Phil Longo Previews Texas-Sam Houston, MLB Enters Homestretch, CFB News & Notes

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Headlong into the weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Good afternoon, everybody, Welcome to the program here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
My name is Craig Way.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Glad to have you with us, with you up until
five o'clock each and every weekday afternoon. A reminder if
you missed Long Worn Weekly with coach sark last night,
no worries. It comes your way again tonight at seven o'clock.
We have the seven o'clock repeat thing going this year,
So glad to have you alongside, and that is available
to you if you like it. What will also bring

(00:28):
you at one point in the program, as we do
every Friday, a peak ahead to the game of the
next day and in specific a look at the opponent
in our opponent segment, and so that'll be coming up
in the four o'clock hour today in hearing from Long
worrn's head coach Steve Sarkisa, we have a lot of
other things to get to on the program. There is

(00:51):
other football and notpe. We're going to have a conversation
with the head coach of the sam Houston Bearcats. It's
Phil Longgo that comes your way in the three o'clock hour.
Also in the four o'clock hour, our weekly conversation with
Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office to
talk Major League Baseball.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
We're down to like.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Nine games eight games left depending on which teams you are.
So it's just this weekend and one final week of
the regular season in Major League Baseball before the playoffs begins.
So we'll get Gino's thoughts on the games and the
teams and the people to watch this weekend and going
headlong into the final week of the regular season and
coming up here in just a few minutes, we'll hear

(01:38):
from Sean Miller, the Longhorns new head basketball coach. We'll
hear from him, some comments from him and the meat
availability yesterday, so we hear some comments from Shawn Miller.
The producer of the program is Jay Herman, who, in
addition to expertly handling the operation and the smooth execution

(01:58):
of this program, also happens to be the play by
play voice of the bass Drop Bears. You ready for
a district opener tonight against the Crockett Cougars.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, it should be a lot of fun, I know.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
We'll hear the hype train tomorrow from Mark Henry on
Longhand game day. But the hype train's starting to grow
around this bass Drop program. Sitting at three and zero,
went a little revenge tour in non district play, beating
China Spring and Prestonwood Christian, a couple of teams who
beat them last year. So, Craig, you go back to
the end of non district play one year ago and

(02:30):
since then bass Drop is ten and one, So they've
been playing some good football.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
There are already people pointing to the last weekend of
the regular season when they played Liberty Hill.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Already people.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
And by the way, if you happen to see Liberty
Hill last night, did you see him put seventy three
points on the board against Kylee? Now KYLEI put thirty
five on the board. So we'll see. We'll see how
that Panther defense is throughout the course of the season.
But the offense is just fine, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
So it did not turn out to be a fun
matchup at the pafield for both teams.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
It was.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
It was the fun in the first quarter, I think
it was fourteen fourteen, one point and then really Liberty
He'll flexed its muscles after that and went on to
the wind after that, so we'll see, we'll see how
that is going forward. Course, it's a huge college football weekend.
You mentioned Mark Henry with the hype train. What exactly

(03:27):
encompasses the hype train in your estimation?

Speaker 4 (03:30):
Pure football bliss? Yeah, a soundtrack and Mark Henry channeling
his inner European DJ right, World's Strongest Man, right to
hype up the crowd. He stands up and says, hey,
I need everybody that's just kind of casually around us
listening right, waiting in line for some food, maybe behind

(03:51):
us in Big Bertha. I need everybody's full attention for
a minute and a half of hype.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
And then he stirs up the crews them all up.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
You know.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
It's a lot of fun. So that's all a part
of the Long Orange Game Day presentation here on the Zone,
and that includes tomorrow tomorrow afternoon. It'll actually begin at
three o'clock with the Third and Longhorn podcast guys leading
off with their version of pregame. That's at three o'clock,

(04:23):
and then at four o'clock will be Long Orange Game Day.
Mike Cardball Harge joined by Mark Henry and Eric Henry
will be there as well. So we've got those guys there.
As we mentioned and feel compelled to mention, Cameron Parker's
out this weekend. He's at a wedding, not his he's
at a wedding in North Carolina. But he'll be back

(04:44):
next week. So that's at four o'clock. Then at six
o'clock we have the At six o'clock we have the
network pregame and the kickoff at seven to two.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
None of this twenty minutes after the.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Hour, an hour and twenty minute stuff the pre game
we kicked promptly at seven two tomorrow night. The game
will be So Texas against sam Houston. And as they
have let us know, please refer to them only as
sam Houston, not sam Houston State. And add some people
ask me about that, so what's the deal with sam

(05:20):
Houston not sam Houston State. My response to that is
that is their preference. But that's not the first school
to go down that road. Think about it, when you
talk about football game in the American Athletic Conference being

(05:41):
played in the Liberty Bowl Stadium that is inhabited by Memphis,
the Memphis Tigers. Well, the official name of the university
is Memphis State University, but they dropped that long time ago.
In terms of their identity, they just go by Memphis.
Same thing with Chattanooga Charlotte, who lost to Rice last night.

(06:01):
By the way, Rice is three and one for the
first time in nineteen sixty seven.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
While since I'll stand alone.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Scott Abel in his first season there, has it up
and running.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
But anyway, several schools have dropped the state part or
the university, you know whatever. They just go by by
that name. Like I said, Memphis is one of the
says Charlotte, Chattanooga, those are names that they just go
by that, even though the official name is something further

(06:37):
meeted out.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Same thing with sam Houston.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
It's sam Houston State University, and they made a point
of saying in their game notes that it's okay to
call it sam Houston State University if you're referring to
the university, because that is the name of the university.
The football program is just going by Sam Houston. So
they just want to be known as the Sam Houston Barricats.

(06:59):
So that's who the Long Words will be playing tomorrow night,
first time they will have played them since two thousand
and six, when Sam Houston was an FCS program. Incidentally,
that was the last time the long Ones played an
FCS program, you know what used to be known as
one double A. And again, this is another thing where

(07:20):
folks have asked me frequently this week about what's the
big difference between it. Well, scholarships mainly at sixty three
scholarships for FCS program so there's fewer scholarships there. It's
definitely division below it. So while Sam Houston State and
UTAP maybe looked at as lower level G five or

(07:45):
G six programs, it's still Division one FBS for what
it is, where they're allowed eighty five scholarships and that's
not the case at FCS. But the reason why that
whole game came about and Texas had played a couple
of FCS programs in the nineties when North Texas was

(08:06):
FCS before they transitioned back to FBS, so there were
some of that.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
I think Arkansas State.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
And Uel Monroe might have been, you know, or they
were just becoming FBS programs and Sam Houston was, but
that was a late add on originally, I believe Minnesota
was supposed to be. That was the first year that
the schedules went to twelve games, and they were supposed
to have. I believe Minnesota as the team on there.

(08:33):
Tim Bruce to the former Texas assistant, was they head
coach at Minnesota. For whatever reason, they ended up having
to pull out of that game. Minnesota did so it
didn't happen. So Texas had to scramble to find that
twelfth opponent in the first season of twelve game regular
season schedules, and Sam Houston was available, and so they
wound up playing.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Sam Houston and beat them handley.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
They were coming off the national championship a year prior
to two thousand and five, so they haven't played Sam
Houston since. Since that time, the Sam Houston program has
grown quite a bit. They even won an FCS national championship,
albeit and they've been in the finals before and deep
into the playoffs. They finally we were able to break through.
But it was kind of an odd deal because it
happened in the spring, coming off the pandemic when they

(09:18):
operated in the spring, and they were able to win
a national title, but it counted all the same as
a national championship.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
I almost wore one of my favorite shirts here today, Craig,
what's that on? It's when I got off of clearance
when I visited the Great Fargo Dome, an FCS Cathedral
of Football.

Speaker 1 (09:34):
It is.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
It's got the state of Texas on it.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
It says Frisco Bound twenty twenty two FCS Championship NDSU Bison.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Well you know why it was on clearance. They lost
the game.

Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, But for me a new North Dakota and at
the time, I thought, hey, this is a sweet shirt.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
I went to school in Texas and I'll take it.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Anybody correct you on it pretty quickly when you wore it,
and you were wearing it there in North Dakota, that's okay. Hey, dude,
you know they we didn't actually even win that one, almost.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
One of the few we didn't win.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
It was one of those shirts that went on the
back burner. I'm like, this will be a lot better
when I'm when I leave North Dakota.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yeah, because probably the rest of them was they always
say that the loser of the Super Bowl. They have
those shirts printed up in boxes and they ship them
immediately over to African nations and give them to the
underprivileged and the poverty stricken over there so that they
have some garments to wear. Even though it's for a
Super Bowl loser or whatever.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
Well it just says Frisco bound. You don't have to
ask them what happened in Frisco.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, that's right. That's a good point, all right. So
in any event, they uh, that was the last time
that Texas played an FCS opponent and two thousand and
six and since that time, Sam Houston has grown as
a program, Like we said, won an FCS national championship
and then transitioned into Division one FBS status. Now that's

(10:56):
taken some doing over time, but they took a big
lead forward last year by winning ten games and getting
to a ballgame and winning the ballgame they won in
the New Orleans Bowl, So they did take a step
for it.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
However, they've been hit with a couple of things.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Casey Keeler, their head coach, left to take the head
coaching job at Temple, and then the other thing is
they don't really have a home stadium. They have it,
but they can't use it right now. Bauer Stadium, the
entire home side is kind of being torn up and
ripped out. They're putting in a new press box and
suites and things, so it's basically unavailable to them this

(11:33):
year so they're playing their designated home games at what
is known as Shell Energy Stadium in Houston.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
That is the home of the.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Houston Dynamoes of Major League Soccer, and there have been
some other college football games played in there and some
high school games played in there as well, but that's
where SAM Houston is playing its designated home games. They
played one game there so far and lost to UNLV,
and right now they are zero to three going into

(12:07):
this game tomorrow night. The other thing is, like we said,
Casey Keeler left as head coach of Phil Longo comes
in a long time successful offensive coordinator in North Carolina.
He had been at SAM Houston before on a lot
of those deep playoff runs at the FCS level, most
recently was that Wisconsin. And he comes back to Sam
and he is the new head coach. So we'll have

(12:28):
a conversation with him coming up in the three o'clock hour. However,
coming up in this hour, we will have inconceivable, Jay Kermin.
We know what inconceivable on Friday means.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
The most flaccid of the fifty states.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
The lower forty eight, as we like to say, Yes,
we go to grab that low hanging fruit from the
most Flacid of the lower forty eight. That would be
to bring you the Florida Man Update. We've got that.
There's a couple other things, but there's Florida Man Update
for sure, as we do every Friday. Up next however,
we'll we'll hear from Sean Miller, Texas men's basketball coach.

(13:11):
We've got some other college football notes to get to
and all that. And we're right here on a Friday
on AM thirteen under the Zone and where you always
listen to us for free on the iHeartRadio app. This
this long long predates your birth, but I remember Elvis
Costello being on Saturday ANLI for the first time, like
second or third year of the program.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
It was it was really cool.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
I learned about Abbott and Costello before E'll that'll date
me a little bit.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, big football matchups this weekend, and we'll talk more
about these later on, but there are there are some
important ones. Obviously, Florida at Miami. I would say that
it's really critical for Clemson and home against Syracuse. Then

(14:03):
Illinois Indiana in the Big Ten is a big game.
Texas Tech at Utah and the Big Twelve Auburn and
Oklahoma in the SEC as is South Carolina and Missouri.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
All of that is really big.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
This is where you know how much progress my alma
maters made listed on these big games in the G
five games. Is North Texas at Army that's at eleven
o'clock tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Morning there, and.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
That game is at Mikey Stadium there overlooking the Hudson
River there in West Point. And the former vandergridt viper
Drew Mestemaker is really lighting it up for North Texas.
So that's a big game at the G five level. Anyway,
we'll talk more college football those matchups and others later on.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
I want to shift to basketball for.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
A few moments, because we are almost We were just
a tiny bit about a week and two months away
from the start of a brand new basketball season on
the University of Texas campus, both for the men and
the women, the men coming off NCAA Tournament first round
defeat and the changing of head coaches, the women returning

(15:17):
from a Final four appearance, and as far as the
men go. Sean Miller, of course, was the coach of
the team that ended the season for North Texas last year,
Xavier there in the first four in Dayton and he
has taken the job, and the old proverbial thing about
drinking from a fire hose trying to get everything ramped up.

(15:37):
The guys he had returning, the guys he brought with
him from Xavier, the new guys.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
That have come through the portal, and freshman all of that.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
So the question was put to coach Miller yesterday at
media availability, what has this preseason looked like so far
in terms of the ramp up and the workouts and
getting ready for the start of the coming season.

Speaker 5 (15:59):
Everybody in college basketball gets thirty practices in forty two days,
and the forty two days go from the first practice
until the opening game, which for us is Duke and Charlotte.
So if you think about it, when our season opens,
when somebody else's season opened, could be days apart. But
we all get the same amount of practices and that

(16:20):
is thirty, and you can only get thirty in the
forty two day windows. So that begins for us a
week from today next Thursday. We go from where we're
at right now. The four hours a week and the
team workouts, and I think you kind of have like
one foot in and one foot out, you know, And
for us we're both going off campus and recruiting and
working with your team. There's a conditioning element to what

(16:41):
they're doing right now and a build up, but things
get started for real, like the old October fifteenth day
that everybody used to know that begins next Thursday for us.
So it's been a long time in coming, and I
think players, coaches, we're all excited to get there now.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
If there's anything that a coach strives to do, especially
a coach in his first season had a new program,
is to get some roster cohesion development between as I
mentioned earlier, the returning players, the players that he personally
brought in or transferred through the portal that followed him,
the Texas and the newbies, whether they be through the

(17:19):
portal or if they're freshman coming in. So what's that
been like about the roster development and the cohesion of
all of those parts together to try to make it
one cohesive unit.

Speaker 5 (17:33):
Well, I'm going to start with this that one of
the keys to us coming here, and I think any
coach thinks this way is, you know, retention. And you know,
I had the opportunity to coach against Texas, so you know,
when you scout a group, especially towards the end of
the year. You know you're more familiar with them when
you play against them and you prepare for them. So
I had that luxury, right And I think that with

(17:55):
Kendall Tremont and Jordan and Nick Cody, who I didn't
know as well but certainly I know better now you
know those four, I think we're really we're looking forward.
Ant McDermott becomes like number five and and has a
different role right now. But I think that you know
those guys where they're atting their respective careers, the fact

(18:16):
they've been through an SEC season and know what to expect,
they've played for the University of Texas. I think a
lot of where we are is going to begin and
end with them. Their leadership, their togetherness, their performance.

Speaker 6 (18:28):
I think we're going to count heavily on those guys.
And I believe this me being.

Speaker 5 (18:32):
Around them for the four months or so that I've
been around them five months, I think that if you
just look at each of them on their face, to
their ability level and their career they've had, those.

Speaker 6 (18:44):
Guys are all very good college players.

Speaker 5 (18:47):
And I think that you know, I'll use Jordan Pope
as the example not many college players score forty points
in the game. I don't care what game it was,
where the game is played at you can get forty.

Speaker 6 (18:58):
You're a rear offensive type of player.

Speaker 5 (19:01):
And so Jordan comes back to us in his final
year and we're going to count on him being a
consistent threat from the perimeter.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
One thing that coach Miller was talking about, he mentioned
the four really counting McDermott as well as the fifth
one there, but the four guys who saw action last
year that they're going to lean on. You mentioned Jordan
Pope who had that big offensive game early in the
season I believe against Mississippi Valley States, and then Kendall

(19:29):
Weaver Nick Cody that he brought up as well, and
of course Tremont Mark, who has been injury played throughout
his career, but when he's been healthy has been extremely effective.
They're going to lean on those guys as well as
the other ones he has back in the ones coming in.
One other thing that coach Miller was asked about, and
this was something he was He was our guest in

(19:51):
the booth during pregame last Saturday afternoon before the Texas
U TEP game, and this restores. I don't know about restores,
but it just I guess it invalidates my faith in
myself as being able to ask a proper question when
the media are asking very similar question. But the question

(20:14):
I asked Coach Miller last Saturday had to do with
Moody Center creating a home court environment. You know, for
years when Texas was playing in the Irwin Center, and Jake,
when you were at school, it was still how much
did did did you have crossover from Irwin Center to

(20:35):
Moody Center?

Speaker 1 (20:36):
Was it all the way Moody?

Speaker 3 (20:37):
It was all the way Irwin?

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (20:40):
And I remember going to the final Texas men's basketball
game at the Irwin Center and getting handed a picture
that was taken right at tip off on the way out.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
That's cool.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
That's cool.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
And there were great memories of the Irwin Center, and
now there are many people would tell you that most
of the great memories came from going to concerts there,
you know, And I you know, I enjoyed seeing Paul
McCartney there and and George Strait and let's see who
else I see John Mellencamp. I think anyway, lots of

(21:12):
kind of took my kids to the circus there, and
I saw the Harlem Globe Trotters there and Trans Siberian
Orchestra and things like that. Of the family and a
lot of folks memories of the Irwin Center are of that.
Some are basketball related, to be certain, but everyone's in
an agreement that moving on to Moody Center has made

(21:34):
a major difference in terms of not only the fan
environment but also the student environment, with a corral seating
with the students creating that two hundred and seventy degree
perimeter that goes almost all the way around there. And
coach Miller was asked about that, and even though he

(21:55):
has not coached a game in that particular environment, he
knows what the potential of an arena that seats. I
believe the actual listed basketball seating capacities ten thousand, seven
hundred and sixty three. Now that's because they have the
panels that close off the upper deck, as we know about,

(22:18):
and I think it's unique in that it just it
doesn't look like going to say some big inner city
arena for a game where they curtain off the upper deck.
In my hometown in Greensboro, they did that unless it's
the ACC tournament. But they would have the upper deck
curtained off. It's happened in a lot of other big
arenas across the country.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
Right, because otherwise you prefer a very big lower bawl
kind of create that wall of sound aspect like they
have at the Exfinity Center in College Park, which is
at a terrific college basketball Arenah.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Absolutely, I did women's NCAA tournament games in there.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
That was really cool. But the panels create.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
The lower bowl, smaller seating capacity environment, although they open
the very top kind of catwalk area of what they
call the upper Corral where students can get there up there.
So on big games they've had as many as like
eleven three hundred in any event, it can create a
real raucous environment. And coach Miller was asked about that

(23:20):
type of home court advantage he hopes to continue to
replicate at Moody.

Speaker 5 (23:25):
Well, I think the first thing is like you have
to have the facility, right, I mean, you can't manufacture
something that is not there, the size of it, how
it feels, and you know, even the volleyball game that
I was a part of a couple of weeks back,
you know, Jared's team and they played a Stanford.

Speaker 6 (23:42):
You know, it was electric on that night for the
volleyball game.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
And I think that the seating capacity of less than
eleven thousand, I have not seen the the you know,
the video boards because they were down but not active.
And I think when you add the video boards in
the size and obviously the world class nature of the
building itself, we have that.

Speaker 6 (24:02):
I think the second thing that we have is I
think we have a student.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
Body that's excited and anxious to be a part of something.
And I think the fact that they sit around the
court where the corral seats are.

Speaker 6 (24:14):
You know, that's the second part of it.

Speaker 5 (24:15):
There are times when the student section is put in
a bad position. Here, we're putting them in a very
very good position to impact the game, to have great seats,
and from what I understand, and again you guys would
know better than me at this point, there are times
when that building has been nothing short of great in
terms of how loud it is. And it always starts

(24:37):
the lifeblood of every arena with the students, and I
think number one is me to connect with the students.

Speaker 6 (24:43):
Are programmed to connect with the students.

Speaker 5 (24:45):
So it's a fun opportunity, it's something they're proud of,
and they know that they can impact the final score
because it's the one thing about college basketball. There's no
game that benefits more from a home court advantage.

Speaker 6 (24:58):
Than college basketball.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
Believe that, and I think the history and the tradition
of some places backed me up when I say it.
The last part is the part that is the most meaningful,
and that is you have to have a good team,
you have to have a good product. You have to
play an exciting style, a style that people are proud of,
and a group of players that you could tell are
committed to playing for the University of Texas. And obviously

(25:23):
winning takes care of a lot. So there are steps.
What comes first, you know, the winning or the great atmosphere,
And I think to some degree, the great atmosphere has
to show up at the forefront of it to spearhead
a lot of great things on the court.

Speaker 6 (25:37):
So I recognize that's important.

Speaker 5 (25:40):
That's a big part of this job, and I'm looking
forward to embracing the students. I don't think now's the
time me and them because college football is in full
bloom and the focus is on Saturdays. But they'll come
a time and we've already connected one time since they've
returned to school. To make sure that the corral and
the student section understand how important they are to me

(26:01):
in our program.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
All right, there's some comments from Shawn Miller, the new
men's basketball coach at the University of Texas. Second hour
of the program here on a Friday afternoon, You're glad
to have you with us here on AM thirteen hunder
the Zone. Craig Way alongside the producer Jay Herman. We'll

(26:23):
talk from college football. Will bring you the visit I
have with the head coach of sam Houston, Phil Longo,
coming up in the next segment of the program, and
playing more on this Texas Sam Houston game to get
to as well. Want to jump back to the NFL.
There was a game last night in case you didn't know.
You know a lot of people Prime Video gets good ratings.

(26:48):
They do get good ratings on their games, especially that
playoff game. They get, but a lot of the to
a lot of the general sports media or sports following public,
it's kind of almost that Thursday night game, especially unless

(27:08):
it's a real attractive matchup. The Thursday night game is
kind of like the if a tree fell in the
forest and nobody was around, did you hear it? And
to many that might have been the case. For last
night's game in Orchard Park, New York, Buffalo hosting Miami.
Most expected the Bills to win handily. I think the

(27:31):
betting lines on like twelve and a half, thirteen points,
something like that, and it was a ballgame. Miami Dolphins
hung around, had an opportunity late, but did come away
with a loss, and they are now to three to
A tongue of Ilois said after the game, there's no
moral victories. There's definitely some things that we can take

(27:53):
away that are good enough to part with our standard
of how we operate within our offense. Never good to lose,
regardless of how a certain individual may have felt they performed.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
This is a team sport. We went together, we lose together.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
So the Dolphins scored on their opening drive for the
first time this season. D Escortz had a big kickoff return,
but then they allowed fourteen straight points to Buffalo. After then,
the Bills looked like they were going to stretchly further.
Matt Prater missed a thirty nine yard field goal. Yeah,
they have been blocked.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Those of us who have.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
Him on our fantasy teams are not happy with that.
But then the Dolphins came back. They had a sixteen
play drive just before the half and tied the score.
So then Miami tied the score again with twelve minutes
to go, and then they forced a punt on the
Bills ensuing drive, but defensive tackle Zac Sigueler Seeler was

(28:47):
flag for roughing the punter. At paved the way for
Buffalo to have what would prove to be the game
winning touchdown. They you know, then they're up twenty twenty one.
So then Miami's coming back and trying to get it
into the end zone and then to through an interception

(29:11):
picked up by j ro Bernard. That was a big
point there because Buffalo then ended up getting one more
field goal to seal it thirty one to twenty one.
So after the game, Mike McDaniel, who has been mentioned
as being on the hot seat, was asked about the
two interception.

Speaker 7 (29:32):
I wanted to protect the ball. I wish I could,
you know, Uh, I think I think the quarterback has
to be responsible for it.

Speaker 8 (29:44):
However, I wish I could just put it on him,
but I think, uh, there's it's a tough job to
do when there's someone in your face. We need everybody
needs to do better and we can't. You know, if

(30:06):
you're you got to dish the ball to the flat.
Uh in moments like that and that's what we have
to learn from.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Yeah, Okay, now it may not sound that way to you.
Mike McDaniel sounds you know, he's pretty sedate sounding, you know,
that sort of thing, But the players all say he
has pretty fiery demeanor. H Tyreek Hill, who caught his
first touchdown passes the season last night in the game,
said I love coach McDaniel.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
I love him to death. Man.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Obviously, he gave me a chance to come to Miami
and play, and I don't take that for granted. To
see how he coached and to see how he led
me today it was a beautiful thing to see. So
can't wait until next week.

Speaker 9 (30:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Uh so they're owing three first time the Dolphins have
started the season.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Oh and three.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:53):
And on that Tyreek note, Craig, I didn't think he
looked good last night, Tyreek. Yeah, he just wasn't making.
He didn't look like Tyreek to me.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
In what way?

Speaker 4 (31:03):
A couple of deep balls came his way, didn't win
contested catches, a couple of out routes along the sideline,
he lost his footing, balls hit him in the hands,
didn't haul him in, had that late touchdown, But he
just didn't look like as big of a difference maker
as he as he has in seasons past.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Interesting.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Okay, So the Dolphins, like I said, are only three
for the first time since twenty nineteen when they finished
five and eleven. Now since the year two thousand, the
year you were born, right, that's right. When's your birthday?

(31:42):
April fourteenth?

Speaker 4 (31:43):
Okay, easy to keep track of my birthday for eight
months of the year.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah, so you were four months old when this tracking,
this particular set of tracking started started in a two
thousand season, I guess, going on five months or whatever,
one hundred and seventeen teams since the year two thousand

(32:08):
have started a season oh and three, one hundred and seventeen.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Have you seen the.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
Number on how many have made the playoffs after starting
oh in three?

Speaker 3 (32:17):
I haven't, but I know it's it's gotta be. In
my mind.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
I'm thinking it's less than ten percent. So I'm gonna
go with about ten of those one seventeen.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
You can use one hand call on one hand and
use less than four fingers. That's it.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
Three teens.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
No, no, no, I'm sorry, I've said that wrong. You can
use one hand call on one hand and use less
than two fingers.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
Oh, come on now, one one? Oh no, that's not
that surprising though.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Houston Texans in twenty.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
Eighteen, yeah, with that, with that division, Uh.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, only the Texans of twenty eighteen made the playoffs
after starting oh and three?

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Was that the tough savage team.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Might have been? Might have been?

Speaker 2 (33:12):
I look back, I said, so think about that for
a moment. Now, think about all the teams that are
owing to right now, the Kansas City Chiefs are owing
two Chicago Bears on in two.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
New York Giants oh and.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Two expanded playoff though, Gotta remember that expanded playoffs. It's
it's not the same death sentence that that stat makes
it sound like.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Well, twenty eighteen, but it was six teams in each
conference now it's seven, so there's just one more added
to it. But it's a pretty daunting thing. Uh. And
that's why oh and two usually is the benchmark for
if you starting too you're in deep, deep doodo, you are.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
In some trouble.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
It's a good way to remember.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Yeah, if you start on two, you're in trouble. And
so uh, there's this extra heightened tension that surrounds I
always see this every year that surrounds the second weekend
of the NFL season because it surrounds the one teams going.
You don't want to start going two, and you certainly

(34:19):
don't want to start o win three. Oh and three
usually is looked at as being a death sentence.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
Yeah, well you think about Baltimore last year, they were
zero and too, pretty highly publicized, oh and two, they
turned it around, no problem. Buffalo had a bad start
two years ago, and Cincinnati's made a habit of starting
right too.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
They were weren't they owing three last year and almost
got in. It's almost didn't but almost. The most celebrated
of all of those is the ninety three Cowboys coming
off the Super Bowl Emmett Spence holdout. If anybody's seen
the Cowboys documentary, then I remember because it was working
Cowboy games and covering Cowboy games and all that other

(34:58):
kind of stuff, And I remember them starting oh to
two with Emmitt Smith not in camp, holding out and
Jimmy Johnson really nudgs. Jerry Jones said, you're gonna get
this thing done, and a lot of people thought he
was gonna go that way with Micah Parsons, and it
obviously did not.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Uh, but they.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Got him and in the camp he goes on, wins
the MVP after missing the first two games, plays the
last game of the year in New York with a
separated shoulder rushes for like one hundred and sixty some
odd yards whatever. They win the game, they win the
NFC East. He wins the MVP and the Cowboys going
and they win the Super Bowl. That's the most celebrated

(35:36):
zero to two start. And what ultimately happened in NFL
history after an zero and two start. Well, now the
Dolphins aroing three, the Chiefs and Giants play. I think
it's Sunday night. They play Sunday Night. Loser of that
game is gonna be owing three. Lets say tie and
go two and one, which almost happened with the Cowboys

(35:58):
of the Giants last week before the walk off field goal.
But uh, yeah, what was it? Patrick Mahomes said, Uh,
he said he was looking forward to it. He said,
what an opportunity. Yeah, dude, you're on a fantasy team.
Seized the opportunity, okaing, Hey, he ran hard, done, all right,

(36:22):
he's actually done. Okay, he ran.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
Hard for you last week, lowering his shouldern to the
end zone. Chiefs fans are probably wincing, Patrick, we can't
lose you two.

Speaker 3 (36:31):
We're already down too top receivers.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
But I don't.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
I really don't have any quibble with him. But and
I'm not a big chief fan. It's really weird.

Speaker 10 (36:39):
I was.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
I was a Chiefs fan, not they weren't my favorite team,
as people know they I've always rooted for the Rams
since it was like nine years old. But I remember
rooting for the Chiefs against the Vikings and the Super
Bowl super Bowl four for no other reason, because the
Vikings had knocked the Rams out of the playoffs and
I didn't like the Vikings.

Speaker 4 (36:54):
So I rooted for the Chiefs at Dawson versus Tarkentin,
Dawson versus Joe Cat. Joe Cat that's right.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
Targeted came in in seventy two. Joe Cap and the
Vikings were one of the best teams I think in
pro football history. Not to that team the sixty nine Vikings,
not the ones who went to Super Bowl eight and
lost to the Dolphins. Of Dolphins coming off the unbeaten season.
I think that Dolphins team was better in seventy three

(37:23):
than the seventy two team, and they were more certainly
more dominant in the Super Bowl. They dominated the Vikings
in that Super Bowl. They raced out it was seventeen
I think, leading in the first half, won at twenty
four to seven. That was at Rice Stadium where they
played that Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
I remember, I would love love those old thirty minute
Super Bowl vilots with John Fasande. Those things give me
chills to this day.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Super Bowl Full belong to the Kansas City.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Chiefs anyway, and super Bowl five, Yeah, was a tig game.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Yeah that's it. Tom Nowatski plays, Yeah, that one. But
that Vikings team won in a lot. By the way,
a lot of Viking fans are really sensitive about this.
When confronted with the accusation the Vikings have never won
a championship, there are a lot of Viking fans who

(38:15):
retaliate pretty quick said, no, no, no, that's not correct. We
won the last NFL championship in nineteen sixty nine. That's
very true to beat the Rams in the Western Conference
Championship game. They were down at home seventeen seven and
a half, came back one twenty three to twenty. Then
they just manhandled the Browns. They won twenty seven to
seven to win the NFL Championship, but they lost the

(38:38):
Super Bowl to Kansas City. So they have never won
a world championship. They won one NFL championship, but they
didn't win the World championship.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
They were not Super Bowl champions.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
And those are enshrined outside of US Bank Stadium, which
I did make the track over for Bismarck to one
time during my North Dakota residency. Beautiful, beautiful stadium, but
they've got a big ship outside and you walk sort
of you walk the plank and you walk around and
you see all that history with the NFL championships and
obviously honoring a lot of those NFC championship.

Speaker 11 (39:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Well, yeah, they won one NFL title and then the
NFC championships the other three super to beat the Rams
twice UH to UH to win in those NFC championships,
and they and they wound up going oher to four
UH in Super Bowls.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
And them and the Bills.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, so uh so, anyway, yeah, it's it's it's it's
tough thing. But if you talk of Viking kids, they'll
tell you no, no, no, we won an NFL tit you did,
you did, just didn't win a World championships.

Speaker 4 (39:38):
Viking fans are great, They're great. They're great Away fans too.
Being a Washington guy, you get to know Away fans
pretty well. At FedExField they're now Northwest Stadium. Viking fans
are lovely.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
After they lost the Chiefs, they lost to the Dolphins
in Super Bowl eight, they lost to the Steelers in
Super Bowl nine, and they lost to the Raiders in.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Super Bowl eleven.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
So anyway, all right, up next we talked college football,
back to this Texas Sam Houston match up, a visit
with the head coach of the sam Houston Bearcats, Phil Longo.
When we continue on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the
zone of the iHeartRadio app, Betty Hope, the Rams have
some jam against the Eagles this Sunday.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I'm not holding my breath on that.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Great rematch though, great rematch.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
Yeah in the snow.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
I was watching that in a hotel room in Newark
before the women's basketball played on MLK Day the next
day against Maryland and just absolutely just whacked Maryland all
around the arena and won that contest. But it was
it was not only a snowy day in Philadelphia that
day in that NFC Divisional playoff, it was a snowy

(40:46):
day ninety miles up the road in Newark too, I
can tell you for that. So Texas football gets ready
to host Sam Houston Bearcats are owing three Phil long
goes in his first season head coach. That the last
time that Phil Longo had been a head coach prior
to this season had been two thousand and five, so

(41:08):
it had been or two thousand and six had been
nineteen years going on twenty years for him.

Speaker 1 (41:14):
As a head coach.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
He had been a head coach at LaSalle at the
FCS level, but he had made his mark as a coordinator,
primarily at North Carolina and then at some other places
including Sam Houston an earlier stayed there when he was
the offensive coordinator when they had those deep runs in
the FCS playoffs, and then had most recently been at Wisconsin.

(41:38):
But he was invited back to be the head coach
and knew he had a project on his hand. No home,
true home stadium this season while they renovate Bauer Stadium,
so they're having a play at Shell Energy Stadium, the
soccer stadium seventy miles away in Houston. They had lost
a lot of players in the portal. By the way,

(41:58):
some of the best defensive are now playing at North
Texas and a couple of members of the coaching staff.
That's part of the reason why North Texas is off
to the three and oh start that they are Huntsville North. Yeah,
I guess Sam Houston is zero and three, but that
does not dim the optimism of the head coach with
whom I visited, head coach Phil Longo, coach. One thing

(42:20):
I was impressed by when you and I got a
chance to meet and we all took part in that
panel discussion back in July, is what you talked about
in your decision to go back to Sam Houston, because
a lot of folks may not have realized you had
been there before, and that you had been at Wisconsin
and you had opportunities to coach in the SEC, to

(42:43):
coach in the Big Ten, to coach in the NFL,
and yet this position called you back. What was it
that really spoke to you about returning to Huntsville to
coach Sam Houston.

Speaker 11 (42:54):
Well, you know, and since I've talked to you and
I spoke about that in San Antonio, there's been some
media coverage reguarding the program here at Sam. And I
was excited because I felt like for me to come
back to a place that I absolutely loved being, there
was some things that had to be in place. One,
it had to be the right time for me to

(43:15):
move and you know, and that and that worked out
this year. The second thing is I really wanted to
come back, but it would have to be as head coach,
and they were you know, generous enough to give me
an opportunity to do that. So so that's the second
you know kind of deal that's sell into place. And
then the third thing was you wanted the program to
be at the FBS, which is the which is the
aspect that I really didn't think was ever going to happen.

(43:38):
And but they, you know, they made a very active
and aggressive decision to make the move and they did it.
You know, they had it planned out well. And you know,
as I just spoke about in the last press conference,
we you know, we we absorbed a second bill, you
know what I mean, A second tab, a second thing
we've got to pay for that really wasn't in the
plan when we did this, and that was they moved

(43:58):
from SCS to F which is a three to five
year transition, especially financially. But then after they made the move,
you know, there's this second tab, the second bill of
nil or revs here and so right now, you know,
when I interviewed, it was a lot of the same
great people that I had relationships with. And then the

(44:19):
changes were positive changes, you know, so new buildings, knew
this new that, new facilities, a bunch of renovations, new
stadium renovations that's coming and will be done in April,
and all of those things. And I just I went
five days, to be honest with you, I went five
days of waking up considering different jobs, and really the

(44:41):
only one I could think about was was Sam Houston.
And so when they gave me the opportunity to come
back here, it was the one I was the most
excited about. And so I actually had to take a
few steps back on another job, and because I wanted
this one, and I haven't regretted a day of it.
You know, we have our tough day, just like any
head coach goes through in a program. But every every

(45:04):
day we find a way to get a little bit better,
and we're heading in the right direction and the resources
are here to get it done. And so contrary to
some media coverage, the program is heading in the right direction.
And I'm excited to be here and I.

Speaker 9 (45:16):
Like I like the progress I see on a daily basis.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Well, the other thing that came to mind for me
at the at the panel discussion was I asked you
about the fact that you were having to go without
a true home stadium this season, and you said, very
quickly and plainly, Hey, we can use it as an
excuse if we want to, but we're not going to
do that. We're gonna We're gonna go about our business
and play where we need to play.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
And uh.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
And it looks like you guys have kind of just
adopted what you've said all along, and I guess everybody's
gotten used to the fact that this is kind of
another way of speaking, I guess, a transitional kind of season.

Speaker 11 (45:51):
Well it is. I mean, there's obstacles every year. We
have many obstacles this year that we could easily use
it as excuses.

Speaker 9 (46:00):
But it's you know, there's there's no point, there's nothing.

Speaker 11 (46:03):
Productive from whinnying and complaining about things.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
You know, while you're whinnying about.

Speaker 11 (46:08):
Stuff, While you're complaining about stuff, while you're making excuses
about things, you're wasting time. You could be spending time
finding solutions. You could be spending time attacking the plan
to overcome some of those obstacles, you know. And I'm
not you know you and I are talking for me
to preach at you, But I mean that that's just life,
isn't it. I mean, you've got obstacles every day you
have to handle and some people handle them well and

(46:30):
some people don't. And we're just going to be one
of those programs that attacks whatever we have in front
of us.

Speaker 9 (46:37):
And we know that this isn't for life.

Speaker 11 (46:41):
Here, like we'll be back in a brand new stadium
next year, and in the meantime, we're playing football and
coaching football for a living. You know, we could be
doing a lot of other things. And these guys have
an opportunity and so does our staff. So we're an
attack it the way I told you we would.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
In the summertime, I've heard you speak of this and
read of it in print. I know you're very, very
excited about your coaching staff. How did the process all
come together about assembling the type of staff you wanted
to have.

Speaker 11 (47:08):
Well, I've always had a pretty good feeling based on
the way things have gone career wise. I feel very,
very thankful that I've had the opportunity to come back
and be a head coach. I felt like I was
gonna eventually have an opportunity to take a head job.
I was excited about. And so, you know, you prepare

(47:30):
once I get into a season with a team, you know,
and when I was the offensive coordinator of Wisconsin or
North Carolina or Ole Minister or anywhere else I've been,
that was my only focus. But in the off season,
you know, you prepare x's and o's, wys, You study,
you do research, you talk to other coaches. I also
spend as much time as I can with many of

(47:52):
the up and coming coaches. I have the pleasure of meeting,
you know, over the course of my career, and I've
tried to create some opportunities to spend time with them,
get to know them. And over the years nineteen years
since the last time I've been a head coach.

Speaker 9 (48:07):
I've been really I've just been.

Speaker 11 (48:09):
Discreetly off the cuff interviewing people for nineteen years, and
you just you develop a too deep for your coaching
staff the same way you would for your depth chart
with the players, and so I was very excited. One
of the probably one of the things I enjoyed the most,
was assembling of the staff as we were putting this

(48:30):
program together. And it hasn't disappointed me. These players have,
in my opinion, one of the best staffs I've ever
been a part of, and I think that I'll pay
dividends as we continue on our journey here this season.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
You mentioned about it having gone nineteen years between being
an actual head coach. Did it kind of come back
to the old riding and bicycle thing once you put
they had set on as the head coach as opposed
to all those years as a coordinator.

Speaker 11 (48:56):
Well, truthfully, I don't think you ever leave it. And
what happens when you go and you move into a
coordinator role, You're you're really running half the team, you know.
And I've also been blessed to be with a number
of head coaches that grant you the autonomy to run
that side of the team, you know, And so with that,
you're you're handling player development, you're handling staff development, you're

(49:18):
handling discipline, you're handling logistics, you're handling in some cases
budgeting and and all that stuff.

Speaker 9 (49:23):
You're you're handling recruiting. And so.

Speaker 11 (49:28):
There's nothing on the job description here as the head coach,
aside from the rev share and the nil and the fundraising,
which is a huge piece of it. But there's there's
nothing on the job description as a head coach right
now that I haven't done as an offensive coordinator. That
the big change is my vision is not focused on

(49:49):
forty five people anymore. My vision is focused on the
one hundred and five in the program and taking our
program where we need to go from a total team standpoint.
And our defensive guys know right now they are no
less of a priority bus one for us is the
defensive bus. The first people that get up and needed
our meals are the defensive line and the offensive line,

(50:10):
and so we're prioritizing everybody equally. I am not an
offensive head coach. I'm a head coach, and I just
happened to have a background on the offensive side, and
that's going to be our approach, and so I don't know.
This is an extremely challenging job. I'm certainly not an
expert in every aspect of it. I learn every day

(50:30):
as we go, just like our players do. And it
takes a staff that you can trust and lean on
to make good decisions about all aspects of the program
on a daily basis. And I lean on these guys
every single day.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
It's been thirty years since I went down that road
of flying with a football team to Hawaii, the game,
then coming back and coming off of that. That's the
last time Texas played out there. But your team went
out there, And I would imagine you correct me if
I'm wrong.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
If there was a.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Better time to get a bye week coming off again,
would it have been coming off of the trip to Hawaii.

Speaker 11 (51:06):
I would tell any head coach that ever asked me,
if they asked me, if they thought it was a
good idea to come back from Hawaii, which is a
pretty interesting dynamic with regards to trying to make sure
our guys were ready to play. You know, from a
sleep and a jetlag standpoint, and you know your body

(51:27):
swells over nine hours on a plane and so there
were all kinds of things we felt like we wanted
to deal with, and I think we cornered the market
on that. I really liked the way we handled it.
But we didn't come back until Tuesday. We gave them
a day or two in Hawaii, and then we came back.
But I would strongly recommend not having a game after
your trip back from Hawaii, because it took us forty

(51:49):
eight hours just to kind of reset once we got back. So, no,
the bye week came at a tremendous time in the schedule,
and I wouldn't want to make that track with an
immediate game the following week.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Yeah, and then not only that, of course, you'd had
some guys banged up. Is that helps getting guys healthy,
especially at your quarterback spot where you had several guys
go down, and at least you've got healthy numbers to
prepare at that position for this week's game.

Speaker 9 (52:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (52:16):
The two weeks, you know, the ten eleven twelve days
we had to kind of reset and regroup for this
game has definitely helped the overall health of the team.
And so we feel a little bit better about that
than we did when we headed Delwais.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
How important is it to have your guys accept the
challenge and to embrace the opportunity to come in to
Austin play. I know in your conference call earlier in
the week you talked about getting an opportunity to play
inside a d k R Texas Memorial Stadium, a chance
to coach inside of it. What's been the vibe like

(52:50):
from your guys about the opportunity to come in and
play game in this town.

Speaker 11 (52:55):
Well, we have a couple coaches on staff that have
coached at that level, including myself, but so from our
own experiences, we've been able to just share with them
what a great experience it is to play an evenu
like that, and they you know, they're going to be
juice when we get there. You know, whether the crowd
is cheering form or cheering against them. It's an outstanding atmosphere.

(53:17):
I've seen a game there. I've never coached a game there,
so I'm looking forward to it. But at the end
of the day, you know, you've got to block out
the noise, and this game still comes down to focusing
in so you can make a good decision on each
play that lasts four to five seconds and executing from
a physicality standpoint, and I don't know that any player

(53:38):
or coach hears anything once the snap of the ball happens.
And that's really what.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
We got to do when we get there.

Speaker 11 (53:45):
Enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the opportunity to play an avenue
like that, use the opportunity as a broma, or figure
out where each of them are individually and where we
are as a team. And it'll be a great opportunity
to see if we can hone out the noise and
focus in on what our job is on a play
to play basis.

Speaker 2 (54:03):
So there's the conversation with Phil Longo, the head coach
of the Sam Houston Bearcats. And again, of course, our
coverage begins tomorrow afternoon. It actually begins at three o'clock
with the third and Longhorn guys, and then at four
o'clock it is Long Horns Game Day down on Bevo
Boulevard inside the Windship Circle at the hook them hangout
with my hardball harg Mark Henry. Also Eric Henry will

(54:26):
join them as well to talk and preview the matchup
between Texas and Sam Houston. And again that'll be at
four o'clock networked pregame at six and the kickoff seven
two to be exact.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
All Right, we have more coming up.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
We'll shift to some other college football topics when we
continue on thirteen Under the Zone. Got a couple of
college football notes forty. Since we're coming right off of
the conversation with Phil Longo, the head coach at sam Houston.
Next week I think it's Tuesday, we're supposed to find
out the SEC opponents schedule for all of the teams

(55:09):
in the conference for next season. We're supposed to find
that out, I believe, next Tuesday, which is encouraging and
kind of exciting really because what it does is, you know,
it sets Longhorn fans' minds to wondering and wondering where,
you know, where's Texas going to play? Who are they

(55:30):
going to play at home? And where are they going
to play on the road?

Speaker 1 (55:33):
Are they going to go to the Grove?

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Will they be in Oxford or will they be in
Death Valley at LSU, or will they be astride the
Tennessee Navy so to speak, they're in Knoxville there, astride
the Tennessee River. Will they be going on the planes
to Auburn or to one or both Columbia, either South Carolina.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
Or Columbia Missouri.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
Those are just the SEC places where they have not
played now. Alabama, remember, was not a conference game when
they went there in twenty twenty three, so it's possible
they could wind up at Doscaloosa playing in I don't
think they would be in Lexington or to play Kentucky,
or Nashville to play Vanderbilt, or Gainesville to play Florida,

(56:25):
all places that they either have visited or will visit
this year. I'm also curious to see what it means
in terms of opponents scheduling, not only at home, but
the traditional opponents like Arkansas, Texas, A, and M. Obviously
you would think would stay on the final weekend of
the regular season and would be back in College station

(56:47):
next year. The Oklahoma game being in Dallas on the
second Saturday in October, Arkansas in all probability back in
Fayetteville at some point, But anyway, we'll find all that
out next week. And not only will we find that out,
reports today say that the ACC is closing in on

(57:08):
a change to its scheduling format that will require all
of the conference teams to play at least ten games
against power four competition now that of course includes conference games,
but at least ten games against Power four competition, though

(57:29):
the number of intra conference games played eight or nine
is still yet to be decided. They still have not
decided if they're going to stick with eight or go
to nine games. The athletic directors are scheduled to meet
in Charlotte on Monday to discuss the details of what
will either be a move to a nine game conference
schedule with one additional Power four game required out of conference,

(57:52):
or love all of these these phrases that have now
come about. With this an eight plus two model, because
we've heard about the five plus eleven. This would be
the eight plus two model that would provide more flexibility
the schools that already have an annual non conference rival,
like say Louisville against Kentucky. Now you're Clemsons of the world, Clemson,

(58:13):
South Carolina, Florida State, Florida. You know that, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia.
If we're speaking from the ACC perspective, the Clemson athletic
director Graham Neth said, the ACC committing to go to
to ten Power four games is a big step forward.
It's indicative of where college football is and leans into

(58:36):
emphasizing the importance of strength of schedule and more power
for matchups. Now, NEF is among the handful of athletic
directors concerned that a nine game conference schedule would be
problematic in limiting the school's ability to play marquee non
conference games like Clemson did this year against LSU and

(58:57):
Week One. Of course, the Tigers play South Carolina annually
beginning in twenty twenty seven, they have a yearly game
of Notre Dame. So a straw poll of thirteen of
the seventeen ACC athletic directors showed nine of those supported
or were amenable to the nine game slate.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
It's close, isn't it. Yes, it's nine to eight.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
But Clemson in Florida State, aren't they the problem children
of the ACC always Clemson in Florida State. Yep, they're
among the others with concerns about the impact on non
conference scheduling and the SEC, of course, announced last month
the SEC going from eight games to nine games. So

(59:40):
that's kind of spurred the ACC's interest in adjusting its
scheduling model. The big ten we know is already there,
so the multiple sources said that the ACC Commissioner, Jim
Phillips is wanting to see the conference play nine games
every year and require each school to schedule one out
of conference game against another power for school matching.

Speaker 1 (01:00:00):
The SEC strategy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
Now, that part of it is not a problem for
those with that traditional rival. So if you're Clemson, you're
already playing that in South Carolina. If you're Georgia Tech,
you already have that with Georgia Tech with Georgia. If
you're Florida State, you already have that with Florida. If
you're Louisville, you already have that. With Kentucky, you already
have that. So maybe it's a problem with some of
the others. If pitt continues to play West Virginia in

(01:00:24):
the backyard brawl, that solves that issue as well. But
I do see they have a problem that the SEC
does not have in large measure, and that is, how
are you going to schedule a marquee non conference matchup
on a regular basis, not a one off, but on

(01:00:46):
a regular basis.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
How are you going to schedule that?

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
If you're an a SEC member like Clemson and you
already have South Carolina on the schedule and you've got
Notre Dame coming up, or if you have Florida on
the schedule, Jeel, or if you're Florida State and got
Florida's schedule on the schedule, how are you gonna do that?
So that that comes to mind as well, that's a

(01:01:09):
problem that most of the SEC teams I don't think
would face.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
There's a few Mississippi State have canceled a match up.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Yeah, yeah, And and of course Florida is on the
back side of that Florida State thing. George is on
the back side of the Georgia Tech thing, Kentucky's on
the backside of the Louisville thing. But by and large
it because Missouri Kansas is not an every year deal
hasn't been anyway, so we'll see. It would also seem
to kill off any hope that some folks north of

(01:01:37):
the Red River might have. And in rebirthing Oklahoma, Oklhoma
State getting bedlam cranked up in I think that's in
the same boat that Texas and Texas A and M
we're in for more than a decade. They need a break,
let some of the anger, you know. Cool, because there
were a lot of hard feelings for a lot of years,
and that's why that wasn't gonna happen. And of course

(01:01:59):
it was compel to happen by Texas joining the SEC,
But I think eventually it would have happened, it would
have worked itself out. We'll never know. It doesn't matter anyway.
They're playing now again, now that they're in the same league.
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State I think have no shot of
ever being in the same league again. So we'll see
how it is on down the road. All right, Coming up,
we'll wrap up our number two of the program here

(01:02:21):
on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone of the
iHeartRadio app third and final hour of the program here
on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred of the Zone on
a Friday afternoon. I always say it, if Friday means
the traditional Monday, the Friday five day work week for
you and you're off for the weekend, good on you,
good for you, and hope it goes very very well

(01:02:43):
for you. If Friday is merely the middle part of
your week, hopefully we help you get over the hump
on that. And if Friday is the start of your
work week, well bless your heart, and let's hope we
get it off to a good start for you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
Long.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
Orange are trying to finish off non conference play at
three and one before they head into following next week's
open date on the schedule before they head into SEC play,
and that will be at Florida. We still don't know

(01:03:16):
the start time on that game floor. We may learn
it on Monday May because that's the first of the
two windows in season, windows where the television networks can
decide and announce when they're going to place the games.
I think at large manage so wait and see what
happens with Florida Miami this weekend. Not so much about

(01:03:38):
Texas Sam Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
I think their.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
FPI list Texas is a ninety nine percent chance to win.
I don't think they're much considering or waiting on any
thing out of that. They're expecting Texas to win and
remain a top ten rank school. Florida, however, starting one
and two with the loss to South Florida you know

(01:04:01):
now and the lost LSU in need of a win. Course,
this is a non conference game, but it is against
a really good Miami team, So we'll see how it
goes with Florida and Miami as it relates next to
if if Florida happens to win the game, then yes,
Texas Florida could be in primetime.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
It could be a night game.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
If Florida should lose and fall to one in three,
I think there's a decent chance we might see that
game then become like a two thirty kick or something
like that three thirty Eastern. We'll find out when it
gets to all of that, but Monday may well be.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
The first day that we.

Speaker 11 (01:04:44):
That.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
It is the first opportunity of the n season windows
for the television networks to announce when there's a twelve
day window in the six day window. I hate the
six day window. I always call it the dreaded six
day window. And normally, and the networks are limited, they're

(01:05:04):
supposed to be only three of those, although we've seen
them really push the envelope on that. Normally they wait
for later in the season to start invoking those six
day windows because they're seeing how conference games are shaping
up and conference races are shaping up. So I would
imagine we'll no on Monday, and my gut tells me

(01:05:27):
it's gonna be an afternoon, but I could be wrong
about that. Our coverage obviously begins here on the Zone
beginning Saturday afternoon at three o'clock with the third and
long Worn podcast guys with their pregame at four o'clock.

(01:05:48):
It is our long worn Game Day presentation from Bevo Boulevard,
the wind Ship Circle down there at the hook, them
hangouts down there, astride all the food trailers and big
beer th of the beer Jake. How many food travers
are down there on a regular basis, You.

Speaker 4 (01:06:04):
Know, I'd have to go back through that time labs.
I took to count them, but just in our view
from our spot, right, I think you've got seven or
eight options. Wow, really all around, know there were that many. Yeah,
we're we're well flanked. And it goes all the way
up the street.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
Burgo burgers, tacos, barbecue, pizza, stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
It was a rotating cast.

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
There were some different food trucks there week three than
there were week two. Really, you can get some wraps
behind us, you can get some some bubble tea if
you're into that, some juice, some barbecue.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
Yeah yeah, and Mark Henry's willing to try any at all.

Speaker 3 (01:06:40):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (01:06:41):
But last week, yeah, somebody stole his juicy Lucy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
What what did it?

Speaker 11 (01:06:47):
Was?

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
It set like on the table and somebody just grabbed it.

Speaker 4 (01:06:51):
It was set, and I take partial blame. It was
set on the table where I was engineering the show.
But I was attending to matter with one of the
microphone you send your duty right.

Speaker 2 (01:07:00):
I looked up and it was gone.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
It was gone.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
A Longhorn fan and a white cowboy hat just walked away.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
Wow, And I can't yell at him while we're on
the air. Hey come back like Steve Martin.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
And played AUTOMOI exactly, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:07:16):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Well, hopefully the juicy Lucy is there for Mark Henry
this week and again all that fun starts down on
Bevio Boulevard at four o'clock, Network pregame at six and
the kickoff at seven oh two, Texas against Sam Houston.
We're going to hear from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian
later this hour discussing the opponent. Talking about Sam Houston.

(01:07:40):
This from last night's edition of Long Worn Weekly, And
in case you missed the program, you can hear it
in its entirety on the re airing the replay tonight
at seven o'clock here on the zone and coming up
with a few minutes, we'll talk some baseball. Geene Watson
from the Chicago White Hawk's front office personnel director will

(01:08:00):
join us to talk about the waning days of the
Major League pennant races and playoff chase and postseason picture.
You have this weekend and then all next week and
next weekend and that's it. So most teams have eight
or nine games left is what they have, depending on
whether they play a mid week game next week, like
on Thursday. And we'll also ask him about Clayton Kershall.

(01:08:26):
Kershall announced yesterday and we said this because it came
down right before we left. Heir that he's calling in
a career after eighteen years. With everything he's accomplished in
his career, this will be it for him and he
will make his final ever start at Dodger Stadium, at
least in the regular season. His final lever start will

(01:08:49):
be tonight when they play the Giants. Dodgers held on
for a two to one win last night. Yoshinobu Yamamota
really kind of struggled. He walked six guys, but he
only allowed one to hit, so he was kind of Now,
how did that work for your fantasy team?

Speaker 4 (01:09:01):
By the way, it was, Okay, We've got a lot
of categories. Yeah, the one I really needed was a win. Yeah,
so he didn't get that and get that, but it
was helpful for my batting average against It's a whole
thing was it was a middle of the road fantasy start,
just like it was kind of a middle of the
road real life star. But as a Dodger fan, you'll
take those five goose eggs.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, U Okay, So anyway, there's the We'll
ask him about Clayton Kershaw as well and how it's going.
That's a tight race. So many tight races right now,
mainly for the wildcards, and with the Astros having swept
the Rangers, the Rangers pretty much were out of the picture.
Now they're four back in the Wildcard race, no shot

(01:09:44):
in the division race. The Astros and Mariners have a
huge series at Dyke and Park beginning tonight in Houston, Seattle.
At Houston, they're in a flat footed tie. Both teams
are eighty four and sixty nine. The Mariners, it should
be noted, do whole the tie breaker on the Astros
because they won the majority of the regular season games there,

(01:10:06):
So at the moment anyway, that's where that's where it is.
But we'll see how that goes. That's a big, big
series there. Before we get to the break, I wanted
to jump back to the NFL last night, the Bill's
beat the Dolphins thirty one to twenty one, but talked

(01:10:27):
about during that telecaster and the halftime stuff in the
postgame pregame.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
Is this.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Ongoing undercurrent of real dissatisfaction that a lot of teams
and coaches in front offices for that matter, have with
the tush push. They've been upset about, you know, the

(01:10:55):
Eagles tush push. And so for the first time, we
have an admission from the NFL that it has not
been properly adjudicated. The Remember in the off season, there
was this big push about, you know, whether they were
going to ban the tush push, and ultimately they didn't

(01:11:16):
get enough votes. I think the Packers were one of
the ones to vote for keeping it in and a
couple other teams.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
I think the Packers proposed the rule. Oh that's right,
and it fell two teams short.

Speaker 2 (01:11:25):
That's right, it did. It came up two teams short.
So more conversation came up and the NFL office was
asked about this, and the front office, which has its
own group of official evaluators, looked over it and they

(01:11:48):
agreed that the Eagles should have been flagged for at
least one false start when they used the tush push
against the Chiefs last Sunday, at least one. This was
first report by The Washington posting later than ESPN came on.
The league said in the training tape that they send

(01:12:10):
to officials, and for folks who don't think that, who
don't think that the officials come under scrutiny, you'd be incorrect.
They at both the pro and college level, they get
evaluated pretty regularly. I know a lot of folks that world.
And why aren't they knowing more about it? Because there's
more mistakes going unpunished.

Speaker 1 (01:12:30):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
The training tape that went to all of their officiating
crews then was distributed to all thirty two teams late
on Wednesday, and the instructions on the tape are for
the officials to call that play as they say, tight

(01:12:52):
going forward with quotations around it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:54):
Tight toush push got it?

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
Yeah, So they showed, you know, Eagles ning the quarterback
sneak on third and short late in the fourth quarter,
get a first down.

Speaker 3 (01:13:03):
And three guys are moving early.

Speaker 2 (01:13:06):
Ramon George, the NFL's vice president of Officiating, Training and Development, said,
anytime we have this situation, we're in short yardage, we
know we want to make sure that we officiate these plays.
The offensive team has to be perfect in every aspect.
We want to officiate it tight. We want to be
black and white and be as tight as we can be.

(01:13:27):
When we get into this situation where teams are in
the bunch position and we have to officiate them being
on sides. Movement early prior to the snap. Looks like
we have movement by the right guard. We also have
movement coming across from the defensive side. It's a very
hard play to officiate. I get it. Andy Reeves is

(01:13:49):
the one who said that they got a little early
on talking about it. Tom Brady suggested it during the
telecast as well. Philly ran the tush push six times,
they picked up four first downs and they scored a
touchdown on that. The Eagle center Cam Jorgen said, I've
heard a million different takes on this thing, and it's
driving me nuts. People say I'm lining up off sides,
I'm holding the ball, I can be on the ball.

(01:14:11):
That doesn't make any sense to me. I would say this,
keep an eye and see if it gets slid forward
a little bit as he moves forward.

Speaker 1 (01:14:18):
At the end of the.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Day, we're not trying to worry about what other teams
or other people are saying. We're trying to worry about
what we're doing in here. If the league wants to
come down and say something and make an emphasis with
the rules, we're going to take that into account. But
it's the same thing going forward playing Eagle football. Well,
the league did do something. They did something, and guess
who the Eagles played this Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
The Rams, your Los Angeles ran.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
Who were good with the defensive front and short yardage
situations where the Rams are vulnerables in the back. Their
secondary is Swiss Cheese like at times. So it's all
up to the pass rush coming in on Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 4 (01:14:54):
You're saying be patient with my DeVante Smith fantasy stock.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
Yeah, yeah, well yeah, I would say, uh, you know,
we'll see, we'll see how that how that goes ultimately,
but uh, it'll be interesting to see how that turns
out this weekend. All right, Up next, we talk baseball.
We visit with Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox,
our weekly baseball update here on Sports Radio AM thirteen

(01:15:19):
under the Zone and the iHeartRadio app. It is at
this time each week that we talked baseball with our
MLB insider, of course, our good friend Gene Watsmon from
the Chicago White Sox front office. You know, and all
of these things I wanted to hit you up with
about playoff chase and division picture and all that other
kind of stuff, and we'll get to it. But the
announcement yesterday by Clayton Kershaw that this is hit for him.

(01:15:43):
Uh you've known him a long time, you know, about
him being the great pitcher he was at Highland Park.
Uh and and uh uh you know we we've seen
him do all of the things that that he's done
throughout his career.

Speaker 11 (01:15:57):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
So I got to start with that. It was kind
of an emotional moment for him yesterday. And I love
how he told his teammates in a text, don't make
it weird. He said, let's just go and play and
all that, and then he said he was making it weird. Later,
But how about your thoughts on Clayton Kershaw and his
legacy to major League baseball.

Speaker 12 (01:16:18):
Well, I remember the first time I ever saw him
pitch was at the Lake Travis Tournament in Austin. He
faced a left hander named Michael Houston from Temple High School,
and I was just blown away at the ability, the curveball,
the pitch, ability to make up the work ethic. And
you know that carried transpired over eighteen years in the
major league level. And you know, we talked about Sandy

(01:16:40):
Kofax a lot when you talk about the Dodgers, and
Clayton Kershaw is certainly going to go down as one
of the all time great Dodgers and great pitchers in
baseball history.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
And here's the interesting thing, and I know you know
this very very well. Here's a guy who, after coming
off the injured list this year, has been really good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:58):
He's ten and two.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
Now he's going to make his final start at least
of the regular season ever at Dodgers Stadium tonight against
the Giants. And maybe that that seems fitting and all
that other kind of stuff. But Gino, as the Dodgers
get closer to the playoffs, I think their magic number
for getting into the postseason is won. The magic number

(01:17:20):
winning the West is six. But as they get in there,
this is something that Dave Roberts and Mark Pryor really
have to consider. Isn't it about who they would like?
They've been running with a six man rotation, which we
know isn't sustainable in the postseason. So with guys like
you know, Yamamoto, you know, and you've got em at
Chian obviously, glass Now is on a roll of late.

(01:17:41):
Blake Snell was incredible the other night. Do you see
Kershaw fitting in the rotation for the postseason for the
Dodgers if they are indeed there.

Speaker 12 (01:17:50):
I think Yadamoto, glass Now and and Snell Snell, those
three are going to be the guy. And then it's
just going to be pockets of how you want to
use them within the game. And you know, everybody knows
that starting pitching is what wins in October. Everybody knows
that power pitching is what wins in October. And so

(01:18:13):
I think they'll work very diligently to try to find,
you know, pockets where you know, if the starter goes out,
has a rough outing and your two or three runs
up or down, you know, you try to fit guys
in certain scenarios, but this is where the creativity of
the Dodgers and the strength of their pitching is really
going to play out when you get into these playoffs
series and you've got so many weapons like they do.

Speaker 2 (01:18:33):
Oh and by the way, I didn't even mention choey Otani,
who had five no hit innings the other night against
the Phillies. Is but he has been a starter largely.
Now you were with the Angels, when he was also
with the Angels. Can you see Otani being used in
a bullpen roll for the Dodgers one hundred percent?

Speaker 12 (01:18:50):
And I could see him being used multiple times in
the higher leverage situations where you know the game is
on the line and you need three big out else
and he's the guy that comes and gets it.

Speaker 10 (01:19:01):
It could be a six out save situation.

Speaker 12 (01:19:04):
But but you know, for all that goes into one
hundred and sixty two game season and the ebbs and
flows and ups and downs of the season. Once you
get in October and you take that deep breath and
you look at the talent that you have on the
field and how you can manage it, that's when all
the strengths really come into play. And for all the
you know, ups and downs of this season for the Dodgers,

(01:19:26):
you look at them and they're still the favorite to
be there at the end of October.

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
All right, Yesterday we were talking to Baseball and Jake said,
we got to give Geno his flowers, right because when
they're right, Jake, she said, because of Gino talking about
Jonah Tong of the Mets.

Speaker 3 (01:19:41):
And Shane Base of the race.

Speaker 12 (01:19:43):
Yeah, yeah, those are two of the better talented arms.

Speaker 10 (01:19:48):
Those those guys are the future for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
Well, and and the Mets are trying to kind of
make sure they have their final kick to get into
the wild I know they they took two of three
from the pot.

Speaker 1 (01:20:00):
And and we'll do.

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
What we'll do is when we get to the actual
postseason matchups, I'll get your thoughts on. But right now,
with eight games, nine games to go, depending on which
team you are uh in baseball, a potential potential playoff matchups.
And if I were to say to you right now

(01:20:24):
that if you had a choice of the Yankees versus
the Astros or the Cubs versus the Padres as wild
card series, which is the more attractive to you Yankees
Astros or Padres Cubs.

Speaker 12 (01:20:44):
I think I'd rather see Yankees Astros in a longer series.
I think that that the depth of those those two
teams will play out a little more in a longer series.
I think the Padres and Cubs is with that would
just be a dogfight, and the two venues Wrigley Field
and Pitcoe Park would just be incredible. So for me,

(01:21:05):
I'll take Cubs and Padres in the walk cart.

Speaker 2 (01:21:08):
Yeah, and the Padres would have to win at Wrigley
obviously to make that work, since the Cubs now look
like they're they're all but clinching the number four seed
right now. And then in the American League, you've been
saying it for weeks, keep an eye on the Mariners.
You said the Mariners were good enough to win the
West and the Astros and Rangers would fight it out

(01:21:30):
for that other wild how it looks like, you know,
the Rangers getting swept by the Astros looks like it
might have been the final death knell for Texas. There
and Houston and Seattle are tied for first, but the
Mariners owned the tie break on the Asteroids. And what
a huge weekend series in Houston. This is this weekend
between the Mariners and Astros, do you know?

Speaker 10 (01:21:48):
It really is?

Speaker 12 (01:21:49):
And the Mariners starting pitching has really come through when
they needed the most. And just the incredible story of
Cal Rawley and the season that he's had behind the
plate and at the plate with the home run record.
But I cannot say enough about the Houston Astros. It's
just incredible. You're you're facing a team that's won sixteen

(01:22:10):
out of twenty one, they're on an absolute role and
they come into Houston and you sweep them, and it's
just incredible what they've been able to do. And you know,
Texas is starting pitching, which has been its strength during
this big sixteen to twenty one run. You know, they
all give up six plus runs in their starts, and
so it's just an incredible testimony to the Astros and

(01:22:32):
their resilience. But I do still believe that the Marritors
with that starting pitching are going to be the toast.

Speaker 1 (01:22:39):
Of the division.

Speaker 2 (01:22:40):
I asked you a couple of weeks ago we were
kind of doing an MVP watch, and at the time
I asked you about MVPs as you saw them in
the American League and National League, and at that time
you said, probably still Aaron Judge in the American League
and Shoe a Otani in the National League. Let me
go to the American League. Has the Big Dumper passed

(01:23:02):
Aaron Judge? Will cal Raley be the American League MVP?

Speaker 12 (01:23:07):
I did an ESPN interview this morning and the same
thing I said, you know what, I think you have
to consider a crack cal Rawley where it was, you know,
a few weeks ago it was Aaron Judge hands down
and no questions asked. But what he's meant to this
team and the momentum he's given them offensively, I think
you have to at least give him strong consideration.

Speaker 10 (01:23:28):
Do I think he'll win it?

Speaker 12 (01:23:30):
I do not, But I think you're giving him more
consideration today than.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
You were three weeks ago. I bet you've seen this commercial.
I've seen it, Lynda and I watched the other night
we were watching the Mariners and Angels, I think, and
it came on. Cal Raley is doing commercials for a
plumbing company and it's like the Big Dumper is talking
about ted commercial. We couldn't stop laughing out of that.
How genius is that marketing campaign? To have a guy

(01:23:55):
whose nickname is the Big Dumper doing commercials for a
plumbing company.

Speaker 12 (01:23:59):
It's hilarious and he's made the most of it. He's
embraced it oftentimes in you that it pays off in
the piccheck. So he's doing a good job of that.
All right, let me ask you about that third wildcard
in the America. Lely Guardians have won seven in a row,
nine out of ten. They just got through, you know,
sweeping the Tigers in Detroit. I don't think they're going

(01:24:21):
to catch Detroit, but they're only a game and a
half back of Boston for that third wildcard slot, and
I think that's now where the dividing line falls off.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
I think, you know, the Rangers four back. I doubt
they can get there. But can the Guardians catch and
pass Boston for that last spot.

Speaker 10 (01:24:37):
I don't think they can. It's had been incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:24:40):
They just kind of never go away.

Speaker 10 (01:24:43):
They just find a way to win every year and
it's truly a testimony.

Speaker 1 (01:24:47):
To the way they do things.

Speaker 10 (01:24:49):
But you know, you've got three in Detroit and then
what I can tell three three.

Speaker 12 (01:24:53):
At home against Detroit, and what I can tell you
about aja eight inches No matter what has happened those
finals seven to ten games. He's gonna have his team
prepared and ready to go, and they haven't played great baseball.
So you've got the three verses the Tigers, and then
you've got three verses the Rangers, who could still be
playing serious baseball, and so I still think it's going
to be kind of difficult for them to get in

(01:25:14):
and Boston in as many as ways as they can
beat you. You know, the interesting thing about the Red
Sox and the Mets is they're both making these late
runs with very very young starting pitching, and that's incredibly
difficult to do. But they're very talented arms, and so
you never know what you're gonna get every night when
they go out. It could be, you know, a two
to three hit shutout, and it could be four or

(01:25:34):
five runs in the first or second inning. So that's
going to be the wild card, is how Boston's young
starting pitching plays out the last seven to ten days.

Speaker 2 (01:25:41):
All right, and then for that final Nation League wild
card spot. And the Mets have the two game lead
with nine to go, two on the Reds, who won
back to back including Ao. How about the one hitter
from Green last night? Hunter Green against the Cubs, and
then the Diamondbacks are still hanging around. They're two back,

(01:26:02):
They've got a huge series with the Podres coming up,
and the Giants are three off. They've been falling off
now of light the Giants. Do you see the Mets
holding only that third wild card spot or do the
Reds or d Backs have a shot to catch them?

Speaker 10 (01:26:14):
I don't think it's a lot.

Speaker 12 (01:26:16):
They've got the Marlins who played very good baseball the
last weekend of the season, and it's not necessary a lock.

Speaker 10 (01:26:23):
And we could see a situation we're going into the last.

Speaker 12 (01:26:26):
Weekend in this wild card race, you could potentially have
a playoff at an extra one hundred and sixty third game.
So they have not played great the last two weeks,
so you hope that they can turn it around.

Speaker 10 (01:26:36):
But certainly with the young pitching, it's a wild card
and it's not necessarily a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:26:40):
Where does the weekend find you this weekend.

Speaker 12 (01:26:44):
I'm in Chicago, we are playing the Padres, and I'll
be headed back to Houston on Sunday night. I know
this goes against your family blood and with your son
with a Podreys organization, but for those of us who
root for the boys in Blue. We'd appreciate a successful
weekend by the White Sox. Let me just say up,
I can tell you this, We've got a bunch of
very young, talented players that play dumb and that they're

(01:27:06):
going to give them everything they got for three games.

Speaker 2 (01:27:07):
There you come, Hey, Dino, I appreciate thanks. Next week
we'll be looking at the final weekend of the regular season.
I appreciate you taking the time. Have a great weekend. Hi, Craig,
thanks so much, have a great weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:27:17):
YouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:27:17):
That's Teen Watson from the Chicago White Sox front office.
You had the White Sox played the Padres this weekend
in Chicago. Wish you could be there to see a game.

Speaker 4 (01:27:24):
Speaking of the boys in Blue, Craig, can you remember
the last team to make the playoffs after suffering a
ten game losing streak in the same season.

Speaker 3 (01:27:34):
I gave you a good hint.

Speaker 4 (01:27:35):
Yeah, the Guardians this year lost ten games in a
row at one point they're pushing to try to make
the playoffs. When was the last time that happened? Oh,
I don't know, tell me twenty seventeen the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (01:27:47):
Okay, ugh, and you would have to bring up twenty seventeen.
That's the Astros and that whole deal.

Speaker 1 (01:27:52):
One I moved on.

Speaker 2 (01:27:56):
I forgave, didn't completely forget, but I forgave, you know.
And it's funny I say that, you know who I
probably hurt for the most out of that whole deal,
with the signs stealing and the trash can deal and
all that. Like I said, I moved on, especially with
the Dodgers winning in twenty twenty and then again last year.

(01:28:17):
That's faded into the distance for me. But the guy
that I felt the worst for was Clayton Kershaw because
he was pitching really well, and they'd had all those
ghosts of the past of not performing well in the playoffs,
and he was performing well.

Speaker 1 (01:28:35):
But in that Game five in Houston, which is.

Speaker 2 (01:28:40):
The ground zero trash can banging game, you could just
see that look of despair on this face. He could
not understand why the Asteroids were not offering it that slider.
And if you go back and you listen, you can
hear it all from the distance, you can hear it.
It definitely happened. He's the guy I felt for all that.
Now he's gone on. He pitched great in the twenty
twenty World Series overcame that Dodgers won that. I know

(01:29:03):
it was the pandemic here, but in the once you're
in the World Series, you're in the World Series.

Speaker 3 (01:29:07):
I won't bring up twenty nineteen. Oh just did Yeah, that's.

Speaker 1 (01:29:10):
All right, that's all right.

Speaker 2 (01:29:11):
I understand he pitched well against the Nationals in eighteen, right,
it was in the Division Series, but it was or sixteen,
I guess I'm thinking sixteen.

Speaker 4 (01:29:21):
Yeah, that was the series that ended after one thirty
am local time, right, fine.

Speaker 2 (01:29:25):
Yeah, yeah, but the but yeah, he had he had
pitched well then, and then of course he didn't get
a chance to pitch in the World Series last year.
He was out injured off of that. But it's not
going to tarnish what his legacy is a Major League
baseball that's right. He's one of only four left handers

(01:29:46):
to record three thousand strikeouts in the career. He has
a no hitter, he has two World Series. He has
three cy Youngs. He has an MVP. He was the
first non position player when he won the MVP award
to win it in like forty eight years or something.

Speaker 1 (01:30:00):
It was some crazy number like that.

Speaker 3 (01:30:02):
He's a triple Crown.

Speaker 1 (01:30:03):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:30:05):
So you know, with the wins and the strikeouts, e
ra as, he's so his mark is secure in baseball.
He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer. I
don't think there's any doubt about that. And he said
the time was right for him, and I think it is.
It'll be interesting to see what he does next. I
think the television industry might be interested in him. Sim

(01:30:27):
we'll see. But he's got he and his wife Ellen.
I think they're expecting their fifth child. They have a
lot going on in their charity work, both in California
and in Texas, and also in Africa in their missionary work.
So there's a lot going on there. All right, Our
thanks to Gene Watson joining us every week on the program.
Up next, we're going to hear from Longhorn's head coach,

(01:30:48):
Steve Sarkisian from last night's edition of Longhorn Weekly.

Speaker 1 (01:30:51):
It's a little snippet from it.

Speaker 2 (01:30:53):
Of course, the re airing of the program comes your
way tonight at seven o'clock, so you can tune in
for that right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred,
the Zone and on the iHeartRadio app. All right, thanks
again to Gene Watson from the Chicago White Sox joining

(01:31:16):
us to talk Major League Baseball. It's gonna be fun
these last couple of weekends. Obviously, it'll be a fun
college football weekend as well.

Speaker 1 (01:31:24):
But before I get to that, the.

Speaker 2 (01:31:28):
Sart segment from last night there was I wanted to
get to this, but it happened so late in the show.
I didn't get a chance to get into this yesterday.
But it's just bizarre and maybe it should have gone
in inconceivable. If you're an old school guy like me,
you remember this. I mean you were gosh six years old,

(01:31:52):
I think Jake when this happened. But people remember about
Brian Potter from the Miami Hurricanes who was killed back
in two thousand and six, and Florida prosecutors were researching

(01:32:13):
the case, researching it, and they were repeatedly told, and
they repeatedly told a court that a key witness in
the case was dead. However, with the long delayed murder
trial over Shawn Jones only weeks from its scheduled start
in Miami, ESPN reporters, ESPN reporters knocked on an apartment

(01:32:41):
door in Louisville, Kentucky, and found the witness, Paul Connor,
alive and well. Connor told the ESPN that he wasn't
aware anyone from Miami was looking for him. He said
he rarely leaves his apartment. Prosecutors told the Florida eleventh
Circuit Court Judge Christina Mirandez recently is July that Connor
was dead. A spokesperson for the state Attorney's office, ad Griffith,

(01:33:04):
told ESPN yesterday that police relied on a public database
that quote unquote seemed to indicate that Connor was deceased,
and that police asked officers in Louisville to knock on
Connor's door. He offered no documents of such a visit,
nor details of when an officer visited or what happened.
Griffith also pressed a reporter for the address that ESPN visited,

(01:33:28):
the same address that was listed on the database report
that Griffith cited. The lead detective in the case, Juan Segovia, alsoted,
and he texted an ESPN reporter asking for Connor's contact information.
It's unclear how the revelation about Connor will affect the trial,
but they said, is that or an impact on the case.
I would have to say yes potentially, so Jones attorney

(01:33:53):
Sarah Alvarez says the finding races further questions about the
state's case. She said, I'm not shocked, but appalled. This
is a bigger issue. This is just blatant lies, bald
face lies. It's a shame and it's disgusting that you
would be willing to send a man to prison for
the rest of his life about any evidence and then
not be honest about what evidence exists and doesn't exist.

Speaker 1 (01:34:16):
So this is going to go on and on about this.

Speaker 2 (01:34:19):
This goes back to two thousand and six and Connor,
by the way, is eighty one years old. Now we
said he doesn't recall what happened in Miami, and he
seemed unfamiliar with his prior statements. Be interesting to see
how this is going forward. Okay, let's turn our attention
back to Texas and sam Houston State. This is from
last night's addition of Long Worn Weekly with coach Sark

(01:34:42):
talking about the matchup with sam Houston. The sam Houston
Bearcats come in and this is a team that I
think I described it as has been in a continual
state of transition going back even like during the PA
pandemic when they won a national championship at the FCS

(01:35:02):
level and then trans transitioning into FBS status and then
coaching change with coach Keeler moving the temple and Phil Longo,
who you have known for a bit. This is this
is a program trying to finance footing. But it's a
team that won ten ball games and won a bowl
game last year.

Speaker 10 (01:35:17):
They sure did.

Speaker 13 (01:35:17):
They won ten last year, won their bowl game. I
have a ton of respect for coach a Longo. This
guy has done it at a high level on the
offensive side of the ball throughout his career. Had a
great run obviously at Carolina with Mac and what he
was doing and running the ball with both running backs
and things, and so very creative mind offensively.

Speaker 2 (01:35:35):
A ton of new faces on this team.

Speaker 13 (01:35:38):
I counted sixty five new players on their roster this year,
and I think they've played three different quarterbacks already this year.
We've seen, you know, three different defenses for through three games,
and so the idea is, like who they are. I
know he's going to have them ready to play what
we're getting ready to play. We need to focus on us, right,
We need to keep our attention on us and what

(01:35:58):
we need to do and play to our brand, our
style of football.

Speaker 6 (01:36:02):
But I know coach Longo is a great coach and
will have.

Speaker 1 (01:36:04):
Them ready to go.

Speaker 2 (01:36:04):
How challenging is it to prepare your team? Like you say,
you focus on yourself and yet within them. We've talked
about this before. The framework of that is preparing what
you would expect to see from an opponent, but in
their case it might be a little more challenging to ascertain.

Speaker 13 (01:36:21):
Well, I think in all reality, in this game, this
game is about trusting your training and everything that we
do in this game, whether it's in the run game
and how we're going to block specific runs, whether it's
in the past game and how we're running those routes
and how the quarterback's going to read those things in
past protection. We have to go back to our rules.
And there's games like that that are that are playing
like that. You rely on your rules, you trust your training,

(01:36:42):
and then you have to go play. And there's there's
very few plays that are, hey, this is this place
for this team, specific for this defense, because you really
don't know, and so it's more built into do you
execute the calls? And this is probably the right time
for us to play in one of these games, because
it's about just playing, and it's about running the play
that is called and executing it predicated on the defense

(01:37:05):
that you're getting, which you'd say, well, that should be
that way every week, but in reality, that's why you
game plan, and you're game planning your opponent to try
to get specific looks to create some explosive plays. But
in this game, it's about execution and the way you
go about it, and really the same thing on defense
as well.

Speaker 1 (01:37:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:37:19):
Well, and with regard to the offense, it was an
interesting story. Hunter Watson had been the starting quarterback and
coming into the year, but he'd been banged up a
little bit and wasn't even in the first half of
their game at Hawaii dressed out. Then they got Hi
dressed in the second half for the game. But we're
kind of holding out and we're going with Avery Mattire.

(01:37:40):
But Watson is one of those dual threat guys, and
he can run a little bit anthrow.

Speaker 10 (01:37:44):
He really can.

Speaker 13 (01:37:44):
He really can, And I think that's one of the
things that make Coach Longo's offense so difficult. And you
think about Drake May running this offense you know, and
what they did with two different running backs going over
a thousand yards and the quarterback running the ball.

Speaker 3 (01:37:56):
So they can tax you a lot of different ways.

Speaker 13 (01:37:58):
They can get multiple personnel groupings, multiple formations, they can
play with really good tempo. They can go fast, they
can slow it down, and so they challenge you a
lot of different ways. But but you better be prepared
for the quarterback running the ball and getting into those
plus plus one runs or zone read runs.

Speaker 10 (01:38:15):
Because he can hurt you that way for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:38:17):
So there's Sarks thoughts on Sam Houston. Of course, about
an hour forty five before kickoff is when I get
with him one final time and we talked about who's
available and the game and getting ready to go. We
do that down all on the field, we do it.
That was one thing Sark changed when came in. It's
like he likes doing the pregame interview not long before kickoff,

(01:38:40):
and normally, Jake, that only happens with high school football.
You know, that's when you go down to visit with
Jake Gridle right bas drop before kickoff, right.

Speaker 3 (01:38:49):
Yeah, yeah, right to a little less than two hours
before the game.

Speaker 2 (01:38:53):
Yeah, yeah, same here and a lot of college guys
do college played by play, don't get that opportunity to
record it earlier in the week. Some even have to
just use press conference sound things like that Sark is
very good about Yeah, hit me up about two hours
for a kick, and it winds up being usually about
one forty five because if anybody's watched Sark, they watch

(01:39:14):
him do a lap around the field when he walks in, stops,
calls his folks, talks to his mom and dad, then
he comes in and does the interview with me, and
then he goes on in, changes clothing, gets ready to
go to work. So that's the way it'll be. We'll
be back to wrap up today's edition in the week's
edition of the program here on sports Radio AM thirteen
under the Zone in the iHeartRadio app

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