Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
And we're back to the Craig Way Show. Have a
message for Craig, share it by using the talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. Coming up in a few minutes,
we're gonna let you hear from Michael Taff. You may
have seen a couple of soundbites of what that guy
is all about and actually what he's kind of had
to endure over the past week because of the controversy
(00:29):
about the no call targeting and some of the feedback
and blowback he had personally has received on that, but
other things as well. So we'll hear from Michael Taff
coming up in a few minutes, but we do want
to hear some more from Longhorn's head coach Steve Sarkisian
and from his media zoom availability. And next up, he
(00:58):
was asked about uh Ibuka and Jeremiah Smith and the
the outstanding two receivers for Ohio State and the challenge
they present.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah. Well, they're both big physical players. You know, they
have have length, they have speed, they have playmaking ability
on the ball, they have really big catch radiuses they've
got they've got the scheme to go with it with
with coach Kelly and coach day. And they've got a
quarterback who delivers in the ball. So you add all
that up. These guys are impactful players that uh that
(01:29):
are real issues and there we're gonna have a hard
time gardening.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Okay, Uh yeah. Mecca A. Buca Is is a veteran
AS senior who has uh you know, nearing right. I
think he has one hundred and ninety four career catches.
He's nearing the Ohio state all time record. Now, we
pointed this out and and and I think it's fair
(01:52):
to repeat it. This run through the college football playoffs,
and I anticipatedveral things coming out of it, and those
have manifested themselves. But there have been some other unknowns
that perhaps I wasn't thinking deeply enough about or counted
on happening, or just kind of emerged. And that is happening.
(02:15):
And here's one of those things. Because of the compressed
amount of practice time. Remember coming out of the conference
championships that was on December seventh, the Longhorns had to
turn around two weeks later, so they had like a
true open date, and then on December twenty first, they
(02:36):
had the first round playoff game against Clinton. They won
that game, then they had what we kind of referred
to as a mini buy because the next one was
on New Year's Day, so there were a total of
i think eleven days before the next game, and they
won that contest in the Peach Bowl of Arizona State,
(02:59):
as we all know, But it wasn't like a full
New Year six Bowl experience. In other words, they even
get their week out and do all these different, you know,
activities and things. You saw that with some of the
older Tier two and Tier three bowls where guys were
going and playing a lot of video games and bowling
and going to different stuff with the guys in the
Alamo Bowl and See World, you know, all those kind
(03:20):
of activities. There were very few of those activities because
the log Worns came in like three days out and
they played the game and one was a media day
and then you know all that, and they got their
practices and did that same story this week. They will
not go to I'm not going to say Dallas the
games in Arlington. It's in Terren County. But folks who've
(03:41):
got a custom of saying Dallas, they're going to Arlington,
They're going to Jerry World. But they won't go up
to Arlington until Wednesday. The game is Friday, so they're
getting their work in most of it this week and
they'll go up there. They'll have a media day, they
will have practices up there, walk through. That's pretty much it.
(04:01):
So and this is for another New Year six bowls
to New Year six bowls in one year, so that's unusual.
And playing in the Cotton Bowl and playing in the
Cotton Bowl for the first time in twenty two years,
by the way, the last time he did it was
January of three. The last time the Texas long Wrnes
played in the Cotton Bowl, the quarterback was Chris Simms.
Think about that. That's how long ago that was. But
(04:25):
in any event, it's been a different kind of bowl experience.
So Sark was asked, did he allow himself an opportunity
to enjoy winning a Peach Bowl, which of course made
Texas the only program in Division on FBS college football
history to win all six New Year six bowls during
(04:45):
the totality of time. Did Sark allow himself to enjoy
that or was it just hey, it was nice, discard it,
get back to work, twenty four hour limit and jump
right back into the Cotton Bowl.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
No, I mean we took a moment. We took a
moment after the cleansing game, and took a moment after
the Peach Bowl. You know, there's it's always probably a
good thing when the confetti's fallen on you and it's
your colors, you know, So you know, we try not
to miss those things. You know, as much as there's
a there's the big prize at the end that we're
striving for, there's there's there's victories along the way, and
(05:19):
those small victories need to be celebrated. And this, by
no means was a small victory. But you got to
celebrate your victories as as you as you navigate your
way through it because they're hard to get. If they
weren't that difficult, there'd be a lot of other teams
in this position. But you know, we're fortunate to be here.
And like I said, I've been I've been so proud
of our staff, so proud of our team with their
work ethic, with their determination, with their resiliency, you know,
(05:43):
week after week after week, and it's it's been a credit.
You know that ourselves in Penn State are the only
two teams now that actually played in the conference championship
game and had to play a first round game. So
we're we're the two that really haven't gotten any of
the time off that that you know that Notre Dame
and or Ohio State have gotten and even those teams
(06:03):
that got the first round by So we're just trying
to you know, take it all and stride and continue
to move forward, but again along the way, enjoy the
victories as they come.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
And toward that end. Sark was asked if being the
final SEC school still playing carries an extra special meeting.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, you know, I I still hold true to this,
like I really believe this is a premiere you know,
football conference in America because of the weekend, week out
task that it requires physically and mentally. It's not a
one time thing where you just play one SEC team
(06:41):
and then you get on to go do the rest.
You have to do it week in and week out.
You have to go on some really go into some
really difficult environments and over time that's what takes this
toll on your team physically and mentally, and so you've
got to make sure that you can kind of recharge
those batteries, stay as healthy as you can. You know,
clearly we've we've endured our fair share of injuries this year,
(07:04):
and I think have done a pretty good job, decent
job of navigating our way through it, you know. I know,
unfortunately for Georgia, you know, they lost their starting quarterback
in our game, in the SEC championship game, and I'm
sure other teams in our conference had to endure things
that can take their toll on your team. And that's
that's no excuse at the end of the day. We
have to find a way to navigate our ways through it.
(07:26):
But to be here on this stage, to be back
in the final four, wearing that SEC patch on our jersey,
you know we're gonna do our best to represent it
because this is a heck of a conference.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
No doubt about that, all right. And in continuing the
preparation for this, how about the dynamic of playing in Arlington,
where the Longhorns last played last year and won their
final Big Twelve championship. Does it carry any extra weight
responsibility pressure?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I don't necessarily feel pressure upon that. You know, when
you take the head job here at the University of Texas,
you got to know what you're signing up for, and
there's an expectation in a standard here to to compete
and to win championships, compete for and win championships, and
so you acknowledge it, you you accept it, and you
start charging forward. I think this is more of a
great opportunity, UH to play in the Coup Bowl and
(08:21):
in the in the semi finals of the college football
Playoff against an unbelievable opponent, UH in Ohio State. They've
got a great fan base, They're going to travel there,
their fans are played against them in the Rose Bowl
and UH a different different opportunities, so their fans travel really,
really well. And so the challenge for us is to
stay composed in that arena.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
The challenge for our fans is to show up, buy
tickets and support us so that we can make it
as tough in an environment as we can, because, like
I said, we're gonna need all those factors in this game.
And this is this is the you know, the best
team in college football, and we're gonna have to make
sure that that we put our best forward to to
give ourselves a chance to win game.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Okay next. Sark has often discussed this NFL schedule, or
at this college football schedule resembling more of an NFL schedule.
Now now, because this is game number sixteen that they win,
they'll be play seventeen games. So has it begun to
take on the field of an NFL schedule.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Well, it definitely feels like that, you know, you think about,
like I said, we're going into game number sixteen here,
and so how you manage the players, how you utilize
your time, how you you try to keep them as
fresh as you can, not only physically but mentally, but
(09:40):
also put forth, you make sure you've got a good
plan that you can execute against. You know, the further
you go into the playoffs, the better quality opponent you face,
and so your quality of play has to continue to improve.
The coaching has to improve. Everybody's got to improve. We've
always got to continue to strive to get better, all
on the same time trying to get everybody fresh and
(10:01):
back and putting them in the best position to have success.
And so it's a challenge, but that's the beauty of it, right,
That's that's like to be in the stage and to
be with this opportunity. You embrace it and you try
to balance it as best you can so that when
the ball's kicked off You're putting everybody, your staff, your
players in the best position to have some success.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
All right there it is long wrn's head coach Steve
Sarkesian his thoughts on getting ready for this matchup with
Ohio State up next went in for Michael Tapp Long
WRN Safety about well, the backlash that came out of
the Peach Bowl and what's ahead of them with the
Cotton Bowl when we continue on AM thirteen under the
(10:44):
Zone