Sark Previews Georgia, Texans Stay Alive, HSFB Playoff Pairings

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
We're back to Monday a Longhorns Monday, A football Monday,
A game week Monday, and yes also at Texas Women's
basketball Monday night. Good afternoon, everybody, welcome, so the program
here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the zone in
the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
My name is Craig Way. Glad to have you with
us this afternoon.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
We can come your way each and every weekday afternoon,
Monday through Friday from two pm to five pm, before
yielding the airways to Fox Sports Radio and then they
will return those airways to us for Texas Women's basketball tonight,
the fourth rank long Horns in action at home at
Moody Center and they will be taking on the Raging

(00:44):
Cajuns the University of Louisiana or Louisiana Lafayette and as
they pronounce it down there, Lafayette, Louisiana. We have five
pairs of tickets. I believe it is that we're giving
away to the first five people to want them who
can use the talkback system.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
And that's really easy to do.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
All you have to do is download the free iHeartRadio
app if you haven't done so already.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Like I said, it's free, very easy to use.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Then you just do a quick search on AM thirteen
under the zone.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
It'll pop straight up.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
And when it does, you see a little red button
with a white microphone.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
You tap that button.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's the talkback microphone talkback feature, and you can leave
us a message up to thirty seconds. You didn't have
to be that long and just say hey, I want
those tickets for tonight. It's all done digitally so it
would be sent to you and plenty of time for
the game. You say, hey, I'd like that pair of
tickets for the Texas women's game tonight. That's it. Verse
five to do it right now. We're going to get them,
and we're going to do this throughout the course of
the season. Men's basketball, women's basketball. I've already done some

(01:46):
of that, but we'll do some more throughout the course
of the season. So again, first five, folks who reach
us via the talkback feature, the talkback microphone on AM
thirteen under the zone dot com or you search AM
thirteen under the zone off of the iHeart Radio app.
Just pull up the iHeart Radio app, enter AM thirteen

(02:07):
under the zone. It pops up. That's when you hit
that talk back feature. First five. To do it, you
get a pair of tickets for the game. Glad to
have you with us. US, of course, includes the producer
Jay Carmon, who was overlooking last night's dismal effort by
the Washington Commanders.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
That was bad.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
It was bad, bad, bad form by a lot of
those guys to not just losing the game and you know,
getting chippy and throwing a punch and all that kind
of weird stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yesterday afternoon, rock bottom, rock bottom.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
And for a team that can now fully say this
is a lost season, there's no dancing around it.

Speaker 4 (02:45):
It was. It was rock bottom, it was not.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
It's the kind of display that makes you think change
is going to happen in some form, whether that's an
overhaul of the defense or some sort of change in
the coaching staff.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Coaching staff change happened in New York today. Brian dave
allfired coach of the New York Giants, so they'll be
in the line for a new head coach at the
end of the season. The Giants blew a ten point
fourth quarterly led all the way until the final four
minutes of the game, and then surrendered to ten point
leading the final four minutes to lose to the Bears.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
I don't understand how their defense is so bad situationally,
those in those late moments, that is a little bit
shocking to me. I know, Jackson Dart left the game
with a concussion. That can kind of take the air
out of your balloon. I know that once Dart leaves
the field, Okay, you're looking at an offense without Dart,
without Scataboo, and without neighbors. But you still got to

(03:34):
make a little bit. You have to do a better
job in that situation with the lead. It's been too
many times, too many times the same thing happening. But
Craig I was thinking about it that Giants opening is
pretty attractive right now.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, yeah, and someone will be definitely there'll be many
people interested in that. The other NFL stuff that happened.
How about the miraculous finished by the Houston Texans down
twenty nine to ten going into the full quarter and
Davis Mills rallies them back to get the win and

(04:10):
they get a scoop and score at the end to
just kind of put an exclamation point on it. But
they beat the Jaguars after being down and they were
still down there in the fourth quarter thirty four to
twenty nine and got touchdown and ended up winning the game.
So it's an amazing win for the Texans to kind
of keep what playoff hopes they do have alive now

(04:32):
at four and five of the win.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
And very impressive from Davis Mills couldn't get much going
in the first half, but made some big throws for
them late.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
What he marks was a nice little fantasy fill in
for me.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I thought he ran well with Chubb at less than
one hundred percent and.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
The defense they had some plays late for him.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, So Texans. Still we'll hear from Demiko. Ryan's coming
up in the program. Rams handled the forty nine ers.
Seahawks trampled the Cardinals. Rams and Seahawks huge battle in
LA for first place next week. They're both seven and
two right now and playing about Both of them are
playing about as well as anybody in the league.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Man Matthew Stafford is rolling back the years. I don't
know if there's anybody in the league playing better than
him right now.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
It's amazing what having an offensive line could do for you.
And that's why I just I shake my head. As
Rams fan and all the people have thought that the
Lions got the better end of the deal and the
Jared Goff trade on, No, they didn't in the first place.
Stafford quarterbacked them to a super Bowl, So start from
that and then go not that Jared Goff is you know,
chop Livery is not. He had a good game yesterday

(05:37):
at Washington's expense, but it's just not the same. And
then Seattle looks fabulous. They just do Sam Darnold as
re discovered and reinvigorated himself. That's gonna be a heck
of a game. And it's the first of two. They
don't play until they played next week, and then they
played later after that. So anyway, there's those things. But

(05:59):
this is after all, a Long Horns Monday. So every
long WRNS Monday, we bring you head coach Steve Sarkisian's
weekly news conference live at eleven thirty on Monday mornings,
and we did this morning. There was also a basketball
press conference with Sean Miller, and we'll hear comments from

(06:22):
coach Miller tomorrow. His team coming off that win over
the weekend. On Saturday after the noon in the home
opener against Lafayette, not to be confused with Louisiana, Lafayette.
Lafayette University from Easton, Pennsylvania, Texas won that one handily
and ninety seven to sixty, and so they'll they will

(06:42):
play next on Wednesday night against Fairley Dickenson University f.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Do you believe it? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Right, yeah, or some people call them fairly ridiculous, you know,
when they don't play well. But when they did pull
the upside, when they got the NCAA turn up, it
was pretty cool. So they played FDU on Wednesday, so
to marvel here is something from Sean Miller about that.
But this being a long orange Monday, there's some football
to get to. We'll hear from head coach Steve Sarkisian. Again,

(07:12):
we brought to the news conference in its entirety, Q
and A the whole bit live. We do that every Monday.
We did that this morning at eleven thirty when the
news conference takes place, and then for the purposes for
those of you who don't get to hear it live
at that time, we bring you all of his comments
from the news conference. We tell you what the question was,
a movement and you'll hear sarks comments on that.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
So we have that to get to.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Also kind of a preview of what the college football Playoff,
the updated college football Playoff rankings, what those might look like.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
So we'll talk about that.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
We do have inconceivable this hour, and there's some pretty
inconceivable things, including including uh, the President of the United
States as a play by play guy.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
We'll get we'll get there, we'll get there.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
We'll get to that anyway. We'll uh.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
So we've got that as part of inconceivable and uh.
As I mentioned, we'll hear from Demko Ryans as well.
But up next, we're gonna hear from Long Horn's head
coach Steve Sarkegan. We'll hear Sark's thoughts on the open date, weekend,
week and weekend.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
So they've just come through that.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Now they get ready for fifth rank Georgia, who look
pretty dog on good and their win in Starkville on
on Saturday over the weekend against Mississippi State. So we'll
hear from h We'll hear from Sark talking about Georgia
and about his team coming off of the bye week

(08:50):
and getting ready for the resumption of their season with
these huge games reigning. You have fifth ranke Georgia this
Saturday night. Who knows where they'll be ranked in the
College Football Playoff rankings when those come out tomorrow night.
Then they have a home game against Arkansas, and then
they conclude the regular season on Black Friday with the

(09:11):
Cotton Holdings Lone Stars Showdown rivalry match up with Texas
A and M.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
So they'll they'll have that, So that comes.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Your way, you know, on Friday evening on Black Friday
of Thanksgiving weekend as well. So they've got these big
games remaining. So as always, we're happy to take your questions,
your thoughts, your comments on the text line. All you
have to do is text the word Texas to eight
one five three zero. Text the word Texas followed by

(09:43):
your question or your comment whatever to eight one five
to three zero. Standard messaging and data rates may apply.
And again to the first five who access us via
the talkback feature of the talkback microphone, you have just
for the asking a pair of tickets to the Knights
Texas women's game against Louisiana Lafayette. Again, you download the

(10:04):
free iHeartRadio app if you don't already have it downloaded,
then search AM thirteen under the zone it pops up.
Then you after you do that, you hit that little
red button with a white microphone, and you leave us
a message saying you want the tickets and we'll get
them to you today in time for the game tonight.
Sark is next on thirteen under the zone of the
iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Okay, you may have recognized this song.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
As someone's entry submission when we had our cow bell
contest during the week of the Mississippi State game. We said,
what is the best song that employs the use of
the cow bell? And so the winner would go up
pair of tickets to the Vanderbilt game. By the way,

(10:56):
the winning entry was We're an American Band by Grand
Funk Railroad.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
A lot of people agree with that. It's great cow.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Bell use in that song, but this was submitted and
if you listen to it, it sounds like somebody's beating
the hell out of the cowbell.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
What we found out it's not a cow bell. You
hear it. That's not a cow bell?

Speaker 5 (11:18):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (11:19):
An L nineteen.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
Wood block is what we were told from antone like them,
our resonant drummer drummer of the band Whisk Whisk.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
Why don't want to say it was L sixteen. It's
one of those uh some kind of wood block.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, it's a wood block.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Actually it's not a it's not a cowbell, So it
was disqualified there. But the reason why Jake bumpback is
I saw yesterday that the name of that band is
Queens of the Stone Age. They're actually coming to play
a gig in Austin.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
Yeah, so you can go.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Take a look at it for yourself when they do
Little Sister.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
Fast Concert Hall next Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Okay, m I don't forget.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Maybe i'd go straight from uh, straight from Sarks show taping.
That's not that far over to pass concert Hall. Yeah,
I don't know, we'll see.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Just keep that in mind though, because you're going to
be on your way to Sarks taping. As Cam Parker
and I found out the night of the Lord concert,
there might be some alternate.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Again, there's another Lord show.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
No no, no, But I'm saying there's a show on
campus while you're heading that way.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
So just a little heads up.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
But I'm saying Lord just did a show ago.

Speaker 3 (12:26):
I'm just saying because there is a show, oh I
got you, Yeah, but not because it's not at Moody Center.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Maybe a little right. Yeah, So we'll hope for the best.

Speaker 4 (12:32):
It's a traffic advisory. Yeah, you don't like getting stuck.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah, all right, let's hear from the Longhorns head coach. Well,
you're from Steve Sarkisian and this again is from the
news conference. We brought it to you live this morning
here on the Zone, and we bring it to you
in the.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Sound bite version of it with his comments. Here's his
opening comments.

Speaker 6 (12:56):
I like, we thought came at a very good time
force from a standpoint of getting some guys healthy. Obviously
we're pretty nicked up coming out of the Vanderbilt game
and getting our guys fresh. You know, traveling kind of
takes his toll on everybody.

Speaker 5 (13:14):
So I do think.

Speaker 6 (13:16):
Really spirited, really engaging, you know, meetings and practice this morning,
which was.

Speaker 5 (13:20):
Good for us. Obviously, this week is a heck of a.

Speaker 6 (13:23):
Challenge, you know, going to play at Georgia and the
respect that we have for that program, the job that
they've done, not only this season but over the years,
and what what coach Smart has done. I think they've
been to four consecutive SEC championship games. It's got a
couple of national titles. They're a very tough team to
play at home. They're fifty one and two in their

(13:45):
last fifty three games at home, and this year in particular.
You know, I think that the one thing that has
been that has stood out is them finding a way
to make great adjustments and play in the second half
of games and continuing to fight. You know, even in
their one loss Alabama, I thought they played a tremendous
second half and gave themselves an opportunity to win that

(14:05):
ball game. So it's gonna take sixty minutes, and it's
gonna take all three phases. This can't be a one
dimensional game for us. We're gonna need all three phases
to play well. They've got a very balanced offensive attack.
I think Gunner Stockton has done a fantastic job of
running that offense and creating explosive plays with his arms,
with his legs. They're running the football effectively, you know. Defensively,

(14:28):
you're seeing them grow up week in and week out,
very physical front. There's a lot of new faces, a
lot of new names, but they all look very similar.
So they've got got very talented football Team's gonna be
a great challenge and we're looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
Next up Start was asked how important is it.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
And it's a little bit of a captain obvious question,
not as not as captain obvious is one that you'll
hear from Demiko. Ryan's coming up later, but this one
about how important is it that his headline guys play well? Now,
you know, we often talk about the sum of the
parts for a football team and how you know all
these contributors from different area special teams, offense, devents, whatever,

(15:10):
Guys who play a lot of snaps, guys that play
very few snaps. But in terms of the headline guys
like Anthony hillen defense, or arch Manning on offense, or
you know, Ryan Wingo on offense, or you know, Michael
taff on defense, whatever, the headline guys, how crucial is
it for Texas to have those headline guys play well
at Georgia.

Speaker 5 (15:30):
I think it's important for everybody.

Speaker 6 (15:33):
When when you play really good teams who are really
well coached, you never know what's going to be the
play or the plays that are going to be the
deciding factors in games like this, And so you know,
everybody's got a role in our organization. And for some
guys it's you know, seventy plays. You know, Anthony hill
Michael taff Those guys are going to play seventy five

(15:54):
eighty plays this game. Depending for other guys, it might
be one two five plays. You know, it could be
a kick coverage, It could be a critical block on
a punt return. It could be Matt Caldwell coming in
and having to make that pass. And so everybody's got
to get themselves ready to play. And I think our
guys have learned that throughout our season as we've grown
that you never know what's going to be the player,

(16:15):
the plays that are going to be the deciding factors,
and so everybody's got to get themselves ready to.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Go, all right. Next asked.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
About the fact that Georgia has won fifty one of
its fifty three last fifty three home games, like Sark
pointed out in his opening comments, so somebody asked him,
you know, Alabama had very similar numbers when you went
in the Tuscaloosa two years are going to beat them?
So do you do the same mo you tell them
about that going in.

Speaker 6 (16:41):
I think we need to focus on this team in
this game. We're a different football team than we were then.
This is a different environment, different team, We're playing, different stadium.

Speaker 5 (16:50):
So we've We've got.

Speaker 6 (16:51):
To focus on what we need to do to play
really well this Saturday night of seven thirty.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Next, he was asked, what is it about Georgia's defense
that the numbers don't tell because they don't have a
lot of quarterback sacks this year, but there's constant pressure
on the cornerback, on the quarterback, and there's constant limitation
of the opposing running game.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
Craig, I couldn't believe this stat what I heard it.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
I credit Dan Rubins team from the solid verbal going
into the Georgia versus Mississippi State game. Those two teams
were giving up the same amount of points per drive.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, yeah, amazing to consider all of that. So he
was asked what does he see about Georgia's defense that
the numbers don't tell.

Speaker 6 (17:30):
Well, I see these three linebackers hit the quarterback and
it's all three of them, you know, and so whether
it's c J. Allen Wilson, Chris Cole, those guys have length.
They're they're elite rushers, you know, they're they're they're very
gifted at you know, when they called even their run
pressures of getting to the quarterback. And then in some
of the obvious passing downs. We know they have a

(17:52):
great package on third down. So you know, I think
you know, one of the keys is as always, you know,
everybody wants to look at sacks. You know what the
other key is, are you affecting the quarterback as much
as it is sacking the quarterback? And so hey, we've
got to do a great job of identifying those guys
and minimizing their ability to affect the game.

Speaker 5 (18:11):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (18:11):
Naturally, you know, we've I think we have one turnover
in the last four games on offense, and so our
ability to continue to protect the ball I think is paramount.
And then defensively, we've got to find a way to
get the ball off them, whether it's off the quarterback,
the runners. You know, affecting the quarterback in the pocket
forces some amarant throws. That's when we're at our best,

(18:32):
and the ball is of such a value to us
that we've got to continue to make that an emphasis
this week throughout the week.

Speaker 5 (18:39):
So that's an emphasis Saturday night next.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
This is another one of those things that talks about
the small details, the togetherness, uh is that you know,
during a tense week and getting ready for a huge matchup,
how important.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
All of that stuff is.

Speaker 6 (18:55):
Just think that you know, as you grow as a
team throughout a season, you start to learn the personality
of the individual people in your building as well as
the overall personality of your organization and your team. Every
year it's a little bit different, you know, it's it's
not just a rinse and repeat and replicate, and this
is exactly who you are. You know, new leaders emerge,

(19:16):
personalities change schematically, you evolve, you find out you know
just kind of who you are. And I think we've
learned a lot about our team over that month of
being on the road, and so I think that our
guys are in a space and of a mind space
of you know, what's important and what's important is right

(19:36):
in front of us, and that's was this morning, you know,
of how important you know, this morning's meetings were, how
important this morning's walked through was, how important this morning's
practice was to get us ready for tomorrow. And I
think that this team has grown into that, you know,
I think early on we were a little too focused
on what was down the road, and I think we've

(19:59):
gotten maturity of a team now that is focused on
the task at hand and what's right in front of us,
and that's what this game requires. This game against Georgia
requires all of its attention that it deserves. And that
attention isn't just Saturday night at seven thirty, it's the
attention that it deserves today at seven pot fifteen this
morning at our first team meeting.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Okay, all right there, and then this one from a
Sark as well asked about the health update because we
told Jim, we said this going into the press conference
that it was going to be interesting to see what
Sark had to say about three guys, in specific, Michael
Taff coming off of that thumb surgery, and he was

(20:41):
actually Taff was actually listed in the questionable to doubtful
type stage, so he was listed in that category. Jeelania
McDonald's going through protocol for the concussions in the Vanderbilt game,

(21:02):
and then Ryan Wingo with a thumb injury.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
So Sark mentioned in the post came after that Vanderbilt game.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
We got to get guys healthy next week, and when
he did his press conference on money, so we got
to get guys healthy.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
That's what this open data is all about.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
The bye week, Let's get guys healthy and then get
back on form. So he was asked for an update
on those three guys.

Speaker 6 (21:20):
All those guys practice this morning.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Look great.

Speaker 6 (21:22):
I don't foresee any setbacks there, So feel good about that.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Okay, so there it is said. He felt pretty good
about that.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
So those guys practicing and getting back to readiness being
ready for this, all right, So there you go. All right,
coming up, we're gonna have him conceivable a little bit
later on this hour. Before we're done, we'll run down
with the projected college football playoff rankings might look like.

(21:52):
We'll get to that. We'll get to some of your
questions on the text line as well, and again while
we still have them, uh the while they're still available.
If you want a pair of tickets to tonight's Texas
women's basketball game, all you have to do is contact
us via the talkback feature. So download the iHeartRadio app

(22:14):
if you haven't already done so, it's free, it's very easy.
Then you do a quick search on AM thirteen under
the zone. It pops right up. You'll see two buttons.
One's a little white triangular button that's to listen to
what's going on out over the air. But there's a
red button with a white microphone. The microphone that's the key,
the talkback mic. You hit that button, you can leave

(22:36):
us a message up to thirty secs. That didn't even
have to be that long. We are first winner. Just
said okay, thank you, and that was it and he
got a pair of tickets.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah, we had some longer ones on Friday, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
For the for the men's game. Yeah, tickets open.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
We had some people that jumped all over those, and.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
We should have some more to give away on Wednesday
for the men's game. We'll see. But so that's all
it is.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
You just just contact us again, download the free iHeartRadio
app if you haven't already done so, then do a
search AM thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
It'll pop right up, and then hit.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
That little red butt with a white microphone that's the
talkback microphone, and you just say, hey, I'm like a
pair of tickets for tonight's women's game.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's all you have to say.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
We've got your number and all that information tracked in
and then we'll get in touch with you. They'll be
digitally sending to you and you'll have tickets for the game.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
It's that easy.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
From sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone. Any iHeartRadio
app second hour of the program here on sports Radio

(23:46):
AM thirteen hundred of the Zone, Craig Wade joined by
the producer Jay Kerman. Glad you're along for the ride
as well, and glad to have you with us. This
is a Long Worns Monday, which means, of course we
bring you Long Worn Ahead coach Steve Sarkesan's news conference
live every Monday morning at eleven thirty. That we did,
and we'll hear more from sark in addition to the

(24:10):
fact that we bring you the news conference live every
Monday morning at eleven thirty, then we bring it to
you in sound like for him in the afternoon. The
answers to the questions from the head coach we had
some of the two o'clock hour, have some in this
hour and some next hour to cover the breadth of that.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Long Worton men's.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
Basketball team comes off in ninety seven and sixty win
at an easy cruise in their victory over Lafayette or
Lafayette the school in Pennsylvania, not Lafayette.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Who is Louisian Lafayette. He's playing the Texas women to night.
More on that at a.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Moment Long Worn men won Their next action is Wednesday
night against Fairleigh Dickenson. On that we'll have some tickets
to give away on Wednesday on that, so stay tuned
forward details on that. And as we mentioned, the Texas
Women one Friday Night of a rich and they're two
and zero. They play tonight at Moody Center and they

(25:07):
play Louisiana Lafiete. As they say down there, the raging
Caguns of Louisiana Lafayette. And we'll have it for you
right here on the zone six forty five pregame start
time and the tip off at seven o'clock.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
Afy Arsenal join me for that one, so we'll have
that for you.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
And while they last, we're giving away tickets to the game.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
All you have to do, they're just there while they last.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
For the asking is to reach us via the talkback microphone,
the talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app. So if
you don't al really have the iHeartRadio app downloaded on
your smartphone, it's very easy and it's free.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
So you just download the app.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Then you pull up the app and then do a
little search, real quick search for AM thirteen under the zone.
It'll pop straight up and when it does. You'll see
a couple of buttons there. One is a little white
triangular one that's just to listen to what's going on
the air. But the one that pertains to our contesting
and giveaway is a little red button with a white microphone.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
That's the key punch that button.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
One with the microphone that activates the talkback feature, the
talkback microphone here at the station.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
And then you just leave us a message up to
thirty seconds.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Didn't even have to be that, maybe five seconds when
and say hey, I'd like to have a pair of
tickets for that game. Thanks, And we've got your number
and name and all that, and then we electronically send
you the tickets. It's it's that easy. It is that simple,
in fact, in fact, on the text line, if you
just want to text the programming and do so, you

(26:34):
text the word Texas followed by your question or comment
to eight one, five three zero.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
As I mentioned.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
But somebody said it is that easy, and I think it.
For the Alice Cooper tickets, it was almost as exciting
as the North Texas buzzer beater they did. I don't
know if anybody noticed that a North Texas football they're
having this landmark here.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
They're eight and one.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Everybody's very excited about them having a shot to win
the American Conference, maybe even get into the college football playoff.
But they're basketball is off to an unbeaten start, and
they hit a buzzer beater to beat Loyola in Chicago,
and they beat them over over the weekend, so they're
also a good start. So that's what our resident me
and green alum was was pointing out.

Speaker 4 (27:14):
How about that Dylan Arnett from Chicago.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, yeah, so pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Uh, As I mentioned, coming up in a few minutes,
what's some more college football? We'll hear more from sart
uh now, somebody asked on the text line last hour,
were there some surprises from the final week of district play?

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Dripping Dripping Springs.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
Finally getting the w for Westlake was just a matter
of time given how they've been playing. You may be
right about that, certainly possibility. But congratulations to Galen Zimmerman
and the Dripping Springs Tigers. They won the game against
Westlake on Friday night and as a result, captured the

(27:57):
top seed.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
In the Division two bracket.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
Like travel won the district title outright, and they're the
top seeing the Division one bracket, Lake Travis is playing
Round Rock and even though Lake Travis is the higher
Sea and has right to quote unquote host the game,
the game will be at the Kelly Reeves Athletics Complex,
the Palace Home Parmer because Lake Travis doesn't have use
of its own stadium right now. They've been playing designated

(28:21):
home games at Dripping Springs Stadium, but Drip is playing
at home. They're doing it on Thursday night against Vista Ridge.
Lake Travis will play Round Rock in a Round Rock
isd facility, but Lake Travis will be the home team.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
So that three way tie that we spend all season
kind of seeing coming like a slow moving train.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yep, it happened. It happened, It happened.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
We broke it all down for you.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Vista Ridge late won and held on and beat Westwood.
Otherwise they would have been out. Round Rock took Vandergrift
to overtime, but Vandergriff won it in overtime and then
Huddle beat McNeil. So when the point differential that went
between three in the three way tie break, McNeil was
left out. It put Round Rock in the playoffs as

(29:05):
the runner up in the Division one bracket where they
draw Lake Travis and even though like I said, it's
at the Kelly Reeves Athletics Complex, the Palace Palace on Parmer,
Lake Travis will be the desigated home team the runner up.
They're the runner up in the D one bracket from
twenty five to six A. The top seed in Division
one in twenty five to six A is Hudder and

(29:27):
they host the runner up from twenty six six A
that's Bowie and that will be at Huddle's Memorial Stadium
on Friday night, so they get that. Then you get
to the Division two bracket. As I mentioned, Dripping Springs
is the top seed. They play Vista Ridge and that
game will be at Tiger Stadium, will be a Drip
and it'll be on Thursday night and then Friday night.

(29:50):
How about this for a by district game, Vandergrift against Westlake.

Speaker 4 (29:54):
Yep, how about that? Give me all of that.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
A Division two defending state champion Pandigrip against a Division
one runner up from a year ago Westlake.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Victory.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Plus the group that I call games for selected that
game as it's game of the week. Now I won't
be calling that. I'll be in Athens, Georgia getting ready
for the Texas Georgia game. I believe ted Emerck will
be on the call of that. But anyway, that's that's
the game. If you're wanting to watch it, it's free
on Victory Plus, the Victory place wherever you get your
podcasts and stuff.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's downloadble, it's free. All that's easy.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
It's where if you've watched the Dallas Stars on Victory Plus,
that's the same place. And you can get it through YouTube,
TV or any of the any of the places where
you would get your streaming done for television or streaming
on the app on your phone.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
So it's free to be able to view that.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Additionally, Roger Wallace and the people at KBVO have Thursday
night they're going to televise Dripping Springs against Vista Ridge
and then Friday night they're televising Lake Travis against Round Rock,
So they'll be doing that and again Friday night the

(31:05):
Westlake Vandergriff game from Monroe Stadium there at Vandagers. Vandergriff
gets to play as home as the higher seed there
at the top seed in the D two bracket. That
game will be televised live on Victory plus on Friday night,
and you, my friend, you'll be busy with a Friday
night home game bast Drop against Burbay.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
That's right, okay. So, and that'll be a home game
for the Bears.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
And it'll be a game where the Bears are trying to
bounce back because their trip to Liberty Hill did not
go as planned. And at Liberty Hill, by winning the
line of scrimmage, just turn that one into I think,
a much more lopsided game than anybody thought it would be.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, Liberty Hill, they do that because the way they
run slot t and it's all predicated on your play
at the line of scrimmage. So with that in mind,
it was going to take this opportunity to run down
in answer to the text about the other things going
to run down, the playoff pairings for the area schools. Okay,
So starting off in six A Division one, as I mentioned,

(32:12):
the ones that matter there for the schools in the
area are in Region four. Huddo against Bowie Friday night
at Huddo Memorial Stadium. The winner of that plays the
winner of the matchup between San Antonio Johnson, who I've
seen this year, they're really good and San Antonio Conner.

(32:35):
They play all right, then Lake Travis against Round Rock
at Kelly Reeves seven o'clock. The winner plays the winner
of Brennan and Reagan. Brennan really good, So that could
be a difficult second round matchup there.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
All right, that's division one. Now.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
In six A Division two, I just accidentally did not
intend to do this, but I clicked out.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
Oh I've got six A Division two.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah, yeah, I got I just all I did was
I accidentally clicked out of the whole thing. Okay, I
have it now, all right, So six A Division two,
as I mentioned, in six A Division two, the two
matchups that involve the area schools between twenty five six
A and twenty six six A. The top seed in

(33:32):
twenty five six A in division two is Vandergriff and
they will play Westlake.

Speaker 4 (33:37):
And kids call that one a banger.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Craig. Is that what they call him?

Speaker 4 (33:40):
Oh they could if they wanted to.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Okay, yes they could, absolutely, It's entirely possible.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Go to be a banger anyway.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
Vandergriff, Westlake Friday night atmund Roach Tatum Again. Victory Plus
is televising that one live then, and by the way,
congratulations in Sam Marcus. They got into the playoffs, they
play eagle Pass at home Friday night. So John Walsh
and his team advancing to the playoffs, WI play eagle
Pass and that's a very winnable game for them. And

(34:08):
then I mentioned Dripping Springs plays Vista Ridge Thursday night
at Drip. The winner draws the winner of the matchup
between Harlan, Hives, San Antonio and Madison.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
You can take your pick.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
I think Harlan, san Antonio, Johnson or Brennan.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Any one of those three.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
You could say you can make a real strong case
for being the best team in San Antonio, and Harlan's
one of them. So could be a tough second round
matchup as well for the winner of the Dripping Springs
this Ridge game.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
It could certainly happen, So yeah, it could be. It
could be tough.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
That bracket in general is strong this year.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Yeah, it really is, and stronger than the bottom of
the bracket normally is okay, five A Division one and
and you know the rest of the playoff brackets. The
divisions are split before the season starts, so it was
pretty easy to figure out only six A do they

(35:05):
wait on that based on enrollment. But in five A
Division one, if you go to Region two, Region two,
Georgetown lost to Cedar Park final game of the regular season.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
I know it's.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Surprised him for the shootout.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Yeah, So Georgetown will play Burleston Centennial Friday night, Georgetown
i SD Stadium, Burkelebox, So they'll play there. Because they
lost that game, it pushed them to a side of
the bracket that could be difficult. Basically, they could be
winding up playing third rank Frisco Loan Star in the
second round of the playoffs. Also out of the district,

(35:42):
Cedar Park is playing Tyler at Gupton on Friday. The
winner of that to get the winner of the game
between Frisco Wakeland and Newman Spient.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Now that's Region two.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Then you drop to Region four and in Region four
it's the San Antonio Area schools against the Valley schools.
Out of that and that's Region four in five A
Division one. So five A Division one, what you're talking
about are when you mention the area schools in five
A Division one, you're talking about in Region two.

Speaker 4 (36:12):
All right, don't forget Region three with Anderson.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Oh yeah, I knew I'd left out one thing off
of that.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
That's right, So Anderson gets to play a home playoff game.
That's really cool, and it's gonna be Saturday afternoon. Anderson
winds up drawing the top seed being being that even
though they wound up being a coach champ in that district,
Anderson does get to play at home in the by
district round of the playoffs. And there'll be Saturday afternoon

(36:38):
against Friendswood three o'clock at house Park.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
So house Park is hosting a playoff game.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
And then the other matchup that involves the area school
wise is playing Friday night.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
They got to travel on the road to play a
really good Laporte team.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
That is a bad draw for both teams. That is
a really good first round game.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
Yeah, so it's gonna be. It's gonna be.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
The other two schools that A district the land of
the playoffs were A and M consolidated uh And and
College Station, so they were the other other teams to
wind up getting into the playoffs out of that. So
that's in five A now in four A Division one,
and there's interesting notes out of four A Division one

(37:23):
and uh and area schools obviously playing, but in looking
at the matchups, in the by district round in for
a Division one. Uh, there's you know, you congratulate all
the teams that make the playoffs, you do that, but
there's there's some special things to come out of this
first of all, and it's all out of region for LBJ.

(37:46):
Congrats to the Jags and win another district title. They
played Fredericksburg at Nelson Field Friday nights. It they'll play
the Battling Billies Friday night. Frederick stog getting in with
a three and seven record because they won't enough district games.
Mad props and congratulations to east Side Early College. Great
to see them get into the playoffs for the first

(38:08):
time ever as east Side. This was the school that
had been Johnston had been closed for poor academic performance
by the tea years ago reopened as east Side Memorial
to Eastside Early College, and they really had just a
really hard time for a while. In fact, it wasn't
that long ago two three years ago when we wondered
if they were even going to score a point in

(38:30):
the season, wind up scoring eight. Well, this year they
got off to a good start and they landed in
the playoffs. That's the good news for east Side. They're
in the playoffs for the first time ever as east Side,
first time for the school formerly known as Johnston to
get into the playoffs since nineteen ninety one when they
were Johnston.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
That's the good news.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
Yeah, the bad news is coming.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
They're in Davenport, from the north side of San Antonio
and Davenport number three team in the state.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
They're ten and zero.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
It's Thursday night, so it may well be the end
of the line. But I'll tell you what. Lewis Psarah
building a big things there at east Side. So congratulations
to east Side making it to the playoffs. All right,
the other teams media playoffs. Mayor New Tech is playing
Friday night at House Park against Somerset and Taylor.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
The Ducks made it.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
They'll play Canyon Lake and they'll play in Lockhart on
Friday night. So that's your for a Division one playoff bracket.
In for a Division two for the area schools that
have advanced to the postseason. As I pulled up the
times and locations for these, it was just a little

(39:39):
slow to move. Now I got it, okay for a
Division two and in four a D two the and
you go to Region four for this In for a
Division two for the teams that have landed in the postseason,
we pull that up. Okay, all right, you start off

(40:04):
with Slato. They played Piersalt Pierce Hall got in as
a two and eighteen and they'll play in conference on
Friday night, So Slato Eagles made it there also making
it play Gonzales. They'll play Bandera in the by district
round and then on the bottom part of the bracket,
Gerald Cougars will play Divine the war Horses. They'll play

(40:27):
at Bob Shelton Stadium in Buttah on Friday night. Actually
it's Mountain City, Texas is where the campus is the
little community of that there, but it's the Butte ISD Stadium,
the Hayes consolidated ISD Stadium at Bob Shelton Stadium. That's
Friday nine at seven and Wimberley in They played Corrizo
Springs and that's on the southwest side of San Antonio,

(40:49):
right about where Loop four to ten comes around near
I thirty seven down in Von Army, and it's a
good little chunk south. But they're playing Carrezo Springs with
which is pretty far south. That's why Wimberly is going
down there. So that's in four A Division two in
the playoffs. Now moving to three A Division one in

(41:12):
the post and three A Division one may be the
most wide open this season for that and as we
go to region well, the closest one in Region three
would be Little River Academy there south of Temple.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
They play Hitchcock on Friday night.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
And then in Region for or Atlanto against Potit they
play Thursday night in Kerrville. Also in Region four.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Looking for the one other, I thought there was another
area team playing there, but apparently not. I think that's
that's the only area team that's that's advancing to the
playoffs out of Region four in three A Division one.
I just want to make sure.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
Hey, two more teams by the way.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Yeah in five A Division two, Yeah, you have Connelly
who ended their season with the win over Flugerville at
the field. All right, they're gonna go to San Antonio's
Saist Athletic Complex play San Antonio Jefferson. Connolly actually moves
up to the number three seed out of that district. Okay,
Flugerville fell to the number four seed. They're gonna take

(42:18):
on San Antonio Sam Houston on Friday night at Alamo Stadium.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Okay, all right, yeah, I did. I left out five
A D two.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
I didn't mean to do that because your ball club
we mentioned and Liberty Hill was playing at home in
the by district ground. Also in five A Division two.

Speaker 4 (42:32):
L host Lanier. That's a Thursday night game.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Three A Division two and you go to Region four
for that. Blanco will play Vanderbilt Industrial that's in Luling
on Friday night. Also in three A Division two, Lexington
will play Brasses. That's Wallace Brasses as in Brass Consolidated.
That's in Lagrange on Friday night. So that's your three

(42:57):
A Division two in Region four. Off of that, and
then finally in UH in Class two A and yes,
there are area schools that did advance to the playoffs
in the smallest classification in the in eleven man football

(43:18):
in the state. It is not, of course counting six man,
which is the smallest classification, but in terms of the
smallest eleven man division in two A Division one, UH,
and you'd have to go down let me see how
far we have to go down down into Region four.
Thorndale will play Moody on Thursday night in Temple. So

(43:42):
there's that and Mason and Marlin will play at the
field in Fluckerville by the way on Thursday night, which
could should be a good matchup. And Johnson City will
play Crawford. That's a Bulldog Stadium that's in Bartlett, uh
and that that game will be on Friday night as well,
So congratulations.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
And that's at Bulldog Stadium there in Bartlett. So there's
a lot of games, all right.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
That's to a Division one and then finally into a
Division two. And this could be one of the dangerous
teams I think to watch in the to A Division
two playoffs. And that's Granger and they're unbeaten. They've played
to Hennis and they're gonna play in Segeen on Friday night.

(44:26):
Also on Friday night. Let's see what's the other one
from that district there? Burton is playing Bracketville on Friday night.
They're at the Veterans Memorial Stadium in San Antonio in
the Jetson High sty.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
So there it is.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
There's your complete playoff rundown for all of the teams
that are playing high school playoff football. What am I
missing something here? Oh? Okay, all right, getting ready to
take the break. Make sure by the way, when you
when you access us via the talkback feature, be sure

(45:06):
to put your cell number in there because that's important
in terms of the actual ticket giveaway on that So
if you're calling in or contacting us via the talkback feature,
they're on the iHeartRadio app. If you want the tickets
for the Texas women's basketball game for tonight while they
last while we have them giveaway, make sure you put
your cell.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Number in there as well.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
All Right, more from coach Sart coming up when we
continue on thirteen Under the Zone here on a longboarnings Monday,
here on thirteen Under the Zone, let's hear some more
from head coach Stieve Sarkeesian, starting off with how does
his team get better on the road or better results
on the roll.

Speaker 6 (45:48):
I think at the end of the day, you know,
one of one of the key components on the road
is trying to minimize a self inflicted wounds. And when
you look at, you know, the two losses that we had,
you know, we had opportunities at Ohio State to change
really change the complexion of that game. And I think
part of that is red zone efficiency. Offensively, I think

(46:12):
to the ball, you know, we didn't win the turnover
battle in either of those games, so those are two
main components there. I do think in both those games
there were things that to take away from that I
was proud of. I thought our guys showed great poise
and composure late in both of those games. We got
the ball with an opportunity to either tie or go
win those games, and we didn't capitalize. But I think

(46:34):
we learned a lot about ourselves in our fight, even
though we were probably a more immature team at those times.
I think those games helped us later in the year
when we were in some of those other tighter games
on the road. So ideally starting a little faster will
help us. But again, this game is going to take
all sixty minutes. It doesn't matter who gets the lead early.
As we found out playing these guys in the past,

(46:55):
this is going to be a sixty minute game.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Somebody asked about a quote unquote new role for Ryan Wingo,
in other words, getting in the screen game and getting
downfield instead of just stretching the field. Sark was asked
about what led to this quote unquote new role for Wingo.

Speaker 6 (47:09):
I think this is what we always envisioned. It would
be so I don't think it's necessarily new. I think
it's just taking some time, you know, And that's okay.
Things things take time. And what I'm happy about is
that we're evolving and getting better as the seasons moving on.
And that's a credit to those players of working at
their craft and trying to improve and trying to get

(47:32):
better at whether it's understanding timing or making plays on
the ball, or trusting his speed in Wingo's case, to
really be electric with the ball in his hands. And
so that's just the growth that I think a young
offensive football teams had to had to go through some
of those growing pains. But we're kind of getting on
the other side of it now. We need to continue
to play better than that and that's the key for

(47:54):
us is that we can't rest now.

Speaker 5 (47:56):
We got to keep pushing a striving for more.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Among the trademark elements you see from Georgia's their ability
to blitz the quarterback very well, and then on the
offense tight ends Oscar delt being the big guy this year,
but they've had great tight ends like brock Bauers and
other ones in the past. And Sark was asked about
what makes those things stand out.

Speaker 6 (48:16):
They're good at it, you know. They they've got good people,
they've got good coaches. They call things at the right time,
they stem their fronts, you know, with really good timing.
I mean, all those things add up to those things
could be an issue for you and the same thing
I think on the other side, we've got good players
and they use them well, you know, and so you know,

(48:38):
that's a credit to their staff and the Caribbey and
his staff aid to recruit the quality of players that
they have and then be utilizing the talent that they
do have.

Speaker 1 (48:46):
Quick question with a quick response, what did he learn
about his team during the bye week?

Speaker 5 (48:50):
We had some issues and we got better at them.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
Yeah, as simple as that, all right.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
How efficient is he seeing Ethan Burke developed now as
a pass rusher.

Speaker 6 (49:00):
I'm really proud of Ethan. You know, we he he
had a great offseason for us. He had a great
spring ball in summer, and I think one of the
areas that kind of can go a little unnoticed because
we always we always want to look at production.

Speaker 5 (49:14):
His leadership has been fantastic.

Speaker 6 (49:16):
You know, that guy has grown up a ton in
our program, and uh, I'm really happy for him that
he's getting the production now. The last few weeks, you know,
he was he was banged up pretty good there a
little over a month ago, and we were getting a
really scaled down version of Ethan Burke. But now that
he's gotten healthy, he is he is providing exactly what

(49:38):
we need on that strong side to be the player
that he is. We know what we're getting on the
on the week side with Colin and now to get
it from the other side with Ethan. I think they're
they're a really good compliment to one another in their
style of play, and I think they feed off of
one another and and calling speed rushes, his ability to
move the quarterback off the spot has allowed Ethan to

(49:59):
to kind of do so some of that dirty work
and mop up some of those things, and so they
work really well with one another that way, all right.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Next, he was asked about, you know, with the reconfiguring
of the offensive line, and it's not even really a reconfiguring,
it's just sliding Cole Hudson over to left guard once
he got healthy and letting Connor Robertson be the starting
center there. But he was asked about his confidence level
in this O line setup.

Speaker 6 (50:22):
These guys have all evolved, and you know, our tackles.
I think for the most part, it played pretty good
this year. Now can they get better? Of course, you know,
we're always trying to get those guys better. I've said
about the last you know, two to three weeks. We're
getting the best version of DJ Campbell that we've gotten
since we've been here. And you never know what an

(50:44):
injury can do for you. But with Cole being out
two different times this year, it's kind of pushed Connor
Robertson in at center and all he's done is play
pretty good for us. And so when when Cole came
back to put him at left guard, I think it
gave everybody a little bit of sense of confidence, like, hey,
now now we really have some players in here that

(51:06):
have some experience that are playing as a unit rather
than as individuals. The offensive line is about a unit
and how do you play collective lead together And I
thought we were able to do that against Vanderbilt.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
I thought they played really well.

Speaker 6 (51:19):
I don't know if there was just some suit efforts
where guys were just playing out of their mind, but man,
they played pretty good together. We picked up Blitz as
much better than we had all year. And I think
that's a sign of maturity and communication and trust that
I think having those guys in there, and I think
that's probably the sense and feeling that we have as
a coaching staff, you know, and coach Flood myself. I

(51:41):
think there's a real sense of trust in the five
that are out there right now that they're gonna be
able to execute at maybe a little higher level than
we were executing earlier in the season.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
With the return of Michael taff to the secondary off
injury as well as Jelina McDonald, What is this secondary
going to look like now that takes the field in
Athens on Saturday.

Speaker 6 (52:00):
Well, let's start with getting sixteen back, getting four back, okay,
getting seventeen back healthy.

Speaker 5 (52:07):
I mean, those are factors for us.

Speaker 6 (52:10):
And and you know, Grayson Littleton, you know, having you
know that as a true freshman playing the amount of
snap snaps he's playing, I think him having a bye
week to kind of get his body refreshed is big
for him.

Speaker 5 (52:23):
But but all.

Speaker 6 (52:24):
Those guys that I touch on affect what we do
on the perimeter because that's everybody playing on the same accord.
That's everybody you know, working together, that's the communication and
communicating with confidence. And so I do think Manny Jalen
and Kate Phillips growing up, I do think their play
is is affected by what we do inside. You know,

(52:45):
when you have to try to protect things inside, that
puts guys a little bit more on islands on the perimeter.
But I think if we can play as one as
a unit, we're pretty good back there. And so getting
sixteen and four and seventeen, you know, healthy, the emergence
of Jonah, I think has been helpful for us as well.
So very confident in that unit and looking forward to

(53:06):
them play Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Okay again in the review, sixteen is Michael taff four
is Johnny McDonald, seventeen Exavier fill to me. So all
of that is important, all right, simple question. And the
next three games do or die games for his team.

Speaker 6 (53:18):
It's the way we've been the last three years, you know,
since we lost to Florida. The first bullet point when
I talked to the team about what it takes is
this is an SEC championship game, and that good went
back now for the last month, and so this week's
not different that way. It's not like we're putting more
into it than that. It is what it is. You know,

(53:39):
if we want to play in an SEC championship game,
I gotta win Saturday night.

Speaker 5 (53:43):
It just is what it is.

Speaker 6 (53:44):
And so let's focus on what we need to do
today to make that happen.

Speaker 1 (53:47):
Winning Saturday Night means beating a Georgia team that year
in year out seems to be right there at or
near the top of the list in the SEC and
on the college football landscape. So sart ask, is it
the ultimate compliment that Georgia is one of those programs
where the names change but the results remain the same.

Speaker 6 (54:04):
I think that what they do from a recruiting standpoint,
they know the body types, they know the athletic ability
they're looking for and very specific by position, and then
ultimately the competitive spirit that those guys have. And it's
a credit to Kirby, he's been the best in our

(54:25):
industry for the last decade now. Of doing that is
a lot of people have changed or in and around
the country. Georgia has remained very consistent with their approach
in recruiting, with their approach and style of players that
they look for and to their style of play. They
love the tight ends. They recruit tight ends really well.
They love versatile linebackers. They recruit versatile linebackers really well.

(54:48):
They love length at corner. They recruit corners that are
six to one and taller. And so you can see
the consistency and their approach. And so one year that
wave of players leaves. I think that four first round
picks on defense comes the next wave of guys that
all looked a lot like the guys that just moved on.
And so credits to those guys, in credit to Kirby,
They've done a heck of a job.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
All right, we'll hear more from Sark coming up next hour.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Up next, we hear from Demico Ryans, the head coach
of those victorious Houston Texans, here on thirteen under the zone.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Well it wasn't Tennessee, it was reality.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
The Houston Jackson's come from behind win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The nineteen point come from behind win stands as the
second largest and franchise history, trailing only a twenty one
point rally against the Chargers back in twenty thirteen, but
the twenty six unanswered points represent the longest unanswered scoring

(55:45):
run in the league this season, they rallied back Davis
Mills twenty seven to forty five two ninety two yards,
two touchdowns and the interception. Also rushed for the game
winning fourteen yard touchdown. Nico Kyla seven catches one hundred
and thirty six yards, So all the way around, big
moments there for several different players. Sheldon Rankins had that

(56:10):
scoop and score to in the ball game, Will Anderson
knocked the ball loose on the strip sack to set
that up. So obviously in the victorious locker room afterwards,
Demiko Ryans was pretty thrilled about everything as he spoke
to his.

Speaker 7 (56:23):
Team, where do I start? Last night? We talked we
talked about it last night, man, and we talked about swinging. Right.

Speaker 5 (56:33):
We were at halftime.

Speaker 7 (56:34):
We were in that sixth round, right and we needed
everybody to keep swinging. I told you, guys, don't blink
no matter what. Everybody just kept punching, kept punching. We
kept going Haymakers to finish in the fourth quarter. Guys,
we finished twenty six to zero in.

Speaker 4 (56:48):
The fourth quarter. That's that's how you.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Right there, man.

Speaker 5 (56:55):
I just man, I just appreciate you guys. Man.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
So much talked about having that relentlessness here.

Speaker 7 (57:01):
And that will to win. That's what it looks like
right there. That's us finishing in the fourth quarter. All right,
love you guys, man, appreciate the effort. I've never been
a part of a game like that. Man, that was
so much fun.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
I love it.

Speaker 7 (57:12):
But unlet's not.

Speaker 5 (57:13):
Making that close next time.

Speaker 7 (57:16):
Hey, there's a couple couple of people to shout out here.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
All right, first start starting.

Speaker 7 (57:19):
No offense, man, Davis, Man, Man, I'll standing job of
leading all week. Man to come in this game and
battle the way you battle. Two passing touchdowns and one
rushing touchdown.

Speaker 8 (57:42):
I'll standing the job, I said, I'll standing.

Speaker 5 (57:45):
Sweet.

Speaker 8 (57:47):
Just appreciate you guys for having faith in me to
go in there and get the job done.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
Hey, guys, that one more man.

Speaker 7 (57:58):
All right. We've been in this situation a couple of
times this year, right, and defense, well, we.

Speaker 5 (58:02):
Needed you most to step up and close the game out.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
All right.

Speaker 4 (58:06):
We gotta get a game ball here that the hunt think.

Speaker 7 (58:08):
He's finished at three and a half, I know he
got a big steam Mores. Keep talking with Phills, keep
talking with.

Speaker 9 (58:28):
Hold On, hold on, I got one more game.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Ball to give out.

Speaker 9 (58:31):
Okay, So I'm gonna do it because he's the best
leader in the best coach we have in the league.
So those you don't know at the moment, sounds for
Earl Conchran before the game.

Speaker 7 (58:39):
Okay.

Speaker 9 (58:39):
Earl was a massive part of Tomiko's life.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
Okay.

Speaker 9 (58:42):
So he's got a heavy heart, all right. He's been
thinking about it's been weighing on him. But he went
out there and he fought and he led like he
always does, all right, because he loves his team, he loves.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Aaron Is.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
The game balls there and the speech from Deviko Ryans.
We'll be back to wrap up hour number two. I'm
thirteen on the Zone, third and final hour of the
four o'clock hour. Third and final hour is the four
o'clock hour here of the program here on sports Radio
AM thirteen under the Zone. Craig Way joined by the

(59:15):
producer Jay Kerrman, glad to have you with us. We'll
hear some more from Long Horn's head coach, Steve Sarcasian.
We've heard a bit from him in each of the
two o'clock and three o'clock hours of the program, but
that's the way we roll on Long Horns Monday, as
we hear from the Long Horns head coach. So we'll
do some more of that coming up. Also a little
later on this hour, we'll hear from Demenico Ryans. Now

(59:39):
we heard a little bit of him with that locker
room speech that he had afterwards. It was more like
just locker room euphoria, and rightly so, with the Texans
down nineteen points into the fourth quarter, down twenty nine
to ten and coming back and went an amazing comeback
to kind of as I an Eagle who I think
is as good a play by play voice as there

(01:00:00):
is in all of pro sports and college basketball. He's
just outstanding. For CBS. Has he put it Houston trying
to save its season. He said that on a couple
of occasions, and they have, at least for the time being,
They have kept their season alive, at least for the

(01:00:21):
time being. Now they still have an uphill climb, but
it's a little closer now. In the AFC South, in fact,
even though Indianapolis still is in complete command of that division,
they are up at three and a half games there
on the Texans. There are only one game back of
the Jaguars, and maybe they can fight their way into

(01:00:44):
wild card contention if they can continue to win. But again,
the climb is an uphill one because even with Buffalo
just completely no showing yesterday in Miami, and I watched
a good portion of that game and they were a
total no show in that game. Even with that, the

(01:01:05):
Bills are six and three in second place. Now they're
a game and a half back of New England because
the Patriots, who won seven in a row, are red
hot there. But the Dolphins aren't a contenter, even though
they beat the Bills at three and seven, so they're
not in the race. And of course now they're the
Jets in the North, which always kind of was viewed
as a black and blue division like the old NFC

(01:01:29):
Central Division, or as Chris Berman always like to call
on the ESPN, the Norris Division like from Hockey Reference.
It is a dogfight. I mean, the Steelers after last
night's loss are five and four. The Ravens, who have
come from the bottom up now have won three in
a row. They were one in five and considered to

(01:01:51):
be dead and out of the race. Now they're four
and five. They're one game out of first and then
the Bengals and Browns probably are not in the race.
Three and six and two and seven probably not gonna.
In the South, I mentioned the Colts are eight and two.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
With that win. They got an overtime of.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
The Falcons yesterday, and then the Jacks are five and four,
but the Texans are only one game back of Jacksonville,
Tennessee out of the race at one and eight. And
then the curiosity is in the West. Were Denvers eight
and two, but Los Angeles just one game back. They
won three in a row. The Broncos have won seven straight.
And even despite the loss by the Chiefs. You know,

(01:02:27):
here's coming off of bye week, the loss the week prior,
but that Kansas City's coming off of bye week, they
start a lot of the Chiefs that they are five
and four. So if you counted the playoff contenders and
you don't count the Texans in on this, you have
New England and Buffalo. In the East, you have probably
only one team coming out of the North, the division champion.

(01:02:50):
You'll have probably the Colts, and then you could have
three teams out of the West. If that happens, that
swallows up all the playoff spot. However, the Texans are
finding their way up through the up through through the bracket,
so to speak, and at four and five they still

(01:03:12):
keep their hoops alive.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
Yeah, and we mentioned this on Friday, the Texans playoff
odds would have fallen down below ten percent for the
loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but now they sit right
at thirty three percent. And if you're a Texans fan,
you're rooting for the Broncos to take care of Kansas
City in primetime next week.

Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
That's a big one.

Speaker 2 (01:03:30):
Yeah, and I'm going to agree with you.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
I think that number is about right about thirty three percent. Now,
now i will tell you here's a bit of self
confession here. Of course, saying self confession is like from
the Department of Redundancy, department self confession on the Radiofeeshion.
You're not confessing unless it comes from self. So anyway,

(01:03:59):
I'm not a big fan. And this isn't directed only
at ESPN, It's directed at all platforms that do this
kind of thing. I'm not a real big fan of
the percentage to reach whatever playoff, college football, playoff, NCAA
basketball tournament, whatever it might be.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
I'm not a real big fan of that because.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
I've seen it be just tossed out the window many
many times, just like when we see those games where
a team has a ninety nine percent winning chance and
then the other team wins the game, that sort of thing.
So I don't put an awful lot of Stoker, but
I do think that number is probably pretty closely on.
So I would say, you know, it's probably about thirty

(01:04:41):
three percent. But if the Texans keep winning that playoff chance, well, right,
it's just like the long words. Back after the lost
of Florida, I think their playoff percentage was like eleven percent.
Now it's like what in the fifties or something like that.
But they have probably they're two toughest games remaining of

(01:05:02):
the season, one of those being Georgia, and we'll hear
more from Sark about that coming up. So I don't
I don't put an awful lot of numbers in that
because there's still too much football. And I understand it's
just an an in real time measuring point.

Speaker 4 (01:05:17):
Every five minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
The NFL claims that these are updated every five minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
I don't know what they can do, like, say, on
a Wednesday afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
Oh, we've got an update on JK Dobbins's foot, let's
shift the arf.

Speaker 4 (01:05:30):
I don't think that would really meant, you know, change anything.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
It says it simulates the remainder of the NFL season
ten thousand times, and during live games probabilities are Okay,
it updates every five minutes during action.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
That makes sense now kind of Anyway, I still think
it's a little much. But you said that's ESPN, that doesn't.

Speaker 4 (01:05:49):
This is NFL next Gen stats.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
I got you, Okay, all right, So I normally don't
pay an awful lot of attention to those things, and
the same thing holds, like I said, with the college
football playoff stuff as well. I usually don't put an
awful lot of stock in it. But it is more
intriguing this this year for whatever reason. And as a
you know, an alum of the University of North Texas,

(01:06:14):
I followed it that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
I think I saw it the other day or yesterday morning.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
I was having a cup of coffee to flip it on,
and I think I saw that their playoff probabilities twenty
two percent something like that. Just to see their name
up there on that deal, it's kind of cool, you know,
because normally they.

Speaker 4 (01:06:30):
Don't dwell in that world.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
I mean, it's looked at as being a really good year.
If they can get to a bowl game, that's it.
That's how that is in North Texas. Now, what I
am concern is not the right word. What I'm interested
in continuing to follow is on that G six line
because James Madison now has kind of played itself into,

(01:06:55):
at least according to the computer readouts, the lead on
that like about fifty two chance to be the highest
rated G six team. They were helped by Memphis loss
to two Lane, and to be honest, Jmu's got a
pretty easy path the rest of the way, but easy
doesn't necessarily translate to attractiveness in the eyes of the

(01:07:18):
playoff committee. So we'll see that. And they'd have to
obviously win the Sun Belt Championship as well, which they'd
be favored to do, and at this point, good chance
they'd be hosting it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
So yeah, that's out there.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
What I am curious to.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
See is how the American plays out, because you have
is it five teams, Navy, North Texas, South Florida, TWU Lane,
and East Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
There are five.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Teams that are that have one conference loss right now,
Navy has one more win, but they don't, you know,
they get open dates coming up before they have their game,
you know with Army as well, So this you know
it's gonna be. And of course they would lose a
tiebreaker to North Texas, who would lose a tiebreaker to

(01:08:10):
South Florida, who would lose the tiebreaker to Memphis at
Memphis were to get into it in Memphis has two losses.

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
Now and say Navy wins the conference and you're weighing
them against another team that Army game still lose.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
Well, the Army game is aft, right, it can't impact Yeah, it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Cannot impact it. So we're talking about winning percentage at
this point. They may I mentioned this last year and
it was really fascinating last remember last year where both
Army and they were undefeated like through six seven ball games,
and I remember saying, what happens if they're both eleven
and oh on conference championship weekend, Well, then they would

(01:08:52):
play each other for the American Conference Championship game, and
then they would play next week in a game that
would have no bearing on the playoff. Whoever wins that
conference championship would be the one that would be in
the playoff, and then they would play again the following week.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
Now, that's not going to.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
Happen this year, but that's the oddity of that game
being played the week after the conference championship games. And
it might be something that the Service academies have to examine,
you know, especially both being in the American Conference. They

(01:09:30):
might have to closely examine that to see if they
want to continue with that, because this is a year
where maybe it might penalize them. Let's say I'm trying
to remember and I can't remember if Navy plays East Carolina.
There's one of those teams that has one loss that
doesn't play Navy.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
I don't remember which one.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
It's not North Texas because North Texas handed them their
only conference.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
Navy finishes with South Florida this Saturday and then at
Memphis the on Thanksgiving week.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
Okay, say they win those two games. Look at their
earlier schedule. Did they play East Carolina? No, sir, Okay,
So here's your poster example. Who does East Carolina finish
with and they only have one conference loss?

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Right now? ECU the Pirates.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
When I was growing up North Carolina, by the way,
everybody called it ECU, but we used to call it EASYU,
easy to get into, easy to flunk out of because
it was a huge party score.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
I had a lot of my classmates went to East Carolina.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
I did not go to ECU, but I had a
lot of classmates go easy, including my two next door
neighbor friends.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
So ECU has the host Memphis on Saturday, Okay, Then
they go at UTSA next week. That's a hard place
to win, and they finish on the road at FAU.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
Their one conference loss, if I remember correctly, is Tulane.

Speaker 2 (01:10:53):
Right East Carolinas. They're thirteen to ten.

Speaker 3 (01:10:57):
They well, hold on a second, no, the make sure,
yes they lost as you laid on October ninth.

Speaker 1 (01:11:01):
Yeah, all right, they don't play Haven't and and don't
play South Florida. Correct, they do not, and they don't
play North Texas.

Speaker 5 (01:11:10):
They do not.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Okay, So let's let's for instance, for instance, say ECU
runs that table and wins out, and Navy closes with
what you said the games that they had left Memphis, and.

Speaker 4 (01:11:26):
Yeah, they have South Florida and Memphis.

Speaker 1 (01:11:28):
Okay, all right, their strengths might be a little bit better,
but they will have played one fewer conference game. That's
one last data point because the Army game is afterwards,
so they could wind up getting left out of the deal,
out of that because of playing one fewer conference game

(01:11:50):
prior to the championship week. That's my point. Now, I
don't think that'll happen. I think i'm you know, look,
I go into that.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
We can.

Speaker 1 (01:12:00):
We heard earlier the deal with the coin flip and
the three schools from the Panhandle and getting into the
high school playoffs, and it's similar to the story that
I told about four teams back in eighty four. And
I'm standing there at that diner and Decatur watching the
four way content. It brought back all of those memories
for me. But you know, sometimes I dabble in in

(01:12:23):
the what ifs and the hypothetical. Sark says he doesn't
get into hypothetiy and he can't. He's a football coach.
Those of us outside of that sort of thing, they're
viewing everything and talking about everything and commenting on everything,
and we can kind of dabble in that a little bit.
So I'm just curious that I think it'll play itself out.
And I still think the American Conference champion will probably

(01:12:46):
be the highest ranked non power.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
For school to get in.

Speaker 4 (01:12:53):
How about this scenario for you.

Speaker 3 (01:12:55):
Yeah, Duke has one loss in the ACC, Yeah, five
and four they lost to Yukon this weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
Yeah, what if.

Speaker 3 (01:13:04):
Chaos unfolds to where Duke wins the ACC with those
four losses? Does that open a backdoor path for a
James Madison?

Speaker 7 (01:13:13):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
Yeah, I think of it almost certainly. What you're describing
is kind of almost with the Big Twelve, although Texas
Tech really is cemented its status further. I think they
have a pretty clear path to getting to Arlington. And
now we'll see how the rest of it plays out.
But yeah, the ACC is kind of almost playing itself
into a one bid thing. Now if Georgia Tech, even

(01:13:34):
if they don't, you know, get in whatever, and they
close out and they beat Georgia some I think they're
getting in the playoff Georgia Tech if that happens.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
But the other ones better beat Notre Dame this week.

Speaker 3 (01:13:46):
And you've got a data point with Tulane beating Duke
in September. There you go to measure a little bit
of a common opponent thing. If it's coming down to
seating between the ACC, it's very interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
Yeah, who would have thought that all right.

Speaker 1 (01:13:59):
Coming up, we're gonna hear more just about blocking and
tackling and getting ready for the Georgia Bulldogs when we
continue on thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app
here on a Monday afternoon, Texas in Georgia week preparation.
We heard from longrn's head coach Steve Sarkisian earlier live
the news conference we brought to at eleven thirty this
morning and some comments from that in bout the two

(01:14:22):
o'clock hour and the three o'clock hour.

Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
Let's hear more from start.

Speaker 1 (01:14:25):
Ask the simple question, does Georgia at this point qualify
as a dynasty.

Speaker 5 (01:14:30):
They're pretty good, you know.

Speaker 6 (01:14:32):
I mean, I think the hard part is, you know,
we labeled dynasties that you win a national championship or not.
And I don't know how easy that's going to be
to do year in and year out with the model
that we have. But their level of consistency has been
pretty high for the last decade. And again credit to
those guys. I don't know what can constitute a dynasty

(01:14:54):
or not. These guys that play for four straight SEC
championship games and try it for five, I think that's
pretty good, you know, especially when a lot of teams
and coaches in our conference haven't played for any.

Speaker 1 (01:15:05):
Georgia, among its defensive accomplishments, has a very quick front seven.
So Sarkas asked what gets emphasized in practice to be effective,
especially perhaps in a quick screen game against Georgia's quick
front seven.

Speaker 6 (01:15:20):
What they do one is they have really good length
across the board, you know, from their front to their
secondary to their corners, and everything starts with them disrupting
your timing, whether it's timing at the line of scrimmage
and them striking blockers, to disrupting your route combinations, getting
hands on receivers, and so it is it is vitally

(01:15:43):
important that we do play in sync in rhythm our run,
timing at the line of scrimmage, the timing with arch
and the receivers and our route combinations. So I do
think that is an important factor in this game. That
you know, one of their main goals is disrupt your timing.
You got to try to keep your timing or or
make your your timing one of the weapons that you

(01:16:06):
have available to you, and so you could You've got
to try to create some of that timing whether it's
with some of your formations, some of your motions, some
of your targets.

Speaker 5 (01:16:14):
In the run game.

Speaker 6 (01:16:16):
You know that that that can serve as a benefit
for you because that is a strength of theirs for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:16:22):
Nig Sark was asked about having that open date off
once they got this Saturday, and he said he planned
to watch a lot of college football as well.

Speaker 2 (01:16:31):
What stood out to him?

Speaker 1 (01:16:32):
What what wrinkles and accomplishments stood out to Sark Because
he watched college football all day and into Saturday night.

Speaker 5 (01:16:39):
A couple of things stood out.

Speaker 6 (01:16:40):
One was, Man, there was a couple of great drives
at the end of these games, you know. And that's
what championship teams do. Teams that are trying to compete
for a championship, they find a way to win. And
I thought watching Indiana watching Oregon, those those are two
great drives on the road to to win those games.
I think, you know, I saw I saw some trickery

(01:17:02):
across the board. I think people are a little more
comfortable people at this point. They've been tracked practicing trick plays.
We better use them. Seasons coming to a close here
pretty soon. We better start calling some of this stuff
you know, uh, I didn't get a chance to watch
everybody play all the time, but I think you can
start to see the you know, the the cream is
kind of rising to the top right now. You're starting

(01:17:24):
to see the teams that are getting better throughout the
season and starting to play that way. So all in all,
college football is in a great space. That's what I
that's what I took out of this weekend. You know,
it's a getting talked about a lot. You guys are
writing about it a lot. There's a lot of really
good teams that are that are fighting for spots, and
whether it's in their own conference or in the CFP,

(01:17:46):
I think it's it's very competitive.

Speaker 5 (01:17:48):
You know.

Speaker 6 (01:17:49):
You look at our conference, you look at other conferences,
and it's not locked in who's playing for what yet.

Speaker 5 (01:17:54):
And so it's great football.

Speaker 6 (01:17:56):
It's great entertainment, you know, and it's it's high level
football going on right now.

Speaker 5 (01:18:00):
So it was fun for me this weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
Neck Sark was asked about game planning and how there
are certain things that are important keys to being able
to game plan well against an athletic team like Georgia.

Speaker 6 (01:18:14):
Try to put your players in the best position to
be successful. You know, I think that we can over
loose sight of that. You know, sometimes you can you
can put in plays or defenses or or special teams
plays on a whiteboard that look good, But the matchups matter,
and and so you know, you're always trying to find
favorable matchups. You're always trying to put your players in

(01:18:35):
position to have success.

Speaker 5 (01:18:37):
And that's no different than any other game.

Speaker 6 (01:18:39):
But again, you got to look at the matchups because
you've got to try to create favorable matchups. You got
to try to create favorable angles for yourself, for yourself
to to create positive plays. It's not just about how's
it look on a white board, It's it's you know,
really you know the circle on defense, who is that guy?

Speaker 5 (01:18:58):
What number is he and what is he good at?

Speaker 6 (01:19:00):
Compared to the circle that you have on offense or defense,
whatever it is. Of the matchups definitely matter in games
like this.

Speaker 1 (01:19:08):
Next was a question that I had thought about and
was thinking about asking Sark, and then I thought, now,
I'll save it from when we record Longhorn Weekly on Wednesday.
But I figured that we'd get asked in the news conference,
and it did because Kirby Smart mentioned in his postgame
press conference after the win in Starkville on Saturday that

(01:19:29):
he texted Sark on the bus ride to the stadium.
Why would he text him, because Georgia elected to stay
in Tupolo just like Texas did. And friends, let me
tell you, there's really about one place you can stay
in Tupolo.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
They had some hotels, but.

Speaker 1 (01:19:46):
Really there's a the Hilton Garden End there in in
Tupelo is bat yeah, and it's nice and you can
get done what you need to get done in there,
because you just there aren't any places really to stay
in Starkville. The one night you'd say, Hilton Garden End
in still Water, excuse me, in Starkville is occupied by
Mississippi State night before the game. So there's really you

(01:20:10):
really kind of either have to go an hour and
twenty minutes east of there in the Tuscaloosa or or
an hour and a half south of Meridian or Tuplo
an hour and five minutes north. And Kirby Smart mentioned
that he texted Sart to say, really, it's an hour
and five He said, I knew it. I was just
in so he mentioned that I saw a sound bite

(01:20:33):
in the press conference after the game and so Sark
was that you guys text or you buddies.

Speaker 2 (01:20:39):
How does all that work?

Speaker 6 (01:20:40):
He did text me Saturday morning. We're in a couple
of different group chats together, and Kirby and I do
text periodically. But he was on that ride from Tupelow
down to Starkville, which I had just done obviously a
couple of years ago. And that's one unique thing about
the SEC. It's like, man, you always want to try
to stay close to stadiums, but it's hard to do
that in our our conference, the way some of these

(01:21:01):
towns are set up.

Speaker 5 (01:21:02):
And so he checked in with what I was doing.

Speaker 6 (01:21:05):
I said, well, I just got to work out about
how breakfast and watch you play Bud.

Speaker 5 (01:21:08):
So good luck, you know, see how it goes.

Speaker 6 (01:21:12):
But you know, again, I think, honestly our relationship has
probably gotten closer since we've been in the league. We
have more things to talk about, you know. I think
one thing about him being the head coach at Georgia
and myself being the head coach at Texas, you know,
I think that that we have an opportunity to be
influential on trying to do what's best for our game,

(01:21:32):
not only in our conference, but in the state of
college football, and I think us being aligned on as
many issues as we can be aligned on, I think
is good for the sport, and so we try to
do that, and we're not going to agree on everything. Obviously,
he's a defensive head coach, so he's trying to get
all the rules in favor of the defense. I'm trying
to get him in favor of the offense. But in
the end, I have a ton of respect for Kirby

(01:21:53):
and the job that he does and and the way
that his teams play the game, and so a ton
of respect for him. I always love competing against him.
It's a great challenge, and this week's no different.

Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
Next was a question you kind of could have predicted
Sark's answer on this that somebody asked him about. You know,
remember there were two losses last year to Georgia, the
game here in Austin and then of course the overtime
loss in the SEC championship game.

Speaker 2 (01:22:18):
So Sark was asked, do those two.

Speaker 1 (01:22:21):
Losses drive his team and his guys for their Is
that our word revenge?

Speaker 5 (01:22:28):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:22:28):
I just want to win Saturday night at seven thirty
and try to get to five and one.

Speaker 5 (01:22:31):
In conference play. Yeah, that's really the extent of it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:34):
Yeah, it's a pretty pretty simple response. And then finally
Sark was asked if he plans to take in the
environment because he's never coached in Athens, just like he
had never coached a game at Kentucky before, so you
know this this was going to be different. He had
never coached a game at Florida before, so this was
going to be different. And all of the history and

(01:22:57):
the tradition in between the hedges and all that's stuff
is historic stuff about Athens. He was asked, if you
plan to kind of drink in the atmosphere a little
bit and and the moment at least early on before
the game gets going at Athens.

Speaker 6 (01:23:12):
I definitely will appreciate it, and I hope our players
do too. You know, this is one of the beauties
of going into this conference is the opportunity to play
in some of these some of these stadiums around around
the Southeastern Conference. And clearly they they do a great
job with their with their in game kind of just
energy from the fans to the players and the whole thing.

Speaker 5 (01:23:33):
And at night, we we all know what that is.

Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
And so I think inevitably for us is to hunker down,
take it in, and then we gotta we gotta fuel
one another. You know, we gotta lock arms, we gotta
go fight, We gotta go battle collectively together.

Speaker 5 (01:23:46):
We got to stay yamor with us.

Speaker 6 (01:23:48):
But I'd be remiss if I didn't take it in,
if our players didn't take it in, because I think
that that's when teams can get overwhelmed. You got you
got to embrace the moment, You got to embrace the
the environment that you're in, and then you gotta go
fight and got to go compete.

Speaker 1 (01:24:02):
So there are the comments from Loggorn's head coach Steve Sarkischen,
and again the other availabilities during the week. He does
the SEC teleconference on Wednesday, and then of course that
final big media zoom with the local media on Thursday.
It might be a little more anti climactic this week,
if only because he said, as you heard at the

(01:24:26):
outset of the news conference, that he's got guys healthy again.
Michael Taff has practiced this morning and should be good
to go.

Speaker 2 (01:24:36):
Jelani McDonald, who.

Speaker 1 (01:24:37):
Was in protocol and the Kacushion protocol, you know, after
the Vanderbilt game has cleared all the protocols.

Speaker 2 (01:24:44):
He practiced this morning. He should be good to go.

Speaker 1 (01:24:47):
And then Ryan Wingo, who had the thumb injury and
Sarka planned to rest him for a lot of the
just completed week opened a week, was able to practice
this morning.

Speaker 2 (01:24:59):
Everything went according plan. He should be good to go.

Speaker 1 (01:25:02):
So the injury thing might be pretty and I climacted.
When Sart does his final media availability for the overall
media on Thursday with the Media Zoom on Thursday morning,
we'll find out on that all right. Up next back
to the NFL, and we'll hear from Dimico, Ryan's the

(01:25:23):
head coach of the Houston Texans, when we continue on
sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.
You know, some posts might say they've never seen anything
quite like that fourth quarter for the Houston Texans, down
twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (01:25:41):
To ten and rallying back to win.

Speaker 1 (01:25:45):
That the last touchdown, by the way, and they say,
and they scored twenty six points in the last course, Yeah,
the last one was a desperation pass attempt there by
Trevor Lawrence coulds hit ball, Pop's loose comes down and
then scoop and score and in the game with an
exclamation point.

Speaker 4 (01:26:01):
Very important to some. Craig was it was.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
That an important play? You know what my son asked
me that he goes, is that what you call a
bad beat? And I said, I don't know. I haven't
seen the betting line. What was a lie?

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
I believe that Houston was a one and a half
point favorite.

Speaker 4 (01:26:17):
They were up by one.

Speaker 1 (01:26:19):
Wow, okay, all eyes on Scott van Pelt tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:26:23):
Well that as out Michaels puts it in the Van
Pelt segment.

Speaker 2 (01:26:27):
Well, that's that's overwhelming. Yeah, that's overwhelming.

Speaker 1 (01:26:29):
Or as what's the one guy said a significant play
to some light.

Speaker 2 (01:26:34):
Be Musburger, Yeah, well that one's he goes. There are
some people. If some folks are wondering what is going on?

Speaker 3 (01:26:41):
Oh, I think you know, I think it's actually that's
a Fowler cut that you just quoted.

Speaker 1 (01:26:44):
Yeah, significant to some Yeah, yeah, so anyway, a significant
play to some. What is significant for the Texans is
being able to win and kind of keep their hopes alive.

Speaker 2 (01:26:55):
What did you say? It was eleven percent their hopes.

Speaker 1 (01:26:58):
Of being able to get in the NFL playoffs before
the Jacksonville game.

Speaker 3 (01:27:03):
Right, it was in the twenties, and it was basically
a twenty percent swing. They would either down to eleven
or now up to the thirty three where they are.

Speaker 1 (01:27:10):
Okay, all right, Well we heard the postgame locker room celebration.
There were Demiko Ryans and his players earlier in the program.
But he was asked when he got down to the
news conference itself, what indeed was the key to getting
this victory.

Speaker 8 (01:27:26):
And the key for our entire game today is you know,
no one, no one blinked. Like I talked to the
guys last night about this is is gonna be a
heavyweight fight, and we got to keep throwing, punching no
matter how it looks. It may look rough, it doesn't matter.
I didn't want I didn't want anybody to blink. I
wanted everybody to continue to press forward, to keep punching right,

(01:27:48):
And that's what they did coming out in the second half,
Like it's the best second half we've had because we
played complimentary football. Everything that could go wrong went wrong
as soon as the game started, and so for us
to battle and have their resilience like that's what good
football looks like. That's what we've been missing. I told
the guys, we've been in this situation before in the
fourth quarter where we've allowed the quarterback to scramble and

(01:28:11):
make a play. So we knew that d Lion had
to come up big and get stops for us, and
they did that.

Speaker 5 (01:28:16):
So when you have you know.

Speaker 8 (01:28:18):
I can't say all of that without saying how Davis played.
Davis did an outstanding job of leading the offense all
week and he did it again today to come out
have a pick on the first drive, right, it's easy
to go in the tank, but he bounced back, he
kept battling, kept making plays, and you know, he goes
for three touchdowns and the one rushing one that we
needed the most at the end. So I'm proud of
Davis for the way he stepped up late all week.

Speaker 1 (01:28:42):
So what's the biggest NFL comeback of the season to
this point? Nineteen points in the fourth quarter. What about
his thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (01:28:50):
Man?

Speaker 5 (01:28:51):
My heart is full.

Speaker 8 (01:28:52):
I'm so proud of our guys, man, because it's it's
something we've been we've been trying to find, right, is
that beef, that resilience that you need. And I'm just
so proud of our guys for and not just a player.
I'm proud of the coaches and players like I was
just asking them all week just to make sure we're
all in this thing together no matter how the game looks.

(01:29:14):
Everybody just stick together, continue to bring positive energy, right,
and we finished with the knockout punts there ay the
end that we needed.

Speaker 2 (01:29:21):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:29:21):
So then he was asked about as a follow up
to that, does it cross his mind about what this
game could lead to or is it simply a matter
of staying in the moment.

Speaker 5 (01:29:33):
Yeah, I take it.

Speaker 8 (01:29:35):
I take this moment right now, and I'm a relative
this moment and love this moment for how our team battle, right,
And yes, I hope it's a hope it's a springboard
for us, you know, moving throughout the season that we
continue to see that you guys, you can. It doesn't
matter right what the scoreboard looks like. It's about how
you execute, how you finish, how you play together, and

(01:29:56):
how you have that belief in one another and in
yourself right to go out and finish games like this.

Speaker 1 (01:30:02):
Next, he was asking what did he see, you know,
on on tape on the digital that helped him and
his defense plan for what they were going to see
from Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 8 (01:30:16):
Yeah, from the film study. What we saw is main
thing we needed to stop the wrong We knew they
were going to be committed to stopping, to rushing the football,
so we did have to do a good job of
stopping and we didn't do our best, like we could
have done much better, but we did enough, and we
wanted to be in a position and make them have
to throw the football to allow our d lin have
to have to get after the quarterback, and that's what

(01:30:37):
they did. They finished with five sacks. They did an
outstanding job and d'anil had one of his best games.
So really proud of the effort up front and how
those guys rushed. And that was our plan and we
executed it the right way and when we needed it most. Ever,
at the end of the game, that came up big
time for us.

Speaker 1 (01:30:53):
Now for the captain obvious question, because there's always a
captain obvious question, uh Nico Collins and coming up big again.

Speaker 2 (01:31:01):
He was asked how important was Nico Collins.

Speaker 8 (01:31:03):
Nico has always been a big part of what we
do and he shined today Davis. Nico and Davis have
had that connection for a while, so it was fun
to see those guys just getting back to what they've
done before.

Speaker 5 (01:31:16):
And Nico just he doesn't say anything.

Speaker 2 (01:31:19):
He's one of our hardest workers.

Speaker 8 (01:31:20):
No matter how the game goes, he's always ready for
an opportunity to make big plays.

Speaker 1 (01:31:25):
And then finally, Sheldon Rankins is the guy who sealed
the game after Will Anderson stripped the ball from Trevor Lawrence.
And then it was Rankins who kind of took it
home to put the exclamation point on it. So he
was asked how about his excitement to see Rankins seal
the game?

Speaker 8 (01:31:42):
Man, it's one of the most exciting plays I've been
a part of to end the game like that, where
Rankins you're going in to score. Man, Wow, it was
an awesome play and I was trying to meet him
down there.

Speaker 2 (01:31:55):
And then is all right. So they do have a
win and to get to four and five, and now.

Speaker 1 (01:32:06):
They understand what's still to come, and that includes what's
next for them is to get ready for another division opponent,
this one on the road. They go to Tennessee. In
terms of division games, they have two games with the Colts.
They have not played the Colts. It's kind of like

(01:32:26):
with the Rams and Seahawks. The haven't faced Jet Ravens
and Steelers. Yeah, and so they're going to have a
big showdown in each of those situations. And if the
Texans want this to be a showdown thing, they have
to keep the foot on the gas. So they have
a game next Sunday at noon in Nashville against Tennessee.

(01:32:47):
Then you talk about a stream of really difficult challenges.
Buffalo at home on a Thursday night, then ten days
later they go to Indianapolis to play the Colts, and
then the following Sunday they play at Kansas City.

Speaker 2 (01:33:05):
I submit to you that first and foremost, assuming they
don't slip up, and let's say they do win in Nashville.

Speaker 1 (01:33:14):
And one thing that the Miko Ryans continue to say
is if we could just get to five hundred, I
think we can get over to the Humble. Here's another
shot to get it back to five hundred. After they
lost to Denver the week before, I.

Speaker 3 (01:33:27):
Was gonna say, you want another captain obvious statement. They
could really have used that Denver game.

Speaker 7 (01:33:32):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:33:33):
And now let's just say, assuming they don't slip up
and they do handle their business, even though it's a
road game at Tennessee, and they do win to get
to five hundred, the three games that follow will be
the crucible. The three It's kind of like what Texas
is facing three games that will determine. Now, you know,
the long words will be in the postseason in some form,
even if they wind up just playing in a bowl game.

(01:33:54):
But in order for the Texans to get to the postseason,
they're going to have to win against Buffalo and a
home at Indianapolis and at Kansas City. I would say
they probably need to go too and one in those
games too. At that point they would be seven and six,

(01:34:14):
and I think they would still have a shot to
get in. Loose two out of three gonna be really difficult.

Speaker 4 (01:34:20):
I think you got to win the home game. You
gotta win the home game on Buffalo.

Speaker 2 (01:34:25):
Buffalo's kind of struggling right now.

Speaker 3 (01:34:26):
You're getting Buffalo into NRG Stadium on a short week.

Speaker 4 (01:34:30):
You gotta win that.

Speaker 1 (01:34:31):
One, all right, all right, So that's what's facing the
Texans going forward. Okay, coming up, we'll be back to
wrap up today's edition of the program here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.

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