Turn the Page Tuesday: Texas Transfer Portal Shakeup, Anthony Hill Declares for NFL Draft, Heisman Debate & Big Win for Longhorns Basketball

Today is “Turn the Page Tuesday,” and the Texas Longhorns’ football team gets ready for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Anthony Hill decides to enter the NFL Draft; Four Longhorns enter the College Football Transfer Portal. Notre Dame confirms an automatic bid for CFP. Fernando Mendoza is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, and Curt Cignetti plays to win. Although Mendoza is the favorite to win the Heisman, who else are deserving candidates? We discuss. The Longhorns’ Basketball team defeated the Southern University Jaguars 95-65 with a big night from Sophomore Center Matas Vokietaitis, scoring 28 points. Major League Baseball announces Jeff Kent to its Hall of Fame, but some names are left off. “The World’s Strongest take!” Plus, we talked to Joe Cook of Inside Texas and On3 about the College Football Playoffs and Texas transfer portal situation. We also have “Voice of the Houston Texans” Marc Vandermeer after the 20-10 Texans victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. You can hear it all here on “The Morning Kickoff Show!”

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:36):
Or wherever you may be listening. This is a turn
the page Tuesday edition of The Morning Kickoff right here
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
We're still having.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Fallout from the college football playoff rankings. Teams are opting out,
but one team that will be playing will be the
Texas Longhorns. Heisman Trophy is all butt locked up. We'll
discuss that. Is it time for teams to go ahead
and start positioning themselves in the NFL for the draft.

(01:07):
Joe Cook of Inside Texas joins US at seven point
thirty four. Mark vandermir the voice of the Houston Texans,
join us at eight seventeen, and of course we've got
to talk Texas men's hoops.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I am your host, Mike Carballharts.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
My co host is a WWE Hall of Famer and
recognized as the world's strongest men. He is d Mark Henry.
Good morning Austin. And of course we've got our guy
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if you want to voice your opinion or get a
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(02:03):
to do is to lock in and use that talkback
feature on the new and improved and always free iHeartRadio app.
I'll give you the keyword of the day, leave the
voice message and you might get a chance to win
a pair of tickets. Well, let's get into it, because,
as I said to open it up, we have still
a lot of fallout from what's going on in college football.

(02:25):
A lot of it has to do with what's going
on with the ranking system, but there's also the transfer
portal and of course time for players to decide if
they're going to stay or if they're going to go,
and Texas is dealing with it. Yesterday we talked about
it briefly because we were about to end the show
when the news came out.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
That Cedric Baxter.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Cedric Baxter was going to be entering the transfer portal.
We talked about his season, how it was going down,
how it didn't go down, dealing with injuries, and I
guess you could say that they were looking to make
a move, and so CJ. Baxter decided it was time
for him to enter the transfer portal.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Earlier in the season.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Matter of fact, it was after the game against Florida
where Jarrett Gibson went back to Gainesville and did not
get a chance to play in the ballgame. And I
don't know if that had anything to do with anything,
but after we got back we heard that he was
going to be in the transfer portal. And that is
what happened. We also got a chance to talk about

(03:29):
Trey Owens. You know, they brought in Matthew Caldwell and
I was curious to what the situation was with one
Trey Owens. Trey Owens only appeared in two games at
the University of Texas, but we thought he was going to.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Be a guy.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Well, he has decided to enter the transfer portal and
Melvin Hills, a defensive lineman, has decided to enter the
transfer portal as well. But the biggest news coming out
yesterday Mark was Anthony Hill Junior had decided to declare
for the NFL Draft. And this is somebody that we
were really excited about all season along got a chance

(04:06):
to talk to him at SEC media days. Humble kid,
but a very tenacious, nasty, get bust your head open
type of linebacker that we all knew that we probably
had seen him play his last game at the University
of Texas after he had injured his arm.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
You know how hard job I really believe and truly
believe this when you have a player like him and
if they're not one hundred percent and you know that
they're gonna go in the draft, like everybody wants that guy.
We I mean, yes, we would love to have him
back next year, but why.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
The guy's ready for the league now.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
It would be a travesty for him to get an
injury and then his draft stocked the plummet.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
It's happened.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
The Cowboys had a cornerback in Revel who was that guy?
He was a top three corner in college football towards
ACL and Cowboys got him for cheap. We don't want
that for him, and with any injury and recovering from

(05:19):
an injury, we want him to be one hundred percent
at the combine. We want him to be one hundred
percent when it's time for him to get drafted. It's
great that that coach Sark says, hey man, you served
us well.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Thank you. Go and get yourself healthy and get yourself
ready for the draft. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
I think that this was something that we all knew
was going to happen. It was going to be his
last season here at the University of Texas just because
of the hype the Buckers Award finalists and probably could
have won it last year and a lot of people
were wondering why didn't and then him being able to
come back and be able to play in these matchups

(05:59):
has been great. He was electric all season long. The
one thing that let's put it like this, if Texas
would have been playing in the College Football Playoffs, he
would have played. He would he would have been definitely played. Yeah,
I mean that that there's no doubt in my mind.
But since this is happening and Texas is going to
play Michigan in the Citrus Bowl the cheese At Bowl,

(06:21):
it was time for him to get himself prepared for
that matchup. So we'll see what ends up happening with that.
But one of the things that hosted, Yeah, those are
the ones that we were talking about.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
But one of the things that coach.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Sark was asked on Saturday or when Sunday, when the
announcement came out that they were playing in the Citrus
Bowl against Michigan, he was asked about players that were
probably going to opt out, and he expected some of
this to happen.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
As far as us moving forward.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
You know, for me and I think for our players,
one of the key messages has to continue to be
it's not about what just happened to us, It's about
what are we going to do moving forward? And that'll
be our message starting tomorrow morning with the team and
the players. Naturally, we're gonna have to have discussions with
with a variety of players, some that have NFL aspirations,

(07:12):
some that may be thinking about potentially going to other schools.
That's the reality of the state of college football right now.
But I think, you know, jumping to that too soon
and making any emotional decision I think can be where
we can make a mistake. And so we've got to
be cognizant of that's the reality of the state of
college football. But also let's make sure that we're making

(07:34):
really good, conscientious decisions with with the right information and
not do anything out of out of you know, with
emotion or frustration. And so that'll be the process starting tomorrow.
And I'm sure it'll take a little bit of time
to get to the to the final number of of
who may and who may not play, But that's okay.
We've got a really young football team. We've got a

(07:54):
lot of good young players that are that are chomping
at the bit for their opportunity to play. We're gonna
get a lot of extended practice. Essentially, this is going
to turn into another Spring ball for us where a
lot of young players are going to get an opportunity
to show how much they've grown and developed over the season,
and with the opportunity to potentially play in this game
where this game doesn't count against their eligibility. So looking

(08:16):
forward to all parties on our team hopefully contributing to
the success in this game.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
That's a big thing, not having it play against you
your eligibility.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
Yeah, and every year it's that way.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
There's a couple of guys that get to play and
we find out why why didn't he play this year?
Because he had a guy in front of him that.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Was producing, That's why. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
So you now are looking at a team that is
going to try to find some help in certain positions.
Obviously Trey Wisner being a junior. We got Christian Clark
at the running back position, and of course you have
James Simon. Now they will get an opportunity to play.
kJ Lacey and Matthew Calwell are the backups to arch Manning.

(09:03):
But you talked about some of the younger players, Alance Jackson,
with Ethan Burke going to the next level. You got
Michael Tad playing his final game, So now you got
to look at Derek Williams junior and Jonah Williams, another
guy that'll get a chance to get back onto the
football field. Obviously we had the freshman Jason Grayson Littleton,

(09:25):
but you also had Kate Phillips step up. You got
Wardell Mack that got a chance to play. So you're
gonna see a lot of youth being served in this
bowl game.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
So it's an exciting time.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
A team that has been very upset about the whole
thing missing the college football playoffs is one. Notre Dame
and their athletic director got a chance to talk to
Dan Patrick, which follows our show every day on the
iHeartRadio app ANDAM thirteen hundred to Zone, and he pretty

(09:56):
much is fed up with the system in the way
things are going.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
Help me understand this, though, So are you guaranteed a
playoff berth if you're twelve or higher next season?

Speaker 6 (10:11):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (10:11):
I don't want to say too much about the memorandum
of understanding, but that's certainly been reported, that's out there,
and what you said is accurate.

Speaker 5 (10:19):
So next year, if you're ranked in the top twelve,
you're automatically in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Correct, Okay, and.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
Everybody agreed that like this was drawn up by Notre Dame,
and then the College Football Playoff Committee said we'll sign
off on that.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, it was part of.

Speaker 7 (10:36):
The negotiations as we were contemplating the various changes that
go into the committee and in preparation for the extension
of the ESPN deal.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
Del contact get on the following brother, make sure that
this happens. If note your name is swinging it like that,
why is the University of Texas not able to swing
it like that?

Speaker 3 (10:57):
I don't understand. Well, then we are up in that thing.
So it's just crazy.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
To me that Notre Dame is letting you know right
now they are four and they are bringing their hammer,
oh right now.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
And letting you know number what's what we're working with.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
We're not playing in the bowl games, nor are we
gonna sit back and just let you decide what our
future is. I don't they get so much power? Hey,
the Golden domers man, they let you know.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Doors.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
We're just getting started on business Tuesday edition of The
Morning Kickoff. We got Joe Cook of Inside Texas joining
us at seven point thirty four. But next we're gonna
talk Heisman Trophy presentation and there is an overwhelming favorite
to get the Heisman Trophy, and I think we know

(11:55):
the play that sealed the deal. Right here on the
morning kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone
and always.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Free on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Coming up one hour from now, we'll talk to the
voice of the Houston Texans, our guy Mark Vandermere, as
the Houston Texans find a way to get another win.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
So you know he is going to be fired up.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
And the next second we'll have Joe Cook of Inside
Texas talking all things Texas Longhorns as a lot is
happening on the forty Acres as they get ready to
go to the cheese At Bowl, which you can hear
right here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone
and always free on the iHeartRadio app as they get
ready to take on the Michigan Wolverines. But right now

(12:42):
we're gonna get into the Heisman Trophy conversation. The final
lists were named yesterday, and of course you know as
well as I do, a lot of folks are looking
at this Heisman Trophy ceremony and there's only four guys
that were invited. Julian saying the quarterback for Ohio State,
who played his behind off all season long, but came

(13:05):
up a little bit short in the Big Ten championship game.
Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love, who a lot of
folks thought he should win the Heisman, putting up the
numbers that he is, and of course he's going to
be looked at in the NFL Draft pretty high. Diego
pavia Is made the trip to New York as a

(13:27):
Heisman Trophy finalist, and Fernando Mendoza, the quarterback for the
Big Ten champs Indiana Hoosiers and of course the number
one seed now in the college football playoffs. This is
a guy that had gained momentum early, continued to get
it going, and he is the overwhelming favorite right now

(13:51):
at minus one thousand to win the Heisman Trophy. Diego
pavia of Vanderbilt plus six hundred, Jeremiah Love plus fifteen thousand,
and of course Julian's saying plus seventy thousand, So.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
No way, no how, putting all that money out there.

Speaker 8 (14:14):
No.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
You said it a couple of weeks ago that it
was going to come down to who won that game
out of Indiana and Ohio State, and you were one
hundred percent right, and I think that if Mendoza doesn't
get it, it's highway robbery.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
It's minus one thousand one thing. That means, if you
bet one hundred you get what ten dollars? Yep, one dollar,
you got one dollars. Wow, ten dollars.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, you're right. But here, here, here's the biggest thing.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
And Kirk Signetty was asked about that because Jacob mendo
I mean, Fernando Mendoza got smoked on the first play
of the game. I'm talking about absolutely crazy. Yes, he
was locked in and he laid there for a second.
I didn't realize his brother, who is probably better than
him they say, was the backup quarterback and he was

(15:02):
getting ready to go into the game. He ended up
coming back in and after that first quarter he started
to light it up. But there was a crucial play
that pretty much stealed the deal for him to become
the Heisman Trophy winner.

Speaker 9 (15:15):
I mean they had when we started to drive, they
had time and timeouts, you know, enough time with their
timeouts for about sixteen plays at the start of our drive,
and then they used their timeouts and that you know,
I wasn't going to play not to lose. We were
playing to win. And the one thing, you know, we

(15:36):
do spend a lot of time on the clock. I mean,
players are left in the game, things of that nature.
We kind of figured we had to get about.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Three first downs. That's why I told team, so, you
got to get a first down.

Speaker 9 (15:48):
I wasn't going to punt the ball back to him
with two minutes ago and no timeouts. We had to
give our guys an opportunity to make plays. We were
getting on top of them at certain points in that
game and was throwing great deep balls and it was
great play.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
Third and six late in the game through a deep ball,
outstanding catch to his roommate, who seems to be.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
A lot of that going around in college football.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
But he made the big play, big play down the
sideline on a third and six. Latenit ball game, and
they found a way to get it done. Is it
pretty much a rap for Fernando Mendoza to accept that
award this Saturday?

Speaker 3 (16:28):
I think so. I think running away.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
I think running away and twice I saw him play
twice this year the Super Game where they threw the
touchdown with Penn State Penn State with no time on
the clock. In this game, I see what everybody sees
in him. He is very accurate, and he can throw

(16:53):
on the move, and he has a great deep ball throw.
And we saw his tough and in this game, we
saw him get hit in the mouth.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
And I say that about Art too.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Art stands in there and takes This is a couple
of times guys have got the Arch and Arch just
said no and threw his shoulder and the guys that
were blitzing him like he's a bully.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
But but but but this this man those got up Hart.
You you talked about it. You alluded to the fact
that he got smoked and he just he didn't jump up.
But when he did gather his faculties, he was the
same guy, maybe even better because he got woke up.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, he was say he's a guy that I didn't
I hadn't seen him play a ton this year saw
him you know, obviously highlights and some of the things
that he was able to achieve. But when you watched
him play, and I mean they were they were taking
video shots of him where he was bleeding all over

(17:58):
his arm, but he was out there being tough. And
then you get a chance to hear him in the
post game and his enthusiastic way of feeling about his
teammates and the way that that game happened, and the
fact that he was a transfer coming in and being
able to lead this team to the to the Big
Ten championship and the number one seed all season long

(18:23):
and he's been consistent. I mean, it's hard for you
not to have success when you got a guy like
Kirk Signetti who is oh uber confident in everything that
he does.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Said, we weren't going to play for a time.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
We we wasn't playing the exactly And that's my point.
You gotta go after it. You gotta go out. If
you lose like that, did you go to sleep at night? Well,
you believe in your team. That's the team. That's the
thing to me is like he believed in his playmakers
to go and make up play for him and for themselves,

(19:03):
and that's exactly what he was able to do.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
That's also little pressed. That's also a little confident in
your defense.

Speaker 1 (19:09):
Even if you don't make that play, you still believe
your defense can make the stop.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
And they because they've been making stops the whole game.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
They were destroying what you saw from Ohio State. Ohio
State couldn't get it going at all against those guys.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
They got to play late.

Speaker 1 (19:25):
But you start looking at what Indiana it was, and
you start to understand can they do it all?

Speaker 10 (19:32):
Though?

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I mean, can they get all the way to the championship?
Are they a championship caliber team?

Speaker 3 (19:40):
I don't see why not. I don't see why not.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
And if you start to look at the odds, and
I think you and I talked about this a little
bit yesterday before we left the show. You know, James
Madison playing Oregon is a Oregon is a twenty one
point favorite in a playoff game? Like how they do
that at And then you look at Old Miss in Tulane.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Even with Old Miss's situation. I heard today that they're.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Bringing back all the offensive coaches for Old Miss to
get ready for this playoff game, except for Lane Kiffin.
Ole Miss is a seventeen and a half point favorite
against Tulane.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
They've already smacked.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
You decide who's gonna call the plays when you have
the election, and Lane Kiff called the player.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
No, he wasn't calling all the plays. You got the
offensive coordinator there, Charlie Weiss he's going to be able
to call the plays. And that's exactly what I would
That's what I would assume. I mean, that's the voice
they've been hearing the whole time. So Charlie Weis will
be the offensive play caller, our Pete Golden is the
defensive guy, and he'll be the head coach moving forward.
So they got that part of it right. Then you

(20:50):
also have to look at the Texas A and M
in Miami game, Miami coming to college station. Think about that,
Texas A and M taking a Miami coming to college station.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
How bad does A and M bet them?

Speaker 1 (21:05):
That's a culture shock for them. They've been there, they've
been there. A and M has already played Miami before.
But look, here's the deal Miami and in Texas A
and M it's only a four point game on paper,
you think that the key to the game for Miami
to win the game. If Miami and Carson Beck doesn't

(21:28):
turn the ball over, Miami can win that game, no.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
Doubt about it. That's why a lot of.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
Folks were like, if anybody's getting in in this Miami,
I don't know if I want that. And then you
got Alabama traveling to Norman. Norman Oklahoma is a point
and a half favorite in that game. So you have
some games that are tight and then you got some
games that are like once, that's Domino's turn it over exactly.

(21:57):
When we come back, we're gonna talk to Joe Cook
of Inside Texas and get the latest from him, see
what he's hearing about the forty Acres and who might
be leaving early.

Speaker 3 (22:10):
Right here on the.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Morning Kickoff on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone
and always free on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome back to
the Morning Kickoff right here on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred the Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app.
It's Tuesday, so that means we get a chance to
talk to our guy, Joe Cook of Inside Texas for
all the latest. Make sure you follow them at Joseph

(22:33):
Cook eighty nine. And Joe, I wanted to get into
the conversation of Obviously, changes are happening on the forty Acres.
Texas is not getting into the college football playoffs, but
there are some things that are happening, and one of
those things is the transfer portal and of course players
entering the NFL Draft.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
We'll start with Anthony Hill junior.

Speaker 1 (22:57):
He made it known yesterday that he is going to
entered the NFL Draft, and we are all happy for him.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Talk about his career on the forty acres.

Speaker 10 (23:07):
Yeah, this is a player who's kind of defined the
rise and the defensive excellence at Texas. You know, before
he showed up at twenty twenty two season, the offense
was pretty quality, but the defense was not to the part.
It was better than it wasn't twenty twenty one, but
it was still pretty poor. Well, then Anthony Hill shows
up and that twenty twenty three defense is a lot better,

(23:30):
and he played a small role in that, a growing
role in that. Fast forward to twenty twenty four and
he's right in the middle of everything playing that middle
linebacker spot, just recording sony tackles, tackles were lost, making plays,
being around the ball. They had another great year this year.
I have to do a little bit more middle linebacker
stuff and you know, maybe moving around a little bit,

(23:53):
and his stats look a little bit different, but his
effectiveness was still high level throughout the whole his career.
And you know, just someone who you can always tell
had a real joy.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
In playing the game. And uh, was.

Speaker 10 (24:06):
You know, I think he doesn't always come off as
like serious. He comes off as kind of playful, but
then you you kind of look at what he does
on the field and know that he's very serious about
football and was always serious about what he did. So
definitely someone who is recorded one of the better defensive
careers on the forty acres this century and someone I'm

(24:28):
looking forward to tracking in the NFL Joe Joe.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
With Anthony Hill being leaving and we have a Mookie
being a senior, is what do we have to look
forward to coming up in this Bowl game as well
as next season in Gays that replace him.

Speaker 10 (24:54):
Yeah, I mean I'm always going to start with Colin Simmons.
You know, you get one more year of him, and
it's kind of like Anthony Hill. You can always tell
who's who's do the players that anticipate being here for
three years and leaving, and he's definitely one of them.
And then you can look around at you know, some
of the defensive backfield, Grace and Lyttleton, someone I'm still
really excited about and replacing Michael taff. You know, it's

(25:16):
gonna be tough, but that's gonna be what somebody like
Jonah Williams has asked to do, or even Derek Williams
or exager Phil Smith, some of those guys. And then
looking at the front, you know, Ethan Burk's gonna move on.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
He's running out of eligibility.

Speaker 10 (25:30):
But we saw Lance Jackson get a lot of snaps
this year, and Lance Jackson's going to be someone who Look,
you're gonna get tested against this Michigan team. They may
not be the of the hard block quality of years past,
but they still are pretty you know, rough and tumble.
They like pounding the rock and here it's your turn
to see if you can hold up on some of
those plays coming here on New Year's Eve.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, I'm excited for for what the future may look
like in that secondary with the Williams and Williams Law
firm in the back, and possibly what's going to happen
on the outside. But I wanted to talk about the
transfer portal too, Joe, because obviously Trey Owens, he was
somebody that I thought was going to be the backup.
Then they went out and got Matthew Caldwell and we

(26:12):
never got a chance to see what Matthew I mean,
what Trey Owens could be, and then of course C. J.
Baxter getting into the transfer portal. Are there any other
names that we should be kind of aware of that
with the possibility of jumping into transfer portal?

Speaker 11 (26:31):
Yeah, I look for some guys in the O line,
and I.

Speaker 10 (26:34):
May look for a receiver to be, you know, making
plans now today. And you know, this is kind of
that time of year where Stark and Company or having
their exit interviews and saying, hey, you know, this is
what we're looking for and what we're you know, thinking
about your career and you know, if that's the thing
you want to continue here, we'd love to have you.

(26:55):
Or sometimes maybe hey, we think it's best if you
move on. So I think you may see it from
a variety of positions, but those are two that kind
of stand out right now.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
So I wanted to ask too. Joe.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
We're talking to Joe Cook of Inside Texas. You can
follow them at Joseph Cook eighty nine. You know, Texas
obviously left out of the college football playoffs and the
committee still, like I said before, whenever you leave humans
up to it, it's going to be they're going to
be fighting for their own conference and their own teams.
But moving forward, how do you see the committee or

(27:28):
what would you do to see that this doesn't happen again,
where these G five teams get two teams instead of one.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
You know, I am not mad about that.

Speaker 10 (27:41):
I think it is actually these conference commissioners. You know,
they never thought that James Madison would be ranked ahead
of the ACC champion.

Speaker 3 (27:51):
Well, the ACC champion.

Speaker 10 (27:53):
Is so bad that they're not even ranked, and so
all these conference commissioners thought like, oh, well, you know
all the four highest rank or the five highest rank
conference champions, Well, it's gonna be Big ten, big Big twelve,
Big ten, a cc SEC and then okay, G five
fight it out. It wasn't a G five carve out,
although I guess in practice it was, but it was

(28:14):
a you know, the five highest rated conference champions get in,
and nobody had the foresight to think that in back
to back years a G five team would one get
a bye and then two two of them would get in.
So I'm I'm not particularly upset about that. I think
if if we had a twelve team playoff for like
thirty years or something like that, I think the instances

(28:36):
of you know, the two G five teams getting in
would would be very very rare because somebody from the ACC,
like Clemson or you know, Miami or Florida State, who
actually wins their conference title would would take care of things.
But as far as you know, the discussion goes, I
see what Notre Dame is upset just because you know,

(28:56):
and I think Reyes Davids kind of hammered the Hunter rig.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Well on this.

Speaker 10 (29:00):
He's like, look, the result is agreeable, but the process
stunk because you basically said, well, we're not comparing these
two teams, and then why weren't you comparing them? Like
they are two spots away, they have to be literally
back to back, and that's a clunky process. You know,
watching everything this past weekend, Texas was never mentioned. You know,

(29:20):
they weren't on graphics, they weren't brought up as lookout
for them. And I think what that reveals is that, yes,
the Florida loss was bad, but that record really is
the first filter, and that's what they're going to use
first to determine what they want in the playoff team.
And look at their record just wins and losses, and
instead of what that record came from, who it's from.

(29:43):
And again Florida lost does loom large. But the fact
that Texas wasn't even really talked about, whereas last year
there were nine and three teams talked about. I think
also speak a little bit to just the way too
big conferences that make the faultles complicated. But you know,
the G five team, it doesn't bother me. That's what

(30:05):
you agreed to, and you know, you never thought that
that consequence would come true. And here it is and
back to back years. But the Notre Dame in Miami thing,
that's a good result with this awful process.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
That I'm trying to figure out. You know what we
can do about it?

Speaker 2 (30:19):
Joe, what is the number one thing that that should
be done to regnify this situation?

Speaker 3 (30:25):
I don't think and this is just my opinion.

Speaker 6 (30:28):
But.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Wins and losses is not always the number one factor.

Speaker 10 (30:36):
I mean, I'd go back to eight, but I don't
know if that's ever going to happen.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
I really don't know.

Speaker 10 (30:41):
You know, college for as long as college football has existed,
crowning a champion has not really been it's you know
what it's been good at. I think instead of going
to eight, we're going to go to sixteen. And so look,
you'll you'll have all these different teams.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
The further the tournament.

Speaker 10 (30:58):
Expands, easier it is to, you know, have these bubble teams,
have this team left out and think, okay, you know
what if it was team number five. Yeah, they have
a good claim that they could beat team number one,
but team number thirteen or team number seventeen, anything can happen.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
But that's a little bit tougher.

Speaker 10 (31:18):
So I think they're just going to try to solve
the problem by making the playoff bigger.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
I don't know what.

Speaker 10 (31:22):
That means for conference championships or for schedules or anything
like that, but I think they're just going to say, like, look,
we just.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Add more teams.

Speaker 10 (31:30):
And you know, the further you go down the list,
the less worthy or the less likely it is that
one of these teams they get snubbed or sneaks in,
is going to be someone that goes on a run
and you know, beats the number one team and then
beats the number eight or nine team and does stuff
like that.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, that's kind of crazy when you sit back and
look at it. I love Paul Wallington's lead. A few
quick thoughts on the HOA disguised as learned men who
just make up the playoff feel. I thought that was
awesome right there. As always, Joe Man, we appreciate you.
And there thanks for taking the time to kind of
learn us a little bit about your thoughts on what's

(32:08):
going on on the forty.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
As always, Man, we appreciate you. Brother. Absolutely, guys, thank you.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
There is Joe Cook of Inside Texas and yeah, go
over and read a bunch of those stories because there's
a lot of them over there that kind of break
down everything and keeps you up to day.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
With the transfer portal.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Coming up next, we're gonna close out hour number one
Talk Texas Men's Hoops, and here from the Star of
the game right here on the morning kickoff on Sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone and always free on
the iHeartRadio app Trapping Zone.

Speaker 8 (32:40):
You'd go in the corner and Cam Heidi immediately shoots
over it and knocks down the three rebound tip loose
and the Longhorns habit. Heidi to Pope and.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Running the pipe in for the slam.

Speaker 8 (32:48):
Duck bought us focus Titus great past Pope to focut
Titus and bod Us throws it down down by swaying
to Cam. Heidi in the hornsbreset now little left side
sway goingatitis for the slam duck, swing to the right side,
works at weaver back to Daylan Swain left wide open
for three, and he drains to the right side. Jordan

(33:09):
Pope a three pointer and it's good. Jordan's third three
of the ball game, and the Longhorns now lead at
sixty eight to forty. Daylan Swain top of the arm,
across the floor and now into the corner. Heidi shot
bake on the three, drives in the score off the glass,
driving along the baseline in a nice food made by
Daylan swayin for the bucket and the rebound tip loose
by vocatitas controlled by Pope. Jordan dribbles into the paint

(33:32):
a fade away from twelve feet is good, bounce past.
Heidi drives into the paint and then threw it across
the floor in the corner, whiltro of the saving and
bounds off the Pope, who drives through two defenders and
scores off the glass. Pope a quick trigger for three.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
It's good.

Speaker 8 (33:47):
Jordan with eighteen in the ball game and four may
threes to the long Horns lead ninety five sixty four.
Long Horns inbound to Brandon Taylor brings in the front
court off the Deckland Root and Shawn Miller says, no
more shots, so Taylor will hold the ball.

Speaker 10 (34:06):
Man.

Speaker 8 (34:06):
That'll do it. Texas Loghorns will get the win tonight.
Final score here for Moody Center, the Texas long Horns
ninety five and the Southern University Jaguars sixty nine.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Texas goes out and win ninety five to sixty nine.
Game was heard right here on sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred the Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app
with the voice of the Texas Longhorns one Craig Way,
and we're going to give you an opportunity to win
a pair of tickets to go see the Texas Longhorns
men's basketball team as they take on Lemoine on December

(34:43):
the sixteenth. All you got to do is get over
to AM thirteen hundred the Zone on the allways free
iHeartRadio app, tap that red microphone next to AM thirteen
hundred the Zone.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Leave the keyword of the day, Pope.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Pope is the key word to get a chance to
be inner to win a pair of tickets to go
see the Texas Longhorns December the sixteenth against Lemoy right
here at the Moody Center. We'll be giving you a
chance to win tickets all week long, So stay locked in.
But yes, let's get into the conversation about this Texas

(35:16):
men's basketball team, because it still looks like a work
in progress, and I know that at this point coach
Sean Miller does not want it to be looking like that.
But Texas goes out and gets the victory and Matus
what do I say?

Speaker 3 (35:32):
His name was vat Vauta Tunis.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
He met with Craig Way after a career night where
he had twenty eight points and fourteen of fourteen from
the free throw line. It was a big game for
him and of course him making all those free throws
in one single game.

Speaker 8 (35:51):
Back on the Blood like postgame shows we visit with
Madus Poketitis a career high twenty eight. Are you more
proud of that? Or the fourteenth for fourteenth or the
free throw line?

Speaker 3 (36:02):
I think probably three throws? Yeah?

Speaker 8 (36:04):
Is that something that you seem to have a very
natural rhythm to it?

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Is it?

Speaker 8 (36:09):
Is it all about routine and in a mental thing,
getting into your mind about it.

Speaker 12 (36:13):
I think it's about everything, like every day thre throw
shooting routine. It's a good thing, everything together and then
you see what the results.

Speaker 8 (36:21):
Yeah, in a in a much larger, more competitive league
than what you were dealing with the past. How would
you say the learning has gone for you day by
day to become a better player every day.

Speaker 12 (36:32):
I think I'm trying to get better every day, working
hard every day and going in every game game.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Like it's my last game. All right.

Speaker 8 (36:40):
I got to ask about this. Your parents are in
from Lithuania. How important was that to you?

Speaker 12 (36:45):
I mean, I'm very happy that to you here, very much.
What's my second game Texas? That's motivates me.

Speaker 8 (36:53):
Did they get a chance to see you much at FAU.

Speaker 13 (36:56):
Yeah, we come one time. It's also two games. They
liked the United States. They okay with it. Thanks Potus,
Thank thank you. That's focus Titus.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
Great stuff by him and this Texas basketball team. As
I said, they shot the ball well from the free
throw line. They were ninety percent from the free throw line,
which has been a struggle for them as of late.
But for them to go out there and go twenty
nine of thirty two fourteen or fourteen by Mantis and
eight from eight from Simon Wilcher. So they did what

(37:30):
they needed to do from the free throw line.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
I think that's a byproduct of them being focused. We
talked about them needing to come back and refocus and
work on the things that they failed at against Virginia,
and you said, the true test is going to be
against Connecticut. Absolutely, but you got to start somewhere. I
agree you can. You cannot expect to go up against

(37:58):
Yu Khan, who is a perennial.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Elite eight team and.

Speaker 2 (38:06):
Not have your fundamentals down as against the teams you
should be. So I commend them for coming back and
getting into the flow and having some perfects. Sometimes it's rare,
even against nobody to shoot perfects. Texas only had one
player that was below five hundred, especially big men, especially

(38:28):
big guys.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Well, the one thing that I'm going to continue to
look at too is assist the turnover racial seventeen assists
to thirteen turnovers.

Speaker 3 (38:37):
Got to clean that.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Up because if you look at what Southern was able
to do, they had ten assists and they have fourteen turnovers.
You created those turnovers but points off of turnovers, Texas
only had fourteen. They had sixteen. There's some areas of
concern obviously for this Texas basketball team. Victory is a
victory and now you're on to the next thing. And

(39:00):
like I said, the challenge will be Friday. They come
out and play like this on Friday, then we can
have a serious discussion. And I'm sure coach Sean Miller
would say the same thing. Our number one is in
the books, our number two is around the corner.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Is it time for some teams to take a dirt down?

Speaker 1 (39:18):
I know, I know, I won't talk about it right
here on the Morning Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen
hundred zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app. Welcome
back to our number two of the Morning Kickoff right
here on sports Radio AM thirteen hundred zone and free
on the iHeart Radio.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
I'm so happy right now. I mean, you invited me
to come.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
I did not, So don't tell people that don't tell
people that don't, don't.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
I did not say that that.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
I could come and stay at the hardest states.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
I'm gonna promise you promise you let me let me
do this.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
I'm looking directly in the camera, and I'm telling you,
I did not say that. I said that I would
be welcome.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
No, I applied that if you did what I told
you to do, you would have to come.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
To that house with me.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
So yeah, I guess you could say that I invited
you over unintentionally sounded like it.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Number one, we got a chance to talk about Texas
football and guys in the transfer portal Trey Owens, Jered Gibson, C. J.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Baxter, and Melvin Hills defensive lineman.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
And of course Anthony Hill Junior getting into the transfer portal.
We also talked about the overwhelming favorite Mendoza, Fernando Mendoza,
the quarterback for Indiana. He should be crowned the Heisman
Trophy winner and I can't wait to hear that.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
Speech because that dude is enthusiastic.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
We also talked about text s Hooop and we heard
from our guy, Joe Cook of Inside Texas. Coming up
at eight seventeen, we'll talk to the voice of the
Houston Texans, Mark Vandermere, and I know he's gonna be
excited because the Texans get another big victory against a
team that they.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Were not expected to beat.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
But is it time to put dirt on the Kansas
City Chiefs? And I think there's only one way to
do that.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Oh I like that. Turn off the lights, Laurel. There
it goes there. It is Is it time?

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Mark Henry, You have been saying this for quite some
time that the Kansas City Chiefs, even though they have
a little bit of an opportunity to get into the
football playoffs, you say it is time to put the
dirt on them. Haarja, I've been telling you for the
last two weeks. The coffin was shut.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
I had the ham in my hand and the nail
the nail was in the hole, and I was kind
of tapping, you.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
Know, just tapping his set.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
And now it's completely nail shut. And I told you,
I need one of the back hole, the bulldoze or
something to push the dirt the back of the kiffins,
to push the dirt on top of the Kansas City Chiefs.
This is not the year you said it best. They've

(42:34):
played the last five years of high end football all
the way to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
It's caught up with them. They need a break. Every
team goes through it. Look at the Eagles. I told
you last season Hey, the Eagles not coming back. What'd
you tell me?

Speaker 6 (42:55):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (42:56):
No, man, they and they prime they're not coming back.
When you play that much football, football is a hard
sport on your body, and you need to recover. They
need This is their recovery year. They'll be all right
next year. But this is the year for them to rest.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
And so now you look at these teams and you
continue to say, all right, Kansas City Chiefs sitting at
six and seven. The Denver Broncos are running Dominos, turn
it out, are running away with that AFC West. If

(43:38):
you would have told me that, I would have told you.
I was like, man, you tripping over there, taken until
they and out with Mike McDaniel exactly. So now you're
starting to look at these teams and you say, is
this over for them?

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Now?

Speaker 1 (43:54):
The teams like the Vegas Raiders. We know that the
Tennessee Titans, even though they gotta win, they've been eliminated.
Cleveland's eliminated. New York Jets have been eliminated.

Speaker 6 (44:04):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
In the NFC, the Giants and the Commanders, the Falcons,
which I'm just distraught by the Falcons, New Orleans Saints
and the Arizona Cardinals are all teams that have been eliminated.
But then you start to look at a team like
the Indianapolis Coats. They are pulling Philip Rivers out of

(44:25):
retirement from coaching his kid to come into the practice
squad at forty four years old to try to get him.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
This is not the first time you acting like this
is the first.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Time about bringing a guy back from the dead. But
here's the deal. But here's the deal. How in shape
is Philip Rivers?

Speaker 9 (44:45):
Man?

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Het there with those kids? He feeling alive? You got
a lot of them to keep. Hey, he is not
resting on his laurels.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
Why I'm out that running out texting them kids? I
got even got grand kids out there.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
Not no drinkings yet. But he's closed. Well, here's the
other part of it. Is it time for us after
what we saw the other night? Is it time for
us to sprinkle it on the Baltimore Ravens as well?

Speaker 11 (45:12):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (45:14):
Yes, hard Before you get to the Ravens, let's let's
stay on. Let's let's stay on on on the Colts
for a second. Yep, the Colts have The prime example
is John Kittner.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
Remember that just two seasons ago a season ago.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
They dusted off a guy that was sitting on his
couch in Cleveland and they brought Joe Flacko back.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
This is nothing new.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
To be able to like Philip Rivers knows every he
can look at their playbook for about a week and
go Okay, I got it.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
Yeah, he's definitely he's a pro.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
But here's the thing for me, there's guys that are
out there that are unsigned that have played this year,
Like why was this the reason that they are unsigned?
But I'm saying, why would you go get Philip Rivers?
This is a guy Riley Leonard is you're gonna be
your quarterback, you can go and get somebody else. Look,
I understand they're trying to get somebody in that could

(46:21):
be a guy that can hold them on. We are
sitting at this position right now. What are they eight
and five right now? Yes, they are sitting at eight
and five in second place, tied with the Houston Texans
and a game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars. You're making it,
you are making this entertaining for the show because I

(46:41):
know you know better.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
I'm not bringing.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Philip Rivers fifteen years, twenty years in the business. I
used to pray, God, let my body revert about seven
years yep, because what I know now, if I had
that seven years ago in that body, oh my god,
it wouldn't have been fair. Yeah, but Philip Rivers don't

(47:04):
have what he had five years ago.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
And not only that, here's the thing for me.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Daniel Jones is a quarterback of the Indianapolis coach who
tried to play through an injury with his leg and
he ended up tearing his achilles. Why would I want
to put myself through that? Knowing look, Philip Rivers maybe
in the backyard playing.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
Literally just don't know enough yet exactly.

Speaker 1 (47:30):
So why not go and get another quarterback that is
out there that you know has been doing some things
that will probably kind of.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Your number one guy is Jameis Winston.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Well he's Jamis's I mean, you can't make any trades now,
so you got to go and get somebody off free agency.
But the other part of it is, look, are they
going to be able to sustain this? I don't think
they're gonna be able to sustain it. I think it's
gonna be a problem for them. Flacco is in Cleveland.
He's not gonna play anymore, not Cleveland, but in Cincinnati

(48:01):
he's done. You have to find somebody that has been
playing to get you back into U a comparable position because.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
Lois who think.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Jeff DRIs, I'm not Jay from No.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
You have no idea who I can't even say the
name right.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
So you start looking around and trying to figure this out.
And I don't know if Indianapolis is going to have
enough to finish this.

Speaker 3 (48:34):
Run, regardless of dirt on them.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
I'm not gonna put dirt, but they're gonna have to
have some miracle work that happens around them, because there's
no way without Daniel Jones, Danny Dimes and the fact
that we're saying Danny Dimes is.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
And now he is Danny on the I R.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
So he is out of there. So you start looking
at these teams. But the real story in football is
it's two teams. It's the Denver Broncos and the New
England Patriots. Both of these teams are sitting at eleven
and two coming into this season. If you told me
that both of those teams would be on a ten
game winning streak right now, I would again you would

(49:15):
have thought I was on that. Mike mcdangel I thought
you wouldn't got the time.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
But looking at Mike y'all, we've been we've been very
harsh on Mike McDaniel. Maybe that is tobacco and can
Maybe it's tobacco, because like they won three in a row,
and they won them convincingly for four now four convincing
wins in a row. So maybe I was wrong, but

(49:44):
it looked like it didn't look like tobacco smoke. When
you hear him talks, when you hear him talk, you
know that he is impaired, and tobacco don't impair you like.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
So listen, listen.

Speaker 1 (49:59):
Going back to the two teams that we're looking at
that I'm saying New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos.
New England is plus one ten in scoring differential, the
Broncos are plus seventy three in scoring differential. That's impressive

(50:21):
you sit back and look at it. And then you
got the NFC South where everybody in the NFC South
has a negative point differential minus twenty six, minus fifty,
minus sixty one and minus one hundred and nine. And
the team with minus one hundred and nine one last week.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
I would not want to play Houston.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Well, speaking of coming up next, great segue, Mark Henry,
speaking of we will be talking to the voice of
the Houston Texans, Mark vandermere after that big victory against
the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
He's gonna be fired up right here on.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
The morning kickoff on Sports Radio and thirteen hundred The
Zone and always free on that iHeartRadio app. This is
such a fun, fun day every Tuesday, we get excited
to talk to our guy, Mark VanderMeer, the voice of
the Houston Texans. You can put them on social media
at Texan's Voice, but you can also hear him right

(51:20):
here for every game on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred
The Zone.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
You went to Arrowhead.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
And you came back victorious twenty to ten. And let's
just say it was a game that was very impressive,
forcing Patrick Mahomes into three interceptions, but more importantly, that
Texans defense continues to show up weekend and week out.

Speaker 6 (51:47):
Yes, guys, that was football bliss going into that place
watching their.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
Fans leave early.

Speaker 6 (51:54):
Travis Kelsey won't talk to the media, Rashi Rice won't
talk to the media. You know, you can't be a
front runner if you're going to take all the praise
and all the publicity when you're winning, you got to
be able to stand up there and take it when
you get the daylights beaten out of you by the
Houston Texans. And this is not the first team They've
done it too. It won't be the last team they

(52:15):
do it too. They are a dangerous, violent defense, and
you saw it in the game. Guys don't want to
go across the middle. This is not the seventies. This
is not the old days where you had Jack Tatum
and players like that.

Speaker 11 (52:29):
But you know what, it's a.

Speaker 6 (52:30):
Modern version of a violent, hard hitting defense that people
do not like facing. And I think it can take
them a long way if they can get everything else
together along with it.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
When you look at your division in the AFC South,
obviously you're still chasing the Jacksonville Jaguars, but you saw
what happened with the Indianapolis Colts and now they are
trying to figure out what they're going to do next.
So when you have a team like this in the
Houston Texans, with this defense, Dmico Ryan scenes to believe

(53:02):
that now all we have to do is take care
of the football and don't put our defense in bad situation.

Speaker 6 (53:10):
Yeah, and I think that's the formula, right. I think
that you saw that in the game, because when you
look at the quarterback comparison, both quarterbacks were under fifty
percent completion rate. The defenses were getting after it, but CJ.
Stroud very careful not to take sacks too many anyway.
He had a lot of sack saving throws. Just get
the incompletion, avoid the sack, don't try to do too much,

(53:33):
don't turn the ball over. Mahomes meanwhile, three interceptions the
Chiefs themselves two turnovers on downs in the fourth quarter
in their own end. You didn't see that from the
Houston Texans. And that's a big difference in this game
and a lot of games, you know, against the Colts,
it wasn't like they were great in the in the
takeaway department. They did turn it over once and they

(53:56):
didn't get any takeaways, but they played so tight defensively
and well it up offensively that they got to win.
The coach have suffered a football death of sorts with
the loss of Daniel Jones, so you have to think
that they're done. The reports that they're working out Philip
Rivers today, my goodness. But the Jaguars looked pretty good,
and I thought the Texans were going to take their

(54:17):
souls when they beat them at NRG Stadium and that comebacker.
But since then the Jags have been really good. So
it's anybody's guests and down the stretch week up.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Mark, I know your feet of not touching the ground
yet after that victory, Let's talk about the coaching because
they made as good a coaching decisions as I've seen
Houston make this season in the plays that they called
and the down in distance and where they where Marks

(54:49):
got the ball to run and how they ran him.
Let's talk about the coaching strategy and philosophy in that game.

Speaker 6 (54:59):
Well, I think, you know, some of it looks conservative
and some of it is conservative, you know, and they
ran the ball. I think it's I don't have the
numbers in front of me. Was it twenty six carries
for sixty something yard? That he wasn't much? But they
kept with it, you know, they kept hammering it because
they knew they had to try to shorten the game
and keep them all away from Mahomes as much as possible.

(55:20):
And they were pretty good on third down overall throughout
the course of the game, so they were able to
extend enough drives. And when I say that, I know
they had the four to three and ouns.

Speaker 11 (55:29):
So the third quarter is a gigantic exception.

Speaker 6 (55:31):
To everything I'm about to say. But they weathered that storm.
You know, during that third quarter.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
I'm thinking, is this not the night?

Speaker 6 (55:37):
Is it not going to happen? Can they come out
of this and turn this around? And they did. Now
the Chiefs helped with that fourth down go for it
where they missed it, and the Texans put together a
scoring drive. But to your point, what he marks had
an eight yard run to get them a first and goal.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
With the five.

Speaker 6 (55:51):
At the time, that felt like a sixty yard run.

Speaker 11 (55:54):
Because it was so big to get to the five.

Speaker 6 (55:56):
But he had to leave the game, and then Daria Gonbualle.

Speaker 11 (55:59):
Comes in, and of course he scores.

Speaker 6 (56:00):
In one play. I mean, how does that happen? But
it happened. So the old line did enough. For a
while I thought Chris Jones was taking over the game,
but then they were able to contain him enough to
get whatever they needed offensively at the end, and it
wasn't much, but it was all they needed.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
With that great defense, the Texans were eight of eighteen
on third down and Kansas City was four of fourteen
on third down. But the key was Kansas City was
one of three on fourth down. So that was a
big time part of the game. Moving forward, you know,
you come out of the couple of weeks where you've
had some big time matchups. Now you get a chance

(56:38):
to play the Arizona Cardinals. Dimico's hard work this week
is to make sure that his team does not let down.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
Wouldn't you say that would be the key this week?

Speaker 6 (56:50):
Absolutely, one hundred percent. Jacoby Brissett is a Texans killer.
I know that sounds kind of funny considering it's Jacoby Brissett,
but he's been the Texans with three different teams, Miami,
the Colts, and the Patriots. He beat the Patriots as
a rookie in Week.

Speaker 11 (57:07):
Three of his rookie season when Brady.

Speaker 6 (57:09):
Was suspended and Garoppolo got hurt.

Speaker 11 (57:11):
We have a history with Jacoby Brissett.

Speaker 6 (57:13):
I actually told Themigo yesterday, if you need me in
the team meeting to fire up the guys about facing Brissette,
I'm your man.

Speaker 3 (57:20):
Now.

Speaker 6 (57:21):
It is the Cardinals. They're not very good. But one
thing about Demiko Ryans. He wasn't breaking out champagne bottles
after either of the last two wins. Colts and Chiefs
kind of reserved for what you would.

Speaker 11 (57:33):
Think, especially against Kansas City.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
After that game.

Speaker 6 (57:36):
But his whole thing is there's a higher ceiling, there
are bigger.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Places to go. This is a nice win.

Speaker 6 (57:42):
Let's beat the Cardinals. That's all he's thinking about.

Speaker 11 (57:45):
Sometimes it sounds cliche, very.

Speaker 6 (57:47):
Often it does, but in life and in football, it
is one game at a time, and if you lose
to the Cardinals, that's not going to feel good at all.

Speaker 11 (57:53):
So they got to take care of business.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Especially because that game will be at home at twelve o'clock.
You can listen to the game right here on sports
Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Mark.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
I want to go back to the Indianapolis cult situation
because it is devastating. We know that Danny dins was
not able to move around against you guys, and you
were fine with that, but then for him to go
out there try to play non contact injury and now
they have to bring in a rookie, or not a rookie,
but a unexperienced quarterback in Riley Leonard. Going back that way,

(58:29):
this is going to be a tough road to hope
for those guys right now.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
Huh.

Speaker 6 (58:33):
Absolutely, And I think they have Riley Leonard in their
building right so they should know whether Riley Leonard could
play or not, if he's ready or not. And if
he's not ready, it's their fault because Jones's leg has
been a picking time bomb for a few weeks now,
So you should have brought in another backup, somebody who
could possibly get it done. And look, I know these

(58:54):
guys aren't available at the convenience store exactly, but figure
it out. When the Texans had all those injuries to
the quarterbacks in twenty eleven, we brought it Jeff Garcia.
We in zoomed the body of Jake the loom the
limb became the backup to TJ. Yeats and you know what,
the Lord had some juice left. You gotta find Somebody's
Ryan Tannehill out there, somebody out there who can give
you something. I don't think it's Philip Rivers, but it's

(59:16):
gonna be interesting if they end up signing him.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Yeah, That's what that was my point too, is like, look,
I understand Philip Rivers as Philip Rivers, but that's not
the same Philip Rivers at thirty five. That's not the
same Philip Rivers at forty. This is a forty four
year old quarterback who's been coaching his kid and working
out with them. But I guarantee you he wasn't trying
to avoid sackers to get back out there and play.

Speaker 6 (59:41):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, why don't get Dan Marino. Seriously,
this is gonna be tough.

Speaker 11 (59:46):
You know, can Rivers take a hit?

Speaker 6 (59:48):
Can Rivers avoid a sack? Like you said, we all
know how tough he is.

Speaker 11 (59:53):
But I almost want to see it.

Speaker 6 (59:55):
I mean, I think everybody.

Speaker 11 (59:56):
Wants to see it.

Speaker 6 (59:57):
I don't want it to work because I'm a Texan,
but I wouldn't mind seeing it. I like Philip Rivers.
The one year he was an Indie. I didn't like
that because I kind of root for Philip Rivers.

Speaker 11 (01:00:07):
But this is what it is.

Speaker 6 (01:00:08):
I mean, they're in a desperate situation.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
As always, Mark, we appreciate you taking the time. We
look forward to talking to you next Tuesday, and for
the sake of the sake, let's make sure that this
team does not let down by facing Jacoby Brissett and
maybe Demico can get you in there to talk to
them about it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:27):
Oh, that's like my dream, guys. Let's see if he
does it. I doubt it happens, but it's fun to
talk about. Hey, takes a lot for having me on.
Go Texans.

Speaker 1 (01:00:34):
There he is Mark Vandermiler, the Voice of the Houston Texans,
and you can follow him at Texans Voice on social media.
Coming up next, we've got the World's Strongest Man, d
Mark Henry, bringing you his world's strongest take right here
on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred to Zone and always
free on the iHeartRadio app. Great stuff by Mark Vandermiler,

(01:00:55):
the Voice of the Houston Texans. Make sure you follow
him at Texan's Voice on social media. But right now
you heard that beat dropping. That could only mean one thing.
W W Hall of Famer. The World's Strongest Man, Dee
Mark Henry brings you his world's strongest take. Take it away,
big fellow, Heart. You know the time and it's time for.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
The world's strongest take by the world strongest man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
My guess back then they didn't know. Now I'm high
they all on me. Well, here we go, guys, It's time.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
For the Heisman and Heart said it best.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Whoever wins out of the two undefeated, the number one,
number two should probably win the Heisman because it was
it came down to a beauty contest, and who had
the prettiest record would probably be the one to win.
It hard for me to really look at believe that.

(01:02:09):
Now hard I'm looking at the statistics, and Mendoza should
be the first quarterback drafted.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
He did really well.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
His statistics were great, his passing percentage was great.

Speaker 3 (01:02:25):
But then you look at Pavia.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
And Pabia had over three thousand yards and twenty seven
touchdowns and a high QBR. But he also added eight
hundred yards Russian and nine Russian touchdowns, so it's close.
And then of course Gunna Stockton, you know, had another

(01:02:50):
quarterback with a high QBR. He had eight Russian touchdowns,
you know, through the ball, a lot of reasonable rates
as far as yardage. And then of course Julian saying,
who's the runner up in that Big twelve or Big

(01:03:12):
ten championship game had to high the highest QBR at
eighty nine percent and thirty one touchdowns and six interceptions.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
But Harge, in my humble opinion, that is not gonna
win you the Heisman.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
What should win you the Heisman is being the most
dominant force on your team and in the league. All
four of those quarterbacks that I just mentioned, if.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
They had the running back.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Jeremiah Love, they would have won the national championship running away.
This guy's is the poster child for consistency. He averaged
almost seven yards of carry last season and had seventeen touchdowns.

(01:04:18):
This season, he's averaged almost seven yards of carry six
point nine and eighteen touchdowns. Russia and back to back
years he had the same average six point nine. In

(01:04:39):
the back to back years, he had over seventeen touchdowns.
He also caught the ball both years three touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (01:04:51):
He's a dominant force.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
And I feel like that the running backs because we're
in such a pro quarterback type of fear league now
in college football. The running backs are not getting the
respect that they deserve. And when you rush for a
near fifteen hundred yards and you are consistent with it

(01:05:15):
over two seasons and score seventeen touchdowns, I feel like
you should. For you not only for your the season,
but for your body of work, you should be the
one to win the Heisman.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
What say you, Well, I definitely understand where you're going
with that, but let's look over the last few years.

Speaker 3 (01:05:35):
It has not been a running back award.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
It's been a quarterback award because the quarterback and the
way that he leads is the key to what they view.
Isn't that what the Devy O'Brien is for. That's what
the not the Maxwell, but the Davy O'Brien. They have
another one that's this quarterback award. I agree with that
to a certain extent, but the reality of it all

(01:06:01):
is the quarterback on the team that is undefeated is
going to be the guy.

Speaker 3 (01:06:06):
You can talk about the running back situation.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
I thought jeremih Love was the best player in college football,
and I thought that's what it should be. But when
you look at Mendoza and how his team is now
a Big Ten championship, a Big Ten champion, they are
also a team that has now the number one seed
in college football. He's probably been the most consistent player

(01:06:30):
that has been out there, and you watched him grow
right before our very eyes. He was in the middle
of the conversation at the beginning because of what you
said when you started it. He can probably be the
number one overall pick in the NFL Draft for a
team that's looking for a quarterback. But the reality of
it all is that I continue to wonder about this

(01:06:53):
award because you could say, well, don't they give away
to Davey O'Brien, Well, don't they give away to Doak
Walker to the running back.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
So that might be the best of war.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
But you look at the consistency six point nine yards
per carry, seventeen touchdowns both years, catching the ball, three
touchdowns per season, catching the ball seven yards a carry

(01:07:26):
a catch harsh. The guy is an ultimate weapon. And
if any team, if Texas, if this say Love would
have been on Texas and had these statistics, having fourteen
hundred yards rushing and set eighteen touchdowns with six points
nine yards per carry, everybody would be pushing him to

(01:07:49):
win Heisman. Is I think it's because he's not on
a championship team.

Speaker 1 (01:07:59):
Well, ten and two, I don't know how much they
would have been pushing for a nine to three team.
Ten and two. Absolutely, that's why he's the finalist. That's
why he's there. He's part of the four. Yeah, Texas
had that back though, they wouldn't be ten and three,
but they but they are, and that's what I'm saying.
So you also look, yeah, of course, and then here's

(01:08:21):
the other part of this. Here's the other part of
the conversation that we continue to miss a lot of times.

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
When you look at who.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
The finalists are, they're three quarterbacks that are there.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
It sucks.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
The best player in college football is actually Jacob Rodriguez,
the linebacker.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
For Texas Tech.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
He's got the best numbers if you look at what
he is. And Robert Griffin third, who does have a
Heisman vote, mentioned that last week about how good Jacob
Rodriguez is. But nobody ever talks about the defensive player.
You know, Charles Woodson run it because he played defense,
I mean because he played offense. So when you start

(01:09:06):
looking at all of these guys that are involved in it,
it's been a while.

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
I'm just looking at this too hard.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Archie Manning had twenty four touchdown seven interceptions. The completion
rate was not as high as those guys, but that's
not too far. The yardage close to three thousand yards
well three.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Slow start, yeah, but don't sell them.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
He had eight touch Russian touchdowns and a exception receiving touchdowns.
So the Diego Pavia, which is why he is there
at a twenty eight year old quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:09:46):
You know what I'm saying, thirty six years old.

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
When we come back, we'll close out the show and
send you to Dan Patrick. We got a Major League
Hall of Famer that I'm not. I'm just mad some
other guys didn't get in. We'll talk about it right
here in the morning. Kickoff on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred,
The Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app Waiting.

Speaker 3 (01:10:13):
What another great show we have.

Speaker 1 (01:10:15):
Had a special shout out to Joe Cook of Inside Texas.
Another shout out to the voice of the Houston Texans,
Mark Vandermere as he's broken it down as well.

Speaker 3 (01:10:28):
All right, let's get into this conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
As a baseball player, I've got a chance to see
Jeff Kent of close personal and watch him play and undeniable,
he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. So
this is not about Jeff Kent congratulation. He was voted
in by the contemporary era ballot and they go in
and do some conversations and they do some statistics and

(01:10:56):
you may be able to get in there. So you
have sixteen people that are members of this panel and
you need twelve people to get into this form of
the Hall of Fame. Now, the story is about Jeff Kent, congratulations.

(01:11:17):
But the bigger story is about the people who were
not inducted into this area of this era of the college,
I mean college of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Carlos still got him. He got nine votes. He's at
fifty six point three percent. Dale Murphy and Don Mattingly,
And if you know anything about baseball and what these

(01:11:39):
guys did in their career, I'm shocked that neither one
of those guys are in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
I mean just the namesake.

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
Don Maddingly, Dale Murphy, mister Murray is in, not in,
and they receive six votes, so they're at thirty seven
point five percent. But here are the names that have
gotten fewer votes. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, and
Fernando Valenzuela each received fewer than five votes to get

(01:12:14):
into the contemporary baseball era Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (01:12:18):
Was it drug scandal conversation that is keeping them out?

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
I definitely believe.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
For Barry Bonds, Let's be honest, Barry was not the
nicest guy to the media. And if you go back
and you watch the documentary about King Griffy Junior, you
will understand why King Griffy Junior never wanted to be
a Yankee because of the way that they treated his father.
Rewind the way that Barry Bond's dad, Bobby, who was
one hell of a baseball player himself, probably was treated

(01:12:48):
the same way. Therefore, kids growing up in that growing
up in that time, knowing that their special talents, understand
that I don't have to be nice to everyone because
everyone's not going to be nice to me.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
So Barry probably.

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
Rubbed a lot of the voters, the writers, and everyone
else the wrong way because of it. Now you go
into the quote unquote steroid era, which Major League Baseball
approved by not banning the substance until after people started
looking and seeing certain things that arise. That's not their fault.

(01:13:26):
Barry Bonds was a Hall of Famer before any of
that stuff would have happened. Barry Bonds is one of
the best players he's that has ever played the game
of baseball. And you know, everybody gets on this high
and mighty stature of well he cheated the game. Go
back and look at how many people were in the report,

(01:13:48):
go back and look at how many people change their
bodies in that during that time to get to the
next level. And I understand, I mean, I get it.
You have a place with people that do things like that.
You don't like those types of people. But the reality
of the situation is when when you talk Major League

(01:14:12):
Baseball and you have quote unquote a museum for people
to go in and you don't have those guys in
the Hall of Fame for people. If you want to
create and I've said this numerous times and I'm sure
a thousand people have said this, if you want to
create a different wing that said this was part of
the controversial era, This was part of the steroid era,

(01:14:36):
which is.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
Why this wing was created.

Speaker 10 (01:14:39):
Do it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:40):
But quit denying people like Pete Rose. Like right now,
they're probably going to try to find a way to
get Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame. It's not
that that doesn't make it right because he's in there,
because he didn't get a chance to enjoy it. He
was politicking for it for a long time, and now
they're going to try to put him in some sort
of way.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
No, that's not how this goes.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
But watching Barry Bonds play, regardless of what you think
about him as a user, so to speak, watch him play.

Speaker 3 (01:15:12):
I don't like Riggie Jackson.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
Well we know, but I had a Riggie Jackson poster,
so at one point in my life I knew who
he was as a player before I knew the man
that accounts for something. I don't deny the play of
Barry Bonds. It's out there, we know, but people that

(01:15:38):
knew him they're holding against him, and they're holding against
him for a reason.

Speaker 1 (01:15:45):
Yeah, I mean, and some of these guys are former players.
You have the people that are on this committee are Ferguson, Jenkins,
Jim Cott, jan Myrashaw, Tony Perez, Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammel,
and Robin Yell. You have executives Doug Melton, Doug Melvin,
excuse me, Arty Moreno, kim Ning, Tony Regis, Terry, Ryan,

(01:16:07):
matt A Tonacio, and media members and historians Steve Kirk, Hurt,
Tyler Kepner, and Jason Stark. These are the people that
are on this committee. And I know, as a player,
if you were watching the game, you knew that Barry
Bonds and Dale Murphy and guys that you played against.

(01:16:30):
These were guys that should have been in the Hall
of Fame. You can't hold against people what they did
outside of the field. It's also there are people in
the Hall of Fame that were users. Yeah yeah, but
more than anything. Same thing with the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
I mean, there's some people that have done some egregious things,
but if it didn't affect them on the field, you
shouldn't hold it against them.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:00):
The field is the field. The court the arena should
be an a proving ground, not what you had, what
happened in the courtroom, or what happened with litigation or
any kind of you know, suspicious.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
Happening behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
Congratulations to Jeff Kent, he was an MVP. He's now
considered a Hall of Fame, not considered, he is a
Hall of Famer. The shout out to the Round Rocks
Preserving because, uh, he was part of the Round Rock
Express during his time when he had to make some
rehab stops, so he was part of the Round Rock Express.
So shout out to those guys over there. I want

(01:17:42):
to thank Mark Henry. I want to thank Marcus the
most importantly. I want to thank you the people for
always tuning in in and hopefully we'll get an opportunity
to make some moves here. So thanks for tuning in.
Make sure you tune in tomorrow. It'll be even better
on the morning kickoff on sports radio AM thirteen hundred

(01:18:02):
The Zone and always free on the iHeartRadio app. Tune
in this afternoon from two to five for the voice
of the Texas Longhorns, Craig Way, on The Craigway Show
right here on AM thirteen hundred The Zone.