Sarkisian Discusses Muschamp Hire, State Championship Updates, Seahawks Stun the Rams

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Back with you on a Friday on Sports Radio AM
thirteen hundred The zone. That holiday break getting closer and closer,
so glad you're spending this afternoon with us from two
to five pm. My name is Jay Kurbin, filling in
for the Hall of Famer Craig Way today as he
continues his stay up at Arlington on the call for

(00:27):
seven of the twelve Texas high school football state championships.
He's got the game tonight, the five A Division one
state championship between Frisco lone Star and Smithson Valley. We
will visit with Craig a little bit later on in
the show. For now, we've got plenty of Longhorn news

(00:47):
that we're going to get you caught up on over
the course of the next few hours. Steve Sarkisian took
the podium earlier today and spoke to the assembled media
about some of the defensive state changes that we discussed on.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
The show yesterday.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Pete Quitkowski and duyn Naquina not retained, Will Muschamp returning
to Austin to be the Longhorns defensive coordinator for twenty
twenty six and beyond. We'll hear everything Coach Sark had
to say broken up for you in SoundBite form some
very interesting comments about the reasoning behind this somewhat surprising move,

(01:24):
what coach Sarks saw in Will musks Champ, what went
into the timing of this move, as well as some
of the challenges that he had to navigate given the
flawed college football calendar, and other potential solutions that Sark
ses to these types of problems.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
We'll get to all of that.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
We'll hear from Michael Taff from his appearance on the
Lockdown SEC podcast. We'll hear from Cam Heidi, who has
broken into the starting lineup for Texas men's basketball. We
will also catch up with Craig like we mentioned later
in the show. But for now, let's get to Thursday
Night football because, as we said yesterday, this was a

(02:02):
game with potential to swing the NFC playoff picture in
a big, big way, not to mention, just two fantastic
teams playing in a matchup that always tends to deliver,
and last night it did. The Seattle Seahawks come from
sixteen points down, they beat the Los Angeles Rams thirty
eight to thirty seven in overtime, climbing out of that

(02:23):
thirty to fourteen deficit that was set up by the
two second half interceptions from Sam Donald. He remember threw
four picks in the first matchup between these two teams.
But Seattle, after just kind of hanging around, got the
spark from the Rashid Shaheed punt return touchdown and then
had three two point conversions in the game, but a

(02:44):
really crazy two point conversion to tie it up.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Sam Darnald dropped back to pass.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
He was trying to throw a little swing pass, a
screen pass to Zach Sharbonegg and it bounced off a
defender's helmet and carremed into the end zone. Now, if
you listen back to the replay, there was a whistle
as that ball was sitting in the end zone. But
honest way to just sort of pick up the ball
casually was Sharboney and he grabbed it, tossed it to

(03:13):
the official.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Both teams ran back to the sideline.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
However, they reviewed the play and because the ball was
traveling backwards, there was this crazy rule book loophole that
allowed this two point conversion to stand. Because if you're
fumbling during a two point try, the roles the rules
are a little bit different than any other play, for

(03:37):
a play after a two minute warning or during a
two point conversion, if the fumble happens, the ball can
be advanced. If it's the player, sorry, the only player
of the team who fumbled, well, I've tied myself in
a knot here. If Sam Darnold was the one who
fumbled the football, it would have gone back to the

(04:00):
play and a two pointer wouldn't count. However, there's a
difference between a fumble and a backward pass, and this
was not a fumble.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
It was a backward pass.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
But the Rams complaint was is that this was a
play that was blown dead. So Seattle gets this controversial
two point conversion to tie it up. We're still clearly
sorting through that as we speak, and they end up
winning this game in overtime and taking control of the
number one seed in the NFC playoff picture. Because of it,
still going to have a difficult schedule moving forward to

(04:31):
try and protect that number one seed from the Rams,
but nonetheless a big swing. Seattle came into the night
as the number five seed, now clinch their playoff berth
and now have a one game lead over the Rams,
a one and a half game lead over the forty
nine ers in the division. So another impressive Seahawks win,

(04:55):
another kind of improbable Rams law.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Remember earlier in the year they.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Led the Eagles twenty six to seven in the third
quarter in Philadelphia. Similar win probability up over ninety eight
percent to what they had last night, a thirty to
fourteen fourth quarter lead against Seattle. So was it more
impressive that the Rams built this lead or more worrisome

(05:24):
that they lost it? Kind of depends on which way
you look at it. The Rams offense pretty amazing night,
five hundred and eighty one total yards, no turnovers against
a really stout Seattle defensive unit. Matthew Stafford, by the way,
making some more history. He's the seventh NFL quarterback now

(05:45):
to pass for four thousand yards or more in ten seasons,
joining some elite company Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning,
Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Ryan. I told you yesterday,
if you thought that the ram were going to lose
this game and maybe lose the division, that you might
want to go with an MVP long shot. Not to

(06:09):
call Josh Allen or Drake May a long shot, but
you can get three to one, four to one odds
on those two for MVP. If that's something you partake it.
Matthew Stafford was an odds on favorite to be the MVP,
and he still is coming out of that game, which
is understandable. He now stored multiple touchdown passes in nine

(06:30):
consecutive games, the longest streak of his career. So the
Rams did lose the game, but Stafford's MVP odds did
not take the type of hit that I thought they
would in a loss like this, just because of how
well he played, especially without Devonte Adams in the lineup.
Now Puka Nakua filled that void brilliantly. We talked about

(06:50):
some of the headlines he made before the game with
his criticism of the NFL officials on a controversial live stream,
and he came out last night twelve catches, two hundred
and twenty five yards, two touchdowns. He ended a lot
of Fantasy semi final matchups before they even started. No
other Los Angeles Rams receiver had more than three catches.

(07:13):
They got a clutch touchdown from Terrence ferguson their rookie
tight end out of Oregon, but Pooka Nakua was the
straw that stirred the drink. He had over half of
the rams receiving yards in the ballgame. Another outstanding performance
and then another distraction after the game when Puka Nakua,

(07:35):
speaking of that controversial two point conversion call, tweeted at
eleven to fifty five pm Eastern after the game was over.
Remember his comments before some of the refs just make
the calls to be on TV. He said, can you
say I was wrong? Appreciate you Stripes for your contribution.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Lol.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
The tweet was quickly. The league has not announced any
sort of discipline for this yet. Here's what Sean McVay
said is he kind of found out about it live,
touching on both the tweet and the live stream.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
That kind of went viral for the wrong reasons.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
I think, you know, kind of taking like a biled shot.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
There's the ress.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
I mean, what are you talking about?

Speaker 4 (08:21):
You just put something on a clatter em clients.

Speaker 6 (08:23):
Yeah, you know, So what are you asking me right now?

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Do you?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Are you?

Speaker 6 (08:27):
I can't ask your questions about something that I'm not
aware of.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
But are you okay with players kind of expressing frustration
or things like that?

Speaker 4 (08:33):
Or is that something that you hope that they kind
of keeping themselves and I got.

Speaker 6 (08:37):
To have more information before I answer any of those
kind of questions.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
What a conversations have you had with Boka about his
live stream this week?

Speaker 6 (08:43):
Yeah, he was very apologetic. I don't think he understood
the totality of some of the things. I think he
issued that apology. I know this guy's heart and for
anybody that was offended, terribly sorry about that. I know
he feels that same exact way as a young guy
that's a great kid that's continuing to learn about, you know,
just the platform that he has.

Speaker 7 (09:01):
I love him.

Speaker 6 (09:01):
We're gonna continue to put an arm around him.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
And help him learn and grow.

Speaker 6 (09:05):
But we never want to do things that ever offend anybody.
And I know he feels that same way.

Speaker 8 (09:09):
How about to do them those guys coming into onto
your property at the facility in a short week as
you're preparing for the biggest Yeah.

Speaker 6 (09:18):
I don't know anything about that stuff. They came on
on property outside.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
The part he said on the Life show that you
were mad, I was.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
I don't think that.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Maybe did he say my name?

Speaker 4 (09:30):
He said there was bosps his automa.

Speaker 5 (09:33):
I assume with those.

Speaker 6 (09:34):
Here it wasn't mad.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Yeah, didn't like a distraction this week.

Speaker 9 (09:38):
No, it wasn't a distraction at all.

Speaker 6 (09:39):
Did he did you think his play showed that he
was distracted?

Speaker 5 (09:42):
I didn't think so either.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
He went off today he.

Speaker 6 (09:45):
Didn't, you know what, and I apologize for you know what.
I love this team, and man, when you put out
as much as our group does and you care so
much about something and you come up short, it's incredibly disappointing.
But as it relates to just the things that you're asking,
you know, we always want to make sure that we
handle ourselves with a class, learn from it, or put

(10:07):
my arm around him and continue to educate our guys.
I love this team, I love his heart. I think
he's going to continue to grow and mature and I'm
gonna be there right there with him to continue to
help do that.

Speaker 3 (10:17):
As far as going on.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
So there's Rams head coach Sean McVay kind of a
tense exchange there with the media about Puka Nakua's off
the field struggles coming into the week certainly didn't show
like coach alluded to on the field. Really fun stat
to close out this Thursday night football recap, again, the
Seahawks winning in overtime taking control of the number one seed.

(10:40):
Craig talked about just how important that was for the
Rams to be able to have that home field advantage.
It's going to be a struggle for the Rams to
try and win that back. The two matchups this season
between the Seahawks and the Rams. This is this feels like,
what are those tennis stats you see at the fifth
set of a of an epic match between like a
six or in an algoraz points Rams fifty eight, Seahawks

(11:04):
fifty seven. Remember the Rams won by two points on
the last meeting in Los Angeles Yards Rams eight hundred
and thirty, Seahawks eight hundred twenty nine. So just an
outstanding game, so many different twists and turns. Obviously, you
heard Kirk kerb Street in the game discuss the three
percent win probability that Seattle had at one point. It

(11:27):
feels like we've seen well three or more of those
types of comebacks.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
It has been quite the year of comebacks.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
Some of the kickoff rule changes have a lot to
do with that, the field position starting further up the field,
and also the two point conversions, which without any given
one of those the Seahawks might be in a world
have hurt. You also think back to the special teams
in this ballgame, the Seahawks returning the punt for the touchdown,
and the Rams Harrison MeVis, who was three for three

(11:55):
on the night when it came to kicking field goals
and perfect on field goals all season. I'm missing a
forty eight yarder that would have given the Rams a
lead with under two minutes to go, So just that
close the margins in the NFL this year in what
looks to be one of the more wide open Super
Bowl years in both the AFC and the NFC that

(12:16):
we've seen in quite some time. All Right, coming up next,
we'll hear some thoughts from Steve Sarkisian his press conference
that we brought to you earlier today right here on
sports Radio AM thirteen hundred.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
The Zone will have Inconceivable.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Later this hour, we'll get to some other college football
notes as we go from two to five here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred, The Zone and the iHeartRadio Act.
All Right, Jake Carvin in for Craig on this Friday
edition of the show. Here's moving on and getting over
from John Mayer. Texas moving on from the defensive coordinator

(12:51):
who's been here with Steve Sarkisian since he came to
Austin back in twenty twenty one, and we'll hear comments
from sarkanj just a moment on things such as timing obviously,
some of the rationale behind this move, and how it's impacted,
what Texas will look like from a player and coaching

(13:12):
personnel perspective in the cheese at Citrus Bowl where the
Longhorns will take on the Michigan Wolverines at two o'clock
on New Year's Eve after noon. So well, let's let
you hear sarks opening comments first to the media and
what might be his final time addressing reporters here at
Austin before the bowl game.

Speaker 8 (13:32):
We'll just start with bowl preparation and kind of where
we're at as a team. I really want to commend
our players. It's not easy when you kind of get
punched in the gut and there's a level of disappointment
when we felt like we had a playoff caliber team
and felt like we had done enough to get into
the playoffs and you don't get in. But man, a

(13:55):
credit to our players and these guys energy in h
In practice, we had six developmental practices. We're really focused
on getting back to the fundamentals, the techniques, the basics
of what and how we try to play football around here,
and those guys embrace those practices. We came back this
morning and start a game prep for a Monday, and

(14:18):
these guys have been fantastic. So a lot of credit
to the players, the leaders on this team right now,
which is a little bit different team. And we've got
sixty five scholarship players going into this game. You know,
when you when you talk about seven guys declaring for
the NFL Draft or so, you've got essentially eleven transfers
with some guys that decided to leave during the season

(14:40):
and guys now. And so when you when you when
you look at that with sixty five players, our practice
has to adjust some too, and it feels a little
bit more like an NFL.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Type practice with the bodies that are out there.

Speaker 8 (14:52):
But I don't think that's unique to us. I think
a lot of teams around the country are dealing with that.
But I think we're more than equipped to do that,
and it it's a great opportunity for a lot of
individual players. Uh, to to show what they're capable of
to kind of spring the springboard themselves into the twenty
sixth season, but also finished the twenty five season.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
It's a great opportunity for our team.

Speaker 8 (15:14):
We've got different players stepping up into leadership roles on
especially on the defensive side of the ball. A lot
of the core on offense is back, which is great.
So I'm excited for these guys and and a credit
to them to rally in that locker room to get
themselves ready to compete.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
And so we're we're we're excited about that.

Speaker 8 (15:33):
Obviously from a staff perspective, we made some some pretty
significant changes. We started in the running back room bringing
on Jabbar Juluk and replace the Chad Scott. And then
on the defensive side of the ball, you know, bringing
in Will muss champ In and replacing you know, Pete
Kwaikowski and obviously Dwayne Akeina and and the first thing

(15:54):
I want to say is, I really I can't thank PK,
Coach Akina and coach Scott enough of their contribution, uh
to our football program and to this organization. They're great
coaches and and those guys worked extremely hard.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
They're good men.

Speaker 8 (16:09):
They were great mentors and we did a lot of
really good things uh in their time here. But as always,
you know, when when you get a chance to really
evaluate your program and where you're at and also where
you're headed and what you're trying to accomplish, you know,
sometimes change is needed. And UH, sitting in my chair,
sometimes you got to make the tough call. And anytime

(16:31):
you have an opportunity to bring in quality coaches of
of coach du Luke, Coach du Luke and coach must Champ,
you want to take advantage those opportunities when they're there.
And Coach du Luke brings a wealth of experience. H.
He's a high energy guy. He's an in your face coach,
former high school coach in Louisiana who has spent plenty
of time coaching in the Southeastern Conference. Knows what it

(16:53):
looks like, knows the style of play that's needed.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
He's been a great addition.

Speaker 4 (16:57):
UH.

Speaker 8 (16:57):
And then an opportunity to go hire Will must Champ,
guy who's done it at the highest level. I mean,
this guy's thirty one years old. He's a defensive coordinator
for Nick Saban at LSU. They go on to win
a national championship. You look at his stints at Auburn,
you look at his stint here at Texas and what
he was able to do. Obviously, his history in the
Southeastern Conference and knowing what it takes in this conference.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
I think is something that is invaluable to us.

Speaker 8 (17:24):
Even in his time over the past few years at
Georgia and working with Coach Smart there and the great
successes they've had, not only as a team but on
the defensive side of the ball. And I just think
his style, his style of coaching, his style of play,
and the way we're going to play defense is something
that makes sense to me of what is needed in
this conference. And so there have been great additions. Looking

(17:47):
forward to them getting acclimated to who.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
We are and what we'll do.

Speaker 8 (17:50):
Coach ju Luke will be coaching with us for the
Citrus Bowl. Coach Muschamp will observe, but Coach Nansen will
call the defense. I don't think that'd be fair to
coach Muschamp to come in and call somebody else's defense,
and we just don't have quite enough time to get
that thing installed.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
So coach Nansen will call it.

Speaker 8 (18:08):
He's got a great staff around him with coach Clark,
Coach Baker, with also coach Orpha and coach Hudson. So
we got plenty of equipped to get that done, but
excited about a future and where we're headed with those
guys being on board with us.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
Right.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
So you heard Sark there describing jabbar Ju Luke as
an in your face kind of coach, and you'll hear
him talk later about how Will must Champ some of
that same energy intensity down there on the sidelines. He
said it was a gut punch that his team was
left out of the College Football Playoff, obviously feeling as
though his team still deserved a spot in today's action

(18:45):
or tomorrow in the case of the other college football
Playoff first round games. Also mentioned that Johnny Nansen is
going to serve as the defensive coordinator in the Citrus Bowl.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Will Muschamp will be observing.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
We don't know from the sideline or up in the box,
but javar Ju Luke will be the running backs coach
for the Longhorns in the bowl game. So what about
when Sark came to Austin five years ago, did he
pursue Will must champ back then? What happened to sort
of change the timing of this move from potentially back

(19:16):
in twenty twenty one and then why now here in
twenty and twenty five going into the twenty twenty sixth season,
is Will must Champ the one tapped by Sark too
take this position.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (19:28):
I think when we first got hired, you know, you
have a list of coaches at every position that you
you you're trying to gauge interest where they're at, and
that was across the board really quite frankly, as okay,
how do you try to assemble the best staff that
you can And just really the initial conversations with Will,
as we were talking to p K and quite frankly

(19:49):
about three or four other guys, you know, he had
an opportunity to you know, watch his son play high
school football, which I think was important to him and
his wife, and so it just wasn't the right time
to kind of go further down that road. But but
definitely when we kind of you know, casted a few
lines to kind of see what the interest would be like,

(20:09):
and you know, and obviously the job he did at
Georgia with Kirby over those years was was tremendous. But
I think the timing was a lot better for him
now with his son's grown, his youngest you know, finishing
up his sophomore year at Vanderbilt now, So timing was
just a little better for him this time around.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah, you heard Sark mention his youngest son.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
That's Wit must Champ, who just finished up his sophomore
year as a backup quarterback at Vanderbilt through two passes
this year against Georgia State. So and remember Will Muschamp
hasn't been in a full time role with Georgia these
last couple of years. He's gone from the sidelines to
that kind of coaches box as a as an analyst
that has some of the more freedom that Sark talked

(20:49):
about to watch his family, to spend time with his family,
watch his son play high school football. And like I
mentioned on the show yesterday, it's one of those things
where the timing had to be right for everybody involved.
For Texas, the timing had to be right to move
on from PK because they had a guy they wanted
in Will Muschamp ready in the wings. And for Will
muss Chant, the timing to return to the sideline had

(21:11):
to be right, not just for the timetable of his
son's growth and his son wits college career, but also
for the fact that it was an opportunity like Texas
that was coming open, and otherwise I'm not sure we
see this move happen. But again, those are some of
the things that you'll hear Sarka explain a little bit
later on in the press conference as to why including

(21:33):
this idea of an audit right. Reporters have asked sark
about this idea both during bye weeks and as the
season was coming to a close. Steve Sarkisian constantly auditing
his team doing some self scouting to figure out where
can the Longhorns improve to get back to the level
they were playing out a couple of years ago to
break through against some of the best of the best
in this sport. So he was asked, as you were

(21:56):
auditing the team, do these moves yesterday afternoon? The change
at both defensive coordinator with Will must Champ replacing Pete Quakowski,
and the well, let's just say they let Dwayne and
Qina go the secondary coach and you'll hear a little
later on that Will must Champ will take over in

(22:16):
large part that secondary responsibility. So did he identify defense
as the main issue rather than anything else.

Speaker 8 (22:22):
I think we had we have plenty of issues. Like
I don't think any program in the country.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
Is perfect.

Speaker 8 (22:30):
You know, we've all everybody's got their own warts, right,
and you try to look at you know, how can
you make the without overreacting and being thoughtful of what
are the necessary changes that you think can really impact
the totality of the team.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
You know.

Speaker 8 (22:46):
I think one thing that that that really helps me
with Will is, you know, his head coaching experience haven't
been in this conference in at Florida and at South Carolina,
his experience of kind of being under coach saban Us
speaking the same language, to where I feel very comfortable
with Will being the head coach of that defense, and

(23:07):
that allows me and frees me up a little bit
more time from an offensive perspective, which so I think,
you know, instead of you know, Robin Peter to pay Paul,
I'm able to let him go do his thing on
defense and really be a great leader over there and
head coach over there, which allows me to get back
to doing the things that I believe and I'm really
good at. And so I looked at a lot of

(23:29):
different variables of what would be in the best interests
of our organization, and the idea that I could get
a guy caliber of Will Muschamp to come in here,
not only his defensive prep pedigree, but the leadership, the
head coaching experience.

Speaker 3 (23:44):
It just was too good of a fit to pass up.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
A really interesting note there from Sarg about the way
he'll be able to dedicate more time to his offense
as a result of this change. Now, maybe that is
Sark implying that this past season he felt as though
he had to maybe look over PK's shoulder again. These
aren't his exact words, but he's implying right that letting

(24:08):
Will must chance be quote the head coach of the
defense is going to allow him to focus a lot
more on the offensive side of the football, where Texas
did also take a step back for where they were
last year, particularly in the running game, particularly in pass protection.
So really interesting notes from Steve Sarkisian. You'll hear him
talk a little bit more later about how this move

(24:29):
will help the offense, not just from Sark's time being
dedicated to that side of the ball, but from the
perspective of seeing that defense in practice, one more for
you from Sark before we go to the next break.
And that is what made the defense a bigger priority
to address than the offense.

Speaker 8 (24:48):
Well, we changed running back coaches, and I think the
thing for me was, you know, coming into the season,
I had a pretty good feeling the offense was going
to take some time. We had a lot of new faces,
we were a little bit younger than we were on defense.
But I like the trajectory of where the offense was
going throughout the season, and I felt like they were
improving and getting better. And I know there were games

(25:09):
in there that didn't go perfect and they never will,
but I felt like I could see it in practice.
I could see the individual development of guys on the
offensive side of the ball, and then defensively we were
kind of going in the other direction. And so again
I look at our team and nine to three wasn't
good enough for us this year to get ourselves into
the playoff, And so how do we get to ten

(25:31):
and two, eleven and one, twelve and zero and trying
to put the pieces right to make us better as
a team, not just one area or another area, But
how could.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
That affect the team?

Speaker 8 (25:41):
And so When I looked at it that way, I
felt like, man, if I could go get Will muss
Champ to fit this thing to not only help us
and get better defensively, but I think that impact is
going to help us on offense too, And so that
was kind of the rationale behind it all.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Okay, we'll hear more from Sark A little later, I
checked on one talked about with the trajectories right on
both sides of the ball, from the defense to the offense.
You look at the way the offense looked at the
start of the year, bottom forty percent in the country
in terms of EPA per play. That's expected points added
per play, an advanced stat that kind of on a

(26:17):
play by play basis, tracks whether or not one side
of the ball is actually helping or hurting your chances
to win a football game. And with the exception of
the Sam Houston State game, and Sam Houston obviously might
a team that mightily struggled this season, it was a
game where Arts certainly looked to have some more confidence
after the shaky performances against Ohio State, San Jose State,

(26:40):
and UTEP to start the year. That Sam Houston game
is an outlier it's the only game in the first
eight weeks of the season where the Longhorns were in
the top fifty percent relative to all FBS games played
in the country this year in terms of EPA per play,
means their offense was performing at below the FBS average

(27:02):
in those games. Now, some of that has to do
with the defense you're going up against, and this advanced
stat takes into account some of those factors. But you
look down the stretch of the year, the Mississippi State
game obviously the second half something that arch Manning and
the rest of the Longhorns talked about as a turning
point in terms of confidence that they gained. The Vanderbilt
game the Longhorns perhaps best offensive performance of the year

(27:25):
against equality defense. Arkansas was higher in terms of EPA
per play, and then Texas A and M. Obviously a
bad first half for the offense, but they came out
in the second half and had their highest EPA per
rush in a half this season against an FBS team.
So in that sense, the Longhorn offense was certainly on

(27:45):
the right trajectory to improve throughout the season, with the
exception of the Georgia Bulldogs game, where they just struggled
to find really anything on the ground in Athens, Texas.
I think, as we'll discover as the college Football playoff approaches,
not alone in that category.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
You flipped the ball the other side defense.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
This was a Longhorn defense that was absolutely outstanding to
start the season, really all the way through that Kentucky game,
the one blip being the first half against the Florida
Gators when the Gators really came out ran the ball. Well,
you know that Texas was looking at the other sideline
and certainly impressed by the play of that Florida offense

(28:24):
and Jabbar ju Luke, the running backs coach, who was
responsible in large part for the recruitment the development of
Jadeen Baugh, who some folks are already saying could be
in the transfer portal suit and could end up in
Austin or elsewhere. And then down the stretch of the season,
the offense or the defense, I should say, really struggled.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
The only.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Three games Texas had with an EPA per play expected
points added in the bottom forty percent of all FBS
games this year were three of the final four games
this year Vanderbilt, Georgia and Arkansas.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
The Georgia and Arkansas games.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
In particular, those games were in the bottom twenty percent
of all defensive performances by FBS teams this season, and
that came right down the stretch of the season. Now,

(29:31):
all right, now, we're number two on the program. Jay
Kerrman with you until five pm today in for Craig. Wait,
we'll catch up with Craig at the top of the
four o'clock hour scheduled permitting from Arlington.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Next.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Want to get to a quick story coming out of
Austin this morning, and that is inside Texas reporting that
Arch Manning has agreed to a reduced compensation amount from
Texas's revshare pool. Remember, part of the house settlement brings
some of the nil money out into the open. Now
and Arch Manning agreeing to reduce compensation, it doesn't affect

(30:06):
what he can make out on the market.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
Right.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
You've seen Arch and all those commercials with Warby Parker Way,
Moo and Viori and several other big companies. That's true
for a lot of high profile athletes, especially one like Arch.
This is a smaller share of what Texas football has
from the twenty and a half million dollar revenue sharing cap.
That is permitted for them under the House settlement towards

(30:32):
pointing out Arch Manning kind of uniquely positioned given his
somewhat celebrity status that comes with both being a Manning
and what he's done on the field, what he's done
so far at Texas, that certainly has a part in
Arch being able to make this decision. Not every player
is going to be in a position to do the
same thing, but nonetheless a move that I think shows

(30:53):
a team first attitude and can really help Texas go
out and get potent. Actually other players in the portal
that they might not have been able to under the
revenue sharing total had Arch Banning taken a bigger share,
So interesting story to point out there.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
So from one number sixteen to another.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Michael taff joined our colleague from Houston, Chris Gordy on
his Locked on SEC podcast.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Really interesting conversation.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Want to let you guys listen, and I think you
really enjoy his outlook on this, his Texas career and
reflections on a senior season.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Joining us.

Speaker 10 (31:33):
Now starting safety for the Texas Longhorns. He is a
member of the twenty twenty five All State AFCA Good
Works Team. He's the winner of the twenty twenty five
All State Warfel Trophy.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
He is Michael Taff. Michael, thanks so much for joining us. Man.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
Yeah, thanks, Chris, appreciate you'll having me on.

Speaker 10 (31:49):
I guess first off, Man, congrats on an incredible college career,
going from walk on to All American. I know you
announced this week you're heading off to the to the
NFL Draft, Like, these five years just flew by for you.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (32:03):
I always you know, I always kind of called their
bluff when the seniors would get up and talk and
I was a freshman or a sophomore and they're like, hey, man,
just embrace it. You know, these four or five years
they go by so quick. You blink your eyes and
you're standing up here, and I was like, yeah, whatever,
you know, I'm I'm in the middle of off season workouts.
We're getting our butts woofed, and yeah, I don't know

(32:24):
how quick this is gonna go by, but you know,
I'm standing up here and I can truly firmly say that, Man,
I wish I could.

Speaker 5 (32:31):
Go do it all over again.

Speaker 10 (32:33):
You had a unique perspective of getting to play a
couple of years in the Big Twelve and in the
past two seasons in the SEC. Was there was there
anything real? Was there a real big difference for you
from going from the Big.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Twelve to the SEC.

Speaker 10 (32:43):
Just the physicality and the grind of basically you're getting
everybody's best shot every week in the SEC.

Speaker 5 (32:49):
Yeah, I think two different playing styles.

Speaker 11 (32:52):
You know, I don't want to knock the Big twelve
because I was I was a lot more conditioned in
the Big twelve.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
You gotta it's fastball all the time. You know, they're
they're trying to snap the ball.

Speaker 11 (33:01):
Really quick and they're spreading everybody out and trying to
get their their fast guys in space and you know,
make some DB's miss and the next thing you know,
it's an explosive play. But I think in the SEC,
your body takes hits every single week that I've never
experienced before and it was really really cool. I think
being in the SEC it made me realize real, you know,

(33:23):
real down South football, and it was really cool. And
your body feels it every single Sunday morning for sure.
When when you play in the SEC and there's no
game off, you know, I remember when we stepped into
the SEC.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
Was that two years ago?

Speaker 11 (33:36):
They were like all right, everybody, you gotta everybody's gonna
play really really tight, you know, except Vanderbilt.

Speaker 5 (33:41):
That's kind of like a bye week.

Speaker 11 (33:43):
And Vanderbilts the last two years has probably been one
of our tougher games both years.

Speaker 5 (33:48):
So you can't no longer can say Vanderbilts a bye week.

Speaker 10 (33:52):
Yeah, I mean, you talk about award season, everybody all
being hottered. I think it says something that Diego Pavia
was the Heisman finalists, that the represent from the SEC.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
I mean that dude.

Speaker 10 (34:03):
I've talked to several players around the league and thank
god his eligibility's over because he was just a tough
out man.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
Right, Yeah, he was a really good player.

Speaker 11 (34:10):
I have a lot of respect for him, and I
got the chance to get to talk to him in
New York City this weekend, and he's a special guy.
He's he's confident in himself. But I think that's why
he's gone so far.

Speaker 10 (34:21):
I think both times y'all played him, y'all were in
control of the game and then like if there was
like another two minutes left. Both years, it'd been like, oh,
that might have gotten hairy. So luckily you guys went
to and oh against him but it is interesting though.
I mean, was there a moment in sec play like
a player that you hit and went, oh that's different.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (34:42):
I think the flour running back number thirteen was really good,
and then the Arkansas running back number four, he was
really good.

Speaker 5 (34:50):
He got the best of me this year. So much
respect about those guys.

Speaker 10 (34:54):
We're talking with Michael Taff of course from the Texas Longhorns.
I know you're a big advocate of giving back and
working in your community, and that's why you won the
All State Warrifol Trophy and you were named a captain
of the All State AFCA Good Works Team. Give us
a little perspective on the work that you've done obviously
with Texas against fentanyl and as well as the relief
efforts over there Camp Mystic following those floods in Texas.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (35:17):
Well, first, my best buddy passed away to fednyl poisoning
and twenty twenty one, and so whenever I had an
opportunity to come back this year, and I knew my
platform was going to be bigger than it's ever been,
I was just thinking to myself, how can I make
this bigger than myself? And obviously I have a lot
of passion and fedinol awareness because that's where my heart

(35:39):
is hurting at him. So you know, it was it
was an easy ability to talk about federal awareness because
I'm so passionate about it, and so you know, we
raise I think a little over sixty thousand dollars for
federal awareness and that was way over our goal.

Speaker 5 (35:56):
So super proud about that.

Speaker 9 (35:58):
And then.

Speaker 11 (36:00):
The Texas Fuzz and Fourth of July weekend, those were,
you know, twenty five miles away from from where I
grew up in Westlake. So I think just knowing that
there were so many people that I knew that was
I can't mistake, and people that knew those girls that
passed away, and I just wanted to have an opportunity
to give back, to to remember those girls and to

(36:22):
try to make a differences.

Speaker 10 (36:23):
It's one thing when you're a five star athlete and
you're you know, everybody's all American and all this, but
to come from where you were as a walk on,
and because I think what you were originally going to
go to Rice and then you came to Texas as
a walk on, I mean you have to almost appreciate
it that much more and the want to give back
when you get that larger platform.

Speaker 11 (36:41):
Right, Yeah, for sure, because I was definitely that kid
when I was six years old looking up to the
to the guys running out in the burn orange and
d k R and just a glove or anything.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
You know, it's probably still in my in my house
and my parents' house.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
So I was that guy.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
So I always knew when ever it was hey can
you sign this for Christmas?

Speaker 11 (37:02):
Or can you send a quick video, it's always a
yes for me because you know, I knew I was
that guy at one point. And these these cheers are
gonna turn echoes quick, and nobody's gonna care about Michael's
aff They're gonna care about the new starting safety all Americans.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
So whenever I have this opportunity, I would love to
do it.

Speaker 10 (37:20):
We get to talk with Danny Whirfol a couple of
times throughout the year, and obviously it's tremendous work, you know,
with the All State Good Works Team and obviously the
All State Warfol Trophy.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
But you're not the.

Speaker 10 (37:29):
Second Longhorn to win the award. Have you heard from
Sam Macho, because Sam always brags about winning this award.
Have you heard from Sam yet.

Speaker 11 (37:36):
Yeah, he was actually the one that surprised me that
I want it. So it was really cool to get
to see him the day that I want it and
just talk to him about it. And I've had so
much respect for Sam Macho even growing up. He came
to our our Bible study I think that was in
seventh grade and spoke to us, and then came back
when we were in high school and junior year of

(37:57):
high school and spoke to us about the free at
him of the Cross. And so he's a super awesome guy.
I'm very blessed to be in a family with Sam Macho.

Speaker 10 (38:08):
Yeah, he and and Tim Tebow and so many other
great winners of this award throughout the years and just
genuinely good dudes, like dudes not just great football players,
but dudes who who mean well and want to do
well for for the world. A few more football questions
for you, Michael. Kind of a cherry on the top
of your college career. Your your last football game played
will be beating the Aggies their first loss of the

(38:29):
season in Austin. I gotta think that one means a
little bit more to you, right.

Speaker 11 (38:33):
Yeah, you definitely play a little bit you always have passion,
but you definitely play with a little bit more passion
when you play the Sooners or the Aggies. And to
be in d k R the last home game against
our big one of our biggest rivals, and to get
an interception and your second to last play ever playing ever,
putting on the burn orange was super special.

Speaker 5 (38:54):
It was definitely, you know, a great end to this
very fairy tale story that I'm living it.

Speaker 10 (39:00):
Obviously, I guess it was frustrating here in that you know,
you guys weren't gonna go into the playoff. But man,
I mean you look back at the season that you
guys had. I mean, look, people were burying Texas by
mid season. Ah, these guys a couple of losses, they're done,
But you guys didn't quit. I mean, I guess you'll
look back on the season to say that's the most
important thing about this year.

Speaker 11 (39:19):
Right, Yeah, I think, you know, as as hard as
it is to say, because I won't be on the
team next year, I'm confident to say that this year's
shaped who next year is gonna be. I think we
had to go through a lot of adversity because you know,
this program has been through a lot of success the
last three years, so I think we had to go

(39:40):
through a little bit of adversity. You know, we had
a bunch of young guys on the team. So I
think it was good for Archie's He's gonna be one
of the best quarterbacks in the country next year.

Speaker 5 (39:49):
And I'm confident to say that.

Speaker 11 (39:50):
And it's not pressure for him, because harready puts a
lot of pressure on himself.

Speaker 5 (39:54):
He wants to be great.

Speaker 11 (39:55):
And you know, I think with him, you know, get
in the year under his belt, learn to experience loss
and to experience success.

Speaker 5 (40:03):
I think it's gonna be really good.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (40:04):
I was gonna ask you about him. Obviously, you know,
his dad already came out and said, yes, he's not
going anywhere.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
It's gonna be back next year.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
Uh.

Speaker 10 (40:11):
And obviously that's going to generate a lot of excitement
and hype for for the Longhorns for next year. But
what you know, Look, when you have a name like Manning,
it's gonna garner a lot of hype and attention. But
it seems like arch behind the scenes is just a
normal dude, very humble, very respectful, and all that give
us a little insider perspective what it was like with
Arch behind the scenes.

Speaker 5 (40:28):
Yeah, it's great.

Speaker 11 (40:30):
He's always the guy texting about, Hey, you want to
go get in the cold tub late at night?

Speaker 5 (40:33):
Do you want to you know, go get in the
sauna to help us sleep?

Speaker 11 (40:36):
You know, do you want to go get an extra
throwing session just so I can work on this little
throw or Hey, I just watched this video of me throwing.
Let me let me go at justice really quick. So
he's one I think the biggest thing for me that
helped me get to where I'm at. His consistency, and
I think he embodies that really well. It's it's not
so much he has a routine of what he's doing
every day. He's consistent at doing something every single day.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
Yeah, it's like give it.

Speaker 10 (41:00):
If anything I know about Sark is missing the playoffs
this year, it's going to motivate him to make the
changes necessary to get back there next year.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
I know that about about coach Sark.

Speaker 10 (41:10):
One other thought here, Michael, your former quarterback Quinn you
Wers was announced he's gonna get an NFL start this week,
and how excited are you guys for him?

Speaker 5 (41:17):
Man, I'm stoked for him. He's he deserves it.

Speaker 11 (41:20):
He's gone through a lot in his career, and you know,
it's I feel like it's been like this his whole career.
And what's the coolest thing about him is up here
and in here he's been like this, and that's who
he is.

Speaker 5 (41:34):
That's a guy that that I love to play behind.

Speaker 11 (41:37):
And it was so fun watching him lead our team
and so happy to take for him to get his
opportunity to go shine.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
You got the best of him in high school though,
right you picked him off a couple of times.

Speaker 5 (41:49):
I've reminded him with time or two about it.

Speaker 10 (41:51):
So it was fun talking with Michael Taff when you
look back on a Michael, What's what's gonna be your
favorite moment from your your college career?

Speaker 3 (41:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (41:59):
I think watching that video a couple of times.

Speaker 11 (42:02):
It was actually three years ago yesterday that I got
put on scholarship, but not coach Sark announcing it, but
seeing all my teammates around me, you know, just putting
it in slow mo, seeing all the faces that are
turning around, hands in the air, smiles from grind to grind.
So I think it's so cool to have an experience

(42:23):
like that where all your teammates can reflect about how
proud they.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Are of you.

Speaker 10 (42:27):
Well, Michael, congrats on a great college career, man, and
congrats on all the accolades. You don't play for the accolades,
but it's a really cool thing to get at the
end of the year. And obviously winning the All State
Warrifol Trophy a great accomplishment in itself, and then being
named not just to the All State AFCA Good Works Team,
but being named the captain is also a tremendous honor.
Congrats and all the success man, and the best luck

(42:48):
at the next level.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Okay, thank you, Chris, Appreciate you all right, great conversation
there and appreciate Chris Gordy for sharing it. Michael Taff
talking about the improvement in Vanderbilt. The difference is from
the SEC to playing in the Big twelve. Some of
the running backs that impressed him this year, mentioning Jaden
baw by name, Remember he was over at Florida being

(43:11):
coached by the now Texas Longhorn running back coach jabbar
Ja Luke, as well as Mike Washington junior at Arkansas.
Some of the work he's done off the field, Honoring
Jake Ellinger by raising awareness the fight against fentanyl poisoning,
and then his relationship with Arch Manning in there as well.
You heard him mention Quinn Yours, who will be getting

(43:31):
the start for the Miami Dolphins. We'll hear a little
bit from the Dolphins staff and what they've seen from
Quinn Ewers in practice. You'll also hear Coach Sark discuss
his excitement to watch yours play and much much more
coming up here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

(44:06):
Not many bigger fans of Billy Joel than the voice
of the Longhorns, Craig Way.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
We'll hear from him at the top of the four
o'clock hour.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
This is Miami twenty seventeen, seeing the lights go out
on Broadway for Billy Joel's album Tourrey Styles, released back
in nineteen seventy six, and why Miami former Longhorn.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Quit Yours named the starter.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Earlier this week, we covered that on the show, heard
some comments from Mike McDaniel about it. Here's what he
had to say today, the Dolphins head coach about Yours
in his first practice now as the starter, replacing two
A tongue I Loa.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Why you know we made the move that way because
I saw him.

Speaker 7 (44:52):
It wasn't perfect, but the competitive response and the conviction
at the position after anything would go awry, you know,
that's that's what I really really like about him, and
that's what he what he showed off. I think yes
yesterday in particular, there were a lot of plays that

(45:13):
he was able to make both on third down, in
first and second down, and you know, I think, you know,
it's more about the h I saw the team really
respond and derive energy from you know, what he was
doing at the quarterback position.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Here's offensive coordinator Frank Smith now with his thoughts on
Quinn viewers. What does he observe from Quinn in practice
and what does he expect to see from him this week.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
He is a quietly confident guy.

Speaker 9 (45:45):
He's got a good, easygoing disposition, but he's super competitive
and he in the moment, in the moment of each play,
he's gonna he's gonna be aggressive and he has fun
doing it. So it was one of those where after
I'm not surprised, Like, you know, guys could go to
college and then a big time recruit comes in and
all that and you could say, I don't want to

(46:05):
deal with some of us someplace else. And I'm not
surprised at all. He stayed and was like, all right,
it's competing, bring out the best in each other.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
I mean, yours will start for the Dolphins when they
take on the Cincinnati Bengals. One person who might be
tuning in with some extra attention towards that is Longhorns
head coach Steve Sarkisian, who was asked by Roger Wallace
from the Longhorn Radio Network and KXA and what it
will be like to watch Quinn play on Sunday And
remember sark coach Tua at Alabama too, so interesting answer.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Here for the Longhorns head football coach.

Speaker 8 (46:37):
I'm excited for him, you know, you know his I've
said this after the draft.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
I don't know if I said it to y'all again.

Speaker 8 (46:46):
Once you don't go in the first round or early
in the second round, it's kind of like you hope
you go to a good place and a good system
that fits you, especially at quarterback.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
And I said this coming out of the draft. I
don't know if there was.

Speaker 8 (46:59):
A better fit for Quinn than going to Miami with
Mike McDaniel systematically, the way he calls it and how
it relates to what he did here, the style in
which the ball gets out of the quarterback's hands.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
I just think it's a good fit for Quinn.

Speaker 8 (47:15):
Obviously, he's been doing some really good things behind the
scenes and practice and things. So looking forward to his
opportunity on Sunday to get his first career start, I'm
sure he'll do some really good things, and they'll probably
do some things that look like a guy making his
first NFL start, you know, But I know he's excited.
It's a little bittersweet because I had two as well,

(47:37):
you know, and so both those guys working together, I
know they have a great relationship.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
But what a great opportunity for Quinn.

Speaker 8 (47:44):
And I think it just serves to it's not onlys
about when you get drafted, it's what you do with
your opportunity. And a credit to Quinn of working his
tailoff to earn this opportunity to be a starting quarterback
in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Remember that start will come, by the way at nune
On Sunday, the Dolphins hosts the Cincinnati Bengals. We've got
two NFL games on Saturday for you. The Eagles and
Commanders will play in Washington at four o'clock, and then
the Packers go to Chicago to take on the Bear's
a battle for the division lead in the AFC North

(48:17):
and a rematch what we saw two weeks ago. Remember
Chicago in Green Bay, driving late with a chance to
win it. Caleb Williams through an interception in the closing
moments of that ball game, so the Bears look for revenge.
It's going to be very, very cold at Soldier Field,
and the Packers will play their first game without Micah
Parsons in this one.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
So that is the Saturday night game.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
That's part of the reason you notice right that the
two most let's just call it like it is, the
two likely most entertaining college football playoff games are going
to be played in two different windows. Tonight Alabama at
Oklahoma and then tomorrow at eleven am, Miami takes on
Tech is A and m at Kyle Field. So that

(49:03):
means that the primetime games for a college football playoff,
that the Saturday afternoon slot at two thirty the six
thirty slot are going to be the two games featuring
G five teams. Number six Old Miss against Number eleven
to two Lane and number five Oregon and number twelve
James Madison. This is I think some politics in play,
ESPN not wanting to compete with those NFL offerings and

(49:27):
as a result kind of the less desirable from a
neutral perspective of the first round college football playoff games.
The two games were the spread indicates that three score
margin in terms of the favorite. Of course, you can
never quite just go off with the spread, never quite
expect one thing to happen. But that's why you see

(49:48):
A and M in Miami at the eleven am window
and then the matchup tonight between Alabama and Oklahoma at
seven o'clock on Friday prime time. One of one interesting
note to get to a key to the game on
Alabama and Oklahoma tonight, and that is this the field position.

(50:09):
It was a huge factor in why Alabama lost despite
outgaining Oklahoma four hundred and six to two hundred and twelve.
The last time these two teams met, Clinton Lamb from
cover Crimson tracked the scoring drives in the last three
sec games for both schools. Alabama has had to rely
on long sustained scoring drives. Well, it's an asset when

(50:30):
you can actually go down the field and convert those Oklahoma,
And not only that, Alabama's been largely pretty efficient in
the red zone. Seven of their last nine of those
extended drives have ended in touchdowns. For Oklahoma, they have
not had a lot of drives that are both sustained
in terms of time and possession and lengthy in terms

(50:50):
of yards. And their long drives they are only matter
of fact, there are only two drives that were longer
than fifty five yards lasted a total of six plays,
a three play ninety yard drive of three play eighty
four yard drives. Those are the explosive plays, the touchdown

(51:10):
late to get them off the hook against Missouri, to
touchdown late to bring them back from behind a fourth
quarter deficite against LSU, the two seasons saving busted coverage
touchdowns throwing by job matier. Other than that, Oklahoma's drives
have either been taking advantage of short fields and scoring

(51:31):
with thirty five yards or less in front of them,
or settling for field goals. So the key tonight for
Alabama gotta make Oklahoma go to the length of the
field consistently. It's easier said than done, especially the way
this Oklahoma defense and outstanding special teams can control the
field position. But in addition to the turnover battle, the

(51:53):
field position battle is going to be one that Alabama
will have to win tonight in order to get the
first Well it would be the first true road win
in the history of the college football Playoff. I know
a lot of Longhorn fans are likely begrudgingly rooting for
Alabama tonight. We'll hear a little more from head coach
Steve Sarkisian on the hiring of Will must Champ right
after this on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
Yeah, this is what never gets so does it?

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Oasis, don't look back at anger on a Friday afternoon.
Maybe this directed at Boncorn's head coach Steve Sarkisian, so
he looks back on the twenty twenty five football season.
Maybe directed at the way he was asked to look
back on his relationship with Will must Champ.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
How far back do they go?

Speaker 1 (52:50):
And how will the defense look different after sark looked
back at this season? All questions that sark was asked
today at his press conference.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
We'll hear a little more from that here.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Now, he was asked, where did the relationship with Will
must Champ start for Steve Sarkisian and kind of I
think it was Cedric Golden that asked this question of
the Austin American Statesman. Did the struggles against Georgia play
any kind of a role in this decision by Steve
Sarkisian to make a change and bring in Kirby Smart's

(53:26):
longtime co defensive coordinator and now defensive analyst over the
last couple of seasons. Did that play a role at
all in Sark's decision to move on from Pete Kwitkowski
despite this Texas defense finishing top twenty five in terms
of scoring defense each of the last four seasons.

Speaker 8 (53:46):
I've always admire Will from Afar and I know that
even in my time at Alabama I could hear the
respect that coach Saban had for Will and obviously their
history going all the way back to their days at LSU.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
And so you know, we actually played.

Speaker 8 (54:08):
South Carolina in I think it was twenty twenty excuse me,
twenty nineteen, and even going into that game, I always
know when coach Saban really respects somebody, I can hear
it in his voice. I can hear it in his preparation,
and so I don't respect anybody more than the nick
Saban and our profession and as a mentor, and so
that played a key role. Obviously, you know, there's always

(54:32):
the some people can call them unintended consequences, and consequences
doesn't always be mad. Consequences can be good too. And
one of the unintended consequences of this is we do
get a little intel into the Georgia theme. Now I
think we're going to probably play some of those themes
of which they play defensive football too, And so it's
not only about how do you beat Georgia. Well, the

(54:54):
reality is we're going to get to go against that
a lot more in practice, whether you want to call
it spring football, practice, train camp, summer whatever. That looks
like all of our good on good sessions. So can
that help us down the road hopefully? That is one
of the unintended consequences. That wasn't the main theme. The
main theme was how do we get somebody in here
that's gonna play our brand, our style of my thinking

(55:14):
of how we want to play defensive football. Get a
guy over there that can really be the head coach
on defense and lead these guys and get them to
play with the intent, the passion, the physicality that I'm
looking for on a weekly basis. But the unintended consequence
of all that is, man, I get to go against
that every day. Our offense gets to go against that
style and that scheme of defense every day, which hopefully

(55:37):
down the road can benefit us, you know if and
when we play Georgia again or that same system, that
same family of defense that that falls from.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
So there's that line again from Sark, right, the head
coach of the defense, that's what he's looking for in
Will Muschamp. What about from a style standpoint, the aggressive
nature of Will must champs defenses, And like Sark was
talking about, that family of defense is under you know,
Kirby Smart's kind of tutelage there. And of course Will
Muschamp had that style of defense back when he was

(56:07):
in Austin from two thousand and eight to twenty ten,
but Texas was known right as DBU. All that pressman
coverage not necessarily the same style of defense we saw
from Pete Kwakowski this year, with a lot of guys
playing off coverage, which hurt the Loghorns at times late,
particularly in that Vanderbilt game. So is the aggressive style

(56:29):
we saw from Will Muschen that his other stops and
at Texas previously the style that Texas fans can maybe
expect going forward.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
Well, I think that in our conference.

Speaker 8 (56:41):
The more you evaluate this league and the more you
look at you know, if you really want to have
elite's success, you got to play a little bit more
in your face. The line of scrimmage is so physical,
and the idea that you're going to have to add
hats to that box. The quarterback play is at a
high level, and you've got elite players on the perimeter

(57:01):
that if you're giving up free access type throws, it
can get hard and now you start getting taxed in
different ways. And so if we can minimize the run
game with a level of physicality at the line of
scrimmage and minimize the free access throws and making people
earn it and making quarterbacks hold the ball and affecting
the quarterback is something that you're going to have to

(57:24):
do to beat the upper echelon teams in our league
and do it on a consistent basis was something that
was was attractive to me. You know, I do think
there's a there's a mentality you have to have and
playing defense in this league, and and we we did
it at a high level. Don't get me wrong, we
we did at a very high level. And a credit
to all those guys that done it. But I think

(57:44):
to get to where we want to go and to
beat some of those, you know, those top four or
five teams in the country right now, there's a style
of which that you have to play and you have
to do it against the best. It's it's not about
doing it against the kind of the teams down here,
it's those upper echelon teams. And I think we've recruited well,
and we're going to try to continue to recruit at
a high level, and we've got our own gaps and

(58:05):
things that we're going to try to fill in through
the portal and try to get the personnel to really
fit what Will's looking for. But I do think there's
a style that that that I believe in that I've
grown up understanding that is needed to beat some of
these upper echelon teams and to do it at a
high level.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
And clearly sark Fields that Texas was not playing that
style to his liking against some of the top teams
like the Georgia's, like Ohio state that Texas has suffered
the majority of its losses to over the last couple
of seasons. So schematically, how will the defense look different?
He was asked to follow up on that. Yeah, I
don't I don't know if it's gonna look so dramatically different.

(58:45):
You know, We've got some body types that I think fit,
you know, what fit his style and scheme. I think
like Collins a great fit for what he's looking for
at his buck to rush the passer. I think Lace Jackson,
you know Xena. Those guys are great fits at that
that field side strong side end.

Speaker 6 (59:02):
You know.

Speaker 8 (59:02):
I do think the athleticism in the secondary, the interchangeable parts.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
The length that we have back there, and you know,
I'm so glad that to see.

Speaker 8 (59:10):
The progression of Cade Phillips, Kobe Black and Xavier and
obviously Jilani and some of those spaces. And I don't
mean to leave guys out, but I just know the
style in which we want to play to fit the
structure that he has. I think we have a lot
of pieces in place now. There'll probably be a few
things that we need to sure up, but we've got
a lot of good pieces and a lot of good parts,

(59:31):
and a lot of good looking football players that are smart,
that are competitive that I think will adapt quickly to
his structure. But there naturally will be a transition time
that that's going to take place. And again that's why
we're not trying to do that now.

Speaker 9 (59:44):
Right.

Speaker 8 (59:44):
We'll do that in winter conditioning. We'll do that in
spring ball. We'll do it over the summer, We'll do
it in training camp. And I have no doubt, you know,
will with that defensive staff. We'll have our guys ready
to go by now.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
And later you'll hear sar talk about the timing of
all of this and the challenges that the cal Endure
placed on Texas in this In this sense, so given
the fact that Duayna Keena was also not retained in
this coaching switch, was there frustration from Steve Sarkeesian about

(01:00:15):
some of the miscommunications that plague Texas on the back end, you.

Speaker 8 (01:00:20):
Know, and always in all three phases of our team,
you know, Offense, defense, special teams. I saw issues that
were issues that we fixed. There were issues that we
didn't fix that kept rear in their ugly head, and
it was it was uncommon for us for the amount
of you know, explosive pass plays that we had given up,
especially in the second half of the season. And so

(01:00:43):
that was an area we were gonna have to fix regardless,
right whether we made changes or didn't, that was gonna
be something that had a spotlight on it. And this
has got to sure up. This was the direction I
chose to go in to try to sure some of
that stuff up. And so, you know, I feel good
about that that we were able to identify issues in
our organization and we've attacked some of them through changes.

(01:01:03):
We've attacked some of them on the field, We've attacked
some of them with personnel. So there's a variety of
ways to fix things as they come across your plate.
That just happened to be one of which we did.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
So is must Champ also going to coach any specific
position when he does assume his coaching role with the
Long Wines. Remember must Champ is already I in Austin,
but he will just be observing rather than coaching and
calling the defense during the upcoming Citrus Bool.

Speaker 8 (01:01:30):
Will well, he'll work with the with the secondary to start.
You know, I think getting that continuity in the back
end is important in any defense. But obviously with Wills,
and you know, his history has been working with the
safeties and working with the back end, and obviously that's
what he was working with at Georgia and so tying
that together, you know, I think what people don't know
is coach Orfe was a GA for Will at South Carolina.

(01:01:53):
So there's already some commonality there with those two guys
in the back end. And I think he feels good
about what we have with our coaching staff up front,
you know, with Johnny Kenny in LA, so you know,
we feel good about him starting working with those guys
back there.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
But overall it'll be his defense.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
Okay, we'll hear more from Steve Sarkisian a little bit
later on in the show.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
We need a break.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
Coming up in the four o'clock hour, we'll visit with
Craig Way live from Arlington and discuss much more about
this Texas coaching switch. You're listening right here on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred zone.

Speaker 3 (01:02:29):
Back to the.

Speaker 12 (01:02:30):
Concho Valley and all the team bus the Wallhawks.

Speaker 9 (01:02:35):
We'll have a.

Speaker 12 (01:02:36):
State championship trophy with them. Wall wins its first ever
state title. The Hawks are free A Division two state
champions up Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
He's not just the voice of the Texas Longhorns. He's
the voice of seven out of twelve UIL Texas state
high school football championships here in twenty twenty five. And
he's joining us now. Craig Way live from AC and
C Stadium in Arlington. All right, Craig, Right after we
hung up yesterday, we got some big news Steve Sarkisian

(01:03:13):
making a change at defensive coordinator. And first off, I
just want to ask how you're doing in the middle
of the state championships and get what your reaction was
as soon as we stopped talking yesterday.

Speaker 12 (01:03:25):
Yeah, doing fine, Jake, and middle part of day number three,
and I've got the game tonight between Frisco lone Star
and the defending state champion Smithson Valley in five A
Division one.

Speaker 4 (01:03:37):
We'll get back to the high school in a minute.

Speaker 12 (01:03:39):
You're right, our timing was just a little bit off
by the time I finished with you and then went
back over to prepare for the next game. Then the
news came down about the changes that start made to
a step. One thing that really struck me about this
was in the news conference, and really I kind of
thought it might go this way because of what I
saw on social media yesterday after the moves weren't out,

(01:04:05):
and that was the point that there were a lot
of media or whoever who were wondering what the situation was,
why the changes were coming on the defensive side of
the football when the offense had mostly struggle and start.

Speaker 4 (01:04:23):
Was pretty plain spoken in his answers.

Speaker 12 (01:04:26):
In the news conference that we brought to everybody live
this morning on thirteen under his own it's that he
wasn't isolating one specific area.

Speaker 4 (01:04:36):
He was looking at the macro. He'd already made.

Speaker 12 (01:04:38):
One change with his offensive staff in dismissing Chad Scottish
running backs coach, and then he felt like there were
also things that had happened with the defensive side of
the football, and that's why he went ahead and made
those changes.

Speaker 4 (01:04:52):
It wasn't like, well, let me just pick that side
or whatever.

Speaker 12 (01:04:56):
As he explained, the timing was not right for him
to offer a position to Will mush Champ back a
few years ago, the timing was much better.

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
And speaking of timing, these moves that he made needed to.

Speaker 12 (01:05:09):
Be made before the holiday break simply because of the
transfer portal, he had to have people on staff and
with kids out for holiday break. The portal opens on
January second, so if he waited until whatever January first,
or after the Bowl game or a couple of days
after that, it might have been too late to keep

(01:05:30):
some guys, or at least have a shot to keep
some guys on the roster who might look at it
and go, wow, this is a complete blow up, in
a shakeup, I need to evaluate my situation now. There
will still be guys who do that, I think, and
already some have entered the portal, some have announced they're
going to go on to the NFL, and there may
be a few others. We'll see once the portal opens.

(01:05:53):
But I think Sark wanted to make sure that these
moves were in place beforehand. That's why he had will
mushcham campus yesterday. That's why he had mush Champ meeting
with players Mikah Grayson, Littleton, I mean, Colin Simmons and
several of those other guys to let them know where
he was with it, so he could begin to build.

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
A relationship with those guys.

Speaker 12 (01:06:15):
I think all of that played into why the decision
was made to make those hires and to have that
roster or that staff change over come down yesterday instead
of waiting until after the bowl game.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
Yeah, and we'll hear some of his explanation on the
timing of it all in terms of the transfer portal
during the next segment of the show. I want to
ask you about this aspect of Steve Sarkisian's press conference today,
and that is the interconnected nature of him coaching the
team and the offense versus what's happening on the defensive side.

(01:06:49):
He said that hiring Will Muschamp to essentially serve as
the quote head coach of the defense will allow start
to focus more of his time on the offensive side
of the ball, and will also improve Longhorns offense at
play by seeing that type of defense every day. Did
this comment kind of how did you react to that comment?

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
It surprised me and and and let me give you
an example.

Speaker 12 (01:07:11):
We uh, we have a lot of great listeners and texters,
and we have our one pal who texts us that
firmly believes that Sarks should hire a play caller, and
I respect his opinion on that.

Speaker 4 (01:07:24):
We've gone back and forth, and you know, and it
might be more good natured for my part than his.
I don't know.

Speaker 12 (01:07:29):
He seems a little perturbed at times on my responses
on that, but I respect his.

Speaker 4 (01:07:33):
Opinion on it.

Speaker 12 (01:07:35):
My point all along was not whether I thought Sark
was planning to make a change by hiring a play caller.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
That's immaterial. He's not going to That's that. That has
been my continued point, no matter how I might feel
about it.

Speaker 12 (01:07:52):
It's kind of like, well, since I'm here in the
home of the Dallas Cowboys, all the people who text
in and we still get a lot of these you
know this who harangue about Jerry Jones has got to
give up the general manager duties. He's got to get
out of there. Jerry's got that's not happening. It will
never happen as long as Jerry Jones is the owner
of the cover and when he and by the way,
when the time comes when he's too old and infirm,

(01:08:14):
there are many who feel he's already at that now.
But anyway, when they when that time comes, it's simply
going to be passed down to Stephen Jones to run it.
So that's why I've I've told Cowboy fans to make
peace with it, to come to terms with it. Cameron
Parker's and that's why he doesn't watch him, why he
doesn't root for him, because because of the ownership in

(01:08:34):
the direction understandable and with regard to Texas, my point
is similar that Sark is not planning to hire an
offensive play caller. And while that may upset or make
some people unhappy, I respect their opinion on that, but
it's not going to change the fact of what's going
to happen there now. This, however, might help and for

(01:08:57):
those who think that he should hire an offensive play
like you did, Jake, if they were listening to what
he was saying today, that it frees him up a
little more and there's less concerned with what's going on
with the defense and Will Mushchamp has it all under control.
To use Sarch words, he said, I can be visiting
with march more or with aj Milwey. In other words,

(01:09:20):
they can still try to craft what they're seeing and
make it work better for the offense. It's all in
the plan of continuing the mold and shape and move
forward and to improve. Because this young group this year,
and they were young on offense, is certainly more seasoned
by the end of the year, and they're going to
be more season next year, so more is going to

(01:09:41):
be expected of them, and Sark nos Danity said Moore
would be expected of himself as well.

Speaker 1 (01:09:47):
You know, Craig, you got to spend some time around
both Pete Kwakowski and Will Muschamp when he was with
the Longhorns back during that run culminating from two thousand
and eight to twenty ten. How would you describe the
kind of difference in their personalities that sark alluded to
in the press conference today.

Speaker 4 (01:10:05):
What's the phrase we use one to eighty.

Speaker 12 (01:10:07):
I mean they are drastically different in terms of their personality,
makeup and their style. K you know, constant level lake,
you know, and both by the way, have had success
with their you know, respective formulas and p K was
always kind of low key, that sort of thing. There

(01:10:30):
was a reason that Will Muschamp was known as Coach
Boom when he was around on campus because he could
get really fired up and get mad. Everybody remembers in
two thousand and nine and the smashing of the white
board and all that other kind of stuff. But he
always would have a hot motor that said, it wasn't

(01:10:52):
like anger at his players all the time. Really loved
his players and they would walk through whiteboards and brick
walls and things like that.

Speaker 4 (01:10:59):
Form Champ as well.

Speaker 12 (01:11:02):
He got uncomfortable there right toward the end of his
time because he had been named the head coach in waiting, well,
everybody was waiting wondering if Mac Brown was going to
go ahead and step down, and then mac decided out
to do it, and then that's when the opportunity opened
up for mush Champ Polie. So you know, all of
that stuff happened right toward the end of Mac Brown's

(01:11:24):
time as head coach in Texas.

Speaker 4 (01:11:26):
But I think.

Speaker 12 (01:11:27):
It's a different time in a different, different place now,
not only for mus Champ, but for this long worn
football program. And I think it's a good time for
him to be back in the fold on the coaching staff. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
And I think this long horn football program is in
a place right Craig where they're right in the mix
every single year on the national stage in the semifinals
two years in a row, trying to break through against
those top five programs. Do you think this kind of
higher is Sark saying well, this is the type of
defense I think we need to take that next step.

Speaker 12 (01:11:56):
Well, I think that's part of it. The aggressive nature
and all that other kind of stuff. I think that's
part of it. Here's the other thing that stuck with
me at the news conference, and I listen long ward.
Fans can can take it however they choose to and
accept it or not or whatever and believe it in
whatever contexts they choose about what I'm about to say.

(01:12:18):
But start did say in the press conference the team
went nine and three, and nine and three is.

Speaker 4 (01:12:25):
Not good enough in this day and time.

Speaker 12 (01:12:29):
And we understand that our charge, our responsibility, our expectation
is to get to the college football playoffor and not
only to get to the playoff, but.

Speaker 4 (01:12:39):
To run the table and to win it. That's why
these moves have been made.

Speaker 12 (01:12:43):
I mean, you look at a guy that now over
the past three years is thirty four and eight with
two trips to the semi final round of the college
football playf They didn't get there this year, and so
he's trying to address.

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
That right now. So they have a chance not only
to get that back to that, but then have a
good shot to win it all.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
Craig, what do you remember about covering those defenses, both
in the way that they played and the players who
made up those defenses under mus Champ in Austin.

Speaker 4 (01:13:13):
Well, I think of guys like Samacho and Maniatto.

Speaker 12 (01:13:16):
I think of Earl Thomas, I think of Blake Gideon,
think of guys who were hard hitters and play makers.

Speaker 4 (01:13:23):
And the long words have some of those guys as
we know.

Speaker 12 (01:13:26):
I think they do have hard hitters like the Colin
Simmons or you know, Lance Jackson, some other guys like that.
I think they do have playmakers in the secondary who
are capable of it, like Malik Muhammad or Grayson Lilton.
We just didn't see enough of it during the course
of the year. And for folks we're asking about this
particular change. While the rush defense was eighth in the
country and the total defense was thirty ninth, respectable enough,

(01:13:50):
the past defense was one hundred and seventh, and so
as a result of that, there were a lot of
people who probably noticed that as well. Certainly Sart noticed it,
and coaching Staf noticed.

Speaker 1 (01:14:01):
And if you're listening at home and notice the cheers
in the background, Craig is in the concourse at at
and T Stadium between games at the high school state Championship.

Speaker 2 (01:14:11):
Can you tell who just scored there?

Speaker 4 (01:14:14):
Yes, Carthage Again, no big surprise there.

Speaker 12 (01:14:17):
The defending state champions are awaiting a point after that
would put them up twenty one to nothing on.

Speaker 4 (01:14:22):
West Tern start late in the first half, Carthage.

Speaker 12 (01:14:26):
You know, we talked about Alito having more state titles
than anyone, but Carthage may have been the most consistent
program Aledo right now with twelve titles.

Speaker 4 (01:14:36):
And here's Cardiff.

Speaker 12 (01:14:37):
It's going for state championship number eleven and all eleven
under their head coach Scott Sarrat. If they've gon and
win this game and they're up twenty one nothing late
first half, he would be the first Texas high school
football coach to start to coach eleven state championship games
and win all eleven. He's never lost a state championship,

(01:14:59):
so he's gonna But he already is in the pantheon
of great high school coaches in Texas, but he's he's
going to be up there right at the time.

Speaker 4 (01:15:06):
He'll be the only one that has that many state.

Speaker 12 (01:15:10):
Titles single handedly or at least, you know, individual as
the head coach, and I've said they.

Speaker 1 (01:15:16):
Have a real good shot at that unbelievable Seatpal says,
watching the state champ games, there's so much football talent
in Texas from six man up and we haven't even
gotten to five A and six A yet. I've tempted
to call SEC schools and invite them to watch. We're
gonna see a lot we're watching.

Speaker 4 (01:15:32):
They're watching.

Speaker 1 (01:15:34):
Oh sorry, he said, SEC shows. Okay, okay, but but
speaking of Alito, who you mentioned? That's the team Frisco
lone Star came back from down three scores and knocked
out earlier in the year. Now they get their shot
at the defending champions from Smithson Valley, who knocked off
a really good Port Arthur Memorial team in their own
right to get there.

Speaker 2 (01:15:53):
What kind of talent? What kind of fun can we
expect from this matchup tonight?

Speaker 12 (01:15:57):
Well, uh, what Loan Store has done has been pretty
And let me tell you who other than what happened
last week when Alito had the sixteen point fourth quarter
league get away late they were up fifty two to
thirty six, and Long Star comes back. They scored two
touchdowns they were covering on sidekick and get one final
score and they end up winning it fifty six to
fifty two. They scored twenty points in the final four

(01:16:17):
minutes for the ball game and win that. Other than
that game, the other team to play them that well
was Georgetown, and when Georgetown played them in the second round,
it was a solid ball game into the third quarter
before Lone Star pulled away. They are loaded with explosive talent.
Where do you see Damien Groch, They're outstanding wide receiver.

(01:16:40):
There's there's plenty of talent out there.

Speaker 4 (01:16:41):
Now.

Speaker 12 (01:16:42):
They're going up against a precision oriented, very disciplined team
in Smithson Valley, the defending state champions, and Smithson was
able to beat the Highland Park last year with that
making very very few mistakes. Not to say that no,
I'm played. They do both of the quarterback and the
running back spot. But what they're gonna have to be

(01:17:04):
is that they're disciplined, the best in staying home in
their assignments. Because the athletic talent for Lone Star, which
by the way, is also a very well coached team,
I'm not just saying they're a a team full of talent.
A kid Jeff Raverns did a fabulous job. But he's
the only coach the program has ever had.

Speaker 4 (01:17:20):
He got into a.

Speaker 12 (01:17:21):
State final ten years ago twenty fifteen, they lost the
Cedar Park down at NRG Stadium in Houston. But he's
done a fabulous job of this program. The problem was
they were always in the toughest of the regions, I believe,
regions that had the likes of Dat Ryan and Highland
Park and those schools in there, and of course Alita. Well,
they were finally able to break through that wall and

(01:17:41):
get here. I think Lone Star is probably the favorite
on this game. I think the computer had them like
a touchdown favorite or something. But Smithson Valley, like I said,
is a very button up coach. Larry Gill, one of
the all time breaks and coaching finally got his first
state title a year ago, so they're much more comfortable
with the environment and the surroundings right now.

Speaker 4 (01:18:02):
And I think it'll be a good football game.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
I do two seven o'clock on victory plus great football game.
Last night, Wall held off Newton. You could feel the
momentum really shift in that game late. It got real interesting,
but we heard the call at the top of the hour.
What a moment for the Hawks.

Speaker 12 (01:18:18):
Yeah, first time ever for that's coming in a state title.
And you talk about doing all the things right in
the first half, they did the block plunt for a touchdown,
hit a couple of big plays.

Speaker 4 (01:18:27):
They're up twenty five eight and it's looking like it's
all over.

Speaker 12 (01:18:30):
Newton, of course, came back, great fighting spirit, well coached,
great athletes, incredible running games to get back in the
game and cut it to twenty five to twenty four,
and then Wall was able to hold on and recover
that on side kicking the waning moments to preserve the men.
So a great state titled victory there for the Hawks,

(01:18:50):
their first state championship. And then we've got three games tomorrow.
Jake that it should be spellbinders. It is teams. I'm
outside here against South Dallas County because in the first
game you have a rematch of last year state championship
game in five and Division two Richmond Randall South Oak
Cliff Richmond mc Randall beat Sack a year ago. South

(01:19:13):
Oak Cliff is in its fifth consecutive state championship game.
They've won their first two and they've lost their last two.
This is five in a row now for them to
reach the title round. That's the first game at eleven
in the morning. The two games I'll be calling will
be the six A game Duncan Villa Northshore. You want
to count numbers about meetings, this will be the sixth
time in nine years that Duncan Villa and Galena Park

(01:19:34):
Northshore have met in the state final. Northshore won the
first three, duncan Villa has won the last two. And
in visiting with both coaches, I had zoom calls with
both this morning and both said the programs.

Speaker 4 (01:19:46):
There were individual.

Speaker 12 (01:19:47):
Players who are very special on both sides, but the
programs that you know, look remarkably the same over the
years of the way they're coached, the way they go
about it. And then the nightcap, which might be the
most explosive game of all, will be the against.

Speaker 4 (01:20:00):
Ce King from Houston. Two teams that.

Speaker 12 (01:20:04):
Have eye popping offenses, and they'll try to do something
with their defenses to try to slow one another down
Tomorrow night till a great final day tomorrow after this
one concludes in one more.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
Game tonight, absolutely, and I'll be tuned into those, Craig,
I'm not going to let you off the hook this
easily though. On your Los Angeles Rams, who lost from
a very winnable position last night, what do you kind
of make of that? On one hand, Matthew Stafford played outstanding.
On the other hand, the Rams, now for a second
time this season, let one get away on the road.

Speaker 12 (01:20:36):
Well, the Rams lost the game in the way that
I've seen them lose the other three games this year,
and the way I almost kind of expected him to do,
and that is to have it get away.

Speaker 4 (01:20:47):
From him in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 12 (01:20:48):
Now, they did a great job in the first three
quarters against the Seahawks.

Speaker 4 (01:20:52):
Think about this. They're up thirty to fourteen in the
fourth quarter.

Speaker 12 (01:20:56):
With the football and yes, by the way, this iPad
that I'm busying with, I had that over to my
side while I was calling a Free A Division two
championship game, So during breaks I was looking over, and
things like commercial breaks and stuff like that, I was
looking over. But when you're up thirty to fourteen in
the fourth quartering you got posession, the footballer should lose
the game. They had three straight three and outs and

(01:21:17):
after one of those there was a plump return for
a touchdown, and then they give up a touchdown drive.

Speaker 4 (01:21:21):
They gave up two two point conversions to tye.

Speaker 12 (01:21:24):
If the second one was the bizarre one that was
originally ruled an incomplete pass overturn on review, I think
correctly so that it was a backward pass.

Speaker 1 (01:21:33):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:21:33):
I've had other people.

Speaker 12 (01:21:34):
Tell me that they heard what should have been called
an inadvertent whistle when the ball hit the ground.

Speaker 4 (01:21:39):
I didn't hear it.

Speaker 12 (01:21:41):
And if that was the case, then the play either
should have been blown dead and it's either a do
over or playover.

Speaker 4 (01:21:48):
It's not awarding the two points on that. But the NFL.

Speaker 12 (01:21:52):
I haven't seen anything from the NFL that says there
was an inadvertent whistle on that. I haven't had a
chance to check all of the NFL wires today. Nevertheless,
the Rams still could have won the game, got down,
got the touchdown in overtime, and just could not stop
Seattle coming back down the field. And you knew the
Seahawks were gonna go for two again if they scored,
so no surprise there.

Speaker 4 (01:22:13):
That's how you go from being one seed to the
five seed in the span of a quarter. In most
of overtime.

Speaker 12 (01:22:19):
Because the Rams now are not in a position to
win the NFC West, and if you don't have that
one seed, it's real hard to win the NFC. So
i'd say you put that squarely in the lap of
the Seahawks. Now we're probably gonna wind up winning the West.

Speaker 4 (01:22:33):
Being the one seed. They're gonna be tough to beat
in that building as they try to get a buy
and then all Anthony, who's win two home games to
get the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
Craig, You're a much much better multitasker than me, But
I know you've got to get back to work.

Speaker 2 (01:22:47):
Thanks for stopping by and joining us.

Speaker 12 (01:22:49):
Hey, fun, appreciate stepping in and hope everybody has a
great weekend. I'll be back in the office on Monday.
Jaq and I have the couple of days Monday and Tuesday.
And by the way, we'll tease all our bump music on.

Speaker 4 (01:23:03):
Monday and Tuesday. Are gonna need some.

Speaker 12 (01:23:05):
Of my favorites from Christmas, so we're gonna do that
on Monday and Tuesday.

Speaker 4 (01:23:10):
We'll have a lineup on those. We'll do that.

Speaker 12 (01:23:12):
It won't be a Texan Tuesday. It'll be a Christmas Tuesday,
so to speak, as we get it. It won't be
a Longhorns Monday. It'll be a Merry Christmas Monday type
of things. So we're gonna do that on Monday and
Tuesday next weekend over you have. We've got a long
worn basketball game on Monday night against Maryland Eastern Shore
and the women are at South Dakoch State on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:23:32):
Craig, two more shows before the holiday break. We'll make
them count. Thanks again, you bet. And after this we'll
hear a little more from Longhorn's head coach Steve Sarkisan,
including his comments on the schedule that have kind of well,
I'll let him tell it right after this on a
sports radio AM thirteen hundredth to zone. Thank you to
Craig Way joining us from Arlington in between state championship matchups.

(01:23:57):
I'll love to call at seven o'clock later tonight Frisco
lone Star against Smithson Valley. This is seven and seven
from Oklahoma's Turnpike Troubadours coming back from break All right
back to Steve Sarksian, who talked earlier about his move
to replace Pete Qwitkowski with Will mus Champ. How did

(01:24:18):
he address it with his players and how did he
explain the timing of the move.

Speaker 2 (01:24:22):
To them.

Speaker 8 (01:24:24):
I think one thing that you know, we're all a
byproduct of our circumstances. Quite frankly, and unfortunately, college football's
calendar isn't conducive to making coaches coaching changes after the season,
after your bowl game or after the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:24:44):
And I think we've seen that.

Speaker 8 (01:24:47):
Throughout the country with the amount of head coaching changes
that got made so early in a season.

Speaker 3 (01:24:52):
Why is that?

Speaker 1 (01:24:54):
You know?

Speaker 8 (01:24:54):
If I wait till after the bowl game to make
this change on January first and or January second, this
thing opens up on January second, called the transfer portal.
And so as we get back from Orlando and our
guys decide to go home, we don't start school until
January sixth, January twelfth. The portal opens January second, and

(01:25:16):
I decide to make a coaching change on January second.
While I've got players in Dallas, Houston, Georgia, Florida, California,
and it's they got to read on Twitter that we
change defensive coordinators. Well, they might be a bigger flight
risk than now. I made a change yesterday. Will Muschamp
was in our building and he was able to start

(01:25:36):
sitting down with those players right now and he's able
to start forging personal relationships with the players on.

Speaker 3 (01:25:42):
Our roster right now.

Speaker 8 (01:25:43):
He's able to sit down with Colin Grayson, Littleton, Cade Phillips,
you know, Alex January, all these guys, and so they're
getting a sense and a feel for him right now.
As opposed to flying around on a plane and I
got to go visit these guys in South Dallas or
in Orlando or in California.

Speaker 3 (01:26:00):
It's a lot easier to do that now.

Speaker 8 (01:26:02):
And that's unfortunate because I'd love for our coaches to
finish what they started this season and try to go
get ten wins, but the calendar has forced that upon us,
and that's forced that issue on.

Speaker 3 (01:26:11):
Us, and so it is what it is. And again
I don't think it's unique to us.

Speaker 8 (01:26:15):
I mean, look at how many high profile jobs made
changes when we got a head coach right now that
left a playoff team, that went to go coach another
school and left that team. And so that's unfortunate because
I don't think that that's what we want for college football.
But that is the state of college football right now,
and that's why you see the coaching changes take place
when they do.

Speaker 1 (01:26:36):
Not sure Lane Kiffin loved that comment there from coach Sark.
He was asked to expand on the difficulties that the
new calendar provides and was asked by Roger Wallace, are
there solutions you have in mind?

Speaker 2 (01:26:47):
Take a listen.

Speaker 8 (01:26:48):
I think that through it all, and I've said this
numerous times, like the popularity of college football is at
an all time high. I mean, just look at the
viewership of these and not only of college football. Look
at the popularity of the Southeastern Conference. Look at the
viewership of our games. And people love our sport, people

(01:27:11):
love our conference, people love the competitiveness of our sport.

Speaker 3 (01:27:15):
And so that's great, but man.

Speaker 8 (01:27:18):
Under the hood, we've got a little bit of a
we've got a broken system going right now, and we've
got to get a lot of different parties on the
same page. And it's not going to be an overnight fix.
It's everybody's like, well, we just need a commissioner of
college football. Well, the commissioners no good if he doesn't
have power, and without power and putting rules in place

(01:27:43):
with no enforcement does nobody any good. And so, whether
you want to talk about the portal, whether you want
to talk about tampering whether you want to talk about
the calendar, whether you want to talk about the CFP
and the committee and the criteria for choosing the teams.
We just got committees all over the place that say
this is what we're gonna do, But I don't know
who follows through with what's the enforcement of I know

(01:28:05):
we do within the SEC, but on a bigger scale,
I don't know where all of those things are falling too.
And I think a lot of it is we've got
to start to corral this, and we got to start
knocking off one thing out of time. But yet we've
got to do it in unison because we changed a
transfer portal window. But yet we didn't affect the college

(01:28:28):
Football Playoff, right, And so how do those things work
in conjunction? Well, this is a committee over here talking
about the CFP. There's another committee over here talking about
the calendar of how we operate. There's another committee over
here talking about, well, you can have eighty five players
on scholarship this year, next year you can have one
hundred and five.

Speaker 3 (01:28:48):
Well, that would have been nice to know.

Speaker 8 (01:28:49):
When we move signing data up to the first Wednesday
in December, we didn't know we were signing as if
we had eighty five. Well, now you're telling me we
can go to one o five and so we've got
to get everybody living and operating under the same roof. Well, yeah,
that means we probably need a commissioner, and that commissioner
probably needs one governing committee which can govern the rules

(01:29:10):
that are getting put in place by these committees. Well,
that's supposed to be the NCAA. Unfortunately, right now, the
NCAA has no teeth because anytime anybody we put things
in place that we all signed up to be part
of the NCAA. But yet when the NCAA tries to
put a rule in place, somebody and everybody's going to
go sue the NCAA and say, no, I don't like

(01:29:30):
that rule. Well then you shouldn't have joined this group
that we all cho chose to join, which was the NCAA.
And right now the NCAA just doesn't have enough teeth
to enforce the things that we're saying we're going to do.
So we've got some issues here. We've got a lot
of smart people in place. Somebody has got to take
the bull by the horns, no pun intended, and say hey,

(01:29:51):
this is what we're gonna do. Who's willing to follow
us and do this this way? And if you don't
want to follow it, that's fine, stay over here. But
if you're gonna follow it, fall in line. If not,
then there's some real punishment that comes with that. And
so this is not something that overnight is going to
get fixed. But I do think it can get fixed,
and it will get fixed because our sport and our

(01:30:13):
game is too good right now. We've just got to
corral some of these things. And right now it's as
bad as I've seen it. Everybody two years ago talked
about the wild Wild West. It's way worse than it
was two years ago. It's beyond where anybody could have
imagined where we thought we would be. But we can
fix it if we all start to agree on things

(01:30:34):
and everybody start to get on the same page. And
if you don't want to agree, then go play over here,
Go play in your own sandbox. But in this sandbox,
these are the rules. And do I think we can
get there?

Speaker 3 (01:30:45):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (01:30:45):
Do I think we're going to get there tomorrow? No,
it's gonna take us some time.

Speaker 1 (01:30:49):
I mean, those are some strong words about the NCAA.
I think he brings up a lot of good points there,
just in the wild wild West nature of college football
right now. Certainly he's right that we have to get
some consistency in terms of the enforcement of certain things.
Just last week, right you have the SEC announcing a

(01:31:10):
nine game conference schedule. Meanwhile, the ACC who's tie breaking
scenarios helped end up with two G five teams in
the playoff, they rolled out a schedule play and where
you've got teams playing different amounts of conference games every year.
That's even a less egregious example of some of the
things that sark is talking about that have him worried
for the place that college football is in right now. Okay,

(01:31:31):
we'll hear more of Sark's comments more specifically about this
Longhorn team, where they stand right now practicing for the
Citrus Bowl, and what he thinks are the key priorities
with Will Muschamp going into year number six. That's coming
up on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred, The Zone and
the free iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (01:31:50):
Greg st Orange County.

Speaker 1 (01:31:51):
With the shade, perhaps Steve Sarkisian throwing a little shade
at Lane Kiffin during his comments today addressing the assembled
local media and speaking to the reasoning behind the Will
must Champ hire he'll be taking over the Texas defense,
returning to Austin for the first time since twenty ten.

(01:32:11):
What was it about must Champ's intensity on the sideline
that Sark was drawn to and expects from must Champ
coming up this season.

Speaker 8 (01:32:20):
I love Will's level of intensity. I love his passion.
I love his demanding nature of which he coaches. But
in the same token, I love the love that he gets,
the connection that he gets from his players. And if
you talk to anybody who's ever played for Will must Champ,
they talk about that passion. They talk about that in

(01:32:41):
the intensity, they talk about the demanding nature of which
he coaches, be it on the same token they talk
about who he is as a person and the connection
that he has. And so for me, I love the
fact that on game day I can spend a little
more time focusing on offensive football and and allow him

(01:33:02):
to kind of be with those players making those calls
if we need to call a time out when we're
on defense, I don't always have to be on the
defensive headset every single play of defense. I can go
talk to Arch, I can be with coach Millwey, coach Flood,
and so again I think there was a there's a
level to this that maybe it's hard to see, you know,

(01:33:22):
from just looking through the window, but ideally when you
get under the hood, you're like, oh, there's some reasoning
behind what we did to help not only the defensive
side of the ball, but actually help us offensively.

Speaker 3 (01:33:33):
And so there's layers to it.

Speaker 8 (01:33:36):
But again, I think the passion, the energy, the intensity
is real, and that's that's something that you know, I
really have felt like I've wanted and needed and coach
Nansen provides that and we got it.

Speaker 3 (01:33:47):
But man, we in this league you got to have
it all, and you got to have it.

Speaker 8 (01:33:50):
Every week, as we know, because there's there's there's challenging
games that week in and week out that you've got
to get yourself ready for.

Speaker 1 (01:33:58):
So Steve starts Keys and now entering year six as
the Longhorns head coach, what's the challenge of making a
switch like this at such a key position defensive coordinator,
especially given sarks expertise, really relying on the offensive side
of the ball, and how do you make the right
adjustment without sacrificing some of the winning culture that you built.

Speaker 8 (01:34:20):
Having gone to the playoffs two years in a row,
it felt like I don't know when.

Speaker 3 (01:34:27):
Year three or four even ended.

Speaker 8 (01:34:29):
Going into year five, it just felt like we just
kept rolling right because our seasons were going so long,
there was so much change in college football. It just
felt like, keep going, keep going, keep going. And it
was probably quite frankly difficult to actually do a real
audit on our organization because it was just an ongoing
process from one to the next to the next. And

(01:34:50):
one thing that came out of not making the playoffs,
which believe me, I wish we were in and I
still think we should be in, and I don't feel
bad saying that. It gave me a little more time,
and it gave me some time to step back and
really look at this thing from a ten thousand foot
view of say, Okay, some of these issues may have
reared their ugly head this year, but when I look

(01:35:11):
back a year ago, two years ago, I could see
the crack starting to form, and I didn't address them
then when maybe I could have, but there was so
much happening and we were having success that now was
a time where I felt like, man, I can really
address some of these issues.

Speaker 3 (01:35:26):
We have the time to do it.

Speaker 8 (01:35:27):
But the one thing I know that we've got the
right core values in place in an organization. We've got
the right leadership, We've got a great staff, We've got
great players in our program that are not only really
good players, really good people, and they understand what our
culture's about. And so you know, when I look at
some of these players that have grown up in our
program in the eyes, they know what this place stands for.

(01:35:49):
And so I don't think we'll let that falter. And
to your point, and I think the men that we're
bringing into our organization now, they believe in the same
things we believe in. And you guys will get the
change you nice, no will you know what he stands for.
You'll get a chance to be around Coach du Luke.
You'll see what he stands for. And the players that
play for those guys already understand what they stand for.

(01:36:10):
And the players we're recruiting, we haven't changed the philosophy
of the types of players we're trying to bring in
our organization. But again, every year, you've got to recreate
it right. You can't just assume it's just going to
keep going, I've got to do a great job. Our
staff's got to do a great job of recreating that
when we get back to winter conditioning of what is
our culture, what do we believe in?

Speaker 3 (01:36:29):
Here's how we go about re establishing that year and
in year out.

Speaker 1 (01:36:33):
Interesting question, it was Sark Harsher on his own team
in that audit, that evaluation of the twenty twenty five
season after missing the college football playoff.

Speaker 3 (01:36:44):
I don't know if it was necessarily Harsher.

Speaker 8 (01:36:46):
You know, I'm a very transparent coach with players, coaches, staff,
recruiting staff, whatever that is. Of things that we do
well areas where I think we can improve or we
need to pivot.

Speaker 3 (01:37:01):
And do it a little bit different.

Speaker 8 (01:37:02):
And so I don't know if I necessarily was Harsher,
but it did allow me to do a little bit
of a deeper dive into some of those things and
allow me to try to figure out what and how
and where we can improve and get better. You know,
I think at the end of the day, I don't
lose sight of, you know, how far we've come, you know,

(01:37:23):
from where we were when we first arrived to what
it looked like coming out of year one, to all
of a sudden, you know, we go to two cfps,
we're in two semi finals, and we have an opportunity
to play for national titles, and we don't get there.
The idea that we were a nine to three team,
six and two in the Southeastern Conference and finished where

(01:37:45):
we did. There's a level of disappointment, don't get me wrong,
But probably more than anything, there's this level of motivation
right that to get back of what that looks like
and what that feels like, what that tastes like. And
so the disappointment's a good taste to have in our mouths,
But that's not going to be the thing that's just

(01:38:06):
going to carry us all year.

Speaker 3 (01:38:08):
Next year, we've got to get back to who we are.
We had a good.

Speaker 8 (01:38:12):
Season and I won't I won't take that away from
this team. And we had some great wins, and like
I said, anytime you can beat your rivals, you can
beat both those teams are in the playoff, you should
feel good about for us, like the type of team
we had, but we weren't.

Speaker 3 (01:38:27):
Quite good enough. And so how do we get to
where we are.

Speaker 8 (01:38:30):
Good enough and not just good enough to get in,
but good enough to go win the whole thing, and
that's that's the goal every year here. That's why you're
at the University of Texas. I've said this all along.
I didn't take this job just to be the head
coach of Texas. I took this job to be a
national champion. I took this job to be an SEC champion.
And those are tall tasks, but that's why we're here.

(01:38:51):
That's the standard, and that's the that's the the level
of which we operate on every single day.

Speaker 1 (01:38:57):
One more SoundBite from start coming up about the Citrus
Bowl practices, but we need a quick break before we
wrap up The Craigway Show on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone

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