Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guys tomorrow three to six join Kioe Sports with Broncos
cheerleaders former Broncos at Verizon and Lilton on South Santa
Favorize unless you trade in any phone, any condition guaranteed
for a great deal on a new one. Come to
enter a pair of Broncos Falcons tickets from Verizon, the
official five G network.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Of the NFL.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
With that, we'll go out to the Koe Common Spirit
off hotline. Instead of five G, We'll bring on the OG,
the man himself, Mike Cliss.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Mike, how you doing this evening?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I'm doing great. Just hand it out candy, pretty busy,
well old neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I don't have any candy here.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I know to go stop by the Clifs household in
to get my candy on once I get done with
this show.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
But Mike, you get some candy for our for our
eyes here the l Way Years.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Your latest book is out and I've uh been enjoying
reading it up about three quarters of the way through.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Don't spoil the ending for me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Uh and uh I I have really enjoyed enjoyed reading
this so far. What what brought on the the impetus
for writing this book?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well Try and Publishing. Bill Lanez gave me a call
and asked me if I would be interested in doing
the book, and he said that, you know, with with
seven eight years of the of the drought for the Broncos,
that uh, maybe people were hungry for reliving some glory.
And Elway, of course was the impetous happy Alloween everybody.
(01:19):
Uh the uh, the impetus as it was going to
be just about the ninety seven ninety eighteen with an
emphasis on Elway, and then it became a little more
on Elway as the most influential person and in a
in a climaxinge with the nineteen ninety seven ninety eight
(01:40):
Super Bowls. So kind of took readers through the journey
through John Elway's journey and U but also had chapters
in there on Rod and ed on Terrell Davis of course,
so uh, you know, kind of began with how John
uh joined the team the Orange Crushers. The Orange Crushers
(02:02):
were still around, a bunch of them were on their
in their final three or four years, and so he
bridged a few eras and then we finished up with
a chapter on his GM tenure, his ten year GM tenure,
where I got to know John quite well covered every
part of that. So yeah, I talked to quite a
(02:26):
few people, Kubiak Shanahan. Shanahan wrote the forward and I
think people will enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, absolutely enjoyed it so far. Talked with Mike cliss
and about his new book, The Lway Years. There was
a particularly pointed part in there for me, and I
appreciate this book as it comes out now because of
the parallels with trying to grow bon Nicks, But there
was a particularly pointant part in there where you talk
about Terrell Davis and mentioning him bringing up the how
(02:52):
devastating that Jacksonville loss was, and how that was sort
of the catalyst for the Super Bowl runs in the
sense that when they had a bad practice or you know,
they had a letdown moment, they just went to each
other and said, day man, Jacksonville, and that sort of
was the rallying cry around, you know, the catalyst for
being able to push through those difficult moments during the
(03:14):
Super Bowl runs.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah, I was surprised a little surprised by that because
I remember for the uh I think that was with
the Gazette then Carle Springs Gazette. I covered that Jacksonville game.
I had the Jacksonville locker room, which turned out to
be a victorious locker room, which you know, was surprising,
and talking to Tony Vasselli and the gang, I thought,
(03:42):
I looked back on that time and thought the Broncos
should have been a three p you know, they should
have won three in a row, and then they really
would have stamped themselves as one of the all time
great teams had they won three in a row. But
TD said that he didn't think they'd win those back
to back in ninety seven and ninety eight without the
motivation from losing in ninety six to Jacksonville. The way
(04:05):
they did it was it was a bummer how they
lost it because they clenched too early that year. They
were twelve and one. They clinched with three weeks to go,
and Shanahan was still going that for going through that
for the first time, how's everybody doing? Yeah? Take two
(04:26):
and then so they weren't sharp in that Jacksonville game.
They went up twelve nothing but they but they but
they they they were I don't know, they had the
they had the four to five week blues by week
blues and you know, they Shannon Sharp dropped a two
(04:48):
point conversion, Jason and Elam missed an extra point, Burnell
was on fire. They couldn't cover Jimmy Smith. The throne
means Shanahan blamed himself because he didn't run the ball enough.
That's the one. I think TD had seven games where
he rushed for our or eight playoff games where he
(05:10):
rushed for one hundred yards. Seven of the eighty rushed
for one hundred. The one he didn't was Jacksonville yet
ninety one yards on just fourteen carries. And he wouldn't
make that mistake again. The next year in ninety seven
on that revenge tour, they just steamrolled Jacksonville. TD had
a big day. They just ran like crazy in that game.
(05:32):
And that was Shanahan's everlasting regret is that he got
away from the running game in that playoff loss to Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well, it's no trick. It's a treat for us.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Get to talk to Mike Cliss about his book The
l Way Years. You know, you mentioned the kind of
confluence of errors, you know, how everything kind of went
wrong in that moment to.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Jason Eland, to Shanta Sharp drop of the two point.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Conversion, we juxtaposed that with this season for the Denver Broncos,
where everything sort of seems to be going right. You
caught a Tampa Bay team missing what five six starters
on defense, blew them out. You had a New Orleans
Saints team on Thursday night missing their quarterback, missing him
five or six players. Now you get a Caro a
lot of team, albeit they weren't very talented before they
were missing their players. And now you've got a Baltimore
(06:13):
situation where you've got one defensive lineman healthy, hat a
quarterback who's missed two practices with a growing issue that's
being termed knee and back.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Is this sort of the antithesis.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Of everything going wrong at the you know, everything going
right for the Denver Broncos for once, Well, yeah, I
was gonna.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Say for once. It's been a while because this team
is definitely in a drought, and the schedule has worked
out for him pretty well. And we'll see about the
three evens. I give him a chance, Hi, ladies, take
take two. Okay, Happy Halloween. You think Lamar plays, by
(06:49):
the way, Ben.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I do believe that he's going to play.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yes, everything I've been told is that he's going to play,
but that groin issue is definitely sore, so they're going
to try and rest him until then.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You know. Seems to me like he has a practice
uh missing practice drama a couple of times a year
and uh and usually makes it on game day. So yeah,
I'm I know Baltimore media are wondering because they have
a short week. On the other side, Thursday, a Thursday
game against the Bengals, which is big form division upon
(07:20):
it that maybe Lamar d rests this game and plays
against the Bengals. But I know the Broncos sure are
thinking he's going to play. I don't know about the
whole uh, you know, the other sense working in the
in the Broncos favor. It seems to me the only
(07:42):
thing I've noticed about this team is just how much more,
how much tougher they are. And I you know, I
I credit Sean Payton and and you know, whatever whatever
you think of Sean Payton and and how he seems
to his boots seemed to swing on press conferences, especially
after games win or lose. He's got this team playing tough,
(08:06):
and he's got them playing together, especially on defense. It
looks like everybody really likes each other like their best panals,
and they're selling out for each other. And meanwhile, Bull's
coming along. You know, he's he's getting better and better.
He didn't look good the first two weeks. He hasn't
looked good here and there, but I think overall incrementally
(08:28):
he's getting better and played real well against a weak
Carolina team, but still he needed that for his confidence.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You talk in the book The Lway Years about how
Mike Shanahan and and others pointed out that as John's
moods went so in the team at various intervals, but
the team loved him. I mean, they love John Elway.
They they played for John Elway and all that. And
it feels to me like we sort of see a
little bit of that in bow Knicks. Bow hasn't been
(08:56):
the greatest so far. There have been some misses, as
you know, dow pluted out, but there it feels to
me like he's got that tough, gritty persona.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
He's willing to put his.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Body on the line, and there are the players sort
of respect that in a way that I don't know
that I've seen out of a quarterback since maybe Elway.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, I agree, he they they do have they do
like hold, my wife just walked in. I don't think
she knows I'm on with shit, Honey, I'm on the radio.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And now you are too, Uh Hi, missus Cliff. We
love having on as well.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
The Yeah, I think Paul I agree that they seem
to like him from the beginning. Kind of a guy's guy.
And that's what Elway was. Elway to me, was a
guys guy. You know when Elway was the type of
guy who, uh would go go out and have a
beer with his offensive lineman and whoever it was on
(09:58):
the team, you know it was it was off the field.
On the field, he was a good pal and Bow.
You know, it doesn't strike me this guy who goes
out for many beers, if at all, But he is.
I tell you, he's a smart football player, like high
(10:19):
IQ football player. He's been around football players all his life.
You know, his dad was a coach. He was done.
Dad was done playing by the time Bow was born.
But still, you know, his dad was around football all
his life, so is Bowl. He knows everything about the
sport inside and out, all the nuances, and you know
(10:43):
he's a mature. We've talked about this ad nauseum. He's
a mature rookie yea. And and plus he's he's a
good teammate. He looks like he you know, he's one
of those guys that rallied the others around him. And
keep in mind, all so he followed Russ and that
was a different deal for Sean Payton and all the
(11:05):
Broncos were you know Russ. I think there was had
a persona that he was. He was the biggest guy
on the team. Sean Payton didn't want anybody who was
bigger than others. And bow Nix doesn't carry himself that way.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, he certainly doesn't. And I think that's been a
refreshing change.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I were talking with Mike Cliss again is his new
book The l Way Years Inside the Super Bowl era
of the Denver Broncos. Mike, what was the what was
the most surprising aspect in writing this book? Obviously you
lived a lot of that, but was there anything new
that you you suddenly discovered and as you were as
you were writing this, Well.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
The one thing that Tom Green kind of jumped on
in my first interview on this book, and uh, you know,
I what what he what he jumped on. Were the
Dan Reeves here? Just how much Elway and Reeves did
not like each other. There was a column by Dick
(12:03):
Connor in nineteen ninety one nineteen ninety two right in
there where Elway exploded, vented his frustrations on Dan Reeves
suffocating him in Elway's eyes offensively and wouldn't let him
go until the fourth quarter. And then in the fourth
quarter John got to go schoolyard and do a thing.
(12:28):
You know. It hit the paper, Dick Connor wrote all
of Elway's frustrations. He threw the paper down. He called
Shanahan in, who was the offensive coordinator, and threw the
paper down, said why is this in the newspaper? And
Shanahan said, well, why are you yelling at me for?
You know John said it. He said, hold on right there,
(12:48):
I'm going to bring John in right now. I'm tired
of being the goal between here. You guys talk it out.
And so he brought John in and it didn't really
go well. John some more, and then it got to
a point where l Reeves wanted to trade John to Washington,
the Washington Redskins. At the time John was at he
(13:14):
was playing in that celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe,
and he was at a blackjack table and there was
Ernest Piner, who at the time was no longer the
Browns running back but Washington running backs coach, and Viner said, John,
I thought we had you. And always said, what do
you mean you thought you had me? And he said,
we thought we had you in a trade. And La
(13:38):
found out right then at the blackjack table that he
that there was a trade finished. He was going to
Washington and you know, they had all the pieces in
the draft picks all figured out, but Pat Bowlan wound
up nix in the trade.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well lucky for us, he did, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Always said, look, it wouldn't have been bad for me
because Washington won the Super Bowl that year with Mark
Rippins and uh. But still the next year, despite all
that acrimony, the next year, the Broncos went twelve and
four and went to the AFT Championship Game, where they
lossed the Bills. You know, Mecklenburg put it pretty well.
(14:16):
They were there. Elway and Reeves were too much the same.
They were highly highly competitive, they were both extremely stubborn,
and you know, and and the fact of the matter
is the Dan Marinos and the and the and the
and the Moons who were throwing the ball over the yard.
(14:37):
They weren't going to the super Bowl. He had to
run the ball and play to the defense in order
to get to the super Bowl. And that's what the
Broncos did, and Reeves did what was best and John
wanted the ball in his hands more so. There was
some there was some conflict there, but uh, they still
won a lot of games despite despite the fact that
(14:57):
they really couldn't stand each other.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Sometimes sometimes that can sometimes that can lead to great results,
you know. Sometimes it takes those personalities like that to
to get the best out of each other.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, Mike. I appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
The l way Years Inside the super Bowl Era of
the Dinver Broncos by Mike Cliss forward by Mike Shannon.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It's out now. You guys want to get.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Your hands on a copy of Mike I'm love and
reading it and I appreciate you taking some time out tonight.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
You got to go to Amazon dot com, guys, and
that's where you'll find the book.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And I really appreciate you, Yes, sir, appreciate it. That's
Mike cliss nine news. We got a break, we come back.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Neil, Well, we're gonna write back down to the KWA
Commas Farrel hotline.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Non'll talk a little see you, bossle guy and Neil
welk Neil, how.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
You doing good? How are you guys today?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Doing pretty well? Twenty third ranked? See you, boff six
and two. A little bit of optimism in CEU contry.
I mean, we're still rocking the one to six record
against ranked opponents, and you know, two big twelve losses
is going to be tough for them to figure it out.
But they're a little bit of optimism in in buff
country right now.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, it is. I mean, and I think you know
last year they jumped out the three wins in a hurry,
got up into the top twenty. I think they got
it to nineteen and everybody was excited. No reality said
in I think this is a lot different this year
because you know, they've beaten They beat a good team
last week in Cincinnati. I'm not saying Cincinnati is a
world leader, but they beat a good team there. They
(16:23):
took Kansas State down to the wire, and Kansas State
is a good team. And so I think if you
look at the team, the depth, the players. They've got
a lot of different positions, the coaching staff. The future
looks good for Colorado football.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Does so far.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You've got an interesting situation on offense again where you're
throwing the ball very well three hundred twenty three point
nine year passing yards per game, but once again two
hundred and sixty fifth in the country.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
They're not running the ball very.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Well, but they've run the ball effectively in the situations
that they sort of needed to. At this point, Travis
Hunter looks like a legitimate Heisman contender. I know they're
also pushing do or a portion of this, but Travis
Hunter Lusk legitimate Heisman contender, maybe even the front runner.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I'm just waiting for somebody to tell me who is
the better college football player today, in all honesty, tell
me who a better college football player is if it's supposed,
if that award is supposed to go to the most
outstanding college football player, I think the guy that's averaging
one hundred and thirty snatch a game has you know,
(17:27):
I don't know, fifteen pass breakups, three interceptions, second or
third in the Big twelve. I think this week in
receiving yards, touchdowns, all those things could be a first
round draft pick at either position. I just tell me
who a better football player is today, And I you know,
(17:48):
obviously I'm biased. I covered the University of Colorado went there,
been covering them for a long time. But I'm really
curious to know who right now people think is a
better college football player than Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's That's one of those things that as I watch
and we try to shove a quarterback down.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Our throat, whether it's cam Ward or Dylan Gabriel.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The only other contender I even see here is Janty
or running back out of Boise State. And it's one
of those weird years where the quarterbacks are not at
the top even though they you know, the people keep
trying to hype it up and push one down our throats.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
What Travis Hunter is doing is unpresent.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I meanet Janty is having a spectacular year's a running back. Well,
what Travis Hunter's doing is unprecedented.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, we haven't seen it before, not in our lifetimes.
I mean, I just we'd go back to the days
when Sammy Baugh and guys like that were playing play
in both ways. But we haven't seen this in our
last time, especially at this level. I mean, we've seen
guys that have you know, have played you know, some
snaps on the other side of the ball where they
were great defensive players. Champ Bailey. Champ Bailey played played
(18:50):
some some some wide receiver college. Not at this level.
Travis Hunter is playing at a you know, an all conference,
arguably All American level at two positions. Hey, you know,
on two sides of the ball. And again, you know
you hear scouts to say the guy could get drafted.
You know, somebody's have to make a decision. Do they
(19:12):
want him to play dB or wide receiver because he
can play both in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, and that's gonna be the fascinating thing.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
I think you're more likely to see him be a
full time corner with some wide receiver plays put in
simply because that's the easiest way to do it.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
If you're gonna play both ways in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
But you know, I don't know, the money's on the
receiver side, and Travis may elect that he wants to
be that type of player and the team as a whole.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You know, you're coming out back to back wins at Arizona,
where you drub them.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Cincinnati, a good Cincinnati team, you beat, you play Kansas
State tough. You surprised everybody at U see just just
more than doubling them up. It's been the last five
games have been pretty good for the CU team. And
as you look ahead, you're you're at Texas Tech. You
got a Utah team that isn't what people thought, you
got a Kansas team that isn't what people thought.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
In an Oklahoma State game that looks very winnable. It's
very possible this team wins the next four, win out.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It's very possible this team is favored in the next
four games. And Najiva said that six weeks ago people
would have said their nuts, but they could only Yeah,
they could be favored and they could win out. They
could be a ten and two team. And you know,
there's a lot of and we've talked about Shador, who's
talked about Travis Hunter. I think Shador is one of
the top two or three quarterbacks in the nation. But
(20:21):
boy throws some credit out to that to the defensive
coordinator who has done a very good job with this team,
drawing up the scheme to match the talent that he has.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Well, you sort of took the next question right out
of my mouth there because I was like, how under
the radar is Rob Livingston.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Of the job that he is doing with his defense?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Because right now from where I'm sitting, everybody knows who
Shador standers, as everybody knows what Travis Hunter is the
real MVP.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Here is what Livingston is getting out of that defense.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Oh, I tell you what, They're just light years ahead
of what they were a year ago. They added some talent,
not a ton of talent. They added some good players
on that team. But what he has done. I was
just talking to a guy a couple of days ago
who said, you know, he brought a little bit of
the pro flavor to college ball. And he's done it
because he has a good secondary. And what he's done
(21:14):
is they play a lot of man to man. They
lean on that secondary to do their work, and that
allows the linebackers to go downhill. That gives them more
of a pass rush, that gives them a better run defense.
He's done everything by what he knows, which is being
a DB's coach. That's what he did with Cincinnati Bengals
for eight years. He was in the secondary there and
he's taken that secondary and leaned on him in a
(21:36):
big way and done some things with them to give
the rest of the defense a chance to make plays.
And I don't know if if you watch the Cincinnati
game close, he's doing things like taking Travis Hunters, taking
him into nickel and saying, you're covering that tight end.
You've got one hundred and eighty pound guy, and that's
dripping wet Travis Hunter, one hundred and eighty pounds covering
a big six four sixty five tight end and just
(21:57):
shutting him down. And he's doing that, you know, moving
guys around and doing different things and different at different
stages of the game, making great halftime adjustments and using
the talent that he has. And again, very talented secondary.
I think I think they've got some guys that will
go on to the next level other than Travis Hunter.
But he's he's taking those guys and he's crafted a
(22:19):
defense that can attack, can take some chances, get out
of the quarterback and do things like that. And I
promise you that people are looking at Robert Livingston going boom,
who's that guy?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Mm hmmm. I would not be surprised to see if
he his name gets some.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Elevated recognition, possibly even some head coaching interviews here, and
what he's done in, you know, sort of adapting the
scheme to this defense because last year it felt like
they were running a scheme that just did not fit
what they had and it feels like they've really kind
of rounded the corner on that this year. As we
look at the conference as a whole, that lost to
Kansas State really hurts because you got Iowa State BYU
(22:54):
Kansas State sitting there, and you know that Kansas State
game looked winnable BYUS has managed to an Iowa State
really has managed to play incredible football this year.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Is there an outside chance the.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Colorado wins out here, they get some help along the way,
maybe maybe they sneak in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Here, there's an outside chance, but you're really gonna need
some help because to get into to get into the
Big Twelve champion you have to get into the Big
Twelve championship to get to the playoffs, would be my guess.
I mean, I don't think they're going to take even
a ten and two team that doesn't make the conference
title game. So if you if you put that into
the equation, they've got to get some help and get
(23:30):
you know, BYU's got to lose, Iowa States got to lose,
Kansas State has to lose another game, or else they
lose that tiebreaker to Kansas State. So there's a lot
of what is and this can happen and that can happen.
You know, We're gonna warn no more as the weeks
go on and as it ticks down. But right now,
I think this team just wants to win another game.
(23:52):
I think they want to get to seven and two
and then maybe eight and two and then nine and two,
ten and two. I think they want to keep winning
and see if they can at least get to a
really nice bowl game and then hope things shake out
that maybe they get a break here or there and
do get a chance at at the conference championship game.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
What do you say to people speculating about the future
of Prime, which you'd more likely to head to the
NFL after the season? Obviously Travis Hunter out of the
NFL after the season.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
The situation down there at.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Florida State where Mike Morble is about to get run
out of town? What what what do we when we
look at this thing? Is is Prime really committed to Colorado.
He's saying the right things, but is he really committed
to Colorado. He's he's really building something long term as
we look at, uh, some of these people who recently
have flipped commitment to Colorado.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, you know, the one thing I can say is
with every coach that I've ever covered and never been around,
and you know, you know the game as well as
I do, you got to take what you've got, to
take him at their word until they prove you different.
And I don't think I don't think coach Prime has
any inkling of leaving right now. I think he loves
(24:59):
the city way. He's there, He's got there, it's in it.
You know, he's he's in the national spotlight again. He's
got Colorado moving, He's got a nice contract. You know,
they can almost redo his contract and give him more money.
I don't think he's I think he's ready to kind
of separate himself from from his kids for a little
(25:20):
bit because he's been with him since they were pee
Wee's right. You know, he's been coaching most kids since
they were peews. And maybe he's maybe he wants to
take a chance to step back and this is a chance.
This is a chance for him to do something that
everybody said was impossible. Okay, the way he has done it,
(25:41):
he is writing a really interesting blueprint about college football
that I admit, you know, when it first started, I
looked at him and said, WHOA, Well, that's you know,
if you're not going to recruit thirty high school kids
a year, twenty high school kids a year, and you're
not going to bring all those kids in, you've better
be really good in the portal. He's done a pretty
good job of that. It's, you know, is the Travis
and Chaudor are the stars, but if you look around
(26:03):
that team, they've got other guys that are coming up
and that are playing very well. Jordan Seaton's a you know,
great probably the highest rated freshman left tackle in the
nation right now. They've got guys out on the outside
that are playing really well. Colton Hood's a good young
running back. August Dave and August Dave and Dalan Hayden
(26:23):
are running back, and so he's bringing in players from
other positions and showing that he can do that. I
was I think I think he wants to write his
legacy there. I really, I really think he wants to
write his legacy at the University of Colorado instead of
just said Okay, yeah, I'm down here.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I'm going to move on, Telly new Welcome SeaBus dot com. Neil.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
You know I'm with you on that, because I was
admittedly insanely skeptical of these you know, Trav this this
is coral right and and you know, but he seems
to have found a way to navigate sort of the
Pete Carroll. I'm creating a culture here while pushing guys out,
bringing guys.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
In, and and doing it through the.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Portal rather than being a high school recruiter. And I
don't know if what he's doing is the road map.
I mean, maybe it's maybe it is this Einstein level
way of uh.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Navigating the Nile era of college football. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Maybe it's my old school bias that still thinks you
need to have homegrown roots.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I don't know, but right now.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
It looks like that Colorado in a lot of ways
is the epicenter of college football. You know, it's funny
to me to go back and watch the comments from
Paul Finbaum talking about seeing you being irrelevant. I'm like, well, wait,
wait a minute, wait a minute. They might not make
the playoffs, but they're not irrelevant. They're the most talked
about college football team.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
In the nation. Yeah, and if you look, and I
think I think I think coach Prime and his staff
are learning as they go along too. They're saying, Okay, well,
you know, maybe we do need to get a couple
more guys here. And everybody thinks that the transfers that
are bringing in are all guys that just have one
year left or two years left. They brought in several
transfers that have you know, two three years, and so
(28:00):
me have four years left. And so they're they're plugging
in players where they think they can plug them in,
finding guys that can play and bringing them in. And
so it's not all just one undone guys that are
coming in. They've got guys that have two or three
years And I think I think as they go along,
you're figuring this out. And I think a guy like
(28:20):
Robert Livingston is looking at this and saying, Okay, this
is how we can do this. We can bring this
guy in. Now I've got two guys here that I
can play at corner for the next two or three years.
Now I've got a couple of defensive line I've got
some linebackers, and so I think I think they're they're
figuring it out as they go along a little bit too,
and I think they're tweaking the formula however you'd want
to say it. But I do think coach Prime looks
(28:43):
at this and and you know, money is not it's
not going to be his driving force. Just I mean,
I don't if you watch TV, he's doing enough commercials
to pay the bills, right right, Yeah, that's so I think,
you know, I think I think I think he would
like to be the guy that said, look, look what
(29:04):
I did at Colorado, which was a dead program, right,
Look where it was two years ago? It was.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
It's been a relevant since for the last twenty years.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I mean, they've had what one one season or Mike
McIntyre that was worked writing home about since this is
the Barnett era.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, no, they have it, Yeah, they have it.
You know, they've they went to one Bowl game under
Hawkins when they finished ticking to seven. Hawkins lost to
some guy named Saban or something.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I think I've heard of that guy before.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
He played Alabama. Yeah, they lost to Alabama there's some
guy named Saban coaching back then, and that was his
first year at Alabama, and uh, you know, programs kind
of went different directions at that.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Point, really a branching off point for both for both programs.
You know, what's what?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
What?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
What is the biggest surprise for you the season?
Speaker 1 (29:49):
The biggest disappointment I look at For me, probably the
UCF game is probably the biggest surprise.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Biggest disappointment has.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Been the lack of getting the run game going, but
they managed to win without it.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, I think the biggest surprise was probably the way
they dominated UCS. I mean, you know, I'm not sure
how good UCF is, but they've played a lot of
people closely. They you know, they pushed Iowa State to
the end. They should probably should have beaten Iowa State
if they, you know, have made some mistakes down the stretch.
So the way they went down to Orlando and just
dominated them was was, you know, probably the biggest surprise.
(30:22):
I thought they had a good chance to win. I
didn't think they win by was the three touchdowns? Four touchdowns? Wait,
biggest disappointment, you know, I guess you could say the
run game. But what I've what I've been impressed with
these last few weeks is they're sneaking in enough run
game to make people respected. And I think Pat Sherman
(30:43):
deserves some credit here for the way he's done things.
He'll he'll sneak in a couple of tight ends, you know,
and play big boy ball for a few plays, and
you know, knock out some runs and then all of
a sudden, then they'll start throwing the ball. And so
that's been an improvement. But yeah, I guess if you
were if you were talking, the biggest disappoint would probably
(31:04):
be the run game. But as long as you whenever
you've got Schnor Sanders and those four or five six
wide receivers, they're just gonna throw the ball.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, And it's certainly been fun to watch, and uh
certainly continues to be fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Paired up with the defense. We mentioned that Robblings is done.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Neil, We appreciate your time this evening, Neil welksubuffs dot com.
We always appreciate you having you on, Yes, sir, thank you, Yeah,
thank you, Neil Welks You buffs dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
We come back. We get a little uh, we're gonna
get it too. We get a little bit of a
Multimore Ravens dog, Zach.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
What are we gonna get into in the next segment,
Gonna get into some Broncos trick or treats.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Celebrate the holiday with something topical. There we go to
bring candy for everybody. No shame on you, Broncos. Country
to Night returns after this
Guys tomorrow three to six join Kioe Sports with Broncos
cheerleaders former Broncos at Verizon and Lilton on South Santa
Favorize unless you trade in any phone, any condition guaranteed
for a great deal on a new one. Come to
enter a pair of Broncos Falcons tickets from Verizon, the
official five G network.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Of the NFL.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
With that, we'll go out to the Koe Common Spirit
off hotline. Instead of five G, We'll bring on the OG,
the man himself, Mike Cliss.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Mike, how you doing this evening?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I'm doing great. Just hand it out candy, pretty busy,
well old neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I don't have any candy here.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I know to go stop by the Clifs household in
to get my candy on once I get done with
this show.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
But Mike, you get some candy for our for our
eyes here the l Way Years.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Your latest book is out and I've uh been enjoying
reading it up about three quarters of the way through.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Don't spoil the ending for me.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Uh and uh I I have really enjoyed enjoyed reading
this so far. What what brought on the the impetus
for writing this book?
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Well Try and Publishing. Bill Lanez gave me a call
and asked me if I would be interested in doing
the book, and he said that, you know, with with
seven eight years of the of the drought for the Broncos,
that uh, maybe people were hungry for reliving some glory.
And Elway, of course was the impetous happy Alloween everybody.
(01:19):
Uh the uh, the impetus as it was going to
be just about the ninety seven ninety eighteen with an
emphasis on Elway, and then it became a little more
on Elway as the most influential person and in a
in a climaxinge with the nineteen ninety seven ninety eight
(01:40):
Super Bowls. So kind of took readers through the journey
through John Elway's journey and U but also had chapters
in there on Rod and ed on Terrell Davis of course,
so uh, you know, kind of began with how John
uh joined the team the Orange Crushers. The Orange Crushers
(02:02):
were still around, a bunch of them were on their
in their final three or four years, and so he
bridged a few eras and then we finished up with
a chapter on his GM tenure, his ten year GM tenure,
where I got to know John quite well covered every
part of that. So yeah, I talked to quite a
(02:26):
few people, Kubiak Shanahan. Shanahan wrote the forward and I
think people will enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, absolutely enjoyed it so far. Talked with Mike cliss
and about his new book, The Lway Years. There was
a particularly pointed part in there for me, and I
appreciate this book as it comes out now because of
the parallels with trying to grow bon Nicks, But there
was a particularly pointant part in there where you talk
about Terrell Davis and mentioning him bringing up the how
(02:52):
devastating that Jacksonville loss was, and how that was sort
of the catalyst for the Super Bowl runs in the
sense that when they had a bad practice or you know,
they had a letdown moment, they just went to each
other and said, day man, Jacksonville, and that sort of
was the rallying cry around, you know, the catalyst for
being able to push through those difficult moments during the
(03:14):
Super Bowl runs.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah, I was surprised a little surprised by that because
I remember for the uh I think that was with
the Gazette then Carle Springs Gazette. I covered that Jacksonville game.
I had the Jacksonville locker room, which turned out to
be a victorious locker room, which you know, was surprising,
and talking to Tony Vasselli and the gang, I thought,
(03:42):
I looked back on that time and thought the Broncos
should have been a three p you know, they should
have won three in a row, and then they really
would have stamped themselves as one of the all time
great teams had they won three in a row. But
TD said that he didn't think they'd win those back
to back in ninety seven and ninety eight without the
motivation from losing in ninety six to Jacksonville. The way
(04:05):
they did it was it was a bummer how they
lost it because they clenched too early that year. They
were twelve and one. They clinched with three weeks to go,
and Shanahan was still going that for going through that
for the first time, how's everybody doing? Yeah? Take two
(04:26):
and then so they weren't sharp in that Jacksonville game.
They went up twelve nothing but they but they but
they they they were I don't know, they had the
they had the four to five week blues by week
blues and you know, they Shannon Sharp dropped a two
(04:48):
point conversion, Jason and Elam missed an extra point, Burnell
was on fire. They couldn't cover Jimmy Smith. The throne
means Shanahan blamed himself because he didn't run the ball enough.
That's the one. I think TD had seven games where
he rushed for our or eight playoff games where he
(05:10):
rushed for one hundred yards. Seven of the eighty rushed
for one hundred. The one he didn't was Jacksonville yet
ninety one yards on just fourteen carries. And he wouldn't
make that mistake again. The next year in ninety seven
on that revenge tour, they just steamrolled Jacksonville. TD had
a big day. They just ran like crazy in that game.
(05:32):
And that was Shanahan's everlasting regret is that he got
away from the running game in that playoff loss to Jacksonville.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Well, it's no trick. It's a treat for us.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Get to talk to Mike Cliss about his book The
l Way Years. You know, you mentioned the kind of
confluence of errors, you know, how everything kind of went
wrong in that moment to.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Jason Eland, to Shanta Sharp drop of the two point.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Conversion, we juxtaposed that with this season for the Denver Broncos,
where everything sort of seems to be going right. You
caught a Tampa Bay team missing what five six starters
on defense, blew them out. You had a New Orleans
Saints team on Thursday night missing their quarterback, missing him
five or six players. Now you get a Caro a
lot of team, albeit they weren't very talented before they
were missing their players. And now you've got a Baltimore
(06:13):
situation where you've got one defensive lineman healthy, hat a
quarterback who's missed two practices with a growing issue that's
being termed knee and back.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Is this sort of the antithesis.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Of everything going wrong at the you know, everything going
right for the Denver Broncos for once, Well, yeah, I
was gonna.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Say for once. It's been a while because this team
is definitely in a drought, and the schedule has worked
out for him pretty well. And we'll see about the
three evens. I give him a chance, Hi, ladies, take
take two. Okay, Happy Halloween. You think Lamar plays, by
(06:49):
the way, Ben.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I do believe that he's going to play.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yes, everything I've been told is that he's going to play,
but that groin issue is definitely sore, so they're going
to try and rest him until then.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
You know. Seems to me like he has a practice
uh missing practice drama a couple of times a year
and uh and usually makes it on game day. So yeah,
I'm I know Baltimore media are wondering because they have
a short week. On the other side, Thursday, a Thursday
game against the Bengals, which is big form division upon
(07:20):
it that maybe Lamar d rests this game and plays
against the Bengals. But I know the Broncos sure are
thinking he's going to play. I don't know about the
whole uh, you know, the other sense working in the
in the Broncos favor. It seems to me the only
(07:42):
thing I've noticed about this team is just how much more,
how much tougher they are. And I you know, I
I credit Sean Payton and and you know, whatever whatever
you think of Sean Payton and and how he seems
to his boots seemed to swing on press conferences, especially
after games win or lose. He's got this team playing tough,
(08:06):
and he's got them playing together, especially on defense. It
looks like everybody really likes each other like their best panals,
and they're selling out for each other. And meanwhile, Bull's
coming along. You know, he's he's getting better and better.
He didn't look good the first two weeks. He hasn't
looked good here and there, but I think overall incrementally
(08:28):
he's getting better and played real well against a weak
Carolina team, but still he needed that for his confidence.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
You talk in the book The Lway Years about how
Mike Shanahan and and others pointed out that as John's
moods went so in the team at various intervals, but
the team loved him. I mean, they love John Elway.
They they played for John Elway and all that. And
it feels to me like we sort of see a
little bit of that in bow Knicks. Bow hasn't been
(08:56):
the greatest so far. There have been some misses, as
you know, dow pluted out, but there it feels to
me like he's got that tough, gritty persona.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
He's willing to put his.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Body on the line, and there are the players sort
of respect that in a way that I don't know
that I've seen out of a quarterback since maybe Elway.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, I agree, he they they do have they do
like hold, my wife just walked in. I don't think
she knows I'm on with shit, Honey, I'm on the radio.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
And now you are too, Uh Hi, missus Cliff. We
love having on as well.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
The Yeah, I think Paul I agree that they seem
to like him from the beginning. Kind of a guy's guy.
And that's what Elway was. Elway to me, was a
guys guy. You know when Elway was the type of
guy who, uh would go go out and have a
beer with his offensive lineman and whoever it was on
(09:58):
the team, you know it was it was off the field.
On the field, he was a good pal and Bow.
You know, it doesn't strike me this guy who goes
out for many beers, if at all, But he is.
I tell you, he's a smart football player, like high
(10:19):
IQ football player. He's been around football players all his life.
You know, his dad was a coach. He was done.
Dad was done playing by the time Bow was born.
But still, you know, his dad was around football all
his life, so is Bowl. He knows everything about the
sport inside and out, all the nuances, and you know
(10:43):
he's a mature. We've talked about this ad nauseum. He's
a mature rookie yea. And and plus he's he's a
good teammate. He looks like he you know, he's one
of those guys that rallied the others around him. And
keep in mind, all so he followed Russ and that
was a different deal for Sean Payton and all the
(11:05):
Broncos were you know Russ. I think there was had
a persona that he was. He was the biggest guy
on the team. Sean Payton didn't want anybody who was
bigger than others. And bow Nix doesn't carry himself that way.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, he certainly doesn't. And I think that's been a
refreshing change.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I were talking with Mike Cliss again is his new
book The l Way Years Inside the Super Bowl era
of the Denver Broncos. Mike, what was the what was
the most surprising aspect in writing this book? Obviously you
lived a lot of that, but was there anything new
that you you suddenly discovered and as you were as
you were writing this, Well.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
The one thing that Tom Green kind of jumped on
in my first interview on this book, and uh, you know,
I what what he what he jumped on. Were the
Dan Reeves here? Just how much Elway and Reeves did
not like each other. There was a column by Dick
(12:03):
Connor in nineteen ninety one nineteen ninety two right in
there where Elway exploded, vented his frustrations on Dan Reeves
suffocating him in Elway's eyes offensively and wouldn't let him
go until the fourth quarter. And then in the fourth
quarter John got to go schoolyard and do a thing.
(12:28):
You know. It hit the paper, Dick Connor wrote all
of Elway's frustrations. He threw the paper down. He called
Shanahan in, who was the offensive coordinator, and threw the
paper down, said why is this in the newspaper? And
Shanahan said, well, why are you yelling at me for?
You know John said it. He said, hold on right there,
(12:48):
I'm going to bring John in right now. I'm tired
of being the goal between here. You guys talk it out.
And so he brought John in and it didn't really
go well. John some more, and then it got to
a point where l Reeves wanted to trade John to Washington,
the Washington Redskins. At the time John was at he
(13:14):
was playing in that celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe,
and he was at a blackjack table and there was
Ernest Piner, who at the time was no longer the
Browns running back but Washington running backs coach, and Viner said, John,
I thought we had you. And always said, what do
you mean you thought you had me? And he said,
we thought we had you in a trade. And La
(13:38):
found out right then at the blackjack table that he
that there was a trade finished. He was going to
Washington and you know, they had all the pieces in
the draft picks all figured out, but Pat Bowlan wound
up nix in the trade.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well lucky for us, he did, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Always said, look, it wouldn't have been bad for me
because Washington won the Super Bowl that year with Mark
Rippins and uh. But still the next year, despite all
that acrimony, the next year, the Broncos went twelve and
four and went to the AFT Championship Game, where they
lossed the Bills. You know, Mecklenburg put it pretty well.
(14:16):
They were there. Elway and Reeves were too much the same.
They were highly highly competitive, they were both extremely stubborn,
and you know, and and the fact of the matter
is the Dan Marinos and the and the and the
and the Moons who were throwing the ball over the yard.
(14:37):
They weren't going to the super Bowl. He had to
run the ball and play to the defense in order
to get to the super Bowl. And that's what the
Broncos did, and Reeves did what was best and John
wanted the ball in his hands more so. There was
some there was some conflict there, but uh, they still
won a lot of games despite despite the fact that
(14:57):
they really couldn't stand each other.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Sometimes sometimes that can sometimes that can lead to great results,
you know. Sometimes it takes those personalities like that to
to get the best out of each other.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, Mike. I appreciate you joining us.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
The l way Years Inside the super Bowl Era of
the Dinver Broncos by Mike Cliss forward by Mike Shannon.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It's out now. You guys want to get.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Your hands on a copy of Mike I'm love and
reading it and I appreciate you taking some time out tonight.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
You got to go to Amazon dot com, guys, and
that's where you'll find the book.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And I really appreciate you, Yes, sir, appreciate it. That's
Mike cliss nine news. We got a break, we come back.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Neil, Well, we're gonna write back down to the KWA
Commas Farrel hotline.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Non'll talk a little see you, bossle guy and Neil
welk Neil, how.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
You doing good? How are you guys today?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Doing pretty well? Twenty third ranked? See you, boff six
and two. A little bit of optimism in CEU contry.
I mean, we're still rocking the one to six record
against ranked opponents, and you know, two big twelve losses
is going to be tough for them to figure it out.
But they're a little bit of optimism in in buff
country right now.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, it is. I mean, and I think you know
last year they jumped out the three wins in a hurry,
got up into the top twenty. I think they got
it to nineteen and everybody was excited. No reality said
in I think this is a lot different this year
because you know, they've beaten They beat a good team
last week in Cincinnati. I'm not saying Cincinnati is a
world leader, but they beat a good team there. They
(16:23):
took Kansas State down to the wire, and Kansas State
is a good team. And so I think if you
look at the team, the depth, the players. They've got
a lot of different positions, the coaching staff. The future
looks good for Colorado football.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Does so far.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You've got an interesting situation on offense again where you're
throwing the ball very well three hundred twenty three point
nine year passing yards per game, but once again two
hundred and sixty fifth in the country.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
They're not running the ball very.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Well, but they've run the ball effectively in the situations
that they sort of needed to. At this point, Travis
Hunter looks like a legitimate Heisman contender. I know they're
also pushing do or a portion of this, but Travis
Hunter Lusk legitimate Heisman contender, maybe even the front runner.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
I'm just waiting for somebody to tell me who is
the better college football player today, in all honesty, tell
me who a better college football player is if it's supposed,
if that award is supposed to go to the most
outstanding college football player, I think the guy that's averaging
one hundred and thirty snatch a game has you know,
(17:27):
I don't know, fifteen pass breakups, three interceptions, second or
third in the Big twelve. I think this week in
receiving yards, touchdowns, all those things could be a first
round draft pick at either position. I just tell me
who a better football player is today, And I you know,
(17:48):
obviously I'm biased. I covered the University of Colorado went there,
been covering them for a long time. But I'm really
curious to know who right now people think is a
better college football player than Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
That's That's one of those things that as I watch
and we try to shove a quarterback down.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Our throat, whether it's cam Ward or Dylan Gabriel.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
The only other contender I even see here is Janty
or running back out of Boise State. And it's one
of those weird years where the quarterbacks are not at
the top even though they you know, the people keep
trying to hype it up and push one down our throats.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
What Travis Hunter is doing is unpresent.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I meanet Janty is having a spectacular year's a running back. Well,
what Travis Hunter's doing is unprecedented.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, we haven't seen it before, not in our lifetimes.
I mean, I just we'd go back to the days
when Sammy Baugh and guys like that were playing play
in both ways. But we haven't seen this in our
last time, especially at this level. I mean, we've seen
guys that have you know, have played you know, some
snaps on the other side of the ball where they
were great defensive players. Champ Bailey. Champ Bailey played played
(18:50):
some some some wide receiver college. Not at this level.
Travis Hunter is playing at a you know, an all conference,
arguably All American level at two positions. Hey, you know,
on two sides of the ball. And again, you know
you hear scouts to say the guy could get drafted.
You know, somebody's have to make a decision. Do they
(19:12):
want him to play dB or wide receiver because he
can play both in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, and that's gonna be the fascinating thing.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
I think you're more likely to see him be a
full time corner with some wide receiver plays put in
simply because that's the easiest way to do it.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
If you're gonna play both ways in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
But you know, I don't know, the money's on the
receiver side, and Travis may elect that he wants to
be that type of player and the team as a whole.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You know, you're coming out back to back wins at Arizona,
where you drub them.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Cincinnati, a good Cincinnati team, you beat, you play Kansas
State tough. You surprised everybody at U see just just
more than doubling them up. It's been the last five
games have been pretty good for the CU team. And
as you look ahead, you're you're at Texas Tech. You
got a Utah team that isn't what people thought, you
got a Kansas team that isn't what people thought.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
In an Oklahoma State game that looks very winnable. It's
very possible this team wins the next four, win out.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
It's very possible this team is favored in the next
four games. And Najiva said that six weeks ago people
would have said their nuts, but they could only Yeah,
they could be favored and they could win out. They
could be a ten and two team. And you know,
there's a lot of and we've talked about Shador, who's
talked about Travis Hunter. I think Shador is one of
the top two or three quarterbacks in the nation. But
(20:21):
boy throws some credit out to that to the defensive
coordinator who has done a very good job with this team,
drawing up the scheme to match the talent that he has.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Well, you sort of took the next question right out
of my mouth there because I was like, how under
the radar is Rob Livingston.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Of the job that he is doing with his defense?
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Because right now from where I'm sitting, everybody knows who
Shador standers, as everybody knows what Travis Hunter is the
real MVP.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Here is what Livingston is getting out of that defense.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Oh, I tell you what, They're just light years ahead
of what they were a year ago. They added some talent,
not a ton of talent. They added some good players
on that team. But what he has done. I was
just talking to a guy a couple of days ago
who said, you know, he brought a little bit of
the pro flavor to college ball. And he's done it
because he has a good secondary. And what he's done
(21:14):
is they play a lot of man to man. They
lean on that secondary to do their work, and that
allows the linebackers to go downhill. That gives them more
of a pass rush, that gives them a better run defense.
He's done everything by what he knows, which is being
a DB's coach. That's what he did with Cincinnati Bengals
for eight years. He was in the secondary there and
he's taken that secondary and leaned on him in a
(21:36):
big way and done some things with them to give
the rest of the defense a chance to make plays.
And I don't know if if you watch the Cincinnati
game close, he's doing things like taking Travis Hunters, taking
him into nickel and saying, you're covering that tight end.
You've got one hundred and eighty pound guy, and that's
dripping wet Travis Hunter, one hundred and eighty pounds covering
a big six four sixty five tight end and just
(21:57):
shutting him down. And he's doing that, you know, moving
guys around and doing different things and different at different
stages of the game, making great halftime adjustments and using
the talent that he has. And again, very talented secondary.
I think I think they've got some guys that will
go on to the next level other than Travis Hunter.
But he's he's taking those guys and he's crafted a
(22:19):
defense that can attack, can take some chances, get out
of the quarterback and do things like that. And I
promise you that people are looking at Robert Livingston going boom,
who's that guy?
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Mm hmmm. I would not be surprised to see if
he his name gets some.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Elevated recognition, possibly even some head coaching interviews here, and
what he's done in, you know, sort of adapting the
scheme to this defense because last year it felt like
they were running a scheme that just did not fit
what they had and it feels like they've really kind
of rounded the corner on that this year. As we
look at the conference as a whole, that lost to
Kansas State really hurts because you got Iowa State BYU
(22:54):
Kansas State sitting there, and you know that Kansas State
game looked winnable BYUS has managed to an Iowa State
really has managed to play incredible football this year.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Is there an outside chance the.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Colorado wins out here, they get some help along the way,
maybe maybe they sneak in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Here, there's an outside chance, but you're really gonna need
some help because to get into to get into the
Big Twelve champion you have to get into the Big
Twelve championship to get to the playoffs, would be my guess.
I mean, I don't think they're going to take even
a ten and two team that doesn't make the conference
title game. So if you if you put that into
the equation, they've got to get some help and get
(23:30):
you know, BYU's got to lose, Iowa States got to lose,
Kansas State has to lose another game, or else they
lose that tiebreaker to Kansas State. So there's a lot
of what is and this can happen and that can happen.
You know, We're gonna warn no more as the weeks
go on and as it ticks down. But right now,
I think this team just wants to win another game.
(23:52):
I think they want to get to seven and two
and then maybe eight and two and then nine and two,
ten and two. I think they want to keep winning
and see if they can at least get to a
really nice bowl game and then hope things shake out
that maybe they get a break here or there and
do get a chance at at the conference championship game.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
What do you say to people speculating about the future
of Prime, which you'd more likely to head to the
NFL after the season? Obviously Travis Hunter out of the
NFL after the season.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
The situation down there at.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Florida State where Mike Morble is about to get run
out of town? What what what do we when we
look at this thing? Is is Prime really committed to Colorado.
He's saying the right things, but is he really committed
to Colorado. He's he's really building something long term as
we look at, uh, some of these people who recently
have flipped commitment to Colorado.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, you know, the one thing I can say is
with every coach that I've ever covered and never been around,
and you know, you know the game as well as
I do, you got to take what you've got, to
take him at their word until they prove you different.
And I don't think I don't think coach Prime has
any inkling of leaving right now. I think he loves
(24:59):
the city way. He's there, He's got there, it's in it.
You know, he's he's in the national spotlight again. He's
got Colorado moving, He's got a nice contract. You know,
they can almost redo his contract and give him more money.
I don't think he's I think he's ready to kind
of separate himself from from his kids for a little
(25:20):
bit because he's been with him since they were pee
Wee's right. You know, he's been coaching most kids since
they were peews. And maybe he's maybe he wants to
take a chance to step back and this is a chance.
This is a chance for him to do something that
everybody said was impossible. Okay, the way he has done it,
(25:41):
he is writing a really interesting blueprint about college football
that I admit, you know, when it first started, I
looked at him and said, WHOA, Well, that's you know,
if you're not going to recruit thirty high school kids
a year, twenty high school kids a year, and you're
not going to bring all those kids in, you've better
be really good in the portal. He's done a pretty
good job of that. It's, you know, is the Travis
and Chaudor are the stars, but if you look around
(26:03):
that team, they've got other guys that are coming up
and that are playing very well. Jordan Seaton's a you know,
great probably the highest rated freshman left tackle in the
nation right now. They've got guys out on the outside
that are playing really well. Colton Hood's a good young
running back. August Dave and August Dave and Dalan Hayden
(26:23):
are running back, and so he's bringing in players from
other positions and showing that he can do that. I
was I think I think he wants to write his
legacy there. I really, I really think he wants to
write his legacy at the University of Colorado instead of
just said Okay, yeah, I'm down here.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I'm going to move on, Telly new Welcome SeaBus dot com. Neil.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
You know I'm with you on that, because I was
admittedly insanely skeptical of these you know, Trav this this
is coral right and and you know, but he seems
to have found a way to navigate sort of the
Pete Carroll. I'm creating a culture here while pushing guys out,
bringing guys.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
In, and and doing it through the.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Portal rather than being a high school recruiter. And I
don't know if what he's doing is the road map.
I mean, maybe it's maybe it is this Einstein level
way of uh.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Navigating the Nile era of college football. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Maybe it's my old school bias that still thinks you
need to have homegrown roots.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I don't know, but right now.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
It looks like that Colorado in a lot of ways
is the epicenter of college football. You know, it's funny
to me to go back and watch the comments from
Paul Finbaum talking about seeing you being irrelevant. I'm like, well, wait,
wait a minute, wait a minute. They might not make
the playoffs, but they're not irrelevant. They're the most talked
about college football team.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
In the nation. Yeah, and if you look, and I
think I think I think coach Prime and his staff
are learning as they go along too. They're saying, Okay, well,
you know, maybe we do need to get a couple
more guys here. And everybody thinks that the transfers that
are bringing in are all guys that just have one
year left or two years left. They brought in several
transfers that have you know, two three years, and so
(28:00):
me have four years left. And so they're they're plugging
in players where they think they can plug them in,
finding guys that can play and bringing them in. And
so it's not all just one undone guys that are
coming in. They've got guys that have two or three
years And I think I think as they go along,
you're figuring this out. And I think a guy like
(28:20):
Robert Livingston is looking at this and saying, Okay, this
is how we can do this. We can bring this
guy in. Now I've got two guys here that I
can play at corner for the next two or three years.
Now I've got a couple of defensive line I've got
some linebackers, and so I think I think they're they're
figuring it out as they go along a little bit too,
and I think they're tweaking the formula however you'd want
to say it. But I do think coach Prime looks
(28:43):
at this and and you know, money is not it's
not going to be his driving force. Just I mean,
I don't if you watch TV, he's doing enough commercials
to pay the bills, right right, Yeah, that's so I think,
you know, I think I think I think he would
like to be the guy that said, look, look what
(29:04):
I did at Colorado, which was a dead program, right,
Look where it was two years ago? It was.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
It's been a relevant since for the last twenty years.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I mean, they've had what one one season or Mike
McIntyre that was worked writing home about since this is
the Barnett era.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, yeah, no, they have it, Yeah, they have it.
You know, they've they went to one Bowl game under
Hawkins when they finished ticking to seven. Hawkins lost to
some guy named Saban or something.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I think I've heard of that guy before.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
He played Alabama. Yeah, they lost to Alabama there's some
guy named Saban coaching back then, and that was his
first year at Alabama, and uh, you know, programs kind
of went different directions at that.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Point, really a branching off point for both for both programs.
You know, what's what?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
What?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
What is the biggest surprise for you the season?
Speaker 1 (29:49):
The biggest disappointment I look at For me, probably the
UCF game is probably the biggest surprise.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Biggest disappointment has.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Been the lack of getting the run game going, but
they managed to win without it.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, I think the biggest surprise was probably the way
they dominated UCS. I mean, you know, I'm not sure
how good UCF is, but they've played a lot of
people closely. They you know, they pushed Iowa State to
the end. They should probably should have beaten Iowa State
if they, you know, have made some mistakes down the stretch.
So the way they went down to Orlando and just
dominated them was was, you know, probably the biggest surprise.
(30:22):
I thought they had a good chance to win. I
didn't think they win by was the three touchdowns? Four touchdowns? Wait,
biggest disappointment, you know, I guess you could say the
run game. But what I've what I've been impressed with
these last few weeks is they're sneaking in enough run
game to make people respected. And I think Pat Sherman
(30:43):
deserves some credit here for the way he's done things.
He'll he'll sneak in a couple of tight ends, you know,
and play big boy ball for a few plays, and
you know, knock out some runs and then all of
a sudden, then they'll start throwing the ball. And so
that's been an improvement. But yeah, I guess if you
were if you were talking, the biggest disappoint would probably
(31:04):
be the run game. But as long as you whenever
you've got Schnor Sanders and those four or five six
wide receivers, they're just gonna throw the ball.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Yeah, And it's certainly been fun to watch, and uh
certainly continues to be fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Paired up with the defense. We mentioned that Robblings is done.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Neil, We appreciate your time this evening, Neil welksubuffs dot com.
We always appreciate you having you on, Yes, sir, thank you, Yeah,
thank you, Neil Welks You buffs dot com.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
We come back. We get a little uh, we're gonna
get it too. We get a little bit of a
Multimore Ravens dog, Zach.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
What are we gonna get into in the next segment,
Gonna get into some Broncos trick or treats.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Celebrate the holiday with something topical. There we go to
bring candy for everybody. No shame on you, Broncos. Country
to Night returns after this
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