Ep. 6: Post Game Reaction - Utah Blasts UCLA

The UteNation crew breaks down the Utes dominant season opening win over UCLA.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Ah lah, welcome to the players left.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, well no, the mummy man can't compare.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Good morning you fan, faithfuls hoping your head is still
swimming over the exhilarating display of football by our football
utes last night versus too long of the tailgate party.
Mister Moss, how are you doing this morning?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
I'm great, man, I'm great.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
How you doing, I'm doing okay? Thanks for asking. Oh,
it's good to see you on this Labor Day weekend.
So being Labor Day weekend, did the utes put in
the work last night you expected to see?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh? Absolutely, I mean they did much better than I expected.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
You know, I thought that, you know, obviously we would
win because UCLA, in my opinion, wasn't going to be
a really strong team, and it's not a team that
anybody had doing a lot this season. You know, all
the noise for UCLA mainly came from the transfer quarterback
outside of actually football stuff on the green.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
So yeah, they did. They did an amazing job man,
of coming out there executing a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Of plays and putting drives together, which is hard to
do when you don't get that chance to essentially do
it through fall camp a lot when you get those
live reps, especially the ones and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
So it was awesome to see them putting drives together.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
And then obviously the biggest thing that everybody loved and
probably cared about was seeing the OC call the plays
and how much of a variety there was of these
plays and it wasn't just you know, the same old
stuff that they were probably kind of used to for
the last couple of years. And seeing how they spread
the field getting other people the ball and we'll speak

(01:48):
about that just who were touching the ball and stuff
like that.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
So it was awesome to see.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
For sure, it's it was a breath of pressure that
everybody has been waiting to deeply in hell, specifically from
last year. I know that we talked previously, but for
the show of what you wanted to see established on
the offensive defensive side, did they establish on offense what
you needed to see happen to say, Utah football offenses back.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
I don't want to say it's back. I think the excitement,
like you know I said, is the variety of the offense,
how the plays were called, and watching the game, I
got a lot of Ben Johnson from Beck just the
style and just everything like that, getting the ball of
Dan Peer's hands early, making them comfortable within the game,

(02:39):
getting to things that he liked, you know, and stuff
like that. So I wouldn't say that back yet. I
saw some stuff that I wasn't super loving at the
beginning because I thought we used dam Pier's leg a
little too much. I understanding that is what makes him
that separates him from a lot of different guys around
the country.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
But when you, for me, when you are out rushing
your running backs, right, one guy has sixteen carries, and
then the other had eleven carries, right, and then dam
Pier ended the game with sixteen carries and it was
our lead rusher, which, like.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I said, I love the fact that we have somebody
like that that we can depend on in both acts.
Best of the game is rushing and passing the ball
because he was he was he was super efficient, right,
But his legs allow him to be super efficient as well,
because he can make all those different type of plays
happen and make those hot percentage passes. But I didn't
love that we used his legs too much a little bit.

(03:35):
I thought would love to see both the backs get
a little bit more run. I thought that was a
game where maybe they both could have been around fifteen
carries the pop each even probably even a little bit
more than that we needed to.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
But you know, I love this, Like I said, I
love the scheme with.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Some design runs for Dan Pierre and there you know,
we had a long drive, a twenty plays drive as well,
and the temple wasn't slow on that drive, right, It
was not a tempo on that drive. So that's that's
great to see in the first game as well, because
that lets me know and give me a good of
a good indication that these guys are conditioned. Like you know,

(04:13):
all camp was a success because twenty play drives eighty
yards is not fun.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
It's not fun, especially for defense. It's not fun.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah, So you can imagine how many times you actually
script a twenty play drive or even when they say,
you know what, let's just play ball, put the ball down,
write in practice, come on twenty plays.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
That was You don't even practice twenty play scripts in
two minute drill on Thursday's practice like that is a drive?

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, no, it was.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
It was crazy, But you know, it was a lot
of great things I thought they did. Obviously some things
what you take away from every game, win or loss.
It's always some things you can get better at, and
I'm sure the coaches will look at that, and you know,
with this upcoming game at home, you know it's a
chance for them to work on a lot of different things.
But I thought it was a very, very good showing.

(05:08):
I think it's going to have a lot of people
hyped in. That's the best part as well, was like,
it's going to be a really good week.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
It's going to be a really good opening a week
here in icycles.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
I have to agree with you. I don't think that they,
as McBride would put it, they haven't arrived yet. They
still got some space to make up. But we spoke
on the forty eight hour rule of an identity. Both
sides of the ball need to establish an identity. I
feel from the first time they broke the huddle and
took the line, they were establishing their identity. They broke

(05:41):
the huddle quick, they were on the line quick, they
got lined up quick, like they were a business, a
high tuned, high caliber, finally tuned machine. Last night, from
just snapping the huddle, I think the offense found that
identity that people have been looking for in the last
couple of seas reasons, and like you mentioned, damp Pierre

(06:02):
his legs. We have been blessed as Utah fans in
the last several cycles of quarterback to have unicorns unicorns
but in a ute uniform. And what I mean by
that is we have players with specific skill sets. Damp
Pierre's legs absolutely, him being the leading rusher. That causes

(06:22):
concern for me because when your offense is contingent upon
a unicorn like that, what happens when they're not in
When he and when his helmet came off on that
error decision to take that hit, I got butterflies because
I knew who was coming in and it would be
a totally different playbook. So if you're going to protect

(06:44):
damp Pierre, you've got to let him run less because
we want him playing in the deep October, November, and December. Obviously,
I totally concur with you on that. The offensive line, wow,
the rushing yards and themselves speak, and you, being a
running back, I know you appreciated what was going down
on front. I watched the first three series specifically to

(07:06):
see the line surge where they're getting pushed, stone walled
or making progress and they were forging through with progress.
It was exciting. I think Coach Whittingham could have ran
for fifty yards last night in that backfield. It was ridiculous.
Fano upfront dominated and it continued down the line. It

(07:28):
was fun to watch those men go out and manhandle
UCLA up front like they did. And once you can
establish that, everything else is available in the playbook, absolutely
everything else. I wish Snowden would have gotten less carries
and more in the backfield, but you mentioned in the
forty eight hour rule that running back is kind of
by committee. Right now they're trying to figure out. I

(07:48):
will say Rogers, that boy's get some speed. He's got
some speed. He's got a fifth and a sixth gear
that we've needed on the outside and from the back field.
Distretched those on defenses. I appreciated them using Snowden on offense.
And I'll get to that two way player phenomenon here
in a minute, but I want to say traditional the

(08:11):
winning Hams beginning of the season playbook approach. He likes
to put things on film so that coming opponents have
to take the time to respect that game plan. Them
putting Snowden in wide receive promotion for the Jets sweep.
Anytime he lines up after they have to have a
contingency plan on defense ready for it. Got to have

(08:34):
it when Barton lines up at tight end. Now they
have to be conscientious of it, and that takes up
prep time to focus on everything else. They've got many
tricks in the bag. It's evident by the way that
they ran the plays last night, and it's going to
be fun to watch. So I have a feeling the
two way decrease. Specifically next week, the two way playing

(08:56):
will decrease, but the fact they've got it on film
is to cause defensive coordinators headaches for the rest of
the season. It makes you respect that skill set. Also
on offense, the outside wide receiver play still looking for
that deep stretch threat with the speed, but all of
their catches seemed to be short, comeback yack yards. It

(09:19):
was precision quick release, and when it wasn't a quick
release we mentioned in the forty eight hour rule, the
receivers have to do things to keep Dampier's eye downfield.
He's got to get They got to get him options,
they got to get open and I noticed on all
of the bootleg rollouts they had three layers of routes
available to him, and when those were taken, he can

(09:42):
run it. So that offensive production last night, to me,
determines every DC is going to have to spy dam
Pierre and that takes one more person out of the box.
We're in the deep zone, over the top coverage from
the safety benefit Utah.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And you see Lay spied him a
few times that game and they tried to use some
good containment it's things there, but he broke it down.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
I mean he made two dudes just touch the ground
very He's very quick, it's very sudden, and he.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Knows how to use your you know, your leverage on
you as well, and so that was really good to see.
But yeah, like Snowden, I think is going to come
down a little bit. But like you said, that was
a great point putting it on film right now, those
because you don't get a lot of practice time right
so now just having to take five minutes, ten minutes
of practice time to watch this guy line up right

(10:38):
and then have people you know, planning for that. That's
great tactic on on on the coaching staff side. And
this offense kind of gives me a little bit of
a Ben Johnson type Peel Becket's give me some Ben
Johnson style offense, right, And that's why I'm so excited
because they generated over four hundred plus yards, four hundred

(10:59):
and fifty plus.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
They did, right, Yes they did.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
And in my mind, alcohol I can think of is
what it didn't do well right with the parts of
the explosives that we're missing still right now that we
didn't get a chance to see. So I'm like, Okay,
these dudes generated four hundred and fifty plus yards.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Right.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
The passing game was super efficient, right. I mean we
probably look at Dan period. Dan Pier probably threw one
pass where you kind of was like, okay, that was
a little risky early on in the.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
Game, but that was it. Right. We had the one fumble, right,
but we recovered it thankfully. Right. But outside of that,
that was a clean operational game, right. And to your point,
getting up on the line of screamage getting the ball snap,
everybody said, you know the everything is clean, right.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Usually don't see that first game. You see a lot
of penalties, You see a lot of false starts and
playing behind the sticks. We didn't have those issues. We
didn't have to worry about that at all, Right, And
I remember going to one the practices and Beck was
out there just screaming and hollering a lot of the practice.

(12:11):
And now when I look back at them, like, you
know what, that probably is in the test to why
these guys were so ready operational wise to come out
there and perform at a high level. Right, because those
things were harped on and not glazed over and glossed over.
Those things harped on at practice over and over and over.
And these guys, like they said, I saw snowed and

(12:33):
Dan Pierce said, this was a statement game. They wanted
to come out and put it on film that hey,
we are not the teams that had the injuries last
year or two. We are a totally different ball team
and this is going to be a group that you
gotta go you got to go through us.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Right.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
We may not have all the preseason hype and all
this other stuff, but when you look at it, this
program has built winners. They know how can be consistently
always one of the best teams in the country.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
So I love where the mindset is so these guys,
and it's coming from your best players, right.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
I love where the mindset is, and I know that
each and every week, like now when they go play
Kyle Poly right, cal Poly is in the u c
L a type of a team or the other teams
that they're going to go play, you know, down the line.
But I have no doubt that they're going to take
that matchup and not play down to it, but go
out and make sure that they are just continue to

(13:32):
sharpen their swords and get ready each and every week
for what they gotta go do. And cal poally is
gonna be another team that we're gonna see a lot
of really good things.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
From the identity bell was lifted. Do we have an
offensive identity? Yes? Absolutely, And I appreciate OC back, and
I'm gonna have to call them OC back because I'm
og Beck harping on them at practice. There's something I
tell my students and all of the kids I coach.
Practice may not perfect, because nobody's perfect, only my grandma.

(14:04):
But practice makes permanent and you play the way you practice,
and if he's harping on them in practice, it's going
to manifest in the game. And we witnessed us first off.
Is Dan Pier the offensive leader I believe so not
vocal but he's obviously getting his offense to get where
they need to be on the field, and he's getting
the ball where it needs to go. Some identity things

(14:25):
that we shed from last year, I'm glad you didn't
carry through from this year. You mentioned penalties. We have
three penalties for fifteen yards total. Last year we seem
to shoot ourselves in the foot constantly with penalties that
would lead to third down efficiency or non efficiency. We
were amazing on third down last night, and the reason

(14:45):
being I believe third and short we played ahead of
the sticks consistently and it was amazing to watch. We
never stifled or shot ourself on the foot momentum wise. Ucla,
on the other hand, every chance they got. There's a
reason why they had so many fourth down attempts because
third down was just garbage form. I want to say

(15:07):
they converted to out of eleven third downs. That's abysmal
to any offensive perspective. So I'm glad that we shed that. Uh,
but let me ask you, offensive player of the game,
who would you not to for me?

Speaker 3 (15:25):
I gotta go with the office a line as a unit.
You got it, You got it. You gotta go with
the Office of Lines. And the unit man like they
start everything right and then on the vice on the
other side of the ball, right when look at the
defensive line and how they change that game and those
two units play out of their minds and they play
at a level that if we can get to that

(15:45):
level each week, it's going to be really really hard.
But yeah, office of MVP would have to be the
office of line. Right, you guys and Coach Harden had
those guys ready to go, and that's not easy when
you're talking about, you know, the different style of offense, right,
that's the offensive line is probably more so used to.
It's coming off the ball, moling guys over off rip

(16:08):
when you're playing with Dan Pierre, right, and he can
hang back there for.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Seven eight seconds, right, said fair, No, it's not fair.
He can hang back there for a while.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
These these quick passes RPO game, right, all these little
small little things making sure they're not pass the line
of scrimmage, got a legal man downfield, all these things
that it's very hard to replicate in practice, right, because
you don't have a ref out there, you know, making
sure they're not passed, you know, that line or whatever.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
So they were flawless they looked really really good.

Speaker 3 (16:41):
And to your point, on those third downs, I mean
we were just lying up on the center and then
just hand the ball off and everybody knows exactly which
way it's going. Right, We know exactly which way it's going.
And these dudes can.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Get five six yards on thirty one.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
That's football, right.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
Mostly these Thursday and one is supposed to be Oh
it's really closed. We got two yards, great when we're
talking about five and sixty six yards. Man, So and
then you got guys still standing up finishing the blocks
like that. I was like, man, this is this isn't fair.
And Ucilla is not a bad team of you know,
when it comes to the talent aspect of the right now,

(17:20):
these guys have, you know, highly recruited players and all
that type of stuff. So it's not like you're just
whooping up on, you know, anybody from down the street.
These are guys that are were recruited from everywhere. And
to see that that was that was lovely.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
There was absolutely lovely. When the line surge surges past
the first down marker, it makes it easy to go
for on third down, absolutely easy. As far as well
and fumbles, we did fumble twice, but we lost as zero.
I know that will be spoken about in team meetings,

(17:56):
but first game things are gonna happen. I totally agree.
The offense has been forged from now on, spitting polish, spittinglish. Yeah, absolutely,
so let's flip the side of the ball. Defense give
up one hundred and thirty six yards passing eighty four
yards rushing is smash mouth Salt Lake City defense football back.

(18:20):
They haven't arrived yet, But is that the identity we
needed to see this game?

Speaker 2 (18:23):
Oh yeah, oh yeah?

Speaker 3 (18:24):
And you know that defense has always been building around
some really good that front four, right, we got some
guys up there that can rush that passer and create
havoc and get in the backfield and throw off the
timing of a lot of different stuff. Because UCLA quarterback
is pretty dynamic with his legs as well, he can
run and evade and get some things going a little
bit from that aspect, but they had him totally rattled

(18:47):
the entire game, and it was great to see. I mean,
I think they only gave about twenty three yards in
the first quarter just overall, right, so everything else.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Negative eight rushing two minutes the second quarter.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
Yeah, so it was everything you want to see. The
dvs look pretty good as well. You know, they have
some some whole shots that they kind of miss u
c LA, but still overall, I thought everybody looks really
really well. Fino was making a ton of plays, and

(19:21):
if that guy can stay healthy and be that that
just wrecking havo type of a player. Right when you
have a guy like that, right, not just okay, we
got a pass rusher and we know third down this
is when this guy kind of shows up, but when
you got you have a guy like a Max Crosby
type of a player or Miles Garrett type of players

(19:43):
that guys that are just can cause havoc on first, second,
and third down and get these teams to have to
play different than they might want to.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Right, Oh, now we gotta play the quick game. We
can't sit here and.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Hold the ball and we can't do roll outs and
play actions.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
And all this funny stuff that a lot of teams
like they do.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Now, I think Final has a chance from just that
showing of last night, I think he has a chance
to be one of those similar type players and causing
habit for that defense and be that guy, right because
we got some really good linebackers. Yep, we're not worrying
about that, right. The interior is looking pretty solid overall,

(20:27):
and the DB's backside back there are going to look
even better if Fano is that guy calls and have
it making. The quarterbacks have to think, right, and you
only got about three seconds throw the ball as a
quarterback already, so now if you got to think about
another guy, you're losing the second second and half.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
So that ball is.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Going to have to come out quicker. Coach Shaw's going
to have these guys ready to jump all this stuff
and we'll see even more pixes. We already have pixes galore, right,
we never not have one of those. So imagine if
now we can get that guy who can cast so
much habit and that ball has to come out a
lot quicker, it's going to beautiful.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
Logan played beautifully. The whole defensive line played beautifully. Logan specifically,
it was almost like he saw the success in the
domination his brother was having and decided, I don't want
to only talk about him at Thanksgiving dinner with family.
I want to be part of the conversation. And he
took charge this defensive line, and I'm a bit biased.

(21:27):
It reminds me of nineteen ninety four's defensive a lie
my freshman year when coach Luther Ellis was the defensive
tackle Barnes ell Miller was on the outside check hahaha,
both cafushie boys. When the defensive tackles don't have very
many tackles in the game, means the outsides are doing
what they need to do and the inside stay and plugged.
Nico got some rush yards, but it was because he

(21:47):
was running for his life versus the yards Dan Pierre
got that were optional out of RPO options. Pass wasn't there.
I'm gonna run it and get those yards. Nico was
running for his life. Absolutely kept pressure on him the
entire game. He had to look out of the corner
of his eye. He wasn't comfortable back there. That's Utah
defensive football, smash mouth. It's the way it's been for

(22:10):
thirty one years since coach Waningham started with the defensive
line in ninety four under his dad of the DC.
That is Utah defense football. I love seeing the linebackers
do it. You do. Barton had a great game tackle wise,
pressure wise, but the only defensive pass breakup came from funnel. Yeah,
we had no and I'm saying that's credit to the pressure.

(22:33):
There were no downfield balls and all of the yards
that they got were because the coverage could have been
a bit tighter, but the ball was coming out quick
and they were desperation plays. They needed big chunks in
third and long. They were behind the sticks all night.
You're gonna built those fifty to fifty balls up there,
your probability states are going to win some of them.

(22:54):
Another thing I liked from last night safety play from
Nate Ritchie. Nate Richie has in and out of the
lineup the last couple of years. He's on the leadership council,
but what I saw him do last night is direct
players get downhill, establish the sideline, and establish the contained
to turn everything back in. It was a silent, beautiful
display of being efficient and leading that defense. I saw

(23:17):
that from many people on the defense, specifically the defensive backs.
Though I am excited to see them get challenged more downfield,
but there wasn't that opportunity last night. Only time will
tell things are looking good for the defense. They can't
spit and polish, But like we mentioned, the offense. They're
gonna go pretty vanilla playbook. They're not going to reveal
how they release the dogs at every time, and it's

(23:40):
going to be more exciting as they get more comfortable.
I really appreciated when UCLA was testing our coverage and
our football IQ by setting people in yoyo motion and
seeing if we were trailing in man or if we
were bumping the zones. It looked like the communication was better,
the pickup was better, understanding, the schematic was better. Overall,

(24:01):
defensive IQ seem to be more in sync. And when
you're not thinking about what I have to do, you
can start thinking about what am I going to do?
And that was the opportunities defense presented last night. Third
down efficiency for USLA was abysmal. Defense stepped it up
on that. It was an absolute beautiful display of defensive efficiency.
Who would you say was defensive player of the game.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
I think I gotta go with Funnel.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
I have to, uh, just because of the habits causing
those plays to be killed in the backfield. Right, even
when you're not when he's not making the actual play physically,
he's making that play for the other guys to now
make that play, right, like you.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Said, we didn't see a ton of these deep.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
Passes, right, And that's the credit to the entire defensive
line because not.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
One can change it. Right.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Uh, you know officeer line, they work as a unit, right,
defensive line. They rushed as a as a unit.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Right.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
So no, not seeing him out is if he was
just thereby him. Sure, but his effort that he had
and he played with that energy that he played with,
that's going to be you know, contagious to all those
guys on that side of the ball. And like I said,
when you have your two leaders, right Snowden and Damn period,

(25:17):
two of your best players, if not probably your two
best players. Right when they go into the press conference
and they say this was a statement game, they weren't
just speaking this is a statement game, right and whispering
that to each other the whole week. Everybody on that
roster knew this was a statement game, and everybody on
that roster came out and played with the execution that

(25:41):
was needed to make a statement. Everybody came with the
energy and the effort that was needed to make a statement.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
And you saw it.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
At the end of the day. Forty three or ten
killed them and a lot of different areas gave him
no life. The only thing they had life was was
running for it, like you said.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
So it was.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
It was like I said, it was a great display
for the first game of the year.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Right.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
I think the fans are going to be a static
from this art, static from this game, like they waking
up today. Right, It's gonna be a great Sunday. Right,
It's gonna be a great Monday from Labor Day. Right,
it's gonna be a nice little two day extra break
here from seeing that and having so much to talk
about because, like I said, we haven't seen this offense

(26:24):
with this different style of players being able to do
so many different things. Like I was watching the game
and I'm watching I'm like, man, we didn't have none
of this, just variety of different stuff that we did, Right,
And I played with three different ocs and not one
of them had this style of variety and understanding on

(26:46):
like how to call these plays.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
It's really easy when you.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
Have a lot of plays, Right, I can print out
five hundred plays, but how to.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Call them, when to call them, where to call them.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
All that stuff is way more important than having all
these pretty plays where you can motion the guy over here,
fly motion them behind the quarterback and you know, do
a fake counter this way, run the screen. It's great
when it looks a certain way on TV. But having
a guy like oc back right that knows how to
call these plays and when the call of these plays,

(27:20):
it's great because on the other side of the ball, right,
Coach Witt, Coach Scalley, those guys they're playing Comerence in
football with us, yes, right, So he's not calling things
that are going to get us off the field in
three and outs and then putting our defense back in
a bad position. Right, He's calling this game with the
understanding of, hey, I'm doing something a job not only

(27:43):
for our offensive side of the ball, but also for
the defense side of the ball, and if it comes
down to it, the special teams as well, because all
these different phases are big one. Right, So that was
the biggest thing, because I know when I play sometimes
Ross would not think all the way about Comers football,
and that would kill Coach Wit.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
I get what you're saying. It's like, we need to
get into our rhythm, we need to establish our play sets,
so they'll sucker up on this. For the third quarter
play last night, it seemed like the offense is like,
we're not gonna put you in the situation. We're gonna
get ours and if we don't get to the end zone,
it's not gonna put you all in a bind.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
No, it's not gonna be after seven eight plays. Don't worry.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
You're gonna be fresh.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
You're gonna have your It's one thing.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
That I know defensive players, Hey, we go out there
and we throw the ball three straight times and they
right back up and they like, come on, man, like,
just come on, we just sat down, we just got
a little war, and right back out there. So for
me watching them, I'm like, Okay, these guys, it seems

(28:53):
like coach coach Beck and coach Witt and all those
guys have a great idea of how they want to
play together. Right, the coaches also have to play the
game together, right, So watching them do that just this
first game, I'm like, Okay, that's a beautiful thing because
he's not putting them in a bad situation. He's not
putting them in situations. He's not even calling plays where

(29:15):
the ball can be at a high level of turnover.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Right, So all of.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
These different things people have to look at it like
that a little bit, think about it some sounds like that,
and just think about how much better this office is
going to get.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
And that alone leaves.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
You so excited to have a guy like Beck who's
going to be calling these plays and it's going to
be calling his office for the next few years, right
And the guys that you're going to start getting in
here want to come and play in this style offense because,
like I said, it gives me Ben Johnson vise.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
And I don't know a guy in NFL that.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
Doesn't want to play in a Ben Johnson style offense
right now.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
So very well put, I have the defensive player the
game is the entire defensive line they showed up as
as a unit. Sack Lake City may not be back yet.
They haven't arrived, as coach Mack would say, but they
are definitely knocking on the door. It's gonna be exciting
to see them spitting polished this forged defense for the
weeks to come. A little dark horse, I got to

(30:15):
mention the new kicker, Dylan Curtis, homegrown product Murray High School.
The community was very excited to see this young man
take the field last night as a freshman. He shanks
the first extra point, and then I thought, you know what,
you got it out of the way. Only greatness goes
out nails a fifty three yarder. Knowing you have a

(30:37):
leg for a freshman available like that changes the way
the offense can call the place too.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Yeah, and putting him in that moment right then and there,
because yes, if I'm a freshman, right and I'm kicking
this ball, and I shanked my first kick right, and
then I come out and they asked me to come
kick a fifty three yarder right, And instead of him
turning it down in the sense of, you know, going
out and missing it right because we missed that, that's
something mentally that's happened, right, but him going out there

(31:08):
mentally locking in and saying, I'm going to go kick
this field goal and make this because I've made this
plenty of times, right, even with the game being out.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Of reach and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Yes, but still going out there visualizing seeing it and
then doing it. That's huge, And that's great for the
confidence of a guy that you're going to rely on
at some point and you're going to need him to
be ready to go because he's with this style offense
I don't think he's going to have many opportunities. Kate
philops right with right. Yeah, like the way like I

(31:38):
played in my mayde my first second year in Buffalo,
we had a punter. We didn't even know we had
a punter, right, because it's either we were scoring a
touchdown right or we were getting three points and at
the end, So it was like it was for weeks
weeks on end where this guy didn't punt the ball.
So for me, I'm hoping that it kind of resemble

(31:59):
a little bit that so where we're not kickings as
much as we might need to, right, because three points
is always good where you can get them. But still
this offense is just moves the balls out of such
a at a pace in a way that is really
really unstoppable to some degree. The only thing that can
stop them is themselves penalties and turnovers at the ball, right,
So it was great to see them. The coaches put

(32:22):
him in that spot to give him that confidence. So
now next week coming back home, allow him to go
out there and make these kicks now in his home stadium,
and that's only going to further build up his confidence.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
That's what these early games are for.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
Right, especially when you can jump out of only UCLA
like that arow you can get practice reps in almost right.
Some of this stuff is now getting younger guys in
and letting them work their you know, work their stuff
and stuff like that, so I'm expecting the same thing.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Man.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
It was great to see the coaching staff be so
progressive in their thinking and putting young guys out there
and putting our guy there to make that fit three
yard kick because it's not easy to do, no.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
No, And I think it gives every other player good
insight into the faith of belief that the coaching staff
will have as you as a player and why you're there.
You're not here to keep your job. You're here to
show why you got the job or the opportunity to
begin with. And them giving that young kid, who I mean,
he's gonna have stage fright. Your first extra point is
in the Rose Bowl, literally in the Rose as a freshman. Yeah,

(33:27):
your nerves are going to be shaky, but you got
to put that confidence. Mistakes are going to happen, it's
how you respond to it and they forge through beautifully.
Knowing that your scoring possibilities increase once you get inside
the forty yard line changes your offense, changes your mindset,
and it changes the sticks. It changes the way the
defense calls it as well, changes the way the defense

(33:48):
calls it as well. Yes, I wanted that, so you
did speak to the point I wanted to ask you personally.
You being a running back, you appreciate what the offensive
line was doing, that they're opening the holes. That there's
that great line surge. I mean that makes any running
back's mouth water when they have options to run the ball.

(34:09):
We talked about identity in the forty eight hour rule.
There's always been a model or something that ties in
to the business of Utah football. It started off decades
ago with Utah by five, and then it went to
Next Man Up and MAFU with McBride, and it went
to it all other things. In the last couple of years,

(34:31):
that rally cry has been the forever twenty two, and
I've been thinking the forever twenty two, the scholarship, the
moment of noise, all of that. As a fan for
several years, I have seen the rally point around that.
I've seen it in the stadium. I've seen it Carrie
for several years. My question is is there enough people

(34:56):
on the roster now that remember that they can still
use it to push through or is this the new
resurgence of an identity for Utah football. I'm not saying
they're gonna forget the twenty two. That's a forever thing, gratefully,
but is it time to hitch up the horses to
a hitch up the card to a different horse forging forward?

(35:18):
With how much turnovers happening on college football rosters.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. Uh yeah, it's it's
a great point because fifth percent of the roster is new, right,
Like a lot of these guys, we're impacted by that, right. Yeah,
obviously you can share you know, similarities and things like that,
so that what happened that.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Tragedy, both tragedies there.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
You know, it's just being humans, right, We all know
someone of the might have passed and things of that nature, and.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
It could have you know, impacted us.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
But what that had on those teams that won two
back to back pack twelve championship games, right, what that
had on those teams isn't going to be the same
care on these new teams for right, Because at the
end of the day, yes, it is always going to
be of for everything.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
The coaching staff there people who come after.

Speaker 3 (36:10):
That culture staff is always going to preach that and
remember that and going to have those those going into
the fourth quarter of those those moments of silence and
things of that nature, right, and have all that stuff going.
But I think it's it's not a bad idea to
start thinking about what the identity of the culture is
for this team and how the turnover is always going

(36:32):
to happen. Like you're not going to retain your players constantly, right.
I think if you almost giving yourself a little room
for error, fifty might be the new norm with this
nil stuff, right, And you have to start thinking in
that sense of it and understand, Okay, a lot of
these guys are from different places, a lot of these

(36:54):
guys are only going to be here for six months.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
A lot of these guys right or X, Y and Z.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
So it's like, you gotta figure out a way. And
I think right now for this team, they can still use,
you know, everything that twin two fever brains. I think
they can still use that because it's still so fresh
and it's still so new and and it hurts you
every single time you hear about it. You see it

(37:18):
all of those different fields that it brings, so it
still has that fresh sting to it. So I think
they can still use it. And you have a few
guys that are still on the team that was there
and the coaches right now was making it last so long.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
It's the coaches right now with this with this roster.

Speaker 3 (37:37):
But yeah, I think definitely at some point, maybe next
two three years, that we are going to have to
shift from that, right and not use that as motivation
in a sense, but leave it as a beautiful thing
as what they've made it become right and find a
new new path is something that these guys can hold

(38:00):
on to for the next twenty thirty years, right, something
that wasn't built out of the tragedy, right, and it
was beautiful. How the coaches that they don't get enough
credit right now we think about it, they don't get
enough credit. How they they rallied all those young guys together, right,
They're not like then that's not their kids, right, But

(38:20):
the way they were able to rally those young guys together,
keep them level headed and not have stupid retaliation things
outside of things you can't control, and bring it into
something that the entire state could feel they don't get
enough credit for being in that each and every single day.

(38:40):
And people aren't checking up on the coaches, right because
they lost players as well. People aren't checking on the coaches.
The coaches are so busy given to the players in
this moment in time. So and that's stuff that sticks
with you for life. For the players, like when they
walk out of those doors, right, losing two guys you
played with, that hurts.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
For your life. That's not something you ever forget. So
they don't get enough credit for that.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
But at some point, absolutely it's going to That's everything
in life. Everything changes, right, you just use all the
different Utah and five next man up. You would have
thought those when they were brought up would be there forever, right,
So it happens. Change is inevitable. It happens to each
and every one of us. So even with something super
touchy is that it is still going to happen. And

(39:28):
that's where the logic part of your brain has to
separate from the emotion of it, because, like I said,
it is a terrible thing. But you have to be
able to see that light and be understand that, Okay,
we are going to be in different times here.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
I appreciate how you said no one thinks about the coaches,
because if you ever look at coach Shreik shah By
that humongous smile and is constant love you man's you
would never think that something like that is still affecting him,
although he is just as human as anybody else. Yeah,
and it does affect them, we just don't get to
see them express it or act on it like players
can go out and rally around. I appreciated Dan Pierre

(40:06):
last night in the post conference saying post conference interviews
saying it's a family feel. That's what he started it
off with. Now, granted him and Snowden both hit checked
all the boxes off in their media responses in the
press conference that they were taught in freshman media relations class.
I mean it was all generic round about vanilla checked

(40:27):
off the boxes, but that U tough family feel. You
experienced it. I've experienced it. It is real and I
think that the rally point, the Forever twenty two, the
next man up, the MAFU from McBride, All of it
circles back to this is a tight knit family community
and with the high turnover now people may not be

(40:49):
here long enough to even figure that out, but the
ones that do will be able to spread that love
and forge forward for hopefully the next twenty thirty years,
keeping that family mind tellity intact and with Scally being
the coaching and waiting, I know that his mindset and
approach mirrors Whittingham's, who's mirrored Urban and McBride, who marred
all of the other head coaches that wanted that family.

(41:12):
Feel in that connection. Absolutely, Uh, you know what, That's
all I have. You answered all my questions gratefully. I
know you're extremely tired because you got a young baby
in arms that's wrestling for your attention in the middle
of the night. Is there anything else you'd like to
add before we let these people go for libor day?

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Oh man, I'm looking forward to this upcoming week though.
You know, I'm planning on being at the game. So
it'll be my first game home opening game that I've
ever been to in any sport outside of the one
I had to play it.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
So we're gonna put you up on the jump up throng,
hopefully not.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Hopefully I can just go some there in the Batman
and just chill somewhere.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
I don't know, but I'm so excited to see this
offense in person now.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
And I'm like I was.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
I was kind of like, man, do I want to
go to this game because it's cal poly? But then
it's like, I know they're gonna win this handle League.
They're going to go out and look dominant by the
third quarter. You're gonna be like, all right, let me
should I beat traffic here?

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Right? So I was thinking about it, But then I
watched the game last night and I'm sitting in my
office and I'm watching them.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Like, man, I kind of need to see these dudes
in person and see this stuff moving and how things
are being spoken on the sideline, Like I want to
see what's the intensity, what's the communication, How are guys
loving each other, having their backs and stuff like that
and everything like that. When when when Parker had to fumble,
I'm like, Okay, I saw him how the fumble. He

(42:38):
came out and Rogers came in and ran the ball right,
And Rogers is definitely gonna have a lot of big
runs this year. I'm actually, now that I've watched that game,
I'm not I won't be mad if you use both
of them.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
You're going to have to use both of them. I
don't think one of the other.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
They place totally different, so I don't think either one
is gonna get a huge leader the other, especially this season.
But I think you got to just use both of them,
which I'm excited to see. So I want to see
just you know, how everything is working.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
On the sideline as well.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
So I'm like, man, that game was so impressive that
they might get me to drive forty five minutes to
come down to write the right cycles being all that
commotion going on and everything like that, and be there.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
And still have to think about that traffic later on.
I might just do it.

Speaker 3 (43:28):
Because that offense looked so damn good and I'm leaning
towards it, So I'm looking forward to that.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
Man, I think that's gonna be the biggest thing. You know.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Make sure you guys are having some grate food this
on Labor Day and just kicking your feet up as
much as you can. That's the best thing I can
give you.

Speaker 1 (43:46):
I want to hear the pads pop, like I wish
I would have been at that game last night, because
you know, those paths that were popping, and then we're
getting picked up on all the microphones, but I think
that was the missing component and find details well that
would have wrapped up what I was witnessing with my
eyes and thinking in my head. All I was missing

(44:07):
was the big contact because there was a lot of
contact in our favor, and pads pop when you see
lines served that much. So I'm excited for that aspect
next week, and we'll get in more to this with
the forty eight hour rule coming out later this week.
But let me close with asking you this Bloody Monday.
It's practice tomorrow for those who don't know, it's the

(44:29):
follow up first practice back from the game. It's called
bloody Monday because it's where your dues are paid. When
I played, it was called loaf Monday because McBride at
the end of practice would have everybody circle up around
the U in the stadium back when the stadium was
green concrete, and if you felt you loafed during the game,
meaning you took a playoff, you went in the circle

(44:52):
and you did updowns until coach got tired of blowing
the whistle that started the retribution. McBride would lay down
I'm on the ground with his whistle. M this is
this is more than the bloody Monday. Do you think
Monday's practice it's a good one.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
I won't say it's a good one. I won't say
it's a good one.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
When you beat down somebody like that, complacency is going
to creep in, right.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
But but I do believe.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
That, like I said earlier, I do believe that these
guys with the statement that they made right verbally and physically,
when they said they wanted to make a statement, I
think you don't they think they are They have understanding
that this is not one game. You don't make a
statement for one game, right, So everything that you're going

(45:51):
to do is going to going to matter. So I
don't think it's going to be a good practice, right.
I think it's going to be a practice where hopefully
the mental reps take precedent.

Speaker 2 (46:03):
Right. Physically, they've toned it down a lot, man, Right, Like,
physically they've.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Doing updowns in the middle of Yeah, that happening right
now is not a chance, right, Like even you know,
the pit, the pit isn't even a thing anymore.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
R No, So I don't think it's going to be
a physical practice.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
So I think by that standard, that's why I'm shifting
my mindset to still in the mental reps, Right, how
many guys instill the mental reps that didn't play maybe
a lot in this game, but are going to play
a lot in this game most likely are going to
need these mental reps because the ones are still going
to get the reps throughout the week. So hopefully Monday

(46:46):
is you know, really really good from neck above. So
that's what I'm looking forward to, and you know it's
going to catapult these guys into doing some really good things.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
They can get off to a.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Hot start, and and how defenses on their heels and
are defense putting offenses on the hills twenty four to seven?
The way the way he looked now on both sides
of the ball, he couldn't have asked me anything better,
especially the game started so late.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
He couldn't have actually anything better.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
I think that next week's game is looks like the
last week of an NFL preseason schedule. You're going to
see people getting the reps that need the mental reps.
The coaches are trying to figure out the depth chart
that it's almost like a playbook test book. Who's been
paying attention to film, who's been in their playbook who's
been getting quality reps because now they get to show it.
It's at home. I think a lot of the underclassmen

(47:38):
get a chance to shine. I remember how excited I
was to get in the game on defense our first
home game in ninety four against Idaho State. Played the
whole four