3 Guys Before The Game - UCF Game Recap (Episode 667)

It was a sobering Saturday in Orlando for the Mountaineers. Despite an extra week to prepare, West Virginia was outplayed in every phase by UCF. The Knights’ 45–13 rout leaves WVU searching for answers with five regular season games still to play.

In this episode, the “Guys” break down what went wrong, why the team seems to be sliding backward instead of forward, and what can still be salvaged from the season. They also discuss the Mountaineer basketball team’s impressive closed-door scrimmage against Maryland — and what it might reveal about the year ahead.

Listener questions and comments wrap up the show with another round of Textual Healing.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. It's time for three guys before the game.
The gang is assembled. It's Sunday morning as we record,
and we will recap West Virginia and UCF. This is
episode number six hundred and sixty seven. Rough day in
the Sunshine State. One could say, we'll get into it.

(00:31):
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(00:51):
taken your boat out today, at least here in Morgantown,
it would be a wonderful day to be on the
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(01:14):
could do one right now, you know, I thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
For nothing, SEEZ, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
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Conley CPA group, providing value beyond numbers. All right, so

(01:46):
the numbers a collective ouch. Yesterday afternoon in Orlando, forty
five thirteen. Game was over very early, fourteen to seven
at halftime. So maybe at halftime you're saying, you know what,
if you can just kind of just re just flip

(02:08):
everything you might can you get a stop on the
start of the second half drive and get the ball
and then maybe make a game. The Knights took the
ball down, scored on their opening drive to start the
third quarter. Then you had a scoop and score, and
at that point you could have loaded the bus and

(02:29):
proceeded home. UCF outscores West Virginia thirty one to six
in the second half, wins at forty five thirteen. A
just massive gut punch for everyone, players, coaches, fans, everyone
involved in the program. This was the game after you
had your bye week. This was UCF's fifth game in

(02:50):
a row, so situationally, you were going like, hey, these
guys got to be banged. These guys got to be tired.
They lost Cam Fancher, who had started the previous week
against Cincinnati. Tavin Jackson, he's got a tender, non throwing shoulder.
Maybe he is non throwing and maybe he maybe he,
you know, won't be great. Well, he completed sixty eight
percent of his passes. He's got a quarterback rating a

(03:12):
one forty nine. He throws for two seventy seven, two touchdowns,
and then you've got Jaden Nixon goes for one sixteen. Anyway,
he flew on his score. Mom was a track and
field performer at Oklahoma State. Dad played football and ran
track at Oklahoma State, and the Jeans did transfer. He's scadaddled. Yeah,

(03:38):
by the way, one thing I learned there. Didn't know
this the last time I was there at that stadium.
Pretty amazing, pretty incredible. Actually, so at the fifty yard
line where they placed the stadium at the fifty yard line,
if you just go straight out of the stadium, straight
in line with the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Really that's nice little nugget.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
And on three occasions I was talking to Mark Daniels.
They're played by plannouncer. They've had rockets launched during games.
Was SpaceX rocket acts right? What he says they had
just had one Thursday. They just put one up on Thursday.
Pretty well, it's it's absolutely wild. They lined it perfectly
up with the launch pad.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
So hence why they embraced that theme. They had those
alternate uniforms that follow that path.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Correct, So they launched on us yesterday.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
They had some explosives.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yes, yes, they did five hundred and seventy eight total
yards for them, two ten for West Virginia, historically low
passing seventy nine passing yards for the Mountaineers eleven of
twenty eight. That's a thirty nine percent completion. And I
don't want to get into spreads on stats, but there's
just some numbers that hit you square dam in the face.

(04:53):
And now you are just into a major, major regroup
mode here in no time to think about it, because
you've got the Frogs of TCU coming in. They just
slapped Baylor. It's homecoming and you still have a trip
to Arizona State. You had a trip to Houston. You
got the Texas text here, throw in the Colorados. It's

(05:16):
for real. Rich Rodriguez at halftime said we stink. We
stunk at the first we stunk in the first half.
No one would disagree. And then he did say in
his postgame press conference low point, and that's that's exactly
what I said during the broadcast. I said, this is

(05:37):
this is the rock bottom low point right now, time
down for Hoppies. Obvious observations brought to us by no one.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
The Mountaineers and the officiating chain gang had a bad
day yesterday.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Those poor buddies, Those poor buddies. I had to.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Anyway, Tony, there's a saying the truth will set you free,
but first you're going to be miserable. So the truth
is that this team, if it continues the way it
is continuing, is incapable of winning any remaining games, or
based on how they played yesterday in the last couple

(06:21):
of games, particularly yesterday, incapable of being competitive in future games.
Now that's a painful truth, and you can accept it
and have no expectations for the rest of the season,
or you can be in denial, which will just lead
to I think even more pain and more disappointment. I

(06:42):
worked up optimism, as you know, during the off week.
I think Brad was kind of quiet way trying to
temper me. But I worked up optimism. I thought, off week,
there's some things working in your favor here. You got
time to get healthy, you got time.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
To get ready.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
And the most disappointing thing and I was wrong. I
was completely wrong about that. The most disappointing thing is
they got worse. They got worse after the off week.
And look, in defense of these quarters, you talked about
the passing yards. Army had thirty seven percent more passing

(07:17):
yards yesterday in West Virginia on seven pass completions.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
Army.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Okay, Now, in fairness to these quarterbacks, I do want
to mount a little bit of a defense. They're young guys,
they haven't played very much. Fox and Wilkins, they haven't
played very much at all, and they're getting zero help.
They're getting no help in any aspect of that offense.
Maybe Gallagher a little bit, but not getting any help,

(07:42):
certainly not from the offensive line and not from the defense.
So what is the hope. Well, coach Rich Rodriguez, this
is his quote. We didn't do anything well. We looked slow,
out of position, miss tackles, didn't block, had two olding
penalties on drawplays that should never happen, Poorly coached, poorly executed,
poorly played, poortly everything. I'm hoping this is the bottom.

(08:04):
I'm hoping this is the bottom. So your hope is
you're not hoping realistically for a win or to because
you're hoping this is as bad as against. You're hoping
it doesn't get worse. And Tony, as always, I listened
to you and watched the game. It is hard to watch,
it's hard to listen to because and I was looking
as I was watching a game yesterday and listening to you,

(08:25):
I was searching for new words to describe what was
going on for the offense. I came up with futile.
Futile meaning incapable of producing meaningful results.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
You watch that.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Offense and you just say they are incapable of producing results, futility, defense, permeable, porous,
almost six hundred yards given up overall. I came up
with dispiriting. It breaks your spirit to watch this team
and listen to and listen to it on your radio.
It is dispiriting and fan being a fan of so

(09:00):
much about spirit, and this just SAPs your spirit, it
SAPs your soul. And so where's this team fit Historically?
The two thousand and one team was three and eight,
the seventy eight team was two and nine, and this
team is on course to be two and ten. So
this team at this juncture is headed toward the worst

(09:21):
record of the modern era, the modern era, I think
from seventies on I called the modern era. So based
on what this team has done this season and what
you've seen the last couple of games, you can really
have you should have zero expectations going forward for the
remainder of this season. And that is the truth. And

(09:43):
that makes you miserable, But that's the truth.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
Oh it's I think you're spot on. I think you're
spot on. Yep, spot on. I mean i'd love to
I'd love to say that the truth is somewhere in
the middle. It's not as bad or it's not as good, right,
we always say it's somewhere in the middle. These I
did wonder. I did wonder last night after the game

(10:08):
was over, if you had all of the players you
thought you were going to have, Jaden Bray, Nico Marciol
Ti Edwards Jaheim White if you had, I was just wondered, like,
what would that game have been if you went in
there with your fight. I don't know if you win,
but it would be significantly different. You're playing with quarterbacks

(10:30):
that started the year three four on your depth chart.
You're starting running backs that were three to four on
your depth chart. Bray, huge loss because now everything can
go to Cam Vaughan as far as coverage goes, So
as the saying goes, you got to do it with

(10:51):
what you have and no one's going to feel sorry
for you.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Hoppy covered most everything there. It's just, you know, guys,
it is it is hard to watch. Offensively becomes so
one dimensional. And if you're going to be one dimensional,
you better be elite at that one dimension. And we've
seen West Virginia when it was rolling do that right.
You didn't have to be concerned about the passing. You
knew you were going to West Ndam was gonna run it,
but you couldn't stop the run. And this is really tough.
You just that's all you're able to do. You just

(11:16):
your passing game has totally gone away. And part of
that's Tony what you said there is some injury issues
there to take into account, but you can't protect long
enough to throw it. You don't have enough receivers to
create space. There's not getting any space. Hop the quarterbacks
are young and struggling to recognize defense and find guys open,
and they're they're throwing into traffic. Even when they are throwing,

(11:37):
there's just there's no space to operate. And then defensively, guys,
I continued just to be really surprised at where this
defense is gone. Now you got a little life in
the second quarter there As you mentioned, you thought, okay,
defense held them to no points. Right there, you missed
that field goal that could have made it fourteen to ten.
Would that have mattered? Ultimately, it didn't look like it
did because of what they did in the second half.

(11:58):
But this defense at again and showed you some promise
against Pitt. Never mind what you did in the other
two games, set those aside, but at least against Pitt,
who's a competent offense. To then give up forty in
every game since and to the UCF team, all due
respect to them. And I'll get to some of the numbers.
Some of the stuff we talked about Thursday was absolutely
what happened to you. But my gosh, to just again

(12:21):
have guys running wide open through the secondary there, to
not be able to get any pressure again for what
is now the fourth straight week in Big Tell play.
Quarterback not uncomfortable for any moment, just could do whatever
started what fifteen of twenty back there, it.

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Was like seven on seven for him. Yeah, did not
need to wash his uniform, never got touched.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
And that has just been a surprise to me. I
did not think that was the case. I knew we
weren't looking hoppy at the ninety six defense, but I
thought it was a defense that was going to keep
you around in some games at least, and it just
hasn't been the case. So just struggling on obviously both
sides of the ball, just tremendously. This has been a
tough watch, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
So Fred Perry out with an injury, ham and Russell,
your nose guard out with an injury again in a
group and on a group that can't afford no losses, right,
you're taking guys away like and.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
You're losing your best players.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah you can't. I mean you can't. There's no margin
for air. And then you take those guys out, and
what their status is remains to be seen, but guys
have been obviously getting whacked around. So yeah, this is it, man.
This is like tough, tough, and you just got to
you got to endure this. And we'll get into the
textual healing stuff coming up in a little bit, but

(13:38):
just jump ahead five steps and call the season right
now and start to talk about recruiting. This is perhaps
the most important evaluation and recruiting cycle that we could
ever think of, because you're gonna get one chance to
fill it up here, and if you don't hit correctly,

(14:00):
you won't be a whole lot different going forward. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
We've said this a couple times, and I think that's
the the double disappointment on top of the disappointment of
not getting wins as you would at least like to
see moving forward. Whatever that number is, if that's five,
if it's ten, if it's eleven, guys that you can
look at and say, okay, okay, but next year, at
least they have another year of experience. You add some
people to it. That's what you're searching for that that's

(14:25):
been hard to find at this point too. You need
some guys that you hope are returning that can at
least stand out here a little bit. And that's that's
been few and far between at this point.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
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(15:48):
They are our buddies. Tonty.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
You know when your best offensive player is Oliver Straw,
you got a problem our guy all.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
He did have a nice game.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well he thought it was Australian rules.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
It was great that he took the ball.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Fake punt was great, great decision. Yeah, I had a
long ast sixty one. Put a couple down there, one
inside the five.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
Did a nice job.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
You put inside the five and they drove ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Now, OLLI would agree with us. I mean, when we're
talking about Ali is the bright spot in the punter,
then it's probably not been a very good day. I mean,
I talked he would understand that.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
I had a postgame meeting with his dad and with
Oliver before we got onto the bus. A little surprised
as dad was there.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
Why were you surprised? He's a global, well resident.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Well, I was told right that they were going back
last time we had seen them, they were going to
go back to Australia. Right back for him. I mean
he's well, I mean he's got a house in Australia.
So I see him there. I said, what are you
doing here? And he said, he said, well, he said,
I got a great flight to Canada. I said, wait
a second, I said, where were you? He said, I
was in Sweden. He said, I was in Sweden. But

(16:51):
I just started looking and I found a great flight
to I said, we're in Canada, Montreal Sunny flew Montreal,
Montreal to Orlandos just so we could.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
See the game, as you do.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah, and like this is how good of a guy
he is, Like he was bummed out. Oliver punted so much,
like he literally goes like good day for me. Is
like he doesn't have to go out there because that
means the offense is gone.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
I told Oliver, I said, you lettered in the in
this game by how many punchs you had? So yeah,
that was I mean he said to say, hello, Anthony,
did he's a great international spy.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, he's not an international spy.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
Well, you don't know that. I don't know about that.
I don't know about that. The fact that he says
he's in the greeting card business.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
You know, totally totally a lie.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
So I don't think I don't think you can go
whatever you want on that. Did you, Tony? How was
your experience?

Speaker 3 (17:40):
And you have to call the game and you do
a tremendous job of of of being a pro but
also letting your emotions be evident to a degree. Yeah,
and that third quarter was hard.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Man, it's rough, man, you're going to that second half.
I mean you said, Okay, let's see you're hanging around. Yeah,
you're hanging around just kind of see. Can we ugly
this thing up and get us get an interception, get something.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Defense looks like it's stabilized.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Can you get something going? Yeah, it's very very difficult, obviously.
I mean, we're the reality of it is, you know,
we're not used to this, and.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
Uh, yeah it feels weird, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, it does. This is not us and it'll get
better because, to be quite honest with you, I don't
think you get much worse, so it'll get better.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
It right, Well, but I agree, but you have to
go back to what Rich Rudson, he's the coach. I
hope this is the bottom. No, I mean, you can't
get worse. You can't.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
No, I don't think you can get worse. Okay, just completely.
You just complete less than forty percent of your passes.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Well, and guys, I mean that was a game that
you could look across the sideline. All due respect to UCF,
but they're also in year one with Scott Frost and
trying to rebuild. That is one where you did look
across after a bye week and say, okay, I mean
this is reasonable to expect we're in this game with
a chance to win it. I know it was on
the road, but the fact that it looked like that,
I think that's what what was such such a gut punch.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
You know what stood out to me is in this
now surprise because of where they're based. I mean, their
skill players, their receivers, they have dudes like I watched
their tight ends warm up without their gear on, So
in pregame when they just have like you know, before
they put their gear on. I mean, I'm they're they're human,
they're they're large, athletic human beings, and their receivers. They

(19:31):
just they have much better skill right now than West
Virginia does. They're faster, they're more athletic.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
The speed is the thing that's jumped out to me,
and rich has said that from the beginning, that the
need to get faster. That's going to be a massive
priority in the offseason. That was really evident yesterday.

Speaker 3 (19:49):
I thought, and you saw Brad when early on when
a fox started, and they know West Virginia knows you
can't protect the passer, so they were rolling them out.
But where it was what was UCFA had guys, it's
like up in this grill right away.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
So I check the numbers, all right, just go right
to the number.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
You want these numbers, Well, I want to see, yeah,
I want to see if it says the show not really,
but I want to see what it says. Kind of
like when the doctor brings you into the office and says, okay,
here come your test results. Do you want to see
this not really anyway, all right. Spreads on Stats is
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(20:54):
Of all the times you've ever done spreads on Stats,
is this one of the old time old timers.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
This will just be one of them, boys. You I
feel like I'm saying this more and more this year.
But you don't need what I'm about to tell you
to know what happened during that game. This is one
of those games where the numbers will just illustrate what
you saw happen yesterday. But let's, as we always do,
let's try and revisit what we talked about Thursday or Wednesday,
whenever the heck we did the previous show going into

(21:21):
this game. One of the first things we talked about,
Hoppy was the concern with UCF speed and guys on
the outside and explosive plays. You felt like if you
could make them drive the field as they did against Cincinnati.
They had had a tendency all year to shoot themselves
in the foot. Just don't give up explosives. They gave
up explosives. That was a good theory. It did not

(21:42):
come to fruition. This is this was a little bit
of a wow. Guys.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Even if you were.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Watching and listening to the game, UCF had four hundred
and eighteen yards of offense on fifteen big plays. What
stat broadcast constitutes is big plays passes of fifteen yards
or more, runs of ten.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yards or more.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Say that again, for eighteen just off big plays fifteen
that's that is breathtaking. To use your word that you
use occasionally, for eighteen on fifteen big plays, thirty almost
thirty yards a big play there. That's that's the yards
twenty yard average. And we had talked. I went through

(22:21):
it on Thursday. Some of their ranks in plays of
seventy yards or more, fifty yards and more forty I mean,
that's that's how they've had success. And hoped Conversely, I thought,
I thought these numbers showed exactly where this game was
and the problems that West Virginia's had what I just
said about having to drive the field or trying to
drive the field and eventually there's a mistake that's made.
That's been West Virginia's problem. The explosives haven't been there

(22:43):
and they haven't shown an ability to be able to
draw it down. Watch to walk down the field. West
Virginia had eighty one yards derived from six big plays
four eighteen to eighty one just off explosives. So right there,
I don't know that you need to say anything else.
If I just told you that this morning, you would
have said, that's probably a convincing UCF win. So that

(23:05):
was one of those It was a kind of a wow.
And then it backs up this wow as much as
I watched that game and just thought, defensively, man, what
is going on? And the big plays lead you to
think that way, right when you just see guys running
in space and running by you and you feel like
the defense isn't doing anything. But how about this, guys,
if you take the explosives out of the game, which

(23:26):
you can't, I get it. UCF had a negative EPA
per play, a negative expected points added, so the bulk
of that game was decided simply on their explosive plays.
When they had to run every other play, it wasn't
always successful them. In fact, it was more often than
not a negative expected points added on that play. So

(23:46):
that was one explosive plays game set match. Just off
that category. Keep going to a couple more of these.
We talked about. Third down would likely be a key
because neither team had been good in that situation. Well,
both lived up to their reputation. Either were good. West
Virginia just three of seventeen on third down eighteen percent.
The Mountaineers gained just an average of one point nine

(24:07):
yards per play on third down, just clearly not good enough.
UCF wasn't much better five of sixteen thirty one percent.
They did convert those two fourth downs into touchdowns, though,
so end of drive or potential end of drive plays
they were a little bit better. Talked about the matchup
between UCF's rush defense in West Virginia's rush offense. UCF's
numbers on paper defensively looked really good. Their past defense

(24:31):
on payper Hopey had been one of the best in
the country. Their rush defensive numbers were not great, one
of the bottom thirty teams when it came to EPA
per rush, and you thought, all right, if there's a
game where West Virginia can theoretically run the football here,
maybe get something going on the ground. It might be
this game. West Virginia couldn't make that hold up just
one hundred and thirty one total rush yards. But believe

(24:52):
it or not, here's another one of those interesting numbers.
West Virginia did have a positive expected points added per
rush in the game. Wasn't for much, but it was positive.
But what didn't you have hop.

Speaker 3 (25:04):
Didn't have, Well, you can't make third downs, you can't
complete a drive.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
And you didn't have any explosive plays that would have
been the way to break through that, to bust off
a couple big ones, and you just couldn't do it.
Shows you the power of explosive plays. UCF had a
negative EPA per rush and yet put those numbers on
top of you some other other just overall numbers that
jumped out. I haven't had time to go back and
look at this, but I may. West Virginia would just

(25:29):
two point seven yards per play. That's also breathtakingly low.
Two point seven yards per play. Guys to put in context,
usc leads the country at seven point eight nine yards
per play. UMass is dead last in the country at
three point nine to eight. West Stream is a full
yard behind what's the lowest in the country. For the season,

(25:52):
just did not did not have any plays to move
the ball down the field.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
You mentioned.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Passing game was non existent. Just seventy eight yards. Seven sacks.
Some of those may have been counted as a sack,
but maybe it was going to be a quarterback, drawers,
tackle behind lines, scrummers, but doesn't matter much. Seven sacks,
seventy eight yards passing. Another eye popping number that available
yards that we've talked about each week. UCF gained a

(26:16):
big number again, sixty five percent of the available yards.
The Knights were able to chew up. To give you
some perspective on that, as we've talked this season, Kansas
was fifty one percent. You taught eighty eight percent of
the yards, which is one of the most we've seen
in the last fifteen years or so. For West Virginia,
by you had sixty seven percent of the yards, So
that continues to be a bad trend. West Virginia averaged

(26:39):
just twenty yards per drive, just twenty yards each time
it had the ball, So that was difficult. All right.
A couple last things then we'll move on from this. Again,
trying to just drill down in there, and this isn't
even trying to find things to be positive, but just
I found interesting things. Number wise. I know it's hard

(27:01):
to believe given the score and how it looked, but
West Virginia actually had a better rushing success rate than
UCF did. More of their rush plays were deemed successful
than what UCF had. Now, neither were good, they were
both below the average number below average, but West Virginia
did have some successful rush plays based.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
On that number.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
The difference in this one, I'll just say it again,
explosives really got that game out of control. Some grades
real quick. Best offensive grades. Jacob Barrick had the best
offensive grade. Malik Agbo second best offensive grade in there,
so it's kind of interesting to see him up There's
some of those came on special teams, I realized, but
Agbo up there. Defensively, Chambers, Walker, Eddie Kelly. Your top three.

(27:45):
The first two Chambers and Walker really based off their
coverage grades. Especially Chambers had an elite coverage grade in
this one. He didn't have a tackle, he had one assist.
So most of those grades coming off the coverage. There's
some numbers. Yeah, those are numbers. Those are numbers that

(28:05):
yards per play, guys, Yeah, that yards per play. That's rough. Again,
backs up what you've seen, just the inability to be
explosive and just one dimensional ucfs able to walk. There
were times they had all eleven guys within eight nine
yards of the line of scrimmage. There's just no fear
that you can beat anybody downfield and complete some passes.
So it doesn't create any space in there. Really tough

(28:28):
sledding right.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Now, and no time to weep TCU on Saturday night,
six o'clock. And as I said earlier on, they're they're
a team that when they're cooking, cooking, they're a good team.
They're good team. They got dudes, good quarterback, good quarterback,

(28:50):
you got guys that can catch the ball. They hate
they hate Baylor, you know that. So yesterday for them
was a huge, huge deal. They got delay in.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
The fourth quarter, Hoover and their pass offense concerns you
a little bit. Again, all due respect to Jackson, but
UCF was struggling to find a quarterback, and they just
put three twenty three sixty five completion percentage on you.
In the air, Josh Hoover's going to come in and
absolutely look to blow you up deep. One of the
best deep ball throwers in the country.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Well, that's what's disappointing about yesterday and Tavian Jackson. The
word inside the UCF camp is like, he does not
like to get hit, and once he gets hit, he's
not the same dude. But you never really were able
to get him late in the game, got him like
once pretty good, but other than that, I mean, he
had unbelievable protection. He set his feet, stroked the ball

(29:41):
down the field. You were just unable to make him uncomfortable. Yeah,
you've been able to They had, you.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Know, his hot start right gave him a lot of
confidence early. The one big hit I remember at Kerricho
in the second quarter, delivered one. It led to a
three and out. You got the ball back. But outside
of that, he basically did what he wanted back.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
Tony Dwight was saying on the broadcast with Scottie Fox,
you know again a young guy, true freshman, and you're
worried about You're worried you're not going to get any protection,
and he's not getting time to get his feet set,
Dwight said, over and over. So he's not you know,
he's not doing those fundamentals because he's probably spooked that

(30:18):
he's not going to be protected.

Speaker 1 (30:20):
Agreed, Yeah, I agree, I agree. Just disappointed all the
way around. That's the understand spiritual the deal, just spiriting. However,
But however, what on a bright note, the basketball. There's basketball.
We'll talk about that in a second, talk about that. Yeah,
I did a little investigation on that, investigative reporting. Yeah,

(30:44):
the same enforcement agency that can come at you for
talking about secret scrimmages, same group of people that will
arrest you inside your home for cutting off your pillow tags,
same group, and they're busier in hell with pillow tag
Chances are not going to get arrested for the same group,
same people, the same people. So you're going, you're going, yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
You're gonna throw caution to the wind and talk about
the super secret scrimmage.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
And if needed, and if we are and if we
are arrested for it, you know where we'll go. Jan
Dill's attorneys at law, they won't take no for an
answer In all seriousness. I don't know if they've ever
done a secret scrimmage case, but we do know that
each and every day they focus in on helping folks
get veterans benefits and social Security claims. They have the

(31:33):
folks in office that do it on a day to
day basis. It is quite honestly a difficult journey when
you're dealing with the federal government and making these claims.
So if you are someone you know needs help filing
for veterans benefits or social Security claims, call them first
and let them guide you through the process. They have
attorneys and clients in all fifty of our states across

(31:57):
the country, and they won't take no for an ad
which is exactly what you need.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
Mister, your honor, mister Creedy was doing his job. He
was providing information to the public. He was not willing
to see that information kept secret. Yes, these charges must
be dismissed immediately.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
And if I do get called into court on talking
about the secret scrimmage, I'm going to pay off the
judge by giving him or her a tutor's biscuit. Why
not tutor's biscuits? You know there's seventy locations across the
most of them are here in West Virginia. You got
a few outside of the state, but thousands of West
Virginians and others start their day the homemade way with

(32:36):
a Tutor's biscuit. But there's so much more than biscuits.
That sauce that they debuted this fall has been off
the chart success. The saracha, just like bingo, the honey seracha,
the Carolina Gold, the sweet Tariokei, or just the original
three awesome flavors. Get yourself real, real good food. Someone

(32:59):
was just talking to me the other day. I didn't
think they could eat one Tutors. So what are you
talking about? I said, I don't know, man, that's a
big thing. It is big. It's a big thing. But
why don't you give it a try to see if
you can do one? Brad and I say, in our
peak level of food, we could do two. We'll see,
all right. So the Mountaineer basketballers, sh this is just

(33:25):
among the three of us and you, the listener. The
University of Maryland may have come to Morgantown on Saturday.
They may have gone onto the floor at the coliseum.
Perhaps it is correct to assume that the Mountaineer basketball
team was also on the floor at the same time.
Perhaps it is true, Hoppy, that three officials that work

(33:50):
in the Big Twelve Conference and for that matter, the
Big Ten were also on the floor, and perhaps someone
brought out a ball.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
Might have been an extra official in the building.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Too, Perhaps someone may have brought it over and oh
because they were training.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Okay, I don't know if there was or wasn't.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Okay, And so perhaps they ran up and down the
floor and kept point totals. Is that fair to say?

Speaker 2 (34:13):
I think?

Speaker 3 (34:14):
All right, So it's out there, there's reporting on it.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
There is reporting on that, and it seems as though
like a year ago when West Virginia went in and
beat the Wake Forests, that yesterday West Virginia looked really
good and had a positive result against the Terra pins
from the universe. Did you used to work in Maryland?
I did.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
It's spend about a a little over a year, a
little over a year there.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
What can you I was in Orlando. Were you in
Morgantown yesterday? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (34:42):
I was okay, good, A good day, I say, full day. Really,
a lot of things going on. We're near the coliseum
at different times throughout the day. Yeah, there's a lot
of things. A lot of things happened. I would say
it went pretty well. If you're a Mountaineer fan, you
should be cautiously optimistic about basketball season, given you have
an entirely new roster, no minutes, no points returning, no

(35:04):
rebounds returning. If you were happened to play another power
for team, maybe in your first game or scrimmage session
against a team with different color jerseys, you would probably
like it to turn out maybe how yesterday did.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
I would think for the coaching staff, because you know,
you can practice as much as you can practice when
they've been doing it literally since June, that you just
don't know until you go up against somebody else. Like
the last time this team of West Virginia really played
against someone else was the TBT team back in the summer.
They may have had a little open gym when TBT
was getting ready to play, so you got a little bit.

(35:38):
But that's the only other time that they've played someone
that wasn't themselves.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
You know what, in all seriousness, what it does show
you is the way basketball season is able to lay
itself out. And some of that's just the number of
games you can play hoppy. This really is a good
way to do it. This really is like you've been
practicing for a long time. You've heard Ross talk about it.
You needed to play against another team. Maryland would have
said the same thing to you. They're an entirely new

(36:02):
roster in Buzz Williams first year, so they're bringing their
guys in. They had a guy out that will make
a difference to their team. But the ability to have
a game like that, an exhibition like that where you
can just play in it and you know, it was
a scrimmage like. It was not a stop and start
and hold on. We're going to do this situationally er. Okay,
you guys go into zone for a little bit. We're
gonna work on press. It was just it was a game.

(36:24):
It was game like as much game like as you
can be with no crowd in there. It just allow.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
It's great.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Now you have another exhibition coming for West Virginia, then
you start the season with some games that you feel
good about. It just lays itself out so much better
than what football. The instant pression cooker you have to
jump into a CAUs.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Absolutely, and what an advantage that is for coaches because
they can now see I mean they can see things
in practice, but not until they play another team in
a game like situation do they say, Okay, now things are.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Clearer, exactly right, And either way this would have went
if you would have gotten bodied on the glass and
not done as well as you wanted to. And listen,
there's a teaching moments coming out of that scrimmageyesterday. But
I think the biggest thing that comes out of there,
I'll give you a couple of things. I think if
you're Ross Hodge, and when he talks about it, he'll
say this defensively, you've got some work to do, but
you can see that that that is going to work.

(37:14):
You've got some guys, including a Jasper Floyd, that as advertised,
really understands this offensive system and how to control pace
and can distribute and oh, by the way, this is
a truism. When guys make shots, it seems to make
the offense look a little better. And you've got a
couple dudes, You've got multiple guys that can make shots.
You've got a couple dudes that are absolute snipers. Absolute snipers.

(37:38):
That doesn't mean they're going to go out and hit
double digit threes every game. But they're certainly capable of
doing that.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Are you're saying that someone hit double digit threes last yesterday?
That was a pretty good game if you hit it.
If you had a game that hit double digit threes,
that'd be pretty good, wouldn't it you Someone could hit
ten threes in one game.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
I mean, there's some really good shooters, and West Virginia
has one happened to lead the country in threes made
last so I don't know that it would surprise anybody
ten threes in the game went out and had a
really good game.

Speaker 3 (38:04):
You can talk about numbers that's out there on social media,
you know, and Tony's not worried about going to jail.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
You can talk about the numbers. You can talk truly,
Trily donc You can.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
You can mention the numbers and the players and the outcome.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
Trily Donovan, who is an absolute must follow on social media.
It's a hilarious account he is. He identifies as a
college hoops box score enthusiast and ubiquitous and a mysterious
burner account. He reported yesterday afternoon he had a lot
of finals from these scrimmages, and one of those included
West Virginia, and Donovan reported West Virginia beat Maryland ninety

(38:41):
five seventy three in a two to half conventional basketball game.
That's truly Donovan. It's not Brad Howe. It's trillly Donovan,
and truly, in my opinion, is gospel. So that's what
you're gonna go with. Maybe some other reports on various
social media account as well that a young man who

(39:01):
led the nation a year ago in three point makes
by the name of Honor Huff, may have dispersed ten
long distance jump shots from behind the three point line
and they scored goals, So that would be a big number.
And there may be some reports out there that a
young man that was a three Guys guest named Tracin
Eagle Staff who we had here in the studio. You

(39:24):
remember it was wonderful. I had some big games last year,
had a fifty, had a forty, got a point game.
He may have deposited a half a dozen three point
markers into the goal as well. And so to say
three point shooting was there yesterday was really really good. Now,
as Brett said, it's never as good as it looks.
It's never as bad as it looks. It's always in

(39:45):
the middle, and it's just a good start. That's all
this is is just okay, you got one done. Now.
You know in a week we'll see wheeling here and
you're just going to try to get batter. Let me
also say this, if I may, I said something incorrectly
back at the start of football season when we played
Robert Morris. We the question was what can we learn?

(40:07):
And I said, the one thing you can learn is
not necessarily if you're going to be good if you
beat Robert Morris, but you can learn that you're not
going to be bad. You did say that. I did
say that. You did say that.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Well, you weren't alone in saying.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
That, And in all high and in hindsight now and
going forward in the future, I think it doesn't mean anything.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
We we talk about all the turnover every year, Brad
and how it's you have to get used to new players.
I think Anor Huff is going to be a crowd
favored for a lot of reasons.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
You don't have to go too far out on your
limb with that statement. That's he's fun to watch. He
is literally like a like a bolt of energy on
that on that floor, he is constant movement. He's constant motion.
He's impossible to keep up with as quick a release
as I've maybe seen in the all time I've been
doing this. He can really just change the complexion of

(41:04):
that offense. If you have a six to one assist
a turnover ratio in a game, would that be good?

Speaker 1 (41:10):
That's good? That's good?

Speaker 2 (41:11):
Is that good?

Speaker 1 (41:11):
That's very good?

Speaker 3 (41:12):
And he's got and he's got this personality that wasn't
honor I'm saying team wise, if you had a six
to one assist to turnover and he's got this big personality,
super smiley, yeah, he to like Yeah, and that's his team.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
There's a lot of guys. I think fans are going
to rally around and I think style of play wise defensively,
how they get after it and guard you're going to
really like. And it was just, you know, to me,
I think one of the things that Ross will talk
about was the ability the first time you go against
another team with no expectations, the way they executed and
handled their business tremendous. Yeah, tremendous.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
You've got You've got some older guys that have played
a lot of basketball. The question with this group is
will it be able to translate to the power four level.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
Yeah, keep coming, because because I do think in looking
through some of these other Big twelve teams, I do
think the Big twelve is up up a tick this season.
There's some talent. There's always talent. There's some real talent.
There's gonna be some big boy teams coming in. So
you'll have your work cutout for you all years.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
You do every year.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
But I think this was a very good start for
Ross Hodge and company. I think that staff and those
players should be happy with how the first data point
that's all this is hop first data point among thirty
five plus hun you're coming.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
And there's gonna be off nights. Who's gonna be bad nights?
And then what's the next question? How do they respond?
How does this team pull together?

Speaker 2 (42:29):
But I'll tell you what. That three pointer just changes
the game.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
It does.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
You got guys like you can be stagnant offensively, they
can be all over you, and then all of a sudden,
you hit a step back three or make that extra pass,
or you havn't to have been guarding West Virginia for
twenty seven seconds and you leave somebody opening the corner
for a three and you knock it down, just changes
the whole complexion on what's going on.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
But other teams know that too, and you know he's
not the biggest guy, So will they gang up on
him and somebody else has to you know, trace you
or somebody else has to make shoes.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Yeah, but I think that's the beauty of this. I mean,
I'm pretty sure Maryland knew he led the country in
three pointers made. I'm pretty sure by the three minute
mark into the game they realized he could shoot it
time out. I think they saw very probably early Tony
would be my speculation there that Maryland understood Earl if
they got a shooter like you know you hear defense
shooter wherever he's gonna shoot her. I think they were

(43:19):
a could couldn't get to him hot just to put
it on. Because fast fast, when you milk clock offensively
and wait for pass up, maybe a good shot for
a great shot. It's hard to guard at this level
for that long, for a guy that seemingly never runs
out of energy. And so then fine, you want to
face guard him. We saw last year what you want
you want to face guard on our huff. Okay, that's fine.

(43:40):
You still got another shooter and Tracon Chance Moore is
a guy that can knock down threes, Jasper was a
thirty seven, No is a guy more Zugasu from South
Carolina can shoot, and oh, by the way, then you
got to decide if they're on the same side you
want to face guard out on our huff. Now you've
left seven foot oh Bioha down on the block by
himself with no help, with no ability to dig down.

(44:01):
So when you're making shots like that with an elite shooter,
you're gonna have to make a choice. And that's all
you can ask offensively, right, make the defense make a
choice on what you want to do, and then try
and make them pay for that. You's gonna outscore people.
This team can out score well. This team will still
be driven by defense. It'll still control clock offensively, it'll
still guard, and it'll win games defensively. But if you're

(44:23):
making shots, this is going to be a team that
is going to be really tough.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
To be this.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
I don't think it's outrageous to say there'll be a
team that has more talent, that maybe is better, has
a better record, that you're going to go in some
night and run them out of the gym because you
make a ton of shots on them, you do everything
else well, and there's gonna be a team walking out
of morgantowme going that, just what just happened to us?
How do we just give up seventeen threes in that
gay right?

Speaker 1 (44:48):
For the record, Maryland is picked to be in the
bottom half of the Big Ten this coming season as
Buzz Williams begins his rebuild there. They were really good
last year. They went twenty seven to nine. They went
fourteen and six in the Big Ten. But like I'm
just looking at one preview hoops HQ has him as
number thirteen in the ninety two team Big Ten Conference,

(45:10):
just to kind of give it at West Virginia obviously
last week was picked eleventh in the pre season poll.
And one other note, one other basketball note, if I may,
you know who I ran into Friday night. Larry Harrison.
Really yeah, looks absolutely fantastic. He's really good, lives in

(45:31):
the Orlando area and is scouting for the New York
Knickerbockers basketball club and Southern Scouts. So he's got South
Carolina down, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. But he's a
really good place, in a really good place. Good dear
told me. It was just recently at Javon Carter's wedding.

(45:52):
Got married a couple of weeks ago and is in
constant contact with the Deuce Duce McBride, and Deuce has
got a nice thing going there. Yeah, this is next contract,
will be his third, because he's already got two, and
it'll be it'll be really it'll be very very nice.

(46:14):
It'll be a very very nice. Yeah, he could buy
a few Tutors biscuits right now, and then he might
be able to buy Tutors biscuits on his next contract.
Three guys before the game is brought to us by
Comac's Business Systems. They've got every piece of office equipment
known to mankind, and right now they've got tremendous deals

(46:35):
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Speaker 3 (46:49):
Tony Duce signed a deal. He's got a three year
deal paying thirteen million. All the money is guaranteed, so
he's making four point three million a year.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
Yeah, it's good hot and cold I twelve water cooler system.
You can visit them at COMASWV dot com comax WV
dot com. But it's expensive to live in New York,
so mean, yeah it is. But I think, yeah, I mean,
how this thing plays out in the future for him,

(47:20):
I mean this could be potentially.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
You know, free agent in twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Yeah. Yeah, and a lot of teams are interested in
his stars, yes, because he's that perfect glue guy that
everyone likes. So wish those guys the very best. All right,
you're ready to do a little I'll tell you about Well,
we'll just do this. Let's just do this Textual Healing
out plus in New York taxes, parking garages. Textual Healing

(47:54):
is available to you as a public service and is
brought to us by episode eight hundred dot com. Visit
episode eight zero zero dot com. We have all of
our items. There are apparel, our coffee from Mountaineer roasting,
our popcorn from Mountaineer Popcorn, and everything else and in between.
Snowshovels now coming out here with the weather changing, so

(48:16):
we're going to get into those as well. The three guys, snowshovel, No,
we don't have a snowshovel to take a look anyway,
might be out there. So a couple of things. Back
last week, we had the concert at Red Rocks in Colorado.
Charles Wesley Godwin had played there before, but he headlined

(48:40):
the show. It was his show. And back in the
summer we auctioned off two tickets and a backstage meet
and greet at the cancer event that we did down
at Stonewall Jackson Resort, and we have some photographs of
what transpired this week. Look at that thing, like the

(49:04):
crowd was sold out, it's about ten thousand people. It
was a wonderful night. Guy in the bottom right corner
scary stare he had the c WG there up on
one of the big rocks for Charles Wesley Godwin. And
there he is. There's Chuck on stage, rocking out with
the crowd. And that is your buddy right there.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
That's Doug Ernst and his wife Jennifer. They were the
winners of the auction to fly out and see the
concert and do a meet and greet with Charles Wesley
from our events. So thanks to Doug and Jennifer. There
that was awesome. Look at that for that crowd.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
How'd you like to play there?

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Hop, That's one of the great venues in America. Haven't
been there?

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Need to go there? Have you been there? I have not?
But Homeless Dave, Yeah, Homeless Dave was there. He went.
Homeless Dave went and he said it was a bucket
list item for him. And so got another photo there,
flip that if you would so.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
And these guys you remember them from that was our
dinner's Brett on the far left there as you're looking
at the screen. Brett that was with us, with us
didn't want an ox nder from Stonewall two years ago,
came up with his group and we had dinner over
at the wine bar with Duca. That specially at dinner
we had and that was that wine bottle. What was
that called?

Speaker 1 (50:14):
That was a like double secret magnum, like quad magnum.
I don't know what university looked like.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Brett and his family out there as well, and I
think too, I talked to some folks. I think I
was the only house in my neighborhood that wasn't there.
Everybody's there. Got a video of him doing country roads.
How he closes his concerts. Awesome heat.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
I think, yeah, there's homeless Dave. Yeah, homeless, all right,
homeless Dave with the Morgan family were there as well. Yeah, yeah,
so everyone's there. Good to see those guys. They had
a great time. Good to see homeless homeless. We get
to shout out nice.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
He sent so many texts I thought I was there.
I mean, homeless really kept his posted on that.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
I didn't get into Jake or Braden there. I had
to picture our friends Jim and Michelle Connection three or four.
They they were there too, Parkersburg. They were there.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
That's all I say.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
We were the only ones that weren't there. Exactly everybody
was there.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
So let's jump into textual healing. Here's what I have
for you. The theme, as you may imagine, was consistent
with disappointment. By the way of all the text there
was not one curseword. Excellent. I thought that everyone's very
best behavior that no curse, no curse words. So I

(51:25):
could do this one of two ways. I could either
read the textual healing texts. But what I also did
is I took all of these and I have probably
like twelve pages of and I put it into chat
GPT and I said, I asked the chat GPT, I said,
let me see what I asked. I nicely asked, chat GPT,

(51:53):
could you please summarize the attached texts? And so it did,
and it brought it back, and I think, to be
quite honest with you, it brought it back to in
a bunch of different categories, and we can kind of
riff off of these. Number one category is general mood

(52:16):
of the Mountaineer fan base, and chat GPT says the
collective tone is frustrated, fatigued, yet still loyal. Fans are
expressing deep disappointment in the team's performance, particularly after the
UCF game, but nearly all of the comments reflect continued
support for Rich Rodriguez in the program. The feeling is

(52:39):
that WVU football has hit a low point, but fans
remain emotionally invested and hopeful for eventual improvements.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
That I think that's an excellent summer. You know, Tony,
I have.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
Been a Mountaineer fan all my life.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
I was a fan.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
I was a student. No, I wasn't a student seventy yeah,
I was a student of seventy seven.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Okay, so for seven, so that was bad.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
I was still a fan. After that two thousand and one.
You know, I was still a fan after that. So
that's the nature of being a fan, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Next category from Chad GPT, they put a heart emoji
with a broken line through it. It's called frustration with
on field performance. Recurring phrases used by our listeners rock bottom,
worst WVU team I've seen, downward spiral, zero improvement offense,

(53:36):
heavy criticism of the offensive line. Once said offensive line
is offensive, poor passing game, allergic to first downs, and
lack of creativity or rhythm. Next, defense, struggles in the
secondary tackling repeatedly noted playing hide and seek wide open receivers.
The next point, and a lot of people hit on

(53:58):
this is the talent gap. Many noted glaring disparities and
athleticism compared to the SEC and Big Ten programs. Several
suggested WV looks like an FCS team. That's a that's
a below the belt hit. A few said that the
team appears to beginning worse each week despite having six
games in a bye to improve. Next category is called

(54:22):
questions about the program's direction. Some argue that this isn't
year zero but year one, suggesting the rebuild is deeper
than expected. Others question whether it's negative negative negative one.
I'm sorry, yeah, that's coot. And by the way, I'm
still not with you on this year zero, not buying
into that year one. All others question whether West Virginia

(54:45):
still belongs at the power for level given nil money
and recruiting disadvantages. The one thing that I will say
is like I do see there are occasionally some people
saying like we'll never be back into the level that
I totally emphatically don't agree with that at all. Simply

(55:06):
not and that's not true that West Virginia is going
to be way at the bottom when it comes to
nil money. The reality of it is West Virginia is
going to be near the top in the Big twelve
conference when it comes to the money that it has
available going to market. That's simply not true. West Virginia
is absolutely going to be in the top four or
five in the conference, and maybe even a little bit higher.

(55:27):
They're going to have dollars to go spend. This thing's
going to come down to your evaluation. You cannot miss.
You're going to have the opportunity to go get players.
You better go get the right ones. Because you're going
to have the opportunity to get some I.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Think that's the best point. I think that's the point
right there. I think you have resources to go out
and be competitive with this group. But that's why I
keep going back to how many guys can stick, how
many guys can stay here, because obviously the more guys
you have to go get hoppy, it dilutes the dollars
that you have. So take offensive lines just as one
position group. How many guys can return that will be
able to start the season for you next year. I

(56:00):
think that's a critical question going forward here. If that
numbers one, then that makes next year even more of
a challenge. If that number's three, okay, then you're in
a little better position. And I think that's what you're
looking for moving forward. How many new starters do you
have to go out and get and then you better
make sure you evaluate right. So, yeah, Tony, I agree
with that. I think this offseason and it should be better.

(56:22):
You've got a general manager that's been in place now
for what will be almost what almost a year. You've
got an entire staff that's been in place that understands
exactly what it wants. It's a staff that's been looking
at its current team knowing, all right, here's exactly where
our holes are. So you would think that evaluation has
to get better. But that's critical moving forward absolutely.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
Next category is called nil and talent disparity. Several fans
compared West Virginia's resources to the SEC and Big Ten,
saying the gap and spending and recruiting power is insane.
The nil shortfall was cited as a root cause of
West Virginia's inability to attract or retain high end talent,
skepticism that a few extra million dollars will close the gap.

(57:05):
I do think this that when they do this class
coming up, there are going to be three particular areas
of significant importance that they're going to put a lot
of money in offensive line, defensive line, and quarterback. You
have to take care of those items first, you know, Tony,
I suspect this coaching staff.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
Knew, maybe not new, but had a reasonable idea what
they had because they didn't overspend, They did not overspend.
They held back again, as we have reported, four or
five million dollars.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
So there's some.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
Hopefully some short term pain there for long term gain.
Because you didn't want to overpay for a level of
talent that you didn't think was commiserate with what you
could have paid.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Agree, Yes, Yes, Bana, Georgia, Tech, Virginia, South Florida all
top twenty teams entering the weekend. None of them would
be considered blue bloods or with significant resources. Now there's
a ton in the top ten that you're not going
to be able to touch. Right, You're not gonna be
able touch Ohio State spending. But frankly, you've never touched
Ohio State's spending.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
Right. Talk to someone this week who's in the know
on this stuff, and they say, so much of what's
out there and is being accepted as truth is total bs.
When it comes to the amount of dollars schools are spending,
oh really, they say, simply not the case, simply not
the case, and that West Virginia will be right there
with you know, the schools, that they'll be right there

(58:41):
and will not be at a disadvantage with what they're spending.
Next category from chet GPT is called Humor, Heart and Humanity.
Steve from Virginia Beach wrote a comedic, emotional rant comparing
West Virginia football to group therapy disguised as a sport,
highlighting fan devotion despite repeated heartbreak. The most creative and

(59:01):
resonant resonant submission, Jonathan from Martinsburg, shared a heartfelt praise
for the show, saying it provides laughter and calm after
stressful nine to eleven dispatch hips. He's a nine to
eleven dispatcher, a reminder of the personal connection fans field.
A few others close with optimism, optimism and perspective that
fandom means enduring the lows and appreciating the eventual highs,

(59:24):
the humorous frustration. We run like it's nineteen ninety three
and throw like we're allergic to first downs. Someone said
we're Rutgers. Where that get right game? Someone said it
takes time to be great. Rome wasn't built overnight. Longtime
fans had been a fan for seventy years. I'll still
be here. And one says there is philosophical acceptance and

(59:49):
said quote, embrace the roller coaster. Better times are ahead.
The overall takeaway hoppy yes from Chad Gpt. Yes, fans
see this team in full construction, underman outmatched, still backed
by one of the most passionate fan bases. They are
disillusioned by the product, yet united by the loyalty and

(01:00:11):
belief that rich Rodriguez can eventually restore pride to the program.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Well, part of loyalty to is not just loyalty to
a particular team or a particular coach. It's what bread.
It's loyalty to Mountaineer sports. It's loyalty to the university
and the state. So there is a bigger picture when
you talk about loyalty.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Why do you shut my mic off?

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
See what try and tell you each week? What he
always shuts my mic off? Blames it on me.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Had a situation Friday night, excuse me? Situation? What you know?
You just say things in passing sometimes and some people
remember what you say. So earlier this season, they had
this event before a Mountaineer game. I think it was
before the first game of the year, and there were
a lot of Mountaineer fans there, and so this guy

(01:01:10):
comes up to me. I don't I have no recollection.
I did not recollect this happening, but I was told
that I had said it. Long story short, he said, Hey,
he's a great guy. I mean Mike kim Pouncy. Huge
Mountaineer fans live in Orlando. They come up the three
guys listeners, I mean passionate come to food. I don't remember,

(01:01:31):
but apparently he said, hey, when you come down for
the game at UCF, you know, we're going to have
an event at my house and I'd love to have
you guys there. And apparently I said to him, yeah,
that'll be great. Make sure the food doesn't suck. Well, geez,
it sounds like something you said, of not denying it

(01:01:51):
at all. So on Friday night they had an event
Mountaineer Athletic Club. So I went to his house and
first thing Mike said to me was, Hey, I hope
the food's good because you told me the food better
not suck. Cheese was fantastic. I mean fantastic you would

(01:02:12):
have been.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
So he lined up, took your nonsense, put it right
on you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
Yeah he did.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
He said you want to come.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
On in, Yeah, let's go. So had this bar food bar.
They give you a bowl like a cere bowl. They
put mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes in it, and then if
you want, they'll give you some like a great mushroom
sauce laid on top of there. And then they had
flank steak they put the flank steak in they'd give

(01:02:37):
it to you. Then you had other items that you
could put on top, like some cheese, cheese, green onion,
everything you want to put on top of that. And
then so a housed a bunch of food was fantastic, you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:50):
Know, if they put a little cherry tomato on top
whatever you needed. They called that a roast beef Sunday
or meat.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
Yeah, I think that's what it was called, something like that.
Couldn't have been better, Yeah, couldn't have been better. Tender
beautiful house. They just finished it two and a half
weeks ago, building it for three years. Really, Yeah, it
was awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
It was nice.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
It was very nice. I'm glad.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
I'm glad you were welcome there despite your insult.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Now he was good, dude. He I Also, we worked
out a deal where we're gonna go to it. He says,
he's got the best steak place.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
In the world, in the world, We're.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
Gonna go there before we play basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
You're in Oh, is that right?

Speaker 1 (01:03:22):
Yeah? We got that taking care of.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
Looking forward to as well.

Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
All right, the fighting. Dan Stratford's got beat yeah last
night two to one, two to one. Yeah, that's okay.
That's okay.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
It happens.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
It happens. And when you're on the road, that was
they had to go back and for the that's long travel.
Two weeks in a row. You got to go back
and forth down south, and uh, regardless, they'll get back
and get going. All right. So next week West Virginia
TCU Saturday, six o'clock kick, and then next Sunday afternoon

(01:03:56):
it's four o'clock that basketball game starts. I believe that
sounds right again. Chris Richardson up there as the head coaches. Yeah,
I'll bring the Cardinals down. What time's that game?

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
Four four?

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
I think you could make it. Yeah. Nice, nice to
have you there. I mean you've been at practice and everything.
Now you and Ross are boys. I mean you've been.
Nice to see you, Honor probably want to see you there.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
I didn't know that was public information. I've been to practice.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
Yeah, you were there.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
That was Can I say something about that?

Speaker 1 (01:04:21):
Yeah? I was really.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
I thought it was fantastic and just so enjoyable to
be there, and like coach Hodge comes up, Hey, how
you doing, Glad? You came like really, and then I
watched him go over film Brad and just was really
impressed with his teaching. And then one other point. I
make one other point that at the very end of

(01:04:48):
the video session, there was a player coming off the
court in the video session and he gets a towel
from the manager and he high five is the manager,
and coach Hodge stops the tape and says, listen, you
see that there's the manager. And he gave the manager's
name and said, he's handling your sweaty towels. This guy
is handling your sweaty towels for you. He's part of

(01:05:10):
this team. Everybody started high fiving him and yelling. I
really point being in Tony, You've told me other stories.
I just think that I like the culture that he's
building around this program. I think it fits perfectly into
how we see ourselves as mountaineers.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Yeah. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.
It's gonna be a lot of fun. Brad and I
did kind of giggle because it didn't take you long
as practice was starting, you know, we were off on
the corner. Yeah, and Ross brings the team over across
the floor. Big monitor. They have a big TV monitor
there that they stop practice and watch tape as soon
as the play happens so they can see it better,

(01:05:46):
and so Ross brings everybody goes, come on over here,
let's take a look at this, and our Brad, you
want to do the play by play on that. So
our boy Hoppy like he he makes his way over
there and is basically stuck himself into the team huddle
so that he could find out what was going on.
I would I wanted to hear. I wanted to see. Yeah,

(01:06:07):
I understand that. To understand, I think I mean full
participation by you at practice. I thought it was pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:06:11):
It was and watching his teaching moments.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
That was giddy.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
That was good.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Loved it. Yeah, that was good. It should be a
fun basketball season. Looking forward to it. And in Sunday,
as you said, a week from today.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
A week from today, by the way, do you hear
anything on the women against the Virginia Tech's.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
Yeah, that they were playing Virginia Tech. I got a
bunch of calls yesterday about West Virginia playing Virginia Tech
and it was the women.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Yeah. Interesting to see how that thing went for those guys,
because I'm sure Mark's in the same kind of a
category where he wants to see what the thing looks
like once he puts the peace in good Virginia. Through
the years they've been with us. We're back again conventionally
on Thursday. Okay, right, conventionally we're gonna go Thursday. We'll
preview West Virginia and t c u Cole.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Rush game that day.

Speaker 1 (01:06:55):
You're gonna wear those uniforms. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome.
Three guys, thanks to our we've got Jake back there
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all right, that's it. Six sixty seven episode is done.
Back with you. Have a good week. We'll see you