FRI POD @SpenceChecketts on Utah @ Wyoming, Big 12/CFB, RSL vs SKC, Ryder Cup + more

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Friday afternoon, just after two o'clock, two o one. We're early.
We are early today. We actually are on time because
we're typically very late. But hello, how are you happy Friday?
Congratulations made it weekend time. I hope you have something
fun planned for the weekend. We have a good forecast ahead.
And as you know, with the way the weather pattern

(00:20):
works when you live in the state of Utah, the
nice weather at some point will go away as we
move further and further into the winter. Porter can you
can you confirm that as we move further and further
into the calendar, the nice weather starts to go away.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
The closer we get to November December, the culture it's
gonna get, the darker it's gonna get. Yeah, we're gonna
even see some snow.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Yeah, you know what it is, the second week of September.
I don't need to hear about snow yet.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Well, I hate to inform you there was some snow
in the upper mountains of the Uenta's this last couple
of days.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
So hey, just you know, let me get this off
my chest. I very much love fall. It might be
the best time of year.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
The one week we get of it in Utah.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Well, it just but it always reminds me of what's
about to come, and then I remember that. You know,
that's why I like spring, because spring is the platform
for the summertime, which is what I'm all about. I'm
a warm weather guy. I could, honestly, I could live
the rest of my life without seeing another snowflake and
I'd be just fine.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
That's fair. It's fair. You gotta you gotta either move
somewhere or you know, configure your your timing out, maybe
a time share somewhere. But yeah, we'll we'll enjoy it.
We'll enjoy the good weather while we have it. I
can say, I'm with you. Yeah, yeah, spring summer in
this area is heaven.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Our time shares. I feel like time shares are a croc.
I feel like it's just like you want a timeshare
in Porto Barta. Yes, actually, but I forgot you. I
feel like it's just a bunch of criminals, like it's
a pyramid scheme. And then I feel like my friends
that about time shares never use them and complain about them.
It's like a boat.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Oh yeah, most I would say, I think I saw
Walt documentary on this once, Like the majority of that
industry is kind of a racket it they operate internationally. Yeah,
it's kind of allowed to do.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
It reminds me of people that say they want to
buy a boat, badly want to buy a boat, and
then they buy a boat, and then all they do
is bitch about the boat that they own.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Boats. I had a boat growing up, uh huh, And
you can kind of back that up like you can
use it, especially if you're like up in the mountains
of Utah. Use it a few months, and then you
have to figure out how to maintain it and store
it all the other stuff the other nine months of
the year.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Let's blow out the rundown and talk boats and weathers
for four hours today.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Can we talk some yachts.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
We can talk yachts, hossboats, catamarans, houseboats, sailboats, whatever you
want today on the show. So we actually have sports
to get to. We have a good guest list, but
maybe we'll just talk weather, weather patterns, and boats on
a Friday, because look, it's been a heavy week. It's
been a rough week. Anniversary nine to eleven, a horrific
incident in our state. So just want to start out

(03:03):
the show today by sending out a lot of love
to the community and say I hope you're all doing
all right. I hope you're doing okay. I would encourage
you to reach out if you're having a rough time
to family, friends, somebody feels safe doing that with. And
then most importantly, maybe get offline, get off the intranet,
and get off social media. It's turned into assess pool.
But a rough week in the community. I have not

(03:24):
qualified to say the words into this microphone to unite
or comfort. Just from my seat, my vantage point just
wanted to send a big old hug out to our
Wahsatch Front community. The folks down in Utah County. They're
still kind of processing through what happened in aorum this week.
And then, you know, just a plea for less of this,

(03:45):
less political violence, and less device of rhetoric and discourse.
We're Americans first, regardless of your political affiliation. I love
my country. I heard from my country. I'm sad for people,
sad for his family, I'm sad for everybody involved. This
is this is a tragic thing, man. I'm not gonna
run from it. I'm not gonna lean into it. We're
sports talk radio show. So for the next four hours.

(04:07):
We're gonna do our best to provide a little bit
of a distraction, some comfort, and maybe take you away
from the heaviness of what's happened this week. But just
sending thoughts out to everybody who is feeling heavy this week.
I know that I have. I've done my best to
reach out to people that I care about when I'm
in those rabbit holes of sadness and you know, despair
and wondering what's next for a country. I love, love it,

(04:29):
love living here, love living in Utah, even though I
could do without the snow. All right, Moving on, big
week ahead in the world of college football. We had
Pro Football Week two, beginning last night with good, not
great game. I'll tell you what, man, the Packers. I
think the Packers are gonna have something to say about
the thing at the end. Jordan Love looks awesome. That

(04:49):
defense is nasty. If you're a Cowboys fan watching Micah
Parsons and Jadan Daniels is impossible to track down. Parsons
was in his jersey all night last night. The Packers
to me and I said this when they made the trade.
I was checking the Super Bowl odds to see how
far it moved. I didn't think it moved enough for them.
And Vegas is still pretty bullish on the Ravens and

(05:12):
the Bills and the Eagles. The Chiefs are in the
mix as well. Not sure the Chiefs should be quite frankly,
after that Week one performance. We'll see what they do
against Philly tomorrow. I was wildly impressed with Jordan last night,
wildly impressed with Michael Parsons in that defense. Commanders a
good football team, and the final score doesn't indicate a blowout,
but it did not feel close. So Week two of
the NFL got going last night, and we'll get to

(05:34):
week three. At college football, the Big Twelve, we got
some Big Twelve action going on tonight. We got a
ranked team in action tonight. Indiana is taking on Indiana State.
So you do have some college football tonight on a
Friday evening. It's kind of easy in your weekend. We'll
be on air when Colorado and Houston kick off at
five thirty Mountain time on ESPN. Houston's offense looks a
lot better. Colorado's trying to figure it out post Shador

(05:57):
and Travis Hunter, and then Fox tonight has k State
Arizona now reminder, two Big Twelve teams, but that is
not a conference game. That game was scheduled when Arizona
was in the Big Twelve. Obviously. One eye on Utah, Wyoming.
The Porter Larson Bull as it's known around here. ACU
weather forecast is potentially rainy tomorrow night and lar of

(06:18):
me about fifty six degrees, not gonna be all that warm,
So if you're making the trip, make sure you're prepared
for all that and have a good time. Layer me
in the rain. I'll be on my couch. Porter is
going to be there live, so we'll go ahead and
let him have that assignment. I'm just gonna hang out inside.
But rainy and cold and lare me tomorrow night potentially,
and Utah continues to be a very healthy favorite. So

(06:39):
we'll preview that game tonight, or preview that game on
the show today, and we'll get you ready for a
jam packed, busy weekend in the world of college and
pro football. On a Friday edition of The Drive, most
of our guests are football centric, as you expect. On
this football Friday, we will do a little golf as
the Ryder Cup is around the corner and a lot
of the Ryder Cup players are playing this weekend warm up,

(07:00):
and I think the US team is pretty stacked. The
European team, to me on paper as a better team.
The odds are on the side of the Americans as
a result of this tournament being played at Bethpage Black
coming up in just a couple of weeks in New York,
so we'll do a little golf on the program as well.
RSL finally back in action, talk to Kurt Schmidt yesterday,
the announcement that Rotha Cabral has received a contract extension,

(07:23):
the keeper for RSL, who's been really stout this year,
and the summer window acquisitions being able to get a
bit of a mini training camp late summer early fall soccer,
so we'll see what they're able to do Tomorrow. The
kick is going to be at seven point thirty against
Sporting KC. You can watch it on Apple TV. Sadly,
there's no radio call of RSL anymore. Just went away,

(07:44):
which is super sad, So we'll get to some of
that stuff on the show today. There was a signing
in the NBA Malcolm Brogden is heading to the New
York Knicks. ESPN did a piece today on the biggest
hole for each roster in the National Basketball Association. Kevin
Pell in front of the show. The Jazz essentially need everything.
I don't know how much buzz there is around our

(08:05):
local basketball team, but our local hockey team is receiving
a lot of buzz already, as the rookies reported this week.
We'll have veteran camp coming up in just a little bit,
and hockey's right around the corner, and the Utah Mammoth
are favored in Vegas to make the postseason make the
playoffs this year, So that's pretty cool. But a lot
to do on the program today. Our first guest will

(08:27):
be Bo McNally front of the show. Bo was a
college football player at Stanford. He played his high school
ball here. Really really good player. He was I believe
in honorary captain for Stamford last week when they were
down in Provo to take on BYU. So we'll talk
to Bo about that game, his impressions of BYU and
the Stanford kind of project right now on dre Andrew

(08:48):
Luck and interim head coach Frank Reich. A friend Sammy
more from you Zone stops by today. Samy's been doing
a great job with all of her you content. So
we'll preview Utah Wyoming. As I said, we'll do a
little bit of golf today. Our guy Paul Pugmyer stops
by on a Friday for the local golf scene, the
Big Picture PGA Tour, what's going on with Ryder Cup preparations.

(09:09):
So we're bringing Paul today. Spencer Hall one of our favorites,
longtime friend of the show, long long time. For me,
one of my favorite college football writers. It's been kind
of a treat for me to get to know him
in this space because for I don't know ten or
fifteen years, I just read Spencer's pieces or watched him
on Van Pelt or listen to some of his podcasts.

(09:29):
And now he's become a friend of the show, which
is really cool for me as a fan of his
for a long time. And I'm also a fan of
our guy Christopher Camrodnie c K on a Friday, one
of our Friday staples will stop by to talks in
college football, whatever else comes our way with c K.
Are we gonna get our guy live in studio today.
It feels like it's nice enough outside for him to
ride that gearless hipster bike he.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Has, well think, so maybe we can peer pressure him
into it. And I know he usually listens to the
show leading into it, so maybe if we give him
enough grief on air, he might venture down.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Tell him to put on one of his seven Code of
Paxi jackets and ride that dumb gearless bike. Yes, guys,
I'm not gonna lie. I am jealous of CK's jacket games.
I can never be that hit. Christopher is just he's
way hipper than I'll ever be.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
And the snow's coming, so you gotta get get those
code packs.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
He's ready. Yes, once again, let's review. As we move
further and further into the calendar, it will get colder
and it will get darker. So as long as the
weather is nice, take advantage of it and hopefully have
something fun planned for this weekend. Happy WEEKND, guys, you
made it heavy week. Let's move on and try to
have some fun while keep in mind there are a
lot of people across the landscape of our state and

(10:34):
country really struggling today. Love y'all. All right, Baul McNally's
gonna be our first guest excited to bring in boat today,
But before both stops by on this Friday afternoon, courtesy
about our good friends. You're good friends too at Prize Picks.
It's time now for your opening tip.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Welcome to the.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
Drive with Spence Check its on Utah's number one sports talk.
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the scene for the show. The opening tip of the
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Speaker 1 (11:07):
Good news, kids, your boy over here won forty bucks
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(11:49):
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offered you so far Week one was Dak Prescott point
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He also wit the over this week, they're giving you
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If Travis Kelcey catches one pass for more than one yard,

(12:54):
you win. So go get their free money and then
take their max discount and cash in with their good
friends prize picks. Where it's good to be right all
season long, all right? You know in college football when
it comes to the early season dynamics, and you guys
are probably sick of me belly aching about the schedule.
I cannot stand the lopsided matchups. I can't stand it

(13:16):
it certainly when it comes to being a sports soccer
radio host, or if you cover the sport, if you
ride about the sport, if you're involved in any of
the tiers of the sport. It just makes it really
impossible to understand exactly who these teams are when a
lot of them are playing teams that would probably struggle
with Corner Canyon. And when it comes to Portland State,
I'm not kidding, like you know, some of the best

(13:38):
high school teams in the country I think could probably
go toe for toe with some of these college football
teams that some of these teams, you know, the better
teams are playing and we're going to see a lot
of that this week in the Big Twelve. Now tonight,
while we're on air, Colorado Houston will kick off that
TDECU Stadium in Houston, Texas. Houston's offense is much improved
from a year ago. Colorado is trying to figure it

(14:00):
out in a post Shadoor and Travis Hunter world. And
then about ninety minutes later you got K State Arizona.
So two good games tonight. Now, remember K State Arizona
not a Big twelve game, not a conference game. This
game was scheduled when Arizona was in the Pac twelve.
But still a lot of questions, a lot of people
still are kind of in on Arizona. You know, Noah

(14:20):
f Fida interviewed him during Big twelve media days. He
is really matured and evolved. And K State has a
lot of questions to answer. If K State loses tonight,
even though it's not a conference game, we might just
have to put the final, you know, the final shovel
on top of them for now, the final, you know,
just nailing that coffin because they have not looked good.

(14:41):
They probably they really should be owing three quite frankly,
but they were able to survive Parmageddon in Dublin against
Iowa State. So we'll see what happens tonight with two
technically games involving Big twelve teams, one conference game with
Colorado Houston and then one non con game featuring two
Big two all teams with k State in Arizona. But

(15:02):
back to the original point, Baylor, who a lot of
people are high on after going to Dallas and beat
an SMU, they welcome in Samford not Stanford, Yes, Samford,
Texas Tech, Utah's first conference opponent that a lot of
people are high on. As well as a result of
Cody Campbell's you know, check writing ability, they have curb
stomped to you know, glorified high school teams and Oregon

(15:26):
State as a result of being one of the teams
kind of left out of the conference shuffle is as
bad as they've been in a long long time. I'm
sure Tech is going to roll over them.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
Now.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
What I will say about that game is it's not
Utah's fault that UCLA might stink. It's not BYU's fault
that Stanford is in this kind of weird pivot year
where they didn't provide a very stiff challenge. So I'm
not putting this on the folks down in Lubbock because
at the time when this game was scheduled, Oregon State
was a Pac twelve team, and you know, you guys

(15:57):
remember some of those old school Utah Oregon State games
were dog fights, physical fights. But Oregon States down this year,
tack will probably run them. We've got Cincinnati welcoming in
Northwestern State. I mean, what are we doing here. The
most impressive resume in the Big twelve and one of
the top I don't know, maybe six or seven resumes
in college football belongs to Iowa State. They're on the

(16:18):
road playing Arkansas State. They'll win by a million. TCU
is playing Abaline Christian and then Arizona State, and it's
probably good for them because they've got a lot of
things to figure out as well. Welcome in Texas State.
Like the Big twelve slate this week is disgusting and
as a consumer or a media member, like it's boring.
You should figure something out. But when it comes to

(16:41):
trying to analyze this sport or rank this sport or whatever,
you're trying to do for a team like the University
of Utah. All you can do when you do not
have the opportunity to show yourself against top tier competition
week in and week out is handle your business. Do
what you're supposed to do in this sport. If you
do what you're supposed to do week in and week out,

(17:02):
the chips will fall where they're supposed to. It's the
random weeks where teams we think are really good suddenly
look like they haven't figured anything out, where we just
kind of recalibrate what we believe about them. But if
you just handle your business week in and week out,
then ultimately everything will kind of fall where it's supposed to.
Like a lot of people this week i've heard are

(17:22):
down on both LSU and Penn State because Penn State
last week they did beat Florida International. It was thirty
four to zero at the end, but it was ten
to nothing of the half and it looked hard and
Florida International is barely a college football team. Louisiana Tech
is a solid program, but LSU barely beat them, and
they actually needed to. They were also up ten zero

(17:44):
at halftime. And so when you do not handle your
business the way you're supposed to handle your business. It's
going to change the narrative around you. A lot of
people out on Clemson as a result of them being
down to Troy last week sixteen to three. But the
teams that took care of their business last week, namely
Oregon in Dan Lanning making Mike Gunney look like he

(18:06):
had never coached college football before at all. A sixty
nine to three score. I don't give a rip where
you play, whether it's Eugene or Lexington, Kentucky, on a
neutral field, you cannot get got by sixty six if
you claim to be a legitimate P four team out
of the out of the Big twelve. Mike Gundy's days
there might be numbered as a result of Dan Lanning

(18:28):
just doing what Dan Lanning does. And by the way,
it was sixty nine to three at the end of
the third quarter. Oregon could have put one hundred points
up that game. And it's not like they were paid,
you know, playing Bethune Cookman who Miami was playing. So
when it comes to Utah football this weekend Wyoming, it
can be a tricky place to play. War Memorial Stadium,

(18:50):
Laramie Wyoming. The accu weather forecast to kick is fifty
six degrees with a good chance of rain. Wyoming beat
Texas Tech in Laramy a few years ago. Texas went
up to Laramie. I think that was two years ago,
and it was really close at halftime. Texas had to
rally to get that done in the second half. And
no part of me believes Utah is in danger of
losing the game. But when it comes to the narrative

(19:14):
of who Utah is this year, what they've been able
to do so far through two weeks is handle their
business and do what you're supposed to do. We didn't
need them to show anything other than what they did
against UCLA to get off to a good start. At
the Rose Bowl on Saturday night on Fox National Television,
it was like the final game of the college football

(19:35):
weekend that everybody was looking forward to watching, and Utah
made a statement, I don't think UCLA is very good.
Of course they lost in UNLV, but Utah did what
they were supposed to do. And then if we rewind
a week ago, cal Poly another test that is impossible
to really analyze as far as how much pushback was provided,

(19:56):
but it was over early. They never looked back a
couple of mental lapses here or there, as Devin dan
Pier talked about postgame, and Coach Wit did this week
as well, both on his media availability on Monday and
then on the Kyle Whittingham Coaches Show on our station,
which comes your way Tuesday. During the college football season.
Coach Wit was very salient and honest about the things

(20:18):
they need to clean up and namely before conference play
right Wyoming's handled their business over the first couple of weeks.
We had their play by play voice on this week.
He talked a lot about the depth of this team
and this will be Wyoming's opportunity. And this is the
deal when you're a team like Wyoming kind of on
the outside looking in when it comes to your other

(20:41):
teams that maybe you were regional rivals with once upon
a time that have moved on to what was formerly
the Pac twelve or now in the Big Twelve. This
is Wyoming super Bowl. You look at their schedule, they
will be in Boulder, Colorado, is not near the team
Utah is this year. This is by far the toughest
test Wyoming has on their slate this year. And if

(21:02):
you're a Wyoming Cowboy. If you're on that team, you
know CBS Sports Network. No, it's not a ESPN or
Fox or ABC. This game will probably draw more eyes
than any game you're gonna play this year, maybe with
the exception of the Colorado game, because everybody watches Dion.
This is a chance as a player to show the
world what you can do, maybe put some tape out there.

(21:24):
And once upon a time it was put some tape
out there for the NFL. Now it's just put some
tape out there. Certainly a chance to impress a guy
like Kyle Winningham. All due respect to Wyoming, I mean
we talked to their play by playvoice earlier this week
and he asked me, is utie full twenty point five
million dollar program this year? And according to Mark Harlan,

(21:45):
the athletic director, they are. And I want to say
the number he threw at me is Wyoming's like three
million dollars paying their roster three million dollars. Right, So,
if you're a Wyoming Cowboy, if you're a defensive lineman
that's playing for Wyoming, this is a chance to show out.
And once upon a time it was all about well
can you be a pro well, now it's all about, well,

(22:06):
when the transfer portal opens, can you get a program,
no off for you a couple hundred thousand dollars to
go play for them for a year. It's like a
different dynamic now. So you know those kids are going
to be ready to go, they are going to show up.
It's going to be a physical game. It always is
up there, seven thousand feet above elevation. It shouldn't really
affect Utah, but a lot of people have gone up

(22:27):
to Wyoming within the first quarter, they're sucking for air.
Shouldn't really affect the utes, but this has potential to
get tricky. And if you're Utah, because you really haven't
been challenged by a top shelf team this year, the
only thing you can do is go do what you're
supposed to do. Go do what everybody is expecting you
to do. So far, through two games, Utah has covered

(22:49):
the spread and they've won easily. They're two and l
against the spread, they're two and oh on the season,
and they've run UCLA and cal Poly out of the building.
But if if you don't do it on Saturday, with
the way the nature of the sport is covered, the
narrative will change really quickly. Go handle your business, do
what you're supposed to do, and then turn your attention
to Texas Tech when Big Fox Big Noon is in

(23:11):
town and Joel Klatt and Gus Johnson and that entire
crew for the Big twelve opener that a lot of
people already have circled on their calendar. About three hours
from kickoff for Friday night college football Big twelve styles
Colorado Houston. Then ninety minutes after that, two Big twelve
teams are playing, but it is not a conference game.

(23:31):
It's Kansas State, Arizona and Tucson. That game was scheduled
when Arizona was in the PAC twelve. Stanford once was
in the PAC twelve. Utah was once in the PAC twelve.
Our next guest knows a thing or two about that.
Always a pleasure to catch up with Bo McNally on
a Friday afternoon. Bo, Happy Friday, buddy. How we doing.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
Hey, I'm doing great, Spence, Thanks, And I want to
start out because I know you, of all people, appreciate
my son Jack more than anybody, and it's it's his
tenth birthday today, so I just want to give a
quick shout out, Happy birthday to my son Jack.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
How's that? How's that guy doing big, big double digits'ways?
Doing great? He's good.

Speaker 5 (24:09):
He's playing he's on a you know, the skyline Grimlin
football team.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
He's playing left guard, sometimes right guard. He's one of
their biggest dudes. He's having a blast.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
I don't know what it is about the pictures you post.
He just looks like a good time. I don't know.
I don't know. Jack just seems like it's.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Exactly exactly what he is. So the pictures aren't lying
to you.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
Love it man. How's the rest of the fam? Everybody good?

Speaker 6 (24:31):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Everyone's great? Yeah, thank you. We're you know, we're in
the busy season.

Speaker 5 (24:35):
You were talking about, you know how fall is one
of your favorite times a year earlier in the show,
and it's ours too. We have three kids in tackle
football this year, are three older boys, and then we
got a four year old who's running around and my
wife is due with baby number five in about three weeks.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
So uh, I'm just about to add to the craziness year.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
Congratulations, I guess number five. But what do you what
are you thinking?

Speaker 2 (24:56):
That that is?

Speaker 5 (24:58):
That is everybody's reaction and We actually didn't do some
big public Instagram posts announcing number five because we're like
most people are going to be kind of like, really
you're gonna.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Do this again? So no, but we're really excited and
yeah we like chaos. Clearly we thrive in it.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, Bo, I'm the oldest of six, and there was
a there was a time where you get it. Oh
my goodness, there was a time where we had six
thirteen and under, and so I grew up in the chaos,
and look, it really is the good stuff. So sincere
congratulations to you and your bride man.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Thank you, sir, Thank you appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
You got it all right. So you were on this
you were an honorary captain for Stanford and Provo. Did
I see that? Is that right?

Speaker 2 (25:36):
Bo? Yeah, yeah, yep, that's right.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Okay, let's start there. What was that like? That must
have been a really cool honor for you.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Oh yeah, no, it's it was really special.

Speaker 5 (25:46):
And you know, I've actually had just over the last
I think the first time I was honorary captain for
it was at.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Washington State back in twenty seventeen, and then I had
a chance.

Speaker 5 (25:55):
To be honorary captain for a cal game as well,
but this one was it was really for me. And
and you know, growing up in in Utah, you know,
I grew up in Salt Lake.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
I my my my grandpa was a season.

Speaker 5 (26:06):
Ticket holder for the University of Utah, So I got
to go to a bunch of those games growing up
at Rice Cycles and also Minmo down a pro a
couple of times. And you know, I I don't hold
any ill will, but neither you thought or BUYU offered
me a scholarship out of high school, and Stanford.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Was the one school that that did.

Speaker 5 (26:23):
And so as a player, I dreamt, uh, you know,
finding the opportunity to play against Utah a BUYU in
a bowl game, and and never got that opportunity.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Of course, right after I.

Speaker 5 (26:32):
Left Utah joined the PAC twelve and and then some
home and homes were scheduled with b I U. But so,
you know, being on our captain and being able to
be with the team, I spoke them the night before
the game at the hotel. I got to be with them,
you know, pre game on the field and locker room
and and out for the coin toss.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
That was, you know, truly the next best thing to actually.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
Be able to play against them and and you know
by us as you know is is it's a pretty
incredible environment. You know, the fans down there, just like
the rice cycles, are super passionate and and it's an
electric environment. And got to have my kids down there
and a bunch of my friends and some of their
buddies and and some families.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
So it was a it was a great experience.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
I got to know, what's what's the reaction of your
boys when they see dad walk out like that? Are
Are they impressed?

Speaker 6 (27:14):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (27:15):
Like?

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, I mean they have to look at you like
a hero.

Speaker 5 (27:17):
Yeah, you know, I hope so, but uh there, I
think luckily for me, I'm just kind of dad to them.
And uh, I've been very lucky. You know when we
live in Bay Area, they've they've been able to have
some experiences like that with war being down on the
field and meeting players and you know, I've got buddies
that are in the NFL now that have given us access.

(27:39):
So it's a little bit. You know, my oldest son especially,
he's probably done that seven or eight times. So but
you know, it's it's it's it isn't a special experience
to be able to share that with them and to
to get the pictures down on the field and for
them to you know, Scott Edwards who's an Olympus high
school product, he interned for me a couple of summers ago,
and have my my boys able to give him high
five as he takes the field for warm up for

(28:00):
the game.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Like, you know, that's kind of stuff as the dad
you dream of, right to be able to do that
for your kids. And so, yeah, it was special.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Well that's the good stuff. Let's let's let's lean into
your alma mater for a minute, and then I do
want to talk about the game. How would you articulate
just what I perceive to be kind of like a
pivot period for Stanford football right now? I mean, look,
Andrew luck is like a no brainer. If he wants to,
if he wants the gig, give him the gig. He's
smart enough that at some point, I'm sure a guy

(28:28):
like that's going to figure out a path to get
Stanford football back to where we're used to seeing them.
But how would you articulate kind of the process slash
progress that's going on right now with Stanford?

Speaker 5 (28:39):
Yeah, so it's a really you're right, in that it
is a uh, it is a pivotal time for Stanford,
and and and we recognize that, Andrew recognizes that, the
administration recognizes that.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
And it is kind of all hands on.

Speaker 5 (28:55):
Deck too to get football back to where Stanford football
alongs and kind of a landscape of college football. And
you know, the the hard reality is that we are
playing catch up. The prior president and kind of an
administration of Stanford was not invested in major athletics. They
didn't see the value in it, and they didn't understand

(29:15):
that it was part of Stanford's core mission.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Because Stanford as an institution, and anyone who's gone there
or been a part of.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Stanford would would echo, this is what Stanford aspires to
be is excellent in anything that we do, right, research, academics,
you know, computer science, the medical the medical school, the
business school, and then major athletics like you know, men's football,
women's basketball, men's basketball, and and also all the Olympic sports.

(29:42):
And the prior president and provost didn't really see it
that way, and that was reflected in the resources and
the investment that athletics got. Now, the unbelievably good news
for Stanford is that we brought a new president, President
e Levin, and he he is the one who single
handily kind of hand selected Andrew for this this role

(30:02):
as football GM. And he has completely changed the culture
since he took over around what what what Stanford is
aspiring to be in the athletic art And that is
reflected in who the athletic director is, John Donahue, who's
a major sports exec that that's company.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Actually his first day was Monday this week. I had
a chance to meet him at that.

Speaker 5 (30:19):
YU game, and and the momentum and the energy behind
and the enthusiasm behind what what Andrew is doing at
Stanford right now is it's really unparalleled. The closest I
can imagine or can compare it to is is Harbaugh's
kind of like, you know, maybe twenty ten, which was
Andrew's sophomore year, Retrod sophomore year. But but but even then,

(30:42):
like it was still a little bit unknown and wasn't sure.
Now now what with the known quantity of Andrew and
what his passion and his dedication to the program into
the mission of Stanford is, we are seeing our alumni, baseball, football, alumni,
general alumni really rally around the program to like I said,
gets Stanford caught up to this modern era of football

(31:02):
and Spence.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
I'm not sure if you've seen.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
Some of the in our first couple of games, there's
there's been these graphics on the TV copy of the
games where they're showing this. This last off season, Stanford
was able to attract seventeen players in from the transfer portal.
That is more than all previous years combined. And that's
a sign of the administration, uh, kind of learning and

(31:24):
adapting to this new era. That's a sign of more
players being willing to come and join our program. And
you know, and Stanford's doing that all while not sacrificing
the kind of academic integrity and overall mission of the school.
And so we're getting we're getting guys to come join
and be a part of this program that are are
Stanford men as we call them, that are trying to
be great on and off the field. And and it's

(31:47):
you know, it's it's really exciting the way it's moving.
We still have a steep mountain to climb to get
Stanford back to where we all want it to be,
which is competing for conference championships.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Every year, competing for that college Football Playoff.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
And and being part of the next major shakeup in
major college football and making sure that when that time comes,
Stanford has a seat at the table. And Andrew is
not shy about being very clear that that is our mission.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
At Stanford Football and what we're aspiring to do.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
So recently Andrew gave an interview TESPN and he talked
about a quote value proposition of a Stanford scholarship. But ultimately,
the recent shift, as you know, bo with nil and
the money that schools can pay it really has not
been a positive development for the academic schools because one
of the competitive advantages of a place like Stanford, who

(32:37):
recently I think was number four in the latest US
News and World Report College University rankings, was the value
of that scholarship, which is higher than those of their competitors.
So how do you balance that where you know, once
upon a time, because you referenced, you weren't recruited by
by you were Utah, But my dude, you went to

(32:58):
Stanford like you had a great, wonderful educational opportunity, which
is a great benefit for now your ability to go
live your life. That value proposition that Andrew talks about
the gap is a little bit smaller now because of
the ability that other schools have to simply pay players.
How do you guys balance that as you're trying to
build this thing back up.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
It's a it's it's a great question. It's a great
challenge for us. And what we believe both things are true.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
That this new era football that's empowered these players to
make money while they're playing.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Makes things, makes the.

Speaker 5 (33:38):
Makes the vision of a place like Stamford harder to
understand and harder to see the long term value of
a degree and a network from Stanford that can be true,
while also having the flip side of that being we
can prove that to these kids while they're at school
so that when they get there they don't want to leave.

(34:01):
And that is you know, there's I I co founded
a football alumni group at Stanford called Stanford Football Alumni
United with some some former teammates of minds, some guys
from different generations and some some big names like you know,
Richard Sherman and Christi McCaffrey and John Lynch and and
what we are trying to do is take this network,
the Stanford Network, this alumni network, and put some real

(34:21):
some real structure behind it, so that when these players
come to Stanford they see what they're leaving behind if
they were to transfer out. These these recruits and these
parents when they're coming on visits are getting introduced to
a very tangible representation of.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
The value of that that Stanford degree. Now what we
what Stanford.

Speaker 5 (34:40):
You know, of course, now with with with revenue share
and obviously the nil portion of this and how that
plays and everything, Stanford is going to.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Be competitive playing paying players. We're committed to that. You know.

Speaker 5 (34:50):
I I don't have any inside intel into what Stanford
or Andrew in the front office do in terms of
how much they're actually paying kids, but I do know
that there have been examples, not not necessarily with football specifically,
but with other sports at Stanford where where players that
come to Stanford play a couple of years and have
tremendous success in their sport and are getting offers to
leave have made have explicitly made the decision to stay

(35:14):
at Stanford because they place real monetary value on the
Stanford degree above beyond what the spread might be. The
difference if it's you know, who are one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars difference.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Today, they say, well, if.

Speaker 5 (35:26):
I go to this X, Y, and Z school, that degree,
that network is far less valuable to me than.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
What the Stanford degree can offer.

Speaker 5 (35:35):
So I'm willing to stay here even if it might
be a couple hundred thousand dollars less. So it's a
very real challenge, but it's from our perspective, it's more
of it puts the onus on us as alumni to
make sure that these current players really see the value
of the Stanford network while they are there and while
they are being recruited, instead of having to wait until

(35:55):
after they graduate, which could be clear. That's when I
found found a value is I didn't quite realize what
the power was until I graduated and started looking for
a job and had all these incredibly people that were
the very very top of their industry taking meetings with
me and making introductions and finding job opportunities for me
that I didn't even know existed. And so you know,
it's it's it's it's an uphill battle in some ways.

(36:17):
But we also we still view that that that Stanford network,
that that that education factors as a competitive advantage for us,
as long as we also come to the table and
are competitive on the you know, revenue share in an
aisle side.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
I want to ask you about Andrew specifically Andrew Luck,
and we're catching up with Bob mcdally played his college
football at Stanford. Stanford and by you played a couple
of weeks ago. I guess it was last week. I
don't remember what I had for breakfast, so anyway, but
I find Andrew Luck to be one of the most
fascinating individuals in just the history of sport. I mean,
you walk away after seven years at the peak of

(36:55):
your abilities at the age of twenty nine, and he
was so good. And we always use to talk about
the Colts wasting the opportunity with the generational player under center,
and the pressure on that staff to surround him with
better players because you don't know how long you're gonna
have a quarterback like that. Now, they didn't know it
was gonna be cut that short. So Andrew walks away

(37:16):
and he could have probably played for another five six
years and made another couple hundred million dollars. Stanford hires
him as the GM, but it's different than some of
the other gms because he's he's over all of it.
My understanding is not just football. He's over business like,
he is the guy in charge here. I've never had
a chance to meet him or interview him. I certainly
would more than welcome that. What is he like, bo

(37:37):
and why is he the right guy for this job?

Speaker 5 (37:42):
Yeah, he's he's a he's a really interesting dude, and
you know that kind of.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
I use this term in a very endearing way, that kind.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
Of like goofy, dorky, like really a kind of thoughtful
person you see in all of his interviews is exactly
how is in private interactions.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
And I I was, you know, lucky enough to be
a teammate of his.

Speaker 5 (38:05):
He was three years younger, and he was the starting
quarterback my senior year. And uh, he while he comes
across is very unassuming and kind of.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
You know, goofy, he is as competitive, competitive.

Speaker 5 (38:18):
As anybody I've ever met. And and he is a worker.
He is a workhorse. And when he took this job, truthfully,
I didn't know if it was just kind of a
you know, kind of what you're seeing with with I
think Shack at LSU is like a quote unquote assisant gim.
I didn't know if it was just kind of like Hey,
we're trying to attach a big name to Stanford, and

(38:39):
it was gonna be a little bit more of like
he shows up every now and then and shakes some
hands and and and then moves on his way. I
mean that dude is in everything right Like you said,
he is touching every part of the program. He is uh, eating, sleeping,
breathing Stanford football and and and he believes like I

(38:59):
do that at Damford football being relevant and the major
college football landscape is a necessary component of college football.
And it's it's necessary for Stanford to be a top program.
And he's not gonna to rest until it happens. And
you know when he when that job. When when it
was announced that he took the VM job, he happened
to be coming to Utah to ski for a little

(39:21):
bit at the beginning of the year, and and and
meet with from Stanford alumni here.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
And uh, he and I were able to get get
together for.

Speaker 5 (39:27):
Coffee and for dinner, and I kind of went in
to say, Hey, I want to help any way I
can whatever support you need.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
I also went in to be like, what, you know,
what's his plan? What is you know? Because I don't
I'm not sure what to expect.

Speaker 5 (39:38):
And I was blown away with you know, how methodical
and strategic he's being, how how he's you know, he's
thinking long term, but he's also being very tactical about
the near term milestones we need to hit in order
to be able to get to those outcome.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Goals that we're all aspiring to.

Speaker 5 (39:54):
And you know, the energy again, the energy he has
brought to the program right now is pretty incredible. And listen,
firing the head coach in April, when you've been on
the job for three months, you know that that takes
some some gusto and uh and and then and then
you know, make a decision to go to the interim route
with with Frank Reich, I mean all of these things

(40:16):
like he is. He is taking it head on right
He's not shying away from making hard decisions and doing
what he believes is right.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
For the program in the near term in the long term.

Speaker 5 (40:24):
And I I speak for for every Stamford football alumni
and Stanford lunny that I've spoken with about this when
I say this, we could not imagine a better person
for the job. And and Stanford's in good hands with him,
and and and we're just all grateful that he's willing
to step in and do this and and kind of
be the steward for our programs.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
So you referenced the decision to fire Troy Taylor, spend
some time here in Salt Lake with the University of Utah.
He brings in his old buddy, Frank Reich, and it
seems like every football person has a lot of respect
for Frank. Uh Bo. All the reports I see is
this is a one year deal period. End of story.
Is that you're understanding and if so, any idea what's
next with that position?

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (41:05):
No, that that's that's been my understanding. And you know,
I don't have a ton of insight intel to share
other than part of the purpose behind the interim coach was,
you know, springtime's a very weird time to try to
hire a long term head coach. Right, Most coaches that
you would want would not agree to leave their program

(41:25):
at that point in the year, right. They feel bad
about leaving their their their their program at that time
in the middle of spring ball or right before spring ball.
And so the idea behind the interim coach was to
make sure that Stanford has access to all of the
best candidates in this next coaching cycle, right, and uh,
and you know, obviously Andrew was in town with the
team when I was on aira captain. We actually got
to go. Stanford had a commit in town from East

(41:48):
Side Catholic in Seattle playing East High School, and so
Andrew and I went over there and watched the second
half of that game together, and and I kind of
tried to try to get them to give me some
insight intel about you know, the coaching search auty names.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
Of mind, and and uh, you.

Speaker 5 (42:02):
Know, he was smart and he was coy about it,
but he just said, yeah, he's like, I'm already kind
of starting to think about the process.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Right.

Speaker 5 (42:09):
You know, the actual hiring will likely take take place
towards the end of the season.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
That's an assumption for me, not what he's told me.

Speaker 5 (42:14):
But you know, as much as I've learned about Andrew
and known him, you know, since i've known him for
the last unfortunately it's been almost twenty years, he uh,
he's a very methodical person. So he's gonna he's gonna
you know, cross every T and dot every I to
make sure that that Stanford ends up with the right
person in charge of the program from the coaching side.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
Move forward, All.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Right, bo, let's move over now to the game. It's
and you know, of course, as we have just outlined,
this is a period of kind of a recalibration for
Stanford to try to get back to where they once
were under coach jaw while trying to understand the modern
day and age of college football and the landscape and
what you need to do. So where are they at

(42:58):
right now? And we'll also attended to that question, what
were your impressions of by you as you were on
the sidelines last week for b yu's win over your
Stanford Cardinal.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
Yeah, it's a you know, it's.

Speaker 5 (43:11):
A great question, And like you said, I'm going to
kind of hone in on something he said because Stanford
the football program is in a strange spot. Four straight
three win seasons. You know, uh, three head coaches over
that that time period. Uh, More guys transferring out of
the program than transferring into the program. It's been you know,
it has been a difficult era for Stanford football the

(43:32):
last four years. And you know, if there's some some
real college football nerds listening to this and then they'll
remember my my retch at freshman year at Stanford was
was as bad as it's been for Stanford now. My
freshman year was far, far worse. Walt Harris was our
head coach. He's the head coach of pitt when Utah
beat them in the Festival, and then he took the

(43:54):
Stanford job after that year. And we went one on
eleven in two thousand and six and we were as
bad as football teams get. And then Harbaugh came in
and we went four and eight and then five and seven,
and then and then my senior year with Andrew Luck
as a starter, we we had our first winning season.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
In almost a decade.

Speaker 5 (44:10):
And when I spoke to the team Friday night, I
kind of told them about my experience during that. One
of the things I challenged them with is one of
the hardest things coming out of a consistent, you know,
multi year stretch.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Of losing seasons, is is.

Speaker 5 (44:23):
Believing that you've done enough to earn the right to
expect to win games, because you're going to be an
underdog in almost every game you go into. And and
I told them, and I believe this that they have
all the all the talent that they need, all the
folks and the coaching staff that we need to win
a lot of football games this year. But you've got
you've got to have a little some confidence and swagger
even if you know, if you've got fake it till

(44:44):
you make it, because I believe me, that's what I
had to do.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
And and so Stanford's in a tough spot.

Speaker 5 (44:49):
But but we've got everything that we need in that
locker room to win a bunch of football games this year.
And I actually, you know, obviously the outcome wasn't wasn't
what we wanted for Stanford against BYU.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
But but it didn't.

Speaker 5 (45:01):
The game against you you actually further proved my point
in my mind, because you know, the defense was phenomenal
like Stamford's was like we we we gave the defense,
gave gave the the team a chance to every chance
to win that game.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
You know, had to to turnovers.

Speaker 5 (45:17):
Early in the game deep in our own territory and
held by field goals both times.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Uh, you know, uh really really.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
Did a nice job with with with defending the run
and limiting the pass. And and you know by U
is a super talented team too. I mean their defense,
I think I think they're number one of the in
the country right now in rushing yards allowed, and and
they had a bunch of dogs and and and you know,
Stanford held their own. And now our our offense right
now is really struggling. Like anybody that that's walked our

(45:44):
games can see that. And it's you know, it's a
new system. It's it's a new quarterback. We've got you know,
young guys across the board, and and and and we're like,
I I'm a true optimist with with my my sports teams,
and uh, it's it served me well over the course
of my life. And I I I fully believe that
Stanford has the pieces in place so long as to

(46:08):
be successful season, so long as we continually approve week
over week, and and that improvement needs to happen at
at every position, both sides of the balls, special teams, everything,
and uh and you know again, I think Vy is
gonna win a lot of football games this year. I think, uh,
they're they're being smart about what to do with the
true freshman quarterback and not asking a whole lot of
him and letting letting him you know, use his legs

(46:30):
and and throw quick passes and and not make mistakes.
But uh, you know, it's it's a for for Stanford.
I'm encouraged after after that game seeing you know, this
is this team can compete with really, really good programs.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
But we just got to, you know, we've got to
keep improving week over week.

Speaker 5 (46:49):
In order to make sure that we can we can
turn some of these like hey we're competing into hey
we're starting to win some games, and hopefully that starts
with Saturday against Boston College.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
Before you say, you lose bow since we are the
home of the Ute, so I'll kick the tires with
your thoughts on Coach Wit in the program. Right now,
they're going up to Wyoming, which is a tricky place
for I mean, Texas Tech lost there a couple of
years ago. Texas had to rally in the second half
to win. Utah is a twenty three point favorite thereabouts.
They should roll. But Coach Wit himself called last year debacle.

(47:18):
And it's been a couple of years since we've seen
the standard for Utah football be met. And a lot
of that is health related. But a bunch of new transfers,
namely Devin dan Pier brings his offensive coordinator with him.
How do you think Utah's can affair this year? Year two?
In the big twelve bow.

Speaker 5 (47:34):
Yeah, you know, I I think last year was a
little bit of an anomaly for Utah. And and you
know coach Witt and and you know, I can't remember
if you remember Spence.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
I'm sure the listeners don't. But you know, I go,
I go way back with coach Scalley.

Speaker 5 (47:49):
And you know, he and I grew up in the
same neighborhood and went to the same high school and
he was several years ahead of me.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
And I, you.

Speaker 5 (47:57):
Know, as a kid, wants to go watch him play
high school with mister football in Utah I think nineteenninety seven.
And one thing about about that program, and I've had
a chance to go, you know, talk with with Stalley
up there a couple of times, and is that they
don't like the culture that they have does not tolerate
you know, back to back years like what happened last year, right,
And and the the culture that they have is that

(48:18):
they're they're tough.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
You know, they play hard, they.

Speaker 5 (48:20):
Play good defense, they play physical, which allows them to
bounce back after you're like last year, especially when they
reload with talent talent scouting. And yeah, Devin Dampier, he's
you know, he appears to be a guy right that
can that can help Utah win a lot of football games.
And so you know, the big twelve, you know, it

(48:41):
feels pretty wide.

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Open to me right now.

Speaker 5 (48:44):
And I think that Utah is one of those, you know,
I don't know five or six teams that for sure
can make a run at at a conference championship this year.
And and like you said, it's gonna be a lot
have a lot to do with staying healthy. And we
got a quarterback as dynamic as as Devin Dampier. That's
one thing you're always worried about, right is if he's
making a lot of plays, feed is gonna be able
to toward that contact and stay healthy. And if you can,
then I think Utah is going to be, you know,

(49:05):
one of those teams that are gonna be in the
mix in November for that big ball championship.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Well, buddy, I always appreciate the time, good insight, and
most importantly, happy birthday, Jack. We'll set you loose, have
a great weekend.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Bo okay, okay, appreciate you guys. Thanks mess all right.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Bou mcdally played his college ball at Stanford, was a
really good player at Highland High School, Stanford BYU. Last
week BYU ran over him twenty seven to three, and
we'll see what sort of test that is. By you
want to buy this week. They'll be at East Carolina
next week and we'll see how it goes down. Special
thank you to Bow and Happy birthday to was Boy
Jack Today brought to you today by IFA Country Stores.

(49:41):
With IFA's Step four Fall and Winter lawn Food, you'll
get stronger roots now and an early green up next spring.
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Speaker 2 (49:52):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Sabrina Carpenter's voice has really changed over the past twenty
four hours. I thought you were bringing in Sammy. I
thought you wanted a little Sabrina Carpenter.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
What we did?

Speaker 1 (50:01):
What do we got going on?

Speaker 7 (50:02):
She did?

Speaker 3 (50:03):
I I searched Sabrina Carpenter on the uh the radio
play okay, and we didn't have the song she wanted.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
So I just threw some Alan Jackson. Well, we've got
to have that. You know that close enough? That espresso
song was everywhere? Was it last summer or two summers ago?

Speaker 3 (50:19):
That's the one I knew from her. That's the one
that we don't have, so okay, sorry, Sammy, here's some
Ali Jacks.

Speaker 1 (50:25):
Sammy Moore. You zone, Sammy. We like to let people
choose their walk up song. And I'm a big Sabrina
Carpenter fan like you are, so are apologies? How are you?

Speaker 8 (50:34):
I'm great, It's totally fine.

Speaker 6 (50:35):
You know.

Speaker 8 (50:36):
I just was like, let's let's let's see if they
have some some espresso. That's where I was gonna go.
I mean, I always one of my friends is like,
you should have went with taste because the first lyric
is like she's like, she's five foot and I'm also
five foot, so she's like, you should have went with that.
And I was like, eh, that's a little bit too extreme.
We'll just go with espresso. But you know, Alan Jackson's fine.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
Next time, Porter, maybe we can get some espresso on
the way out. Maybe you can look it up on
you YouTube or something. Yeah, we'll we'll find something. Okay,
we'll do something for Sammy on the way out. Well, Sammy,
thank you for your time. Happy Friday. Here's here's where
I want to start, and I started the show this way.
You know, for anybody who listened to this show. First
of all, thank you. Second of all, I rail against
scheduling all the time because these early season matchups with

(51:18):
teams that are so uneven makes it really hard to
analyze where we're at. But the only thing you can
do if your UTAH is do what you are supposed
to do. And they've done that so far.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
Wouldn't you say, yeah, they have one.

Speaker 8 (51:31):
I think, you know, over one hundred points. We're close
to one hundred points in your first two games. I
think you know you handle business. You only let you
cil a score one touchdown. You don't even let cal
Pauly find the end zone. So UTAH has handled business
for the first two games.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Is there anything that you are still kind of on
the fence about dynamic position schematics, still kind of waiting
to learn about UTAH?

Speaker 8 (51:55):
I think the biggest thing still is the wide receiver room.
I know from week one. In the week too, you saw,
you know, Ryan Davis got a little bit more involved,
Tobias Merriweather got a little bit more involved. But I
think there's still some questions around them and how are
they going to, you know, impact this team, Like I
think that you know the running game, you need the
running game to thrive. So that the pass game can

(52:16):
thrive and it goes both ways. You need this pass
game to open up so that it makes it easier
for you know, way Sean and Nacari and Devin and
the rest of the guys that are going to tote
the rock for the Utah team. So I think, you know,
as of right now, it's the wide receivers. I mean,
I think that this week might be another good opportunity
to try and get things going. You know, Wyoming has
a very stout run defense, and so I think that

(52:37):
it's going to be interesting to see if they aired out.
But I still think that, you know, the last two
weeks have been a somewhat vanilla game plan. I think
you saw a little bit more versus cal Poly. There
was there was a lot more eye candy. If you
go back and watch the film, there's a lot of
pre snap movements and stuff like that that kind of
are going to make defenses play honest and stuff. And
so I think that you might see a little bit

(52:57):
more versus Wyoming. You know, the caliber of opponent is
going up from last week, But I still don't think
we're going to see a lot from this offense.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
All Right, let's dig into Devon's play because, of course,
quarterback is a position that a is always massively important
and be the past couple of years because of the
inability of Cameraon to stay healthy, we've seen a bunch
of different options, and I think Devn has really inspired
a lot of confidence across the landscape of our community,
with you fans being pumped about what they've seen so far.
What stood out most to you, Sammy about Devon's play

(53:27):
through two games.

Speaker 8 (53:29):
Well, I think it all goes back to, you know,
how he carries himself off the field. I think you know,
a big thing that you know really stood out to me,
you know, getting to know Devon over the last few months,
is just his attitude and how he approaches the game
and stuff like that, Like he loves to say that,
like he he lives where his feet are, and so
you know this, this is a guy that's taking it

(53:50):
one snap at a time, one play at a time,
and he's not, you know, letting outside circumstances affect what's
going on in house. And I think that that's something
that you know, you've really seen trickle down throughout the
rest of the team. The vibe around this team feels
very different from last year. But I think on the field,
the biggest thing for me with Devon right now is
his completion percentage, Like that was a big thing they

(54:11):
wanted to get up right up for him, and through
the two games he's a seventy nine point two completion percentage,
which you know, there's still a lot of games to
be played and stuff like that, but that's already a
career high for him. Like last seasons, he had a
fifty eight percent completion percentage. His twenty twenty three season,
it was a sixty two percent completion percentage, but he

(54:31):
didn't play a lot. So I think that, you know,
that's that's that's a that vodes well for me, at
least in terms of what he's capable of doing. I think,
you know, the big thing with Kyle Whittingham is keeping
the ball safe and keeping it protected and he hasn't
turned it over yet. They've done what they needed to do,
and he's also worked on that completion percentage while he's
at it. But you know, Devin is just as dynamic

(54:52):
as you know we all thought he was going to be.
I think, you know, you got you got a little
glimpse of that versus UCLA and like cal Poly, it was,
you know, it was a get in, get out type
of game. But he still had some flashes. You know,
we saw him take some more downfield shots. He didn't
take as many hits versus Kyle Paul as he did
versus UCLA, which I know was a big thing that

(55:12):
Kyle Whittingham wanted him to do, is take less hits.
But you know, through two games, I think Devon has
performed pretty well.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
So let's stay in the quarterback room. And it was
announced that as far as QB two goes, it would
be Isaac Wilson, and so far, when we've seen the
backup play, it has been Bird Ficklin and man, this
kid's got some juice. I mean, there's a lot to
like about what we've seen so far. Does it feel
like Bird has established himself as QB two. What's your
understanding of the dynamic in the room behind Devon?

Speaker 8 (55:42):
Well, I think that Kyle addressed it pretty well both
on Saturday and on Monday. He said that, you know,
it's a mixture of Isaac has a red shirt that
they can use and they want to see what they
have in Bird. You know, do I think that Bird
can if God forbid something happens to Devon, Bird could
handle things. I don't know, you know, it's been such

(56:03):
a small sample size with him, but you know, his
performances with cal Poly was pretty dang good. You know,
four of four fifty three yards and an additional fifty
five on the ground and the two touchdowns, including the
one where he literally just took the cal Poly defender
and just stiff armed him right into the dirt, which
you know, made everybody in the press box like insane,

(56:24):
it was. The reaction was was was great up there.
But you know, I think that Bird is good. I
think I've said it before that I think Bird is
very much is a very similar quarterback to Devon in
terms of the way that he plays. He is a
he could sling it and you could see it. He
had some zip on some of those balls last week.
But he also has the ability to get out of

(56:45):
dodge and you also saw that. And I think that
you know Devin's will he Bird and Devon are cut
from the same cloth in terms of their style of play.
As for Isaac, I mean, you know, Kyle said that
they have a red shirt for him to work with
so they might not be you might not see him
as much year, but I think that, you know, as
long as Devin stays upright and healthy, I don't think
this is going to be a major talking point this season.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
I agree. Now you referenced the wide receiver room and
the weapons that Devin has at his Disposal'll have a
two part question, Sammy, have you noticed any of these targets?
Kind of I should say, have you noticed devon the
or have you have you noticed him favoring anybody? Does
it seem like he has a tendency to look one
way or the other, and attended to the question which

(57:30):
of the targets have stood out most to you so far?
Is potentially becoming more dynamic?

Speaker 8 (57:35):
I think you know the safe answers is Ryan Davis.
You know they played last year at New Mexico together,
and at New Mexico RD is very much Devin's safety blanket,
you know, and he would get to he would get
the ball to Ryan and let Ryan make the play.
And I think that that's you're kind of seeing that
again this year at Utah. You know, he had that
he Ryan had his first career touch on as you

(57:56):
last week, And I think you could see that that
connection with building and Dev and Devin and Ryan have
that pre established connection, which was good, which was good
when both of them decided to come to Utah. That
was something that you know, gave me a little bit
of like hope that Devin wasn't going to be building
chemistry with every single wide receiver from January to now.
He had someone that he had a pre established connection

(58:16):
with and then he was he was getting comfortable with.
But I think, you know, Tobias has started to really
have a couple more targets who started six times last
week versus how Polly. A couple of them were deep shots.
There was the one that Devin just put a little
bit too much air on and then there was another
one that if you go back and watch it, the
ball ended up behind Tobias. But you know, the ball
slipped in devon Devin's hand. It was during that little

(58:37):
rain burst that they had. But I think that, you know,
I think Tobias could be that game changer guy that
opens the opens up the rest of the pass game
for Utah. He has that long stride, big catch radius.
He's able to make some contested catches and stuff. So
I think that you know it's gonna be It's gonna
be interesting to see how these two. I think those
two are going to probably by the time the season's over,

(58:58):
those two are probably gonna shake out to your top
two receivers. I think Larry Simmons is going to be
in that conversation as well, the Southern mistransfer. He didn't
you know he had the illegal touching patch versus UCLA,
which you know that's not a penalty you see called
very frequently anymore. But I think that that he's someone
that could be another you know, deep, deep threat, bust

(59:19):
something open type of type of playmaker for Devin.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
We talked preseason, Sammy about the running back situation and
it's kind of manifested and exactly the way you said
that it would with way Shan and Acari really sharing
the the bulk of the reps. Devin's second on the
team and carries Nakari's got twenty three way Shawn as
seventeen Wayshawan as the two most explosive plays of the season,
both on the ground and through the air. But what

(59:44):
do you make of what we've seen so far? What
do you like and how do you see it continuing.

Speaker 8 (59:48):
I think that we're going to continue seeing it how
it's played out. I think, you know, KYLEI even said that,
you know, until someone starts getting a really hot hand,
that's just what's going to happen. And I think it's
actually for the best. You know, with the constant rotating
in and out of those two guys, you know, it's
keeping guys healthy, and it's not like so frequent rotation
that you guys that can't guys can't get into a

(01:00:09):
rhythm and stuff. You're seeing, you know, Nakari play a
drive and then you're seeing Washan play a drive unless
something happens down distant situational thing where one of them
needs to come in favor.

Speaker 6 (01:00:18):
Of the other.

Speaker 8 (01:00:19):
But you know, I think they've performed pretty well. I
think Nakari has kind of established himself as that short
distance kind of back. You know, he had the two
scores versus how poly both of them were inside the
two I think, but like Nakari is very much that guy,
whereas Wasshan is the speed guy. You saw that. You've
seen that on all of his touchdowns this year, especially
that reception touchdown. He just turned on the Jets and

(01:00:42):
it was it was off to the races, and he's
a fast guy. Like, he's fast and he's hard to
bring down. So I think that, you know, both of
them have a specific role in this offense and they're
being utilized to that ability when they're on the field.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
All right. I had a friend referred to the offensive
line as like barbak bouncers because when you watch them,
they just pick up the opposition and just like throw
them around. I don't know that I have a question
much as I just want your observation. Of course, it
was the positional group we were all most confident in,
and through two games they've lived up to the hype.

Speaker 8 (01:01:13):
Yeah, yeah, I think. You know, Spencer Fono and Caleb
Blomo are still two of the most dynamic tackles in
the country. To know what Togii has, you know, he's
played at a high level to the first few games
as well. Even though Jaren and Jaren company Michael Mulkafiici
you know, didn't see a lot of time versus cal
Poly or didn't play at all in Jaren's case, you know,

(01:01:34):
they they still had good moments versus UCLA, and even
the guys that stepped in for both of those guys
when they were out last week, which was Keith Olsen
and Alex Harrison, they played at a good level too.
So I think that, you know, from top to bottom,
I still have the most confidence in this offensive line room.
You know, Olson is going to be a key part
of that offensive line next year, and I think that

(01:01:57):
it's it's good that they're getting him out there, getting
him as as much experience as possible for so he
can just slide into that role next year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
The dynamic of defensive players being used as offensive weapons
so far have been pretty entertaining and also very useful,
and it's worked. Coach win on a number of occasions
have talked about has talked about Jackson, Benny who had
the pick six, and we've seen a little bit on offense.
So you know, whether it's Lander or Smith or now Jackson,
give me some of your takeaways watching these defensive players

(01:02:26):
be utilized on the other side of the ball.

Speaker 8 (01:02:29):
I think, you know, Jackson's probably one of the more
intriguing ones for me. I you know, he's been playing
a little bit of wide receiver and I was asked
about this overrun NewsOne this week about like, why are
they playing Jackson instead of someone like Larry Simmons. And
I think it all comes down to Jackson's speed, Like
his pop end speed is insanely fast, and I think

(01:02:49):
Kyle even referred to him as someone who can blow
the top off of a defense. So I think that
getting Jackson out there is just going to make things
easier for the rest of the guys because you're getting
you know, someone's gonna you're gonna haveses open, You're gonna
have stuff over the middle open. Because Jackson's you know,
running those deep routes nine times out of ten. Lander,
you know he has the touchdown. I think Utah's tight

(01:03:11):
ends are fine. I like good. I shouldn't say fine.
They're very talented Dolan, Bentley, JJ Buchanan, Hunter, Andrews, that group.
They're very good. So I don't think landers Lander's playing
tight end. I think is more, very much more of
a situational type thing because you have other tight ends
who are able to produce at a high level. As
for Smith, you know, he's just he's one of those

(01:03:31):
guys that you know, when when they put him out
on the field, you never know what he's gonna do.
You've seen him run. You know some some routes you've
seen him be put in the running like in the
back fo of the running back. Beck loves to use
that bubble motion to get him going and get hit,
hand him the ball and stuff. So I mean, it's fun,
it's a different way to roll it, and I think that,
you know, until other guys can start producing at a

(01:03:53):
high level, specifically in the wide receiver room, I wouldn't
be shocked if it continues. But I think at the
end of the day, I've always been a big fan
of get whoever's on the field that's going to help
win games, and if that includes the three of those
defenders getting them on the field's playoffense, then do what
you need to do to win the games.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Moving over to the other side of the football, Sammy,
one of the questions we all had was that defensive
front was replacing five players from a year ago, either
graduation NFL or transferring like Ciano did down to b YU.
Early returns defensive front Utah football sound like what good?

Speaker 8 (01:04:28):
Very good from my vantage point, is what I say.
The five defensive ends that you've seen rotate, every single
one of them now has logged at least one at
least half a sack, which you know, I don't think
anyone had John Henry daily as the leading sack leader
on this team at this point of the season. I
think most people thought it was going to be Logan,
But you know, I've been really, really, really high on

(01:04:50):
John Henry even going back to spring. JHG has been
one of those guys that we've heard so much about
throughout the fall or throughout tail end of last fall,
through spring year and into this fall. And you know,
see him getting going early is very beneficial for this
Utah defensive line. And I think, you know, when Logan
comes back, pairing the two of them together, I think
that could honestly be a very very very successful pass

(01:05:12):
rush unit. And then on the interior, you know, Dallas
goes down early in that UCLA game, but ever since then,
I haven't noticed that much of a drop off, you know,
a leak. He's been playing in a very good level.
Jonahla A has been playing well, and then the freshman
Carson Kusi, Pupusa Balona, both of them have gotten in
there and made some big time plays. Both of them
had some big stops versus cal Pauly and I think,

(01:05:33):
you know, early rich urns on them are good. Obviously,
the level of competition the first two weeks, especially for
defensive tackle, hasn't been that great. Cal Poly and and
Ucla weren't able to you know, especially the Ucla they
didn't have that great of an offensive line, so literally
nothing could happen with them. But with cal Poly, they
their running game struggled even in their first week. So

(01:05:53):
I think that, you know, it's gonna be interesting to
see how they shape up when you get into conference
play when you have some teams that have some very
very very good and very powerful running backs. But early
returns from my vantage point have been pretty good.

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
So if Wyoming is to make this interesting, what does
that look like. They've got a running back so far
that's off to a really good start to the season.
They've got a couple good linebackers. We had their play
by play voice on this week and he was lotting
the depth that they have there that they haven't had
in quite some time. He already kind of touched on
this earlier when I brought you in. And Utah is
a heavy favorite. The weather looks like it could be

(01:06:30):
a little hairy. About fifty six degrees, there's a slight
chance of rain. Laramie can get weird. Texas Tech lost
up there a couple of years ago. Texas had to
rally themselves. It's an odd trip. I'm old enough to
remember Whack days and early Utah wyoming back and forth.
I don't know that the elevation affects Utah, although it
is hired seven thousand feet above sea level. So if
this game gets weird, Sammy, what does that look like.

Speaker 8 (01:06:54):
I think it's gonna be mainly the secondary Utah secondary
Caden Anderson is gonna be the first like true pocket
path after that Utah has had to face all season,
and I think, you know, he is coming into this
game not one hundred percent. He has that upper body injury,
but you know he can sling it. And I think that,
you know, after a sub hard performance last week versus
how Poly, these corners are going to want to redeem themselves.

(01:07:16):
So they're going to want to redeem themselves like bad
and so I think that's probably the biggest area where
you know, things could go a rise in the passing game.
But I do think that you know, Utah has the
benefit of the doubt with this pass Rush. I think
if they can get to Anderson early, I think that
he might be hearing footsteps, mistakes might be happening. He
might play a little bit like, I don't know how

(01:07:38):
to phrase it, he might be playing a little bit
lighter to protect himself and stuff like that. But I
think that the secondary is the area where this is
going to get dicey. I think if it does get dicey,
I fully think that Utah's offense should be fined versus
Wyoming's defense. Devin Dampiers played against them. Now, this will
be the third time, and they've never been able to
stop him. I talk to somebody who covers Wyoming this

(01:08:00):
and he basically said the biggest area of concern for
him is Devin Dampier. Like they this Wyoming defense has
not been able to stop Devin in the last two showings,
and so I think that's something that you know it's
going to benefit Utah. Ryan Davis has played against this
team before. Nakari was hurt last year, so he hasn't
played against them. But I think, you know, there are
guys who have experienced this situation before, and this area

(01:08:22):
in Laramie, I mean, justin Stevenson transferred from Wyoming to Utah,
So if anyone knows what it's like to play in
that arena, it's him. But I think that, yeah, I
think my biggest thing is the Utah secondary right now
is like they're going to need to figure out, figure
things out, and figure it out fast because next week
it just gets a whole lot tougher.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
Your reference, Dallas Vakolaki will want to get him back soon.
I know they held out Jayden Logan Fano. Do you
have any insight on the current state of the health
overall and who may be held out coming up tomorrow night.

Speaker 8 (01:08:54):
I honestly have no clue, you know, like we hear
things throughout the week and stuff. But you know, I
think it is a good sign that Kyle Whittingham said that,
you know, there hasn't been any nothing like he's not
worried there has it. He hasn't mentioned any season ending
injuries yet. But you know, photos were posted earlier in
the week, and I know Rabbit was posting in one
in a photo was from practice. Moka Fisi is in

(01:09:18):
a photo, so I think that you know they're practicing
those two at least are. We don't know about the rest.
But those two are practicing, so that should be you know,
help should be on the way at some point.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
I know.

Speaker 8 (01:09:27):
You know, Rabbit hasn't taken a single snap this year,
and the hope was to get him back before conference
play and stuff. So you know, it's gonna be interesting
to see. You know, next week is the first week
where we actually get injury reports, so it'll be a
lot easier to like to figure out who's playing, who's
not gonna play, even though we all know Kyle will
probably say everyone's questionable at some point. But you know,

(01:09:47):
it's gonna be interesting to see as of right now,
you know, we'll see who dresses and then we can
go from there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
There are be about a five and a half hour
drive thereabouts, and you know the Rose Bowl a nice
road or nice road trip or simply just trip that
youth fans could have been able to take if they
chose to go in that direction. Any any idea what
sort of youth fan contingent will be there in Laramie
tomorrow night.

Speaker 8 (01:10:09):
I have no idea. I know that there there are
there is going to be some Utah fans that are
going to make the trip and stuff. A lot of
people were kind of looking forward to this trip to
you know, relive Mountain West days and stuff like that.
But Utah fans have do travel well. I don't think
that's ever a question. And I think for kind of
like how it was with the Rose Bull, they're going
back to someplace they know, albeit they hasn't been ten

(01:10:31):
it's been over ten years since they've been to Laramie.
But you know, I think that there's going to be
Utah fans there. They're going to make their presence felt.
And that's a small arena, so you're going to be
able to tell them, like that's a small stadium that
you're going to be able to find the Utah fans
for a mile away, especially because their colors are vastly
different from Wyoming fans. But Utah fans are going to
be there. I just don't know how many. I haven't

(01:10:53):
seen as many people talking about going to this game
as I did about the Rose Bowl and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
Well, and where we start, which is my opening segment
with the show. When it comes to games where you're
heavily favored early on in the season, all you can
do is do what you're expected to do, and the
chips will fall while they're supposed to. Before I set
you loose, have you seen enough, combined with Utah's performance
over the first two games and what you've witnessed with

(01:11:19):
other teams in the Big Twelve to believe that this
is a season that Utah has a chance to say
something about this Big Twelve conference here too.

Speaker 8 (01:11:27):
I think they do. I think, you know, next week
versus Texas Tech is going to be the first big
test and for both Utah and Tech. You know, Tech
plays Oregon State this weekend, but before that, they have
just played a bunch of smaller schools. And also Tech
hasn't even left theirs home stadium yet this season, whereas Utah,
this will be their second road game. They've played at home.

(01:11:49):
And I think that you know, Wyoming is by far
the biggest tests that they have faced up until this point.
You know, everyone thought UCLA was going to be the
big test, but looking back on them now, they don't
look that great. I think Utah can make an impact
on this Big Twelve. I think they can make a
run for the title. It's just healthy, keeping everybody healthy

(01:12:10):
and you know, doing doing things that Utah way, keeping
the ball safe, scoring, playing sound defense, take forcing turnovers.
But I think you know, if if everyone stays healthy
and everything goes to plan, I would not be shocked
if Utah makes a run for the Big twelve championship.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
Sammy, where can people go find your work?

Speaker 8 (01:12:28):
You can join us over at zone dot com, which
we call the greatest Utah community on the Internet. Lots
of VIP content, recruiting. We have a VIP podcast, lots
of VIP content, also a message board you can join
and come talk to some of the greatest hutas fans
you'll ever meet. And you can find me on Twitter
at s underscore more two four seven just random musings

(01:12:48):
about you know, Utah and other sports items prefer now
the NFL season. You'll probably see an NFL tweet here there,
but nothing massive.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
And Sammy, you have my word the next time you
join us, Sabrina Carpenter will be your bump music bringing
you in. Okay, thanks all right, Sammy Moore from you Zone.
She does a great job At s underscore more two
for seven, youth Zone is the place you should go
as a youthe fan to get all the good content.
Some couple couple great previews of the game tomorrow. Yeah,
Wyoming's got a couple of really good running backs and

(01:13:19):
a really really good linebacker. So far, as far as
the PFF grades, go Utai healthy favorite the Sam Scott
kid is averagingo for five yards per kerry. Kayden Anderson,
who is expected to play did I have to go
to the hospital last week after an injury to his
upper body. Braden Johnson is their linebacker who is the
highest graded player according to PFF. But Utah hoping to

(01:13:42):
head up to laerm Mee and the Porter Larson Bowle
as it's coined around here and handle the Cowboys easily. Hopefully.
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I or at IFA dot co op. Friday, September twelfth,

(01:14:04):
we are two weeks away, exactly two weeks away from
the start of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage State Park
in Farmingdale, New York. We got the Pro Corps Championship. Yeah,
that thing is going on right now, but it is
relevant because we have some Ryder Cup players not just
playing but playing well. And a local guy in the

(01:14:26):
top ten is Zach Blair seven hunderd par our. Next
guest joins us on a weekly basis to talk about
the world of golf. Paul Pugmyer. Happy Friday, sir, How.

Speaker 6 (01:14:33):
Are you doing great? Doing great spence two weeks out,
we're already vibrating.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
Yes, fun stuff can't wait.

Speaker 1 (01:14:40):
And you know, I'm seeing Patrick Fishburn is actually having
himself a nice little tournament as well. So tell me
about the pro Corp Championship. It's in Napa at the
Silverado Resort. And obviously with the undercurrent of the World Cup,
excuse me, the Ryder Cup, World Cups in nine months,
the Ryder Cup in two weeks. It's good to see
the majority of the field, as far as one I'm witness,
I've seen here in this tournament. It sounds like Xander's

(01:15:02):
wife is delivering a baby, so he's with her. What
you totally understand. But it feels like this tournament has
a little bit extra gravitas as a result of the
Ryder Cup coming up.

Speaker 6 (01:15:12):
Yeah, yeah, no question. You know. The DP World Tour,
the European Tour still is completing its season long points
and so all the European Ryder Cup players are engaged
involved in that because they're basing the points, and all
the Ryder Cup players in America on the US team,
of course, they don't do that because captain says, guys,

(01:15:39):
I want you plan, I want you tournament tough and
getting reps in. So come to pro Corp. And as
you noted, Shaffley got a pass because his wife is
having a baby. And obviously Deve Schambeau Bryson Dave Schambau
can be there because he doesn't have qualse kitchens to
play on the PGA tour. The other ten are there,

(01:15:59):
and Keegan Bradley is there and he's walking around talking
to people.

Speaker 2 (01:16:03):
He's not playing.

Speaker 6 (01:16:04):
He is in captain mode and it is just so
fun to see. You look at the top three players
on the leaderboard and they all share a characteristic oh yeah,
they're on the Ryder Cup team.

Speaker 1 (01:16:16):
So last time around, only Justin Thomas and Max Homa
played the Pro Corps ahead of the twenty twenty three
Ryder Cup, and we all remember what happened there as
the Europeans just curb stopped us. It was not even close.
Do you think, do you think that lesson is kind
of tied into the decision making of these ten players

(01:16:37):
to play that or do you think it was Keegan
kind of encouraging them to not just play but be together, right,
because that's a big portion of what the Ryder Cup
is about.

Speaker 6 (01:16:47):
Building the camaraderie and the team aspect of it, no question,
is a benefit. But it's equally no question that the
lesson was learned. That the American players went in flat
because they had been off for three or four weeks
and they weren't game ready. And where that really showed
up was in Friday morning four ball. We got smoked

(01:17:11):
and we were flat, and the matches weren't even close.
They didn't nothing, got to eighteen and bam were down
four points to start with and never really recovered from there.
And so so yeah, the lesson was learned, and there's
no question that not going to repeat that mistake.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
So when it comes to just simply the dynamic of
utilizing the world number one, Okay, so that I've listened
to a couple of interviews in a couple of pods
previewing the Ryder Cup, and they've all honed in on Yeah,
and we talked about this last week, Like, honestly, on paper,
I feel like the Europeans might have more talent. I
just thought, you know, I thought Lucas knocked out of

(01:17:54):
the park when it came to his selections. That's a really,
really dangerous team. But we have that dude. We have
the one guy that every player, including Rory, has said,
when I show up to a tournament, I know I've
got to beat Scotty. How do we utilize him best?

Speaker 6 (01:18:11):
What a great question, And I'm gonna I'm going to
see you and raise you before I address Scotty. I
think we've got two dudes. I think that Dave Chambeau
is a person who is big enough in personality and
in mental strength and big enough in his game to
overpower uh the black course at that page, and to

(01:18:31):
overpower an opponent. And I think that we've really got
two alpha horses in this whole event. That is a
whole bunch of alpha players. But in terms of Scotti Scheffler,
it's been so fascinating to watch him this the first
two rounds at pro Corp. He is clearly scraping it.

(01:18:53):
He is clearly leaving shots out there. He is clearly frustrated,
and yet where is he. He's in the top ten,
and he knows and everybody else knows that he will
learn what he needs to learn. He'll make the correction
and he'll be ready at best page and you better
look out.

Speaker 1 (01:19:12):
So Scotty did some media prior to the start of
this tournament and he himself talked about how he's changed
his preparation. He have two matches and lost to So
he left Rome without winning a single match and for
the first time, and look, I love Scotty, what's not
to love? But he sometimes can come across as a
little robotic. And you know, he showed some real emotion.

(01:19:35):
He was in tears after the Rome match was essentially settled,
and he knew that he was getting on that plane
without winning one match. Do you have any insight on
this different preparation that he's already talked about to make
sure that we don't see what we saw in Rome.

Speaker 6 (01:19:51):
Scotty has a real interesting duality to his character, to
his personality. He is not flamboyant. He is he is
not charismatic, but he has a deep, white hot fire
in his soul to compete at this game and not

(01:20:12):
only to compete, but to to dominate, dominate the golf course,
dominate too. Ever in his way that he needs to
dominate to play to win. Scotty has a deep fire
and it gets lost sometimes because he's a genuinely nice
man and and genuinely soft spoken, and like I say,

(01:20:37):
he just he's he's not charismatic. He's not gonna gonna
get a.

Speaker 2 (01:20:44):
TV show.

Speaker 6 (01:20:45):
You're going to get a sitcom and make it work.
But holy cow, he will play the game, and he
will step on your throat and twist his spikes and
then move on to the next hole.

Speaker 1 (01:20:58):
Help me understand the the process that Keegan and other
captains have to go through and how it works when
they select certain golfers for certain formats when it comes
to the Ryder Cup, whether it's pairrying them together based
off of past results or maybe trying something new if
things haven't worked. Like what really is on Keegan and
his assistant captain's plates when they're going through the process

(01:21:21):
of selecting which players match which format based off of
form or history or whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:21:26):
That looks like what a great question.

Speaker 6 (01:21:28):
And the reality is once you get to the golf
course and once we're ready to start play. That is
the biggest thing left, maybe the only thing left that
a captain has to affect the outcome. First of all,
just a little context here. The format by which pairings

(01:21:50):
are made in the Ryder Cup is different from the
format by which pairings are made in the President's Cup.
In the President's Cup, the captains get together in a
live public press conference and they go back and forth.
They say, match one, here's my guys, Okay, who are
you putting up against them? Okay, match to the person
who went second, now goes first. Here's my guys, who
are you putting up against them? And it's it's like

(01:22:13):
a reciprocal draft, back and forth, and it's really cool
to watch. In the Ryder Cup, the captains fill out
the lineup card the way a baseball manager fills out
a lineup card, and then if the way baseball managers
will go to home plate before the game and exchange
lineup cards, that's what the captains do. And so there's
a whole bunch of three D chess going on. You

(01:22:36):
have to match the personalities, you have to match the
game strength to the format of that match's format. Is
it alternate ball? Is it is it the four ball
or is it you know, how does that play out?
You have to consider what golf ball they play. If
it's alternate ball and you've got one of your guys
playing titleists and the other guy playing callaway, is that

(01:22:58):
going to affect the play of one or the other
and something you talk to them about because they don't
get to switch balls once the ball is in play
on a hole, and so those are the considerations that
they that they have to do. And it is nuanced
and subtle. You are talking about minor, minuscule differences at
the top echelon of the game, but they can be

(01:23:21):
differences that make a difference. And that's where the genius
of a great captain comes through. And the greatest captain
c ever in my view, was two thousand and eight
Paul Asinger, where he achieved a victory for the American
team after they've been slacked a few in a row,

(01:23:42):
and he went after it in a kind of a
non golf traditional way. He brought in as one of
his top advisors a sports psychologist, and matched people up
in the way and organized things in the way that
the US Navy Seals organizes it's assault forces and he

(01:24:04):
went at it in a very different way, but it
was wildly successful.

Speaker 1 (01:24:08):
Tell me about the reaction to the announcement that Keegan
was going to be the captain. You know, again, this
is the portion of our conversation where Paul teaches Spence
about golf. But it does seem like a lot of
people were surprised when it was Keegan who was named.
Is it because that he's a little bit younger? Is
it because he's still a really good player? Did it

(01:24:28):
feel like it was a make good for him being
left off and not being able to go to Rome?

Speaker 7 (01:24:32):
It did?

Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
It does feel like a lot of people were surprised
when it was announced that Keegan got the gig.

Speaker 6 (01:24:38):
Yeah, no question, and let me take the makeup for
Rome off the table, but all the other elements were
part of it. Yeah, Keegan is very young to be
a captain. And Keegan is still a relevant player, which
he has totally proved. And he hadn't He had been
an assistant captain on the President's Cup side, but he
hadn't He didn't have a whole bunch of experience. What

(01:25:00):
he has is a commitment to the Ryder Cup and
a fire for the Ryder Cup, a passion for the
Ryder Cup. And he also has a likability quottion that
is just so high that players on the tour like
Keegan Bradley. And that's been a fascinating thing to say,
because Keegan has gone around saying the biggest difference in

(01:25:22):
my life since being captain is I have gotten to
know and build relationships with people that I hadn't before.
And yet all the other players are saying, hey, we
always loved Keegan, we always thought he was great, and
so you put those two together and I think it
was a really good pick. And it's been fascinating to
see Keegan Bradley step into it and really become this

(01:25:49):
leading figure in the game in a way that you
just don't see for somebody who is still so young.
He's still got a lot of career left.

Speaker 1 (01:25:57):
Read a piece on NBC Sports comparing Keegan to Paul
Aisinger in two thousand and eight. Yeah you like dot Com?

Speaker 2 (01:26:05):
I do?

Speaker 6 (01:26:06):
I do. I think I think they're very similar personalities,
they're similar players. The one difference is Asinger was was
much older and certainly older in in not only in life,
but certainly older in his golf career. When he was captain. Uh,
he was no longer a relevant player in the way
that Keegan Bradley still is. But but take that difference aside,

(01:26:29):
and they're they're standing in the game. Their personality, they're
they're both fiery people. They both actually Asinger had more
history in the Ryder Cup. Plus Asinger was involved in
some of the Ryder Cup dust ups in past years.
He got, you know, face to face with Sevi Bisteros,
one of the one of the Ryder Cups. And of

(01:26:50):
course Seve is really on on both sides. Sev is
the oh the patron saint of the Ryder Cup and
and aging her god in his face and said, hey,
I'm not going to put up with your gamesmanship. And
so I like the comparison. There are a couple of differences,

(01:27:10):
but I think they're very similar people.

Speaker 1 (01:27:12):
If this turns into an all out brawl, who wins.
I don't feel like the European team has very many
good fighters. Tommy Fleetwood couldn't fight his way out of
a wet paper bag. Rory's like five to two, uh,
John Rahm and Ludwig's a big dude. STEP's a big dude.
I feel like if it turns into an all out brawl.
We've got him.

Speaker 6 (01:27:31):
Do you want a piece of Brexton Dave Schambeau.

Speaker 1 (01:27:33):
Actually yes, I think I think he's a fake tough guy. Actually,
you know what, I'm going to change my mind. I'm
looking at our roster JJ Spahn Xander.

Speaker 6 (01:27:43):
Yeah I don't want JJ No, no.

Speaker 1 (01:27:45):
No, I actually think there are zero good fighters on
both teams. Golfers aren't fighters.

Speaker 6 (01:27:51):
Okay, No, this is a fun analysis. I actually haven't
spent a lot of time faking a back.

Speaker 2 (01:27:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:27:57):
JT's not fighting anyone more. Cala No, Ben Griffin, Cam Young,
There's no way can't. Ley has ever even thrown a punch. Paul,
We're screwed now that I think about.

Speaker 6 (01:28:07):
It, I I do want maybe people to gang up
on John Rahm and hold his ankles. But yeah, that's
that's an interesting way to think about it. Stance. I'm
gonna have to give that some thought.

Speaker 1 (01:28:21):
We do have Gary Woodland as a vice captain, and
he is a former college basketball player. I feel like
Gary can handle himself in a fight.

Speaker 6 (01:28:28):
Gary can handle himself in a fight. And he was
just acco colleague basketball player, you know he was. He
was a decorated big twelve player at KU. Yeah, and
he's a big dude. Yeah, he'd be he'd be just fine.

Speaker 1 (01:28:41):
Okay, I can tell I'm making you uncomfortable, So let's
move on. What what what is so the role of
a vice captain? We got Jim Furick, we got Web Simpson, Bransonetteker,
Kevin Kissner, and the aforementioned Gary Woodland. What what? Uh? What?
What is the role of a vice captain in a
Ryder Cup scenario that.

Speaker 6 (01:28:59):
Is different for each of the of the Ryder Cups.
For each of the captains sees each of the captain's teams.
The captain will pick pick the vice captains and they
generally pick them four specific jobs. And so it will
be uh something that Keegan Bradley assigns a specific captain

(01:29:20):
to do to to to help with during the course
of the of the way things are flowing. It might
be to walk along with a player who needs some support.
It might be to keep track of certain statistical things.
It might be something in the team room, and the

(01:29:41):
team room that is a sank or sanct and pretty
pretty let me say secret place. Nobody knows very much
about what goes on in that team room, but that
the captain controls it and he might have something there.
When he picked Gary Woodland to be the the vice captain,

(01:30:01):
my first thought was, that's team room stuff. Woodland is
this tough guy. He is a major championship winner, won
the US Open at Pebble Beach, and he is a
recent cancer survivor. This guy's tough and he can say, hey,
I've looked down a pretty dark path and I've come back.

(01:30:22):
You can go win this match. And I think that
might be exactly what Bradley wants Gary Woodland in the
room for.

Speaker 1 (01:30:29):
All Right, I want to ask you about a couple
of individual storylines here. I did not watch in Whistling
Straits in twenty twenty one, but we smoked them and
Scottie Bryson, Harris Xander, JT. Colin and Cantley we're all
on that team and they combined for a record of
sixteen four and five. How much of the picks do

(01:30:51):
you believe or steeped in what happened in Whistling Straits.

Speaker 6 (01:30:55):
First of all, let's talk about the most important thing
that happened at Whistling Straits. That was the pick of
Scotty Scheffler and then what happened with that Scheffler was
picked on that team prior to him having become a
PGA Tour winner. He simply showed something that the captain's
team wanted on that team and then they rolled him

(01:31:17):
out in singles against John Rahm, and Scheffler took him out.
That remains one of the real superlative Ryder Cup performances
in recent years when Scotty Scheffler beat John Rahm at
Whistling Straits, and I think that was Scotty Scheffler's coming
out party and that was the turning point in shot

(01:31:39):
Scotty Scheffler's career. Since then he's been nearly untouchable. But
what you have coming out of Whistling Strait is the
experience of winning. And you know, we've talked about this
in different contexts. Let's go back to it again. Winning
is a skill. It must be learned, it must be acquired,

(01:32:01):
and it must be mastered. And that experience at having
won a Master's Cup, putting it back in the team room,
putting it back on the course, especially on Sunday afternoon
in singles, that matters. And I am just certain that
Keegan Bradley wanted to have some of that on his team.

Speaker 1 (01:32:19):
Rory's an interesting case study all the time because he's
historically special and it's been a weird year in a
lot of ways because he has achieved history and also
behaved like a child. But as of late, he has
played some of the best golf that we've seen since
he was able to complete the career Grand Slam. Just
how much of an ace in the hole is Rory
McElroy for the Europeans.

Speaker 6 (01:32:39):
He scares me.

Speaker 2 (01:32:42):
Not normally.

Speaker 6 (01:32:42):
I'm a big Rory fan and it's easy to cheer
for him. But let's put this in context. Rory has
talked openly about what his goal set is at this
point in his career. It's not money, says he doesn't
even notice when things hit on the Wednesday Direct deposit.
It's not even wins, he says. Yeah, I've won enough,

(01:33:04):
he says, but there are there's a handful of things
that really matter to him. He wanted to win the
Masters and complete the career Grand Slam done. He wants
to win national championships. He thinks national championships matter. He
played in the Irish Open this year, something he has
done hasn't done, hasn't always been there, but he just
went back because he's playing in national championships.

Speaker 2 (01:33:25):
Done.

Speaker 6 (01:33:26):
The other thing he has really talked about is win
a Ryder Cup on US soil. That scares me a little.

Speaker 1 (01:33:38):
All right, let's move over here, because there are some,
you know, proven players, as we've discussed, there are also
some rookies. With Russell Henley, he has a three to
one record in the President's Cup that was twenty four.
JJ Spahn is a US Open champ. Let's see. I think, oh,
Ben Griffin as well, with very large sunglasses, but he's

(01:34:01):
had a great year. Cam Young, my guy New Yorker
at home of the rookies, who are you most confident in?
And is there one that might concern you.

Speaker 2 (01:34:11):
A little bit?

Speaker 6 (01:34:12):
The one I'm most confident in is Ben Griffin. And
I'm not saying it because he's leading at Pro Core.
I'm saying, hey, look at who's leading at Pro Core.
Griffin has simply been on a SiZ He's got a
rock solid game and he's playing well. And look these
top players in the world when they are in form,

(01:34:32):
they're not going to lose. Nobody's going to beat him
any of the twenty four players in this field, if
they are in form and on their game, they're going
to win. And it right now Ben Griffin is informan
on his game.

Speaker 1 (01:34:46):
Who do you favor? And how important really is is
a home advantage when it comes to Bethpage And as
we discussed last week, the US will have the ability
to kind of cater the course to the strengths of
their players, which is something I didn't even know it
was a thing, and I just learned it last week. Look,
as I'm asking this question, I continue to look at

(01:35:07):
this European roster with the way Tommy's played this year,
Rory at the top of his game. You know, Rom
Overlive is not peak Rom, but if he finds that
thing that made him the most dominant golfer in the
world a couple of years ago, Like, they just feel
like they're stacked to me. But we're at home. So
before I move on to something else, who do you favor?

Speaker 7 (01:35:27):
Right now?

Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
For the Ryder Cup that starts in two weeks.

Speaker 6 (01:35:30):
Statistically, we have to favor the US because they are home.
This is a sporting event with one of the most
stark differentiators between home and away performance. That you see
in across the whole spectrum of sports. And look, there's
you know, there's a slight advantage throughout sport to a
home field advantage, but it's bigger on the Ryder Cup.

(01:35:52):
Part of it is, as you just said, that the
home team sets up the golf course, and you know,
don't ever overlook that it's not publicized a lot, but
it matters. But this is a raucous, noisy event. This
is golf version of the World Cup. And when you
get a home team that, for whatever reason the year

(01:36:14):
that it's in their nation, starts making a run in
the World Cup, they have a distinct advantage. And yet
that's what's built into the Ryder Cup. So statistically you
have to look at it and say the US team
has an advantage. I look at the European team and
come to a similar conclusion you do. This is a
really great team. But I'm not really spending my time

(01:36:37):
looking at the top players. I think the top players
toe to toe, you know, comparing our team to their
team are pretty dang similar. You have noted that that
captain Luke Donald did a great job with his captain's picks.

Speaker 2 (01:36:53):
He did.

Speaker 6 (01:36:54):
When you start looking at players nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:36:58):
On the European team.

Speaker 6 (01:37:00):
I think European team is probably deeper than we are.

Speaker 1 (01:37:05):
Well, cannot wait. It's gonna be a lot of fun, Paul.
What's coming up on the show tomorrow?

Speaker 6 (01:37:10):
Well, some great stuff. We're going to talk about a
remarkable event that took place at Riverside this week called
Cougar Day. It is a biannual celebration of BYU men's
golf and it's a reunion of BYU players over the years,
and this year, for whatever reason, so many greats from

(01:37:30):
BYU's history. We're there. We're going to be talking about
that and playing some tape from that event, and we
will also be celebrating the Utah PGA champion the section
championship that took place this week. Chris Moody did a
remarkable and historic thing. He won the Senior Section championship

(01:37:52):
last week and he won the regular Section championship this week.
First time that's ever happened.

Speaker 1 (01:37:58):
All right, Paul, thanks for the friend to have a
great show. We'll chat soon, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:38:02):
Sea.

Speaker 1 (01:38:03):
Spencer Ryder Cup two weeks from today, the University of
Utah football with a potentially tricky road trip tomorrow, heavy
favorite against Wyoming. It's weird and laramie though, as we
know from the old Utah Wyoming days. Our next guest,
it's been too long, one of my favorite college football
riders for a number of years. Spencer Hall Friday Afternoon,

(01:38:24):
Spencer Happy Friday Man, how you been.

Speaker 9 (01:38:28):
I've been great for this football long ed. Also, I'm
great because I definitely have something I could talk about
with you locally, which is Devin damp Pier. Like that,
we've we got to start. We have football.

Speaker 1 (01:38:40):
This is going to go well, yes, sir, So let's
get right into it. I mean, I don't know how
good UCLA is, and I'm quite sure cal Poly's not
very good, but you're right. After a couple of years
of frustration under center because of lack of health for
Cameron Rising, this young man has inspired a lot of
hope here through two games. What are your impressions of
Devin Dampier, Spencer.

Speaker 9 (01:39:00):
That this is finally Kyle Whittingham's like the paragon of
I think what he wants in a quarterback. Because the
one thing that you're going to do, your production suffered
against cal Poly. So let's not planger them too. But
remember against UCLA, I'm pretty sure you were up around
ninety percent in terms of third down conversions, and you

(01:39:22):
slip to nine out of thirteen against cal Poly. You
really need to get that cinched up before you take
on Wyoming. That's insane. That's a crazy number. That's the
number that I put up in EA College Football the
video game when I'm trying to annoy my opponent and
I'm trying to just hold the ball for six minutes,
which in real time would be like a fifteen minute drive. Yeah,

(01:39:45):
this is I love watching this offense. I love what
they are doing, and I think it's everything that they
want to back up what Utah already had on defense.

Speaker 1 (01:39:53):
And just like Oklahoma Spencer, we have an offensive coordinator
who brought his quarterback with him and so the familiarity
between Devin and Jason Beck has bred some really fun
and early season results. What do you make of that
dynamic and is this a blueprint you think other programs
will look at.

Speaker 9 (01:40:10):
I think it's something that other programs are already doing.
It's something that Zach Kittley's doing at FAU with his quarterback.
It's something that wherever Lane Kiffin goes next, it's probably
gonna check Austin Simmons with him if you can. This
is definitely something that you want to do because more
than more than ever, college football is about bringing some

(01:40:32):
gear with you. There's not a lot of team cohesion anymore,
at least not the kind of four year type cohesion
that you might have seen twenty thirty years ago. What
there is, though, is the chance to very quickly put
together a series of systems and pieces that you already have,
and the biggest pieces that you can do that you
can bring with you when you do that, it's the

(01:40:52):
quarterback right on offense, and if you're I guess it
would be safety, your middle linebacker, if you were a
defensive coordinator. I would be interested to see if other
people had done that, and I might have to look
that up. But I love what Beck has done with
the offense thus far. To me, Devin dan pier Is,
we talk about the negatives of the nil and transfer
aero a lot. Let's talk about the positives. Man, he

(01:41:15):
was just sitting there. It wasn't like, you know, it
wasn't like it took a tremendous amount approaching from you know,
another power for program. There's plenty of talent at that
like group of five, even FCS level, we've seen that,
you know Miami last year, Miami got a guy out
of Incarnate Word indirectly he came from Wazou first. But

(01:41:35):
even at the SBS level, there's all of this talent
that I think we either misscouted or that has developed
to the point where it really can't make an impact.
At the FBS and at the top tier.

Speaker 1 (01:41:46):
Of the sport, positional group that was most covered and
talked about prior to the start of the season for
Utah football was the offensive line, with Spencer Fatto potentially
being a top ten pick and Caleb Lomu eventually believed
to be that as well. He's only a sophomore. Or
I had a friend compare them to bar bouncers as
we were watching account poly game because they just picked
dudes up and throw them around. So of course, Devin

(01:42:08):
has played very, very well, but it helps when you've
got four or five six seconds in the pocket, doesn't it?

Speaker 9 (01:42:14):
It does, And I know there's still concerns about you know,
playmakers on the perimeter, and that's something that people do
when you're playing well and you're looking for things to
be upset about. I get that. However, if you have
a functioning offensive line, congratulations, you're better than sixty percent
of the teams out there at at the FBS level.
If you have a really good offensive line, which I

(01:42:36):
think sneakily I think Utah might have a great offensive
line this year, then you're better than ninety to ninety
five percent of the teams. Everything else could be just
a matter of scheme and making sure that you keep
your quarterback up right. And Devin dan Pier is crafty enough,
I think to decide when and where he's going to
take the abuse that a quarterback who sometimes runs the

(01:42:57):
ball and runs it really well is inevitably going to take.

Speaker 1 (01:43:01):
So I know you're a guy that enjoys the college
football dynamics. They can get weird from time to time,
and Larry Mee Wyoming Spencer can get weird. They beat
Texas Tech up there a couple of years ago. Texas
had to rally in the second half not too long ago.
Utah is a healthy favorite. And as I continue to say,
while we wait for conference play to start, Texas Tech
will be in Salt Lake City, and you know next

(01:43:22):
week with Fox Big Noon here without really fully understanding
whether or not this team has been tested. All they
can do is do what they're supposed to do, which
they've done so far. What should you fans hope tomorrow
night looks like.

Speaker 9 (01:43:36):
They should hope they don't remember this game in a month.
That's what you should hope.

Speaker 6 (01:43:40):
You should hope that you go, oh.

Speaker 9 (01:43:41):
Yeah, we played at Wyoming and it was fine. That's
what you really want to hope, Like, get get damp,
your out of there healthy, Make sure that you get
you know, more reps for everybody. Make sure that you
work some depth in and get some of your second
stringers and third stringers in should you get a substantial lead.
It is one of the enduring miracles of college football
that Wyoming not only has an FBS program, but that

(01:44:04):
they are sometimes pretty good and weird things can't happen.
It is one of those it's a Lubbock. Well, you know,
and now that you're in the Big pin, in the
Big twelve for a while, you're familiar with that term.
It's a Lubbock. It's one of those places where when
things get weird, they get real weird. You don't get
like it's not possible to just get a pint of
weird there, you get a whole keg of weird.

Speaker 1 (01:44:25):
Usually yes, yes, and potentially several kegs in Wyoming they
larre me tomorrow night. Who's good in the Big Twelve.
It's the second straight year where we're just like trying
to figure it out, and they took the right away
from us to vote preseason, so there's no Big Twelve
preseason media poll after we were all completely wrong. It
feels like Iowa State's good, it feels like Utah's good.

(01:44:48):
And then beyond that, I think a lot of questions
maybe TCU, who do you think is good in this
conference this year?

Speaker 6 (01:44:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:44:55):
UNC was so bad opening week that it's difficult to
stay just how good they're going to be. That feels
and then that's just me being kind of conservative with them.
They look great, they finished the assignment the way that
they were asked to do. I'm pretty sure Iowa State
it's good already. Three and OZHO played a lot of

(01:45:15):
different kinds of games against some different kinds of opponents,
and they've already had one of, you know, like the
toughest matchups they're going to have, and they sort of
getted through that. They sixteen thirteen win over Iowa, so
I trust them to be If you're looking for like
a reliable football product, they're probably your steadiest bet at
this point. Right, I'm interested to see tonight we've got Houston, Colorado,

(01:45:36):
and I am very interested to see exactly what Houston
might have steamed up because I've never seen a Willie
Fritz team struggle for long, and they're always real mean,
and their defense manages to go take big leaps from
year one to year two. So I'm really interested to
see that Utah is as bankable as you can get.
Like I said, I'm charter member of the Devin dan
Pier Fan Club high I'm willing to sign off. You

(01:45:58):
guys have an offensive line, defense, and a quarterback. Everything
else I think you can work around. I'll take that.
The most interesting team for me at this point is
is Kansas, just because I want to see if Jalen
Daniels can continue. He's even at a loss, he's managed
to play pretty well, and with that kind of experience
and play making ability at quarterback, it's the kind of

(01:46:19):
thing that in a league where nobody has every single
duck in a Row your quarterback can make a big difference.
So experience and like explosive potential there, you know, Kansas
is always worth keeping an eye on.

Speaker 1 (01:46:30):
Here, I want to ask you about a couple of
other teams. Oklahoma State goes to Oregon and when Dan
Lanning wants to put it on you, Dan Lanning's gonna
put it on you. And Mike Gandhi probably should have
been a little bit more careful poking the bear. Deon
Sanders learned that year one at Colorado sixty nine to three,
and it was after three quarters. If they wanted to,

(01:46:51):
they probably could have hung a hundred and maybe Oregon's
the best team in the country. I don't know, But
how do you articulate just how far Oklahoma State has
fallen under Mike Gundhy.

Speaker 9 (01:47:02):
That situation is bizarre to me because the primary friction
a couple of years ago at least was was the
major booster for the program, Tiban Pickens versus the head
football coach, Mike Gundy, who felt unappreciated Tivan Pickens passes away.
Suddenly politically, the land is clear for Mike Gundy to
do exactly what he wants with the football program without

(01:47:23):
much complaining, without much friction with his backers, and things
have only gotten worse. He's been a coach who has
not evolved at all to deal with the nil era,
and I do not think, by the way, that they're
going to tolerate that for that long because everybody who
Mike Gundhy had credit with they've either retired, they've either

(01:47:47):
moved on, they've either died, or they are fed up
with him. That's the reality of where he sits. So
I'm interested to see where they land in terms of
of patience with Mike Dundee, because I think a betther
byproduct of the nil era is if we see clearly

(01:48:07):
that you can't manage a roster and you can't develop
that talent and prospect and you're unwilling to and you
have already twenty years of experience at the program, the
assumption to me seems you've got to go get somebody else,
and you got to do it fast, because not only
are you going to start losing to Oregon by sixty
points quickly, you could turn it around quickly. So the

(01:48:27):
potential of being instantly better, which is possible in the
nil are and also being real bad, real fast that
can make things very volatile.

Speaker 1 (01:48:35):
B YU like Utah's clean through two weeks, but Portland
State would probably lose to Corner Canyon, one of our
better high school teams in the state. And Stanford is
in the mix of trying to figure things out with
Andrew Luck as the GM and Frank Reich as their
interim coach for one year, but they're starting a true
freshman quarterback in Bear Bachmeyer, who wears number forty seven,
is built like a linebacker. I feel like that's something

(01:48:57):
you would appreciate. I don't know where they exist in
escape of the Big Twelve. I think if Jake retz
Laugh would have not been suspended and ultimately transferred, maybe
people would be higher on them. But your thoughts for
BYU football through two games.

Speaker 9 (01:49:11):
That they really shouldn't judge them through three because they're
about to take what is a difficult road trip, not
that BYU is ever scared of taking those difficult road trips,
but the west to East road trip to go play
at a place that is live East Carolina if one
has if one has never been to Greenville and never

(01:49:31):
been to the Pirate Bay, those people are lunatics. So
this is gonna be a very tough home environment for
them to come into for DYU. So with bear Backmeyer
a freshman on the road, the training wheels on firmly
on in terms of play calling there. Don't judge them

(01:49:51):
with what happens in this game. Hope to come out
with a dub if you can, because I think this
is a bigger challenge than maybe they realize. You know,
wait till we get through to your Colorado's to your
West Virginia. As everybody coming up on the schedule patients
with a freshman quarterback, It's something that like this is
another theme, by the way, that this year we have
to have patients with our babies, because there's some very big,

(01:50:14):
very pedigree babies on the line, Like you've got Bryce
Underwood at Michigan, you've got arch Manning at Texas, and inevitably,
no matter how good we think you are, no matter
how much we like you, you're gonna look like a freshman,
whether it's in game one like arch Manning did. By
the way, what were we doing judging somebody going to
Ohio State in their first road game as a starter.

(01:50:35):
I know he's not a freshman, but like their first
still really young quarterback only a year on the bench, right,
goes into the directly into the frying pan with a
lot of new parts of Texas. I'm amazed at how
quickly people might jump to like judgment there.

Speaker 1 (01:50:52):
Well, same thing with what Bret Venables did to Bryce Underwood.
I mean, he's a he barely turned eighteen, like he's
a freshman, but it's just barely eighteen. And I think
a lot of people around here as we anticipate a
byu Utah game where you could have two teams that
are six and zero. I mean, Morgan Scalley's got to
be licking his chops at the thought of potentially scheming
against the true freshman quarterback and Bear Bockmeyer.

Speaker 9 (01:51:15):
I'm sure it's something that he is absolutely salivating over.
By the way, I don't want to hear from anyone
about a first year starter or a freshman quarterback unless
you're facing a Brenton Bennables defense, unless your dance Dance
Revolution scores like ninetieth percentile or above, unless you're patterned
recognition and your quick twitch is that good, I don't
want to hear it because if you look at what

(01:51:36):
he would, look what he was looking at and what
he was seeing pre snap and then post nap. They
do some very very heinous things to a quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:51:47):
So since we're in the space I referenced the dynamic
and if you watch John Mattier at Wazoo, it's not
that surprising that he's looked the way he's looked. But Oklahoma,
what are you willing to say about them after just
two games?

Speaker 9 (01:52:00):
I'm willing to say that the defense is very very
I think they've gotten much much better, and they were
already pretty good, but they've gotten much much better at
doing a lot of the slide of hand and pre
snap messing around that Venables likes to do, and they've
gotten even better at executing it. So that's that's super

(01:52:22):
promising for Oklahoma because they do appear to have at
least the passing games game clan clamped down. And whether
they can stand up to a burly running game, I
don't know. We saw in Michigan they allowed yards on
the ground, but it wasn't, you know, two hundred yards.
It wasn't something that they couldn't live with. That's not
the side of the ball that I'm concerned with, right

(01:52:42):
it'd be interesting to see it stress tested a little
bit more, especially with a more potent passing game, because
that is something that going back to Venables days at Clemson,
that's been where he's managed to take a couple of l's.
Is when teams really open up and just start passing
into all those in spaces that you get when you
blitz and you constantly pressure and you're fainting before the

(01:53:04):
snap and everything. What concerns me about Oklahoma is the offense,
and not in terms of execution, because you've seen they
can do it. It's keeping John Matteier up right because
Matier takes a lot of hits. Because Matier is not huge,
all right, he is not. He's not Bachmeyer size. To
put it in terms of your listeners will understand, he

(01:53:26):
is definitely somebody who missed time last year due to
injury and plays an extremely risk not risk averse, a
risk friendly form of football. So keep him up right.
That's what I really would like them to see is
I would like to see both the offense call plays
where maybe he's not exposed to as much as much

(01:53:46):
damage and where Mattier himself starts to go. Man, I
don't really need to go head first into that linebacker,
which he still did against Michigan. You know, a team
that has absolute bruisers front and back of that defense,
and I'm thinking, John, Buddy, We're like, make it to
game six. Make it to game seven.

Speaker 1 (01:54:07):
Yeah, because some people feel the same way about Devin. Luckily,
you only had four carries against cal Poly after having
I think sixteen against UCLA. That's a tough thing, though,
isn't it, Because you coach them to get down and slide,
and then the danger is do you do you kind
of cut a little piece of what makes them special
off their game, you know.

Speaker 9 (01:54:24):
I think there's a difference. Yeah, I mean, I think
that's absolutely true. I think that generally that sweet spot
that you want is somewhere between eight and fourteen carries,
eight and twelve carries. You hear coaches say that a lot.
You want them to actually carry the ball that then
you want them to threaten to carry the ball, you know,
twice that much. You want plays where that's enough of

(01:54:45):
a danger that they have to honor that, and thus
it opens up lanes for other runners, or it opens
up passing lanes downfield, So you don't want to limit that.
I think there's just some players.

Speaker 6 (01:54:57):
You can't.

Speaker 9 (01:54:58):
A lot of what's happening out there is so innate
at a certain point that once pressure comes, they're going
to take off. But when it comes to like being
close to the sideline, when it comes time to you know,
if you're past that marker, go ahead and slide good.
It's really not worth it.

Speaker 1 (01:55:16):
So we had you on Spencer shortly after Calen de
Boor was hired to coach Bama. Of course, he's a
former Pac twelve friend of ours here in this footprint,
and it's tough to take over for the legend no
matter who it is, especially a guy like Nick Saban.
Do you think this is going to work? Is there
a personality mismatch here? What do you make now that
we've got a season, a couple games of a sample size.

Speaker 9 (01:55:38):
I think it could still work. I do, but I
think that what they need to do in order to
sell the product, you know, you have to sell hope.
Most people don't think of it this way because usually
the guy who has to sell hope for a program
is the guy who comes in after the failure. So
he's following up a following up a legend, So why

(01:56:01):
should he sell hope. Well, you have to sell hope
because right now, the worst thoughts of an Alabama fan
are the bottom three and eight for you know, they
that's the old Like I say three and eight because
that is the record that Mike Dubo had his worst
year when they lost to Central Florida back and I
believe I want to say that's two thousand and one,

(01:56:23):
two thousand eight anyway, a quarter century. That's the thoughts
in the back of the oldest Alabama fans head. I
think they need to sell an exciting brand of football
that wins, that makes people not want to sell your
house out from under you, right, don't put for sale
signs in my yard quite yet. And I think that

(01:56:44):
a lot of that hinges on the quarterback position. For them,
it's really whether Ty Simpson can become something that so
far he has not been as starter, and whether they
make it change their long term all.

Speaker 1 (01:56:57):
Right, before I say you lose, you know, it's such
a difficult sport to predict, it's such a difficult sport
to project that you can only just kind of go
off of what you've seen and what teams have done.
And South Florida beat Boise State in Florida. Do they
all puncher's chance this week in Miami?

Speaker 6 (01:57:14):
Absolutely?

Speaker 9 (01:57:15):
Byron Brown alone gives them a puncher's chance. Additionally, I
don't think you've seen Miami really, I don't think you've
seen Miami pushed. And I say that because their primary
test thus far has been Clemson.

Speaker 2 (01:57:30):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (01:57:31):
Yes, And.

Speaker 9 (01:57:33):
I think when you go okay in terms of explosive potential,
are we really looking at a team that is superior
to Clemson? Yeah, in every single way, especially offensively. Kate
club Nick does not run for the tough yards that
Byron Brown does, nor does he move around and open
up the kind of fields. He's closer to Devin dan
Pier than he is to Kate club Nick. And that

(01:57:54):
is very difficult for a defense to defend in three
second increments, much less if the player stends past that.
So and also, I think you're seeing a higher like
a higher grade, higher caliber of play caller there. I
think the things they do offensively are way smarter than
what Clemson does. Their receivers get more separation. That's one
thing that's been Danny Clemson is they have been unable

(01:58:16):
to develop the kind of receivers they had back during
Clemson's you know late two thousands, early aughts, you know
run where they had you know, your your new Hopkins
all over the place. That's just justin Ross was kind
of the last flash of that at Clemson, and then
we haven't really seen anything like that since USF has
those guys Nimrod in particular the Tennessee transfer he's been

(01:58:39):
he's been incredible. They have a very mythological offensive like
receiving corps. They've got like Nimrod.

Speaker 2 (01:58:46):
And a guy named Neptune.

Speaker 9 (01:58:48):
So not only they call it for, they do get
open and that's a problem. And it's be interesting to
see because Miami defensively has been greatly improved, but I
don't think they've really been tested. So I'm interest to
see about that. I'm also interested to see whether that
soft ordered defense can get Carson Beck to make some mistakes,
because they did do some things that really limited Florida's

(01:59:10):
ability to stretch the field even more than Florida did.

Speaker 1 (01:59:13):
If Utah and BYU were undefeated in October and six,
and oh, could we get a Spencer Hall appearance, a
reappearance in the state of Utah potentially?

Speaker 9 (01:59:23):
Oh man, Yeah, I mean that's a possibility. All right,
that sounds that sounds that sounds delightful. I had, by
the way again the right echoed, and Salt Lake as
a venue underrated would imply that anyone has not readed it.
No properly rted great like a phenomenal game day environment
would would repeat.

Speaker 1 (01:59:43):
But no, Look, well, we'd love to have you if
if it happens, let us know. We'll get you in studio. Spencer,
I always appreciate the time. Have a great weekend.

Speaker 7 (01:59:50):
Okay, all right, you two.

Speaker 6 (01:59:52):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:59:52):
Spencer Hall, he has long been one of my favorite
college football writers. He has a newsletter called Channel six.
He's got a I don't think he's on Elon's platform
much anymore, but you can just search Spencer Hall Channel six.
If you're looking for some really good college football stuff.
I want to let you know that you should go
check out Stansbury Park Golf Course. If you are a

(02:00:14):
golf for no long waits, no overpriced greens fees, just
pure golf play eighteen holes for only forty five dollars
and fifty dollars on the weekends. It's right off of
I eighty, which is super easy to get to. Whether
you're a weekend warrior, just need to escape the office grind.
This is your spot. Head to Stansbury Park Golf Course
and lock in your tea time before they're gone. Stansbury
Park Golf great rates, gorgeous greens, all just minutes away.

(02:00:35):
You can book your tea time now at Stansbury Park
dot gov slash golf course. Feels like I'm be controlled.
It feels like this is intentional and you're trying to
get a reaction from.

Speaker 3 (02:00:44):
Me maybe the other guy.

Speaker 1 (02:00:45):
What do we got? What is it?

Speaker 3 (02:00:47):
Little billy strings? I actually like billy strings, but this
is a Yeah, this is a c K special.

Speaker 1 (02:00:51):
Saw Billy strings, red butte maybe three years ago.

Speaker 2 (02:00:54):
Here you go.

Speaker 1 (02:00:55):
Quite a show. Very talented. So is Chris Camaronnie. Hello Christopher,
Happy Friday.

Speaker 7 (02:01:01):
How are we doing, man?

Speaker 1 (02:01:02):
I'm good. I've been debating this in my head because
you simultaneously seem like the type of person that would
either never go to Laramie or weirdly be excited about
the prospect. Which is it?

Speaker 7 (02:01:13):
Ooh, I've only been to Laramie twice in my life,
once for a Utah Wyoming game during the two thousand
and eight season, and another time driving through while I
was traveling across the country. One time was a great visit,
the other time was not. But in the summertime it's beautiful.

(02:01:34):
Campus is beautiful. Don't necessarily need a reason to go again.
But you're not wrong, Like I do have a soft
spot for places in the country where most people think
isn't the most ideal place to visit. Like I love Reno.
I'm a huge Reno guy, and you probably assume that

(02:01:54):
because you know who I am. But like I like
the spots that maybe have a bad rap nationwide.

Speaker 1 (02:02:02):
You know what's interesting is my cousin and his wife
and their kids moved to Reno about five years ago,
and I saw them this summer at our family reunion
and they love it. They absolutely love Reno, which would
not have been on my Bingo card. Outside of the
fact that Reno nine to one one.

Speaker 7 (02:02:16):
Still holds up, still holds up one of the greatest
shows of all time. Great, great shout, you're forty minutes
from Tahoe, you're three hours away from the Bay Area.
Underrated just it's I mean, it's the biggest little city
in the world. As it says on one of the
archways down there. I just I don't know's it is

(02:02:37):
Americana at its finest, And as you know, as a
West Coast snob, I'm always going to be trending in
the direction of places that are unique and offer a
specific glimpse into the American lifestyle.

Speaker 1 (02:02:50):
And as someone who grew up on the right coast.
Is probably the only thing that you and I will
never see eyed eye about.

Speaker 7 (02:02:56):
Yeah, I don't think I ever need to go to Connecticut.
And unless I'm invited into Big Dave's house.

Speaker 1 (02:03:01):
You don't love like a lobster boil with some Nantucket
red pants that are too tight? Is that what you're saying.

Speaker 7 (02:03:07):
I don't know anything that you just said, so I'm
gonna say.

Speaker 1 (02:03:09):
No, I actually think you would look fantastic in some
Nantucket reds.

Speaker 7 (02:03:14):
Seek all I think of, And I know it's a
different state, but I just think of the guys on
wedding crashers when it's like, you know, crabcakes and football.
That's what Marilyn's about. I think you could probably apply
that to pretty much every Northeastern state and have those guys.
I'm sure there are lots of people who have several
different types of blazers in their closet in the Northeast.

(02:03:38):
I don't own a blazer, so maybe I should get
on that.

Speaker 1 (02:03:41):
I have several salmon colored pieces of clothing in the
closet now. Bradley Cooper's character and wedding crashers. I went
to high school with fifteen of those guys.

Speaker 7 (02:03:52):
When he's when he's when, when he's you know, signaling,
the Blitz calls to himself and nobody else during the
during the tackle football game. It's elite. So yeah, that's
that's kind of what I would imagine that area being like.
But I do need to get introduced to that, I
think on a more personal level, the same way I

(02:04:12):
need to get introduced to, you know, places in the
South where all the guys have like the bad southern
mop haircut, and they all kind of look like the same.
They're all wearing tucked in polos, and maybe they look
at me out here and they say, like, man, that
guy needs a haircut, and maybe maybe you know, you know,

(02:04:32):
it's always up for debate, but I do need to
get that specific slice of Americana that's beyond the West
Coast in my lexicon for sure.

Speaker 1 (02:04:42):
No, I mean the nice thing about you. You're like
Drobi from Tribe call Quest. There's this mystical feel like
you don't look like a Utah. And I'm not profiling.
I'm just saying like if somebody saw you, they wouldn't
be like, oh, that dude's from Salt Lake. I don't
know that they would be able to pinpoint it because
you're like this mystical figure.

Speaker 7 (02:04:58):
Here c k ethnically ambiguous. I can be whatever you
need me to be.

Speaker 1 (02:05:03):
Well, what I need you to be now is a
college football mind, which I know that you are, so
we'll move over. I did have a Bradley Cooper like
when he was making the seal noises to impress the parents,
just like perfect. But here's where I want to start.
So Hailey Sawyer, who's a young lady who covers usc UH.
At this point, I just feel bad for her because
she continues to get killed online. But she did an

(02:05:26):
interview which she probably should not have done, which essentially
indicated she had no idea that USF even beat Florida
after moving Florida up two spots and not having USF
in her top twenty five. She said something like, I
don't want to go too much into my process or logic,
and you're like, Okay, well it's clear that you really
don't have much Well what's your take on this where

(02:05:48):
And I've just said this a million times, I do
not want an AP Top twenty five vote, Like I
am not going to smash Indiana Indiana state tape. When
I get home, I'm going to go live my life.
I'll watch the games I need to watch for the
sho I'll watch the big marquee matchups with brand teams.
But a lot of people have utilized this video to

(02:06:08):
kind of expand it out to a macro conversation about
the people that are in charge of covering the sport
and being north stars for folks that are trying to
understand who's good and who's not. What's the c K
take on this.

Speaker 7 (02:06:20):
I think we touched on this a little bit earlier
this summer, when you were so kind enough to let
me know that we're coming for the for the polls.
I didn't know that people were coming for the polls.
I don't think this development helps with those who maybe
look down on the polls. I'm an old school kind
of guy, where like you can't necessarily take one misstep

(02:06:44):
like this and then have it be such a wide range,
wide ranging application to all the other voters who you
know have been able to do this for a long time,
and take it seriously. Like everything else, I think it's
more responsible to not overreact to something very minor. But
in this day and age, I know that's asking too

(02:07:06):
much of most people in our society. I can see
how some programs might be frustrated by the fact that
something so obscure can potentially put you behind the eight
ball when it comes to moving up the rankings to
getting to a point where you can impress the college

(02:07:27):
football playoff committee come November and December. But I'm also
very old school, and then it's like, if you're looking
to blame somebody else for your problems, then you probably
have too many problems to sort through. And if you
want to handle your stuff, handle your stuff, and handling
your stuff means win your games. So I know that
might be a fairly cut and dry take, but that's

(02:07:48):
where I'm at with this.

Speaker 1 (02:07:50):
So in that thing, and I started the show out
with this today and I will never back off my
stance that this sport has a massive scheduling problem. While
being sensitive to the economic realities of smaller programs. I
think both things can be true. You know, as we've
talked about, let's hold multiple thoughts in our heads, gang
we can do that, So you know, with that in mind,

(02:08:11):
if you're Utah, if you're Texas Tech, which will not
have been challenged at all prior to the game here
in Sula coming up, if you're BYU, the only thing
you can do is do what you're supposed to do,
do what you're expected to do, and if you do that,
the chips will fall where they'reupposed to do. Is it
just fair to say that so far Utah has just
done what they're supposed to do.

Speaker 7 (02:08:32):
Very fair to say. But even though you should assume
that a team as talented as Utah should handle its
business and layer me, I think it is. I guess
I would say if you're a Utah fan, don't assume
anything is a done deal. A reminder for fans that
I think just a few years ago, Wyoming beat Texas

(02:08:54):
Tech before they had this infusion of you know, billionaire
oil money, and we're able to secure the talent rights
to so many players. But Laramie is a tricky place
to go. Play, especially for a program that's trying to
look for its first really kind of signature Winden or
a head coach that's trying to prove themselves. You know,

(02:09:16):
we joke with the NFL it's any given Sunday. We
see it from week to week. It's any given Saturday
as well. I Mean, I know people thought us F
was a talented team, but I don't think most people
thought that they were going to go in and beat
the Gators in the swamp. So Utah is the team
that everyone expected it to be through the first couple
of weeks, and conventional wisdom points to the fact that

(02:09:39):
they'll be able to handle their business and Laramie, they're
pretty healthy, I believe, as Kyle Whittingham said this week
to the local beat writers. So yes, the answer is they,
along with Texas Tech, will be rolling into next weekend's
primetime matchup with not a lot of significant you know,
tests solve under their belt. But that is the reality

(02:10:02):
of college football in twenty twenty five and and and
in a different world. Spence, like, you know, if you
could you could have looked at this you know, non
conference schedule, and if you happen to have had a
decent UCLA team to start the season. I think we're
having kind of a different conversation than just saying like
Utah will presumably enter Week four starting their Big twelve

(02:10:25):
conference schedule three and zero having rolled over every opponent
they played. But it's not like it's a terrible non
conference schedule that was put in front of them. Now.
I'm sure Kyle Whittingham didn't ever want another reason to
go back to Laramie. But that's just the reality that
that you face from a year to your basis. And

(02:10:45):
I think we're going to see non conference schedules changed
and strengthens as you see, you know, utah'ses significantly in
the coming years. So you just got to play the
games that are in front of you.

Speaker 1 (02:10:55):
Yeah, And I continue to say, like, it's not b
Yu's fault that Stanford is in this weird transitional phase
under Andrew Luck. It's not Utah's fault. The UCLA, I
think they stink It's not Texas Tech's fault. Did Oregon State?
You know, after being on the wrong side of the
Pac twelve exodus is not the program they were once
upon a time. But your point just you got to

(02:11:18):
go win and you got to go play the games
and in front of you, but you've got to do
what we expect you to do. Where else people are
going to recalibrate the way they consider you and think
what you're going to do the rest of the way
since you've been to Laramie. If this game gets weird,
what does that look like? The forecast is a little
little Harriet's like fifty five degrees and potential for rain.
They've got a decent running back, PFF likes their linebackers.

(02:11:40):
I have not been smashing wyoming tapes.

Speaker 2 (02:11:42):
He can.

Speaker 1 (02:11:42):
I'm not going to lie to you, But if this
game gets weird tomorrow, what do you think that looks like?

Speaker 7 (02:11:46):
Well, this game has gotten weird before. I don't know
how many listeners remember that. You know, this game was
in Salt Lake, but in two thousand and seven, Kyle
decided to onside a kick up forty three points and
their former head coach Glenn flipped Kyle off from the
other side of the field. I was a very green
student reporter back then. I was at that game for

(02:12:07):
that and that was the talk of the press conference.
So you follow that up with the year after my
first real trip to Laramie. It was like a fifty
mile an hour wind day, very odd circumstances. It was
a very sloppy game. Nobody could really throw the ball
because it was so windy. And then, as I've told

(02:12:29):
you before on air and off air, driving back from
Laramie to Salt Lake, we all got stuck on Highway
eighty because a massive early October snowstorm blew in and
we were stuck on the interstate for like nine hours,
and Dirt Facer blessed his soul, kept calling and checking

(02:12:49):
in on us. This is all to say that if
the weather is weird, I expect Jason Beck to run
the hell out of the ball, as you probably should,
and you have the offensive weapons and depth that they
believe they have. It's kiss, keep it simple, stupid. I
don't think you need to necessarily risk even Devin Dampier.

(02:13:13):
I'm sure he will have a presence in the running
game because that's just his style of play. But yeah,
I can get weird. You know, don't know how Wyoming's
defense is schemed up for Jason Beck's offense, but they're
familiar with it because they saw it last year at
New Mexico. So you know a lot of these coaches
know Jason Beck's offense and they know Devin Dampier as well.

Speaker 1 (02:13:33):
Yeah, and Devin ran all over them. So yeah, we'll
see if we'll see if that's the case. Is there
a We had your buddy Spencer Hall on earlier, as
always very entertaining fun. We were talking about the dynamic
of John the teer and trying to limit his carries
so he doesn't get hurt. Devin goes for sixteen carres
against UCLA, four against cal Poly. Is there a number

(02:13:55):
that you'd like to see, like pinpointed that makes the
most sense because you can't just tell them to slide
get down. He's too dynamic with his feet to kind
of take that portion of his game away. But what
number feels right to make sure he stays upright as
long as we possibly can.

Speaker 7 (02:14:11):
Well, if you're asking me, and I know you are,
because you know I have the type of mindset to
be able to offer the type of analysis that fans
really want to hear.

Speaker 1 (02:14:20):
I know you do.

Speaker 7 (02:14:22):
So last year, just looking at his numbers, he had
one hundred and fifty five rushing carries in one of
the twelve games. That averages out to be. You know,
you know how to do the math, but that's probably
too many. I think if you're a team that has
power for conference winning aspirations the way Utah does this year,

(02:14:44):
i'd say combined between design runs and you know, play
breakdowns and needing to take off on your own, i'd
say probably ten to twelve if we're combining those. And again,
like I think Utah's offense is going to overmatch Wyoming
and up to the point where Jason Deck probably doesn't

(02:15:06):
need to call that many design runs, maybe to get
them out of a couple of hairy situations on you know,
maybe third and short or second and short or whatever.
But I think like you're really going to have to
see the balance struck correctly once you get into conference play,
because those are when the games really matter. And obviously
Utah starting off conference play with one of the best

(02:15:27):
teams in the conference in Theory next week and at home.
So I'll go ten to twelve.

Speaker 1 (02:15:31):
What about you, Spencer said eight to twelve. So okay,
two college football geniuses in the four o'clock hour of
the program dropping the same short of knowledge. There you go.

Speaker 7 (02:15:42):
I'm glad to hear Spencer and I are still of
the same mind.

Speaker 1 (02:15:45):
Indeed, so last week and look, I will do the
irresponsible Utah sports socc radio host thing. Now it feels
like BYU and Utah have a chance to be clean
when they meet in October.

Speaker 7 (02:15:58):
It feels, oh, you're doing it, doing it.

Speaker 1 (02:16:00):
I'm doing it.

Speaker 2 (02:16:01):
I'm doing it.

Speaker 1 (02:16:01):
We're going there. The reason I bring it up is
last week, you know, there were some decent games on
the slate. You try to get the Big twelve stuff in.
You watch Utah BYU checking on Utah State getting their
heads kicked in by A and M. And then I
sat down to watch Oklahoma Michigan and Brett Venables had
Bryce Underwood in a nightmare. And I just wonder if

(02:16:21):
it's already, if it's too early to talk about the
potential of Morgan Scalley doing the same thing to another
true freshman and Bear Bachmeyer.

Speaker 7 (02:16:30):
That's a good train of thought, good analogy. I will
be Devil's advocate here and say, BYU with back to
back trips to East Carolina and Colorado with the first
year true freshman quarterback, I think that's asking a lot
to be able to get through those on scathe as well.
As a trip to Arizona and if you're looking at

(02:16:51):
Utah Texas Tech and then Arizona State. But I'm going
to play along with the idea that they're going to
go into October eighteenth both undefeated and that you going
to have you know, everybody chomping at the bit to
get here. Gave Portenoy Pat McAfee. Everybody's gonna want to
come to Provo for that. Could Morgan Scalley in theory

(02:17:15):
plan for making Bear Bachmeyer's life terrible in Provo for
a night? Yeah, But I think the reality is is,
you know, Aaron knows Morgan very well. Morgan knows Aaron
Roderick very well. Last year was a great chess match
between those two guys. Like it in theory BYU should

(02:17:37):
have probably ran away with that game because they were
the more talented team, They had so much more going
for them. Utah was the team that should have won
that game, even though they didn't. So this is all
to say once again that when you talk about the rivalry,
game records go out the window and it's always going
to be a cor up time for both sides. Will

(02:17:59):
more be able to present things for Bear that he
probably hasn't seen before. Yeah, but you know, Colorado's defense
is very improved. You could say they're the strength of
that team this year, and going to Boulder is going
to be no easy feat. I don't know too much
about East Carolina. I know they have a really cool logo.
They barely lost to NC State on the road. So

(02:18:22):
we'll know more about the Pirates in a couple of
weeks as well.

Speaker 1 (02:18:25):
Chris, good morning, Good morning. See did the local Utah
sports talk radio thing there for you? All right? A
couple of minutes left. Let's be irresponsible RSL. Yep, Yes,
I'm doing it. Yes, I'm doing it. I'm doing it tomorrow.
Back in action after the weirdest three week break, your
guy Rotha cabral contract extension seven matches left. The narrative

(02:18:49):
over there is this has been a mini camp, a
mid season mini camp to get DeAndre Jedlin, your boy,
my guy, Victor Olatunji, and Porter's guy Rowan Cruz all
kind of in the mix with Diego even though he's
been with the national team. He will be back for
the game on Saturday. Expectations rest of the way for
the lads.

Speaker 7 (02:19:11):
Well, starting you're basically and must win mode, and that
sounds corny, but seven games left, I think if RSL
has a legit shot at making it, you have to
win the next to a home against Case and LAFC
LFC on the road four days later. Is a tall task,
but I'm going to say that RSL can't afford to

(02:19:33):
lose more than two out of the next five games
or next seven games if they have any chance, Snowball's
chance in hell of making it. You close out the
year at Seattle, at Saint Louis, and you have a
Rocky Mountain Cup decider first week, first weekend of October,
which I know you're just, you know, very very nervous about. Well,

(02:19:56):
if this is a mini mini camp for the team,
probably sorely needed, as you're getting a bunch of guys
into the mix, but who's scoring goals and who's preventing
them from scoring? Because as important as adding goalscoring talent
was for this team, that Minnesota game was brutal on

(02:20:17):
many fronts, and you can look at the back line,
it's probably an area of need to try to bolster
and fix or change going into the offseason. So I'll
say oursel at minimum needs to win the next two
before we can revisit this conversation of whether or not
they have a chance to make.

Speaker 1 (02:20:34):
It nine months away from the World Cup, a resounding
defeat of the Japan side. As are we high speed
ahead to the knockout phase.

Speaker 7 (02:20:44):
Now resounding defeat of the rotated Japan side.

Speaker 2 (02:20:50):
We are not.

Speaker 7 (02:20:51):
The vibes are bad, man. I've told listen, I don't
want to be the guy that says I told you so,
but I just want you to remember that I said
this before they even qualified for Qatar under previous coach.
There just is something missing from this group. And maybe
it is the boomer in us who you know, watch
those guys you know really claw and scrape and headbutt

(02:21:16):
and all get get through the type of difficulties that
the national team did for so long during its slow
and steady rise. But there's just something off. I don't
know how they're going to be able to get the
country excited. I mean, Spence, it's insane that it's nine
months away and like nobody is talking about it. It's

(02:21:36):
the biggest it's the single biggest sporting event in the
world every four years, and like nobody is talking about it,
and I think that's you know it, probably in part
because we get so used to what's in front of
us and so, and what is so in front of
us right now is American football, which takes up all
of our time and energy ninety five percent of the day.

(02:21:57):
But I don't know, man, Like I am of the
mind that I don't think that this is going to
change the sport in the country forever. I just think
it's another World Cup as soccer continues to grow. But
it is wild to me that like nobody is just
like kind of really just talking about the fact that
we're hosting the World Cup for the first time in

(02:22:17):
thirty years, just next year.

Speaker 1 (02:22:19):
Talk about it on the Drive Monday through Friday, two
to six live every day, you know.

Speaker 7 (02:22:23):
That, two to six or two to five.

Speaker 1 (02:22:25):
Stop it. That's enough. We'll let you go have a
good weekend.

Speaker 6 (02:22:27):
Chris.

Speaker 1 (02:22:28):
Thank that, all right, Chris Camaraddie. Damn it, he's not
supposed you know what, ck suspended next week without pay. Okay,
we don't pay him, but he's still suspended.

Speaker 3 (02:22:40):
Next week's still suspended.

Speaker 1 (02:22:42):
Okay, all right, wrapping it up, Final segment of the day,
Final segment of the week. You guys made it to
the weekend. Happy weekend to you. Hope you have something
fun planned. We outlined the specific weather patterns for the
state of Utah earlier in the show. Porter, Would you
please remind our what tends to happen as we get

(02:23:02):
a little bit later and later in the calendar.

Speaker 3 (02:23:04):
Yeah, as we get closer to the winter months, what
you typically refer to as the winter months, it's gonna
get a little colder, a little darker, quicker, you know,
less sunlight day to day, a little more moisture. Hopefully, yeah, hopefully.

Speaker 1 (02:23:20):
Well we need it. I mean, as you remind us
every day, we need it.

Speaker 3 (02:23:23):
Thank you for being on point there.

Speaker 2 (02:23:26):
We do need it.

Speaker 3 (02:23:27):
A big old winter if we're lucky. But yeah, it's
not going to be cold in Laramie, but it might
be a little windy, it might be a little wet,
might be a little rainy, and on your way you
may see a little snow in the mountains. It's getting close.

Speaker 1 (02:23:43):
It is getting close, and we educated you on the
weather pattern here in the state to encourage you to
enjoy this weekend because the weather looks pretty good. We're
looking at mid seventies, some sunshine, so We're hoping people
capitalize and take advantage on the nice weather now, because
again to reiterate, as we get later in the calendar,

(02:24:03):
nice weekends will go away.

Speaker 3 (02:24:04):
I'm just hoping everyone's driving to Laramie this weekend. I
don't care what they do with the weather. I don't
care if the weather's bad. Just drive to Laramie snow,
rain or shine and have a good weekend.

Speaker 1 (02:24:16):
Are you ready for my final score prediction? Utah Wyoming?
I am you save yours because you're hosting our pregame.
In fact, let's hear what's the deal with pregame tomorrow
starting at two o'clock.

Speaker 3 (02:24:26):
Yeah, pregame show starting at about two o'clock live from Laramie, myself,
Trevor Riley, Zach Moss. You'll hear from Kyle Whittingham and
his weekly press conference. All of that brought to you
by our friends at Outlaw Distillery. I think that's fitting
for a matchup between the youths and the cowboys.

Speaker 1 (02:24:45):
I'm gonna say Utah forty one, Wyoming ten.

Speaker 3 (02:24:50):
Okay, that is going a little bit over on the
over under.

Speaker 1 (02:24:55):
It is, and also Utah covering the spread by a
pretty wide margin.

Speaker 3 (02:24:59):
Correct, And like you said, I'll save mine. I think
we're gonna go under though I think the total is
going to be under that number. And we'll see. We'll
see the weather. As Chris Camaronie alluded to, may have
a play in that.

Speaker 1 (02:25:16):
One Pro Football Focus. There are grades for Wyoming so
far through two games. They really like their running back
who's averaging over five yards per kerry. Now, of course
the context is Akron in Northern Iowa, all due respect,
Caden Anderson is their quarterback who's a true pocket passer.
Sam Scott is their running back who's averaging over five

(02:25:38):
yards per kerry. And this Braden Johnson kid, PFF has
him graded as their best player. He's a linebacker on
that side of the football. So there you go. You
are going to be live in Laramie. Correct, You are
heading to the porter Larsen bal Yes, sir, Do you
have the itinerary lock Do you have the itinerary lockdown?

Speaker 3 (02:25:55):
For the most part, you know itinerary and Laramie's a
little different, a little different than your You know, there's
no big five star hotel. You're not getting the press
room at like we do with the Rose Bowl. So
the itinerary is just football and that steak that Keith
Keith recommended the other day.

Speaker 1 (02:26:17):
Shout it, yeah, shout out to our guy Keeeth, play
by play voice of the Cowboys. If you missed that interview.
At the very end, he gave you like three or
four recommendations where you can go eat or maybe grab
a beer. Problem is, one of the recommendations was like
a forty five minute drive away from Laramie.

Speaker 3 (02:26:31):
Which you know, we got time. Maybe maybe hang around Sunday.

Speaker 1 (02:26:35):
What do they have to eat in the Wyoming press
box for media members? Flying Jay Turkey sandwiches.

Speaker 3 (02:26:44):
That's a good question.

Speaker 1 (02:26:46):
Feels like a corn dog medium room. Potentially a corn dog.

Speaker 3 (02:26:50):
Yeah, you know, I'm not exactly sure. Last time I
was in Laramie, I had a buffalo steak. Hopefully that's
hopefully that's the direction.

Speaker 1 (02:26:58):
If they serve buffalo stak to the media, that would
be the biggest upset ever they don't.

Speaker 3 (02:27:03):
But maybe maybe when number twenty Utah's in town. I
don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:27:06):
Well, you know, like I said, Porter, before we take
it out, give me your thoughts on this. Like once
upon a time, we used to say, man, this is
a chance to put out some tape for the for
the NFL to prove that maybe you can be a
pro football player if you're playing for Wyoming based off
of what our guy Keith shared earlier when he asked
me if Utah is a full twenty point five mil
rev shared team, which they are according to Mark Carlan,

(02:27:29):
according to the ad, they're utilizing every penny of it.
I want to say, the number he gave me is
Wyoming's paying what two and a half three mil? Is
that what he said?

Speaker 3 (02:27:36):
And I think most of that's to a couple players, right, Yeah, your.

Speaker 7 (02:27:39):
Top flight guys.

Speaker 1 (02:27:40):
Yeah, so these days you want to put tape out there,
like if I'm if I put myself in the mindset
of this Anderson kid, this linebacker, I want to leave
that game tomorrow getting Kyle Whittingham's attention or Morgan Scalley's attention. Right,
So when it comes to the transfer portal, maybe you
get a phone call from a head coach was like, dude,

(02:28:01):
you bawled out against Utah, I'm gonna pay you four
hundred grand to come play for me for a year.
Like they will be at Colorado next week, and so
there'll be a lot of eyes on them against the
Buffs as well. But if you're a Wyoming football player,
tomorrow's like the could potentially be the biggest night of
your life that cannot go understate it.

Speaker 3 (02:28:18):
Yeah, and listen, this isn't necessarily new in college football,
but it is very much grow like it's becoming a
bigger thing because of the NIL space, because of the
transfer portal. I think of a guy in Levannie de Mooney,
who I watched him as Stanford visited Utah for their
final time in the Pac twelve. Leavanni was awesome against

(02:28:42):
the Youthes. I don't know how many folks remember, but
he was a monster. He was really the only bright
spot on the field for what was not a very
good Stanford team. And I remember after that game Levannie
de Mooney, who he's a local guy, so there's already ties.
But after the game I saw him talking to Utah
coaching staff. Right, that was Utah Stanford. That wasn't Utah
cal Poly or Utah Wyoming. And then last week Trevor

(02:29:05):
Reilly and I on the pregame show, we kind of
had this conversation Spence about cal Poly doing the same thing.
You know, that's where Fred Whittingham started. That's where Kyle
grew up a little bit. So there's already a connection there,
and you got to think that some players on that sideline,
if they catch the right people's attention, are going to,

(02:29:25):
you know, put their names out there, whether it's an
opposing coach or whether it's a different coach across the
country watching you on the only maybe nationally televised game
you have that year. Yeah. Man, these these games serve
as a opportunity for some of these smaller school players
to get their name out there, yes, for the NFL Draft,

(02:29:46):
but also for big time college football programs, and of
course just to get more film out.

Speaker 1 (02:29:51):
Yeah. The ability to make money if you jump up
to P four is something that has changed the dynamic
of games like this. I do feel like it will
be another anxiety free Saturday night for Utah fans. Want
to remind you, the kick is six o'clock at CBS
Sports Network, but our pregame coverage begins at two and
we'll have ten hours of Utah coverage for you as
your home of the utes. All right, port before we

(02:30:13):
get out of here, so you can start the long
trek to Laramie. What comes our Way to a Monday
edition a show.

Speaker 3 (02:30:18):
On a Monday edition of the program with Scott Mitchell.
I believe Bill Riley will join the program. Keith Kelly
will join the program for a little reactive Wyoming Cowboys,
we'll go through our Big twelve Power Poll, and Josh Furlong.
We'll stop by the program as well as we do
each and every Monday. I'll be up on the hill
in the morning for Kyle Whittingham's press conference and we'll

(02:30:38):
bring that to you a little later on as well.

Speaker 1 (02:30:40):
There you go, So you guys have a great weekend.
Thank you for making us a part of your day
today and the week all week. I know it really
has been a heavy, hard week for a lot of you.
I have felt the heaviness too, so I'll just hope
for good things and send a lot of love and
good wishes out to everybody who's had a really heavy
week as a result of some really really heavy things.
Enjoy your weekend, begind yourself. We special thank you to

(02:31:01):
bau McNally, Sammy More, Paul Pugmyer, Spencer Hall, and Chris
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