Texas Lands in the Citrus Bowl, HSFB Semifinal Preview, MLB Winter Meetings Underway

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hello to a brand new week. Hell on to Monday.
Glad to have you with us this afternoon here on
sports Radio AM thirteen one hundred The Zone. My name
is Craig Way. I do thank you very much for
joining us, and we're with you each and every weekday afternoon,
Monday through Friday from two pm to five pm. We
have the bonus for you coming up this evening. We
have long worn basketball, so the Texas log Worns will

(00:34):
host the Southern University Jaguars. We'll have it for It's
six point thirty the pregame start time here on the
Zone and seven o'clock tip. And here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna give away some tickets. There are we not
Producer Jay Carmon. That's that's what I hear. It's in
the affirmative. Okay, I thought I heard we aard. So
here's the way I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna get
it real easy today, because you know we're into the

(00:56):
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(01:17):
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(01:40):
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(02:01):
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Speaker 2 (02:17):
I think we just need your name, Okay, okay, because
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our folks will follow up with the.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Okay, all right, So there it is. That's all I
have to do, So give us your name on that,
you'll do it, all right. There's a lot to get
to on the program this afternoon. Clearly, what dominates a
lot of the conversation, not only in these parts but
in the state of Texas and other places, the final
college football playoff rankings. And I don't know if a

(02:53):
lot of people thought we would be genuinely surprised by
anything that came out in the final rankings. Maybe some
people didn't think that and then got shocked by what
happened yesterday. There are those who probably were not shocked.
We're not that surprised. And by the way, if you

(03:13):
want to rate weigh in on that on the text line,
feel free to do so. All you have to do
is text the word Texas follow by your question or
comment to eight one five three zero. Text the word
Texas follow by your question or comment to eight one
five three zero. Standard messaging and data rates may apply.
But what the college football playoff committee did yesterday did

(03:36):
shake a couple of people to their foundation, most notably
in South Bend, Indiana. There were a couple of a
couple of things. One the Ole miss A and m
dynamic has some people over in College station a little
bit upset, feeling they got more of an unfair draw
being the seven seed and ole miss being the sixth seed.

(03:56):
Remember Old miss moved up. We're gonna have that. We're
gonna hear from Hunter your Check one more time. We're
going to hear him explain that dynamic. And then obviously
the Miami Notre Dame thing. For those who did not
see how that went down, Miami was still rated ahead
of Notre Dame, I mean behind Notre Dame, and neither

(04:20):
team played last weekend, and then Miami jumps Notre Dame.
Now it was explained both on the television call and
then I think you hear it on this as well,
coming up the call from Hunter your Check that other
things impact idle teams. This is why my intent went

(04:40):
up last week when he said, when he was asked,
is it possible for idle teams to move? And he
said it's possible. So I thought, okay, that wasn't possible
a year ago, so they've kind of updated the dynamic
for that. Well, that's exactly what happened, but a lot

(05:02):
of people didn't put the the dominoes together. And it
was BYU's second decisive loss this season to Texas Tech
that moved him away from Miami and Notre Dame being
as the Canadians would say, side by each and then

(05:22):
they reverted back to they had to head win way
back in Week one for Miami Notre Dame. People incensed
about it, saying, you know, we've we've moved the last
two weeks and all we've done is set after winning
ten in a row. Now there's that, so anyway, there's
there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth
about that. So let's hear from the committee chairman. We're
also going to hear from Long Horns head coach Steve

(05:44):
Sarkeshin because obviously the Longhorns were not going to be
in the playoff. We kind of knew that was coming
down the pike, and that was exactly what happened. Texas
as we thought said so on this program last week,
would most likely wind up in the cheese at Citrus
Bowl and that they would be playing the Michigan Wolverines.
That is what's going to happen. It'll be at two

(06:05):
o'clock Texas time in the afternoon on New Year's Eve afternoon.
Our coverge will begin at ten o'clock in the morning,
and that'll be with the third and Long Worn podcast
guys with their pregame at ten, and then it'll be
our Long Orange Game Day program at eleven Network, pre
game at one, and the kickoff at two Texas Longhorns

(06:28):
Michigan Wolverines. So of course they played last year in
ann Arbor. Long Orange won that game. They'll meet again
in Austin at least as far as we know right now,
I'm twenty twenty seven. It's on the schedule. You never
know in this day and age where teams are making
comments about evaluating their down the road games. Now Sark

(06:50):
has said they will honor the contracts of those two
games next year against Ohio State the year after against Michigan.
And why wouldn't you. Texas went up there and played
both of those games the prior to seasons, so why
not have an opportunity to get him at home. But
that's for on down the road. So we'll here Sark
talk about that. We'll hear him talk about the Bowl
game and getting ready for the Michigan Wolverines on New

(07:13):
Year's Eve afternoon. In the meantime, this is Hunter Yurachek,
the committee chairman, and the first thing he was asked
is about how Alabama, seeing this was the other thing.
First of all, is Alabama, despite losing by twenty one
points to Georgia, did not fall. Now, I think that

(07:37):
has a large mansion over the Bama already had a
win over Georgia and Athens earlier this year. But anyway,
there was that, and so BYU fell, Alabama did not fall,
And so the question was why drop BYU but not Alabama?
And how are the situations different?

Speaker 3 (07:53):
The biggest difference in those two situations, Zach, was the
fact that Alabama had already beaten Georgia at Georgia earlier
in the year, BYU had that same opportunity at Texas
Tech earlier in the year, and BYU did not perform
and look great in either one of those games versus
Texas Tech, the one that was played about four weeks ago,

(08:13):
and then of course yesterday's game. So that was the
biggest difference is Alabama had that big win at Georgia,
which is arguably the best win of any team this season.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
All right, so that might provide the answer to the
next question. When he was asked about how does he
justify Alabama ahead of Notre Dame given their close call
against Auburn and then the decisive loss to Georgia.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
Last week, I spoke about the committee felt strongly that
when you were comparing each week, the debate between Notre
Dame and Alabama was strong and robust, with arguments from
the committee members on both sides. Great respect for both
of those teams, but felt like last week going to
rival Auburn and the way Alabama played, especially in the

(08:59):
first half of that game and then finding a way
late in the fourth quarter to win that game was
a featherneck their cap above Notre Dames, going out on
the West Coast and playing in a less hostile environment
and doing really what they should have done against Stanford.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
Okay, all right, So then he was asked about Alabama
nine versus ten in the rankings over Notre Dame in Miami.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
A couple of things really stood out to us over
the last twenty four hours as we compared Alabama to
both Notre Dame in Miami. Alabama's schedule strength was the
highest of any team in the top eleven, and also
their win at Georgia twenty four to twenty one earlier
this season arguably the best win for any team, and

(09:43):
they also had a win against Vanderbilt and then previous
win at Missouri and Tennessee, both who have been ranked
in our top twenty five for various points this year.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Then he was asked, you know, with it being that
way when he discussed and rewatched the Notre Dame Miami game,
because he made a point of talking about that, what
were the points that came up?

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Well, really, how Miami defense dominated Notre Dame's running game
where Notre Dame had really been for the rest of
the season. They're running game with that dual threat that
they had their running back dominated most of the other
teams they played. But you know, Notre Dame held that
there's Notre Dame star running back was held at thirty
three yards in that game. And then there's observation from

(10:27):
the coaches in the rooms where Notre Dame did a
lot of chasing of some of the athletic receivers, especially
on the Miami side, and it just felt like there
was a little bit more athleticism on the side of
Miami versus Notre Dame. And then the fact that Miami's
defense really stifled a Notre Dame's running game like nobody
else did the entire season.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Okay, all right, the beauty pageant, that's college football.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
All right, but wait, weren't you one of the ones
that was unhappy about Miami being the high Notre Dame
was right.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
All he has to say was Miami won the game. Well,
why are we talking about athleticism on the edges and
getting some.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
Of the weeds? Well, they asked him, what did he
see in that game? I guess athleticism. But it was
week one. It was week one, so yeah, you know,
how do you figure that out? Okay? Now some other things.
First of all, Texas A and m at seven ole
miss at six were their discussions about flipping.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
The two That just really stood pat those teams five
through eight, none of whom played this weekend and any
type of championship game scenario. We didn't feel like we
had anything from the championship games that were played that
impacted the standing of old Nurse, old miss versus Texas A.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
And m okay, all right. Now, he was asked about
the committee keeping Ohio State after the lost Indiana above
Georgia two versus three.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Yeah, you had a one versus two matchup in the
Big Ten. Indiana and Ohio State hotly contested game. The
Indiana one by three, but Ohio State missed to latefield
goal that could have potentially tied that game and send.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
It into overtime.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
They had another failed fourth down conversion there in the
second half. I thought that game was really really close.
And then when you look at comparatively Georgia to Ohio State,
their strength of schedule strengths are relatively similar, as are
their record strengths, but statistically, especially on the offensive and

(12:29):
defensive side of the ball, Ohio State looks a little
bit better on the statistical side. And so that's why
the committee chose to give the nod to Ohio State
over Georgia in that two to three setting.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Okay, all right, So then folks are kind of looking
and forecasting down the road and talk about Ohio State
being with their boy. They would be in the Cotton Bowl,
just as they were a year ago in the Summer Finals.
This would be in the quarterfinals, and Miami, if they're
able to win in College Station, potentially getting to play
quote unquote at home against Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl.

(13:01):
Did any of these things have to do with one another.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yes, absolutely, you know, looking at the potential second round
matchups for Texas A and m or for Ohio State,
either Texas A.

Speaker 4 (13:14):
And M or Miami.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
The fact that Miami, if they had won that game,
would have had a huge advantage playing on their home
field in the Orange Bowl, where if Texas A and
M win that game, playing in the Cotton Bowl, while
in Texas is a true neutral site field. And so
for that reason, that's how we assigned Ohio State.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
To the Cotton Bowl.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Okay, all right. He was also asked, was there any
concern about rematches like you have with Old Miss and Tulane,
you know in Alabama and Oklahoma. Was there any concern
about rematches in the first round.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
There's absolutely no consideration in our room for that.

Speaker 5 (13:53):
We ranked the teams.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
Again one through twenty five, and then as those rankings
come out, then we will place the five highest conference
champions into the bracket, and then we'll fay place the
seven highest at large teams accordingly in the bracket, and
so there's no thought into who could play who in
any rounds throughout the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
All right?

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Then he was asked, you know, would the process have
been easier for the committee without conference championship games that
mean different things to different teams every year.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
That's a process and consideration, not to not answer your
question any four, the management committee. The role again, the
role of the selection committee is to rank the teams
one through twenty five, and then from that you developed
your college football playoff bracket with the five highest ranked
conference champions and the seventh highest at large teams. And

(14:46):
so that's what we do until the management committee tells
us to do something different.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
All right.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
And then finally, would the committee's job be easier if
they had fewer rank shows to discuss on this, because
that's part of what you got the people that support
Notre Dame so insensed about it. By the way, coming
up the four o'clock hour, Geene Watson, our MLB insider,

(15:14):
will join us. I'll bet you he'll have something to
say about he. You know, Geno's big Notre Dame fan,
big Texas fan, a big Notre Dame fan as well,
so you'll probably have something on his mind when he
joins us in the four o'clock hour. But anyway, these
shows every week show where the rankings are. And I'm
not sure I understand the question of the question is like,
she just do it one time and that's it. But

(15:37):
would the job be easier if they had fewer ranking
shows to discuss?

Speaker 3 (15:41):
But I think what happens over the course of the
five or six weeks that we have the show is
it really sets the expectations, allows us to share a
little bit of a peek behind the curtain of how
we're ranking teams from from week to week. Obviously, college
football has the most passionate fan bases across the country.

(16:03):
Everyone can spend the metrics in favor of the team
that or teams that they support, and so you're always
going to have controversy. And that's why we debated for
so long nine ten, and eleven into the early morning
hours and woke up in sunrise to do the same
thing to try and make sure we got it right.

(16:23):
And I don't think that having less calls is going
to change that perception.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
No, But it's also not going to change the perception
that they didn't get it right in the minds of
some people.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
So or that they're fixing errors now that should have
been clear three or four weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, I'm going to get to that and give some
thoughts on that as well. But we're going to hear
from start. Coming up, we have inconceivable this hour Greg Tepper.
Next hour from Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine. One day earlier.
I'll be out tomorrow traveling to the Rio Grand Valley
with the Texas women's basketball team. The women won handled yesterday.
We'll hear from Vic Shaef from the four o'clock I
will also hear from Rea Hunningham, who had a double

(17:01):
double with thirty points yesterday in the Texas Winter of
a Prairie View. We'll hear from her in the three
o'clock hour. Also, as I mentioned three o'clock hour, Greg Tepper,
the editor in chief Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine, will
join us. We'll get his thoughts on the playoff. And
this is final four week in high school football. It's
actually down to the state championship round for six men,

(17:23):
but they'll play their state title games next week ahead
of the other eleven men games. They kind of get
a mini buy this weekend. They played through the weekend.
They have no game this week, and then they start
middle of next week for the six man level. But
everywhere else six A, five, A, four A, three A
two A both divisions of all of those. It's final
four week, State semi final week. We'll talk about that

(17:44):
with TEP and like I said, we'll take your questions,
your thoughts, her comments, and again the first ten people
to access us via the talkback microphone the talk back feature.
If you want to pair tickets to the Knight's Texas
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(18:04):
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Speaker 6 (18:17):
You want, you can't always get you what you want.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
And then my horse plows away. But that's if you've
ever seen the big chill that's.

Speaker 7 (18:38):
Going there.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
As the Big Chill is going on there. But it's
a great song by the Rolling Stones. You can't always
get what you want, but there is that one scene
there in the Big Chill where they're leaving the uh,
leaving the cemetery, and you can't always give what you
want what I did not know this for several years.
So I've found out lay of the corpse. And you
never wear the body. You never see the person being buried.
All you see is and being the hands and the

(19:02):
legs whatever, and the tie being strength. The actual body
of the person that was portrayed by Kevin Coster was
that sually this body? Yeah wow, so before he became
big time, it's in that in the Big Chill. All right,
Let's let's hear from Long Worts head coach Steve Sarkeesian
about his team being selected and invited to play in

(19:27):
the cheese At Citrus Bowl with the College Football Playoff
final rankings leaving the Long Worns out first of all.
Sarks opening thoughts.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
I would say, just an opening.

Speaker 8 (19:39):
It's an honor or privilege to be part of the
Cheese At Citrus Bowl against a great opponent in Michigan,
someone that we have some you know, having played him
last year to start the season, and we're set to
play and to start the twenty seventh season. The opportunity
to play a quality opponent like them for our team
to extend our sea is one.

Speaker 4 (20:01):
That we're looking forward to.

Speaker 8 (20:02):
It's an opportunity for us to go win ten games
for the third consecutive season, something that hasn't been done
at the University of Texas since two thousand and seven
through two thousand and nine. So we've had a great season.
We've accomplished a lot of great things.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
With one more goal in.

Speaker 8 (20:17):
Mine now of going to win in the Citrus Ball.
All right, that will open it up.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
All right. So that was one And then he was
asked how big of a letdown was it to be
left out of the College Football Playoff with the opt
outs coming, you know in Anthony Hill making that known,
and some of the others possibly opting out.

Speaker 8 (20:34):
I think there's obviously a level of disappointment of not,
you know, making the CFP. I thought that we put
a body of work on the field. We stayed in
our case. They made their decisions of who they felt
was worthy and deserving of being the twelve teams to
play in that tournament, and you have to respect that

(20:56):
that's the system that we put in place. Congratulates to
all those teams that are in that that are in
that tournament that.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
Get that opportunity.

Speaker 8 (21:04):
As far as us moving forward, you know, for me
and I think for our players, one of the key
messages has to continue to be it's not about what
just happened to us, It's about what are we going
to do moving forward? And that'll be our message starting
tomorrow morning with the team and the players. Naturally, we're
going to have to have discussions with with a variety
of players, some that have NFL aspirations, some that may

(21:28):
be thinking about potentially going to other schools. That's the
reality of the state of college football right now. But
I think, you know, jumping to that too soon and
making any emotional decision I think can be where we
can make a mistake. And so we've got to be
cognizant of that's the reality of the state.

Speaker 4 (21:45):
Of college football.

Speaker 8 (21:46):
But also let's make sure that we're making really good,
conscientious decisions with with the right information and not do
anything out of out of you know, with emotion or frustration.
And so that'll be the process starting tomorrow, and I'm
sure it'll take a little bit of time to get
to the final number of who may and who may
not play.

Speaker 4 (22:06):
But that's okay. We've got a really young football team.

Speaker 8 (22:09):
We've got a lot of good young players that are
that are chomping at the bit for their opportunity to play.

Speaker 4 (22:13):
We're going to get a lot of extended practice time.

Speaker 8 (22:16):
Essentially, this is going to turn into another Springball for
us where a lot of young players are going to
get an opportunity to show how much they've grown and
developed over the season, and with the opportunity to potentially
play in this game where this game doesn't count against
their eligibility. So looking forward to all parties on our
team hopefully contributing to the success in this game.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, I think he made a great point there. I mean,
you get fifteen more practices, So Notre Dame is sitting
that one out. They're not going to get their fifteen
more practices as well. Speaking of which, since they opted
out of being in a bowl, Sarcus asked if he
considered that and what kind of ripple effect might that
have on college football.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
Yeah, you know, I think a couple of things. One, No,
we did not.

Speaker 8 (23:00):
You know, we felt like if we didn't get into
the CFP, being right on the CUSP, we'd have an
opportunity to go to a really good bowl game. And
you think about the long standing history and tradition of
the Citrus Bowl with a really quality opponent being in
Michigan coming out of the Big Ten, that this was
this was going to be a great opportunity for us,
for our players, for our team. You when you when

(23:21):
you really look at our guys last year, we didn't
get the bowl experience at all.

Speaker 4 (23:26):
When when you go to the to.

Speaker 8 (23:28):
The playoffs coming right out of the SEC championship game, Uh,
we didn't get the bowl experience. And I think part
of that's part of playing college football is getting some
of that bowl experience. If we could have earned a buy,
we could have got a little different experience, but we didn't.
And so, you know, I want our guys to enjoy this,
and I feel like it's the right thing.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
For us to do for a lot of reasons.

Speaker 8 (23:49):
I don't know about the ripple effect for everybody, you know,
I think you know, we all have goals and aspirations
of winning conference championships and being national champions.

Speaker 4 (23:59):
At least we you do.

Speaker 8 (24:01):
But I also think that there's an experience factor on
all this. There's there's growth in all this, there's development
and all this, there's camaraderie, there's there's there's so much
that goes into this that sometimes a Bowl game is
about celebrating a season, uh and finishing a season the
right way. And like I said, you know, I I don't.
I can't speak for everybody else. You know that that

(24:23):
may change some as we evolve potentially into more teams.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (24:29):
You know, I think we all can agree we've got
a flawed system right now that needs to be really vamped,
needs to be looked at, needs to be looked at
from a lot of different angles. Where it goes from here,
I don't think anybody really knows, And so you know,
the point being, I don't know what the effect is
going to be down the road. I just know for us,
this is an opportunity to play another game, and it's

(24:50):
a really good team, uh, in a great game, a
great bowl game, and and we're gonna chairsh it, We're
gonna put our best foot forward and and and try
to go win this game.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
So how close does he think the sport is to
seeing the top teams the top teams in the playoff.

Speaker 8 (25:05):
I think we're close, you know again, I honestly believe
we were closer when we were at four teams because
they really, the committee really had to narrow it down
to four who are the four best teams to go play?
And we and we we we were in that playoff
two years ago. And then when we went to twelve,
there was there was gonna be some real growing pains.

(25:27):
I think that we all were going to have to
figure out. I think there were some scenarios that some thought, oh,
that will never happen, don't worry about it, just put
that in.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
Well, has happened. You know, We've got.

Speaker 8 (25:36):
Two G six schools in the playoff right now, and
and and congratulations for them for for the for the
seasons that they had and winning their conferences and their
opportunities to go play in this game. But I think
the overall consensus would be there's probably a few other
teams that that college football would like to see in
this tournament. But in the end that I think, in

(25:57):
my mind, we were going to have to go through
some of this to try to get it all right.
I would love to be on the other side of it,
don't get me wrong, But I think the one thing
we've learned in the under the current format, we've got
to win more games, and we've got to win the
games that are right in front of us. And it
doesn't matter how hard your schedule is, that doesn't matter.
It matters what your record is. And so to complain

(26:18):
about your schedule or how many good teams you play,
or how many teams you play.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
On the road is really irrelevant.

Speaker 8 (26:24):
What we have to do is control we can control,
and that's when the games that are right in front
of us. As long as this is the format that
we're going to use, Now does it evolve, where does
it go?

Speaker 4 (26:33):
How does it grow?

Speaker 8 (26:35):
I think time will tell, and that's for the powers
that be to try to figure that out.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
And so, you know, I think, like.

Speaker 8 (26:42):
I said, for us as control we can control, and
that's the next thing that's right in front of us.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
All right, we'll here's some more from Sarry coming up
the next hour, second hour of the program here on

(27:12):
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone. Craig wait with
you alongside the producer Jay Herman, glad to have you
with us along for the ride on this Monday. You know,
there's there's a lot of different in differing you might say,

(27:34):
opinions about this whole college football playoff thing and where
it ultimately wound up. And you know, did the committee
get it right? Did they mess it up? Did they
you know, did they get some of it right? Did
they get it right? But their method to the madness

(27:57):
was wrong. You know, you often hear about, well, you know,
I agree that so and so had to make this move,
but I just didn't like the way they went about it.
That seems to be as much an action point is
just about anything else. That it's that the way the
committee went or about it was kind of clunky, and

(28:21):
that that made a big difference. Could be you know,
I could understand people feel, especially Notre Dame. Of course,
Notre Dame feels like they're completely wronged in this deal
and they completely got hung out to dry by the committee.
Now again, a lot of folks think that they arrived

(28:46):
at the proper answer, but that they just went about
it the wrong way. I don't know, it'll be interesting.
So somebody asks, is Colin Klin's still coaching the Texas
A and m offense. Yes, he will be through the playoff.

(29:06):
Somebody should suck it up. Buttercup Texas bat A and
M and still didn't get in talking to Notre Dame.
Oh oh, I got it was during inconceivable. Okay, all right,
all right.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Do you think they got the right twelve teams as
far as within the system we have?

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Well, those that's the key word, isn't it a key phrase?
Isn't it within the system we have? I think that's
the I think that's the biggest thing, because, look, everyone's
in agreement that having two G five teams, having one
G five team and defeats what they say is the

(29:46):
best twelve teams in the country.

Speaker 7 (29:48):
We know that.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
We also know the system that was put in place.
We also know this for those like me and several
others who wanted expansion beyond four teams. Listen, I thought
every for a while, I thought every progressive way that
they decided a national champion was worse than the one before,

(30:11):
until they got to four, and then it's like it
can be better, And they got the twelve, but it didn't.
It would not have gotten to twelve without the agreement
of the presidents to allow a G five team to
get in, and there was a doomsday scenario in place
where two G five teams could get in, and that's
exactly what happened this year, two G five teams. Because

(30:34):
you got it, seven and five team from the ACC
getting into its conference championship and then winning that game.
Eight and five you want to talk about chaos, really
created chaos off of that. So we knew going in
even if even if James Madison had not gotten in,
Save Virginia had gotten in, Save Virginia won that game,

(30:57):
we're still looking at the twelve best teams in the country.
I've been saying all along, I'm a more is more guy.
If it can work at the FCS level, and if
it can work at the D two level, and they
have twenty four teams getting into those brackets, if it

(31:17):
can work in that, sixteen can work in that, it's
you know, four teams would have to win four games anyway.
I mean eight teams would have to win four games
anyway to win a national championship. Those eight who don't
get buys in the first round. What's the difference if
you're going to just remove all the buys and go
one through sixty one versus sixteen, two versus fifteen, three,

(31:42):
verses fourteen, four versus thirteen, five, verses twelve, six, verses eleven, seven,
verses ten and eight versus nine. What difference would it make.
I don't think it would make any more difference. You'd
also have more on campus games, which is one of
the things they say is a really good deal. Folks
who go to the game in college station on Saturday,
they're gonna have a great time, especially for you know,
A and M. From the A and M perspective. It
was a great environment when Texas hosted Clemson last year.

(32:05):
It was And those who have home playoff games are
really gonna like this and they're gonna they're gonna be
excited about it. They said that a lot of people
said the one regret that Texas Tech has is that
they don't get toasted playoff game. You know, they get
a buye which is good, uh, and they're going to
be right into the Orange Bowl to play, but they

(32:26):
don't get toasted the playoff game because what that environment might
be like in Luvebock.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
They do kind of get two weeks to prepare for Oregon,
unless James Madison pulls a stunner. You're you're spending most
of your prep time on Oregon.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Of course makes sense. So I'm a more is more guy.
Would going to sixteen teams solve the problem? No, Look
at the NCAA Basketball Tournament every year beyond team number
sixty eight. Every year there's haranguing, there's arguing, there posturing

(33:01):
for teams that were on the bubble that did not
get in. Every single year. I can tell you for
a fact that they were on pins and needles over
on campus waiting to see if Texas was going to
get into the field, which they did into the first
four in Dayton. So every year you're going to have that.

(33:21):
Every year. In baseball for the regionals, there's teams that
argue that they belonged in a regional and did not
get in as part of the field of sixty four.
So it's not going to solve the problem, or it's
not going to keep that from that element from happening
every year. But I think it would alleviate some of

(33:42):
the difficulty if you had BYU, Vanderbilt, Texas, and Notre
Dame be four more teams into that field. There'd still
be some people arguing beyond that, Michigan people, Tennessee, whatever.
But it would have taken the most vociferous arguments out
of place there because this was going to be the

(34:03):
most difficult select and seating field that the Committee has
ever had to deal with, and it was not anything
was close that. This has been the most difficult playoff
field ever. So would sixteen make it easier?

Speaker 5 (34:17):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (34:18):
Would it stop arguing? No, There are always going to
be people who think they should be in, whether they
deserve to be in, or whether they earn the right
to be in, or whatever you want to call it.
There will always be people who figure that their school belongs.
That won't change, whether it's two teams or two hundred teams,
it will not change. But it would alleviate where's most

(34:43):
of the complaining coming from right now? Notre Dame, b Yu, Texas, Vanderbilt.
Those four, those four would be and those would be
the next four in line if it happened that way.
So if you had an and that's with two G five's,
you know if you didn't, you know, so it'll be

(35:06):
interesting saying. And then of course you add to this
the fact that Notre Dame's getting a guaranteed spot starting
next year. As long as they're in the top twelve
of the rankings, regardless of conference affiliation and all that
kind of stuff, they'll be Kings X, just like it
is with the G five getting in. So you know,
why not go ahead expanded to sixteen and then what

(35:29):
you can do is with the bowl games beyond that,
then there's a place for those, because I think there
is a demarcation and for teams like Iowa stayed in
Kansas State, you know Notre Dame's very angry, so they
weren't going to play Io was staying in Kansas State.
I thought it was a pretty flimsy excuse, but they

(35:50):
have the right decide that they want to go. Now,
it's an expensive right. Cost you half a million dollars
when you could have earned over a million plus for
the conference had gotten your share. But two Bowl shares
were taken out of the pot because Iowa State and
Kansas State opted out. And that's why the Big twelve
acted and find them half a million dollars a piece.

(36:10):
And I think they should have. I think they should
have because you're you're hurting the entire league off of that,
all right, So so anyway, that's where that is. But
but go ass Texas State if they're happy to be
in a bowl. You can even say that to my
alma honor, North Texas Disappointed they got beat by Tulane
on Friday night, but they're going to a bowl and

(36:31):
they're happy to be going to a bowl game. There's
lots of teams that are happy to be going to
a bowl game. And I'm tired, really tired of the
same lame argument that comes up from a lot of people.
Those games are unwatchable. Don't watch. If you don't want
to watch, don't watch. It's a lot of entertainment for
a lot of people. You don't want to watch the

(36:52):
Myrtle Beach Bowl, don't watch it. You don't want to
watch the Isleta New Mexico Bowl, or the Scooter's Coffee
Frisco Ball, don't watch. Nobody's putting a gun in your head.
But there is an audience for it. I'm gonna tell
you this. If you ask me whether I would watch
rather watch the Cure Bowl or what was on yesterday

(37:14):
adult kickball, I'm gonna take the ball game.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah, I'll take the ball game over a lot of
regular season NBA and NHL.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
Well there you go. People say you love college football
so much, Oh, we missed college football. Didn't bitch so much.
When you get to the bowl games thing, whether your
team is in it or not, you don't have to
watch if you don't want. I go through this every year,
and every year there's people grumbled, say, what do you
think ESPN is gonna put on for counter programming, whether
gonna put on cornhole where they're gonna put on It's

(37:48):
not it. It's not gonna be something that's gonna attract
a lot of viewers. I know that.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
So anyway, But uh but I thought that nil. At
big conferences, we're gonna kill the ratings. The ratings are crazy.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah, it's a best rated season ever for college football.
Let's jum to basketball for a moment. Here from Brett Cunningham,
who had the double double, including a career high thirty
points yesterday in Texas winter our Prairie View bray At.
Cunningham joins us. Now, Now, when we last visited a
couple of weeks ago, you said always seemed to come

(38:21):
up one point or one rebound short at the double double.
You took care of that relatively early. I wanted to
get you to discuss how that game was really coming
to you early on today.

Speaker 9 (38:31):
Yeah, I think I'm just getting the flow for the game,
getting used to like how fast we playing stuff. I
think I struggled earlier in the season with like getting
in the way of like the plays and stuff and
on where I'm supposed to be. So I think just
us playing together and we were playing more like a team,
Like right now, our collesiveness is really good, So I
think that's Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Do you like the pace of play? And once you
adjusted to it?

Speaker 9 (38:50):
Yeah, it took a while those first couple of games.
I was kind of lost, but once you started playing
well and playing as a team and playing hard, it
kind of came easy.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
So how you and Kyla have spelled each other nicely,
But it was really cool to see that both of
you out there going the two of you combined for
forty seven a day. Is that something that the two
of you like when you're both out there together.

Speaker 9 (39:10):
Yeah, we were talking about that and shoot around today.
When he said that he's gonna play us both together,
we were excited. So hopefully he lets us do that more. Yeah,
I think we just have fun. When we were both
out there at the same time.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
So I always feel compelled to ask somebody after they
finished their first fall semester at Texas, how'd everything go
for you? Not at the classroom everything your first cement?

Speaker 10 (39:31):
Oh, pretty good?

Speaker 5 (39:32):
I made it out.

Speaker 9 (39:33):
Okay, So that's the main thing.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
You made it out, okay?

Speaker 11 (39:36):
Right?

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Yeah, all right, thanks Braver. Yeah, and there it is.
First semester in the books. Now, all right. Coming up next,
we talked football in the Lone Star State with Greg Tepper,
editor in chief Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine. When we
continue on thirteen hundred the zone of the iHeartRadio app,
We're back.

Speaker 12 (39:56):
It's the Craig Wake Show with Hallow Fame Broadcast the
voice of the Texas Long Boss, Craig What.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
Okay, this is an absolute true store. If you've ever
opened up the Born to Run album from Bruce Springsteen,
you see a picture of him with a beard and
kind of curly hair on the inside laughing. This is
why I bring this up. I was in a record

(40:28):
store in like it was like the summer of like
nineteen eighty and I was just thumbing through some records.
At the time, it had full beard and I had
kind of curly, dark hair, and a girl went up
came up to me in the store and said, excuse me,
are you Bruce Springsteen? Yeah, baby, I was going to run. No,

(40:53):
it actually happened because in my younger days that one photo,
I had somebody show it to me and said, think,
God looks like it a little bit. We look nothing
alike anymore now. So anyway, it's normally on Tuesdays we
visit with Greg Tepper, the editor in chief Dave Campbell
Texas Football Magazines, And so I'm gonna be doing a
lot of traveling down to the valley and up to

(41:13):
Connecticut this week. It wasn't gonna be possible to make
that happen to marw So TEP was nice enough to
come on with us today, and I start with this
for folks who don't know Greg Tepper's true heart pangs.
He tweeted out that Texas A and M's noon kickoff
and it's college football playoff home game against Miami would

(41:37):
run counter to the five A Division two state championship
game that day on Victory Plus. And you're proud to
make that claim, aren't you.

Speaker 13 (41:47):
Yeah, Look, it's it's it's it's tough for We're all
fighting for eyeballs out there, but I know which one
I'll be locked into.

Speaker 14 (41:56):
Yeah, because you're working, I'll be working. I'll be a
little busy during that.

Speaker 15 (42:02):
Time, so someone will have to keep me up to
date on what's going.

Speaker 14 (42:05):
On in Aggie Land when when Miami takes on A
and M.

Speaker 13 (42:09):
But yeah, it's it was always going to be like that,
you know. As soon as became apparent that Texas was
going to get multiple teams in college football playoffs, it
stood to reason that there wasn't going to be that
there weren't going to be multiple teams. Rather in the
top four that would be pretty remarkable, and so we

(42:30):
started talking around here, but like, okay, well, probably going
to be a college football playoff game going up against
the state championship games that week next week, So you know.

Speaker 15 (42:40):
Is what it is.

Speaker 14 (42:40):
It's it's a fun time year for football at every level.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Hey, it knocked me out of the two six eight
games last year because of Texas Clemson. I mean, I'm
I'm in the booths, call in the game, but I've
got Van dergridt South Lake, Carol on television set on
a monitor in the booth okay, because because George Sanders
gave me no way to grief about. I can't believe
you're not going to do our game.

Speaker 15 (43:01):
Yeah, I'm sorry, sorry.

Speaker 14 (43:02):
But I kind of got a straight gig going here.

Speaker 13 (43:04):
I got you know, I can't. I can't really I
understood that. But yeah, that was that's one thing. So
you know next week the day of Campbl's crew will
certainly be dividing and conquering, uh to to make sure
we got it all covered.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
Yeah. And and by the way, uh, you know, obviously
unfortunately for the Longhorns because of not getting in the playoff,
I will be doing both six games. So I actually
told Drew, I said, well, if you make it this year,
I'll be there for that. That kind of thing. So
I said, if you if you make it this year,
for it, okay, that's you know, that'll that'll be a
good thing there. Off of that. Now, by the way,

(43:39):
on uh that five A Division two UH state championship day,
that's uh, that's you working with ted Everrick, isn't it
it is?

Speaker 13 (43:52):
I believe that I'll be in the boots with Teddy
ball game for for that one and and maybe a
couple of the more there. Yeah, we're trickling out the
assignments and figuring out where we're all going to be
dividing our attention to.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah. Yeah, And and by the way, as I mentioned,
looking forward to working with you on the two A
Division two the title game. Will we be seeing Munster
going for back to back?

Speaker 14 (44:21):
I do think so.

Speaker 13 (44:22):
Munster looks like, in my opinion, the favorite over Groover
this week in a semifinal rematch. If you remember they
played in the semi final last year.

Speaker 5 (44:30):
Yep, it was a.

Speaker 13 (44:31):
Forty six twenty twenty or forty nine twenty six game,
but honestly wasn't even that close. Grew put on a
couple of the cosmic touchdowns late.

Speaker 5 (44:41):
I think grew.

Speaker 13 (44:42):
I think grew a little bit better.

Speaker 14 (44:43):
But I also think Munster's still got that guy in
case and Karney. I think I think they're going to
be the favorite.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
All right, before we get too deep in the high school,
let me roll back to college for a moment. Gotta
get your thoughts on the committee. I mean, I know
that a lot of Aggies are upset. They thought they
should have done the Miami Miami idle team jump over
Notre Dame. They thought they should have done the uh
that the idle team jump over old miss to get
in that six verses eleven thing to give them a

(45:10):
more favorable matchup there. But how about how about your
thoughts on that?

Speaker 14 (45:14):
Well, let me let me tell you here.

Speaker 13 (45:16):
If you're an Achie fan, I mean what you know,
you know, let's let's get towards them out. You're in,
You're in the You're in the playoffs. There are a
bunch of other teams that wish they were in the playoffs. Uh,
it's a great year period. That said, if you're going
to start looking at it, this is about as brutal
a draw in the playoffs as you can reasonably expect.
In that you will take on Miami in the opener,

(45:37):
a hungry Miami team that is anxious, uh, you know,
to prove that they that they belong and they're going
to get talked about in all sorts of mean ways
for the next.

Speaker 14 (45:45):
Couple of that, you know, for for about two weeks.

Speaker 15 (45:48):
So they're gonna be a motivated.

Speaker 14 (45:49):
Miami team coming down. If you get past that, well, the.

Speaker 13 (45:52):
Good thing is you can to stay with them in
the state of Texas. The bad thing is Ohio State's
waiting for you. Uh, they're in the Cotton pol in Arlington,
and then if you words who get passed that you
would see likely Georgia in a semi final.

Speaker 15 (46:07):
So I will say this and then we'll.

Speaker 13 (46:08):
Have to earn it every single step of the way. Uh.
That was seven was probably as far as hosting a
game is concerned, depending on your opinion of Indiana is concerned.
That is probably the most brutal draw that they could
have gotten. Uh for for the Aggies and this for Tech,

(46:29):
I would say.

Speaker 14 (46:29):
Look, you know, you get the four seen, you get
a buy, you can.

Speaker 13 (46:31):
Get three weeks off, and then you get to get
to sit back. I thought that it was very interesting.
Somebody asked Joey Maguire about how they prepare, how much
preparation they're doing for James Madison, who's taking on Oregon,
and he said, you know, not not a whole He said,
they're not a couple of gas watching it, you know,
just in case.

Speaker 14 (46:48):
But he said, they're all eyes on our on Oregon.

Speaker 13 (46:51):
And then yeah, a trip to Miami awaits for the
for for them. So it's a it's a really really
I thought, I thought a relatively strong raw there for
Texta Tech considering they probably weren't going to move up,
but but you know, Oregon is gonna be no treat.
But that'll be a really really fun match up, assuming
it's going to be Tech in Oregon and they take
they have no problems with James Madison.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Yeah, you know the thing that heard the biggest quotealand
cooint I used the term loosely complain. If there is
one from Texa Tech fans is they said this the
one bad size. They don't get those to the playoff game,
can because you can imagine what that atmosphere would be
like in Lubbock if they got to play a home
playoff game.

Speaker 15 (47:28):
Yeah, look, that's that's you know, it's one of those things.

Speaker 13 (47:31):
Where you're going to be in the Elite eight playing
in simple and you probably take that every step of
the way.

Speaker 14 (47:35):
But there it was a no loose situation.

Speaker 13 (47:37):
You know, if they were four, then they would have
been in the situation they are. If they were five
and they were playing James Madison, Will, they'd be pretty
heavy favorites and they could have a really really exciting
home game against a team that they're they're in my opinion,
pre significantly better than But for Tech, what a weekend
to get that win over over BYU and to really
flex on a national stage and show that this is

(47:59):
a different program.

Speaker 14 (48:00):
And the defense stood.

Speaker 13 (48:01):
On its head, I mean fullard turnovers and and then
just just harassing b YU basically, and my friend's stats
a wore parker who tweets about this stuff.

Speaker 14 (48:12):
He's got, he's had, He's been on this on.

Speaker 5 (48:14):
B YU for a while.

Speaker 13 (48:15):
By is very good on scripted drives, and then after
the scripted drives they kind of don't really have.

Speaker 14 (48:21):
That's when you really know what they're about.

Speaker 13 (48:23):
And basically after that first drive, Texas text snuffed them
out something fierce, and I thought that was very qus.
The concern for me for Tech would be that they've
got to start finishing drives. They've got to they've got
to this field goal parade and in the red zone.
Ain't going to cut it in the playoffs. But that's
the problem for three weeks from now. Now they can
just sit back and enjoy something they haven't had since
the mid nineteen fifties.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Absolutely, and h and let me get your thoughts on
on a couple other things. Unfortunate for North Texas, they
don't win the American They're going to the New Mexico
New Mexico Bowl, And I said, listen, it's a good
thing to get to go to a bowl game. And
they had somebody on the text line say, is North
Texas really happy to go to New Mexico? Is it
the best use of resources? New staff, new team? How

(49:05):
best is the team and the staff in this game?
I'll tell you this from talking to the people in
Debt and I've talked to They're happy to go to
a bowl game. Did they want to be in the playoff?
Of course, would they like to have been maybe a
little higher up in the in the pegging order on
the bowl, Yes, But they're happy to go to a
bowl game. The players are invested in it, and Neil
Brown will wait his time to take over the program.

Speaker 13 (49:27):
I mean, like, let's remember here that bowl games have
not necessarily been a guarantee for North Texas. I mean,
I mean, first of all, they haven't won a bowl
game since twenty thirteen. They've got two bowl wins in
their program history. So like that whole idea of being like,
oh well, I wish we would have gone to a

(49:48):
better bowl. Yeah, I understand that it could have been
a lot more.

Speaker 14 (49:52):
But at the same time, if you're.

Speaker 13 (49:53):
In North Texas, I think that you don't necessarily look
as you look down on opportunity like this.

Speaker 14 (49:58):
And you're right.

Speaker 13 (50:00):
The biggest thing for me is that even with a
new coaching staff kind of coming in and the stuff
like that, this gives your guys, uh, you know, basically
an entire spring term of practice. You know, you get
three weeks of practice to get ready for a bowl
game and stuff like that. Use that to your advantage,
use that to get better for twenty twenty six and hopefully.

Speaker 14 (50:19):
Make another run at this thing.

Speaker 13 (50:21):
And I think you know, if you're in North Texas,
I think that that going to a bowl playing and
simple is pretty big. And if they can come away
with a win, and that would be something they haven't
done in a decade, and they just haven't done all
that often in their program history. I think there's still
a lot out in.

Speaker 14 (50:35):
Front of North Texas here in this postseason.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
Yeah, I do too, And you're right. If you use
two hands, I think now you can count the total
number of bowl appearances for North Texas. So it's it's
not the it hadn't gone stale for them, and I'll
tell you somebody else it hadn't gone seven. How about
your thoughts. Texas State rallies back, they get three more wins,
and they're gonna play Rice, and and yeah Rice is

(50:57):
five and seven another that, but there were several five
and seventeen that had opportunities turned it down. Rice is
happy to go when they're going to play Texas staying
in the ball game, and it could be a pretty
good ball game.

Speaker 5 (51:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (51:07):
You know, here's the one thing is I think there's
a lot to gain for both of these programs that
are going to enter twenty twenty five or twenty twenty
six rather looking for kind of that next step.

Speaker 7 (51:17):
You know.

Speaker 13 (51:17):
For Texas State, it as a falling back to earth,
although they rallied late to make a bowl to take
on an in state rival, you know, in Rice, I
think is a really really nice opportunity for them.

Speaker 15 (51:27):
And then for Rice, look, sometimes it pays.

Speaker 13 (51:29):
Be in the nerd school, right the number one, you know,
in the APR, So they get the first the first
crack out of whatever. You know, they're not enough six
and six teams, and sure enough they get that opportunity.
And for Scott abail I guarantee you they.

Speaker 14 (51:42):
Were leaping at that opportunity.

Speaker 13 (51:43):
You say, yes, yes, yes, you know, for a first
year coach to get that extra rep time, to get
those extra those extra weeks with your guys and preparing
for something, preparing for a meaningful football game, I think
that's huge for Scout.

Speaker 14 (51:56):
Abel and company. So yeah, I think there's a lot.

Speaker 13 (51:58):
Of winners there and be fun because I think that
you're gonna get You're gonna have two teams that have something.
You know, if you believe in season and season momentum,
this is the kind of thing that you just say,
all right, this can we can go into the off
season feeling really good about ourselves, feeling very good, and especially.

Speaker 14 (52:13):
If you're rice to end the season with a win.

Speaker 13 (52:16):
I think would be really really strong for the Owls
that they could.

Speaker 7 (52:19):
Pull it off.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Talking Football and the Lone Stars Taate with Greg Temper,
editor in chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine. All right,
let me, uh, let's jump to the high school thing.
And I thought about this, and I thought, you know,
here's here's an interesting way to put this to you.
At at the start of the year, when you're you're
looking at it and and and we'll go classification by classification.

(52:45):
We're down to the final four in each and of
course the state championship matchups already now set for six
man buck start in six A Alan Duncanville, North Shore,
Lake Travis. If and I use the word if there's
a surprise out of these four, which is it?

Speaker 5 (53:01):
I mean, I.

Speaker 14 (53:02):
Suppose it's Alan.

Speaker 13 (53:03):
You know that they were able to de throne North Crowley,
but I think that that all four of them a
pretty chalky picks. And and yeah, I think you know,
for Lake Trumps. You know, it's interesting that, like Travis,
I looked up that this is their first semi final
since twenty twenty one. You know, that's the longest drought
for Lake Travis to do four through six.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
That's amazing.

Speaker 14 (53:20):
You know, it's like a good you know, good for
Lake Travis.

Speaker 13 (53:23):
Those those three are long years to make you the
final four, to speaks to the caliber program that Hank
Carter's running.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
All right, I would say I would know the answer
to this next one, but I'll let you decide. Uh.
In six A D two South Lake Carol de Soto
see E King Sheldon, see E King of Houston and
Vandigret of those four, which is the most surprising. I think,
I know what you're.

Speaker 13 (53:49):
Can say, Yeah, it's see yeah, see King, I mean,
their first ever trip to a semi final of Corey Laxon,
the former right star doing great things there and then yeah,
they going to be a handful out of the Houston
area and especially considering they came out of that district
this through twenty three sink they mean, then it's the
playoffs last year. I mean, it's like for them to
be in the semi final.

Speaker 14 (54:10):
Is pretty remarkable.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Would it be sick to say though that certainly with
all the injuries Vandergriff sustained and we're kind of limping
into the playoffs facing Westlake and by district, would you
say at that point from there to get back to
the semifinal round is a little bit of an eyebrow raiser. Yeah.

Speaker 14 (54:30):
I think they walked a really difficult path.

Speaker 13 (54:31):
I mean, because they had to take on west Lake
that needs own introduction, and then forgetting the two games
in the middle they had to go and they to
avenge a pretty lopsided loss from week one against Ripping
Springs and show how far, especially that defense has come
so yeah, I think that you know, from from week
ten to now, yeah, they would be among the most surprising.

Speaker 14 (54:53):
But from the preseason ce king would be that would be.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
This press all right, five A D one Alito lone
star Port Arthur Memorial on Smithson Valley probably bore.

Speaker 5 (55:03):
Up a memorial.

Speaker 13 (55:03):
The boys from the four h nine, you know, undefeated.
They are fun to watch. Their explosive I think they're
but but I didn't us what loans are. We had
my hopes for them, but they would have had to
get past Highland Park, which they did with a seven
hundred and forty yard explosion last week. So uh yeah,
they Those would be the two that would be in
one in two in some.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
Order, Melissa South of Cliff, Richmond Randall and Bernie in
five eighty two.

Speaker 14 (55:30):
What's so funny?

Speaker 13 (55:31):
So like the answers of Melissa, because you know, there
is a team that missed the playoffs last year and
they're in there.

Speaker 15 (55:37):
But we'll consider Bernie.

Speaker 13 (55:39):
Bernie late in the off season loses their coach and
their quarterback when Shae Hendricks takes a job on the
staff at the University of Arkansas, and suddenly they just
like up and back in the Saint semifinal. So Bernie
certainly has an argument, but I think the answer is
clearly the champions of Region one.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
All right, speaking of the region on Stevenville, I know
that's not a surprise. Stephenville selid what a what a
great semi final. There is kil Gore and Lavernia again Lavernia, Yeah,
I was back.

Speaker 14 (56:10):
To back regional champions for Brian Noll. They they are,
They're the.

Speaker 13 (56:15):
Team you can't kill in the playoffs. I would say
that all all, all four of them are not necessarily surprised.
But but Laverna is the most surprising, if only because
you know, it feels like they were a team that
that may be reaching four was gettable, was gettable, but
but but Lavernia rises the occasion. And you're right Stevenville Salina.
I mentioned this on my program that this is for

(56:37):
for high school football history buffs. That is that just
means something to them. Stevenville, silanst is good at degree football.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Absolutely. Uh for you do two brought Carthage, West Orange
Stark and Sentin.

Speaker 14 (56:50):
Uh the West Orne start.

Speaker 13 (56:51):
How about Hiawatha Hickman getting them back to what they
do well, which is just running game and defense. Uh,
they're they're they're running back lab Jefferson, all five foot
three of them.

Speaker 14 (57:03):
He is fun to watch.

Speaker 13 (57:04):
If you've never seen that little water bug, he is
a lot of fun to watch.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
Me.

Speaker 14 (57:07):
Yeah, west Our start back into a semifinal.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Not sure where to begin with this one. Three A
D one, Peter, grand View, yoakum Mitlanto, all of them.

Speaker 14 (57:19):
Yeah, this is the first time that I have ever
I mean this.

Speaker 15 (57:22):
I went oh for four on my regional final.

Speaker 14 (57:26):
Picks in three eighty one.

Speaker 15 (57:28):
The bave Cable's computer.

Speaker 13 (57:30):
All four of those teams were underdogs, all four of them.
Uh And and I think probably among those it's it's
probably Yoakam simply because they had to get through a
district where they played Hitchcock and then they had to
beat the defending state champs in Columbus. Although grand View
has been a real surprise too. I mean they've all
been huge surprises. It's three division one. We mentioned it

(57:52):
in the All you.

Speaker 14 (57:52):
Know before the playoffs that three division.

Speaker 13 (57:55):
One has been the most chaotic, uh division, And sure
enough it's given.

Speaker 14 (58:00):
Us a chaotic final four.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
Does anybody even fall into the category? However, the opposite
on three A two Wall, Gunner, Newton and East Bernard.

Speaker 13 (58:08):
The answers East Bernard and I'll tell you why because
East Bernard in week eleven lost to tighte Haven by
fifty three points.

Speaker 7 (58:17):
It's then a month.

Speaker 13 (58:19):
Later last week in the regional final they beat tyde
Haven thirty four thirty one. And so you know, as
far as upset, you know, surprise are concerned, they would
be the one.

Speaker 14 (58:29):
The rest of them are about chalk as they.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Come, okay, all right to a d one. Didn't you
say Joaquin's charmed life has to end at some point?
You got you got West Texas, Hamilton, Joaquin and Rafuria.

Speaker 13 (58:44):
Uh it is the answers are either region won or
Agent three. So Sinet, West Texas is in their first
semifinals since nineteen ninety five in West tex They're fired
up up there in Stinet.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
But then was Quine.

Speaker 14 (58:56):
I mean, at this point we can't be surprised.

Speaker 15 (58:58):
I mean, hashtag playoff is a real thing.

Speaker 14 (59:01):
They finished fourth through in their district last year and
made the semi finals.

Speaker 15 (59:05):
Now they finished third in their district and they.

Speaker 14 (59:07):
Make the semifinals.

Speaker 13 (59:08):
They just they hit the playoffs and they just become
a different team and it's it's kind of wild.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
To watch, all right. And then to eighty two we
mentioned probably Monster over that and then Mount the Enterprise
and Shiner. I guess Mount Enterprise is the is the
eyebrow raser razer here for a very good reason.

Speaker 13 (59:26):
Okay, Mount Enterprise obviously the headline there is Kagan ash
the now the all time single season rushing leader. He's
going to break Kenhall's career record this week as well.
He's only like eighty yards away from it. I mean,
a remarkable, remarkable career. For the text segment, but this
is the most interesting team in the playoffs because they're
averaging sixty one points per game and they're given up

(59:48):
thirty five.

Speaker 14 (59:49):
Okay, I want to put to you this way.

Speaker 13 (59:52):
Into a Division two the Rawls Jack Rabbits gave up
thirty three points per game, so they were a better.

Speaker 15 (59:58):
Defensive team statistically.

Speaker 14 (59:59):
The Mount enter Prize and Rawls W one and nine.

Speaker 15 (01:00:03):
Okay, they are.

Speaker 13 (01:00:04):
Mount Enterprise is the crazy guy in the fight.

Speaker 14 (01:00:07):
And it is like and now now.

Speaker 15 (01:00:09):
They take on Shiner, and I have no idea what's
going to happen?

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Yeah, all right, So so in other words, is Mount
Enterprise this year's version of what was a Belleville two
years ago had given up Aulo's point, Dude, gilmert Gilbert,
that's that last year well Hill.

Speaker 13 (01:00:23):
Three Gilmert Yeah, uh toy boy three Gilbert where their
their defense was like bottom half of of the of
the the four division two And you just don't see that,
like you you've been around long enough. It's like, okay,
generally speaking, you don't have to be like a defensive juggernaut,
but you can't be a defensive liability to make a
deep run. But Gilmer won a title in twenty twenty three,

(01:00:44):
not enterprise.

Speaker 10 (01:00:44):
Like what why not us?

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Yeah, no doubt. Okay, all right, here's the meanest thing
we do. Uh give you three games. You pick one
and the choices are six A D one Alan Duncanville
for a D two. Brought Carthage three a D two Gunner.

Speaker 14 (01:01:03):
Oh, Craig, why would you do this to me?

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
Especially?

Speaker 14 (01:01:10):
Yeah, I think it's brought Carthage.

Speaker 13 (01:01:17):
Battle of unbeatens, Big stadium there in Mesquite.

Speaker 15 (01:01:23):
It's the defending state.

Speaker 13 (01:01:25):
Champs in Carthage against the undisputed number one contender to
the crown. It's probably brought Carthage but wall Gunner is
gonna be hilatious and then Alan Duncanville. The storyline there
of you know, you go back to twenty eighteen when
Duncanville beat Alan and that was kind of the end

(01:01:45):
of the Allen era at the.

Speaker 14 (01:01:47):
Beginning of the Duncanville.

Speaker 13 (01:01:48):
Era, and now Alan has an opportunity to like return
the favor.

Speaker 14 (01:01:52):
Uh, the storyline is.

Speaker 5 (01:01:54):
So good there.

Speaker 13 (01:01:54):
But I think I'm gonna go to Carthage and Brock.
That's where I'm heading.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Okay, all right, he the Greg Tepper, editor in chief
of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine. I appreciate it, and
we'll look forward to visiting state championship.

Speaker 14 (01:02:06):
Week, my friend.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
All right, thanks at Stepper. All right, we have more
coming up on thirteen under the zign. So the Beatles
release Time the Walrus as a single in nineteen sixty seven,

(01:02:33):
but when the Magical Mystery Tour album was released, they
needed some filler songs, so they put it on there
and it was released at Christmas time nineteen sixty seventy.
So there it is for your holiday season, all right,
Long worns will be spending the holiday They're going to
take off. I think. The day after Christmas, the football
team to Orlando to begin the on site preparations for

(01:02:55):
the Jesus Fiesta bal More from head coach Steve Sarkishi
was ask if this gives hit him an opportunity to
take a step back and kind of do an audit
of his team to prepare for next season.

Speaker 5 (01:03:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:03:08):
I mean, this is a drastically different December than we've
had from two years ago, and most notably from what
we had last year. You think about, you know, what
we were doing last year at this time, you know,
we were we were playing at a conference championship game
with signing date going on right in the middle of it,
and then the portal opens, and you're trying to recruit

(01:03:31):
all the while get ready for your first round playoff
game and then the next game and then the next
playoff game.

Speaker 4 (01:03:36):
And so the idea that.

Speaker 8 (01:03:37):
We do have more time on our hands to really,
you know, like you say, audit our own organization from
top to bottom, from schemes to play calls to personnel
to roster to what we have coming in that we
just signed to where we maybe can enhance that throughout
the portal to the way we do our off season program.

(01:03:59):
There's a lot of things that I've been evaluating last week,
you know, when we had that time off, and we'll
continue to do so throughout January. So you know, I'm
always I'm big into believing in It's easy to whine, complain, moan,
pour us poor me.

Speaker 4 (01:04:17):
I just don't live in that world. I live in.

Speaker 8 (01:04:19):
Okay, this is what it is. Let's move forward. And
so if I'm gonna move forward, then we got to
use our time wisely, and we gotta we got to
attack the things that are attainable right in front of
us and then start looking at some things down the
road long term.

Speaker 4 (01:04:35):
And this time gives us an opportunity to do that.

Speaker 8 (01:04:36):
So again, we're gonna We're gonna use it wisely, not
only from a coaching staff perspective, but a player perspective
to make sure that we are not only putting ourselves
in the best position to play well on December thirty first,
but putting ourselves in the best position to have a
really good, you know, twenty twenty six football seasons as
we embark on that next year.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
All right, there it is from SORRK. We'll be back
to rap up Power number two on thirteen Under the Zone,
third and final hour of the program here on this
Monday on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred of the Zone.
Glad you're with us today, Craig Wayne and the producer

(01:05:17):
Jay Carman. We've heard from Long Words head coach Steve Sarkisian.
We've heard from Hunter your check, the College Football Playoff
Committee chair. I bet he's glad his time is up
with that deal in the interim thing. That's kind of
tough for him to go through, toughest time ever. But
you've heard us talk about that already, and we've talked

(01:05:38):
some NFL, but we want to hear from that now.
Coming up in a few minutes, we're going to do
a complete shift. We'll talk some baseball. Gene Watson, our
MLB insider from the Chicago White Sox front office, is
at the Baseball Winter Meetings, which began this morning in Orlando, Florida.
Gino will join us from Orlando in a few minutes

(01:05:58):
to talk about some of the hot button top that
are going on at the Baseball Winter Meetings. But we
try to, you know, cover lots in college basketball. Obviously
tonight with the Longhorns taking on Southern University, and that
is a six point thirty pregame start time and a
seven o'clock tip off here on a thirteen under the Zone,
as well as on ninety eight point one FM Kavett.

(01:06:18):
And so there's lots of things we have already touched on,
and we'll touch on some more. But let's let's take
a look at that impressive Houston Texans victory over the
Kansas City Chiefs. I'm amused by this, Jake, how they
whether it's Chris collins Worth or Mike Tarriko or even
the ESPN guys saying, well, you know, Kansas City isn't

(01:06:41):
dead yet, but it's getting tougher. Well, it's getting really good.
It's what was it? Scott Van Pelt said, It takes
a long time for us, after you've built up trust
that a team's going to get it done, to quit
them to decide they're not going to get it done anymore.
But I think folks are now kind of thinking that's

(01:07:03):
going to be the case with the Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
Yeah, the Chiefs are looking at long odds or as
as collins Weld put it last night, Oh, Craig, Oh,
this is just this is just awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Defall, Yeah, yeah, exactly. Tamika Ryans is always entertaining. The Texans,
you know, led ten to nothing at the half, gave
up ten points in the third quarter, and the Chiefs
tied it and then scored ten unanswered the fourth. They
got the two big interceptions in the fourth quarter off
of Patrick Mahomes, off of the hands of Travis Kelcey

(01:07:38):
as well, so you know it was those were huge
moments there for the Texans.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
Anderson didn't even have a big night, no, but the rest.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
Of the defense did a lot of them did, and
they did their job. So here's here's Demiko Ryans first
of all, in the locker room with his team.

Speaker 16 (01:07:56):
Hey, what do you think about that? So extremely proud
of you guys. Man, Hey, wait to come up, come
out here tonight, man, execute and finish. It's all about
the finish, right, great first half, third quarter, even look
too hot, but I love the way every man in
here stood up in finish right. Most importantly, defense, you

(01:08:19):
got hey, wait to take the football away.

Speaker 15 (01:08:21):
Wait a minute, we.

Speaker 16 (01:08:25):
Got Camary, got one, we got three, got one evening. Hey,
oh wait to finish that end, man, Wait to run
the ball, Wait to finish when we needed it most
way to finish, great team win. We did what we

(01:08:46):
came to do, all right, see as we can't. We
did what we came to do.

Speaker 17 (01:08:49):
I'll see you guys on Wednesday.

Speaker 10 (01:09:01):
Ain't no real.

Speaker 5 (01:09:02):
Proud of you guys, man. I really appreciate everybody in here. Hey,
it took everybody to get this done.

Speaker 16 (01:09:07):
Really proud of you guys, and just hey, this is
what we're supposed to do, right. We just keep going
one game at a time. Everybody remain focused on the
task in front of you, one game at a time.
We got a special group. We continue to do what
we need to do. We're gonna do some special things.

Speaker 5 (01:09:23):
What's that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
After the locker room celebration, if you will. Ryan's at
his press conference his opening thoughts, Really.

Speaker 12 (01:09:36):
Proud of our guys the way they came here, really
tough plays versus this Chiefs team's great team. Just proud
of our guys for the way, you know, we finished
the football game. And that's been a recurring thing for
us over the past couple of weeks, just finishing the games,
no matter how they look there in the middle, just
finishing the right way.

Speaker 10 (01:09:53):
But it's a big win for us coming here.

Speaker 1 (01:09:55):
Being a good team, no doubt about it. Okay, So
how about his thoughts on his team's defensive effort to
get three takeaways in limit Kansas City.

Speaker 12 (01:10:03):
And defense did an outstanding job. I mean, you know,
this is a great offense. They've done a great job
for a long time. But it was all about the
situational football plays we made on third down, getting stops
fourth down, being able to get stops there to put
us in put us in range to score some points.
I just can't say enough about the effort from our defense, Kamari,

(01:10:25):
you know, battling through all week to come out make
a huge to make a huge play, getting an interception,
deflecting the ball when it was up in the air,
Petrie making a big hit, taking the football away a ease,
taking the football like you come here, you take the
football away three times. So just outstanding the defensive performance.
And also another guy probably don't get recognized a lot,

(01:10:48):
but to Tommy Togia, I mean he had up think
about ten tackles a sack like he started it off
for us, and he played consistent all night.

Speaker 10 (01:10:56):
Just a relentless effort from our entire group.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
Thanks Coach Tryan's asked about what did this win mean
to the team considering the opponent in the situation.

Speaker 12 (01:11:08):
It was our next game, and that's what that's how
we approach it. We didn't make it bigger than it
needed to be as our next game. God, we needed
to come out execute, play good football, right, and we
did that.

Speaker 10 (01:11:18):
We won the third down battle.

Speaker 12 (01:11:19):
Our offense did a good job on third down and
we made stops and.

Speaker 10 (01:11:24):
We needed to make stops on defense.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
Now, surely it meant something to be able to beat
the team that knocked his team out on this stage
last year.

Speaker 10 (01:11:33):
Yeah. Look for me, it's it's a good win. It's
a win.

Speaker 12 (01:11:38):
I'll take a win no matter who it's against. I'll
take a win. And I know every time we win,
we improve our position. So that's what it's about this year,
winning when we need to win and improve in our
position right to get in the race.

Speaker 1 (01:11:50):
Yeah all right, Now, you heard him in that locker
room speech congratulating defense and then talking about, hey, that
the third quarter didn't look so great, But how was
this defense was able to keep making plays despite being
stuck on the field basically the entire third quarter.

Speaker 12 (01:12:05):
Hell, look, we have a confident bunch on defense, right,
we understand that no matter what the situation was, no
matter when they were put out on the field, those
guys knew they were going to go make a play.

Speaker 10 (01:12:15):
And that's what you have to have.

Speaker 12 (01:12:16):
You had to play with that confidence, that swagger, and
that's how they're playing right now.

Speaker 10 (01:12:20):
That's allowing them to be, you know, one of the
best defenses in the league.

Speaker 1 (01:12:23):
All right, So how about the Kansas City defense which
slowed down his team in the third quarter.

Speaker 10 (01:12:27):
Ye look, we could do some better things offensively.

Speaker 12 (01:12:29):
Kansas City did a really great job, you know, really
picking up the pressure, did a really good job. Spats
did a great job of calling it there. And look,
they they came out in the second half, they made
some adjustments and they stopped our run game and we
couldn't get any passes completed.

Speaker 10 (01:12:46):
So it was a tough stretch there.

Speaker 12 (01:12:47):
In the third quarter, we found a way when we
needed to run the ball most in the end of
the game, we found a way to get some yards
and finish it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
And that meant Daria gounbowally scoring what proved to be
the game winning score.

Speaker 12 (01:13:01):
And he's that utility guy at wherever we need him.
He's ready to go. So he needed him to get
in and run the ball there, and he pushed it in.
O Line did a great job and darray security of
football got across we needed it most.

Speaker 10 (01:13:14):
He made a huge play for us.

Speaker 1 (01:13:15):
All right, So there is the head coach of the Texans,
Demiko Ryants up next. We talked some baseball from the
winter meetings. Gene Watson joins us. When we continue on
sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 5 (01:13:31):
I know there's somebody out there.

Speaker 2 (01:13:32):
Go way.

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
We're in December. What's with the baseball music? Yes, exactly.
Baseball's Winter Meetings are underway in Orlando, Florida. There's some
important stuff there on the docket. And with that, if
it's important, and even if it isn't, if we're just
talking baseball, we're talking with our good friend Gene Watson,
the player personnel director of the Chicago White Sox, our

(01:13:56):
MLB insider who joins us from the Sunshine State. Are
you scouting out restaurants in advance for me when I
get down there at the end of the month for
the cheese at Citrus Bowl for the Longhorns.

Speaker 5 (01:14:10):
Well, I'll give.

Speaker 13 (01:14:11):
You Columbia in celebration.

Speaker 5 (01:14:13):
You got to go there. It's amazing. Yeah. Well, I'll
have a full scouting report for you.

Speaker 1 (01:14:18):
All right now, full disclosure here if you haven't already
been able to figure it out during the course of
the year. Our man Jeen Watson loves the Texas Longhorns.
He's from Temple, Texas born and bred, loves Longhorns. But
if there is a college football team that might capture
his heart a little more, it's a team that just
got left out of the playoff. It's the Fighting Irish

(01:14:39):
and Notre Dame. How many games did you go to
this year, Gina?

Speaker 13 (01:14:43):
I went to four and was planning on at least
four more, and that that dream is over.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Okay, all right, So the first one you went to,
you still say A and M was holding on that
touchdown pass, right, Yeah, we.

Speaker 13 (01:14:55):
Had a holding on the last play in overtime. There
was a there was a targeting about four plays before
it wasn't called. And then you had the pass interference
on the last play of the game that would have
potentially put him in soil gold range. Although the kicker
wasn't very good this year, you never know, but the
holding penalty ended up being not.

Speaker 5 (01:15:12):
Only big for Notre Dame but also big for Texas.

Speaker 13 (01:15:15):
So it's amazing how one play in August can affect
an entire season for a lot of teams.

Speaker 1 (01:15:21):
Well, you bring up a good point. I wanted to
give you the floor for a minute because we've talked
about you know, what happened with the committee, and obviously
I had no dog in the hunt. But the way
that I looked at it was listen, you know me,
You've known me a long time. I'm a more is
more guy. I fell all along. The playoff should be
larger anyway. I think it should be sixteen. If it

(01:15:42):
was sixteen, Notre Dame would be in, Texas would be in.
We wouldn't even be having this discussion. That said, I
know you're you're disappointed, as as everybody else. Is that
that is rooting for the fighting Irish.

Speaker 13 (01:15:57):
Well, and I'm going to speak to the University of
Texas part of this. Like what Marcus Freeman said at
the end, it's absolutely true. It's the twelve best teams now.
And you can go all season long and say that
Texas A and M might be the best team in
the country and then Texas beat beat. Texas beats in
the day after Thanksgiving, and they're left out of the conversation.

Speaker 5 (01:16:17):
Notre Dame is in.

Speaker 13 (01:16:19):
Then Alabama bumps them, goes ahead of them having not
played great, and then so and then you bump Miami
ahead of them with no teams playing. So it's just
been a moving target the entire time. I would say
that easily Texas beats nine of the twelve that are
in the playoffs, and who knows how many Notre Dame beats,
but the group of five is ridiculous. Participation trophies don't

(01:16:42):
belong in college football, and quite frankly, this college football
Playoffs has very little credibility to me because the Texas
Longhorns and Notre Dame Fighting Irish aren't in it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:54):
How much fun would it be, Gino to have a
seven versus ten matchup between Texas and Notre Dame either
in Austin or South Bend in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 5 (01:17:04):
It would be unbelievable. It would have been unbelievable.

Speaker 13 (01:17:06):
And you know this is going to reshape the way
teams look at If I'm Texas and I'm Notre Dame,
I'm looking at that home and home in twenty seven
and twenty eight and saying, you know, it really makes
sense for us to play.

Speaker 5 (01:17:16):
These games because both teams are going.

Speaker 13 (01:17:18):
To be top five programs at the time, and if
you're going to be penalized for it later in the season,
why play those games?

Speaker 1 (01:17:24):
Well, And as I was saying earlier, you know, Sark
mentioned at his press conference last week, he said, we're
going to honor our contract for the home games with
Ohio State and Michigan in twenty six and twenty seven.
But then you have Irvin Meyer saying he's telling Ryan
Day find a way to opt out of it, don't
play Texas in twenty six. So, like you said, the
genie may be out of the bottle on this thing.

(01:17:46):
It may go on.

Speaker 14 (01:17:47):
Question.

Speaker 13 (01:17:47):
Yeah, all right, question, and those for those criticizing Notre
Dame for not playing in a Bowl game, that is
a clear message. And in my opinion, the first dominoes
fall on what was an attack by ESPN it's people,
and uh so it's going to beesting to see how
that all plays out as well.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
All right, let's we'll move on to happier topic. So
let's let's talk about the winter meetings, and uh, I
want to ask you. Everything that I'm reading says that
the and and I know we we hear about this
every year with the winter meetings, and I was I've
been at a couple of myself, obviously, but uh, the
ones that the things that come to mind is everybody's

(01:18:25):
talking about the free agents. So Dylan Cees gets his
deal with the Blue Jays, but you've got fromer Valdez,
uh Tatsuo, Amai, Ranger Suarez, Michael King, Zach Gallan, Merrill, Kelly,
Justin Verlander, Chris Bassett, Tyler Mayley, Zach Eflin, Lucas gi Alito,
Zach Lttel. They're all on the market this year, And uh,

(01:18:46):
would you say that it's going to be an active
free agent market during these next few days.

Speaker 13 (01:18:53):
And talking to a lot of agents on the floor,
you know, the demand is so much greater than the
supply supply pitching that you know, the teams that are
able to spend in that price range are all getting
a measure on you know, how can we get the
most bang for our buck and still not like destroy
the rest of our off season payroll. So that's that's

(01:19:15):
the one thing that teams are monitoring. They want to
get to a price point on the best possible pitcher
and still be able to do other things. And so
that's really where it's kind of at right now. The
real buzz around the floor right now is Kyle Schwarber.
There are some teams on Kyle Schwarber right now that
he could sign with that would be shocking to the

(01:19:37):
baseball industry from a standpoint of where the major league
team sits now, but where that major league team could
sit in two or three years is completely different. And
this is the kind of guy that you bring in
and now it attracts other free agents and you you
send a statement to your fans and your fan dates
that generate revenue to help with the contract. So Kyle

(01:20:00):
el Schwarber is the one player that I would keep
an eye on is there could be some real surprises
where he ends up this winner.

Speaker 1 (01:20:05):
Okay, I'm going to jump back to hitters in a moment.
The other thing I wanted to ask you about. I
just rattled off a list of really good starting pitchers
who are on the market, and then in uh, in
the out of the bullpen, Uh, you're talking about Diaz
opting out of his that that deal that he had
with the Mets, and then you got Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley,

(01:20:26):
Emilio Pagan, Uh, Rice ell Iglesias Uh. They sign new deals,
but Robert Swarez, Pete Fairbanks, Ken Lee Jansens, Tyler Rogers,
Kyle Finnegan, Luke Weaver, they're still on the market. So
what's gonna What's gonna be more active? Starters are relievers?

Speaker 13 (01:20:44):
No, I think the starters are going to be more
active because because you've got to spend, like your rotation
has to be able to compete every night, and and
from a from a rhythm of the winter standpoint, like
those closers, they're not gonna sign with clubs so they know, hey,
I've got a real shot of winning a championship.

Speaker 5 (01:21:03):
Because when you talk about going out and.

Speaker 13 (01:21:05):
Throwing sixty seventy appearances a season, you want to know
that you have a chance to won reach throws of
those appearance thresholds, but also that you're doing it for
a championship team. And so it will certainly, I believe,
be the starters first, and again clubs will be measuring
the price point the bank for buck to build out
the rest of their team.

Speaker 1 (01:21:25):
Geene Watson, our MLB inside are joining us here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundreds and all right, now, I'm
going to move to the hitters. You brought up Kyle Schwarber.
In addition to Schwarber, we're talking about Kyle Tucker, Pete Alonzo,
Cody Bellinger, Alex Bragman. You got the two Japanese star hitters,
Muna Taki Murakami and Kazuma A. Kamoto. Those guys are
in there. I'm hearing lots of different things in terms

(01:21:49):
of where guys may wind up, but you're saying there
is a distinct possibility we may see Schwarber signed with
somebody that maybe folks aren't expecting to see sign him one.

Speaker 13 (01:22:02):
Hundred percent, and then from there it's going to be
Bellinger and Tucker the next two dominoes to fall, and
then those contracts will set the market for the rest
of the group. And I know the Yankees are working
hirously to bring Bellinger back. Tucker arguably fits so many teams.
I know that the Cubs would love to have him back.

(01:22:23):
Not sure that's going to get there, but those are
the three big dominos.

Speaker 14 (01:22:27):
To Paul I'm not saying.

Speaker 13 (01:22:28):
That Schwarber won't end up, you know, with a first
division club with a chance to win a championship in
twenty six, but there is a chance he could be
in a surprise destination.

Speaker 1 (01:22:39):
Let me get your thoughts on something and your your
theory on this. You mentioned Kyle Tucker. The Blue Jays
hosted him last week at their spring facility. There. They're
also hoping to bring back Bobashet. They obviously were active
of what they've done with ceas How much would you

(01:23:00):
say they were within as we know, take your thumb
and forefinger, index finger and put them a quarter inch apart.
That's how close they were to winning the World Series.
How much did that taste of it getting really close
to winning the whole thing fire them up for their
aggression in this free agency market to finally get over

(01:23:21):
that hump.

Speaker 13 (01:23:23):
Greg, I've said this a thousand times. You know, you
have the vision for your organization to get to the playoffs,
and then it happens, and you never want to let
that feeling go. When you get to a World Series,
you never want to let that feeling go. And when
you lose, you wake up the next morning and I've
been a part of this twice, and this is just

(01:23:45):
this emptiness that you feel that you were that close
and imagine essentially being inches away from winning a world championship.
That passion and desire and fire beginning with ownership, to
the front office, to the entire organization, your.

Speaker 5 (01:24:00):
Fan base, to the media base, does not go away.

Speaker 13 (01:24:03):
The push becomes even greater. And I can promise you
that Toronto is going to put the foot on the
gas to try to do whatever they can do to
repeat what happened last season.

Speaker 1 (01:24:14):
Okay, so now here's the home team, IMPO. We're gonna
start with Jake Washington, Nationals fan that he is.

Speaker 2 (01:24:21):
Jay Well, we probably won't talk about Washington so much
during the season, who knows, But these winter meetings obviously
pretty interesting for them with the new front office led
by Paul Taboni, and they kind of fire the first
shot here trading jose A Ferrer, who was their closer,
for Harry Ford, the Mariners number two prospect. As the
Nationals have kind of rebuilt their entire front office, what

(01:24:43):
kind of direction do you see for them and what
kind of predictions might you have for the way their
offseason could go?

Speaker 5 (01:24:50):
Well? Paul's outstanding and another Notre.

Speaker 13 (01:24:53):
Dame guy by the way, but he's got a great vision.
He's got a great vision for where it's going to go.
He did such a tremendous job in Boston when you
talk about the players that he drafted and that they
signed internationally, he was certainly at the front of that.
But he when you're entering a rebuild like they are,
the first thing you're doing is measuring yourself within the division.

Speaker 5 (01:25:16):
And if you just do that, if.

Speaker 13 (01:25:18):
You don't worry about anybody else in baseball, and you
just measure yourself with where you need to be within
the division, and you look at where the Mets are,
and you look at where the Phillies are, and even
the Braves are a tweak to be a very good
club next year. When you look at that overall, the vision,
I mean, it's very simple to look at the chance
of let's get younger, more impactful, Let's try to get

(01:25:40):
a core group of young players together that are going
to come up and grow together and do all those
things that come with building a strong organization. And Harry
Ford is an outstanding prospect. Actually, I've seen him many times,
saw him in Round rock this last summer, and the
Sky's limit athlete. First, he can play all over the diamond,
the catchers primary position, and the bat is real. And

(01:26:02):
so they'll continue to make moves like that. They know
where they are within the division.

Speaker 5 (01:26:06):
But to get.

Speaker 13 (01:26:07):
Leaner and meaner and younger with more impactful steiling players
is certainly going to be their goal right now.

Speaker 1 (01:26:12):
Okay, now the update for the now back to back
world champions and and and I'm kind of curious about this,
you know, you know when they when when the Dodgers
weren't active at the trade deadline, they said, we just
want to get guys healthy. If we get healthy, we'll
be okay. And it ultimately it proved to be the case,
although they weren't completely healthy. Do you see them also

(01:26:34):
waiting through this, uh, waiting on the progress of Evan Phillips,
Michael Kopek, River Ryan, who has been mentioned as a
possible trade option for them. I saw where they and
I think this is a great move. Re signed Miguel
Rojas to a one year deal and then he's going
to work with player development after playing one final season.
La where do you where do you see the Dodgers

(01:26:55):
in all this.

Speaker 13 (01:26:57):
I think they're going to try to do something that
hasn't done in about twenty five years. They're going to
try to, you know, do what the Yankees did and
win three years in a row. And they're certainly the
front runner to do it. And the thing that I
admire so much about the Dodgers that the push to
build the roster from the top down never ends.

Speaker 5 (01:27:13):
It would be easily to it'd be easy to.

Speaker 13 (01:27:16):
Look at that every day lineup and say, you know,
we don't really need much. Let's let's say add some complimencary.
Players know they're in on Kyle Tucker, and they're in
on a lot of these big name free agents and so.
And what makes it also such a great environment is
that there are players on that twenty six man roster
that that bringing other people in affects their playing time.

(01:27:37):
But it's such a selfless roster and they all know
that they have a chance to do something special. And
it's very unique in today's sport that you have that
kind of that type of culture. But they know what
they're going to try to do. It was a I
mean by.

Speaker 5 (01:27:51):
Inches to get it done this year.

Speaker 13 (01:27:53):
So you know, you bring in a couple of guys
that are great players that have never gotten there before,
and those guys become the cats to get it done
because they've never won, and everybody kind of gets behind
those players to do it. So it's great admiration that
they continue to build from.

Speaker 5 (01:28:09):
The top down.

Speaker 13 (01:28:10):
But their depth is so strong, and this is an
organization we pay attention to every day because you know
the backside of their forty man roster or players that
would certainly impact hours and so great admiration for the
Dodgers and look for them to post very strong in
the twenty twenty six to.

Speaker 5 (01:28:27):
Do it again.

Speaker 1 (01:28:28):
Gene Watson, join us for a few more minutes. Let's
get the Texas team's updates. For those folks whore wanting
to know about the Rangers and Astros.

Speaker 13 (01:28:35):
Do you do you.

Speaker 1 (01:28:35):
See those two being busy? And how active will the
Astros be to try to keep from or Valdez.

Speaker 5 (01:28:43):
I think they'll be active.

Speaker 11 (01:28:45):
You know.

Speaker 13 (01:28:45):
Jim Crane one of the great owners in the history
of our game, and I tell everybody he's the modern
day George Steinbremer, you know, being able to interview with
him in twenty twenty for the general managed position. Just
gave me so much respect for you know, his is
expectations drive the results. And when you look at that
team this year, on paper, they should not have competed

(01:29:06):
in the way that they in the manner they did,
but they just they have expectations and they meet them
and I think they'll they'll work. It'll work very hard
to try to get that done. But but that entire division,
you know, short of Seattle, who you know they're they're
gonna use, They're gonna lose uh Eugeniosus potentially. But but
that division is kind of coming back together a little bit.

(01:29:28):
In Texas with their young position players and some younger
pitchers coming, and Houston's gonna probably be pretty active in
free agency.

Speaker 5 (01:29:36):
The American League.

Speaker 13 (01:29:37):
West, with what the Angels are doing and they're young pitching,
that's going to be a dog fight next year because
it's not one team that's a clear cut run away
from the division. I think you're gonna see even Oakland
with their young core UH and and getting prepared to
move into Vegas, they're.

Speaker 5 (01:29:53):
Going to be active.

Speaker 13 (01:29:55):
I think it's going to be a dogfighter division and
it's gonna interest see how the rest of the winner
plays out.

Speaker 14 (01:29:59):
Po.

Speaker 1 (01:30:00):
You know, it was interesting to see the Rangers were
pretty busy in November. They non tendered a Doolie Scarcia,
Jonah Him and Josh Spores, and then they flip Marcus
Simeon from Brandon Neimo that made the deal there, and
Skip Schumacher is the new manager. They've already been pretty
active they have.

Speaker 13 (01:30:19):
They need Kumar, Rocker and Lighter to step up and
be the guys that they can be that they can be.
If they can do that, that's gonna be big for
a help.

Speaker 5 (01:30:29):
For them on the mound.

Speaker 13 (01:30:30):
They need Wyatt Lanker to be the player start to
reach the ceiling that they believe that he was going
to be out of the University of Florida. And they
need a healthy Evan Carter. If Evan Carter can stay healthy.
You know, Josh Smith is just a grinder, dirtback type
player that's going to feel in a second base. But
if Evan Carter or White Langford and those young arms

(01:30:51):
can step up, they've got a chance to be to
be a little more competitive in twenty six then other
people might be.

Speaker 5 (01:30:57):
Giving them credit for him.

Speaker 1 (01:30:58):
Hey, tell me what you know about Ashton Walcott, who's
so high on their prospect list.

Speaker 5 (01:31:05):
I mean, this is a dynamic player.

Speaker 13 (01:31:07):
This is a guy that is a super athlete, very
tooled out beyond his age maturity wise on the field.

Speaker 5 (01:31:15):
And it's not going to be long.

Speaker 13 (01:31:17):
You know, once you get to that double A level,
you know, the player kind of lets you know when
they're ready. The players expectations drive the results. And this
is a super gifted, talented player. And if he gets
off to a good start in April and May, it
won't be long before he's impacting the team in Arlington.

Speaker 1 (01:31:34):
Wow, Gino, I appreciate this. Have fun in Orlando, and
better days are coming, my friend, for both of the
college football teams to which we are currently attached.

Speaker 5 (01:31:44):
Okay, Craig, I appreciate you, thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (01:31:46):
All Right, that's Geene Watson joining us here. We have
more coming up on sports Radio AM thirteen under the
Zone in the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 4 (01:31:55):
Not to mention.

Speaker 7 (01:31:57):
Listing tunes that you know so.

Speaker 1 (01:32:04):
I always liked playing Campbell when it was a kids.
That was one of those hits Southern Nights. I'll be
head of South tomorrow down in the Rio Grand Valley
with the Texas Wimens to Jacobean here tomorrow too, as
the Texas women will be in action against ut Rio
Grand Valley Martin. It's always a really unique environment. More

(01:32:27):
on that at the moment, but let's hear from Vick
Shaeffer coming off yesterday afternoons one on one forty two
win uh and over a Peririeview A and M. It
was interesting. The game was marked by a couple of things.
First of all, former Texas women's basketball star Ty Dillard,
a member of that two thousand and three final four team.
Her first head coaching job. She's been assistant coach for

(01:32:49):
several years, but her first head coaching job is taking
over that Prairie View program, and they're very competitive, even
though she doesn't have the player she needs and yet
to be competitive enough to win consistently in the Southwestern
Athletic Conference. But you'll probably get there, I think, more
sooner than later. The long wards also survived a ice

(01:33:09):
cold shooting quarter in the second quarter. They were up
fifteen at the half, but they were just frigid goal
missed a lot of bunnies, a lot of stuff right
around the hoop, and then they made up for it
and shot really well. I think fifty nine percent in
each of the third and fourth quarters and pulled away
and blew the game out. Here's Vic Schaeffer's thoughts on
these teams win yesterday.

Speaker 11 (01:33:31):
You know, I thought first half was pretty sleepy today
for us.

Speaker 7 (01:33:36):
I thought the second half was much better.

Speaker 11 (01:33:39):
If you look down and you see your five players
go twelve for eighteen and seven for nine, that's always
a good thing. And we shot seventy two percent pre
throw line that one of our goals today was to
get to the line over thirty times, which we did.
But I thought I thought Prayer, View, A and M
was really good today. I thought they really competed that
first half. CJ for them, number fourteen was really good.

(01:34:03):
She was six for fourteen I think at halftime, and
we did a much better job the second half on her.
But she was really she had taken maybe six or
fifteen I think she was because she had taken half
their shots. They had taken thirty shots. But she really
obviously had a great first half, So did a good

(01:34:24):
job on her. In the second half. We looked a
whole lot more interested in what we were doing and
how we were doing it. Scored sixty one points, so
that's born in line with what I was anticipating that
we would do.

Speaker 7 (01:34:36):
And so.

Speaker 11 (01:34:39):
You know, my team is so unselfish, yaw like, we
have some kids that are absolutely they're just the most
unselfish kids I've ever seen. To a fault sometimes. And
I thought the first half we missed a bunch of bunnies,
we missed a bunch of layups, We took a bunch
of mid range jumpers and shots not falling. You got

(01:34:59):
to make it a vestment. And so I thought the
second half we were much more aggressive. We got downhill
better and got to the rim better, and then our
defense was a.

Speaker 7 (01:35:09):
Little bit better.

Speaker 11 (01:35:10):
Second half, they scored I guess they had three baskets
in the third quarter and four and a fourth, so a.

Speaker 7 (01:35:16):
Little bit better. But got to go on the road Wednesday.

Speaker 11 (01:35:21):
And go down to the valley and play where we
have a lot of fans and going to play a
really good UTRGV team.

Speaker 7 (01:35:28):
So still don't have anybody back yet.

Speaker 11 (01:35:32):
I won't have any back buddy back to my knowledge
on Wednesday.

Speaker 7 (01:35:36):
But we're getting closer and closer. In case you were going.

Speaker 1 (01:35:39):
To ask, Grace Printer had a nice day yesterday. That's
the freshman from Ireland. She had her career high seventeen moins,
got her most playing time of eighteen minutes in that
and it was really cool that her dad was able
to come in from Ireland for the game. So Vic
was asked about Printer's development as a basketball player.

Speaker 11 (01:35:58):
Yeah, so really happy for Grace or her father was
here from Ireland and got to see her play and
and so that was really cool. And she got to
play eighteen minutes today, went three for six and you know,
had an assistant a steal.

Speaker 7 (01:36:15):
So I'm really really happy for her.

Speaker 11 (01:36:19):
You know, she's she'll do some things every now and
then in practice and even in a game and you'll go, hey,
way to go, Grace. That's the way to be aggressive.
And I think the kid is not afraid.

Speaker 7 (01:36:30):
She's pretty fearless. And so.

Speaker 11 (01:36:34):
You know, the biggest thing for her probably is defense
right now, just figuring that out, which you know as
freshmen we all go through that, so part of it.

Speaker 7 (01:36:43):
But you know, she plays really hard. She's a great kid.

Speaker 11 (01:36:47):
And you know, I think one thing worth noting is
her dad really complimented my team about how great they've
been with her and for her, and I think that
says a lot about our basketball team here at University
of Texas. We have some really we have some great kids,
and you know, for a kid to be that far
from home, how welcoming our kids have been for her

(01:37:10):
is really special and I appreciate that so much, and
I know we have great.

Speaker 7 (01:37:14):
Kids for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:37:18):
One thing that was certainly noteworthy, and you heard Brett
Cunningham talking to talking to me about it earlier in
the program today and on the post game yesterday, is that,
as they say, the two man game of having her
and Kyla Oldacre on the floor at the same time,
a double post lineup, and as Brea mentioned to us

(01:37:41):
in the postgame, Coachchafford told them before the game he
was going to do that, and he did so. Vick
was then asked, is that combo a lineup he could
see possibly working in the future.

Speaker 11 (01:37:55):
Well, I think we it was, certainly, it was certainly
I think be a great option. I think what we
have to develop is a defensive plan because so many
people have fours that can stretch the floor, and so
that makes it problematic a little bit if we go
against a team like that, and then the other pieces

(01:38:16):
we've got to have an offensive package in that they
can both understand and play, because, like she just said,
neither one.

Speaker 7 (01:38:23):
Of them have worked at the flour very much.

Speaker 11 (01:38:25):
So just having that package in where they know what
to do and how to do it would help offensively.
But man, it's fun to watch them out there together
and playing, and we call it volleyball. You know, they're
just throwing a ball up to each other and over people,
and so it's I think they're both very complimentary, and
you know, I think, you know, as we move along defensively,

(01:38:48):
I think there's some things we can do.

Speaker 7 (01:38:49):
To play them both.

Speaker 1 (01:38:51):
Vic was next ask what will these next few days
look like in preparing his team for the first real
true road game with the Las Vegas for the tournament.
But how about a true road game like they'll have
at UTRGV.

Speaker 11 (01:39:05):
You know, we'll in it's finals too this week, and
so we were trying to navigate that over the weekend
and try to get out of here on Saturday and
time to get that up to Fort Worth and the
game's early game in Fort Worth on Sundays at twelve noon.
So unless our kids say, yeah, coach, let's get up
at six am for a shoot around we probably won't
have a shoot around, So that means we've got to

(01:39:27):
have a lot of you know, really good practices leading.

Speaker 7 (01:39:31):
Up to that game. But you know, going on the road.

Speaker 11 (01:39:34):
Playing like I said, a really good UTRGV team should
have beat Houston got beat at the Buzzer And and
we'll go.

Speaker 7 (01:39:42):
Down there and a place will be packed.

Speaker 11 (01:39:44):
There'll be a lot of Longhorn fans, and you know,
it's one of the reasons why we do it. We
like to go down there and you know, expose our
team to our fan base down in the valley.

Speaker 7 (01:39:53):
They are really good Longhorns down there.

Speaker 11 (01:39:55):
And at the same time, it's a way for us
to help a sister school make some money because it'll
be packed, they'll sell a lot of tickets, and we'll
get to play a really good, well coached team.

Speaker 7 (01:40:06):
So it's a win win, I think for all of us.

Speaker 11 (01:40:09):
And so we'll have a couple of really good days
of practice and they'll have Thursday off before we get
ready to go down to go up to Fort Worth
to play you know, a ranked to Baylor team.

Speaker 1 (01:40:22):
And finally, one other thing for coach Schaeffer, you know,
he mentioned that he he does like the two post
players out there. But since he doesn't like really playing zone,
what kind of defensive options does that present for him?

Speaker 11 (01:40:37):
I wouldn't say I don't like zone. I would say that,
you know, it's hard to play zone.

Speaker 7 (01:40:45):
It's like.

Speaker 11 (01:40:47):
I liking this, and I'm glad you brought this up
because I liking this too. Start gets criticized sometimes because
he don't throw the ball deep. Well, you can't throw
the ball deep when they're playing too high safety, you know, back,
and so there's not a lot of deep options out
there for us. It's hard to play zone when everybody's

(01:41:08):
got three and four shooters on the floor. You know,
it's just it's problematic, and so zone is an option.
I've got to do a better job getting them ready
for zone. And then I do think there's certain fours
that we'll be able to guard. And I think both

(01:41:32):
Brea and Kyla would take that challenge on and want it,
you know, whether it's somebody that can shoot the three
or maybe somebody that's really good off the balance.

Speaker 7 (01:41:42):
I think both of them would want the challenge.

Speaker 11 (01:41:45):
But then it's not just them, it's your team defense too.

Speaker 7 (01:41:50):
And you know, right now we're a real work in.

Speaker 11 (01:41:52):
Progress, like, we got a lot of work to do
defensively in my mind, and that's where I think, you know,
for these kids, if I'm going to play them both together,
which we are, then we've got to really become a
really good cohesive team defense defense.

Speaker 1 (01:42:12):
That's Vick Schaefer, the Texas women's head coach. We'll be
back to wrap up today's edition of the program, coming
up on sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of
the iHeartRadio AM

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