Humpday Gameplan: Texas SEC Foes Revealed, Oklahoma State Fires Mike Gundy, MLB Playoff Push & Must-Watch CFB Games

Today is "Humpday Gameplan Wednesday," the Oklahoma State Cowboys fired their Head Coach, Mike Gundy. Steve Sarkisian, the Longhorns' head coach, spoke to the media to explain what he does during a bye week. Major League Baseball is wrapping up, with teams showing which ones are hot and which are falling apart. The Texas football schedule of SEC opponents for the next four years was released. Who are the Longhorns' opponents, and where will they be playing? Some great college football is coming this weekend. Which games should be must-watch TV? Zion Williamson has lost a ton of weight, and what an impact Joe Dumars has had on that organization. The Giants moved Jaxson Dart to the starting quarterback position, and the Texans released CJ Gardner-Johnson. "The World's Strongest Take!" A conversation with Danny Davis of the "Austin American-Statesman." You can hear it all here on "The Morning Kickoff Show!"

Episode Transcript

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Or wherever you may be listening.

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This is a hump day game plan edition of The
Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio and thirteen hundred The Zone.
College football got turned upside down yesterday. We'll hear more
from coach Sark on his weekly press conference. Texas men's
basketball get to start practice on Thursday. We've got big

(00:59):
college football games this weekend. The New York Giant said,
start spreading the news as they've made a move, and
we'll talk all about that and more.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
I am your host, Mike Harball Haares.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
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Also, if you want to voice your opinion, all you
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hear it on air. Well, let's get right into it.
The news came out yesterday in the Big twelve.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
I'm a man, I'm fifty eight. Now you're unemployed.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Mike Gundy is is now being relieved of his duties
at Oklahoma State. And let me just tell you, man,
right there, please let me just tell you this as
much as I you know, we have his brother Kill
Gundy on the show often when we get ready to
talk Oklahoma, which we will talk about them in just

(02:24):
the moment, but if you start to look at what
has been going on at Oklahoma State, this has all
happened after t Booon Pickens had passed away and things
kind of changed at Oklahoma State. Yes, they continued to build,
they're continuing to do different things with this program.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
But Gundhy was.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
One of those guys that was under the Dabbo Sweeney
approach of college football in today's era. You look at
who it was before that. They were an exciting brand
of football. They were winning the Big Twelve Conference. He
was able to go and get the lesser type of

(03:08):
player and coach them up.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
But when everybody.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Around you is making moves and you're not, you're gonna
get left behind. And I keep going back to what
coach Sark always says, you're either going to adapt or
you're gonna die. And you have to adapt to the
things that are going on around you. In this sport.

(03:32):
The dynamics of college football is on a whole nother level,
and if you continue to stay in that dinosaur era,
you're gonna get passed by. And that is what I've
seen with Mike Gundy over the last couple years and
here's the other thing. I told you, you don't lose

(03:53):
to Tulsa. I don't care if you have the best
players or you have the worst players. As Oklahoma State goes,
you cannot be a part of that. And he ended
up losing the Tulsa the other night, and I said it.
I said, I'd be shocked if he finished the season.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
What would be the Texas equivalent if you lose to
that team?

Speaker 3 (04:20):
Well, this is Kansas back in the days.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well this is different now, this is a different football team. Yes,
you're gonna slip up, but the equivalent of it would
be utsa Texas State something like that, because you have
the best players. Wow, like your Oklahoma State, like yours.

(04:44):
I brought up a point to you, like T boom
pick and set them up.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
He gave them that, you know, two hundred million dollar
endowment for the sports programs, Why.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Are they not spending that money on football?

Speaker 1 (04:57):
I have no idea. Maybe it's Gundhy, maybe it's the way.
Maybe it was Gundhi's way of saying, maybe it's not
just T boone pickings. Y'all. The community needs to start
spending money. Everybody needs to start spending money. You start
looking at what's going on at Alabama when people were
talking about it, and George, you look at all the
different schools that are talking about competing at the highest

(05:20):
level where the.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Haves and the have nots.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
That's I think that is why Nick Saban left Alabama
because the Alabama folks don't have Texas money. Alabama folks
don't have Texas A and M money. There's money that
is out there, but it's not to the level of
which that is why people look at Alabama now and
they're like, Okay, now you're not the most dominant program.

(05:44):
That's why Georgia can continue to be big at what
they're doing and being dominant because financially.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Twenty million dollars is dropping a bucket to a university.
I mean, that's really nothing fot outs.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
But a lot of these.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
But I'm saying that's why the super conference thing came
to be. There's probably what twenty five teams in America
that can sustain even more than twenty mili a season.
This is twenty five, maybe thirty, Like put them in
a super conference and then have the next thirty. But

(06:27):
you cannot expect these coaches if you live the mentality
of I don't want to spend money. I want to
do it the old way. I don't like the paying
the players. I'm an amateur coach. Oh I make nine million,
but I don't give a damn what they make. Let
them all be in a conference together. Let let up.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
We would Dabbo be Put Dabbo in that conference too.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Let all those coaches that feel have that philosophy. And
then there's some coaches that are coaching low level, third
and fourth tier football that are brilliant.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
They don't have the opportunity to coach the top five,
the top twenty five teams. If you allow those guys say,
hey man, I'm a general manager.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
I can balance a budget. I could do that. I
want to be in that conference, in that super conference.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
See what happens. But you have to find a way
to let it balance out. You have to otherwise this
is what you're gonna get. You're gonna get elite coaches
that are failing because they won't conform to the system.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
You.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Coach Saban or coach Shark said about the dinosaurs, what
happens you become extinct yep, And that's what they're on
the way too.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, you start to look at what his record was
as the Oklahoma State Cowboy head coach.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
He was unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
They're getting this team to eight doubled eight ten win seasons.
He was coaching for twenty seasons there. But here's the deal.
He's lost eleven of their past twelve games, dating back
to the.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Start of last season.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
He's lost eleven consecutive games to FBS opponents, the longest
such streak among any power for program nationally. He looked
like he was disconnected from his players. He looked like
he didn't really want to be there. And now they
relieved him of his duties. And he's got a great

(08:31):
record over the time that he's been there, He's won
seventy to ninety. But he's been done for quite some
rock sometime. It has been a bad, bad turn of
events for a guy that led his team to a
Big twelve campaign, Big twelve title campaign, and he also
finished third in the Top twenty five with a fiestabo

(08:55):
win over Stanford. This has been an interesting move for Oklahoma,
But as I said before, I'm sure that this is
led up to so many different things. But losing to
Tulsa and all those people as my man Chip Brown
used to say, when you're playing golf with your buddies
and you are Oklahoma State and you're playing with Tulsa people,

(09:18):
you can't get on that tea box first.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Tulsa people are letting you know, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
You t off last, because we're the ones that's got
the box now. So it's interesting when you start to
look at how this is all gone down and a
change needed to be made and they finally did it.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Where do you think he lands.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Do you think he lands as a top tier coach again,
or you think that he takes a level down and
tries to coach, like we said, like one of the
teams that where he can just go and be a
football coach.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
If I'm I'm Gundhy, I don't have to coach anywhere else.
You're fifty eight years old. I've lived my life. I've
been doing this grind for so long. I've probably spend
some time with my kids and be able to just
chill out not being the public eye and not having
to do this anymore. I mean, it seems like he's
kind of banged out a little bit more to where

(10:13):
he doesn't want to be there. I mean, you won
an eleven like, you lost eleven consecutive games as a
head coach. That has got to be the most frustrating
thing that you could be, especially after all the wins
that you've had.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, and they moved Doug Meacham as the interim head coach,
so he'll be taking over the program. He's the offensive coordinator.
And one more thing on that. Their offense in the
Big Twelve, they rank last averaging fourteen points a game.
They rank last in the Big Twelve on yards per play,
They rank last in fewer than four touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
They think.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
They ranked last in red zone drives with eighty.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
They're not very good right now.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
As I said, you've lost that many games and it's
been a bad, bad look for them. So we'll see
what ends up happening with with Mike Gundy. But the
season's over, I mean the time at Oklahoma State where
he played quarterback. He is no longer part of that staff.

(11:22):
So a change is a bruin in now. Yeah, it's
just he's still old. Fifteen million though, so he's gonna
get his money. Oh yeah, So I'm he said, we're
just getting started here on a hump day game Plan edition.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Of the Morning Kickoff.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
When we come back, we'll hear more from coach Sark
some of the things that he has going on during
the bye week right here on the Morning Kickoff on
Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Welcome back to
the Morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone. Coming up in the next segment, we'll
have Danny Davis of the Austin and American Statesman. There

(12:01):
was a lot of news that came out yesterday as well.
John Matteer, quarterback for Oklahoma, seems to be out with
a hand surgery. We'll talk a little bit more about that.
But you can't worry about what's going on with other people.
You got to make sure that you handle your business,
and that's what Texas is planning to do. On Monday,

(12:23):
we got a chance to sit down with coach Sark,
catch up with him, see everything that's going on. And
one of the biggest things that happens during the bye
week is an opportunity for these college coaches to go
out and either go see a recruit, somebody that they
are recruiting or guys that are already committed to the
university but the ballance of it all while you're trying

(12:46):
to practice, while you're still trying to see people, it
gets a little bit tough. So coach Sark talked about
the bye week recruiting plan to us on Monday.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
It's always hard in season because they you only have
so many days that you get to be on the road.
And not only do you have some only have so
many days. You know, we like to send guys out
periodically on Thursday nights to go see guys play in
person as well as maximizing those bye weeks, and definitely

(13:17):
during the bye weeks, I like to get out.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I like to recruit.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
I like to get around our guys, see our committed players,
and so on and so forth. So we'll evaluate that
closely this week. You know, the one guy that we
historically like to get on the road this time of
year is Chris Gilbert. And Chris's guy obviously got you know,
does a great job, and he's a really good evaluator.
He's got good rapport with not only the players were recruiting,

(13:41):
but their families, and he's very relatable to the high
school coaches and so Chris is active on that front.
And then some guys may be out one day and
not the next day because we're trying to preserve some
days for later in the season. So I think we've
got a good plan for this week. We'll be very active.
Noing we have the two buys, we have one later

(14:02):
in the year, and so you know, you kind of
do it somewhat regionally of Okay, where are we putting
the spotlight this week and then where are we going
to try to put it on the next week. So
I think we've got a good plan. But Gilbert will
be the main one. I think that's not an on
the field coach that would.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
Man cut off.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
But yeah, having Chris Chris Gilbert on the road is
always good. Chris obviously being a former high school coach,
he knows a lot of people around here and across
the state of Texas, and being able to network with
those guys, catch up and check out some of those
other players has been real important for them. So it's

(14:42):
an exciting time for a lot of those folks to
be able to do so. But also what coach Sark
was talking about is being able to look at this
SEC schedule because having the bye week it sets you
up for so many different things. But this SEC schedule,
this gauntlet that Texas is about to go on this year,

(15:03):
is going to be tough, and this is how he
prepares for that.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
I think this is you start evaluating our schedule, and
you know, I'm as excited as anybody to watch a
little football on Saturday. There's some great games this great
weekend of college football, and some high level games are
gonna get played, not only in our conference but around
the country. So that that part's you know, I think
I think fun for us to take a step back
to see that as far as our schedule goes. You know,

(15:32):
are some of the teams in our conference has some
really really brutal schedules, you know, and and and I
look at Florida and just kind of the gauntlet they've
already been been part of. And you know, they they
were you know, they're at LSU one week and the
next week they're at Miami, and they're playing really well defense.

(15:54):
I mean that these guys are playing at a high,
high level. You know, I think they held LSU to
thirteen points on offense. You know, the one touchdown they
scored was a pick six, you know, on the road.
To hold those guys to thirteen. I mean, and they're
holding Miami to thirteen points until about four minutes to go,
or sixteen points when I think it was thirteen with
about four six minutes to go in that game. And

(16:15):
so they're playing at a really high level defensively, and
you know, you know, naturally Billy Billy's a really good
offensive coach, and they just haven't found their groove quite
yet offensively.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
But going to the Swamp, you know, there's.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
There's people that would argue us the toughest place to
play in the country. You know, We've got two coaches
in our in our office that have that have coached
there before and have said it's the loudest place they've been.
And so you just know you're going into a hostile
environment and you're going up against a quality opponent, which
we just started the you know, looking at them, and
I don't have all the details on those guys, but

(16:49):
I look down the road of what the rest of
our schedule is is starting to look like. Naturally, after Florida,
we're going to play in the Red River Rivalry against
you who's as hot as any team in the country,
and they're playing great defense and the quarterback is is
playing at a high level. Got a chance to peak
at them a little bit in the first half last week.

(17:10):
And then you go to Kentucky at night and shoot,
they had Old Miss on the ropes in that game.
And then you start talking about Mississippi State, who's already
knocked off Arizona State at home, and they've got a
big game this weekend against Tennessee. And then I believe
we have a buy no we play, then we get Vanderbilt,
who shoot, all they do is they're back in the
top twenty five, and they went into South Carolina and one,

(17:33):
and then you know, you get a bye, and I think,
then we go to Georgia and so they play. They
play Alabama this week and they've already won at Tennessee.
And then you get Arkansas, who they took Old Miss
the to the wire. And then you get A and
M you know, who's as hot as any other team
in the country. And so it is what it is
in our conference. I said that all along about the SEC.

(17:54):
It's like as physical as we know as it is,
and we all know it's like you turn on the
tape of floor of the first thing that stands out
is at front, and those guys are really really good.
It's the mental grind. You have to do it every
single week. There is no gimmes. And I said this before,
there's nobody in our league that says they looked at
their schedule say oh yeah, that's a win. You better

(18:17):
come ready to play because everybody is well equipped coaching wise,
everybody's well equipped personnel wise, and there's some tough places
to go play that you gotta be mentally mentally prepared
to play as well as well as physically prepared to play.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah, and this is going to be a tough run.
When you look at what Texas has to do. You
look at that schedule and you start with excuse me,
you start with Florida. Then you have the Red River Shootout,
That's what I'm calling it. I'm gonna call a shootout.
I'm gonna call a shootout. Then you have the matchup
against Kentucky. You got Mississippi State, who is undefeated at

(18:54):
this particular time. As he said, Vanderbilt is tough, Georgia, Arkansas, Texas,
A and M this this is not an easy trek
for the Texas loan.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
No, you can't look ahead.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
You got you gotta live where your feet are, and
I always loved that term, but like living where your
feet are means that you know, you really can't peak
too much. You know the only reason that they were
able to peak is because they.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Played a late game and the game came before them.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, and they get a chance to really watch because
it's a bye week, so looking ahead, Yeah, Sarkas said
he hadn't even looked at the film on what.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Florida is.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
I'm sure that he has by now, but you're paying
attention to it because they're on the bye week, so
nothing else is changing. The only difference is they're dealing
with DJ Lagway, who's still walking around in a walking
boot right now. Because so there's that part of it.
But you also have to look at what this Texas
team is going to be up against moving forward. And

(19:57):
one thing about Texas is coach ar I said they
feel good in some areas, but he also knows that
there are some areas that they need to work in.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
No, I think one of the areas is, you know,
I just feel like our penalties are high for my liking,
you know, I think we can play cleaner football. And
it's some very simple things that I think we can
get fixed and and and definitely be be better at.
And I'd love to say it's this thing or that thing.

(20:27):
I just think we're we're close. And again I have
to remind myself you're going to have some of those
errors with some younger players. The key is that your
your veteran players aren't making some of those mistakes. And
so you know, like you know, we're not We're not
jumping off sides anymore. On defense, you know, I think
we're settling in. We're playing a little bit more discipline

(20:47):
of of watching the ball and and not not jumping
off sides. You know, we we had a we had
a couple flinches on offense last week. Connor Robertson. I
can understand. You know, he's getting his first start at center.
You know, he flinches the ball all one time he
settled into the game. You know I didn't like was
the faalse start later I think early in the second
half we had one. So there's areas where where we

(21:09):
are improving. But at my job as a coach is
to make sure that that we drill all the way
down on these things.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
And penalties are part of football.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
They're gonna happen, and I just want to make sure
that if we, if and when we do get penalties,
they're of the aggressive nature and not not some of
the pre snap self inflicted wound penalties or or some
of the penalties where we've drilled on something that they
can anticipate something that's coming that that our technique doesn't
falter us and where we reach and grab, or whether

(21:39):
it's in the second area at the line of scrimmage
or in punt return, because I do think some of
those are avoidable as well.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
That's the main thing cutting down those penalties. As a
penalized team as much as Texas has been.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
That can be the difference in a ball game.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
That's an extension of a drive and that is also
a drive killer in so many instances. So Texas has
to be able to get that cleaned up as we
get ready for SEC play. Speaking of SEC play, let's
talk to our guy, Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.
We'll catch up with him and see the latest at

(22:15):
the Austin American Statesman right here on a hump day
game plan edition of the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundred the zone coming up in the next segment,
we will talk MLB as the season comes down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
But it's hump day and that can only mean one thing.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
Our guy, Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman, joins
us to talk all things Texas Longhorns and Danny, we're at.
The first quarter is over for the University of Texas.
They finished the first quarter three and one, a tough
matchup against Ohio State, some sluggish games against San Jose

(22:57):
State and UTEP, but then and they finally have all
cylinders flowing in the right direction against.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
Sam Houston State.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
So as you look at this first quarter, what are
some of the things that stand out for you?

Speaker 5 (23:13):
And this is a non conference schedule where I don't
really know how much exactly you can take out of it.
Those are three teams that Texas obviously should beat. There's
obviously a lot of alarms going off after that UTEP game,
but Texas still won that game. No one really cares.
They beat the snot out of Sam Houston Ohio State.
That's not a bad loss. Number one team in the

(23:34):
country right now on the road, first game of the
season or both teams. I think if you played that
gave up, played today, both teams will look very different
because they've had a month to figure out their stuff.
Both teams, both Texas and Ohio state it. So we
knew this defense was going to be good and they've
proven that they they've lived up to that reputation. You know,

(23:54):
it's the offense and we're not going to know those
answers for a little bit.

Speaker 6 (23:58):
Arch has had his ups, he's had his downs.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
The offensive line is trying to get self figured out.
The running back round, I mean CJ and Quintrabian and
both beenjerretty much his entire time. Everyone really knows what's
going on going on with that and the receivers that
I had some moments where they've shined in some moments
where they have looked like there's work to be done.

Speaker 6 (24:16):
So the offense remains work in progress.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
The defenses is as advertised, and we're really not going
to know anything probably until the part of game and
maybe not even for a couple of weeks after that.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
So we're talking about that as well. So you look
at the defense and get over to that side. Great points,
by the way on the offense and things that need
to be discovered. I guess you would say, but one
thing's for sure, that defensive line has proven to be
a nuther flyer in the run game against all those teams,
including Ohio State. But then you also get the chance

(24:49):
to see some of those younger players in the secondary
step up as well.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
Yeah, this was a you know, I mean, people who's
the NFL and Andrews with the Eagles and Johnny's with Denvers.
I mean, those are two big holes and they need
some younger guys to step up. Well, I don't think
anyone here doubted Michael taff and some maybe some of
those older guys back there, but they need some the
younger guys to step up, and so far that's happening
some beautia college football. I guess every year you're going

(25:17):
to have some some new guys step step up, whether
it's a Grayson Littleton or John McDonald's not a young guy,
but he's definitely made a step this season. And that's
just kind of what college football is. New guys step
up each year. And that's happening in Texas.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Then do you think that because of the fact that
Texas lost some really dominant players to the draft last
year and with the injuries that they've had and guys
not playing this year, that Texas actually needs a little
bit more grace and the fan base is kind of
like unrelenting of it.

Speaker 5 (25:53):
I'm going to try to give myself in trouble, but sure,
I mean, it is, it is what it is.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
I mean, this is why these.

Speaker 5 (26:01):
Athletes choose to come to a school like the University
of Texas, because the expectations are sky high. Sometimes they're
a little unrealistic. You know, arch Mannon is not the
first Texas quarterback.

Speaker 6 (26:11):
To get booed. I mean, you know, Vince was bood
at some point.

Speaker 5 (26:14):
I'm sure some fans are probably not very happy with
Colt after he lost his second second game to Ohigh State.
I think there's a bad loss to Kansas State sometimes
in his career two where you know, some people may
have been, you know, displeased with him. I mean we've
been We've been wandering through the wilderness for the past
fifteen years or however long it's been since Colt left
the Texas quarterbacks And you know, Art had to watch

(26:36):
as for two years as Quinnie were As, who led
this team to two College Football Playoff semi finals, got booed.
Pretty we're not booed, but you know people are openly
wishing he'd get bench in favorite of Arch. So, I mean,
Arch is not the first quarterback to get booed. This
is not the first Texas team where some people have
been wondering. You know, you won the game by fifty
five points, so we're going to spend the entire time
postgame winding and complaining about everything from the team to

(26:59):
you know, some things that we didn't like at the
stadium that we got to go hit up CDC about.
So that's the University of Texas. That's what this is
all about. This what these players signed up for. Should
they be given more grace? Sure is there eighteen nineteen
year girls in they're dealing with adversity, but that's not
how things work at Texas. And these players know that.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
We're talking to Danny Davis of the Austin American States
and you can follow them at Underscore Danny Davis for
all the latest and Danny, you know, as we get
closer and closer to SEC play, you look at the
landscape of the SEC. I don't know how much you
really pay attention to the entire SEC, but being as
close as we are to it. There are some teams

(27:38):
on Texas's schedule coming up this year that are playing
some really good football. Now some can say the same
thing you said about Texas, those are games that they
should win.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
But when you look at the SEC play and you
look at.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
What Mississippi State has been able to do, it's pretty
impressive to watch those guys go out there and get
some dubs.

Speaker 5 (27:58):
Yeah, I mean, this is a team, this is a
schedule were once again this kind of beauty of college football,
especially now in the transfer Pordal era. The preseason rankings
and projections really don't mean anything. I think we could
have gone through in the preseason and been like, that's
an easy win for Texas, that's an easy loss. You know,
don't while they traveling for this game. It's gonna be
a blow. You know, you have to be at this game.

Speaker 6 (28:16):
And now we look at.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
It at Florida game, which might have been the game
of the year in the preseason. You know, I don't
think there's a lot of excitement about that game. But
you know, Vanderbilt has looked really good this season so far,
you know, so it'll be fun to see when the
Commoners come to town and Cedric Alexander brings his boys
back to Austin with what that looks like?

Speaker 6 (28:37):
Obviously, Georgie's George is good. Oklahoma.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
You asked many Texas LANs before the season, you know,
what's the top five games as far as toughness. No
one would have said Oklahoma because even though it's a
ravalerie game, people thought the Senons are gonna be down.
We'll see what's happening with their quarterback situation in a
couple of weeks. But you know, that's a team that's
looked pretty pretty good over these first time the first
few weeks of the season. Obviously, George is George to

(29:01):
kind of waiting seem moute with with with Mississippi State.
But then you know, you close it. You close the
Arkansas which isn't great, but that's still a rivalry game
in an A and M. And you know, the Eggies
have looked very good and they're still kind of riding
that way from a couple of weeks ago in South Bend.

Speaker 6 (29:14):
So yeah, I mean, this is not gonna be a cakewalk.

Speaker 5 (29:16):
An mean, who thought Texas was going to walk through
SEC play is mistaken. They may be get a couple
of breaks with Florida and Oklahoma amams and quarterback problems,
but this is going to be a war over these
next to next two months, Danny.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
A lot of Texas fans are taking a deep breath
thinking that, you know, because materia is out right now,
that that Texas is just gonna you know, pewter role
Oklahoma during that time. Do you you think that that's
a horrible way to think as a as a Longhort fan,

(29:50):
because they're not going to just lay down.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
It's a rivalry game.

Speaker 6 (29:54):
I mean, it's not horrible, it's a dumb way to think.

Speaker 5 (29:57):
I mean, there have been some good Texas teams that
have been beaten by bat oiclelahol Homa teams and bat
up good Oklahoma teams have been beaten by bad Texas teams.
And this is a rivalry game. It's a neutral site.
We all know the pumpit circumstances goes on there.

Speaker 3 (30:09):
You know.

Speaker 5 (30:09):
Granted, the last time Oklahoma kind of had some banged
up quarterbacks was whatever that forty ninety nothing game was,
which was a completely disaster. But I assume that Oklahoma
probably has a little bit of a better backup quarter
back plan set up set up this time around. I'm
sure those Sooners are angry over they have the last
couple of years have gone and we want to kind of,
you know, prove themselves against Texas. But any Texas fan

(30:31):
that just walks into the Cotton Bowl assuming that they're
going to win regardless of who is the quarterback, just
doesn't really know much about the history of this rivalry.
It's going to be a game. Sure, Texas should be favored,
Texas should win, but you know that's what rivalry games
are for. You know, Oklahoma is not going to get
to win to Texas, especially since Oklahoma probably will be
ranked higher than Texas at that point, and you know,
it probably has some postseason plans of their own, and

(30:53):
they just trying to you know, survive until they can
get their quarterback back.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
And Michael Hawkins was the quarterback last year and he
was rust into that position. But now he's got some experience,
he's been part of this program.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
He understands what it looks like.

Speaker 1 (31:07):
So I don't think Texas fans should should look at
that game and be like, oh, yeah, that's what it's
all about.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Now it's a little bit more than that, and the
same thing with Florida.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
You know, Florida's defense is fast on paper, I mean
on screen. So being able to watch them over the
last couple of weeks just because knowing what's coming up,
I'm not sleeping on them either at all. It's a
home game for them, They're in the swamp. It's gonna
be a crazy, crazy atmosphere. But we got some time

(31:36):
for that mystery yesterday at the Baseball conversation. Now that
it's a bye week this week, are you going to
be able to go over to the Dale Diamond and
follow the baseball game as Texas will host Texas Tech.

Speaker 5 (31:52):
Yeah, I know last year I came on here as
pretty baffled that Mark was asking me a baseball question.
But a bye week, I'm gonna check out, check out
a little action to Dell this week, and it's nice
to see that Texas and Texas Tech get something going.
You know, these are two teams that should be I
wish they played more in the regular season, but you

(32:12):
know they're able to get together for a little fall
ball and we'll kind of see if that's all about
up at the Dall this weekend.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Dabe, Since you were puzzled about that last week. I
was puzzled this week because the last two weeks, neither
one of us has said anything about Rory Harmon.

Speaker 5 (32:29):
And when there's a women's basketball availability in a couple hours,
so I may, I may steal Rory uh around the
facilities when we're talking to Vic today, So I'll tell her,
you say what's up?

Speaker 1 (32:37):
Please please do, please do, because I'm really a fam
There he is Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman.
You can follow him at underscore Danny Davis.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
Thanks Danny, as always my man. See appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
When we come back, we're gonna talk MLB baseball as
it's starting to heat up. Yankees clincher playoff birth How excited?

Speaker 3 (33:00):
Why are you? Mark Henry.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
We'll be back on a hump day game plan edition
of The Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
The Zone. Great stuff by Danny Davis of the Austin
American Statesman. You can follow that underscore Danny Davids. And
it's true. You start to look at this football team
and the expectations of what's coming up next, you kind

(33:24):
of get excited because there's so much Tonight you also
get a chance to watch Texas volleyball. Texas will be
taking on Vanderbilt. You can watch it on SEC Network
plus the Texas Basketball. Texas volleyball team is the number
two ranked team in the nation. They've got seven ranked

(33:45):
victories this year. How amazing is that? And Spears is
one hell of a volleyball player. She keeps getting award
after award after award, So kudos to them. But I
also wanted to talk about Major League baseball. Major League
Baseball is on a hot streak right now? What do
I mean by that? These teams know that the end

(34:07):
is near and they are battling to make sure that
they get themselves in position to play for October. Toronto
and the Yankees both clinch playoff spots, but they are
battling to the wire to see who is going to
be in first place in the AL East. The Guardians
and the Tigers are tied for first place in the

(34:29):
AL Centrals, and the Tigers might have the biggest collapse
in Major League Baseball history. They had the biggest lead.
At one point, they had a fifteen game league and
now they are tied for first place with the Cleveland Guards.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
But what happened, Like, how do you have a collapse
at that level?

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Their ace has been struggling, school Ball has been struggling,
and he hasn't been that guy that has been the stopper.
You want to have a guy that you can give
the ball to, yes, that you know is gonna go
out there and be like, hold up, let's pump the brakes.
And with him struggling and people laying off pitches, it
changes the approach as well. So those guys have got

(35:13):
a battle down to the wire. But both of those teams,
will you know me, don't.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Think it has nothing to do with the manager, like
maybe them taking the gas off.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
AJ Hinch is not that guy AJ is. He's a grinder,
so there's no taking it off. The Mariners clinched the
spot last night and they've all butt wrapped up the
Al West. The Astros should be able to get into
the playoffs, but again, all these battles that are going
on are making it a little bit tough for them.

(35:42):
I'll give you the exact standings in just a moment.
In the National League, the Phillies have won their division
and a lot to look like they are about to
win the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
They're gonna definitely give it a run.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Milwaukee has the best record in baseball. They win the Central,
but the Cubbies are back in it as well. They
get a chance to be in the playoffs. Also, you
look at the Dodgers and the Padres. They are both
trying to get to the AL, I mean the NL
West Pennant, but they are battling to the very end.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Both get some walkoff wins.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
The Mets, the Reds, and the Diamondbacks are battling for
the final spot in the NL. The Diamondbacks get a
big victory yesterday. The Mets continue to pound, and the
Reds they keep going up and down. They have an opportunity,
but they just can't finish it. When you start to
look at who they are at this particular time.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
They have schizophrenia.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Like less time I was in Cincinnati, they won the Street.
They won three in a row, including beating the Yankees
like nine to two. I mean they was rolling the
next three games. Or they couldn't get a hit. I
mean when I say couldn't get a hit, they were like, oh,

(37:00):
they didn't score for three games in a row. Their
second base, how do you not score and you a.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Major league baseball team, their.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Major, their major their second baseman, Matt McClain, who was
the first round pick out of UCLA. He's starting second baseman.
He has the fourth lowest batting average with runners in
scoring position. And he had two chances last night to
win the ball game and he hit into a force.
He had groundball to shortstop, and then he hit into
a double play to end the ball game. They might

(37:29):
need to pinch hit him when it comes up. Somebody
needs It can't be no worse. It can't be no worse.
So you got to try to figure out what you're
gonna do there. So, as I said, this playoff run
that these guys are on is making it a real
tough look for all of these teams. So we'll see
what ends up happening over the weekend.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
You know that.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
I'm but you know what my favorite park is, Well,
team is number one? Milwaukee. Yeah, Milwaukee Stadium is like
going to a nightclub and they have the best food.
And you know that that goes real far.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
I'm like, like, if we're talking about food, shocker.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Lobs, the rolls, everything, you name it, they got it.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yep, beautiful place.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
The Mets, the Reds, and the Diamondbacks are all separated
by one game. The Mets right now have the position
of the final team in the NL, but the Cincinnati
Reds is one game behind the Mets, and the Diamondbacks
are tied one game behind the Mets as well. So
we're gonna have four Sundays the final day of the

(38:48):
Major League Baseball season. So they got a lot of
work to do and it's gonna come down to that.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
So buckle up, folks.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Buckle up, and we'll talk a little bit more about that.
As the season comes to an end. We'll figure out
who is gonna be our MVP on both leagues. And
I think that show Hey of Toine, who went seventh
or six innings last night, pretty much wrapped up the
NL MVP. But coming up next we're gonna continue the conversations.

(39:19):
Our number two Texas football schedule was released for the
next four seasons. We've got college big games this weekend,
and of course we got the world's strongest take and
the Giants make the move. Right here on the Morning
Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. Welcome
back to the morning Kickoff right here on Sports Radio

(39:40):
AM thirteen hundred, The Zone, Mike Harballhard's World Strongest Man,
WWE Hall of Famer, de Mark Henry, and our guy
Marcus behind the boards. Also in Nour number one, we
talked about Mike Gundy being out in what's next for
Oklahoma State?

Speaker 3 (39:56):
They're out there.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
They got Doug Meachum as the interim head co coach.
There's somebody sent me something that said Jimbo Fisher would
be perfect for that job. But I think Jimbo's enjoying
life being free without having to do anything and I
have to deal with parents, nil anything like that. But
there are some names that are coaching elsewhere that might

(40:18):
take a look at what Oklahoma State could do. We
also got a chance to hear from sark As he
was talking about the recruiting plan for this week because
the bye week gives a chance for these coaches to
go out and see some of their commitments play. There's
a big game this weekend, this Friday night at the
field in Flugerville, where there are some top notch players

(40:41):
for both schools. Hendrickson and Weiss will be taking on
each other. We also got a chance to listen to
Danny Davis of the Austin American Statesman and his thoughts,
and just talk about the MLB home stretch that is
happening before we get into the Texas football schedule that
was released yesterday for the next four years, which is
interesting because we had just talked about the permanent opponents

(41:05):
where you will have three permanent opponents for the next
four years before they go back and regroup. Also wanted
to point this out. This month has been Prostate Cancer
Awareness Month. And I know that I haven't really gone
into this conversation and everything that's gone with it. But

(41:27):
for those that have been following me throughout my time
here on the radio, most of you know that I
went through prostate cancer and ended up having a surgery,
and it was twenty eighteen. I was diagnosed in twenty seventeen.
I ended up having a surgery in twenty eighteen. I'm fine.

(41:48):
I continue to be cancer free. But this is the
time where men need to go get checked. This is
the month Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, Men's Health Month, all
those things that go with it. But the one thing
that we always try to tell each other is go
get checked. As African American men, we hate going to
the doctor. We hate going to be seen and telling

(42:11):
us that we got all these things that is wrong
with us, because for the most part, we know that
we got things. Nothing wrong with me exactly. It's just
my sugar. It's just my sugar, My sugar bad. But
this is the time for you to go and be
checked and be aware of the things that are going
on with your body. As you get older, we're more

(42:32):
prone to different things. So please, please, please, As I've
always said, go get checked, Go get checked, Go get checked,
and you don't have to wait for you don't have
to wait for September to go get checked just because
it's Awareness month. Be aware every month, be aware every day.
But we caught mind early. It seems to be something

(42:53):
that if you catch it early, you can get it
cured and you don't have to go through some of
the things that might possibly happen during that time. So uh,
I'm glad that I got it taken care of. I'm
thankful for my physicians and them being able to test
me in a way that not the old school way.

(43:14):
You can do it by blood test, folks, you ain't
got to go the old school way, you know what
I'm talking about.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
Yeah, Yeah, no, no, no, not.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
You just.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
So you go to do the colls so you can
play for.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah, that's that's the physical for football. Now what he's
talking about is the old school way. Yeah, well you
can lose a ring. But it was okay, it's okay.
But right now I want to get into this conversation
of this situation is very serious.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
I'm good and I know that a lot of my
friends have been able to go get checked themselves and
have detected it and got it early too.

Speaker 3 (43:52):
So make sure you go get checked. I do want to.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
Get into this conversation about this Texas football team and
the upcoming schedule. You know, people like to look at
the schedule not only for the wins, but for the
opportunity to make a trip in the place that you
haven't gone before. Like a lot of folks are jumping
on the plane ahead to the Swamp, first time they've
been to Gainesville to go and play in the swamp.
Everybody's looking forward to go into Georgia for the first year.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Places in America to go other than Gainesville.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
There is, but not for your football team. That's what
it's about. So when you get a chance to travel
to go see your football team. You make those plans.
So next season, obviously we talked about it. Arkansas, Alabama,
I mean Arkansas, Texas A and M and Oklahoma are
the three opponents that we will always have on every
for the next four years. Those are ones that are

(44:41):
in there. But you also you will play Florida. You
will also play Old miss you will play Mississippi State.
You will play at LSU. Oh Man, Yeah, a night game. Well, well,
let's hold up. We get till twenty six. That wait
till twenty six. I do not want to be at
LSU at a night game. I want to be there
for the day game because then people get rowdy. You

(45:02):
know that, you know that, that's what it's all about.
So we'll see about that. I might have to go
stay with my mama during that time. We play at
Missouri and you play at Tennessee. All of that is in,
and you play at Texas A and M. By the way,
in twenty twenty six, in twenty twenty seven, you play
at Arkansas. You play home against Texas A and M,

(45:24):
and of course Oklahoma is in Dallas. But you have
Auburn at home, you have Georgia at home, and you
have Kentucky at home, but you go to Alabama, you
go to South Carolina, and you got to go back
to Vanderbilt in twenty twenty eight home against Arkansas at
Texas A and m Oklahoma. You got LSU again at home,

(45:47):
you got Missouri at home, you got Tennessee at home,
but you're back at the swamp. You go to Oxford, Oxford, Oxford, Mississippi,
and then you go to Stark Vegas at Mississippi State.
So you go to Mississippi twice in twenty twenty eight.
In twenty twenty nine, Alabama's here, South Carolina's here, Vanderbilt here,

(46:08):
but you're at Auburn, you're at Georgia, and then you're
at Kentucky in twenty twenty nine.

Speaker 2 (46:15):
You do realize that the kids that will be playing
in twenty nine are in middle school.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
Yeah, the kids that are in twenty seven and twenty
eight are juniors right now. So so crazy, yeah, yeah,
it's crazy. It is already know the schedule. Yeah, but
that's a good thing because the SEC, when they went
to that nine game schedule for SEC opponents, that's why
you could go ahead and get your schedule set up.
And the one thing that I noticed too. For next year,

(46:43):
I mentioned all those games that are on there. But again,
Texas will have the opportunity to play Texas State next
year at home, Ohio State at home, and UTSA at home.
So those are going to be that's going to be
a great schedule for Texas next year where you get
a chance to play all those players, those teams at home.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Well, I'm gonna tell you right now from watching, if
Kenny is still there, and I don't know, he might
be the top candidate to get the job up in
Oklahoma in Oklahoma State. If he's still there, He's not
easy win. He's a really good coach man. He's definitely
a good coach. Texas don't bet Texas State.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
Do you know that? Do you remember the question that
you asked earlier? Yeah, what team is I didn't say
that Texas going.

Speaker 6 (47:36):
I know.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
I just said that he's no pushover. I can't agree
with that.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
I can agree with that, but no, no, sorry, no,
speed is deadly.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Speed is deadly.

Speaker 1 (47:50):
So but yes, you start looking at all of these
and you start making your plans. As I said, folks
have already got their tickets and as soon as that
schedule came out last year, they looked where Texas was
going to be and they're like, oh, yeah, we're going
to the swamp.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Got to make that trip down there.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Because a lot of people don't get a chance to
go to those types of places because you hadn't had
an opportunity.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
To We shouldn't We should have Titus O'Neil come on
the show for the Lidens of the Locker Room that
week because he's a a Florida alarm.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
And set it up because it's next Thursday.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Yeah, he's been missed two bits yep, you know, so
let's uh, let's reach out.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Yeah, so we will. We will look forward to those
games as they come. But you start to look around
the SEC and you look at all those games, and
we talked about those for sure opponents for you, there's
a lot of those those teams that you look at
and you're like, man, this is gonna be difficult for
you to go out there and play these teams every

(48:53):
single week because of the fact that the Southeastern Conference
is such a tough conference, and you look at all
of the teams that have that opportunity. You look at
what Texas A and m's schedule is going to be.
You look at what Alabama's schedule is going to be.
Texas A and M they will have here let.

Speaker 3 (49:13):
Me pull this up real quick. Something wrong my computer.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
Uh. Texas A and M will have a busy, busy
conference as well, because their schedule is not going to
be easy either. So you start looking around at these
teams and the energy that will be in the in
the in the ballparks, you will be kind of nervous
about it because those stadiums are gonna be rocking when

(49:37):
you sit back and you think about it.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
No easy schedule for any of these.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Teams exactly, no matter if you're home away, if you're
playing at a neutral site, just like Texas will be
playing at a neutral site against Texas A and M.
I mean Oklahoma, it's gonna be tough the entire time.
So the environment is gonna make itself and its new
fan basis.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
It's new fan base is.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
If you look at what Texas A and M is
next year, they'll have Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, at Alabama, at
South Carolina, and at Oklahoma twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
There they got Ole Miss Georgia.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
This will be the first time that they played Georgia
will be twenty twenty seven since they have been in
the SEC. Since they have been in the SEC, twenty
twenty seven will be the first time that they have
played the Georgia Bulldogs. Think about that's that's crazy, that's ridiculous.
That's ridiculous. So but it's a big move. So we'll

(50:36):
see what ends up happening. But coming up next, we're
going to talk about the SEC schedule this weekend and
all the big games that are happening, because this is
a great weekend if you want to be a couch
potato because you don't have to worry about the Texas game.
You can just enjoy it, just watch whatever you want
exactly right here on the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio
AM thirteen hundreds. Welcome back to the Morning Kickoff right

(50:59):
here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred the Zone. We've
got big time matchups that are happening this weekend through
the Top twenty five and also just in SEC play.
So we want to get into some of this conversation
because there's a lot of games that got a lot
of interest for a bunch of folks and peaking those

(51:21):
that we will be talking about a little bit later
when it comes to what is the best play for
the weekend entertainment purposes only. Starting at eleven o'clock in
the SEC you have number twenty two ranked Notre Dame
going to take on Arkansas at home. Arkansas another team
that may be on the verge of making a coaching

(51:44):
change at some point.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
They're sitting at two and two.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
One of the names that may be making the change
is Bobby Patrino.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
Bobby Patrino is a former.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Head coach, might be a guy that Oklahoma State looks
at as well.

Speaker 3 (51:59):
But if they were to make a move and get rid.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
Of their head coach at Arkansas, would Bobby Petrino be
the one that steps in and gets the interim call.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
That is a big time conversation.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
At eleven forty five on the SEC network, you have
Utah State going into Nashville to take on Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt
the number eighteen ranked team in the country. Diego Pavia
continues to put up big numbers and continues to show
that he is a twenty seven year old quarterback playing

(52:33):
and against some youngsters.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
But he's out there, Why don't you keep on punching him?
Man Pave up ed. I like him, I mean Malon.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
I think he's a gutsy guy and he continues to
play hard every single time.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
He's one of those guys hard that they say that
the metrics say he won't be a good NFL quarterback.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
So now with the way that the system works.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
And you can make a million or two million dollars
playing quarterback in college, he.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
May look at it like, you know, this is my
pro football.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Noah, Well he's done a good job because you know
he's not going to class. Well, he's doing basket weaving
because he's already graduated probably twice and washer yeah, or
ballroom dancing. So I mean in Lashville, that's an interesting sport, right, yeah,
I mean that's what they know.

Speaker 3 (53:19):
Contact either, Yeah, Yeah, they're definitely contact.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
They're twenty one and a half point favor over Utah
State at two point thirty on ABC. Number four, LSU
will be taking on number thirteen Old Miss. Both teams
are undefeated. LSU's four and oh and one and oh
in SEC play. Old misses four and oh and two

(53:43):
in oh in SEC play. This game is a one
and a half point favorite for Old Miss. They got
to figure out what they're gonna do at quarterback. Grant
new Smart is the quarterback for LSU and Brian Kelly
is he gonna yell at somebody for the way that
they run the football?

Speaker 2 (54:02):
So we make our picks tomorrow, right yeah, yeah, okay,
So I'm gonna save it.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
That's a game that I really want to watch, yeah
for sure.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
Then you look at what happens at two thirty on ESPN.
You have Auburn who is three and one with the
loss last week against Texas A and M, one of
the hottest teams in the country that a lot of
folks are excited about.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
Their number nine.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
They are a six and a half point favorite at
Kyle Field, big time matchup. Between these two games are
two teams excuse me. Then at three fifteen on the
SEC network, so we have three games following each other
that are pretty high level football. As number fifteen Mississippi,
I mean fifteen Tennessee will be going to Starkville to

(54:48):
take on four and oh Mississippi State. This is where
we start to understand what type of team Mississippi State
is going up against Tennessee. With their quarterback Agalar, who's
been hottest fish Grease he's got twelve touchdowns and only
three interceptions this year. Uh, this is a big time
matchup for Mississippi State.

Speaker 3 (55:09):
So we will see how they get leave a house
at six thirty.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
Another one, six thirty, Number seventeen Alabama.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
We know the scrutiny that they're under.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
They go to Georgia to take on three and oh
Georgia Bulldogs at six thirty on ABC. That ticket take
I guess what that ticket is.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
I would say two hundred bucks and Marcus three point fifty.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
Four hundred and twenty five dollars right win lowest ticket,
that's the lowest available ticket. Wow, that's a big time man.
This is this is what it's all about. That's like
the Texas Georgia game last year. Here that this is
what that is about. Six crazy Yeah. Then the final

(56:05):
of the nightcap, you get a chance to watch Kentucky
versus South Carolina. Both teams are kind of reeling, especially
South Carolina. South Carolina needs this win badly. They are
two and two and oho and two inn sec play,
So we'll watch what that has to do. In the
Big twelve, there's some big matchups as well. Number twenty

(56:26):
four TCU will be taking This is a Friday night game,
will be taking on Arizona State. They will be going
out to Arizona also Friday night. University of Houston three
and OH traveling to go see Malik Murphy and Oregon State,
who is OHO and four by the way, so that's
not big BYU will be headed to Colorado on Saturday.

(56:51):
BYU the number twenty five ranked team. Colorado get the
win last week, but this is gonna be the biggest
challenge for them.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
And Deoni's the land on the quarterback, you know what.
I don't think that he's ready to do that yet.
It seems like every game he's played at least two quarterbacks.
The first and second game he played three quarterbacks exactly.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
So we'll see what ends up happening there.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
Another game that's kind of peaked my interest now is
Baylor sitting at two and two versus Oklahoma State with
the new coach, new situation. Baylor needs this game, and
if they go in there and they can't win this game,
do we start looking at Dave Iranda a little bit
differently as well?

Speaker 2 (57:33):
He should win this game with them being in disarray
right now and influx with the coaching situation. He don't
win this game, I don't think we'll have to say
anything exactly. I think their front office is going to
be like, hey.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Man, what are you doing?

Speaker 1 (57:49):
That game is at two point thirty on ESPN two
the Nightcap ESPN. Arizona three to zero will play their
first Big Twelve game of the season against number.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
Fourteen ranked Iowa State.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
They are four and oh and one in oh in
the Big Twelve and ACC now this one. This is
gonna be a fun weekend because Florida State is the
talk of the town, right They've been doing everything. Now
they're going on the road on Friday night to take
on Virginia at Charlottesville. Virginia is sitting at three and

(58:25):
the one. And want to know in ACC play. I
know the hype has been around Florida State, rightfully, so
but can they finish the deal and start ACC play
on a Friday night and get it done in Charlottesville?

Speaker 2 (58:41):
I think they can. I mean they're the geniuine article.
They run the ball well, they play defense, which is
a great start, and they don't turn the ball over right,
So like you know those three things, I mean you
add if they get a few special teams plays offensive,
punny wise and kicking.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
Then and the Big ten action too.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
Think about this Big ten action on Saturday morning eleven am,
that is nine am on the West coast for USC,
USC travels to Illinois. Illinois got beat down by Indiana
the other night. USC four and oh two and oh
in the Big Ten. They are ranked number twenty one.

(59:24):
They will take on twenty three ranked Illinois at eleven
am kickoff, a game that a lot of folks hadn't
really been talking about, but need to. Ohio State the
number one team in the land versus Washington State. This
is a big matchup. I mean Washington not Washington State.
Excuse me. Washington three and oh three and oh into

(59:47):
the season just been real quiet out there. Nobody's talking
about it. So we'll see what happens there. Ucla with
a new coach versus Northwestern. Nobody's gonna be watching that.
The six thirty game, Prime Time. You got to have
these TVs Prime Time six thirty. Oregon number six ranked

(01:00:10):
team versus Penn State, the number three ranked team under
the lights in at University Park Beaver Stadium, and my
rooms for saying I just have zero faith in Franklin.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
That's what everybody's talking about. We're gonna see it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
The only person who got faith in is LeVar Arrington
because LeVar will fight.

Speaker 3 (01:00:30):
You because he went to school. Then he's a homer.

Speaker 6 (01:00:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Him and Brady got into a nice little heated discussion
this morning. But I want you to hear from coach
Shark because I just went through all these beautiful games,
and Coach Shark was asked about, how are you gonna
spend your off weekend watching these games?

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
This weekend, I'll probably watch College Game Day. You know,
I'm an early riser, so I'll probably watch that. I
think that's fun, that's great for college football. I even
know where it is this week. I'm sure it's summer great.
And then I don't know the time slots of the
games yet, but I'll know, like, hey, I'm gonna watch
Alabama Georgia.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
It's gonna be a great game.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:01:07):
I want to see that game. I think it's this week.
I don't know I'm seeing all that. I think Ohio State,
I mean, I think Oregon's at Penn State. I think
that's obviously a great game for college football. You know,
I'll probably watch Mississippi State Tennessee. I think that's this weekend.
Knowing Mississippi State's down the road. I think Florida has
a buy, so it's not like I can watch them,

(01:01:28):
So you just start watching the games. I think LSU
is that old miss this week, if I'm not mistaken,
or maybe that's next week.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
I don't know. But there's just great games.

Speaker 4 (01:01:35):
And I have colleagues in the profession that I know
I'm gonna want to watch, and because they're friends of mine,
that I want to watch those guys play.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
But other times, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
Just great games that are being played, and honestly, I'll
probably watch it until the wee hours of the night.

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
I'll be honest with you.

Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
I watched the end of the USC Michigan State game
last weekend. Some of you probably didn't. I don't know,
but I did. You know, It's just that's what I do.
It's what I get to do, what I love. I
love what I do. I'm a fan of our sport first,
and so I'll watch as many as I can. You know,
I struggle with the four box. I'll be honest with everybody.
I struggle with that. My my add kicks in I'm

(01:02:14):
all over the place. I kind of need to put
one channel on and then I'm the classic guy that
I hit previous channel. I go back and forth, and
if you're in the room with me, I'd probably piss
you off because I'm jumping around from game to game.
It's just sometimes I have my iPad, that TV and
maybe a TV outside of things going on. But the
four box thing jams me up. I struggle with that one.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Hey cod First off, that's what I do, is my gimmick,
and I need to, you know, give me a send
me a letter to get approval for that. But he
sounds like I'm a busy guy, but I'm just gonna
wing it like everybody else.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Yeah. Well, the thing that got me going was he's like,
I'm not a four box guy.

Speaker 3 (01:02:56):
My add kicks.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
Yeah, that's my family tells me all the time.

Speaker 3 (01:03:00):
Hearn off the four box. Let's just watch when we
watched one game, I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Like, no, because I'm paying attention to.

Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
All of them. Hey, John channel, that's my number one.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
Coming up next, we're gonna hear from the World's Strongest
man as he gives you his world's strongest take right
here on the morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred The Zone.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
That's what he do and he dude it all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:03:26):
At eight thirty right here on the morning kickoff. He's
recognized as the world's strongest man, but he is here
to bring you his world's strongest take, and he is
d Mark Henry.

Speaker 3 (01:03:39):
Take it away, big fella. Huh, what's up man?

Speaker 1 (01:03:42):
You know what, Thomas, It's time for the world's strongest
take by the world's strongest man.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
My guys, back then they didn't know me, but now hot.

Speaker 3 (01:03:58):
They all on them. Guys. My take today.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
Every bolves around sports, but it's not dealing with the
actual athletes. It's dealing with the general manager position.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
Oh lord, see Harden said, oh lord, because he's a
cowboy fan, That's exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
And it's not even about that. I'm gonna eat. I'm
going away from it. I'm going away from appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
I'm just saying right now, the best general manager in baseball,
they say, is Alex Anthropolist at the Braves, Andrew Freeman
at the Dodgers, and michae Elias at the Oreos. And
then you get to basketball, they say Sam Presty and

(01:04:54):
Andy Isburgh and Brad Stevens are like the cream of
the crow guys. And you get to the NFL and
of course Howie Roseman Les Need at the Rams and
they say Eric da Costa at the Rams.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
But there's a new there's a new guy in town.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
And the new guy is the general manager of.

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
The New Orleans Pelicans, Joe Dumars.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
And I had the pleasure of befriend in Joe Dumars
and doing a couple of events with Joe Dumars when
he was with the Pistons as well as right here
in Austin at the University of Texas. Joe's an unbelievable guy,

(01:05:47):
one of the best, one of the best businessmen in sports.
He's held every job from player to management to general man.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
He moved right on up.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Well, he took over the New Orleans Pelicans as the GM,
and let's just say that he went into that situation
and said, there's a new sheriff in town, a lot
like Aaron Glenn did as a new head coach at

(01:06:23):
the Jets.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
He was taking no prisoners.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
The first guy that he called in his office was
one Zion Williamson. He had a scale in the office.
I'm sorry he made him wigh. Zion Wagerson weighed two
hundred and ninety four pounds sixty six guard forward. He

(01:06:51):
can't call him a power forward, our center. He's He's
just a dynamic player. He said, you have to get
your weight down. He didn't ask, he said, you have to.
That is one of the things that you do. You
start at the head of the snake as a general manager.

(01:07:14):
Zion Williamson, guys is down thirty five pounds. He looks amazing,
and I think that he'll have less injury.

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
I pray he will.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
The value of a general manager and reconstructing. They brought
in guys that play roles, and the guys that he
brought in have won championships. He wanted championship role players,
not just your well we're gonna get the best forward
or the best guard we can get. No, No, I

(01:07:49):
want do you know your roles.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
That's what a good general manager do.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
He manages the way that he wants the team to
look in his image. And I think that that is
a that's a that's a great thing.

Speaker 1 (01:08:05):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
I lied.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
I said I was gonna stay off the Cowboys. The
Cowboys didn't They don't have that. They don't have a
general manager that's going in and fixing the problems. That's
why the problems are going to continue. With what what
just happened with Dumars going to the Pelicans hearts. Do

(01:08:27):
you think that that's where that's what they needed to change?

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
My thoughts.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
I think that the Pelicans are going to be a
more dangerous team because they have two stars and now
they brought in role players and the coach is holding
the stars accountable and what's say you, well.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
I mean, it's just a matter of a mindset for him.
The talent is there. That's the thing about Zion Williamson.
He's been talked about as he was a kid in
North Carolina or South Carolina. He's been one hell of
a player. The one thing that has been his problem
has been everything away from the ball, from the game.

(01:09:12):
It's been the nightlife, it's been the eating, it's been
not taking care of himself.

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
It's been health issues.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
And the reason why those health issues happened was because
of the fact that he wasn't taking care of himself.
For him to be able, because he's still young, for
him to continue to be a guy that is not
going to be a journeyman in this business. Is he
had to make a change. And Joe Dumars, as you said,
who's held every level that you can possibly have as

(01:09:40):
in the basketball, he has shown to him and talked
to him and mentored him to the point of, hey man,
you need to make a change if you want to
be where you thought you were going to be when
you came in this league. So there are some coaches
in some gms and some people that will step in,
but you got to have the buy in from the
player too.

Speaker 3 (01:09:58):
Do you think it's going to be your success? This
is my question. The Pelicans, the Perlicans are terrible. Well,
they can only move up.

Speaker 1 (01:10:06):
Yeah, say exactly, so, yeah, fly, Pelicans Fly. We'll see
what ends up happening. But I do I do for
the betterment of Zion Williamson. I do think it's going
to be a success for the betterment of him as
the main Yeah. Absolutely, We're gonna close off the show
and send you to Dan Patrick. The Giants finally make

(01:10:30):
a move, but they were not alone when they decided
to make one, as the Texans did too.

Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
Gotta go, gotta go right here on the.

Speaker 1 (01:10:38):
Morning kickoff on Sports Radio Am thirteen hundred Z. If
you missed any part of the show, all you gotta
do is get over to our podcast page. Marcus will
have that up immediately Following the show, you can catch up.

Speaker 3 (01:10:52):
On Danny Davis.

Speaker 1 (01:10:53):
You can hear our conversation about what happened with Mike
Gundy for those that are just tuning in where you've been.
But Mike Gundy was let go in Oklahoma. For Oklahoma State,
they are making a move to move on from him.
They said it was not an easy decision, but they
are one and eleven in their last twelve games, so

(01:11:14):
they felt that it was time to make a move. Also,
we had conversation about the pennant and who's going to win.
You'll hear from Texas baseball players tomorrow as I got
a chance to go to media Day. You'll hear from
Texas basketball players. Got a chance to talk to them
as well. And today Vic Schaefer is having his meetings
as well. Basketball start to practice tomorrow. They get a

(01:11:37):
chance to start practicing tomorrow. So there's a lot going
on with this Texas basketball team on the forty Acres
and the energy around all the sports and the possibilities
of what could happen. We also touched on it a
little bit, but quarterback for Oklahoma, John Mattier is going
to be out for an unspecified amount of time, and

(01:12:02):
they believe that it's at least going to be four
to five weeks, but not sure on that. Don't quote me,
but he is undergoing hand surgery for a broken bone
in his throwing hand. So if it was on his
off hand, it'd be a different conversation. But since it's
on his throwing him, it is a little bit too
a little too early to speculate when he would be back.

(01:12:24):
I do want to touch on this though, Mark. They
finally decided to make the decision and Jackson Dark is
now the starting quarterback for the New York Giants. Now,
you can't put a lot of the blame on Russell Wilson.

Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
They should have beat the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (01:12:46):
He threw for four hundred and fifty yards against the
Dallas Cowboys the first game.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
They could have won that one.

Speaker 1 (01:12:52):
As well, So for us to be blamed for this, okay,
but let me just tell you this, This next part
of the schedule for them is not easy when it
comes to who they're going to be facing for the
New York Giants. The New York Giants now will take

(01:13:12):
on the Los Angeles Chargers. Yikes, the New Orleans Saints
might be a little break right there. Then they played
the Eagles, the Broncos and the Eagles then forty nine ers.

Speaker 3 (01:13:24):
Yeah, that's not a good road to ho right there.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
Yeah, that's a tough decision to make for this young man.
But it is what it is. This is what you
signed up for. You got to gots to go to work.
And so now Russell Wilson is at a crossroads in
his career. Is this a moment that russ is sitting there,
because I know he's sitting there saying, I.

Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
Still got it. I am the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
But is this a moment of where the crossroads are
for him and his career?

Speaker 3 (01:13:54):
I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
And I think this is also that moment where you know,
I heard the conversation. Is his inaptitude to plan gonna
hurt him being in the Hall of Fame. I think
that his percentages are getting worse and it's gonna look
less appetizing to the committee that decides. The more he plays,

(01:14:20):
the worse he's getting, Like, look at the last three
coaches of like, look, man, I can't win with this guy.

Speaker 3 (01:14:27):
He sucks. Oh, I think two personnel wise, like.

Speaker 1 (01:14:31):
The situation with with the God don't like Sean Payton
was a little bit different. Well, Daniel Hackett situation was awful.
That was a bad bad since m Payton is Sean Payton's.

Speaker 2 (01:14:46):
Wearing is welcome out with the quarterback that he has
right now. Yeah, they argue with all the time, Like,
I mean, he's not Russell Wilson. Russell would be just
stand there and take it. This young man is like, hey, man,
don't talk to me crazy and he's giving it back
to him. So I don't see him being around much longer.

(01:15:07):
Shot shot that going overhere. But I do look at this.
I do look at markers. Get that when I'm right,
I'm right.

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
Oh lord radio, Sean Payton is not the one that's
right on right. But you start to look at all
of these guys and you realize that as a young
quarterback coming into this league, you're gonna sink or swim.
You're going up against this type of team. It's gonna
be interesting to see how he handles all of this,
because it's gonna be tough. Well, you know what helps

(01:15:36):
is the fact that he is Josh Allen like he can.
He can he can step up and run away from pressure.
And you know that was one of the things during
the draft that everybody kept saying, Man, the dude is
he's not reached his full potential yet. You know a
lot of quarterbacks they are who they are, right, they're

(01:15:57):
gonna be that this guy can improve. And I think
that that's what we're gonna see. I think that he'll
in the.

Speaker 2 (01:16:04):
NFL, he'll he'll get a lot of blanket coverages. You know,
they're gonna throw everything at and blitz wise. They're gonna
show him looks. They're gonna run a lot of shell
defense and just try to confuse him. But he can
always just put it down and run. And that's the
difference between him and everybody else.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
Well, you talk about put it down and run, but
just better be put it down and get down because
in the NFL, don'kay how big the NFL is there
for not for long if you don't run around and
get crazy. So it's an important part when you start
to see what happened to Lamar Jackson exactly. You mean,
Samuel LEL Samuel Jr.

Speaker 3 (01:16:44):
They figured him out.

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
You gotta make sure that you find a way to
get down. So it's gonna be a tough, tough look
for them. But they finally decided to hand the keys
to the city to that young man. So we'll see
what ends up happening in h town. They decided enough
was enough.

Speaker 3 (01:17:00):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (01:17:00):
Gardner Johnson has been given his walking papers are expagator,
I wish you well and CJ.

Speaker 3 (01:17:16):
Gardner is some Gardner.

Speaker 1 (01:17:18):
Johnson is somebody that runs his mouth a little bit
too much. Uh, the people in that locker room, and
it takes a lot for Domico to give up on you,
and for the communications lack thereof, and then always trying
to tell people, well we did this in Philly. Well
you're not in Philly because they got rid of you too,
so don't forget about that. And now you are going

(01:17:40):
to be looking for a home and I'm sure you
probably won't have to leave the state because the Cowboys
defense thinks so bad they might as well give you
a tryout too.

Speaker 3 (01:17:49):
Yeah, he got some horrible, horrible history. I mean, like.

Speaker 2 (01:17:54):
Everywhere he goes that people just we can't wait to
get rid of it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:59):
Yeah, he just got here. He just got to Houston.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
As they say, at the end of the night, his clothes.
You ain't you ain't got to go home, but you
do got to get the hell up out of here.
You know what I'm saying. Go find something good for
you to do. I want to thank Danny Davis for
joinping on with us as always. Make sure you tune
in tomorrow as we'll have Eric Henry of Horns two

(01:18:23):
four seven, we'll have our Legends of the Locker Room segment,
and so much more for Mark Henry, for Marcus.

Speaker 3 (01:18:30):
I'm hardall harsh.

Speaker 1 (01:18:31):
Just remember this, don't believe everything you see, because even
salt looks like sugar. Peace,