Vanderbilt's Texas Connections, Toronto Ties the World Series

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
So it's Wednesday. We know what that means, Homday, yacht
rock Wednesday. All of it designed to help you get
over that Wednesday hump and begin the downhill run to
the weekend.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
As I always say, if it.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Is truly your hump day, middle of the week, hopefully
we can help you get over that hump and get
going toward the weekend. If Wednesday happens to be the
end of your work week, the next two days are
open dates for you, by days, so to speak. Good
on you, good for you, and I hope you enjoy
those And for those of you whose work week begins
on a Wednesday, well we'll try our best to help

(00:51):
you get it off to a good start. Good aff
to you and everybody. Welcome to the program here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone. My name is
Craig Way. Glad to have you with us. US includes
producer Jay Herman. How did your evening go last night?
Do you do much?

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Got some eronds done? Got some coaches calls in to
prepare for some high school football over the weekend, and
watch some baseball.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
You would have to mention that when we have to
mention that, it's important to mention that the World Series
is now tied at two games a piece, Toronto and
Los Angeles. Most impressive performance by the Blue Jays, starting
on the man with Shane Bieber. This was a guy
who had to have Tommy John surgery a year ago.
The Guardians deltim think about this. There were a couple
of guys I was thinking about this year because they

(01:37):
came from teams at the trade deadline whose teams ended
up making a postseason anyway or got real close, and
you wondered what they might have done had they been
able to have those guys. One of those the Arizona
Diamondbacks who did not make the playoffs. But if they

(02:00):
had not dealt Aohennio Suarez to the Mariners, might they
have made the postseason as the wild card number three
instead of say the Reds. Uh you know, might might
that have happened? By the way, also a former Cincinnati Red.
And then for the Guardians to swipe out Shane Bieber

(02:20):
to let him go, and then Bieber, what a job
he's done and did last night for Toronto in uh
A six to two went over the Dodgers. Uh LA
had actually taken one nothing lead. They have taken the
lead in all four games that have been played so
far in the World Series. But one swing of the

(02:41):
bat can can change anything, and that was the case
for the Blue Jays. And who else to do that?
Of Vladimir Guerrero last name.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
Well, hit well to t pet Center and this one
will to climing to mere Correro Junior lines went into
the seats, had left center and the Blue Jays.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Take the league.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
Now, that was the call the great Dan Shulman on
sports Net sports Net. I was trying to remember that
their version of like ESPN is sports Net. Okay, so
that was his call. Do we have the call from
his son, Ben Shulman, who's the radio voice of the
Toronto Blue Jays. He also got to call that home

(03:33):
run last night for Toronto. And what the home run
did was to jumpstart the Jays. It got him in
front to one, and then they had a four run sixth,
which we'll get to in a moment. But Ben Shulman,
just like Pops, had a call of the Guerrero home runs.

Speaker 5 (03:50):
Should have it in about one minute.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh oh wait, about one minute, okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
In the meantime, Shane Bieber kept the Dodgers off balance,
even though he gave up the one earlier run, but
that was a single. It was a walk, a single
and a sackfly that got in the Dodgers run and
then and then it was one nothing until vlad Junior
stepped to the plate two to one, flighty hits it.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
High left field. Hernandez back on the track.

Speaker 6 (04:20):
Looks up.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
It is gone.

Speaker 7 (04:22):
Pluck a top. Vladimir Carrero Junior.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
Fuck game time or put of me puts them in
the lead with a two run shot two to one.

Speaker 7 (04:31):
Blue Jays been the top.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Of the third man. That's Ben Schulman.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
That's the son of Dan Shulman who called it on
Sportsnet there and Toronto went on to get the victory.
So the Jays win win the contest six to two,
dominating performance. Dodger bats have kind of gone quiet, even
in that eighteen inning win. They were pretty quiet for
a while, and so there's all kinds of rumblings that

(04:56):
maybe the lineup may be shaken up tonight for La.
Andy Pye had I believe is four for fifty in
the postseason for La all rounds four for fifty. So
we could see Miguel Rojas at second base and batting
ninth in the lineup, Tommy ed been moving to second
base to center field.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Could see that.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Has not been an awesome postseason for former nat Alex
call either.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
No, he came up in a couple of key situations
and just was unable to deliver. Very good defensive outfielder
but hasn't been able to deliver. So there could be
some changes in the lineup for the Dodgers tonight. The
You know, I mentioned the crucial Game four when one
team is up to one, Okay, so then when it's
two two, then it becomes the pivotal game, Game five,

(05:48):
fifth game, because I believe the numbers show that when
the series is tied to two, the team that wins
Game five to go up three to wins it, I
think about eighty three percent of the time or eighty
two percent of the time. You know, most of the
time they're in the driver's seat.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Knowing you have two chances to win is a huge
advantage for your bullpen and your planning.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
And it certainly I think is even a bigger advantage
for Toronto if they win the night because they're going home,
they'd have two shots on their home field to win.
Now they needed both wins to get past Seattle after
dropping games one and two at home. But it has
proven to be I think, as resilient a baseball club
as any I know. Some folks mentioned that about LA

(06:34):
because the Dodgers went through a horrible slump in late
July to early August that actually had them dropped from
leading by nine to trailing by four in the West.
But they turned it around and then they caught and
passed Andyego ended up winning the division for the twelve
time in the thirteen years.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Then they really got a roll with their starting pitching
in the.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Playoffs, but a couple of trouble spots have come up
even with the starting pitching. Tyler Glass now and his
last two starts has not been good for LA and
got no decision in each of those. Actually I think yeah,
got no decision in each of those games. And shoey

(07:13):
Otani took the loss last night for LA. I think
he was tired and with good reason. I mean, the
guy had reached based nine times in the eighteen inning
epic game.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
But Gino said that was impossible. That he's religious about
his sleep.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
He is, but when you don't have that much, you
can count on. Because of the lateness of the night,
you can get as much as he could. Plus he
was pitching, you could see him really grinding to get
through it. John Schmaltz talked about it on the telecast,
and I thought he did a really good job just
to push through the sixth.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
I didn't think he had anything left.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
And then he proceeded to go out and prove that
in the seventh, gave up a base hit and then
a double them a second and third, nobody out.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
They brought him out, and.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Then Bonda couldn't couldn't hold it together, and then Blake
try and couldn't hold it together, and next thing you know,
four runs across the play for Toronto, and then they
just cruised home to the victory.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
There.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
So now it's too two and today you have a
rematch of Game one. Trey is Savage going for the
Blue Jays and Blake Snell going for the Dodgers, neither
of whom were that good in Game one. You Savage
got no decision turned around because the Dodgers had the lead.
Snell ended up taking the loss for LA in Game one.

(08:28):
So neither were big factors in Game one for their teams.
And we'll see how it goes tonight. And again, I
think this game is more must win for the Dodgers
than is for the Blue Jays because they are going
back to Toronto. Even if they go back down three
to two, they say, hey, we were down three to
two to Seattle and found a way to get it

(08:50):
past it. If LA drops this, they know they've got
to win twice and try. Here's the other thing I
think that comes to mind. The pitching matchup in Game
six is going to be Kevin Gosman for the Jays
Yoshouoba Yamamota for the Dodgers. If LA finds a way
to win tonight, they can look to Yamamoto, who throw

(09:13):
a complete game in Toronto last Saturday night in Game two,
and say, hey, we're gonna hang in the ball again
right where he was. So they would have that good vibe,
that good feeling, and then even if they losed, then
this one game winner take all. They have to go
back to Glass now. But as Keith Morland told me,
everybody's got their spikes on Game seventy of the pitchers,
So what happened that for Toronto? If they're able to

(09:35):
win tonight, they know they've got two shots to win.
Even if they lose again the Yama Moto, they know
they've got another shot, and the shot would be there,
you know, against the guy they were able to hit
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
They were able to hit Glass Now or reach base against.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
They ended up losing the game in eighteen innings, but
it wasn't because they couldn't score against Glass Now.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
So that's where it is is going into game five.

Speaker 5 (10:02):
Where's your confidence level in the Dodgers?

Speaker 2 (10:05):
About fifty to fifty.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
I mean, you know, I I wondered about O Tommy
Stammina going into the game last night, and I thought
John sponson an outstanding job talking about he was really
going on a lot of adrenaline in the first three innings.
He started to see an ebb a little bit in
the fourth, and he still had plenty of juice in

(10:27):
him even after the Guerrera home run, because he struck.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Out the side I think in the fourth and.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Then got through the fifth, and then the sixth is
when it started to get away, but he still managed
to keep it in and finished the sixth without allowing
any more runs. It was the seventh that ultimately spelled doom.
So we'll see if Snell pitches like he has pitched
all the way up to Game one of this World Series.
Dodger fans should feel pretty good because he's been really,

(10:56):
really good. But the Dodger bullpen proved to be the
bullpenn again last night. It went back to being the
Dodger bullpen, not the one of the eighteen inning variety.
So they need length as well as effectiveness from Snow.
They need at least six, maybe even seven innings from him,
and they need to have the lead before.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
They hand it to the pen.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Otherwise Toronto could be in great shape to win it,
go up three to two, knowing they would only need
to win one game back at home to win it.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
You know, I thought about sending it text in the
first inning last night. I'm glad don't do that because
it didn't.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
Well, I mean, I figure, if you know, he'll just
still respond when he's ready, right if the fan is space.
But I'm glad I'm happy I didn't send it because
I thought about sending Well, here come the last pitch
is so Tani will see today when they pitched to
him to lead off the bottom of the first that
wasn't what they did.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
No, and here's why, and it made perfect sense. I
thought John Schneyder did a really good job. We'll hear
from the managers a little later on what when John
Schneider said they were not going to pitch to a
tiny I think what he meant was in leverage moments,
if there is a situation where they need to get

(12:06):
an out, they would rather take their chances against Mookie Betts,
who is really struggling. He did get a hit last night,
but he's struggling in this World Series. I think he's
something like three for twenty two or something like that.
But if there's two outs and nobody on, they'll take
their chances, and leading off an inning, they'll take their

(12:28):
chances with that because the worst damage he can do
is one run. But pitching to him in a leverage
situation with like runners on the corners or two in
scoring position, that's a risk. And that's what I think
he was referring to. They were able to get it
to it. And by the way, that speaks to this
deal about where we may see changes in the Dodger

(12:49):
lineup because the number nine spot is not contributing, so
o'cannie is not coming to the plate with the guy
on first base to where they don't feel comfortable walking
because now it puts a runner scoring position, and all
Mookie Betts has to do's get a base hit to
get the run home. So but with Andy pa has
struggling mightily in the ninth nine hole, they can get

(13:12):
him out and then they work clean and free. So
to speak to O Tommy, that's the dynamic that Dave
Roberts is going to try to change for tonight one
way or another. Whoever's in that nine hole, whether it's
Miguel Rojas, whether it's Tommy Edmond, whoever it is.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
I was gonna say, I think it'll be Edmund.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
Well it might be, but Edmund can be a table
set up by getting on base. And then Rojas is
the best bunner on the team, so you get the
guy in scoring position.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
You got to remember, I've seen this team one hundred
and twenty five times, sessuees.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Yeah, yeah, And I'm a big, big inning watcher, right.
So that's the four split screens following my fantasy teams.
Whecause the Nationals it was hard to watch them down
the stretch.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
I got you, okay, all right, what we have coming
up on the program this afternoon. We're gonna hear here
in a few minutes from Clark Lee, the head coach
of the Vanderbilt Commodore, from the SEC teleconference.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
We'll hear his thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
We're also gonna hear on the teleconference in the four
o'clock hour from Long Horns head coach Steve Sarkisian. We'll
hear from him from that SEC teleconference. So here from them,
we do have inconceivable this hour. Get your fast food,
junk food tastes in mind, okay, because I'm gonna throw
some things at you there. Okay, because you're a big

(14:25):
sandwich guy. I've seen you eaten sandwiches. I've got a
sandwich note to bring to it.

Speaker 5 (14:30):
Yeah, I've got takes.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Okay, all right, So we've got that inconceivable. It's our
next hour. Andrew Ali Gretta is the play by play
voice of the Vanderbilt Commodore's. He'll join us in the
three o'clock hour. We'll also hear from Ethan Burke from
the Longhorns in the three o'clock hour, and then, like
I said, in the four o'clock hour, we'll hear from
Long Horns head coach Steve Sarkisian, so that's coming up

(14:54):
as well. So it's a yacht rock Wednesday. We're also
glad to take your thought your opinions on our text line.
All you have to do is text the word Texas
follow by your question and comment to eight one five
three zero. So text the word Texas follow by your
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(15:16):
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song was through our talkback feature. You guys proved it's
It's right there and pretty easy to do. All you
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(15:38):
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Speaker 2 (15:44):
At that point.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
When it pops up, we suggest you make it a
preset because that'll help you in our contesting as well.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
But then you'll see two buttons.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
One's a little white micro a little white button that's
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You push that button and you can leave us a
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(16:14):
blah blah blah. You know, I thought the Blue Jays
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You've got thirty seconds to leave us a message on
that talkback feature.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
So that's pretty cool as well.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
All right, coming up, we'll hear from the head coach
of the Vanderbilt Commodore's Clark Lee on a yacht Rock
Wednesday here on sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone
in the iHeartRadio apps. Stand, how long has yat rock
Wednesday been going on?

Speaker 2 (16:39):
For quite some time? Actually, that's not what it This
song is all about from eighth a yacht Rock.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
It's actually about It's not about a breakup of a couple.
It's about a breakup of a band.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh that's what I was told. So you got Paul
Carrick in there, we're here.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Paul Carrick from squeeze and other things as well, So
it's a yacht rock Wednesday. So yeah, our return cuts
will be some yacht rock uh generated things. You know,
we have lots of folks who'd like the yacht rock offerings.
Our friend Lisa Cofflin over at the ut Golf Club,
so she listens every Wednesday for no other time to

(17:17):
us to make sure she hears.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yacht rock Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (17:19):
So we're always glad to uh to be of service
that sort of thing, and people know, you know what
a fan of the yacht rock genre.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Did you ever see the end of the documentary? You
were going to watch the end of that?

Speaker 5 (17:29):
Yeah, yeah, they tracked down the members of Steely Dan.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Yeah when they Yeah, I got Donald Fagan on the
phone and he wasn't very kind to the.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
Credits.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
And I just pictured, uh, I just pictured Bill Sibbons
behind the scenes making that going, yes, that's our ending, that's.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
That's the end or right there by the way.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
I did watch the documentary in the Montreal Expostlyn and
I watched it Sunday. It was really good. Yeah, it
was good. I was a little disappointed that they didn't
do more on the rise of the franchise in the
seventies into the eighty one when it got all the
way that got within one inning of going to the
World Series and eighty one. They did show the Rick

(18:10):
Monday home run off Steve Rogers in Game five of
that NLCS in a frigid day in Montreal at Old
Olympic Stadium. They did show that one highlight, but they
didn't really pinpoint how far. It was more about the
love affair with the fans, right and how they got jilted, didn't.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
I understand that?

Speaker 1 (18:28):
And I do hope that when Major League Baseball, you know,
expands again, or you know, some franchise has to leave
or whatever. I hope Montreal gets another shot, and I
hope to get a different ballpark too.

Speaker 8 (18:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:41):
Covering the Canadiens during my Capital's experience last year, I
got to see what kind of the press corps and
just traveling I don't want to say circus because that's
going to sound like it's a negative thing. Just a
lot of hubbub around the Canadian ends. It is a
unique relationship I think that teams there have with with
those fans.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, Les Abiton are the habs are the New York
Yankees of Canadian sports. They have more Stanley Cup championships
than any franchise, and they're the Paulmark franchise.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
And I'll tell you those reporters who and broadcasters both
English and French language, who were sitting right next to
me along Press Road, there was some construction going on.
Long story short, shoulder to shoulder with the Canadians broadcast crew.
Those guys and gals are banging the desk and huffing
and puffing at the calls. It was. It was a
different style than we were used to, no doubt about it.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
As well, we turn our attention out to the Texas
Vanderbilt matchup. In the four o'clock hour, you're going to
hear from Longhorn's head coach, Steve Sarkisian. He'll address the
injury situation and some other things as well. So you'll
you'll hear from sark coming up the four o'clock hour

(19:57):
about that preceding him. This is the SEC teleconference. This
is the thing that they do conference wide and when
it used to be in the old days, and I'm
telling you this goes back at least to the seventies.

Speaker 5 (20:12):
Longer than yat Rock Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
Absolutely, at least back to the seventies, they used to
do the old Southwest Conference conference call where a coach
would actually dial into a number and the media would
all be given the dial in number of the pass code.
It might have been the eighties when this started, but
it's at least the eighties and you would dial in
and he.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Use clicking and all this kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
And we now welcome Baylor Bears head coach Grant Taft
to the call coach, and it's similar formatically even.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Today about an opening statement and then taking questions.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
And now in the SEC and I'm sure it is
in the Big twelve and other places they do it
all by zoom, but it's still called the teleconference. So
maybe it's a television conference, I guess, because it's by zoom.
But Clark Lee, as the rotation goes, goes right before

(21:05):
start every week, and so he was on and we
figured we'd pick up some of his thoughts starting with
his opening statement.

Speaker 9 (21:13):
We're excited to play in a meaningful game. And you know,
just obviously as we reach November here, you know, it's
about how we sustain performance, how we stay fresh, especially
come out of a really physical game against Missouri and
heading into what is going to be another physical game

(21:33):
against Texas, a really talented team. So I love the
way the guys have come to work. I think that
we're in our process right now and like I said,
excited to have a chance to compete in a great
atmosphere against a really good team on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Okay, so this is back to back seasons now with
what coach Lee has done at Vanderbilt, in other words,
in fashioning them into a legitimate contender, into a team
that can do really well. He's he's in his fifth
season as the head coach, and while he has a
twenty three and thirty four overall record as a head coach,

(22:14):
we know what he did last year and here he is,
you know, getting these teams back into contending these this
Vanderbilt team back into contending status again. So he's asked
about if that is helping helped to open more doors
not only in recruiting players overall, but get landing some

(22:34):
highly rated recruiting process prospects.

Speaker 9 (22:38):
Without necessarily using kind of ranking external ranking systems to
talk about kind of who we're in on. I feel
like we have now proof of concepts. So to answer
your question, yes, I think I think leveling up in
our recruiting effort efforts is incremental. You know, we we
we recruited out of a two and ten season and

(23:00):
twenty three in a seven to sixth season, and twenty
four and here we are kind of at a point
in our year now where we're in. You know, we're
talking about playoff contention and championship condition and all those things.
The thing that has been important in a marker of
our recruiting efforts from the beginning has been authenticity and

(23:25):
genuine relationship building. And so we don't I'm not a
used car salesman, don't. I don't have a sales pitch here.
This is about challenging people. It's about calling people into
again sacrifice and suffering and investment and knowing that you know,
at Vanderbilt you're not inheriting anyone else's success. But if

(23:47):
you're motivated to help us write this history, to help
us put our signature on the success we're working for,
if that inspires you, then this could be the perfect
place for you. Those messages obviously resonate with a lot
of people, but you know, everyone wants the chance to
win and compete for championships. What we've done in the

(24:08):
last two seasons has proven that that is the trajectory
we're on, and so it is allowed for us to
involve ourselves and more conversations with players that would be
considered higher level. And our job and that is not
to go out and just find players that are considered
higher level, but it's still to recruit the type of
people that are going to come here and do the

(24:30):
hard work and choose to be connected and choose to
suffer and sacrifice well and to find joy in that
so that we can build this to sustainability and you know,
and find the levels of success we're looking for over time.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, so they're looking for that level of success. Everybody
in the SEC is seeking, obviously, a chance to play
for conference championships, get into the College Football Playoff, and
compete for a national title. Texas is obviously in that
Categorytion's long wards have been in the playoff last two years,
and even though their backs have been to the wall
of late this season, they've been able to come up
with back to back over time come from behind wins,

(25:06):
especially last week, and clark Lee was asked what stood
out about that come from behind win for the Longhorns.
To him last week, this is a resilient team. I mean,
it's a team that's never out of the game. You
know this, You can't know lead is safe. They know
how to fight back in all three phases. Obviously, the
punt returner is dynamic, and you know, we got to

(25:30):
really have some answers for that. But hey, look, it's
a really good defense. This is an offense that when
it clicks into motion, can score very quickly. And I
think it's really well designed, really well coached. But they
obviously have a fighters mentality.

Speaker 9 (25:49):
I think for two weeks now, they've they've they've played
in tightly contested games and found ways to win. I
think for as talented as they are and as well
coached as they are, there's something to be said about
that as there competitive fiber, and so I think it
says a lot about the character of that program.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
Okay, we're gonna hear more from Clark Lee coming up
as the show progresses this afternoon and again in the
three o'clock hour. Andrew Alligretta, the play by play voice
of the Commodorees, will join us. But up next, it's
inconceivable for a yacht Rock Wednesday afternoon right here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone. Any iHeartRadio app

(26:26):
second hour of the program here on Sports Radio AM
thirteen under the Zone. You're on a yacht Rock Wednesday.
Craig Wayne joined by the producer Jay Carman. Coming up
in a few minutes, we'll talk about the Vanderbilt Commodoores
with Commodore's play by play voice Andrew Alligretta. He'll join
us in a few minutes. With regard to the World Series,

(26:50):
it's now even at two games apiece and the Blue
Jays winning last night six to two and one decisively.
They had a four run seven that put the game away.
But they're pitching really just kind of dominated a lot
of the game. Nevertheless, nothing like a home run you
get you all fired up. John Schneider, the manager for

(27:12):
the Jason, was asked what was it like in the
dugout when Vladimir Gerrero Junior, who did not have an
extra base hit in the World Series until the bat
where he hit the home run off showy Otani was
asked what the atmosphere was like in the dugout.

Speaker 10 (27:27):
I get that it's easy to write Otani versus Guerrero,
it's to us, it's Toronto versus Los Angeles.

Speaker 8 (27:34):
You know.

Speaker 10 (27:35):
But that swing was huge, you know what I mean.
A sweeper is a pitch designed to generate pop ups
in my opinion, and the swing that Vlad put on
it was elite. And after last night and kind of
all the recognition that went into Sho he individually and
he's in the mountain today. It's a huge swing from Vlad.
It's a huge swing to get us going. And I

(27:57):
think that gives you some momentum. And you know, Showhey
settled in struck out quite a few in a.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Row after that.

Speaker 10 (28:04):
But you know, our bats there kind of just it
was a blue jay inning, you know what I mean,
varsh Ernie and then you kind of went to work.
But the swing from Vlad was game changer.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Yeah, And then it was handed over to the bullpen
after that very good start by Shane Bieber and then
Louis Varlin coming out of the pen, and Schneider talked
about the trust factory he has in Varlin.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Louis's been tremendous.

Speaker 10 (28:32):
He's he's kind of a different animal, you know what
I mean, where it's not normal to put a guy
in as much as I have and have his stuff
be consistent.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
He was.

Speaker 10 (28:42):
He was one guy I was talking to ross of
the deadline. He was one guy that I really wanted
to acquire, you know what I mean. There are a
lot of big, big arms out there, big available arms,
and the combination of his stuff and just kind of
knowing his personality a little bit from David Popkins in Minnesota.
It was really intriguing to get him. But he's been
and nothing short of amazing. You know, It's not easy

(29:03):
to do what he's doing, pitching this much in high leverage,
but I trust the hell out of them.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, and a good reason.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
That's another guy at the trade deadline who made an
impact on the postseason, Varlin coming over from the Twins
to the Blue Jays and what he's done.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Now, what about the Dodgers. They look rather.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
Invincible, you know what they're going into the series, and
then after the eighteen inning walk off with the home
run from Freddie Freeman, it's fair to say a lot
of folks thought they were, you know, pretty much destined.
But it's too too and it's now become a best
of three series and Dave Roberts was asked about his
overall thoughts on how the game got away from La.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
We knew it was gonna be a great series.

Speaker 11 (29:47):
This team is talented, they're resilient, talking about the Blue Jays,
and they came back fighting, caught an early lead, and
you know, Beab, you know, that is what he does
and use the cutter spun us, minimize damage, limited traffic,
and you know, we really didn't get a whole lot
of good swings. And you know, conversely, you see these guys,

(30:12):
you know, grinding and using the whole field and putting
some hits together. And obviously you know the homer by
Vlad and you know that seventh inning they built an
inning right there, and we just didn't have an answer.
So I think the takeaway is we saw you Savage
not too long ago, and so that's certainly information that

(30:33):
we're going to use and expect Blake Snell to be
better than he was in Game one.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
That's going to be the key which Game one starter
will be better. But the other question is the Dodger
offense has not been so much of like and Roberts
was asked, is there still more offense for his team?

Speaker 2 (30:52):
To tap into. You know, we we haven't. We haven't
found our rhythm. We haven't.

Speaker 11 (30:57):
It sort of draws dead at parts of the lineup
and different parts, different innings, different games. You know, guys
are competing, certainly in the postseason, you're saying everyone's.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Best, Yeah, but unable to finish it.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
And uh, that's why he was asked later if he
might be considering making some other substitution, some other changes
with the lineup, and he did say, yeah, we're gonna,
we're gonna look at it was the way he described it, so, uh,
very crucial or no, wait, we have to say pivotal, right,

(31:35):
it's crucial for Game four and the best of seven,
pivotal for game five.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
Right, yeah, in game seven, you got your decisive So
what so what's game six?

Speaker 5 (31:46):
So we're gonna get a game six?

Speaker 1 (31:47):
Yeah yeah, uh, maybe it's decisive for Game six and
deciding for Game seven.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Okay, we'll think about it ultimate penultimate, but it could
be the ultimate.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Well, if it's penultimate, that would be game six ultimate
with Game seven pen ultimates next.

Speaker 5 (32:07):
I'm thinking about Game six what that would be?

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know, I don't know on.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
That the.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
All important Game six. It must win Game six. Well,
that's only for one team.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
Yeah, I started to say it's game six anyway.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Game five is tonight, it'll be in Los Angeles, and
then the series will shift back to Toronto for Game six
on Friday night, and if it gets to a seventh game,
it would be on Saturday. So it's gonna be interesting
to see if it does mind up. But I think

(32:48):
it's going seven. I think LA may actually even lose tonight,
but win Game six behind Yamamoto and then get it
to a seven of the game and then it's Game seven.
It's up for grabs at that point.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
Yeah, we talked earlier who's under more pressure, the Blue
Jays to avoid potential elimination at the hands of Yamamoto
on Friday or the Dodgers to avoid having to win
twice in Toronto.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, it's a good question. Not sure, not sure what's
gonna happen about it?

Speaker 8 (33:22):
All?

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Right, up next, we'll shift back to college football. We'll
shift back to the long worn's opponent for this Saturday morning.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
It's right. Remember it's an eleven am kick.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Our coverage will beget at seven am with a third
and long worn podcast Guys Preview that's at seven. At
eight am, it'll be Long Orange Game Day from Bevo
Boulevard there in the Winship Circle there along the hook
the hangouts. That's where you'll see Cameron Parker, also Mike
cardboll Hard and the World's Strongest Man, Mark Henry. Also

(33:56):
Jake Carmon will be out there early setting up, right.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Yeah, come on out.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
Well, maybe don't come out to the show starts, but
but then once the show goes on, come out and
say hi.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Well, people will be roaming up and down Beava Boulevard.
So if you're out there, you know, once the show
starts at eight, why not curl around and say hi?

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Right, yeah, I could do that.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
And network pregame at ten o'clock. The kickoff is at eleven,
Texas and Vanderbilin. Up next, we visit with Andrew Alligretta,
the play by play voice of the Commodore's here on
Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone in the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 7 (34:27):
Sun Ah.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yes, the immortal Gordon Lightfoot on a yacht Rock Wednesday
here with one of his all time classics, a sundown
of course, not sundown for the Long War and football
game this Saturday. No, No, it's closer to sun rise
eleven am kickoff for Texas and Vanderbilt. And toward that end,

(34:57):
very pleased to welcome Andrew alligretta play by playvoy of
the Commodores from Vanderbilt's radio network, to the program this afternoon.
In the hotline, Andrew, I really appreciate the time.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
How are you.

Speaker 8 (35:09):
I'm doing well. Not enough radio programs welcome me in
with some Gordon Lightfoot. So that was nice.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
All right.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
So every play by play guide that I have on
everyone in the SEC, either for football or basketball baseball
over the past a year and a half, I always
ask them if they come on on a Wednesday, because
Wednesday's yacht rock Wednesday. You're on the program if they're
yacht rockers. And it makes me feel a little bit
of comfort, as I am an unabashed yacht rock fan

(35:38):
that virtually all of them say, oh yeah, yeah, I'm
definitely on board with that.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
I can definitely do that.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
In fact, Neil Price, Mississippi State, was talking about how
hearing Liedo shuffle from bos Skaggs made him think about
going up to the lido deck on the cruise ship
with his wife and hitting the buffet off of that.
So you're quite a bit younger than me, But are
you a yacht rock fan?

Speaker 8 (36:03):
Well, I was gonna say, I don't know that. I'm
quite a bit younger than you. I certainly feel very
geriatric at heart. What I would tell you is this,
my age would give you this answer. I'm a fairly
sizable John Mayer fan. His most recent album was very
yacht rock ish. I think he called it sop rock.

(36:24):
So there's a lot of like references to those yacht
rock days. So I suppose by like, you know, like
the transitive property of a generation.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yes, okay, I'm right.

Speaker 5 (36:36):
There with you.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (36:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
The producer Jake was nodding his head in agreement, So
there you go.

Speaker 8 (36:40):
All right, great, I love it.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
This football team would not be yacht rock orient it
because it would have to be quite the throwback for
people to see what Vanderbilt football has done, because you know,
in the seventies and the eighties there were only spots
of success and then some lean times afforts. But right
now at number nine in the country in seven and one,
well for the first time in seventy five years. I

(37:06):
would imagine the community must be extremely excited about what
Coach Lee has going on with this team.

Speaker 8 (37:13):
Oh, it's a ton of fun. Basically, every historical stat
that we have at this point, Craig like references a
time when like putting on the Ritz would have been
the number one song, not like jat rock stuff. So
we really got to go back. It's been a ton
of fun. The community has rallied around this. You've seen
it with the turnouts of our crowds. It's been awesome. Man,

(37:34):
it's been absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
You know, one of the things that impressed me last
year when the Longhorns went to Nashville to play the
Commodores was here was the stadium that was really kind
of under construction, and yet for all of that, everybody
showed up and they sat in every available seat and
kind of occupied every other nook and cranny of the place,
and it was quite the environment.

Speaker 8 (37:58):
Yeah, we've bought in now. Certainly if you build it,
they will comment all of that sort of stuff and
the success. And you know, that game last year between
Bandy and Texas was the first Top twenty five match
up in Vanderbilt since two thousand and eight, and since
then we've had a couple. We had one versus South
Carolina last year this most frequent one versus Missouri. So
there's there's been a ground swell, there's been buy in

(38:20):
of you know, Austin and Nashville currently shared some similarities
of kind of the people that lived there, in the
community and all of that sort of stuff. So you know,
the theo Bonds of the world have bought in. Nate
BARGESSI is from here. He's always been a Vanderbilt fan.
You're starting to see, like Noah Khan was on the
sideline if you want to reference musicians, and I think
Sheil Crow is a Zoo supporter, was there last weekend.

(38:44):
So that sort of thing has kind of developed as well,
which is a ton of fun that's not totally unheard
of at Vanderbilt. If you go back to like the
seventies and the eighties, a bunch of those type of
folks were turning out to Vanderbilt basketball and they were very,
very good. But it's a community that that that kind
of lives a little bit off center in Nashville. Because

(39:06):
of the power of the NFL and Titans and it's
it's still a very big Pennsy community here, like the Balls,
despite the fact that they're two and a half hours
down the road. But it's a passionate one. It's a
it's one that has been part of Nashville through and
through for decades and decades. So this team, this university,
the athletic department has kind of given all of those

(39:27):
people a reason to get back out to West End
and support the programs.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Interesting visiting with Andrew Allighreta, played by play voice of
Vanderbilt Commodoreces. Okay, you mentioned about the common aalities certainly
within the state of Texas in terms of Texas high
school football town. I'm going to get the central Alexander
in a moment, because they called several of his high
school games and just.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
A great young man.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
But I want to I want to start with Eli
Stowers because here I am think about this for a
moment here, Andrew back four years.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Ago, I guess it was maybe five.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
I'm called in the state championship game between west Lake
High of Austin and Denton Geyer and the starting quarterbacks
for that game for Westlake was Kate Klubnik. Now, of
course it is Clemson and Eli Stowers was the starting
quarterback for Geyer. Now he blew out a knee early
in the game and we all felt really bad for him,

(40:19):
and he had to be replaced by freshman Jackson Arnold,
now the quarterback at Auburn. And but Stours, and I've
mentioned this over the past couple of years, really and
truly reinvented himself as a tight end to the point
where he's now looked at as being a real NFL
prospect as a tight end.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
And we'll get to Diego Pavi in a moment.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
But just the mere fact about what Stours has done
with his body, with his I guess his mindset in his.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Career has been pretty impressive to watch.

Speaker 8 (40:48):
It's been incredibly impressive. And I think you probably could
speak to this better than I could. I suspect, and
I don't know if it's always like a perfect comp
where if you look at all of these guys that
end up playing college baseball and pro base play, you
go back and they're all short stops, They're all pictures
in high school. I don't know that every best athlete's
playing quarterback. You probably could speak to that better than
I should. But you know, there's some of that going

(41:12):
on with Eli Stowers. He still has a good arm.
We saw him throw a touchdown pass a season ago,
but certainly his unique trait with the athleticism, the size,
the strength, the speed, like he's six foot whatever he
is and it's one of our fastest runners. So you know,
it obviously wasn't going the way that he had hoped

(41:33):
that Texas A and M. He transfers to New Mexico State,
he's in a quarterback competition with Diego Pasia and then
eventually there's this realization that perhaps he could reinvent himself.
And he is such a grounded human being, He is
such a thoughtful and considerate human being that he took

(41:54):
probably what was less than desirable news that you're not
going to be a quarterback, But what if you did
this thing and poured himself into that in a really
first class way. And you know, to reference Diego Pavia,
kind of that balance, the ying and the gang of
Diego Pavia and Eli Stowers is is absolutely perfect. Like

(42:14):
there's the bravado the confidence of Diego Pavia and here's
this kind of humble giant in Eli Stowers that that
meshes really really well together. There has been other guys
that have done this. It's a really specific reference for
my past because I spent some time at Virginia Tech.
But Logan Thomas was a quarterback at Virginia Tech then
got to the NFL and became a tight end. So

(42:36):
this is not like an unheard of transition. But but
Eli has taken it really well well.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
You mentioned the Yin and the yang and they were
both in New Mexico's take together. They everybody came away
impressed and a bit surprised with what Diego Pavia did
last year. Nobody's surprised this year. Everybody is seeing what
he does is obviously his athletics and his leadership are

(43:02):
on question.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
The other thing I think that.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
And you can speak to this better than just bout
anybody else that fuels his fire is his attitude and
being counted out and being counted out in the past,
and even having to win battles against the NCAA on eligibility.
That kind of stuff just seems to have ignited this
very flammable chip on his shoulder to where he carries
it onto the football field and through football games with him.

Speaker 8 (43:29):
I think a lot of that is true. I don't
want to overspeak because it's not like I grew up
with Diego Pavia and know his you know, personal story
quite like that. But ESPN Ryan McGee did a wonderful
write up on him about a month ago and talked
about just kind of the conditions that Diego grew up in.
Not that they were like the worst thing in the
world or all of this, but there was plenty of
personal adversity about what it took for his mother to

(43:53):
help raise four boys basically independently, and all of the
work that they had to do together to the family
and all of that sort of stuff. And you know,
he goes he goes to college and they're going to
put him at a running back. He didn't want to
be a running back. You want to be a quarterback.
It's it's it's a it's a wonderful sense of genuine

(44:14):
self belief. And I say this every time I talk
about Diego, because you know, people see the bravado, the confidence,
the fact that someone asks him if he believes he
deserves the highestman. He says yes, And you know, I
get that that sort of rubs people the wrong way.
But the number one thing I would tell you about

(44:34):
Diego is that it's all real. It's not put on,
it's not an act. His teammates wouldn't believe him if
it was right, Like the locker room has a natural
way of sifting that sort of stuff out. If you
aren't real, the locker room will spit you out. And
Diego's real. Perhaps the best thing that he said in

(44:55):
that Netflix documentary that came out at least I think
so last August was when he first got to Vanderbilt.
You know, he heard the same old line like it's Fanner,
but you can win this game. You can't win that game.
You can win this game, you can't win that game.
And he said, that's that's a joke. He can win
every game. And I told him that I really appreciated
that line. He goes, it's real. I really believe that.

(45:16):
I'm like, I know you do. Everything about what he
presents is authentically Diego.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Well, another guy who I discovered to be authentic in
visiting with him when he was a high school athlete
was Cedric Alexander. And one thing that that Cedric always
impressed me was that his willingness to share the production
of the position LBJ had a great run, you know,
and his his coach Jamal Fenner of courses on Steve

(45:45):
Sarkisian staff as a as a director of high school relations,
but getting others involved in the offense. And I look
at that in the same way in looking at Mickyle
and Young mk Young, because they're only separated by six
rushing yards total, but they look like a great one
two team together.

Speaker 8 (46:04):
So I actually will ask you a question. I have
a note on my chart that says you said the Bostin,
Texas Independent High School career rushing record. Is that still true?
Does that still hold?

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Yeah? I will tell you this, it's under threats.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Yeah, as of as we speak today, he is still
the all time leading rusher in AISD football history, Austin
Independent School District history. There is a running back for
Anderson High and for a freshman on the name Jake.

Speaker 5 (46:35):
Yeah, Caleb Crenshaw.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Caleb Crenshaw.

Speaker 1 (46:37):
And I'm gonna have a wrinkle for you here who
is pushing to break Cedric's record.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
He's at Anderson. I here's the wrinkle.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
He transferred from LBJ to Anderson, so his family moved.
He was a former LBJ running back, and Caleb Crenshaw
is at Anderson and he is challenging the record. He's
got a good chance to break the record. To think
he needs about three hundred yards. Yeah and and yeah,
so I think he's probably gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Anderson is an inner city program as well, and not
likely to go deep in the playoffs, but they're they're
nine and oh or eight no, and and they're in
a good good position to they'll certainly be in the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (47:19):
So he might break the record this week against Lockhart.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (47:22):
Yeah, I feel like I might need to double check
with you, Craig in the boot that it still stands
on Saturday based on those notes.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
I'll have the update for you on Saturday morning. But yes,
back to your point about Cedric and everything that he
has done. And we remember he was an early commitment,
so we were talking about him in his senior year
as being committed to Vanderbilt, and people.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
Kept asking him and they kept asking him.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
Uh during the season, as he kept, you know, climbing
the ladder in more and more yards, are you.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Still committed to Vanderbilt? Are you still committed?

Speaker 1 (47:51):
And every time he said absolutely, That's where I'm going
and and it looks like he's making the most of
his opportunity.

Speaker 8 (47:58):
He's he's been, he's been awesome. Ark vehemently believes he's
one of the best complete running backs in the Southeastern Conference.
It's hard to disagree when you include what he does
as a receiver, when you include what he does as
a pass blocker, and then I do think people sometimes
overlook his overall rushing ability. He does not have a
one hundred yard rushing game to his name yet. Some

(48:20):
of that is the system, but I've not seen a
running back, certainly at Vanderbilt during my time that was
more effective at finding the end zone. I think he's
got twenty one career total touchdowns between rushing and receiving,
sixteen and five. And here's a note for you, his
next rushing touchdown, He's already in the top ten all
time career rushing touchdowns at Vanderbilt. His next one, I'm

(48:44):
pretty sure. I'll have to double check, and i'll tell
you on Saturday, we'll tie j Cutler for career rushing
touchdowns with seventeen, which is a pretty unique little statistic
there in the top ten all time at Vanderbilt. He
is a complete running back. They have a ton of
affection for him. They call him Seti here. I don't
know what they called him at LBJ, but they called

(49:06):
him Seti here, and he's just you can put him in.
He's a three down or four down running back because
he can pass block and even run block if he's
asked with the best of them.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
I mentioned MK Young and he's a Native Texan as well,
out of Midland legacy out in the Permian Basin region,
but also like Pave and Stowers, transferred into New Mexico State.

Speaker 8 (49:29):
Yeah, and didn't play last year. I don't quite I
should know off the top of my head all of
the details, although they never spoke exactly why MK was
not playing last year. I just think there was some
eligibility stuff that they had to get through and they
had to work through it. But he's obviously stayed committed
to Jerry Kill and him back in this offense someone

(49:52):
that was at New Mexico State, as you said, and
the comp and I don't know if it's perfect because
settis not quite as big, but like it does make
you think of the old thunder and Lightning ron dayn
Tiki Barber sort of stuff like Seti's not as big
as Ron Day, but se Seti can punch you in
the face if he wants to. And then there's MK,

(50:13):
who can rip off sixty seventy yard touchdown runs. Vanderbilt
has four rushes this season of sixty plus yards by
a running back. Four of those. You had to go
all the way back to twenty nineteen to find another
one of those. So it's been six years in between
those type of frunts, and they've done it four times.

(50:33):
MP has got three of them. He's just such a
home run hitter.

Speaker 5 (50:37):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
On the defensive side, for folks who don't know, in
total defense, the Commodore's ranked thirty first nation pretty dog
on respectable, twenty fourth in scoring defense, and eighteenth in
the country against the run. And of course Texas has
been trying to find its running game in between injuries
and youthful offensive line and all that. They've had some

(50:59):
things now know what the way they wanted to do.
But but I look at guys like a random fought man.
I remember him being TCU and he was from Brass's
Board down along the Gulf coast as well. Who are
the leaders of this, of this Vanderbilt defense that are
going to lead the Commodore's defense on Saturday.

Speaker 8 (51:18):
Fontinet's a good one to start with. He wears the
green dot. Coach the player communication so much so that
like they don't even bother giving anybody else a green
dot because he comes off the field so little. It's
like if he comes off the field for a play,
they know he's going to be back in on the
next play. He doesn't have huge statistics. Part of that
is how they're using him this season. He kind of

(51:40):
setting the edge and keeping people from getting outside. But
having said that, he stills a handful of PFLs and
he's a huge impact player that hybrid linebacker safety type position.
And then I put a lot of emphasis on the
defensive line. I don't know if there's like a true

(52:00):
NFL prospect in there. I think Miles kper is in
coortate Signore. I have gained a lot of traction based
on the way that they've played this season. The two
edge rushers for Vanderbilt, but holistically they can kind of
run you, whether it's seven eight nine deep. Yami Prute
was the guy that got the pressure from Matt Follers,

(52:23):
the quarterback for Missouri, that forced the intentional grounding on
the second to last play last week, which caused a
ten second runoff. I mean, like he's I'm not saying
he's an insignificant piece of the team. That's not true
at all. He's very significant. He's just down the depth
chart and there he is making a pretty significant play
on the second to last play of the game. So

(52:44):
I think that's sort of my point. They've got interior
defensive linemen say Would and Josh Singh who are very,
very disruptive. So you know, have they been the best
team at getting backs or what not. Necessarily they create
a lot of havoc. They can break down the pocket,
they can kind of condense it and collapse it, and

(53:06):
they can do it from the inside and the outside.
And Steve Gregory, the defensive coordinator, which I always like
to toss this in for the football folks that kind
of remember all of the fun plays from fifteen twenty
years ago, he recovered the infamous butt fumble and turned
it for a touchdown that he is not shy about
talking about it too, like he's happy to tell the story.

(53:29):
He's been a great defensive coordinator, has a really good
feel for when to let his four down linemen get
after the quarterback and when to send some pressure. So
he deserves a lot of credit too.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
The final thing I wanted to ask you here. It
would be certainly understandable, especially for Cedric Alexander returning to
his hometown, for Eli Stowers returning to his home state.
Same thing with MK Young and some others as well,
to be a little more fired up for this game.
But given the fact that this will be the first

(54:02):
time what since nineteen oh three, I guess since a
five to five tie, that Vanderbilt has played a football
game in Austin, did you send a little more vibe
out of your guys? Hey coming to Austin, beat Texas
and we continue on our path to try to get
to the SEC Championship.

Speaker 8 (54:20):
So Clark addressed the fact that Setti and a few
others are going back to a place. You've got Aaron
Bryant that transfer from Texas. He's mindful of that sort
of stuff. We had a couple of guys transfer from
Virginia Tech to Vanderbilt before we went there. He kind
of talked about it and what it meant as a
team to represent for those players. I suspect. There's definitely

(54:41):
extra emotions for those guys, but it's also a very
very mature team. It's you know, whatever the average age
is of this team or whatever it happens to be,
it's certainly not made up of exclusively freshmen, right, And
it's a group that has been deeply consistent throughout the

(55:02):
course of this speaking season. And this is where I
started to go into coach speak, but it's been pretty real.
They embraced the moment, but they don't tend to get
overwhelmed by the moment. They tend to have the same
type of work week they send. They tend to have
the same type of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, regardless of what's
going on Clark. Clark has said something throughout the course

(55:26):
of the past few weeks that have stood out to me,
which is, you know, he said, we we had this vision,
this was our vision. We're not entitled to anything, but
we're also not going to lose our minds just because
we're living out our vision. Uh So, I think that's
kind of the attitude that they have taken. Is it
coach speak? Yeah, But you've got a graduate student quarterback

(55:51):
and a really grounded tight end. Really strong leadership in
there that kind of allows that stuff to take hold.
So well, maybe fired up, of course they will. I
mean I think Vanderbelt sits here and thinks, well, if
they beat Texas, you're eight to one, and then you've
got two teams for the bottom of the SEC standings
coming up next, which you know it's the SEC you

(56:14):
could lose to anybody, you could beat anybody. Well, what
an opportunity to try to take down Texas and set
yourself up to the Commage Football playoff in November. But
I don't I don't see them getting carried away by
that stuff stays on how they the Alabama game, or
how they approach the Missouri games, the LSQ game. It
all seems to be very steady for them.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Well, Andrew, I appreciate you taking the time. I want
you to do one thing for me when you run
into Tim Beck next time, sending my greetings. I always
enjoyed working with him. He was in a difficult situation
here on Tom Herman's staff, but he was one of
my favorite people to get to visit with every week.
And so please send in my greetings and I look
forward to seeing you in the press. Box on the
Saturday morning and you're in your well, I know you'll

(56:59):
be used this. You're kind of in a construction zone
a little bit, but your boot you will have a
pretty decent site line. You just kind of step up
on this little platform thing in the booth, but you
have a calendar and you'll be able to see out
there pretty well.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
So I look forward to seeing this Saturday.

Speaker 8 (57:14):
If we're on the air and I can see the field,
we tend to be in a decent spot, so I
appreciate that. Looks forward.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
There you go. All right, Thanks Andrew, Thanks to take care.

Speaker 8 (57:23):
See you guys.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
All right.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
That is Andrew Allegretta. He is the play by play
voice of the Vanderbilt Commodores. We have more coming up here.
We're going to hear from Ethan Burke long Worns Defensive
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It's playoff time.

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The Verde and Black are back at Q two Stadium
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Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
You guys just didn't want it bad enough. That should
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You got a hustle.

Speaker 7 (01:01:44):
You could have made that play if you've been open.

Speaker 19 (01:01:48):
On the car ride home after the game, when you
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and what I need to work on, Holly, here is
that I'm not good enough, that I'm supposed to be perfect,
That it's not okay to.

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Lose on the car at home.

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All I need to hear is how much you love
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I am worthy. That you see me.

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Learning, growing and doing my best, and.

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That is enough.

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Sports Radio thirteen hundred, So your home for the horse,
We're back. It's the Craig Way Show with Hall of
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Speaker 8 (01:03:03):
At seventeen, we fell in love high school, sweet Hawks.

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Love was so brand new.

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We took the vowsand men and wise forever.

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Life.

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I remember how we made out.

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We a little face says the time we prayed.

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I can't imagine that this love is true.

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Feeling the paint girl when you lose.

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Oh, it's too.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
Hot to what would he got rock Wednesday be without cooling?

Speaker 8 (01:03:44):
The gang?

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
Right, gotta run? Are you familiar with cool in the game?

Speaker 5 (01:03:49):
I know, and I know the jungle boogie?

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Okay, all right, but okay with too hot.

Speaker 5 (01:03:56):
First time I've heard this song. I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
Yeah, it's it's told about a guy and a girl
who fell in love at seventeen, wound up getting married,
and now years later this is not so much, you know,
and it's just all is fighting. It's just too hot
to do that. Ethan Burke coming in hot these days
with what he's done on the football field, and he.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
Was asked first of all the game he had.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
And he was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week
for running people through the block field goal when he
got his arms up and blocked that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
That Mississippi State field goal tribe just some.

Speaker 20 (01:04:30):
Like as a team, we like really pride ourselves on
doing his field goal block and Coach Banks has always
got an excellent scheme for us. And you know, that
one just just hit at the right time.

Speaker 4 (01:04:42):
You know it.

Speaker 20 (01:04:42):
It was a big play, key play, and the scheme
really helps. And finally got one and hopefully get some more.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
I asked Andre Alligrett about the vibe that Vanderbilt players
might have about coming to Austin and playing Texas and
all that. Ethan Burke was asked if there's any extra
juice for him one up against the Heisman candidate and
Diego Pavia No.

Speaker 20 (01:05:03):
I mean, obviously we respect him, but we also believe
in ourselves and I think we're a talented group. Uh,
obviously we gotta we gotta keep him in the pocket.
He's he's a really good good scrambler, Uh, talented arm.
You know, we played him last year and uh he's
only gone better. So it'll it'll be an exciting game.
I'm I'm excited to play against him.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
Yeah, you must understand that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
In the Monday media session with the players, every single
player who was up there in some form of fashion
was asked about Matthew Caldwell as the backup quarterback and
kJ Lacey as well, and that goes to the defensive.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
Players as well.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
So Burke was asked, what does he see from Calwell
and Lacey in practice?

Speaker 20 (01:05:44):
kJ just, you know, I think he has fun playing
playing the game. He's a I think he's a creative quarterback,
athletic quarterback. And then Matthew is just a smart, mature
as we've seen, you know, it's really hard to come
in in the he like that game last play of
the game last week and then Florida come in for

(01:06:05):
one play and execute like he does. So it just
it just shows you, like how how locked idiot is
even though he's not not the starter, but he is
aware of the game plan and he's always dialed and
just mature about his rolling on the team.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Which then would naturally lead into the importance of locker
room confidence that the team has for Caldwell coming off
the two big throws he's had this year.

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
Yeah, I mean huge.

Speaker 20 (01:06:30):
I mean we haven't seen the dude mess up yet,
so I'm confident and if we need him to come in,
and you know he'll, he'll, We'll be able to run
the offense still.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
So how would Ethanburg describe Matthew Caldwell away from the field.

Speaker 20 (01:06:48):
A relax, relaxed, laid back, funny but very smart too.

Speaker 16 (01:06:53):
I would say, uh.

Speaker 20 (01:06:55):
You know, a guy you can hang out with, but
a guy you can also have like a real conversation with.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Now, Michael Taff was with the team last year, in
last week and startingvill. In fact, he walked out and
called the toss in overtime for Texas. But of course
I'm able to play at the moment. We'll find out
more from Start coming up here in a little bit.
But what about Burke's thoughts on the absence of Taff
and the others who helped fill in, and especially when

(01:07:21):
it comes to leadership.

Speaker 20 (01:07:23):
Yeah, I think Michael's even though being out, still did
a good job like leading and talking throughout the week
and helping those younger guys at safeties. But I would say, Jelaanni,
I think has done a good job, you know, kind
of kind of picking up in the back end for
Michael being out and Jolana's confident player, confident guy. So

(01:07:44):
I think he definitely brought some leadership to us.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Ethan Burke is one of those leaders as well.

Speaker 1 (01:07:49):
We'll be back to wrap up our number two I'm
thirteen Under the Zone, third and final hour of the
program here on Sports Radio AM thirteen Under the Zone
Craig Whaye joined by the producer Jay Kerman. Glad to
have you with us as we go for another hour. Hey,
a reminder tomorrow night we'll have Longhorn Weekly with Coach

(01:08:12):
Sark and it'll come your way at seven o'clock. We
will actually be recording the program tonight on campus as
we do, and our special guests include Jordan Shipley because
the last time a Longhorn returned two punts in a
season for touchdowns, like Ryan Niblett just did this past

(01:08:34):
Saturday in Startville after he'd also done it against Oklahoma,
the last Longhorn to do it was Jordan Shipley back
in two thousand and nine. Will also visit with Johnny Nansen,
who works closely with the liingbackers as well, and they
have been on a roll especially Anthony Hill, so we'll
visit with him and again that's all coming up on

(01:08:54):
the recording that we'll do tonight of Longhorn Weekly with
Coach Sark and the program will come your way Tomorrowmorrow
evening at seven o'clock and then it will re air
on Friday evening at seven in case you miss it tomorrow.
So got a couple opportunities to hear that. Also, it

(01:09:14):
is televised if you will. It's recorded to tape and
our friends over KX and slash kbvo eric on I
believe Friday nights and then maybe even again on game
Day on Saturday. So check your local listings, as they'd
like to say, your local listings for this week's show.
That obviously, the long Horns play the Vanderbilt Commodorees at

(01:09:36):
eleven am. We've already heard from Clark Lee, the head
coach of the Commodorees, on a couple of topics, including
facing the Longhorns and the things that stood out to
him about that. But there was one other thing we
wanted to get to you and have you listened to him,
because in this ever changing world of in college, foot

(01:10:01):
of transfer, portal and NIL coaches are being asked more
and more about their philosophies and how they handle all this.
Sark was asked the other day because of Matthew Caldwell's
presence and what Calwell did coming off the bench when
arch Manning went down with the injury and Caldwell played
two plays there in overtime. On offense, there was a

(01:10:22):
handoff that went for four yards to Trey Wisner and
then the touchdown passed on the corner of the end
zone to Emitt Mosley, which was reviewed or initially called
incomplete and then reviewed by the way. And I know
this is not going to shock you at all if
you're a long worn fan. No end of Mississippi State

(01:10:43):
fans and just anti Texas fans and other SEC fans
have chimed in on that, and usually it falls along
your constituency lines, whether it mostly caught the ball or not,
or whether it was an inbounce catch. Most of the
people who either rooted for Misissippi State or just for
the sake of rooting against Texas, rooting against Texas, that wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
Catch, that wouldn't catch. I can't believe that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
I gotta believe that what they do and then and
then other people who were probably for Texas or you know,
figured that, you know, they've got a clear look at it,
said it's clearly.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
A catch and it and.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
I can get with the people who question it simply
because it had to be reviewed because it was bang
bang uh and then and you know, you can see
in slow mow how there was control of the football
and the and the foot was definitely down. Some of
the counter argument from people is that freeze framing it
doesn't lend complete context because the ball can then move

(01:11:43):
and all this sort of stuff. Again, my uh, my
response to that is there's grown men, top.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
Men as they like say in Indiana Jones.

Speaker 1 (01:11:56):
Who are sitting there in that huge replay rule in Birmingham,
who have multiple angles, multiple sets of eyes on it,
and all of the experience they have at doing this.
I think they probably figured out whether it was a
catch or not, so they rolled it a catch. But anyway,

(01:12:17):
that was That's been some of the conversation about that.
But Clark Lee of course brings in this ninth ranked
Vanderbilt team, and again there was a question about transferring
because you know, Sark was asked about it. Matthew Caldwell
stepping right in and boom, you know, throws the touchdown

(01:12:39):
pass and Sark was asked, why, you know, what specific
does he.

Speaker 5 (01:12:45):
Look for in the portal?

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
Was he looking for something in Caldwell have to check
the boxes or was he the closest thing to it?

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
And Sark explained all that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
On Monday, Well Clark Lee was asked also the question about,
you know, bringing in transfers, and he's brought in a
lot of transfers and what has led to this and
why has it worked for him? Culturally?

Speaker 9 (01:13:06):
We did not really have a plan to participate in
the transfer portal or in NIL in really what amounted
to the first three seasons I was here twenty one,
it was all kind of it was all new twenty two.
We lost our best alignment in twenty one, we lost
our best player in twenty two and Ray Davis both

(01:13:26):
to league opponents, and so we kind of you know,
had a reckoning there in the winner of twenty three
to say, hey, you know, we have to we have
to get busy raising some money and build some level
of NIL support for this program or else we weren't
going to have a program. And so all the while
we had started building kind of some systems to support transfers,

(01:13:49):
both graduate transfers and undergrad transfers with partnership with our university.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
That takes time.

Speaker 18 (01:13:55):
And so.

Speaker 9 (01:13:58):
Right around winner of you know, December twenty three to
January twenty four, all those things kind of clicked into place,
and that that's what allowed us to actually start to
swap out some of our roster, some of the players
that we had retained, some of the ones that you know,
even we had recruited into the program that really weren't

(01:14:19):
meant for the mission. And and and we did that,
and we're able to go out and find guys that
could help build the top end of our depth chart
and help with the competitive nature of our team because
we had nil resources with in addition to the ability
to actually bring transfers in and get them enrolled. So

(01:14:40):
the timing of that had to do with the initial
blueprint for what the program was going to be, the
need for us to pivot then to find resources because
that that engine wasn't kind of inevitable here it was.
It was something we had to work to do as
well as build the partnerships on campus. You know, what
we did in foundation when you ask about the culture.

(01:15:04):
You know, this is always you know, it's a belief
of mine that with all the suffering and sacrifice that
is involved in building a football program, this is kind
of in its foundation a human endeavor.

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
And so human connection is so important. And this has
been true for me as a coach for my entire career.

Speaker 9 (01:15:27):
And while we weren't participating in Portal and and il,
in the first few years here, our transaction was human connection.
I mean, we were really spending time on depth of
relationship and calling guys into a level of sacrifice for
one another. And I think I've become important in that
just my willingness to reveal myself for who I am,

(01:15:50):
not have my guard up, be accessible to the people
in this program, both staff members and players. But but
then you know that that has to ripple throughout, so
we all make the choices to be seen and to
belong and to.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
Care for one another. And so we were so like
founded in that.

Speaker 9 (01:16:13):
I think once we started to participate in the transfer process,
we never lost our soul. You know that that's remained
kind of the focal point of our program. It's not
the money, it's it's not the wins, it's actually the
care for one another. We say relatedness is our edge,
and that's something you can't just put on your wall.

(01:16:33):
I mean, that has to be a practice. So I
believe that to be kind of the combination of things
that have allowed us to find these breakthroughs. So much
of it, you know, kind of surfaced in twenty four,
but so much of it was was kind of a
part of our beginning and a part of our foundation.

Speaker 1 (01:16:53):
So there's Clark Lee from Vanderbilt his thoughts on you know,
what turns things round for a program? Now, in many cases,
without question, you know, offensive transfers can make a big difference.
The biggest difference of those would be Diego Pavia. In

(01:17:18):
addition to that, I think Eli Stowers, who was with
PAVI at New Mexico State. The Eli Stowers you may remember,
was a standout quarterback at Detton. Geyer lines up in
the state championship game against Westlake and blows out a knee.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
Into the game.

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
They had to put freshman Jackson Arnold into the game,
and for a freshman being thrown into a state championship game,
thought he did pretty well, but he was under the
gun a lot of times. Colton Vosseg and Ethan Burke
and others were like running him down a lot in
Westlake ended up winning that state championship. Stours started off

(01:17:55):
at A and M wound up in New Mexico State
and then the transformation began from quarterback to tight end,
especially with Pavia there in Las Cruses, and they were
a big part of it together, and they were a
huge part of it as they transferred in to Vanderbilt together.
Stowers last year caught a touchdown pass against Texas. Pavius

(01:18:18):
qored a touchdown against Texas last year. This year, Stowers
has caught thirty one passes for nearly four hundred yards.
He is a guy who is viewed as being an
NFL caliber tight end. He's sixty four to two hundred
and thirty five pounds, has great size, excellent hands, in
good speed. He's a definite weapon. He is the biggest
weapon in the passing game for Vanderbilt. They have other weapons,

(01:18:44):
Trey Richardson, a good receiver, Junior Cheryl. Those are guys
who do it, but he's the number one weapon now.

Speaker 3 (01:18:52):
I would say coming into the season, teams have really
keyed in on Stours.

Speaker 5 (01:18:56):
He only has two touchdowns this year.

Speaker 3 (01:18:58):
That's probably less than Vandy fans thought he would have
to this point. But the amount of things that he's
opened up for those other guys, and particularly the way
they've used Cedric Alexander as a red zone receiving threat
has been fun to watch too.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
That's where I was going next.

Speaker 1 (01:19:10):
That for the UH transfers that they've gotten from places
like Washburn University in Topeka, Trey Richardson or which is
a D two programmer, Richie Hoskins, who is a grad
transfer Middlebury College.

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
You know where Middlebury is by.

Speaker 5 (01:19:28):
The way, Wait, that's Massachusetts.

Speaker 2 (01:19:31):
Vermont, you're close Vermont.

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):
Yeah, you know, I covered their soccer team ones. I
really should have remembered that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
Yeah, they're they're in Uh, they're in Vermont.

Speaker 5 (01:19:39):
Field Hockey power house up there.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
So, uh, you know those those guys transfers, yes, and
along the offensive front as well. Everybody's a transfer on
the offensive front for them. But he's also starting. Clark
Lee is to build things through recruiting the high school level,
and bigger than Cedric Alexander, the former LBJ standout who

(01:20:03):
played at LBJ, and and not only that was part
of that that team that went to the state finals.
Cedric Alexander was a huge, huge part of that teams.
Just jewish, Yeah, definitely one of the mount Rushmore dudes

(01:20:30):
for yacht rock, Christopher Cross from the Greater Austin area
and of course from the high school with Alamo Heights
in San Antonio. It's about as yacht rock as yacht
rock gets?

Speaker 5 (01:20:43):
Did you pick this one because of the wind outside today?

Speaker 1 (01:20:46):
Man? I felt like I might get blown into the sea.
It was breezy today, but not unwelcome. I was okay
with that. With that, all right, we continue on the
yacht rock Wednesday here on thirteen hundred zone. I've heard
from Clark Lee, the head coach at Vanderbilt, and heard
in just a few moments ago they're talking about the

(01:21:06):
transfers situation that.

Speaker 2 (01:21:09):
Was from the SEC teleconference.

Speaker 1 (01:21:12):
And now we'll hear from Long Worn's head coach, Tieve Sarkeesian,
from who, as it happens, follows him weekly in the
pecking order in the way that it's done on the
well to use a football term on the route tree
for for all of the coaches there who follow in
the pecking order there. So he was right after coach Lee,

(01:21:36):
and Sark starts it off with his opening statement, Yeah,
it's great to be.

Speaker 21 (01:21:41):
Back at home at dk R's been over a month
since our last home game, and you know the challenges
of playing on the road in the SEC are obviously daunting.
And to come out of that four game stretch three
and one with some obviously some type victories the last
couple of weeks both overtime games, you know, I think
weeks to you know, the resiliency and the mental toughness

(01:22:03):
that that our team has. But without a question, it's
great to be back home. I guess a really good
Vanderbilt team and they Clark's done a great job. You know,
they're they're they're playing very efficient offensive football. They're playing
you know, really sound defense and keeping people out of
the end zone. And they're they're playing well on teams.
So they're they're playing very you know, really good complimentary football.

(01:22:24):
You know, we're gonna need to play well in all
three phases to try to come out on top.

Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
Next, the obvious question coming for Sark asking for the
update because on Monday you mentioned that arch Manning was
in the protocol, which is required the Concussion protocol after
the injury the other night in Starkville, and Michael Taff
still on the men from having surgery on the broken thumb.

(01:22:51):
So the update asked of Sark about Arch and Taff.

Speaker 21 (01:22:55):
They both practiced here today. Arch is obviously still in protocol.
Their steps as a pertains to protocol. But Michael's practice
the last two days.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
Wow, okay, so that's good. That's the quick turnaround there.
And in a week where Tapped by the way was
named a semifinals for the Thorpe words, So that's pretty.

Speaker 2 (01:23:12):
Cool, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:23:13):
He was also asked, and we just got through talking
about Eli Stowers and what a great tight end he
is for Vanderbilt.

Speaker 2 (01:23:19):
But Vanderbilt uses more than just Stours.

Speaker 1 (01:23:23):
They like using the tight ends in their program and
some you know, some programs are you know, less involved
with you said Bryson. Coleman's only caught three passes the
other tight end in their starting too, but they use
them well as blockers. And as such, Sark was asked,
is there a program that uses tight ends as well

(01:23:46):
as Vanderbilt?

Speaker 4 (01:23:46):
Does?

Speaker 16 (01:23:47):
You know?

Speaker 21 (01:23:47):
I don't know what everybody's doing around the country. I
know they do a great job of it, and they're
all very versatile guys. They all have their strengths, and
you know, they do a nice job schematically using them
and playing to their strengths. But yet you can't just
hunker down on that's all that they do. You know,
they're they're versatile enough to where they can do multiple things.

(01:24:10):
But you know, credit to the staff and credit to
those players that they you know that they can utilize
them in a variety of ways and in the past game,
but also in the run game. You know, they're they're
they're a big part of what they do in the
run game as well.

Speaker 1 (01:24:22):
All Right, you heard Sark being asked about Michael Taff
on the injury up. Dame said he did practice, so
that's hopeful there. Of course, he wasn't able to play
last Saturday because of the broken thumb sustained in the
winning at Kentucky, and Sark was asked if missing Taff
in the lineup made Mississippi States pass offense that much
more difficult to stop.

Speaker 16 (01:24:44):
Yeah, I mean I think one.

Speaker 21 (01:24:45):
You know, coach Levy does a really good job and
it's a unique style of offense that that they play,
you know, with the big splits, the vertical stress that
they put on you, uh, the r po stress that
they put on you.

Speaker 16 (01:24:59):
And I think that that was a lot of the issue.

Speaker 21 (01:25:01):
Especially early on, we were getting a ton of pressure
on the quarterback. You know, we're trying to play the
run in the past at the same time, and our
our our dvs were getting isolated, and then they hit
us on a couple of crossing routes because we're so
stretched wide.

Speaker 16 (01:25:17):
I thought we shifted some things.

Speaker 21 (01:25:19):
You know, so much of pass coverage, you know, is
tied together with the pass rush, and you know, I
thought we did a better job late in the game
of applying pressure and that forced the ball either come
out quicker, uh and maybe forced a couple of errant
throws and allowed us to be a little tighter and
coverage coverage, and it also allowed us to get home

(01:25:40):
and create some sacks and some negative plays. So I
think those two things tying together, you know, clearly we've
got to, you know, trust our fundamentals, our techniques be
on the same page communication wise in the back end,
but tying the pass rush and the coverage together is
vitally important for us. Naturally, you know, when you don't

(01:26:01):
have a player of Michael's caliber, you're going to miss him.
You know, you're gonna miss the communication, You're going to
miss the playmaking ability, you're gonna mix his ability to
fix issues in real time as they're happening on the
field and not have to wait to get to the
bench to fix it. So when you when you don't
have a player of his caliber, you're going to miss
him to some degree. But you know, I thought we
could have played better collectively. But what I'm glad is

(01:26:25):
that we were able to play better as the game
went on, and you know, then the fourth quarter, really
the only you know, big pass they hit was the
check down to the running back on kind of the
broken play. Outside of that, I thought our past defense
was was much better in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (01:26:41):
Next, Sark was asked about the Standardbilt team. Now, Vanderbilt
made a splash last year with what Clark Lee did.
They upset Alabama. You know, they played really really well
and got the go to bowl game, all of that
sort of stuff. This year they have elevated it to
the point where they're ready to legitimate contender in the SEC.

(01:27:02):
They do have the one conference loss, but only the
one to Alabama, so there's still very much in the
think of the fight. So Sark was asked, how different
does this Vanderbilt team look compared to last year's Vanderbilt team.

Speaker 21 (01:27:17):
Well, I think schematically definitely similar. You know, they you
know who they are. Offensively, the style of offense, the
multiple looks that they can give you from formations to
to you know, to sets to you know, the the
traditional run game, to the quarterback driven run game, to

(01:27:37):
the option run game too, you know, the the utilizing
the tight ends in the past game, the screen game.
You know, there's there's a lot that goes into it
to the way they play, and so you've got to
be very disciplined in that approach. I think defensively, you know,
at their core, you know, obviously what what Clark has
done in his background and defense and what they've built on.

Speaker 16 (01:28:00):
Is at its core hasn't hasn't changed.

Speaker 21 (01:28:02):
But I definitely they've evolved defensively, and they've got some
really good players on that side of the ball that
that they that they brought into the program. And so
schematically and again on teams and so schematically hasn't changed
a whole whole lot. But like all of us, you know,
we always you know, you know, we kind of evolve
and grow with from one year to the next. But
very sound team, really good schemes. They tax you, they

(01:28:26):
challenge you in all three phases. You've got to be
you got to be on your toes in this game.

Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
It's been said that the Longhorns, of course, are on
the ropes in terms of their hopes of making the
Southeastern Conference Championship game for a second straight year, that
their college football playoff hopes are on the fringe right now.
But and and more just than just mathematically, but certainly mathematically, uh,

(01:28:57):
the possibility still exists for them to reach both of
those things, to reach the SEC title game, to reach
the college football playoff. And after losing the game at
Florida Sark he said it to us on the postgame show.
He set it in the news conference as well, and

(01:29:21):
he continued to say, and several of his players set
as well. And what I'm referring to is the goals
being in front of them now. One of the goals
certainly was to if possibly, you know, you win all
your games, you try to. Once that is cleared out,
then you start focusing on the ways that you can
still keep your goals for the season still out there,

(01:29:43):
in other words, to be able to qualify to play
in the SEC title and or and even more importantly,
to land into the college football playoff. So that's how
you mentally shift your goals to try to keep all
that in mind. And Sark was asked if he tells
his team everything is still right in.

Speaker 2 (01:30:02):
Front of them.

Speaker 21 (01:30:03):
I think from a big picture standpoint, I'm always very
honest with our players, and I think they understand kind
of what's in front of us. But none of that
is a reality unless we can take care of business Saturday.
We've got a top ten opponent coming to down This
is a heck of a challenge, and I love it
for our team, the opportunity this weekend, I love for fans.
Should be a great environment in DKR. So our focus

(01:30:25):
is really on Saturday, quite frankly.

Speaker 1 (01:30:27):
Yeah, Okay, So that's that's what they're trying to get to,
is you know, the first of three top ten ranked opponents.
At least these three are still all ranked in the
top ten going into this week. And I know that
was a big point of contention last year as the

(01:30:49):
long ones got into the playoff, got into the SEC
title game, and there were you know those. Again, I'm
referring to a constituency that at the very least roots
for another team in the conference, and beyond that, whether
they do or not, their motive is to root.

Speaker 2 (01:31:09):
Against Texas no matter what.

Speaker 1 (01:31:11):
In those people, and you see all this stuff through
social media, so you know that in four fifty O
gets your small coffee at Starbucks these days. But you
know that they're a lot of their directive as well.
They haven't really beaten you know, quality opponents and oh yeah,
they beat somebody who was ranked at the time. Michigan
was an example. Who's fallen off the map. All of

(01:31:34):
that other kind of stuff. Well, we're now into the
ninth week of the college football season. So rankings, while
AP and coaches pull rankings do not do not factor
in to the college football playoff rankings, and those are
going to be coming out next week. The first ones,

(01:31:54):
the current rankings all that we quote unquote have to
go on, have three top ranked schools.

Speaker 2 (01:32:01):
There in the slot.

Speaker 1 (01:32:04):
And you have Texas A and M's number three, in
Georgia's number five, and then there's Vanderbilt number nine. So
they're going to go in that in as sending order
in terms of the rankings of the teams they play,
starting with ninth ranked Vanderbilt. And that's why Sark says
none of that other stuff matters if they.

Speaker 2 (01:32:23):
Don't care take care of their business.

Speaker 1 (01:32:25):
Yeah, because they don't have margin freerr in terms of
reaching the SEC Championship. Without doubt, they might have the
thinnest margin for error in terms of reaching the college
football Playoff. The odds are going to be against the
three loss team getting into the playoff. But I will
say this, if any three loss team gets into the

(01:32:51):
playoff other than an automatic qualifier, if any three loss team,
it'll be from the SEC. So if you're a Texas fan,
you can look at it and say, why not us? Well,
the answer is why not indeed. But you've got those
three huge games. And it's not like Arkansas be a

(01:33:12):
cakewalk either. We've seen, you know, even though they collapsed
in the fourth quarter against Auburn last week, they played
Tennessee really tough, and we know how Arkansas feels about Texas.
Now the game is at Austin, it's not Faybell. Nevertheless,
it's not a cakewalk. But first things first, there's gonna
be Vanderbilt, then there's gonna be an open date, then
there's gonna be a road trip to Georgia. If they

(01:33:34):
get through those two and then take care of the
business and the home game against Arkansas, then you can
talk more seriously about it. They'll kind of be in
that same position that Texas A and M was in
last year. If the Aggies had beaten Texas in that
last game in College Station, it would have been A

(01:33:55):
and M and not Texas going to the SEC championship game.
The roles will probably be reversed, but only if Texas
takes care of business before that. So we'll see what
kind of hard and crusty edge they might have about them,
and which leads us to the final question slash comment
from head coach Steve sarkisian. This this football team which

(01:34:18):
has a lot of young contributors. It does have some veterans,
but it's got some young key contributors who were experiencing
the grind of the SEC and as such, sark was
asked if this group has perhaps earned a few battle
scars by finding ways to win in overtime in Lexington

(01:34:38):
and Starkville.

Speaker 21 (01:34:41):
I think we're growing up I think we learned lessons
in Gainesville too, you know. I think there's a lot
to be learned from from losses and from failure, and so,
you know, I think we've we've grown through a couple
of tough losses on the road.

Speaker 16 (01:34:57):
I think we've grown through some big wins.

Speaker 21 (01:34:59):
I think the OU win it was a big win
for us of controlling ourselves emotionally but playing with the
right type of energy. I think learning how to play
on the road, uh, and the and the togetherness and
connectivity that you have to have. So I think we're
growing up, you know, And I think we're like I said,
Saturday and Monday, this is the most connected we've been

(01:35:23):
as a team all year. You know, We've grown together
and we're playing as a team. And that's what you
have to have in this conference. You can't be one dimensional.
You got to lean into one side of the ball
to the other. You got to be good on special teams.
You've got to be really good at the critical moments
in game. Our games right now are becoming more and
more like the NFL than it ever has been, and

(01:35:45):
it's a lot of one possession games and how you
play in those critical moments, you know, from play calling
to personnel groupings to execution in those moments is really critical.
And I think from where we were where we are now,
we're much more equipped to handle those types of situations
as they as they present themselves.

Speaker 1 (01:36:09):
So there it is the thoughts from Long Ones head
coach Steve Sarkisian. Now that again is from the SEC
teleconference that was done earlier today, a couple hours ago.
And we'll hear one more time from Sark tomorrow with
that final media zoom that he does every Thursday, primarily

(01:36:31):
comprised of the local media, but there's a few regional
media in there and even in one or two perhaps
a national media in on that zoom as well. But
we'll get an updated situation with regard to Arch Manning
and Michael Taff tomorrow. Remember tonight or this evening, maybe
it's six o'clock or five when it first comes out

(01:36:52):
five Central will be the first of the SEC student
athlete availability reports that will come out late this afternoon,
early this evening, probably when we're recording Long Worn Weekly
in fact, and that's where we'll get the first notice.
Judging from what sark was talking about, the two guys

(01:37:13):
having practice today. I think because Manning is in the protocol,
we may see him listed as questionable, could be listed
as doubtful, could be completely off of the thing as
well because he's in the protocol. We'll see how all
of that fleshes out. But we know he's in the protocol,
and we'll see how it is. And then tomorrow when

(01:37:36):
we hear from sark Off the media Zoom, the final
overall meeting that he has with the media of the week,
we'll probably get an updated We'll have an updated status
report on both Arch Manning and Michael Tapp. All right,
we have more coming up. Stay with us here on
this yacht rock Wednesday right here on Sports Radio AM

(01:37:56):
thirteen under the Zone.

Speaker 7 (01:38:10):
With Theday Sunday.

Speaker 16 (01:38:18):
We did not mean.

Speaker 12 (01:38:20):
July outside and strain, ye away, I got sucked toil.

Speaker 2 (01:38:32):
Hey, I'm hoping we don't have rain. But this weekend
there one of the.

Speaker 1 (01:38:38):
Possible forecast for seeing long range, so there could be
fifty percent chances of rain for the game on Saturday.

Speaker 5 (01:38:43):
So one game I'm gonna be in the stands for
about that.

Speaker 2 (01:38:46):
What the heck?

Speaker 1 (01:38:47):
So yeah, anyway, that's obviously this time I'm in it
for love by player here only got rock Wednesday.

Speaker 9 (01:38:56):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:38:57):
I do this, yeah, on Wednesdays and Thursdays quite often.
Today it happens to me this week it happens to
be a Wednesday. And that is to tell you what
the computer is thinking of your area high school football
matchups for this week. Now, again, these are computer generated
out of Pigskin Prep.

Speaker 2 (01:39:16):
Jerry Forrest does this from Waco.

Speaker 1 (01:39:18):
There's no personal opinion injected into any of this.

Speaker 2 (01:39:23):
This is all fed into a computer.

Speaker 20 (01:39:25):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:39:25):
I will tell you this because Greg Temper, the editor
in chief of Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine, uses these
as well, these computer prognostications and rankings and things like that,
and he'll say that the computer perhaps leans a little.

Speaker 2 (01:39:39):
More toward margin of victory on that.

Speaker 1 (01:39:42):
And I think that's because when you get a team
that's expected to win the district, perfect example, Lake Travis
playing a team that's struggling like Aikins, it has to
project a total and the total may be really, really ugly,
and it is. In this case, it thinks Lake Travis
will win by seventy. It may or may not happen,
but that's just what the computer readout is it's not

(01:40:03):
an opinion based on that, but I just thought i'd
mentioned that in six a where things are really a
mess in twenty five six A huge game Tomorrow night,
Huddle and Vista Ridge.

Speaker 2 (01:40:16):
The game is.

Speaker 1 (01:40:20):
At It's it's at Vista, so they'll be hosting the game,
and Roger Rowls will joined us tomorrow on the program
to preview that because that's their telecast. So anyway, it'll
be at Gupton Stadium tomorrow night, Vista Ridge hosting Hudder.
But the computer likes Huddle by four, it likes round

(01:40:42):
Rock by twenty four against Stony Point, it likes McNeil
to be big winners against Maniter Maynor.

Speaker 2 (01:40:49):
They're they're looking.

Speaker 1 (01:40:50):
For McNeil to bounce back from that surprise loss to
see the Ridge last week, which opened things up all
the more in this district.

Speaker 3 (01:40:56):
Grass I called that out. It was a it was
a trap game for McNee team. They've struggled with overtime.
Computer liked them by fourteen last week and Cedar Ridge
was able to come up with the way.

Speaker 1 (01:41:06):
Yeah, they got a late touchdown and win it. And
then Vandergriff they liked by twenty six against Westwood. Cedar
Ridge has an open date, and we'll get into more
of the postseason permutations there for twenty five six A
because it could be a mess going into the final
week of the regular season.

Speaker 2 (01:41:22):
Next week.

Speaker 1 (01:41:23):
Computer likes Bowie by twenty four against Austin High. Austin
High won the game last year and went to the playoffs.
This is one of those things that can tip the
scales one way or another for Division one and Division
two programs. If Booie does not get in. In other words,
it could push Westlake back into the D one bracket.

(01:41:44):
It expects Westlake to win very handily against Del Valley.
Dripping Springs has the week off. Big game next week
is Westlake and Drip and it could be for the
top seed in the D two bracket if Booie wins
tomorrow night against Austin High, because that would be the
final playoff spot.

Speaker 2 (01:41:59):
There. Just a couple of five A notes as well.

Speaker 1 (01:42:05):
In five A Division one, the picks that are made
include Cedar Park comfortably against Leander Georgetown by nine at
Lake Belton, east View and Rouse they think will be
the best game of the week, and the computer likes
east View by five and it likes Glenn by eleven

(01:42:27):
against Klean Chaparral, so that's in five A Division one.
In five A D two, it likes Jay Herman's bash
Drop Bear since he's the play by play voice for
them by twenty three against Flugerville. It likes Conley by
eighteen against Elgin Liberty Hill huge against Crockett, and McCallum

(01:42:48):
significantly against Navarro. Off of that, and then finally in
a couple of the four A divisions in four A
D one, it likes Lbach twenty on the road at Taylor.
That's the battle for the district title. They're both unbeaten
in district play. It likes Travis comfortably against Northeast and

(01:43:09):
Manor nuchech Big New Tech and clinch a playoffs Bob
with a win over Achieve. They're pretty much assured of
being in any way with East Sides loss to Taylor
last week. But they can make it mathematic if they
can do mathematic, if they can do that quickly.

Speaker 3 (01:43:24):
On mcallum, they beat Connolly by two a couple of
weeks ago, thirty six, thirty four. All they've got to
do is beat Navarro and Crockett to take that fourth
playoff spot okay.

Speaker 1 (01:43:33):
And then finally in thirteen four eighty two, it likes
Wimberley big against Smithville, Slado by a couple of touchdowns
against Gonzales and Navara Geronimo Navarro by four against Lago.

Speaker 2 (01:43:46):
And with Gerald having the open date, we'll

Speaker 1 (01:43:48):
Be back to wrap up today's edition of the program
on thirteen under the Zone

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