September 7, 2026 • 31 mins
In the second hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain talk to Hugh Millen about his overall thoughts on the Dawgs winning the 2026 Apple Cup, whether Demond Williams can lead the team to the CFP and whether the Huskies have enough weapons on offense. Then he chimes in on the Seahawks opening the season and the injuries to Nick Emmanwori and Ty Okada. He also addresses the controversial Michigan win over Western Michigan.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, from the Star Reynolds Sports Desk, your 93.3 KKRFM
Sports Headlines.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, boys and girls, here we go. Headlines on
a Monday afternoon, live from the Emerald Queen Casino Sports Book,
brought to you by our friends at Frostbrook. Coors Light,
as cold as the raggies.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
They all have their head up their ass, and that's
a lousy take.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
That guy will join us in a matter of minutes,
so stay tuned. The Huskies win the Apple Cup yesterday,
24-10 over Washington State. Dogs now take on Utah State
Saturday at 1230. Aggies, by the way, coming off a
loss to FCS Idaho State over the weekend. Quade Carr
running back, going to have surgery. Jade Lamar. Number two
running back, also going to be out for a while
(00:41):
with an injury.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
We've got college football coming up in about 30 minutes
from Tallahassee. Florida State hosting 19th ranked SMU as week
one comes.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
To a close. His mama was a hooker, his brother
was a bot, and his brother Jimmy died of polio.
Lost his legs. What a tragedy.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
I feel bad for the 30-somethings and younger that never.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Heard Keith Jackson call the college football game. Wouldn't it
like to hear Keith Jackson talk about a kid with
polio and a hooker? NFL Giants cutting wide receiver Darius Slayton.
He's been with the G-Men since 2018. The Cowboys guard
Tyler Smith. Out the first four games of the year
after thumb surgery.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Pats running back Travion Henderson. Missed practice again today. Uncertain
for Wednesday night. Nicky Manwari unlikely to play in the
opener for the Hawks. Ty Okada is questionable.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And the Mavis. The Seattle Mariners. Losing three out of
four to the A's. Six out in the wild card.
Six out in the west. 18 games left to go.
Off day today. Three with the Rangers starting tomorrow. Here
we go. I heard them this morning with the morning show.
And it was great. I thought it was really well done.
A lot of intel, a lot of information. Unique, informative,
(01:52):
all that stuff. But then I thought to myself when
it was over, I just wanted a little more. Didn't
get it. So I brought him back. Never gets old,
does he? A little more.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That's a matter of opinion.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
A little more. I just need a little more. I
need a little more. It's like when you're a kid,
just one more scoop.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Hey, get your foot on the accelerator. We got one second, man.
There's a lot to talk about. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Drive this car. No, we can do two. We can
do two. We got a lot going on. If we
do two, then we'll ask for two. But I don't know.
Let's start with the Apple Cup, man. How'd you feel
after watching your beloved dogs in the Apple Cup yesterday?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Well, I'm reluctant to call it the Apple Cup. I mean,
you know, the same as I'm not going to call
what the– The the conference that is now described as
the Pac-12, that's Pac-12 is the premier schools on the
West Coast that dissolved. And and so what does it
comprise of? It's basically Mountain West schools plus a directional
(02:54):
school from Texas, formerly Southwest Texas. And then the two teams,
I'm sorry, the Pac-8, 10 and 12. existed from 1968
to 2023. And in that period, the losing this team
was Oregon State and the second losing this team was
Washington State.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Sorry, Cougs.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I'm just holding up a mirror. So that that I'm
not calling that the Pac-12 and I'm not calling this
the Apple Cup. I mean, there's always been a somewhat.
structural imbalance between Washington's resources and Washington state and, and,
and credit the Cougars. I mean, I got a lot
of pain from some apple cup losses and they played
above their, their, their means, if you will. But it
(03:35):
is now gone from structurally imbalanced to structurally locked, lopsided. And,
you know, in, in the, in the sense that, you know, Washington,
you know, it used to be both schools are paying,
are getting paid room and tuition and, Right. And now
it's Washington has a payroll that's five to six times
what Washington State is. Their coaches paid four times as much.
(03:57):
So I'm just really you know, I know that it
serves a lot of people to to to attach the
Apple Cup or name to this game. But in my mind,
that game is gone.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
OK, then what you make of the game?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Okay, so then by that standard, it's really not any
different than playing Utah State. Absent, I get it. There's
going to be some Cougars on the roster that are
from Washington. They're going to have some extra incentive. I
get it. But aside from that, it's no different than
playing Utah State. And I think it was a disappointment offensively.
(04:34):
You go back to a year ago in the game
against Washington State that I won't call the Apple Cup.
Washington had, in their first eight drives, they had seven
touchdowns and a field goal, and then their last drive
was one play to take Anita in the game. So
of those nine drives, obviously they scored on the first eight.
(04:55):
Yesterday in the first nine drives, they scored one touchdown
and one field goal. So in a way, when you
thought that they would be progressing in year three, they
had at least, compared to this opponent, who had a
year one coach in the Cougars, there was a regression.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Let's talk about number one, Hugh. I mean, if you
tilt your head towards the fourth quarter, you saw flawless football.
If you tilt your head the rest of the game,
you saw less than flawless football. What was your evaluation
of DeMond?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Well, after three quarters, he's 18-29 for 153 yards, no touchdowns.
That is not any kind of all-star trajectory. Fourth quarter, 6-6,
115 yards. Phenomenal plays. I think you credit the offense,
the answer drives when the Cougars scored in each of
(05:43):
their scores in the fourth quarter. The most impressive drive
for the Cougars was that early in the fourth quarter
touchdown drive. They made a number of plays, got things
a little bit tense, and credit the play calling and
the play making because there was aggressive. You come out,
you roll, move the pocket. Huskies got lucky because DeMond
(06:04):
Williams almost got his– arm hit but he gets a
a crossing route for 29 yards and they call they
dial up the flea flicker um you know why they
get a wide open receiver up the sideline down to
the goal line so so they they really put the
uh the pedal down when a lot of coaches and
players might have been tight uh they were anything but
(06:24):
so you really credit that uh and you know big
time playmaking uh uh you know the the rush on
you know play of the game obviously that scramble for
21 yards you look at that and there's a point
where you say wait there's three cougars there how could
the inside guy of them who is you know arguably
one of their best players maybe their best player linus
(06:45):
zunk is pursuing he's got how how he loses leverage
back to the inside is beside me but you know
i look and i say okay that's fine against the
cougars the cougars missed those tackles but last year against
ohio state DeMond had 20 yards rushing on seven carries.
That's 2.9 yards per carry. He had 11 yards against Michigan,
(07:06):
against Oregon. He had seven yards rushing, four carries, 1.8 average.
So when I see him do this stuff, I figure, well, boy,
he ought to be able to do that against the
best defenses, but he didn't. And so I just kind
of roll my eyes and say, hey, that's beautiful. You
made a guy, you clowned a guy, you broke some ankles,
(07:27):
but that's not that caliber of opponent doing that. We
need to see it against a better defense. They weren't
playing against a better defenses. So he did what he
had to do to win a football game, but I'm
going to withhold being overly impressed until I see those
type of runs against better defenses.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, no, I get that. Hugh Millen with us. And, Hugh,
I just sent you a screenshot. Not that you haven't
seen this already. I'm certain that you have. But grab
your phone real quick and check your text messages there
because I sent you a screenshot of the overhead camera
on fourth and goal from the one. And DeMond Williams
handing the ball to Jaden Lamar. Remember, the ball's at
the one. And Jaden Lamar is getting the ball at
(08:08):
the six-yard line. I was telling Dick, I'm on the sideline,
and you know me. I've been bitching about this for years.
This is not just Jed or anybody else. I was
yelling at Kalen about this when he was here. Why
coaches on fourth and goal from the one get in
shotgun and give the ball to a running back at
the six-yard line when they only need a yard and
(08:28):
ask their offensive lineman to hold blocks for longer than
they need to instead of getting under center, getting in power,
and shoving up somebody's ass I'll never understand. I was
shaking my head before the ball was even snapped in
that formation. Can you explain why coaches, and there's a
lot of them, keep doing this?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, how many segments do we have for this one play?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I told you we're doing two. You see, that's what happens.
We're doing two.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
All right, so the Huskies are going inside zone to
the right. They're going over right guard in what's called
a split zone because you've got the tight end is
going to come across on a slice block from right
to left. So the aiming point is over right guard.
And to your point, so you're not in shotgun. Dick,
why don't you tally all the problems here, okay?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So you're in shotgun. Excuse me. You're in shotgun. But
if you're going inside zone to the right, the running
back should be to have a straight line. It aligns
up on the left side. The Huskies choose to have
a formation where the running back lines up to the right. Well,
you know what that means is he has to go
to his left to go get the football, slow down,
(09:39):
get the football in. And then try and accelerate. So
he's going to get to the hole later by the
alignment from where he is. Now, if you want to say, well,
hang on, there's a lot of good teams, particularly in
college football, that operate out of the shotgun in these situations.
It would leave the reed keeper open up the left
alley for. demand. It would also have RPOs like the
(10:03):
touchdown they scored in the fourth quarter. That was a
shotgun inside run where they threw it out there to
recede Williams. So there is an argument to be made
for being in the shotgun, but I do not like
any argument you're going to present where the running back
is to the same side for the reasons I described.
Let's talk about the blocking. You're going to get a
double team between the center and the right guard. They double-team,
(10:26):
but they don't come off to the middle linebacker the
entire play. The middle linebacker, who's aligned right over the ball,
he never gets touched. Then you look at, as a party,
a three-year right tackle. He's fanning out to block the
edge where the four technique, as the guy head over him,
gets totally unblocked. As a party, it looks like he's pass-blocking. Uh,
(10:52):
and he expects every, the term is called fan where
the whole line is going to come to him. So the,
the block and, and, oh, by the way, you're arguably
your best, at least a all-star caliber, uh, offensive lineman,
John Mills, just gets fricking trucked and, you know, and
in the hole and, and he, uh, He creates a
whole box of coat hangers for the running back to
(11:12):
have to go around. So, I don't know, Dick, did
you run out of ink on the towers?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
I mean, I got a minimum of three huge ones.
It depends on how you want to divide up blocking.
Is blocking one.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Thing on my list? Shotgun, running back alignment. And blocking.
Don't block the mic. The left guard gets stoned. The
right tackle is fanning.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And oh, by the way, you know, somebody somebody's coming
off the edge. So so a.k.a. cluster. Yeah. That's the left.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So at any rate, you know, we're into half a
dozen problems on that. And and so look, you know,
Coach Fish, you know, he's very angry.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Part of it. He should have been angry with himself
for the structure of the play. And I'll say this.
When I watch them, they they show signs of having
too much volume. And I know just don't ask me
how I know, but I know from the past, you know,
like there's a certain, it's like Goldilocks and the porridge.
You want to have enough plays to have enough. And
you want to have it, but you don't. All right. Softie,
(12:11):
just quiet down. I'm going to talk to Dick. Would
you agree, Dick, that if you have too many plays,
you can't practice them enough, and it's too much to
really be able to play fast? If you don't have enough,
then you can't attack the defense in the ways that
you want to attack. So you want to have the
right amount of volume. There's sign after sign where you say,
(12:31):
wait a minute, the lack of execution bears signs of
having too much volume. And to have a play... One
play to go in the half from the one-yard line
on a simple split zone to have that many busts
and that many problems on a play, they deserve to
(12:52):
get stuffed. I talk about holding up the mirror. They
ought to hold up a mirror and say, let's take
a look at this. why did we have such a
confounding number of L's on this, including in the play
caller and the structure of the play? So there's too
many L's to be had against Washington State, let alone
(13:12):
you're going to go in the Big Ten. They've got
to tighten this up, and I think one of it
might be, let's just pull down the volume of the
plays a little bit.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Can we just pick another nursery rhyme? That's all I'm asking.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Nope, nope. Not until I find one that it's like, hey,
Not too much, not too little. That's a really important
thing in football in so many ways.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Hugh, coming into this season, we were concerned, I would say,
curious at the running back and the wide receiver position
as far as whether there was going to be playmakers.
Did you see any real weapons out there?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well, I liked Carr on that gap scheme, couple counters
to the left side. I thought he read the whole
It wasn't exactly how it was designed on the whiteboard,
but most runs aren't. So he had some good vision
and some good acceleration. So I think there was something there.
(14:06):
I don't know that there was a lot of power there.
I like the power in Jaden Lamar. That touchdown run,
very well designed. I like pulling the center and the tackle.
They blocked pretty well in the perimeter. He made a
man miss. So that was good football. The Lamar touchdown
was good football and a good running. But Even with
(14:27):
those guys healthy, I was sitting there scratching my head
and saying, is this really like Washington Huskies slash Big
Ten caliber starting running backs? I don't know. I'm not
really seeing it. I'm not sure I hate them, but
I'm not sure I love them. That's when they were
all healthy. Now you get the top two guys down,
and I'm certain that the next guys, to me, it's
(14:48):
a problem. Like if you objectively said we're going to
go through the Big Ten with 18 teams and we're
going to just say no ties, you get the rank
from top to bottom. I can't imagine the Huskies aren't
in the bottom quadrant as presently constituted. And that might
be being generous when we're talking about the running back position.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Well, you saw the look on Jetfish's face today. I
think he might agree with you.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
He was pretty shell-shocked, man, today at his press conference,
talking about those guys getting banged up. Receivers, sorry.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Sorry, David. You know, I think the receivers just kind of–
you know, they were– I thought there were some good things.
Certainly that catch down the sideline by Chris Lawson was elite.
Rasheed Williams shows a guy, hey, let's see what can
happen when he gets experience. But I think of them
as kind of garden variety Big Ten receiving core until
(15:39):
we see more. I just need to see more. They
seem to be about in the middle of the pack.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
All right.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Well, what class of variety– We're talking garden variety. We're
talking five-star steakhouse variety. What kind of variety would you
put Cody Green, Ramzak Fruin, and Derek Coleman-Brusa in right now?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Well, I think of those, the guy that I'm most
excited about is Coleman-Brusa. I mean, they had played him
at the three technique. You know, they played a lot
of over-front. They brought the... which means they bring the
majority of the defensive line slanted towards the strength of
the formation. That allows them to do some zone blitz.
There's a lot of X's and O's things they can
(16:22):
do with zone pressures. And Ryan Walters did that, sometimes
used three deep, three under. So the front that they
were playing allowed the freshman to play that three technique,
and he just looks like a beast. I mean, I
love his frame. He's got the height. The thickness, I
(16:42):
think he's twitchy enough. I mean, he's not Aaron Donald twitchy,
but this guy looks like he could be a real
wrecking ball for a long time in this conference. And
so I loved him. I think that when you're looking
at the other, the edge rusher there. Ramzak Fruin. Yeah.
(17:05):
Why do these guys have to have such difficult names?
It really isn't that hard.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
It really isn't that hard.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, we got Z-R-S. I mean, Zedarius, Rainey. I mean,
it seems like every.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Time we get a new guy.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
It's four syllables.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Ramzak Fruin. Say it with me. Ramzak Fruin.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Ramzak Fruin. Okay, so I liked him. I liked him.
I think there's, you know, the length there. I think
he needs to gain some weight. He got juked out
there in space. He had the, you know, he dropped
off in his own blitz off to the– I'll just
call it the south side, you know, the Cougar sideline,
and then sprinted all the way across to the other sideline.
(17:45):
A great hustle play, but he runs into the quarterback
on a third and 11, and he gives him a
first down. So, you know, that is the least of
my concerns with him. But I like the athleticism. Just
think probably he needs to gain a few more pounds.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Right, right.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And then, you know, for Cody Green– I thought he
got pushed back into the pocket even when he was,
you know, he's executing the blocks. I'd like to see
his sets a little closer to the line of scrimmage
and not be so deep. And so, you know, but
he's obviously a talented guy. So the fact that you have,
(18:24):
you know, this many true freshmen out there making plays,
you know, bodes well for Washington when you consider their
learning curve.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
No doubt.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Hey, we're going to do it. Two segments. Haven't even
hit the Western Michigan-Michigan game on Saturday. We've got to
get your thoughts on that. And, oh, by the way,
you know the Seahawks are like 48 hours away from
kicking off the NFL season on Wednesday night. So guess what?
You take your porridge there.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
You go heat it up.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
All right? And we'll come back and talk some more
with Hugh Millen next on 93.3 KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
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Speaker 3 (19:18):
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Speaker 2 (19:20):
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(19:43):
Going to be here on Thursday. Dick, you're a big
Tower of Power guy. So get here starting Wednesday night
for the NFL season. Thursday, of course, for the Niners
and Rams. Have that game for you live on Thursday
night right here on 93.3 KJRFM. And Hugh, you can
smell it. It's not Dick Fane walking off the golf course.
It might be. I was a little ripe today. You
can smell it. The NFL season, 48 hours and 45
(20:08):
minutes away from kicking off on Wednesday night. Seahawks to
New England. We're waiting on the official injury update. It
looks like Eamon Worry and Ty Okada likely not going
to play in the game on Wednesday night. So you
tell me what that does to your thoughts on this
opener for the Seahawks on Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Well, I'm Interested in who's going to replace Okada. I mean,
we've seen this in the past where essentially to me,
the last time we saw the Seahawks, Kobe Bryant was
the starting safety and Ty Okada was the number two.
And so, you know, you draft Bud Clark with the
thought that he would take over Okada and you break
(20:48):
your ankle there. And then now Okada. So I think
you're really thin. Whoever you, you bring in, you know,
it's going to be, you know, off the practice squad
type of guy. So, that's a big drop off. And
then of course the, uh, the versatility that you have
with M and worry cannot be duplicated. I know there's
talk about Tyrese Knight, you know, you can play some more, um,
(21:11):
more base personnel. The Seahawks were among the lowest in
the NFL in that, uh, he Tyrese Knight played will
linebacker last year, as did Drake Thomas. You didn't see
Tyrese Knight playing that strong side linebacker that Nicky M
and worry and Some teams call it a nickel Sam.
Some people, many call it the star. I mean, if
you were having a conversation with Nick Saban, you'd call
(21:32):
it the star. And then all the coaches that have
proliferated through his system would call it the same. Anyways,
I think there's a concern there that, that the idea
with him and Worry, you couldn't just assume certain coverages.
He'd line up, and he would cover Justin Jefferson in
(21:54):
the slot, and that's not hypothetically. He did it, and
he got a pass breakup out of it, almost an interception.
He covered Devontae Adams out of the slot in man coverage,
and he gets an interception. Excuse me, that was a
pass breakup. There's nobody he couldn't cover in the league.
And so he's irreplaceable, but you just have to kind
(22:17):
of do the best he can. And on first down
and neutral downs, you're going to play it one way.
On the longer downs, the passing downs, you're going to
play it another way. And I think that there's going
to be stuff we're going to be talking about, guys,
on Thursday where we say, well, we couldn't have predicted that.
You had me on Monday, Dave. And I couldn't have
(22:38):
predicted what I saw there. And so from a personnel
mission match, I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Hugh, we finally got to the end of the interminable
top 100 list for the NFL. I think it took
like three and a half months for them to do that.
But a couple things like jumped out at me on that.
Hawks only got three players. NFL champions, Super Bowl champions
got three players on the top 100 list. But it
was interesting that Darnold, Darnold was actually up to 21 overall,
(23:08):
and the fifth quarterback listed. He was ahead of Burrow.
He was ahead of Herbert. He was ahead of Lamar Jackson.
That's the players voting. The Athletic did their rankings and
had him tied for 14th, voted on by execs and coaches.
So maybe talk about that disparity, the Hawks only getting
three guys, and really a huge disparity between the players'
(23:30):
vote and the execs' vote on Sam Darnold.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Well, I think you look at it and remind me
again what the players had him at what?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Fifth quarterback.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Fifth quarterback.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, that's like Hugh Millen range right there.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Fifth quarterback. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm closer to that.
You know, I think they look at the tape and
they see a guy who is making the plays down
the field. for the vast majority of the season, that
in the Super Bowl, he missed some passes. But if
you look at how he managed the pocket, the Seahawks
(24:07):
actually had more pressures against their quarterback than the Seahawks
defense applied against Drake May. That's an official statistic. And
Darnold was absorbing more. But the way he just calmly,
whether it was his feet or his knowledge of where
to go with the ball, it didn't look like it
was disrupting the whole mechanism, whereas it looked like the
(24:29):
Patriot offense was unraveling in the face of all those pressures.
So I think Darnold had a way– maybe they also
have fresh in their mind how he stood toe-to-toe with
Matthew Stafford in the NFC Championship game and absolutely delivered
when nobody else on the team was delivering. The defense wasn't.
(24:50):
In fact, think about this. What are the odds that
the all-time– nfl record i mean think if you're on
jeopardy right now um you know uh this team holds
the record this defense holds the record the nfl record
for most yards given up in back-to-back games against a
single team uh with uh with with uh six with
(25:15):
actually unqualified um with no interceptions i believe and the
answer is who are the seattle seahawks Like, how would
that be? As good as the defense is, how would
they set a record? Well, they did. I think it
was 832 yards against Matthew Stafford, six touchdowns, no interceptions.
That is an NFL record for back-to-back games. The Seahawks
(25:35):
weren't running the ball, and then 2.9 yards per attempt
in the NFC Championship game. It wasn't like Darnold could
turn around and hand the ball to somebody, even Kenneth Walker,
to bail him out.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
No.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Sam Darnold had to do it, and the passing game
had to do it themselves. And he did it. So
I think the players recognize it.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
We're going to have you on again Wednesday before the game,
if that's okay with you, by the way, to talk
Seahawks Patriots. So we can kind of dive more into
Drake May and all that coming up on Wednesday. But
we're like NBC in the replay booth at Michigan Stadium.
We are using a clock that you can't see, Hugh,
by the way.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
And our clock.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Says that we're running late in this segment.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Our segment's over when we say it's over. I can't
push the one-second button?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Maybe we can add a couple extra minutes if we
feel like it, whatever. But, I mean, I could share
my take. Dick could share his take, whatever. And there's
a lot of tentacles now all of a sudden to
this story on Saturday night. I mean, it looked like
it was pretty black and white on one side, and
then it looked pretty black and white on the other side.
And now there's maybe more questions than answers on a Monday.
(26:41):
What's your thought on what we saw with Michigan and
Western Michigan and the way that game ended Saturday?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Well, Dave, you and I were texting and then had
a conversation Saturday before any of this. And I think
you could characterize my take as what? I was totally anti-conspiracy. Remember,
I was like, there's no way that I think that
somehow there's not a justification to this. And as it
(27:08):
turns out, I think it was good that the Big
Ten released that that video uh clearly the video that
they were watching uh was uh was you know they
made the right call You know, it still said one second,
and the Western Michigan player was touching the ball. That's it.
That's all. You know, sometimes, as Freud said, sometimes a
(27:32):
cigar is just a cigar. Like, it's just as simple
as that. The replay booth was watching a video that
clearly said there was one second, so they told the referee,
put one second back on and snap the ball again.
It's as simple as that. Now, what emerges from that
is that it is ridiculous– that they are watching a
(27:55):
different view than we are watching on television. That just
brings up all the people who are inclined to believe
in conspiracy theory, and I'm not. But those who are,
this just feeds right into it. This constitutes evidence for them.
And so they have got to clean that up and
(28:16):
just say, look, whatever the booth is examining, and they
did it the right way, they've got to give that
feed to the network. It's as simple as that. I
don't think this is a complicated issue. Why can't all of.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Us see the same clock? The replay booth... TV, viewers,
and the people in the stadium, and the players, why
can't we all see the same damn clock?
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Well, they're feeding the network some type of a synced up,
what they purport to be a synced up version with
the slow motion of the players, and then there's the clock.
So somehow or another, the networks, they're acquiring a feed, however,
but they're getting the wrong feed. Like that's worse than
(29:06):
not getting a feed at all, right? We'd be better
off watching the guys drink Gatorade while we wait for
the ruling than to be giving something that has the
appearance of the feed that the replay official is watching.
But in fact, that is not the version that they
are watching. Like it's absurd. I mean, this is so easy.
(29:31):
to dissect and reverse engineer on this and and come
to a a remedy so at any event i i
think i think you said dave earlier it's real simple
defend the freaking hail mary yeah you know um and
credit i don't know who was the analyst you know
they called the guy that you know the most likely
guy that was going to go up and catch that
ball and that was the one yeah um so uh
(29:54):
you know It's heartbreaking for Western Michigan. This could have
been an App State-type deal where these guys are into
their 40s, and those App State guys are still, you know,
that's one of the highlights of their life. They're probably,
when they get introduced at banquets, hey, he was on
the App State team that beat Michigan. Like, that's something
you carry with you your whole life. Western Michigan had
an opportunity for that, and, you know, they missed it.
(30:16):
But I don't see anything wrong with anything that happened
with the replay other than we at home didn't get
the right feed.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Well, there's a lot more there, unfortunately. We've got to break.
All right? Well, give me a quick response. Do you
disagree with that? There's no such thing as a quick
response with this thing. All right? I mean, I'll just
leave you this. How do we know that the clock
that the replay officials were looking at was even the
right one? How do we know their clock wasn't wrong?
I mean, honestly. I mean, this whole thing is, to me,
(30:48):
is bananas. So maybe if we have time, we can
dive into it more later in the week. But, hey,
carve out time for us on Wednesday before the game.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
All right, pal?
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Rock and roll. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Hugh Millen with us. We might want to dive into
this ourselves a little bit, too, between now and 6 o'clock.
Jetfish Coaches Show. This will be a good one, man,
coming off the loss, coming off the win over Washington State.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
Well, it didn't feel like a loss, but it didn't
really feel like a win either.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah. I mean, it felt like, doesn't it feel like
it was a better loss for Wazoo than it was
a win for UW? Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Weird.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
It was weird because walking out of the stadium.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Both fan bases kind of felt like.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
They lost the game. The whole thing is odd, man.
We're going to break. Textimonials, 49451. Bill Kruger coming up
at 5, talking Madness on 93.3 KJRFM.
Now, from the Star Reynolds Sports Desk, your 93.3 KKRFM
Sports Headlines.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, boys and girls, here we go. Headlines on
a Monday afternoon, live from the Emerald Queen Casino Sports Book,
brought to you by our friends at Frostbrook. Coors Light,
as cold as the raggies.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
They all have their head up their ass, and that's
a lousy take.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
That guy will join us in a matter of minutes,
so stay tuned. The Huskies win the Apple Cup yesterday,
24-10 over Washington State. Dogs now take on Utah State
Saturday at 1230. Aggies, by the way, coming off a
loss to FCS Idaho State over the weekend. Quade Carr
running back, going to have surgery. Jade Lamar. Number two
running back, also going to be out for a while
(00:41):
with an injury.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
We've got college football coming up in about 30 minutes
from Tallahassee. Florida State hosting 19th ranked SMU as week
one comes.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
To a close. His mama was a hooker, his brother
was a bot, and his brother Jimmy died of polio.
Lost his legs. What a tragedy.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
I feel bad for the 30-somethings and younger that never.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Heard Keith Jackson call the college football game. Wouldn't it
like to hear Keith Jackson talk about a kid with
polio and a hooker? NFL Giants cutting wide receiver Darius Slayton.
He's been with the G-Men since 2018. The Cowboys guard
Tyler Smith. Out the first four games of the year
after thumb surgery.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Pats running back Travion Henderson. Missed practice again today. Uncertain
for Wednesday night. Nicky Manwari unlikely to play in the
opener for the Hawks. Ty Okada is questionable.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And the Mavis. The Seattle Mariners. Losing three out of
four to the A's. Six out in the wild card.
Six out in the west. 18 games left to go.
Off day today. Three with the Rangers starting tomorrow. Here
we go. I heard them this morning with the morning show.
And it was great. I thought it was really well done.
A lot of intel, a lot of information. Unique, informative,
(01:52):
all that stuff. But then I thought to myself when
it was over, I just wanted a little more. Didn't
get it. So I brought him back. Never gets old,
does he? A little more.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
That's a matter of opinion.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
A little more. I just need a little more. I
need a little more. It's like when you're a kid,
just one more scoop.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Hey, get your foot on the accelerator. We got one second, man.
There's a lot to talk about. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Drive this car. No, we can do two. We can
do two. We got a lot going on. If we
do two, then we'll ask for two. But I don't know.
Let's start with the Apple Cup, man. How'd you feel
after watching your beloved dogs in the Apple Cup yesterday?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Well, I'm reluctant to call it the Apple Cup. I mean,
you know, the same as I'm not going to call
what the– The the conference that is now described as
the Pac-12, that's Pac-12 is the premier schools on the
West Coast that dissolved. And and so what does it
comprise of? It's basically Mountain West schools plus a directional
(02:54):
school from Texas, formerly Southwest Texas. And then the two teams,
I'm sorry, the Pac-8, 10 and 12. existed from 1968
to 2023. And in that period, the losing this team
was Oregon State and the second losing this team was
Washington State.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Sorry, Cougs.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I'm just holding up a mirror. So that that I'm
not calling that the Pac-12 and I'm not calling this
the Apple Cup. I mean, there's always been a somewhat.
structural imbalance between Washington's resources and Washington state and, and,
and credit the Cougars. I mean, I got a lot
of pain from some apple cup losses and they played
above their, their, their means, if you will. But it
(03:35):
is now gone from structurally imbalanced to structurally locked, lopsided. And,
you know, in, in the, in the sense that, you know, Washington,
you know, it used to be both schools are paying,
are getting paid room and tuition and, Right. And now
it's Washington has a payroll that's five to six times
what Washington State is. Their coaches paid four times as much.
(03:57):
So I'm just really you know, I know that it
serves a lot of people to to to attach the
Apple Cup or name to this game. But in my mind,
that game is gone.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
OK, then what you make of the game?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Okay, so then by that standard, it's really not any
different than playing Utah State. Absent, I get it. There's
going to be some Cougars on the roster that are
from Washington. They're going to have some extra incentive. I
get it. But aside from that, it's no different than
playing Utah State. And I think it was a disappointment offensively.
(04:34):
You go back to a year ago in the game
against Washington State that I won't call the Apple Cup.
Washington had, in their first eight drives, they had seven
touchdowns and a field goal, and then their last drive
was one play to take Anita in the game. So
of those nine drives, obviously they scored on the first eight.
(04:55):
Yesterday in the first nine drives, they scored one touchdown
and one field goal. So in a way, when you
thought that they would be progressing in year three, they
had at least, compared to this opponent, who had a
year one coach in the Cougars, there was a regression.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Let's talk about number one, Hugh. I mean, if you
tilt your head towards the fourth quarter, you saw flawless football.
If you tilt your head the rest of the game,
you saw less than flawless football. What was your evaluation
of DeMond?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Well, after three quarters, he's 18-29 for 153 yards, no touchdowns.
That is not any kind of all-star trajectory. Fourth quarter, 6-6,
115 yards. Phenomenal plays. I think you credit the offense,
the answer drives when the Cougars scored in each of
(05:43):
their scores in the fourth quarter. The most impressive drive
for the Cougars was that early in the fourth quarter
touchdown drive. They made a number of plays, got things
a little bit tense, and credit the play calling and
the play making because there was aggressive. You come out,
you roll, move the pocket. Huskies got lucky because DeMond
(06:04):
Williams almost got his– arm hit but he gets a
a crossing route for 29 yards and they call they
dial up the flea flicker um you know why they
get a wide open receiver up the sideline down to
the goal line so so they they really put the
uh the pedal down when a lot of coaches and
players might have been tight uh they were anything but
(06:24):
so you really credit that uh and you know big
time playmaking uh uh you know the the rush on
you know play of the game obviously that scramble for
21 yards you look at that and there's a point
where you say wait there's three cougars there how could
the inside guy of them who is you know arguably
one of their best players maybe their best player linus
(06:45):
zunk is pursuing he's got how how he loses leverage
back to the inside is beside me but you know
i look and i say okay that's fine against the
cougars the cougars missed those tackles but last year against
ohio state DeMond had 20 yards rushing on seven carries.
That's 2.9 yards per carry. He had 11 yards against Michigan,
(07:06):
against Oregon. He had seven yards rushing, four carries, 1.8 average.
So when I see him do this stuff, I figure, well, boy,
he ought to be able to do that against the
best defenses, but he didn't. And so I just kind
of roll my eyes and say, hey, that's beautiful. You
made a guy, you clowned a guy, you broke some ankles,
(07:27):
but that's not that caliber of opponent doing that. We
need to see it against a better defense. They weren't
playing against a better defenses. So he did what he
had to do to win a football game, but I'm
going to withhold being overly impressed until I see those
type of runs against better defenses.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, no, I get that. Hugh Millen with us. And, Hugh,
I just sent you a screenshot. Not that you haven't
seen this already. I'm certain that you have. But grab
your phone real quick and check your text messages there
because I sent you a screenshot of the overhead camera
on fourth and goal from the one. And DeMond Williams
handing the ball to Jaden Lamar. Remember, the ball's at
the one. And Jaden Lamar is getting the ball at
(08:08):
the six-yard line. I was telling Dick, I'm on the sideline,
and you know me. I've been bitching about this for years.
This is not just Jed or anybody else. I was
yelling at Kalen about this when he was here. Why
coaches on fourth and goal from the one get in
shotgun and give the ball to a running back at
the six-yard line when they only need a yard and
(08:28):
ask their offensive lineman to hold blocks for longer than
they need to instead of getting under center, getting in power,
and shoving up somebody's ass I'll never understand. I was
shaking my head before the ball was even snapped in
that formation. Can you explain why coaches, and there's a
lot of them, keep doing this?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Well, how many segments do we have for this one play?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I told you we're doing two. You see, that's what happens.
We're doing two.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
All right, so the Huskies are going inside zone to
the right. They're going over right guard in what's called
a split zone because you've got the tight end is
going to come across on a slice block from right
to left. So the aiming point is over right guard.
And to your point, so you're not in shotgun. Dick,
why don't you tally all the problems here, okay?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So you're in shotgun. Excuse me. You're in shotgun. But
if you're going inside zone to the right, the running
back should be to have a straight line. It aligns
up on the left side. The Huskies choose to have
a formation where the running back lines up to the right. Well,
you know what that means is he has to go
to his left to go get the football, slow down,
(09:39):
get the football in. And then try and accelerate. So
he's going to get to the hole later by the
alignment from where he is. Now, if you want to say, well,
hang on, there's a lot of good teams, particularly in
college football, that operate out of the shotgun in these situations.
It would leave the reed keeper open up the left
alley for. demand. It would also have RPOs like the
(10:03):
touchdown they scored in the fourth quarter. That was a
shotgun inside run where they threw it out there to
recede Williams. So there is an argument to be made
for being in the shotgun, but I do not like
any argument you're going to present where the running back
is to the same side for the reasons I described.
Let's talk about the blocking. You're going to get a
double team between the center and the right guard. They double-team,
(10:26):
but they don't come off to the middle linebacker the
entire play. The middle linebacker, who's aligned right over the ball,
he never gets touched. Then you look at, as a party,
a three-year right tackle. He's fanning out to block the
edge where the four technique, as the guy head over him,
gets totally unblocked. As a party, it looks like he's pass-blocking. Uh,
(10:52):
and he expects every, the term is called fan where
the whole line is going to come to him. So the,
the block and, and, oh, by the way, you're arguably
your best, at least a all-star caliber, uh, offensive lineman,
John Mills, just gets fricking trucked and, you know, and
in the hole and, and he, uh, He creates a
whole box of coat hangers for the running back to
(11:12):
have to go around. So, I don't know, Dick, did
you run out of ink on the towers?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
I mean, I got a minimum of three huge ones.
It depends on how you want to divide up blocking.
Is blocking one.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Thing on my list? Shotgun, running back alignment. And blocking.
Don't block the mic. The left guard gets stoned. The
right tackle is fanning.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Got it.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And oh, by the way, you know, somebody somebody's coming
off the edge. So so a.k.a. cluster. Yeah. That's the left.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So at any rate, you know, we're into half a
dozen problems on that. And and so look, you know,
Coach Fish, you know, he's very angry.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Part of it. He should have been angry with himself
for the structure of the play. And I'll say this.
When I watch them, they they show signs of having
too much volume. And I know just don't ask me
how I know, but I know from the past, you know,
like there's a certain, it's like Goldilocks and the porridge.
You want to have enough plays to have enough. And
you want to have it, but you don't. All right. Softie,
(12:11):
just quiet down. I'm going to talk to Dick. Would
you agree, Dick, that if you have too many plays,
you can't practice them enough, and it's too much to
really be able to play fast? If you don't have enough,
then you can't attack the defense in the ways that
you want to attack. So you want to have the
right amount of volume. There's sign after sign where you say,
(12:31):
wait a minute, the lack of execution bears signs of
having too much volume. And to have a play... One
play to go in the half from the one-yard line
on a simple split zone to have that many busts
and that many problems on a play, they deserve to
(12:52):
get stuffed. I talk about holding up the mirror. They
ought to hold up a mirror and say, let's take
a look at this. why did we have such a
confounding number of L's on this, including in the play
caller and the structure of the play? So there's too
many L's to be had against Washington State, let alone
(13:12):
you're going to go in the Big Ten. They've got
to tighten this up, and I think one of it
might be, let's just pull down the volume of the
plays a little bit.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Can we just pick another nursery rhyme? That's all I'm asking.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Nope, nope. Not until I find one that it's like, hey,
Not too much, not too little. That's a really important
thing in football in so many ways.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
Hugh, coming into this season, we were concerned, I would say,
curious at the running back and the wide receiver position
as far as whether there was going to be playmakers.
Did you see any real weapons out there?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Well, I liked Carr on that gap scheme, couple counters
to the left side. I thought he read the whole
It wasn't exactly how it was designed on the whiteboard,
but most runs aren't. So he had some good vision
and some good acceleration. So I think there was something there.
(14:06):
I don't know that there was a lot of power there.
I like the power in Jaden Lamar. That touchdown run,
very well designed. I like pulling the center and the tackle.
They blocked pretty well in the perimeter. He made a
man miss. So that was good football. The Lamar touchdown
was good football and a good running. But Even with
(14:27):
those guys healthy, I was sitting there scratching my head
and saying, is this really like Washington Huskies slash Big
Ten caliber starting running backs? I don't know. I'm not
really seeing it. I'm not sure I hate them, but
I'm not sure I love them. That's when they were
all healthy. Now you get the top two guys down,
and I'm certain that the next guys, to me, it's
(14:48):
a problem. Like if you objectively said we're going to
go through the Big Ten with 18 teams and we're
going to just say no ties, you get the rank
from top to bottom. I can't imagine the Huskies aren't
in the bottom quadrant as presently constituted. And that might
be being generous when we're talking about the running back position.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Well, you saw the look on Jetfish's face today. I
think he might agree with you.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
He was pretty shell-shocked, man, today at his press conference,
talking about those guys getting banged up. Receivers, sorry.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Sorry, David. You know, I think the receivers just kind of–
you know, they were– I thought there were some good things.
Certainly that catch down the sideline by Chris Lawson was elite.
Rasheed Williams shows a guy, hey, let's see what can
happen when he gets experience. But I think of them
as kind of garden variety Big Ten receiving core until
(15:39):
we see more. I just need to see more. They
seem to be about in the middle of the pack.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
All right.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Well, what class of variety– We're talking garden variety. We're
talking five-star steakhouse variety. What kind of variety would you
put Cody Green, Ramzak Fruin, and Derek Coleman-Brusa in right now?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Well, I think of those, the guy that I'm most
excited about is Coleman-Brusa. I mean, they had played him
at the three technique. You know, they played a lot
of over-front. They brought the... which means they bring the
majority of the defensive line slanted towards the strength of
the formation. That allows them to do some zone blitz.
There's a lot of X's and O's things they can
(16:22):
do with zone pressures. And Ryan Walters did that, sometimes
used three deep, three under. So the front that they
were playing allowed the freshman to play that three technique,
and he just looks like a beast. I mean, I
love his frame. He's got the height. The thickness, I
(16:42):
think he's twitchy enough. I mean, he's not Aaron Donald twitchy,
but this guy looks like he could be a real
wrecking ball for a long time in this conference. And
so I loved him. I think that when you're looking
at the other, the edge rusher there. Ramzak Fruin. Yeah.
(17:05):
Why do these guys have to have such difficult names?
It really isn't that hard.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
It really isn't that hard.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Yeah, we got Z-R-S. I mean, Zedarius, Rainey. I mean,
it seems like every.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Time we get a new guy.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
It's four syllables.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Ramzak Fruin. Say it with me. Ramzak Fruin.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Ramzak Fruin. Okay, so I liked him. I liked him.
I think there's, you know, the length there. I think
he needs to gain some weight. He got juked out
there in space. He had the, you know, he dropped
off in his own blitz off to the– I'll just
call it the south side, you know, the Cougar sideline,
and then sprinted all the way across to the other sideline.
(17:45):
A great hustle play, but he runs into the quarterback
on a third and 11, and he gives him a
first down. So, you know, that is the least of
my concerns with him. But I like the athleticism. Just
think probably he needs to gain a few more pounds.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Right, right.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And then, you know, for Cody Green– I thought he
got pushed back into the pocket even when he was,
you know, he's executing the blocks. I'd like to see
his sets a little closer to the line of scrimmage
and not be so deep. And so, you know, but
he's obviously a talented guy. So the fact that you have,
(18:24):
you know, this many true freshmen out there making plays,
you know, bodes well for Washington when you consider their
learning curve.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
No doubt.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Hey, we're going to do it. Two segments. Haven't even
hit the Western Michigan-Michigan game on Saturday. We've got to
get your thoughts on that. And, oh, by the way,
you know the Seahawks are like 48 hours away from
kicking off the NFL season on Wednesday night. So guess what?
You take your porridge there.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
You go heat it up.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
All right? And we'll come back and talk some more
with Hugh Millen next on 93.3 KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
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Emerald Queen Casino, bringing you the best in live music, entertainment, dining,
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Speaker 3 (19:18):
For more info, visit EmeraldQueen.com.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
All right, don't forget Wednesday night here at the Emerald
Queen Casino, kickoff watch party, Seattle, New England, right here
at the EQC. In the sportsbook, in the showroom, Players
Club members can print up a free entry voucher starting
at 4 o'clock for the $ 250 free play drawing after
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(19:43):
Going to be here on Thursday. Dick, you're a big
Tower of Power guy. So get here starting Wednesday night
for the NFL season. Thursday, of course, for the Niners
and Rams. Have that game for you live on Thursday
night right here on 93.3 KJRFM. And Hugh, you can
smell it. It's not Dick Fane walking off the golf course.
It might be. I was a little ripe today. You
can smell it. The NFL season, 48 hours and 45
(20:08):
minutes away from kicking off on Wednesday night. Seahawks to
New England. We're waiting on the official injury update. It
looks like Eamon Worry and Ty Okada likely not going
to play in the game on Wednesday night. So you
tell me what that does to your thoughts on this
opener for the Seahawks on Wednesday.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Well, I'm Interested in who's going to replace Okada. I mean,
we've seen this in the past where essentially to me,
the last time we saw the Seahawks, Kobe Bryant was
the starting safety and Ty Okada was the number two.
And so, you know, you draft Bud Clark with the
thought that he would take over Okada and you break
(20:48):
your ankle there. And then now Okada. So I think
you're really thin. Whoever you, you bring in, you know,
it's going to be, you know, off the practice squad
type of guy. So, that's a big drop off. And
then of course the, uh, the versatility that you have
with M and worry cannot be duplicated. I know there's
talk about Tyrese Knight, you know, you can play some more, um,
(21:11):
more base personnel. The Seahawks were among the lowest in
the NFL in that, uh, he Tyrese Knight played will
linebacker last year, as did Drake Thomas. You didn't see
Tyrese Knight playing that strong side linebacker that Nicky M
and worry and Some teams call it a nickel Sam.
Some people, many call it the star. I mean, if
you were having a conversation with Nick Saban, you'd call
(21:32):
it the star. And then all the coaches that have
proliferated through his system would call it the same. Anyways,
I think there's a concern there that, that the idea
with him and Worry, you couldn't just assume certain coverages.
He'd line up, and he would cover Justin Jefferson in
(21:54):
the slot, and that's not hypothetically. He did it, and
he got a pass breakup out of it, almost an interception.
He covered Devontae Adams out of the slot in man coverage,
and he gets an interception. Excuse me, that was a
pass breakup. There's nobody he couldn't cover in the league.
And so he's irreplaceable, but you just have to kind
(22:17):
of do the best he can. And on first down
and neutral downs, you're going to play it one way.
On the longer downs, the passing downs, you're going to
play it another way. And I think that there's going
to be stuff we're going to be talking about, guys,
on Thursday where we say, well, we couldn't have predicted that.
You had me on Monday, Dave. And I couldn't have
(22:38):
predicted what I saw there. And so from a personnel
mission match, I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Hugh, we finally got to the end of the interminable
top 100 list for the NFL. I think it took
like three and a half months for them to do that.
But a couple things like jumped out at me on that.
Hawks only got three players. NFL champions, Super Bowl champions
got three players on the top 100 list. But it
was interesting that Darnold, Darnold was actually up to 21 overall,
(23:08):
and the fifth quarterback listed. He was ahead of Burrow.
He was ahead of Herbert. He was ahead of Lamar Jackson.
That's the players voting. The Athletic did their rankings and
had him tied for 14th, voted on by execs and coaches.
So maybe talk about that disparity, the Hawks only getting
three guys, and really a huge disparity between the players'
(23:30):
vote and the execs' vote on Sam Darnold.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Well, I think you look at it and remind me
again what the players had him at what?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Fifth quarterback.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Fifth quarterback.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, that's like Hugh Millen range right there.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Fifth quarterback. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm closer to that.
You know, I think they look at the tape and
they see a guy who is making the plays down
the field. for the vast majority of the season, that
in the Super Bowl, he missed some passes. But if
you look at how he managed the pocket, the Seahawks
(24:07):
actually had more pressures against their quarterback than the Seahawks
defense applied against Drake May. That's an official statistic. And
Darnold was absorbing more. But the way he just calmly,
whether it was his feet or his knowledge of where
to go with the ball, it didn't look like it
was disrupting the whole mechanism, whereas it looked like the
(24:29):
Patriot offense was unraveling in the face of all those pressures.
So I think Darnold had a way– maybe they also
have fresh in their mind how he stood toe-to-toe with
Matthew Stafford in the NFC Championship game and absolutely delivered
when nobody else on the team was delivering. The defense wasn't.
(24:50):
In fact, think about this. What are the odds that
the all-time– nfl record i mean think if you're on
jeopardy right now um you know uh this team holds
the record this defense holds the record the nfl record
for most yards given up in back-to-back games against a
single team uh with uh with with uh six with
(25:15):
actually unqualified um with no interceptions i believe and the
answer is who are the seattle seahawks Like, how would
that be? As good as the defense is, how would
they set a record? Well, they did. I think it
was 832 yards against Matthew Stafford, six touchdowns, no interceptions.
That is an NFL record for back-to-back games. The Seahawks
(25:35):
weren't running the ball, and then 2.9 yards per attempt
in the NFC Championship game. It wasn't like Darnold could
turn around and hand the ball to somebody, even Kenneth Walker,
to bail him out.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
No.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Sam Darnold had to do it, and the passing game
had to do it themselves. And he did it. So
I think the players recognize it.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
We're going to have you on again Wednesday before the game,
if that's okay with you, by the way, to talk
Seahawks Patriots. So we can kind of dive more into
Drake May and all that coming up on Wednesday. But
we're like NBC in the replay booth at Michigan Stadium.
We are using a clock that you can't see, Hugh,
by the way.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
And our clock.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Says that we're running late in this segment.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Our segment's over when we say it's over. I can't
push the one-second button?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Maybe we can add a couple extra minutes if we
feel like it, whatever. But, I mean, I could share
my take. Dick could share his take, whatever. And there's
a lot of tentacles now all of a sudden to
this story on Saturday night. I mean, it looked like
it was pretty black and white on one side, and
then it looked pretty black and white on the other side.
And now there's maybe more questions than answers on a Monday.
(26:41):
What's your thought on what we saw with Michigan and
Western Michigan and the way that game ended Saturday?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Well, Dave, you and I were texting and then had
a conversation Saturday before any of this. And I think
you could characterize my take as what? I was totally anti-conspiracy. Remember,
I was like, there's no way that I think that
somehow there's not a justification to this. And as it
(27:08):
turns out, I think it was good that the Big
Ten released that that video uh clearly the video that
they were watching uh was uh was you know they
made the right call You know, it still said one second,
and the Western Michigan player was touching the ball. That's it.
That's all. You know, sometimes, as Freud said, sometimes a
(27:32):
cigar is just a cigar. Like, it's just as simple
as that. The replay booth was watching a video that
clearly said there was one second, so they told the referee,
put one second back on and snap the ball again.
It's as simple as that. Now, what emerges from that
is that it is ridiculous– that they are watching a
(27:55):
different view than we are watching on television. That just
brings up all the people who are inclined to believe
in conspiracy theory, and I'm not. But those who are,
this just feeds right into it. This constitutes evidence for them.
And so they have got to clean that up and
(28:16):
just say, look, whatever the booth is examining, and they
did it the right way, they've got to give that
feed to the network. It's as simple as that. I
don't think this is a complicated issue. Why can't all of.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Us see the same clock? The replay booth... TV, viewers,
and the people in the stadium, and the players, why
can't we all see the same damn clock?
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Well, they're feeding the network some type of a synced up,
what they purport to be a synced up version with
the slow motion of the players, and then there's the clock.
So somehow or another, the networks, they're acquiring a feed, however,
but they're getting the wrong feed. Like that's worse than
(29:06):
not getting a feed at all, right? We'd be better
off watching the guys drink Gatorade while we wait for
the ruling than to be giving something that has the
appearance of the feed that the replay official is watching.
But in fact, that is not the version that they
are watching. Like it's absurd. I mean, this is so easy.
(29:31):
to dissect and reverse engineer on this and and come
to a a remedy so at any event i i
think i think you said dave earlier it's real simple
defend the freaking hail mary yeah you know um and
credit i don't know who was the analyst you know
they called the guy that you know the most likely
guy that was going to go up and catch that
ball and that was the one yeah um so uh
(29:54):
you know It's heartbreaking for Western Michigan. This could have
been an App State-type deal where these guys are into
their 40s, and those App State guys are still, you know,
that's one of the highlights of their life. They're probably,
when they get introduced at banquets, hey, he was on
the App State team that beat Michigan. Like, that's something
you carry with you your whole life. Western Michigan had
an opportunity for that, and, you know, they missed it.
(30:16):
But I don't see anything wrong with anything that happened
with the replay other than we at home didn't get
the right feed.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Well, there's a lot more there, unfortunately. We've got to break.
All right? Well, give me a quick response. Do you
disagree with that? There's no such thing as a quick
response with this thing. All right? I mean, I'll just
leave you this. How do we know that the clock
that the replay officials were looking at was even the
right one? How do we know their clock wasn't wrong?
I mean, honestly. I mean, this whole thing is, to me,
(30:48):
is bananas. So maybe if we have time, we can
dive into it more later in the week. But, hey,
carve out time for us on Wednesday before the game.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
All right, pal?
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Rock and roll. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Hugh Millen with us. We might want to dive into
this ourselves a little bit, too, between now and 6 o'clock.
Jetfish Coaches Show. This will be a good one, man,
coming off the loss, coming off the win over Washington State.
Speaker 4 (31:09):
Well, it didn't feel like a loss, but it didn't
really feel like a win either.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah. I mean, it felt like, doesn't it feel like
it was a better loss for Wazoo than it was
a win for UW? Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Weird.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
It was weird because walking out of the stadium.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Both fan bases kind of felt like.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
They lost the game. The whole thing is odd, man.
We're going to break. Textimonials, 49451. Bill Kruger coming up
at 5, talking Madness on 93.3 KJRFM.
Dave 'Softy' Mahler and Dick Fain News
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