Longhorns Head to Kentucky, Flacco and Scherzer Roll Back the Years

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Underway on a Friday afternoon here on Sports Radio thirteen
hundred The Zone. Jay Kurban, the producer of this program,
in for Craig today as he is currently Lexington bound.
We'll try and touch base with him a little later
on this afternoon as he prepares to travel to call
the Texas Longhorns SEC matchup in Kentucky on Saturday night

(00:26):
six o'clock ESPN for a road test. See if Texas
can follow up that Red River rivalry win and get
to two and one, get over five hundred here in
SEC play as they sort of head past that halfway point,
one of those milestones you look for in the middle
of a college football season. We've got a busy afternoon

(00:49):
agenda after kind of a crazy day in sports last night.
It's funny, you just never know when certain sports days
will deliver it, and yesterday has had a theme right.
I had to check my phone this morning, my calendar
make sure that the year really was twenty twenty five
when I woke up this morning, because all over the

(01:09):
world of sports yesterday we had some guys rolling back
the years delivering some vintage performances from the duel of
the forty plus year old quarterbacks on Thursday Night Football,
with Joe Flacco and the Bengals ultimately beating Aaron Rodgers
and the Steelers in a pretty exciting game last night.

(01:29):
Craig and I weren't really too pumped about seeing that
on this late and we discussed it here in this
studio yesterday, but that game wound up delivering. We're gonna
hear from both of those quarterbacks in a game that
ESPN dubbed the Icy Hot Bowl between those two former
Super Bowl MVPs. That's coming up here in just a

(01:49):
few minutes. We'll talk plenty of other NFL storylines, including
a look at the latest power rankings, and a preview
of my Washington commander going up against the Dallas Cowboys.
We'll hear from Dak Prescott, who is very excited to
have Cede Lamb back in the lineup. We'll see what

(02:10):
the oddsmakers have to say about that game, and maybe
point out a couple of trends give you a nice
preview of a matchup that means a pretty good deal
to both of those two teams, not just with the
traditional Washington Dallas rivalry of mind, but in the context
of the NFL season, and given how wide open the
NFC is right now, that is coming up later in
this first hour of the program. We will have Inconceivable,

(02:35):
which on a Friday means a trip down to Florida
where we have Florida Man stories seldom disappoint and we've
got a couple of record setting stories to share with you.
Also have a sports tie in with Inconceivable today, so
that is coming up later on in this two o'clock hour.
We're rolling from two to five here today, and here's

(02:58):
the rest of what you can expect. At the three
o'clock hour, we'll talk college football, set up a pretty
underrated slate of games this weekend, get you all primed
for a great Saturday if you want to wake up
and just get your snacks ready, set up your spread,
and then sit on the couch and get ready to
roll with the Longhorns on the road. And there's plenty

(03:21):
of other games in each window that we're going to
preview and break down for you here during the program.
That's coming up at the top of the three o'clock hour.
Shortly after that, we'll have CJ. Vogel from on Texas Football,
frequent guest on the show, he'll come back and give
you his takeaways from the Red River game, what he
thinks Texas needs to key in on against Kentucky, and

(03:43):
then we'll take a wider view, bird's eye view of
the college football landscape and see what kind of trends
he sees forming as we get to that halfway point
of the season. It's not time to frame everything in
terms of the college foot playoff just yet, and I
think you know, people are starting to do a better
job of that of letting the games play out, not

(04:07):
necessarily publishing so many way too early rankings. As the
college football playoffs still feels pretty far away at this
point and the Longhorns may have still a pretty big
uphill climb to get there. But as the picture starts
to get a little bit clearer, we'll talk about some
big picture moments in college football with CJ. Vogel that

(04:28):
coming up during the three o'clock hour on the program.
Then at the top of the hour at four, we'll
talk a little Major League baseball. Max Shurser talk about
rolling back the years. I mean, one of my favorite
athletes that I've ever followed, and with my Washington DC ties,
I will always hope that Max Scherzer when he is

(04:50):
in Cooperstown one day, wears a Washington Nationals cap when
he's there. But by gosh, he is really making the
most of this potentially final act in his career, from
helping the Texas Rangers across the Hump a couple of
years ago and now absolutely laying it all out on
the line, a gutsy, vintage whatever you want to call it,

(05:13):
Max schurz Er performance to help the Toronto Blue Jays
tie up their series in Seattle against the Mariners. Game
five of the NL excuse me, ALCS is tonight at
about five o'clock Central. Then later on it'll be Game four,
what I predict will be the final game of the
National League Championship Series, the series which a lot of

(05:36):
us had high hopes for as maybe neutrals or just
baseball fans in general. Seeing that clash of styles between
the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers will get
you all caught up on that dominant display by the
Dodgers pitching staff and preview Game four of that series tonight, Hey,
you know who else loves the Dodgers, Craig Way, and

(05:57):
we'll try and talk to him as he lands in Lexington.
Later on this afternoon, you'll hear his conversation from last
night with Coach Sark during the four o'clock hour tonight
when those two previewed Kentucky on Longhorn Weekly. If case
you missed that, it airs every week at on Thursdays

(06:17):
at seven o'clock right here on Sports Radio thirteen hundred zone.
It'll also re air tonight, So if you want an
even deeper dive into the Texas mindset coming off that
Red River wind and getting ready for Kentucky, you can
catch that at seven o'clock tonight right here on Sports
Radio thirteen hundred zone. And we'll have a little preview

(06:38):
of Coach Sark's conversation with Craig about Kentucky later on
in the program. Also had Chad Scott joined the program
last night, Longhorn running backs coach, who had plenty to
say about Trey Wisner. Of course, a running back room
that's having to shuffle a little bit with a departure
of Jared Gibson. We heard yesterday during Steve sarkisian Zoom
availability that Michael Terry, versatile five star freshmen who's tried

(07:03):
his hand in a lot of different positions.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
Started the year as a receiver.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Well, now he is in the running back room, and
we'll find out just how quickly he gets involved, maybe
as soon as tomorrow. That coming up with coach Sark
at about four fifteen. So we've got a lot to
discuss on today's show. But as promised, we'll start with

(07:26):
a little recap of the Thursday night football thriller and
al michaels In kirkirk Street noted they've kind of had
a little unexpected run of thrilling Thursday night matchups here
as of late, and there was a little bit of
history last night. Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals, who
defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers by a final score of thirty

(07:47):
three to thirty one, became just the second quarterback pairing
in the Super Bowl era. Think about that to start
against each other as forty year olds. Can you remember
the first if you hint? They were also two former
Super Bowl MVPs, just like Flacco and Rogers. Boast S,

(08:12):
Drew Brees and Tom Brady did it during the twenty
twenty season, the Bucks and the Saints. And I was
a little bit low on the Steelers coming into the season.
A big part of the reason why when you have
a quarterback trying to have success into his mid forties,
history's not exactly on your side.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Did some research into this.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Tom Brady is more of the exception than the rule,
as is Drew Brees when it comes to success over
that forty year old threshold.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Over the hill if you will.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
For NFL quarterbacks, tom Brady at age forty four winning
the Super Bowl leading the league in passing yards and
passing touchdowns, that might never happen again. Now, if there's
anybody that can push for that, it would be Aaron Rodgers. Heck,
the way that Steeler defense looked last night, he might
have to lead the league in passing and touchdowns in

(09:08):
order for Pittsburgh to sniff the Super Bowl. But Tom
Brady was the MVP at forty had a nearly identical
winning percentage over forty to whatever you would call his prime.
That doesn't always happen. Drew Brees at age forty, he
was a pro bowler, had a terrific age forty season,

(09:32):
helped lead that Saints team to thirteen regular season wins,
and that season culminated on the controversial kind of was
it wasn't. It probably was pass interference missed in that
NFC Championship game and Craig Way's beloved Los Angeles Rams

(09:52):
move on. But at age forty one, it wasn't quite
the same for Breeze, a little bit of a drop off.
He had some freak injuries that year, including that collapse lung.
Remember that Tyrod Taylor had a collapse lung because of
a trainer's mishap. But Drew Brees has just came off
off of a strange hit, and it just wasn't the

(10:14):
same for Breeze at forty one as it was at
forty and he didn't necessarily have the same infrastructure around
him at that point. Caught some bad breaks during that
what turned out to be his final season.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Guy like Brett Farrer played into his forties.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
It's about a five hundred quarterback at that point in
his career, put together a couple of okay seasons with
Minnesota and that final act. Before him and before Rogers,
there were thirteen other quarterbacks in the NFL to start
a game at the age of forty or older. You

(10:49):
want to know their combined record, It's not good. And
these are some good quarterbacks. Think about the longevity you
have to have for a team to go into the
season with you as their guy when you're forty e
years old, thirty two and forty eight, thirty two and
forty eight. And this is a pretty impressive list of quarterbacks.
Guys like Brad Johnson, the Dallas Cowboys, Vinnie Testaverde Doug

(11:12):
Flutie Moren Moon, Steve de Berg, Len Dawson of course,
a Super Bowl champion with Hank Strams Kansas City Chiefs
Super Bowl four.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Earl Morrile, who.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
Was also a Super Bowl champion with the Baltimore Colts
back in Super Bowl five, which actually came up this
week earlier on the program Craig and I love to
do our John Facenda impression. He was especially iconic narrating
the Blunder Bowl or the Folly Bowl game with nine

(11:45):
combined turnovers won by a rookie kicker Jim O'Brien for
the Baltimore Colts over the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl five.
Earl morale didn't actually start that game. The starter of
that game was another quarterback on this list who got
to the NFL start over the age of forty. That's
Johnny Unitis. When he was that old, he was starting

(12:07):
with the San Diego Chargers. Yeah, I didn't know that
until I researched it this morning, but Moral was with
the Dolphins at age forty, so he was no longer
with the Colts. Morales started Super Bowl three in his prime,
then came on in relief of an injured Johnny Unitas
in Super Bowl five. Anyhow, it's a lot of small

(12:27):
sample sizes, right. The guys with winning records on this
list all played in just a handful of games in
their forty plus season, Guys like Sonny Jurgensen in Washington,
Johnny united Is with the Chargers, he was two to zero.
Zeke Bretowski and Charlie Connolly going way back to the
pre Super Bowl era, And like we said, only the

(12:51):
second time that two players on that list of NFL
quarterbacks to start over the age of forty. Only two
times have they squared up against one another, and last
night was one of them. And Joe Flacco led the
Cincinnati Bengals, who were reeling coming into that game, got

(13:11):
off to that great two and oh start after changing
their whole preseason plan. Right, what was the big knock
on the Cincinnati Bengals under Zach Taylor. Why do they
always start so slowly? They're always getting themselves into such
a deep hole that they're having to go to Baltimore
in December and win. They're having to go to Pittsburgh
in November and win. And last year that hole proved

(13:37):
too deep to climb out of it, and they lost
what was it three games last year of their first
six at the last second, including a miss PI against
the Ravens late.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
They had some bad luck baked in there too.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
But this year they started two and oh lost Joe
Burrow in that week two win over Jacksonville. Jake Browning
came on in relief led them to the win. And
what happened over the next few weeks for Browning was
a bit of a disaster. You had the turnover filled

(14:10):
lost to Minnesota forty eight to ten. The Bengals lost
that game and that kind of started a downward spiral
into a twenty eight to three shellacking in Denver on
Monday Night football against the Broncos, a game which caused
Troy Aikman to turn to Joe Buck and say, yeah,
this just isn't a good product right now watching the

(14:31):
Bengals offense with all of these penalties and all of
the sloppiness, and Jamar Chase, who had sixteen catches last night,
a new career high. He was targeted twenty three times.
Jamar Chase just looking as disgruntled and unhappy as could be.
Then they lost to the Lions thirty seven to twenty four,

(14:53):
a game in which the Lions ran rough shot over
the Bengals defense, which has been very suspect this year.
Browning was better in that he was more productive two
hundred and fifty one yards three touchdowns. Jamar Chase had
one hundred yards two touchdowns. But Browning threw three picks,
So the turnovers were a huge issue for Jake Browning.

(15:15):
So they go out and they trade in the division,
which you just don't see every day. They trade for
Joe Flacco, giving up a fifth round pick to the
Cleveland Browns. Browns are going to turn the keys over
to Dulan Gabriel slash Shad Or Sanders slash Deshaun Watson
slash whoever has the unfortunate honor of starting behind that

(15:38):
offensive line and with that group of playmakers at this
particular moment, and.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
The Browns caught him flak for it from the Steelers.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
In the week leading up to the game, Mike Tomlin said,
I don't know of a team that wants to trade
a starting quarterback within the division.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
If he's good enough to be the.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Guy you chose to start before the season, Well maybe.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Mike Tomlin was onto something.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Joe Flacco last night thirty one to forty seven, three
hundred and forty two yards passing three touchdowns and he
had only been with this team for about a week
and a half. Unbelievable vintage performance. Jamar Chase one hundred
and sixty one yards receiving on sixteen catches, and the

(16:26):
Bengals resurrect their season from what would have been two
and five and a three game deficit to the Pittsburgh
Steelers in the subtedly wide open AFC North instead is
three and four, a game and a half back and

(16:46):
very much in the thick of things. Joe Flacco knew
it was a big deal. Here's how we said it
felt after the game in his press conference.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Man, it's a lot of fun, I'm you know, and
I mean, obviously it's a lot of fun towards the
end of the game when when you're getting ready to go.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
But.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
You know, this is what we're doing for is games
like that. It came down to the wire just like
we we know it's going to and really really happy
about how the guys just kind of stayed with it
for full sixty minutes. And man, our offensive line was
going today. You know, we're running the football, protecting, uh,

(17:26):
you know, doing a lot of things that we wanted
to do.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Yeah, they were looking like an elite offense that they
were projected to be before the season when Joe Burrow
was at the controls and you know that that lets
you in a little bit to the mindset of of
what keeps these guys going into their elder years. And
and the forty two year old Flacco was asked how
much fun was it last night?

Speaker 3 (17:51):
It was a lot of fun, But there's like, you know,
you're still there's your mind's not necessarily think that way
for the full sixty minutes, but obviously the last seven seconds,
you know, or but even that there's three seconds they
got to hell, Mary off, You're still you know, you've
been through I've been through enough of these to to

(18:13):
wait until that clockhead zero to be excited. So but
like it, Listen, I love doing this. I've been doing
it such for such a long time. When you're out
there with the guys and you're and you're doing what
you want to do and you're having success, and you
can look at each other's eyes and just like you
get that feeling you know of you know, bonding with

(18:33):
somebody else, and just it's a lot of fun. And
it's a lot more fun when that clockheads zero and
you've gotten the job done.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Probably a lot more fun too for Flaco with some
upgraded weapons around him.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Now.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
I know Cincinnati's offensive line is is not great. It's
not it's not been a great unit for the last
I don't know how many years. But to play with
Jamar Chase and t Higgins, two elite wide receivers, has
to be an upgrade in terms of his experience. And

(19:11):
he was asked what it's been like to get the
timing down with those two and how he's been able
to do it so quickly.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
I think I told you early on when I got here.
If you can't throw the guys, if you can't get
on the same page with those kind of guys, then
you know what are you doing. They're pretty special, so
they're you know, you can you can kind of read
your body language and they get open, so it's easier
a throat to well.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Coming over from the Cleveland Browns, you can certainly understand
that and look like Jamar Chase and T Higgins were
open all night, which is one of many causes for
concern if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers because their defense widely
touted in the offseason for the guys they brought in

(19:57):
like Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, who were not successful
in stopping Jamar Chase and t Higgins last night. Nor
have they really been effective as a pass defense Pittsburgh
all year long. They're thirty first in the league out
of thirty two teams against the pass, giving up two
hundred and fifty eight passing yards per game, and coming

(20:23):
into the day they were seventeenth in scoring defense.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
That's middle of the pack.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
So they've been good at getting takeaways, they've been good
in the red zone. They're giving up the fourth most
yards per game. It has been a struggle for a
unit that on paper, was supposed to be one of
the best in the league, and it's not like they've
faced a gauntlet in terms of opposing offenses. You know,

(20:48):
when you get six weeks now this is week seven
for those Thursday Night teams, the Bengals and the Steelers.
You get this deep into an NFL season, you can
start to view things a little bit differ lee with hindsight,
so we do in radio.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Sometimes.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
The Jets put up thirty two points on the Steelers
Week one. The Jets a rower at six and have
really struggled in almost every facet of offensive football. And
it's not going to get better with Garrett Wilson on
the sideline. But Steelers won that game thirty four to

(21:24):
thirty two. In Week one, lost to the Seahawks, giving
up thirty one points in Week two. Some of that
was on the special teams with the kickoff fiasco. Caleb
Johnson has been kind of in the doghouse. Haven't seen
a lot of the explosive rookie out of Iowa since
that special team's gaff kind of helps swing that game.
Then they beat the Patriots, but New England fumbled four

(21:49):
times that day. I mean that was a gift wrapped
win from ramondre Stevenson, Drake May and the Patriots, but
a win that's aged well with New England now sitting
Ford too. Then they beat the Vikings in Dublin. Again,
they controlled early, nearly lost late. Carson Wentz threw for
three point fifty in that one. Then they picked up

(22:12):
a win, but it was over the Browns, Joe Flacco's
former team, and it was only Dylan Gabriel's second start.
So I think a fair question posed to the Steelers,
and you know, there's a lot more questions about their
defense and their offense at this stage. Aaron Rodgers looked
good last night, looked more mobile than he has in

(22:33):
previous weeks. You know, the Steelers I praised the other
day for getting the ball out very quickly and kind
of minimizing the fact that Rogers can't move very well anymore.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
At this stage of his career.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
He's been a little bit ineffective against blitzes and pressures,
despite being very accurate. Still has a live arm. He
saw it on that hill Mary. When he's had time.
This year, Rodgers has looked as good as any quarterback,
and last night he had the ability to set up
a lawn chair back there, and he made the most

(23:05):
of it. Throwing four touchdowns, including a clutch late score
to Pat Fryarbooth that gave Pittsburgh a late lead before
the Bengals eventually went down and won the game.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
It was such a roller coaster game.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
It's been a roller coaster start now for the four
and two Steelers, and Aaron Rodgers was asked, how do
you keep this kind of roller coaster like experience which
ended in the loss, from impacting you the rest of
the way.

Speaker 5 (23:32):
Well, I think you got to realize, listen, we want
to win every game. There needs to be an expectation
of winning. But this is a short week division opponent.
Anything had happened obviously, Joe played really well for them,
and Chase and t got going for him. This is
the NFL. You know, we had a chance to really
open up some space. But before and two still first

(23:55):
in the division, got a couple you know, home games
coming up back to back. Another Sunday night opportunity against
my former team. So I'm not gonna ride the roller coaster,
and I don't, Mike isn't, and hopefully you guys follow suit.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, that should be fun. Sunday night.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
The Packers go to Pittsburgh at Akrosser Stadium to take
on the Steelers. But the Steelers schedule is getting more difficult.
We just mentioned that little bit of a soft start, Chets, Seahawks,
Vikings without JJ McCarthy, Patriots who fumbled four times, and
the Browns. They still have those division games and it's

(24:36):
not exactly shaping up like the strongest division in football
this season. But it gets more difficult, starting with the
Packers Sunday night, who despite their recent struggles, have looked
really good at times this year. Then they host the Colts,
who are division leaders at the moment, at Chargers, later

(24:57):
on at Bears. Other non division games hosting the Bills,
they got to go to Detroit. So what does this mean?
If you're the Ravens. You're alive because the Ravens have
some winnable games coming up, including a date with the
Jets and the Giants. And the Ravens and Steelers still

(25:18):
play twice, once in early December and once in Week eighteen.
Based on last night Steelers loss and the news that
Lamar Jackson is getting ready to return after the buye,
I've got serious questions about how safe that Steeler Division
lead is. They had the opportunity, like Aaron Rodgers said

(25:40):
to expand on that lead, really take the baton.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
In the AFC North.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
But instead I predict it's gonna come down to week
eighteen in that matchup between the Steelers and the Ravens,
and based on last night's offensive performance, Oh, you can't
rule out the Bengals either. We'll talk much more NFL,
including a Cowboys commander's preview, and we invite you to
join the conversation as the afternoon rolls along right here

(26:09):
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred zone. Our text line
is available. Text the word Texas to eight one five
three zero. That's the word Texas followed by your message,
and we'll try and get to as many of your
questions as we can today. Will You can also join
the show via the talkback feature and the iHeartRadio app.

(26:31):
Go ahead and open up the iHeart and Radio app
completely free, select AM thirteen hundred zone. I already have
it set as a preset just with the click of
one button, and then next to the triangle that says
play near the top right of your phone or your computer,
there's a red microphone, well, a red button with a

(26:53):
white microphone on it. A little better way to describe it,
and you get up to thirty seconds to leave your
voice message there and get that app ready download it
because later we've got a chance to give away some
concert tickets for you, and that app will help you
skip the line, cut through some of the noise and

(27:13):
enter that contest. Much more to come, including the rest
of the NFL and a little Dallas Cowboys talk next
here on The Craigway Show Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
Zone Pikeville, Kentucky, Zone Dwight, Yoakum. We'll hear from several
great musicians from the Bluegrass state throughout today's program. Jake

(27:36):
Herman in for Craigway with the Voice of the Longhorns
on his way to Kentucky, and we'll try and touch
base with him a little bit later on in the program.
Craig Roger Will and company are flying right now and
getting set to give you the call of Texas and
Kentucky at six o'clock tomorrow night, with network coverage beginning

(27:59):
at five right here on the Longhorn Radio Network. So,
as we hinted at before the break, going to talk
a little bit of NFL power rankings now after last
Night's Thursday game, and Craig and I had this conversation
earlier in the week. It's even less clear now. I
think who is number one if you're ranking the NFL
teams right now, because the Eagles wee might pick a

(28:23):
couple of days ago, but weeks ago, but they've looked
totally flat in the two games since. And if you
look back now, they're maybe a CD Lamb drop and
a Travis Kelcey drop away from having a losing record.
At this point of the season. They've been just kind
of skirting by. It kind of makes you see the
first few weeks in a different light. Tough to put

(28:44):
them at number one with kind of the drama they've
had off the field as well. The Buffalo Bills were
Craig's pick when they were sitting at four and zero,
but right now they're not even leading their own division.
But the New England Patriots owning the tie breaker, they
went into Buffalo and stunned the Bills on Sunday Night
Football a couple of weeks back, and the Bills in

(29:07):
what was seemingly a nice bounceback spot at Atlanta, well,
they were not able to get it done. The Bills
in that game almost never led and their defenses look
porous at times. And you've got the Colts, who legitimately
have revamped their offense under Shanesteichen and Daniel Indiana Jones,

(29:33):
but I've got questions about that defense. The Cardinals last
week without Kyler Murray, without Marvin Harrison Junior, and without
their three running backs that were atop the depth chart
at the beginning of the season, well they had an
awesome day against that defense that came down to a
couple of fourth quarter moments for the Colts to escape

(29:55):
thirty one to twenty seven over Arizona. And then you
got Denver, who had a lot of smoke around them
before the season. Their defense looks just as good as advertised,
But can that Bronco offense catch up a little bit
of regression it seems from that group to start the season.
Seam goes for the Lions, who have looked a little
bit more vulnerable than they did last year. They are

(30:16):
looking for that signature win right now Detroit. So if
you had to pick a team right now to put
number one in the NFL power rankings, well, who is it?
Because I just mentioned all the teams that were in
that conversation have their flaws. Well, Yahoo Sports says it's
Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers up four spots in the Yahoo

(30:39):
Sports Power Rankings from number four to number one.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
They right, Oh, the Bucks the best team in the NFL.
Probably not.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
They've had an unsustainable run in close games, but they
keep winning games, which isn't the case for just about
everyone else. And eventually they're going to improve as they
get healthier. Yeah, that's right, and especially at wide receiver,
where Mike Evans has missed a few weeks as he
kind of tends to do every year, but.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
He looks to be on the mend.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Chris Godwin a setback, he's doubtful to suit up this week,
and a mega BUCA phenomenal first round rookie out of
Ohio State. He got banged up early in that game
at San Francisco, And yet the Buccaneers, led by Baker Mayfield,
continue to win games. They are number one in the

(31:29):
Powell Rankings at five and one. They've got the Lions, two, Colts, three,
Bills four all teams we brought up, Broncos five and
Eagles six. I was all over the Packers early in
the season. They're three to one and one s I
think at number seven. That lost to the Browns kind
of putting a damper on everybody's expectations for the moment,
as did the tie against the Dallas Cowboys. We'll get

(31:52):
to the Cowboys and Commanders preview to start the three
o'clock hour of this program. Kansas City Chiefs, who are
three and three, well, they lost to the Jaguars, bounced
back by beating the Lions, and they get Rashid Rice
back this week. So all these teams that are kind
of losing pieces right now to injuries and attrition over

(32:15):
the course of the year, the Chiefs one team that's
getting healthier. Other big movers the Seahawks and Patriots vaulting
up from the top fifteen into the top ten. The
Seahawks at nine, the Patriots at ten, Rams and Chargers
the two Los Angeles teams sitting at eleven and twelve.
Big fallers the forty nine Ers down to number sixteen,

(32:36):
but they lost a very important piece of their defense
on Sunday. Fred Warner is going to be done for
the season, and they already were without Nick Bosa. Offensively,
they've been banged up just like last year. Mac Jones
expected to get the start again in brock Perty's place.
Ricky Pearsall and George Kittle both trying to get back

(32:58):
in the lineup. Brandon I Yuke, they're thinking maybe week ten,
eleven or twelve for him. Niners fall seven spots from
number nine down to number sixteen, and then even further
down go the Commanders from number twelve to number eighteen
after they essentially donated, just donated a game to the

(33:21):
Chicago Bears on Monday night. Third and one first down
wins you the game, or at least forces the Bears
to use their timeouts and have a very slim chance
of coming down the field to win the game in
the rain. The third fumble of the game, Jayden Daniels
and Jikory Krofsky merit give the Bears prime field position

(33:45):
with time to march down the field and get a
little bit of revenge for that Hail Mary loss. That
kind of kickstarted Washington's run this season. Last season, I
should say to the NFC Championship, one of many close
games the Commanders won late and started to kind of
cause the Bears to unravel. I just wonder will that

(34:07):
game on Monday Night have a similar impact on both
of those two teams this season, only in reverse. The
Bears are the team with the new head coach, the
quarterback who seems rejuvenated, and just a little bit more
aura to him than they had a season ago. Time
will tell, but right now Yahoo, the Bear is ranked

(34:28):
at seventeen and the Commanders ranked at eighteen. Cowboys, by
the way down one spot to number twenty three after
their loss to the Carolina Panthers. We hat to shuffle
some things around a little bit. Cowboys Commander's preview is
coming your way at the start of the three o'clock hour,
but for.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Two of three this afternoon.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
For us here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred zone,
Jay Kerbman with you in for Craig Way today he
is on the way to the Bluegrass State for the
Call of Texas and Kentucky Network coverage. That one starts
at five o'clock on ninety eight one kvet FM, but
you can catch the pregame coverage including Longhorn's Game Day

(35:08):
with Cameron Parker, Mike Carball, Harge and the World's Strongest
Man Mark Henry. And I'll get underway at three o'clock
from Little Woodrow's on Parmer Lane at the intersection of
Palmer and McNeil, and even earlier than that, you can
catch Nick Schuley in the Gang with Third and Longhorn
offering their preview of Texas at Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
TJ. Vogel is going to join us shortly.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
He's got a preview to share, as well as some
thoughts on where the Texas football team is about halfway
through this twenty twenty five season. We'll talk both Texas
and the wider picture of college football with CJ. But
as we've hinted at, it's time for our preview of
Commanders and Cowboys, a game that is highly anticipated in

(35:55):
office divided between me and the former producer of this program,
Cameron Parker, and it's tough to say who needs this
game more. We'll get to that at a minute. The Commanders,
though opened as two and a half point favorites, now
only minus one depending on where you look for your
betting lines. The over under has also gone up, and
it's gone up a significant amount, from forty eight and

(36:18):
a half to fifty four and a half.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
So the folks in the desert think.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
This is going to be a high, high scoring game,
and the injury report and who's included who's not included
may have a lot to do with it. The Cowboys
are going to get Cde Lamb back. He was listed
as a limited participant in practice as of Thursday, but

(36:43):
Dallas expects him to be able to return. Me While
Terry McLaurin declared out for this game, making it harder
for the Commanders to take advantage of a surprise absence
for the Dallas Cowboys. Trayvon Diggs not going to be
able to play in this game for what they're calling
a concussion that he suffered during an accident at home.

(37:06):
Still a developing story there, but that was surprising news
today for Trayvon Diggs, the Cowboys corner who will not
be able to play on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Well, we hinted at this question.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
Who needs this game more The Commanders, who, like I
alluded to, completely fumbled the game away against the Chicago
Bears and who have a very tough schedule coming up
after their matchup with Dallas. The Commanders will play at
Kansas City next Monday night, They'll host Seattle, then they'll

(37:42):
go to Detroit. Those are not easy games. By any stretch,
and you can't expect easy games the year after you
make it to the NFC Championship. But the Commander's certainly
showing a little bit of regression, a little bit of
sloppiness that's crept into their play Injuries have been a
factor as well, with Deebo Samuel not really practicing with
the heel injury, Terry McLaurin a quad injury that just

(38:04):
won't go away. If he misses this week, it'll be
his third and we just haven't heard a whole lot
of information on Terry and his timetable. But the Commanders
will come into that game three and three the Dallas
Cowboys two three and one. Now, this is from SB Nation. R.
J Ochoa noted this earlier in the week. No team

(38:26):
in Dallas Cowboys franchise history that only had two wins
through their first six games, so two and four or
in this case, two three and one, has ever reached
the playoffs. That's happened fourteen times. All fourteen of those
Cowboys teams missed the playoff. There's a couple of caveats here.
Number One, the playoffs have expanded in the last few

(38:46):
years in the National Football League number two. The Cowboys
had the tie two three and one not the same
as two and four. I think Brian Schottennhamer would say
still doesn't know how to feel about the tie.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
Number three. The NFC is wide open right now.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Like we hinted at during the power ranking segment, there
is no clear cut head and shoulders favorite right now
in either the NFC or the NFC either conference. Heck,
you look down the list, most of the divisions are
wide open. As Jerry Jones said during his radio interview
earlier in the week, parody said an all time high

(39:22):
and it's evidenced by the Cowboys lost at Carolina in
Jerry's view now. Jerry Jones was also asked about his mentality.
Would he pick up the phone and be aggressive when
it comes to trades, and he said it might depend
on what happens in the next few weeks. He said,
if we should have a good go of it over
the next few weeks ahead, and I won't try to
do my Jerry impression. I'm not as good at it

(39:44):
as Craig. But Jerry said, if we can get some
wins with Dak Blaine the way he's playing, paraphrasing.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
That he's encouraged.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
The last thing he's thinking about is in any way
being out of the hunt. So people have taken those
comments and started to circulate some trade rumors for the
Cowboys who they might add, particularly on the defensive side
of the football. But a lot of attention is going
to be on their addition to the offensive side of
the ball this year and who they're getting back in

(40:15):
CD Lamb. Dak Prescott and his presser yesterday, was asked
just how excited is he to have his number one
target back out there on the field.

Speaker 6 (40:24):
Yeah, a lot of excitement obviously, And then just the
last two days of practice he looked good and he's
ready to go. I mean obviously I saw him last
last week and during the rehab and probably could have
went then right being careful, but.

Speaker 4 (40:36):
He's ready to go. Looks great, It'll be fun.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
So over the last few seasons, the Cowboys have had
to kind of force feed Cede Lamb as their clear
cut number one weapon, and this year that changed. They
brought in George Picketts, just a perfect compliment for Cede Lamb.
Able to stretch the field on the outside, win one
on one battles, allow Lamb to kind of line up

(41:03):
wherever he wants. But over the last few weeks, George
Pickens has stepped in as that number one target with
Ceedee Lamb sidelined, and the results very encouraging for Dallas.
So now a question is raised, how do you balance
getting CD his manufactured touches with following the same game

(41:26):
plan that led to success while he was out.

Speaker 6 (41:29):
Yeah, I think I've alluded to it before.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
It's as much shot in the.

Speaker 6 (41:33):
Play caller and right the guys in the game plans
responsibility of putting them in those positions right where he is,
read number one and read.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
Number two from there.

Speaker 6 (41:43):
It's just it's easy for me, right, just stay stay
within myself, keep reading the defense the way I've been
seeing it, staying within the play.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
Whoever's open gets it.

Speaker 6 (41:50):
And as I know, I mean obviously just from the
game plan and the way that they orchestrate it, he'll
get his chances.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
So, now, how much of what George Pickens did over
the last few weeks putting up some monster performances with
Ceedee Lamb out, We'll change the offensive game plan going forward,
not just this season, but Dak Prescott hopes for many
future seasons. He joked later in the press conference that, yeah,

(42:20):
he's going to have a conversation with Jerry Jones where
he'll politely suggest that they extend George Pickens. That'll be
an interesting decision for Dallas in the offseason. Might hinge
on what happens here the rest of the way. But
how much of what George Pickens did with Ceedee Lamb
out changes the offense now that Lamb is back, Yeah,
a huge amount.

Speaker 6 (42:40):
I mean, I think just in the past of right
when you line up, we break the hddle, you don't
know where CD's lining up, and I think you know,
if CD doesn't get hurt, GPS probably just going to
be an outside receiver.

Speaker 4 (42:51):
For the most part.

Speaker 6 (42:51):
Having moving forward, him having those games, showing his ability,
showing what he can do, showing not only just how
he relishes with with him getting more opportunities, but he
asked for more responsibility. You're gonna have to figure ou
where they both are off They both did maybe in
the slot, maybe on the same side. Having the ability
to have two guys like that and just put them
wherever we feel his best each and every play is

(43:13):
only going to be beneficial less.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
So Dak Prescott, another layer to this matchup, gets the
face off with Dan Quinn of the Washington Commander's head coach,
former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and Joe Witt Junior, who
spent three seasons in Dallas and now is in his
second year with Quinn is the Commander's defensive coordinator. So

(43:38):
and with Prescott having been sidelined for large portions of
last year, missing those matchups with the Commanders, he was
asked how it will feel to go up against his
friends in Washington on their staff, and you'll hear a
follow up as well about what kind of imprint there

(44:00):
having on this Washington defense, which struggle a little bit
this year but has looked a little better in year
two than year one.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
It's exciting.

Speaker 6 (44:09):
I feel like the first time in my career, I'm
like playing a game against a coordinator that's a friend,
you know, and not just yeah and just knowing both
of them, I mean even even Dan DQ just having
the utmost respect for him. I understand how they're running
their program. The success that they've had so early is
not a surprise with the way that they do things.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
But we've had a.

Speaker 6 (44:30):
Lot of back and forth whether it be right and
practice training camps two minute drills, particularly with Joe Witt
that I'm punked for this one way.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Has he put his imprint on it?

Speaker 7 (44:39):
Joe his second year in and then you know, just
more personnel guys.

Speaker 6 (44:43):
Yeah, he's definitely put his imprint on it. And you
can see when you watch them versus my time going
against DQ, certain coverages, playing more than others, I definitely
see that that's Joe Wits input, things that he used
to throw at me at two minute or kind of
a base of their normal defense.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
And so that's exciting. Yeah, and from.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
The Washington side of things, that friendship is certainly mutual.
Joe Wit Junior was asked during the week about Dak
Prescott what it'll be like to go up against him,
and he made sure to know, yeah, Dak is just
playing terrific football right now. Went into some details about
the high, high level at which Prescott is playing and
really has played throughout the season to help the Dallas

(45:24):
Cowboys grab their couple of wins that they did, especially
with Cede Lambs sideline, I think that's come even closer
to the forefront. So a big, big game in the
NFC East Commanders at three and three second place, just
one behind the suddenly slumping Eagles. The Cowboys at two
three and one, they can vault into second place. Got

(45:46):
a big assist from the Giants who knocked off the
Eagles last Thursday Nights, and it's certainly anybody's division right now. Giants,
by the way, are at Denver on Sunday, another big,
big test for Jackson Dark Camps, Scataboo and the sort
of new look, New Life New York Giants at the moment,

(46:06):
So we'll see who comes in happier on Monday, Me
or the former producer of this program, Cameron Parker. Although
knowing Cameron's sort of cowboy tendencies, I might have to
pull a Dan Wetzel on him and just tell him
to say something nice if the Commanders fall in this
matchup against the Cowboys and Cameron maybe has to come
around and acknowledge that this Cowboys offense is making them

(46:30):
a contender in a wide open NFC this year. Or
if the Cowboys lose again, I'm sure I'll have plenty
to say about back to back defeats. So big swing
game for both teams early in the season always fun
seeing those two teams go together in a division matchup
three twenty five pm on Fox for the Cowboys and
the Commanders. All right, we've talked plenty of NFL to

(46:50):
start this program, but up next we'll pivot to some
college football. The Longhorns head to Lexington and a pretty
underrated slate for the rest of your Saturday. We'll preview
that with cjvo Well of On Texas Football. Next here
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
A little bit of Tyler.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Childers on the way back, another one of the several
great musicians from the Bluegrass State we'll hear from on
today's edition of the program. As the Longhorns prepare to
travel to Lexington take on Kentucky. Want to welcome in
one of my former classmates and now one of my
trusted sources on all things Texas football. That is CJ.
Vogel from on Texas Football. And CJ.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
I know you. I know you're not traveling to Lexington
this weekend, but you.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Were at the State Fair Street Fight a week ago,
and I just wanted to know not that we've had
a week to sort of set back and let the
dust settle. I mean what's your big takeaway from a
win like that.

Speaker 8 (47:43):
Yeah, absolutely, Jake, thanks for having me on. Good to
see manning the ship this Friday afternoon. But you know,
I think the Texas defense woke up. I think that
this was kind of what we anticipated this Texas defense
being coming into twenty twenty five. And you know what
that is is a stout run defense, a pass rush
that will make life health for a quarterback, and a

(48:05):
secondary that will take advantage of errant passes and really
turn the tides very quickly. And I thought they did
exactly that in all three phases, and that was again
to be expected.

Speaker 4 (48:17):
Now can they be can they duplicate that?

Speaker 8 (48:19):
Can they find ways to put that similar product on
the field week in and week out? And this is
a big opportunity for them to do exactly that going
on the road to Kentucky. Look, you say two things
travel one your run game to your defense. Well, the
Texas defense did not travel to Gainesville two weeks ago.
Let's see if they show up Saturday evening.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
Yeah, that was exactly what I was about to ask,
because I know Lexington is, as far as SEC games got,
not the most intimidating environment. In fact, that you know,
talking to Craig, he expects a pretty big contingent of
burn Orange in the crowd tomorrow night at Kroger Field.
But for a Texas team that has just struggled mightily
in these road environments, albeit a small sample size to

(49:01):
start the year, what are the biggest things that you
hope they prove to you this week?

Speaker 8 (49:07):
Well, I think it starts with Arch Manning, right, you know,
going on the road to the Horseship, you didn't play well.
It took really about three and a half four quarters
before anything offensively against Florida was able to generate. And
now you're looking at back to back road games and
again you mentioned a Kentucky maybe not the most intimidating Startville,
maybe not the most intimidating.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
But you're in the SEC and you're gonna be under
the lights on Saturday.

Speaker 8 (49:30):
You have to bring it from the jump and going
back to the defense. If you get out to a
quick lead, that plays right into the you know, the
heart of the strength of your defense.

Speaker 4 (49:39):
But for Arch, for me, it's about playing with that confidence.

Speaker 8 (49:42):
And I thought Sark evolved as a head coach on
Saturday against Oklahoma. I thought you saw him really start
to adjust and adapt to what his team's strengths were
and really find ways to mask some of the weaknesses.
Right against Florida's throw it deep every single play, try
to hit a jackpot and overcome a fourteen point deficit

(50:02):
on every single play in that fourth quarter, we didn't
really see any deep shots.

Speaker 4 (50:06):
Against Oklahoma. It was more methodical.

Speaker 8 (50:08):
They relied on the run game, which showed some sort
of life for the first.

Speaker 4 (50:11):
Time in a while this year.

Speaker 8 (50:13):
Now against the Kentucky front, which you should have success,
what does start to do with this tendency. Does he
revert back to the team that throws it down the
field at every opportunity or is there a middle ground?

Speaker 4 (50:24):
That's what I'm hoping to see.

Speaker 8 (50:26):
But it all starts with Arch and how he kind
of composes himself on this road territory.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Yeah, it felt like they had a different plan. For sure,
get the ball out quick and get Arch into a
rhythm without necessarily pushing it downfield. But then you know,
there was so much conversation this week in all of
the press conferences media availabilities we get with the Texas
players about the magic that happened on those off script plays.
I mean, is that a formula you think that they

(50:53):
can find going forward with Arch extending those plays now
that he seems to have this kind of chemistry brewing
in those scenarios.

Speaker 8 (51:01):
Yeah, it feels to me like it's a benefit of
the product that you've created. And then that is the
quick throws and obviously keeping these guys near the line
of scrimmage. But also for Arch, like we've talked about it,
he's a heck of an athlete. He can make throws
that many quarterbacks in the country cannot. We just haven't
necessarily seen them consistently this year, And nor do I

(51:22):
think he was willing early on when the confidence wasn't high,
to test himself. Right, We've talked about it. When you're
a quarterback in practice, you try to make every single
throw to test your ability. You have the coaches in
your ear saying throw it. I don't care the coverage
to know whether or not that is a feasible option.
On Saturdays, well, Arch started to play outside of what

(51:42):
I think his own limitations were for himself. You know,
he didn't test those you know throwbacks, you know, throwing
across your bodies while rolling left. He didn't test those
type of throws earlier in the year. Only when he
started to find some confidence in a rhythm, was he Okay,
I've done this my whole life.

Speaker 4 (52:00):
Now let's see if I can do it against in Oklahoma.

Speaker 8 (52:02):
And if that's how this snowball is gonna get going
down the hill, well I think we're gonna start seeing
some nuttier throws from Arch moving forward.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Yeah, speaking of throws that maybe you don't see every day,
John Mattier did not look anything like himself in that
Oklahoma game. And now that you've had time to maybe
go back and review the tape, how much of that
was a product of Texas's defense versus maybe Matier just
rushing back or not having his usual day.

Speaker 4 (52:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (52:30):
I didn't think Mattier played great. I don't think it
necessarily chopped up to his hand. In fact, I thought
his eyes were the worst part of his quarterback game
against Texas. They had opportunities for wide receivers to get
free down the field, and the eyes just weren't in
the right place. Now, I don't know if that's for
a second third read. I don't know if that was
just what he was asked to do on a given game.

(52:52):
On a given play, but when you have guys streaking
down the field, you'd think it would be pretty opportunity
to hit those guys, and Matier just did not now
those decisions obviously, the interception before halftime, the tips the
ball that ended up in the lap of Grayson Littleton
as well, you're late on both throats. That again has
nothing to do with the hand, but more the mental

(53:12):
side of playing quarterback. And if Oklahoma's not careful, and
this is where not having a run game comes.

Speaker 4 (53:17):
In to play.

Speaker 8 (53:19):
If your quarterback's confidence starts sinking down quickly and you
start playing tough defense after tough defense with no sign
of really any improvement at all, your quarterback can sink
just as quickly as the Titanic here. And for Oklahoma,
I know that defense is talented, but right now they
have nothing outside of John Matier. If he goes, that

(53:39):
team is looking at seven and five one hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
Well, And it's easy to see any scenario for teams
in the SEC, which just looks so dense in sort
of the upper middle class right now.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
I've seen some power rankings.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
Always do kind of a weekly sweep of this and
ask Cam about it before the Florida game. You know,
some teams, some sites have Texas all the way up
up at three in the SEC after a win like
that on Saturday, and some maybe not as convinced, have
Texas down at eighth, ninth, or tenth. Where do you
feel like the Longhorns are right now in context with

(54:15):
the rest of the conference? And you know which, which
big overreaction nine and three is closer to correct?

Speaker 9 (54:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (54:23):
No, right now I lean closer towards nine.

Speaker 8 (54:25):
And I say that as someone who still believes that
this team very much has a chance to make the
college football playoffs. It just so happens that when you
lose two games early in the year, you have no
option but to put them closer to the bottom half
of the conference. Right now, the conference will eat itself.
It's one of those things where there are a lot
of dogs chomping that the bit to get their own,

(54:46):
you know, half of kibble, and they're gonna fight each other,
right you know, this weekend especially, I think it's a
tremendous slate. And afterward, when the dust settles, you're gonna
see multiple teams with two losses, multiple teams with two
losses that had aspirations to go play in Atlanta an
SEC championship with two losses in conference plays. So right now,
I think it shakes out well for Texas to just

(55:07):
kind of bide their time to take it week by week,
and three weeks from now, when they get on the
plane and go to Athens, you're looking around saying, Okay,
they're seven and two. They're right in the thick of things.
Now let's evaluate where they are in these power rankings.
So yeah, I lean a little bit closer towards the middle,
maybe bottom half of those power rankings, but I can't
quite say that I'm sold on many of the teams

(55:27):
up the top, and I'm looking at Texas A and
M specifically.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Well, we'll get to that and I want to talk
about the rest of the SEC in just a little bit.
But just like the Longhorns are probably saying internally, you
have to take a lot of caution against looking ahead.
And for a Texas team that is coming into Kentucky
with a lot of confidence, what key aspects have to
work well on defense Saturday night to be able to

(55:51):
replicate that performance from Saturday.

Speaker 4 (55:53):
Yeah, they got to tackle. Well.

Speaker 8 (55:55):
I know this is a cliche you got to do
it every weekend. But Kentucky specifically, they love to on
the ball and Seth mcgawan coming out of a skip
of Tea by way of Oklahoma, we went to New Mexico,
juco in there as well. He's been around now, finally
making what we thought he would be the headway or
the headlines we thought he would make coming out of
high school at Kentucky six and fifteen pounds, Dante Dowdell

(56:17):
their number two, six, two hundred and thirty.

Speaker 4 (56:20):
Those are big backs.

Speaker 8 (56:21):
Those are guys that can you know, break arm tackles,
run effectively, move the pile in scrums. Texas saw that
with Jaydon Baugh, and what Texas didn't do a great
job of early in that game was forcing Kentucky or
Florida in that game uh to throw the throw the
football very often. Right, They stayed ahead of the chains.
They did not allow for throwing lanes to occur.

Speaker 10 (56:43):
Right.

Speaker 8 (56:43):
They basically said, hey, we got a great pass rush,
it's too bad we can't use it. And if I'm Kentucky,
I'm looking at it saying we got to get any
way possible into third and three, third and four, third
and five because then the whole playbook is open, and
then we don't have Cautter Baldy necessarily dictating how successful
we are on given down or series. That's what I'm
looking for. Texas has to tackle Seth McGowan right now.

(57:04):
Twenty one misstackles forced by Pro Football Focus. That's the
fourth most of anybody in the SEC. And he's played
a game less, so he's got quite a track record
right now. It's got to be a lot of white
hats to the football, and I think again, they're playing
with confidence.

Speaker 4 (57:18):
They should be able to fly around and do exactly that.

Speaker 1 (57:22):
Now, the turnover on the offensive line and the changes
that have happened there, I mean, I don't think any
of us talked about it enough before the seasons. It
might even be a future lesson for teams who are
trying to figure out who a preseason number one is.
But the Texas O line, right, you were there Saturday.
Finally look the part. Now they lose Cole Hudson. Now

(57:44):
Connor stro is going to be on the shelf as well.
A couple of surprise little additions to the injury report.
How big of a concern is this in your eyes?

Speaker 8 (57:53):
Yeah, it's interesting because you mentioned you know, when you
replace a lot on the offensive line, it's probably best
case to sit there in approach with caution. And yet
I see what Texas was able to do against that
Oklahoma front at times, right, it wasn't the most perfect
game running the football, But moving forward, I feel like
they found what their identity is and it's the outside zone.
And I do think centers are important, don't get me wrong,

(58:16):
but in that outside zone scheme, it's really your tight
injure tackles, in your guards getting laterally moving across the
line of scrimmage. And that to me doesn't necessarily put
a lot of pause into why I think this offensive
line will continue to grow. Connor Robertson stepping in. This
is a fourth year guy. He's played in the Cotton Bowl,
He's played against Oklahoma. He's seen some moments, not many,

(58:37):
but he's been in some key situations where he's had
to play some very high level football. He's a smart kid.
He knows the calls, he knows the systems. Oh and
he also worked the last two years with arch Manning
hand in hand on that second team unit. So I
do think that offensive line will continue to move forward.
It obviously won't reach its ceiling with Cole Hudson on
the shelf, but for this weekend and potentially next week

(59:00):
Againstssissippi State, I do think the offensive line without Hudson
will be just fine.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Well, we're gonna look ahead a little bit and zoom out,
but first we got to fit a commercial break in here.
This is Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to zone CJ
Vogel Von Texas Football is going to hang out with
us and rejoin us on the other side. Like we said,
it's a great slate of college football this weekend, and
it's one of those slates CJ where it's almost a
good weekend to not be traveling because you can catch

(59:26):
all the other action from around the country.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
But there's a couple of SEC games I want to
get to.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
First, Texas A and M taking on Arkansas at two thirty.
A chance to learn a little bit more about the
unbeaten Aggies, who rank fourth in the country, and judging
by one of your tweets earlier, I think you see
this one as being pretty high scoring.

Speaker 4 (59:48):
Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 8 (59:49):
Look, I'm not really a believer in Marcel Reid, but
I am a believer in Casey Concepcion and Mario Kraber.
I think the two of them are the most dynamic
electric wide receiver duo. I think it's the most dynamic
duo in the entire country.

Speaker 4 (01:00:04):
The two of them are.

Speaker 8 (01:00:05):
Special, and you get the ball in their hands, it
doesn't have to take a lot to get it to
do so, and just let them work. They're fantastic. So
on top of that, look Bobby Petrina, and we know
what they like to do. They like to score points.
Taylor Green is an efficient quarterback. They've put up some
points this year. But the last time I saw Arkansas
and a position just like this, you know about a

(01:00:27):
touchdown or two underdogs at home, Notre Dame drops sixty
on them. So we'll see if this game is a
little bit closer all together. If it is a close game,
we do know one thing certain, and that's Arkansas finds
ways every single weekend to lose in the most excruciating,
heartbreaking fashion, and they'll always want.

Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
Up each other.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Well, look, I mean, we could go up and down
the slate and look at different SEC matchups if we
had time, But look, I think the perception of the
SEC right now is an interesting one. You have a
pretty consensus view that this is the deepest conference in
the country this season, certainly among the power for but
some people find that it lacks a clear team or

(01:01:07):
even a group of teams separating towards the top, maybe
going from conference contenders to title contenders. Does this line
up with the way you've seen things through seven weeks.

Speaker 8 (01:01:17):
Yeah, absolutely, the SEC is deep, sure, but I don't
think the top five teams in the country hail from
the SEC.

Speaker 4 (01:01:25):
I don't.

Speaker 8 (01:01:26):
I think everybody's flawed. I think that the playing field
is as level as we've ever seen in the SEC,
and you know, especially since Texas has been a member
of the conference. But look, Ohio State better, Miami better
than anybody in the SEC. I think right now Indiana's
playing better football than anybody in the SEC.

Speaker 4 (01:01:42):
Texas Tech.

Speaker 8 (01:01:43):
That's crazy to hear me say, But regardless of who's
that quarterback, that is a great team right now with
the best pass rush of anybody in the in the
country at the moment. So there's four. You can make
an argument, and I'd listened to it. I probably wouldn't
buy it about Texas, A and m. In fact, I
think the best team in the se at the moment
is Alabama and when they really get going, I think

(01:02:03):
they have the best quarterback in the conference. But I
just don't buy it. Right LSU Tennessee very flawed. I
don't yet buy the physicality and the toughness of an
ole Miss to think that they're going to be long
term SEC or National championship contending teams.

Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
So we'll see.

Speaker 8 (01:02:21):
And then Georgia, of course, the big bad dogs down
in Athens. It's hard to look at them this year
and say that this is a Georgia team that we've
seen over their dynastic run. I just don't believe it.
But you can't count them out. So it's really interesting.
And again the tips are going to fall pretty quickly
here over the next few weeks in SEC play. But
I think there's a bit of a gap from the

(01:02:42):
best teams in the country and the best team that
is in the SEC.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
You know, Ole Miss is number five in the country.
They're going to Athens, Like you hinto that? If you're
a longhorned fan right now, what are you watching for
potentially rooting for in that knowing that Texas will dodge
Old Miss, but go to Athens in a few weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:03:05):
Yeah, I think you're rooting for ole Miss.

Speaker 8 (01:03:07):
You know, give Georgia another loss, knock them out of
SEC title contention. You know they've already lost to Alabama.
You don't want Georgia at any point to show up
again in the postseason. So if Texas can then walk
into Athens and theoretically in their season with the win,
perhaps well, hey, then you don't have to face them
in the playoff again. And I do think Texas can

(01:03:28):
give Georgia a battle right now. But again, I think
there's just something about the Kirby Smart Steve Sarkisian back
and forth that gives me pause. We obviously saw it
the last year with two straight wins going to the
hands of the dogs. If I don't have to play
Georgia and I'm Texas, I'm taking that path ten times
out of ten.

Speaker 4 (01:03:46):
I don't care. If they're up, they're down, they're left,
they're right.

Speaker 8 (01:03:49):
I think you're rooting for Ole Miss if you're a
Texas fan, because that's a team right now that I
just again, I question their physicality in the long term.

Speaker 4 (01:03:57):
I know Trinidad Chamberliss has played well this year.

Speaker 8 (01:03:59):
There's a reason that he's coming from a D two school,
and there's a reason why others are recruiting four and
five stars across the country.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
Another consequence of the super sized SEC, just like you
see it in the Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Texas will not see Tennessee.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
Texas will not see Alabama volunteers have one conference loss,
Crimson Tide have a non conference loss that's not agent
so well against Florida State. These are two kind of
teams on the fringe of that CFP bubble. What do
you expect from that third Saturday in October cigar game?

Speaker 4 (01:04:30):
Yeah, it's gonna be exciting.

Speaker 8 (01:04:32):
You know, this is one that I've I've had circled
for quite some time.

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
I like the way that it shakes out too. Right.

Speaker 8 (01:04:36):
You go from Texas ou as an SEC fan or
something that follows the SEC straight into Tennessee Alabama.

Speaker 4 (01:04:41):
This is great? Did you know? And this is a
quick little fact. Arkansas is the worst defense in the SEC. Right.

Speaker 8 (01:04:49):
They are trocures in the back end. They can't stop
a coll or stop a running nose. They're bad in
the back end. They allow over thirty points per game defensively.
You know who's second to last and the SEC and
points per game allowed.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
This year's it Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
It is Tennessee. Wow.

Speaker 8 (01:05:06):
And this was a team all year A year ago
was pounding their chest about their scoring differential right, one
of the top five teams in the country and points
per game offensively, you couldn't run the football on them,
You couldn't put points on the board against them.

Speaker 4 (01:05:18):
This is a defense that's really bad. And I know
they're banged up at corner.

Speaker 8 (01:05:21):
No Jamal McCoy once again this weekend, but there's a
big reason why that spread is seven.

Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
And a half or eight points right now.

Speaker 8 (01:05:27):
And I have to imagine that Alabama, the way they're playing,
the way that Tys Simpson has grown as a quarterback
as the weeks have progressed, are going to sit there
and win by double digits, maybe even up to about
three scores.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
Yeah, I mean Valls have survived back to back scares.
Looking at the Arkansas win and then needing OT in Starkville,
Joey Aguilar and company, you're going to have their work
cut out for them in that matchup at eleven am,
LSU travels to Vanderbilt. I was very high on Vanderbilt
coming into the season, and that has mostly come to fruition.

(01:06:00):
I was also high on LSU. Now I'm a little
bit less. So two teams that need it badly, what
do you think it comes down to?

Speaker 4 (01:06:07):
Yeah, this is a crazy game.

Speaker 8 (01:06:08):
Vanderbilt's favored against the ranked team for the first time
since nineteen seventy eight. That's a stat I'm sure you'll
hear all over the broadcast, but it's worth mentioning. So
I look at both lines of scrimmage, and oddly I
come away favoring that of Vanderbilt. I don't think I've
ever said that in my entire life unless you should
have those dogs, those big boys from.

Speaker 4 (01:06:29):
The Bayou, right, and they just lack it right.

Speaker 8 (01:06:32):
They like the physicality, whereas Vanderbilt's top fifteen teams and
tackles for a loss this year. On top of that,
they love to own the time of possession and they
are very efficient in the red area that is where
they thrive.

Speaker 4 (01:06:43):
Of course, their quarterback is a dog as well. It
just is a.

Speaker 8 (01:06:48):
Clash of styles, and for that reason, I'm taking the
home team Oklahoma.

Speaker 1 (01:06:53):
Do they get back on track at South Carolina? Not
the easiest place to win, now.

Speaker 4 (01:06:58):
No, it's not. And these teams are very very similar.

Speaker 8 (01:07:00):
In fact, I would kind of liken it to having
the Spider Man meme of two Spider Man's looking and
pointing at one another, because they're the same team. You know,
it's a team where the defense is tough, right Oklahoma especially,
they don't have many playmakers on either side of the football.
They have very talented quarterbacks, there's a lack of run
game on both sides, and the offensive line quite frankly,
is not great. So to me, it's which quarterback makes

(01:07:22):
the fewest mistakes or which team is able to limit
penalties or turnovers. I lean again towards the home team
because playing on the road in the SEC is tough,
even at eleven AM.

Speaker 4 (01:07:33):
I like South Carolina here.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
You know when the running game was a little bit
better for Oklahoma when Lincoln Riley was there, and now
they're starting to get that kind of running game going
at USC too. I think Michigan was wildly overrated, continues
to be overrated at the moment, but it didn't make
what USC did to them any less impressive in my eyes.
I was actually I was watching that game at I

(01:07:56):
was accidentally at a Michigan bar. Yeah, intentionally entertaining experience.
USC's at Notre Dame. Can they back up that big
win over Big Blue?

Speaker 9 (01:08:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:08:07):
I want to believe in USC. I do.

Speaker 8 (01:08:09):
I've wanted to believe in a Lincoln Riley defense for
every year that he's left Oklahoma, right, and this year
it's starting to look like maybe it could be a tough.

Speaker 4 (01:08:20):
Physical force up there.

Speaker 8 (01:08:21):
Right dant Land, the defensive coordinator coming over from UCLA,
when they had a top ten defensive front and all
of the country in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three,
it just hasn't formulated yet. And looking at Jeremiah Love,
looking at Jadarian Price, you know, these guys average five
touchdowns on the ground for a reason. This year, I
like Notre Dame, and that's unfortunate because Notre Dame, if

(01:08:42):
they win this game, is going to skate to ten
and two and right back in college football playoff. I
just can't yet say I believe in a USC defense,
a Lincoln Riley defense, to make the necessary plays.

Speaker 4 (01:08:54):
To win a game they shouldn't.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
So you're saying the Longhorn rooting guide in that one
is for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.

Speaker 8 (01:09:00):
Yeah, I believe so and even then, look, USC is
right there, they'd be six and one.

Speaker 4 (01:09:05):
They have a very favorable path.

Speaker 8 (01:09:06):
They played Nebraska next weekend and then it's pretty easy
sailing until they play Oregon the third week of November.
But all together, look, that is a favorable path for USC.
I just think they're more likely to slip up than
Notre Dame will be. And that's why you choose chaos.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
Well, Longhorns are going to have to potentially hope for
that chaos unless they can run the table. And we'll see.
Time will tell whether or not they do. But before
we get to that, I want to get your take
on a couple other big stories in college football this week.
Ninety three million dollars for Kurt Signetti. Indiana gave them
eight years. It's fully guaranteed. I've seen takes saying this

(01:09:48):
is terrific. This is a commitment to building a winner.
This is loyalty that you don't see a lot from
programs to head coaches anymore. Hint, James Franklin. I've seen
people say, could this be mel Tucker? Could this be
an athletic director in over his head putting a bill
that might set the program back where do you come
down on it? I mean, truth has to be somewhere

(01:10:09):
in between those two extremes, doesn't it.

Speaker 4 (01:10:12):
Now I love it for Indiana.

Speaker 8 (01:10:14):
If for whatever reason, Kurt Signetti flops and Indiana reverts back,
well guess what, they're just Indiana of what they've always been.
Let's not forget this is the losingest college football program in.

Speaker 4 (01:10:25):
All of college football. They were horrible. They were non
existent on the face of college football.

Speaker 8 (01:10:31):
Three wins and big ten play over the last three years.
They're eleven and one over the last year and a half.
It doesn't matter what he does moving forward. They've set
that program's news record highs and just about everything, attendance,
you know, prominence. It doesn't matter what he does moving forward.
Now that's a lot of money, right, and that's the point.

(01:10:51):
But if you're Indiana, you have to play this game
because let's say he does have five more good years
in him and he's old, right, he's sixty five. But
let's say he has five good years in him and
Michigan opens up and he departs, and now he turns
Michigan into a national title contender or Penn State, who
is open already swoops in and steals him, and all
of a sudden, they're reaching new highs that were previously

(01:11:13):
unavailable to.

Speaker 4 (01:11:14):
Them with James Franklin.

Speaker 8 (01:11:15):
If you're Indiana saying we had that and we lost it,
well there's your revert back to being nobody. You have
to do what is necessary to hold on to him,
keep him in Bloomington, and they did exactly that. On
top of this, Look, he breeds great quarterbacks, he.

Speaker 4 (01:11:31):
Knows how to win. H just google the dude.

Speaker 8 (01:11:34):
I mean, it's a great sign for Indiana, it's a
great sign for Signety, and I think for college football
fans across the country. It's kind of fun that there's
a new contending team on the surface of college football,
something that we haven't seen in quite some time.

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
There's a new vacancy in the Big Ten at Penn State.
James Franklin, after being one play away from the College
Football National Championship appearance a year ago, is now no
longer employed the Nitney Lyons. Good decision, wrong decision, or
do you come down from the Penn State perspective, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:12:06):
It's time. It was time for James Franklin. It was
probably time a few years ago.

Speaker 8 (01:12:09):
But look, I know a lot of folks, especially Penn
State defenders, are looking.

Speaker 4 (01:12:14):
At well, you said ten plus wins in just about
every year.

Speaker 8 (01:12:17):
I don't think he would take a whole lot given
the bottom half of the conference that they play in
the Big Ten to win ten games. What you lack
and what Penn State deserves better with is playing the
Ohio States, the Organs, the Michigan's, the teams that are
competing for the Big Ten championship right and that's been
his biggest flaw.

Speaker 4 (01:12:35):
They just don't win that.

Speaker 8 (01:12:36):
James Franklin against top five, Top ten teams is abysmal,
and Penn State deserves better than that, given the fans support,
how close they've been in the talent they're able to accumulate.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
Well, See, Jay, I can't let you go without putting
you on the spot today on October seventeenth, twenty twenty five,
do you believe Texas will be a college football playoff team?

Speaker 4 (01:12:58):
You are putting me on the spot right now.

Speaker 8 (01:13:00):
I think so, And I'm less confident today than I
will be in three weeks. This is probably the least
confident I will be for the remainder of the season now,
unless Texas reverts back to what we saw against UTEP
and what we saw against Florida. We'll see, but right now,
I think that the arrow is pointing upwards Texas. With
Kentucky and Mississippi State plus a bye before having to

(01:13:21):
face Georgia, that's going to be your season right there,
because I do think Texas will.

Speaker 4 (01:13:25):
Beat art or Texas A and M at the very
end of the year.

Speaker 8 (01:13:28):
And if that's the case, look you're going to be
ten and two and you're gonna be right on the
cusp with loss to number one.

Speaker 4 (01:13:33):
And I lost on the road.

Speaker 8 (01:13:34):
To a Florida team that probably won't look great at
the end of the year, but that's a tough loss
in the SEC.

Speaker 4 (01:13:40):
I'm thinking they will. They'll write the ship and get there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:43):
Finally, your score prediction for Saturday night, well tomorrow night,
matter of fact, against Tech.

Speaker 8 (01:13:50):
I'm excited for this one, twenty seven to thirteen. I
have the Horns coming out with the win. They do
cover this game for anybody interested in that, but I
think a late touchdown will make it look at little
prettier for Kentucky Altogether, this is one where Texas will
just be happy walking away with the win.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
Well CJ.

Speaker 1 (01:14:05):
I appreciate you hopping on as I'm holding down the
fort here today for Craig and Cam. Don't worry, I
won't tell Craig that you said sixty five was getting
up there in Age.

Speaker 2 (01:14:14):
He's on his way to Lukxington.

Speaker 4 (01:14:16):
Good keep that away from him.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
Thanks. That's CJ.

Speaker 1 (01:14:19):
Vogel from on Texas Football. Where can we read and
watch your coverage on Saturday?

Speaker 4 (01:14:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:14:23):
Absolutely, I have everything on Twitter at CJ Vogel underscore
otfor at on Texas football dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:14:29):
Well do, Thank you so much, CJ for joining us.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
And when we come back, we'll wrap up the second
hour of this Friday edition of the program. Third and
final hour on this fine Friday after You're gonna fire
me up Friday on the Craig Ways Show Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
So happy to have you with us.

Speaker 1 (01:14:45):
I'm Jay Kurban, the producer of this program, filling in
for Craig today while he flies up to the Bluegrass
State to call the Longhorns at Kentucky on ESPN six
pm kickoff tomorrow night, and you can catch the pregame
cover right here on the Zone with Longhorns Game Day
beginning at three o'clock at Little Woodrow's on Palmer Lane.

(01:15:07):
Cameron Parker, Mike Harnball, Harge and the world's strongest man,
Mark Henry will have you covered. I'll be on site
engineering as well as they get you ready for the
action and give you some updates on some of the
other great college football games on tap that will be
going on during the pregame show. So look, that's why
you should come on out to Little Woodrows TVs everywhere

(01:15:28):
you can listen to your Longhorn preview while watching some
of the great games on offer. It'll be Ole Miss
at Georgia A and M at Arkansas, Texas Tech at
Arizona State, Michigan State, and Indiana, Ohio State at Wisconsin,
all in that two thirty window, So perfect time to
enjoy your college football Saturday with our crew here at

(01:15:51):
the Zone. And we hope to come meet some of
you tomorrow afternoon. As promised, we talk Major League Baseball now,
and look, we started the show with a tip of
the cap to those elder Statesmen at their positions. Joe
Flacco outdueling Aaron Rodgers on Thursday Night Football in a
surprisingly entertaining matchup last night, flack O and Rodgers making

(01:16:15):
history first quarterbacks over forty to start against one another
since Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Those are the only
two times that's happened in NFL history. And then there's
what Max Scherzer's doing, and Mad Max is always going
to have a soft spot in my heart as the
young guy grew up in Washington, DC. His time in

(01:16:38):
DC coincided with a lot of my rise as a
baseball fan and at the time as a pretty lousy
player myself. But Max Scherzer's one of my favorite athletes
that ever had the privilege to cheer on as one
of my own. And he was able to go out
last night at the tender age of and give the

(01:17:02):
Blue Jays a big lift in Game four of the
American League Championship Series, a series that is now tied
at two games apiece after an eight to two Toronto
win last night. Five and two thirds innings for Max,
five strikeouts, all on his curveball, which was not really
a put away pitch for him a lot of the season.
Three hits allowed, just two runs came on a homer

(01:17:24):
for Seattle. Well one of those did Josh Naylor solo Homer,
he ran into a couple of spots of bother and
in the fifth inning when Blue Jays manager John Schneider
tried to take him out, I highly suggest, highly suggest

(01:17:45):
that you go online find the clip the visual that
goes with it of Max shouting, stomping, stalking. He gets
into his zone on game days. And this is great,
Buster Olney says, the Blue Jays manager John Schneider has
collected lots of classic maxers or stories this year, like
when Schneider reflexively reached out to give him a fist

(01:18:06):
pump during a Shures or exhibition start in March. And
this is an exhibition, not a playoff start. But he
gets so locked in, He gets so intense during these
moments that Shures are kind of snapped at Schneider, the
Blue Jay manager, He said, I don't exploitive that starts
with a f do fist pumps. He walked away a

(01:18:29):
little bit like Aaron Rodgers shoving away his lineman last
night after he tackled him in celebrations, just to kind
of his own. Those guys get in right, not necessarily
any problem with it. It's just the way he is
and the way Max has been in the postseason for
most of his career, culminating especially in his twenty nineteen
World Series run with the Nationals.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
Is a clutch performer.

Speaker 1 (01:18:54):
There's three to zero in his six starts five starts,
i should say, during that Nationals run, and in his
career he now has ten playoff wins. And to do
what he did last night just had to bring a
smile to my face. Now, that meeting of the mound,

(01:19:15):
we mentioned it was tense, but those are the type
of moments that in the heat of battle. John Schneider
on the opposite end of that fury from Mad Max, well, well,
he shared some perspective that he actually relishes those moments.

Speaker 2 (01:19:32):
Think a listen.

Speaker 4 (01:19:36):
To the mound, won't be sure.

Speaker 11 (01:19:37):
Yeah, I've been waiting for that all year, for Max
to yell at me on the mound, And I think
at that point, you know, there's numbers, there's projections, there's strategy,
and there's people. So I was trusting people, you know,

(01:19:59):
and and I think in that moment, you go, you
kind of relive every conversation I've had with I've had
with him over the course of the year and trusted
him to make pitches you know, it's I was joking
with him, you know, I've been I've been waiting for
that moment since our our zoom call in the off
season before we signed him. Loved it. There's a little
more of that in between. The center back out for

(01:20:21):
the six too, talking about how we don't talk to
him when he started, and I definitely talked to him,
And that was another fun conversation in the tunnel. So
he was awesome man, you know. And and when a
guy is in it, when a guy is in the
arena performing and doing well, I'm going to trust him
to continue to do it.

Speaker 4 (01:20:42):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:20:43):
He trusts that man in the arena and mad Max.
It's funny. I remember thinking back to the to the
twenty nineteen World Series run he had was supposed to
start Game five in Washington against the Houston Astros. Woke
up that morning so sore and stiff, just the way
he had slept, I suppose, and I'm sure from a
very heavy workload he had in that twenty nineteen season

(01:21:06):
to compensate for the Nationals less than stellar. Bullpen couldn't
even put on his shirt or lift his arms above
his head. Showed up to the ballpark thinking he was
going to pitch at the last moment, the last moment,
he decided he couldn't do it, couldn't throw strikes, wouldn't
have given the team a chance to win. And yet
he pitched five days later in game seven to give

(01:21:29):
the Nationals a chance there, and he told Strasburg, who
had been dealing with soreness as well, to go fill
his spot on short rest in game six. What did
Stephen do? He became the World Series MVP. So the
type of teammate, type of special player Max Scherzer is,
So where does that leave this ALCS really nicely poised

(01:21:51):
at two games to two. But before we move on
to that, I meant to play this a moment ago.
Max Scherzer's account of the mound basic. You just heard
John Schneider's side of the story. What was Max thinking
as his skipper is sort of breaking these unwritten rules
and coming up to the mound to pull the man
in the arena?

Speaker 12 (01:22:13):
Yeah, I mean it was a big moment in the
game right there. I mean it was just a situation
I was going through in my head. I understood where
the game state was, knew how I wanted to attack,
and then all of a sudden, I saw Shy's coming out,
and I kind of went, WHOA, I'm not coming out
of this ballgame, like I feel too good. And so
we had a little conversation that basically I wanted to

(01:22:36):
stay in the ball game, but just with some other
words involved. But you know, I just knew I was strong,
I knew I wanted the ball, I knew I could
get outs in this situation, and I just wanted to
stay in.

Speaker 1 (01:22:46):
I wanted and not so sure we could have aired
those other words had we had microphones on the mound.
Mentioned some of the big outs he got, none bigger
than the pickoff of Leo Revos at first base with
Cal Rowley representing the tying run at that point in
the third inning. It was Max's first pickoff in almost
a decade, big moment in both the game and the series.

Speaker 2 (01:23:07):
And Max said about it.

Speaker 12 (01:23:09):
Yeah, fortunately I got a big out in a big
situation right there. You know, I got the pickoff call him,
you know, uh, you know, from the from the PitchCom
and just you know, waited, try to wait out the
clock as long as I could and then you know,
make a good snap throw. And it wasn't my best throw,
but you know it was obviously uh look, you know,

(01:23:31):
look put it put in right spots of Laddie could
get the tag. So that up being a huge out,
especially when you're facing call in that situation, there's a
big difference between one out and run on first and
two outs nobody on. So you know, that was a
big turning turning point in the game to allow me
to stay aggressive at them.

Speaker 1 (01:23:47):
No kidding, because last time Max Sureser had to pick off,
there was no PitchCom in baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:23:53):
That's how long it had been.

Speaker 1 (01:23:54):
What a call from the dug out and the catcher
al Lejandro Kirk and what a play to help the
Blue Jays stay in control of the game at that
point in the series. Their bats have been really hot
since getting to Seattle, and the Mariners all of a
sudden have cooled off. So they're gonna face Kevin Gossman
tonight back to normal rest and look the Mariners starting

(01:24:18):
to scuffle just a little bit. You know, dating back
to the end of that Tiger series. It's amazing how
momentum can change so much in baseball, and right now
momentums on the Blue Jay side. Who can step it up,
especially against a right handed arm in Gosman that's gotten
a lot of swing and miss. We'll see which Mariners

(01:24:40):
can sort of break out of that funk. Maybe Bryce
Miller can do what he did again and on short
rest slow down this potent Blue Jay offense. He just
doesn't swing and miss all that much. And that's been
their biggest weapon throughout the year. It was their weapon
and getting to the Yankee bullpen in that best of
five series at the Blue Jays won in four at

(01:25:03):
Yankee Stadium, and it needs to be their weapon again
against Seattle, grinding out those at bats, even in Game
one when George Springer provided the only pop, blue Jays
only struck out four times. They were able to chase
Luis Castillo in the third inning of last night's game.
And it's a Mariner's bullpen that's basically had to toss
another game. Well, they did have to toss one extra

(01:25:25):
game compared to Toronto, but then there was the fifteen
inning Game five marathon that nobody in Seattle will soon forget.
So a lot of pressure on Bryce Miller. They do
have Brian wu back on the playoff roster for the
championship series. Remember he was sort of dealing with that
arm issue and did not pitch at all in the
Division series.

Speaker 2 (01:25:44):
Mariners were able to get away with that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:46):
Miller and Wu a five eight pm Central Time first
pitch in Game four of the American League Championship Series.
The road teams won every game in the series so far,
a little bit shocking when you think about how good
those two teams were, the best two teams in the
American League at home this season. And then there's the
Brewers and the Dodgers, and Dodger dominance on the mound

(01:26:10):
has been the story of this series. Only nine hits
for the Milwaukee Brewers over the first three games. It's
a unique situation on the broadcast because the Georgetown, Texas
native and tremendous play by play voice Brian Anderson is
on the call for TBS, and he when he's not

(01:26:33):
called to one of his many national gigs, including the
French Open, including the NBA, including March Madness, he is
the voice of the Brewers on their Ballet sports station
up there, and I trust it when he, of anyone says, man,
the Brewers just look like a show of themselves right now.
And that's what this Dodger rotation did to the Phillies

(01:26:54):
in the last round. So they did to the Reds
and that short series in the wildcard round. And it's
what they're doing again. From Blake Snell to Yoshinobu Yamamoto
to Tyler Glass now only allowing three hits each and
pitching deep into the game, covering up the one, the
one and only weakness of this Dodger team, and that's

(01:27:16):
their bullpen. Reminds me a little bit of what the
Nationals did in twenty nineteen. The difference here is to
the Dodger bullpen has a new closer. It's Roki Sasaki,
who was a little up and down as a starter
to begin the season. He seems to be settling in
nicely to that closer role. They were able to move
them at. She ended the bullpen, which helped out that

(01:27:38):
bullpen depth, helping those arms get rested and ready.

Speaker 4 (01:27:42):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:27:43):
Now she hends available thanks to the great starting pitching
of Snell, Yamamoto and Glass. Now he can back up
Shoeyotani today, the MVP getting the start for the Dodgers
against lefty Jose Kintana of the Brewers. Still no word today,
I haven't seen yet. I'm checking whether Jackson Churio is

(01:28:03):
in the official lineup now. No lineup card posted yet
for Pat Murphy. We are not sure at this moment
if the Brewers Jackson Churio is going to play of
their offensive stars. This young team that scored more runs
than any team in baseball, won more games than any
team in baseball, but have just looked, like Brian Anderson said,
a shell of themselves in this series. If Jackson Churio

(01:28:24):
can't go, after fouling one off of his foot late
and leaving Game three, he was the only guy that
was hitting like himself. If he can't go, I hate
to say it, the series is over. Might already be
over with the Dodgers on top three games to none.
It's texting Craig about the Dodgers last night and their

(01:28:45):
great bullpen performance. He agreed that Emmitt Sheehan being preserved
by this starting rotation was huge because he is available
to back up and piggyback off of Showayotani here in
Game four tonight, they must win for Milwaukee as his
every game from here on out, and he said this

(01:29:06):
team continues to confound him, but as a lifelong Dodger
fan since he was seven years old. Craig Way will
gladly take it. We'll hear from Craig a SoundBite from
his Longhorn Weekly sit down conversation with Steve Sarkisian, which
if you missed it last night, airing at seven o'clock
here on thirteen hundred Zone, it will air again at

(01:29:28):
seven here later tonight. We'll give you a little sneak
preview of Craig Way and Coach Sark previewing Kentucky. I'll
preview up a preview, a little ironic but interesting back
and forth about what Coach Sark sees as the biggest
potential pitfalls the strings Kentucky has coming into this matchup
as the Longhorns look to get over five hundred and

(01:29:49):
sec play build off their big win over Oklahoma. We'll
also hear a little bit from Parker Livingston, who spoke
with the media on Monday his takeaways from the Red
River game that's coming up. You're on a Friday afternoon
edition of The Craigway Show on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred the Zone. Please bill Twang from Stirgiel Simpson, another

(01:30:13):
great musician from the Bluegrass State. We've heard from throughout
this program. Craig Way, Roger Wallace, Will Matthews and the
rest of the Longhorn Radio Network crew have landed and
we'll be in touch with them in just a little bit.
But last night Craig got the chance to sit down
with Coach Sark for their weekly show, which will air

(01:30:35):
again in its totality later this evening at seven o'clock
right here on AM thirteen hundred The Zone. But here's
a little sneak preview of sarks thoughts ahead of this
matchup against Kentucky.

Speaker 13 (01:30:48):
You get ready for the Kentucky Wildcats and Kentucky came
in last year.

Speaker 4 (01:30:52):
You got a chance to see Cutter Bowl. He's a
true freshman.

Speaker 2 (01:30:55):
He's a red shirt freshman at quarterback.

Speaker 13 (01:30:57):
But they do like to run the ball, Like you said,
They've got a couple of guys who could do it.

Speaker 4 (01:31:00):
They do.

Speaker 7 (01:31:00):
They believe in running the football, and you just heard
coach Scott say, what what Coach Doup's believe in. It's downhill,
run right at you then utilize the play action pass
and things off of that to take take their shots
down the field. They got two really good runners in
in Dowdell and McGowan. And so that's where the game begins.
Because now if you're looking at us, what's the formula, right,

(01:31:22):
how do you how do you play against us? Try
to control the ball, slow the game down, all right,
win on first down, extend drives on third down, so
on and so forth, and then flip it over, try
to control a lone of scrimmage on the other side
of the ball. So we we've got to really be
prepared to play from the from the very beginning. Do
a great job of stopping the run. We've got to
minimize the explosive plays when they take their shots. We've

(01:31:43):
got to be really these guys are very good on
special teams to control in vertical field position and then
control the line of scrimmage on offense as well. And
so it's all gonna tie together the right way. It's
gonna be an ausesome environment night game in the SEC,
there's there's not much better than that. And during the
regular season, and so uh, it should be a great
environment against a good football team and a hungry and

(01:32:03):
kind of desperate football team. They need this one, and
so we know that we're going to get their best shot.

Speaker 13 (01:32:07):
And you did see some real competitive moments from them,
and the home game against Ole Miss and the road
game at Georgia. I mean, they've shown they've got talent
and they've got guys who can play.

Speaker 7 (01:32:17):
They do, and you know that the key to the
drill is is make sure they're not making those plays
against us, and we control that. We control that with
our approach, but then we control that with our with
our energy and our intent. Let me take the field
Saturday night.

Speaker 13 (01:32:30):
And when it comes to what they do defensively, how
important is it for you? You know, we like to
talk about quick starts and things like that. It wasn't
necessarily and it wasn't a quick start last week, but
everybody settled in I thought, and really justed well, well,
I think.

Speaker 7 (01:32:45):
The key for us this week is settling from the beginning.
And that's something that you know, you've heard me talk
about our openers and all those things, and we've got
to do a better job of taking the openers and
applying them. It's they're not just drawings on a sheet
of paper. They're not just play calls on my call sheet.
We need our players to make them come to life.

(01:33:05):
And in this game, just like every game, there's gonna
be things specific to this defense. This is a very
good defense. It's a veteran defensive staff. They've coached together
for a long long time. So you got to have
little things in there to take advantage of. And that's
where the details come in. But we need to be
efficient on first and second down. This group, this group
is not gonna give us the explosive plays. You know,

(01:33:26):
in creating the explosive plays down the field, you're gonna
have to find completions. You got to run the ball effectively.
You got to utilize the screen game Arch is gonna
have to use as legs. Like we're gonna need all
of our offense in this game. And we can't afford
the fall start penalties. We can't afford the full holding penalties,
we can't afford the illegal formations because we line up wrong.

(01:33:46):
We need to play efficient football from the very beginning.
Well you heard it right there from coach Sark.

Speaker 1 (01:33:52):
Efficient football among the keys for Texas as they head
up to Lexington to take on big blue Kentucky Wildcats
oh and three in the SEC, looking to get their
first conference victory of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:34:07):
Hey on the way back from break.

Speaker 1 (01:34:09):
You heard the talkback feature mentioned and that is on
the iHeartRadio app, And I'm bringing that up because if
you use the talkback feature, you get a chance to
win a pair of tickets to see Alice Cooper and
Judas Priest on October twenty fifth, that's a week from
tomorrow on Saturday at Yourmania Insurance Amphitheater. To enter, you
have to download the iart Radio app, then search for

(01:34:32):
AM thirteen hundred the zone that's where we are, tap
the red microphone button and leave us a message up
to thirty seconds in length, but it doesn't have to
be that long. Just say hey, you're heard on the
radio during the Craigways show that you're giving away tickets
to Alice Cooper and Judas Priest. But you have to
mention the keyword. And the keyword today is approaching, just
like the concert is approaching, just like Longhorn Football is

(01:34:55):
approaching tomorrow with coverage starting at two thirty with the
third Longhorn.

Speaker 2 (01:34:59):
Guys here thirteen hundred zone.

Speaker 1 (01:35:01):
So iHeartRadio app thirteen hundred zone, red microphone and a
talkback message with the keyword approaching. That's how you at
home can win a pair of tickets to see Alice
Cooper and Judas Priest a week from Saturday at the
Germania Insurance Amphitheater. Well, Craig Way has landed in Lexington

(01:35:22):
and we're going to visit with him and the rest
of the Longhorn Radio Network crew for their thoughts on
this matchup next right here on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone.

Speaker 10 (01:35:32):
Welcome back to the Craig Wait Show and the Voice
of the Longhorns, Craig Wag. Follow Craig on social media
Horn Voice.

Speaker 8 (01:35:42):
I just ca.

Speaker 1 (01:35:49):
Yeah, you can follow Craig on social media right there
at Horn Voice. And guess what our show is following
Craig today along with his Longhorn Network Longherer Radio Network crew.
They're all together on the phone right now from Kentucky
from the Bluegrass State. Hey guys, thanks for checking in.

Speaker 10 (01:36:09):
You met. We are just barely in the Bluegrass State.
You know, this has all the earmarks, Jacob being just
like the season opening trip to Columbus, Remember the whole
deal with the plane cancelations and the snat boos and
we ended up flying to O'Hare and then it took
about seven and a half hours to.

Speaker 4 (01:36:25):
Drive to Columbus.

Speaker 10 (01:36:26):
You remember that deal back at the end of August.

Speaker 1 (01:36:29):
Well, there's that, and then there's what happened last week,
which we'll get to.

Speaker 10 (01:36:34):
Well, in the case of this, it's a situation of
the plane schedules ran on time. But of course we
had to fly to Covington, Kentucky, which is just on
the Kentucky side of the Ohio River because when when
these plane tickets were booked back in July, long worn
fans said, purchased just about everything in sight. So we

(01:36:58):
said that it's a little over an hour drive a
big deal. So we hit in the car and then
Roger finds out from Levon Whitaker of his staff he's
been stuck in Traffick.

Speaker 4 (01:37:07):
Trying to get down there.

Speaker 10 (01:37:08):
Apparently there's a massive rack somewhere down I seventy five.
We haven't hit it yet, but we probably will. So Yeah,
it's just more of that road beat down that.

Speaker 1 (01:37:17):
Happens, well, just the journey that happens on the way
to another new venue for you and the crew. But
like you hinted at, there's supposed to be a sizeable
Longhorn contingent there. What kind of atmosphere do you expect
and how much burn orange might we see on TV?

Speaker 10 (01:37:33):
From what I'm hearing a lot and from what I understand,
a lot of those folks are at Keenland Race Park
today watching the thoroughbreds run. They're watching the horses. You know,
historically take Longhorn fans like to go to destinations. They
like that. They like to go to places where it's

(01:37:54):
kind of fun. You know, still water isn't exactly high
on the radar and aims you know, and love. You know,
some of those places at Lobb it didn't get to
because they got pretty pretty easily to it. But Kentucky
and Texas has never played a football game here before.
It's you know, you got you got thoroughbred racing going
on in the horse arms, and I'm glad us not

(01:38:15):
forget the bourbon distilleries as well. So yeah, there's there's
plenty to see and do and consume before the game.
And we'll see how that goes. But I imagine we'll
see a good burn orange contingent. I know this. The
game is sold out stadium seats below over sixteen thousand,
I believe, and it'll be a sellout tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 (01:38:35):
Remind me to get back to those activities, possibly on
tap pun intended for you and the crew tonight. But
from a Texas perspective, as you prepare for the call
of the game, what.

Speaker 2 (01:38:46):
Kind of keys to the game come to mind? From
a Texas.

Speaker 10 (01:38:49):
Side, Well, you know what, we always talk about some
of the keys to the game, and the three of
us haven't discussed yet. But I'm going to pass it
around the car here. I'm going to start with Will
Matthews and let him tell you what he thinks the
keys to Gaymar.

Speaker 9 (01:39:03):
Yeah, I really think the keys is a game in
Texas continuing what.

Speaker 10 (01:39:06):
They did last week, they had.

Speaker 9 (01:39:09):
A game where they can move the ball on the ground.
Being able to move the ball on the ground, manage
the clock and he extend drives.

Speaker 14 (01:39:18):
Hasn't been something that Texas traditionally.

Speaker 9 (01:39:20):
Hasn't done, especially in the third quarter.

Speaker 10 (01:39:23):
If they're able to do.

Speaker 14 (01:39:24):
That and get up quick, move quick, get to the.

Speaker 9 (01:39:27):
Line, score quickly against Kentucky, it's going to be really
hard for them to make up that gap.

Speaker 14 (01:39:34):
I go on defense, and you know it's not an
explosive Kentucky offense in their three sec games, about sixteen
points per game.

Speaker 4 (01:39:44):
They do run the ball.

Speaker 14 (01:39:44):
Well, we heard start talking with Craig about that, but
we saw what Texas did to do ou run game.
So I think I think the Texas defense, as much
as we talk about maybe the offense found a little
bit of rhythm, I think the Texas defense did the same.
They looked a lot faster on that field at the
Cotton Bull than they did in the Swamp a couple
of weeks ago.

Speaker 10 (01:40:03):
I agree with all that, and I'll tell you something else.
Shake looking at the numbers, Kentucky gives up a lot
of yak yardage, a lot of yards after contact, both
in the run game and in the past game. So
that you know you've heard start just a few minutes
ago there on the segment from last night's show say
that they're not prone to giving up beat balls, but

(01:40:26):
they give up a lot of intermediate things. And then
of course with guys like Ryan Wingo, DeAndre more guys
like that Marker Livingston, that they can break things and
turn them into really big games game games from intermediate route.
So I'm looking for some of that tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:40:44):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:40:44):
A big part of Texas is more efficient performance on
offense at the Cotton boll came from the old line,
but now they're having to shuffle some pieces again with
center Cole Hudson a late edition to the injury report
and now he's going to be out this week, as
will Connor Strow. Do you guys feel like this is
a mild concern for Texas or something that could play
a big factor.

Speaker 10 (01:41:06):
Well, it's always a concern anytime your offensive line Dupkin's test.
And having said that, and well, you know, there's Connor
Robertson has played a lot of football. He's been in
the rotation, even started a couple of years ago as
a youngster against Ou. So they feel pretty comfortable with that.
They're still trying to fit the guard spots, especially at
that one guard spot where Nick Brooks has been playing.

Speaker 9 (01:41:27):
Yeah, and Brooks came on it seemed like his play
early on he was a little starstruck and getting ready
for the moment, But as he played in that Ou game,
he really came on him. At DJ Campbell playing in
the guard spots have been really.

Speaker 4 (01:41:43):
Really strong there.

Speaker 9 (01:41:44):
Well, I think what we're gonna miss is that Coheeston
mind play. Last week was the first time that that
starting five started together and finished together. When you have
that that kid that really helps with the pass blocking
as well as run blocking. Movie guys in and out,
although they played a lot, definitely Cam making a little

(01:42:05):
tossing turnay hoping those guys gets solided by that position.

Speaker 14 (01:42:08):
And I go back to the SEC numbers Jake and
teams of ronin Kentucky in the three SEC games in
the tune of a little over one hundred and ninety
yards per game.

Speaker 10 (01:42:17):
So Knor mcpills was.

Speaker 14 (01:42:19):
Talking about now that the running back road drinks now
with though Jarreck Gibson.

Speaker 9 (01:42:24):
So looked for a little bit.

Speaker 14 (01:42:25):
More from James Simon and obviously a little bit more
from Christie Park.

Speaker 10 (01:42:30):
But you got to love the way dray.

Speaker 14 (01:42:32):
Wiser looked from Game one back from his injury to
Game two last week.

Speaker 1 (01:42:37):
Well, in Kentucky's only other home SEC tests this season,
I think you've all missed a pretty good fight. Of course,
that was with Zach Calzada under center. Now, what does
the challenge look like for this Texas defense against a
little bit of a different look in Cutter Bowley.

Speaker 10 (01:42:53):
Well, I saw Bowie last year. He came off the
bench last year and after Rock Vammiger really struggled and
so he kind of got to speak with and he
wasn't really that bad. He was tent of eighteen p
one hundred and sixty yards, did have an interception in
the ballgame, but that earned him the start against Louisville
the next week. Now, was that was kind of to

(01:43:16):
hear Tom Lee's played by Playboy's describing a sloppy mess.
He struggled with that. But they do think they have
their guy, tall, lanky guy, devil may care attitude that
kind of some would say is kind of a poor
man's unter lawrence, that kind of thing. But he's got skills,
he's got talent, and he's the local product. He's from Hadgenville,

(01:43:36):
so he's from the state. So I think I think
that probably has something to do. But if you get
pressure on him, and the long Wards did last year,
that makes a difference.

Speaker 9 (01:43:45):
Yeah, if you can keep pressure on him, he'll throw
the ball up. And Malik Muhammad having two interceptions last week,
Michael Tap a couple of weeks ago having having an interception.

Speaker 10 (01:43:56):
The guys that are right ready to go.

Speaker 9 (01:43:57):
Even Grayson Littleton and DIDs Well, And I think what
will happen if Texas can stop the run with a
light box, they will be able to pin their ears
back with guys like Colin Simmons getting to the quarterback
and mentay season of Anthony Hill sacks. He doesn't have
any on the season yet.

Speaker 13 (01:44:14):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:44:14):
And Anthony Hills so much success rushing off the edge
last year. But you heard Sark talk this week about
how versatile he is dropping back in coverage and how
has that kind of helped the third down defense for Texas,
which took a big step forward in the Cotton Bowl
from what they showed in the Swamp.

Speaker 14 (01:44:31):
Yeah, and if you can get pressure with four, that
a luxury to be able to drop Anthony Hill back.
And they hit the some with that, and then they're
so versatile up front with the guys. And look, Brad Spinch,
how about him again? So gloom of the Arkansas transfer.
He is kind of a different breed. He's undersize of
the man. He gets to the quarterback quickly, and I

(01:44:52):
think that can help it. I think Anthony Hill also
is you know, it's also a product of your reputation.

Speaker 4 (01:44:57):
They're keen on zero.

Speaker 10 (01:44:58):
They want to know where he is.

Speaker 14 (01:44:59):
All the time on the field, So you know, you're
not going to put up the numbers necessarily that you're
used to. It doesn't mean he's not affecting the game
in other ways.

Speaker 10 (01:45:08):
Yeah, it does open up the door for guys like
Brad Spence. Sarga mentioned they kind of configured a few
things differently to allow Spence to get loose. And then
Leando Lafoul has always been tough against the run, and
they're going to look for that if Kentucky indeed has
been called trying to run the football.

Speaker 1 (01:45:24):
Now here we are now game three of SEC play
and for Texas to have this success translate on the road.
Sarcus stress the importance of a fast start. Is this
the week you think Texas finally jumps out to that
fast start.

Speaker 2 (01:45:39):
They've really been looking for.

Speaker 9 (01:45:41):
Well, Texas's points to really have a breakout game traditionally
during the season has taking them a little bit of
time to get their feet wet. I think just with
Arsbie and a young guy, he's needed to kind of
get some bumps and bruises throughout the game, especially when
they're moving the ball and running and running the ball
with him. But if they can get Wisner ready to go,

(01:46:03):
I hear that just as Terry has actually been playing
some running back. What are they going to do with him?
We've seen Niblet and Wisner a twenty one personnel, and
those tight ends have been great. Start talked about the
Suto run game with all the bubble screens and getting
a lot of guys the ball in space. If he
can do that, I think he can run away with
this and get on the board really quickly.

Speaker 14 (01:46:25):
I think it is a concern, Jake, because you look
at at Florida what they do.

Speaker 10 (01:46:29):
They jumped on.

Speaker 14 (01:46:29):
Texas with touchdown though you jumped on Texas, but Texas
stiff and filled in the field goals serious enough. It
feels a lot different than fourteen to that think, especially
get a neutral side game and so you know, if
that happens again tomorrow night, a crowd looking for something
to get excited about.

Speaker 10 (01:46:45):
I think it is a concern.

Speaker 14 (01:46:46):
Start brought it up, and I think it's really important
for them to get off to a good start.

Speaker 1 (01:46:52):
Yeah, that ou game almost felt like a bit of
a tennis match at times.

Speaker 2 (01:46:56):
It was a lot closer in the underlying.

Speaker 1 (01:46:58):
Stats than it was on this board because Texas just
played those big downs better. Right the third down conversions
on offense, getting off the field on defense. So much
of that was staying on schedule, getting the ball out
quickly for Arch rather than pushing the ball downfield. Is
that a recipe we might see going forward for Arch
in this Texas offense.

Speaker 2 (01:47:16):
On the road?

Speaker 10 (01:47:18):
Well, they struggle on both sides of that third down
equation against Florida, no question, and boy did they remedy
that against Oklahoma. They really put the Sooners in a box.
And then of course they had that street where they
converted seven consecutive third down So, like Willill say it,
I don't know if we'll see Michael Terry in the
right in the running game yet. They're trying to get

(01:47:38):
him ramped up. He's been doing a lot of scout
team stuff. But I do think we'll see Ryan Niblett
line up to the backfield. I think we'll see him there.
We'll see him flex out and obviously he'll be big,
big in the return.

Speaker 9 (01:47:49):
Game as well.

Speaker 1 (01:47:51):
Well. Craig, you've been to a lot of venues for
the first time, and a lot of venues several times
along with your crew over the course of a great
broadcasting career. You get to a new stadium for the
first time, right, do you have a ritual? Do you
take an extra second to kind of appreciate the surroundings
of where you are?

Speaker 10 (01:48:07):
What?

Speaker 2 (01:48:07):
What's it going to be like walking in there for
the first time tomorrow?

Speaker 10 (01:48:11):
I really do, Jake. The first thing I look for
is how close the bathroom missed to the broadcast? The
first thing I look for, and then and then I
want to know where the media dining is in relation
to it. So it didn't No, I you knows as
a as an over broadcaster.

Speaker 8 (01:48:26):
I like.

Speaker 10 (01:48:27):
I like windows that open so we get the good
feel of it. You know that that sort of thing,
size of the bootsupport. I hear this. This is a
pretty good setup. So, uh, it'll be the first time
I saw the Kroger Field, the football stadium when I
was fair back in May to do baseball, because it's
kind of like right over your left shoulder, just down

(01:48:48):
the way a little bit, and uh, it looked really
nice and I and I was thinking back then, it'll
be nice, and Kentucky had some nice facilities. The baseball
park is really nice. Rut Marena, of course is legendary.
So so yeah, and long warn guests basketball go to
rupt this year as well, So looking forward to all
of that, and yeah, looking forward to seeing what the

(01:49:10):
site lines look like. And yes, looking forward to seeing
how close the bathroom is to the book.

Speaker 1 (01:49:14):
No trip to the racetracks tonight, But what's on tap
for you and the crew? Anything revolving around Dodger Baseball.

Speaker 10 (01:49:19):
I suspect everything revolves around Dodger baseball for me. We
got some dinner tonight and then probably retired to the
hotel and try to see if they finish out this week.

Speaker 1 (01:49:33):
Well, fellows, best of luck, have an incredible call, and
we'll hear from you during Longhorn game day starting at
three o'clock right here on thirteen hundred zone.

Speaker 2 (01:49:41):
Your network coverage kicks off at five. Travel safe, Thanks.

Speaker 10 (01:49:46):
How good with Jake.

Speaker 1 (01:49:47):
That's Craig Way, Roger Wallace and Will Matthews, our Longhorn
Radio network crew as they prepare to bring you the
call from Kroger Field in Lexington tomorrow. Well as they
travel south, we travel down the home stretch this Friday
afternoon edition of The Craigway Show on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred.

Speaker 9 (01:50:04):
The Zone

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Longhorns Head to Kentucky, Flacco and Scherzer Roll Back the Years

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

Longhorns Head to Kentucky, Flacco and Scherzer Roll Back the Years

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist