because Gary Jefferson Jr. Is as electrical running back as
I've seen all season long.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, he's got over a thousand yards on the ground
as well a lot of balance on that pass drop offense.
And then a Liberty Hill team that says, hey, we
don't need to pass, it's just slot t here it comes.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
See if you could stop it?

Speaker 1 (29:25):
Ej Is Is there another matchup this week maybe floating
below the radar that that we didn't discuss.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
I know, Lake Belton controls its.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Own destiny for a playoff spawn after beating Rawse, but
they've got to beat Chaparrale, who's zero to six in district.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Any sort of sneaky third and fourth place settlers around
the area that.

Speaker 1 (29:43):
We should keep, maybe in a multiview on our theoretical
high school red zone.

Speaker 7 (29:50):
Exactly.

Speaker 8 (29:52):
You know, we covered the big ones in terms of hey,
where's everybody else going to go? I might have to go,
you know, a little bit farther nor to find the
district that I have my eye on. And I'm talking
about copperce Cove and Midway, copperce Cove and of course
a story program the Home of Robert Griffin the third.

(30:13):
They take on a Midway team on Thursday, and I
know that we're getting a little bit out of the
Austin area, but you know, Temple comes down here to
play Austin.

Speaker 7 (30:19):
Team, so it's good for comparison's sake.

Speaker 8 (30:24):
That's going to decide whether Harker Heights goes first or second.
I'm looking forward to that as well. I'm also just
a big fan of the copperce Cove.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Story.

Speaker 8 (30:33):
It was a new coaching stat being able to overhaul anything.
So I think you have to look a little bit
outside the greater Austin area and get a little bit
closer to Waco to find. You know, some of those
I don't want to call them second tier because they're big,
but you know, in terms of importance, maybe the ones
that we're losing sight of a little bit. Because that
copperce Code team beat Georgetown earlier.

Speaker 9 (30:56):
On in the year.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Yeah, Eji, speaking of up sets, I'm very surprised to
hear that you're actually taking the weekend off.

Speaker 10 (31:05):
What is this?

Speaker 2 (31:05):
I thought I thought you were everywhere all at once
at the same time calling games.

Speaker 8 (31:11):
Trust me, when Thanksgiving rolls around and I'm at a
plane or an Alamo Dome.

Speaker 7 (31:18):
Calling a triple header on Black Friday, I will let
you know.

Speaker 8 (31:21):
This is something I started, you know, a couple of
years ago, and I know maybe not realistic when you
get into the you.

Speaker 7 (31:27):
Know, the next levels of things.

Speaker 8 (31:29):
But the final week of the regular season is my
recharge week because that's when I know that I'm gonna
be calling two or three football games a weekend until
until the first week of December. So this is a
reset weekend for me after being in bass Drop last week.
And you know, I'm headed to Brenham tonight for a

(31:49):
technic high pool volleyball match that you can find that
textan live at Fort Ben Kempner taking on Slugarville Henderson.

Speaker 7 (31:55):
Shameless plug.

Speaker 8 (31:57):
But you know, I believe in everybody needing to reach that,
especially the kids first and foremost.

Speaker 7 (32:03):
But you know, mediahead need a second to get away
as well before you hit the big stretch of the year.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
All right, well, I'll let you go prepare for some
some volleyball playoff action. Thanks so much for stopping by.
We always love chatting with you.

Speaker 7 (32:15):
EJ appreciate Jake.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
That's TJ. Sanchez from Texan Live.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
He is hopping all around the area call it high
school football games, helping us preview a big weekend full
of blockbuster matchups. Hey, we've got an area of high
school tie in coming up next in Inconceivable right here
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Second hour

(32:42):
of today's show, right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone. Jake Carbin with you here filling in
for Craig Way today as we try and get Craig
on the phone here from Charlotte, North Carolina, where the
Longhorns open up their basketball season, the men's basketball team

(33:02):
that is at the spectrom Center later on tonight. That's
the home of the Charlotte Hornets. Of course, a neutral
game against the Duke Blue Devils, but it might be
neutral in name only because the Duke fans are gonna

(33:24):
show up in droves for that one. Given the geographic
advantage they have. They're kind of a fun note about
this Texas Duke series is that they've played three times.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
And we'll discuss this with Craig Way in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
The interesting thing about this series, as we'll discuss, in
all the meetings between these two teams, they have not
come on the home court, whether that was the Irwin
Center for the Longhorns now the Moody Center, or Cameron
Indoor for the Blue Devils, those meetings have not come
in a true home game setting, and that will be

(34:00):
the case again here tonight as Craig Way joins us
now from his home state. And Craig, I know it's
been a little bit of a hectic turnaround here for
you over the last thirty or so hours.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
We're glad you made it after some travel delays.

Speaker 9 (34:17):
Well yeah, and I've gotten.

Speaker 10 (34:20):
To the point now, but doing this long enough to
where it's almost unusual if you don't have a travel delay,
you know, so.

Speaker 7 (34:28):
It worked out.

Speaker 9 (34:28):
It wouldn't do bad.

Speaker 10 (34:29):
It was just a travel a lay this morning getting
out of Austin. And you know, I was told by.

Speaker 9 (34:34):
The folks are the airline.

Speaker 10 (34:36):
Well, you know there's some you know, some ground stoppages
and other places that are causing a trickle down as
a result of you know, the government shut down and
all that stuff. So you just, you know, do the
best you can try to get there.

Speaker 9 (34:49):
So I got here in time and.

Speaker 10 (34:53):
Raced straight over to the Spectrum Center to watch the
team practice again and get ready for tonight's batch up.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Well, and I know it's been a you know, a
bit of a headache for some folks with the government shutdowns.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
You might have come away lucky to just have a
little delayed today.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
You spend some time watching this team practice earlier in
the week, and now you'll you'll head over there and
do it again today. What's what stood out to you
so far? And getting to watch Sean Miller work with
this group up close.

Speaker 10 (35:22):
The teaching, I think as much as anything, Jake, I
think we all know and understand that when coach Miller
came in, there were players who were graduating, there were
players who would be leaving the program, and there would
be players he would have to bring into the program.

(35:44):
All of that has happened, and this is going to
be a growing process for a time. And I think
a lot more basketball fans understand this and I know
this is gonna this will be a process. I'm not
saying this team is going to you know, slop and
follow on the space round, saying this is going to
be a process, and probably given the fact that they're

(36:04):
playing the six ranked team in the country in their backyard,
so to speak. Duke is about you know, the Duke
campus is about two and a half hours from here,
and Charlotte is a big historically Duke.

Speaker 9 (36:17):
Alumni fan base.

Speaker 10 (36:19):
Most of the major cities are for North Carolina and
Duke and NC State certainly and maybe to a lesser extent,
Wake Forest, but especially Duke Carolina and NC State, Charlotte,
Greensborough Courts, the Raleigh Dorm, Chapel Hill area, those are
you know, those are big alumni fan base centers. And

(36:40):
Charlotte being the largest city in the state certainly as
it's shared Duke fan So this building tonight, it's an
NBA arena, the home of the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA,
will probably be I heard somebody say about ninety six
percent bathed in Duke blue tonight, but they're kind of
expecting they know that. And this is all about what

(37:03):
Sean is trying to do in getting these guys to
learn the system that he wants to run, to be
up tempo, to play really good defense, but just.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
To you know, to.

Speaker 9 (37:16):
Be really good smart basketball players too, to be able
to run the things.

Speaker 10 (37:21):
That they want to run, and be able to defend
the way he wants them to defend and run the offense,
execute the offense. So there's a lot of ramp up
in terms of the education for what he wants to
do with this program, with this specific group.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Yeah, and I know he was asked about that too,
not just you know, is it your vision or is
it what this team's best suited to do, but also
how has Sean Miller's kind of style evolved from going
a decade ago at Arizona, where his teams were big
and dominated the paint, to now what his teams looked
like at Xavier, who played quickly and aren't afraid to

(37:59):
put up thirty three.

Speaker 10 (38:01):
Yeah, and that was the first incarnation of the programs
he had Xavier the first time around before he went
to Arizona, and and.

Speaker 9 (38:12):
Then the second time around, as you pointed out, and
we'll kind of see a mixture of that.

Speaker 10 (38:18):
There will be guys who have made their name over
the past couple of years, uh playing for Rodney Terry,
like Kendall Weaver and Jordan Pope. I think those guys
will be in there. Tremon Mark obviously if he his issue,
his biggest issue has been staying healthy. So you have
those three guys. But Sean has brought in Daylon Swain

(38:40):
from his Davier team and they he was he was
a problem in that you know, first four playing game
in Dayton when the Long Wrens felt Xavier last March.
He comes in off averaging eleven points five and that
boards per game. He'll want to get the ball up
and down the floor. So Simeon Wiltcher as a junior
transfer guard from Seeing John's Camden Heidi is a guy

(39:02):
that I've been impressed with as well, a swingman from
Purdue who can shoot the basketball. And I'm curious to
see how Lacina Treori, you know, adapts to everything. He's
a grad transfer coming in with Sean Milli from Zagre
but didn't play last year due to knee injury.

Speaker 9 (39:20):
So we'll see. But I know he's very very high
on me, and he's looked good in practice. And there's
another guy.

Speaker 10 (39:25):
I'm curious to see and a lot of this has
to do with his roadback from injury. And that's Modus Fokatitis,
who transferred him from Florida Atlantic. He's a native of Lithuania.
He's a seven footer and he's a guy who can
run the floor. He can kind of you know, rin
the rim run a little bit, and he averaged ten points,

(39:46):
five and a half boards per game last year at
fau very athletic around the basket, so he was he
was pretty impressive to see him.

Speaker 9 (39:55):
And another guy.

Speaker 10 (39:56):
There's a couple other guys who I think might be
able to really help and impact this team on down
the road. One is Declan Duru, who is a junior
transporter where he's a junior, I mean he's actually a
freshman coming in.

Speaker 9 (40:11):
He's Declan Dura junior. He's he's a freshman from.

Speaker 10 (40:14):
Munich, Germany, but he played in the real Madrid Academy
in Spain.

Speaker 9 (40:18):
Uh say.

Speaker 10 (40:19):
He's a guy that also had you know, overcomes some injury.
And then the other guy is Nick Cody, sophomore forty.
Came in a couple of years ago, red shirted and
then played his freshman there at Texas last year from Carrollton,
and he's put on some weight and seems to his
basketball IQ is really elevated a little bit. So, I

(40:41):
mean there's a there's a number of guys who I
think that they're they're you know, excited to see how
they handle the moment and how they can step up in.

Speaker 9 (40:53):
The moment to play.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
Yeah, and it's a big moment to start the season.
Io Sean Miller was kind of joking with the media
out you know, sometimes wakes up and thinks, well, why
the heck are we playing Duke. Of course he didn't
inherit that or he didn't pick that game. He inherited
that schedule and taking over this Texas job. Texas has
never beaten Duke in three matchups of course last time.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Well.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
One of their more notable matchups was that second round
tournament game back in Greensboro in two thousand and eight.
On Shire, the current head coach of the Blue Devils,
was one of several clutch Duke players in that game.
Were you on the call for that game, Craig, and
what do you remember about it?

Speaker 10 (41:30):
I was, indeed, and remember it well. I remember now
you know the old graybeard here Jay come to start
my twenty fifth season in the play by play chair
tonight for a long more bet fact, Eddy Orn and
I started our twenty fifth season together as a team
and coach warn of course, the former long run assistant

(41:51):
coach under both Bob Welltlack and Tom Penders and so
EO and I'll start our twenty fifth season together tonight.
The thing I remember about that game in two thousand
and eight is that that was a two thousand. I
believe that was two thousand and nine. Two thousand and eight.
They got to the Elite eight and uh and lost

(42:11):
in the Elite eight to Memphis, who had Derek Rose
down in Houston at NRG Stadium. In two thousand and nine,
they'd gone into Greensboro. I was pretty excited about it.
Was kind of it was kind of almost like my
homecoming thing for me because that's my hometown and I
was walking into that arena going okay. I saw Ringling Brothers,

(42:32):
Barnum and Bailey Circus in here.

Speaker 9 (42:35):
I saw.

Speaker 10 (42:37):
Holiday on Ice, I saw Bob Hope.

Speaker 9 (42:40):
Do a thing in there.

Speaker 10 (42:41):
My first ever rock concerts. I was kind of ashamed
to admit it now, but I kind of laughed at it,
and I was David Caffidy and and I graduated high.

Speaker 9 (42:50):
School in this building.

Speaker 10 (42:51):
I remember thinking I was walking across the stage there.
But so it was a little bit of It was
the first time I'd been back in that building. I
had been the one Carolina Hurricanes hockey game, but it
was it was the first time I did back in
that building in about six or seven years, and only
the second time I've been inclusive of my high school graduation.

Speaker 9 (43:11):
So it was pretty cool. I remember going in there.

Speaker 10 (43:13):
But the game, Texas played Duke off their feet and
it came down in the waiting moments of the game.
Damian James had a baseline jumper open and would have
given them the lead in the final minute, and it
rimmed out and then and then the long runs had
the foul. I think Duke ended up winning by five,
but it was a it was a really good ballgame.

(43:35):
Texas had beaten a Tubby Smith coached Minnesota team in
the first round before dropping that game in the second
round to Duke, So you know, it's interesting.

Speaker 9 (43:46):
The log Worms had.

Speaker 10 (43:47):
Played the Blue Devils five times, never in Austin, never
in Durham. When they played Duke in non conference games,
and I'm not counting the NCAA Tournament game. So four
other times they played him in non conference games, but.

Speaker 9 (44:02):
Every time he's been on the neutral floor.

Speaker 10 (44:05):
Rick Barnes, when he was coaching, tried to get Mike
Krzyzewski to agree to home and home on several occasions,
and Coach K wouldn't have it.

Speaker 9 (44:13):
He didn't, he didn't want to do that.

Speaker 10 (44:15):
So unlike North Carolina, where Texas has played North Carolina
in Chapel Hill, in Austin, in Greensboro, in Arlington was
the first ever college basketball game played at Jerry World,
they're at the ATNT Stadium. So they played in a

(44:36):
lot of different places as well as in the NCAA Tournament.
They placed each other in Denver in the NCAA Tournament,
but they had but they they only have played Duke
on quote unquote neutral floors, and that was three times
in the metropolitan New York area. They played him in
the Meadowlands on the day that Vince Young was disappointed

(44:59):
by not winning the High It's Been Trophy back in
two thousand and five.

Speaker 9 (45:01):
Everybody remember that.

Speaker 10 (45:02):
I remember doing that game and then going over you know,
the Heisman celebration or the Heisman presentation was that night,
and that's when Reggie Bush won the heismand that was
in two thousand and five. A lot of long worn
fans remember that as the black Jersey game because they
came out in those alternate black jerseys at Nike Wanton
Noire and they just got carved up, and folks wanted

(45:24):
to blame it on the jerseys. Don't blame it on
the jerseys, blaming on JJ Reddick.

Speaker 9 (45:29):
He just bombed ou.

Speaker 10 (45:30):
I think he had forty points in the game, and
so he had a huge game producing that, and then.

Speaker 9 (45:35):
They played him at Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 10 (45:37):
They played him a couple of competitive games and they
got blown out a couple of games, one competitive game,
I think two games that were blown out. But they've
never played them anywhere but a quote unquote neutral. And
I say quote unquote because as I mentioned, Duke has
a huge alumni fan They here and they obviously they
would for the NCAA tournament game Greensport, but even in

(45:58):
the metropolitan New York a lot of Duke fans showed
up in the game of the Old Metalands Arena and
the two games stay based in Madison Square Garden.

Speaker 9 (46:06):
So this is a test of a different sort tonight.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
And I'm glad you brought up Rick Barnes a couple
of minutes ago because his team Tennessee Volunteers, they hosted
Duke and a televised exhibition last week and the Blue
Devils came back from down to the first half won
that game, that exhibition game.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
You know, based off that, what did you take away?

Speaker 1 (46:26):
What kind of challenges will will this twenty twenty five
version of Duke seem to present for Texas tonight as
you preview the matchup, well, you start.

Speaker 9 (46:35):
With Cameron Boozer. I mean, he's he's tremendous.

Speaker 10 (46:40):
And the other thing that surprised me is in an
exhibition game, he played thirty nine minutes in that exhibition.
But trying to find an answer for him. He's six
y nine in about two sixty and is just he's
just powerful around the basket. And they've got some returning
guys with Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster, but but it

(47:00):
revolves around Boozer and his brother Kayden, so the twins
are pretty exciting. But but Cam Boozer is the one
to watch and that's why when Sean Miller was asked
last week.

Speaker 9 (47:12):
On the Media Zone, who do you who are you
going to put on them?

Speaker 10 (47:15):
And he said, you can't say any one person, because
he said, we're gonna have to try a lot of
different things with him. You know, I'm sure they'll double him. Uh,
you know, we may see him play his own against him. Uh,
you know, he's going to be the biggest problem. But
Duke can get the ball up and down the floor,
extremely well coached by John Shire. So yeah, that's that's

(47:37):
what they're going to have to deal with. It's interesting
you mentioned Tennessee as I mentioned Eddie or in my
broadcast partner. He his day job is he's a scout
for the Brooklyn Nets, and so he was in Knoxville
last night to watch Tennessee open it season under Rick
Barnes uh in their matchup with Mercer. So he got

(47:58):
a chance to do that and then he drove he
drove down from.

Speaker 9 (48:00):
Knoxville to Charlotte today. So a lot of excitement.

Speaker 10 (48:03):
About getting this basketball season off to start.

Speaker 9 (48:05):
Even their luck. I said, it could be some.

Speaker 10 (48:07):
Growing pains for a bit and some and some learning
processes a little bit for the Longhorns. But I think
fans are going to really like down the road. Certainly
what Sean Miller does with his basketball team.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
I think that's spot on.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
But hey, your basketball season, at least for the games
that count, start started last.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Night before I let you go. What did you take
away from the women's game last night?

Speaker 1 (48:29):
And they're big victory over the University of Incarnate word,
did you see what you expected to?

Speaker 9 (48:35):
Pretty much?

Speaker 10 (48:36):
They're they're a veteran group and you know, you come
off of thirty five and four season and go to
the final four, win a coach championship in the SEC,
have an All American, the SEC Player of the Year
returning for her junior year. Uh, it's gonna it's gonna
be fun to watch Madison Booker. It's going to be

(48:58):
fun to watch her team mates and that includes obviously
Rory Harmon is back for her final year. She got
her red medical red shirted year from two seasons ago
from the injury, so she's.

Speaker 9 (49:10):
Back for a fifth year.

Speaker 10 (49:12):
And then in addition to that, just seeing the other
players who will be a Jordan Lee just a sophomore
scratching the surface of her game, and she scored twenty
one points last night. They're gonna be They're gonna be
a lot of fun to watch. I think brit Cunningham
in the middle as a post player has a lot
to do that you know, as long as she can

(49:34):
stay out of foul difficulty, that will be important. And
Tayo Sidberry is another player who comes in. And then
you've got the McDonald's all American, the freshman Aliah Crump,
who had a nice debut last night. So it's a
team that's deep, it's experienced, and they're gonna be dangerous.
They're definitely gonna be a factor and one of the

(49:58):
teams to beat in the SEC.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
Yeah, we'll hear from sound bites, some soundbites from them
a little later on. Hey, you're right by cam Parker's
old stomping grounds. He got any good recommendations things on
the menu for today?

Speaker 2 (50:10):
And you're short Stinton Charlotte.

Speaker 10 (50:13):
He already went and saw his buddies and he hung
out with them last night.

Speaker 9 (50:18):
He's all business today. We at the arena.

Speaker 10 (50:20):
We spent a good deal of time by the time
I landed and got on the ground and Eddie picking
up at the airport and then we got into town.
And went to the arena and got everything technically hooked
up and watched watch the shoot around the practice to
get ready for this, and got some other homework things

(50:41):
I'll do with regard to that before we head over
to the arena.

Speaker 9 (50:44):
So looking forward to it. Should be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Yeah, very exciting time of year. Tell Eddie and Cam.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
I said hello and Craig best of luck for the
call tonight the start of another men's basketball season.

Speaker 10 (50:54):
Thanks and thanks for sitting in today, Jake, appreciate that
and have some fun.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
Thanks Craig.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
All right, that's Craig Way, nice enough to call in
from Charlotte, where the Texas Longhorns tip off their season tonight.
You can hear that call from Craigway and Eddie orn
together for their twenty fifth season in the booth and
that is at seven o'clock on AM thirteen hundred zone
and ninety eight to one KVET, Austin's Country station.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
All Right, the.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
NFL trade deadline was a busy one and now things
have officially closed up. It's done for business, and we've
had a lot of moving parts to tell you about,
including some sound from Jerry Jones, A well always a
major character in his own story, but a major character
in the NFL trade deadline story of this twenty twenty
five season. That's next as the program rolls on here

(51:47):
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and on the
free iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
I didn't come here and I lead then so soon around.

Speaker 7 (51:55):
As Bron just roll the masmak.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Now you have seen say iconic Willie Nelson, part of
a great tradition on this program textan Tuesdays, we hear
from Stevie ray Vaughn the two o'clock hour, Willie Nelson
during this the three o'clock hour, and then the King
George Strait still to come during the four o'clock hour
of today's program.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Some history in the.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
NFL trade deadline today in terms of how busy things were,
and Adam Schefter had the number I. Of course I
lose it right as I'm about to bring it up here.
It was one of the most active trade deadlines in
league history. Six trades today tied for the third most
on any trade line trade deadline day going back to

(52:45):
nineteen ninety and that just includes trades today. There were
a couple of moves yesterday and over the weekend that
we're going to keep you in the loop on as well.
But here are the headlines that kind of jump out
to me as we look at the NFL trade deadline.
Number one, the Dallas Cowboys make a splash and they

(53:05):
go out and get Quinn Williams from the New York Jets.
The trade, which has been updated by the way, the
Cowboys traded a first round pick in twenty twenty seven.
I told you earlier in the program that it was
the Cowboys' own pick. It turns out that it will
be the highest of their twenty twenty seven first round picks,

(53:25):
because remember, the Cowboys have an extra first round pick
in twenty twenty seven coming from the Packers in the
Micah Parsons trade. So it will be whichever pick is
higher of those twenty twenty seven first round selections, along
with the twenty twenty six second round pick, might be
an early pick if the Cowboys don't make the playoffs

(53:46):
and defensive tackle Mazzy Smith that in exchange for Quentin Williams,
who wanted out from the New York Jets organization. Some
are reporting since they let go of Aaron Rodgers, but
I don't know It's a Cowboys defense that might have
lost Kenny Clark during the game last night. It's Cowboys

(54:08):
defense that traded Micaeh Parsons at the beginning of the season,
getting two first round picks. Now they trade one of
those first round picks and a second round pick along
with the former second round pick Massei Smith to get
Quinn Williams from the New York Jets.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
Does this change the Cowboys season trajectory?

Speaker 7 (54:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Williams one of the most versatile interior defensive linemen in
the league. He plays at a high, high level for
a Jets defense that not a lot has gone right
for this season.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
But it's part of a fire sale of sorts for
the New York Jets.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
They also traded probably their second best defensive player, well
at least the best player in their secondary, and that
is Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for
two first round picks and wide receiver former Texas Longhorn
ad An I mitch So.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
The Colts taking on that four.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
Year, one hundred and twenty million dollars deal that sauce
Gardner signed coming into the season, paying up with the
two first round picks and pushing some chips in to
try and capitalize on what's been a tremendous start to
the season for Indianapolis. They did lose last week's matchup,
but the Colts pay up for Sauce Gardner and the

(55:27):
Jets now have an extra first in twenty twenty six
to go with the Cowboys extra second and two extra
first round picks in twenty twenty seven. They are stocking
up on draft picks. I don't know if they have
the quarterback, or the head coach or the GM that
will reap the benefits of those picks, but the Jets

(55:49):
are committed at the moment to a at least what
looks to be a full rebuild. There was some speculation
about Garrett Wilson and Breisee Hall. Would they be moved today?
A lot of potential NAC football implications with that. Breese
Hall is a free agent an unrestricted free agent next season,
going into his age twenty five season, He will be
paid somewhere and the Jets were reportedly asking for a

(56:13):
third round pick for Breese Hall. They had offers, according
to Diana Rassini and other NFL insiders, but the Jets
at the moment still have Breese Hall and time will
tell if he will be a Jet going into the future,
and Garrett Wilson reportedly was untouchable for the Jets. Garrett
got a big extension from the Jets before this season.
Remember they wrapped up Gardner, they wrapped up Wilson and

(56:36):
went into the season with Justin Fields under center, a
new head coach at Aaron Glenn. But they've got one
win so far this season and they appear to be
looking towards the future. Other minor moves you might have missed,
the Dallas Cowboys made a trade for Logan Wilson, sending
a seventh round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals in the deal.
Wilson an inside linebacker who was kind of an odd

(56:59):
man out the Bengals this season at the Bengals defense
that has not done much of anything right. Another epic
meltdown for Cincinnati and that forty seven forty two loss
to Chicago. Joe Flacco led the potential game winning drive
after an on sidekick recovery. Bengals erased a two score
deficit in the final moments of the game, only for

(57:19):
the defense to allow Caleb Williams and the Bears to
march it down and score a touchdown, not even force
a field goal attempt when they had the ball with
under a minute to go in that one. But the
Cowboys adding two defensive pieces and Jerry Jones, now, it's
interesting to hear these clips today now that we know
what we know, and that is the Cowboys paying up

(57:40):
a first and second round pick to get Quinnen Williams
on the interior defensive line. Jerry Jones was asked by
one oh five to three the Fan his weekly interview
on Tuesday mornings, how much does he consider should you
push in chips now on this year team, given the

(58:01):
three to five and one record, given the tough road
ahead after the bye. Sure you get the Raiders a
winnable game next week, but you're still four and five,
still got to play the Eagles again. Schedule not particularly
favorable for the Cowboys down the stretch, and they're now
three games behind for the third wild card spot. Jerry

(58:21):
Jones was asked, do you take the standings into account
after last night's lost to the Cardinals when you're making
moves of the deadline. Here's what he said earlier today
I have I am.

Speaker 9 (58:36):
Let me just add this up the logic for you.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
I don't have time personally to have a bad time.
It's not on my schedule, and so I have a
natural urgency because of my age, and so my tomorrow's,
the immediate tomorrow are a big thing to me. On

(59:00):
the other hand, one of the reasons that we made
the decision with our big trade before the years started
is because I didn't want to saddle the club with
that kind of physical financial responsibility. So it's still there,
but the immediacy the rest of this season, after that game,

(59:23):
all of that is more more acute to me than
at any time in my life. So I meant to now.
But I also have enough discipline not to get in
trouble for years to come, which you can do in
today's management of Caps.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
Well, okay, but.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
You traded two picks, a second round pick this season
which could be a top forty ish pick if the
Cowboys don't turn this season around, and the highest of
your two first round picks in twenty twenty seven for
Quentin Williams on the defensive line. So the follow up

(01:00:11):
question to that where Jerry mentioned his age says he
doesn't have time. The Cowboys struggling is not on his schedule.
Is looking at things that way in the best interest
of the franchise. Here's what he had to say to that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
Absolutely, I'm satisfied that I can make good decisions. I've
made some bad decisions obviously being tried. I am supremely
responsible for where we are right now, There's no question

(01:00:49):
about that. Accept that that doesn't deter me from wanting
to get it done and now this year it's very
important to our future, very important right now that we
come out in these next ball games that we play,

(01:01:09):
we are as good as we possibly could be. That's motivational,
that's motivational to the players, that's motivational to the fans.
I know that I've been doing this well. Really, I've
been in this game for almost sixty years, so I've
got I think that that's good for the team.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
So Jerry Jones had mentioned back in September that he
wanted to get Quentin Williams as the prized return for
Michael Parsons earlier in the offseason, and it just didn't
come to Fruition ended up signing Kenny Clark. But now
Kenny Clark and Quentin Williams each carry pretty large cap hits,

(01:01:52):
with the fourth and fifth largest cap hits on the
team going into next season. And so the question is
is that enough? Is that going to turn the Cowboy
franchise around? Not necessarily turn the French I don't need
to talk about it that way, but will it turn
the season around enough to where Dallas can truly compete?
Otherwise you're paying a high price. You're paying a high

(01:02:13):
price with a first and a second round pick to
add Quinn and Williams.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
It's a gamble.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
You just heard Jerry Jones share some of his personal
perspective on it, and we'll see if it works out
for the Dallas Cowboys. We'll talk about a few other
trade deadline moves. And here from Brian Schottenheimer about Monday
Night football last night when the Cardinals went to AT
and T Stadium and dealt Dallas a twenty seven to
seventeen defeat.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Much more to come here on the Craig Way Show.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
You're listening on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone and
on the free iHeart Radio app.

Speaker 11 (01:02:51):
The shade you're wearing and then now lacking met you see.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
You went through Dodger there. That's Flatland Cavalry. Some things
never change.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
We'll band out of Lubbock for you here on a
text in Tuesday to enjoy some things never changed. Garry
Jones always going to find a way to make the news,
and the Cowboys in signing Quinnin Williams, trying to bolster
a defense that really struggled last night in the loss
to the Arizona Cardinals, particularly when it came to third downs.

(01:03:26):
Brian Schottenheimer was asked about this recurring issue for the
Cowboys in terms of their third down defense and why
it's been a problem for them overall.

Speaker 4 (01:03:39):
Different reasons.

Speaker 12 (01:03:40):
For most of the game it was not or most
of it has been, you know, not being to get
pressure on the quarterback. This game, I just thought there
was some big voids that they were taking advantage of.
I thought Marvin Harrison played played really well. They obviously
were trying to get him involved and they did that.
But again I just felt like that, you know, without
studying the film, there were some big voids, and again

(01:04:02):
we just got to look at it. But I thought
the pass rush was really good, and again they did
a better job protecting on third down and then we
did offensively, so now I got to look at that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Cowboys also struggled to convert third downs offensively. There are
a couple of key fourth down decisions for Brian Schottenheim
or twice in the ballgame. He decided to go forward
on fourth down, once in the first quarter, another time
like early in the fourth where he could have kicked
the field goal. I want go as far as saying
he should have kicked the field goal. That's you know,

(01:04:32):
a little bit of revision is history. But both times
it didn't work out. He was He was asked about
those decisions as one could expect to be in the
postgame presser.

Speaker 4 (01:04:40):
Yeah, I mean we're going to be aggressive all game.
I mean that was part of the deal.

Speaker 12 (01:04:43):
And like I've told you guys, if I liked the call,
I'm going to go and I trust our offense. But
we didn't make the plays tonight, and that comes same
thing in the red zone. You know, first drive of
the game, felt really good about the call. We didn't
get a chance to execute it. But we were gonna
go on this game and be aggressive because we felt
like it was gonna give us the best chance to win.

Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
It's just a couple of those decisions last night. They're
opening drive, turning it over on downs, and then I
believe late in the game they had a chance to
make it a fourteen point game instead of a seventeen
point game, went for it, didn't wind up putting any
points on the board.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
And it's just interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:05:21):
I wonder how the analytics of those fourth down decisions
change when you have a kicker like Brandon Aubrey who
is well as close as you can get to automatic
unless they trot him out there from sixty eight like
they did last night when he tried to tie up
the record set on Sunday by Cam Little of the
Jacksonville Jaguars, the new longest field goal in NFL history.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
So Brian Schottenheimer asked to zoom out now, and he
was asked this.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
He was Tim Kallishaw that asked him, this, is it
fair to say that this is a bigger loss than
others because of the playoff picture? What three five and
one means versusting back to five hundred going into the
buy at four four and one.

Speaker 12 (01:06:04):
Absolutely, you know, but again, all losses and all wins
we take them separately here. But yeah, I mean, you're
stating the correct facts. I mean, we are where we
are and we've put ourselves into a into a hole.
We know that, and that's why we have to maximize
this week and the buy and look for the solutions
that I challenge the guys on.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
Finally, how discouraging is what happened last night for the
Cowboys given how they had played at home this season
coming into it, and some of the road tests they
have coming up.

Speaker 4 (01:06:36):
I'm disappointed. I am I'm disappointed.

Speaker 12 (01:06:39):
I thought we would have played better, coach better, But again,
it's the inconsistency that keeps getting us. You know, there's flashes,
there's things that are good, but when you're an inconsistent
football team, you're going to find yourself in these.

Speaker 4 (01:06:52):
Situations.

Speaker 12 (01:06:54):
Like I said, if we can get off the field
a few more times on third down, you know that
gives us some more opportunities. If we're bet are in
the red zone and we score more touchdowns and we
don't come out of the red zone one out of three,
the score is different because you know, we come out
at halftime and they take the ball, go right down
the field.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
Then the defense starts playing great.

Speaker 12 (01:07:13):
We score the points and you know, shoot, if we
get a chance to maybe kick a field goal, then
they have to kind of go back out there and
protect a seven point lead.

Speaker 4 (01:07:20):
But it didn't come about that way.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
So the Cowboys are three five and one. They had
the bye week and then they face the Raiders. By
the way, third down for Arizona seven of thirteen offensively
last night. The Cowboys five for twelve on third down,
but zero for three on fourth down, and those were
big swings that really hurt for Dallas offense that they
didn't get into the end zone until Ryan Flinoi's five

(01:07:46):
yard catch at the start of the fourth quarter. Remember
it was just a block punt are covered by Malcolm
Neiland in the end zone that gave Dallas their only
first half points in that loss to the Arizona Cardinals
last night. Other trade deadline mover Rashid Shahed one of
two receivers dealt today. That's the speed threat on the
outside for the New Orleans Saints. He nets a fourth

(01:08:08):
and sixth round pickback from the Seattle Seahawks in his return.
Remember the Seahawks dealing with injuries to their receiver room,
with Cooper Cupp not able to go on Sunday Night
didn't slow them down too much against my commanders, whose
season is over. Maybe if we have time, we'll do
a little memorial for the commander's season on this program.
Another team dealing with receiver injuries is Jacksonville, with Travis

(01:08:30):
Hunter hurting his knee during a bye week. We wait
news on the severity of that. Brian Thomas Junior dealing
with a high ankle sprain and a shoulder injury. Diami
Brown can cust in that overtime loss to the Las
Vegas Raiders. So overtime win, I should say for the
Jags over the Raiders. So they went out and signed
a Raider that impressed them in that game. It's Jacobe Myers,

(01:08:54):
who is now a Jacksonville Jaguar. Myers, the former Patriot
turned Raider, now on the move to the Jags, who
picked up that big win, gained some ground on the
Indianapolis Colts. They were very much in the AFC wild
card picture. A couple teams added some pass rushers. The
Ravens got Draymont Jones for a fifth round pick from

(01:09:15):
the rebuilding Tennessee Titans. The Eagles got linebacker Jalen Phillips
from the Miami Dolphins for a third round pick. They
also bolstered their secondary with JayR Alexander coming over from
the Ravens. They took on his contract in exchange for
a six to seven swap, adding some depth in that
Eagle secondary that includes Andrew mccooba, former Longhorn, who's off

(01:09:36):
to a pretty good start to his NFL career. But
the biggest moves of the day the Dallas Cowboys a
first and a second to the New York Jets for
Quinnin Williams, and the Jets go out and get Sauce Gardner,
the cornerback from the Colts.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Remember the.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
Colts lost Tarvarius Ward to an injury earlier this season.
It's been an obvious, kind of glaring weakness for them,
even dating back to the win they had over LA
a couple of weeks ago. So the Colts get stronger
in the secondary as they try and make what looks
to be a playoff push. Busy day around the NFL
trade deadline, lots more to come as we wrap up

(01:10:13):
the second hour of the Craig wat Show on Sports
Radio thirteen hundred zone.

Speaker 13 (01:10:24):
Bringing it into the front board is Brionna Preston swings
it left side, how back out front, the Preston which
around the arc outside long range three for Jeordan Lee
and it drops in lead with her first three of
the season. It's twenty nine to two.

Speaker 9 (01:10:40):
This is a twenty seven.

Speaker 13 (01:10:41):
Old one for the long Warns over the last six
minutes and forty five seconds.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
Yeah, some start for the Texas Longhorns women's basketball team
last night. You just heard a highlight from Craig Way,
who was on the call with Kathy Harston at the
Moody Center. I'm Jay Kurban, the producer of this program,
filling in for Craig today while he prepares to call
Texas and Duke the men's basketball season opener at the

(01:11:07):
Spectrum Center in Charlotte, the home of the Hornets, a
neutral site, quote unquote game that will be dominated by
Blue Devil fans. And you can hear Craig and Eddie
Orn's call at seven o'clock right here on thirteen hundred
Zone or on CAVET ninety eight one FM. Well, Texas
women off to a great start one hundred and twenty

(01:11:27):
three to fifty one victory over the University of Incarnate
Word last night. And Vic Schaeffer, in his opening statement
to the media afterwards, explained well some of the things
he was proud of and just his overall takeaways on
the win.

Speaker 9 (01:11:43):
So number one.

Speaker 7 (01:11:47):
In the books.

Speaker 5 (01:11:47):
I thought we, you know, we did some really good
things tonight. I thought we had some combinations that really
played with a lot of juice and energy. Proud of
our freshman that I thought she played really well, got
us off to a great start. She's been practicing well
and so I was happy for her. She knows she's

(01:12:11):
there's some other things in the film that she can
learn from. But you know, I thought, again, Liah's a
confident kid, and I thought she came out tonight and
was ready for the moment and played really well. Both
our post players were seven for seven. That's always a
good sign. You can go fourteen for fourteen inside, you've
got a chance to win every night. And so Jordan

(01:12:35):
was very efficient. She plays really hard defensively. She had
four offensive rebounds that's probably a career high, and had
two steals. So again for assisted no turnovers. She's going
to be excited about the no turnovers, as am I.

(01:12:57):
So but I thought, again, we didn't get to the
free throw line like I liked to. Booker was five
for five and Oldacre had five attempts, but they went
to the line twice as much as we did. I
thought those kids played really hard. I think coach is
doing a great job with them.

Speaker 7 (01:13:13):
She was such a.

Speaker 5 (01:13:14):
Competitor in college, really a tough, hard nosed player, and
I know her team will exude that, and I thought
they did tonight. So we didn't start the third quarter
like I like to, but after we called time out,
we outscored them I think thirty one to eight in
the third quarter, So we did a good job.

Speaker 9 (01:13:37):
So again it's number one. Lots to learn from on
the film.

Speaker 5 (01:13:43):
We've got to play way better defensively on Friday night
against a really good Richmond team. Their offense is a
well oiled machine that'll make you pay for every mistake
you make, whether it's in pick and roll or picking
pop or lair screens slips. They're just they're so well coached.

(01:14:04):
And we had a knockdown drag out with them at
their place.

Speaker 9 (01:14:07):
But we played them. If I'm not mistaken, we played
them in December.

Speaker 5 (01:14:11):
It was certainly later in the year and we'd had
some experience so and we had an experienced team. We've
got to really you know, there's certain spots on the floor.
We've got a team that hadn't played together sometimes, So nonetheless,
I think we've got a team. Also though that I
can change the lineups, the starting lineups from game to

(01:14:32):
game depending on matchups, and it's a night's matchup. Allowed
me to play a four guard lineup, which is analytically
our best lineup. So not that I'm a guy that's
into analytics a lot, but my staff is and they
want they keep me apprized of that. And again, I
thought we were pretty good. We scored one hundred and

(01:14:53):
something points, so one hundred and twenty three it's a
lot of points, y'all. So I'm proud of our are
proud of our effort, proud of our kids tonight. Again,
lots to learn from, but I love the energy and
the juice that we had.

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
Yeah, twenty nine to two start, Like you heard Jordan
Lee's three point year to cap off that run. And
you know, did Jordan see what she wanted to from
Texas in the opener?

Speaker 14 (01:15:17):
In some ways yes, and others know, we definitely would
like to be more disciplined and kind of just be
more of a world oil machine, like coaches touching on
Richmond and coming up that will absolutely be necessary. Just defensively,
we would like to communicate a little bit more and
we're playing different lineups, know who can switch and when
to switch, how aggressively, et cetera. So we definitely would

(01:15:40):
like to clean up those things come Friday. But offensively,
I think we're developing some chemistry and getting our people
in the right spots to be successful.

Speaker 1 (01:15:47):
And Lee was successful last night, leading the way with
twenty one points on nine to fourteen shooting. It was
a great debut as well for Leah Krump, the freshman
from Minnesota, who had sixteen points to go with I
rebounds in the game, and she was asked what were
the emotions like getting that first start in a Longhorn
uniform under her belt?

Speaker 11 (01:16:08):
Yeah, I mean I found out right before the game,
but I'm just really grateful for the opportunity, and I
have great teammates around me, so it just meant a
lot to me. You know, I've put a lot of
work in, but I'm just so thankful to be surrounded
by a great group of people and they've instilled so
much confidence in me, so I knew I was ready
for that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
Opportunity always helps to get off to a hot start,
and Texas was shooting it up over seventy percent well
into the first half of the ball game.

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
What led to that? According to all American Madison Booker, different.

Speaker 15 (01:16:37):
Starts for our defense, I would say, on Naddie and
we got some five seven calls, we made him turn
the ball over, we made him go deep to the
shot clock, and then we looked up it was sixty
and to two. I think that's just like for our defense.
I depistrated a lot of shots, especially threes kickouts. I
think we drove it well on Drobrajot two. We attacked
Bill and we saw we send out and she was

(01:16:59):
early already got high. But yeah, it was all crad
to our defense.

Speaker 7 (01:17:04):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:17:04):
Sounds like a Vic Schaefer coach team to me. And
that defense will be tested again on Friday night against Richmond.
That's the number twenty four team in the country. The
Spiders coming to town for a seven o'clock Central time
tip off should be a good crowd, a good atmosphere,
and a good early season measuring stick for the Texas
women in that one. After they beat love At Christian

(01:17:26):
and Texas Women's University in their two exhibition games. After
that Richmond game, they'll have three more non conference games
at home. On Monday, it'll be the Rage Incasuns of
Ewel Lafayette in town for a seven o'clock game. Then
the following Sunday, the sixteenth, they'll host Texas Southern.

Speaker 2 (01:17:47):
At four o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:17:49):
Wednesday, November nineteenth, they'll take on the Dukes from James
Madison before a really interesting couple of games they'll play
out in the Desert and michelobultch Arena in Vegas part
of the Player's Era Championship. On Wednesday, that day before Thanksgiving,
they will play UCLA at one o'clock Central Time, and then,

(01:18:10):
depending on what happens in the other matchup in that
kind of pairing at the Player's Era Championship, the Longhorns
will either play South Carolina, who of course they saw
four times last year, or Duke.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
So either way, a.

Speaker 1 (01:18:26):
Couple of blockbusters for the Longhorns at the Players Era
Championship during Thanksgiving in Vegas. So good to hear for
Vick Schaeffer and the Longhorns. They are one another. Texas
men will try to start one to zero tonight against Duke.
You can hear that game right here on thirteen hundred
the Zone. But up next we're gonna visit with Evan

(01:18:47):
V from inside Texas, and Evan is keeping a close
tabs on the longhornse not just throughout the season that
you know what's going on with the bye week, but
also where they're gonna fit in with the start of
the College Football Playoff ranking reveals every Tuesday from now
up until the very end of the season. With that
Sunday Selection show, ESPN will unveil where the Committee has

(01:19:12):
every team in college football currently ranked, and, as we've
harped on during this program a number of times, where
Texas is ranked tonight. While it's an interesting thought experiment
to see where the committee values what they've done so far,
the two top ten wins over Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, and
also the loss to a Florida team that is below

(01:19:35):
five hundred in the SEC and the loss to Ohio
State on the road by seven in the first game
of the season. So where will a Longhorn stack up,
What other kind of storylines will emerge from the Committee's
rankings Tonight Ultimately, it doesn't matter because Texas has the

(01:19:58):
chance if they can take advance IgE of the opportunities
still in front of them to play their way into
the playoff an erase any kind of doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
But it's still a long way to go for the
Longhorns to try and do that.

Speaker 1 (01:20:11):
Starting with the game against Georgia two weeks from now,
we'll talk about some of those topics with Evan v
from inside Texas right after this here on sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred Zone and on the iHeartRadio app, where
you can get in touch with us by using the
talkback feature. Just tap AM thirteen hundred the zone, press
the red microphone button and leave us a message of

(01:20:31):
up to thirty seconds.

Speaker 2 (01:20:32):
Maybe we'll get you on the show.

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
If you've got a question a take, You can also
get involved via the text line by texting the word
Texas followed by your message to eight one five three zero.
Final hour of The Craigway Show rolls on on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone.

Speaker 2 (01:20:49):
If you had long foot, as.

Speaker 1 (01:20:51):
Always on a texted Tuesday, we bring you back during
the four o'clock hour with the cut from the King
George Stray Today we've got write this down for you,
and it's a great segue towards bringing in one of
my favorite Texas football writers, and that's Evan Vief of
Inside Texas and Evan, thanks for doing this.

Speaker 2 (01:21:11):
How's it. How are you spending this bye week so far?

Speaker 9 (01:21:15):
Man?

Speaker 7 (01:21:15):
It's been nice. It's been relaxing.

Speaker 6 (01:21:17):
And just got done watching the first half tape from
that Vanderbilt game, So Brent, ready to talk about it,
at least at least the early good parts of the
offense before we dive into the defense.

Speaker 1 (01:21:25):
Yeah, well, that's good. I'm glad it's fresh for you
because that's where we'll start. Texas with the thirty four
to thirty one win over Vanderbilt Saturday. I don't think
that the game was as close as the score. If
you just watched the first half, I'm sure you'll agree
with that. What kind of takeaways do you have from
the tape?

Speaker 9 (01:21:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:21:41):
I think starting offensively like this was for the second
straight week in a row, we're saying this was arch
Manning's best game is a long horn, which I think
pretty important for getting off that even week arch Manning
problem that he's been having where you're flip flopping between
that Oklahoma game where he's this hyper efficient game manager
using his legs effectively third down conversions, and then he.

Speaker 7 (01:22:00):
Gets to Kentucky and it's terrible all around.

Speaker 6 (01:22:03):
He gets to Misisiiti State, he's getting that explosiveness and
you're going, hey, will that be the same thing against
vander Built, a top ten opponent not really known for
their defense, but still a good team where if they
can constrict the amount of possessions you have suddenly the
arch Banning's playing from behind, and we've seen that be
a problem in the past with him, but it really
wasn't anything like that. I think Sarkisian did a lot
of favors his best play calling game of the season.

(01:22:23):
The screen game worked really well for the team, but
both like throwbacks but also just getting Wingo out there
for that early score on that seventy five yard But it.

Speaker 7 (01:22:30):
Wasn't just that for Manning.

Speaker 6 (01:22:31):
I know there was that narrative about it being a
lot of screen yards and a lot of yak, but
part of those quarterbacks do set up their receivers for yak,
and there was a few plays where he's really getting
to the second third progressions, finding players downfield, I really
liked one sequence where he hits Mosley on a third
and four and then they're immediately using tempo to get
down the field. Two plays later, Trey Wiser is in
there for a touchdown. So I thought it was a

(01:22:52):
great game for Manning and that's about all you can
ask for for a guy who's gotten a lot of
criticism this year. But as we get later in the season,
I wrote an article about this today.

Speaker 7 (01:23:01):
How many SEC quarterbacks are we super super sure are
better than Manning right now?

Speaker 6 (01:23:05):
I don't know that's up for discussion. It could be two,
it could be five, but might not be even one.
We'll see going forward.

Speaker 1 (01:23:12):
Yeah, it almost felt like good complimentary football, not just
between the defense and the offense, but like you highlighted,
between Arch and his play caller and the old line
played a big factor in that. You wrote that Texas
might have found it's five on the offensive line. I
think Steve Sarkisian agreed when he answered questions about it
on Monday. How did that five kind of come to

(01:23:33):
be over the course of what's been a rocky season
for that group.

Speaker 7 (01:23:37):
Well, it's so funny, you know, start kept saying twice
you said there.

Speaker 6 (01:23:40):
You know, it's not our most athletic combo and offensive line,
which it's almost some saying like, man, I wish we
could get these big humans, these big athletes out there here.

Speaker 7 (01:23:47):
Nick Brooks's maybe.

Speaker 6 (01:23:48):
Before the season was netto, but right now it's clear
that this Robertson center Hudson left guard is the way
to go. And it's honestly come because Hudson's gotten injured
this season. Robertson's had to come in and play three
games at center before this, and then I think Sark
saw that, especially against Mississippi State, Utson got over a
lot of those present happen fraction problems he's had, and
suddenly he's looking at He's going, well, I don't want

(01:24:10):
to take this guy off a center, but I do
want to get Cole Hudson in there, who's a very
experienced guard. We're having left guard problems. He played left
guard before for this team. Let's slot him in there.
And clearly it worked really well. That play I was
talking about to with arch Man on third and four
blitz pick up. Arch had all the time in the world.
He goes sat back there for two more seconds in
fout A guy there so a pretty pretty obvious difference

(01:24:31):
and also improvement from this offensive line from even just
Mississippi State to now. It's clearly the best group, and
I'm I think Sarkisian's gonna stick with it that that
part of that athletic players is a little bit I'm like,
oh God, he might think of the other way, but
I do think this is the five that.

Speaker 7 (01:24:46):
We're going for going forward.

Speaker 1 (01:24:47):
Well, and getting an athlete like Emitt Moseley back on
the outside has has really opened up the screen game.
I'm sure you saw some of his big blocks jumping
out on tape, But I'm wondering if there's some to this.
The Texas offense in eleven personnel right, which is the
one tight end out there, has really looked the best
it has of any kind of grouping they've had this year,

(01:25:09):
as oppose to the multiple tight end looks that sark
was employing at the start of the season. Is there
something to that is that you know, is that a
change that you think Texas is going to stick with
the rest of the year. I think one of the
points with that eleven personnel is you look at this
Texas offense and you go after urspanning just purely the

(01:25:30):
other ten spots on the field. How many of the
top three are receivers, how many of the top five
are receivers. I'd argue that your two best players in
that offense are probably Mosley and Ryan Wingo right now.

Speaker 7 (01:25:40):
So you want those guys in the field. But that
doesn't mean I want DeAndre Moore off the field.

Speaker 6 (01:25:43):
It doesn't mean I want Parker Livingson not contributing, because
both those guys had some really good plays this last game.
I think it became obvious for Sark that though he
likes these young tight ends, you're Shannon's or Washington's or townsends,
it's almost like there's too many of them, and none
of them are specifically really really good. You just like
the idea of what they can bring your team, But yeah,
getting them spread out, getting Jack Hendris is your main

(01:26:05):
guy out there whose numbers aren't really where you want
them to be, but he's still clearly helping this team
out on those third downs. It's just the way to
go for this team. It clearly is helping them move
the ball more. The tempo adjustment to I think that's
really the biggest key to this is not only are
they out in this eleven personnel, but they're using that
eleven personnel to keep the defense in that true Nickel

(01:26:25):
set that I think Texas wants to play against. They
want them to be. They want to get Nickel blitzed.
They want their teams to being these four to two
fives or three three fives. Where hey, now the Texas
offensive line is suddenly the bigger group out there because
they're not playing against base They're not playing his four
down linemen. It just makes easier for Frondragon wiser to
run the ball, it makes easier for arts Man to
get the ball out quick.

Speaker 7 (01:26:44):
It gets Texas's best players in the field. It's pretty
infuriating it took them this long to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
To be honest with you, well, it might be a
case of better late than never. A right flipping over
to the defensive side of the football. Let's start with
the good and that is the pass rush spearheaded by
Colin Simmons and Ethan Burke, and you can name five
six other guys that really wrecked the game plan for
Vanderbilt in that game. That group is starting to be
what I think everybody at Austin thought they were coming

(01:27:11):
into the season.

Speaker 6 (01:27:13):
Yeah, Simmons is a special talent, one that you just
don't find very often in college football, and one that
since the start of his freshman year we could kind
of see it. And he got a little flat early
in the season because I'll be honest with you, I
think he was kind of taking off those.

Speaker 7 (01:27:26):
Games two through four when he was playing against some
of those G six teams.

Speaker 6 (01:27:29):
Since then, since especially Oklahoma, he has been a true
game wrecker, probably the best edgresser in college football during
that time. I talked about on my Twitter today when
I was posting some of these clips, like if the
Texas secondary is going to continue to struggle, which I
bet we'll get into it in the second, but if
they continue to struggle, the good part about this defense
is if they're in third and ten, there's still Simmons,
more Burke, Spence all coming at the passer, and unless

(01:27:53):
they're getting it out within one and a half seconds,
like the blitz is gonna be there and PK's blitzing more,
the defense is getting more just natural pressure. Even when
they're not litting from Simmons one on one or one
on one. Even Berksman really good the last two games,
so that's their best position on the field d line
in general, say specifically the edge group, and uh yeah,
they're fun to watch man Jake. That's like my favorite

(01:28:15):
part of the game is when they're getting into third
and ten and you're seeing the opposant quarterback kind of
checking his book. Guys, seeing the six players going to
the line string you're on out. Dang like there's gonna
be some heat on me.

Speaker 1 (01:28:25):
Immediately, I was telling Craig I got to be in
the stands just as a fan, which has been rare
for me since since I graduated a few years ago.
But I think those are the loudest crowd pops, the
Simmons and Burke sacks. But when they don't get home,
that's when things have started to go wrong a little
bit for Texas, a secondary that now is looking at
back to back weeks of less than stellar play by

(01:28:47):
their own standards. How concerned are you about the Texas
secondary if this is what shape and in Pavia can
do when you've got a guy like Gunner Stockton on
your schedule next Yeah, I do think.

Speaker 6 (01:28:58):
There's a little that bit of that asterisk of you know,
you didn't have Michael taff and it's clear how much
he means to that group. And then last part of
this game, you didn't have Jilani McDonald and at times
you know your third safety's out, your first corner and
second corner are out.

Speaker 7 (01:29:11):
So Sarcasian said on that big drive that they have
near the end of the game, like we're.

Speaker 6 (01:29:15):
Down our five best defensive backs outside of Grayson Littleton
on the field.

Speaker 7 (01:29:18):
So that is part of it.

Speaker 6 (01:29:20):
But as I pointed out as well on Twitter, like
there were plays that were also just bad in the
first half that you don't want your defensive back group
to be to be doing. You can see the offenses
are kind of starting to realize, hey, Jalen Gilbo is
not the most talented one on one match coverage. He
often either needs someone to shade him over top, or
when he's not shaded over top, he gives a lot
of space on the inside cuts. So you see a

(01:29:42):
lot of these six yard slamt routes get called on
Gilbert where there's seven yard outs, which aren't really his
fault because he just knows what he has to play with.
But that's where teams are beating Texas at and I
think the long Runes need to constrict that overall unit.

Speaker 7 (01:29:55):
It needs to be taff And and McDonald out there
for most of the games.

Speaker 6 (01:29:58):
Littleton's got to play a lot of Maham's got play
a lot, Gilbo's got to.

Speaker 7 (01:30:01):
Play a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:30:02):
I'm not overly concerned. I do think there is that
kind of ramp up mentality with this team. You get
your bye week to get fresh, which I think Muhammed
had played almost two hundred snaps of the last three games.
You get fresh, You've got a Georgia game that you
really know you got to win, just for a lot
of optics sakes, just wanting to event to the team
last Shino Gilbert wants that championship game back. So a

(01:30:22):
lot of beings improved for this defense, but a lot
of that might just be coming from we get a
bye week, d and healthy and fresh.

Speaker 1 (01:30:27):
Hey, I think our team, the Washington Commanders, could use
about seven by weeks right now if those dB injuries
remind me a little bit of our beloved Commanders at
the moment. But we'll leave that issue for another time.
I'm gonna ask you the same question that Sark got
towards the end of his one of his only press
conferences this week after the loss in Gainesville. Do you

(01:30:50):
think or did you think that Texas would be in
the SEC championship conversation at this point? What do they
get there is another story, but somehow they're still standing.

Speaker 7 (01:31:01):
I truly think he did. I mean he said to
us he did.

Speaker 6 (01:31:03):
And you know, coaches will talk and say whatever they
want in front of the cameras and then behind the
scenes is another thing. But he truly did think that
this team's way better than losing by eight to Florida
in the fashion that they did. And then even though
Florida probably was a better team than than they are
now and they hey, they gave Georgia a fight on
a neutral field this last week. But he did probably
look at the schedule and go, well, we've got an

(01:31:24):
Oklahoma game that is always winnable every year, We've got
in Mississippi State and Kentucky. Kentucky came first, and then Vanderbilt.
Like it's gonna be hard because three of those games
are gonna be not at home. But if you get
to three and oh after that and then you're at home,
suddenly you're looking at a pretty favorable way to get
to four and oh after that loss, and I said
that we needed to go four and oh or five
and oh whateveryone's say in that October November stage to

(01:31:47):
get to this Georgia by they got to four and one,
which is still acceptable.

Speaker 7 (01:31:51):
They're in, they're in a spot to do it.

Speaker 6 (01:31:53):
Like I don't think I don't think specifically it's gonna
happen for the SEC Championship, but like, playoffs are definitely
on the table for this team, which I didn't think i'd.

Speaker 7 (01:32:01):
Be saying three weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (01:32:02):
Yeah, that's sort of what I was asking And Oh,
Sark thought.

Speaker 9 (01:32:05):
So did you?

Speaker 14 (01:32:07):
Yeah, I do.

Speaker 6 (01:32:08):
I do think there's a chance here. I don't really
trust the ESPN's fifty four percent number. I think that's
a little inflated. But like, yeah, they are gonna show
up tonight in this playoff committee ranking and probably be
like the tenth or eleventh ranked team. And I don't
think Texas fans were really ready for that, And I
don't think that a lot of fans a week ago
from anywhere across the country was ready for that idea.
But there's both that if they beat Georgia, then suddenly

(01:32:31):
they're you know, the seventh best team, and it's really
starting to get comfortable, even if you lose against A
and M and even then so like nine to three sec.
Team that was the big complaint last year was from
Alabama and South Carolina. Hey, we are better than this
SMU team that got killed in the first round. Let
us be the winner or let us be the team
that gets that eleventh seed. They're gonna be pushing for
that again this year, and the playoff committee has said,

(01:32:53):
we are putting a lot of value on strength to
schedule and strength of record. Now, I do think there's
gonna be some some people in that room. They're gonna know, yeah,
they do have three losses and one of them is
to Florida. But then another group's going to go, hey,
losing by seven to Ohio State when you're fighting for
the eleventh spot in this playoff is very acceptable. So
suddenly you're looking at nine and two. Otherwise you have

(01:33:15):
wins against Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, one of A and M Georgia.

Speaker 7 (01:33:19):
I do think Texas could get in there.

Speaker 6 (01:33:21):
I do think it's also a fifty to fifty right
and it depends on the YU Texas Tech and maybe
if another big ten team outside of the kind of
core three shows up, but it's on the cards, and
I think that's not something that a lot of fans
expect to be talking about.

Speaker 7 (01:33:34):
Like a month ago, and.

Speaker 2 (01:33:35):
We're talking with Devin Vee from inside Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:33:38):
You put out a great article this morning diving into
the CFP rankings, and you said Texas, while they could
go anywhere maybe in the ten to fourteen range, has
an argument to be ranked as high as eighth.

Speaker 2 (01:33:51):
You just laid out some of what that would look like.

Speaker 1 (01:33:54):
I mean, if you had to pick a number tonight,
where do you think the committee will ultimately place Texas.

Speaker 7 (01:34:00):
Yeah, I think it's ten.

Speaker 6 (01:34:01):
I do think that's where they're going to go because
Texas Tech and Oregon do have probably the better resume
and the better argument to be above Texas. To Texas
Tech took them, Texas Tech took a bad loss to
Arizona State. I will say that, but I do think
this the different between the one and the two is
gonna hold a lot of weight. I do think that
this argument with Oregon and Penn State is a little disingenuous,

(01:34:22):
because yes, Penn State right now is a team without
a coach.

Speaker 7 (01:34:26):
That is not very good, and we know they're not very.

Speaker 6 (01:34:28):
Good, but coming into that game like this was everything
for a team that clearly was talented. They clearly showed up.
The level of playing the game was very high. So
I don't I don't think the voters are going to
take this. Oh, they're a penn State team that's lost
a coach. I think they're gonna take it as Oregon
went into Pennsylvania and won a pretty big game under
the lights in the white out. Then it comes to

(01:34:50):
Texas in this ten through fourteen tier that you mentioned
what they've said in the committee criteria, and I hope
they stick to this is head to head matters. That
means Vanderbilt and Oklahoma cannot be above Texas, and I
know what Oklahoma is above them, the AP. They shouldn't
have to worry about what the AP is saying. This
is its own thing, so that should be two teams
that are head of anyway, Then the argument becomes Virginia,

(01:35:12):
because Virginia is better than Louisville. They beat Louisville and
had to head, so like they could be eleventh behind
Virginia who is at number ten.

Speaker 7 (01:35:18):
But Virginia lost to NZ State, like they are seven
and one.

Speaker 6 (01:35:21):
Outside that are maybe eight to one, But I would
take Texas's resume over Virginia's with their loss to NC State.

Speaker 7 (01:35:27):
So I think they're gonna be ten. I think that's
where they should be as well.

Speaker 1 (01:35:30):
Yeah, Virginia's got the ranked win over Louisville. I've got
Texas at ten in my rankings. All unveil in the
in the next segment, but it is difficult with all
the teams kind of in Matt Clump and I'm with you,
the eight pe pole is total nonsense because Texas being
behind both Oklahoma and Vanderbilt is one thing. But then

(01:35:51):
if you're gonna knock Texas down right saying okay, we
think this team is around fifteenth, why then is Ohio
State number one and not Indiana or you have the Hoosiers.

Speaker 7 (01:36:01):
Yeah, I mean Indiana is the number one team.

Speaker 6 (01:36:03):
They have the better if you just want to go
pure numbers and analytics, strength, the record, strength, the schedule
better than Ohio State. And then they also have a
common opponent with Illinois, who they destroyed like it was
like sixty eight to fourteen or something like that. And
Ohio State also had a comfortable win. But yeah, Indiana
should be number one. I had Tech Texas A and
M at number two, and then Ohio State three, Alababama four.

(01:36:24):
From what they've read up on it, they kind of
selected chunks, so they select their top four, then their
top eight, then their last four teams in, and then
from their thirteen through twenty five. So when you look
at who Texas has on their schedule as well, they're
taking two teams from that top chunk.

Speaker 7 (01:36:40):
Which was an m Ohio state.

Speaker 6 (01:36:41):
They'll play A and M, and then you're getting Georgia
from the next chunk because they're probably gonna be fifth
to sixth there. And then after that they've already been
Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, who without a loss to Texas would
be comfortably in the top ten area. So that's where
the Longhorns rights me is doing them a lot of favors,
something that didn't happen last year where it was doing
the exact opposite.

Speaker 7 (01:36:59):
But yeah, I do, I do think that Indiana should
be number one. And then yeah, you make a good
point like if the voters are really taking a base
off of resumes and that's not really what the ad
people does, I can want an hour tangent about the
A people, then Ohio State probably wouldn't be number one.
So I do think that the committee's doing their own
different criteria.

Speaker 6 (01:37:16):
They don't care about the A people or what other
people are saying, which is why I had I think
the case for Texas at ten or even eleven, it's better.

Speaker 1 (01:37:23):
Do you think that they should put out these rankings
every week? Because at the end of the day, we're
going back and forth about teams that are all in
a similar tier, and the argument is, well, you know
it's gonna work itself out, it doesn't really matter. I mean,
do you think that it's a good idea to put
out these rankings every week? TV ratings aside?

Speaker 7 (01:37:42):
I think it's good that they.

Speaker 6 (01:37:43):
Wait till November and then they kind of do it
week to week, because like, if they did a week
one c IF people and it had Texas in there
even though they lost and they were zero and one
while a bunch of other teams were wanting out, then like,
what's the.

Speaker 7 (01:37:56):
Point of having doing right right?

Speaker 2 (01:37:58):
I agree with you on that, but then if.

Speaker 6 (01:38:00):
You wait all the way back to the very end,
I think it takes maybe a little bit of the
suspense out of some of these games and what these
conference championship games mean. I think for their sake, they
should wait until the very end and release one and
it's your final and that's all you've got, because there's
gonna be some tough conversations that end of the year
of say, BYU is a one loss team in the

(01:38:21):
Big Twelve, but they don't win their conference and they
turn to an eleven and two team, how does eleven
and two BYU look versus a nine and three Oklahoma
or Texas. That's gonna be really tough for the committee
to decide on it. That's where it's gonna be hard
for them to say, Hey, if you're the nine seed
coming in, are we gonna drop you to the thirteenth
seed if you lose that conference championship game that you

(01:38:41):
earned that Texas or Oklahoma didn't play in. I do
like the way they do it right now. I think
it's the way they should do it. But I think
for their own sake they should. They should be very
comfortable with not doing any rankings until the very end.

Speaker 7 (01:38:53):
But I like the way we have it.

Speaker 2 (01:38:55):
I think I do too. And Evan, this was a
lot of fun thanks for stopping by.

Speaker 7 (01:39:00):
Oh and I've lost you, Jake, My audio just cut out.

Speaker 2 (01:39:03):
Well, it's a good place to leave you. Then, Evan V.

Speaker 1 (01:39:05):
From Inside Texas, we appreciate you joining the show today.
You can see you can read his work at Inside Texas,
part of on three College Football Network.

Speaker 2 (01:39:17):
When we come back, we mentioned where Evan and I
think Texas might slot in in the CFP rankings.

Speaker 1 (01:39:23):
Tonight, Well, I'll make my best attempt at ranking teams
one through twenty five. It'll probably be torn to shreds
in a week's time. That's coming up on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone

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