NFL Overreactions, Arch Manning Questions, and Craig's Birthday!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It might be the busiest commute day of the week.
I've been saying that for some time, but we power
through it anyway. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the program
here on a Tuesday afternoon on Sports Radio AM thirteen
under the Zone A Texan Tuesday. I mean not Houston Texans,
because that's hitting different this morning. After that excruciating Monday

(00:22):
night loss last night, I just spent you know what
when Cam Parker was the producer of the show Texan Tuesday,
because we would bump back in the two o'clock hour
with a return cut from the immortal Stevie Ray Vaughan,
and in the three o'clock hour from the iconic Willie Nelson,
and in the four o'clock hour from the King George strad.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
And we'll get to all that down the road.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
But one thing that is for sure is on this Tuesday,
we are ready to talk some football and some other
topics with you as well.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
My name is Craig Waite.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Thanks very much for joining us, and also very pleased
to have as the producer Jake in alongside.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Did you watch any of that twin bill of Monday
Night football last night?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Jay?

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Yeah, I stayed up for it.

Speaker 5 (01:07):
I am very happy to be on Central Time now
that we're playing football games that end on Tuesday morning.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
That's right, Well, you weren't used to that in your
time living in DC. I mean, Monday night football was
kicking off an hour later, so they were getting weren't
getting done or a dull around midnight?

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Righting.

Speaker 5 (01:25):
I texted some of my West Coast friends, I said,
welcome to my life with these late kicks. How does
it feel to have Monday night football bleed into the
wee hours of the morning. But I had fun. I mean,
the second game turned out to be a little bit
of a slog. Lots of excitement packed into that Texas
Bucks game.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yep, yep, absolutely, And there's there's plenty to discuss to
with regard to the NFL. In fact, we're gonna have
a little comparison of power rankings for you because there
are some differences in a couple of these power sets
of power rankings. Like I told you, I'll read three
or four of thesearticular websites, like obviously ESPN, but also

(02:03):
the Athletic and Sports Illustrated some of these other ones.
So we'll get to that. We'll have a little comparison
contrast of the two. This hour, also we'll talk about
Texas and sam Houston. That is the game after all,
this Saturday, and it is Saturday evening, and we'll look

(02:24):
forward to bringing that contest to you here on thirteen
hundred the Zone, or actually on Saturday evening, this particular
Saturday evening, as we're winding down the season of the
round Rock expression. We heard on ninety eight point one
FMK that and also on one of three point one FM,
so we'll have that for you. But additionally, we're going

(02:46):
to hear today from the head coach of the sam
Houston Bearcats, Phil Longo, So we'll hear from coach Longo.
Also coming up here in just a few minutes, we're
going to visit with the play by playboy of Sam Houston,
that is Carlo Simmerman, so he'll join us in a
few minutes.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
We'll do that.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
We'll have inconceivable this hour, so we'll get to that,
and we'll also hear from Arch Manning coming up a
little bit later on in the program, his thoughts on
how he transitions forward and improves as a quarterback, and
those two things. We also, as always open up the

(03:28):
text line to you. So for your questions, your thoughts,
your comments, we're glad to take them. All you have
to do is text the program. You text the word
Texas followed by your question or comment to eight one
five three zero. So you text your question or comment
to eight one five three zero. Standard messaging and data

(03:52):
rates may apply. So we'll do that and glad to
have you join in. And a couple of a couple
of things. Let's see, I was just looking at yeah
see pal mentioning at the NFL injury list or piling up. Boy,
if you're a Cincinnati Bengals fan, you just got to
be feeling gutted not having Joe Burrow, probably for the

(04:14):
entire season, at least three months.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
They're saying, you know, I'm not very active on TikTok Craig,
but some of the edits on there make their way
over to my Instagram and x feed sometimes, and I
saw one this morning Joe Burrow comparing his career with
Andrew Luck. And it's hard to it's hard to say
that's the way the story ends for Joe Burrow, but

(04:35):
it's kind of similar to the way his story has started.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
I think in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah, I mean, and you know so much that was
there for him and got the ram I, got the
Bengals to the Super Bowl against the Rams, he came
very close to winning it. But since then he's had
a variety of injuries and it just hasn't gone well.

(05:00):
It hadn't gone well for him, and as a result
of that, it hasn't gone well for them as a franchise,
and it hasn't gone well for them for their fans
as well.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
So well, it's like they've got the Dallas Cowboys model
of three very very big contracts and they haven't been
able to invest really on some key defensive positions and
along that offensive line, it's consistently a bottom half offensive
line in front of him. Not saying that's the reason
for kind of a freak injury like turf toe, but
Joe Burrow, for an elite quarterback, sure takes a lot

(05:33):
of hits.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Jake Browning is replacing Burrow as the starter, and Browning
played pretty well, had to step in and and and
played pretty well in leading the Bengals back against the
Jacksonville Jaguars. And they're trying to see what they can
find out there. They've signed Sean Clifford and Mike White

(05:57):
to their practice squad today.

Speaker 5 (05:59):
What about Jamis? Jamis is QB three on the Giants.
He can sling it around a little bit, It's true,
Jake Browning, though as far as backups go, you could
do a lot worse.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Yeah, And they've also elevated Brett Rippon, who signed on
August twenty seventh, elevated from the practice squad to the
active roster. Now there's a lot of burnt toast and
stale bread in there, you know, So we'll see how
that all plays out for them. You know, Ripping was
a Rams cast off. He didn't do very well there,
and but.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
They're happy to have Jimmy g there now, you hope.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
So he's he was a little less than impressive in
the preseason. You hope you don't need I kind of
like Stets and Bett and better when he was in
the preseason for that.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yeah, better, hope you don't have it.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
But then again, there's always you know, the fragility that
surrounds Matthew Stafford in his back and everything. So far,
so good there for that. All right, as I mentioned,
we'll talk some more NFL. We'll compare uh, and so
did you do you stay that? Did you stay up
for both games last night? Make it all the way
through the second game Raiders Chargers.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
The second game was background TV for some chores and
some ketchup phone calls.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
The first game I was locked in.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, and heartbreaking loss for the Texans, who had ample opportunities.
I think throughout the night to jump out to more
of a lead. Defense kept him in the game. But
Baker Mayfield a chance to be you, and chances are
he's going to find a way.

Speaker 6 (07:25):
You know.

Speaker 5 (07:25):
This morning I saw Craigs and people theorizing that Todd
Bowles let the Texans score to give Mayfield a chance
to march down the field.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
That probably was a smart play if it's the way
they went.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, we've seen that in some other games as well.
When you look at it and say, yeah, maybe that's
why you know, maybe that, I mean, the what the
Vikings did there for the Falcons the other night, you
could tell.

Speaker 5 (07:49):
That, Yeah, that one was pretty cut and dry. This one,
I mean, it didn't look it didn't look obvious. It
didn't really occur to me in the moment, But you know,
Nick Chubb was bottled up all night, all of a
sudden he drove an F one F for a twenty
yard touchdown.

Speaker 6 (08:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
I think a lot of that just comes down to
the obviously time score situation. How many timeouts you have left?
Do you think you have time for two possessions? Can
you get down score a touchdown? And if you don't
have enough timeouts to try to affect a three and out,
then you're looking at just an on side kick, but
at least giving yourself a chance.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
What was it like, they like to say, extend the game?

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yes, right, you give yourself a chance by extending the game.

Speaker 5 (08:27):
And the Texans with those penalties, Craig, I know we've
heard to nak O'Ryan's talk about it after week one
right here on this program continue to be a problem.
In week one it was the offense, and last night
it was the defense, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
All right, up next, we'll talk about the opponent for
the long runs this week, the Sam Houston Bearcats, with
Carlo Zimmerman their play by play voice. Glad to have
you with us here on a Tuesday afternoon. I'm thirteen
under the zone this afternoon, and also please to be
joined on the hotline by the play by play voice
and the Sam Houston Bearcats. That is Carlo Zimmerman who
joins is now Carlos. I appreciate the time. How are

(08:59):
you today.

Speaker 7 (09:02):
I'm doing very well, Craig, appreciate you having me on first.
Happy birthday to you. Thank Bertin So I hope you're
having a one for a day so far. But yeah,
ready to top Cats and Longhorns. Should be should be
a fun matchup on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Well, here's here's one thing that I'm really fascinated about
about about the Sam Houston program. And you've been around
it for a few years now, so you can you
can certainly shed a lot more light on this. I'm
really curious with regard to the U state of transition
and everything this program has been through the past few years,
you know, going all the way back to winning an

(09:34):
FCS national championship on the back side of the pandemic,
and then the transition from FCS to FBS UH and
then reaching a bowl game, and then and winning the
bowl game, and then Casey Keeler moving on the temple
in Phil Longo, who had been an offensive coordinator and
had opportunities for other college coordinator positions even in the

(09:56):
NFL deciding to come back and be in the head coach.
How would you describe what it's been like over these
past few years being for those who are vested in
the Bearcap football program.

Speaker 7 (10:07):
You know, I'd say it's been like a really wild
roller coaster, like all the dips and turns that this
team has been through since winning that national championship. You know,
you go from the odd twenty two season where they
were the Cats began their transition to FBS and weren't

(10:28):
able to play for anything, and then you look at
twenty three and the so many games that Sam Houston
was in but lost by one score or minuscule amount
of points.

Speaker 6 (10:40):
And then finally saw the fruits.

Speaker 7 (10:41):
Of their labor last year winning that Bowl game against
Georgia Southern, and the New Orleans Balls saw really the
pinnacle of what Sam Houston was going for. So they
seemed just about everything but the kitchen sink in this transition.
And I feel like the hardest part has been really
having to I mean, Cosmogo talks about it in our
press conference today.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
It's a five year transition.

Speaker 7 (11:03):
But it feels a lot faster than given how quick
Sam Houston made the jump from the Whack to Conference
USA and then from the Southland to the Whack Conference USA.

Speaker 6 (11:12):
So it's had its highs and it's had its lows.

Speaker 7 (11:15):
And I know you look on paper right now, it
feels like Sam Houston's on a low trend right now.

Speaker 6 (11:20):
But they've had to go through another transition this year.

Speaker 7 (11:23):
Fifty five new players, a new head coach, practically all
new staffs. So it's another one of those times where
you feel like this kind of ballgame on Saturday could
be to see where this team is at. So I
think it'll be interesting to see how they come out Saturday.
But the transition has been sounded, like I said, it

(11:44):
sat its highs, it's had its lows, and I know,
with the way the college football landscape is nowadays, transitions
will always.

Speaker 6 (11:51):
Be a thing going forward.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
Yeah, you know you mentioned the roller coach, right, and
I imagine, like you said, the fruits of the labor
getting an opportunity to get to a bowl game, play
a bowl game as an FBS member, to win the
bowl game, to win that New Orleans Bowl. As the
transition continued, and then in the conference who was saying,
it's oh, by the way, you don't have a stadium
to play in this fold.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
That was the other thing I left out.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
There is playing the designated home games, what seventy miles
away there in Houston at Shell Energy Stadium. I know
you've only had the one game there so far, but
what's that dynamic been.

Speaker 7 (12:23):
Like, Yeah, I'm glad to bring that up because it's
another case of just another wrinkle in the story of
Sam Houston not being able to play at your home stadium.
I mean, granted, once the new press box is completed,
it can be a premier place to go watch football.

Speaker 6 (12:40):
I mean it already is. It has a lot of bowers,
already has a lot of character to it. But that's
another dynamic.

Speaker 7 (12:46):
You're basically you're playing twelve road games essentially because you
do have to travel to seventy miles to Houston. So
I'm sure that it's another wrinkle in for Coach Longo
to deal with and these players.

Speaker 6 (12:57):
To have to deal with too.

Speaker 7 (12:59):
So just from that one game, you know, Sam Houston,
I don't I think they were hoping for a better
crowd for that game against UNLVU, but I mean still
five thousand was a solid amount given in the way
that that day had panned out weatherwise and stuff like that,
So I think that was that's something they were really

(13:20):
high on, was being able to get somewhere in Houston
and not have to look elsewhere.

Speaker 6 (13:24):
And Shell Energy is actually it is a very beautiful facility.

Speaker 7 (13:28):
The Dynamo and Dasher blessed to have that for them
to play in, and they Sam Houston surely appreciates the
generosity of Shell Energy to be able to let Saint
Houston play there for this season. It's a it's it's
a hard thing to you know, tell recruits coming into
the season, and that's.

Speaker 6 (13:45):
The other factor of the two. With Coachlongo coming in
at the time that he did, it was hard for
him to get his own guys in there per se.

Speaker 7 (13:53):
So it'll be I think as the season progresses, they'll
start to see more, for lack of a better term,
the fruit of the labor of this early non confidence plate.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Hey Carlos, how changed will Bowers Stadium be once they
finish all the renovations.

Speaker 7 (14:09):
Well, since it's just for the press box, there is
going to be some added suite seating that they're putting
up there with the press box, So the overall capacity
of Bowers will grow. I'm seeing from last time I
drove by the stadium, I'm seeing what they're doing along
the outside as well, just for you know extra you know,
special seating if you will, or club seating. So that'll

(14:30):
definitely be an addition for me as a broadcaster. I'm
excited because I was told in the planning process that
the windows will open and you will be able to
get natural crowd noise in there, which is awesome and
I'm very excited about that.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
And just a lot of just a lot more space.

Speaker 7 (14:47):
If you've ever been I don't know if you've ever
been to the old press box at Sam Houston Craig.

Speaker 6 (14:51):
But it was it was a pressure cooker, if you will.

Speaker 7 (14:55):
There was there was not a whole lot of space
to operate if you were a rider, if National TV
came in, and for radio a lot it it was
very close quarters. So just to be able to have
more space for everybody to do their jobs and do
it well will be a very big blessing once it's done.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, I do remember, and it's been a few years.
Have done some high school playoff games out of there.
Always like the setting there there at Bowers, but you
know what it was. I do remember the tighter dimensions.
I will also tell you this, Carlos your because I
feel it my appointed duty to let all of the

(15:34):
opposing team play by play guys who are coming into
Boston know that there's a big part in our dust
motif going on at Darryl Kay Royal, Texas Memorial State.
They were going to eventually convert all of what are
now and have been the broadcast booths in the suites.
But that's another story about relocation that'll happen next year.
But for this year, one thing that's happened is because
they had to raise the photo deck area. The cameras

(15:57):
would have blocked your view and my view out of
the books. But forward thinking people they did a good
job and built a like a big lumber plywood and
UH and hardwood platform that will raise it up above
so that you actually be able to see, Carlos, You'll

(16:18):
be able to see uh over the UH. You'll be
able to see over the top of the camera. So
I know that you'll appreciate that.

Speaker 7 (16:25):
No, absolutely, I will great I greatly appreciate that. Goot
News because I wasn't sure how I knew they were
doing some adjustments that at dk R, so that that's
that's very good to know.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Yeah, yeah, all right, let me uh let me get
your thoughts on this team a little bit, because one
thing that Coach Longa was asked about in the news
conference was the state of the quarterbacking situation, and he
said they'll obviously evaluate during the week, but he mentioned
the possibility of of of as many as what four
quarterbacks being in the mix to possibly play if even

(17:00):
if we don't know who the startup is going to
be yet. But what's your take on because of injuries
and then bouncing back and the open date, coming off
the trip to Hawaii, what it's like with the quarterback
spot now for the Bear Catch.

Speaker 7 (17:13):
Yeah, it's I think Coach Longo said it best. They'll
do all the evaluations they need to this weekend you have.
They'll bring four quarterbacks, those being Hunter Watson, Mabray, mtoyer
Land and Locke and DJ Bailey, who was a fairly
highly tabit prospect out of De Soto who a lot
of Bear Cat fans were very high on once he
announced his commitment to Sam Houston. So, yeah, it's interesting

(17:37):
the quarterback room.

Speaker 6 (17:38):
For lack of Bridgeram has just been beaten up this year.
If you watched the Hawaii game, Abury mctoyer and Landon
lock Book took shots.

Speaker 7 (17:46):
To the head for granted they were one was called
for targeting, one was not, But either way, I mean
getting a shot to the head, no matter how it goes,
is tough. So that's been the biggest issue. It's just
been battling injured in Hunter since has had nagging injuries
on him throughout the season, so it just looks like
he hasn't been able to play one hundred percent.

Speaker 6 (18:06):
But they feel confident.

Speaker 7 (18:09):
That whoever they roll out there on Saturday will be
able to run the offense to the best of their ability.
So it's just a matter of getting those guys healthy.
If we'd have a DJ Bailey sighting, I'd be exciting
to see what he can do because he has not
played a down for Sam Houston just he had red
shirting last year and now being the fourth guy on
the roster this year.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, and having called a couple of his state championship games,
I saw firsthand how much of a weapon he can be. Clearly,
Hunter Watson has been a weapon in the past and
what he's been able to do with his legs, with
his body as well as with his arms.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
If he's healthy, does it make sense that he's.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Probably going to be the lead guy to be out
there if he's healthy and ready to go.

Speaker 6 (18:52):
Absolutely.

Speaker 7 (18:52):
They they've said that Hunter Watson is the leader of
that offense. So if he's one hundred percent ready to
go back, that will be the guy that they want
to lean on. And because just this veteran experience, having
played a near full year last year and then helped
helping this team get to that ten and three record,
So if he's one hundred percent ready to go, I

(19:12):
have full confidence that he will be the guy that
trots off the sideline when the bear Cats have the ball.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
The other thing I wanted to ask you about was
coach Longo and the fact that he was there before
as a coordinator and and really and told me when
we were participating in a panel discussion the Coaching School
in San Antonio back in July about why the position
called to him to come back when he could have

(19:40):
been an assistant coach at the other levels. You know,
what is it about the draw to him that you
notice how much he has embraced and as a result
of that put together coaching staff that he's pretty excited
about to work there in a Huntsville What has appealed
to him about it and and how he's thrown himself

(20:00):
into it and with his newly comprised coaching staff.

Speaker 7 (20:05):
He's He told me one day after practice that they
they they had any opportunity, him and his wife would
have loved to be able to get back here to
Huntsville because they just enjoyed their time here when he
was the OC for coach Keeler. So I think it
was it was a matter of being able to come
back to a place of familiarity and the people here
that he was able to build relationships with and ultimately had,

(20:28):
like you said, has been able to build the staff
that he has as I was the Zach Patterson was
here for a brief time and then was able to
make the comeback here. So I think it was a
matter of him just wanting to get back to a
place of that was familiar to him, in a place
that he felt like that he could succeed at. And
I know it's been a tough start to the season,
but he still has the full confidence in him and

(20:49):
his staff that they can put together a really good
team for the run of conference play.

Speaker 6 (20:55):
That has to come.

Speaker 7 (20:56):
So yeah, just sans question.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
It was It was more. It was a big case
of familiarity and just his love of the area.

Speaker 7 (21:02):
And he knows how big football here is in Texas,
and he at any time he was at other places,
whether it be Ole Miss, North Carolina or Wisconsin, he
wanted to recruit Texas because everything's bigger here, especially our
high school football here. So I think those were the
two big things for him and his decision to come home.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Okay, final thing here, all right. You mentioned that he'd
been North Carolina and Old Miss in Wisconsin. But here
you are, Carlos. Here, you are having already broadcast in
Bowling Green, Kentucky, Honolulu, Hawaii. You'll be in Austin this Saturday.
You go to Las Cruces, New Mexico. You go to
rust and Louisiana, You go to Corvallis, Oregon. Yeah, Delaware

(21:41):
at home, and you close in Murphysboro, Tennessee. Have you
ever traveled that much in such a compressed amount of
time to so many far flung and places spread out.

Speaker 7 (21:55):
This is my fourth year on the radio for Sam
Houston and I've gotten to see a lot of cool places.

Speaker 6 (22:02):
But this year has been quite exciting. But I was saying, no, I.

Speaker 7 (22:07):
Haven't yet in such a like you said, a small
window going all over the country to many places I've
been the last yew says I've been to Murphy's Borrow
and Bowling Green for basketball. That hadn't gone for football
just yet. That's just how the scheduling worked out the
last couple of years. But no, this is this is
quite a travel and then you throw that Honolulu trip
in here that that definitely put the anomaly into effect.

(22:30):
But that's what I love about our schedule this year,
getting to go see places that I never thought I'd
ever go to, and it's it's a reminder to me
that this is It's truly be a blessing the position
that we are in as voices of great programs. But
this will be my first trip to DKR. I never
went as a kid, as a as a or as

(22:53):
a student, so this will be exciting. It's one of
my budget lists stadiums to go to, so I'm very
excited for Saturday.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Great well, look forward to see you on Saturday. I
appreciate you taking the time to join us this afternoon,
save travels over from Walker County. At least it'll be
one of your shorter trips anyway, and we'll look forward
to seeing you in the press box on Saturday evening.

Speaker 6 (23:13):
Yes, sir, I appreciate the opportunity to come, Chad, and yeah,
looking forward to the trip and getting happy birthday.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Thank you, Carlos, appreciate it all right. That is Carlo Zimmerman,
play by play voice of the Sam Houston Bearcats. No joke,
I mean they started at Western Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
They had un l V at HUM.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Now, remember all the home games are in Houston, seventy
miles away. As Carlos mentioned, you know that's even the
home games are a road trip because they're renovating mainly
the press box side of Bowers Stadium. So then so
after going to Bowling Green, Kentucky to play Western Kentucky,
then they have a quote unquote designate a home game

(23:53):
seventy miles away in Houston at the home of the
Houston Dynamos, the soccer stadium, Shell Energy Stadium had that
against you in LV. Then they go to Honolulu, they
come back, had an open date on the schedule last weekend.
They'll be in Austin this weekend. Then they have a

(24:14):
mini buy because they have a midweek game at New
Mexico State. They have another one after that against Jacksonville State.
The New Mexico State is a road game, Jacksonville State
at home in Houston, UTEP at home in Houston, then
to Joe Ait Stadium in Rustin to play Louisiana Tech.

(24:37):
Then they go to Corvallis Leay, Oregon State. They come
home in Houston to play Delaware. They go to Murphysboro,
Tennessee to play Middle and then their final game of
the year at home in Houston against Florida International. So
it's quite the travel log for SAM Houston. But they'll
be here on Saturday night and our coverage on Saturday

(25:01):
will begin at three o'clock, three o'clock and that'll be
with the third and long worn guys at three o'clock
and then down on Beava Boulevard in the hook them
hang out there. Winship's Circle will be Long Orange Game
Day with Cameron Parker and Mike Hardball, Harge and Mark Henry,
So that'll be down there. Ja we'll be down there

(25:22):
producer as well. So that's this Saturday. Actually, Cam will
be out this Saturday. He's got another wedding, right just
is another He's he's he goes to all these weddings.
He's involved in several of these weddings. But he's not
the groom in any of these weddings, not yet, not yet.

(25:43):
So Cam won't be there, but Mike card boll Harge
will be there directing it and along with the world's
strongest man, Mark Henry and also I think Eric Henry
who's not related Tomork, but Eric will also join the
guys for some of it as well. So that's that begin.
That portion of Long Orange's Game Day begins at four o'clock.
Network pregame at six in the kickoff seven two I'm

(26:08):
told so, just right past seven o'clock for Texas and
Sam Houston. The second hour of the program here on
thirteen under the Zone, Craig Way alongside the producer Jay Herman,
glad to have you with us.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
We're with you up until five o'clock this afternoon.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
And coming up in a few minutes, we'll talk football
in the Lone Star State, both of the collegiate and
high school variety with Greg Tapper managing editor of no
editor in chief Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine was the
managing editor for over a decade, but it's editor in chief,
he said, if you talk to him about it, he says,
he's still trying to get used to the title. Clearly
all the rest of us are as well. But I'm

(26:49):
going to ask him about the power pole. They where
they rank all the Division one FBS programs in the
state of Texas, all thirteen. And somebody on the text
line had asked me, you know which team was still
undefeated in the state of Texas at which Texas school

(27:10):
remains undefeated after week number four? And the answer is several.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
If you're talking about just you know, unbeat college Division
one FBS teams, Texas A and M is three, and
oh Texas Texas three, and oh TCU is two, and
Oh Houston is three and oh the mean Green of
North Texas is three and O and Sam Houston is

(27:40):
zero and three at the bottom of the list. But
all of those other ones are three and O.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
And uh.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
And we'll talk to We'll talk to Greg Tepper about
all this coming up in the next hour. Let's hear
a little bit from the head coach of the sam
Houston Bearcats, Phil Longo, and this was from his press
conference earlier today. He was asked first of all for
a recap of that trip to Hawaii. They started off
with a road loss at Western Kentucky. They had the

(28:08):
quote unquote home game designated home game they're playing all
their home games seventy miles away in Houston at the
home of the Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer team, Shell
Energy Stadium. Lost that contest thirty eight twenty one to UNLV.
Then they went out to Hawaii, played them tough, but
lost and so they're all in three. And then they

(28:30):
had an open date, and so goache Longa was asked
about recapping through the y game and how the open
date helped his team as well.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Well.

Speaker 8 (28:39):
Quickly the recap, I would just say we were concerned
about the difference in the trip to Hawaii in terms
of the long travel and what it does to your body,
and you try to take.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Something from every game.

Speaker 8 (28:54):
So our staff we did a lot of research with
regards to who travels out and what the pitfalls have been,
and a lot of coaches that I talked to that
have traveled out there have really struggled to have their guys,
you know, full juice, full energy, feeling great at kickoff,
and so that was a major concern for us with

(29:15):
regards to the travel and you know, so that's that's
a chapter in our book right now. We feel like
we have kind of cornered the market on how to
handle that. We did a good job. Unfortunately it didn't
result in a win for us, but it was probably
the most energetic and the most ready I thought our
team looked heading into a game. I do think the

(29:36):
physicality piece of the game was what we wanted. And
you know, from a continuity standpoint, we struggled on offense
and we've had we've had a number of changes at
quarterback because of some of the injuries. Obviously, I wasn't
happy that that all three quarterbacks got hit in the

(29:58):
helmet during the course of the game. Referees handled it
the way they felt like they needed to handle it,
but that that really disrupted the rhythm for us on offense.
I was actually happy to where our defense was playing.
They got another touchdown on the board and they've been productive.
That's two in three games now, and I see continuity

(30:20):
and a rhythm developing on defense. We show some in
individual drives, but we've been too sporadic on offense. And
so this two weeks here leading into the Texas game
is one giving us a chance to heal up a
little bit too. It's given us a chance to go
back to some basics and try to create a little

(30:42):
bit more continuity offensively. And so now we are full
bore into the Texas game plan and had had a
really good this is our best Tuesday practice of the year.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
I had a really good Tuesday practice this morning.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
All right, So there was a coach longo about the recap.
Now this quarterback room, and if you were with us
last hour and you heard me visiting Carlo Simmerman, they're
play by play voice, they had several different injuries to
their their their quarterback room, and he talked a little
bit about that in the opening statement. But here's the

(31:15):
status of his quarterback situation.

Speaker 8 (31:18):
So you know, like I said, the bye week gave
us a chance to So everybody's back in the room now.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
The quarterbacks are good.

Speaker 8 (31:25):
It's a healthy room now, and so we'll well, we'll
kind of get back to the way we practice and
we'll rotate through a couple guys and prep them both
for the game like we do every week. And it
has kind of normal doubt in a number of our rooms,
So not just a quarterback room, but I think a
number of the other rooms we have gotten a couple
guys back, and so it's it's nice to see some

(31:48):
of those those faces back out on the field practicing
this week.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Okay, And then he was asked about the challenge of
preparing to play Texas in Austin.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
You know, what I told the team was, we have
to prepare to.

Speaker 8 (32:03):
Expect Texas's very best on Saturday, you know, And I
think anytime you prepare for anything less than that, you're
you're you're doing yourself with this service, as a team,
as a staff. And so we are going to look
at it as if Texas is going to hit things
on all the cylinders and and these guys are going
to play well on both sides of the ball, and

(32:23):
we're going to see their best, and that's what we're
preparing for, and that's what we need to expect. And
then anything less is what happens on Saturday. But that
that's what we're looking looking at. This is an extremely
an exceptionally talented team that you know, held a house
state to fourteen points. And you know, they're very good

(32:44):
on special teams. Uh, they aren't extravagant on either side
of the ball.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
They don't need to be.

Speaker 8 (32:49):
They're so talented they you know, they can just strap
it up and go play football, and they do. They
do enough to keep you guessing. You've got to be
prepared for them. But they there are a lot of
individual matchups that we know we've got to We've got
to be able to play and win some one on
one battles to give ourselves an opportunity against.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Texas, all right.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
He was also asked about the fact that he's had
a lot of transfers come in, and you know, Sark said,
he thought of something like sixty three or you know
it was. It was a large number. And he was
asked about this influx of transfers. At my last count,
we had fifty five new guys. We may have sixty
three counting walk ons and whatnot. And the coach may

(33:30):
know more about us than I do.

Speaker 8 (33:33):
The camp in August Is was really a four week period, honestly,
and this is the first time in thirty seven years
in my career, where you know, we were working to
get the blueprint done and down and understood and learned,
but we were also, you know, trying to get the
owen of the installed and special teams locked in. But

(33:54):
it was a much there was a much greater focus
on just getting to know our players. You know, thirty
three of those fifty five arrived here in June and
had never worn a Sam Houston helmet, and so on
top of the fact that a lot of these guys
came from other places and they didn't start there, you know,

(34:14):
so some of them the every down, you know, in
reference to you asking how many are starting, I don't
know how many of the new guys are starting, because
most of the team is new, but a lot of
these guys are starting for the first time, and so
you know, that's that's a little bit of a learning curve.
So we had to get to know them, and we
had to create some sort of unity and continuity and
camp and then really these last three four weeks of

(34:38):
practice have all been about developing the team. You know,
I always tell them in most team meetings, we got
to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that's
getting twenty four hours better at football, and that's what
we're focused on right now.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
And when we start doing that.

Speaker 8 (34:55):
At a good enough level, that's where the wins will
start coming. And so what we're focused on the process
right now, as much as that is coach speak, that's
definitely where we are as a program.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
All right.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
So there is some comments from Phil Longer, they head
coach of Sam Houston. We'll hear more from coach Longo
a little later on. Up next Greg Tepper, editor in
chief Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine, to talk college and
high school football in the state of Texas. When we continue,
I'm thirteen under the zone and that's always our cue
to welcome in. Our good friend and the editor in

(35:29):
chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine is Greg Tepper.
I got to ask you something. I twice in the
last of forty eight hours or twenty four hours whatever,
have started to say managing editor, and I stop, and
I go, No, editor in chief, do you ever do
that anymore? Or you are you totally ingrained into eic now.

Speaker 9 (35:51):
All the time, all the time. It happens constantly.

Speaker 7 (35:54):
I mean I was managing editor from July twenty thirteen,
until March of twenty twenty five, and so like, I'm
not gonna look, I can't what is the what is
the normal amount of time it takes me to learn anything, right,
let alone unlearn something. I mean, once it gets in there,
it's it's hard to say. I mean, I think that

(36:15):
you and I I've compared to you and I similarly
that like there's stuff that gets stuck in our brain
that we just can't unlearn, can't unknow these things. And
I'm sure it happens to you that somebody will ask
you something, especially about you know, the Texas Longhorns or
about Texas Texas high school football, and you'll just spout
off be like, oh, yeah, that wasn't that twenty twelve

(36:35):
title game. I want to say it was a you know,
he ran for three hundred and fifteen yard or something
like that, and you'll just like kind of shake your
own head and go, how do I know that? Why
do I know that? That's a similar thing to me
that I'm trying to get it out of my brain.
And that's that's that's proving harder than I thought it
would be.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
Okay, al right, it makes me feel better, all right,
So here's something that folks are gonna get have to
get used to. There's a new sheriff in town. At
least as it relates to the Dave Campbell's Texas Football
Magazine college Football power Pole, the FBS power pole in
the state, there's an Aggie team sitting at the top
number one, with Texas number two.

Speaker 7 (37:15):
About that, Yeah, bold of me to take a phone
call from Austin, Texas after we've done this, but yeah,
this is Look, I don't think there's really any any
doubt considering what we've seen the past couple of weeks.
You know, obviously Texas, you know, at sitting at two
and one, I would guess that Texas fans would look

(37:37):
across the landscape of what they've been able, what they
put together and said that it is not up to
the standard of the number one team in the state
of Texas. Meanwhile, at teches A and M there's essentially
no notes now, you know, going on the road and
getting that road win at Notre Dame, which was at
historic one that has been the road win against a
good team has been a real bugaboo for that Aggie program.

(38:00):
And to go and do that is is awfully remarkable.
That's not to say it was pretty at all times.
And it's not to say that they're there without their concerns,
especially I would say some newfound concerns defensively. You know,
let's let's remember as the Notre Dame team that really
struggled offensively in their opener. Uh, And now they they've

(38:21):
found they've they've made their hay against the Aggies in
South Bend. But you know, a win is a win,
and I feel like they have found a winning formula
there with Marcel Reid and what has turned out to
be an exceptional group of receivers. They're going to test
a lot of a lot of defenses in the SEC.
Now what they got to shore up things in the
on the defensive side, because you can't you can't go

(38:42):
out there and you know, just ask the text to
tech day year teams of old whether or not you
can you can win every game by going out there
and just slinging it around and just waiting for the
ball to come back to you.

Speaker 9 (38:54):
This is they'll have to figure that out.

Speaker 7 (38:55):
But look, I would say that there is understandable uh
jubilation Aggie Land these days because the Aggies certainly look
the part of a team that that may be different
than the the old eight and four that they're so
they've become unfortunately accustomed to.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Do we find out a little more about Texas Tech
this week playing in Utah.

Speaker 9 (39:16):
Yeah, yeah, we absolutely do.

Speaker 7 (39:18):
Look, if you're again, if you're Tech to Tech, you
essentially can't have any notes about what you've had.

Speaker 9 (39:25):
So far.

Speaker 7 (39:26):
They have been as dominant as against they're they're statistically
the number.

Speaker 9 (39:31):
Two offense in all.

Speaker 7 (39:33):
Of all of college football in total offense six.

Speaker 9 (39:37):
Hundred and two yards per game.

Speaker 7 (39:39):
Uh. And if you care about style points, they have
got style points out the Wazoo, a sixty point win
over Arkansas.

Speaker 9 (39:46):
Paine Bluff, fifth, you know what, a.

Speaker 7 (39:49):
Four, you know, fifty eight point win, forty eight point
wins over Kent State, and then they go in they
mollywop Oregon State in a game that technically did take
six hours and thirteen minutes, but they're you know, they
didn't take that long. Now they get two real tests.
One they have to go on the road, which has
been a real challenge for Joey maguire and company. And

(40:12):
two they have to play an actual, really good team
in Utah. This is a Utah team that is rolling
the number sixteen team in the nation has looked really
good and their defense especially, this is going to be
you know, you could, if you wanted to be cynical,
you could say, Okay, Texa Tech is averaging six hundred
yards per game, but they haven't played a defense that

(40:33):
can Faulga mirror. Yet Utah does more than Fauga mirror.
They are going to be really, really exceptional defensively, and
that is kind of a double challenge for Texa Tech.
Now here's the thing. If they beat Utah, you better
get on board the hype train because you started looking
at their schedule. Where it's at Houston, you know better
at Houston team obviously coming off of a really nice

(40:53):
win over Colorado last week, but still a game that
Texa Tech should expect to win. Hauled against Kansas that's
at Arizona State. You know who knows where they are
right now, depending on They've been real up and down.

Speaker 9 (41:04):
In Oklahoma State.

Speaker 7 (41:05):
I mean, you start looking out there and you say,
where's the loss, where's the game? You're sure they're going
to lose. So this is a real, i think a
real early turning point here for the Texas Tech football team,
and also just the narrative about Texas Tech moving forward.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Okay, all right, I agree with all of that with you.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Now I would say this, when you said style points
out the Wazoo, that's actually North Texas because they had
style points and beating Wazoo fifty nine to ten. Now,
I asked you last week, if they won and if
Texas State lost Arizona State, would North Texas be the
top G five? And you said you thought maybe, Yet
in the rankings still trailing Texas State wasn't It was

(41:45):
not an embarrassing loss by the Bobcats out in Tempe either.

Speaker 7 (41:48):
No. I thought Texas State acquited themselves fairly well. And
obviously I think that when you take a look at
the power pool right now, Texas State that win over
UPSA is probably the single best win of any of
the teams in the G five. But I'll tell you
what North Texas did last week, wildly, wildly impressive. And
this is an offense that feels like it has hit

(42:10):
its stride. Drew Mestimaker making all the right plays, nine touchdowns,
no interceptions, McKenzie McGill, They found a running game they
feel good about and shock of all shots of the
defense looks like a team that's that's gonna make plays.
At the very least. What they are doing is they're
turning the ball over if they're going out there, and
they are getting there making plays defensively and getting takeaways,

(42:34):
which is something that they just simply were not able
to do last year. And so I think that is
a real step forward for North Texas. You know, a
real interesting test this week going on the road to
Army where, I mean, who knows what to expect from
RB at this point that you want to talk about
a team that that is entirely, entirely unpredictable with a

(42:56):
week one loss to Tarleton and then a week two
win at can the State. But I will say that
this is an opportunity, I think for North Texas to
really prove that things are different, that they're a true
contender in the American I was really impressed with what
they did welcoming Wazoo rather rude linked.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
I want to ask you about the two other games
that are kind of intriguing. One is obviously Baylor Arizona
State and the other what is the final ever ever
ever Skillet game at least in the foreseeable future between
TCU and SMU.

Speaker 7 (43:29):
Yeah, they're going to do the A and in Texas thing.
You know, They're going to take a break, and then
eventually there's going to be enough kind of clamoring that
this thing has got to get back together and they'll
do it. I mean, Zauri and Kansas just did it too,
you know, they just went their separate ways for about
fifteen years and then came back together for what ended
up being a whale of the ballgame between Kansas.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
And West Virginia. West Virginia.

Speaker 7 (43:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, backyard brawl the same way. This is
a I think for SMU and TCU, this is a
game that both of them need to win for not
just in the micro but in the macro. Obviously, in
the macro you want to have these bragging rights for
as long as you want. You want to keep the
skillet until people decide to put a side petty differences

(44:11):
and play the game again. But in the micro, I
also think this is a really important.

Speaker 9 (44:15):
Game for both kings. You know, TCU, I think kind of.

Speaker 7 (44:19):
Not surprisingly, but I would say.

Speaker 9 (44:21):
Rather under the radar.

Speaker 7 (44:23):
I think he's up to a really nice start that
went over at North Carolina and they fit and they
go and they beat Babling Christian. If they beat at SMU,
they've got to feel really good heading into conference play.
And I feel like this is a really important game
for them to prove that that Week one win over
North Carolina wasn't a mirage, it wasn't kind of a
Week one kind of storm out of the gates and
surprise team with a new coach, that they are back

(44:45):
for real.

Speaker 9 (44:45):
And then for SMU, you know they they they.

Speaker 7 (44:48):
Have turned in two consecutive rather lackluster performances. One of
them ended in a loss to Baylor at home and
the other one where they went to Missouri State. I
have a lot of questions, but to miss Estate and
they won twenty eight to ten, and the offense just
could not get in gear. They have got something to prove,

(45:09):
I think in this game against TCU a lot on
the line there. I think that's a really important part.
And then for Baylor, this is a team. Can Baylor
kind of continue the momentum that they've started, right they're
off to a three and zero start or a two
to one start after bouncing back with that loss to
Auburn and the opener, you get a nice winter. Restu
you right now. In my mind, I mean, they eat

(45:30):
Stamford last week. But in my mind they have one
good performance and one poor performance. Which one is the
real Baylor. We will find out a lot more this
week when they welcome in Arizona State, which I think
is a really critical game because I think that when
you take a look at their schedule, it doesn't exactly
lighten up from there. But Arizona State, if they can
get this win, they can at least establish themselves as
an upper pecial on Big twelve.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
Team Talking football with Greg Tepperman. No, not the managing
So I just did it again there in chief Dave
Campbells ticks. I did it just because you're wrong with
us that time. Uh think the the e I see
the editor in chief of Dave Campbe's Texas Football magazine.
All right, let's let's jump out high school. This is
kind of a little bit of a goofy question. But

(46:11):
but but I am kind of curious because when we
follow teams that are really, really good, we have a
tendency to back shelve them for several weeks, and you
know what, check backards they're going to blow out teams,
and we've been doing that for years with Carthage. Where
are you with South Lake Carrol right now? I mean
they're number one in the state and they've blown out team.

(46:32):
Now finally they're gonna get a little bit of a
test this week playing Ulus Trinity.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
I think, but where are you with the with South Lake.

Speaker 3 (46:38):
Carrol right now?

Speaker 9 (46:40):
Right now?

Speaker 7 (46:41):
They get it right now three and zero uh trending,
you know, right now they get incomplete trending towards.

Speaker 9 (46:47):
Are really positive grades right now.

Speaker 7 (46:49):
They just have an incomplete because they've just been a
lot better than the others now. I think last week
what they did to Byron Nelson District opener is really
really impressive, especially defense simply they were really really strong
in that game. But this is their huge test when
they take on Euless Trinity in a matchup of two
kind of pedigreed DFW programs with different identities that are kind.

Speaker 9 (47:12):
Of returning to former glory.

Speaker 7 (47:15):
Ulis Trinity had a couple of lean for their standards
lean years recently, but they are back in a big
way and they're doing the old Ules Trinity thing they're doing.
They're doing the thing of that they used to pack
sixty thousand people allegedly in the Texas Stadium to do
when they play South Blay Carrol, where it is run
the dang ball with JT. Harris their new running back.
They've got They've got Mac lin Weaver, the coach's kid

(47:38):
and actually Steve lin Weaver's grandson if you want to
feel old playing quarterback for them, and they are defense
that they're big and physical and they're mean going up
against the South Lake Carroll team that has looked terrific
with quarterback games. Lorenda wide receiver Brock Boyd, the wide receiver.

Speaker 9 (47:53):
Committed to Ohio State. And then we mentioned that defense.

Speaker 7 (47:56):
This is their big test. This is for me, the
will will really find out if they go out there
and they win this game, and they win it comfortably,
then will feel really good about keeping them number one,
at least until they give us reason to doubt them.
The one thing I will say is that Riley Dodge
I need to confirm this. I know he's never lost
a game as a head coach at Dragon Stadium. I

(48:17):
am fairly certain when he played at South Lake Carol
he never lost the game at home, which would mean
that he's never left that stadium with a loss.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
I think that's right. I think that's correct.

Speaker 9 (48:28):
I need to so a lot of that.

Speaker 7 (48:31):
You will surely want to do something nobody else has
ever done, literally his playing our coaching career, in order
to take command of that district.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
You make me laughing talking about the thing about the
alleged sixty thousand there.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
You've heard that.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
You've heard that number as I've heard that number before,
and there was no real way to really confirm the
thing because they still held that attendance record. It was
still marked as forty nine nine five three for plain
O PMNG and seventy seven no no, no, no no,
it was sixty one downs, but it was it was
part of what a triple header that day or a
doubleheader that day.

Speaker 9 (49:07):
It was part of a triple header.

Speaker 7 (49:09):
And I will say I want to say this game
was back in two thousand and six around the There
is video of this online and you can see and
I will say this, there are a lot of people
in Texas medium I don't know.

Speaker 6 (49:22):
The very sixty thousand.

Speaker 7 (49:24):
There's probably more than is reported, but I will say
that that there's a lot of people there. I think that,
But that's that's one of those that's one of those
fishing stories, right, it just gets bigger every time you
tell it.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah, all right, on the for real meter, we saw
Westlake have a response by beating a task to see
the last week they get Sybilo Steel this week, how
about that matchup?

Speaker 7 (49:46):
Yeah, I mean, well, first of all, we need to
come home. Well, a week after two weeks after driving
a San Benito and a week after driving to Humble,
they finally get to stay home and sleep in their
own bed and take on a good Civil Steel team,
a high aly talented Sibilas Steel team that graduated pretty heavily,
but I think has gotten the wheels back on.

Speaker 6 (50:06):
I was very.

Speaker 7 (50:07):
Impressed last week with kind of the emergence of the
offense and especially the running game for west Lake. If
they're continuing to get that in support of Reese Wise,
then I think they're a real contender in sixth A
Division two, which is where it feels like they're headed.

Speaker 9 (50:20):
There is a task of them to go six A
Division one. Sixth Division two feels more.

Speaker 6 (50:23):
Likely right now.

Speaker 9 (50:25):
But I think that that is a real credit.

Speaker 7 (50:27):
There's gonna be some people, and I understand this, who
are going to put an asteris Smith that whenever tasks,
because the tasks the star quarterback, Cardia and Mac didn't play.
I would just say Cardia and Mac didn't play defense.
And this was a really impressive Westlake performance. So I
don't take anything away from west Lake. If you want
to say, give it the task to see a bit of a.

Speaker 9 (50:46):
Mulligan, I'm here for that.

Speaker 7 (50:48):
But I'm not taking anything away from Westlake going on
the road and getting a really impressive.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Win, all right, As you like to say, the meanest
thing we do to each other every week, I give
you a choice of three games. You can transport to one,
but only one of those. So I give you these, uh,
and I'm leaving, for the first time in memory or
at least in a while, I'm leaving six A out
of this thing this week. That's why I asked you
about those other two six eight games, because because I'm

(51:14):
not having.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
You choose one.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
All right, you can have your choice of in five
A Division two number two Richmond Randall, the defending state
champ against number nine for Ben Marshall.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
You can have out of.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Four A D one Kilgore ranked third against in four
A D two pleasant Grove. That's the game I have
on Victory Plus Friday Nights up in Texas, Canada, or
or Uno the UNO number one in four A Division
one defending state champion Solina against number one in three

(51:49):
A Division one Franklin.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
Which of these is to your liking?

Speaker 7 (51:55):
They're all They're all interesting. I will I'll rule out
the Solana and Franklin game because it does feel like
we've seen this movie before. We saw it last week
when Franklin Slim could just not find many teams that
want to play them, and so they've had to take
on teams that are small in them. They played they
played Gunner last week.

Speaker 9 (52:11):
They beat Gunner.

Speaker 7 (52:13):
I actually thought Gunner acquitted themselves pretty well, but just
kind of got overwhelmed in the second half. By that,
I think Franklin will probably be a similar story, although
I do think this is the Franklin team that is
that is.

Speaker 9 (52:23):
Kind of surging.

Speaker 7 (52:24):
The Randall and Marshall game is interesting because if you
remember last year, this is the game we kind of
circled as potentially the changing of the guard in five
Day Division two in Houston, Orphen Marshall long been dominant there.
Randall went and really ransacked that that Marshall team in
route to a state championship do they give the mercy?
But the answer is probably kilbre.

Speaker 9 (52:45):
And Pleasant Grove.

Speaker 7 (52:46):
Pleasant Groves front seven is nasty. They are really really
fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
The offense.

Speaker 7 (52:51):
I think it's starting to get his wheels on consistently
and that's going to be dangerous going up against the
Killboard team that just handed Gilmer their first the worst
loss in forty eight years.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
I couldn't believe that.

Speaker 7 (53:04):
It was a shocking result and by the way, it
has since the Gilmer community.

Speaker 9 (53:09):
Into like panic mode.

Speaker 7 (53:11):
I have heard nothing for tons of Gilmer.

Speaker 9 (53:14):
Fans who are what is what is going on?

Speaker 7 (53:16):
All that's to say Kilgore has looked spectacular to start
the year that they're They're really physical, They've got Lea
Hellian Graves their star wide receiver, and of course they
played for a state championship a year ago.

Speaker 9 (53:28):
That's the game I'm going to be keeping an eye on.

Speaker 7 (53:29):
It's a it's a fabulous game and I'm excited you're
going to be on the call for it.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
Yeah, looking forward to that. Here's a question for you, Okay,
and uh maybe I'll try it out. Salona next week
because I've got Solina and Frisco Panther Creek next week,
which should be which would be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
But here's my question for you.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
If Salina handles its business this week and does like
you think, and I think so as well, dispatches Franklin
dropping the lines to one and two, Atlanto handles Gerald,
are you going to have to sit across from Ashley
Pickle Lanto Graduate and tell her that Lanto was the
number one team in the state and three A Division
one next week.

Speaker 7 (54:06):
I think we're gonna have to because at that point
it will be a two loss, you know, Franklin team,
it's hard to keep it even with two good losses,
so trying to spring which is a bit of a
baffling loss in week one, but trying to spring turned out
to be better than we thought they were. And then
and then obviously this week two Slida. But what in
two teams? Hard to rank them?

Speaker 9 (54:22):
Number one?

Speaker 7 (54:23):
Lanto would be four to oh and this I'll play
this game means Gerald, Jerrold's three to oh. It's a
good team before a team. If they were going to
take care of him, then then yeah, I think they'd
be deserving number ones. I will say one more thing.
I'm actually very glad you didn't put in the three
potential games Gordon and Thorndale. Okay, so if people don't

(54:44):
know about this, Gordon the reigning one A Division one
state champs two times, which are by the way, six
man football. They're playing Thorndale, which was a playoff team,
an area round playoff team in two A Division one.
That's right, Gordon's gonna put five more guys on the
field and play an eleven man game against a pretty
good Thorndail team. It is going to be absolutely fascinating

(55:06):
to see what happens. And talked with Mike Reid to
coaching Gordon. I think he's He's like, you know, I
want my guys to experience a university. They will do
it in a game. It will be absolutely remarkable to see.

Speaker 9 (55:19):
We will have a really.

Speaker 7 (55:20):
Close eye on what goes on in Thorndail when Gordon
goes on the road and takes on those bulldogs.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing how that one
turns out.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
That's like, you know, the NFL used to play exhibition
games against Canadian Football League teams and they would play
one half NFL rules and one half CFL rules. Now
how they made that work with one hundred and ten
yard field, I have no idea, but they used to
do that. So you know, when I first saw that matchup,
about though, what are they gonna do? Play eleven man
one half and six man? Yeah the other half, but

(55:52):
I guess it's all eleven man.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
It'll be interesting to see.

Speaker 7 (55:55):
Yeah, well, because Gordon, you can make an argument, I
think it's pound the best team in Sexas high school football.
But they're playing a literal different game with different rules
and different measurements, and so how do.

Speaker 9 (56:08):
How do the Longhorns handle that?

Speaker 7 (56:09):
And by the way, not for nothing, the longest winning
streak in the state is.

Speaker 9 (56:13):
On the line.

Speaker 7 (56:14):
They won thirty three in a row, more than anybody else.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Yeah, what we have to hope is that strike a
Read if he gets hop but doesn't stop at the
ten yard line thinking he's in the end zone at that.

Speaker 7 (56:23):
Point, you know, listen, Yeah, I mean what were we
just talking about earlier about force of habit and unlearning things.
Strike a Reed has been stopping at the ten yard
line of an entire career.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Yeah, yeah, because at Jerry World. That's the goal line
on an eighty yard fields. All right, hey, I appreciate
you doing this. Looking forward to the week, all right,
take care.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
All right.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
That's Greg Tapper, editor in chief of Dave Campbell's Texas
Football Magazine. Yeah, that's it's gonna be one of the
intriguing games of Gordon playing eleven man against Thorndale.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
So we'll see how that works.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
At Gordon had great athletes for six man program, far
and away the best, so how it translates to eleven man,
we'll see. All right, We have more coming up when
we continue on thirteen Under the Zone, third and final
hour of the program here on Sports Radio AM thirteen
Under the Zone. Craig Way with you alongside of the
producer Jay Carmen. Glad to have you with us as well,
and always please to take your input on the text line.

(57:15):
Feel free to do so. You can text us by
texting the word Texas. And then right after you text
the word texas, you know whatever, jump in space, but
stay on the same line. Go ahead and text us
your question or comment or thought or whatever it might
be crossing your mind on that So again text to
word texas.

Speaker 2 (57:34):
Follow by your question or comment to.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Eight one five to three zero Standard messaging and data
rates may apply. Glad to have you with us this afternoon,
and coming up in a couple of minutes, we're going
to you'll hear from long Orange quarterback Arch Manning as
he tries to go through this process like many others

(58:00):
are wondering, you know, how he's doing.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
So we'll get to that in a moment.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
I mentioned when we had Greg Tapper to the editor
in chief of Day Campbells, Texas Football magazine on was
they do the FBS power Pole every week of the
thirteen Division one FBS programs in state of Texas, FBS
being being Football Bowl Subdivision those teams that would go

(58:25):
to bowl games and would mathematically at least be eligible
for the College Football Playoff FCS Football Championships on Subdivision
what we used to call one double A in the
old days. That has leagues like the Southland Conference, schools
like Lamar and Incarnate Word Avelene Christian those schools in there.

(58:48):
That's FCS. But FBS is the power pole. FBS is
those who can go to bowl games and they have
an FBS power Pole. And it started off with Texas
even after the lost to High State, staying in the
number one spot, but following last week's activity, Texas A
and m ascended to the number one spot. The comment

(59:11):
on this from Texas football Marcel Will He threw for
three hundred and sixty yards and two touchdowns and the
win over Notre Dame. It was the Aggies' first non
conference road win over a ranked opponent since nineteen seventy nine.
About that so they dropped Texas to number two and
said in the elite defense keeps the long Horns in
the SEC and national title conversation, but the concerns of

(59:33):
our arts, banding and the offense are growing with each outing.
Number three is Texas Tech, says Texas Tech gained over
six hundred yards of offense in the third straight game
to start the season. A trip to Utah in week
four is the real start to the season for the
Red Raiders. I think that's where Fox's big noon kickoff

(59:55):
it's going to be. I think they're gonna be in
Salt Lake this week. Number four is in the Dave
Campbell's Texas Football FBS Power Pole rankings is Baylor two
and one. Brice in Washington rushed for one hundred and
thirty five yards two touchdowns. Tell Baylor Cruz past Samford
Sawyer Robertson has already eclipsed one thousand passing yards on

(01:00:17):
the season. Number five is TCU two and oh. The
horn Frogs held the twenty eight nothing a halftime in
the easy win over Appling Christian last week, TCU can
prove it's for real. And week four against SMU, who
happens to be number six in the pole, Mustangs are
two and one. SMU was sloppy according to DCTF in

(01:00:37):
a twenty eight ten whatever Missouri State in week three,
the Mustangs trailed ten nothing at the end of the
first quarter. Number seven is Houston, who is three and oh.
The Coogs are three and oh for the first time
since twenty sixteen, as Willie Fritz's vision for Houston is
becoming clear. Number eight Texas State staying in number eight
despite the loss at Arizona State last Saturday night. The

(01:01:00):
Bobcats are two and one, says the road lost Arizona
State won't dampen Sun Belt West Championship aspirations for the Bobcats.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
Number nine remaining.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Number nine is North Texas after their fifty nine to
ten win over Washington State last week. The comment was
in North Texas demolished Washington State and the statement went
at home in front of a solid crowd, the mean
Green looked like real American Conference contenders. Speaking of the
American the number ten team in the power polls UTSA
Roadrunners are one and two, said Owen McCown. Toss four

(01:01:30):
touchdowns in utsa's first win of the season. The twenty
eight point victory of her incarnate word Rice is number eleven.
The Owls are two and one. Maybe Prairie View last Saturday,
and the comment was the Ols ran for three hundred
and forty seven yards in the twenty one point victory
of our prairie View. A and m UTEP who just
lost to Texas is number twelve, said u Tip held

(01:01:51):
its own in Austin is the highly favored long Wrns,
and number thirteen is the Texas upon it for this week,
Sam Houston said, Phil Longo squad received they much needed.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
Out a week after the long trip to Hawaii.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
So that that is the Dave Campbell's Texas Football College
Powerpole rankings. We'll give you the updated high school rankings
coming up in a few minutes. I didn't want to
hear something from March Manning, the long orange quarterback who
appeared yesterday in the press conference and was asked a

(01:02:22):
variety of questions, and among those, did he have a
feel for whether his struggles that he's encountered in the
first three ball games are more mental or are they
more physical?

Speaker 10 (01:02:38):
Probably mental, to be honest, Like, I think I just
needed to go out there and play my game. I
know the type of athlete, type of player I am.
Just go cut it loose and have some fun, play ball.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Yeah, have some fun and get revved up and really
get in the movement of things.

Speaker 10 (01:02:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:02:54):
It was frustrating, obviously because.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
I know him better than that.

Speaker 10 (01:02:59):
But you know, we're to be better this week, and
we're gonna get clicking on an offense, and I'm excited.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
Of you going.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Yeah, he's certainly upbeat about it. And you know who
else is upbeat about him is his head coach. In
the comments he had with us on the postgame show
in the press conference after the game on Saturday. In
the press conference yesterday that we brought to you live
here on his own, Steve Sarkishan was remaining very upbeat

(01:03:24):
about what Arch has and.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Arch was asked about Sarks feedback.

Speaker 10 (01:03:31):
For him, it helps a lot, and having him just
be honest with me and tell me what he thinks
and how I can get better. It's great to have
that back and forth with the head coach and I'm
blessed to have him on the corner now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
He also the way that it works in the Texas
press conferences.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
The way the setup is simple water here is they.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Used to bring in an offensive player and a defensive
player together, and they brought in Arch Banding along with
Michael Taff and the two become pretty close. Arch of
courses roommates with Parker Livingston, but he's gotten really close
with the veteran senior Taff, and he was asked about that,

(01:04:20):
about the relationship and having him back there and what
having an effective defense does to help the offense.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
It's a blessing.

Speaker 10 (01:04:29):
I've always looked up to Mike since I got here
and since he was on my visits, and anytime you
have a good defense like that, it's definitely a little
bit easier. You don't have to do too much on
offense and just play within yourself. And that's what I
do and you can see to have fun because this
was all about yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
And you know, I know a lot of people, inasmuch
as folks, through social media, ranting, venting, whatever you want
to call it, have expressed unhappiness, disappointment, disgruntlement, all that
kind of stuff about the offense in general and Arch

(01:05:05):
manning and specific not hitting the marks they have for
the team and more importantly, what the team has for itself.
In as much as there's all that, there's also this
other undercurrent of concern by a lot of long worn fans.

(01:05:27):
And it's not about the wind loss thing. It's not
about the performance stat base thing, it's not about any
of that. There's this this thread has permeated through from
folks who have expressed genuine concern and empathy for Arch

(01:05:50):
banning that maybe he's putting too much pressure on himself,
that maybe he's feeling the weight of the world, that
maybe he's had whatever the yips or happy feed or
been jumpy or you know, not doing the right things
because of putting all that pressure on himself that sort

(01:06:10):
of thing. But and we just heard him say it's
been more mental. But what Arch has continued to continue
to say is the mental thing is more from the
perspective of looking at a situation and then passing on
that because he's trying to hit a bigger play, the

(01:06:32):
absolute primo a plus example. That was the case on
the roll out where he had Parker Livingston opened down
inside the ten. It would have been gone for a
first down, would have been first and goal, but he
reversed his field, went back around thinking he would find
a better read, ended up forcing it into the end
zone and it was intercepted. Those are the things that

(01:06:52):
Arch talks about about, you know, mental making a mental
mistake that way, not.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
As much in terms of feeling the pressure now.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Sar for his part, did say that he thought it
was a little bit mental. But again he and said
that he thought that maybe Arch was pressing a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
So we'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
We'll see how that dynamic plays out during the course
of the week. Yesterday and today are the two heavy
duty load in days for practice to prepare for the
opponent and to play better, and that's what this week
has been all about. They have a Monday practice where

(01:07:38):
there's review of the video of the game and then
they go out and they work. But the two hard
hitting physical days that Sark speaks of that he wants
to see this team exhibit on a regular basis are
the Tuesday and Wednesday practice is Thursday to a much
lesser extent, but Tuesday and Wednesday for sure now. And

(01:07:58):
this was something that and I talked about last Saturday
before the game, when we were down in the tunnel
right by the south end zone about an hour and
forty five minutes for kickoff. Is when I visit with
him and get the feel for the game and the
team and that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
And he mentioned that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
They like it had been a very physical week and
that they are interested in making sure they have physical
practices at the same time not allowing it to take
a physical toll. The key to that whole deal I
learned about this from Mac Brown way on back, over
a decade ago, is the whole thing about not letting
guys get on the ground. Guys go to the ground,

(01:08:43):
that's when bad things can happen. And Sark said, absolutely,
we don't want that happening. But they do want a
physical nature and a physical brand of practice. They did
have that last week and they're looking for more of
it this week. All right, up next we'll change the
football with who just really, do you have a feel

(01:09:05):
through two ball games and the best teams in the
NFL are If you do, you might be better than
most of the people who are asked to rank such things.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Oh you disagree. I didn't say that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
I said they might have a better view than some
of the people who are asked to put these together
simply because they disagree with one another. So that's where
we're going to find that out. That's next here on
thirteen hunderd the zone. Which one is this one?

Speaker 4 (01:09:31):
This is the best day for a birthday, Texas Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
Oh okay, all right, there you go, all right, there
you go. And I appreciate the birthday greetings from those
some beaver Lance Jason said, happy birthday.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
Every day is a gift.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
A birthday is a best time to reflect on our
lives and the blessings we received.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
Absolutely, totally, totally agree. I feel very.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Blessed, even if you know you deal with the questions
of the unhappy. For example, so I said, can you
explain to us how first year OU offensive coordinators letting
up the scoreboard like an arcade game? But Sarkis has
fifty year of offenses regressing. Okay, it's a little early

(01:10:18):
to talk about regressing given what they've done the last
couple of years prior too, but they haven't hit their
stride yet, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
In Oklahoma.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
Some of it that might have to do with caliber
of opponent playing. You know, Temple, you may put in
the same category, I guess as UTEP, But then they
also played the Illinois State and FCS program, so I
think it's a little bit different on that. I think
Ohio State's definitely better than Michigan, but I think there's more.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
To come out of this. They've got it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
They've also had two running backs injured. And again, let
me make sure and hasten to add. What Sark said
yesterday was he goes, we don't make excuses for anything.
He said, I do think the rhythm of the offense
gets affected by not having your veteran offensive weapons out there,
by not having a Trey Wisner out there regularly, DeAndre Moore,

(01:11:11):
your offensive performance production leaders who probably would help be
able to ease the transition for a quarterback like Arts
Banning to try to be able to make that. But
that's that's going to be the work in progress. And
that's what they're having to deal with. And then somebody
else at the Arts is not putting too much pressure
on himself. The media is the media made. Media made

(01:11:33):
money building him up, and now they're making money tearing
him down. Nobody from Texas ever said he was a
second coming. How would the media feel if it was
their child? I think you are right on a lot
of stuff, but it's not one hundred percent media. That's
part of the Otherwise fans wouldn't be a lot of
fans wouldn't be as all up in the arms as

(01:11:53):
they were because they had their own expectation for him
from the moment he announced he was comitted to the
University of Texas.

Speaker 4 (01:12:02):
There were there were Manning jerseys when I was a
Texas student.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
Yeah, so yeah that the fans have their part in
it too, But you are right in that there is
a huge media build up from him and uh in
a media rollback as well. Perfect example, Jake was playing
the Paul Fine Bond thing where he said he's out
on him after he was in on him, you.

Speaker 4 (01:12:25):
Know, waving the white flat.

Speaker 2 (01:12:26):
Yeah yeah, yeah, and you know.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
That's okay, And he did say he's going to be
really good down the road and all that kind of stuff.
He was out on him being like a Heisman candidate.
And and that's where I do think the texture is
correct that when you say Arch isn't is not putting
too much pressure on yourself. We don't know that because
we're not in his head or uh, you know whatever.

(01:12:50):
We don't know that. And and I hope you're right
that it isn't that that. And even if it was,
that's not the main thing thing. There are fixable mechanical
mistakes that are happening out there. That's what Sarcus said,
It's what Arch has said as well. How much the

(01:13:12):
mental side of that is a byproduct that remains to
be seen, But there are fixable mechanical things out there,
and that's what they have to work on. They've got
one more game before an open date, and then you know,
it really gets real with conference play. So I appreciate
it the texts on there on the text line, All right,

(01:13:34):
we'll get back to college football a little bit. I
did want to jump to the NFL because now that
we have two games in the books, can you definitively
tell me, Jay Carman who the best team in the
NFL is.

Speaker 5 (01:13:50):
It's a Philadelphia Eagles. I hate I hate saying it.
As a Washington Commander fan, it's a Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaker 2 (01:13:56):
So you think it's a Philadelphia Eagles.

Speaker 5 (01:13:57):
It's it's not fun to watch, but okay, it's winning football.
They haven't lost since way back in the regular season
last year.

Speaker 3 (01:14:07):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:14:07):
So both the Athletic and ESPN dot Com have their
own power rankings. The Eagles are not number one in
either of them. Okay, that's my point exactly. I don't
think anybody really knows who really is the best. The
Athletic says it's Green Bay at the Packers.

Speaker 5 (01:14:24):
They've they've been more impressive than the Eagles to me
on the eye test. But I mean the Eagles of
the Super Bowl champs and they just went to Arrowhead
and won.

Speaker 2 (01:14:32):
Yeah, here's a funny thing.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
But how impressive is that the Chiefs are rowing two? Now, well,
they lost to the Chargers in Brazil. If it was
so easy to win an arrow had more teams would
do it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:44):
Well, that's true too.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
They're so the power rankings for the Athletic they have
Green Bay at number one. Last week they had them
at number two. They had the Eagles at number one,
and they pushed Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
At number one.

Speaker 4 (01:14:59):
Tough life if you go to Kansas City, win and fall.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
I like the fact that they put an overreaction line
in because, let's face it, this town that we live
in and the football team that iyebroadcasts and that a
lot of people are fans of, there's a lot of
overreaction that happens. There is I think we can all
agree on that, and that's okay. But he does happen,

(01:15:22):
and there's overreaction in the NFL. The overreaction on the Packers,
according to the Athletic is Dan Quinn shouldn't have hired
Matt Lafleur, so the Packers head coach was Notre Dame's
quarterbacks coach when Quinn hired him in twenty to fifteen
twenty fifteen to be a part of an Atlanta Falcon
staff that included Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel.

Speaker 2 (01:15:42):
Lafleur has led the Packers.

Speaker 1 (01:15:43):
Against the team coach or coordinated by Quinn four times
since twenty nineteen. His quarterbacks have thrown twelve touchdown passes
against zero interceptions and had a one point forty four point.

Speaker 2 (01:15:55):
Seven passer rating in those games, all of which were wins.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
Some things, huh say, yeah, so that's the number one
according to the Athletic.

Speaker 5 (01:16:05):
Now you think about, yeah, what Green Bay went to
Dallas right towards that defense at a playoff game, and
then Jordan Love was getting whatever he wanted on Thursday night,
Trent continued number one.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
In ESPN.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
Buffalo at two and zero, and they have what's instead
of an overreaction, they have biggest takeaway. So their biggest
takeaway is Josh Allen continues to embrace, continues to embrace
that he doesn't have to be Superman, which I think
that's a statement of his growth over time really for

(01:16:40):
Allan's and although it's sometimes necessary for Allan to put
the Bills on his back, he had issues early in
his career of trying to do too much on his own.

Speaker 2 (01:16:47):
I completely've agree with that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:49):
That still comes up sometimes, but the Bills have shown
they don't have to rely solely on Allan's arms and legs.
That was on display versus the Jets, as Buffalo's dominant
rushing attack led the way. James Cook finished with one
hundred and thirty two yards and two touchdowns. And Allen
didn't score in a start for just the eight time
in his NFL career. Now ESPN has Philadelphia number two,

(01:17:13):
and their biggest takeaway was Jalen Hurts continues to do
what it takes to win. The Philadelphia is also number
two with the Athletic and their overreaction to your point,
it's boring football.

Speaker 4 (01:17:28):
It is. It's boring said there, We said it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:32):
The Eagles took the life out of the Chiefs Anaconda style.

Speaker 5 (01:17:36):
You know, eleven percent of their plays in that game
where touch pushes.

Speaker 1 (01:17:40):
Yeah, they're all about to tush. It's not a football play.
The Athletic picks the Bills third, and ESPN as it's
number three athletic Green Bay. Yeah, Green Bay.

Speaker 2 (01:17:58):
They're just flip flopping one three in the two.

Speaker 5 (01:18:01):
I can get behind that top three in almost any
order right now. But Philadelphia is still my number one.

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
Yeah, okay, all right, And it'd be hard to argue
with that. I mean, they are the defending champs until
proven otherwise. You know, the Athletic. Now, this one does
surprise me a little bit. ESPN has Baltimore number four,
one one, But what surprised me is the Athletic has
the chargers number four.

Speaker 4 (01:18:27):
That's an overreaction, I kind.

Speaker 3 (01:18:31):
Of thought, so.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
You say it the over Their overreaction is a Greg
Roman body double is calling plays.

Speaker 4 (01:18:40):
Yeah, they're throwing the heck out of the ball.

Speaker 3 (01:18:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
Yeah. And they have the Ravens fit.

Speaker 1 (01:18:45):
The rest of the athletic top ten is the Ravens fit,
the Lions sixth, the Rams seventh, the Bucks eighth, the
forty nine Ers ninth, and the Colts tenth, the Colts tenth,
the and ESPN has after the Ravens, for they have

(01:19:06):
the Lions fifth, they have the Rams sixth, Charger seven,
Chiefs eighth, Commander's ninth, Bucks tenth. By the way, the
chiefs in the athletic thing do not pop up until
thirteen at h to two. Your Washington commanders they have

(01:19:27):
ahead of the chiefs commanders at number eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:19:32):
Is that an overreaction.

Speaker 4 (01:19:34):
It's probably about right. Okay, it's probably about right.

Speaker 5 (01:19:37):
The commanders are facing a couple of a couple of
questions after that loss in Green Bay. They might just
not be on that type of elite.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
Here.

Speaker 5 (01:19:47):
We'll see schedule is ten times harder than last years.
We're gonna learn a lot in the next five six weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:19:52):
Here's another team that I think may be ranked a
little too high for one reason and one reason only.
At number twelve is the Bengals at two and zero.

Speaker 4 (01:20:00):
Oh well, but you think about the AFC. If they
can get Burrow.

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
Back, that's the thing. He's going to be out three
months at Well yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:20:07):
I mean then they have to go you think they
I mean they have to go nine and eight or
ten and seven to make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:20:13):
Yeah, so that means.

Speaker 1 (01:20:13):
They started to remember they started what oh and three
last year and then and then almost made it.

Speaker 5 (01:20:18):
Well, you know, Craig, they played all their starters for
most of the preseason this year. Determined to change that trend.

Speaker 3 (01:20:24):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:20:25):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:20:26):
Texans twenty fourth, that's too low.

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
In the in the athletic if you really have the.

Speaker 5 (01:20:32):
Cowboys, I I don't know who's ranked around the Texans
at twenty four, that's too low.

Speaker 1 (01:20:36):
Well, they at the Cowboys at twenty one, that's too high.
King's at twenty two, Patriots at twenty three, Texans twenty.

Speaker 5 (01:20:44):
Four, Vikings twenty two is also way too low. Really, Yes,
that's a that's a great defense and defense is going
to keep them in games.

Speaker 1 (01:20:53):
They're overreactions. They should have kept Sam Darnold or Kirk Cousins.
So they're already weighing in on JJ McCarthy, who not
even now he's banged up. It's probably gonna be Carson
Wentz playing now. So in Okay, you said the Texans
are too low at number twenty four.

Speaker 4 (01:21:11):
Twenty four and there's sixteen on ESPNS.

Speaker 5 (01:21:14):
Yeah, I mean that somebody agrees with me that that's
way too Low's who's ahead of them there, Arizona and Seattle,
any of those NFC West teams besides the Rams.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
Let's see the Raiders for one.

Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
Let's say Seattle fifteen, well them for fourteen, Seattle fifteen,
Falcon sixteen, Steelers seventeen, Cardinals maybe the lowest rank to
an O team.

Speaker 2 (01:21:41):
The Cardinals at eighteen.

Speaker 4 (01:21:43):
Might still be too high.

Speaker 1 (01:21:44):
Jags nineteen, Raiders twenty, Cowboys twenty one, Vikings twenty two,
Patriots twenty three.

Speaker 5 (01:21:50):
The Vikings should be ahead of every team you just read.
I'm still I'm still in on the Vikings.

Speaker 1 (01:21:56):
I'm not in on.

Speaker 2 (01:21:57):
Him ahead of the Cardinals.

Speaker 5 (01:22:00):
The car they beat the Saints and the Panthers, and
they beat them at the last second both times.

Speaker 2 (01:22:06):
They also are eighth in the league in scoring defense.

Speaker 4 (01:22:09):
Are not allowing much Spencer Rattler and Bryce Young.

Speaker 1 (01:22:11):
They're overreaction as kalay As Campbell isn't human. He's thirty
nine years old, nineteenth NFL season two sacks, five tackles Sunday,
and he sealed the win by pulling Bryce hung down
with one arm.

Speaker 4 (01:22:26):
That was impressive. I saw that.

Speaker 1 (01:22:28):
Yeah, it's pretty good. It's pretty good to look at there. Okay,
care to take a guess at the worst team? Well,
you can look on your ESPN and tell me who
you see as who they think is the worst team.

Speaker 5 (01:22:39):
Off the top of my head, I would have thought
the Carolina Panthers. But you can see an argument for
the team that is listed, which is the New Orleans
Saints or the New York Giants.

Speaker 2 (01:22:49):
No, the athletic is the Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 5 (01:22:51):
Oh yeah, there's a great argument there too. Their offensive
line play is abysmal.

Speaker 1 (01:22:58):
Okay, so this is Week three, right, Okay, they're overreactions.

Speaker 2 (01:23:02):
Mike McDaniel won't coach Week four.

Speaker 1 (01:23:05):
They're saying a short week may be the only thing
saving McDaniel this week the Dolphins showed some life Sunday,
but McDaniel's offense contributed only to touchdowns. Defensive coordinator Anthony
Weaver interviewed for head coaching jobs in Chicago and New
Orleans earlier this year, and he might get to be
Miami's interim head coach soon if the Bills embarrassed the
Dolphins on Thursday. So there are that's your Thursday night game.

(01:23:30):
By the way, is Buffalo Miami? That's your prime video game.

Speaker 5 (01:23:34):
We'll see what the Dolphins have in him there, because yeah,
it's a tough spot.

Speaker 1 (01:23:38):
Yeah, okay, all right, coming up, we'll hear some more
from Phil Longo. They head coach at Sam Houston will
continue on thirteen under his own. Just to finish up
that one other thing about the NFL. When they were
talking about the Texans on the Athletic website, their overreaction
is c J. Stroud's slump is concerning, and here's their
basis for it. They said the Texans have failed their

(01:24:02):
young quarterback with a bad offensive line plan, but Stroud
is not blameless. In his first twenty games as a pro,
he threw thirty touchdown passes against eight interceptions, had a
one hundred point two passer rating and an average of
zero point one zero of EPA per drop back. In
the fourteen games since, he has fourteen touchdown passes against

(01:24:25):
ten interceptions, an eighty one point four passer rating in
his averaging minus zero point zero nine of EPA per dropback.
That divide dates to Week five of last season, which
was also his last three hundred yard passing game.

Speaker 5 (01:24:40):
Do you feel like something changed in that crazy Monday
night game they played against the Lions with all those interceptions?

Speaker 2 (01:24:47):
Maybe?

Speaker 1 (01:24:48):
Maybe, But you know, I think the point is also
valid about you know, that offensive line just didn't I
got a really good look at it against the Rams
in the first week and it just didn't look good.

Speaker 2 (01:24:59):
It looked patchwork, and it did so again last night.

Speaker 1 (01:25:01):
I think they were a little more cohesive last night,
but still it was a problem.

Speaker 5 (01:25:06):
Yeah, And they don't get the ball out all that quickly.
They run a lot of really vertical stuff. They got
Nico Collins and they just drafted another rookie that's just
like him, So they don't exactly help themselves in that
regard either.

Speaker 1 (01:25:18):
One other NFL note, do you about this bizarre thing
with Tom Brady and the Raiders booth the coach. Yes, okay,
I probably should have thrown it into inconceivable I considered it,
but decided on to the NFL today, not the TV
showing cs. The NFL said today in a statement that

(01:25:40):
Tom Brady, who of course is a minority owner with
the Raiders and he's a broadcaster with Fox of course,
is and we know this, is prohibited from going to
a team facility for practices or production meetings. So in
other words, whereas you know Greg Olsen or Tony Romo

(01:26:02):
or one of those analysts can go watch the Cowboys practice,
or the Giants practice, or the Packers practice, Tom Brady
can't do that because he's a minority owner for the Raiders,
so he's not allowed to do that, even though he's
the lead analyst on Fox. Can't do that because he's
a minority owner of the Raiders. However, he is allowed

(01:26:26):
to sit in the coach's booth. According to the league,
The telecast showed Brady sitting in the Raiders booth wearing
a headset during the first quarter of the Raiders loss
last night didn't help them that much and they lost
to the Chargers.

Speaker 5 (01:26:44):
Yeah, this is a little bit of a problem and
it's been brought up before, but people.

Speaker 1 (01:26:48):
Have complained about it, but the NFL says there's nothing
wrong or.

Speaker 2 (01:26:52):
Against the rules in him doing so.

Speaker 1 (01:26:54):
The spokesman, Brian McCarthy said, there are no policies that
prohibit an owner from sitting in the coaches booth or
wearing a headset during a game. Brady was sitting in
the booth in his capacity as a limited partner. All
personnel sitting in the booth must abide by policies that
prohibit the use of electronic devices other than league issued equipment,

(01:27:16):
such as a Microsoft surface tablet for the sideline viewing system.

Speaker 4 (01:27:21):
Did you see the Colts new owner down on the sideline?

Speaker 1 (01:27:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah I did. And by the way, Pete
Carroll said that A. Brady is not planning games with us.
He's not doing game planning, said, he's not talking to
us about anything other than our conversations we have that
are really random. They're not set up, they're not structured
in any way. He knows, he's been very respectful of
what he does. Otherwise, he's of the opinion that he

(01:27:46):
doesn't want to be that kind of factor, so.

Speaker 5 (01:27:49):
He's not Yeah, right, Tom Brady doesn't want to win.
He's not a competitor anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
Yeah, right, So.

Speaker 1 (01:27:58):
You know, the NFL recently relax some of those restrictions
for Brady in his role, including allowing him to take
part in production meetings. That's when the broadcast crew meets
with that game's head coaches and players.

Speaker 2 (01:28:10):
There's nothing really wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:28:12):
With that, but he has to take part in those
meetings remotely. He isn't allowed to attend practices at team facility.
They do it at the team hotel the night before anyway,
that's when they get together with it. So it's a
it's not a big deal with that, like they said.
Brian McCarthy in the statement said, Tom continues to be
prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or

(01:28:34):
production meetings. He may attend production meetings remotely, but may
not attend in person at the team Oh may not
attend in person at the team facility or hotel, so
it has to be another site. He may also conduct
an interview off site with a player, like he did
last year a couple of times, including for the Super Bowl.
Of course, as with any production meeting with broadcast teams,

(01:28:55):
it's up to the club coach of players to determine
what they say in those sessions.

Speaker 3 (01:28:59):
Yeah, to be.

Speaker 4 (01:29:00):
Pretty yeah vanilla.

Speaker 2 (01:29:04):
Yeah, probably not gonna say too much about that.

Speaker 1 (01:29:07):
A couple more to hear from Phil Longo, the coach
of the sam Houston Bearcats who play Texas on UH Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:29:17):
Night, and.

Speaker 1 (01:29:21):
He, uh, mine, I just messed it up just a
second that I want to make sure I pull up
the proper Okay, he was. He was asked about with
regard to to UH playing Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:29:43):
He was.

Speaker 1 (01:29:44):
He was asked what tendency stands out to him when
he looks at the Longornes on film.

Speaker 8 (01:29:52):
Tendency to play great football there there, you know. Defensively,
I'll speak to the D line is, in my opinion,
the strength of the team.

Speaker 3 (01:30:00):
I think they make the back end better. And that's
no disrespect to the back end.

Speaker 8 (01:30:04):
I you know, we we try to identify the three
week players on every defense. We want to know where
they are in practice and we try to attack them.
And right now there's nobody wearing the weak player jerseys
in practice with the Texas defense, because you know, we
have that much respect for all eleven starters out there.
And then they have some depth, so they they roll

(01:30:24):
through people at all three levels. They they they're they're
twitchy up front, they get off the football, you know,
they're going to be in your offensive line's face immediately.
They're gonna they're gonna cross a lot of scrimmage, and
they're physical and they do a good job blocked destruction,
you know, offensively, I think you know, there's a lot
of there's a lot of media coverage and attention on

(01:30:47):
the offense right now, but I'm very well aware of
what arch Manning is capable of. Recruited amount of high
school one of the best quarterbacks I've seen coming out
of high school in the last ten years. And I'm
also well aware of what some of these players on
offense at Texas are you know, are capable of doing.
And so it's going to be a challenge up front,

(01:31:07):
you know, we know we've got to we've got to
do a good job.

Speaker 3 (01:31:10):
We've got to have some stability up front.

Speaker 8 (01:31:12):
On the defensive line, and I think we need to
challenge uh Texas schematically a little bit, and we continue
to try and develop and create some passrest lanes for us,
like we did last game in Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (01:31:28):
You know, that was an issue the first two weeks.

Speaker 8 (01:31:30):
I thought we did some things to to get that
thing going, and uh that that won't be any change here.

Speaker 3 (01:31:35):
We're going to need to do that against Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:31:37):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:31:38):
Uh So there it is from Phil Longo, the head
coach of Samison. We're going to visit with coach Longo
later this week and so you'll hear that conversation. We
get into some other things with regard to his reasoning
for taking the job at sam Houston, coming back there,
and what he's trying to build there. All right, we'll
be back to wrap up today's edition of the program
on thirteen under the Zone

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