This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jaken Zalece on Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen powered by Nova Insurance Services. Make sure your most prized possessions kat
z R two side at iHeart Radio Station. Yet, very good afternoon,
everybody. Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen. Cookie.
I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jaken zalez and we're still by ourselves, so
be where some scroups can. Maybe you'll hear the person on the phone.
Did he didn't call back? Re bran, No, I didn't hear myself
on the podcast. They made fun of me about that at lunch today.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just said, maybe you guys, maybe
you guys should find somebody who can do this for you. I said,
wherever we're trying, we're trying. You need an intern. I said,
you want you guys want to be the intern. It's not a paining job.
Oh no, there's nothing. I'm busy. Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah. Because I was with some buddy day maybe another intern possibility. And
says I want to go see your show. I says, you don't want
to give a sho show. There's nobody here, there's nothing to see in
this little slow I mean, what are you gonna watch this talk? Oh
hard time watching us talk sometimes? Your wife, I'm sure it was tired
of I know she was tired of me this morning. I'll tell you what.
You well, we're both so busy. We both had stuff to do
and we have you know, both and I don't know what. Well,
I'm trying to get out of town, right, you know, I want
to leave town on Friday morning, and so you know, it's one of
those things. I'm on deadline on a bunch of stuff, including your story
that I need. It's almost o and then and then, uh, I
just got to get everything done. We're on deadline for for the magazine.
If you're like me, you have you're thinking about that. Well, you're
still doing this well and doing all this and then still thinking about that.
All right, that was the case, I mean, really, that's it's
kind of I was so distracted by everything else going on in my brain.
Yesterday I didn't turn on the button for the microphone button for our collar,
Brian, and so everybody only heard our side of the conversation. And then
I left the left the microphones as we went out. So it's like,
what else could go wrong? Well, there's more that can go wrong.
We're gonna try not to let that happen. We'll see what We have a
pretty good show today. I got You've got Ryan Radkey, right, Ryan
Racky, who's h the Sunday night football radio announcer for Westwood one Sports.
Former former Tusson sports radio guy, talk show guy. He's been a he's
been a play by play guy for the Reno Aces Triple A team and now
he's with Westwood One. He does called, he does n Double A tournament
stuff he does. He does the Sunday night NFL game. He's got the
Giants and the Cowboys this weekend. So he's got a Texas it is in
no that in New York. So he's coming on today. We'll just talk
about the start of the NFL season. You know what he thinks of some
of the teams. There's still a lot of stuff going on, a lot
of person down news and stuff. We'll cover some of that in breaking news.
But Ryan Racky always a great guest, always a fun guy. We
have a great time with him. And so he's doing the Cowboys Giants game.
Yeah, and then we're gonna kind of preview some of the game today
and tomorrow. But today we've got Mississippi State state side, right, Jack
Buyers. He's the Mississippi State Rivals, a website guy over there, sort
of the Matt Mordeno or or say Troy Troy Hutchinson or Bryan Peterson for from
Mississippi State. We had him on before the game last year. Right,
Well, we'll see if anything changes over there. They had a press conference
yesterday. Today Today was the was the Mississippi State press conference with UH with
their coach and they had their quarterback on. So we'll find out from from
Jack Buyers what they had to say. Let me ask you a question because
you I thought this yesterday and didn't talk to you about it. So we're
in the PAC twelve, right, we live in the PAC twelve of Mississippi
State. May be good, may not be good, right, But I
think, like you mentioned this yesterday and it stuck me and I didn't talk
to you about it. There's this perception about the SEC right, whether they're
good or not good, they're in the seccent, don't matter who they are.
They're big, they're top, they're right, but not always good though.
I mean we could be long. I'm not sure we're wrong in this
one, but you know what I'm saying, you live with this perception.
It's like you're a novel you you with the Lobos, which existed at one
time. It just doesn't. But the SEC has this reputation of being good
top to bottom, right, But I don't know if that's always the top
to bottom. But they've got you know, they've usually got seven or eight
pretty good teams that are hard and this is one of them, and this
is yeah, and this is one of them. But you know what I'm
saying, Oh, he's from the se SEC. So you know they're gonna
not always not always yeah, No, I mean, if Arizona is going
to play Vanderbilt, I'm saying they should kick their asses right right, But
you know, but they're going to play Mississippi State and you're miss State.
You handled Arizona was very physical. Uh, you saw the size difference with
those guys. We'll see how much Arizona has closed the gap on that if
they have. Nonetheless, here's the thing. People are on here think Arizona
can win the game, whether they do or don't. Why do you think
they're thinking that because they think Arizona is bare. Okay, who are you
talking to? Who's saying that? People that I talked to, they're not
saying we think we're gonna win. H They're saying we think we can win.
There's a difference. Yeah, explain that difference than who you're talking about.
I think you don't think can win. No at all, no chance
zero zero. No, I'm not gonna go deon Sanders on you. But
but not really percentage percentage Okay, good, good, good question. Uh,
twenty twenty five to thirty percent? Okay, that's it. Yeah,
but if you're gonna say, well, you have a chance, like dumb
and dumber, Okay, we'll have a chance. No, I do the
Do I think they're gonna win? No? Do you think they have a
chance to win? I guess twenty is a chance, but not what I
saw. You asked me this game maybe or ten days you goot. I
said, yeah, at halftime, at halftime on Saturday, I thought they're
gonna get their ask. But again, this goes back to the Final four
or the basketball season. When we went to the tournament. You say,
Okay, they're gonna win this game. They're gonna win that game. Fau
who they But because we don't know, we don't see them. You just
know fau who they. Well, let's go back to let's go back to
what when we had Rob rob waldrop on them. Okay, you know that
they opened the season one one and one and I think the one tie was
against bad Oregon State team, right, and then they go to Miami.
You just close your eyes. You don't want to look, right. They
should have beat them, They had a chance to beat him, right,
and they didn't beat him. And that was the birth of Desert Swarm.
And for the next three seasons they were really damn good. Yeah, so
you don't know. You don't know what what's going to turn a team on
from one day to the next, which is why we don't know. We
think Colorado's going to kick the crap out of Nebraska, but do we know
that We don't know. And the one thing I've learned that I've said this
on the show a few times and you've heard it a few times, is
that you you can never know in college basket of college footballers, college sports,
what team is going to show up given the emotional stats, uh,
you know, the motivation factor. Colorado had everything to gain, nothing really
to lose, right because of America outside of Dion and the team believe that
they're gonna loose, and then they win and it says, well, hell
would you guys? You didn't believe? It's not our job to believe?
Right, No, it's not. And that was done and that again I
said, it's telling you. You know, I'm trying really hard to like
what Dion Sanders is doing. He's making it really hard for me to do
that. Okay, we'll see you. But he doesn't give a crap but
what I think, But you know, he's making it really hard. But
nonetheless, you know, we don't know if Colorado is really damn good or
if they just had a one off because they were so excited and pumped up,
and maybe TCU is bad or whatever. You know, what do we
know about LSU, What do we know about Florida State? What do we
know about Clemson? What do we know about Duke? We know that what
happened last week, Well, we don't know that Clemson's going it's going you
know six and six? Right, No, it could have been one off
on a number of different teams. Duke, Colorado, they're already in the
top twenty two. They won one game. They were not even supposed to
win three games this year, and now they're in the top point. This
is and I see this on the show all the time, Jay, And
to you, it's easy to be the sizemology just after the fact. If
you're gonna tell me an earthquake is coming, I like it. But you
can tell me earthquak just happened. What's the point it just happened. No
One, no one I know, said Colorado. I was gonna win this
game. You have a pool, right, you have a pick? How
many picked? How many picked the game? I can tell you that real
quick, something like just over two hundred okay, so how many got it
wrong? One hundred and nine? So ten people got it right? Right?
No, I can tell you it was I have it right here.
No, Almost three hundred people picked the game and two hundred and two pick
tu, sixty six percent of the people got it wrong, right, Okay,
And I want to talk to the other dude, See what the hell's
how many of those people are gonna take Colorado this week? Right? Yeah?
And how many get that right or wrong? Well, it's like Arizona.
We didn't see. I think Anthony said the best it was, Well
he can't come to conclusions from that game. You can't and maybe because it
wasn't at you and they kind of kind of slowed down a little in the
first half, right, And I'm not touching. I'm not touching the game.
No, what is even if I wasn't an Arizona fan, what is
it? I'm not taking It's ten and a half. That's not a whole
lot of points. It's not a whole lot of What would you do if
you're gonna take it? If you if you said I had to take it,
I'd take me. Yeah, me too, because if he was fourteen
and a half, right, I'd probably take an Arizona and I thought that's
what it would be, not ten and a half. Well, that's not
a whole lot of points yesterday. But yeah, let me ask you.
I'm gonna bounce around here with you a few times. Don't saying like that
with you? Not on you? So uh, with the new offense with
a new clock management and Jed talked about this briefly on Saturday night. So
the clock is running. I think it hurts Arizona because it kills a lot
of time it wants. You want Arizona have the ball a lot and because
they move from all potentially put that clock eats up as it goes right,
don't you think, well, well you're look at what any of you did
on Saturday night, right, They held the ball for so much of the
first half. They held the ball for the last seven and a half minutes
of the second quarter Arizona, as we said, Arizona could have had maybe
should have had two possessions in there instead any of you held the ball,
they go in, look a fourteen to three. The game looks like it's
close or not. It wasn't, but it looked close. You're kind of
going, what the hell's happening? You know, Arizona got his hands on
the ball a whole lot more than the second half, and they scored more
and they won the game comfortable. So do would you agree? I agree?
I agree? Don't funny think about this? Okay, So they have
the clock to go faster to make the game. What's the point if you
have twenty five stopping just to watch the review of the plane exactly? I
mean, like, if you're army or navy or somebody like that, you
you like the clock shooting, it's because the other team doesn't get the ball,
you know. But if you're Arizona and you can put points on the
board pretty much against anybody, which I think they can. Sure you want
you want, you want the ball. Sure Jet seems to be happy with
it. You know, he likes it because he used to it in the
NFL. But he wasn't happy that they only got four possessions in the first
half. We all heard what Chip Kelly said. He was pissed off because
they only had four possessions in the first half. Yeah, you see that.
That means you're defense has to stiffen up and get the ball back.
Right. But but for a team that has offense, mostly offense, you
need that ball and this clock is going to be a little, maybe a
little factor in right. Well you're look at what at any of you just
you know, they were able to run the ball a little bit in the
second half, able to keep the clock running and keep it and they just
kept the ball away from Arizona in the second half. Arizona if with without
the clock rule, and let's say let's say Delora doesn't funnel that, Arizona
could be up twenty eight to three at the half, and it was fourteen
to three. Well, Jed said this, and I didn't check the place
playlist. Fifty three total place, so you're talking about it could have been
seventies. They run seventy to eighty last year, right, seventy to eighty
plays last year. Rich Rod would run in the nineties. Yeah, so
that's gonna play a factor, especially with the team that loves the ball.
Yeah. So that's not a good thing. That's not a positive thing.
Yeah, So you know, and and again, I think it seems to
me, I would think that Mississippi Stage is gonna be built on its defense.
They're gonna want the clock to run. You're gonna want to keep the
ball out of Arizona's hands. Yeah, because Arizon canra and they can grind
it out. They can grind it out with the big guys. So we'll
see, we'll see. I agree the clock rule is I didn't. I
didn't know how much it would change it. But you're seeing that, You're
you're seeing a lot of games like that where there's only a handful of possessions
and then, like you said, in an Arizona team runs fifty some plays
that's you got to be incredibly efficient when that happened. Sure, and we
didn't notice it in the TCU Colorado game, at least I didn't because both
teams were just using five players and out scoring every five seven plays. Yeah.
Yeah, so you want to reach something, Yeah, we we gotta
got a minute. But no, I think that this is an interesting game
more more or less because you want to see what Arizona's look against the good
team. I don't. I don't give them much more of a chance than
you do for them to win this game. Okay, you know thirty chance.
Well, did I ask you this Saturday, did you adjust your win
total with Arizona? No? No, Okay, I'm still on five and
a half. I'm over. They won the games I'm talking about, Okay,
how they played, they won the game. I have no would come
now Colorado looks I'm still at six or seven games. Okay, Okay,
I still think they can beat Colorado because by by the time that time rolls
around Colorado, you have to understood Colorado. You have to understand it.
Well, they were really good on Saturday. They might not have the depth
that they're gonna need towards the end. Of the season. They got a
bunch of you guys and and you know, you don't know if they're other
guys. Can look, everything came together for them on Saturday, no doubt.
But I think that, uh, you don't know what's gonna happen some
of the things you say, and I think you over over analyzed. Sometimes
I like you over analyst. Sometimes sometimes I agree with it. All right,
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We'll put the work in for you. This is I on the Ball
with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Subscribe now to
the podcast on the iHeart Radio Whip Just Surgery, I on the Ball.
They welcome back to On the Vault on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hushteve Rivera,
you're jagons. Also now on the fun we have Ryan Radkey from Westwood
one Sports. How are you Ryan? Having the boys? How are you
back for another season? I see you must be ready and willing and all
that fun stuff. Get ready? I am, I am. I'm very
excited. I woke up Monday morning and could not believe it was finally game
week and yeah, absolutely ready ready to go. So we know you've You've
got the Cowboys Giants game in New York this weekend Sunday Night Football. But
let's talk to you first about the NFL as a whole. My first question
to you is, do you think the Chiefs are somebody you still penciled in
for the Super Bowl this year or is everybody catching up? Well? I
know, I mean, I think you certainly would consider them one of the
favorites in what is a pretty stacked AFC. I think everybody would agree with
that that the number of contenders on the AFC side is pretty remarkable. But
I think that Andy Reid and the Chiefs, especially last year, proved that
you can never count them out. You know, they trade Tyree Hill and
all of us are saying, well, what are you gonna do? I
mean, you just lost the best dep threat in the league that's certainly going
to have a massive impact on this team, and they're wearing rings at the
end of the season. So I think as long as Andy Reid and Patrick
Mahomes were there and together, you always have them in the mix. I
think what we've seen just in the last twenty four hours with the injury news
about Travis Kelsey coming out. Is just a reminder that everybody in this league
is vulnerable to injuries. You know, we like to say this a lot
that so and so or Team X is one injury away from dot dot dot.
Well, really that applies to everything in the league. You know,
if the Chiefs lose Travis Kelsey for an entire season, and let's hope that's
not the case, it sounds like the ac L is attacked and he's gonna
be okay. But you know, you lose great players, It's it's tough
to overcome. But I don't think you can ever count out the Chiefs as
long as as read and the homes are together. Let me ask you a
dumb question. You don't have to answer it because I have two kids and
I don't want to say whose favorite. But you actually do this, and
you do it well for a big time organization, big games. You also
do college basketball. How much fun is or which one do you like better?
And that's a tough question, but how much fun do you have in
either one of them or both of them? I mean, I have a
blast you and all of it. I mean I literally can tell you that
I woke up Monday morning and I was kind of like a kid at Christmas.
I was very very excited that we get a chance to get back at
it. So, you know, people asking all the time, what's what's
your favorite, what's the most fun? I have fun doing all of it.
I really do. And I've been very very blessed to do the things
that I've done, To be in some you know, big time college environments,
to do the NFL the last couple of years, to be part of
the basketball tournament, and some great games and great environments. It's just it's
it's great. I mean, I don't I don't work for a living,
Guys, I spend my time around sports, and that's that's something that is
just amazing to me. That's awesome. So we mentioned you've got You've got
the Cowboys and the Giants. Uh, you know, has been over the
years a great rivalry. Neither of them been terrific recently, but still a
rivalry. You know, how do you approach this game as far as that
kind of thing goes. I think it's fun. And you know, I
get a chance to work with my goli who played in the NFC East with
Philadelphia, and so he's really familiar with all these rivalry games and what these
mean to the teams. You know, I haven't get the great way to
start the season. Obviously, two teams that were both in the playoffs last
year. Interesting how they both made it to the same point. They both
went to the divisional round and lost. And yet you talked to the Cowboys
side, and it's kind of seen as you know, a failure in a
lot of ways that you know, once again, they got to the divisional
round. Seventh straight time they've gotten to the divisional round and lost. They
haven't been passed that since ninety five when they won a Super Bowl. It
means that the Giants go to the divisional round and it was seen as really
a rousing success and something for them to build on going forward. So I
think that's an interesting component to it. Obviously, both teams are a little
bit different. The Cowboys said good Brighter to Zieg Elliott in the off season,
which, you know, a guy that's been a cornerstone for them,
but they're really excited about Tony Pollard and what he can bring. You know,
the Giants also are a different team. I think that's still have some
questions to answer going into the year. So to me, it's a it's
a great way to start the season. Well, they had that issue with
sat all summer long. How does that affect things? Do you think?
Are you it's done, Sku is going to play and that's the way it
is. Yeah, I mean and listening to some of the stuff he said
this week, and he was asked just today again about his contract situation and
he shot it down really quickly and said, all I'm worried about is Sunday
night, and all I'm worried about is twenty twenty three. In twenty twenty
four, we'll take care of itself. And you know, it's kind of
an interesting thing. He could have done what Josh Jacobs from the Raiders did,
which was basically sit out all of camp and then sign his deal and
show up this week. But he chose to sign a deal before camp he
even started, and he was there for the entire preseason all of camp.
Didn't play in the preseason game, but he was there for all of them.
So, you know, he's a guy that he speaks highly in New
York how much he loves the organization. He wants to be there, it's
just a tough time for running backs right now. It's hard to know where
it's going to go. But I don't think that's going to be an issue
at all for sa Kuon Barkley or for for the Giants. Have you in
your time? Is this your second or third year? This is year number
four actually doing Sunday? So I'm assuming you've covered every team out there,
right, You've You've covered it, covered a game almost. There's a few
that I think we haven't checked off the list yet, but yeah, almost
everybody. So I was going to ask you what fan base is kind of
like the most not delusional, but kind of that kind of that word like
where you go and you think, wow, these guys are kind of crazy,
maybe in a good way. Well, look, I think every year
the Cowboys kind of have that super Bowl or bust mentality, right from a
fan perspective, certainly, I think that they're one that goes in every year
of we need to win the Super Bowl, that that's what we do.
And if they don't win the super Bowl, all apologies to Jonathan Tennacopo,
they look at it as a failure and that's just the way it is.
I think every fan base is probably delusional to some point in thinking that you
know, hey, one thing here, one thing there, we could you
know, win it all. And it's like, no, one thing here,
one thing there. You might be a wild card game. But that's
what makes this time of the year fun. It's like in baseball, right
when they talk about in spring and hope springs eternal. I think it's the
same way right now for a lot of football fans that are thinking, you
know, hey, I like the way we looked in preseasons. Listen to
what Steelers fans are saying right now. They had a great preseason and they
feel like, hey, maybe this team is ready to shock the world and
maybe we're ready to be among the AFC contenders. So I don't know if
I could point to one necessarily, but I do think the Cowboys are one
that always have that mentality of it's either the super Bowl or we failed.
It's it's as simple as that. So our Lions fans delusional this year thinking
that they're you know, they're a playoff team after being so bad for so
many years. No, I don't think they're delusional. I think they're a
playoff team. You know, Look, they were running a cusp last year.
We did that game week a team last year in Green Bay, and
I gotta tell you, I was really impressed by what that team did because
they knew before the game they could not make the playoffs. They knew before
they walked out there, and long before, not like right at kickoff.
They found out, you know, an hour or half hour or whatever it
was, before they even walked down in the field. They knew we cannot
do anything in terms of the playoffs tonight. All we can do is try
to knock off Green Bay, a division rival, and they played like the
playoffs were on the line. And you know, like watching hard Knocked last
year, and uh, you know, seeing some of the behind the scene
stuff, you wondered, you know that Dan campbell energy, is this legit?
Is this just an act this guy puts on. I think we all
found out last year it was legit. That team played hard for him,
that team believed in him and each other. And I was super impressed by
by them. And so, you know, they've been down for so long.
We don't root for teams necessarily, we root for stories. I think
it'd be a great story if they've found their way into the playoffs this year.
Wow, what are refreshing comment right toell? We don't, you know,
root for teams when we root for stories, I mean for we have
interns here, all right, tell we tell them all the time. You
can't. You can't root for the team you're covering or anything. You just
gotta you know, look at it straightforward. You know Jay Jay, and
we admitted Jay's the in this room here. I am kind of the old
cranky guy. And you know that cranky guy, right, you know you've
been a rect but but you're right, I mean you have to go and
kind of straightforward and not mean either way. Well, people ask me all
the time, who's your favorite team, and I'll say, well, I'll
tell you who I grew up rooting for. But I don't have a team
anymore. My job is to go in and call the game. My job
is not to go in and root for somebody and root for one team over
another. My job is to go on and tell you what's happening on the
field, to do that as accurately as possible, so you know the sports
I cover, I don't. I don't have favorite teams, but I certainly
love a good story, and I certainly love. You know, look last
year when when we were in Minnesota and they were down at behalf and when
they started coming back in the fourth quarters, well I admit that, Yeah,
I wanted Minnesota to finish off the largest comeback in NFL history. Sure,
because I wanted to see that. I wanted it to be a part
of it. But now that's that's what it is. You can root for
store lines, but you certainly don't root for individual teams, that's for sure.
Who'd they played Miami hood two? When did they be come back?
Send letters for people in Indiano. Okay, speaking of storylines, what about
the Aaron Rodgers storyline? What what do you think is going to go on
over there? Well? I think it's a really good team. I mean,
look, they were a terrific defense a year ago, and they bring
back that defense with a lot of young guys, and now you add an
Aaron Rodgers and they feel like they're a really talented offensive team. Clearly,
he's been the focus a lot in the preseason. If you watched the Hard
Knocks show this year, it might as well just be called Aaron Rodgers.
You know, he is the focus of that. But but I think they
have a chance to be really really good now you know, again, how
to injuries and things like that factor in. We'll see Aaron Rodgers obviously,
the guy that doesn't miss games and and and stays healthy. But you know,
they'll the end of the biggest microscope and the biggest media market this year.
It seems like they're well prepared for that. They seem like a team
that doesn't shy away from it. Just during some of the comments yesterday from
their guys talking about that they could possibly be not just a really good defense,
but a historic defense and dropping the eighty five Bears in reference to what
they can be. They don't lack for confidence. So that's definitely going to
be one of the more interesting stories to watch. And I can tell you
Sunday night, Week four, Jets hosting Kansas City. I am really looking
forward to that game. I think that'll be a great early season matchup.
Yeah, no, you're right. One of the teams that intriguing me is
Baltimore. Quarterback signs. They should be better. They have their new right
receiver, right is it, what's his name? Beckham? Beckham. They've
got some parts now. They've always kind of lingered, but then they fall
apart. You know what I'm saying, what do you think about them?
To me? Another interesting story and and and one to watch. I think
I'm a little more skeptical than maybe some others are because it was just a
couple of years ago that we went through the let Russ Cook era in Seattle
and that fell apart spectacularly, and I kind of feel like in Baltimore we're
kind of leaning towards that a little bit. I think when the Ravens have
been their best, they've been a team that had a terrific defense, they
ran the ball really well. And look, I'm not taking anything away from
Lamar Jackson. I'm not telling you that Lamar can only run and he can't
throw. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying, when they've been at
their best, this is what they've done. I think when you know the
Seahawks were at their best, they ran the ball, they played great defense,
and yes, Russell made plays that helped them win games. But all
of a sudden it kind of shifted to this. Well, you know,
Russell needs to throw the ball forty five times a game, and I kind
of get some of those vibes coming out of Baltimore. Like many we need
to let turn Lamar loose and he needs to be able to throw and he
needs to do this. They need to upgrade their wide receivers. I don't
know that he needs to put the ball in the air thirty five forty times
a game, but we'll see. I absolutely could be wrong about that.
It is an interesting story to watch to see how that goes early in the
year, especially with the new offensive coordinator and Todd Monken. So you're talking
that I'm looking at Jay and he's not looking at me. Sadly, I
don't Khalil Tate. I mean, come on, here's the guy who just
run the ball, don't pass it so much, but quarterbacks got pass to
make him a pocket passer. Yeah, didn't exactly what you're saying. Is
it reminds me of Khalil? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. But okay,
okay, So I got one last question. This is personal. You know,
you know, we think about gambling here all the time. What do
you mean we exactly what I said? And uh, you know, I
mentioned that I was very unhappy with your Nevada wolf Pack for what they did
last weekend. But you know the way gambling has entered into the conversation.
Now, you know, in the NFL college, you know, everywhere,
do you get any kind of instruction about how much you can or can't talk
about point spreads and over unders and things like that, or how do you
approach that in the in the course of a of a broadcast. You know,
I don't talk about it much at all. Uh, And that's really
kind of a personal choice. I've always kind of stayed away from that,
mainly because it kind of helped me. If people would call me and say,
hey, what do you think about this guy? I'd be able to
say, I don't even know what's this? What's the line? I don't
know? I didn't I didn't really look. So we don't talk about it
a lot unless Look, if you're doing a game where somebody's a three touchdown
underdog, you're probably gonna mention that as part of Hey, here's the upfilled
climb that Team D has against Team AU. They're missing six starters, they're
a twenty one point underdog. That's gonna be tough for them. But other
than that, we don't talk about it a lot. I'm certainly not involved
in it. We are very sternly and heavily reminded every year that we are
not to be engaging in that. Maybe I get reminded of it more because
of the state that I live. Yeah, I don't know, although it's
legal pretty much everywhere now. So yeah, it's something that I've always kind
of stayed away from. I avoid certainly not anything that I engage him,
that's for sure. All right. So let me ask my last question,
only because he's in the news now, have a big time, dion,
What do you make of that situation? I'll say what I was wrong.
I went into last week and I kind of thought, this is a bunch
of hype, you know, I just don't see how this is gonna work.
And I've watched that game on Saturday and I was blown away. I
mean, they were great. To go on the road, and look,
we'll find out how good CCU is this year. Obviously they were really good
last year. We'll see what they turn out to be this year. But
to go on the road in challenging conditions and you know, a hundred degrees
and play the way they did, I thought was unbelievable. You know,
I hadn't seen Sanders, the quarterback, Deon's kid play. I thought he
looked extremely poised in the way he handled himself. The Travis Hunter story,
to me, is already one of the most intriguing things I think I've ever
seen. I mean, we're talking about a kid that's playing both ways and
played what eighty something percent of the snaps on Saturday at a position where he
has to run on every single play. Namely the last guy that did anything
like that. We've seen guys that are corners that play a little bit of
wide receiver, maybe they played seven plays at wide receiver or vice versa.
I don't remember the last guy that was legitimately on the field for almost every
single play going both ways, and he's really good. I mean over one
hundred yards he has a pick in the game. No, I don't know
if that's sustainable over the course of the year, especially playing after games in
Boulder at a mile high. But I thought it was all a bunch of
hype and you know, look at the shiny new thing over here. But
boy did they proved me wrong. Now, it's one game. I'm not
saying they're gonna win the National Championship. I'm not saying they're they're the best
team in the country. But I think that they definitely proved to a lot
of people, including b that they've been underestimated so far this year. Yeah,
okay, Ryan, always good to talk to you in that voice of
years. Can I borrow it for a week. You're sure you can borrow
it for as long as you good. We'll hear you on Sunday night.
Thank you, Thanks, I appreciate it, Thank you Jay. What he
brings up is another point that we talked about it and I couldn't emphasis enough.
We don't know, We don't. People don't know, and they can
think they know. We didn't know about the laugh of you and we didn't.
We can know Dion has what he and you met a lot of new
faces blow he can't coach. We don't know. We can get all full
of themselves this week and come out and the bad. We don't and we
just don't know what we don't know. And like I said, we don't
know how good TCU is or is either. Right. Yeah, Hey,
thanks Ryan, Racty. That's great. He's always always a great guest.
He's a pro. Love having you. So all right, let's take our
break long, but it was all well worth it. We'll be back.
We'll take your calls five to zero, four one, six, seventy four,
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net solids. They have their tie on the board on sports station Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to joining them all here on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jake. You have nine minutes. You
do you want to call us? Please do? This is your nine minute
warning because we have very little options when as I need that much of a
warning just to be able to get to the party. Lib dang so calling
You can call in five two zero four one six seventy four forty if you
want to chime in. Well, you know, I you know, I
asked him about the Chiefs and and yes they're you know, you you still
consider I'm a favorite. But you know, are there teams that there are
catching up with him? Right? Okay? And and uh and I don't
know, I mean, you know, are the Bengals, Yeah, maybe
Joe Burrow. You know, there's some question about his his leg injury.
Uh what's his name? At at Buffalo, you know, they've Josh Allen.
They look like they're right there, but they just haven't. It hasn't
materialized. You know, the last couple of years he does he's done some
dumb things, either in the playoffs or in the regular season. You know,
the Patriots aren't anything anymore. I don't know, but you know,
like this year, I expect a lot from the Chargers. Okay, I
feel like, like, uh, what do you Herbert? Yeah? Do
you? I drafted a whole bunch of them in my face. Oh that's
anybody, try to refund your tickets. If you haven't, Justin must be
crying, really crying. Now he's gonna be upset with me. I didn't
get. I didn't get. I didn't get Herbert, but I did get.
What do you have the odds up? Can you get the odds up?
Chargers? They got to be more than fifteen to one? Probably?
Yeah? Probably? I think that if you like them, I would put
twenty bucks on them. Senor, Well, I see if that's the thing.
I still don't think they're gonna win the the the AFC. I think
they're gonna be really good. But she's a gauntlet. Yeah, well,
and that's the thing. It is a gauntlet. I couldn't even tell you
anybody in the NFC Dallas ain't gonna do it. Ellie Rams, they're done.
Uh so let's just go maybe if the quarterback stays healthy. Who else
could it be? In the NFC Green Bay? No, man, there's
there isn't very many. There aren't very many teams out there. Okay,
really conference Conference champions. Okay, and it's AFC Conference champions. Yeah,
Chiefs a plus three thirty. Yeah, this is a conference. Rest is
the conference? Yeah, because I just can get I'm not gonna tell you
what I've got this year because I do the Chiefs Bills plus five hundred,
Bengals plus five fifty, Jets plus eleven. I don't get that. I
don't get that either, Dolphins plus eleven, okay, Ravens plus eleven,
and then the Charges at plus four so twelve, okay, Yeah, they're
the number seven. No, go to the NFC. NFC, Okay,
you got the you got the e Okay, who do you think is that?
Man? That's that's all I'll all I would get. And maybe I
got the Eagles, San Francisco, the Niners the plus three eight, what's
the what are the Eagles at two sixty fifty to fifty? Okay? Is
that for the Chapman? What's that conference CHAMPI? Okay? What about super
Bowl? Okay? Super Bowl? Yeah? After this the Philly and San
Francisco, the Cowboys are and that's a delusional pick. Yeah, the Cowboys
are our next at plus six hundred, and then you go all the way
to plus eleven hundred for the Lions. Okay, don't why why the Cowboys?
Bs? What have they done because of the Cowboys? Because of the
Cowboys. I mean, that's where people will better if there's if there's a
team that lives with hope. Yeah, it's the Cowboys. Okay, super
Bowl super Bowl champion. Okay, Chiefs plus six hundred, right, number
two would be Philly to me, you go seven hundred okay, Uh,
Buffalo maybe, uh give me Cincinnati maybe? Well, you know, Niners
are next Niners and then Cincinnati okay, and then the Cowboys. Yeah,
and and uh they charged all the way down to twenty five one. Man,
I think I'll put them there. Could be your Green Bay if you
do it. That's what happens to me. I don' think they win the
super Bowl, but you know, again, they win their conference. The
chance of winning the super Bowl, yeah, yeah, because because the only
team that you feel can be a problem, there's always that one team.
They could be that one team. I don't I don't follow closely enough to
know how good they are. Obviously the quarterbacks good. I don't know some
of the some of people don't like to court the coach because he's not it's
kind of like too young or whatever. They don't they don't think that he's
the guy that leads them. I just, I just I've always liked Justin
Herbert, even when he was back at Oregon. I've always really liked him.
Yeah. One, because it seems like a really good guy, which
is to me important's important, you know about whether or not I like a
player. We'll call on the air and I on the ball. Hey,
yeah, hey, you guys. I want to give you guys an easy
tip for for betting. Okay, don't it's Richard. Don't do you think
I mean Colorado is going to blow out Nebraska. Okay, I think the
spread is like five points or something. This is the no brainer bet of
the season. And a lot of times they come on a no brainer bet
early in the year. This is it. I mean, this is a
joke that Nebraska has no offense, they had no very little creativity. They're
still mired in their past and that will be revealed. I've bet Nebraska Colorado
blows him out by half time. The line is actually it went after the
games, after the weekend, it jumped to two, then it went to
five. Now it's back to three Colorado. Is Hunter gonna play? Is
he hurt? I don't know, see, because I saw something that there
was a somebody hurt in the Colorado roster. I don't know who that was,
but yeah, there were a couple of people banged up. I saw
that too. I didn't see his I don't think he's injured. Okay,
so I just and he's just fabulous. But I mean, they just got
such a prolific offense. Yeah, they're just gonna absolutely blow out and they're
at home and this will be the most exciting Colorado crowd in how many years.
So let me ask you, Richard h let me see something that me
or I mean, i'd be true. I think you're a realistic guy,
because you know you text me all the time and we talk on the phone
here. Uh yeah, do you believe you what do you believe it's going
on in Colorado? Legit? Not legit? We're wait and see. I
think it's I think they're a legitively very competitive team. I think if they
passed the eye test and all that, you look at the talent, you
know, it's a testament to the transfer portal. Also, what Dean was
able to put together his style of Maybe his sons are excellent. His son
is an outstanding quarterback, and that's good. It's going to get Taylor Williams
little competition this year, right, and so I think they've got a very
good looking team. How many games are gonna win? I don't know if
they're gonna beat Nebraska, and it's gonna be very exciting to watch them.
Hey, my one other tip for the year is this. I believe that
Cla Clayton Tune is going to be the quarterback for the Cardinals and I believe
that he will end up just about taking him to the playoffs this year.
Wow, look at he's now. Now he's he's brock Purty. Okay,
Tune is six three two twenty. He can see over the line of scrimmage.
He's got great vision. He's a very savvy, experienced quarterback. He's
got a very fine arm, and he's an excellent scrambler. And the one
thing he can do that's outstanding is he's very a good screen pass. And
that's what Kyler has has a very big challenge doing, as we know,
is going to screen pass a little shot there at Kyler, but being able
to see over the line. So I like that. That's it, all
right, Richard, appreciate by the way, it's it's a it's a safe.
It's a safe. Thank you, thank you. It's a safety for
Colorado. That's out guyny miles six tackles last week, Richard, you didn't
had a chance to say this to you. Go sooners didn't take kill somebody
over the weekend. Oh yeah, they scored seventy three some you know something,
somebody really bad, like one of the Texas states, like North Texas.
But somebody like that. All right, So all right, yeah,
so it's a Miles Slusher, a defensive back played a big role in the
game last week, who is out this week? So anyways, all right,
Steve, I've been wanting to play this all week, uh, you
know, for one of our out songs. But I've just I haven't had
control of the mean I'm ready for it, good enough control of the of
myself. So September had that on Tuesdays, it had on Friday. All
right, So we're headed out top of the hour. We're gonna have breaking
news when we come back. Then we're gonna have Jack Buyers from a Mississippi
state Rivals website talking about the Arizona m Missipiate. This week's will Stick Around Stop