August 27, 2025 • 29 mins
Ben Criddle talks BYU sports every weekday from 2 to 6 pm.
Today's Co-Hosts: Ben Criddle (@criddlebenjamin)
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Apple Podcasts:
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Up with the Cougars.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
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with Cougar's going to welcome in a former BYU great quarterback,
the luscious aired Lefty to talk some BYU football. Does
(00:36):
he believe that bear Bachmeyer has a good chance to
be successful this season? And then what does suck? What
does success look like for this BYU Cougar football team
under bear Bachmeyer. We're gonna break it all down here
on your UTI ESPN Radio network is going to be
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VP discounts. All right, let's get out to the hotline.
Welcome in former bo great quarterback, the Luscio's aired lefty.
We got Riley Nailson on the line. Riley, how the
(01:38):
heck are you, buddy?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Oh? Three days away, Ben, I'm chopping at the bit.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I know, man, Wednesday, you know you.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Know, I guess I don't count today Thursday for adady Saturday.
That's how I'm going in my mind. Today's already, it's
already long. It's almost here.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
It's already here. Man. I'm excited for you, Like when
you think about the college foot ball seasons that you
were a part of the preparation, the fall camp, the
game week prior to game one, Like where do you reflect,
Like where do you go back to when I say, hey,
game week, back in your your heyday right before you
(02:15):
know game one of the season.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well, game one was awesome. I love game one because
you had so much.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
It's like around the middle of the schedule, like game
five and six when trying to keep your nose above water.
And and this is maybe more for a quarterback than others,
but I think anybody who's taking their craft seriously, this
is their experience. Like game one is you feel like
you know that opponent inside and out, Like you feel
so good with your game plan going in because you
even actually maybe get a little bit even more than
(02:44):
a bye week, because the thing about a bye week
is that you had a game before you're coming into
this off fall camp. So you've had your you've had
almost two full weeks a game prep, and you're just
feeling ready to go.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And we always performed well.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You know, my gleach came in my senior year and
and we put it to Washington State and you know,
we beat my first start at BYU was against Jake
Locker and the Washington Huskies, and we you know, we
beat those guys by a couple of touchdowns, and I
always just felt extremely prepared, anxious, and then not to mention,
you just got fresh legs, bro, you go, you all
(03:20):
going to that game feeling just looved up, just like
the joints feel good.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
There's no muscle sword is, you don't have any contusions,
You're not dealing with any of that.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So Week one was, like, I'm not gonna say it
was the high point, because the high point came in
the best competition throughout the season and testing your medal against.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
The best teams. And that's not always a Week.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
One opponent, but Week one, like as far as vibes,
was the all time high.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I love it, man, love the vibe of college football.
The preparation, the sites, the sounds, it's all, it's all,
you know, it's you know, people say Christmas is the
most wonderful time of the year. This is the most
wonderful time of the year in my opinion. So I
sent you a reason to be optimistic that Bear Bachmeyer
(04:03):
can be successful this year. I think there's a good chance,
a solid chance that he can be successful. And I
delved into a number of things that I would you know,
I would justify as creating a good chance for him
to be successful. Obviously, a four star recruit, nationally recognized, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan,
Notre Dame. All these teams recruited him, offered him. He's
(04:24):
a dual threat kid. He's six two two twenty five.
He's a proven passer and runner. Comes from a football family,
high football.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
IQ is he's a reclass what's that all right?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
That's the old in me.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Is either a reclass or he's really old? Is it true?
He's nineteen already.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
He may be a reclass. I don't know how old
he is, but he is very mature.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Dudes are double reclass in these days.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
But you never know, right, I've seen it. I have
seen that, no doubt about it. Gained early early college experience,
at least at Stanford for a spring before coming over
to BYU. He is familiar that game two with personnel
and based game, so he can get a dub there.
He was described as brilliant per Aaron Roderick, and then
his high school coach said he had a photographic memory
(05:07):
the first six games are winnable by You should be
favored in each Three of the first six games are
at home. Week three by allows for early adjustment, correction
recovery avoids immediate matchups against the toughest Big twelve defenses.
You do have a good supporting cast in LJ. Martincionimoa,
Chase Roberts, Parker Kingston, Jojo Phillips, Cody Hagen, tight end
Carson Ryan, a ten yared offensive line with multiple returning starters.
(05:28):
You have a projected top twenty five defense, projected top
twenty five special teams unit. You have consistency of culture
with Killane and less volatility within the coaching staff. You
have continuity of scheme with your coordinator too right, so
everybody else's is familiar with the scheme and the install
Bear had to get up to date with it. It
(05:48):
is a quarterback friendly system. I've never seen as many
easy throws. Jaren and Zach were pretty proficient as young
quarterbacks in the red zone, going in play action, rhythm, design, mobility,
and then you got Lavelle Edwards Stadium obviously the home
field advantage. You should get to bowl eligibility. You have
a new strengthen conditioning program that has been able and
(06:08):
capable of keeping this team a little bit healthier. And
you have some veteran leadership in there. And I'd also
add John Beck has trained bear Bachmeyer since he was
in seventh grade. That's that's kind to bode.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Well, yeah, I mean essentially, what the case that you're
making is what I've always said. There there are a
few of the few, and we don't know that this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Is Bear Bachmeyer, not like we all hope that he is.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And most of the time, with what I'm about to say,
this doesn't materialize until a guy has been a multi
year starter. But there's a few dudes a signal caller
that no matter who around them, they're gonna be able
to put their team on the back and like and
go do it right.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
But and we see this in the NFL all the time.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Everybody's talented in the NFL, everybody's got a rock around.
There are some differentiatings and guys ability to process and
kind of what happens above the shoulders. But quarterback position,
more than any other, uh more in any other position
in sport, is the product of his environment.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
So essentially everything he's just laid out is just saying that.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
The program is in as good as shape as it
has probably ever been.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Like the program top to.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Bottom is as good as so Like, yeah, whoever, whether
it's a freshman or whether it's whoever it is, should
be able to have every tool.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Available to them to be successful.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
And as you look at some of the individual reasons
for Bear, like one of the things I like, if
I if I'm not mistaken, his older brother Hank started
as a freshman at.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, at Boise. You know, I just listened to.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
An interview with ed Orgeron where he's talking about his
his In fact, it became over time his number one
recruiting role was bet on the DNA. Right, So obviously
you got you got Hank, you got Tiger, and now
you got you got Bear. So like that's you're placing
a pretty good bet on the d or that's pretty
good DNA to be placing a bet on.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And so yeah, I mean the that's great.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
I can I can go into the re I'm right
and high with you, man, Like I'm there, I can
go into the reasons why maybe it won't materialize, But like,
what's the fun of doing that before we've even played
a game.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Let's hold on to this hope while we've got it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, yeah, now I feel you on that. I feel
you on that. Is there anything what's concerning to you
this year? Like what where? Where could the wheels fall off?
Do you think from this? By you, it's not so
much concerning.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
It's just that because I believe that they've taken a
step forward on defense, and I believe that we got
a very good chance of being neutral slightly improved on offense.
So if that's the case, but here's the difference or
like here's here's my case for non optimism is that
I don't know, like I hate to call it, but
(08:47):
like Utah and Oklahoma States were games that were wanting
kind of flukey ways, right, and.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That that puts you down to that puts you down
nine wins. And then.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
My point is like even if they are only slightly better,
if the conference has gotten better and or the ball
doesn't bounce away, honestly, you know what BYU's like or what.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
This big ball was like. It's like the NFL, like
so much of the NF.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
You remember two years ago when the Vikings were the
number one seed in the NFC, but they were they
had they were like seven and one in one score games,
and then they got into the playoffs and they kind
of got exposed a little bit, and the reality was
they had just kind of gotten a lot of in
game luck or like the ball had bounced their way
a lot. Like my reservation comes from the fact that
if we're just being purely objective, last year, I think,
(09:33):
like to me, Oklahoma State lost that game. We didn't
win that game, and and like Utah gave that game
away more than more than we took it over and
we won it. And maybe that doesn't happen that year,
And if that doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That year, then we're down somewhere around eighty or nine wins.
And I think most people would take that. I would
hope most people would take that. But I don't have concern.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
But that's the thing I'm also I'm also on board
for like running it back at eleven and two and
being you know, and where we fell short last year
with that Kansas game and missing our opportunity to get
in the conference championship. I can see us learning from
that and taking the step forward and getting in the
conference championship game and playing our way into the playoff.
I can just as easily see that, because I think
(10:15):
we made some great moves in the portal. I think
the continuities in the staff of you already alluded to,
but also with your main producers.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I know that forty percent.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Of the starters aren't coming back, but I think we
replaced him with starters from other universities. And I think
the like, just the names we got coming back is
pretty you know, They're like like you got Glasger and
Kelly coming back, you had tanu Vas, and then.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
On the offensive side you got.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You got Roberts and Martin, who everybody feels comfortable with,
and then you add Ryan, who's are very familiar name
cars is like very familiar in going all the way
back to al Hard the way you recruited him initially
out of high school.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Now they finally got this guy, Like there's no way
that he's not like an unknown commodity, a guy that's
gonna drop off.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
So like, I have some reason for caution, but I
could just as easily make the argument for BYU to
take that step forward. So this question, the original question
was like, what are your reservations or what gives me pause?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
What are my concerns for this bou football team. I
don't really have any other.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Than and honestly, I don't even think it's worth mentioning
injury because any injury is an existential threat for any
college football team, right, and so I mean the sky.
This guy's looking pretty Cougar blue.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Bro love that breakdown. Riley Nelson here on ESPN the
Fan Talk and some Cougar football. What does it take
to have a thousand yard rusher on a team and
a thousand yard receiver? Aaron Roderick mentioned in his Coordinator's
Corner that LJ. Martin was the MVP of the BAO offense,
(11:53):
as as was Chase Roberts. That they've taken their their
playmaking ability to the next level. It hasn't happened all
that often. I think you may.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Have experienced the last Austin and Harvey Man.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well, I think Jamal and Cody was Jamal was Cody
in twenty twelve too? Or No? Was that not?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
No?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I don't think Cody had Cody battles some injuries in thirteen. No,
Jamal didn't get because he was a true freshman. Jamal
didn't get to ony and twelve, okay, and then Cody
battled injuries. Cody missed a couple of games in twenty thirteen,
and I don't think got to one thousand and thirteen.
So the other one might be Jamal and Mitch maybe
in the tea some years, but but it might go
(12:35):
all it might go all the way back to like
Harvin Dennis or Harvan Austin.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
That's a good fact check thing that I think internally
we're going to look at because I think the hype
surrounding lj And and Chase are someone akin to those,
you know, those those certain seasons. I think Tyler Aw's year,
Dax Milne, I want to say two thousand, was it
twenty and twenty twenty twenty one. I need to look
(13:02):
at that because this two man, you know, ranking crew
of running back and wide receiver, it's special. The question is,
you know, what role does the quarterback playing all that
in your opinion, to get that to meet that threshold,
those thresholds, and I'm not saying that is the goal,
but I mean there's hype surrounding these two guys and
so much that you kind of feel like they're on
(13:22):
the press. A piece of accomplishing that feed.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Well, I'll tell you the first thing.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
If we're laying the foundation for the possibility of that
is happening.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
The first thing that needs happens is.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
You need a defense that is going to be consistent
game in, game out, and not force you into positions.
You know, maybe they don't show up that day and
now it's now you're throwing the ball sixty times and
you don't get the luxury because you're constantly playing.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Catch up on the other side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
But if the defense shows up and just consistent, I'm
not saying there like lights out, but if the defense
shows up and is consistent, and that allows you as
an offense to be able to architect your game plan
and call your games from a very balanced perspective. And
as we've known with Roderick and as everybody's trying to
i mean, just basic football the last seventy years, is
(14:11):
you want to be able to establish the run, which
establishes a physical presence, allow you to control the game
the momentum of the clock, and then off that you
want to be able to really hurt the defense, damage
the defense by playing off of that run game via
play action and take shots to guys downfield. The other
thing that you want to be able to do is
convert third down. Third downs are going to be so
(14:33):
where the majority of your thousand yard rusher is going to.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Be made on first and second downs.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
The majority of your thousand yard receiver is going to
happen on play action and open downs, but mostly on
third downs. Like that's where those dudes need to show up.
Your running back showing up on first and second and
your wide receiver showing up on third, and so that's
kind of the recipe.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
There is just game management.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
But as funny as it is, you know, you ask me,
what's a quarterbacks role, what's an offense?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
What's an offenses role?
Speaker 4 (14:59):
With that even that quarterback, that offense is extremely dependent
upon the performance of its defense, because if the defense
can't consistently show up and help you maintain control of
that game, then you can get significantly balanced one way
or the other, and that can make it hard. You know,
to give a guy enough at bats to generate the
production of one thousand yards.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
How often are you gonna run this six to two
hundred and twenty five pounds dual threat quarterback? Do you
think how many toats do you think he's getting the game?
You know, QB designed run and then you know, freelancing
and scrambling and then taking off to you know, pass
the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
I like fourteen to sixteen, but that you know, but
it's different because Roderick, my coach, was coach.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Doman and that's why I aligned with him a lot.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And I kind of like the fact that he always
would let me use my legs to get out. But
like I've I've heard Roderick coach up the dudes Becklou's
doing the radio and all that stuff, like I would
hurt him, like he's taking a sack at the worst thing,
like taking us.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
First of all, it wasn't in my DNA for.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
The first thing, and second all, it wasn't really one
of our emphasis of coaching. So I say it for like,
fourteen feels like the right number to me, and that
like you're maybe six to eight designed, and then as
he's out there extending plays on open downs or trying
to convert third downs, you're gonna get another six to
eight attempts there. I think that's how it happens. I
(16:28):
think I would hope that they go lean a little
bit heavier, like to that fourteen to fifteen. But you
watch him and if he's proven that he can't, that
he hasn't, because I mean, we've all seen the clip.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Right, it's made its way viral. I'm sure it's got tens.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Of millions, if not hundreds of millions of him trucking
that dude at the And I know he's I know
he's built like a brick house and all that stuff,
But there's big dudes on the other side of the
football too.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
And I guess I'm sorry. My whole point to this
is if you can get a feel that he's athletic
enough to be able to.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Get out, run and protect himself, but if he goes
out and he's trying to just retread his high school
playbook of using his body of physicality, you can't do
that because it just shortens his lifespan.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Right.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Not a guarantee that he will get hurt, but it
just significantly increases the probability. And if we're all as
high on him, or if the coaching staff is as
high on him as they say, they're gonna want to
protect him and keep it in there for the entirety
of this season, and in which case I expect that
Carrie's number to come down more to like five to
seven rather than fourteen to fifteen.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Love that Riley Nelson, ladies and gentlemen talks of BYU football.
Is there a player or players that you feel like
are a little bit underrated right now on the roster
offense or defense that are gonna break out? We always
have those breakout players, right I don't know if there
was a player that you thought on your squads was
a bit underrated and ended up breaking out and not
(17:54):
many people knew about in the media, the fans, etc.
But the team may be internally new or maybe you
knew that they would be special. So talk about it,
reflect on the past, and then is there anybody on
the roster this year that you're intrigued by?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
It's tough now because all of our guys and like
we were able to see every one of our guys
like career play out. Like I felt like Danny Sownson
was that. I don't feel like Danny got a lot
of play because all the attention was on Kyle and Ziggy,
especially in that twenty twelve defense.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
But what but Danny was such and Danny was by
the way you say offense or defense. But Danny was
He was our special team's MVP.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
You know, he was tremendous on specialty and and honestly
that position that they had him, he was more just
the way that Bronco ran that defense in his position.
In that defense, Danny was much more like, hey man,
you're the backstop. And because we have security and you,
it frees us up to allow like Kyle and Wona
and Ziggy to go do and play their games. But
(18:57):
but like, Danny's like a guy.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
But no one would say that because.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
He's a super Bowl winner and he had a great
you know, he got a ten year career in the NFL,
So nobody's now going to say that he was underseenior
inder Preachi.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
But in the moment, it kind of felt like that.
I I don't see.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
What's hard for me is I just I feel like
at every position group and.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
We've got we've got known commodity.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's the thing is I feel like we have such
a breadth of familiarity with this team that coach j
Hill maybe it was him getting here and getting to
Noah's roster. I feel like the rotations are pretty liberal
here that we've seen a lot of the guys that
we're gonna do. Like when you first were asking me
this question, like my mind kind of went to Parker Kingston,
But that dude was like a trick play savant last year.
(19:38):
And then of course no one is ever gonna forget
the punt returns against Kansas State and in Colorado, not
to mention just how consistent he was throughout. Like, so,
Parker Kingston's about as close as I got for you
there on on.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
The defensive side of the football.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Kind of hard, I'll admit, as a quarterback offensive guy,
and maybe haven't been following as closely as I could
have during camp to be able to give you a
dark horse on the defense. But I do feel like
there's gonna be just a lot of familiar production with
this team, which is another reason that we have for
optimism of a great year.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Love that Riley floor and ceiling. I know we've talked
about this in the past. What do you think the
floor in the ceiling is for this Boa football team
from a win loss perspective regular season those twelve games.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah, this is assuming nothing catastrophic happens, right, So, like
floor is eight eight and for a regular season ceiling
is eleven.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Like, yeah, like I give it eleven wins.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I say eleven because I think this team can compete
for the conference championship. Their non conference doesn't seem to
be too formidable, so I don't see him dropping one
non conference and then in conference if they're gonna, if
they're gonna, you know, make it to the conference championship game,
which I think they have a very good chance of doing.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
They can't afford to lose more than one game.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
So that's how I put that ceiling at eleven to
one and playing playing in the conference championship game or
a spot to buy for the playoffs. So that's that's
my floor ceiling. Listen these days, like it's just like
with rookie quarterbacks, Like rookie quarterbacks are not Everyone talks
about how you know, Aaron Rodgers came in and he
sat behind far or.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
The even first rounders used to go in and sit
for a year or two. This is not nineteen ninety.
This is twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
And so the fact that Bear's a freshman and for
all the reasons that you you know that we've laid
out previously in this conversation, like that's as soon as
we kick the ball off against Portland State on Saturday,
that no longer becomes an excuse. Like seriously, if you
if you know ball and you're actually going to be
in on this Cougar team, you can no longer say well,
he's just a freshman, because moral victories disappear and we
(21:44):
have to put our faith in coach Sutake that the
twenty two dudes that he's putting out on that field
on Saturday are giving us the best chance to accomplish
our goals, which our goals are a confidence championship and
a playoff appearance.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And so that's that's my ceiling.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Love that final. Actually, one last thing for you, does
BYU under Kalanie, in your opinion, tend to regress after
a double digit win season, right after a high level season.
There's a couple of examples that people have brought up
to me twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen. I know the
(22:20):
nine and four season twenty sixteen was not a double
digit win season, but you were like eight points away
from being undefeated. I mean, you were like right there
right there was a couple of things that could have
bounced your way. So it was a really it was
a good football season. You end up with one of
the worst seasons in twenty seventeen to BA football history.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Do you want me to do you want me to
address that one now or wait for your name the other?
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Like, who's the Taysom?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Who's the Taysum that we lost? Who's the four year starter?
Who's the dude that is like h it is a
ten year pro?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Who's doing things in.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
The NFL that no one saw, let alone the dude
that did things at BYU that we didn't see. Who's
that that we're losing? Oh and by the way, who's
his counterpart? Who's an eight year a nine year NFL
pro at running back?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Like? Who were those that we.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Lost from the twenty twenty four team? So to me,
that's an invallo that's an invallid comparison.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So the next one, yeah, So no, the next one
would be because you still had a double digit win
season right in twenty twenty one. You went ten and three.
You lost the UA B in the bowl game, which
wasn't good. There was a little bit of a pride
cycle there warn't up for that game. That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You still a mait it to ten wins. Yeah, that
lost such a bad taste.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
In my mouth, being down in Shreveport and just miserable,
rusty old stadium and losing to UAB.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
But that's but the argument.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
The argument actually resides in the eight and five season
following that, when you had a lot of NFL talent
go down that twenty twenty two roster and all the
returning production any went eight and five. He ended up
in the New Mexico Bowl versus SMU. It was a
good win in the New Mexico Bowl, but it was
a bit.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Of but it was sold j Miyava. It was sol
Ja maiava Peters that won that game, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
And that's it to me. That's the story of that season.
And we've talked about Florida ceiling. I made sure I
had to disclaimer barring injury.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
We know at Jaron, I mean, I know he had
a shoulder at some point.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I know he had a rib at some point, and
I know he didn't miss many games till the end there,
but like he was, he was dinged up from the
get go and then didn't wasn't pooka battle in a
hamstring And then Samson also Samson was also out, So
like to me, I tracked that one up a little
bit to twenty twelve, where like the injury bug bit him,
we didn't get BTT in twenty twelve on the defensive
(24:24):
side of the ball with the injury bug as much. Uh,
But offensive we were we were depleted, like we we.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Were limping, uh. To finish that season.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
We did.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
We We barely even had a too deep I remember
one point we released it too deep and we had
the same player as the backup at three different offensive
line positions because we were because we were so thin,
we didn't even have a real thing. So that's that's
why I talk up to that eight and five because
what were the Obviously Liberty was tough, but I mean
that team won eleven games, We had the Notre Dame loss?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
What were some of the losses in that eight and five?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
The twenty twenty two season was interesting for a number
of reasons, right, I would say as I evaluated, there
were some good wins. Obviously you started with some some
really you know good wins. Remember the win versus USF.
You had the DOUBLET. Yeah, you got destroyed by Oregon
(25:22):
at Oregon. That was the f the Mormons chant from
the student section. You beat Wyoming, you beat Utah State,
you lost a Notre Dame. That see that one, That
one was really bad because like we just decided not
to guard the tight end and he was a really
good tight end, but he wasn't like a thirteen reception
over two hundred yards in a game tight end. Like
we just we decided to cover.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
We got caught a little bit up in our pride,
like thinking like this dude's good, but he's not that good.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
We don't have to bracket him or we don't have
to corner him.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
And they called our blowoff and beat US Arkansas at
home thirty five fifty two. Uh, we got destroyed. Remember
by Liberty. That was like their like marquee game of
the season, that was like their super Bowl because of
their history. They one Liberty's athletic department was literally built
in the same image and likeness as that of Notre
Dame and byu that's their mission. They wanted to be
(26:08):
a religious institution that could promulgate their faith through athletics
and so like Q Freeze beeting. Anyways, that that was
a big loss. That was a drubbing. You lost the
at home. Dude, you lost you lost the EU at
home after that too.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, but that's where I say to that point, like
I don't And look, well, it depends.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
On how heavily you want to weigh injuries. That's what
I'll say there.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Because by that point, I know Jaren was like held
together with you know, icy hot and an athletic tape,
so and like and like he's your he's your best player.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
He's the one that made that go. The other thing
that I'll say is had they love Yeah, Tyler wasn't
on that team, right or was Tyler still on that team?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah? I think, uh that particular season. Oh, now I'm forgetting.
I think Tyler's last year was twenty twenty one. It
was twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
So that that's what I was gonna say, is is
Jared lot That's what I remember is Jared lost his
safety link. And so like again from last year, who
is the you know, NFL draft pick producer that we
that we lost you know, last year.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
On the and so.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
That one's okay, like I'll buy I guess here's the
thing that the original question was, does Colane not know
to how to handle the success of a double digit season,
and does this mean we're headed for a letdown? And
I think I losing Case and Jamal like that's out
of the.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Question because that's not even comparable.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
And then this next season, just like I said, are
kind of like how I've evaluated this is you get
a couple like Jared stays healthier, Puka stays healthier, and
then you got want we weren't really we didn't really
have any close losses.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Hum. That's what's hard to say that the ball maybe
didn't bounce our way.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
But if the injury bug maybe plays itself out a
little bit differently, maybe you don't lose to ECU, maybe
you don't lose to Liberty, and now all of a
sudden you're at ten wins.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
This might be cope. I don't like this, Ben, I'm
feeling like I'm making excuses. I mean, champions don't make excuses.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
So the reality is, look, you got to come out
the way you want to know how you avoid a letdown.
You go one and oh each week, and that's what
we're going into. I'm on to Portland State and making
sure we take down the pilots.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
All I care about is I am an individual that
likes to stay humble, stay hungry. You're never as good
as you think you really are. Everyone who's highly competitive
in this field. For instance, you're very good at what
you do, Riley, and you compete and you win in Utah.
But if you go up against the Riley Nelson of
California head to head, you may take some els along
(28:51):
the way. Right, and that's what we're facing with college football, right.
You're going against some really good football teams, the best
football teams in each individual state. We'll see how it
plays out. Appreciate you, man, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Always a pleasure, Always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Ben love talking ball with Riley Nelson. That segment was
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
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Banterwealth dot com. But he's stopped a little keeping up
with Cougar's going to welcome in a former BYU great quarterback,
the luscious aired Lefty to talk some BYU football. Does
(00:36):
he believe that bear Bachmeyer has a good chance to
be successful this season? And then what does suck? What
does success look like for this BYU Cougar football team
under bear Bachmeyer. We're gonna break it all down here
on your UTI ESPN Radio network is going to be
brought to you by our good friends at Odion Menswear
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They're gonna take care of you. VPY products, VP service,
VP discounts. All right, let's get out to the hotline.
Welcome in former bo great quarterback, the Luscio's aired lefty.
We got Riley Nailson on the line. Riley, how the
(01:38):
heck are you, buddy?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Oh? Three days away, Ben, I'm chopping at the bit.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I know, man, Wednesday, you know you.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Know, I guess I don't count today Thursday for adady Saturday.
That's how I'm going in my mind. Today's already, it's
already long. It's almost here.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
It's already here. Man. I'm excited for you, Like when
you think about the college foot ball seasons that you
were a part of the preparation, the fall camp, the
game week prior to game one, Like where do you reflect,
Like where do you go back to when I say, hey,
game week, back in your your heyday right before you
(02:15):
know game one of the season.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well, game one was awesome. I love game one because
you had so much.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
It's like around the middle of the schedule, like game
five and six when trying to keep your nose above water.
And and this is maybe more for a quarterback than others,
but I think anybody who's taking their craft seriously, this
is their experience. Like game one is you feel like
you know that opponent inside and out, Like you feel
so good with your game plan going in because you
even actually maybe get a little bit even more than
(02:44):
a bye week, because the thing about a bye week
is that you had a game before you're coming into
this off fall camp. So you've had your you've had
almost two full weeks a game prep, and you're just
feeling ready to go.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
And we always performed well.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
You know, my gleach came in my senior year and
and we put it to Washington State and you know,
we beat my first start at BYU was against Jake
Locker and the Washington Huskies, and we you know, we
beat those guys by a couple of touchdowns, and I
always just felt extremely prepared, anxious, and then not to mention,
you just got fresh legs, bro, you go, you all
(03:20):
going to that game feeling just looved up, just like
the joints feel good.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
There's no muscle sword is, you don't have any contusions,
You're not dealing with any of that.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
So Week one was, like, I'm not gonna say it
was the high point, because the high point came in
the best competition throughout the season and testing your medal against.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
The best teams. And that's not always a Week.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
One opponent, but Week one, like as far as vibes,
was the all time high.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
I love it, man, love the vibe of college football.
The preparation, the sites, the sounds, it's all, it's all,
you know, it's you know, people say Christmas is the
most wonderful time of the year. This is the most
wonderful time of the year in my opinion. So I
sent you a reason to be optimistic that Bear Bachmeyer
(04:03):
can be successful this year. I think there's a good chance,
a solid chance that he can be successful. And I
delved into a number of things that I would you know,
I would justify as creating a good chance for him
to be successful. Obviously, a four star recruit, nationally recognized, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan,
Notre Dame. All these teams recruited him, offered him. He's
(04:24):
a dual threat kid. He's six two two twenty five.
He's a proven passer and runner. Comes from a football family,
high football.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
IQ is he's a reclass what's that all right?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
That's the old in me.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Is either a reclass or he's really old? Is it true?
He's nineteen already.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
He may be a reclass. I don't know how old
he is, but he is very mature.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Dudes are double reclass in these days.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
But you never know, right, I've seen it. I have
seen that, no doubt about it. Gained early early college experience,
at least at Stanford for a spring before coming over
to BYU. He is familiar that game two with personnel
and based game, so he can get a dub there.
He was described as brilliant per Aaron Roderick, and then
his high school coach said he had a photographic memory
(05:07):
the first six games are winnable by You should be
favored in each Three of the first six games are
at home. Week three by allows for early adjustment, correction
recovery avoids immediate matchups against the toughest Big twelve defenses.
You do have a good supporting cast in LJ. Martincionimoa,
Chase Roberts, Parker Kingston, Jojo Phillips, Cody Hagen, tight end
Carson Ryan, a ten yared offensive line with multiple returning starters.
(05:28):
You have a projected top twenty five defense, projected top
twenty five special teams unit. You have consistency of culture
with Killane and less volatility within the coaching staff. You
have continuity of scheme with your coordinator too right, so
everybody else's is familiar with the scheme and the install
Bear had to get up to date with it. It
(05:48):
is a quarterback friendly system. I've never seen as many
easy throws. Jaren and Zach were pretty proficient as young
quarterbacks in the red zone, going in play action, rhythm, design, mobility,
and then you got Lavelle Edwards Stadium obviously the home
field advantage. You should get to bowl eligibility. You have
a new strengthen conditioning program that has been able and
(06:08):
capable of keeping this team a little bit healthier. And
you have some veteran leadership in there. And I'd also
add John Beck has trained bear Bachmeyer since he was
in seventh grade. That's that's kind to bode.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Well, yeah, I mean essentially, what the case that you're
making is what I've always said. There there are a
few of the few, and we don't know that this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Is Bear Bachmeyer, not like we all hope that he is.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
And most of the time, with what I'm about to say,
this doesn't materialize until a guy has been a multi
year starter. But there's a few dudes a signal caller
that no matter who around them, they're gonna be able
to put their team on the back and like and
go do it right.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
But and we see this in the NFL all the time.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Everybody's talented in the NFL, everybody's got a rock around.
There are some differentiatings and guys ability to process and
kind of what happens above the shoulders. But quarterback position,
more than any other, uh more in any other position
in sport, is the product of his environment.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
So essentially everything he's just laid out is just saying that.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
The program is in as good as shape as it
has probably ever been.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Like the program top to.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Bottom is as good as so Like, yeah, whoever, whether
it's a freshman or whether it's whoever it is, should
be able to have every tool.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Available to them to be successful.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
And as you look at some of the individual reasons
for Bear, like one of the things I like, if
I if I'm not mistaken, his older brother Hank started
as a freshman at.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Yeah, at Boise. You know, I just listened to.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
An interview with ed Orgeron where he's talking about his
his In fact, it became over time his number one
recruiting role was bet on the DNA. Right, So obviously
you got you got Hank, you got Tiger, and now
you got you got Bear. So like that's you're placing
a pretty good bet on the d or that's pretty
good DNA to be placing a bet on.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And so yeah, I mean the that's great.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
I can I can go into the re I'm right
and high with you, man, Like I'm there, I can
go into the reasons why maybe it won't materialize, But like,
what's the fun of doing that before we've even played
a game.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Let's hold on to this hope while we've got it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, yeah, now I feel you on that. I feel
you on that. Is there anything what's concerning to you
this year? Like what where? Where could the wheels fall off?
Do you think from this? By you, it's not so
much concerning.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
It's just that because I believe that they've taken a
step forward on defense, and I believe that we got
a very good chance of being neutral slightly improved on offense.
So if that's the case, but here's the difference or
like here's here's my case for non optimism is that
I don't know, like I hate to call it, but
(08:47):
like Utah and Oklahoma States were games that were wanting
kind of flukey ways, right, and.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
That that puts you down to that puts you down
nine wins. And then.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
My point is like even if they are only slightly better,
if the conference has gotten better and or the ball
doesn't bounce away, honestly, you know what BYU's like or what.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
This big ball was like. It's like the NFL, like
so much of the NF.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
You remember two years ago when the Vikings were the
number one seed in the NFC, but they were they
had they were like seven and one in one score games,
and then they got into the playoffs and they kind
of got exposed a little bit, and the reality was
they had just kind of gotten a lot of in
game luck or like the ball had bounced their way
a lot. Like my reservation comes from the fact that
if we're just being purely objective, last year, I think,
(09:33):
like to me, Oklahoma State lost that game. We didn't
win that game, and and like Utah gave that game
away more than more than we took it over and
we won it. And maybe that doesn't happen that year,
And if that doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That year, then we're down somewhere around eighty or nine wins.
And I think most people would take that. I would
hope most people would take that. But I don't have concern.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
But that's the thing I'm also I'm also on board
for like running it back at eleven and two and
being you know, and where we fell short last year
with that Kansas game and missing our opportunity to get
in the conference championship. I can see us learning from
that and taking the step forward and getting in the
conference championship game and playing our way into the playoff.
I can just as easily see that, because I think
(10:15):
we made some great moves in the portal. I think
the continuities in the staff of you already alluded to,
but also with your main producers.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I know that forty percent.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Of the starters aren't coming back, but I think we
replaced him with starters from other universities. And I think
the like, just the names we got coming back is
pretty you know, They're like like you got Glasger and
Kelly coming back, you had tanu Vas, and then.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
On the offensive side you got.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You got Roberts and Martin, who everybody feels comfortable with,
and then you add Ryan, who's are very familiar name
cars is like very familiar in going all the way
back to al Hard the way you recruited him initially
out of high school.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Now they finally got this guy, Like there's no way
that he's not like an unknown commodity, a guy that's
gonna drop off.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
So like, I have some reason for caution, but I
could just as easily make the argument for BYU to
take that step forward. So this question, the original question
was like, what are your reservations or what gives me pause?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
What are my concerns for this bou football team. I
don't really have any other.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Than and honestly, I don't even think it's worth mentioning
injury because any injury is an existential threat for any
college football team, right, and so I mean the sky.
This guy's looking pretty Cougar blue.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Bro love that breakdown. Riley Nelson here on ESPN the
Fan Talk and some Cougar football. What does it take
to have a thousand yard rusher on a team and
a thousand yard receiver? Aaron Roderick mentioned in his Coordinator's
Corner that LJ. Martin was the MVP of the BAO offense,
(11:53):
as as was Chase Roberts. That they've taken their their
playmaking ability to the next level. It hasn't happened all
that often. I think you may.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Have experienced the last Austin and Harvey Man.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well, I think Jamal and Cody was Jamal was Cody
in twenty twelve too? Or No? Was that not?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
No?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
I don't think Cody had Cody battles some injuries in thirteen. No,
Jamal didn't get because he was a true freshman. Jamal
didn't get to ony and twelve, okay, and then Cody
battled injuries. Cody missed a couple of games in twenty thirteen,
and I don't think got to one thousand and thirteen.
So the other one might be Jamal and Mitch maybe
in the tea some years, but but it might go
(12:35):
all it might go all the way back to like
Harvin Dennis or Harvan Austin.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
That's a good fact check thing that I think internally
we're going to look at because I think the hype
surrounding lj And and Chase are someone akin to those,
you know, those those certain seasons. I think Tyler Aw's year,
Dax Milne, I want to say two thousand, was it
twenty and twenty twenty twenty one. I need to look
(13:02):
at that because this two man, you know, ranking crew
of running back and wide receiver, it's special. The question is,
you know, what role does the quarterback playing all that
in your opinion, to get that to meet that threshold,
those thresholds, and I'm not saying that is the goal,
but I mean there's hype surrounding these two guys and
so much that you kind of feel like they're on
(13:22):
the press. A piece of accomplishing that feed.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Well, I'll tell you the first thing.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
If we're laying the foundation for the possibility of that
is happening.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
The first thing that needs happens is.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
You need a defense that is going to be consistent
game in, game out, and not force you into positions.
You know, maybe they don't show up that day and
now it's now you're throwing the ball sixty times and
you don't get the luxury because you're constantly playing.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Catch up on the other side of the ball.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
But if the defense shows up and just consistent, I'm
not saying there like lights out, but if the defense
shows up and is consistent, and that allows you as
an offense to be able to architect your game plan
and call your games from a very balanced perspective. And
as we've known with Roderick and as everybody's trying to
i mean, just basic football the last seventy years, is
(14:11):
you want to be able to establish the run, which
establishes a physical presence, allow you to control the game
the momentum of the clock, and then off that you
want to be able to really hurt the defense, damage
the defense by playing off of that run game via
play action and take shots to guys downfield. The other
thing that you want to be able to do is
convert third down. Third downs are going to be so
(14:33):
where the majority of your thousand yard rusher is going to.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Be made on first and second downs.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
The majority of your thousand yard receiver is going to
happen on play action and open downs, but mostly on
third downs. Like that's where those dudes need to show up.
Your running back showing up on first and second and
your wide receiver showing up on third, and so that's
kind of the recipe.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
There is just game management.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
But as funny as it is, you know, you ask me,
what's a quarterbacks role, what's an offense?
Speaker 3 (14:58):
What's an offenses role?
Speaker 4 (14:59):
With that even that quarterback, that offense is extremely dependent
upon the performance of its defense, because if the defense
can't consistently show up and help you maintain control of
that game, then you can get significantly balanced one way
or the other, and that can make it hard. You know,
to give a guy enough at bats to generate the
production of one thousand yards.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
How often are you gonna run this six to two
hundred and twenty five pounds dual threat quarterback? Do you
think how many toats do you think he's getting the game?
You know, QB designed run and then you know, freelancing
and scrambling and then taking off to you know, pass
the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
I like fourteen to sixteen, but that you know, but
it's different because Roderick, my coach, was coach.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Doman and that's why I aligned with him a lot.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And I kind of like the fact that he always
would let me use my legs to get out. But
like I've I've heard Roderick coach up the dudes Becklou's
doing the radio and all that stuff, like I would
hurt him, like he's taking a sack at the worst thing,
like taking us.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
First of all, it wasn't in my DNA for.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
The first thing, and second all, it wasn't really one
of our emphasis of coaching. So I say it for like,
fourteen feels like the right number to me, and that
like you're maybe six to eight designed, and then as
he's out there extending plays on open downs or trying
to convert third downs, you're gonna get another six to
eight attempts there. I think that's how it happens. I
(16:28):
think I would hope that they go lean a little
bit heavier, like to that fourteen to fifteen. But you
watch him and if he's proven that he can't, that
he hasn't, because I mean, we've all seen the clip.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Right, it's made its way viral. I'm sure it's got tens.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Of millions, if not hundreds of millions of him trucking
that dude at the And I know he's I know
he's built like a brick house and all that stuff,
But there's big dudes on the other side of the
football too.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
And I guess I'm sorry. My whole point to this
is if you can get a feel that he's athletic
enough to be able to.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Get out, run and protect himself, but if he goes
out and he's trying to just retread his high school
playbook of using his body of physicality, you can't do
that because it just shortens his lifespan.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Right.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Not a guarantee that he will get hurt, but it
just significantly increases the probability. And if we're all as
high on him, or if the coaching staff is as
high on him as they say, they're gonna want to
protect him and keep it in there for the entirety
of this season, and in which case I expect that
Carrie's number to come down more to like five to
seven rather than fourteen to fifteen.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Love that Riley Nelson, ladies and gentlemen talks of BYU football.
Is there a player or players that you feel like
are a little bit underrated right now on the roster
offense or defense that are gonna break out? We always
have those breakout players, right I don't know if there
was a player that you thought on your squads was
a bit underrated and ended up breaking out and not
(17:54):
many people knew about in the media, the fans, etc.
But the team may be internally new or maybe you
knew that they would be special. So talk about it,
reflect on the past, and then is there anybody on
the roster this year that you're intrigued by?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
It's tough now because all of our guys and like
we were able to see every one of our guys
like career play out. Like I felt like Danny Sownson
was that. I don't feel like Danny got a lot
of play because all the attention was on Kyle and Ziggy,
especially in that twenty twelve defense.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
But what but Danny was such and Danny was by
the way you say offense or defense. But Danny was
He was our special team's MVP.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
You know, he was tremendous on specialty and and honestly
that position that they had him, he was more just
the way that Bronco ran that defense in his position.
In that defense, Danny was much more like, hey man,
you're the backstop. And because we have security and you,
it frees us up to allow like Kyle and Wona
and Ziggy to go do and play their games. But
(18:57):
but like, Danny's like a guy.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
But no one would say that because.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
He's a super Bowl winner and he had a great
you know, he got a ten year career in the NFL,
So nobody's now going to say that he was underseenior
inder Preachi.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
But in the moment, it kind of felt like that.
I I don't see.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
What's hard for me is I just I feel like
at every position group and.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
We've got we've got known commodity.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
That's the thing is I feel like we have such
a breadth of familiarity with this team that coach j
Hill maybe it was him getting here and getting to
Noah's roster. I feel like the rotations are pretty liberal
here that we've seen a lot of the guys that
we're gonna do. Like when you first were asking me
this question, like my mind kind of went to Parker Kingston,
But that dude was like a trick play savant last year.
(19:38):
And then of course no one is ever gonna forget
the punt returns against Kansas State and in Colorado, not
to mention just how consistent he was throughout. Like, so,
Parker Kingston's about as close as I got for you
there on on.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
The defensive side of the football.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Kind of hard, I'll admit, as a quarterback offensive guy,
and maybe haven't been following as closely as I could
have during camp to be able to give you a
dark horse on the defense. But I do feel like
there's gonna be just a lot of familiar production with
this team, which is another reason that we have for
optimism of a great year.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Love that Riley floor and ceiling. I know we've talked
about this in the past. What do you think the
floor in the ceiling is for this Boa football team
from a win loss perspective regular season those twelve games.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yeah, this is assuming nothing catastrophic happens, right, So, like
floor is eight eight and for a regular season ceiling
is eleven.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Like, yeah, like I give it eleven wins.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
I say eleven because I think this team can compete
for the conference championship. Their non conference doesn't seem to
be too formidable, so I don't see him dropping one
non conference and then in conference if they're gonna, if
they're gonna, you know, make it to the conference championship game,
which I think they have a very good chance of doing.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
They can't afford to lose more than one game.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
So that's how I put that ceiling at eleven to
one and playing playing in the conference championship game or
a spot to buy for the playoffs. So that's that's
my floor ceiling. Listen these days, like it's just like
with rookie quarterbacks, Like rookie quarterbacks are not Everyone talks
about how you know, Aaron Rodgers came in and he
sat behind far or.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
The even first rounders used to go in and sit
for a year or two. This is not nineteen ninety.
This is twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
And so the fact that Bear's a freshman and for
all the reasons that you you know that we've laid
out previously in this conversation, like that's as soon as
we kick the ball off against Portland State on Saturday,
that no longer becomes an excuse. Like seriously, if you
if you know ball and you're actually going to be
in on this Cougar team, you can no longer say well,
he's just a freshman, because moral victories disappear and we
(21:44):
have to put our faith in coach Sutake that the
twenty two dudes that he's putting out on that field
on Saturday are giving us the best chance to accomplish
our goals, which our goals are a confidence championship and
a playoff appearance.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
And so that's that's my ceiling.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Love that final. Actually, one last thing for you, does
BYU under Kalanie, in your opinion, tend to regress after
a double digit win season, right after a high level season.
There's a couple of examples that people have brought up
to me twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen. I know the
(22:20):
nine and four season twenty sixteen was not a double
digit win season, but you were like eight points away
from being undefeated. I mean, you were like right there
right there was a couple of things that could have
bounced your way. So it was a really it was
a good football season. You end up with one of
the worst seasons in twenty seventeen to BA football history.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Do you want me to do you want me to
address that one now or wait for your name the other?
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Like, who's the Taysom?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
Who's the Taysum that we lost? Who's the four year starter?
Who's the dude that is like h it is a
ten year pro?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Who's doing things in.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
The NFL that no one saw, let alone the dude
that did things at BYU that we didn't see. Who's
that that we're losing? Oh and by the way, who's
his counterpart? Who's an eight year a nine year NFL
pro at running back?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Like? Who were those that we.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Lost from the twenty twenty four team? So to me,
that's an invallo that's an invallid comparison.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So the next one, yeah, So no, the next one
would be because you still had a double digit win
season right in twenty twenty one. You went ten and three.
You lost the UA B in the bowl game, which
wasn't good. There was a little bit of a pride
cycle there warn't up for that game. That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
You still a mait it to ten wins. Yeah, that
lost such a bad taste.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
In my mouth, being down in Shreveport and just miserable,
rusty old stadium and losing to UAB.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
But that's but the argument.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
The argument actually resides in the eight and five season
following that, when you had a lot of NFL talent
go down that twenty twenty two roster and all the
returning production any went eight and five. He ended up
in the New Mexico Bowl versus SMU. It was a
good win in the New Mexico Bowl, but it was
a bit.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Of but it was sold j Miyava. It was sol
Ja maiava Peters that won that game, you know what
I mean.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
And that's it to me. That's the story of that season.
And we've talked about Florida ceiling. I made sure I
had to disclaimer barring injury.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
We know at Jaron, I mean, I know he had
a shoulder at some point.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I know he had a rib at some point, and
I know he didn't miss many games till the end there,
but like he was, he was dinged up from the
get go and then didn't wasn't pooka battle in a
hamstring And then Samson also Samson was also out, So
like to me, I tracked that one up a little
bit to twenty twelve, where like the injury bug bit him,
we didn't get BTT in twenty twelve on the defensive
(24:24):
side of the ball with the injury bug as much. Uh,
But offensive we were we were depleted, like we we.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Were limping, uh. To finish that season.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
We did.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
We We barely even had a too deep I remember
one point we released it too deep and we had
the same player as the backup at three different offensive
line positions because we were because we were so thin,
we didn't even have a real thing. So that's that's
why I talk up to that eight and five because
what were the Obviously Liberty was tough, but I mean
that team won eleven games, We had the Notre Dame loss?
Speaker 3 (24:56):
What were some of the losses in that eight and five?
Speaker 1 (24:59):
The twenty twenty two season was interesting for a number
of reasons, right, I would say as I evaluated, there
were some good wins. Obviously you started with some some
really you know good wins. Remember the win versus USF.
You had the DOUBLET. Yeah, you got destroyed by Oregon
(25:22):
at Oregon. That was the f the Mormons chant from
the student section. You beat Wyoming, you beat Utah State,
you lost a Notre Dame. That see that one, That
one was really bad because like we just decided not
to guard the tight end and he was a really
good tight end, but he wasn't like a thirteen reception
over two hundred yards in a game tight end. Like
we just we decided to cover.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
We got caught a little bit up in our pride,
like thinking like this dude's good, but he's not that good.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
We don't have to bracket him or we don't have
to corner him.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
And they called our blowoff and beat US Arkansas at
home thirty five fifty two. Uh, we got destroyed. Remember
by Liberty. That was like their like marquee game of
the season, that was like their super Bowl because of
their history. They one Liberty's athletic department was literally built
in the same image and likeness as that of Notre
Dame and byu that's their mission. They wanted to be
(26:08):
a religious institution that could promulgate their faith through athletics
and so like Q Freeze beeting. Anyways, that that was
a big loss. That was a drubbing. You lost the
at home. Dude, you lost you lost the EU at
home after that too.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, but that's where I say to that point, like
I don't And look, well, it depends.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
On how heavily you want to weigh injuries. That's what
I'll say there.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
Because by that point, I know Jaren was like held
together with you know, icy hot and an athletic tape,
so and like and like he's your he's your best player.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
He's the one that made that go. The other thing
that I'll say is had they love Yeah, Tyler wasn't
on that team, right or was Tyler still on that team?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah? I think, uh that particular season. Oh, now I'm forgetting.
I think Tyler's last year was twenty twenty one. It
was twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
So that that's what I was gonna say, is is
Jared lot That's what I remember is Jared lost his
safety link. And so like again from last year, who
is the you know, NFL draft pick producer that we
that we lost you know, last year.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
On the and so.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
That one's okay, like I'll buy I guess here's the
thing that the original question was, does Colane not know
to how to handle the success of a double digit season,
and does this mean we're headed for a letdown? And
I think I losing Case and Jamal like that's out
of the.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Question because that's not even comparable.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
And then this next season, just like I said, are
kind of like how I've evaluated this is you get
a couple like Jared stays healthier, Puka stays healthier, and
then you got want we weren't really we didn't really
have any close losses.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Hum. That's what's hard to say that the ball maybe
didn't bounce our way.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
But if the injury bug maybe plays itself out a
little bit differently, maybe you don't lose to ECU, maybe
you don't lose to Liberty, and now all of a
sudden you're at ten wins.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
This might be cope. I don't like this, Ben, I'm
feeling like I'm making excuses. I mean, champions don't make excuses.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
So the reality is, look, you got to come out
the way you want to know how you avoid a letdown.
You go one and oh each week, and that's what
we're going into. I'm on to Portland State and making
sure we take down the pilots.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
All I care about is I am an individual that
likes to stay humble, stay hungry. You're never as good
as you think you really are. Everyone who's highly competitive
in this field. For instance, you're very good at what
you do, Riley, and you compete and you win in Utah.
But if you go up against the Riley Nelson of
California head to head, you may take some els along
(28:51):
the way. Right, and that's what we're facing with college football, right.
You're going against some really good football teams, the best
football teams in each individual state. We'll see how it
plays out. Appreciate you, man, thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Always a pleasure, Always a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Ben love talking ball with Riley Nelson. That segment was
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