3 Guys Before The Game - WVU Football - Going Camping (Episode 648) - 3 Guys Before The Game

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hey, we are ready to go. We're in studio and
this is three guys before the game. Summer series it's over, Well, I.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Don't know if it's over. Hiatus, hiatus, we're in.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
I think another one.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
We got another one next week. It's hiatus.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's done. I'm calling it done. Summer series is over.
It's freaking football time. And this is episode number six
and forty eight. WV Football going camping. Yeah, we are
going to have a couple of special guests on in
a next week or so. But other than that, summer
series it's going to great run. Well, we're ready to

(00:46):
get down a ball. That's a four letter word, b
all ball. We're doing it. Kerchieval's in. He is absolutely elated.
Get he hadn't slept for three days. He's so excited.
The camp is open. Senator, Well, he's never sleeping. He's
always fired up. So let's do this thing. We're talking
mountaineer football and a whole lot more, plus the return
of what textual healing. Haven't done that since nineteen eighty three,

(01:10):
been a long long time.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
He lost the music.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Oh jeez, I didn't even look at this. I have
forgot about that. Three guys brought to us by.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Jan go over that in our free session meeting.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
I'll find it. Jandell's Attorneys at Law. They won't take
no for an answer. By Comac's Business Systems keeping West
Virginia's business data. Save Secure and Efficient for twenty five years.
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Day Well, they sell family fund. Visit Lou Wendelmarne Sales

(01:44):
dot Com. By Tutors, Biscuit World Starts your day the
Home Made Way, and by conly CPA Group providing value
beyond numbers. All right, deep breath, It's August the sixth.
As we record camp is underway.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Summer's over.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Well, yeah, it's been over ever since June twenty fives
are getting shorter.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Oh yeah, about five twelve gets started.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I mean pitch black out there about five, about five fifteen.
The other day it turned lights on.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Gonna it's kind of chilly this morning.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, snow showers coming this week. Yeah, it's over. It's
funfall all right, So let's uh, let's get in here.
Uh Rich Rodriguez and the Mountaineers continuing practice. So we're
a week in at this point pretty much, and full
contact went for the very first time yesterday, which was Tuesday,
but they didn't do a ton of full contact. They

(02:34):
did maybe about twenty minutes a lot of heavy thud
and uh tag, so you're tagging your thud.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Quarterbacks weren't hit yet, not yet, big story in camp.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Not yet. Yeah, they will be. They will be. That's
coming up. So they'll hit again tomorrow. They went shorts today,
they'll hit again tomorrow, and then Saturday they'll have a
scrimmage which will be of significance. And by that I
mean like that'll be one where the people you're gonna
you're gonna start to see some stats, probably like oh

(03:04):
did someone's Yeah, he might have had seven carries for
a ninety nine yards. You'll start to see some numbers,
and the quarterbacks will get hit. The officials have been
pretty much at every practice so far, watching and guiding
and things like that. So it's on and here we go.

(03:25):
Rich has been addressing the media pretty much every day,
and I think that's a topic that needs to be discussed.
I really do what does that mean?

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, person he's coming out every day.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
No, personally, like when you go into the team room
and Rich does his press conference, there are very few
people that were here the last time he was here.
A handful, right Hunter all right, Bob Hertzel, and they've
been around, they've seen it. There's a bunch of new
guys that just weren't here then, and I think they're

(04:00):
having translation problems.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
What do you what do you mean? What do you mean?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Well, they're taking like what he's saying like for like
for real, literally, yeah you can't.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, because he's had some doozies.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, you have to understand, like there's a whole there's
two like there's languages you know, you need to interpret.
You need to do it. And I'm not busting on them.
They just hadn't been around the first. They need to
go through it the first. You need to get an
experience on it. It's kind of like one of those
you know, chat bots, you know what I mean. You
have to learn you have to learn the that the

(04:35):
engine has to learn how to understand Rich before you
really know what he's saying.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
So you're you're talking about the r T I the
Rich translation index.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yes, has that replaced the B M I?

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yes, yes, this is the r T I its translation index.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Yeah, it's like w T h M. What does he mean?
Because everything he says is intended for a purpose.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Example, give an example or examples or paraphrase.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
It was absolutely on script after he went After he
went Neutral Switzerland day one, he went Neutral Switzerland day
with a Hey, coach, how was that pretty good? You
know you're getting aft. That's good to be back, Like
you could pencil in on your dance card tomorrow the
next day, day two or day three, he is going

(05:30):
to come in and he is going to go He's
gonna be like completely opposite and question whether or not
they'll be able to put a team on the field
against Robert Morris. That one still hasn't come, The nuclear
one hasn't come coming. In the next seven days or so,
he's gonna come back. It might be Saturday after the scrimmage.
You're gonna wonder if like they're just gonna call the

(05:53):
Big twelve and go like, hey, look, we're going to
wait a year, we're gonna get back into it. We're
gonna come back out in twenty six and everyone will
be going like, oh my gosh, did you hear Rich?
I mean, Rich doesn't think what they didn't have a shot.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
I did have I did have it on day three.
I didn't have a day two. Day two was a
tad early. I thought you'd get two. Then day three
was was my likely.

Speaker 1 (06:17):
We talked to Raquel, his daughter, right, she's got a
pretty good feel for this. She too was surprised he
went day two. She was thinking day three.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
I mean that two and a half was in play,
but the over was taking more of the right exactly.
He switched it around. He faded the public went day two.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, so so a lot, so a lot of what
you're seeing now is this whole hard edge thing, right,
Like Rich doesn't think, well, they're soft. They're soft. So
a buddy who played with Rich, a buddy who played
with Rich recently sat down with Rich and Rich said,
he goes, so, what do you think? And he said

(06:55):
as soft soft, And his former teammate told him, he said, Rich,
that's all you ever say. Yeah, have you ever heard
Rich like he plays hard edge? Have you ever heard
Rich say we're a hard edged team, like we're actually
playing hard edge?

Speaker 2 (07:11):
No, Well that's so, that's where I was going to
go with that. I think if you, if you, what
would you call it? The rich translation in the rich?
So I think it's been It's been clear to me
and you would expect this. And let me back up
a little bit. What's unusual about this for those of
us that were through this the first time is you've
got a new coach in a new way of running

(07:31):
the program. But it's the it's the guy you've seen before,
but it's been a long time, so some of this
stuff you don't have to wade through the newness, like
what's he mean, what's he saying? What's happening here? It's
very very clear. The number one message is about culture, right,
not just hard edge as the tagline, which has been
out there a bunch. You can tell that effort and

(07:52):
getting after it and hitting people in the mouth defensively,
that's where this needs to get to. And he's not
going to relent on that. That's going to go all
the way. We'll hear that all year, trying to get
back to that point where you might lose a game,
but you're gonna know you played West Virginia right right.
That's that it has to be installed as the baseline
for a bunch of guys that just have not been around.

(08:12):
That saved for a few of his Jacksonville State guys.
So to me, that's the clear number one message that's
just gonna keep coming.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
And that and that's something that, as you alluded to,
hasn't changed. No, I mean that's the first time was
playing with a hard edge, and we saw that. I
mean we bore witness to the fact that his teams
didn't always win, even though they had a lot of success,
but played hard and played with an edge to the
point where a lot of his players sometimes weren't happy

(08:40):
with him because he was always on him. But so
that to me is just in line with what it
was the first time.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
You know where I think he is a little bit different,
though it does seem he's more. He's taking more steps
to even though when he says you're soft or the
effort's not there, he does come back with, well, I
like my guy, I like my team. Like he wouldn't
have given you that twenty years ago. He would have
just left it alone with yourself done. He does try
and come back and lessen the blow a little bit

(09:08):
at least.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Published No, you're right, right, if you know, that's a
good no's that's a good point. Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
So you're saying his grade of sandpaper is not as
course as much court of course as it was.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Right, So what happened, what's happening right now, in my opinion,
is this intangible which literally is pouring the foundation of
the culture that he wants. So there's one guy who
knows what he thinks is more is physical enough and
hard enough, and it's him. So every single step on

(09:40):
that practice feel to him. Those eyes are constantly moving,
and if he notices just one iota of something he
thinks isn't, he stops it right there and teaching moment.
So everyone collectively, everyone collectively is now learning the new
definition of what the expectation level is of competitiveness when

(10:01):
they're on that field. And that's that's a. That's a
that's a it's an interesting process. It's an invaluable process
because this is the only time you can lay it
in because.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
You guys, hear that, That's what I was just saying.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
You guys know, like in three weeks when Robert Morris
is the game, like that's all over with At that point,
you're you're focusing in on game prep, game prep. So
he've got these these are invaluable weeks. And I know
they guess they'll start to drag for the players and
they're gonna get banged up and they're gonna hurt. But like,
right now is the one chance you have all year
to set your definition of what is the expected level

(10:36):
of physicality?

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, and then add to that, I totally agree with that.
Then add to it. It is your one right. So
any coach coming in in your one before you get
to anything, before you get to schematics, you better set
how you want the program to look, what you want
it to feel like. And he's doing he's doing that.
That's and that's the number one thing that that he
keeps pounding it. I just don't think it relents. I

(10:58):
think you'll hear that all year.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
And I think reasonably you see and hear the questions
that are asked of him, which you guys will talk
about that he's reluctant to give specifics on. Is everybody's
searching for some sort of idea of what kind of
team you will have, who will be who will be
a standout, who will be a surprise Those kinds of things,
and you're just as you all off alluded to it,
you're not getting that, first of all, and second of all,

(11:21):
how do you They may know, but how does anybody
else know? I mean people ask all of us what's
the team going to be? And my answer is, how
could you possibly know? You could take a wild guess,
but you can't. You can't know. It's not like a
few years ago where you could say, well, look the
offensive line, there's four starters back and they've played for
four years and the quarterback is back. You don't know

(11:42):
with all those transfers? Do you know that from last season?
And think that? I think that is true across most
of the college football landscape. Between last year and this year,
twenty seven hundred FBS football scholarship players transferred.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Wait at a stounding know, so who?

Speaker 3 (12:02):
I saw the preseason poll by coaches or AP or whatever,
and I laughed at it. I mean, it's just the
usual suspects, Brad, But how could you possibly know?

Speaker 2 (12:10):
I do think that's I'll speak for myself here. I
do think that's one of the fun parts of this
West Virginia team this year now, and we could do
hours upon hours of content here of speculation hypotheticals on
what you're going to have, and you could go through
every position. That's part of I will quickly turn from okay,
what's rich saying to all right, let's talk about the
players and the games and what comes and we'll have

(12:32):
some over unders coming here in a couple weeks. Talk
about something fun and putting some numbers together. How many
rushing touchdowns Nico Marcio.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Have this year? We're gonna go there.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Oh, we're gonna do stuff like that, right, that's kind
of out coming out. We'll do a two part two
episodes of thee because we got a bunch of them. Okay,
but that's one, Like, think about that for a second.
He ran for two last year. He can run the ball,
but he's not a runner. Does he start?

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Does he plays quarter back?

Speaker 2 (12:57):
That plays? Does he is he third string?

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Like?

Speaker 2 (13:00):
What exactly is going on at the quarterback position? And
you could go right down the list and say some
of these things. I think it's fascinating. The offensive line.
We could spend hours on the offensive line. All these
new guys have come in. Who's going to take control
of that offensive line? One returning start? This is very
similar to when Neil took over that program and you
just went, well, who do you have? And then you

(13:20):
saw where that thing grew up to be where you
ultimately had how many different NFL guys on that rusher?
Probably all five starters are going to end up being
in NFL camps at some point. You're getting close to that.
This is a total rebuild of that. Which one of
these guys, How many of these guys step forth and
turn into eventual pros, eventual all conference guys? Will any
of them do that? A ton of question marks here

(13:41):
and be fun.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
And what you don't get what we joked about for
the last couple of years. And that's why the was
it rich translation into the RTI replaces the BMI right
because Neil Brown, maybe sometimes it was detriment, would answer
the question. You know, Richie be can be and often
is very evasive. I mean you asked Bran about a
certain player, or he would come out and tell you

(14:04):
after practice Bran about certain players, and you just to
the point where we had the Brown mentioned index, and
a lot of it was you know, some of us
intended send the message, but a lot of us would
would play out accurately.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Like what did what did? Rich says he was asked
about the offensive line, in particular, what do you like
about the offensive on far? He said nothing and then
looked at nothing.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
That goes nothing. See to my point on that. So
for those that haven't covered um me before, like guys that
have covered before are like, okay, fine, all right, fine, right,
but that's okay Rich. But like someone else that like
first time through, they're going like, oh my god, he
thinks the offense.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
It's terrible.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
It's terrible. No, it's just the Rich minute. I do
have some numbers. Okay, people are asking us and everyone rightfully. So,
regardless of what year you are in a program at
this time of the year, everyone always asked this question.
How many games you thinks are going win?

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
How many games? What do you think? What do you think?
How many games do you think you're gonna win? So I've
got historical data, oh his score, historical data here. But
to your point, this is a twenty year sample of
first year coaches in the Power for conferences.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
And I want to hear that, but I would just
say there's so many variables.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Correct, That's I was going to say. But but this
is completely different this time because in those previous years
you did not have teams that were putting seventy plus
new players on the field. However, if you have to
have one thing that you can look back on, what
is realistic? You want to know?

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
You want to know for real Yeah you're sure?

Speaker 3 (15:47):
Yeah, I would, I would. I would argue before you
do it, there's probably a better measure, but still would
be not very significantly accurate. But go ahead, we'll.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
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Speaker 3 (16:05):
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(16:30):
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(16:52):
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all right, So what's history tell us?

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Here?

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Here we go the last twenty years in the four
from twenty four to twenty twenty four. Twenty twenty is
included the COVID year, but obviously it wasn't a full season.
But first year head coaches in the ACC, Big Twelve,
Big Ten, and the SEC win on average. That's two

(17:18):
hundred and thirty seven coaches over the span of twenty
years in the four Power four conferences. Their average wins
are Go ahead, give it a guest.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
Wait, repeat the question again, repeat the premise.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
Take the four conferences. Yeah, and each of those conferences
have had first year coaches over the last twenty years. Okay,
take their combined record in their first year and the
average the average wins.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Is what six? Five?

Speaker 1 (17:47):
You're right, six on the nose, they go six and six.
In the ACC, there have been fifty seven new coaches
over the last twenty years. Their average wins five eight five,
Big Twelve. The first year coach in the Big twelve.
There's been fifty eight new coaches in the Big twelve
over the last twenty years, and they're winning percentage and

(18:07):
their win total is five point five nights, so five
and a half wins. Where's West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Picked dead on five and a half win total? If
you look at the books right now.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
That's what the books are saying. The Big ten first
year coaches averaged six wins. SEC first year coaches average
six wins. So basically the last twenty years, first year
coaches go six and six.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
Okay, let's meld that in with riches first years.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, okay, would you like to do that?

Speaker 3 (18:35):
I have it? Do you have it?

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Go ahead, sir?

Speaker 3 (18:37):
All right? Salem two and eight first year, Glenville one
seven and one, West Virginia three and eight, Michigan three
and nine. But it gets better, Arizona first year eight
and five, Jacksonville State nine and four. I don't know,
does that mean anything?

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Well, yeah, I think what you said that. So many
things have changed, so those are just oring historically. You
kind of see why the books land where they land
in some of this stuff. But I think what has
changed historically is again, and I've said this many times,
it's used in such a negative connotation, but West Virginia
has seen it in basketball and now in football, we'll
see where the winds land. The transfer portal can help

(19:17):
you rebuild much more quickly than you ever could before. True, right,
you saw that with BASKETBA last year. Should have been
a NA tournament team exace if he get screwed. So football,
rich has the advantage that he didn't have in some
of those early years of remaking this roster. Now, does
that create some challenges, There's no question it does, But
it also allows you to put guys in place and
just go to the quarterback position. If you look at

(19:37):
the quarterback position this year, I think we would all
agree the players in that room, any of them, are
more suited to run a rich Rod offense than they
were the first time he took over here, especially once
Rashid got her right. So I think there are some
advantages you have now when you're trying to restart the program.
Does that mean you can go win eleven? That'll be
a challenge, But can you get the thing up and

(19:58):
running more quickly? I think that's the expectation.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
That's an excellent point, and as such, what has evaporated
in programs and in the minds of fans who are
still dialed in is there's not the rope is a
lot shorter. It's like, well, I need three or four
years to get it going. That's not now. It's like, okay,
first year, maybe second year, you better be better, right

(20:22):
A lot more.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Numbers, yeah, absolutely, yeah, more numbers. So since he got
back into coaching in nineteen this includes his stint as
the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss, as the offensive coordinator
at Uel Monroe, and then as the head coach at
Jacksonville State, his teams have gone two and one in
August seven and four in September ten and one in

(20:45):
October six and three November, two in one December offensively. Offensively,
here's what he's done. In the month of August, He's
averaged twenty four points. In September twenty nine, In October
thirty four.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
See that, So they've started to figure it out. You're
allowed to get better.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
November he averaged twenty nine, and then in December total
three games, he averaged thirty eight. So yeah, they're going
to do this. So your question is where where's your
starting point? Right, That's where it is. Where's just because
you're gonna historically he's going to do this, So where's
your start base is going to be the question.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Well, not to get ahead of ourselves, but you're about
to We've never done that. September looms large.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
What does that mean?

Speaker 3 (21:35):
It means it looms large. It means that you got
a trap game at ou and and you got to play.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Pitt kerchiv will break you news.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, pit, Well, I'm just saying that that is I mean,
I think the how.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
M talking about if you want to start talking about
wind totals, those matter. You start out three and oh,
you're feeling pretty good about the over five and a
half that pit game that you're right, that pit game's
a massive as overlook Ohio you but you should go
in and win that game. Then you come to this
pit game, so you're already you're an underdog, already at
home on that year two and a half point dog
as we sit here today. Maybe that switches as you

(22:10):
get to the point, but that one's a massive swing game.

Speaker 3 (22:12):
How's that look? And I think also that you have
not to get ahead of myself. You have an opportunity.
Last year, the national narrative when you were in the
discussion was the Penn State game. Could you pull an upset? No,
you didn't. Was is Neil Brown going to get fired that?
If there is a national narra If there was a

(22:32):
national narrative last year for West Virginia, that was it.
This year there's a story. Rich Rodriguez is a story.
The return to West Virginia is a story. And it's
an interesting story, especially with the pit game coming up.
So you have a chance. You haven't all you ask
for isn't If you're not going to be a top
twenty team or whatever, is an opportunity. You have an
opportunity to be in the national discussion. You know, Scott

(22:54):
Frost is a story, right otherwise nobody cares about you. See, Yeah,
so you have an opportunity here and especially early early
if you go out to and oh and you beat Pitt,
you know, hey, there's an angle there.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
It is a fascinating story. Just the just the return
of somebody at this level is unusual. That's one somebody
that that the point at which this program was when
Rich left and the people now nationally that cover this
are going to remember that era as fondly as we do, right,
And the video game that a lot of those folks
played with Pat White and Steve Slaton and how dominant

(23:30):
it was that played into the legacy and the reputation
in West Virginia. So I think you're right. You come
out of the gate and start this thing at three,
and oh, I think there's some national push behind you
right out of the gate. I don't think there's a.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Question about that.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
I was. I was texting yesterday before yesterday with Dennis Dodd, who's.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Now big time name dropped. There wasn't bred. It was
you see how he did that.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
It's a big time But I mean it's two retired
guys sitting around having coffee every morning. They're just talking.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
So you and Dodd were texting, huh yeah, oh guys,
we're texting. You know, Hey, what time you go into shownies?

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Hey, Dennish, you remember Darrel Royal on that wish. It
was a tremendous offensive attack.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
It was actually about something else. I congratulate him on retirement,
and you know, but he said, how's rich Ro going
to do?

Speaker 1 (24:16):
You know?

Speaker 2 (24:16):
Because again he is one of those guys, right, he
was one of the very few big time national guys
that was fully invested in West Virginia, even though he
has no ties to West Virginia, because of how good
West Virginia was at that time and how exciting it
was and how fun of it. That's the thing. It
wasn't just like West Virginia was really good, which they were.
It was just exciting, right. There was a real national

(24:37):
attraction to those teams, especially that seventeen Here's what.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
I think is in the future for West Virginia football.
As you said, you play these first two games and
you take care of your business. I think that Week
three as the potential to be so much more than
one football game or one chapter of the backyard Brawl.
It is a priceless moment being offered to you to

(25:07):
jump fifteen steps in the national football conversation because I
think what's going to happen is I think game days coming,
and I think they're going to paint that story all
week long as to why they are here. And you're
gonna see the thirteen nine game, and you're gonna see
Rich's love, and you're gonna see Patt and Steven they're
gonna be running all around, You're going to see all that,

(25:29):
and the place is going to be perhaps one of
the top five all time vibe crowds right in this
stadium's history. It's going to be pulsating. If you get
it done, what it allows you to do is to
take ten or fifteen jump steps in the national conscience,
because right now we've lost it. We're not household talk anymore.

(25:53):
But if they sell that story all week long about
West Virginia Pit, then West Virginia beats pit, then what's
the narrative. The narrative is, well, here comes Rich again,
and then you go from there.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yes, it would be insane of them to pass on that.
Insane when McAfee's one of your biggest voices and was
involved in that game, centrally involved in that game, to
not have him back when Pat White was centrally involved
in that game. That injury changed the face of that game,
and he's back standing on that sideline as well. And oh,
by the way, if you're into numerology, are you freaking

(26:25):
kidding me? That game's being played on nine to thirteen?
Are you kidding me? With all the things surrounding that
that that game when Pitt still holds up, they're one
tent over West Virginia's thirteen nine, And you're gonna play
that game on nine thirteen in Rich's first return. You'd
be insane if you're ESPN to pass on that.

Speaker 1 (26:42):
Hey, it's got a chance to be inside that stadium.
It's got a chance to be one of the old time,
old timers when it comes just to electricity and the
volume to it all.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, and story story if you're.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
In the storytelling business of college football and its history.
That was in an historic season that oh seven, remember
how that thing ended? Like the upsets all over the place,
Never mind West Virginia, but the upsets that happened before that,
you could get in there and do some unbelievable work.
If you're ESPN, that's a major miss if they don't
take advantage of the.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Game that led to West Virginia being denied an opportunity
to play for the national championship and led to the
ugly departure of Rich Rodriguez. But now a reckoning, a
Reconciliationhow he's back and they're playing their old rival. I mean,
it rights itself.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
And then you cut to Pat Yeah, right, one of
your central figures on the desk. You cut to him,
who was a central figure in that game. I mean,
that's a no brainer. Out White on the sideline, That's
what I'm saying. Noel Devine in the building.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, if you were worth your salt me, you know
you would break the story. The game day is coming
before Thamil does, and Famil's on the show. I mean,
if you really want the one moment that you can
get Pete, you just go to just go out there
sources that.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
You need to break it, just say what the hell
are they doing? If they're not here, what are you doing?
What a missed opportunity.

Speaker 3 (28:03):
I know that mcafe's pushing for it, maybe like the
pinch the game, do his show from here the day
before and that'll gin everything up. And the I also
have well I shouldn't say this, go.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Ahead to say it.

Speaker 3 (28:16):
That that's no I'm gonna wait.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
What does that mean?

Speaker 3 (28:22):
It means I'm not going to Tony Kreedy the thing Vergan?

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Oh, you know something, it's just a it's it's.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
A tiny, tiny nugget. It's not a it's not a
big deal. Let's just wait. I shouldn't have said a
big deal to who stop?

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Still let him bait you into it, And I'm not
just save it till you're ready, I mean by the
way I started it.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
But we do have a few weeks before the pit came.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
So I tell you what started.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
You did jump in, I did my my bed.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
You know, they're staying up in Columbus the night before
the Ohio you game. Okay, so that's far away, I
mean closer. It's an hour and a half, probably hardly
at a hotel, it is. Can we say that? Is
that gonna be trap?

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (29:04):
It's a absolute trap. Talked to my buddy at Iowa State,
John Walters. They're play by play guy. I want to
get a little bit of an early laydown on the
broadcast booth there because they were there Got Beat. Oh yeah,
and he said yeah, he said, just just be careful,
just be careful when you go there.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
Did you know what you you know, we.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Forget about that game when I ahowys stay got beat.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Rocco was sick.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
Everyone was sick, he said. He said, they were just
like flu ridden, just really bad, right.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
And everybody all all that week at the game. People
are gonna say we got the pig Pits coming in.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yeah, exactly. I think coach Rod will do a good
job of framing the game up for go in handle Biz. Yeah,
three guys before the game is brought to us by
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It is great to have an advocate and that's what
they do every single day. Pretty wild story, right, practicing
in all fifty states. Based here in the state of
West Virginia. Visit Jan Dill's Attorneys at Law. So this

(30:23):
running back position a lot thinner than you would hope
and that could be improved with some eligibility green lights. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Ty Edwards is one of the guys right it has
the lawsuit pending right now, transfer from Northern Iowa.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Completely different body type than any of the other guys.
When I look at him just standing wise, like, there's
not a whole lot of those bodybuilds at that running
back position. But we're going to court. Hoppy going to court.
We're going to federal court. Judge John Bailey will take
that case that has been filed for the group of

(31:01):
four that are trying to get their eligibility. And that
is significant. And I don't know time process wise, how
quickly something like that can happen, but it's it's very
very important.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
It is, and all four of those guys would be
good additions. Jamoury Robinson, I think, is the head I'm
not breaking any new ground here, that's the headliner in
that group. That's a difference maker on defense, the former
American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year ten and
a half sacks at a position that you've just got
to have, right West Virginia has got to have somebody
that can get after the passer. Now, that defensive line

(31:34):
has some guys we've heard of. It probably has the
most returners of any position group. But Robinson's a potential
difference maker. So you're watching that court case cases closely,
But that's the one, if you had to pick one,
that would be the one Hoppy you need, You need
Jamoy Robinson this lineup.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
And I'm just shocked that there's any.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Any confusion and chaos about eligibilla.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
No like what you could play a guy at Texas
Tech four million dollars you can let I mean, what
court to get through? Yeah, it just seems odd. I mean,
I'm not and I'm not saying it's a better world.
I'm just saying that.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
You know, you thought you were just at the point
where you could just say I'd like to play another
year in eutibility and it was your player opt in. Yeah, yeah,
seven so far, that's okay, play another eighth you want
to eighth, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
You know I wasn't here during the COVID year, but
I had COVID.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
What I've heard of COVID, I would like to take
a COVID year.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Friend of mine had it again West Virginia. And this
decision will be, you know, front and center at these
This will have ramifications throughout the college football landscape and
college sports landscape when it comes to eligibility. We have
been right the Johnny Appleseed of this world, from Sean
Alston to Raykwon Battle. Those were magnificently massive cases. And

(32:57):
now you know the NC double A has been playing
hardball on these eligibilities. They have not been granting these eligibilities,
which is why we're in court, is exactly why we're
in court, and so like what happens next, how does
that all play through? Very important.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
This will be interesting to watch though, because it's it's
four going in together, but not all four are the
same case, so there is some nuance between these and
some of the others. That's that's what'll be interesting to
see what comes out of this.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, the speed that they practice in is pretty wild.
You kind of forget that. And Rich told us when
he was here that he goes faster now than he
used to.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Well, but.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
It's it's pretty impressive fast, and that I think is
also a very big teaching point right now. Nico Markiel
talked about that this week when he had a media session,
and that is the biggest thing is just the the
overall speed, Like a play never ends like football, as
we all as we grew up watching football back in
huddle days, right, it was like play, everyone comes back, huddle,

(34:03):
break out, set formation, snap play and it's just this,
it's the rhythms kind of like m hm. And now
this is just the second a player touches the ground,
that ball gets flipped to the official sprints to the
middle of the field, set the ball or to hash
and you play another one and so again. I think

(34:25):
that that is a to me super interesting to watch
that being built again and knowing Rich and having seen
Rich do this through the years, I kind of enjoy
just watching him, you know, trying to dial this thing
in there, to make this thing go as fast as
he wants.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
It to be wild that that's where he landed in
the evolution because he was on the front edge of
let's go fast, right right to the spot the ball
the first time, and then as other schools and programs
adopted this, he didn't get out of the speed business.
He just said, oh is that right, Sara, Right, here's
what we're gonna do it. We're gonna step on the
gas and go even faster. That's what's kind of fascinating
to me is that that's the route he chose with this,

(35:07):
is to pick it up and go faster. And listen, guys,
we've said it over time for a really long time.
In West Virgin's most successful years is different. It does
something different than others are doing, and that's his His
difference is still the speed and tempo and when he
talked about it the other day. It was very reminiscent
of Press Virginia, where it's not so much in the

(35:27):
first quarter or the first drive, but that he hopes
there is a cumulative effect over time and by the
end of the game, then it's that it's taken root. Now,
I will say this, just prepare yourself now. And I'm
not talking to everybody and us. The fake injuries are
gonna be a thing. We're gonna come in here on
the recount, lose our mind on the fake injury. Is

(35:48):
that right? Yeah? Okay, okay, maybe you're right. Maybe we
won't ever come in here and talk about fake injuries.
You're right, that will never happen. I don't think we
said that. I put it down there will that will
be a big topic of discuss injuries. Let me say
it enforced.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
I think they'll enforce it.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Okay, let me say it.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
I think if you get if.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
It'll be gett like targeting, you know you're out.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
You're out for the rest of the series this year. Really,
if you go down, you're at for the rest series.
And then some people have said we're just going to
get a fifth string guy, have him go out on
the first down play and then just go lay down.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Let me let me say it. You're saying it's not
gonna We're the first time it happens when you keep
a guy out for the series. And then he was
actually hurt and that school goes bananas, goes to federal
court and gets that role overturn, and then we're back
to we're screaming about So okay, you know a couple
of scream about it market down.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
By the way mark our boy Tony Tarantini. Yeah, right,
m he's been. He's been in sports line. He hasn't
been on three guys as he has not been three yuys.
So Tony Tarantini. Tony Tarantini is a Morgantown resident native
and is an acc official, so he'll work West Virginia's
scrimmages and doesn't do any West Virginia games. But I

(36:56):
saw him the other day. He was working the practice
and uh, he said to me unsolicited, he said, he said, no,
he's just let me. No one practices like this, so
you know me, I gotta bat him. I go, what
do you mean he goes? No one goes this fast
with the organization that these guys have because he just

(37:17):
was up at pitt and he was going to Notre
Dame for five straight days. Just his whole crew is
his end season crew. They're just going to go there
for five days and do that. But that's what he said,
he said, no one goes as fast.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
Well, it's going to be fastening to watch, it's going
to be fun to watch, and at times it's going
to be frustrating, right, sure it is, you know, but Brett,
I think he made a great point in that is
you can't do everything well, but what but can you
find an advantage? Right? Can you find something that you
can do better than others and that is your advantage?

Speaker 2 (37:47):
And I think that's a that's a lot of this
personnel thing that they're trying to find out right now.
Because you don't know what your offensive line skill set is.
Do they turn out to be better run blockers or
pass blockers? Because that may determine which quarterback gets more snaps, right,
depending on which one's a better runner versus better thrower.
How do the receivers look? Does Jaden brace step forth
and be the guy that a lot of people thought

(38:09):
he was going to be last year at this time
before he got hurt if he is, and then he
and cam Vaughn become really good. Now you're just plugging
in a Rodney Gallagher and Bowie and man Man Singleton
is okay, Now you might have a really good receiving corps.
Maybe that tweaks a little bit what Rich wants to do.
I do think that's part of Rich's magic is the
ability to tweak his base offense based on what the

(38:32):
skill is from guys. We've seen this look a lot
of different ways offensively, and I think those are some
of the questions you're starting to answer. But it starts
with that line, what do you do well the other?

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Exactly? The other thing is that And this may be
shocking news. The quarterback is pretty important, as you know.
I think it's even more important in this offense because
he has to make really really rapid decisions and he
has to run a ble. He has to run the ble.
So there's that. You know. Also that you have common
though that this is an offense that Rich is very

(39:02):
familiar with, and he's a guy that can call plays
very rapidly. I mean, it's not going to freak him out.
They have to call plays rapidly, right because he's done
it for years, so that's an advantage too.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
I'm also we don't know what the word is. It's
not intrigue. But the quarterback situation right now is to
me very unusual.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
How so.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
Because there's literally four and five guys that are in there,
and like legitimately, legitimately, there's no massive difference between them. Now,
don't get me wrong, like Nico's more experience and things
like that, but there's no one out there that looks

(39:52):
like a young you know, a young guy that's just
trying to find his footwork and like it's a it's
a labor to try. He just and then you just
look at that guy and you go like, well, he's
not gonna be ready yet. It's gonna take him two
years before he gets comfortable he's got a game. There's
none of those guys, and that to me is rich.

(40:12):
Rich's seeming contentment with his quarterback room surprises me really
because that is, as you know, the nucleus of everything,
and they can they collectively feel that in that room
they'll be able to get done what they need to
get done at the quarterback position, which is which surprises me.

(40:35):
And another thing that I like and we talked about
this earlier, you know, rich bemoaning that this guy's soft,
or that you also normally at this time off to
the side. In private conversations. We'll get some guys that
will go like, dude, have you seen our fill in
the blank position? We got no fricking guy. I'm gonna

(40:57):
have to take this guy to move him from here
to like I'm not getting that, So what does that mean?
I think it's a positive. I think they did a
very nice job in the portal post spring to fill in,
and now they do have competitions going where it's just
not clearly this guy is our only guy, and God forbid,

(41:18):
if he gets hurt, we're screwed. I think they feel,
and although they won't say it, that that they did
a really good job of beefing the thing up as
well as they possibly could in an off season and
now get after it. I think that they think that
this first year can be a very positive year. Now

(41:41):
what does that equal? I don't know, but they're not
We've been in situations before where, you know, before the
season started, they just go like, this ain't happening. We
got no shot here. This guy couldn't guard anything.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
That's why that quarterback position I think is so fascinating.
And it's from what I just said. There's going to
be some guys that throw it better, there's gonna be
others that run it. And that's why I think when
he says I've got multiple guys I can win with,
that's why I won't shock me if multiple guys are
playing right based on what comes forth as the skill
set that is that is really good and valuable.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah, that's why these scrimmages are so important. It's it's
as much making positive plays. Like they tell me, we
need to find the guy that doesn't just run it
for seven yards. If everyone else is running it for seven,
we know that we need a guy that runs it
for eleven and we the only way we can find
that out is if we go live. But that guy
needs to identify. That's a part of it. But the

(42:36):
other part of it is as you know, which guy
makes the fewest mistakes because if they can't, if they
can't trust you, if you're throwing it to the wrong guy,
then you're taking yourself out of the equation.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
Well, that's that's a whole Just put that tag on
this whole team because there's two parts to that. West
Virginia was about as bad last year as you could
be in turnover March and one to twelfth in the
country at minus eight. We know statistically that normally that
bounces back that turnovers. There's a lot of luck involved
in turnovers, so oftentimes when you're really near the bottom,

(43:07):
you pop back the other way and vice versa. We
saw that from West Virginia, who was very good in
that category the year at one nine games, took a
step back last year and really struggled. That wasn't just
the giveaways, but West Virginia was abysmal at takeaways last year, right,
No Beanie Bishop that was cleaning up on interceptions. You
went back to very few of those takeaways. So that's
the other part of this. And I know with Rich

(43:28):
we spend most of our time offensively, as we have
in this podcast. But this aggressive defense that's coming, how
much how many turnovers can it force? So not only
do you want to limit them on the offensive end,
but you have got to get back to taking them
away defensively. So I'm excited to watch Zach Alley in
that aggressiveness and see what that does.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
Yeah, gonna be fun. Three guys before the game is
brought to us by the fine folks at lou Wendell
Marine Sales. Did you see any boats when you were
on your bike ride, dear Hoppy.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Uh yeah, yeah, I mean when I got to the Mississippi.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
A big boats, pontoons, a lot of stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (44:02):
In fact, I think, doctor, where I where my wife
and I put our front tire into the river? I
think there was a lou Wendel.

Speaker 1 (44:10):
Ah does not surprise me. Boat there does not surprise me.
Why lou Wendel's been in business for over forty years.
They are the premiere pontoon boat dealer in our state
of West Virginia. They do pontoons. Obviously the Avalon pontoon
made one hundred percent right here in the United States
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I'm really a big accessory guy, you know, anchors, Bowie's,

(44:33):
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Speaker 2 (44:49):
Was out last Sunday on the little cheat lake there
you took it out. I'm not sure every boat was
from lou Wendel, but I think most were really nice
day at beautiful weather.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
The ones the most perfect weather, the that were staying
in the water and didn't sink, those are the ones
are lou Wendel's. The ones that go down non lou Wendell.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
Those booies are important, though. You don't want to skimp
on the buoys like you have. Somebody pulling up like
we did to tie up with you there right, could
be a potential chaos. Or you could just put those
booies on the side and get a nice little cush
in there to get tied up.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely, Okay. Defensively Zach ally installing his defense
and again what we know of it, and he was
in here here on the show this summer, very very attacking,
very very aggressive and kind of interesting. Do you guys

(45:40):
know that you guys know this? During practice, coaches asked
the other side for certain looks. Hey, when we go
out here, I want you to show me this I
want you to show me that we need to do this,
We need to do that. You know that Rich doesn't
do that and zach ally doesn't do that.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
They want to be surprised.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
They just like go like he just he just like
calls stuff. And it makes all the sense in the
world when you do think about it, because in a game,
what's the team going to do. I'm going to try
to make you right, blow up your play and make
you uncomfortable. So why not do it in practice? So
if you're seeing it every single day and not expecting, Okay,

(46:24):
where's it going to come from this time? Doesn't that
doesn't that help a little bit? Doesn't that make you better?
It's kind of interesting. But I've seen coaches like get
very very upset when coaches would not do that and
they're saying, hey, I need you know you show me this,
And instead they'll bring a guy over and like come
backside or something like that. Boom that was a problem,

(46:46):
and they get all bummed out. But they're going they're
going hot here. It's fun. I mean, it's it's fun
to watch this. This whole thing. There By the way,
I impressed by Chase Wilson. The linebackerat interview.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Did you listen to him?

Speaker 1 (46:59):
We did great? An you he was a he was
a while veteran dude. Yeah, right, you just step up.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
There's what it is. I'm a line up. I'm gonna play.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Appreciate being here. Yeah, that's very good.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Like a pro. He like a pro. So that was encouraged.
And then Nico, like Nico ever since we had him,
since he was a baby.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
He was a high school senior and he was an
a lead interview.

Speaker 1 (47:19):
I think he was in sixth grade. What are you
in sixth grade?

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Maybe third? He's been a lead in front of the
microphone since he got here and continues to be Oh,
he was great.

Speaker 1 (47:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
Really, here's a good quote from Zach Alley. I've heard
for a long time. Pressure breaks pipes. Pressure breaks pipes.
You think it's gonna bring some heat. Yeah, it's a
high risk, high reward brand.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Yeah, that's gonna be fun to watch. I mean, I
think we're gonna have to be ready for some some
big plays against you, right, because you're not gonna you're
not gonna win everyone. But that I'm anxious to see
what that looks like. The different formations, the constant pressure
that's applied from all over the field, and then defensive
backs that are going to get right up on you
and pressure you didn't play you.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
Yeah, but again risk reward. But we've been through that
with you know, Tony Gibson. Tony Gibson's fearless.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
Yeah, they'll heat him up, they'll heat him up. Who
was I talking to, Well, we were just talking this
morning Coach Buyser over at Morgantown High School. He's got
two of us boys, members of the Mountaineer. Cayden played
a lot of football at West Virginia, and we say, okay,
how's the transition going with Zach. He says, loves him
really like he loves him. And he said his one son, Jackson,

(48:33):
loves Cass Steele. You know Cas Steel is in that
linebacker room right, oh, Jeff, And he says this like
man crush stuff. They just love the love what they're doing.
So we're getting after.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
Of course, it also helps if you have guys that
can do it. Yeah, a guy coming off the corner.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
Oh yeah, well we'll see about that. We'll see about that.
Three guys before the game is brought to us by
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getting to b biscuits season. I mean, those leaves are
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(49:14):
and it's biscuit time, a lot of we're not necessarily
saying you have to eat too, but you might want
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like a special maybe on the way to Mountain, your
football special. So if you're coming to the game, you

(49:37):
ask for the three guys special when you.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Came, oh, we're going to get a three guys.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Biscuit, then say that you ask for the three guys special.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
I do think we are probably not showing the proper
respect to the size of those things by everybody just
saying oh, I can eat too, which I'm leading the
I'm leading the charge. Yes, you realize, So I understand
you don't think a lot of people those are big
who's they could eat three? Oh?

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Eddie Vedie, which.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
I mean, okay, yeah, I mean I'm not questioning Eddievie
said he could eat Sabans.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
I mean, didn't even.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Think about it. Saban said he could eat too.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
I say, there's too many people taking it taking it lightly.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
I'd take the under I can't eat too.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Yeah, it doesn't surprise me.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
I mean you could and you could. You both could,
especially as bread often comes in food deprived make man
bad decisions and just like, oh, there's biscuits, I'll just
kill it.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Yeah, well, wherever you may be, and there's over seventy
right now, there's over seventy Tutors here in the state
of West Virginia and that one outlier in Florida. They're
also accepting franchise opportunities. If you'd like to be a
franchise e of Tutors Biscuit World, you can visit them.
But whatever you do, stop by get yourself Tutor's biscuit
because it is biscuit season and it's happening very very quickly.

(50:54):
All right. Meanwhile, real quick here on Mountaineer basketball, we're
gonna get into a textual healing. But Mountaineer Basketball, Brad
the gym has gone quiet for right now.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
It has so they're taking a break here, finished up practices.
That was a fast summer for those guys. They are breaking.
They'll be back together once school begins, and then we'll
be off and running for real. But little hiatus right now.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Give me your thoughts, guys.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
I'm excited about this group, I really am. I think
they've got a bunch of movable pieces. I think they've
got great size. They've got guys that can shoot, They've
got guys that can score. You got Jasper Floyd running
the thing. I think they've got a lot of pieces.
I think fans are gonna like this team. Yeah, here's
my overall take.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
I think so too. I think so too gonna be fun.
Hop you think now that you're retired, you might be
able to make it over there.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
I'd love to you mean to practice.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
I didn't say that games games.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Yeah, you give me a seat.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
We probably slide you into a practice. When do you
think Ross probably let them go over the practice? When
he probably?

Speaker 3 (51:55):
I mean i'd love to. I'd love to come to
a practice.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Okay, we'll take care.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
We got you what time. I'd love to come to
the scrimmage Saturday Okay, never mind, sorry about that.

Speaker 1 (52:08):
You went to the Baylor basketball game. That was a
big step for you last year.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
I really really enjoyed that good sea.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
I mean, you were going to bring us a win.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
I couldn't do it.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Just to stun that lake opened up right under the
basket there, big giant, wet size of the lane there,
Toby o'connie. Yeah, I had a sure dunk.

Speaker 3 (52:29):
Yeah, that's a and I have limited experience. It's kind
of a tough place to play.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Welcome to, pretty pretty good environment.

Speaker 3 (52:38):
Right on top of you.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
That's every place.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Welcome to.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
That's every place. Hey over at go Mart. You seeing
some of these deals off the app.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
Seeing some of these deals they got. I've been living
in the Elkview Go Mart.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
They got this Gatorade special bye to you get one
for a dollar Marty summer days. You're earning all those
bonus points.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
Six times in the last thirteen days. I'm not excuse me.
I've been in the elk Viiew thing like six times
the last thirteen days. I probably think you were back
and forth from Charleston for those tvt Yeah. Yeah, you
always stopped before and on the way home.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
Get the Gomar come on.

Speaker 2 (53:08):
Very nice there, very helpful.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
You get the gomart app because like right now, if
you get the gomart app, you play Bingo Bash. There's
a video game on here, and you get twenty cents
off a gallon of gas per gallon to fill it up.
That's like a really really good deal. I got that
slim gym deal. Buy one, get one, got lace potato chips, Like,
why wouldn't you do that? Check it out? And by
the way, the Mountaineer Man Trip you're you can sign

(53:30):
up now to walk into the stadium with the Mountaineers.
That's ongoing right now. Get on the app. Yeah, go
ch'll be fun. Don't forget the doughnuts. I got Mike
from Saint Albans. He was at the TBT Games. He
brought us some doughnuts, he and his daughter Zoe. Really
you did not get any. I mean I think they
were intended for you, but you did it didn't make
It's fine.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
What is your go to? Since you've stopped thirteen times
in the last week, what is your go to?

Speaker 2 (53:55):
The Elk View one had giant big water, big waters.
Oh you got it, like one of those like to
do on the road to get a little caffeine in
me and a kind bar for the ride back home
from Charleston. That always got me from Charleston back nice.
But then on the way down you like this story.
You know Sand, you know our girl Sandy manager there
at the Fairmount location White Horror, got off there, had

(54:17):
my girls with me. They went down to the game.
So we all family Griswold road trip, jumped in there.
We got our gas, girls went in to get some
snacks for the road. They came back out. I went
in the back, said hid to Sandy. Of course she
was back there doing his paperwork. Said hello. So the
girls were on their own purchasing the stuff. They picked
it out. They got up there and they paid and
they walked out and they said that was excellent customer service.

(54:40):
Grace was heading it up.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
Yeah, it doesn't surprise me.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
So if you stop a Whitehall time we said hello.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
Doesn't surprise me at all. Three guys before the game
time four. We haven't done this in a young young
young time, really young time, real young time song. The
music the music doesn't come. Why is it is it playing? Yeah,
it's playing textual? Why doesn't tech? Does this not work anymore?

(55:05):
Should work?

Speaker 3 (55:06):
I don't. Yeah, it should. I mean, I mean I
got it on the I mean sometimes I've had that
issue and i've but I can't fix it now.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Rough return of textual healing here.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Well, hell, I'm not gonna sing it. I'll tell you
that much. That doesn't work.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
Okay, i'd you x out and go back in.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
Yeah, I try that.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
It worked in pre production when we were going we were.

Speaker 1 (55:26):
When we facted the show, when we faxed it and
tried again. All right, I don't think it's gonna work. Okay, No,
it's not working. Okay, this is textual healing. Come on,
come on, give me some of that healing. I need
some of that textual healing. Three oh four, four oh
four forty eighty three. It's available to you. You can
go to our website episode eight hundred dot com Episode
eight hundred dot com and take a look at all

(55:49):
of our stuff. We got new product coming out, uh coffee,
the pop, porn, the beer. It's all going really really well.
So we have not done textual healing literally in six
to eight weeks, and so this is just a very

(56:10):
small sample of what we received, but it hits upon
some key points. So this will go back to some episodes.
Dear Tony Bratt Hoppey. Mike Florio was, as usual wonderful
on the episode of Three Guys. However, I do have
an issue with his assertion that the use of the
F word is a sign of intelligence. If that was true,

(56:32):
one of my neighbors who uses it very, very often,
would be a card carrying member of MENSA, despite the
fact that he is dumber than a bucket of rocks.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
All due respect, of course, to the neighbor.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
Later in the show, Tony, you mentioned that, like Mike,
you have no plans to retire. Does that mean that
Three Guys will exceed its projected lifespan of eight hundred
episodes on behalf of your legions of loyal listeners. I
hope the answer is a resounding yes, signed by your
friend John S. Marshall Saint.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
I was going to hear from john S.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
Yeah, Texter says, the next time you talk to Mike Florio,
tell him the studies that he's referencing about swear words
or bs. I'm a correctional officer, and if dark humor
and the use of profanity were signs of intelligence, the
people I work with would be at Harvard by Adam
and Shady Spring by the way I would I questioned

(57:26):
that too, causation correlation. Sure, there's a great line. What
I could have used if we used swear words said
blank office. I didn't do that. I didn't do it,
but you thought of that I did. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
Texter. Just got back from vacation and I listened to
the Ren Baker episode I am in with his wife Heather.
Here's my MGB and my MG midget. So there's that car. Remember,
Ren talked a great deal about his wife's MG.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
What he did was plain about it.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
He did it was I thought he was very disrespectful
for the vehicle. So that is there. And then you
have the other one there, Jake, I think there was two.
Look at that one. Oh boy, see that one right
there is the one. That model is the one Brian
Joswiak used to drive in his senior year. I'll never
forget to this day. He was driving straight down Pattison

(58:20):
Drive between the Coliseum and the football stadium, and he's massive, right,
and so his head and neck were way above that windshield,
and he looked like Fred Flin. Fredtee is exactly looked
like Fred Flintstone exactly. Joe's looked exactly like Flintstone.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
In fact, when he stopped, he just picked up the car.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
And wall exactly. No, they did move cars back then, Yeah, Texter, Brad,
Tony and Hoppey to always add a West Virginia connection.
I was returning my rental car and Bozeman, Montana's airport
after vacation a Yellowstone. The car return agent sees me
and my West Virginia pullover and says he was a

(58:57):
high school teammate of current WV transfer running back Cannon Katzer.
Of course, he says, Canon is an absolute beast and
will be very happy with his production. Allow me to
translate and rich Rod speak to extremely hard edge.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
He ran our turn to Virginia.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
He gave you an RTI mentioned before it had even
been exactly brought him out very good. Brandon, Yeah, I
heard good things about Catcher so far.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
He yeah, he is a baller. Josh from Burlington incoming
three ZHO four connection story. My wife and I on
a honeymoon on an Alaskan cruise ship. We make a
stop in catch A Can, Alaska, walk into a local
shop checking it out, and of course I'm wearing my
West Virginia's stuff. I then hear a lady say, hey,

(59:41):
it's a fellow mountaineer my wife, and I started chatting
with her. She had lived in Wheeling for twenty five years,
then moved to can then there for twenty shows that
you can go across the country to a town with
the population of eight thousand people, the first person talk
to a fellow mountaineer. Look at that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Well, there we go.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
So they're out there in Alaska. They ran in there.
They brought their flag with him on the honeymoon.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Of course, I was actually surprised I did not run
into more mountaineer fans in Iowa. Yeah, kind of. On
one hand, it was kind of surprising. I've flew the flag.
I had my hat on whole time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
That is kind of surprising. Texter. We were in the
Amish country in Berlin, Ohia, Saturday. We're in one of
the many shops. I saw a young man wearing mountaineer
attire and being how I was sporting a similar look.
We talked, and he's going to be a freshman pre
med over there at the college. Nothing that unusual. But
then his mother came by and we talked and soon

(01:00:41):
found out that she is ed passed Along's daughter. I
never got a pick, but we had a great conversation
about her growing up in Morgantown and her dad's stint
as our ad always a connection. I got a problem
with one of those past along girls. Excuse me, this
goes back years years.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
You're holding a grudge years for years years.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
So I was many many moons ago the jag off
guy that scheduled us over at waj R scheduled me
to host trading post. Oh was that you hoppy? And
so it was a Saturday morning and I'm hosting trading post.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
I paid extra for that, though, Yeah, you got extra.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
So girl calls up. A girl calls up and says, okay,
I guy, what do you got. I have a mail
and a female rabbit. I said, uh, you have a
male and a female rabbit. She goes yeah, she what's
the number. So she gives me the number. I say
the number, and I said, you gotta be careful. Mail
and a female rabbit that made Mike make more rabbits.

(01:01:43):
There she goes, yeah. I said, okay, thanks, what's on that?
And I said, okay, there it is mail and a
female rabbit. If you're interested. Phone number Da da da
da da da dah. By the time I said the
last digit of the phone number, I realized something, What
that was my home number? Oh? It was Eddie's daughter.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
Gotcha?

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
Got me put up by none other than that Mona.
Oh real, miss Mona. Set him up. Set me up,
Set me up.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Yeah, did you get a couple of calls about rabbits?

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Got rid of six rabbits that day. Hey.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
By the way, we just saw eddiean Mona here recently.
It's great to say him.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
Great to see him. Eddie was picking up his tickets.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
He was Yeah, he's ready to get football season. Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
For the record, the individual who did this schedule and
had you on, and by the way, I think it
was called Trading Station, not Trading post same thing, also
frequently hosted that show himself. So the person who did
the schedule, Brad, did not ask Tony to do something
he did not do himself. Period inclamation point.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
That's one thing about you that is one thousand percent trough.
You'd never asked anyone to do anything that you didn't
do yourself. That's one hundred percent true. Okay, still a jerk,
but I mean anybody Dave past forgiving beanery gift card.

Speaker 3 (01:03:07):
You were supposed to put down talent on your time.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
Uh, Texter. Steve Savans is the bomb. Fortunate to have
him as our coach. Smart guy, and Steve was good.
He got a big recruit, huge instinct. Guy Dean from
Parsons now living in Fairmont. Can you all think of
other instances where a power force school had a new
head coach in their first season for both football and

(01:03:34):
men's basketball. I went through some WVU history. We've had
a few times where it was in a year or
so between each other, but not the same season. Yeah,
that's that's hard to find. Hard to find and very interesting.
In most cases when that happens, you would be concerned

(01:03:56):
and nervous. But I'm not. But I'm not. I feel
totally comfortable with the way it plays out. It could
have been massively bad, right, could have been massively bad?
Go on, Well, what I mean is, I think we're
all very comfortable with the two current head coaches. And
if you didn't have that level of comfort right now

(01:04:17):
going into a football in a basketball season, you'd be
going like, oh crap. But I think we all feel
like we're good, here we come. Everything's won't be fine,
Let's go. Jason writes in from Palm City, Florida. I
wanted to take a minute to recognize, oh R, buddy,
fine looking Phil. I ordered two WVU polos from Daniels.
I haven't seen these anywhere else. Not only did they
ship and arrive quickly, they threw in a personalized message

(01:04:40):
on my receipt and a free WVU coozy. Well look
at that Phil sending out love letters and coozies. Boy,
great service. I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize spreads
as well. The shirt's very professionally folded. I'm sure these
were packed during his shift.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
I love the show, appreciate that very much.

Speaker 3 (01:04:57):
He's still doing shifts.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Oh yeah, just in fact, it just a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Was over there today I went he was picked up
an extra shift?

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Did one yesterday today?

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Okay, but you know why I was there today? Big
news today? What head over to that? That their website.
Danielsomorgantown dot com comment. You can order that West Virginia
stuff online right now?

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
What is that? What do you mean West Virginia stuff
WV heere?

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's on there it's online to order.
That's a that's new. He's been working on the website.
Brand new website soon to come, but ordering right now.
You can get on there and get some stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
Okay, yeah stuff Texter from Bluefield, Virginia. Stan, my grand
daughters want more Mountaineer munch. I tried to order but
it sold out. Help me please? Uh, Stan, thank you
so much. Glad you enjoy it. It is super good.
I understand they are going to be doing a new
batch rebatching that in the not too distant future. Texter.

(01:05:52):
I had to pull this offline for the Senator. I'll
see you guys at the food court in a few weeks.
Let's go, Mike and Myrtle. Have you seen Had you
seen that? Actually you did see that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
By the way, speaking of food court, saw keV Caine
rev keV over at Daniels today. You missed him. He
called me today, spoke to him. He was site site inspection.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Oh, he was going over to look good.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
Gave a quick look to it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
He knows it's in good shame. Yeah, that was good.
So we'll have plans coming up on our food courts. Yes,
we are going to do them, and we're very much
looking forward to doing that stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
Connection three oh four will be there.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
Yeah, Connection three the.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
Way that in my many stops to the go marts
around the state and my travels have been very well stocked,
very well stocked with connection three oh four. Good in
all of them. I've bet Elkview, flat Woods, Fairmont, Morgantown.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Found him at all the Whitehall location in Fairmont's got it.
We were in there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
They all, every one of those does Elkview packed in there.

Speaker 3 (01:06:57):
You need to be there, need to be as a
consult It's a regional because you're a regional manager. Regional efforting.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Yeah, yeah, opportunities there by.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
The way, before you get off, can I give some
shout outs? Been holding it for a couple weeks from
the TBT. Saw listeners down here.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
How I almost forgot this too. I'm glad you said that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
Let me let me run through some of these. We'll
get to a bunch of Elliott said hello, Elliotts from Charleston.
Good to see him. Jennings of course was there each night.
Saw Jennings Bill from Cabin Creek now in South Carolina.
He was really interesting talk to him for a while.
He was a coal miner here in the state.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Where do you meet him?

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
Down charlestow Down and Charleston. Then he moved to South Carolina,
went to work on a nuclear submarine excuse me, nuclear
sub bill. He was really fascinating. Talked to his sister Vicky,
was there, saw Vicky each night. They were great. Ryan Stinson,
his son Sawyer, said hello, let me tell you to Squared,
Tim from Saint Albans frequent texture to the program. Yeah,

(01:07:54):
we know Tim. And then Jason from Rozaffort was there.
Now he missed us the day we were there, but
he wanted to say hello. I want to know how
we liked His town said, we loved it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
You go back very well received. That was fun at
Ronzfford a great time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Shout out to everybody. Thanks for saying hello. It's great
to see all. Yea, all the folks.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
You had fun at uh awesome, you had fun at
Best Virginia stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
It was fun. Great run they went on, gave a
nice little bridge into football season. Their last two weeks
of July a lot of fun. Final four Hop came
within two games of the Millie, so it was fun.
He had a great time. So thanks to everybody. That
came up and said hello, By the way, people in
Charleston did an awesome job. If it's not back in Charleston,
I'm stunned they showed up.

Speaker 1 (01:08:33):
Nice to have that home court advantage for that Wichita
team on it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
Made it well, made a difference for West Virginia getting
as deep as it did to.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
Sure absolutely a while back when it was the day
that Sabins came on, Coach Sabins gentlemen sent us a
box of various hot sauces. G W. B Brand and
he is a US Army veteran, Greg B. I grew
up in Adamston, West Virginia, at Liberty High School, and

(01:09:01):
this started when they started making their chicken wings. They
started creating their own sauces. And he founded this company
back in two thousand and fifteen, so they're ten years
old now. Six flavors made by the company. This one
that I'm holding right now is raspy and hot sauce,
and so Sabans took. I said, Steve, would you like those?
And so Steve did take them big hot sauce, Texas

(01:09:23):
big sauce, all of them. So this is some really,
this is some really good stuff. GWB. If you see it,
you can order it. And it's a veteran owned company
right here in the great state of West Virginia. All right,
so we're back. We're gonna do spreads out. We're gonna
do over unders Monday, right one, Monday, Monday and Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
You want me to do Nico rushing touchdowns?

Speaker 3 (01:09:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
Should we make that an official category?

Speaker 1 (01:09:49):
You in?

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
Oh? Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, let it go.

Speaker 2 (01:09:51):
That's an interesting one.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
And if you need any help jumping jacks here too.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
That's hard.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
It's going to be a hard one, right, That's what
I want. I want something that are a little bit
of a challenge.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
What are going to think of about that?

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
That's on there.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
Three guys before the game. Brought to us by Jan
Dill's attorneys at law. They won't take no for an answer.

Speaker 3 (01:10:08):
Quick question. Can we know what they are? To do
A little research? You'll probably not.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
Okay, We've not done that before. I provide you context.

Speaker 1 (01:10:17):
Okay, better not, better not to know, okay. Three guys
brought to us by Comac's Business Systems keeping West Virginia's
business data safe, secure and deficient for twenty five years
by gomart get a Gomart rewards card and immediately begins
saving on food and fuel. Go to gomart dot com
for details. By lou Wendel Marine Sales in Saint Albans.

(01:10:38):
They well, they sell family fun. Visit lou Wendelmarine Sales
dot Com. By Tutor's Biscuit World, Start your day the
homemade way with a Tutor's Biscuit and by Commonly CPA
Group providing value beyond numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
Spreads on stats. Probably returns Monday.

Speaker 1 (01:10:54):
Monday, it'll come back for the season.

Speaker 3 (01:10:56):
Yeah, Nico rushing touchdowns the number will beam giving him
one because he'll obsess on this until we go on
the air. Money.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
Call you four times, text you three times.

Speaker 3 (01:11:05):
I'm sorry, you're gonna go five and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
He had two last year.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
I know. Did you know we'll find out you not
giving me any anything.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
Well, this guy gave you the category Nico rushing Touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
We'll be we'll get into that next week. We'll be back.
Thanks for being with us, Stay well special thanks to
our producer Jake. We're out three guys before the game,
Episode number six, one hundred and forty eight.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
See y'all, why I don't tell y

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3 Guys Before The Game - WVU Football - Going Camping (Episode 648)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}3 Guys Before The Game - WVU Football - Going Camping (Episode 648)