Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Leger, thank you
so much for listening. Tonight's golden opportunity for the UC
Bearcats opening up the season in Kansas City against Nebraska.
You can listen to the game on a seven hundred
WLW the game on ESPN and on the call, the
all time Georgia Tech great Roddy Jones joins us. He's
(00:21):
a color analyst for ESPN college football. Doesn't get a
chance to call a lot of Big Ten football games,
but he gets a chance to call the corn Huskers
and Bearcats. Now I read today they're growing up. You
were actually a little bit of a corn Huskers fan.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, so I appreciate you having me. I would not
say I was a Cornhuskers fan, but like Nebraska was
my favorite team to play with on the MT.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Dowa video game.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It was Eric Crouch sort that had my imagination.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I root it for whoever it was good.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So it was Florida State, it was Florida State, it
was when it was Nebraska, it was Nebraska, like when
they were the best teams in the country.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Bearakraus was one of my favorite players for sure. So
it wasn't like I was.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I was a Nebraska fan growing up, but with the
first year I got the games, the year Eric Crouch
went off, and so yeah, I played with Nebraska ton
and it was a ton of fun to do running
the option with.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
A guy who was that fast. So, you know, I
think I was like any kid I was.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I was selling my services of my fandom to the
highest bidder, and its bitter was whoever was winning national championships.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I can I can relate to that. Well, we'll talk
about the corn Huskers here in a second. With both teams,
and it doesn't matter which Week one game you're calling.
In this day and age, there's more unknowns than ever before.
What are you looking forward to finding out about the
Bearcats tonight?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I think a number of things.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I think chief among them is whether or not this
retooled receiving corps can help out Brendan Soresby. I think
Brendan Sosby is incredibly talented, and I think that he's
a guy that with the right supporting cast, is some
targets that can get open.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
He can be one of the best quarterbacks in the
Big in the Big twelve. And I'm not talking.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
About like best, you know, ten quarterbacks. I'm not talking
about to that of the league. I'm talking about like
one of that two or three. I think he's that talented,
and he possesses a skill set that not many guys
in the conference do.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
It certainly is running, but the.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Guy can make every single throw on the field. And
it's sort of a cliche thing to say, but the
way he rips the ball, he can drive the ball
to the sidelines. I just have really enjoyed sort of
digging into his team more. I mean, we saw him
last year in Colorado, but being able to watch sort
of a full body of the season, taking stock at
different points in the season, when you have the full
(02:38):
the full the full season in front of you or
behind you, just gives you a different perspective.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So it's it's the receivers that they brought in can.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Be as explosives as they expect him to be, then
I think he could have a big year. So I'm
interested to see Cyrus Allen. I'm interested to see Jeff Caldwell.
I'm interested to see they're goodie, because I think those
guys are sort of the key to Cincinnati's offense taking
a big step forward.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Yeah, there's a lot more team speed, I guess for me,
you know, and you mentioned Brendan Sorosby last season. Boy,
the first seven or eight games, he was terrific, and
then down the stretch he got a little gun shy.
And I'm sort of curious in what is effectively going
to be a road situation against a big time opponent,
is there's the capability to make big throws. I think
(03:26):
sometimes last year there was an unwillingness to throw downfield,
and I'm kind of wondering if that is a thing
of the past, or if in a big situation that
presents itself tonight.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
So I didn't I.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Didn't see a lot of opportunities to throw down field
where guys were open and he's not pulling the trigger.
I just think I think that what happened with Brendan
towards me at the end of last year is he
was having to throw into coverage so much and not
necessarily like three guys around a guy. But we least
saw the game against Colorado, and in that Colorado game,
and throughout the season we had Colorado four times, so
(03:59):
he became very familar with him. And by that time
we'd had him twice and so you know, going into
the game, it's about, Okay, can you run the ball
against heavy boxes when Colorado has more guys around.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
The line of scrimmers than you have to block.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And if you can't do that, which is hard for
most teams to do, can you get open against manda
man coverage? Because that's what Colorado was going to do.
They're going to stick shylock standers in the middle of
the field. They were going to tell DJ McKinney, who's
going to be in the NFL next year playing corner,
and Travis Hunter, who's in the NFL now playing whatever
he wants to play, and the rest of that group,
Colton Hood and that group to hey, go go play
(04:32):
man to man against the receivers and we'll let everybody
else stop the run.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And that game was sort of a.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Start of everybody challenging Cincinnati to beat man coverage.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I mean, they.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Could not do it against Colorado. Travis Hunter went and
covered Joe Royer and erased him from the game. The
receivers on the outside couldn't get open against Colorado's physical
physicality and length, And you saw that pop up again again.
I always Stay doesn't play a lot of man coverage,
but West Virginia challenged them, Kansas State challenged them, and
TIFU certainly challenged them, and they could not get open.
(05:06):
So I think Brandon Soresby just ran into a scheme issue,
a scheme in personnel issue. They found the scheme that
formixed Cincinnati's personnel on the edge, and he wasn't able
to do anything with it because as a quarterback, you
can't throw it to guys that aren't open. So that
was sort of more the issue to me with Soorsby.
At the end of last year, teams figured out that hey,
(05:27):
look if we just splowed up to stop the run
and we can play man coverage behind, they can't get open,
which is why they there was such an emphasis on
speed in the offseason.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Roddy Jones is with us. ESPN has the game tonight,
nine o'clock. Nebraska Year three, Matt Rule another season. Dylan Royola.
I'm excited to watch him tonight just because we've you know,
he's so well known for a lot of different things.
I think there were times last year where if you're
a Nebraska fan, you loved what he did, and there
were times last year where he made some decisions that
(05:58):
you were like, you know what, I can't wait for
him to put those behind him. What's the biggest question
for you about the corn Husters tonight?
Speaker 2 (06:06):
The development of Gylan Ryola is the is the first one.
And I think there were a couple of things that
sort of played him last year. One of them is schmatic.
So I think that offense had too much stuff in
it last year, Like I don't think I had a
true identity. I mean, they wanted to run a football,
but how they wanted to run a football, what they
(06:27):
wanted to do off of it, And he was switching
up not necessarily.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Game plans weak to week, but but sort of what
they leaned on week.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
To week was something that that Nebraska is going to
streamline under Dana Holgerson. He felt like they had too
much offense in and so they will have less offense.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
It will be a more it'll be a more cohesive
game plan on a week two week basis. Secondly, he's
got to be better with his eyes.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I thought, you know, the interceptions last year, most of
them were him staying down receivers and people being able
to sort of track under them and pick the ball up.
And they got to protect them better. They weren't hat
a great protection team last year. That offensive line should
be better. It's one of the most experienced in the
country in terms of both starts and games played, so
that offensive line should should take a step forward.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
So that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I think the biggest question overall for Nebraska is defensive
line wise.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
They should feel good about the lineback and core.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
They should feel pretty good about the secondary. But they
had some really good players in the defensive line that
are that they lost in the off season.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
So defensive line is.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Going to be a lot smaller and have to rely
a lot more on movement, which is interesting because you
know I covered Scot's Outdifield a lot at Louisville, and
I covered them an app state before that, being from Georgia,
you know those games against Georgia Southern. I actually did
a game at.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
State Georgia Southern and he was there.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
So the the thing that can disrupt this offense for
Cincinnati if they are heavy outside or mid zone is penetration.
And sometimes when you get some of these lights fronts
that slant and stunt a lot, they can current me
a bunch of negative plays.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
The flip side of that is if you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Catch them in the right stunt or the right slant,
you can gash in big time.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
And so that sort of dynamic.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
It's going to be interesting because Scott Satafol has a
tolerance for negative plays.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
It's okay, he understands we're going to come. But the
hope is that you get a bead.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
On when they slant, when they stunt, and you're able
to gash them with some stuff and brendant always these
legs are certainly an.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Equalizer in that as well.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
So the Nebraska defensive line is a big question because
of how different they're going to look from what they
did a year ago.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
One morn. I'll let you go defensively. You know, Dante
Corleone is coming off a normal offseason, which was not
the case for the opener last year. They're healthier on
the defensive line, lots of guys back in the linebacker group.
I think if there's one question that a lot of
Bearcats fans have, it's can the secondary hold up, especially
at corner? Would you would you echo that?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, that's that's a major question.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I agree, like the defensive line should be really good
type of fight with that that using those three defensive
lineman the way he does bigger bodies certainly helped. And
having Jalen Hunt back is a big one. Michael Coleman too,
But but Jalen hunts to three hundred and fifteen pounds,
can play the interior, can play on the edge like
the guy is.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
The guys is a chess piece that not many people have.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
And then I think depth wise, and you've got a
guy like Rob Jackson coming off the bench, I think
that certainly, and ce jmer Pray has played a ton
of ball over the course of his career at Virginia Tech.
This is perre in a ton of games. I think
that In depth is there you mentioned the line back
and corps. I'm not going to go deep into that
with Jack Dingle and Jet and Jake Goldey and Sydney
(09:47):
Colvin and Johnson Thompson like they're going to be fine.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
There the fact that Logan Wilson is sliding over to
corner from the safety position. He feels like he is
a natural corner. But that is it's a question. We
haven't seen it a ton, so that's a question. Then
getting Matthew McDoom over from Coastal Carolina.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I think it's a big gain anytime you get a
first team All Sun Belt Conference guy. So the retooled
secondary is probably the biggest question that I have about
the Cincinnati defense. It's almost the opposite of Nebraska's.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Defense, where it's the defensive line and the secondary. He's
got three captains in it.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
This is a defense that should be really good in
the front, but the secondary, especially at corner, it's certainly
a big question.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Mark Roddy, awesome stuff, man. I know you have a
broadcast to get set for. I appreciate the time. We'll
let you go. Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, thank you guys for having me have agy one.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
You got Roddy Jones at Georgia Tech was awesome and
does a nice job for ESPN. Good stuff there at
the game tonight on ESPN, and of course you could
listen to it on seven hundred WLW twenty seven after
three o'clock you see in Nebraska from here at a
Rowhead Stadium. We'll get to the Reds from last night
coming up in the four o'clock hour, and a few
(11:06):
thoughts on what the Bengals have done over the last
twenty four hours. They've made the Dalton Reisner's signing official today.
We'll spend some time on that in just a bit.
It's Week one of college football. There's a full slate tonight.
We'll try to make some money on it with our
guy Lee Sterling. Next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station,