Sean O'Connell Show - Full POD 10-8-25

OC talks Utah FB with Head Coach Kyle Whittingham, Big 12 FB & Utes vs #21 ASU with Shehan Jeyarajah, Can Utah exploit Sam Leavitt's underwhelming start (?), Jonathan Gannon fined for coaching hard (!?), Happy B-day Matt Damon + more

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
He's the Shan O'Connell Show, brought to you by Big
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Speaker 2 (00:26):
Everybody, Welcome to the Sean O'Connell Show on a Wednesday.
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Speaker 3 (01:02):
Show lined up for you today.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Kyle Whittingham is supposed to join us any moment, head
coach of the University of Utah. Right off the top,
as we get you ready for Utah Arizona State night
game rice Eco Stadium. The forecast right now is calling
for a little bit of weather, maybe little rainy, maybe
a little chili, maybe a little blustery. I think that
helps Utah in a game where this Arizona State team

(01:27):
has been relying extensively on the elite athlete types, right
the finesse players, the super fast guys. Arizona State, of course,
last year's Pack twelve champ, Pack twelve, last year's Big
twelve champion, surprise Big twelve Champion, is off to a
very solid start here in twenty twenty five as well

(01:52):
ranked team right now not scoring as much as some
people thought they might be. Again, plenty of football left
to play, Arizona State Night game.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Kyle Whittingham joins us right off the top, as promised,
the head coach of your utes. Coach, welcome to the
shott of Conin show. How are you sir?

Speaker 4 (02:13):
Thank you o C.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
How you doing doing all right? How is how is
the bye week for your team? Did you win the
bye week? So to speak?

Speaker 4 (02:20):
I would say yes, And you know, we try to
have an opportunity to get our guys freshened up and
healthy and as at the same time not to you know,
get rusty. You got to spend you know, enough time
on the field. Where you can stay sharp. And so
I think we struck a good balance this bye week.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Do you do it?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Is that formula the same every year? Do you handle
it kind of on a year by year basis based
on you know, bump spruces, injuries, et cetera.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
Yeah, that the latter it's it's based on the healthier team. Also,
the timing of it. You know, if it's earlier in
the season, you can get a little more work done
than if it's a mid or late season. And so
the timing of it, how we played in the previous
ball game, you know, that has a lot to do
with it well as well. And so with having a
good showing against West Virginia, we're able to give them

(03:10):
a little more time off last week then if we
had it done so well.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
All right, So now you've got a tough one Saturday
night against a good Arizona State team, last year's Big
Twelve Conference champion. They've got the best, the most productive
running back in the league right now. They've got a
wide receiver who a lot of people think is going
to be a first round pick. They've got a dual
threat quarterback that we have seen do some really, really

(03:35):
good things. How do you attack this Arizona State offense.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, well, first of all, you hit on the you know,
the real playmakers that they have. The receiver might be
the best in the country. I mean, he's really good
and I would think certainly a top or a first
round raft choice. And the running back, as you mentioned,
is leading the league in yardage per game. And then Levett,
the quarterback, is a true dual threat who really you know,
his leg or what has done the most damage to

(04:01):
other teams. And he seems to have a great knack
for you know, a third and long break in the
pocket and you know, ripping off a long run to
move the change. And so we've got to make sure
that we try to, you know, keep the damage to
a minimum with those three guys. And it's difficult, you know,
when you have a quarterback, running back and wide receiver
that you have to pay particular attention to. But that's

(04:23):
that's the challenge for coach Galley of the defense, and
we'll see how we do.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Can you spy a guy like Levit?

Speaker 2 (04:29):
I mean that's a reductive and simplistic way, but you know,
he's so dangerous when he's back there and he doesn't
see what he wants to see.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
We saw it.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Last year when you guys were down in timp. You know,
he'll just pulled the ball down like your quarterback is
capable of doing, and extend drives and plays that way.
Can you solve a problem like that by just putting
one of your great athletes on him and saying you
follow him wherever he goes?

Speaker 4 (04:52):
That could be part of the equation, without a doubt.
That's not an every down thing, but but spying him
is certainly does have its play. And as you mentioned,
the spy better be a good athlete because it doesn't
do any good to spy a guy that can't tackle
him in the open field. So so as long as
you have the right guy spying is, you know that
could be effective. And in addition to that, you've got

(05:13):
to be very disciplined in your pass rush lanes. And
that really is the probably the starting point is to
keep them in a cage and make sure that you're
very disciplined and you know, not necessarily trying to sack
him as much as contain him and keep him in
the pocket.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
I don't expect you to give me specific names, because
there's no advantage in telling us, but what we saw
some guys get banged up. And you've been asked about
the injury report, and we'll get the official injury report.
But at the safety position, which is so massively important
in this Utah defense against the quarterback like this, against
the receiver like this, against an offense like this, do

(05:51):
you have to this point in the practice week, do
you have a solution worked out for you that you
consider to be satisfactory at that safety spot.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
Yeah, we think so. And it's tough losing Nate Richie.
You know, he's playing good football for us, and there's
a physical safety and very smart. But but you know,
Nate will not be available. We know we can say
that for certain, and it's not season ending, but unfortunately
he's gonna he's gonna be out for a while. But
we have some other options and I've been working on

(06:21):
a few different combinations, and really the key is to
get your best athletes on the field, and however you
got to do configuration wise to get that done. That's
that's what you need to do. So so we'll, you know,
shuffle some people around and make sure we get the
best guys out there.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Got Witningham, head coach at the University of Utah. Our
guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show, Let's talk about
your offense, Devin dan Pier, and I thought the offense
has a whole, really nice bounce back week against West Virginia,
as you already alluded to. And it was particularly interesting
for me with Dev because you know, we see him
and he's been so productive with his mobility, and clearly

(06:57):
he was a little bit limited in that aspect against
Tech and then against West Virginia, but still found ways
to be efficient, productive, et cetera. You never want a
guy to be hurt and less than one hundred percent.
But was there some value in finding out what he
is as a pocket passer?

Speaker 4 (07:16):
I guess if there is a silver lining to that,
that would be it. But you know, his game is
based so much on extending the play and using his
legs to you know, avoid rushes and you know, stand
and get the ball downfield or pull it down and
run with it. So so it's good to have him
back at full strength, and you know he was a
little bit slowed down there for a few weeks. But

(07:38):
but Devin's done a great job this year. As far
as protecting the ball, his completion percentage is up almost
twenty percent over last year fifteen percent something like that.
So so he has done a really nice job and we're,
you know, we're excited to see what he can do
this week because it'll be a big challenge against the
Sun Devils.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Coach, with that in mind, I know that there's a
balance to be struck from a coaching standpoint. You want
to treat every game like it's the same, and you
want to you don't want to, you know, put too
much weight on a particular matchup. And the Texas Tech
game was obviously like this huge national stage opportunity and

(08:18):
the stakes are incredibly high in every Big twelve game,
and the same is true Saturday night at Rice Cycles Stadium.
It feels like your players probably know how important a
game like this is. But how do you coach it
so you get the best version? You get guys to
rise to the occasion and do things the right way
without letting it become you know, a too daunting in

(08:38):
their minds. How do you how do you get people
to play a big game like it's a big game.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
Well, yeah, that's a good question, and really The simple
answer is is we have a process and a preparation
model that we follow, and we follow it every week.
And I've said it many times before. If there was
a better model and a better way to do things,
we wouldn't save it for particular weeks. You do it
every single week. And so, uh, just you know, the

(09:03):
players are smart. They understand that, you know, challenges, Uh,
some weeks are bigger than others. But but if you
approach things the same way and take the take the
same uh you know, practice preparation and and go through
your your film study and do everything that that you
do on a weekend and week out basis, then that
gets your best opportunity to win. You can't be too high,

(09:23):
you can't be too low. You can't uh, you know,
take anybody for granted, that's for certain. And you can't
get all tense and and uptight if you're if you're
playing a you know, a more highly ranked team or
whatever the situation is. So the key really is to
just be even keeled and go through your process, go
through your preparation, and and come out and play as
hard as you can on game day. Uh.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Which which games did you sit down and watch live
during the bye week.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Let's see, I was out watching grand kids playing soccer
and baseball and football and all that, So I didn't
get to see a whole lot of games uh uh
this past weekend, So I unless sure I said down
and watched any of them from start to finish in general?

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Do you enjoy that when you do get the rare
opportunity to do it? Do you like watching football games
as a fan or because you've been a coach for
so long and you're used to the all twenty two
and the cutups and you know you can fast forward
and rewind?

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Do you enjoy watching football on TV?

Speaker 4 (10:18):
Oh? Absolutely? And I'm a huge NFL guy. I love
I love watching NFL games in particular, and you know
that's usually an opportunity for me to see more of
those games in the college games. But I'm a I'm
a football fan, and you know, choose to, you know,
sit down and watch the games that are on if
I don't have more important things going like grandkids.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
So yeah, coach, I know your time is short, so
we appreciate you giving us a few minutes here on
a game week before we let you go.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
It's supposed to be a little blustery, a little cold,
a little rainy.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
And I already asked your your your offensive coordinator about this.
I already asked Devin dan Pier about this. But do
you have to make any sick significant adjustments to your
week of preparation knowing that it might be a little
wet on Saturday night?

Speaker 4 (11:07):
No, not really. I mean you have enough in your
plan every week to be able to function in whatever
the weather scenario is. And so, you know, you do
do a few things different during the week. You know,
have what ball drills where you're you know, for both
the specialists and the offensive personnel, as far as practicing
with the ball soaking wet, and so there's a few

(11:28):
things you do differently. But as far as a major
overhaul or modification of the game plan, though we feel
like we got enough to handle it.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Does this still feel as we head into week six
like the team you thought it was heading into the year,
a team capable of competing for a Big twelve championship,
knowing how deep the league is, how competitive the league is.
Have you learned enough about this team through the first
five weeks of competition and the bye week that you
know you've been at the championship level before coach, is
this one of those teams.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
I think it can be. Yeah, we have really, you know,
a good group of guys, a really good group of
leaders too, in particulars. That's always a key to have
a special season is to have captains and your leadership
council that really take charge and own the program. And
these guys have done a great job of that. Their
war habits are exceptional Monday through Friday, and we've got

(12:19):
some really talented players, and so yeah, we absolutely have
an opportunity to make some noise in this conference.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Again, coach, appreciate your time, good luck on Saturday night.
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
Okay, we see do you take care.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Kyle Whittingham, head coach of your University of Utah football team,
big thanks to him joining us on a week like
this one. Not really exactly breaking news there, but it's
it's the first time that he has confirmed that you're
not going to have Nate Richie this week. We all
speculated as such based on the information we were given

(12:56):
on Monday that you know, Nate Richie not a season
ending injury, but a severe enough injury that we didn't
think that we would see him back this week, and
Kyle Whittingham just confirmed that this Arizona State team is
really good?

Speaker 3 (13:09):
All right? Now?

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Are they as good as we thought they were going
to be heading into the year? I was one, I
will say that I thought that they were going to
fall back to the pack a little bit. Last year
was a special year, and they relied on some very
special players to make it. Especially now they still have
special players. Jordan Tyson, as coach Whittingham just mentioned, is

(13:33):
probably going to be I mean, we've talked about it
already this year he might be the best draft eligible
wide receiver in the country.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
So what do you do against the guy like that?

Speaker 2 (13:46):
And more importantly, what do you do against the guy
like that with a backup safety plane or if backup
is the wrong way to turn it, with a position
swapped or a new like maybe they put Smith nodenback.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
I don't know what they're going to do.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
I don't know what the plan is, but there is
going to be some adjustment at arguably the most important
position in this defense.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
We've talked about it on the show before.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
The safeties in the Fred Whittingham, Kyle Whittingham, Morgan Scalley
defense are over important compared to other defensive schemes in
the country. A lot of things are run through and
because of and to your safeties. So maybe you have
to make some schematic adjustments. If you're going with the
guy who's in his first real reps, they would have

(14:39):
worked on this through the bye week. But how do
you take on Sam Levitt and Jordan Tyson with that
in mind? And beyond those two. Raleik Brown, who was
who started his career at USC, was a highly rated recruit,
was a big time everybody in the country wanted him
type player. Went to UC. Things never really got going

(15:02):
at USC for Releak Brown. Crowded running back room as
it always is down there. I don't think he just
I don't think he really jibed well with the coaching
staff down there. Transfer portal player ends up at Arizona State,
who of course had like the second best running back
in the country last year in Camp Scataboo. So trying

(15:23):
to step in and fill those shoes, you better perform,
and Rleak Brown has stepped up to the plate in
a way that makes him the most productive running back
in the Big Twelve Conference right now. He's averaging six
and a half yards per carry. He is averaging one
hundred and one yards per game. Kind of a quirk

(15:44):
of the stats. Kind of interesting here. He's only actually
got into the end zone twice, but he helps them
build and sustain drives. Arizona State is almost the antithesis
of Utah football in this season so far in that
they rely very heavily on star caliber players, on the

(16:05):
big name players, and Utah you're kind of just like,
who is the star player in this offense besides your quarterback,
because of course your quarterback is going to be the
thing that makes everything go. Who besides Devin dan Pire
is the star player? And I'm talking about from the
perspective and opposing defense hats, who do you have to

(16:26):
take away? Well, this Dalon Bentley kid will hurt you.
If you over index on Dallen Bentley, then they're gonna
find ways to get Ryan Davis open in the same
portion of the field.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
By the way, J J.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Buchanan's going to start having a big day. And it's
not like Arizona State doesn't have accessory players, doesn't have
supporting cast. It's just the headliners are going to make
a lot of noise and they're going to draw a
lot of attention. Levitt came into the year with the

(16:59):
highest Heisman odds in the Big twelve Conference. He has
not played anywhere near that level, but he still is
a productive guy. I'm actually really surprised at his passing
seems to have regressed a little bit. His running is
incredibly opportunistic. He's got five rushing touchdowns so far. And

(17:20):
you need to look no further than Utah's trip to Tempe,
Arizona last year to know what this guy is capable of.
You have to not only get a hand on him
when he's in the pocket, you've got to get him down.
Coach Witt talked about the pass rush lanes. You better stay.

(17:42):
What's the way to say, stay intake keep the integrity
of your pass rush lanes. You cannot against a guy
like that. And Devin Dampier is the same way, right.
You never compromise your integrity. O. You cannot have your
pass rush lanes or your pass rush occur at different levels. Okay,

(18:03):
so you need to get knocked back from your interior
defensive lineman if your your rush ends come up the
field rapidly. Right, If you're watching on YouTube, right now,
I'm doing a great illustration with my hands on the desk.
If your ends get up field and your defensive linemen

(18:26):
are stonewall at the original line of scrimmage, it creates
that seam that somebody likes Sam Levitt, somebody like Devin
Dan Pierre, Caleb Williams used to do this all the time.
They just they take a step and a half, two
steps up and then they leak out right. So they
go inside of the wide pass rush or the deep

(18:49):
pass rush coming from John Henry Daily, coming from Logan Final,
coming from whomever, Cash Dylan, and they go around a
leaky and it's somebody like Levitt. Now again, this is
while your linebackers and your safeties and your corners have
cleared out in pass coverage. So you've got these ten

(19:11):
and twelve yard gaps. So what you're asking is that
your pass rush where it's all about winning your one
on one matchup against a mobile quarterback like this and
against the mobile quarterback with great field vision. What you're
asking is that your pass rush that's all as individualistic

(19:34):
of a of a position as there is in football.
That in corners are just like you're just win your
matchup man. Everything else the system around you will take
care of the rest.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
Win your matchup well.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Now, because of what Sam Levitt is as a runner,
you can't just win your matchup. You have to win
your matchup in concert with the other guy next to
you also winning his matchup. Because if you win your
matchup up too well, you gotta get to the quarterback
and get him down, or you're creating a seam in
the defense and John new Hall is running with the

(20:09):
tight end, or he's chasing a running back down the field.
Lander Barton is gonna take a second to get his
eyes back into the backfield because he's playing defense downfield
like It's very problematic. And it's why Devin dan Pierre
had over a thousand rushing yards last year. And that's
why Sam Levitt right now is one of the scariest

(20:30):
guys you're going to face, not because of his arm.
We say this all the time. Jeff Schwartz will come
on the show. Guy who played at the NFL level
for a long time. Weddel's gonna join us on the
show tomorrow. He'll tell you the same thing. Quarterbacks, Dual
threat quarterbacks are a nightmare to deal with. But ultimately
you have to make plays from the pocket. You have
to use your arm to win. This is a matchup

(20:54):
on Saturday Night of teams who think they've got both
in their qbs. Sam Levitt is not so far to
this point, having the year that a lot of people
thought he would in the passing game. But the reason
that Arizona State still looks like they are in conference
championship contention is largely because his opportunistic play and his

(21:17):
recognition of the opportunities created by even good play from
other defenses. And when I say even good play, I'm
talking about that exact thing that your pass rush comes,
your pocket collapses, but it collapses too heavy on one side.
The knockback comes from the tackle position or the excuse me,

(21:39):
from the defensive end position on your offensive tackles, while
the interior line is stonewalled, and I find the whole,
I find the scene. It's a huge problem that both
of these defenses are going to have to deal with.
How do you stop Sam Levitt. That's why I asked
Kyle Whittingham about the spy situation. Nobody's done better than

(22:00):
BYU has because they have Jack Kelly, or they had
I should say Jack Kelly, who's now like that being
taken out of the BYU defensive scheme, j Hill not
having an opportunity next week and we'll talk about it
more next week. To have Jack Kelly spy Devin dan
Pierre like that changes a lot of things. You can't

(22:21):
do it every single down, but you have in both
John new Hall and Lander Barton, and I think actually
also in Levanni de Mooney. I don't think that there's
a drop off between de Mooney and the two starters,
the two every down starters for Utah. Right now, you
have that level of personnel for Utah where Sam Levitt

(22:43):
you can just say, we're gonna bite the bullet. We're
gonna allow everyone else to beat us and hurt us
with their production, with their whatever. We are going to
dedicate who we think is our best defensive player to
Sam Levitt to stopping him.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Right, And.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
When you do that, you're sometimes if you like, if
you choose to use a linebacker to spy him, right,
if you Lander has been pretty good in pass covers
this year, right, if you're saying, all right, you're spying
the quarterback, you're taking him out of the pass coverage
this might not be the week to do that because
you got an altered free safety situation. Right, maybe you say,

(23:23):
all right, you know what, smith Snowden, you're a good tackler,
you're sure tackler, you're fast. We're going to spy the
quarterback with you, so you're no longer a nickel corner.
I was gonna say, I I don't know that I've noticed,
and maybe I'm just maybe I'm just not looking closely enough.
But I feel like it's usually a linebacker that that

(23:47):
teams will put a spy on. But maybe it's it's
safety and nickels a lot too. No, it's usually, but
with linebacker linebackers are it depends on who you're spying obviously, Yeah,
but with a quarterback, a linebacker is usually the player
that you use because linebackers in the sort of hierarchy

(24:08):
of duties in past coverage, linebackers are far less important
than corners, nickels, and safeties. Okay, and they're I mean,
sometimes you got some big quarterbacks and linebackers are you know,
sometimes you're like, yeah, I don't I don't know if
I can trust my nickel corner or my safety to

(24:28):
take down cam Newton. Your linebackers are also supposed to
be your best tacklers, right now, Safeties are depends Levitt.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
Levitt is not Kyler Murray.

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Okay, like a guy who's that elusive, you might be
more inclined.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
To say, well, let's put a safety. Let's put there's
going to be a slightly.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
Better app and a smaller guy too, right, let's put something.
But if and I don't even know if you ta
is going to spy Sam Levitt, that's not something that
is a characteristic of the Utah defense, right, this is
not something that is I thought we done. Tell us
I'm a little I'm a little disappointed, and just tell
us it's just like, yeah, we're planning on spying him
every play. We're yeah, we're gonna use johnnu. We like

(25:11):
that he we liked that he was a safe. He
was a safety too, so we can trust him. He's
got he's got that speed still even though he's a
little bigger Atlament. And by the way, like I mean,
so this is this is a true story. Uh when
I was when we were growing up, Uh, my little
league team we were terrible. We had like five good
players and then a bunch of players who didn't care.

(25:34):
So we were terrible my age group, we were terrible. Okay,
we didn't win. We went two years.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Without winning a game when I was really young. Okay.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
Olympus was also a bad team, but they had the
exact same thing that we had. All right, so this
is I think seventh or eighth grade. Olympus had like
four or five really good players and everyone else who
didn't care. The best player on Olympus' team shout out
Casey Evans, who ended up being a great player at

(26:04):
the University of Utah, started his career as a walk on,
ended up being vis guy. Casey Evans is awesome. He's
a guy in our In our interview with Irvin before
the day before the Texas Tech game and then in
the media availability, he brought him up multiple times. He
loves himself some Casey Evans, and he uses Casey as
an example of why he gave walk ons a chance

(26:27):
because Casey Evans was a guy who is now. He
wasn't a he was like a preferred walk on. He
was like a walk on that they were just like,
we think that you're good. We don't have a scholarship. Scholarship,
but that's to take nothing away from Casey. Casey and
I were on this team at the same time. Casey
was the dude that after the grueling, terrible, horrible workouts
were done that Matt Bayless would put you through and

(26:48):
Doug Elisia would would scheme up Casey Evans. All right,
Utah on three, it's over right. Casey Evans is the
guy who would go back to work on his footwork.
He would go back to work on whatever, like do
another shoulder workout, whatever. He was always putting an extra work.
So I would never take anything away from Casey Evans.
He obviously earned his scholarship in a spot and his

(27:11):
reps and everything, but Casey Evans was like he was
the he was the running back for this Olympus team
that we were playing, right yeah, And our coaches were
just like, the only way we can do this is
we're spying Casey Evans. And I didn't know his name
was Casey Evans. You're spying twenty eight. They said. All

(27:33):
you do to me, I was a linebacker on that team.
They said, all you do is you follow him wherever
he goes. If he goes in motion, you just mirror him.
If he lines up at quarterback, that's you. You go
wherever he goes. Your only duty on the field. If
he runs backwards into the end zone and tries to
kneel down for a safety, all you do is you

(27:55):
follow him everywhere. Like there was that level of spy
happening and it worked. That's little league football to spy,
like a releak Brown, who's the best running back in
the league right now, and just say all right, just
follow him wherever he goes. You can't do it on
that level because opposing coaches are just gonna be like, oh,

(28:18):
look at that. If we motion Releak Brown out of
the backfield, this Barton guy just follows.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
Him, we'd take their linebacker out of the play.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
And now he's out of the box and we could
put some we can we can motion somebody else back in,
or we can run a quarterback draw or whatever.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
Like.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
You can't do it at that level.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
So the spy thing be gets a lot more complicated
when coaches have their counter tactics to spying. But it
is one of the ways that a mobile quarterback like
Sam Levitt can be limited or can be corralled. He's
gonna be productive He's probably gonna score a rushing touchdown
and throw a passing touchdown in this game. You probably

(28:56):
just have to kind of like accept that some of
these things are going to happen. Jordan Tyson is probably
going to get behind you. He's probably going to have
a few force broken tackles. He's probably going to win
some of those individual matchups. Because he's a first round
draft pick. He's a better football player than a lot

(29:16):
of the guys on your team are. And you've got
good guys on your team. That's just not every player
is created equal. So how do you take these guys
away with scheme while also not overdoing it to where
now Arizona State's just like, oh, okay, you're not letting
Jordan Tyson and Raleik Brown and Sam Levitt kill you. Well,

(29:37):
we got other scholarship players too, We've got other guys.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
In fact, they're getting there. I think he's done.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
I don't know if he's their number two receiver productively,
but he's their number two receiver kind of in the program.
I think he's back this week. Arizona State has had
an injury. His name will come to me, and he's
supposed to be back this week, so they see the
injury report like everyone else does. Yeah, we'll see for sure.

(30:03):
First availability report is tonight. They're gonna be listening. They're
gonna be listening to the Kyle Whittingham interview on ESPN
seven hundred. Right, there's some ga who's gonna be like
what coach say? Oh, Nate Richie's out. He's definitively out.
He's on the injury report is unavailable. They're starting free safety.
Who's a guy who's far from a perfect player, but

(30:24):
he's positionally he's in the right spot. How do we
confuse Tillman or how do we confuse Jackson Benny? Or
how do we confuse whoever is back there playing free safety? Now?
How do we figure this out? That that is going
to be the matchup in this game? Spoiler alert, I'm
not saving it till Friday. That is going to be

(30:45):
one of the big deciding factors of how this game
plays out is how Arizona State attacks and potentially exploits
backups or positional changes in that safety. And that's why
I asked Kyle Whittingham the question, have you found a
satisfactory solution?

Speaker 3 (31:03):
He says yes, He thinks.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
So you got to go out and you got to
execute it. And if you're compensating for a potential reduction
or a potential step back in what your safeties are
able to do positionally communication wise, what does that look like?
Does that look like? Hey, linebackers, I need you to

(31:27):
take these two dudes away. I need you to take
this one dude away, and I need you to do
it by just like Little League old school, follow him
wherever he goes. That'll work for about a quarter can
if you don't let him score. If you don't let
Arizona State score in the first quarter, you might be
able to hang on for the whole game as long
as your offense is productive.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
This is going to be.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
Perhaps the chess match of all chess matches in this
Utah football season, because the way that Arizona State is
built right now is not one through eleven on offense
and one through eleven on defense are going to beat
you in your matchups or are going to even equal
you in your matchups. Instead, they have one through four

(32:12):
on both sides of the ball are really really dang good,
and you've got to find a way to make sure
that one through four are not gashing you. And then
four through eleven or five through eleven, those are you know,
you'll win some, they'll lose some. Raleik Brown six and

(32:33):
a half yards of carry. Jordan Tyson Arizona State's got
the number one running back production wise in the conference
right now, and then number one receiver production wise in
the conference right now, and not production wise, but preseason anyway,
a lot of people thought was the number one quarterback
in the conference talent wise. And you know we're still

(32:54):
early in the season. Oh see, this could be a
week where he breaks out for the rest of the
season and Sam Levitt, don't let it be if you're
Utah football right see. The thing was saying, it's it's
strange to say this, but right now, Sam Levitt sixty three,
Devin dan Pier is completing ten percent.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
More of his passes than Sam Levitt.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Is Okay, sam Levitt right now is kind of the
reason you're hopeful for this Utah football defense. That for
this you're like, Sam Levitt's not being Sam Levitt right now,
which is a strange thing. I did not have that
on my BINGO card for the year. Well, you know,

(33:34):
it will take a break we'll break this down a
little bit more. Sam Levitt might be your biggest hope
for pulling off a big win against Arizona State, and
that's not how it should be for the sun Devils.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
We're just getting started on the Sean O'Connell Show.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Its Utah is number one sports Talk ESPN seven ninety
twofm God.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
You tune to The Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred and ninety one FM.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Don O'Connell Show on ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
to one FM. Now is the time to make sure
that your car is ready to go for all of
your outdoor adventures.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
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will keep your tiptop shape. They also have financing options
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an appointment online or over the phone Big O Tires
dot com. The Kyle Whittingham interview that we conducted right
at the top of the show is available at ESPN
seven hundred sports dot com. It's available on the app

(35:44):
the on demand section. Go check it out. Kyle Whittingham
gave us it was about eleven minutes at the beginning
of the show. Yeay, you you kept it right as
Witch said. Witch said, I got ten minutes. You kept
it right there. I'm proud of you. See, you know,
I I abuse the clock when it's my own time.
But you got to keep that relationship with the head

(36:05):
coach as copastic as he can and he said they
won the bye week, which everyone does. So everyone wins
the off season bye week, off season, everyone's undefeated. So
back to what we were talking about before the break.
Sam Levitt right now is from a yards per game perspective,

(36:29):
he's tenth in the conference in passing. Now, he's got
eight touchdowns through the air, which again I mean, sorry,
Robertson's got nineteen for Baylor. He's been slinging it man
and Baylor is totally one dimensional. So it's in Apple's
to oranges comparison. They're basically, yeah, if Sawyer Robertson is

(36:51):
not throwing that, nineteen touchdowns is ninety two of the
touchdowns he've scored this year. Yeah, so Arizona State. But
Sam Levitt, you have to respect him, You have to
be worried about what he's capable of. He's not performing
at the level really in any category that people thought. Now, Uh,

(37:13):
we spent a lot. I spent a lot of time
in my career doing you know, doing radio accessory, radio
pre and post game shows, et cetera. Working out in
San Francisco doing the Raiders stuff here for the utes.
In my first stint with John Peace, who of course
was a great defensive mind. NFL success was part of that.

(37:36):
Don James staff up at the University of Washington obviously
coordinated the defense for Kyle Whittingham, the late great John Peas.
One of the things that he really really cared about
when you were talking about evaluating an opposing offense, evaluating
an opposing quarterback was their yards per completion, their yards
per attempt. This is where there's some hope to be

(37:58):
found with a matchup against Arizona State. And I'm saying
that the wrong way. There's reason for hope just because
Utah is a good football team, but if you're looking
for potential spots where you have an advantage, Sam Levitt
was not a place that a lot of us were
going to think to start right now, though he's only

(38:19):
completing sixty three percent of his passes and he is
fourteenth in the Big Twelve Conference right now in terms
of his yards per attempt, six point six yards per
attempt is not great. It's not terrible. It's not oh

(38:40):
that's losing number, but it's not great either. It's not
really indicative of what he has in Jordan Tyson either,
what he has in terms of the weapons at his disposal.
So Sam Levitt is kind of below the level of
expectation to this point. Now, you don't want to have
him break out, as James mentioned, against your utes. But

(39:02):
he's not killing it in the efficiency metric right now,
he's not killing it in the chunk play metric right now.
His touchdown interception ratio eight touchdowns, three interceptions. That makes him,
let's see, among the starting quarterbacks in the league, he's
tenth in terms of touchdowns thrown. Yeah, he's just it

(39:25):
sounds like he's just average production wise so far to
start to start this season. And if you're if you're
Sam Levin, you're Kenny Dillingham, you're or you're an Arizona
State fan, maybe you're an analyst who who's very optimistic
about this team, about the sun Devils still and Sam Levitt,
you're saying, well, yeah, he's due, he's due for he's

(39:48):
due for a breakout. If you're the if you're the
opposite of the spectrum University of Utah as we're as
we're looking at it from the UTES perspective, I think
it's absolutely fair to say what you've said OC is
that's that might be an area that Utah can exploit defensively,
is a guy performing blow his standard and maybe you say,

(40:13):
maybe we can live with limiting everybody else and trying
to make him beat us. But that's I mean, that's
I'd be nervous about that if that's if that's what
they're going to try to do, just because of the
town of Sam Levitt and what he did, as you
mentioned oc what he did to the Utes last year.
And this is where you know he's not he's not

(40:34):
really destroying things with his arm right now. But this
is where it gets scarier because fifty five attempts for
two hundred and seventy five yards, that's five yards per carry.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
He's got five touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
They're running him on average eleven times a game and
they're not.

Speaker 3 (40:53):
That's four or five designed runs. And the rest of
it is.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Him scrambling and creating an opportunity or his team to
extend a drive. That's where he killed you in Tempe
last year. That is where Sam Levitt can kind of say,
I mean, if he's listening right now, he's he's listening
to me kind of trash on his pass number and
he's going, well, okay, watch what happens when you screw

(41:19):
up in your pass rush. Watch what happens if you
don't get home. Watch what happens if you do get home,
but you don't get me to the ground.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
That's where he hurts teams.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
And there's plenty of guys in the Big twelve Conference
that are going to do this. Your quarterback, Devin dan
Pierre is one of those, obviously. So if you're an
Arizona State radio guy right now, you're probably cautioning listeners
and saying some of the same things like, hey, he's
not necessarily going to kill you with his arm on
every play. Although his accuracy has been much better, his

(41:49):
efficiency and accuracy have been way better. His touchdown interception
ratio is better. His yards per attempt Let's see what
is yards perttempt? Devin dam Piers yards per attempt right
now is better?

Speaker 3 (42:03):
Is what? What is the yards perretenpt? Single digit? Still?
Or is it in the double digits? No?

Speaker 2 (42:08):
No, it's only one player, only one quarterback in the
in the conference is in double digits.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
That's what I figured. Yeah, so what's the like eight nine?

Speaker 2 (42:17):
It's like seven seven, he's one spot ahead of It's
not again, it's not significantly better. Not significantly better, but
it's better.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Uh. Devin dan Pierre has only rushed for two touchdowns
this year.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
That's gonna that's gonna go up as his ankle continues
to heal. And we saw we saw him make a
really nice physical run against West Virginia. Oh, you know,
ten days removed from the ankle injury that limited him
in Texas Tech. So I I I would be optimistic
after the bye week that we're going to see a
lot better mobility against ASU. Here's a here's a fun

(42:54):
fact that a lot of people probably wouldn't guess the
touchdown rushing touchdowns leader in the Big Twelve Conference as
we head into game six, week seven, right yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
Is who do you think.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
Rushing touch rushing touchdowns leader in the Big twelve Conference
right now?

Speaker 3 (43:19):
It's Is it a Utah guy? It's not.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
It's not a Utah guy. I don't even I don't
even know if I have a good guess. It's rock
O Becked. Rocko Becked. Yeah, I'm like, Iowa.

Speaker 3 (43:31):
State quarterback has seven touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
He's averaging james one point two yards per carry, but he.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
Is just like QB sneak that he's touch push.

Speaker 2 (43:41):
He's fallowed across the line for seven touchdowns so far.
By the way, since we're talking about the short touchdown runs,
it's legal to do the touch push we I mean
West in college football? Yeah, West Virginia has been obvious
about that. You saw against Utah they like three guys
to push the quarterback. Why are we not seeing it

(44:03):
very much with with big quarterbacks? What Why like a
guy like Devin dan Pierre, who's who's squatting as much
as Jalen Hurts basically, and Jalen Hurts is a guy
that he's the perfect guy for the tush push.

Speaker 3 (44:14):
Why are we not seeing a ute scoot? Oh see,
I'll tell you why.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
It's the same reason why every team in the NFL
is not doing it. It's actually hard play to execute,
and it's a play that you have to practice a lot.
It's a it's a it's a rugby scrum. We call
it the toush push, but it is. Go watch any
fifteens rugby game. It's like the same thing. Yeah right,

(44:39):
it's a it's a shoutout to you Warriors. It requires
an elite level of cohesiveness and coordination from your offensive line.
Utah is the type of team that could absolutely pull
this off because they have so much experience in the
interior offensive line. They got the talent on the exterior
offensive line, and that's a to use Lander Barton on offense,

(45:01):
have him pushing Devin Great in the back right. But
it's it's a play that you've got to practice a
lot in order to execute it effectively, and no further
than everyone else in the NFL who's tried it to
very moderate to ye no success. I think Buffalo might
be the only other team who does it frequently, but

(45:25):
they still don't do it as much as Philly and
it's not near as successful. If it was the cheat
code that everyone thought it would be, then everyone would
do it. It's like, this is one of these things
that that we do in media and as fans sometimes
we're just like, well, why doesn't everyone just do that well?

Speaker 3 (45:39):
Because there's limitations.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Either your offensive line's not good enough at it, your
quarterback's not strong enough to the point that you're talking
about your whoever tight ends full backs running backs. In
Utah's case, they've got two d linemen that they have
played on offense. Yeah, that are three hundred pounds bowling balls, Like, sure,

(46:02):
you probably could do this. I thought they have the
personnel for it, but you're right, like, it's got to
be it's got to be that they they haven't dedicated
enough practice time to it where they're like, this is
this is going to be an effective play for us
enough for us to do this. And it's also you know,
you think of the use of the of the tushbush,

(46:26):
Like how many times a game are you using the tushbush?
There's like three or four times a game. It's one
maybe one time on the goal line and and one or.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
Two fourth or third down.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
Are you going to dedicate four periods of practice, four
ten minute practice periods per week to a play that
you're going to use three times in each game?

Speaker 3 (46:46):
Look if the Philadelphia Eagles are.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
The best example, and they are, why not Like but again,
maybe I imagine James, that every coaching staff in the
country at this point has tried it and they're just like, A,
I don't know how to coach this, right, or are
guys like in rugby, right, A lot of times what
happens in a scrum and it's a penalty in rugby

(47:11):
is the scrum collapses guys that are locked in and
they're pushing they submarine, they just tank. Their nose goes
to the ground and they fall down. That that's not
a successful play. Right, So you've effectively the way the
Eagles do it. You've effectively got to like maintain an
incredibly low pad level that is also generating the force

(47:34):
forward and not falling into the ground.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Yeah, as you.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Described this, oh see, it's it is a lot more complicated.
It's an unbelievably technical play that looks like kind of
a messy, sort of just.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
Like other sucks that I'm taken out of the game.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
It's like, no, no, no, you don't understand like that,
right there is one of the it's like a statue
of liberty play.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
It's like any other play.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
It's a flea flicker where it's like, hey man, if
you get this wrong, it's literally it's a two yard loss.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Yeah, it's gonna be really bad.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
And and you're only pulling it out in like hyper
critical scenarios where you have to get that yard. I
promise you, if it was easy, the Niners would be
doing it, the Cowboys that we would be doing it,
the Ravens would be doing it. It would not be
a Philadelphia Eagles thing almost exclusively. Every team in the league,

(48:31):
and every team why would why would like Ohio State, Wisconsin, Georgia, Oklahoma?
Why would all these teams not be doing this multiple
times a week if it was easy. Yeah, these teams
that have the best offensive lineman in the country.

Speaker 3 (48:48):
Right, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
I bet it's somewhere in Utah's playbook or was attempted
to be put into Utah's playbook at some point. Maybe
we'll see it, and they just haven't had the perfect
scenario to bus it out in to this point. I
just think that I think that they really do have
the personnel to do it and do it well.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
But you make a good point.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
That doesn't mean that they that you can execute it
well enough times to justify doing it a lot. Here's
what I need, Okay, BYU versus Utah rivalry game next week.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
Yes it is.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
And you get down to like eight overtimes, okay, and
everyone just like they go out there walking out for
overtime number eight. They're like, all right, guys, let's just
let's just handshake and agree that we're just both gonna run.
Toush pushes until one of us scores or doesn't score. Like,
let's see who's got it. Do you like the ute
scoot name that was from a YouTube listener a few

(49:48):
months ago?

Speaker 3 (49:49):
I like?

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Or is it a Twitter anyway? A Twitter Twitter comments
or YouTube comments or a few months ago? B why
you could come up with a cool nickname for the
Toush push with something Bear related. Yeah, because it's Bear
Bachmeyer that would be carrying it.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
It's got kid's got a tank. They called him a centaur.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Yeah, I'll I'll think of it and I'll text Jerem Jordan,
don't worry.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
Well done the Deseret Swarm defense. I'm listening. I'm gonna
be listening for.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
I'm gonna I'm gonna be listening on on BAU Sports
Nation for when he steals that. Now I'm gonna be
the first one to comment, Well, it's all right now
you can have you.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Said you could have it? All right?

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Gotta take a quick one here, lots left to get to.
Trevor Riley's gonna join us at the top of our
number two. Shehanja Raja is joining us later in the show.
If you missed the Kyle Whittingham interview at the top
of the show today. Go find at ESPN seven hundred
sports dot com. You're listening to the Shan O'Connell Show
on Utah's number one sports Talk ESPN seven.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show from the
Murdoch Hunting Studio of ESPN.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
I've been and ninety one am.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Shot O'Connell show on ESPN seven and ninety two to
one FM. Uh. Did you know it's Matt Damon's birthday?
Happy fifty fifth birthday to Matt Damon. Great the old
what is the what is the best sports role of
Matt Damon's career sports role?

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Yeah? The are you thinking the rugby? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Invictus, Invictus that's the name. Yeah, Francois Pinai. I great,
still have not seen it? You haven't seen it? Not
seen Invictus.

Speaker 3 (51:39):
It's awesome. It's like I wanted to check it out,
but I just haven't gotten around.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
It's very much after the formula of like the kind
of like feel good, cheesy sports movie.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Like I'm into those.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
So many of the details on like how all that
came together had been very much glossed over. There's actually
a wonderful wonderful thirty for thirty called the Sixteenth Man.
I think about the true story of the and they
like to speak with the actual players, et cetera, et cetera,

(52:09):
for all the people who probably got who are probably
outraged that they glossed over so many details, and they
go into like some of the grittier details of that
time in South Africa, which of course was very ugly
and violent politically, and that I mean, we assume that
it's that it's way different now. You've been to South
Africa a few times, just as not spend a lot

(52:31):
of time there each time, but is it, like, how
different is it from those times? I know they've made
a lot of progress politically since then, but there's still
can be lots of social unrest. We've seen that here
in our country.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
No, that's my understanding of it, is that from a
like on the sport level, Yeah, it's completely integrated and
totally normalized, and you know, the cricket team and the
rugby team and all the things that are huge in
South Africa are very much uh you know, melting melting pot,
mixed in interracial all that kind of stuff. It is

(53:07):
still a very politically sensitive time. Yeah, I would say
that fact, we don't have to spend that much time.
I was just out of curiosity since you, out of
the two of us, you've been there. Your feeling on
that was because I feel like growing up, I had
the same feeling of like civil rights era. It's like, oh,
that was only in the sixties. It's not that way

(53:28):
anymore in our country. Apartheid was in the nineties. Yeah,
it's like and then as I've gotten older, like I've realized, oh,
that's a ludicrous way of thinking about it. It's ongoing,
but my admittedly limited understanding of it. And I was
there earlier this year and we had a conversation about
this right over dinner. But you know that, like, it's

(53:49):
also very where you are in the country, kind of
like where you are in our country makes it a
different conversation altogether. It's either very present or it's not
like you know, in Cape Town, you would not have
known at all about any of it.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Where I was earlier, I guess was two years ago. Now.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
We were in the eastern Cape and the province is
called KwaZulu Natal. It's a lot more rural, and that's
like the kz they're just like what we don't worry
about all that stuff. Yeah, you go to Joe Berg,
you go to like the political and financial capital, just
like if you're in New York, if you're in la
if you're in Chicago, obviously things are a lot different.

(54:32):
So anyway, great great movie, role David, Finally check it out.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
You should check out the really all I like all
the thirty for thirties.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
We're at ESPNT affiliate, but we don't get anything to
plug that sixteenth Man.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
I think it's called the sixteenth Man.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
And and by the way, it does, if nothing else,
watch the Sixteenth Man and then watch Invictus and be
amazed at how well the casting director in that movie
made sure that the guys playing the roles of the
actual individuals looked like those actual individuals. Yeah, Like there's

(55:10):
so many times. So you know Loan Survivor. You've seen
that movie with Mark Wahlberg. Oh yeah, yeah, Like Mark
Wahlberg's like five eight okay, the man he's playing the
Navy seal, he's playing Marcus latrell Is six'. Five they
look nothing alike low. Angles they were just, like you know,

(55:32):
what we're just going to pretend that that doesn't. Matter
and the casting director there was just, like we just
really Like Mark wahlberg in this. Role we don't care
about the. DETAILS i don't need there to be any
kind of resemblance another Great boston. Sportsman that was not the.
Case that's not how they did it with The invictus.
Movie they went and they found guys that look like

(55:52):
the actual guys to play those.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Roles AND i respect the hell out of that.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
ABSOLUTELY i did a start bench Cut james because It's
matt damon, birthday right all. Right and immediately people were just,
like how could you leave this one? Off, well Because
Matt damon has too many good, roles too many good.

Speaker 3 (56:10):
Movies, scosh you're gonna leave stuff.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Out SO i, said of these, three start bench, Cut,
Goodwill hunting The departed Or Jason bourne, movies and you
could pick whichever one's your. Favorite start bench, Cut, Goodwill
hunting The Departed, born AND i am leaving out In, Victus,
OKAY i am leaving out The Adjustment. Bureau i'm leaving Out.

(56:35):
Elysium i'm leaving out we bought a. Zoo i'm leaving
got a bunch Of Matt damon movies THAT i really
Like i'm leaving Out Matt damon's limited but impactful and
impressive role In. INTERSTELLAR i, mean he's been really good in.
Everything it's a thing actually online to making fun of
all the Random Matt damon, cameos like he's he's In,

(56:59):
avenger like he Plays he's in The uh in the
on asgard as they're reenacting some of The avengers. Scenes
he's the one who Plays loki in one of those fake.
Reenactments how about? This, Okay Matt damon stuff. Everywhere Matt
damon had a twelve month run in nineteen ninety Seven

(57:20):
Goodwill hunting came, out all, right that was like he
had already been in big, movies but that one was like, writing,
directing starring in that one was, like Here's Matt damon. Superstar,
right nineteen ninety Seven Goodwill. Hunting less than a calendar year,

(57:41):
later Saving Private, ryan he is the titular.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Character he Is Private.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
Ryan and Then rounders The poker movie if you've seen,
That and then and then in a twelve month, span
and then like a couple of years later was The firstborn. Movie,
right the talented Mister. Ripley he was Finding. Forrester oceans
eleven came out in two thousand and. One, yeah he's
he's been In he's been in so many blockbuster. Movies

(58:09):
The Born identity two thousand and, Two The Boorn supremacy
two thousand and. Four, oh by the, Way ocean's twelve
in there as. WELL i mean he has he has
some of the great roles that departed in two thousand and. Six,
uh he's been an awesome. FRANCHISE i love. Him In
Ford Versus ferrari also great One True.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Grit he was. Good he was great and true. Grit
he was. Awesome.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
There PEOPLE i think THOUGHT i was being tongue in
cheek WHEN i said we bought a. ZOO i really
liked that movie to feel. Good monuments, men have you
seen the? Monument i've seen. Monuments you know what it's. About,
no it's a true story about the h the like
they took art, historians they took professors In World War.

(58:55):
Two they were they, realized, like oh my, gosh The
nazis they seized like all of this priceless art and
they've hidden it and they've stashed it in these castles
and these caves and all that, stuff and they sent
a unit of guys over there specifically to find this,
stuff recognize what was culturally, significant what needed to be,
saved what needed to be, reclaimed get it.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
Restored and, yeah he's in.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
That there's probably not to go on Another The Martian
The Martian martians absolutely one of my Favorite Matt david. Movies,
uh but not to go on a another crazy tangent,
here but THERE'S i, mean how much of that art
and and those artifacts that The nazis took when they

(59:40):
conquered different places In World war two.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
Is probably still, lost like so much of, it.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
Right it's actually terrible when you think about the things
that war and conflict have robbed from human.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
Civilization, YEAH i mean then Like nazis And World war
two is just one.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Example that's just one example the what's been going on
with like The taliban and other such. Organizations they go
in and they destroy Like egyptian art that's been like
statuary that's been around for thousands and thousands of years
and just like blow that. Up it's against our. Principles it's. Insane, Yeah,

(01:00:17):
yeah it really is sad because a lot of that
stuff is long past where it you anyone like as
far as Like egyptian art and statues that are in
honor Of egyptian, gods like no one if that offends,
you no one's actually worshiping that way, Anymore so why,

(01:00:38):
like what's the point of blowing it up? Anyway they
just stuff like. That it's it's really, unfortunate BECAUSE i,
mean history is important to.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
Preserve absolutely, Anyway minam has been great.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
Show So i'll have to check that out because I
I'M i am as as you could just tell with
my little my little soapbox, there my little soapboxers rant.
THERE i am passionate about that kind of. Stuff So
I'm i'm gonna have to check out Monuments.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
Man all, Right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
We're going to get back to, sports because that's what
the show.

Speaker 4 (01:01:06):
Is.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Absolutely happy, Birthday Matt. Damon happy, Birthday Matt, Damon start bench.
Cut tell me your Favorite Matt damon. ROLE i don't
care how you want to do. It eight seven seven
three five to three zero seven hundred way. In he's
got a lot of great, movies a lot of great.
Roles we'll come. BACK i want to talk about not football.
RELATED i want to talk about what's going on in THE.

(01:01:28):
Nhl mammoth starting things out, right all? Right you have
this contract conversation going on With Logan, cooley who's a
rising star in the, league twenty one years. Old he's
an important part of the core as you move forward
as what we hope is a playoff team that in
the next two three four years will be A Stanley cup.

(01:01:50):
Contender Uh and the average annual value of the contract
that he was offered and he and his team refused
nine point six million dollars okay in THE, nhl that
is really good.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
Money that's like top fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
Money, Well winnipeg signed an extension today that means the
price of pool is going up yet again for elite.
Forwards we'll talk about that on The sean O'Connell, SHOW
espn seven hundred ninety TO. Onefm proud part Of utah
IS Espn Radio.

Speaker 5 (01:02:19):
Network this is The shan O'Connor, show you home of
the best inside of your. Hues let's get back to
LOW c from The Murdoch chevrolet studio OF espn seven

(01:02:41):
ninety two ONE a.

Speaker 2 (01:02:42):
M how much are you willing to see The utah
mammock Pay Logan, cooley who has turned down a deal
worth nine point six million dollars per. YEAR i know
that we're all new to the hockey. Thing that's that's

(01:03:05):
top between top thirty five and. Fifty there's a bunch
of guys tied for ten million bucks a.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
Year all.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Right they're all tied at number thirty five in the
league at ten million dollars even.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
Of cash value on their.

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
Contracts cooley is the real question here is do you
think you are A Stanley cup? Team do you think
you are a perennial contender in the playoffs Without Logan?
Cooley do you think that he is one of the
most crucial players in that? Effort as A Utah mammoth,

(01:03:41):
fan the price continues to go up in every, sport THE.
Nhl for those who've been paying close, attention THE nhl
raised their salary cap this year more than they ever
have in the history of the.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
League it went up nine percent this.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
Year increased, ratings another successful four nations type. Thing you're
gonna get more and more and more of, this so
the numbers are gonna push north IN nhl hockey right,
now the star player or borderline star player that scores

(01:04:19):
goals for, you that scores points for, you is gonna
start costing about ten million bucks a Year cooling his
agent know. This that's why they're comfortable saying we've got
plenty of time to work out a. Deal they want
to work out a. Deal we've got plenty of time
to work out a deal with The. Mammoth we like being,
here we like being part of this, team but nine

(01:04:39):
point six a year ain't gonna cut. It so what
WILL i put the question out there On? Twitter what
are you willing to? Pay ten million? Bucks eleven million,
bucks twelve? Million how much do you want to see
The Utah mammoth fork over For Logan? Cooley and again
the question boils down, to, well is he as important

(01:05:01):
or more important than like A Clayton? Keller is he
as important or more important than.

Speaker 5 (01:05:10):
A?

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
Veggie the answers.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
No by the, way when you're talking about, goalkeepers is
he as important and more important than your best blue,
liner your best?

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
Defenseman?

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
SERGACHEV i, mean the answer to these questions is going
to frame how you approach this, year but more importantly next,
year the next, year the next, year with the contract
decisions you have to.

Speaker 3 (01:05:34):
Make they just.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
Play they just traded FOR Jj Pitterka, okay he is
supposed to, be you, know one of your top six.
Players Logan cooley is one of your top six. Players
he's a twenty one year old that you kind of
can't afford to let him go.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Now on The twitter, poll thirty percent of people say
just pay him whatever it. Takes and whatever it TAKES
i think is probably going to be in that eleven
million dollar a year average annual value. Range thirty seven
percent say it's going to be that or are you're
willing to pay? That eleven percent Say i'm willing to

(01:06:12):
pay twelve million bucks a. Year twenty one percent Say
i'll pay ten million, bucks which is effectively what you've
offered him.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
Already i'm not going to go much north of. That right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:23):
Now the top players in THE nhl rankings when it
comes to salary are getting like, UH i think heading
into twenty twenty, five twenty twenty, six let's see The
forbes dot. Com, FORBES i gotta find the spot track.
Numbers But forbes Has Austin. Matthews he's got fifteen million

(01:06:46):
dollars on ice. Cash, okay so like that's we're not
talking the strange. Bonuses we're talking, like what's your base,
salary how much money you're actually going to be paid
for The Toronto Maple leafs top play paid player in
the league right, now we're talking the fifteen to sixteen
million dollar. Range that's The dry, titles that's The nathan,

(01:07:07):
McKinnon's that's The Austin. Matthews those guys are in a different.
Category Mitch marner for The Las Vegas, knights those guys
are in a different. Category we just Saw connor McDavid
take the hometown discount For, edmonton but in doing, so
he also Put edmonton kind of on, Notice, hey you got.

Speaker 3 (01:07:28):
You got three more, Years you've got this.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
Year in the next two Where i'm going to be
taking a discount And i'm going you're gonna either get
me a cup or not BECAUSE i am in the
conversation for being one of the all time greats with
my individual accolades and my individual. Capabilities you don't get
to be put in those conversations at any level in
any sport until you have team success and until you win.

(01:07:52):
Championships connor McDavid's fully aware of, this as is everyone
else in THE.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
Nhl so.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
That's the number or the range of numbers you're kind
of looking at right now For Logan, cooley who is
sixty five points last, year and you expect incremental improvement
as he continues as again a young young player twenty
one years of as this dude was born in two
thousand and. Four may the, fourth by the, way two

(01:08:25):
thousand and, four maybe with all of, us may the
fourth be With Logan, cooley Especially.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
James how much you willing to?

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
Pay wrong way to ask the, question how crucial Is
Logan cooley as part of the young core for This
Utah mammoth roster that we went over. YESTERDAY i feel
like he's he's right there with With keller And gunther
like he he's as important as as those two guys in,

(01:08:56):
particular and And veggie like you want to keep your young,
talent highly talented players In utah on your, team like
we've that's been a major priority for this fan.

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
Base when it comes to The Utah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
Jazz it's a whole different thing and the whole different
reason why people might leave in THE nhl versus why
they they've left The jazz and THE, Nba but for
those for those same reasons why we we always bemoan
The jazz drafting, well developing, well but not retaining well at.

(01:09:32):
ALL i would think that it'd be the same kind
of feelings if you're not if you're not able to
lock in lock in a guy Like Logan cooley long,
TERM i think HE'S i think he's in that group
With keller and Now paterka And gunther And veggie as
some of the core that you want to have of

(01:09:53):
young players going forward on your first team that may
or may not contend For Sanley. Cup so let me
cash talk about where would This where would A i,
mean the new contract effectively is going to Make Logan

(01:10:14):
cooley the highest paid player on the team right? Now
he's that feels see that feels like long, term he
doesn't need to be the highest paid player on the.
Team but that's also going to go up like anyone
who any of them wherever's up? Next r any gus
who pays attention to sports, economics the guy who's the

(01:10:36):
highest paid player in the league or on your.

Speaker 3 (01:10:38):
Team that's just for the.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
Moment so if that's what it takes to lock him
in right, now then sure he needs to be the
highest player on the team.

Speaker 3 (01:10:46):
Now long.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Term, YEAH i would think That Clayton keller would be
the guy that you that would need to be and
deserve to be the highest paid player on the team
more than A Logan. Cooley but for, now, yeah if
that's what it takes to lock him in on a
long term, contract he needs to be the highest paid
player on the.

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
Team he's turned.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
Down a, contract Right, Okay so right, now the twenty
twenty five active, Roster Dylan gunther is making nine million
dollars in base. Salary Mikhail, sergachev he split his base
salary and signing. Bonus he's getting eleven million bucks this.

Speaker 3 (01:11:22):
Year all.

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
Right his contract tapers, off, Obviously and we're talking about
in THE. Nhl the trend right now is to sign these.
Guys connor McDavid is an outlier and. Anomaly no one's
extending for two. Years these young players are being offered
seven and nine year. Deals and that's you want to
lock Up. Cooley you want to lock up the rights To.
Koli his, talent his, production his. Ability he's twenty one years.

(01:11:46):
Old you want to see him in the mammoth jersey
and the mammoth sweater until he's.

Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
Thirty at.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Least so just like you locked Up Dylan, Gunther you're
gonna end up locking up this. Guy and he's going
to go from Making this is what's so great about.
It he's gonna go from making under a million dollars
a year to making somewhere in that ten million plus.
RANGE i think he's already turned down nine point six per.
Year So, james you Imagine i'm gonna hold.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
OUT i need A i need a TEN x. Raise.

Speaker 2 (01:12:18):
Yeah can you imagine being in that position where you
feel like you have in any walk of, life where
you feel like you have that kind of leverage where you're, like,
yeah you know, What i'm Gonna i'm gonna turn down
a NINE X rays right, Now i'm gonna turn this
down like that's it's. Bananas well That's. Rays he turned

(01:12:38):
ten n nine point six million a. Year it's more
than ten times as much as he's making right. Now
can you imagine having that kind of being in in
any position to have that kind of leverage like that's
that's sports, Though like that's the only it's the only
place where that kind of thing. Happens maybe in other
maybe another place is in entertainment with record deals and and.

(01:13:00):
Whatnot but it's just it's crazy the world that they live,
in and then then us to talk about and follow whatevery.

Speaker 3 (01:13:08):
Day we're, like, yeah that's how it. Is it's.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
Whatever, like, no that's, bananas pretty cool for, Him good for.
Him and, again when you're thinking about the numbers, here
because you got to get used to what NHL's salaries,
are WHAT njl salary cap, is and things like, that
the question you're really asking, is all, right DO i
feel good About Logan cooley extending this contract and becoming

(01:13:34):
effectively the highest paid player on the team until the
next contract, extension and then that, person that important player
will of course be the highest paid on the.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
Team. Whatever but for, now.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Do you put him in the same category you Put Dylan,
gunther you Put Clayton, keller that you Put, veggie that
you Put Mikhail. Sergachev he's asking to, THAT, Jj, Peterka
WHO'S i think.

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
He's like eight million a.

Speaker 2 (01:14:01):
Year, yeah he's lower than, that but but his next
contract he's gonna Be he's gonna be the guy that, says,
yeah it's my turn to be the highest paid player
of the. Team by the, WAY, jj what does it
stand for, oh Just james.

Speaker 3 (01:14:19):
Justin. Junior, No John, Jason Peterka John.

Speaker 2 (01:14:25):
Jason is That is that a two first name situation
or it's a hyphenated first Name John jason hyphenated to first.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
NAME i love that. That you don't you, Know i've
never heard that in my. LIFE i have not.

Speaker 2 (01:14:37):
Either you don't see the hyphenated two first name near
as much as you probably. Think it is mostly LIKE i,
think every time we hear of A John, David John henry,
daily for, example we, think, oh there's a hyphen. There,
no most of the time it's there's no hyphen it's
just it's just two. Names so that the Hyphenated John,

(01:14:59):
jason we.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
Got to get him.

Speaker 2 (01:15:01):
On we got to figure out what Like Jesson, jason Turkis.
Smith is THIS i need to, know all? Right is
this like Grandpa, John Grandpa, jason you're named after?

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
Both is this That's Jason Grandpa's? John?

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
YEAH i want to know where did it come? From
is it just that both of those would make a
lot of. Sense imagine if it's just totally, random like,
well my mom Wanted, john my dad went and Wanted,
jason and so we just had With john mom Like,
jason so why not. Both we actually did that with
my third. Daughter, yeah, basically but it was it like

(01:15:40):
A i wanted the middle name to be the first.
Name of, course my wife wins, out so she got
the first name she, WANTED i got the first.

Speaker 3 (01:15:48):
NAME i wanted to be the middle.

Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
Name and the agreement that we made WAS i was, like,
hey you can call her her legal first name her whole.
Life i'm going to call her her middle. Name and
she was, like, Okay so so that's how it is
your your. DAUGHTER i never call her actual first name.
EVER i haven't maybe more than one.

Speaker 3 (01:16:07):
Time.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
Ever she's gonna that's gonna be a. Thing that's gonna
be one of those things as she gets. Older she's
that's gonna be a thing that she always smiles ABOUT
i love, that or she's gonna eat, it or she
she Might, okay there's gonna be times when she probably hates,
it but there's gonna be other times when she GOES
I i love that my, Dad i'm this to my,
Dad i'm this to my. Mom it's just the way
your side of the family, too is your mom, yep, yeah.

(01:16:31):
Yep everyone in my side of the family her my
the middle, name and everyone on my wife's side of the,
family well not everyone actually a. Couple we've never heard
of that situation. Before so that's. Amazing it's it, actually
AS i AS i articulate, it it sounds really insane and,

(01:16:51):
terrible but it sounds it sounds like you and you
and your wife are just fighting every, time every time
you say yeah kind of her. Name but it was
one of those things right where, like so my wife
in the dynamic and of you who have, kids probably
had to him and navigate this. Yourself the DYNAMIC i
think should be. Right we both like these, names let's

(01:17:15):
decide from these. Names there's always inevitably going to Be,
HEY i like this, name but you hate this, name
so that name's. Out you like this, name BUT i
hate that, Name SO i have veto power, on like
you gotta have veto power on like a name or,
two you know WHAT i? Mean, Yeah, LIKE i can't
be that that's my ex boyfriend's. Name you can't name

(01:17:35):
your child that's my childhood. Bully, Yeah i'm, like, okay,
fine all, RIGHT i won't use that. Name you vetoed that.
Name and that's kind of how it. Worked with our
first two, children but then this, one the third. One
my wife is, LIKE i want this. NAME i want
the first name to be, this AND i was, LIKE
i really don't like that. Name and she was, like,
well guess. What that's what it. Is And i'm, LIKE

(01:17:55):
i don't want. That what happened to my veto power.
HERE i wanted to name her because our, Sister Agnes
NONE i worked for In. Africa i've wanted to name
all my Children. AGNES i love the, NAME i, think you,
know AND i would be naming her after a person who's, incredible.
Right she's, like, NO i have etailed that, name SO
i respect the vetail. Power, yeah but, man so the

(01:18:17):
so the name the middle name was not Acting. No,
yeah see WE I i kind of one with with our.
Boy as far as what the middle name is going to. Be,
she my wife wanted to, name wanted his middle name
to be after, me which in most which in a
lot of, CASES i would have been, like, yeah it
sounds good, together and, sure name name him after me

(01:18:40):
in some. Way but like we, had we had waited
a very long time from the time that we wanted
to have kids to where we finally have. One different
complications that a lot of people go, through, Right and
my dad had just passed a couple of years, ago
And i'm, LIKE i don't know If i'm having if
we're gonna have another son THAT i can name after my.

(01:19:01):
Dad So i'm, like gonna be my dad's, name and
she and and, yeah there was a little back and
forth for a little, bit but she she was, like
she was, like, yeah, well, okay, fine we'll Do we'll
do it after. That so that so That i'm, like
the next, One i'm Totally i'm totally if we have another, boy,
like let's let's name him after.

Speaker 3 (01:19:21):
Me, Absolutely but, yeah so we did a little bit of.
That don't rule out potential.

Speaker 2 (01:19:25):
Hyphenation, yeah don't rule Out John, Jason John Jason, Paterka,
Yeah John. Jason it really is, that it really is
the first Time i've heard that. Comedy i've heard. IT
i feel like we live In.

Speaker 3 (01:19:37):
Utah.

Speaker 2 (01:19:37):
Man you've heard every, combination every spelling of names. Possible
i've never Heard John jayson free. Hybrid it's not two
it's not two first. Names it's just two names that
were mashed into, one sometimes very. Clunkily, yes we Heard
John Jason John Jason, patka THAT'S jj peterca anyway.

Speaker 3 (01:19:54):
At REALO C.

Speaker 2 (01:19:55):
Sports if you want to respond to the, poll how
much you're willing to Pay Logan? Cooley and really the
question is less about the dollar figure and are you
committed to him as being part of this young mammoth
core that is going to take you to the promised
land of stand The cup playoffs and hopefully eventually hoisting
The cup and winning a championship because The jazz ain't.

Speaker 3 (01:20:14):
Doing it anytime. Soon take all?

Speaker 2 (01:20:18):
Right Daily dump is coming next on The sean O'Connell.
Show we got some wild stuff. Happening It's utah is
number One Sports TALK espn.

Speaker 1 (01:20:27):
Seven feeling out of the, Loop let's catch up on
today's biggest. Headlines said About Daily News dump on The
shan O'Connell, show where we flush out the biggest stories
of the day On utah's number One Sports TALK espn
seven hundred and ninety Two one Half, am brought to

(01:20:47):
you By Bally. Plumbing just look.

Speaker 3 (01:20:49):
For the truck with the.

Speaker 2 (01:20:50):
Duck things are looking up for The Stanford. Cardinal maybe
probably not, actually but they're. Trying Andrew luck is really
Trying BRADFORD. M freeman is either somebody who actually played

(01:21:13):
At stanford a long time, ago or it's a pseudonym
For Andrew. Luck so he could donate fifty million dollars
to the football, program largest individual gift in program history At,
stanford but fifty million. Bucks and this is Again i've
beaten this point to. Death stanford is one of those
places where if somebody felt so, inclined the alumni base

(01:21:37):
At stanford is wildly successful. Financially that's why that school
has one of the largest endowments in all of college
or all of university. Life now that's not an athletics.
Endowment that's for the university. ITSELF a lot of the
success The Silicon valley stuff doesn't necessarily Just i've directly with.

(01:22:01):
Sports that's. It by the, way huge, Mistake stanford. People
you should have, been you, know ear to the ground
WHEN i don't, Know Mark zuckerberg relocated To Silicon valley
and was like some Weird harvard nerd that was coming
out to build this juggernaut tech. Company you should have been, like,

(01:22:24):
hey you want to come to Some stanford football. Games
you want to like he's Now zuckerberg is now involved
in the sports world through jiu. Jitsu he's like all
in on THE ufc, stuff on THE mma, stuff so,
like it's not like he doesn't like, sports just you
should have gone and made friends with. Him he had
bad experiences with athletes At. Harvard you should have gone

(01:22:46):
out there as A stanford athlete and been, like, Hey,
ZUCK i heard that, you're, uh.

Speaker 3 (01:22:51):
We're actually good at sports, here so we'll we'll be.

Speaker 2 (01:22:54):
Nice we're good at, sports and we're gonna be nice to,
you and then your entire fate would be. Different fifty
dollars donated by This BRADFORD. M freeman to the football.
Program now what does that actually? Mean what if you
were writing The general And Andrew luck a letter to
his mother about this. Donation i'm sure it's Already i'm

(01:23:14):
sure there's already a tweet about.

Speaker 3 (01:23:16):
IT i have to find. It but if you were writing,
it what would the what would the letter.

Speaker 2 (01:23:19):
Be dearest, mother THAT i have found gold in a
sunken civil warship And i'm going to donate it to
my university under the false Name BRADFORD.

Speaker 3 (01:23:29):
M Freeman. FREEMAN i mean that's two.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
Words are you telling me this is not this is
the General this is not a pseudonym im by the,
Way I'm i'm pulling That twitter account up as you
as you expound on your, point the sobering reality here
For stanford football is that this is not actually save
your life type of. Money this is two seasons of

(01:23:58):
robust and, support or this is one season of like swing,
big try to hit a home run in the transfer,
portal which by the, way now is officially signed into
law as being a fourteen day period From january two
to the. Sixteenth beginning in twenty twenty, six the transfer

(01:24:26):
portal is now a two week, period which, means of,
course the month leading up to it or months leading
up to it are going to be rife with illegal.
Tampering the week immediately following this is going to be
full of litigation and people saying, like, WELL i didn't
get my deal done for tell this.

Speaker 3 (01:24:52):
Fifty million.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
Dollars, though For stanford to get back to the original
point IS i, mean if if the rumors are to
believed and the reports are, true this is like a
season and a half worth of What Texas tech is
doing right now with their football program in terms of
paying players fifty million. Dollars by the, way it's this

(01:25:15):
is what's so frustrating about the whole. THING i don't
know What BRADFORD. M freeman's business. Is If BRADFORD. M
freeman is a, billionaire then you can make this donation
every single year and your accounts are gonna replenish to
fifty million in, interest and then you're just gonna be,
like all, RIGHT i didn't have to do anything to earn.
That that's just That's stanford's, Money. Okay like that's Why

(01:25:38):
Cody campbell is gonna keep giving To Texas. Tech Because
Cody campbell's billions of dollars in high yield interest accounts
and in the stock market and in crypto and everything.

Speaker 3 (01:25:50):
Else he's just gonna be, like, oh look at.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
THAT i literally woke up today to an extra one
hundred thousand dollars in my, account And i'm gonna do
that across fifteen different accounts over three hundred and sixty five.
Days and so the thirty million bucks or the fifty
million bucks That i'm donating To Texas tech is actually just.

Speaker 3 (01:26:10):
A rounding error for. Me here we.

Speaker 2 (01:26:12):
GO i don't know What bradford And freeman's situation. Is
but let's say this Is let's say THAT i somewhat
facetiously am telling you that this Is Andrew luck being, Like,
Hey i'm gonna put a bunch of money into my own.
Program Andrew luck's career earnings in THE nfl were one

(01:26:34):
hundred and nine million, dollars, which of course is an
exorbitant amount of money for a human being to. Have
it's more money than you would you would have to
spend in your entire lifetime treating yourself and your family
and your friends very very very. Well but it just
doesn't go that far in modern. Sports fifty million dollars
is a one time. Donation can't change the stars For stanford.

(01:26:57):
Football you know how, frustrated you, know gross it is
to say, that you, know frustrating that has to be
for The freeman, family and maybe they intend to keep.
Giving maybe they're gonna be, like here's fifty. Million if
you deploy these finances the right, way if you use
this money the right, way there's another fifty million next.
Year there's another fifty million the year after. That then
we're talking about Like Phil knight At. Oregon he has

(01:27:19):
said that he has basically in not so many words
been like blank, check spent it the right, way and
that's how he has put it into. Practice Cody campbell
Of Texas, tech same kind of situation RIGHT Byu athletics
has received some of the. Support it's, crazy but you
have to have someone who is a nine figure or

(01:27:41):
ten digit donor who's investments can replenish these funds to
be donated again and again and. Again fifty million dollars
is beyond generous and, represents in all likelihood an immense
amount or the fruition of an immense amount of thought

(01:28:04):
and work and skill for whoever earned that money and
is able to give. It but it it will not
save your, program even if you give it all too,
players which of course you know you're gonna have to
find some split between, players, coaches. Facilities it's actually not

(01:28:25):
for a, building SO i think it's to go all to.

Speaker 3 (01:28:28):
Players but, man.

Speaker 2 (01:28:29):
And you still have to find people that can qualify
to gain Into stanford because the university is not, like oh,
Cool go find the dumbest two million dollar, Player go
find the the wide receiver who wants four million bucks
and his runs a four to three but has a
two point TWO gpa fifty million dollars can't save you

(01:28:52):
for your. Stamp his forty time is double what HIS gpa. Is, Yeah,
unfortunately there's a lot of people out there like that
because when you are a, kid by the, way and
we fail the kids in this, regard when you're a
kid who runs four or five and is six foot
plus and is two hundred pounds plus by the time

(01:29:13):
you're in eighth, grade a lot of people in your
life have been, like grades are not going to be
that important to, you or they're gonna be, like we
care so much about what you do on the football
team that even as you're lazy and even as you're
just human nature is like trying to get buy as
easy as you, can even as you're like not turning
in your, Assignments we're going to give you like we're,
hey we're going to give you a decent. Grade we're

(01:29:35):
gonna make sure that you pass this. Class we're gonna
give you c's at. Least but Then stanford comes, in
it's just, like what's your act?

Speaker 3 (01:29:41):
Score it's a? Nine, oh never, mind we don't want
to talk to.

Speaker 2 (01:29:46):
You bad news That Captain Andrew luck has not made
a tweet about this fifty million dollar.

Speaker 3 (01:29:52):
Donation yet it's because it's.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
Him he doesn't want to talk about his own. Donation
Captain Andrew luck is not is not Real Andrew. Luck
so they Could they could presumably make a parody post
about that and be just. Fine there is a really
good one recently about they about them on a bye
week and asking his mother for more spice rabbit knuckles

(01:30:16):
to get through the get through, this get through this
week weekend to. Rest, So, STANFORD i wish you. LUCK
i genuinely. DO i wish you more Than Andrew. LUCK
i wish you. Luck in hiring a new, COACH i
think it should Be. Luck, ACTUALLY i think it should
Be Andrew. LUCK i think he cares more than virtually everyone,

(01:30:37):
else and that's what you. Need he can't hire himself,
though to be the, coach or maybe he. Can maybe
he could just. Goes, yeah he may not want to
take on the responsibility of BEING gm and head, coach
but he. Could there's no rule against. IT i Want
stanford football to be. GOOD i think it's better for

(01:30:58):
college athletics when there is a university like that that
has a powerhouse football program because it's cool also care
About they also care about, academics and they're just, like,
hey look what we've got. Here these are like the,
elite elite. Elite these are the brainy dudes who are
also really damn good football. Players and by the, way
they generated so many guys that are MASSIVE nfl talents

(01:31:22):
as well that have been like and are great and.
BROADCASTING i, Mean stanford football up until three years ago
was feeding the entire sports industry in, football and now
it's just like this. Wasteland it Wasn't it doesn't feel
all that long that basketball was like that, too but

(01:31:42):
it's been it's been now a decade or. Longer when
it Was, mike When Mike montgomery was the head, coach
there he, was he was taken to the final, four
he was he was getting them number one overall seeds
in the N S Away. Tournament and now women's basketball
still that, way although Tar Van beverer just, retired so

(01:32:05):
maybe they're maybe they're due for a, downside downside a
little bit. Too, Well Like stanford athletics in the revenue
sports in the most in the, public the best public facing.
Sports it is better for collegiate athletics when they are
good and competitive in those. Sports this Is stanford is
one of those, universities by the way that if if

(01:32:26):
they were like so inclined and they said that THE
acc was like a private. Equity like the problem with
a lot of The stanford lums is they're too smart
to just be, like, Well i'm just a fan and
so here take my. MONEY i was GONNA i was
gonna say, you you, know you know some people personally
who have, enough who are wealthy enough to do that

(01:32:47):
and are super fans of of local teams here that
are like. That you've asked AND i remember you telling.
Me they looked at you, funny like they were so
why WOULD i do? That, like, yeah some hyper wealthy
people that are, big, big big. Fans but university here AT,
byu that's already getting a lot of, Support And i'm just, like,
well why don't you jump in on? This and they're,
like you a, moron there's NO roi why WOULD i

(01:33:08):
ever do? That And i'm, like, oh WHEN i just
give my money, away there's like nine other people in
your same position that are doing it just for. Fun
like There's stanford is not That i've been to a
donor event At, stanford and those guys are, like you know,
WHAT i was happy to cut a fifty thousand dollars.

(01:33:28):
Check i'm not going to cut a fifty million dollar.
CHECK i, Mean Alfred freeman. DID i wonder if this
opens the, floodgates so to, speak and we might this
might be something where other people take notice and, go all.

Speaker 3 (01:33:43):
Right i'll.

Speaker 2 (01:33:44):
Donate now this this this former player who's obviously made
a lot of, money is doing. It MAYBE i. Will
now that they've done. That i've been thinking about it
for a. Minute now now i Think i'm ready to
do it as. Well that's of course What andrew luck
is hoping. For by the, way great, uh great job

(01:34:04):
By Andrew lucker whoever leaked it to the, media because
this is national. News even though what you just said
is true about how fifty million is not that big a.
Deal it's not life changing in college at in college, football,
uh is one hundred thousand dollars a big. Deal we'll
take a quick one here and we'll talk about THE

(01:34:26):
nfl coach who has fined one hundred thousand.

Speaker 3 (01:34:29):
Dollars would be a meed to a. Player this is.

Speaker 2 (01:34:34):
Bananas it's a shan O'Connell show ON espn seven hundred
and ninety twom.

Speaker 4 (01:34:40):
Another.

Speaker 1 (01:34:40):
One you were listening to The sean O'Connell, show your
source for the best youth football. Coverach here's oc from
The Murdoch Hyundai studio OF espn seven hundred at ninety
two to one a.

Speaker 4 (01:34:53):
Half.

Speaker 2 (01:34:53):
AM i honestly CAN'T i believe we're talking about. This
in twenty twenty, five one hundred thousand dollars fined For
Jonathan gannon because he screamed, at got in the face

(01:35:14):
of and struck the pads of The Mario mercado in
a game where a play and we didn't talk about
this earlier in the, week but you all saw the low.

Speaker 3 (01:35:28):
Lights it's not a. Highlight it's a low.

Speaker 2 (01:35:29):
Light running back carrying the ball across the goal line
right before he gets, there drops. It, obviously this has
happened In utah football. History costly. Mistake it's happened seven.
Times also in THE, nfl the most of Which Jashawn
jackson's done it a few times at multiple, levels the

(01:35:51):
most recent of which was this past weekend and in
a hotly contested. Game when you do something like, this
your head coach or any coach on the staff might
come up to you and, say what the bleep are you.
Doing now we've seen you've probably seen the film of

(01:36:13):
the altercation as. Well two offensive linemen are talking To
mercado and they seem like they're trying to console. Him
he's obviously, dejected, embarrassed, sad all of the things that quite,
honestly you're a justified in feeling when you make a
mistake like this that not only makes you look, dumb
but it hurts your. Team in this, case the ball

(01:36:36):
bounced into an out of the end, zone so it
was a touchback instead of being you, know returned the
other way for a, touchdown as we have seen in football.

Speaker 3 (01:36:45):
Previously But.

Speaker 2 (01:36:48):
Gannon came up and he's losing, it yelling at the,
guy and you get kind of like the over the
shoulder of, view so it looks like he hits him
in the. Chest remember this is a person who's wearing,
shoulders who's professionally paid to smash into other grown men
at high speeds in an incredibly violent.

Speaker 3 (01:37:09):
Game all, right.

Speaker 2 (01:37:12):
Looks like at the beginning of the, yell the tirade hits,
it maybe in the chest and then as he's walking,
past as he's moving now away having finished his dressing
down again with the other. HAND i believe it's the
other hand at least another blow to the mid.

Speaker 3 (01:37:31):
Section one hundred.

Speaker 2 (01:37:33):
Thousand dollars fine for yelling at a, player AND i
GUESS i gave you more pointedly for striking the player
in a completely harmless, way but out of. ANGER o, see, okay,
fine out of. Anger you're playing, football. Dude are you
saying that anyone who's mad about, this who, says, yeah

(01:37:55):
he absolutely deserved the fine and way out of, line
are you saying that he he didn't have a right
to be.

Speaker 3 (01:38:02):
Angry are you saying that that.

Speaker 2 (01:38:04):
These guys can't handle a little shove at a little
angry shove from a guy who who is who's literally
paid to hold you. Accountable GOT i don't. SEE i.
UNDERSTAND i understand that people don't like this style of

(01:38:26):
coaching anymore at.

Speaker 3 (01:38:27):
All but.

Speaker 2 (01:38:30):
Let's say that the video is Of gannon going up
and you, know kind.

Speaker 3 (01:38:37):
Of joking with him LIKE i can't do. That but
that was a big. Mistake.

Speaker 2 (01:38:40):
Huh now the coach is being criticized for not caring
lack of. Professionalism let's say he goes up and just,
like does the thing can't read my? Lips put the
hand over there over the mouth With sperner's he or show.
Something we have no idea what this interaction, Was, LIKE i, guess,
yeah that's. Better it's probably. Better gives you an opportunity

(01:39:01):
to coach whoever you want to, coach pretending that you're
not supposed to be angry at a player for making
a mistake that costly in not little league, football professional.
Football these are this is a this is a. Man
this is a man who made a terrible. Mistake LIKE
i heard on our morning show and on the on

(01:39:23):
Our siblings station over on the ON espn The, fan
and you guys heard heard them the last couple of
weeks here on in this on this, Show bryce And,
BIANUCCI i heard them talking, about, uh this this play
before the fine was handed, down and they Were they're,
like is this a is this a low I q?
Play Or And i'm, like, no that's a no I q.

(01:39:45):
Play that's that you. Have it's it's not it's it's
you're not thinking in any. Way that's a good way
to put. It low I q means that you're just
dumb and you just don't get. It, no I q
means that your brain has shut off and you're doing
something that requires no, thought that has no thought put
into it at. All that is you just being like

(01:40:06):
in this, careless, careless negligent, show voting whatever it. Is
but your brain has nothing to do with. That that
is all, Ego that is all the lizard in your
spinal cord being, LIKE i want to look cool and,
look it's a mic drop with the football for some,
reason that's, like that's like the coolest thing to.

Speaker 3 (01:40:28):
Do it's, like just how.

Speaker 2 (01:40:30):
About don't think about don't worry about being, cool and
just just get the ball in the. End here's What
i'm gonna, Do, james WHEN i become the head coach
of The San francisco forty nine, ers which who knows
when that's gonna. Happen, Right the rule, is if you're
scoring a, touchdown you have to dunk it over the.

Speaker 3 (01:40:47):
Goalpost oh that's? It is that a? Penalty?

Speaker 2 (01:40:50):
Now? Though the dunk is? It take the take the.
Yards it's, fine we'll take the. Yards rules will change
by the TIME i have any such. Authority but, like
just the fact the, idea you have to hand it
to the to the ref who's in the back of
the en, zone, which by the, way is the most
gangster celebration. Anyway, yeah just acting like you've been there.

(01:41:13):
Before it really is like the ultimate flex where you
do The Barry sanders, thing you do The Jerry rice
thing where you just you carry the ball into the end,
zone whether you tap your toes in the, corner or
you catch it in the back of the end, zone
which there's there's never a, doubt, Right and then instead
of being like are you not?

Speaker 3 (01:41:32):
Entertained is this not where you're? Here look how GREAT i?
Am or you just like, talk dance or.

Speaker 2 (01:41:37):
Whatever it's LIKE i do that so often That i'm
not even gonna pretend like it's a big. Deal it's
now you will see what you should do is you
should you should run into the the rules should.

Speaker 3 (01:41:48):
Be If i'm the head, coach this is what the rule.

Speaker 2 (01:41:50):
Be you run it into the end zone and then
you go you run out the back of the end
zone just to be, sure, okay and then you turn
around and give it to the nearest.

Speaker 3 (01:42:00):
Defender Forrest, gump that stuff. Okay all the way through the.

Speaker 2 (01:42:04):
Tunnel hey you who you who has escorted me in
the end zone but didn't didn't tackle?

Speaker 3 (01:42:08):
Me here you.

Speaker 2 (01:42:09):
GO i just don't understand why now he immediately after
was asked about. It Jonathan gannon was asked postgame about,
this and he was just, like, yeah you know, What
i'm not real proud of. It shouldn't have done. That
end a story. Done you don't have to find a
coach one hundred thousand dollars for yelling at a.

Speaker 3 (01:42:28):
Guy maybe there's maybe there's rules in.

Speaker 2 (01:42:31):
THE cba that if you if you strike a player at,
all it has to incur a.

Speaker 3 (01:42:37):
Fine but this is this is not the spirit of that.

Speaker 2 (01:42:41):
Rule all, Right, okay If Will hardy this year with
The Utah jazz gets mad At Lowry markinen Because, lowry
that's Actually Lowry market is the wrong guy to even
use is the. Equivalent It's george one of the other young.
Guys it's a young. Guy and by the, Way Marie,
mercado you should be you should not drop the. Ball,

(01:43:02):
ever that's like your third touchdown in your. Life you
should keep. It send that to your, grandma carry it
to the back of the end, zone carry it to
the locker room and be, LIKE i need that ball
Because i'm not scoring a lot of Touchdowns Forrest gump,
style LIKE i, said straight into the locker, room handed
to the equipment, guy and then come be, like, HEY
i really need. This i'm gonna mail this to my, grandma,

(01:43:24):
okay or can you do that for? Me?

Speaker 3 (01:43:26):
Great, Please and then it solves your.

Speaker 2 (01:43:29):
Problem but, like let's say that some young jazz player
just picks up his double dribble and walks off the
court when there's a game winning shot to be had
and like up out of, bounds, turnover possession goes the other.

Speaker 3 (01:43:44):
Way game is.

Speaker 2 (01:43:45):
Lost and it wasn't a direct result of just this
only this play that you'd lose a game because. Of
but it's important enough that it's a, potential you, know
huge missed. Opportunity if A utah jazz player does the
basketball equivalent of, this And Will hardy takes a young
player to the bench and screams in his face and

(01:44:06):
throws the ball at, Him i'm not.

Speaker 3 (01:44:09):
Mad i'm not gonna be, like, oh you find him
one hundred thousand.

Speaker 2 (01:44:12):
Dollars it's, like, no, Man, like these are. Sports this
is not you working at the movie. Theater this is
not me coming in to do a radio show And james,
physically although that's that is HOW i HOW i do.
Things oh, see it is your leadership. Style like, allegedly
it's just like If bear tore me, right sees Logan

(01:44:36):
cooley makes some grievous, mistake some, terrible terrible mistake that
cost the team a, goal all, right and he skates
back to the bench And bear smacks him on the
helmet and yells at.

Speaker 3 (01:44:49):
Him are we gonna be, like oh my, goodness please find.
Him don't let him touch the, players don't let him do.
This it's, like, no it's.

Speaker 2 (01:45:01):
Okay he's a grown man whose job it is to
engage in physical contests and to not make mistakes like.

Speaker 3 (01:45:10):
That you can be yelled.

Speaker 2 (01:45:12):
At and if the point of, emphasis if the way
that you drive it home is the classic like grab
the face mask and shake you kind of a, thing, Fine,
LIKE i just what are we doing for professional sports
to be getting this soft we're trn stand at a
little league or high school or even collegiate. Level you

(01:45:34):
have to kind of be like thread these needles and
be a little bit more. Careful maybe just, you maybe
just yell in. Power the power dynamic is different in those.
Cases in this, case it's, like, dude that that, player
if he really has a problem with, it and walk
into the guy's office and be, like we're. Fighting, yeah
you should not have touched. Me i'm gonna punch you

(01:45:54):
in the. FACE i don't, know, man this drives me.
Insane one hundred thousand dollars fine or yelling at a
player and if, if if you had smacked this. Happened,
actually my freshman, year we had a player who's concussed.

Speaker 3 (01:46:11):
And one of the coaches.

Speaker 2 (01:46:14):
Yelled at him and smacked him on the, helmet and
everyone was, like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 3 (01:46:19):
Whoaa careful with the. Head he's. Concussed he's coming back
from a. Concussion what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:46:25):
Right like that is probably good reason to be like
some discipline some hey like you as a, coach gotta
know some some patients. There, yeah shout Out Bernie buskin
wherever you're at right, now you're. Moron but the that
you named, him, yeah well don't. Care but the like

(01:46:46):
the smack a player in the chest that he's like you,
said very He these players are armored out. There they've they've,
got they're heavily. Padded they're. Fine i'm beating the horse.
NOW i just don't understand. Why And, mercado.

Speaker 3 (01:47:05):
You're in that.

Speaker 2 (01:47:05):
Situation this is A psa for, anyone anyone in in
in any line of, work if you screw up in
a way that's really costly to the company you work. For,
now certainly that only that we're only defending that kind
of thing in professional, sports, right particularly in, football that

(01:47:28):
that kind of physical. Altercation you don't do that in
other lines of, work, Right but like if you if
if you screw up in it's in an equivalent way
That mercado did in your, line in your particular line of,
work and you're mad that you're getting yelled at for,
it like that's a you. Problem by the, way it
didn't even seem Like mercado had a problem With, NO

(01:47:49):
i don't.

Speaker 3 (01:47:50):
THINK i don't think he.

Speaker 2 (01:47:51):
Did it's the the organization probably were, like this is
a terrible look and, maybe LIKE i, said there's rules
about about striking players even like that that they they are,
like we have to we have to find. You it's
the it's the the management of the organization saying we
have to find. YOU i DON'T i Doubt mercado Because.

Speaker 3 (01:48:10):
Mercado he's got to know the.

Speaker 2 (01:48:12):
Deal he's got to know WHEN i screw up like,
This he's playing football his whole. Life WHEN i screw
up like, This i'm going it's not going to be
a good uh. Conversation it's not going to be a
good interaction with my. Coaches all, right fire up your.
Phones there's a new tip line where you can rat
out teams you don't. Like i'll tell you WHAT i
mean next on The sean O'Connell. Shows utah is number

(01:48:33):
one Sports TALK espn seven ninety TWO.

Speaker 3 (01:48:36):
Fm me, no you.

Speaker 1 (01:48:46):
Attuned to The sean O'Connell show from The Murdoch Chevrolet
studio OF espn seven hundred and ninety two ONE A fm.

Speaker 2 (01:48:55):
Dog all, right get, ready there's a new tip line
out there so you can report nil violations to The
College Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:49:07):
Commission the tip line launched.

Speaker 2 (01:49:12):
Today anonymous reporting is now allowed for potential violations of
new rules on how you get capitalized on your, name image,
likeness how you get paid for your, name image and.
Likeness this has so many problems written all over. It
first of, all they don't have enough staffing to handle

(01:49:34):
all the spam that's gonna. Come nil go already is
way too. Slow it's slow enough to the point that
there are. Collectives it was reported last week that there
are collectives that are just going forward with payments even
when the deals aren't, cleared.

Speaker 3 (01:49:51):
They're, pending and there's, like, yeah we're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:49:53):
It they're just, like, well because these, athletes these student
athletes and their agents are, like, hey you said we
were getting f five hundred.

Speaker 3 (01:50:00):
Grand the season's half.

Speaker 2 (01:50:01):
Over and if you're a, collective if you're a, company
if you're, whatever you're watching this relationship go sour because
the administrative, body The College Sports, commission and the app
are taking too. Long so now this player is not
showing up for their, interviews they're not showing up for
their commercial. Shoots they're not feeling good about the relationship

(01:50:25):
they have with the, school with the, collective. Whatever so
people are, saying you know, what never, Mind i'm not
waiting on. THIS i will ask forgiveness rather than, permission
and we're gonna go ahead and pay.

Speaker 3 (01:50:37):
You that started last.

Speaker 2 (01:50:38):
Week now this, week The College Sports commission has launched
a new tip line so that anyone with the phone With,
WhatsApp with the computer with An internet connection can, Say,
HEY i don't think that this deal that's being done At,
alabama AT, byu At, memphis At, colorado At Ohio, STATE

(01:51:03):
i don't think it's. Legal why do you MENTION byu
in that? Group BECAUSE i know that a lot of people.
Listening there's people listening to this show right, now they're, like,
wait you're telling ME i can do. THAT i can,
LIKE i can go and say that Bear bachmeyer is
getting like half of this is just gonna be. Jokes,
seriously people are going people are going to make, Bam

(01:51:24):
they're going to make a LIKE i, mean by using
the best example of, it, right be, like, OH i
Bear bachmeyer has a deal with Doctor john's, boutique and
uh he's getting he's getting illegal. Benefits and you're gonna
screenshot that and send it to your buddies and they're
gonna be, like you actually submitted.

Speaker 1 (01:51:43):
That.

Speaker 2 (01:51:43):
Yes now the, now somebody on the other end of
that tip line is going to have to make an
investigative report about whether or not SOME byu player is
getting impervisible benefits from a novelty. Song and, you as
we talked about in the. Summertime and as you implied
just just now in the beginning of this, segment they

(01:52:07):
they're behind on nil go is behind on improving these
things because they don't have the staffing to do the
regular part of the. Job imagine that same amount of,
staffing maybe they hire a handful of other people for
this part THAT i doubt, it, Though like that same
amount of staffing is now now has to wade through

(01:52:29):
the ocean of spam that they're that they're gonna get from,
This like it is such a tone, deaf such a
complete like they're either complete a tone f or completely
ignorant of how college sports fans are college football fans in,
particular to be, like, yeah this is a great. System
it is not a great. System follow message board geniuses

(01:52:50):
and and and get an idea of who the people
who are gonna be who are gonna be submitting to
your tip line will be The this is gonna be
a complete waste of your time and you're not gonna
be able To you're not gonna be able to even
investigate the legitimate ones that come. Through this is so
fantastic that they are just even though it's it's a
new in a.

Speaker 3 (01:53:10):
Way It's College Sports commission rather than THE nc DOUBLE.
A it's a new.

Speaker 2 (01:53:14):
Body it's new group of people that have been handed
the keys and given the power in college football and
in college athletics in.

Speaker 3 (01:53:21):
General and they're different only in.

Speaker 2 (01:53:26):
Name because this is this is LIKE NC, doublea meaningless
stuff written all. Over this is the exact kind of
thing that doesn't make meaningful, change that waste resources in
time on, silly, silly silly.

Speaker 3 (01:53:41):
Things guess what college Sports.

Speaker 2 (01:53:44):
Commission none of us at this point care if a
kid gets six hundred dollars of pay for play.

Speaker 3 (01:53:52):
Money all.

Speaker 2 (01:53:53):
Right one of the big reasons why The College Sports
commission is toothless and worthless is because the changes were
made to college sports before the regulations were put in.
Place THE ncaa fought the wrong battles for literally five
decades instead of putting something like this in place before

(01:54:18):
you could let the cat out of the, bag because
once you let the cat out of the, bag no
one was going to allow it to be put back.
In if you're a student, athlete if you're an, agent
if you're a one of these weird middleman that connects
the two. Things now your, livelihood your, finances your future
are connected to a system, that according to every source

(01:54:44):
that The Associated, press That Sports, illustrated THAT, espn every
person at an actual university that has been asked about, like,
hey how is nil go? Going is the College Sports
commission communicating with, you every single one of. Them it's just, like,
yeah it's not really going as fast as we thought
it was gonna.

Speaker 3 (01:55:03):
Go it's actually been kind of a.

Speaker 2 (01:55:04):
Pain our student athletes can't get paid fast, enough they
can't submit their information fast, enough they can't get it
reviewed fast. Enough it's actually not really super. Working, okay
here's what we're gonna. Do instead of addressing those concerns
and making sure we speed up the, timelines what we're
going to do is we're gonna put a tip line in.

Speaker 3 (01:55:21):
Place oh what kind of a tip line is that gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:55:24):
Be it's gonna be a tip line where anybody who
wants to not just, administrators not just, businesses not just,
players not just the people who actually have a stake
and are involved in these kind of, things all of
the human beings with access to technology in The United
states and beyond now can just submit a tip that
we have to look Into oh, wow you must have

(01:55:45):
unlimited time and resources to take care of that kind of. Stuff, no,
actually already we're currently strapped and over and overworked and.

Speaker 3 (01:55:53):
Understaffed, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:55:54):
Good one of the most frustrating things that happens in,
life and you've seen it at, Work you've probably seen
it at, Home you've seen it with you, know raising your.
Kids one of the most frustrating things is when the
same errors are made over and over and over and
over and over, again and that common sense just cannot.

(01:56:18):
Prevail that's where we're at with, this at Least College
Sports commission THE csc nil go and now a new,
feature the tip, line where you or me or your
cousin earl can submit a red flag on any nil
deal that you think should not be. Cleared what are we,

(01:56:43):
Doing you're just asking fans to troll the. Opposition the
message board comment section trolls now have a direct line
to ACTUAL ncaa, level national Level College Sports commission level

(01:57:08):
sort of enforcement, regulators a direct line by. Design let
us know if you think That Texas tech is paying
this guy in an impermissible. Way let us know if
you Think Arizona state this weekend is coming To Rice
Cycle stadium And Jordan tyson is wearing a watch that

(01:57:28):
he should not be able to. Afford we are so
upside down backwards and stupid with how we do some
of this.

Speaker 3 (01:57:39):
STUFF i touched on it earlier in the.

Speaker 2 (01:57:43):
Show THIS i think on the flip side of the
what are we doing in college? Football THIS i think is.
Good THIS i think is something that the coaches have asked.
For and with relative quickness and some nimble kind of,
conversation THE ncaa officially adopted as of, yesterday officially Adopted

(01:58:06):
january second through the sixteenth as the transfer portal window
for THE fbs AND fcs in twenty twenty. Six there
were very few dissenting voices here that did not want
the transfer portals to become a single transfer. Portal and
this past summer at the coaches, convention everyone that responded was,

(01:58:28):
like just make, It just do it in the winter
after the season's.

Speaker 3 (01:58:32):
Over, now of, course the season isn't over at this.

Speaker 2 (01:58:34):
Point january second through the sixteenth is significant more for
its signaling of a new school, year a new semester
than it is anything.

Speaker 3 (01:58:46):
Actually football.

Speaker 2 (01:58:47):
Related you're gonna have a lot of bowl, games wrapped
up By january, first but the college Football playoff is
far from over at that. Point so the biggest, schools
the best, schools the most important schools in the country
will still be playing football when the transfer portal. Opens
Ryan day was one of those dissenting. Voices one of

(01:59:08):
those people said, no, no, no you can't do.

Speaker 3 (01:59:10):
That the new rule.

Speaker 2 (01:59:16):
Will extend the transfer portal window for people who are
in the college Football playoff five days beyond the end
of those individual.

Speaker 3 (01:59:24):
Seasons so.

Speaker 2 (01:59:27):
This is gonna get really interesting, because for the most,
part if you're The university Of, utah, right You're Kyle,
whittingham for, example you're obviously gonna be active in the
transfer portal this. Offseason or maybe It's Morgan. Scalley we
don't know how that's all gonna play. Out you're gonna
be active in the transfer portal to some, extent regardless
of whatever, happens regardless of. Results everyone has to look

(01:59:50):
into the transfer portal every year from here on, out,
Right so they're gonna look at this and they're gonna, Say,
okay what.

Speaker 3 (01:59:58):
Can we get from.

Speaker 2 (02:00:00):
Eighty nine percent of THE ncaa Schools and is there
somebody on This miami, team This Ohio state, team This oregon,
team this whatever team that we want to maybe we
should keep a scholarship open for and a transfer portal
opportunity open. For you're gonna have most of it figured,

(02:00:20):
out but you're probably having conversations legally or otherwise with
people that are on these playoff, teams and maybe that's
somebody you. Want so you can get it mostly figured
out By january, SIXTEENTH a spot or two saved for
the other, guys the extra guys beyond. That very very

(02:00:43):
curious to see how that fully works out once we
put it into. Practice but do you think we're gonna see?

Speaker 3 (02:00:50):
LESS i hope.

Speaker 2 (02:00:51):
So do you think this will this one day window
in the time that they decided, It we'll. See we
will see way, less if not, any of what we
saw At Penn state last year when we had a
key player transfer before the college football playoff started or
in the middle of the college football playoff. Run BECAUSE
i like that WAS i. HATED i hated WHEN i

(02:01:16):
saw that because and it made complete sense for the
player to do it at that, time because of the
because of the calendar and the way semesters worked with
at different.

Speaker 3 (02:01:25):
Schools BUT i hated that.

Speaker 2 (02:01:28):
That was something that that college football is, like, YEAH
i guess we just got to live with. THAT i
actually think that doesn't change at, all because if you're
on your way out the, door you're no longer thinking
about the impact that that has on your current. School,
yeah and if you're, like, yeah it would be more
fun and better to maybe go through the playoff. Run

(02:01:51):
but what you really care about is what's. Next you
really care, About, like, hey My michigan team has a playoff,
game AND i have it five days after the end
of my season to go WHERE i want to.

Speaker 3 (02:02:03):
Go but, like let's say, that you, GO.

Speaker 2 (02:02:05):
I, mean when is the Nation what day is The
National championship going to be played?

Speaker 4 (02:02:08):
On?

Speaker 2 (02:02:08):
This it's THE i think it's the twenty twenty something Of.
January let's SEE, Cfp it's it's after. That, oh it's the.
Nineteenth so it's three days after the window. Closes OH
i thought it was, OKAY i thought it was much,
later all, right so, yeah you're. Good, yeah so it's

(02:02:34):
three days after and, LISTEN I i just think that college,
football if we're in this era of where they're they're basically, pros,
right in that. Window we, should especially if they're a
Play if it's a player that gets playing, time, right
maybe they're not getting as much playing time as they

(02:02:54):
want and that's why they're. Leaving maybe they are and
it's a it's a financial, thing whatever the. Motivation if
it's a player who's who's a key enough player that
they that they get, reps get, snaps.

Speaker 3 (02:03:08):
They should be.

Speaker 2 (02:03:08):
Treated the, schools the, programs and the players should treat
themselves like they're about to become a free. Agent what
do we do in pro sports with those? Guys we don't, say,
yeah we don't need you. Anyway, no they use that
guy until his contract is, up and then he, leaves
and it's like that's either there's there's either lots of

(02:03:30):
uproar from the fan, base how'd you let that guy?
Leave or there's, like, yeah well he was he was going,
anyway and we and we won a lot with, him
so we appreciate him sticking around and doing. That like
that's that's WHERE i would like it to. Get the
timing on, THIS i THINK i THINK i retract WHAT
i said, earlier the timing on this with you, know
the window opening basically when everyone's season is. Done there's

(02:03:52):
only gonna be a couple teams still in THE cfp semi,
finals is what it. Is so for fourte right quarter.
Finals by the, way for those four, teams those those eight,
teams you're already ahead of the.

Speaker 3 (02:04:06):
Curve you're already ahead of the.

Speaker 2 (02:04:07):
Game so if it has to be a little bit
more difficult for you to manage the transfer, portal so
be it. Fine the the crux of getting players onto
their new campus before springball. STARTS i know the academic
calendar should, matter but it. Doesn't that's that's a part of.
It that's a part of this, too like but it's

(02:04:30):
not as big a. Part what these guys really care
about is CAN i get into my new program before spring?

Speaker 3 (02:04:35):
Football and this window allows that to.

Speaker 2 (02:04:37):
Happen so as much AS i would like guys to
stay for a full school Year August august Through, may,
right go through the whole, season go through spring, football
go through the whole school, year and be, Like, okay
you you spent a year at the. School you you
showed up. For now do you want to? Leave, okay

(02:04:57):
you got. Leave you've got a year's worth of. Education
you have two full. Semester buts, this this is in my,
mind this is what the coaches, wanted which makes it
the best thing for the. FAN i think, that you,
know for the individual, player the individual, person a year
at school probably could have been, better but in any,
case you now get a fresh start at a new.
School and more, importantly the confusion of That december window

(02:05:21):
where early signing, day a transfer portal, window bowl game,
preparations college football playoff preparations are all happening at the same.
Time that mess is at least partially cleaned up by,
this which is. Good maybe you know. What we talked
about it before With Shahanji, raja but we'll just now
that it's, official we'll get his final thoughts on. It
he's joining us next on The sean O'Connell. Show it's

(02:05:42):
utilus number One Sports TALK espn seven ninety two ONE.

Speaker 1 (02:05:46):
Fm you were listening To The sean O'Connell show from
The Murdoch hyundai studio OF espn have one hundred and
ninety two. ONE a f.

Speaker 6 (02:06:02):
Am national college football writer FOR Cbs sports are the
most stylish man in the, Business Shahanja roger joined us
on The sean O'Connell, Show Talk All Things College.

Speaker 3 (02:06:18):
Football, shahan welcome. Back how are, you? Sir i'm doing.

Speaker 7 (02:06:21):
Great thanks much for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:06:24):
So utah Hosting Arizona state night game At Rice cycles
and the, team the coaching, staff everyone has been made
acutely aware of the fact That Rice, eycles that developed
this reputation over the, years especially in The pac twelve
as being a horror show for visiting teams in The Big,

(02:06:44):
twelve has not been hostile utsrozero and five and conference
competition so far in the early goings in The big
Twelve conference at, home and now that you know the
coaching staff's aware of, it something that they seem to
desperately on a, reverse it's going to be a little bit,
blustery is going to be a little bit. Rainy what

(02:07:06):
what do we expect from not only the, game But
Rice ecles as the host venue for a really important
contest in The big Twelve conference this?

Speaker 3 (02:07:15):
Weekend, YEAH i.

Speaker 7 (02:07:17):
Mean it's a huge GAME i think for this. PROGRAM
i think it's a huge game for this season of.
Course and, LOOK i mean you go back and look
at the matchups that they played At Rice cycles last.
Year let they just happened to get a lot of
good teams last, year Right the last three GAMES i
think over there were against ranked, opponents and you, know
when you're playing good, teams sometimes you just lose, games

(02:07:37):
especially when you frankly don't have a good team like
you THOUGHT i did in last. Year SO i don't
necessarily know that there's too much to be read into
that heading into this. One but this is a massive
game For Kyle whittingham and his. Program this IS i
think a game where the winner of this game is
a True big twelve. CONTENDER i don't know if the
loser is just from the perspective of losing a, tie

(02:08:00):
losing a key conference, game AND i think, that especially
For utah after what happened Against Texas tech in that
first game at Rice, ecles like this is a moment
WHERE i think they need to go out and prove
themselves in a big. Way they got physically manhandled on
both sides of the ball By Texas. Tech Devin dampier
had by far the worst game of His utah tenure

(02:08:22):
during that. Matchup and this is An Arizona state defense
that can cause some, problems but certainly is not the
same level of team As Texas. Tech so this is
a big. One this is one THAT i Expect utah
to come out very, motivated and it's one that certainly
if they want to be taken seriously, nationally they have to.

Speaker 2 (02:08:37):
Win how do we Evaluating Sam levitt to this point
in the. Season he came in in the early part
of the year and in the preseason with this incredible
amount of. Hype If i'm not, mistaken when we went
back to the Preseason Heisman trophy, odds he was given
the best odds for Any big twelve. Player and you,
know he's been pedestrian with his. Arm he's been good

(02:08:59):
with his, legs very opportunistic with his. Legs BUT i
don't think we can say he's been the best quarterback
in the. CONFERENCE i don't think he's been a top
four quarterback in the. Conference that's not to say he
doesn't have tremendous upside and couldn't turn it on at any.
Point but how are we Evaluating how are you Evaluating
Sam levitt to this point in the.

Speaker 7 (02:09:17):
Season, YEAH i think he's in very. Lackluster to the,
FRANK i think that he has been. Underwhelming now something
THAT i will throw out is that when you look
at his receiving court outside Of Jordan, TYSON i think
his wide receivers have not done him very many. Favors
and in, fact you look at their receiving, Charts Jordan
tyson of course leads the. Way he's An All american caliber.

(02:09:38):
Receiver after, that it's a tight end and a running.
Back they just have not had receivers step up to the,
moment AND i think that that's been an issue With Sam,
levitt of course not having very many safety, blankets and
you see him staring Down Jordan tyson a. Lot but
it's ALSO i think That levit hasn't done a great
job of creating opportunities for other. People he hasn't thrown guys,
open he hasn't made great decisions. Consistently and, again like

(02:10:01):
you see some of these, matchups and you, know they
have obviously three major games against you, know kind of
big time, opponents And, BAYLOR, Tcu Missippi state they go
to in one of those, games but each of them
is maybe a little more a little closer than they
should have been at times Because levitt just wasn't really
able to put the hammer down and put this game.
Away SO i think that you, know, again like this

(02:10:23):
is a very good quarterback conference right, now there ARE
i think at least four. Quarterbacks he's certainly been playing
better than. HIM i think that maybe even more than
that with the rise of guys Like Brendan. Sowersby but,
again like you also, SAID i, mean this is a
quarterback who we know is. Talent he has all the physical,
tools he has the ability to turn it. On he
one needs to continue to play better and more. Accurately and,

(02:10:45):
two they're wide receivers outside Of Jordan tyson need to
rise to the.

Speaker 2 (02:10:48):
Occasion so we've had that conversation About utah wide receivers
all year, long and in the preseason we did as.

Speaker 3 (02:10:55):
Well who's going to be the guy that?

Speaker 2 (02:10:56):
Emerges and the New mexico Transfer Ryan davis has been
the most reliable target and the most reliable. Receiver we're
still kind of waiting to see if there's anyone who
can be a true deep threat for this. Team Dallan
bentley at the tight end spot has looked pretty good
for The. Utes BUT i Guess i'll ask you to
kind of handicap This utah offense in the same way
you just Did Arizona, states with the quarterback being the

(02:11:20):
spearhead for. THAT i, Mean devin Dam pierre the last
two games was not as mobile as we expect him
to be when fully, healthy but still Against West virginia
found ways to be. Effective where are you putting This
utah offense in your power rankings at least on that
side of the.

Speaker 7 (02:11:34):
Ball, YEAH i think that i'd have them sort of
upper middle of the. Pack this is a team that you,
know and, again this is WHAT i said kind of
coming into the, year, right is that they're going to
be able to run the. Ball they're going to be
able to move the. Ball that is a huge difference
compared to where they were at not just last, year
but the past two. Years and you see that three
two hundred and fifty yard rushers through the first couple

(02:11:55):
games of the. Year but like you, SAID i, mean
it's really been very inconsistent. PASSING i think that What
Texas tech was able to do THAT i don't know
that maybe any other team in The big twelve can
do to that level is they forced Seven dampier to
stay in the pocket and make decisions with his, arm
AND i think that he has done an, okay job of,
That but you, MENTIONED i, mean probably the player on

(02:12:16):
the offense that we've been looking most, at waiting for
him to break out Is Tobias. Merriweather he's a player
who came over and was kind of supposed to add
a little bit of that deep threat From Notre dame
and he just hasn't been really any sort of factor
to this. Point and so, LOOK i think that if
this is almost exclusively a run based offense with some
passing step off of, it that's enough to be a

(02:12:39):
really good team to be in that eight to nine win.
CONVERSATION i think to be A big twelve, contender they
have to be dynamic passing the, ball and they just
have not showed it to that. Point so you, know,
again like you, SAID i think that they've had one
or two guys step up more in the short to
intermediate game their. SEASON i think in a lot of
ways hinges on whether they can create something in the

(02:12:59):
deep passing.

Speaker 2 (02:12:59):
Game where where does the winner of this game? Emerge
for you in the kind of overall power structure of
The big twelve, conference BECAUSE i Think tech is right
on top right now for obvious, reasons and there's nine
other teams probably in the conversation still as we approach

(02:13:20):
the halfway point of the.

Speaker 7 (02:13:21):
Year, YEAH i think That Tech tech you just put
in a class of their own right. NOW i think,
THAT i, mean you can almost pencil them Into arlington
one because of how good they, are and two because
they have one of the most manageable schedules remaining in
The big. Twelve so you put that team. THERE i
think THAT i put the winner of this game in
probably the lead for that number two. Spot and like you,

(02:13:43):
said it's a pretty big. Group right, now you have
the winner of This Utah Arizona state. GAME i think
that right Now cincinnati belongs. THERE i think That Iowa
state very much still belongs. There they LEARN tcu saw
the way the opportunity to play their way back into
that group as. Well SO i think, though that the
sort of second tier starts to materialize after this week

(02:14:06):
because of some of the matchups that we're getting this.
Week and, AGAIN i think that probably the winner Of
Utah Arizona, state at least in this, moment becomes the
favorite to be that number.

Speaker 2 (02:14:16):
Two is anything going to Bring Texas tech back down to?
EARTH i, mean you mentioned how. Manageable the schedule is
they have showed up at every, Test Rice cycles being
the one that we, thought you, know would be a
really tough one for, them and THEY'VE i THINK i
just saw this tweet that you know that it's a

(02:14:37):
bunch of. Wins not by a score or. Two they've
got like five wins by twenty plus points or something
hasn't happened in half a. Century is anything going to
bring them back down to earth in conference?

Speaker 7 (02:14:46):
Play in conference, play, THOUGH i, Mean i'm very interested
by THAT byu game On november eighth In, love Like
i'm planning to be in. ATTENDANCE i think that's kind
of the game of. Deal they also play on the
road Against Arizona, state BUT i think that that's a
pretty good matchup for What Texas tech breaks to the.
TABLE i think that they're going to handle that situation.

(02:15:08):
Well But byus kind of that team that maybe can
give them some issues, defensively, Right, LIKE i think that
the obviously the ability to stretch the, Field Chase roberts really,
dynamic and Then Isaiah glasker at linebacker just is somebody
WHO i think is going to cause them. Problems but
for the most part. Again you, KNOW i think that
they're a team right now that with what they have
in the, trenches is almost untouchable by anybody else in

(02:15:31):
this conference right. NOW i, MEAN i still think that
That utah not only is the best line offen the
line of The Big, TWELVE i still think that they're
one of the best groups. Nationally and we saw what
this testis tech defensive front did to that. Team they
caused them a lot of issues in that. Game so,
NO i MEAN i think that that, again you can
basically pencil them Into. ARLINGTON i think you can basically

(02:15:51):
pencil them win or Lose Big twelve title game into
the college football, playoffs AND i would not be surprised
whatsoever if this team, won has a chance to go
thirteen to zero and two if this is a first
round by team in a college football. Playoffs SEHAN.

Speaker 2 (02:16:07):
J roger for a couple more minutes here On The
sean O'Connell, show talking all things college football through The UT's.
Lens mostly of, course the transfer portal change is. Official
we've talked about this in previous visits you've made to the,
show but it's now a fifteen day. Window second to
the sixteenth Of. January it's a one time, deal and

(02:16:27):
the exception is when head coach is being, replaced you've
got another window after they announce who replaces that, coach
which IS i guess going to create some, wildness especially
this coaching carousel this offseason, cycle it's gonna be a
lot more chaotic than last. Year's but starting just with

(02:16:49):
the fifteen day, window the one time, thing this is
what the coaches asked for for the most. Part does
it clean up some of the problems we've had in
college football related to nil and to the transfer, Portal.

Speaker 7 (02:17:02):
YEAH i think. SO i think this is the right
move to. ME i, MEAN i think that one of
the most chaotic things that nobody really talked about was
the fact that when the season ends right and let's
say that there are teams heating into conference championship, games
the portal's open essentially right. Away so you are both
trying to prepare for the conference championship, game while you're
also trying to prepare for either a playoff or a bowl,

(02:17:24):
game while you're also trying to lock in your high
school recruiting, class while you're also trying to recruit your
guys to stay on, campus and then on top of
that you have to deal with the whole trying to
recruit the transfer portal as, well and it was just
a messy system that frankly didn't make a whole lot
of sense to. Me and with this new model where
you're dealing with one windows.

Speaker 3 (02:17:42):
Now we'll.

Speaker 7 (02:17:42):
See you, know there's going to be, lawsuits of, course
but assuming this, STANDS i think that this makes a
lot of. Sense, one you're really not touching any teams
with this window except for the ones that are going
to play for the national. Championship like every other person
can very easily enter that win and they're working on
that same time for. HIM i think the other thing
too is that you, know the way that it works

(02:18:05):
is that the teams are playing for national, championship they
also have like an additional i think five days after the,
fact so you're mostly going to be working on the
same timeline from that. Perspective AND i look at one
of the most glaring situations last, year which was the
departure Of Boat pribula at the quarterback At Penn state
before The College Football, playoffs who was basically told, like,
look you just have to enter it. Now because if

(02:18:27):
you wait until, then stays, eliminated which WAS i believe
On january, tenth like you're just going to be too
far behind the curve to be able to find a. Home,
WELL i think that it creates a situation that's a
little more palatable where, yeah maybe at Bo pabula leads
or at least enters the, portal let's say On january
eighth or, whatever but he doesn't necessarily have to leave his.

(02:18:47):
Team you can start his recruitment process at the same
time as everybody, else stay with the, team and then
ultimately make a decision on a timeline and. Extent so
it's a situation makes a lot of sense to. ME
i think, that you, know the trouble that's all going
to be there is the sort of drop ad deadlines
for literal enruling in. College SO i think that with
all those dynamics in, play this is something that makes.

Speaker 2 (02:19:09):
Sense because you just Mentioned Penn state is good the
enemy of great to the extent That James franklin And
Penn state are gonna have some tough conversations and maybe
they have to go a different direction with their head.

Speaker 3 (02:19:22):
Coach yeahs.

Speaker 7 (02:19:24):
INTERESTING i will say this Tenn states will not Fire James.
Franklin they cannot afford to Fire James. Franklin BUT i
do think there are going to be some very legitimate
conversations after the season for this. REASON i, mean they
invested a lot monetarily into this season to Retain Drew,
Aller Nick, singleton K Sean, allen to add guys Like
Trevor pannet through the portal to, like they put a

(02:19:47):
lot on this. Team and in a, way by the,
way that's similar to twenty twenty Four Ohio state in
twenty twenty Three, Michigan and unlike those two, teams the
team has already kind of fallen to the, wayside AND
i don't know that they have a path to The
college Of Ball. PLAY i think it's probably over with
after losing TO, ucla With indiana And Ohio state still

(02:20:07):
left on the, schedule so this is a tough situation for.
THEM i think. That, LOOK i, Mean James franklin has
never been shy about the fact that he wants to
be the first black coach to win a national, championship
and they got pretty tank close last, year up with
five minutes left in the fourth quarter in the national.
Semifinals but to have a situation like, this in a
flop like, THIS i think that it makes people Around

(02:20:30):
State college really think we've reached our ceiling with this,
guy and maybe For James franklin to, think maybe this
is the most THAT i can do and accomplish. Here
so there's gonna be a lot of good openings this.
YEAR i think that that's going to be a potentially
really attractive situation For franklin to decide it's time to move,
on and these conversations are going to happen because the
reality is it's one thing to struggle against the best

(02:20:54):
of the, best but when you kind of waste a
roster like this against a team LIKE, ucla and because
of the first top ten team to lose to AN
OH to four and worst team since nineteen eighty, FIVE
i mean, again these questions become a lot more.

Speaker 2 (02:21:07):
Fair BEFORE i let you go swinging back to focus
on The Big Twelve. Conference much like last, year there's
been some surprise teams that look like they belong in
the conversation as groups to be reckoned With, Houston, Arizona
cincinnati all look a lot better than we thought they
would to this point in the, season who of those

(02:21:29):
teams do you believe in the.

Speaker 7 (02:21:30):
MOST i believe In cincinnati the, most and it's for
a simple. REASON i think that they are really really
good in the. Trenches you, Know Joe, cotton their left,
tackle was Named Outland player of The week this past
week for his performance Against Iowa. State and, again you
look at that game and you look at that. TEAM i,
mean they Believe Iowa state for a lot of that.
Game NOW i was it also came back at the,

(02:21:51):
end but LIKE i, THINK i would, say it's also
a very equality. Team so it's the combination of strengthen the,
trenches the way they're running the, football the development Of
Brendan soersby on the offensive. Line and this is the
team THAT i think has maybe been a little better
than their record the past two. Years and, frankly that
was my big question about them coming into the. YEAR i,
said if this was a team that was coached by

(02:22:12):
a coaching staff THAT i had a lot of faith.
In If kyle whittinghams the coach of this, team they
have a pathway to top five in The Big Twelve.
CONFERENCE i didn't have a lot of faith In Scott
saderfield and his. Staff, well they've done a really good
job with this. Team some of that close luck game
has finally started to turn after losing nine to ten
one score games in a, row which is a crazy
stat AND i think that that's going to give them

(02:22:34):
a chance down the. Stretch and the other piece of,
this too is that you, know they were arguably the
better team in That nebraska game that they ultimately lose
by three points in front of a basically At nebraska home.
Crowd so this is a team THAT i think has
showed up every single week and that's going to give
them a chance heading down the stretch to be one
of those teams contending for number two in The big.

Speaker 2 (02:22:53):
Twelve johan always love catching up with. You thanks for
your time. Today thank you so much For Shahanja, RAJAH
Cbs Sports College Football. Insider all, right we got some
Young blood tickets to give away coming to THE Uccu
center On may, thirteenth twenty twenty. Six trivia question to

(02:23:17):
give those away next at eight seven seven three five
three zero seven. Hundred also reminder tall of you Next,
friday we're gonna be At Epic Brewing broadcasting from eleven to,
two so swing by grab some epic beers before The
Utah mammoth. Game that'll be their second home game of
the season. Again that's Next, Friday october, Seventeenth sean O'Connell.

(02:23:39):
Show wrap it up next On Utahs number One Sports
TALK espn seven hundred ninety TWO Onefl.

Speaker 7 (02:23:48):
Who we Were.

Speaker 5 (02:23:48):
Base peace By sean O'Connell.

Speaker 1 (02:23:53):
Show you were home of the best inside of your.
Hues let's get back to oc from The Murdoch chevrolet
udo OF espn seven hundred and ninety two to ONE
a f.

Speaker 8 (02:24:03):
Am wrapping it up here On The sean O'Connell show
eight seven seven three five three zero seven hundred Two
tickets To Young Blood somebody to THE Uccu Event Center
may thirteenth if you can answer this trivia.

Speaker 2 (02:24:18):
Question we kind of stumbled across this. Today who is
the top individual rushing touchdowns leader in The Big Twelve
conference so far in twenty twenty? Five which player has
scored the most rushing touchdowns of The Big Twelve conference
to this point the? Season eight seven seven three five
three zero seven Hundred wrapping things up here on The

(02:24:39):
sean O'Connell. Show that means the drive With. Spence check
its is. Next he's here in Our broadway studios. Today, Hi,
SPENCE i.

Speaker 9 (02:24:45):
Think we should bring that story we were just talking
about off air on air as you think it's probably
safe to leave, it probably smart to leave it off air.

Speaker 2 (02:24:52):
For, well if this were SERIOUS, xm if there were
this were satellite, RADIO i would demand that you bring
it to the. Airwaves but because we're terrestrial and this
is a family, show.

Speaker 9 (02:25:03):
And i'll just say it was quite a, story, RIGHT
i mean it's a great engaging, entertainment wild and.

Speaker 3 (02:25:09):
Quick, yeah, yeah, yeah right to the. Point, yes it
had to. Be we were coming back from.

Speaker 9 (02:25:13):
Break i'll say this Black desert golf, resort beautiful golf.
Course the experience can get a little, Wild, Okay And
i'll just leave it, there all, RIGHT i got.

Speaker 1 (02:25:21):
There.

Speaker 3 (02:25:21):
Yeah oh So Kyle whittingham joined us on the. Show it's,
awesome good.

Speaker 2 (02:25:27):
JOB i wish we always wish we could have more
time With Coach, witt but very very grateful that he
gave us ten or twelve minutes in game week This
you AND i have talked about this. Already this week
feels like a, massively massively important game and you, know
as you dive into the more granular, stuff like right
Now Arizona.

Speaker 3 (02:25:45):
State it's got the.

Speaker 2 (02:25:47):
Most productive running back in the conference and the most
productive wide receiver in the, conference and a quarterback WHO
i think is performing below, expectation which is really. Interesting
so there's not even really a question. Here it's just
if that's where you know we net out heading Into
Rice ecles On saturday, night it feels manageable for the youth.

Speaker 9 (02:26:07):
Well And levitt last year was second in the conference IN.
Qbr he's eleventh this. Year and The Jordan tyson kid
is an incredible. Talent but there's not like another viable
option as far AS i think the second the second
leading wide receiver as far as catches, GO i think
he has.

Speaker 3 (02:26:23):
Five tyson has like thirty.

Speaker 9 (02:26:25):
Nine the tight END i think has, seventeen and they
throw to the running back quite a. Bit but as
far as wide receivers, GO i think the second leader
Behind tyson has five catches something like.

Speaker 2 (02:26:36):
That they're getting a guy back this, week If i'm not,
mistaken who was kind of supposed to be their second best.
Guy but his name escapes me right, Now but you're,
RIGHT i, mean it's been it's Been Jordan, tyson massive
drop off everyone. Else, Yeah Ralik brown carrying him for
six yards of, touch massive drop off everyone. Else And

(02:26:57):
levitt has been very opportunistic with his, legs as we
saw When utah played IN temp Against Arizona state last,
year but his arm has been pretty.

Speaker 9 (02:27:04):
UNDERWHELMING i feel like there are a lot of things
that should give you fans a ton of, confidence and,
namely you, know Like texas this, week Red river rivalry
say that ten times, fast they lose and it's over.
Right so backs against the wall and the caged, tiger cornered,
squirrel whatever the hell that's saying, IS i don't know that's.

Speaker 3 (02:27:26):
It's cornered, Squirrel utah. Onetball it is now a cornered.

Speaker 9 (02:27:30):
Squirrel squirrel can get the most dangerous of arel can get.
Loose utah football loses On, saturday it's going to be
tough to get back into it and win a big twelve.
Championship so you cannot fake. Desperation utah will play with
desperation in this. Game AND i think we've seen enough
to at least believe this is a good football. Team
if we're going to operate off the, premise The Texas

(02:27:50):
tech is now head and shoulders above everybody. Else utah
went toe to toe with them for three and a half.
Quarters it was a heavyweight, fight and then of course
things got. Loose the final, scores the final. Score but,
look the season is kind of on the, line not,
entirely but it feels like it's kind of on the.
Line and, therefore a desperate team THAT i think is
more or less as healthy as most teams are this

(02:28:13):
time of, year should have an, OPPORTUNITY i, think to
get a good home. Win it's going to be a great. Environment.
Man i've talked to so many people that are coming into.
Town i'm excited for. It night games At rice Ecles
wit talked about it himself On. Monday it just it
doesn't get much better than.

Speaker 2 (02:28:25):
That maybe a little soggy up. There so bring you,
actually so bring your your poncho and let's see what what.

Speaker 3 (02:28:32):
Happens, yeah wait for, it, man you feel good about?
IT i.

Speaker 2 (02:28:35):
Am i'm actually the MORE i look into the numbers
and the MORE i look into like How Arizona state
has actually, performed and you, know The Texas tech game,
notwithstanding LIKE i Think utah still is among the best
teams in this. Conference and when you look at the,
personnel because there's performance in this, personnel and then there's

(02:28:56):
the meeting of those two. Things utah's got the piece
is necessary to win this, game to win AGAINST, byu
to WIN i mean any of the remaining games on
the on the. Schedule but of course the margin for
error is incredibly, thin even in games that you had
penciled in his wins before we saw it play, out

(02:29:17):
like There.

Speaker 3 (02:29:18):
Cincinnati, Houston.

Speaker 2 (02:29:19):
Arizona these random nobody teams are not random nobody, Teams
so gotta be careful all the way through WHICH i
guess we should come to.

Speaker 3 (02:29:27):
Expect. Well should be a fun. Weekend get show, Today, bud.

Speaker 2 (02:29:30):
Stay tuned for The drive With spence check its thanks
for listening. Today what Tomorrow we Got Eric, weddle we
got auditioned with dev we keep pushing Towards Arizona, state
and we Got. Gordy it's gonna be a fun ONE
espn seven hundred ninety Twofm sean O'Connell show's done ON
espn seven hundred and Ninety you tells them One Sports
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