August 8, 2025 • 22 mins
Big 12 Radio on TuneIn, Ari Temkin joins Brice and Bianucci to talk BIG 12 Football, the 3-man battle for the starting QB in Provo, talks LA Rams and week 1 of the NFL Preseason, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Big House to the Bounce House, from Lovell Edwards Stadium
to rice Eco Stadium.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's time to talk Cottage football with Bryson va Neuci
in the morning on one O three nine at ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Three The Fan, part of Utah's ESPN Radio Network. Ooh,
I like that little drum line.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
That is cool.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's a good way to open up this segment. College
football segment here on Bryce and bia Nucci, ESPN one
on three nine, ninety eighty three The Fan. I am
Martin Kelly. I'm the executive producer for The Down and
Dirty with Scott Mitchell every single day from ten to
eleven here on ESPN seven hundred and one to two
on ESPN A fan, So tune in about a half
an hour. We're gonna have the show with Scott Mitchell.
(00:41):
Later today. We got a great guest on the line
here to talk about some Big twelve college football and
some possibly La Ram stuff. We're gonna talk about him
with that a little bit. Ari Tempkin from the tune
in Big twelve. Ari, how you doing, I'm great?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thanks? How are you not too bad?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Not too bad? I know you're wondering. Wait a minute.
I usually talk to Bryce or Jordan. Who who is
this guy who let this executive producer run the show
for a day. I appreciate you talking to me and
take you some time out of your day. It's an
honor for me to talk to anybody who's associated with
the Big twelve. I gotta hit you with this one quick.
Ario was reading your Twitter page. I'm wondering, how did
you become a Chicago Bears and White Sox fan? Because
(01:18):
I'm also from Chicago, and as you're from Chicago, where
are you from?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Dude?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
What side of the city are you from?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I grew up in the northern suburbs and yeah,
I've been in Texas for about fifteen years. So you know,
it's rough this time of year in Texas, but in
the winter, you obviously prefer Texas to Chicago. But yeah,
a huge White Sox and Bears fan. And you know,
my career have been able to cover a lot of
different teams, you know, a lot of different leagues, and
you know, I had the I did the pre and
(01:45):
post for Cowboys for five years, and you know, so
when I did that, I wasn't really able to watch
the Bears. So it's good to I guess kind of
good to be able to watch them now on a
consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Hey, you know what, the Bears are gonna be fun
this year to white size are the white size. Maybe
one day Jerry yin Star will realize he'll do just
let us free and have an actual fun ownership. Who
knows about that one day. But anyway, all right, we're
bringing you on to talk about Big twelve. I want
to hit you with this one real quick. The preseason
college pole came out, they had five big twell teams
into it. I want to ask you, this is when
the season comes to an end, before we get to
(02:15):
the college football you know, actual playoffs and all that.
How many big tall teams will we see in the
top twenty five when the final polls come out at
the end of the season versus what we've seen already.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, you know, it's hard to get a sense of
that because you know, I mean, this is certainly close
to what we saw last year at the preseason poll.
And you know, I don't ever put much stock at
all into the coach's poll, but at least it gives
us an indication of most likely what the ap pole
will look like, which obviously plays a much larger role
(02:48):
in the playoff and everything else. But you know, look,
I think this league is really difficult to predict year
in and year out, and until that changes, I think
the perception of the Big twelve is not going to
be great in terms of winning national championships. And you know,
maybe that changes this year. Maybe we do see some
(03:09):
more consistency at the top with Arizona State, maybe you know,
Texas Tech, whose preseason expectations are very high. You know,
maybe maybe they are part of it. I know, you know,
pretty consistently BYU is undervalued when it comes to preseason polls,
and you know, the majority of times that that BYU
has finished a season in the AP pole, you know,
(03:30):
they started this season outside of the top twenty five.
So you know, five is probably a good number, you know.
I know it's not a great answer in terms of
what this will look like at the end of the season,
but you know, these other conferences, it's really easy to
predict what they're going to look like top to bottom,
and you know, there might be a few changes here
or there, but we could pretty much pencil in with
(03:53):
the top five in the preseason AP pole is going
to be in twenty twenty six, and that's of course
before even the ap preseason pool has been released in
twenty twenty five. So the other leagues don't have as
much parody as the Big Twelve does, and hopefully the
Big Twelve changes that because I think from an entertainment standpoint,
parody is great, but you know, from a consistent state
a perception standpoint, parody is not great.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, parody is not great when it comes to when
you're trying to convince the College Football Committee on why
you should have a certain amount of teams in the
college football playoffs, that's always a really you know, a
play in and that's probably one of the reasons why
the Big Twelve was left out of so many years
in the winning was just the four teams because there
was so much parody in the conference that you just
couldn't pick one team. Going into this season, there are
(04:35):
other teams besides Texas Tech and Arizona State who are
projected to win this conference. You know, TCU, Baylor, Texas,
I mentioned Texas Tech, but Iowa State, Utah, BYU, They're
all going to be in the mix. Is there a
sense of that the top six of this conference is
really really good, and it could be really hard to
predict who could be in the Big Twelve championship.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I mean, and again I think that it's kind
of part of the issue from a perception standpoint. I mean,
I definitely thought BYU being left out of the conversation
last year for the playoff was you know, kind of
an attestament to that. You know, obviously certainly had a
resume that should have put them in that discussion. And
you know, the fact that there's so much of a
(05:18):
difference between what happened to the regular season and preseason
expectations works against the Big Twelve. So yeah, I mean, again,
I think we have a pretty good idea of what
the top five will look like. And you know, for me,
I think Kansas State, Texas Tech, you know, Arizona State.
You know, those three teams should be in the mix.
Baylor's a team that I picked to win the Big Twelve.
(05:40):
So you know, I think, certainly from Texas Tech and
Arizona State and kse State standpoint, those are the from
an expectation standpoint, and even in Utah from a preseason standpoint,
the teams that are expected to be there. So we'll see,
We'll see how it shakes out. But you know, it's
one of those things like this league has been a
league parody and then still proven otherwise, you have to
expect that it's going to continue.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
To be bringing up Baylor here for a second. You
brought him up. Dave Randa. He revived that program out
of nowhere. He was on the hot seat. He was
a coach that looked like he could not get that
program out of the mud that he got himself into.
They competed for a big tall championship. Now they're again
in the conversation, what has Dave Randa done to that
program to revive it out of nowhere after him being
(06:19):
on the hot seat almost a season ago.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's kind of funny because
they were a completely different team at the end of
the season than where they started. And so I think
last year's team even surprised Dave Randa, you know, as
much as we want to give him credit for the turnaround,
and certainly we should do a degree like he thought.
Day Kwon Finn was their best starter from day one,
(06:43):
and you know, the transfer from Toledo, who is an
All MAC performer of the year before did not look
good out of the gate, and then bryceon Washington is
a guy that really took over as the lead back
and even you know, first four or five weeks of
the season, there was just not much in terms of
carries for him. So you know, in some ways they've
sort of found their right footing on accident and Sawyer
(07:05):
Robertson steps into lineup. You know, Finn wasn't performing Robertson
who you know, there wasn't much of an indication in
previous years that he was the guy, but I mean
he stepped into the role and you know, and then
a few weeks after that, Bryce Washington really emerged as
their lead back if they were trying to figure some
things out, and you know, it took off from there.
So it is again kind of interesting that maybe Dave
(07:27):
Randa couldn't even have predicted what happened because of where
they started the season. But the reason I'm picking them
to win the Big Twelve this year is, you know,
because they in terms of what they returned, this was
one of the best rushing offenses in college football last year.
They were dominant at the point of attack and up front,
and you know, they bring back basically that entire team
on offense and then defensively, their biggest flaw was you
(07:49):
know that they hit some issues at the big play,
and I mean, you can certainly make the case that
that will be an issue again for them this year.
Or you know, you go back to Dave Veranda's bread
and butter, which is defensive football. And I trust that
Randa is you know, he leads and presides over this
defense and calls plays for the defense, will figure some
things out in order to make them a little bit
more effective on defense. So for a team that doesn't
(08:12):
have much holes, the one hole they have plays with
the strings of the head coach. And that's why I
like them a lot this year.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
A team that has to turn their offseason quickly around
is BYU. Obviously with the situation where them losing their
quarterback Jake Retzlav having to leave the program now at
Tulane competing for the job. They have a three men
race in that program right now. Tracon Boardgay Casey, case
Middlestead and excuse me, bar Bachmeyer. They're all con being
(08:37):
for the QB one job for BYU. Who do you
expect to be the QB one for BYU, and could
BYU repeat anything of what they did last season regardless
of them losing their quarterback.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yeah, you know, I mean it's really interesting because while
I think, you know, Retlass at the end of the
year was not nearly as effective as he was at
the beginning of the year. You know, I look at
that Kansas game in particular, is a game that you know,
BYU probably needs to win or to get in the
conversation for the playoffs, and they probably win that game
(09:12):
if Retsloft is able to make some throws. I mean,
they had four trips in the red zone and came
with zero points in that game. You know, some of
the luck the b YU had gotten, you know, from
a special team standpoint worked against him in that game.
So you know, I start there in terms of like
they definitely they definitely could have used an upgrade from
Jake Retzloff. Now the thing is do they have one
(09:32):
of those three as an upgrade? You know, I'm I'm
big into the Bear Bachmeyer camp. I mean for a
guy that you know, spent spring and at Stanford then
came in late to b YU, and according to Aaron Roderick,
has really done a good job in picking up the
offense in such a short period of time. I mean,
he's got the size you want, six to two, you know.
(09:53):
I mean the biggest question with him is, you know,
the inexperienced factor. And I think that's why a lot
of people believe that McKay hill Stat will be the starter,
just based on again that experience that he has within
this Roderick offense and a year more than Bachmeyer. But
I mean McKay Hillstat's five nine and you know, so
I think you're limited there in terms of his ability
(10:14):
to throw over a mountain of an offensive line here
and find receivers. Now, it helps that you've got a
guy like Trace Roberts out wide who's led by U
and receiving the last two years. But they lost some
important pieces on special teams considered, you know, considering Kielan Marion.
You know, I'd like to see Barry Bachmeeyer start, but
I think, you know, I think we'll see McKay Hillstads
(10:35):
start the season. But my guess is at some point
we will see Bear Blackbeyer unless you know, McKay Hillstad
picks it up and is really good in terms of
you know, can they be as good as they were
last year. I mean, look, I think I love I
think Claude Sataki and talking him at Big twelve many days.
He loves where they are right now in terms of
being under the radar, even after such a successful season
(10:55):
last year. But I think you look at some of
those year over year indicators of success, US winning close games,
you know, and turnovers. Those were major pieces for BYU
success last year. And while I think this will still
be a disruptive defense, you know, are the turnovers that
they had that they turned into points sustainable or the
special teams touchdowns they had sustainable? Is that something that
(11:17):
you can count on you every year? So you know
where their offense probably takes a little bit of a
step backwards in terms of the inexperienced at quarterback and
the unknowns at quarterback. You know, how much can they
rely on the special teams and defensive touchdowns they were
able to get last year. I have no doubt there's
still going to be a team that's going to be disruptive.
I think Jay Hill last year, you know, his defense
really shined and they were, you know, really good at
(11:39):
their linebacking corp. They're going to be really good at
their lineback and court again with Glasger and Kelly Back.
So I mean there's pieces there for sure, But I
just think ultimately, when you look at some of the
ways that they were successful last year, you know, tendencies,
those kinds of things tend to even out year over year.
So I think I picked them, you know, middle of
the pack in the Big Twelve, but you know, sort
(11:59):
of they can see a road where they are another
surprise team again this year in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I said, Casey Middlestad, I don't know where that came from.
I meant to say, McKay Hillstad, I apologize about that.
Let me get you on this one too. Obviously, Utah
from what happened last year, they're losing their starting quarterback,
to them going to Isaac Wilson, to them losing their
offensive coordinator halfway through the season. A new offensive coordinator,
they bring in Jason Bek, They bring in Devin daan Pier,
They have a new identity on offense. They don't have
(12:25):
the wide receiver experience they had last year, but they
still have a lot of good guys in that room.
Can Utah fix what they had go wrong last year
and produce an actual what a Kyle Whitningham type offense
and season they should expect.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, I mean, look, I'm probably higher on Utah than BYU,
but not by much. I mean, I think you can
start with the quarterback position, which should be a dramatic upgrade,
which doesn't say much because they were so ineffective at
the quarterback position last year. But anytime you go with
Devin Dampier and his offensive court and what they're able
to do last year Jason Beck and Dan Pierre at
(13:02):
New Mexico, I mean, this was one of the most
prolific rushing attacks in college football last year, one of
the best offense in college football. And so this is
the Kyle Whittingham bread and butter, right, I mean, an
elite defense with a really good offense that is effective
at running the football, a ground and pound type team.
I think there's a few things though, to look at
with that. You know, number one would be I'm not
(13:23):
sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
That it's kind of a zig with the rest of
the Big twelve zagging as a pass happy league. I mean,
this is a league that is, you know, for the
most part, defined by being really effective at quarterback. I
mean it is top to bottom, one of the best
quarterback leagues, probably the best quarterback league in the country.
And so I mean, this is gonna be league with
a lot of really good passing offenses, and you know,
(13:45):
Utah's is not one of those. You know Utah's you know,
they're going to be a very effective Russian attack. I
really like the Jason's Beck offense. You know, it's sort
of a you know, a motion pre snap, motion, prestat movement,
window dressing kind of offense. You know, almost you call it
an option attack, but it's like not a traditional option attack.
(14:07):
And so you know, I'm a big believer in it,
and I think they're going to be good. But what
it is good mean, does that mean competing towards the
top of the Big twelve. I'm not convinced, because I
think you're gonna need to be balanced. You can't just
have a really effective running attack and not be able
to throw the football consistently to win in this league,
because you're gonna go up against teams that can throw
the football consistently, and it's tough to make up you know,
(14:27):
how quickly you could score through the air versus on
the ground. So like ultimately, for me, for you taw
to win a big twelve championship, they're gonna have to
pass the ball. And I think it's some you know,
at points in time they're gonna go up against defenses,
they're going to force them the pass. And the question
is and remains to be seen if they have the
hosses to do it, not just with Dan pire and
his twelve touchdowns at twelve picks last year, but I mean,
(14:47):
what do they have outlide. I mean, they lost basically
their most effective wide receiver in the spring, a guy
that Witningham called their wide receiver one who bolted for
you as se following spring, So they didn't have much
depth and much talent at the wide receiver position before
he left. And now you know it's Tobias Merriweather, who's
a big receiver over the top. Other than that, though,
I think there's a lot of questions in terms of
guys ability to get open. So I think this will
(15:09):
be very much the type of Utah teams we've seen before.
They're going to be elite on defense despite a lot
of the losses they have. I think there's enough credibility
for this defense to know that they're going to read
down and be fine. It's the Russian attack. I think
they will also be effective. But to me, I mean,
what's going to take them over the top is you know,
Ken Devin Dampier be a consistent passer and you know,
(15:30):
obviously from what we're seeing, you know, from what he's
shown last year as a year one starter in Jason
Becks offense, he needs to be way better at it.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
All right, Tim can our guest here on Bryce NBA Nucci?
All right, I want to transition to the NFL in
the Rams, because we are home of the Rams here
in Utah. On one of three, nine ninety eight three ESPN,
the Fan Rams play their first preseason game tonight versus
the Dallas Cowboy. What are some of the expectations we
could see from this first preseason game?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, you know, I mean, look, preseason football is not
the greatest, most aesthetically pleasing stuff. I mean, I look,
the NFL is the Golden Goose of sports, and so
no matter what it does, people pay attention to it.
And you know, obviously we're in the dol drums of
the dead period of sports, and so we're starving for sports,
in particular football. You know, I always find it funny
(16:22):
in my years in covering the Cowboys. I mean, look,
most NFL rosters are pretty much set right now. I
mean with the most with basically like two, three, four,
five roster spots upper grabs. But when you look at
a fifty three man roster in the NFL, I mean
they're set. I mean you're looking at a few positions
potentially down the depth chart that are still up in
(16:42):
the air. And like even when those guys that are
fighting for these spots make the team, like they're not
going to see the field. If they do, it's on
special teams. So it's funny how and look, I mean
I fall back into this two and then watching these battles,
but like people get so wrapped up in you know,
preseason stats and battles, and then like once you're into
like week three, week four, you're like, oh, yeah, I
remember that guy, whatever happened to him? You know, you
(17:04):
totally forget about it. So you know, there's there's really
no correlation between like success or foul, you know, lack
of success in preseason and success in regular season. Like
sometimes good guys have good preseasons and don't don't do
anything in the regular season. Sometimes guys have bad preseasons
and have bad regular seasons, and sometimes guys have bad
preseasons and have good regular seasons, and vice versa. So
(17:27):
there's literally no correlation whatsoever. I think it's just fun
to watch football again, and you know, the Rams are
loaded this year. I think they're gonna be one of
the best teams in the NFC again. I mean, they've
been a playoff team and been to multiple Super Bowls
in the last five seasons, so they're probably quietly one
of the most consistent franchises in sports. And obviously with
the Puka Nakula connection and Britain Covey coming in, you know,
(17:50):
there's some some really good Utah love. And you know
what other NFL team you're you gonna like in Utah
With the Rams being as consistent of a winner as
they are and those two guys.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
For sure, there is a QB two battle kind of
going on a little bit with Stenson, Bennett and Jimmy Garoppolo.
I mean, sence it. Ben's looks pretty good in camp,
does does how's that battle been looking? Do you think
Stentson Ben's gonna take QB two, I'd.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Be very surprised. I mean, you know, I think when
it comes down to some of those battles, you know,
you have to look at contracts expectations. I mean, I know,
you know, Bennett came as an under added free agent
and has been on the roster, has kind of hung
around enough to consistently be relevant, and I know Sean
McVay thinks very highly of him. But I just feel
like with what Jimmy Garoppolo from an experience standpoint, brings
(18:38):
to the table, you know, like you're and if you
cut either of them, most likely Garoppolo is to be
picked up. So like what I'm saying is Bennett has
to really outperform Garoppolo to really take that job. You know,
they're not It's not like it's an even battle. And
if if Bennett just plays a little bit better than
(18:58):
you know, then they're gonna go with Bennett. I think
Bennett's got to blow them away in order to get
that job based on you know, Garoppolo's experience in history,
and if you lose a guy like Stafford, you want
to have Garppolo in the fold. And look, I mean
maybe there's a higher ceiling potentially with Stepsan Bennett because
you probably have already seen the best of Jimmy Garoppolo.
I think there's more of a steady hand and like
just don't screw it up sort of approach with a
(19:19):
Garoppolo where you've got the right wide out. It's like
you've got great receivers, You've got a great running game.
Like there's just a lot of pieces here where you
just need a guy to kind of put it, you know,
and drive and go.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
All right, we will get you out on this. Who's
a standout player we should watch or listen to for
tomorrow night for the Rams.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Oh? Man, I mean, I'm so neat. He've been Big
twelve football. You know, I'm not gonna lie. I'm you know,
I can't get that deep on preseason rosters for the Rams.
I apologize about that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's all good, It's all good. All right, let's get
you on this last one here with the Big Twelve. Obviously,
we talked earlier about who could be one of the
top five teams competing for a Big Twelve title from
the middle of the pack. When in West Virginia win
in Oklahoma State with some teams a little bit lower
at the bottom. Are there any of those type of
teams that could surprise the Big Twelve and make a
(20:10):
competeive competitive run for the Big Twelve title? Are there
any teams were sleeping on that were not paying attention
to because of how top heavy this conference is?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, I mean, I certainly wouldn't put it out of
the realm of possibility. The b Yu could be that team,
you know. I mean, they've got probably the best linebacking
core in the Big Twelve, which says a lot. And
I think they're going to be good upfront on defense,
maybe even better than they were last year with the
additions of Tonavasa from Utah and Justin Kirkland from Oklahoma State.
You know, a team I mean, I think Baylor in
(20:39):
some respects could be a sleeper considering you know, I
haven't seen very many picks them to win the Big
Twelve or compete towards the top of the conference, but certainly,
you know, should be thought of in the top four.
And then a team that's sort off the board would
be Cincinnati. You know, I thought Breton Sooresby they started
off five to oh last year before taking the absolute
nose dive, and at Big Twelve Media Days they sort
of attributed that nose dive to you know, wideouts and
(21:03):
just not be able to create separation. Well, they've got
a guy at tight end and Joe Royer who last
year broke Travis Kelsey's single season catch record at Cincinnati,
plus they've added a ton at wide out in terms
of speed. So and then another team, it's in the
conversation with the best linebackers in the Big Twelve should
be Cincinnati as well, which I think is why, Like
(21:25):
I talked about this with Sean O'Connell on his show yesterday,
But like that's a team when you look at Utah's
schedule late that could really surprise them because they've got
one of the best front sevens in the Big twelve
with Dante cor Leone is one of the best interior
defensive linemen, and then their linebacking corps. So like that's
a team where like if you're Utah and you haven't
proven through the previous weeks that you can consistently be
two dimensional multi dimensional on offense, like you're not going
(21:47):
to suck their linebackers in, You're not going to you know,
get their linebackers in the position of of you know,
of conflict and so you know, Cincinnati is a team
I think in terms of sorees by being a really
underrated quarterback, of adding the weapons at wide receiver and
what they have at tight end, plus their defense as
a team that could certainly be a surprise team in
the Big Twelve this year.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Arety Timkins tune in Big Twelve here on the bryceon
B and Newt Show one O three, nine ninety three ESPN.
A fan are I thank you so much for joining
in on us, tuning in and talking to us about
the Big Twelve. And La Rams thank you so much.
You have yourself a good day.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
You bet have a great weekend, guys, take care.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You too, all right, Aretie Timkin telling us all the
great things that we need to know about the Big Twelve.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
There
Big House to the Bounce House, from Lovell Edwards Stadium
to rice Eco Stadium.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's time to talk Cottage football with Bryson va Neuci
in the morning on one O three nine at ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Three The Fan, part of Utah's ESPN Radio Network. Ooh,
I like that little drum line.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
That is cool.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's a good way to open up this segment. College
football segment here on Bryce and bia Nucci, ESPN one
on three nine, ninety eighty three The Fan. I am
Martin Kelly. I'm the executive producer for The Down and
Dirty with Scott Mitchell every single day from ten to
eleven here on ESPN seven hundred and one to two
on ESPN A fan, So tune in about a half
an hour. We're gonna have the show with Scott Mitchell.
(00:41):
Later today. We got a great guest on the line
here to talk about some Big twelve college football and
some possibly La Ram stuff. We're gonna talk about him
with that a little bit. Ari Tempkin from the tune
in Big twelve. Ari, how you doing, I'm great?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Thanks? How are you not too bad?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Not too bad? I know you're wondering. Wait a minute.
I usually talk to Bryce or Jordan. Who who is
this guy who let this executive producer run the show
for a day. I appreciate you talking to me and
take you some time out of your day. It's an
honor for me to talk to anybody who's associated with
the Big twelve. I gotta hit you with this one quick.
Ario was reading your Twitter page. I'm wondering, how did
you become a Chicago Bears and White Sox fan? Because
(01:18):
I'm also from Chicago, and as you're from Chicago, where
are you from?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Dude?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
What side of the city are you from?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I grew up in the northern suburbs and yeah,
I've been in Texas for about fifteen years. So you know,
it's rough this time of year in Texas, but in
the winter, you obviously prefer Texas to Chicago. But yeah,
a huge White Sox and Bears fan. And you know,
my career have been able to cover a lot of
different teams, you know, a lot of different leagues, and
you know, I had the I did the pre and
(01:45):
post for Cowboys for five years, and you know, so
when I did that, I wasn't really able to watch
the Bears. So it's good to I guess kind of
good to be able to watch them now on a
consistent basis.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Hey, you know what, the Bears are gonna be fun
this year to white size are the white size. Maybe
one day Jerry yin Star will realize he'll do just
let us free and have an actual fun ownership. Who
knows about that one day. But anyway, all right, we're
bringing you on to talk about Big twelve. I want
to hit you with this one real quick. The preseason
college pole came out, they had five big twell teams
into it. I want to ask you, this is when
the season comes to an end, before we get to
(02:15):
the college football you know, actual playoffs and all that.
How many big tall teams will we see in the
top twenty five when the final polls come out at
the end of the season versus what we've seen already.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Yeah, you know, it's hard to get a sense of
that because you know, I mean, this is certainly close
to what we saw last year at the preseason poll.
And you know, I don't ever put much stock at
all into the coach's poll, but at least it gives
us an indication of most likely what the ap pole
will look like, which obviously plays a much larger role
(02:48):
in the playoff and everything else. But you know, look,
I think this league is really difficult to predict year
in and year out, and until that changes, I think
the perception of the Big twelve is not going to
be great in terms of winning national championships. And you know,
maybe that changes this year. Maybe we do see some
(03:09):
more consistency at the top with Arizona State, maybe you know,
Texas Tech, whose preseason expectations are very high. You know,
maybe maybe they are part of it. I know, you know,
pretty consistently BYU is undervalued when it comes to preseason polls,
and you know, the majority of times that that BYU
has finished a season in the AP pole, you know,
(03:30):
they started this season outside of the top twenty five.
So you know, five is probably a good number, you know.
I know it's not a great answer in terms of
what this will look like at the end of the season,
but you know, these other conferences, it's really easy to
predict what they're going to look like top to bottom,
and you know, there might be a few changes here
or there, but we could pretty much pencil in with
(03:53):
the top five in the preseason AP pole is going
to be in twenty twenty six, and that's of course
before even the ap preseason pool has been released in
twenty twenty five. So the other leagues don't have as
much parody as the Big Twelve does, and hopefully the
Big Twelve changes that because I think from an entertainment standpoint,
parody is great, but you know, from a consistent state
a perception standpoint, parody is not great.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, parody is not great when it comes to when
you're trying to convince the College Football Committee on why
you should have a certain amount of teams in the
college football playoffs, that's always a really you know, a
play in and that's probably one of the reasons why
the Big Twelve was left out of so many years
in the winning was just the four teams because there
was so much parody in the conference that you just
couldn't pick one team. Going into this season, there are
(04:35):
other teams besides Texas Tech and Arizona State who are
projected to win this conference. You know, TCU, Baylor, Texas,
I mentioned Texas Tech, but Iowa State, Utah, BYU, They're
all going to be in the mix. Is there a
sense of that the top six of this conference is
really really good, and it could be really hard to
predict who could be in the Big Twelve championship.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, I mean, and again I think that it's kind
of part of the issue from a perception standpoint. I mean,
I definitely thought BYU being left out of the conversation
last year for the playoff was you know, kind of
an attestament to that. You know, obviously certainly had a
resume that should have put them in that discussion. And
you know, the fact that there's so much of a
(05:18):
difference between what happened to the regular season and preseason
expectations works against the Big Twelve. So yeah, I mean, again,
I think we have a pretty good idea of what
the top five will look like. And you know, for me,
I think Kansas State, Texas Tech, you know, Arizona State.
You know, those three teams should be in the mix.
Baylor's a team that I picked to win the Big Twelve.
(05:40):
So you know, I think, certainly from Texas Tech and
Arizona State and kse State standpoint, those are the from
an expectation standpoint, and even in Utah from a preseason standpoint,
the teams that are expected to be there. So we'll see,
We'll see how it shakes out. But you know, it's
one of those things like this league has been a
league parody and then still proven otherwise, you have to
expect that it's going to continue.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
To be bringing up Baylor here for a second. You
brought him up. Dave Randa. He revived that program out
of nowhere. He was on the hot seat. He was
a coach that looked like he could not get that
program out of the mud that he got himself into.
They competed for a big tall championship. Now they're again
in the conversation, what has Dave Randa done to that
program to revive it out of nowhere after him being
(06:19):
on the hot seat almost a season ago.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's kind of funny because
they were a completely different team at the end of
the season than where they started. And so I think
last year's team even surprised Dave Randa, you know, as
much as we want to give him credit for the turnaround,
and certainly we should do a degree like he thought.
Day Kwon Finn was their best starter from day one,
(06:43):
and you know, the transfer from Toledo, who is an
All MAC performer of the year before did not look
good out of the gate, and then bryceon Washington is
a guy that really took over as the lead back
and even you know, first four or five weeks of
the season, there was just not much in terms of
carries for him. So you know, in some ways they've
sort of found their right footing on accident and Sawyer
(07:05):
Robertson steps into lineup. You know, Finn wasn't performing Robertson
who you know, there wasn't much of an indication in
previous years that he was the guy, but I mean
he stepped into the role and you know, and then
a few weeks after that, Bryce Washington really emerged as
their lead back if they were trying to figure some
things out, and you know, it took off from there.
So it is again kind of interesting that maybe Dave
(07:27):
Randa couldn't even have predicted what happened because of where
they started the season. But the reason I'm picking them
to win the Big Twelve this year is, you know,
because they in terms of what they returned, this was
one of the best rushing offenses in college football last year.
They were dominant at the point of attack and up front,
and you know, they bring back basically that entire team
on offense and then defensively, their biggest flaw was you
(07:49):
know that they hit some issues at the big play,
and I mean, you can certainly make the case that
that will be an issue again for them this year.
Or you know, you go back to Dave Veranda's bread
and butter, which is defensive football. And I trust that
Randa is you know, he leads and presides over this
defense and calls plays for the defense, will figure some
things out in order to make them a little bit
more effective on defense. So for a team that doesn't
(08:12):
have much holes, the one hole they have plays with
the strings of the head coach. And that's why I
like them a lot this year.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
A team that has to turn their offseason quickly around
is BYU. Obviously with the situation where them losing their
quarterback Jake Retzlav having to leave the program now at
Tulane competing for the job. They have a three men
race in that program right now. Tracon Boardgay Casey, case
Middlestead and excuse me, bar Bachmeyer. They're all con being
(08:37):
for the QB one job for BYU. Who do you
expect to be the QB one for BYU, and could
BYU repeat anything of what they did last season regardless
of them losing their quarterback.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Yeah, you know, I mean it's really interesting because while
I think, you know, Retlass at the end of the
year was not nearly as effective as he was at
the beginning of the year. You know, I look at
that Kansas game in particular, is a game that you know,
BYU probably needs to win or to get in the
conversation for the playoffs, and they probably win that game
(09:12):
if Retsloft is able to make some throws. I mean,
they had four trips in the red zone and came
with zero points in that game. You know, some of
the luck the b YU had gotten, you know, from
a special team standpoint worked against him in that game.
So you know, I start there in terms of like
they definitely they definitely could have used an upgrade from
Jake Retzloff. Now the thing is do they have one
(09:32):
of those three as an upgrade? You know, I'm I'm
big into the Bear Bachmeyer camp. I mean for a
guy that you know, spent spring and at Stanford then
came in late to b YU, and according to Aaron Roderick,
has really done a good job in picking up the
offense in such a short period of time. I mean,
he's got the size you want, six to two, you know.
(09:53):
I mean the biggest question with him is, you know,
the inexperienced factor. And I think that's why a lot
of people believe that McKay hill Stat will be the starter,
just based on again that experience that he has within
this Roderick offense and a year more than Bachmeyer. But
I mean McKay Hillstat's five nine and you know, so
I think you're limited there in terms of his ability
(10:14):
to throw over a mountain of an offensive line here
and find receivers. Now, it helps that you've got a
guy like Trace Roberts out wide who's led by U
and receiving the last two years. But they lost some
important pieces on special teams considered, you know, considering Kielan Marion.
You know, I'd like to see Barry Bachmeeyer start, but
I think, you know, I think we'll see McKay Hillstads
(10:35):
start the season. But my guess is at some point
we will see Bear Blackbeyer unless you know, McKay Hillstad
picks it up and is really good in terms of
you know, can they be as good as they were
last year. I mean, look, I think I love I
think Claude Sataki and talking him at Big twelve many days.
He loves where they are right now in terms of
being under the radar, even after such a successful season
(10:55):
last year. But I think you look at some of
those year over year indicators of success, US winning close games,
you know, and turnovers. Those were major pieces for BYU
success last year. And while I think this will still
be a disruptive defense, you know, are the turnovers that
they had that they turned into points sustainable or the
special teams touchdowns they had sustainable? Is that something that
(11:17):
you can count on you every year? So you know
where their offense probably takes a little bit of a
step backwards in terms of the inexperienced at quarterback and
the unknowns at quarterback. You know, how much can they
rely on the special teams and defensive touchdowns they were
able to get last year. I have no doubt there's
still going to be a team that's going to be disruptive.
I think Jay Hill last year, you know, his defense
really shined and they were, you know, really good at
(11:39):
their linebacking corp. They're going to be really good at
their lineback and court again with Glasger and Kelly Back.
So I mean there's pieces there for sure, But I
just think ultimately, when you look at some of the
ways that they were successful last year, you know, tendencies,
those kinds of things tend to even out year over year.
So I think I picked them, you know, middle of
the pack in the Big Twelve, but you know, sort
(11:59):
of they can see a road where they are another
surprise team again this year in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
I said, Casey Middlestad, I don't know where that came from.
I meant to say, McKay Hillstad, I apologize about that.
Let me get you on this one too. Obviously, Utah
from what happened last year, they're losing their starting quarterback,
to them going to Isaac Wilson, to them losing their
offensive coordinator halfway through the season. A new offensive coordinator,
they bring in Jason Bek, They bring in Devin daan Pier,
They have a new identity on offense. They don't have
(12:25):
the wide receiver experience they had last year, but they
still have a lot of good guys in that room.
Can Utah fix what they had go wrong last year
and produce an actual what a Kyle Whitningham type offense
and season they should expect.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, I mean, look, I'm probably higher on Utah than BYU,
but not by much. I mean, I think you can
start with the quarterback position, which should be a dramatic upgrade,
which doesn't say much because they were so ineffective at
the quarterback position last year. But anytime you go with
Devin Dampier and his offensive court and what they're able
to do last year Jason Beck and Dan Pierre at
(13:02):
New Mexico, I mean, this was one of the most
prolific rushing attacks in college football last year, one of
the best offense in college football. And so this is
the Kyle Whittingham bread and butter, right, I mean, an
elite defense with a really good offense that is effective
at running the football, a ground and pound type team.
I think there's a few things though, to look at
with that. You know, number one would be I'm not
(13:23):
sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
That it's kind of a zig with the rest of
the Big twelve zagging as a pass happy league. I mean,
this is a league that is, you know, for the
most part, defined by being really effective at quarterback. I
mean it is top to bottom, one of the best
quarterback leagues, probably the best quarterback league in the country.
And so I mean, this is gonna be league with
a lot of really good passing offenses, and you know,
(13:45):
Utah's is not one of those. You know Utah's you know,
they're going to be a very effective Russian attack. I
really like the Jason's Beck offense. You know, it's sort
of a you know, a motion pre snap, motion, prestat movement,
window dressing kind of offense. You know, almost you call it
an option attack, but it's like not a traditional option attack.
(14:07):
And so you know, I'm a big believer in it,
and I think they're going to be good. But what
it is good mean, does that mean competing towards the
top of the Big twelve. I'm not convinced, because I
think you're gonna need to be balanced. You can't just
have a really effective running attack and not be able
to throw the football consistently to win in this league,
because you're gonna go up against teams that can throw
the football consistently, and it's tough to make up you know,
(14:27):
how quickly you could score through the air versus on
the ground. So like ultimately, for me, for you taw
to win a big twelve championship, they're gonna have to
pass the ball. And I think it's some you know,
at points in time they're gonna go up against defenses,
they're going to force them the pass. And the question
is and remains to be seen if they have the
hosses to do it, not just with Dan pire and
his twelve touchdowns at twelve picks last year, but I mean,
(14:47):
what do they have outlide. I mean, they lost basically
their most effective wide receiver in the spring, a guy
that Witningham called their wide receiver one who bolted for
you as se following spring, So they didn't have much
depth and much talent at the wide receiver position before
he left. And now you know it's Tobias Merriweather, who's
a big receiver over the top. Other than that, though,
I think there's a lot of questions in terms of
guys ability to get open. So I think this will
(15:09):
be very much the type of Utah teams we've seen before.
They're going to be elite on defense despite a lot
of the losses they have. I think there's enough credibility
for this defense to know that they're going to read
down and be fine. It's the Russian attack. I think
they will also be effective. But to me, I mean,
what's going to take them over the top is you know,
Ken Devin Dampier be a consistent passer and you know,
(15:30):
obviously from what we're seeing, you know, from what he's
shown last year as a year one starter in Jason
Becks offense, he needs to be way better at it.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
All right, Tim can our guest here on Bryce NBA Nucci?
All right, I want to transition to the NFL in
the Rams, because we are home of the Rams here
in Utah. On one of three, nine ninety eight three ESPN,
the Fan Rams play their first preseason game tonight versus
the Dallas Cowboy. What are some of the expectations we
could see from this first preseason game?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, you know, I mean, look, preseason football is not
the greatest, most aesthetically pleasing stuff. I mean, I look,
the NFL is the Golden Goose of sports, and so
no matter what it does, people pay attention to it.
And you know, obviously we're in the dol drums of
the dead period of sports, and so we're starving for sports,
in particular football. You know, I always find it funny
(16:22):
in my years in covering the Cowboys. I mean, look,
most NFL rosters are pretty much set right now. I
mean with the most with basically like two, three, four,
five roster spots upper grabs. But when you look at
a fifty three man roster in the NFL, I mean
they're set. I mean you're looking at a few positions
potentially down the depth chart that are still up in
(16:42):
the air. And like even when those guys that are
fighting for these spots make the team, like they're not
going to see the field. If they do, it's on
special teams. So it's funny how and look, I mean
I fall back into this two and then watching these battles,
but like people get so wrapped up in you know,
preseason stats and battles, and then like once you're into
like week three, week four, you're like, oh, yeah, I
remember that guy, whatever happened to him? You know, you
(17:04):
totally forget about it. So you know, there's there's really
no correlation between like success or foul, you know, lack
of success in preseason and success in regular season. Like
sometimes good guys have good preseasons and don't don't do
anything in the regular season. Sometimes guys have bad preseasons
and have bad regular seasons, and sometimes guys have bad
preseasons and have good regular seasons, and vice versa. So
(17:27):
there's literally no correlation whatsoever. I think it's just fun
to watch football again, and you know, the Rams are
loaded this year. I think they're gonna be one of
the best teams in the NFC again. I mean, they've
been a playoff team and been to multiple Super Bowls
in the last five seasons, so they're probably quietly one
of the most consistent franchises in sports. And obviously with
the Puka Nakula connection and Britain Covey coming in, you know,
(17:50):
there's some some really good Utah love. And you know
what other NFL team you're you gonna like in Utah
With the Rams being as consistent of a winner as
they are and those two guys.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
For sure, there is a QB two battle kind of
going on a little bit with Stenson, Bennett and Jimmy Garoppolo.
I mean, sence it. Ben's looks pretty good in camp,
does does how's that battle been looking? Do you think
Stentson Ben's gonna take QB two, I'd.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Be very surprised. I mean, you know, I think when
it comes down to some of those battles, you know,
you have to look at contracts expectations. I mean, I know,
you know, Bennett came as an under added free agent
and has been on the roster, has kind of hung
around enough to consistently be relevant, and I know Sean
McVay thinks very highly of him. But I just feel
like with what Jimmy Garoppolo from an experience standpoint, brings
(18:38):
to the table, you know, like you're and if you
cut either of them, most likely Garoppolo is to be
picked up. So like what I'm saying is Bennett has
to really outperform Garoppolo to really take that job. You know,
they're not It's not like it's an even battle. And
if if Bennett just plays a little bit better than
(18:58):
you know, then they're gonna go with Bennett. I think
Bennett's got to blow them away in order to get
that job based on you know, Garoppolo's experience in history,
and if you lose a guy like Stafford, you want
to have Garppolo in the fold. And look, I mean
maybe there's a higher ceiling potentially with Stepsan Bennett because
you probably have already seen the best of Jimmy Garoppolo.
I think there's more of a steady hand and like
just don't screw it up sort of approach with a
(19:19):
Garoppolo where you've got the right wide out. It's like
you've got great receivers, You've got a great running game.
Like there's just a lot of pieces here where you
just need a guy to kind of put it, you know,
and drive and go.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
All right, we will get you out on this. Who's
a standout player we should watch or listen to for
tomorrow night for the Rams.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Oh? Man, I mean, I'm so neat. He've been Big
twelve football. You know, I'm not gonna lie. I'm you know,
I can't get that deep on preseason rosters for the Rams.
I apologize about that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
It's all good, It's all good. All right, let's get
you on this last one here with the Big Twelve. Obviously,
we talked earlier about who could be one of the
top five teams competing for a Big Twelve title from
the middle of the pack. When in West Virginia win
in Oklahoma State with some teams a little bit lower
at the bottom. Are there any of those type of
teams that could surprise the Big Twelve and make a
(20:10):
competeive competitive run for the Big Twelve title? Are there
any teams were sleeping on that were not paying attention
to because of how top heavy this conference is?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Yeah, I mean, I certainly wouldn't put it out of
the realm of possibility. The b Yu could be that team,
you know. I mean, they've got probably the best linebacking
core in the Big Twelve, which says a lot. And
I think they're going to be good upfront on defense,
maybe even better than they were last year with the
additions of Tonavasa from Utah and Justin Kirkland from Oklahoma State.
You know, a team I mean, I think Baylor in
(20:39):
some respects could be a sleeper considering you know, I
haven't seen very many picks them to win the Big
Twelve or compete towards the top of the conference, but certainly,
you know, should be thought of in the top four.
And then a team that's sort off the board would
be Cincinnati. You know, I thought Breton Sooresby they started
off five to oh last year before taking the absolute
nose dive, and at Big Twelve Media Days they sort
of attributed that nose dive to you know, wideouts and
(21:03):
just not be able to create separation. Well, they've got
a guy at tight end and Joe Royer who last
year broke Travis Kelsey's single season catch record at Cincinnati,
plus they've added a ton at wide out in terms
of speed. So and then another team, it's in the
conversation with the best linebackers in the Big Twelve should
be Cincinnati as well, which I think is why, Like
(21:25):
I talked about this with Sean O'Connell on his show yesterday,
But like that's a team when you look at Utah's
schedule late that could really surprise them because they've got
one of the best front sevens in the Big twelve
with Dante cor Leone is one of the best interior
defensive linemen, and then their linebacking corps. So like that's
a team where like if you're Utah and you haven't
proven through the previous weeks that you can consistently be
two dimensional multi dimensional on offense, like you're not going
(21:47):
to suck their linebackers in, You're not going to you know,
get their linebackers in the position of of you know,
of conflict and so you know, Cincinnati is a team
I think in terms of sorees by being a really
underrated quarterback, of adding the weapons at wide receiver and
what they have at tight end, plus their defense as
a team that could certainly be a surprise team in
the Big Twelve this year.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Arety Timkins tune in Big Twelve here on the bryceon
B and Newt Show one O three, nine ninety three ESPN.
A fan are I thank you so much for joining
in on us, tuning in and talking to us about
the Big Twelve. And La Rams thank you so much.
You have yourself a good day.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
You bet have a great weekend, guys, take care.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
You too, all right, Aretie Timkin telling us all the
great things that we need to know about the Big Twelve.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
There
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