July 10, 2024 • 10 mins
Justin Williams from The Athletic joined us to talk the 2024 UC Football season, The Big 12, and more.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Fifteen thirty. Sports headlines are comingup in second Reds and Rockies tonight seven
hundred WLW. More details on thatin just a bit, but first,
Big Twelve Media Days are happening inLas Vegas. Justin Williams for a long
time covered UC football and basketball forthe Athletic, and obviously still covers them,
(00:24):
but he also covers everybody else coveringcollege football and basketball. Senior writer
for the Athletic, and there's aI think there's nobody in the in the
business who has has their finger ofthe pulse more on the Big Twelve than
our guy, Justin. Plus,it's it's been forever since we had him
on. So I called him andhe's on with us now, Hi,
Justin, what's up. Good totalk to you. It's it's it's good
(00:48):
to have you. I appreciate youdoing this as always. Uh. You
see, was picked to finish fourteenthin the Big twelve preseason poll. Does
that seem about right to you?Yeah? I think that's fair. I
think I had him twelve when whenin my vote when I when I did
the preseason poll. But you know, I think they're probably in somewhere in
that bottom four grouping. I thinkwith the thing with the big twilve,
(01:11):
that's interesting. Like I have WestVirginia eighth in my poll, I wouldn't
be surprised if West Virginia like iscompeting for a shot at the conference championship
game down the stretch. You know, this this conference, I think is
going to be really bunched together.That's kind of been the the narrative that's
put out at a media day thatit's a lot of parody this season.
So you know, twelve fourteenth,whatever it is with Cincinnati, it's not
(01:34):
where you want to be. ButI also think that there's not necessarily going
to be a huge gap between alot of these teams, right you know
when the standing checkout does, doesparody mean it's wide open at the top?
I think so? I mean,honestly, I think there is eight
teams you can legitimately make a casethat that have a shot to win the
conference. I think there's probably acouple more that you can, you know,
(01:56):
squint and make a reason for.I think if you're a Dion Homer,
then maybe you can use that asjustification for Colorado. But you know,
I do I think there's a coupleof teams that are kind of in
that top group in Utah, KansasState. I had Kansas State first in
my ballot. And then there's teamslike Kansas where if the quarterback stays healthy,
you know that they could win.Or Oklahoma State, which showed last
(02:17):
year that you know, they gotthe conference title game. I think there's
a lot of teams that feel legitimatelylike they have a shot. And I
think that's kind of the vibe withthis new Big twelve Tech Oklahoma gone.
You know, maybe not this year, but I think every team, all
sixteen teams in the conference feel like, you know, at some point,
based on their history and kind ofbased on the trajectory of their programs,
that they can compete for conference titles. Realistically. What's the best case scenario
(02:40):
in the league for UC this year? I think getting to a bowl game,
so you know, winning six sixgames overall, I think would show
some good progress. They won threegames last year, they finished last in
the Big Twelve. You know,I think year two under Scott Saderfield,
there's been a lot of talk aboutyou know him, kind of revamping this
roster. They have forty seven newplayers between high score recruits, and transfer
(03:05):
recruits. You know, a lotof talk about how this team kind of
it has got sadderfields, culture andmentality. All right, well, then
show some progress on the field,go out and win a few more games,
get to a bowl game, builda little bit of momentum going into
year three. You know, Ithink if you fall short of that,
if you're winning five games and you'renot going to a bowl game again,
I don't think he's on the hotseat. It's only here two. But
(03:27):
then I think that just puts alot more pressure on Satderfield in the program.
If you can't show some legit progressand maybe have a ball game to
show for it this season, youknow, maybe he's not on the hot
seat if that doesn't happen. Butat the same time, we're in a
different era, right because of theportal, because of the ease of player
movement, because of NIL and Ithink a lot of people are going to
say, look, it may beis as difficult as ever to be a
(03:49):
coach in year one at any place, but it's never been easier to get
things turned around pretty quickly because ofthose things. And so maybe the leash
for any coach, not just Ciderfieldbut for any coach should should perhaps not
be quite as long. What wouldyou say to that? Oh? Yeah,
I mean, look, we're seeingcoaches getting fired after year two.
We saw Jimbo Fisher get fired andpaid seventy seven million dollars. Like you
(04:13):
know, you're right, and theway that the money is right now and
the expectations are in college football,Like you know, no one really is
safe if you have a bad coupleseasons. And yeah, I do think
if you know, say Cincinnati goesout and they underperform and they don't make
a ball game where they really struggleagain, I don't know that I would
predict that Scott Cidderfield's gonna, youknow, have have his job risk and
(04:34):
going to be on the hot seat. But I think it puts him on
the hot seat for year three.And I think you're going to see that
in a lot of places, youknow, across college football, and in
Cincinnati is no different there. They'rein the Big twelve now they've made this
change. They put a lot ofresources and efforts in the getting back to
power constance football. I don't thinkyou can really have these stretches where you
go three four years and not makea ball game or not show legit progress.
(04:57):
So you know, I think Scott'sSiderfield knows that he knows the pressure
that he inherited, you know,following Luke Pickle in the job, and
he knows kind of what's that stakethis year. And so that's why I
think you got to at least getto that six games, get into a
bowl game, and feel like you'reshowing some real, real momentum moving into
year three. Justin Williams covering collegefootball for the Athletic at the Athletic dot
com ny Times dot Com as well, I know you're not as in the
(05:20):
weeds as you were when you wereon the uc BE, but you still
follow this program closely. When whenfall camp begins, give me the one
or two things you were most interestedin seeing unfold. So you know,
the two areas that they were justterrible at last year was quarterback play and
secondary and so you know, Iknow there's all this talk about there's going
(05:41):
to be a quarterback battle and it'snot Brendan Soorsby's job. I'll be shocked
if it's not Brendan Sorosby's job.This is the guy they kind of pegged
in the portal and you know theybrought here. He's a young guy,
so this is going to be BrendanSorosby's team, you know, for them
hopefully this year and for the nextcouple of years. I'm curious see what
he looks like. And you know, again, fall camp can kind of
be tough. I remember watching DesmondRitter run around as a red shirt freshman
(06:02):
at camp and being like, Idon't know if this guy's got it and
shows you, you know how smartI was, but I'm kind of curious
see how he looks and it justkind of takes over an offense. And
then defensively, like, they justgave up so many big plays in the
secondary last year and they really revampedthat unit, brought in six or seven
new guys, have a new defensivecoordinator, and so those are two areas.
(06:23):
You know, they get the offensivelinebacker, they get Corey Kiner back,
they brought in some other pieces offensively, you know, they've beefed up
the secondary. If they can improveat quarterback play and then the secondary and
really just be above average in thoseareas, then I think, you know,
it totally makes sense that they couldgo from three wins to to six
or seven. This league. Everytime I read something from commissioner Brett you
(06:47):
or Mark, or every time theBig Twelve is in the news, it
feels like it's for something really forwardthinking, bold, outside the box,
maybe beyond the boundaries of what youexpect college sports to be. Uh.
Is the Big Twelve in that regardso far out in front of everybody else?
Is that just part for the coursein college sports? And what's this
(07:11):
league gonna look like in four orfive years? Yeah, I think it's
a mixture of you know, theperson they hired, they brought in Brett
Ormark two years ago to be thecommissioner. He's kind of a business guy.
He fancies himself a disruptor. Butthen it's also, you know,
the position that the Big Twelve isin. So you know, we've seen
this Greig Sankey at the SEC.You know, he's kind of the old
(07:31):
standard, the old hat traditional conferencecommissioner. But the Big twelve Big Tens
made a new higher. But theBig Ten has a great TV deal and
they're kind of, you know,at the top of the food chains.
They don't necessarily have to do thoseinnovatives, maybe sometimes risky or bold moves
that the Big twelve does. Andso I give you, know, Brett
Ormark a lot of credit. Idon't know that every idea that's kind of
(07:55):
been put out there is the bestidea, and I don't know that all
of them are always gonna work.But I think what he's done is he's
realized, all right, you know, there have to be some things that
need to be done, some risksthat need to be take to get the
Big twelve, you know, toat least keep pace with the Big ten
or SEC or certainly not even getlapped by them when you're talking about financials
or you know, national championship contenders. And so, you know, someone
(08:18):
described me a Big twelve ad describedme earlier this year that Brett your Mark's
a kick every tire kind of commissioner. And I think we see that in
some of these ideas that he putsfor. It doesn't mean they're going to
pursue all of them, doesn't meanthey're all going to work out. But
I give you or Mark a lotof credit that he kind of understands where
the Big twelve is in the peckingorder and that it's going to take some
bold you know, sometimes risky ideasto keep them moving up the food chain.
(08:41):
Awesome stuff as always, great tohave you on. I'll bother you
this summer. Thanks man, Iappreciate the time anytime. Thanks Mom.
That's our guy, Justin Williams coveringcollege football and basketball and all over the
Big Twelve for the Athletic part ofthe New York Times the Athletic dot Com.
(09:01):
It is sixteen minutes away from fouro'clock. Your phone calls are coming
up. I have some help.Yesterday Big twelve media Day, the guy
who made the most headlines and theguy who made news was Mike Gundy,
the football coach at Oklahoma State.I I'm going to help him. I'm
gonna help a lot of people.I'm gonna help Mike Gundy. That coming
(09:24):
up in the four o'clock hour.And yeah, I was talking about patients
with certain players before, patients withHunter Green being paid off, and maybe
to a degree with Ellie de laCruz. I think there's an overarching goal
here that we should talk about theReds pursuing that in the four o'clock hour
(09:45):
as well, And in about twentyminutes, got some bad news. This
isn't bad news. For everybody listeningright now, it's not it might not
be bad news for you, butI've I've got some bad news. I'll
share it with you coming up atfour oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station, Visit how
Fifteen thirty. Sports headlines are comingup in second Reds and Rockies tonight seven
hundred WLW. More details on thatin just a bit, but first,
Big Twelve Media Days are happening inLas Vegas. Justin Williams for a long
time covered UC football and basketball forthe Athletic, and obviously still covers them,
(00:24):
but he also covers everybody else coveringcollege football and basketball. Senior writer
for the Athletic, and there's aI think there's nobody in the in the
business who has has their finger ofthe pulse more on the Big Twelve than
our guy, Justin. Plus,it's it's been forever since we had him
on. So I called him andhe's on with us now, Hi,
Justin, what's up. Good totalk to you. It's it's it's good
(00:48):
to have you. I appreciate youdoing this as always. Uh. You
see, was picked to finish fourteenthin the Big twelve preseason poll. Does
that seem about right to you?Yeah? I think that's fair. I
think I had him twelve when whenin my vote when I when I did
the preseason poll. But you know, I think they're probably in somewhere in
that bottom four grouping. I thinkwith the thing with the big twilve,
(01:11):
that's interesting. Like I have WestVirginia eighth in my poll, I wouldn't
be surprised if West Virginia like iscompeting for a shot at the conference championship
game down the stretch. You know, this this conference, I think is
going to be really bunched together.That's kind of been the the narrative that's
put out at a media day thatit's a lot of parody this season.
So you know, twelve fourteenth,whatever it is with Cincinnati, it's not
(01:34):
where you want to be. ButI also think that there's not necessarily going
to be a huge gap between alot of these teams, right you know
when the standing checkout does, doesparody mean it's wide open at the top?
I think so? I mean,honestly, I think there is eight
teams you can legitimately make a casethat that have a shot to win the
conference. I think there's probably acouple more that you can, you know,
(01:56):
squint and make a reason for.I think if you're a Dion Homer,
then maybe you can use that asjustification for Colorado. But you know,
I do I think there's a coupleof teams that are kind of in
that top group in Utah, KansasState. I had Kansas State first in
my ballot. And then there's teamslike Kansas where if the quarterback stays healthy,
you know that they could win.Or Oklahoma State, which showed last
(02:17):
year that you know, they gotthe conference title game. I think there's
a lot of teams that feel legitimatelylike they have a shot. And I
think that's kind of the vibe withthis new Big twelve Tech Oklahoma gone.
You know, maybe not this year, but I think every team, all
sixteen teams in the conference feel like, you know, at some point,
based on their history and kind ofbased on the trajectory of their programs,
that they can compete for conference titles. Realistically. What's the best case scenario
(02:40):
in the league for UC this year? I think getting to a bowl game,
so you know, winning six sixgames overall, I think would show
some good progress. They won threegames last year, they finished last in
the Big Twelve. You know,I think year two under Scott Saderfield,
there's been a lot of talk aboutyou know him, kind of revamping this
roster. They have forty seven newplayers between high score recruits, and transfer
(03:05):
recruits. You know, a lotof talk about how this team kind of
it has got sadderfields, culture andmentality. All right, well, then
show some progress on the field,go out and win a few more games,
get to a bowl game, builda little bit of momentum going into
year three. You know, Ithink if you fall short of that,
if you're winning five games and you'renot going to a bowl game again,
I don't think he's on the hotseat. It's only here two. But
(03:27):
then I think that just puts alot more pressure on Satderfield in the program.
If you can't show some legit progressand maybe have a ball game to
show for it this season, youknow, maybe he's not on the hot
seat if that doesn't happen. Butat the same time, we're in a
different era, right because of theportal, because of the ease of player
movement, because of NIL and Ithink a lot of people are going to
say, look, it may beis as difficult as ever to be a
(03:49):
coach in year one at any place, but it's never been easier to get
things turned around pretty quickly because ofthose things. And so maybe the leash
for any coach, not just Ciderfieldbut for any coach should should perhaps not
be quite as long. What wouldyou say to that? Oh? Yeah,
I mean, look, we're seeingcoaches getting fired after year two.
We saw Jimbo Fisher get fired andpaid seventy seven million dollars. Like you
(04:13):
know, you're right, and theway that the money is right now and
the expectations are in college football,Like you know, no one really is
safe if you have a bad coupleseasons. And yeah, I do think
if you know, say Cincinnati goesout and they underperform and they don't make
a ball game where they really struggleagain, I don't know that I would
predict that Scott Cidderfield's gonna, youknow, have have his job risk and
(04:34):
going to be on the hot seat. But I think it puts him on
the hot seat for year three.And I think you're going to see that
in a lot of places, youknow, across college football, and in
Cincinnati is no different there. They'rein the Big twelve now they've made this
change. They put a lot ofresources and efforts in the getting back to
power constance football. I don't thinkyou can really have these stretches where you
go three four years and not makea ball game or not show legit progress.
(04:57):
So you know, I think Scott'sSiderfield knows that he knows the pressure
that he inherited, you know,following Luke Pickle in the job, and
he knows kind of what's that stakethis year. And so that's why I
think you got to at least getto that six games, get into a
bowl game, and feel like you'reshowing some real, real momentum moving into
year three. Justin Williams covering collegefootball for the Athletic at the Athletic dot
com ny Times dot Com as well, I know you're not as in the
(05:20):
weeds as you were when you wereon the uc BE, but you still
follow this program closely. When whenfall camp begins, give me the one
or two things you were most interestedin seeing unfold. So you know,
the two areas that they were justterrible at last year was quarterback play and
secondary and so you know, Iknow there's all this talk about there's going
(05:41):
to be a quarterback battle and it'snot Brendan Soorsby's job. I'll be shocked
if it's not Brendan Sorosby's job.This is the guy they kind of pegged
in the portal and you know theybrought here. He's a young guy,
so this is going to be BrendanSorosby's team, you know, for them
hopefully this year and for the nextcouple of years. I'm curious see what
he looks like. And you know, again, fall camp can kind of
be tough. I remember watching DesmondRitter run around as a red shirt freshman
(06:02):
at camp and being like, Idon't know if this guy's got it and
shows you, you know how smartI was, but I'm kind of curious
see how he looks and it justkind of takes over an offense. And
then defensively, like, they justgave up so many big plays in the
secondary last year and they really revampedthat unit, brought in six or seven
new guys, have a new defensivecoordinator, and so those are two areas.
(06:23):
You know, they get the offensivelinebacker, they get Corey Kiner back,
they brought in some other pieces offensively, you know, they've beefed up
the secondary. If they can improveat quarterback play and then the secondary and
really just be above average in thoseareas, then I think, you know,
it totally makes sense that they couldgo from three wins to to six
or seven. This league. Everytime I read something from commissioner Brett you
(06:47):
or Mark, or every time theBig Twelve is in the news, it
feels like it's for something really forwardthinking, bold, outside the box,
maybe beyond the boundaries of what youexpect college sports to be. Uh.
Is the Big Twelve in that regardso far out in front of everybody else?
Is that just part for the coursein college sports? And what's this
(07:11):
league gonna look like in four orfive years? Yeah, I think it's
a mixture of you know, theperson they hired, they brought in Brett
Ormark two years ago to be thecommissioner. He's kind of a business guy.
He fancies himself a disruptor. Butthen it's also, you know,
the position that the Big Twelve isin. So you know, we've seen
this Greig Sankey at the SEC.You know, he's kind of the old
(07:31):
standard, the old hat traditional conferencecommissioner. But the Big twelve Big Tens
made a new higher. But theBig Ten has a great TV deal and
they're kind of, you know,at the top of the food chains.
They don't necessarily have to do thoseinnovatives, maybe sometimes risky or bold moves
that the Big twelve does. Andso I give you, know, Brett
Ormark a lot of credit. Idon't know that every idea that's kind of
(07:55):
been put out there is the bestidea, and I don't know that all
of them are always gonna work.But I think what he's done is he's
realized, all right, you know, there have to be some things that
need to be done, some risksthat need to be take to get the
Big twelve, you know, toat least keep pace with the Big ten
or SEC or certainly not even getlapped by them when you're talking about financials
or you know, national championship contenders. And so, you know, someone
(08:18):
described me a Big twelve ad describedme earlier this year that Brett your Mark's
a kick every tire kind of commissioner. And I think we see that in
some of these ideas that he putsfor. It doesn't mean they're going to
pursue all of them, doesn't meanthey're all going to work out. But
I give you or Mark a lotof credit that he kind of understands where
the Big twelve is in the peckingorder and that it's going to take some
bold you know, sometimes risky ideasto keep them moving up the food chain.
(08:41):
Awesome stuff as always, great tohave you on. I'll bother you
this summer. Thanks man, Iappreciate the time anytime. Thanks Mom.
That's our guy, Justin Williams coveringcollege football and basketball and all over the
Big Twelve for the Athletic part ofthe New York Times the Athletic dot Com.
(09:01):
It is sixteen minutes away from fouro'clock. Your phone calls are coming
up. I have some help.Yesterday Big twelve media Day, the guy
who made the most headlines and theguy who made news was Mike Gundy,
the football coach at Oklahoma State.I I'm going to help him. I'm
gonna help a lot of people.I'm gonna help Mike Gundy. That coming
(09:24):
up in the four o'clock hour.And yeah, I was talking about patients
with certain players before, patients withHunter Green being paid off, and maybe
to a degree with Ellie de laCruz. I think there's an overarching goal
here that we should talk about theReds pursuing that in the four o'clock hour
(09:45):
as well, And in about twentyminutes, got some bad news. This
isn't bad news. For everybody listeningright now, it's not it might not
be bad news for you, butI've I've got some bad news. I'll
share it with you coming up atfour oh five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station, Visit how
Mo Egger News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.