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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to celebrate this team sport known to man
where modern day gladiators collide for all the glory on
the Gridie, let's talk some college football, a lot of
Cougar sports with Ben crid.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Play sports from the three nine ninety one three ESPN
the Fan on the tril broadcasting from our Vanderwealth Studios
Vanderwealth dot Com.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
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(00:40):
no obligation with SQ and A. Today, do you stop
for a little college football segment? I want to talk
Big twelve football. What has happened in the Big twelve
in Week zero and what games are we interested in
in that Week one as well. We're gonna talk with
a Big twelve insider here in this segment, and it's
gonna be brought to you by Dental Pros of Utah
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get out to the hotline. Welcome in Big twelve insider
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Speaker 4 (01:31):
We got John Kurtz on the line. John, how are
you living? Hey?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Then?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I'm doing great? How are you man?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Doing fantastic college football this year? It was great catching
up with you at Big twelve Media Days. Big Twelve.
One of the questions I asked Brett yor Mark at
Big twelve Media Days was I feel like we have
to speak out.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Both sides of our mouth. Depth parody and how great
that is.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
But we don't have maybe the marquee brands, the mark
he teams yet that have separated themselves in order to
be considered, uh, the elite in that elite tier. Do
you see kind of the pros and cons of the
depth parody conversation?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
John, how do you view it?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
One hundred percent? Yeah, I mean I think it's it's
definitely true, like you would you would much rather be.
For instance, like the Big Ten, which you know has
I think a lot of stuff dragging it down at
the bottom. It's not nearly as deep as the SEC
the Big Twelve, probably more like on par with the ACC.
Like I think the ACC and the Big Ten are
both leagues. They kind of fit this where it's a
(02:35):
couple of big brands at the top and then like
everybody else. And you see what has happened with the
Big Ten. Obviously it's been able to elevate its status
because there was such monster brands with the Ohio State,
Michigan now adding Oregon, I mean, Penn State USC certainly
a brand, maybe not the football program to back it
up right now, but they've got five really really good
(02:55):
brands at this point. You would rather if you're the
Big twelve, have you know whoever it's going to the
Arizona State BYU Texas Tech. If it's a couple of
these teams that over the next five years can make
it to multiple playoffs and they start to pull away,
I mean, I do think that would do the league
some good. Now, is it too late to really do
that in this environment when you have so many of
(03:16):
the like, huge brands that have just decades and decades
of equity built up in their brands stacked together in
the sec of Big Ten. Maybe, but I mean it
definitely can't help if you start to get at least
some brands that are stronger at the top, that people
trust in the playoffs, that know have won some playoff games.
I think all that that could definitely be a beneficial
thing for the Big Twelve. It's just kind of like, well,
(03:38):
you're here right now. You do sort of have to
sell what you have, and so what you have is
I mean, everybody can see it. It's just a league
full of programs that are going to fight each other
to the nail and be pretty similar to each other
in terms of resources, talent, coaching, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
John Kurtz talking some Big twelve football. What did you
make of Week zero in the Big Twelve? What stood
out to you?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, I mean I think we saw a pretty good
game between k State and Iowa State. You know, I
was a little frustrated with some of the the snark
that was out there in the first half, in particular,
I mean a lot of that's just I mean, a
Viva stadium. They got to get that figured out, man.
I mean, the field conditions were terrible with a little
bit of rain led to things being sloppy. We didn't
have a first down marker on the broadcast for a
(04:23):
while because you can barely see the hash marks of
the yard line. So I think that all really contribute some.
Plus when you're when you're throwing two rivals against each
other that know each other that well in the first
game of the season in bad weather conditions in a
foreign country, like, I just don't know what anybody expected.
And then after you know, a little bit of sloppy sparring,
they put a show on really in the second half
(04:46):
and in particular in the fourth quarter. So I think
everybody deserves to take some of that with a grain
of salt, Like what the actual product there was. But
to me, the Iowa Stage is such a rock solid
program right now. I mean the difference between Case State
at Iowa State and for the record, I mean I
picked Iowa State to win. I thought it would be
a somewhat similar result to that. What I saw from
(05:07):
the two teams last year is like, I mean, Case
State's pretty talented, They're pretty athletic. I think they have
plenty of talent to win the league if they wanted to,
but they don't have guys they just need more edge
to them. They don't have an edge. They didn't really
have one last year when it comes down to a
tight game or just a play where someone really needs
to go make a play to stem the tide, or
(05:27):
what it was in this game was all the fourth
down conversions where Iowa State was a perfect three for
three in Case State was one for four. Who are
the guys on k State's roster that are going to
go do that? And I think it really starts at
the quarterback position. I mean Abray Johnson by any metric,
PFF grade, NFL passer rating, just looking at the stat line,
he easily outplayed rock Obec. But rockebec is the guy
(05:49):
that made the plays when it mattered. I mean, they
both had a crucial fourth and one late in the game.
Rock Obec's is in the third quarter, but he's running
an option pitch. He gets hit by an all Big
twelve safety and he knocks him back and leans forward
for like two yards, gets the first down by a
yard and a half. Avery Johnson gets hit in the
open field on a fourth and one, gets pummeled, knocked down,
doesn't get the first down. Say which will about the
(06:10):
spot which seemed a little bit shaky but didn't leave
no doubt, didn't get the first down. And that's kind
of the difference I think between the two programs right now.
Iwastate just seems to be a little tougher, a little grittier,
even if kse State has the talent so plenty of time,
I mean, it's tough to make that statement definitively about
the team for an entire season in week zero, you know,
when we're sitting here before September. But I think it
(06:33):
still looks like case date right now is searching for
that and if they're gonna win the Big Twelve, if
they want any shot of making the playoff, they're gonna
have to find that, and that's why I think they
went from seven to one to eight and four at
the end of last year. They didn't have enough of that.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Do you think this matchup versus two Big Twelve fos
to start the season weeks zero two ranked teams in
the foreign land in the variable volatility you know, platform
in which they competed in was an net positive, net negative,
or a net neutral for the Big Twelve as a conference.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It's a really good question. I mean, you know, I
think it was a net negative for sure for k State,
who gave up a home game to do it. So
I don't know if you're gonna, I don't know if
you're gonna have an easy time selling another Big Twelve
school on doing it for a conference game, Like it's
a different deal next year when you have TCU playing
North Carolina there that that's a much different situation. If
(07:26):
the Big Twelve did definitely get a lot of spotlight
out of it. I mean, it also helped to have
Kansas as a five thirty game, like five thirty Central
game that was going on Big Fox to show off
their new stadium and all that too, So it was
kind of like a day where the Big twelve got
to take center stage. But yeah, when you do have
that sloppiness and it doesn't look that great for the
first part of the game, you wonder how much good
(07:48):
that it actually really did. Like I kind of leaned
toward net neutral, but like I understand why they do it, right,
because last year the Island game had a viewership of
five million. It was the most watched case game of
the entire season. And you don't think Colorado was far
and away the most watched Big twelve team last year
and they were like in the three, like three million
per game, And that's the dat effect, right, all those people.
(08:11):
So I mean that shows you just how many more
people are watching a game in weeks zero in Ireland.
You just you don't have the opportunity really to do
it outside of that right now. So it might be
worth it to still take those shots, even if it
feels like in the moment after this like maybe it
didn't do all that much for you. Again, like brand building,
that that stuff takes time, So I think you gotta
(08:33):
gott to either be committed to it or not. But
after seeing Case State's experience, I do wonder if they
would be able to sell anybody else from the league
on actually moving a home game for it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I struggled with this matchup. But I know this is
a Brett your Mark initiative to go international. But I
think they missed the mark by not matching up a
powerfaux fow against the Big twelve.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
To me, even if you lose that game to a
ACC team or SEC team, or a Big ten team.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Or even a high level G five team, give me
you know, like at least you know you're not cannibalizing yourself.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
But I don't know. I think it's a debate.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Some people are like, well, you mean, everybody knows Kansas
State and I programs this year and they're gonna whoever
loses this game is going to make up forward. On
the back end, I just don't want to see an
initial loss in the season to the Big twelve. When
when we are looking for more objective metrics between conferences,
power conferences as are kind of that that threshold, that
(09:32):
delineation of who deserves to be in the college football
playoff or not strength of schedule, you know, strength of record,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, and I totally get it, and I think you know,
that's why I like having that opinion. You'd have to
like what you see next year with TCU North Carolina.
I mean, that'll be great because assuming that Bill Belichick
makes it to year two, which I guess maybe we
shouldn't assume, but if he's going to be there, there
will be a lot of attention on that game beyond
just the typical like, hey, it's the first football game
of the year, and everybody's just absolutely craving it. So
(10:01):
I think that's about as well as you could possibly
do it to shift away from a conference game. And
you know some of this if you listen to Gene Taylor,
Case State's athletic director tell a story. It started with
Jamie Pollard. He was like, I don't know what game
we would do. Case State catches wind of it, they
come to Gene Taylor and he's like, well, I mean,
IOWA stage schedule wised would be the one to move,
but I don't think there's any way Chris Climate would
actually go for it, and Climent sat on it for
(10:23):
a while and decided to actually pull the trigger. So
you may really just add Case State may just have
to look in the mirror basically and be if you're
believing the story that they tell publicly, it would be
I mean case State basically has to just look in
the mirror and be like, probably something that we shouldn't
have done there, And that's how this all happened. But
you never know what's going on beyond the scenes. If
there was more pressure from a league wide perspective. It
(10:43):
was really just all about the extra money, which I
think they got about two million extra dollars for doing it.
Who knows, but I think next year is a much
better like prototype for what you're looking for for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
John Kurtz here on ESPN The Fan Big Twelve in
you got to subscribe to his Big twelve newsletter to
stay up to date on all things in the Big Twelve. John,
let's preview some of the Big twelve games this week.
Who should we be looking out for, Which games are
most intriguing to you? And why?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Well, man, it really starts on Thursday. Like, first of all,
this is just a great opening weekend for Big twelve
fans because you've got football, like throughout the entire weekend.
There's a bunch of games in four games I believe
on Thursday, now three games the team should win. You
see f Oklahoma State Houston, they should cruise. But in
Cincinnati Nebraska, like I think quietly, there's there's a decent
(11:37):
amount of optimism for Cincinnati at least in terms of
being like a team that could maybe jump up win
seven or eight games. There's also a lot of us that, hey,
Nebraska could take a big lead forward. Matt Rule in
year three has been you know, that's a trend line
throughout his career that they've become much much better in
year three every time he's taken over a program. So
we'll see. I mean, I'm still a little skeptical on it,
(11:57):
just because we've seen over a decade now Nebraska football
kind of walling and mediocrity or worse. They'll have a
ton of fans. It's being played at Arrowhead interestingly enough,
at eight eight o'clock on Thursday. But we'll see if
Cincinnati can make something out of that. They're only a
six and a half point dog in what's going to
be a defect on in Nebraska home game, So that's
what I'll keep my eye on. But for sure, I
(12:18):
think the biggest game of the weekend is Auburn Baylor.
You get a shot at an SEC opponent. It's going
to be at home. For Baylor, it's Jackson Are probably
Jackson Arnold. Auburn is talking about playing maybe three quarterbacks,
but Jackson Donald who really struggled at Oklahoma last year.
They're trying to reboot and fix him after just an
awful season. His first game, he's got to go on
the road to a Big twelve team that most people,
(12:39):
myself included, I think Baylor can really contend for a
Big Twelve title. That's a game the Big Twelve needs
to win. You're not going to get many opportunities like that,
so I would circle that one for sure. I mean
TCU North Carolina on Monday, same matchup we're talking about
next year. They're playing it in Chapel Hill on Monday night.
A ton of people are going to be watching that.
(13:00):
Use a slight favorite. I really don't know what to
expect out of North Carolina, but you know, for TCU,
it's like if you narrative there. They have a tough schedule,
but I think talent wise, they've got a great quarterback
Josh Houber, who maybe a little bit overlooked. He if
TCU is really that good, if they've got that good
of a roster that can really compete. This is a
game that you probably should go win in week one
(13:20):
of the seasons. So you know, beyond that, there's still
Utah UCLA. We'll see what We'll see what Devon mper
what the Devon Mpier era looks like for Utah? Is
it really going to get back on the rails after
what's happened in the last couple of seasons. And I mean, hey,
Georgia Tech Colorado, what do things look like now for
Dion Postdor Sanders and Travis Hunters. I think there's there's
a lot of meat on the bone this week in
(13:42):
the Big Twelve.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
One of the questions we've broached in preparation for this season,
and it piggybacks off with the initial inquree that I
gave you here about marquee brands, Which two three four
teams are most likely to become elite or the brand
the brand that can lead the Big twelve to parody
(14:07):
of the SEC and Big Ten.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Do you think, well, I think you have to start
with Arison, a state. They just had a head start
being in the playoff last year. I mean, it would
have been a great thing for the league and their
brand building. Had they won that game against Texas, I
think that would have made a massive difference. But they're
already a team generating a lot of buzz. They have
a young head coach who's a pretty popular name. They
have a quarterback if people know in Sam Levitt. So
(14:29):
they they've got the head start there. But you know,
I think beyond that, you start to let we still
don't know exactly how this rev share era is going
to shape up, and what money is going to mean
and all that, how much you'll be able to spend
beyond the rev share cap. But just because of the
sheer force of the dollars that Texas Tech has that
they're going to be a factor. However much money is
going to matter, you know that text Tech is going
(14:50):
to match that thing out. So just because of that
the world that we live in, Texas Tech has to
be there. I think Buyu, the way Buyu has been
recruiting the resources we know that BYU has, they're definitely there.
They had a nice season last year with double digit wins.
They became a national story starting nine to zero, So
there's a bit of a head start there also, And
(15:11):
you know, you can't forget you. You really can't forget Utah.
I think in this conversation Utah probably gets a little
overlooked because of what happened in the last two years,
but you got a lot of success to back that up.
From Kyle Winningham, who is a name that people know,
it's a brand. Utah does have a brand that people trust,
I think in college football to be a nine to
ten win program, And if they pop back up and
(15:32):
do that again this year, I think it'll be pretty
easy for a lot of people to forget the last
two seasons and what happened with the Cam Rising injury
saga that was going on there. So you know, I
think those those schools come to mind as I start
thinking about this. You know, TCU being in DFW and
being a team that's jumped up in won twelve games
multiple times in the last ten to fifteen years, you
(15:52):
know they have some equity built up there too. They
certainly could. Iowa State, k State, Oklahoma State are kind
of in the same of tier to me, like just
really rock solid programs that everybody knows are going to
be in that eight to nine to ten win territory
almost every single year. So certainly I think they have
the base built up to do it too. But I'm
(16:13):
kind of start with the with the top three or
four that I listened there.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Love that.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
My guy Michael Luke of ASU let me, I want
to get your perspective on news. He's a he's a
a issue insider. He says this earlier today, actually may
have been yesterday. It really is amazing how cool almost
all the Big twelve fan bases are.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
You've been covering a lot of Big twelve football for
a long time, right, and there's been new players in
the mix, new fan base coming into the fold and family.
Would you echo those same sentiments the Big twelve fan bases?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
What do you make of them?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, I mean I think so. I think it's taken
on a different context than the last's Let's see, we'll
go back to twenty one. Since Texas and Oklahoma left,
everybody has had to come together a lot more word
and I think had happened before, you know, before, I mean,
you're in the same conference. Sure, and a lot of
(17:08):
the like original Big eight schools have been through a
lot because you went through the Big Twelve breaking off
the first time with Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Texas, A and
M So maybe there's a little bit of like forged
by fire sort of nature with that. But I think
it got cranked up to a different level when Texas
and Oklahoma left, so I think people started noticing it more.
We're also way more online than we used to be,
(17:30):
and so that's led to a lot more interaction between
all the fan bases. So I just think there's more
camaraderie these days because of that, and we're just you know,
let's be honest, I think all that's led to just
the human beings. Everybody's kind of more tribal in nature
right now anyway, So you've seen it happen with the
SEC and Big ten, and everybody's kind of in their
corners more, and it's led to this, like you know,
(17:51):
Big twelve kind of being a wounded animal. Everybody just
like taking up arms together and getting ready to fight
over the last few years just for the survival one
and then once you survived and the of the conference.
I think that has has fostered quite a bit of that,
And you know, maybe like something like Utah obviously came
in I think with sort of a different attitude from
a lot of folks because of their situation. But I
(18:13):
think for the most part, everybody was feeling like they
were basically in that same sort of boat, kind of
left for dead, and so there's this like band of
brothers sort of element going on with everybody in the
league right now.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Love that perspective. John Kurtz, Ladies and gentlemen talking to
some Big twelve football college football in new segment brought
to you by Dental Pros of Utah, Dental Prosovutah dot Com, Viapy,
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bioometic dentistry at Dental Pros of Utah and American FOK John.
Last thing before we let you appreciate you joining us
to get into some of these Big twelve topics, etc.
(18:49):
How many Big twelve teams do you think make it
to the CFP this season?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
And why? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I mean, I think unfortunately, like the smart money is
always just going to be on one. It's not impossible
for it to be two. You certainly want it to
your best case scenario to get two into the playoff
is going to be kind of a redo of what
you had in twenty twenty two, which was an unbeaten
team in TCU going into the title game against a
very good team in Case State and they go to blows.
(19:18):
It's an overtime game in Case State polls out a
close win. So you feel like, all right, well, the
unbeaten team, you can't just lead them out at that point,
especially now that we're in this twelve team playoff era.
I think that's definitely the route. I think the other
thing to keep in mind is it would I know
there wasn't an actual preseason media pull this year, but
we have seen plenty of other poles done by people
(19:39):
you kind of know who the group of like six
to eight teams are that people feel like are going
to be competing for it. You'd probably want the teams
up there coming from that group as opposed to lower
just because last year I think we saw like BYU
and Arizona State were absolutely harmed by the fact that
nobody thought either team was going to be a challenger
(19:59):
or any good at the beginning of the year, and
that kind of hurt perception wise, not only the conference
but their cases for seeding in the playoff. In Arizona
State's case and BYU in terms of getting in with
an at large, So you would prefer it be one
of the teams that people think, quote unquote are going
to be good this year. Maybe the one exception to
that I could throw out of Oklahoma State does go
(20:21):
to Austin Stadium. They're playing Oregon this year. If somehow,
now I'm not even sure I could tell you two
or three players on the Oklahoma State roster right now,
they have so many new faces. But if they're somehow
able to pull that out and win an Oregon, then
that maybe generates enough attention like oh okay, well this
team could be pretty good and then they go on
a run like maybe something like that would would buck
(20:42):
the trend that I'm talking about there. But I think
those are kind of the that's the bullet point checklist
that you'd have to look at if you if you're
trying to get multiple teams in the playoff from the
Big twelve.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
John best way to support you what you do, how
you do it? For all of our listeners that are
tuning in today.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, I appreciate that. Sign up for the Open for
Business Big twelve newsletter News dot com that's ofbnews dot com,
and you can also check out my YouTube channel John
Kurtz John k u Rtz on YouTube. I do two
live shows a week Wednesdays and Sundays typically, and you
can follow me on Twitter at Jail Kurtz. I also
do a case state specific podcast called three Maw three
(21:17):
m Aw and you can find that wherever we get podcasts.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Boom Shot the Lock and follow John on x Soon
subscribe to as YouTube as well as his newsletter. Does
fantastic work. John, We solute you. We appreciate you man,
Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Hey anytime, take care of Ben, my guy.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
John Kurtz.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
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August twenty sixth edition of Cougar Sports, here on one
O
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Three nine ninety eight point three eight
It's time to celebrate this team sport known to man
where modern day gladiators collide for all the glory on
the Gridie, let's talk some college football, a lot of
Cougar sports with Ben crid.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Play sports from the three nine ninety one three ESPN
the Fan on the tril broadcasting from our Vanderwealth Studios
Vanderwealth dot Com.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
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no obligation with SQ and A. Today, do you stop
for a little college football segment? I want to talk
Big twelve football. What has happened in the Big twelve
in Week zero and what games are we interested in
in that Week one as well. We're gonna talk with
a Big twelve insider here in this segment, and it's
gonna be brought to you by Dental Pros of Utah
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get out to the hotline. Welcome in Big twelve insider
representing Case Sports Network as well as his own platform
covering all things Big twelve on YouTube.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
We got John Kurtz on the line. John, how are
you living? Hey?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Then?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I'm doing great? How are you man?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Doing fantastic college football this year? It was great catching
up with you at Big twelve Media Days. Big Twelve.
One of the questions I asked Brett yor Mark at
Big twelve Media Days was I feel like we have
to speak out.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
Both sides of our mouth. Depth parody and how great
that is.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
But we don't have maybe the marquee brands, the mark
he teams yet that have separated themselves in order to
be considered, uh, the elite in that elite tier. Do
you see kind of the pros and cons of the
depth parody conversation?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
John, how do you view it?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
One hundred percent? Yeah, I mean I think it's it's
definitely true, like you would you would much rather be.
For instance, like the Big Ten, which you know has
I think a lot of stuff dragging it down at
the bottom. It's not nearly as deep as the SEC
the Big Twelve, probably more like on par with the ACC.
Like I think the ACC and the Big Ten are
both leagues. They kind of fit this where it's a
(02:35):
couple of big brands at the top and then like
everybody else. And you see what has happened with the
Big Ten. Obviously it's been able to elevate its status
because there was such monster brands with the Ohio State,
Michigan now adding Oregon, I mean, Penn State USC certainly
a brand, maybe not the football program to back it
up right now, but they've got five really really good
(02:55):
brands at this point. You would rather if you're the
Big twelve, have you know whoever it's going to the
Arizona State BYU Texas Tech. If it's a couple of
these teams that over the next five years can make
it to multiple playoffs and they start to pull away,
I mean, I do think that would do the league
some good. Now, is it too late to really do
that in this environment when you have so many of
(03:16):
the like, huge brands that have just decades and decades
of equity built up in their brands stacked together in
the sec of Big Ten. Maybe, but I mean it
definitely can't help if you start to get at least
some brands that are stronger at the top, that people
trust in the playoffs, that know have won some playoff games.
I think all that that could definitely be a beneficial
thing for the Big Twelve. It's just kind of like, well,
(03:38):
you're here right now. You do sort of have to
sell what you have, and so what you have is
I mean, everybody can see it. It's just a league
full of programs that are going to fight each other
to the nail and be pretty similar to each other
in terms of resources, talent, coaching, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
John Kurtz talking some Big twelve football. What did you
make of Week zero in the Big Twelve? What stood
out to you?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, I mean I think we saw a pretty good
game between k State and Iowa State. You know, I
was a little frustrated with some of the the snark
that was out there in the first half, in particular,
I mean a lot of that's just I mean, a
Viva stadium. They got to get that figured out, man.
I mean, the field conditions were terrible with a little
bit of rain led to things being sloppy. We didn't
have a first down marker on the broadcast for a
(04:23):
while because you can barely see the hash marks of
the yard line. So I think that all really contribute some.
Plus when you're when you're throwing two rivals against each
other that know each other that well in the first
game of the season in bad weather conditions in a
foreign country, like, I just don't know what anybody expected.
And then after you know, a little bit of sloppy sparring,
they put a show on really in the second half
(04:46):
and in particular in the fourth quarter. So I think
everybody deserves to take some of that with a grain
of salt, Like what the actual product there was. But
to me, the Iowa Stage is such a rock solid
program right now. I mean the difference between Case State
at Iowa State and for the record, I mean I
picked Iowa State to win. I thought it would be
a somewhat similar result to that. What I saw from
(05:07):
the two teams last year is like, I mean, Case
State's pretty talented, They're pretty athletic. I think they have
plenty of talent to win the league if they wanted to,
but they don't have guys they just need more edge
to them. They don't have an edge. They didn't really
have one last year when it comes down to a
tight game or just a play where someone really needs
to go make a play to stem the tide, or
(05:27):
what it was in this game was all the fourth
down conversions where Iowa State was a perfect three for
three in Case State was one for four. Who are
the guys on k State's roster that are going to
go do that? And I think it really starts at
the quarterback position. I mean Abray Johnson by any metric,
PFF grade, NFL passer rating, just looking at the stat line,
he easily outplayed rock Obec. But rockebec is the guy
(05:49):
that made the plays when it mattered. I mean, they
both had a crucial fourth and one late in the game.
Rock Obec's is in the third quarter, but he's running
an option pitch. He gets hit by an all Big
twelve safety and he knocks him back and leans forward
for like two yards, gets the first down by a
yard and a half. Avery Johnson gets hit in the
open field on a fourth and one, gets pummeled, knocked down,
doesn't get the first down. Say which will about the
(06:10):
spot which seemed a little bit shaky but didn't leave
no doubt, didn't get the first down. And that's kind
of the difference I think between the two programs right now.
Iwastate just seems to be a little tougher, a little grittier,
even if kse State has the talent so plenty of time,
I mean, it's tough to make that statement definitively about
the team for an entire season in week zero, you know,
when we're sitting here before September. But I think it
(06:33):
still looks like case date right now is searching for
that and if they're gonna win the Big Twelve, if
they want any shot of making the playoff, they're gonna
have to find that, and that's why I think they
went from seven to one to eight and four at
the end of last year. They didn't have enough of that.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Do you think this matchup versus two Big Twelve fos
to start the season weeks zero two ranked teams in
the foreign land in the variable volatility you know, platform
in which they competed in was an net positive, net negative,
or a net neutral for the Big Twelve as a conference.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
It's a really good question. I mean, you know, I
think it was a net negative for sure for k State,
who gave up a home game to do it. So
I don't know if you're gonna, I don't know if
you're gonna have an easy time selling another Big Twelve
school on doing it for a conference game, Like it's
a different deal next year when you have TCU playing
North Carolina there that that's a much different situation. If
(07:26):
the Big Twelve did definitely get a lot of spotlight
out of it. I mean, it also helped to have
Kansas as a five thirty game, like five thirty Central
game that was going on Big Fox to show off
their new stadium and all that too, So it was
kind of like a day where the Big twelve got
to take center stage. But yeah, when you do have
that sloppiness and it doesn't look that great for the
first part of the game, you wonder how much good
(07:48):
that it actually really did. Like I kind of leaned
toward net neutral, but like I understand why they do it, right,
because last year the Island game had a viewership of
five million. It was the most watched case game of
the entire season. And you don't think Colorado was far
and away the most watched Big twelve team last year
and they were like in the three, like three million
per game, And that's the dat effect, right, all those people.
(08:11):
So I mean that shows you just how many more
people are watching a game in weeks zero in Ireland.
You just you don't have the opportunity really to do
it outside of that right now. So it might be
worth it to still take those shots, even if it
feels like in the moment after this like maybe it
didn't do all that much for you. Again, like brand building,
that that stuff takes time, So I think you gotta
(08:33):
gott to either be committed to it or not. But
after seeing Case State's experience, I do wonder if they
would be able to sell anybody else from the league
on actually moving a home game for it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I struggled with this matchup. But I know this is
a Brett your Mark initiative to go international. But I
think they missed the mark by not matching up a
powerfaux fow against the Big twelve.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
To me, even if you lose that game to a
ACC team or SEC team, or a Big ten team.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Or even a high level G five team, give me
you know, like at least you know you're not cannibalizing yourself.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
But I don't know. I think it's a debate.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Some people are like, well, you mean, everybody knows Kansas
State and I programs this year and they're gonna whoever
loses this game is going to make up forward. On
the back end, I just don't want to see an
initial loss in the season to the Big twelve. When
when we are looking for more objective metrics between conferences,
power conferences as are kind of that that threshold, that
(09:32):
delineation of who deserves to be in the college football
playoff or not strength of schedule, you know, strength of record,
et cetera.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, and I totally get it, and I think you know,
that's why I like having that opinion. You'd have to
like what you see next year with TCU North Carolina.
I mean, that'll be great because assuming that Bill Belichick
makes it to year two, which I guess maybe we
shouldn't assume, but if he's going to be there, there
will be a lot of attention on that game beyond
just the typical like, hey, it's the first football game
of the year, and everybody's just absolutely craving it. So
(10:01):
I think that's about as well as you could possibly
do it to shift away from a conference game. And
you know some of this if you listen to Gene Taylor,
Case State's athletic director tell a story. It started with
Jamie Pollard. He was like, I don't know what game
we would do. Case State catches wind of it, they
come to Gene Taylor and he's like, well, I mean,
IOWA stage schedule wised would be the one to move,
but I don't think there's any way Chris Climate would
actually go for it, and Climent sat on it for
(10:23):
a while and decided to actually pull the trigger. So
you may really just add Case State may just have
to look in the mirror basically and be if you're
believing the story that they tell publicly, it would be
I mean case State basically has to just look in
the mirror and be like, probably something that we shouldn't
have done there, And that's how this all happened. But
you never know what's going on beyond the scenes. If
there was more pressure from a league wide perspective. It
(10:43):
was really just all about the extra money, which I
think they got about two million extra dollars for doing it.
Who knows, but I think next year is a much
better like prototype for what you're looking for for sure.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
John Kurtz here on ESPN The Fan Big Twelve in
you got to subscribe to his Big twelve newsletter to
stay up to date on all things in the Big Twelve. John,
let's preview some of the Big twelve games this week.
Who should we be looking out for, Which games are
most intriguing to you? And why?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Well, man, it really starts on Thursday. Like, first of all,
this is just a great opening weekend for Big twelve
fans because you've got football, like throughout the entire weekend.
There's a bunch of games in four games I believe
on Thursday, now three games the team should win. You
see f Oklahoma State Houston, they should cruise. But in
Cincinnati Nebraska, like I think quietly, there's there's a decent
(11:37):
amount of optimism for Cincinnati at least in terms of
being like a team that could maybe jump up win
seven or eight games. There's also a lot of us that, hey,
Nebraska could take a big lead forward. Matt Rule in
year three has been you know, that's a trend line
throughout his career that they've become much much better in
year three every time he's taken over a program. So
we'll see. I mean, I'm still a little skeptical on it,
(11:57):
just because we've seen over a decade now Nebraska football
kind of walling and mediocrity or worse. They'll have a
ton of fans. It's being played at Arrowhead interestingly enough,
at eight eight o'clock on Thursday. But we'll see if
Cincinnati can make something out of that. They're only a
six and a half point dog in what's going to
be a defect on in Nebraska home game, So that's
what I'll keep my eye on. But for sure, I
(12:18):
think the biggest game of the weekend is Auburn Baylor.
You get a shot at an SEC opponent. It's going
to be at home. For Baylor, it's Jackson Are probably
Jackson Arnold. Auburn is talking about playing maybe three quarterbacks,
but Jackson Donald who really struggled at Oklahoma last year.
They're trying to reboot and fix him after just an
awful season. His first game, he's got to go on
the road to a Big twelve team that most people,
(12:39):
myself included, I think Baylor can really contend for a
Big Twelve title. That's a game the Big Twelve needs
to win. You're not going to get many opportunities like that,
so I would circle that one for sure. I mean
TCU North Carolina on Monday, same matchup we're talking about
next year. They're playing it in Chapel Hill on Monday night.
A ton of people are going to be watching that.
(13:00):
Use a slight favorite. I really don't know what to
expect out of North Carolina, but you know, for TCU,
it's like if you narrative there. They have a tough schedule,
but I think talent wise, they've got a great quarterback
Josh Houber, who maybe a little bit overlooked. He if
TCU is really that good, if they've got that good
of a roster that can really compete. This is a
game that you probably should go win in week one
(13:20):
of the seasons. So you know, beyond that, there's still
Utah UCLA. We'll see what We'll see what Devon mper
what the Devon Mpier era looks like for Utah? Is
it really going to get back on the rails after
what's happened in the last couple of seasons. And I mean, hey,
Georgia Tech Colorado, what do things look like now for
Dion Postdor Sanders and Travis Hunters. I think there's there's
a lot of meat on the bone this week in
(13:42):
the Big Twelve.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
One of the questions we've broached in preparation for this season,
and it piggybacks off with the initial inquree that I
gave you here about marquee brands, Which two three four
teams are most likely to become elite or the brand
the brand that can lead the Big twelve to parody
(14:07):
of the SEC and Big Ten.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Do you think, well, I think you have to start
with Arison, a state. They just had a head start
being in the playoff last year. I mean, it would
have been a great thing for the league and their
brand building. Had they won that game against Texas, I
think that would have made a massive difference. But they're
already a team generating a lot of buzz. They have
a young head coach who's a pretty popular name. They
have a quarterback if people know in Sam Levitt. So
(14:29):
they they've got the head start there. But you know,
I think beyond that, you start to let we still
don't know exactly how this rev share era is going
to shape up, and what money is going to mean
and all that, how much you'll be able to spend
beyond the rev share cap. But just because of the
sheer force of the dollars that Texas Tech has that
they're going to be a factor. However much money is
going to matter, you know that text Tech is going
(14:50):
to match that thing out. So just because of that
the world that we live in, Texas Tech has to
be there. I think Buyu, the way Buyu has been
recruiting the resources we know that BYU has, they're definitely there.
They had a nice season last year with double digit wins.
They became a national story starting nine to zero, So
there's a bit of a head start there also, And
(15:11):
you know, you can't forget you. You really can't forget Utah.
I think in this conversation Utah probably gets a little
overlooked because of what happened in the last two years,
but you got a lot of success to back that up.
From Kyle Winningham, who is a name that people know,
it's a brand. Utah does have a brand that people trust,
I think in college football to be a nine to
ten win program, And if they pop back up and
(15:32):
do that again this year, I think it'll be pretty
easy for a lot of people to forget the last
two seasons and what happened with the Cam Rising injury
saga that was going on there. So you know, I
think those those schools come to mind as I start
thinking about this. You know, TCU being in DFW and
being a team that's jumped up in won twelve games
multiple times in the last ten to fifteen years, you
(15:52):
know they have some equity built up there too. They
certainly could. Iowa State, k State, Oklahoma State are kind
of in the same of tier to me, like just
really rock solid programs that everybody knows are going to
be in that eight to nine to ten win territory
almost every single year. So certainly I think they have
the base built up to do it too. But I'm
(16:13):
kind of start with the with the top three or
four that I listened there.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Love that.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
My guy Michael Luke of ASU let me, I want
to get your perspective on news. He's a he's a
a issue insider. He says this earlier today, actually may
have been yesterday. It really is amazing how cool almost
all the Big twelve fan bases are.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Now.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
You've been covering a lot of Big twelve football for
a long time, right, and there's been new players in
the mix, new fan base coming into the fold and family.
Would you echo those same sentiments the Big twelve fan bases?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
What do you make of them?
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, I mean I think so. I think it's taken
on a different context than the last's Let's see, we'll
go back to twenty one. Since Texas and Oklahoma left,
everybody has had to come together a lot more word
and I think had happened before, you know, before, I mean,
you're in the same conference. Sure, and a lot of
(17:08):
the like original Big eight schools have been through a
lot because you went through the Big Twelve breaking off
the first time with Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Texas, A and
M So maybe there's a little bit of like forged
by fire sort of nature with that. But I think
it got cranked up to a different level when Texas
and Oklahoma left, so I think people started noticing it more.
We're also way more online than we used to be,
(17:30):
and so that's led to a lot more interaction between
all the fan bases. So I just think there's more
camaraderie these days because of that, and we're just you know,
let's be honest, I think all that's led to just
the human beings. Everybody's kind of more tribal in nature
right now anyway, So you've seen it happen with the
SEC and Big ten, and everybody's kind of in their
corners more, and it's led to this, like you know,
(17:51):
Big twelve kind of being a wounded animal. Everybody just
like taking up arms together and getting ready to fight
over the last few years just for the survival one
and then once you survived and the of the conference.
I think that has has fostered quite a bit of that,
And you know, maybe like something like Utah obviously came
in I think with sort of a different attitude from
a lot of folks because of their situation. But I
(18:13):
think for the most part, everybody was feeling like they
were basically in that same sort of boat, kind of
left for dead, and so there's this like band of
brothers sort of element going on with everybody in the
league right now.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Love that perspective. John Kurtz, Ladies and gentlemen talking to
some Big twelve football college football in new segment brought
to you by Dental Pros of Utah, Dental Prosovutah dot Com, Viapy,
products of VAPPI Service VPY discounts when you try out
bioometic dentistry at Dental Pros of Utah and American FOK John.
Last thing before we let you appreciate you joining us
to get into some of these Big twelve topics, etc.
(18:49):
How many Big twelve teams do you think make it
to the CFP this season?
Speaker 4 (18:53):
And why? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:55):
I mean, I think unfortunately, like the smart money is
always just going to be on one. It's not impossible
for it to be two. You certainly want it to
your best case scenario to get two into the playoff
is going to be kind of a redo of what
you had in twenty twenty two, which was an unbeaten
team in TCU going into the title game against a
very good team in Case State and they go to blows.
(19:18):
It's an overtime game in Case State polls out a
close win. So you feel like, all right, well, the
unbeaten team, you can't just lead them out at that point,
especially now that we're in this twelve team playoff era.
I think that's definitely the route. I think the other
thing to keep in mind is it would I know
there wasn't an actual preseason media pull this year, but
we have seen plenty of other poles done by people
(19:39):
you kind of know who the group of like six
to eight teams are that people feel like are going
to be competing for it. You'd probably want the teams
up there coming from that group as opposed to lower
just because last year I think we saw like BYU
and Arizona State were absolutely harmed by the fact that
nobody thought either team was going to be a challenger
(19:59):
or any good at the beginning of the year, and
that kind of hurt perception wise, not only the conference
but their cases for seeding in the playoff. In Arizona
State's case and BYU in terms of getting in with
an at large, So you would prefer it be one
of the teams that people think, quote unquote are going
to be good this year. Maybe the one exception to
that I could throw out of Oklahoma State does go
(20:21):
to Austin Stadium. They're playing Oregon this year. If somehow,
now I'm not even sure I could tell you two
or three players on the Oklahoma State roster right now,
they have so many new faces. But if they're somehow
able to pull that out and win an Oregon, then
that maybe generates enough attention like oh okay, well this
team could be pretty good and then they go on
a run like maybe something like that would would buck
(20:42):
the trend that I'm talking about there. But I think
those are kind of the that's the bullet point checklist
that you'd have to look at if you if you're
trying to get multiple teams in the playoff from the
Big twelve.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
John best way to support you what you do, how
you do it? For all of our listeners that are
tuning in today.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, I appreciate that. Sign up for the Open for
Business Big twelve newsletter News dot com that's ofbnews dot com,
and you can also check out my YouTube channel John
Kurtz John k u Rtz on YouTube. I do two
live shows a week Wednesdays and Sundays typically, and you
can follow me on Twitter at Jail Kurtz. I also
do a case state specific podcast called three Maw three
(21:17):
m Aw and you can find that wherever we get podcasts.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Boom Shot the Lock and follow John on x Soon
subscribe to as YouTube as well as his newsletter. Does
fantastic work. John, We solute you. We appreciate you man,
Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Hey anytime, take care of Ben, my guy.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
John Kurtz.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
That segment was brought to you by Dental pros of
Utah on American Fork. If you've been told you need
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August twenty sixth edition of Cougar Sports, here on one
O
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Three nine ninety eight point three eight
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